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In front of Itsuki was a set of giant wooden doors, they seemed normal if you never took their size into consideration. No aura leakage, nothing could be felt form it. It looked absolutely normal. However, Itsuki knew that on the other side were people who he would have to subdue. Some were strong, some were weak, but they were all labelled threats to soul society.

He knew that once he went through these doors, there was no turning back, either he would complete his test, or he will die. He hadn't felt like this since the incident in the real world, knowing that death was close at hand. Any wrong move or one wrong step would result in it. He didn't even think he would get any rest during the week; he would literally be balancing the line of life and death. This didn't unnerve him though, instead he felt excitement. Excitement in improving himself and the fact he would be close to embracing death. Having embraced death before and his mystic eyes gave him an unnatural adrenaline rush and apathy towards death itself. He liked the feeling it gave.

What better way to subdue them than with strength. Itsuki doubted that they would listen to reason if he tried out the legendary talk no jutsu.

A miniscule smile plastered his icy face, similar to the real-world incident, and excitement, similar to when he killed the prisoners, as he opened the door. He knew he couldn't kill them, but he still could leave them one step before.

Opening the door, what greeted his view was a well-lit hall with people scattered across it. They all wore a white shihakuso, typical of all prisoners in soul society. They however weren't bound to anything and were able to freely roam around, doing whatever they want. The hall looked similar to a prison with one large area in the middle and an elevated area on either side leading to their rooms. People were conversing, playing go and even arguing but all stopped when they heard the door open prompting them to look in that direction.

They couldn't care less to how he looked and were just looking at the open door as it was slowly closed. This brought their attention back to the one who entered and recognised him as a Shinigami.

Itsuki once again had a change of clothes, he now wore the standard Shinigami shihakuso with a black obi but had the lower part of his sleeves tied to his arms by a white ribbon, crisscrossed around it to prevent his sleeves from interfering when he is fighting. He still wore the Onmitsukido's long Jika-tabi as they were resilient and helped silence his movements.

No one moved as they weren't stupid, knowing that whoever entered had to have some sort of skill. Itsuki just stood there and waited while the prisoners also did the same. Eventually, some couldn't handle it and moved, these were the ones that had gone crazy from constant isolation where they couldn't even see the sun. Some just had pure hatred towards Shinigami while some just wanted to find a way out.

Walking forward, a rather large man stood in front of Itsuki easily towering him by a few feet. Itsuki looked up only to hear the man scream and try to grab him. Itsuki saw this and just grabbed the man by his outstretched hands and threw him forward onto the other incoming foes.

Itsuki's physical body was nothing to scoff at. Constantly training his body allowed him to pack quite a punch. This didn't mean that he was a tank. Itsuki mainly relied on speed so his ability to take a punch was relatively weaker. Noticing the prisoners surrounding him, Itsuki quickly employed the two-step attack method from the Hiten mitsurugi-ryu into his movement. Being a technique best with one against many situations Itsuki was able to easily handle the attacking the prisoners.

These however were just cannon fodder, the weakest of the lot. Slowly, more people joined in, thinking that they would tire him out before capturing him. Itsuki was more conservative in his movements, pushing his mental capabilities to the limit, he was able to find the most efficient way in dealing with the prisoners. With all the situations planned out, he was like taking a walk in the park. However, the stronger the prisoners got the harder it became. Although his mastery over Hakudo was slowly increasing it wasn't as fast as the prisoners were becoming stronger.

The prisoners seemed to have come to some sort of agreement. It was to withhold the stronger people for later when Itsuki was more tired out. Tiredness was still far away as his spars with Yamamoto were a lot more intense than this so he easily able to conserve energy.

Hours passed by as Itsuki was starting to feel mentally tired. Whenever he was physically tired, he would run through the corridors and hide for a bit to help replenish any lost energy.

However, in doing so he came across a specific type of people. Women. Not shown in the anime, the nest of maggots also hosted women. Fortunately for them they had a rather strong character between them and were really strong united. Itsuki looked at them as they also looked at him. None of the ones in front were affected by Itsuki's looks, apart from a second glance at his face they were extremely vigilant with his every move.

Itsuki just looked at them and decided to ignore them, they clearly weren't hostile and weren't the strongest. Before he left, he gave them some locations, some girls weren't as fortunate as them.

Noticing it would be detrimental for him to continue fighting, he decided to make his way deeper into the nest while also evading any patrols. He finally made it to a door, a door that led to where the most dangerous one of them all was chained. Itsuki knew that it was Kurotsuchi Mayuri, but he should have already left, taken by Urahara Kisuke. Going through the door he closed it behind him and continued walking forward through a dark corridor with lanterns on either side, completely different than the brightly lit hall, until he arrived at an empty cell. Itsuki just collapsed in the floor and fell asleep knowing that the prisoners couldn't pass through the door.

The next day Itsuki got up and returned to the door. He could have stayed in and waited the rest of the week, but his task was to subdue the prisoners not to survive.

Slowly opening the door, he checked to see if there was anyone outside. Noticing no one was there he returned to the hall to once again take part in the battle royale. Days passed as Itsuki got more proficient in Hakudo and all that constant fighting helped increase his proficiency in Hakudo into becoming a Master. On the first day Itsuki took on 20% of the prisoner's in the nest before slowly increasing as days went by. There were still some who refused to fight so Itsuki just ignored them.

As the prisoner's got stronger so did Itsuki until on the fourth day he was fighting the strongest of them all. His opponent looked completely ordinary, with no defining traits. If he was bald it would have reminded Itsuki of a certain anime character from the time he was alive. From the time spent here, Itsuki learned that his foe was a certain type of ring leader in the nest and the strongest of them all. They were alone in the middle hall as they disappeared here and there when trading punches. Itsuki's Shunpo was far above his opponents so with a few more hits, he got the upper hand.

Kicking the opposition in the head he knocked him out. Itsuki looked around to see the unconscious prisoners strewn about before more prisoners started to surround him. He was exhausted with the earlier fight and looked for ways to escape. As he was looking for a route something unexpected happens, certain shouts and screams of fear were heard as one path was cleared out. Body flew forward before landing unconscious near Itsuki.

"Shinigami, this way!"

Itsuki didn't think further as he clearly heard a feminine voice. Knowing it was a woman, he decided to trust his instincts as he followed his helper.

Arriving at the previous location where he encountered them, he quickly went in as the other girls let him through. He was then led to an area where there was a seat flanked by more woman, each of them a beauty in their own right. His helper just went up and sat on it before turning back to Itsuki.

This allowed Itsuki to get a proper look at her. She had short messy hair and a confident grin plastered on her face. Her black onyx eyes radiated authority indicating her status as a leader among this group. She wore the standard white shihakuso which found it difficult to hide her well-endowed body and had bandages around her arms.

Just as she sat down, she opened her mouth,

"What is your name, Shinigami? I want to thank the person who helped find some of our unfortunate sisters"

"Minamoto Itsuki"

Silence

The female just looked at one another before realising that he wasn't going to continue. They then turned to their leader hoping for her to continue and make the atmosphere less awkward, which they then remembered that they shouldn't have.

Seeing the look on her subordinates, the leader felt as if a great mission had been placed on her shoulders before she continued,

"Not much of a talker, huh, Itsuki-kun. My name is Saedani Maneko, leader of the females here. We females found it hard here…blah blah…we were forced upon…blah blah…before I came along... so that's how we came about. Anyway, I saved you so we can call it even, but I would like to know what you are doing here"

Out of nowhere she started talking about all the grievances she and her fellow comrades faced before finally turning her attention to Itsuki. What she saw completely shocked her, he wasn't there, and all her guards had fallen asleep with the exception of one.

She got up and walked towards the exception as her fringe covered her eyes and fists clenched. The unlucky exception was dozing off before she perceived a figure walking towards her. Noticing it was her boss, she started speaking, oblivious to her plight.

"Ah, elder sister, what are you doing?"

"ELDER SISTER MY ASS, WAKE UP!!"

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

All the sleeping females in the room could be seen in the seiza position with a bump on their head as Maneko sat back down, creating quite a comical sight. Outside, the patrolling girls just gave a sigh before continuing their duties.

"Where's Itsuki?"

The exception took it upon her to speak,

"He left after talking to the victims, he also said that if you want to know who he is then come to the entrance tomorrow"

Maneko just sighed before dismissing them, leaving her with her own thoughts.

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Author' note

Long chapter for you guys.

Released an omake, see how it is. Comment there on your thoughts on it

Anyway been thinking for an animal for Itsuki. I would prefer a bird but what do you think, Preferably white and blue eyes.

With the help from those on discord I've thought of an owl, type majestic white owl on google (not bing) and you'll see. It wont take part in major fights but maybe kill things, be like a scout and, you know, represent him. Also think of a name as well.