Chapter 124 - Soi Fon's Frustrations

"Justice without a great cause begets nothing more than slaughter. That same slaughter in a great cause…Is Justice." — Kaname Tōsen.

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[POV: With Soi Fon]

Soi Fon flickered all over the empty training yard, slashing and swiping her short sword completely soaked in sweat but she didn't slow down a bit, not even as her body ached and her bones crackled against each other.

"RARGHH!" She shouted in frustration and furiously slashed her sword multiple times which ended up kicking up a dust cloud that covered the whole training yard.

She huffed exhaustively while glowering hatefully at the blade in her hands as if it was Gin's face she was looking at.

"Take a break, Soi Fon. You've been going nonstop at it for 10 hours. Clearly it's not helping relax at all, rather it's doing the opposite."

Itachi's appearance swept away the dust cloud as he arrived in front of Soi Fon and held her wrist to stop her from swinging her blade again.

"I'm a bit busy right now, Itachi." Soi Fon said softly under her breath. She tried pulling back her hands but it didn't budge from Itachi's grasp.

She gave him a hard stare which he returned with a calm understanding one. She found it hard to continue being stubborn, especially when he stared at her with those silently chiding eyes of his, and ultimately sighed in defeat after relinquishing her blade to him.

"You're too hard on yourself." Itachi said but she snorted, causing him to sigh tiredly.

"It's easy for you to say. You achieved Bankai and will definitely be appointed Captain of the 2nd Division." She snapped back at him in a biting tone.

"I lost to the person I've been shadowing for over a decade and was also brutally blindsided by his plans even after watching him for such a long time." Itachi replied humorlessly to which Soi Fon had no words for and just clicked her tongue and looked away.

Soi Fon plopped down to the ground and ran a hand through her hair. She scratched her head furiously for a few moments and sighed.

"It feels like I'm doing something wrong, and for the life of me I can't tell what it is."

The minute way Itachi quirked his eyes gave her the feeling that he knew what was wrong with her and it was something obvious.

She groaned exasperatedly and put on a polite tone. "Mind telling me what it is you want to say?"

"You're not listening."

"Well I am now."

"No, that's your current problem. You are not listening." Itachi reiterated.

Soi Fon gained a confused pause, not understanding and wondering what it was he was talking about.

He sighed faintly and took another questioning route. "What did Suzumebachi say?"

Soi Fon frowned, becoming a little annoyed at Itachi's evasive habits.

"Nothing." She answered.

He bent to her level and gave her a comforting smile. "And there you have it. You're not doing anything wrong. You failed to capture your enemy is all. He was lucky." He added.

She grumbled unintelligibly while Itachi maintained the same soft smile as he stood up and pulled her up after.

"You know, you never did tell me what your Bankai could do." Soi Fon asked, half wanting to change the subject and half genuinely curious.

"Can you show it to me? Maybe I can–"

"– I can't, I'm sorry." Itachi said, cutting her off. "It's dangerous. And I mean very dangerous."

"Eh?" She blinked. "Um… how dangerous are we talking here?"

"I had suspected it and even Captain Kyōraku and Captain Unohana speculated that I'll probably receive sanctions pertaining to its release." Itachi shrugged and replied offhandedly as if what he just said wasn't a very big deal.

Soi Fon was speechless and a bile formed in her throat when she comprehended the meaning behind those words.

Here she was struggling with Bankai, complaining that she wasn't getting stronger, and the person who supposedly understands her frustrations was on his way to become an elite Captain in a few short decades of becoming a Shinigami.

Unaware of what she was thinking, Itachi suggested while tapping his chin. "How about we have a spar when you're done resting? And that means you too, Junpei."

Junpei awkwardly dropped down from a nearby roof. Seeing how neither of them showed any reaction to his presence, it became crystal clear that they were most likely aware of his arrival from the beginning.

"My promotion will be in the upcoming months after whatever charges pressed on me are dropped. Meaning I'll be extremely busy for the short period following it."

"Any particular reason?" Soi Fon asked.

Itachi nodded. "There are some… people… I'll like to visit them."

Soi Fon gave him a look before walking away, refraining from asking him any questions at this time. There were a lot of chances to do that.

"Since you came all the way here, let's start." She heard Itachi's cold voice and Junpei's whining as she left them in the privately owned training ground.

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[Flashback: Itachi POV]

"Everything." Tsukuyomi replied.

Itachi's eyes were fixed on the kunai he held, Tsukuyomi's answer leaving him with speculations of a few answers but with more questions.

"By everything… there ought to be a limit, right?"

"Do you want there to be a limit?" Amaterasu asked, sounding flabbergasted and angry.

The kunai he held wobbled and turned into flames. Black flames.

He shook his head. "No, I don't. I would hope not. But I'm not so delusional to believe that my abilities now have no limit."

He continued before any of them could answer. "Amenominakanushi. Does it have a specific ability?"

The August Centre of Heaven – the meaning of those words were a little too vague for Itachi to understand, and like always, Tsukuyomi was being evasive about a straightforward answer.

He knew what Amenominakanushi could do, he'd used it after all. What he was more curious about was how having the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan might have influenced the Bankai. Did his new eyes come with a specialty or was it the same with his general knowledge of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan?

"To create, destroy, deny and control – that is the ability of Amenominakanushi. True or false – it matters not. Whatever it wills, that it will be."

It was a simple explanation, basic and straightforward, but just like Amaterasu had once said, it was the intent)/essence behind it that differentiated Bankai from Shikai.

From them he learned that the dark domain from his Bankai Release was, in a sense, his world for him to do as he pleased. Not just that, within its influence, anything he could identify was automatically under his control — to deny, control or destroy.

Whether it be Reiatsu, emotions, physicality, reality, fundamental laws – all automatically became his to control.

In a way, it was as if he had manifested the Kotoamatsukami technique into reality.

For those weaker Shinigami who had been unfortunate to be in the scope of his Bankai, they were lucky enough that they were only drained of their Reiatsu and put under mild illusions as Itachi hadn't been actively controlling it during the time.

"This is…"

"Overwhelming?" Tsukuyomi asked. "This is what happens when your soul elevates to a higher realm. Your limits are slowly broken, and for spirits like us that are intimately tied to you, we benefit from the growth even more than you."

Itachi paid a half mind to what his Zanpakutō spirits were saying as he watched in awe at the red skeletal form that surrounded him as it slowly turned pitch black.

The Susano'o.

Itachi's Susano'o.

"Not all changes are bad. Sometimes things are better if they remain the same."

It was an odd feeling when he looked at his Susano'o and even his new eyes, coming to the realization that he was now more stronger than he ever was when he was alive. Far more stronger.

'With this… definitely.' He could fight Aizen with this. Keyword 'fight'.

His last confrontation with Aizen showed him the gulf in strength between them and Aizen mostly used Kyōka Suigetsu's ability to fight against his illusions. The times they clashed, Itachi was completely outmatched in every single aspect.

So yes. He believed he could fight Aizen now, winning against him, especially with his unknown Bankai, now that was a coin toss.

"Don't worry, Itachi." The flames around him rose in intensity as Amaterasu spoke. "You will not be so lacking the next time you face him. I swear those words on my pride."

"I know, Amaterasu." He replied. "I have no intention of facing him alone again. Not anymore."

[Flashback end]

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