371Soul Society
Yoruichi Shihoin was in a difficult position. The revelation that she had found young Indra in Soul Society of all places and even exactly in the 10 th division was a real shocker. Kisuke had told her that Indra had been eaten by a hollow but clearly, that was not the case. If Indra has somehow reached Soul Society then it was possible Aizen had a hand in this. But she couldn't really confirm her theory simply because she has no idea whether Aizen even knows about the Kurosaki family and Ishhin's survival from the hollow named White.
Then again it was possible the hollow somehow got purified and Indra arrived in Soul Society by natural means. She was not really good at deducing things like this as it was mostly Kisuke's style and unfortunately for her, he is far away for her to contact him. Now the question before her is what should she do with this information? Even if she tells Ichigo about his brother how will she explain her own knowledge about his family without compromising Isshin's identity? There is also the fact that Indra most likely would have no memories of his human family and it will only lead to more pain on both sides. Besides, she was afraid that she might draw Aizen's attention on to Indra needlessly if she meddles too much. In the end, she decided it was best to make contact with Indra after she had forced Aizen's hand to reveal himself to the entire Soul Society. After all, that was their plan B with this whole Hogyoku business to force Aizen to reveal himself with the Hogyoku as bait.
With their plan at a crucial stage, she didn't want to throw in more problems into her plate and that was why she decided to just concentrate on Ichigo. For the moment Ishida was safe in squad 10 barracks and Orihime was being held in squad 6 which left Ichigo, Ganju and Chad in the open field. In her mind, Chad could last one more day and that would be it. The rest will be up to Ichigo and force Aizen to reveal his hand before the entire Gotei 13. With that decision made she disappeared into an alley.
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Indra woke up early in the morning because of the continuous banging on his door. He was really annoyed that his sleep time was cut short especially after the fiasco last night with Captain Kurotsuchi but he oped the door nonetheless.
"What is it Hifune?" Indra asked annoyed
"Sorry to disturb you, sir. But Captain Hitsugaya ordered you to take over his duties for the day." Hifune stated as he handed over a sealed scroll
"Where is lieutenant Matsumoto?" Indra asked
"Last night Captain Aizen was murdered, sir. His body has been found by Lieutenant Hinamori this morning. Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto are investigating the matter for the time being." Hifune reported
"Very well then. Assemble all the seated officers and I will assign the duties in the World of Living." Indra said and Hifune vanished in a flash step to collect all seated members of Squad 10
A short time later every seated officers were in the meeting hall facing Indra.
"I am told captain of the fifth division Aizen Sosuke has been murdered by unknown assailants. Other than that I am in the dark like you all are but we have our duties to uphold rather than gossip about it in Soul Society. As such we have to resume our duties in the World of the Living despite the problems we face in our home. We will work as per schedule but I am holding two seated officers back in the the squad just in case of an emergency." Indra said as he assigned duties to the seated officers that would be taking teams of unseated shinigami to the world of the living
With the Rukongai closed-off, squad10 didn't have to patrol that area so that left a lot of Shinigami to be reassigned to the living world. After that meeting, Indra had to do some last-minute paperwork and send it off to squad 12 for the deployment of squad 10 shinigami into the living world. If there was going to be any unscheduled deployments Squad 12 would handle the assigning of missions themselves.
It took a better part of two hours for Indra to do all the necessary paperwork to sign-off on several missions. After that, he decided to practice some basic kido spells along with channelling lightning Kido through his body. From his repeated experiments he had discovered this nifty little trick to hold Shunko longer. The real difficulty of the technique was to spread the lightning Kido across the body like a defensive layer.
He walked into the training area of squad 10 and began firing Byakurai repeatedly. This was done to just get the feel of the nature of the energy that Byakurai released which helps in channelling the energy throughout the body. After getting a hang of the energy Indra rolled up his sleeves so as not to blow out the sleeves because of activating Shunko. Slowly he gathered his spirit energy through the vents in his wrists and instantly converted the energy into Kido energy and began to distribute it around his skin. With a bang Shunko activated and the ground beneath his feet shattered under the high concentration of energy. Disappearing in a flash of static he began to punch and kick several boulders reducing them to a pile of small rocks. He counted fifteen seconds before Shunko fizzled out. Fifteen seconds of Shunko was better than nothing and with the heightened speed, this short time was more than enough to deal with most enemies. Before he could continue training he felt the reitsu in the air shift and a considerably large spiritual pressure began to exert its influence. It was followed by another spiritual pressure and the two auras began to battle against each other. The two spiritual pressures were growing rapidly and he knew who was fighting. He continued to train while he kept his senses open not to miss the fight between Ichigo and Zaraki. He couldn't afford to be physically present in the fight especially when there were rumours that circulating around that Ichigo was his twin brother.
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Ichigo was not in a desperate situation as he struggled to stand up. The stab wound on his heart from Captain Zaraki Kenpachi was bleeding quite heavily and he could feel his life bleeding away. The only thing he had managed to achieve by fighting Kenpachi was providing an opening for Ganju and Hanataro to save Rukia. Perhaps they will be able to rescue Rukia in his stead and that would be enough for him. Perhaps he should have just kept his mouth shut instead of confirming that he was indeed the brother of Indra to the madman before him. It was after that Kenpachi became vicious in battle and he suffered this fatal injury that was surely going to claim his life.
"What a waste of time you are! I thought you would be a strong opponent seeing as you were his brother. Perhaps Indra will find me once he learns that I killed you and then I will have a real fight to the death." Zaraki said with a manic expression and he turned his back on Ichigo to walk away
Ichigo who heard this began to get desperate as he struggled to stand.
'Get up dammit! Move! Move!' Ichigo screamed internally as he thought about his brother dying by Kenpachi's hand because of him
Suddenly Ichigo observed as the time literally stopped and Zangetsu manifested in the real world all on his own.
"Old man Zangetsu!" Ichigo said in surprise
"Do you know why you couldn't cut Zaraki Kenpachi with your blade?" Zangetsu asked as the Zanpakuto spirit looked down on his fallen wielder
"Because I am weak and not powerful enough." Ichigo answered disappointed at himself
"No Ichigo. You lost because you fear yourself. A blade filled with fear will be dull against any opponent." Zangetsu paused as he could see Ichigo was having an internal conflict
"If you can't even muster up the courage to banish your fear then why do you wish to stand up Ichigo? What is it that you hope to accomplish?" Zangetsu asked
"I want to protect my brother and my friends." Ichigo answered readily
"The intent to protect and the intent to kill is different Ichigo. When you were fighting Kenpachi you should have discarded your intent to protect. Instead, you held on to it and you hesitated in cutting down Kenpachi. I am a part of your soul and whenever you lose your resolve I will become duller in return. The only way to teach you this is when you face yourself in combat." Zangetsu said and suddenly Ichigo found himself in his inner world
"If you want to wield me again you will have to take me back yourself!" Zangetsu spoke from his side and Ichigo could no longer feel the comfortable weight of Zangetsu in his hand instead there was a nameless katana in his hand.
Ichigo quickly raised the katana in a defensive position on instinct and a large cleaver like blade struck his katana and pushed Ichigo back several feet
"You are weak Ichigo. You have no idea about how to use Zangetsu." Hollow Ichigo said as he appeared before Ichigo in full white.
Ichigo observed the newcomer warily especially considering the guy has black sclera and he was pale white. His eyes widened as the spiritual pressure of his white replica suddenly spiked.
Hollow Ichigo began spinning Zangetsu by its cloth and he started off attacking Ichigo by throwing Zangetsu. Ichigo was initially surprised at the attack and he used the katana to deflect Zangetsu but the force from the attack pushed Ichigo away while Hollow Ichigo laughed.
"Did you really think that it would be so easy to wield Zangetsu? You have only thought about making yourself stronger and not once did you think to ask Zangetsu to lend you power." Hollow Ichigo shouted as he increased the ferocity of his attacks that were steadily pushing Ichigo back
Ichigo was struggling to defend against all these attacks but he was carefully listening to his white replica. Thinking back on his own actions what the white guy said was true. Ichigo had only thought about getting stronger himself and never had he ever asked Zangetsu for help even when he knew that Zangetsu was a part of his soul.
"There is more to Zangetsu's power than you ever know Ichigo. If only you would have opened yourself up and lend it power then you would have realised the true power of your Zanpakuto. Don't you wordy, I will show you the true power of Zangetsu!" Hollow Ichigo shouted as he ran straight to Ichigo and clashed his blade with Ichigo's.
To everyone's surprise, the katana in Ichigo's hand disappeared and was replaced by Zangetsu.
"Huh, guess you are not a total moron after all." Hollow Ichigo smirked as he began to disappear into a black smoke
In the real world, Zaraki stopped walking as he felt a great surge of power. His eyes widened as he turned back and saw Ichigo standing up bathed in a strong aura of spiritual energy that was rising steadily. His eyes traced the wound on Ichigo's chest that had strangely stopped bleeding all of a sudden.
In the blink of an eye, Ichigo slashed across Kenpachi's chest and for the first time in the fight Kenpachi bled and the fight began anew.
Yoruichi watched the fight unfold down below in surprise. Just like Kisuke had predicted Ichigo's growth rate was tremendous. She watched in fascination as Ichigo's spiritual pressure matched Zaraki's when the Captain of squad 11 unleashed his full power. In the end, the fight ended with both combatants not able to fight anymore. Yoruichi pulled Ichigo away from the spot the minute the squad 11 lieutenant left with Zaraki.
Yoruichi had already witnessed Chad getting caught by Captain Shinsui. Now all that remained of their group was Ganju and Ichigo. She had already watched Ganju and Hanataro running straight for Rukia but she knew that would be a lost cause. It was time to heal Ichigo and let him achieve Bankai as Kisuke had planned. Already their plan was working as Aizen was playing dead and that means he is now going for the Hogyoku at the time of execution. All she had to do was to derail Aizen's plan and force Aizen to reveal himself before Gotei 13. She was hopeful with the Head Captain present Aizen will be promptly crushed and she could rest easy with that snivelling snake being burnt to a crisp. With that happy thought in mind, she vanished with an unconscious Ichigo on her shoulder straight for her hiding spot in the mountains.
Just as Yoruichi was making her escape several Hell Butterflies were dispatched by the Central 46 issuing wartime special orders that allowed even captain class shinigami to release their Zanpakuto inside Seireitei.
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Byakuya Kuchiki was a stern man and anyone who knew him would agree with that wholeheartedly. He was widely regarded as a cold person but many of his shinigami colleagues were left completely flat-footed when he refused to help his sister when she landed on the wrong side of the law. Many expected the man to fight for his sister's freedom but in reality, the opposite happened. He never lifted a finger to help her and in fact, he hunted down Rukia and took her into custody as per the directives of Central 46.
While many would wonder how Byakuya was able to be completely dispassionate to the plight of his sister he scoffed at all of them. In a secluded part of his mind, he learned to help Rukia but he shut off that part in favour of executing his duty as a Captain and the clan head of Kuchiki clan.
After Byakuya had dealt with Rukia and brought her back to Soul Society to face judgement he had resigned himself to what will be happening next. He had accepted that Rukia was going to die but then the Ryoka invasion happened that derailed the stability of Seireitei. For Byakuya who had grown up hearing the great tales of Gotei 13, it was a sad thing to watch as all those carefully constructed greatness fall around like a castle made of cards. It was shameful and disrespectful to all those who have given their lives to uphold the sanctity of Soul Society and its governing body. That's why he didn't feel an ounce of mercy as he cut down Ganju in front of Rukia. In his mind, this whole Ryoka invasion was a waste of everyone's time and if it was the life of his sister that was standing in the way of restoring order and peace in Seireitei then he was willing to do the honours. He raised his hand and was about to take Rukia's life with his released Zanpakuto but Ukitake quickly blocked him.
"My…my… Why have you released your Zanpakuto Captain Byakuya? You know it is against regulations for Captains to release their Zanpakuto within Seireitei.!" Ukitake admonished
"Haven't you heard? Wartime orders have been initiated." Byakuya said as he lowered his hand and reformed his blade
"Wartime orders!" Ukitake was surprised but before anything else could be said both captains paused as they felt a strong spiritual pressure approaching them and Byakuya immediately recognized whose it was
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Indra also recognised what was happening as he felt both Byakuya's and Ichigo's presence together. He has been monitoring the entire situation carefully and he could feel that both Byakuya and Ichigo had clashed. Similarly, he could also feel Momo Hinamori has clashed with Lieutenant Kira of the third division. There was going to be quite a few dramas in the coming days from that alone. His close observation of the two battles was disrupted when a Hell Butterfly arrived with the message of immediate summons to the squad 12 barracks.
Indra was quick to arrive and he was immediately led in to meet Kondo Isami who managed the Senkaimon.
"What happened?" Indra asked as he saw all twelfth division members scrambling around in panic
"Our sensors spiked in a routine check-up and found fifteen hollow signatures in one place. There is also a strange signature that we can't exactly pinpoint as well." Isami said
"Which class are the Hollows and where exactly is the location?" Indra asked
"They are all Gillian and they are all in the Amazon rain forest. We are tracking them as we speak and they are moving straight for human settlements nearby." Isami said as he monitored the readings in a small device in his hand
"That's strange behaviour for Gillian. They would not leave Hueco Mundo in such large groups." Indra commented as he watched the energy signatures in the device
"That was our thought as well. We believe this strange energy signature is the cause of the Gillians appearing in the Human World. As of now, we have no idea what they are aiming for. There is nothing in that region that would be an interest for Hollows or any other spiritual beings." Isami said as he had triple-checked the area for any peculiarities but the result came up empty all the time
"You should have informed the captains immediately." Indra commented idly
"What do you think I did? I immediately sent all available Hell butterflies to all captain class Shinigami. It is just that you were the first to respond seeing as the captains and most of the lieutenants are busy with the chaos going on in Seireitei." Isami said as he quickly began to type something in the small device he had in his hand
"Are you ready to go in? We have already erected a special barrier to keep out the spiritual pressure from affecting humans. I am sure someone will join you shortly." Isami suggested and Indra gave the go-ahead to open the Senkaimon. Within minutes the wooden doors appeared and he stepped in into the living world.
It has been a better part of eight years or so since Indra had stepped into the living world. Seeing the living world again brought back some fond memories that he shared with his family in Karakura town. Most of those fond memories were about his sisters as it was hard to not get attached to those two even with his bonus life experience. The nostalgia that he was feeling quickly left him as the Gillians issued a battle cry in his direction and began to patiently make their way.
One of the Gillian who was close to Indra started gathering a red Cero in its mouth. During his stay in Hueco Mundo, he had studied the nature of Gillian and the best way to deal with them was by turning their own energy against them. They have a very hard Hierro and the bloody things were more than 20ft high. While the Gillians were slow and dumb enough not to be a threat to an Adjuchas type hollow. Still, it required a considerable amount of energy to dispatch the Gillians. The easiest way to kill them is by attacking them when they have amassed a Cero just like the one before Indra was doing.
Just as Indra realised the Gillian was ready to unleash the Cero it has amassed in its mouth he raised his hand channelling a kido.
"Hadou 54: Abolishing Flames (Haien)"
A blast of purple beam blasted away from Indra's hand and struck at the huge zero that was forming in the Gillian's mouth. The purple beam destabilized the Cero and the Gillian was blasted to kingdom come within seconds consequently setting a lot of trees on fire as well.
The other Gillians seeing their comrade fie let out a screech that made Indra cringe. Two Gillians began gathering Cero while others began to thrash around the area flattering several hills and damaging the forest. Indra raised his right palm and aimed at a Gillian.
"Hadou 63: Thunder Roar Cannon (Raikouhou)"
The concentrated blast of energy destabilized the Cero of the Gillian which vaporized it instantly. By this time the second Gillian fired its Cero straight at Indra. He could dodge the blast but that would destroy much of the landscape so he used a Danku to block the high-density energy beam and flash stepped right behind the Gillian's head. Indra pressed his forefinger on the back of its head put a hole through the head courtesy of a Byakuri. As he turned to the other twelve Gillian's they were all charging Cero in their mouths.
"Requesting immediate limiter release." Indra spoke into the communication device that he was handed over
"Don't worry, help is on the way." A voice from the other end spoke and sure enough, a senkaimon opened up and Captain Soi Fon stepped out of the portal. That was the exact moment twelve Ceros barraged straight aimed at their general location
"Bakudou 81: Splitting Void (Danku)"
A large transparent barrier sprung up in a wide area courtesy of Indra that blocked the multiple Ceros. But the resulting shockwave changed the landscape as vast swaths of forest lands were incinerated on spot. Before Indra could say anything to Soi Fon the captain of Squad 2 activated Shunko and began her assault on the Gillians.
Not wanting to be outdone by the uppity captain Indra drew his Zanpakuto and placed it horizontally with his left palm pressing on the blunt side of the blade. He began channelling spirit energy into the blade for a modified version of a kido.
"Bakudou 63: Winding Binding Chains (Sajo Sabaku)."
From the silver blade of the zanpakuto golden ropes spread out into the open space that quickly bound six Gillians restricting their movements. With that done he quickly began the chanting for a destructive kido.
"Scattered beast bones! Spire, Crimson Crystal, Steel Wheels! The wind if it moves, the sky if it stops, the tone of the spear striking fills the lone castle! Hadou 63: Thunder Roar Cannon (Raikouhou)."
Indra's zanpakuto was quickly filled up with intense yellow lightning and it spread through the golden ropes that stretched out from the zanpakuto. The Gillians were quickly blasted apart by highly concentrated lightning. By this time Captain Soi Fon finished off the last of Gillians with a roundhouse kick straight to the mask under the enhanced strength of Shunko.
"Open the senkaimon and let the Onmitsukidō in. Let them sweep the place for that unidentified energy signature." Soi Fon commanded through the comms and then turned to Indra who had flash stepped beside her
"You and I will stay back and observe. If this unknown presence shows themselves in the open you will closely follow me and deal with this menace. Am I understood?"
"Yes, captain." Indra agreed and stood back as the Onmitsukidō began searching the entire forest for any third party.
After hours of searching, there was no clue whatsoever of a third party anywhere near the vicinity. In the end squad 12 installed some deep range sensors around the general area and put the search to a stop. After ensuring all the sensors worked all the deployed Shinigami were brought back to Seireitei. When Indra returned back to squad 10 there was no sign of Captain Hitsugaya but he could feel the small captain's spiritual pressure from squad 4. Within the short time that he was away a lot of paperwork has accumulated and the first one that Indra saw was a memo from Central 46 that has moved up the date of execution of Rukia Kuchiki.
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Kokuto walked through the mountains of hell and it was no pun. He was literally walking through the mountains inside the hell dimension. The raging red hot fires of hell didn't bother him as he was shielded by his benefactor else he would have been incinerated on spot for daring to travel to this part of the hell. As he climbed the last hill he saw the valley below him that was completely sunk in lava and at the very centre of the ocean of lava lay an altar with two gigantic skeletal statues. He used a high-speed technique to stand on the altar instantly. The metallic base was red hot but again his skin had toughened up after years of exposure and the protective energy of his benefactor certainly helped.
Kokuto paused at the centre of the altar and knelt as he felt the presence of the goddess that had relaxed him from the eternal torment and gave him a new purpose.
"My lady, I did as you asked." Kokuto said she patiently waited for a response from the goddess
"Was he strong Kokuto?" a voice spoke from below the altar and the sundial att the very centre rumbled under the suppressed power of the goddess
"Indeed my lady. He is powerful beyond what I expected. He has sealed his power very expertly but because of your blessing, I was able to sense that power. I believe that power will be able to break the bindings on this altar. Shall I start the plan?" Kokuto asked
"Not yet Kokuto. We must not be impatient. The time is not yet right but fear not, for when the time comes I shall warn you. For now, focus on building up the army that we need. Take great care, my loyal servant." The voice rumbled once more and fell silent
"As you wish, my lady. For the realm eternal!" Kokuto pledged and returned back to recruiting more Togabito's for their cause
AN:
The last bit is a small peak into the plot for the distant future. That is the Hell verse plot and as you rightly guessed it is going to be very different.
I was planning to include the rescue of Rukia and the subsequent escape of Aizen and his gang into Hueco Mundo but the Hell verse introduction would be pushed back so I decided to push it back to next chapter.
