Chapter 38 - Strawberry

"What?!" Renji yelled out in surprise.

"Intruders?!" Hinamori also exclaimed.

Itachi notices Yachiru jump out through an open window. 'She seems to have the right idea.' Itachi thought to himself. Itachi flash steps silently out of the room and reappears outside.

Itachi looks around and tries to sense his surroundings. 'Where are the intruders…?' The sky begins to brighten and Itachi looks up into the sky. He sees a brightly glowing orb and with his Sharingan, he is able to make out six separate reiatsus in the orb.

'That orb with those people in it...are going to collide with the Shakonmaku?' Itachi continues watching as the large glowing orb makes contact with the barrier surrounding Seireitei. A vortex begins to form where the orb breached the barrier and Itachi sees the six reiatsus inside begin to split up. He keeps track of where the largest reiatsu was falling to and its trajectory. Itachi looks towards one particular light flying out of the orb. 'That's the strongest reiatsu I can sense.' Itachi quickly moves towards its direction.

'Intruders at a time like this....' Itachi thinks to himself as he dashes over to where the reiatsu landed.

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'Damn...where did he go? According to Ikkaku, the guy who went after Ganju is the fifth strongest in the division. I have to go and help him but...I can't find him anywhere!!!! AHHH this sucks!' A young man with orange hair, shinigami robes, and a large sword mounted on his back runs through the streets of Seireitei.

The orange haired young man stops running as he hears the cries of crows from behind him. He stops in his tracks and turns around, only to see a large flock of crows flying towards him.

"What the hell is going on?!" The man says as he tries to swat the crows away with his giant sword. He notices the crows begin to concentrate into the spot in front of him and a human-like figure begins to form from the crows.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asks, as the ċumulation of crows take shape into Itachi. Itachi does not reply and instead charges straight in at him.

Ichigo looks at the figure that appeared before. He didn't even feel anything approaching. 'Is that his zanpakuto ability?' The orange haired shinigami thinks to himself.

The figure finally solidifies and he takes a closer look, only to see that he had bright red eyes with a unique pattern. 'What the heck is up with his eyes… No, I have to focus on the fight. I can't properly sense his reiatsu so I can't tell how strong he is.. But, I can't back away!' He thinks to himself as he draws his Zanpakuto. The sword resembled an oversized khyber knife instead of a formal katana. It has no tsuba and no proper hilt; The sword is about as tall as he was and had a black blade with a silver edge.

Itachi stared at the invader for a few moments before drawing his blade and slashing at the invader. Before the strike lands, the invader swings his sword, bȧrėly blocking the strike. However, Itachi uses this to his advantage and delivers a kick to his stomach, knocking him back into a wall. The orange haired man quickly gets back up and raises his sword again.

"Are you a Lieutenant?" He asked Itachi.

However Itachi remained silent and pressed his attacks. He wasn't going all out, saving a majority of his strength to analyze the opponent.

"So you're the silent type huh?" He questioned.

"You know you're alone, so why do you not run?. You won't be able to beat me." Itachi asked, remembering that he originally fell from the sky with another reiatsu signature with him.

"So you can talk. Unfortunately for you, I cannot afford to escape." The orange hair shinigami responded.

"What is your purpose for coming here?" Itachi asked the mysterious shinigami.

"I'm here to rescue Rukia! And if you're going to stand in my way too, I'll have to beat you too, just like Ikkaku!" The orange hair young man resolutely responded.

Itachi furrows his brow. 'So he beat Ikkaku. He doesn't seem all that injured either and I don't feel any malicious intentions from him…'

"Why do you care so much about her? She's merely a traitor to soul society now." Itachi questioned further, trying to test Ichigo. "Who is Kuchiki to you?" Itachi continued, curious to know a bit more about him.

"She is someone who changed my life and I'm going to return the favor. I won't let her die, no matter what!" The man said firmly as he charged in at Itachi. A small smile appeared on Itachi's face as he said this.

Itachi stood still as the young man raised his giant sword in the air and cut through his body, only for it to dissipate into a flock of crows. The crows began to fly around Ichigo again and Ichigo stood in the middle, trying to find where Itachi went as the sky around him turned into a bright red as all other colors changed into an inverted grayscale.

"I only want to talk." Itachi's voice echoed around Ichigo as his body became to reform partially from the crows, showing his face and upper body.

"You want to rescue Kuchiki right? If that didn't go the way you wanted it to, what would you do?" Itachi questioned as his body continued forming from the crows.

"That doesn't matter to me! I'll do whatever it takes!" The orange hair shinigami exclaimed.

"What if Kuchiki didn't want to return. She submitted herself to Soul Society in order to keep you from getting killed. Are you going to throw your life away against her last wishes? Even if you managed to somehow rescue her and she did decide to go with you, you will be facing the entirety of the Gotei 13."

"Like I said, that doesn't matter to me! I'm gonna save her even if I have to fight each and everyone one of you!" The shinigami replied.

"You are still a child. Everything you've said is just wishful thinking. You came here with other people. Are they prepared to throw their lives away for her?" Itachi replied.

"It's not just me, but everyone else who came with me! We all made a promise to save Rukia and none of us are going to go back on our word!" The orange haired shinigami yelled as he looked into Itachi's eyes. The image of a blond haired knuckle headed ninja appeared to Itachi for an instant.

"You're just like him…" Itachi said quietly to himself. The orange haired shinigami looked at Itachi confused as the area returned back to normal and the crows disappeared.

"What the hell are you doing?! You were going to fight me weren't you?" The shinigami questioned, raising his zanpakuto up in front of him.

"No I'll be going now. There's something else I need to take care of." Itachi said as he turned away. He takes a few steps then stops and turns his head to look at him one more time.

"What is your name?" Itachi asked.

"Kurosaki, Ichigo."