"To forgive others is to release a soul from suffering, starting with your own." — Itachi Uchiha.
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"You know, I don't think I've met a Captain who's disrespected the rules as much as you've done in their tenure." Isshin said exasperatedly. "Heck, not even the old Kenpachis were this steadfast in rule breaking."
Itachi actually shrugged, much to Isshin's consternation, not looking bothered by Isshin's worries.
Entering Hell, while forbidden, was the go-to move for Itachi since Tōshirō was there. He did not know the reason why these souls were after him specifically but he reckon he'd figure it out while rescuing Tōshirō.
Entering was the easy part, since he had the willing and unwilling guard of Kokutō and Murakumo, but he needed Kisuke's help for a way to get out of hell.
There was a way for them to easily get out of Hell, a technique all Shinigami Captains knew, but it was something that would be easily picked up by the Kidō Corps as it forcefully ejected the user from Hell through the Gates. It was not something he could use if he wanted to go in discreetly.
He didn't know how long he'd be in Hell so he wanted to have another avenue of escape, if possible. Being a Shinigami Captain never stopped him from being overly cautious and overly prepared.
The reason Murakumo wasn't dead yet was because they didn't want the gates of hell opening again, and because Itachi wanted to interrogate him on how he and his friends found a way to escape out of Hell.
As for the newcomer, Kokutō, Itachi spared him a look and nothing else, while Isshin threatened him into compliance.
Whether he was friends with them or not did not matter to Itachi. The fact that he was a denizen of Hell said a lot about who he was. He was in the same boat with Murakumo, the difference being that he wasn't bound in high level Bakudō.
Though he was willing to lie to the Head Captain and defy any existing order of not venturing into Hell, it was literally also his job as Commander of the Onmistukidō to investigate hostile entities and anything that threatens the stability of Soul Society. Damned souls escaping Hell was a valid concern, rules or no.
"And Kisuke? How are you going to tell him about this while hiding from the Soul Society?"
"I already notified him." Itachi replied.
"When?"
"After the gates closed." Itachi said, making Isshin chuckle in disbelief. There was no way that the Gates of Hell opening went unnoticed by the Kidō Corps and the Research Division, so he made sure that Kisuke knew what was happening via his crows.
Isshin looked at him, still not fully convinced, "And what if he doesn't have a way for you to come back?"
Itachi regarded the question with the diligence it was owed, and looked at the frozen Murakumo. "They found a way to cross over. They came here looking specifically for me, which means they've known about me somehow. I intend to find out why, and how they were able to watch me."
Even if his personal reasons for saving Tōshirō were removed, the fact that souls bound in Hell were able to observe him in any fashion was a great security risk. If Hell was inescapable then the risk would have been minimal at best, but that was currently not the case.
For whatever reasons they were able to escape Hell, Itachi needed to know. He could tell that there was something weird with the garments they wore, but knew nothing in detail.
If that was so, then why was Kokutō alright? Was it because that other guy was almost dead and that was why the Gates and the Kushanāda appeared? He very much doubted so.
"Isshin, what do you know about the place?"
Isshin leaned against a slab of rock, with Momo laying on the ground near his feet, and shook his head slowly. "Nothing you don't know, I'm afraid. I've only seen those gates appear twice in my life, minus today, and both times I wondered the same as I do now; what type of crimes did they commit? I've seen a lot of criminals and sick men, and yet I still wonder what these ones did."
As they were talking, a light appeared in the sky and a handful of figures appeared around them.
"Head Captain." Itachi greeted and Isshin pushed himself off his leaning position. Yamamoto had arrived with a few Captains and members of the Kidō Corps.
"We got your message, Itachi. Tell me, what happened?" His cane was held in front of him as the breeze blew his beard into a sway.
Yamamoto's arrival meant that Kisuke must've informed the Head Captain after getting Itachi's message. If Kisuke decided it was imperative for the Head Captain to know, then he trusted his judgement.
Without wasting anyone's time, Itachi, in conjunction with Isshin, narrated exactly what had happened, from Tōshirō's kidnapping in Soul Society to Momo's attempted kidnapping in the World of the Living, and then to the revelation that their attackers were from Hell.
Yamamoto's normally weary face hardened when he heard that souls were escaping Hell. His eyes instantly locked on Kokutō and the sealed Murakumo, and his displeasure was all the warnings and threats they needed.
"How did you escape from Hell, boy?" He asked Kokutō, who despite everything, still had the courage to paint a cocky smirk across his face.
"Chill with the stare, old man, it's not like I'm some kind of criminal— wait, I actually am." He chuckled to himself even as Yamamoto's eyes narrowed, so he raised his hand in faux surrender.
"Long story short, I've been chasing these bums for quite some time now. It's pretty much the game we play, but then while I was hunting them, I saw them opening small gates and jumping through and waited for the next one to open for me to jump through and find out what exactly they were up to. Fast-forward a few minutes and now we're here."
Yamamoto stared at him, to which he just shrugged, before turning back to Itachi and Isshin.
"Have you met any of these people prior to today?" He had to ask because he too saw how weird it was that they could single out one of his Captains.
"No. When I interrogated him," he pointed at Murakumo, while Isshin and Kokutō stared at him in surprise, not knowing when said interrogation was carried out, "I found that he knew very little. All I could get from him was that I was simply the target he and his group were sent to lure in. As for why, I'm afraid to say that I have not the faintest clue."
"Hmm." A rare pensive look was sketched across Yamamoto's face after listening to what his Shinigami had to say. "This is unprecedented. It cannot stand."
The Captains who were with him, Kisuke and Byakuya, nodded resolutely.
"Hell was never supposed to have any connection with the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and least of all, the World of the Living. We cannot allow this trespass to continue for a moment longer."
He looked at Itachi and said, "Captain Uchiha, I suspect you would have wanted to venture in to save your student regardless of the rules in place."
Itachi's continued silence was all the confirmation he needed, which earned wry laughs from Kisuke and Isshin, but a light of reproach in Byakuya's eyes.
"Captain Kuchiki, you'll go with Captain Uchiha. Your main objective is to find out what method the damned are using to escape Hell. Everything else is secondary."
While Itachi wasn't one to neglect his duty, Yamamoto knew he could be strangely affectionate, which was such a disconnect from the extremely logical and focused person Itachi was. By having someone like Byakuya, instead of someone like Isshin, go with Itachi, Yamamoto, though not hoping, wanted to see if they could dull each other's edge.
Byakuya, while a terrific Captain in the making, had an extremely rigid disposition, which was something Yamamoto heavily approved of. Itachi on the other hand, while he was cut from the same cloth as Byakuya, also had an extremely emotional tendency and he could switch between the both of them whenever he wanted.
He was idly curious about what would happen if Byakuya's straightforward edge met Itachi's two-sided one.
"Are you guys done? I still have some people to kill so can you please hurry it up?" Kokutō shouted from a few meters away and was deftly ignored by both Itachi and Byakuya.
After a brief talk with Kisuke and Yamamoto, the two of them were ready to leave, something which gladdened Kokutō as the humorous damned soul watched as an influenced Murakumo tore open a path for them, to Hell.
"How are you making him do that? Is that like your Zanpakutō ability?" Kokutō asked as they crossed the threshold and stepped through the pathway that took them straight to Hell.
The first thing that hit them was the stench of the Reiatsu in the atmosphere and how it pricked at their skin.
"The very air of Hell is corrosive, both to your soul and your Reiatsu. Luckily for you, you are strong enough to offset it with your Reiatsu, but don't celebrate yet."
They landed on a floating platform, under a bloody red sky.
'So this is Hell. How nostalgic.'
"Welcome to Hell."
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