On another battlefield, a song of ice and fire was being played.
Toshiro's breath carried white frost.
He stood atop the Hokage Rock, now buried under ice and snow. Across from him was a black-haired man.
Itachi stood there in silence, yet the pressure he brought was indescribable.
Toshiro was a once-in-a-century genius of Soul Society, the youngest captain in history. He was used to making enemies suffocate under his spiritual pressure.
Today, he was the one tasting that sensation.
The other man's energy—something called chakra—was unfathomably deep.
What made him most wary were those crimson eyes.
"Your eyes are dangerous," Toshiro said.
His hand had already gripped the zanpakuto at his back.
A genius's intuition was screaming warnings, telling him the man before him was the strongest opponent he had ever faced.
"But before absolute zero, any flame will be extinguished."
That was the confidence of the wielder of the strongest ice-and-snow-type zanpakuto.
Itachi didn't respond.
Toshiro didn't hesitate anymore.
"Sōten ni Zase, Hyorinmaru (Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Ice Ring)!"
The release command was spoken.
A colossal dragon of ice and frost coiled into existence, carrying a chill that could freeze the soul itself as it dove straight at Itachi.
Faced with that heaven-shattering strike, Itachi finally moved.
In those scarlet eyes, three tomoe slowly rotated, linking into a single seamless pattern.
In the instant the ice dragon was about to touch him, pitch-black flames ignited before him without warning.
The flames were small—no explosions, no heat waves.
The ice dragon's massive head slammed into that black fire.
The expected scene of ice shattering never came.
The enormous ice dragon vanished the moment it touched the black flames—silently, leaving not even steam behind.
Toshiro's composure cracked instantly.
What kind of fire was that?
The ice created by Hyorinmaru was so cold that ordinary flames couldn't even maintain their shape near the dragon.
Yet these black flames erased the ice dragon's very existence.
A crisis he had never felt before surged up inside him.
He couldn't hold anything back now.
"Bankai: Daiguren Hyorinmaru (Bankai: Great Crimson Lotus Ice Ring)!"
In an instant, the sky changed.
Thick ice clouds blotted out the heavens, and the whole world dimmed.
Giant ice wings spread from Toshiro's back. Behind him floated three enormous ice flowers—each one representing the power and time limit of his Bankai.
His right arm became encased in dragon-head ice armor, crystal chains linking to the sword hilt.
He stood like a sovereign of ice.
His spiritual pressure underwent a qualitative transformation.
Centered on him, terrifying cold spread in a perfect circle. Rock, trees—everything in its path froze instantly.
The faces of every past Hokage on the Hokage Rock were covered by thick ice, their features swallowed and blurred.
Snow began to fall over all of Konoha.
"Sennen Hyōrō (Thousand-Year Ice Prison)!"
Toshiro leveled the tip of his blade at Itachi and unleashed his ultimate technique.
Countless massive ice pillars erupted from every direction, converging on Itachi with the force to seal and freeze everything.
The pillars crushed together, fused, and became an airtight prison of ice—meant to lock the target inside forever.
But Itachi remained calm.
In the final instant before the ice prison closed, crimson energy surfaced over his body.
First came bones, then channels—an enormous ribcage-like skeletal torso enveloped him.
Susanoo.
Then the black flames appeared again.
This time, they weren't a small flicker.
They surged like a tide from between Susanoo's ribs, coating the entire skeletal frame.
"Amaterasu."
He spoke the name softly.
Flames that would never go out formed a perfect black barrier.
The gigantic ice pillars slammed into Susanoo wreathed in Amaterasu.
A piercing sound erupted.
Toshiro's Thousand-Year Ice Prison—cold enough to freeze all things—was vaporized at the front the moment it touched Amaterasu.
At the boundary where ice met fire, an enormous volume of white steam erupted upward like a volcanic blast.
The ice pillars kept growing, trying to crush the black flames.
The black fire kept burning, devouring the incoming ice without pause.
Absolute zero versus inextinguishable black flames.
The two extremes madly consumed each other, triggering terrifying energy explosions.
A colossal steam cloud shot into the sky, forming a white mushroom cloud.
The shockwave hurled everything around them away, shattering the thick ice layers in an instant.
Toshiro was forced back again and again. He drove his zanpakuto into the ground to steady himself.
He stared toward the heart of the explosion, eyes full of disbelief.
As the steam cleared—
Itachi stood quietly where he had been, Susanoo cloaked in black flames completely intact.
Not even the corner of his clothing had moved.
Behind Toshiro, one of the ice flowers had already withered.
How could that be?
His Bankai—his strongest ice—couldn't do anything to that fire.
This wasn't about who was stronger.
This was absolute attribute suppression.
The moment his ice touched those black flames, it was stripped of the very meaning of "existing."
For someone who'd been called a genius his entire life, this was the first time he'd ever felt something like this.
"Your ice is strong," Itachi said, a sincere appraisal.
To command the sky itself and drive temperature toward absolute zero—such power deserved recognition.
Toshiro clenched his blade, teeth grinding.
He pushed his spiritual pressure again. The remaining two ice flowers flared brilliantly.
"It's not over!"
More ice poured down from the sky, forming countless ice dragons that lunged from different angles all at once.
He would crush his opponent through sheer quantity and range.
Itachi watched the incoming ice dragons without the slightest ripple in his gaze.
Amaterasu gathered in his palm, then condensed into a long sword of black flame.
"Amaterasu Ken (Amaterasu Sword)."
He swung the black-flame sword forward.
Every ice dragon that touched it—front or side—was cut apart instantly. Black flames ignited along the cuts, and in the blink of an eye, the ice was burned into nothingness.
With a single slash, the entire sky was cleared.
Toshiro stood frozen in place.
He stared at the burning black sword in Itachi's hand, feeling the destructive aura rolling off it. A chill rose from the depths of his heart—colder than any ice he could create.
He had lost—lost at the level of the ability's nature itself.
"Why do you know my power so well?" Toshiro asked, bewildered.
From the very beginning, it was as if the other man had seen through every method of attack he had.
Whether it was the ice dragon's rush or the Thousand-Year Ice Prison's sealing, the responses were so precise they felt rehearsed.
Itachi dismissed Susanoo and Amaterasu.
His gaze passed over Toshiro and drifted into the distance.
"Someone told me," he answered simply.
Toshiro followed the direction of that gaze, but saw nothing.
The ice wings and ice armor on Toshiro's body began to crack.
His Bankai time was up.
The massive expenditure made weakness wash over him, but he forced himself not to fall.
That was a captain's pride.
Itachi didn't look back at him. He turned and prepared to leave.
From the start, this battle had no suspense.
In another dimension, Shinju closed the [Divine Court] system light screen before him.
On it was a complete analysis of Hyorinmaru's combat data.
[Ability Name: Hyorinmaru]
[Type: Elemental / Weather-Type Zanpakuto]
[Ability Details: Controls weather phenomena, creates ice and snow. In Bankai state can influence an extremely large-range climate, extreme temperature can approach absolute zero...]
[Countermeasure Analysis: High-density, high-concept energy attacks. Recommended: Amaterasu.]
Just now, Shinju had transmitted that real-time analyzed data directly into Itachi's mind.
The outcome of the duel had been decided long ago.
Collecting captain-level Bankai combat data made this cross-world clash extremely valuable.
At that moment, Shinju's eyebrows lifted slightly.
He switched his view to another part of Konoha.
Another duel had already reached a fever pitch.
On the rooftop of Konoha Hospital—
Two women faced each other.
Retsu, the first Kenpachi, Soul Society's strongest healer. Her smile was gentle, but her eyes were as deep as the sea.
Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, the shinobi world's top medical master. Her expression was grave, and the mark on her forehead shone brightly.
A battle over "life" was quietly unfolding.
(End of Chapter)
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