"The laws of nature are for beings who must live their lives bound by them. Now, shall we carry on? To a place beyond all laws." — Sōsuke Aizen.
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"Are you sure you want to go alone? We don't know what you might find over there." Junpei said with barely hidden concern.
Itachi shook his head. "The ideal scenario would be me going with a Captain but there is no one who can infiltrate such a stronghold as effectively as I can."
He looked at Soi Fon who was barely hiding her dissatisfaction in his actions. "I would have taken Soi Fon with me but she's not yet at the level to fight any of the Espada." He left out the fact that she might be able to kill them with her Bankai but that also wasn't a positive factor in his escape plan in case things go awry.
What was also left unsaid was that the Soul Society couldn't risk sending more of their Captains in what was essentially a suicide mission.
"He might be expecting you, y'know." Junpei said again, his voice going lower this time.
"I know." Itachi said after some time. "And you still want to go?" He gave a soft nod to Soi Fon.
It was hard to make them understand, all that was to be said could not be said. "Apart from Aizen I also want to check up on something. It's been nagging at me for some time now."
Soi Fon and Junpei looked at each other, knowing that nothing they could say would change his mind, but they were disappointed that he still insisted on going alone.
"Are you seriously going like that?" She pointed at his Captain's garb. "They would spot you from a mile away." She joked. As far as she was concerned, he could wear Captain Kyōraku's flamboyant pink robes out in the open in Hueco Mundo and they still wouldn't be able to find him.
They left for Mayuri's office under the current lighthearted mood only to be welcomed by a very irate pale skinned Captain.
"About time you arrived." Mayuri snarled and led them underground to a research area where a physical Senkaimon stood with a swarm of researchers running around.
"How sure are we of its operation?" Soi Fon inquired, prompting Mayuri to roll his eyes.
"Well if you were so concerned about its state of operation, why didn't you present yourself as a willing test subject?"
Itachi's raised hand stopped Soi Fon from saying anything else to Mayuri and relocated her to standing at attention behind Itachi.
"Get on with it." He said to Mayuri, earning him a glare and a scoff before he fished out a little device and threw it to Itachi.
"That is your receiver. Whatever you do, do not lose it. This end of the gate will remain on standby for two weeks max. When you are ready to come back, inject your Reiatsu, a good amount, into the receiver and the gate will pick up the signal and open anywhere in a ten meter radius from you. You'll have less than five seconds to cross before I close it."
Mayuri had half been expecting Itachi to ask about the five seconds mark but the irritable Captain settled for staring hard at him for over seconds before walking towards the gate.
"The gate is primed and ready- Sir?" Akon, Mayuri's Lieutenant, was pushed aside as Mayuri took over the controls and turned the gate on without any forewarning.
He hardly had time to gloat before Itachi calmly stepped through the gate.
"That inbred pig…"
…..
[Hueco Mundo, POV: With Itachi]
The ever present pale moon of Hueco Mundo felt so comforting to see after so long. He took a solid minute basking in the afterglow of the slow shining light of this dark world.
'It feels soothing.' Tsukuyomi said from within him.
"Yes, it does."
'What now?'
This was where the conflict was. Should he look for them now or wait till after the mission. 'I doubt it'll be much of a stealth mission towards the end.'
Thinking that, he summoned a few crows and let them fly incognito. It created a lot of chances for his cover to be blown but he was already working under the assumption that Aizen was already aware of his arrival and not his location.
He didn't feel a particularly strong emotion towards those two particular Hollows… well maybe he did, if not he wouldn't be willing to risk an early detection just for the chance of looking for them.
"Let's go then."
There it was, off to the distance. Las Noches.
The bedrock of Hollows, and no doubt Aizen's recent conquest.
Even from where he stood he could feel the bubbling mass of Reiatsu that filled the entire castle.
'Are you sure you are going to be able to get through all that undetected?'
'Are you doubting me?'
'Of course not. I'm just asking if you are sure.' Amaterasu said, sounding nonchalant as Itachi practically threw himself into the lion's den.
Crossing the walls was the easiest part, hiding his Reiatsu was as easy as breathing, holding himself from storming off to find Aizen… it wasn't that hard to be honest. Slaughtering all the Hollows he could sense, a little tempting but he could hold it off. Now sensing Kaname Tōsen's robust spiritual pressure? Now that was more than enough to give him pause for a few moments. He'll eventually get what was coming for him.
Apart from Tōsen, Itachi was quick to realize a very important fact, one that he already knew but not the extent to which it was instated.
The Hollows were organized. Not in the way that they were now under a clear power but in the way that there was a very clear hierarchy and relevant chains of command. It wasn't only those at the top that were followers of Aizen but even those at the lowest strata were divided into factions, fracción, each operating under different directives.
The answer was easy.
It wasn't necessarily the Arrancars, no it wasn't.
Vasto Lorde.
Not all the Arrancars were Vasto Lorde. Luppi, the Sixth Espada, and Nnoitra, the Seventh Espada, weren't Vasto Lorde. The only one who was a bonafide Vasto Lorde was Ulquiorra, of that Itachi was entirely sure.
"You are aggrandizing the risks." His clone said offhandedly. "But I understand."
In truth, this wasn't so much as a stealth mission but more like a hide-and-seek mission, at least to Itachi.
If he could suspect that Aizen would most likely predict his next actions, then of course he would plan around that. In his course of action, his best play was to act with the assumption that he was at a disadvantage.
The mind games are only just starting.
…..
Zommari Rureaux was displeased.
Immediately after Luppi's mess in the World of the Living, Lord Aizen had put the whole of Las Noches in a state of alert after briefly mentioning that due to Luppi's mess, the Shinigami would be invading Hueco Mundo any day from then, unfailingly.
It had been more than a week, and while he would never doubt his Lord's words, he was beginning to question the spine of the so-called Shinigami. He could get behind their prowess; Lord Aizen had even applauded it, but their backbone, he reckoned, needed some strengthening.
"Hmm?" A faint whiff, so faint and common as the dreary Las Noches breeze.
His gaze carried his intent towards the north entrance of the grand castle/city and in a moment's time, he was already at the outer walls.
"What are you doing here?"
"I thought I smelt a rat." Mila Rose said while sniffing her nose before scoffing and moving away from Zommari. Even though they were comrades, his presence always unnerved her. In fact, everyone's presence unnerved her. What if it was just the fact that she was one of the weakest here? No, she would never admit that.
After Mila Rose left, Zommari looked at the area she was sniffing at and frowned. It could be that he was just paranoid but his overcautious(overconfident) nature told him otherwise.
'Go and notify the others.' His mind warned and he obeyed.
…..
"What a risky game. This is very unlike me." Itachi's clone shook his head as he took what was a very daring choice of play.
He would never do this.
Itachi the Shinobi would never give up hi dplay this early into the game.
'Itachi the Shinobi would never have thought of this as a game.'
'You're right, Tsukuyomi. He would have never.'
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