Chapter 6 - Early Sacrifice (1/2)
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A young nobleman was seen walking towards the training academy. The students around him stood clear after seeing his irritable eyes. He eventually made his way to the training field.
”That damn Itachi...he isn't better than ME! HE IS A WORTHLESS PEASANT!” Daiki thinks to himself as he channels his reiatsu and flares it at a training dummy in the field. The dummy's head blows up.
”Damn that guy!!!”
”Oh? What made a young scion of the Kuchiki so angry?” a calm voice came from the side.
Daiki turned around to see two men and a woman walking towards him.
”Hmph. What do you want Taro?” Daiki scoffed at the noble.
”Hey now! That's not how you talk to a friend!” Taro smiled at Daiki.
”Shut up! What friend!” Daiki blurted out.
”Hey watch your tone!” A second noble said from the side.
Daiki looked at the other two before saying ”Oh look the servants of the Shihouin. You should watch your place when you're speaking to me!”
The young noble was about to retort before Taro placed his hand in front of him ”Calm down Kenta.”
Kenta looked at Taro and then at Daiki before turning away.
Daiki didn't continue and just bid his farewells.
”That guy is as arrogant as ever...” Kenta said watching Daiki depart.
”He seems angrier than usual. What do you think Daiyu?” Taro said, turning to the woman.
”Hmm...” Daiyu simply nodded.
Taro looked back at Daiki and smiled.
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Dawn slowly approaches, sending a cascade of light into Itachi's room. He slowly wakes up and puts on his shihakusho. Itachi feels a light rumbling in his stomach. ”I haven't eaten anything in a while.” Itachi thought to himself. He goes to the bathroom and rinses his face with water and leaves his room.
Itachi goes to the cafeteria and lines up for breakfast. He picks up some onigiri with seaweed and miso soup then heads to an empty table. Itachi eats his breakfast then looks up at the clock and sees it's almost time for class. Itachi throws out his trash and walks down the hallway to the classroom.
As he approaches the door, Daiki Kuchiki also approaches the door at the same time. Daiki glares at Itachi and Itachi shows no visible reaction on his face. A curious Taro Shihouin who was following Daiki notices this and gives Itachi a smug smile before walking into the classroom with Daiyu Feng and Kenta Omaeda right behind him. ”I see... so that's what happened.” Taro thought to himself.
Itachi enters the classroom and sees Itsuki is already in his seat and goes to sit down next to him.
”You have a good morning Itachi?” Itsuki asks glumly as Itachi sits down.
”Nothing spectacular.” Itachi notes a hint of despondency in Itsuki's voice. Before he has a chance to question it, Gengoro Ounabara walks in. The class silences as he clears his throat at the podium.
”Good morning class! Today will be a long day so I hope you are well rested! We'll be doing a brief lecture on Soul Society history then go onto the basics of zanjutsu and hakudo in addition to picking your asauchis!”
Ounabara wastes no time in diving straight into the lecture as the students frantically take notes to keep up. Itachi paid little attention to the lecture as he had already read about it the day before. Instead, his mind trailed off back to his life in the world of the living and his academy days during then and his life following it. He thought about how Sasuke might be doing and if Naruto was successful in changing Sasuke's perception of the world. Ounabara notices Itachi was staring out the window and not taking notes and asks him a question, disrupting Itachi's trance.
”Uchiha Itachi! Tell me the purpose of the Senkaimon!” Ounabara shouts across the classroom mid lecture. Daiki sneers as he anticipates Itachi to answer incorrectly. Itachi regains himself and calmly responds.
”The Senkaimon is a dimensional gateway that shinigami use to enter and leave Soul Society. In order to pass through it, a jigokucho is needed.”
”An acceptable answer, Uchiha.” Ounabara was a bit shocked to hear Itachi's correct response.
”Maybe he was paying attention.” Ounabara thought to himself before he continued the lecture.
The classroom was a bit surprised as they stared at Itachi.
Daiki pulled a long face, not expecting Itachi to be able to answer correctly.
Itachi spaced out once again as Ounabara continued his lecture.
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”We will now be going over Zanjutsu, the fighting style in using your zanpakuto!” Ounabara goes into detail on the basic forms and stances used in wielding a zanpakuto.
”Before your blade becomes a zanpakuto, it is considered an asauchi. An asauchi is the form your zanpakuto takes when it is in its sealed state without a name. Over time as your asauchi develops with your soul, a separate spiritual entity will inhabit the blade and tell you its name. It is from then on it will be called a zanpakuto. For this reason, once you receive your asauchis today, you are expected to carry it around with you everywhere you go in order to imprint your soul onto it.”
Ounabara finishes his lecture and takes the class to the armory. There, the students line up as they wait to receive their asauchi. Itachi is handed his and he looks at his reflection on the blade. Ounabara tells the class to sheath their asauchis.
”It is forbidden to unsheathe your blade on academy grounds.” Ounabara warns the class.
Ounabara signals the class to follow him and they head towards the zanjutsu training hall. The students are given wooden practice swords and line up in front of Ounabara.
”I'm going to show you the proper form in swinging your blade. These will only be the absolute basics. Once your asauchi develops into a zanpakuto, from then on you have to hone your skills by yourself using the basics.”