26 Five months (1/2)

1st Division HQ, Training Grounds

Itsuki was currently meditating on his sword deepening his bond with his zanpakutos and looking for ways to achieve Bankai, which was proving to be futile. It's been 5 months since that spar and his graduation day was nearing. Yesterday was his last 'beating' with Yamamoto. Itsuki then remembered what happened two months ago where he was asked a question he had been expecting.

”So kid, your eyes have an ability, don't they”

Itsuki wasn't surprised by this question as he had been expecting this question for some time. Whenever he trained his eye's ability, certain evidence would be left which, Itsuki, knew, wouldn't escape his teacher's eyes.

”Took you long enough, sensei”

This earned a twitch on the captain commander's eyebrows as he revelled at the casual speech. Itsuki was at first extremely respectful in what he did, but that casually changed to what it is now. Although he acted respectfully, his eyes didn't show it as he now looked at him like he was just another old man. This couldn't be blamed on Itsuki as the man wasn't like a captain commander all the time. His traits of being old showed here and there as he randomly took naps when they were training. Especially in Shunpo training, where he would just let Chojiro do the throwing as he dozed off elsewhere.

At times when they were together, he would start rambling on and on about the good old days. This showed Itsuki, not to believe whatever the anime or manga portrays, apart from the stern captain commander he was still an old man. Strictly speaking, for everyone else he was the stern captain commander but for the ones closer to him he was like a grandfather teaching little kids how to walk. Whenever they sparred, he would say

”Lets start this beating” or he would go to the local hot springs, frightening the living daylights out of the common Shinigami who were also there.

Returning to the topic in hand Itsuki looked at the old man as he activated his eyes. Although he was taken aback, Yamamoto had no change in expression. He was quite familiar with the concept of death, so him feeling it again was nothing new. Chojiro, who was next to him, was astonished at the change in Itsuki's eyes. He never knew that Itsuki had this kind of ability but his reaction seemed to be the same as Yamamoto's but with a bit of wariness.

”I felt a weird reiatsu coming off your eyes, I was suspicious at first but looking at you train with them when they were activated, confused me.”

Looking at those crystal-clear eyes gave Yamamoto the thought of death being beautiful. This wasn't the first time he had felt this, but it still left him marvelling at this feeling. Chojiro looked at his captain with more respect as he himself couldn't notice the difference. Itsuki then asked for a kitchen knife and a block of sekkiseki stone bringing the two out of their thoughts. Chojiro went to get them as Itsuki kept his eyes activated. He never really wanted to hide it but thought that it would be better to be kept as a trump card.

Chojiro came back with the required materials before handing it to Itsuki. Returning to his position behind Yamamoto he watched as Itsuki demonstrated his eye's ability.

The stone given to Itsuki was fairly big, being the size of relatively large bowl. He held the piece of stone and cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Once it was cut through Itsuki dropped the cut stone as it disintegrated into dust upon landing.

”It crumbled into pieces!”

Muttered a shocked Chojiro as he looked at the position where the stone landed. Yamamoto was also shocked as both his eyes had opened up. What really shocked the two was that they felt nothing from Itsuki. No Reiatsu nothing, there wasn't even a bit of tenseness or even some strain in his expression. A normal kitchen knife was able to cut through a material that protected the Seireitei from all sides and his expression was calm and unperturbed as if painting on a canvas throughout the whole process.

”To correct you, it's dead”

This further shocked the two because the stone was an inanimate object so how could it die. Itsuki continued,

”These are my eyes, I see the death of things, not just living things, if I believe that something can be killed, I will see lines on that certain object. Tracing through the lines I can end its 'life', bringing it death”

A short moment of silence followed as the two needed time to digest the information. It was just too shocking that an ability like this existed. Yamamoto came out his thoughts first and deeply looked at Itsuki. He knew what dangers this ability possessed and knew, if used for the wrong intentions, it could cause the destruction of soul society itself. Chojiro was also thinking the same thing as he also looked at Itsuki. For a second, Yamamoto contemplated on killing him but held himself back as he remembered the student of his and his personality. Although he had an unapproachable aura surrounding him, he had a caring heart. The three months he spent with him allowed the old monster to know Itsuki's thoughts. He wanted to protect the ones closest to him, and whenever he was with his friends, a warm look would surface. He hated crowds and preferred to do things alone. Also, it seemed the old man had got a soft spot for this student as a stern look plastered his face.

”Itsuki, Chojiro, whatever that has happened in this room, stays in this room. This is highly classified information, and no one should know.”

Chojiro was shocked by this declaration, but a smile surfaced on his face while looking at his captain. Over the years he had definitely changed as he stopped causing heedless sacrifices to achieve his goals and becoming more lenient, hesitating at sacrifices ever since defeating the Quincy.