Chapter Twenty Eight

147 years before Rukia Kuchiki's arrival in Karakura Town

He sat in the middle of a broad and circular stone. The stone was itself in the middle of a pond, and there were four paths of smaller stepping stones that led to this large one, all of them coming together to form an X-shape. A thin layer of mist permeated the area, while the sky above was overcast and gave every appearance of impending rainfall. Reeds popped up sporadically from the pond, and the croaking of frogs and toads provided a rather soothing ambiance to this mystical realm.

I suppose such a place is rather fitting for my inner world, Jiraiya mused with a smirk, although I'd much rather prefer a bathhouse… and for the spirit of my Zanpakutō to be a woman as curvy and lovely as Tsunade. Oh, well. We play with the cards that fate deals us and try to make the most of them.

The spirit of his Zanpakutō may not have been a beautiful woman, but that didn't mean that it wasn't a fascinating being. Jiraiya hadn't known what to expect when his Zanpakutō had awakened about a year ago, yet the figure that stood before him now wasn't as alien to him as he thought it might be. It might not have been human, but there was a certain familiarity to it.

The figure that sat across from him was a large crimson toad. Broad and strong, with a stern edge in its fierce yellow eyes, it was at least twice as tall as the average human, and it was clad head to foot in red and white samurai armor. Slung across its back was a thick steel club lined with rows of spikes, and Jiraiya could testify firsthand to how much those buggers hurt when they dug into his skin.

Jiraiya stood up and drew his sword. His Zanpakutō's outward appearance hadn't changed all that much since it had awakened. The blade remained the same length, and the guard was still circular as well, but the handle-wrapping had turned red, and the guard was now white. He still hadn't learned his Zanpakutō's name, but he didn't feel bad about that; Itachi still hadn't learned the name of his Zanpakutō, after all, and the spirit of his sword had awoken years before Jiraiya's had.

"All right," he said as he loosened up his shoulders, "You ready for another go at it?"

The toad-warrior across from him stood up and nodded as it brandished its sinister club. "Of course."

Jiraiya smirked. "In that case, let's have at it!"

He rushed forward and thrust out his blade, but his amphibian opponent easily swatted the sword aside with the club. Then the toad charged forward, nailing Jiraiya with its armored shoulder and sending him sprawling backwards. The Legendary Sannin was quick to recover, though; in an instant he was back on his feet and charging right back into the fight. This time he leapt over his opponent, and as he came down behind the toad he lashed out with his sword. The toad whirled around and made a broad swing with his club, but Jiraiya ducked beneath the strike and swiftly countered. His blade made contact with his opponent, but it simply slid along the armor and did no visible damage.

Jiraiya chuckled as he backflipped to dodge his foe's return strike. "You're lucky you've got that plating on you. That could've left an ugly wound otherwise."

"The victor in a battle is the last one standing," his adversary replied as he made a series of powerful swings with his spiked club, "You know this better than most. I may be slower than you, but my armor makes me tougher."

Jiraiya smiled as he ducked and weaved to avoid getting hit. "Good. It'd be no fun if the spirit of my Zanpakutō was a pushover!"

The toad-warrior gave him a confident smirk. "Indeed."

Jiraiya rolled to the side to dodge a particularly vicious overhand strike before thrusting forward. Once again, his sword glanced off the toad's armor, but Jiraiya had been expecting that. He let his momentum continue to carry him forward and lunged for the toad's legs, trying to tackle his opponent. Unfortunately, the toad simply leapt into the air, and Jiraiya was forced to scramble backwards to avoid getting crushed by the armored amphibian as it came back down.

"Phew," said Jiraiya as he brought his sword up, "That was close!"

"Do not rest easy just yet!" the toad-warrior roared as he lunged at him.

Jiraiya sidestepped as his opponent brought his spiked club down hard. Bits of rock flew up from where the weapon had hit the stone they were fighting on, and Jiraiya got a few small cuts for his trouble. It wasn't anything serious, though, and he wasted no time in his counterattack. He surged forward, bringing his sword up and swinging at the toad-warrior's exposed chin. Unfortunately, his foe responded by planting an armored boot right in his gut, kicking Jiraiya right off the central stone and into the pond.

Coughing up water as he tried to catch his breath, Jiraiya scrambled back onto the large stone. "Man… that one really knocked the wind out of me! You've got a mean kick, you know that?"

"Armor serves for more than just defense," the toad-warrior replied, "It can amplify the impact behind our hand-to-hand blows. You should be well aware of this."

"Believe me, I am," Jiraiya groaned as he rubbed his stomach, "So… one more?"

The toad-warrior shook his head as he put his club away. "That is enough for now."

Jiraiya chuckled as he sheathed his sword. "That's a shame. I was enjoying myself there."

The armored toad smirked. "Indeed. If nothing else, you have proven yourself to be a spirited fighter. It makes me all the more regretful of the fact that you cannot yet hear my name; I am most eager to see what you can do with my power."

"Well, you're the one who told me to give it time, right?" Jiraiya pointed out, "It'll happen when it happens. It's best to just go with the flow in matters such as this."

The toad nodded. "Quite so. You are surprisingly wise, considering you are the purveyor of such juvenile novels."

Jiraiya folded his arms. "Hey, I'll have you know that my novels are top sellers! I've already published three installments of the Lovers' Strategies series since I came to the Soul Society, and I'm well on my way to getting number four out there. I'm a real hit in the literary circles of the Seireitei!"

"Then cease your training and become a full-time novelist if you are so proud of peddling adolescent romance tales," huffed the toad.

Jiraiya grinned. "There's no reason why I can't do both. I'm a man of many talents, after all!"

The toad scowled. "You should devote yourself completely to your training. Such frivolous distractions will impede your journey to unlock your full potential."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "You know, I always heard that the spirits of our Zanpakutō are supposed to reflect aspects of ourselves, but I gotta say, you're not sounding a whole lot like me right now."

"Not as you may see yourself, perhaps," the toad replied, "but my role in this realm is to be a taskmaster, something that you have knowledge of. I do not have to go about it in the same way as you did with training your students, though; I may reflect aspects of you, but I am most certainly not you."

Jiraiya chuckled. "On that, we agree. Still, I'll do this my way. Seeing as how you were born from me, you really should've seen that coming."

The toad sighed. "I suppose so. We will continue this at another time, though; you have spent enough of your morning here, I think."

Jiraiya nodded as his eyes slowly began to widen. "Yeah. Come to think of it… I'm probably running late, actually! Crap, class is gonna start any minute now, if it hasn't already! Itachi's never gonna let me hear the end of it if I'm late again!"

….

Itachi suppressed a smirk as Jiraiya sat down next to him. "In by the skin of your cheeks. You're cutting it close today, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya chuckled. "Morning Jinzen ran a little longer than normal. It's easy to lose track of time in there."

Itachi certainly couldn't argue with that sentiment; he knew from firsthand experience how time seemed to lose meaning when he was training with the spirit of his Zanpakutō. "How did it go?"

"I'll be sore for a little while," Jiraiya replied as he rubbed his stomach, "Whatever that armored toad's name is, his kicks pack a real wallop."

Neither of our Zanpakutō seem to be the types that believe in gradually easing into our training, Itachi mused as he recalled his most recent sparring sessions with the female spirit of his blade, Their modus operandi seems to be to beat our lessons into us… quite literally. Then again, I can't argue with their effectiveness…

Everyone in the Academy knew that Itachi and Jiraiya had awakened their Zanpakutō, but many of them didn't seem to truly realize the full implications of that. Now in their third year of training to become Soul Reapers, the two former Shinobi were actually taking lessons from not only the same instructors as the rest of their classmates, but from the spirits of their swords as well. As a result, their growth as students had accelerated exponentially. Such rapid success and development had naturally made them the talk of the Academy, and while some were in awe of their abilities, others were envious. It was to be expected, and while Jiraiya seemed to roll with it well enough, Itachi wasn't exactly a fan of the extra scrutiny.

You don't mind it when said scrutiny comes from Yoruichi, though, don't you?

What are you getting at?

Itachi could picture the spirit of his Zanpakutō shaking her head in both amusement and ridicule. I swear, you truly are hopeless when it comes to women…

The best course of action when she got like this was to ignore her, so that's exactly what Itachi did. He didn't have time to be trading verbal barbs with his Zanpakutō today; there were much more important items on the agenda.

"It's a good thing that you made it in on time today," he told Jiraiya, "Our instructor would be rather upset if you missed our live Konsō exercise."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "Wait, that's today? Man, I forgot all about that!"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

It was at that moment that the instructor walked into the classroom. Much to Itachi's surprise, he wasn't alone; in fact, he had none other than Yoruichi and Soi-Fon with him.

Jiraiya grinned and nudged Itachi with his elbow. "Well, well... look who's here to see you!"

"You don't know that's what she's here for," Itachi replied a bit too forcefully.

Jiraiya chuckled. "Maybe, but don't lie to me; you're happy to see her."

That he was, although he wouldn't give Jiraiya the satisfaction of openly admitting it. It had been quite some time since Itachi had last seen Yoruichi, so any chance he had to meet her again was a most welcome one. He knew that as much as she was interested in the progression of his training, her duties as the Captain of Squad Two came first, so it was only natural that those responsibilities preclude her from visiting often. As pleased as Itachi was to see her again, though, he did have to wonder why she was here. It probably wasn't hard for someone in her position to find out about their scheduled field trip to one of the Realms of the Living for the live Konsō exercise, but was that really something a Captain would take an interest in?

He got his answer a moment later when the instructor addressed the class. "Good morning, students. As I'm sure you're all well aware, today is our class's big excursion to the Realm of the Living known as Terra. In preparation for our Konsō exercise, I asked Captain Shihōin if the Second Division would perform some advanced reconnaissance in order for us to find a suitable site with plenty of souls for you all to practice on. I am pleased to announce that she has found just such a location!"

Of course, Itachi realized, Squad Two members commonly act as advanced scouts in field operations in addition to handling more traditional front-line roles. Yoruichi's division would be a natural for helping us find an ideal location for the Konsō exercise.

Yoruichi stepped forward. "Good morning, everyone. My bodyguard and I just returned from Terra; my Third Seat is there with a team securing the site. The place we'll be taking you to was the site of a recent battle, so it's not going to be pleasant. Most of the Hollows that are drawn to such large-scale engagements have already been exterminated, but there may be a few still wandering the area. That's why Squad Two will be there in force while you're conducting your Konsō exercise. Focus only on completing your task and making sure that the souls of the fallen pass on, and we'll keep the Hollows off your back."

"While we're down there, you are to follow the orders that any member of Squad Two gives you," said Soi-Fon, "We all have plenty of field experience, so trust that we know what's best for your safety in such a situation."

Yoruichi folded her arms. "We may be protecting you down there, but you still need to keep your guard up. Battlefields, even ones where the fighting's recently ceased, can be confusing and disorienting places. There is always the possibility of Hollows using the debris or piles of corpses for concealment, so tread cautiously. If you see anything suspicious, call out to one of us immediately."

The instructor came forward to address the class. "You are all students of the advanced track, which is why such a location has been chosen for your Konsō exercise. It is more dangerous than what students in the normal track would be assigned to, but that is because our expectations of you are higher and we have confidence in your abilities. Remember your training, be mindful of the instructions of Captain Shihōin and her subordinates, and I have no doubt that you will succeed in your task!"

Yoruichi smiled, and Itachi felt his heartbeat increase ever so slightly as she locked eyes with him. "Well, you heard the man. Let's get to it!"