Itachi Rebirth: A Shinigami Tale

"I am sorry, I don't think we have met. I am Kuchiki, Rukia." Rukia Introduced herself.

"Uchiha, Itachi, It's nice to meet you." Itachi Introduced himself. 'A Kuchiki.. Like the Captain of the sixth division?' Itachi thought to himself.

"I am sorry, but I don't think I've seen you before." Rukia replied.

"I am new to the squad, I will be the Lieutenant." Itachi says.

Rukia was startled, she had actually come to speak to the Captain about the lieutenant that would be joining. "I see." Rukia said despondently before quickly leaving.

Itachi watches Rukia walk away as he could not think of anything he could say at the moment to console her. He entered Ukitake's office and saw a brand new lieutenant's badge on the table. He walked up to the table and picked up the badge and placed the badge on his arm. He also notices a list of things that Ukitake needed to do. 'The Captain isn't feeling well so I'll do this instead for today.'

Itachi sits down at the desk and begins going through various paperwork, including shinigami files, duties tasked to shinigami, and contracts for future renovations to the division. After thirty minutes of tedious work, Itachi sorts out the papers and signs them. Suddenly, Kiyone and Sentaro come into the office.

"Lieutenant Uchiha! There you are! What are you doing here?" Kiyone asks as she and Sentaro walk up to the desk. They are surprised when they see all of Ukitake's paperwork filled out and completed properly.

"Lieutenant, you did a good job here!" Sentaro says enthusiastically as he goes through the papers.

"A lot of this isn't much different from what Captain Soi Fon had me do. The only difference is it is for the entire squadron instead of a singular corps." Itachi said as he neatly stacked another pile of papers.

"For now, you two check on the Captain. I'll finish up things in here." Itachi said to the two third seats.

"Yes Lieutenant!" The two of them replied then ran out of the room.

"Hey, maybe he's not so bad," Kiyone said as they two dashed back to Ukitake's room.

"Yeah!" Sentaro agreed.

------

'They're a hyperactive bunch aren't they.' Itachi thought as he rose up from his seat and weaved a hand sign.

A puff of smoke appears next to Itachi and a clone emerges from the smoke. 'It's been a while since I've had a clone do work for me. I can do this while I explore the division grounds more.' Itachi's clone sat down and started working on the paperwork as Itachi left the room.

It was already late afternoon when Itachi left the building. 'Maybe I should get to know some of the squad members.' He headed over to the training fields first and saw a few shinigami practicing their sword skills.

The shinigami saw Itachi approaching and became nervous when they saw the badge on his arm. 'The new lieutenant' they thought to themselves. Truth be told, they weren't excited about having a new lieutenant so soon after the death of their previous Lieutenant. It hadn't even been that long since he was replaced. Not only that, this was someone from the second division. All members of the second division were ruthless in their tactics, with no regard for their comrades. A complete opposite of their division's ideals.

A voice suddenly broke their thoughts.

"Your form is off." Itachi said to the shinigami.

"Hmm?" One of the shinigami was surprised. They weren't expecting Itachi to suddenly point out their flaw. Itachi approached the shinigami.

"Your stance is too stiff." Itachi said before continuing his explanation and pointing out all the errors.

The shinigami thought for a moment before reviewing Itachi's pointers.

"Th..Than you Lieutenant!" he said quickly bowing.

"As for you, you and you" Itachi pointed to the rest of the shinigami and pointed out their errors.

"Thank you Lieutenant!" The group all said together while bowing.

"Continue working hard" Itachi replied before leaving the field. The shinigami watched Itachi leave with a hint of respect.

"Maybe he's not so bad right?" They said to each other.

"Yeah."

On his way out of the field, he noticed Rukia sitting under a tree with a solemn expression. He made his way towards her.

Rukia noticed someone approaching in the distance. It was the new lieutenant of the 13th division. "Lieutenant." She bowed in greeting before quickly departing.

'Hmm… seems the loss was hardest on her.' Itachi thought to himself as he watched her leave.

Itachi continued his rounds around 13th division, assisting numerous shinigami with their training.

----

Over the next few weeks, Itachi continued with his Lieutenant duties and gradually gained the appreciation of the division. One morning, he sat at Ukitake's desk and finished up the last of the paperwork. 'Not a lot today so there is no need for me to make a clone. I'll have plenty of time to train after this.'

Itachi's thoughts are interrupted as he senses someone approaching and he looks up at the door. An unseated officer runs into the room panting with panic written all over his face.

"Lieutenant Uchiha! I-I just came f-f-r-ff-" The shinigami stutters as he tries to catch his breath. Itachi gets up from his seat and gives him a concerned look.

"Calm down and breathe then tell me what is happening." Itachi says reassuringly to the panicked shinigami. The shinigami looks at Itachi and takes a few slow deep breaths.

"This morning, we were sent out to patrol an area in Rukongai district three where hollows were appearing. A large group of hollows attacked us and Kuchiki got separated from us. There are still three more of us out there looking for her but it's difficult with the high amount of hollows in the area." The shinigami said, out of breath but able to fully articulate what he was originally trying to say.

"Understood. I'll go out there and tell your squadmates to report back to the barracks. I'll deal with the rest." Itachi says as he vanishes from the room before the shinigami even has time to reply.

In a short amount of time, Itachi arrived at the district. He sees a path of broken trees in the forest and follows the path. As he follows the path, he hears a hollow roar nearby and feels the presence of three shinigami. Itachi jumps quickly through the trees and sees a hollow holding a shinigami while two other shinigami are on the ground. The shinigami in the hollow's hand kicks and screams as he is inched closer to the hollow's mouth. The hollow opens it's large mouth but in an instant, its head is split in half and the shinigami finds himself freed from its grasp.

"L-Lieutenant Uchiha!" The shinigami exclaims as he sees Itachi. Itachi ignores him and checks on the other two shinigami on the ground. He manages to wake one of them up but the other one is still unconscious.

"You two. I am taking over this mission. Take your unconscious squadmate and report back to the barracks and get your injuries looked at in the infirmary. I will find Kuchiki and clear the rest of these hollows out." Itachi orders.

"Yes sir!" The two shinigami reply as one of them mounts their unconscious comrade on their shoulder before they run back to the barracks.

Itachi closes his eyes and does his best to sense Rukia. After a few moments Itachi opens his eyes again. 'Found her.' Itachi flash steps out deeper into the forest.

-----

'My lack of strength was the reason Kaien died...I need to get stronger and I'll do it by defeating these hollows alone!' Rukia runs into a clearing filled with strong hollows. 'This is how I will redeem myself!'

Rukia charges into the group of hollows and draws out her zanpakuto.

"Dance, Sode no-" Rukia freezes as an image of Kaien's face appears in her head and she remembers her zanpakuto training with him. Her hands begin to shake and she drops her zanpakuto on the ground.

The hollows in the clearing notice Rukia and charge in at her. A large hollow at the front of the group punches Rukia and she goes flying across the field until she is stopped by the trees. The force of her landing against a tree knocks the tree down and she feels her breath taken out of her.

The other hollows continue to run at her. Rukia tries to stand up but feels a sharp pain in her torso and can't move. As the hollow lunges in at Rukia with its gaping mouth, ready to bite her, she closes her eyes. 'I'm sorry Kaien...I let you down.'

Rukia tries to mentally prepare herself to get struck by the hollow but seconds pass and she realizes she is not getting attacked. Rukia opens her eyes and sees she was moved from her original spot. She sees a figure standing in front of her with his back facing her and she notices the lieutenant badge on his arm.

"Lieutenant Uchiha?" Rukia questions. Itachi doesn't respond but instead raises his hand up, pointing a finger at the incoming hollows.

"Hado 4: Byakurai." Itachi shoots a thin, highly concentrated bolt of reiatsu at one of the hollows. He maintains the form of the bolt and makes a swiping motion with his arm, cutting through the hollows like a hot knife through butter.

The bodies of the hollows stop moving and collapse on the ground. Itachi looks at the bodies of the hollows. 'Again, there are more of these hollows. And they seem to get slightly stronger each time…' Itachi redirects his attention to Rukia who was staring at Itachi.

"Kuchiki, are you able to stand?" Itachi asks her. Rukia tries to get up but she winces in pain as she gets halfway up.

"I-I'm fine Lieutenant. I can get back on my own." Rukia says as she shakily stands up all the way.

"No you're not. Allow me to assi-" Itachi reaches forward but his hand is swatted away by Rukia. Itachi looks into her eyes and sees they were filled with pain. Not the pain from the injuries from the fight, but from the pain of losing Kaien.

"I can do it by myself-" Rukia suddenly falls over unconscious and Itachi catches her.

"I'm sorry I had to resort to this." Itachi says as he reverts his sharingan before carrying an unconscious Rukia back to the barracks.