Chapter 52 - Retreat

Itachi rushes to Ichigo's. Just before he reaches he hears a voice from a device in his robes.

"The application license for limiter removal has been accepted."

As Itachi jumped through the air, he felt a surge of reiatsu flow through his body and made his way to Ichigo even faster.

---

"You call that a Bankai? Don't depress me like this shinigami! It seems the only thing your bankai increases is your frickin speed!" A tall man with spiky light blue hair and eyes said as he hovered over a cloud of smoke and dust on the ground.

The man's eyes widen as the cloud of dust suddenly clears and reveals an orange haired individual grasping his blade as black reiatsu swirls around it.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

The spiky, blue haired man raised his arms up to block the blast as it makes contact with him, causing a huge explosion in the air.

"What the hell was that? That little trick wasn't in Ulquiorra's report." The blue haired man smiled.

"So it was enough to take care of your depression, Arrancar?" Ichigo replied with a grin while heavily panting after the attack. He fell to one knee shortly after and held his face as the whites of his left eye began to turn black.

"Kurosaki!" Itachi said as he appeared next to Ichigo. He looked at Ichigo and saw he was alright despite being heavily bruised.

'Something is not right with his reiatsu…' Itachi observed as he noticed one of Ichigo's eyes transforming. 'It's...almost hollow like.'

"Itachi…that guy there is strong." Ichigo said, still panting. "I'll take care of him, look after Rukia!."

Itachi looked down the street and saw Rukia lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. 'Her reiatsu is low but she's still alive. I'll have to do remedial first aid now so she can be properly taken care of later. But…' Itachi looked back at Ichigo. 'He's in no shape to hold off that Arrancar.'

"The hell are you two whispering about?" A voice said from behind Itachi. Itachi quickly turned around and saw the blue haired arrancar in front of him with a malicious grin on his face.

"You seem stronger than that trash over there. Why don't you fight me instead."The arrancar said as he threw a punch at Itachi's face. Itachi side stepped to dodge the punch and vanished from his vision.

'What the hell?! He's fast. Where did he-' The arrancar's thoughts were cut off as Itachi appeared over his shoulder, grabbed his jacket and threw him over his head and onto the ground, creating a large crater.

"Fancy moves you got there, shinigami." The arrancar grinned as Itachi looked at him. Itachi's eyes widened as a garganta began to open behind the arrancar and a familiar face appeared from within.

"It seems there are two shinigami who are worth killing!" The arrancar laughed as he put his hand on his blade but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

��Grimmjow, put your blade back where-" Tousen is cut off as Itachi appears behind him. Tousen pushes Grimmjow away and draws his own blade to block Itachi.

"The hell?!" Grimmjow exclaimed as he regained his balance and saw Itachi and Tousen locking swords.

"Uchiha, Itachi. Stand down for now. I am merely here to return with Grimmjow for violating Lord Aizen's orders." Tousen said as he and Itachi continued to clash swords.

'This situation is not advantageous for me. I have to deal with both Tousen and that Arrancar. If it was just me alone I think I could manage that. But Kurosaki is still down there and Kuchiki will die if she does not get treated. I was originally hoping to capture Tousen so that he may be interrogated about Aizen's plans, but that won't work in this situation.' Itachi thought to himself as he distanced himself away from Tousen.

Itachi's eyes began to swirl as he activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and looked at Tousen.

"Amaterasu."

Tousen, with his increased sensory capabilities from being blind, sensed Itachi's build up of reiatsu heading towards him. He quickly mustered up all his strength to dodge and moved his body to the left. Tousen's left arm suddenly caught on fire as black flames began to envelop his arm.

'These flames are not normal. They won't go out and burn hotter as time passes.' Tousen thought as he felt the flames travel up his arm. 'This leaves me no choice.' With his other hand, Tousen drew his blade and quickly cut off his arm just below the shoulder.

"Grimmjow, we're leaving now!" Tousen grunted as he tried to open up another Garganta but stopped when he saw a large fireball coming towards him. Grimmjow appeared in front of Tousen and cut the fireball in half.

"Like hell I will! If you're so scared of this guy then leave on your own! I'll kill him myself!" Grimmjow yelled as he charged at Itachi. Just as his blade was about to reach Itachi, it is stopped by a ribcage.

"You think a few bones will keep you safe from me?!" Grimmjow yelled as he continued to cut at Itachi's susanoo. From inside the susanoo, Itachi pointed a finger at Grimmjow.

"Bakudo 61: Rikujokoro."

Six beams of light slam into Grimmjow's torso and stop him from swinging his sword. As Itachi looks at the trapped arrancar in front of him, his attention is diverted as he notices the sky rip open above him. 'This again?!'

"You think something like this can stop me shinigami?!" Grimmjow yelled as he flared his reiatsu.

"Grind." As a wave of reiatsu began to flood over Grimmjow, he was stopped as a yellow light enveloped him along with Tousen.

"Grimmjow, what you're doing now is in direct violation of Aizen's orders. As I said earlier, we are going." Tousen grunted as he held the spot where his arm once was.

"Tch...alright." Grimmjow scoffed as the light of the Negaccion carried him up. "Black flames, Black shockwaves. So what?! You shinigami wouldn't stand a chance against my released state!" Grimmjow yelled just before he passed through the Garganta.

"Welcome home, Grimmjow." Aizen said, looking down at him from his high seated throne. Aizen glanced at Tousen who was standing next to him and was now missing an arm.

"And who might have done that to you? It couldn't have been Grimmjow." Aizen commented as he raised his hand up and two low ranked arrancar came to Tousen's side and began treating his wound.

"No, Lord Aizen. It was Uchiha Itachi. He interfered with my retrieval of Grimmjow." Tousen replied before directing his frustration at Grimmjow. "And what about you? Shouldn't you be apologizing to Lord Aizen?"

"Nope." Grimmjow replied indifferently.

"It's fine, Kaname. I'm not upset at all. I would ȧssume someone like you with a fiery spirit would take responsibility for their actions if I'm not mistaken, Grimmjow?" Aizen asked.

"You are." Grimmjow replied.

"Lord Aizen, I request that this one be executed! For he is only seeking to cause discord!" Tousen angrily responded.

"You just don't like me and that's all there is to it. Or perhaps you're still sour cause you got your ȧss handed to you by that Uchiha guy! I could have taken both him and Kurosaki on but you had to hold me back with your righteous-!" Grimmjow taunted but was interrupted as Tousen lunged at him and cut his left arm off.

"Hado 54: Haien."

"God dammit! I'll kill you!" Grimmjow yelled in rage as he prepared to draw his sword.

"Grimmjow, if you choose to ȧssault Kaname here, you won't leave here alive." Aizen interrupted. Grimmjow grit his teeth as he looked at Aizen before turning around and walking away.

"Kaname, make sure you get that wound properly treated." Aizen said as he got up and walked away from his throne into a hallway.

"Playing around with your subordinates I see?" A voice said from around the corner.

"Ah, Gin. So you were watching." Aizen responded as he and Gin walked down the hall into an open room.

"Uchiha is causing you more trouble than you anticipated isn't he?" Gin asked.

"Perhaps. But he is a minor inconvenience at best."

"Then would you like for me to take care of him?" Gin suggested.

"There's no need for that. Bring Kaname here. I want to try something with him." Aizen responded as he pulled out a glowing bright ball inside of a cube.