Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of Bleach. It is owned by Kubo Tite. I do however own all the original characters that appear in this chapter, with the exception of Sanman Nonki.

Chapter Two: Practical Demon Arts Usage for the Common Death God

At the group's approach the two Death Gods looked up from their conversation, and as their bodies moved Itachi was able to see why they had been sitting across from each other. They had been playing a game of Shogo! "Oi, take a look Nonki-kun, its that Itachi-kun, Yusei-chan, and Midget-kun's rival in height."

Nonki looked at them, adjusting his glasses with the hand that wasn't holding the Hollow's claw. "Hello! Did you want to fight the Hollow?" Dumbly the three of them nodded, not quite sure what to make of the scene.

As soon as they nodded Noriyuki and Nonki released their hold on the Hollow and turned back to the game. Noriyuki sighed and cupped his chin in his hands. "Now that there isn't the distraction of the Hollow, I can win this game. You'll never be able to perform as well without a distraction Nonki-kun. Victory is as good as mine, right?"

The other Death God peered to the right, and his eyes lit up. "Ooo, a stick bug!" Noriyuki snapped his fingers and pouted. Without paying attention Nonki then moved one of the pieces, and after a good look at the board, Noriyuki threw his hands up.

"I lose again! Crap!" The three trainees were snapped out of their daze by the shriek of the Hollow, which was now charging directly at them, clawed arms already swinging, aching to bite into their tender flesh.

Itachi analyzed the Hollow, and then, realizing that it was about twenty feet in height and very dangerous, he came to a conclusion. The reason those two Death Gods had been restraining this Hollow was because…it wasn't the lowest class of Hollow. "This thing's spiritual power is…beyond all the other Hollows we've faced! Spread out and be careful!"

All three moved out, into they formed a triangle around the Hollow. Its eyes glowed red through the mask as it looked them over, determining where to attack first. And with great deliberation it marked its target and leapt to the left. At the weakest member of their group, Togo.

Togo stared up at the approaching Hollow, his mind encompassed by the sheer spiritual pressure of the monstrosity. His hands shook on the hilt of his zanpaktou, and his body locked in place. Without a doubt he knew that he was going to die.

'Move, move, move, move, move! I don't want to die!'

Togo's limbs felt like heavy weights as the Hollow's blade-like arm came swinging down at him. Thoughts began to fade way as he saw his approaching demise. "Useless."

He jumped to the left and took a swing at the Hollow's arm, slashing a red line across it. The Hollow shrieked and drew its arm back, bringing the other one swinging down at him. To the Hollow's further surprise Togo did a back-flip to avoid the swing and landed a handful of feet away.

His feet skidded along the grass and he used his left hand to brace himself and stop his movement. His right hand hefted his zanpaktou, angling it diagonally in front of his face as a guard for potential attacks. The Hollow shrieked again and brought its injured arm swinging down towards Togo.

The swift descent of the bladed arm jerked and slowed, giving Togo time to raise his sword to block it. A quick glance out of the corner of his eyes showed him why the Hollow had slowed. Yusei had stabbed her sword into its backside, and the pain had caught it off guard.

From the opposite side Itachi came charging in and jumped straight at the Hollow's mask. It pulled away from Togo, making Itachi sail past it. Then to Yusei's surprise it scuttled backwards towards a tree, aiming her body at it. "Shit!"

She pulled her sword out of its back and jumped to the right side, ducking and rolling as she went. She came up into a crouch and raised her sword just in time to block a swing from the Hollow's right arm. Despite blocking it the force was enough to send her flying backwards.

Itachi scowled and bit his lip, his eyes scanning the Hollow, looking for an opening. 'Damn…its reach is much greater than ours, meaning it becomes harder to get in. And its body is well armored and too large for single stabs and slashes to do real damage. We'd have to finish it in one strike to get out of this alive. So…how?'

He felt the intense desire to be able to release his sword, but he still didn't know his blade's name, making it impossible. Until he at least figured that out there was nothing he could do. 'Alright, let's examine our options.'

His eyes darted to his left, where Togo remained in a crouch his sword held at guard. 'Togo is the weakest amongst us, the slowest, worst at swordsmanship…yet in terms of spiritual awareness he seems to be better than I am. And from what I know he's not too bad at demon arts either. Here his greatest strength is that the Hollow knows that he's the weakest amongst us.'

Next his eyes moved to the opposite side of the Hollow, which was shifting and examining them, to Yusei. 'Yusei is stronger and more skilled than Togo, but not at my level. In terms of the four schools of Death God abilities she is most talented at demon arts. Perhaps superior to me.'

He lifted his left hand and stared at his palm, then flicked his eyes back and forth between his two teammates, putting two and two together. 'The only area of talent the three of us share is the demon arts. If those two have enough power together then…then I just might have the opening I need!'

Chuckling to himself he stood up to his full height and slung his zanpaktou over his right shoulder. With his left hand he beckoned to the Hollow. "Come weakling, let's end this."

The Hollow turned its attention towards him and readied its bladed arms. "You call me weak? You're not even a Death God yet! Talking to me like that, I'll eat you for that arrogance!"

It began to rush towards him, both arms arched out far to the side to let it attack from each side of Itachi. Yusei began to charge towards its back, while Togo just stared. He shot a glance at Togo and shouted as quickly as he could. "Togo, your sword now!"

The short spirit blinked and without thinking chucked his sword towards his teammate. Itachi smirked at seeing the look of surprise on the Hollow's face as he snatched the other zanpaktou out of the air and crossed them over his chest, blocking each arm. "Hollow…this is the end!"

He shoved with both swords with all of his strength. Once they were sufficiently away from his body he jerked them up and then stabbed down, piercing through what could be called the wrist of the Hollow's arms. Each arm was pierced into the ground, a mere temporary hindrance to the beast's strength. "O Lord, Mask of Flesh and Bone, All Creation, Flutter of Wings…"

The Hollow pulled at its bonds, the swords creaking up and out of the ground bit by bit. Itachi had to time this correctly or he'd never pull it off. "Ye Who Bears the name of Man, Truth and Temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!"

He cupped his hands together and pointed them at the Hollow's mask and smirked confidently. "Way of Destruction Thirty-Three-Blue Fireball!"

A sphere of blue spiritual energy exploded from his hands and crossed the distance between him and the Hollow in mere seconds. It struck the Hollow's mask head-on and then detonated. "Now who's weak?"

The force of the blast allowed the Hollow to wrench its arms free, but that only allowed it to stumble backwards, its face smoking and its mask severely cracked. Itachi slumped to his knees, weakened by the use of much of what remained of his own spiritual power. "Togo, hold the Hollow fast! Yusei, strike the finishing blow!"

Togo blinked and then raised his arms, making elaborate gestures as he swept his hands through the air as if painting calligraphy. "Sweeping river, rock of the mountain, ageless sky, countenance of the beast…."

He finished by clapping his hands together as if in prayer and stared directly at the Hollow. "Way of Binding 23-Chains of the Underworld!"

Black chains erupted out of the ground and wrapped around the base of the Hollow's body, as well as its legs and arms. They dragged it down, pushing it straight against the ground. It looked impressive, but Itachi could already seen Togo shaking as he tried to maintain the chains against the spiritual pressure the Hollow was exerting. 'Let it hold…please!'

Yusei hopped up onto its back and ran along the spine, avoiding the chains that would get in her way. When she reached the head she raised her zanpaktou up and then stabbed it down into the base of the neck. "This time, the finishing blow is mine!"

She dragged her sword up through the top of its skull, effectively cutting the Hollow's head in half. It shrieked one last time before its body dissipated like mist, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

With nothing to support her Yusei tumbled to the ground. Shortly after Togo banished the chains and fell to his knees, panting from the exertion. Itachi looked at the two other Death Gods in trainee and couldn't help but smile. "It seems that maybe I underestimated you two."

Togo put his hands to his heart and shuddered. "I can't believe I actually managed to react to that Hollow. I thought I was about to die…again. I think I soiled myself."

Itachi frowned with distaste and looked away from the short trainee. "Well, at the very least I underestimated one of you."

Yusei grinned half-heartedly, but managed a better show of it than either of her two teammates as she had expended herself the least. "You're damned right you underestimated me. And Togo too."

The boy shot another look at Togo, then stood and sheathed his sword. "If you say so. I'm not quite sure."

Togo stood and brushed himself off, his body still shaking. He looked up in surprise when something was presented to him, taking up his field of view. It was none other than Itachi, who was holding Togo's own zanpaktou out. "Thanks for the assistance. I'm glad you were able to react in time, as that wouldn't have worked without your sword."

The short boy blushed and took his sword, then clumsily sheathed it. "It…it was nothing."

Itachi looked down his nose at Togo and then with a snort he turned away. "Yeah, probably."

To his surprise he was immediately smacked upside the head by Yusei, who had crossed the distance in a surprisingly timely manner. "Don't be such an ass. There's no way at our current level any of us could have beaten that Hollow without help. We could have died if we didn't work together!"

"Not really. Or had you forgotten those two bumbling idiots?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the two seated Death Gods who were busy playing another game, Noriyuki wildly gesturing at something Nonki had done.

"Those two may be idiots, but they've still got enough spiritual power to squash that Hollow like it really were a big praying mantis. We were never in any real danger to begin with, not as long as those two were around." Yusei looked over Itachi's shoulder at the two Death Gods and frowned, not feeling quite that reassured.

Almost as if on queue the two Death Gods rose to their feet. Noriyuki snapped his pocket watch shut and tucked it back into his hakama. He then withdrew a vial of ink and dabbed it on his fingers, then made an almost snake-like pattern on each of his arms. "Here we go…"

Noriyuki jammed his hands forwards and a rectangle made of black energy formed in front of him, with another smaller one on the inside of it. "The net of black and white, footprints, far lightning, sharp peak, engulfing land, dark night, cloudy seas, blue division…"

The two rectangles began to glow brighter and brighter with each word that he spoke. "Form a circle and fly through the heavens, Way of Binding 58 Second Pattern-Heaven's Fortress!"

Itachi, Yusei, and Togo all jerked their heads up as they felt something touch their minds. All across the chosen area the Death God trainees were looking up at the same time as they too felt a connection. Noriyuki grinned broadly and nodded to Nonki, who barely seemed to be paying attention. "Connection complete."

Now black lines of energy had shunted off from the main rectangles and made a massive pattern in mid-air. "Everybody out there trainee, come to where you can sense my spiritual force. The session is over, so come on in. If you got trouble, just shoot some sorta demon art attack into the air and myself or my subordinate will be on our way to help out."

He pulled his hands away from the rectangle and the black lines retreated into it. Once the lines were fully part of the rectangle again those too faded away, and the ink on Noriyuki's arms also vanished. "Connection broken. And that's all my work for today."

Yusei stared at the grinning Death God and couldn't help but feel a tingle run through her body. 'So easily he pulled off that higher level Way of Binding, and so fast too! And the way he stared down Itachi, and held that Hollow with one hand…'

She barely noticed the blush that blossomed on her cheeks as she stared at Noriyuki, who was already busy talking to his partner again, the two smiling and laughing. 'I wonder…is Eighth Squad the place for me maybe?'

"Oi, what are you blushing about?" She yelped and jerked out of her trance at the sound of Itachi's voice. She spun around, embarrassed at having been seen blushing by the other trainee. He was staring at her, his face speaking of volumes of confusion.

"It…it was nothing!" Itachi snorted and shoved his hands into his sleeves, spinning on his heel and walking towards Noriyuki and Nonki.

"Whatever. Freaking women."

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It was time at long last. All of their training, all of the time spent in these halls. All of it was about to be worth it for many of them. Today was the day they had graduated, and therefore today was that special day. Selection Day.

Today they would gather in the Hall of Reflection and stand to watch as they were inspected by the highest of the high in Soul Society. Today they would meet the thirteen mightiest of the mighty. The captains of the Gotei-13!

Itachi was well aware that such a meeting would be brief, at least at first. The Captains were scheduled to sweep through the hall in a wave of glorious power and then enter an entirely separate room. There they would review the records of the trainees and make their selections.

Any that they were considering for officer selection would be interviewed. That would be the only other time they would directly meet a Captain, unless of course they were actually accepted into a squad. The one aspect of the selection process that Itachi didn't know was how a decision was made if more than one Captain wanted a trainee for their squad. 'Watch them bicker over me like children!'

He tensed as the air itself suddenly felt thicker than oil. His breath came shallow under the monstrous pressure, and he had enough sense to know that what he was feeling right now was not the full power of a Captain. 'What…is this their level of power while suppressing their strength?'

His question was answered as one by one the Captains of the Gotei-13 swept into the Hall of Reflection. All two hundred graduates shuddered under the pressure of the power there. 'What incredible power!'

As they passed by he heard a white haired captain at the very end of the line speaking calmly to a massive scarred man with spiked hair. "Zaraki, you need to suppress your power more than this, you'll hurt the students if you keep putting out this much."

The huge captain snorted, tromping along with his left hand on the hilt of his sword. "Che, if these wimps can't handle this much power then they don't belong in the eleventh squad. You can have any of the fucking pansies who pass out."

Then they were gone, out of Itachi's sight. As soon as the captains entered the private room he felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. 'So all of that huge spiritual power came from just one captain who wasn't fully suppressing his power?'

He turned his palms up and looked down at them, barely noticing that they were shaking. "That much power…that is the power of a Captain of the Gotei-13. That is the power that one day I will possess, the power to make lesser Death Gods fall to their knees at your very presence."

His fists clenched together and he turned his head to stare at the room where they were meeting. "I will become a Captain, no matter what!"

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Author's Note: Well I know it has been a long wait since the last chapter, but this story is basically sidelined for the most part while I work on other projects. But I just happened to be in a very 'Bleach' mood and unable to work on anything else, so I did this. Its shorter than the last chapter, but chapter length will vary and I feel fine about the way this came out.

The Gotei-13, the living machine of war that keeps Soul Society going. The military force of Soul Society where virtually all Death Gods end up. Becoming a seated member on one of the squads of the Gotei-13 is a feat many wish for. Now our students will see just what it takes to become a seated member of one of these illustrious military squads.

Next time: Welcome to the Machine