"The motives may be completely different, but in the end, it's the same desire to protect something." — Yoruichi Shihōin.
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To say Itachi was in a bad mood for the last week would be a gross understatement. His apparent mild anger had put his subordinates through a tense week but he didn't really pay it any mind.
And it wasn't as if he was the only one in a less than stellar mood lately; Kisuke and Tessai mirrored his sentiment. Whatever method was used to spy on them spat in the face of the combined jurisdiction of the Kidō Corps, the Research Institute and the Onmistukidō. They were all security agencies of the Seireitei and they had failed spectacularly at the basic requirements of their jobs.
The three of them were all rounded geniuses in their respective fields and they all had their pride slighted at the same time. It also had the positive change of making them spiteful and more motivated.
Since the three of them were feeling highly motivated and were going to be working together for a while, they ended up throwing up and out inspired ideas from their own expertise and bouncing it off the others.
While Itachi wasn't an accomplished master of barrier spells like the other two, he was more knowledgeable in breaking barriers and exploiting flaws.
"Rather than focusing on the warding of the Shakonmaku," Itachi had once said, referring to the barrier the Sekkiseki stone around the Seireitei emitted, "how about we try to implement an intent barrier into it."
It had been one of the numerous novel ideas that the trio had been throwing around for some time and one of the few they had deliberated for potential.
"Intent, you say. It's indeed possible, but the sheer size of the Seireitei makes it an unpleasant task to even think about."
That was the first hurdle in any plan they came up with. For it to be of any worth, it had to cover the entirety of the Seireitei. That was also why there had not been any new implementation to the Sekkiseki stone barrier in over a thousand years.
"Unfortunately, anything we come with must take that into consideration. We can't afford to be lazy in our efforts." Tessai stated matter-of-factly before addressing Itachi's earlier idea. "For the intent ward, how broad are we thinking?"
"Something simple in nature and focused on anything that has to do with perception. Thanks to the Sekkiseki and the Shakonmaku, we have a foundation in warding off Reiryoku-based spiritual attacks head-on, but perceptive intentions are much more subtle in nature."
Kisuke brows raised in suspicion. "So what you're saying is…"
"We need to factor in Reishi-dependent attacks. Bounts and Quincies use Reishi as the base for their abilities and we can't rule out the possibility that they might have one in their employ. And also the Reishi factor will naturally resist the influence of their perception if their ability comes from a Zanpakutō or a Hollow's ability. Ideally, it'll be a three-way loop system that's entirely focused on blocking out perception intent."
"Assuming we can create such a barrier and successfully implement it into the Sekkiseki barrier," Tessai grunted as his face was set in a tight frown that looked as if he was solving the success calculus of this ideal barrier.
Itachi was familiar with such barriers back in the Elemental Nations, but he also couldn't create such barriers, talk less of making it spiritual-based. Tessai and Kisuke on the other hand could.
As long as every aspect of the barrier was focused on warding off perception of any kind, and also factoring the over-the-top methods that would be employed by both men, Itachi was confident that, if successful, even he would have a hard time stealthily piercing through the barriers. They were basing it to ward off his standard of perception after all.
The scale of their new undertaking was not the only hurdle they had to overcome. They also had to come up with a new barrier, or the fusion of numerous old ones, and work out how to fully integrate it into the Sekkiseki stone, which was the entire circumference of the Seireitei.
Their work was just getting started and the difficulty of it, coupled with a dozen other smaller issues that they had to deal with, it should have come as no surprise that they were not in a good mood.
Their duties as Captains already made sure that they always had their hands full, or were occupied to a certain degree, and then to throw an assignment like this on them… well…
And that wasn't even acknowledging the fact that should it prove successful, they would be opening up a new branch of duties to be carried out by their subordinates, which meant more workload for them as compensation for their hard work. Their subordinates were smart enough to tip around in caution around their pissed off Captains.
The Shinigami of the 2nd Division had wordlessly agreed that the main building was synonymous to an environmental hazard and smartly stayed away.
Unfortunately for them, they would not be able to escape the sharp increase in workload in the coming months.
The barrier, while it would be hard to create, was surprisingly the easier part. The hard part came from the workforce it would take to spread it all over the Seireitei and the construction of relay points to manage the burden of the new barrier and not compromise its integrity and that of the Sekkiseki barrier. So no, his Shinigami were not escaping the upcoming months of construction and patrol duties.
It would take anywhere from six months to a whole year to get the barrier up and functional with a coverage that spanned the whole of the Seireitei.
"Mind easing up on the frown? You're scaring half the Division from that chair." Yoruichi said as she stalked towards his desk and picked up a few sheets spread about. "Sheesh, rough week? Junpei told me the whole thing about your Hell excursion and the fact that we've been breached, and for quite some time from the looks of it."
She dropped the papers and walked to stand behind him and placed both hands on his shoulders and pressed down but did nothing else. "So tell me, how bad is it?"
The frown tipped down from his face, just a tad bit, but it was an improvement from the last week. He sighed, breathing out most of the tension in his shoulders that Yoruichi was pressing down on. He massaged his forehead for a moment and sighed again, loudly this time.
"We don't know." She noted that he used 'we' instead of 'I', meaning he was taking the input of Tessai and Kisuke in this case. "We don't have the evidence to support this but it's probably not as damning as we hope."
Yoruichi winced out a strained chuckle. "You're being awfully optimistic. I don't think that's a good sign."
"Hmm," was the only thing he said in reply to her words. "As for drawing up a list of potential enemies, it's practically unending. The vague profile we have leans towards them being an old enemy given that they used the one glaring flaw in the Sekkiseki stone to their advantage."
"Hmm. That's not helpful at all. Old enemies can practically be anyone who currently isn't a Shinigami." She retreated from his shoulders and sat on his desk, golden eyes narrowing into a small frown. Seeing that there was no point going down that line, she redirected her question towards something else.
"How's your joint pet project coming along?"
"We're constantly fine tuning it as we go and it's the only semblance of a working plan that we have. The barrier is nowhere near complete or defined but Kisuke and Tessai are confidently optimistic so that's that."
"Damn. Looks like you guys are being put through the grinder."
Itachi shrugged noncommittally. "They didn't leave us with a smoke trail so this is all we can do, for now."
She eyed him for a moment, a look he caught, and twisted her lips thoughtfully. "You're thinking that they'll come for your students again, aren't you?"
"A huge possibility. They made their interest in my Zanpakutō loudly known." Itachi replied in a clear and cut manner as he subtly shifted the topic.
"And the Head Captain had outright banned you from stepping foot in Hell under any circumstances. Quite a conundrum, ain't it?"
"There's no use worrying about it, no matter how likely it is. I can't keep a constant eye on every single one of my students so what use is me uselessly worrying about them good for?"
"Right." She could tell he wasn't lying, having already come to terms with the mortality of his students. Situations like these were probably why he always stressed about the mortality of Shinigami to his students and what he called the 'Acceptance of Death'.
She wasn't worried about it either way, because Itachi, although largely sentimental, would never let any emotion of his blind him. If a student died because of their relationship with him, he'd feel sad but he would never let it be a burden he'd have to carry. He'd settle for carrying their memories with him as he moved ever on forward.
"Well then, my job here is done!" She clapped her hands as she stood up and chuckled at the raised brow staring at her. "I came over because I missed you and because I wanted to see how you were doing. I've done both, so tata~"
Itachi sighed, looked down at his desk and felt the frown coming down on his face again.
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