"Understood, Head Captain.." Aikawa laughed and walked into the center of the audience. Minato took a deep breath and followed, calm and composed.
Yoruichi walked up behind him and whispered. "Hope those years locked up in isolation haven't dulled your edge Minato... " She chuckled lightly. Minato rolled his eyes. " Aikawa's strong. Don't underestimate him." She patted his shoulder. "I'll keep that in mind Yoruichi.. thanks.. " He nodded.
" I guess you'll be needing this.. " She reached out behind her and picked up a small bag and then pulled out a familiar cold edge. Minato stopped in his tracks instantly as he felt a resonance in his soul. Something he hadn't felt in over the past three years.
He turned around only to see Yoruichi grasping onto Sorasen towards him. "Thank you.." His lips cracked into a small smile and he nodded gratefully. As he unsheathed the blade, specks of reiatsu flared around his figure and then he finally heard it. After three years..
Her voice. It called out to him.
"Minato..." The blade in his hand glowed for a moment as it drank the Reiatsu he poured into it. "Sorasen.." Minato called out inwardly.
"How long has it been, Minato.." She asked. He sighed. "Three years." He walked towards his opponent. "Three years, taken captive all because of your morals and your conscience. I pity you, Minato." She didn't hold back.
"I know, I know. But can you scold me after this.. We have bigger problems at the moment.."
"As you wish.." He exited his inner world swiftly and then faced off against Captain Aikawa.
"Let's see how strong you really are..." Aikawa wasted no time. With a snarl, he unsheathed his blade and Shunpoed towards Minato, covering the distance between them in only a few seconds. He stamped his feet, causing the ground beneath him to quake, hurling his form into the sky and then descended with an overhand slash back with incredible power.
Minato took a deep breath, his fists closing around Sorasen's hilt in a reverse grip as he formed the hand seal of confrontation in a closed stance.
Aikawa's blade descended like the fury of a god, stirring winds and dust, while the aftermath of the slash resulted in an explosion of Reiatsu that shook the compound. "Ha!" He laughed madly, seeing his blade connect with Minato in the eye of the storm, however, in that split second, his excitement turned to dread. The Minato before him exploded into smoke amid the destruction.
Aikawa's eyes lit up. In a split second, his years of experience as a Captain showed their value. He quickly spun around with his blade hoisted up in a hasty defense, while the real Minato blurred into a corkscrew slash above him that would have torn into his shoulder in the least.
"Heh.. That's the classic bait and strike technique. It's hard to believe a Captain would make such a mistake.." Shunsui tipped the edge of his hat and laughed. Meanwhile, Jushiro shook his head. "Aikawa's normally calm, but rushing into a battle like that?" Jushiro added.
Meanwhile, Aikawa grunted, his dark black bespectacled eyes glaring into Minato's cold blue ones. Gathering strength into his arm, he parried with his blade, sensing Minato flying to the side with incredible power and then chased.
*CLANG!*
The two blades clashed, in an explosion of Reiatsu and sparks. Aikawa was strong and fierce, his every slash aiming to tear Minato apart in the least, while Minato was agile and as light as a feather. Sidestepping, leaning back, bending and vaulting over. He made sure Aikawa's blade never even got too close to touch the edge of his tattered sweater, all while initiating tricky attacks of his own, almost catching the afro haired Captain off guard more than once.
Flipping over another slash, Minato kicked out, nearly catching the man right in the chest, who was quick to block with his right arm and then responded with a frontal horizontal slash to the torso. Minato carefully timed his landing with keen eyes. In one attempt, he kicked off Aikawa's incoming blade while airborne, stepped and vaulted off the man's shoulders and then responded with a massive fireball that descend with a small meteor all in one fluid motion. Aikawa had barely reacted, but was fast enough to turn himself in time to unleash a vertical slash that ripped the incoming fireball into two that exploded on both sides of his body.
And then his eyes squinted. 'They were right. He's fast. Too fast.' He had underestimated the reports and Minato himself, but it didn't mean, he was at his limit.
"Tsk. He's interesting at the very least.. At this rate, Aikawa would lose easily.." Shinji's eyes squinted with intelligence, while the Captains around him either scoffed or nodded on agreement.
Minato wasted no time and shunshined towards the opponent, blurring into a slashing torso stance, that would've ended the fight instantly. Aikawa could barely react. But he was still a Captain. He shifted his body with all the agility he could muster and then allowed the blade to sink into his shoulder.
Contrary to expectations, Aikawa used the situation to his disadvantage.
"Hado #63: Raikoho.." A massive lightning blast with enough power to obliterate a mountain exploded from Aikawa's fingertips as he laughed. The destruction brought by the lightning beams was so closed, even the other Captains had to Shunpo out of the range of destruction.
Meanwhile, Aikawa rose to his feet, grabbing his blade which he had stabbed into the ground, wiping the blood at the corner of his lips. The dust slowly settled and it was then that his eyes widened in shock.
Minato who should've been turned into mush by his Hado was crouched on a small rock, staring at him in interest. And it wasn't just him.
"Illusions?.." Rose raised a brow. "Nope. It's clones.." Shinji corrected, his hand on his chin. Meanwhile, Shunsui and Jushiro exchanged a glance, while the Head Captain, for the first time since the beginning of the battle raised a brow. Aikawa was literally going all out in his base, yet he could barely lay a finger on Minato no matter how hard he tried.
Minato himself raised a brow for the wrong reason however. Most of the Captains he had fought, especially the power types after realising they couldn't handle his speed would always try to lure him out and then try to finish him off with incredible firepower.
It was surprising it took this Captain that long to figure out that he was outclassed in the speed department despite having all this foreknowledge about Minato's abilities. It's why Minato didn't go on the offensive at the beginning of the battle. He had to ascertain if the opponent had a measure of his abilities before he drew plans to take him down.
Minato knew it wasn't because the Captain was slow or stupid, the real reason made him laugh dryly. For the first time in probably his life, the Yellow Flash of the Leaf was being underestimated. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry..
Aikawa groaned, grabbing his blade tightly, his Reiatsu flaring for another attack. However, before he could move, Minato went on the offensive. Breezing through more than a dozen hand seals in the span of a second, his Reiatsu flared for a moment and then he moved.
"Four Violet Flames Formation.." A four walled encasing of violet flames encompasses Aikawa's figure, trapping him in a prison of blazing might. His spectacles fell off, revealing a gobsmacked expression.
"What Bakudo spell is this?"
"I've never seen such a sealing spell in our library?" The Captains studied Minato's technique seriously. Everyone. Including the excited Kenpachi Zaraki, Captain Unohana with an unknown glint in her eye and even the Head Captain. If Minato didn't get this from their library, then it was only plausible to think he developed such a technique on his own, which although wasn't true, would make sense to them, rather than the fact that, he was an alien from another world.
Aikawa clenched his teeth, grabbed his blade and then slashed against the four walled barrier of flames...
*BOOOM!* An explosion of flames rebounded from the point of the impact nearly burning his afro off. Minato watched him silently. The four Violet Flames Formation was a lesser version of the Four Crimson Ray formation the Godlike Fuinjutsu that requires four Shinobi of Kage level to execute. Normally, even the lesser version which is the Four Violet Flames Formation, required four Shinobi of Jonin level to execute as well, but enough mastery and enough power was enough to forego the threshold.
"Tsk. You're good. But don't push it, you have no idea the power of a Captain!
Crush: TENGUMARU!!!!"
With a loud roar, he underwent a transformation right before everyone's surprised eyes. His blade transformed into a black massive spiked club with a long handle, resembling a kanabo from ancient mythology, a weapon of ancient demons and Gods.
Grabbing Tengumaru tightly, Aikawa swung with incredible power and a loud cry.
BANG!
A crushing Shockwave exploded with incredible might, tearing through Minato's violet flames formation almost instantly. Minato raised his brows in shock, only to quickly unsheath his blade to parry a blow from Aikawa who had almost doubled in speed.
But, a blow from Tengumaru wasn't something he old handle. Minato found that out quickly. As the edge of the club struck his blade, the incredible power that travelled towards forced him to abandon and shunshin away.
BANG!
The ground where he stood before was crushed and blown away by the incredible power that Tengumaru brought. Massive winds stirred.
Minato reappeared several meters away, taking in deep breaths. Tengumaru's destructive power was incredible. But it wasn't like he was powerless at this point.
Holding the wakizashi in reverse grip, he took in a deep breath and sent a mental note to his partner. 'This is it partner..'
'Are you sure you want to do this Minato?' Sorasen responded back.
'It won't matter anyway..' He smiled. 'Whatever you say, Minato. I can't stop you anyway..' Sorasen sighed and revealed her power..
"Transcend, SORASEN'
A faint ripple of Reiatsu later, Minato was now holding onto Sorasen's true form. A three pronged kunai with golden inscriptions on the handle. Isshin and Kensei flinched when Minato finally unleashed his shikai. The uncomfortable memories brought by this one blade was something they wanted to move on from.
Aikawa grasped tightly onto Tengumaru. The spiked club kept absorbing his Reiatsu, bending the air around him. His feet stomped into the ground, the ground below shook and caved in. His eyes grew cold. It was time to finish this. But in a quarter of a second his expression changed suddenly.
A blade stabbed into the ground beside his figure. Aikawa's senses and reaction time were top notch. To rank him he'd place him below Yoruichi in that category. That alone was enough compliment from Minato.
There was a sudden blip in his Reiatsu the moment Sorasen stabbed into the ground beside him. But, his body was unfortunately too slow to tag along his mind's reaction speed. Minato blinked into motion, before Aikawa could even blink.
A kick smashed into his side, catapulting him into the air. The eyes of the other Captains widened. None of them had seen anything coming. Meanwhile, Yoruichi rolled her eyes and laughed a bit.. It was about to go down..
A/N: School is gonna be the end of me gang. Pray for me 🙏