Bleach: Heart of a Hero

by Blackdrag-rose

Rebellion: Underground Monster

The former boomerang Toju wasn't too happy when he finally got his assignment, as Sombra and the other Arrancar decided that, based on his earlier actions, he should spend a week or two helping Ichigo and Sora keep Karakura Town safe from anyone that wanted to disrupt the balance that had been created in the town. It was mostly his dislike at having to work with the person who's sister he had taken hostage, but at the same time Sombra reminded him that it was only for a short time and that he was allowed to wander the town as he saw fit, living like he had when he was still a Toju, but Sora was his superior and one of the other Arrancar would be checking in with him from time to time. It wasn't the worst punishment that Sombra could think of, as he had done much worse when he was the tyrant of the Crystal Empire, though this one would allow the former Toju to understand where he had gone wrong and even come to like his life as an Arrancar, since he didn't have to fear disappearing anymore, a threat that the other Toju still faced. Ichigo, upon hearing the news, wasn't too happy about it either, but since Sombra was his friend, and he didn't have the power to oppose someone like him without being destroyed, he agreed to show the former Toju the ropes and see if he could learn.

With that taken care of Sombra returned to his work on Las Noches, making sure that the new buildings were laid out as he wanted them to be and that there was enough separation so that the Arrancar that would eventually live in them wouldn't be too close to their neighbors. It was an interesting challenge, changing what both the Arrancar and the Hollows were used to, though it was one that Sombra found he was able to get through quite easily, mostly since the other Arrancar happened to be interested in his plans and that he could also use his influence over Hueco Mundo to change something about the world. One such instance was adding a few 'natural' lakes to the world, both inside and outside Las Noches' walls, and even cutting the ground up a little to make a flowing river that went through the area that they were all living in, surprising and impressing the Arrancar that were currently in this world. It would take some time for everyone to get used to the sight of water, since it was something that the previous Dios Hueco had taken from the residents of this world to make them angry enough to attack their previous ruler's enemies, but Sombra smiled as he walked along the path that he was following, seeing that his work was already having a good effect on his new kingdom.

It wasn't just the landscape of Hueco Mundo that was slightly changed since his return, as he made modifications to the large square shaped building that was Las Noches, the first being the erasure of the false sky, since it was no longer necessary thanks to him tampering with the moon to have a day and night cycle again, while the second was where he lowered the height of the wall to a more appropriate size. The reason was because if they were going to keep growing the number of Arrancar that resided in Las Noches he was going to make sure their wall was actually a border so there would always be someone surveying the four directions, meaning four guards at any given moment with shifts with the ones that would replace them, meaning they could confirm or deny anything Szayelaporro saw on his radars. He knew that such a thing wasn't entirely necessary, given the power of some of his followers and his own immense power, but he felt much better having someone to guard the border between them and the outside, even if there weren't any enemies in this world in the first place... he was also preparing because of the threats that he had been warned about, as while most of them sounded easy to defeat he wanted to be sure he could see the real foe when he came knocking.

Despite what Captain-Commander Yamamoto said, about destroying this particular foe a thousand years ago when he attacked Soul Society, Sombra was making sure that his empire was ready for the day that Yhwach returned, because something told him that the Father of the Quincy wasn't dead and that he'd be back to complete his mission, though he told no one what his plans were for now, as he didn't want to make the Arrancar upset and let them relax before he was needed once more.

For the next two days Sombra found that he was busy with the recent modifications that he wanted to make to Las Noches and Hueco Mundo, which was fine since he had nothing better to do since Soul Society didn't come calling for his assistance at all, but that didn't stop Muramasa from returning with more Arrancar that had been created from some of the Toju that Renji, Rukia, and the others had caught, allowing Muramasa to work his magic on them. All of the latest recruits, if they could be called that, had been loners before their capture and there wasn't anything special about them, at least in terms of how they drew attention to themselves before they were confronted by whoever had captured them, but at the same time Sombra was happy to welcome another dozen to Hueco Mundo, even if he knew that they were running out of time before the majority of the Toju disappeared. The other Arrancar knew that he was doing everything in his power to save as many of them as he could, but with barely getting even a sixth of the number they knew that it was annoying him on some level, so they remained silent and let him do what he needed to do, to which he returned to his work as he contemplated where he might be able to find one of the larger groups that had to be hiding, as that would help them in the long run.

"Even when hearing that we're only getting a few Toju at a time, and that the clock is running out, you remain calm and collected without a sign of stress," Yoruichi commented, as she had returned to the World of the Living after they had dealt with Muramasa, though she had returned to her love's kingdom to see what changes he was making and see if there was anything she could do to help, "I honestly don't know how you can cope with being the ruler of a kingdom and not be annoyed by all the stress that such a position can bring."

"Remember, I used to be a king of another empire when I was alive." Sombra replied, though at the same time he looked out at their growing kingdom, because despite the fact that they were slowing saving the Toju he was still happy to see that they were doing something to the ones they were able to find, "Well, a tyrant king was what I was, but I gained some experience from that time and now I know what not to do for my kingdom, meaning that Ulquiorra and the others will have a better ruler than Aizen and Baraggan ever were."

Yoruichi nodded her head, as from what she had learned, from the Arrancar that had survived Aizen's rule, none of them were happy with the Shinigami that had taken control of Hueco Mundo and that they had been happy to see him trapped in another world for the rest of his life. Sombra coming into his power as the Dios Hueco, and seizing control of Hueco Mundo in the process, had been the best thing for Ulquiorra and the other Arrancar, as now they were all alive and wouldn't have to worry about being cut down by someone who was displeased with them. She hadn't forgotten that Sombra had been a ruler before coming here, not after everything that she had learned since he had beaten his past self and asserted his new personality, the one that she had fallen for, as the dominate personality, but since she still didn't know everything she knew that Sombra was telling the truth about this. Still, despite what she was thinking about, she also knew that stress wasn't something that had ever bothered Sombra, not since he first appeared outside Urahara's shop and even now it didn't bother him, causing her to smile as the two of them stared out at the kingdom that Sombra was building, because she had the feeling that Sombra would figure out how to save the groups of Toju that were hiding in the area around the Seireitei.

She also had the feeling that Sombra was thinking the same thing, that he'd find the large groups of Toju that were missing and save them before they faded out of existence, and she was eager to see what would happen the next time he went to Soul Society to help them find the Toju.

---

It was the third day since the boomerang Toju had joined Sombra's growing empire, where Muramasa once again found himself walking down one of the streets as he sought out more of the Toju, though as he did that he nodded towards some of the Shinigami that were walking in the opposite direction. He found that Lord Sombra had been right, that doing a number of good deeds had convinced the lower ranked Shinigami, those that really didn't know what he had done, to accept him and treat him like an ally, and even those he had wronged were growing used to his presence. One thing he had determined was that his new master was growing a little annoyed by their lack of ability to find a large number of the Toju, so they could cut down the number of them before they faded out of existence, and, while he didn't tell anyone this, even Muramasa was growing annoyed by the fact that they were unable to locate the larger groups. He figured that it would have been easy, since all the Toju were harassing the Shinigami and some even messed with the World of the Living, but it appeared that their targets were much smarter than what they assumed they were, causing him to frown a little as he continued walking down the street he had been traveling down.

After a few moments he stopped when he spotted Lieutenant Isane walking towards the relief building that the Fourth Division was stationed in at the moment, since all the repairs weren't done yet, before getting the feeling that something might be getting ready to reveal itself and followed after her... though he stayed back a bit and just walked in silence, but when she entered a room he considered leaving the area, before hearing something that stopped him.

"That's strange..." he heard Isane say, though her tone revealed that she found something odd in the room, even though whatever she had said before that had been lost to him, since he had been so far from the door and only heard this part of her statement.

"What's wrong?" the other person in the room, Ise Nanao, asked, though at the same time Muramasa stopped as he leaned against the wall, because while he had been sent back to Soul Society to search for the Toju he had to wonder if he might have uncovered the beginnings of another one.

"I can't seem to find the tea leaves." Isane replied, revealing that she had come to this room to have a tea and cookie break with Ise, though even as he heard that Muramasa was already wondering if he was already wrong in his thoughts about what he was going to walk into.

"That is odd, since we just bought some a few days ago." Ise said, where Muramasa heard her get up from whatever she was doing and walk over to the area that Isane was standing in, followed by the sound of some things moving as she gathered her own thoughts on the matter, "Strange, they're not here anymore."

"You know, over the last few days we've found that we're missing a number of things that we keep on hand." Isane stated, revealing that something must have happened recently and that someone was stealing things, even if she had taken some time to reveal that to anyone, "Like rice and miso."

"Odd, my Captain even told me that someone found his secret stash of sake, where he keeps his favorite sake, and stole that as well." Ise replied, showing that something was definitely going on in the Seireitei at the moment, where Muramasa decided to make himself known and knocked on the door to show that he was outside, "Come on in."

"Sorry, I was just passing through this building and heard that someone's stealing things." Muramasa said, because while he had the feeling that this might not help his Lord build his empire, as he had the feeling that a Toju wouldn't be doing something like this, he did want to erase his bad reputation and this was another good deed he could do for the Shinigami he had wronged, "Maybe I could be of assistance?"

Before either Isane or Ise could say anything Hanataro rushed up to the door behind him and huffed for a moment, where he stated that Hanamaru had gone missing, causing the two Lieutenants to look at each other before pulling the Shinigami with them as they headed to where Captains Shunsui, Ukitake, and Unohana were stationed. As Muramasa followed after the trio he discovered that Hanamaru was one of the chickens that they had been raising, surprising him for a moment, since he wasn't expecting something like that to be a thing, but he remained silent as they headed back to the area that Hanataro had come from. When they reached that area the group discovered that the security systems that had been placed in the area had managed to snap a picture of the culprit, though at the same time Hanataro found out that the remaining three chickens were gone as well, before Ise determined that they needed to tell the Captains about the event that was unfolding before them. As he suspected the three Captains were surprised to find that they were there, along with Muramasa walking behind them, but Shunsui and Ukitake stopped what they were doing to see what the two Lieutenants and Hanataro wanted, since it might effect whatever they did next.

"Captain Shunsui, Captain Ukitake, it appears that we have a situation." Isane said, to which she nodded to Hanataro, who walked forward and placed the picture that had been captured on the table in front of them, where Muramasa found that it seemed to be a blur of whatever had been stealing things over the last two or three days, "According to Hanataro this is the clearest picture that our security system was able to take of the culprit, though it seems that even the best wasn't enough to get a clear image of whoever's stealing food, animals, and tools. According to the report that we were given the culprit broke into the Fourth Division's barracks, just before daybreak, and made off with all four of the chickens that they had been raising."

"Chickens?" Ukitake asked, because while this was definitely interesting, since Shunsui had told him about his missing sake and some of his own subordinates reporting missing things as well, he was more surprised by the fact that the Fourth Division had chickens, while at the same time unknowingly echoing Muramasa's thoughts on the matter.

"Ever since the rebellion started, and recently finished, no one's been able to go home yet," Isane explained, where Muramasa noticed that she would have said something about him, but since he was present she had changed what she was going to say while also getting the point across, even though Muramasa had the feeling that most of what was happening was his fault anyway, "so the Fourth Division has been trying to maintain the food supply by raising chickens and building a greenhouse, and, if you want my opinion, the tomatoes and eggs are fantastic."

"Anyway, I was the one that was assigned to watch over the chicken coop." Hanataro added, showing that it was because he had come to due his duties that he had discovered the missing chickens, who he must have gotten sort of attached to since he had tears in his eyes at the moment, "They were all so happy last night, but this morning, when I arrived, I found that they were gone, even though there weren't any tears or holes in the wiring around the coop."

"Which means that the door was opened, and that it wasn't an animal that got to them." Muramasa commented, to which the three lower ranking Shinigami nodded their heads in agreement, showing that they agreed with him, even if this would be put on him since it was likely a hungry Toju that had taken the chickens.

"It's starting to found like the culprit is another one of those Toju." Shunsui said, to which Ukitake nodded, as that seemed to be the only likely answer to what was going on at the moment, but even then he wasn't too happy about finding out that another lost spirit was causing problems for them.

"I won't deny that there's the possibility of that being the case," Unohana added, to which she set down the papers that she had been reading from and looked up at the group that was standing in the room with them, even if she had no particular target for her stare, "but there's not enough information for us to tell if it's a Toju or another Shinigami. I would think that all of the named Zanpakuto spirits have been reunited with their partners and are no longer running around causing chaos, save for Kazeshini anyway... that spirit is a troublemaker."

"It would appear that the culprit's trail leads to the underground waterways." Ise said, where Muramasa glanced at the window and found a Shinigami walking away from the room that they were in, showing him that they must have moved a little faster than what he was expecting, since he had no idea they had called for someone to follow any tracks that had been uncovered inside the area the chickens had been in.

"If it's a Toju that's stealing things, then I'll go with whoever is selected to chase after it." Muramasa stated, which made sense to the Captains, since he was the only one that could enter the inner world of the raging Toju and calm them down before they really hurt someone, even if it turned them into an Arrancar in the process.

Shunsui nodded his head and immediately set out for another part of the Seireitei, where the group followed after him and left Unohana and Isane behind, since both of them were going to be busy and couldn't afford to assist them in their mission, though Muramasa was surprised by who they were going to visit. It wasn't hard to determine that the plan was to send Hanataro, Ise, and him into the underground waterways, so they could search the area for signs of the Toju and capture it, as well as find it's hiding place and return the stolen goods to their rightful owners. At the same time it wasn't just the three of them that were going into the underground waterways, as Shunsui, upon arriving outside the Eleventh Division's barracks, revealed that they were here to see Ikkaku and asked that both he and Hozukimaru join the group on their venture into the underground. Once the duo was outside the barracks, and were sitting down, the group explained the reason behind their visit, that they were coming to him and his Zanpakuto for assistance in figuring out who was behind the recent thefts that were starting to plague the Seireitei and stopping the culprit, even if they were supposed to capture the target after they found it.

"Okay, but why do you need my help?" Ikkaku asked, to which he moved his Zanpakuto's scabbard until it was pointed right at Muramasa, who remained standing where he was and didn't let the movement get to him, since he had seen more during his time as Koga's partner, "I mean, you've got one of Sombra's Arrancar following you around. I'm sure that you don't need my help at all..."

"Despite the lack of evidence, we're convinced that the target is a Toju." Shunsui replied, to which Ikkaku stopped talking and stared at him, because based on what he knew the Toju were strong opponents, worthy enemies for those that served under Zaraki Kenpachi, and he could see that Ikkaku knew what he wasn't saying, "Your job will be to keep the others safe while they look for the Toju, and if you do find it it'll be up to the two of you to restrain it so Muramasa can work his magic on it."

"A Toju... this might be interesting." Hozukimaru remarked, as the thought of fighting one of the powerful Toju had interested him the moment they learned who might be behind the thefts, something that Ikkaku mirrored quite well as they faced the group, "Either way, this will be a good way to kill some time, instead of spending the whole afternoon watching novices trying to learn skills that they aren't ready for."

With both Ikkaku and Hozukimaru on board the group headed back to the entrance that the trail had gone to, where Hozukimaru opened the door and let everyone else walk down the stairs in front of them, leaving Shunsui and Ukitake to wish them luck before the wooden door closed behind the group. Once that was done the two Captains returned to the room that Captain Mayuri was letting them use, as his Third Seat was helping them with a side project, because while the group would be looking for the Toju they would be using some of the more advanced technology to make even more accurate maps of the underground waterways, killing two birds with one stone as Unohana put it. All of them had agreed that this would have happened someday, where they would have needed better maps of the waterways, and while they wished this was happening long after the rebellion none of them were going to argue over the timing, as it worked out for everyone in the end. Sure, they had only come up with the idea once they heard that the thief had gone into the underground waterways, but at the very least this would eliminate one of the projects that the Captain-Commander would have assigned to them at some point in the future, so they remained silent and watched the screen as the group continued their search for their target.

While that was happening above ground Ikkaku lead the way down whatever passage he was directed down, while Ise and Hanataro stood behind him and Muramasa walked in front of Hozukimaru, allowing them to protect the trio while keeping their eyes open for anything or anyone that might be down here.

"This place is kinda creepy, huh?" Hozukimaru commented, because this was the first time he recalled being down here, as Ikkaku never came down to a place like this, or at least he never did while carrying his Zanpakuto, but at the same time he wasn't scared of an underground area at all.

"Sure is, and there are a lot of rumors about this place." Hanataro replied, surprising Muramasa by how scared he sounded, as if there was something about this place that made him nervous and made him want to leave, even if he was holding his ground at the moment, "Like the one where they say that you can hear the sounds of those who got lost and died when they were enlarging the waterways a long time ago."

"That's a good one." Hozukimaru said, because he found the idea of a Shinigami's soul lingering after death, or the souls of whoever had built this place, to be an amusing one, since he was sure that death was what awaited a fair number of Shinigami and the souls outside the Seireitei's walls, "Maybe that's our thief's true identity!"

"Don't be silly, that's just an old ghost story." Ise stated, though her tone suggested that they better focus on what they were here to do and less on trying to scare each other over old stories that didn't even matter anymore, not when she was sure that they could overpower anything that came at them.

Of course just as she started to mention that ghosts can't exist in Soul Society a water droplet fell onto the back of her neck and freaked her out, causing Ikkaku to be on guard as if something was actually wrong, before Hanataro informed her of what happened and Ise immediately calmed down so they could keep moving forward. Of course what they weren't expecting was for Hanataro, being the first one to get in front of a still Ikkaku, to walk into a wire that activated a fiery explosion, even though not a few seconds later he, Hozukimaru, and Muramasa flashed over to a new passage, all while Hozukimaru was holding Ise and Hanataro under his arms.

"It appears that we have announced ourselves as unwanted visitors," Muramasa commented, though at the same time he was pleased to find that the damage wasn't that bad, because if the explosion had been much greater than what it was it could have brought the ceiling down and cause even more damage to the Seireitei, "especially since that was a well placed booby-trap."

"That means that our target must be hiding somewhere near our current position." Ise added, as she understood where Muramasa was going with his statement and decided to expand upon it, even though her words would easily excite both Ikkaku and Hozukimaru into getting ready for a fight, "We should proceed with caution from now on."

The group nodded and returned to the original passage that they had been walking down, finding that it wasn't actually damaged at all and that the first trap was designed to scare them off, before continuing down the passage that they had chosen to follow. It wasn't long after the first trap that they came upon a piece of the walkway that was a different color than the rest of it, even if it rested in the middle of their path as a square and not an entire strip, where Hanataro revealed that all they had to do was walk around it to move onward. As he did that, by walking around near the stone wall, he stopped as he accidentally activated a switch with his foot, one that sunk into the ground, and he feared that the tile would explode or something, but as the seconds ticked by he found that he must have been lucky, as nothing bad was happening to him and the rest of his group. Ikkaku, of course, was rightfully annoyed with Hanataro, since that could have exploded or something, but just as he was about to lay into him, however, they were stopped by the sound of rushing water, causing them to turn towards the direction they had come from... just in time to see a tidal wave of water come from the passages they had walked by and rush towards where the five of them were standing.

Of course the group tried to outrun the water, and Muramasa even flashed some distance ahead to try and avoid it, but eventually the water caught up with all of them and swept them into a larger chamber that anything they had been walking through so far, all while making their clothes wet from the experience.

"Damn it! Where the hell are we?" Ikkaku asked, though at the same time he and the others made sure that their heads were above the water, allowing them to see an area that didn't match what little stories he had heard about the underground waterway, which only annoyed him.

"I have no idea, but it dragged us some distance." Ise replied, as she was in the same boat as all the others, she had no idea where in the world they were at the moment and that meant that they might get lost from this point forward, which wasn't good since they also had no idea where the Toju was hiding.

"Hey, Hanataro! I thought you knew this place like the back of your hand!" Ikkaku stated, as they had heard that the only ones that knew the underground waterways the best were the Fourth Division, which Hanataro was a member of and should have the same understanding as the rest of his Division.

"I do, but I've never actually been this deep into the waterways before." Hanataro said, because he had never seen a reason to come down this deep in the past, especially since he didn't know a way to get down here without something doing what happened to them.

Before Ikkaku could say anything else something grabbed onto his leg, something that felt like a thin tentacle of some sort, which pulled him beneath the water and caused the rest of the group to remain on their guard, as best they could anyway, only they paused when a large mass appeared in the water below them. That was before a large number of tentacles, attached to whatever mass was below them, burst out of the water and used the waves to force the remaining four of them away from each other, and one tentacle remained alone as they discovered that it was holding Ikkaku in it's grasp. As Hozukimaru noticed that his partner was being held captive, and there was no telling what the tentacle was going to do to him, he started swimming towards his target, only for Ikkaku to tell them to leave while he dealt with the creature that had grabbed on, even though it seemed like he had no idea if his statement would be true. Just as he said that the creature that was restricting his movements pulled him back beneath the water, using the waves to send the group down another passage and forced them up onto a walkway that happened to be near them.

Muramasa coughed for a moment as he pulled himself out of the water, just as the others did the same and tried to get their clothing aired out, even though he'd have to do something about the smell later, when this mission was done, and he stared at the area they were in as he kept his guard up.

"What in the world was that?" Ise asked, because she had never heard of a creature residing beneath Soul Society in the past, and she could tell Hanataro was of the same opinion, meaning that they were dealing with something that had a number of unknown powers and might actually cause problems for them.

"I don't know, but Ikkaku, he... he..." Hanataro replied, though at the same time he wasn't sure what was going on at the moment, as seeing the tentacle monster capture Ikkaku hadn't been something that any of them were expecting and had no idea what they were supposed to do next.

"Don't worry about him." Hozukimaru stated, causing the group to glance at him for a moment, since he was staring at the direction they had come from and where his partner had last been seen, before he smirked, "Zanpakuto and their partners share the same heart and soul, so if I say he's not dead, then he's not dead."

Muramasa wasn't surprised to hear a Zanpakuto spirit say that, since almost all of them had gone back to normal after he had started his rebellion, though before he had the chance to say anything Hanataro started to smell something unusual and the rest of the group caught the strange scent as well. Not even a few seconds later Hanataro got up and started walking in the direction that it was coming from, while the others walked behind him as they kept their guards up since this could be another trap by their mysterious enemy, though it only took them a minute or two to find the area that it was coming from, a small camp that seemed out of place since they were in the underground waterways. What they found was that the tent, where a Toju likely rested, was a small one, not that the size really mattered when the Toju would be more dangerous than a normal Zanpakuto, but near the tent was a number of items that were on the list the Ise had been given earlier, before they came down here, confirming that this was the camp of their mystery thief. Hanataro, upon seeing that the smell was coming from the five chicken kabobs on the makeshift stove in front of the tent, was concerned for the chickens he had been raising, while at the same time Ise found the container that her Captain's favorite sake had been stored inside, confirming that they had found the home of their target.

"It appears that all the stolen goods, that got taken from all the barracks, are down here." Hozukimaru said, his words confirming what Hanataro and Ise had found, though at the same time Muramasa investigated the area around the camp to be sure that there weren't any additional traps that they might accidentally trigger while they wandered around the camp and looked at what had been taken.

"So it would seem." Muramasa stated, though as he said that he stopped in his tracks as he looked at the miniature form that was standing nearby, as it was a being that barely came up to his knees and was wearing a brown cloak to cover the rest of their body from sight, even if he could see a red glowing eye, "And it appears that we have company."

"Hey, hold it right there!" Hozukimaru stated, as he and Ise had turned when Muramasa spoke and found the figure that he had found, though as that happened the being seemed frightened and tried to run, only for him to flash down the passage that it started heading down and appeared in front of it, stopping it in it's tracks, "You won't be able to get away from me that easily!"

The being backed up and ran away again, where Ise moved towards the other side of the same passage that it was trying to run down, where she and Hozukimaru kept it contained in the area that the camp was in, before directing it back towards Hanataro and Muramasa, where it tripped on a rock and caused it to stumble out of it's cloak, to which it slammed into Hanataro's head and sent them both to the ground. What Muramasa discovered, while Ise helped their companion, was that the thief was a small white-colored robot-like figure with a cylindrical torso and spherical head, who had thin arms and legs with flat hands and feet, a rectangular mouth, and a round, completely black right eye, though what really interested him was that the being's left eye was a long, vertical gauge with several measurement marks, which covered a good deal of his face. He stood there for a moment, wondering if this was the Toju that they had come to take care of, or if this was an actual Zanpakuto spirit that had been awakened during the rebellion and had gone missing at some point in time, but regardless of which option was right he kept his guard up, because of the fact that they needed to head back and save Ikkaku from those tentacles soon.

Once Hanataro was fine, and he confirmed that, the four of them stared down at the tiny robot that was resting in front of them, who seemed to realize that he had been caught and got on his knees, where he bowed his head towards the group, as if offering it as an apology for his actions.

"I'm sorry." the robot being said, his tone revealing that, while he was still slightly terrified by what was going on at the moment, that he was deeply sorry for what he had done, meaning that he must have stolen all these items to keep himself alive and felt guilty when he took the items from their resting places.

"What in the world is this thing?" Ise asked, because she had never seen a Zanpakuto spirit like this, and she actually would have thought that this little thing could have been a spirit that was tied to one of Captain Mayuri's subordinates, and she noticed that Muramasa had never seen him before this point in time.

"I don't know," Hozukimaru commented, to which he turned his head towards the being that was bowing to them at the moment, because he had the feeling that they had caught the thief red-handed, but at the same time that meant that there was either a monster down here for another Toju, since his partner was still fighting it, "Little one, raise your head so we can get a good look at your face."

As the robot being did as he was told, and seemed to calm down a little more in the process, Muramasa noticed that Hanataro seemed to think that he knew who the being was, but then he shook his head, revealing that while it seemed a little familiar to him he still had no idea who was in front of them. Hozukimaru and Ise started to question the being immediately, trying to determine who in the world he was, what he had done to Ikkaku, why he had chosen this area to be his home, and a number of other questions that only caused the robot to repeat the phrase 'I'm sorry' after each question was asked, only annoying the duo more than they already were. For a moment the actions Muramasa recalled what sort of personality that Hanataro had, as the robot seemed to mimic it quite well, making him truly wonder if something had caused Hanataro's Zanpakuto spirit to manifest and become lost in all the chaos, but before he could say anything he felt something coming their way. His thoughts were correct, as part of a nearby wall burst open as Ikkaku went flying through it and crashed into the ground near them, showing that the robot being was not the one that was connected to the tentacles they had seen earlier, but that only caused him and the others to stare at the wall that now had a decent sized hole in it... because their true foe was coming for them, meaning that they would meet the real Toju that had been hiding down here in the underground waterways.

The Toju was a red well-toned humanoid figure with several long tentacles in place of legs and white pads where his hips would be, though he had two large, outward-pointing blades connected to his flesh on either side of his upper torso, giving him four blades in total, along with large white fins on either side of his head, razor-sharp teeth, and a human-like face with six yellow eyes, meaning two in his normal eye sockets and four on his forehead.

"So, the monster has shown himself at last. Ise, stand back with the others." Hozukimaru stated, where Ise nodded her head and headed back to where Hanataro was resting, who happened to be focused on the downed form of Ikkaku at the moment, while at the same time Muramasa stood off to the side, as he knew that the other spirit would weaken the Toju so he could attempt to free it, before Hozukimaru summoned his weapon, "This ought to be fun. Bankai!"

Muramasa was surprised that Hozukimaru was starting with his full power, when they had been sent to come and calm down the Toju that was in front of them, but he said nothing as the Zanpakuto spirit was surrounded by a powerful gust of wind that covered his body for a few seconds, though when the wind died down he found that Hozukimaru now had his Bankai weapons in both of his hands and resting on his shoulders. Before doing anything else he spun around his weapons, awakening his truly terrifying power, and then hurled one of the blades at the being in front of them, where they watched as the blade slid right off the being's body without hurting him in the process, surprising Hozukimaru by what had just happened. Just as that happened the Toju reached forward with his tentacles and wrapped around the spirit's chest, pulling Hozukimaru into the air and prevented him from doing anything else, causing Ise to growl as she charged and fired a Hado Number 31: Shakkaho at their enemy, where the red burst collided with the Toju's face and didn't seem to do anything to it, as it roared a little to show that it wasn't damaged at all, before hurling Hozukimaru down one of the passages near it.

"Hanataro, Muramasa, you two should help us." Ise stated, as she knew why Muramasa might be holding back, since he was supposed to be freeing the Toju when it was weakened and could easily assist them in weakening the creature they were fighting, but she didn't understand why Hanataro was acting this way, "I mean, you both have your own Zanpakuto, so you should be able to do something to this thing."

"But, my Zanpakuto is meant for healing," Hanataro replied, which made sense considering that he was a member of the Fourth Division, who were the medics of Soul Society, but then he rubbed the back of his head for a moment as he got ready to admit something he had failed to mention, "besides, I didn't think that I'd need my Zanpakuto while we were down here, not with Ikkaku, Hozukimaru, and Muramasa helping us, so I left it back in my room at the barracks."

The fact that Hanataro had left his Zanpakuto behind caused Ise to lower her guard, allowing the Toju to extend one of his tentacles and wrapped it around her, lifting her into the air and pulled her away from where Muramasa and Hanataro were standing. Before Muramasa could do anything the robot being pulled out a Zanpakuto from his pile of stolen goods and drew the blade, where he found it was a katana that had a gauge carved into the center of it's being, just like the markings on the robot's eye, to which he drew the blade and stabbed Ikkaku's back. As he stared at what was going on he noticed that Ikkaku's wounds healed before his eyes as the gauge filled with a red light, as if the damage was being siphoned out of the Shinigami's body and drained into the blade, while at the same time the robot's eye started to fill up as well. Hanataro's eyes widened as he recognized both the Zanpakuto that the robot was using and the technique that was in use at the moment, before before either of them could do anything the gauge filled up completely and that seemed to satisfy the robot as he pulled away from Ikkakku... which was followed by his chest opening up as an enormous cannon emerged from the depth's of the being's body.

"Infuse, Akeiro Hisagomaru." the robot declared, to which Muramasa watched as the robot loosed a powerful red burst of energy from the cannon, which raced towards where the Toju was standing and incinerated the being's body, breaking it apart in a matter of moments, while charring the ground in front of him, and when the light faded the Toju was gone, save for the fallen tentacle that Ise had been wrapped in.

Muramasa was stunned, that the Zanpakuto spirit of Hanataro's blade was so powerful on his own, as he decimated the Toju that they had come to capture, before assisting Ise as she tried to climb out of the water, allowing her to come to terms with what just happened as she rushed over to Ikkaku. A few seconds later Hozukimaru joined them, seeming a little annoyed that he couldn't have fought the Toju at all, before making sure that his partner was fine, but even as that happened Muramasa remained near the water, as there was something there that the others hadn't noticed yet. What he had discovered was that the Toju hadn't been truly defeated, as it appeared that he must have had a technique to save the core of his being thanks to the water around them, because a much smaller version of his monstrous form emerged from the area behind him. Since their foe was weakened it wasn't hard for Muramasa to raise his hand and use his own technique to stall the Toju where he was standing, allowing him to delve into his inner world and converse with him while the rest of his group focused on making sure Ikkaku was okay.

It didn't take him long to calm down the sea of anger that he found inside the Toju's inner world, which was another surprise that he wasn't expecting, and when he opened his eyes he found that the being had taken a more humanoid form, while having some fins behind his ears, white colored, that were both his Hollow mask fragments and a reminder of what he had been earlier. Fortunately Hisagomaru, as that was who the little robot was, actually had a spare set of stolen clothing that the new Arrancar could wear, which he put on immediately since he was nude the moment he finished his transformation into his new state, and once that was done the group collected a few of the stolen items, like the sake and the tea leaves, before heading back to the surface. Another good thing about having Hisagomaru on their side was that he knew the underground waterways better than most did, even Hanataro for that matter, so he was able to lead them right to one of the exits, allowing them to return to the streets of the Seireitei with ease. From there they headed back to the Fourth Division's barracks, where some of the Shinigami along the way smiled at them, as the fact that they had recovered all four of the missing chickens, as the little robot had been making something that wasn't chicken kabobs, told them that they had caught the thief and that all the stolen supplies would be returned in due time.

Captains Shunsui, Ukitake, and Unohana had returned to the barracks after leaving the Twelfth Division's barracks, once they determined that part of their plan was no longer valid, and were pleased to see that the group had returned relatively unharmed, even though Ikkaku refused to be checked into a bed, as he stated that he felt fine, so Hozukimaru stood by the door to be sure his partner didn't fall over while they told the Captains what happened.

"So, the thief was this guy right here," Shunsui commented, as he was staring at the robot the entire time the group had told them exactly what happened in the underground waterways, even though he did glance at the new Arrancar once to be sure he was standing there, "the materialized form of Hisagomaru."

"That's correct." Ise said, though while it was hard to believe that they had found a missing Zanpakuto spirit and a Toju in the same area she was happy that it happened that way, before she turned her heard towards Harataro, who was smiling as he held the four chickens at the moment, "Why didn't you tell us that he was the spirit of your Zanpakuto when we first encountered him?"

"Well, truth be told, I wasn't sure he was my Zanpakuto spirit when we first found him." Hanataro replied, though as he said that he rested a hand on the shoulder of his partner, who was standing in front of him and happened to be staring at the desk Shunsui was sitting at.

"That's just like you, Hanataro." Shunsui said, as he, Ukitake, and Unohana knew that Hanataro had some difficulty telling people what they needed to know at a given moment, but at the same time it sounded like he had only realized that the robot was his partner when he fired the cannon they had been told about, before a new thought came to mind, "But that begs the question: how did he materialize in the first place?"

"He came to talk to me," Hisagomaru spoke up, where he moved himself so he could rest on Hanataro's left shoulder, though once he was in place he raised his hand and pointed at Muramasa, who raised an eyebrow for a moment, "He was the one that caused me to materialize in the first place. But, unlike the other Zanpakuto, there was nothing about my master that made me dissatisfied and I refused to join the rebellion, so I was caught off guard when I suddenly found myself in my master's bedroom when the others were called to do battle with you. I tried to go back into my Zanpakuto, I really did, and when I exhausted all my options I came to the conclusion that I must have been rejected by my partner, so I ran away and headed into the underground waterways, to become a recluse for the rest of my days... I was filled with despair and thought my master hated me..."

"You are correct, I did talk to you before the rebellion started." Muramasa admitted, because Hisagomaru had been one of the last Zanpakuto spirits he had gone and talked to, even though he was the only one to side against him, before he turned towards the Captains, "He's the only Zanpakuto that didn't have any problems with his partner, not like how Haineko was so angry at how Matsumoto treated her or how Zabimaru thought that Renji was weak and didn't deserve their power, so since I couldn't use anything against him I left him alone. It seems that when I called for the Zanpakuto to join me, at the start of my rebellion, I accidentally called him out of his Zanpakuto as well, even though I only intended to call those that had joined my side... so I'm sorry for any pain or torment that you have endured over the last week."

"Besides, Hanataro doesn't hate you." Hozukimaru added, causing Hisagomaru to turn back and look at him for a few seconds, where he gestured to himself for a moment, as there was something he needed to say and telling the small spirit would help him as well, "As you can see, and as you will find in the days to come, all of the spirits haven't been able to return to normal, despite the fact that Muramasa has released his hold on everyone... it seems that it's taking a long time for his reiatsu to depart from us and the Toju he accidentally created."

Shunsui nodded, understanding what the Zanpakuto spirit was saying, before staring at Muramasa, as it appeared that his rebellion, all to get his own partner back, had more effects than what they had originally thought and that they would have to keep an eye out for whatever else might happen. At the same time the newest Arrancar seemed to be eager to get out of here, which made sense considering that there was someone he needed to meet and swear his allegiance to, so he and Ukitake dismissed the group so they could get back to whatever they had been doing before the chickens had been reported missing. Ikkaku and Hozukimaru would be heading back to their Division's barracks, so they could either relax or continue their training, and they were eager to get back to their Captain, because they were the first ones to leave the room that they were standing in. Ise, Hanataro, and Hisagomaru were going to head back into the underground waterways with a larger group and recover the rest of the stolen items from the makeshift camp, but before that Hanataro had to return the chickens to their coop and make sure they were ready to go before he could join them. As such the Captains let the group break into three smaller groups and head out on their own, allowing them to return to their own work, since they were still trying to rebuild the rest of the Seireitei so they could go back to their own barracks and stop taking up Unohana's space.

Muramasa smiled a little as he left the Fourth Division's barracks with the newest Arrancar that would grace Lord Sombra's growing empire, because while he had only been able to save one of them again, and not a large group like they were hoping to find, this was one less Toju that they had to worry about. He was sure that he, the other Arrancar, and the Shinigami would be able to find one of those large groups that were hiding and save more of the Toju, though there was a wide vast area for them to search and he knew that if they could find a single Toju, that belonged to a large group, they could do what Lord Sombra wanted them to do. Of course as he walked he noticed that his companion was nervous, since he was only now understanding who his new master was thanks to the information that he got from Hueco Mundo, but at the same time that condition would fade away when he finally met Sombra, who would be eager to meet the newest member of his empire, and he told his companion that piece of information. That might not have done much in the grand scheme of things, but at the same time it let his new friend know that things would be changing for him, just like what happened to the rest of the Toju that they had saved in the past, and he walked with a small smile on his face.

He knew that Sombra would be busy, because he was always busy putting together a working empire, which let his subordinates help the Shinigami and prove that they could be allies, but something told him that things would be changing soon enough, they just had to be patient and wait for whatever he was feeling to arrive.

Comments

[Tower of gray]

Amazing. So when will this one finish?

[GIGA-XISBASS]

9367064
Pretty soon actually. We just have Equestria after this arc is finished then the epilogue and the ToP will start. Yhwach is coming after the Tournament concludes later on and Sombra is preparing for him.

[Xarmar13]

I am starting to think that BDR intends to make a chapter for every episode of the toju arc. If I am right, we may be expecting 6 more chapters of this before we reach the end of this arc.

[Jarimor]

best scalpel is ro-bro scalpel.

[PrismStrike]

another great chapter for this story. I am enjoying the world building you are doing with hueco mundo and am surprisingly happy that Muramasa is starting to get into a good stride with bettering himself. keep up the great work

[Black--Soul]

Interesting side effect of the rebellion. Neat chapter.