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Chapter 3:
The Senkaimon spat them out into District 78 of the Rukongai — a place where law held no meaning and death came cheap. The buildings were charred ruins, the air still thick with the scent of blood and ash. No birds sang. No souls wandered. Only silence.
The team spread out, five shinigami stepping into a graveyard disguised as a town.
Kaito's eyes swept the ruins with the detachment of someone used to war. His senses prickled. The reiatsu here was strange — warped, unstable. Not hollow. Not human.
Something else.
"We stick close," said Kaido Renji, the squad leader, tightening his grip on his zanpakuto. "Eyes open. Arisu, watch the perimeter. Kaito—"
"I know," Kaito said, already vanishing in a flash step.
"Tch. Lone wolf again," Arisu muttered, but followed his lead.
They moved through the wreckage in silence, until Kaito stopped abruptly before a scorched temple wall, Painted in thick, dried blood was a symbol — a black spiral sun, with jagged rays like blades.
Arisu caught up beside him and froze. "That's not from this era."
Kaito narrowed his eyes. He'd seen it before.
A memory cracked through the fog of his past life — steel clashing, the scream of spirits being torn apart, a man with black eyes whispering…
> "Kurozome will rise again. Even the Gotei cannot bury it forever."
Suddenly, a low growl echoed from behind them. The ground cracked.
"Kaito!" Arisu shouted.
He spun around just in time to block a massive, clawed arm with his sword. The creature that emerged from the shadows was not a hollow — it had no mask. Its body was humanoid, wrapped in black tendrils that writhed like smoke, its eyes glowing red with raw hate.
"What the hell is that?!" Arisu yelled, charging in with a blast of Hadō #31: Shakkahō. It barely flinched.
Kaito shoved it back with a burst of spiritual pressure. "It's a Wraith," he muttered. "Not hollow. Not alive. Something twisted."
"How do you know that?!"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he vanished, reappearing above the creature. His blade gleamed with condensed spirit energy.
> "Fall."
With one precise slash, the creature split in half — but instead of blood, black mist burst out, shrieking as it evaporated into the air.
Kaito landed silently, his face blank.
Then he turned to the others — only to find two of their squad members dead, drained to husks. Kaido was barely breathing, bleeding from his chest.
"We were ambushed," he gasped. "Shadows… they moved like people. But they weren't. They spoke your name."
Arisu's eyes shot to Kaito. "What the hell is going on?"
Kaito stared at his blood-covered hands. He remembered now. The whispers. The darkness. The reason he was sent here.
"I think…" he said slowly, "I wasn't just reincarnated."
His voice was low, steady — terrifying.
"I think I was brought back."
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Would you like Chapter 4 next? It'll delve into the truth behind Kurozome, Kaito's forgotten past life, and how it threatens the balance of the Soul Society.