---
The day started like any other.
Zanjutsu drills in the morning, followed by a Kido lecture that half the class slept through. I stayed quiet. Carried my blade. Wore the uniform. Blended in.
I'd gotten good at that.
Then, just after the lunch bell rang, a Hell Butterfly flew through the courtyard.
It circled once. Landed on the shoulder of Instructor Denji.
He read the message, blinked once, then turned to the class.
"Katsu Joro," he called.
I froze mid-step.
"You're to report to the west training yard. Immediately."
Heads turned. Even Daigo raised a brow from across the field.
No one got called out like that.
Not unless they were in trouble.
---
I found her waiting alone.
Yoruichi Shihōin.
She stood with one foot up on a boulder, arms folded, expression unreadable. She wore the standard black of the Gotei 13, but loose and light — clearly from the 2nd Division. There was no mistaking who she was.
Everyone at the Academy knew the name.
Princess of the Shihōin Clan.
Commander of the Stealth Force.
The Goddess of Flash.
She didn't look impressed.
"You're slower than I expected," she said, glancing up.
I bowed.
"Apologies. I came as quickly as I was told."
She studied me for a beat longer than was comfortable. Eyes like a cat. Still. Measuring.
"You've been keeping secrets."
I didn't answer.
She gestured to the open field beside her. Flat stone. Empty space. Training ward runes etched faintly into the rock.
"Draw your sword."
I hesitated.
"I didn't bring any gear. No sparring-"
"Draw. Your. Sword." she repeated, voice sharper now.
I obeyed.
The Asauchi slid from its sheath, silent and black.
Yoruichi watched it with a faint nod.
"No light. No transformation. No vanity," she said. "But it's no longer an Asauchi, is it?"
"No," I admitted.
She stepped back, folding her arms again.
"Release it."
---
I stood still.
Not because I didn't want to.
Because I wasn't ready for someone to see it.
To see me.
But Yoruichi wasn't someone you could hide from.
And something told me this moment wouldn't come again.
I took a slow breath. Focused on the weight of the blade in my hands.
Kage stirred.
Waiting.
Whispering.
"Let the shadows swallow the sun…"
My voice was calm.
"Kage."
---
Nothing exploded.
No Reiatsu wave split the air. No pillar of light.
Instead - the sun dimmed.
Or it felt like it did.
My blade bled into mist, black and silent, reforming into a sleeker form - thinner, curved slightly forward, with no guard. A chain hung from the end of the hilt, pulsing with a faint dark glow.
The shadows on the ground stretched wider.
Longer.
Thicker than they had any right to.
Yoruichi didn't blink.
"What's its name?"
"Kage."
She tilted her head.
"Type?"
"Stealth. Movement."
"Technique?"
I nodded once.
"Yami no Shihai — Stealth in Darkness."
And with that, I stepped backward
into my own shadow.
---
It was instant.
The world vanished into black, cold, weightless silence.
Not void. Not death.
The feeling of slipping between things. Beneath things.
I emerged behind her. Ten meters back. No sound. No trace.
I didn't attack. That wasn't the point.
I just stood there.
Blade at my side.
Silent.
Waiting.
Yoruichi turned slowly.
And for the first time since I'd met her, she smiled.
She was impressed.
---
"I see," she said. "Now I know why they couldn't sense you."
I didn't respond.
She stepped toward me, hands still behind her back.
"That ability — it's not combat. Not in the traditional sense. But in the hands of someone smart? Someone ruthless?"
She stopped a few feet away.
"It's lethal."
---
The shadows receded.
The blade reverted. Back into the standard sealed form. But the air didn't feel lighter.
I said nothing. Didn't need to.
Yoruichi studied me once more, then turned.
"You're not ready for Gotei service," she said.
I tensed.
"But that's a good thing."
She glanced over her shoulder.
"Stay patient."
Her smile widened slightly.
"Let the others train loud."
And with that, she vanished — a flash of movement and then nothing.
---