"Rumble... rumble..."
Above the gloomy sky, muffled thunder continued to roll as the dark clouds began to gather densely.
The light rain that had just stopped seemed to have merely been preparing for the coming downpour, as though torrential rain would fall at any moment.
As Itachi, enveloped in mysterious energy, turned to look to the side—
On the devastated ground, aside from Aizen, Ulquiorra and Gin had also arrived.
Beside them stood Kisame, whose injuries had already healed completely.
Sensing Itachi's gaze, Kisame looked over at him, grinned, and gave him a reassuring look.
Some time had passed since Itachi had been on the verge of death from exhaustion.
With his chakra depleted back then, Itachi had resolutely burned away his own life force and activated Susanoo once more, determined to perish together with Aizen.
However, once he realized that Aizen was an existence he could never defeat, that conviction faded away along with his life force.
All that remained was a broken body whose life force had been burned away.
It could be said that, had Aizen not been present, Itachi would already have been doomed to die.
Yet precisely because Aizen was here, everything became possible!
Even Itachi, whose life force had been destined to fade and who was about to die, could be brought back to life entirely within Aizen's control.
As the instigator of this battle, aside from Itachi's unexpectedly brilliant performance, everything had unfolded exactly according to Aizen's intentions...
On the battlefield, Itachi, suspended in midair within that mysterious energy, stared at his body in shock.
The strange pale violet energy of unknown properties had completely repaired this body of his, which had accumulated countless hidden injuries.
Feeling the powerful vitality coursing through his body, even the usually taciturn Itachi could not help feeling