Soul Society

Boom!

With an earth-shattering roar, a mountain hundreds of meters tall was instantly reduced to flat ground. Amid the billowing smoke, a woman in a brown coat and a Konoha ninja forehead protector tightly held a blood-covered man whose face could no longer be recognized. Tears rolled down her cheeks like broken pearls, falling onto his face.

"Luoshan! Get up, Luoshan! Don't leave me alone again!"

Perhaps the tears on his face woke him, or perhaps it was her tearful voice. Mitarai Luoshan laboriously opened his eyes. The pretty face so close to him was incomparably blurred at that moment.

"An... Anko-sama!"

His hoarse voice was filled with weakness and unwillingness. Mitarai Luoshan tried desperately to see the tear-streaked face before him clearly, his ink-black eyes full of reluctance and longing.

"Please, don't cry anymore!"

"If you don't want me to cry, then get better soon!" Mitaraishi Anko's voice trembled with sobs. "You said you wouldn't leave me again. Are you going back on your word?"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Dozens of bedraggled figures appeared around them, yet not a single one made a sound.

"I'm sorry, Anko... Anko-sama, please... live... well..."

Mitarai Luoshan tremblingly raised a hand, as though he wanted to wipe the tears from her face. Unfortunately, his hand ultimately fell limply back down.

"Luoshan!!!"

Endless darkness, without the slightest glimmer of light. Neither body nor soul could move at all. The suffocating silence and loneliness—was this what death felt like? What an awful feeling!

I'm sorry, Anko-sama. I really can't stay with you anymore. There were still so many things I wanted to tell you!

I grew up among wolves. I had no name, no parents. Living among that cruel pack, I was an unusual wolf, a wolf unlike any other.

Until one day, that peaceful life was shattered. Of that enormous wolf pack, only I and a newborn Little Wolf escaped. Perhaps it was the instinct to survive. I wanted to live, though at the time, I had no idea what I was supposed to do after surviving.

From then on, Little Wolf and I depended on each other for survival. We never dared enter human territory, because we would be killed. Perhaps after enough time had passed, I began to understand that I was human, not a wolf.

War broke out not long afterward, and Little Wolf and I found ourselves in an even harder situation. Not only did we have to fight others of our kind for food, but we also had to constantly guard against humans hunting Little Wolf. I clearly remembered how we were always hungry then, covered in wounds from head to toe.

It was winter, the coldest winter. Little Wolf and I had not eaten in a long time, surviving day after day only by eating snow. At last, unable to hold on any longer, we collapsed. I remembered that it was the first time I had faced approaching death, yet strangely, I felt no fear at all. There was only calm, a calm so profound that even I found it unbelievable.

Unexpectedly, someone saved us. They were passing ninjas, wearing metal plates marked with symbols on their foreheads. I remembered that they were called forehead protectors. The leading ninja found us first, then took us back to his village: Konoha Ninja Village in the Land of Fire.

Although Konoha took us in, for Little Wolf and me, it was not a blessing at all. It was the beginning of another suffering. The reason was simple. Though I was human, I could not speak human language, and no matter how one looked at my behavior, I resembled a wild beast more than a person. Little Wolf's fierce appearance also frightened people greatly.

The people of Konoha kept their distance from us, despised us, and even beat and kicked us. It was not just adults; children were the same. Those civilians feared us and called us beasts and monsters, telling us to stay away from them. The noble clans looked down on us even more. Every beating was a nightmare that would wake Little Wolf and me in terror.

Until I met her—Mitaraishi Anko.

She too was a member of one of Konoha's noble clans, yet she was like a god who pulled me out of that dark world and brought color into it. Yes, she was the only ray of sunlight in my life.

I still remembered our first meeting. Little Wolf and I had been cornered and were being beaten mercilessly. The pain in our bodies had already gone numb. Perhaps we would die the next moment. Honestly, I had hoped for release sooner. But that was the last time, because she appeared.

With a short ponytail, a childish yet stubborn face, she stood in front of me and said I was her little brother. She drove those people away, then smilingly held out her hand to me. Her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. It was adorable. To me, that was the purest smile I would never forget for the rest of my life.

Later, I learned her name and was able to remain by her side. She taught me how to speak, how to read, and how to be a person. Then she gave me a name.

Luoshan. Mitarai Luoshan.

I was very happy. Mitarai was her surname.

Not long afterward, Anko-sama entered the Ninja Academy, and she kept me by her side. Ninjutsu was such a nuisance, requiring hand seals and all that. Compared to that, I preferred simple, direct things like Swordsmanship and taijutsu.

The moment I picked up a sword, I could no longer control myself. I wanted to fight, wanted to kill. Back then, I and a guy named Kakashi Hatake were both called geniuses. Geniuses? What a boring title.

The war continued. After graduating from the Ninja Academy, Anko-sama became the disciple of one of the Three Ninja, the Cold Lord Orochimaru, under the guidance of her uncle, one of Konoha's Legendary Eight Colors, Mitarashi Zixiao. As for me, I became the disciple of Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo. I heard his Swordsmanship was the strongest in the Shinobi World, and I wanted to be the strongest.

I thought White Fang would not teach me his Swordsmanship so easily. In truth, though I did not know why, White Fang agreed. He simply never allowed me to call him Master. I did not care. After studying for a while, I discovered that I was born with extraordinarily strong Lightning affinity. When I used it, I did not need hand seals at all, and its power was even greater than Lightning Release Techniques of the same level.

War was just like that. Anything could happen, whether expected or unexpected. Mitarashi Zixiao died. Watching Anko-sama cry herself into a tearful mess, I felt my own weakness and helplessness for the first time. The belief that I had to grow stronger took root deep within my heart. I did not want Anko-sama to cry again.

Soon, more bad news arrived. White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, had abandoned a mission to save his comrades. For a ninja, that was unforgivable, especially since it had caused the war to continue. Condemned by the entire village, White Fang eventually committed suicide in his home.

I did not know why White Fang chose to end his life that way, but I knew one thing: I wanted power, power that would make everyone afraid. So, blinded by the desire for strength, I stubbornly left Konoha.

During my wandering days in the Shinobi World, I learned too much and understood too much, but I also forgot too much and lost too much.

Orochimaru defected from Konoha after using living people to research forbidden techniques. Anko-sama was one of his test subjects. She was branded with a Cursed Seal, and part of her memories were sealed away by Orochimaru.

At that moment, I suddenly realized that I had been wrong all along. The most important thing was not power, but Anko-sama.

It was simply too late.

When I returned to Konoha and saw Anko-sama lying in a hospital bed, still comforting me, I suddenly felt like crying.

When you were at your saddest, I wasn't there.

When you were in the most pain, I wasn't there.

When you needed someone by your side the most, I still wasn't there.

Perhaps I had become afraid. From then on, I did not dare leave Anko-sama's side for even a single step.

I had always wondered how I would end my life. Whether I died or not did not matter. A beast had to possess a beast's Resolve. But I truly had never imagined I would die this way.

Obito, although you always denied it, I still wanted to call you that.

Was it for Rin? I did not care what you wanted to do, but you hurt Anko-sama. So, I'm sorry. Now, we could only be enemies.

But as your brother, how could I possibly kill you myself? Maybe you were right. Maybe I really was a coward.

Perishing together? Actually, this was already quite good. But, Obito, I still hoped you could live. You would survive, right?

Naruto, Kakashi, Anko-sama, this was all I could do. Obito was in your hands now. I was truly tired.

I simply could no longer keep my promise to you.

When I opened my eyes again, I had inexplicably become a baby. My name was supposedly Kawasaki Dao? What a joke. I would never acknowledge that. I would always be Mitarai Luoshan.

This was Soul Society, a world composed entirely of Reishi. A world of Bleach and souls, likewise a world where the strong devoured the weak. Only power was the foundation of everything.

Perhaps because of my previous life, I was born with immense power that should be called spiritual power here, as well as a pitch-black longsword shaped like a vicious wolf, known here as a Zanpakutō. I simply had not let anyone discover them.

Soul Society's Reiatsu and the Shinobi World's chakra differed somewhat in structure, yet they shared many similarities to a certain extent. So I secretly began training. Perhaps I could return to my original world someday. I knew very well how unrealistic that thought was, but it was the only motivation keeping me alive.

Several years later, the mother who gave birth to me died. My nominal father, Kawasaki Jie, had accidentally injured her, and she died without receiving treatment. Before she died, she told me not to seek revenge. She said she did not hate him, and I agreed.

Mother had merely been a maid, and naturally, I was only Kawasaki Jie's accidental illegitimate son after he got drunk. After a simple funeral, I, a useless waste with no Reiatsu in his eyes, was nothing but a disgrace to him and the Kawasaki Family.

But what did his opinion have to do with me?

Time in Soul Society was very long, so over those long years, I recovered the peak power of my previous life. Though I did not know how strong that made me in Soul Society, I could not be weak, right?

But what could that change? I still could not go back!

Then what meaning was there in living in this world at all?!

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