[Samsara] Chapter 8 - Evil Spirit (II)

“Waiter, more booze!” a man wearing a black shihakusho and an armband with “Second Division” written on it shouted.

His spiky blonde hair was standing in all directions, his cheeks and nose were red, and his blue eyes were slightly unfocused; he was plastered. But, despite how drunk he was, he grabbed a hunk of fried meat in one hand and a bottle of soju in the other before jumping on top of a table and starting to sing a drunken song about food, women, and booze.

The lyrics of the song were terrible, and his singing voice was an affront to the ears, but the other partygoers were just as drunk as he was. They started cheering and laughing their asses off at his actions.

For the first time since he started living in the Soul Society, Uzumaki Naruto was having the time of his life, partying like the world was going to end tomorrow.

A few strings of reiatsu came out from his fingertips and wrapped around a black-haired woman’s thin waist, suddenly pulling her up onto the table next to him. She was Suwa Ume, the leader of the Onmitsukido's Detention Unit, who had served as the overseer for his test when he joined.

She let out a squawk of surprise at being grabbed out of nowhere, but her gasp was swallowed by Naruto’s mouth as he suddenly covered her lips with his in a sloppy kiss. When the woman got over her surprise, she wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head, deepening the kiss and earnestly starting to make out with him.

The other shinigami in the tavern broke out into shouts and wolf-whistles as they watched their new Lieutenant and the Fourth Seat swallowing each other’s faces. Those cheers, however, turned into hollers of laughter when the table tilted and the two drunkards who were kissing on top of it fell down on the floor like two sacks of potatoes.

⁂

It was in the wee hours of the morning that Naruto wobbled out of the tavern, a goofy grin and half a dozen red lip marks on his face.

‘Yeah, man, that’s what life is all about!’ he thought, giggling and burping as he walked towards the Second Division’s barracks.

The longer he walked, the more he felt like throwing up. He had lost count of how many bottles of soju he had downed.

‘But it was so much fun!’

He had not had such a good time in more than a decade. Ever since he had come to the Soul Society, he had never partied and hung out with others. He had missed having friends, companionship, and having fun. Even before that, in Rukongai, he had been forced to live alone due to his high spiritual energy making other people sick.

‘Should I cure my drunkenness?’ he asked himself when his nausea started getting worse. He didn’t want to end up vomiting all over the street.

His healing kido could purge his inebriated state quite easily. But on the other hand, he loved the buzz, that feeling of intoxication.

‘I’ve been missing out on so many things all these years.’

‘The old me is gone.’

‘From now on, I won’t hold back anymore.’

He giggled perversely as his mind went back to his sloppy make-out session with the prim and proper “Ume-chan”. Though she was not as glamorous as other ladies in the Court of Souls, that rigid and serious side of hers had its own charm, especially when her polite facade broke.

Inebriated as he was, Naruto almost didn’t notice the dark-skinned shinigami who had been waiting for him in front of the Second Division’s gates.

“Yo, Naruto.”

“Oh, Captain. Wazzup?” he asked, hiccuping.

Shihouin Chika studied him intently for a few seconds.

“We haven’t seen each other much lately. Just wanted to check up on you.”

“Is something the matter? If it’s not urgent, we can talk tomorrow,” he said, and his cheeks bulged as he almost threw up. 

“You’ve become quite the party animal over the last few weeks, huh?”

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

“A drink or two never hurt anyone. And, what do you know, the ladies seem to like me a lot more after I drink too. Bwahahah!” he threw his head back and laughed out loud, his voice echoing in the silence of the night. 

The Captain blew out a sigh.

“I’m glad you’re having fun. . . How is your bankai training going?”

“Oooh! My bankai. Hm. I made contact with my zanpakuto spirit, but he’s a stubborn one. It may take longer than I thought at first. I believe-” he had to bring his hand to his mouth and stop talking lest he lose all control and vomit all over the place in front of the captain. 

“I see. You look like you need some rest, so I won’t hold you anymore. Good night, Naruto.”

"Good night, Captain.”

A few moments after the blond walked past him, Chika called out his name again:

“Naruto.”

“Yes, Captain?” he asked, stopping in his tracks.

“Is everything alright with you? Are you okay?”

Naruto turned so that Chika would see his face, and he smirked as he answered:

“Never been better.”

Despite his Lieutenant’s reassurance, Shihouin Chika was not convinced. Since when was Naruto the type to party and get himself piss drunk? Since when was he the type to mingle with his squadmates and hook up with women? In the 10 years since he had joined Gotei 13, the blond had never done that. He had hated the shinigami for the longest time and avoided interacting with others unless his duties required him to do so. He had been a loner, and he had never shown any interest in becoming friends or romantically involved with anyone.

‘He’s like an entirely different person,' Chika thought.

He didn’t need to be a genius to realise that Naruto's abrupt change in behaviour was somehow related to his Bankai training. However, so far, the blond hadn’t broken any laws, nor had he created any problems with his Shinigami work. He was always sober during work, and he fulfilled his duties as the Lieutenant of the Second Division and as a member of the Detention Unit properly.

Therefore, Chika did not really have a reason to complain. Nonetheless, he decided to keep a close eye on him. He did not know exactly what was going on behind the scenes, but he was certain that something was not right.  

⁂ 

A clang of steel clashing reverberated, and a reiatsu shockwave burst forth, destroying a nearby building and making the walls of other buildings shudder and crack. Cries of pain came from the people who had been trapped under the collapsed house. 

“Control yourself, you stupid animal. You’re going to get us both thrown in prison!” Naruto shouted in anger. 

“Like hell if I care!” Zaraki screamed, and, holding his jagged zanpakuto with both hands, he chopped at Naruto with all his strength. 

Three weeks had passed since Naruto's attempt at gaining Bankai. Three weeks since Akuryo, the Evil Spirit, had taken control of his body. Three weeks since Zaraki, the unhinged killer of Rukongai, had been imprisoned in the Maggots’ Nest. 

Now, as soon as he was released, he made a beeline straight to Naruto, to the Second Division’s training grounds.

“Oy, Captain, if you don’t control your dog, I’ll put him down where he stands!” Naruto shouted, transmitting his voice with the use of his reiatsu over the entirety of the Second Division’s barracks. 

But he did not receive an answer. Shihouin Chika was already gone; he was visiting Captain Unohana that day.

“That damned skirt-chaser,” he cursed as his zanpakuto clashed heavily against Zaraki’s blade once more. 

“You have time to think about others while you’re fighting me?” the boy shouted in anger, and his reiatsu spiked. 

The other members of their squad all started running away in panic as Zaraki’s monstrous reiatsu clashed against that of Naruto. 

“Run for your lives!”

“Run away!”

“Those madmen are fighting again!”

A haze of bright yellow and pitch black clashed, and the entirety of Squad Two’s training grounds and adjacent buildings started shuddering from their foundations, seeming unable to withstand their spiritual pressure.

“That’s more like it!” Zaraki screamed in glee as he chopped at Naruto with all his strength. “Wahaha!”

Despite the bright and beautiful colour of Zaraki's reiatsu, the more he fought, the more it started to resemble a skull, like a manifestation of his boundless killing intent.

Even as Naruto’s blade dug into his body and slashed him across the chest, arms, and shoulders, Zaraki never retreated. He threw himself at Naruto like a relentless zombie, not caring in the least about the wounds he received, all for the sake of not allowing him even one second to release his shikai. Zaraki knew that the moment the blond released his shikai, the fight would be over.

As for Naruto, he didn’t get away unscathed from their clashes either. His shihakusho was stained with the blood coming from a gruesome shoulder wound, and his left bicep had been stabbed through. Zaraki was so unhinged and fast with his attacks that not only did Naruto not have the time to activate his Shikai, but he couldn’t use his healing kido either.

A cold killing intent rose within him, and reiatsu flared, its pitch-black colour threatening to engulf the entire Second Division barracks.

“I’m sick of you, lunatic,” Naruto screamed as he clashed his sword against Zaraki’s. “I’ve spared your life too many times. But that's it. You’re going to die today.”

Sensing the change in his reiatsu and hearing his words, the boy actually grinned even wider and laughed out loud.

“Fight me, Naruto! Kill me if you can! Fight me like it's your last day!” 

The clash of their swords rang so loud that people from all over the Court of Souls heard it. Right after their swords locked in a contest of strength, Zaraki unexpectedly lunged in and suddenly sank his teeth into Naruto’s nape, biting him like a savage beast.

Holding back a yell of pain, Naruto said through gritted teeth:

“Hainawa!”

A golden rope of light wrapped around Kenpachi’s body, but that hastily cast low-level kido disintegrated like nothing, unable to bind him.

Kenpachi yanked his head back, pulling a whole chunk of flesh out of Naruto’s neck and shoulder, and spat it on the ground. His mouth stained with the blood of his opponent, and with his clothes in tatters and soaked in his own blood, the kid looked no different from a demon.

“Ahaha! Hahaha!” he laughed as he started slashing at Naruto wildly, his sword moving faster than most shinigami’s eyes could perceive, delivering dozens of attacks per second. 

As their swords clashed against each other, Naruto let one of his hands go. Zaraki, who was wielding his blade with both hands, won the contest of strength and pushed Naruto’s zanpakuto down, straight into his shoulder.

But that had been Naruto’s plan all along. A sphere of dark energy coalesced into his free hand, and he thrust it into Kenpachi’s chest.

The kid abruptly pulled back, not trying to press his advantage because Naruto had used that chantless kido ball attack several times against him before. By now, he was well aware of that trick.

Pulling back, however, allowed Naruto a brief respite.

“Seal, Aku-” he began to say, but Zaraki lunged at him with the desperation of a dying man. Except that the beastly kid wasn’t actually afraid of dying. He was far more afraid of the fight ending. He wanted to keep on fighting.

His blood racing, the clangs of swords, the sounds of steel tearing into flesh, and adrenaline pumping in his veins: that was what made life worth living for him. He couldn’t allow Naruto to release his shikai. In his eyes, the fight ending was worse than losing his life.

Faced with Zaraki’s reckless attack, Naruto was forced to parry the hit, interrupting his shikai release. Frowning, he changed tactics. Not all kido spells needed hand seals or a certain posture, like the activation of Shikai. Some kidō spells only needed verbal incantations.

An idea came to his mind, and he started chanting very fast in spite of the fact that Zaraki was repeatedly hacking with his zanpakuto at him, swinging his blade wildly to cut him down. 

"O sun that lingers in the heavens, lend me your enduring grace - Flash from cloud and coil from sky - Wrap my flesh in sacred brilliance, unbroken and unburned - ”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Zaraki screamed, sensing that something bad was about to happen. 

But Naruto ignored him, focusing on defending against his strikes while chanting the rest of the incantations. 

“ - Fang without flesh, breath without flame! - Let light be my armour and radiance my shield - Strike swift, tear loud - Bakudō #52: Kōmyō no Tate! - Hadō #42: Inazuma no Hebi!" (1)

At first impression, the incantation made no sense. But that was Nijū Eishō. It was a kido technique of mixing the incantations of two different spells and casting them simultaneously.

As his words ended, a golden barrier of light enveloped Naruto’s body like a second layer of skin, and the tip of his zanpakuto started crackling with a pale blue light before a large serpent of lightning burst out.

Due to being held in a parrying position, the tip of Naruto’s sword was facing upwards, and the blue lightning serpent shot up, nowhere near close to hitting the enemy. However, after flying up for a few metres, the lightning serpent did an abrupt U-turn, homing in on Zaraki.

“You’re crazy!” Zaraki shouted and laughed when he realised what was going to happen: due to how close they were standing with their swords locked against each other, the blue serpent of lightning was going to hit them both.

However, the boy had miscalculated something. As the blue lightning serpent struck them, he was the only one who shouted in pain. Thanks to his dual casting, Naruto had preemptively cast a barrier spell on himself; the serpent of blue lightning could not harm him.

“Get back here!” the kid screamed when he saw the blond disengaging and shunpo-ing backwards after the blue lightning serpent faded away.

He tried to chase after Naruto with a flash step, too, yet to his surprise, his body did not listen to him momentarily. He was numb. He couldn’t feel his limbs.

That state lasted for only one second, but that brief moment was all that Naruto needed.

Holding his zanpakuto horizontally in front of him with one hand from the upper part of the blade and with one hand from the handle, Naruto spoke the chant of his shikai release:

“Seal, Akuryo.”

“NOOO!” Zaraki screamed as he shook off the temporary paralysis and threw himself at Naruto.

However, it was too late. Naruto’s regular katana transformed into a simple, straight, double-edged sword with a black handle and a black blade. It was a Jian, a traditional Chinese sword.

⁂

Shiouin Chika, infamous among the women of Seireitei for his charm and playboy lifestyle, became the talk of the entire Soul Society when he suddenly changed his ways several weeks ago.

At first, many thought that his affair with Unohana was just one of his whims, a flavour of the month type of thing. That he would grow bored of her and move on to other women in a matter of days. However, as days and weeks passed, they began to realise that the Head of the Shihouin Clan had truly fallen for the Kenpachi, for the worst killer of the Soul Society.

Other than the times when their Captain duties required their presence in their divisions’ headquarters, the two of them could often be seen walking around, dining, or enjoying a cup of tea together. Such was the case in the present as well.

“You seem distracted. Is there something troubling you?” Unohana asked while pouring him a cup of tea.

Her posture and mannerisms were so elegant that one would have a hard time imagining who she really was had they not known her identity.

“I have a nagging suspicion that I forgot something. . . something important,” Chika said, a troubled look on his handsome face.

Not long after he said that, two powerful reiatsu signatures washed over Seireitei. Shihouin slapped his forehead.

“I forgot to tell my Lieutenant that the mad dog was going to get released today! Yachiru-san, we have to stop them,” he said, standing up to leave.

But Unohana grabbed him softly by his haori.

“Why not just leave them be? It’s not like it’s their first battle.”

She was not wrong. Their battles were so frequent that nobody in Seireitei was unaware of them by now.

“Something is different this time. Uzumaki, my lieutenant, has changed. I’m afraid one of them will die if they fight today.”

Going by the unimpressed look on her face, he could tell that she could not care less about either one of their deaths.

“They are important to me,” he explained. “Both of them. They are key pieces that I cannot afford to lose.”

⁂

Shihouin and Unohana weren’t the only ones who had noticed their battle. Somewhere near the centre of the Court of Souls, in the Shiba Clan’s residence, a tall and burly man with wild brown hair and bushy sideburns sat in a seiza pose, listening to an elderly woman speak. Her elegant black kimono, neatly tied bun, and silvery hair gave her an air of elegance and dignity.

His large, muscular frame looked out of place in that position, and his overall presence didn’t quite fit with the refined atmosphere of an aristocratic household. Judging by the look on his face, he felt just as uncomfortable as he appeared.



When he sensed the sudden spike of reiatsu in the distance, the woman’s voice faded into the background, going in one ear and out the other.

“Danjiro-san? Danjiro-san! Are you even listening to me?” she snapped, slamming her closed fan on the low table.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m listening, you old hag, quit whining already!” he said in a fed-up voice.

“Old hag?! Is that any way to talk to your venerable mother-in-law?” the woman shouted, suddenly jumping up from her seiza and stepping over the table to grab him by the collar of his white Captain’s haori.

The prim and proper image she had projected just moments ago seemed like a complete lie now.

“You do look venerable right now, with your foot on the table and grabbing your son-in-law’s chest like you're trying to shake some money out of him.”

His sarcasm was not lost on her, and the old woman became even fiercer. Yanking him by the collar, she slammed her forehead against his. 

But Danjiro was not one to take such acts lying down, and he also grabbed a fistful of her kimono, looking like he was about to start beating her up.

“You wanna have a go at it, punk?” she yelled at him.

“Just do it, you old witch. I dare you to start it!” he goaded her. 

“When I was beating thugs like you, you were still in your father’s ballsack, you wet-behind-the-ears brat!” the old woman screamed.

At that moment, the sound of a door sliding open was heard, and a tall and busty woman with long brown hair entered the room.

“Mother, Dear? Were you fighting again?” she asked in a disappointed voice. 

“Fighting? Who? Us?” Danjiro asked innocently.

“You worry too much, Kana-chan,” said the old lady, smiling amiably.

Although they had been at each other’s throats less than two seconds ago, the very moment they heard the door sliding open, the two of them rushed back to their spots, sitting down in a seiza, and acting as though nothing had happened at all.

The young woman, Shiba Kana, let out a sigh. Her mother and her husband may have tried to hide it, but how could she not see the wrinkles left by how they pulled at each other’s clothes?

“Dear, we’ve been over this before. . . I know you don’t like it, but you need to learn our etiquette. The Shiba are one of the Five Noble Houses. We cannot let the other nobles look down on us.”

“You’re right, Dear,” Danjiro said, grinning foolishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

“You, too, Mother, you should have more patience with him, especially because you know exactly what he is going through right now. You had married into the clan just like him, and you also had a hard time learning how not to act like a savage.”

“Oy, you little girl, aren’t you a bit too harsh on your mother?”

“That’s because you should know better than acting like a hoodlum, Mother!”

While the two women started quarrelling, Danjiro Obana’s expression changed. Eventually, even the two women stopped mouthing at each other because the spiritual pressure they were feeling was already in the realm of Captain-level shinigami going all out, just shy of releasing their Bankai.

“I cannot ignore this. I will go take a look,” Danjiro said as he stood up and grabbed his zanpakuto from the floor.

⁂

As chance made it, Danjiro Obana, Shihouin Chika, and Unohana Yachiru arrived at the scene of the battle just in time to witness how the Second Squad’s Lieutenant stabbed his blood-red shikai through the young boy’s neck.

Zaraki collapsed on the ground, blood pouring like a river from the gaping hole left in his throat, but he couldn’t even attempt to cover it with his hands because his arms had been paralysed beforehand.

Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw that it wasn’t just one but three captains who had unexpectedly come to the Second Division’s training grounds.

However, to his surprise, he could not sense any anger from any of them. Shihouin Chika was the only one showing some negative emotions; he felt exasperated. But Unohana was indifferent, even as she rushed (due to Chika’s urging) to Zaraki’s side and her hands started glowing with a cyan light, healing the fatal wound in his throat. 

“Damn it, Naruto, you could’ve killed him,” said Shihouin irritated. “If Captain Unohana wasn’t here to save him, he would’ve died.”

“Yes. That was the entire point,” Naruto said coldly. “How many times has he attacked me until now? Five? Or Six? I kinda lost count. I keep beating him up and throwing him in the Maggot’s Nest, and you keep releasing him after every 2-3 weeks. If you had trained your dog, I wouldn’t have needed to put him down.”

Knowing that it was his negligence that had led to his scenario, Shihouin did not refute his words. Unohana, on the other hand, was not quite as understanding. Finishing healing Zaraki’s wounds, she turned her attention to him.

“That is not how you should speak to your Captain, Uzumaki-san.”

Sensing the bloodlust smouldering underneath her calm exterior, Naruto understood that no matter what he said, she was going to attack him next. He was familiar with her tendencies by now. After all, their healing kido lessons until then had been less about healing and more about fighting against each other like a bunch of maniacs, just short of killing each other every time.

“Don’t try to talk to me about manners, Captain. If you want to fight, just say so,” Naruto said indifferently, his blood-red Jian sword turning black again as he released the paralysis seal on the unconscious Zaraki on the ground.

Unohana’s killing intent exploded as she drew her zanpakuto. 

However, before she could make a move and before Shihouin could step in to de-escalate the situation, Danjiro Obana, the Captain of the Fifth Division, held his sheathed zanpakuto in front of him and shouted:

“Grow, Ruyi Jingu Bang!”

As his words ended, his sheathed zanpakuto turned into a two-metre-long black iron staff capped with golden bands on both ends. He let out a loud shout, and his staff abruptly increased its length, stabbing towards Naruto faster than the speed of sound!

Despite the sudden attack coming from Danjiro, Naruto wasn’t caught off guard. His negative emotions sensing alerted him of Danjiro’s lust for battle, and he swung his black jian upwards, in a diagonal arc, batting the staff away.

‘Heavy,’ was the first thing he thought after the clash.

Simultaneously, Unohana’s killing intent soared.

“He is mine to kill. Don’t get in my way, Danjiro-taichou.”

Danjiro laughed out loud as he retracted his staff and swung it at Unohana next.

“Come at me then!”

Chika ran a hand over his face, groaning in disbelief as the training grounds of his headquarters suddenly became the battlefield of 3 Captain-class shinigami. 

‘Whose side am I even supposed to take?’

He didn’t care about Danjiro Obana, but he was torn between Naruto and Unohana. He was infatuated with Yachiru, but Naruto had been his friend for over ten years now. He could not easily make a choice because, regardless of whose side he took, he would offend the other. 

As he stood there hesitating, powerful shockwaves exploded from the clash of the three Captain-level shinigami. Danjiro’s shikai was extremely powerful, his staff gaining ridiculous weight whenever it increased in size, and making even Naruto and Unohana need to use their full strength to parry his hits. But on the other hand, the Fifth Division Captain’s reiatsu was lower than that of Unohana and Naruto, and his shunpo was slower as well. Luckily for him, Unohana seemed more intent on attacking Naruto instead of Danjiro.

Shihouin Chika scratched his head with both hands, at an impasse. He had never been put in a situation like that before. He had never really cared about other people enough to want to save them, let alone to be torn between two of them.

“Hadō #78. Zangerin!” (Cutting Flower Ring)



As Naruto shouted that incantation, he slashed with his sword, and a golden ring of light appeared around him. In the next moment, it burst outward, slamming into Danjiro and Unohana at the same time.

A cold, fierce grin appeared on Unohana’s face as she blocked the blade of kido with her sword, but Danjiro didn’t fare as well as she did, and despite the fact that he had also parried the blade of light with his staff, the force of the attack slammed him back violently, sending him rolling and crashing, demolishing two nearby buildings before his body finally came to a stop.

Even though he had been slammed rather painfully through two buildings, his body bruised and battered all over, Danjiro Obana crawled out of the wreckage and let out a hearty laugh.

“I’m all fired up!” he shouted and slammed his staff down, stabbing it into the ground. 

He had always known that Captain Unohana was powerful: even now, the Kenpachi was still fighting with her sealed zanpakuto, but Danjiro had never expected the Lieutenant of the Second Division to be that strong. 

'That kid earlier was fighting against this Lieutenant all alone? Where did Shihouin find these two monsters?'

Danjiro pulled out 2 hairs, one from each of his sideburns, and let out a wince. It was not the physical pain of pulling out his hairs that made him grimace, but the thought that those two hairs would never grow back again.

“But I can’t have the youngsters get a big head now, can I? Besides, it’s been years since I last properly stretched my bones.”

Holding the two hairs between his fingers, Danjiro grabbed his staff and spoke:

“Bankai: Shen Wai Shen Fa.” (Body Beyond The Body)

A white cloud enveloped him, and a moment later, two men identical to Danjiro down to the tiniest detail appeared at each of his sides. They even held an identical staff in their hands.

Sensing the immense spike in reiatsu, Unohana pushed Naruto away and flash-stepped back. She ran her palm across the blade of her zanpakuto, slicing it open and letting her blood coat her sword.

“Bankai: Minazuki.”

The blood pouring from her palm formed a deep crimson pool at her feet. Even her zanpakuto transformed, becoming a blade of blood. The air turned heavy and suffocating as Unohana cast aside her calm and graceful exterior, revealing the true face of the first Kenpachi that had been hidden underneath.

‘Oh shit,’ Naruto thought when he realised that the two Captains he had been locked in a battle royal against had activated their bankai.

When a Shinigami released their bankai, they not only gained a special, powerful ability, but their reiatsu skyrocketed as well.

While the two Captains were still in the midst of releasing their Bankai, he started reciting a kido spell’s incarnation. Shihouin Chika, who had spectated the fight until then without choosing any side, decided to intervene at that moment, and he unsheathed his zanpakuto, preparing himself to release his Bankai too.

Before Chika could release his bankai and before Danjiro and Unohana could throw themselves into their free-for-all battle, however, a towering spiritual pressure washed over the entirety of Seireitei.

The world seemed to come to a standstill as a middle-aged man walked on air towards them. The moisture in the air disappeared, the ground dried up and started cracking, and the Second Division’s buildings that were still standing collapsed under the tyrannical spiritual pressure coming from him.

It was none other than Genryusai Yamamoto, the Captain-Commander of Gotei 13.

His strong body was bathed in flames, and the sword in his hand became engulfed by fire too, as he spoke:

“Since you seem to be raring for a fight, come.”

“Turn everything to ash. Ryuujin Jakka.”

His mere spiritual pressure was enough to destroy the environment and set most beings aflame, but when the other Captains heard Yamamoto speak the release command of his Shikai, a cold chill travelled down their spines.

Despite that he had just released his Bankai, the battle-junkie Captain of the Fifth Division suddenly turned tail and broke into a mad dash, running for his life, his two clones following right behind.

He wasn’t the only one. Shihouin Chika made use of his famed shunpo skills to rush to Zaraki’s side and pick up the unconscious boy off the ground.

“Yachiru!” he shouted.

At first, the crazy Kenpachi appeared as though she would have liked nothing more than to fight Yamamoto in his currently enraged state, but, in spite of her lust for battle, Unohana made a decision that even surprised herself: she actually listened to Chika and started running away, too. 

But the Head Captain was not going to let them escape that easily after all the problems that they had caused. Letting out a shout, he swung his zanpakuto in a wide arc, sending four devastating tornadoes of fire after them.

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
AN:

(1) Both spells are made up. Despite there being more than 100 Hado (destruction) and 100 Bakudo (protection) spells in the canon, we are given the names for only a handful of them, and even fewer have an actual incantation. Kido is a rather neglected part of Bleach, unfortunately.

That said, these are the full names and incantations of the made-up spells that I have used

Bakudō #52: Kōmyō no Tate (Shield of Radiant Light)

Incantation: “O sun that lingers in the heavens, lend me your enduring grace. Wrap my flesh in sacred brilliance, unbroken and unburned. Let light be my armour and radiance my shield.”
Effect: envelops the user in a protective membrane of yellow light. 

Hadō #42: Inazuma no Hebi (Lightning Serpent)

Incantation: “Flash from cloud and coil from sky. Fang without flesh, breath without flame! Strike swift, tear loud.”
Effect: a serpent of pale blue lightning comes out from the tip of the sword and homes in on the enemy, electrocuting them. The spell wounds the enemy, numbs them, and makes them move slower than usual for a brief moment.