Nagakuni Ikehara


 * "In his silent soul, does a snake seethe and slither, eager to consume." - Seireitou-shishō

Nagakuni Ikehara (池原 長国, Ikehara Nagakuni) is a male that had once opposed the  and challenged the rule of. His vast power and unrivaled swordsmanship struck fear in the hearts of as he slaughtered his way through a great number of them throughout this period of dissension. For what amounted to the equivalent of heinous war crimes, he was sentenced and jailed to the fourth level of. He was stripped of his and chained to a wall; unable to move so much as a finger. But even after restraining him to such a degree, they had not fully understood the depths of Nagakuni's relationship with his sword, the great, for he was still able to engage in the practice of during his imprisonment. His mastery of their communication and the latter's abilities reached a point during his many years of solitary confinement where he could access the sword's tremendous power without even wielding it in his hand nor being able to physically move, eventually leading to his successful escape from the fourth prison level; an event that led to the eradication of the entire guard unit stationed to defend the floor as well as the bloodied corpses of the other prisoners that were left in the wake of Nagakuni's onslaught. He would eventually be reunited with his blade and together with Yamata no Orochi, the two left from and ran off onto ; finally a free spirit once more, stronger than ever before.

As the story of this infamous being goes, a Captain and a special task force was sent after him to apprehend the criminal, but none of the officers ever managed to return. When they were finally discovered by a patrol corps, only their corpses remained with their identities nearly indistinguishable. In particular, the Captain of the unit had no longer been wearing his white haori, as Nagakuni had actually taken the coat as a trophy of his victory over one of the highest commanding officers in all of the Soul Society's military force. What exactly followed is generally unknown by those who remember Nagakuni, with rumors and speculation fueling whatever existence remained of him, but he would eventually return to the world stage as a General under, led by.