Kuchiki Rukia rose abruptly, startled by a loud rapping on her door. "Ugh, Renji, do you ever sleep?" She glanced over at the tuft of orange hair resting on one of her pink pillows. "How do you always sleep so peacefully?" She thought, smiling gently. She reached her hand out to caress the messy locks, retracting it quickly when the knocking came a second time, louder and even more annoying. "If it is Abarai I swear I'll remove those tattoos myself, and most of his skin along with them!" Rukia slid out of bed, careful to pick up her Zanpakuto on the way out. Hers was so small when compared to Zangetsu. "I need to remind him to keep his sword off my tile. He keeps on scratching it."
She finally reached the door, just as the third round of knocking began. "Dangit, who do you think you are? Knocking at my door at this hour? I have half a mind to…." Her voice trailed off when she realized it was her Captain. "I'm so sorry Captain! Forgive me, I didn't realize—"
"That's quite alright Lieutenant Kuchiki. I realize that it is very late, or very early, depending upon how you look at things." He chuckled to himself. The two heard a light padding as Kurosaki Ichigo walked up.
"Hmmyawww, what's with all the screaming this early, Rukia—Oh! Good morning Ukitake-san."
"Good morning Ichigo, I see you spent the night again."
"Yeah, I was over here with Rukia and Renji, and we lost track of time. Renji lives close by, so he went home. I'm so far away I just figured I'd stay here."
Ukitake was about to ask why Ichigo didn't go to stay at Renji's house, but that was conversation for another time. Besides, Rukia was obviously annoyed with the two men for completely ignoring her. Her clenched fists and bowed head were testament to that, not to mention the slight chill that was emanating from her sword. Ukitake needed to move fast. "Well, the reason for my visit this late at night is to inform you, Kuchiki Rukia, that you have been selected for a special mission. There will by 9 other Shinigami accompanying you on this mission. You are to meet at Karakura Town in 2 weeks. You will be given details once you have rendezvoused with your teammates."
"What is the mission about, Captain?" asked Ichigo.
"Like I said, Lieutenant Rukia will be given instructions once she arrives."
"Yeah, but—OOF!"
"Yes sir, Captain," said Rukia, after elbowing Ichigo in the stomach. Ichigo fell to the floor, trying to catch his breath. With a pained smile, Ukitake bowed, and proceeded on his way. She turned around to face Ichigo. "You idiot! Didn't you see he was trying to keep it a secret?" She tried to mask the worry in her voice with anger. In truth, she was a bit concerned over how closely Ukitake guarded the information. "Something's up, and I don't like it. Captain Ukitake is rarely so defensive of information. He normally fills me in on details even when Captain-Commander forbids it." Rukia nibbled on her knuckle while she thought. Ichigo coughed as he stood up, finally catching his breath. She raised her eyes to meet Ichigo's. "What do you think?"
"You're asking my opinion?" said Ichigo in a half surprised tone. "Well, I think that whatever the mission is, you and the rest of the team would do well to be prepared for anything. If you're going to be informed when you get there, there will have to be a Captain there to deliver the information. They obviously want a lot of muscle, considering they are sending ten Shinigami and a Captain to take care of the problem. I think I'll tag along too, just so I can make sure your safe."
"No, Ichigo, Captain Ukitake did not extend an invitation for you to accompany the mission. Just because you've proven yourself a powerful warrior doesn't mean that Captain-Commander has accepted you as a Shinigami. I think you need to lay low for a bit, for your own sake."
"Just my sake?" Asked Ichigo mischievously. Rukia looked down in mock shame.
"And for my sake too, you idiot." She looked up again, a soft smile on her face. He drew close to her, forcing him to look almost straight down in order to maintain eye contact. She looked down at his hand, reached out, and took it in her hand. Rukia smiled as she remembered how peaceful Ichigo looked that morning. And then she remembered how early it was, as well as how tired she was. She leaned into Ichigo. "Let's go back to bed, I wanna sleep." Ichigo placed his hand on her head.
"Yes, boss. I'll even carry you there." She let him pick her up, sliding gracefully into place in his arms, her arms around his neck. Carefully, he walked to her bedroom. "This would have been a nightmare at my place, hehe," Ichigo thought, picturing the minefield that was his living room. "I need to clean up before I let her in tomorrow. Or today, rather."
Once he made it to her bed, Ichigo laid her down gently, making sure to not wake her up from the half-asleep state she was in. Then, he practically collapsed next to her. Her bed couldn't take the stress from his body falling onto it, and the legs bowed out in the front and back, collapsing onto the floor.
"Nice going, idiot."
"Shut up, witch."
"Witch?"…
Ichigo regretted his words while shivering in the cold waiting for Renji to answer his door.
Around the same time:
Fire Nation, Konoha, Hokage's office.
"You all have been summoned for a very special assignment. You should feel privileged to have been called here tonight. Two weeks from now you will be representing the Shinobi of this nation in a tournament against the Shinigami!" Danzou paused to allow the news to settle in.
"You mean we finally get to show those stuck up Shinigami whose boss! YEAH! This is what we've been waiting for Akamaru!" Inuzuka Kiba performed an aerial fist-pump with Akamaru running circles around him in excitement. Rock Lee screamed something about eternal youth of the Shinobi, while TenTen and Hyuuga Neji frowned at his lack of reverence for the Hokage. Not everyone was so thrilled to hear of their "assignment", though.
"Wait, why are we doing this? We're just having a random tournament out of nowhere?" Yamanaka Ino was annoyed at being summoned to the Hokage's office this late, only to find out that she was being forced to participate in what she called "a man's barbaric way of handling things." "What if we don't want to participate?"
"You don't have a choice," said Danzou flatly. "This is a mission, one to show that we, the nation who embraced the demon's power and made it our own, are superior to those blasted Shinigami. This tournament is the result of 300 years of conflict between us two nations. It will show the people of this World that we are indeed powerful, and a force to be respected. It will show that our nation is greater, and effectively end our petty disputes. People will come to us for protection, not go to them. They will thereby be forced to pay tribute to us, serve us, and so on. This is not simply a tournament. It will decide our fate as a nation!"
"It is a chance to test our own individual skills as well, Yamanaka," Said a cold voice from the corner of the room. One would not have recognized who he was save for the red glint of the Sharingan that marked the owner of the voice an Uchiha.
Haruno Sakura glanced over at Ino, a smirk on her face after hearing Sasuke reprimand Ino. The blonde just turned her chin up and looked the other way.
"Only blood-thirsty people like you, Sasuke, are interested in showing off their skills." Shino, still wearing his sunglasses in spite of it being dark outside, stared down the Uchiha he had just rebuked. "To some, honor is just as important as their power. Mindless displays of power prove nothing." Sasuke just shrugged.
"Glad to see there are still a few good Shinobi under my command," Said Danzou.
"Hokage-sama, what sort of a tournament is it?" Hyuuga Hinata said, concern in her voice. She never wanted anyone to get hurt, regardless of whether they were Shinobi or Shinigami.
"It will be a tournament where combatants from each side will face off in combat, with different types of matches delivering a certain amount of points. It will be comparable to the Chuunin exams." Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji were almost asleep by now, both entirely bored of the conversation and already tired from being up so late. Standing next to each other, they both started to sway in opposite directions, resulting in a resounding *CLOP* from their heads butting. They both fell to the ground in pain.
"And then there's some Shinobi who aren't worthy of the title," said Danzou, frowning at the two sitting on the floor, rubbing their heads.
"So, there won't be any fatalities in this tournament, right Hokage-sama?" said a somewhat worried Sakura. She knew she didn't come from a clan, and therefore already had a disadvantage from not having any special powers.
"I cannot guarantee anything. We will stop the match when one of the combatants is rendered unable to fight. Whether the loser dies or not is entirely up to his opponent. If one kills the other before the match can be stopped, then so be it. The tournament will carry on. Killing the opponent does not count against you."
"That's good to know," said the cold voice from the corner again. This time Sakura shivered after hearing Sasuke's input.
"Don't worry, Sakura," said Neji. "Consider it a good thing that we mustn't worry about killing our opponents. It allows us to fight freely without pulling our punches. You don't have to make it your goal to kill the other combatant, just keep in mind that you won't be penalized for doing so." Neji's dry tone didn't help much to calm Sakura.
From the other corner of the room came a more sinister tone. "If you cannot bring yourself to kill another person, than how can you call yourself a Shinobi. Killing the enemy should always be your goal!"
"They are not the enemy, Sabaku no Gaara," said Tenten. "They are simply a nation we haven't gotten along well with."
"Oh, but they are the enemy, child," said Danzou, his voice sharing the same killing intent as the One-Tails Jinchuuriki. "They despise us for merging our power with that of demons and sheltering our Summons. They fear the changes that occurred in the Shinobi, as well as the possibility of a revolt amongst the Summons. They fear events that will not happen, and therefore shun us, marking Shinobi as tainted half-breed humans. Yes, they are our enemies!" The room fell silent from the tenseness Danzou's words created. "Back to business, concerning the rules of the tournament, as we've discussed, killing will not be penalized. Fight as honorably and as fiercely as you can. Each team will have ten participants, combatants being eliminated from individual losses. There will be some team events, and points will decide the winner. All of the rules will be repeated before each match."
"Wait, you said that there were ten to a team. What about our tenth participant?"
"The Nine-Tails host will meet you there. He has been a little more difficult to bring in," said Danzou, frustration in his voice.
"Why?" asked Sakura.
"Honestly, in spite of his appearance, he is a very powerful shinobi, as well as an elusive one. He evades my ANBU and refuses to report to me."
"Did he say why he wouldn't come in?" inquired Neji. Hinata gasped as if she had remembered something important.
"His excuse was that he had plans and was waiting for someone."
"It wasn't an excuse, you bastard. I was waiting to meet my date." Everyone in the room turned towards the window to see a young man with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes, wearing an orange jumpsuit. In his hand was a bouquet of tulips. He dropped down and walked across the room to Hinata, to whom he handed the flowers. "If I had known she was already here I would have come right away." Hinata bounced with joy at seeing the boy, and leapt into his arms. "I was beginning to worry. Sorry I missed our date. ANBU contacted me just as I was heading out."
"That's alright. I was kind of a weird time to go out to eat anyway."
Sasuke stood up. "Late as always, dimwit."
"Nice to see you too, Sasuke." The Jinchuuriki walked over and gave his best friend a bro-hug, after which he turned to acknowledge his other friend across the room.
"The fox finally shows. I was wondering where you were."
"Well, I typically don't have ANBU trying to keep me from my girl, raccoon." The red-head chuckled at the blonde's words.
Haruno Sakura stared confusedly at the late arrival. He seemed to have such a positive air about him, but he was good friends with the two scariest and most dangerous ninja in the room. And his girlfriend was one of the shyest people she knew, though she seemed to light up when he showed up. And, past all of that, there was something strangely familiar about him. What was his name?
Danzou finally spoke: "Thank you for joining us, Naruto."