This chapter is longer than most of the rest, because the last chapter was out three days late, so I present to you the latest chapter… after these messages.

I'm sorry for those of you who like dialogue more than... non-dialogue? Because I was trying to test myself to see if I could have not a lot of dialogue in this chapter, but I gave up half way through. That was one of the hardest things for me to do, and a lot of thinking on my part to word the paragraphs in a way that makes since, so the subject at hand was not all over the place.

I'm also not going to be here for a few weeks, so I'm going to try and type up a chapter and post it on the 11th instead of the 18th. I might not post the 25th either, because I might have to stay longer than expected. Just warning you of what's to come.


Doing those responses took a lot time and too much space

Thanks everyone for the reviews, alerts, and favorites.

Mankind

Chapter 4: Appreciation


Today had confirmed his suspicions about them being the two from last week, so he was going to need to keep a closer eye on them.

And that brought up the disadvantages to being in the form he was currently in.

His sight, hearing and sense of smell had all remained the same, but his sight was another story. He could see, color and everything, but he couldn't see the unseen. Meaning hollows and shinigami, were a lost cause to him. He couldn't even sense them unless they had a lot of power, but even that would simply be dull notification of their presence. In this form he was, for the most part, a useless human, as Satoru had put it, but with perks.


Two weeks had gone by since Keigo's near death experience, and the his blond savior was the talk of the whole class. Keigo had claimed to the others that he had seen the face of the boy to get a bit more popular, even if it didn't last long. Like expected, many people crowded around him during free-time to question him about the guys looks, but Keigo was ready for this. He had planned his story the night before, so it stayed consistent.

"It was very hard to tell what he looked like with the tattoos on his face, but he wasn't old, fairly young actually. His bangs covered his eyes, but there was a tell-tale sign of black uni-brow underneath, which means his hair was clearly dyed to that bright color. When he smirked out into the distance, there were some noticeable buck teeth."

At that explanation, many people (mostly girls) let out a dejected sigh. They were hoping for this savior to of had the appearance of a fallen angel like the many stories they had read. The rest of the people who didn't care much for this males appearance, where usually lost in their thoughts about this boy that had saved their friend and classmate. If they were interested in this person's looks, it was so they'd be able to locate him.

Because, logically speaking, how many people in Karakura had that shade of hair? Mostly likely none, excluding the guy in mention.

Some of them were very tempted to put themselves in potential danger, but if something went wrong and he didn't come, then... well, for obvious reasons, they didn't like to continue along with that thought. So instead of becoming dare devils, they settled for planning search groups to find this boy. They set out as soon as school ended, and stayed out until their curfews.

As the days went by with no clues as to who this boy was, the groups started to disband. One by one they left until it was down to just three; Tatsuki, Orihime, and Chad. Many were surprised that some of the first few people to give-up search was Keigo, Ichigo, and Rukia. But each had their own reasons for abandoning this "mission," as they deemed it.

Neither Ichigo or Rukia had the time, because of the recent increase in hollows. They believed this had something to do with the mysterious hollow they had met, so had no time to think about a blond haired boy when their thoughts were already preoccupied. But rather then telling the class about their secret lives, they used the excuse of having helping around Ichigo's father's Hospital.

Keigo, on the other hand, actually could have gone, but had not wanted to go. He was afraid of what everyone would think when they found out that he had lied about seeing the face of his savior. So instead of helping the progress of his doom, he told them his sister wouldn't allow him to. When confusion overtook them, he explained that, because of his near death experience, she was worried about losing her brother now. That was, no doubt, a lie, because for one thing, he hadn't even told her.


Things were going from bad to worse faster than she could ever imagine. Barely two months had passed since Naruto's execution, and already, they had lost two alliances; one with the Wave Country, and the other with Snow Country. They weren't big losses of trade and transport, but that was because they went hand in hand. If Tsunade was truthful with herself, she would have to say they were more trouble than they were worth.

Konoha's deal with Wave was shipping transportation for food in return. During the time this deal was made, Wave was trying to bounce back, so it didn't have much to offer other than shipping ports, so traded some of those for food. But during that time, Konoha had no treaties with any country over seas, so Tsunade could not understand why it was made in the first place. For a good couple of months, Konoha gave food to that country, even though they had no use for the ports.

That's where Snow Country entered; a country over seas. In this alliance, Snow Country was trading minerals for food. They, like Wave, were a bit lacking in that area, so thought it necessary to ask for substance. But the catch with that, was transferring the goods to Konohagakure. Snow, unlike Konoha, had shipping ports to pick up their goods, but they would not deliver them, because that was not in the terms of the agreement. Konoha either had to pay a great sum of money for the delivery, or provide their own, and thats exactly what they did, using their treaty with Wave.

In order to keep both treaties useful, they tried to stay on good terms with those countries, bending partially to their will, and keeping them happy. All in all, this caused way too much work in her opinion, and was sending ninja that could be training for the possible attack on Konoha, on useless missions. So it was no harm done in these treaty cancellations, just time wasted.

Speaking of attacks, Konoha's border patrol had informed her of sightings of several dozens of Oto ninja coming in the direction of Konoha. This was a major problem. No one knew who the group was composed of, just that they were coming from Oto. That created a definite possibility that Orochimaru might be within one of those groups of Shinobi. That was why, even though it was reported to her yesterday, she already had a couple dozen teams of Shinobi already at the border.

If the battle took place at the border rather than in the village, then ultimately, there would be less casualties for the people of Konoha. Hopefully, there were none at all, but that was only a fool's dreams.


Naruto watched on impassively as he sat right in front of the battle happening before him. He sat perched on a light pole as an orange haired kid –Ichigo– fought with some red hair shinigami for a girl by the name of Rukia. They, Rukia and Ichigo, were the two he had seen in the beginning, the ones he was keeping tabs on to find out if they should truly should be dubbed as enemies or not. The shinigami.

For once, he was glad he didn't just forget about them like he would have with any other person, for there was a whole other story behind their own. Apparently, this Rukia had committed treason by transferring her powers to a mortal, so was up for execution. The oddest thing, though, was that she went without a fight (most likely because she didn't stand a chance) with the people who came to take her to her death.

Then, some blue-haired boy –that for some reason looked familiar– went to help her. A quincy. Apparently, he wasn't as strong as these two people, so it wasn't long before he was knocked out and left for dead. As if on cue, Ichigo came waltzing onto the scene, ready to save his newest friend, while Naruto watched with hardened eyes as the battle unfolded.

Why hadn't the people he had considered friends do this for him?

Naruto came out of his thoughts as he felt a big power surge. So this was the teen's true strength. Interesting. Ichigo spoke about how he didn't know what was going on, but saying he liked it. Those words right there indicated to Naruto that he was probably a power hound. His tone of voice –in Naruto's opinion– sounded slightly crazed from the overwhelming power.

He got a few hits on the red haired shinigami, but that was it. Without noticing (or knowing what was going on), the boy was struck by the raven haired shinigami that had not engaged in combat at all throughout the whole ordeal. Words were exchanged, but in the end, Ichigo lost, and Rukia was captured, being taken back to the soul society. Naruto stayed long enough to see some man, in a green and white hat, retrieve Ichigo, and walk off.

So, Satoru and Chie were right when they said there was no enemy, because both shinigami and hollows killed people. Throughout this whole fight, there had been threats on two human lives. They may of had special powers with their being mortal, but all in all, they were still human. So the war between the two creatures, probably had something to do with disagreement on when a human is to be killed?

One side killing for eating, and the other side because some humans stood in their pathway?

Yes, he was completely satisfied that he had watched them.


Sasuke leaned onto the railing, waiting for his sensei to show. Ever since his attempted defection, his days had been filled with nonstop training, rarely even stopping for food unless necessary. He would train until he felt he couldn't get up, or until his chakra reserves ran low, and then do it again the next day. This wasn't a forced routine pushed onto him, but rather one he decided to do himself to become stronger. His sensei was there merely to supervise and teach him.

But it wasn't just him and Kakashi, it was also Sakura. She didn't seem too upset anymore about Naruto, and was, once again, asking for dates, so Sasuke assumed she got over the execution. They also had a new team member by the name of Sai to fulfill the missing spot of a third team member for the chunin exams that were being held in Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand.

Sai was an odd character, and Sasuke found himself wondering if this would have been the person to take his spot had he succeeded in leaving the village, and had Naruto not died. Sai's eyes looked to be dull and lifeless, all the while having a smile on his face. And although Sasuke would never would admit it, this guy got under his skin. There were many times he just wanted to punch Sai's face in, but didn't. There were also quite a few times he found himself silently (in his head) rooting Sakura on, when she went to punch Sai.

If there was one thing Sasuke and Sakura both agreed with, it was, hands down, that Sai was a bastard. But even if Sai was one, Sasuke also had to admit the boy had skills in the art of a ninja. He was a good assessment to the team unlike the dobe.

They were all improving, even Sakura. She was slowly drifting into the ways of a medic, but not quite for respectable reasons in Sasuke's eyes. She was doing it not because she wanted to help people in general, but rather to help Sasuke. Every time the young Uchiha would train until practically powerless, she would feel bad that she couldn't do anything to help him. At least, he reasoned, she wasn't doing it to win his affections. Maybe it meant she was finally getting over him? Probably not...

"Hey, guys," Kakashi greeted, poof-ing into the clearing, while at the same time, halting Sasuke's thinking. Sakura and Sasuke were both shocked to the core, though it barely showed on Sasuke with the widening of his eyes, that Kakashi, for once, was on time.

"Good morning, Kakashi-san," Sai replied, noticing that neither one of his teammates were going to. Kakashi merely scratched the back of his head and eye smiled.

"Well, I came to tell you that training is canceled for today," he informed. "Tsunade-sama asked to lead an important mission, so I can't train you all for a couple of weeks." He was only early to his team meeting this one time, because his mission was supposed to start for Tsunade at 7:00am sharp. Right now, it was 9:30, give or take a few minutes. He didn't want his team waiting for him when he wasn't going to be there.

He didn't give them a chance to question him on this mission of his by leaving as soon as they opened their mouth.


For the past week, Naruto had learned more about his powers, and things of what to do and what not to do. Chie had told him that he had one weeks time. For what? He didn't know. But he knew, instead of having to keep tabs on the shinigami, he could use that time wisely and train so he could become more powerful.

Satoru had let it be known that Naruto still had chakra, but had more or less , the amount of a new born baby. Naruto had tried for a couple of days to increase it, and it was now larger, but only by a sliver. He also found out (the hard way) that if he uses all of that chakra, he could, and most likely would, die. So he was making sure to be extremely careful when trying to increase its supply, although, Chie had said it would increase on its own in due time to its original amount.

He had also learned the only way he could die if he was in his hollow form (other than chakra exhaustion) was if he were to have his head completely severed. Even though the spirits within his body denied it, Naruto believed there to be some type of connection between this way of death and his execution. So in the end, he was to busy thinking about why he was betrayed than to be happy that it was going to be harder for him to die.

None –if there are any– of the special abilities have manifested in him yet, but he didn't mind. When he was alive he didn't have any Kekkei Genkai, so it was no loss no gain.

He had also learned more about the Soul Society, and how that was the home of shinigami, and souls sent there, while the place for hollows was Hueco Mundo. The rankings of these creatures was different in name, but nevertheless the same. Anywhere he went, people would always be ranked by power.

He caught on pretty quickly, but most of it was still a bit confusing.

"It's time." Were the words Chie whispered inside his mind.

"For...?" Naruto drawled, somewhat annoyed at how vague she was being.

"To help change the destiny of this world," she answered. Three portals opened creating three, very different images. One of a mask, the other of a white, sky-scraping building, and another one a picture of a kunai. "The mask directs you to Hueco Mundo, the building to the Soul Society, and the kunai... back to the Elemental Nations." Naruto stared at that specific portal eyes wide and mouth open.

"Now, is not the time for your petty revenge, Naruto," Satoru said sternly, completely serious. "Now, is the time to help these people change the world."

Naruto's mouth turned into a light sneer, while he glared at open air.

"Whatever." He agreed, these people really needed some help with their messed up ideals.

So…

…he jumped.