Sakura glared daggers at the mysterious orange haired woman who seemed keen on trying to get Naruto to grope her as much as possible. Were all Shinigami women so desperate for attention? Plus, this woman was a walking bombshell; tall, long orange hair, perfect figure, and breasts much larger than Tsunade's! She glanced at the woman's outfit; a cute yellow summer dress with a thick brown belt over it. She also had a sword just like Naruto's that was stuck underneath her belt. "Excuse me," she said icily to Rangiku, "who are you and what are you doing to Naruto?!" Rangiku stopped running her fingers through Naruto's hair and looked at the girl who was calling out to her. "Pink hair, no breasts, and an ass flatter than a pancake," she thought to herself. Rangiku was no stranger to criticism from other women, it was like everything she did was worthy of a whole new string of gossip. She embraced it however; it just meant that she was capable of doing something much better than anyone else. "Well, my name's Rangiku Matsumoto and I was just," she started to caress Naruto's whisker birthmarks, "getting acquainted with Naruto-kun, is there a problem?" she asked sweetly. Naruto watched the exchange with a worried look to his face, he knew from Yoruichi's stories that Rangiku would flirt with anything not in a skirt. Jiraiya had told him countless time that women were easy to manipulate if he just played his cards right; but naturally, he meant that in a much mature way. Aside from her flirtatiousness, he found her quite interesting. "Rangiku-chan?" he said to her, "maybe we could get to know each other later? We still have a lot of stuff to do." Rangiku blinked slowly as her jaw dropped slightly, she was at a loss for words. The average man would be mere putty at the sight of her flirting with him, but this boy resisted her charms. "Hmm," she thought to herself as she felt a blush start to spring up on her cheeks, "what a man!" Sakura was momentarily side tracked by Rangiku's distant stare and turned to Toshiro, who was attempting to sneak away from the scene. "Aw," she cooed at him as she rustled his hair, "who are you, little cutie?" Rangiku snickered to herself; this girl had done it now.

A massive tick mark appeared on Toshiro's forehead as he wheeled around and started to shout at Sakura. "I am not a 'little cutie'! I am Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of Squad 10!" Toshiro was tired of being called a kid, he had waited decades but his growth spurt never came. No matter how many hours a day he slept, or how much fruit and vegetables he ate, he wouldn't grow. The only thing that helped him maintain some degree of authority was his Zanpakuto and his captain's haori. He even tried to dress like an adult too; a black button down shirt and khaki slacks, but that didn't work either. "I-I thought he was Captain Hitsugaya?" Sakura asked shakily as she gestured to Hisagi, who was currently being strangle-hugged by Tsunade. Hitsugaya scoffed at Hisagi's situation and turned around, "That is Shuhei Hisagi, Lieutenant of Squad 9, now will you please regain control of the Hokage!" Sakura nodded glumly at the white haired boy and got to work with controlling Tsunade.


An hour later, everyone was settled and ready in Tsunade's office. Even though she didn't show it, Tsunade was very much embarrassed about the 'Hisagi ordeal'. Maybe she would finally cut back on sake, at least in the mornings. She still couldn't believe Toshiro could command a whole sect of an army at such a young age, it was remarkable. She was suspicious of Rangiku; however, she would definitely have to ask her about what she uses for her hair. And of course, Shuhei; what a man! Tsunade always loved battle scars on a man, and Hisagi was no exception. Shuhei had on a white muscle shirt with dark blue jeans, and it did him justice! But, Jiraiya was still in the back of her mind. She longed to see him for three years, and now she had a chance to catch up with him. Tsunade was so busy reminiscing that she didn't notice Toshiro calling out to her.

"Lady Hokage?"

Tsunade jumped at the sound of her name being called and cleared her throat, "Oh yes, so, do you have any documents from the Soul Society that I need to examine?" Hitsugaya nodded and handed her a manila folder, "This is from our leader, Captain-Commander Yamamoto." Tsunade opened the folder and started to read it to herself.

Greetings Lady Hokage,

By time you read this letter, the boy named Naruto Uzumaki should have arrived back at your village. He is not the first human to gain possession of a Zanpakuto; the first human was Ichigo Kurosaki of Karakura Town. The Soul Society is at risk of destruction by an unknown force, and it was determined by a former captain of ours, Kisuke Urahara, that Uzumaki would be a fine successor to his Zanpakuto, Benihime. It is only natural that we train Uzumaki to master his Zanpakuto in all aspects, and that is why Yoruichi Shihoin is there to do so. We would like to commence peace talks with your village as soon as possible, we had suffered some losses over the years and the support of your village would be invaluable. Naturally, this is quite the request we ask of you, we are aware that the Shinobi Villages are not on the best terms as of late. In return, we will offer you support against any threats that may befall your village. We will also take to sending some of our Shinigami to the Konoha for patrols. Also, we would advise against informing the civilian population of our existence; this information should only be known by your shinobi, for now.

Thank you.

Captain-Commander Yamamoto.

Tsunade looked up from the letter that Yamamoto sent her and nodded. It was obvious that the man was more than experienced at his job, and she had to admit, this treaty wasn't so bad. Before she could agree to this, however, she wanted to know exactly what the threat to the Soul Society was. "So what exactly is this threat your leader wrote about here?" she asked Hitsugaya. Toshiro cleared his throat and spoke, "That's the problem, we are not sure about who or what it is; that is why we request your help." Hitsugaya knew that this was an automatic deal breaker; no sensible leader would allow their shinobi to blindly rush into battle without having a clue what they're going up against. Tsunade sighed and folded her hands across her desk, "Then I'm sorry, but for now I can't allow any of my shinobi to be put at risk over something we don't know about," she said plainly. Hitsugaya nodded solemnly, "That's perfectly understandable, but we must remain here to oversee the rest of Uzumaki-san's training. He's far from finished." Tsunade's eyes widened slightly and she turned to Naruto and Yoruichi, "Is this true, you two?" Yoruichi stepped forward, "Yes, Tsunade-sama. Naruto hasn't completely mastered his Shikai, which means he isn't even close to mastering Bankai." Naruto grimaced and turned away in shame, getting Benihime to tell him her name was a challenge in and of itself, getting her to cooperate was a completely different story.

"There still is one more issue that hasn't been brought up yet," Hisagi interrupted.

Everyone turned to Hisagi, who cleared his throat and said, "Now that Uzumaki-san is considered a Shinigami, he also has Spirit Energy that will attract Hollows. They can, and will, attack this village." Tsunade wheeled around and turned to Hitsugaya, "What are these 'Hollows'?" Naruto held a hand up to interrupt Hitsugaya and addressed Tsunade instead, "They're the corrupted souls of dead people that weren't purified in time," he said quietly, "if not taken care of, they will kill anyone in their path." Everyone else besides the Shinigami gasped in fear, they never knew such a thing existed! And now the Konoha was at risk for attacks. "I need a bottle of sake," Tsunade mumbled to herself as she rubbed her seal mark. Rangiku's eyes lit up and she grabbed Tsunade in a tight hug.

"Yay! We can be twins!"


I have so many assignments for my classes, I guess it looks like updates for this story will be on a weekends-only basis until I can get some free time during the week. But, thanks for keeping up so far! Don't worry, the real action will start soon.