Whilst the group of Shinigami were beginning to shunpo to the Land of Iron, where all the Kage were said to be meeting, they distinctly heard Kiba's comment on their sanity. Both Gaara and Hitsugaya reacted oddly to this in particular. Gaara growled, his eyes darkening as Hitsugaya turned to him with an icily stoic face before both yelled out,

"WE HEARD THAT!" Ichigo turned to the two and an eyebrow rose. Then, he interrupted their current plotting of different ways of making the "despicable dog-boy suffer in ways man-kind had yet to know" with the very question that ran through the heads of all the Shinigami there except Minato.

"What's up with you two? You're acting like you've had two glasses of sake..." Of course, all the current people in the group knew what they were like when they had sake, for the group, aside from Gaara and Hitsugaya, had introduced them into the world of alcohol due to tying them down to the desks in the tenth division, stuffing a funnel in each of their mouths and making the poor souls chug until they were drunk off their asses. After that, they were a little more lenient on the alcohol. Occasionally they would join in, if only for a few sips or more. But that was beside the point. Now, Minato decided to save the day by explaining why they seemed so drastically altered as they neared the Land of Iron. Bless shunpo! Minato thought drolly, as they would have had to leave earlier if they didn't have aforementioned skill.

"Well, unlike you three, Gaara, Hitsugaya and I have all been here before. This means that we've gotten over the "shock" stage, which is what you're going through and thus the reason why you're not acting out like them. Whilst I am able to cope with the massive amount of energy once again, they're still slightly overwhelmed by it... especially since they haven't had experience with this kind of feeling like I myself have. Life energy is entirely different than death energy, and while Gaara hasn't been altered drastically, personality-wise, by the energy, Hitsugaya is." They turned to him and eye-brow raises were the prominent response to his slightly confusing explanation. "Basically, Hitsugaya's drunk on the chakra here, hypothetically, while Gaara seems like he's had a few cups, if chakra was sake."

"Oh." That was basically the comment of the majority of the shinigami in the group. However, now they stopped as they arrived at the building, and then they saw two figures appear next to them.

"You're late Ikkaku, Yumichika." Minato said gruffly.

"Sorry - we got stuck in the middle of a forest and Ikkaku kept reading the map we were provided incorrectly." Yumichika replied sullenly. He had on his regular accessories he had with the shinigami outfit, but rather now had a long-sleeved dark-purple shirt whose left sleeve reached his palm. He also had on long black pants with the standard shinobi sandals.

Meanwhile, Ikkaku had a regular tank shirt with arm-guards and wrist-guards with baggy shorts that reached his knees and ninja sandals that cut off at his ankles.

"OI! Don't go blaming it on me!" Ikkaku snarled, raising a fist as the two began to argue.

"Shut up, we're here." Gaara growled, as they all arrived to the entrance of the non-ninja village. They were escorted in by the samurai there and came across the seated area of the five Kage, who all entered after they did. Each sat in their respective places. Tsunade in the Hokage section, with Kakashi and Jiraiya as her "escorts"; Another busty woman with a young boy carrying a giant sword and an older man with an eye-patch in the Mizukage's section; an elderly man with a young female and an oafish male in the Tsuchikage's section; two males, one of Caucasian ethnicity and the other of what Ichigo claimed was "African-American Ethnicity" (though the term was alien to the ninja, since there was no "America" nor an "Africa"), and a "buffed, totally crazy looking black guy" - quote Renji - in the Raikage section; and Kankuro, with Temari and Baki in the Kazekage section. Then, the leader of the Land of Iron in the moderator's section.

"Please place your hats on the table." All did so. "We are here today because the Hokage has called this meeting. I am Mifune, your moderator. The meeting will now begin."

"Now, I'll start to explain why we're here." Tsunade said. "A month ago the barrier around Konoha sounded the alarm, saying that there were intruders. My ninja went to investigate, and then a select few of the people behind Mifune-san appeared."

All eyes went to the group of shinigami that stood, and a few gasped. Tsuchikage, in particular, grew irate as his eyes landed on the blond former-Hokage.

"The Yellow Flash?" Raikage queried.

"And the former Kazekage..." Mizukage also said.

"We're no longer tied to the Shinobi Nations, you can release that hating glare at me, Tsuchikage." Minato said lightly.

"We are called soul reapers, or more famously shinigami." Rukia added, as well.

"Trust me, the news we have is not good." Gaara continued on, and then Hitsugaya took the rest.

"You have regretfully been pulled into an inter-dimensional war." The Kage looked to each other oddly, aside from Kankurou and Tsunade. "Our current enemy, Aizen, has taken an interest in your nations. He will likely be recruiting missing ninja, S-Class ninja, and even possibly enemies like Orochimaru or Akatsuki to his cause. If his goals are realized, then we are-"

"All royally fucked." Ichigo interrupted, earning a honest-to-goodness glower from the smaller captain. "He wants to play God, and this includes slaughtering the King of Soul Society, who happens to be technically "God"."

"We would suggest at this time for all the Shinobi Nations to form an alliance, to increase the strength against his men. The power of Hollows and Arrancar are not to be trifled with. They will eat your souls under a moments notice. Currently, we are "allied", so to speak, with Konoha and Suna. So we do not tread on the "terms" of this alliance, it is also once again strongly suggested." Now Yumichika spoke.

"And even then, you are all better off if your military forces are combined instead of divided." Minato continued. "If you merely stood alone, you'd be slaughtered in a moments notice with the souls of your shinobi devoured."

There was a silent pause as all the information was taken in.

"...Very well. I support this proposal." Mizukage said, her single eye scrutinizing the other Kage as if daring them to reject.

"I do too." Raikage leaned back.

"We supported it from Day One." Kankurou leaned back in his chair and Tsunade nodded as well. All eyes flew to the elderly Tsuchikage.

"...Fine." Yumichika smiled.

"Good. We will be sending you shinigami reinforcements within the next few days once our messages are patched through. Most of them will be seated officers, for we have incentive to believe that they will target mainly Konoha and Suna. Though your villages are not exempt from the possibility, which is why though you won't be getting the strongest you'll be getting numbers."

Now Ikkaku interrupted.

"That's all we got to tell you."

Mifune then stood, bowing his head.

"This meeting is adjourned."

--

I'm sorry, I fail at life with this update. I've been so consumed for time that I haven't got to it lately. *gets on knees and bows* Sumimasen.

Also, please be aware that I HAVE made revisions in the story; Gaara no longer has his "New Looks". Just remember good ol' Gaara, without tattooing. The end of the 4th chapter has also been fixed, because I killed Hisagi's personality. I tried to make it more in character. *twitch*

UPDATE(x2): I fixed a repeated part (stupid paste button e__o)