Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach.
"Hey Naruto, are you sure you want to just walk around here like nothing ever happened? There's a lot of people looking at you, you know," whispered Sakura, walking next to the blond. He shrugged; hands clasped behind his head and grinned.
"Well, Soifon-baa-chan seemed to think it was alright," replied Naruto, although not as quiet.
The two had first gone to retrieve Naruto's zanpaktou, and were now walking. According to Sakura, the only person she had vaguely met was Kakashi, but she didn't know where he was currently.
"So continuing with what I said earlier… what if people who died in our world came here too, dattebayo," continued Naruto. They made a right turn and continued walking.
"If that really does happen, wouldn't they remember the past as well, and then cause havoc here? Maybe they did come here, but they somehow lost their memories and chakra since they actually died. Maybe," replied Sakura.
"Hey, hey, why don't we try looking for those people," asked Naruto suddenly. He turned his head around and faced Sakura, his eyes lighting up.
"Later maybe. Not right now when while we're on a tightrope," answered the pink haired female.
"On a tight- ohhh alright," said Naruto, nodding in understanding. "So if other people are here… do you remember how we got here?" inquired Naruto.
"I already said 'no' twice, Naruto. This is the third time you asked me that question," replied Sakura, sighing. "If I had to guess though, it'd probably be through some extremely powerful space-time technique," she continued thoughtfully.
Naruto bobbed his head up and down in agreement.
"Hey look it's some new guys! Wanna go watch, Sakura-chan? It's fun to bet who's going to make the largest reiatsu ball, 'ttebayo. Kurama and I love doing this!" exclaimed Naruto, pointing at the new souls lined up for their entrance exam.
'Actually, I just do this because there isn't much else for me to do,' grumbled Kurama.
'Ehh, but you still like doing it, right?'
'Hm,' grunted the fox. Naruto took it as an agreement.
"Okay then. Where do we watch, the roof?" asked Sakura.
"Yep", agreed Naruto, before flash-stepping onto the roof. Sakura followed behind him, and then they both sat down and looked at the examinees. This time, there were only two rows of ten unlike last time Naruto saw, where there were three rows of eight.
They had already passed the introductions, and the second row had started already.
"Hey Sakura-chan, I bet you that guy with the spiky yellow hair is going to win, dattebayo", whispered Naruto.
"Are you just choosing that guy because he looks like you," exclaimed Sakura quietly, shaking her head. "I'll bet it's the guy with the flat brown hair and glasses."
"Of course I'm not! By the way, Kurama here thinks it's the girl with the short brown hair and random hair sticking out," informed Naruto.
Of course, since this was a betting game and based on luck, Naruto had unsurprisingly won.
"Alright fine, you win. Are we going to bet on who does best in the way of destruction now," predicted Sakura.
"Yup. Then after this, can we go ask to look around, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto again, still watching the examinees.
"Naruto for the last time, no," answered Sakura, twitching slightly.
"How about-"
"-we just be quiet and watch the exams, alright?" finished Sakura, smiling at Naruto. Said ninja nodded his head furiously and then scooted away ever so slightly.
"Umm… I think that guy with the long black hair covering one eye will win. Come to think of it, I think I might have seen him before, 'ttebayo", pondered Naruto.
"Well I'm not you so I don't know. I think that girl with the long brown hair tied up is going to win."
'Same person as Naruto.'
"Kurama agrees with me too so…"
"Oh just watch already," replied Sakura, slightly irked.
True to Naruto's and Kurama's guesses, the guy with the shoulder length black hair covering one eye had done the best.
"Score, 2:0, Sakura-chan! Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the next one, dattebayo," assured Naruto. "Say, can we go ask now?"
Sighing, Sakura nodded. Besides, he would just keep on asking anyways until she agreed.
"Let's go ask Unohana-taichou," suggested Sakura. She got up, and started heading towards squad 4's barracks. By the time Naruto had gotten up, Sakura was already a ways ahead.
"Aww come on Sakura-chan, you could have waited, dattebayo," groaned Naruto before following behind her.
"Oi, Naruto, what's going on?" Asked a voice from Naruto's left. Not stopping, Naruto continued and turned his head to face Hisagi.
"Going to go ask the head med about stuff. You want to come?" offered Naruto, waving cheerfully to Hisagi. He was slowly gaining on Sakura now. Hisagi shook his head.
"I need to go report to Tousen-taichou. Something strange seems to be happening more and more recently. Hollows are appearing like usual, but they disappear before anyone even arrives," said Hisagi, shaking his head.
"So, you mean they just go 'poof' after appearing? Isn't that good though, 'ttebayo?" questioned Naruto. Squad four's barracks were just ahead, and Sakura was already ahead, waiting on the building. Naruto must have slowed down while listening to Hisagi.
"In a way, but we don't know why they're doing that. That's why we need to find out, just as a precaution. Anyways, I need to go now, see you." With that and a quick nod, Hisagi made a sharp turn and left towards squad nine's barracks.
"'Kay, see ya," replied Naruto. He let a small smile spread across his face, grateful that Hisagi hadn't decided to pry about what had happened when he had used chakra. Soon afterwards, he landed on the ground in front of squad four's barracks, next to Sakura.
"What did you two talk about?" asked Sakura curiously.
"Oh, about these hollows just randomly appearing then disappearing. Kind of like magic, dattebayo," replied Naruto, looking up at the sky and shrugging. "So anyways, let's go!"
Naruto and Sakura walked into the barracks, attracting some curious stares directed at Naruto, and a few greetings. Most were rushing around though; unsurprising since the barracks were always filled with patients. The pair continued walking calmly past the hospital and into the main barracks where the squad four members living spaces were located.
After strolling quietly for a bit more, they finally reached the squad four's captain's quarter. Naruto stepped up onto the elevated wooden floor boards and entered under the shadow of its ledge-like roof. Sakura walked up to the wooden door and frapped her knuckles twice on the frame.
"Unohana-taichou? Are you here?" called out Sakura.
"Yes. Come in, Sakura-san, Uzumaki-san," replied a soft voice from behind the sliding door.
"Yes!" responded Sakura, before pushing open the door. She entered inside and quickly turned to face the woman sitting behind her desk and bowed. Naruto followed right behind her, and then bowed as well. He clenched his hands and zanpaktou and began perspiring slightly. Maybe he was having nerves?
"Hello, Unohana-taichou. Naruto-kun and I were wondering if we could ask something from you," spoke Sakura confidently, right away.
"Uh, yeah. What Sakura-chan said, Unohana-taichou," added Naruto.
'What's with the sudden use of proper names?' wondered Kurama.
"Well, I'm asking her for something so, y'know. And also 'cause of that accident from the Sasuke thing. Also because she's scary sometimes," admitted Naruto dishearteningly, sighing. His head dropped down and he groaned quietly to himself.
"Is something wrong, Uzumaki-san?" Unohana asked suddenly, looking at Naruto, concerned.
Said ninja's head instantly popped back up and waved his hands madly in front of him, smiling nervously.
"N-nope! Ehe... he..." began Naruto, dropping to a chopped up nervous chuckle near the end. Sakura shot him a terrifying look from the corner of her eye and Naruto nearly jerked back in fear. Unohana smiled and nodded at him, before turning to look back to Sakura, then back to looking between both ninjas.
"What do you require?" inquired the captain softly. She withdrew her hands from the table and placed them lightly onto her lap.
"Oh, yes. May Naruto-kun and I have a look around Soul Society? We haven't been around all of Soul Society yet, even after being here for so long since our divisions don't usually deal with scouting around everywhere as much as another division, like ninth division," explained Sakura concisely.
Although she was calm outwardly, inwardly she was desperately hoping that her captain would say yes; she also wanted to see if there were others out there. Would it be possible that this was the dimension that edo tensei could connect to? If there are others out there, would they remember how they got here?
"Uzumaki-san, have you checked with your Captain if you don't have any duties currently?"
"Uh, yeah. Unless something suddenly comes up 'ttebayo," replied Naruto. Well actually, I don't even have any orders so I guess I'm not really lying in a way, right?
Unohana nodded, "You may both go, then. Please do not stay out for too long, as a problem may arise while you are both gone."
"Thank you, Unohana-taichou!" thanked Sakura gratefully, bowing before walking out with Naruto after he did the same.
"Yes! Come on, let's hurry up now; I can't wait, dattebayo!" hollered Naruto once they were out of squad 4's barracks.
"Calm down, Naruto! Geez," sighed Sakura.
The two began walking towards the nearest Gate - the East gate. The place was less rowdy than usually, in light of recent events. Whoever they passed would look at them questioningly, but luckily nobody actually came up to Naruto and asked him about what happened the other day. Naruto could just barely see Sokyoku hill to his left, bringing along memories of Sasuke leaping off there and disappearing afterwards. He looked down, thinking about that time.
"Naruto, don't think too much about it, alright? We'll get him back," Sakura comforted him reassuringly, looking at the hill. Naruto nodded in agreement, muttering a low, "yeah."
"Anyways, I heard that the captains are all getting pretty suspicious about each other, and apparantly Ichimaru-taichou is the prime suspect of Aizen-taichou's death," pondered Sakura, switching the topic.
"Yeah. I always thought that Captain Eyeless was kind of creepy... Oh yeah, and those new guys, Ichigo and them I think; what happened to them?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest. I think he was pushed out of Soul society and back into Rukongai, though. What I DO know is that because of the incident with... Sasuke-kun, Rukia's execution is delayed a bit now," replied Sakura as the neared the gates.
"Everything's messed up now, huh," stated Naruto.
After the two left Soul society, they began traveling, passing over the multiple stout dwellings quickly. At their speed, they reached the twenty-sixth district by the time night fell. Naruto had to wonder though; it looked like there were more patrols in district 25 than usually, although it might have just been him.
The two entered into a small hotel of some sort, and paid for a suite with one bedroom.
"One room," questioned Sakura, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup! Saving money, and stuff, 'ttebayo," agreed Naruto, as he put down his Zanpaktou.
"Well, ok then. Let's play Rock Paper Scissors for the bed," suggested Sakura.
"Huh? I thought we were going to share-"
"Idiot! Of course we aren't going to share a bed," raged Sakura, hitting Naruto none too lightly on his head.
Naruto held his head and moaned in pain, "I was just wondering dattebayo! You can have the bed, Sakura-chan."
Sakura sighed, "Alright then. So, I'm guessing you didn't see anyone either, today."
"Yeah. Maybe tomorrow, we should try splitting up? I mean, we could get a hell butterfly to help us communicate, and stuff," recommended the blond, no longer rubbing his head where Sakura's fist had connected.
Sakura thought for a moment, and then nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good. Let's get some sleep now, and wake up early tomorrow." With that said, Sakura got up from where she was sitting and entered into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Naruto sighed. He thought back about the recent events. Aizen had been by, according to Sakura, killed by Gin, the captains were fighting amongst each other, and Sasuke had escaped to who knows where. Not only that, but Naruto had nearly blown his and Kurama's cover as well as Sakura's recently, by letting loose all that chakra. What was going to be next, a repeated invasion by those guys who Captain Eyeless kicked out?
Now that he thought about it, even though he wasn't particularly close to Rukia, he kind of felt as if she shouldn't have to be executed for trying to save some kid. The more Naruto thought about it, the more he decided that maybe those guys who broke in to try and save Rukia weren't so bad.
'She broke the rules, so she deserved it,' added Kurama.
"Yeah, but now I remember something our teacher, Kakashi, told us once. Those who break the rules in the ninja world are trash, but those who don't help their comrades are even lower than trash. I really don't think Rukia deserves getting executed for this, you know what I mean?"
Suddenly, the bedroom door flew open and Sakura poked her head out from the dark room, startling Naruto. He scuttled back, hitting the chair nearby accidentally. He righted the wooden object, chuckled sheepishly, and then looked at Sakura, who merely huffed.
"I forgot to say this, but knock and wait for my reply before coming into my room, alright? Good night," informed Sakura, before shutting the door again.
"'Night, Sakura-chan," called back Naruto, before getting up. He went over to the window and climbed out, leaping up onto the roof two stories above Sakura and his' suite. He lay down there, hands behind his head and looked off into the dark night sky, away from Soul Society.
There were times when Naruto would have nothing better to do than to look around, and now was one of those times. He wondered; what was going on in the Konoha right now? He didn't want to think so, but what if when he went back to Konoha, everyone was gone?
"I mean, we've been gone for over eighty years now, and shinobi rarely even live to fifty. I wonder how dusty my room is now? Eighty years of dust... man, I bet I could probably swim in it now, 'ttebayo! And Konohamaru and Gaara must be so old now; I could even call them Ojii-san now, heh!" laughed Naruto loudly, ignoring the fact that they might not only be old, but dead as well.
'Oi, brat, shut up. You're waking up the people who are sleeping,' grumbled Kurama, comfortably curled up in his sewer-looking place.
"Oh, whoops," whispered Naruto apologetically.
'It's fine; you're always loud anyways, so it's not much of a difference this time. How about instead of reminiscing, you go sleep.'
"I'm not reminiscing, you stupid fox... That's for old people, dattebayo!" exclaimed Naruto good naturedly.
'Remind me; who here is currently 96 years old?'
"Hey, says the one who's older than me by... well, older than me!" retorted the blond at Kurama in his mind.
Naruto yawned. "Well, I guess you've got a point though, dattebayo..."
Kurama just smirked smugly, and then closed his eyes. Naruto, folowing his example, did as well and soon enough, fell asleep under the night sky, his thoughts about his home back at the Five Shinobi Nations already pushed back into their closet.
"Zetsu."
"...?"
"It's time to move soon."
A/N:
And, done. I'm sorry for not finishing this chapter earlier, I got distracted by something else. By the way, about that last part with Zetsu, I'm making it so that neither part is dead. My reasoning for this is because it never actually showed Black Zetsu dying. Plus, he said he was the land so... you catch my drift? As for White Zetsu, I messed with it a bit, and made it so that Sasuke killed a clone, and not the original White Zetsu.
Also, I might make things slow down/speed up instead of following canon Bleach.
Thanks for reading this chapter.