Chapter 10
Kisame rushed forward and swung his sword down with great force. Hitsugaya rolled to the side to dodge the attack. Kisame changes directions and horizontally swings his Samehada at the foe. The shinigami dodges easily with shunpo. "You're good at running aren't you." Next he swung around and threw his sword at his enemy. It flew fast like a sharp boomerang. Hitsugaya jumped and grabbed the sword's handle as he passed.
"A little too confident aren't you." Hitsugaya lands and quickly dashes towards Kisame. 'Perfect' the shark man thought. He performed a few handsigns and bended his head backward. Water filled his mouth but he kept it closed until the time was right. Hitsugaya quickly approached him. He swung down Kisames sword as hard as he could. 'Now!' Before the blow connected, sharp thorn-like blades poked out of the handle. It gave Hitsugayas left palm multiple cuts. He quickly dropped the sword and examined his hand. When he looked up again, he saw Kisame thrust his head forwards while opening his mouth. 'Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave!' Water began to shoot from his mouth. Not just a little either. This had enough power to create a tidal wave. Hitsugaya was almost knocked of his feet but he stood his ground and gripped his sword.
"Enough!" As the water continued to flow Kisame noticed that some of it was beginning to freeze. He shut his mouth and stopped the rest of the water. 'Whats he planning?' Then, a shockwave of ice shot across the water. The whole river became a floor of ice. 'How did he...' As he was watching the ice in awe, he noticed Hitsugaya jump high into the air. "Set upon the frosted heavens, Hyorinmaru!" The sky began to get dark as water began to shoot from Hyorinmarus handle. The water twisted and turned like a serpent. Then a wave of ice began to cover the water. The front splitted a little and water poked out of the split like teeth. Finally, a dragon made of water and ice floated before the rouge ninja.
"Its wierd how you use water techniques. You couldn't have picked a worse opponent." Hitsugaya warns.
"We'll see about that!" Kisame yells as he throws his sword into the air. With his free hands he formed more handsigns and pointed his fingers at his enemy. "Water dragon." A dragon of water shot out of the ice he stood on. Hitsugaya swings his sword down sending the two dragons on a collision course. The two dragons butted heads causing water to spray all over the place. Hyorinmaru's ability allows Hitsugaya to control all water and ice. Hitsugaya swung his sword upwards and his dragon followed. The funny thing was that so did Kisames water dragon. "I didn't tell you to do that." Kisame screams angrily.
"Sorry but as long as its water then it's mine to control." He swings his sword downwards again and the two dragons headed for Kisame. "Its over." As the dragons heads in his direction, Kisame puts down his sword and performs some more seals. "Damn Itachi, I hate when you're right." The dragons collided with the ground creating a big explosion with water and ice chunks flying everywhere. As the water began to sprinkle back down to the earth, Hitsugaya's enemy was no where in sight. "That takes care of that."
A couple of yards away, the ground busts open and out of a hole comes Kisame's head. "I hate running from a battle. I'll come back for you." As he got up to walk away he remembered the name of the next name on his "to kill" list. 'Hitsugaya Toshiro'
Meanwhile, the sharingan users each stand with their backs facing each other. After that last power struggle, one of them has to go down.
"Damn. I underestimated you. You're strong, Kakashi-sens..." He couldn't finish. The pain was too much. Sasuke fell to the ground as the curse seal slowly retreated back into its original mark.
"Ha," Kakashi laughs "Right back at ya." Kakashi falls to the ground aswell. Blood dripping from his chest. 'I'm lucky.' Kakashi thought in his head. 'Urahara told me how its harder to die in Soul Society than it is in the real world. Sasuke is probably alive too. Nothing more I can do now but try to get out of here.' He tried to stand back up but he could barely rise to one knee. He tried to get on two but he just didn't have the strength. He fell back down and layed on his stomach. He decided to wait until help arrived. He layed still, that is until he heard footsteps come from behind him. 'Who could this be.' he said in his head. 'Haven't I been through enough already?'
"Really tore yourself up didn't you, Kakashi." Kakashi's eyes grew wide. He recognized the voice. He tried his best to say his name. "O...ro...chi..." He couldn't speak. He didn't have the strength. Then, his eyes slowly closed too. He couldn't open them back up. He didn't have the strength for that either. He had to use his ears to hear as much as possible. No one can stay awake with these wounds for long
"Its ok, I know you know its me. You don't have to answer, not that you have the strength to. Anyway, I have a proposition for you. read it when you get the chance." Kakashi felt Orochimaru slip something under his headband. "There you go, now you can sleep." With his head close to the ground, he easily heard some footsteps in the distance. He tried but once again he couldn't open his eyes. It was futile. He had to hear this conversation. "Who are you?" Orochimaru asked.
"My name is none of your concern. You and your followers have been disrupting Soul Societys peace. Anyone who does that must be cut down by my blade."
"Well lets see what you got then." Orochimaru yells.
He couldn't help it now. Kakashi couldn't stay awake any longer. The next words he heard were: "Scatter, Senbonzakura." Then he was out cold.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Kakashi slowly opened his eyes. 'My head, my body, my eye!' He felt his face to find his mask gone and his sharingan revealed. He quickly sat up and search for his mask, with his left eye closed. He noticed that he was in a house. Someone took him here. It had one door and one window. Also chairs, a table, and he was on a bed. 'Obviously no one is holding me captive.' he thought. He found his headband by the bed and immediantly covered his sharingan. He'd just have to use the bed sheet to cover his face.
"You need to rest, Kakashi-san." The door opened and out came another shinigami. He wasn't a captain, he didn't even have his zanpakuto with him.
"How do you know my name?"
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto burst through the door and sat in the chair next to the bed. "What happened to you."
"Glad to see you, Naruto. I ran into an old friend. Anyway, where is Ichigo?"
"He's in the other room along with his friend Renji."
"Who brought me here? And who are you?" he said looking towards the shinigami.
"Oh I'm part of squad 4, Yamada Hanataro. I'm a friend of Ichigos so I'm glad the captain called me."
"Who's the captain?" Kakashi asked.
"It was captain Kuchiki."
"Naruto, could you get everyone to come in here so we can explain our situation."
Naruto did as he was told and Ichigo, Renji, Naruto, Hanataro, and Kakashi were all seated and ready to listen. First Ichigo explained their encounter with Kabuto then Kakashi explained his story about his fight against Sasuke.
"Is Sasuke really that strong now?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, he has gotten a lot stronger thanks to Orochimaru and his curse seal."
"So what do we do now? We got nothing to go on."
"Well I remember what Orochimaru did before I lost conscousness. Hanataro, did you find anything in my mask?"
"Yes, I did." He walked toward the table and picked up a letter. "I didn't read it, just in case it was personal." He walked over and handed it to Kakashi.
"What does it say?"
Kakashi unfolds it and begins to read:
sssssssssssssss
Hello Kakashi, Naruto, and any shinigami you got with you. I got a little riddle for you. Maybe we can settle our dispute once and for all.
If you understand this, then soon will be the final battle/ Fight like a man, don't quiver and shake like a rattle/ My location and target, you soon will know/ But you must find the answers, deep within Ichigo.
sssssssssssssss
"Whats that supposed to mean?" Ichigo yells out.
"Its kinda obvious isn't it?" Renji points out.
"No." Ichigo and Naruto say in unison.
"That Kabuto guy did something to your head. That was probably his objective from the start."
"But I don't remember anything, besides it said Deep Within. Its not like someone can just walk in and find it."
"And thats where you're wrong." Kakashi said, "I can do it. But only under one condition."
"And that is?"
"I can put all my clothes back on first."
After minutes of getting dressed Kakashi emerged from the bedroom. He still had bandages wrapped on his body under his clothes. He had not recovered from the last fight.
"Ok guys, heres how its gonna work. Ichigo must be unconscous before I start the jutsu and then I can put someone in his mind. Chakra users only though, so Naruto must do this alone. So lets start."
"Theres only one problem." Ichigo pointed out. "I'm not unconscous. Can't you just wait till I go to sleep or..." Before he could finish a hard hit in the back of his head knocked him right out. He was hit in the head by Renjis zanpakuto handle. "I owed him for that blast he shot at me earlier. You can continue."
"So wreckless. Anyway, Naruto get ready." Kakashi raised his headband to reveal the Uchiha bloodline. He performed a couple of handsigns and then clapped his hands together. "Temporary Mind Relocation Jutsu." Then Naruto's spirit was sucked right out of his body. A blue blob of energy flew out of his mouth and started circling the room. Kakashi pointed his finger towards Ichigo and the spirit flew straight into his chest.
"And thats it." Kakashi says as he covers his eye.
"So how long will he stay in there?" asks Renji curiously.
"He stays until either I run out of chakra, I end the jutsu myself, if I get 50 feet away from him, or if I'm unconscous or killed. Hopefully none of that will happen. Especially the last part."
Meanwhile, inside the body of Ichigo. Naruto walks around aimlessly, looking for the hidden information.
"How am I supposed to know what information looks like anyway?" He continues until he steps on some glass. He looks down to see what it was. "Oh, I only stepped on a window... ... ... ... wait WHAT!!!" He looked all over the floor and noticed it wasn't a floor at all, it was a building! He looked forward to see some clouds and backwards to see a city street.
"AHHHHHH!" He layed on the ground and put his feet on the ledge.
"What are you doing?"
"I'll fall if I don't do this."
"Not likely. I thought you were looking for information. Is this it?"
He looked up to see a hand holding a box. On the side it said "Information".
'How can things be that simple?' Naruto thought. 'Oh well who cares? Let me get the hell out of this twisted place.' Naruto jumps up and reaches for the box. He puts one hand on the box only to have it yanked away. "Hey just give me the box. You don't need..." He stopped talking when he took a look at who he was standing in front of him. "I...chi...go?"
Back in Soul Society, the others waited for Naruto to come out. Hanataro is in the livingroom where Naruto and Ichigo is, putting away his healing equipment. Kakashi and Renji were outside, looking for any strange activity.
"So if he does find the information how will he let you know?" Renji asks.
"He has to knock himself out. Then I can sense his chakra go down and take him out."
"Makes sense."
"I got a question for you. Whats your rating system in Soul Society. Exactly how strong is a captain?"
"Oh well there are a couple of positions. There are unseated members, seated members, vice-captain or lieutenant, captain, then captain-commander. Thats the order from weakest to strongest. I'm a vice-captain so i'm just in the middle. Plus the big gap comes in between vice-captain and captain. Unless they have bankai, a vice-captain will become completely destroyed by a captain." Renji then remembered his first battle with Byakuya. How his bankai was demolished and Byakuya's bankai was almighty. "Even with bankai, its still a long shot."
"So this captain Kuchiki must be very powerful. I know Ichigo isn't part of Soul Society's shinigami but what rank would he be if he was?"
Renji smiled. "I'd hate to admit it, but he'd be a little bit stronger than a captain."
Now Kakashi was very interested. "Is he really that strong?"
"Yeah I guess he is." Renji replied sadly. "My turn for a question. Just how strong is that kid, Naruto?"
"He's, well, I'm not exactly sure. But I will say that if Ichigo is as strong as you say he is, then Naruto would definitely give him a run for his money."
"Really, I'd like to see a fight between..." Renji stopped mid-sentence. His eyes opened wide. "No." he whispered.
"What is it." Kakashi asked until he felt it too. A strong amout of spirit energy was being released. Not just that, but chakra too. The power was ridiculously powerful. What could this mean.
"S-S-S-Somebody help. Renji-san, Kakashi-san!" It was Hanataro yelling from inside the house. Kakashi and Renji both ran inside to the room where Naruto and Ichigo's unconscous bodies layed. When the both got into the door, their eyes grew even wider. They could see the intense power shooting out of them. They both had their eyes fixed on a different person. Renji's eyes were fixed on Ichigo's face, where a hollow mask bagan to assemble. Kakashi's eyes were on Naruto's body, where red chakra completely covered it and his teeth and nails became sharp.
"DAMN IT!!!" they both yelled.
and thats it. im finally about to get to the big action parts so stay tuned read and review sayonara