I don't own Bleach or Naruto
Chapter 21: The Girl on Water
A few days later was when all of Team Ichimaru (plus Yoruichi) was able to meet again. It was near their usual meeting place (training ground 34). Shino stood there his glasses hiding his concerned stares at his other Teammates. Kiba sat on the ground leaning against the gate to the grounds a solemn expression on his face. Hinata had her hands together and special glasses on to hide her Byakusharingan and Yoruichi close by in cat form. Gin eventually arrived a bit late but no one chastised him for it. "Ichimaru-sensei," Shino said.
Gin smiled and clapped his hands together. "So," he began, "how is everyone today? Y'know minus the obvious… changes." When no one answered he let out a sigh of exasperation, "C'mon guys, if you can't smile during hard times it's just gonna be harder to smile when they're done!"
"SMILE!?" Kiba suddenly roared standing up, enraged, "you expect us to smile after that catastrophe!"
"Kiba-kun, please be calm down. Ichimaru-sensei was only trying to make us feel better," Hinata pleaded.
"Feel BETTER!?" Kiba said letting out a sour laugh, "That's rich! Which part should we feel better about? The part where Akamaru died, the part where Shino got critically injured, the part where me and Hinata were kidnapped, the part where we were experimented on, or perhaps the part where I was turned into a MONSTER!"
"Kiba calm down," Gin told him sternly.
Kiba kept going, "No! I will not! I won't stay calm while you act as if nothing bad happened. Do you even care about what happe-"
"MY GOD KIBA SHUT UP BEFORE YOU START TRYING TO DESTROY KONOHA!" Gin yelled. It was then that Kiba noticed that his mask had grown to cove 4/8ths of his face. He started breathing heavily in panic.
"Kiba calm down and take slow breaths," Gin instructed. Kiba did as instructed and the mask receded back to its original state.
"Now, I understand that you are all shaken up. But, I think I have the peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerfect solution!" he turned around in a "ballerina twirl" before he stopped showing off three forms, "A nice all expense, at your expense, paid trip to the Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunin Exams!"
Yoruichi stared and stared and stared some more. Then she face-pawed. "The Chunin Exams Gin? After all that shit you want them to take the Chunin Exams!?" she yelled, "That's it, you're insane. You're a f***ing psychopath!"
"Isn't it great?" Gin asked smiling.
"What's the Chunin Exams?" Hinata asked.
"*ahem*" Gin went, "A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away, Naboo was under an attack. And I thought me and Qui-"
"Gin," Yoruichi deadpanned, "Not the time for referencing the most classic and beloved Sci-Fi story of the past eternity."
"Fiiiiiiiiine," Gin exasperated, "mother."
"What did you just call me, young man?" Yoruichi asked before coughing, "I mean Gin be serious!"
Gin sighed and did just that. "The Chunin exams are an event held twice a year to decide which Genin will be promoted up to the rank of Chunin. It's a chance for you all to grow and learn on how to become better ninjas even if you don't pass, provided you don't die of course. Oh and something about it being a replacement for War or something like that," he explained.
"So allow me to repeat what you just said in simpler terms to make sure we understand what you're talking about," Shino said.
"Uh, ok," Gin replied.
"You want us a team that has not been a Genin team for a year to take part in a highly dangerous exam while two of our members have gained new powers they don't know what the hell to do with and all of us our in an emotionally unstable state of mind in some capacity," Shino explained.
"Yep," Gin said.
There was a pause as the two stared at each other intently. "So where do I sign?" Shino eventually said.
"Right here!" Gin said pointing to the dotted yellow line. Shino grabbed the sheet and walked off. Gin turned to his other Genin and handed them their sheets. "At least think about it ok?" he told them before walking off. Kiba just let out a tch and stuffed it in his pocket walking off. Hinata quickly folded hers up and put it away in her pocket before going to catch up with him.
"Kiba-kun, wait," she said.
Roads of Konoha, Gin
As Gin continued walking on the dirt road his thoughts were heavily focused on his team. As such he didn't notice the small trap on the ground and got caught in a small rope trap that tightened around his ankle. "Wha- aaaaaaaaack!" he said as the rope was pulled up and he dangled upside down. "The hell!?"
"I have you now!" a new voice said as a shinobi jumpedout of the bushes, "time to die Konoha Shinobi!" The boy thrusted out a kunai preparing to stab Gin before he was grabbed by the leg and thrown into the fence.
"Stop that you imbecile!" a female said. She looked up at Gin and smiled apologetically, "We are sorry Shinobi-san. Please forgive our ignorant teammate. His parents were killed by Konoha shinobi in a mission gone wrong as such he has a grudge against Konoha. He was also born inept in the way of manners. We will have you down in a moment." It was here that he noticed the children were Iwa Shinobi
"Nah, I can get myself down," Gin replied drawing out Shinso. Extending the blade he cut the rope and fell to the ground. He picked himself up and dusted off the dirt. Now that he was no longer upside down he was able to get a better look at the two. The boy who had attacked him had dark gray hair with a large blonde streak going through it. All the hair in the blonde streak started to his left and slanted toward the middle as it slightly came down the center. He had purple eyes of all things and wore a traditional undershirt of Iwa with a blue vest over it.
The girl had blue hair and kinder looking features with green eyes. She just wore a smaller of the traditional Iwa uniform xcept with a just-above-the-knee length skirt/dress.
"You guys here for the Chunin Exams?" Gin asked. He got two answers from them at the same time.
"Yes sir," was the girl's.
"None of your business," was the boy's.
"And might I inquire what you and your companion's names are, young miss?" Gin continued.
"My name is Kosuke and this is Akira," she said, "Oh, and it's not "young miss" sir. I'm transgender. Though for simplicity sakes (and because I just like wearing skirts) I go by female on a regular bases."
Gin raised his eyebrow level a bit from that, "Transgender huh? And in this case what would you mean by that because from what I've heard there are numerous definitions for that." Kosuke smiled.
"No trouble at all good sir. See, I think of myself as transgender because I have the wanker," she said pointing down in between her legs, "and the assests." She pointed to her chest which did show slight development in that area (though only about as much as a twelve year old can get at that age).
"Ah, well it was a pleasure meeting you Kosuke," Gin said nodding, "Now I do believe you need to find the rest of your group. Never know what might happen to kiddies who get lost. Especially when they're from a foreign village."
"Are you trying to imply something?" Akira said threateningly, narrowing his eyes at Gin.
"No, he just talks like that all the time," a new voice said. Albeit surprised this person knew him Gin turned around and-
"IZURU!?" Gin yelled extremely surprised, "How- who- when- huh?"
The man (who had grown a small goatee) smiled. He was accomapined by a boy with Black hair and green eyes in a traditional Iwa uniform. Izuru raised his hand in a semi-wave, "Hello there Cap- eeeeeeeer Gin-san. How have you been?" And in an action Gin Ichimaru was SURE was made out of pure smite Izuru Kira closed his eyes and did a thin smile very much like his own.
"Wait a minute," Gin said, "Shouldn't YOU be the one freaking out over me not being dead and me being the one acting all chill and stuff like a boss? Quick, we need to do a redo. I'll turn around and you can be back behind and pretend you're all surprised to see me."
"While that would be interesting I was already aware of you being alive before I arrived. Afraid you missed the panic attack," Izuru explained.
"Wait? How?" Gin asked. Izuru handed him a bingo book.
"Page 13 column 3," Izuru said. Seeing his profile in the book Gin's eyes grew wide.
"Th-this isn't possible. How did they get this?" he whimpered.
"There's a large array of spy networks that many Shinobi villages use to gain personal information Ichimaru-san," Kira explained, "Didn't you kno-"
"No not that," Gin said just before stuffing the book in Kira's face, "Why the hell am I a B-Rank!? I can level mountains, defeat Bijjus, I FOUGHT THE F***ING KYUUBI! How does that land me at B-Rank!? And what's this about me "not being a significant threat" don't they know I was once considered for being a Hokage candida- ok probably not. But still! This is an insult! If my son hears about this I don't know what I'll do or say. It'll take me FOREVER to rebuild my coolness factor in his eyes….. or Iwagakure as a whole for that matter. SARUTOBIIIIIIIIIII!" With that Gin stomped away taking the Bingo Book with him.
"Um, Ichimaru-san could you- Wait, where'd my team go? Shit!" he ran off to look for them before he abruptly halted Wait, HE HAS A SON!?
Elesewhere
Naruto stood in a staring contest with Gaara. A veeeeeeeeeery serious staring contest.
"Why are you looking at me? Do you wish to die?" Gaara questioned.
"No," Sakura replied sarcastically, "he wishes to sleep with you."
Temari and Kakuro choked on something invisible hearing that, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!?"
"Girl, how the hell do you know stuff like that? You're TWELVE!" Temari screeched.
"No," Sakura deadpanned, "I'm secretly a 35-year-old who spent her previous life in a world where our entire universe is nothing more than a manga with the most uncreative name but weirdly most popular in the world. In this world I died at the tender age of 23 when I choked on an asparagus dyeing before being promptly reborn in the body of my least favorite character and spent the last 12 years of my life plotting the downfall of the Leaf village alongside a megalomaniac who wants to be God. Or something."
~chirp~chirp~chirp~
Ohmegodshe'sawesome! Sasuke was thinking.
"What?" Gaara asked comepletely confused.
Sakura let out an exasperated sigh, "I'm a SI-OC who got invalid foreknowledge." More silence… and crickets.
"I'm a crazy person," Sakura eventually said. Everybody let out "Ahs" and "Oks" before they began to part ways.
"What the hell is this pussy fit?" a voice said.
Everyone turned their heads to find a boy with short white hair and sharp teeth sitting in a tree opposite where Sasuke and Gaara came from.
"Who are you?" Gaara asked.
Sakura was the one to answer, "He's Suigetsu Hoshigaki brother of Mangetsu Hoshigaki from Kirigakure. He's currently in training to become a Swordsman of the Mist." Everyone stared.
"How do you know that?" Konohamaru asked.
"I saw him bragging about it to a few little kids who didn't know what he was talking about," Sakura replied.
"They too did know what I was saying!" Suigetsu retorted jumping down, "Didn't you see them basking in my awesomeness? One even drooled in awe!"
"They were looking at the ice cream stand you were in front of. Not you yourself. If you seriously need to pull stunts like that to feel good about yourself then you must be a pathetic excuse for a Shinobi," Sakura said.
"Yeah, well you're hair looks like cotton candy!" Suigetsu retorted.
"I love cotton candy so thank you," she responded.
"That's it- you're about to die! Suito-" he began making his hand signs. But before he could react his hands were grabbed and stopped by a familiar face.
"Haku!" Naruto said. The boy turned and smiled.
"Hello Naruto-san," he said before turning to his fellow Kiri-genin, "Suigetsu, we are here as the sole representatives of Kirigakure. Please don't go giving us a bad reputation before the Chuunin Exams even begin." He then leaned in closer and whispered in his ear, "Besides that girl is not one you wish to fight."
With that the Genin of Mist left departed.
Hokage's office
Sarutobi let out a sigh as he inspected the Iwa Bingo Book Page 13. "Don't tell Gin abo-" he tried to tell his ANBU but too late. SLAM a bingo book open to the exact same page was laying right on top op Sarutobi's copy.
"CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS OUTRAGE!?" Gin practically yelled in his ear. Hiruzen just let out a moan of defeat and slammed his head onto the desk.
Orochimaru, I know you're planning to assassinate me and this is all I have to say to you. HURRY IT UP ALREADY YOU SLACKER!
A few days later at the entrance to the exam building.
"And you're sure about this?" Yoruichi asked Hinata.
"Yes, I'm sure. I will take the Chuunin Exams," Hinata told Yoruichi.
"And your eyes?" Yoruichi asked.
"I am still able to use the powers of the Byakugan easily albeit with it being a bit harder. As for the other part of my eyes….. they haven't given me too much trouble if I try to use just my Byakugan," Hinata told her guardian.
"Good to hear 'cause I was getting' a bit tired of waiting." Kiba said jumping down from a tree.
"Kiba-san!" Hinata exclaimed.
"Glad to see the whole team's here," Shino said walking up from the path Hinata was on, "especially since we need three people to enter."
"We do?" Kiba asked, "then why didn't Gin-sensei tell us?"
"I think it's obvious," Yoruichi replied, "he wanted to make sure you all were willing to do it because you want to and not due to the simple fact that you may feel obligated to do it to give your team members a shot at it at your expense."
"Geez, first he wants us to sacrifice everything for the team then he wants us to think about our own interests!? What the hell!?" Kiba yelled.
Yoruichi just laughed, "I'm afraid that's Kakashi you're thinking of. Now, toodaloo!" With that Yoruichi disappeared. They stood there a few moments.
"Did your cat just say toodaloo?" Shino asked Hinata.
"Why yes, yes she did," she replied. More waiting.
"Sooooooooo," Kiba said, "Chuunin Exams, anyone?"
"Oh, right!" Hinata exclaimed. They rushed inside to register.
Jonin lounge
Gin entered to find Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai already in the lounge. "Hello everyone!" Gin said waving.
"Hey Gin," Asuma said reaching for a cigarette.
Asuma what did I say about smoking when I'm around? I told you I don't like the smell," Gin said.
"Fiiiiine," Asuma said putting it back and grumbling.
"Oh, by the way," Gin said, "the Hokage mentioned we'd be joined by a few of the senseis from the other villages."
"Which ones?" Kakashi asked interested.
"Iwa,, for one," Izuru said as he entered the room. Following him was a certain orange-haired Kiri-nin.
"Pfffffffffftttttt! ICHIGO!" Gin yelled, "First Yoruichi, then Izuru, now you! Who's next, Ulquiorra!?"
"Yes, actually," an all too familiar bland emotionless voice said.
Gin sighed andput his face in his hands, "My life has sucked the past couple days."
Somewhere else
A girl sang as she walked across the water. Feeling the wind against her chest she looked up. She had wavy black hair that cascaded down to lower back. She wore a white dress that swayed in the wind. She closed her eyes and opened then again and smiled. "I see, so is everything going as we planned? Ah yes I see. So Iwa has sent a team…. and Kiri too. This is definitely a peculiar differentiation from the original timeline. Especially from what we've seen so far." Silence before she spoke again, "Yes, I understand your concerns but right now we must wait. …. You're right though, it is too dangerous. How are things on your end." She waited and let Terra finish speaking, "I see. So that's what's going on. Don't worry I'll make sure to do something about it." More silence but with a nervous "tint" to it. "Don't worry, Ter I get it," Abigail responded. The wind blew and upon its winds was and underlying question: "What do we do now?" was what it was.
"I don't know. I'll talk to the Old Man about it," she responded. Silence.
"We don't have a choice but to trust him, Ter. We really don't," Abigail told the friend she was communicating with telepathically.
"I'm scared too," Abigail replied before entering the Senkaimon on the shore.
Author's Notes: Here are the results of the poll as of its closing:
Ulquiorra- 3 votes
Ganju Shiba- 2 votes
Grimmjow Jacqurejacques- 1 vote
I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting any for Ganju but alas. So the two Suna Shinobi are Ulquiorra and Ganju! Don't worry though Grimmjow fans he still has a place in this story.
Also, something I want to bring up. In my profile there's a link to a commission of Mizukage Orihime if you want to check it out. Don't forget to comment on and favorite the artist's other works. Other than that we have been introduced to Abigail and Terra. Next, let's play a game. It's called "Guess the Teams that will make it to the elimination rounds!" Finally, who are these mysterious people? Who's the Old Man? Who is Terra and what are they doing? These questions and more will be answered next time oooooon NARUTO ICHIMARU! Well, sometime really. Callian31 signing out, peace!