Episode 54: Kitsune
Kenpachi was lying on his hospital bed. Why didn't it cut Naruto when I slashed him with my Nozarashi? It's supposed to cut anything. He thought. I should check on Naruto.
He stood up.
"You can't get up!" Said the nurse. "Lie back down, you need to rest!"
Kenpachi turned to her, instantly making her jump. "I'll be fine. If I die then you can yell at me." He said calmly. He walked into Naruto's room, to see Naruto conscious. The blood all over his body was gone, but there was a rather bad cut on his hand that two nurses were healing.
I get it... because he was covered in blood I couldn't see it cut him. Kenpachi thought.
"Kenpachi, I'm sorry." Said Naruto.
"Don't be. It was a natural reaction." Kenpachi looked down at him. "As you know, I need someone to fill Yachiru's position. I want that someone to be you."
"Uh... Kenpachi... I need to get back to the Hidden Leaf, I can't join your squad."
"I don't trust anyone else with this position."
"Sorry, Kenpachi... but I'm from the Leaf... so I can't join a team from the Steel."
"Damn." Kenpachi gripped his Zanpakuto at his hip, making all the nurses jump. But he didn't draw his sword, he just adjusted it so it wouldn't rub against his side. "I must find someone else to join my squad, then. Hmm, I better visit Ikkaku. He should be awake by now."
Kenpachi walked out.
Naruto shooed his nurses away. He grabbed his sword, and put it across his lap.
"Kitsune." He mumbled. "Can I see you?"
The blade started to glow, and suddenly Naruto was standing in his mind, that long hallway that he was in whenever he encountered the Nine Tails, but he was too far from the beast to see him. Kitsune was standing in front of him.
"I assume that you want answers, Naruto."
"Yeah. How did my dad know your name?"
"A long time ago, I was human. I had a kekkei genkai, that would make anyone who touched me get burnt. I never liked this technique. But then I meant Minato Namikaze. We became friends- because he and his wife were the only ones that would treat me like a normal person. Everyone else treated me... much like they treated you."
"So how did you become a sword?"
"When the Nine Tails attacked, I was the first to go after him. I could hold my own, but I had to rescue Leaf Ninja that were getting in my way... and then the beast got me." She put her hand on her lower stomach. "He slashed me right across the stomach. I was going to bleed out, but I teleported to Minato. I told him that he was the only one that could take out the beast. To save my life, he used a sealing jutsu and he sealed me into a sword." The sword Naruto had suddenly materialized in Kitsune's hand. "This sword, to be exact."
"How did you end up in the Steel?"
"Even though I was in sword form, my kekkei genkai was still active. But Minato was able to use the sword without getting burnt. I had a hunch that you would be able to use it. But after the death of your father a Leaf Ninja took me and threw me away. Going through so many hands, I made it to the sword dealer from the Steel."
"Lucky."
"Not lucky, Naruto. It was destiny for you to find me." The sword disappeared. "Is there any other questions that you have?"
"Yeah, how could you fight the Nine Tails?"
"My Jutsu is a rather strong technique. It allows my blows to be around a hundred times as powerful as they were before. But I remain as durable as I always am. Do you have any other questions?"
"No."
"Listen, Naruto. All your strength is borrowed. Your healing fast and Nine Tails chakra are from the beast that is sealed inside of you. Your strength is from your father. Your strong life force is from your mother. But your swordsmanship is all yours. I cannot help you with it, ergo you must train very hard to master the sword."
"If all my strength is borrowed... why did it take me so long to master the Rasengan... and all the other jutsu that it took me a long time to learn?"
"You learned the Rasengan in three weeks. It took Minato three years to create it. It took Jiriaya two years to master it. As for the other jutsu... it's because you weren't trying hard enough when you were trying to learn them. Look at how fast you mastered Shadow Clone Jutsu. Tell me, Naruto... who else could create a Rasen Shuriken?"
"I don't know..." His eyes dropped. "So all my strength is from someone else... that means all my hard work was for nothing."
Kitsune adjusted her sunglasses. "Naruto Uzumaki. You must learn better control over your sword so you don't need to rely on other powers so much."
"But... how am I supposed to do that when I need to go back to the Hidden Leaf tomorrow? Kenpachi is the only one that I will allow to teach me."
"The way Kenpachi teaches is the best way for you to learn. But- you only have limited time. So I will help you learn."
"What?"
"I'm going to train you here- and when you go out you'll become an even better swordsman than Kenpachi."
"How long will it take?"
"In here it will seem to take quite the long time. But when you go back to real life... it will only be a minute. You cannot get killed here, however, you will still feel pain."
Two swords appeared. Both of them were identical. Kitsune grabbed one of them. "Enough talking. Now we fight." She drew her sword, and put the sheath at her hip.
Naruto grabbed his sword, and he unsheathed it. Instead of putting the sheath at his hip like her, he held it like Ikkaku did.
Kitsune slashed down at Naruto, who dodged and slashed at her, but she easily blocked it. Naruto swung his sheath at her, but she jumped backwards and dodged it. He jumped up and swung his sheath down at her head, so she caught it with her less dominate hand and then stabbed at Naruto with her sword.
The Uzumaki spun around to dodge it, but her blade still scratched him across the hip.
Ow, that really hurt... Naruto thought.
Kenpachi was sitting next to Ikkaku's bed in a chair. Pieces of Ikkaku's Bankai were scattered beside his bed.
Ikkaku's eyes opened. "Sensei..." He mumbled. "It's nice of you to visit... where is Yachiru?"
"That's one of the things I needed to tell you. Yachiru was killed in my battle with Pain."
Ikkaku looked up at the ceiling. "I am sorry to hear that."
"I also need to ask you something."
"What was the technique that you used?"
"Hmm?"
Kenpachi lifted the blade that was part of Ikkaku's Bankai.
Ikkaku's eyes widened. "It's called... Bankai. It's a stronger version of a Shikai. It should have disappeared after I lost consciousness. Maybe because it's broken it couldn't disappear."
"How did you attain this technique?"
"I don't know. It just sort of happened."
"Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"I thought that you'd get mad at me for having my power become so strong."
"I assume Yumichika has one too?"
"I don't know."
"Well go ask him. And tell him that if he has any powers that he's hiding then he will tell us about them. Also tell him that Yachiru has been killed."
As Ikkaku was trying to find Yumichika, he thought, So sensei thought there was something weird going on with Yumichika's Zanpakuto too. I noticed it. But he would tell me whenever he was ready to tell me. That's the way things are with us.
"So you told Sensei about your Bankai, huh...?"
"Yeah. He said that if you have any powers that you're hiding then you'll tell us about it."
Yumichika nodded. He then remembered when he first meant Ikkaku.
Ikkaku punched a man in the face, knocking him into a table. He was in a large room, with quite a bit of people.
People started to whisper. "Come on, no one else wants to fight?" He growled. Someone stabbed him in the back with a broken beer bottle, causing Ikkaku to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.
He woke up, and Yumichika was sitting next to him.
"Who the hell are you?" Ikkaku asked.
"I am Yumichika Ayasegawa."
"Why on Earth did you help me?"
"That wasn't a fair fight. He got you from behind. So I figured that you could put your pride aside and let me heal you. Of course, you were unconscious so you didn't really argue. And besides... I know someone stronger that you could fight."
"Is it you?"
"No. But I will take you to him."
And they have been friends ever sense.
"And Yumichika..." Ikkaku said, back in current times.
"What?"
"Yachiru has been killed by Pain. We're going to need to find another member for our squad."
"I never thought that Yachiru would be the one to get killed. Damn."
"Do you know anyone?"
"No, but perhaps the Kinkage knows someone."
Notes: Let me know if it was confusing how Kitsune got sealed into the sword, and then I'll reword it or something. And who should join their squad? An already established character of mine, a canon character, or a new OC? Please follow and favorite if you haven't done that yet... and one can never have too many reviews, so please drop a review. Or two. Or three.
