Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Naruto. Only the OC is my idea, her backstory, abilities, appearance, etc. I do not make any money from this story. Some characters may be a bit out of character.
Chiaki quickly found out that Neji was better at locating the others than she would've thought. Although he was a Jonin, he wasn't going to be in charge of Hinata, Kiba and Shino. As it turns out their team leader a fair skinned, slender, dark haired woman with red eyes, named Kurenai Yuhi would also be accompanying them.
Kurenai wore red lipstick and purple eye shadow as makeup paired with a red mesh armor blouse, though the right sleeve was the only one visible. She also wore a dress that resembled a broad bandage with a rose thorn pattern along with bandages covering her upper thighs, and hands. She wore the black sandals on her feet which Chiaki had become accustomed to Shinobi wearing. Kurenai's fore head protector was secured much like Neji's.
'Such strange fashions,' the Shinigami thought to herself. Waiting for them at the gates were Kisuke in his usual green outfit and black knee length jacket along with his wooden sandals. Yoruichi was with him wearing form fitting black leggings and an orange shirt, on her neck was a pale yellow scarf that was loosely wrapped around her. She also possessed matching pale yellow arm warmers on her wrists fastened by a thin purple string. Hinata was dressed in her blue pants as well as a loose fitting lavender and cream jacket over her mesh armor.
There were two boys with her whom Chiaki assumed were Kiba and Shino. One of them had red marks on his face and stood next to a rather large dog. The guy other guy wore sunglasses and had half his face hidden from view.
"You must be Chiaki," Kurenai greeted her.
"I am," Chiaki answered, she nodded to the other two Shinigami in the group, "they're Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihouin."
"We've met," Kurenai replied with a nod to the two older Shinigami. They returned the gesture, before Yoruichi looked to Neji and gained a catlike smirk.
'Uh-oh,' Chiaki thought to herself before Yoruichi decided to try and have a bit of fun with Neji.
"Disappointed I'm not in my other form?"
"No," Neji replied as he grasped Chiaki's arm and headed out of the village with her. As he passed by Yoruichi he added, "I prefer birds to cats."
"Tweet," Chiaki mocked Yoruichi while sticking her tongue out and throwing up a hand with her index and middle fingers extended in a v shape. Yoruichi laughed heartily before following the two with Kisuke by herside. Akamaru, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, and Kurenai followed them. Kurenai walked along side Yoruichi after a bit and asked, "so, how do you know Chiaki?"
"Kisuke and I grew up together, he joined the guard squads and I joined the stealth force. Chiaki was orphaned at birth. So everyone of us Captains kept an eye out for her and Mizuki. Kisuke more so than the others, after all he was her first Captain and as his former Captain, I often lent an eye out for their safety as well," Yoruichi replied.
"Oh, what happened to her parents if I might ask?"
"Her mother died in child birth and her father-" the purple haired woman's golden eyes saddened a bit as she suggested, "it's best you hear about him from her."
At this Hinata and the others grew a bit curious but kept their questions to themselves. After a bit more into the forest Chiaki stopped walking and let out a sigh as she called out, "I can sense you following us. May as well join us, you won't get the jump on him."
A man of roughly 5'9 height with spiky silver hair, his forehead guard covered his left eye, and he wore a mask covering his nose, mouth, and chin. He dressed in a green flak jacket, blue pants and a long sleeved shirt. He currently leaned against a tree trunk and didn't blink at Chiaki.
"You as well," she called out into the forest once more, this time another man who stood an inch shorter than the silver haired man appeared. He was dressed in different attire, a black sleeveless jumper under a grey flak jacket, black pants, and black strapped up sandals. He had arm length gloves with guards over them and wore a sword strapped to his back. He also wore a mask that resembled a cat's face with green and red intricate markings.
"Our mission is to ensure your safe passage," The masked man informed them.
"Sure. Three Captain level Shinigami here and you're worried about us passing by safely. Let me spare you the details but I'll say this: if there's something out there that can take all three of us down, especially since each of us are former stealth force, which is similar to your ANBU black ops—I suggest you run for it. Fast," Yoruichi replied, her eye twitching at the cat mask.
"I get it, with the mask, I mean. You're not supposed to reveal your identity. For intelligence gathering and anonymity, I presume," Chiaki offered.
"You're observant," The silver haired man stated.
"Comes with the job description, former and current," the amber eyed teenager replied. She raised her arm above her head, muttering some words under her breath before a large green pyramid shaped barrier appeared around all of them.
She regarded the two men and stated, "I suppose since we've come this far, I may as well disclose it. It's rare to find someone with my position outside of Soul Society. In fact, even those back home never usually see me. I hold a position that spells out that something serious is happening. Yoruichi is correct in that Kisuke was my first Captain. Then after they were exiled from Soul Society during an event that lead to last person to hold my position to emerge and take to the field, I transferred to the second division, becoming the youngest to hold the third seat rank in the second division."
"For context, the second division is a bit different. It has the special duty of being the stealth force, or onmitsukido, which means it deals with defector Shinigami," Yoruichi offered up.
"The third seat, which was my position before becoming Captain of the 12th division, heads the detention spire, other wise known as the Shinigami prison, including Muken where the most dangerous criminals are held," Kisuke elaborated.
"Suffice it to say that weapons within the detention spire are strictly prohibited so if you hold the rank of third seat you need to have enough combat skill to subdue an opponent with your bare hands," Chiaki added.
She gave a shy smile as she continued, "but that isn't my current position. Currently I'm part of the organization in Soul Society that over sees spiritual law and although we specialize with seals and barriers every single member of my squad is exceptionally gifted with kido. While the thirteen divisions of the Gotei 13 are headed by Captains and seconded by Vice- Captains, it's a little different where I'm instated. The second highest rank is called the Vice Kido Chief. The highest rank holds two titles. Kido Corps Commander, and Grand Kido Chief."
She now had Neji's undivided attention as she declared, "So Grand Kido Chief, Chiaki Kyoraku at your service. Please be advised that if need be I will use a time space displacement kido to keep these humans safe from harm among many other advanced techniques not available to other kido practitioners. I swear on my sister's grave, no harm will befall them."
"I don't doubt it. This little birdie here learned from the first Grand Kido Chief directly. We made sure of it," Kisuke boasted, placing a hand affectionately on Chiaki's head. The gesture made her blush, but she glanced up at him and smiled broadly as she nodded in acknowledgement.
The silver haired man inquired, "you said before that it's rare for the Grand Kido Chief to be seen, let alone outside of Soul Society, how much danger does this person pose?"
Neji closed his eyes before looking directly at the silver haired man, "without knowing it, you just asked the most complex question anyone on this mission could ask, Kakashi."
"It's true. This man is a defector of the Gotei 13. He tried to commit the mass genocide of an entire living world town. Strictly speaking, our kind are not supposed to kill humans. Doing so means our own death, usually, unless we're under orders by our governing body. Before that however, about a hundred and twenty years ago there were a large number of disappearences in soul society. The spirits there were just—almost evaporating. So it seemed at least. At the time Kisuke was Captain of the 12th, and I was one of his unseated officers. He trained with me daily to improve my unarmed combat and Yoruichi was helping me better my skill in flash step," Chiaki revealed.
"The truth was these people weren't vanishing—they were being transformed into hollows. I suppose in your terms the closest I can liken it to would be demons. Sosuke Aizen was behind those events, the result of an experiment to combine Shinigami abilities with the abilities that hollows possess," Yoruichi offered, placing a hand on Chiaki's shoulder.
"After the Winter War, ten years ago, Aizen was sentenced to twenty thousand years in Muken. But several weeks ago he somehow managed to escape. How, I'm still not certain. The alarm sounded signaling an unauthorized off world transport. I placed a kido tracker on him and followed him through the Senkaimon to your world—and that's when I first met Neji. Kisuke was able to follow me because I left an encoded message that I knew he'd be able to figure out giving him a hint on how to locate me," Chiaki added.
She took a deep breath before continuing, "but there's more to it than this man just being a war criminal. The fact is even if I didn't hold my rank I'd still push to be part of this mission. I have a personal stake in it—because Aizen murdered my mother and sister. He left my nephew without a parent, but it gets even worse than that. You'll likely learn this when we run into him eventually but—he's my biological father."
HInata's eyes widened while Kiba blinked and Shino remained emotionless. Kurenai grimaced at the news, and shook her head. Kakashi and the other man nodded in acknowledgement.
"Alright, that clears up a lot of questions," Kakashi acknowledged.
The other man chimed in, "and offers up another one: if your father betrayed Soul Society, what's to stop you from betraying them? Or us for that matter."
"I swore an oath before I graduated the academy. I don't go back on my word, but admittedly there's more to it than that. I won't leave Tetsuya without an adult to guide him. I know the fear and pain that produces in a child. The only way I'd abandon my nephew is if by doing so I could make the world—no the universe a safer place for him. He's my first priority, always. You can question anything else you wish about me, but don't you dare question my devotion to that boy. He's all I have left," Chiaki answered.
"How did he evade being detected for his criminal activities for so long though?"
Kiba's question was undoubtedly valid, and this time it was Kisuke who answered, "his Zanpakuto's ability. Every Shinigami possesses a Zanpakuto with a unique ability. Aizen's Zanpakuto causes complete hypnosis confusing all five senses into whatever illusion he wants you to believe."
"Like Genjutsu," Kurenai suspected.
"No. Similar, but worse. From what Neji has explained to me in our numerous talks, Genjutsu can be broken by the person affected or their allies if they utilize their chakra appropriately. However with Kyoka Suigetsu's shikai, there is no breaking free of it through force or will. You're hypnotized until he longer wants you to be but there is one disadvantage. Kyoka Suigetsu's shikai can be negated before it's even utilized but only if you manage to touch the blade of the Zanpakuto before the shikai can be released," Chiaki answered.
"Shikai?"
It was now Hinata's turn to ask the questions. Chiaki smiled and focused some of her spiritual energy, causing the dark red wakizashi sheath with the golden flame shaped tsuba, Neji could now see that the hilt wrapping was a fiery mix of red, yellow and orange to appear at her waist, similar to how it would in her soul form. He smiled at the sight.
Chiaki opened her eyes and indicated the sword that was now at her side, "This is my Zanpakuto. Each Zanpakuto has two release levels. The first level every Shinigami knows at least one combat tactic with which is called 'shikai'. the second release is universally known by all Captain level Shinigami, and that is called Bankai. It's often more powerful but in some cases the level of danger matches or exceeds that level of power."
She drew the wakizashi from its sheath holding it expertly in front of her, "each Zanpakuto is an imprint of the Shinigami's soul and as such each blade is as unique as its wielder. Some may be similar in class. A kido type Zanpakuto like Kisuke's uses magic to manifest its abilities, and some are elemental. Each shikai however has a release command. For example-"
She grasped the handle of her blade with both hands, ensuring that the others could see what she was about to do but also that no one would be caught in what was about to occur.
"Rise from the ashes, Hotori!"
Neji watched in amazement as the sword changed, gaining a ribbon at the hilt which had the same three colours as the wrapping, and had a feathery appearance. the blade gained a fiery aura around it and the flame shaped tsuba gained two golden bird wings on either side of the blade just above the flame.
