They were flying so fast as one person that they hardly realized when they separated into two again. But even then they didn't stop. Not to see where they were going, what was behind them, if they saw anyone they knew or whether they were still being followed at all. They just kept going and going and going, watching as this new world of ninja's passed by turning into a blur all around them.
"Hey Trunks!" Goten eventually called breaking the silence of their flight.
"Yeah Goten." his best friend answered turning over his shoulder to look at his fellow friend and half Saiyan.
"Do you think we lost that old guy by now?" he asked curiously. Trunks looked back past Goten to see if they were truly in the clear.
Well, the mountains had disappeared behind them. But they were in such a hurry they didn't know when, never the less where they were now. Now there just seemed to be endless swath of green trees beneath them. Nothing as high as those mountains they left behind, but the forest was just as endless.
"Yeah I think so." Trunks eventually answered casually to hide his indecisive answer.
"I guess he's not that fast then." Goten concluded with a little laugh. It seems they really showed that Tsuchikage who was really faster, though they didn't know he was stopped before he could pursue them.
"He's an old man Goten, what did you think would happen?" Trunks said, all knowingly. But his reassurance just seemed to slow Goten down before coming to a halt in the air and his friend upon seeing him stop followed his example. "What's up?" he looked back to him again.
"Well if we won the race, why's it seem like were no closer to finding your dad? Or my dad? Or anyone else?" Trunks was puzzled by this having not really expected it, but before he could answer Goten continued "And you know I've just been thinking-"
"You've been thinking?!"
"Yeah." Goten nodded "Well if were gonna keep going like this is there any way we could, maybe stop and go get something to eat?" he grabbed his stomach as it grumbled loudly "I'm really hungry." he groaned along with it.
"You're always hungry."
"But now more than ever!" he whined in the air. Trunks rolled his eyes as at his childish antics.
"Well gee Goten there's not really much we can do about it, you know?" he said putting his hands up behind his head " I mean do you see any food around here? Better yet do you see any places to eat?" Goten stopped his tantrum and peered over Trunk's shoulder.
"How about that?" he asked pointing off to the distance behind him.
Trunks turned and looked over his shoulder to see what he was pointing at; another city alright. This one looked much more colorful than the last one. But that was likely due to the lush green leaves surrounding it, but those large faces on the mountainside seemed much more welcoming than the ones from before.
Trunks crossed his arms embarrassed "Well. I mean..yeah sure, let's go check it out." he muttered. Now it was him who was being childish.
So an enthusiastic Goten and a disgruntled Trunks made their way towards another village.
Little did they know that one of their own party had already come by here and he received quite the welcome party himself, but he had left some time before they arrived and heading in a different direction that the way they entered. Luckily for the two of them, the group out to pursue him went a different route that they were heading, so their entrance into the village would go unnoticed for now.
They decided to land outside of the village, since flying out in the open would only land them in trouble like it did last time. They landed outside on the outskirts of the settlement and decided to walk carefully from there, They followed around until they came upon a wide open gate.
"Well it seems they're more welcoming than that other place." Trunks said judging by the lack of people in front of them now.
"I can't figure out why they're called Hidden Villages if they're so easy to find." Goten said scratching his head. The two were so busy talking to each other and looking up and around at the gate that they did not hear someone approach from behind, but she certainly saw them. And they were in her way.
"Outta my way!" an obnoxious woman's voice suddenly called from behind, pushing through the two of them and knocking them to the ground. The two tried to look up to see who and what just happened, but all they saw was a tan trench coat flapping away from them.
"Hey!" "Watch where your going!" the two half Saiyans whined from the pavement.
The woman stopped and turned her face to see them. She had purple hair tied in a bun, but strangely had pupiless eyes that glared back at them. Though they were blank, they could tell she was more annoyed than she was before. Beneath that tan trench coat she wore seemed to be only fish nets
"Watch it kid." she snapped aggressively, turning more towards them "I'm in a hurry." she held up her hand which had a piece of paper in it "Gotta get my report to the Hokage on time" she waved her hand and the paper in it.
"You should apologize when you bump into people like that." Goten spoke up as the two were back on their feet as if he hadn't heard or understood her excuse and still focused on her pushing them aside. The woman raised an eyebrow, and lowered one hand to her hips as the other brought the papers down to her side. She turned around all the way to them and walked up. She didn't seem scared by them, despite the fierce glares they were giving her as she approached, but she had an unforgiving menacing look of her own that was only enhanced by that snarl and her blank eyes. She stopped before them, looking them over strangely with an inquisitive glare in those strange eyes. The two of them starred back up grumbling, as if ready to show her up the same way they did Onoki. The puzzled look she had soon, turned to an energetic, congratulatory grin.
"I like your spirit!" she cheered and lowered her hands down onto both their heads "I can't wait till you two get a spot in the Chunin Exams." she said ruffling their hair.
"Wha?" the two let out confused glances to each other before going to her as she continued rubbing their heads. What was she talking about?
"What are you two doing out here anyway?" she asked bringing her hands to her hips and looking down at them with a puzzled look again.
Still a bit confused by her previous statements they didn't answer immediately. Trunks opened his mouth to say something, but Goten beat him to it. "We're looking for food!" Goten answered. Trunks grumbled something under his breath.
She rolled her shoulders and stood up straight "There's a couple of good restaurants that way." she pointed the way with her thumb. "Ask for the dumplings. Just don't put it on my tab, got it." she snapped at the end, making it sound more like a threat than a recommendation. But the two of them would be sure not keep that last part in mind. The two looked off where she was pointing to see another street flanked by buildings, before they looked back to her. She put her arm down "Alright, that's it for me." she said turning around. "I'm late enough as it is. " she walked off away from them again with a wave of her hand, leaving the two young half Saiyans in silence.
In that silence Goten looked over to Trunks "What was she talking about?" All he really heard was dumplings.
In the Hokage's office Toshiro was busy filing out papers on the desk. How could anyone get so far behind? Shizune helped as much as she could, but right now she was out of the office. Toshiro insisted she go out to catch a break, but she insisted she stay to help. He did appreciate her support in all this, just like she appreciated him for dong work that wasn't even his. Eventually, she said she'd go out to find him a treat to thank him for all his help. Something like 'Watermelon' seemed to give her a big idea, and that settled it. But he continued on fine without her; he was used to that part. Rangiku had even complained that he gave Shizune more breaks than he ever gave her. His reply was that 'Well, she did actually do work.' Needless to say he kept himself busy. Even with all his progress, stopping every few moments to view the spectacle before him probably didn't help.
Hunched over on the same couch, and not even bothering to pickup the one they flipped over Tsunade had Rangiku's sword pressed against her face. "Hmmm" she let out as the sheath rubbed the sheath against her left cheek "I think I can hear it."
"She's a moody bitch." Rangiku admitted lying on the couch beside her. Toshiro paid them no mind as he continued on doing some one else's work, which was again completely normal for him, but when the door opened abruptly he was snapped out of his trance and looked up to see who it was. It wasn't Shizune with a reward, but some other woman with no doubt more work for him to do.
"Sorry Lady Tsunade!" her obnoxious voice called loudly even though the gap between them was very short. She passed by a buzzed Tsunade and a drunk Rangiku without even noticing them and walked straight up to the desk "Got a little held up at the gate, but I'm here on time just like you asked." she stopped before him at the desk. "Here's my report." she held it out proudly to him with closed eyes and a stupid wide grin plastered on her face.
Toshiro looked to her and then to the paper with a blank expression. 'Anko Mitarashi' it read at the top.
"It's a little sloppy." he said taking it "And you are ten minutes late." he reminded her. He had heard numerous excuses, so he didn't know what to make about that comment about the gate "Just be on time next time." he said dismissing it. Now he wasn't sure what her usual traits were when it came to getting things in on time so he decided not to make a big deal about it. But he also considered himself a good judge of character.
At the sounds of his criticisms Anko's face curled up into a frustrated sneer "Heeeyyy" she dragged out the word "what do you mean sloppy?!" she let out and leaned down towards him opening her eyes wide, so they starred down at him with their pupiless glare "I said I was ju-" her mouth gaped open when it dawned on her that she was not in fact not talking to her superior, in fact she wasn't talking to any one she knew at all. It was another kid, just like the ones at the gate. Yet this one was sitting in the Hokage's chair with a white robe to match his hair and a blank face to go against her eyes; he didn't seem riled like the last two boys she saw. Taken back Anko stood back up and looked back to see the Hokage fondling a sword on the couch with another woman dressed similarly to this boy, but with the characteristics of Lady Tsunade. She then turned back to the boy at the desk. "And who are you? The bookkeeper?" Growing annoyed now, a vein appeared in Toshiro's forehead much to her amusement.
"Don't worry about it Anko." Tsunade called from behind her "I'm sure it's fine." she said referring to her paperwork and to have Toshiro not scrutinize it too much "He's doing too good of a job anyway" she said peering over to Toshiro behind her desk "Think I'll keep him around as long as possible." That didn't seem to make Toshiro feel all that better, but it did amuse both Anko and his lieutenant.
"C'mon join the party!" Rangiku waved invitingly over to her.
Anko looked strangely to the new woman who had just invited her for drinks with the Hokage before looking back to the little kid sitting behind her desk.
"Eh why not?" she shrugged "I've been on my feet all day" She tugged on her coat, opening it just a little too much in the process and revealing it's contents before Toshiro who covered his eyes, shrieked and fell back in his chair.
Smirking at his reaction she turned heel to join the other two women. Anko decided to leave the couch like it was and plopped onto the table as Rangiku held out a cup and Tsunade filled it.
"We gotta get out of this office and show me more of this village! We should go to a hot spring" Rangiku said, her enthusiasm growing with each word "You got that here right?"
"It's right next to the dumpling shop. We can stop there along the way!" Anko said before taking a sip.
"Captain you'd like that, right?" Rangiku called over to him, but he just groaned behind Tsunade's work.
She'd have pressed the question and egged him on even more if at that exact moment three more children hadn't suddenly burst into the office.
"Lady Tsunade!" the boy at the front of them called as he rushed in, the scarf around his neck flailing wildly as he came to an abrupt stop before them. Another sniffling boy beside him and red cheeked girl that were his age were behind him on both sides "I have something important to tell you!" the boy shouted. Toshiro paid it no mind as he got himself resituated behind the desk, but the other three seemed to find it pretty amusing.
"Hey what is this? A daycare?" Anko joked, and the two other women laughed. Toshiro hid a groan behind the paper he held before his face.
"This is serious Lady Tsuande!" the lead boy stressed fighting against their laughter "Naruto put me in charge of putting a team together to defend the village while he goes and looks for Kakashi- sensei. And that's what I'm here to do!" he proclaimed confidently.
"What?!"Tsunade snapped startling the three newcomers who now cowered from her "Where does that brat get off assigning missions?!" Tsunade roared, and the three children cowered before her "And going after Kakashi! I said I would take care of that!" she stood up flailing both Haineko and the bottle of booze around "Where is he?! Cause I-"
"Ah so stressed out." Rangiku reached out and lightly grabbed her shoulders "You need to lighten up. Relax more. We can deal with all of that after a nice hot bath" she said as Tsunade plopped back down before her.
If this strange sight was lost on the children, something else wasn't either. A kid who looked only to be a little older than them, but with hair like an old man was sitting at the Hokage's desk.
"Hey what are you doing?" the lead boy marched around the women at the table and up to Toshiro at the desk, pointing a finger at him the whole time. Getting his attention Toshiro looked up to see him pointing a finger at him like it was a sword. His own sword was leaning beside him. The other two children came up behind and now the three stood before him.
"I'm doing the Hokage's work." he told him with a mix of indifference and annoyance in his voice. "While she's.." he paused looking back over at the women "occupied" he gritted his teeth. The boy turned his finger from pointing to him to pointing to himself.
"Well I'm Kono-"
"Konohamaru." Toshiro cut him off "And your Udon and Moegi." he turned his head to each and identified the two with him "And you all train under Ebisu."
The three were taken by surprise by his blunt assessment, but only Konohamaru spoke "How-how'd you know that?" he stammered.
"I've been sitting behind this desk all day. Your names have come up more than once." he stated. But he also recalled that horrendous registration picture of Konohamaru's.
"Alright." he puffed his chest out "Then who're you?"
"Cap-" he paused for a moment. He was so used to saying his given rank that he realized that he realized he might not reveal such information lightly while he was here. But then again Rangiku had practically told Tsunade everything, even with their bet still ongoing "Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya."
"Capcaptain?" Udon repeated confused.
"Captain?" Konohamaru then guessed correctly "Of what?" Toshiro sighed realizing it was fruitless.
"Think of me like a Jonin." he said. That seemed to shut the kids up. Konohamaru continued to eye him strangely as he sat behind the desk. He looked him over before he seemingly came to a conclusion.
"Well, I don't think I have need for some one like you." Konohmaru said confidently crossing his arms "We don't need book types on my team. We need fighters." he declared.
Toshiro was more of a fighter than this kid knew, but he had no time for childish games.
"Well good luck finding them." Toshiro said despairingly, taking his eyes off them and onto a new stack of papers. He didn't read of any upcoming missions for them and given Tsunade's reaction before it likely wasn't sanctioned so he had nothing to worry himself over. He was certain they would leave him to his work now and they certainly would have. That was until they eyed Hyorinmaru leaning up against the side of the desk.
"Wow!" Konohamaru let out, reached for the sword and grabbed it.
"Hey!" Toshiro snapped and his voice rose so suddenly and was so loud that the three women across the room flinched and spilled their drinks over themselves. "Don't touch that!"
"Is this yours?" Konohamaru asked clearly not as startled as the others "How'd you get a sword?" he cradled it in his hands.
"It's none of your business! Now put it Down!" he commanded over the desk.
"No way!" Konohamaru said pawing at it "A leader needs a weapon like this and I'm just that!" he flung it over his shoulder in a manner that was similar to Kenpachi.
"Leave that!" Toshiro pounded on the desk, hopped down and ran over it "That is not to be played with!" he vented, but they didn't relent. It was here they noticed that they were just a hair taller than Toshiro himself which likely didn't help his case at all.
"He's right." Rangiku called from behind. Toshiro was thankful some one who helped him get the nickname 'book boy' was now standing up for him "That's a very rare sword. There's only one of its kind every generation and my Captain's blessed to have it." These words while true only made everything worse.
"Then I gotta have it!" Konohamaru said holding it up high.
"Well you can't." Toshiro snapped. His face was now etched into a snarl "Now that's enough." he reached out an arm for the sword "I'm taking this ba-Hey!" right as the sword was within his grasp Konohamaru jumped back and the three kids then sprinted away from him and towards the door which luckily for them just happened to be opening for their escape thanks to Shizune's return.
"Alright Toshiro!" she announced happily upon entering with bags draped over her arms "I got you som-eh" she ducked back as the three of them ran by with his sword still in their hands. Toshiro looked around to see no one else was moving. Not surprised anyone else was going to help him Toshiro realized he would have to do this himself. Toshiro quickly gave chase and sprinted out of the room after them, once again almost knocking Shizune over in the process.
"Hey where are you going?!" a distressed Shizune called out as Toshiro chased the children down the halls "I've got watermelon!" she called after him. But Konohamaru was still running away with his sword, so Toshiro still followed after him.
Elsewhere in the leaf village two other children were running around aimlessly. Of course the more they went around the more it brought them into their own sort of trouble. Of course they would only find even more today.
"Hey! You have to pay for all that come here!" the chef shouted at them. But with stomachs full of ramen noodles and no money the option of running away seemed so simple to Goten and Trunks. After all, he didn't seem interested in billing Capsule Corp when Trunks told him to. With Trunks leading the way, he quickly cut around a corner with Goten in tow. When the disgruntled cook turned to follow them he saw the road filled with people, exiting or entering shops or walking down the street, but he saw no sign of the two thieving children. Not the least bit deterred he ran down the street to find where they went not realizing they were actually sitting in the awning above one of the stores; specifically the Yamanaka's flower shop.
The two peaked their heads to look below to see Teuchi turn a corner and down another street, leaving his line of sight and leaving them behind.
"He's gone." Trunks smiled. With that threat out of the way, he jumped down from the overhang, and Goten fell with him. "We gotta go find that lady at the gate" Trunks said "Those dumplings were too much trouble."
"But they were pretty good!" Goten laughed patting his stomach "So was the ramen." he added before calming down "So whadda we do now?" he wondered turning to Trunks.
Trunks pondered for a moment as something low to the ground crept up towards his leg "Well I guess we should go out and look for ou-" he stopped when he felt something touch him and let out a shriek that sent the two shooting back to the rooftop.
Peaking down they saw a brown cat with a red ribbon on its right ear. The poor thing looked more frightened of them than they were.
"Oh it's just a lil' kitty." Goten said innocently as he went back to the ground. The two descended once again, ignoring protest from the shop owner to stay off the roof. Once Goten got there, he bent down low to pat it though that only terrified the cat even more.
"Yeah I can see that." Trunks said obnoxiously, but was more self-conscious since he was caught a little more off guard than Goten was.
But some one wasn't expecting them to land right there and once their feet touched back to the ground they were blinded sided by three other children that had cut around a corner. Coming suddenly and very quickly and the three collided with the two and they well went to the ground.
Amidst all of the commotion, as they hit against and fell on top of each other, a sword slipped from one's grip and flung into the air, escaping it's sheath, as it twirled in the air, and plummeted back to the ground below. It's sheath fell to knock Goten on his head while the sword itself landed in the ground between the heads of Trunks and the kid who dropped it. The two's eyes shot open wide and they quickly scurried away from the open blade embedded into the ground.
"HEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" "WATCH WHERE YOUR GOING!" the two screamed at each other on other sides of the sword.
Goten meanwhile casually picked up the scabbard "You dropped this." he kindly offered it off to the girl in the group who stood beside another boy who sniffled at the exchange.
Trunks was still glaring at the boy who held the sword and he glared right back. Grunting the boy reached for the sword, but it was Trunks who got to it first and pulled it from the ground and raised it high. It flashed like a star and shined brightly in the sunlight. The guard around it was a noticeable four-pointed bronze-colored star and the hilt was light blue. It was just as tall as Trunks himself. It was captivating weapon that Trunks had his eyes glued on. But he wasn't the only one who admired this blade.
"Hey what are you doing with that? It's not a toy!" the boy screeched at him.
"Relax." Trunks said casually "I know a thing or two about swords." he said twirling it slowly in his hands. Or at least he will someday in the future.
"Heeeyyy" the boy let out again, taking Trunks attention from the sword "Who are you? I haven't seen you around here before." Trunk's eyes shifted nervously from side to side.
'rraaarr' a small screech bellowed beneath them. The boy then looked down to see familiar looking cat cowering under all of them.
"Tora." he said and the cat responded shakily. That seemed to make up his mind. "Well, it seems your still just doing Genin level missions, chasing around cats and stuff, so it doesn't matter" he dismissed him waving his hand in the air before Trunks could give him a fake answer. He then crossed his arms "I'm here to find a team to defend the Leaf Village. If you're still trying to catch cats then I can't even consider you for the job. Never the less think your experienced enough to wield a weapon of that caliber." he told smugly which Trunks didn't like. Over his shoulder Goten seemed to be getting along swimmingly with the other two.
Toshiro thought he saw them go this way, but he saw no sign of them anywhere once he turned the corner. This was certainly was a pain. Rangiku and Tsunade; they were of no help. Shizune for all of her efforts didn't do much to stop them either. And who the hell was Anko?
Walking down the street his head turned from side to side with no sign of those three little thieves. Maybe he should have a talk with Ebisu about how he trains them when this is all done? Naturally Toshiro also wondered if Zaraki had any problems where ever he was, though he realized he was likely the ones to cause the commotion. And what about Captain Kuchiki?
He kept walking and looking, but the city was big and he felt no closer to finding the culprits. Needless to say he could use a friendly face in all of this, but even he was surprised when he actually found one.
Then right before him, prancing out of the dark alleyway came a small figure that blended into the shadows. That was until it walked out into the light revealing itself to be a black cat. It walked across the road, and he didn't take notice of it yet. Suddenly it stopped before him and sat itself comfortably in the middle of the street in front of him. It flashed bright golden eyes up to him and made Toshiro stop dead in his tracks.
"Hm?" he let out looking down at it startled "What are you doing here?" he asked surprised. The cat didn't answer him, but another voice was heard.
"Is that kid talking to a cat?" a young boys voice asked. It was not Konohamaru, Moegi or Udon's voice, but a new one entirely. Regardless he was clearly talking about him. Toshiro looked up from the cat and turned his head to see a boy with spiky black hair wearing a orange and blue gi pointing a finger over at him. Standing with him were Undo and Moegi.
"He must be crazy Goten." another voice said. Toshiro turned his head to see Konohamaru standing with another boy who wore a green gi and had noticeably pink hair. Though more importantly than what he wore was than unlike Konohamaru when he last saw him this new boy had something in his hands. He was holding Hyorimaru, now out of the sheath enraging Toshiro further.
"Hey!" Toshiro shouted and Konohamaru flinched, but the other boy seemed unfazed as if he was unaware of what was wrong. "That's not a toy so don't play with it like one!" he marched over to him, but the boy still twirled the sword in his hands. "Now give me that back!" he said stopping before him. Toshiro left the cat behind though those golden eyes remained locked onto everything going on.
"What are you talking about? This is yours?" the boy asked surprised as Toshiro fumed before him.
"Yes." Toshiro grinded his teeth.
"He looks pretty mad Trunks. I think you should give it to him." the one identified as Goten spoke up.
"I don't know what he has to be mad about?" Trunks turned to Goten and then back to Toshiro "I didn't do anything." Trunks shrugged.
"Regardless." Toshiro snapped before any one else could interject "The sword is mine and I want it back. Now." he said forcefully and reached for it putting his hands tightly around the grip. Trunks didn't recoil when he did, but when he saw Toshiro glaring angrily at him he did right back, no different than Konohamaru.
"Alright. You want it." Trunks let go as Toshiro tugged on it "Take it." he said as he 'lightly' pushed Toshiro back, sending him all the way down the block.
He crashed into a cart all the way at the end of the street, and disappeared into a thick cloud of smoke. When it cleared, he was caught under a pile of wood and rubble. He picked his head up only to knock it onto a pipe.
"Oh that does it." Toshiro growled "I've had it." he picked himself up and shook himself free of the debris. Looking down the street, he saw Trunks was too preoccupied with all the attention from Konohamaru's team to see what was coming next. They were fawning at him at the display of strength just now. But none of them saw him coming back. Toshiro flew down the street at him and kicked him in the face sending him all the way down to the other end just as he had done to him before.
"Hey!" his friend shouted. Goten quickly moved to punch him, but Toshiro ducked and backed away putting distance between them, his sword now returned to him was tightly gripped in his hands as he now grilled down the black haired boy. The two locked eyes and snapped into a fighting stance.
Farther back down the street was Trunks who picked himself up to see his friend standing off against that white haired kid alone.
Grimacing he picked himself up, bent over on the ground and darted forward, kicking up a strong enough gust of wind to knock several unfortunate people behind him over.
Trunks charged at Toshiro coming at him from his left side and swung at him with his fist, but Toshiro aware of his surroundings had managed to dodge, moving away as it grazed his hair. Then he swung forward with his sword, but Trunks knocked it away and broke his two hands from each other on the grip. Then Trunks jumped forward and hit Toshiro hard in the stomach with his knee. At the same time coming right over Toshiro as he was hit by Trunks was Goten who landed his own hit; a punch right in Toshiro's face, together sending him back tumbling across the market street as people rushed to get out of the way.
"Alright!" Goten cheered.
"Yes." Trunks flexed as they stood triumphantly together.
Toshiro was sent back again, skidding along the dirt on his back until he finally came to a halt. Looking up he saw he stopped directly under the black cat from before, who starred down at him with those bright golden eyes.
"Aren't you going to help me out?" he grumbled looking up. The cat leaned down and licked him across the face. "I thought as much." he grumbled. He picked himself up and spit some blood as he looked at the two still celebrating at the end of the street. When they finally noticed him up they realized this fight was not over just yet.
The two were on the other end of the street and squaring off against him. Then the two took off heading right for him. Seeing them coming and with enough distance between them Toshiro swung his sword in their direction.
"Tsh!" Trunks scoffed "There's no way he can hit us with that sword all the way from over there!". A reply then came, but not from Goten.
"Reign over the Frosted Heavens!" they heard Toshiro cry out as he slashed the sword, as if he was naming an attack.
Strangely the sword seemed to grow if only slightly in length and a long chain appeared and dropped off the hilt of the sword. But it did not stop the two's attack for Toshiro was still to far away to hit them with that strike of the sword as he swung it down.
Off the tip of the sword, the distinct 'crack' of ice could be heard and off the edge came a swarm of ice heading right in the direction of the two boys. They stopped their assault and both darted to the side as the ice connected with the ground, piling on top of each other to form a tower almost as high as the buildings beside them.
"Whoa!" the two let out and many of the onlookers were shocked as well, but Toshiro retained his stern composure.
"That sword.." Konohamaru said in awe as they turned upwards following the tower of ice "I gotta have it!"
"Get in line!" Trunks said as he and Goten linked up again, coming down in front of Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. "Let's get em Goten!" he said as they both eyed Toshiro.
"Yeah!" Goten nodded.
Trunks dashed at him and Goten was right behind, but Toshiro was ready. Trunks threw a punch at Toshiro, but he took off up into the sky above the village evading him. The higher he got the smaller the two boys were on the ground, but they didn't stay there for long.
"Hey! No fair he can fly too!" Goten said jumping off the ground.
"Can everyone here do that?" Trunks let out flying up at him. Looking down Toshiro could see the two boys jump off the ground and began to fly up chasing him.
"Oh you got to be kidding me!" Toshiro grunted as he stopped his ascension.
The two swarmed at him and began throwing a volley of kicks and punches. He managed to dodge or misdirect some of them and even counter attack on his own. Goten grabbed ahold Toshiro's hands and his sword at the same time. Trunks then came forward with a punch. But Toshiro swung himself over the attack wrenching Goten off of his hands at the same time came down with a kick. Trunks flew out of the way as Goten jumped back from a slash of the sword.
Toshiro looked at his surroundings now. Goten was in front of him, and Trunks was behind. This was exactly the situation he didn't want to get himself into. To get out would require careful planning and precise timing.
Trunks looked past Toshiro towards Goten and nodded. Goten returned with his own nod. Then they both flew right towards Toshiro at the same time. Toshiro gripped his sword tightly and prepared to move. This would require precise timing.
Goten arrived just a second before Trunks did. This was it for Toshiro.
He ducked as Goten threw a punch and instead of hitting him, he hit Trunks in the face. With Trunks stunned Toshiro knocked the hilt of his sword into Goten's gut and he bent over holding his stomach from the blow. He whipped the chain that dangled from the edge of the hilt around and wrapped it around Trunks. Once he was caught in the coils, he swung his sword and Trunks flew into the air and knocked into Goten and the tumbled down to the street, the chain rolling off of Trunks and back to Toshiro. But it wasn't long before the two picked themselves up.
"Ow! Watch where young going!" Goten shouted to him.
"It wasn't me? It was the sword!" Trunks pointed up to Toshiro.
"Oh yeah. Cause the sword can think on it's own!" Toshiro seemed to find that comment amusing enough to smile about. "Hey, what are you laughing at?" Goten shouted up to him. Toshiro's smile disappeared as Goten and Trunks charged up at him again.
Two on one would put him at a disadvantage no matter what. He would have to even the playing field. He swung his sword and another Ice dragon charged the boys as they came to him. Goten managed to evade the assault, but Trunks was caught and froze instantly, encased in the ice.
"Trunks!" Goten screeched looking back at the horrifying sight. He then turned angrily to Toshiro and shot a blast at him, but he slashed it away. Goten then charged him, but found it difficult to do on his own. He threw a punch which Toshiro dodged and then he slashed his sword at him which Goten ducked against. But Toshiro just raised his leg and kicked him back swerving across the sky. Undeterred Goten charged back at him with a kick, but Toshiro swung his sword to create more Ice dragons and Goten spent his time dodging them or else he'd end up just like Trunks. He blasted the last one away and through the smoke Toshiro appeared and slashed at him with his sword, cutting him across the cheek.
From behind them Trunks was still frozen in the ice. The ice was clear,\ but reflective in the light...and light was starting to grow brighter and illuminate from inside. A muffled cry could be heard and the ice began to shake. Toshiro kicked Goten away again, and then stopped when he heard shouting coming from behind him. Even Goten stopped to look at what happened.
The ice that held Trunks violently shattered into countless pieces and fell onto the town below. And standing there in its place was Trunks. Now free from the icy prison. But he was changed now, with golden hair and an aura to match all around him. He put both of his arms to their sides and began channeling his energy, all the while eye Toshiro viciously.
"Trunks!" Goten cheered "You're back!"
Toshiro was much less enthusiastic "What in the-"
"Double Buster!" Trunks shouted as he shot his arms forward unleashing two golden blast shot forward aimed at Toshiro. Toshiro couldn't believe it. He didn't think he would get out and certainly didn't expect a sudden boost in power like this. The blasts swerved towards Toshiro and he raised his sword when it was right in front of him!
A large explosion took over the sky, and a mask of smoke overtook what was the Captain of Squad Ten.
"Alright!" Goten cheered as rejoined the now Super Saiyan Trunks "You did it!"
"Yeah." Trunks said confidently, casually looking at his fingers as if nothing had happened "It wasn't a big deal really."
"Big deal?" a cold voice questioned through the smoke. Both boys turned their heads towards the diminishing dark gray smoke to see the outline of some strange thing where Toshiro once stood. It looked hunched over, with large protruding wings and pointy digits on each arm and leg. It looked like the shadow of some monster that stayed under their beds.
"What is that?" Goten asked frightened. Even Trunks was unnerved by what it could be. They got their answer when the smoke finally cleared. It wasn't a monster or a demon at all, but Toshiro himself.
He was encased in ice, which covered all of his limbs. Both his legs and his free arm was covered and instead of feet and hands he had icy claws. His hand holding onto his sword was shaped like a dragon's head with the sword in its icy teeth. Lastly and most noticeably was the ice covering his shoulders like guards and the large wings protruding off his back. Floating above him were three violet flowers like the one on the sword itself, each with four petals.
"Bankai." Toshiro answered softly.
"Bank-what?" Trunks said. What did money have to do with this?
"Banana?" Goten said wondering if he heard him correctly or just hungry again.
"The ultimate release of the greatest ice style zanpaktou." Toshiro explained.
"I bet you think you so special." Trunks mocked, but Toshiro said nothing and hardly moved in his place.
"We can do something special like that too!" Goten said "Only better!" he turned to Trunks "You think we should do it."
"Definitely." he grinned. Toshiro raised an eyebrow and readied for the two to attack him, but instead they floated back down to the ground near to Konohamaru and his group.
"Uh" Konohamaru let out as they stood before him, Udon and Moegi "you know he's still up there right?" he said point up.
"We're working on it!" Trunks snapped before turning to Goten.
"I-I like you hair" Moegi spoke up, but Trunks didn't hear. Goten then powered up to Super Saiyan to mimic Trunks surprising every one else further. Then they ran to opposite sides of the street and prepared to take the steps necessary to end this fight.
Exactly six paces from each other they faced forward and held their arms out, away from the other.
"Fuuuu!" they said taking steps sideways towards each other and their arms moved towards the other. "sion!" they snapped their arms across their bodies, turned the outer leg up to a right angle facing they other. "HA!" they exclaimed as they leaned forward and touched their index fingers.
A bright light took over the two boys and blinded every one around them, except Toshiro who was high up in the sky. He watched down below with skepticism at what just transpired.
The light soon diminished and standing in the place of Goten and Trunks was neither of them, but one person. He was the same height, but wore different clothes. An open, sleeveless vest. His hair had the same colors as them, but was spiked up, looking more like Goten's after his golden haired transformation.
Who ever this was he stood there triumphantly with a golden aura all around him with his hands placed on his hips.
Konohamaru and his team starred on in awe and suspicion.
"Hey!" he called "What you do to them?" the boy turned his head towards him and Konohamaru nearly tripped over himself from his gaze.
"I am them." he answered in what sounded like both of their voices. "Call me Gotenks." he said with a smirk. Konohamaru struggled to find words. But Gotenks had no time for him. He looked up to see Toshiro hovering above them. Then he flew up to the sky to Toshiro, even faster than they had moved before. Something Toshiro took notice of.
Gotenks shot into the air like a rocket and stopped before Toshiro to face off against him again.
"Well here I am!" he threw his arms out and announced to the captain, whose stone cold glare hadn't left his face. "Whatta think?" he asked bringing his arms back in, but Toshiro said nothing. "You too scarred to answer? I get it." he shrugged "You must be so dumbstruck by my power that you can't even contemplate words."
"A foolish move." Toshiro spoke up coldly, taking Gotenks by surprise. Gotenks eyes bugged open "Whatever you call this." he pointed the sword to him "Your advantage was in your numbers. But now I have only one person to target, and..." he paused and the boy looked at him mischievously "I'm only speculating here, but there must be a time limit to this."
Gotenks bravado was suddenly shattered "Hey how'd you know that?!" he admitted shocked.
Toshiro looked up to the twelve purple petals floating with him "The best one's always do." he admitted before he looked back at them. "Are you ready to continue this?"
"Are you?" Gotenks asked. Before Toshiro could answer Gotenks reappeared right before him. He jabbed his fist forward, and Toshiro put his sword up having him hit that instead. But the blow was still so great that it sent Toshiro hurling down into the village, crashing right throw a building and landing inside.
Gotenks scratched his chin as he hovered in the air observing the nice hole made in the roof "There's quite a bit of Strength and speed to this too." he smirked.
Toshiro planted on his back, looked up through the hole in the building to see Gotenks still hovering in the sky, smugly content with the job he's just done. Water thrashed around from the crash and splash his face. Feeling the hot water covering his body, he looked around at his surroundings to see two familiar faces sitting shoulder to shoulder at the end of the hot springs.
"So you decided to join us?" Rangiku asked, her bare shoulders and head popping out of the water. Her hand holding a cup was also raised above the water and noticeably floating under her chin were her two large breasts.
"There is a door you know." Tsunade sat beside Rangiku and pointed up, but kept her eyes on the hole he made through the roof. She slouched more, but her chest still bobbed freely in the water beneath her face.
Toshiro shook his head around spilling droplets off his head. But they froze in mid air and landed back within the hot bath water. Picking himself up he stood up in the bath which reached up to his waist. Cracking and crunching could be heard as the water around his legs began to turn into ice. Then it started to spread out and cover the entire tub, and the heat began to die as everything around them chilled. Snow began to fall in through the hole he made.
Lunging upwards and taking to the sky Toshiro jumped up back through the hole in the roof. Soaring into the sky he reunited with Gotenks. He flew to come before him as Gotenks gave him a sideways glance as he saw him return before turning towards him fully.
"I guess the bath didn't do you much good." he said holding onto his nose "You still smell pretty bad." he chuckled.
"Water was a little warm for my taste." Toshiro said and suddenly every one in the village felt the temperature drop. Dark clouds began to form over the village overtaking the two of them.
Gotenks let out a visibly cold breath "Hey.. did it get cold in here all of a sudden?" he rubbed his arms to looked up at the sky.
"Yes." Toshiro raised his sword "And it's going to get a lot colder." He bent over and dived towards Gotenks who readied himself for an attack. Toshiro swung his sword unleashing an ice dragon at him. Gotenks blasted it away and charged Toshiro rushing through the shards of ice and clouds of smoke to erupt at him. Then Gotenks threw a punch at Toshiro, but his wings came forward and shielded him absorbing the punch. Then the wings swung open and Toshiro swung his sword with them. Gotenks moved back blocking him. Toshiro pressed forward flying at him and his sword struck him, freezing him in mid air. He backed away from the ice as observed it, wondering if he was going to break out of it like he did before. When the ice suddenly shattered, he had his answer.
Shouting now that he was free Gotenks flew towards him and threw punch at him, hitting him in his jaw before kicking both his feet up into his chest and sending him flying back all the way across the Leaf Village. He pursued him appearing to where he was going, put his fists together and swung them down colliding with Toshiro's head and sending him down to the ground below.
Landing hard on the ground Toshiro shook his head and wiped his mouth only to see red all over his icy blue hand. He turned and looked up to see Gotenks up in the air. He jumped up in the air and flew straight towards him. Flying straight he up swung his sword only for Gotenks to move to the side. Toshiro stopped his ascent and swung again, this time slashing him across him bare arm.
"AH!" Gotenks let out grabbing the cut as blood seeped through his fingers and down his arm. Toshiro then flipped over and kicked him in the send sending him back across the sky. Gotenks managed to stop himself and grilled down Toshiro. "What was that for!? That hurt!" he shouted and raised his arm to blast him, but Toshiro's wings moved forward and he prepared his sword. Gotenks faltered and eyed Toshiro cautiously. Then he figured out the best way to deal with this "Of course that's it!" he shouted to himself, but Toshiro's face remained stern.
Gotenks puffed his cheeks out and took in a deep breath. Then he blew out of his mouth and a white bubble appeared. Toshiro raised an eyebrow eyeing him strangely. Gotenks continued to blow until the bubble got wider and wider. Then it floated out of his mouth and it floated above him. Its round shape started to twist and conform into something else and Toshiro watched it skeptically. It's features became more defined as it took the shape of.. Gotenks.
"Hahaha" it chuckled as it waved its hands and blew it's tongue over at him.
"Yep." Gotenks let out proudly at his creation "One should be enough for you."
"One what?" Toshiro let out. Gotenks pointed across the sky to him.
"Now go get em!" he commanded and the ghost was quick to respond, flying right towards Toshiro as it's tail wiggled in the air. Toshiro readied himself, if this was anything like the blast he should be able to cut it away. The ghost got closer and closer to him as he remained steady. He looked to Gotenks who remained behind and seemed to only be ready to watch what happened, but Toshiro was wary of him. Then as the ghost was right before him, it reached his arms out to grab him, but Toshiro swiped at it cutting it in two, separating the head from the rest of the body. The ghost lingered there shocked for a moment before turning back to Toshiro.
It's face twisted in shock then went to a mean sneer. It raised its hands and waved at Toshiro, confusing him. The entire body then began to glow and Toshiro's eyes widened at what was about to happen.
An explosion rocked the sky as Gotenks looked on confidently. He clapped his hands together "Well like I said, one was just enough."
"Impressive." he heard Toshiro's voice grunt through the smoke and when it cleared he saw very much that he was still staining, though his usually clear white robe was now dirtied and some blood poured from his mouth.
"Oh you're still here?" Gotenks asked annoyed "Well, I guess a couple more wouldn't hurt." he concluded.
Toshiro raised his sword "Don't think I'll let that happen." Gotenks was quick in spitting out even more ghost as Toshiro charged him. When he covered only half of the distance between them, he had ten perfectly formed ones.
"Quick!" he called "Emergency maneuvers! Attack!" he pointed towards Toshiro and they were just as obedient as before. Each one flew off towards Toshiro, but breaking away from each other making it hard to for him to watch all of them at once. "You did say my strength was in numbers!" Gotenks shouted as he stayed behind.
Toshiro abruptly halted in the sky "A superior should fight with his subordinates!" Toshiro shouted as he swung his sword. Another ice dragon appeared, but Toshiro was quick to bring out another one and even more after that.
"Cool I always wanted a pet!" one of the ghosts said "Let's play!" he went straight towards one. The contact with the dragon caused the ghost to explode on impact, taking the dragon with it. But there were still nine more to deal with.
The first one flew off and collided with a dragon while others tried to dodge or mislead them. One ghost was chased away only to bump into another and take out only one of the dragons following them.
"Cool! Fire works!" Konohamaru cheered from below. Moegi clapped and hopped beside him as Udon starred up dimly.
The rest of the ghost and dragons swerved and soared all around the sky above the village. Amongst the ghost, dragons, ice and explosions caused by each, Toshiro flew forward, maneuvering around each one to get over to Gotenks. He flew up to him and gripped his sword and prepared to swipe at him. But when a ghost appeared suddenly in front of him, he backed off at the last second.
He jumped back to dodge it, but felt something bump him from behind. He looked behind in dread to see one of the ghosts wrapped around his back. Then the one in front of him jumped on him.
The two shined brightly like before, but engulfed him in an explosion like before. Gotenks laughed all the carnage away until it cleared.
There Toshiro stood, hunched over and his sword dangling from his hand. Blood poured from his eyes, ears, and mouth. His wings were all but gone and his robe had been seared off revealing only his bare torso.
"Are you still here? I'm sick of throwing ghosts at you!" Gotenks whined. Toshiro didn't say anything. He let his actions speak for him this time. His wings and ice began to regenerate over his body "Hey that's not fair!" Gotenks fumed at him.
"Hardly." he said in a withered voice, but like his ice it got stronger as he spoke "So long as there is water in the air, I can repair myself and am in no shortages of resources."
"Oh yeah! Well so long as my energy doesn't-" Suddenly a giant pillar of ice appeared behind Gotenks, startling him. Then from his right side, another popped up and then another on his left. Encircling him on all sides were giant reflective ice pillars. "What is this?" he asked.
Toshiro pointed his sword straight at him and then turned it counter-clockwise "Sennen-Hyoro" he said, and the pillars of ice began moving in towards Gotenks. With them closing in from all sides, he had only one option for escape; up. He ascended up as fast as he could to get out of the reach of the ice, but he wasn't fast enough. The pillars closed in on him, trapping him in the middle and collided with each other and freezing him inside.
Toshiro let out a sigh of relief. That was a tough fight, and he had taken a lot of punishment during it, but it was enough to bring forth that attack. He looked up to see he had only three petals of his flowers left.
Unfortunately, it looked like he would still need it.
He looked up to see a bright light shining from inside of his attack. It was brighter than before, but regardless of what it was he knew what was coming next. He picked up his sword and prepared for further battle.
The light inside Sennen-Hyoro grew bright and brighter before suddenly the ice shattered to pieces in the air. Standing there in the aftermath was Gotenks, but he was different than before. He stood there now with a bold expression to match his hair. It had grown longer, long enough to fall all the way down his back and to his feet.
"Not another one." Toshiro gasped under his breath, dread apparent in his voice.
"Yep." Gotenks nodded, hearing his desperation "and this one's even stronger than the last." he said confidently.
"If that first transformation was his shikai, then this must be his Bankai" Toshiro said aloud already aware of the greater display of power apparent within him.
With a smug grin Gotenks then raised his right hand into the air above him, forming a golden ball of energy above his open palm. It lingered there for a few moments before he shot it up even higher into the air came spiraling down towards the young captain.
Blitzing him from above, he was too slow to move at the oncoming attack.
The blade swirled down and drilled itself into the top of his skull. Toshiro was paralyzed as it struck him and continued to cut through him from head to toe. Spiraling down through him it quickly cut him into two pieces, clean down the middle.
Gotenks smirked at his success.
"Well, I guess it's finally a fair fight!" he hollered "How's that for a splitting headache!" Gotenks laughed rubbing his chin. Likely a joke from Trunks and Goten each.
"Hardly the worst I've had." Toshiro's strict voice said aloud.
"HM?!" Gotenks let out alarmed as he jolted in the air. Turning his head from side to side, he focused back on the figure before him; the one he had just cut in half. Looking closer at it, he saw both halves of the captain shine in the sunlight.
Then suddenly between them flew.. another Toshiro!
"Hey whaaa?!" he let out both annoyed and confused. Looking even closer he saw the two halves were not Toshiro, but ice.
"Zanhyō Ningyō." Toshiro said. "A perfect Ice replica." he explained.
"That's not fair!"
"Hm. Hardly the point" he dismissed with a wave of his sword "But you won't have to worry about that again. I can only do that once." he admitted.
'And only at the end of a fight'. He decided to keep that thought to himself.
"Well, alright then" Gotenks shrugged "I'll just do that again." he said raising his arm again and easily formed another ball of energy.
Toshiro didn't say anything, instead he looked up to the sky and let out a sigh.
"It doesn't matter." he admitted with a sigh of relief "This fight's over."
"Hm?" Gotenks let out stopping from attacking "You giving up?" he asked, but Toshiro said nothing and just stood there idly "Well, you bet it is" he grinned ready to press an attack. A small stream of natural light broke through the dark clouds and shined down into Gotenks. It then became brighter and wider. Looking up he saw the clouds had opened up and out of that opening it began to snow. "Alright! Snow day!" he cheered as he stuck his tongue out to catch the flakes.
Toshiro looked on, practically disinterested at everything going on. He knew what would come next.
A snowflake dropped down passed Gotenks right ear, down his arm and settled down onto his wrist. The second it made contact up sprouted a shard of ice in the shape of a flower.
"Ah what is this?!" he shouted frantically as he shook his arm to get it off, but to no avail. Another snow flake dropped down onto his left foot and another sprouted there too. "What's going on?!" she shook even more.
"Hyoten Hyakkuso." Toshiro said as Gotenks writhed around in the air as even more ice flowers sprouted over his body "There are around a hundred of those ice petals falling from the sky." he explained "Once the last one falls this fight will be over." Gotenks tried with all his might to pull or budge them off of him, but none of them worked. The more he struggled the more popped up all around his body. Soon enough everything below his neck was immobile and trapped in ice. With most of his body encased Gotenks set his eyes on Toshiro who watched the entire event without saying a word. Flailing his only free arm, he hurled a blast towards Toshiro. Who for his part, moved out of the way of it only to settle back into the place he was before and continued to watch on in silence. Gotenks writhed within the ever growing network of snow and ice he found himself in. Worse still was that he found this one was already harder to break out of than the others.
"You!" he shouted to Toshiro's cold blank stare "When I get outta here I'm gonna-" he was cut of as the last petal landed on his face, now freezing the last part of his body, freezing him mid sentence. He made no movement or sound from the inside once it hit.
Now Toshiro was certain, it was really over. He knew it would have to come down to that last attack against one so strong. If it didn't work he would certainly have lost, but if it did..well that seemed to be the case now.
Frozen in this form a brief dulled strand of light from the inside was let out as Gotenks split back into being just Goten and Trunks. It seems they confirmed what Toshiro guessed. There was a time limit and theirs was up. Only now instead of one person trapped within Hyoten Hyakkuso, it was two.
The two crystals plummeted below and landed hard, embedding into the ground with the boys unmoving inside of them. Toshiro followed them, plummeting tiredly to the ground. The two boys stood before him trapped in ice. The attack was too strong, and they were too worn out and weakened from their fight to do anything about it. Toshiro stabbed his sword into the ground leaning his right arm into it to prop himself up. Gargling he coughed up blood and looked to the two boys.
"Well Goten, Trunks" he grunted and paused "I may have won, but it seems I'm shot to pieces-" He suddenly felt dizzy and light headed. He raised his hand to hold his head and let out a relieved breath.
His hand loosened from his sword as it slipped through his fingers to drop to the ground. His eyes began to close and he fell backwards... and he landed softly.
"Captain?" a voice called from him from the darkness. He opened his eyes to see Rangiku and Shizune looking down at him.
"He's awake." Shizune said happily.
"Give him some room." another voice snapped at them and they backed off. He looked up to see his head was in Tsunade's lap. He looked up to look at her face, but found that a bit difficult given the vantage point "How are you feeling?" she asked.
"uh-ehh" he grunted in place "Fine." he answered as he picked himself up.
"Wait!" she snapped at him now "You have to sit and rest."
"I don't need to rest." he insisted grunted as he sat up, but his hand slid on the ground causing him to stumble.
"Like I said." Tsunade scolded as she placed her hands against his bare back "Rest". He said nothing to discourage her and picked up his sword to hold the hilt as the tip remained in the ground. "It could help to hydrate too." she said.
Without thinking Toshiro snatched a watermelon Shizune was holding out to him and began devouring it. Between the juicy bites he looked between his and Tsunade's subordinate to see Goten and Trunks still encase in ice behind them. He took another bite into the melon, the water dripping off of his mouth mixed in and was indistinguishable from all of the with blood. Hunched over and peering towards them he was deep in thought.
"Whattcha thinking captain?" Rangiku asked observantly as she leaned in with a jiggle. Toshiro chewed the melon, puckered his lips, turned towards her and shot on the seeds at her "AH!" she put her hands up defensively "Captain that's not nice-Ah!" he shot another volley at her. When he was out of ammunition, he bit back into it and looked at the two boys again and continued to think.
"How much longer will this take?" he asked aloud.
Rangiku shrugged cluelessly, her breasts bobbing with her shoulders "Well gee I don't-"
"A couple of more minutes." Tsuande answered. "Your energy" Tsunade began "it's not chakra.." she paused "but I can still heal you."
"Good." he swallowed "When it's done we'll be leaving."
"What?!" Rangiku let out "But captain we've just arriv-"
"And we're taking those two back with us." he answered looking off the two frozen behind them.
"Who are they?" Shizune asked puzzled.
A curious gaze overcame the captain as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye "You don't know?" she shook her head. He looked back at Tsunade who had just as many answers as Shizune did. "Well..." Toshiro paused and turned his head forward to look at them again. He had been at Tsunade's desk doing her work where he came across a letter from two of her equivalents with reports of ones similar to these two frozen boys before him. He had come here for reconnaissance and he it may have just paid off. Thinking back to his orders that brought him here he came to a simple conclusion ".. I'll let you know when I do." he answered.
Next time: The beginning of a two more battles.