Episode 16: Battle

Kenpachi was walking around, Yachiru on his shoulder. "This is boring." He said. "I need to fight something."

"Kenny, we could go get a mission!" Yachiru told him.

"Stop talking so loud." Kenpachi told her. "I guess I'll go see if Ikkaku and Yumichika are up for a mission."

Ikkaku nodded. "Yeah, I'm up for a mission. Sitting around all day gets pretty boring."

Yumichika nodded.

The eleventh squad was standing in front of the Kinkage. The Kinkage looked roughly the same, but he had more wrinkles, and his hair was more grey.

"I'll give you a mission. An old retired ninja turned monk is transporting some important documents to a temple."

Kenpachi was standing next to the maze, waiting for the man to show up. Yachiru was crouched on Kenpachi's shoulder. Ikkaku was sitting in the lotus position on the ground beside Kenpachi. Yumichika was standing next to Ikkaku, but he wasn't leaned against the wall like Kenpachi.

"He's here! Kenny, he's here!"

A monk walked up to them. He had greying-black hair, he had grey eyes, and he was old. He was wearing a blue/grey robe.

"Hi!" Yachiru called.

"Stop yelling in my ear, Yachiru." Kenpachi growled.

"You're the squad of ninja that's going to escort me to the temple?"

"Yeah." Kenpachi answered.

"I'm Noriaki."

"Let's not get too familiar. We're just here to get this job done." Kenpachi said.

"There's quite a bit of ninjas that are trying to get their hands on this scroll. So you will have to fight anything that comes near us."

Kenpachi grinned. "That's what I'm hoping for."

As Kenpachi and Squad Eleven were walking down the road with Noriaki, they came across a forest.

"My map is out dated." Noriaki realized.

"Is there a problem?" Kenpachi asked.

"Well, sort of. There's a forest that wasn't on my map. If we go around it... I assume it'll take almost a day longer. But if we go through the forest then we'll risk enemy attack."

"Through the forest it is." Ikkaku told him.

Yumichika and Kenpachi nodded. Noriaki swallowed, and they all walked through the forest.

As they were walking, a branch snapped over to their right.

All of them looked over.

A branch snapped to their left.

"He's trying to scare us. No one let your guards down." Kenpachi told them. He took a step closer in front of Noriaki. Yumichika turned around, and he stood back to back with the monk, Ikkaku covered his right side. Yachiru stood on his left, who was just waiting for the right chance to make a joke.

A man appeared in front of them. He was wearing a white coat, with a black flame pattern on it. He had a dagger in his right hand, and he charged at them from Yachiru's direction.

"Hey, Kenny. This guy want's to fight!"

"Good!" Kenpachi grinned, and he slashed at the man. He jumped backwards. Hell. He thought. This guy's faster then I originally calculated him to be.

Kenpachi stabbed up at the man, who dodged is strike again, and stabbed at Kenpachi with his knife.

Kenpachi blocked it with his hand.

The man's eyes widened, when the knife didn't even damage Kenpachi's hand.

"Wow, that's interesting." Kenpachi slashed the man across the chest. "Okay, fun's over. Let's go."

They all started walking again.

The Jonin slaughtered that man without a second of thought. Thought Noriaki. I'm scared of this guy... but I'm the one who's paying him so he won't kill me. Would he?

"My Sensei likes to fight, but he won't kill anyone for no reason." Said Yumichika. "I wouldn't think too hard about it. You're life is in good hands."

Noriaki nodded. That guy seems to think that this guy can be trusted. He's known him longer than I have. Maybe I'll give him a chance. He thought.

After several hours of walking, Yachiru yawned, and streched out her arms. "Kenny, I'm tired. We should take a break."

"Good idea. Ikkaku. Keep watch." Kenpachi sat down on the ground, and then lied on his back. He feel asleep.

"How could he fall asleep so fast?" Asked Noriaki.

"Don't know." Ikkaku said. He sat down on the ground, and he set his sword off to the side. "My Sensei's a strange guy."

Yumichika set his book bag down, and then he pulled a small blanket on the ground, and then he unrolled it and lied on it.

"Too good to sit on the ground, huh?" Asked Ikkaku.

"Shut-up Ikkaku. A barbarian like yourself doesn't know what being elegant is like."

Ikkaku smiled. "This barbarian is watching for ninja while you sleep. He might accidentally step on your pretty face while your sleeping." He said, mostly sarcastically.

Yumichika rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Ikkaku."

Noriaki lied down next to Ikkaku.

Ikkaku looked over at him.

"This fighting... it's unnecessary."

Ikkaku rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, monk."

"Do you think that it was the right think to do to leave that man's body there?"

"Well," Ikkaku said. "Do you think that we should have too the time to stop and bury him? And the time that it took to do that you could have been attacked again."

"But couldn't we move off to the side or something?"

"You sure like to talk a lot. I thought monks had to take an oath of silence and shave their head bald?"

"That's a different kind of monk. Did you study up on that kind of monk? Or are you naturally bald?"

Ikkaku bit his lip, and he resisted the urge to punch him. "Stop asking questions and go to sleep."

The next day, Ikkaku woke them just as the sun was rising.

"Let's get moving." Kenpachi said, waking up.

Noriaki rubbed his face, and he shook his hair from his eyes.

Yachiru stretched her arms, and yawned. "Kenny, it's early... we should go back to sleep..."

"No. If we go back to sleep, then it'll take longer to get up. Let's go, Yachiru."

Yachiru climbed up onto Kenpachi's shoulder, and then fell asleep there.

Kenpachi sighed, but he didn't wake her up.

A few hours later, Yachiru woke up. "Thanks for the ride, Kenny!"

"You just woke up and you're still really loud." Kenpachi growled.

Yachiru jumped down from his shoulder, and then walked up behind Noriaki.

They continued to walk, and then Kenpachi stopped.

"What's-" Noriaki was interrupted by Kenpachi holding his arm out.

"So you fools were the ones who took out our teammate?" Asked a voice.

"Yeah, it was us." Said Ikkaku, unafraid.

"We'll have to punish you then." A different voice told them.

"I'd like to see you try." Kenpachi smiled.

Two men teleported to them.

Kenpachi drew his sword, and he slashed sideways towards them. Despite the fact that they were nowhere near them.

The one guy teleported over in front of Ikkaku, who drew his sword from his scabbard, and then gripped his sword with one hand, and the scabbard with the other.

Yumichika and Yachiru stood covering the monk's sides.

The man ran at Kenpachi, and then drew a kunai and slashed down at his chest.

Kenpachi didn't block it.

The man couldn't even cut him. "HELL!" He cried, and jumped backwards.

Kenpachi slashed down at him, but he managed to jump off to the side and avoid it.

Ikkaku swung his scabbard and hit his foe in the jaw.

The man punched Ikkaku in the face, and Ikkaku grinned and slashed him across the chest.

The man stumbled back a step, and then he kneed Ikkaku in the jaw, then he kicked him across the face. Ikkaku still had the grin on his face.

"I am Ikkaku Madarame! From Squad Eleven!"

"I don't really give a damn if you know my name or not." The man punched at Ikkaku's head.

"Aren't you going to help him?" Asked Noriaki.

Ikkaku and the man continued to punch each other, and then Ikkaku slashed him across the chest. The man kicked Ikkaku across the mouth, sending him back a step.

Yumichika scoffed, "Don't you see what's going on? Look how happy he is. He's having fun. He's going to use all of his strength in this battle."

"What?" Asked Noriaki.

"He'd be furious if I interfered in anyway. So I don't intend to help him out. You understand?"

"No! How could he be having fun while fighting? Is there a guarantee that he's going to win?"

"There isn't."

"What's wrong with you? Aren't you going to feel guilty and you didn't lift a finger to help?"

"That's a risk that each of us takes. But he died doing what he loved the most."

Ikkaku jumped backwards, and he hit the man across the face with his scabbard.

The man kicked Ikkaku backwards.

Ikkaku swung his sword around, and slashed the man across the stomach.

The man swung his arm and hit Ikkaku in the face and knocked him backwards.

Ikkaku jumped up into the air, and swung his scabbard down at his head. The man caught it, then Ikkaku slashed at him with his sword.

He jumped backwards, and dodged it.

Ikkaku swung his scabbard at him, but he caught it again, and then dodged Ikkaku's slash.

His movements are predictable... He thought. He swings down the scabbard, then with his sword.

Ikkaku swung his scabbard at him, he tanked the attack, and he punched Ikkaku hard in the stomach. He then jumped back a step.

What is he made of, lead? He thought. Well, that doesn't matter. I'm going to kill him no matter what.

"Come on, stop screwing around and get serious." Ikkaku told him.

Notes: This goes follow in with the main arc, just so you know. It might get there even in the next episode.