Episode 21: The Village made of Steel

Almost a month later, Kenpachi was walking back to his village with his squad. It was quiet. Too quite. He could tell something was wrong, so he quickened the pace.

Ikkaku and Yumichika both quickened their paces too. Yachiru was sitting on Kenpachi's shoulder.

Zaraki-sensei's starting to walk faster. Ikkaku thought. I wonder what made him do so. Is he going to be late for his nap?

"Hey, Kenny. Why are we walking faster?" Asked Yachiru.

"Something isn't right. And once I figure out what's wrong, let's hope I can fight somebody."

They made it back to the village, and Kenpachi walked through the maze. He realized that the maze wasn't changing to let him in like it was supposed to. Kenpachi adjusted his footing. "Yachiru, hold on."

"What?" Yachiru asked, but she didn't receive an answer for Kenpachi jumped over the wall, and landed over the other side. He jumped over the next wall, and then over the next.

"Damn, Sensei's fast." Ikkaku activated his chakra, and he ran up the side. He then ran over the top of the maze, along side Yumichika.

Kenpachi got across the maze first, Ikkaku second, and Yumichika at a close third.

Kenpachi looked around. "What the hell?" He asked. Everyone was gone, unlike what it normally was. The place looked deserted.

Tatsuzo teleported up to them. "Kenpachi." He said. "Word has it that there's terrorists in the Steel Village. My squad and I are securing all the villagers elsewhere. We're almost done. Once that happens, the Kinkage's going to boost security. Were you the last squad that went on a mission?"

"I don't know! Why would I know that?" Kenpachi asked.

Tatsuzo shrugged. "I'll just ask the Kinkage." He teleported away.

A few minutes later, Tatsuzo teleported back. "Come on. To the Kinkage's office."

In the Kinage's office, there was the Kinkage, all Thirteen Squads, three Genin per squad-and a Jonin, nine un-squadend Chunin, and eight un-squaded Jonin. It was very crowded.

"Alright." The Kinkage said. "Hiro Osada, from Squad Three. Step forwards."

Hiro pushed through the crowd.

"Use your jutsu. I'll need as much chakra as I can get."

Hiro made a hand sign, and he quickly drained all of his chakra to the Kage.

"Is that all? I need a lot more than that."

Hiro's face reddened. Crap... He thought.

"We need someone with a lot of chakra- who's willing to let Hiro absorb it and give it to me."

There was silence in the room.

"Kenny will do it!" Cried Yachiru.

"Shut up, Yachiru!" He growled.

Kenpachi walked forwards.

"And just so you all know, after I use this jutsu, I will not be active for quite some time."

Hiro reached for Kenpachi's shoulder, but Kenpachi was too tall for him to reach. So Hiro grabbed Kenpachi's forearm. Zaraki made a face, and he almost went for his sword. Hiro made a hand sign with his other hand, and then began to leach Kenpachi's chakra.

This guy's chakra... it's so vast... He thought. He put his other hand on the Kinkage's wrist.

After about a minute, he had enough chakra. Kenpachi wasn't out. He wasn't even close.

The Kinkage made a hand sign. "Metal Style: Maze Jutsu!"

Suddenly all the buildings, all the walls, all the ground, it was all coated in steel. And then more walls formed, making it more like a maze.

The Kinkage fell forwards, and fell onto his knees. A Chunin teleported up to him, and then teleported him away.

A Jonin walked up. He had spiky -from bed head- black hair, and he was wearing a pair of black pants and no shirt. He was holding his headband, and he looked as though he had just woken up.

"Alright. Squad Four- say in the hospital. Depending on what we're up against, we might need your help. Squad Two- Protect them." Those two Squads teleported away.

"Who the hell's this guy?" Asked Ikkaku to Kenpachi. He wasn't exactly whispering.

"Watch your tongue, Genin." Said Tatsuzo. "That's Squad One Jonin Tadashi Fujino. He's the strongest Jonin- in fact, the Kinkage told him that if he retired or died, he would what Tadashi to take his roll as Kinkage."

"He doesn't look so tough to me." Said Ikkaku. "He looks like he just rolled out of bed."

"That's because he did. He went on a two week long mission with no sleep, and he just got back two hours ago, and he went to bed. Of course, he just woke up."

"Are you two idiots done?" Asked Tadashi. "Because I'll wait."

Everyone turned to Ikkaku and Tatsuzo.

Ikkaku looked down at the ground.

"Squads Three and Five, you all will be guarding the main enterance. Squads Six and Seven, you guard the citzen's hideaway. Squad Eight, you guys will be in charge of giving food to the citizens." They all teleported out of the room. "Squad Nine. You all need to be on hold, ready to do any thing we need. Squad Ten and Eleven- you're patrolling. There's a rather large area to patrol. Squad Twelve, you all need to be here- keeping an eye on the Kinkage. If he dies the village has lost. Squad Thirteen, you're job is to be teleporting around keeping everyone updated. None of you will engage with anyone- unless your life depends on it. Any un-squaded Jonins will be making sure everyone's doing their jobs. Any un-squaded Chunins will be patrolling. And finally, my squad will be in charge of flushing them out."

Everyone left, leaving him and his squad.

Kenpachi and his squad were standing there, along side Tatsuzo and his squad. And all the un-squaded Chunins- there was eight of them. Kenpachi looked at them.

"My Squad will be on this side of the Kinkage's mansion." He pointed to Tatsuzo's squad. "Your Squad will be on that side." He pointed forwards. He turned, and pointed to the right. "Half of you Chunin will be there." He turned forty five degrees. "And the other half will be on that side. No questions asked. And no one goes on anyone else's territory, under any circumstances."

Tatsuzo nodded. It's good that he's taking charge. He thought. He and his squad started to walk away.

"What if we don't want to do it this way?" Asked the Chunin. "It'd be less of a risk if everyone was together."

"If we're all together there's a really high chance that the terrorists will be able to avoid us. Do as you're told, dog." He growled. "Or I'll cut you up."

The Chunin nodded. Then they split into groups of four, and then they took off.

Kenpachi turned on his heel, and he started walking forwards. His squad followed.

Once everyone was out of ear shot, he told them, "I'm late for my nap. Yachiru and I are going home to take a nap. You guys can still patrol."

"Kenny, is that why you chose this side?" Asked Yachiru.

Kenpachi didn't answer, but everyone else already knew the answer.

Ikkaku glanced over to his Sensei. So that's why he chose this side... He thought.

Squads Three and Four were standing next to their gates. All eight of them were standing in different places, so they were covering all possible angles someone could attack.

A person teleported in front of them. He had long black hair, and a white headband with the kanji for steel on it.

He looked at them, and then he drew a kunai and he teleported forwards, and he slashed one of their chests open, and then he kicked the gate open, letting four people burst in.

One of them had a large sword with no guard and it had white wraps wrapped around it. He had spiky orange hair. Along with him was a man with a bow, who had short black hair, and he had a bow and quiver at his back. He had several scars on his cheek, and he had a Grass headband, with the grass symbol crossed out. Another was a woman with burnt orange hair, and big brown eyes. Also there was a man in metal armor with a sword at his back, but unlike the spiky haired guy, his sword had a guard. The last human was a large man with no weapons. He had salty colored hair, and green eyes. Along with them was a ninja cat.

All of them were wearing basic ninja gear, aside from the guy in the armor. The man with the bow was the only one showing his headband, but the armored man could possibly have been wearing a headband, but it wasn't visible while he was wearing the armor.

The man with the bow fired several times, and he blasted two of the Steel Ninjas out of the air.

The armored man drew his sword and slashed two of them before they could get to them.

The guy with the spiky hair jumped up into the air. Two of the ninjas ran, but spiky head slashed across both of their backs.

The rest were quickly defeated by the others. Everyone put their weapons down.

The man that helped them darted away.

Notes: This arc is going to be pretty much the Soul Society Arc in Bleach. They're going to fight characters with the same powers as canon characters, the fights are going to be the same (with some differences depending on what the characters are), but they aren't going to be the canon character- if that makes sense to anyone.

And I'll totally accept criticism, so drop a review- tell me what you liked and or what you didn't like.