Author's Note: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. Thank you for reading this everytime I type it. ;D

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! It's been FOREVER since I have updated, I KNOOOOWWWW! Tennis has been over for at least a month now, a little more, actually, and school isn't too time-consuming. If you are very happy that I finally updated, please go thank Kimihaine for it. I don't think I would have gotten anything done without her.

Also, today is my birthday. How cool is that?

Taka finally returned after what seemed like forever. With him, he brought a young woman carrying a small pig, and two elderly people that looked as wise as they were old. One was a woman and the other a man.

"Finally!" complained Hitsugaya. "It only took what seemed like three chapters and a million months!"

"What was that, Hitsugaya-taichou?" asked Hanataro.

"Oh, nothing." (Author's note: ;D)

The old woman spoke first. "Taka has informed us of your current situation. It is unfortunate that this has occurred. We will not blame you for the disappearance of our Hokage and some of our strongest ninjas, but this does cause many complications. You must understand that we do not know what to do with any of you, and we have no leader to go upon. We, as the village elders, must decide for you of what to do, but we really don't know you. And also, when we explain this to our village, they will have no choice but to suspect you of the disappearance of the Hokage. We are at a shortage of ninjas and have a surplus of missions, so we can't send anyone to protect you. Overall, we are at a delicate situation."

The group of soul reapers stood quietly, not sure what to respond with. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. Finally, Shizune spoke up.

"If I may make a suggestion, Elder-sama, I think that they will be able to fill in for the shortage of ninjas we have currently."

"What exactly are you suggesting, Shizune?" asked the man elder.

"Well, you said that we have too many missions to assign, and not enough ninja, plus it doesn't help that Team Kakashi and Lady Hokage have disappeared, but I believe that these soul reapers can replace the missing ninjas. They obviously can put up a fight; they all carry swords, and each look very strong. It's the least they can do to make up for the confusion they have caused around here."

The elders stood and considered the proposal for awhile. "It seems to be a logical plan, but can we really trust these soul reapers? They have just suddenly shown up in our village without a pass or identification, and with their attempt at getting back to their world, they lost the Hokage? It may be better for them to just lock them up in a cell somewhere until the Hokage returns."

"That would be as bad as blaming us for the disappearance of the Hokage. It wasn't really our fault, only an accident," Rukia spoke up. "We are sorry that this causes many problems for you, but to help repay, I am sure all of us Soul Reapers here," she shot a glare at Ichigo and Renji, "will be more than willing to help repay you by assisting with these ninja missions."

The Elders stood and stared at Rukia, still considering if they should allow the soul reapers to go through with some ninja missions. The elder woman spoke "Very well, we will allow you to assist our village by for filling some missions for us, but you must realize that you are doing so under the Leaf Village's name, so any unnecessary battle may cause a rival village to declare war, so be very careful. The elder paused and then quickly sputtered "Shizune!"

Shizune stood straight and tightened her grip around Tonton the pig. "Yes Elder-sama?"

"I would like you to accompany these soul reapers on the missions. They need some trusted supervision and you will have to do."

"But Elder-Sama, perhaps you should find someone else; I need to help find the Hokage…"

"There will be no debate here, Shizune. You will do what you are told. YOU are the only one available that I can trust, so YOU must go."

The girl hung her head and answered, "Yes, Elder-Sama."

The two elders exited the room, followed by Taka, who stood at the doorway a second more and turned to apologize. "I'm sorry, Shizune. There is nothing I can do to help. I would love to go in your place, but I am needed elsewhere."

"That's okay, Taka," she said. "I think I have someone else I think I can trust and the Elders can trust as well, when they find out in the end that that person went instead."

Author's Note Part 2: Yep, I know I had to include the little joke about me never updating in there. xP

Besides that, not really anything funny.... it just sets up upcoming chapters, which pretty much the last one (Chapter 7) did as well. I'm sorry if it's not the best writing. I suppose after my long hiatus that my writing might have gone rusty. Gomen nasai.

Also, I didn't know at the time what Naruto characters refer to their elders to, as in the Village Elders. I didn't know their names, either.... Uh, so I just called them the Elder-Samas. I'm sorry if this bugs you or something.

Thanks for reading/waiting for my update;; please review!!