Chapitre Neuf (Part Un)

Kenshin sighed wistfully, taking a slow and deliberate sip of his fresh hot tea. It was at times like this that he was glad to have met Naruto and his "crew". Without them, the formation of Soul Society would have never been realized. He leaned against the balcony he was on and smiled to himself. Below him was the sprawling architecture of Soul Society, with many shinigami - both new and veteran alike - roaming about in the paved streets.

Considering how large and complex the shinigami fortress was, Kenshin was semi-surprised it had taken Naruto only half a century, if even, to construct the entire city by himself - with the aid of several thousand Kage-Bunshin course. After Naruto had seen Sanosuke's…"blueprints", for a lack of a better word, he had immediately laughed his ass off and burned the mockery, much to the former fight merchant's horror and everyone else's amusement.

Getting people to come and become shinigami was the tricky part, as most spirits were expecting either Heaven or Hell, or even Purgatory. Suffice to say, they were quite disillusioned when they were met by Naruto or Kenshin on the human plane. If either Fumiko or Makoto or, Kami forbid, both of them came to greet a weary soul…

"Seven hundred and fifty years…what a long time," Kenshin remarked to himself in an attempt to put that last thought out of mind. He turned his sights back on the city. "So peaceful…"

Right then, Murphy's Law reared its ugly head and Kenshin was subsequently kicked in the face by a fleeing Fumiko and a pursuing Makoto.

"ORORORO!"

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, YOU WHORE!"

"COME BACK AND BE PUNISHED LIKE THE BAD GIRL YOU ARE! YOUR MISTRESS COMMANDS IT!"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY! JUST YOU WAIT TILL NARUTO-JII COMES BACK!"

As their voices faded away into the distance, Kenshin sat up and pouted when he saw his upturned cup. "Well, it was peaceful…"

Shaking his head, Kenshin cleaned up the spill and entered the building through the balcony door.

A few minutes later found the redhead walking calmly through the Captain's Quarters.

Ah, yes, the Captains…that was an interesting system. (Although, for some strange reason, everything in Soul Society was a mix of English and Japanese, and as result they were also known as "taicho".)

When Kenshin and Sanosuke had come up with the initial plans for Soul Society, they had unfortunately not considered the possibility of having more than two hundred or so shinigami. But when Naruto had come along - all seven of him - he had revised those plans hundredfold. Before, everything had been vigilante-style with each shinigami acting independently or in small rag-tag groups.

With the new plans, a system had been implemented that divided the shinigami into thirteen separate divisions, collectively called the Gotei 13, with each division being specialized in certain skills. For instance, Kenshin was the captain of 11th Division, which specialized mainly in swordsmanship. A number of people within his division had taken to calling him "Kenpachi", however, after one of his seated officers jokingly claimed that he should have a 'badass title for being such a badass swordsman'.

Several of Naruto's other selves had actually gotten hold of various Captain Seats. Tsunade was 4th Division Captain, which meant that the whole division was dedicated to the medical profession, though they were also known to handle supplies every now and then. Anko was the 2nd Division's head, which she focused on stealth tactics and detaining unruly shinigami. In short, it was a police force with a black ops section. Sakura had taken over the 12th Division as well while Kakashi had somehow managed to end up as 8th Division's Captain. Naruto, of course, was at the head of everything with 1st Division, since he was the one who came up with the damn system in the first place. Yamamoto meanwhile had managed to secure the Lieutenant's seat for 1st Division.

(The other Captains were strong, dependable, and likeable people, but Kenshin was not as close to them as he was with the others for obvious reasons.)

There only three ways that you could reach the Captain's position, as established by Naruto (since he had no desire to have the Gotei 13 run by a bunch of weak idiots). There was a proficiency test, though it required the ability to perform Bankai. The second was being personally recommended by at least half of the Captains and getting approval from at least three more. The last would be the hardest by far - defeat the Captain with at least two hundred witnesses (for political purposes). Most went for the Bankai test, with the sole exception of the Union, considering that only Naruto could use a Zanpakuto. The others merely used customized swords with special seals placed on them that granted special skills similar to a Shikai or Bankai…

His train of thought was immediately derailed when a mischievous voice whispered lustfully into his ear, "Guess who?"

Simultaneously, he felt a slender hand slip into his uniform pants and right over his underwear.

Kenshin's face lit up like a red light bulb. "M-M-Makoto-san!" he stuttered, turning his head slightly. He gulped when he saw her azure eyes sparkle.

"I'm so sorry about before, Kenny-kun," she moaned in his ear. "Oh, just what has gotten into dear Fumi-chan lately?" She gave his junk a playful squeeze through the fabric before retreating the invading hand.

The redhead quickly regained his composure with a hint of a blush on his face. "Er…was there something you needed, Makoto-san?"

Her faced quick sobered up, and she bore a grim frown. "Yes…yes there is…"

Immortality was vastly overrated. Naruto could tell you that much.

Orochimaru was a fool to even consider achieving it.

By achieving immortality, full immortality, one could have arguably mastered time. But even then, time was merely a human concept. The world cared not what happened to you; it would merely continue its long-standing cycle of creation – life, death, and rebirth. What achievements anyone accomplished held no meaning if nobody was left to appreciate them. Naruto himself had learned that the hard way when the first five Hokage had long since been forgotten. Tsunade was discounted from that because all her public appearances in their "world" had been under a mask.

And that was another thing Naruto found himself wondering about. He had, over the years, hypothesized that there obviously were other "worlds", as evidenced by summoning creatures such as Gamabunta and Gamakichi and that annoying snake Manda, but he personally never expected to become a new resident of another "world".

Although, to be truthful, this was much, much different than a summons "world". Technically, summons "worlds" were on another plane of reality altogether. Also, in simple terms, summonses were merely sentient forms of energy channeled into a physical form. This "world" that he, his other selves, and Makoto and Fumiko had quite literally been dragged into was definitely not; while it was distinctively separate from the human, or 'living' section of the realm, it was not another plane of existence…barely. It was something like a castle with a rather large moat to keep it isolated. The only way to the human world was through a closely observed gate.

Being that they were stuck in this "world", with little to no chance of returning to their former "world", they had indeed made the most of it.

With that last thought in mind, Naruto gazed upon one of his greatest creations…the Soul Society.

Building it had been the easy part.

Recruiting people…had taken the better part of a century and a half. There were many rogue Shinigami groups that had seemed suspicious of their group and the city that had been put together over the span of fifty years. Obviously it took a great deal of negotiations, trade-offs and other trivial tasks before most of those rogue Shinigami had finally agreed to join Soul Society.

This had the single negative impact of creating a council called the Central 46; 46 because that had been how many major groups joined up. Their leaders had been annoying as hell, to say the least, so with the creation of the Central 46, their only fighting would be with words and a majority vote. Naruto saw the need for a council, but after the shit the council back in his time put him through, he wasn't about to be all buddy-buddy with those assholes.

"That reminds me…" Naruto muttered, clenching his fists.

He felt his lung being crushed suddenly, his arms pinned down to his sides.

Dimly, he thought he was being attacked or held down by one of the shinigami kido techniques, but instead…

It turned out to be a little girl, roughly nine years of age with tanned skin and long purple hair. Hugging him. Really hard.

"Oooh," he chuckled weakly, slightly woozy now due to lack of oxygen. "Not so hard, Yoru-chan!"

He reached around and swung her around his torso, letting her bottom rest on his arms. He was met with the crying visage of the heir of the Shihoin Clan, Yoruichi. While a prestigious Shinigami family – regarded by most as nobles, in face – they wanted no part of the Central 46, and were, in fact, close friends with Naruto's group. The Clan leaders' young daughter thought of him as her own grandfather.

"Naru-oyaji!" Yoruichi wailed, "I don't want them ta send you away!" She buried her face into his shoulder, her own shoulders being wracked by sobs.

Naruto was confused for a second before figuring her father had let it spill that he was to be exiled. He hadn't even told Yamamoto, though he was sure the man would be pissed.

"Maa, maa, Yoru-chan," he soothed, rubbing her back reassuringly. "There's no need to cry for my sake. C'mon, let me see your pretty face," Naruto whispered playfully and scratched her behind her ear, knowing it was a sensitive spot of hers.

Yoruichi stiffened but let out a sort of giggle/sob. "Naru-oyaaaajiiiii!" she whined this time, leaning back and pouting. Between the combined power of her pout and her remnant tears, Naruto was hard pressed not to clutch his heart and go 'HNNNNNNGGGGG!' at the cuteness factor, which rated 9.7.

He kept his little weakness to all things cute stifled and instead grinned at his pseudo-granddaughter. "There's the cute little girl I know!" he praised, then proceeded to tickle her weak spots – namely under her arms.

She giggled cutely until he stopped. "Naruto-oyaji!" she whined again. "You're trying to…to…dis…tact? You're trying to distact me!" Naruto merely continued to grin at her, especially at her mispronunciation of the word 'distract'.

Naruto sighed and moved to the edge of the clearing they were in. He stopped at a cliff overlooking Soul Society and sat down, pulling Yoruichi onto his lap.

"Yoru-chan…" he started. She shifted her head to look at him, her wide yellow eyes soaking in his appearance. "They're going to send me away, right?"

She nodded vigorously, a cute little scowl upon her features. "They can't send you away, Naru-oyaji! They can't…"

He squeezed her slightly, causing her to squeak softly. "There's nothing we can do about it, Yoru-chan. In fact, I want them to send me away."

Yoruichi's eyes widened. Her lower lip trembled slightly. "B-But Naru-oyaji…why?"

Naruto knew that she felt betrayed by his admission, but he continued on. "Because…Soul Society doesn't need me anymore, Yoru-chan."

The young Shihoin princess sniffled and embraced the blonde's torso, quiet sobs reaching his ears. "I need you, Naru-oyaji!" she cried.

"I know you do, Yoruichi, I really do. But you can't rely on me forever," Naruto said softly, stroking her head as she continued to dry her tears on his shirt. "And when I'm gone, I need you…to be strong. Become a strong Shinigami, Yoruichi. Not for me, but for yourself. Show them your own power. Can you do that?"

Yoruichi nodded into his chest, her crying beginning to cease. He eased her away from him then, a small smile on his face.

"But before I leave…there's something I want to show you…your favorite animal is the cat, right?"

She nodded again, wiping her eyes before looking at him curiously.

"I'm going to show you a cool technique called the Henge no Jutsu…"

The current head of the Shihoin clan, Shihoin Sakumo smiled thinly as he saw his close friend carrying his only child fast asleep in his arms. Naruto flashed him a grin and nodded to him and the guards as he continued to Yoruichi's room.

On one hand, it was always cute to see the two of them together. Given that Sakumo had little free time, dealing with clan formalities and the like, he couldn't spend any free time with his daughter. And it always pained him that she would never meet her mother, but that pain had been dulled a long time ago. But at least she had Naruto as a role model, along with her friends, young Urahara Kisuke and Tsukabishi Tessai. The latter two had lived at his mansion for several years, after Naruto had rescued them from a hollow on the outskirts of the Rukongai. He would also be grateful to the two children for spending time with his Yoruichi, even if they did manage to cause mischief most of the time.

On the other hand, he knew that this was likely the last time he would see Naruto. Indeed, he felt saddened by the Central 46's decision…and at the same time, immensely angered. Those ignorant fools were dismissing him as a growing threat, and wanted him exiled. Naruto was the kindest person you would ever meet. Barring that, if you annoyed him enough, then you be subjected to one of his many pranks. And if you unlucky enough to anger him…well, one of more prominent Shinigami clans had harshly insulted him in some way – Sakumo hadn't heard the full details, but it was apparently something of a coup d'état attempt as well – and they were immediately reduced to a mere thirty members; mainly women, children and what innocent men there were.

But he had done nothing to warrant exile. No, those fools only wanted more power to themselves. At least they were smart enough to not declare an execution. That would have guaranteed an all-out rebellion amongst Soul Society, considering that Naruto was one of, if not the most highly regarded people in all of Soul Society.

"Maa, maa, Sakumo-kun. There's no need to get angry," Naruto's voice chided from behind him, cutting off the growl growing in his throat.

The Shihoin lord turned around and took in his friend's appearance. Naruto looked nothing like a man who was about to be facing a court with his own exile as the topic of the trial. He was clad in standard shinigami bottoms; black hakama, white tabi and the normal waraji. Instead of the regular top, he had on a simple orange shirt with black stripes on the sleeves. Over that he wore his favorite orange-lined Akatsuki-style long coat, but it was tied at his waist with an orange sash. The top part was off, leaving it hanging from his waist, revealing his left arm, which was constantly clad in unstained white bandages.

Add in the fact that he was grinning widely, eyes screwed shut, and had his hands carelessly folded behind his head, he looked nothing like a man walking to meet his destiny.

"Nyeh? Something wrong?" Naruto asked, still grinning.

Sakumo stared for several seconds. "No, it's nothing, Naruto-sama," he sighed wistfully, shaking his head. No matter how much time he spent with the man, Sakumo could never figure him out.

Naruto's grin twitched. "How many times have I told you guys to call me just plain ol' 'Naruto'?" he asked exasperatedly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Many, many times," was the reply of a straight-faced Sakumo. Inwardly, he was laughing at Naruto's less than serious dilemma. Nobody ever called him just 'Naruto' without the –sama suffix, with the exception of small children such as Yoruichi and close family members like Fumiko. But mainly, he was glad that Naruto had caught on to his anger and diffused it with humor. He had an uncanny ability to do that.

Naruto flashed him a knowing look, but continued on his tirade. "I can never get a break! It's always '–sama' with you guys! Jeez…" he exclaimed, pouting childishly.

The tell-tale sound of shunpo, or the flash-step technique, interrupted them at that point.

And with it came an angry Yamamoto. "Naruto-sama! What the hell!" he screeched. Rather like a mother hen, Sakumo mused to himself.

Nervous perspiration made its way down Naruto's face while Sakumo and the nearby Shihoin guards looked on in bemusement.

"Yamamoto-kun, I didn't do anything to the Academy! I swear! It was Mako-chan!" Naruto pleaded with his student.

That gave Yamamoto a moment to pause. "…I don't want to know," he said flatly. "What I mean is; why didn't you tell me, dammit!"

"Oh, that." In the blink of an eye, Naruto was back to his cheery self, causing Sakumo to roll his eyes. "Because…actually, I don't know," Naruto replied honestly, giving a shrug.

Yamamoto's eye twitched in irritation. "You could've at least told me yourself. Instead, Makoto, of all people, told me," he scowled, shivering slightly at the memory.

At that, Sakumo and all of the guards winced simultaneously. Makoto was…interesting, to say the least. She was worse than Anko at times, and Anko was about as psychopathic as they came.

Naruto interjected then, become serious. "You cannot come with me, though, Yamamoto-kun." He truly looked sorry at that fact, but stern in his decision all the same.

Yamamoto huffed and crossed his arms, but nodded nonetheless. "I figured you would say that. What do you need me to do?" he inquired softly.

The blonde immortal regained his sunny disposition once again. "Ah, that's simple!" he grinned, holding a hand up in a v-for-victory pose, the other on his hip.

"You're going to be the next Sotaicho!"

…

…

"…what?"