I AM BACK! Yes, i am back, i took the past 2 weeks off from writing for a few reasons, #1 spending time with my nephew before he went back home "he left last monday" since i won't see him until next year :( I also decided to take a small break and enjoy what little i have left of summer, this past week has been one of the best weeks of summer we ever had this year! i live in Atlantic Canada and we had had nothing but rain, rain, fog, rain sun, rain rain rain clouds rain rain rain fallowed by rain... however the last week has been nothing but SUN! NICE WARM AWESOME SUN! YAY SUN! :D anyway, all that to say that i have returned! and i should be back on my regular Sunday/Wednesday release schedule
So with all that said, lets proceed to my wonderful fans/reviews :D
Gravenimage - Thanks for the review, hope this chapter was worth the wait :D
Alex Kingetsu - Thanks for the review, and uh he isn't Tobi yet :P although i do wonder, when does he start to use that persona hurm...
naru-ca-titan - Thanks for the review, and lol, i also hate passwords :P why can't the computer read my mind and know its me! :( And just a little bit of bleach explanation :P Grimmjow is not a Hollow, he is an Arrancar, what's the difference? Arrancars USE to be hallows, but they have broken off pieces of there mask and have gained Shinigami like powers, making them much more powerful then hollows :) Hope that helps in clearing that up for you :D
RairyuuBlade - Thanks for the review, and lol, where did professor chaos come from? who let Butters out of his cage? ;) "PS I love Butters... Hes the best SP Char :D"
Slop Doggy - Thanks for the review, Yes, from the start i knew he would eventually end up as Mizukage, after all, its Cannon, and i couldn't just ignore it ;) it was also a great opportunity to shape some of the water countries past history as well as to why Akatsuki are based in the country of water
xzavx - Thanks for the review, and lol, just as i said in my response to Doggy, Madara being Mizukage is actually Cannon, although its said he was only it for a short time...
blackmoon124 - Thanks for the review, and lol at the comment about the girl :P He didn't get the time to get to her, also she wasn't the only one to survive :P but i get what your saying lol, and as for Naruto's team dying, not exactly, there is still that entire thing going on at home, so not trying to give anything away or nothing, but don't believe that Naruto's team is immune to death :P although i do realize that Naruto has the Hero of the story thing going, but who knows, perhaps he dies in this one and Naoto becomes the new hero of the story for my future fanfics? :P only by reading will you find out ;) muhahaha i love cliff hangers
Inoid - Thanks for the review, and wow, you really read 50 chapters in like a few hours?! That's like over 160k words... Its bigger then your average novel! lol wow i am honored to have such die hard fans :) Duno if i am really that deserving, but i am happy to know that you have enjoyed the story so far :D and i hope you continue to enjoy it
Well that's everyone, i would like to thank you all for putting up with my being away for the past 2 weeks and i hope you all enjoy this new chapter! ... alright, alright i will now shut up and allow you all to read it ;) so without further delay, or bad jokes :P I give you Chapter 23
Historical Bonds
Chapter 23
PRESENT TIME
Sakura was in the small village gathering supplies for their rescue mission. She was gathering medical supplies and food along with Shizune and Ino while the others rested up a bit before the mission. Shizune was looking at Sakura worried about her going on the mission "Sakura… Maybe you should stay behind for this one" She said hesitantly, knowing that Sakura doesn't like being told what to do
"Look Shizune, you don't need to worry so much about me. I know that you're worried about me being pregnant, I won't push myself" Sakura answered
"I know, but we are going into a very dangerous mission, what if you get hurt and…." She began to explain
"And so you suggest that I do what exactly? Stay here alone with the night country surrounding me? I am not going to stay here Shizune, I don't have a choice"
Shizune knew that she was right in a way, leaving Sakura alone in the night country would be just as risky as taking her along, and they couldn't afford leaving her an escort, not if today's fight was any indication of what they will face "Just promise me that you are not going to do anything rash" Shizune asked her
"Yeah, don't worry, I won't do anything that would jeopardize my safety" Sakura answered her, she was starting to hate being pregnant, yes she was overjoyed of having another child with Naruto, but everyone was always worried about her and being overprotective. She just wished that she could have been pregnant after they were back home, but she was pregnant now and she would have to deal with it
Ino joined them with a bag full of supplies "I am done, what about you guys?" She asked
"Just about" Shizune answered with a smile as she went to pay for their stuff
Sakura stayed with Ino, she looked at her with serious eyes "Ino, I want you to promise me something" Sakura began to talk
"What is It Sakura?" Ino asked
"You are my best friend and you know me better than anyone else… I can't trust myself not to do something stupid during this mission, Ino promise me that you will stop me from doing anything that may get myself into a dangerous situation…"
Ino let out a small grin "That is a full time job! Everything you do is…" but she stopped when she saw the seriousness of Sakura's face "…Yeah I get it, you can count on me Sakura. But you have to promise me that you will listen to me then"
"Yeah…" Sakura simply answered her best friend
Shizune came back with the bags of supplies "Alright, we are done here, let's go check up on the boys" She said with a smile
They made their way out of the market place, they found the guys near the entrance of the village where they had agreed to meet, however they were not alone. They could see two others, both dressed in a black night country uniform and both wearing white cloaks. All three of them began to run towards the gate fearing the worst, because all three of them knew what those white cloaks indicated
Once they arrived, Sakura went straight to Yuki "What's going on?" She whispered
"I don't know, they just got here" Yuki answered her, Sakura could tell that everyone was tense
The first one was kind of short like Toshiro, she had very dark blue eyes, they were almost black like her hair. She looked proud and distinguished, her white cloak had the number seven on it. The taller one had golden brown eyes, they almost looked yellow while her hair was purple in color, her skin looked like it was tanned but Toshiro knew that it was her natural skin color, she had the number two on the back of her white cloak, she was a very beautiful young women. The first one began to talk "I heard that you and your team were vital in repelling the demonic raid, especially you "She said looking at Toshiro "What is your name?" She asked him
Toshiro was nervous, he knew exactly who both of them were, the short one talking to him was Kuchiki Rukia, seventh division captain and the other one was Shihoin Yoruichi, second division captain, as well as the head of the special assassination unit. He use to be good friends with both of them "I am Nakamura Toshiro, of the seventh unit of the tenth division" He answered nervously
"Really now? You know, you look really familiar. Don't you think he does Rukia?" Yoruichi said with a malicious grin
"I was thinking the same thing, oddly enough he even had the same first name as you, but his hair was as white as snow" Rukia said
"Yeah, the name Toshiro sure is popular I guess" Toshiro continued talking
"Your Zanpakuto even looks exactly like his, it was hard to forget it since it was unique and very beautiful" Yoruichi added
"And his Ban-Kai, was one of the most powerful in all of the night country. My vice captain tells me that you have achieved Ban-Kai, she even said she witnessed you use it and that it was an ice based Ban-Kai? Oddly enough, he had the same type of Ban-Kai"
Naruto didn't like where this was going, he had his hand on his weapon
Toshiro let out a sigh; he had reclaimed his calm demeanor "Enough Rukia, I know that you know…" He simply said
Both girls grinned as everyone else on Naruto's team were getting ready for a fight, but neither one of them even took out their weapon, to Naruto's surprise the small one gave Toshiro a hug "Toshiro!"
"Control yourself Rukia, remember, he is a traitor to our country" Yoruichi told her
"I never betrayed my country… I just couldn't continue going on with the ideals it was representing anymore. You both know that had I returned I would have become an outcast for turning my back on Ichigo Sama…" Toshiro tried to say in his defense
"So, I assume these people are all from Konoha? Tell me, what are you are all doing here?" Rukia asked as she let go of Toshiro and regaining her own calm demeanor
Naruto let go of his weapon, but was still cautious "Our mission…"
But Itachi interrupted "Do you think it's wise to tell them? Once they know, they could easily stop us…" He said worried
"At this point, it's too late to hide it. They could mobilize their entire divisions to stop us regardless" Toshiro answered him, Itachi knew he was right but still felt uneasy "Plus, these two were among my best friends, I trust them" Toshiro added
"Why thank you" Rukia said with a smile
"I don't know if you know this or not yet but our Hokage is actually of night country origins, and his ancestor passed down from generation to generation his Zanpakuto. However Naruto was the first one to actually tap into its true power, thus awakening the spirit inside, and angering it"
"Of course, without the proper training it was to be expected, so then I assume you are here for the holy temple?" Yoruichi asked
"Originally yes... However we were dragged into this demonic attack and two of our people were captured. We are going to rescue them before we proceed to the temple"
Both Rukia and Yoruichi were shocked "Are you kidding? They are as good as dead, you should know this Toshiro. As a former captain you know just as well as I do what they do with their prisoners…" Yoruichi told him
"I know, but…" he was interrupted by Naruto
"I don't know how you people do things here in the night country, but Konoha NEVER leave their own behind… No matter what" Naruto said with pride
"Namikaze Naruto, Hokage and leader of the fire nation, the one who defeated Ichigo Sama and banned us from ever returning" Yoruichi commented "I don't think you understand the power of these people. By now you're missing members are being tortured, rapped or sacrificed to the demons" she added
"I don't care, if what you say is true then I will bring their bodies back home so they can be buried rather than just forgotten here!" Naruto said with fire in his eyes, showing his passion for his people
"Well Toshiro, I guess I can see why you respect him so much. However he will get you all killed..." Rukia told him "But we can't allow you to go anyway, you are all wearing night uniforms. If you somehow were by some miracle able to rescue them AND return alive, you will have angered them to a point where they would launch an all out attack against us, killing a lot more than they did here today" She explained
"So you're saying you won't let us pass?" Naruto said as he was getting ready to fight them, nothing would stop him from rescuing his missing members
Rukia and Yoruichi looked at each other, and then back at the team "Not without us anyway..." Yoruichi suddenly said
Everyone was shocked, including Toshiro "What?!" was all he could say
"We have a feeling that no matter what we say your still going to go. Your combined powers outmatch us, so it would be pointless to try to stop you, and we would never be able to get reinforcements here fast enough..." Rukia told them
"So, the only thing left is for us to go with you and make sure you don't do anything stupid. Plus, someone has to keep an eye on our little Toshiro, he is like a kid brother to us" She said with a grin as she ruffled up his hair and made Toshiro frown
Naruto didn't know what to think of these people anymore. Every time he thought he had them figured out, they would do something like this... "Toshiro... Can we trust them?" he asked him as he trusted Toshiro's judgment
"Yeah, their annoying...But they were always supporting me and my ideas back when I was still a captain. They were even behind me when I went to Ichigo and told him how I didn't agree with the war..."
"Did you just call us annoying?!" Yoruichi asked while Rukia grinned
"Big sisters are suppose to be annoying to their kid brothers" Rukia said teasingly while Toshiro was less then amused
"Well, if you're going to be joining us, then I suggest we go now before something else happens" Naruto commented, everyone nodded, including Rukia and Yoruichi. They began their march towards the demon country
IN THE PAST
Masaki was standing face to face with the missing Nin Madara "Mizukage?!" Masaki asked
Madara had a grin on his face "You sound surprised, I don't blame you. Even I didn't know that the land of water had created their own village years ago" Madara told him
"And how exactly did you become their leader?" Masaki asked
"Easy, I killed their old leader. They were defiant at first, but once they realized that they had no other choice they bowed to me and my power, even the daughter of that old fool eventually bowed down to me!" He said with a chuckle
"Why did you kill everyone that came to the island?" Masaki asked, wanting answers to the meaningless killing
"Simple really, Konoha are weak fools. You continue to protect those worthless backstabbing Uchiha's and for that, I will never forgive either Konoha or the Uchiha's for what they did to me and my brother..." Madara said with hate in his voice
"Madara, hatred will lead to nothing, what good will it do if you kill everyone in the Uchiha clan? Nothing! Will it bring your brother back? Will it make everything better? It will only bring you loneliness!" Masaki tried to convince Madara to stop the hostilities towards Konoha
"What will it bring you ask? Justice, my brother may not come back but he will be avenged!" Madara said in anger
"And the people who you kill will also have loved ones, and they will want revenge and the cycle will NEVER END that's what hatred brings, a spiral of death and emptiness. Can't you see that?!" Masaki tried once more
"I don't care! Enough of your pointless banter, prepare to die Namikaze Masaki!"
Madara took out a blade and launched an attack against Masaki who quickly used his speed to dodge the attack. He then swung his blade at Madara's blade, wanting to destroy it, and perhaps convince Madara to stop this fight. But as his blade was about to clash with Madara's, he began to grin as the blade lit up, when Masaki's blade collided with it, it created a large spark. Masaki quickly took a few steps back to try and figure out what had just happened
"Surprised?" Madara asked with a smug grin "I have been watching you for a long time, I know your fighting style, I know your techniques and I know that your blade can cut threw everything in its released state. So I had to find myself a weapon that could counter it, this weapon uses my chakra and creates a blade of pure energy, behold my lighting blade!" Madara said as he charged once more at Masaki
Masaki was forced into a defensive position as Madara assaulted him, every move he tried to do seemed to be read by Madara's Sharingan. It even helped him keep up with Masaki's speed "I can't find any openings..." Masaki thought to himself, for the first time in his life he had an opponent that was a match for him
"What's wrong Namikaze? Where is that confident look you always seem to have on your face? Perhaps you are now realizing just how badly outmatched you are?" Madara said as he launched a new attack, his eyes connected with Masaki's for a split second, he barely dodged the attack in time as he jumped away from the blade
However Madara had already launched another attack striking one of Masaki's arms causing extreme pain, when Masaki got back to his feet, he had lost track of Madara "Where did he go?!" Masaki wondered as he checked out his wound, it was a burn mark caused by the energy blade. Masaki knew that it was just a warning, had Madara wanted, he could have caused much more damage. Suddenly he began hearing a laughter from, well all around. He couldn't figure out where it was coming from, all he knew was that it belonged to Madara
"Are you afraid little Namikaze?" he heard directly behind him, he quickly turned around but there was no one "You are very entertaining, did you know that?" he heard from his left, and once again when he turned there was no one to be found "However, just like everyone else that fights me, you will die
"Why didn't you kill Hashirama when you had the chance then?!" Masaki asked
"I didn't because I didn't want too, I gave him a chance. He was the only one who tried to understand me, I guess you can say that our revelry created a special bond... But if he tried to track me down again, I wouldn't hesitate to end his life"
Suddenly Masaki felt a surge of pain from his right leg, on instinct alone he jumped away, however he didn't even see a shadow. He looked at his leg and it was a deep cut, the pain was almost unbearable "How is he able to do that, I use to be a Night ninja... Fighting in the darkness of the night is my specialty, but ever since his last attack I haven't been able to even sense him, ever since he... Genjutsu!" Masaki suddenly thought, remembering how his eyes connected with Madara's. He began to concentrate his chakra "CANCEL!" he finally shouted out, the entire world around him began to shatter into thousands of pieces, Madara was standing in front of him with a large grin
"Congratulations on figuring it out, however the wounds inflicted onto you were no illusions" He said with a grin as Masaki realized that his leg was still wounded, but he wasn't about to give up. The real battle was going to start now
BACK IN THE PRESENT TIME
Hiyori woke up, her body was feeling weak and aching all over, she opened her eyes and looked around as she sat up. She seemed to be in a rather large cave, there was barely any light, however her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness of the room. Somehow she was still alive, she never actually expected to ever wake up again. She forced her body up, the pain made it hard to move but she had to find out where she was and where was Hamako? She began to walk towards the exit, the bright light from the sun was almost blinding as she exited the cave "Hiyori Sensei, you're up!" A voice came
"Hamako?" Hiyori answered since her eyes could not see yet as they were adjusting to the light
"I am so happy that you are alright, I was worried after you collapsed"
"Where are we?" she asked
"I don't know, once you passed out I knew that we had to leave that area so I carried you on my back until I found this place. I was also able to find water and some food as well, however I didn't want to start a fire. I was worried that it would give away our position" Hamako answered
Hiyori was impressed, even though she was alone behind enemy lines she didn't panic. She stayed calm and was able to think of a plan to keep them alive for the time being "We need to figure out exactly where we are and try to find a way to get out of here without being detected. The demon ninja's are probably looking for us, and they are probably not happy that I defeated that horde of hollows" Hiyori told her
"But you can use that awesome power of yours now right?" Hamako asked
"I have reached Ban-Kai yes... But that doesn't make me invincible, there is also the fact that I haven't mastered the Ban-Kai yet. Reaching it and mastering it are two different things... And the demon ninja's themselves are much stronger then hollows" Hiyori explained, Hamako suddenly began to feel afraid, up until now she thought that Hiyori's power would be enough to keep them safe. Hiyori had noticed the change in her face "But we will make it out of here, I promise you Hamako. I will bring you home alive" Hiyori said wanting to reassure her, even thought she knew it was a long shot and the odds of them actually surviving were slim to none. However Hamako had regained her smile "So don't worry alright? I will protect you with my life" Hiyori said with a smile
"...Thank you Sensei" Hamako said as she bowed in respect
"Stop that, I already told you that we are friends, don't bow to me..." Hamako told her "Now, come with me. We need to figure out exactly where we are and where we need to go from here" Hiyori added
"Isn't it best for us to stay in one spot? That way when they come rescue us..."
Hiyori didn't allow her to finish "Hamako, I am not going to lie when I say that I doubt they are planning on rescuing us. Toshiro probably explained to them that we are more than likely dead or worst by now and they probably continued on with the mission. And had I not reached Ban-Kai when I did, we would have been...Sacrificed. But don't worry, that's why we must move now and make our way out of this country on our own, we can do it Hamako" Hiyori explained to her. Hamako was concerned with no one coming to their rescue; however she was reassured that Hiyori sounded confident that she could get them home safely
End chapter 23
And that completes an other chapter! Yay... Is Toshiro right to trust his old friends? What is their true goal? Can Masaki finally take down Madara? Or has he finally found his match? Will Hiyori be able to protect herself and Hamako from harm? I ate the donut, it was banana cream filling, yum
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