Well this is my largest chapter so far, almost 4000 words! an additional note, as i noticed quite a few of you have never watched or seen Bleach, i figured it might be good if you knew what the captain's looked like, so in my profile, i remade it with information on each captain and pictures of them, i hope it helps you visualize what they actually look like :)
Alright well here is my favorite part once more, responding to the reviewers
naru-ca-titan - Sasuke will make his appearance in the next chapter, do not worry about him ;) i don't want to say to much, but look forward to it :) thanks for the review :D
Ymere - Well i hope this ending is better then the last one :) and about her getting captured, well you will have to read the chapter, also read my author notes at the end as well, thanks for the review, hope you enjoy this chapter :)
crsstlk - Thanks a lot for the review, yes, Sasuke will be making his appearance in the next chapter, and he will be face to face with his brother at some point, so it will be interesting ;) As for Sakura, your going to have to read this chapter ;) indeed, St-Patricks day is coming up this week :D so happy St-patties day everyone
chickenman00712 - Thanks for the review, hope you enjoy this large chapter :D
RSfan - he could indeed, but there was a large chunk of attackers on the top of the wall including multiple captains, he had his hands full, and uh lets just say that its a plot hole that i can only explain by him fighting on the top :P hope your not to disappointed, and thanks for the review
Well that's all of them, so on with the show, chapter 23, the great battle is next!
This chapter was revised on May 29th 2017. Most grammar errors should have been addressed (Hopefully :P) I did a few enhancements and changed a few things around but the story remained unchanged
Saving old bonds
Chapter 23 (Revised)
Sakura was walking around the shelter, making sure everyone was alright and taking care of minor medical issues. She began to walk back to her post when a voice called out to her "Sakura hunny…"
Sakura didn't even bother turning back to face the one calling out to her "Go away, I don't want to talk to you. I have more important things to worry about right now other then you" she said in a cold voice
"Sakura… Please forgive me, I love you. I don't want to lose you, you're my only daughter. I only want what's best for you…"
"No you don't, you want what you think is best for me. You never tried to stop me from loving Sasuke, yet he was obviously a bad choice for me. Even though I realize now I never loved him, it was just a silly girl crush. It's true I wouldn't have listened to you but that's what teenagers do anyway. My point is that you don't know anything about Naruto, I bet you don't even know who his father is do you? I bet you don't even know he is not even an Uzumaki. Maybe if you knew who he really was then you would be all happy about us, but you know what? I fell in love with him BEFORE I knew"
Sakura's mother's heart was breaking. She wanted to hold her daughter but knew she would be rejected on the spot and would only end up pushing her further away "I know who he is, I was at the emergency gathering. I am sorry hunny, please give me another chance"
"No, because I am not the one who you need to apologize to. Once this is over and Naruto saves us from this threat, you are going to go to him and get on your knees and beg for his forgiveness. Even if he had no idea why, I will NOT forgive you until you do. That should teach you to talk about others behind their backs about things YOU don't know anything about" Sakura walked away in anger, not giving her mother the chance to respond.
She returned to her post not even noticing that her squad was missing, she was too angry with her mother at the moment. However, she did feel that the room was very cold, she could even see her breath as the hot air from her lungs exited her mouth and met the cold air "Why is it so cold all of a sudden?" she wondered, that's when she looked around and noticed she was alone "Where is everyone?!"
"Haruno Sakura, I am here to take you away" a voice from the darkness came
Sakura looked around but saw no one. That's when she noticed the entrance had been opened "Someone got in?! But how! Only Konoha ninjas know about the entrance and how to open it" she wondered "And what happened to my squad!"
"I would really like it if you came without a fight, I don't like to hurt people if I don't have to" the voice came again
"You think that I am going to just surrender? I know about your plans to take me as a hostage and force Lord Hokage to stand down. I won't let that happen!"
"All we want is to prevent more killing. You have lost this battle but we know you will keep fighting until the end. Your capture will ensure a stop to the fighting and hundreds if not thousands of lives saved"
"We will NEVER bow down to you; I will never surrender" she said with anger
"I was truly hoping that you would at least consider my offer, but so be it"
Someone walked out of the shadows, Sakura was in shock, it wasn't what she was expecting. It was just a small boy, a kid, his hair was white as snow and his eyes were teal green. However, he wore the clothing of an enemy captain, but how could such a child be so powerful?
He got into a fighting stance as Sakura got into a defensive one, without warning he disappeared from her sight. He was now behind her and tried to hit her from behind, but she was barely able to get out of the way "Damn he is fast, I can't underestimate him, even if he is just a kid" she thought to herself as she turned to face him again. He had yet to show any emotion on his face and she had noticed that he had yet to take out his weapon. Maybe he thought he didn't need it against her? Well she was going to show him that she wasn't someone to take lightly. She began making hand signs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" she screamed out as four clones of herself stood by her side. They all began to gather chakra in their legs as they launched their attack with speed
Toshiro began dodging the multiple attacks from all sides. His speed made it easy as her punches were predictable. Suddenly he felt sharp pain from multiple areas. He jumped back as he felt one of his cheeks and blood was dripping out. The Sakura clones were satisfied with the result of their attack as chakra radiated from their hands
"Tell me, do all medical ninja resort to that tactic?"
"What?" She asked as she had noticed a cut on his other cheek that looked like it had been done recently
"You're the second medical Ninja I have fought, and she used the same tactic on me when she couldn't hit me" he said while checking out his other injuries as the clones had struck a few places on his body, but nothing major
Sakura knew there were very few medical ninja's capable of controlling their chakra well enough to use the scalpel as a weapon during a battle. To her knowledge only three were capable, herself, Shizune and Tsunade "Tell me, what color hair was the last medical ninja you fought against?" Sakura asked wanting an answer
"She was blonde, what does it matter?" he responded
"You! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KILLED HER!"
"What…" But he didn't have the time to finish his sentence as Sakura launched an all-out attack driven by her anger
Somehow her attacks had become faster, driven by anger and hate. Toshiro felt multiple sharp pains and finally Sakura hit him with all her strength sending him flying into the cave wall. Ge fell down to the ground coughing up blood as Sakura was standing and panting. Toshiro got back to his feet and finally took out his Katana, blood was dripping from his mouth "I did NOT kill her, I only fought her long enough to allow our lord Kurokage time to recover so he could continue his fight with her"
"I don't CARE, you were still a part of the reason that she died! And for that you will pay!" she said with anger as the clones took out a Kunai and launched another attack, Toshiro began concentrating his own energy into his Katana and launched an attack of his own. He hit both of Sakura's arms with a clean slice, she had lost all feelings to them. She feared that they had both been cut off but when she looked at her arms, to her surprise, they were encased in a prison of ice. She tried to break the ice off against the aground but it was harder than rock
"It's useless, that ice is full of my energy. There are only two ways for it to come off, I allow it, or you defeat me"
Sakura was in trouble, this ice would stop her from doing any new jutsu, she still had her clones for now, but if they were to get dispelled, she would be left with nothing
Meanwhile Naruto was standing in front of Ichigo, both of their cloaks were flapping in the wind "Namikaze Naruto, I have been waiting a long time to fight you" Ichigo said with a grin
"You seem to know a lot about me, yet I know nothing about you. Kind of seems unfair, doesn't it?" Naruto answered back
"Well let me educate you, I am Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurokage of the night country and hidden moon village. I will be the one to kill you and take over your village, and the fire nation, just like I did the water and wave nations"
"The Leaf village and Fire Nation will NEVER bow down to you!" Naruto said in anger
"I don't require for your pathetic people to bow, only to serve me and the night" he said with a grin "However you won't be one of them; you are too much of a risk to be left alive" Naruto had heard enough, he took out his father's Katana and got into a fighting position "So, you think you can best me in a fight of blades? Don't make me laugh!" he said as he took out his own Katana
Both of them launched an attack as their weapons clashed, Naruto got down and tried to slash at his lower torso but Ichigo blocked it with ease. Naruto jumped back trying to figure out a way to beat a man who uses his Katana like it was an extension of his body when he himself had just begun using his own "Maybe with some shadow clones I could be able to get some hits on him" he thought to himself, with speed he made the hand signs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" there were suddenly nine clones but to Naruto's surprise, the Katana itself didn't replicate. He didn't have any time to think about it. He instructed them to take out a Kunai and began their attack trying to get a hit on him. But Ichigo used his speed, and in a blink of an eye all of the clones were gone. Naruto couldn't believe how fast this guy was, but he recognizes that movement. When Ichigo came to attack him with the same speed Naruto was able to counter it with ease
Ichigo was speechless, no one from this part of the world had ever matched their speed but Naruto was able to. All he could see was a blur of yellow and orange as Naruto moved around
"Well, you have skills that's for sure, but your speed is no match for mine" he said as he drew his sword in front of him and "BAN-KAI!" he screamed out, smoked filled the area. Once it was cleared, Ichigo stood in front of Naruto in his ban-kai form
"So what's the big deal? It looks like your wearing rags and your blade got smaller?" Naruto said as Ichigo smiled
"It amuses me how you know so little about my powers yet you can find time to mock them. I will wipe that smile off your face. Just try and keep up long enough to give me a challenge" he said as he disappeared out of Naruto's sight. He attacked Naruto from all sides. Naruto was barely able block the attacks. Ichigo finally got pass his defense and cut him deep in one of his arms. Naruto backed away, even with his own speed his arm was throbbing with pain. Ichigo grinned at him "No one can match my ban-kai's speed and power, your just lucky I didn't slice it clean off"
"Heh, you think that I have been fighting you with my full power? I was testing you, wanting to see what you could do. And if this is the best, well I think I can take you out" He said with a grin. But there was a minor problem with his plan, he still had not figured out how to unleash the Kyuubi mode. In the past it was only done when he lost control of his emotions. Suddenly Naruto found himself in the so very familiar sewers, but this time there were no gates and a small version of the fox sat in front of Naruto
"Where are we? I thought I released you from here" he said
"You did release me my lord, but I know that you have been trying to access my powers and I wanted to help you"
"Not that I am not appreciating what your trying to do but out of curiosity, why? If I die, wouldn't you be free again?"
"No my lord, the terms of the contract would still stand. If you are thinking I could go back to attacking randomly again, I would still need someone to order me to. And I am very particular about who I allow to sign the contract, as you could see you are only the third person to sign it"
"Well, I guess that's great, so then let's get this going. How do I access your powers?"
"It is simpler then what you may think; you use to do it before, just unconsciously by your emotions"
"Alright, so tell me then"
"Visualize my power until you see my red chakra flowing through your body, and then release it"
Naruto closed his eyes and calmed down, he thought it was odd since he would normally be losing control of his emotions to get into the Kyuubi state, he breathed in and out slowly, as he concentrated on the red chakra. He could see it, he could feel it, it was filling his system
Ichigo was looking at Naruto with curiosity, a red aura had begun surrounding his body. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be concentrating on something. He figured it would be a good time to finish this fight once and for all. He began running as fast could ready to cut Naruto's head off with his next strike
Suddenly Naruto opened his eyes and a wave of pure chakra radiated from him as he grabbed Ichigo's Katana with his hand. The blade had caused damage to his hand but the wound was healing at extreme rate. Ichigo backed off and took a good look at him, his eyes had somehow turned from blue to red, his K9 teeth had turned into fangs and his nails into claws "What the hell did he do?" Ichigo wondered
Naruto grinned, he had done it, he had tapped into the Kyuubi's powers without losing himself in the process. He could feel the power pumping through his body "You look surprised, I told you that I was holding back" he disappeared from Ichigo's sight. For the first time in his life, he had lost sight of his enemy. How could that be possible? Suddenly he felt a presence behind him "You look scared Kurokage, could it be that for the first time, you have realized that you're not as powerful as you may think you are?" Ichigo turned around as fast as he could, but he found no one. He swung his blade hoping to catch Naruto behind him but there was no one there
"You think you have this won? You should know that you're not the only one holding back on your powers" he said as he looked up at the sky and the moon, it was almost midnight, Naruto appeared in front of him
"It's pretty sad when you resort to bluffing, if you would have been able to hit me, you would have done so by now"
"Heh, you are full of yourself, aren't you? Get the upper hand slightly in a battle and you think you have it won? You're not the only one who is hiding a trump card. Why do you think we attacked at night? Why do you think we are called the hidden moon village?"
"Because you excel at night combat?" Naruto answered
"Of course, but also because the moon gives us strength, and on a night, such as this with a full moon. When the moon is at its highest point in the sky at midnight, we attain our full potential!" he said as suddenly he was radiating power with a black aura around him as the clock reached 12:00AM
Naruto wasn't convinced, he figured it was a last-ditch attempt at trying to get him to back down "If what you say is true, then you're going to be able to stop this next attack" Naruto concentrated his chakra into his legs and began running with his Katana in hand, Ichigo grinned, he could see him, he could now fallow him. He lifted his blade to counter it but Naruto backed off when he realizes it wasn't a bluff
"Well then, this makes things interesting, I am happy to see that you're going to be a challenge after all" Naruto said with a grin. As they launched an attack on each other, they clashed against each other relentlessly, around them some of the fighters had stopped fighting. Even one of the Captains was in awe at the battle
"How can anyone stand toe to toe with our Kurokage when he is in his ban-kai on a full moon night?" He had to dodge an attack as Itachi almost struck him
"You don't have any time to be admiring our glorious Hokage defeat your Kurokage, your opponent is me!"
Meanwhile Toshiro and Sakura were still fighting; all the clones had been taken out and Sakura's hands were still imprisoned inside their ice prison and unable to summon any more clones to help her. She was panting heavily but so was Toshiro. He was surprised at her resilience. Suddenly she launched an attack at him while concentrating all her chakra once more into her legs and arm as she connected with his chest sending him crashing once more into the cave walls even harder than before. Sakura grinned, although she wasn't able to do hand signs anymore she could still use the hardness of the ice as a weapon. And add her own chakra and power, they became deadly weapons
Toshiro was on the verge of unconsciousness "How can she be so strong?" he wondered as he got back to his feet barely able to stand, but he was a captain, he couldn't lose
Sakura could see that he was only running on adrenaline, her next move was going to end this as she planned to knock him out. She had no intention of killing him, she just wanted the use of her hands again. But suddenly she felt something around her "Ban-Kai.." another voice said, Sakura found herself wrapped up by some sort of large snake. She couldn't fight her way out of it, its skin was like steel and it even had large blades coming out of it
"Toshiro, what the hell have you been doing? You were supposed to capture her and bring her to our Kurokage as fast as possible" a red-haired man said as he walked into the shelter, to Sakura's surprise, the snake seemed to originate from his hand, no wait, was that a Katana of some sort? The man also had a white cloak with the number three on it, indicating to her that he was also a captain, she kept on trying to struggle out of the snake's grasp "It's useless to fight it, this is my ban-kai, the harder you struggle, the tighter the grip will get, and Toshiro, the Kurokage will be disappointed in you, you're supposed to be the strongest one of us next to him" Sakura was surprised, that kid was the strongest? But she was almost able to defeat him "If you would have released your ban-kai on her you could have finished this in seconds. But your too soft, you even spared the lives of those guards and some women I found at the entrance. Don't worry though I cleaned up after you, I killed them for you"
"What?! There was no need for you to kill them; they had been taken care of!" Toshiro said in anger
"Just like you had this bitch taken care of? She was about to defeat you! I don't know why the Kurokage likes you so much. Sure, your strong and powerful but your still just a little kid who is afraid of hurting others. Now let's go, Kurokage Sama is fighting their leader. We may need to use her since he seems much more powerful then we first thought"
"Whatever…" Toshiro said annoyed at Renji
Sakura's mom wanted to find Sakura, she felt horrible and wanted to try and clear things. She was horrified to see her daughter caught in the grasp of that metallic snake "Sakura?!"
Renji suddenly stopped and turned back, he made the head of his blade attack Sakura's mother "MOM RUN!" Sakura said, but she was in shock. Suddenly Toshiro deflected the snake's head and stood in between Renji and Sakura's mom
"You will not kill an innocent villager; she isn't even a ninja"
"You're barely able to stand, what makes you think you can take me on little Toshiro?"
"I may be hurt and wounded, but I will not allow you to kill for no reason. If you want to push your luck with me then fine, Ban-K…" but Renji stopped him before he could finish his sentence
"Alright, alright, I get it. Let's just go, we don't have any time to waste anyway"
Toshiro lowered his blade as he followed him out of the shelter.
"DOUBLE RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted out as in his right hand he had a blue rasengan and in his left a red one, Ichigo was barely able to get out of the way as Naruto hit a building, destroying it in the process
They both began to pant as they were both tired from the fighting, Ichigo stood across from Naruto. He bit his thumb and to Naruto's surprise Ichigo began making hand signs, it was the first time he had ever seen anyone of them use a jutsu. But if he was drawing blood, then it could only mean one thing, he bit his own thumb and began making his own hand signs, they both hit the ground at the same time
"summoning jutsu" they both shouted out together, a huge dust cloud was released, no one could see anything. Once it was cleared, everyone was in shock, they were expecting to see Naruto on top of Gamabunta, but instead he was on top of the Kyuubi while Ichigo was on top of a giant black wolf
"Let's do this" Naruto simply said with a grin
End Chapter 23
Well wow, that was indeed my largest chapter, and yes i know Sakura was captured in the end, but like i said, it is to make the next part of the story work, i hope her battle was good for you guys, but she has like no jutsu's for battle so its hard, thats why her fight was mostly physical, except for that one jutsu that "I" gave her myself, witch was the shadow clone, that's assumed Naruto tough her :P anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, read rave review :D