- EMERGENCY EDIT-
- Somehow, a large chunk of the ending of this chapter was lost when i posted it, i only noticed it when i began to re-read it to check for spelling mistakes, i have fixed it now, i don't know how it happened, i will also make a note to warn you all about it on chapter 50 in case the ones who have read this already will not see this -
Chapter 49 has arrived in time for sat reading!
Well now for my reviewers
Kyubi Sama - Ah, you posted this review just as i posted chapter 48, so i did not get to respond to this then, so i will now :P QA. why did you make Ichigo and the captains antagonists of the story AA. No reason really, i needed a group of people to invade, i love bleach and figured i could do a successful crossover, which i think i did nicely :) but as for the reason, really there was no reason, i just though Ichigo would make a good Kurokage and the shinigami good night ninja being all black and all ;) QB. Where did you come up with the idea for the story. AB. I will be 100% honest and say i came up with it AS I WAS WRITING IT, when i first began this story, it was going to be a short story about Naruto and Sakura bringing Sasuke back with some NaruxSaku fluff :P but i began to get a lot of hits and a lot of reviews, then my imagination just went wild, i allowed it to lead me to where we are now QC. How long does it take you to type up each chapter. AC. It all depends on how big the chapter is, i can type up a 2000 word chapter in a night "2-3 hours" if i am not distracted by MSN or talking on VENT, give me an extra hour without distractions and i can have a 5000 word chapter "i did one of those, can't remeber what chapter it was" but generally i don't take longer then 2 nights to type up a chapter :) "that's because of distractions :P", anyway i hope that answers your questions, thanks for the review and hope you like 49
6tailedninja - thanks for the review, and lol yes, no more walking on crotches :P yes it is almost over, but hope you like 49 :)
Gravenimage - thanks for the review, yep, he is back :) hope you like 49
blackmoon124 - thanks for the review, YES most defiantly, there will be an epilogue, i already have the perfect way to end the story, you will have to read to find out ;) hope you like 49
Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, and yes, i had very much missed the two of them being together like this :) and i also look forward to Naruto's reaction to his little surprise ;) hope you like 49
naturokurosaki - thanks for your review, well fanfiction is all about allowing your imagination drive the story, that's what i did anyway ;) but as long as you had some enjoyment in reading the story, i am happy, i hope you enjoy 49
RairyuuBlade - 250+ reviews does not necessarily mean people want a sequel :P although since i mentioned the possibility of one, people have been adding that in there reviews :) anyway as for the beta-tester part, i don't know, i posts my stories so fast, i am afraid that having beta readers slow me down, so i am not sure if i want some, but thanks for your review and hope you like 49
chickenman00712 - Thanks for your review, and a lot of people have been wanting one since i said there might be a possibility, i don't know yet if it will will happen, nor do i have a storyline planned yet, then again, i did not have one planned for this one when i began either :P hope you like 49
naru-ca-titan - thanks for your review, and of course, we all have lives ;) "or at least i would like to hope lol" and that's great about your test scores! good job :) your smarter then me :P lol i hope you enjoy 49 and i also hope you have a great weekend :D
RSfan - NaruxSaku will definitely be in a sequal if i so chose to make one, i just don't know if i will do a time skip to include Naoto or just continue from where i left off yet, but thanks for your review and i hope you enjoy 49
Bombat1994 - no, there will be a prequel to wrap things up, thanks for your review and hope you like 49
xzavx - x3 - Nope, he didn't remember anything, thanks for your constant reviews, hope you like 49 :D
Well that's everyone for this time, as always, now is time for the main event, chapter 49!
This chapter was revised on June 7th 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 49 (Revised)
Naruto was heading towards Konoha's high security detention facilities. He had asked that the captains and the Kurokage be gathered so he could give them the verdict decided. Itachi and Kakashi were escorting him. Suddenly someone jumped down from the top of one of the buildings and barred his path. Kakashi and Itachi quickly got in front of Naruto in case it was an attack but the stood down when they saw who it was
The Ninja had black raven hair and wore all black clothing much like Itachi. On his back was the Uchiha fan symbol and on his forehead was the leaf headband "Sasuke!" Naruto said with a smile as Sasuke stood silent "Uh Sasuke is there anything I can do for you?" Naruto asked him
"Tch...Thanks" he simply said as he crossed his arms and looked away "And I am sorry for everything I did to both you and Sakura..."
Naruto smiled at him as he walked up to Sasuke and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder "It's alright Sasuke; we both forgive you. Just make us proud as you wear that Leaf headband again, brother" he said as his grin grew wider. Sasuke turned his head to face Naruto again and had a smirk of his own. He then stepped aside to allow them to pass, Naruto and Kakashi continued on their way while Itachi stayed
"Little brother I am sorry about..." Itachi tried to say, but Sasuke cut him off
"Look, the fifth Hokage Tsunade already told me everything. I know the truth of what actually happened on that night so you don't need to apologize for anything. Now go on, protect the sixth Hokage" he said as he began to walk away "Keep that brother of mine from getting into trouble" he said smirking to himself before jumping away
The surviving night captains, along with their Kurokage Ichigo had been assembled in a high security room inside the prison. there were chakra suppressors in place in order to prevent them from using any of their arts or jutsus and they did not have access to their weapons. In addition, there were both sand and leaf ANBU surrounding the room. The doors suddenly open as Naruto entered the room fallowed by his escort. Naruto took a good look at them, Ichigo was standing proudly in front of his captains, nine of them had survive out of the thirteen, including himself "You were told why we assembled you all here so I will cut to the chasse. We have come to a decision" Naruto told them "You stand accused of not only invading the land of fire, but the land of the water as well as the land of waves. You are accused of killing countless Konoha ninjas including the fifth Hokage and even the Mizukage of the water. Your actions have also caused the destruction of half the village, do you have anything to say for yourselves?" Naruto asked
Ichigo stood silent, as did the captains
"I take it by your silence that you do not deny any of these charges?" yet again no one spoke up "Then it is by the decision of the Konoha council, as well as my own that these charges apply only to the one who caused this war in the first place, the Kurokage of the night. We acknowledge that everyone else were just fallowing orders and thus, we have decided that you will all be released and sent home, never to return. However, the Kurokage will be serving a twenty year sentence before he is sent home" Naruto told them all "you eight are free to go" he told the captains as the ANBU opened the door for them "you will be sent back to the port city and returned to your ships in small groups so we can keep you under control. You shall be escorted by our ninjas to make sure you leave. Any attempt to attack us again or to try and free your Kurokage will be met with the joint forces of fire and wind and I can assure you that we will not be as merciful as we are being right now" Naruto added
The Captains had not moved, their loyalty towards Ichigo was still strong. Well all captains except for one. Toshiro began to make his way towards the door. Kisuke began to get mad "What the hell Toshiro!" he screamed at him
"What? We are being allowed to leave, would you rather we stay here?" Toshiro answered him
"You would turn your back on your Kurokage!" Kisuke said in rage
But Ichigo spoke up "He is right, our country is going to need you guys. Without me to lead them a new Kurokage will need to be chosen. It could very well be one of you, and I want you all to return home and take care of the night country for me, now go" Ichigo ordered his captains
"But my lord... We can't just abandon you" Rukia the seventh division female captain pleaded
"Please don't make me make it my final order..." he told them
The captains reluctantly began leaving the room, being escorted by ANBU as Ichigo was chained up and led back into the high security detention area of the prison, where he assumed he would not see the light of day for the next twenty years
The rest of the night ninjas had been gathered just outside of the village. They were unarmed, there blades would only be returned to them once they boarded their ships. The ANBU were separating them into small groups and getting ready to begin escorting the groups one by one
Toshiro and Hiyori were in the same group, they were not schedule to leave until later that day. Toshiro was staring at the clouds as they floated in the air "Captain, you look unhappy. Aren't you glad that we are allowed to go home?" Hiyori asked him
"Home... I have nothing waiting for me there; Ichigo was the only real family I had"
Hiyori knew about the tragic death of both his parents and how he was an only child and that he had no other family left. Hiyori herself had lost her parents in an accident a few years ago, she was the same age as Toshiro and looked up to him in many ways. He had become the youngest captain in night history and it wasn't because that he and Ichigo were best friends. He earned that title and she wanted to be like him. She had worked her way up to be tenth division vice captain, and was proud of being his second in command
Toshiro felt someone standing behind him. He turned around and was face to face with Sakura "Haruno Sakura?" he said surprised
"I was told that you were here, well I didn't remember your name but you were easy to find thanks to your age and white hair" she said with a smile, Hiyori had noticed her and was very unhappy with her presence
"My name is Hitsugaya, Hitsugaya Toshiro" he answered her
"Well then Hitsugaya Toshiro, it's nice to actually meet you, rather than fight you" she said with a smile
"I don't want to seem rude or anything but, what do you want?" he asked her
"I wanted to thank you personally for what you did for me" she told him
"What?" Hiyori asked wanting to know why she needed to thank him
"I know that you could have won your fight against me. You could have captured me and brought me to your Kurokage. Had you done that, Naruto would have more than likely stood down and surrendered without a fight, giving you the win, so thank you"
"Don't thank me... I betrayed my country and best friend. Now he is paying for my failure" Toshiro said with a sigh "And now, I am being sent home, sent home to nothing. I doubt that I will even remain a captain"
"What? Why would you be stripped of your rank Captain?" Hiyori asked him
"Because, some captains know of my treason. And to add to that dishonor, I was the first to walk out on him when we were allowed to leave. I am not worthy of wearing this headband" he said as he held it in his hand, refusing to put it back on
Sakura kind of felt bad for him "So, you have nothing to return to?" she asked him, Toshiro just remained silent "Look, I know you will probably just refuse this but, what would you say if I told you that I could speak to Naruto about allowing you to stay here. Perhaps start a new life for yourself here?" She asked him, obviously catching his attention
"What?" he asked her
"Well, you said that you have nothing to return to and that you will more than likely lose your position"
"I... Don't know, I guess I would have to think about that"
"Captain, you can't seriously be thinking about leaving the night country..." Hiyori asked him
"I don't know, after all I don't have anything to return to. No one is waiting for me at home, most of the captains probably hate me, my rank will be stripped, I will probably become an outcast due to my actions here. Also, I will probably be blamed for losing this war and ultimately the one responsible for Ichigo being sent to prison"
Hiyori was breaking up inside, the person who she looked up to the most was about to leave her life "Well...If you're staying, I am staying to!" she shouted out
Both Sakura and Toshiro were surprised "What? But why? You are slated to be a captain one day; you would more than likely be chosen to replace me as the tenth division captain. You worked hard for that honor"
"I don't care about that! I don't have anyone else to go back to either! You are the reason why I worked so hard, you were the one I looked up too. Without you, my rank means nothing!" she said as tears began forming around her eyes. She turned around and tried to run away but she was quickly surrounded by ANBU members who thought she was trying to make a run for it. They took out their weapons and surrounded her, her heart was pounding as they began walking towards her
Suddenly Toshiro appeared in front of her as he came to her defense "Touch her, and you will have to deal with me" he simply told them
Sakura ran up to them "Stand down!" she told them. They both bowed their heads at Sakura and put away their weapons
"Yes Ma'am" they said as they returned to their positions
"Calm down Hiyori, I didn't know you felt that way..." Toshiro told her hoping she would calm down
"How could you know; you were always too busy to notice me... Even though I tried my hardest to climb the ranking, not for myself but to get your attention" she said sadly
"Well...If you truly wish it, I can speak to Naruto about allowing you to stay as well" Sakura told her with a smile
"Really?"
"But think about it, you would be turning your back on your country. This isn't a decision you should make lightly, once you leave the night country to join their enemies you will be branded a traitor" Toshiro warned her
"If you leave, then I will fallow!" She said, her resolve seemed strong
"Very well then, both of you think about it. I will talk to Naruto about it" Sakura told them before leaving them
Naruto was just wrapping up a meeting with some of the head carpenters about rebuilding the village, he had another meeting about filling in some of the ranks of the fallen ninjas as well as one with Gaara about having some sand ninja stay behind and help out. Naruto was afraid that one of the other major countries would use this opportunity to attack them. Showing that the sand and leaf stand together as proud allies might make the others think twice about taking advantage of the situation
Sakura walked into his office causing him to smile "Well, you're a lot cuter then the guys I have been spending most of my day with" he said teasingly as he got up to embrace and kiss her
"I don't know if that's a compliment, or an insult since your comparing me to a bunch of old guys" she said teasingly "But I know your busy with restoring the village and all, so I won't waste any time. I have come to request that two of the night ninjas be allowed to stay here"
"What?" Naruto asked stunned
"One of them is a young captain, and the other is young vice-captain"
"Wait a second; let's start from the beginning. What's going on?" Naruto asked confused
"Alright, there are two night ninjas that are thinking about leaving the night and to stay here"
"Who and why?"
"One of them is a captain, his name is Hitsugaya Toshiro, he seems to be their youngest captain. During the assault he was ordered to find and capture me alive so they could use me against you"
"Yes, I remember, that's why we had to keep you away from the front line"
"Well he did end up finding me anyway, and fought me"
"What?! You never told me that..." Naruto said concerned
"Because, he didn't want to go through with it. He fought me yet barely tried. In the end, I was able to defeat him even though he is much stronger than I am"
"Why would he do that?" Naruto asked slightly confused, and also relieved that nothing had happened to her
"Because, he was against this invasion. He was also against using me to get to you however he did not want to betray his country so he pretended to fight me and lose. Also, he said some captains had seen the battle and knew he had did it on purpose so now he is going to be seen as a traitor. He will also be blamed for losing this war and the loss of their Kurokage and finally, he was the first one to walk away when you allowed them to leave"
"Oh I remember him, yeah, he did seem quite young for a captain" He said as he thought back to the morning
"Also, he said he has no family and no reason to go back home"
"I see, well I guess we could allow him to stay, but he would be under supervision for a while"
"Yeah, I figured as much"
"what about the other one?"
"For her, it's actually simple. She has a crush on Toshiro and wants to stay with him" she said with a slight grin "She also says she has no family and no one waiting for her at home"
Naruto was slightly in shock "A crush?! She wants to leave her country for a crush?"
Sakura let out a slight giggle "Yeah, but I don't think he knows yet. Boys his age don't pay much attention to that sort of thing, also, for all I know he could be as dense as you" she said with a wink
"What? What do you mean by that?!" Naruto said in an annoyed tone
"Oh come on Naruto, you are clueless when it comes to girl!" She said teasingly
"Well I have you, don't I?" he said with a smile
"What I am trying to say is, you are clueless about the girls around you who have crushes on you"
"No one has a crush on me" Naruto answered back as Sakura began to laugh almost historically causing Naruto to frown "What is SOOO funny?" Naruto asked
"Naruto, you are so cute when you are clueless" she said once again in a teasing tone "Let's start with the oldest crush, Hinata" she said with a wink
"Hinata?!" Naruto said surprised
"She had a crush on you since she laid eyes on you, however she was too shy to ever tell you and didn't you find it odd how she kept on blushing every time you got near her? Also, all those times she fainted in your presence?"
"I just thought she was warm...Or sick"
"Of course you did, you are such a clueless idiot, yet I love you none the less" she said grinning
"Yeah well, alright, I bet Hinata was the only one"
"A bet you would lose, remember that girl who you thought was talking about training? She was talking about something else...Something that happens in bed" She said grinningly
"WHAT!?" Naruto said in shock, was he really that dense?!
"And more recently is Yuki"
"Oh come on, that can't be, I am her Sensei"
"And yet she has a crush on you. It's easy to see really, why do you think she is hostile towards me? during our last training session she did not fight me because she wanted to train. She wanted to DEFEAT me to prove that she is a better match for you than I am"
"Well, it's not like I would ever leave you" Naruto told her
"Of course not, BUT you have no idea how the mind of a teenage girl works do you? What am I saying, you have no idea how the mind of any female, regardless of age works" she said with a giggle that annoyed Naruto
"Yeah, yeah, so I am a clueless idiot who only has eyes for the most beautiful girl he has ever set eyes on" he said with a grin as he held her
"And that's why I put up with your stupidity" she said teasingly as she kissed him "But back to the subject at hand, what do you think?"
"Well, if they really want to defect and stay here and that you believe their intentions are not to spy on us, then I would agree"
"They are not here to spy; He is one of the reasons why there isn't a night flag out there"
"Very well, I give my permission for them to stay here"
Sakura hugged him tightly and kissed him once more "Thank you Naruto"
A knock came to his door "Come in" Naruto answered, an ANBU ninja entered and bowed before speaking
"Hokage Sama, Gaara is here to see you my lord"
"Ah yes, my meeting to talk about keeping some of the sand ninjas for a while, tell him I will be right with him"
"Yes my lord" he said as he shut the door
"The work of a Hokage is never done" he said with a faint smile
"Well, you are doing a great job, I am proud of you" she told him "Well I better get out of your way; I am going to tell Toshiro about your decision"
"Hey, you are never in my way" He said before giving her a parting kiss, she blushed at him before leaving the room
End Chapter 49
Chapter 49 comes to an end, i believe now is time to announce that Chapter 50 will be the final chapter, and as i stated in the reviews, there WILL be an epilogue as the end of 50 to wrap things up