Do I Have A Purpose Anymore?
Chapter 18: "The Shinigami/Arrancar War Revealed"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When Naruto awoke the next morning, he found Nel was no longer with him. Slowly rising from the bed to investigate, he walked out into the main room of Yamamoto's residence. Upon entering the room he saw Hinata get up from a table where the former Head Captain was seated along with Shunsui, Yoruichi, and Yugito. Naruto watched as Hinata went to gather up Nel who was playing with some toys in the corner of the room. Calling out to the Hyuga girl, Naruto was taken aback by the look of deep hurt that flashed across Hinata's face when their eyes met. Without saying a word, Hinata bent down to pick Nel and the two of them exited the room in silence. Confused as to what had just transpired, the blonde Jinchuuriki turned his attention back to the table and noticed that both Shunsui and Yamamoto were each trying to control a nose bleed, while Yoruichi bore a wicked grin upon her face and Yugito was glaring daggers at Naruto.
"What's going on and why does Hinata-chan seem upset."
"Oh not much Naruto, we've just been sitting here, while Yoruichi has been telling us how you were able to pass the second trial…in intimate detail I might add." Yugito replied with a cool biting tone to her voice.
Naruto visibly winced upon hearing this and shot Yoruichi a heated glare, who merely shrugged her shoulders and said.
"They asked."
Naruto cursed under his breath and turned to leave the room to go find Hinata and make sure she was alright, while also try to explain what she had heard about the trial from Yoruichi…if he could?
Stepping into the hallway, Naruto could hear water splashing and Nel giggling from down the corridor. Walking down and entering the room where the sounds were coming from, Naruto found himself in a quaint little onsen with Hinata standing by watching over Nel as she splashed about happily in the water.
"That's enough playing Nel-chan, you use that soap and get good and clean."
"Ok Hina-chan."
Naruto called out to Hinata and asked.
"Hinata-chan, can we talk?"
Hinata jumped a bit at the sound of Naruto's voice, but did not turn around to face him and answered in a emotionless tone of voice.
"We don't have anything to talk about Naruto-kun."
'Great she's pissed off at me, damn that Yoruichi!' Naruto bitterly thought to himself.
"Please, I can tell your upset, won't you at least talk to me, don't I deserve that much?"
Hinata heaved a weary sigh and told Nel she and Naruto-kun were going to talk and that she would return in a few minutes to make sure the little Arrancar was squeaky clean. Nel nodded her head and returned to playing and splashing about in the onsen. Hinata then followed Naruto into the hallway and closed the door behind her, as Naruto began to speak.
"Hinata-chan, I know you're angry and upset with me about what happened during my second trial with Yoruichi."
"I'm not angry or upset with you Naruto-kun." Hinata replied while keeping her head bowed down and refusing to look Naruto in the eyes.
"I can tell you're upset and angry with me. I'm sorry about the second trial and I don't know what Yoruichi told you, but I did pass the trial, I never slept with her."
"You almost did." Hinata quietly mumbled, but Naruto still heard it.
"You're right, I almost did and I'm sorry you are hurt by that. But can you please find it in your heart to forgive me. I don't want you to be angry and upset with me." Naruto pleaded, as he stepped in and attempted to hug Hinata, before the Hyuga girl forcefully shoved him back into the wall and burst into tears while shouting.
"Baka, I told you, I'm not angry and upset with you! I'm angry and upset with myself for feeling angry and upset with you!"
Naruto stared at Hinata with a bewildered and confused look now plastered upon his face, before Hinata sunk to the floor and brought her knees up to her chest and hugging them tight said in a choked voice.
"I'm angry at myself Naruto-kun not you, I don't have the right to be angry with you."
Naruto knelt down beside Hinata and brushed a tear off of her cheek before saying.
"I don't understand what you mean Hina-chan?"
"I mean what right to have to be angry with you about what almost happened with Yoruichi during your trial, not after what I did to you three years ago by marrying Kiba."
Hinata choked back a small sob before she continued one.
"Even if you had slept with Yoruichi I still wouldn't have any right to be upset or jealous about it and I'm angry at myself for feeling that way. The last time I felt this way is when Ino told me of her feelings for you two and a half years ago and asked if it was ok with me for her to pursue a relationship with you. And even though I told her yes because I wanted you to be happy with someone I still felt some anger and resentment towards her afterwards."
Naruto stiffened at the mention of Ino's name and a scowl spread momentarily across his face. Hinata saw this and cupped his cheek and said.
"Ino made a mistake Naru-kun, just as I did; please don't hate her for that."
Naruto exhaled a heavy sigh and took Hinata's hand into his own.
"I appreciate you defending your friend Hina-chan, but Ino didn't make a mistake, she made a choice."
"But I too made a choice when I went ahead and married Kiba."
"Yes, but you made your choice out of love for and to protect your sister. Ino was not burdened by such a self-sacrificing dilemma as you were."
Hinata remained silent, as she didn't know what to say to Naruto with regards to her friend. The Hyuga girl's own relationship with Naruto had only been renewed a few days ago and the two of them were still trying to figure out the outcome of that between themselves. As Naruto rose to his feet bringing Hinata up with him, she heard him say.
"Don't beat yourself about feeling upset or jealous about my trial and Yoruichi. In a way, it shows me that you do care about me."
"I do Naru-kun, very much." Hinata replied, as Naruto hugged her.
"Well, we had better go check on Nel-chan and make sure she is staying out of trouble."
Hinata nodded her head in response and they both opened the door to the onsen and looked to the pool, but didn't see the little green-haired Arrancar anywhere. Growing concerned they called out for her, at which point the heard Nel answer them from above and looked up with fright at what they saw. Nel had somehow managed to climb up 20 feet to the main support beam of the roof above the onsen and they heard her giggle with glee.
"Hina-chan, Naru-kun, watch me do a cannonball!"
Nel then jumped off the beam causing Hinata to shriek and Naruto to instantly Hiraishin into the water and catch the little Arrancar.
"Awww why did you have go and do that, I was having tho much fun!" Nel complained in disappointment to her surrogate father.
Naruto could only groan in response and wonder to himself why Kami had chosen such a wild child for him to protect.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A little while later after drying off and sending a pouting Nel to a room for a undeserved timeout as far she was concerned for just trying to have some fun. Naruto and Hinata rejoined the others in the main room as Yamamoto was about to tell the tale of the Shinigami and Arrancar's to them.
"Listen well young mortals, my full name is Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto and seated next to me are Shunsui Kyōraku and Yoruichi Shihōin. We are what you refer to in this world as Shinigami or Soul Reapers. We govern the flow of souls between the human world and the afterlife or I should say we did."
"What do you mean you did?" Naruto asked in curiosity
"Where did the souls go after they left the human world?" Hinata openly questioned.
"So you guy's are death gods?" Yugito inquired in disbelief.
"Old man Yama, why don't you let me explain everything to them. You tend to get a little longwinded and we don't have all day." Shunsui stated to his former Sensei.
"Hmph, longwinded indeed! Very well Shunsui, you may take over."
"Thank you, now I'll answer Yugito-chan's question first. Yes, we are or were what you would call death gods. Now as to Hinata-chan's question, the souls we ferried from the human world went to a place we call the Soul Society, where they lived in peace until they are reincarnated back into the human world. Naruto your question will be answered at the end of my tale. Now if no one interrupts with anymore questions until I'm through, I'll give you a quick rundown of everything."
Naruto, Hinata, and Yugito nodded their heads in agreement, as Shunsui began.
"Now, ol' Yama here founded the Shino Academy, which trained the Shinigami's about 1,700 years ago and personally instructed myself and my best friend Jushiro Ukitake, as his first students to become Captains in the Gotei 13 of the Soul Society. He founded the Gotei 13 and became its Captain-Commander. Now the Gotei 13's main duty was to defend the capital city of the Soul Society the Seireitei and the adjoining 320 districts of the Rukongai. In addition to these duties, Shinigami also had to deal with the business of being assigned to the human world and guiding those deserving souls to the Soul Society. However, are most important duty when assigned to the human world is to protect those deserving souls from Hollows."
Shunsui paused to take a deep breath before continuing on.
"Hollows are a race of creatures which are born from human souls who, for various reasons, do not cross over to Soul Society after their death and stay in the human world for too long. They are corrupt spirits with supernatural powers that devour the souls of both living and deceased humans. This all functioned without much incident for over 1700 years, until the Soul Society and the Gotei 13 were betrayed by some of their own."
Instantly, a grim look spread across the faces of the three former Gotei 13 Captains, before Shunsui continued on.
"Sōsuke Aizen was a former captain of the 5th Division in the Gotei 13. He orchestrated along with his followers two other Gotei 13 Captains Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen to destroy the Soul Society by escaping to Hueco Mundo the dimension where Hollows and Arrancar reside. It lies in between the world of the living and the Soul Society, but can cross over to the human world and Soul Society. "
Naruto's head snapped to attention upon hearing the word Arrancar, as his thoughts turned to Nel. The blonde Jinchuuriki wanted to stop Shunsui right there and ask some questions, but decided to wait and listened some more to the tale being spoken.
"Before escaping to Hueco Mundo, Aizen had managed to steal the Hogyoku, which had been developed by another Captain in the Gotei 13 Kisuke Urahara. The Hogyoku is a device that possesses the ability to transform a Shinigami into a perfect Hollow-Shinigami Hybrid. It also possessed the ability to evolve certain Hollows into Arrancars, which Aizen waged war with against the Soul Society by using an army of Arrancar he had created. That little girl in the other room Naruto is one of the first and most powerful Arrancar Aizen created after arriving in Hueco Mundo."
"Wait a minute, are you trying to tell me Nel-chan is one of this Aizen guy's soldiers and you all fought against her? That's bullshit, she just seems like a little girl to me!" Naruto exclaimed, as he could no longer hold his tongue.
"No Naruto, Nel didn't fight in the Shingami/Arrancar war. I don't know what or why, but something happened to her and she was cast out of the Arrancar army before the war began."
"Please Naru-kun; let Shunsui-san finish like we promised before we ask any questions." Hinata softly asked, in an attempt to calm Naruto down.
Naruto grumbled a bit in annoyance before he nodded his head to Shunsui.
"There's really not much more to the story. The Shinigami/Arrancar war began and there were heavy casualties on both sides. Finally in a climatic showdown the remaining Shinigami and Arrancar, both sides released all of their powers simultaneously at one another and ended the war in one fell swoop."
Shunsui then sat back down at the table and after a couple of minutes of silence, Naruto realized that had been the end of the story and asked in confusion.
"I don't understand, if you guy's won the war, then why aren't you living at the Soul Society instead of down here in the human world?"
"I never said we won the war Naruto."
"So it was the Arrancar who won?" Hinata asked in equal bewilderment.
"I never said that either."
"Then just what are you saying, when did this damn war take place anyhow?" Yugito growled out in frustration.
"The Shinigami/Arrancar war took place 400 years….in the future." Yamamoto calmly answered, before taking another sip of tea.
"What!" Naruto, Hinata, and Yugito said in unison.
"It's true, the war won't happen for another 400 some odd years. You see when the Shinigami and the Arrancar released all of our powers out at once at one another. The resulting explosion ripped a hole through the fabric of time, space, and dimensions. Which resulted in all of the remaining Shinigami being flung throughout the history of time into the human world. And the old man, myself, and Yoruichi-chan were each thrown into this time period. However, what we didn't realize until we saw little Nel is that the remaining Arrancar were also flung throughout the history of time into the human world as well. And knowing that they're might be more Arrancar roaming around in this time period is concerning." Shunsui stated grimley.
"Well I don't know how many more Arrancar were thrown into this time period, but I can tell you that there's one less." Naruto openly commented.
"What do you mean?" Shunsui asked.
"I mean I finished off one of these Arrancar bastards several days ago when he was trying to kill Nel-chan. He was spouting off about needing to kill her to gain her powers, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. He was already pretty busted up by the time I found him, probably by one of you Shinagami during the war before I finally finished the job on him."
"Little Nel does contain great power young Naruto, but it lays dormant. So I warn you, be on your guard, as her immense power could manifest again without any warning." Yamamoto cautioned the young Jinchuuriki.
"Well if there are more Arrancar roaming around, I'm glad that Yoruichi is here to add her power and skills to a fight instead of just me and the old man here."
Yoruichi smiled at her fellow former Gotei 13 comrade and nodded her head.
"I don't understand, You both seemed…..surprised when you saw one another yesterday, why is that?." Hinata adroitly queried.
"That's because I was surprised to see Yoru-chan. Up until yesterday, I thought ol' Yama and myself were the only ones tossed into this time period." Shunsui replied.
"The same for me, I thought it was just me and the geezer. Why didn't you let us know about each other you old coot?"
"Because knowing both of you and you're over-driven libido's, the two of you would of wiled away the centuries humping about like rabbits, instead of conducting yourselves as honored members of the Gotei 13 and accomplishing something of worth, such as participating in the trials to find potential new Shinigami candidates for the future."
Both Yoruichi and Shunsui looked at one another, as they both wanted to refute what their Captain-Commander had just said, but after a moment, both of them shrugged their shoulders, as they realized he was probably right in his statement of the two. Yamamoto then spoke once more.
"However, I'm very pleased that the two of you have chosen to add your powers and skills to help Naruto on his quest against these Akatsuki. From what he and Yugito have conveyed to me about them, I can say they seem every bit the threat to this time period that the Arrancar were to us in the future, so the two of you have my highest praise in doing that."
Both Yoruichi and Shunsui nodded their heads towards their Captain-Commander and though they wouldn't openly admit it. They both felt a sense of pride in hearing Yamamoto's approval of their choice to help Naruto.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The next morning as Naruto and his company of traveling companions packed up their belongings to leave, they bid farewell to Yamamoto who knelt down to give a gift to Nel.
"Ah, little one, I have a present for you..."
Eyes glittering with curiosity, the girl pranced forward.
"Ooh! A present! What ith it, what ith it?"
"This!" The old sage replied, as he revealed a large leather sack from seemingly out of nowhere, its top bound by a loose knot.
Little fingers began working rapidly on the knot, as it was quickly undone.
"YATTA!"
The contents were soon revealed to be a bag of candy, one that made the child practically squeal with delight, her eyes wide upon beholding the sugary sweets.
"Thanks Yama-Ji!" She chirped, giving the aging sage a big hug at his legs, before she skipped back up to Naruto, taking her customary place on her surrogate father's shoulder giggling happily.
Said shinobi then approached the elder, whilst his surrogate daughter was already digging into her early morning deserts.
"Are you sure you want to stay here, Yamamoto-san?"
"I am sure."
Naruto showed a rare gesture of gratitude by bowing.
"Arigatou sensei for your help and guidance you've shown to me and my people these past few days."
"Ho!" The aged man chuckled in response.
"I haven't been called that in many a year!"
Shunsui and Yoruichi each bowed to their former Captain-Commander and with that they began their trek to rendezvous with the leader of the Crimson Blade's.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
One particular person in Naruto's party who was the unofficial liaison between Naruto and the bandits was deep in thought, as he trudged behind everyone else.
'Daisuke, what the hell have you gotten yourself into? This is the strangest group of people I've ever come across in my entire life...'
Briefly pausing, he began to look over the people he was traveling with.
'We've got a blonde swordsman who seems to have the power of the Devil himself. A little green-haired girl who while seemingly innocent, I get a strange feeling she's hiding something...
Now he had to be careful, lest he stare too long at the women ahead of him and lose his head.
'Besides those two, we also have three incredibly hot women all with eyes for no one but the leader of this motley group and finally a lazy straw hat wearing sword wielding pervert.'
Swallowing nervously, he hastily looked away, as Hinata's head began to turn in his direction.
'In fact I'm pretty sure that all of them could kill me without much trouble if they wanted.'
This is what worried Daisuke the most.
He was one of the strongest members of the Crimson Blade Bandits and if anyone of these people could kill him with ease then.
'Why does this Naruto Uzumaki want to join us?'
Daisuke shivered slightly, as he recalled the memory of Naruto slaughtering his comrades in an instant while they haggled over the split of booty they had stolen from a traveling caravan the bandits had murdered. Daisuke had been disgusted that his comrades has disobeyed orders from their leader about killing their robbery victims. However, he had been in no position to stop them, as he was only one man against many.
Daisuke remembered how powerful, skillful, and efficiently ruthless Naruto had been when he dispatched his comrades. And now this blonde-haired demon of a man was even stronger now than he was back then?
It didn't make any sense...
'Why does he wish to become a bandit?'
'This guy and his friend's are so strong they could take over a small village if they wanted too.' The Crimson Blade bandit silently mused, before the sound of his name interrupted his thoughts.
"Daisuke quit lagging behind and get up here. I want to talk to you about your organization."
Naruto looked over his shoulder, his smoldering eyes flashing red briefly and scaring the daylights out of the bandit, as he spoke.
"I know they're good at killing innocent travelers on the road, but I know little else about them."
He waved Daisuke to come forward.
"I want you to tell me all about and what it means to be a Crimson Blade bandit."
The tone and the way Naruto said this request made the bandit very uneasy, as if it was silently saying to him.
Tell me everything you know and you might live to see another day.
"H-hai Naruto-sama, I'll tell you everything I know." Daisuke quickly replied, as he ran to catch up with the blonde Jinchuuriki.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
While Naruto listened to the history of the Crimson Blade Bandits being told to him, a crimson-eyed beauty many miles away was slowly awakening from a peaceful night's slumber. As Kurenai stirred, she couldn't understand...
Why was her pillow softly thumping in her ear?
Opening her eyes, she blushed slightly as she realized that at some point during the night she must have turned over, as her head now rested comfortably on Kakashi's well toned chest, and her leg and arm were draped across his body.
Kurenai gazed up to look at the still sleeping face of Kakashi and smiled.
If he were still asleep, a few more minutes of sleep for herself wouldn't hurt, as she was quite comfortable at the moment...
Except for that damn kunai Kakashi had that was poking her in the leg.
Still half asleep, Kurenai reached down inside the sleeping bag to remove the annoying weapon.
'Why the Hell would Kakashi keep a kunai in the sleeping bag all the way down here, and why wrap it up in cloth?' Kurenai absently thought, as she grabbed the rather large offending weapon and attempted to pull it free.
However, the weapon refused to budge no matter how strongly Kurenai pulled. Groping around to try and unwrap the kunai, Kurenai finally found an opening flap to what she assumed was its cloth holster and reached inside.
It was then that Kurenai heard the shaky voice of Kakashi ask.
"What-what are you doing Kurenai?"
"I'm trying to remove this damn kunai that's poking me Kakashi." Kurenai groggily replied, as her hand wrapped around the object she spoke of.
"That's-that's n-not a kunai Kurenai." Kakashi stammered through clenched teeth.
It was at that moment Kurenai's brain registered the feeling of the object in her hand, as a kunai did not feel warm or pulsate.
About one second later, the scream that ripped through the forest seemed to echo for miles.
As the scream died down, Kurenai was frantically pacing about the campsite, while Kakashi was nursing a lump to his head delivered by his very agitated Jounin companion, as she flew out of the sleeping bag.
Rubbing the lump on his head and groaning in frustration, Kakashi asked in an irritated voice.
"What was that for?"
Kurenai stopped pacing and glared at the silver haired Jounin before saying with anger.
"I told you last night if you did anything perverted you would pay for it!"
"Excuse me, I didn't do anything perverted."
He shot her a keen glare and added,
"If you recall, it was not my hand in someone's pants but yours!"
Kurenai turned beet red at this statement, before she shakily pointed to the lower half of Kakashi's body and attempted to stammer out in defense.
"Well-well, how, how do you explain th-that?"
Kakashi looked down to what Kurenai was referring to, before quickly covering up and saying.
"Oh that, that would have been there whether you were in the sleeping bag or not. You certainly had nothing to do with it."
Kurenai's face developed a tick mark, as a look if indignation spread across it. Kakashi seeing this look quickly attempted to assuage the now insulted, as well as angry kunoichi before him by saying.
"I-I didn't mean you couldn't cause that, to happen Kurenai. I mean someone as beautiful as you could easily cause such a reaction. Just ask any male above the age of 12 back in the village, ha, ha, ha."
'Oh I wish I hadn't said that last part.' Kakashi thought, as he slapped his hand to his face before peering out between his fingers to look at Kurenai.
Upon hearing Kakashi's statement, Kurenai's body went rigid.
She silently pondered what to do next.
Kakashi took note of this, as he sighed and thought to himself:
'Yup, I'm a dead man.'
However, death did not come to the Copy Nin, as Kurenai merely growled through clenched teeth before growling out.
"Let us never speak of what happened here ever again! I'm going to get some firewood!"
The dark-haired Jounin kunoichi then stomped off into the woods
As Kakashi watched intently Kurenai storm off into the forest, he exhaled a sigh of relief and thought to himself.
'Well, I don't why she didn't kill me, but thank Kami she didn't. I do have to say one thing though.'
"She's got a great ass!"
Unbeknownst to Kakashi, when Kurenai got a sufficient distance away from the campsite, she too exhaled a sigh of relief. The reason Kurenai hadn't killed Kakashi for what he said was because her mind hadn't been really focused on the last part of his statement, but more on the middle, as she thought to herself.
'He-he thinks I'm beautiful.'
Kurenai then stared at her hand, while a mild blush spread across her face, as she then stated with amusement.
"Well, it may not have been the weapon I thought it was...
The next part was spoken so softly that no one was likely to hear it.
...But it's the biggest damn weapon I've ever seen or felt in my entire life."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Several miles away from the Konoha Jounin, Ino was awakened by the smell of brewing coffee.
Rising wearily from her sleeping bag, she spied Sasuke brewing a pot by a small fire.
Seeing the blonde kunoichi was awake, Sasuke poured her a cup and handed it to her.
Taking a sip to clear her head, Ino commented in annoyance, and then spat out the brown liquid.
"Your coffee sucks Sasuke!"
"Yeah it does, but it will wake you up Ino."
"Why are we waking up so soon? We only got a few hours of sleep after we took down Sakura and Kiba, can't we sleep a little longer?"
"No Ino we can't, time is of the essence. I know we pushed ourselves hard last night to put some distance between us and Sakura and mutt-boy, be we have to get going and find Naruto now."
"But why Sasuke?"
Sasuke glanced at Ino's eyes briefly before quickly turning his head to the side and saying.
"Because today is the final day of the two weeks Tsunade gave me to find Naruto and bring him back to the Leaf village. If I don't do that today, then I'm supposed to carry out his, his…elimination."
"You mean his murder don't you Sasuke?" Ino spat with contempt.
The brooding Uchiha said nothing in response.
After awhile and wishing to change the subject, he asked Ino in curiosity.
"You know Ino, I understand running into Sakura out here, I figure she's looking for Naruto the same as us, but why is Kiba out here?"
A look of confusion spread across the blonde's face.
"How did she get hooked up with him?"
"I've been wondering about that to...
She leaned back on her haunches.
"I don't know how they got together, maybe the same way we did and they decided to team up to find Naruto like us."
"But why is Kiba looking for Naruto?"
"I don't think he is Sasuke, I'm pretty sure he's looking for someone else."
"Who?"
"Hinata." Ino quietly stated.
"Hinata, she's out here looking for him too? Why is she out here Ino?"
"For the same reason I am you idiot! She just figured it out quicker than I did and left a few days before me to try and find Naruto. She's never stopped loving Naruto and loves him as much today as she always has."
Sasuke just stared at Ino with a bewildered look on his face before snickering which soon became hearty laughter. This unnerved the blonde haired kunoichi a bit, as the normally stoic Uchiha rarely laughed or smiled about much of anything.
After a minute of listening to Sasuke laugh out loud, Ino couldn't stand it anymore.
"What's so damn funny Sasuke?"
In between chuckles, he managed to speak.
"I'm-I'm sorry Ino. I'm not laughing at you I swear it. I was just thinking back to the academy days when you and Sakura wouldn't give Naruto the time of day or if you did, it was to beat the crap out of him and Hinata was too shy to even say hi to him."
Amazed at it himself, he gave a low whistle.
"Now a few short years later, the dobe is fighting off the three prettiest girls from our class with a stick."
"Don't call Naruto a dobe! And don't lump Hinata in with me and Sakura! We were too blind to notice what a wonderful guy Naruto was back then because we were stupidly chasing after an emo traitor to the village!" Ino lashed out in furious anger.
Sasuke immediately stopped laughing, as his face resumed its normal stony appearance while he looked to the ground in silence. Ino saw this and immediately felt guilty about what she had just said.
Taking a deep breath then exhaling, she said in a contrite and soft voice.
"I'm sorry Sasuke; I didn't mean to say that. I lost my temper because you called Naruto a dobe and it brought up some memories about how Sakura and I treated Naruto that I would just as soon forget."
Her next words held quite a bit of truth.
"If you're going to refer to anyone as a dobe, it ought to be Sakura and me for treating him that way. Certainly not Hinata, she always recognized how special Naruto-kun is even back then."
Sighing, Sasuke stated with regret.
"It's alright Ino, I understand."
He paused to look to the horizon.
"I did betray the village and that's something I'm always going to have to live with. I'm sorry I referred to Naruto as a dobe; I don't mean it in an insulting way. It's just sort of our thing between the two of us.
A mental image of his comrade and himself appeared in his head, back when they were younger.
"I'm the teme and he's the dobe."
"Yeah, I never did understand that between the two of you."
Sasuke gave her a deadpanned look.
"It's a guy-thing Ino."
"Whatever... Ino replied while rolling her eyes, as she and Sasuke began repacking their supplies to continue their search for Naruto.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was late morning when Sakura and Kiba regained consciousness and their mood was none too happy.
After freeing Akamaru from the pit he was trapped in, Kiba's angry howl was heard throughout the woods.
"I swear when I find the guy, who sucker punched me, I'm going to tear him limb from limb!"
As imagining his prey, his clawed hands raked at the empty air.
"I'll bet it was Naruto, that bastard!"
Sakura glared momentarily at Kiba for his remark, before Akamaru starting barking to his Inuzuka partner. After a couple of minutes, Kiba growled in annoyance and began heading back to their campsite. Sakura quickly followed behind and asked.
"What is it Kiba, what did Akamaru say?"
"Akamaru said it wasn't Naruto who ambushed us, but two other people. One of them apparently used some sort of jutsu to take over Akamaru and lead us into that trap."
'They used a jutsu to take over Akamaru that sounds like Ino pig's family jutsu.'
A small gasp escaped her throat, as she thought.
'Oh no, don't tell me that blonde headed bitch is out here looking for Naruto as well.'
"Does Akamaru know or did he see who it was that attacked us Kiba?"
Shaking himself out of his rage, the Inuzuka shook his head.
"No, they used something to mask their scent, but he did say that the two figures who jumped over the pit were wearing Anbu masks and clothing."
'Shit, that cinches it! Ino-pig is in the Anbu, but I wonder who her partner is?'
As Sakura was silently trying to unlock that mystery, she suddenly realized that if it was Ino, she couldn't let her find Naruto before she did.
Whirling about Sakura stated to the Inuzuka heir and his canine.
"Well, whoever they were, they cost us a lot of time in finding Naruto and Hinata. We need to get moving now!
Kiba nodded his head in agreement, as the pair of them immediately began packing up their supplies to resume their searches once more.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The sun was beginning to set when Naruto and his party reached the top of a hill overlooking the Crimson Blades encampment. The camp was comprised of various tents of all sizes. However, directly in the center was a very large tent that had guards posted all around it. Obviously the headquarters of this mysterious leader Daisuke had told Naruto about.
There were several people milling about the encampment including several women and children either doing chores or playing. Naruto had learned from Daisuke that several members of the organization including himself had wives and children who traveled with them, as the bandits crisscrossed the various lands and countries, never staying in one place for too long.
As Naruto surveyed the camp, he silently thought.
'So these are the infamous Crimson Blades huh, not much, but better than I was expecting. Most of the chakra signatures I'm sensing are low level Chunin rank. There are a few like Daisuke who with some training could be upgraded to upper level Chunin to low level Jounin. However, there are a couple of signatures I sense coming from that central main tent that are very strong. One of them in fact I would deem as upper level Jounin at the very least. There looks to be around 125 to 150 signatures not including the women and children, that should be enough to get the job done.'
"Naruto-sama, we should get going. The leader expressed a great interest in meeting you and he does not like to be kept waiting." Daisuke politely stated to the blonde Jinchuuriki.
Nodding, the blonde's demeanor changed slightly.
"Yes, yes let's not keep him waiting any longer. I too wish to meet him, especially after what you've told me on our journey here." Naruto coldly replied, as he took Nel from Yoruichi.
Nel had spent the day being carried by the neko woman upon the child's insistence of wanting to spend some time with the newest potential wifey-chan for Naruto much to his chagrin. Setting the young girl upon his shoulder, Naruto and everyone else made their way down the hill towards the Crimson Blades encampment.
A short time later, Naruto and company entered the bandit camp making their way to the center of it. It was quite obvious that news of what Naruto had done a few days ago had spread through the camp like wildfire.
Many of the women were ushering their children into tents out of apprehension and fear of these newcomers. While many of the men simply glared or turned away from Naruto and his companions. However one woman holding a small little girl in her arms not much younger than Nel ran up to them and cried out.
"Daisuke-kun!"
"Ayame-chan, Haruko-chan!"
As Daisuke hugged and kissed both his wife and child, he asked with love and care.
"I've missed you my sweet Ayame, have you and Haruko been alright since I've been gone?"
"Yes Daisuke my love, we've been fine. Sakaki has been sniffing around from time to time, but other than that we've been good."
"Sakaki!" Daisuke growled in anger.
Ayame kissed his cheek lightly.
"Don't think anything about it. Sakaki wouldn't dare try anything; he knows the leader would kill him without a thought if he tried something."
"I suppose, but I think I may just have to kill that bastard one of these days!" Daisuke spat in frustration, before a cough from Naruto brought him back to the situation at hand. Looking over to the large blonde haired warrior, he heard Naruto ask while lifting his mask.
"So, are you going to introduce us Daisuke-san?"
"For-forgive me Naruto-sama, this is my wife Ayame and my little girl Haruko, may I present Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto gave a small bow to the young woman and her child before saying.
"Ah yes Ayame-san, Daisuke and I have discussed you on a couple of occasions during our travels."
Daisuke nervously gulped upon hearing that and decided he wanted to get Naruto as far from his wife and child as possible. Kissing his wife and child once more, he quickly ushered Ayame and his daughter into a tent before returning to Naruto and saying.
"Forgive the delay Naruto-sama; we should head to that meeting with the leader right now."
"You will not be meeting the leader, because where you stand right now is where you will all die!" Sakaki stated with certainty, as a dozen bandits surrounded Naruto and his party with swords drawn.
Naruto looked over to the man who threatened them and remembered it was the bandit he had punished a couple of days ago for his arrogant attitude with him. Letting loose a robust yet ominous laugh, Naruto commented with malevolence.
"I see you still haven't learned your lesson yet worm. Two days ago I was merciful, now I'm tired and you're delaying me from my meeting. I hope all of you are ready to die, because I won't hold back my blade this time-
However, before Naruto could put Nel down and draw his Zanpaktou, Yoruichi had stepped in front of him and in a sweet sultry voice much to the irritation of both Hinata and Yugito requested.
"Please allow me to handle this riff-raff Naru-kun."
Naruto paused a moment, before nodding his head in approval.
Then in a flash of light, Yoruichi disappeared only to reappear a few seconds later holding a blade to Sakaki's throat, as 12 heads rolled off the bodies surrounding Naruto and his companions.
Just as Yoruichi was about to dispatch Sakaki in the same fashion, a voice thundered out from behind her. As everyone turned around, they all spied a mysterious massive figure who was wrapped in a dark robe and wearing a mask walking towards them.
Daisuke dropped to a knee in reverence, as did everyone around them save Naruto and his party along with Sakaki who was still facing the losing end of Yoruichi's Zanpaktou. When the foreboding leader reached Naruto he spoke in a distorted voice through his mask and asked.
"What is going on here Daisuke? I expected you to bring this man and his companions to me immediately. Why are they still here and why is my camp now littered with a dozen headless bodies?"
Shooting a glare at the sniveling man, said warrior spoke.
"Forgive me leader-sama, I attempted to do as you ordered, but Sakaki-teme over there decided to attack this man and his friends. Much to their detriment as you can see leader-sama." Daisuke replied with a smirk, as he glanced towards the now seething Sakaki.
The Crimson Blade leader turned towards Naruto and gave a small bow before saying.
"I apologize, please forgive this insult, I did not invite you here for such a reception. I only wished to meet the man whom I have heard so many things about in whispers."
"The fault is not yours leader-san, I'm sure it's quite difficult trying to keep under control worms like that wretch over there. I accept your apology." Naruto replied, while returning a respectful bow.
"Thank you Naruto-san, speaking of worms please allow me to deal with this one. Sakaki, get to your tent and stay there until I think of a suitable punishment for your transgression here tonight. And if I were you, I would spend the night praying to Kami that I'm feeling merciful by the time I deal you, be gone!"
As Yoruichi sheathed her Zanpaktou, Sakaki gave a brief bow to everyone and scurried off into the camp while Naruto and his party followed the bandit leader to the main tent and went inside.
As the leader sat down in a large ornately decorated chair, a large black crow flew into the tent and perched onto his shoulder.
Naruto, who still had Nel sitting upon his shoulder smirked slightly, as he motioned the others to sit to the side while he stood and faced the Crimson Blade leader.
As the two men stared at one another for a minute, it was the bandit leader who broke the ice and asked.
"So, I understand you wish to join the Crimson Blade Bandits."
"No I don't." Naruto coolly replied, causing most everyone to look up in surprise.
The bandit leader cocked his head in curiosity of that reply before asking.
"If you don't wish to join my organization, then why are you here?"
"Well, the truth is I need a small army of fighters to take with me to the Spring country. However, it can't be just any army, because I need skilled fighters, to help me battle a small but powerful group of missing nin's currently lying in wait for me there."
Smirking, he looked round the encampment.
"And since small armies aren't something I can just go down to the local village to acquire seeing as I'm a missing nin myself."
Naruto shrugged his shoulders.
"I figured your group of bandits should be sufficient to help me get the job done."
The leader stared silently at Naruto for about a minute before he calmly asked.
"And what makes you think I would lead my men into the Spring country just to help you out?"
Naruto's grin was downright feral now.
"Oh you probably wouldn't, which is why you can't be the leader anymore."
Naruto then drew his blade, but kept it in its sealed state, allowing the huge guillotine like blade to crash to the ground beneath it.
He wouldn't be pulling out his ace that easily.
"It's my understanding from Daisuke-san that anyone can challenge you for the leadership of the Crimson Blade Bandits by a test of battle with you."
Naruto then hefted his Zanpaktou onto his shoulder with practiced ease and asked.
"If I'm able to make you submit or just kill you, then the leadership of the gang automatically falls to me, right?"
"Yes, quite correct." The Crimson Blade leader curtly replied, as he leveled a harsh gaze at Daisuke who was about to wet himself over what had just happened.
Turning back to Naruto, he stated with authority:
"We'll have our battle for the leadership of the Crimson Blade Bandits in the morning. Until then I invite you and your companions to dine with me this evening and rest yourselves until the morning comes.'
Cold dark eyes glinted out at him.
"Is that acceptable to you Naruto-San?"
The blond strapped his sword to his back again, buckling the clasp that held it in place.
"That is most gracious of you leader-san, we accept. However, I do have one small request to make."
"What's that?"
"If you would, please drop the henge leader-san. I would like to know who I am really fighting in the morning, not this fake image sitting before me."
"Very good, no one has seen through my henge before. I hope you and especially your friends like surprises!" The Crimson Blade leader said with a smirk, as he stood up and his body's image began to flicker away.
An instant later a very large muscular with pronounced cheekbones and hairless eyebrow ridges was revealed. The man had a lone visible green left eye, while the right eye was covered with an eye-patch. The hulking man also sported long and stringy black hair styled into stiff strands with small bells attached to its tips. However the most notable feature the man bore in his appearance is his long thin scar running down the left side of his face. His attire consisted of a sleeveless captain's haori that has a ragged look to it. Lastly, another interesting fact was that the crow was revealed to be a small girl with short shoulder length pink hair and dark pink eyes, while sporting a perpetual blush on her cheeks. Still sitting upon the large man shoulder she was swinging her little legs back and forth in contented happiness.
The girl's pink colored hair threw Naruto for a moment, but the blonde Jinchuuriki quickly focused his attention back onto the man standing before him, The man's size was so massive, that he actually made Naruto look small by comparison. While the little girl looked to be no older than Nel, as they both smiled and waved to one another. Suddenly, two voices rang out in shock and surprise, one from Shunsui and the other from Yoruichi.
"I don't believe it!"
"It can't be...
The giant of a man chuckled.
"Oh but it is Yoruichi and Shunsui!"
Bowing slightly before the two former Shinigami and sweeping his arm in front of himself in a overly dramatic fashion he announced.
"The one and only Zaraki Kenpachi at your service."
He then looked to the guest upon his shoulder and said.
"And you two remember this ball of energy that is my First Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi."
"Hiiiiiiiii... Shun-kun! Hiiiiiiiii...Yoru-chan!" Yachiru squealed in greeting.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Author Notes: Now I bet all of you are slapping your hand to your forehead and exclaiming to yourself.
"Oh why didn't I see a hole through the fabric of time, space, and dimensions, as the explanation of why the Bleach characters are now residing in the Naruto world."
Well, don't beat yourself too bad over it, just kidding, but when you think about it, could there really be any other explanation that would make sense, lol. Seriously, I tried not to get too complex or complicated and simplify the explanation of the Shinigami/Arrancar War and why some of the Bleach characters were now residing in the Naruto universe as best as I could, so readers who aren't familiar with Bleach wouldn't be lost in the story. I hope I succeeded in doing that, but all of you to be the judge of that?
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the latest installment of this revised story. A good portion of the original chapter I left alone since I wrote the majority of it except for some minor changes here and there. I did however have to do some major writing with the Naruto/Hinata scene and to provide the explanation and probably added about 3500+ word count over the original chapter. You'll notice a major change with regards from the original story in I've changed Zaraki's companion from a childlike Orihime to his normal First Lieutenant Yachiru. The use of a childlike Orihime in the original version was actually my idea, but I was never really comfortable with it after it was implemented. I'm actually not that much of a fan of Yachiru in Bleach, but keeping her with Zaraki as she is in the original manga in a weird sort of way makes sense. Anyway, I'm curious to see what everyone thought about the chapter and look forward to hearing how it was with the readers. My thanks again to everyone for your continued support, now onto the news and something I could really use your help on.
News:
For the past few chapters I've alerted my readers to a couple of polls set up on each of their accounts by the fine authors brown phantom and Zentary asking the question.
Who is the best Naruto fanfic writer on this site?
Zentary's poll has remained open and is still active.
Regrettably, brown phantom has ended his poll on this question. However, he has started a new poll asking,
Which is the best Naruto fan fiction story on this site?
So I humbly ask if you feel I'm worthy of being one of your 10 picks to please place a vote for me in Zentary's poll. And if you feel this story or any of my stories are worthy of nomination in brown phantom's new poll. I thank you in advance for your support and the links to the profile pages for both brown phantom and Zentary are listed below.
brown phantom www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/u/1634435/
Zentary www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/u/2022054/
End of News:
I'm still very pleased that this revised story seems to be a hit with most people. I also want to thank those readers who take the time to leave a review for the tale. They're very helpful in letting me know how the story is progressing with all of you. And they really do assist an author out in knowing what people like about a story. Thanks again to everyone for all of your support.
Take it easy and be good!
Kingkakashi