Welcome back to this long overdue update. Let's not waste any time and get into it.
Be sure to check out that man AizenTheGoat though whether for this story or for his many other excellent works.
Onward.
Urahara wasted no time and began reading the next chapter.
Tsunade groaned and leaned back into her chair. It was early in the morning, and yet she was already fed up. Shizune had informed her of the numerous meetings she had lined up for the day, and then handed her a pile of documents that needed to be looked over and approved or denied. It was mostly mission requests from new or returning clients, but she had seen that there were a few from citizens complaining about their property taxes. What a bunch of whiners.
Tsunade looked almost green at the thought of her workload as Hokage.
"Why the hell does Naruto want this job?" She muttered to herself, her hands squeezing her temples as the pain in her forehead had become far too familiar the last few days.
"You wouldn't get it." The boy said with a simple chuckle.
The odd look in his eyes set off a bit of worry within the other Shinobi.
With an exaggerated sigh, Tsunade sat forward as she rested one of her elbows on the desk and her head on a fist before beginning to go through the pile. Everything from Academy budget requests to high ranking missions passed through her hands, and none of them were remotely interesting. Assigning teams to specific missions was a welcome distraction, but soon she was back to signing off documents.
"Huh, alright you have a bit of newfound respect from me." Urahara said as they went over some of the things Tsunade had to deal with.
The bottle of booze in her bottom drawer seemed to be calling her with every sheet that she added to the completed pile. Just as she was about to say 'fuck it' and step out for a few minutes, a report caught her eye. She blinked as she read the first paragraph, and soon sat up straight as her focus returned.
She'd heard whispers of this particular situation when she was traveling with Shizune, but she hadn't thought too much of it. Konoha's intelligence, however, had been closely monitoring the civil war in Kirigakure, and it seemed like the conflict was beginning to ramp up. The bloodline purges were nothing new to anyone, and had been happening for close to a decade at this point. Some had resisted before, but the Sandaime Mizukage, Yagura, had stamped them out ruthlessly. From what this report said, though, this particular resistance seemed different. Large scale battles had yet to happen, but it seemed the rebels had whisked away a fair few clans that had been on the brink of extinction, despite Yagura's best efforts.
"Bloodline purges like that…terrible." Isshin commented.
Naruto nodded in agreement. He'd met victims of the situation in Kirigakure. One of them had left a deep impact on him as a person too.
Tsunade frowned. It didn't make sense why the Mizukage would want his village's bloodlines wiped out. Clans with bloodlines made a village stronger, and her own village was a prime example of this. Konoha had been founded by the two strongest clans in the world, and more soon followed. That was why they had produced some of the best shinobi in history.
"Why get rid of such a useful part of your forces?" She pondered aloud. A powerful village brought in missions, merchants, and even tourists. Indiscriminately reduce your forces, and you run the risk of affecting your economy and the lives of the villagers.
"That is suspicious. Something else might be going on that we aren't aware of." Jiraiya said as he frowned deeply.
"It sounds to me like your counterpart in the Hidden Mist has become the puppet of another." Aizen suggested.
"A worrying thought considering they could do effectively control a large." Jiraiya replied.
Knowing that pondering on it longer would yield no results, she continued reading. As of now, only a few small skirmishes had happened. Mainly consisting of the Mizukage's men eliminating cells of rebels in their entirety. One page in particular stood out to her, and she further leaned forward in her chair as her eyes darted across the document. The leader of the rebels, an unnamed woman with a yōton bloodline, had engaged Yagura in combat and survived. Her interest quelled as she turned the page. This woman had apparently barely escaped with her life and the Mizukage sustained little to no injury, and reportedly had not even used the power of his bijū. It seemed to be the only time Yagura was directly mentioned to have participated, however, and that he usually left it up to his shinobi to quell resistance.
Tsunade tapped her fingers softly across the desk and closed her eyes. This wasn't making her headache any better. She wondered what the other Kage were thinking as they were no doubt also keeping an eye on the situation. The civil war in Kiri didn't just affect the Land of Water, but the other great villages too, as well as the smaller ones such as Kusa and Taki.
"An imbalance of power." Urahara nodded.
If Yagura's madness persisted, it wasn't a stretch to say that war could soon be on the horizon. Whether it be through his eagerness for violence, or his prejudice against kekkei genkai. It would not be in the immediate future, no, but they would still need to build up their forces for something like that. If the Mizukage decided to extend his influence further out, there was no doubt that some would join him.
"Kumo might join if he pitched the idea well enough." She muttered softly, her mind racing. She guessed that it would hinge on how deep Yagura's seeming hatred of bloodlines extended, and if he could turn a blind eye to an ally so eager for them. The Raikage was always looking to strengthen his village through whatever means necessary, and the Hyuga incident was only a drop in the bucket when it came to what he would do to get them.
Her gaze moved away from the papers to the portraits of Konoha's previous Kage. Tsunade momentarily kept her gaze on the first two, her eyes softening in nostalgia, before moving on to the youngest man on the wall. Minato Namikaze had a fearsome reputation, one that made him hated and beloved all across the Elemental Nations. However, the former emotion ran deepest in one village in particular.
"Iwa would jump at the chance for war, especially if it had the backing of two great villages." She finished with a frown. Konoha had an ally in Suna, but it was tenuous at best given the recent invasion. It would be a while until relations returned to how they were, and as it stood they were weakest of the five, and did not even have a Kage at the moment. Their Jinchūriki did not have the control Yagura possessed, either. Konoha, too, was a far cry from its past greatness. Naruto had little ability with the Kyūbi, and their forces were still reeling from both the invasion and the attack 12 years ago. Under normal circumstances, the two villages wouldn't stand a chance against the combined might of three.
"You're painting a pretty grimm picture here, Tsunade." Ichigo said.
"That's because it is a grimm picture." She simply replied.
Under normal circumstances.
For Tsunade had something no other village could contend with. Orange hair and a warm smile flashed through her mind, and she smirked. Based on everything she knew and what he had told her, she knew that as long as he was with them, they had no reason to worry over their safety.
Isshin grinned nudged Ichigo who rolled his eyes, though he couldn't help glancing at the woman.
"Man, you are so unfair." Naruto complained though the laugh at the end of his comment showed that he wasn't bothered.
If anything the Shinobi looked relieved that Ichigo was present in that alternate Konoha to help it if it became necessary.
She had felt only a portion of his power, given what he had told her of 'Shikai' and 'Bankai', and even her grandfather didn't come close to it. She raised her right hand, trembling slightly as the memory of that day bubbled forth. How he had begun disintegrating her with just his presence alone, and how it felt as if there was something she could not sense pressing down on the very essence of her being.
Clenching her fist, her mind turned to his battle with otherworldly beings, and how he had returned to her with only a single mark. He described the battle succinctly, but she shivered as she recalled his words. Unthinkable speed and planet breaking power. She was the Hokage, and her duty was to protect her village. If anything, Ichigo was the greatest threat to not just her village, but to her entire world. If he decided something, there was nothing she could do to stop him. She should be informing others about the danger he posed, and making plans to neutralize him if need be. Fear and caution should be the only things she treated him with.
And yet she only felt joy and care bloom within her breast at the thought of him.
Naruto giggled only to hiss and clutch his ear while glaring at Tsunade. The woman didn't look his way acting simply like nothing had happened.
Putting the paper down, she let her mind drift to the day prior. His hope of using the Hiraishin had been crushed, but he claimed to have another lead. He hadn't told her what that was, but he seemed to be hopeful. While she'd rather see him in high spirits than with a dejected look, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if this lead was a dead end as well. How did you console someone who could never see their loved ones again? It wasn't as if they were dead, they were just inaccessible to him. She couldn't decide which was worse, and her eyes turned down.
No, Ichigo wasn't selfish, not like she was.
"You're too hard on yourself." Ichigo shook his head as he spoke.
"Better to not think about it now. Deal with it if, and when, the time comes." She said to herself, exhaling deeply. Looking down at the desk, she noticed the stack of documents had seemingly not shrunk at all despite having already gone over a number of them. Humming to herself, she pushed the stack to the side and gently kicked the underside of the desk to push herself back.
Fishing a key out of her pocket, she unlocked one of the lowermost drawers on the desk and pulled out the two ancient scrolls Ichigo had handed her when he had returned from his otherworldly adventure. Being careful not to damage the delicate material as she unraveled them, she placed them down on the desk and frowned.
"I can't read any of this." She said, flipping the scroll around one more time. In an attempt she knew would probably yield no results, she rotated it 90 degrees so that she could read it vertically. As expected, that didn't help at all. The symbols on the scroll just didn't resemble any characters she knew. Maybe the intelligence division would have better luck, but she didn't want to expose these just yet.
The last thing she wanted was word getting out about extraterrestrial scrolls being in Konoha. Tsunade wouldn't put it past Danzo to try and get his hands on it. What good it would do him, she wasn't sure. but it was not something she was willing to find out. Making sure to carefully cover the scrolls with some of the documents she had pushed aside, Tsunade called one of the ANBU stationed outside the office.
"Yeah that would only end poorly." Jiraiya scowled in thought about Danzo
"Someone causing problems for you?" Aizen asked.
"More like capable of causing problems but also capable of getting things done." Tsunade answered. As much as she didn't like the man, he could be useful at times.
A shinobi wearing a bird mask appeared in front of the desk, down on one knee while resting his arm atop it. Without looking up, the man spoke. "Lady Fifth."
"I need you to deliver something for me." She said, pulling out a small white sheet. Scribbling down a quick note, she folded it in half and handed it to her subordinate. "Take this to Kurosaki Ichigo. He's staying at my estate."
The ANBU operative took the note, and with a nod, disappeared from the office. Crossing one leg over the other, Tsunade leaned back in her chair, idly rocking back and forth while she waited. Her eyes traveled down to where the scrolls had been hidden and wondered just what they would say. They seemed ancient, would any information on them even be relevant anymore, let alone useful?
"I gotta say, having those ANBU at your beck and call seems really nice." Ichigo commented.
"Like personal assistants that are also assassin's and guards." Tsuande grinned.
The slight clearing of Shizune's throat had the blonde shooting her apprentice and apologetic look.
"What if the same people Ichigo fought wrote them?" She muttered almost inaudibly. "Or they could just be ramblings that mean nothing to us." She continued.
"Gonna drive yourself crazy like that, granny." Naruto chided getting a scowl from the woman both for the nickname and trying to give her advice at the ripe age of thirteen.
Time seemed to pass by slowly and still no Ichigo. She knew he could have arrived in an instant if he wanted, so what the hell was taking him so long? Fortunately, before Tsunade could enter one of her moods, a knock on the door caught her attention. Yelling at him to come in, she smiled when she saw her orange haired housemate approach the desk.
Ichigo yawned, covering his mouth as he did so, and gave her a questioning look. "Any reason you called me here this early? I was still sleeping." He asked with a bland look.
Tsunade gave him a once over. His hair was somewhat frazzled, an indication that he'd just gotten out of bed, and his clothes weren't in their usually neat positions. One of his sleeves rested an inch higher than the other, and a small part on his left side was caught at the waist of his pants.
"Really taking in every inch of him, Lady Tsunade." Shizune teased.
Tsunade happily ignored her.
"Sorry to disturb you this early." She said, though Ichigo detected no sincerity in her apology. The smile she wore screamed that she was enjoying getting a reaction from him. Before she continued, she made sure the office was free of anyone other than themselves. "I wanted to talk to you about these. I don't understand whatever is on these. It's a shot in the dark but I figured I'd see if you knew. Seeing as you're not from around here and all."
Still eyeing Tsunade with a bit of annoyance for waking him up, he sighed and gently picked one of the scrolls up. Ignoring her cries for him to be more careful, he brought it up to his face, making sure his face was hidden. His eyes darted across the aged parchment, and he couldn't understand anything either, but the immature part of him figured this would be a good chance to get her back.
"Little shit." She bit out only to receive a grin from the orange haired boy.
Lowering the scroll, he let his eyes slowly trail from right to left while muttering some phrases in English, tossing in a couple of Spanish words he'd picked up from Chad for good measure. He didn't look at her directly, but he could see Tsunade perk up. Containing his grin, he continued repeating the same sentence over and over until he finally reached the end of the scroll. He picked up the next scroll and repeated the motions, only changing the sentences.
Once he was finished, he put on a pensive face and rubbed his chin, all the while ignoring the expectant look the blonde was sending him.
"Well?" She asked impatiently.
"I...understood nothing." He replied simply, nodding his head with his hand on his chin.
Several in the room broke into laughter. Even Shizune giggled at Tsunade's expense and Naruto laughed a bit too hard at the small prank.
Tsunade's eye twitched in annoyance, and for a moment, the thought of throwing one of her paperweights at him crossed her mind before she calmed herself. She slumped back in her chair and carefully rolled the scrolls up again.
"I figured, but it was worth a shot." She sighed. "When you met them…" She said, referring to the people he fought. "Did they say anything about the scrolls? Or anything at all that would be a cause for concern?"
Ichigo thought back to his encounter with Momoshiki and Kinshiki, as far as he could remember there was nothing other than threats against him personally. That and…
"Well, there was one thing that happened while we were fighting." Ichigo said slowly, trying to remember the exact name he'd heard. "When they saw my horn, one of them asked if Otsutsuki Isshiki was in control, whatever that meant. Other than that, nothing important."
He mentally made a note to ask Momoshiki about that when the time came as well. He clearly knew someone out there, which meant their reach was widespread.
"In control?" Tsunade muttered. Shaking her head, she filed that bit of information away for later. "Anyway, that was all I needed from you. If you want to go back to sleep you can."
"Oh that's kinda cruel Tsunade." Jiraiya commented though the smile on his face showed he didn't mean it a bit.
"Yeah, that's not happening. Now that I'm up I'm not going back to sleep until later tonight. I'll probably go get breakfast somewhere and find a spot to train."
The mention of training reminded Tsunade of what happened the last time she had allowed him to use her training grounds. "Only low level techniques. If you blow up another one of my fields I'll have your ass." She said sternly.
She shot him a look in the room as well causing Ichigo to raise his hands in mock surrender.
"Don't worry, I'm working on a defensive technique. No blowing anything up. I promise."
Tsunade was skeptical, but nodded warily. "Fine. Also, what do you want to eat tonight? Despite what Shizune believes I'm actually a little ahead of schedule, so I'll make something this time."
"Since when did you do domestic things like cook?" Jiraiya asked.
"Shut the hell up pervert." Tsunade growled.
Noticing the look on Naruto's face, she sighed and mentally noted to cook for him when they got back home. He needed a healthier diet anyway.
"Whatever you're in the mood for is fine. I'm not picky." He replied.
She shrugged, that made it easier for her. Before she could say anything else, both of them turned their attention to the window where moments later, Jiraiya landed and crouched on the windowsill.
"How many times have I told you to come in through the door?!" Tsunade yelled angrily, this time actually throwing one of her paperweights.
Jiraiya tilted his head, letting the projectile fly harmlessly past him and laughed. "Come on Tsunade, it's not that big of a deal." A boom resounded in the distance as the paperweight finished its path.
"It's an annoyance." She grumbled.
"So is property damage." Isshin awkwardly commented.
Seeing that the two teammates were likely going to talk about something, Ichigo excused himself, though he was very much aware of the older man's eyes boring into his back. As he reached for the knob, Jiraiya's voice called out to him.
"Can't help but feel like the other me and you aren't going to get along very well." Ichigo said.
"Wonder why." Jiraiya sarcastically replied.
"Wait."
Turning his head, he gave Jiraiya a quizzical look. He'd only spoken to him once on the way to Konoha about gambling, what could he possibly want with him?
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind waiting for me outside? I wanna talk to you." The way he said it didn't raise any alarm bells in Ichigo's mind but he was still cautious. He wasn't afraid or anything of the sort, but part of him wondered what he could want.
"Relax, you got the guy outmatched." Isshin 'comforted' his son.
Tsunade snorted in humor as Jiraiya glared at both Kurosaki men.
Discreetly glancing at Tsunade, he saw the buxom blonde shrug as if to say it was his call. Not wanting to be rude to one of her teammates, he nodded and excused himself. Walking down the hall, he smiled and greeted Shizune as she walked past him with a stack of papers in her hand. He remembered the sizable stack she already had on her desk and wondered how mad she would be when Shizune added more to the pile.
"She'll shout and cuss then get drunk and Shizune will have to make her do it." Naruto said simply.
"You sure are getting mouthy for someone I have the ability to put on d-ranks till they're old and grey."
Naruto paled comically at that threat.
Once he made it outside, Ichigo leaned against the wall next to the door and stared up at the bright sky. A couple of birds passed overhead and out of the corners of his eyes he could see some people moving along rooftops. With a heavy sigh, he looked back down toward the main street of the village, idly staring at both civilians and shinobi as they passed him by.
"Hope I didn't make you wait long." Jiraiya announced just as he exited the building.
"Not at all. So what did you need?" He asked in a polite tone.
"Well, I need to drop off a manuscript to one of my publishers in the next town over and I figured I'd ask you to tag along." He replied happily. "What do you say?"
Ichigo blinked, that wasn't what he expected. Then, another thought came to him. "You're a writer?"
"Interesting, I wouldn't have pegged you as such." Aizen shrugged as he spoke. It was a small unnecessary detail about the man truly.
Jiraiya grinned and nodded proudly. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a small orange book and handed it over to him. "I am. One of the best I might add. Feel free to keep that and let me know what you think later. Anyway, the reason I'm asking is because we didn't get a chance to talk on the way over here. Seeing as Tsunade and Shizune have a very high opinion of you, I guess you can say I'm somewhat curious about you."
Ichigo supposed that made sense, but something still felt off to him. There were split seconds both in the office and on the trek to Konoha that he'd felt Jiraiya stare at him with suspicion. There had to be more to this little "trip" than Jiraiya was actually saying. Most likely he wanted to try and catch him off guard with a question, but at the same time there had to be less obvious ways to get him alone. Ichigo really couldn't care less about his manuscript, but knowing that declining the invitation could potentially have Jiraiya look into him even more, he agreed.
"Great!" Jiraiya beamed. "Let's get going, we'll be back within an hour or two depending on our speed and how quickly we finish over there."
"Jiraiya if this whole thing is what I think it is, I won't be happy." Tsunade grumbled.
"Hehe, no no just gotta feel the kid out for Konoha you know." Jiraiya waved off her suspicion with light sweat on his brow.
"Sounds good."
Soon, the pair were walking out the front gate with the two guards standing up straight once they saw the older white haired man. It seemed that despite his carefree persona, he had done enough to earn the respect of the shinobi of the village. They nodded at him as he passed them as well, though he could see it was nothing more than a nod of acknowledgement.
Having made it into the forest, the two disappeared from their spots and took to the trees. They were moving a lot faster than he usually did with Tsunade, but it was still far below his usual speed. After about fifteen minutes of silence and watching the trees pass them by, Jiraiya spoke again.
"So, Ichigo, I hear you're from Yugakure." He said in a tone that indicated he already knew that to be the case. With a rather creepy smile, he turned to Ichigo and almost evilly rubbed his hands together. "Tell me, how are the beauties in the village? With those hot springs I can only imagine the research material I could gather for my books."
The mention of the small book he was now carrying in his pocket made him frown. Research? What kind of book did he give him? He really should have read the title before accepting.
Naruto snorted getting a slap on the back of the head from Jiraiya who in turn received one much harder from Tsunade.
"I think I have an idea." Urahara said.
"Uh, I suppose so. It's a tourist trap, so yeah there are some pretty girls who pass through.." He replied.
Jiraiya nodded. "I can imagine. So if you don't mind me asking, why'd you leave? Tsunade hasn't really told me much about you except that you have ridiculous luck. Though the way she said it makes it sound like you guys just cheated." He said with a grin.
"I just happen to be good at cards." He said, declining the accusation. "As for why I left…" He took a moment to recount the story he'd fabricated for himself before answering. "The village didn't want shinobi anymore, so I couldn't make a living. A bunch of us who had graduated from the academy ended up leaving to become bounty hunters."
"A respectable if somewhat dangerous profession. Most shinobi avoid conflict if possible, but you go looking for it. Must be pretty strong to go around chasing rogues." Any regular person would have taken the compliment for what it was, but Ichigo could understand there was an underlying curiosity about his strength. It made sense, he supposed. He's an unknown in the man's village tagging along with one of his teammates.
"True but it feels like a bit more to it." Ichigo said with an annoyed sigh.
Ichigo nodded humbly. "I can handle myself well enough. No one I've gone after has really given me any trouble."
"I'll say. You handled Kabuto as if he were an annoyance at best. Then there's also what you did to the training ground." He said with a knowing look. Before Ichigo could retort, Jiraiya continued. "What kind of technique did that? All I heard from Kakashi was that it was some sort of space-time technique."
The readers became quiet at that. Some of them like Naruto only now realizing how tense things could wind up between Ichigo and Konoha Shinobi. After all Ichigo was incredibly strong but he had no loyalty to a village at all.
That made him most similar to the likes of Akatsuki, which wasn't exactly good.
So that's what he was playing at. He was fishing for information but doing it in a roundabout way so as to not make it seem like he was being interrogated. Despite being one of Tsunade's teammates, Ichigo wouldn't tell him what he was or where he came from. The less people that knew, the better. Still, he would need to give the man something to work with.
"Honestly probably a good call." Jiraiya shrugged.
He suddenly recalled the conversation he'd had on the rooftop with Tsunade.
"We'll say that it's an effect of a kekkei genkai." She had told him, referring to his Reiryoku and the clan that could potentially see it.
"Thank you Tsunade." He said with a mental smirk. Looking back at Jiraiya who was still looking at him, he responded.
"Heh I suppose that one is for free." Tsunade chirped getting a round of rolled eyes and scoffs.
"It's an ability stemming from my kekkei genkai that I've been developing for a while now. It requires perfect control or else it usually blows up. I managed to get it once, which is what caused your first concern, then I lost focus the second time and the results weren't exactly favorable."
Jiraiya frowned in confusion, he wasn't aware there had been any shinobi from Yugakure with a kekkei genkai. There was no Kurosaki clan as far as he was aware. He supposed it wasn't too far-fetched for him to be the last of his people, it wouldn't be the first he'd heard of something like that. The image of both Naruto and Sasuke flashed through his mind.
"Wait what?" Naruto asked.
"What?" Jiraiya asked back.
"What do you mean last of my people?" Naruto asked again.
"Did he just not pay attention in class or do I need to handle some things?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes.
"We can find out later, I have an idea he didn't miss it though." Jiraiya replied nodding toward Tsunade.
Switching back to his happy persona, he whistled. "Must be a hell of a technique." He replied. "Was that how you got Tsunade to bring you with her?"
Ichigo shook his head. "Nah, I think it's because I won a lot of money for her and helped her a little against Orochimaru."
Jiraiya chuckled at his response and came to a stop. They hadn't been chatting for long, but their speed had gradually increased and now they could already see the town in question. Glancing over, he noticed sweat beading down Jiraiya's brow, and a look of satisfaction on his face. Ichigo cursed to himself, slowing down his movement. Hopping down to the ground, Ichigo patted himself and stuffed his hands in his pockets, his guard back up, hoping Jiraiya wouldn't ask about anything else.
"So what's the plan then? Start up a clan in Konoha?" The man asked.
"Wait you can just start a clan?" Naruto asked.
"It's not that easy." Shizune said softly before shushing him gently so that Urahara could continue.
"Not sure yet." He said, going along with the man's suggestion. "I'll make a decision in the future."
It looked like the man wanted to say something else, but they had finally made it to the publishing center. Jiraiya met with an older woman who seemed to beam at the manuscript and rushed him inside while motioning for Ichigo to enter. Sighing, he followed the pair in and made himself comfortable on a small couch in the room while the two discussed their business, wishing he had pushed Jiraiya off to Tsunade..
xxxx
An hour and half later, Ichigo was finally back in the village, this time carefully managing his pace. Maybe the sudden change just made him more suspicious to Jiraiya, but he wouldn't have Tsunade getting on his case about being lazy. Jiraiya had gone off somewhere for more 'research' but not before saying they should chat again sometime. Clearly his answers hadn't completely satisfied the man's curiosity, but at least for the time being, he should be good.
"Idiot." Tsunade scoffed toward Jiraiya's predictable actions.
As he stood in the center of the main street, he stepped aside in time to see Naruto zoom past him. He seemed to be in a rush and disappeared into the crowd for a split second before an orange blur made for the rooftops. Following his trajectory, Ichigo saw he was headed toward the hospital.
"You are always in a hurry, aren't you?" Ichigo asked the boy.
"Why get somewhere slower than I can get there. That's boring. Plus something probably happened." Naruto shrugged.
Jiraiya meanwhile wondered if this might be a certain day something happened among the newest batch of team seven.
Kakashi was already up and about, so what business could he still have there, He wondered idly. He shrugged, it wasn't his problem. Looking around, he picked out the nearby restaurants and wondered which one he was most in the mood for. Still not having had breakfast, his stomach rumbled loudly.
"Where was that place Anko and Kurenai had invited me to?" He muttered to himself. Unable to remember exactly, he picked one at random and hoped they had breakfast burritos or something similar.
As it turned out they didn't have them, but they did have traditional breakfast made with a 'special ingredient'. What that ingredient was, he didn't know, but it filled him up. That was all that mattered.
"Beats a breakfast burrito, honestly." Isshin commented.
"Well, that killed half an hour. Now what?" Ichigo realized that although some of the jonin had extended a branch of friendship to him, he still wasn't 'friends' with them. He didn't know where any of them frequented so he couldn't just go up to them and hang out. Yhwach's words about making friends repeated in his mind, he sure as hell didn't want to spend day after day wandering around by his lonesome.
Sighing to himself, he decided to check out the other training grounds the village had. Tsunade had given him the ok to train so long as a repeat of what happened last time didn't occur. It was a bit of a hindrance as he knew he could get Kurohitsugi down if he tried it a couple more times. He could see things from her point of view though, repairing an entire area couldn't be cheap and he would likely destroy it two more times at least if he tried.
"I have enough of a headache from my own Shinobi. Thank you very much for not adding to it." Tsunade gruffly stated.
Ichigo nodded toward her at that.
He supposed this would be a good opportunity to work on his Blut Vene. Being able to call upon it within seconds would only do him good. Before heading out to train though, he stopped at a small shop and bought a quick snack just so he wouldn't have to leave the training ground and potentially lose out on using it.
Just as he was going to leave, he glanced back up at the hospital only to see puffs of smoke appearing in short intervals. Sometimes they would appear at the edge of the building, others near the center. Remembering that he had seen Naruto pass by him in that direction, he could deduce that he was likely the cause of it.
"Oh." Naruto mumbled realizing what was happening.
Figuring it wouldn't hurt to check out what was happening, he too took to the rooftops and within a split second, he had a good view from a large building a ways away. As he suspected, Naruto was the cause of the clouds, or rather his cloning technique was. There was someone else with him, a kid about Naruto's age with black hair and red eyes.
The clones rushed him one after the other, disappearing in a cloud of smoke every time they got hit.
"You can outnumber your enemies, but they're easy enough to get rid of." Ichigo mumbled, taking a seat on a small metal box.
"You're just watching them fight on the hospital roof?" Shizune hotly demanded.
"Well yeah I don't know why they are fighting, maybe it's for a good reason." Ichigo responded.
"That isn't even remotely the issue here!" Shizune pinched her temples with her hands as she realized why Ichigo fit in so well with several of Konoha's Shinobi.
The battle between the two continued in the same fashion until four Naruto clones managed to kick the black haired kid into the air while one waited up above. Ichigo opened his bag of chips and popped one into his mouth as he waited to see where this was going. Even from his distance he couldn't help but sweatdrop at the fact that Naruto seemingly had a technique named after himself.
"Hey it's cool." Naruto grumbled.
Naruto's opponent however wasn't going to let the foot coming down on him connect, and managed to swipe it away with an elbow before doing some signs with his hands and bringing them up to his face.
Gaining altitude, he seemed to take a deep breath and exhaled a line of fire that spread across the entire rooftop. Ichigo paused mid bite as clouds of smoke began to appear all around the area indicating that clones had been disposed of. He wouldn't count Naruto out however, he'd seen the kid get eaten by a snake and be fine. Besides, he knew he wasn't the only one observing.
Watching over the battle just a ways away from him was Kakashi, though he seemed quite a bit more stressed about it.
"They are his students." Tsunade shrugged.
"Then why isn't he stepping in!" Shizune complained.
Just as he expected, the flames began to spin until they disappeared to reveal two Naruto's in the center. In his hand was the same technique he had been practicing in Tanzaku, only this time it seemed he had much better control over it. Ichigo wondered whether or not he should stop the battle only to mentally shake his head. It wasn't his problem, and sometimes friends just had to sort things out through their fists and not words.
"That's why, Shizune." Tsunade said seriously.
"I surround myself with the clinically insane and pretend I'm sane myself." Shizune said getting a laugh from Jiraiya and an annoyed huff from her teacher.
Sure, he had told Yhwach he'd make friends and get close to people, but this was a shinobi matter. If he got involved and something went wrong, it could cause him trouble. Sitting this one out was the best course of action, besides, things weren't that bad yet.
It seemed Kakashi disagreed.
"Finally." Shizune huffed.
"What has got her so worked up?" Isshin asked the white haired Sannin quietly.
"Both Naruto and Sasuke were her patients recently so she is a bit annoyed by their behavior. Naruto a bit more so though. Both Tsunade and Shizune have a bit of a soft spot for the kid." Jiraiya replied.
"Should have figured based on how close they sat together." The father said.
The man appeared in between the two kids and grabbed them by the arms. With a hard spin, he sent them both in the direction of two large water tanks just a few feet away from where they were fighting. He was unable to hear what was being said, but he could tell Kakashi was far from pleased.
Turning his attention to the tanks, Naruto's had only sprung a small leak while the other had a large hole that was rapidly losing water. Naruto took off and soon, Kakashi was talking to his remaining student until the boy did a flip over the fence, and was about to leave as well only to stop in his tracks.
Ichigo didn't hide the smirk on his face as the kid noticed the back of the tank. Having seen what the technique was capable of, Ichigo was sure the back of it was gone and the reaction he was witnessing proved that.
Naruto was caught between a smirk and a grimace as Sasuke realized the true power of his technique.
Soon, the pink haired girl left the rooftop as well and Kakashi's head swiveled to look in his direction. The man kept his gaze on him and Ichigo had to toss the chip he was holding back into the bag. With a sigh, he stood up and disappeared.
He appeared standing just to the side of Kakashi who was sitting leisurely at the edge of one of the tanks.
"Kakashi." Ichigo greeted casually.
"Ichigo. I take it you enjoyed the show?" He asked with mild annoyance seeping into his lazy tone.
"Oh, Kakashi is kind of riled up. Hopefully things work out." Urahara commented.
Ichigo didn't need to ask what he meant. "Not exactly." He said before noticing the man's lone eye drifting to his bag of chips. "I bought these before I felt them fighting. Besides, it was nothing to worry about, they hadn't gotten out of hand just yet."
Kakashi's eye narrowed. Hadn't gotten out of hand?
"Those two techniques were designed to kill." Kakashi countered.
"Want me to teach them for you too?" Ichigo asked the image of Kakashi in annoyance.
"Why is he annoyed with you? He was just watching as well." Isshin asked rhetorically.
"You seem to forget Kakashi." Ichigo began, erring the conversation away from that. "Even though I wear similar clothes, I'm not one of you. I can't just get myself involved in their affairs." While partially true, he also didn't want the added drama that could come from getting involved. Besides, he was sure Tsunade wouldn't have taken kindly to him roughing up two of her subordinates. He wasn't sure how close she was with the black haired one, but Naruto was definitely one she already had a soft spot for.
Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose that's true. Though that leads me to wonder, are you going to join? Even though you were technically a shinobi of Yugakure, you wouldn't be considered a traitor since the military no longer exists."
"I dunno if I will ever join your ranks, I don't see why I wouldn't be an ally though." Ichigo shrugged.
"I haven't decided just yet." Ichigo replied smoothly. "I quite enjoy being a bounty hunter. Though Tsunade does charge me a percentage for every catch in exchange for living here." He lied.
Kakashi hummed lazily and pulled out his book, one Ichigo recognized as he now had the same one. "I see. Well, I imagine she'll ask eventually. You should consider it, it'll open more doors for you. Maybe then you could stop genin battles before they get out of hand." He added with an accusing tone.
"What a provocative guy…also is he just casually reading porn?" Isshin muttered.
Ichigo smirked but didn't rise to the bait. "Maybe, but then I'd be denying their teachers the chance to discipline them. Can't have that."
"He should have stepped in a lot sooner." Shizune pointed out.
Kakashi's eye gave him a flat look but he soon dropped it and turned back to his book. "Whatever the case may be, next time stop it before the assassination techniques get thrown around will you?"
"I'm with Ichigo and Shizune on this one. He was watching the whole thing too, he could have done something sooner if he feels that strongly about it." Jiraiya said.
"Stupid fight shouldn't have happened till Sasuke was out of the hospital anyway." Naruto grumbled in thought toward the event. He wasn't proud that Sasuke had goaded him into that fight on the roof.
Ichigo nodded and disappeared, leaving Kakashi alone with his thoughts.
Reappearing back in the center of the street, Ichigo tossed the now empty bag of chips into the trash and made his way to the nearest training ground. It was only a few minutes away and, most importantly, empty. Grinning to himself, he made his way toward one of the logs situated near the center and took a seat.
He needed to work on Blut Vene. Lifting his arm, he activated Hierro and while he couldn't see the difference, he could feel the hardening of his reiryoku creating the defensive technique. It worked well enough, but not only was Yhwach right that it would help him overall, he also wanted to learn the technique that his mother was proficient in. It would be something to remember her by.
The room was silent but Naruto's look and the light grip of Isshin's hand on his shoulder did kind of warm Ichigo up slightly.
Letting his Hierro drop, he crossed his legs atop the stump and got to work.
As it turned out, Blut Vene was much harder to activate than he thought. Two hours in and he was already beginning to sweat. His problem was similar to his issue with Kurohitsugi, he lacked the control needed to flow the necessary reishi through his blood cells. That in itself was another issue, he had no real idea how exactly to force reishi through those specific cells, as he was so used to only using the reiryoku inside of him.
"Yhwach, why is it so much more difficult now? I did it before." He asked mentally.
"Because before, I was still helping regulate your power. It was so you could get a feel for how it was done. Now that I'm leaving you to do it on your own, it's that much more difficult." The spirit replied from inside his mind.
"That's rough, but it is a good thing to be learning to handle it all on your own." Urahara commented.
Ichigo could feel his annoyance flaring the more he failed but he didn't give up. Like he was doing with Kurohitsugi, he would keep practicing until he got it down. After one more attempt, he suddenly looked up from his forearms and toward the trees in front of him. He could feel someone approaching fast.
He didn't think it was an enemy, but his hand was ready to grab Zangetsu and spring into action if needed. His worries were unfounded however, as a moment later, Naruto entered the clearing.
Letting himself relax, Ichigo sighed and placed Zangetsu on his back once more. Naruto looked up at him with surprise written on his face before he broke into a smile.
"Ichigo." He said happily as he approached. "I've been looking for you."
The older of the two raised an eyebrow at the declaration. Why was he looking for him? Had he noticed him watching the fight earlier?
"This could be interesting." Aizen hummed.
"Well, I'm here. What do you need?"
Naruto seemed unsure as to how to ask. His mouth would open and close repeatedly as if he was retracting what he was about to say before even saying it. Sitting silently, Ichigo allowed him to collect his thoughts.
"Well, I'm kinda curious. How exactly are you so strong? You don't seem that much older than me, but I get the same feeling from you as I get from people like Kakashi-sensei and Pervy Sage." Naruto recalled the battle against Kabuto at Tanzaku Gai and how he had struggled against Kabuto, while Ichigo held him off like he was a mild annoyance at most.
How had he gotten so strong? Ichigo pondered the question for a moment and the answer was simple.
"Necessity." He replied. "I've been in situations where I either got stronger, or I would die. What I can do now is a result of that." He answered truthfully. Everything from saving Rukia from execution to battling Aizen and Ginjo flashed through his mind in an instant.
"Experience is the best teacher, kiddo. Remember that." Jiraiya nodded along.
Naruto happily nodded to both of the men.
"Necessity." Naruto said quietly to himself. The young blond took a seat in front of the stump Ichigo sat on and rested his hands on his knees. He looked pensive, something was eating away at him. Ichigo thought perhaps this had something to do with what happened earlier and just as he was going to ask, Naruto spoke again.
"What if there's something in the way though?" Naruto asked somberly. "Like a monster inside me that holds me back. What if I can't control it and it only makes things worse."
"That's pretty specific." Ichigo said.
Ichigo thought of Zangetsu, before he knew the truth, and how often the two would clash. Naruto didn't know how on the money he was with his words as Ichigo had been through that exact problem. He was sure it wasn't the same situation for Naruto, but maybe he could give him something to work with.
"Look, I'm not going to pretend like I know what's going on, but I'll give you some advice that worked for me."
The readers leaned forward in interest.
Naruto perked up, focusing entirely on Ichigo. The older man's pep talk during his Rasengan training had helped him out tremendously, and he could use something to get his spirits back up. After everything that had gone down over the past few days, he really needed to hear something positive.
"Sometimes, that monster inside you isn't some force alien to you. It's a part of who you are. It's been there from the beginning, and while you might not like its reflection, remember that it isn't something to be controlled and conquered."
The older Shinobi shared worried looks while Narutos sat stiff as a board.
Ichigo exchanged glances with his father and Urahara.
Naruto's mouth had dropped slightly in what seemed to be shock. He sat there, almost as if staring through him until he looked down at his hands. The boy frowned.
"If it's not there to be conquered, what do I do?" He asked.
"Understand it. Accept it. Once you do that, you'll see how strong you truly are. It might take some time, but I'm sure you'll get there." Ichigo finished. He wasn't sure whether Zangetsu was listening in on the conversation but he knew if he was, he'd probably complain about his sappy words the next time he saw him.
"A different way of doing things." Jiraiya mumbled.
"So, uh…anything else you need?" Ichigo asked.
The blond was ready to respond only to stop as his eyes trailed down to Ichigo's arms. Specifically, the lines that seemed to be running up his forearms. Ichigo followed his line of sight only to see the familiar pattern of Blut Vene. How had he done that? He wasn't even focusing on doing it.
Breaking the flow, the lines disappeared as if they had never been there to begin with.
Isshin nodded happily at the progress his boy was making.
"What's that?" Naruto asked curiously. He'd never seen something like that before.
"Just something I'm working on. Don't worry about it." Ichigo shot back, hoping Naruto would let it go.
Fortunately, he did and soon, the blond was up on his feet once more. "Anyway, I'll work on what you told me but for now, you think you can help me with my training? I don't use a sword or anything, but maybe help me with my hand to hand? Sasuke has me completely beat there." He requested.
Looking down at his arm, he tried to force Blut Vene to activate once more only for the same failed result to repeat. Sighing, he stood up and stabbed Zangetsu into the ground. Might as well help the kid. At least one of them could make progress.
"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered getting a smirk from Ichigo and a slight frown from Jiraiya.
xxxx
By the time the two had finished training, night time had already fallen over the village. Naruto was worse for wear as his face and body was littered with bruises. The blond had insisted that he didn't hold back in order to be forced to improve. Ichigo still held back of course, but moved at a speed just above what Naruto would be able to handle.
Surprisingly, after giving a bit of instruction in terms of foot placement and body positioning, Naruto was able to hold his own decently. Ichigo wondered if this was what Urahara and Yoruichi felt like while they were teaching him. He made sure to break the cross sign that Naruto used to create clones in an effort to force the young teen to not overly rely on the technique.
Naruto looked a bit put out at being denied his go to move but his elders all looked happy that Ichigo was doing so well with the training.
Even Jiraiya looked begrudgingly pleased.
It was good for distractions and momentary advantage, but their fragility was a huge drawback, especially when Naruto himself wasn't that strong. It took a few hits to the face before Naruto had focused everything on blocking and dodging while waiting for openings. Ichigo intentionally left a few to see if the blond could spot them and while he found a few, there were still some that were missed.
"Kid learns fast. I'll give him that." Ichigo muttered to himself as he stepped onto the Senju property.
Walking inside, a sweet aroma assaulted his senses. That brought him to a pause. How long had he been gone that Tsunade was already home? Stepping into the kitchen, he took notice of Tsunade who had already changed out of her usual attire into a modest green robe and white slippers.
"Oh I almost forgot, she's making you dinner." Isshin grinned.
"Where have you been?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of the frying pan. Her tone held no malice or accusatory undertones, so he knew it was just curiosity.
"Training." He replied simply. "Kind of."
Now Tsunade's eyes left the pan, focusing entirely on him. She looked him up and down, searching for any sign that he had been practicing something other than a defensive technique like he'd promised. Finding none, she turned her attention back to the food.
"What do you mean 'kind of'?" She asked, using air quotations around the words. "Either you were training or you weren't."
"I was training, but then I was interrupted by Naruto. He told me about some problem he's having about a monster in him or something, and then asked if I could help him with his training. So we sparred for the better part of the day."
Tsunade grimaced knowing her reaction would be a bit tense.
Tsunade had stiffened up at the mention of the word monster and muttered something angrily under her breath. Ichigo got the feeling that maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that bit. Naruto probably wouldn't have a good time the next time he came across the medic.
Keeping her anger under control, Tsunade spoke again. "Whatever. Just go get cleaned up so we can eat. I need to ask you about something."
Naruto sighed as Tsunade glanced his way. His alternate self probably wouldn't enjoy his next conversation with her just like Ichigo figured.
After a quick shower, he joined her at the kitchen table. His mouth watered as the food was placed in front of him. Not wanting to be rude though, he waited until Tsunade had sat down and nodded at him.
The meal began with the two enjoying the silence and savoring the food, only talking briefly to comment on the taste. It wasn't until halfway through dinner that Tsunade finally spoke out.
"Since we were talking about Naruto, I heard you got quite the show earlier today. You even had a snack."
"Kakashi is kind of a douchebag." Ichigo grumbled.
Ichigo didn't stop mid bite and continued eating at his pace. "You heard about that huh?" He asked rhetorically. He didn't think Kakashi was one to tell over something trivial, the most likely case was that he needed to report any kind of fighting within a team to solve it. The man would likely be the one to dish out the discipline, but Tsunade would still need to know.
"Well, it was hardly a show. Two kids fighting isn't something to write home about." He replied nonchalantly.
Tsunade felt a vein in her forehead bulge at his reply. From what Kakashi had told her, Naruto and Sasuke had used the most deadly techniques in their repertoire during that bout. Taking a calming breath, Tsunade continued.
"Fight between kids my ass. Either one of them could handle most of their classmates without issue now." Tsunade pointed out.
"Who are also kids…" Ichigo replied.
"You know what-" Tsunade began only for Urahara to begin reading again.
"Why didn't you stop them?" She lifted a hand to stop the same excuse he gave Kakashi. "While your reasoning was enough for Kakashi, it isn't for me. What gives?"
"Kakashi was in the area. I was just minding my business getting ready to go train a little when I felt the fight going down. He had it under control, there was no need for me to intervene. I wouldn't even know what to tell them if I did." He reasoned.
The woman sighed. On one hand she could see where he was coming from, on the other hand any normal person would stop two kids trying to kill each other. Taking another bite of her food, she gathered her thoughts.
"Just…if you see that happen again please stop them. I can't afford to just lose my shinobi, especially to each other." She requested.
"I have a feeling that those two are a bit more than just the average Shinobi in your ranks." Aizen commented.
As he expected, none of the Shinobi answered him. They didn't need to either.
Knowing the chance of that happening again was slim, he nodded. "If something gets out of hand between the two of them again I promise I'll help you out."
Tsunade didn't miss his choice of words. Those two, making no promises about any of the others. She didn't make a big deal of it, so far, only Naruto and Sasuke had issues like this.
Knowing that was the best she would get out of him, Tsunade changed the subject. "How did your training go?"
Ichigo paused mid bite and frowned. "Not that great. It's difficult to focus reishi through my blood cells. Strangely enough, I was able to do it without thinking while talking to Naruto."
Tsunade hummed to herself. "Maybe you're thinking too much. Try closing your eyes and picturing the flow of reishi and how it happens, instead of focusing on just the result that you want." She advised. It wasn't the same, but as a medic the control she needed for techniques had to be incredibly precise. Visualizing the flow of chakra through the body in order to regulate it worked for her, maybe it would work for him as well.
The readers each seemed intrigued, hoping it would help Ichigo along with his training.
Ichigo tapped his chin in thought, he doubted it would be that easy but it would be worth a shot. "I'll try it out tomorrow. Anyway, any luck on the scrolls or the mark?" He asked, tapping his chest with a finger.
She shook her head. "Nothing yet. The scrolls are useless as they are. We have no way to decipher them. As for the mark, I haven't gotten an opportunity to study what you gave me. I might have a little free time this weekend, so I'll try to see what I can find out. Why? Is there something wrong with you?" She asked, concern seeping into her voice.
"Nothing like that, don't worry. I was just curious. It still hasn't had any side effects either, at least none that I've noticed." He replied.
That eased some of the worry Tsunade felt. Even though he claimed nothing was wrong, the mark wouldn't have appeared for no reason. She had hoped that the scrolls would shed some light onto it, but she highly doubted their luck was that good.
The two launched into what had now become daily small talk about their day, or in Tsunade's case, what would be happening at work the following day. By the time they finished, they each retreated to their rooms to get some rest for the night.
"You two sure are getting along well." Shizune said getting nothing in response, though the book did appear in her hands.
"Just read rather than making your little observations, Shizune." Tsunade commanded.
Of course the younger medic was happy to oblige all the while smiling as she cracked open the book to the next chapter.
That is a wrap.
I hope you enjoyed. Make sure to check out AizenTheGoat's profile.
Till Next Time