Ichigo stared at the ceiling of his room. Another night. Another nightmare. He slowly turned his head to check the time. Five thirty blazed from the clock face. In a few hours, Karin and Yuzu would join the Academy classes for the first time. Despite the significant age gap between his sisters and the other students, everyone agreed it was the best place for them to start. The teachers at the Academy were the best at introducing basics of the shinobi arts, and Karin and Yuzu both had to start at the very bottom in every category including taijutsu. A few self-defense lessons from Tatsuki and naturally high stamina wouldn't help them against opponents who had spent years training kill, even if they were twelve years old.
Still, they wouldn't be spending all their time at the Academy. After lessons were over, Karin would start shadowing Sakura in the hospital. Yuzu would do something similar with Anko but not for a few more weeks. She would be getting extra lessons in taijutsu and the techniques shinobi used to subdue their prisoners until she could meet the exact standards set by Ibiki Morino as head of the Torture and Interrogation Force. Ichigo took little comfort in knowing it would be weeks before she could even enter their headquarters.
Both of his sisters were training to become killers. Ichigo had utterly failed to keep them safe. But, if he refused to acknowledge their resolve, Ichigo knew he would stifle their growth. Though their relationship as father and son was far from perfect, that was one crime Goat-Face had never committed against Ichigo. He refused to hold his sisters back, even if their choices frightened him.
Ichigo glanced at the clock again. Five thirty two. He groaned. There was no way he could make it through the day without some sort of distraction. He sat up quickly checking the clock again. Still five thirty two. But hadn't Hinata said her cousin's team met at six for practice? A good fight would help him calm down, sort of. At least, he would be able to stop thinking for a while.
Decision made, Ichigo got of bed and started looking through his closet. If he was going to be fighting hand-to-hand—he still wasn't sure about using his bokken against Lee—then he would need something to protect his arms.
After sorting through some of Yuzu's more obscure clothing choices—they had completed their shopping trip after sorting out things with the hokage and retrieving Kon from Kakashi—he managed to find a long-sleeved, blue, Chinese-style tunic and a pair of plain black pants. Another quick search turned up a bright orange sash with the number "15" stitched carefully on the ends in black thread. Taping his wrists and ankles for support and to secure the loose sleeves, Ichigo made a few quick punches and kicks at shadows and decided he was ready.
Slipping quietly out of his room, he moved to the kitchen and wrote a short note for Yuzu. He expected to be back before the girls left for class, but he wasn't sure how long Lee's team practiced or how long he would be welcome.
"What are you doing?" Kon appeared at his shoulder. Ichigo acknowledged him with a grunt and finished his note. "You're going to fight that weirdo in green again? I'm coming too."
"Whatever," said Ichigo, but he let the mod-soul hitch a ride on his shoulder all the same.
He stuck the note to fridge and frowned. The technology in the Elemental Countries confused him. They had electric refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, and radios. There were movie theaters, but televisions were rare. Phones and telegraphs were completely unheard of. And there didn't seem to be any drive to develop cars or a railway system despite all of the trade between countries. Well, that wasn't his problem, though he did miss his mobile phone. Or, if he was honest with himself, he missed the people who used to call his phone.
Ichigo shook the melancholy thoughts from his head. He paused at the door to slip on his new waraji over bare feet. His sisters had both selected more traditional geta as most of the shinobi seemed to wear the raised sandals. Even Urarhara wore them back in Karakura, though since Soi Fon and Yoruichi both preferred Chinese slippers, Ichigo suspected that was just his former mentor's style. Personally, he was more comfortable in the woven sandals and used to fighting in them after all the time spent in his shinigami form. He would need every advantage against Lee regardless.
After a moment's hesitation, Ichigo took the bokken leaning next to the door and tied it to his sash. He wouldn't use it against Lee, but he felt naked without a weapon near at hand, and Zangetsu was far too conspicuous.
Before he left, Ichigo made sure the protective barrier on the apartment was still working. He had rewritten it to be a little less dangerous to shinobi. He really didn't need to warn off anyone who bothered to knock after all. But he had still given Naruto a key the last time they met. If Ichigo hadn't known better, he suspected the blonde's head would have split in half—Naruto had been smiling that hard.
Once outside, Ichigo checked to see if Neji was one of their watchers again. To his surprise, there was no one nearby. He could have sworn they were there last night. If Karin and Yuzu were both part of Konoha, perhaps the hokage decided they no longer needed extra surveillance. Still, if no one was watching, Ichigo could take the roof-top route without worrying about being late.
Shunpo had been surprisingly easy to use in his human body, which was a relief after Ishida had seen his attempts at hirenkyaku and promptly collapsed into laughter. Ichigo's Quincy abilities were subpar compared to his others as he rarely needed to use them. But that hadn't stopped Ishida from walking through the basics anyway. He had also forced Ichigo into the archery club in university and given him the bow currently decorating the apartment's wall saying it was only appropriate for a Quincy to know the Art. Ichigo would probably never master the bow the way Ishida had, but he could his target ninety-nine times out of one hundred and that was good enough. Still, he could probably practice more now that his days were his own.
Ichigo just barely remembered to land when he reached the last building. He hadn't seen any shinobi around the village using an air-walking technique though many of their chakra-powered jumps and the Body Flicker jutsu came close. He assumed it was one of their more advanced abilities, and he didn't need to show off that level of skill.
His sense of direction was decent and he found the appropriate training ground just at Lee's team was arriving. They looked surprised to see him. Or more accurately Tenten and Neji looked surprised while Lee and Gai burst into eerily identical tears of joy. It almost made Ichigo regret his decision, but he had faced down worse than overly emotive shinobi. He just had to keep telling himself that.
"Welcome back, Kurosaki-san," said Lee. "It is most good to see you again."
"Ichigo is fine," he said after a moment. "I don't want to interrupt your practice, but Hinata-san mentioned you might want a rematch?"
"You are most welcome," said Gai boldy. "Your return speaks to the fires of your youth! The flame that cannot be dampened! We would all like a chance to test our skills against a new opponent."
"Right," said Ichigo uncertainly.
Now that he got a better look at them. He could see that Gai's suit was closer to blue than green, and while they sported similar haircuts and mannerisms, there was no way Lee and Gai were actually related. In all likelihood, Lee's style was a form of hero-worship-by-imitation similar to Soi Fon and Yoruichi's relationship though obviously lacking the centuries of history between the two women.
"Have you warmed up yet?" asked Lee.
"Ah, no," said Ichigo. Using Flash-Step certainly hadn't given him time to warm up.
"You can spar with me then," said Tenten. "Hand-to-hand's not my specialty, so we'll go slow."
"Right, thank you," said Ichigo. "Just let me put down my stuff."
Neji and Lee moved to their own spar with Gai observing while Ichigo leaned his bokken against a nearby tree. He set Kon down next to the weapon and turned to face Tenten. She was staring at the lion plushie with interest.
"Ah, Ichigo-san, your doll…?" she trailed off.
"Kon?" asked Ichigo. He didn't think the mod-soul had done anything to attract attention yet. "I can turn him around if it bothers you."
"No," said Tenten. "It's fine. Are you ready?"
They moved away from the trees and squared off. Now that Ichigo had more time for a look he noticed that overall Tenten's outfit was a Chinese style rather than the Japanese worn by most of the shinobi. Unlike her more colorful teammates, her white top and red pants would blend-in in any number of martial competitions back in Japan. The harness was a bit strange, but Ichigo understood it was designed for the large scroll that she had put aside for their warm-ups.
Tenten attacked first. Ichigo had never had a chance to develop that habit. Almost everyone who wanted to fight him attacked whenever they wanted. The following exchange of blows was easy, a far cry from the frantic bout with Lee a few days ago. It reminded him of sparring with Tatsuki, even if the style Tenten used was unfamiliar.
After a few rounds, it was obvious to Ichigo that Tenten had an extremely different focus than Lee. She was an armed fighter, according to her teammate, but Ichigo doubted it was at close range. He suspected most of her skill at hand-to-hand was due to training with Lee and Neji as teammates rather than any deliberate emphasis on that style. If Ichigo was fighting her for real, he suspected she was would be as easy to take out as Isane-fukutaichou at this distance. However this wasn't that sort of fight, and once they were both warm, they naturally broke apart.
Her teammates were watching them with interest.
"Very good," said Gai shooting them a thumbs-up. Ichigo swore his teeth gleamed. "But, tell me, Ichigo-san, what is the style you use. I am not familiar with it."
"Style?" questioned Ichigo. He mostly used whatever worked. "I had some training in karate as a kid."
"Karate?" repeated Gai. "It does not sound familiar. But it is clearly a hard-fist style."
"Hard-fist?" asked Ichigo.
"All hand-to-hand style can be broken into two categories," said Gai in a voice reserved for masters dispensing wisdom. "Hard-fist refers to all styles that focus on breaking your opponent with force. Gentle-fist refers to styles that involve redirecting your opponent's energy and do not require direct force."
"Oh, like aikido," said Ichigo thoughtfully.
"Another foreign style?" asked Gai. "Perhaps so. Lee is a master of hard-fist style while Neji prefers the gentle-fist style of the Hyuuga Clan. Tenten's strength in taijutsu lies in mastery of weapons."
"So taijutsu isn't just hand-to-hand fighting," said Ichigo in surprise.
Gai shook his head. "No, that is a common mistake among civilians. Taijutsu refers to all shinobi arts where chakra is used to reinforce and enhance the body's natural capabilities rather than shaping it to produce ninjutsu and genjutsu."
"Oh, I see," said Ichigo. So that meant the Quincy abilities of Blut Vene and Blut Arterie and the Hollow ability Hierro would all fall under the umbrella of taijutsu. He could probably use his spiritual pressure to reinforce his body the way Zaraki had during their first meeting and pass it off as taijutsu, but given the other effects of intense reiatsu, it would be best to avoid using that technique around the shinobi. They would probably freeze up or, worse, not freeze up and attack him.
"I know that you wanted to have a rematch with Lee," said Gai. "But, would you consider a fight with Neji first?"
Ichigo shrugged. "Sure, that's fine with me."
Neji nodded in agreement. He and Ichigo assumed their ready stances, though Ichigo couldn't see how the white uniform with all that extra fabric could be practical in a hand-to-hand fight.
"The advantage of Hyuuga's gentle fist," said Neji intensely, "is that, when used with our byakugan, we can see the tenketsu points of our opponents. We can then hit these points and close them with our own chakra, thereby shutting down our opponents' chakra system so they are no longer able to fight."
Ichigo hummed thoughtfully. "So you're saying that I have to dodge all of your strikes while trying to hit you, or else I'll lose. Sounds interesting."
Neji smirked. Ichigo was a little excited. As a shinigami, it rarely mattered what sort of force was brought against him, he could always recover and keep going. He didn't have the same advantage as a human. His training with the Fullbringers had shown him that, and when Ishida started teaching him Quincy techniques, he had emphasized the need to avoid being hit, usually by filling the room with arrows. This would be a challenge.
Apparently, Neji's teammates were interested too. Instead of proceeding with their own spar, Lee and Tenten had lined up next to Gai in order to watch.
"Begin," said Gai.
The veins around Neji's eyes bulged, and to Ichigo's surprise, the faint amount of spiritual energy he sensed from the other man rose slightly, and his spiritual pressure, which fluctuated randomly in all shinobi, suddenly evened out. Ichigo realized that he must have activated the byakugan technique that Neji and Hinata had both mentioned.
There was an awkward moment where Neji and Ichigo both stared at each other. Ichigo still wasn't used to attacking first, and upon reflection, the Hyuuga's style was obviously defense-based. Still, Neji was supremely confident in his abilities and quickly took the opportunity to strike first.
Neji was not as fast as Lee, and Ichigo easily avoid his first few strikes. When Ichigo attempted to hit back with a knife-hand strike to the shoulder, Neji glided out of the way and followed up with a counter-strike to Ichigo's upper arm. Ichigo just barely managed to dodge by drawing on a bit of spiritual power to increase his speed.
Discover moreArtoutfitclothingOnline art coursesClothingclothesBest clothing retailersOnline movie streaming servicesCross-platform publishing toolsAuthor collaboration toolsAfter that, things really started to heat up. Neji could move faster and did so without ever dropping a beat. Ichigo had the advantage in speed but just barely. He mostly dodged Neji's strikes in order to get a feel for the technique while his own punches, kicks, and jabs were easily circumnavigated by the Hyuuga. Every attack by Ichigo was turned into an opportunity for his opponent.
Neji's fighting-style was the most graceful Ichigo had ever seen. He noticed some similarities to the aikido and tai chi he had seen performed by masters, but the Hyuuga technique was so much more. It was almost a dance. The instant the thought flickered through Ichigo's head, his mind's-eye filled with memories of Rukia.
Ichigo had never seen her fight in the first few years of their acquaintance. She had advised him when Ichigo first took up the responsibilities of a shinigami. Then in Hueco Mundo, they had all been fighting their own battles. After that, well the less he thought about that long year without his powers the better, and then there had been that mess with the Wandenreich. The first time he had really seen Rukia cut loose with Sode no Shirayuki, he had been astonished by the beauty of her zanpaktou.
Neji took advantage of Ichigo's distraction. He landed a strike on Ichigo's left arm, which numbed the limb instantly. Ichigo instinctively flooded the area with reiatsu, which restored some mobility, and at the same time used Neji's proximity against him by scoring a solid blow to the gut. Accidentally using a bit too much force, Ichigo's hit lifted Neji off his feet. He landed several meters away but recovered with a somersault into a low crouch.
Neji rose unsteadily with one hand over his stomach, but he seemed ready to continue. Ichigo used the quick pause to rotate his arm. He could move it again, yet it felt odd, almost disconnected. If Neji made a few more hits like that, then Ichigo would lose fast.
The problem was if Ichigo never attacked, then Neji would eventually win. Ichigo couldn't dodge forever. That wasn't his style. He wondered if it was possible to let Neji hit him without the same suffering the devastating effect. Neji had said he was aiming for tenketsu points. Assuming those were similar to pressure points, as long as Ichigo dodged just a little bit, he could probably avoid most of the damage.
Keeping his new plan firmly in mind, Ichigo restarted the fight by flinging himself straight at Neji. The Hyuuga brought his hands up and reached for Ichigo, presumably to hit his arms again. Ichigo pushed just a little harder at the last second. Neji missed. Mostly. The open-handed slaps were still jarring, but Ichigo didn't lose any sensation this time. Still, Neji recovered in time to block Ichigo's punch, and they were off.
In the flurry of exchanges that followed, Ichigo landed at least a dozen blows, all of them punishing in their strength. Neji landed twice that many, but only five had any noticeable effect on Ichigo's body. Three were on his arms, one of those on the already affected left arm, which Ichigo could mostly ignore. Two hit his right arm. One on the lower forearm his caused him to lose almost all sensation, and one on his upper arm that caused only mild weakness. A fourth strike to his upper right side made breathing a little difficult for a while, but once Ichigo reinforced his lung with reiatsu, he was mostly fine.
The last strike from Neji that really mattered was on Ichigo's leg. The strike took Ichigo by surprise. Neji completely reversed direction in the middle of a swing, using a sharp motion at odds to his style, to hit just below Ichigo's right hip joint. Ichigo's leg collapsed underneath him, and his momentum sent him skidding across the dirt. Neji didn't hesitate and chased after the hopelessly disoriented Ichigo.
"Yield?" asked Neji holding his hands in preparation for another attack.
Ichigo recognized that in a real fight Neji could have easily struck a killing blow. "Yield."
Neji relaxed his stance. Releasing his byakugan, he held out a hand. Ichigo let the other man help him to his feet. He released a trickle of power to wake up his leg, but now that the bout was over he didn't need to flood the limb with energy. It gave him a bit of limp, but Ichigo felt that was acceptable given how he had lost.
"That was a most exciting match," said Lee. "The passions of your youth burn brightly in combat."
"Thanks," said Ichigo drily. "Thanks for the match, Hyuuga-san."
"Neji is fine," said the other man. "There are too many of us to bother with last names. Have you had experience with a similar style of combat? You adjusted quickly after we started."
"After you got my arm, you mean," said Ichigo. He considered it for a moment. "Well, when Byakuya fought the seventh espada, he could freeze Byakuya's limbs, but I only heard about that from Hanatarou afterward. I'm sure there's some zanpaktou out there with an ability like that. But I've never seen it before."
Ichigo looked up. They were all staring at him. It made him uneasy. "What?"
"What's a zanpaktou?" asked Tenten curiously while her teammates exchanged looks.
"A soul-cutting blade," said Ichigo. "It's a special tool people use back…in Soul Society."
"Like your bokken?" asked Tenten glancing over at the weapon.
Ichigo waved a hand. "No, no, that's just for practice. The hilt resembles Zangetsu's, my zanpaktou, but the sword is a lot different."
"You should bring it sometime," said Tenten. "These guys are great and all. But sometimes it's nice to practice with another weapon-user."
"Speaking of which," said Gai. "Let us return to our practice. You should rest, Ichigo, and give yourself time to recover. Lee and I will hope to put on an equally admirable display of skill."
"Yes, Gai-sensei! Ichigo's fight with Neji has renewed my dedication to the Genius of Hard-Work! I will do my best," proclaimed Lee.
"Your Flames of Youth shine bright, my student," roared Gai.
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
Ichigo could almost see a fiery backdrop burst into existence behind them as the two shinobi descended into their own little world. He glanced at Tenten and Neji and pointed in silent question.
"They're always like that," said Tenten. "You get used to it. Sort of."
Neji just scoffed. "C'mon, Tenten. We'll start and they'll snap out of it. Don't work, Ichigo. I didn't use too much chakra, so you should be fine in a little while."
"I thought you were holding back," said Ichigo.
Neji gave him a look. "Turns out so were you."
Ichigo settled down next to Kon as the shinobi moved on with their practice. Tenten had picked up her scroll making Ichigo curious to see what she did with it. Lee and Gai had also come back to themselves and were beginning what looked to be a high-speed taijutsu match.
"You totally lost," whispered Kon gleefully.
"He was good," said Ichigo quietly. He didn't want to draw attention to Kon just yet. "That chakra stuff must really work."
"Of course it works, moron," said Kon. "Haven't you been paying attention?"
Ichigo refrained from squashing the lion. Barely. "It's related to spiritual power somehow, but it's not the same. It'd be easier to tell if I saw someone using ninjutsu."
You can ask Karin and Yuzu when they get back from the Academy," suggested Kon.
Ichigo frowned. "Maybe, but I think it'll be a while before they get that far."
"You could ask Naruto," suggested Kon carefully. "He's going to be hokage someday, right? That's want the old woman said. He probably knows some ninjutsu."
"I'll think about it," said Ichigo. Naruto seemed like a good guy, but Ichigo had just started getting to know his other cousins and lost them. He wasn't ready for another one just yet.
Kon looked disappointed, but Ichigo ignored him in favor of the fights happening in front of him. Had Tenten just fired weapons from that scroll?
-0-0-0-0-0-
Iruka carefully regarded the young woman standing in front of him. Naruto had approached him days ago with crazy idea of adding his full-grown cousins to the next graduating class of the Academy. Iruka had never expected the hokage to agree—once people reached a certain age learning to manipulate chakra was all but impossible—so receiving a missive from Tsunade notifying him of two, new, adult students had taken him completely by surprise. He thought that would be the biggest shock of the day. Then Naruto had appeared, escorting his cousins, and crowing about a homemade bento made by the super-talented Yuzu, and Iruka learned which of the girls was Sakura's new apprentice and which was was Anko's.
Part of him still thought they were playing an elaborate joke—he wouldn't put that sort of thing past Naruto—especially given the nervous way Yuzu was shifting from foot to foot. She kept glancing at Iruka's chunin uniform, down at her own clothes, and then over to her sister, who had completed her assessment and was now practicing a basic kata under Sora's, his co-instructor, watchful eye.
Mixed in with the other students, Karin's outfit would have been an acceptable choice for any pre-genin. She wore a shapeless, dark red shirt that she claimed resembled a soccer jersey, whatever that meant. Fingerless gloves in a matching shade supported her wrists and gave her hands some extra protection. On her lower half, she wore long black shorts with traditional hyakan over bandages to protect her lower legs. Her short hair had been pulled away from her face into a small tail, nothing like the long locks Ino and Sakura had sported as girls. Altogether, she looked much more practical than Naruto had in the bright orange jumpsuit he wore as a student.
Yuzu's outfit was a little different. She wore a dark green hooded jacket with long sleeves to cover her arms. She had foregone gloves like her sister's in favor of wrapping her hands and fingers. Instead of shorts, she wore slightly longer capris that were made of durable black fabric. Over those she had a light-grey apron. With short-cropped hair clipped back out of her eyes, Yuzu looked more like a cook than a shinobi. Though with that color scheme, she would blend in quite nicely with the surrounding forest, something most new genin rarely considered.
"Is this okay?" she asked hesitantly. "Naruto said wearing something we felt comfortable in was more important than having a uniform while we're training, but…" She trailed off looking despondent.
"No, he's right," Iruka hastened to reassure her. "You just don't see many shinboi wearing aprons."
"Well, Anko-san was talking about all this stuff shinobi have to carry, and I know where everything is in my apron," explained a blushing Yuzu.
"That's true," agreed Iruka. He glanced at the front pocket. It looked empty, but what she chose to carry would say a lot about her personality. "What do you have in there?"
Yuzu stuck her hands in the pockets and started pulling things out: some tissues, a coin purse, lip balm, a bit of string, a whistle, a needle and thread, some buttons, a few safety pins, extra bandages, a blunted kunai, a set of kitchen knives, a pair of bento, a solid length of rope. Iruka gaped in astonishment as she reached for more.
"Where are you getting all of it?" he demanded.
Yuzu started to put everything back. "Well, Anko mentioned all this stuff, and I thought 'I'm not sure where I can keep all that,' but then I remembered that Naruto had shown us how to use storage seals. I picked up some really small ones when we finished shopping yesterday, and I sewed them into my apron last night. See?"
She opened the pocket a little wider so he could take a look, and Iruka saw that there were, in fact, dozens of tiny storage seals sewed into the fabric. Keeping track of everything in each seal took a sharp mind, and to have so much control that, after a few days of practice at most, she could activate just one of those seals at time was phenomenal and a little frightening.
"Why the kunai and the kitchen knives?" Iruka asked curious.
Yuzu smiled, happy to explain. "Tatsuki—my brother's friend—opened a dojo back in Karakura. She gave me and Karin free lessons. She said it's always important to know how to use what's around you if you have to defend yourself, and I do most of the cooking, so…"
"That's very good," said Iruka. That meant the sisters had more raining than he initially thought. With extra training from their respective tutors, they should catch up to the rest of the class quickly.
Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, he returned to the matter at hand and gestured at the obstacle course. "Now, this is a test to gauge your physical ability not your combat ability. So what sort of experience do you have?"
"Eating right and exercise is important to maintain a healthy body," said Yuzu firmly like she was reciting a lecture. "So I got up and ran ten miles every day before the clinic opened and every afternoon I did an aerobic kick-boxing routine Tatsuki designed, but I haven't been doing that since we…moved to Konoha. I'm not really athletic like Karin and Ichi-nii."
Iruka wondered what the requirements were for athletes in her homeland. Karin had played soccer in high school and college, and her speed, dexterity, and stamina were on par with that of the average chunin. Then again, if they were from a very peaceful village, perhaps their athletes were the ones with the training rather than their warriors. He would have to ask, later.
"Ten miles every day is very impressive for a civilian, and you'll be sure to improve the more you practice," said Iruka kindly. "Now, this is what you'll need to do…"
Iruka took careful notes on what he saw as Yuzu completed the obstacle course. It wasn't the most complicated of runs, but he hadn't given the girls the course for beginning students either. Yuzu was not as fast as her sister, who might have set a new speed record for a first attempt, but she didn't slow down at all, which spoke highly of her stamina. She wobbled a bit on her landings, which meant more core exercises in her future, but her agility on the log jumps was quite good. She raced up the rope like a pro, something most women had trouble with. After her last sprint to Iruka, she was panting but not too badly.
"Was that alright?" she asked.
Iruka smiled reassuringly. "There are a few things we can work on, but you're off to a good start." And sensing she needed the compliment added, "Your upper arm strength was quite good for a woman your age."
Yuzu struck a "strong man" pose. "I had to carry all the groceries home by myself the last few years, even the heavy ones. And I helped daddy with some of the more difficult patients at the clinic."
Iruka felt a bead of sweat form at his temple. This was the girl they wanted for T&I? But, according to rumor, she had hauled Anko off the ground with an iron chain. Iruka didn't see any chains, but who knew what she was carrying in that apron? He would have to double-check with Anko. The kunoichi would want a progress report soon this anyway.
"Now let's review the kata that Sora-sensei showed you earlier," he began. "Yuzu, is there something wrong?"
Yuzu had dropped out of her pose and was staring into the distance toward the wall surrounding Konohagakure and, more importantly, the gates. Her cheerful expression had shifted to worry. A quick glance at Karin in the other group proved she had done the same.
"What is it?" asked Iruka.
"Something's happened to Ichi-nii," said Yuzu. "He's…really mad."
Iruka frowned. Naruto had said the older brother was out with Team Gai. The taijutsu team had their moments, but he doubted they would have intentionally angered the oldest Kurosaki sibling, especially not enough to drive him out of the village. How did Yuzu know, anyway?
"Are you sure?" asked Iruka.
Yuzu nodded. "I can feel it all the way over here. Ichi-nii hasn't gotten made like that in a long time. I wonder what happened. Should I go check?"
"No," said Iruka sharply. "You stay here. I'll send a runner to the hokage and she can dispatch a team. If something is wrong, then we need to know where you are."
Yuzu's worried expression remained locked in place, but she nodded in acceptance. Iruka flagged down one of the teaching assistants, who was watching a similar, louder argument play out between Sora and Karin, and sent the shinobi off to the Tower. Iruka still didn't know how the girls knew there was a problem, but he wasn't about to lose one of Naruto's new-found cousins through inaction. Not now. Not ever.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Kon wasn't sure exactly what happened. One minute, Ichigo was walking back to the apartment after parting ways with Team Gai. The next, Ichigo was passed out on the ground and unfamiliar shinobi were emerging from the shadows. The mod-soul lay extra still and watched as Ichigo was rolled into a carpet and loaded onto the back of nearby cart. There were five guys that Kon could see. Two were driving the cart, and the other three did the heavy work.
Kon considered his chances against five ninja. As plush doll, he could maybe take out one using surprise and his normal enhancements. He had decided years ago to switch from the super-body created by Twelfth Division to the ordinary one made by Ishida as a replacement for Yuzu's Bostov. He hadn't wanted creepy scientists watching everything he saw. Until now, he had never regretted his decision. He needed to find back-up and find it fast.
As soon at the cart disappeared, Kon leapt to his feet and raced toward the Hokage Tower. His skill at reiryoku-sensing wasn't as fine-tuned as Ichigo's. He'd normally have terrible luck at finding a single person. Fortunately, he already had a general direction and the added benefit of being exposed to this particular person recently. His speed was nowhere near as efficient as it would be in a human body, but he was still fast and reached the mission office in about ten minutes.
There were dozens of ninja around briefly overwhelming Kon's senses. No single shinobi, not even the hokage, had reiatsu as powerful as Ichigo's though Naruto seemed to come close. But for some reason, they all had at least a little and the higher ranked shinobi had quite a lot. Unfortunately, none of them had any control at all. It was enough to make a poor mod-soul's head spin. A flash of white and red caught his eye. Kon whirled in time to catch sight of hair-buns moving through the crowd.
"Tenten!" he cried racing toward the kunoichi.
The woman paused at hearing her name and the men with her paused too. She looked around frowning.
"Tenten!" Kon cried again. "Lee! Neji! Gai!"
The shinobi turned and looked down. Not many people thought to look down in Kon's experience. But then again, he was very new at dealing with ninja.
"Kon?" asked Tenten. Disbelief was spreading across her face. "How?"
"Ichigo's been kidnapped!" yelled Kon dancing up and down in excitement and fear. "You've got to help him!"
"Someone has kidnapped, Ichigo?" exclaimed Lee. "Where?"
Kon thanked his lucky stars. The shinobi's brain did work like Ichigo's. A friend in trouble meant providing aid no matter the source of the information.
"These guys caught Ichigo outside our apartment and rolled him up in a carpet. They went," Kon turned back. He let his senses stretch out. It wasn't hard to find Ichigo, not after a near decade spent in his company. He pointed. "That way."
"That's one of the main gates," said Neji activating his byakugan. "They're out of my range."
"Let's go," ordered Gai.
Gai took the lead. Lee and Neji followed behind him. Tenten prepared to go after them but paused. She looked at Kon and held out a hand. The plush lion jumped into her open palm and then up onto her shoulder. He grabbed the edge of her ear and used a bit of reiatsu to make sure he wouldn't fall off mid-leap.
"Ready," he said.
"This is so weird," muttered Tenten.
She jumped, and they were very nearly flying. Despite his concern for Ichigo, Kon couldn't help but appreciate the feeling. He had been designed with super leg-strength—three times the power of whatever body he happened to be possessing at the time. Ichigo was fit by the standards of Japanese. He was even fairly strong compared to the average resident of this world. But his greatest strength and speed all belonged to his spiritual form. Briefly, Kon imagined the heights he could reach in the body of a trained shinobi. It would be fantastic.
In a matter of minutes, much less time than it would have taken lion-shaped-Kon, the team reached the gates. The kidnappers with the rug-cart weren't there. Gai checked in with the guard station while the rest of team scanned the carts approaching the gate.
"They've already gone through," Kon informed him. He could feel Ichigo getting further away. "They can't be that far down the road."
"Are you sure?" asked Tenten making an aborted turn of her head. Neji was switching his attention between Kon and the various groups seeking to leave Konoha. Lee was watching the road anxiously.
"Are you kidding?" asked Kon. "Ichigo's out-of-it against his will. His control is shot. I'm surprised you can't feel it."
Gai signaled them to join him at the gate and they started to run. "The guards say a pair of merchants selling antique carpets left less than fifteen minutes ago. The fabric would have been more than sufficient to hide a person."
The group of four pounded down the road at top speed. Kon hung on gamely to Tenten's shoulder and tried not to be a nuisance. If she needed to fight, he could jump off without a problem. He just didn't want to see Ichigo hurt now that the former shinigami was beginning to open up to people again. Knowing the shinobi of Konoha trusted Kon enough to rely on his word to rescue Ichigo, well, that had to mean something.
The five men who took down Ichigo had increased to fourteen by the time Team Gai reached the cart. The kidnappers had seen the team approaching and arranged themselves in defensive positions around the vehicle. The one in front formed some symbols with his hands, shouted a phrase that Kon didn't recognize, and touched the ground.
Spikes shot out of the earth, but Team Gai must have expected that because they easily jumped the obstacle. The fireball that came flying at them while they were in midair might have been a problem, but Neji managed to do some sort of swirling thing with his arms that knocked the attack to the side. Kon couldn't exactly follow the fight afterward. There was a lot of yelling and fire and rocks and knives being tossed around. He was getting a firsthand look at ninjutsu up-close and personal and not liking one minute of it. He did notice when Ichigo finally regained consciousness, but everyone noticed that.
The atmosphere turned heavy and dark starting around the cart and flooding out in every direction. All of the shinobi, Konoha-nin and kidnapper alike, froze in shock and turned to stare. Kon whimpered into Tenten's hair. That was Ichigo's Hollow-power.
Ichigo, like most of Soul Society, thought his Hollow abilities had disappeared after his fight with Aizen. It wasn't until Ichigo entered university and in the middle of exams had irritation spike into true anger that he realized the truth. Like Rukia's zanpaktou, Ichigo's Hollow had left an impression on his soul, a path for his spiritual power to follow when the circumstances were right. Away from Karakura, Ichigo hadn't felt the need to bother any of his friends in Soul Society with his problem—this was before Kukaku had started him on her training regimen—and had sought to finally master his Hollow power on his own.
Ichigo, who had never learned the word impossible, succeeded in record time and had never quite gotten around to telling anyone about it. No one other than Kon, at least, who had been privy to furniture-destroying fits of rage mixed with bouts of dark depression as Ichigo finally confronted his darkest feelings. The advantage to Ichigo's Hollow powers were that Ichigo could use all of them without leaving his body. Isshin had taught Ichigo a technique for summoning Zangetsu that meant he didn't have to leave his body for every little fight. But it had limitations. Ichigo could only use shikai for so long before the strain became too much, and he couldn't use bankai at all without potentially vaporizing his own body. Ichigo's Hollow reiryoku didn't cause him the same sort of trouble. He just had to be truly angry or deeply afraid—or one time, really, really hungry—for his Hollow powers to work.
At the moment, Kon suspected Ichigo was furious.
The right side of the cart exploded. Ichigo's outstretched arm hit the shinobi guarding that side and split his head like a melon. There was a tearing sound as Ichigo's other arm ripped through the heavy roll of carpet above him. With enough room to move, Ichigo freed himself from his Persian prison to stand in the center of the cart.
His eyes were gold-on-black as he absorbed the fighters. There was no mask yet, which was good and meant his thinking was still mostly human, but at this stage Ichigo's usual reservations were gone, which was bad. Humans without inhibitions could be worse than Hollows at times. Case in point, Ichigo raised a hand and casually fired balas at the remainder of would-be kidnappers, killing all of them instantly. Then he turned his attention to the drivers of the cart.
One of them screamed when he met Ichigo's eyes. The other just stared, his face white with fear. Ichigo raised his hand again.
"Sai!"
The drivers' arms snapped behind their backs, and they toppled off the seat, one to each side. Kon let out a quiet sigh of relief. Ichigo rarely killed humans. He usually didn't need to. But once he started, it was hard to stop.
"Ichigo, are you alright?" asked Lee. No surprise that he was the first to recover.
"I'm fine," said Ichigo as he hopped off the cart.
"Are you sure?" asked Kon safely tucked away on Tenten's shoulder. "You still look a little tense, if you know what I mean."
Ichigo paused and closed his eyes. The malicious aura that was Ichigo's Hollow reiatsu faded. When he opened his eyes again, they were back to his normal brown and looking weary. That was good enough for Kon. He jumped from Tenten's shoulder to Ichigo's and gave the human a reassuring pat on the head. Ichigo huffed in irritated reply.
"Much better," said Kon. "So what did these guys want?"
"I don't know," said Ichigo. "They weren't real though."
"What did you say?" asked Gai.
Ichigo nodded toward the stunned cart-drivers on the ground. "Those two were the only humans. The rest of these are fake. Like gigai. Badly made gigai."
"Gigai?" asked Tenten hesitantly.
Ichigo didn't have to explain. While all the shinobi he had taken down with bala were mostly gone, the ones Team Gai had dispatched suddenly collapsed leaving behind puddles of stinking black goo.
Kon wrinkled his nose. Yuck.
"You will explain," said Neji. "How did you activate a dojutsu, escape from the cart, and use ninjutsu without using chakra?"
Kon could feel the tension in Ichigo sky-rocket. Apparently, some of the feeling must have shown on Ichigo's face because Gai stepped between the two. Ichigo was by no means short, but Gai was very tall. Tall enough to look like a responsible adult stepping between two children, even if all three were really grown men. He looked to the shinobi first.
"Neji, that's enough. Report the intrusion to the Hokage," ordered Gai. "We will bring the prisoners and follow along behind."
The Hyuuga didn't bother to acknowledge his orders. He simply took off at top speed back to Konohagakure. Lee and Tenten both moved to the cart to secure the drivers. Gai turned his attention to Ichigo.
"You do not have to tell me anything you do not want to," said Gai. "But you will have to tell the hokage. The safety of the village is at stake. Your safety. And potentially that of your sisters, as well. Do you understand?"
Ichigo's pulse jumped at the mention of his sisters but quickly steadied again. Ichigo really had gotten a lot better at everything. This close to the village, he could probably sense their exact locations.
"Yeah," said Ichigo hoarsely. "I understand."
Lee and Tenten both carried an unconscious man over their shoulders. They had bound their hands and legs with cord, but Kon knew the arm-restraints at least were unnecessary. Ichigo had been super-mad when he cast that kidou. It would take days to fade on its own.
"How fast can you move?" asked Gai.
"Fast," said Ichigo.
"Then let us hurry," said Gai in a dark voice. "I have heard of no new threat against Konoha, and I fear we have little time to waste."