Gai and Kakashi sat in a booth in one of the few ninja-only establishments in Konoha. Proximity to certain areas of town or horrible-yet-filling food drove civilian clientele away from some places, but no civilian had ever set foot in this tavern. Founded by ninjas, arranged so every seat had sightlines on at least one exit, even if it require use of way too many mirrors, conversations never carried far, with fare ranging from emergency rations to better than the daimyo ate, and stocking every kind of alcohol imaginable, it was one of the few places that the shinobi could go after work and never worry about accidentally traumatizing a civilian.
Gai was enthusiastically describing the improvements his students had shown in the last few weeks. Ichigo's presence had pushed all three off their plateau forcing them to change and adapt in a way they had not in years. The team had never slacked off—they held to a schedule many other shinobi considered insane—but their practices had been little more than routine until Ichigo appeared. Gai could not help but be grateful despite his curiosity about the new arrival.
Kakashi listened with an indulgent smile. Or at least, Gai believed his companion bore an indulgent smile. As always, the mask made certainty difficult. There was also something in the lines of Kakashi's body, perhaps the way he was seated or had inclined an ear, that made Gai suspect his friend and rival was paying more attention than usual. While Team Gai no longer had to report to Tsunade every day about their spars with Ichigo—Neji or Gai typically made one comprehensive report at the end of the week—Kakashi was still tasked with observing the entire Kurosaki family.
Other than that small suggestion of vigilance, Kakashi appeared relaxed, even happy. To Gai's joy and relief, Kakashi had mellowed once his students reached age twenty. The teenage years were always the most dangerous for shinobi when a child's sense of immortality combined with an adult's sense of responsibility. A mellow Kakashi was an amazing thing, and happiness was a good look on him. In Gai's opinion happiness was a good look on everybody.
"Kakashi, Gai, just who I was looking for."
There was a thump on Gai's right, and Kurenai dropped into the booth next to him. She looked harried and annoyed though not a hair was out of place. For a moment, Gai was cast back in time to when he had first taken a genin team. Except, there was no Asuma following-up behind and casting doe-eyes at the pretty kunoichi.
A rueful smile from Kakashi said his friend had had the same thought. Gai was hardly prone to melancholy though and quickly gathered himself.
"And what brings you to seek our wonderful company?" boomed Gai.
Kurenai groaned and laid her head down on her arms. Gai blinked in surprise. Shinobi were unusually flamboyant and prone to dramatics. Gai suspected it was a coping mechanism of some kind. But, clothing aside, Kurenai was one of the least dramatic shinobi he knew.
"I need some advice about Ichigo," was her muffled reply.
Gai rolled his eyes. Everything was about Ichigo these days. Though admittedly, the kidnapping attempts and his sudden induction into the ranks would set anyone talking. His mysterious abilities and direct connection to Naruto made him that much more interesting.
"Oh?" asked Kakashi deliberately bland. "Is he having a hard time?"
Kurenai pulled herself upright just to glare at Kakashi. The masked shinobi adopted his most inscrutable expression. Gai was tempted to roll his eyes again but managed to restrain himself.
"No," said Kurenai. "The opposite actually. He's learning too fast."
"I have noticed a swift rise in Ichigo's technical abilities since he joined our morning practices," admitted Gai.
Not that it was hard to notice when he used their own techniques against them. Ichigo still tended to hesitate to use either his bokken or his sword in practice, and they could only convince him to practice his Quincy abilities a few times a week, and he almost never used his enhanced speed against anyone but Lee, but in ordinary hand-to-hand he improved every day. He and Lee had discussed Ichigo's progress a handful of times. Lee was a tiny bit envious but mostly impressed, which Gai thought was an extension of his student's youthful nature.
"Is it the same with his ninjutsu?" continued Gai.
"It's…" Kurenai struggled for the right words. "Tsunade-sama implied that Ichigo might not show any interest in learning shinobi techniques. My main focus was supposed to be teaching him how to control his chakra and working with Hanabi and Konohamaru. The only techniques he had to learn were the basic Academy jutsu."
"You've moved past the basic three then?" asked Kakashi.
"Yes!" cried Kurenai covering her face with her hand. "I just don't know what to do."
Kakashi and Gai looked at each other in confusion.
"Have you been given instructions not to teach him more?" asked Gai curiously because that implied a level of mistrust on Tsunade's part that he had not noticed.
"No," said Kurenai miserably.
"Then what exactly is the problem?" asked Kakashi.
"He just won't stop," said Kurenai. "He works on everything I give him until he collapses, and then he gets up and keeps going. At first I was worried he'd suffer from chakra exhaustion, but he just keeps pulling out more and more. Then on top of the D-ranks that we do every day, our taijutsu practice, their taijutsu practice," she waved a hand at Gai, "and whatever extra practice he does to keep his kenjutsu sharp, he goes home and reads his sisters' Academy lessons and these scrolls he inherited from the Uzumaki. Yesterday he asked me some question about chakra theory I had never even heard of and today he…ugh."
Kakashi had pulled out a tiny scroll and was writing a message. It wasn't coded and was easy enough for Gai to read upside down: an order for a bottle of sake and a plate of steamed buns. Kakashi wrapped the order around the hilt of a spare kunai and tossed it in the direction of the bar. There was a post with several kunai and senbon serving the same purpose for other tables. Kakashi managed to slip theirs in a couple of orders ahead of the end of the line. Gai imagined whoever left a big enough space for an entire kunai was feeling pretty stupid at the moment.
"What sort of question?" asked Kakashi.
"Something about the relation between mental energy and spiritual energy and whether or not one was indicative of the other," said Kurenai. "He doesn't even know the names of Yin and Yang Chakra and he's already theorizing about them!"
"What did you tell him?" asked Gai. He knew almost nothing about such esoteric branches of chakra use other than what was necessary to activate the gates.
"I told him he'd have to talk to Naruto about it," said Kurenai. "The point is Konohamaru and Hanabi are staying ahead for now, but if I start on elemental jutsu or anything that requires a lot of power, then they're going to fall behind and stay behind. The push has been good for them, but if they get disheartened, well, I don't want to imagine what would happen if they failed the exams again."
Gai had never run a mission with Hanabi or Konohamaru, but he knew that both possessed skills equal to that of low-ranked chunin in general and of high-ranked chunin in their specializations. That Ichigo could match them and pass them with only a few weeks of training under his belt. Gai wasn't entirely sure he could believe it, even with his own experiences. After all, taijutsu was very different from genjutsu or ninjutsu, and Ichigo could rely on his previous skills and his bloodline to help him there.
"My student Lee often pushed himself to great lengths to keep up with Neji," said Gai. "Perhaps Ichigo will slow down as he confronts greater challenges."
Kurenai shot him a flat look unimpressed by the idea. Gai turned to Kakashi for a better suggestion.
Kakashi was frowning behind his mask. "Sounds a lot like Naruto. He can be extremely focused when he wants to master a technique. And Ichigo, he wouldn't have had any of Naruto's… developmental problems."
All three grimaced in shame but set the feeling aside with long-held ease. There was no way to correct the wrongs done to Naruto. The best any of them could do was prevent a similar situation from occurring.
"If you don't want to teach more advance ninjutsu or genjutsu, why don't you focus on taijutsu?" suggested Kakashi. "Konohamaru and Hanabi wouldn't expect to do better than Ichigo in hand-to-hand. What is it?"
Kurenai's face had gone pale. "You haven't heard? Ichigo used Hyuuga's Gentle Fist on Hanabi. He sealed up five of her tenketsu points before we figured out what happened."
Flummoxed, summed up Gai's feelings in a word, with a dash of concern thrown on top. It was no surprise he hadn't heard yet. The Hyuuga wouldn't want to spread information like that around, but he would definitely hear about it from Neji tomorrow morning.
"How?" asked Kakashi sounding surprised but shocked. Shocking described just about everything Ichigo had done since arriving in Konoha.
"I don't know," said Kurenai with a sweeping gesture. "He watched Neji and Hanabi and studied their fights against him and other people. Then he said something about reading his sister's medical scrolls and getting the approximate locations and using a chakra Band-Aid rather than a needle because he couldn't be as precise."
"That sounds reasonable," said Kakashi in a deliberately idle tone.
Gai shook his head. "My friend, it really is not. I think, perhaps, you are confused because of your own skill as a child and your lack of experience with beginners."
"Ah," Kakashi looked thoughtful rather than suspicious, which was suspicious in and of itself in Gai's opinion. Still, distracting himself by analyzing his rival would hardly satisfy Gai's curiosity.
"What did you do?" asked Gai.
Kurenai sighed. "First we took Hanabi to the compound to make sure Ichigo hadn't done any permanent damage. Hiashi basically wanted Ichigo's head on pike, but luckily Hinata was there too and suggested we all go to the Hokage instead and let her mediate. Then we explained everything to Tsunade-sama, and she wanted to know what Ichigo was thinking when he tried it."
"And?" prompted Gai.
"And," continued Kurenai, "he said, "If they didn't want me to figure out how to do it, then they shouldn't have done the same thing every fight.""
Gai had no words. Neji would be impossible in the morning. Gai considered running to the Missions Desk for a last minute assignment. Lee and Tenten could handle the grumbling on their own. But that would be cowardly and most un-Youthful in spirit.
"Exactly," said Kurenai correctly interpreting the look on Gai's face. "It might not have been so bad, except Hinata, and I never would have expected this of her, laughed in her father's face. I thought he was going to have an aneurysm right there in the Hokage's office."
"Not a bad place to have one, when you think about it," said Kakashi idly.
Gai and Kurenai stared at him.
"I'm surprised you're taking this so well," said Gai. After all, Ichigo and the Kurosakis had grown fairly close to Naruto in the past few weeks.
Kakashi tilted his head to the side. He looked relaxed, but his sharingan eye cut in-and-out ever so briefly betraying his intense scrutiny.
"It's not like Ichigo spontaneously developed a byakugan," said Kakashi. "There are plenty of non-Hyuuga-shinobi who can block tenketsu. They simply don't use Gentle Fist style to do it."
"But Ichigo did use Gentle Fist," said Kurenai. "And he learned it just from watching his opponents without any of their natural advantages. Surely, that's not normal."
Kakashi's gaze flickered to Gai. "Do you remember what Ichigo said about his original training?"
Gai grimaced. "Do or die, he called it. With emphasis on die."
"It might be that Ichigo's used to learning by fighting with very little formal instruction," said Kakashi. "Naruto's best improvements are almost always in pitched battle."
Kurenai looked horrified. "But that's insane! We don't train our genin like that. Not even in war time!"
To Gai's practiced eye, Kakashi looked faintly embarrassed. Kurenai apparently noticed it too.
"That explains so much about Team Seven," she groaned.
"How did the Hokage react?" asked Gai preemptively cutting off Kakashi's defense, or lack thereof.
"We're starting our first C-Rank tomorrow. Ichigo has to have one to qualify for the Exams anyway, and this will take us out of the village for a while. There haven't been reports about the kidnappers recently, and the trip is relatively unexpected, so we shouldn't have any trouble on that front," explained Kurenai.
Gai and Kakashi both nodded. There might be some tension between Hanabi and Ichigo, but it would be entirely one-sided and the mission would be a priority. It would also give the rest of the Hyuga time to cool off.
"So, for when we get back," said Kurenai folding her hands neatly in her lap. "Teaching a genius. What are your suggestions?"
A bottle of sake dropped to the table in front of Kurenai followed by a plate of meat buns. Kakashi's order had finally arrived.
The masked ninja gestured at the bottle. "My suggestion: never drink on an empty stomach."
Gai thought about it for a moment. "And drink plenty of water before you sleep so you can get to morning practice on time."
Kurenai groaned and reached for the bottle. "Thanks for all your help."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Naruto knocked on the door to the apartment to announce himself and reached for the doorknob. Yuzu and Karin had both told him he was silly to wait outside when they had given him a key. It was nice to have a place he could just go and be welcome. Sure he could crash at Sakura's or Iruka's or one of his other teammates, but this was different. He wasn't entirely sure how yet, but it was different.
The door swung open before Naruto could touch it revealing a scowling Ichigo. It was a something-is-wrong scowl rather than the default scowling-because-the-world-exists that Naruto had grown accustomed to.
"Come on in," growled the redhead.
Naruto gingerly followed him inside. "So what's up? You're usually out with Team Gai right now."
Naruto had seen a lot less of Ichigo than he did of his sisters. He escorted Karin and Yuzu to the Academy every day, and they had a chance to talk about stuff. Ichigo spent most of his time training with Team Gai or Team Three. They had eaten a few meals together, shared a few serious talks, but they hadn't had much time to get to know each other yet. Still, Naruto knew enough to know that Ichigo was seriously upset.
"We're starting a C-Rank today," said Ichigo.
"It's about time," said Naruto. "All your progress reports are really good."
Ichigo raised a dubious brow. Naruto quickly backtracked.
"Not I'm checking up on you!" Except that would make him sound uncaring. "Not that I'm not checking up on you! But it's my job to know. Not that I wouldn't look if it wasn't my job…"
Naruto trailed off. Ichigo hadn't really changed his expression that much. There was just a tiny twist at the corner of his laugh that suggested he was laughing or that, at least, he found Naruto's helpless flailing amusing.
"It's fine if you have to know what we're doing and want to check up on us," said Ichigo at last. "Progress reports makes it sound like I'm back in primary school."
"Right," said Naruto relaxing.
Ichigo's scowl changed its tenor becoming more thoughtful. "You don't need other people's permission to decide to care for them."
Naruto twitched thinking of Sasuke, but Ichigo couldn't possibly know about that. "What?"
"Sometimes people won't admit that they need help or deserve it because they're hurting too bad or want to protect you, but you get to decide how much you care," said Ichigo firmly.
"I get it," said Naruto. "Thanks."
Ichigo shot a dry look at Naruto. "Now, regardless of what the shinobi have taught you, stalking is wrong."
"I'm not stalking you!" screeched Naruto.
Silence filled the apartment. Karin, Yuzu, and Kon all peered out of the kitchen to stare at him. Naruto flushed.
"I'm not! I'm not even coordinating the surveillance," he protested.
"Ichi-nii's just teasing you, Naruto-san," said Yuzu.
Ichigo didn't seem the sort to just start teasing a person like that, but maybe he was feeling more comfortable around Naruto. The thought buoyed Naruto's mood, which made Ichigo's overall agitation that much more obvious.
"Seriously," said Naruto. "What's wrong with a C-Rank?"
Ichigo's scowl deepened. "Nothing."
"It's a courier mission, so Ichigo's going to be gone for at least a week," explained Karin reappearing with her backpack slung over her shoulder and bento in her hand. "He's just worried about us."
Naruto refrained pointing out the constant ANBU guard all three Kurosakis merited. Konoha's elite forces hadn't been very successful in preventing any of the attacks against Ichigo so far. Instead he said, "Courier mission? You mean, the run to Kiri? That's a good one."
"I don't think we're going all the way to Kirigakure," said Ichigo. "Just the border of the Land of Water."
"Yeah, you'll meet with a Kiri-team to do an exchange," said Naruto. And if Ichigo's team didn't show up by a set window of time, then emergency runners would be dispatched back to Konoha and Kiri.
"Konohamaru said we'll be carrying booze," said Ichigo. "That the Hokage and Mizukage trade especially fine alcohol every few months."
Naruto frowned. "Yeah, everyone knows that."
Ichigo's scowl shifted slightly from very angry to slightly confused. "It seems like a lot of effort and expense to issue a regular C-Rank, when they could just as easily send purchases by trading caravan."
"Yeah, but trading caravans are so slow," said Naruto locking a smile into place. "And Mei and Tsunade are hardcore drinkers."
Ichigo didn't seem impressed by that excuse, and Naruto could hardly blame him. Tsunade and Mei really did pass coded messages along with their liquor, but both publically denied any such action. The chunin teams had never carried anything other than a box full of booze. Naruto only knew there were messages because Tsunade had told him as much.
Yuzu appeared behind Karin carrying her own bag and bento. Kon was perched on her shoulder wearing a tiny blue vest that Yuzu had made.
"I think we're ready," said Yuzu. "I hope your mission goes well, Ichi-nii."
"You're not taking Kon with you, Ichigo?" asked Naruto.
"No, thank you," said Kon. "I'm going to be looking after the girls."
Naruto raised a brow. As far as he knew, Kon didn't have any other skills besides talking and moving on his own.
"Speaking of which," said Ichigo. "Would you mind having dinner with Karin and Yuzu a few times while I'm gone?"
Naruto stared in surprise. Ichigo looked serious then again he almost always did. Karin and Yuzu both brightened at this prospect.
"That sounds great," said Yuzu. "Would you mind, Naruto-san?"
"No," said Naruto. "I'd love to. Thanks."
Ichigo nodded in satisfaction, said good-bye to the girls and Naruto, and left to finish packing. Naruto and the twins were half-way to the Academy before the euphoria of being trusted with Karin and Yuzu's safety started to fade.
"Do you know why Ichigo's team is going on a mission now?" he asked. "They're ready, but Tsunade was waiting for Sasuke's next report on the kidnappers before sending them out."
The twins exchanged glances. Karin scowled while Yuzu giggled into her hand.
"Ichigo may have accidentally pissed-off the entire Hyuuga Clan," said Karin.
Naruto gaped. "He did what? Why? How?"
"He didn't say," said Yuzu. "He said it was stupid."
"He told me that he used some Hyuuga technique on Hanabi and everyone was up in arms about it. Tsunade-sama wanted them out of the village before the Hyuuga Elders could demand something crazy," explained Kon.
"Oh no," groaned Naruto. "I bet Tsunade's going to foist them off on me when go to the Tower. Who wants to play hooky today?"
Kon raised a paw. Karin and Yuzu exchanged a look.
"We better not," said Yuzu regretfully.
"Yeah, wouldn't want Ichigo to get word we were missing before he even left the village," added Karin.
"But we can do something tomorrow," said Yuzu. "It's Saturday. I can make ramen. It can be a reward for making it through today."
Naruto perked up slightly. "That does sound good. Alright, I'm looking forward to it!"
They had arrived at the Academy by that point. Naruto waved his good-bye while the girls and Kon headed inside then he took off to Hokage Tower.
Outside the tower, a large crowd was gathering. A quick glance showed that most of them were Hyuuga, but there were also quite a few other clan heads as well. They were a fairly even mixture of worried and angry. After a moment, Naruto made the decision to by-pass the crowd entirely by using the window instead. It was technically his office too after all, so there shouldn't be a problem.
Naruto jumped to the window ledge and promptly ducked an empty sake bottle flying at his head.
"Naruto!" roared Tsunade. "This is all your fault."
She was already drunk. It was barely after breakfast. He could see another partially empty bottle by her elbow. Shizune never normally allowed this sort of behavior.
"What's all my fault?" he demanded.
"The Hyuuga are convinced that Ichigo is a spy set on stealing their techniques, and they have half the clans convinced he can do it. And for some reason the civilian clans thinks he can copy kekkei genkai," she added. "He's your cousin. You fix it."
The enormity of the situation crashed into Naruto. The Hyuuga were one thing, the rest of the clans were another, but panicked civilians were a disaster waiting to happen.
"What sort of justification is that? He's your relative too!" he said.
Tsunade waved a sake bottle in his direction. "I am obviously drunk and cannot make rational decisions."
"That's crap," muttered Naruto. "A bottle and a half of sake. You're not even buzzed."
"It's water," said Tsunade morosely. "Shizune switched out my stash after she heard what had happened. She's getting clever, that one. But that's not the point. The point is: no one else knows it's water, you're going to have to deal with these sort of situations eventually, and I am still Hokage, so I am ordering you to take care of it."
There wasn't anything he could say to that. Still, the injustice of the situation was overwhelming. How was Naruto supposed to deal with a crowd like this? In the past, he and the kyuubi had undoubtedly been the reason for several of these gatherings. Now she expected him to fix it? That was crazy talk.
Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely noticed Tsunade leaving her desk. He did notice when she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him across the room, and threw open the door.
"Naruto's here!" she called. "He can answer all your questions and concerns."
She tossed him into the waiting crowd and slammed the door shut fast as lightning. Naruto imagined it closed with the same resounding clang as a cell door. He sighed and pulled himself up off the floor. He brushed off some imaginary dust and looked over the crowd. There was Shizune looking harried, Hinata looking sympathetic, and Shikamaru looking vaguely bored and annoyed. Everyone else he classified as a hostile.
"All right," he said. "What seems to be the problem?"
The resulting clamor was deafening. Ichigo had better appreciate this when he got back.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Ichigo was well-practiced at ignoring uncomfortable feelings. From Orihime's crush to the animosity of every punk and wannabe-yakuza in Karakura to his own physical pain, he had developed a thick skin that to the outsider looked a lot like obliviousness. It was just as easy to ignore Hanabi's quiet outrage once he knew she wouldn't try anything that would interfere with the mission.
That meant the first day passed in uneasy silence, which suited Kurenai-sensei just fine since she was apparently suffering a mild hangover. Konohamaru obviously didn't want to say anything that might rouse Hanabi's temper and had resorted to using the fewest words possible along with the simplest of hand signs. It was a wise decision on his part. Angering an assassin, even one in training, was a bad idea. But how Ichigo supposed to know that sealing her tenketsu would make everyone so mad? At least Hinata had been reasonable about the whole thing even if Hanabi, Hiashi, and the rest of the clan had not.
By the second day, Kurenai was completely recovered and starting to get annoyed by their behavior. Ichigo was responsible for carrying the crate of booze since he had the best endurance and because sealing it wasn't an option as it muddied the taste according to Tsunade, so Kurenai had Hanabi and Konohamaru scout ahead while she tried to explain exactly what Ichigo had done to aggravate the entire Hyuuga Clan.
No matter how many times she explained, Ichigo just didn't get it. So what if the Hyuuga used that technique almost exclusively? It wasn't as though fighting styles were patented, and other people could copy the style just as easily. Kakashi was famous for that sort of thing. Kurenai's counter argument that Kakashi was a genius shinobi, who was an acknowledged kage-candidate, hardly invalidated his own. It just meant that it was a hard technique to copy, not that it was impossible.
The next morning, Kurenai went out on patrol with Hanabi. Ichigo wasn't sure what they talked about, but Hanabi was even more irritated when they got back. They spent the afternoon in the same awkward silence. That didn't bother Ichigo too much because by that point they had entered into the range of something that possessed above-average reiatsu. It wasn't human reiatsu either. It felt more like the Nine-Tails sealed inside Naruto than anything else. It was a good thing that Ichigo wasn't responsible for patrolling the perimeter because the reiatsu-source was overwhelming and distracted him from just about everything.
On day number four, Kurenai and Konohamaru spent the entire scouting ahead leaving Hanabi and Ichigo alone. They had one, brief discussion of the situation.
"I don't understand why it bothers you so much," he had told her.
"Because it's my clan's technique," replied Hanabi. "How would you feel if an outsider beat you with one of your clan's techniques?
"You mean, if some random person used a Quincy ability? They'd have to be another Quincy, I think," said Ichigo. "I mean, other people can use things that have the same effect, which is what I did—
"I can't stand it," screamed Hanabi. "You don't care about being a noble, you don't care about having a kekkei genkai, you don't care about being an Uzumaki—
"Hey! I care about all of those things," protested Ichigo. "Because those things helped me find my family."
"That's point! You care about your family, but you don't care about your culture!" said Hanabi. "It's a matter of pride."
"I have pride, but pride's no use if it gets you killed. If I limited myself to what members of my clan—clans—whatever—should know, then I couldn't have done anything that really mattered," said Ichigo. "Your family is supposed to be your support. Not your chains. And besides, it's not like you want to master that tenketsu sealing stuff. You want to be an assassin, right?"
Hanabi went paler, if that were possible. "Who told you that? Was it Kurenai-sensei? Hinata-nee-sama?"
"You did!" said Ichigo. "You told me during training. You don't fight like a melee-fighter. You move like an assassin."
"I never did anything such thing!" shouted Hanabi. "And don't tell anyone else!"
"I wasn't going to!" yelled Ichigo. "It's your business what you do!"
"Good!"
"Fine!
"Fine!"
And that had been that. Ichigo was pretty sure that now Hanabi was mad at him for knowing she wanted to be assassin rather than a traditional Hyuuga-style fighter. But he wasn't sure how to ask without "telling" and angering her anymore would be a bad idea. When Kurenai and Konohamaru came back, they both glared at him. He couldn't fix anything when she the unreasonable one.
On day number five, the team finally stopped at tiny trading post on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water. On Earth, a border town like this one would be huge, but the largest town Ichigo had seen was nearly half a day's journey away from the actual border. The near constant state of war between the various nations meant villages like this were partially or entirely destroyed every few decades. Still, Ichigo could see some sign of expansion that had undoubtedly occurred since the Great Shinobi Alliance.
As the lead, Kurenai handled the exchange with the Mist jounin while the two groups of genin watched each other and theoretically looked for enemies. The Mist genin were younger than Hanabi and Konohamaru, which made them much younger than Ichigo, almost a decade, if he guessed correctly. Ichigo tried not to think about it too much. If it rained anymore in his Inner World, he was sure Zangetsu would start complaining, and he didn't need that headache on top of everything else.
The trip back promised to be equally as pleasant. Though they were taking a slightly different route back. On the second day back—seventh overall of the mission—Ichigo realized they were heading closer to the anomalous source of reiatsu. He wasn't sensitive enough to target the origin, especially in a large cloud like that, unless he was really close, but he planned to inform Kurenai-sensei if he was able to identify it as dangerous. So far, it seemed natural, almost inert, and Ichigo didn't want to alarm anyone unnecessarily or explain how he was sensing something no one else noticed.
The light was a surprise to everyone. Hanabi screamed in pain while Ichigo closed his eyes too late to avoid the blinding flash. The ground exploded almost immediately after. There wasn't enough force to do any damage, but the explosion released a cloud of poison dust along with the usual clods of dirt.
Ichigo breathed in involuntarily and started to fall to the ground. Hanabi's screams died to pathetic whimpers and she hit the ground. Konohamaru dropped next and Kurenai was listing if his reiatsu senses were to be believed.
Blinded, deafened, and poisoned as he was, Ichigo still managed to tag the reiatsu of four unfamiliar shinobi once they enter his range. Two grabbed Konohamaru and Hanabi and ran off with a third. The fourth lingered and moved to Kurenai. She swiped at him with a kunai, and the enemy shinobi kicked her in the stomach. She dropped and didn't rise again. A malicious feeling flooded the air. Killing intent, Ichigo realized, he had never felt it separated from reiatsu before.
A surge of adrenaline raised Ichigo to his knees, but there was no way he could shake off the effects of the poison in time to reach Kurenai's attacker. He groped for Zangetsu's hilt. The zanpaktou appeared in his hand, and he hastily swung the blade over his head to gain momentum. He wasn't as familiar with the technique as Shiro Zangetsu, who used it effortlessly, but he had practiced it enough times to be able to hit a man-sized target.
Ichigo let Zangetsu fly. The zanpaktou hit the enemy shinobi at chest height severing him in two. Ichigo still couldn't see thanks to that flash, but he tracked the lingering reishi of the man's body as the top half went flying in one direction and the lower half collapsed—the man's spirit was already gone. A faint mist of blood hit Ichigo's face, and he shuddered and collapsed back to the ground. All his panicked energy depleted.
Zangetsu had landed somewhere beyond Kurenai's prone body. She was still unconscious thanks to the poison dust and the earlier blow, but she was still alive and that was the important part. Ichigo gave himself a few minutes to recover breathing shallowly to avoid drugging himself any more. The longer he waited, the farther away the kidnappers took Hanabi and Konohamaru, and the longer they were likely to check on their missing man.
Ichigo closed his eyes and drew on his hollow regeneration ability. The burst of reiatsu blew away the last of the hovering dust even as it scoured Ichigo's body clean of the poison. The sensation of the delicate nerves his eyes repairing themselves was an annoying itch, but he knew better than to touch. The feeling faded when his eyes were healed and Ichigo let the hollow power fade from his body.
He sat up easily and looked around. There was Kurenai and the dead shinobi. There was Zangetsu. He didn't see any tracks left by the enemy, but he had been constantly monitoring Hanabi's mood for the past week. He would have no trouble finding her spirit ribbon once he started looking. For now he needed to take care of himself and Kurenai-sensei.
Ichigo retrieved Zangetsu first. Snapping the blood from the blade in a practiced motion and rewrapping in its cloth covering. He placed the sword across his back and let it fade back into his soul. Ichigo rose to his feet and checked on Kurenai. She was breathing and didn't seem badly injured.
Ichigo looked around and tried to remember the map of the area. There should be a stream of some kind nearby. They were going to stop there before camping for the night. Ichigo picked up Kurenai bridal-style. He wasn't going to sling her over his shoulder if she had internal injuries. He left the remains of the enemy shinobi where they were. He would be back to deal the body later.
After a moment of hesitation, Ichigo leapt into the air using hirenkyaku. He wasn't great at the Quincy technique, but he tended to go at top speed whenever he used shunpo, which his body couldn't take much less Kurenai's, and sonido, which was easier, was far too loud to be safe if their attackers were still around.
It took Ichigo a little under twenty minutes to reach the closest source of water and by that time hunger was gnawing at him. Using hollow regeneration always left him hungry no matter how insignificant the wound. He had to supply the energy and the fuel from his body to rebuild or cleanse whatever damage he may have sustained. After something serious, like healing his broken ribs and punctured lung during his race with Lee, he had cleaned out the entire kitchen, but he thought a ration bar would be enough to counter the energy loss this time.
Ichigo settled Kurenai underneath a willow tree for some cover and removed the few extra weapons he carried as shinobi. He piled a handful of shuriken and kurnai along with some wire, tape, and preloaded ink-brush next to his sensei while chomping down on two ration bars. The extra one offset the cost of carrying a person while performing hirenkyaku so long. A sealing scroll held the rest of his camping supplies and a change of clothes. He released the supplies, pulled out the clothes, and put everything else back. He needed to get rid of the blood and lingering poison dust before doing anything else.
Ichigo turned toward the river but paused. After a moment of internal debate, Ichigo drew Zangetsu and planted it solidly in the ground by Kurenai. The zanpaktou could throw up a barrier if anything hostile tried to attack while Ichigo was washing himself off.
"I can use kidou, ninjutsu, cero, and blut vene if I'm attacked. She's unconscious. Who do you think is more vulnerable?" asked Ichigo aloud.
There was only a sullen silence in reply, which didn't make Ichigo sound any less crazy. He stalked off toward the water and after dropping his clean clothes on the bank, waded into the stream. He dropped fully dressed into the water letting the slow current pull off as much dust and blood as it could. After that he stripped off his tunic and pants and started to scrub the exposed skin then he wrung out the dirty clothes as best he could.
Once he finished, Ichigo started walking back to the bank with his clean clothes, but halfway there he froze. Slowly turning around, he saw three turtles sitting on a log on the opposite bank. They looked very similar to the Stone Turtles that lived in Karakura's ponds and rivers. The largest one was staring at him.
Ichigo rocked on his heels and waved a hand in greeting. "Hey."
The turtle didn't move.
"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. I've been a Leaf-genin for a little over a month. My team is on a courier mission, but my sensei is out cold and my other teammates have been kidnapped."
The turtle was obviously not impressed.
Ichigo frowned. "I don't know who took them. Actually, it's a little weird. Everyone's expecting me to be kidnapped, and they went for those two instead."
The turtle turned its head slightly.
"Someone's kidnapping members of former-Uzu bloodlines. My grandfather was an Uzumaki, so…"
Ichigo trailed off. The turtle had raised its head and was staring at him intently.
"Ah, I'm a cousin of Naruto actually. Me and my two little sisters, I mean. Our moms were half-sisters. But we didn't find out until a few months ago," he explained. After a slight pause for the turtle to say anything he added, "You're right. Naruto is a good guy. I haven't actually seen him fight yet."
The turtle tilted its head toward Ichigo.
"Well, I'm going to check on my sensei and then go rescue my team," said Ichigo. "What else would I do? Oh, you mean after? We're heading back to Konoha."
The turtle didn't move, but something in its aura drooped slightly.
"Would you like to come back to Konoha with me?" suggested Ichigo.
The turtle titled its head in the opposite direction.
"I can't imagine anyone would have a problem. You don't look all that threatening at the moment. But if you're worried, we can say I got you for Karin. She's one of my sisters. I think you'd like her. She's got that tough outer shell thing going on, and her elemental affinity is water," offered Ichigo.
The turtle stared.
"You can think about it," said Ichigo. "I've got to get Hanabi and Konohamaru back before we go anywhere."
The turtle's head dipped.
"There was some sort of dust. Sleeping powder or something. I don't know when she'll wake up, but I can't leave my teammates in enemy hands for who knows how long," he explained.
The turtle cocked its head.
"That's right a month. And there are at least three. But they shouldn't be a problem. I've had experience at this sort of thing," said Ichigo.
It wasn't possible for a turtle to shrug, but Ichigo could tell it wanted to.
"I'll see you when I get back, okay?"
The turtle nodded, and Ichigo sensed he was dismissed. He stalked to the riverbank, still smarting about that comment about funerals, and changed into his fresh clothes. He debated leaving off the orange sash, it would be dark soon, but it was no brighter than Ichigo's hair and he didn't have anything to cover that up.
His next act was to check on Kurenai. He pointedly ignored Zangetsu's comments about situational awareness and sensitivity while he checked her breathing. She was still unconscious but didn't seem to be in distress. There was a faint bruise blooming on her cheek bone beneath the blood. Ichigo cleaned her face as best he could and applied a thin layer of healing paste from the medical kit to the bruise. Steeling himself, Ichigo checked below her shirt. There was a much larger bruise there, but when he pressed there wasn't any unusual swelling or stiffness to indicate a deeper internal injury.
That done, Ichigo went to get Kurenai's ninja supplies and add them to his own. That was when he realized the enemy ninja had made off with the crate of booze as well as his teammates. He'd have to get that back too.
Kurenai's supplies didn't suit his needs. He couldn't recognize all of the soldier pills and didn't have any use for extra weapons. She did, however, have an excess of empty scrolls, which gave him an idea.
While the ink dried on the last scroll, Ichigo dropped into jinzen. After a brief discussion, Ichigo pulled Zangetsu into the physical world. When he opened his eyes, both spirits were standing there wearing almost identical frowns.
"I don't like it," said Shiro Zangetsu.
"Are you sure this is what you want, Ichigo?" asked Old Man Zangetsu. "I know you have killed humans in the past, but that has always been in the heat of battle."
"I know that," snapped Ichigo. Both spirits flinched. Ichigo softened his voice. "I know that, but this is different. This time, it's even more important. I agreed to be a part of this team, even though I knew it could involve killing people. I can't just knock down those shinobi and run away with Hanabi and Konohamaru because I don't know how they jumped us in the first place. I know it's going to be hard. I don't want to kill anyone. But they wouldn't hesitate to kill someone who attacked me. So if I hesitate, then I'm not holding up my end of the bargain. I couldn't live with myself if they were hurt because I was too afraid."
"Hesitate and you will die," agreed the Old Man. "As long as your resolve is true, I know you will succeed, Ichigo."
A fleeting smile crossed Ichigo's face. "Thanks, Old Man."
"I still don't like it," said Shiro.
Ichigo and Old Man Zangetsu both stared at him in surprise. White Zangetsu was usually the most bloodthirsty of the three. He waved a dismissive hand.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Killing people. It's all well and good," he said. "But why are you leaving us behind? It's our job to fight."
The Old Man silently reviewed Ichigo's plan. "Indeed. There is no place for us."
"I need you guys to look after Kurenai-sensei," explained Ichigo.
"Fuck that," said Shiro. "She can look after herself. You are a trouble magnet."
Ichigo glared at him. "She's unconscious. I don't know any ninja-traps, and I can't leave any kidou traps because she doesn't know how to disable them."
"And because you still sort of suck at kidou," added Shiro Zangetsu.
Ichigo scowled. "I do not. Just at all that healing stuff Unohana crammed down my throat." All three shuddered at the memory of Unohana's kaido lessons. "Just look after her, alright. Who knows what's lurking around here?"
"Like a three-tailed beast?" snickered Shiro.
"You didn't notice him either," protested Ichigo.
The Old Man stepped forward. "At least take one of us with you."
Ichigo looked between them. "Can I do that when you're not in shikai?"
The two swords spirits glanced at each other. Shiro huffed and looked away. The Old Man shook his head.
"I didn't think so," said Ichigo. "Otherwise, I would have. But I can't use shikai for more than ten minutes in my body."
"You could if you countered it with Hollow regeneration," countered Shiro.
"For about twenty extra minutes before my body collapsed completely and I died," agreed Ichigo. "Not going to happen."
"Should have brought the stupid doll," grumbled Shiro.
"I won't go on any more missions without him, I promise," said Ichigo. "But it's too late now."
Old Man Zangetsu held out a hand. "Kunai."
Puzzled, Ichigo passed the zanpaktou one of his kunai. He and Shiro watched as the manifestation of his Quincy powers carved a five-pointed cross into the blade. He gestured again, and Ichigo held out his arm. The Old Man made a small cut on the back of his hand and pressed the carving into it filling the design with blood.
"It is not the same as an actual focus, but it will do if you need a sword," said Zangetsu.
"Thanks," said Ichigo.
"Get out of here," said White Zangetsu. "This is going to be boring. The sooner you're finished, the sooner we can leave."
Ichigo smirked. "You're not even going to threaten to take my place if I lose?"
White Zangetsu scowled. "If you lose to three shinobi, I don't want anything to do with you."
Ichigo rolled his eyes and gathered up his scrolls and weapons. "Whatever, just look after Kurenai and don't attack the turtle unless it attacks you first."
"Ruin all my fun why doncha," whined Shiro.
Ichigo nodded to his zanpaktou and took to the air with hirenkyaku. He was able to move almost twice as fast without Kurenai and reached the ambush site just at the sun touched the horizon. The deceased shinobi was still there.
Ichigo had spared a few moments to check the body for identifying marks. He recognized the symbol on the hitai-ate. He cloud represented Kumo, but if remembered correctly, the slash through the center meant his attacker was a missing-nin. So, there probably weren't more than three shinobi guarding Hanabi and Konohamaru after all or, at least, not many more than three. Ichigo sealed the pieces of the body inside a scroll.
Ichigo stood and faced east, the direction the kidnappers had gone. Ichigo's team had come far enough north to be in line with former Uzushiogakure and beyond that Kirigakure. Ichigo doubted either of those were his targets' destination. They were probably angling for the Land of Hot Water or planning to take a boat from the coast to the Land of Lightning. It didn't matter that much to him. Ichigo would find them either way.
Calling up the spirit ribbons was surprisingly easy. Even though people with more spiritual power would normally add to the confusion, not many passed through this empty stretch of wilderness. The instant he grabbed Hanabi's spirit ribbon, he was in the air and racing toward his captured teammates.
The sun had set by the time Ichigo found them. He hovered in the air far above their heads just on the edge of his range of senses. If they had had a sensor-type with them, then he would have been discovered already. As it was, Ichigo hadn't been able to determine exactly how different chakra-sensing was from reiatsu-sensing and decided to be cautious. He kept his own spiritual pressure as low as possible while using hirenkyaku and prayed it kept his chakra-levels down too.
In the dark, Ichigo decided he needed more than vague markers of spiritual power to avoid hitting Hanabi and Konohamaru. Summoning his mask was sure to attract attention. Instead he flooded his eyes with Hollow reiryoku and felt them change from brown on white to gold on black. When he looked down again, the scene was as clear as day.
Hanabi and Konohamaru were bound hand and foot. Both were still unconscious, but as he watched, one of the shinobi injected them both in the thigh with some sort of syringe. Ichigo let himself drift a little lower.
"—out for the next twelve hours," said the shinobi with the syringe.
"Good," said a kunoichi, the only one in the group. "We'll be gone by then if Kimiguro ever comes back. What's taking him so long?"
The remaining shinobi, a large man almost as tall at Zaraki Kenpachi, shrugged. "You know how he is about Leaf-nin. He's probably taking his time."
"I told him not to," snapped the kunoichi. "The Sarutobi brat means more to the village than two random shinobi. And the Hyuuga means more to any potential buyers than the other three combined."
"We know already," complained the one with the syringe. He had packed it away and was moving to take a position on the perimeter of their make-shift camp. "Do you want to go get him? Do you want me to go get him? We can't keep them under too long or they'll spoil."
The kunoichi bit her lip. "No, we'll wait, and if he's not back in four hours we'll leave without him."
There went Ichigo's chances of picking one off all on his own. He reached for his weapons pouch and pulled out one of the scrolls he had prepared. It was a written kidou designed by Kukaku as part of a fireworks show. The kidou wasn't as dangerous as real fireworks, involving no explosive powders or fire, but it did create and lots of noise and light, which was all Ichigo needed in a distraction.
He tossed the scroll in the opposite direction of his teammates—there was no need to draw the fighting to them—and used the time it took to fall to charge a cero. The scroll in the ground and exploded in a burst of color and sound. The enemy shinobi jumped and moved to the edges of the camp to look for the attacker. Ichigo fired the cero at the man with the syringe.
"Ken is down," shouted the large man. "It came from above!"
The kunoichi formed hand-signs while the man tossed kunai in Ichigo's direction. The kunai fell short; Ichigo was too far away to hit with random attacks. A thick mist rose from the ground hiding his opponents from sight. Ichigo didn't need sight with his ability to sense reiryoku, but he wasn't sure how much control the kunoichi had over the fog.
Ichigo jumped higher into the air, well over a hundred and fifty feet straight up, and used kawarimi to replace himself with the remaining male shinobi. Ichigo imagined ninja could survive a fall from that height but not without preparation. Three seconds later, he heard a loud thump underneath the sound of the fireworks and felt the shinobi's life fade.
That left the kunoichi. Ichigo stretched out with all his senses. There was a quiet splash behind him. Ichigo turned and jumped away from a kunai held in the kunoichi's hand but paused. There wasn't any spiritual pressure to the woman. That meant it was a clone, a distraction.
Ichigo spread his sense further. There was the kunoichi. From the position of her reiatsu, she was standing above Hanabi. Ichigo blindly fired a bala and heard the kunoichi shriek when the blast connected.
Simultaneously, a sharp pain bit into Ichigo's arm. The clone had stabbed him with a kunai. He activated blut vene instinctively before the blade could reach too deep. There was no life in the weapon or its owner, but the damage was real.
Ichigo drew Zangetsu's Quincy-marked kunai. He flood the weapon with reishi and a long, thin blade bloomed in his hand. He hit the woman in the side, and she exploded into water. Ichigo didn't have time to stare. The real kunoichi had recovered from the bala and was racing toward his unconscious teammates.
The buzz/boom of sonido temporarily blocked all other sound, but it faded in time for Ichigo to hear the death-rattle from the woman's lungs. His temporary sword had pierced straight through her heart. She hadn't had time to block or dodge.
With the kunoichi's death, the unnatural mist faded. It was still dark, but Ichigo's Hollow-eyes were more than sufficient for his needs. He checked on Konohomaru and Hanabi first and found them unharmed though obviously still unconscious. Next he sealed the three dead shinobi in their own scrolls. Then he searched the camp and found the box of liquor they had been tasked with delivering.
The crate as broken open along with most of the bottles. Ichigo collected all the pieces he could and put them in the remains of the box along with the rest of the lid. He sealed that too and looked over the rest of the camp.
The missing-nin hadn't had time to set up or hadn't wanted to. There were the remains of a fire, but they were cold to the touch. There wasn't anything else to clean up or take away. Ichigo's fireworks scroll had burned itself out.
Ichigo turned to pick up his teammates—he would have to carry them back to their temporary camp—when his arm twinged in warning. Ichigo remembered the wound from the water-clone. It was deep, all the way down to the bone. If he hadn't had blut vene, he would have died from blood loss in seconds. He'd leave that part out when he talked to his sisters.
Healing the wound was tricky. He had to juggle his Hollow power and his Quincy abilities at the same time, never releasing more of blut vene than he could regenerate until his blood vessels and muscles were completely healed. Sealing the skin was near instant in comparison. Healing himself took a quarter of an hour alone, and he was starving. He raided his teammates' pockets for ration bars and debated his next move.
If he used hirenkyaku to carry them, it would take longer. But if he used sonido, he would be hungrier by the time got there. Shunpo was out of the question. It was fastest, but he would probably break something, then have to heal it, and then be hungrier again. Bringer Light was probably just as bad. Ichigo sighed. No one else had the sorts of problems.
In the end, Ichigo used sonido carrying each of his teammates slung across his shoulders to go straight to the stream where he left Kurenai. When he arrived after nearly an hour of travel, he barely attracted a glance.
Old Man Zangetsu stood on top of the willow tree. He was enjoying the outdoors and the lack of rain while keeping watch. Underneath the branches, Kurenai was still unconscious, and White Zangetsu was having a staring contest with the turtle.
"Shouldn't Kurenai-sensei be awake by now?" asked Ichigo setting down the two shinobi.
"I had to knock her out," said Shiro not even flinching.
Ichigo stared. "What? Why?"
"Well? How exactly was I supposed to explain this?" asked Shiro gesturing at himself and Zangetsu's sword-form. "It's not like she's in the know."
Turtle wagged its tail. Ichigo looked again. No, definitely tails. Three.
"We're from another dimension," said Ichigo. "It's complicated. I need food."
Ichigo made a beeline for their rations, dug out all of their extra food, and started eating. That made Shiro break away from the contest.
"What did you have to heal something?" he asked.
"This clone stabbed me. It was made out of water, so it was solid. I wasn't expecting it," mumbled Ichigo through a ration bar.
Shiro stomped over. He yanked up Ichigo's free arm and studied the tear in the fabric. Old Man Zangetsu dropped down from the tree tops.
"You moron," he snapped. "And turn off your eyes."
Ichigo had forgotten about that. He released his Hollow power and the world faded to shadows. Some of the hunger lessened too enough that he wouldn't have to eat all their extra food.
At the same time, White Zangetsu faded from view. Ichigo looked up at the Old Man.
"You will recover energy faster if we are not manifested," he said. "And you should sleep."
Ichigo opened his mouth.
"We can keep watch from within the sword now that you are here," said Zangetsu. "Finish eating. We will wake you if danger approaches."
That sounded great to Ichigo. "Thanks. And thanks for looking after Kurenai too. I know you guys didn't like staying here."
Old Man Zangetsu gave him a level look. "What we want most is to protect you, Ichigo. If at times that means preserving your mental state, then we can do that too."
"But don't do it again," said Ichigo. "I understand."
"Hmm," said the Old Man then he vanished too.
Ichigo rolled his eyes, and people accused him of being overprotective. Sleep did sound nice though. Just as soon as he finished eating.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Kurenai woke with a start followed by a groan. She ached all over, but she could endure it easily enough given she hadn't expected to wake up at all. She opened her eyes and hissed. The morning light was enough to hurt her eyes and increase her headache from dull throbbing to kunai-to-the-brain levels. It would probably kill Hanabi.
Hanabi, Konohamaru…
Adrenaline surged through Kurenai. She shot upright and looked around. They weren't in an explosion-laced grassland. They were beneath willow tree by a stream. There was Ichigo's massive sword glinting in the sunlight. There was Ichigo asleep leaning against the tree trunk with a turtle curled up at his side. Kurenai shook her head slightly and kept looking. There was Konohamaru and next to him Hanabi. Both were asleep. Everyone was fine.
Kurenai relaxed and the pain filtered back in. Her stomach felt like a giant bruise and her face was on fire on top her headache. And to add insult to injury, she felt disgusting like she was covered in dried blood and dirt. She chanced a look down. Yes, dried blood and dirt.
Pulling up her shirt, Kurenai checked her stomach. It was one big bruise, but someone had obviously applied bruise-balm to alleviate the swelling. She pressed lightly but didn't feel any unusual swelling. If she was internally bruised, well maybe Hanabi could tell them, but there wasn't anything the four of them could about it.
Setting that problem aside, Kurenai gathered her strength and rose to her feet, staggering only a little bit. She heard a quick intake of breath from behind her.
"Kurenai-sensei? How are you feeling?" asked Ichigo.
Kurenai squinted over her shoulder. The light was still a bit too bright to be comfortable. "Ugh, gross, and a little beaten. But I'll be fine. What about you?"
"Regeneration ability," he said quietly.
Kurenai frowned. That just meant he wasn't hurt now, not that something hadn't happened. "Report. What happened? How did we get here?"
Ichigo retrieved his sword and summarized the events of the last night while Kurenai checked on her other charges. They were still sleeping, drugged according to Ichigo for at least five more hours, but otherwise fine. Except, there were tears leaking from Hanabi's eyes, even while she was asleep. Kurenai searched for the medical kit and wrapped a few of their clean bandages around her head to cut out some of the light.
"Is there a problem?" asked Ichigo.
"Byakugan is very sensitive to big flashes of light like that," said Kurenai. "If it was active, then Hanabi will take a little longer to heal than the rest of us. Now, if I have this right, we were attacked. Hanabi and Konohamaru were kidnapped. You killed the man attacking me. Brought us here. Cleaned up. Formulated a plan. Tracked down Hanabi and Konohamaru. Took down three missing-nin of unknown strength. Rescued your teammates and secured the package."
"Yes?" said Ichigo hesitantly.
"Without injury?" she asked.
Ichigo scowled. "No. I got cut here." He point at the part of his arm directly above the artery. "But it's healed now. I had to eat all of our extra food to make up for it."
"That's fine if you needed," she assured him. "But why didn't you wait until I woke up?"
"I didn't know how long that would take," said Ichigo. "The guy who attacked you really hated Konoha shinobi. They all did actually. I wasn't sure what would happen to the others if I left them there."
Kurenai acknowledged the point. "Tell me why you didn't bring your primary weapon with you."
"I left Zangetsu here to keep guard," said Ichigo. Kurenai stared at him. Ichigo reddened slightly. "Zangetsu can do stuff like that sometimes. If I ask nicely."
"The sword…" Kurenai trailed off. Ichigo might have risked his life for them. But he wouldn't tell her anymore about his chosen weapon. He refused to tell them anything about his old abilities and skills.
"And what about the turtle?' asked Kurenai.
Ichigo glanced at the reptile still sleeping next to the tree. "He's for Karin."
Kurenai shook her head. "I'm going to wash off and change clothes. Then we're going to carry Konohamaru and Hanabi until they wake up."
"No breakfast?" asked Ichigo plaintively.
Kurenai laughed quietly. Between her stomach and her head, the thought of food was nauseating, but he obviously needed it.
"You eat breakfast while I wash. Just save me a ration bar, okay?" she said.
"Right," said Ichigo.
In about ten minutes, they were ready to go. Kurenai was carrying Hanabi, who was lighter, while Ichigo carried Konohamaru and the turtle. Kurenai didn't stray entirely from their assigned return route, but she did cut off a lot of the twists and turns. She felt it was more important to get back to Konoha at this point. Every hour, they took a five minute break to rest and stretch.
At the five hour mark, Konohamaru and Hanabi started to stir. Kurenai called a halt. She and Ichigo got out water and food while the two genin shook off the lingering effects of the drug.
"Oh no," said Konohamaru when he woke up all the way. "Was I the only one who got knocked out?"
"No, they got all of us, except Ichigo," said Kurenai. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," said Konohamaru pushing himself to a sitting position. "Just hungry, thirsty, and I really need to pee. Everything is sort of blurry too."
"I can't see anything," said Hanabi at almost the same time.
Ichigo and Kurenai exchanged a worried look while Konohamaru set on his portion of food.
"I covered your eyes to keep out the light," said Kurenai.
Hanabi's mouth tightened. "It's still really bright."
"You were still sensitive to light when you woke up," said Ichigo.
"Hanabi, we're going to leave the bandages on until we get back to Konoha," said Kurenai. "If you can carry her that far?"
Ichigo shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."
Kurenai frowned back the way they came. "That must have been an anti-Byakugan weapon buried under the ground. I wonder how they got it."
"They were missing-nin from Kumo," said Ichigo. "And the kunoichi in charge. She wanted revenge for brother. He died because of the Hyuuga. She blamed the Hyuuga for it. And Kumo. And Konoha. Actually, but she could put up with Kumo until the alliance? I couldn't follow everything."
Kurenai stared at him. Ichigo said he had overheard them talking briefly, but enemies didn't suddenly spout their entire life's story in the middle of kidnapping. Not in her experience. Then again, people told Naruto everything when they were fighting. Maybe that happened to Ichigo too.
"Her brother must have been one of the shinobi to try and kidnap Hinata-nee-sama when she was little," said Hanabi quietly.
"It sounds like it," agreed Kurenai. "Here, Hanabi eat something. Drink some water. I'll help you with anything else. Then we're heading back to Konoha."
The rest of the day consisted of running with a short break every hour, mostly for Ichigo's benefit though he didn't seem to need it. They took a longer break after the sun set to eat a substantial meal and to sleep for a few hours. They ran through the rest of the night until dawn and took another longer break then started over.
"Are you okay, Hanabi?" asked Ichigo shortly before noon. "You're feeling a little tense."
Kurenai, as the most experienced of the group, was running point. Ichigo was carrying Hanabi in the middle. Konohamaru, having the broadest area attack thanks to his ninjutsu specialization, was covering the rear. He also had volunteered to carry the turtle for Ichigo. The reptile was in a cloth bag strapped to Konohamaru's back and didn't seem to be suffering from the lack of water though Ichigo gave it a little food and more water at every stop. Konohamaru met Kurenai's concerned gaze as she glanced at the pair in the center.
"No, it's just, everything's pale gray," said Hanabi. "I thought it might be better today. But, what if I'm blind forever. What good is a shinobi who can't see?"
Kurenai winced. She had similar concerns about Hanabi's eyes. She really had expected them to recover by now. Konohamaru and Ichigo didn't say anything. The moment stretched as the question hung ominously in the air.
"You remember that my dad's from a place called Soul Society, right?" asked Ichigo. "And that they have an army?"
"An army of shinigami," blurted Hanabi.
"Yeah," said Ichigo warmly. "Everybody here thinks it's pretentious. But they're the army, what can you say?"
If Kurenai recalled correctly, Ichigo was also a shinigami, a reservist. At least, he had been until Soul Society's government had driven him and his sisters to the Elemental Countries.
"The capital of Soul Society is Seireitei, the Court of Pure Souls," continued Ichigo. "It's impressive looking from one I've seen. Usually it was under attack while I was there, but it was still huge. And their army is called Gotei-13, the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. Now each division has a captain that is about as strong as a kage."
Kurenai kept her focus on her surroundings, but she strained to listen. Thirteen kage-level fighters in one army? That sounded like overkill.
"What are they all for?" asked Hanabi.
"Fighting Hollows mostly. Taking down the occasional rebellion. Fighting very short wars," said Ichigo. "And Soul Society is huge. So they've got a lot of area to defend."
"Makes sense," said Hanabi. "So why are you telling me this?"
"The former Captain of the Ninth Division was born blind," said Ichigo. "And he still became one of the strongest fighters in Soul Society."
Kurenai tried to imagine a kage with such a huge handicap. You couldn't learn hand signs, read scrolls, make tags, or see your opponents. Ninety-nine out of one hundred genin would die trying something like that. Uchiha Itachi could fight blind, but he was genius and had been born with sight.
"How did he do it?" asked Hanabi.
"He trained himself to sense reiatsu—that's a bit like sensing chakra—so well that he could do everything but see," said Ichigo. "He even had this special attack that blocked out all light and sound so that he had the advantage against his opponents."
"That sounds awesome," said Konohamaru.
"Do you think I could do that? If my eyes didn't heal?" asked Hanabi.
"I don't think you'll need to worry about that," said Ichigo. "But I think you could, if you had to prove that eyes don't matter. If you're determined enough, you can make your own place in the world."
Ichigo was talking about more than Hanabi's ability to see. Someone must have told him her intention to become a member of ANBU's assassination squad. It wasn't a bad goal for a shinobi, but the Hyuuga were almost always frontline fighters.
Kurenai glanced over her shoulder to see how Hanabi was taking the impromptu lesson. The girl was frowning.
"You didn't make a place in your world," she said. "Whoa!"
"Sorry, I tripped," said Ichigo. "What was that?"
"You came here," clarified Hanabi. "To the Land of Fire. Everyone knows you're a refugee."
Ichigo sighed. "I could have made a place. But I wasn't that determined."
"What do you mean?" asked Hanabi.
"I would have had to kill hundreds of thousands of people and probably ninety percent of my friends to make my own place," said Ichigo. "So, no, I wasn't that determined. But the rest of my point stands."
Kurenai closed her eyes briefly. She was pretty sure all attempts to have a conversation with Ichigo about his past would eventually end in tears. It was like watching the Rookie Twelve, and they really needed to find a new name for that group, try to discuss childhood with Naruto or Sai.
"Of course," said Hanabi faintly. "You think I'll recover though?"
"Well," said Ichigo carefully, "you were kidnapped because you were a Main Branch Hyuuga. I think if they had damaged your eyes permanently, then that would have defeated the point."
"That makes sense," said Hanabi. She actually managed to sound cheerful.
"So what happened to that guy?" asked Konohamaru.
"What guy?" asked Ichigo.
Konohamaru huffed. "The blind captain. You said he was the former Captain of the Ninth. So what happened to him? Did he retire? Did he lose? What?"
"Oh," said Ichigo. "He betrayed Soul Society because he thought government was corrupt beyond redemption and that it needed to be destroyed from the top down. He died in the war after he turned into this bug monster that could see and got so distracted by vision that his ex-Lieutenant was able to stab him in the head from behind."
Kurenai groaned. "Maybe you should just not talk, Ichigo."
"You're the ones that keep asking questions," protested Ichigo.
"Not anymore," said Konohamaru.
Hanabi let out a quiet little laugh. Kurenai smiled briefly herself. Ichigo was right about a surprising amount. There was no reason to think Hanabi's eyes wouldn't recover. They just need to get home.
Their lunch break was shorter than their breakfast. Everyone was anxious to be on their way. They were much closer to Konoha than Kurenai had believed possible. Ichigo had carried them all fairly far north when they were unconscious. She was certain that, after dinner and a few hours of sleep, that they would be able to get back to Konoha before the sun rose.
When they ran straight into an ANBU team, it was a complete surprise.
Kurenai caught sight of movement and brought the team to a halt. With a gesture, she ordered them up into tops of the trees. She cast the subtlest of genjutsu over the team, so that an enemy eye would pass them over as a part of the landscape and not be drawn to an aberrant source of chakra.
A hooded figure stopped beneath their perch, then another. Then one of the figures tilted its head up, and Kurenai saw the white mask. At her side, Ichigo stiffened then relaxed. He still automatically reached for Zangetsu whenever he saw an ANBU, but she had never received an explanation why.
Another masked figure appeared, it was Hound. He made the appropriate signs. Kurenai relaxed.
"It's an ANBU tracker team," she said for Ichigo and Hanabi's benefit.
"That's Kakashi, right?" asked Ichigo quietly.
Kurenai shot him a look. "In uniform, it's Hound. Don't forget, okay."
Ichigo nodded. Konohamaru and Hanabi echoed him. At Kurenai's lead, the entire team dropped to the forest floor.
"What's wrong?" asked Kurenai hurrying through the counter-sign exchange. "We're glad to see you. But we're not late."
Pushing it as they were, they would have arrived almost a full day early.
"Who attacked you?" asked Hound. "Is Hanabi injured?"
"It was a team of missing-nin from Kumo," said Kurenai. "They wanted the Hyuuga and Sarutobi heirs. She's not hurt, just blinded by a flash bomb."
Some of Hound's tension drained away, but behind him Bat's tension level sky-rocketed. Poor Neji. He wasn't even allowed to ask anything until they got back to Konoha.
"The two teams that were dispatched to assist Team Taka are missing," explained Hound.
"Since when?" asked Kurenai.
"Since they contacted Team Taka," said Hound. "One team was supposed to escort a group of recovered civilians to the nearest outpost. The other was going to intercept at team of buyers. Neither have made contact since. The Hokage sent us to find you and escort you back."
Kurenai nodded. "Understood. You have the lead."
Kurenai's team fell in line with the ANBU. The grim news gave them additional speed. Two more ANBU teams lost. Twelve of the village's elite lost to this nameless, faceless group hunting down the last traces of Uzu-blood.
Kurenai glanced at Ichigo. This one, at least, seemed kidnap-proof. Maybe that luck would hold over the rest of their Konoha residents.
As the walls of the village grew closer, Kurenai made a startling realization.
"It was the C-Rank curse! How? We're not even a green genin-team."
"Ichigo's green," said Konohamaru. "And he got to have all the fun."
"You have a strange definition of fun," said Ichigo.
"And you spar with cousin Neji's team on purpose," muttered Hanabi.
Bat let out a delicate cough in protest. Kurenai shook her head. She changed her mind. The entire village was out of luck. They'd have to rely on skill instead. She glanced at Ichigo again. They just might make it.