Letters from Soul Society Chapter 001 Awakening

Chapter 001 Awakening

Chapter 001 Awakening…

Jiraiya gasped for air like a drowning man; staggering and disoriented he steadied himself on a tree.  The bark bit into his fingertips as if the world had gone too solid.  A rush of light burned his eyes; he winced at surroundings that refused to make sense in his head.

“That must have been some party…”

He shook his head, but it refused to clear.  The clean scent of a familiar pine forest felt like sake in a tea cup–reassuring and completely wrong.  Adrenaline punched his gut as recall awoke from stupor.  The last thing he remembered…Nagato ’s eyes, just escaping death and then… and then…

“Wh-where am I?”

He couldn’t quite remember what came after that, a black spot in his memory had swallowed the events whole.

He blinked repeatedly to focus his vision, peering at a blurry white blob of what appeared to be buildings not far in the distance. His eyes adjusted to the light as he studied the dark shape behind the blob. The faces of Konoha’s Hokage’s slowly became visible; his spirits lifted and tension dropped from his shoulders.

Those familiar faces were a welcome sight, especially Tsunade’s.  His eyes took in her stern expression, closing the distance between them for a moment.   He thought he’d never see her again.  He couldn’t even laugh at the sculptor’s complete inability to capture her this time

He blinked away a dust speck that prickled in the corner of his eye.  It was good to be just outside Konoha.  Except…

“How did I make it back here?! Some sort of strange jutsu? Perhaps.  Fukasaku did this… but where is that old frog?  He would surely want to gloat about saving my ass once again…”

Two pairs of shuffling feet broke the silence behind him.  Jiraiya turned and recognized Ino and Lee, former classmates of Naruto.  He gave his best smile, followed by a polite wave.

“Do either of you know where I could find Naruto?”

Neither acknowledged his question, or even his presence.

Jiraiya jumped out in front of them.  ”Excuse me, do either of…”

They passed right through his body before he could finish and walked on, as if he didn’t exist.  He turned and watched them continue on their way, seemingly unaware of him.

Confused he looked toward Tsunade’s bad bust and wondered if he was dreaming.

“Either Pa needs to work on this jutsu or you aren’t teaching those kids to respect their elders…” He made a stabbing gesture at the mountain and froze.

**Shink clink**

The rasp and jingle of steel chain links brought his gaze down. Horror radiated into his face like a blush, dropping his mouth until it matched the hole in his chest.  Several chain links hung from it.

“What the…?!  Genjutsu?”

Jiraiya’s confusion took him to the edge of panic for a moment, allowing someone to approach him from behind, someone–or something–without chakra.

There was some power there, felt similar even, but it wasn’t chakra.

“Shinobi,” a gruff voice grumbled from behind him, “your time has come.”

Jiraiya whirled. A samurai in traditional black garb held a katana with the hilt end inches from his forehead.

“Do not fear,” the samurai continued,” the place you are headed is not hell… it is Soul Society.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Next chapter: Tsunade’s Sonata

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Note from the authors: Hopefully this will be a weekly series that the two of us will write.  They typically will be in short, easy to digest bits.  We are aiming for fanfic chapters that take as long to read as your average manga chapter.  We will also be integrating some familiar characters from both Naruto and obviously Bleach… Look for Itachi to become a major character very soon (O_o)

Ja

Jeremiah and Kumori

~ by 火影 千手 Jeremiah on October 18, 2009.