Gaara decided to call the situation in which he found himself vexing. After half an hour had passed, most of the revived Uzumaki had lost control of their bodies and were engaged in combat with shinobi and samurai throughout the ruined village. The other kages had long retreated from the village square, Tsunade leaving first to assist Sakura, and the rest trickling out after to draw away the heavy hitters. Gaara had resolved to remain with Naruto as long as battle allowed, but the battle, such as it was, was dissatisfying.
The primary difficulty, in Gaara's opinion, was that while everyone possessed unfortunately recent experience fighting undead shinobi, no one had faced trained Uzumaki en masse since before the Third Shinobi War. The seals inked onto their skin or drawn at lightning fast speed had strange effects, some of which Gaara would have never believed possible if an army of ink-based clones had never assaulted Suna.
One shinobi could phase through objects. Another could draw water out of anything she touched. A third could redirect any attack to any other direction while adding force. A fourth chewed rocks and spat out burning plasma. At least the ones who could create weapons from chakra were closely matched by the samurai.
The most annoying seal proved to be a widely-utilized chakra disruptor, which was less lethal than Hantokei's chakra freezing seal but equally effective at nullifying chakra-based attacks. In addition, the undead nature of the Uzumaki shinobi meant that if Gaara crushed them entirely, their bodies would reform without issue. But if he tried to hold them inside a sand coffin, they could activate their chakra-disrupting seals and rendered his sand inert.
Ichibi was proving to have the same difficulty. The angry chittering of the raccoon-dog was oddly comforting when not echoing in his skull.
"—then they attacked Ishida and almost hacked his arm off!"
"Those assholes, how dare they!"
"I think Quincy must have been resistant to Fullbring. Maybe because Fullbring powers are Hollow based? But I didn't know it was them at the time, so—"
Kurosaki Ichigo and his mother burst in and out of earshot reminding Gaara of the other annoyance posed by this one-clan army. Their interference was preventing him from gaining intelligence about Naruto's new, mysterious cousin.
Kurosaki had shaken off the energy-bolt to the head with nothing more than a quick sneeze to clear his sinuses and proceeded to engage his resurrected mother in combat. The acrobatic nature of their aerial fight meant that several similar bolts had gone awry thus far resulting in small but intense explosions. One such bolt had been enough to drive Hantokei into the sky. Disappointingly, the distance had done nothing to disrupt his control over the Uzumaki.
As Kurosaki and his mother fought, he recounted the last decade and a half of his life that she had missed. From what Gaara had overheard, Kurosaki had broken into or invaded quite a number of places he shouldn't have and been stabbed in the stomach or chest an improbable number of times. His mother screeched in fury whenever Kurosaki mentioned such an event, so Gaara felt reasonably certain about his assessment of the latter situation.
"HE SLICED YOUR EYES OPEN? THAT BASTARD! TELL ME YOU GOT HIM BACK FOR THAT!"
Gaara nodded to himself. Kurosaki seemed at least as durable as Naruto. That was unlikely for an ordinary shinobi, but Uzumaki were graced with incomparable endurance.
At the thought of Naruto, Gaara glanced down. His first friend was still gathering natural chakra before entering his Tailed-Beast form. While not strictly necessary, once Naruto assumed his glowing battle-form, he would become an unmissable target and have to fight and have no time to enter sage mode. His concentrated meditation left him distressingly vulnerable. Gaara, Sasuke, and Suigetsu were devoting most of their attention to guarding Naruto from attack.
There was another stir among the Uzumaki. Those few that were still in relative control of themselves gathered on the far side of the crevasse like it was their line in the sand. A woman elbowed her way to the front of the group. Gaara found her face vaguely familiar. Then he saw the leaf on her hitai-ate and realization struck.
"Naruto, is that you?" yelled Uzumaki Kushina.
Naruto's head popped up, his concentration shattered. Gaara was relieved to see that Naruto had at least gathered enough natural energy to enter sage mode. His eyes had undergone their typical unsettling transformation.
"Mom?" Naruto yelled back. The sounds of rising sea water and the battle around them made the shouting necessary, but Gaara hoped Naruto would remember the situation they were in soon.
"Look at you! You're so strong!" gushed Kushina. "Does that mean you opened the seal on the Nine-Tails' chakra?"
"Totally! Me and Kurama are friends now!" shouted Naruto.
Kushina blinked. "You're friends with who?"
"Kyuubi's name is Kurama. We're friends!" said Naruto.
"WHAT?!"
Gaara resisted the urge roll his eyes. Even if Naruto was acting ridiculous, then Gaara should at least maintain a level of professionalism. This was why Gaara was Kazekage and Naruto was still Tsunade's loudest intern.
"Anyway, I thought you got munched by Shinigami!" said Naruto.
"No, that was just your father!" explained Kushina.
There was an odd moment when Kurosaki and his mother fell back into range. Apparently, they weren't above listening to other people's conversations either.
"Shinigami eat people now?" demanded Kurosaki's mother.
"No!" said Ichigo. "It's a different kind of shinigami."
"Are you sure? You haven't eaten anyone have you?" asked Kurosaki's mother.
Given the typical speed of a pitched battle, there was a relatively long silence from Ichigo. "Probably not?"
"Probably not? Sweetheart, if that was supposed to be a joke—"
Kurosaki and his mother moved away again. Gaara burned with curiosity. Even at the height of his madness, he had never gone so far as to eat someone though he had fed many people to his sand.
"Who were they?" asked Kushina.
"Oh! That's my cousin, Kurosaki Ichigo, and his mom, Masaki. She's your half-sister! Isn't that cool!" said Naruto.
"I don't have a sister!" protested Kushina.
"You do!" argued Naruto. "Your dad didn't die when Uzushio was destroyed. But he was too sad to stick around the Elemental Countries, so he used this seal to transport himself to another dimension! Then he got married again to this lady whose family kills evil ghosts!"
Gaara's jaw dropped, his sands falling still in response to his shock. Luckily, the surrounding shinobi, living and undead both, had paused in attempt to process this fantastical claim. The Ichibi, who was one of the few for whom this revelation was old news, took advantage of the opportunity to cover every enemy's feet in sand. It would slow at least some of them down.
"Naruto!" snapped Sasuke.
"Oops," muttered Naruto.
"Don't worry about it. Kurosaki told all of that to every Clan Head and Heir in Konoha. The other Villages were bound to hear about it eventually," said Suigetsu supportively.
"That's right. Thanks, Suigetsu," said Naruto.
Gaara kept his mouth shut. He hadn't heard a single word about Kurosaki being from another dimension from any of his spies, official or otherwise, in Konoha. He had thought it unbelievable when Kurosaki came from a nation outside of the Elemental Countries. Another dimension was entirely different level of insanity. Naruto-level insanity, if Gaara were honest.
Gaara glanced at Shukaku. "You could have mentioned something."
The One-Tail's quiet "maybe" rattled the entire square and spurred most of the shinobi back into the fight. A number of Uzumaki lurched forward only to eat dirt. Shukaku chirred in satisfaction.
At that point, Kurosaki and his mother, Masaki, dropped out of the sky to finally land. Gaara wasn't exactly pleased at how close he was to the pair. His sand shield was fast, but those arrows could do a lot of damage.
"Why didn't you mention I had sister?" demanded Masaki.
"I was going in chronological order!" said Ichigo. "Why didn't you and dad say anything about the shinigami or the Quincy?"
Masaki winced hard enough her next arrow missed by a mile. "Well, given how your father and I met, we weren't sure you or the girls would develop powers at all, and we were worried someone might be observing us and didn't want to clue them in."
"Well, guess, what? They were!" snapped Ichigo. "Do you have any idea how creepy it is to have some megalomaniac tell you they've been watching you since birth and guiding your destiny? I do! It happened twice!"
Gaara wasn't sure that Rasa counted as a megalomaniac. The Fourth Kazekage had been paranoid, but most shinobi were, and he desired power, but most shinobi did. Until a dearth of missions had threatened to ruin Suna, he had never been interested in attacking one of the other Hidden Villages.
"Hey, Masaki-san!" yelled Kushina. "Are you really my sister?"
"I guess I am!" said Masaki. "What's your name?"
"Uzumaki Kushina! What happened to our dad?" asked Kushina.
"He and mom were killed by Hollows when I was a kid," said Masaki. "It sucked. But it's always a risk for Quincy."
"This is so cool," whispered Naruto. "Hey, Gaara. Do you think your mom is here?"
Gaara blinked. It hadn't occurred to him that his mother might have been summoned. While at least on of his maternal grandparents had been from Uzushio, his mother and Uncle Yashamaru had both grown up in Suna and were trained as Suna shinobi. Hantokei's search had been for a specific Whirlpool-trained shinobi, but if Kurosaki's mother from another dimension was here, then Hantokei's method of resurrection had retrieved a wider range of fighters than expected.
"I do not know," he said at last. "I'm not sure I could recognize her."
Ichigo interrupted the conversation between the two half-sisters. "Mom, can you do the Rosa— raso— rasen—"
"Rasengan?" suggested Naruto.
"I don't even know what that is," said Ichigo. "The Quincy string-thing?"
"Ransotengai?" asked Masaki. "I don't know. That's a technique for old people and people too sick to control their bodies properly."
Kurosaki looked at his mother expectantly. Whatever playfulness she had exuded while battling her son across the ruins of Uzushiogakure vanished. Her face hardened and the sudden scowl of concentration made her truly resemble her son for the first time.
Blue-white strings similar to the chakra strings used by puppeteers latched onto her joints. With a distressing crunch of bone and ligaments, Kurosaki Masaki turned to face the remaining Uzumaki.
"First time for everything," said Masaki. "Alright, who wants to take me on?"
"I call dibs!" said Kushina.
The former jinchuuriki launched herself at her half-sister and they both went flying out of the square. That was one of the most dangerous Uzumaki on the field preoccupied as well as whatever the hell Kurosaki's mother was.
"Did you know she could do that the whole time?" demanded Suigetsu in outrage.
"Look, I don't normally do the Quincy thing except when I need an extra sword," protested Ichigo. "I can't keep track of all their weird techniques!"
"Children, now that your parents are occupied, perhaps you could focus on the real threat," ordered an imperious voice.
Gaara scanned the thinning crowd, this time finding possibly the most dangerous Uzumaki ancestor with ease. Uzumaki Mito, dressed like the ancient princess she was, frowned at them in disapproval but remained stubbornly in place.
She pointed to the sky. "That one."
Gaara wasn't the only one to unconsciously raise his head. Hantokei hovered in the sky far above the battle cackling wildly and firing potshots at the shinobi down below.
"Right," said Naruto. "Sorry."
Golden-orange light surrounded Naruto as he entered Tailed-Beast mode. He launched into the air aiming at Hantokei with a cry and a raised fist. As if a punch would have an effect when everything else had failed.
Taken by surprise, Hantokei stood still—hovered still?—as Naruto whacked him in the jaw. The ancient enemy of the Uzumaki went tumbling ass over teakettle.
"Absolutely useless, but immensely satisfying," said Ichigo looking up at the sky.
His words echoed Gaara's thoughts exactly.
"Better go back him up," said Ichigo. He leapt into the air as if it were nothing. Judging by the soaring aerial fight he and his mother and pursued, then flying was effortless for the dimensional traveler.
Gaara shook his head. He could fret over that revelation later. He silently called his sand to him, preparing to raise a platform on which to fight. At his side, he could sense Sasuke gathering his own chakra.
"Okay, before both of you go blasting off to help the vessel of the Nine-Tails and the guy who's half death-god, could you wait until I'm not surrounded by unkillable shinobi?" demanded Suigetsu.
Gaara considered their position again. With Naruto otherwise engaged, they no longer needed to occupy the center of the square. In fact, most of the shinobi been pushed to the edges already. Their little group of three was now completely surrounded by enemies.
"Fine," said Sasuke.
"We will rendezvous with the closest group of allies, and then go to assist Naruto," agreed Gaara. As Suigetsu indicated, Naruto and Kurosaki were unimaginably strong and quick to heal. Out of everyone on the battlefield, they were the most likely to survive a fight with the timeless Hantokei.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Yuzu woke to a terrible headache. She opened her eyes to slits and bit back a hiss of pain. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and wait for the burning pins-and-needles sensation to stop. But the last thing she remembered was a village-wide alarm blaring to life just as she opened the door. She was a shinobi now, or close enough to one, and she wouldn't let a little bit of pain hold her back.
Yuzu forced her eyes all the way open and sat up in one quick motion. Her stomach roiled in protest but she took several deep breaths and commanded her body to obey. The nausea passed quickly after that, and Yuzu could process her surroundings.
She was in a hastily constructed medical tent at the outer edge of a ruined village. For one frightening moment, Yuzu thought she was still in Konoha and that their new home had been destroyed while she was unconscious. But then Yuzu saw the edge of a red-tiled roof and realized they were back in Uzushiogakure. She couldn't see much but Yuzu thought the remains of the Village Hidden in Whirlpools were in even worse condition than they had been mere months before.
Karin was lying on a blanket next to her, and Yuzu lurched off of her own thin sheet searching for a pulse. To Yuzu's relief, she found it strong and steady beneath her fingers. Karin even let out a pained groan that signaled she would be waking up soon. Next to her was the other Karin, who was just as out of it, and lying on her other side were Temari and Kankuro of Suna. Yuzu recognized them from Bingo Book she had borrowed from Ibiki's desk.
Yuzu searched for anyone else she recognized or anyone who could tell her what was going on. There were a large number of unconscious shinobi, mostly Konoha-nin, who seemed only lightly injured and were lying on bare earth and makeshift headrests. Further along the line, shinobi were on pallets and stretchers to keep dirt away from more serious wounds. Sakura-sensei was in that section kneeling over a foreign shinobi. The faint green light of healing jutsu cast deep shadows on her face. Among the worst injured, Tsunade-sama had assumed a similar position.
Outside the tent lay a double handful of shrouded bodies.
Yuzu wasn't going to disturb either of the healers despite her burning curiosity. She was no veteran fighter, but Yuzu thought it was strange how many shinobi were unconscious without severe injuries. Even the neighborhood bullies who picked fights with Ichigo could take a serious beating without passing out.
Stranger still were the dark humanoid-shaped shadows positioned equidistantly in and outside the tent. They didn't look like the ghosts she was used to, but maybe ghosts only haunted active battlefields in the Elemental Countries?
A familiar face popped into sight twisted into an unusual expression of concern.
"Kon!" said Yuzu. Worry mixed with relief in her voice. Ichigo tried not to leave his body if at all possible, especially not since coming to the Elemental Countries. "Where's Ichigo?"
"He and Naruto and some other shinobi are fighting the nutcase responsible for this mess," said Kon kneeling next to her. "How are you feeling?"
Yuzu evaluated herself a little more thoroughly. "It feels like I sat on my foot too long and now the blood is rushing back, except it's all over and it's not going away."
"Sakura-sensei said that was one of the common symptoms of mild chakra drain," said Kon. "Almost everyone here has it after getting caught in that seal. Only jounin and above escaped."
Yuzu blinked and looked over the unconscious shinobi. "Are they all related to Naruto?"
Kon shook his head. "No, there was a different kind of seal on the entire town. It affected everybody that didn't have the counter-seal."
"Over the whole village?" murmured Yuzu. That sounded familiar.
"It didn't affect me or Zangetsu or Ichigo once he was out of his body, so Ichigo blew it up," said Kon. "Typical Ichigo behavior. Not even worrying about the consequences."
Yuzu frowned. "The consequences of destroying the seal on the village?" She blinked as the memory hit her. "Oh! Kon! Bring me a ninja. A smart one! One who knows about seals."
"Okay," said Kon. He sounded confused to her ears but darted out of the tent regardless.
Yuzu shoved her hands into her apron pockets and started unsealing her equipment. The abrupt loss of chakra had made her last few minutes awake fuzzy in her memory. Yuzu knew she had sealed the scroll away, that was why she had left the protections of the apartment, but she wasn't sure where she had put it.
Sewing kit with needles and paralytic poisons. No. Basic cooking spices. No. Zip ties. No. Ankle weights. No. Kitchen knives. No. Study packet for the next Academy exam. No. Hair brush. No. Armored gauntlets. No. Nail file that could double as a shiv. No. Ibiki's super-secret, super-bouncy strawberry cheesecake recipe. No. Smoke bombs. No.
Yuzu paused in frantic searching and took a deep breath. She knew which seals were already full. She had spent months training herself to remove and replace objects in the same spot so something like this wouldn't happen. Where would she have room to put a sensitive document?
Yuzu shook her head and slipped a hand into her pants pocket and the previously empty seal there. She unsealed the Uzumaki-scroll and began scanning through the detailed diagrams. She was going to have to do more memory drills when she got back to Konoha. A whole minute wasted in needless panic. How embarrassing.
Next to her, Karin groaned and rolled onto her side. "What happened?"
"We got caught. But Ichi-nii and some other shinobi rescued us," said Yuzu. Her hands were trembling slightly from her time under the seal and it was slowing her down. "Try to shake off the chakra exhaustion. I think Sakura-sensei needs some help."
Karin grumbled under her breath that people couldn't just shake off chakra exhaustion that was what got idiot shinobi killed, but nonetheless she began the wincingly painful process of sitting upright. Yuzu could feel her sister circling her spiritual energy at double speed and watched her condition visibly improve.
Kon reappeared dragging Kakashi along with him. "I'm pretty sure this one is smart. And he said he knows about seals."
"You're okay," said Kakashi with a little too much relief in his voice.
Yuzu would have blushed at the hint of affection in any other situation but in midst of battle was not an appropriate time. She shoved the scroll in his direction.
"Of course, I'm okay. I'm a Kurosaki!" she said firmly. "Now, look at this!"
Kakashi looked surprised but took the scroll from her outstretched hand. As he read, Yuzu began forcing her own reiryoku into her extremities. It hurt, the remnants of hell-energy always hurt, but it was a clean burn that sharpened her wits and settled her shaking body. She could feel her chakra flow resume its steady pace.
"This is a seal designed to contain "that which unwinds time,"" said Kakashi reading from scroll. "It was placed at the site of the last battle between the Hantokei and Uzumaki. The Uzumaki built their Clan-compound on top of the seal to prevent ambient chakra from reaching the evil contained within and as a final defense if the seal failed. The seal has to be reapplied once a year or it will degrade. The more undirected chakra that reaches the seal from the outside, the faster it will come undone. That more or less matches what Hantokei told us."
"Can you reapply the seal?" asked Yuzu.
"It doesn't look too complicated," said Kakashi reviewing the seal diagram again. "No, wait. This says it has to be applied by an Uzumaki. There's a twist to their chakra coils and reflected in their chakra that halts the unwinding."
"We haven't learned how to make any seals but exploding tags," said Yuzu well aware that "not too complicated" from someone as intelligent Kakashi could be considered practically impossible by an ordinary person.
"I don't think Ichigo can either," added Karin.
Kakashi grimaced and the stress lines at the corners of his eye grew more pronounced. "It has to be someone who has experience with seals." He leaned backwards just enough to peer out of the tent. "At least we know where Naruto is, even if getting to him will be tricky."
Yuzu took a deep breath then pushed herself to her feet. Her stomach roiled in protest and her ears swooped. Kon steadied her with a light touch and an anxious smile. Really, he was just terrible at mimicking her brother's expressions. She tottered to the edge of the tent, ignoring Karin's grumbled protests as she too clawed her way to standing, and peered up at the sky.
Hovering a few hundred feet over the village square, Naruto, Ichigo, and a man Yuzu guessed was one of the Hantokei were darting through the air in pitched battle. Naruto was shining golden and throwing jutsu after jutsu at the man. Ichigo in his shihakusho was a dark contrast. The black and white arcs of energy of from Zangetsu were somber counterpoints to the colorful shinobi techniques.
But for all the power sizzling in the air, Yuzu couldn't tell if their attacks were doing anything to Hantokei. He seemed to redirect or disable every jutsu that came his way and dodged or recovered from every getsuga tenshou.
It didn't help matters that the pair weren't quite in sync. Naruto, at least, was used to working with a swordsman, probably Sasuke or maybe a ninjato-wielding member of ANBU, and he provided space between attacks for Ichigo to engage in close combat. Ichigo was too used to fighting alone without anyone strong enough to keep up. He never came close to hitting Naruto, but Ichigo wasn't always ready when Naruto gave him an opportunity to attack even if his speed let him catch up.
They were adjusting quickly. The gaps between Naruto ending an attack and Ichigo beginning one were decreasing even as Yuzu watched. But there were still gaps. Hantokei took advantage of one such moment, when Naruto pulled back but before Ichigo moved in, to raise his hands and activate a jutsu of his own.
Ichigo and Naruto froze side-by-side in the air. Hantokei twisted his hands, turning and turning his arms like corkscrews until they were bent out of any reasonable human shape, and he just kept going with his hands fixed on invisible dials.
"They're getting weaker?" said Karin in confusion. Her sensitivity to Ichigo's reiatsu giving her an advantage.
"They're getting younger!" yelped Kon. "You have to stop him."
Yuzu flung her hand forward releasing at hellfire infused chakra-whip toward the sky. It fell short. The distance and the height working against her. Kakashi ran through hands signs at top speed, launching a fireball, shards of earth, and a windy gust in quick succession. The three attacks bounced off an invisible bubble of protection.
Karin's fingers scrambled at her throat and pulled a silver cross from beneath her clothes. She tore the chain from her neck and tied the focus to her wrist.
"Hurry, Karin!" urged Yuzu.
Other fighters closer to the trapped pair had noticed what was happening. A geyser of sand crashed against the same protective bubble that had thwarted Kakashi's attacks. Yuzu watched anxiously as a woman leaped into arms length of Ichigo only to be bounced back to the ground at near double her initial speed.
Karin concentrated on the cross and managed to form a glowing longbow. It wasn't as solid as Yuzu would have liked to see. But she couldn't even do that much. Karin lifted the bow and nocked a shining arrow.
There was a spike of power from Ichigo which dissipated into nothing. Behind them, the other Karin sat up with a gasp and promptly retched.
"That must have been the fight with Yhwach!" said Kon.
Karin hesitated. "That means Ichigo is powerless now."
"Powerless is better than non-existent," said Yuzu.
Karin aimed at Hantokei. Naruto's chakra surged from unmatchable to unimaginable prompting a weak moan from the other Karin.
A second wave of power overwhelmed them. Yuzu's heart seized. Karin's hand stilled. Kakashi's breath froze in his lungs. The other Karin shrieked in alarm.
"Aizen," moaned Kon.
The wave passed. The reishi arrow flew from Karin's bow. Hantokei's head exploded and his arms fell limply to his sides. His headless body bobbed up and down in the air like a grotesque balloon.
"Nice shot," said Kakashi.
"I was aiming at his chest," admitted Karin.
"Naruto is falling," said Yuzu sounding idle to her own ears. Her eyes were fixed on her brother. Something about Ichigo wasn't right.
The golden glow around their cousin had disappeared. He was tumbling out of the sky, arms flailing in panic. Sasuke flew into view, swooping up Naruto into a rather picturesque bridal carry. It was a good thing Sakura and the other Karin were occupied. Both women would be jealous at such a sight.
Ichigo was still floating close to Hantokei, but he was slowly sinking. There was a shining point of light around his chest. It was blue, so that made Yuzu think it was Quincy technique. But, no, Ichigo hadn't known about his Quincy powers until after the fight with Aizen.
"It's hole," said Yuzu numbly. "That's a hole in Ichigo's chest. I can see the sky through it!"
"What?" said Karin peering into the distance. "No!"
Yuzu started to scream. "Ichi—"
Kon's hand clamped over her mouth cutting her off. Yuzu glared at him from the corner of her eye and saw he had done the same to Karin.
"Do not scream. If you scream, Ichigo will hear you and panic. And that will be very, very bad," said Kon. For once, the modsoul's serious expression made him resemble her brother.
Yuzu and Karin both nodded. Kon carefully released them, eyeing them both suspiciously, as if either of the twins were the sort to ignore warnings. That was their brother's job.
"Ichigo, how the hell did you get stuck then?" moaned Kon quietly as if he could hear them across the battlefield. "It was for all of a minute during your fight with Ulquiorra! Less than that!"
Karin flinched and Yuzu grimaced in sympathy. Karin had hesitated for Ichigo's sake. Their brother's life without his powers had been safe, but he had been miserable. How were either of them to know something like this had happened to Ichigo? He had never told them!
"No! Ichigo!" A woman's voice echoed over the silent battlefield. Hinata.
"Shit," whispered Kon.
The hole in Ichigo's chest shrank and a white mask formed over his face even as all color leached from his skin. Long, curved horns framed his head, sprouting from a mane of suddenly waist-length hair. Red tufts bloomed at his wrists and collar bones. Yuzu couldn't tell if they were fur or fire or reiryoku made manifest. Ichigo's reiatsu flooded the ruined village, powerful and unmistakably Hollow.
"We're screwed," said Karin.
Yuzu swallowed hard. She had only ever fought a handful of low-level Hollows when Ichigo was away at university. Even then, the final blow was always struck by the shinigami assigned to guard Karakura town. Yuzu knew she didn't have the power to fight a Hollow as strong as Ichigo. With Naruto aged back at least ten years, Yuzu wasn't sure anyone in the Elemental Countries had enough power to stop him.
"What the hell is that?" demanded Kakashi. He looked concerned but not rattled. Yuzu suspected that was because he had never encountered a Hollow before, not because Kakashi thought he could take on Ichigo.
"Ten years ago, during the Winter War, Ichigo lost control of his Hollow in his fight Ulquiorra, the Fourth Espada," explained Kon. "But it was only for a few minutes. A quarter of an hour at most!"
"And then it wore off?" asked Yuzu hopefully.
"Er, not exactly," said Kon.
"What happened exactly?" asked Kakashi with just the right hint of menace. Yuzu added it to her mental file of interrogation techniques done right. Not everyone responded to the same stimuli. It was better to have a wide variety of examples to call upon.
Kon shifted nervously from foot to foot. "I wasn't there myself, you see, but I heard—"
"Incoming!" yelped Karin.
Yuzu tensed bracing for attack by an enraged Hollow. When that didn't happen, Yuzu chance a glance up and saw someone flying toward the med-tent. The figure resolved into a woman with hauntingly familiar spiritual pressure.
"Mom?" asked Karin.
Kurosaki Masaki landed on the remains of a nearby wall and smiled. "Karin, Yuzu. Look at how grown up you are!"
Yuzu felt tears prickling in her eyes. She had been in elementary school when their mother died. She had never forgotten her mother's face, Daddy's pictures had seen to that, but her voice and scent, those things had started to fade.
"How are you here?" asked Karin, ever practical.
"I really don't know," admitted Masaki. "I only know that these are the Elemental Countries because this poor girl I'm possessing knows it."
"She knows it?" repeated Kakashi. "The girl is alive?"
Masaki put a hand to her chest and closed her eyes. The movement was oddly jilted. Yuzu caught sight of chakra strings hanging from her mother's joints. There was a Quincy technique that controlled the body. Was her mother using that?
"She is alive but deeply asleep," said Masaki. "If we are not released soon, I do not think she will stay that way."
"That means Hantokei isn't using edo tensei," murmured Kakashi.
"I have no idea what that means," said Masaki cheerfully. "But there are more Uzumaki in the middle of town, including my half-sister! They might know what's going on."
"Kushina's there?" gasped Kakashi looking oddly stricken.
"She is," said Masaki. "Now, Soul Candy, explain."
"Mod-soul," muttered Kon.
"Yes, do explain, Kon," added Tsunade-sama. She and Sakura had both paused in their healing and come to investigate. Sakura had even applied healing hands to the other Karin, who was torn between looking grateful and resentful.
"Long-story short, Ichigo received a killing blow ten years ago and might have died, but Orihime made him panic and try to fight, and so he turned into his Hollow-self instead. The same thing happened here, but with Hianata instead," said Kon.
"But he was fine before," said Masaki.
Kon hunched his shoulders. "If you break the mask, then Ichigo can take over again. It won't fix the time thing that Hantokei did, but he won't be a Hollow any more."
Masaki stared at the transformed Ichigo, who was now locked in combat with Hantokei. "Why is he even a Hollow at all?"
"It's Urahara's fault," said Kon instantly.
"Damn that Hat'n'Clogs. I knew he was trouble," muttered Masaki.
Yuzu tittered and exchanged a tiny smile with Karin. Mom sounded like Ichigo! Or did Ichigo sound like Mom? It was hard to say.
"So I have to break the mask? I can do that," said Masaki.
"It's super dangerous," protested Kon waving at the aerial battle. "Ichigo's Hollow will kill attack anything that gets in front of it!"
"He's only a little one!" protested Masaki.
Kon stared at her. "What?"
"Small Hollows are weaker than big Hollows," said Masaki.
Kon's jaw opened and closed as he searched for the right words. "That's for true for Menos-class but once they pass Gillian-stage they get small again. Vasto Lorde are practically human-shaped."
High above the remains of Uzushiogakure, the Hollowified Ichigo had barely changed at all from his human form. Yuzu didn't have much frame of reference for her brother's strength. She hadn't been able to sense much of anything until Ichigo had gotten his power mostly under control. But Yuzu knew what every shinigami knew about Vasto Lorde, ten of them would be enough to destroy Soul Society utterly.
She was pulled from her thoughts of destruction by the the bright red light forming between the horns of his mask. He was massing reiryoku in an attack that even Yuzu could sense clearly, a gran rey cero. Hantokei wisely dropped out of range as soon as Ichigo fired. The light from the cero turned the sky turned red as blood, and the shockwave from its passing sundered the ocean in two as far as the horizon. In the silence that followed, the Hollow's scream was pure rage.
"'And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.' The Book of Exodus, Chapter 15, Verse 8," murmured Masaki very quietly. "Maybe Yhwach's claims of divine heritage weren't completely preposterous."
The walls of water quivered, pouring out slowly at first, then tumbling faster, and finally crashing together with an ear splitting cacophony.
"That's the attack that shattered the Gates of Hell," said Kon.
Yuzu swallowed. She didn't remember Hell from her first visit, when some of its denizens had kidnapped her to force Ichigo to destroy the Gates, but Yuzu remembered her second visit when the kushanada grabbed her after she summoned her chains for the first time. When those impossibly heavy doors slammed shut, they echoed with the promise of her doom. Yuzu had known in her bones that nothing could open them again. Of all her memories of Hell, the sound of the Gates closing was more horrifying than anything she had seen with her eyes.
"Doesn't matter," said Masaki. "That's my son, and I'm going to save him."
"Ugh," said Kon. "You sound just like Ichigo."
Masaki smiled at them. It was the same radiant smile Dad had plastered on the wall, but it was even better because it was real.
"Karin, Yuzu, I love you, and I'm proud of you," said Masaki. "Try not die anytime soon."
"Thanks, Mom," said Karin.
"We love you too," added Yuzu.
Masaski turned and flew into the sky on a disc of white light. Unlike Yuzu and Karin, she didn't have any trouble with it exploding under her feet.
"Let's hope Kurosaki-san can stop Ichigo or might not need to worry about figuring out how to stop Hantokei," said Tsunade.
Yuzu looked pointedly at the scroll in Kakashi's hands then touched him gently on the arm when she saw he was still fixated on the battle in the air. He started in surprise and turned to frown at her, but he didn't attack her out of hand. Yuzu took it as a good sign.
"Your brother tried to hit me with one of those," said Kakashi.
Yuzu huffed. Ichigo hadn't said a word when she mentioned her crush on Kakashi. Of course, he'd go over the top like that.
"As if," said Kon. "You got a mild cero, barely more than a bala."
"The seal, Kakashi-san," said Yuzu. "Hokage-sama has Uzumaki blood."
Kakashi blushed, only the barest tinge visible above his mask and around his ears, and dutifully passed the seal to Tsunade-sama. She examined the scroll carefully and frowned.
"I could draw this, but we'd need a clear space. A very large space. And a lot of ink. And," Tsunade frowned and looked over her shoulder. "I'd have to stop healing the wounded to conserve my chakra."
Yuzu blanched. There were a lot of wounded already, and there would only be more.
"The square's a big, clear space," said Kon. "It's probably the only space free from rubble inside the village limits."
"It has a giant crevasse in it thanks to Ichigo," said Tsunade-sama.
"The Tsuchikage fixed the hole that Ichigo and the general made before," said Kon.
"Hinata mentioned finding inksticks in a bolthole outside the village," said Sakura. "There's probably more in other places. The Hyuuga could find them."
"That thing up there with Kurosaki," rasped the other Karin. "It's got an active seal going on its arms. I think it's the seal tied to Naruto and Ichigo."
"By thing, I'm guessing you mean Hantokei," said Tsunade drily.
"Is that what it is?" asked other Karin. She shivered. "It feels wrong. Like a hole in the world. Like those things."
She waved a hand at one of the black shadowy shapes. Yuzu wasn't positive, but she thought the closest one had drifted just a little closer.
"You can see those?" asked Karin.
"They're not this world's ghosts?" asked Yuzu at the same time.
"They are other members of the Hantokei Clan breaking free from the seal over the village," said Tsunade. "The seal your brother destroyed when he sliced the village in half."
"That's Ichigo's thing," said Karin with a shrug.
"Whatever they are, they're gross," muttered the other Karin. "But yeah, the one above the village has a seal going."
"Given what Hantokei has recovered from already, he is going out of his way to avoid being hit now," observed Kakashi. "It's possible that destroying the seal on Hantokei will end the effect on Naruto and Ichigo. This seal is well within Naruto's capabilities."
Some of the tension left Tsunade's shoulders. "Good." She looked up at the battle between Masaski, Ichigo, and Hantokei.
Masaki talked like Ichigo but she wasn't anywhere near as reckless. When she attacked Ichigo, she kept Hantokei nearby to draw fire. However he managed to keep himself in the sky, he wasn't as fast as a Quincy using hirenkyaku or a Hollow using sonido. He could probably drop into the village completely, but that would put him, or more accurately the seals on his hands and arms, at risk from normal shinobi.
"Kakashi, find Sasuke and Naruto and explain what Naruto has to do," said Tsunade handing the scroll back to the jounin. "Then find Sai and get him to take you above the fight. When Kurosaki-san breaks that mask, I want you in position to disarm Hantokei. Karin!"
Yuzu's sister and cousin both looked to the Hokage.
"Uzumaki Karin, can you find Kurotsuchi in this mess?" asked Tsunade.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," said Karin. "Over that way. Sasuke and Naruto are there. And Sai is that way with Yamato."
She pointed in three different directions giving Kakashi a place to start. Tsunade nodded her approval while Kakashi nodded in thanks.
"Get to the Tsuchikage and tell her she needs fix the hole in the village square, tell any Hyuuga you find on the way, tell anyone who isn't fighting, to start looking for usable ink and brushes," said Tsunade. "Do you need an escort?"
"I'll need some help," admitted Karin. "My chakra pathways aren't clear yet."
"How much help?" asked Tsunade.
Karin winced. "I don't know if I can walk yet?"
"I can carry you," offered Kon. "I've got 3 times the leg strength of whatever body I possess."
"You may have to fight," said Kakashi.
"I prefer to runaway, but I can fight if I have to," said Kon mildly. "Unlike you shinobi who like to talk big, mod-souls are actual weapons."
Tsunade raised a brow. Kon started to sweat. That was a reaction to her healer-ness, leftover from Kon's dealing with Unohana, and not a particularly useful interrogation technique. Yuzu added it to her mental file anyway. She really wanted to learn how to raise one eyebrow.
Tsunade nodded. "You all have your orders."
Kakashi gave one last look at Yuzu then disappeared in a burst of leaves. Karin climbed onto Kon's back, and he leaped out of sight in barely two steps. Yuzu's sister went to help Sakura-sensei and Tsunade-sama with healing.
Yuzu pulled up her yellow facemask a took up a guard position outside the tent. Jugo was standing not too far away staring in astonishment at the direction Kon and his Karin had gone. Yuzu nodded at him. Jugo nodded back and resettled into a watchful stance. Yuzu did the same. The fighting hadn't reached them yet, but she could keep a lookout.
Yuzu wanted to keep a careful eye on the shades of the imprisoned Hantokei in particular. No one else had mentioned it, not with Ichigo and Hantokei battling overhead and drawing every bit of spare attention, but Yuzu could see the shadows moving in familiar pattern. Yuzu, more than anyone else alive, knew the feel of desperate prisoners trying to claw their way to freedom.