Kurosaki Ichigo in Konoha

It has to be said that compared to ordinary people, with the help of chakra, ninjas can walk very fast. Even Naliko, a girl who barely has the strength of a chuunin, can walk hundreds of kilometers a day.

In this way, Kurosaki Ichigo and Naliko supported each other and braved the wind and snow, moving bit by bit towards the depths of the Arctic ice field.

But Naliko is still a girl after all. Although her strength cannot be said to be weak, it is actually not too strong. Kurosaki Ichigo has to think about her, so the two of them only move forward during the daytime every day.

Whenever it comes to night, Kurosaki Ichigo will stop and then find a place with no strong wind to set up a tent so that Nari can rest.

One thing that is strange to say is that although the arctic ice field is cold and snowy, it does not have such perennial strong winds compared to other places in the Iron Kingdom, so their tents were able to hold up all night without being damaged.

Every day after Nariko went to bed, Kurosaki Ichigo did not rest. Instead, he acted as a night watchman, sitting outside the tent and guarding his companions in the tent, while reading the secret book given to him by a village in the city.

But this was fine for a day or two. As time went by, two big dark circles appeared on Kurosaki Ichigo's face due to lack of adequate rest, like a panda.

Nariko naturally felt distressed and angry about this, so she forced Kurosaki Ichigo not to go on like this anymore, and to take turns with her every day to rest and keep vigil.

Kurosaki Ichigo was originally unwilling, but after thinking about it, he still had to maintain sufficient physical strength and high spirits to find the Temple of Gaotian, so after some hesitation, he finally agreed to Nariko's words.

In this way, Kurosaki Ichigo and Naliko were on the road every day during the day and took turns to rest at night. One kept watch for half the night and the other kept watch for the rest of the night, continuing to march on the boundless Arctic ice sheet.

Of course, the two of them are not running around aimlessly on the Arctic ice sheet like headless flies. Instead, they plan to return after more than half of the supplies they carry are consumed, and then replenish supplies and choose another direction to set off again.

After traveling like this for about six or seven days, Kurosaki Ichigo and Nariko discovered that there was no solid ground under their feet at some point, replaced by large chunks of floating ice, pure white stretching into the distance.

However, even though they are ice floes, even the smallest ones are as large as several football fields.

"Ichigo, should we continue walking?" Nariko took off her sunglasses, which were made up of two black lenses casually spliced ​​together, and looked at the ice floes reflecting the dazzling light in the distance.

These sunglasses were thanks to Kurosaki Ichigo recalling what he had heard about snow blindness before setting off, so he made two pairs temporarily, which allowed the two of them to travel in the far north ice field for so long.

Looking up at the boundless ice field in the distance, Kurosaki Ichigo finally gritted his teeth and "continue." After a long ideological struggle, there was no clue about the Temple of Gaotian so far, and he didn't want to just retreat.

Naliko nodded, no matter how scary or difficult the situation she faced, as long as Ichigo Kurosaki was by her side, it didn't matter to her.

In an indifferent state, Kurosaki and Ichigo traveled on the ice field for several days, crossing a large amount of ice.

At this moment, when Kurosaki Ichigo was sorting out supplies, he found that more than half of the food and fuel had been consumed. In addition, he saw that the road ahead was endless and there was no hope. His mood was really depressed these days.

So Kurosaki Ichigo decided to temporarily take Naliko to leave the Arctic Icefield and go to a village in the city to replenish supplies and relieve his irritability from being on the road for a long time.

Nariko naturally agreed with this. Although it was enough for her to have Kurosaki Ichigo, she was still a little impatient with such a monotonous life.

But the way back was not as easy as they imagined.

Just a few days after they set off, Nari fell asleep during the vigil in the early morning. When she woke up, she was shocked when she saw the scene in front of her. She quickly entered the tent and said loudly, "Hey Ichigo, come on, Ichigo, please get up." It looks foggy outside.”

"How is this possible?" Kurosaki Ichigo was sleeping soundly. After being woken up by Naliko, he rubbed his eyes and didn't believe what she said.

But Kurosaki Ichigo immediately said excitedly to himself, "By the way, according to a village in the castle, Yan Zong Katori and the others found the Temple of Heaven only after a strange heavy fog."

As he spoke, he hurriedly put on the coat he had thrown aside and rushed out of the tent. Outside was a vast white fog. He took a few steps in confusion, but when he turned around, he found that he could no longer see clearly the tent he was in before.

Nariko ran out after Kurosaki Ichigo, but at this time Ichigo Kurosaki had already walked a few steps, so she couldn't see him at all, and she didn't dare to go too far away, so she Flustered, he quickly called out, "Ichigo, where are you, Ichigo?"

"I'm here, don't worry." Sensing the anxiety in Nariko's voice, Kurosaki Ichigo quickly took a few steps back.

Fortunately, he still remembered his direction in this heavy fog, so he only took two or three steps and followed the sound and appeared in front of Nariko.

Naliko was a little excited to see Kurosaki Ichigo again, but she was no longer the weak little girl she was before, so she just sniffed, held back, rushed to hug him, and just smiled and said, "Ah ah I thought you lost it.”

"How could a living person like me be lost?" Kurosaki Ichigo said nonchalantly.

Naliko calmed down and said jokingly, "I'm afraid you'll lose me."

Kurosaki Ichigo walked up to him and naturally took Nariko's delicate hand. "I won't throw you away even if I throw anything away." His voice was very light, as if he was speaking unconsciously, even he himself didn't care. I noticed something special, but it made Nariko feel as sweet as honey.

"By the way, when did this fog start?" Kurosaki Ichigo, who didn't feel there was anything wrong with his words, asked worriedly as he looked at the thick fog.

He was a little worried, because there was no wind in the far north ice field, and the fog might not dissipate for a long time. Moreover, he felt that the fog was very strange and there was no sign at all, so he couldn't help but ask Na Li But one sentence.

The shame on Nalike's face deepened, and she replied calmly, "During the night watch just now, I accidentally took a nap and didn't realize when it started."

As she said this, she secretly glanced at Kurosaki Ichigo, fearing that he would blame her. After all, this was the fault of Naliko, the night watchman.

But how could Ichigo Kurosaki blame her? So he had to smile bitterly, and comforted Nari instead, "Forget it, this fog is so weird, even if you know when it started, it's useless."

Even though he said this, Naliko still blamed herself a little.

With a trace of worry, Kurosaki Ichigo checked his belongings. It didn't matter if he didn't check, but when he checked, he and Naliko were shocked.

It turned out that in this heavy fog, the needle tip of the compass originally used by Kurosaki Ichigo kept spinning, and the same was true for the other spare compasses.

Looking at the spinning compass, the two of them looked at each other and knew in their hearts that there might be trouble this time.

Fortunately, although the fog is thick, it is not enough to cover up the skylight, so Kurosaki Ichigo and the two can at least distinguish the change of day and night through the changes in the surrounding light.

Kurosaki Ichigo and Naliko set off anyway. The compass was no longer usable, so they could only go in the direction in Kurosaki Ichigo's memory.

Not only that, walking in the mist, Kurosaki Ichigo always had a vague feeling of strangeness, as if there was something dangerous in the mist, but he could never say what was wrong, so he had to attribute it to his own psychological reasons. Keep going.

The two of them wandered together for two days in the heavy fog with a visibility of less than three meters. They should have seen the traces of the previous camp, but they never found it.

Kurosaki Ichigo knew very well that the two of them must have lost their way in the fog, so he wisely decided to wait for the fog to dissipate before taking action.

During this period, he also tried to use the few wind escape techniques he had mastered to try to blow away the heavy fog.

But this mist looks very evil, as if it has taken root here, and the few wind escape techniques I know can't do anything to them.

Ever since Ichigo Kurosaki and Nariko were stationed here, the sky has turned bright and dark three times.As time went by, the supplies they had stored could no longer sustain themselves for a few more days.

The next night, Kurosaki Ichigo and Nariko sat in the tent, thinking about what to do if the fog still persisted in the next few days.

Just when Kurosaki Ichigo was gradually becoming anxious about this incident, the vague sense of uneasiness that had been bothering him in the mist quietly subsided at some point.

Kurosaki Ichigo, who noticed something strange, took Naliko out of the tent, and suddenly found that the mist that had been trapping the two of them had dissipated, just as abruptly as it came.

This change not only did not make Kurosaki Ichigo happy, but instead made him feel uneasy.

"Ichigo" Nariko, who looked around at this moment, suddenly pulled Kurosaki Ichigo's sleeve, pointed to the left front of the two of them and shouted, "Look over there"

Kurosaki Ichigo heard the sound and looked in the direction of her finger. The next second, his eyes suddenly widened with an expression of disbelief.

And in his brown pupils, a towering palace as majestic as a giant city was reflected in it.

"The Palace of High Heaven"

Kurosaki Ichigo's voice was trembling, and even he himself didn't know why.