Urahara Kisuke calls in a favor from an old friend, and gets to meet his students.

The idea for this actually formed in response to a multitude of crossover ideas. I'm always coming up with ideas for Anime crossovers, Naruto specifically at the moment, with one or two scenes mapped out. But I just don't have the time or focus to write stories for them all. So I started writing one-shots to appease myself. Then this idea came. Why don't I post these one-shots in a collection? So here it is. Feel free to take one of my ideas here and run with them, but please please tell me about it if you do, whether by review or message or email, because most of the ideas here formed because I just wasn't seeing the crossovers or plots I wanted to. So if you build off any of these, or are inspired by any of these to do something similar or even in the same crossover, tell me! I want to read them. Also, if I've done some more extensive planning for the crossover universe than is allowed to be detailed in the story, or if there's random facts about stuff related that just didn't fit in the scene, I'll probably write a short explanation before or after the story. Or I'll leave you to ponder it and hope it sparks your imagination. )

Thanks, TS (DoC: 10/31/07)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach and am not making any money by writing or posting this.

Rated for language and some violence.

Urahara smiled into his tea and then set it down. He almost thought his old friend wasn't going to answer his summons. But the man seemed to have pulled through for him, like always.

"It took you long enough to get here." Urahara told the man hidden in the shadows.

"There was this little old lady down the street who tripped and fell, and I was waylaid helping her get to the hospital." Urahara turned.

"Did it sound like I was accusing you of being late? I know better." Something flickered at the edge of Urahara's mind. "Who'd you bring along?" There was a pause, and the man in the shadow shifted.

"You just noticed him, didn't you? Either you're getting old and soft," He said in a disbelieving voice – Urahara snorted to show just what he thought of that, "or something big happened. I'd say it was the latter, considering the feel of your chakra. You're exhausted."

"Unauthorized portals into the Soul Society can do that to you." The pause that followed his words was cold with unspoken accusations. Then the man stepped out of the shadows and into the room proper. He was wearing a black cloth mask that covered his nose and mouth, a headband that fell over his left eye, and was wearing Soul Reaper robes with his Zanpakutô slung across his back. Silver hair stuck up and his one gray eye was obscured by a drooping eyelid.

"I suppose you're calling in my debt then, eh Captain?"

"Don't be silly Kakashi. I haven't been a Captain in a long time."

"Just as long as I haven't been Anbu, I suppose." Urahara smiled. They both knew that you never stopped being Anbu.

"Are you going to introduce me to your colleague, Kakashi? Or would you rather he didn't hear what I'm going to ask of you?"

"Is it something he shouldn't hear? Judging by your statement earlier, I'd say it was illegal."

"Of course not. I would never ask a patriot like you to go against the Soul Society."

"Then what are you asking?"

"That you cover my area while the Soul Reaper who usually does is away."

"Through an illegal portal into the Soul Society. Just what are you into now, Kisuke?"

"Nothing you should concern yourself about, unless you get a summons from the Soul Society. In which case I'd like to be informed." Kakashi stared at Urahara for a moment, calculating, before turning to the door of his shop.

"Naruto." A boy appeared in the doorway as summoned, younger than Ichigo by several years. He was blonde and wearing a bright orange shirt under his blue school uniform. His cheeks sported identical whisker shaped scars. "This is Urahara Kisuke, former Shinigami Captain. Urahara, meet my student, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki Naruto, is it? Pleasure." Urahara said, smiling.

"You were a Captain? Do you have a Zanpakutô?" Naruto asked, apparently having no patience for formalities or pleasantries. Yes, just as Kisuke had heard.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Kakashi-sensei will only let me make swords that are empty and break every time I spar. He won't tell me how to make a real one. Even Sasuke has a real Zanpakutô." Naruto paused and looked Urahara over with a shrewd glance. The he crouched down and cupped his hands around his mouth, as if that way Kakashi wouldn't be able to hear him. "Hey, will you teach me how to make one?" Urahara mimicked Naruto and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"If you have to ask," Kisuke whispered, "then no." Naruto pouted.

"How long will your Soul Reaper be gone?" Kakashi asked.

"No idea." Urahara said lightly. He stood and leaned on his cane to keep from wobbling in exhaustion. The little Junior Soul Reaper who wasn't even dead yet could probably take him out with one hit, the way he was now. "But you do this for me, and we're even. Deal?"

Kakashi paused, and then nodded his head. Something in Naruto's jacket beeped. The boy pulled out an orange cell phone and scowled at the display.

"Sasuke," he said to Kakashi. "Ten o'clock." A few moments later a ghost walked through the wall to Urahara's right. He had black hair, red eyes, no spirit chain, and what felt like a Zanpakutô at his hip. A very odd ghost.

"Is something the matter, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked the spirit.

"Iruka isn't at his place." Naruto cursed and summoned his sword, body melting away into spectral form and clothes being replaced by traditional robes.

"Where's Sakura-chan? She can help us look."

"You know her," Sasuke said scornfully. "She's getting her beauty sleep."

"Hey! Don't talk about Sakura-chan like that!"

"Dobe, you're not supposed to defend her. You're supposed to hate her. She's a Quincy, you're a Shinigami. She hates you, though, so at least one of you has sense."

"Yeah, well, fuck that! I don't care about stupid ass rules like that."

"Typical. Are we going or not? He's your dad, not mine."

"Iruka's my brother, bastard. He's way too young to be my dad."

"He adopted you, same thing."

"It isn't the same-"

"Boys." Kakashi interrupted mildly. "Don't you think you should find Umino-san before he gets eaten by a Hollow? I can't imagine it would be very hard, considering his chakra."

"Piece of cake, Kakashi-sensei! I'll find him before Sasuke does, believe it!" And Naruto darted through the wall. Sasuke rolled red eyes at them before following.

Kisuke couldn't help it. He snickered.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I'd like to see you handle them." Kakashi sounded resigned and faintly amused.

"The famous Hatake Kakashi, a teacher! And," Urahara went on, lifting a finger in emphasis. "To not only a Junior Shinigami with too much energy and not enough skill, whose name happens to be Uzumaki Naruto, but also to an arrogant Uchiha and apparently a very traditional, female Quincy." Urahara waved his finger a little bit, before he dissolved into laughter. Kakashi relaxed a bit at the shoulders and laughed with him.

"I know. How do I get myself into these situations? Not only a sensei, but to Naruto, who just happens to fall head over heals for one of the last of the Quincy and pick up a boy who belongs to a family that's supposed to be a legend." He shook his head at himself and was silent as Kisuke wiped at the tears in his eyes. "So you can tell Sasuke is an Uchiha?"

"What do you take me for?" Urahara asked, trying to sound offended. He couldn't quite manage while he was still grinning. "Uchiha may be legends for most Soul Reapers, but I'm older than you, Hatake, and I was a Captain for most of that time. I was there when the legend was created."

"Hmm." Kakashi nodded in contemplation. Kisuke snickered again. "What?" The silver haired man asked, exasperated.

"Hatake Kakashi: Shinigami, former Anbu operative, Soul Society patriot, legend, and sensei."

"Kisuke, if you don't stop laughing I'm going to put my sword through your chest." Urahara laughed harder, ignoring his former student, and managed to forget the weakness in his limbs, his sleeping comrades upstairs, and the weak space downstairs where a portal had existed not too long ago. "Kisuke."

"I seem to- remember a- a vow," Urahara managed. " 'Kisuke-sensei, I swear that I will never be anything like you.' "

"I did not sound like that."

Kisuke laughed with a man he could call friend, and felt the worry and fear of what was happening and what he'd done melt away in the moment.

"So- so you say."

"Kisuke, I didn't sound like that."

In this universe, I've created Anbu Shinigami. They're hunters, designed specifically for tracking down Hollows. They wear white bone masks over their faces like the ones Hollows have. Only a certain kind of Soul Reaper can become Anbu. They have to have been human and become Shinigami unaided, and struggled with not becoming a Hollow – hence the masks, which are natural to those few. These Soul Reapers are simply a different kind, whether they become Anbu or not. The masks are part of them, always with them, but they can tie them to their belt or around their neck and make them invisible to others. And yeah, that's not Bleach cannon, but it's only a reference in the story so that can be ignored if it bothers you. Also, with those criteria in mind, Ichigo would qualify for Anbu. (Except that's past the concept of 'not Bleach cannon' and closer to 'alternate universe Bleach.')

The Uchiha legend and what exactly Sasuke is – well, I have several ideas for that, but I'm going to leave it up to your imagination. The only thing I want to include is that whatever Sasuke is, it's the result of a family curse.

Junior Shinigami are humans with the potential to become Soul Reapers that are taken under the wing of a Shinigami sensei. They're taught how to be one, the spells, exposed to the world, and work on creating their sword partner – basically everything they would have learned as the Soul Reaper Academy. They start training at twelve and are considered graduated at twenty. Juniors can become spectral on command, shedding their flesh but without leaving their body behind like Ichigo does, and they can do it unaided. This is what separates Ichigo from a normal Shinigami in training. How Urahara knew that Naruto was 'a Junior Shinigami with too much energy and not enough skill' was because he could feel Naruto's energy, and Naruto's inability to create his sword partner on his own gave credit to his (non-existent) skill set.

Also, concerning the use of chakra, soul/spirit energy, or spiritual pressure: I guess you could look at 'chakra' as slang or an alternate term or something. I just felt like putting it in there like that. And the way the Anime uses the term 'spiritual pressure' really bugs me. (I'm not sure about the Manga, haven't gotten that far yet. Manga costs money. Anime is aired on TV. You do the math.)

A/N 05/24/08: I fully realize now that my concept of Anbu Shinigami have been made very AU by the progression of the Anime storyline. Whatever. Do what you will.

Sorry my notes are as long as my story. Maybe I'll get another one from this universe in here. —TS