A/N:
Okay, I've had this idea in my head for a LONG time now guys and I wanted to get my other story, Senju of the Warring States off the ground first, but this idea just kept plaguing my head. So I was like, fuck it, and I threw caution to the wind and decided to write this now.
A proper explanation for this story would be that it's a retelling of the Bleach storyline, but with the use of Naruto characters only. The story will not necessarily follow the Bleach storyline, as I feel that there were some parts that could be omitted from it. So anyway, it's not really a crossover…even though it is, in a way. I hope I'm making sense.
Also if I make any grammatical errors along the way, don't blame me. Blame the South African education system that seems to have it out for black people…just joking, about the black people thing (I'm Zulu by the way, black for those that don't know), not the shitty South African education part. If you plan on studying in this country, then I say this to you: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Okay enough with that now, let's get to the story.
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto has always been able to see ghosts, but this ability does not change his life nearly as much as his encounter with Kurotsuchi, a Shinigami and a member of the mysterious Soul Society does. While fighting a Hollow, Kurotsuchi attempts to lend Naruto some of her energy so he can save his family, but to her surprise Naruto takes every single drop of her energy. Now a fully-fledged Shinigami himself, Naruto quickly learns that the world he inhabits is one full of dangerous spirits and, along the way with Kurotsuchi, protects the innocent from Hollows and helps innocent spirits.
Chapter One: We fear that which we cannot see
In a dark, desolate world where grey light shone through the canvas that was supposed to be the sky, shadows slowly crept their way through the free space that was before them. That shadows slowly blocked out the grey light that fell from the sky and hit the surface of this desolate world. The shadows covered small boulders, mountains and the very ground itself.
Speaking of the ground, something slowly rose from the shadows that covered it. This thing slowly morphed into a black blob, a blob which slowly rose higher and higher into the air up until it was in the sky. The blob continued it journey up until it hit something akin to a barrier, before it slowly pierced through the barrier. This blob-like substance slowly left its world, hoping to venture into a new one.
Not a few seconds later, the dark clouds that aligned the sky of a small town in Tokyo, Japan, parted to reveal the blob slowly descending onto the town.
We fear that which we cannot see…
Seconds later that blob split off into two and it manifested into two grotesque creatures that any normal person would have had trouble seeing. The creatures crashed onto a bank near the town's river, kicking up dust everywhere.
We respect that which we cannot see…
The moon shone brightly, while a black butterfly fluttered across the sky, serving as the only instrument of illumination on an otherwise dark town. If anyone in the town that was 'special' had bothered to look up, they would have seen a figure standing rigidly on a street lamp. Upon closer inspection they would have seen that the figure was actually female, and she had a small frown on her face as she seemed to be in thought, or at least searching for something.
The woman, they would have noticed, had short, black hair that just managed to make it past her neck. Her black eyes blended in with the darkness as if they were one. Her eyes held no readable emotion in them at all. The woman wore a black shihakusho that had white trimmings around the opening of its top, and she had a sword strapped to her waist as she looked down at the town in front of her.
Her once stoic demeanour broke as she sensed something odd.
"I see. I sense a strong spirit energy." The woman said to herself.
Immediately after she said that, she jumped off the pole she was on and landed on the pole that was in front the one she was standing on previously.
Thus the blade will be wielded…
The woman immediately shot off from that pole and into the sky, looking as if she was flying as her shihakusho fluttered in the air while her green eyes scanned the dozens of homes she saw underneath her.
-Break-
The slowly setting sun cast an orange glow on what many would find to be a slightly threatening, and also a slight funny scene. There were skateboards toppled over on the small street, along with a person that was lying on the ground, out cold. The figure that was lying on the ground had a greed cap that was put on backwards along with a beige hoodie, grey jeans and a pair of black shoes.
"Who the hell are you?" asked someone, that stood in front of the downed figure, angrily, "You stomp on Yama-chan's face, and now you're telling us to get outta the way?"
The person that spoke had on a pair of grey and white camouflage pants, a white, short sleeved t-shirt that had thick grey trimmings on its sleeves and the leaf found on the Canadian flag printed at the front of the shirt, and a pair of black boots. The person's look was completed by a white beanie and a pair of wristbands. If one was to take a look at his moustached face they would see that he was clearly annoyed by the figure that stood in front of him.
"Say something, you…" the person said agitatedly, before he threw caution to the wind and attempted to punch the person in front of him…only to receive the bottom of a shoe to the face. As soon as the person that was in camouflaged pants hit the ground, he was repeatedly stomped on by the person that had just kicked his face in.
One of his friends that were watching the spectacle, in shock, could only say, "He dropped Toshi-rin…"
Upon closer inspection one would have been able to see that the person that just spoke was not the only one that was feeling shocked and fearful. The two other people next to him also had frightened expressions on their faces as they watched their friend, the strongest among them, get the shit kicked out of him…repeatedly.
"Crap." said another one of the people watching, "He's crazy."
This time they weren't talking about their friend, Toshi, they were talking about the person that was currently laying the beat down on their friend.
Speaking of the person that was currently laying the beat down on Toshi, his brown school shoe slowly decided it had had enough of stomping on his body and instead focused on his head. The shoe proceeded to angrily pound Toshi's face into the road, and in the process creating a small, face sized crater, while the owner of the shoe that was stomping Toshi's face into the ground angrily said, "Shut up!"
If one wanted to know exactly who it was that was stomping Toshi's face in, they would have seen the sight of a boy that looked to be around the age of fifteen or sixteen, that had spiky blonde hair that could rival the sun in terms of brightness, a pair of angry blue eyes, and a pair of whisker markings that denoted themselves on his cheeks as birthmarks.
The person that was stomping Toshi had a look of pure anger on his face as he pointed to something and said, "All of you, look at that!"
Upon looking at it, the three friends saw what was a slightly broken glass vase, that had three white flowers in it, that was lying on its side with the water that was in it having spilt out of it.
"Question one:" said the blonde boy, "What is that? You there, in the middle, answer!"
The person that was in the middle immediately looked around shell shocked that he was singled out. He watched as his friends backed away from him slightly so he knew that he was the one the question was being directed to. The person brought a finger up to their chin and said, "Um… An offering to some kid that died here?"
Upon answering the question the distance between him and the blonde boy was closed in less than a second, before he promptly received a kick to the chin courtesy of the blonde boy who said, "Correct!"
"Mita-chan!" one of his friends said as he was promptly knocked backwards by the kick.
Before the friend even knew what was going on, a pair of angry eyes descended on him and the blonde boy said, "Question Two: Why is that vase lying on its side?"
The dumber looking person out of the two that were left stupidly answered, "That's because… we knocked it over with our skateboards…"
Before he could even finish his reply, he, along with his friend, promptly received a spinning kick to the face that sent them both tumbling down on the road while the blond boy angrily said, "Right again! You pull off something like this again and people will be offering you flowers!"
The three friends that were still conscious quickly stood up and high tailed it while they yelled, "We're sorry!"
The blonde boy watched them run with his arms folded over his chest, and when they were gone, he simply sighed and said, "I don't think they'll be back again."
He then proceeded to turn around and stare at the area where the downed vase was located at the street corner and said, "I'll bring you fresh flowers tomorrow."
Out of nowhere there seemed to materialise something akin to an astral projection of a girt that had brown hair that was in pigtails, green eyes, a red and white horizontally stripped shirt, and a pair of shorts, while on her chest there was a broken chain.
"Thank you for chasing them away." The girl said in a sweet tone, "Now I can rest peacefully, Onii-chan."
The blonde boy picked up the vase with the white flowers still intact and put them up before he said, "Your welcome."
He then turned around and started walking away from the scene. He threw his right hand into the air and said, "Rest in peace."
The girl that was behind him slowly faded from existence while he continued to walk away. If someone wanted to know exactly who this boy was they would have found out that his name was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was indeed fifteen years old…oh, and he was a high school freshman.
The boy arrived at his destination a little after dark; he looked up and saw a sign that read 'Internal Medicinal Paediatrics' and under that it red in bold Kanji 'Uzumaki Clinic'. It was a clinic that was run by his family. They were basically entrusted with people's lives.
Naruto did not know whether it was because of the fact that his family helped people or whether it was something else, but as far back as he could remember, he could see ghosts.
"I'm home." He said as soon as he entered the house he lived in.
Unfortunately though there was no warning for him, as soon as he stepped inside the house, his face was kicked so hard that he spun on the spot, before he fell on the ground while the perpetrator that kicked him, a blonde haired man that had the same blue eyes as Naruto along with a white coat and blue pants and a Hawaiian shirt and black shoes on, said, "Heads up!"
From his position on the floor Naruto glared at this person and said, "You can't say heads up to some after you've kicked them you idiot!"
"Well I wouldn't have had to if you had been vigilant enough! Your reflexes suck!" the man said.
"It doesn't matter." Naruto said as he slowly got up from the floor, "Besides that's not how you greet your son that has just helped a ghost find peace!"
"I don't care! Your reflexes suck, you're late and dinner is at seven o'clock. No matter the reason, those who break the rules in this house will be punished!" Naruto's father said.
Two people watched this entire spectacle from the table where all their food was laid at. One of the people was a young girl that had purple hair that had a stem like protrusion at the top. She wore a yellow hooded shirt, purple pants and a white apron on top. She currently had a spoon in her hand and she had a look of anxiety on her face as she watched her father and brother fight for the umpteenth time.
"Cut it out you two." She said in a slightly timid manner, "Dinner is getting cold."
The person sitting across her at the table simply said, "Leave them alone, Himawari." Before she put her bowl in her sister's face and said, "Seconds please."
The confused Himawari replied, "But Karin-chan…"
Back with the boys, Minato sent a straight punch to Naruto's face, but Naruto deftly dodged it and sent his own fist at his father's face, impacting with such force that the man tumbled backwards and got smacked on the wall.
Naruto looked at his father's downed form and said, "Making a healthy teenager come home at seven is way too…"
Naruto's tirade was stopped by his red haired sister Karin simply saying, "Naruto-nii, you have a new friend haunting you."
Naruto looked over his right shoulder, and sure enough there was the spirit of a black haired man that wore a white shirt and a pair of glasses. He gave off the image of someone that used to work in an office or a car dealership. Naruto also saw that this person had a chain coming out of his chest that was similar to the one that the girl he saw earlier had is her chest.
"What the…?! When did he…?" He swung at the spirit, but the spirit simply moved to the side, "I keep exorcising and exorcising them, but they just won't leave me alone!"
His red haired sister, Karin, did not seem to care about her brother's current predicament; instead she just focused her attention on her food, which was actually finished, so she simply said, "Thank you for the meal."
Seeing her sister stare at her brother made Karin sigh, before the spectacles wearing girl turned around and said, "Naruto-nii is in high demand; he's an all-in-one ghost medium."
Himawari got a slightly starry eyed look in her eyes as she said, "But, you know, I wish I could do the same. All I can do is sense their presence, I can't see them at all."
Karin, being the ever more chilled (in her words) out of the two sisters, simply stated what she thought about it all, "I don't believe in ghosts anyway."
Himawari was shocked by her sister's reaction, as evidenced by her next words, "What? But you can see them too, right Karin-chan? Only dad can't see them."
Karin refuted her sister's words by saying, "It doesn't matter if I can see them or not. If I refuse to believe in them, it's like they don't exist."
Himawari just stared at her glasses wearing sister feeling 'burned'. She was shocked by her sister's nonchalant way of dealing with the spirits that her family, except her father, could see and/or feel.
Meanwhile with Naruto, the ghost had already left him, leading the blonde boy to sigh before he said, "I'm going to sleep."
He turned on his heels and went up the stairs. He heard his sister, Himawari, calling out to him but he ignored her. He was tired, and he wanted some rest. His father's surprise attack on him for being late had taxed his already tired mind even more.
As soon as he entered his room, Naruto dumped his school bag on the revolving chair that sat by a study desk. His room did not have much, just the desk and chair, a bed and a closet. He took off his shoes and plopped himself on his bed, not really bothering to take off his grey school uniform. He had a lot on his mind lately, due to the increase sightings of ghosts. He was starting to see more of them now, and frankly it bothered him. What, exactly, did this mean?
These thoughts and more plagued Naruto's mind before he slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning saw Naruto entering the kitchen with another uniform on, looking to eat some breakfast. He saw that the local news where reporting something about a building that had exploded. He didn't really care much, just so long as it did not affect him then he was A-Okay As soon as Himawari saw him she immediately said, "Ohayo, Onii-chan."
Being the ever nice brother that he was he replied, "Ohayo. Where's Dad?"
"He's at a meeting. He's not coming home tonight." Karin answered while sipping her hot beverage. Whether it was tea, coffee, hot chocolate or something else entirely Naruto did not know.
"I see." was Naruto's reply. He then grabbed some toast and stuffed it in his mouth while focusing his attention on the television.
…investigators and explosive experts are currently looking for the cause.
"What's the matter?" he heard Himawari ask.
Naruto then noticed something about the destroyed building…he'd see it before.
"It's close to here." He stated toast still in his mouth.
Naruto left home a few minutes later, bag slung over his shoulder and on his way to school. While on his way he came across the scene of the destroyed building, with people loitering around it, but none of them crossed the yellow tape. He passed it like it wasn't even there. As he had thought previously, if it did not affect him, then he was A-Okay.
He came upon the corner where he beat up those skateboarders yesterday and saw that it was empty. He had some fresh flowers in his bag that he wanted to give to the girl that had died here.
"Hey!" he called out, not really sure what to say since he did not know the girl's name.
Silence.
There was no reply at all from the girl as he waited for her to show herself. He looked left and right, but he could see neither hide nor hair of the ghost girl. Just as he was about to give up on waiting for her, he heard a scream. A scream that jolted his head to the right. He focused his facial expression and ran towards the scream's direction. He knew from his previous interactions with the girl that the scream he heard belonged to her. If he was wrong, then at least he would help whoever it was that screamed like that. He was nice that way.
Running past a few people, Naruto heard a woman say, "Do you hear that?"
The man that stood next to her said, "Hear what? I can't hear any-"
His comment was cut short by a sudden explosion that forced the people that were on the streets to start running like crazy. They ran in the direction that opposed his direction. He was pretty sure that he was probably crazy for risking his own life for someone that was already dead. He didn't know what it was but something just told him to continue running in that direction, and so he did. That is, until he reached the area where the explosion occurred. He saw the dust cloud created from the explosion rapidly spread out on the sidewalk and all over the road. This forced him to stop.
As he shielded his eyes from the dust cloud, he suddenly heard a sound he had never heard before. It sounded like a roar, but a roar that belonged to a creature that was in pain, a creature that was being tortured. Looking up from the protection of his arms that had been used to shield his face, Naruto saw something that he could not explain.
It was a creature that had a multi-layered neck, a white mask that seemed to be made out of bone that had purple markings around the creature's green eyes and its mouth. The creature also had a pair of insect like appendages that looked razor sharp. The creature gave off an ominous feeling as Naruto looked at it, watching it roar in an unusual manner.
"W-what the…?!" Naruto said to himself, still unclear as to what exactly he was seeing.
He then heard the voice of the ghost girl through the dust cloud as she said, "Onii-chan!"
He saw her bursting through the dust cloud and said, "Run!"
He followed his own command and ran after her, trying to put as much distance possible between himself and this unknown creature. He easily caught up with the girl, his years of training and fighting finally helping him out.
"What is that?" the ghost girl asked with panic evident in her tone.
"I don't know!" Naruto replied as they continued to run.
The girl, unfortunately, misjudged a step she took as she ran, and as such she found herself falling to the ground. Naruto saw this and he was forced to turn back and go to the girl.
"Oi! Hurry up!" he said reaching out his hand, looking to help her get up.
He saw the creature advancing on them both just as he was about to pick the girl up from the ground. Unfortunately he might as well have been a bit too late as the creature had closed in on them both and was about to attack. Suddenly a black butterfly fluttered into Naruto's vision, before he saw a girl that had black hair and a matching colour outfit and a sword stuck to her hip come from nowhere. She then proceeded to draw on her sword and horizontally slice through the creature's skeletal face in a motion so fast and so gracefully that the only thing Naruto saw that indicated such an act was her outstretched right arm that had her sword in it. Blood sprayed from the wound that was inflicted upon the creature by the girl's katana.
She proceeded to land next to Naruto, but instead of running away from the creature like every sane person would do, she jumped towards it again as it gave off another roar. He watched on as the girl graciously cut monster's face again, this time in a vertical manner, from the top to the bottom. More blood gushed from the creature's face as a result of this manoeuvre. The creature started to disintegrate into tiny pieces, pieces which simply disappeared into thin air. All of this happened before the girl could even touch the ground again.
Her landing caused a small dust cloud to build up, but it soon disappeared. Naruto watched her, with her back turned to him, as she graciously sheathed her katana. He was completely mind blown by what he had just seen…in fact you could forget mind blown, he was mind fucked.
"H-Hey…" he tried calling out to her, but his voice came out a little timid for some strange reason. This was something that had never happened to him before.
He saw the girl turn around and look at him, or to be more precise she looked at the ghost girl, but she quickly faced forward and simply walked away. She disappeared from Naruto's sight, along with the ghost girl.
"Hey, you…" he tried calling out but it was already too late. She was gone.
He saw people slowly gather around the scene of the 'explosion'. They were all shocked and scared by what they had witnessed (the explosion).
"Another explosion?" proclaimed a woman.
"What's going on?" some else asked.
Naruto looked at these people, before he looked back at the scene. He was pretty sure that he had seen what he had just seen, so why were these people talking about an explosion when it was an attack by that monster.
-Break-
Night time came and it found Naruto lying on the bed in his room. His father was away on business, but he did not care. His mind had other things to think of. His mind was thinking back to the day's events, or to be more precise the girl that he saw fight that monster.
'I don't get it…who was she?' he silently contemplated. He had never seen someone move as gracefully as she did when she slashed that monster. He had seen a lot of people use swords, but not as gracefully as she did. He had seen these people when he went to kendo practice. His father, being the overprotective bastard that he was, forced him to enrol into a kendo class shortly after the incident. At the time he had already been in karate lessons, which he pretty much sucked at, but when the incident occurred, his father enrolled him into kendo.
He had said that he wanted his son to be able to defend himself, especially since he would not always be there; and looking back now he was sorta glad that his father forced him to learn how to fight, the operative term being sorta. The old man had made him enrol into different schools of martial arts just so he could be able to fight. For many years he stuck to it…until last year where he said F-U to it all and decided he had better things to do with his life than waste it away in different dojo's every day of the week.
Still, with regards to the issue of the female he saw earlier, he had never seen anyone do what see did with a blade before…not even his teachers were that good.
Just as his thoughts were starting to become more complex, something caught his eye. It was a black butterfly slowly fluttering through the open bedroom window. Barely a second after it had flown in, there was a soft swoosh, followed by a foot gracefully landing on Naruto's study desk, which was soon followed by another. This got Naruto to rise into a sitting position on his bed as he stared at the female that he had seen earlier on in the day, the same one that had vanquished that monster.
She stood there, wearing the same outfit she wore earlier, sword strapped to her left hip, but she was facing forward, giving Naruto a sideway view. The girl had a focused expression on her face. Naruto also noticed that she was around the same age as him.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked quietly, hoping that she would respond.
Unfortunately for him, she either did not hear him or she just outright ignored him, because did not respond. She just continued her silent staring contest with the air. That is until she put her hand on the hilt of her katana, looking like she was about to draw it. Naruto saw this and immediately scrambled back towards the wall, trying to distance himself from the crazy female.
"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked in quick succession.
Once again, the girl ignored him. She jumped off the desk and graciously landed on the wooden floorboards that were in Naruto's room. Seeing as she was still ignoring him, Naruto called out to her once again, "Oi!"
"It's close." she said in a quiet tone. It was the first thing he had heard her say, but that was the last straw for him. No one ignored him this much without paying for it. He jumped off his bed and delivered a kick to the girl's back while shouting out in irritation, "Listen to me!"
There was a loud crash, and the lights in Naruto's room turned on. The sight the lights revealed was that of Naruto, pointing an accusatory finger at the girl dressed in black, who was currently lying on the ground feeling bamboozled, while he said, "You scared the hell out of me, and now you're trying to ignore me?! I've been asking you who the hell you are!"
The girl, with a shocked expression on her face, rose up a bit and said, "You…can see me?" before she realised something else as well, "And…you kicked me."
"Huh, what the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked in return with confusion evident on his face, "Of course I can see you."
The girl stood up fully and looked at him in the eyes. Standing in front of him, Naruto could tell that she was slightly shorter than he was, but he put that thought on the backburner because she asked, "You were in the city a while ago, weren't you?"
Naruto felt kind of insulted by her question, he had the brightest hair ever; you could find him stuck in the middle of a mob. Everyone said that whenever they were commenting on his hair, but he let it all slide. He focused on the current conversation and he said, "You just noticed now?"
The girl reached out her right hand and put it on his face, before she proceeded to turn it left and right while she said, "That's odd, you shouldn't be able to see me."
Naruto got angered by her yammering and her forcefully turning his head, he decided to give her a piece of his mind, "Stop yammering and…" he stuck his foot out to kick her but she deftly jumped into the air, used his foot as a springboard before she launched herself onto his head, before she launched herself off of it using some considerable strength, causing Naruto to fall on his face.
"Why you…" Naruto began, but he was promptly silenced by the girl.
"Then let me tell you…" she paused for dramatic effect, "I'm a Shinigami."
-Break-
While Naruto was busy with the strange girl he met earlier on in the day, the ghost girl that he had helped survive her earlier encounter was currently running through the streets. She was running as if she was running for her life. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, and when she reached the spot that she died in she went and hid behind a light pole. She poked her head out from behind the light pole and watched on in fear as what could only be described as footprints left their mark on the road. The weird thing was that the creature responsible was not visible.
"Again? What is it?" the girl asked herself, fear evident in her tone.
She watched as an invisible force pushed against two electric cables that were in between two street lamps. The cables bent under pressure from this invisible creature, before they snapped. When they did that, they sent sparks flying, thus illuminating the street long enough for the invisible creature to be seen by the girl. The creature was dark skinned, the exact colour was impossible to tell in the night, and it looked bulky.
The girl saw the creature and realised that there was nothing that she could do now besides hightailing it out of there, and she did. She ran away from the creature as fast as her legs could allow her to.
-Break-
"I see, so you're a Shinigami." Naruto said with a thought filled expression etched on his face. He saw the dark haired girl nod in agreement to that statement, so he carried on, "You came all the way here from some place called Soul Society to vanquish all evil spirits?"
Once again the girl nodded in agreement.
"Which means the monster I saw earlier was an evil spirit,"
Another nod followed.
"And that evil spirit attacked that girl."
Nod again.
"Okay, I believe you…" Naruto said, before the thought filled expression on his face changed into a condescending one as he said, "Not! You want me to believe that?!"
The nerve that this girl had, trying to trick him into believing in shit like this!
"You fool…you can see ghosts but you deny the existence of Shinigami?" the dark haired girl replied, now kneeling on the floor with her sword placed next to her.
"Of course." Naruto replied, getting up and stuffing his right hand into his pocket, "Unfortunately, I have never seen a Shinigami before. I don't believe in anything until I see it with my own eyes."
That makes total sense, right?
"But you're looking at one right now." The girl replied, standing up so up just like the boy.
Naruto simply looked down on her and said, "I'll believe that you're not human, but take your pretend 'Shinigami' behind somewhere else. Got that, girly?"
That was fair, right? Since they had reached an impasse he might as well come to an agreement with her…or better yet, trick her into admitting she's lying.
Unfortunately for Naruto, that was not what she had in mind. In fact, she got offended by what he had just said. She got an agitated look on her face as she said, "How dare you talk to me like that?"
The girl then proceeded to move her right arm outwards, with two fingers (her index and middle finger) stretched out while the others coiled back and said, "Bakudō no Ichi: Sai (Way of Binding #1: Sai)!"
Naruto didn't know what was going on, but one second he had his hands stuffed in his pocket, and the next, he had them wretched out of his pocket and twisted behind his back by something that could not be seen. The entire thing caught him by surprise. So much surprise in fact that he fell on his face after he lost balance. He didn't know what the heck was going on, but he could tell that it was her doing.
"What the hell did you just do?!" Naruto said in anger.
"Can't move, huh." The girl said looking down on him, "This is Kidō, a high-level spell that only a Shinigami can use. I've lived ten times longer than you have, despite my appearance, and you dare call me 'girly'."
Naruto stared at her from the spot he currently occupied on the ground with rage fuelled eyes as she continued saying, "I would kill you on this spot for the affront, but I am forbidden from carrying out unauthorised executions outside of my orders. Be grateful, boy."
"Bitch…" Naruto said, not really feeling afraid of her. Uzumaki Naruto feared no one. That is, until, he saw the girl draw her katana.
"Also…" she then brought it down on him. Or at least that's what he thought was happening, but couldn't really see due to him having closed his eyes in fear.
Seconds passed, and he felt nothing. No pain at all from the strike that he thought was inevitable. He slowly opened his eyes, trying to see what was going on, and when he did he looked to the right and saw that the girl currently hand the butt-end of her katana stuck on a ghost's forehead.
Wait a second…
"You're that guy from yesterday!" Naruto said in realisation as he took in the ghost's features. Scared face, white shirt that made him look like he worked at a car dealership, black hair…yep, it was definitely the ghost from yesterday.
"N-No…!" he heard the guy say in fear, "I don't want to go to hell!"
What surprised Naruto greatly was that the girl had a kind smile on her face as she said, "Do not fear. You are not headed for hell. You're headed for Soul Society. Unlike hell, it is a peaceful place."
She then removed her sword from his forehead, where Naruto saw a strange mark had appeared on it. The mark glowed brightly, and, as if his bedroom floor had suddenly become liquid, Naruto watched as it slowly sucked in the man until his entire appearance disappeared.
"What happened to that guy?" Naruto asked.
"I sent him to Soul Society." The girl said as she sheathed her blade, "You call it 'passing on' in your language. It is one of the duties of a Shinigami."
"I will illustrate it so that even an idiot like you can easily understand." The girl said as she stuck her hand inside her shihakusho and withdrew a pen and paper, "Now there are two types of souls in this world…"
The girl proceeded to draw on the paper, and after a few seconds she revealed her drawing to Naruto. It was…shockingly ugly as far as he could tell. There were weird little drawings that hard to understand, with two bunnies, one black, the other white and…"cute", but then maybe her explanation would help clarify things for him.
"The first type is the Pluses, the normal spirits. They are the ghosts you usually see."
Naruto saw that she was indicating to the side that had the drawing of a "cute" bunny.
"The other type is what we call Hollows." She said, this time indicating to the ugly black one, "They attack the living and the dead, devouring their souls. They are evil spirits."
There was a slight pause as she said, "Do you have any questions so far?"
"Yeah…" Naruto replied, "First, let's hear why your drawing sucks so badly."
The girl didn't say anything, instead she just stood up and walked over to him, before taking out a permanent marker and drew something on his face.
"What the hell?!" Naruto said as he tried to chastise her for this act, while she simply stood up and turned her back to him while she repeatedly bounced her marker on her hand victoriously.
"Let me continue with my explanation, Lord Baron." She said mockingly.
"Baron…?" Naruto asked, feeling a bit confused as to why she would give him such a name, not realising that the thing she grew on his face was a curly moustache.
The girl ignored his query; she simply turned around and said, "We Shinigami have two responsibilities. The first is to lead the Pluses to Soul Society by means of Konsō, the soul funeral, as I just performed for that ghost. The second is to kill Hollows and vaporise them."
"So why was that Hollow after that girl?" Naruto asked, talking about the ghost girl from earlier.
"I don't know" the Shinigami replied, "We have not completely grasped their habits."
-Break-
The girl kept on running, one of the good things about being a ghost was that you did not tire out easily. If she was normal she would have fallen flat on her face a long time ago from exhaustion. As she ran she came upon the downtown area of the town. But as soon as she did, she found herself tripping and falling onto the ground. Just as she was about to get up and run again, she found herself completely cornered by the gigantic creature that had been chasing her.
She looked at it with fearful eyes as it advanced on her. She found herself paralysed to the ground, unable to move a single muscle in her body, as the creature stood tall and menacing above her. Just as it had begun dipping its head low, looking to consume the girl, it suddenly stopped. It sniffed the air as if searching for something.
"I sense…a soul that smells extremely delicious." The creature said, turning to look to its left. The creature then stood up and said, "It's nearby…with a Shinigami."
It then stomped past the girl, leaving her sighing in relief on the ground; then the creature smashed its hand through a series of windows, destroying them almost simultaneously.
-Break-
Naruto's mind was just reeling in from the information that he had just received. He now understood that this girl could possibly be telling the truth, especially with how she dealt with that monster from earlier on in the day, a Hollow she said it was called. The Hollow was an evil spirit that devoured other spirits; and the girl that he helped earlier on was actually something called a plus.
Just as more thoughts popped into his head he suddenly heard something that sounded like a small explosion, "Did you hear that?!"
The girl did not even reply to his statement as she just said, "In any case, there is a second one wandering around in the vicinity."
"Then go vaporise the second one!" Naruto all but commanded.
The girl looked down on the floor she was now kneeling on, with a downcast look on her face, and said, "Well…I have not been able to sense its presence for a while now. It's as if a large force is obstructing my senses."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Naruto demanded. Was this girl giving him some bullshit excuse because she was chickening out? Could she not hear what he was hearing?
"Can't you hear that loud howling?" Naruto asked, "Isn't that howling from the thing you're looking for?"
"Loud howling?" the girl said feeling perplexed, "I hear no such…"
Her statement was cut short because she heard the loud howling of a creature that sounded like it was in pain, the howling of a Hollow.
"I heard it!" She said, standing up, with her sheathed sword hand, "That was definitely a cry of a Hollow!"
"See?" Naruto said, hands still tied behind his back by an invisible force.
There was a scream that came from downstairs that alerted Naruto, the scream belonged to one person only, "Himawari!"
He saw the Shinigami run out of his room, towards the scene downstairs. He tried calling out to her, "Hey wait!"
She still had to untie him goddammit!
The Shinigami opened the door and tried rushing out of the room, but she was stopped by the pressure she felt upon exiting the room.
'What an incredible amount of reiatsu (spirit energy)…I did not sense it until now?!' the Shinigami thought to herself.
She then saw something that came from the corner, and when she looked she saw that it was a young girl that had purple hair and she was currently stumbling, holding onto her side.
"Onii-chan…" she cried out weakly, before falling to the ground.
"Himawari!" Naruto said, looking at his sister with worry and fear.
"Karin-chan…she…" she tried to say, before she said, "Onii-chan help her…help Karin-chan!"
Himawari then fell flat on her face, out cold.
"Hey you!" Naruto called out to the Shinigami, who was currently inspecting Himawari, trying to get her to untie him. Then they heard the sound of Karin's voice…she was in pain. The Shinigami quickly rushed off to where Karin was, leaving Naruto to fend for himself.
Seriously, did this girl have the attention span of a teaspoon?
Naruto grit his teeth as he tried to move his body, which he found was pretty hard to do, "Damn it…"
Meanwhile the Shinigami raced down the stairs, jumping over a few along the way until she got to her destination, and when she did she found that there was a giant hole in the wall and there was a Hollow that was currently holding onto a young, red haired girl that had red rimmed spectacles, trying to squeeze the life out of her.
"Stop! Stop it!" the girl tried to plead with the Hollow.
Seeing this, the Shinigami drew upon her sword and held it out in front of her with both hands. Just as she was about to attack she saw Naruto tumble down the last flight of stairs. She looked at him and said, "Get away!"
Naruto seemed to ignore her, as he instead chose to focus on his sister, "Karin…kuso." He said, fighting off the effects of whatever was restraining his movements and standing up.
This course of action surprised the Shinigami completely, as evidenced by her next sentence, "He's moving even though he has the Kidō cast on him?"
Naruto stumbled his way until he was in front of her.
"Move! You're in the way! Stay back!" the Shinigami said, trying to make the human see reason.
"Shut up!" he said in retaliation.
Or maybe not.
Naruto did not know what overcame him, but the second he saw his sister in the clutches of a Hollow he just snapped. He found himself trying to break the force that was holding his arms in place. A growl escaped his throat as he tried to fight off the effects of whatever was holding him. He could make out the Shinigami saying, "Don't! No human strength can break it. If you force it, your soul will…"
Of course he paid her no heed as he continued to struggle against the force holding him down. Whatever else she wanted to say died in her throat because Naruto suddenly found himself glowing slightly as he tried to break free of his wretched confines and try to help his sister. He continued to do this for a few more seconds, continuously resembling a firefly more and more, until he finally broke free of the invisible force.
As soon as he was free, Naruto ran towards the Hollow, looking to beat the shit out of it. He heard the Shinigami call out to him, but he did not care. He just wanted to beat the crap out of the Hollow that was trying to kill his sister. He grabbed a folded stool and attacked with it. He heard his sister say, "Naruto-nii, run!" but he paid her no heed as well and instead jumped into the air, stool drawn, looking to carve it into the Hollow's face.
Unfortunately for him, the Hollow saw this and simply delivered a hard punch with its meat clobber hands, sending Naruto flying and skidding on the road. Naruto looked up to see his sister, in the Hollow's grasp, out cold, "Karin!"
"I found you!" the Hollow said in a voice that had a dead tone to it, before it sent a punch his way with its free hand. Naruto, thanks to years of training in different codes of martial arts, was able to roll underneath the punch with ease as it impacted on the road and created a crater in it.
Naruto suddenly saw the Shinigami appear in front of him, and she hacked at the Hollow's right arm, the one that contained the hand that held Karin in a death grip. Blood surged from the cut she inflicted on the Hollow. The Hollow cried out in pain and let go of Karin. Naruto, acting on instincts drilled into him from his many years of fighting bullies and surprise attacks from his father trying to test his reflexes, made a short dash before he slid underneath the Hollow, grabbed hold of Karin before she and the road became acquainted, and slid past the Hollow all in one smooth motion.
The Hollow took a few steps back before it was enveloped in darkness and disappeared. Naruto meanwhile checked on his sister, whose blue t-shirt and black shorts were crumbled up, "Karin! Oi!"
"Stay calm." He heard the Shinigami say, "It has not devoured your sister's soul yet."
"Are you sure?'' Naruto said, panic evident in his voice.
"Yeah." The Shinigami replied, "It is seeking out a soul with a much higher spiritual energy density."
Naruto sighed internally, thanking the heavens that his sister was going to be okay.
"I get it now." He heard the Shinigami say to herself, "The Hollow from noon was not after the girl."
That surprised Naruto greatly. Didn't this Shinigami say that Hollows devour souls? And wasn't that girl a devourable soul? Okay, poor choice of words.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know how, but your spirit energy has been completely sealed up until now. That's why I did not sense anything, and Hollows never attacked you. This is just a conjecture, but perhaps the spirit energy that was sealed in your body began to flow out of your body due to the influence of the female ghost you touched."
Her words shocked Naruto greatly. His eyes bogged out slightly, and his fear, which had begun to leave him, returned as well as he could already guess what she was saying.
"In other words, those two sensed the denseness of your soul from within the girl." The Shinigami said, and then she looked at him and concluded, "They are after you."
"They're after me…" Naruto said in a low, fear laced tone.
They then saw a dark cloud appear where the Hollow had disappeared, where it opened up and the Hollow walked out of it.
"It's here!" the Shinigami announced, "You-"
She was cut off by Naruto, who stood up and said, "Does this mean it's my fault the girl was attacked?"
"What are you talking-"
Once again the girl was interrupted from finishing her sentence by Naruto, who went, "It's my fault Karin and Himawari's lives are in danger!"
The image of his sisters crying out to him played in his mind. The image of Himawari slumping to the floor outside his bedroom and the image of Karin being held in a death grip by the Hollow as she told him to run for it played in his head. He made up his mind then and there that no one was going to suffer because of him. A battle cry escaped his throat as he ran towards the creature, leaving the Shinigami calling out to him from behind, before he stood opposite it on the road.
"Hey, bitch, you want my soul, right?" he goaded, "then fight me like a man, one-on-one."
He must have been crazy for challenging a creature that was the size of his home. Most people would have run away from it, but as stated previously, Uzumaki Naruto fears no one.
The Hollow gave a shrill cry, something Naruto noted was customary between all Hollows, before it dived in. Naruto did not know what happened to him, but the second he saw the Hollow stretch its mouth, unleashing it tongue at him, he froze. Time seemed to slow down for him as the hollow approached him, looking to bite his head off, but at the last second something else happened.
Naruto saw blood flying and splattering on the road, before his eyes saw the image of the Shinigami, trapped within the Hollow's jaws of death, with her sword drawn. There was a struggle for a few seconds between both parties as the Hollow tried to consume the Shinigami, but the girl was able to fight it by slashing at its face, causing more of its blood to splatter all over the road and also causing it more pain as it reared its head back, letting go of the Shinigami, and crying out in anguish.
Naruto watched on as the Shinigami slowly went on her knees, before she fell face first on the road.
"Shinigami!" he cried out.
The girl was lying in a small pool of her own blood, but she was still alive.
"You fool…" he heard her say weakly, in between laboured breaths, "You should have known…that you could not fight it with your power."
Naruto watched on in shock as the Shinigami slowly got up while she said, "Or did you think it would be over the second you gave it your soul? At this rate we will become food for it."
Naruto continued watching her as she got up slowly, while from the corner of his eye he saw that the Hollow was in pain, as it moved all over the place holing its face with both hands. Eventually though, it slowly ceased these movements. Looking back at the Shinigami he saw that she had approached a nearby street lamp and she had pressed her back to it.
"Do you want to save your family?" she asked him.
Was that a rhetorical question? Of course he wanted to save them!
"Of course I do. Is there a way?" Naruto asked.
"There is one way," the Shinigami said weakly as she put her right hand around the hilt of her katana and raised it, pointing it at Naruto, "You must become a Shinigami."
This elicited a shock from Naruto. That was something he did not expect to hear.
"Place the point of this Zanpakutō over your heart, and I will transfer my powers over to you." The girl said.
Wait, wait, wait! Was she crazy? She did not just say that he should place a very sharp sword over his heart did she?
There was a sudden roar that drew Naruto's attention back to the current situation. It came courtesy of the Hollow that wanted to devour them all.
"I don't know if it will work or not, but there is no other way." The girl added.
Okay, that was really reassuring. They were fucked.
Hearing the Hollow's roar kept on reminding him about the current situation, and he realised that either way, he was going to die. If her plan failed, he was dead. If he did nothing, then he, the Shinigami and his sisters were all Hollow food. Either way everyone was going to meet their end tonight. So why not take the route that had the highest chance of survival, even if it was less than one percent.
With his mind made up, Naruto said, "Give me your sword, Shinigami."
"It's not Shinigami," she said, finally having grown tired of being called that when she had a proper name, "I am Kurotsuchi."
The Hollow finally got its priorities sorted out and it made a mad dash towards its prey. Meanwhile with said prey, the boy grabbed hold of the girl's sword and placed it over his heat, and then he said, "I am Uzumaki Naruto."
The sword was plunged into Naruto's heart by the now named Kurotsuchi. There was a bright flash that soon followed that, along with wind that kicked up dust and pushed it all over the show, obscuring the Hollow's vision for a few seconds, before it suddenly felt its left arm being severed off completely. It howled in pain as it felt its arm hitting the ground, with blood flowing out of the stump it now had.
When the light died down the Hollow was able to turn around and get a good look at who cut its arm off. What it saw surprised not only it, but Kurotsuchi as well, who was currently kneeling on the ground, wearing a white gown. They saw the image of Naruto, completely clad in a black Shihakusho, holding onto a katana that had a blood red blade, a rectangular black guard, and a red hilt.
'Impossible,' Kurotsuchi thought, 'I only meant to give him half my energy, but he took it all.'
Kurotsuchi saw Naruto stare down the Hollow, before he ran towards it.
'Who is he?' she thought to herself, 'I have never seen a human who has so much reiatsu that he can confuse a Shinigami's senses.'
She continued to watch on in shock as Naruto ran towards the Hollow, with the Hollow fighting past its own pain and charging towards him.
'I have never seen a human who was able to break Kidō with his own power.'
Naruto drew his sword back as he got closer to the Hollow.
'And…I have never seen a Shinigami's Zanpakutō be that colour in sealed stated.' She thought, looking at the sword's unusual colour.
Naruto and the Hollow were finally in front of each other. The Hollow tried to take advantage of its bigger size by trying to stomp on Naruto, but the blonde simply dodged to the side, before he jumped up and used the innate skills he gained from training in kendo to sever the Hollow's leg from right below its knee.
The Hollow roared out in more pain, and thanks to not having a leg to balance with, it stumbled forward, falling faced down.
"Feel the wrath for hurting my family, you fish-faced freak!" Naruto said as a battle cry was unleashed from his throat and he slashed upwards at the falling Hollow's face, cutting its face into two equal halves.
The Hollow disintegrated into thin air, leaving behind a small dust cloud that Naruto stood in, with his sword drawn out.
Chapter End
That ends chapter one of my story, Death God Chronicles. In my opinion it's a much better title than "Bleach".
I personally did not like the whole Zanbatō thing Ichigo had when he first unlocked his powers. The blade was big for nothing. The reason why Naruto's blade is red shall be explained once he attains his shikai.
I made Naruto have a history in kendo because I believe that it's impossible simply master the art of the sword in a few days (training with Urahara anyone). It would be more believable if he had a history with the art from yester years, before he finally masters it under Urahara.
A character break down for you guys, so that you will know who gets to replace who, goes like this:
Ichigo – Naruto
Rukia – Kurotsuchi
Ishin – Minato
Masaki – Kushina
Yuzu – Himawari (For those who don't know, she is Naruto's daughter in the Naruto manga)
Karin – Karin (The one who is in love with Sasuke, like you didn't already know that)
I feel like giving you more, but then that would spoil the surprise that I have in store for you guys. You could also take this as a challenge from me to you to guess who you think will play who.
You can also give me your suggestions on the characters, like the Captains, Arrancar, and Vizard and so on…I've already come up with the characters, but let's see if you can come up with your own and give me a valid reason. Who knows, maybe yours could be better.
Oh, and just so you know, the characters will not have the personalities of the bleach characters they are replacing; they will have their own original Naruto franchise personalities. This will also allow me to create each characters own unique Zanpakutō that fits their style and personality.
Don't forget to review, because seriously, they keep me going. I know this site pays diddley squat, but we still write and post stories because we want them reviews and favs you guys don't want to give.
For fans of the Transmigrant, just know that I will repost it. I feel like I made a mistake in a few crucial moments of the story, and as such I had to take it down so that I can rebuild it properly.
The Naruto manga ended a few weeks ago, and I'm happy with how things turned out, especially the pairings. One thing I did not like was Anko gaining weight…bad move Kishi. Let me know what you thought about that and more.
That's all for now folks, I'm out.