I'm trying a hand at my first crossover, since I find them to be really interesting. This is between Bleach and Naruto, so a lot of plot devices might have to be tweaked around a bit to make it work. This takes place in Naruto Shippuden and right before the Hueco Mundo arc in Bleach. Try not to mind the bad title by the way…
I know that I left my other fanfics hanging like… years ago. XD I'm really, very sorry, but I think I'm back to writing here now and starting differently. If I can, I'll try to continue the others, but right now, I'm stuck with this idea. I won't be titling the characters with honorifics (i.e. "Sakura-chan"), but I will attach the appropriate labels to captains, lieutenants, teachers, and whatnot.
I hope you guys enjoy! Please leave a review… or flame if you hate it (be gentle though!).
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Naruto, or any of its characters.
A groan furled out from a blond boy's throat. A muted tingling stirred him from his state of unconsciousness, prompting him to open his eyes. He blinked languidly to adjust his sight. He could see blank walls that seemed to break off into corridors, but nothing else was in his line of vision. He took in a breath and tried to push up from the ground for a better view. His arms wobbled a little, his body feeling rusted and stiff as if he hadn't been moving for days. He managed to pull himself into a sitting position and finally attain a level view of his surroundings, though his mind was so dazed that he could barely even focus properly.
His eyes fell downwards, seeing a blurry mass of colors: pink, red, black, and white. He rubbed his eyes and murmured, "Sa…kura…? … Sai?" In response to his tentative query, he saw the figures on the ground shift and start to sit up as well.
A girl with short, bubblegum pink hair and a boy with black hair slowly rose into a sitting position, backs hunched over slightly. The girl pressed her gloved hand to her forehead with her eyes closed, seemingly strained with a headache. "Naruto…? What's going on…?"
Naruto shook his head to rid it of the spinning sensation before standing up. "What is this place?" His deep blue eyes shifted from left to right. He could see nothing but long halls of white no matter which direction he looked in. The boy named Sai stood up as well, surveying the area with a more or less dulled expression. Sakura mirrored him, though in trying to stand, she stumbled a bit.
"Ngh…" she moaned, gripping her shoulder. Naruto turned his head in her direction, with his voice raised half an octave with concern, "Sakura, what's wrong?"
She glanced at her shoulder, then looked up at Naruto. "It's nothing. My shoulder just got injured." She brought her hand to her wound and exerted energy into her palm, causing a soft green light to glow near the region. The small gash started to close up at a steady pace from the light. As she nursed her shoulder, she realized that she was able to heal more rapidly than before. She dropped her arm to her side and looked around. "My medical jutsu is working more efficiently than usual. It feels different here…"
"We were fighting against Akatsuki members before coming to this place, but between that, I don't remember anything." Sai recalled, causing Naruto to snap his head up in alert. "Yeah, we were fighting Itachi and that fish bastard! Look out guys, it might be a genjutsu!" Naruto warned, warily shifting his eyes about.
"I don't think so… I recognize a genjutsu when I see one." Sakura placed her palm against a white wall, observing the area with less high-strung suspicion than her companion.
"I don't know, Sakura. The last time it was too real for me to tell." Naruto started to sniff around, twitching his head at anything unfamiliar.
"That's because you were too dense to see an easy trap." Sai commented with his smile. Naruto whipped around to glare at Sai. "Say that again!"
Sai's smile grew a margin wider as he closed his eyes and tilted his head in a charming manner. "I would just end up being redundant if I did that, wouldn't I? No sense in repeating the obvious."
"You-!" Naruto started, but he was quickly silenced by Sakura's curt, sharp "ssh". "Huh?"
"Quiet, someone's coming!"
By her words, quick clacks sounded nearby, growing louder and closer by the moment. "Five, maybe six people are headed this way." Sai deduced by listening attentively, hand readily resting upon a scroll. The three stared at the hall where the noises came from, expecting them to turn around the corner at any second.
Sure enough, several men dressed in loose, black robes came charging towards them with hands gripping the hilts of swords. "Who are they?" Sakura asked, though her question trailed as the men unsheathed their blades, prepared to strike at the three.
"Seize the intruders!" one of them shouted. "Well they don't look friendly." Naruto replied, stepping up front. Sakura pulled up her fists and prepared to fight them as Naruto clasped his hands together to form a recognizable hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Is that three more inches, or am I imagining things?" Kira, the blond lieutenant of the third squad, eyed the rather large stack of papers his comrade was holding. The dark haired, tattooed man grunted as he let the pile flop solidly on the table. Hisagi groaned as he glanced at another stack sitting idly by.
"Four and a half. I measured." he replied gruffly, landing the second pile next to the first.
"Your work load has doubled since last week… I thought it was Squad 10's job to handle most of the paperwork." Kira said, perusing over some of the files.
"Captain Hitsugaya has been handling affairs in the human realm, so the paperwork is being shifted to less active divisions… namely this one." Hisagi sighed and sat down at the desk, taking out a pen. "To tell you the truth, Captain-…" He paused at the title, causing Kira to look down in gloom. "… Tousen did most of the work, so from my standpoint, this looks overwhelming."
There was an awkward silence, and Hisagi started to fill out the papers. The mild scratching of the pen sprinkled the room with noise, but other than that, little was heard. "It's been a long time now… I guess… I guess I always wished Captain Ichimaru would return soon. I didn't want to believe he was that kind of person, you know? He always took care of me, and I thought I was of some use by sticking to my duty and protecting him… but I ended up turning my own sword on Hinamori for that man. I feel like a monster…" Kira's voice tapered off into an uncertain mumble, matching his frowning face.
Hisagi laid down the pen, raising a slight eyebrow at Kira's expression. "No one's blaming you for that. You should quit worrying so much." He paused, neglecting to resume his paperwork. Normally, he was quite responsible and worked without much complaint, but he wanted to avoid the monotonous work and take a break once in a while.
Kira didn't seem to be consoled by his words. Though the incident was some time ago, he was still affected by it and had guilt clinging relentlessly onto him. Not even the ridiculous drinking sessions with Matsumoto helped him sink it down. In fact, they posed more harm than comfort, as the continuous intake of sake sent him and Hisagi (but mysteriously not Matsumoto herself) to the medical division. From there, the two lieutenants faced an hour of excruciating pain from the foot kneading of Squad 4's nurses.
"If you keep that miserable look on your face, you're going to be more of a wuss than you are now." Hisagi said, a trace of a friendly smirk jerking at his mouth. Kira's face transitioned into one of surprise as he become mildly defensive. "Hey, I'm not-"
His words were cut off by the echoing sound of clapping wood. His head swerved towards the door as Hisagi stood. "The alarm! We have intruders!"
A solid thwack, followed by a thud, ended the commotion of fighting. Naruto's clones crowed a brief "heh!" in unison, marking the victory of the three. "Those guys were really weak. What kind of ninja were they anyway, charging straight at us like that? Only an amateur would do that!" Naruto crouched down to look at the unconscious pile of attackers more closely.
"Who else charges straight ahead like an amateur?" Sai asked thoughtfully, though in essence was purposefully mocking Naruto again.
Before Naruto could even get riled up, the group heard shouts and clamoring in the distance. This time, a much larger herd of robed fighters gushed through behind the corner like a river flood. "What the hell?!" Naruto gaped at the number of people. The ground shook at the stampede, all hands drawing their swords and prepared to strike.
Sakura had stood behind the two; she felt it wasn't necessary to get involved in the fight as Naruto had singlehandedly defeated the first batch. 'They're all wearing the same uniforms… If they come from the same organization, where is the leader?' Sakura's eyes scanned the area for any sign of stronger members, but none of them seemed like they took the position of a leader.
"U-!" Some clones slid on the ground and kicked a few of the enemies in the air. "Zu-!" More heels scuffed the surface and lifted the bodies from the ground. "Ma-Ki-!" Several fists performed uppercuts on the bundle of men before Naruto and three other clones smashed them down into the dirt from above. "Naruto Barrage!" A collection of heavy thumps and groans spread through the area when they crashed.
Sai's wrist moved deftly as he stroked his brush across a scroll, creating beautiful ink animals and having them attack the incoming mass. The animals growled as they tackled and bit the robed men, bursting into black liquid when struck hard.
Sakura clenched her fist and gave a fair warning, "Naruto, Sai, move!" The two boys jumped away and landed atop the roofs just in time as Sakura brought her fist down, ripping the earth beneath her apart. A chaotic earthquake caused the ones on the ground to stagger before being swallowed by the fissures. Cloaks of black fell quickly, making a large dent in their numbers. Naruto's clones disappeared in clouds of smoke as they were destroyed by the impact as well.
"Great, Sakura!" Naruto praised as he hopped down to finish off the rest of them. The three ran as they fought off the seemingly endless crowd of opponents. Though not much effort was used, the team soon grew irked by the constant pursuit.
"How many are there?!" Naruto growled, thoroughly annoyed as he punched a man out of the way while avoiding being pierced by his sword. "And why are these people so stupid?! They wouldn't be beaten so badly if they used kunai and shuriken instead of swords!"
"They're obviously not ninja, so they wouldn't have those tools." Sai evaded a slash and elbowed a female fighter in the stomach.
"Whatever! Just when are they gonna stop?!" Naruto started to pant as he ran, creating clones to dispose of the swordsmen close behind them. The group started to sprint faster, seeing as how the enemy refused to desist. Sakura pulled out a kunai with an explosive tag attached and threw it behind her, motioning for the other two to hurry up as she ran ahead. A blast was heard soon afterward, sending rubble flying off and clattering against the walls.
The group stopped to catch their breath. "Can't they come in… smaller packages?!" Naruto huffed out, exhausted from fighting so much. If they hadn't fought with Itachi and Kisame just before, they would have had more energy to fight. Sakura breathed just as heavily, taking a moment to check that the enemies halted before relaxing a bit. "This is definitely not any place I've ever seen… Where… are we…?" Sakura panted, holding her chest and raising her head to look up.
"I don't know but-" Naruto was interrupted when a shadow swooped down on him, causing him to react by pulling out a kunai to parry the sword. He stumbled backwards as Sakura and Sai moved. "What the-?!" Naruto glared at his ambusher as his arm wobbled from holding off the force of the katana. "Who the hell are you?!"
A dark haired youth glared back at Naruto with steely eyes. Scars that looked like lines ran down his face, which was tattooed with a symbol that appeared to be the number 69. Though appearing to be cold and disinclined to answer Naruto, he opened his mouth to give his name, "Lieutenant of Squad 9, Shuhei Hisagi." His wiry, muscular arms tightened as he gripped his sword harder and pressed forward.
Naruto let out a growl of frustration and shoved away with strong force, though he had to withdraw quickly as his kunai knife was far inferior to Hisagi's long blade. The lieutenant, or captain substitute, raised his sword to point it at Naruto's neck. The blond only stared back at him defiantly without moving as his teammates watched him carefully.
"Now it's your turn. Who are you?" Naruto grit his teeth, irritated at Hisagi's chilly manner. "Naruto Uzumaki." he growled. While neither of them moved from the spot, Sai quietly slipped his brush between his fingers and slid it across the scroll, but was disrupted when another fell among them. Sai jumped out of the way before the edge of the sword could slash at him. He narrowed his eyes. 'How could they have come undetected?'
A well groomed, blond haired young man raised his sword at Sai. Sakura quickly pulled out a kunai and steadily positioned it parallel to the newcomer's neck. The light blond cast a glance at her before keeping his gaze rested on Sai, who still had the brush held in his fingers. "Lieutenant of Squad 3, Izuru Kira." he said calmly, skipping to introductions without the inquiry.
Naruto jerked his head behind him and cried in annoyance, "Just who are you people? Squads? Lieutenants? Swords? Stupid looking black robes?!" Hisagi pulled his mouth down in even more of a frown than it already was, pressing the tip of his blade at Naruto's neck. Naruto stilled, unable to turn his head around again. His eyes tore back to Hisagi and strengthened their glare, though the lieutenant appeared to be unfazed.
"We are Shinigami. You are all outsiders." Hisagi stated briefly in response. "Shinigami… 'Death Gods'…?" Sakura murmured in puzzlement. There was a long silence before Naruto broke it—or rather, his clone did. A poof resounded through the area as the Naruto in front of Hisagi disappeared, startling him.
"What?!" Kira swiveled around to see what was going on, but made the mistake of looking away as Sai swiftly finished his drawing and summoned a black ink dog.
Kira narrowly pulled away to avoid being bitten, but soon had his hands full when Sakura leapt at him with a kunai. Kira held his hilt with both hands to block, but to his surprise, she was gradually pushing him back. When he was backed up to a wall, he managed to yell out a phrase that caused Sakura to jump back in caution, "Raise your head, Wabisuke!"
Sakura watched in shock as his blade was suddenly enveloped in energy, extending and becoming an odd square hook. "What… what is that?" she whispered, but had to raise her arm with the kunai to block his attack. Kira lifted his blade and swung again, only to be parried by Sakura once more. The girl took steps back as he kept striking at her kunai.
'What's going on? Why doesn't he attack anywhere else?!' As Sakura tried to think, she noticed her arm becoming weaker with every block she made. Her eyes shot at her hand in alarm. 'It's… so heavy!'
During their fight, Sai had moved on to assist Naruto with Hisagi, who had been fighting evenly with him. The dog was redirected towards the Squad 9 lieutenant, causing him to be even more alert. The real Naruto appeared behind Hisagi to kick him from behind as soon as the clone had vanished. Hisagi stabbed and slashed through more of Naruto's clones, though was inwardly surprised that they were real bodies, and not simply illusions.
Naruto breathed heavily as he created another clone, feeling his chakra slowly become depleted. 'Damn it! If I didn't just fight Itachi and those other goons, I wouldn't be so tired!' he thought in frustration.
The clone beside him started to rapidly circulate his hands around Naruto's right, causing a swirling energy to compact into a sphere. Once it was completed, he ran towards Hisagi, who was taking care of the ink creations.
Meanwhile, Sakura avoided parrying altogether and tried to dodge Kira's slashes. She ultimately dropped her kunai, hearing a loud clatter as opposed to a sharp, tinkling sound. Her eyes still followed Kira as she kept dodging, since her ears were enough to detect that something was wrong.
'That sword… Somehow it made the kunai heavier with each hit…' she thought, successfully ruling out her previous thought of it making her arm weaker, since it was not affecting her limb, but the kunai.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, skidding to a halt as she raised her hand in front in order to gain answers before resuming if necessary. Kira lowered his blade only slightly, though he supplied her with an answer, preferring more diplomatic approaches as well.
"We cannot afford to let intruders cause harm to Soul Society. You're marked as invaders, and it's our job to make sure you don't go any further."
"But we didn't try to invade this place! We don't even know where we are or how we came-" Sakura stopped when she saw an ink lion lunge behind Kira, causing him to turn around but be thrown onto his back. "Sai!" Sakura yelled. The boy didn't heed her as he handled both battles, his attention switching to Hisagi, who had just narrowly avoided Naruto's attack.
The swirling orb crashed into the wall instead of Hisagi, causing chunks of rubble to fly off as Naruto plunged straight through to the other side. The lieutenant was astonished at the display, feeling on edge when he realized that such a technique would have torn him apart. 'Who are these people?!'
Naruto stumbled as he ran through the hole and his attack dispersed. He groaned in vexation, feeling his chakra sag from the onslaught of battles and usage of energy. But before he could try to attempt another attack, cold steel suddenly shoved into his back and out through the side of his stomach.
Blue eyes widened considerably as a stream of blood poured out from the corner of his mouth. He coughed in pain when he felt the blade pull out, cutting against his internal flesh. He fell forward on his stomach and shuddered, his eyes still open. He couldn't move, but he saw sandaled feet walk past him calmly. He could hear faint noises as his awareness began to slip.
"Captain Kuchiki-"
"Sai, look ou-! … Aagh!"
A thud. A clatter of wood and brush strokes. A groan. Another thud.
"G-guys…" Naruto muttered hoarsely before his eyes closed, the dark consuming him entirely.
Sai: Wow… You suck, Hag. ((charming smile))
I know… ((sniffle))