Chapter 1

All was quiet in the Leaf Village, the shinobi were out on missions and the civilians were lazing around. A certain knuckle-headed ninja was practising his only weak point- Taijutsu. Sasuke had just been returned from Orochimaru's possession and was still recovering from his curse mark, he had decided that reading was the best way to do so. Sakura, on the other hand, was practising her medical ninjutsu on Naruto's 'training wounds'. Luckily for Sakura, Naruto's injuries weren't as bad as the time he and Sasuke battled in the Valley of the End.

Sasuke suddenly felt the presence of something falling, so he dropped his book and called the rest of his team.

"Someone is falling, I don't know where. But it's close." Said Sasuke.

At that point, a blurry orange and black figure started to appear in the sky. Closer and closer, it came to the young shinobi. THUMP!

With that, a man in dressed in black robes with a white sash, white socks, straw sandals and orange hair fell to the ground. He was clutching a sword; it looked like an overgrown butcher's knife in Naruto's opinion.

The three leaf shinobi rushed over to him to see if he was alive. Luckily Sakura was there to help him. She, with help from Naruto and Sasuke managed to carry him to the hospital. When they got there, the Hokage was waiting for them.

"Hokage-sama!" Yelled Sakura. "This man fell from the sky and is gravely injured. Do you think that you could help him?"

The fifth Hokage, Tsunade examined the orange-haired teen. "I believe I can. Where did you find the boy?"

The trio looked at each other. "He fell from the sky, Sasuke sensed him falling. After that, we rushed over to see him fall."

Tsunade's eyes caught a sight of Zangetsu and was rather intrigued on how a sword so big could be wielded by a child no older than the age of 17.

Soon everyone's attention went to Ichigo who opened his eyes and lifted his head up. He examined his surroundings and determined that he was in a hospital ward. Then he noticed the crowd gathered around him.

'Why am I here?' Thought Ichigo, it wasn't his fault that he fell from the sky after a certain candy store owner convinced him to go through the portal.

"Damn, I am so gonna kill Urahara!" Ichigo practically yelled. That received a few stares from his unwanted crowd. But truth be told, it was Hat and Clog's fault…

-Flashback—

Ichigo was in his room listening to music and reading the latest edition of Shonen Jump Weekly, when all of a sudden a black cat appeared in his room. At first he thought he was imagining things, until that cat spoke in a deep male voice. Even though, the cat was female.

"If you don't your ass to Urahara's shop now, I will transform back into my true form.

At that, Ichigo jumped out of his window and ran at what appeared to be 50 MPH. He really didn't want to see Yoruichi like that again, oh no, he was never going to see that EVER again!

When he arrived at Urahara's shop, he was greeted by Rukia and Uryu. They told him about this mission to this 'Elemental Country' place.

"So then, are you guys going too?" Ichigo only saw the two shake their heads before Hat and Clogs- Urahara interrupted them. He explained the basics of the mission, and said that all Ichigo had to do was eliminate some strange hollows that seemed to gather there for an unknown reason. Then Urahara pulled Ichigo's soul out of his body with his cane.

Ichigo then jumped through the portal, still a bit annoyed to have his soul-forme yanked out without any warning. The next thing he knew was that he was falling, falling for what seemed like hours. Then he felt a THUD! After that he woke up in a strange hospital ward, surrounded by strange people who could somehow see him.

-Flashback end—

The substitute just wanted to murder Urahara with all his strength. Maybe even go Bankai on his butt.

"Excuse me, but who is 'Urahara'?" Asked Tsunade.

"He's the mad-man who sent me falling in the first place" Ichigo scowled.

The nine-tailed fox inside of Naruto was telling him that this stranger was a force to be reckoned with. And that made Naruto want to fight him.

"Just who are you anyway?" Asked Sasuke.

Ichigo just sighed. "I am Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Shinigami."

The word 'Shinigami' made Naruto shoot up and say: "Hey you, I challenge you to a battle!"

Everyone in the room just face-palmed at Naruto's usual stubbornness.

To everyone's surprise, Ichigo accepted the challenge. "I will fight you with my eyes closed to make it even fairer." What he didn't mention that was after his fullbring training, he learned to see with his eyes closed and had only just learned how to control his Reiatsu.

This was going to be a noisy day…