Hi! Some quick notes on this fic...

Naruto timeline: As seen in the description, this story takes place during Naruto's 2 1/2 years of training with Jiraiya between Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. So, understandably, he will be a bit annoying and not as strong. As for character development, see below.

Bleach timeline: I thought for a long time about this. It starts about 3 months after Ichigo loses his powers at the end of the Winter War. He's a lot older than Naruto (12 vs 16), so will be a reluctant big brother-type figure. I wanted Ichigo to be someone who could teach Naruto some humility while not trying to interject him in the middle of the War or some other arc.

I don't have this fic totally planned out, but then again I tend to do my best work on the fly. I don't know how long it will be, or where it will go, but I think Naruto will still be around for Xcution, but not for the Quincy War. Who knows though?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach. Although, I may actually have some bleach...but I'm not really a fan of fish cakes...

PS: Kudos to my sis for the title and proof reading.

Anyway, enjoy!

Prologue

Setting his mop aside, Naruto gave one final cursory glance over his tiny apartment, the floor finally visible, free of dirt and pieces of ramen noodles for the first time in years. He'd lived here for as long as he could remember, but today he was leaving.

"Wheew! Well, guess that about does it," He sighed, grinning. He was finally going, off to do super-awesome-intense training with Pervy Sage.

Still smiling, he walked over to the table beside his bed, bare but for his alarm clock and- the picture. Sakura, Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke. I'll be back soon, he thought, stronger than ever. I'm coming for you Sasuke! Smiling wider, he grabbed his little gray backpack and dashed out the door, looking back just long enough to close it behind himself.

"Well, well. You've got quite the journey ahead of you," remarked Iruka-sensei, slurping up a mouthful of ramen.

"Yup!"

"Hey, listen up," Iruka-sensei said, turning with concern towards his pupil. "You keep focused out there, no goofing off, alright?"

"Focused is my middle name, sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning. Iruka-sensei gave him a skeptical look before giving a little chuckle. Both smiling now, they turned back to their bowls to slurp up some more ramen just as Jiraiya stuck his head through the curtained awning of the ramen booth.

"Alright, time to hit the road Naruto," He said, looking down at his young student.

"Okay!" Naruto quickly inhaled the rest of his bowl of ramen before turning to leave, calling over his shoulder.

"Thanks for the ramen, Iruka-sensei. In fact, when I'm Hokage, I'll buy you lunch," He said in total seriousness.

"When you're-!" Iruka exclaimed. That crazy kid! "Ughh" he muttered, shaking his head yet still smiling to himself. Some things never changed. He watched student and teacher walk down the road towards the edge of the village, wondering who his former pupil would be upon his return. Good luck Naruto, he thought to himself. Get strong.

Stopping in the middle of the road, Naruto turned back, looking up to face the image of the Fourth Hokage carved into the cliff face to tower over the village. He reached out towards it, grasping at the future he would soon make his own.

"Just you watch," he muttered, grinning up with determination towards the face of Minato Namikaze.

"Sometime this year would be nice, let's go!" Pervy Sage shouted from up the road. Naruto jumped in alarm, dashing to catch up with his annoying sensei.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" he shouted. "Wait up!" They continued on down the road, heading towards the gates of the Hidden Leaf, towards an unknown future full of pain and possibility. At least, unknown to Naruto. Unbeknownst to him, Percy Sage had a lot planned out for the next 2 years.

Chapter One: The Land of Mountains...or Not

"Soooo Pervy Sage..." Naruto drawled, looking up at his teacher. "Where exactly are we going?" They had been walking through the forest for hours with no sign of stopping in a more or less straight line North-East of the Hidden Leaf Village. Naruto's already dismally low levels of patience were nearing on empty.

Jiraiya glared at him, giving him a fist to the top of his head. "You knuckle head! You'll find out soon enough!"

"Arggh! Fine, old man! If that's how you're gonna be..." Naruto shouted back. He crossed his arms and frowned down at the ground, but kept moving. They walked for a few more minutes in silence before Jiraiya gave a heavy sigh, giving in at last.

"We're going to the Land of Mountains, which, since I imagine you have no idea where that is, is two Lands North of the Eastern edge of the Land of Fire," he said with a snort. "There's a old friend of mine who owes me a favor, and I think he'd be a great help with your training."

"Oh, so you can't handle my training on your own?" Naruto taunted. "I guess my awesomeness is just too much for you."

Jiraiya looked down at him, dead serious. "Honestly Naruto, if the Nine-Tails gets loose, which it very well could with the training I have planned, I'd like to have all the help around I can get," he said, unsmiling. Suddenly he cracked a grin."Besides this friend of mine is an excellent trainer, who excels in getting through to reckless knuckle-heads like yourself. You'll have to ask his own student, Ichigo, for the details," he cackled.

Naruto's eyes grew larger in alarm. What sort of tyrant is Pervy Sage bringing me to? he wondered. And who lives in the mountains? He must have some kinda fancy dojo. And what sorta name is Ichigo?!

"So does this friend of yours live in the mountains?" he asked.

"Not exactly." Jiraiya grinned. "You'll see when we get there. It'll be about a week before we get to the Land of Mountains and another three or four days before we actually get to his home."

"What?!" Naruto shouted. "But I want to start right away! Let's run, then we'll get there way sooner!" Without waiting for an answer he took off at top speed, racing into the forest a just few degrees farther North than he should have. Jiraiya sighed in resignation before chasing after his knuckle-headed student, running deep into the forest after him.

Four days later they arrived at the border between the Land of Mountains and the Land of Fields, where the swaying grasslands they had been running through all day gave way to barren desolate peaks soaring into the sky, completely devoid of plant life. Naruto squinted at the huge pillars of rock facing him and grinned in excitement.

"Yes! We're almost there!" he shouted. "If we keep running we'll be there in no time!" He was about to charge into the mountains before he felt Pervy Sage's hand on his collar holding him back.

"Not so fast Naruto, we've gotta take it slower around here. It's not too far to the entrance." Naruto scowled.

"But you said it would be at least three days!" he said. "We've gotta go faster!" Jiraiya chuckled.

"Well it's only about 15 minutes actually." He chuckled again. "Let's just say he's got a really long front door."

He lead the way into the rocky landscape, walking along a twisting goat-path nearly invisible to the untrained eye. It wound back and forth for about 10 minutes before Jiraiya veered off the path, leaping over a few boulders and ducking under some stone ledges before stopping in front of a large boulder resting against a towering cliff face. He grinned down at Naruto, who looked up at him skeptically.

"Here we are!" he said, marching up to the giant rock. He reached up to a depression in the stone and began knocking. Twice. Pause. Five times. Pause. Three times. Pause. Nine times. Pause. Once more. With that final knock a glowing seam appeared in the surface if the boulder, running from bottom to top in a perfectly straight line. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, and he tried to run and get a closer look but was stopped by Pervy Sage, who had stuck out a hand in warning. Suddenly, with a rumble, the boulder split in two, sliding apart to reveal a seemingly endless cavern stretching deep into the cliff face.

"Woooow!" Naruto exclaimed. "That's awesome! This is where you're friend lives? He must be waaaay cooler than you Pervy Sage."

"Shut up you idiot!" Jiraiya glared at Naruto." Of course this isn't where he lives. This is just the front door. "

He turned away from his student and entered the tunnel, passing through a clear film covering the doorway. Naruto hadn't noticed it before, it was totally transparent until someone walked through it, which made is shine like a soap bubble. He poked it warily, watching the colors ripple out from where his finger had touched it before shrugging and running through to catch up with Pervy Sage. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for what came after. It felt like a hoard of microscopic spiders had swarmed all across his body, running into his ears and dancing up his nose. It only lasted for a second, but it was enough to make Naruto scream in shock, slapping at his clothes and glaring at Pervy Sage.

"Hey you could have warned me!" he yelled as he finally caught up with his cruel master.

Jiraiya laughed, sides shaking. "Not a chance! Nobody warned me when I came through there the first time. Think of it as part of your training."

Naruto scowled down at the ground, but kept walking. Jiraiya gave him a little shove, chuckling.

"Oh lighten up," he said smiling. "The real training starts soon enough."

Three days later, the tunnel came to an abrupt end. Naruto would have walked right into it if not for Pervy Sage's lantern. As it was, he was surprised until he remember how they had gotten into the tunnel in the first place.

"Let me guess," he said. "More knocking?" Jiraiya chuckled. "You betcha."

He walked up to the rock wall blocking their path, running his hand along the surface in the dark until he found the dent he was looking for.

"Ah, here we go." Five time. Pause. Six. Pause. Three times. Pause. Eight more times. With that, a familiar seam appeared in the rock face, which opened into a large open area greatly resembling the landscape at the other end of the tunnel. The only difference was that there was less mountains and more plain old rocks.

"Sooo is this where your friend lives?" Naruto asked squinting at his master.

"Almost," he answered. "Just a few more hours"

"Aah are you kidding me?"

"No you idiot. But good news, you can run now."

"Ugh. Fine."

They ran for what seemed like nothing after walking through that cave for three days before coming around a tall cliff to see a strange looking man leaning back against a ridiculously long ladder. Which seemed to go up to a door in the sky. Wait, a door? Naruto squinted at what he'd thought was the sky. Those clouds are not moving... It's just painted! He realized. We're still underground! The weird man wore short green pants and a loosely tied shirt of the same color with a haori coat in a darker green over that. His shaggy blond hair poked out from beneath a white and green stripped bucket hat, though his face was hidden by the fan he was waving casually, revealing only his eyes. He held a cane in one hand, and on his feet was a pair of plain brown clogs. Wait, clogs?! And those clothes...he's just like Pervy Sage! Naruto scowled, hiding his curiosity at this strange man, who had to be Pervy Sage's friend to be dressed like that, and to have such a weird underground cave-thing.

The man pulled his hat down farther over his eyes before standing straight and walking over towards Jiraiya and Naruto, swinging his cane as he walked and smiling slightly. His eyes were hidden in deep shadow.

"Welcome," He called out. He kept walking until he was about three meters away before stopping, head tilted towards the ground. He looked up suddenly, eyes flashing.

"Long time no see, Jiraiya." He grinned. "And you must be Naruto Uzumaki. My name is Kisuke Urahara, but you can call me-"

"Hat-and-Clogs," Naruto interrupted, pointing at the man in front of him. Jiraiya glared at him and was reaching to give him a smack when Kisuke began chuckling. He snapped his fan closed and tucked it into his robes.

"Well I can see you're gonna get along just fine with everyone." He smiled again, bringing his cane up to point at the sky-ceiling-. "Why don't you come on up and meet them?"

Naruto squinted. "Meet who?"

"Your new trainers."

Well there you go! 1,993 words for both the Prologue and Chapter One. The Prologue was almost entirely taken from episode 220 of Naruto, although I removed some scenes that concerned the development of characters not appearing in this story. As of yet, Naruto, Jiraiya, and maybe Kakashi, will be the only characters from Naruto appearing, with the exception of characters in flashbacks.

Some notes: Yes the Land of Mountains exists according to cannon. You can find it on the map just by searching for "naruto map".

Also, no I will not be pairing Naruto with anyone! If I did it would be with Sakura, and she won't be making an appearance. However, that does not mean there won't be nosebleeds. *cough*Orihime*cough*

Obviously Naruto will learn he is in a different world, that will be next chapter, along with introductions! Yay!