Chapter 1

Emptiness

This was the first thing that came to the mind of Uzumaki Naruto when he began to regain consciousness. His vision was blurry and fuzzy, his body felt sluggish. At that moment he felt simply and utterly empty.

He struggled to clear his vision in vain, but it was still swimmy, still blurry. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, finally. Slowly, but gradually his vision was returning to him. Suddenly his arms wrapped around his stomach as he realized something.

I feel… cold and empty

Naruto thought to himself. Though to be honest he didn't really know why he felt this way, like something important was ripped out of his body. But he didn't know what it was. Finally, he took in his surroundings.

"Did I…" He suddenly spoke, but found it really difficult to remember the details of it all, "I think… I was fighting… more than one… person here"

Finally, his vision became crystal clear, and his eyesight was improved immensely. Finally he realized that he was in a really dark cave. There at his feet was an immense statue, or what was left of it anyway laid shattered and destroyed.

"Yes, I remember fighting… people here" Naruto grabbed his head and cried out in pain. The colors of red and black flashed through his mind, and he grit through his teeth. "Pain… Zetsu… Kisame… Suigetsu… Konan… Karin… Juugo…Sasuke… Madara… forbidden technique… killed them.

Naruto shook his head, and suddenly memories began to flash within his mind. He was beginning to remember everything. After obtaining information from Pain and Konan, followed by the initial battle that insured afterwards; Naruto was able to ascertain where Akatsuki was hiding and went there on his own.

Though the trip itself took about a week, and he roughly remembered that the battle in itself was long, brutal and bloody in nature. But he was glad this cursed organization was done with. But the jutsu he used came with a steep and heavy price. His life and soul was the bargain and he simply accepted the consequences.

He looked towards where the strange statue had been felled and he could see the bodies of the Akatsuki, lying on the ground with no movement. Each body held a weird pattern on their stomachs, almost to that of a spiral. The forbidden jutsu was used to rip their souls from their bodies, and thus merged them with his. So when he died, they would die as well.

But strangely the choice never really bothered him. It was needed and absolutely necessary, and a choice that ultimately came down on his shoulders. At least now the shinobi world would be safe from their cruelty, but gradually the names of the people he knew were beginning to fade away in his mind.

"Baa-chan… Hinata-chan…" Naruto shook his head and was beginning to find the names were beginning to become murkier and hazier by the second. His body felt weak and tired, oh so very tired. Naruto slumped against the cold ground and curled up on his side.

He felt so completely and utterly miserable with himself, and there was nothing he could do about it. Slowly his consciousness was beginning to fade, and the world turned black to him.

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Three months later and Uzumaki Naruto felt like crap. Pure, Grade A, one hundred percent crap. The blond eighteen year old had left the cave where he had awakened from his near forced slumber, and already his weary eyes trailed up.

The strange white chain constantly yanked on his chest, even though he never made to touch or move it. It left a strange pain in his chest, one that ached terribly and would not go away. His thoughts drifted towards his home, which laid just over a few hills and mountains from where he laid at his side, in the middle of the forest.

Painfully he dragged himself little by little across the days and nights, clutching his chest in pain as did so. But now, here he lay just three quarters of the way home, in pain with his memories as he struggled.

"Hinata-chan… Baa-chan… help me" he whimpered painfully. Naruto remembered how happy he had felt with being able to have friends. It made him feel like he truly belonged in the world, and now his life had ended before he could have even started it!

Pink

The blond eighteen year old was simply and utterly furious. Furious and angry that Akatsuki had forced him to use that jutsu. Because of them he lost not only his life, but stole his happiness away from him.

Pink

Happiness… it was something he had wanted for such a long time. Something he had totally craved and desired, but now he would never get the chance to. Naruto remembered faking the emotion many times when he was a child; too many times he had done it.

But there in lied the question within himself, was he ever really happy? Maybe… probably. Yes, when he became a Genin, and when he was able to make friends and all the adventures that followed did make him happy. But, now what?

He couldn't even see the people he had given his life to rescue. They in turn couldn't even see him, hear him, it would be like he didn't even existed! Hinata couldn't love someone that was already dead. The horror and realization of it all brought despair into his heart.

Pink. Pink.

"I'm… alone… again." Naruto rasped, feeling the weight of every word hit, and rocked the very core and fiber of his being. His heart was slowly being swallowed by the darkness.

Crack!

His head snapped back, causing him to turn on his back. He felt something broke inside of him, and weakly his eyes trailed down towards his chest. Then his eyes widened in horror.

"What the-?!"

The chain... began to grow teeth on it. Razor sharp teeth to be exactly; and gradually what happened next brought fear into his eyes. It was eating itself.

Naruto didn't like this. He felt a huge weight bare down on him. He struggled to stand, to at least try. But the pain in his chest was too great, and it seemed to continue to grow.

"What...what's going on?! This pain...!!! It...It feels like… something inside of me… is being ripped apart...!"

As the last few links of the chain corroded away, Naruto let a few of his memories flash by. Konoha... Rock Lee… Gaara and the sand siblings… his friends... and his training with Ero-Senin...Baa-chan... Hinata-chan

"N...no..." he choked out as he fought against the Encroachment procedure. If he was going to go out like this, then he would give everything he got! Naruto reared up and let loose a howl, one that seemed to shake the very earth beneath his feet. "NO!!!"

The chain that had nearly finished devouring itself suddenly began to glow white, and he felt a searing pain in its place. The chain was absorbed inside of his chest, and he shrieked out aloud. In the chain's place there was a silver and platinum colored heart.

To him it felt like his entire body was falling and fading into the darkness. Pitch, black darkness engulfed and surrounded him. His eyes dilated as he continued to scream and not once had he noticed his body was being engulfed in what appeared to be a glass prism.

Covering his body like a cocoon, and the last thing he remembered was feeling sleepy as he slumped against the glass.

Really

Really

Sleepy

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There in Hueco Mundo, a world that consisted if nothing more than an ever lasting silver, sandy desserts. A figure looked around, trying to get some direction since this was his first time here. Shards and bits of glass was underneath his feet as he took a step forward, and there was sand underneath his clawed feet, and around him were a bunch of trees.

Trees that seemed to gleam beautifully as the moon reflected off of it, causing it to cast a silver glow. Above him was a roof, and if he guessed correctly he was pretty sure that it was made up of sand. A strange empty feeling filled his very being and he was very sad for some reason.

The being seemed to resemble a bipedal fox, and its fur was metallic white with black on certain parts of his body. A metallic white and black heart adorned his chest and a black but white tipped tail swung lazily behind his back. (Think of a fox like version of Lucario, weird I know, but just go with it)

He stared down at his chest, gazing in wonder at the strange heart on his chest. He stared curiously at it, wondering where was this pulling sensation coming from. It seemed familiar, yet strangely different. A feral howl pulled him out of his musings and he watched as a hollow that looked close to that of a wolf descended on him.

Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed the hollow by its mask. His vice like grip kept its jaws forcefully closed, and with his other clawed hand he ripped a chunk out of its shoulder. Gradually the piece he ripped was absorbed into his flesh. The wolf moaned in agony even though his mouth was closed, and before he knew it he was thrown into the air carelessly and its body disintegrated when a black ball of energy.

Naruto felt a warm, tingling sensation in his body and the empty sensation seemed to go away. Realization dawned on him. In order to keep the empty feeling at bay he had to keep consuming the other hollows. Yes, that's what he must do.

His instincts kicked into high gear. It was kill or be killed, eat or be eaten in this place, and his eyes took in the crowd of hollows that appeared around him. His red slits took then into consideration and as they all made to rush him, and he simply took a few steps forward and met them head on.

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He felt one bite into his side, but the other hollow was bashed away with little to no effort. A part of him was absorbed into the fox being's flesh before he was disintegrated by a black ball surrounding by electricity. Once again, they were unable to pierce his skin due to a trial and error they had attempted. To which they were failing at, badly.

Whipping around, he slammed his clawed hand through the other Hollow's body, this one was a snake and his body simply absorbed them inside of him. Wailing in agony, it disappeared inside of him just like all the other that had come before. The group of ninety Adjuchas and Gillian were reduced to zero in a matter of minutes.

Naruto raced along the trees at top speed, his mind was practically buzzing with how his abilities functioned and what amazing things he could actually do the more hollows he consumed with himself. But suddenly something came into his line of sight, causing him to come to a screeching halt.

The figure that stood before him wearing a long, thin hollow mask with goggle like eyes, and two thin horns covered its face, and a brown pelt was draped across his shoulders. The pelt was decorated with other hollow masks, obviously trophies of some sort he guessed. A shield made of a Hollows Masks was gripped in his left hand and the other held a Zanpaktou with a green hilt with a squared guard with a chip out of the corners.

Signaling that he must have been in a lot of battles. Naruto sorted through the memories and information that he had absorbed from all of the hollows he had consumed, and had come to the conclusion that this person standing in front of him was in fact a Shinigami,

He also learned that this particular Shinigami had been here for some time, roughly three hundred plus years before. But what he didn't know was why this guy was even here in the first place, and for what purpose? Didn't he know that he could get killed in such a dangerous environment?

"Shinigami" Naruto replied with control, though his head was quirked to the left. Confusion marked his face.

"Hollow" The Shinigami said in a similar controlled voice, but his tone obviously held anger simmering beneath his words. The two figures stared at each other for a few seconds, and somehow, in some strange way. Naruto guessed correctly that whoever this Shinigami was, talking was not going to work out in this situation.

So they simply exploded into action.

Naruto charged forward, intent on finishing this battle as quickly as he possibly could and threw a punch at his opponent, but his opponent seemed to disappear and reappeared behind Naruto. His shield was out to block the tail that Naruto had attempted to hit him with, and his blade slashed horizontally as Naruto began to turn.

A scraping sound emitted from the contact, and a hiss left the fox being's mouth. Pain exploded at the area he had slashed at.

Anger flared in his eyes as jumped away from the once that had caused him pain, his flesh knitted neatly together. Regenerating the wound completely and a growl left his throat, and his eyes seemed to burn with such intensity that he may have well melted stoned with his gaze. He gathered spiritual energy into his palm, forming a fist sized black ball with electricity surrounding the orb.

When he had formed it, the Shinigami vanished.

Though this time, Naruto was somehow able to pinpoint just where exactly he was going to land. All he had to do was wait for him to show himself.

When the Shinigami finally appeared, just over Naruto's left shoulder with his sword reared back. Ready to strike the killing blow, but Naruto was more than ready for him.

He brought his tail in a low sweep, threatening to take the man's legs out from under him, and he gave a feral grin that meant victory for him. His opponent took the bait and stopped his sword's swing for a split second, more then enough time for him. The ball he had been charging with his spiritual pressure pulsed wickedly as he brought his hand around, discharging the power and sending it whizzing towards the Shinigami at point blank range.

The result was a massive explosion, one that was enough to engulf the Shinigami whole. There was no possible way that he could have—

Naruto bared his fangs in utter frustration as his quarry was only sent skidding backwards across the forest floor. His shield was majorly cracked in several places, and the damage on it was quite severe. The Shinigami was down on one knee, his outfit was slightly singed and he was winded, but he was satisfied to see that he was bleeding a little.

At least he was able to cause some sort of damage on the guy, but a little damage was not a victory. And he was not going to lose. His instinct forced him to think about winning. Losing was not an option. Losing was never an option.

The man was already back on his feet and he dodged to the right, ducking underneath vicious swipe that would have taken his head clean off. With an upward slash he was able to leave a shallow gash from his lower abdomen straight to his collar. But to his horror the wound instantly sealed, and Naruto lashed his tail out to grab him, but the Shinigami flipped through the air.

Stabbing his blade at the base of his tail, drawing blood. Naruto growled in pain and made to smash his fist into the man's body, but all he hit was a tree. This crumpled underneath the blow and was sent sailing towards the Shinigami when Naruto kicked it in his direction.

The Shinigami had flipped in order to dodge the assault and even though his mask covered his face, he was greatly surprised by this new opponent. Very much so.

For the two combatants, their duel had lasted for quite a while, with Naruto unable to land a killing blow, and the Shinigami was unable to do any lasting damage. He was getting really frustrated by its regenerative capabilities and the fact that he was only able to land scratches, but he couldn't get the necessary force to truly inflict any damage.

But, Naruto did have a big advantage against the shinigami he was fighting against. For you see, because they were in Hueco Mundo and the fact that he was part hollow, his body was unconsciously drawing upon the spiritual energies within the vicinity. Meaning that if he wanted too, he could fight harder and longer than his opponent, who was an ex seated Shinigami officer.

And truth be told he was getting immensely tired.

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Ashido Kano had been through thousands of intense battles since he had come to Hueco Mundo. Hundreds of them were against Gillian class Hollows and dozens were against Adjuchas class hollows who were said to match or even overpower Lieutenant and Captain class hollows. But never in all of his three centuries of living had he ever faced anything like the one he was currently facing now.

Nothing he used was having any sort of effect on him, and he tried just about everything in his arsenal. Zenjutsu couldn't cut deeply enough into his skin to allow him to strike at his mask. Kido faired even less, so he had to quickly abandon that idea. So far his shield was destroyed completely and with shunpo, and reflexes honed from the hundreds of close calls he had in Hueco Mundo, he was faster. But gradually he was slowing down.

The fox hollow retaliated with another swing of his tail, one which he jumped over, Dashed forward and slipped through his guard, and saw an opening and made to slash at the Hollow's face. But Naruto wanted this happen, and Ashido cursed in his mind. Fuck can't dodge it!

For the first time in a very long time, he actually got hit by a Hollow, and it felt like someone lifted one of the many trees that littered Hueco Mundo and just decked him with it. His body was sent skidding across the sand. Blood came pouring down from the five gashes across his chest that the hollow's foot had left. His mask was discarded when he smashed headfirst into a tree; his vision was swimmy for a second.

Thankfully it was only for half a second, since he saw the Hollow was above him. But he couldn't move or react fast enough to block the strike or even bring his Zanpaktou up to make it a mutual kill. He slowly closed his eyes and accepted his fate. Damn, I can't believe that this is going to be the end. Well, at least I've lived a good life, avenged my friends and killed more than enough hollows to keep the world safe. I have no regrets.

In his mind he could see his Zanpaktou; the chipped guard was a testimony of his hard fought battles in Hueco Mundo. His thumb rubbed affectionately hilt and guard affectionately, and with great care. Thank you for guiding me through so many battles my old friend, I just wish that I had been able to learn your name before I had died.

'Ashido' a voice rang in his mind, and his eyes widened in shock. He knew that voice, even though he'd only heard it once. It was a long time ago, way before he came to Hueco Mundo. Though to be honest he did find it rather ironic and he let out a bitter mental chuckle. After all the meditation that had done constantly, after all the life-threatening battles he had barely been able to survive, his blade finally spoke to him.

'Ashido, you've become strong over the centuries. Please, do not blame yourself for being unable to hear me before now. You were simply not ready yet, but now you are strong enough to hear me. Combating the hollows you have with me in your sealed form is an accomplishment that many lieutenants can not brag about. There are even Captains who have had problems fighting what you have fought without releasing their swords.

He could feel something with fur brush against his arm, and a tongue gently licked his cheeks.

'As you are now, I have always been strong my wielder and I have been waiting for you to become strong enough to reveal myself to you.' Ashido's Zanpaktou suddenly moved into view and his eyes widened in shock. Standing in front of him was a lion like creature covered in brown fur with a long, thick mane covering its neck. It has gray plates surrounding the cape that made it look as if smoke was coming out of a crater on its back. It had massive white paws and black cuff-like bands on its legs. It has a red face with a white plate that resembled a handlebar mustache on its face, and a three pointed-yellow crest on its forehead.

It stood before him proudly and spoke. 'I refuse to let you die here, Ashido, you have been through too much. So now, say my name and let my power become one with you, and together we will win!'

Time suddenly began to move at its normal pace, and he could feel an overwhelming heat being generated from his Zanpaktou. He felt power flow from his blade, strengthening him and washing away the fatigue that his body had been building up. He felt stronger and better than he did before in his entire life. Ashido, this is but only a fraction of what I can really do. Say my name, quickly!"

"Awaken, Entei" (Awaken, Flame Emperor!) Ashido all but whispered, his lips barely moved for he didn't' need to shout it out for the world to hear him. The only thing that mattered now was that his Zanpaktou responded, and it whispering saved his breath. Something that he was going to need.

The blade in his right hand transformed even as he brought it up to block the clawed hand that had made to thrust into his chest, to rip out his heart. The green binding on the hilt burnt away to be replaced with a black one, with the hilt itself extending. A blade grew out of both sides of the hilt, almost making it resemble that of a naginata. Both sides of both blades were edged, and the blade roughly stood at eight feet long from tip to tip.

He caught the Hollow's hand on the edge of his Zanpaktou and was able to cut deeper than he had been able to do before, almost up to his wrist. Startled by the turn of events the Hollow leapt back, the wound instantly sealed up again, just like it had in the previous fight. This time though, Ashido didn't intend to let it come back on the offensive, for his body couldn't take another onslaught. 'Is there any that you can end this very quickly? Even if I am able to pierce his skin, I fear that I don't have the strength to go another round with him. We've been fighting all night and he doesn't even look like he's tiring.

'Surely you did not believe that I would show myself to you and not have a way, did you? Entei chided his owner. 'Hold the naginata above your head, with both hands on the hilts.

Ashido did as his Zanpaktou instructed, and held his naginata in the air. Suddenly he began to spin the blade, faster and faster until it simply looked like a blur in his hands. He could feel his Zanpaktou beginning to build up in power. The blade began to turn from a light orange, to a deep red, to a blazing white. The heat spread quickly through the edge of the blade, increasing the destructive power of the weapon.

Finally, when the blades were completely covered with white hot flames, he spun with his weapon and commanded his Zanpaktou to attack as he aimed for the Hollow. "Enkai!" (Flame Commandment)

Suddenly a blue white pillar of flames shot out of the blade, nearly eight feet in diameter. The Hollow, not even remotely expecting the attack, couldn't dodge in time and was consumed in the flames.

The spinning blade had just come from just above the sand, and well over his head, engulfing the hollow in an onslaught of fire. Ashido fell to his knees and lowered the naginata, panting visibly. Even with the boast that his Zanpaktou had given him, he'd been nowhere near one hundred percent, and he never had a tremendous amount of Spiritual Power to begin with.

'You did good Ashido on a first try, but fear not about your spiritual power. It will only increase the more you train and use my ability more, which in time will grow more powerful than before.

'M…More power?' Ashido thought, though he was completely shocked.

'Yes my dear boy, had you used that fire pillar at the peak of your strength, the flames would have been so hot that it will disintegrate anything it hits. Fortunately, the technique is so well contained that the flames will not burn anything outside of the pillar. Since the flames themselves are so hot, it will simply disintegrate or vaporize instead of truly burning, anything outside of the pillar is safe, save for radiant heat of course.'

Ashido visibly frowned. 'It sounds like it makes it rather easy to dodge.'

'True, it does, if you use it straight out. If you were to, say, bind your enemy with Kido, then hit him with that attack, he wouldn't be able to dodge. And the longer you sustain it, the longer they have to try to resist it. It is possible to resist the fire by using your own Reiatsu as a shield, however, it takes a tremendous amount to do so even for an instant, and if you can make your Reiatsu reserves high enough, you can sustain the attack for several minutes on end. Since it is impossible to move when you are using your Reiatsu to buffer attacks, your enemy would have no choice but to simply stand there unless they wanted to be vaporized instantly. And there is nothing that has enough Reiatsu to resist my attack for several minutes.'

The flames were finally gone, since Ashido had only held the attack for about ten seconds. Had it been any longer, he would have collapsed even with his Zanpaktou's help. His lips suddenly twitched upwards, curling itself into a smile. He'd destroyed the strongest regular hollow he'd ever come across, which was a good thing. Since he wouldn't even want to imagine that thing as an Adjuchas class menos.

He achieved the shikai of Zanpaktou, and hopefully now he'd be able to kill even more Hollows than before. In the previous centuries, it had seemed that no matter how many hollows he'd killed, their numbers never seemed to decrease. Maybe now he'd finally be able to make a difference, and be able to kill more hollows faster than they could make new ones out of innocent people.

But an ominous feeling suddenly overcame him, and sent a tingle down his spine. His eyes took in the line that his attack had taken, and what he saw made his heart sink deep within his chest. "No way… it's… its impossible" he all be whispered in pure astonishment.

There standing with its arms crossed in front of his body was the fox hollow he had been fighting for just about roughly a whole day, incredibly, the wounds he had sustained had just healed in a matter of moments right before his very eyes. Ashido couldn't help but growl in utter frustration as he finally stood on his feet. 'Damn it, can this thing even be—

Before he was even able to finish that thought, the bipedal fox hollow disappeared from sight. Ashido cursed and he frantically looked around, hoping that he could defend himself once more. But his eyes simply widened in surprise, blood poured down his mouth and his vision was beginning to go swimmy as he felt himself slip towards the darkness.

Naruto's hand had pierced the Shinigami's chest, and went straight through his back. Already he could feel that this once was well past his limits, and in turned pushed him to his limits as well. But now the shinigami was well unable to defend himself and he could feel his blood pouring down, and already he knew that the man was as good as dead.

Already he could feel his body consuming the Shinigami who had almost killed him, and already he could feel Ashido's power was becoming one with his very own. His entire body was absorbed, Zanpaktou and all. Though to be honest he really wished that they didn't have to fight, and justified that he attacked him first and not the other way around.

Though to be honest Naruto had been absolutely certain that when he saw that Shinigami twirl his naginata around above his head, he could have sworn that he was going to use it for some kind of defense purposes. He was also surprised to see his Zanpaktou transform into a naginata to begin with, and he was greatly intrigued. So he didn't attack and was curious about what it was going to do, and he paid dearly for it.

When the Shinigami's weapon burst into flames and sent that powerful attack Naruto had never seen at him. He never expected the white flaming disc to suddenly create a pillar of white- hot flames that so quickly that he was barely able to react in time. Surprisingly, a voice spoke in his head and an image of a man wearing a black and white cloak appeared in his mind, and told him what to do.

Without even a second thought he listened to the man, and crossed his arms over his face. All the while pouring as much of his reiatsu around his body, protecting himself from the attack Ashido had sent his way. Just because his skin protected him from being cut, didn't mean that it protected him from extreme temperatures changes; or in other words getting burnt really badly.

The feeling of being burnt was downright horrible and unimaginable. The sensation of having one's skin peeling away, melting off of his body and dripping off of his limbs, revealing the much less resistant parts underneath his body was nearly too much for him to bear. Though somehow he felt that he was burnt before, and the pain was all the same.

His rapid cellular regeneration capabilities had been forced to work over time as every part of his body came under attack simultaneously, and the flames had burned through his reiatsu he had been able to gather, and his internal supply. Which he used to protect himself from being completely incinerated by the Shinigami's flame attack.

Had he been a normal hollow Ashido would have probably killed him had he used it the first time, but he wasn't exactly normal to begin with. The biped fox couldn't help but give a sigh, and feel remorse for what he had done. 'Well done Naruto, you did very well against that Shinigami, much more than I had originally anticipated. Now its time for you to rest now, your body needs to recuperate the lost reiatsu you expended. Your body is not yet use to the manipulating and controlling it properly, but soon it will be after you adjust to the change. Now, rest'

The voice spoke again, it was male and the figures in black cloaks each gave nods to this. Naruto gave a sad nod and listened to the voice in his head, he found a knot in a tree that was several feet away from him. Just enough for his four foot body to fit into, his back pressed against the bark. His head fell back and slowly his eyes began to close.

Naruto fell asleep.

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Several decades had passed for Naruto since he had killed that shinigami that had been in Hueco, and started his personal war against the Hollows of Hueco Mundo. Gradually his only seemed to increase by leaps and bounds, as did his appetite. Ever since he absorbed that Shinigami several decades prior, he realized that nearly most of the forests inhabitants seemed all the more eager to devour him.

Wanting to steal the power that was brimming up inside of him, but just like all the other hollows before them; they were consumed. His body type never changed and he didn't find that as a problem at all. He was used to it and the power he had in his very grasps. But he did remember on numerous occasions when he would have numerous voices talking in his head, wanting to take control of his body.

But Naruto with his indomitable willpower was able to escape the oblivion. Which was simply being swallowed by your own power, and giving in to the thousands upon thousands of hollows he had consumed. So far he devoured any and all hollows. Menos, Gillian and Adjuchas alike were nothing special to him and his abilities.

They were just creatures that fought on instinct, as he did several decades ago .But somehow when he absorbed that Shinigami, took his powers and his intelligence he knew when, and how to strike down on these masked beings.

Now, it was time to go hunting again. Naruto flipped up into the trees and a feral roar left his lips, practically sending his challenge to anyone and everyone in Hueco Mundo and he was off.

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A white, catlike being with a Hollow mask and teal eyes burst down out of the roof of the sand that covered the Menos Forest. The pickings up above the surface had gotten rather slim as of late and rather than around looking for hollows to eat, he decided to come down here where food was in pure abundance. Granted the Gillians weren't as filling as the Adjuchas he'd been eating lately.

But for now, they would have to do.

Spotting a large group of them, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques grabbed onto one of the trees with his razor sharp claws, and used his powerful legs to rocket himself towards the Gillians, grinning at the feast that was to come.

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Naruto consumed another Gillian with his sharp talons, and he could feel the boost of power within himself. He'd been consuming these two and three stories creatures for nearly a month now, and more just seemed to keep coming. It was as if they had some sort of death wish or something. He couldn't help but shake his head at these foolish beings, if they wanted to die and underestimate him because of his height, then so be it.

Just as he stabbed another right in its mask, and his body consumed their power with him, he spotted a disturbance on the other side of the group. Six Gillians had just disappeared in the blink of an eye.

A growl left Naruto's lips as they pulled back, revealing wickedly sharp teeth. His eyes picked up that more Gillians were beginning to disappear, and in his mind that meant that he should eat quickly devour those who were in his immediate vicinity quickly before they too would disappear.

He simply made to act accordingly and he simply knelt down, and placed his hand on the ground. A dark energy was emitted from the limb, and the darkness began to spread rapidly across the land and underneath the feet of the Gillians that surrounding them.

Before they could even process what was going on, they felt that gravity was working against them and there bodies, along with the trees and surroundings were being crushed by the amount of darkness and the unimaginable weight.

"The weight of darkness," Naruto finally spoke out loud while in concentration. "Its endless strength compresses all things, crushes it and consumes all. You foolish beings don't know what you are dealing with"

And just as he said the darkness began to gradually and utterly consume everything within fifty feet of his surroundings. It absorbed everything like a black hole. Everything was pulled in and nothing was spared, in moments Naruto stood back up. His eyes gleamed with a silver hue and the land around him was bare and barren, nothing survived.

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Three Adjuchas class menos stood just outside of Naruto's sensory and attack range. Unknown to him, were the ones who had been constantly providing him with the large amount of Gillians as of late, but the looks of shock came to their faces when they saw that everything and anything that had surrounded him at a fifty foot radius had simply disappeared and was consumed.

"Damn" One of them finally spoke, wiping the bit of sweat that had matted his mask. "Such power, I've never seen a hollow do that before. I had heard that he did in that Shinigami a while back when he first came to this place, but I didn't think he was this strong. It's a good thing we decided to stay at a distance, right boys?"

"Indeed, otherwise we would have been sucked in by that black vortex he used. He must have been pretty powerful when he was alive, and he's just absorbing Hollows left, right and center. It's like watching Aaroniero all over again, but a thousand times worse."

The trio could only watch in shock as the hollow known as Naruto continued to assimilate and consume countless hollows with little to no effort. They each knew that when one was a Gillian, they had to constantly consume more and more hollows in order to evolve into an Adjuchas. But there was an Espada by the name of Aaroniero Arruruerie who had absorbed over 30,000 hollows, and he was still Gillian since he had the ability to absorb hollows also. Allowing him access to multiple abilities any number of hollows within his body, and it was possible that he could evolve without limit if he so desired.

It would seem that the Espada was not the only one capable of such a thing, and he didn't look like he was running out of steam any time soon. For you see when a hollow ate another hollow, he only just gained one hollow. But when a hollow ate a Gillian, he gained a thousand hollow, and if he was able to consume an Adjuchas, then he gained all of the hollows that the Adjuchas had previously devoured.

With all the Gillians they had been sending his way, they were surprised that the forest wasn't even empty as of yet. They knew that if he was this terrible now, they didn't even want to imagine what would happen if he was ever to evolve.

"Shh, quiet you two; I hear someone else is here." There ears picked up clearly what the third member of the groups. His snarl was visible on his mask, and he simply spat. "Grimmjow"

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Grimmjow, having taken off the edge of his hunger, and having just beaten those annoying voices of all the hollows he had devoured in the back of his mind, was rather content to just sit back and watch as one strange looking hollow. Watching with complete interest as it carved through the flesh of a Gillian with relative ease, the felled creature had a face that was one in anguish before it disappeared inside of the fox hollow.

It suddenly turned towards the rest of the mob, and suddenly stopped itself. Its body glowed white, Grimmjow tensed as the fox's reiatsu suddenly skyrocketed. The panther like Adjuchas relaxed slightly, and thought to itself. "Incredible. This could be interesting."

Grimmjow watched as the hollow began to grow into its new form, and secretly hoped that he would be transform into one of those oversized buffoons like the ones that followed him around. He liked being smaller since it gave him an advantage in terms of speed, not that his power was lacking at all. After all, what was the point of being the king if there was nobody to challenge for dominance?

As he watched the Gillian continued to transform, its shape only grew bit a little and he simply stopped. Grimmjow looked surprised. This guy wasn't no more than six feet. Grimmjow was surprised to see that he was the same height as himself, and he had to admit that he was impressed.

Visually at least.

Though the new Adjuchas didn't look any much different, he did have six flowing white and black tails swaying leisurely in the breeze behind him. And the spikes on the back of his hand grew out a bit in length, but not enough to get in the way. His eyes seemed to take on a much darker, richer red color, and the heart only seemed to shrink a bit and he didn't have a hollow hole. Thankfully, he couldn't imagine having one of those stupid things on an embarrassing spot on his body.

He studied his new body and saw that he could extract, and retract his talons on his hands and feet, thankfully. Naruto loved those things, and he saw that he could still control darkness and gravity as he so desired. Grimmjow was about to make himself known when three other Adjuchas appeared from the now retreating hollows.

He recognized the three of them and scowled. They were put down here to manage the forest because they were too pathetic to do anything else, so he held back to see what would happen.

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"Oi newbie, are you done checking yourself out yet?" Naruto whirled, taking in the retreating Gillians, and the three new hollows that were facing him. Irritation appeared on his face, and he simply looked at his hands before looking at the company.

Tilting his head to the side, Naruto gathered his spiritual power into his index finger. Forming a concentrated, tri focused energy that was black with a silver outline that came pouring out of his finger, and he simply pointed at them. "Cero"

Unfortunately for them, he didn't give a voice to the one he had been fired from one of his tails, aiming at where they had jumped to. Two of them saw it coming out of the corner of their eyes and dodged accordingly. But the third never knew what hit him.

The Cero tore right through the Adjuchas, vaporizing the lower half of his body. Taking his body, legs and abdomen in the process and the only that was left signaling that he was there was the dark smudge of what remained of him embedded on the bark of the tree. Naruto moved covering the distance between them before the body had a chance to hit the floor.

He grabbed the hollow by the neck and his body consumed him completely, assimilating his power and total amount of hollows with his own. A warm caressing feeling accompanied the consuming of another hollow, and the voice that was in his head briefly pushed back, almost like it was nonexistent.

Turning towards the other tow he pounced on the first one before he was even aware that Naruto had moved, and he suffered a painful death as he was stabbed through the heart, and just like his partner before. His body disappeared inside of him.

The second one was much faster, and retaliated by trying to attack Naruto while he was still on top of his partner. Though he barely knew what hit as Naruto's tail zipped by, the tip sharpened, piercing his neck with inhuman accuracy. Killing him instantly and his body was simply absorbed and a black and silver glow emitted from his body. Just like that, the battle was over, three Adjuchas classed hollows fell to Naruto, and their power was now his to command.

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Grimmjow's eyes seemed to brighten behind his mask, and all of his teeth were bared in a feral like grin that went from ear to ear. This kid was absolutely amazing, taking down three Adjuchas in a matter of seconds, as if they were nothing to him. Leaping down from his perch, the fox hollow turned towards the panther that had uncoiled his body from his leap.

Ready to spring into action and focused on thrashing the new guy. It was for the new kid's own good of course. It wouldn't do if he had a swelled head. Grimmjow was already three quarters of the way there by the time the kid could see him, and he was confident that the other Hollow couldn't move fast enough to counter him. So it came as a complete surprise when a tail came up, and a fist sunk itself into his stomach, just in front of his hollow hole.

The breath left his body as blood and saliva left his mouth, but Grimmjow wasn't going to be taken down so easily. Using the momentum gained from the strike, he went clear over the fox's head, and his claws caught all of his tails with well time strikes, tearing it off. It wasn't a fatal blow, his claws not having penetrated his head, but Grimmjow was confident that it would prevent this new foe from firing a Cero from his tail.

However, before he'd even completely passed over the kid, a new set of tails grew out of his backside. Causing Grimmjow to simply gape in shock. 'Holy shit, I didn't know anything could regenerate that fast

He wasn't even given time to enjoy the view, before two tails extended and were glowing with silver and black reiatsu. Ready to run him and through and absorb him like the other before him. But Grimmjow using his extreme agility, Grimmjow pushed with his hind legs and off of the side of his opponent's head. Pushing him back slightly and Grimmjow landed a few feet away from him. Though he could feel spirit energy was beginning to gather into those deadly and annoying tails of his.

Turning around he saw that the fox hollow's finger began to glow with black light and a ball of silver concentrated reiatsu was fired his way. Grimmjow leapt to the side as the beam blasted through when he was just an instant before. Before the beam had even faded from existence, Grimmjow was back on the attack, he bypassed his tail like defense and his claws were digging into his opponents shoulder.

Or at least he thought so.

His claws may as well been hit a fucking steel wall for all that he penetrated. By which, it simply meant that he hadn't. Before Grimmjow could recover from the shock, the other hollow had grabbed both of his front paws with his tails and slammed him violently into the ground, and hurled him with tremendous force through a tree. Grimmjow twisted like the cat he was and landed against the tree, his legs bent so that it could absorb the shock of it all.

Grimmjow let himself fall lightly to the ground and for a moment stood there. Then a chuckle left his lips, which soon turned into laughter in fact. "You're good kid. You're really good. It's been a while since I've found a good fight. I'd forgotten what it was like to fight another strong opponent, thanks. What's your name?"

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Naruto was confused. Greatly confused in fact. First this overgrown, naked mole rat jumps him, attacks him, thanks for a good fight, and now he's asking him for his name. His eyes narrowed slightly, and two of his tails wrapped themselves comfortably around his waist while the other two simply waved about lazily.

He responded. Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki" The panther in front of him nodded and introduced himself.

"Grimmjow. Grimmjow Jeagerjaques." The panther regarded him for a moment before speaking again. "Well Naruto, you seem to be pretty experienced with what you're doing, and you seem to have some interesting tricks up your sleeve. Come, and I'll tell you everything you need to know and show you the world above the sand ceiling."

The panther turned around and began to lope, not even bothering to look back. Naruto seemed wary to follow, when. 'Go with him, Naruto, if he's telling the truth then it would be a change of scenery for you, and if he's lying. Well, you can always consume him' the voices in his head assured him. Naruto gave a small nod and followed him. The giant cat wasn't attacking anymore and Naruto wasn't feeling hungry after devouring more than fourty times his own body weight.

After they had walked for a while, passing nothing more interesting than trees, the white panther regarded him. "That's a pretty wicked Cero you got there pal. I've never seen a black and silver one before, though as you can see most Adjuchas tend to lose the ability to use it once we've evolved up from Gillian"

Glancing Naruto out of the corner out of his eye, he continued. "As you've probably noticed, lots of things change when you evolve from a Gillian to an Adjuchas. Now listen up, because I'm only going to say this once."

"As an Adjuchas, you have to keep devouring other Hollows, otherwise the Hollows that you've already devoured will overcome you mind and body, and you'll revert back to a Gillian, and this time you'll lose your sense of identity, and just become another faceless Gillian. You also gain more intelligence when you become an Adjuchas, but you could probably know that by now" The panther grew solemn, in contrast to his usual sarcastic tone.

"There is one step in the Hollow evolution chain that ranks above an Adjuchas. Vasto Lorde, the most powerful Hollows in all of Hueco Mundo. That's what my group and I are trying to become. So, want to join?"

The question was brief and to the point. For a moment Naruto thought it over with rather quickly, and simply nodded at the idea. Whatever this Vasto Lorde thing was sounded pretty powerful, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to get stronger along the way, right? Even though he couldn't really remember much about his past, it seemed as if this panther was hinting a partnership.

"Alright, sounds like fun to me," Though his eyes narrowed and a black mist emitted from his body, and Grimmjow felt as if his body was being pulled by some kind of unimaginable weight. Though not enough to suck him completely under. "However, if you or anyone in you team double cross or back stab me in anyway, shape or form. I will not hesitate to consume you or your team within the eternal depths of darkness, understood?

Grimmjow growled his agreement, and just like that the black mist seeped back inside of the fox being. The weird weight was pushed away as quickly as it came and Naruto felt that he and Grimmjow were going to get along just fine.

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"Oi, Grimmjow, nice of you to bring us back a snack" Edorad Leones called out gleefully.

Naruto was about to respond accordingly, but Grimmjow simply cut the fox being off. "This guy is nobody's snack, if anything, you'd be his. He took three Adjuchas in the forest down below with little effort. But, I'd probably put him at only slightly below me"

Naruto glared at Grimmjow, who simply ignored the daggers his foxy companion sent his way. "Naruto's going to be travelling with us for a while. Anybody got any problem with that?" Grimmjow nodded to Naruto.

Before Grimmjow had introduced him to the rest of them, he'd told Naruto that he, being the newcomer would have to earn his place in the group. If anybody challenged him, simply take them down but don't kill them. Since that kind of defeated the purpose of forming the group in the first place.

"Grimmjow are you sure about this little half pint," Di Roy began doubtfully, before he gave a scoff. "The little guy don't look so—

He broke off when he realized that Naruto had suddenly vanished, and appeared in front of his face. His body floated six feet off of the ground in front of the strange hammer head like Adjuchas, and his eyes simply shone deep silver in color. Naruto pointed his hand at Di Roy and before the Hollow knew it, his body was enveloped in a silver aura, and he too began to float off of the round and he was surrounded by four deadly looking bladed tails.

Each tip was brightened by a black and silver color, and were all aimed at all angles of his body. Naruto tilted his head to the side. "I'm sorry, were you saying something?" Naruto told him. Already his tails had already created their individual Ceros and were ready to fire at a moments notice.

Di Roy was beyond shock and got the message loud ad crystal clear, had he given the wrong answer he would have been vaporized beyond recognition. So he quickly nodded his head so fast, that it seemed like it would have rolled off of his shoulders and he began to sweat bullets.

Naruto's eyes turned back to their deep crimson, and he gently placed Di Roy back on the ground along with the others who could only gape with surprised expression. Grimmjow simply mumbled underneath his breath 'show off' when Naruto refrained from using his personal Cero.

A hollow with a strange bar like mask stepped forward and spoke. "Grimmjow killed off the two members we used to have, so with him and you here that brings us to our original number. It's wonderful to have a new comrade amongst us" Shawlong replied with complete honesty.

"It's nice to join you guys," Naruto simply spoke, two of his tails wrapped around his waist, while the other two hugged his skin over his shoulders. His arms were folded across his chest as he looked up into the half moon, which shone beautifully in the sky.

The slightly expanded group resumed their travels across the sand, in search for more power, as each meal would bring them one step closer to becoming Vasto Lorde.

Author's Note

What's up guys! Its your host with the most Dark Spidey and I'm here with the crossover I had promised you guys that I wanted to create. Man to be honest I was so psyched up to make this fic, so much so that I said to myself that I wouldn't update my other fics until I got this smexy (Smart and sexy) idea out for you people to enjoy.

An to be honest I had been stuck for a while, but I did my bleach research and what I needed, and now I bring this new fic to you guys. My inspiration came from Denim88 Cracked Mask and from reading other Naruto/Bleach fics where they made him a hollow instead of a Shinigami, and to be honest.

Cracked Mask and Antagonist was probably the only two that seemed sensible on the Fanfiction website, though with Antagonist I felt that the author was rushing into too many things and should have taken his time. But anyway that's just my opinion, so don't worry about it. Man it feels so freaking sweet to have just brought this out and I felt relief when I finished this chapter.

Though I know some of you guys are simply wondering: Just what the hell did you do to Naruto? Well, what can I say. I had a reviewer a while back who requested that it would be nice to see a fic where Naruto was to be used with ambient potential, so to that reviewer I felt that this fic was in order.

Besides that I can't really tell you guys what he is, but I can hint that Naruto wasn't the only person to go through this metamorphosis. Though you'll have to read the story very very carefully to solve that puzzle, so I'll leave it to you guys. For those who think that they have a really great idea about what he is, then PM me and I'll tell you if your right or wrong.

Leave Reviews and tell me what you think about the fic. Constructive criticisms are accepted, only if they are mature and within good reason and don't worry about this being a Naruto/god fic.

Believe me, in this Naruto is not godly powerful, but you will see things that is going to blow your mind, and have you frothing at the mouth with utter excitement. Oh, and yes I used Entei from Pokemon as a Zanpaktou, just in case if you were wondering.

Anyway, leave reviews and I'll be sure to update my other fics in relative time.

Your friendly neighborhood author

Dark Spidey!