Forgotten Shinobi

In a wide barren field stood a single Shinobi, not moving a single muscle as he remembered everything that led up to this point. Naruto looked at the makeshift graves of his friends and allies as tears ran down his eyes, yet there was a sad smile etched upon his face.

'Finally, they can rest in peace and forget about this accursed world.'

Naruto had forgotten how many times he had called Tobi an eye-thieving-bastard. Having the gall to take the eyes of his fellow disciple and use them against him as if it was his own. Not to mention using the former jinchūriki he killed as tools.

The six paths honestly were a kick in the crotch for Naruto. Each of them packing the power of their respective Bijuu and having to fight them simultaneously was definitely overkill of all time.

It was only when Naruto eventually made peace with Kurama that his fight against the resurrected jinchūriki make the battle taking a turning point. With the former jinchūriki out of commission, Naruto turned his attention against Tobi once again.

Tobi then attempted to form the Jūbi with in desperation with the only seven of the tailed beasts and two small portions of Gyūki's and Kurama's chakra. Thankfully, Kakashi had eventually learned Tobi's secret of his space/time jutsu and used it against him. It was a huge shock to everyone, especially to Kakashi when Tobi's identity turned out to be Obito.

Time ran short for everyone however. With the Jūbi being incomplete, it made the combined chakra within it highly unstable. Naruto, Bee, Kakashi and Guy had tried relentlessly to stop the merging of Bijuu within the Medō Gazō but Obito was a lot stronger and cunning than expected. Soon after the merging was complete and the Medō Gazō let out one final roar. Cracks began to appear all over its body as if something was trying to burst out. The last thing Naruto saw had been a blinding flash of light.

When he came to, he saw absolutely nothing apart from the ground under his feet. There was no Obito, no Medō Gazō, none of his comrades and no sign of any trees or wildlife as far as the eye could see. He searched every battle site he had been to and all of the hidden villages he knew. There was nothing.

There were no bodies to be found, no buildings that stood high and tall, no tree or plant no matter how far he went, not even a single bird or ant crossed his line of sight. The only signs of life beside himself were the fish in the ocean. He had went inside his mind to speak to Kurama and try to find out what was going on but to his shock, all he found was an empty room with not even a trace of the seal or Kyūbi in sight.

As the years went on his mind began to slowly slip into madness with each day of silence and loneliness. He began seeing thing that weren't there, reliving memories of his friends that had long since passed. With what sanity he had left mixed with his already crazy mind, he began to create a new seal that would help him out of this insanity.

The seal that he created was a masterpiece that was made with years of patience and effort.

If he couldn't find any living thing now, he would find them in a different time. His first thought was to create a seal that would help him travel to the future but the concept required a huge amount of power he no longer had and the complexity of it would take near enough a lifetime. So, if he couldn't go to the future he'd let the future come to him. With that mind-set he had come to develop a seal which would put him into a stasis. As Naruto would sleep, the seal would slowly drain small portions of his chakra to provide power to the seal.

Another part of the seal was to remove Naruto's soul from his body and let it join the afterlife while his body still lived. The reason for this function was pure and simple, protection. With the seal being the first of its kind and with no one for Naruto to test it on, he theorised that the seal wouldn't be able to put his mind into stasis seeing as he once was a jinchūriki and that his mind would be trapped within the same room that Kurama had resided in and wouldn't be able to escape until the seal drained enough of his chakra. There was also the hidden danger of how the stasis would affect his mind after reawakening from the stasis.

Since Naruto would have no way of deactivating the seal once active, he cleverly designed the seal to shut down when his body no longer had enough chakra.

Standing back inside the five star pentagram seal, he gave one last glance towards the graves of his loved ones before going through multiple hand seals and slammed his hands against the ground, calling out the sealing technique.

"Goodbye... my friends." all Naruto saw next was darkness.

XXX

(Many years later)

"This is boring" cried out a male voice and as he watched a group of scientists test out the prototypes of their most recent project.

"Come now Hiroshi. At least we can kick back and relax while the scientists try out their little field project" spoke another voice.

Looking behind himself, the now named Hiroshi saw his two fellow Academy graduate friends. Jūshirō Ukitake and Shunsui Kyōraku.

The three of them had become great friends during their Academy days and were known as the three prodigies throughout the Seireitei. The three of them were even being trained by the Sōtaichō himself. Both Jūshirō and Shunsui became even better known once everyone found out that they both possessed duel Zanpakutō. If Yamamoto had a favourite however, it would be Hiroshi Rōga.

Hiroshi was everything Yamamoto could ever want in a shinigami. He was strong, a man of his word, loved by everyone, never thinking he was ever better than anyone in any way. He would even put his life on the line to even rescue a complete stranger. Most of all, he somehow had this strange effect on everyone that would make you smile in your darkest hours. From the beginning, Yamamoto knew that Hiroshi was a natural born leader.

Unlike his two friends however, Hiroshi hadn't shown his friends and sensei the shikai form of his Zanpakutō. But he did promise that he would eventually after this mission. They were satisfied with that seeing how Hiroshi always kept his promises.

Their current assignment was to protect the shinigami scientists in the world of the living as they tested the very first soul pills ever created on gigai's. (NOT MOD-SOULS)

These weren't really anything special. They didn't even have artificial personalities. They were pretty much a blank pill that would eject the shinigami from their gigai. Once done, the pills that were in control of the gigai would go to a secluded area and await for the shinigami's return. Of course there were major flaws in this but that was why the scientists were collecting data from the results.

"How long d-" before Hiroshi could finish his sentence, there were large spikes of energy all around them as dozens hollows appeared all around them.

Without any words being spoken the three friends quickly charged at the hollows with their weapons drawn, hoping to give the scientists a chance to escape through a Senkaimon.

Raising his blade above his head, Hiroshi quickly brought it down upon the unfortunate hollow, cutting it in two. He then ducked as a clawed hand swiped through the air where his head was a second ago. Spinning on his heel, he side slashed his opponent, disconnecting the hollow from the waist down.

It was then that he began to sweat as an enormous reiatsu crashed down upon them. He instantly knew that this was a Vasto-Lorde as they were the only thing that came close to a captain's reiatsu. He soon found the source as he saw a humanoid spider hollow stepping through the Senkaimon that the scientists created just moments ago as it closed.

"Jūshirō, Shunsui. I'm gonna get to the scientists before that hollow does. You two destroy these hollows before they kill any humans!" shouted Hiroshi as he began to open a Senkaimon.

"You have no chance on your own Hiroshi. Let one of us go with you!" Jūshirō replied as he cut down another hollow.

"You and Shunsui won't be able to handle this many hollows if one of you came with me, we've only just come out of the Academy. I may not be able to kill the hollow but I may be able to give the scientists more time to get to safety." Hiroshi said.

As the Senkaimon doors fully opened, Hiroshi gave his friends a sad smile, and stepped through.

"No, Hiroshi. HIROSHI!" screamed Jūshirō as he knew that Hiroshi was willingly walking to his own death.

In the Dangai, the scientists were literally running for their lives as a spider-like hollow was quickly catching up to them.

One of the unfortunate scientists however, tripped on the rough floor of the Dangai, never noticing a small circular object falling from her pocket. Looking up, she saw her so-called-friends not even bother to look back, let alone help her.

She suddenly felt a hairy appendage lift her by her neck, turning her to look at her soon to be killer.

"What a pathetic morsel. You're not even an appetizer. You should feel honoured, not many people get to be eaten by a Vasto-Lorde." taunted the hollow while licking its teeth with its slimy tongue.

"Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō!"

Six thin, wide beams of light suddenly slammed into the hollows stomach, causing it to drop the frightened woman.

Behind the hollow was Hiroshi who was panting heavily after using a powerful Kidō without incantation.

"Get out here now!" Hiroshi shouted. The woman nodded franticly while muttering a silent thank you as she stood up and ran.

Hiroshi looked back to the hollow to see that it had already broken three of the beams of light like they were nothing. Not giving a chance to escape, he charged at the hollow, hoping to end its life. Unfortunately, just as he was about to decapitate it, the last three beams of light suddenly smashed into pieces and the hollow disappeared from his sight.

'Where'd he go!?' Hiroshi thought franticly

Everything in the Dangai seemed to stop for him as he felt a numbing sensation go through his stomach. His hearing came back to him as he heard a dripping noise on the floor. Looking down, he saw a crimson liquid puddle on the floor becoming bigger as more drips of the same liquid come to join it. Looking for the source of it, his face morphed into horror as there was a large spider leg going through his stomach.

"Ha ha. What's the matter shinigami lost your appetite? Seeing your blood on the floor most certainly gained mine. Well, my mother always told me not to play with my food. So I guess this is goodbye shinigami" spoke the hollow as it brought Hiroshi to its waiting mouth.

Coughing up pints of blood, Hiroshi smiled. "Yes. It is." He suddenly rammed his Zanpakutō through his own chest and into the hollows mouth, making the end stick out at the back of the hollows head.

The world around him seemed to darken as he fell to the floor and watched to hollow disappear into spirit particles.

'I'm sorry everyone. It seems this will be the first time in my life that I'll have to break a promise.'

As life began to fade from within his eyes, the last thing Hiroshi saw was the bright light of the Kōtotsu.

XXX

(Valley of screams)

'How long... How long have I been here? How long have I been trapped in this strange object. How many seemingly countless days and nights have gone by. Where the hell was I, why couldn't I move a muscle? Most of all, what was the purpose of my existence anymore?'

All these questions were the only thoughts that ran through his mind. He had given up counting the amount of days he had been here. In fact, he couldn't even be sure that he arrived here on the day he thought he did.

Strange as it might sound but, he believed that he had been here a lot longer than he actually remembered. It was strange really; he only regained conscious thought when he became trapped into this small, round object. He had no idea where it came from or what it was, but one thing was for sure, Naruto Uzumaki was definitely was going to kick the asses of whoever created this thing.

If any shinigami was here to look upon Naruto now, all they'd see is a regular soul pill in the middle of nowhere. (That's right people; I have made Naruto into the first A.I soul pill. This will be eventually explained)

Naruto had to admit though; this place had some of the most fucked up things he had ever seen. He regularly saw these strange, white creatures that reminded him of play dough, seeing as they could mould their bodies into anything. It wasn't just strange that the fact they had white bodies and red heads, but it was also that that they seemed to do... well… nothing, apart from wondering around mindlessly. He did try and call out to them. But they either couldn't hear him, considering his situation, or they just ignored him.

As time went by, the memories of his past slowly began to fade. First it was the faces of his friends, then the names of people he knew, and also his own life. It became even worse as time went by until he had forgotten everything except one detail, his own name. He didn't know why he held on to it, he had forgotten everything else so why did his mind so desperately clutch on to this name that he wasn't even sure was his like it was a lifeline. There were also days where he would spontaneously remember certain things of from his life, only for them to fade away again

This kept on for Kami knows how long, until out of nowhere, everything around him was engulfed in a blinding light. But Naruto's eyes were diverted to something he thought he'd never see. Naruto swore he would never forget what he saw that day, because the very image was burned into his memory and was also the catalyst for his release from this hell.

XXX

On this day, Naruto announced himself to be the unluckiest bastard in the world. If he could, he would have wept in despair and hopelessness at his situation. He had been released from that hell hole, only for it to be replaced with another. Naruto now found himself surrounded in the eternal night of Hueco Mundo.

If that wasn't bad enough, there were these strange monsters constantly fighting each other, always attempting to gain more power, and it disgusted Naruto. He never even dared to try and talk to these beings; even if he could he wouldn't risk it. There were even many fights right where Naruto was, causing the hollows to stand on the soul pill. Naruto was at first frightened by this, believing that it might destroy him. Luckily, the soul pill just sank into the sand instead with only a slight crack on the pill.

Naruto would later on wish that it did destroy him. Because after many more fights that happened above him, the soul pill he was in eventually became completely submerged a few meters into the sand. Now Naruto could hear nothing, see nothing and do nothing. The only company he had were his own thoughts.

After a seemingly eternal amount of time underground, the impossible happened. With countless hollows fighting above him day after day, the sand he was buried in was constantly bathed in the blood of the hollows day after day. The blood had eventually seeped down into the crack of the soul pill. This was when everything changed for him and eventually the world. The soul pill at first grew to the size of a tennis ball and had some sort of fleshy roots growing from it, shooting off in every direction. In the same manner as a plant, these roots began to absorb all the energy they could in the vicinity. The energy they were absorbing was in fact, the blood, Reishi, reiryoku and air that they could find within the sand.

Naruto knew very well that something had change inside him, considering that he no longer felt his mind being apart of the soul pill itself. Even though he was in total darkness, he knew his surroundings had changed as well. He became quite surprised when he regained the sense of touch because he felt himself being surrounded in a liquid-like substance. It was then Naruto realized that he hadn't even taken a breath of air even once since all this time.

Later on, he felt a squishy cord connected to his stomach. Reaching out to where the cord lead to, he felt a soft fleshy wall of sorts surrounding him. He tried as much as possible to check over himself but gave up after finding out that his muscles were really weak at the moment. The one thing he did feel though was a hard object attached to his face...

Much time had passed in Hueco Mundo since then. Deep underground, there was a round-circular object that was now the size of a beach ball with roots protruding from it that were at least five meters long. Naruto could now honestly say to himself that he has lived through some of the most freakiest shit in his life considering what he experienced. Even though the once so called 'soul pill' did grow bigger, Naruto found himself cramped inside it. He knew that this meant his 'birth' was quickly approaching so he had begun to store up as much energy as possible for the final moment.

Above the ground, no hollows were insight as they were most likely fighting in a different area of Hueco Mundo. A few minutes later, there was a slight disturbance in the ground before sand suddenly just flew in every direction. Once the dust had settled down, a very small hollow was seen climbing out of a hole.

After dusting himself of sand, he took in a large amount of air and let out a gut-curdling roar.