Death by Birth

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach!!

Chapter 1

"Please come to Hokage-sama's place. It seems that Naruto-kun carried the scroll of sealing out," said Mizuki quickly in a single breath.

"WHAT, the scroll of sealing!?" echoed Iruka in disbelief. "Naruto is dense but not even he could be that stupid."

Not wanting to believe the worse, Iruka quickly got dressed in record time…

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Naruto had just arrived at the hidden shack that Mizuki-sensei had set up for him. He settled himself into a sitting position and opened the large scroll of forbidden seals that he'd successfully stolen. "The first technique is...Kage-bunshin no jutstu...." Read Naruto aloud. He immediatly glared at the scroll. ""I can't do bunshins!! Forget that!!" Naruto yelled, and immediately started skimming through the seal. As he ran towards the last page, something caught his eye. It was an a spiral. Not just a simple spiral, but a spiral designed with kanji written around the line. Normally Naruto would've just ignored it and moved on, but he recognized this thing. It was the same design as the tattoo on his stomach!!

Naruto subconsciously looked down at his stomach. He decided that he'd learn this jutsu, just to learn more about himself. He gulped, and started doing the handseals he saw written on the paper, completely disregarding the writing next to it. (He had trouble reading Kanji.)

'Snake...'

'Boar...'

'Sheep'

'Rabbit...Dog...'

'Rat! Bird!'

'Horse!!'

Naruto thought as he went through the handseals, slowly increasing his speed in his impatience. He clasped his fists together, in the snake seal, before clapping his hands together. He sat there, waiting for SOMETHING, anything to happen, only to be disappointed. Suddenly he felt it. An intense pressure coming out of nowhere, yet seeming to come from behind him. Naruto gulped, and looked behind him. He saw a slightly plain looking man, with brown messy hair and glasses smiling at him. Naruto could immediatly tell the smile was fake though. He'd given enough fake smiles to recognize one.

"Good evening. My name is Sosuke Aizen. And you are...?" The man known as Aizen stated, smiling at Naruto.

Naruto bowed warily, not being used to showing respect. He just KNEW that showing disrespect would be a major error on his part. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto...Nice to meet you."

'I can already detect trace amounts of reiatsu in this boy...perhaps the work of another shinigami.' Aizen thought, staring at the boy's stomach in particular. 'This might provide...another interesting prospect.'

"Naruto."

Naruto immediately looked up, detecting the seriousness. He was also begining to regret using the jutsu, if all it did was bring him some old guy in a black hakama.

"Do you desire power?"

Naruto smiled, back into familiar territory. "Of course!! I'm going to be the greatest Hokage!!!" Naruto quietly yelled.

Aizen just nodded politely while smiling, having no idea what a hokage was. "You have a lot of determination..." Aizen praised. "You're going to need it..." He added in a aftertone.

"I've been thinking..." Aizen said as he slowly began to focus inwards, a pale yellow aura appearing on his hand. "That I can help you out, if you want." He finished, knowing that he was going to do this no matter how Naruto answered.

"Yeah!! I'll take all the help I can get!!!" Naruto cried out, pumping his fist in the air.

"Good" Aizen said, the pale aura on his hand solidifying and becoming darker in intensity. "Now lift up your shirt."

Naruto grumbled, but did as he was told. 'Freak...'

As soon as Aizen saw the seal, he slammed his aurafied hand onto the seal left already there. He watched as the seal glowed a bit, before calming down. Naruto, however, completely passed out. Once Naruto passed out, he made a VERY large barrier around the area that they were situated in. Just in case.

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'What happened...?' Naruto thought to himself as he sat up. In a moment, it all came back to him. "That bastard!!! Hitting me in the stomach like that!!" Naruto stared at Aizen and began to walk over to Aizen to give him a piece of his mind. He hadn't gotten far before he suddenly halted in place. Naruto looked down to see what was holding him in place, to see...a chain sticking out on his chest.

Naruto tugged on it, and immediatly felt a small amount of pain. "A...chain? What's it connected to...?" Naruto thought as he looked backwards and got the shock of his life...again. Lying there, with the chain leading from Naruto's chest all the way back to...Naruto's chest. 'Is that me?' "Then...what am I?" Naruto thought as he looked at himself. He found himself wearing that same stupid all black costume Aizen was wearing. Only instead of black, his was white.

Suddenly Naruto felt ALOT of pain. The pain seemed to be originating from where the chain was sticking out, so he looked at it. Naruto was horrified to discover that his chain appeared to be eating eatself from both ends!! Naruto just KNEW that he couldn't let the chain die out from either end. Not if he wanted to live anyway. 'So What the hell am I supposed to do?!' Naruto thought, already begining to panic.

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"Let's see if you have what it takes Naruto-kun." Aizen said softly. All the shinigamis he infused with the hollow spirit survived, but they were already shinigami, and quite powerful. This just happened to be an experiment to see what happened when you started off with hollow and shinigami powers.

"You have to survive first...don't disappoint me." Aizen finished before vanishing.

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Naruto screamed. The chain suddenly sped up and came up to his chest. But that didn't bother Naruto half as much as the mask that was begining to obscure the left side of his vision. It was all white, but quick filling up with black. Naruto let out a louder scream as the mask completely covered his face. The mask appeared to be skull like, with a long thin horn coming out of it's forehead.

'Naruto....?'

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Naruto was...floating? Naruto quickly checked his surroundings. Yep, he was floating all right. Nothing but the sky all around him. Naruto didn't understand it at all. He guessed he was standing on a cloud. He looked down to confirm his theory.

"Bout time you got here."

Naruto whirled at the feminine voice to see a bust redhead staring at him. She had bright violet eyes, and long crimson hair pulled into a ponytail. She wore a sleeveless black shirt outlined in red, with baggy black pants. On her feet were sandles. She appeared to be in her late teens, if Naruto had to guess.

"Who are you?"

A brief frown covered her beautiful face. "It's me, *&$#%#""

Naruto frowned in confusion. "What...?"

'He can't hear me..." The teen thought to herself.

"You still can't hear me? I've been calling you forever!! It must be the Kyuubi's fault..."

"The Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side. It died twelve years ago didn't it?

"Never mind!!" The girl said, waving her hands around wildy. "Nothing! Nothing at all!!" Before she sighed. "I thought you'd know me better than anyone Naruto..."

"I don't know you!!!" Naruto yelled, getting annoyed.

He lost his impatience when he saw the girl staring at him again, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Naruto...what are you standing on?"

"This cloud..." Naruto said, looking down to see, that he wasn't standing on anything, at all. Being left with no choice, Naruto fell, screaming as he did.

"You scream a lot you know." The girl said, appearing next to him.

"Shinigamis control death!! You can handle this!!" She coached him. "Control the soul!"

"Shinigami's don't exist!!! Do they?!" Naruto yelled back.

"They do! You're gonna be proof!! Search deep inside yourself, before you run out of time!" She said as she stopped falling.

"What could happen...?" Naruto wondered aloud, but his question was quickly answered as lightning ran throughtout this place, as the clouds seemingly froze over and broke. "Your abilities are somewhere in this mess...all ya gotta do is find it."

"How the hell do I do that?! I don't even know what I'm looking for!!"

"If you don't...you'll become a hollow." She finished darkly.

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Mizuki and Iruka arrived in the courtyard of the Hokage mansion to find a large crowd of angry ninjas gathered. The ninjas seemed to be arguing about what to do about Naruto's latest stunt. Sarutobi stood at the front, merely watching.

"Hokage-sama, we cannot let this slide by as just a prank!" shouted one of many ninjas gathered at Sarutobi's palace.

"The scroll of sealing is something dangerous that the first Hokage sealed! If it's used in a bad way it can cause trouble for us all!" cried out random ninja 1.

"Imagine how much trouble it would be if he carried the scroll outside the village!" came random ninja 2.

"Indeed, bring Naruto here," instructed Sarutobi after a moment of thought.

"Yes sir!" the group of nameless ninja said, before running off to find Naruto.

Iruka ran off faster than most of the others, hoping to spare Naruto TOO harsh a punishment.

"Where did you go Naruto?" thought Iruka to himself as he raced across the rooftops.

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'I still don't know what I'm looking for!!' Naruto thought. Everything looked the same!! How was he supposed to find whatever he was looking for?

"This is pissing me off..." Naruto growled, as he slowly began to glow. "I WILL NOT DIE HERE!!!!" Naruto yelled as his eyes bled red. The whisker marks on his cheeks widened and became more jagged, and his incissors grew to longer lengths.

Naruto quickly began scanning the surroundings again, looking for ANYTHING different from anything else. 'Something seems different...' Naruto thought, staring at the surroundings, before realizing what it was. He could see light blue ribbons, coming off of everything in...wherever he was now. 'This...isn't any easier...' Naruto thought, before catching a hint of a different color than all the blue he was seeing. This one was red. Without hesistation, he reached for it. The cloud bundle it was attached to exploded, to reveal...a sword?

"You found it!!" The girl reappeared smiling, while giving a breathe of relief.

Naruto pulled out the thin sword, noting that nothing about it looked very special. He did feel a special connection to it though. "Take good care of it!! Treat it like it was a real person!!" The girl smiled at him again. "You're not ready to hear my name, but you're getting there!"

Naruto didn't say a thing as he blacked out...again.

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Naruto's body snapped back to attention as Naruto pulled himself upwards slowly. He didn't notice the mask on his face, nor did he notice when it disappeared from his face. "Where'd that bastard go?!" Naruto yelled, suddenly remembering Aizen and wildly searching for him. He took a step, and tripped over something. Naruto looked up at his feet, to see a sword in its sheath tangled in his legs. "That sword...?" Naruto said, picking it up. Finding nothing better to do, he decided to practice with it.

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Naruto had collapsed in exhaustion after two nonstop hours of practicing with his sword. He had even spoke to it as he worked, telling it some snippets of his life, feeling like an idiot while he did. Naruto was considering looking in the forbidden scroll again when he heard footsteps approach him. He looked upwards in surprise to see Iruka leering down at him.

"Hey Naruto..." Iruka growled.

Naruto could only smile sheepishly at being caught. He could only laugh nervously. "I got caught early, and didn't learn a thing." Naruto trailed off, pouting

Iruka surveyed Naruto with a look of surprise and slight respect.

"Not only was he able to carry out a scroll protected heavily by the Hokage himself, but he obviously did something here till he was worn out. Iruka thought. 'You're so odd Naruto'

"Hey Iruka-sensei, I'm going to show you...something, so let me graduate if I do it!! I'll show you something great, so I can graduate?" Naruto asked quickly, wondering what he could do to pass.

"Who told you that?" asked Iruka.

"Mizuki-sensei! He told me about this place and this scroll!" replied Naruto excitedly while indicating the nearby shack.

'Mizuki?' thought Iruka in disbelief.

Suddenly Iruka noticed something in the corner of his eye. Thinking quickly, Iruka pushed Naruto away. Then he braced himself. A wave of kunai errupted from the trees, pinning Iruka to the wall of the shack. Iruka winced as he felt a kunai pierce his leg. He winced again as he pulled it out of his leg.

"I'm surprised you found out about this place," came a familiar voice.

"I see, so that's how it is…Mizuki," growled Iruka as he gazed in the direction of the voice.

Naruto looked in the direction Iruka had been looking in to find Mizuki perched upon a tree. He still wore his smile, but it looked much darker than it appeared the last time he saw it. He glanced at Naruto, having felt his stare.

"Naruto, give me the scroll," he demanded.

"Hey, what's going on around here?" asked Naruto with confusion evident in his voice as his switched his gaze from Mizuki to Iruka.

"Naruto, don't let him get the scroll no matter what. That's a dangerous scroll that has forbidden techniques. Mizuki used you so he could get a hold of it!" explained Iruka while never taking his eyes off of Mizuki, still breathing heavily from his leg wound.

Naruto immediately dropped into a fighting pose as he removed his sword from his sheath.

'How'd I let him trick me?' Naruto wondered to himself, cursing his stupidity.

Mizuki smirked at the thought of crushing an Naruto, while ignoring the glare. He idly wondered where the sword came from, as did Iruka.

"Naruto, Iruka is afraid of you possessing that scroll," said Mizuki.

"What?" said Naruto in confusion as he glanced at Iruka.

"What are you saying, Mizuki?!" demanded Iruka as he rested his weight against the cabin wall.

Iruka glanced at Naruto before speaking with slight desperation.

"Don't believe him, Naruto!" begged Iruka.

Mizuki laughed openly before speaking.

"I'll tell you the truth," decided Mizuki.

"DON'T!" screamed Iruka as he realized what Mizuki was going to do.

Mizuki ignored him and begun speaking directly to Naruto.

"A rule was created after the accident that occurred twelve years ago," Mizuki begun.

"A rule?" asked Naruto in confusion once again.

"That's right, it's a rule that only you, Naruto, cannot find out about," continued Mizuki.

"Only me? What's that rule?" asked Naruto curiously.

"STOP IT, MIZUKI!" screamed Iruka in one last desperate attempt to hide the truth from Naruto.

Mizuki ignored Iruka and grinned maliciously.

"It's the rule not to say that Naruto is the Kyuubi."

Naruto's eyes widened with the revalation that he'd just heard. He looked at Iruka, hoping to hear a denial, but all he recieved was confirmation. Naruto clenched his teeth in anger. This explained why the villagers hated him.

"Everyone knew?" Naruto asked Iruka sadly.

Iruka gave a small nod, making Naruto despair slightly.

"That's right, everyone knows that you are the nine tailed monster fox that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village. You've been deceived by the village people all this time. Didn't you think it was weird for everyone to hate you so much?" chimed in Mizuki happily.

Something wet rolled down Naruto's cheeks and realizing he was crying Naruto grew furious. Naruto's bluish black chakra began to swirl around him in his anger.

"NoNONONONONO!!!" Naruto yelled.

Mizuki laughed at Naruto's rage and he began to taunt him.

"No one's ever going to recognize you! Even Iruka hates you!"

Mizuki reached to his back and unfastened one of the large shuriken. Mizuki began to spin his shuriken as fast as he could while aiming at Naruto.

"Die, Naruto!" yelled Mizuki before hurling the oversized shuriken at him.

Naruto fell on his butt in fright and tried to crawl away from the incoming projectile. Naruto realized that he couldn't get away in time. So he merely closed his eyes. There was a sound of metal piercing flesh and Naruto felt something warm and sticky land on his cheek. Naruto opened his eyes to find Iruka standing over him, the shuriken was buried in Iruka's back.

"Why?" was all Naruto could say as he gazed on in horror at the thin trickle of blood dripping from Iruka's mouth.

For a moment Iruka said nothing, then in a raspy voice Iruka begun to speak.

"Because you're the same as me. After my parents died, nobody ever complimented me or recognized me. Being the bad student that I was, I screwed up a lot during class because I wanted everyone's attention. I couldn't get anyone's attention when I was a good student. So I acted like an idiot," said Iruka sadly.

For the first time Naruto saw real tears touch his sensei's eyes. Genuine tears of sadness and sorrow steadily flowed down Iruka's cheeks and dripped upon Naruto's face as he continued to speak

"It was tough right, Naruto? You were lonely, right?" Iruka begun to openly cry in front of the subordinate he trusted the most. "I'm so sorry, Naruto. You didn't have to feel that way if I had been more aware."

Naruto too felt the coming of tears at the honesty of his teacher. However, Mizuki soon grew tired of the touching moment between the student and his sensei and attempted to make his presence known again. With a snicker Mizuki begun to speak.

"Don't make me laugh! Iruka has hated you since the day you killed his parents! He just wants to get that scroll back!" bellowed Mizuki.

Mizuki's words hit home and Naruto gazed at Iruka as he considered the thought. Immediately Naruto broke away from Iruka and took off running into the forest.

"NARUTO!!" screamed Iruka desperately at Naruto's retreating back.

Mizuki choose that moment to jump out of the tree he was standing in so that he could chase after the boy. But figuring he had a bit of time Mizuki decided to taunt Iruka some more.

"Naruto isn't the type to change his mind. I'm sure he's going to take revenge on this village with that scroll. You saw it in his eyes didn't you? The eyes of the Kyuubi."

Figuring he had gotten his point across, Mizuki turned to chase after Naruto. Before the shinobi could take two steps, Iruka pulled the massive shuriken from his back and spoke.

"Naruto won't do that," Iruka quietly said before hurling the giant star at Mizuki.

, Mizuki stepped out of the path of the projectile and glared at Iruka.

"As long as I kill Naruto and get the scroll, I'm okay. I'll take care of you later," promised Mizuki before he gave chase to the blond kid.

"I won't let you!" was Iruka's final thought before he too gave chase…

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"This isn't good! Mizuki told him the secret," worded Sarutobi out loud to himself.

The Hokage had been carefully observing the events that had come to pass with keen interest. Needless to say, Sarutobi wasn't pleased with the way things were going.

'Naruto is more unstable than ever. He might release the power that has been sealed," mused Sarutobi to himself. "He also has the scroll of sealing. As long as he possesses it, the possibility that he will release the Kyuubi is very great.'

'Let's hope it doesn't come to that.' Sandaime thought, watching from his crystal ball.

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'Got em.'

"Naruto!" called Iruka to his student.

The boy glanced over his shoulders to see Iruka chasing after him in the trees.

"What Mizuki said back there was all a lie! Hand over the scroll to me! Mizuki is after it!" screamed Iruka.

The boy stopped running but instead of giving Iruka the scroll, Naruto smacked Iruka with his scabbard. Iruka cried out in both shock and pain before he lost his balance and fell off of the branch he was standing on. Iruka landed flat on is back as Naruto gently touched down a few feet away. Naruto was gasping for breath from all of the running he did and fell on his butt while cradling the oversized scroll.

Iruka weakly climbed to his feet from the blow before in a poof of smoke Iruka transformed into Mizuki.

"Naruto, how did you know I wasn't Iruka!" demanded the furious white haired shinobi.

Naruto merely laughed before he too went up in smoke.

"Because I'm Iruka," said the real Iruka once the smoke cleared.

"I see," said Mizuki. "Tell me Iruka, what good is there in protecting the one who killed your parents?"

"I'm not going to let an idiot like you get that scroll," Iruka said instead of answering Mizuki's question.

"You're the idiot, Naruto is the same as me!" countered Mizuki.

"Same as you?" questioned Iruka in confusion.

"Correct, you see anything is possible with that scroll. There's no way that Naruto, the Kyuubi, won't use its powers," explained Mizuki.

"Yeah, you're right. If he was a Kyuubi," said Iruka with emphasis on the word if.

Mizuki raised his eyebrow in a quizzical fashion before Iruka continued.

"Naruto is different. He's an excellent student that I've always known," Iruka paused to smile as he remembered Naruto's good qualities. "He's earnest, hardworking, clumsy and no one has bothered to truly try to acknowledge him. Yet he also knows the pain of others. He's no Kyuubi, he is Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha! The future Hokage!"

Mizuki's expression was one of disbelief at what he was hearing but it soon turned to anger. Mizuki reached behind him to retrieve his last shuriken.

"What an idiot. You know Iruka, I said I would kill you later but I take that back. You can die now!" Mizuki yelled before charging at Iruka.

The distance was closing fast and Iruka slowly closed his eyes in preparation for his fate. Mizuki was practically smiling in victory before he noticed something from the corner of his eye. Unable to turn in time to defend himself, Mizuki was rewarded with a knee rammed into his chin. Mizuki flew back several feet, head first while the giant shuriken went flying into the treetops. Mizuki cried out in pain after he landed and Iruka opened his eyes at the sound.

"Naruto!" gasped Iruka in surprise.

"Damn you!" moaned Mizuki while rubbing his smarting chin.

Naruto stood to his full height and for once even Mizuki was a bit intimidated by the power the boy seemed to radiate.

"Don't lay a finger on Iruka-sensei, or I'll kill you!" growled Naruto savagely.

Mizuki was still a bit unnerved but quickly started trash talking anyway, convinced that it had just been a lucky shot.

"Talk while you can punk! I'll finish a kid like you in one blow!" Mizuki shook a fist at Naruto.

Naruto changed his stance and drew his sword.

"Try it! I'll tear you apart!" shot back Naruto.

"Why don't you try if you can you Kyuubi!" countered Mizuki heatedly.

'Repeat after me...'

Iruka and Mizuki were shocked when Naruto began CHANTING of all things. Neither one could hear what he was saying though. Mizuki lost what little patience he had and charged.

"Wave of Destruction 4!! Byakurai!!!" Naruto yelled, pointing his finger at Mizuki. A thin bolt of lightning released from the tips of Naruto's fingers, piercing Mizuki in his chest. Mizuki immediatly stopped, smoke coming from the hole made in his chest. Iruka looked in amazement at the....technique Naruto used.

Mizuki didn't know what to do. Whatever Naruto did to him practically killed his nervous system. All he could do was glare.

"What's the matter? Come and get me!" Naruto taunted, before drawing his sword again.

Mizuki adopted an expression of horror, when he realized that he couldn't move at all.

"If you're not coming, then I am!" Naruto said as he slowly stalked forward.

'Kami-sami!!' was Mizuki's last thought before Naruto pounced.

In the deep forest of Konoha, a girly shriek pierced the night.

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Mizuki's face was a bloody pulp and several of his teeth were missing, and he was covered in cuts on random parts on his body, but no damage was long lasting. Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Maybe I hurt him too much!" said Naruto between laughter. "Iruka-sensei, are you alright?" asked Naruto,turning his full attention on his teacher.

"Yeah," replied Iruka.

Iruka could only smile proudly at his student.

"What a guy, he really might surpass all of the Hokages," thought Iruka with amusement.

"Naruto, come here for a second. I want to give you something," requested Iruka.

Curiously, Naruto stepped forward to see what Iruka wanted to give him. Iruka waited till Naruto got close enough to speak.

"Close your eyes, Naruto."

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The mob of ninjas had returned to the Hokage mansion after an unsuccessful search of the village.

"Did anyone find Naruto?" asked one of the ninjas once everyone was present.

"No," replied several of the nameless ninja..

"Damn, this isn't good," complained nameless ninja 1.

Suddenly a deep voice spoke over the crowd.

"There's no need to worry anymore," announced the Hokage, who seemed to show up out of nowhere.

"Hokage-sama, what are you saying?" questioned random ninja 1.

The Sandaime smiled at the question, but didn't answer.

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"Aare you done yet?" asked Naruto impatiently with his eyes shut.

"Yeah, you can open your eyes now," replied Iruka.

Slowly Naruto opened his eyes and squinted in the light of the rising sun. Once his eyes adjusted, Naruto noticed that Iruka wasn't wearing his forehead protector. Also Naruto's goggles were in Iruka's hand. Slowly, realization came to Naruto as Iruka spoke.

"Congratulations, you graduate," said Iruka with a smile.

Naruto's mouth opened in shock and for the longest he stood shocked in front of Iruka.

"All right, let's celebrate. I'll treat you to some ramen," said Iruka before without warning Naruto tackled him to the ground.

"Iruka-sensei!" cried Naruto happily.

"Ouch, that hurts, Naruto!" moaned Iruka after landing painfully on his back with Naruto hugging his waist.

Still Iruka smiled despise the pain and begun to playfully wrestle with Naruto. All the while Iruka's thoughts remained on what he wanted to say to his former student.

"Naruto, I was going to lecture you...but I'll keep it until we get to the ramen shop."

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I've been working on this for about a 2 days...I think.

I'm going to keep the pairing to myself this time. That way, none of yall will know when I change the pairings. That Byakurai kidou spell is said to be one of the most common, so I figured it'd work.

I hate the way Naruto fights with shadow clones, so I simply took it out. Problem solved! I'm hoping to make this an epic fanfic. And this does take place during the turn back the pendulum chapters. So like however many years before the bleach storyline. I forgot. Could anyone give me a site that shows the ranks in bleach? Like 7th seat and below and above? I wanna do a strength ranking thing.