Chapter 1: Ryoka

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and/or Bleach

[6th Division Barracks, Seireitei, Soul Society]

Current Time…

The small prison cell in the barracks was seldom without an occupant thanks to Byakuya Kuchiki's strict adherence to the law; the person imprisoned in the cell right now was a special case, however, for it was none other than Byakuya's younger sister-in-law, Rukia. The adopted member of the Kuchiki family was currently speaking to her longtime friend Renji Abarai, who was getting annoyed with her comments about his new promotion to lieutenant of the 6th Division.

"Do a good job, lieutenant. You're very strong, lieutenant. You have weird eyebrows, lieutenant," Rukia said as an irritated Renji grab the bars of the cell.

"That's it, damn it. Let me at her; I'm gonna-" Renji said until both he and Rukia sensed a very large, and very familiar, surge of reiatsu emanated nearby and approached them; Renji's face paled as he knew what was that meant.

"Ummm... maybe you should run, Renji," Rukia said, knowing full well who was the source of the reiatsu.

Renji, heeding his friend's advice, began to run towards the only door in and out of the prison room; unfortunately for Renji it was too late for him to run as that door suddenly flew off its hinges and smacked the bars of the cell before it shattered into millions of pieces. Renji flinched heavily when he heard the culprit's voice.

"TATTOO-BROWS!" the voice roared as the person charged into the cell... and right at Renji.

"Please calm down, Naruto; I swear I can explain-" Renji pleaded before he was silenced by a kick to the face, courtesy of the 13th Division lieutenant.

"You went to arrest Rukia and attacked her; you think you can just explain that way?!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed Renji by his shihakusho and shook him until he was almost unconcious.

Normally both he and Renji were good friends and were basically brothers; after he was informed of Renji's actions during Rukia's arrest, however, Naruto's temper which, among many of Naruto's other attributes, has become legendary in the past year and a half was unleashed. His temper did not flare up often but when it did there was little anyone could do to stop him if no one from the shinobi world, or at least a close friend, was nearby.

Thankfully, for Renji, Rukia was there.

"Please stop it, Naruto; it's not worth hurting Renji," Rukia pleaded getting the attention of her commanding officer... who let go of the badly bruised Renji. Naruto ran up to her cell.

"Rukia, are you hurt?" Naruto asked her with obvious concern.

"I'm alright, Naruto; just a little down, that's all," Rukia said as she thought about her lieutenant's very strong protective nature.

He was always like this with the members of his squad; like a shepherd to his flock he was very concerned over the safety and well being of the members of the 13th Division and Rukia, knowing her lieutenant far too well, knew that even if he was, for whatever reason, transferred to another division that sentiment would still be there.

Naruto nodded but before he said anything, however, Renji managed to get up.

"Naruto, I know you're upset, and I'm really sorry for what I did, but can you at least let me speak to Rukia in peace?" Renji asked to which Naruto sighed.

"Fine, but the next time something like this happens again, Tattoo-Brows, I swear to Kami you'll be facedown on the ground eating bricks faster than you can say 'Tailed Beast'," Naruto warned, still simmering from his latest outburst.

"In any case I have to report to Old Man Ukitake right now so I'll come back to check on you later, Rukia," Naruto said to which both Rukia and Renji nodded.

As Naruto left the 6th Division barracks he couldn't help but think of his father's warning earlier in the day... when he had been running of few errands for his captain.

"I didn't want to tell you this just yet, but now it seems that the time to wait has finally passed. Keep a close eye on my captain whenever you're in his presence, as I fear this is his doing," Minato warned him, though there wasn't a real need to do so.

Unlike the rest of the Gotei 13 the shinobi-turned-shinigami, who were known as "shinobigami" by many of their colleagues, had suspected Aizen of plotting something along with Ichimaru and Tosen; they had even figured out the true nature of Aizen's zanpakuto, a fact that earned him even less trust amongst the shinobigami. Even the thick-headed Naruto could tell something was wrong with those three captains; Naruto's suspicions were also shared by both Kurama and his zanpakuto, which showed just how poor a mask Aizen wore. Because of the fact that the three captains had everyone else in the Gotei 13 fooled, however, the shinobi kept their suspicisions to themselves until they could prove any wrongdoing on the part of those three.

As Naruto raced towards his barracks he clenched his fist at the thought of the the 5th Division Captain.

"For your sake, Aizen, this better not have anything to do with you," Naruto thought to himself; he was unaware of the fact that, even now, the one person Aizen had the most interest in was preparing a daring operation into the heart of the Soul Society itself...

[13th Division Barracks, Seireitei]

More Than A Week Later...

Naruto had woken up before daybreak, as he had since the day he had visited Rukia; there was too much on his mind for him to sleep. It had already been a trying week since Rukia's arrest as Naruto sat on the roof of this barracks to watch the sunrise.

First the execution sentenced out to his friend occured, then his subsequent arguement with Byakuya nearly coming to blows, though they had both never really seen eye-to-eye on anything before. Byakuya had found Naruto's lack of formality and even greater lack of respect for authority figures displeasurable while Naruto actively despised Byakuya for his poor treatment of his subordinates and, especially, for placing the law even above his own family; this gulf had only gotten worse since Rukia's arrest, with Naruto's parents, Captain Ukitake, and Shisui Uchiha being the only ones that could stop the two shinigami from trying to kill each other.

The final thing that occupied Naruto's mind was the arrival of five intruders to the Rukongai Sector of the Soul Society, one of them being the one whom Rukia had lost her powers to, and their attempt to enter the Seireitei. He especially had mixed feelings over what to think of that guy, who Rukia kept calling Ichigo. On the one hand this Ichigo was responsible for Rukia's predicament; on the other hand, however, he was in the Soul Society now and was, more than likely, trying to save Rukia so Naruto assumed that he actually did care for his friends.

As Naruto pondered his next course of action he felt a familiar reiatsu approach him.

"Good morning, Shisui-sensei. How are you feeling?" Naruto asked the Uchiha who had acted as his teacher since his graduation, teaching him skills that the Shino Academy instructors could not.

"I'm alright, Naruto; I was actually going to ask you the same thing. Both of your parents and Captain Ukitake are worried about you since you haven't been getting much sleep recently," Shisui said. Naruto sighed at this comment.

"I've just had a lot on my mind recently, that's all," Naruto said.

Shisui, thanks to his time as Naruto's master, knew which particular thought was on Naruto's mind at the moment.

"You should wait until the intruders enter the Seireitei first if you plan to confront them," Shisui said; the Uchiha knew that Naruto was planning to confront these intruders, regardless of what anyone tried to do to convince him to do otherwise, as the blonde probably believed that, by confronting them, he might find an answer to a question that must've been bothering him.

"I know, sensei, but I've never been the most patient guy and every day I wait is a day closer to Rukia's-" Naruto said before he and Shisui noticed that a small light appear in the skies above the Seireitei as the sun began to rise.

This light appeared to come closer and closer to the home of the Shinigami until, to the shock of both shinobigami, the light collided with the Soul Shield Membrane that surrounded the Seireitei. The small light was held back by the membrane for a few moment until, to the further shock of Naruto, and the rest of the shinigami, the light broke through the barrier and, after a minute or so, split into four streaks which began to descend to the city below. Everyone in the Seireitei already knew what this meant even before the barrier was breached.

Before Shisui realized it Naruto was already heading towards the nearest light, which he assumed to be one of the intruders.

"It looks like they've finally arrived; it's time to see what kind of person you truly are, Ichigo Kurosaki," Naruto thought as he entered the nearest sewer entrance, having learned the layout of the undergound network a few months prior, in order to approach the intruders without being detected.

[Underground Sewer System, Seireitei]

Several Hours Later...

The massive underground network was barley used as its layout was known to a handul of shinigami, most of them from the 4th Division. One of these people, a young man named Hanataro Yamada, was currently navigating the system; what made this foray stand out, however, were the two intruders, who are called Ryoka by most of the other shinigami, who were following him. One of these intruders, a guy with short orange hair and wearing a Soul Reaper shihakusho, walked to Hanataro's side.

"Hey, Hanataro, can I ask you something?" he asked. Hanataro got a little anxious before he nodded in reply.

"When you talked about how there aren't many other shinigami that knew their way around these sewers you looked like you were going to add something to what you were saying before I interrupted you. Could you tell me what you were going to say?" he asked.

"Well... there have been stories over the past few months, Ichigo. Apparently some of the other members of the 4th Division claim that they have seen another shinigami walking through the sewers; they claim that the person is not of the 4th Division though, as of right now, none of them have been able to get a good look at the person to positively identify them," Hanataro explained as both Ichigo and the other intruder, a man from the Rukongai region named Ganji Shiba, secretly hoped that this person was either a tall tale or, if they were real, that they would not be in the sewer right now.

This would, apparently, not be the case.

"Why don't we change that, then, since I'm here now," a voice from the darkness said, causing Ichigo and the others to stop in their tracks.

Ichigo gripped Zangetsu as he responded to the voice, prepared to fight whoever this opponent might be.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo asked as Zangetsu was unsheathed; Ichigo looked at the path in front of him since the voice appeared to come from that direction.

Hanataro, having recognized the voice, suddenly paled as he had a good idea of why that person was there.

"It can't be... you're the one who's been using the sewer passages?" Hanataro asked in horror to which the person responded to the affirmative. Ichigo, his patience growng thin, had had enough of this person's mind games.

"Show yourself, damn it!" Ichigo commanded to which the person sighed.

"You don't have to tell me that; I was going to do that anyways," the person said; the person soon stood before the three would-be rescuers, their appearance made visible to them by one the fluorescent lightbulbs that provided dim lighting to the underground network.

It was a guy about Ichigo's age, though a little shorter than he was, with short and spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a standard shihakusho with an orange sash wrapped around his waist, an armband that had a badge of some sort around his left sleeve, and a black headband, with a metal plate emblazoned with the Kanji for 'Shinobi' sewn onto it, wrapped around his forehead. He had his zanpakuto, which was a katana with an orange hilt and a red spiral-patterned tsuba, sheathed and secured to his sash. The first thing that caught Ichigo's mind as being unusual, however, were the six marks on guy's face, three on each cheek, that resembled whiskers; they made him look like some sort of fox. The second, and more important, thing that made this guy stand out from the other shinigami Ichigo had encountered until then was the massive amount of reiatsu that emanated from him, as it was greater than anything Ichigo had ever felt in his short time as a shinigami.

Ichigo prepared for what he thought would be the most difficult battle he had fought until then as the mystery guy turned his gaze towards him.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked. The guy pointed his right thumb as his headband as he answered.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Lieutenant of the 13th Division," he declared, shocking both Ganju and Ichigo.

"How the hell can a lieutenant have so much reiatsu; I had a feeling that the lieutenants were no pushover, but this is ridiculous," Ganju said.

It was a sentiment that was also shared by Ichigo as the orange-haired shinigami had fought a lieutenant, in this case Renji Abarai, before and even he, with his crappy senses, could tell that guy before him now was on another level, another planet even, by comparison. If this guy's power was far greater than another lieutenant, then why was he at the same rank.

"Because all the spots for Captain are already taken plus I haven't acheived one of the major requirements yet. That's enough about me, though," Naruto said as he focused his stare at Ichigo again.

"Are you Ichigo Kurosaki? The one that Rukia talked about?" he asked, surprising Ichigo who took a while before he made a response.

"I guess I am; what's it to you?" Ichigo asked to which Naruto sighed.

"Why are you here? Is it perhaps to save her?" Naruto asked, giving the impression that he ignored Ichigo's question.

"Yes, I am, and I just asked you why does it matter to you?" Ichigo asked with the irritation he felt clearly evident in his voice.

"It matters to me because Rukia and I are in the same division, you baka," Naruto replied, stunning Ichigo with his statement; before Ichigo could say anything, however, Naruto continued to speak.

"Based on what Rukia told me I have a feeling that you and I are alike in many ways. (sighs) Unlike you, however, I still don't know what to do about her execution; that's why I'm going to put you to the test... to see if you're truly strong enough to save her. I think that if I do that then I can answer that question," Naruto said.

Ganju, at this point, went up to Ichigo, who was standing a few yards away from Naruto.

"He could be setting a trap for us, Ichigo; how can we be sure he ain't lying-" the Shiba clansman said before Ichigo cut him off.

"I can already tell you that he isn't lying to us, Ganju. If he had wanted to defeat us, he could of done it the moment he spotted us; even I could tell that the difference in our powers is just too great. If he wanted to simply end our rescue he could've knocked us out before we knew what happened; he's pretty good at concealing his reiatsu. Instead he confronted us head-on so I'm willing to take a leap of faith here," Ichigo said before he turned his attention to Naruto.

"What's this little test you have in mind?" he asked the lieutenant, who flashed a smirk.

"It's nothing too complicated; all you have to do is fight me. You don't have to beat, though; all you have to do is wound me once. It doesn't even have to be a serious wound, though we'll noth be using what powers we need in order to win; if you can do that then'll you've passed. Any questions?" Naruto explained as he unsheathed his zanpakuto.

"What are we waiting for? Let's do this, Naruto Uzumaki!" Ichigo said as both he and Naruto charged at each other.

It wasn't long before their blades to collide with each other, signifying that the two shinigami had begun their battle...

Next Time - Finding an Answer: Naruto vs. Ichigo