20 years later...

Chapter 1: A team is formed

Freshly graduated from Shin'ō Academy, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all independently chose Squad 7 to work in. Sakura made her decision based on the highly esteemed Captain of the Seventh Division. Although the Sixth Division would also be a suitable choice for application based on the experience of a Captain as Captain Kuchiki is the longest serving Captain of the Gotei 13. However, upon hearing of Sasuke's application to Squad 7 Sakura's choice was made. Sasuke applied to Squad 7 for minor reasons that would help him towards his ultimate goal, finding Itachi Uchiha and eliminating him. Sasuke picked Squad 7 because of some of the skilled members, namely the Captain and Lieutenant, but he didn't really care which Squad of the Gotei 13 he ended up in, it wasn't very important in the end. Naruto didn't pick Squad 7 of his own volition. He wanted to be in Squad 1, but was declined by the Head Captain, Hiruzen Sarutobi, for barely graduating. What Naruto doesn't know, and many others don't know either, was that Squad 7 was one of the only Squads willing to take him in, due to his...special condition. All the Captains were informed of Naruto's inner Hollow by the Captain Commander and only a handful volunteered to take him in, among them was Squad 7. Upon being accepted into Squad 7, the Division's Lieutenant was informed of Naruto's inner Hollow, besides these people nobody else knows of his inner Hollow. It has been discussed at length why the Squad 1 Captain and his Lieutenant were allowed to retain this information as well as the information that Aizen caused the memory loss of Minato and Kushina. It was concluded their memory loss could have been from Aizen's Bankai, which nobody alive has a record of. Only the Squad 7 Captain and Lieutenant, as well as the people involved in the incident (excluding his parents), know Naruto's true heritage, which Hiruzen has instructed them to keep secret of.

Naruto sat in the courtyard, waiting for a greeting from the squad. With the spare time, he was shouting at his Zanpakutō.
"What's your name!?" He shouted over and over. Followed by "Tell me! Tell me! Please tell me!" Sakura was standing by the door, trying to look courteous for when someone did come out. This lasted a few minutes before she became too enraged with Naruto shouting at his sword to keep standing there. To her credit, she lasted longer than Sasuke had first thought she would when Naruto had started shouting. Sakura walked over to Naruto and screamed in his ear, telling him to pack it in. Naruto muttered something back that Sakura barely heard, Sasuke was too far away to hear but he didn't care anyway and held his position by the gate. Sakura punched Naruto to the ground in response before walking back over to the door and sitting down, too frustrated to continue waiting.
"How else am I meant to train?" Naruto shouted to Sakura. "I have to get Shikao to become the Captain Commander one day."
"It's called Shikai, you moron." Sasuke answered, not needing the question to be directed to him in order to ignore answering it. "And if you think someone like you will ever become the Captain of the Gotei 13 you're stupider than even I thought." He talked calmly in a regular tone, proving that there was no need to shout to be heard.
"Hey! I'll be the Captain Commander one day." Naruto held up his thumb, now facing towards Sasuke. "Believe it!" Sasuke shook his head.
"Whatever, loser." Was the only response he cared to give. Naruto stood up, now pointing at Sasuke.
"I'll unlock my Shikai long before you do! Then I'll prove how strong I am."

There was a pause for a second. Naruto thought he'd won an argument and proved himself. Sakura rolled her eyes. Sasuke looked unimpressed as he held his tongue for a second, almost considering whether or not Naruto deserved to know the information he was about to give out.
"I have a Shikai." He eventually said. Naruto refused to believe him.
"Prove it! Show me your Shikai." This time, Sasuke was the one who felt like rolling his eyes, instead he closed them and stayed calm.
"If you knew anything about being a Soul Reaper you'd know that we're not authorised to release our Zanpakutō here, especially against other Shinigami." Naruto didn't know this, but pretended he did. He sat back down and crossed his arms for the next minute before the door opened. Sakura looked up at the door, Naruto jumped to his feet and smiled, Sasuke kept his head down, waiting until the man spoke before opening his eyes and raising his head to look at him.
"Well aren't you all early?" The Lieutenant of Squad 7 commented. "I'm the Lieutenant of your new Squad: Kakashi Hatake." The man in front of them wore a full body suit, concealing his body all the way up to his mask. He also wore slack trousers and a sleeveless jacket. A dress code such as this made Sasuke wonder why Hiruzen had abolished a dress code for Shinigami of the rank under Captain. That is, if you could call a dress code wearing a Captain's coat. He wouldn't have liked wearing a Shihakushō but it would've made some people look better in his opinion.
"Of course we a-" Sakura began before she was interupted.
"We're not early, you're just late." Sasuke commented, not feeling the need for politeness.

Kakashi Hatake looked at him for a while, seemingly too stunned to speak, before smiling under his mask.
"You must be Sasuke Uchiha." He looked at Sakura. "Sakura Haruno, of course." Finally, he looked at Naruto. "And Naruto Uzumaki." Kakashi sat on the step at the bottom of the door. "Tell me a bit about yourselves. Goals, interests, dislikes and such." Sakura went first, giving answers that none of the others really cared to listen to and wouldn't remember longer than a few seconds. Naruto went next, coming in closer to Kakashi and sitting on the ground. He gave answers too, nothing more important than his usual claim of becoming the Captain of Squad 1. Sasuke was far away from Kakashi, the whole courtyard away, but all the distance in the world couldn't hide from his eyes the fact that Kakashi didn't really care about any of their answers. If anything, he was using it as a way to size them up. Sasuke knew the one comment he'd already made in front of the Lieutenant had shown enough of his personality for Kakashi, even Sakura's half of a sentence was even to size her personality up. The only person he didn't have details on was Naruto. Sasuke, of course, didn't know the extensive files Kakashi had been told to read, and had read, on Naruto, but he was fairly certain that Kakashi had been waiting on the other side of the door for a while, or no matter where he was he would have heard Naruto which could've given him the chance to gleam most, if not all, of Naruto's personality. To any reasonable Shinigami of rank, if Sasuke had been a little older with more experience under his belt, the way he thought would earn him a Squad Seat within minutes, definitely a Lieutenant place if there were any vacant and perhaps even a Captaincy if his power was at an equal level.

Nobody in the courtyard really thought Sasuke would answer, but Sakura had hoped he would. Kakashi took the nonchalant option, as usual, and didn't say anything. Naruto, however, was pretty quick to jump up and cause a problem.
"Answer already!" He shouted. Another pause, Sasuke took his time once more.
"Fine." Came the reply. "My goal is to eliminate a certain someone. My interest is getting my revenge. And my dislikes...well, Naruto, you don't have to look any further than yourself."
"What was that!?" Naruto shouted back. There wasn't a reply, which just enraged him more. "Answer me, Uchiha." Naruto spoke through gritted teeth, choosing his words carefully as he rarely did. His use of the phrase 'Uchiha' was a deliberate attempt at an insult, he wasn't familiar with the history or current affairs of the Uchiha but he knew that Sasuke was the only one around. For a brief moment, Sasuke felt anger. Being a believer in revenge, he wanted to reply in kind but he was able to convince himself to stay quiet and not let Naruto get to him. Kakashi watched the scene with interest, quickly checking behind him and making sure he'd closed the door, his Captain would probably give him a minor scolding if he saw what his Lieutenant was about to do. That wouldn't have stopped Kakashi, but he saw no need to get in trouble if he could avoid it.

Kakashi stood up and walked over beside Naruto.
"How about you two cool off...with a spar." Naruto looked shocked for a second before grinning excitedly and cracking his knuckles.
"Shikai or not, I'll kick your ass, Sasuke." He walked towards the Uchiha slowly, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. Kakashi wasn't surprised Sasuke had a Shikai. He was top of the class and an exceptional student, even for one of the noble families, the Uchiha. Well, ex-noble family.
"Shikai is permitted." Kakashi added, interested to see the extent of Sasuke's abilities. The Uchiha finally stopped leaning on the wall and stepped forward, keeping his hands at his sides and away from his Zanpakutō, smirking.
"No thanks." He spoke, turning to Kakashi. "You'd probably just copy it." It was a clear insult, but Kakashi was too experienced to let it reach him.
"I'm glad you're familiar with my work." Was all he said. Naruto drew his sword quickly, swinging towards Sasuke in one smooth motion. It was a good move and may have worked if his opponent was at a closer range, but Sasuke was far enough away to take a small step back and avoid the attack.
"Draw your weapon." Naruto requested. All he was met with was an unimpressed look from Sasuke, silently telling Naruto he wasn't worth him drawing his sword. Eventually Naruto swung again, horizontally at Sasuke's midsection. Sasuke didn't look to the side to see when the swing was coming, to an unexperienced eye it looked like he guessed the timing, but he was certain of what he was doing.

The swing came towards the Uchiha at a furious speed, but not fast enough. As the swing was in motion he ducked, not even a single hair on his head being touched by the blade. He leant back, placing one hard on the concrete floor as he raised his left leg, slamming his foot into Naruto's stomach. Naruto stumbled back, letting out a quick cough and ran at Sasuke, holding his sword above his head. This was probably the worst thing he could have done. Sasuke's Shunpo was adequate, at best, in comparison to higher ranks, but in comparison to most unseated Soul Reapers it was of the highest standard. It was certainly miles ahead of any speed Naruto was capable of. Sasuke's body flickered ever so slightly as he performed Shunpo, appearing on the other side of Naruto, having already slammed his fist into Naruto's chest and moved on. Naruto doubled over, but kept hold of his sword. When Sasuke didn't hear the dropping of Naruto's Zanpakutō on the ground that he knew he would find very satisfying he turned, not checking on Naruto's condition, but raising his foot as he turned. He took his other foot off the ground, sending his first towards the back of Naruto's head. Naruto had just about recovered from the high speed attack and was turning to make his next swing when the foot hit him mid-turn, right in the cheek. Sasuke extended his right hand and pushed off the ground after the kick, landing on his feet. Naruto twirled around once in a spin and kept on his feet, holding his Zanpakutō in front of him with both hands. Dazed, but wanting to fight on.

Sasuke was getting infuriated. Three moves and this guy was still standing, there was definitely something different about this guy. As Hiruzen would mention so often about every graduate, Naruto was certainly one who carried the will of fire within him. Sasuke almost laughed at the irony only he understood, as only he knew what he was going to do next, not even Kakashi expected it. He has the will of fire...now he'll be blasted with fire. A deep inhalation was all it took to get the Kidō started. About then Kakashi figured it out, Sakura too but she wouldn't believe it till she saw the attack. Naruto was too dazed to think about anything like that. Sasuke directed his Spirit Energy to his chest and then up his throat as he blew into the air. Instead of breathing out normally his mouth produced a fireball about twice Naruto's size. Naruto saw the fireball heading towards him and knew he couldn't dodge it completely. He could have perhaps used Shunpo to dodge part of the fireball, if he'd snapped out of his daze in time. Luckily, he didn't have to as a voice spoke in his head.
"Jūfuku." Was the first word Naruto heard as he was pulled into a place that looked like a forest.
"What?" Naruto replied. "What's Ju-whatever."
"The answer." The voice replied, which Naruto realised was coming from a man who stood atop a tree. He wore a black hooded cloak so Naruto couldn't make out any of his features.
"The answer?" Naruto asked.
"Yes." The man replied. "Jūfuku is the answer to the question you asked, when you weren't ready to hear the answer. Your inferiority to Sasuke has made you ready?"
"I'm not inferior to him!" Naruto roared.
"Not anymore." The man agreed.

Naruto found himself back in reality, the hooded man stood by the fireball which was frozen. In fact, Naruto noticed, all time was frozen, including himself.
"You are brave, Naruto Uzumaki." The hooded man went on. "I wish you could have heard me sooner, but you had to have motivation. Now achieve your goal. Show this..." The man paused, as if he was trying to think of the right word to insult Sasuke "Show this Uchiha how powerful we can be, as a two man team!"
"Hey!" Naruto stayed silent for a second, thinking about his next words. "He has a name. He's not just an Uchiha. He's Sasuke and he's...part of Squad 7 together." The hooded man looked taken aback by Naruto's defiance as he continued. "His name is Sasuke, and we're part of the same team." The hooded man smiled warmly.
"It takes a good man to be so compassionate, Naruto...Now get back to your fight. And roar my name!" In that instant Naruto understood everything, but he had from the start, somewhere deep down that is. He just wasn't willing to consciously understand without talking to his Zanpakutō first. In the next instant, time unfroze and the fireball hurtled towards Naruto. He did a small Shunpo backwards, a bit slower than the fireball but it bought him some time as he swung his sword upwards and shouted.
"Clone, Jūfuku!" A blast of blue Spirit Energy burst from Naruto's blade, disintegrating the fireball.

Naruto stood tall, slightly beaten and bruised from Sasuke's physical attacks, and pointed his sword at Sasuke, his new sword. Naruto's blade had widened out, still flat edged but with a longer flat part, not meant for cutting. Down the centre of the blade ran a red line, all the way down to the red hilt, which had also increased in size a little. The blade was only slightly bigger, still effective. Kakashi looked neutral, but it's hard not to look neutral wearing a mask, he was probably impressed inside. Sakura was in clear disbelief. But Sasuke looked somewhat...proud. Naruto wasn't his favourite person, nor had he been trying to push him to achieve Shikai in this fight, but he was slightly proud nevertheless.
"Release your Zanpakutō." Naruto spoke calmly and sternly, not requesting but demanding. He was met with a smirk from Sasuke.
"As you wish." He replied as he drew his blade. "Stream, Kirin." Sasuke's blade sparked slightly and then lit up with blue lightning. Naruto nodded slightly, relishing the challenge he was being given. Both fighters smirked as Naruto ran forward, about to use his Shikai ability, and Sasuke raised his sword, about to use his own Shikai ability to match Naruto's. They had both figured correctly what the ability the other would use was and were about to unleash them when the doors of the Squad 7 barracks burst open and a shout rang out.
"Lieutenant Hatake! What do you think you're doing?!" Sakura turned immediately while Naruto and Sasuke stopped just before their attacks.

Kakashi stood still, reluctant to turn around. Almost as if he thought the problem would go away if he didn't look at it. Eventually he turned, to see a man with black hair and a stern look. He wore a white coat with the Japanese symbol for the number seven on the back of it.
"Letting new recruits battle? And with Shikai nevertheless!. Do you know how dangerous that is." Kakashi stayed quiet a few seconds and then the man turned to the three rookies. "My apologies, I haven't introduced myself yet." He extended his hand to Sakura. "I'm the Captain of the Seventh Division of the Gotei 13, your Captain. My name is Shisui Shiba."