Chapter 2 – Finding an Answer: Naruto vs. Ichigo

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[Underground Sewer System, Seireitei, Soul Society]

Current Time…

As Naruto and Ichigo clashed in the sewers below the Seireitei both Ganju and Hanataro watched with the shock they were feeling clearly etched into their faces. Ganju was shocked at seeing this display of power on Naruto's part; even though it was clear that the blond-haired shinigami was using less than a quarter of his strength he was clearly getting the better of his opponent, who looked like he had been run over by a freight train while Naruto had yet to receive even a single wound.

Hanataro, on the other hand, was amazed by the fact that Naruto had not taken Ichigo down after 20 minutes had passed. Hanataro had witnessed what the former shinobi was capable of with using that level of strength when Naruto protected him from a couple of 11th Division members who had been bullying him around. The amount of strength Naruto was fighting at right now was at the level of a captain so the fact that Ichigo was still able to fight him was nothing short of a miracle.

Naruto was also impressed by Ichigo's strength even as he had forced the orange-haired shinigami on the defensive; with the exception of his fellow shinobigami and the Captains that he fought when they tried to gauge his strength everyone else would've lost a fight against him in the first few minutes. Ichigo has not only managed to keep fighting him the would-be rescuer had even managed to tire Naruto out considerably as he had been forced to use both his Shunpo and Kido against Ichigo.

Ichigo suddenly swung Zangetsu as Naruto's chest before the blonde could continue his attack; as Naruto Shunpoed yet again he took a moment to note Ichigo's massive amount of reiatsu before he pointed his right index finger at Ichigo.

"Hado # 4. Byakurai," Naruto said he generated a concentrated lightning bolt that he then discharged iat Ichigo.

The orange-haired managed to dodge the attack as Naruto suddenly appeared above him.

"You're not bad, Ichigo, but you're going to have to try harder than that," Naruto said rather bluntly as he swung his zanpakuto at Ichigo's head.

"I'm not finished just yet, Naruto Uzumaki so don't act as if I am already beaten. You may be much stronger than I am but I won't give up; I have to rescue Rukia and if that means passing this little test of yours then I will do it," Ichigo said in response to Naruto's comment; Naruto already knew that Ichigo was not finished but was trying to push the human to see just how muc strength he had.

After blocking Naruto's slash Ichigo, to the former shinobi's surprise, stopped moving and had placed his zanpakuto on his shoulders.

Naruto wasn't the only one that was confused by Ichigo's actions as both Hanataro and Ganju were also taken aback by this.

"What the hell is Ichigo doing?" Ganju thought to himself as Ichigo just stood in that position, unmoving.

"Uh... are you okay Ichig- WAHHHH!" Hanataro said as a sudden and massive burst of reiatsu emanated throughout the area; since the underground sewers were so deep below the suface that only those in the passages would've felt this upsurge in power.

Naruto looked on as Ichigo suddenly turned his glare towards him; the former shinobi's eyes widened as Ichigo's eyes suddenly glowed a light blue.

"I sorry to keep you waiting... but I now it's time to show you my resolve, Naruto Uzumaki," Ichigo said as Naruto looked at him in shock before he flash a smirk.

"Resolve, huh? So it is your will that's has helped you through all this," Naruto thought to himself as he prepared to dodge the oncoming attack.

The shinobigami was surprised when Ichigo lifted his massive blade; with the blade pointed towards the celing it looked as if he intended to slash at Naruto despite the fact that he was 20 feet from the blonde.

Ichigo then swung his zanpakuto which, to Naruto's surprise, unleashed some sort of massive beam of reiatsu as it was swung; before anyone realized it the beam reached Naruto who suddenly vanished behind the light generated by Ichigo's attack. After a few moments the attack finally dissipated leaving behing a column of smoke and a canyon-like chasm on the floor of the hallway.

Ichigo looked on as his breathing became slow and heavy.

"Did I get him that time?" Ichigo asked himself as he fell to his knees, his exhaustion and wounds having finally caught up to him; though Ichigo assume that Naruto did survived the attack he wasn't sure if Naruto was able to fully escape the onslaught.

As the column of smoke continued to dissipate at a slow pace Ichigo and his two companions suddenly heard Naruto say something that shocked all three of them.

"You something else Ichigo, you know that? You actually managed to wound me," Naruto said as the smoke finaly cleared enough for the three would-be rescuers to see what had happened. Ichigo and Ganju couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Naruto stood before them as if he was still unscathed; it was hard to tell, however, as the shinobigami's entire body was now enveloped by what appeared to be a reiatsu shroud that was in the form of flickering yellow flames. Naruto now wore what appeared to be a necklace made of magatama beads while an image of a larger magatama appeared on the shroud where it enveloped Naruto's abdomen; the round circle of larger bead-like image was itself strange as it looked like a spiral pattern of some sort. In addition to the shroud Naruto's hair was now spiked up with the two endmost locks now resembling horns; as final change in his appearance Naruto's eyes had changed colo, turning from blue to orange. The change in appearance was accompanied by a increase in reiatsu that only Ichigo could withstand without being pinned down to the floor though he had already fallen to his knees prior to this form. (A/N: Naruto just used his Nine-Tails[Kyubi] Chakra Mode [KCM])

Ichigo was shocked but, surprisingly, it wasn't from either the changes in Naruto's appearance or power.

"Why are you still unscathed? I thought you said that I wounded you," Ichigo said to which Naruto sighed.

"You did wound me, baka. If I hadn't unleashed this form when I did that wound would've actually been fatal," Naruto explained away.

Naruto then, to everyone's shock, dispersed the form that he had taken which undid both the increase in his powers and the change in appearance. When the KCM dispersed Ichigo, Ganju, and especially Hanataro, were surprised to see that Naruto had indeed been wounded; the blond-haired shinigami had what was clearly a slash wound that reached his left shoulder to what appeared to be inches above where his heart and major blood vessels. Ichigo realized what that wound meant if his smirk was anything to go by.

"I guess I passed your little test, Naruto," Ichigo said as his two companions got back to their feet.

"So you did, Ichigo," Naruto said as he motioned for Hanataro to heal the orange-haired shinigami.

As Hanataro began to heal a reluctant Kurosaki he turned his gaze to Naruto's wound. Naruto noticed Yamada's concerned expression and waved it off.

"You don't have to worry about me, Hanataro; you should already know that this wound will probably be healed in a few minutes anyways so focus your attention to Ichigo," Naruto reasoned.

The former shinobi then turned his attention to both Ganju and the somehow concious Ichigo when he saw that both had expressions on their faces that screamed confusion.

"I guess this would be the best time for an explanation about who I am and what I'm going to do now. Am I right?" Naruto asked; he sighed when the two men nodded as he realized that this would take a while...

Two Hours Later...

Naruto had finished his explanation to Ichigo and Ganju a few minutes prior and was now headed towards the sewer entrance that was located right next to the barracks of his division. After getting the group to agree to not talk about anything that he said to them after he parted from them Naruto told them about himself, including a little bit about his past life since all of the shinobigami did remember their past, and about the existence of the shinobigami the former shinobi then agreed to let Ichigo and his friends continue their efforts to rescue Rukia.

Naruto, thanks to his battle with Kurosaki, even agreed to help the intruders with the rescue. Due to the suspicious nature of Rukia's execution, however, Naruto told the group that he would not join the group as it would be better if he got the other shinobigami to help them as well. Though Ichigo was suspicious of Naruto's claim he finally relented after a few minutes. After taking a few more minutes to explain he planned to do to the the group Naruto left, having agreed to meet with Ichigo and his friends, including those that were not present, once Rukia had been rescued. Naruto, despite being aware of the possible maniplations surrounding Rukia's sentence, decided not to tell Ichigo of these dark designs just yet as he had no solid proof of them.

Naruto decided to ask his dad to hold a meeting with the other shinobigami to inform them of the situation and to plan their course of action. Naruto didn't have to worry about the possibility of any of them refusing to help since they had been planning to deal with this situation anyways though the group of former shinobi had yet to decided if they would have to forcibly stop the execution.

As Naruto finally reached the ladder leading to the sewer entrance he reflected on what had happened in these hallways today; he was especially reflected on his opponent, a thought that was not lost on the part of his inner entities.

"It's just like Rukia said, Naruto, he is a lot like you," a familiar voice said to him from within his mind.

"I guess he is, Kurama, though I'm shocked that his powers are still growing even now. To think that he's already at the level that he is makes me wonder if he even knows how much potential," Naruto replied.

"Says the kid who is already at the level where he can obtain bankai yet refuses to do so," another voice said in a mocking tone; this caused a giant vein to suddenly poke out of Naruto's forehead.

"Are you seriously going to bring that up? I thought that we agreed to honor my dad's request to wait for that until us shinobigami have dealt with that sanke Aizen and his two lackeys," Naruto said in an irritated tone before he heard that same voice sigh at what he said.

"We did agree to that, Naruto. But let's imagine for a moment that Aizen is the one responsible for this entire ordeal and that he finally make his move against the Soul Society. Even though you're able to see past his illusions your shikai isn't going to be enough to deal with him. If you really want to save Rukia you're going to have to make that decision... and it has to be made now, Naruto," the voice said. Just as Naruto was about to sigh at this lecture Kurama stepped in.

"This guy may get on my nerves everytime we have a conversation, Naruto, but he does have a point," the Tailed Beast said in agreement.

"You've always known how to push my buttons don't you... Kamikaze(Translation: Divine Wind)? I guess I shouldn't be surprised since you are my zanpakuto. (sighs) You do realize that I already know all of this, right? Because I know all of that already I was going to tell you as well as Kurama that I planned to finally begin my Bankai training after I have this meeting with the others," Naruto said. Both of his internal resident were surprised by this but were unable to say anything before Naruto continued to speak.

"I promised my dad that I would wait a bit before I began that training; if Aizen is the one who's responsible for Rukia's sentence, however, I can't afford to wait any longer. I going to need that power to deal with that man so I'm going to ask Shisui-sensei to help me with my training which I plan to begin tonight. As for my dad... as long as it actually helps us in stopping Aizen what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?," Naruto explained. The former shinobi could tell that Kamikaze ws smirking after hearing all of this as he began to climb the ladder out of the sewers...

Next Time - Preparations