Submindy: I'm sorry for being gone for so long.
Naruto: No way!! This is too cool you haven't sat down to write a fanfic in like a year!
Submindy: You got to thank my good friend KenthostheKitsune.
Kenthos: Yuppers!!
Submindy: Naruto be a good boy and do the warning and Asch do the disclaimer! Oh yeah got to thank my betareader Aishiteru Sabaku no Gaara.
Naruto: *groans* Okay this story contains a lot of yaoi and relations between a 12-16 year old to an older guy so if you do not like do not read and I mean it! Flames will be completely ignored and you will get a pretty bad response from Mindy and Kenthos!
Asch: Mindy does not own Bleach or Naruto so do not try anything and anyways if she owned either one she would have Naruto as an uke to Sasuke or Itachi and in Bleach she would put Ichigo as uke to Byakuya or Grimmjow.
Chapter 4
Meeting new enemies
Naruto was faster than the wind and was clutching to the back of Minato's haori again as he remembered the blind man. He was the one that sent him here without explaining anything. The man was the one that just thrust him into a world where he was confused and alone. Minato glared at Kaname, "What did you do?" Kaname tilted his head slightly. "All I did was consoled the child, Minato-taicho" Minato replied, ice lacing his voice. "And yet he's afraid of you? If what you say is true, then you should have explained some things to him before you pulled out your sword." Tousen blinked then. "As what I can tell he is a shy child and he was murdered as he was following his teacher back to his village. I didn't want to have to chase him down and there was always the chance of a hollow going after him."
Minato snorted but chose not to say anything, the elemental villages were swept everyday for hollows and spirits causing them to be hollow free most of the time. The possibilities of Naruto running into a hollow would've been 1 out of 50 at best. "Be that as it may, I suggest you stay away from my student and future subordinate." The blonde peeked out from his hiding spot and kept his eyes on the blond Shinigami completely unaware of Aizen peaked interest in the small Shinigami-to-be. Naruto blinked as he spoke to his human barrier, "I didn't know I was assigned to your division? I thought the divisions were specialized depending on what our zanpaukto do though?"
Minato looked over at Naruto, "That's usually the case, but when you are assigned to a squad you'll start out with mine for the first few months or so to see how you'll perform." Naruto nodded as he slowly stood beside the twelfth division captain obviously wanting to talk to the other people barring the three new arrivals. "Minato-san....I was wondering....what division is that Renji person in?" Minato looked down to the curious kitsune. "He's in the 6th squad under captain Kuchiki who's over there." Minato pointed at the raven haired aristocrat that had been staring at them earlier. Before walking away, Minato gave Aizen a glare that said 'leave-him-the-fuck-alone.' Naruto was using Minato's haori as a safety line as he ignored the stares he received from the three weirdest captains. "What all am I going to be learning, Minato-san??"
"Basically swordsmanship, how to perform kido, defeat hollows, console souls and the like. It's a little more complicated than it sounds. You also have to learn all the rules and laws of the soul society." Minato replied, sitting by Toshiro and Rangiku. Naruto looked up to him stunned. "All of the rules? Great and I can't use my favorite cheating technique either" He sulked some and then looked to Rangiku. "Oh do me a favor Rangiku-chan....do not start a fan club or anything concerning me please?" He looked to her smiling softly and blinked some as he hears something, "Looks like we'll be meeting soon then Naru-chan...I'll be interested if you can hear my name or not." Naruto looks around obviously confused. "Wha?"
Minato looked at him, "What is it Naruto?" Naruto blinked some. "You mean you didn't hear that Minato-san?" Everyone looked at the blond confused until Minato's face broke out in idea. "What EXACTLY did you hear Naruto?" Naruto tilted his head some. "Um mm he said something bout hearing his name and I'll be meeting him soon?"
Minato smiled, "Something tells me that was your Zanpaukto making contact with you Naruto. A zanpaukto is an embodiment of your soul in a way, and the true way of gaining a partnership with it is to know it's name. The swords usually tell you their name but it's up to the soul reaper to be able to hear it." Naruto nodded slowly and then looked up to him then. "Is it normal for Shinigami to be able to hear their zanpaukto so soon after dying though?"
"No, that's unusual. Usually it takes awhile before one can hear their zanpaukto, heck there are a few captains that can't hear their's." Naruto tilted his head some. "Could it have something to do with me talking to Kyuu-kun all the time?" The other people in the room perked up at that, "Who's Kyuu-kun?" Gin asked, his creepy smile never leaving his face. Minato glowered at him, honestly did the man ever change expressions?
Naruto blinked some then. "Kyuu's been with me since I was born....when I died, he died too" Minato sighed, he was going to have to tell the story again. "Naruto and I are from the same ninja village, the village hidden in the leaves. Twelve years ago, a nine-tailed fox demon called Kyuubi attacked the village and nearly destroyed everything. I was the leader of the village at the time so I performed a sealing ritual that would call a shinigami to our location and seal Kyuubi's soul into an infant body or in other words Naruto. In exchange I would die. Before dying I asked that Naruto would be recognized as a hero but the people didn't listen to my last request and treated him horribly." Minato sighed, "Naruto I know I should have said this earlier but...I'm sorry."
Naruto looked at him with wide eyes then. "It's not your fault and it's not Kyuu's....it's the one that killed Kyuu-kun's mate and kits....Kyuu adopted me as his kit though, he promised to protect me no matter what. Anyways it was understandable that the villagers would hate me. I was a constant reminder to them of everything they had lost." Minato tilted his head, "Did Kyuubi ever find out who did it?" Naruto slowly nodded. "Yeah Kyuu told me it was Oro-teme and an Uchiha"
Toshiro glanced at the teen, "Orochimaru and Uchiha? Which Uchiha are we talking about here?" Naruto closed his eyes some. "Ma....dara??" A lot of the soul reapers scowled at the name, they had been trying for years to execute this guy. Naruto sighed and then smirked. "He's gonna be royally pissed when he finds out Sasuke killed me though. Madara wanted to take Kyuu away from me...now he can't" A few of the captains smirked, "Yes that will be hilarious when he finds out, I wish I could see his face!" Renji stated as he entered the room
Naruto looked at him as he smiled. "Minato-san...what does each of the squads do?" Minato sighed as he tilted his head to the ceiling as he spoke. "Each squad specializes in something. For example, squad 4 specializes in healing. They're the ones that work at the hospital and every soul reaper there is required to have a wide variety of medical knowledge. However they don't even have a zanpaukto. Squad 11 is for the front lines the bruisers of the guard, the first ones who usually go onto the battlefield. Those are just some examples." Naruto nodded slowly. "What does your squad do, Minato-san?"
"We mostly deal with science and creating objects that help make our jobs easier. But it's mostly science and since I was a seals master in life and they were in need of a new captain I was elected." Minato explained. By now most of the captains are leaving or have already left, with the exception of Renji, Rangiku, Toshiro and Kuchiki. Naruto looked to the two captains with honest curiousity. Toshiro caught Naruto's look, "What is it Naruto?" Naruto blinked slowly. "Nothing...just was curious a little....how did you two become captains?" The small white haired captain smirked then, "Each candidate has to take a certain test that corresponds to their squad or if their squad leader is killed than the vice captain is made captain." The twelve year old blond blinked as he nods slowly. "Ah I see." Naruto blinked slowly as he begins to yawn
Minato glanced outside, it was getting dark. "I think it's best we get you settled in Naruto, it's getting late." The kitsune nods as he started to get up. "Mm okay Minato-san...it was nice meeting you Rangiku-chan, Renji-kun, Hitsuguya-taicho, Kuchiki-taicho" The former dobe is yawning obviously as he heads to the door and listening to Kyuu and the unknown voice inside his head. The Shinigamis bade their farewells before Minato led Naruto to his apartment. It was cozy, not to small not to big and it had two rooms, one for Naruto one for Minato. Minato led Naruto into his room. "The futon is in the closet as are the pillows and blankets. If you need anything, I'll be in the next room. I'll be up awhile longer, so I'm sorry if I accidentally disturb your sleep. Good night Naruto."
Naruto smiled softly as he yawned; he goes into the room before sitting down on the bed. Before long he began meditating and blinking as he sees a white humanoid fox his eyes a golden color with years of insight and understanding of what was going on. Yoko looked serene surrounded by a pure white Konoha. This Konoha however was covered in snow. "Hello Naruto my name is Yoko Kurama your zanpaukto. The rose you originally found is me. I am in my sealed state right now, as soon as you hold me I will morph into a thorn whip to help you fight."
The blond blinked and nodded as he comes out of his state and going to sleep until about five when he gets up to make walked past the desk, only to find Minato asleep there. Apparently the man had been too busy doing paperwork to go to bed.
Shaking his head some before making pancakes and bananas. "Kyuu, Yoko do you think I can use my reiatsu like chakra so I can make some techniques like when I was alive?"
"Hmm....it's possible I believe. I think Minato has tried already and can create the rasengan with it and he's currently working on more. I believe that's what he was working on last night, it was supposed to be part of your training schedule." Shocked Naruto blinked. "Mm I think I'll work on trying to develop my techniques...It'd be great if I can recreate kage bunshin again I could use the extra studying power." Kyuubi silently agreed to his kit. "That's true...on another note I hope him staying up all night working isn't a normal occurrence."
Naruto sighed some as he takes the breakfast, of pancakes, to the male and puts it on the man's desk. "Minato-san breakfast" Minato mumbled incoherently for a moment, his breathing turning shallow a sign he is waking up. As he lifted his face up, there's a small ink smudge on his left cheek. He glanced at Naruto, his face the picture of sleepiness. "Hey Naruto....sorry if I woke you up last night..."he apologized quietly. Naruto blinked some and blushed. "It's okay and you have a smudge on the cheek. Now eat before that gets cold." He goes to eat in the kitchen Minato murmured a thanks before digging in, making a mental note not to stay up so late, oh and take care of that smudge too. The blonde came in after eating. "I met my zanpaukto last night....he...was very nice and he resembled Kyuu-kun when he was in humanoid form except he had silver hair."
Minato smiled, "That's good, it makes him easier to call upon when needed. If you want to take a shower there's another set of robes outside your door and the bathroom's down the hall." Naruto nodded as he heads to the bathroom and comes out wearing the normal shinigami robes the only difference being his ears, tails, and rose. Minato nodded, "You clean up nicely Naruto, I'll be out in 10 minutes. Until then, try to learn more about your zanpaukto." With that Minato went into the bathroom to shower. Naruto held the rose flicking it as it became a thorn whip.
Minato came out a few minutes later, dressed in his captain uniform. "Ready?" Naruto silently nodded as he flicked his hand again the whip went back to the rose form. "Hmmm..that kind of reminds me of Renji's zanpaukto, only his is a sword. It turns into a whip like weapon when he applies reiatsu. Anyway, let's go to one of the training grounds, I'm going to give you a rundown on everything you have to learn."
Naruto smiled as he tucks the rose in his hair as he heads to the door. "Okay Minato-sensei" Minato walked out the door, Naruto close behind. Suddenly he turned around and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. It was like blinking. One minute they were at their apartment, the next they were at a training field of some sort. "Like the Hiraishin?" Naruto blinked as he staggered slightly. "Tha-that's the hiraishin? Wow...it's a rush like Ero-sennin said." Naruto looked up a little confused as Yoko begins speaking to him once more. "Naru-chan there are some special traits to me that will help. My sealed state has two forms, the rose thorn whip and the rose sword. The thorns on me are poisonous to everyone but you little one, you however will be healed by my poison. My sealed form is on par with any Shinigamis' shikai release, my shikai is equal to their bankai, and my bankai is on its own level. I don't want you to use the shikai until you are proficient with my sealed form, Naru-chan. Also when you are sparring with Minato-san insist on having a fourth division healer present." The blonde blinked in obvious shock as he nodded slowly.
Minato tilted his head, "What is it Naruto?" Naruto closed his eyes as he blushed some. "Yoko was explaining some things about him to me." The blonde flicked the rose and it was in the thorn whip before whipping it back and the whip forms into a sword with thorns along the blade. Minato simply nodded, not taking out his sword.
Naruto then looked to the older blonde. "Yoko also said I can't spar with anyone unless we have a member from the fourth division present." Minato's smile faded, not because of what the sword said but because it didn't matter anyway. Ever since he sealed Kyuubi.......Minato hadn't been the same. As in he couldn't be killed, he never aged and if he got hurt or his arms or any other article of his body was cut off it just grew back like a weed. Ever since he showed up he had been the strongest captain except for Yamamoto. The only thing that could hurt him was probably Naruto. Minato theorized that during the battle Kyuubi's chakra affected his own body and perhaps even his own soul causing him to be this way.
Innocent sapphire eyes looked up to the man. "So what's my learning schedule, Minato-sensei?" Minato mentally shook his head, placing a smile on his face. "Well Naruto we're going to spar in the morning and study in the afternoon for now and see how that goes. Now, I'm going to brief you on what hollows are, what lost souls are and the like. Basically I'm going to go into more detail of what soul reapers do." Nodding slowly as he reverted Yoko back to his compact sealed form of the blue rose.
Minato sat on the ground, clearing his throat. "Well Naruto, basically we keep peace between the world of the living and the world of the dead. It's our job to make sure spirits pass on after they die and to keep hollows away from the living. Our two main duties are to destroy hollows and console spirits. Now do you have any idea what hollows are?" Naruto tilted his head some. "Um mm basically the opposite of shinigami so they either eat souls or take souls away to where they live?" The blonde is starting to get a headache from the two voices talking to him in his head explaining things as well. Minato chuckled, "You're somewhat correct but truthfully....they used to be normal souls no different from you or me Naruto." The younger blond nodded slowly. "Yeah Kyuu said that too and that only a few hollows were born as such"
"Hai, you see Naruto when we die a chain appears at the center of our chests, this chain usually connects our spirits to our bodies while we are alive. However after death the chains are severed cutting us off of our physical bodies. There are two known ways to turn into a hollow.....one is if your chain is ripped from your chest that chain is the only thing keeping you human after you die. Or the other way if for another hollow to transform you into one." Naruto tilted his head obviously confused. "But....I don't remember having a chain Minato-sensei." Minato placed his hands under his chin in thought, "Usually when a spirit is consoled they arrive here and the chain is removed since here you can't get attacked as long as you are in the soul society. I don't really know Naruto, it would've been easier to figure this out had I been the one to find you instead of Kaname."
Naruto looked up scowling then, a look not meant for his sweet face. "I don't like that man....All I remember when I died was that there was immense pain but then warmth around me...kinda like Kyuu was cocooning me to protect me I suppose." Minato nodded, "You're not the only one....he preaches about justice all the time yet what he did was not very honorable. I don't like any of the three. Naruto......please trust me when I ask this of you.....stay as far away as you can from them...there's something not right about any of them since the day I met them..."
Naruto looked up then and nods. "Yeah the silver haired man and the other one made me feel like I was a piece of meat on display." Minato narrowed his eyes in suspicion...."Ignore them and don't trust them Naruto....they are Gin and Aizen, captains of squad five and three." Naruto nods as he looked up to the man then and tilted his head some. "Mm mm I think we should spar a little Minato-sensei to see what I need to work on?"
"Hai." Minato stood up and dusted off his Soul Reaper garbs before pulling out his Zanpakuto. "Come," he beckoned, holding out his finger in a 'come hither' motion, instigating the younger blond to fight him. Naruto, taking the challenge, rolled back onto his back and pushed off, leaping to his feet effortlessly. He looked down at the rose he was holding delicately in his hands with an appraising smile before smiling and applying reiatsu to his feet, rocketing forward in a mid-speed shunpo with Yoko transformed into the Zanpakuto form. Minato disappeared as the sword made contact with his clone body, but retaliated nonetheless. Before the teen knew it, he had the sharpened edge of Minato's blade against his neck, ending the battle for the time being. The younger's blue eyes widened with disbelief. Minato had trained hard, but he had a feeling that Naruto could probably catch up to him in a year, the thought of that happening being depressing in a way, but proud in another. Naruto smirked once he regained himself and flicked his sword into a whip form, trying to make the weapon graze the other's skin.
Minato caught the flick of the younger's wrist before he used the sword to force back the whip-like weapon. He flipped backward, landing on his feet with an elegant display. Naruto flipped over to the other side and gasped softly at such elegance before concentrating his reiatsu to form Shadow Clones. Before Minato knew it, there were countless Naruto's, over one hundred to be exact. Staring in awe, the older blond was baffled. 'But then again, he always was good, from what I observed, with Shadow Clones…' he reminded himself. Shaking off his disbelief, Minato performed hand signs and summoned a spire of earth, jutting out at a few of the clones. They disappeared with a slight pop noise and Minato looked around. He was completely surrounded.
The Naruto's laughed arrogantly and three launched themselves at Minato. Minato gave up on jutsu for the time being, resorting back to his Zanpakuto. With an elegant swing and a flick of his right wrist, Minato disposed of the three, looking as if he never moved from the sword drawn position. Seeing this, the real Naruto, and his clones, made a face resembling a scowl. Six more launched themselves at Minato and they too were disposed off, again with Minato looking as if he never even moved. Even so, if Naruto looked down a the dirt at his feet, he would see multiple footsteps piled on top of each other, showing that Minato had in fact moved.
Growing frustrated with the turn of events, Naruto sent twenty of his clones hurling toward Minato. Minato, giving up on the swiftness of his movements, knowing Naruto had put two and two together now, sheathed his sword before a clone made contact. Once they did, Minato disappeared in a pile of Naruto clones. Naruto, thinking himself to be triumphant, smiled and wiped his nose as if to say it was easy. Just as he was about to turn away and call off his clones, the clones looked down in concen. In a short second, all twenty were flung into the air with all the rest and Minato was proven to be conscious still.
Naruto watched as Minato engaged in a hand to hand combat with the remaining fifty something clones. He took in his sensei's techniques and memorized them to a T. Minato crouched to the ground and launched himself into the air, fighting the clones that were flung off of him. He delivered a swift punch to one's stomach, another to a different clone's face, both disappearing on impact. After he was done with those two, he moved on to kicking one into two more, flipping another over his shoulder and onto the ground, where he had landed just seconds before, and elbowing another in the ribs. All of them disappeared with the blows they received.
Naruto and a few other clones hung back, waiting for an opportunity to arise. When they saw a clone land a hit to Minato's back, they seized the opportunity to launch themselves off the tree branch they claimed as sanctuary and toward Minato. Minato, sensing the real Naruto approaching, quickly disposed of the other clones by extending his spritual barrier. Once the bubble expanded from his body, and collided with the clones, they disappeared from the electricity and ferocity of such power. Minato shrank his energy again and looked directly into the eyes of Naruto before catching him and twisting his arm behind his back as he landed on the ground. Minato stuck a shuriken to the blond's neck and smirked. "Not bad…"
Naruto broke free and leaped away before gathering his energy into his palm. A blue swirling ball of energy was finished forming, showing he had made a famous Rassengan. "I'm really glad he made me do all those exercises before I died," Minato chuckled as he formed his own Rassengan. "The question is, can you control it, since it's made of different energy?" Naruto tilted his head some, obviously inviting the other to see. The small blond was a battleground genius, a hidden prodigy because of his exquisite adaptation skills. Seeing this, Minato smirked slightly, sort of proud of the younger teen. In a way, he reminded him of himself when he was younger. Both males ran forward, the Rassengan balls blazing in their palms.
The smaller blond fought with dominance as his Rassengan met the opposing Rassengan. His eyes flashed in a slight panic as it collided with his senior's energy, bringing him back to how he died. Naruto stopped, giving up his dominance, and jumped back with panicked eyes. Once he regained his sight and senses about him, he looked at Minato momentarily. "So-sorry for freaking out, Minato-sensei," Naruto said with slight embarrassment. Minato simply stared at him blankly. "No need to apologize, Naruto. You're the one who's freaking out. Are you all right?"
Naruto gulped as he let his tails wrap around him safely. "I-I died when Sasuke and I clashed with Chidori and Rassengan. He went for the kill, but I didn't." Minato sighed quietly. "Let's take a break for now. Naruto…have you fully accepted your death yet?" the former Hokage inquired. Naruto shrugged a little, not entirely caring or knowing himself. "I think so. Kyuu-kun helped keep the nightmares away last night." The older simply observed the teen before him for a moment before speaking. "Alright then.. I'll take your word for it." The younger blond sat down on a bench and smiled. "So, what do I need to work on?"
"Well you're pretty good with coming up with plans on the fly, and you are very good at adapting. However you shouldn't take such wide swings or else you'll miss your target. It'd be more beneficial if you were to have a sword style, but I'm not sure if you'd want to learn one." Naruto looked at him unsure obviously. "I've only ever used kunai so I suppose it's normal for beginners? So how is my control on my reiatsu?"
"That's true and as for your control it's very good. If you want to work on it more you can always use the chakra control techniques only with reiatsu. You did very well Naruto." The small kitsune blushed some and nodded obviously happy with his ability. Minato nodded happily before his mouth turned into a grimace. Oh joy.....two of his three least favorite people was here. Naruto looked at the man confused. "What's wrong Minato-sensei?"
"Naruto I believe we have some unwanted company." Minato indicated by jerking his head over to where Gin and Kaname stood, observing them. Naruto looked up in shock before shunpoing at almost Yorichi's speed behind the taller blond and tucking his zanpaukto's rose form back in his hair as he peeked back out at the intruding captains. Minato simply stared at them, "Any thing you want gentlemen? We're kind of in the middle of training."
The twelve year old looked at the men with a frown on his face evidently upset at his lesson being interrupted. Kaname simply tilted his head, "No reason Minato-san.....just seeing how your new student was coming along. From what we've seen he's quite the prodigy." Naruto looked to the man before tightening his hold on Minato's haori in shock. "Mi-Minato-sensei...." Minato forced a smile on his face, making it look slightly painful. "Thank you very much Kaname-san...he is quite talented. However he doesn't work well knowing he's under scrutiny so I believe it's best if we move to a different field." Without waiting for a reply Minato hirashined the two of them to another field far from Kaname and Gin.
Naruto gazed up to Minato as they appeared in the twelfth squad's training area. "Why are they so fascinated with me?" Minato grimaced, "Because you're not normal Naruto. You've adjusted so well and you've only been here for a couple of days. You have fox-like features and you're advanced enough that you can already communicate with your zanpaukto. That and the fact you're so young are also factors. They're going to try to manipulate you."
Naruto whimpered then. "I wish they would leave me alone I'm not that special." Minato's eyes softened, "You are more special than you think Naruto, in a few months a year or two at the most.....you'll probably be able to beat me." Minato then sat down on the bench nearby, his eyes closed in thought. The idea of being obsolete scared him, a lot. However that didn't mean he wouldn't help the blonde, on the contrary he'd do anything he could to help him through the ranks. Still, the thought of not being needed was one of Minato's weaknesses. Without a purpose he'd go insane. Naruto looked at him with a funny expression. "I doubt that they would want a fourteen year old leading a squad....anyways...I'm not the type for sitting and inventing things I'd go insane."
"Naruto you'll age just like everyone else here. You might stop at a certain point because of Kyuubi but you'll still age. As for leading squads you never know you can end up leading practically any squad. It all depends on what happens when you become a full fledged soul reaper." The kitsune blond nodded as he looked down. "So those three wanna see what I'm capable of and try to get me in one of their squads then?"
Minato smirked at his student's foresight. "Probably." Naruto pouted then as he looks at the blond captain. "I don't trust them"Minato explained closing his eyes in contemplation, "Who does? Well most of the captains do except me and a few others. They just have that vibe."
TBC.....
Submindy: That's it for this installment hope you like it.
Naruto: If you like it drop a line and let us know!
