Flashback Chapter – The Dream of Fate
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and/or Bleach; they are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo, respectively.
[Kurosaki Residence, Karakura Town, Human Realm]
One month earlier….
Ichigo, exhausted from his "invasion" of the Soul Society, immediately went to bed after having to dodge an ambush from Isshin, his father (again). His thoughts soon began to revolve around his last opponent: Sosuke Aizen. The traitor to the Soul Society had mentioned his goals in such a cryptic message that its' meaning began to torment the Substitute Soul Reaper.
"No one stands on the top of the world. Not you, not me, not even gods. But the unbearable vacancy of the throne in the sky is over. From now on...I will be sitting on it." Those words were spoken to another captain, a man named Jūshirō Ukitake, yet they still troubled Ichigo and almost prevented him from sleeping. Aizen's words, however, would not be the main focus of his anxieties that night.
After a couple of hours, Ichigo finally managed to close his eyes and fall asleep. Moments later Ichigo opened his eyes, expecting to see the tall skyscrapers of his spiritual state; what he saw was, however, something far different.
He was sitting on large tree branch at the edge of a forest with what could only be a massive crater in front of him. At the center of the crater was what appeared to be a single human figure; he wore what appeared to be light purple mask.
Ichigo, in his confusion, almost failed to hear a voice that sounded like it was close by. Ichigo followed the voice until he found its source: 13 people, who appeared to be around his age. 12 of them were facing the 13th. One of those twelve began to speak; it was a male with long dark brown hair and white featureless eyes.
"You can't face Tobi by yourself; your weakened state will only mean certain death!" All but three of the other 11 began to protest what appeared to be a decision by the 13th person to fight the mysterious man on his own. Ichigo took a look at the 13th person, another male; he had short spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. The guy wore an orange and black jumpsuit, though what made him stand out in Ichigo's eyes were the whisker marks on his cheeks and a black head band with a piece of metal sewn on it; Ichigo noticed that the metal had what appeared to be an image of a stylized leaf engraved in it. The kid sighed before he spoke.
"I'm sorry, guys, but this is something I have to do on my own. I promised my mom and dad that I would stop this guy, not matter what it takes; I don't want you to see what might happen."
The other twelve were shocked by this revelation; despite this, however, the brown-haired guy was about to continue his argument until another one of the figures appeared to block his path. Ichigo realized that this person was a female; she had large green eyes and, much to Ichigo's surprise, bright pink hair that resembled Yachiru's, though it was spikier than that of the Squad 11 lieutenant.
"And people thought my hair was weird." Ichigo thought to himself; he decided to refocus on what was happening.
"Neji, I don't think there is anything more we can do to change his mind. We're just going to have to let him fight this one on his own this time." The pink-haired girl said this while attempting to hide, rather poorly, her reluctance to doing so, as if she was hoping that her statement was incorrect. At this point, another guy entered the argument; this one had long jet black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and narrow brown eyes.
"What are you doing, Sakura? Of all of us I was hoping that you could convince him to stop…." The argument was cut short when the ground began to vibrate. The source of the shaking was none other than the blonde haired person.
"Seal!" He yelled while he placed his left hand flat on the ground; a few seconds later a massive cage-like structure, made out of interlocking toriis, appeared and surrounded him and everything in the giant crater. With the gaps between the toriis were covered by some energy barrier, the guy had effectively cut off the other 12, who appeared to be his friends, from the coming battle.
The black-haired guy was enraged. "Are you insane, Naruto Uzumaki? You separated us from the battle," he yelled; the awkwardness Ichigo sensed in his voice came, he realized, from the fact this guy didn't use "Naruto's" full name that much.
"That's the idea, Shikamaru," Naruto replied, receiving anxious expression the faces from the others. At this point, a guy with black hair, black eyes, and a pale skin tone turned to whisper to Sakura; after he finished what he was saying, Sakura nodded and turned to face the rest of the people.
"You guys should get going," she said; it appeared that the 12 were about to protest when they, and Ichigo, heard someone say "Could you guys just stop arguing already?"
They faced the one who said this, a guy who looked similar to the one whispered to Sakura, though this one had longer hair and a fairer skin tone. Ichigo also noticed that he had been badly injured and could barely stand, with one wound appearing to have just missed his heart.
"Sakura, Sai, and I wish to speak with Naruto alone; I'm sure you guys understand," he said, before the guy called Shikamaru nodded. Shikamaru, along with 8 of the others, finally left, though most of them clearly hesitated when doing so; the only ones who remained with Naruto were Sakura, and two guys. The guy who spoke with Sakura was there so Ichigo, who was watching the event unfold, concluded that he was the one called Sai.
The three who had stayed behind tried one last time to convince Naruto to not fight the man on his own; Ichigo realized that these three were the ones closest to him and they cared for him a great deal. Naruto would not change his mind, however, as he was determined to face this threat. Sakura could no longer contain her emotions; her tears affected even Ichigo, despite the fact that he didn't even know her.
"Why, Naruto? Why would you throw your life away just like that? What are you trying to...?"
"I'm not throwing my life away, and the reason I'm fighting…. is to protect you guys," Naruto declared.
"Naruto…" Sai said; he, like the other two kids and Ichigo, was left almost speechless by their friend's words. Naruto looked at them with a confused expression before he simply grinned.
Ichigo realized there was something familiar about these people even though he didn't know who they were; Naruto's next words would make Ichigo see what it was.
"You guys are my friends, and thanks to you I was able to get this far," Naruto said before he face turned serious.
"I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to any of you; besides, if I do die, I can't think of a better way to do so than to die protecting those who are important to me."
At this point Ichigo realized what he had felt earlier; he saw himself and his friends in Naruto and the others. He realized that this was more than an ordinary dream; there was something significant to what he was seeing. His thoughts, however, were refocused on the conversation.
"Sai, get the package on the ground there and get these two out of here," Naruto ordered in a rather blunt tone; Ichigo looked and, to his surprise, there was a black rectangular box on the ground in front of him with what appeared to be a seal shaped like a red spiral on it. Sai did as Naruto requested; before they left, however, the injured guy turned back to say something to Naruto.
"May I at least say one last thing?" he asked, to which Naruto nodded.
"Naruto, come back alive or don't come back at all," he said; Ichigo, as well as Sakura and Sai, were stunned by what the guy said. Naruto simply looked on before he gave a "nice guy pose" to his friends.
"No sweat, Sasuke; I'll come back. I promise," he said, with a massive grin on his face; unlike some other people Ichigo had encountered, however (Gin primarily), his smile was sincere and comforting.
Sasuke gave a light smile before turning to Sakura and Sai.
"We have to go," Sasuke said, to which the other two simply nodded before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Naruto then turned to the direction of his opponent; as Naruto moved forward, Ichigo realized that the world around him was turning into white void. He tried to call out to Naruto, to ask what him was going on; his voice, however, did not reach the young ninja. As the world around him finally disappeared, he could still hear what was to happen.
"I'm sorry guys, but my road ends here." It was Naruto's voice, though it was filled with sadness. A few seconds later, Ichigo heard Naruto's voice again.
"Tailed-Beast Rasengan!" He roared. Ichigo was clearly confused by this.
"What is that? A Kido?" He thought seconds before he heard an explosion; he then became enveloped in flash of light just as he heard Sakura's voice.
"NARUTO!" she shrieked. At that moment, Ichigo opened his and sat up. He realized that he was back in his room. He was breathing heavily and, to his shock, sweating profusely. He immediately got up and, using his Substitute Soul Reaper Badge for the first time, turned to his Soul Reaper form and went to see Kisuke Urahara in order to find out what he had just witnessed.