Hope everyone's had a Merry Christmas! Here's a late present from me!

Sorry that it's been awhile since the last update. Life has its way of preoccupying my time. With work and such(and an X-Box 360), I've been working on this, but the finished updates will be released once a month, twice if I can make it. But, here it is. Again, I apologize for the delay. I hope the readers like this chapter. I changed a few things from the original writings that I had. Just a few things that I thought would work better, you know. Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto and Bleach are not owned by me. If they were, Bleach would last longer, and Naruto would still be Naruto... just longer.

Universal Switch!

Chapter 7: They've Got Soul


Last time...

"Well, I've been slinging around an idea, but, of course, it's going to take me a few days to prepare it." He, then, looked at Rukia. "Take him back to Ichigo's place. It's late anyways. Everyone go home. I'll call, when it's ready or if something comes up."

"Urahara, we have school tomorrow." Rukia said. "We can't sit around and baby-sit for you."

"Yare, yare. He'll fit in fine." They all sweatdropped. "You all worry too much."

Uryu sighed. "This should be interesting, tomorrow..."


Now

The next morning began like the last sun shined through the window, as morning crept up on the town. Outside, birds could be heard chirping, people could be heard moving towards their destinations. And once again, the hustle and bustle of the morning rush woke up Naruto Uzumaki from his slumber. "Well, it's another morning, and the beginning of another day, stuck in this body." he said to himself. "I wonder how this day is gonna turn out." Suddenly, once again, his thinking was interrupted by the annoying yell of a much older, goat-bearded man. "Oh great. Not again..."

"GOOOOOOOOD MORRRRRNIING.... ICHIGOOOOOOOOO!"

"Looks like Rukia was right."

Flashback

"Oh yeah, Naruto." Rukia said, as they walked home from Urahara's

"What's up?"

"Did Isshin attack you this morning?"

"The goat-bearded jiji? Yeah," as he smirked and rubbed the back of his neck. "Why?"

"He's gonna do it again."

Naruto/Ichigo paled. "Are you serious?"

She nodded. "He does it every morning. Claims it keeps Ichigo on his toes. I think he does it, just for fun, though. Just be glad he'll be out tonight, or you would've been attacked because we missed dinner."

Jeez, he thought. How does Ichigo deal with it?

"I'd thought I let you know, since you're a shinobi and all, I figured you'd have something planned for him."

"You really sure he'll attack?"

"More than positive. Almost like clockwork."

Present

Yeah, she was right. He thought, as he smiled. And I've got something just for him.

Isshin landed on Ichigo. "HA! GOTCHA!" Only for Ichigo to disappear in a puff of smoke. "Huh?" Suddenly, four other Ichigos appeared out of nowhere, and kicked Isshin in the air, while saying...

"Ic!"

"Hi!"

"Go!"

Then, the real Ichigo jumped off one of the other one's backs, somersaulted in the air, and kicked Isshin down from above, hard, saying...

"Kurosaki Barrage!"

The force of the last kick slammed him down to the ground hard, sending him through the floor, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!", and knocking him out, but not before he went "ohhhhhhhhh..."

Back in Ichigo's room, the five Ichigos were congratulating each other on a job well done. "Great job!" "You too!" "Haven't done that in awhile, have we?" "We sure haven't. That was fun!"

"Great job, you guys." The real Naruto/Ichigo said. "Haven't used Shadow Clones in a couple of days. Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Sure does, boss!"

"Alright guys, dismissed!" He, then, dispelled his clones, and stretched. "Well. I guess it times to get ready for this school thing. Where's the clothes Rukia laid out for me at?"

"They're hanging in the other closet."

"Thanks Rukia." Suddenly Ichigo turned around. "RUKIA?!" he jumped. "What're you doing here?" Rukia opened the closet, where she sleeps. "You sleep in the closet?"

"I've been sleeping here since I came to Karakura Town." She replied. "I saw what you did to Isshin. What was that, anyways?"

"It was one of the first techniques I came up with when I first became a ninja." He replied. "It's called the 'Naruto Uzumaki Barrage', but since I'm in Ichigo's body, I renamed it the 'Ichigo Kurosaki Barrage'."

She smirked. "Nice. I'm impressed." She hopped out of the closet. "Come on, time to get dressed. Put the clothes on, and let's go. Tell Ichigo's sisters you'll grab something on the way to school, and I'll meet you outside."

"We're leaving now?" he asked.

"We're meeting up with Sado, Inoue, and Ishida at the school early." She answered, as she went towards the window. "We've got to get you acclimated with the school, and who Ichigo associates with, aside from us four."

"Hey, why are you going through the window?"

"Isshin and the twins don't know I'm staying in his closet. I have to keep it up, somehow." She jumped out the window, shouting, "I'll meet you outside!"

"Wait!" he exclaimed, "How am I supposed to-" She was out of earshot, before he could finish. He suddenly channeled a certain lazy chunin, and said "Troublesome woman..." He headed down the stairs, to see Yuzu and Karin standing over Isshin's still unconscious body.

"You put Goat-Beard through the floor." Karin said, as she smiled. "Nice."

Naruto's apartment, Konoha

Ichigo woke up, differently than he did the day before. This time, Sakura came to wake him. "Hey Ichigo, time to wake up."

He groaned and stretched, to reveal he was shirtless. "What's up, Sakura?"

She immediately showed a light pink shade on her face. "Naru-, I mean, Ichigo! Naruto has pajamas, why didn't you wear them?"

"Sorry. Couldn't find them." he replied. "Plus, I'm not wearing that ridiculous walrus sleeping cap."

She giggled. "Well, go take a shower, and get dressed. I'm gonna show you around the village today, and introduce you the rest of our gang."

"Sounds like fun." Ichigo said. "Give me fifteen."

Twenty-three minutes later, Ichigo/Naruto met up with Sakura outside, wearing a black shirt and blue jeans, while Sakura wore her usual red. "Sorry that took so long." he apologized. "For awhile, all I saw was orange."

"Yeah. For awhile, it seemed all he liked was orange. Anyways, let's get going. We're gonna meet up with Shikamaru and his team over at Training Ground number 12."

"Shikamaru? Who's that, again?"

She looked at him like he lost it. "You know, Shikamaru?" He gave her a blank look, and raised an eyebrow. "You met him yesterday?"

"The one with the lavender eyes?"

"No, that's Neji. Shikamaru's the other one."

"The one with the gray hair and one eye covered?"

"That's Kakashi-sensei!"

"The one with the weird shaped headband?"

"That's Yamato-sensei!" Sakura was becoming visibly frustrated, but he kept going.

"The one with the mutant eyebrows?"

"That's Lee!" She said, getting tired of it. "Don't you remember any of the people you met yesterday?"

He shook his head. " To tell the truth, I'm pretty bad with names." She facevaulted.

"Okay, okay." She said, composing herself. "Shikamaru is the one who looks like a pineapple."

"Who looks like a pineapple?" The two of them turned around to see Shikamaru behind them, with his usual impassive look. "Troublesome woman... anyways, we're here, so let's go meet up with the others. Thankfully, they're all between missions. I told them to meet us in Training Ground number 12, just as planned." He arched his back, and put his hands in his pockets. "In any case, let's go." The two nodded, and they were off.

As they walked, Ichigo noticed something strange. Almost everyone they walked past, were giving him a dirty and vicious look, as if they hated and detested him. It bothered him greatly, and the looks disturbed him, but he shook it off. It wasn't until a old man spit at his feet, and called him evil, that really riled him up. "HEY! WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT, BUDDY?" he yelled.

"You shouldn't be allowed to live, you monster!" the man yelled back.

"Monster?!" Ichigo was riled up, and was ready to kick the man in the face. "Who in the hell do you-"

"Hey, calm down Ichigo!" Shikamaru said, as he grabbed him. "You're gonna get yourself, and Naruto, in trouble!"

Ichigo was understandably angry. "Where does he get off, disrespecting me like that?!"

"It wasn't you he disrespected, Ichigo." Sakura tried to explain, trying to hold him back. "It was Naruto!"

"Doesn't matter! No one should be treated like that!"

"...It's only gonna get worse. This was nothing." Shikamaru said, sadly.

Ichigo looked at him, like he was kidding. "You're joking, right?" They were both silent. "Is this because of the-"

"Don't say the word in the street." Sakura told him. "You'll only make things worse."

"Let's go meet up with our friends." Shikamaru said. "They know everything, and you'll be amongst good people."

Ichigo nodded. "Alright."

Karakura High School

Uryu, Chad, and Orihime were already there when Rukia and Ichigo/Naruto got there. For the next hour and a half, the four of them drilled him on their fellow students, faculty, and friends they shared a classroom or hung out with at lunch. With fifteen minutes to spare before the homeroom bell rang, he knew about everyone from Keigo Asano and Chiziru Honsho to their teacher, Misato Ochi. It wasn't long before Naruto's first test began.

"ICHIGOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Keigo cheered from behind, attempting to glomp Ichigo. 'Attempting' being the key word, since Naruto kept Ichigo's face emotionless, knocking out Keigo with a backhand.

'Perfect. Just like Ichigo' Rukia thought, as she watched Keigo admonish Ichigo for not hanging out with him, again, and, like Ichigo, ignoring him. 'But, let's see how he does the rest of the day.'

"Orihime!" Orihime turned around to see her best friend, Tatsuki Arisawa, approach her with, somewhat, a relieved smile. "I tried to call you last night, but you didn't pick up. Is everything okay?"

"Y-yeah Tatsuki." She replied, still keeping the secret of her powers, and of the others. "Sorry, I was taking care of some things. I was getting some things for dinner!"

"Oh, okay!" 'Knowing you, though, it was something pretty strange..." Tatsuki thought.

"ORIHIIIIIIIIMEEEEEE!" Chiziru Honsho cheered in the way Keigo did to Ichigo, except she actually succeeded into latching on Orihime... and instead of a regular hug, she latched onto her large breasts. "Orihime dear, I tried to call you last night! I wanted you to come over and hang out, so I could-"

Chiziru was, then, met with a kick to the face from Tatsuki. "WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

Ichigo/Naruto was taking mental notes on everything that had just transpired. 'Okay, so Tatsuki's protective of Orihime. Chiziru's a pervert with women. Keigo's completely insane and shameless.'

"Ah, I see I've arrived in time for Chiziru's morning beating." Mizuho Kojima said, as he arrived. "But, I missed Keigo's morning knockout. How's it goin', Ichigo?"

"Oh, uh good Mizuho." Ichigo/Naruto replied. Suddenly, the bell rang, and they all took their seats.

Their teacher, Ms. Misato Ochi, went over the class roster, and noticed that two students were absent. "Oh well," she said, "those two are delinquents anyways, so who cares?"

'Some teacher...' Naruto thought, as he sweatdropped.

"Okay, before we begin, I received word that we'll be getting four new students today." There was a knock at the door, as she said it. "OH! That must be them." She opened the door, to reveal four faces, only familiar to Rukia, Orihime, Chad, and Uryu.

'What are they doing here?' Rukia thought, in surprise. "I didn't know Soul Society was sending anyone else!'

"Hello," the short one with the wild gray hair and cold blue eyes said, "my name is Toshiro Hitsugaya." He, then, introduced the others with him, and then took the available seats.

'More Shinigami?' Uryu thought. 'Does Soul Society know what's going on?'

Naruto/Ichigo looked at his four new friends, and saw they were in shock/surprise. 'Do they know these guys? What's goin' on now?'

Later, on the roof, during lunch, Rukia, Chad, Orihime, and Uryu decided to confront the four, to find out what was happening. "Captain Hitsugaya!" Rukia called out to him. "What's going on? What are you guys doing here?"

"Ah, Rukia." Toshiro said. "The four of us are here on a mission. According to Kurotsuchi, there was an unexpected switching of souls between dimensions happened two nights ago. Whatever caused it, caused a rift in dimensions to open up in Hueco Mundo, where Sosuke Aizen currently is."

"Switching of souls?" Uryu said. 'So that's how it happened...' "Rukia! We need to tell them what's happened!"

"What's happened?" The one with the shiny hair and skin, Yumichika Ayasegawa inquired. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well... you see..." Rukia began.

"Hey, where'd you guys go?" They all turned around to see Ichigo standing there. "Weren't you guys gonna show me around the school and stuff more?"

"Well, well." The one without hair, Ikkaku Madarame, said, as he pointed his wooden sword at Ichigo. "Look who finally showed up. Long time no see, Ichigo. Captain Zaraki told us to tell you hi."

Ichigo/Naruto stood there with a blank stare. "Who's that? And who are you guys?"

The four shinigami looked at Ichigo, like he had lost his mind. "What? Are you serious?" Ikkaku said. "You really don't remember us?"

"Remember you? I don't even know you, baldy."

Everyone there, except Ichigo and Ikkaku, looked at him like he had just signed his death warrant. "I am NOT bald!"

"Oh yeah? Where's your hair? It's not there, is it?" Naruto/Ichigo ranted. "Face it, you're bald!"

"Oh really, Strawberry?" Ikkaku, now REALLY mad, yelled. "Why don't you get out of that body and say it to my face!?"

"Sado," Rukia whispered to him, as she put on the Soul Glove "get behind Ichigo, and get ready to catch him. I'm gonna show Captain Hitsugaya what I'm talking about." Yasutora nodded, and got behind Ichigo.

"Fine! You asked for it!" Ichigo/Naruto yelled at Ikkaku. "Hey, Rukia!"

"Already ahead of you!" She forced the hand with the Soul Glove on it to Ichigo's head, and forced out the soul of Naruto Uzumaki.

The four shinigami showed confusion when Rukia forced out the shinobi. "Um... you going with a new look, Ichigo?" Yumichika asked. "Because that orange is far from beautiful. It doesn't even hit pretty."

Rukia rolled her eyes. "You idiot. This isn't Ichigo! Does his face look like Ichigo's?"

"Now that you mention it..."

"What do you mean 'Now that you mention it'?" Naruto ranted. "I saw a picture of this guy, and I look nothing like him! I do NOT look like a strawberry!"

"True." The strawberry blond and VERY busty, Rangiku Matsumoto replied, with a smile. "You're kinda cute."

"ANYWAYS," Hitsugaya interrupted, rolling his eyes, "If you're not Ichigo, then where is Ichigo?" At that moment, Rukia explains how she found Naruto, as well as the conversation they had with Urahara. "That's... that's a lot to take in."

"We figured the same thing too." Chad agreed. "We still don't know what happened to Ichigo."

"Urahara said that he had a theory, but he hasn't gotten back to us yet." Uryu said, as he looked at Orihime... who was in honest and deep thought. "What's on your mind, Orihime?"

"Well," she said, I was just wondering..." She, then, looked at Toshiro's gang, "what are you guys doing in Karakura?"

"Oh right," Hitsugaya said, finally remembering, "we're here to investigate, what Captain Kurotsuchi called, 'a dimensional rift' that originated in the Elemental Dimension, in a place called Otogakure."

"The Sound?!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed. "You mean that snake bastard IS behind this?"

"Hey," Ishida spoke up, "didn't that Kabuto guy say something about his lord, um... Orochi-something..."

"Orochimaru, I believe." Orihime remembered. "But, he didn't say much after that, except calling Naruto 'an abomination' or something like that."

"'Abomination'?" Rangiku asked. "What did he mean by that?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Heh heh... it's a long story. I'll explain it after school."

"Speaking of which," Chad chimed in, "we'd better get back soon or people will start getting suspicious." They all nodded, and went onward. What they didn't know was that one of their classmates were watching the group the whole entire time.

"What is going on here?" Tatsuki said to herself, "and what happened to Ichigo?"

Training Ground No. 12, Konoha

Naruto/Ichigo, Sakura, and Shikamaru finally made it to the training ground where the rest of the Konoha 12 (with the exception of Sasuke, of course) were to be meeting up with them.

"Hey, it took you guys long enough!" the more feral looking one of the group, Kiba Inuzaka, yelled. "You know how long we've been waitin'?"

"I have to agree with Kiba." Neji said. "We really were waiting quite awhile."

"I apologize for the three of us being late." Shikamaru said, before he looked at Neji. "Did you explain the situation to everyone?"

Neji shook his head. "I thought it would be too difficult to explain it in words. I just told them that something happened to Naruto, and to expect the unexpected."

He sighed. "Troublesome Hyuga..."

"Um..." the purple-haired, lavender-eyed beauty, Hinata Hyuga, spoke up, "h-has something bad happened t-to N-Naruto?"

"Like Neji said, it would be too troublesome to tell you, so he's just gonna show you." He turned to Naruto/Ichigo. "Hey, if you don't mind, you mind coming out now?"

He nodded. "Sure thing." He looked at Rock Lee. "Hey, you mind catching the body, when I separate?" Lee nodded, and went behind him. "Okay. Here goes." He closed his eyes and concentrated. "SPIRITUAL DISPEL!" And with that, the body of Naruto Uzumaki fell down into Lee's arms, and standing before them was the Shinigami form of Ichigo Kurosaki. "Hey, what's up?" Ichigo said. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." They all stood there with their jaws gaped open at the sight they just saw. Well... not all of them. Hinata, of course, just fainted from the sight.

"Aww man!" Kiba exclaimed, helping Shino with Hinata. "She really needs to stop doing that."

"Does that always happen?" Ichigo asked no one in particular. They all nodded.

"So wait," the heavy-set one, Chouji Akamichi said, "there's another spirit inside of Naruto, besides him and the Kyubi?"

Shikamaru shook his head 'no'. "Nope. This one's a guest in his body temporarily."

"Interesting sword..." The brown-haired weapon mistress of Konoha, Tenten, said as she gawked at his Zanpaktuo. "How do you use it without a hilt?"

"So, you're not Naruto," the blond-haired, blue eyed beauty, Ino Yamanaka chimed in, "but, it's obvious, you're not a ninja with that outfit. So what are you, exactly?"

"I'm a Shinigami." Ichigo replied, causing everyone(except Sakura, Neji, Shikamaru, and Lee, of course) to freeze and jump back a few feet.

"A-A what?" they yelled, in surprise.

"A-are you here to take us?" Chouji asked.

He sighed. "No, I'm not here to take anybody." he replied. "I don't even know how I got here."

"What do you mean you 'don't know how you got here'?" Ino said, raising an eyebrow.

Ichigo retold the events of the past few days to the shinobi. "Interesting." Shino said. "To think, you're a shinigami from another world, I guess. What do you plan to do?"

"I'm planning on staying in Naruto's body, until we can figure out a way to get me home."

Meanwhile, as the meeting between Ichigo and the Konoha 11 was taking place, a group of people were approaching the Konoha gate. "This is the entrance to Konoha, huh?" one of them said. "Yes. Come. Let's go meet with the Hokage, immediately."

"You and your lieutenants can go ahead." Another one said. "My group and I have some research to conduct on that rift. We'll head to the Sound Village. I'll contact you on the Soul Pagers if I find out anything."

"You do that. Now, let's meet this Hokage person. All this traveling is really tiring me out."

"You're so lazy, you know that?"

"Oh! You're so mean. I know you don't mean that."

"Halt! Who goes there?" a voice not known to them shouted, as they turned to the gate's check-in post. "Please state your name and business in Konohagkure, please." One of the guards, Izumo Kamizuki said.

"Oh, of course. I am Jushiro Ukitake." the 13th division captain said. "These are my subordinates, Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubaki."

"I am Shunsui Kyoraku, and this is my lovely assistant, Nanao Ise." the 8th division captain said, smiling at his lieutenant... while Nanao just glared at him. "We need to see-" Suddenly, it dawned on them. "Wait. You can see us?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be able to?" Izumo's partner, Kotetsu Hagane, asked.

"Because of what we are." Ukitake said. "You see, we are shinigami."

That froze them up. "Sh-Shinigami?!" Kotetsu stuttered, in fear.

Kyoraku grinned. "Yep. All five of us. I know it sounds crazy, but if all five of us claim it, is it really that crazy?"

"He has a point, Kotetsu." Izumo said. "Well... are you here to take people?"

"No, my friends." Ukitake said, as he smiled warmly. "We here to see your village leader, Hokage, I believe it's called. A situation has come up, and we believe your leader can help us."

"Of course. Please, follow me." Izumo said.

Shunsui looked over at Nanao. "Hey, Nanao. Why don't you have a look around the village? Take some time away from me?"

"Any time away from you is a blessing." Nanao replied, as she started to walk away.

"Kiyone, Sentarou. Why don't you two do the same?" Jushiro recommended.

"Yes sir!" Kiyone replied. "I'll come back with a full report of the city for you!"

"I'll come back with a more detailed report, better than hers!" Sentarou interrupted.

"No, it won't!"

"Yes, it will!" They began arguing, continuing their rivalry for Ukitake's approval. When suddenly,

"Hey, you two." Kotetsu interrupted them. "Everyone's already gone."

"HUH?!"

Meanwhile, Nanao was walking through the village, taking in the sights and enjoying her time away from her Captain. 'This is such a nice village.' She thought. 'It's hard to believe that they train and employ shinobi here.'

She looked to the left of her, and saw that numerous stands and several festival lights were being set up. 'I wonder what's going to happen here. It looks like they're preparing for a festival of some sorts. What's the occasion?'

As she walked on for a while longer, she came upon a clearing, where eleven people and a dog were sitting. One of them, clad in orange and black was standing and talking to all of them. 'Interesting. I wonder what they're talking about over there." She started to walk over there, when suddenly one of them, a beautiful blond-haired, blue eyed girl, clad in purple, called out to her.

"Excuse me," she said, "can we help you?"

"You can see me?" Nanao replied.

"That voice..." the orange one said suddenly. "It can't be..." He turned around to see the woman who owned the familiar voice to him. His eyes widened when he saw her. "NANAO ISE?!"

She raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Um... yes?" She replied. "How do you know me?"

"Oh right, hold on." The orange guy concentrated and yelled "SPIRITUAL DISPEL!!!" The orange guy fell back, and suddenly, before her eyes appeared the familiar sight of...

"ICHIGO KUROSAKI?!"

Karakura Town

Ichigo/Naruto and Rukia were on their way home, after meeting up with Hitsugaya and his team, and telling them, not only the events of the past day, but Naruto's story, as well. Naruto was surprised at how well they took it. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Naruto said.

"You're very pessimistic, you know that?" Rukia chided him.

"Hey, pessimism comes with the territory and responsibility of being a ninja." He told her.

"Oh whatever." she responded, as they arrived at the house. "I'll head up to the room. Be prepared to be attacked by Isshin."

"What? No way." He said. "He learned his lesson from this morning. He won't attack me again."

Rukia giggled from that. "You don't know Isshin."

"Whatever. See you up there." He opened the front door, and as he walked through, he saw Isshin sitting in the recliner in the living room. "Hey, old man."

"Hey yourself." he responded. "Come here and sit with me. There's something I need to ask you."

"Okay." Ichigo/Naruto walked over to the living room, and sat down. "So, what's up?"

"First off, that attack this morning was something else." Isshin said, smiling. "I'm still feeling it. Wow, that hurt."

Ichigo/Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Well, it was nothing really..."

"That combination was really impressive, I must say. With that, that brings me to my question."

"Your question?"

"Yes." he said, as he looked him, straight in the eye. "Can you tell me where my son, Ichigo Kurosaki, is?"

Ichigo/Naruto's eyes widened. "Uh-oh..."

Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo...

"So, Uzumaki's in that town now, is he?" Orochimaru said, after Kabuto gave his full report.

"Yes, my lord." Kabuto replied. "And it appears that he has allies, as well. I, myself, encountered two of them."

"Allies, huh?" Aizen said, as he walked into the room, where Orochimaru and his team were occupying. "Tell me, can you describe any of them?"

"Yes, of course." Kabuto said, as he adjusted his glasses. "One was an attractive female, with orange-brown hair, with large breasts. The other was a male with black hair and glasses, calling himself a 'Quincy' or something." He remembered his fight with the male. "He's someone I'd like to challenge again. The bastard..."

"Is there a problem?" Orochimaru asked.

"Your problem has hooked up with part of my problem." Aizen responded. "This is most disconcerting. I can send some help with you when you go-"

"He's mine."

The three of them turned to see Sasuke Uchiha standing right in another doorway, listening to the entire conversation. "Sasuke?"

"I already told you once before, Orochimaru." He said, as he turned towards them. "Naruto Uzumaki is mine, and mine alone. I will be the one who kills Naruto..., and my brother."

'Now, that's angst...' Aizen thought."Okay then. I'll have some others accompany you to-"

"I'm going alone. My skills and chakra should be more than enough to take down these gnats."

Orochimaru smiled. "Very well. Go, Sasuke. Go forth, and destroy Naruto Uzumaki!"

He nodded. "Hmmph. Not a problem. That dobe won't make it back to Konoha."

Sasuke's headed to Karakura Town! How will Naruto handle this? And now that Ichigo's been located by the Soul Society, what's the next move? All this and will be answered next time. Until then, read and review, please!

OH! Guess what? The first chapter to the side story is due to be up in a week. Keep on the lookout for "Universal Switch: Red Dawn in Soul Society"! Later!