Naruto kept the Calm Hollow in sight but was having trouble gaining ground on his foe. When he did manage to get within shuriken distance, a number of bloated white spider-shaped creatures would ambush him. They fell easily enough to quick strikes but it was their corpses that caused him the most trouble. His Zanpaktou bisected and dismembered them well enough, but their innards coated his blade and uniform after each kill. The gunk had begun to harden and his blade was getting heavier while his clothes stiffened, further hampering his mobility. Naruto decided to ignore the ambushes, dodging around the creatures or outrunning them. He bypassed many of the slower spiders but the odd lucky one still managed to get in his way.

Slashing through two spiders, Naruto stopped himself mid-sprint to hastily clean their guts off his face before they could harden. Once his eyes were clear he cursed, the Hollow was out of sight. He focused and reached out, trying to sense if the Hollow had simply sped ahead of him. He didn't get the chance. His sense hadn't even reached past the nearest trees before a mass of reiatsu nearly impaled him from above. Naruto had leapt out of the way, taking a lash across his shoulder blade in the process.

Regaining his footing Naruto had his sword at the ready, searching visually for the Hollow. It would take him a few seconds to extend his spiritual senses past his immediate surroundings. Relying on his natural senses instead, Naruto listened for the slightest noise. A whistling to his right caused him to send out a handful of shuriken blindly, they intercepted a bundle of sharp white spikes. But again, the moment Naruto's attention narrowed he had to to quickly shift to escape a strike to his back. This time he managed to glimpse the blue form of the Calm Hollow as it whipped passed him and retreated not along the ground, but up into the trees!

The thick canopy made it extremely difficult for Naruto to track anything that could be hiding there, if the sun was still up he could have used the shadows but the moon hadn't risen high enough to be useful. Taking a running leap, Naruto launched himself into the overhang, spearing his Zanpaktou forward on instinct to kill a spider that was aiming for his neck. Kicking the now-corpse off his blade Naruto took in the swarm that had evidently been creeping above his head the entire time. 20 or 30 feet in front of him was the Calm Hollow resting among the branches, it was bent over unmoving. Naruto began crossing toward it, slowed by the swarming spiders. He saw the Calm Hollow's skirt opening again to release another 10 spiders into the battle. He noted that it took the Hollow a couple seconds to fully close its pods and it seemed frozen in place for that duration.

While bisecting a trio of spiders Naruto realized the Calm Hollow had once again started heading toward the Senkaimon. The spiders in between him and the creature made him nervous.

'It'll take time to cut through them, if the Hollow reaches the camp I'm sure Matsumoto and the others can take care of it. Except, if it stops to birth more of these pests the other students will be in danger.'

Naruto let his thoughts run as he habitually killed the spiders, he slowly began making his way after the Calm Hollow. His katana was more club than blade at this point and it was taking more and more of Naruto's reiatsu to break off the chunks. Taking stock of his own energy Naruto felt he was reaching his tipping point, if he kept up this slog he would lose the ability to safely release his Shikai.

The concept of Shikai had been very interesting to the Shinobi. From hearsay Naruto imagined it was simply the equivalent of an empowering jutsu, akin to Ay's Lightning Style Armour or Tsunade's Mitotic Regeneration. After his first class on Shikai Naruto shifted his evaluation to place it closer to Sage mode of all things.

In clinical terms, Shikai takes a set amount of reiatsu to activate. Speaking your release phrase creates an extremely close connection to your Zanpakuto spirit, who then absorbs that set amount and uses it to manifest its second form. This form will then start outputting a large amount of reiatsu, this new energy is used to fuel the Shinigami's body and their Zanpakuto abilities. At some point that original influx of reiatsu will run out thus cancelling Shikai, with the loss of their spirit's added energy, the Shinigami is left with whatever energy remains after both powering the Shikai release and whatever was used during the fight. All this means, that the average Shinigami will always come out weaker after using their Shikai.

Naturally there are ways to counteract these consequences. The amount of reiatsu required to release Shikai is lessened as the Shinigami becomes better in tune with their inner spirit, and larger reiatsu reserves will give a Shinigami more energy to work with after exiting Shikai. It's generally accepted that Lieutenants are able to fight in Shikai for extended periods of time and still be formidable afterwards; following that reasoning, it wouldn't be impossible to bet that Captains can maintain Shikai indefinitely.

At the moment Naruto had two choices, he could enter Shikai and risk being out of commision for any other battles or he'd have to rely on his own abilities to, at the very least, delay the Calm Hollow long enough for Captain Isshin to catch up. Glimpsing the Calm Hollow surging out of hiding with a fesh swarm, Naruto went with his gut instinct. Sprinting forward through the thick branches using them as a natural stairway, Naruto made jumped and broke through the canopy and sailed through the night. The wind was loud, the air chilled, the moon bright.

/

Naruto's head was clear, he was back in his element. After so many decades he still felt the most confident heart pounding, fingers bruised, out in nature. He loved peace, he'd dedicated his life as Hokage to achieving it; but a part of him still called for battle, to struggle and fight. After his 5th year as Hokage it began bothering him, how excited and energized he'd feel whenever the opportunity arose to leave the safety of the Village. Assassination attempts, ambushes and the occasional show of force always helped to motivate him. His guilt grew, Tsunade-baachan had been the first to notice it and she promptly dragged him off for a "border inspection" that quickly turned into a night out in Tanzaku City.

Naruto would later blame the alcohol for how quickly he let slip his worries, Tsunade sat across from him in the private booth she'd rented and listened to him rant, much the same way Jiraiya had once upon a time.

"Naruto, the answer's right in front of you," she told him, "it used to be tied around your forehead too."

It was easy for Naruto to forget that Tsunade and Jiraiya had been part of Konoha's deadliest team. Combined the Sannin had the highest confirmed kill count in Konoha's history. She understood better than anyone the cognitive dissidence, the dual thinking, a Shinobi could develop over their life. From childhood they are shaped to kill for the good of the village, the Shinobi ranks (C-S) were created to measure not skill or knowledge but sheer lethality.

Tsunade and Naruto would make several more "inspections" before Tsunade's deteriorating health confined her to the village. They'd relax and talk, Tsunade refused to call it therapy. She helped Naruto come to terms with his own eagerness for combat, in a way she finished a lesson Jiraiya had started.

Naruto's first kill had been a rogue-nin during his training trip with the Toad Sage, he was lucky the ninja had gone rouge when he'd still been a genin. The criminal had been skilled enough to attack merchants and farmers unopposed but against someone with real training his weaknesses showed; still he nearly killed Naruto by pretending to be unconscious, when Naruto approached to tie him up a kunai nearly slashed through his windpipe. On instinct Naruto threw his own kunai, straight into the man's throat, an instinct born from countless hours of throwing practice at the Academy and with Kakashi-sensei. Jiraiya took him on a month long trip to the Land of Tea, the old pervert talked him through the nightmares and the shock. In Naruto's opinion that was the event that truly brought them together as more than just teacher and student.

Decades passed, Jiraya died and it fell to Tsunade to convince Naruto he wasn't a monster for wanting to do what he had been trained to do. The relief Naruto felt when he understood that his passion for combat, not death, but for struggle and victory was completely normal for a Shinobi, especially a Shinobi as strong as Naruto. It was a lesson he passed on to his children, once they were old enough; he made sure they both knew that to enjoy a fight was understable, it was when a Shinobi began to crave death rather than victory that they crossed a line.

"Emerge! Yokina Seiji!"

Naruto began changing as he fell. A coating of stone stretched from his sword's handle, as the rock crawled up his katana it began shifting and bending straight, its hilt also morphed, curving and shortening before solidifying into a stone dao with the Uzumaki swirl carved into the base of the blade.

/

One moment the Calm Hollow was preparing to release another of its brood, the surrounding trees were filled with its creatures, they were prepared to ambush the yellow Shinigami when he inevitably attacked again. The Hollow could only salivate at the souls it could sense up ahead, they would be very filling.

The Hollow heard some branches break, it looked toward the source and saw a flash of grey. It's senses came to life as multiple spiders jumped on instinct to intercept the blade that nearly beheaded it. The Calm Hollow was forced to prematurely release its brood, as it moved to put some distance between itself and the Shinigami, the pods on its body cracked open and the unfinished spiders fell to the forest floor. The Calm Hollow grew angry, it would take time for its pods to reseal themselves and began growing a new brood.

Taking scope of the battlefield, the Hollow watched as more and more spiders swarmed the Shinigami. It decided to wait until the Shinigami was covered head to toe and unable to move, that way it could take time to devour the annoying maggot slowly; it was the least the Shinigami could do after all the trouble he'd caused. The Shinigami wasn't going down easy, but the Hollow could see its spiders caking the battlefield with their blood.

To speed up the process the Hollow called for the spiders it had placed to watch the Shinigami camp back. A splatter of guts interrupted the Hollow's signal. The residue covered the left half of its face, the Hollow struck out in that direction to fend off any assault. Its pincers sunk into hard bark instead of flesh, they weren't there for long.

A painful cut separated the pincers from the Hollow who recoiled with a scream. The Shinigami was moving faster, and his sword must have lengthened, he had greater reach than before. The Shinigami was keeping close to the Hollow, it was being hard pressed to keep all its limbs intact. The Hollow's pod skirt took most of the damage, it reasoned that losing its arms had done more damage than expected. The Calm Hollow's depth perception was off, more than once strikes that should have missed cut into its sides, its own attempts to gut the blonde runt were deflected each time no matter how fast or cleverly it struck.

The Hollow got a chance to breathe when the last of its surviving spiders arrived and tried to overwhelm the Shinigami. The Hollow's reprieve didn't last. Once the spiders surrounded the Shinigami the Hollow heard him yell,

"Hado #40: Uzuhorui!"

The spiders were blown away, revealing the Shinigami; surrounding him were rings of orange energy, spinning and shifting, the kido had cut open several spiders and soon dissipated. With no more spiders to throw at him, the Calm Hollow finally stood face to face with the hunter. The blonde wasn't even dishevelled! He stood calmly and confidently. He'd also done something to his eyes, they shone bright yellow now in contrast to the blue before. The Hollow was starting to panic. It had run partly hoping that its horned ally would deal with the Shinigami but this second soul reaper had surprised it. Now it was running low on energy and options, the Hollow's only hope now was to escape.

/

Naruto could feel the leaves move, hear the trees breathe and feel the ground shift, it was wonderful. His shikai emulated some of his Sage abilities, it allowed him to attune himself to the spiritual energy of the world and living things (very similar to Nature Chakra) the differences started with not having to gather Natural Reiatsu as he called it, so there was no worry of being overwhelmed by it; a downside of his release was he couldn't extend it in any way, no using clones to "cheat" as some of his friends called it and he had to remain in contact with his Zanpaktou for his ability to work.

Frankly, Naruto was fine with the new limitations in exchange for regaining his favourite ability. The Rasengan would always hold a special place in his heart, but being a Sage was the first skill Naruto truly felt he'd mastered and was uniquely his. Naruto used to argue with Grandpa Fukasaku over who would win in a fight, his Sage mode or his father's Flying Thunder God Technique; they never did come up with a satisfying answer.

He'd made quick work of the pesky spiders, his sword now emulated the effect of frog-kata, it could cut without actually touching an enemy, meaning Naruto could avoid most of the concrete-like innards. The Hollow was distracted and had lost 2 of its arms because of it. After going through the last of the brood Naruto knew he'd backed it into a corner.

He tracked the Hollow as it leapt away from him, it dropped to the forest floor and began a desperate run west… right toward the Senkaimon! Naruto was right on its heels, lining up his arms he cast another Kido.

"Bakudo #9: Horin!"

A ball of orange energy formed in his grip and then lashed out, like a water-jutsu it flowed out of his hand, it arched around a tree ahead of the hollow and slammed into it mid-sprint. The energy coiled around the Hollow tightly and the energy tightened, now more like a chain. Naruto dug his heels into the earth and tugged the kido back, throwing the Hollow through a tree. Naruto made his way over to his prisoner, keeping a steady flow of Reiatsu into his kido to stop the Hollow from breaking free. It was struggling, thrashing at the ground while trying to overpower its bonds. Naruto made sure not to slip on the blood leaking from its stumps, the more it struggled the faster it bled out.

The Hollow at full height probably reached 8 or 9 feet, Naruto had to walk around it to reach its mask. The mix of teeth and eyes didn't make for a pleasing picture. As he came into the Hollow's view it made one last lunge to try and take pound of flesh in return, Naruto's sword swept forward cutting the air a full foot away from his enemy. The Hollow was surprised, as surprised as a disfigured arachnid monster can, when his mask and most of his head were cut clean through. The Hollow fell back, its body dissolving into nothing while Naruto let his kido fade away. Taking a deep breath Naruto re-sealed his Zanpakuto, the stone casing cracked and fell away revealing his katana. Naruto made his way to the Senkaimon.

/

The clearing and his comrades came into view, Captain Isshin was leaning against the last tree in Naruto's path. He stopped watching Lieutenant Matsumoto and checked over Naruto.

"Nice work Uzumaki."

"Thank you Captain. I hope you don't think I went overboard."

Isshin grinned, "Those colourful eyes did more than just make you look like a frog."

"Toad."

"What?"

"Nevermind" Naruto said as he accompanied Isshin into the clearing.

The larger group of Shinigami caught sight of them, Matsumoto and her squadmates promptly dragged of their Captain, Matsumoto berating him for running off without letting her know. Sakura came over to give him her customary check up then they joined the rest of the students.

Orders were issued and reinforcements from the 8th Division arrived to escort the students back to the Academy. They were interviewed by the instructors and then sent off to bed. Naruto was held back, he described his fight with the Hollow though no one asked for details on his Shikai, the fact that a Captain had given Naruto the order to hunt down said Hollow allowed him to escape any punishment. He went to bed last night satisfied, and somewhat amused to know that even in death he couldn't escape the C-Rank mission curse.

/

/

/

Graduation took forever to arrive and passed too quickly. The last exams were done with, practical demonstrations had been performed and final assignments were handed in. Shikamaru seemed the most excited for the break from academia. The Shinobi had received permission to return to their Enclave before the actual ceremony, when they returned some of the Shinobi Council would accompany them back for further talks with the Gotei and Central 46. They'd been provided with a cart, some horses and set out.

They'd stopped to rest at homestead in the 10th District and paid the landowners to keep their steeds stabled until their return trip before proceeding on foot towards the mountain. Their group was a day from the Enclave when they met some familiar faces and it wasn't a happy reunion.

/

A.N: Its final exam time, so I've been putting off finishing this chapter. I'm still trying to get a handle on writing fight scenes and this one was definitely longer and more involved than a fight with multiple characters would be.

We've seen Naruto's Shikai, I chose to have it emulate his Sage mode rather than the Fox, mostly because the Fox wasn't part of Naruto naturally but whose to said it didn't leave some influence on him we've yet to see? I'm planning on finishing up this first arc in the next chapter. The next arc will have a bit of a timeskip to keep things moving. Thanks for all the reviews and follows, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!