I do not own Bleach or Naruto.


Training

Naruto groaned and sat down. His wounds were healed but still hurt and now they were refusing to let him use Lisa's zanpakuto. Instead, they had handed him his own zanpakuto to use and he was unhappy about it. For starters, he was not very good without Lisa's zanpakuto telling him what to do. He hadn't mentioned that he could hear the zanpakuto talking. It had told him what the enemy would do about half a second before they did it. Now, he had to predict it and act accordingly, resulting in him barely being capable of fighting. He sighed as he sat against a tree, Lisa and Naruto walking away to talk about Naruto's drop in skill.

Naruto looked down at his Zanpakuto. It had a darkened blade and a black grip. The tsuba was an octagon with a dragon winding its way between the zanpakuto and the octagon border. The buttcap had a carving of a field of flowers, a couple trees, and a cloudless sky.

"So where's your voice?" Naruto muttered. "What? Don't want to help me stay alive? No words of advice for a struggling ninja?"

"You want advice?" the sword's voice spoke inside his head. "Fine. You have nothing to offer me. I will not help you if you cannot defend yourself. You must learn to wield me as a Shinigami would."

"I have no Soul Energy, no Shinigami powers," Naruto pointed out.

"Wielding me has nothing to do with that," the zanpakuto sniffed. "When you learn to wield me, then and only then, will I tell you my name."

"I can't fight," Naruto stated. "I can't. How can I learn to use you if I have no skill?"

"Just remember what the others told you," the zanpakuto advised. "If you remember that, you will be good enough."

Naruto sighed and stood as Ichigo began to walk toward him. Ichigo drew his shikai and Naruto charged, slashing at Ichigo. Ichigo blocked it and shoved Naruto away easily, sighing as he slashed again. Naruto blocked it and shoved the blade up then dropped, spinning and moving to trip Ichigo. Ichigo drove his shikai into the ground, Naruto's leg hitting the broad side and stopping. Naruto scrambled away and growled in frustration then sprinted forward again, waiting for Ichigo to react. Ichigo grabbed the cloth attached to the hilt of his shikai and ripped it out of the ground, spinning it for a moment before spinning with it. The blade flashed around and Naruto blocked it, their blades crashed into each other at the same time as an explosion shook the ground from the far side of the village.

"Amagai!" Ichigo roared. "We have to go!"

Everyone sprinted toward the explosion to fight Hitsugaya fighting Amagai, both in Bankai form and only Hitsugaya bearing any wounds. Even in Bankai, the only real benefit to Hitsugaya was his aerial speed. Ichigo rushed to to Hitsugaya's aid, slashing at Amagai. Amagai blocked it and extended his Bakkoto blade, slashing at Ichigo before Lisa appeared, stopping the blade and pinning his arm to the opposite side.

"Damn you all want me dead," Amagai growled charging a fireball that exploded against Ichigo's zanpakuto instantly, launching the three Shinigami away.

"My turn Ichigo," Naruto called dropping to the ground as Amagai anded before him.

"Good," Amagai grinned. "I've been looking forward to this."

Amagai landed in front of Naruto and retracted his Bakkoto and switched his Bankai to the other hand before sprinting at Naruto. As he ran, he spun the bankai a few times, launching several fire balls before slashing at Naruto. Naruto slashed the fireballs out of the air before blocking the bankai.

"You ignorant annoying piece of..." Amagai growled. "I should have killed you last time. This time, I've had enough of you. Die!"

He kicked Naruto back and drove the bankai into the ground. Naruto leapt back as columns of flame shot into the air. Finally, Naruto spun to leave and two columns shot up on either side of him, burning his arms badly and throwing him into the village wall. Just as he landed, Hinata dropped to the ground in front of him.

"Don't," Naruto croaked, struggling to sit up. "I'll...handle..."

"I'll do it," Ichigo growled as he and Lisa sprinted forward.

Before they could get there, both were blasted away by a column of flames. Hinata shook her head and took her usual fighting stance. Amagai rolled his eyes and extended the Bakkoto blade again.

"Fine," Amagai sighed. "I'll kill your girlfriend first."

"Hinata...don't...I can..." Naruto growled, trying to stand.

"It's alright Naruto," Hinata smiled. "This won't turn into my fight with Pein."

She sprinted forward, driving her palm at Amagai and he promptly removed it with his Bakkoto blade. Everyone froze, including Hinata, staring in shock at the point where her elbow stopped. After a moment, she spun, attacking with her other hand but he removed that arm at the shoulder. Then, he raised the Bakkoto blade over his head.

"Now DIE!"


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