Chapter 10 - The Meaning of Sacrifice: Naruto vs. Harribel, Part 1

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[Somewhere Outside of Karakura Town, Human Realm]

Meanwhile….

Recap:

Naruto, sensing that the female Espada had moved to yet another location, Shunpoed towards the direction of her trailing spiritual pressure as he readied himself for a tough fight...

He didn't have to go as far as Kurama did with Ulquiorrra in order to find his opponent as she had traveled only half of the distance that Ulquiorra had; she had stopped in another forest clearing which had a small stream that flowed through its center.

When Naruto arrived he saw that the women had already unsheathed her blade, which Naruto assumed was her zanpakuto. The sword appeared to be a very wide and short blade, which would've been unassumning except for the fact that the middle of the blade was completely hollow; the sword, in other words, consisted of nothing more than the edges of its blade. The women was already in what Naruto thought was a fighting stance and was glaring at him.

"Tell me; what is your name, boy?" she asked.

"You're trying to capture me and you don't even know my name?" Naruto asked as reached into one of his ninja tool pouches, which he, like his headband and clothing, had also kept with him the whole time he was in Karakura Town, as he also had Kenja eject from the hidden mechanism. He pulled out a knife; it was not the usual kunai knife, however, that he pulled out. Instead Naruto pulled out what could best be descibed as a cross between a kunai and a trench knife that he wielded in his left hand; it was one Shikamaru's chakra blades, which he had lent to Naruto shortly before he was killed in his battle with Tobi.

As Harribel raised an eyebrow at the unusual blades Naruto decided answer her question.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki. And you are?," he declared as he channeled some of his wind chakra in the chakra blade; he decided not to use his zanpakuto's shikai just yet.

"I am Tier Harribel, the Third Espada," the women said as she as the hollow portion of her blade was filled with a yellow-colored spiritual pressure.

The two opponents then charged at each other; Harribel made the first move as she thrusted her sword at Naruto's heart. Naruto sidestepped the attack moving to Harribel's right; the Arrancar managed to quickly recover the parry and swung her blade at Naruto, who proceeded to block it with his chakra blade. Harribel was suprised by the sharpness and strength of the wind-enhanced knife; the female Espada had to apply even more of her spiritual pressure to her blade just so that she could hold her ground.

"Take this!" Naruto yelled as he attempted to stab Harribel in the chest with his zanpakuto, which caught the Espada even further by surprise. Harribel was barely able to evade that attack being using her Sonido to create some distance between herself and her opponent.

Harribel tried to prepare another beam of yellow spiritual pressure until she saw, to her horror, that Naruto had already flash stepped in front of the Arrancar; she barely had time to block the ninja's two blades before she was pushed back several feet. After a series a further attacks, parries, and counter-attacks, all of which occured at speeds that even someone with the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could never hope to read, both blondes backed up several yards from each other; Harribel had been badly injured, with several moderate lacerations across her arms, while Naruto was simply trying to keep an eye on his opponent, as he figure that Harribel, being the Third Espada, was holding back against him.

Harribel was taken aback by the speed and ferocity of Naruto's attacks; most Soul Reapers and Arrancars would've stopped their attacks for a very short respite if their opponent did the same. Naruto, on the other hand, was relentless as he kept attacking Harribel again and again, having trained to fight differently; he only stopped, briefly of course, after twenty minutes passed since their fight began. What really surprised Harribel, however, was the sheer volume of resolve reflected in Naruto's blade; her opponent's conviction was so strong that she could almost feel it ten yards away.

As Harribel eyed Naruto, wondering where his drive even comes from, he decided to question her.

"Why did you stop fighting me all of a sudden?" he asked as the Espada narrowed her eyes at him.

"I was just curious; where does this resolve I sense from within you come from?" Harribel asked as Naruto simply tensed up as if he was expecting the Arrancar to attack if he answered.

"I don't know why you give a damn about my resolve; if you need to know why, however, it's because I can't afford to give into despair, especially now. I have people back home whom I've made promises to, people who believed in me; if they were willing to believe in me then I have to believe in myself. And it's because of that... that I know... that I won't lose to you or whoever this Aizen-guy sends after me!" Naruto explained as the thoughts of his friends back in his own world went through his mind. Harribel scoffed at this.

"You speak as though you're willing to sacrifice everything for those people, even your own life," Harribel said as Naruto glared at her.

"And what do you know about sacrifice?" Naruto asked.

"I know more than you ever could, Naruto Uzumaki; sacrifice is, after all, the aspect of death that I symbolize," Harribel explained; when Naruto appeared to be confused by this the Espada proceeded to explain how each of the Espada represented an aspect of death.

Naruto his blood boil with each word his opponent said; Harribel, unaware of the circumstances of Naruto's death, then dropped the ball, so to speak.

"The existence of the Espada is built upon the noble sacrifices of its members; if I were to lose here the sacrifices made in this battle would have all been for nothing. I hold within me the resolve of those who were, and still are, willing to sacrifice their lives. That is something you will never be able to comprehend," Harribel declared as she prepared to continue the fight; it was then that she noticed that Naruto had put his head down.

Harribel then sensed something that she hadn't felt within her opponent; it was a sense of rage, the likes of which she has never felt, that flared up so violently that it appeared to be covering him in flames, right down to his shihakusho. After a few moments, however, Harribel realized that the flames she was seeing were actually real and, curiously, yellow in color; the Espada also realized that her oppponent's hair now had two horn-like extensions at the front. As Harribel's eyes widened in terror at the increase in Naruto's power as he placed the Chakra Blade back in his pouch. Naruto then looked at Harribel eyes had changed to orange, as far as colors were concerned, before he spoke.

"You talk as though you know everything about the meaning of sacrifice... BUT YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT IT, HARRIBEL!" he roared as held his left hand into the air. Naruto then had two Chakra arms form as he created a Rasenshuriken; he would've only needed one chakra arm if it wasn't for the fact that he still held Kenja in his right hand.

"Oh no..." Harribel thought as she had another beam of spiritual pressure build up in her hollowed-out blade.

"Ola Azul!" Harribel said as she launched her attack... just as Naruto finished creating his jutsu.

"True Wind-Style: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto roared as he threw the wind release jutsu.

The two attacks collided and the Rasenshuriken, to Harribel's horror, cut right through her attack like it was paper; she didn't realize that Naruto had learned to use spiritual pressure to enhance the power of his jutsus and, in fact, could use his chakra to do the same thing with his Soul Reaper abilities.

The Rasenshuriken hit the ground right next to Harribel and exploded; despite the size of the attack, which was large enough to level a third of Karakura Town had it been caught in the blast, Harribel was able to dodge the attack though not without injury as she now had several injuries across her body. Naruto then appeared before the Espada; he had stop his use of the Kurama's chakra but was still wielding his zanpakuto. Harribel straightened herself as Naruto spoke.

"You want to know how I died, Harribel? I gave my own life to stop a man who was threatening my friends... my home... my world... because they all mean more to me than my own life and I'm still willing to protect all of them, no matter what happens to me and regardless of what it takes t keep them safe. So the next time try to see if you have anything, anyone, you're willing to fight and die for; then you can look me in the eye and talk to me about the meaning fo the word 'sacrifice'," Naruto explained as held Kenja in front of him in a backhanded grip.

"Now bring out your full power so we can finish this fight already, Harribel!" Naruto roared; Harribel, having decided to honor her opponent's challange, stretched her right hand in front of her while having the blade of her zanpakuto pointed downward.

"Destroy, Tiburon(Spanish for 'Shark')," Harribel said; the Espada was then enveloped by a heart-shaped surge of water that closed around her, forming a cocoon-like cyclone. Naruto proceeded to release his blade.

"Ride the wind, Kenja," Naruto said as the explosion of spiritual pressure, with the gusts of wind that accompanied it, that came with the release of his zanpakuto soon enveloped him...

Next Time - Water and Wind Collide: Naruto vs. Harribel, Part 2