Mark20020:

Yes, eventually.

SpeeDemon: Well, I made Shinji mention the Baroque style of music. The Baroque period lasted from around 1600 to 1750 A.D, so he hasn't been promoted to Captain yet.

Itachi1275: If you think about things that way, this story shouldn't even be possible as the Bleach Shinigami would be replaced by the Naruto one.

LuvDarkHarry: Naruto already killed Sasuke back in Chapter 2. (And ate his soul).

Rockhard034: Yes, they did just disappear. Remember that the inner world that every soul has breaks down when changing into a Hollow. Since Naruto had another mindscape, his Shinigami essence was able to take refuge there.

Since Naruto became an Adjuchas, Naruto has been capable of manipulating reiatsu and reiryoku to a degree.

GreenonBlack: I don't remember anything like that being stated in canon.

Itachi: I don't see what good that would do him, since Naruto already shat all over the Sharingan back in Chapter 2 when he was a weak-ass Hollow.

Whew, I lot of questions this time around, so without further ado, here's Chapter 14! Sorry it's late everyone, I forget that I was supposed to visit some relatives over the weekend, so I had no time to work on it.

Chapter 14: Valicav

The infinite expanse of Hueco Mundo was quiet, and not even a gentle breeze flowed through the merciless sands of the desert. The perpetual moon hung over the world, its light and glory acting as a guiding light. Naruto thought it looked as beautiful as ever, but maybe the delirium was making it seem that way.

Naruto's bones ached every time he so much as took a single step, and several times he had to lean on one of the quartz trees for support. Too much walking, and bile and blood would rise up in his throat, and he would wheeze so strongly that he looked like a medical patient taking his last breaths at a hospital...

But, there were no hospitals in Hueco Mundo, nothing more than vast, untamed wild. An injured Hollow could be wiped out in seconds, as the Hollows who lived here never gave a damn what their condition was like.

The white sand crunched beneath his feet, and Naruto was looking down at his legs. He noticed that the deep crimson armor that covered his entire person had changed to little more than a dull red. The bony material looked blotchy as well, as if he had bled underneath the armor.

He heard the roar of a distant Hollow, and noted that Hueco Mundo had an exceptionally sparse population today. Maybe it was because he was around Las Noches, a place that most Hollows tended to avoid. He wasn't out of the woods yet, as around a vast circumference of Las Noches there stood several outposts and underground bunkers, their marble pieces looking like little more than ruins left on the landscape, instead of districts separate from the main body of Las Noches.

The east side of Las Noches, where the Adjuchas had left, was fortunately filled with little more than run-down and abandoned outposts that had few sentries that were stationed there. The old stone bricks had fallen off their structures, and the marble of the bunker looked old and cracked.

As Naruto limped through the distant reaches of Las Noches, he continuously looked over his right shoulder, cautiously checking whether anyone was following him. To both his relief and disappointment, the following never occurred whenever he was around the vicinity of Las Noches.

A few weak Hollows had attacked him during his trek, but even in his injured state he was able to fend them off easily. Feeding on such weak Hollows at this point in his evolutionary lifestyle would grant him nothing.

He found a small cave in a series of rock beds, and being a small Hollow, the Adjuchas was able to squeeze into the shelter to avoid the strong wind and allow his injuries to heal. The cave was mostly out of view, so he was mostly safe from attacks by other Hollows.

He found the softest section of dirt in the cave, and curled up into to go to sleep, despite knowing that there was no need to other than to make his wounds heal faster. Listening to the wind move the sand always did calm him, and numb the aching pain that he was currently feeling. He just lied there for over an hour, listening to it rise and fall in intensity, and never even budging from that spot, before finally drifting off into a light sleep.

"Hey, look at this guys! There was a small Adjuchas who thought it would just be fine to sleep out here in the middle of Hueco Mundo! I don't think it knows the dangers of resting in this place..." came an obnoxious Hollow, its voice tinted with disbelieving glee.

"... Especially since we're here..." it added arrogantly.

"This is our lucky break, then! The chances that we would ever get to eat someone like him is slim to none. Let's eat now, before he gets up! We could all take a huge step in our evolutionary line." came another voice, as eager and gleeful as the first.

"Four Hollows... going by the stupid laughter of all of them..." thought Naruto, who was easily roused from his sleep the instant they came within fifty feet of his cave.

"Let's eat, then. I'll deliver a fatal blow right to the mask, and then we can all dig in!" said the first voice.

The large, tan Hollow brought down its beefy, fat fist down directly where Naruto's head was. A cloud of dust and sand rose inside the cave, and the Hollows' happiness turned to confusion as all that was left after the dust cleared was a small crater where the tan Hollow's fist had impacted.

The first Hollow roared as he felt a heavy weight latch itself onto his back, pulling him downwards with a force that he couldn't compete with. He saw the fox Hollow, awake and moving like he had never been asleep, staring down at him manically as soon as he was moved into a position where he could see.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and you would really be quite the rude ones if had come here intending to disturb my sleep. But... that would be beyond such fine Hollows such as yourselves... wouldn't it?" Naruto asked, his face twisted into a look of pure loathing.

The three Hollows that surrounded him did nothing, but the one that Naruto was holding hostage was nodding his head frantically.

"Well, that's just dandy... knowing that you aren't the type of Hollows who would do such a thing..." He pushed harder on the Hollow, forcing it to grunt in pain.

"... But, it turns out I would have so much more respect for you if I hadn't known you to be liars..." Naruto hissed harshly, digging his sharp claws into the flesh of the captured Hollow.

"I find lying Hollows to be among the tastiest beings I can sample..." he lied, knowing that there were next to no difference in the taste. "And you would've lived much longer if you hadn't thought of attacking an Adjuchas. Asleep or not, that was one of the most idiotic moves you could pull."

The Hollow stammered for a reply, but Naruto narrowed his eyes accusingly. He raised one of his front paws, making sure to keep the other one grabbed onto the Hollow. The Hollow's pitiful life flashed before its eyes as it viewed the potent black claws propel towards him at a rate he wasn't very comfortable with.

It gurgled as the claws penetrated it's sturdy skin, and red life fluid poured from its jugular in torrents. Naruto had gone for a clean kill this time... but that didn't make the action any less agonizing to him.

The Hollow's companions stared dumbly as the spectacle unfolded, but one of them found his throat slit mere seconds after his friend has died, the fox Adjuchas appearing next to him as quick as a blur.

A pause, and then another thud as the corpse of the Hollow fell to the ground directly after the first one. The two remaining live Hollows were finally able to gather their composure, but as soon as they were prepared to launch an attack, Naruto had used his superior strength to send their heads flying clean off their body.

Amazingly, the two Hollows were still alive for a few seconds, their bodies falling limp to the ground, yet their heads attempting to roar in a gesture of pure horror. But, even in their last seconds of life, Naruto wouldn't let them have any reprieve, as immediately after he ripped off their heads with his claws, he began tearing into the Hollows' severed heads with his teeth.

Naruto enjoyed a quick meal after that, even going so far to mock his enemies after death and giggle obnoxiously as well.

The brief fight had left him in a happier mood, and as he looked into the endless night ahead of him he felt the powerful urge to explore. There was something odd dotted on the landscape far, far ahead of him, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

As he drew ever closer, his vision could make out more of what lay ahead of him. It looked like a giant hole from his perspective, but it wasn't until he actually reached the place that he figured out it was an enormous canyon.

And what a canyon it was. Absolutely gargantuan... putting even the Grand Canyon in the human world to shame. It took Naruto's breath away, and traces of his old self found their way into his eyes. He knew that he had to explore this canyon.

He looked down, seeing sharp rocks at the bottom of a steep, sharp and dangerous clifface. There were no apparent trails, footholds, or outlying rocks that could be used for leverage. Any fool who tried to tackle this beast would surely be in for a painful death at the bottom...

At least, any fool that was human.

Naruto stood on his hind legs and puffed out his chest, looking incredibly ridiculous with the drab background. He did a kooky, immature little dance, and recklessly leapt off the gorge without any hesitation.

He fell for a while, calmly humming to himself as it he wasn't falling several thousand feet. As he neared the wall, his hind legs shot out from behind him, and his powerful claws dug into the rock.

He saw a burrowing Hollow at the bottom out of the corner of his eye, but it never resurfaced again. He also saw a strange... thing? It almost looked like some kind of building, but it's ruined structures seemed to deny that as the case.

Naruto dropped onto the sand with a light grunt, and was able to get a closer look at the so-called building. It was red in color, and looked like a tall tower, or at least it would have if ninety percent of the building wasn't strewn all over the place. It looked like someone had taken an enormous blade and just slashed the tower in half, and then into even smaller segments.

Naruto was mystified by the thing, his curiosity getting the better of him yet again. He dragged his quadrupedal body across the sand, eyes fixated on nothing but the red building. He stubbed his toe on something, making him curse in pain and lose his focus.

Directly in front of the tower, there was a tan point rising above the landscape for about six inches. Naruto cautiously bent over and reached out his paw to touch the thing, rubbing his pads all over it. It was rough... and Naruto recognized the material as a type of stone brick, a stark contrast to the building that lay in front of him.

Naruto felt the rough surface for a few more seconds, before forcefully retracting his paw and digging it into the sand beneath the stone object. Naruto dug around at a phenomenal rate, his claws working in perfect tandem together.

Within a few minutes, Naruto had uncovered the entire thing. It hung underground at a lopsided angle, and it turned out that it laid level, it would be a completely flat surface.

"A wall..." Naruto muttered to himself.

The stone object was indeed once a part of a wall; there was only one layer of bricks, but many rows and columns that rose to a great height. He reached out to touch it again, rubbing his hands across a strange insignia that looked like ten uniform swirls.

A strange shadow entered Naruto's vision, and his instincts made him jerk around instantaneously, thoroughly prepared for any sort of fight.

The shadow seemed to be coming from the interior of the red tower, but Naruto wasn't able to make out what it was. He cautiously stepped up towards the tower, his nerves shot as he entered the inside. He sensed movement for a split-second, and he shot down the hallway of the tower as blinding speeds, intent on catching who was spying on him.

The tower seemed to lead him underground, and he would have found it odd that this place was a massive underground complex rather than a tower. The hallways became more and more dungeon-like, extinguished torches lining the walls and dead ends becoming more common.

He reached a winding set of stairs after running into about six dead ends, and he caught of glimpse of the shadow as he neared the end of the stairwell. It was rocking back and forth rhythmically, almost like it was luring the young Adjuchas.

But, the shadow disappeared as he reached the end of the hall, but he was finally capable of seeing its owner as he entered the chamber at the end of the staircase. It was a shrouded figure, dressed in a black cloak and stood about seven feet tall. But... the thing that Naruto noticed most was the fact that it stood upright.

"A Vasto Lorde... " Naruto assumed, and although it was likely the case, Naruto desperately hoped that he was wrong.

The Vasto Lorde didn't even need to turn around to notice Naruto's presence. Rather, he continued to sit there as if Naruto wasn't there, staring at the Hollow mask, and then eventually at the ruined walls and the sand floor.

Naruto stared dumbly as the Vasto Lorde finally got up, but ignored Naruto even if he tensed up for a fight. The powerful being took a few minutes to create a small hole big enough for the mask, before casually dropping it in and giving the dead Hollow a proper burial.

The Vasto Lorde sighed to himself.

"Well... don't just stand there with that retarded look on your face, kid..." he said, addressing Naruto for the first time.

Naruto snapped out of his reverie at that remark.

"Retarded? Who the fuck are you to say I'm retarded? You're a freaking Vasto Lorde, who does nothing more than sit in the basement of an abandoned tower staring at Hollow masks all day."

The Vasto Lorde ignored him, and to Naruto's frustration, was now staring at the ground again, his eyes half-lidded as if he were bored. Finally, he spoke.

"Yeah, you're right," he admitted.

The powerful Hollow finally took off his cloak, revealing his true appearance for the first time. His skin coloring was a stark, clammy grey, with hideous buboes and appendages sticking out from everywhere on his body. Six spikes were encircled around his collar, almost looking like a necklace of bones.

His mask was devilish, with an angular chin and curved horns coming out of the forehead of the white porcelain. His eyes were mustard yellow, much like every other Hollow in the world, yet they were sad and somber, though they were slanted with anger as well.

Ugly gray hairs were poking out of the back of his mask, and they came down to form long spikes down his back.

The Vasto Lorde glared at the weaker Hollow, and Naruto felt one of the most oppressive atmospheres he had ever experienced in his life. You could practically taste the bitterness that oozed off of the Vasto Lorde.

"This is my kingdom..." he hissed at Naruto, who responded to that declaration with more than a little confusion.

"Your... kingdom?" Naruto asked. He didn't like to just sit here and chitchat with the Hollow, but it was a miracle that he hadn't been attacked yet. Maybe he could prolong this long enough for him to escape.

The Vasto Lorde sauntered on up to Naruto, and tightly gripped his shoulder which prevented Naruto from escaping.

"My kingdom." he repeated, staring into Naruto's eyes. The Vasto Lorde released his grip after that, turning his back to Naruto.

"Your kingdom...?"

Naruto paused.

"This place is nothing more than a bunch of ruins now. Outside the tower, I saw this stone wall with a strange insignia on it. There are probably more of them underground, and you're telling me that this place is your kingdom?" Naruto asked.

The Vasto Lorde tensed even further.

"It was my kingdom..." he whispered, though Naruto still heard it easily.

A small snort of a chuckle came from Naruto, and it obvious that he was trying so hard not to laugh. On the inside, he wanted to do nothing more than burst into peals of laughter and insult and mock the Vasto Lorde for the loss of his kingdom. But, he knew that this Hollow was leagues ahead of him, and to laugh would be tantamount to suicide.

But the Vasto Lorde ignored that short little outburst. Naruto was lucky that he was a relatively patient Vasto Lorde.

"But, my kingdom was destroyed... by that bastard Baraggan. I thought the rough terrain and deep hole would offer a suitable terrain obstacle for a Hollow kingdom to exist at the bottom of this canyon, but apparently that isn't the case as Baraggan used his superior numbers to crush ours. I was the only one left alive, and I lament the loss of my kingdom every day... "

Naruto turned all serious for a moment.

"Does Baraggan enjoy destroying small kingdoms?" he asked.

The Vasto Lorde snorted at that.

"Enjoy it? He lives for it. If the son of a bitch goes for too long without sending his army on anyone, then he becomes cranky..." the Vasto Lorde said. Naruto looked confused, as if he were about to inquire how he knew this.

The Vasto Lorde sighed.

"I suppose I'll tell you my name, then. It's Valicav Almazin, but I highly doubt you've ever heard of me..." as if he just answered his own question, the Adjuchas in front of him shook his head.

"I was once best friend and champion of Baraggan, meaning that I was also second-in-command within Las Noches. But... as time went on, I began to see a severe problem with my leader's arrogance and ways. I was selfish... and I began to crave power... supreme power all for myself. It didn't help that I was sadistic and impulsive at the time. Eventually, I left Las Noches and Baraggan behind, and started my own kingdom at the bottom of this canyon, far away from Las Noches."

Naruto seemed shocked and angry about this revelation.

"About three years ago... I began to look for my successor. I saw you rise up from the underground Menos Forest when I was wandering Hueco Mundo. You and that bug Adjuchas were planning to go to Las Noches. You in particular... I saw a very likely candidate to be my successor... but of course there were others, but they're all dead now, and that's what I thought happened to you as well when you entered Las Noches and never came out."

"But... in the three years that you were trapped in Las Noches... everything changed. Still being the sadistic and brash Hollow that I was at the time, I foolishly decided that I had the necessary manpower to attack Las Noches. I lead my army up the canyon and to the palace, but we were all crushed before we could even reach Baraggan's throne room. After that incident, I had revealed myself to Baraggan, and his rage knew no bounds as he took advantage of our weakness to deal a devastating blow here on the homefront."

"I don't know why you're explaining all of this to me. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly the nicest Hollow in the world, so if you're looking for sympathy you've come to the wrong place." Naruto said rudely.

Valicav allowed a ghost of a grin to come upon his face.

"It's true. I might just be an old Hollow that's begging for sympathy. There's no kingdom for you to take over anymore, and I'm not even sure you would want to do that in the first place," he said bitterly.

Naruto turned away from him.

"Well, you just happen to be in luck. I had a little run-in with the king of Las Noches, and now it's my goal to surpass his kingdom with my own. However... even if I do create my own kingdom, I wouldn't be your successor. I'm not going to have my spirit break like yours did, nor am I going to have my kingdom collapse. By having both of those things happen to you, you're just a pathetic old Vasto Lorde who isn't even deserving of my sympathy. You were better off as Baraggan's champion..."

Valicav stared at the boy with more than a little bit of resentment, to which Naruto ignored.

"Besides, I have a greater goal in mind that would be wasted on the likes of you. The destruction of Konohagakure no Sato, in the Elemental Countries, and the complete annihilation of the Shinigami race. That is my true final goal, not some small backwater kingdom at the bottom of a canyon."

Naruto turned his back on the fallen king, finally having had enough of him, and ascending the stairs.

Valicav's mind went numb for a minute, before a sort of epiphany happened.

"Konohagakure? This kid wants to destroy the Konohagakure? He can't be talking about another village; there's only one Konohagakure in the world..."

"Wait, kid! You can't go destroy Konoha right now. Doing that is the same thing as suicide!" he yelled out to Naruto, who paused in his ascension to stare intensely at Valicav.

"What was that? Are you telling me that destroying Konoha is beyond my capabilities?" he roared in anger. Valicav had apparently hit a very sore spot for Naruto. It was basically telling the boy that he was too weak.

But the rage was short-lived, and faded to become suspicion.

"Come to think of it, how do you even know about Konoha in the first place. Anyone who isn't from the Elemental Countries should have no knowledge of it..." The two were silent for a moment.

"Who are you?"

Valicav was avoiding Naruto's gaze, as if something nasty from his past had come back to haunt him.

"T-That doesn't matter." he said after a moment, making himself seem even more suspicious. "All I know is that the village of Konoha has recently come underneath the protection of the Shinigami. If you attack now, you'll have to be fighting a great amount of Shinigami all by yourself. They also have the ability to call Captains or Vice-Captains to the scene on a whim, and that's something that an Adjuchas like yourself can't fight." Valicav explained.

Naruto looked conflicted after hearing those words. Should he believe the old Hollow? Or was he just pulling stuff out of his ass to keep him here? That would explain all the stuttering and the obvious lying he was doing before.

"Fuck you..." Naruto said hotly, his voice raising to a squeak and a forced, overly happy grin on his face.

"Wha-" said Valicav.

"I said fuck you, asshole. I don't have to believe your bullshit. You're a former king, and that makes you a liar by default. You're telling me that Konoha gets all this special treatment for no reason? That's downright laughable. At best there will be a few low-ranked Shinigami stationed there, whom I can easily take out with no problem."

"You don't understand..." said Valicav stoically.

"No, I do understand Valicav. You're just trying to make me give up on my dream so you can build me up as your successor to stroke your own pathetic ego. Well, guess what old man, I'm going to go to Konoha right now, destroy it, and prove to you that I'm fully capable!" Naruto's voice cracked on the last sentence.

"I've been wanting to practice how to do this, anyway..." said Naruto, as he opened up the Garganta and stepped into the black void.

Valicav held out his hand.

"Wait, don't-"

"See ya, Valicav. Don't die before I get back. I want to prove to you my capabilities..." With a sinister laugh, the Garganta closed before Valicav could even react, leaving nothing but normal space where the void once was.

Valicav sat down on the sand in frustration, his body wavering.

"Stupid fool..."

The Garganta opened high above Konoha, where even the Konoha monument could be seen at a bird's eye view. The Hollow within immediately stepped out of the Garganta as soon as he saw the blue sky, eager to wreak some havoc on the denizens below.

He hovered in the air for a moment, looking down on the village from his standpoint. It looked so... peaceful, as if it wasn't even being affected by the war that was currently going on with Iwa.

Children played in the streets, vendors smiled and sold goods to their valued customers. Shinobi, genin or Kage alike were treated with full respect. But most importantly, not a single one of them was unaware of the monster in the skies, ready to slit their throats at a moment's notice.

Naruto stared down on the village with a hungry look in his eyes, like an evil deity preparing to rain down his judgement on the foolish mortals. He ran a paw across his mask, stroking the back of it's ears to the bottom of his chin.

"Well..." he sighed wistfully. "Let's get on with it then..."

And Chapter finished! It's a short one to be sure, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't review it! Please do that... I'll cry if you don't.

Once again, I'm sorry I was unable to update on the proposed time, but the majority of my writing I do on the weekends, and since my grandma's house doesn't have any quality internet connection, I was unable to work on it.

But, it's here now!

And, I'll leave it at this now, so I'll see all of you next time.

Goodbye,

Alban55