Chapter 14

Infiltration

"So our Ichigo has finally succeeded in forming a cannon ball has he?" Said Yoruichi, as she walked over to the now sleeping Ichigo.

Ganju watched her "What's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong with him, he's just sleeping it off. I need the rest of you to go and sit over there." The rest looked unsure but just waited for Yoruichi to continue.

"We haven't got much time before we begin out mission. I am going to tell you now what we can expect once we're inside the Seireitei you must remember that…WAHHHHHHH!"

Soon, the group were standing in front of the cannonball launchpad waiting for instructions from Yoruichi. "Very well, are we all here now?"

"Yes sir," Naruto was about to warn Ichigo when he saw him starring at Yoruichi's tail but was too late.

"But what happened to your tail Yoruichi? It looks like one of those flexible tooth brushes." the others gasped in horror while Naruto slapped his forehead at Ichigo's stupidity.

Suddenly, Yoruichi began to glow a menacing red aura and spoke with a voice that promised death.

"What do you mean, is there something wrong with it?" She ask with a murderous look.

Ichigo suddenly felt small compared to Yoruichi. "N-No nothing, it's a perfectly wonderful beautiful tail!" he squeaked in reply.

Uryū leaned in and spoke to Ichigo. "Don't you remember, you're the one who actually did that."

"Huh, I did?"

"After you created that cannon ball, you fell asleep and grabbed Mr. Yoruichi's tail. It took three of us to get you to let go but by then it was too late."

Yoruichi looked like she was about to cry. "My tail, my pride and joy, ruined!" Orihime, Chad, Uryū and Tatsuki sweat dropped.

"I highly recommend avoiding that subject from now on." Said Uryū

"Yeah, got it."

Biyoku looked at Yoruichi in sympathy, she would probably burst in to tears herself if anything happened to her tail. She slowly began to inch away from Ichigo, not trusting him with her own tail.

Kukaku noticed someone else was missing "Hey wait, why isn't Ganju here with the rest of you?"

Ichigo replied "Last time I saw him he was down stairs muttering some nonsense to himself."

"Never fear, Ganju is here!" Rhymed said person slightly panting. "You should know, the heroes always the last one to make his entrance."

"That's only true when your allies are in a grim situation and are gonna die in a few minutes, you dumbass." thought Naruto in a board like fashion.

"...Okay, but what's with that outfit?" said an irritated Ichigo

"Ha ha, you like it heh. This is my custom battle costume, its pretty sweet right. Save your breath because I'm not lending it to you, don't even ask."

"Oh I'm crushed to hear that." Said Ichigo in sarcastic tone, until he realized some thing. "Hey wait, what battle? Your not coming."

"My big brother was killed by a Shinigami!" Ganju said to Ichigo, right into his face.

"Ganju don't you dare," Kukaku began to warn him but Ganju, in a rare show of coldness, glared back at her.

"Why don't you listen and let me talk for a change sister?" Kukaku's shocked expression could be seen to all, proving this was the first him Ganju actually stood up to her.

"My brother... he was a brilliant man, he passed the Shinigami academy entrance exam on his first try, at that time his Reiatsu was at sixth class. That's the same level as a Lieutenant of the 13 court guard squads. Then he finished a six year curriculum in one year. Then he became a member of a squad. In just five years he became a Lieutenant, but he was betrayed his comrades, his own soul reaper allies led him to his grave!"

"I was still just a kid back then so I don't remember all the details on what happened, but there are two things I'll never forget. Faces, those two faces. The face cruel Shinigami who dragged my brother's mangled body back home in the face of my dear dying brother, happily giving thank to that same shinigami."

"Why did he do that, why would my brother be so forgiving? To this day I just don't know, but there's one thing I do know for certain. Somehow my brother never blamed the shinigami and he never hated them."

"BUT HOW?" Ganju shouted all of a sudden "Why didn't he hate the fiends who completely destroyed him?, why did he continue to believe in them to the bitter end?" he grabbed Ichigo by his shihakusho.

"Somehow, you seem different from the other Shinigami, that's what I think. If I go with you I might discover something important, that's why I've decided, I'm going to help you. I'm willing to go along with you into the heart of enemy territory and learn what being a Shinigami really means."

"All right then, are you all ready for the cannon ball?"

"Yes." everyone said in unison.

Ichigo looked at Yoruichi and then at the spirit core, "Hey I just thought of something." He looked towards at Yoruichi, "Do you and Biyoku know how to make a cannon ball?"

"Actually that's a good question. I guess we aught to give it a try."

Uryū looked disbelievingly "Don't tell me this is gonna be your first attempts."

Yoruichi dropped from the ledge and walked forward "Put that down on the floor Ichigo."

Ichigo set the spirit core down and stepped back. Yoruichi leapt onto the ball and began to put her reiryoku into it. The ball glowed and soon a perfect sphere surrounded her.

They stared in awe and Yoruichi spoke as if it was nothing "Just as I suspected. The task was as natural as breathing in and out."

Orihime praised Yoruichi and clapped fer hands but Ichigo was on his hands and knees, surrounded by an aura of depression.

"I can see it bothers you but I don't know why you find it so surprising. You'll learn there are many things I can do that are far beyond your reach."

Soon, it was Biyoku's turn and she walked forward and pressed her snout against the ball. Once again, the ball began to glow and a perfect sphere surrounded her as well.

This time Ichigo was lying face-down on the ground, looking like he had lost the will to live. In the corner of his eye, Ichigo could have sworn that he saw Yoruichi and Biyoku holding up banners saying, "Animals rule."

As soon as Ganju and Kukaku were finished talking, Kukaku faced everyone and spoke "If your all ready to go, then the final countdown begins now!" She smacked her fist against the barrel of the cannon launcher and a large circular entrance appeared. "Get inside everyone."

Once they were inside Yoruichi looked at everyone of them, "Now listen, once we are inside the Seireitei it is important that we stick together. If you should encounter any Taichou's, do not fight them. Don't even think about it, just run. Our goal is to save Rukia, do you understand? You must avoid taking any unnecessary risks."

Everyone could start to hear Kukaku begin the enchantment. Yoruichi shouted "Now it has begun! Pour your Reiatsu into the core!" A cannon ball formed around them.

One minute they were inside the canon launcher and the next, they were high above Kukaku's house.

Ichigo was the first to break the silence "Somehow I thought blastoff would be more explosive."

Ganju grinned at him "That was only the start you simpleton."

Once the cannonball was at the peek of its hight, it shot off in a direction making them all shout in surprise. Ganju then pulled out a long scroll.

Ichigo looked at it "What is that thing?"

Ganju turned towards Ichigo "These are the directions for the next stage of the launch. The first stage of the flower crane cannon number 2 was just the blast off itself and the initial directional setting. Now we go to the secondary spell which controls the acceleration and axis adjustment. This will help with the precision guidance."

"Uh..." Was Ichigo's smart reply.

Ganju turned his head to talk to everyone. "Now there's just one more thing I have to explain to you all. In order to enter the Seireitei successfully we have to stabilize this cannon ball. That requires keeping the Reiatsu output from each of us at a constant level, and to do that keep your hand on the crystal in the centre so you can see how much energy the others a releasing and simply adjust your energy release accordingly. One mistake and that's it; we'll all die."

They all nodded in response.

Soon, everyone was arguing, telling Ichigo to lower his output from entering the ball. Causing Ganju to repeat the same line twice of his chant. So those two started arguing, Naruto looked like he was going to murder those two if he ever survived this. Not only were they a few hundred feet in the air, their lack of concentration could unbalance the energy in the cannon ball and cause it to explode. Naruto thought it was a perfect excuse to murder them.

Chad noticed something behind him. "Hey look, what's that?"

The argument stopped, they all looked in the same direction as Chad "It's the Seireitei," said Ganju.

Uryū shouted "We're going to crash!"

Yoruichi replied "The only way to survive this is to pour in all the Reiatsu you've got."

They all complied with the cat's orders and began to do so, then slammed into the invisible barrier around the Seireitei.

Yellow bolts of lightning danced around them. Ichigo shouted "Push through dammit". They all burst through in a flash of light and were in the open air

They continued to float in the air. "What's going on? We blasted through the shield but we're not falling to the ground. We're just floating here!" Ichigo asked.

Yoruichi ordered them "Don't get separated. The cannon ball was destroyed by the shield but its residual energy will still hold us up until it dissolves."

Uryū spoke "What happens then?"

"It will coalesce into a whirlpool then explode and vanish. We must stay together because anyone whose gets separated will be blown away by the explosion."

Just like Yoruichi said, they all found themselves inside a whirlpool and then got separated into five groups.

Naruto calmly pointed to the ground, knowing what would do just the trick for breaking their fall.

"Bakudō 37: Tsuriboshi"

Under Tatsuki, Biyoku and Naruto, a star-shaped safety net of energy formed, anchoring itself to the buildings with ropes of spirit particles. The trio landed in the safety net and it stretched like a bungee cord under their sudden weight before lightly sending them back up about an inch as they bounced like they were on a trampoline before they stopped and the three got out of the net.

"Note to self: Thank Hachigen and Tessai for the Kido lessons." he muttered.

"Hey, Naruto! could you...gah!" Tatsuki said as she fell over and tumbled out of the binding spell, landing on Naruto and pinning in to the ground. with her on top of him and their faces only inches apart. Seeing this, Biyoku grinned as she hopped out of the net.

"We're definitely getting you some parkour training when we had back to Karakura." Naruto said with a grin.

"Shut up, baka." Arisawa said playfully smacking him on the cheek. The two laughed as they got up.

"So how'd you do that?" Tatsuki asked, looking at Naruto's Tsuriboshi as it faded away into nothing.

Realizing what she was asking about brought memories of the past few weeks training with the Vizards to Naruto's mind. Being fifty percent Shinigami, he found he was able to use the same spells as a Shinigami despite how he was originally a Hollow. Seeing as Tessai was the former leader of the Kido Corps and Hachi had been his second-in-command, Naruto had learned quite a few Shinigami spells from both of them. In regards to his Bakudō, he knew Sai, Hainawa, Seki, Geki, Hōrin, Sekienton, Kyokko, Shitotsu Sansen, Tsuriboshi, Enkosen, Rikujōkōrō, Hyapporankan, Sajo Sabaku, Kuyō Shibari, and Danku.

As far as his Hadō, his arsenal consisted of Kongōbaku, Hyōga Seiran, Ōkasen, Senjū Kōten Taihō, Kurohitsugi, Hiryugekizokushintenraiho and Byakurai.

As the only Tsuriai in existence, he'd done a little experimenting to find he could combined the enegry-based powers of a Hollow with his Kido. He had to say, the results were...explosive...to say the least. The term "explosive in this case being it was like trying to put out a oil well fire using liquid nitroglycerin. When he'd asked Urahara why he could mix his Hollow and Shinigami powers in ways the Vizards couldn't, the shop keeper had explained that it had to do with how the Vizards Shinigami-Hollow percentage ratio was uneven.

"Long story short: Good teachers." Naruto said. "You alright Biyoku?" Naruto asked, knowing Tatsuki was fine...he'd been what broke her falling on the ground after all.

The canine-like mod soul-arrancar didn't answer but merely growled as she took up a defensive position near her master and his (as Biyoku was starting to subconsciously dub Tatsuki) mate.

On high alert instantly, Tatsuki and Naruto leapt to their feet as several Shinigami in black shinobi outfits arrived and surrounded them. That was when Naruto noticed a symbol on the main building of the outdoor barracks, two hollow rectangles, one going horizontally the other going vertically that met to form a cross of sorts.

"Well ain't this a bitch, of all the places to land, we ended up smack dab in the heart of the Onmitsukidō's training area!" Naruto shouted, cursing himself for his lack of observation skills. Baka! How long did he spend in Hueco Mundo? Being aware of your surroundings at all times was a cardinal rule there!

"Eh?" Tatsuki asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Real cloak and dagger unit, covert black ops." Naruto said, feeling glad that Urahara, Yoruichi and the Vizards had taught him about the Soul Society. "They mostly use hand-to-hand fighting skills."

"Well then what're you worried about? Just leave these guys to me!" Tatsuki said, Naruto smiled at her, finally getting to see his girl in action. The suit she was wearing would make it almost like a free show for him, plus the enemy would be too distracted, putting them in a world of pain.

"Well...unload on them, but don't kill them and leave some of them conscious so we can find out any information on where Rukia is from them." Naruto said, covering Biyoku's eyes as Tatsuki grinned.

Naruto had sensed that Ichigo and Ganju had run into shinigami as well, while Chad was avoiding detection. Yoruichi had landed by herself and was searching for the others in her cat form and Uryū and Orihime hadn't ran into any Shinigami yet.

An hour later, all the members of the Onmitsukidō were laying on the ground or embedded in the walls, all of them moaning. The ground and walls were littered with scorch marks and small patches of fire burning themselves out.

Tatsuki looked around her in sheer disappointment before turning accusingly at Naruto. "You made these black ops guys sound tough, I hardly broke a sweat!"

"Ugh...she's as bad as our Taichou..." one of the awake members moaned.

"Nah...our Taichou doesn't use flame-augmented Hakuda... maybe if we pretend we're dead she'll go away..." one member groaned, only for Tatsuki to haul him to his feet.

"If you've got enough energy to make wise-crack suggestions like that, it must mean you're in good enough shape to fight."

The Onmitsukidō member paled and looked ready to burst into tears.

"Hold it Tatsuki...how about he tells us where Kuchiki Rukia is and you let him go? After all, the whole reason we're hear is to prevent her execution." Naruto said suddenly, coming to the man's rescue.

"Meaning...she'll leave us alone if we tell you?" the black ops member asked pleadingly, getting a nod from Tatsuki.

"SHE'S IN THE SENZIAKUSU! IT'S THE GIANT WHITE TOWER WITH A BRIDGE CONNECTED TO IT! ITS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEIREITEI! ITS NORTH-EAST OF HERE!" the Onmitsukidō member shouted, not caring if his Taichou would skin him for singing like a canary. If Soi Fon-taichou found out how this ryoka had beaten them into the ground, she might make them fight her again to see how much work the stealth force needed, or worse, make the pyro-hakuda user her successor so they'd get beaten this bad all the time!

Recalling the tower they had seen from the cannonball, the three nodded and Tatsuki dropped the man and headed in the direction he had said.

They ran until for a few hours until Naruto suddenly skid to a stop, prompting Tatsuki and Biyoku to do the same as they noticed he was gripping the hilt of his zanpakuto.

"Come on out, I know you're there!"

No sooner had Naruto shouted that aloud than a figure leapt off one of the roofs and crashed to the ground in front of them. Looming over the trio was a giant that stood at 9'4. The large individual wore a black shihakusho with a white sash, and a white Taichou's haori. Upon the back of the haori was a simple design of a black rhombus that enclosed the kanji for "7". The person also wore gloves with bracer's, combined with a helmet, to conceal their entire body.

The behemoth stepped forward, and Naruto was about to do the same. Until he noticed a hand on his chest, he looked towards Tatsuki and saw determination in her eyes. She wanted to prove herself to him, that she had gotten stronger and fighting a Taichou would put her
to the limit of her abilities. So Naruto just nodded and let her step forward instead.

"You three are some of the ryoka. As a Taichou of the Gotei Thirteen, I, Komamura Sajin, Captain of the seventh squad, cannot allow you go any further. Its my duty to see to the Soul Society's protection, therefore I'll end you three here." the figure said in a clearly male voice.

"I don't care who you are. I respect you as person that's fights for what he believes in. But whomever tries to stop me from protecting the people I care about, I'll use all my power to reduce them to ashes!" Tatsuki said as she took a fighting stance and flames formed crackling to life on her hands, arms, feet and legs.

Komamura looked at the human, he had to confess that she did have an attitude the seventh Taichou admired. To know she was outclassed and still was going to face him to keep the other two she was with safe was brave indeed. While he wasn't the strongest of the Taichou's, he was more then powerful enough to deal with three ryoka. "Very well, it would be disrespectful to go about this the easy way of crushing you if that is how you feel. I admire that you're willing to do battle against a Taichou with your own power being lower than my own reiatsu levels, so the respectful thing to do is crush you with my full power."

Saying his peace, he drew his zanpakuto and glowed with a red aura "Bankai!"

With that, the ground shook as a hundred-meters tall giant armoured samurai materialized behind him.

"This is the representation of my full power, my Bankai, Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō!"

"He's a big one...I'll give you that. But that won't do you all that much good. Hitei!" Tatsuki shouted, activating her negation ability.

To Komamura's shock, his Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō vanished as soon as the ryoka said that last word. "Wh...what did you do?" he asked. This was a power he'd never seen before.

Tatsuki's response was land a roundhouse into his stomach with her flaming limbs. "With how strong you are, my Hitei can hold back samurai-zilla and cut you off from whatever other powers your sword has for about five minutes at the most. So you'll forgive me if I skip the small talk and get straight to the action." she said as the Taichou blocked a forceful two-handed hammer blow from the armoured human. The Taichou threw off the girl off him, and looked at his bracer's and was surprised to see they were partially melted. Then again, she was using flames with a decent degree of heat to them, not in the league of the flames used by Soutaichou Yamamoto Genryuusai's Ryūjin Jakka, but still nothing to dismiss either, it best not to try anything that could have those flames come into contact with his skin.

Komamura looked back at Tatsuki to see her sending flames from her feet to propel herself forward similar to jets, causing him to raise a brow before she caught him with a blow to the gut, just under his ribcage. Komamura felt the air leave his lungs as he staggered back a step. He glared at the girl as she stood there in a fighting stance while he gasped. So...that's what it was.

Tatsuki frowned at the Taichou, she figured as much from her first glance at the guy. She knew Komamura was too sturdy a fighter to beat by using raw strength...strength she didn't have yet. So she was making up for it by using her flame-based powers to go for transforming the way she was using her flames to augment her speed to turn it into power to back up what would otherwise be ineffective blows. Looked like she'd be going at this with convert-speed-to-power approach in this whole fight.

Lightning quick, the Taichou slashed at Tatsuki. The young fighter spun away from the attack, before dashing back at the behemoth. Tatsuki back flipped over the attack. The moment she landed on her feet, she then shot forward, fist reared back.

Her opponent swung his weapon horizontally, and Tatsuki ducked under the swipe. Leaping upwards, Tatsuki's fist shot at where Komamura's jaw would be. The giant jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. Komamura retaliated with a left hook soon after. Tatsuki surprisingly caught the blow, before turning it aside with ease. Komamura stumbled from the forward momentum, and Tatsuki struck with a flying kick to the Taichou's side. Sajin went flying away, before rolling to a stop.

"You're quick on your feet. However, I can go faster too," Komamura growled, smiling mentally as he remembered she had only used that weird "Hitei" ability on his zanpakuto, but not to cut him off from his ability to used shunpo.

Suddenly, the Taichou was behind Tatsuki, his weapon raised to split open the humans skull. As Komamura swung downward, Tatsuki shot forward but not without getting a deep slash wound, going from her right shoulder, to the bottom of the left side of her ribs. She slowly began to stand up and faced the Taichou, with a pained look on her face. When Naruto was about to step forward, Tatsuki held up her hand as a sign to stop. Naruto did, but nodded to Biyoku, who nodded in return and began to stand still, as if she was a statue. Suddenly, a black aura surrounded Biyoku. If anyone could have seen Tatsuki's wound right now, they would have seen glimmers of a black mist surrounding the wound, rapidly repairing it.

He dragged his zanpakuto along the ground in preparation for another swing. The attack came a split second later, and Tatsuki leaned backwards to dodge. The steel barely missed her, and the human ryoka rolled to the left before jumping up to throw a kick. Komamura blocked with his forearm, but Tatsuki's knee bent, wrapping her leg around her opponent's arm. Tatsuki pulled the limb downward, leaving Komamura wide open for attack. Tatsuki's fist shot forward, but instead of punching, Tatsuki let off a fireball point blank in the Taichou's face, Komamura was sent rocketing away, right into a wall behind him as Tatsuki unwrapped her limb from his arm and landed in a crouch before she leapt up into the air and formed blow torch-like flames under her feet and her palms as she caught her breath and also scanned to find which way was the Senzaikyū was.

However, her being granted a moment to catch her second wind was not to be. Not a second later, Komamura leaped into the air, right at her. The two met in mid air, and Komamura initiated with a right hook. Tatsuki spun to her left, dodging the blow. Using the momentum of her spin, Tatsuki lashed out with a vicious kick. Komamura's left hand came up to catch Tatsuki's ankle, stopping the attack. Komamura threw the human, sending her speeding away. The Taichou quickly snatched up his weapon, before shooting after her. Komamura caught up with the flying girl before swinging his zanpakuto at her. Tatsuki countered by releasing a quick explosion-like burst of flame from her entire body that smashed into Komamura's weapon, jolting it backwards. Tatsuki's hands reached up and took hold of the shinigami's haori, before she planted her feet into Komamura's stomach. Tatsuki pulled with her hands, while pushing with her legs. Her actions causing the two to switch positions, Tatsuki now above Komamura in mid air. The young fighter flipped in mid air, lashing out with a brutal, flame-covered axe kick to Komamura's chest. The Shinigami went falling down to the tiled ground. Grunting as his enemy landed few feet from him, the captain went for a vertical slash at Tatsuki. The girl leaned to her left, dodging the attack easily. Tatsuki's left fist raged forward immediately. Unfortunately, Komamura wrapped his hand around Tatsuki's neck, before she could get to him. Tatsuki gritted her teeth as she tried to pull the Shinigami off, but Komamura had already swung the tomboy into the ground.

Enveloping her whole body in flames so the Shinigami was forced to release her, she got to her feet, and used the jet flame-like dash again to rocket towards him. Tatsuki's fist went flying into Komamura's stomach, knocking the wind out of him before she delivered a brutal knee lift, sending him into a wall. Growling as he got back up, the Taichou dashed at the teen. Tatsuki ducked under a right hook with ease. Then, Komamura swung with the flat of his zanpakuto, directing the attack at Tatsuki's feet. The attack hit, sending the girl spinning. When Tatsuki's head was parallel to the ground. The shinigami Taichou wasn't finished, quickly grabbing the girl's leg, the masked shinigami hefted Tatsuki over his head easily. Komamura then slammed Tatsuki full force into the ground.

HARD!

Coughing up blood, as she shook the dazed from her eyes, Tatsuki sent a blast of flame at Komamura's groin. Shocked, the Shinigami used a shunpo to give himself a considerable amount of distance, less he suffer an injury even Unohana might not be able heal.

Gritting her teeth from pain, Tatsuki opened one eye and pointed her hand at her opponent's head as she called up a technique she'd developed with her Atusei Honoo.

"KikōōChidori Eisō!"

A fireball formed over Tatsuki's hand and a spear of crackling flames shot out of it, nearly going through Komamura's head, he just barely dodged with a split-second shunpo, he hadn't been expecting such a move. To his dismay, part of his helmet glowed red hot as liquid heat fell from it. She'd connected with it and nearly got him. Scowling at what he had to do, Komamura reached up and took his helmet off and tossed it aside with a clatter, reviling he was an anthropomorphic canine similar to a wolf or fox.

"Well, well...didn't know I was fighting a Kuda-gitsune!" Tatsuki teased as she stood up and leaned against the broken wall, one arm wrapped around her side.

Komamura's ear twitched, ho she did NOT just call him that! A Kuda-gitsune was a fox the size of a weasel or rat, with vertical eyes and thin hair in Japanese folklore, more of a rodent than anything else.

The anthropomorphic canine slashed at her with his zanpakuto, only for Tatsuki to block, using her KikōōChidori Eisō as a sword, but as the two traded blows, it was pathetically obvious that Tatsuki had never used a blade-type weapon before. Ugh... she was so taking parkour AND kendo lessons when she got back home, she swore it.

With a roar, Komamura spiked his reiatsu, knowing the five minutes were almost up and hoping to shorten the remaining time by raising his power.

Tatsuki winced as the air felt heavy and all of a sudden, the giant samurai was back. That settled it...she was in trouble. Grimacing,Tatsuki stood straight backed, proud, and at attention, looking Komamura straight in the eye, her face blank and her own eyes hard, void of all fear and doubt.

Despite himself, the seventh squad's Taichou felt his respect for the woman rise, she knew how to die.

"If I may ask, what is your name ryoka?" Komamura asked, feeling that she deserved better than a unmarked grave.

"Arisawa Tatsuki." she said Cooley

Nodding as he raised his sword, Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō mimicking his movements, Komamura prepared to end her life. But as he had Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō bring it's sword down on Tatsuki, the giant's arm suddenly was sliced off and a Cero blasted the arm with enough force to push it aside so the massive limb wouldn't fall on Tatsuki. Looking over in the direction of the attack, Tatsuki saw Naruto ending his shunpo and sheathed his zanpakuto while the last bit of light faded from Biyoku's mouth after firing that Cero. Tatsuki ran up and hugged them both, then Naruto checked her over for any injuries and was pleased to see that Biyoku's healing had done a great job and probably saved her life.

Naruto frowned at her, not at all pleased with the fact she'd done something so stupid as clashing with a taichou-class shinigami alone. He was going to give her a piece of his mind once everything was said and done, but for now he was just glad she was alive.

"Sto...stop!"

The trio turned to see Komamura, his arm had been removed in the same way his Bankai's had, said limb laying a few feet from him, which set off alarm bells in Naruto's head, clearly his partner Itami genkai wasn't the only blade that could go both ways as a positive and negative in a battle. It made Naruto glad he hadn't used his shikai when he cut off the giant's arm and Biyoku had held back to a tenth of a quarter of her power when her Cero hit the severed limb and knocked it away from Tatsuki without destroying it. Naruto nodded towards Biyoku again, once again a black aura surrounded her and a black mist covered Komamura's stump of an arm. It didn't exactly heal it but, slowed down the blood flow so he wouldn't bleed to death.

"Your in no condition to keep going on, see Unohana first, with her medical experience, reattaching an arm should be easy for her. Facing the three of us with one arm is suicide." Naruto said sagely.

"What? How do you know about...?"

"Same reason I nearly blew Squinty McGrin-Grin's head off at first sight: I know some old friends of the Gotei 13. While I'd love to stay and talk, we've got a rescue to handle and I'd rather avoid the other twelve Taichou gang up on us."

"As...as a member of the Gotei 13...I cannot allow you to go any further..." Komamura said as he gripped at where his arm had been.

Tatsuki turned to Komamura with a sad smile. "Then go get yourself fixed up to make sure you live for the rematch if you feel that it's your duty is to fight me and my friends...we're not leaving until Kuchiki Rukia is no longer going to be executed. She's a friend of ours and the whole reason we're here is so she isn't killed for doing her job."

"What?"

"Like she said Komamura, go and get healed first. But here's a little something for you to think about: the Soul Society teaches that its the duty of any of its members to do whatever is necessary to keep the innocent safe, yet for taking that lesson to heart Rukia now waits to die. Preventing her death for doing what was required of her as a Shinigami is why we ryoka are here in the first place. So I ask you: If the law becomes corrupt and contradictory to where it teaches is seen as a sin, are the truly just, the ones who follow the law or the one who break it? Mull that over as you're healing." Naruto said sagely before he vanished and reappearing a second later to deliver a quick chop to the back of Komamura's head, effectively knocking the Taichou out cold. He caught the Shinigami and placed him carefully on the ground then shot a Cero into the air at full power to make sure the Shinigami found where he was.

With that taken care of, the Tsuriai, mod-soul arrancar, and human ryoka all took off running.

"Naruto...what was that blast you shot?" Tatsuki asked as they ran

"What? The Cero? The ones who trained me to get used to my powers called it a Cero, it's a technique that hollows can use." the blond explained.

The two stopped when they saw Biyoku pulling at a tile and Naruto moved it aside to show a way underground.

"Please don't be a sewer," Tatsuki moaned "I am NOT going to trudge through the gunk that a dead guy flushed down the toilet! I don't even want to think about what ghost-turd is like!"

Biyoku leapt down there then barked up to the other two.

"Its ok, there's walkways under here that are as big as that Senkaimon doorway we came here through down here. And there's a modified Kyōmon spell near the edges so no one falls in the sewer water unless they're part of the cleaning crew that gets careless!" the dog-like arrancar called up to her master and his mate after a few seconds.

(Kyōmon creates a glass-like barrier which is difficult to break from the outside, but quite simple to break from the inside. If it's been modified, only the cleaning crew had the risk of actually falling in then.)

Looking at one another, Naruto and Tatsuki grinned. "Good thing we ain't plumbers. Let's get to it. Ladies first." Naruto said.

Nodding, Tatsuki leapt down into the sewer, Naruto following as he pulled the manhole-tile back into place to cover their tracks.

Authors notes: I'm sorry for being late with this chapter than I normally am, I just wanted a bit of rest and I'm thinking of another fanfic. Thank you all for reading, REVIEW.