Chapter 34 - Las Seguidoras de la Tiburon(The Followers of the Shark)

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[Unnamed Plateau, Jōshō Kodoku District, South Rukongai Region. Soul Society]

Several Minutes Later...

"Man, I thought I'd never end that battle; thank goodness it ended a bit closer to this damn rock than I thought," Kurama said, wondering how he had gotten so far from the plateau, as he ran through the battlefield to find the Naruto and the others.

Kurama, who had transformed into his true form after his opponent, one Yammy Llargo, made the dumb mistake of insulting the Sage of the Six Paths (who was seen as a father figure by all of the Tailed Beasts, Kurama included), had just finished killing of the large Espada. Despite his efforts to put up a fight Yammy was simply outmatched by Kurama who ending up pinning Yammy to the ground and, after Yammy actually for mercy, Kurama obliged him... by disintegrating him with a Continous Tailed Beast Ball (basically he fired a rapid volley of Tailed Beast Balls like a machine gun) at point-blank range, making the Espada's death quick. After having finished Yammy off Kurama reverted back to human form before he headed towards the plateau, which is where he was at now.

As the Tailed Beast walked through a copse of tree on a hill far to the east of the small village on the plateau he quickly picked up a familiar, though faint, chakra signature to the north not far from where he was. Narrowing his eyes at this he ran off towards the source of that chakra and it didn't take him long to find said source.

It was none other than Minato Namikaze, who was in the middle of a devastated countryside. The earth was scorched black in most places for miles around Minato wherever they were no craters, trenches, or upturned boulders, several nearby hills appeared as if they were cut apart or were simply vaporized, and any nearby trees that weren't toppled over were now black and scorched, without leaves and in some cases were simply stumps. The Fourth Hokage was currently sitting on one of the large boulders; he looked as though he had taken quite a beating but was clearly able to shake off his injuries... especially since he detected Kurama's presence even when he was apparently staring into the ether.

"I take it your battle went well... Kurama?" Minato asked.

"Yep... my opponent wasn't that difficult but he did piss me off, otherwise I wouldn't have gone all out on him. Anyways, what happened here?" Kurama asked just as Minato slowly got up, jumped off the boulder, and landed on the ground below before he then turned to look at the Tailed Beast.

"I fought against one of the Espada, a guy calling himself Ulquiorra Cifer. It was a very tough fight but I was able to fight him to a standstill until someone appeared behind him and told him to withdraw. What you see is the result of our fight," Minato explained to the Tailed Beast.

Kurama raised an eyebrow at this.

"Did the guy happen to be blind, by any chance?" the Tailed Beast asked, surprising Minato if his expression was anything to go by.

"Y-yeah... how did you-?"

"The same thing happened to me when I fought him a couple of months back. If I had to guess the guy is ordering anyone who isn't already a corpse or a cloud of dust to return to their base," Kurama interrupted.

"...I see," Minato said.

Before the conversation could go on, however, Minato and Kurama were interrupted by the sight of a massive column of orange spiritual energy, several miles high, that burst into the sky from somewhere far to the west of the plateau. Minato's eyes widened at this display... but not just because of the size.

"What is this power...? I can't feel it at all yet it's still obviously a massive amount of power. Kurama... is that the extent of Naruto's Soul Reaper Powers?" Minato asked to which the Tailed Beast nodded in the affirmative.

"Yep... looks like Naruto's about to reveal his latest trick. (he sighs) I'm sure your son will be alright but to be safe I think we should get moving," Kurama suggested.

Minato nodded before he and Kurama began running as fast as they could to the site of Naruto's battle, with Minato silently hoping that his son was safe...

[Several Miles to West of the Unnamed Plateau]

Over Half An Hour Earlier...

After being separated from Ichigo and Yoruichi thanks to Hashirama's Wood Style Jutsu, Naruto detected at least the spiritual energies five people closing in on him. Recognizing the spiritual energies of two of the people tailing him Naruto decided to take his eventual fight elsewhere and headed west, eventually moving himself far from the plateau where almost everyone else was fighting their battles.

After running for about ten or so minutes the young Uzumaki eventually decided that he had gone far enough and stopped running once he reached another, much smaller, mountain ridge.

"Alright, it's time I finished these guys off," Naruto said as he got into a taijutsu fighting stance before his opponents to appear.

His opponents eventually appeared before Naruto in the form of Aizen (who stood a considerable distance away as if to observe the battle), Harribel, and at least three other female Arrancars that Naruto didn't recognize, two of them standing by Harribel's left side while the other stood by her right side.

The one standing to the far left of Harribel, and therefore was the furthest away from Harribel, was a female Arrancar named Emilou Apacci (the 54th Arrancar in Aizen's Arrancar Army). Apacci was a female of average height with black, jaw-length hair and a set of two very different eyes, a ice blue left eye and an amber right eye with a red outline around it. She had a white object that sat on the top of her head that had a horn positioned in the middle of it. The Arrancar wore a standard Arrancar Army uniform which was only different in that it had shoulder length sleeves with black cuffs with a v-neck, and she also wore gloves and bracelet-like collars over her wrists.

Standing next to that first Arrancar was a dark-skinned, green-eyed female Arrancar, who went by the name Franceska Mila Rose (the 55th Arrancar in Aizen's Arrancar Army), with long, thick, wavy brown hair. Mila Rose's Hollow hole was placed just above her navel; in addition to this a three-sectioned crown fixture sat atop her head while a thick necklace was wrapped around her neck. She wore a very revealing white top that only covered her chest from just above her Hollow hole to her very ample bosom, while her pants where basically the same as that of the standard Arrancar uniform, save for a purplish-pink colored gemstone that was attached to her black sash.

The Arrancar standing on Harribel's right took the form of another female named Cyan Sung-Sun (the 56th Arrancar in Aizen's Arrancar Army). Sung-Sun had a rather slender figure, long, flowing, olive-green hair, with which three white hair clip-like extensions sitting on the right side of her bangs. long eyelashes, lavender eyes, and three pink dots that sat just below her right eye. She wore a long white dress with long sleeves that extended well past her hands, one of which was covering her mouth, with a single slit in each sleeve, two thin belts criss-crossing around her waist as well as a furry black necklace around her neck.

The three females standing beside Harribel were none other than Harribel's Fracciónes (Spanish for "Fraction"; they are the personal subordinates of the Espada), known by many of their fellow Hollows and Arrancars as the Tres Bestias (Spanish for "Three Beasts"), and they did not look happy when they caught sight of Naruto.

"That's it...? THIS is the guy that fought you, Master Harribel?!" Mila Rose asked the Espada who nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes... but something feels... off about him from what I remember. I can't feel any spiritual pressue emanating from him... -And yet... it feel like his power is still there even when I can't sense, staring me in the face... what's going on?- Regardless, his OTHER powers are still there and are still as strong as ever," Harribel warned her subordinates as she readied herself for a fight.

Before the Espada could do anything, however, her three Fracciónes used their Sonido to move in front of their master.

"You're going to pay for beating up Lady Harribel, you damned weakling!" Apacci hissed at the young Uzumaki.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the ill-tempered Arrancar.

"Oh yeah? If you think you're so tough why don't you come at me, you two color-eyed freak!" he retorted.

Emilou's expression suddenly turned into one filled with unbridled rage, or at least more so than it already was (how that was possible was anyone's guess). Mila Rose, on the other hand, was laughing at hearing Naruto's insult so hard that she was rolling on the floor of the ridge for three minutes before she got back up and wiped a tear from her left.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's too rich! The ninja got you there, Apacci," Mila Rose chided once she was able to stop laughing enough to speak.

"Oh yeah?! Why don't you say that to my face, you damned gorilla!" Apacci snapped back.

Almost immediately Mila Rose's good mood disappeared as she angrily turned on Apacci at the drop of a hat.

"You want to say that again, you unicorn weakling?!" Mila Rose hissed just as she ran up to Apacci and pressed her face against her fellow Fraccion who pressed back with her own forehead.

"Damned straight, you stupid ape!" Apacci shot back.

Naruto watched Apacci and Mila Rose's argument for a couple of minutes, the young Uzumaki finding himself in disbelief as he silently wondered to himself how his taunting of the Apacci led to an argument between her and another Arrancar instead of him. Naruto quickly shook off these thoughts and decided to let the two female Arrancars argue amongst themselves while he confronted Harribel and Aizen; before Naruto could leave, however, Sung-Sun managed to make her presence known by using her Sonido to appear in front of the blonde ninja, blocking his path.

"I apologize if you had other plans just now but I'm afraid you can't just leave so easily. Seeing as how those two babbling monkeys behind me are too busy arguing with each other, I'll be your opponent, ninja," Sung-Sun said as she kept her mouth covered with her sleeve.

As Apacci and Mila Rosa shouted out profanities a Sung-Sun a now impatient Naruto turned to looks at the two people observing the argument from a distance. After Naruto noted that Harribel was acting very strange compared to the last time he fought her he then turned to see what Aizen was doing (the former captain was standing 40 or so yards behind Harribel) and narrowed his eyes when he saw that Aizen had pulled out his zanpakuto, or at least pulled it out far enough so that part of the actual blade could be seen, and whispered something as if-

"...he's releasing his zanpakuto. You might want to get ready to use the chakra cloak if either he or Harribel enter the fray," Kenja warned from within Naruto; while the zanpakuto spirit couldn't tell if Aizen had began altering Naruto's sense, she could clearly tell what Aizen was doing.

"Yeah... you have a point, Kenja," Naruto thought to himself.

No sooner had Naruto finished that thought when the young Leaf ninja detected a new spiritual energy signature right where the three Fracciones stood. He turned around and was greeted by one of the strangest sights he had ever seen, with the young Uzumaki lifting his bangs off his forehead as if he was trying to get a better look at what he was seeing (along with the other changes to his appearance caused by the effects of his time in the Dangai, Naruto also had bangs that had grown to where they covered most of Naruto's forehead protector and occasionally obscured his vision).

The three females Arrancars (who had managed to stop arguing with each other at that point) had apparently amputated their own left arms and, while Naruto wasn't sure if this was the case, it looked as though they used those arms to create... something.

That something was a monstrous-looking entity; it was huge, easily taller than a two-story building, had very muscular build, and had a face that appeared to take the form of a white deer skull located at the center of its head. It had a long, dark brown mane that flowed to its lower back while a lighter brown fur covered its arms and legs, and had deer-like hooves instead of feet. As if the creature didn't look weird enough, it also long, greenish-white snake tail that extended from below its mane. It's monstrous appearance was matched by the monstrous amount of spiritual pressure that was easily at the level of a Soul Reaper captain.

Apacci now had an sadistic grin on her face as she began speaking to Naruto in a very boastful tone.

"Quimera Parca (Spanish for "Sparing Chimera"). It's our pet, created when the three of us combine our left arms together. You have to admit he's a work of art. We like to call him Ayon," Apacci said tauntingly... before she noticed that Naruto had stopped listening to her and was standing still, his eyes closed.

The three Fracciones were completely bewildered by this and wondered what the hell their opponent was even doing... until they sensed that he was absorbing a large amount of reishi, causing Naruto to enter Sage Mode (though the Arrancars didn't know what it was that Naruto just did). The young Uzumaki opened his eyes, which had the orange pigmentation around them, to reveal that his eyes now had yellow irises and a horizontal line pupil that, combined with his slitted pupils, resembled a cross.

Flashing a smile that was oozing with confidence Naruto then entered into his Frog Kata (an ironic name since it was a technique though to Naruto by toads) fighting stance.

"I don't care if Ayon, or whatever its name is, is your pet or how stong it is. I'll still beat it. Bring it on!" Naruto claimed as he charged at Ayon head-on.

The massive creature, which had not done anything up to that point, finally took note of the blonde teenager attacking him and made its first move by throwing a left punch at Naruto. Using the aura of energy created whenever he uses Frog Kata along with his heightened physical abilities, easily got out of the way of the creature's attack and was soon rights in front of Ayon. Naruto then cocked his right fist back and threw a Sage Mode-enhanced punch, hitting the creature squarely in the chest. Despite the difference in size between the two combatants Naruto's punch knocked Ayon off its hooves and sent the creature flying several yards away.

Ayon didn't stay down for long, however, and was soon standing back up again, clearly pissed off as it let out a massive roar (revealing that it had a massive mouth hidden under its mane and two large eyes right beneath the deer skull horns), releasing a large amount of spiritual pressure, which gave off a dark red aura around it. After a few seconds of this Ayon stopped releasing it's spiritual pressure and, in a surprising display of speed, charged at Naruto and threw a left jab and did so fast that Naruto would've been caught completely off-guard if it wasn't for his Sage Mode. Despite that, however, Naruto was surprised enough by Ayon's speed to where he could only brace himself before for Ayon's punch before it slammed right into him, causing a the ground around Naruto to rumble cracking due to the impact of Ayon's attack.

As they watched the scuffle from their positions several yards away, Harribel's Fracciones now had smug looks on their faces (though you couldn't tell with Sung-Sun as she now had her mouth covered with her right sleeve) certain that Naruto was defeated.

"It's over! That's what you get for thinking you take on us and Master Harribel, you stupid brat!" Apacci taunted.

The victorious mood was short-lived, however, when the three Arrancars saw Ayon being lifted up into the air. They were even more surprised when they saw that Naruto, who was not even scathed by Ayon's attack, had actually grabbed Ayon's hand and was lifted the brutish creature up before throwing it several yards away!

Naturally the Fracciones were completely shocked by this.

"That's impossible! He wasn't even so much as fazed by Ayon's attack?! And how was he able to lift him up like that?!" Mila Rose thought to herself just as a slightly panting Naruto made a hand seal.

"It's time to finish this! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled before he created two shadow clones, both of which were also had Sage Mode activated.

Not wasting any time Naruto used the two clones to create a Rasenshuriken, the power of which was increased as Naruto added some of his spiritual energy into the jutsu, before he told the two clones something that the Arrancars couldn't hear due to the very loud noise produced by Naruto's jutsu. The clones nodded at whatever he said before they ran towards Ayon, who was just about to get back up. Before Ayon could do so, however, the clones appeared right on top of him before they both used devastating legdrop kicks to slam Ayon back into the ground. The clones then dispersed just as the real Naruto, using his flash step, appeared above Ayon, his jutsu in hand.

"Try this one on for size! Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto yelled before he threw the Rasenshuriken right Ayon.

The Tres Bestias watched on in shock as the Rasenshuriken hit Ayon in the abdomen before it exploded, completely enveloping Ayon in a spherical explosion several times larger than it was. After a few minutes the explosion, and the shockwave that accompanied the explosion, finally subsided, allowing the three three females to get a good look at Ayon, or what was left of him as a result of the blast... one of his deer horns.

The three Arrancar's couldn't believe what they were seeing; Ayon had been crushed by this kid as if it was a fly getting swatted!

"N-No way..." Mila Rose breathed out.

"It can't be," Sung-Sun said.

Apacci gritted her teeth in rage at seeing that Naruto had crushed their pet and was about to blindly charge at Naruto alongside her teammates...

...until Harribel, who realized that the three Arrancars were simply outmatched, stood in their way after by using her Sonido to move ahead of her subordinates.

"That's enough, the three of you; he's far too strong for you to handle and now you three are missing your left arms for now. There's no point in sacrificing your lives needlessly by fighting against him," the Espada said.

"But, Master Harribel-!" Apacci began before the Third Espada interrupted her.

"No buts, Apacci! I'll fight Uzumaki myself. Now please... stand down," Harribel said calmly, though her voice made it clear that she wasn't allowing her subordinates to argue against her... even if it was unnecessary.

After a few seconds Apacci, respecting her master far too much to even consider the possibility of arguing, finally backed off. After Apacci apologized to her and moved back by about 100 yards or so, Harribel unsheathed her blade before she turned to face Naruto (who had deactivated his Sage Mode once the three Fracciones fell back).

"-It's time to find my answer to your question, Naruto- Destroy, Tiburon!" Harribel yelled before activating her Resurrección; as with their previous battle Harribel emerged from the release of her zanpakuto in her very revealing release state.

"Are you ready to finish what we started, Naruto Uzumaki?" Harribel asked.

Naruto responded by activating his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, enveloping himself in the signature yellow flames of that form, before he reached into his one of his ninja tool pouches wrapped around his waist and pulled out two chakra blades his friend Shikamaru loaned him (he wasn't planning to use his zanpakuto until Aizen entered the fray) and entered another fighting stance.

"What do you think, Harribel? Let's do this!" Naruto yelled before he charged at Harribel.

Even as he charged at Harribel, Naruto kept stayed on alert for Aizen, who had yet to get involved in the fight, to inevitably make his move. Naruto's battle was only just beginning...

Next Time - I Am...

A/N: If anyone has the condition known as Heterochromia and has just read this chapter please know that I'm not trying to insult you in any way. I just felt Naruto would say something along those lines given the circumstances...

A/N # 2: I finally have enough questions for the Q & A Session I plan for the last Omake of the "1st Act" of "Maelstrom", which will be in the last chapter of this half of "Maelstrom"; for those whose questions I've chosen I will send a PM to you at some point to ask you something before I start on that chapter so keep an eye out for a PM from me if you sent me a question for the Q & A, ok? Thank you guys for your cooperation!

That's it for me. Until next time this is Rocker1600, signing out! :D