Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

It felt like it happened over night.

It was over 70 years ago now, but Naruto still could not help himself but think about the night that he learned that nearly half of the Captains of the 13 squads were banished from the Soul Society, and many lieutenants as well. Even the lieutenant of the kido corps had been banished from the Soul Society after being slated for execution. Kisuke was among those who went into exile, with the captain of the Kido Corps.

His Asauchi was a Zanpakuto.

The sword guard had changed shape to become a circle with a spiral motiff in the center of it, and the hilt changed to a dark red and orange color. He had a Zanpakuto now, though it took years for it to develop. The time it took had been on the longer side, it would seem it was harder for it to develop thanks to what he was. Either way, now he had his zanpakuto, further proving that he was a shinigami to those around him.

"Ukitake is sick, but I can take a message." Naruto sighed.

It was Kaien.

"Yo Lord Naruto."

Fuck.

"Eat my ass."

"I'm married, so can't do that." Kaien walked into Naruto's room and he was dragging a woman with him, not his wife, but a girl with a uniform. Naruto looked at the girl, and he sensed that she had the spirit pressure of a seated officer, yet he didn't recognize her as an officer. "This is the new recruit, Rukia... she's from a noble family." Kaien teased as he pushed Rukia towards Naruto.

She gulped.

She was also blushing from the ass eating comment. She looked around Naruto's room/

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was told that if Captain Ukitake was sick, that I was suppose to come to you Lieutenant Uzumaki!" Rukia bowed deeply, and Naruto got out of his meditative position. He picked up his zanpakuto, and he looked at Apacci as she napped in the corner of his room.

"Do you know your sword's name?" Naruto questioned her.

She shook her head.

"Lieutenant-"

"Lord Naruto, we all call him Lord Naruto around here." Kaien rubbed the top of Rukia's head fiercly and ruffled her hair, as if she were a child. He grabbed her shoulder as he did so. Rukia looked between Kaien and Naruto, the two men in the room, and she glanced towards the non-shinigami in the corner. "You see, when the Captain is sick, you might as well call this guy our Captain... but I do a lot of the paperwork, so I guess I'm also kind of like the captain." Kaien let go of her and pushed her towards Naruto.

He waved as he left.

Naruto just sighed.

"Just call me Naruto... so Rukia, take a seat... I've got some tea brewing. I guess I'll decide if you will become a Seated Officer or not." Naruto stated as he walked over to the tea pot that he had going.

"Oh, there is no need. I don't want to impose... I was also told that I did not get a seat."

"The Captain is out sick, so I'm the one who decides if the new recruits get a seat or not. So I'm going to ask you a few questions... relax a little, you're so tense." Naruto could see the tension in her shoulders. Even as she made a show of relaxing, he couldn't help but sigh at how she remained tense. "That was Kaien, he's the Squad's 3rd seat, and the 5th seat belongs to both Kiyone and Sentaro... I can't give you the 4th seat either."

"A seated position... I'm not that strong sir." Rukia waved her hands back and forth to deny such a high seat.

Naruto poured her a cup of tea.

She shut up and tried it.

'This is horrible... the taste is nasty.' Rukia thought as she forced herself to drink the tea.

"So, how is it?"

"It's delicious sir." Rukia stated with her smile as forced as she could make it. She set the cup down, while Naruto smiled, not that she could see his smile. She could see that his eyes were smiling. "... Sir, are you not going to drink?" Rukia couldn't tell him that it tasted horrible, but she could get him to drink it.

"Later... so tell me about yourself... lets be friends." Naruto extended his hand to Rukia.

"Friends?"

"We're a big family here... Ukitake wants this squad to be one big, warm, family, and I completely agree. Hard work is rewarded, and if you fail, then we will help you stand up. We're not like the other squads..." Naruto reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a piece of paper. He showed that it had the Kuchiki seal on it, and he tossed it to the ground, and he grabbed his tea pot and poured the tea on it. "... and honestly, you're on the weak side... but you have some serious potential." Naruto didn't even let Rukia read the letter before he ruined it.

"Sir... what was in that letter?"

"Just your family telling us not to give you a seated officer position, because they don't think you are strong enough." Naruto could see that Rukia had the eyes of a woman who felt betrayed when he told her that. She didn't seem angry, if anything she was visibly depressed by the news that her family didn't think she would succeed. "So, tell me about yourself... anything you want to tell me?"

"I'm not important enough to talk about sir." Rukia denied him.

He grunted as he sat down with a loud thud.

"What do you like, dislike... any hobbies... I've got it! Why do you want to be a shinigami!?" Naruto asked her as he tried to get to know the girl. She was very closed off in how she answered questions. She tried to think about the answers, and she didn't have one right away.

"... I'm not sure how to answer."

"Then how about this, what is more important to you, Strength or Beauty?" Naruto asked her a different question.

"Strength."

"Oho! There we go, there is an answer!"

-Hours Later-

"And... and then... can you believe it?" Rukia had a flushed face as she sat across from Naruto, her robes loose as she allowed herself to cool down. She had been drinking the tea he made for her, for several hours.

His tea was not just tea.

It was hard alchohol, a way for him to talk to new recruits in a way that he could get them to relax and show their true nature to him. Without her pride getting in her way, Rukia was much more like a tomboy AND a cute girl than she was a noble woman. She was also a small woman, so the amount she had been drinking had gotten her drunk off her ass.

"I can, I totally can." Naruto stated, agreeing with her, even though she didn't finish her story. She was making no sense at all as she spoke, but he rolled with it. "Since your wasted, you should meditate before you sleep tonight, and try to talk to your sword." Naruto told her with a wide smile.

She blinked a few times.

"Why sir?"

"You're drunk, what better time to have a heart to heart with your sword?" Naruto questioned her. The simple fact was that people could not hear their zanpakuto when their hearts were closed off, but when you were drunk off her ass, your heart was as open and honest as could be. As it stood, every single person in the squad under him had their zanpakuto's true name already thanks to this trick he had been working on. Everyone who struggled with unlocking their shikai managed to do it thanks to this method.

They were the only squad were they had over 300 members with shikai.

Typically, in a squad, it was only seated officers who had unlocked their shikai, with rare exceptions among the unranked. They were the only squad where that was not the case, thanks to this unique little trick that seemed to have an abnormally high success rate.

-The Next Morning-

Rukia groaned.

She felt horrible.

She looked at the sword in her hand, and she couldn't help but feel accomplish when she realized that she knew the name of her sword now. She obeyed the instructions of her lieutenant and meditated while she was drunk, and she came face to face with her zanpakuto spirit. She blushed in embarassment when she realized that she had a weird, drunken, conversation with her sword thanks to that. She managed to learn the sword's name, but at the same time, she couldn't help but also remember the conversation she had with Naruto.

She said SO MANY humiliating things.

"EEP!?" Rukia yelped when a cold jar of water was placed next to her head, and she looked to the side and saw Kaien was offering it to her. Her eyes widened, and she collapsed to her side and curled up into a ball when her head pounded.

"Hangover... it's become somewhat of a badge of honor at this point." Kaien had made it a point to visit the rooms of all the new recruits the day after they met with Naruto. Naruto's years of trying to find ways for him to learn his own sword's name had allowed him to discover ways for others to unlock their shikai quickly. "Your first hangover with the squad... doesn't feel great, but hey... you've unlocked your shikai. Naruto isn't very smart, but when it comes to thinking outside the box, he's the best there is." Kaien set the water down next to her.

It had medicine in it.

-With Naruto-

"Sorry Naruto, but I think it might be better to give her some time before you make her a seated officer... she was given special treatment."

"Okay Captain." Naruto stated as he looked down at his bed ridden captain. He had wanted to make Rukia the 20th seat of the ranked officers, but if his captain was against it, he would agree for now. He turned to talk away, before Ukitake grabbed the bottom of his robes, and got his attention.

"There is a Captain's meeting later, can you attend it for me?"

"Want me to pass any messages while I'm there?" Naruto asked the man, who shook his head. Naruto, as the lieutenant, always went to the meetings of the captains when his captain was sick. No matter how many times, Ukitake always asked him if he would attend, and didn't order him to attend. "... wait, I can't... this is Rukia's first day, so I wanted to spar with her shikai." Naruto frowned.

"That's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's just a captain's meeting, new squad members are more important to you. Tell me how well she does... and do go easy on her." Ukitake told Naruto with a gentle smile.

Naruto scoffed.

"I'm just a lieutenant, I don't need to go that easy on her."

"... Are we still pretending that you're not as strong as a captain?" Ukitake asked Naruto with some humor to his voice. No matter how many years passed, Naruto was still trying his best to hold back his strength.

It was a horrible secret.

Every single person in the squad knew the secret, that Naruto was just as powerful as any captain among the squads. Naruto never showed his strength, and he was never put in a position where he needed to show that strength. There were several captains who knew this secret as well, because try as he might, Naruto was just not good at hiding how strong he was. Almost everyone could tell that his spirit pressure was being reduced as much as possible.

Naruto was stronger now.

His strength had grown to the point where even if he suppressed his spirit energy, it was still at the level of a lieutenant, and he had grown even better at suppressing it than when he started.

"I'm not pretending... I'm just not as strong as you give me credit for."

"Okay, we're still pretending then Lord Naruto."

"Not you too." Naruto groaned when his own captain used that horrible nickname to refer to him. Every single damn member of the squad used that nickname for him. Thanks to Apacci using that name, everyone had started to call him that. It was a nickname that he hated, so everyone teased him with it.

Damn that Apacci.

Chapter End!
Please Leave Me Lots of Nice Long Reviews, But No Flames Please!