Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach.
This story is in response to the challenge from 'Naruto Bael'.
Betad by: HaretaSora

Moonless Night - Chapter 1

Closing the book in front of her, Asanoha Kuchiki released a sigh before casting a glance out the window to see the deep black that pervaded the sky letting her know it was at least past midnight. She released another sigh before standing up from her sitting position, she had been so engrossed in her reading that she had completely lost track of time.

Looking around the room, she saw that her husband was already past asleep, and probably everyone else within the Kuchiki Clan manor as well, all except for…

She closed her eyes with a sigh before proceeding to walk out of her room to look for her little night-owl.

After a bit of walking she found who she was looking for. There, sitting on the veranda right in front of his room was her now four year old son, Naruto.

Now as a four year old, Naruto had short black hair – which was unlike the rest of the Kuchiki Clan who all had hair that ran past their shoulders. He had fair skin and his eyes over the years have changed form gray to a grayish-blue. He was wearing a plain white kimono that was generally worn for bed.

She knew he would be awake at this time, despite it being late at night.

This was a condition he was born with; he just couldn't sleep at night.

Well, perhaps saying he just couldn't sleep at night wasn't the right way to put it. He couldn't sleep at night, yes, but that only happened when the moon was out, and especially so during nights of the full moon. And if he tried to sleep at those times, he would become extremely restless with his spirit energy starting to rile-up. Though during moonless nights such this one, he would be able to sleep.

Though she supposed that due to his usual condition of being unable to sleep at nights when the moon was out had affected him enough that he couldn't sleep even during such a dark, moonless night.

She continued to watch him for a bit, as he was lost in his star-gazing, before a soft smile played on her lips; despite his condition, her son still seemed to have a strong liking towards the night.

She then began to take silent steps towards him, noticing that he still wasn't aware she was there which he normally he would have.

Even for someone born within one of the four great noble clans, her youngest was born with exceptionally high spirit energy, due to which he had gained a high spiritual awareness. But despite that exception prowess he was still just a four year old child and would only be aware of the beings around him if he were to pay attention to his surroundings, something he wasn't doing right now as his entire focus was on star-gazing.

When she reached him she bent down and picked him up before placing him on her lap, causing Naruto to look up once he felt himself being picked up and his bluish-gray eyes lit up when he saw the smiling face of his mother.

"Kaa-chan!" Naruto said with a big smile as he wrapped his arms around her.

Asanoha laughed lightly as she too wrapped her arms around Naruto`s small frame. "Naru-chan, you're still awake?" She said as her laughter died down, "I thought you said you wanted to go to your brother`s graduation ceremony tomorrow." Asanoha asked as she smiled down at Naruto.

"Mhm." Naruto nodded with a smile

"Then shouldn't you be sleeping right now?" Asanoha began as she looked down at her son`s smiling face, "The graduation ceremony is going to be held early in the morning, if you don't sleep, you're going to miss it." Asanoha finished as she looked into his bluish-gray eyes, which used to be the same shade of gray as her own but over the years had begun to gain a bluish tint to them. Something she supposed he got from his father seeing as his father`s eyes had a bluish tint to them as well.

Though a part of her was disappointed that her baby`s eyes weren't the same shade of color as her own now, another part of her loved the new color of his eyes, finding them beautiful, and she especially loved how they seemed to have a part of both herself and her husband.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, but I'm so used to sleeping at night that now I just don't want to sleep!" Naruto answered still holding onto her with a smile on his face.

Asanoha nodded her head, she knew as much.

Naruto then let go of her and turned around, returning to his star-gazing as he settled himself in his mother`s lap. Asanoha waited till he settle down before once again wrapping her arms around him as the mother and son duo sat there gazing at the stars while talking to each other late into the night.

The next day finds Naruto walking by his mother`s side as she held his hand within her own. Both were on their way towards the Shin'ō Academy where the graduation ceremony was supposed to be held.

They had stayed awake gazing at the stars and talking to each other till early in the morning, just before sunrise, and had woken up so late that they could only hope that the graduation ceremony wasn't over. Though looking at the people leaving the Shin'ō Academy gates as they neared the place, it was most likely that the ceremony had already ended and they had missed it.

As the two continued with their walk towards the academy, they were greeted by many who would bow respectfully as they passed by. Being from two of the Four Great Noble Clans did that to people as those from the lower Noble Clans or other Shinigami tended to treat them with greater respect and being the daughter-in-law and grandson of the 6th Division Captain and current head of the Noble Kuchiki Clan, who was respected almost on the same level as the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 and the elder sister and nephew of the current 10th Division Captain and the Head of the Noble Shiba Clan, who was renowned and greatly respected for his immense strength and power, only served to have people be even more respectful towards them.

As the two finally reached the gate and entered, they began to look around when Naruto`s eyes lit up once he saw the people they were looking for. "Nii-chan! Tou-chan! Jii-chan!" Naruto called out to get their attention, which he seems to have succeeded in as it not only got their attention but also his mother`s, who too turned her attention towards the three.

As they made their way over to the three, both of them noticed the Shihakushō Byakuya was now wearing, confirming his status as an official Shinigami of the Gotei 13. Though they didn't knew which Division he was assigned to as Byakuya had two reserved seats, one in 6th Division under his grandfather Ginrei Kuchiki and one in 10th Division under his uncle Isshin Shiba.

A captain`s meeting was to be held early in the morning today to determine the divisions each of the graduates would be assigned to.

Even though for the Noble Kuchiki Clan, it was possible for Byakuya to skip the Shin'ō Academy entirely and just graduate and be assigned to a division, Ginrei had still insisted that both Byakuya and Naruto attend the traditional academy once they were of age as it was customary for everyone in the Soul Society aiming for the path of Shinigami.

Though despite that, Byakuya had still completed the six year course in just a single year – and graduating at the age of fifteen, he was considered a genius. There were even those who said that Byakuya was going to succeed Ginrei as the 6th Division Captain in the coming years, which wasn't such a vague claim seeing as Sōjun didn't have any interest in becoming a Captain despite possessing the skills. He just wasn't fond of fighting.

When they finally reached them, Naruto immediately let go of his mother`s hand and latched himself onto his brother`s leg and looked up at Byakuya. "So, you're a Shinigami now Nii-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he smiled up at him, "What division are you in? Are you with Tou-chan and Jii-chan or are you with Isshin Ji-chan?"

Like any normal kid, Naruto just adored and looked up to his big brother, always going around following him or watching him train and even asking his big brother to play with him and Byakuya didn't seem to mind in the least. In fact, he loved Naruto just as much and showed a very protective side when it came to him.

He looked at Naruto and smiled as he put his hand on Naruto`s head and ruffled his hair affectionately before replying, "Hello, Naruto. Yes, I am an official Shinigami now, in 6th Division under father and grandfather." Byakuya said with a proud grin aimed at his little brother, who returned it with a matching grin of his own.

Asanoha then approached her sons with a smile and went to give Byakuya a hug. Seeing this, Naruto let go of his brother`s leg and went to stand beside his father. "Congratulations, Byakuya!" She congratulated her eldest feeling proud of his accomplishment, "So, 6th Division huh. I probably should have known that was where you would be assigned to." She said as she let go of him and glanced towards her father-in-law and then her husband who smiled at her.

"What? Did you think that Byakuya was going to be assigned to the 10th Division, Asanoha?" Sōjun asked his wife with a smile that looked as if he was a little amused for some reason.

"I did actually, seeing as how Byakuya and Isshin are quite fond of each other." Asanoha answered as she went over to stand beside her husband and Naruto.

Byakuya scoffed, "Please! I am definitely not fond of that lunatic!" Byakuya said, denying his mother`s claim which earned a chuckle form all of them, even Ginrei.

"Sure, you're not." Asanoha said still chuckling.

Byakuya looked annoyed and was about to retort when he suddenly felt something and his hand flew to the hilt of his Zanpakutō that was attached to his hip and started to look around.

This seemed to have put a stop to the others chuckling when they saw Byakuya suddenly becoming on guard and looking around as if searching for a hollow or something.

"What is the matter, Byakuya?" Ginrei asked calmly though with mirth in his eyes.

"I thought I felt something," Byakuya answered as he looked around confused, "Was I just imagining it…" he said once again, relaxing his guard and letting go of his Zanpakutō`s hilt.

Though just as he relaxed his guard and turned his to face his parents he was met with a foot becoming intimate with his face.

The attacker had the appearance of a man in his mid-twenties. He had short black hair with noticeable sideburns; he was wearing the standard Shinigami uniform, with a sleeveless captain's haori. This man was Isshin Shiba, the Captain of the 10th Division and the current head of the Noble Shiba Clan. He was also the brother of Asanoha Kuchiki, making him the maternal uncle of Byakuya and Naruto.

Isshin`s sudden appearance had not surprised any of them as they had sensed him even before his sudden kick to Byakuya`s face, including Naruto, except for Byakuya.

"The feeling is mutual!" Isshin said to Byakuya with a smirk as he looked down at him. "Who would be fond of an obnoxious little punk like you!"

Asanoha just shook her head at her brother`s antics, "Oh, brother."

"Uncle Isshin!" Naruto called out happily, completely unfazed by the fact that his dear big brother was just kicked in the face by his uncle, as even he knew that it was common occurrence between the two.

Isshin turned around when he heard his name being called. "Hey, Naruto!" Isshin immediately went over to Naruto and picked him up. "How`s my favorite nephew doing?" He exclaimed once again as he lifted Naruto to the level of his eye level and grinned at him.

Naruto on the other hand just gave a delighted laugh as he was picked up by his uncle.

Asanoha gave a sigh when she heard her brother refer to Naruto as his 'favorite' nephew which he would always say after he and Byakuya have one of their daily bouts just to get his anger riled up, as despite always bickering with each other all the time, Isshin and Byakuya were actually very close. And it was a known fact that Byakuya looked up to Isshin a great deal.

Even though Byakuya looked up to his grandfather as a leader and Clan Head, he looked up to Isshin as a Shinigami and as a Captain. This was proven by the fact that he would mostly go and train with Isshin when it came to the Shinigami arts and he also made it a personal goal of his to surpass the Shiba Clan Head.

So it would always somehow get him annoyed at being referred to as the 'unfavorite' nephew.

Sōjun and Ginrei in the meanwhile looked at the scene before them with amusement and chose to remain silent for the moment.

While Byakuya on the other hand was beginning to twitch with anger and annoyance from where he lay on the ground before finally exploding.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Byakuya shouted as he shot up and pointed an accusing finger at Isshin. "Couldn't you arrive normally for once!?" He demanded of Isshin with anger, as he would always attack Byakuya whenever he would visit the Kuchiki Clan manor, or when he saw him anywhere for that matter, which his uncle would always claim was a part of his 'training', to keep him on his toes at all times.

And as much as Byakuya hated it, he had to admit that it was rather effective.

Isshin, who was playing with Naruto, stopped and turned his head over to Byakuya, "No." He answered simply before handing Naruto over to Sōjun who then carried Naruto in his arms as Isshin turned to face Byakuya.

"You seem to have gotten rather lax." He said to Byakuya in a rare moment of seriousness before a taunting grin broke on his face, "Why, has all praise for graduating from the academy in a single year and being called a genius gotten over to your head?" He asked in a taunting manner, "You were able to sense me for a bit there but then relaxed your guard without being sure what it was that you sensed. You seem to have forgotten all that I taught you." Isshin finished as he shook his head in mock disappointment.

Byakuya`s face turned red with anger and embarrassment when he heard that, seeing as it was true.

He had always been taught to always be on guard and especially so when you weren't sure of what is out there, and when he had sensed his uncle for a moment there, he had chalked it off as his imagination. But in his defense neither his parents nor his grandfather had reacted in the least so he had also relaxed his guard thinking it was nothing.

Now that he thought about it though, he probably should have known it was his lunatic of an uncle when they hadn't reacted.

As Byakuya stood there unable to retort to that, Isshin suddenly came at him and aimed a kick to his chest.

Byakuya`s eyes widen for a moment before he quickly crossed his arms and caught the offending leg.

He then raised his head to face Isshin as his gritted his teeth with a strained smile on his face as his left eyebrow twitched violently. "You didn't think that it would be that easy, did you!" Byakuya exclaimed to Isshin as his smile widened.

"Oh, so the little brat has gotten a little better, has he?" Isshin said to Byakuya, not fazed a bit, "But are you getting cocky with just that?" He taunted Byakuya as another wide, taunting smile spread on his face, "Don't be too full of yourself, I still have my other leg!" He exclaimed as he kicked Byakuya in the face with his other leg, causing Byakuya to let go as he was sent crashing to the ground a few meters away.

"Why, you…" Byakuya gritted out through his clenched teeth as he slowly got up, but before he could charge at Isshin, Asanoha decided that enough was enough.

"Alright, that's it you two!" She stated as she went over to the two to stop them before they got things out of hand.

When she reached Isshin, she grabbed his ear without warning and started pulling it, while Byakuya wisely chose to stay where he was.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! That really hurts Nee-chan!" Isshin cried out in pain.

"Shut it." Was the only response Asanoha gave to Isshin`s cries of pain as she glared at him causing him to stop and gulp, before turning and glaring at Byakuya.

Byakuya, seeing his mother`s glare, too gulped and was about to take a few steps backwards just to be safe, but before he could his mother already had a hold of his ear and had started pulling on it together with Isshin's.

"This isn't the time or place for you two to be fooling around like this!" Asanoha scolded as she began to berate Isshin and Byakuya for acting like little kids, while the two could only say 'I`m sorry!' repeatedly in a desperate attempt to stop her from pulling on their ears.

The others in the meanwhile just watched with amusement as Asanoha berated the two while Naruto was laughing, apparently finding it all very funny.

"And besides, isn't it time for you to be going back to your Division Barracks." Asanoha said as she finally let go of their ears and the two began to desperately rub their ears to sooth the pain.

"Yes, but what about you two?" Byakuya asked as he stopped rubbing his ear.

"We came here because we wanted to attend your Graduation Ceremony, but since that is long over with and we have already congratulated you we will be going back to the Kuchiki Clan Manor." Asanoha answered. "Also isn't it about time for you three to return to the 6th Division Barracks, since it's going to be Byakuya`s introduction into the division." She said to Byakuya, Sōjun and Ginrei.

"And you," She began as she turned her attention to Isshin and glared intensely at him. "You are going back to your division as well!" She finished as she continued to glare at him daring him to defy her, as she knew that he was going to leave his Captain` s duties to his Lieutenant and go laze around somewhere.

Isshin`s head dropped at that. He was initially going to ditch everything and go find a nice, comfortable tree somewhere and take a nice long nap and afterwards maybe go and flirt with some hot female Shinigami, but now he knew that there was no way for him to ditch his work. Somehow, his sister always knew if he ditched his duties, and when she found him lazing around… he shivered. That was too painful for him to even think about.

"Yes, it is indeed time for us to return to our division." Ginrei said, agreeing with his daughter-in-law as he addressed his son and grandson, "Come, it is time we are on our way."

Sōjun nodded his head and went over to his wife and handed Naruto over to her before he and Byakuya stepped forward and stood beside Ginrei, prepared to get going.

Isshin let out a sigh as he too prepared to go back to his Division Barracks. "Well, guess I`ll see you guys later then." He said as he ruffled Naruto`s hair and nodding his head at the others before disappearing in a Flash Step.

Once he left the others also bid each other farewell, before going their separate ways. As Ginrei together with Sōjun and Byakuya went to the 6th Division Barracks, Asanoha and Naruto began to make their way back towards the Kuchiki Clan Manor.

It was night time in the Soul Society and we find the Kuchiki Family eating dinner together.

Naruto was sitting besides Byakuya, while sitting across from them were their parents and sitting in the head position was Ginrei.

They continued to eat in silence before Asanoha asked something that has been on her mind, "What seat did you get assigned to Byakuya?" She asked as she looked at her eldest.

"Hm?" Byakuya looked up at his mother when he heard that, "Oh, I am the 5th seat for now, but that's going to change soon."

"Oh, Is that so..." Asanoha said with a smile.

"Yeah well, right now I may be just a 5th seat, but I am aiming for the Captain`s position so I am going to train even harder." Byakuya replied with a look a determination, "And besides, the 3rd and 4th seats weren't all that strong. The only thing they had that I lacked is experience and now that I am a Shinigami, I can get that experience."

"Hm, you may be correct about that but what makes you think you can become captain so soon?" Ginrei said as he looked at Byakuya with the same calm look he always wore. Ginrei of course, had no doubts about Byakuya`s talent and potential, and he was certain that in a few decades Byakuya was going to surpass even him.

"Well, I do know that you are looking to retire soon and father has no interest in being captain so that only leaves me to fill in that position." Byakuya replied as it was well known that his grandfather was looking forward to retiring soon, along with his father retiring from his Shinigami duties as well.

While his father will be succeed his grandfather as Clan Head, he won't be succeeding him as captain due to health issues and his general dislike of fighting.

"And when I do become captain… I will have surpassed both you and uncle Isshin!"

"Oh, so that is your goal? To surpass me and Isshin?" Ginrei asked.

Byakuya nodded his head with a look of sheer determination.

Sōjun and Asanoha smiled at their eldest. They both knew he had a strong desire to surpass both his uncle and grandfather. That was the goal to accomplish which he would spend countless hours training, after all.

Asanoha turned her attention to her youngest son who was paying more attention to his food, but she knew that he also was aware of the conversation happening around him.

"What about you Naru-chan?" Asanoha asked getting his attention as he looked up from his food to his mother, "Do you also want to become a captain as well?" She asked which got the attention of the other three males as well as they stopped for a moment and looked at Naruto.

It was well known that because of the abnormal amounts of Reiryoku that Naruto was born with, he had unimaginable potential. So much so that even the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 had taken notice of him.

So she was curious about what her youngest planned to do with such potential. It may be a little early to be asking such a question but she couldn't help it.

Naruto gained a thoughtful look at that, before looking at his mother, "I don't care if I become a captain or not!" Naruto spoke, "I just want be strong enough to protect you, Tou-chan, Nii-chan, Jii-chan and Isshin ji-chan." He finished with an earnest smile.

The other in the room all smiled at that too. They knew that the intention behind that was nothing but childish innocence, but it still warmed their hearts that he wanted to protect them.

Naruto himself didn't know what made him say that as he hadn't really had any goal in mind at that point, but when he had thought about it, that had been the first thing that came to his mind. Something that even his four year old mind could understand was exactly what he wanted to do with all his strength.

That night, Naruto made a promise to himself, that he would become the strongest Shinigami to protect all those he held precious to him.

(Time Skip: Naruto age six)

It has been two years since that night when Naruto made that promise to himself.

Things had been pretty normal these past two years with no significant changes except for Byakuya now being the 3rd seat of the 6th Division.

Over these past two years, Naruto`s desire of protecting his precious people hadn't diminished in the least. In fact it has grown even stronger since that night he made that promise to himself. For some reason, the simple thought of losing even one of his precious people had scared him greatly.

He couldn't understand why that was but all his young mind could comprehend was that he didn't want to lose any of them!

And today he would take the first step towards completing that promise. Today he would begin his training towards becoming a shinigami.

A now six year old Naruto stood across from his grandfather in a small clearing in front of the Kuchiki Clan Manor.

He was wearing black hakama pants and a white kimono top as he stood across from his grandfather, who had his arms crossed over his chest, ready to begin his training.

To the side, sitting on the grass, was Asanoha who had a smile on her face and to the other side stood Sōjun with Byakuya as they watched and waited for Ginrei to begin the first day of Naruto`s training.

Ginrei looked at Naruto with an intense stare, which Naruto seem to return with a determined look of his own. Ginrei continued to look at his grandson for a while before uncrossing his arms as he took a step forward before opening his mouth to address Naruto,

"Alright Naruto, now, we shall begin…"

To be continued…

AN: Yo! About this chapter, I suppose you could consider it a filler. While initially it was supposed to be longer and contained more events, I felt that those events were taking place a little too early so I removed them.

If you guys didn't know, Naruto`s inability to sleep at nights the moon is out is a side-effect of being the Jinchūriki of all nine Bijū as it was stated that the moon greatly affects a Jinchūriki. While it was never shown that Naruto was ever affected by the moon when he was the Jinchūriki of Kurama, now that he is the Jinchūriki of all nine Bijū, the effect the moon has on him has been greatly amplified.

Now about the harem, here is the list of the girls that are sure to be a part of the harem so far:

Yoruichi Shihōin

Suì-Fēng (Soifon)

Tier Harribel

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki

This will most likely be the final harem list.

And you guys might be wondering how Kaguya is going to be a part of Naruto`s harem. Well, all I am gonna say is that it's a secret for now. But remember that you guys still don't know what happened the day Naruto sacrificed himself, and when I reveal what really happened, you guys will understand everything, so just be patient! :D

Finally about Naruto`s Zanpakutō. I would like to let you guys know that the Bijū aren't going to make up his Zanpakutō. Naruto`s Shinobi powers won't have any relation with his Shinigami powers. In the beginning. While there will be some influence of his Shinobi powers on his Shinigami powers, they will be two separate powers he will posses.

I have something in mind on what to do with them. But bottom-line is that his Zanpakutō is going to be one he will inherited from Shinigami heritage and won't have any relation to his Shinobi heritage.

Well that's everything so far! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter… :) Don't forget to leave a review!

- El Emperador