Death Brings New Life
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Bleach or anything else.
Kyuubi Speech: "speech"
Thinking: 'speech'
"Uggh, it feels like I got the hell beat out of me." Said Naruto groggily
Slowly he made his way to a sitting position and proceeded to get his bearings. Looking around he saw the white sands of a desert for as far as he could see, this told him he was no longer in Urahara's secret hide away…and judging by the malevolent aura this place seemed to give off, he was probably no longer in Sereitei.
'So the last thing I remember was this feeling of enormous power and this searing pain in my chest.'
As the blond looked himself over he spotted a small hole in his chest, and given everything he had learned from Urahara that could only mean one thing…
He had become a Hollow, which meant this place was Hueco Mundo.
But something wasn't right; everything he had been told about hollows led him to believe that all but the most powerful were horrid looking monsters. And yet, aside from the hole in his chest, he appeared perfectly human. To be sure he felt his face, and realized that he had no hollow mask.
'What in the hell happened to me? Well Urahara did say something about me being a fusion between shinigami and hollow courtesy of Kyuubi snapping my chain-thingy before he moved on.' Thought the former shinobi to himself.
With that thought, Naruto set off to explore his new surrounding. A soft breeze ran through his hair as he set off against the wind, it was an old shinobi habit, moving against the wind…it made it slightly more difficult for his sent to be picked up.
'And in a world full of monsters I think I'll need all the help I can get.' Thought Naruto to himself wryly.
Urahara Kisuke, 3rd seated officer of the second squad of the Gotei 13 had always been a curious person. He was never content with doing things simply because that was how they were always done…he was the type of person who always had to know why something was done and if there was a way to do it better.
That was why he was so intrigued by Uzumaki Naruto. The whole idea of using a human to contain the power of a demon, thus giving him the ability to wield the demon's power as their own made him wonder if it was possible for a shinigami to wield the power of a hollow and vice versa. Of course the Kyuubi had answered that question with an emphatic yes, when in it's last act of cruelty against Naruto, it snapped his Chain of Fate before moving on.
But now the boy was gone, vanished into thin air apparently.
'Boy that was one explanation I did not enjoy giving Yoruichi, she had grown rather fond of the little guy.' Thought Urahara to himself, wincing as he remembered the beating/sparring session he had been forced to endure as a result.
With that the blond shinigami put his thoughts of fusion between shinigami and hollow off in the back of his mind and moved on to his next oh so brilliant idea.
After achieving shikai the first step towards bankai involved physically manifesting the inner spirit of one's zanpakuto, this normally took decades or centuries…and again Urahara Kisuke was not happy with this.
"I wonder if it's possible to force your zanpakuto to manifest and achieve bankai faster than that."
"I hate hollows and I hate deserts."
These were the grumblings of one Uzumaki Naruto as he continued his trek through the seemingly endless desert of Hueco Mundo. For indeed save for a few dead looking trees and partially decaying structures the landscape had not changed.
But the past few weeks had not been boring; in fact they had been quite enlightening. For despite his desire to stay out of trouble, it seems he has the same type of luck in death that he had in life…so trouble flocked to him.
He had been attacked a few times by some weaker hollows and in being attacked discovered a new ability of his. Apparently he could coat his arms in reiatsu as a shield of sorts; he could also attack by extending the reiatsu from his fingertips in the form of a whip.
While the discovering of a new ability might normally improve his mood, that was not so in this case…because after wandering aimlessly for hours he still was no closer to figuring out anything that might help him.
Just as he was set to voice his displeasure yet again, he sensed something, or rather two someones. Two fairly strong someones who appeared to be fighting if his senses were correct.
Now Naruto knew that it was probably not a good idea to intrude on a fight between two hollows that were this strong, but curiosity and boredom got the better of him…so he decided to go and take a look.
Neliel Tu Oderschvank, 3rd Espada, lay bleeding on the ground. Nnoitora had finally bested her in battle, all it took was the threatening of her fraccion and a well placed ambush from Szaelapollo. As she looked up as the smug face of Nnoitora she could feel herself getting weaker and weaker.
When suddenly…she turned into a child.
"She turned into a child?" asked Nnoitora in a tone somewhere in between shock and amusement.
"Truly interesting, a phenomena I have never witnessed," began Szaelapollo , "perhaps her reiatsu is leaking through the wound in her mask and her spiritual body shrunk as a result."
He spared the child before him one final glance before leaving.
"Ha ha ha! Who gives a shit why it happ…" Nnoitora never got to finish his thought as a well placed kick to his jaw sent him tumbling across the floor, but he was not down long.
"Who the fuck just did that?" he screamed in an enraged tone.
"That would be me" answered a voice from just behind him.
The 8th Espada turned around to see a young man with blond hair and blue eyes, he wore black hakama and the tattered remains of what used to be some sort of white shirt. But what was odd about this person was the fact that even though he had a hollow hole, he had no remnants of a hollow mask whatsoever.
Nnoitora watched as the stranger bent down to take a look at the bleeding child who had been Neliel Tu Oderschvank, he then ripped off what was left of his shirt and used it to stem the bleeding. It was at this point that he happened to notice that his supposed 'partner' was no longer here.
'He served his purpose by beating the hell out of Neliel's fraccion, so he can go off and do whatever the fuck he wants.'
Naruto, having somewhat stopped the bleeding, picked Neliel up in his arms and made his way over to tend to the injuries of her subordinates. This seemed to be the last straw for their attacker; apparently he did not like to be ignored.
"Hey blondie, I asked you who the hell you are" said Nnoitora
Having tended to the wounded as best he could, Naruto put the little girl down next to the others before responding, "You know when you want to know somebody's name, it considered polite to give yours first."
Try as he might, Nnoitora couldn't help but smirk as the wisecrack, "8th Espada Nnoitora Jiruga."
"Well Nnoitora, why is it you do not look like what Hollows are typically depicted as?"
"Because I am more than a mere hollow, I am a hollow which has transcended the boundaries between shinigami and hollow, by removing my mask. I am an Arrancar." Replied Nnoitora
"So all you with the broken masks are hollows with shinigami powers? That's interesting seeing as such a thing is thought to be impossible" said the blond
"Well it is and we're living proof, although I don't know what the hell you are," stated Nnoitora, "that hole in your chest proves you are clearly a hollow and yet you have no pieces of a mask. Hopefully you're pretty strong; it would be a shame for you to die before I can enjoy a good fight."
And with that he picked up his weapon and charged the unarmed Naruto, he was upon him in an instant and made to bring his weapon down in what would have been a crushing overhead slash…
only to have the blade be stopped by an open palm.
"I am Namikaze Naruto, and I hate people who pick on those who can't defend themselves." He replied in an emotionless tone.
With that he pushed off on the giant scythe looking weapon, before he extended two fingers on his right hand and swept them towards his opponent in a slashing motion. And from his fingertips came forth a tendril of reiatsu.
Nnoitora leapt back to avoid this whip of reiatsu his opponent had made, as it struck the ground where he had stood he noticed it tore through the ground like it hadn't been there at all, leaving a deep fissure.
"That's a nice little trick you got there, don't think I've seen anything like it. In fact I might even be able to respect you as an opponent one day, if you weren't one of those do-good, protect people weaker than you motherfuckers that I can't stand." Said Nnoitora as he looked at Naruto with the utmost loathing.
Naruto tensed as he prepared for his opponent to resume his attack, so he was quite surprised when Nnoitora lowered his weapon and began to walk away.
"If Neliel survives, tell her that she may stand before me again when she has regained her powers" was the last thing the 8th Espada said before vanishing before Naruto's eyes.
Naruto was tending to a small fire when he heard movement from one of his 'patients' as it were as he glanced over he noticed it was the little green haired girl that Nnoitora had injured.
"Whath going on? Where am I? Who are you?" asked the little girl in a frightened voice.
Naruto knelt down and smiled in an attempt to appear as non threatening as possible.
"Hello there, my name is Naruto. What's your name?"
Deciding that this stranger seemed friendly, the little girl responded, "My name ith Nell."
"Well it's nice to meet you Nell, I'm the one that took care of that nasty wound on your head."
Reaching up to feel her throbbing head, she noticed the crude wrapping around it. Vague memories came to her of fighting…someone.
"Naruto…who did thith to me?"
"A bad man did that to you," began a frowning Naruto, "but you don't need to worry about him because he left and won't be coming back."
"Thank you" said Nell as she offered a wide, gap toothed smile.
Naruto was about to respond when he remembered that he was also supposed to be looking after Nell's subordinates, but when he checked on them he noticed that they had succumbed to their injuries.
Nell was all alone.
Right then and there Naruto decided he would look after Nell until she returned to her original form and could look after herself. If the rest of these Arrancar were as 'friendly' as Nnoitora, than one little girl probably wouldn't last long by herself.
"Say Nell, how about you come with me and we find somewhere else to stay?"
Now on one hand Nell had just met Naruto, so he could just be pretending to be nice to trick her. Also he didn't have a mask, so he couldn't be an Arrancar, but he had a hollow hole in his chest so he couldn't be a shinigami. And she could just tell that he genuinely wanted to help her.
"Okay" she replied a little hesitantly
The ex-shinobi reached down to help Nell to her feet, but the instant they touched hands something began to happen. Naruto could feel his reiatsu start to rise. And he could see red reiatsu flowing from his hand, up her little arm and straight into the wound on her mask. Before Naruto could let go he was thrown back by an explosion and lost conciousness.
(Hours Later)
"Damnit, I keep getting knocked out by explosions of my own reiatsu" grumbled Naruto to himself as he tried to sit up.
But as he tried to sit up he noticed that Nell was gone, but a strangely familiar (and attractive) woman was in her place.
This woman was wearing little more than rags, and given the fact she was quite butsy they clung to her frame rather tightly. But what really caught Naruto's attention was the hollow mask with a scar right down the middle and a familiar shade of green hair.
"Nell?"
That was all Naruto had a chance to say before he found himself smothered by a rather large pair of breasts.
"Naruto! You're okay" exclaimed Nell cheerfully
"Well it's nice to see you too Nell." Said Naruto sarcastically from in between her breasts.
With that Nell released Naruto and he got up to his feet. Looking around, he saw the surrounding area had also been affected by the explosion of reiatsu.
"I wanted to thank you for whatever you did Naruto," said Nell sincerely, "I appreciate you returning me to this form."
"The thing is, I have no idea what happened. My hollow reiatsu seems to act of its own accord at times."
"Well that brings me to asking just what exactly are you? You are neither hollow nor shinigami, but some fusion of both." Said Nell
Naruto was about to reply to her question when he remembered what had just taken place.
"We can discuss this later, but right now we should move before anybody comes to investigate that explosion of my reiatsu."
"Very well, but first I must gather my injured comrades" stated Nell
The ex-shinobi remembered that he still had not told Nell that she was the only survivor of the attack. He wasn't sure how to tell her, so he decided to just come out and say it.
"Their injuries were too severe, they didn't make it" said Naruto somberly.
Nell did not react to the news like he had expected, for some reason he had expected her to start crying and become emotional. While she was visibly sad at the loss of her companions, she appeared to keep her composure. After grief, she seemed to find cold fury an appropriate response. And Naruto could guess who it was directed at.
'Nnoitora you bastard. I won't let you hurt Nell again' promised Naruto to himself.
"We need to get out of here Nell" said Naruto gently, shaking the former Espada out of her thoughts.
Wordlessly she began to walk off, and Naruto followed his new companion.
(Meanwhile in Sereitei)
Hirako Shinji, captain of the 5th division of the Gotei 13 glanced around at the captains and vice captains gathered in the 1st division headquarters for this meeting and noted that all had been gathered, save for the new captain of the 11th division Zaraki Kenpachi and the person they were waiting for.
I wish this guy would show up so we could get started.' Shinji thought to himself
Almost as if on cue, the doors began to open and in walked the newly appointed 12th squad captain, Urahara Kisuke.
"Eh, looks like I'm the last one to show up." Said Urahara as he scratched the back of his head in what appeared to be a nervous habit.
Needless to say, at first glance Shinji was not impressed, "This one looks like he's a few cards short of a full deck."
Meanwhile Shinji's vice captain, Aizen Sosuke had a look on his face that suggested he thought there was more to Urahara Kisuke than met the eye.
"It certainly appears that way" he said to himself in barely a whisper.
"Ah hello, sorry I'm late," began the new captain in a bashful tone, "it's really nice to meet you all."
The new captain's greeting did not elicit a response from his peers.
"So umm, is it alright to continue?" He asked, appearing to get increasingly more uncomfortable due to the scrutiny he was under.
"Stop acting so hesitant! You're a captain now Kisuke so stand tall" came the voice of his former commander, the captain of the 2nd squad Shihouin Yoruichi.
A swift kick in the rear from Yoruichi put got the new captain moving to take his position as the captain of the 1st squad and commander of the Gotei 13, Yamamoto Genryuusai-Shigenkuni came through the door.
As soon as he entered, the hall immediately became silent.
"Now that everyone is gathered let us begin the promotion ceremony…"
A/N: Well here it is, after all this time. A few things to say: First, Kyuubi will have no more bearing on this story, I just thought it was appropriate for it to have one final act of cruelty towards Naruto. Second is that Naruto characters will have no bearing on the story. Some may still appear, but they will be no more significant than someone Naruto comes across in the Rugonkai, they won't remember him & he'll only find anyone he knew in life vaguely familiar.
Finally if any of you are confused as to what exactly Naruto is…good. At the moment he is purposely neither an Arrancar nor a Vaizard. He will eventually end up as one or the other, but I'm not telling you which.
Yes Nell is indeed restored to her true form for good. I know her fraccion are still alive in the manga, but I don't need them for what I have planned for her.
Nothing shockingly important happened here I know, but I did want him to be acquainted with Nell early on…hence he's in Las Noches. It won't last, I will probably have him end up back in Sereitei next chapter.