Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach.
This story was betaed and adopted by Kolarthecool
"Hello" - Speaking
"Hello" - Thoughts
Naruto sighed in boredom as he stalked through the upper desert of Hueco Mundo, searching for his next meal. He had escaped from the lower forest days ago, after his transformation into an Adjuchas, the last few days had been spent fighting and exploring his new abilities. He had found that unlike a few of the other Adjuchas, he retained the ability to use the Cero technique, he had even been able to experiment with the technique and utilize it in a few different ways.
He had also discovered that he now had two unique abilities with his new form, that information had come to him when he had devoured his first meal as an Adjuchas. For every three tails he gained, he would gain one new ability, equaling three abilities total should he reach Vasto Lorde; strangely enough, these abilities seemed to resemble jutsu he had known as a shinobi.
Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts when he sensed six energy sources headed his way, a slight frown marred his mask as he turned towards the six individuals, they were getting closer and closer by the second but he wasn't too worried about them, none of them were close to his level and if he needed to, he was sure he could outrun them.
Less than a minute later, the six hollows were upon him, Naruto kept his face emotionless as he slowly examined them. The first he noticed was the large Crab like hollow, this one seemed to be the leader even though he had the least amount of Reiryoku.
Behind and to the left of the Crab was a large black and white humanoid Tiger, it was almost as large as him and was watching him with a feral grin on its face.
Floating above the Tiger hollow was a smaller crimson Bird-like hollow, this one was also grinning at him but with less bloodlust than the Tiger.
Behind the Tiger was a huge, green, hairy Mammoth that reminded him of the Elephant hollow he had killed prior to becoming a Gillian.
To the other side of the Crab was some kind of flower monster, it was covered in red rose petals and was in the shape of a large four legged insect.
Finally there was a humongous Whale-like hollow behind the entire group, it was half buried in the ground and had the Reiryoku of the group.
The Crab scuttled forward and Naruto turned his golden orbs on it.
"Greetings, my name is Findorr Calius, attendant to the god-king of Hueco Mundo." The Crab announced in a grating voice. "You must be Uzumaki Naruto, the Fox hollow."
Naruto frowned slightly at this, he had heard all about the so called king of Hueco Mundo, Barragan Louisenbaim. The man was said to be extremely powerful and arrogant, he had built the palace of Las Noches and claimed all of Hueco Mundo as his domain. Naruto had disliked the king from the first moment he had heard of him, his arrogance was too much like that of a certain Uchiha's except Barragan actually had the power to back it up.
"What do you want with me?" Naruto asked in an even tone, he didn't really care how they had gotten his name, he had given it out to many of the stronger hollows he had faced and someone must have overheard.
"Your rise to Adjuchas level in so little time has caught King Barragans attention." Findorr replied "He has chosen to offer you a place in his ever increasing army."
Naruto's frown deepened, many hollows had noted his quick rise to power so he wasn't surprised that Barragan had heard of him. He was upset over the invitation though, he had no plans of kneeling before someone like Barragan but there was no way he was powerful enough to defeat a Vasto Lorde of Barragans caliber. He could either join the king and kneel before him or he could resist and most likely die.
"And if I should refuse?" He asked even though he already knew the answer. There was no middle ground with Barragan, if you weren't with him then you were against him.
The grin on the Tiger and Birds faces widened at his question.
"Then we are to eliminate you." Findorr replied evenly.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the six hollows, each alone would be an easy kill but all six at the same time? Could he win?
A small smile formed on his normally emotionless face.
'I've never been one to back down from a fight, no matter the odds.' He mused, remembering some of the battles that he rightfully should have lost when he stilled lived.
''Let's see if my luck has carried on into the afterlife.'' He muttered, flexing his claws.
In a burst of speed, he vanished and appeared behind five of the Hallows with his clawed arm descending towards the Whales mask. The Crab, Tiger and Bird managed to follow his speed and all turned quickly to confront him but Naruto kept them at bay with his flailing tails, it only bought him a few seconds but that was all he needed.
Caught by surprise, the Whale was unable to dodge quick enough and could only stare as his hand descended on its face. Naruto however, noticed the confidence in its eyes and assumed this was another one of the hollows with a tough hide, his eyes narrowed slightly and he quickly began channeling his Reiryoku into his hand.
'Time to give this a test run.' He thought as a red Reiryoku surrounded his hands.
"Corte de Cero(Cutting Hollow Flash)"
The Reiryoku sharpened to a point as the rest of it took a blade like form around his hand. The Corte de Cero was one of his Cero variants, he began by forming a Cero but rather than fire it, he compressed it into a blade like shape around his hand, allowing him to stab or cut with it. The technique was based off of the very attack that had killed him, the Chidori.
He allowed himself a pleased smirk when his hand easily sunk into the larger hollows mask, its eyes widening perceptibly before it died a moment later. Sensing one of the other hollows approaching him from behind, Naruto tore off a piece of the Whales mask and jumped away, he stuffed the mask fragment into his mouth as he landed and ducked under a powerful swing from the Tiger hollow. The Tiger seemed to be the fastest of the group and was able to keep up with him easily.
Naruto took a moment to examine all of his opponents as he dodged the Tigers wild swings. The Bird had taken to the air and was waiting for a chance to strike, the Mammoth was heading towards him and the Tiger in an attempt to assist, the Crab was staying back and observing the battle, the flower-thing was...oh shit!
His eyes widened as the flower hollow launched the Cero it had been charging, the beam of pink energy flew towards him and both Naruto and the Tiger were forced to jump away in order to dodge it.
"What the hell Charlotte, that almost hit me!" The Tiger growled as it landed beside the Mammoth.
"That would have been your own fault then!" The flower yelled back.
'Hmm.. They don't seem to work well together, this may be easier than I thought.' Naruto mused, looking between the two shouting hollows.
His moment of thought cost him as his back exploded in pain, causing him to stumble forward. He looked over his shoulder and grimaced, sticking out of his back were a set of ten inch long feathers. He looked up and easily spotted the culprit, the Bird hollow had caught him off guard while he was in thought. Pushing the pain away, Naruto spun around and lifted his hand up with two fingers extended, a ball of red Reiryoku forming in an instant.
"Cero."
The beam of deadly energy flew towards the Bird like hollow and Naruto frowned when he saw it start charging its own crimson Cero at the tip of its beak. The two beams of power crashed into one another and struggled to overpower each other, however they were evenly matched in power and exploded after a few seconds, filling the sky with smoke. Naruto felt his instincts screaming at him and without a second thought he jumped to the side, his instincts proved right when a score of red feathers shot down through the smoke and landed where he once stood.
Unfortunately, his dodge had put him close to the Tiger hollow, who had come up when his back was turned. The Tiger managed to score a trio of deep gashes along his side with its claws, causing his blood to fly all over the sand, Naruto swore inwardly and returned the strike but his attack missed and the Tiger leaped back.
'Ugh not good, these wounds will slow me down if I try to run and that Tiger will catch me easily, what do I do?'
Dodging another Cero from Charlotte, Naruto put some distance between him and the Tiger as he thought, the Mammoth had long given up on joining the fast paced battle and was hanging back to observe.
'That one is too slow to keep up, if I can kill it quickly, I can heal my wounds and regain my strength.' He mused.
Another set of feathers came down on him but he had already leapt to the side and was trying to form some sort of plan. A flash of white to the side drew his attention and he noticed it was one of his tails, with a grin Naruto settled on a plan and dashed towards the Mammoth.
Halfway there, he was cut off as the Tiger appeared in front of him with its arm cocked, he could hear the feathers descending from above and sense the Cero coming from behind; there was no way he could dodge them all.
'Perfect.' Naruto thought with a smirk.
As the three pronged attack came closer, he channeled his Reiryoku to three of his tails and whispered his technique.
"Sanbi no Jutsu: Kawarimi (Three Tailed Technique: Replacement)"
His form blurred for a moment before he found himself falling through the air, watching as the three attacks struck the Bird-like hollow. All eyes widened as the crimson Bird was struck by all three attacks, killing it instantly.
'What the hell?' Findorr thought as he watched Naruto land and dash towards Nirgge.
"What the fuck just happened?" Ggio shouted, looking around for the Fox.
"They switched, he's over there!" Charlotte shouted, pointing at the running Fox.
Naruto cursed as he stumbled a step, his wounds were starting to affect him. The Kawarimi technique had drained a large portion of his Reiryoku and he was running low on energy, he grimaced as he felt three of his tails disappear behind him. Each of the tail techniques could only be used a limited number of times a day as they cost him a certain number of tails to use, the first cost three, the second cost six and the last cost nine tails. As he was now he could only use one more Kawarimi until his tails regrew in twenty-four hours.
Pumping some more power into his body, Naruto rushed at the Mammoth from behind, if he could catch it off guard, he could make this an easy kill. With speed he didn't expect, the larger hollow spun around and swung its trunk at him. Naruto was caught by surprised and released a painful grunt as the trunk slammed into his side and sent him flying, he felt a few of his ribs break and he coughed up some blood as he impacted the ground.
'Damn it, they're too strong!' Naruto swore as he tried to stand, a kick to the ribs sent him sliding a few feet with a pain filled shout 'I underestimated them.'
"Hurry up and finish him Ggio." He heard Findorr order.
"Yeah yeah, I hear ya.'' The Tiger growled as it stalked up to him.
He felt a foot nudge him and flip him onto his back, a moment later the foot crashed down onto his chest causing him to gasp in pain.
"Say goodnight Fox-boy." Ggio sneered, raising a clawed fist.
Naruto groaned as he felt his eye lids shutting.
'I guess this is where it ends.' He thought with a sigh.
"Tch, how pathetic." A new voice muttered in a deep tone.
Naruto's eyes flew open and he gaped when he found himself in a new, yet familiar place, he was standing before the all too familiar gates of the Kyuubi's cage, except instead of the demon fox, there was a boy behind the bars.
The boy looked just like he had when he was still human, except for several differences. His golden mane was far longer than Naruto's had ever been, reaching down to his heels, although it was still wild and unruly. The boy wore a blood red jumpsuit instead of the orange suit he had once worn and he had glowing, red, slit eyes with black sclera instead of the sapphire gems Naruto had been known for. The whisker marks on his cheeks were large and pronounced, giving him a feral look when added with the hair. His teeth were sharpened to a point and he had long black claws on each finger, all in all he looked like a much more demonic and feral version of Naruto's original form.
Noticing that he didn't tower over the other boy, Naruto looked down at himself and gasped when he noticed he was human again, he was even wearing the familiar orange jumpsuit he had worn in life.
"Why are you holding back your true power? Why are you holding me, us, back?"
Naruto looked up at the words and took a step back when he noticed the other version of himself watching him intently.
"W-what?" He asked in confusion.
"He wants you to set him free." A high pitched voice said from behind him.
Naruto spun around quickly and stumbled back once more when he came face to face with another copy of himself.
This copy wore a pure white, unzipped jumpsuit, his hair matched his suit in color and even his skin was pure white. His eyes however, were the black and yellow of a hollow and contrasted highly with the color scheme of his form and clothing. The eeriness of this other copy was enhanced by the wide, insane grin that split his face.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked, taking a step back. It was obvious he was within his mindscape, but who or what were these two versions of himself?
The white ones grin seemed to falter slightly while the red one frowned deeply.
"Come on Naruto, that should be easy to figure out." The white one stated, grinning widely once more.
Naruto stared at him for a few seconds, tying to figure out what he meant, he stared into the yellow eyes of his twin as he thought.
'A version of myself with hollow eyes within my mindscape...' His eyes widened as the answer came to him
"You're my hollow powers?" He asked, although he already knew the answer.
The others grin widened slightly at the question "Bingo, you got it in one."
Naruto turned to the red one in confusion. "That makes you...?"
"Your demon powers." The red one replied.
"Demon powers?" Naruto asked with wide eyes.
Was this what had become of Kyuubi's power? He had assumed that the demons chakra was what had turned him into a hollow in the first place, after all his form was that of a many tailed fox, but from what he could see here, most of the Kyuubi's power was still locked behind the seal.
"You want me to free you.." Naruto muttered to himself.
"We want you to free him." The hollow replied with a frown. "You need his power Naruto, I would prefer having this place all to myself but we need his power if we want to live."
Naruto nodded in agreement, he was definitely going to die without more power but did he really want to trust something formed from Kyuubi's power? The demons Yoki (Demonic Energy) had always been hard to control, the most he had ever gone was up to was three tails and he had almost been consumed by the rage and blood lust inherent in the demons power.
"It is no longer Kyuubi's power, I am your power Uzumaki Naruto." The demon boy growled"You stopped being a human the minute Kyuubi's soul was ripped from you and its power was left behind, you are a demon and I am your power."
He was a demon?
"Well half-demon, the other half just happens to be a hollow instead of a human."
Naruto nodded at the explanation, he could accept being a half-demon, after all he had done many inhuman things since he had died.
"Do demons have different abilities from hollows?" He asked walking towards the gates. Both shinigami and hollows had Reiryoku, yet their techniques vastly differed.
The demon smirked at the question and nodded "Yes, but you already have a few of the abilities, your 'Tail Techniques' come from your demonic side, not your hollow side." The demon replied "You will most likely heal much faster than before, gain a large increase in power, learn a few demonic techniques instinctively and your tail techniques should only require half the original recovery time."
Naruto nodded back, it was pretty much just like being a hollow then since he learned his hollow techniques almost instinctively.
"This should also take us to the next level." The hollow added "Vasto Lorde."
Naruto smirked as he grabbed hold of the seal and prepared to rip it off. His action was stopped when a hand grabbed hold of his arm, he looked up with a frown into the crimson orbs of his demon side.
"Be warned Uzumaki Naruto, more than your demonic power lies behind these gates." The demon stated ominously.
"What else is in there?" Naruto asked with a raised brow.
"Emotions, Uzumaki Naruto, emotions. When you became a hybrid, you lost your human emotions but your demon emotions were locked behind this seal. Releasing this power will release those emotions. Your anger, hate and bloodlust will increase while your other emotions will return at a lower level than when you were human." The demon released his hand and took a step back "If you ever lose control over your rage, you might descend into a berserk state and destroy everything in sight."
Naruto smirked back at his demonic counterpart "Death has made me far more mature than I once was. I will rule my emotions, not the other way around."
The demon gave him a grin in reply.
"Good job Naruto..."
"Now let's kick some ass."
Naruto's eyes snapped open outside his mindscape and he was glad to see no time had passed, Ggio's hand was just beginning to descend when a pulse of power sent him flying back, Naruto began screaming as an all too familiar pain filled him and cracks began to spread across his skin.
"What's happening?" Charlotte shouted over the screams of the Fox.
"He's getting...stronger?" Findorr murmured as Naruto's Reiryoku continued to rise. 'What's going on?'
"He's evolving!" Ggio shouted, panic and fear evident in his tone.
"That's impossible! Where's all this power coming from?" Findorr shouted, his tone had also gained a hint of fear and panic.
Their words were cut off when Naruto's shouts increased, the cracks had spread all across his body and he could barely be seen through the white light. With one last shout, Naruto's body exploded into dust and all eyes were averted from the bright light, the light continued to shine for a few seconds before it vanished and Naruto's new form was revealed.
Naruto now stood at about six feet tall with a humanoid frame, he'd shrunken in size and now looked far more humanoid, the sign of a Vasto Lorde.
From head to toe, his body seemed to be covered in flickering, golden flames, his black markings had remained and were still spread across his body from the hole in his gut. On his head was a Fox skull mask with a detached jaw, both mask parts hung loosely and were held on by the flames coating his form, there were also skeletal arms, legs and a spine held onto him by the flames (Golden Kyuubi cloak with the skeleton from six tails mode). Within the mask, his eyes glowed separate colors, both sclera were black in color but one eye was the yellow of a hollow while the other was crimson and slit like those of a cat. Lastly were the nine, long bone tails trailing behind him, each an extension of the spine hovering above his back.
The four hollows watched with wide jaws at the birth of a new Vasto Lorde, less than a second later, the mind numbing pressure of his Reiatsu came crashing down onto their shoulders.
'C-cant move.' All four hollows gasped in shock.
Flexing his fingers, Naruto examined the five sharp claws attached to the skeletal hands above his flame hands. He felt extremely powerful, as if he could do anything he wanted, in fact the flames that covered his form seemed to be formed out of pure Reiryoku, yet he couldn't feel his reserves dipping in the slightest, they were doing quite the opposite actually; they seemed to be rising higher and higher.
'Impressive.' Naruto thought looking up at his captivated opponents, he lessened his Reiatsu so they could move before a vicious grin split his face 'Time for a test run.'
Naruto vanished without a sound, not even a disturbance in the sand, and reappeared a few feet behind Ggio with the Tigers bleeding arms in each hand.
"I-impossible." Ggio gasped as blood gushed from his shoulders. 'He's so fast.'
Dropping the two appendages, Naruto turned towards an incoming Cero from Charlotte and scoffed. A large arm made entirely of flickering, golden energy shot out of his side and wrapped its thick fingers around Ggios torso, causing the Tiger to howl in pain and his skin burned, before tossing the dying hollow into the path of the pink beam.
Charlotte had only a moment to gasp in shock, before Naruto appeared before the flower hollow, a swirling ball of golden Reiryoku in his hands.
"Espiral Cero! (Spiraling hollow Flash)"
The Cero, structured after the powerful Rasengan, bore into the other hollows torso before expanding, immediately reducing the flower hollow into raw Reishi from the techniques power. Naruto noticed with slight interest that the flames on his form seemed to flicker wildly and absorb the nearby Reishi, causing his own power to rise minutely.
'Interesting' he thought with a raised brow.
He took a glance at the spot Charlotte once stood and whistled in admiration at the power his technique now held, the last time he had tested the Espiral Cero, it had only done minor surface damage to a hollow far weaker than the flower he had just utterly decimated.
Naruto vanished from his spot once more and appeared before the petrified Mammoth hollow with a fist cocked, the Mammoth, sensing its impending doom, decided to go down fighting. Through pure fear and sheer willpower, Nirgge managed to move through the pressure pressing down on him and swung his trunk with as much power as he could but Naruto caught the appendage easily with one hand while his fist rocketed forward. The punch slammed into the hollows mask with such power that larger hollow was sent rocketing back with its mask shattered. Naruto held up a finger and a golden Cero charged at the tip, with a flick of his finger, a beam twice the size of a regular Cero was launched from his hand and vaporized the weaker hollow instantly.
'Hmm, two Reiryoku intensive attacks and my reserves have barely dipped.' He thought before a wide grin spread across his face and he turned towards the last hollow. In the blink of an eye, the full force of his Reiatsu came crashing down onto the surrounding area.
Findorr watched in shock as the last three members of his squad were decimated easily by a hollow they had thought defeated.
'Such power, where did it all come from. Even at full power I won't be able to match him.' He pondered as the powerful Reiatsu kept him from moving, the Fox was still several meters away yet its Reiatsu still affected him from such a distance 'So this is the power of a Vasto Lorde, his Reiryoku eclipses King Barragans easily.'
In the blink of an eye, Findorr found the hollow standing only a few feet away from him, the full power of the Fox's Reiatsu sent him crashing to the desert floor, he found himself unable to move and barely able to draw breath.
'Such speed and power.'
"What now Findorr Calius?" Naruto asked with a smirk. "How do you plan to 'eliminate me' if you can't even stand before me."
Naruto was glad to see that his voice no longer held the growling quality his old forms had, instead his tone was now silky and matured, like an older version of his original, human tone.
"How did you gain such power?" The Crab gasped out.
"That is irrelevant, what is relevant Findorr Calius, is this question; do you want to live?" Naruto replied with a small smirk.
"Yes!" Findorr shouted fearfully.
Naruto grinned as he examined the hollow cowering before him, for some reason seeing the terror in the Crabs eyes seemed to amuse and excite him.
"Then lead me to Barragan." He ordered, causing Findorr's eyes to widen exponentially.
