NarutoBleachMon 5
The morning rose in the big city. Hanging out in Yuzu's room in the Kurosaki Clinic, Ash was dozing off, allowing the sun to peak on through the day. Yuzu wasn't in her bed. Was she sleeping alongside Ash? No, she was in the kitchen, slapping on an apron and breaking a few eggs. Mixing the yolk, she prepped the stove for making breakfast. The alluring of eggs began to arouse the senses of Ash. He opened his eyes and peered at the vacant bed. The smell of eggs recaptured his attention. He stepped out and walked over to the kitchen, eying Yuzu and her preparations. She batched a broth of Miso soup, threw bread in the toaster, sliced some grapefruit and laid some ham on a new pan to cook. "Pulling out all the stops this morning?" Ash teased. Yuzu jumped at the sound of Ash, not expecting anyone else to be awake at the time.
"G-Good morning, Ash," she stuttered. "What are you doing up so early?" He smelt the food. It was irresistible.
"Well, the smell of scrambling eggs wakes me up pretty well." To Yuzu, it was a bit humorous and she giggled a little. Then, she had an idea.
"Say, can you help me with preparations?" Ash couldn't say no to this kind of request. As he helped, Naruto came down and saw both Ash and Yuzu doing breakfast work. His sleepy eyes appeared that there was some sort of chemistry with both kids...albeit that he's not an adult to speak.
"What's cooking at 6:45?" he groaned. "Sausage omelets?" More than just omelets, blond. Ash turned, huffing a chuckle at the same nose that he may have.
"Well, looks like when food gets into our noses, all we think about is the meal, huh?" he joked. Naruto joined a little in the laugh while guilt-fully scratching the back of his head. Before they sat down for breakfast...
"GOOD MORNING...ICHIGO!" screamed Isshin. Why would someone be screaming at their own child? There were a series of crashes before Isshin flew out of Ichigo's room and down the stairs. CRASH! Isshin landed by the door...all twisted up and contorted in more ways than a rubber band. Naruto and Ash saw the messed up figure that was Ichigo's, Yuzu's and Karin's dad.
"Don't be too surprised," Yuzu murmured. "He does this every morning since Ichigo was declared a teenager." For a few years, huh?
"Glad my mom wasn't like that," Ash sighed. "I mean, that much." Hearing that admittance, Isshin sprung back onto his feet and patted Ash.
"So, I'm not the only 'wild child' parent in existence, huh?" he chuckled. How the heck did he recover so fast? "Is she single by all means?" Isshin! Who knew he was into crazy mothers? Not Ichigo. He smashed...his bed mattress into Isshin's face, an instant knockout.
"You're a recovering widow, get your head straight, old man!" Ichigo bellowed angrily. As if flying out of his room wasn't enough... Anyway, after cleanup and breakfast, Ash, Naruto, Rukia and Ichigo began to step out. There was a bit of a wardrobe change for Naruto as he wore a forest green t-shirt with an orange star in the middle while still donning the orange pants. Ash had his jeans on and carried his vest while wearing a plain white t-shirt. "So, you two going to train over at the park?" A ninja and a trainer training didn't sound too conspicuous...right? One's a professional in the making while the other uses creatures for battle.
"Hand-to-hand combat and we're gonna try to awaken and convert his aura into chakra and see if it can be done," Naruto planned. Straightforward idea.
"Alright. Although, if you want some hand-to-hand tips, Tatsuke would provide the best advice." The group reached the park under a partly cloudy morning.
"Here we are," Rukia announced. "We'd like to stay and watch you practice but..." The fact that Ichigo and Rukia were in uniform told Ash and Naruto that they had classes to attend.
"No problem," Ash replied to the unfinished explanation of the clothing. "Angie and Hinata should be joining us shortly."
"Yeah, we'll catch you guys later," Naruto excused them. With that, Ichigo and Rukia bowed before going to school. Now it was Ash and Naruto as they made their way through the park and found a clearing. They could wait for Angie and Hinata to arrive. Angie spent the night at Chad's place while Hinata slept over with Orihime. They could be coming by at any moment but why spoil the moment alone. "Before we begin, I should ask if you have any fighting background?" Being a trainer should mean that he had to learn some moves with all that he's battled and seen. Did Ash have any style of fighting or was he a pacifist and allowed his Pokémon to battle?
"Well, I did study boxing if that helps." Boxing, huh? Way of the fists. Naruto scoffed at the style, feeling overestimated with his style of fighting.
"Apparently, Bushy Brow would have you on the ground in a matter of seconds. I learned some training with his sensei, Guy in Taijutsu. But I'll ease up and see this boxing to make sure I know what I'm against." So now it was Ash's boxing and Naruto's style Taijutsu. Ash knuckled up with his fists near his face as Naruto held his palm up and facing him. "Bring it!" Ash brought it with a looping right hook. Naruto easily ducked it and threw a low sweeping kick. Ash got clipped, falling onto his butt. Momentum on his side, Naruto spun around and tried to land a low heel kick. That's when Ash used his head...literally. He head-butted Naruto's foot, deflecting the strike aside as he regained his footing. Naruto rose, launching a palm thrust. Ash ducked and fired an uppercut. Naruto bobbed his head, allowing the attack to pass by mere inches. Ash followed it with a left cross, hoping Naruto wasn't fast enough to catch the second of a 1-2 combo. Not only was Naruto too fast for Ash's cross, he snatched the attack and tossed Ash to the other side. Ash hit the ground like a sack of potatoes and writhed in a bit of pain. He got to his feet but felt the impact a bit. Naruto was ready for more...
"Time!" sounded Angie. She's here? The boys turned to see Angie and Hinata, wearing a navy blue t-shirt to match her pants, as well as...
("You're alive!") Pikachu cheered as he ran up and hugged his pal, Ash.
"Pikachu!" he cried in joy. "You behaved for the Reapers, I take it?"
("Me and Shinx both.") Ash was happy to hear that. Angie, holding Shinx to her body, and Hinata regrouped with the boys in relief that they survived the night with little wear. It was about a minute ago that they began to work on it.
"Ash, what were you thinking?" Angie scorned. "Taking on a ninja in hand-to-hand combat? Do you want to die?" A bit exaggerated weren't we?
"It was all under control, Angie," Ash tried to pass it off. "No big deal." Not to the eyes of the green-haired girl.
"How am I suppose to know that? No one's here to supervise you two." Good point. No one else was around to spot the two in case one suffered a bad injury or worse. Ash could try and counter...but all he did was scratch the back of his head. "My thoughts exactly." Although Ash was getting Angie's concern, Naruto chose to become his backup.
"I wouldn't be too worried about him," he spoke up, jerking heads from Angie and Ash. "Ash has a hard head. He can take plenty of shots there." Unfortunately, that wasn't helping. Even Ash mulled at that botched clarification.
"Naruto..." Hinata murmured. That's all she could say? Talk about soft-spoken. After some rest, Naruto and Ash squared off again...but not to fight.
"Okay, Ash. Now's the time to focus." It was time to show the aura buried inside Ash. "I can bring out my chakra and show you how it's done. You ready?" Ash fluffed a nod. Naruto copied the nod before he put his hands together, four fingers rose. Concentrate...concentrate... Naruto's body began to emit a red energy from beneath him. The energy swirled around the blond, much like before when he fought Momo. Ash was mesmerized with the energy that flowed around the ninja-in-training.
"That's chakra?" he wondered. A minute later, the energy died down. Naruto was standing straight.
"Alright, let's see that aura in use." Ash obliged. He extended his arms out and closed his eyes.
'Okay, Ash. Let's remember what Lucario did to bring out those aura spheres. Ball of aura... Ball of aura...' In his vision, a ball of blue light enveloped in his arms. The ball started to grow the long he focused. Outside of his thoughts, Naruto, Hinata and Angie saw Ash coated in a blue veil of energy. That must be the aura. The veil began to grow, almost to the size of Naruto's wall of chakra. The longer he focused, the bigger the veil. To Hinata, enough was enough.
"Ash!" she shrieked. Ash heard the call, breaking the concentration. The glow vanished in a snap.
"What, Hinata?" He noticed that other than Pikachu, everyone was rather startled by how much of that aura showed up...if that was aura. Ash was dumbfounded. "What?" They're impressed.
"Okay, that's no small energy," Naruto stuttered. No, it wasn't.
"We've seen chakra," Angie started. "We've seen kidō and now this!" What kind of energy was aura that it made almost everyone flinch in fear?
"Frankly, I'm rather intimidated by his display," Naruto muttered. Ash was very befuddled. He couldn't see the hindrance his display unraveled.
"You want me to try it again?" he dumbly questioned. Frantically waiving their hands in refusal, Angie and the ninjas wanted no more. Before Ash got the message, he received another...from his body. He felt worked. Was it the spar with Naruto? Was it the growing showing of aura? Whatever it was, he felt fatigued. "Okay, I might have pushed it a bit." The way he keeled over seemed that he didn't push it lightly. Hinata began to use her Byagukan and noticed that Ash was drained...and came up with a hypothesis.
"I doubt Ash works on his aura often enough for it's taxing effects," she guessed. It made sense. He was training his Pokémon so much and didn't figure that he would need to unleash that hidden power.
"Still, for him to show that power without releasing an attack may reveal a hidden trait that could spell disaster if taught improperly," Naruto pondered. That's rather obvious. Angie got over to Ash and helped him onto his feet.
"Thanks," Ash happily groaned.
"Take it easy," she warned. "That show took a toll on you." Ash nodded. After some rest, the half-dozen made their way through town when Naruto sensed something in the air...something good.
"I...I smell ramen," he sniffed. He picked up a scent of what? Ash and Angie wondered about what he scented. Hinata sighed.
"Naruto loves ramen so much, he could pick up the scent of a bowl from miles away," she informed. She's exaggerating, right? Following his nose, Naruto led the group to a restaurant. The sign on top read "RAMEN BUFFET." Naruto was giddy...giddier than a kid in a candy store.
"Now this is my kind of restaurant!" Did his nose guide him or his stomach? Or a combination of both? He charged inside. If Naruto thought he would be joined by Ash, Angie and Hinata, he was about to get another guest.
"Who just ran in there?" asked who? The three still outside turned to a tall redhead male who had tattoos all over his forehead. He appeared to try and cover it with a white headband with some in his ponytail. He wore a brown vest over a yellow t-shirt while wearing cord pants. He realized that the three were familiar. "Hey, aren't you the Ryoka who found their way to the Seiretei?" They've been found out. Ash shot a look to Angie, Angie shot a look to Hinata, Hinata shot a look to Ash then vice versa trying to hide the fact that another Soul Reaper spotted them. "If it's true, the fourth one's the one pigging out in the ramen broth. I'll go see him." He entered along with the rest of the entourage and found Naruto in his third bowl. Three bowls in a minute? Where was he storing all the broth and seafood and meat and veggies? In his pants?
"Hey, what kept you?" The redhead couldn't have picked better words before seeing Naruto, if he actually tried. That made the group sigh.
"You didn't bother to wait?" Angie groaned. Joining Naruto at a round table, the rest enjoyed bowls of the broth. Even Pikachu and Shinx had a bowl. "Now, that's what I call delicious." No complaints from Angie. Naruto would concur. He was on his 15th bowl for crying out loud. Ash wasn't far behind. He just finished his 12th.
"What do you know?" the redhead snickered. "A pair of competing chow hounds." Let's not forget their seemingly bottomless stomachs.
"Another shark-fin bowl!" Ash called out. Can't wait for the bill. Angie and Hinata only had one each and the redhead had three. They were mesmerized by the amount of food the two continued to pack on.
"Not slowing down, are you?" Naruto challenged.
"I'm not throwing in the towel like that," Ash sneered while spinning chopsticks. More bowls arrived and the boys dined into it like sharks.
"I sure as heck ain't carrying their bloated stomachs back," Angie mulled. That would be backbreaking. Hinata had an idea to have the hippos take a break from their meals.
"You know, I'm wondering where the two of you came from and how you wound up with us in the Soul Society," she optioned. It was good timing. Naruto emptied bowl number 16 and Ash number 13.
"Oh, yeah," Ash realized. "Weren't you guys heading to a village on a mission?" At the beginning, Naruto had mentioned a village he and Hinata were heading toward.
"The Hidden Village in the Land of Earth. You don't mind hearing us out, do you, Renji?"
"No, no, not at all," the redhead, Renji, allowed. "I'm on vacation so I've got time. However, I'd like to hear about how they got there first." He meant Ash's and Angie's story.
"Yeah, stomach brother," Naruto happily nicknamed Ash. Unique and it fits. Feeling the pressure, Ash chose to let it out.
"Well, okay," he surrendered. "Well, it all started when Pikachu, Brock, Dawn and I arrived at a Pokémon Summer Academy hosted by the region's professor, Prof. Rowan. That's where I met Angie and we developed a rivalry almost immediately." So things didn't start too smoothly for the trainers.
"Yeah, but the more we met, the more it became a friendship than a feud," Angie altered. "However, it all practically changed that night." That night?
"Prof. Rowan assigned teams of two to go out and search for a ruin where medals were located. During our search, a girl had guided us toward someplace. Luckily, it was the ruin where the medals were. Since there wasn't an empty spot amongst the case, we assumed we were the first to reach it and all we needed to do was return." So, they were helped and that they accomplished their task, all that was needed was the return to base.
"But the girl insisted we join her for something, probably a celebration in the cave which was nearby. That's when a Dusknoir came out of the blue and had its eyes on the girl. Quickly, we knew something was off."
"So, Angie and I struck first with attacking Dusknoir and knocking it down. Pikachu's attack paralyzed Dusknoir but we thought it deserved it for attacking the girl. I know that, unless provoked, Pokémon don't attack humans upon free will. But it turned out to be a trick as a vacuum began to suck the four of us in: me, Angie, Pikachu and Shinx. I had my feet on some rocks sticking out of the ground where I got leverage." A quick-thinking Ash trying to save a few. How heroic.
"You know, when I said that you could let go of me, you denied and said that you'd hold onto me forever." Very heroic. Of course, someone had to poke a little fun into it.
"Funny," Naruto spoke up. "You said you'd hold onto Angie forever. Why aren't you holding her now?" Ash and Angie hiccuped in surprise. However, when you looked into it more specifically, he did say that he'd hold on to her forever. Ash and Angie walked right into the joke. It made Renji and Naruto laugh and almost had broth spill out of his nose.
"That wasn't nice, Naruto!" Hinata scolded. She couldn't take a joke. Renji did.
"Come on, kiddo," he tried to ease himself. "We all need a laugh at some point." When Naruto eased himself, Ash was allowed to continue.
"Well, I fought that vortex with all my might but we got sucked in," he resumed. "And now that I think about it, maybe Dusknoir was trying to protect us." So they fell into the vortex and into the Soul Society. "The next thing I knew, Hinata was giving me an incidental kiss." Now it was Hinata on the hot seat and she was showing it. She blushed tomato red in embarrassment. Ash wasn't so heightened when it happened.
"So now, instead of hanging out with Brock and Dawn," Angie chose to finish. "Here we are with Soul Reapers and whatever else comes in these parts." How would the world go on knowing that these two vanished? It was a sticky situation for the trainers. Hearing their piece, Naruto was ready to tell his and Hinata's story of their appearance in the Soul Society and Renji was about to give them the okay.
"Well, hopefully, nothing bad's happening in your absences," he sympathized.
"Yeah, I hope there's no activity with Team Rocket, Team Galactic or Pokémon Hunter J," Ash gritted. "Then again, I think that was the most recent that I used my aura to help a Riolu from her." Pokémon Hunter J's a woman? Could her J mean Joan or Jasmine or maybe June?
"You used your aura?" Hinata gasped. "How?" If he did, he had to have been awfully tired afterward.
"Aura could be used to detect others in a link as an example, which helped me with protecting Riolu. I didn't know I had aura until I met Lucario back near Mt. Moon in my home region of Kanto. I was told that his trainer was Sir Aaron back hundreds of years ago and he was an Aura Guardian. For me to have similar aura makes me sound like I'm a descendant of him but I don't know for sure or would like to know at this time."
"That would explain why you were quickly drained when you displayed it, right?" Naruto guessed. Ash fluffed a nod. "Makes sense." Renji nodded to Naruto to begin his tale. "Well, it began back at our home, The Hidden Leaf Village. After some training with Pervy Sage, I was enjoying what we're all enjoying right now. Before long, Grandma Tsunade's pig, Ton-Ton gave me a scroll from her. She had a mission for me, Kiba and Hinata. I didn't like where this was going because Hinata can be a pain in the neck since she constantly passes out the moment I'm within shoulder length of her." That explains a lot. What happened in the Soul Society when he broke the others out of the holding cell, Ash was with Hinata who was mostly unconscious. He just had to ask the question.
"Is there a reason that you lose your senses around Naruto?" Hinata fidgeted for an answer. What reason could she have that would make her uncomfortable with the blond boy?
"I...don't wanna talk about it," she feigned. Naruto had an uneasy feeling but he didn't have anything to benefit a possible reason. Renji had a thought. Still, he offered to respect her wish.
"I tell ya, it's weird," Naruto shrugged. "Anyway, the mission wasn't disclosed since the Hokage of the Hidden Earth Village held the information and that he needed a few skilled chunin, or ninjas in training, for his aid. It didn't help that most of the others were out on different missions and a few were in the clinic with Sakura recovering from injuries. I even argued that the plan of the three of us would fail." Hinata disagreed with that part of the story.
"No, you argued to replace me with Ino since you claimed that I hold you back." Whoops. Naruto made a lie? No way to become Hokage that way. He snarled at that backtalk but tried to continue as Ash began to sample his 14th bowl of ramen.
"Anyway...we were well on our way to the targeted village where we found some rouge ninjas. Real ones, not like us. They blocked the path in front of us, forcing the group to take an alternate route. Boy, was that a mistake we'd find out in a hurry. We though we found a clearing but another ninja used a smoke bomb and disoriented us. I don't know what exactly happened but before we knew it, we were relocated and I had to find that out the hard way." That hard way was Shinx using Crunch on Naruto's buttocks. So both sides of the story were told. "Right now, I only hope that Kiba and Akamaru are okay." A good friend, he was displaying.
"I'm pretty sure that Kiba and Akamaru will be okay," Ash believed. "They sound rather highly skilled." Naruto felt a little relieved with Ash's confidence.
"I hope so. Hate to see the alternative." Speaking of alternative, Angie nudged Naruto in the arm and pointed to Renji, slouched over in dreamland. He chose to sleep in the middle of his story. And guess who was right behind him?
"He cares less about stories than he does being a Soul Reaper," Ichigo mocked. The kids looked up and saw Ichigo, Orihime and Chad. Angie did a double take: first at the clock which the smaller hand was almost at 12 while the larger one had passed 10. Then at the teens. Then back at the clock. Ash had a better sense of what time it was.
"I take it school's out for lunch?" he guessed. It made sense. It was almost noon.
"Teacher development day," Chad answered. Teacher development day?
"Yeah, it was a short day today," Orihime explained. "I thought we would come over and see what this chaki and Aubrey is all about. Rukia told me a little about it and I was intrigued to see what it means." chaki? Aubrey? Naruto and Ash groaned at how misstated she pronounced chakra and aura.
"I think you mean aura and chakra," Angie corrected. Thank you! They were ready as soon as they finished their bowls...except for Renji. Ash dug into his pockets, wanting to pay for the bill.
"I got it," he murmured before Ichigo placed a hand onto him.
"Don't worry, it's on him today," he assured. Awesome! Naruto, Hinata, Ash, Angie, Pikachu and Shinx were "treated to a free lunch buffet" on Renji's tab. They all left poor, sleeping Renji to accept defeat...or at least the amount for...how many bowls? 35? Talk about a lot of dishes. As the group returned to the park, a mysterious girl watched them. A little violet-haired girl in a yellow summer dress watched on. A haunting giggle echoed around her. What could she want with the group?
TO BE CONTINUED...