Chapter 5
''Naruto..?'' Unohana questioned as she looked at the figure in front of her. He had been missing for over a year now; no one had been able to find him. But here he was standing in the middle of a water stream with black Reiatsu leaking all over his body. He did not seem to be okay. She could feel that that there was some hollow reiatsu. But that would wait for later. First, the blond did not seem to be in a good condition.
Naruto turned around to look at Unohana. His expression showed nothing. His eyes were half opened and his hair was a lot more messier than normally. There was a wound across his chest, it was a large one. His body was burned all over his front. His clothes were all but burned. And so were his hands. They seemed to have suffered the most. It was like he had used them to defend against a techinique. He seemed like he had been hit by a powerful technique, a very powerful technique. Unohana was quick to rush at him. ''Of all the people, you had to find me,'' he seemed amused by this. He voice did not reflect his condition.
Unohana had never seen him in this kind of condition before. No one had ever been able to make him look this way. Who could have done this? The wound on his chest was healing. It was impressive ability, she knew about it. But it seemed that whatever had hit him had done much damage to his body that he had been failing to heal as quick as he would heal normally. She did not know how fast his regenarative abilities were, she only knew that he had them. Could this be why he had been missing? ''What happened to you?''
''I was in Hueco Mundo,'' Naruto answered as he looked at himself. His condition was pitiful. ''I had some business to deal with some Vasto Lordes I had been gathering over the years,'' he said suprising her. Nobody knew of his visits to the hollow world but that was it. Still she was surprised that he had been gathering hollows. For what purpose? He could not have been gathering them for settling his dislike for the soul king. He has made it known that he needs no army to fight.
She could only guess that he had fought them. But even if it were Vasto Lordes, they could not have done this to him. ''How many were they?''
''About 50,'' Naruto responded. It had taken him well over 750 years to find these rare species in Hueco Mundo. But he had gathered them.
''Did you fight them all at once? Fighting over 50 Vasto Lordes is well over the abilities of even a captain,'' Unohana said. Perhaps they could take about 10. But 50 was just too many of them. Especially given the fact that they were the most powerful of the hollows. Their speed was pretty superior too. But Naruto was Naruto. He was unique. She could not figure out how much power he had since she was never been able to measure it all.
''I had gathered them saying that I wanted to use them to a special purpose. My power alone was enough to make them listen to me,'' he merely used his power to make them obidient to him. ''But when I had gathered them all, they turned on me thinking that they could defeat me.''
''What did you want with them?'' Unohana questioned curiously.
''I wanted to take their power. And also use some of them was dummies to test the power I would have gained after absorbing some of them,'' Naruto responded his grand plan making Unohana shake her head at the cruelity. Even if they were Hollows, that was just cruel.
''You can use Hollow powers already. What more did you want?''
''I wanted to see if there was a limit to the power of hollows I could absorb,'' Naruto responded before looking into the heavans. He should leave this place soon. He was not going to allow himself to be seen by other people in this condition. It would be damning to his pride.
''What happened when the Vasto Lordes ganged up on you?''
''I fought them and managed to absord about 5. But the others kept getting in the way of my 6th. It became irritating that I decided to wipe them all out,'' he paused for a moment. ''You know that my normal Cero is strong enough to deflect a Grand Ray Cero from a Vasto Lorde...''
Unohana nodded.
''I used a Cero more powerful than a Grand Ray Cero. It was very powerful, it could destroy half of Seireitei in a flash. But one of the Vasto Lordes had a certain ability,'' he paused as some expression akin to slight anger passed through his face. ''When I used my Majestic Cero, I had used much power because I was really irritated and just wanted the Hollows to disappear. This Hollow took on my Cero and used his special ability to reflect my attack. Normally nothing like that would have worked. But the Hollow all its power in ensuring that my attack was deflected. So at the cost of its live, it deflected my technique. It was the first time I had been surprised and caught off-guard.''
''So you got hit by your own attack. It seems that you are not immune to your own power. It is rather embarrasing especially for you that the first time you get wounded like this, it is because of your own technique,'' Unohana stated smiling. She found it amusing given how pround the blond was. She then noticed something; the right leg of his pants was missing. Could it be that his leg had been tored off too. It seemed unlikely. But his wounds only reflected that Naruto's techniques were his own weakness; they did more damage to him tha9 any other technique.
''It appears so,'' Naruto responded. He would have to fix that soon. But he was not going to allow anyone to pull that trick again. It was a pitty that the hollow had erased its existence after that. Otherwise, he would have made it suffer for a long thoudand years without rest.
''What happened to the other hollows?''
Naruto shrugged in response. ''What are you doing here anyway?'' he questioned looking at the woman.
''You are still a captain, Naruto. Shutara might have left, but you can't just disappear like this without telling anyone,'' Unohana stated in a lecturing tone.
''My disappearance has nothing to do with Shutara,'' Naruto responded shaking his head. The woman left. It was better that way. She would have stood in the way of his next movements. ''I have always done what I wanted.''
''Central 46 is growing even more on edge with you. It is only out of fear that they do nothing...and there was been a word that the Soul King has forbidden them from doing anything.''
''Noisy fools, who think they can control everything...'' he looked straight into Unohana's eyes. ''Yachiru, would you like to see hell?''
A few days later
Naruto was standing in the middle of a ''court'' inside central 46 building. The men and women who ran the place were all staring at him with enough intent to kill. This was the second time he has been here, no, it was the third. And each time things had not gone well. His last time here had been bloody. Neither of the souls had been questioning were in this place, perhaps a few were there. They were useless and unimportant, he could not be blamed for not remembering them. He had recovered and returned to ''work'', but upon doing that, another squad of Shinigami that operated in the shadows and under the direct control of central 46 was on him. He could have refused, but since they had requested his presense nicely, it would be rude of him to refuse.
Their stares only did nothing but to amuse him. They were little flies who could not touch him. He could squash them anytime he wanted, without breaking a sweat. But he would allow the children to play.
''What are you laughing at?!'' one had the boldness to question him loudly. It felt like a demand, but it made no difference, not to Naruto.
''How loud,'' Naruto responded enough for them to hear. ''You don't have to be so loud, I can hear you perfectly even if you whisper,'' he puased just to listen to the music of their loud curses. ''This is what amuses me,'' he answered the question he had been asked. Their curses and threats did nothing but amuse him. It was amusing to see them try to enforce their authority over him. They just could never understand that he was of higher authority that was beyond their reach. They had no real power; they just had voices to sprout out idle threats.
''Bastard!''
''Children are so emotional and easily riled up. They can't control their emotions - how annoying,'' the amusing part of his statement was that he looked a lot younger than any of the souls within the chambers. The souls in the chambers looked old enough to be his parents. And yet, he was calling them children. Well, he was a lot older than he looked. But they did not know that.
''Watch what you say boy!'' another yelled. ''If you continue to test our patience, you will regret it!''
''You may be strong, boy, but we have authority here!''
If this had not been sad, he would have been laughing as hard as he could. ''How pitiful,'' he paused for a moment as all hell broke loose in the chambers. ''Can you really make me regret anything?''
''Yes, we can!'' they all chorused.
Naruto brought his right hand at tapped it under his chin, looking thoughtful. ''...How you can manage that, I wonder,'' he then shrugged. ''This is no longer amusing; tell me what you want.''
There was some pregnant silence for a few moments. ''Where have you been?'' it was a demand.
''Why do you want to know?'' Naruto questioned with an even tone.
''You were away from Soul Society for a year, you did not even inform anyone of this ''leave''. It was also not permitted.''
''Since when have you given me permission to do something?''
They increased their glares because it was the hard truth. In fact, he had been playing captain and doing some mundane tasks just to give them an illusion that they had some degree of control over him. ''It does no matter! Let us know or they will be dire consequences! You are a captain of the Gotei 13, thus under our control! We demand you answer us!''
Naruto looked surprised about something. ''I wonder what gave you the illusion that being a captain makes me under your control. Well, it does not matter anyway,'' he paused and folded his hands across his chest. ''I refuse to answer!''
''Bastard! Saying what you want because you have the protection of the Soul King! We may not be allowed to harm you physically. But we...'' Naruto interrupted.
''Don't illusion yourseleves; you cannot harm me even if you wanted,'' he paused for a moment. ''...go on with your little speech...''
Surely the Soul King was enjoying the show.
There were some loud curses again. ''We can banish you from Soul Society and strip you of your rank as captain. The Soul King has not forbidden us to do that!''
Naruto was silent for a few moment. It seemed like he was thinking about something. The silence made the Central 46 members think that he was coming to his senses. But it was not anything like that, ''Eh, that won't do. When you have something meaningful to threaten me with, summon me,'' the blond then turned away to leave.
He was almost exitting when someone spoke. ''Perhaps we might have Shutara pay for your stubbornness,'' there was certainly malice in that tone.
Naruto turned around to face the man who had spoken - his expression was blank, showing nothing. ''That is a good one,'' he said. ''I almost thought of kissing your cold wringled behinds, begging for forgiveness,'' the comment was clearly sacarstic. He then turned around to leave without another word.
''Your days are numbered, boy. Soon, he will convince the Soul King to let us do what we please. When and make no mistake we will convnce him, you will pay for all that you have done. Enjoy your freedom while it lasts. We might even get rid of Unohana.''
Naruto did not bother to respond, he disappeared without another word.
A week later
The fools of Central 46 were pushing their luck. They were close to succeeding in getting the Soul King to stop ''protecting'' him. They had been making their case, saying that if he was allowed to continue doing as he pleased, it would set a bad example to the other captains and shinigami. That may have been true to some point. But those fools never allowed anyone to get out of their leash. If someone that was not him, they would quickly put him down to set an example. They showed no mercy to the others. He was the only special case they were unable to solve. It was mainly due to the Soul King's intervention. Nevertheless, even if the Soul King had not done anything, they could not have harmed him, unless he allowed them to. The case they were presenting was a good one. Of course, he kept tabs on everything that went around in Soul Society. It was for his benefit to do so.
It was possible that in a few months the Soul King would finally give in. When that happened, he would have to fight the whole of Soul Society. It would not be a good thing to happen. They could not kill him, but it would end with him presumed dead. Well it did not matter anyway, he was done with all his preparations. The last stop to Hueco Mundo had seen the last preparations to his plans. So, it was no longer useful for him to play captain.
He stopped his trail of thoughts when he sensed two people coming his way. The blond narrowed his eyes at his right; Shunsui and Ukitake. They would certainly try to probe information, not that they would get it. ''You have certainly caused a stir in Central 46 after your last visit,'' Shunsui said in his ever flambuyot tone. ''No one has ever been allowed to get in or out, not even Yama-jiji.''
''Even the atmosphere was become tense around here,'' Ukitake added. ''I feel that something is going to happen soon,'' he stated. Clearly, the current situation in Soul Society was troubling him. He enjoyed the sense of peace, but with all that was going around here, he could not.
''They must be deciding a way to get rid of me,'' Naruto said. He knew that they were making such plans even before the Soul King gave them the green light. But he did not care. He was also not going to show these two that he was aware of what was going on inside there - it was above their pay grade.
''Would you blame them after everything?'' Ukitake asked, clearly not surprised that they would plan for something like that. They had been quick to get rid of all the Shinigami who caused trouble. Even if he and Shunsui were to turn ''bad'' they would not waste time in having them terminated at the execution grounds. It seemed that it was their holly ground. And Yamamoto would not object, as long as it was clear that they had done wrong and Central 46 had given the order.
''I guess they can't be blamed,'' Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders. It was obvious that the fact that they were plotting to get rid of him did nothing to trouble him. ''But they must know that they can't control everything.''
Both Shunsui and Ukitake decided not to comment on that. Control; that was one subject you could never win with Naruto. It was best to leave it altogether. ''With Everything going around, I thought they might have sent the Black Orps to shadow you everywhere you go.''
''Yes, those would do better in keeping an eye on you. Central 46 seems to ''trust'' them explicitly,'' Shunsui added after Ukitake.
''They had sent them,'' Naruto started calmly. ''But I killed them after an hour because it was irritating having been watched. I assured them I would kill the next if they sent them again,'' he explained with no sense of guilt of remorse over his actions.
''You could have just knocked them out instead of killing them,'' Ukitake stated. To him that would have been the better cause of action. It was needless to kill souls who were merely doing their job. But Naruto seemed not to mind about it.
Shunsui whistled. ''Oh, so that is why Yama-jij has been in a bad mood over the past days.''
''He must have been informed about it...''
''Central 46 also puts a lot of pressure of him to get you under control. He is your superior and the one who trained you, personaly. They would put the blame on him for failing to get you under control. He was also the one who recruited you,'' Central 46 would say it was his fault that they had to deal with such a person. Having being the one who recruited him and trained him, his actions had to be his responsiblities. It was also hard on Yamamoto because even when they were still at the Academy, Naruto was still beyond his control, although slightly. But Yamamoto did not see it since he was more interested in Naruto's power. They could see it clearly that the blond had no master.
''He must be really infuriated then,'' Naruto said, less interested in Yamamoto's anger. He then looked at his left, ''You are joining this little party too?'' he questioned as Unohana appeared before the three who had been walking at a leisurely pace towards the quarters of Squad 1.
Unohana shook her head. She smiled at the other two, ''Ukitake, Kyoraku,'' she greeted the two with a small smile. The two smiled back at her before she spoke again. ''Can I speak with Uchiha taicho alone?'' it was certainly not a request despite the format of the words being a question asked politely.
Shunsui and Ukitake were quick to get that and so they nodded. ''Naruto, we will see at Yama-jijis''' it was obvious that he had been going there. So they would go ahead of him as he would be busy with Unohana.
After they two had disappeared, Naruto looked at Unohana, ''What is it?''
''Can we speak in private?'' that did not sound like a request either.
''Hmm?'' Naruto merely raised a curious eye brow at this. She really did scare much people with this sort of thing. But he was everyone. ''I told you...''
''Naruto taicho, can we speak in private?'' Unohana repeated her words again, still giving Naruto the same kind smile.
''Fine,'' Naruto said with a sigh. ''That smile really annoys me,'' he stated as he and Unohana went away to a more private place.
Squad 5 barracks, Underground Lab
This was his secret place. If Unohana wanted something private, she could have all the privacy she needed here. The woman looked at him, ''How long have I known you?''
''Quite some time...before I even met Yamamoto. What brings this question?''
''Ever since then, you have told me and shown me things that nobody else knows. I am the only person you trust completely, and the only person you know will never betray you.''
Naruto narrowed his left eye at the woman. ''Central 46 contacted you,'' he said. They had said they would get her. But they could not. Yamamoto would never allow it. He had even go as far as to try to hide her past from them.
Unohana nodded. ''I have not been questioned yet. But they said they would question me soon. I think they did it on purpose knowing that I would tell you this,'' she stated.
''They want to you how I will react. You are a faithful woman to Soul Society, they believe that you will tell them everything,'' Naruto said, sounding a bit amused by this.
''You don't think I will?''
Naruto shook his head as he smiled. ''You, Yachiru, belong to me,'' he paused for a moment. ''You are here because you know they won't allow you to leave without any valuable information about me. They won't even hesitate to torture you for that information. And if I found out that they tortured you, I would cause another masscre and then some.''
''Wouldn't you do that?'' she was certain, without a shred of doubt that he would do exactly just that. If something like that were to happen, many innocents would be caught in the crossfire and killed. Naruto would not even care about it. He would not care about turning Seireitei upside down just to kill everyone who had been involved or trying to stop him.
''I would,'' Naruto responded. ''Have no fears; I don't plan on destroying your precious Seireitei. Tell them that I had gone to Hueco Mundo, you don't know why because I never explained it to you. But you know that it had something to do with Vasto Lordes.''
''If I tell them something like that, they will surely think you are planning to attack Soul Society; Vasto Lordes are the strongest beings in Hueco Mundo. Ordinary Shinigami cannot deal with them. This would not be hard to make up because of the fact that you can use Hollow techniques. But I don't think they know this,'' Unohana explained. She looked at Naruto carefuly. ''But that is what you want, isn't?''
''But they don't know that I can use Hollow abilities,'' Naruto stated. ''But if they think that, they will panic and start to make hushed decisions. They will probably have Yamamoto deal with me,'' he paused for a moment as he smiled. ''It would be amusing to see them plot how to get rid of me.''
Unohana sighed. ''I cannot do that.''
''Huh?'' Naruto was actually surprised by those words. He did not think that she would say anything like that. But then again, this concerned Soul Society, he had to have expected that.
''I will not say anything that will worsen the current situation. We already have some problems with the quincies. We don't need more problems,'' Unohana stated with a slightly serious tone, yet keeping her usual smile.
''Quincies?'' Naruto seemed to think for a moment. ''I did not think that such beings could trouble the mighty Soul Society,'' that sounded rather sacarsctic. Perhaps it was because that he always held little regard for the Quincies. Perhaps he was merely mocking the Soul Society.
''Despite what you think, they are a lot more trouble than you think,'' Unohana stated.
Naruto shrugged. ''I trust you will say things that are good your wellbeing...''
''And if I don't...''
''Well there certainly will be hell to pay.''
''Is that a threat, Naruto taicho?''
''Hmm?'' he looked amused by the thought of threatening Unohana. ''When have I ever threatened your wellbeing, Yachiru?'' she did not respond. ''If you tell them anything that is the whole truth, I will kill them all,'' them, he was refering to Central 46. ''Now if you will excuse me, I have a ''date'' with Yamamoto.''
''What business do you have with him? It is unlike you to set up a ''date'' with him.''
Naruto merely gave Unohana a blank look before walking away from her. The woman shook her head as she also proceeded to leave the lab. She was not due to meet Central 46 now, she had a few hours before that.
Squad 1 Barracks
''Ho? The ever sleeping eyes of the cold and heartless commander have awaken to gaze on the unruly youngerster that is Uchiha Naruto,'' it was not that he was also not cold and heartless. He just liked seeing Yamamoto become infuriated. It took some time but eventually, the strong defences would crumble and the Commander would lose it.
''Come on, Naruto,'' Shunsui said before Yamamoto replied. ''Yama-jij has been having a bad day. It is best not to infuriate him; it won't be good for anyones health.''
Unfortunately for Shunsui, both Naruto and Yamamoto ignored him. ''Where have you been?''
''I was in my house yersterday.''
''You know that is not what I am asking?''
Naruto seemed to think for a moment before replying. ''That is not your concern.''
Yamamoto narrowed his eyes dangerously at Naruto. ''I have allowed your insubordination to go unpunished for too long. I have allowed you to act as a spoiled child without a beating for too long. I thought I could manage you, but it seems that I will have to use force to beat some manners into that thick head of yours.''
''Manners? Do you even understand the concept? But most importantly, can you even beat them into me?'' Naruto questioned folding his hands across his chest. He did not look concerned with Yamamoto's words.
''I will admit that you are stronger than these two,'' Yamamoto responded refering to Shunsui and Ukitake. ''But you must know that that these two arent't the only once who are strong teamates, and they have not even come close to becoming captains. Have you forgotten that some of your fellow captains are stronger than you? Do you even think you can beat me when you failed to beat the 6th and 10th squad captains after they had teamed up together?''
''The other captains are not a problem, but I will admit that they are strong. You are wrong about something though, I have beaten those two in a two against 1 fight. That day, I was simply too bored to fight them seriously,'' he paused for a moment. ''Do you even know the true extent of my strength to assume that I cannot have you on your knees?''
''True extent?'' Yamamoto seemed to snort at this. ''I have seen all your abilities boy. You are a child who needs to be taught how to control power effectively.''
''Over the past years, I have collected information on every Shinigami to see the extent of their powers, but there is no power that scares me, not even the powers of your hidden Bankai,'' he drew out his haori and threw it towards Yamamoto. ''It is no longer useful to me.''
''Are you quitting the Gotei 13?'' Shunsui and Ukitake were very surprised to hear about this. They had not even come close to becoming captains. Naruto was their friend, he had to be there when they finaly reached his level. The only reason they were even able to be here was because Yamamoto was their sensei and it was not an official meeting.
Naruto did not deny it. ''Yes, I no longer see the point of ''working'' for beings who do not know what justice is and the Gotei 13 has outlived its usefuless to me.''
''Foolish child!'' Yamamoto said in a slight loud tone.
''You are senile,'' Naruto responded shaking his head.
''Do you think you can just walk away like that after all you have done? Do you think you can runaway from defiling Soul Society's justice? Do you think you have the power to simple walk away when it pleases you?''
''Genryusai sensei is right, Naruto, you cannot runaway because things have turned out bad for you,'' Ukitake spoke for the first time.
''You are wrong Ukitake, I am not running away. I am simply leaving this play because it longer benefits me. The Gotei 13 has no real purpose other than to pick up fights with Hollows. There is no justice here. Genryusai, you have no sense of justice, what is justice to you was what Central 46 says is justice,'' Naruto paused shaking his head in disappointment. ''A powerful being like you turned into nothing but a humble slave of central of soul society; how sad.''
''You don't know the meaning of justice! All you have ever done is cause trouble for us and be an unruly child with lack of respect to his elders. But I will not tolerate this any further! You will be punished for your misbehaviour. After I have punished you, I will make sure you apologize to central 46 and tell them everything they want to know!''
There was some silence after Yamamoto had spoke. ''Did I hear you correctly?'' the glare he received from the Sotaicho gave him the answer he needed. Not that he had not heard the man correctly in the first place. ''Yamamoto, I can leave this nonsense called the Gotei 13 anytime I want and there would be nothing you or anyone can do about it. There is no justice in Soul Society. But you cannot see it. What more can a powerful, cold and heartless man see when he is being controlled by weak minded fools who you can kill without even drawing out your sword. Those fools, more precisely, that fool you call the Soul King is nothing but useless. He has no use in this world; all he does is sleep and delicate weak minded fools who have no sense of justice to rule for him. Your laws are pathetic, injust; you are pathetic, and nothing more than a humble servant wife to Soul Society.''
''You do not understand the laws of Soul Society! You have never even tried to understand them. I don't see anyone complaining about them other than you. Orders are also orders, they have to be followed no matter what - that is being loyal to the Soul Society. But you are not loyal, you cannot understand what it means to follow orders.''
''That is the problem with you, Yamamoto; you cannot think anything outside of following orders. Orders this, orders that, soul society this that. Your will to follow orders, regardless of how unjust they are, is applaudable but at the same time, sad,'' Naruto stated keeping his calm neutral, while it was obvious that Yamamoto was only trying to be calm. But if Naruto continued to speak, the captain-commander would surely lose it soon.
''I am the captain-commander of the Gotei 13, thus I must lead by example. I must always adhere to Soul Society's laws. I expect everyone below you me to do the same.''
''Below you? What gave you the idea that I was bellow you? You think because you are the captain-commander, you are above me? Do not fool yourself Shingekuni. No one is above me, not you, not even that thing,'' he shook his head silghtly before taking hold of the blade held on a sash at his waist.
''Do you plan to draw out a fight here? You are not even using your real blade.''
Naruto shook his head again. ''I wish not for that,'' he said. ''This blade no longer has a purpose,''...just as the gotei 13 has lost its usefulness to him. The blade in his right hand shattered into thousand of piece. The pieces then seemed to play around him for a moment before they disappeared. ''Now were was I?'' he seemed to think for a few moments.
None of the occupants in the room felt like opening their mouths to remind the blond of where he had been before going off track.
Luckily, Naruto remembered very well. ''You make me sad, Yamamoto, sad for all the strong Shinigami's who have been left to be nothing but humble slaves of Soul Society. But at the same time, I dislike you for it. It is not that you don't have the power to stand firm on your belief, no, you don't even have a belief. All you believe in is Soul Society and its laws. You cannot think anything aside from that. Your thinking is restricted to the laws of Soul Society. You humbly make them part of your being. This has robbed you of your ability to think anything higher or even dream big. It is quite pathetic, that a man like you can be so easily controlled by those fools. Your love, no, it is no longer love, but an obsession with the laws makes me want to kill you each time you preach them. Your mind is filled with laws of your master,''
Naruto's words did not make Yamamoto happy. Added to the fact that he had not even been happy when the blond arrived, the sight of the Sotaicho was becoming somewhat scary; he was releasing his Reiatsu higher and higher at every word coming off Naruto's mouth. It was either Naruto was oblivious to it or was just ignoring at as nothing. But Shunsui and Ukitake could feel it, hence they had taken a step away from their sensei.
''Shingekuni, you are a woman, a wife to Soul Society. A wife does anything the husband intructs her to do, as long as it pleases him. But you have propelled that into a new degree. Your obsession in making your husband happy sickens me. If your husband tells you to open your legs wide, and brings a friend by for a threesome, you simply smile and take pride in it, ''as long as it makes my husband happy''. If you husband tells you to prostiture yourself because he is in debt, or even sells you to slavery, you will run along happy, ''as long as it pleases my husband''. You are a whore to Soul Society, he uses as he pleases. But you refuse any other man other than those that come from Central 46. Do not expect me to prostitute myself to them because you do the same,'' by that time, flames had already engulfed Yamamoto. But Naruto had disappeared, never to been ''seen'' again for years.
Somewhere in Soul Society
'If I did not know any better, I would think that you ran away because Yamamoto was angry with you,' Amaterasu stated as Naruto had held her in front of him. He was using her to draw some lines in the air using his Reiatsu.
'If I had not gotten away at that time, I would have been forced to play with Yamamoto, but I don't feel like playing,' Naruto responded as a small box appeared around the space he had drawn the lines. He then placed his right hand on the box. He pushed it backwards, before a door frame appeared. There was nothing but pure darkness behind the door. But Naruto just stood there is if he was waiting for something.
'I am waiting for the day you do fight that man though. He is very proud of his power; I would be pleased to see you cripple his pride.'
'That would certainly be something to watch,' he seemed to think about it for a moment. 'But it can wait. I have far more pressing issues to deal with.'
'Ah, this portal,' Amaterasu paused for a moment. 'This one is different from the one you used last time,' she noted.
'I have to change the portal after every 100 years. This dimension usually changes its atmosphere and shape every 110 years.'
'What are we going to do now?'
'For now we will keep inside here for atleast 140 years. I have left a clone behind to keep my appearances for 40 years. This clone will make the Soul Society ware of certain things about me while I am locked in there trying to break the limiters.'
'What do you want them to discover?'
Naruto only smiled. 'You will know soon,' he replied.
Ametarasu sighed but did not press on it. 'Do you think you will be able to break them this time? Last time we failed even after all the preparations.'
'We will succeed. I have consumed enough power and my body has adjuted well over the past years. I have to break them, if I can't then we will have to think of another plan,' Naruto responded as some stars seemed to appear in the background of the door he had opened. 'Finaly,' he muttered before walking inside. As soon as he walked in, the door disappeared.
Present time
''Ah, how nice of you to finaly attend a captains meeting,'' Shunsui stated as he watched a very emotionless Naruto walking towards the meeting place in Squad one barracks. He still had his eyes closed. The rest of the captains had already been present in the meeting, including Urahara. Yamamoto had called everyone after the recent events due to Naruto's actions. But he had not called the meeting to discuss the blond. There were far more pressing matters to deal with than that; Aizen and his alliance with Hueco Mundo.
Naruto did not respond immidietly, he simply walked into the line at which Unohana was standing - the captains stood in two lines facing each other, with Yamamoto the exception. Despite all of them being captains, they could still feel that he carried some oppresive atmosphere around him. It did nothing to make anyone feel better, except for a few who knew Naruto was capable of releasing much more oppressive atmosphere.''I had nothing better to do,'' he finally responded not looking at anyone in particular.
''So you only came because you were bored,'' Soi-fon said with a snort while still glaring at the blond. She was beyond furious after what he had done to her. But now she knew that charging at him blindly would only cause her unimginable pain. After what she experienced last time, she was not keen on doing it again. ''You should not have bothered to even come here. I don't even see the need of your presense since you do nothing but cause trouble,'' but it did not stop her from speaking her thoughts.
Fortunately, Naruto gave no response. He felt it was pointless answering to a mere child.
Of course the silent treatment did not dwell well with Soi-fon, ''Bastard, are you just going to ignore me?!''
Naruto looked at her and opened his eyes - while carrying a slightly bored look on his face. All his eyes had fully developed to their mature form. He released some of his Reaitsu to shut her up. ''You are annoying. If you continue being this way, I will start counting the number of your days.''
Before Soi-fon could retort, an even heavier spiritual preasure hit around the room. Naruto stopped releasing his with a bored sigh. Yamamoto hit the ground with his staff, ''Enough!''
There was complete silence. ''Naruto, I will not have you threatening my subordinates,'' the captain commander warned seriously.
''Threaten a child?'' that was questioned in a slight bored tone while keeping its blank tone. ''You know I don't do such things.''
Yamamoto felt weak to respond to this, and so, he looked at everyone. ''We will begin this meeting!'' he stated. ''Urahara has some information to share with us.''
The said man smiled slightly as he stepped forward a little. ''Over the past month, there has been a few hollows who have entered the human world. These hollows are not normal by any means - they are stronger than others. They also carry Zapankuto's like we Shinigami. But so far with what I have seen, they are nothing much of a trouble.''
Despite him saying that they were weak, one could not just shake off the thought that hollows now wielded Zapankuto's. It was nothing has ever happened before. The Zapankuto was a thing for Shinigami not hollows. For Hollows to posses them also was near impossible and unbelievable. It was not a good news to take. Hollows were entering their domain, this was unacceptable.
''While I do hate to agree with this man,'' Mayuri stated, sending a glare at Urahara who merely smiled in turn. ''He is right about this. Hollows seem to be evolving. It is not natural, we believe it is caused by the Hogyouku. Aizen must have already awakened it already. But the hollows so far have not been strong, but interesting species to experiment on, nevertheless,'' he grinned as he said those words.
''But we are not actually positive if Aizen has awakened the Hogyouku fully. We just came up with a theory, but it might have been already awakened if he can use it,'' Urahara added after Mayuri had spoken.
''I thought it would take some time for the Hogyouku to be awakened, making it usable,'' Toushiro Hitsugaya stated with a bit of a worried look on his face. They had been told that the thing would take some more time to be more operational. But it was already working before that projected or thought time. The news was a bit unsettling.
''Considering that we are dealing with Aizen, we should have expected something like this,'' Byakuya stated looking stoic as always.
''But this is unexpexted,'' Ukitake stated. ''I had thought we would have some time to prepare things over. What we only know now is that Aizen plans to create a key to the Soul King's dimension. He has said that he wanted to sit in heaven, so that would mean he wants to kill the Soul King,'' he eyed Naruto as he spoke the last words.
The blond simply raised a brow at this. He never bothered to look into what Aizen had been doing. But he knew the man turned rogue and betrayed Soul Society. Even when he went to Hueco Mundo, he never did look into it. So the rogue captain was planning to kill the Soul King in order to take his seat. 'It seems that I have a challenger for heaven, don't you think Amaterasu?' he questioned knowing that she would hear him.
'That you have,' the woman acknowledged. 'It makes things a bit interesting, hey? Perhaps you should really decide to visit that man and see if he can actually succeed in killing that thing'
'Eh,' Naruto shrugged. 'I highly doubt anyone can do that. But anything is possible.'
''This is indeed troubling,'' Yamamoto stated in a tired tone. ''We also have to deal with the fact that these hollows are now using Zapankuto's. It does not really matter if the Hogyouku has been awakened or not, what matters is if it was usable. I had thought that we would deal with this before any of these.''
''I don't see what the problem is if the hollows are weak,'' Zaraki said nonchalantly. He certainly saw no problem if the hollows could be dealt with in the human world without them even being called out to help.
''While the hollows are no where near captain-class, we all have come to know that Aizen has the whole of Hueco Mundo under his control. This means that he has many hollows under his command. It is also within reason to say that these hollows are merely experiments,'' Urahara added to throw off the fact that the hollows were weak. It would not be good if they were to underestimate them.
''I have also made a discovery,'' Mayuri stated with a wide grin. ''The hollows we have seen so far were low-level hollows. In due time we believe that we will be able to see more powerful hollows as Aizen turns to use more powerful Hollows. As this man has stated, it is possible that these hollows were merely experiments. After Aizen has finished with his experiments, he could move on to stronger hollows, this would mean that the hollows we will fight in the future will be far stronger.''
Urahara nodded. ''It would be reasonable to assume that what we have seen so far is not the real power of the Hogyouku.''
''Is there anything more you would like to add?'' Yamamoto questioned looking at Mayuri and Urahara - the two shook their heads no. The Sotaicho sighed and stroked his beard. ''We will have to keep watch then. Do we have means to enter into Hueco Mundo?''
''We are still working on it.''
Toushiro recalled something. ''Can't he enter Hueco Mundo anytime he wants? Havent we been told that he can use hollow techniques?'' he questioned looking at Naruto.
Yamamoto nodded, ''That is true,'' he said. ''But I wanted our own device that we could operate anytime we want.''
The unspoken message was clear; it was not everytime that Naruto would be available to open the Garaganta. It was not even given that he would even open it if it did not interest him. Yamamoto did not want to depend on him. He wanted to depend on his own devices rather than a man who could turn him down in a moment of emergency. Although the blond was quick to understand what the Sotaicho was saying, he did not comment.
Toushiro nodded in understandting, ''But that does not mean that we cannot use the ''service'' while our scientists build a device for us.''
''Service?'' Naruto questioned, speaking for the first time since the meeting officially begun.
Toushiro responded before anyone could. ''I mean it will be of helpful to us if we used your ability while Urahara-san and Mayuri taicho work on a device to help us enter Hueco Mundo whenever we want. We cannot afford to use your ability given the recent developments. We have to go there and investigate. It will do us no good do sit here and wait for Aizen to send his hollows to us.''
There was some silence for a moment. Naruto smiled slightly. ''What a wonderful child, don't you think so, Retsu?''
''He is,'' Unohana replied with a calm tone.
''I will visit Hueco Mundo,'' Naruto stated making Toushiro smile.
''When will that be?'' Yamamoto questioned with narrowed eyes.
''Soon, perhaps within a week,'' Naruto responded without even looking at the old Shinigami questioning him.
''You will have to take someone with you to investigate,'' Yamamoto stated. He was not making a request, but simply telling Naruto what he had to do. He did not want the blond to go alone, there was no assurance that he would tell them everything. He could keep some things from them just to make things interesting.
''No, I will go alone,'' Naruto responded in an even tone. ''I had planned on going there soon to check Aizen anyway. And things might get a little playful, I have been itching to destroy something.''
''Can I have your word that you will tell me everything I need to know?''
''Yes,'' Naruto responded without missing a single heartbeat.
Yamamoto pondered the words for some time before he finally nodded. ''Good,'' he said. Naruto disappeared after Yamamoto had responded. The meeting was not over, but his was.
''Are you sure it is a good thing to allow him to go Aizen alone? He might plan something with the traitor,'' Soi-fon questioned. She could never trust Naruto with something like this, no, she could not trust him with anything.
''Have you already forgetten what the Sotaicho told you about him, Soi-fon taicho?'' Unohana questioned in her usual kind and calm tone.
Shunsui nodded to something. ''Aizen and Naruto have the same objective,'' he had no doubt that Naruto wanted to still make his dream come true. ''Each of them wants heaven. Naruto tried it and succeeded. Do you think that he would simply allow himself to work under Aizen? He cannot work under anyone. Do you think that Aizen will want to share heaven with Naruto? Do you even think that both will want to share?''
Unohana then remembered when Naruto asked if she wanted to see the real heaven. She was positive that Aizen did not know of this heaven that Naruto spoke of. Then blond had said it himself that only two beings knew of it. The other was dead and the other being him. Shunsui was indeed correct, Naruto would not want anyone close to his throne. But it was most likely that he would watch Aizen play. If Naruto saw the traitorous captain as a threat to his seat, he would have already worked something out. And she would have been told about it.
Yamamoto decided to explain what Shunsui was saying since Soi-fon did not seem to understand his questions. ''Neither of them can work with each other. Naruto sees himself as superior to anyone with no equal, as do Aizen, I believe. Neither of them would want to be under the other. Both are smart enough to make it appear that way, but if something like that were to happen, they would end up killing each other. Or Naruto would most likely kill Aizen, and then we will only have Naruto to deal with.''
Urahara whistled at this. This was surprising. He wondered what Naruto would do if he heard such words from the Sotaicho.
Ukitake spoke next, ''Don't worry about anything,'' he said to Urahara. ''That man knows this as well.'' Naruto is smart enough to have deduced something like this. And if he had a problem with it, he would have said something about it before leaving. But the fact that he left without saying any word means he does not care.
''Is he always likely to figure out things like this?'' Toushiro questioned curiously.
''Yes,'' Shunsui responded.
''Hmm...'' Mayuri hummned. ''This makes plotting to kill him difficult.'' the others gave him blank looks. ''What?''
I will end the chapter here; I have nothing to say at the end of this one, so see you in chapter 6.
Sir Robert Mulaudzi