Awakening Chapter 8
''Naruto,'' Shutara called out to the blond who was inside his library looking through some old books. ''There is a woman looking for you,'' she said knowing that he would not have responded if she had not said those words. It was sometimes annoying that she had to explain herself when she calls him. Calling him by his name sometimes did not do it unless you stated the reason for were calling him.
It was such stupid things that made Shutara question why she in even in a relationship with him. He said would treat her better, but she knew that things were not going to return to the way they used to be in the old days. Those days were so much fun, and but, everything was just flat out cold.
Naruto turned to look at Shutara. It was still early in the morning, he would not have thought that someone would come looking for him at this time, especially given that he wasn't familiar with anyone who Shutara would call ''woman'' rather than their name. ''Who is she?''
''Yoruichi,'' Shutara responded looking straight at Naruto, trying to figure out what business he had with this woman. From the look on his face, he seemed to recognize the name. It was not that she did not know Yoruichi, she knew her. She was a former member of the Royal Guard, knowing everyone who was involved with the Gotei 13 was her business. What she did not know was what business she had with Naruto. She had never seen them together, nor has she heard the blond speak of her name.
''Oh, the former captain of the second division,'' Naruto said, more to himself than Shutara, but she heard him. She must have been sent by Urahara if she was here. He had no business with her.
''I did not know she was familiar with you,'' Shutara stated trying to pry for information from the blond. But all she got was a blank look from the Naruto. ''I can't help myself if another woman comes in here looking for you,'' she said defending herself.
This was their home, a home that was away from Seireitei. Even though they were away from where they worked, she liked this home Naruto had built for them. There was some quietness around here, and she didn't have to contend with everything that went about in Seireitei.
Naruto did not respond, he walked towards the living room where Yoruichi was waiting for him - Shutara followed him from behind. ''Urahara sent you here, I presume,'' he stated looking straight at the woman who nodded in agreement.
''He said he has found a breakthrough and would like you to come and look at it,'' she stated calmly. Her eyes then turned to Shutara who was standing beside the blond with a hands folded on top of her bust. The woman was truly beautiful; she felt somewhat jealous for her beauty. She wondered how the woman got the blond working since he seemed stiff and uninterested in anything.
If anyone was able to get him ''up'', then they had to have something special. She'd tried to get some reaction of Naruto, but he merely gave her an amused look. He didn't even seem to be interested in her body or anything.
''You are his messenger then,'' Naruto stated, to which Yoruichi's eye twitched at being called Kisuke's messenger. She was many things but not that man's messenger. Urahara may be smarter than her, but she was not his messenger and would never be. What annoyed her more was that Naruto was not asking her if she was one, he was merely making a statement of fact like it was the hard truth. ''Let him know, I will come,'' the blond said before turning away from Yoruichi. He seemed to be heading back to his study.
''He said he wanted to see you now so he could continue with his research,'' Yoruichi stated stopping Naruto from his tracks, for a second though.
''I will follow shortly,'' the blond responded without even turning to face the former head of the Shihoin clan. He needed to speak with Shutara before doing anything else. He was also not the one to dance at anyone's song.
''Is he going to come?'' Yoruichi asked Shutara who still stood still as if she was waiting for her to leave. The woman nodded. ''I will take my leave then,'' the goddess of flash said, but she got no response from Shutara. She did not mind though, she simply disappeared in a flash. She needed to deal with some things before returning to the human world. She had done what Kisuke had requested of her, the rest was up to the blond.
Shutara followed Naruto slowly into his study and stood at the entrance. She found him sitting down on a chair as if he was waiting for her. ''What are you really doing at the human world with Kisuke? I overhead the captain the 12th division captain speaking about your visits to the human world. Despite not using the senkaimon gate to go the human world, they can still monitor the things that happen there,'' she explained calmly.
Still, Shutara didn't think that Naruto was stupid enough to think that those people wouldn't know that he visits the human world. He'd have to completely hide his Reiatsu signature if he was going to avoid any of those people.
''I am aware of that. But it is not everything that they can see. I can go to the human world and stay for a while and they would never know of it. The only reason they know I have been going there, is because I was not trying hard to hide my visits to the human world,'' Naruto responded calmly. He was not foolish to believe that they could not be able to monitor some activities in the human world, especially by hollows.
Shutara stood silently waiting for him to answer her other question. Naruto sighed as he responded. ''I have him solving some thing for me. It is quite important.''
''What is it?''
''A seal that I have failed to solve,'' Naruto stated calmly. He had been able to get somewhere with the seal, but he was never able to fully unlock it and without it being completely solved, he could not move on to free all his power.
''What seal do you have to unlock?'' Shutara asked curiously. Since the blond had decided to give her some answers, she saw it that she should push until he stopped talking. She never did like being left out of important things that Naruto always hides with Unohana. The woman was also someone she could not force to tell everything her man had told her.
''Something powerful,'' Naruto responded without going much into detail about what it is that he wants to unseal. ''You will find it soon after the seal has been deciphered,'' he added seeing the look she was giving him for his lack of saying something tangible.
Shutara nodded. ''Will you return early today? You and I never do anything fun. You are always doing things you deem important,'' it seemed like a complaint.
Naruto chose to ignore her words because he had something better to say rather than what Shutara had said. ''I will go to Hueco Mundo today after seeing Urahara; you should come with me when I go to see him.''
''Sorry,'' Shutara said shaking her head. ''I have some important things to deal with at my division. I need to tide things up and make things function to my liking. I would recommend that you do not come back tomorrow, but today. If you don't do that, I might have take advantage of your weakness,'' she had a straight face as she said those words meaning she was completely serious. She was not going to have him leave and then not come back for a few days. She wanted him at home before the next day arrived.
''You have been getting good at making threats,'' Naruto stated standing up. But then again, she had always been forceful; perhaps it was because now she had recovered her high morale after everything that has happened. He walked over to her and kissed her on her right cheek before disappearing into thin air.
''Well, things are certainly looking good these days,'' she said to herself after the blond had left.
Human world
''After getting traces of his Reiatsu, I was able to analyze it and I found some interesting things,'' Urahara stated to Ryuken, Ishida and Ishin. They were in the underground training ground under his shop. He had called them to discuss some things before Naruto showed up. He wanted to prove his hypothesis by testing it on Naruto. But he blond would not be aware of that.
''What did you find?'' Ryuken Ishida asked impatiently. He was still not pleased with the fact that Naruto could not be hurt by his attacks. But Urahara had been working on something to correct that abomination of a reality.
Ever so smiling, Urahara responded. ''Your attacks, Quincy attacks to be more precise are Naruto-san's weakness. There is a saying that nothing can kill him, but a Quincy could kill him. I don't know about now. It seems unlikely. I am not yet sure why, but his Reiatsu acts wildly when in contact with your power. A singe arrow could seriously wound him.''
''You are not making sense, Kisuke. Why didn't that happen when I tested him with Ishin?'' Ryuken questioned a little bit frustrated by Urahara's response. He had fought the man and nothing happened.
''Yes, that is true nothing happened because he has a way of negating those effects to his advantage. I don't know he is able to do it, it was very complex but within time I may be able to understand it,'' Urahara explained calmly.
It still amazed him that Naruto could turn his greatest weakness into something futile and useless. To be able to understand negate everything, Naruto must have done some extensive research. Exploring it all was something that Urahara relished.
Still, there were many questions that rose in him: why does Naruto's power react wildly to the Quincy power?
''You have not said anything that is helping, Kisuke,'' Ryuken said reminding the man that his problem was still unsolved. The man was saying things that were past, but now he could not wound the man. He needed something to help him deal with the problem.
''If you could wait for Urahara to explain himself fully, he might have already told you something good,'' Ishin stated looking bored. ''But I guess the fact that your attacks only tingles him has hit you pretty hard.'' A snicker was sent to the Quincy with a mocking tone.
Before Ryuken could respond, Urahara spoke. ''I have made a device that will make your techniques effective,'' the man revealed handing out two small metal devices. The devices were very small, they were white and shaped in square. ''Attach them to your bows,'' he instructed. The two Quincies did as told and attached the small bugs on their bows. The bows glowed lightly. Urahara smiled proudly at this.
''What are they?'' Uryuu asked, speaking for the first time. He was curious because the moment he attached the device, his bow felt a little heavy than normal.
''I will tell you their function; they work on to increasing the density of the Reishi you gather for your arrows. Your bows now feel a little heavy that is because the device has already attached to your bows completely, uniting with it. I realized that to break through Naruto-san's defense, a dense weapon had to be used. This also makes your arrows much more powerful and faster than before,'' he paused for a moment. ''I don't know if they can do much damage because Naruto-san's Reiatsu is quite dense - it is denser than anything I have encountered before. But this is worth a try.''
Ryuken pointed his bow to the other side and shot an arrow. The speed was fast and quite unpredictable. But he was not having the accuracy he always had before. ''Well you are correct, I can feel that this has become powerful but it takes much energy,'' he noted. This meant that he could not shoot many arrows like he used to. But if it was the price for power, he would pay it without regret.
''Ah, I have an idea!'' Urahara exclaimed happily. The others looked at him curiously. ''Ryuken-san you can target practice with Uryuu-san while Ishin and I watch father and son battle. This will improve your control over the improved bows and sharpen your accuracy.'' Ishin sweat dropped at first, but liked the idea a second later and actually nodded in agreement.
Father and son stared at each impassively. Uryuu responded by shooting the first arrow. But he missed horribly. And then it started...
''I just hope we won't end getting hit too,'' Urahara said as the two Quincies started shooting at each other. It was obvious from the start that Ryuken was by far the better between the two. His attacks were fast a a lot more precise and accurate than Uryuu's. The latter was obviously struggling to control the bow armored with denser Reishi.
Ishin looked at Urahara, ''I wonder what Naruto-san will do when he discovers your little invention,'' he stated. If the blond had worked hard to manage his weakness, he certainly wouldn't be pleased if someone had found a way to expose it again. He just hope that trouble didn't start because of this. There they enough problems to deal with already. The hollows coming here into the human world were coming in regularly and each came stronger than the previous one.
''I wonder about that too. But this step was necessary, don't you think?''
Ishin nodded. Even though they were not planning to fight Naruto, they couldn't refrain from taking measurements to deal with a fight with him should it be unavoidable. It never did hurt to make some precautions. Even if he had been in Urahara's position, he would have done the same. Not just for Ryuken, but for their safety as well.
Hours later
Naruto appeared in Urahara's training ground in a swirling vortex. He sensed that there were people in the place, so he would not need to call anyone or look for them. But his business was with Urahara, he did not need to talk to anyone. He walked calmly towards where he sensed people. But stopped on his tracks as he sensed something coming towards him, fast. It was coming way faster than he would have thought. He managed to tilt his head sideways to avoid the arrow that had come his way. There was a small explosion behind him that made him raise a curious eye brow.
He did not think that those things could be so powerful. But he also noticed that the arrow would have hit him, meaning that it missed. The position he was in was not the safest for him to dodge. Lucky for him, the shooter missed him. The arrow was coming way faster for him to dodge when he was not facing it.
The fact that it missed meant that the shooter was not a very accurate shooter. He narrowed his eyes behind him as he sensed someone. He turned around ignoring the first person who had shot an arrow at him. The first one was weak and the other he recognized, ''Is this a lovely welcome,'' he stated not concerned by the welcome he had received. This was the second time the Quincy had attacked him. ''But, I have already told you...'' he trailed off when he realized that the Quincy was not listening to him. Instead, both of them were preparing to shoot at him.
Like both men were in sync, they shot their arrows at the same time not giving Naruto time to escape. The bows were still coming pretty faster. He noticed that they were coming faster than before. This speed was proving to be a little troublesome to deal with. He disappeared from his position in a quick flash of black. The arrows had been pointed at his head and waist. When he disappeared, they carried forwards the Quincies as they were on the path of the projectiles, but they seemed to have predicted this and quickly disappeared from view only to appear near the captain of the fifth division. They noticed that his haori was slightly torn around his waist. It meant that one of the arrows had gotten him.
Another arrow was shot at him by the older Quincy. Naruto stood still analyzing it with his yes. He had already noticed that it was not just the speed and power that had changed in the arrows. He held out his hand as his eyes spun around like a wind wheel. Time seemed to slow down a little. The arrow then reached him and pierced through his palm, leaving a gaping hole on his hand. Before the blond could comprehend what had just happened, two waves of arrows came flying towards him in a heap. Considering what had just happened, he was not going to allow himself to be hit or he would have holes all over his body. Given that thought, he disappeared in a swirling vortex like when he appeared in the secret training ground.
But when he appeared to another location, it seemed that the two Quincies had tracked him as they followed him there. They did not give him time to think as another bundle of arrows were shot towards him. This time, Naruto took out his blade and held if firmly. Its tip began to produce pure black Reiatsu, while in that process; he swung the blade towards the incoming arrows. The blade then released the pure black energy in the form a wave of energy. It was just like a Getsuga Tensho, but much more deadly and dangerous than Ichigo's technique. The blond was testing it. He had created it after seeing both Ichigo and Urahara's techniques. The wave of black energy crushed the arrows and pushed towards the shooter. Ryuken shot another bundle of arrows that collided with Naruto's technique, creating an explosion. When it died down, neither opponent was wounded.
Ishida flashed towards his father and stood by his side. He smirked slightly at Naruto as both he and his readied their arrows for another assault. The blond knew that the next attack would be dangerous, so he placed his sword back to his sheath and raised his right hand. The Quincies shot hundreds of arrows that were coming to Naruto far faster than before. This time, he knew that if he wanted to dodge the attacks, he could not do such thing despite his incredible speed. The arrows were so many that he could not block them all with his sword without being cut. It was a good thing that he was always prepared.
These Quincies were showing up their abilities. He could give them a taste, ''Death Ray,'' he muttered as in front of him, energy formed like a wall of reddish energy that sped towards the Quincies. The attack was so big that it pushed back Naruto slightly. It peeled off the ground underneath it as it matched on forward. It collided with the arrows, but they were seemingly devoured by the technique. The Quincies, knew danger when they saw it, they flashed away from the path of the technique to avoid being caught in its path. The technique then moved forward until it exploded. The explosion shook the entire training ground and picked up debris and gusts of winds. Urahara started to fear that his training space would be destroyed if Naruto threw more of those.
''I should have used a normal technique,'' Naruto muttered to himself seeing the destruction his technique had caused. He narrowed his eyes behind him when someone appeared behind him - it was the younger Quincy.
''Don't move,'' Ishida stated a bit coldly like they were in real battle. He made the mistake of catching the sight of Naruto's eyes. This mistake resulted in him standing still frozen with slight wide eyes.
Naruto took a step towards Ishida, only to be stopped when an arrow hit him from the front. But he only stopped for a few seconds before moving again. Another arrow was shot towards his head, but in a fluid movement, the blond caught the arrow. This action of course surprised Ryuken because he was certainly not expecting the blond to do that. Naruto then turned to look straight at the older Quincy.
''I do not play with the same opponent more than twice seriously. I grew bored after the first battle. Here is your mistake; you have been trying to hit him with the same technique over and over again. It becomes annoying at certain time. You Quincies are predictable. You have been shooting arrows at me this entire time, don't you think I would have gotten used to that?'' Ryuken sensed that whatever the blond was going to say, he was not going to like. The blond was still holding the arrow, which was in fact surprising. ''I cannot be wounded by the same technique over and over again - once is enough, twice you are just lucky to hit me. I have already analyzed the structure and speed of your arrows enough to form a counter attack. Any one that has a creative mind can do that. Because I have done this, your techniques become predictable. Next time you shoot them at me, they will be annoying more than anything.''
Naruto then turned to face Ishida, who was still frozen. ''You should know by now that I can manipulate Reishi like you. Because of that, I can do this,'' he flicked the arrow and threw it at Ishida, shocking Ryuken. He knew that if the arrow was to hit his son, it would do some damage. He could still not understand what Naruto had done to him to render him immobile. Just when the arrow was about to hit Ishida on his forehead, the blond snapped his fingers and the arrow disappeared. Ishida was also freed from his frozen stupor.
The Quincy then glared at Naruto knowing that he had done something to him. He straightened his bow and shot an arrow straight at Naruto's forehead. But the blond disappeared, leaving only a small cloud of dust. He then shockingly appeared behind the younger Quincy, he was not even facing the boy. Ishida stoop frozen again, but this time, in a mixture of shock and fear. He had not seen the man move. His eyes could not track his movements. ''Go home and play with other kids child. You are slow, and not near your father in strength. I could play along with your father as his arrows give me a little exercise, but yours...no. And I cannot possibly play seriously with a mere child. But if you insist, I might end you.''
Naruto then walked away from Ishida to the rock Urahara was standing with Ishin. He was stopped when a cold voice of Ryuken spoke. ''Shinigami, if you threaten my son again...'' he let the words hang. What kind of a father would he be, if he could just watch someone threaten to kill his son in front of him?
The captain of the 5th division actually smiled in response. He was amused by the unspoken threat. ''A powerless father, a Quincy no less, threatening me? How amusing.''
Ryuken wisely chose not to say another word to avoid a confrontation. He knew that if one broke out he would most likely not win. But he was happy with the progress he had shown today. He had seen what his arrows could do to Naruto before the blond successfully analyzed them and formed a way to defend against them. It was obvious that the blond was a dangerous opponent. He had adjusted to the speed of his arrows as time progressed. He assumed that if you wanted to get him, you had to put it in a one kill shot. Had he aimed for the heart with the arrow that hit the blonds' hand, he might have ended his life since the blond was not expecting the arrows to be able to wound him. Regardless of the end results, he knew Urahara would find another way.
He always did
''I knew that it was not going to be enough,'' Urahara commented after seeing everything. But he was happy that his hypothesis was proved correct. A denser Reishi weapon could wound the blond. But you had to make sure that he did not see it more than twice because it was obvious that Naruto was not the one to be wounded by the same technique twice.
''You knew this was not going to work?!'' Ishida yelled losing his calmness for a moment. The man had said it so casually. If it had been real battle, he would have been killed.
''Come down, Ishida-san,'' Urahara stated politely trying to calm the young Quincy. ''I did not say it would not work. Your bows did work, it was just not enough..''
''So you are the perpetrator behind this little activity,'' Naruto stated. ''Though, this must have been done after some study of my Reiatsu,'' all the amusement he had a minute ago was all but forgotten.
''As a curious person, I like doing experiments. When Ryuken-san told me what had happened I was eager to find the reason why his arrows only tingled,'' Urahara explained lightly ever so smiling to lighten the mood.
''The curiosity of a scientist, huh?'' Naruto paused for a moment and held out his right hand. There no longer was a sign that it had been pierced. ''Under that happy facade is a serious man who is always thinking ahead. This little experiment was done because you could not have one of allies useless against me should I become a threat.'' The atmosphere then became cold as no one was willing to say the next words. ''Regardless, I am impressed by your efforts.''
''For a second I thought you were going to be pissed with this,'' Urahara stated looking straight into the eyes of Naruto.
''You said you wanted some answers, well after your experiments, you must have found some interesting things. You also seem to like to gamble with me. This is your second time, is it not? But I will let this slide. It is not a crime to search for usable Intel about an object of interest,'' the atmosphere became cold again. ''If you involve me in your little experiments again, I will exterminate them. They are the last Quincies, well there is one who has yet to discover himself,'' at this Ishin and Urahara visibly tensed. ''Central 46 would probably thank me for it. They did, after all, try to exterminate the Quincy.''
The frightening part was that it was all true; Soul Society had tried to exterminate the Quincy. Surely Soul Society would not deal with him if he killed them. They were not even allies of the Shinigami, and more to that, they disliked hollows just as they hated Shinigami.
''Do you think we would actually allow you to kill them,'' Ishin stated in a rather rare serious tone. Even though they were taking precautionary measures, he would not stand by and watch his friends killed. Now he did not care how strong the man was, but when it came to his friends, there was a line that one did not pass. He would never hesitate to get in the way should they be in danger.
''Allow?'' Naruto mused silently. ''You are saying it like you would have a choice in the matter. When Uchiha Naruto decides to kill someone, that person will die and no one can stop it from happening. It is like the hounds of death listen to the voice of Uchiha Naruto. Should I decide to exterminate someone, I exterminate that person along with everything that stands in my way,'' the tone he used had nothing added to it to emphasize his words. He used the usual tone he used. He then disappeared from his position and appeared in front of Urahara.
Ishin thinking that the blond was attacking and brought out his Katana and held it against him. Unfortunately for him, Naruto ignored him and looked at Urahara. ''Shall we get to the important business?'' He stated. Feeling that Ishin had not lowered his weapon, he spoke again. ''Point that blade away from me. It is starting to annoy me,'' there was no threat lying underneath those words. Seeing that the blond was not going to attack, Ishin lowered his weapon.
So threatening to kill Ishida and Ryuken and telling Ishin that there was nothing he could do about that was not important, Urahara thought. By the looks of things, the man did not value anything that did not affect him. He did not care for their deaths and would happily give them deaths. But he had not been included in the talk of deaths. More importantly, he had only spoken about the issue of death if the two Quincy tested their new toys on him again and if Ishin tried to get in his way. He was still surprised that the man could threaten them without even making an effort to appear intimidating. When he said I will kill you, he uses the same tone as hello. It was like the subject was nothing to him. Well, he did just make it sound like their previous talk had been useless, or not important. It might not be important to him, but to them it was important.
As Naruto has said, he had been making a few gambles. He gambled in trying to lie to Naruto so he could stall for time while he searched for information on the blond. He gambled sending Ishida and Ryuken to battle the blond to test their new toys so he could prove his theory. And each time, Naruto had not even once threatened him. Was he important to the blond that he did not want him dead? He may perhaps hold something of value. But this time he knew if he made another gamble, there would be consequences to pay. He was not willing to wait and find out what he would pay if he gambled again. The blond seemed patient. He had not even attempted to attack the Quincies, even when he had asked Ichigo to attack him, he did not attack. There was something to that. Was it merely because he did not see them as threats enough to raise his hand against them?
Regardless of the answer, today they had pierced through his skin and watched his high speed regeneration. They had also managed to get him to use his sword. It was a little surprising that he had been able to use a technique without releasing the blade. But he guessed that the technique was nothing special and it seemed that it was just his Reiatsu that was released. He would have to look at it carefully later.
''I made some good progress with the puzzle, but I was stuck along the way like there were some words missing. I could not move on forward because of this,'' Urahara explained taking out the scroll Naruto had given him.
Naruto gave no physical response as he took the scroll. He opened it and smiled inwardly at the work Urahara had done. He then snapped his fingers. A small portal opened beside him, Naruto took out a kunai from the portal. It was three pronged Kunai; its blade was pure white. Naruto then cut his right hand from his elbow, towards his palm. He then placed the Kunai back to the portal before it closed. Blood dripped from his hand and fell down on the ground. ''Move away,'' he said to both Ishin and Urahara. But two backed away from the blond to give him some space to work. They did not know what he was doing; they just watched him with curious expressions across their faces.
Naruto let the blood fall for several moments before his wound finally closed. Because there were some amounts of blood that had leaked off his sizeable self inflicted wound, he used the blood to draw a circle around himself. After that, he did a meditate pose, but was floating in air inside the circle he had drew. The scroll that he had taken from Urahara also floated in front of him. But then Naruto's eyes glint of bright redness, and stayed that way. Naruto did several hand signs which confused those watching as they had not seen anything like it before. Naruto's body then glow light blue and marks appeared all over his body. He stretched out his right hand and hit the middle of the scroll. A trigram also appeared on the scroll, But Naruto put his hand through it as it was a door to another dimension. He pulled out a small tablet that Urahara was not aware he had been solving. Everything the man did on the scroll reflected on the tablet. He placed the tablet down and then some stranger marks appeared inside the circle he had drawn. The blond then did more than two hundred had signs before closing his eyes with his hands clasped together.
Urahara watched curiously. He noticed that the blood Naruto had made the circle with had formed some sort of barrier around him. He assumed that it was made so that no one could disrupt whatever that the blond was doing. He figured since the blond seemed to be too focused on what he was doing, if one wanted to kill the immortal, this would be a good chance to do it. But to avoid any of that, the blond made a barrier around himself. It was probably near inpenetranable given how it was made. It was invincible to the naked eye, but he knew it was there. The stranger Kunai that the blond had used was no ordinary either. His wound did not heal quickly after he cut himself. There was some time it took for the wound to close, and it did not close as fast it would have, normally. He saw how fast his wound closes after being pierced by Ryuken's arrow.
The marks on around the blond did not give him a good feeling at all. He knew that the blond had him solve some seal. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He doubted that even he could match something of that nature. But given his little time analyzing it, he can create a strong seal because of his notes. The marks on the blond made him conclude the seal was placed on the blond, that was why he was having him analyze it. But the fact that he was having him solve it, meant that it was not he who had placed it, meaning that someone had done it. He did not know anyone who could have placed such a seal. Perhaps it was the spirit king? But no, the blond said he had been struggling with it for some time, it meant that it could not have been the Soul King. The seal had to have been placed before he was sealed. This raised alarms within his head, what could it be that the seal was for? Could it be power? He dreaded to think anything of that sort.
If it had been power that was sealed, he would be responsible for making the blond far stronger than before. No, it could not be power, it had to be something else. He would find what it was. Still, he had thought that the seal was not finished. He still had to work on it to finally finish solving it. There was something missing from it that he needed Naruto to fill in before he could continue.
Just then, with the blonds' eyes closed and hands clasped together, violent winds began to form around him. This forced Urahara and Ishin to take more steps away from the blond. It did not make Urahara feel good at all. The violent winds continued to roar for several minutes, the more minutes past, the more powerful they became. Just then, a heavy spiritual pleasure hit them all nearly forcing them to their knees. Added with the violent winds, the atmosphere became unstable. Urahara's training ground began to shake. Naruto seemed oblivious to it as he was still inside his circle and not even moving an inch. It also seemed like the winds were not affecting him. And the glow around his body had increased.
The violent winds then became even more powerful, picking up large amounts of debris. The space became distorted and a lot more unstable. Rocks everywhere the training ground started to shatter into nothingness. It was becoming a lot more dangerous to be within the ground. The air had also become heavy and made it very difficult for them to breath. Urahara was starting to consider that the leave the place for their safety, but then a large explosion blew. The explosion blew them violently away from the blond. They did not recover until they had hit the ground painfully. When they recovered, they saw a very large crater underneath the blond. Remarkably, the strange marks underneath him were still there, even with the ground gone.
''That was dangerous,'' Urahara said thinking Ishin was still a lot closer to him. But when he got no response, he realized that the man was nowhere close to him. He figured the explosion must have blasted him away from him. He looked around and finally saw the man dusting himself up. He looked the other side of Naruto and saw Ryuken holding Ishida. He assumed that the younger one must have been knocked out by the spiritual pressure. No one could blame him for being knocked out. The pressure had just been unbearable, even for him who was a former captain.
When Urahara looked towards the blond, he found him now standing still with arms folded across his chest, eyes looking his way. All the marks and glow had disappeared, and he looked normal like nothing had happened. He then walked towards the blond; the others did the same as him. ''What just happened?'' it was the best question he could ask given the events that had just occurred. He had not encountered anything of this kind. He was also expecting the blond to fill the blanks then he could go back to his work. If it was not for the measures he had taken, the whole of Karakura town would have felt what they just felt.
''I was merely testing something,'' Naruto responded calmly. The test had been satisfactory. But he was almost trapped within his mind scape forever due to the trap that had been laid there for him should he make an attempt to free his other half. But he handled the trap and managed to test Urahara's work.
Urahara seemed to think about something, ''I thought that the reason for your visit today would be for you to fill in the blanks,'' he said, he dreaded the answer the blond would give though.
''That is what you thought,'' Naruto stated, making Urahara narrow his eyes at him. ''There was not blank - the blank only signified the end of your work. See, I have already solved some part of the seal, I just needed your scientific mind to solve this other part,'' the blond revealed.
''So the puzzled is solved now,'' Urahara said seeming to think about this occurrence.
''Yes,'' Naruto responded. But it should take some time to get everything to settle down. Despite having solved the seal, he still had another thing to do, after that; he would have to allow things to settle gradually. His soul had yet to perfectly fuse and his body had yet to adjust perfectly to the changes. So it would take some time to have everything sorted out and working.
''I should have seen that one coming,'' Urahara said, actually berating himself for not seeing it. Now because his work was complete, he could no longer study the seal. It was all over. ''What does the seal unlock exactly? I have figured that someone crafty placed a seal on you, sealing something. I just don't know what. And by what you have said, I can conclude that the seal was on you before you were sealed. If it is power that was sealed, it would mean that back then you were not at full power. If it was some techniques of yours, then it would mean that you did not have access to all your abilities. Now I am sure you can understand my concern.''
Naruto smiled and outright ignored Urahara's question. ''You said that you wanted to answers for your work. You already know my problem with Quincies by now. You studied the seal I gave you and given your mind, you have probably found ways to create a seal similar to it despite having an unfinished product. I allowed you to observe this ritual so you could see the results of your work, and I am sure just by observing this you have drawn some positive conclusions,'' that was indeed true. He had discovered some things, just by watching the ritual. ''I will allow you to ask one question. Depending on the question, I may not answer.''
Urahara was thoughtful for a moment. All his questions could be changed if he could find an answer to a single question. ''Did you allow the Royal Guard to seal you, back then when you were sealed?''
''A wise question,'' Naruto responded, and then he smiled before turning around. He disappeared in swirling vortex.
''I might have just dug my own grave,'' Urahara stated as he turned around to leave. He had to take a nap. Despite the blond not giving him a verbal response, Urahara knew that the answer was yes. This changed everything.
''You may have…'' Ryuken stated as he understood the general concept of what was going on.
''What do you mean, Urahara?'' Ishin question not getting anything.
''There is a high possibility that we may have another enemy waiting for us after we have dealt with Aizen. But this enemy is a lot more powerful and cunning than Aizen,'' the former captain paused for a moment. ''Ryuken-san, I am sure you know what to do. I will come to you after I have finished your new equipment for you and your son. Ishin, I would recommend that you start training again.''
A few minutes later
Before Naruto left the human world, he had decided to check on something beneath Karakura town. There was something that was buried underneath the town. There was nothing useful in it though, he had just decided to check it out to see if it was still useful. He never got the chance to do so, as he sensed some Reiatsu somewhere. He knew it was hollow. He could never mistake a hollow in all his life. The fact that it was hollow and was strong, he abandoned his plans and decided to check out what was happening.
Upon arriving at the scene, he found a young girl and another boy; he was a lot bigger than the girl. The girl was in the process of healing the boy with a strange technique. There were two hollows, the other small one that was considerably strong was watching as the other fought the child he recognized as Ichigo. The boy had not released his Bankai yet. And seemed to be barely holding his own without his Bankai. The shorter hollow then took notice of him by narrowing his eyes above the air where he had been standing. In the blink on an eye, he disappeared and landed down the ground. Ulquiorra had no trouble in tracking him down.
Naruto appeared between Ichigo and Yami; the latter was about to hit the former with his large fist, but Ichigo seemed ready for it. The fist then hit Naruto straight in the face. Despite the blond not moving an inch, the ground beneath him shook and some debris was lifted due to the power of Yami's punch.
Ichigo was surprised seeing blond hair. Then he quickly recognized him. ''You...'' he said. He had kind of forgotten Naruto's name.
Yami retrieved his fist before glaring down at the blond. Naruto then turned around to face Ichigo. His face looked completely okay, like Yami's punch had not even done anything to him. But that was not the complete truth. Yami growled at the audacity of the blond to turn his back on him. ''Stand aside child, I want to test this new breed of hollows,'' he stated. He had already noticed that they were different because they had Katanas in their sashes. It meant that they were with Aizen as far as Intel suggested.
''Ah...'' Ichigo did not really know how to respond. He smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head. He wanted to fight Yami to make him pay for what he had done to Sado. He knew that he would have to use his Bankai if he were to get payback. But there was an obstacle, one that he really thought he could not move given what he was told by Urahara.
''Who the hell are you?!'' Yami growled while still glaring down at the blond. Naruto turned to face the hollow. He looked the big being in front of him carefully. It was not interesting as the shorter one, who was stronger than this loud child.
''How loud,'' Naruto said casually, not even feeling threatened by the size of Yami or anything. Ichigo seeing that he was not going to get his payback unless Naruto moved away and settled for moving towards Inoue - who was still busy trying to heal Sado.
''T'ch,'' Yami growled. He was still surprised that the blond had managed to take his hit without being sent flying or breaking something. But he could do better than what he had done. So he was not worried. He looked at his ''partner'', ''Hey, Ulquiorra, who the hell is he?''
''I don't know,'' the number 4 Espada responded calmly in a blank tone. He had no info on the man before them. He looked young given his physical appearance. But he certainly did not feel young. He was strong, by far stronger than Ichigo. But he was sure that Yami had not sensed that. ''But be careful with him, he is stronger than the human,'' his eyes scanned the blond. What he noticed that was peculiar was his eyes. He also noticed that he was wearing a captain's haori. But he knew all the captains of the Gotei 13. Aizen had never mentioned him before.
Yami T'ched again and looked back at Naruto - who had yet to move after speaking. ''Who the hell are you, brat?''
''A brat?'' Naruto questioned with a raised brow. ''A child, a Hollow no less calling me a brat. How amusing,'' despite saying those words, he did not look amused at all. ''You are all but an oversized child with a loud mouth. You are of no interest to me. Now go home so I can play with your friend.''
Yami growled at the blond. ''I no longer care who you are. I will just crush you,'' he said grinning arrogantly thinking he could take out the blond. ''Bala!'' he shot several Balas at the blond looking to finish him quickly. Then continued to laugh hysterically thinking that he had hit the blond, but when debris cleared, the blond was nowhere to be seen. Yami thought he may have vaporized him. But the blond appeared behind him with a finger pointed towards his right shoulder.
''Hado #4: Byakurai,'' he short a very powerful beam of lightning at Yami. It was by no means a normal Byakurai. But the Hollow was not aware of that. The beam shot towards him and pierced right through Yami's shoulder, eliciting a scream of pain from the hollow.
''Guah!'' he glared murderously at the blond. ''I will crush you for this!'' he yelled charging a punch at Naruto. But the blond jumped back to avoid it. He was not even minding Ulquiorra. Yami then again shot several Balas at the blond. ''You can't dodge this!'' he yelled shooting with both his hands, while laughing maniacally. Debris then picked up from the position Naruto was standing when the hollow started to shoot his techniques.
When the debris cleared, Naruto was still standing, unhurt. But he was in a small crater held his blade at his right hand. He then lifted up his left hand and pointed a finger at Yami. ''Byakurai,'' he said again shooting another powerful beam that Yami was unable to dodge because he was slow and had not been expecting the blond to be standing. The beam pierced right through his knee forcing him to fall down under the pain. ''I wish not for my blade to cut children, but you leave me no choice,'' he said before charging towards Yami with his Katana in hand.
Before he could reach the Hollow, Ulquiorra appeared in front of him with his own blade and blocked his strike that was aimed at Yami's neck. The sound of swords clashing echoed through the clearing. The hollow held his own against Naruto and was only using his right hand to block his strike. The Espada then held out his left hand. At his finger tips, a ball of energy started to form. But before he could do anything, Naruto had already made some distance between them. ''We are going Yami, we have already accomplished our mission,'' he noticed that Yoruichi was watching from a distance. He then snapped his fingers, opening a Garaganta. But he had a feeling that Naruto would not just stand by and watch them leave. So he stood closely next to Yami and again, pointed his finger at the blond. ''Cero,'' he muttered firing the hollow flash towards the blond. The moment he fired it, he stepped inside the Garaganta with Yami. Before it closed, Naruto deflected his Cero with his blade before putting it away.
''Those must be one of the strongest in Aizen's army,'' Yoruichi stated as she appeared. She was talking to Naruto, but was walking towards Ichigo and the others.
''It appears so,'' Naruto responded looking up at the clouds. He disappeared without saying anything more. He wanted to see what Aizen has been busy with. The new breed of hollows seemed interesting enough.
End of the chapter…
Since Naruto is going to see Aizen in the next chapter I'll try to make it interesting, perhaps I'll do a fighting scene. I've been having difficulties drawing them in this story because Bleach fighting scenes, are somewhat different from the Naruto universe, but I'll make it work.
Yes, Naruto did love the Soul King's wife, but now he doesn't. So, Shutara is up there, however, he has some issues with her since he can't fully trust her.
It might be possible that I'm dragging things, but I'll try to make things work.
The seal Naruto is trying to solve is the one that holds his other half. I think if Naruto could revive the Soul King's wife to unseal him, he would've done that already. Once Naruto does see her again, everything will be explained.