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Chapter Five: The Demons of Seireitei

Naruto was bored. There were no good ramen restaurants in Seireitei, the inner city of Soul Society—all they served was some unappetizing mush. According to Renji, the ninja had eight days to train before they were ready for a mission. Everyone else seemed to be doing their own things: Sakura and Ino were squabbling about whose kido skills were better, Temari and Ten Ten were practicing their initial releases against each other, Neji and Lee were training partners, Kankuro was training with Shino, Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru. And Sasuke…come to think of it, where was Sasuke? The thought vanished from Naruto's mind, however, as he saw a certain red-haired ex-homicidal-psychopath with the kanji for "love" tattooed on his forehead.

"Hey, Gaara!" shouted Naruto.

Gaara turned. "What?"

Naruto was grinning as he ran up to Gaara. "Aren't you going to train with the others?"

"No. I still don't buy into all this Soul Reaper stuff."

"I know what you mean. I mean, this training is really boring, and this city is boring too. They don't even have a single ramen restaurant!"

"Did you find any restaurants that serve beef tongue and gizzards?" Gaara asked. He had a strange taste for food.

While the two had been talking, a certain Soul Reaper watched them. He was large and hulking, scars running down his face and an eye patch over one eye. He had spiky black hair, tanned skin, and a ragged captain's uniform. A smile that was growing more maniacal by the minute spread across his face. He finally leapt from his hiding place right in front of the startled duo.

"I'm Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of the Eleventh Division," he said, flashing his teeth as he bared a grin. "You two have extraordinary levels of spiritual energy. Let's fight!"

Naruto and Gaara merely stared at him. "What?"

Kenpachi unsheathed his zanpakuto and attempted to dice them. Naruto yelled, "H-hey! We didn't do it, whatever it was—"

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Kenpachi shouted. "This isn't any fun! The great Ichigo Kurosaki was much better!"

Naruto looked over at Gaara, whose sand was blocking Kenpachi's frenzied attempts to butcher him. "Gaara, this reminds me of the time you were a homicidal freak."

Gaara didn't hear him. "I think I'll use Sand Burial on this guy to finish him off."

A sudden thought struck Naruto. "Wait, Gaara! If you kill him, that means you'll have to be captain instead of him!"

Gaara slapped his forehead. "Oh, great! So we can't kill him, but how are we supposed to get rid of him?"

Naruto somersaulted backwards as Kenpachi tried to cleave him in half. "Renji said the final release was the most powerful thing for Soul Reapers, right? Let's do that! Wait…what are we supposed to say again?"

"Oh, I remember," said Gaara, matter-of-factly. "It started with a 'b'. Banjo!" They both waited. Nothing happened.

"Are you sure?" asked Naruto, leaping into the air as he dodged Kenpachi's attacks. "Maybe it was something else."

"Hold on a moment. It was bano. Banhai. Bonsai.…Bankai! That's it. Bankai."

"Okay!" said Naruto. "That sounds right."

They nodded at each other. Unsheathing their zanpakuto, they shouted, "Bankai!"

Both of the zanpakuto began to glow. Naruto's zanpakuto became the Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Gaara's zanpakuto became the sand demon Shukaku.

Naruto gulped as the Kyuubi leered at him. "…Gaara? Was this supposed to happen?"

Gaara was equally dumbfounded. "No. Definitely not."

They had almost forgotten Kenpachi. "C'mon, fight back, you cowards! Fighting is pointless if you have no fun!"

"Run!" Naruto yelled, to no one in particular. He sprinted down the street. Gaara fled after Naruto. Behind them, they could hear screams and loud crashes as the demons began to demolish the city. The demons' roars mingled with Kenpachi's.

"Someone call the captains!" a Soul Reaper yelled.

The ground shook underneath the fleeing ninja. The Kyuubi raised one of its nine tails and slammed it onto the earth. Deep fissures appeared, and Naruto and Gaara struggled not to fall into the crevasses.

"Who let these Hollows in?" They looked down. The speaker was a boy with spiky white hair, wearing the white uniform of a captain.

"What are Hollows?" Naruto asked Gaara. "I think Renji mentioned them once…"

"Who cares?" was Gaara's laconic reply.

The boy unsheathed his zanpakuto from his back. "Ban…kai!" he yelled. Icy wings grew from his back and an icy formation shaped like a dragon's head covered his arm. Three ice flowers materialized behind him.

As the ninja watched, the boy traded blows with the demons. He was unable to damage them, while they nearly crushed him several times. He was sweating visibly. "Call for backup!" he barked at the other Soul Reapers. "These two are unlike any Hollows we've ever seen before!"

Naruto ran over to the boy. "Hey, you! I was wondering if you could help us?"

"Can't you see I'm busy here?" the boy roared back.

Naruto pouted. "Well, I just thought you might want to know…those are our bankai! Zanpakuto! How do we…er…un-bankai them?"

"You've got to be kidding me," the boy groaned. "These are your bankai? Well, just focus and think of it returning to its sealed state, obviously!"

They did. Shortly afterward, the Kyuubi and Shukaku became, once again, two ordinary zanpakuto. However, they didn't go before letting out a howl that nearly shattered everyone in Seireitei's eardrums.

The boy deactivated his own bankai. "I take it you're part of the group of new Soul Reapers that only joined a week ago?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, picking up his zanpakuto. "And who are you?"

"Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya of the Eleventh Division," the boy replied. "It would be in your best interests not to use your bankai again in Seireitei."

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Well, thanks for that advice," he said sarcastically.

Naruto waved. "Let's get back to the others. Bye, Toshiro!"

A vein throbbed on Toshiro's forehead. "It's CAPTAIN Hitsugaya!"

"Whatever." Turning to Gaara, Naruto muttered, "What's up with these captains and lieutenants? They're all so picky about their titles."

Gaara shrugged. "Maybe it's to cover up for their lack of personality."