AN: Yeah, I don't own Naruto or Bleach. I don't care if you use this plot idea for your own story, just give me credit somewhere in the story.

But man, this chapter took me a long time. Never realized how addicting it is to write a fight scene. I meant to mention Sasuke in this chapter, but this one kinda expanded larger than I thought it would. Don't worry, he'll be in the next one. Guys, I love reviews and don't mind reasonable critiqueing (as in not mindless flaming) so go ahead and review at will.

Oh, and just to get this out there, Naruto and Sasuke are the main characters, but this IS NOT A YAOI.

"blah"-speech

'blah'-thoughts

"blah"-demon/hollow/other inhuman evil thing speech

blah-dream/vision

underscore- Important change of scene, character, and/or time

Also, if anyone knows a site with a translator for naming jutsus, I'd like to know it. I absolutely hate the English names.

Anyway, here's the story. Enjoy

Chapter 2

Of Shinigami and Old Hokages

The nine tailed Hollow cackled in glee. It was almost too easy to catch souls. With each soul he consumed, he remembered something about his former life. One of the first things he remembered was a strange technique called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Using this ability, he could make dozens of copies of himself, and send them in any direction to find food.

As the bunshins brought forth soul after soul, the Hollow began to link his scattered memories together. He had been hated for something that had happened at his birth. He did not have a family. He was a ninja, which explained the odd assortment of jutsus that he was remembering. He loved a food called ramen (upon remembering ramen, he sent twenty bunshins specifically to find the souls of deceased noodle chefs). He had made a few friends, but he couldn't remember who they were. One of his friends had left, and he had been trying to find him. His favorite color was orange. The hollow growled as he remembered his murderers; powerful men who wore black cloaks covered in crimson red clouds.

Still, his name eluded him. Suddenly, he felt bunshins dieing off, one after another. Dismissing a bunshin near the area, the Hollow observed its final visions. He saw an old man with gray hair and wrinkles, wielding a simple katana. The old man was garbed in a black kimono. The hollow would have passed him off as a talented samurai, if it weren't for the fact that the man's reiatsu was greater than an ordinary spirit by at least tenfold. Also, the hollow was certain that he had known that man in life. Rising, the hollow charged after his new prey, already excited for the answers he would receive- and the feast.

Sarutobi wiped his brow. There was just no end to these nine tailed illusions! 'I'm getting too old for this.' He chuckled lightly as he recalled how he wound up as a shinigami (Soul Reaper). Sure, he knew that using the shikifuujin (sealing technique) on Orochimaru's arms would require him to serve the Death God for one thousand years, but at the time he hadn't known what this service would consist of. Apparently even the Death God couldn't manage all the spirits in the worlds, so he had built an entire organization of shinigami to help him with it.

The shikifuujin had been his draft to this organization, so to speak. So now, instead of relaxing in Soul Society, he was hacking up an endless wave of nine tailed illusions in the forests outside of the village where he once reigned as Hokage.

A spike in reiatsu was Sarutobi's only warning before the real nine tailed Hollow was upon him.

"So, you show your face at last, Hollow."

"Tell me old man, who am I?"

Sarutobi blinked. It wasn't often that a hollow stopped for conversation. Usually they just attacked, only occasionally screaming nonsense. Speaking meaningfully showed intelligence, and in Sarutobi's three years of experience, intelligent Hollows make the most dangerous Hollows. Still, if he could trick the Hollow…

"I do not know who you are. But I can tell that you have been cursed. If you will allow me, I will remove the curse so that you may rest in peace."

The Hollow howled with laughter.

"Cursed? Cursed! When I have these kage bunshins at my disposal, when I may feast until my body's content, and you call that cursed! Heheh, I guess you are just a senile old man. I was foolish for believing that you had anything to teach me."

Sarutobi grimaced. If these clones were kage bunshins, then he was fighting a Hollow that was once a ninja, a tricky combination. In addition, it was most likely a Konoha nin. Things just seemed to keep getting worse. 'Wasn't there a group of shinigami whose job was to make sure that ninjas went to Soul Society instead of becoming Hollows?!?'

In a ramshackle old house about four miles east, a group of men in black robes all suddenly sneezed. Looking around, they shrugged and resumed their game of poker.

Sarutobi drew his katana, and the Hollow attacked. Sarutobi ducked under the swipe of his paw, and ran a shallow cut up the monster's arm. The beast hissed, and the wound began to smoke and heal. Sarutobi sighed. He was definitely too old for this.

More upon reflex than actual thought, Sarutobi leaped back to dodge a tail. Sarutobi was forced to block as the tail grew longer, pushing him back a few inches. Sarutobi leapt into the air as two more tails swung at him. In the air, Sarutobi twisted himself so that he could cleave the Hollow's mask in two.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the tails mutate into a large hand. Just inches from the hollows mask, he felt the hand grab him by the ankle. The mutated tail hurled Sarutobi, who landed safely on his feet about fifteen yards away.

Sarutobi muttered something about old men and proper respect, and observed as the rest of the tails grew hand-like appendages. The Hollow flashed through numerous handseals, and a dozen kage bunshins phased into existence, effectively surrounding Sarutobi. As one, the hundred-or-so hands lunged towards him.

Sarutobi quickly performed some one-handed seals, and a dome of earth rose around him, shielding him from the continuous onslaught. Deciding that he a pretty good idea of what the Hollow was capable of, he grasped his katana with both hands.

"Unlock, Varrine!"

The dome exploded outwards, Sarutobi leaping up into the air. Twirling a solid, black, steel spear covered in silvery runes and tipped with a leaf shaped blade, he launched a large fireball at the original Hollow. With Varrine's ability enabling him to perform jutsus without handseals, he could easily best the strongest of enemies. Combined with his experience as a hokage, he had quickly risen to the rank of lieutenant in his squad, second only to the man who had been his successor in the living world.

The Hollow easily blocked the fireball, but wasn't prepared for the hundreds of kage bunshin Varrines in its wake. The bladed spears tore through the hollow, slicing flesh, muscle, and bone alike. One bunshin struck the corner of the mask with the flat of the blade, causing part of it to shatter. Its legs now missing the strength- and tendons- to hold it up, the Hollow collapsed onto the ground. Sarutobi advanced to deliver the killing blow, but gasped at what he saw.

A familiar trio of whisker-like birthmarks on the hollows face, and a now-cloudy blue eye was all that could be seen under what remained of the mask, but it was enough. Sarutobi could only stare at Naruto. How had he died? Was it the villagers, or was it the organization that had been targeting all bijuu? Or was it something else entirely? Sarutobi looked at Naruto again. Although his appearance definitely resembled the Kyuubi, it lacked the terrifying power and rage. If Kyuubi wasn't with Naruto, then most likely it was with Akatsuki.

Sarutobi pondered what he should do. Sure, he could kill the Hollow and release Naruto's soul to Soul Society, but then Naruto would most likely never see his friends again, even once they had died. Soul Society was a big place after all, and it was not easy to find a person you had once known. "Not easy" as in next to impossible. Even if Naruto were to become a Shinigami to protect Konoha from Hollows, it would still be several hundred years before he graduated from their school. It was a shame that the boy couldn't just keep his hollow abilities and immediately be assigned as a Shinigami substitute to Konoha- Sarutobi suddenly recalled a conversation he had had with his captain several months ago.

Sarutobi watched his blonde captain as he paced back and forth across the room. Every now and then, he would pause, and then resume his meandering course. Sarutobi asked, "What's on your mind?"

The fourth, now captain of squadron 2, responded, "A spirit becomes a Hollow when it is consumed by another hollow or when the chain of existence completely erodes, right?"

Now definitely curious and a little confused, Sarutobi nodded. It was common information after all.

Arashi continued, "If so, then how does a spirit which has lost its chain of existence and reiatsu, gain so much power when it becomes a Hollow? Where does that energy come from?"

It was a good question. For a few minutes, everything was silent except for the soft padding of Arashi's feet. Finally, Sarutobi spoke,

"Spirits must have some sort of source of energy within the soul other than chakra reserves, reiatsu reserves, or the chain of existence. Maybe hollows know how to tap it."

Arashi said, "That's the conclusion I came to as well. Which would mean that Hollows lose that ability when they are purged; otherwise there would be a great number of powerful people in Soul Society. But, if a Hollow could be turned into a shinigami without having be purged, then it wouldn't have to build up reiatsu reserves in Shinigami school. It could save hundreds of years. So, do you think it would work?"

Sarutobi smiled, "Well, let's find out."

After about three months, they had perfected the jutsu. In theory. In reality, it had yet to be tested. Basically, the jutsu transferred a huge amount of shinigami reiatsu directly into the Hollow, hopefully calming the insane spirit and causing it to turn to a less monstrous form- hopefully that of a shinigami.

If it worked on Naruto, he could go back to defending Konoha (just from a threat different than foreign ninja), escort his friends to Soul Society when they died, and maybe even obtain a gigai (temporary fake body for shinigami) and go back to living in the village.

Deciding that now was the time to test their jutsu, Sarutobi performed several dozen handseals and placed his hand upon Naruto's cheek. The hollow began to glow, the intensity growing until Sarutobi was forced to look away. When Sarutobi looked back, the Hollow was gone and in its place was Naruto. He was wearing white robe that, other than their color, were identical to the robes of a shinigami. His chest still had a hole in it, but it had shrunk considerably. What remained of his mask had shrunk to cover the left side of his face. The boy seemed to be asleep, his exposed, calm face an odd contrast to the savage visage of the hollow half-mask Sarutobi fondly ruffled the boy's hair like so many other times when both of them were still alive.

Sarutobi would have most likely continued his path down memory lane, if it weren't for the sudden ringing of the spirit phone in his pocket. Flicking it open, he asked, "What is it?" and proceeded to move the phone about a foot away from his ear.

"Where the #$ in all of #$ing Soul Society are you, you old #$#!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Whatever happened to respecting one's elders?"

"Save it ya old coot, Soul Society's been invaded by a bunch of #$ing powerful humans. FREAKIN' LIVE HUMANS THAT AIN'T DEAD YET!!!!! Hell, one of 'em even defeated Zarachi Kenpachi in a sword fight! Captain told me to tell you to get your ass back here right now!"

"Karitha, you are aware that the speaker on this phone works perfectly well, right?"

All Sarutobi heard was a long stream of obscenities that would have put even a sailor to shame.

Still, Sarutobi was very disturbed that several living people would be able to enter Soul Society AND still defeat Kenpachi one on one with a sword. The captains weren't called captains for nothing, after all.

"Alright, I'll be right there."

And he hung up before Karitha was able to show off more of her 'colorful' vocabulary. Sighing, Sarutobi looked at Naruto and tossed a yellow book next to him.

"That is all I can offer you for now Naruto. Good luck." The teen merely mumbled in his sleep. Drawing Varrine once again, Sarutobi opened the gate to Soul Society, and left the realm of the living.