w00t! Chapitre Huit!

But first!

The Last Rising Of The Phoenix: The Union won't get their original souls back, and won't pass on, because (as explained in a previous chapter) their souls have semi-merged with Naruto's soul, and have become his Zanpakuto.

To everybody else (because I'm sleepy as hell): Thanks for the support!

Yamamoto panted heavily as he collapsed against an ashen tree. He had no idea a bird could move so swiftly! But then again, it was no ordinary bird. He winced as he rubbed his now-useless left arm, which had been hit with one of those damned fireballs. He had managed to dodge most of it, but it had clipped a nerve cluster, rendering his limb temporarily numb.

"Damn it!" he ground out, his mind racing with ideas and semi-plausible strategies on how to defeat his Zanpakuto.

The sound of wings flapping from somewhere above caused him to stiffen. "Come, now, Yama-chan," the creature mocked. "Don't be afraid, it's just me! A lil' old birdie who wants to play!"

The black-haired man was highly tempted to just go on an all-out blitz and decapitate the accursed thing, but getting angry now would get him nowhere with his plight. He growled, but calmed himself and tried to come up with a plan.

It hit him suddenly, like a brick wall.

"Oh man," he groaned in exasperation. "How the hell could I have forgotten that!?"

It was simple, really. Just because it was his mind didn't mean that he couldn't use his shinobi techniques, did it? Yamamoto smacked his face, annoyed with himself for not realizing such an important, yet simple, fact sooner that could have saved much time.

Scowling, he broke cover to head for the area where he had first entered the inverted world of his mind. As expected, the phoenix swooped in from his position in the sky, energy already pulsing from its beak. The orb shot off quickly, and hit Yamamoto, who was unprepared for it.

Until he burst into a cloud of smoke, which dissipated to reveal a log.

The phoenix narrowed its eyes. "Well, well! I didn't think you were smart enough to figure it out, Yama-chan," it sneered, pausing in mid-flight.

Nimbly, it rolled to the side as it evaded a potential swing that could have taken off its wing. It opened its beak to speak again, only to be forced to avoid a barrage of kunai.

Trilling loudly, it cried, "Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking!"

"If you don't want me to interrupt you, then you should just shut the hell up!" Yamamoto coldly retorted, stepping out onto a tree branch.

The bird cackled, a sound that grated on the man's nerves. Growling, he bolted towards the bird, his sword in front on him.

His Zanpakuto clicked its tongue. "Now haven't you learned by now? That'll get you nowhere," it advised, curving to the left.

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow. "Really now?" he drawled smugly.

The avian swiveled its head to see another Yamamoto coming him. Only, this one had a pure blue orb of energy charged in his hand.

"RASENAGAN!" he screamed, pumping his attack at his Zanpakuto.

A huge plume of smoke obscured the whole field.

When it cleared, only Yamamoto stood.

Across from him, the cheeky phoenix lay in a battered state, with most of his feathers either ruffled or missing.

Yamamoto sighed in relief and sheathed his blade. He paused, however, when he heard a small noise. Turning to the bird, he was irked to notice that it was still laughing.

Its laughter grew louder and louder, and then became full-blown howling. After a few minutes, it calmed down into a light chuckle, but without the mocking undertone to it.

"So you managed to actually best me, eh?" it mused, hopping to its feet.

Yamamoto scowled. "Just go off and die somewhere. I have worse things to deal with than a crazy bird." He turned and walked away.

The bird laughed again, and the last thing he heard was, "Oh, you're cool! But since you did defeat me, my name is…"

Fumiko and Makoto, who were engaged in another 'wrestling' match, were startled when Yamamoto, who they had inadvertently rolled next to, abruptly stood up.

"Bansho issai kaijin to nase, Ryujin Jakka!" he shouted, a long katana with a dark purple hilt coming into existence in his palm.

When he raised the blade skyward, a torrent of flames erupted and came out from the tip of the sword like a whip. Said whip waved around uncontrollably, creating a few fires here and there that luckily blew out from his reiatsu.

In the semi-trance he was in, he never notice how close he came to burning the two women's hair off.

"YAMAMOTO!" they shouted in tandem, auras blazing with righteous anger.

That apparently snapped him out of it, as his Shikai disappeared and he blinked. "Oh, hello," he greeted calmly. He blinked and stared at the duo, who were covered with light burn markings. "What happened to you two?"

Sharing a silent look, they stalked forward, intent on giving their favorite punching bag a taste of hell. Nearby, the Union paused in their training to watch the entertainment. The four unmasked shinobi cast a brief contemplative glance at Naruto before resuming their watch of the fight.

Meanwhile, Kenshin was sitting next to Naruto, dispassionately observing the one-sided fight. "He seems to always get into situations such as these," the redhead noted, sipping at his tea.

Naruto snorted and took a gulp of his own tea, immune to the heat due to his overexposure to ramen. "Well, what can I say? Between the time we 'died', I guess you could say, and now, he's only had a few days of social interaction."

Kenshin nodded solemnly, having heard that part of the story. "Too true."

The blonde chuckled. "You know, he may not look it, but I think he'd be a good leader someday."

Kenshin allowed himself an out of character smirk. "Really? I'm sorry, Naruto-san, but he might not even manage to survive those two," he teased lightly.

He faltered when Naruto stared at him hard. "…you really need to stop doing that, Kenshin-san. It looks and sounds weird coming from you."

The redhead sweatdropped. "Oro?"

Sanosuke announced his arrival then by bopping his friend on the head. "Yeah, Kenshin, seriously, what the hell happened to you?" he mocked playfully.

Kenshin's sweatdrop increased. "...is it so wrong for me to act a little out of character once in a while?" he whined, out of character.

Naruto's cough caught their attention. "Anyway… What was that plan you were telling me about before all these interruptions?"

Sanosuke looked at Kenshin suspiciously. "You told him, huh?"

The man nodded back soberly. "Yes. I feel that Naruto-san is the only chance we have in order to implement it."

The former fight merchant eyed Naruto, who smiled back in a friendly manner. Deciding to see things through, he sat himself down in a huff. "Better not be lying…" he muttered.

"Alright, now that things are settled down," Naruto started, pointedly ignoring the torture session proceeding in the background. "What was it called again?"

Kenshin met Sanosuke's eyes, and the brown-haired man nodded with a minor amount of hesitation.

"The place in mind is to be called 'Soul Society'…"

And the plot thickens.

I suck at fight scenes, so hopefully that was good enough.

Yamamoto's Zanpakuto is purely canon (cuz "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"), except for its mental manifestation:

Bansho issai kaijin to nase, Ryujin Jakka – Reduce all creation to ash, Flowing Flame Blade

Next Chapter: Time skip! You decide how long – anywhere from 100 to 1000 years, as long as it's before the founding of the Shinigami Academy.

And as always, constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Although "Great Job!", "Update soon!" and "lmao" are pretty cool too, yeah.