Kasek: So, the battle against the hollows begins. Please, let me know if I get my Japanese right.

Disclaimer: I own neither BLEACH nor Naruto.

Chapter 6

Lee nodded as he took in the greatness of his foe. "Bancyning... let our match... begin!" Immediately, Lee appeared over the dragon's head, intent on smashing his leg into Bancyning's skull. However, the large hollow managed to lift his front leg and block the attack, and sent Lee flying into a tree. He narrowed his eyes when he realized that there were now large cracks in his arm where he had had blocked Lee's kick, and all of the humans present were astonished when the cracks began to heal.

Zabuza frowned. "Self-regenerating, huh?"

Haku smiled. "We were always told that hand-to-hand was suicide to use on any hollow that wasn't of the lowest rank... looks like Soul Society didn't take into account the kind of taijutsu that exists in this world."

Lee smirked as he got back up. "I told you... taijutsu would work."

Bancyning tilted his head. "Were you paying attention? Such direct attacks.... won't work on me. I can regenerate my entire body if need be."

Zabuza smirked as he tightened his stance. "You're a hollow... you of all people should know that there is one thing that hollows cannot regenerate... and that is..." In an instant, Zabuza was right above Bancyning's head, and sliced downwards with his zanpakuto. This, too, was blocked with the hollow's arm, and the crack left this time was far deeper than the one left by Lee, though it was but one crack. Zabuza smirked as he lept back, taking his sword with him. "...your head. After all, if you really could regenerate your entire body... you wouldn't feel the need to defend yourself, would you?"

Neji nodded. "Yes... although I cannot see spirit energy or physical energy as well as I can see chakra, it seems that all of his power is concentrated in the mask, and that it merely flows out to the rest of his body."

Bancyning grit his teeth as his arm healed. "You think you're so smart... but let's see how you handle this!" He lifted his arm and flattened his hand, pointing all five of his claws directly at his enemies. The large claws seemed to launch from his fingers like rockets, and all of his targets barely got out of the way in time.

Gai watched as the large bones drilled their way into the distance, obliterating everything that got in their way. "If that were to hit... then we would be finished."

Zabuza growled. "Well, that sucks... I can't use my zanpakuto to the fullest under these conditions... Haku?"

Haku, who had jumped in a direction opposite Zabuza, nodded in understanding. He held his blade in front of him, his eyes showing determination. "Freeze and shatter... Fubuki!"

In an instant, the sword changed- instead of a katana, he held in his hands a giant fan, standing even taller than himself. Attached to the fan was a long chain that ended in a large weight, which was half of Haku's height, and many times his weight. The living were in awe of what had happened- they had never seen a weapon do such a thing before, not even Tenten. They were more amazed when Haku swung the fan, and created a large gust of wind. Bancyning did not find it too difficult to withstand the wind, but when the gust ended, he was surprised to find that his entire right arm had been frozen. Closing the fan, Haku swung using the bottom of the fan, causing the chain to arc towards Bancyning, bringing the weight along with it. It smashed into the block of ice, and as the incantation had promised, shattered the leg.

Bancyning growled as a new leg quickly grew out of his socket. "To make these bones shatter... just how low did that gust of wind bring the temperature?"

Haku smiled as the weight came back, and landed next to him, causing a large cloud of dirt to arise. "Well, I would assume it wasn't so low that it caused the ice to be unbreakable."

Bancyning's large yellow eye focused on Haku's smiling face. "I see... and I would assume that that's an upper-level elemental zanpakuto, am I right? It can control both water and the wind, as well as thermal energy."

Haku nodded. "Yes... you seem to know quite a bit about zanpakuto for a hollow..."

The dragon's large tail shifted to his right as he seemed to close his eyes. "As you said, I am an adjuchas menos... that title carries much with it."

Lee frowned at Haku. "Haku! Please, do not interfere! This is my fight!"

Haku looked surprised, but nodded anyways. "If that is what you wish... but if it appears that you are going to die, I will interfere."

Lee nodded. "That is fine by me..." Lee knelt down, and removed the weights he kept under his leg-warmers. "Please clear the area!" He released the weights, and they caused an explosion of dust when they reached the ground, creating two deep holes on either side of him. Everyone jumped high into the trees, intent on not getting caught in the crossfire (though Haku had minor difficulty finding a branch that would support Fubuki's weight).

Bancyning snorted at the display. "Removing weights, now? It might have been more advantageous to keep them on, with the added weight to your kicks."

Lee shook his head. "I'll have to disagree with you on that one..." In the blink of an eye, Lee had disappeared, and had reappeared under Bancyning's jaw, delivering the same kick he had once delivered to Sasuke. The blow made several small cracks along the bottom of the dragon's jaw, and as his front began to lift into the air, Lee sprung into the air and started rapidly kicking in the same spot.

Quickly, Bancyning was standing on his hind legs, exposing his underside to the air. Lee was startled when he realized that the rib bones were growing in length- and were aimed at him. Lee managed to twist his body so that the tips of the ribs- which may have well been spearheads- didn't touch him, but he was thrown aside by the force of the sides of the bones brushing against him. As Lee landed on his feet, Bancyning remained on his hind feet, and his ribs changed back to their original size. Gai seemed most pleased. "Excellent, Lee! Show him the power of youth!"

Zabuza raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Power of... youth?"

Gai nodded. "Yes! Lee's power of youth allows him to overcome all obstacles!"

Bancyning narrowed his eyes at Lee, who had already taken his combat-stance. "Not even this 'power of youth' can bring him to defeat an opponent such as I. I will show you the true meaning... of despair."

--

Minato drew one of his zanpakuto- this one having a yellow weave on the hilt. "I apologize, but I have no intention to die again any time soon."

Sakura gulped as she felt the energy coming from her opponent. It was paralyzing- she was finding it difficult to breathe, let alone stand. Minato eyed her, noticing her weakness. "You should go back a ways. Just being here might paralyze you... lower-level shinigami are not meant to fight such opponents."

Sakura nodded. "H-hai." She immediately ran back the way they came, hoping not to get in the crossfire that would result.

Minato turned to Chiyo, concern in his eyes. "You sure you want to stick around? This opponent... is a very strong one, even as far as adjuchas menos go."

Chiyo grunted. "Is that supposed to scare me? I have no clue what this thing is, why should I be afraid of it?"

Minato sighed. He probably had a lot of explaining to do. "Well..."

His sentence was interrupted by a blast of wind coming from the direction of their opponent. Their attention became focused on Helrood, who looked mildly annoyed- the orbs that represented her eyes had narrowed into ovals. Minato noticed that her mask was split into four colors- brown, dark blue, red, and green, each color taking up a full-fourth of her mask. The brown, in the lower left, had white zig-zag lines moving through it, while in the upper-left blue section, the lines were configured in curved lines, like waves. The white in the upper-right framed the red in a flame-like outline, and the green in the lower left had several curved lines parallel to each other, reminiscent of wind. "I am what you would call a conglomeration of thousands of evil spirits. What you should be afraid of is that I eat the souls of beings such as yourselves as snacks."

Minato frowned as he took a battle stance. "And what you should be afraid of... is the fact that even though I am a vice-captain, I am much stronger than the rank would imply." He ran his hand down his sword, tracing his finger in a zig-zag pattern. "Strike... Kyudenmaru!" His zanpakuto was transformed- the blade was now yellow, and shaped in the same zig-zag pattern that Minato had made with his finger, causing it to look like a lightning bolt. The handguard, too, had taken on a similar zig-zagging property, giving the appearance of a bolt of lightning arcing around the blade in a circle.

Helrood seemed amused. "That looks like quite the zanpakuto... lightning element, I assume?"

Minato smirked. "Why don't I just... SHOW YOU!" Minato swung his sword, and a lightning bolt arced from the tip of the blade and struck where Helrood was standing. However, she was not there anymore- Minato noticed that there was a large hole in the ground where Helrood had once been. He heard a rumble beneath the ground, and saw it begin to bulge. He jumped backwards as Helrood emerged head first from the ground, her jaws wide open. As she emerged from the ground, she growled towards Chiyo and Kakashi, who wisely moved back towards Minato. Minato smirked. "Please... digging through the ground? You're going to have to be more original than that, to get me."

Helrood seemed to smirk, two of her tails swaying behind her. "If you say so... but who said I was done?" It took Minato a moment to realize that two of Helrood's tails were missing and similarly, her mask had changed- now it was only blue and brown. The two warriors turned to find that there was another menos right behind them- this one also had two tails, but its mask was red and green. It opened its mouth, and a torrent of flames poured from its mouth. All three of the shinobi (ex in Minato's case) managed to leap to the side, but were surprised to hear the sound of rushing water coming from behind them. Turning, they saw that a large amount of water was being expelled from the blue-and-brown Helrood's mouth, causing a large wave that headed right for them. First, though, the wave traveled through the flames, the water itself becoming steaming hot as a result. Minato swore, placed the hilt of Kyudenmaru under his arm, and grabbed Chiyo with his left hand, and Kakashi with his right, and jumped as high as he could, landing on what appeared to be the air itself. They watched the wave stop, which was causing the whole area to be enveloped in steam.

As Chiyo panicked, obviously not liking being so high in the air, Kakashi spoke to Minato. "She can split?"

Minato nodded. "Bet her powers are split among the clones..."

They turned around when they felt Helrood's presence above them- yet another Helrood was standing on the air, facing them, her body perpendicular to the ground. This one's mask was purely green, and she had only one tail. "My, my, what observant little insects. I was about to show you that ability myself." She opened her mouth, and with a roar, a mighty gust of wind blasted them back towards the ground.

Looking down, they saw that there were three more one-tailed Helroods waiting for them below. The red-masked one opened her mouth, and again, a torrent of flames rushed towards them. Minato swore- as a shinobi, he knew what happened when you mixed wind blasts with flames. In a flash of lightning, they were out of harm's way as the two blasts collided, resulting in a large sphere of fire that caused the very air around it to distort from the heat. Minato, now on the ground, let go of Chiyo and Kakashi as he observed the intensity of it. "This menos... she really knows what she's doing."

As the four clones merged together, the menos smirked, the long red hair coming from behind her mask blowing in the wind. "Why, of course. They are my own abilities- I of all people should know how to use them to their fullest."

Minato smirked as he took a battle stance once again. "Well, I'll give that right back to you- I, too, know how to use my powers to their fullest." Minato disappeared in a flash of lightning and appeared on the other side of Helrood, the small thundercrack echoing into the distance.

Helrood turned around, her eyes narrowed. "While that may be faster than the shunpo some shinigami seem to flaunt... it's useless, considering that your location can be easily determined."

Minato grinned. "We'll just see about that!" The next flash of lightning seemed to encircle Helrood, and she was shocked- while her opponent had not seemed to move, she had could feel the blood pouring down her sides. She was downright outraged at the fact that he had apparently even made two shallow cuts in her mask. Minato's grin remained on his face. "So, you sure you want to continue fighting me?"

--

Bancyning's body began to change shape- quickly, his dragon-esque body shifted so that he was more humanoid, though he still stood at such a height that Lee didn't even come up to his knees. He smirked. "Let's see... how you deal with me when I fight like this." He reached his right hand up to the back of his neck, and Lee was shocked when he pulled out his spinal cord, a new one regenerating in its place immediately, the old one forming a spined whip of sorts. Lee was not shocked due to the creepiness of such an act- but the familiarity of such a thing.

"You... that fighting style... I've seen it before..."

Bancyning tilted his head. "You've seen? My fighting style? My, my... now that is odd."

Lee nodded. "Yes... a man I fought, more than two years ago..."

Zabuza growled, and yelled at Lee. "What do you mean, you've seen it before? This is an adjuchas menos! They take decades upon decades to form! They don't form in two years!"

Bancyning snorted. "Well, if you're so familiar with my fighting style... let's see how you counter it!" He brought his arm back, and the whip curled up a bit. He then stretched his arm out to the side, and then swept it towards Lee. The result was that the whip, following Bancyning's arm motions, swept- and sliced- through the many trees to his side, forcing Haku and Neji to jump back several more trees. Lee, knowing that dodging would be pointless- and, indeed, would still be pointless if it were more humanly proportioned- he reached inside of himself, and unlocked the first of the Eight Chakra Gates- the Gate of Opening- and was able to kick the giant whip away, and it amusingly hit Bancyning in the face.

As he checked his mask for more cracks, he glared at Lee. "No human.... should be that strong... very well. I accept you as a worthy opponent." He discarded the spine whip, and instead held his right hand out in front of him, the fingers flattened together. They began to merge together, and soon, his entire right arm below the elbow was a large sword. Again, he swung it at Lee, but this time, instead of kicking it away, Lee jumped onto the sword, and again jumped at Bancyning's head. However, Bancyning quickly twisted his body and smacked Lee aside with his great bony wings, causing Lee to embed himself in a nearby tree.

Lee grunted as he removed himself from the tree. "It seems... I will have to up the ante in order to defeat you..." He looked towards his sensei, Guy, who gave a thumbs-up and smiled- Zabuza grunted in pain as the light reflected off of Guy's teeth and into his eyes. Lee gave a similar gesture, and again reached deep within himself.

Bancyning was surprised as he felt Lee's spiritual power rise yet again. His power just keeps going higher and higher... who is this kid? He was beginning to doubt if he'd be able to beat him, but then realized that there was no way that the boy could possibly kill him with his bare hands and feet. That decision was reversed when Lee's skin turned red, and his chakra began visibly wrapping around him. Before Bancyning could blink, Lee had disappeared, and he could feel his bones shatter piece by piece. His arms detached from his body, as did his wings, and eventually his legs. As his body free-falled to the ground, he felt a great force hit him in the bottom-half of his mask, causing his entire bottom jaw to disintegrate as his body started falling in the other direction. Lee's power returned to normal as Bancyning hit the ground, and the boy was obviously exhausted. "Looks like... I win..."

Bancyning, however, was not finished. His tail- now pointed towards Lee- began extending rapidly, the tip sharper than most spears. Before Lee could react, the tail was knocked aside by the large weight attached to Fubuki. As it returned to Haku's side, Haku smiled. "I apologize, Lee. You didn't look like you were in any position to defend yourself"

Lee shook his head as he fell to one knee. "It's... alright. It's my fault for not removing the tail."

They were not surprised when Bancyning regenerated his arms, allowing him to flip himself onto his stomach and face them. Lee was surprised by what he saw- underneath where the dragon's jaw had been was anther one- a human one, complete with flesh, that actually moved when he spoke, the skin a dark brown. "So, you think I'm beaten?!? I can still fight! I will continue to fight until you all are dead!"

--

These same words came from Helrood's mouth. Minato sighed. "I see... you know, there's something I've always wanted to try with a menos. I wonder.... what's under that mask of yours." In another flash of lightning, Helrood could feel her mask slipping. As the thunder faded from her hearing, she brought her paws up to her mask, and began to panic as the lower half slipped off, exposing the lower-half of a human face.

"You... you'll pay for this... I swear it..."

Naruto was watching from the safety of the trees, his cloaking device worn out a short while ago. He was in awe of his father's skills- even in death, he deserved the name "Yellow Flash". He looked towards his zanpakuto- he had not had it long, so he did not know what its name was, let alone what abilities the sword possessed. But... he hoped that it was something cool like Kyudenmaru's abilities, so that he could protect all that was precious to him.

Kakashi frowned under his mask. "Stop playing around, sensei! We have a mission!"

Minato glanced towards the old woman. "Yeah, yeah, hold your horses, I'm wrapping up right now."

Helrood, knowing it was pointless to hold up her mask, began to charge straight towards Minato, forgetting that she had ranged abilities. "I'm going to tear you to pieces, shinigami!"

Minato tightened his stance and smirked as his opponent rushed towards him. However, as the mask slid off of her face, Minato's own face slowly went from confident... to horrified. "Y-you... you're..."

--

Lee looked between Bancyning and Haku. "Who... what is he? I thought he was just some monster, but now I'm not so sure..."

Haku nodded. "What we didn't get to tell you... is that hollows were all once human at one point or another..."

Everyone's eyes widened. Gai was absolutely stunned. "Wh-what? Human?"

Zabuza nodded. "Haku's right. Hollows are formed when dead humans descend into madness. There are multiple ways for them to become hollows, but the end result is the same- a heartless, soul-eating monster."

Bancyning smirked under his mask as his legs began to regenerate. "Heartless? That may well be in my case, but... even hollows are capable of kindness."

Zabuza pointed his sword at Bancyning. "Don't let him fool you- hollows are all in need of purification. That's what we shinigami do, with our zanpakuto."

Tenten looked at Zabuza's sword. "So, those swords have the ability to purify hollows... let them become humans again?"

Zabuza nodded. "Human souls, at any rate. But... I don't think it works on menos. Menos are formed when hollows, unsatisfied with eating human souls, begin to eat each other... and the result is a gillian-class menos. An adjuchas- like Bancyning here- is formed when one of those hollows that forms a gillian surpasses all the others in power, and takes over the body."

Lee gulped. "So... the personality that took over this hollow... it's Kimimaro's, isn't it?"

Zabuza growled. "I told ya, kid, it takes decades for an adjuchas to form! There's no way that someone you fought with could be a part of this!"

Bancyning interrupted their theories. "Kimi...maro... the name does sound familiar. I believe that that is the name I once had while I was alive."

Everyone was shocked. Haku shook as he talked. "Y-you... you were completely in control, even after you became a hollow?!?"

Bancyning shook his head. "You misunderstand... Kimimaro was the name I had while I was alive. I am the hollow that was inside of him- Kimimaro is now nothing more than a sobbing voice in the back of my mind, crying "Orochimaru-sama" repeatedly, pathetically, like a baby for its mother."

Lee growled as he managed to stand up again. "You... don't talk about Kimimaro like that! He was a noble warrior, even if he was my enemy!"

Bancyning sneered as he looked down at Lee, his body now completely regenerated. "And what are you going to do about it? You're not fit to fight, and I'm good as new!"

In an instant, Gai appeared next to his pupil. "Lee doesn't have to do anything... after all, you still have five other opponents!"

--

Everyone froze when they saw Minato's blood spilled on the ground. He coughed, bearing with the pain as he looked into Helrood's emerald eyes. "You... your face... it's just like..." Helrood pulled her claws out, confused at the shinigami's behavior. "Ku...shina's..."

Naruto dashed out of his cover, and stood between Helrood and Minato, zanpakuto raised, eyes set defiantly. "You... I won't let you touch one hair on my father!"

--

Kasek: So, thoughts, opinions, etc. will be appreciated. Anyways, next chapter will be the end of the fights with the menos.

..my sister renounced me as her brother because of what I did with Kushina. Although she's done this many times before, she sounded almost serious this time. Ouch.

Anyways, zanpakuto explanation time.

Fubuki (Blizzard)- with a wave of the fan, Haku can freeze anything. With a flick of the chain, he can smash what he's frozen. Very useful.

My original concept was that of a giant ice-axe (showing Haku's willingness to be a tool) named Hyousetsumaru. The activation code was "Come down upon the frozen land." He could smash with the blunt side, rip into his opponent's with the pick, or stab them with the spike (the spike allowing him to freeze whatever he stabbed). I forgot about it before I wrote this scene, so if you guys want me to, I'll change it. Especially since Temari already has a giant fan...

Kyudenmaru (Ball lightning-maru)- Allows Minato to shoot lightning, as well as travel with the lightning he shoots. It seems overpowered, but it does have a weakness that high-level opponents may exploit. His ultimate attack is... nah, I'll save it for later. It's cool, though.