Here I am with another installment of The People Who Crossed Dimensions! Or Crossing Dimensions for short. First I would like to say, thank you for all who read and reviewed last chapter. I got some pretty intriguing reviews, some that really piqued my interest and got me thinking.
All I have to say is… maybe I will, maybe I wont. Lets just see what happens. Oh and to MaKayla, I'm updating okay. Stop yelling at me.
Disclaimer: I don't think I have to say it this time. I'm sure its known by all by now.
Crossing Dimensions Chapter: Seven
=Late Night - Streets of Karakura=
It seemed like everyone has been looking at the dense cloud of smoke for hours, but in truth, its only been up for seconds. Another few seconds ticked by before crazed laughter was heard and somebody's body was blasted out of the smoke.
Everyone tensed when they noticed it was Renji, dressed in his black Shinigami attire.
Wind whipped around them wildly, clearing up the smoke in no time flat. Naruto was still laughing, a scorch mark around his face. Though it seemed to be rapidly clearing up. He calmed his laughter and glared at the redheaded Death God, who had righted himself in the air. His eyes were crimson and filled with bloodlust. "I want you to do that again." Naruto chuckled darkly.
Nobody saw the changed eyes of the blonde, but Renji. Everyone else noticed the change in atmosphere though.
Renji glared at the changed blonde, with a little cautiousness. He couldn't believe that a human just shrugged off the attack. Though he could place the blame on himself, since he wasn't all that good in Kido. He was wondering just how he changed his eye color though, and where that slit came from.
The blonde didn't give the Shinigami anymore time before stabbing his sword in the ground and vanishing. Nobody had a chance to even widen there eyes at his speed, before he appeared in front of Renji and plowed his fist in his gut.
He was sent speeding down the street, before Naruto again vanished and appeared behind him. He sent him back up the street with another punch. Before the Shinigami could reach the others, Naruto appeared in front of him again, and kicked him upwards. Before lastly appeared above him, a Rasengan in his hand and he plunged it in his gut, sending him crashing down.
Naruto smirked as he landed right on top of his sword. Renji's body seemed to make, just a small crater in the ground. He glanced at a stoic Byakuya and smirked even wider. "You did tell him to be careful. Your subordinate cant follow instructions." Naruto said still atop his sword as he waved his left hand nonchalantly.
The man just continued to look at Naruto with a calculating gaze before he glanced in his Lieutenant's direction. He noticed the man seemed to be shrugging off the attack, though with a little difficulty.
The blonde also turned his head and frowned a bit. He hopped off his blade and resealed it. "There's no challenge in fighting you." Naruto said glancing at the man's Zanpakto, that laid between them. "You cant even reach your weapon." Naruto turned with a bored face.
He noticed Rukia, Ichigo, and Uryu looking at him in surprise. "Ichigo you can fight now, if you want. I loosened the top for you, now its your cue to take it off." Naruto said slapping him on the shoulder. "Uryu, you can take Rukia home. I'll stay here and watc-"
"NO!" Rukia yelled, anger clearly visible from her face. "I'm going to the Soul Society to pay for my crimes. None of you can stop me from doing that." she said running over to Byakuya to prove her point.
"No you're not stupid! You didn't commit a crime, you gave me the power to save my sister. How is that a crime?" Ichigo questioned in anger.
"Her giving you the power was actually the crime." Naruto answered with an innocent smile. Though an idea came to mind that made him widen his smile. "Just let her go to the Soul Society. Her brother can take her home." Naruto said looking at Byakuya with a smirk. "Like that nice brother he is."
It happened faster than anybody could see, but Naruto was then cut in half. Everyone's eyes widened before the body was turned into a slab of concrete. Byakuya was near the slab as it fell back to the ground, his sword still in its sheath. "Whoa that was faster than I anticipated Byakuya-san." Naruto said holding up his arm, to show that a long cut was running up it. "I barely escaped it." Naruto said with a grin, as it started closing in front of everyone's eyes.
Naruto noticed smoke was emitting from the wound, as it began closing. 'Hmm, it's the same thing that happened with the earlier cut.' Naruto thought, remembering how his other wound had closed up. 'It must have something to do with their Zanpaktos.' Naruto said, also noticing that it was closing up slower.
"Impressive that you were able to evade that, with only that minor injury. Though that only proves that I'm clearly faster than you." Byakuya said before he appeared behind Naruto and plunged his hand into the blonde, twice.
Naruto's body turned into another slab of concrete, before appearing behind Renji. "That was close again." the blonde said jumping a few meters away from the redhead. He could feel, the small wound in his back. It was only a finger sized hole, that was quickly closing up. 'What the hell was he trying to do?' Naruto thought with a cautious mind.
The Captain seemed be impressed by the way he looked at the blonde. He looked at Renji, who had just begun fighting the other boy and narrowed his eyes a bit.
Naruto also looked in that direction and noticed, Ichigo had the upper hand, thanks to his earlier abuse he put the man through. It changed when Ichigo received a long cut along his shoulder. Renji seemed to be regaining his form and tenacity.
The blonde saw the atmosphere change around Kurosaki and rose his eyebrow. 'Interesting.' he looked like he was moving faster, clearly surprising Renji with his new speed.
Ichigo couldn't believe how slower Renji was getting. He figured that the man's reserves were plummeting and was causing him to get the upper hand on him. He swung his Zanpakto horizontally and frowned when it was blocked. Though it seemed to cause the man to skid sideways. He jumped and flipped, giving his sword more momentum.
When he swung down his Zanpakto impacted his, again. Renji's knees buckled underneath him and he thrust out his hand. "Hado #31: Shakkaho." he said, enveloping himself and his opponent in another cloud of smoke.
The blonde rolled his eyes, before noticing that Ichigo's body was flung out of the smoke. The boy rolled and skidded along the ground, before dropping to his knees in pain. He didn't think the attack would do that much damage, considering Naruto brushed it off with a laugh.
That's when it happened. Byakuya appeared behind the carrot colored teen and plunged his hand through his chest, twice. His eyes never leaving the blonde, knowing he was the only one who saw. A smirk graced his lips as he noticed the shocked looked on the blonde's face. "I've shattered his Soul Chain and stripped him of his powers, he'll never be a Shinigami again." Byakuya said plainly dropping his smirk to return to his face to uninterested.
Naruto's eyes widened at that. 'Was that what he was trying to do to me?' Naruto thought as Ichigo's body dropped to the floor. He could easily see the confusion all over his face as blood started pooling around him. It clearly happened quicker than a blink of an eye for him.
The others also showed surprise at how Ichigo was quickly dropping to the floor. They knew the man was fast, considering how he seemed to just appear behind everyone he was attacking. Rukia, Renji, and Uryu knew that Ichigo was down for the count.
"Taicho broke his Chain of Fate and Sleeping Soul. There's no chance he'll live through that." Renji spoke shakily as he stood back to his full height. "He'll be dead within the hour." Renji added shouldering his blade.
That's when he turned his eyes to the blonde. "I'll come back to kill you." he said stabbing his Zanpakto into the air in front of him.
Everyone was surprised it seemed to be swallowed, disappearing into the air. He turned it and a large, old fashioned Japanese wooden door appeared, while sliding open. The inside was simply bright white light.
Naruto was surprised to see Ichigo's shaky hand grasp onto Byakuya's hakama. "Let go human." the captain said keeping his eyes on Naruto, watching for his next move.
The dying teen clutched at the cloth in his hands a little harder. "Look at me when you talk to me." Ichigo ordered pulling slightly in his anger.
"Oh…" Byakuya said raising an eyebrow. "you must not want that arm then." he said resting his hand on the hilt of his Zanpakto.
Naruto stopped listening, only thinking about how he could get carrot top away from the captain. He looked at the slab of concrete a few feet away and smirked.
It happened so fast, it looked like Naruto just substituted the concrete for Ichigo. The bleeding teen was hoisted over his shoulders, the blonde totally missing what Rukia was saying. "I'll see you again Byakuya-taicho." Naruto said with a genuine bow with a grin on his face. "I cant wait until we continue this little fight between us." he added.
"Likewise human." Byakuya replied as Renji and Rukia walked through the Senkaimon.
Naruto smirked at the comment. "Oh I'm anything but human." the blonde said his eyes turning crimson once more before returning back to blue. "Lets go Uryu, we have to get Ichigo fixed up." Naruto said putting his hand on the teen's shoulder. "Until the next time we Shinigami." Naruto said with the utmost amount of respect, before both parties left in their own fashions.
=Urahara Shop=
Naruto appeared inside of the shop, before dropping the teen on a prearranged cot. "Here we are, your healing station." Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Kisuke I'm here, heal Ichigo. This guy broke his Soul Chain and Soul Sleep, whatever the hell that is. He's gonna die, unless he gets healed, and frankly I'm not a healer." Naruto told the pale blonde man as he walked into the room.
Urahara seemed to frowned at the sight of the bleeding teen. "Well, I was hoping you would prevent that sort of injury." Kisuke said before calling Tessai to take care of Ichigo.
"In the mean time, we need to talk about the kid. I'm sure you felt the change earlier. I'm sure you know this already, but this kid has a ridiculously amount of spiritual power." Naruto said as the two went outside to talk.
"Yes he is, strong but inexperienced. But after we teach him how to fight, he'll easily become a force to be reckoned with." Kisuke said as he began to, softly, fan himself.
Naruto nodded at that. "He reminds me a lot of myself." the young blonde spoke as he began drifting off. "Back in my world, I saw myself as the weakest shinobi in the village. Not that I was physically weak, but because I had so much energy that I couldn't control it properly." Naruto spoke softly before he began thinking about his first sensei.
"My first teacher was the laziest person alive, even lazier than you." Naruto said making the other blonde bristle at the comment, before fanning himself a little faster. "So he didn't really have the drive to teach the entire team, only teaching Sasuke." Naruto said clenching his fist at the memories flowing through his head.
Kisuke stood beside the blonde, who was looking into the night sky with a river of emotions flowing through his eyes. "He even had the audacity to shove me to another teacher, who was even worse. Though I'm grateful, because I then met the best teacher anyone will ever had, even though he was a super pervert." Naruto said flashing a smile.
Naruto chuckled at the new memories assaulting his mind. "Did you know that man tossed me over a ravine, to help me summon a boss toad?"
Urahara couldn't help but bust out laughing at that. He could just imagine the younger blonde falling down a ravine, tears in his eyes, before a giant toad saved him. It was a classic thought, that only seemed to make him laugh harder.
Naruto glared at the other blonde, "That's not funny at all. I could have died!" Naruto yelled in annoyance. "Why'd I even say that?" Naruto muttered angrily. "To make a long story short, I'm as strong as I am now, because I had the perfect teacher to help me." Naruto said, the trip down memory lane took a major detour in the wrong direction.
That was when he noticed that he was getting tired. "We'll see what we can do about the Rukia/Soul Society situation, after we bring Ichigo back from the dead."
The shop owner waved his fan nonchalantly. "We have plenty of time to worry about Rukia. It takes at least a month before prisoners are executed. After Tessai is finished healing Ichigo's wounds, we'll begin the process of retrieving his Shinigami powers. Then we'll train him properly, that is, of course, if he doesn't completely die in the process of regaining his abilities." Kisuke informed as Naruto shook his head.
"He's going to want to save Rukia, by any means necessary. That's going to drive him to stay alive and get stronger." Naruto said with a smirk as he began walking off.
"I know that he'll survive as well. So in two weeks time, prepare to go to the Soul Society."
Naruto's smirk widened at the thought of fighting Byakuya again. "I cant wait." Naruto's eyes flashed crimson and stayed. His canines were extended and he chuckled. "I want to see what Kuchiki is made of."
Kisuke smiled at the thought of them two trying to kill each other came to mind, of course he had no idea how Naruto fought. If it was anything like how Sasuke fought, then the blonde will have problems with that particular captain. And he told the other blonde that.
"You don't have to worry about me, Sasuke's arrogance keeps him from gauging an enemy's strength and weaknesses. He relies too heavily on that Sharingan of his, even though it gives him a small edge. The Shinigamis are going to have problems with it, because they know nothing of his eyes, but I wouldn't have a single problem, because I know everything about those eyes. In short, I'm stronger than Sasuke, even more so, in this world." Naruto smirked as he jumped on the nearest roof.
"Remember Naruto, two weeks. I'll handle Kurosaki's training. You'd best do your own training." Kisuke told the retreating blonde. "You're going to need it against Byakuya, right Yoruichi?"
"Of course, Naruto-kun is strong. But Byakuya is as well. Though, I've never seen Naruto fighting seriously so, who knows what'll happen." the chocolate skinned beauty said walking from around the corner. "I guess it'll be my job to escort them into Soul Society?" Yoruichi questioned with a cross of her arms.
"You guess right dear friend. Aren't you excited?!" Kisuke asked playfully with a large smile.
The next thing that happened was Yoruichi's foot in Kisuke's face.
=During The Next Two Weeks=
Naruto was running through a four dozen clones, simply punching as many as he could while they swarmed him. During the past five days, he's been working solely on his Ninjutsu, before he switched to Tai two days ago.
Again, like the last time we saw him, he was shirtless. Also he was shoeless, only having his ankles taped around his cargo pants. They were rather baggy, but he couldn't complain, since it didn't hamper his movement at all.
Ever since he became a Jonin, the blonde had begun to seal his equipment into the waistline of his pants. He only had dozen kunai and two dozen shurikens available, and a hundred yards of ninja wire. Smoke and exploding balls were easily made using seal arrays.
His area of training was a deep canyon, a day's run away from the town. The blonde instantly fell in love with the place, because it was completely isolated and wide. It reminded him of Kisuke's underground training facility and one of the training grounds in Konoha. Though, there wasn't any trees around, the only plant-life being shrubs.
It was perfect. In total, it was easily sixty feet deep. From the ground up, it was one hundred feet wide. After twenty feet up, it would expand outwards, adding twenty more feet to the wideness. Another twenty feet up, would add another twenty feet to the wideness. Until finally the last twenty feet up would regular ground level, where it was surrounded by rocks and leftover excavation equipment. What they found was unknown to him and he didn't care.
Going from top to bottom, Naruto was training in level four, the deepest and the more spacious.
Naruto's hands blurred in motion, blocking each of the strikes one of his clones was sending his way. Another of the, last remaining dozen, clones swept at his feet. Naruto wasn't surprised and was already twisting his body. He was spinning in the air, as a dozen shurikens ejected from his spinning frame.
The weapons only dispelled four of the clones. As soon as Naruto stopped spinning, two clones were poised to thrust their swords through his body.
Red chakra quickly wrapped around his body, three tails stabbing into each of the clones. The transformed blonde smirked as his six tails dispelled the two clones. The chakra tails wrapped around his frame before pulsing outward.
Three of the clones didn't brace in time, leaving only three clones left. The chakra left the smirking blonde as he jumped towards them.
The clones felt more power coursing through their veins as the other clones dispelled. The clone blocked the original's axe kick, as the other clone was already eye level with the original. Naruto tilted his head, narrowly dodging the straight punch. His nails quickly lengthened and he thrust his hand into the clone, swiftly dispelling it.
He felt hands wrapping around each of his legs. He struggled as each of the clones pulled their individual legs. Naruto grunted before vanishing in a bright flash. He appeared twenty feet, above one of his seal markers. 'That was close.' he thought with an inward grimace at what almost happened.
"Be careful Naruto-kun!" a spectator yelled a hundred feet away.
Naruto turned his head to see Orihime on level three, cupping her hands over her mouth to amplify the message. Naruto nodded and turned back to the two clones.
The walnut haired vixen had accompanied him so they could train together. She was amazing with her healing ability, allowing Naruto to train far longer than he had planned. Her shield was exceptional, able to stop nearly all of techniques Naruto sent her way. Though she had problems with the fast striking lightning attacks, but in time those two would be easily stopped.
Even with all of that, her only offensive attack was lacking. She still didn't have the mindset to cause bodily harm onto others. Even with that problem, she didn't have any trouble defending herself when it came to it. From long range and close range, she was protected, depending on her opponent's skill level of course.
Her karate skill was great. Surprising, thanks to her passive nature. She always had five clones helping her. Whether they were for attacking her shield, slowly strengthening it with every attack, being moving targets for Tsubaki to try an hit, or attacking her directly, though only using Chunin skill. Though now, she was only using one as a spar partner.
Naruto faced off against the last two clones and glared down at them. He swept his hands over his hips and two kunais appeared in his hands. He held them in reverse grips and crossed his arms. "You ready boys?" Naruto asked, his crimson eyes piercing through their souls.
The two clones unsealed their swords and stood in a stance. "We are now." they said in unison.
Instantly all three disappeared in flashes of yellow. They appeared all over the field, clashes of metal sounding repeatedly in the air. Naruto flashed in the middle of the field and ran to the sides, as the clones closed in behind him.
With each of his steps, a new Hirashin seal was printed on the ground. He placed the seals on the soles of each of his feet the previous day. It was the most genius idea he's ever come up with.
After he took his seventh step, he vanished in the blink of an eye and appeared behind the clones. One of them dispelled and one of his kunai was cut cleanly, reducing his number of kunai to eleven. "Damn it, kunai are too weak against that blade." the blonde muttered in annoyance. He needed to reinforce the kunai with some good ol Fuinjutsu, but later. Naruto glared at the clone and lengthened the kunai with wind. He knew using wind like that was against his own rules, but it was for Taijutsu purposes.
"Well, time to finish this little session." Naruto said as the last two remaining blondes dashed towards each other. The original swiftly tossed the broken, wind enhanced, kunai ahead.
When it looked as if the clone was going to be hit, he dodged to the left. Though Naruto had anticipated this and the unbroken kunai was already in his path.
The original smirked as the clone exploded in a burst of smoke. Though he wasn't prepared to see his kunai sticking out of a large rock. Naruto cursed as the clone appeared above him with a Rasengan in hand. He thrust down and the blonde was hit right in the middle of his back. Not to mention he was being drilled into the ground.
Naruto cursed more, before he vanished in a bright flash. He reappeared ten meters away pawing at his back, to the best of his ability. 'Fuck that hurt.' if he hadn't fused with the Kyuubi, that would have broken his spine. He would have had to spend two weeks in the hospital as the fox healed it up. Even if he hadn't fused with the fox, Orihime was here to heal him up to perfection.
Naruto glared at the clone, as his version one cloak returned to the party, complete with five tails. He noticed the clone bringing his own tails to the party. The original quickly vanished and appeared in front of the clone, his hand over the clone's face. A Rasengan was in his hands and he thrust it through the clones face.
The blonde smirked and recalled his cloak. His back ached and he walked over to Orihime. He didn't heal his wounds, opting to have Orihime practice on him.
As the blonde jumped onto the third level, he saw Orihime fighting off one of his clones. Naruto noticed that she never went on the offensive, but judging from the look in her eyes, she saw the openings. "Don't be afraid to strike back Hime." Naruto spoke walking within ten feet of her.
Orihime kept her eyes on the clone, but nodded her head to show she heard. She parried a punch and quickly jabbed at the clones throat. The fact that it quickly dispelled, showed that the curvaceous female had a bit of power behind her strikes.
Naruto held a hand to his throat at the memory. "Excellent progress Hime. We'll keep working on your fighting skills, just in case one of us cant protect you." Naruto said, knowing everyone was going to end up tagging along. It was the only reason Orihime was training so ardently along with Naruto. "Now, can you help me out here?" Naruto asked with a chuckle.
"Hai, sensei-kun." she said touching each of her hairpins. "Ayame, Shun'o - Soten Kisshun, (Twin Sacred Return Shield) I reject." she said as two pieces of each of the hairpins lit up and shot off. They surrounded Naruto's body, forming an orange, translucent, oval shaped, barrier around him. Nearly immediately the pain from his back left and the damage to his skin cleared up.
With him withholding his own regenerative abilities, he was able to see just how fast Orihime's ability was. "Truly amazing. I can never get tired of seeing that. Though we have to work on your incantation. Its too long to use in battle. So for the rest of the time, we'll work on shortening it, along with your resolve to attack others. Tsubaki doesn't like not being used right, you know that." the blonde said as the two spirits ended the technique and went back to Orihime.
They circled around her, agreeing with Naruto. "Please listen to Naruto-kun. Tsubaki wont shut up about it." Shun-o said.
Naruto chuckled at Orihime's blush. It was adorable, seeing the tiny spirit guy chastise Orihime. "Shun-o, I don't know what to do with her." Naruto said crossing his arms. "If only she knew how many people she'll be helping, if she would get over her passive mindset. Maybe we need to make her angry?" Naruto asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
"I don't think you should do that Naruto-san." she quiet voice of Ayame sounded in the background.
"You're right, that would be bad." Naruto said with an inward smirk as the two spirits were recalled back to their original forms.
Orihime had been silently watching her boyfriend talking to her spirits, with a straight face. She didn't know what was going through his mind, but she couldn't do anything about what might happen. There was no escape, while she was in the deep canyon, and Naruto wouldn't allow her enough time to climb the ladders. "Are we going to continue training, or are we going to take a break?" she asked with a cautious tone, hoping she would cancel whatever plans he was concocting in that blonde head of his.
Naruto looked up at the sun, seeing that it was at its peak, he shook his head. "It's around noon time, so we'll take a short break." he said looking over to where their shared tent was, along with a port-a-potty. It was more for Orihime's sake, since Naruto was literally capable of appearing in town at the blink of an eye.
The blonde was in charge of gathering food. There wasn't a lot of game where they were, so if Orihime was hungry, he would go to town to get her some food.
The walnut haired teen smiled softly and slumped over a little. "Thank you. Today is shaping up to being more tiring then yesterday." she breathed out tiredly.
Naruto walked up to her and brushed her hair with his hands. "Sorry Hime, but it'll get easier the next week." he said with a encouraging smile.
She pouted at his response, blushing at his shirtless body. "But that's what you said yesterday." she complained feeling her lips being pushed together when he moved his hands to her cheeks.
The blonde pushed her cheeks together and kissed her pouting lips. "Because it will Hime. Trust me." he said pinching her cheeks a bit, before releasing them. "Now how about we have a little picnic okay?" he asked with a smile, glad she had reverted back to the old Orihime while the sun was out.
She smiled brightly and nodded her head. "I'll make the sandwiches, you…" she said, touching his chest with her finger. "go get the blanket you forgot." she finished before walking to the tent.
"Yes dear." the blonde droned, before vanishing in a yellow flash.
=Urahara's Underground Facility=
Sasuke and Tatuski were underground Urahara's shop, along with Yoruichi, Chad, Kisuke and Ichigo. Of course the three groups were all in different parts of the facility. Uryu, the Quincy, chose to train alone, and nobody knew where Naruto and Orihime were.
The Uchiha was impressed with how ferocious the transformed Tatsuki was in a fight. She fought with the skill of a Chunin. The only things that were new was her new speed and enhanced strength. Also her touch was becoming acidic to the touch, showing her progress.
Sasuke held his hands behind his back as Tatsuki continued to throw her punches. He dodged each of the strikes while quickly backpedaling. "You're getting faster Tatsuki-chan. Keep progressing and within months you'll pass Ichigo's level." Sasuke goaded, hoping to spur her on more.
Tatsuki grew angrier and her speed increased. The Uchiha jumped in the air, the result of Tatsuki's next punch easily destroyed a boulder twice her size. During the past week and a half Tatuski's skills have been progressing dramatically. She reminded the Uchiha of his skills during the last part of the Chunin exams, five years in his past.
Though she didn't seem to show any projectile attacks, choosing to keep her reiatsu contained in her body.
Still in the air, Sasuke looked down as she jumped high to meet him. The Uchiha had no choice but to use his hands to block her punch. He felt the bones in his hands crack behind the pressure of the strike.
He resisted the urge to cringe at the pain coursing through his arms. It was the biggest reason why he only resorted to dodging, instead of blocking.
The transformed girl cocked her fist back and threw another punch. Sasuke acted on instinct and substituted himself with a rock. He appeared on the ground, watching the rock get turned to dust and shrapnel.
He opened and closed his hand, hating the pain in his hand. 'Here goes another injury for Tessai.' the fallen shinobi thought with a grimace.
He activated his Sharingan and squinted his eyes at the falling girl. She was right under the artificial sun, but he knew she was getting closer and closer. His only option was to dodge again and let her create another small crater in the ground.
This style of training went on for the rest of the week.
~CD~CD~CD~CD~CD~
Hundreds of meters away Yoruichi trained with the tall teen of Mexican descent. She had informed the boy that continuous use of his mysterious power would end up draining him of his life force.
Chad just told her that, 'In order to continue protecting people, it was a risk worth taking.' Yoruichi commended him on his courage. It was hard for the teen to even call upon his powers, once he learned how it was easy peasy.
But in truth, the training she set out for him was boring her immensely. There was no other way to train him. She had to admit that, during the week and a half, she's missed Naruto's company a lot. At least he could put up a fight.
Two days ago, she tried to spar with the ducked haired Uchiha. He was entirely too slow to keep up with her. Even with his weird eyes trained on her, she knew that he still had problems following her steps.
She now understood what Naruto was complaining about, the boy never gained skills on his own. His copycat gaze taught him everything he knew, to this very day. The blonde gave her an example, stating that he once took the speed from a green spandex wearing, bug eyed, bowl cut having, boy.
The blonde even told her that, the eyes that were in his sockets, weren't even his. They were his brother's. she was taking aback by that knowledge and now looked at the Uchiha in a new, dark, light. He was one that all should keep their eye on, lest he stabs someone in the back.
She derailed her train of though with a shake of her head. She focused her gaze on the energy blast, from Sado's weird arm, treaded her way. She simply kicked it to the side. "You need to put more power behind your blasts. I want my foot to at least sizzle on contact." she said pointing at her clean, non-smoking foot. She had said that so many times during the past week, that she had started feeling pity for the tall teen.
At his level of skill, he only had a chance of defeating, seated Shingami from twenty to ten. She didn't know about Orihime, but unless she could defeat a ninth seat, she was better than Chad. Unless, of course, Chad increased his skill.
She looked at the teen's expression, it didn't seemed to change all that much. Only looking more focused as he charged another attack. She was glad there was only a few more days left before the training was finished.
~CD~CD~CD~CD~CD~
Ichigo and Kisuke clashed swords together for the millionth time since Ichigo regained his abilities and acquired his new Zanpakto, nearly two weeks ago.
=Flashback - Ichigo's Mindset=
Ichigo awakens in a world, sitting on blue buildings, though they were horizontally. He immediately looked down at his chest to see that nothing was there. He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that there wasn't a hole in his chest.
He didn't know what but something told him to look to his right. When he looked, he noticed a man standing on the building. He was horizontal, along with the building, and standing on a flagpole. "Who are you old man?" Ichigo asked, not in disrespect, but in confusion.
It looked as if the man lowered his head a bit. His mouth started moving, but no words were heard. "What was that?" Ichigo asked picking his ears, because he didn't hear what the stranger said.
The stranger seemed to let out an audible sigh. "How many times must I call out to you, before you're able to hear my name?" he asked cryptically as boxes began moving around them.
When Ichigo noticed the oddity, he looked around in shock as the boxes were moving horizontally. "It's impressive that you are sitting the way you are." the stranger said. Ichigo rose his eyebrow, as the angle of the world shifted. He blinked a few times before he began yelling in surprise. He looked to his side to see the man falling beside him. "I wouldn't worry if I were you, Shinigami control death. Just imagine the time when you were a Shinigami, standing on mid air."
Not knowing how the man knew about Shinigami, Ichigo replied nonetheless. "I don't have them anymore. They're gone forever, I'm completely human now." Ichigo yelled projecting his depression outwards, causing more boxes to fall around them and speeding up the degradation of his soul.
"You're right, you are without Shinigami powers. But, yours weren't destroyed, Rukia's were. You have your own powers, find them, otherwise you'll be dead within the hour!" the old man yelled, only scaring Ichigo more. "Your powers laid dormant, deep inside your being, before they were awakened by Rukia's powers. Find your dormant powers and quickly, your world is crumbling before your eyes." the old man added as Ichigo landed in a large lake.
The dying teen looked around, boxes were literally everywhere. He didn't know which box his powers were in. There were literally a countless amount of them.
At that exact moment, he remembered when Uryu had grabbed onto his spirit ribbon, claiming that all Death Gods had red ribbons and his was unimaginably easy to find. Ichigo had to resist the urge to want to wring the Quincy's neck as he closed his eyes and concentrated.
He widened his senses, to the best of his abilities, and bypassed millions of boxes all around him. He was replaced, literally, in a sea of white ribbons. It was kind of suffocating.
The first time he used this, it wasn't even close to this magnitude. Just as Ichigo seemed to be loosing his grip on the world around him, he reached out and caught his red ribbon. It was incredibly surprising he found it, that he nearly forgot why he was looking for it.
The sudden pain in his chest reminded him. He pulled with all his might, as all the ribbons around him started rapidly deplete and deteriorate before his eyes. He quickly opened the box to see his Zanpakto's handle.
He grabbed it and yanked with all his might as a flash of white flashed all around him.
~CD~CD~CD~CD~CD~
In reality, a bright light flashed, engulfing the whole pit and shooting upwards. Everyone tensed as a body jumped out of the pit. The only ones around were Kisuke, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu.
It had taken Tessai a few hours to heal Ichigo's wounds. The next seventy two hours were spent in that pit, desperately trying to get out and regain his Shinigami abilities.
The former captain eyed the weird being that landed a dozen meters from them. He didn't know whether it was Shinigami or Hollow. Seeing as it was wearing both, the Shinigami outfit, while wearing a Hollow mask, it was easy to be confused.
Not a single word was said as the being reached behind him, grabbing his Zanpakto and smashing it against his face. That action only seemed to make everyone tense even more. "Hey Kisuke-san…" Ichigo's voice sounded as his face was revealed. "I'm going to kill you so bad." Ichigo sad, his annoyance clearly detectable.
Kisuke smile at the statement. "You might just get your chance. Because the next part of the exercise, is to knock off my hat." he said, just as a blast of energy narrowly breezed by him.
The man clenched the cane in his hand, as the wind nearly knocked his hat off. He looked up and noticed the edge was split a little. The pale blonde whined a bit, "This was my favorite hat."
"I didn't get it off, huh? Well, you know what they say, if you fail, try and try again." Ichigo said brandishing his Zanpakto with both hands.
Kisuke chuckled at the carrot colored Shinigami. "Try all you want, the results will be the same." he said, unsheathing his cane sword.
=End Flashback=
It was eleven, maybe twelve, days later and the two were still training. Ichigo's entire being looked different, not physically, but how he carried himself. He looked more experience and more confident about himself.
Also his sword had changed, now resembling a giant Khyber knife, instead of its previous overgrown katana look. It didn't have a guard, only the white clothed hilt. It was as tall as Ichigo was, with a black blade and silver edge. His Zanpakto's name was Zangetsu. He learned of the name, mere hours after jumping from the pit.
Kisuke had been forced to unleash Benihime, which only seemed to color him impressed. Benihime was filled with glee, loving Ichigo's stamina.
Kisuke covered Benihime with red light and swung his sword. Ichigo stabbed his sword into the ground and used it as a shield. Crouching behind it, he was fully prepared for the crash of energy, having done it dozens of times.
Like every time, after he stood back up, Kisuke was already in front of him. He yanked his sword from the ground and blocked the strike and pushed him off. Kisuke only seemed to use the giant sword as a foothold and springboard himself over the rookie Shinigami.
He twirled in the air and threw his sword straight at Ichigo's midsection. Ichigo quickly turned and batted aside the weapon, though receiving a shallow cut along his side. Though the man's assault was still going, as he hastily appeared in front of Ichigo, Benihime already in his hand.
He thrust multiple times, wanting to skewer the boy with all his might. Ichigo's eyes glowed as he continued to block each of the thrusts. On the last thrust, where Kisuke just seemed to push his sword into Ichigo's, the boy heard a yell of frustration. He was surprised to feel his sword shaking, mentally, in anger.
His eyes glowed brighter and he pivoted sharply on his left foot and swung Zangetsu, wanting to remove Kisuke's head from his body.
Kisuke ducked, so instead of the removal of the man's head, it was the removal of his hat. Both fighters seemed to relax considerably because of that. "Well, it took you nine days, but you finally removed my hat. Congratulations, you are now ready to rescue Rukia. In good time too, she only has about two more weeks before her execution." the former captain said shouldering Benihime.
Ichigo stabbed Zangetsu into the ground and leaned against it, smirking at Kisuke. "I guess completing the objective is more important than killing you. Though I nearly did forget about the reason for the fight a few days ago."
Kisuke sealed Benihime and twirled the can in his hand. "That was when you made the most mistakes, I saw the focus fade from your eyes a bit. I'm glad I was able to bring your resolve back with a vengeance." Kisuke said as he began walking away. "I'll begin setting up the gate. I'm sure everyone would be here, by the time I'm finished in a week. Rest up kiddo, you're going to need it." Kisuke said turning to see where his hat was, it being completely cut in two. He mourned sadly at the sight and continued walking in sadness.
=With Naruto & Orihime=
Orihime stood beside the blonde, only wearing a form fitting sports bra and a pair of exercising shorts. Her hair blew in tune with the wind being controlled by Naruto.
Said blonde was beside the girl, still wearing nothing but his pants. Though a closer eye, told everyone that they were rips and tears all over them.
In front of the duo was three Hollow, of the previous five. Training in broad daylight and moonlight, had always brought a few Hollows their way. This time it was five, the day before was three. The Hollows that appeared in the first week were instantly destroyed by the blonde.
Naruto had left the task of destroying them to Orihime, seeing them as milestones for her to pass. So far she's miraculously been able to destroy every Hollow that's attacked her. She was more forced to defend herself, since Naruto only killed those that she was too slow to defend against.
So far, he's only had to kill one every Hollow attack. "Koten Zanshun, (Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield)I reject." Orihime yelled with hard eyes as Tsubaki, who had been circling around her, immediately shot off towards the middle Hollow.
The Hollow roared and jumped in the air before spitting acid at the duo. The other two Hollow ran toward her from two different sides.
Orihime saw what happened and spoke in rapid succession, like she was taught how. "Shiko-Sei Shirudo, (Directional Shield) Santen Kesshun, (Three Sacred Links Shield) I reject." she said quickly as Tsubaki shot straight up and blasted through the Hollow in the air.
Meanwhile Hinagiku, Lily, and Baigon shot from her clips and formed a triangular shield, ten feet in three directions. The shield blocked the acid and both of the Hollows' clawed strikes.
Both Orihime and Naruto were safe from the attacks, with the latter smirking at the progress. The Hollows jumped back when they saw their attacks didn't work. One roared in anger, while the other spit more acid at the shield.
Said shield continued to protect the two with no difficulty. "Koten Zanshun, I reject." she said again as Tsubaki came from behind a Hollow, destroying it in the process.
When the other Hollow saw that it was the last one, it reacted on instinct and fled the scene. Or at least it tried. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he vanished in a shunshin. The Hollow's tail was grabbed, with one hand, and pulled back into their dimension. The blonde stabbed the Hollows tail with his sword and pinned it to the ground. He nodded at Orihime, as the Hollow swiped at him.
Seconds later Orihime destroyed the stationary Hollow with Tsubaki. "I told you the second week was going to be better." Naruto said with a large smile as Tsubaki circled around him.
Orihime gave a weak smile at the blonde's words. Even Tsubaki seemed as if he was smiling under his long white scarf. She may act like her regular self outside of battle, but Naruto was a miracle worker. "I wouldn't say better, more like doing your job." she said crossing her fingers and giving a short prayer for the Hollows she defeated.
The blonde smiled at the sight. She always did that after defeating the Hollows. It was most likely due to the encounter she had with Sora, having admitted that she never forgot about him entirely.
In the meantime she recalled all her spirits and opened her eyes to see Naruto looking at her. "You okay Hime?" Naruto asked showing concern for his princess, like every other time she finished this. She slowly nodded her head and the blonde wrapped her in his arms. "You don't have to do that anymore, if you don't want to. I just wanted to see that you were able to." he said rubbing her head, comforting her slowly.
She reciprocated the blonde's action and leaned into his chest. Naruto leaned into her head and took a long sniff. "You hair still smells good, after all this time."
"You don't, you really need to take a shower." Orihime fired at him, quickly taking a step back to cover her mouth in shock. "Sorry I didn't mean to say it out loud." she squeaked out.
Naruto looked down at her body and pouted. "Well I didn't want to say it either, but you need a shower too. " he returned the quip.
She pouted and glared at the blonde, making the blonde blush at the thoughts going through his mind. He loved the seeing the sweat glistening all over the girl's ample cleavage. Sweat literally covered her body, they had been sparring for a few hours before the Hollows appeared.
"I'm not too tired Naruto-kun." she said wrapping her arms around his neck. "You want to get even dirtier?" she asked in her sultry voice.
"There's nothing stopping us." Naruto asked in his own low voice as he leaned in to kiss her.
They've only been kissing for a few minutes before a clearing of a throat was heard. Orihime squeaked and covered herself against Naruto's body as best as she could.
The blonde looked over to see Tessai standing with a sheepish look on his face. "Me and my big mouth." he breathed out in annoyance. "Kisuke's ready with the portal to Soul Society?" he asked as the man shook his head.
"Then why are you here?" Naruto asked, clearly annoyed.
"I'm just telling you that he needs a week to prepare it, so you two should rest."
"I'm good for a rest. I'm in desperate need of a shower anyway." Orihime muffled against his chest making Naruto chuckle.
"Alright I'll handle the transportation back to town. How long have you been looking for us anyway?" Naruto asked as a clone appeared to gather up all their equipment, while Orihime went to put more clothing on.
Naruto couldn't keep the glare from his face as he looked at Tessai. He turned his eyes away from the man, who just kept the same expression on his face as he stared at the blonde. "I never lost you. I can feel your Reiatsu from town."
The blonde shuddered and looked at the returning girl, wearing her school uniform. "Alright, grab on tightly you two, we'll be on my roof in 3... 2... 1." Naruto counted down before they disappeared in a yellow flash.
~CD~CD~CD~CD~CD~
Instantly the trio appeared on the roof of Naruto's apartment. Orihime looked sickly green, only Naruto and Tessai looked fine. "Oh yeah I forgot to worn you about that, sorry hime." Naruto said as a clone appeared with a book. He handed it to Naruto before dispelling.
The book was much like any scroll in his time, only better. It had two hundred pages, and only a few were filled with storage seals and ideas for other seals. He smiled before walking over to Orihime as Tessai cleared his throat again.
"Kisuke wants everybody to be at the hideout in a weeks' time at sunset. So get your rest, because in a week you'll be going to the Soul Society." Tessai said before a super long, white strip of cloth coiled around him dozens of times. When it tightened all the way around his body, it flashed white and Tessai was gone from his location.
Naruto and Orihime stared in admiration. "That was awesome." Naruto praised with his mouth open. Orihime only nodded her head slowly.
The blonde looked at his girlfriend and squeezed her in his arms. "So, your house or mine?" Naruto said with a smile, loving that her shirt was becoming translucent because of Orihime's sweaty body.
She blushed knowing where his eyes were. "My house, we'll continue where we left off." she said running around his body and hopped on his back. "Go on Naru-kun. To my house!" she exclaimed in pure happiness as Naruto jumped from roof to roof towards her apartment.
=Just Outside of Karakura Town=
Uryu stood in front of a waterfall holding a physical bow, while panting from exhaustion after two weeks of training. It's silver with dark blue outlining, the middle being the same shade of dark blue. The bow seemed to be connected to the glove he was wearing on his right hand.
Said glove was pure white, with blue stripes. It traveled up his arm, stopping two inches before his elbow.
Originally he only needed to train for a single week to master the use of the Sanrei Glove, but he had an extra week, what's the harm in training. It only benefited him.
Mastering that glove was no easy feat though. It was designed to push away the spiritual particles surrounding it, making it harder for a Quincy to make their bows and arrows.
He remembered telling the dark skinned woman that he preferred to train alone. In truth, if he wasn't training in the use of the Sanrei Glove, he would have accepted the offer. The glove was that classified, even his own father didn't know he had the glove. But if he will when he returns home in a few hours.
He wont be ordered to take it off, because then he'll end up losing his Quincy powers.
The young Quincy lowered his head, he knew how dangerous the heart of the lion's den was going to be. It was the only reason why he put the glove on in the first place. The glove gave him a major boost in strength and speed, giving him access to a whole set of different skills, he spent the second week becoming efficient in.
He recalled the bow back into his glove and clenched and unclenched his hand. After the first week of his training, he allowed his hand a few hours of rest before he restarted his training.
He heard a clearing of a throat and turned around, cautiously aiming an arrow at the intruder. He saw Tessai standing there with his hands crossing over his stomach. He gave a respectful bow to the Quincy. "Urahara-sama wants you to come to the hideout next week at sunset. He'll have the portal ready by then." Tessai relayed the message before disappearing in the same fashion as before.
Uryu watched the man leave with a ready look on his face. "It's nearly time." he muttered retracting his bow as he began his trek back home.
=Next Week - Sunset=
The group of eight stood in front of Kisuke and his little group. The group used that extra week to just enjoy the city, because then they wouldn't see it for some time. They had a Shinigami to save from other Shinigami.
The pale blonde unsheathed his sword and stabbed it in the air in a similar fashion a red haired Shinigami did three weeks prior. The same Japanese sliding doors appeared and opened. "Usually, a Jigokucho, a black winged butterfly, would escort you into the Soul Society. But seeing as how I'm banned from that plane, you eight will be going there illegally." Kisuke explained.
Yoruichi took point and turned her head. "Stay in the middle and keep moving. We don't want the Kototsu (Wrestling-Surge) appearing at our tails. Just keep up with me if you want to live." the dark skinned beauty said as she walked up to the gate.
After she ran through it, everyone else followed. "Good luck everyone." Ururu said as Chad, being the last one, ran through the gate. Before he passed through, he gave a thumbs up.
"I have a feeling, they'll be successful in their endeavor." Tessai commented as the Senkaimon closed and disappeared.
A/N: I'll end the chapter here. Thank you again, everyone that read and reviewed chapter six. I'm finally finished with the chapter, now I can move over to another story. Like Killer Instinct, I would have updated that this week, but this story took the slot. Even I didn't want to update Crossing Dimensions, this week, I wanted to update Seals of Forgotten Time. I obviously didn't, so maybe that'll be next time. I'll flip a coin between KI and SoFT. I'll let fate decide.
Now thank you everyone that's reading and going to review this chapter.
JayJay is out