Naruto 1. Chapter 1

This whole fic is going to be a dumpster for my ideas.

If you want to continue from one of them, or change it to make a better fic, let me know, I won't say no, but please, let me know since I want to see what you do with the stuff I think of.

Every chapter is going to have a short introduction to the universe and all I have written so far on it.

I'll upload them when ever I can.

I don't own any of the universes here, I may think up a few OC's along the way though.

As usual, the fic will break off just as I get to the good part.

(keep in mind, this was all done spontaneously, so there isn't much descriptions and there could be mistakes).


	2. Naruto - Lee vs Naruto

AN:

In this fic, Naruto is not as stupid as in canon, he's no genius, but at least he has the brains to think up a nice plan.

Naruto is also an adept seal user as you will see in the fight, as well as a staff user, he has a summoning contract but it isn't strong right now.

As usual, the fic will break off just as I get to the good part.

(keep in mind, this was done spontaneously, so there isn't much descriptions and there could be mistakes).

Rock Lee

vs.

Uzumaki Naruto

* * *

Both contestants got to the arena and smiled to each other.

"Let's have fun, Lee."

"Yosh, such a nice oponent! I am truly lucky today."

"Begin!" Lee charged Naruto and Naruto got into defensive stance.

Naruto didn't even try to fight back, he couldn't fight against this kind of speed directly. So he thought of a plan.

He unsealed a tiny scroll from his wrist and lightly threw it between them. He detonated it mid-air, creating a shockwave that threw both of them away from each other. No damage was done, that was a simple seal that probably wouldn't work again against Lee.

Lee was not even winded and Naruto was rubbing his forearms, Lees punches are hard to deflect.

Neither stopped smiling, though.

"Well, I'll be needing some help it seems." Naruto said as he unsealed a long wooden staff and got into a stance. Lee just grinned and attacked again.

As it turned out, Naruto was fairly good with a staff. Lee made a lot less damage this time, with Naruto keeping him at a distance.

Naruto was doing his best to fight Lee away, not much was working, after all, Lee had experience against weapons.

"Lee take them off!" Lee jumped away at those words and quickly got rid of the weights he had on his shins. Naruto just stared at the spot Lee disappeared from.

That was a mistake, Lee had attacked from his left and in a few short kicks managed to get Naruto into the air, appearing behind him.

Naruto managed to make a quick clone before he was wrapped up in Lees bandages but the clone couldn't do anything.

"Omote Renge!"

The clone fell to his feet and took out a scroll from his pouch and held it in his fists, waiting for Lee. Lee jumped out of the dust cloud and backflipped a few times. Once the cloud cleared, the half-buried Naruto poofed away and the one with the scroll stood in a defensive stance.

"You substituted yourself with a clone, I didn't notice you do that. You're good, but you can't keep up with my speed."

"I have two aces up my sleeve, one of them is a prototype technique and you'll be the first one seeing it."

"That is quite an honor for me then, making my oponent use his secret move feels great!" Lee exclaimed, not really bothering to keep his tone fit the mood.

Naruto smeared a palm over his bloodied lip and threw the scroll high into the air. He made three hand seals before slamming his palm onto the ground.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" two small plumes of smoke appeared in front of him, and from out of them two small foxes came out, happily jumping around.

Naruto created more than 40 clones before catching the scroll and unsealing a gigantic inkbrush from it, it was bigger than him by at least half his height. The clones got ready to defend their master and the foxes started running circles around Naruto. Lee noticed that the foxes looked like normal foxes, other than the fact that the tips of their tails were dripping black ink.

Lee attacked, the clones kept blocking him and he kept beating them, he saw that Naruto wouldn't need much longer to finish the seal; he had already made a giant spiral in the center and the foxes were almost done covering the rest with tiny scripts.

Lee charged directly, ignoring all the hits he got from the staffs around him and jumped over the last clone.

That was a mistake.

Lee kicked Naruto that had finished drawing and Naruto... poofed out. Lee was now standing in the middle of the seal array, the foxes were gone and from behind him he could hear a single Naruto.

"Fuuin!"

The seals compressed and moved from the ground onto his body. He was now covered with seals and various markings.

"This is it Lee, this is the prototype technique that will defeat you."

Lee looked at Narutos serious face and got into a stance.

Naruto didn't bother, he said only one word.

"Hiraishin."

And then he was gone, Lee didn't even have time to be surprised, his face was already on a one-way-trip towards the ground.

He was punched in the stomach and sent into the air, then into his back then to his right shoulder then the left... he only saw flashes of Naruto before feeling the punches.

He was now high in the air, facing the ceiling, Naruto appeared above him with his staff in hand, he swung downwards.

Lee crashed to the ground, unable to move properly from the pain.

Naruto landed a bit further away, barely standing himself. The staff broken in half.

Lee got up, blood oozing from many places on his body, his left arm limp, his right eye swollen shut.

"Lee, give it up, neither of us can go for much longer."

"... I refuse, I will not give up, ever! Third gate, open! Fourth gate open!"

Now it was time for Naruto to go on the defensive, he was too tired to use the Hiraishin effectively and Lee was now faster than ever. In less than twenty seconds, Naruto was lying in the same position Lee had been in just moment before.

"I... didn't want to use this... against an ally..." Naruto said as he closed his eyes in concentration.

"Shiki Fuuin: Kaijo."

Narutos wounds closed in several seconds and the pain left. He was covered in the three-tailed cloak.

"Lee, this is my most powerful technique. I hope you have nothing more powerful hidden away, because after this, I don't think either of us will be able to move."


	3. Naruto x Mass Effect -The 10th

AN: This fic is a crossover of Naruto and Mass Effect (3) Universes,

Liara decodes a part of the data she managed to save from the Illusive Man and finds out that the Protheans tried to get help from a powerful being that could destroy the reapers. Shepard decides to go to the planet and try the same thing.

-xx-

The UT-47 Kodiak Shuttle landed on the grassy field that was the designated landing zone, just outside the big forest.

"This place has some really big trees" Vega said as he stepped out of the shuttle first, keeping his assault rifle in his hands, ready for action.

And he was right, the trees that surrounded the small clearing they landed on were dozens if not hundreds of feet tall each, and some were big enough to hide an Atlas Mech.

Jane Shepard was the next one out of the shuttle, followed by the rest of her team: Liara, Tali and EDI.

"Alright, since there's more than just three of us we'll go in formation, Vega, you have point, EDI will take the left flank and I'll take the right, Tali and Liara will take the rear."

She waited a few moments to see if there were any objections and checked all her gear.

"Yeah, put the big bad man up front to be a meatshield for all you ladies..." Vega, of course, tried lighting the mood a bit with his jokes but only managed to get a few glares and a short speech from both EDI and Liara about their lack of gender.

"Alright, move out, we could get the info about the Illusive Man's base any minute, we need to finish quickly. Cortez! We'll try and clear a landing site closer to the objective if we can, for now you can take off until we need you."

"Yes, ma'am!" Cortez sounded from the shuttle and promptly took off to fly around and maybe gather some scans even with the interference on the planet.

They took off and walked throught the forest towards the center of the interference and possibly the power that the Protheans talked about.

It proved hard to keep a good formation while walking on uneven ground of a forest, though it was a bit of a surprise that there was enought light with all the trees around.

"This place looks a lot like Earth, before the industrial era, that is." Shepard said, mainly talking to Liara since she was the one that told them about this place.

"The log mentioned Humans, maybe the Protheans took some samples from Earth and planted them here, fifty thousand years seems like enough time for the genetic material to spread around."

"That seems highly probable, after my initial analysis most of the plant life here is mainly identical to the Earth plant life." EDI added her own 'thoughts'.

The log Liara mentioned was something she managed to salvage from the Mars base. She had been working on it furiously since it was one of the few things the Illusive Man didn't take, it turned out to be a badly fragmented personal log of a Prothean explorer.

Because of the damage, most of it was not salvageable, but the parts she did manage to recover told of a great power that was on this planet and that it could probably stop the Reapers. It also mentioned the Human race later on in the log but without context there wasn't much to go on.

Still, a power that could stop the Reapers was exactly what they were looking for.

"There's just something creepy about this place, I don't like it." Vega called in from the front.

"!" The sound seemed to be a call of an animal and they all stopped since it seemed close. An alien lifeform was often something dangerous and required full attention.

"I think that's the first sign of life on this planet..." Tali commented nervously, they were after all, in a big forest, there should have been a bunch of animals around by now.

It turned out to be a simple crow, it flew from the forest on their left side and rose up to a branch in front of them where it landed on a shoulder of a man that wasn't there seconds ago.

The said man suddenly had six weapons pointed at him, he stood calm and petted the bird, not looking at the armed people below him. They couldn't see him very well because of the distance but what they could see was that he wore some sort of a black cloack with a red pattern on it and had black hair. And he looked like a human from a distance, that made little sense.

"Did anyone even notice him? He wasn't there when I looked at that branch earlier." Vega asked quietly, both surprised and pissed that someone snuck up on him.

He was answered by the man, who still didn't look at them.

"You are not wanted here, leave."

"We apologize for tresspassing but we came here for a reason. We need help against the Reapers."

Shepard was going to continue her speech, how the Reapers were evil and wanted to destroy everything, how the organics need to band together to stand a chance... how desperate they were when it came to help. The man looked at her and stopped petting the crow once he heard the word 'Reaper'.

"So they are back... good; you made him interested, I'm glad I wasn't ordered to kill you right away." and them he just 'dissolved' into a murder of crows, litteraly.

"Did he just... fall apart into a hundred birds?" Shepard asked what almost everyone was thinking.

EDI was the only one that wasn't stunned, instead she was trying to figure out how it happened.

Far in front of them there was a loud noise that sounded like an explosion that shook them out of their trance.

"Let's go, we don't have all day."

And so they kept walking, towards the source of the interference and towards the place where that explosion just happened.

This time they were all looking towards every single branch of every tree they passed by, waiting for the man to appear again.

Eventually they came to a rather large tree and went around it, on the other side was a small desert.

"I don't think this pile of sand was here when we were in orbit. EDI?" Shepard asked, this mission was getting even more strange.

"No, we landed on the closest clear area near the source of the interference. The only logical explanation is that the explosion we heard is the source of this sand. Speaking of which, we have passed about 70% of the designated path towards the source now."

Vega was about to make a witty remark about explosions that can make deserts when he noticed something move about ten meters in front of him.

He was the first one to point a gun at it, the rest of the group was spread out and taking aim in seconds.

The sands shifted and a person slowly came from within the sand. It seemed to be a young human male with short blood-red hair and cyan pupiless eyes.

"You are visitors, you are not allowed past me until you prove yourself. The ones that called themselves Protheans proved themselves but failed to understand afterwards."

"You know of the Protheans? And what do you mena by proving ourselves and understanding?"

"The Protheans had to go through me in order to advance to the next one. If you do not understand in time you will leave; and you will prove yourself through battle, prepare yourself."

He didn't give them much time to process the words that came from him before a a patch of sand rose up and lunged straight towards Vega like a snake. Since he was in the middle of the semi-circle surrounding the red-haired boy he couldn't jump to the sides without risking anyone else so he had to jump back.

Everyone else stared for a few precious moments before they aimed their weapons and fired at the snake-like sand construct.

Once Vega managed to get up he started firing as well, but guns didn't affect sand much, and the kinetic bariers weren't designed to deal with relatively slow-moving waves of sand. There was also the fact that their armor would probably get full of sand if they got hit by a wave.

The red-haired man still stood with his arms crossed and observed with bored eyes the pathetic struggle against his weakest sand attack.

He dismissed his attack and outstretched his right arm towards the edge of the desert. The sand at the edge moved and grabbed a tree around its trunk. With a simple movement of his hand the large tree was ripped out of the ground and thrown towards the group, it was large enough to crush them all at once.

The tree fell but luckily didn't crush anyone. It even offered them some well needed cover from the dangerous red-head.

"We didn't come here to fight!" Shepard tried yelling out but got no response. She was about to make quick plan for getting through this alive but before she could do that, in front of her very eyes Tali was sucked into the desert.

"Tali! Spread out and keep moving, we have to finish this so we can get her out of there!"

They quickly circled their opponent while firing at him, their attack only made him go on the defence, making a sphere of sand around him that solidified against their attacks.

"Switch to Incendiary! It works against the sand!" Vega yelled while dodging another sand attack.

And it really did work against the sand, some of it turned to glass and fell useless but it was quickly replaced. Even concentrating fire on a single spot didn't work.

"Liara, try getting that sand off!" Shepard commanded and Liara used her biotics to try and strip the sand away.

She suceeded only partially but it was enough for EDI to find a weak point in the barrier and fire a single pistol round into the boy's leg.

The barrier collapsed and the attacks stopped. The boy was now kneeling down, holding his wounded leg without any indication that he was in pain.

"That was an easy test, you came here with hope so it was naive of me to think that would change if you lost someone dear to you."

The sand quickly retreated into the sinkhole that formed under him, leaving a confused Tali looking around. Soon the boy was standing there, his leg not bleeding but his clothes clearly showing damage.

"Why did you attack us when we didn't come here to fight?" Liara asked,

"You came to ask him to fight for you, he would not even consider fighting for someone who is weak."

"Who is him? And who are you?"

"I was once the prison of the First, he is now the Last one himself."

"What does that mean?"

"It will be explained if you can get to him."

"How many more tests are there?"

"Mine was the first his will be the last."

"Dammit, how many more of you are there?"

"He is the only one alive, the rest of us died more than a hundred and thirty millenia ago." with that, he turned into sand and fell into the sinkhole.

"What the _fuck_ is going on on this crazy planet?"

"The more I think about all of this, the less it makes sense. Let's try and be careful from now on, the first person we met turned into a flock of birds, the second could control sand, the third one will probably be just as unpredictable." While Shepard was saying all this she signaled to the rest of the group to get in formation and continue on. They had to either get around or over the downed tree that blocked their path.

"Thank you for the compliment but I'm not as showy as Uchiha-san or Gaara-san." The female voice came from the other side of the tree, they saw the woman shortly once she climbed to stand on the tree and look at them.

She was young and wore some sort of form-fitting dark uniform, her blond hair was braided and she had some sort of a metal plate over her forehead.

As usual, all weapons were pointed at her, only this time the group spread out a lot faster, hoping for any advantage they could get.

"There will be no need for that, I already decided what kind of a test I'll have for you." Everyone kept quiet while she looked them over.

"You, the big guy, get up here, you and I are having a one-on-one fight."

"What?" Vega looked really confused now, if the first two could control birds and sand, what kind of crazy supernatural power did this girl have? He looked towards Shepard,

"Commander, what the hell?"

Shepard looked around the group but didn't find any objections.

"Are you deaf? Get up here, you and I are fighting. This tree will be the ring, I want to see what you're made of."

Vega gave his weapons to EDI and climbed the tree. He had a feeling that this would end in pain for him. He stood a few meters away from her and raised his hands in a standard fighting stance every marine was taught.

"Good, no weapons, only hand-to-hand, I already know you can't use chakra so there would be no use in that kind of fight; time limit is three minutes, if you can survive that long, I'll let you all pass." She got in her stance.

"Begin!" she waited for his attack but Vega was playing defensively, he had no idea how strong she was.

She started with a kick towards the head, Vega was expecting something strange to happen while he blocked; the only strange thing was the force behind her kick, it felt more like being kicked by a mech than anything else.

He stood his ground and blocked as much as he could, though his arms started hurting soon after. Deciding that he had enough, he tried attacking.

She avoided every attack he threw at her without much effort on her part, she was just too fast, strong and generally good at fighting that she didn't even need to try. Maybe talking would make her lose her concentration?

"Why are we even being tested?" He threw a few punches that she effortlessly avoided.

"Gaara already told you, he won't fight for weaklings, he also refuses to be thought of as a weapon, there's a piece of advice for you, if you piss him off you won't be getting back home." She tried a simple kick to his side that he managed to absorb, thank God for the armor.

"Gaara is the name of the sand guy, then? What's your name?" He made a feint to the left and attacked from the right, she didn't fall for it.

"Nii Yugito... at least that was what I was called back in the day..."She defended against a few of his punches.

"Back in the day?" He tried a kick while she was on the defensive but she jumped over it.

"When I was alive." She pushed him away with a weak kick to the torso.

"You look a bit too good for a corpse." Vega almost smiled at the face she made.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, and I'm not a corpse..." Her tone said that she was offended, her punches said the same thing.

"What are you then?" Vega asked, trying to redeem himself.

"A part of something greater."

"Huh, and how many tests are there?" He tried to go to attack but was forced backwards.

"That's one of them, patience, will you give up before the last one?" Vega tried one more time to deliver a punch.

She ducked under his punch and fiercely kicked him in the stomach, making him fly back towards a thick branch that stopped his flight rather suddenly.

He only closed his eyes for a few parts of a second due to the pain, once he opened them, there was a fist right in front of his face.

"Time is up... I was hoping for more out of you but then again, you're no Shinobi." She picked up Vega with a single hand and jumped down to leave him with his team.

Before they could as any questions she turned to the tree and did something with her hands that they couldn't see.

Suddenly she was enveloved in blue flames, the flames grew in both size and intensity before they started moving.

Once their vision focused, they saw that the flames resembled a feline with two tails. The big fiery cat picked up the tree and threw it away to the side, then she roared loudly making a shockwave that cleared even more of the forest in front of them.

The cat turned to them.

"I was once known as the prison of the Second one, I hope you can get to the end, for everyone's sake." with that she disappeared.

"I ask again, what the _fuck_ is happening here? It feels like we're in a really bad fairy tale!" Vega yelled from the ground where he was using some medi-gel to take care of the bruises and cuts he got during the fight.

And so they went forward, despite the dangers, the people that gave them these 'tests' didn't seem to be openly hostile. As irresponsible as it was, they went forward towards the dangers.

After a few minutes a kid stepped out behind a small tree in front of them. He had dusty blond hair and a long scar under his left eye, he seemed to be 10 years old.

He didn't say anything, and they didn't point their weapons at him, some because he looked so young, some because they didn't want to provoke anyone after they saw what Nii could do.

His hand came together and moved very fast before he slammed them on the ground; from under him came water, it was like a small geyser that started flooding the area. He didn't look at them until the area they were standing in was flooded.

Obviously, the group was vary, clutching their weapons but still not taking aim.

The kid did more of those hand-signals and the water came alive. They were all swallowed up to their necks, their weapons taken from them.

"One of you will continue, the rest will stay here. If the one who is chosen does not get back in 2 hours, the rest will drown. Choose."

AN: So basically, they met a genjutsu of Itachi, Gaara, Yugito and Yagura, all of them are dead, and Gaara said that only the 'tenth one' is alive, so that would mean that the Juubi is the only living thing on the planet and he can control the other parts of him in a way that makes them manifest for a short while.

I was planning on going through all of the jinchuuriki but ran out of ideas for the tests they would give the crew...

Ideas are welcome as always.


	4. Naruto x Tenchu - Shinobi Business

AN: This is a Tenchu (Video Game) and Naruto crossover, I never relly did figure out where I wanted to take it, the only thing I did was bring in the characters from the Tenchu 2 to the Narutoverse and changed their names (I don't know why exactly I changed the names...)

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

It was a sunny day in the Fire country, and three black-clad figures in were making their way towards Konohagakure no sato. All three of them were in similar clothing.

The figure in the middle was the tallest one of the three and seemed to be a leader of sorts, since it was walking a few feet ahead. On closer inspection it seemed to be a young man in his mid to late teens. He had a short sword (ninja-to) across his lower back making it easily reachable with his right hand. He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with a mesh shirt visible underneath. He also wore baggy black pants with tightly strapped shin guards. His forearm guards were connected to his fingerless gloves and he had a face mask a lot like Kakashi's. On each of his thighs were kunai holsters, keeping his otherwise baggy pants in control. His shoulder length hair was tied in a short ponytail keeping it out of his face.

The one on the left was a young woman, also in her teens. Her weapon of choice was a pair of wakizashi strapped across her lower back in an "X" pattern.

The last one was a bit more bulky than the others, but he still seemed to be in his teens just like the others, he had a regular katana strapped across his back, the hilt visible over his right shoulder.

On their foreheads they wore their hitai-ate which surprisingly had no symbol on them.

After a few more minutes of walking they saw their goal, the gates of Konoha, they have been prepared for this, they have been briefed on their mission, they have memorized every last piece of intel they had on Konoha, worst case scenario they would have to run, that shouldn't be a problem for them...

* * *

At the Konoha gate

Izumo and Kotetsu were guarding the gate, as usual, when they saw a dark trio approaching in a normal pace. This was hardly a rare sight since they had a lot of traffic these days. They thought that this is probably just another team returning from a mission, however there weren't any three-man teams scheduled to arrive now and closer this "genin team" got to the gate, less it looked like an actual Konoha genin team.

"Isn't it a bit too early for the chuunin exam competitors to arrive?" Izumo asked while not moving his eyes from the walking trio.

"They're probably from one of the further away villages so they started their journey early." Kotetsu answered, partly using common sense, and partly comforting himself, since his day started great and trouble at his gate was the last thing he needed.

"Their Jounin sensei should be with them too." Izumo added, both talking to himself and asking Kotetsu.

The trio was now very close to the gates and any hope that they were from Konoha was now blown away in the minds of Izumo and Kotetsu as they got up from their seats and stood in the midlle of the gate and right in the path of the mysterious team.

The team approached and stopped in front of them, all of them bowing to the gate guards.

"What is your business in Konohagakure no sato?" Izumo asked in a strong tone, eyeing the strange shinobi in front of him. The apparent leader of the team was the on that answered to him.

"We bring a diplomatic/political proposal for your Hokage from our clan leader." the answer was not what Izumo and Kotetsu were expecting,

"What clan are you from? I do not see any markings on you?" Kotetsu added.

"We were ordered not to tell any more to anyone other than the Hokage." the trio leader responded.

Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other and Kotetsu left to get someone because neither of them had any idea what to do now...

* * *

In the Hokage's office

Two people were standing in front of the Hokage, both of them well known and feared throughout the village by both civilian and shinobi population.

"Now that that's out of the way, how is the investigation going?" Hokage asked,

"Well," Anko said, "we still don't have any leads or witnesses of the murder."

"But we did manage to recover the last few seconds with the help of Inoichi." Ibiki stated seeing the Hokage's face fall at Anko's statement.

"Oh? Something like that rarely works, what did you find out?" Hokage perked up at that, using a secret Yamanaka technique to search the brain of a dead person for their last moments was not often successful having a success rate of about 10-15% overall.

"Well, Sandaime, you see... Mizuki was sitting on his bed and his neck was broken from behind." Anko said the last part in a hurry after she couldn't find a better way of explaining it.

"And all the other inmates and guards check out, none of them seems to have done it." Ibiki added,

After a pause of a few seconds, the Sandaime took a deep breath,

"So, you're telling me that someone sneaked into Konoha Strict Correctional Facility which is a walled-off island on a lake of lava, bypassed all our guards which are actually some of the best ones we have, sneaked into a occupied tiny one-prisoner cell, killed the said prisoners from behind, while that prisoner had his back to a wall?!" Hokage started that long sentence with a lot of disbelief in his voice but nearing the end even he started to lose it at the very insanity of the idea.

He simply sighed and rested his forehead in his palms. The headaches these days were quite often.

"Alright you are dismissed, continue with the investigation and try questioning all the guards again, the prisoners may be hiding something too if the were scared into submission." at that Ibiki and Anko nodded and turned to leave when the Hokage said,

"Don't take this lightly, if someone can sneak into our maximum security prison, they can also sneak into any place in Konoha itself."

"Yes sir, we will not disappoint you!" they said in unison as they bowed and left via shunshin.

After that, the aged Hokage returned to his dreaded paperwork. Luckily for him though, he would be interrupted soon enough.

* * *

Somewhere in the village

Kotetsu was going back towards the gate with backup. He had seen Kakashi walking through town, reading his book and told him about the strange visitors. Along the way they picked up Asuma and Kurenai along with an ANBU member who was on patrol through the village. Since they weren't far from the gate, the got there soon enough.

The team that caused all that commotion was still standing where Kotetsu left them with Izumo, after they all got there Kakashi was the one that approached them and started asking questions while Asuma and Kurenai stood a bit behind him, and the ANBU member took position on the roof of a nearby house, getting a nice vantage point from there.

"Hi there, I'm Hatake Kakashi, I was told that you have something for our Hokage?" Kakashi asked politely, also sizing up the team and their weapons.

"Yes, we bring a proposal from our clan." the leader said.

"What kind of a proposal?"

"We are under orders to not reveal that to anyone other than the Hokage himself."

"I can understand that. We all need to follow our orders." Kakashi said not detecting anything that would give them away as spies or assassins, other than their taste in clothes of course.

"Where are you from? I can see you don't have a village insignia on your forehead protectors." was his next question.

"The blank forehead protector is a tradition, and our clan doesn't have a single clan house, so telling you where each one is not a possibility. Do you have any other questions?" the man in black said as politely as he could, with slight annoyance in his voice.

"... no, follow me to the Hokage's office." said Kakashi after a few seconds of thinking. He turned around and started walking towards the center of the village, the group followed and the rest of the Konoha shinobi, except Izumo and Kotetsu, walked with them. Asuma took the back, Kurenai took the left, and the ANBU member stuck to the rooftops on their right.

After more than just a few minutes of walking they arrived to the entrance of the Hokage office, where Kakashi turned to them and said,

"Wait here, I'll go tell the Hokage that he has visitors." after that Kakashi jumped up and used his skills to get to the Hokage's open window in a few seconds.

* * *

In the Hokage office

The Hokage was doing his paperwork, worst part of his job, according to him,

'I could summon a few clones to help me, but the problem is, they would be the identical copies of me, so none of them would want to do paperwork either... ugh, troublesome' he thought, borrowing the Nara motto.

"Hokage-sama, you have some strange visitors waiting to be let in." Kakashi let his presence be known to the Hokage.

Hokage wasn't surprised by Kakashi's choice of entry, but he was shaken from his thoughts by him.

"What do you mean, 'strange'?" He asked, hoping for some rest from his paperwork.

Kakashi explained everything and told him everything he knew about the new visitors. At only one piece of information did the Hokage genuinely look surprised, the blank forehead protectors.

"They said that the blank forehead protectors are tradition?" He asked.

"Yes sir."

"Well they were right, it is a tradition but it's a tradition of Konoha..." the Hokage said deep in thought by the end of his last sentence.

"Our tradition? I've never heard of it, what's it about?"

"Back when the shinobi villages were formed, all clans that decided to join after-wards would wear a blank hitai-ate to show that they do not "belong" to any other village and want to join ours...

"So their clan want's to join us?"

"Yes, they are probably looking for safety within our walls, bring them to the council room and I'll summon the council to help with the decision." at that Kakashi jumped back down and the Hokage called for one of his guards,

"Cat!" the Hokage half-yelled and an ANBU with a cat mask and long violet hair appeared kneeling in front of him.

"Yes Sir!"

"Summon all the members of the council, including the clan representatives and the civilian representatives, I need them all here in fifteen minutes, tell several other ANBU to help you.

"Yes Sir!" and the ANBU left the room looking for others to help her.

In fifteen minutes the last of the people that were summoned were arriving to the room and taking their seats. It has been a while since the Hokage had summoned the entire Konoha council and the small time limit that they had to get here was alarming to some of the more paranoid civilians.

The room they were in was somewhat large, holding three long tables with chairs for each of them; the tables were arranged in a "U" formation with the Hokage and his senior advisers Homura Koharu and Danzo sitting at the shortest table in the middle. On the left of the Hokage were the shinobi clan heads, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Nara, Akimichi, Aburame and Yamanaka. On his right was the civilian part of the council consisting of three rich merchants and three representatives of the lower parts of the society.

"Since we are all here, let us begin this meeting. First, to explain why I had you all come here on such short notice." the people nodded signaling that he had their full attention.

"Just fifteen minutes ago I was informed of three unidentified shinobi in our village. They came here wearing blank hitai-ates." the Hokage simply said and paused to see who would remember what that meant. Hiashi and Shikaku were the only ones of the shinobi side to know what he meant. Aside from them one of the noblemen, not being a ninja himself studied the shinobi world and knew about the old tradition in Konoha. Everyone else was confused, the shinobi part of the council, aside from Hiashi and Shikaku, not knowing what it meant, as they were sure it meant something and the civilian part of the council simply confused that something so small would need a meeting of them all. The Hokage advisers were silent, waiting for him to continue.

"I will explain, since most of you do not understand. In the old days when the hidden villages were first formed and clans gathered under the same banner there was a tradition. A tradition that basically said: 'If you wish your clan to join a village, send an emissary with no markings on his/hers forehead protector.'" once again he left the information to sink in.

"This is the second time Konoha is visited by such emissaries, the first being the Nara clan a few weeks after the formal naming of Konohagakure." 'Knowing them they were probably all staring at clouds and thought it too troublesome to get up in time.' the Hokage added to himself.

Seeing the apprehensive faces some of the people had he started again

"Before we can even start to argue about the matter I believe it would be wise to at least see the messengers." the Hokage said stopping anyone from interrupting.

"Kakashi, bring them in" he signaled to the ex-ANBU.

Kakashi opened the door and three black-clad teens entered the room, walked right to the middle of the table formation and got down on one knee.

"It is an honor to see you Hokage-sama, I bring word from the head of Yamiyo clan," the leader of the trio said and presented a black scroll. "I will answer any questions you may have that are in my ability to answer." Cat-ANBU was the one that took the scroll and scanned it thoroughly for any signs of chakra which would signify a seal of some sorts inside. After she found nothing she turned to the Hokage and gave him the scroll.

"You can get up now, there is no need for you to kneel down in front of me." at that, they got up and stood at attention, not flinching at all kinds of inquisitive looks they were getting, including a Byakugan one.

The aged man opened the scroll and started reading, it took him a few minutes to read it all since the letter was quite long.

_To the current Hokage of Konohagakure no sato_

_It is with great sadness that I write this letter since it signifies an end of a part of our clan history. We have been around for a long time, developing our skills and serving the people of these lands. However, the time has come for us to join forces with a shinobi village, after careful thinking I have come to the decision that only Konohagakure no sato is both honorable enough to receive us as allies and strong enough to protect us against those who may wish to destroy us._

_From what I know of you, you are indeed an honorable and experienced man, that is the main reason why Konoha is my choice._

_I wish of you to accept us into your shinobi ranks. We have much to offer but we do not wish to show all our cards unless we are sure that they would be of use. My apprentices have my utmost confidence and are allowed to speak in the name of the entire clan and negotiate the terms of this deal. _

_Since I am not a heartless man and hate to see civilians suffer from the side of the shinobi, I will share one thing with you; your former student is going to come back soon, he will not be alone, if you want more information, my apprentices will need to see how willing Konoha is to accept us._

_Yamiyo Keigai, current leader of the Yamiyo clan._

The Hokage was indeed worried hearing about Orochimaru returning, he could only hope that the information is not true.

"Yamiyo clan wishes to join us, as an offering they have shared some information with us, their clan leader says that Orochimaru will soon be returning and he will not be alone." the reactions he got from the council were just as he expected. Civilians were scared and made various demands. The shinobi were worried, while the advisers tried to get more information from Sarutobi.

"The letter says, that these three are the apprentices of the clan leader and are speaking for the entire clan during these negotiations, is that correct?" he said, asking the Yamiyo shinobi, making sure that everyone heard him. All eyes were now on the newcomers again.

"That is correct, our clan specializes in stealth and we have managed to find many documents as proof to our claims." everyone was talking once again, although not as loud as before.

"We are willing to exchange those documents and more in return for being a part of Konohagakure no sato.

"We cannot just allow anyone inside the village, if you want to be a part of our village you will need to share the burdens. How many people are in your clan?" Danzo was the one to talk, clearly trying to calculate how useful would this new clan be.

The three Yamiyo shinobi exchanged a few looks and the two nodded to their leader.

"Currently our clan is consisted of 13 Jonin, 43 Chuunin, 135 Genin, 62 civilians and 14 children below genin level, almost everyone except the children is battle-ready." these numbers were a big surprise to everyone, more than 250 people in a single clan was unheard of. The Uchiha clan had around 200 members at it's peak and the Uchiha compound was cramped back then.

"Those are indeed impressive numbers, however we do not have an empty clan compound of that size."The Hokage said.

"As long as you have an empty place large enough for a compound of that size to be built, it is not a problem. We are willing to build our own place to live." A lot of people were starting to question the newcomers,

"You seem eager to work to earn everything, what exactly is it that your clan needs protection against?" Hiashi was the one to ask the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Over the years, our clan has lost much of it's power, mainly due to Orochimaru and his minions. Right now he has an army many times the size of our clan. While we prefer seclusion and shadows, we are willing to partly give it up to ensure the survival of our clan." the leader said, making everyone go wide-eyes at the mention of Orochimaru's force.

"This does sound like a serious threat, but do you have any proof of it?" Koharu asked.

"Orochimaru currently has bases monitoring almost every village on the continent, save a few smaller, less important ones and the Amegakure. His main base is located in Ta no kuni and goes by the name of Otogakure no sato."

Once again, the room was shocked, Orochimaru managed to get himself a shinobi village and was probably monitoring Konoha most of the time.

"This scroll holds a rough map with many of his bases marked, along with a rough estimate of shinobi force in each base." once the procedure with the scroll was done once again and the Hokage checked the map, everyone in the room relaxed slightly, knowing where your enemy is was an important part of a battle after all.

"You also said that he would not be coming alone, what does that mean?" Homura was the one to ask the next question.

"We would prefer to talk about that only with the Hokage and his advisers." after looking over everyone in the room, the Hokage nodded.

"Very well, we will continue this in my office, everyone else, you are dismissed, not a word of this meeting is to be said to anyone; I will need your vote on whether to accept this clan as a part of Konoha or not by tomorrow evening, understood?" Everyone nodded and left to their homes/clan houses to silently prepare for the upcoming events.

* * *

A few minutes later in the Hokage's office

"So, what other details are you willing to share with us?" Hokage asked as everyone was seated and ready to continue.

"We are quite tired from our journey, so I'll keep this short. Orochimaru has managed to deceive Sunagakure into attacking you during the Chuunin exam finals; as a start for the attack he will use the Suna jinchuuriki Shukaku no Ichibi. We are not certain but we presume he will try to kill the Kazekage sometime before the invasion and probably take his role." once again the listeners were surprised,

"If I may ask a question Hokage-sama," the Hokage nodded ", what are the chances that we will be accepted into the village?"

"That is indeed a strange question, but it isn't a difficult one, I would be very surprised if the vote wasn't unanimous."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama, our leader told us that in this case, we are to apply as genin for the chuunin exam, to show everyone what Yamiyo shinobi can do."

"Another strange request, I will have to think that one over, I hope you don't mind?"

"Of course not Hokage-sama."

"Was there anything else you wanted to tell us in private?" Danzo asked, even he was getting sick of bad news today.

"No, that was all, if you have no other need of us, we will retreat for the day, since it is already getting dark outside."

"You are dismissed, please come by tomorrow to further discuss details. Kakashi outside will show you to a hotel."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." he said as all three of them bowed to the Hokage and left through the door to find the famed copy-ninja Kakashi. When they were out of earshot the Hokage said,

"Cat!" and the cat-masked ANBU appeared in front of the Hokage.

"I want them monitored over the night, we need to know if they were sincere about everything they said." the ANBU nodded and left to do the assignment.

"So? What do you think?" the Hokage asked of his advisers.

"I am all for increasing our numbers but we should see what they can do, so maybe throwing them into the exams isn't such a bad idea..." Danzo said, for once not speaking with an ulterior motive in mind.

"I agree with Danzo, though such a big clan will draw attention to us from other villages, we need to think this through." Homura said.

"We don't have any alliances with other great nations right now, so that may be a problem, but we still don't know where we'll have them stay in case we let them live here." Koharu continued.

"Those are all valid points, but in the letter it said that they were looking for an appropriate village and we were the most suitable one, if we reject them, I'm sure they'll try with other villages. And if Iwa gets this amount of shinobi, they may start another war against us." the Hokage concluded.

"That is alarming, but I still don't think we should just outright accept them." Danzo said.

"Alright then, we will place them into the exams to see what kinds of shinobi they are, as for their future place of residence, we still have that abandoned park next to the Uchiha compound, since only Sasuke is currently living in the compound, we'll place them with him while they build their own clan compound in that swamp of a park. Any objections?" after a few seconds of silence, the Hokage dismissed his advisers and told them to think it all over since he'll need their vote too.

* * *

Later in a hotel room somewhere in Konoha

After their meal the Yamiyo shinobi were unpacking everything they needed from their backpacks after which they checked the room for bugs and closed the curtains preparing to rest for the night. After they were unpacked, they prepared for bed. The room they were in had three separate beds in one room, a bathroom with a small window and a larger window in the bedroom overlooking the still busy streets of Konoha.

"I'll take first watch, you two get some rest." the one who wore a sword across his back spoke.

"Alright, wake me up in a few hours, I'll take second." the girl spoke.

"That settles that, what do you think about all this Omon?" the leader asked?

"Well, it seems the mission is likely to be successful, but from what we know, the people here are a bit stubborn and we'll need to make a good first impression with the civilians." the girl answered, now taking off her hood revealing a short ponytail that kept most of her dark hair out of her face and her brown eyes.

"And it just so happens that first impressions is something our clan is really awful at..." the one preparing for watch duty said as he also lowered his hood and face-mask revealing a short white hair, strange for someone of his young age.

"True Chikara, the only thing I can think of that would make the civilians approve of us is that our entire clan comes in at the last moment and saves the village from the invasion, in open battle... which is also something we're bad at..." the leader said.

"Wait, what if the Hokage were to publish that our clan is the one that warned him of the invasion, and therefore saved countless lives?" Omon interrupted having already placed her weapons close enough to her bed so she could reach for them in a hurry.

"Yes, I think that would work..." the leader said, also removing his weapon and headgear showing his dark hair in a low and loose ponytail.

"But Tatsukichi, what if none of those things happen?" Chikara asked?

"Judging by the way they treated their jinchuuriki, they'll mistrust us greatly, and the fact that we work from the shadows won't help." Tatsukichi answered, finishing his preparations for bed.

Omon did a few hand signs in front of the door and placed a seal on them that soon after disappeared. She repeated the process with both the bedroom window and the bathroom window, the other two didn't seem to mind.

* * *

Half an hour later in the Hokage's office

"Hokage-sama, reporting back from my mission, we observed the Yamiyo shinobi as you told us. They have gone to bed with one of them staying awake to keep watch. From what the Hyuuga's could read from their lips, they were sincere..." the man proceeded to explain everything the Yamiyo trio said. The two Hyuuga that were in that team were able to use their Byakugan to look through the curtains and read the lips of their targets, after the two went to bed leaving Chikara to stand watch, they sent one member of the team to report in.

"You are dismissed." the Hokage said and the man bowed and left the room.

'They seem sincere, but they also seem a bit too careful...masks, seals, keeping watch in a hotel; why do they need all this?"

The Hokage didn't stay up for much longer, it was getting late and he could retire for today without the fear of missing something important.


	5. Naruto x Bleach - The First Shinigami

AN: A Bleach crossover with Naruto;

This one has only a small part of the Bleachverse in it, Naruto has Shinigami powers and Kyuubi is his Zanpakuto, there are no characters from Bleach, no Hollows, only Naruto has Bleach powers and it's considered a bloodline.

* * *

Shikamaru was not happy right now, it had been a few hours since his dad left him in the park with instructions to 'spend some time with Ino and Chouji' he didn't mind Chouji. Chouji was actually pretty good to spend time with as long as you could get past the munching sounds. Ino however was a bit of a problem. She liked playing games and would always boss him around for whatever reason.

He decided to bring a few bags of potato chips to the park for the next time he spent time with Chouji, poor bastard was now 'playing' with Ino while Shikamaru was trying to find a bush where he could hide and stare at the clouds.

He noticed a secluded bunch of trees and bushes at the corner of the park and turned around, it wouldn't be good if Ino found his new favourite hiding spot before he got a chance to use it.

It was safe, Ino wasn't there and neither was her friend Sakura.

After slipping through into bushes he found the place occupied, damn.

"Damn, it's taken, sorry to bother you I was just trying to find a quiet place."

Naruto turned his head slightly from his lying position to look at the newcomer, it was surprising that the black-haired boy didn't run away, but then again his parents probably haven't warned him about the 'demon'.

"Nah, it's no problem, I was about to leave anyway. Have fun."

Shikamaru was surprised a bit, this kid seemed almost as lazy as him, that was something very rare.

For the next 2 weeks Shikamaru saw Naruto in the same place doing the exact same thing every time. On their fifth meeting Shikamaru finally tried exchanging more than a single sentence with Naruto.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, you?

"Nara Shikamaru... wanna be friends?"

"...sure, if your parents will let you be friends with me..."

"Why wouldn't they?"

"You'll have to ask them about that."

* * *

Shikamaru rarely found conversations interesting, therefore the talk he had about Naruto with his dad was not interesting, it was... slightly strange.

His dad definitely knew who Naruto was but it didn't seem like he knew what he was like since he asked a bunch of questions about him.

After telling him what Naruto said about being friends Shikaku was genuinely surprised, and that was a rarity.

His mother seemed a bit more worried but allowed his dad to make the choice, that alone was enough to ring at least a few warning bells in Shikamarus head.

* * *

Naruto wasn't expecting much out of the potential friendship he offered Shikamaru, after all, he didn't recognize him, so his parents haven't warned him about the 'demon child' yet. He would give him one more meeting for them to say goodbye out of decency and then he would leave the hiding place to the Nara.

Later that day, Naruto would realize that he has a very bleak view of his life. He really didn't expect the Nara family to actually allow Shikamaru to be friends with him.

So when Shikamaru came that day with a shogi board and offered Naruto a game or two, he was speechless.

He had just recently found out about a lot of things.

His prisoner, his new bloodline, his former clan, his parents... he had found out about that a few days before his first meeting with Shikamaru. He needed time to think about his future and the actions he would take.

The whole point of being young is to learn and to have fun. He couldn't afford fun, not with his conditions, he would have to put all his time into learning and becoming strong enough to defend himself and possibly others.

He had given up on any semblenace of normality in his life and Shikamaru just stumbled into it and brought some of that wanted normality back in the form of a first childhood friend.

* * *

Naruto walked into the classroom, walking slow as usual, being ignored as usual. He sat down on his regular spot at the back next to Shikamaru... as usual.

"Mornin', Shikamaru."

"Morning, you look exhausted, training late again?"

Naruto remained silent as always when faced with that question.

Shikamaru knew that Naruto was training in secret, away from the academy, but he didn't know why. His scores at the academy were not improving at all.

Narutos skills in ninjutsu were below average, when it came to handling ninja tools, he didn't even seem to try (not that Shikamaru couldn't empathise, swinging your arm in an arc is just troublesome). Naruto had no skill at all in genjutsu and when it came to taijutsu he was above average but his style didn't look like it was made to be used by regular, ninjas it was only used to open distance between oponents and that wasn't very effective in 'first to fall down' matches.

His skills were not improving at all, which meant that either he's awful at being a ninja or he's training something not covered in the academy.

Shikamaru remembered one occasion when they were given the most basic lessons on Kenjutsu, Everyone was at least a bit careful with the swords but Naruto handled his with great skill; However he didn't choose kenjutsu as an additional class in the academy after that, even though he could have. Naruto was a puzzle, and Shikamaru hated puzzles for only one reason, he needed to move his arms in order to solve them; that wasn't the case when it came to Naruto, he could solve him while looking at the clouds... hopefully.

Narutos choice of clothing was another thing, he didn't wear something form-fitting or something with a lot of pockets, Shikamaru wondered if Narutos current clothes even have any pockets.

He wore a black hakama pants tied with a standard white obi, a black kosode shirt with something white underneath it, Shikamaru couldn't be sure what it was, but it looked like a samurai shitagi. That was it, Naruto was dressing and acting more like a samurai than a ninja.

The classes were over soon enough, Naruto and Shikamaru having slept through most of them.

It was almost evening, and once they were out of the boring building Shikamaru stopped Naruto,

"I know it's troublesome but my mom told me to ask you if you would like to have dinner with us... and you know what it means when she 'asks' someone to do something."

"Yeah, I know, I didn't have anything special planned for today anyway."

Shikamaru could figure out from watching Naruto that he did have something planned but when faced with the choice of going against the calm and easygoing Naruto or going against the devil herself, his mom, Shikamaru would always be more willing to go against Naruto.

So they walked together through the crowded streets of Konoha towards the Nara estate. This was the first time Shikamaru was with Naruto with this much people around and he noticed something. Once people saw him, they would hide their children and hurry home, like they were afraid of something, good thing was, that was another piece of the puzzle, bad thing was that it didn't fit in anywhere so the puzzle was larger than he estimated. He would have to put it all together and try to figure it out... again.

Naruto however was slightly amused, it had been a while since he was seen in public like this. This time there were a lot more scared looks. Last time he noticed that the more he goes without being seen more people become afraid of him instead of angry at him. It was interesting, he would have to experiment with this. They probably think that 'the demon' is plotting something in the shadows.

Shikamaru noticed that Naruto seemed more amused than bothered by the villagers, another piece of the puzzle.

* * *

They were soon at their destination. Nara Yoshino was a very lively woman, Naruto wouldn't mind it much if it wasn't for the fact that she would constanly try and 'cheer him up' even though he thought he didn't need to be cheered up.

Talking with a few adults over dinner was something he was mildly uncomortable with. He could ignore the villagers easily even though they were the cause of his slight fear of large groups. He didn't consider himself a part of the class at the academy so he could ignore everyone there too (most of the time, he dind't even need to ignore Shikamaru, since there was nothing to ignore). He relaxed visibly once the food came and seeing the Nara lazyness in action even during a meal was alomst enough to make him laugh, he smiled a bit instead.

Nara Yoshino wasn't a ninja, but she did work for the interrogation department, that was because she was great when it came to reading people and their emotions, and tonight, she called Naruto for dinner so she could confirm something. She noticed the slight differences in his acting around other people few times she was with him. And there was the mission she was unofficially issued by the Hokage himslef to 'figure out' as much as she could about Naruto; it didn't matter that she was getting payed a B-rank salary for it and that she would be able to get that nice kimono she found in that new shop, no, she was doing this solely for helping Naruto.

With dinner over and a bit of obligatory after-meal talk about their progress at the academy, a bit of teasing about girls and so on, she sent Shikamaru to his room leaving a confused Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, I would like you to come to my office tommorow." she handed him a piece of paper with an adress and the time of the appointment. He wanted to protest since she was using her normal tone, but her smile was the one Shikamaru recieved all the time, the 'I dare you to say no' smile.

He gulped and nodded before thanking them for their hospitality and leaving.

Since there was no school tommorow Naruto was planning on staying up all night and training his sword-work, but the appointment was early in the morning and coming there exhausted with no sleep the previous night would raise even more questions.

He settled for a short meditation and then sleeping, there was no hurry in getting stronger after all.

* * *

Naruto came home late in the afternoon, he had expected the appointment to last for 2 hours at most, instead he spent the entire morning, lunch and a good part of afternoon in that office, being questioned. She even brought some guy called Ibiki for a few hours to talk with him.

He could not agree more with Shikamaru about her being a 'troublesome woman'; the stuff she got out of him was surprising even to him, stuff he never wanted to tell anyone, stuff that embarrased him beyond what he could even imagine.

On the other hand, he made friends with Ibiki after he mentioned how he liked his no-bullshit attidute and seriousness when it came to business. It didn't help him much with the interrogation but Ibiki did share the adress of a shinobi bar which he frequents and said 'Once you feel like it and are allowed in, feel free to come in for a drink and a talk'. That was probably the only relatively good thing from the entire appointment.

She figured out a lot about him, hopefully she wouldn't see through the misdirections and lies.

* * *

At about the same time in the Hokages office, Yoshino was making her own report to the old man about all the things she found out about him.

She found out that he hates going back to an empty apartment.

He hates going through the village with nothing but negative emotions thrown at him.

He hates being ignored at class. Shikamaru (as much as he hates it) gets called out more in class.

He considers Shikamaru his best and only friend.

He wanted to be respected and liked just as a normal person would be.

People know that he exists, that is something he can't avoid, but they don't see him, he uses alleyways and rooftops to travel unnoticed by the civilians.

And they fear him, aside from the Naras, the old man Hokage and the good people at the ramen stand, people either fear him or hate him.

He has a bloodline but has never heard of it before so he thinks it might be a new one.

The last one was the most shocking to the Hokage.

"A new bloodline? That could prove both good and bad. What about his loyalty to Konoha?"

"I tried asking that in many ways, it seems like he is good at hiding the truth, he avoided the question entirely. From what I have understood about Naruto-kun, he is loyal to the people that care about him, I would guess he doesn't have any hostility towards Konoha itself but he would try and leave if there was nothing here for him. Currently there are about 6 people in the entire Konoha that are keeping him here."

"That is troubling to say the least, even more so if he actually has a new bloodline and it turns out to be potent... I am deeming this mission a success and am assinging you a long-duration A-rank mission."

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure what to do, on the one hand he was furious at himself for playing such a dangerous game with Yoshino-san; she obviosuly figured out that he isn't really loyal to Konoha and wants to tighten the bond between him and Konoha; Then again, he wasn't reported and locked up... sure the old man cared about him, but he had to put the entire population of Konoha first.

Maybe he was reported and Yoshino-san is supposed to help him get some more friends in case one of his more depressing sceanarios happen, more friends would help Konoha keep him here as a possible weapon.

Maybe that appointment was an order from the Hokage too?

Or maybe he's just overthinking things again.

He walked into the room and gathered the attention of most people inside; it was a formal dinner with many of the clan heads and the more prominent shinobi of Konoha in the same room. That meant that it would start formally with a lot of silence and careful words; after all the stuck-up asses leave there would be drinks and games later through the night.

The Nara family invited him so he was supposed to be there, but he wasn't an idiot, he would be the center of attention the entire night, hence the change of clothing, instead of his usuall black shihakusho he was wearing his 'formal-wear'; a blue hakama and a white kosode with red uzumaki spirals on each side of his chest.

After looking over the gathered people he had one thought only,

'I am definitely the reason most of them are here, I'll be more than just a center of attention.'

He sat next to Shikamaru and almost laughed at the rigid way he was sitting at his seat. The dinner went by mostly quietly. Even Naruto could discern rivalries and friendships among the people at the large table.

Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara were good friends, Hatake and Sarutobi were often talking and joking with them during the meals.

The Aburame exchanged a few words with almost everyone, Naruto thought that he was trying to be equal to everyone.

The Hyuuga mainly kept to himself.

The Inuzuka matriarch seemed a bit on edge, most likely not used to gathering like these, if it wasn't for her slightly intimidating look, Naruto would have tried to approach her later.

There was another adult there, he looked dangerous, probably the most dangerous of them all Naruto picked up that his name was Danzo and he was a council member close to the Hokage.

Aside from the adults there were also the clan heirs there, all of them from Narutos class.

Before Naruto could pick up much more about the people around him the dinner was done with and it was the time for everyone to get up and socialize.

What he didn't expect was for all the friendly groups to just disperse and go find someone else to talk with.

He had no idea how it happened, but he found himself in a group of adults, they were the ones to find him not the other way around.

There were two of them, the first one was the Hyuuga, the other one was that Danzo character.

"Uzumaki-san, a pleasure to meet you finally, I have heard a great deal about you. I am Hiashi Hyuuga the current clan head of the Hyuuga clan of Konoha a pleasure to make your acquantiance."

Naruto translated that into normal language.

'I've heard about you, I'm important, I don't really care about you."

"With all the rumors about me flowing through Konoha I am surprised one of your status as a clan head would socialize willingly with the only known survivor of an old clan such as me."

Naruto checked his reply,

'People hate me and you're not an exception, why are you here?'

Danzo was the one who replied,

"I was not aware that the academy was teaching about that particular part of history."

"The academy doesn't teach about the fall of the Uzu no kuni. I'm sorry I must have missed your name, mr. ..."

"Danzo Shimura, councilman of Konoha. I have to wonder, then, how do you know about the fall of that great ally of Konoha?"

Naruto felt a prickling sensation in the back of his head and heard the voice of Kyuubi in his head talking to him.

He kept calm, this guy was definitely dangerous, probably the most dangerous man he ever met.

"The library of course, that should be the place where us kids can find out things that are not taught at the academy, right?"

"There is not much about Uzu no kuni in the civilian library." Danzo was trying to find out if Naruto managed to sneak a look at some of the Shinobi library scrolls.

"I have not said anything about Uzu no kuni, all I mentioned was the fact that I am the last known Uzumaki."

Danzo looked at Naruto for a few seconds as if trying to find something before excusing himself and leaving the room.

"I apologize for the interruption, where were we?" Naruto politely asked Hiashi.

"I was just about to introduce my daughter, the heir of the clan." Hiashi brought out Hinata who was hiding behind him during the conversation so Naruto couldn't see her until now.

"Good evening, Uzumaki-kun."

"Good evening Hinata-san"

"I believe there are others that want to speak to you tonight, I will take my leave now."

"Have a pleasant evening, Hyuuga-dono."

After Hiashi left Naruto allowed himself a sigh of temporary relief. He was once again surrounded by people, this time the older Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Shikaku had stuck close to Naruto, ready to intervene in case he got himself into trouble, once the Hyuuga left, the trio was ready to move in, they wanted to be there first, but Danzo beat them to it.

"Naruto, I hope you're having a good time here, I'd like you to meet two of my best friends, Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Chouza, heads of the Yamanaka and Inoichi clans."

"A pleasure to meet you both, I have heard a few things about you from both of your children."

Naruto had spent some time with Chouji and Ino. Chouji was just too nice of a guy to be a ninja, he would probably turn out a great clan head, but he would not be good in a ruthless fight.

Ino ignored him, not because she wanted to, but because that was what he was like, there was nothing about him that annoyed her and he never seeked her attention so she would mostly forget all about him even existing unless he talked to her. And he had no reason to talk to a fangirl.

"I have to admit, I have not heard much about you from Ino. She doesn't really know much about you."

"Chouji likes you, especially since you've shown him that ramen stand, he keeps talking that we should buy it and hire those people for our own restourant because of their recipies." Chouza said with a short laugh.

Naruto could see that they were at least a bit careful around him, but that was the best he could get around trained shinobi. He decided to give them a chance.

* * *

Naruto flopped down on the bed and took a few breaths, that was a long night.

First Hiashi and Danzo. Then the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. After that he was introduced to Kakashi Asuma and Kurenai.

His meeting with Inuzuka Tsume was a rather short one, she was blunt and to the case, it all took less than two minutes.

Aburame Shibi decided to talk to him in private and out of sight. Like a true Shinobi.

That was a strange conversation. He decided to try and talk to Shino once he got to the academy.

* * *

After the dinner, there were even more people ocassionally following him, he could lose them no problem, but it was getting tiring.

He needed to see the old man about this.

Without even trying to lose his followers he climbed onto the building, showing his skill and jumped towards the Hokage tower making sure he didn't seem too skilled for a student.

The window was open, perfect. He jumped in and scattered the last few papers that were on the table.

Sarutobi had noticed him coming and wasn't alarmed, but he was a bit annoyed because of the flying paperwork.

"Old man, we need to talk."

"About what, Naruto-kun?" He knew what it was about but didn't expect a direct confrontation about it so soon.

* * *

That's it for this one, not really my best work, I ran out of ideas half-way through...


	6. Bleach - Turning Back the Pendulum Again

Urahara was briskly walking towards the barracks of the first division, he had asked for audience with several captains and this time he didn't want to be late one second.

He arrived on time, although a bit winded. He never got winded, he never hurried either, so when he entered the meeting room in his current state the present captains were aware that whatever had happened must be important.

"Urahara Kisuke, I trust that you have gathered us here for something important?" Yamamoto said, keeping his straight face.

"Yes sir, I'll try my best to keep it simple and short."

The captains nodded, the ones in the room were Shunsui, Ukitake, Kuchiki Ginrei and Unohana.

"You see, ever since I became the captain of the twelfth, I've been using my spare time on one of my hobbies, trying to understand how time itself worked, now, it never was really interesting, I used it more as relaxation; but a few hours ago I... received a message through the instruments I used. I think it's from the future."

As he promised, he had kept it simple, but even so, everyone needed some time to adjust and for the news to sink in.

"Are you certain? And what is the message?" Yamamoto was the one to recover first and no one said anything else since Yamamoto asked the two questions that were on everyone's mind.

"Yes, I am certain; the message is written down here." He pulled out a piece of paper out of his robes and handed it to the General.

Yamamoto first read it to himself a few times, before he read it to all the people present.

"The message says:

_I am coming from the future to stop the Gotei from being destroyed._

_Urahara, do not tell the vice-captains of this._

_I will be there in a days time."_

"It could be a trap." Kuchiki Ginrei stated calmly. No one had anything to add to that, it could very well be a trap, they had no way of knowing.

"Urahara, how will this person arrive?" Unohana was the one to ask.

"Whoever it is, he or she **will** arrive, I _can_ actually make an entry point wherever I wish, but without one made, that person could arrive anywhere in Soul Society."

"So it cannot be avoided... very well, is there anything you wish to add Urahara-taicho?" Yamamoto said, still thinking about the strange development.

"I can construct the entry point and have it ready in 2 hours at most, as of right now, we have 20 hours left."

"Very well, is there anything any of you wish to add?"

"We sould be ready for a fight just in case." Ukitake said speaking for the first time during the meeting.

"Noted. Urahara-taicho, you will construct the entry point in one of the empty buildings I show you, in 20 hours all captains will be assembled for the meeting and we shall see what happens then. Dismissed!"

* * *

The hours had passed quickly and Urahara had built his contraption that looked surprisingly simple for something that should be complicated.

Everyone was gathered already.

The machine Urahara had built was a simple circular platform with some cables connected to the monitors he had set up.

Yamamoto was standing across the entry point with captains to both his left and right. When he had explained what was going on some were outraged, some were yelling that it was a trap and some (Kiganjo Kenpachi) were silent, not really interested. After he had managed to calm them, they had prepared themselves.

"Draw your swords." Yamamoto barked out and everyone complied.

"1 more minute." Urahara said from behind his instruments.

The minute passed in silence, no one really daring to say anything.

Silent buzzing started emanating from the platform and everyone gripped their swords a bit tighter.

There was a gust of air and a powerful reiatsu appeared in front of them.

The person that appeared was a tall young man with a giant cleaver-like sword resting on his shoulder, but the most prominent was the haori of the first squad he was wearing.

He was facing away from them, but Urahara and his monitors were right in front of him.

"Urahara-san? I thought there would be more people waiting for me."

Urahara didn't say anything, he was surprised that it actually worked, he just looked at the general and the rest of the captains behind the time traveler.

Ichigo noticed the look and turned around to see who else was there.

"Old man, you look the same as the last time I saw you..." he noticed that they all held their swords ready.

"Oh, right, you think this is some sort of a trap;" he started digging through his robes and pulled out a letter, "Old man, this is for you from, well, you... you knew you wouldn't trust me so you had a letter for yourself written and... just read it, I'm already lost." Yamamoto carefully took the letter and opened it, inside he saw his own handwriting.

After reading it he closed it.

"Sheathe your swords." He ordered and everyone complied, some more readily than others. Ichigo placed his sword on his back and it wrapped itself in bandages.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, acting Commander-General from about 100 years in the future." this got him some odd looks from the group. "I know you still don't trust me and frankly I don't care, I'm here to save the future, after I do that I'll leave."

"What do you mean 'save the future'?" Kyoraku asked, still eyeing Ichigo with suspicion.

"I'll give you a short explanation now, I have this thing which can show you my memories, I'll show you the details later, right now the traitors need to be stopped."

"Traitors? Who are they?" Yamamoto, never being one to go ignore any kind of betrayal spoke first.

"Aizen Sousuke, he's a lot more powerful than he shows." before his voice could be drowned out by the gasps and yells of denial he continued, ", Old man, you had to use Ittokaso on him, and it _still_ did nothing more than just singe him a bit."

A lot of eyes were on Hirako now, but instead of being surprised he was angry.

"I knew there was something about the bastard, but betrayal?" he was seething and was on the verge of storming off to slay the bastard.

"Calm down Shinji, if it was that easy to just kill him, I would have sent a message with a warning and there wouldn't be any need for me to come back. His Kyokasuigetsu is a really powerful Zanpakuto, you are all susceptible to his hypnosis, he can make you attack your allies while you think that you're attacking him..." he saw the disbelief on their faces. "Here's some proof of it."

He held out a fist sized orb and a projection appeared on the wall.

They saw a redheaded man with a broken Zanpakuto from Ichigos eyes.

"I can use this tecnique only once, but it **will** leave an opening, use it."

Ichigo charged towards Aizen, his timing perfect, his aim perfect, and yet his sword was stopped by a single finger.

The image blurred and the scene was now different, Aizen was floating towards the sky on a piece of land inside a Negacion. Together with him were Tousen and Gin.

"_No one stands on the top of the world. Not you, not me, not even gods. But the unbearable vacancy of the throne in the sky is over. From now on...I will be sitting on it._"

"Deluded bastard..." Hirako was still angry.

"Not really, it took him centuries of planning and careful action, but he became immortal eventually."

"What!?" those who didn't say it, were most definitely thinking it.

"What time is it now? I want to get rid of him as soon as possible." Yamamoto narrowed his eyes at this.

"That is unacceptable, he is to be captured alive and imprisoned."

"And I say that THAT is unacceptable, he already managed to escape from Muken once. I don't wanna give him any more chances."

Once again, people were surprised, Muken is not a prison that you should be able to escape from.

AN: That's as far as I got, as usual, you're free to borrow the theme and even the stuff I have now, but only if you notify me, I want to see the results.


	7. Bleach x Harry Potter - Kushanada

A simple crossover between HP and Bleach, using two plot points I've seen used before: Ichigo ends up in Hell and becomes the boss there, someone from Bleach goes to Hogwarts (which happens in 75% of fics done with HP universe.)

I find this as one of my better works, though I didn't know how exactly to continue the story...

* * *

Boredom, hellish boredom... quite literally. He was the lord of Hell, and it has been centuries since he had even heard someones voice, including his own. He had given up on talking to himself, it made him look crazier than he was, not that there was anyone to look at him.

His servants were mindless, doing whatever he would command them without question or complaint. Kushanāda were boring, scary to a mortal, but ultimately, boring. He had lost count of all the millenia he had 'lived' here, if you could call it life... if you are immortal, is it life?

No, it had to be more than 'many millenia', he had seen the entire mortal universe crunch and reform itself several times. He vaguely remembered the first one, his life as a human, his life as a Shinigami, his life as a Visored, and his unlife as the lord of Hell... He remembered blurry faces and a few names, nothing more, his life was also very clouded; he was just a normal human at first.

What was his name? He didn't have one, at least not anymore, regardless, he couldn't remember his old name anyway.

Did he think back to those days fondly? Wanting to be able to go back? No. He remembered a part of his life, he was an old man with many children when he died. Yes, that was it, he died in old age, and instead of being reincarnated, Hell took him in as it's lord. Damn mindless Kushanāda, they had recognized him as powerful once, and took him away when they had the chance...

Over the course of his reign he saw a lot of things but not nearly enough to fill all the years. As soon as he figured out what had happened, he took Aizens life immediately and locked him up in the lowest pit of hell. He would be safely guarded in Hell, not that it mattered much since he was now weak compared to him.

Kurosaki... yes that used to be him, he remembered it vaguely. Maybe he should go and take a walk, go and visit some of his still sane prisoners? How long has it been since he visited Aizen last, 1000, maybe 2000 years?

His throne room was made of dirt, he could change it, but what for? He didn't care, and there wasn't anyone else who would care about it. Same goes for his form, he was all bone, garbed in a rotten Shihakusho with a long black sword in his right hand and a scary horned skeletal mask in his left. Another thing that intrigued him at first was the fact that Hell never changed, it was always the same, Hueco Mundo was a thing of the past, when the universe in which he was born ended, so did Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. Hell was always the same.

...

Aizen wasn't talkative, constant torture and silence kept him on the edge of insanity. His arrogant attitude long gone. So the lord of all Hell went for that walk, mere sight of him would make the sinners of Hell commit suicide and the Kushanāda bow before he came close. He pitied the sinners, mostly because in his head he knew them all by name and crime, sometimes he would let some of the souls return to the reincarnation cycle, but only those that were deemed good enough by him.

He got back to his throne room and decided that it was time for a century long nap.

He never got woken up from a nap before, and this was new to him, one of the Kushanāda had brought him a scroll, and that meant that there was something that Kushanāda didn't know how to deal with, probably in the mortal world.

Indeed it was, a mere man is trying to become immortal, this would be 34th mortal in pursuit of immortality who came somewhat close. Splitting ones soul as a means to immortality seemed too risky to him, but then again, he wasn't mortal anymore so he wouldn't know.

"I'll deal with it personally, leave." his voice was softer than he remembered; Kushanāda left, leaving him to his thoughts.

He could leave it for another century or two, but he had nothing to do now, maybe involving himself into mortal affairs would get rid of some of his boredom. And if this Tom Marvolo Riddle is anything like Aizen, he might get the two of them to argue if they are placed close enough to one another.

He would need a plan though, the humans in this world were largely uncertain of the afterlife, and he meant to keep it that way. It would take some research but he would get everything he needed... eventually. That was the word, eventually... he had all the time he wanted and more.

It was ready, one year of research, one year of preparation and it was ready. He could have done it all in a few weeks really, but what was the rush?

He made a tome, imagined a most complex ritual he could come up with, and sent it all to earth so it would find a way to someone powerful.

It took very little time, just a bit over a decade, for the tome to find an owner. A very old wizard by the name of Albus. Although being a good person, he would never use the ritual on his own, unless as a last resort. But his friends found out about the tome...

There they were, in a dark room, all of them gathered in a circle around the mysterious artifact. The complex drawing on the ground took some time, mainly because it was Asian-looking and not many of them had much experience with that sort of thing. The ritual was straightforward but long. Very long, it took several weeks to get everything ready and now it was time. Time to summon the creature that can 'break the chains of fate and punish the ones who deserve it'.

The room was quite large and with no features other than the large arch in the middle, inside the arch there was a fluttering, dark, silk-looking fabric. There were about a dozen people in the room, half of them were standing on the edges of the circle in their prepared positions, the other ones were standing further away, with their wands at the ready. The ones further away were all dressed in the same greyish hooded robes.

The ones in the inner circle were dressed in various clothes, Albus Dumbledore was the main person there, with the others being the more trustworthy of the professors at Hogwarts. Severus, Minerva, Sprout, Flitwick and professor Trelawney were standing at their own places in the circle.

Albus was mostly concerned about the '...punish those who deserve it.' part of the tome, what if this creature takes that literally and starts cleaning the entire world? What if it doesn't have the same sense of 'justice' like them?

When they started chanting the incantation the circle started glowing and the light lit up the room, only the professors were chanting the simple incantation, the rest were off to the side watching silently.

The incantation was not very long, surprisingly, so they finished it quickly.

The light in the circle faded away and the fabric between inside the arch straightened completely, it was no longer fluttering. For a few moments all was still, and then the fabric fell, it all fell to the floor in between the arches, leaving only stone standing.

For a few more moments, nothing had happened.

Then a small movement from inside the pile of silk. The movements were slow, painfully so, and everyone drew their wands and pointed them at the pile. Even Dumbledore was a bit apprehensive. Trelawney was almost shaking.

As if someone was buried under the silk, the movements looked humanoid, contours of an arm were visible as the figure inside struggled to get up. Once it got up it spread its arms away from its body and waited. The silk fluttered again, moving to better accommodate it's occupant. It moved, shortened, lengthened and tore itself in places, making itself into a piece of clothing.

First a pair of normal hands appeared, then a pair of bare feet and finally a head was shown, aside from the hair it looked normal, orange spiky hair, deep brown eyes, distinctive Asian face.

Ichigo turned his head around to look at all the people in the room and winced. He brought a hand to the back of his neck and massaged it slightly.

Dumbledore lowered his wand seeing that the figure was not acting in a threatening way.

"Good evening." He said, trying to start a conversation and find out more about the mysterious being they had summoned.

"Evenin'..." Ichigo didn't even look at the old man, instead he rolled his shoulders and stretched his legs a bit.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore, may we ask what is your name?" Dumbledore had a slight smile on his face, the summoned being looked like a young man and it acted like one too, being a headmaster of a school, he knew exactly how to deal with the likes of him.

"Not really important. I only allowed you to summon me because I needed to be here. Now tell me where this Tom Marvolo Riddle is."

The shock on their faces surprised him, they knew about this Tom person. He hoped that they would just tell him so he could find him and be done with this.

"That is the reason we summoned you, he is an evil man that has done many gruesome things, but what do you want with him?" Dumbledore managed to silence other professors before speaking, his smile now gone.

"He wants immortality, I don't like that... so I'm here to kill 'im." Ichigos voice was completely normal, he was still looking around the room without paying much attention to the people.

Ichigo was thinking, since these people seemed smart and they apparently didn't like this Marvolo guy, they probably knew where he would be.

"So I'm guessing you know where he is? Or at the very least you have a clue?" He looked towards Dumbledore and saw his answer, they had no idea.

He sighed "Great... just great..."

Nymphadora Tonks was walking through Hogwarts, it was a Saturday so there weren't any regular classes today, but there was one special class she wanted to be in today.

Once again she had been laughed at, in the first year it started simple, she would use her talent as a metamorphmagus and make people laugh. In the second year she was already known as a rebel and a prankster, people started whispering behind her back. By the time she was fifth year, those whispers had become insults and various names. It didn't bother her, at least not until she was alone, she had become used to crying for hours once she would be left by herself. No one knew about it of course. All they cared about was who was the last person to sleep with her.

She turned the corner and saw someone enter the classroom she was supposed to be in, whoever just entered wasn't wearing the student robes, which meant that she was late. She wouldn't mind being late usually, but Dumbledore announced that this class would help anyone interested in becoming an Auror, and that was her goal, she would become an Auror and show everyone just what she can do.

Ichigo wasn't expecting his short trip to the world of the living to take this much time, he was really hoping that he would just kill the man and be done with it, but he had to admit, he liked it here.

He was now in Hogwarts, walking down one of the many corridors, he had a classroom to be in.

He entered the classroom and all eyes turned to look at him.

It was a large room, no chairs and no tables, mats were placed all over the floor. The students were all on one side of the room, there was about a dozen of them.

"Good afternoon class-" He was interrupted when another student came into the room.

"I'm sorry I'm late, may I please join the rest of the class?" She was nervous, but determined.

He simply nodded at her, not giving her too much attention, he noticed that some people didn't like this student.

"Several things before we start the class. This class is not obligatory. You are free to come to me in my spare time an I will remove you from the list of attendants. This class starts after lunch on Saturday every week and lasts for exactly 2 hours. After next week no one will be able to join the classes if they are not on the list of attendants. Only sixth and seventh year students are allowed to attend. My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. I am not a professor, I am an instructor. And finally, yes, this is my natural hair color."

He let it all sink in and started walking towards the mats.

"Ah, excellent, you haven't started yet. I hope you don't mind me joining in for today, I wanted to see how they would do." Dumbledore said as he entered suddenly.

"Of course not." Ichigo wasn't surprised to see that the headmaster decided to join for his first class.

He stepped towards him and talked to him silently for a while.

Tonks looked around and saw a few people she knew, only two from Hufflepuff, neither were her friends.

Dumbledore walked across the mats and stood next to the wall of the room, Ichigo walked onto one of the mats.

"Since you were late, you are the first volunteer. Step up and face towards me." Tonks almost cursed, she didn't need this. She would fight it, but the promise she made to herself was still fresh in her mind. She walked towards the mats, standing about 10 meters from Ichigo.

"Draw your wand." she drew, unknown to her, Dumbledore too drew his wand, albeit, silently.

"This is the scenario, I am a criminal and it is your job and duty to stop me, my hands are empty," hi showed his hands to her, "no spell casting or any other kind of attacking this time. asses the threat level from zero to ten."

"...One." she said loud enough to be heard by others in the class.

Ichigo nodded in confirmation, glad that he wasn't facing someone too arrogant to say anything other than 0. He moved his right arm, closing his fist as if he was holding something in it. His arm was now hiding a part of his face, fist behind his left shoulder. He swung quickly downwards. Somewhere in the swing, a sword appeared in his hand. It was completely black and had a short chain dangling at the end of the hilt.

He looked at her expectantly, ignoring the sounds of awe and surprise from other students.

She pointed her wand at him, even though he said that there would be no attacking this time.

"...Three."

He nodded, though she felt like it wasn't meant for her.

"Expelliarmus." her wand flew through the air and landed on the other side of the room, away from everyone. She turned to see Dumbledore giving her a sweet smile, she cursed the man silently. She was now unarmed.

"...Nine." she said as she turned to Ichigo, this time he did nod at her.

She thought she saw a small smile on his face but before she could confirm it, he was gone, she felt something on her neck and looked down. To her horror she saw the black blade lightly resting on her neck, dangerously close to her artery; Ichigo was standing next to her, just outside of her vision.

She slowly looked at Ichigo, the look he had on his face told her all she needed to know.

"...Ten." He nodded, glad, and lowered his sword, walking back to his position.

"Expelliarmus, one of the most dangerous spells for any wizard. There are several ways to go against that spell."

He turned and saw that Tonks managed to gather herself and was listening intently.

"First, and probably the best is to learn how to call back your wand. Wandless casting of Accio spell, while very useful and probably the perfect way to battle expeliarmus, takes years and maybe even decades to learn, we don't have that sort of time."

"Second way is to dodge your opponent and get your wand back."

"Third would be to incapacitate your opponent without your wand."

"We will be focusing on the last two, if you plan on becoming an Auror you will receive official training in those disciplines, mainly because Aurors spend a lot of time in the human world and need to be able to defend themselves without a wand."

"Now, let's start with..."

The class wasn't too difficult, but there was a lot to do, Ichigo told them that they would soon start doing more physical exercises.

Several moths have passed, instead of a dozen people in his class there were now only a few that came every week. It was not a Saturday so Ichigo had nothing much to do, he was thinking of visiting Hagrid to see if he needed any help with some of the wilder animals in the forest. The two became friends, mainly because of Hagrids good nature and outgoing attitude.

He was now walking through his favorite corridor, there wasn't anything special in it, his classroom was on the other side of the castle. He really liked this corridor because it was the longest one in the castle. For some reason he enjoyed walking through it slowly.

He sensed a presence coming from behind him, it was Tonks. He had heard the rumors going around about her but he didn't really care about them; in his class she was the one that showed most potential, both mentally and physically. He has also noticed how she treated him, there was more than just respect in her voice when she talked to him. He didn't put much attention to it, after all, what could he do? He could have a short romance, sure, but what would be the point? He was always a one-girl-guy, and even after all this time nothing has changed with that. Sure there wasn't anyone there to change it, and he had lost all desire and need for love. But once he got into this body, things slowly changed.

His current body was mostly normal, meaning that he would be affected by hormones and pheromones just like a normal person. And he could feel it, that loneliness he would feel when separate from his long-dead wife. He sighed. If this trip took more than a few years, he would have to find someone to be there with him, short romance or not, he would go crazy otherwise.

The thing that scared him the most was himself. What if he allowed himself to love? What if he actually fell in love? Would he be able to let go when time came? He would have to, but still...

"Excuse me..." Tonks, knowing that Ichigo liked to take walks around the castle, came from behind him and walked next to him.

"Yes, Ms. Tonks?" He glanced at her, her hair was especially pink today, he never knew why she kept it such a bright color.

"I was wondering... if you would like to join me for a trip to Hogsmeade on Sunday?"

He wasn't expecting this, at least not this soon; he could decline and say something like 'I'm not interested' or he could accept and keep her at a comfortable distance. She was young, sure, but his body was only about a year or two older than her so it wouldn't make much difference. He didn't care about the rumors about her before, but now he would need to see for himself.

"Why ask me? I'm sure that there are many students who would be glad to accompany you to Hogsmeade." This way he would find out her reasoning from her own mouth, and she might open up to him.

"I'm not interested in other students." She spoke too fast to figure out what she was saying and put a hand over her mouth before she could bury herself in the hole she just dug.

'That was a lot more direct than I expected, I'll try and push her just a bit more.'

"Interested? In what way?" It was obvious that she had planned for this conversation, but his serious teasing threw her completely off balance. She was just mumbling incomprehensibly trying to save the small amount of respect she had.

"School employees aren't supposed to have relationships with students." He said flatly, a small smile on his face.

Instead of saying something about 'relationships' that he mentioned, Tonks smiled too.

"You've said it yourself, you're not a professor, and there aren't any rules concerning instructors, I know, I've checked." Her proud smile told him a lot.

'A true hardworking Hufflepuff...'

As usual, PMs and reviews are open to all.


	8. Naruto x Mass Effect - Crystal

AN: A crossover between Mass Effect 3 and Narutoverse.

The story so far, after the end of the war and everything in the Narutoverse, Rokudaime Hokage gets a report about a dangerous disease, along with a few more people he develops a way to keep people safe, forced stasis.

Century later, Normandy SR-2 stumbles on the planet, they find only one survivor.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto opened his eyes slowly,

"?"

After being asleep for so long his brain could only process the sense of wonderment at his current situation, with time he remembered what had happened and why exactly was he sleeping on top of a really comfortable paw of a giant nine-tailed fox.

Knowing that the fox will be asleep for a while longer and that there was no way to wake him up without angering him greatly, he decided to get out of his mind and get into the real world.

Before he even opened his eyes he listened to the surroundings.

Machinery and electronics, and a lot of it too. The smell seemed to be that of a hospital, did something go wrong with his crystal?

He was also in a horizontal position, lying in the remnants of the crystal cocoon he put himself in. Was he forcefully extracted from the cocoon?

There was someone else in the room, someone was sitting with their back turned to him.

She said something and he tried listening but couldn't understand the language.

The voice belonged to a mature woman from what he could tell, was she talking to him?

Another voice, a male this time, came in from the electronics.

'Radio, she just told something to someone, I'm in a hospital, unknown location, unknown status of the rest of Konoha, unknown intentions of the people that captured me... yeah, must be Tuesday.'

'Kurama?'

No response, the fox was still asleep, he could use the extra power.

Where was everyone? He dared open his eyes slightly and glance around the room.

'A lot of metal walls around, everything looks weird, like from one of those stupid movies about aliens.'

Oh, yeah, aliens... there was the message that Konoha managed to broadcast into space, right? Maybe some aliens picked up the message and took him away from his people?

'I wonder where Hinata is... heh, I'm getting old, I'll just find her.'

Since he was lying down, he used the time he had to gather some Natural chakra and enter Sage mode, making some of the readings on the monitors change slightly, but the woman didn't notice since she was busy with something else.

It took him only a few seconds to figure out what was wrong,

'50 people, no one I know... there isn't anyone else close by... not even an animal... what the hell is happening?'

He started slightly panicking, and increased the range on his detection, the panic made his heart-beat rise and warned the doctor that something was wrong.

'What? Why am I flying so high? Why am I hundreds of miles above ground?'

So far he had only managed to detect people that have never had any contact with chakra, even worse than the civilians in Konoha, these people seemed to be from a place that doesn't use chakra.

He had to get out of here, the doctor was now getting up and walking towards him, there was also someone coming.

After a bit of preparation, mainly placing a Hiraishin seal onto the bed and checking if he had any Kunai in his pocket, he was ready.

Two people came in and the doctor was distracted, she took a few steps to show something to the newcomers at the place where she was sitting. No one was looking at him now, they were all turned away. He rose up quietly despite all the bones that wanted to creak and alert the possible enemies.

He hated doing something like this but it was necessary; he needed to get home.

He placed a seal on the kunai as he took it out and slowly creeped up behind the doctor. He was interrupted by a strange voice from the electronics that made the doctor turn around.

It was too late, he grabbed her and used her as a shield with his kunai at her neck. The other two people already pointed something at him.

'Weapons? Must be long-ranged since they don't seem to have any sharp edges.' He took a bit more cover behind the woman, making sure that he wasn't giving them much to fire at.

They were warning him, he could understand that much from their tone, but their language was still unknown to him. He briefly wondered why they were human, a lot of things were telling him that he was facing aliens but they didn't look like aliens... then again, the third guy that just entered looked alien enough.

Doesn't matter, there's one door that I can use and it's a dead end, it's definitely a Tuesday today.

"What did you do to everyone?" he asked, both for the sake of asking and for the sake of buying time.

Naruto backed up towards the door that would lead him to the dead end, there wasn't anyone in there so he would probably be safe enough, at least for a while.

They followed him and passed the bed while pointing their weapons at him. They talked to someone else, a female from the sound of the strange voice. He made a change to his plan.

The rest of the people were now running around, both under him and above him, he could probably go through the metal roof or even the floor but there were more people there. He needed to find an exit and that wouldn't be possible with a slow hostage.

Just a bit more and he could use Hiraishin to get behind them and leave the doctor alone.

Shit, the door through which the others entered just closed, and if the red color on the center of it is any indication, it must be locked.

He was trying to think of a different plan, something that didn't involve killing people, when one of the men talked and Naruto understood him.

"Can you understand me?"

'How can I understand him? Is it some sort of a genjutsu? No, I would have noticed something like as that. They must have somehow figured out the language, the voice is coming from the thing on his arm.'

"Your accent is terrible."

"It happens, I'll have to ask you to let go of the good doctor."

"Don't worry, I get less shy when there are no weapons aimed at me."

Naruto placed a seal on the doctors clothes.

"So you want us to lower our weapons, why would we trust you?"

"Because the next thing I'm going to ask is to bring me back to my village, since this doesn't really look like it."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible right now."

"And why is that?" Naruto didn't like the sad look the man had on his face, his gut was telling him that he won't like the answer to his own question.

"There's still a disease there, that's why you were in stasis, right?"

Naruto stopped listening once he heard that the disease didn't disappear.

"How long? How long has it been?"

"... It's been almost a century."

"No, that's... no... what about everyone else?!"

"I'm sorry, you're the only survivor we found, the rest were not in their crystal pods."

the words 'only survivor' rang in his mind as his kunai clattered to the ground. The doctor ran behind the line of weapons that were still pointed at Naruto.

Naruto could not think. He had lost control of his sage mode and his eyes returned to normal. He fell to his knees.

No tears came despite the fact that crying was the only thing that he wanted to do now. Everyone was gone, all of them, it couldn't be true, could it? But he was trained in deception, he could see that the man wasn't lying to him.

He had promised all of them that he would protect them, he failed his promise, he failed his village and his friends... and Hinata... oh God, Hinata.

He promised that they would start a real family as soon as they both woke up, he failed his own wife.

This wasn't supposed to happen, the disease had already wiped out so many, Konoha was the last village left.

He was the one that made the jutsu for the crystal pods... he designed it together with Baa-chan... it would keep them alive for a few decades, and after that they would wake up, the disease would already be gone, once it lost all of it's possible victims.

Why did the disease stay, did he miss something, did Baa-chan make an error in her analysis?

Why him? Why did he have to be the last one left?

They were talking now, probably to him, but he couldn't understand even though they were speaking his language.

"I... I want to go down there..."

"We can cure the disease on the whole planet, it will take only about 12 hours."

Naruto was still looking at the floor.

'My bones will be laid to rest with my family. I can't ask for anything more in this life.'

"Fine, I'll wait."

Naruto was confined to to the room he woke up in, which he was told was the medical bay. He just sat on the bed while the doctor did her scans.

He felt that the Kyuubi would wake up soon so he switched to the lotus position and closed his eyes, the fox needed to know.

As he entered his mindscape he could see that it darkened a lot since he left it a few hours ago.

The fox opened a single eye.

"Naruto... what happened?" He noticed the look Naruto had on his face.

Naruto walked to the fox and placed his hand on the big nose.

"...We're the only ones left Kurama... everyone else is gone."

The fox understood and moved a bit closer to him.

"What do you plan to do?"

"Take a look through my memories and you'll see what happened. I'll release you from the seal and..." he didn't need to finish, the fox knew what releasing him meant. Naruto wanted to rest next to his wife.

They both stood silent for a few minutes.

"You won't fight me on this?" Naruto asked.

"There wouldn't be any point... will you use _that_ jutsu?"

"I don't know."

"You should, but do it before you release me, you may not have enough time otherwise."

"Alright, I'm going now, there's someone else in the room."

Kurama stared at the place where Naruto was a few moments ago, the fox had a plan, of course. Kurama always had a plan, but this one was a bit of a stretch and he wasn't sure that he would mind too much if it failed, there just wasn't much else to lose.

'The kid definitely deserved a rest, though; maybe it isn't my place to convince him to keep living.'

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see who came to see him.

"Hi, my name is Tali'Zorah, Shepard sent me to show you to your temporary quarters."

Naruto nodded and got up, he noted that the woman was completely covered up and had strange hands and feet but didn't think much of it.

She led him to a nearby room, it had a pair of long futuristic looking sofas in the middle and a chair in the corner but Naruto was looking through the window at the beautiful planet that he called home.

His instincts told him that the girl was still in the room but he just looked at the planet. He could see all the continents; there was a storm around Kumo, Kiri was covered in clouds as usual, and Suna was still the same desert.

He could see where Konoha was,

'Half-way between those two mountains... I guess if you look from space it really is a hidden village, despite it's size.'

He was brought out of his depressing thoughts by a voice.

"...I can't say that I know how you feel, but I can say that I'm sorry about all you lost. If you feel like you need to talk about anything, you can talk to me..."

Naruto was silent and after about half-a-minute Tali slowly turned and went towards the door.

"I was supposed to go first..." Tali turned and listened.

"I took the oath... I promised every single person in my village that I would give my life without hesitation if it was needed to protect them... and now, I'm the only one that didn't die."

Tali listened, not knowing what to say, she briefly thought that she went a bit over her head when she volunteered to help the survivor emotionally.

"I was their leader, I was one of the most powerful people in the entire world... I promised her that we would have a family... and I failed them all without any chance of repair..."

'Keelah, I really did get in over my head... what am I supposed to say to that?'

"What do you mean?"

"The crystals, they were my idea, I made them. If only I had worked faster, maybe I would have been able to use an outside source of chakra instead of using an internal one... everyone would still be alive."

"You shouldn't blame yourself if you didn't have enough time; it's not your fault."

Naruto was about to say something again when the door opened and Shepard entered.

"Doctor Chakwas managed to make a vaccine for the disease; if you want to, you can take it and go down to the surface right away." Naruto nodded right away and followed Shepard, he stopped at the door, though,

"Thanks for the talk Tali-san." he left.

Naruto was sitting in the shuttle together with Tali, Shepard and another soldier, the one who arrived to the hospital last, he remembered that his name was Garrus.

There wasn't much talking, though Garrus was looking at him strangely, probably wondering how Naruto managed to sit so peacefully in a shuttle that shook every few seconds, the answer was chakra but Naruto wasn't about to say it.

Soon after, they landed and the door opened to reveal that they have landed in Konoha.

Naruto was the last one to get out of the shuttle, it took him a while to get used to the empty streets and abandoned buildings.

Garrus and Tali were looking around since this was their first time here.

Tali looked at the stone faces that were carved into the mountain and then to Naruto.

"Is that you?" she asked pointing at his face on the mountain.

It did look like him, but the stone face was smiling, and the real one was almost radiating sadness and depression. Naruto looked up and thought of all the legends concerning each and every one of those faces.

"Yeah, the faces show all the village leaders." Shepard raised his eyebrow since he didn't know that Naruto was a leader of this village/city, hell, Naruto hadn't even introduced himself yet.

"There must have been a lot of people here..." Garrus wasn't really thinking when he said that, he figured out his mistake when Tali discreetly kicked him in the shin. He would have apologized for bringing it up but Naruto was faster.

"... 25 562 people... half of them civilians, half of them trained soldiers under my command... I have to get something from the tower first."

Since they had landed right in front of the tower, Naruto decided to get something important from there. The shuttle took off, it would pick them up later.

They followed him in silence.

The paint was peeling and the wood was starting to rot but the tower stood strong. Naruto navigated his way through the corridors and doorways like he had been here yesterday. And he was, unless you count the century he spent frozen.

They came to the door at the end of a corridor and he opened it. It was his office. Shepard noted the pictures of every leader, the second one looked particularly strange, with white hair and a young face.

Naruto reached into a drawer and took out a few pictures before he put them inside his pocket, they hadn't managed to see what was on the photos. There was also some clothing on a chair next to the table.

Naruto had been wearing his standard orange jumpsuit and his sage cloak over it. Now he placed the white Hokage robe over that and put the famed Hokage hat on his head.

"I'm ready... let's go." his face was serious now, and he hid his emotions, this was the end for him, there would be no weakness. He was still Hokage, even though he was a bad one. He would die a Hokage and follow his people, maybe he can find a way to protect them in the afterlife.

They followed him out and walked towards the staircase to the monument. Inside the monument itself were the crystals.

The walk was silent for the most part, Shepard wanted to ask questions but felt like he would be intruding on a private moment so he was silent like the rest.

After about 20 minutes of walking and climbing endless steps, they came to the entrance of the shelter where Naruto created all the crystals. He didn't pause, instead he entered and looked over the thousands of shattered crystals, all the civilians were here, most of them were in a crystal some time a century ago. Now, all that was left were glass-like shards and piles of bones covered with some clothes.

The crystals fed on a tiny amount of chakra from the person inside, the disease couldn't harm any of them as long as they were inside, if the chakra got low, the crystal would break on its own and the person would be free.

The civilians could last for a few months if they shared a crystal with another civilian, the shinobi couldn't share crystals but would last at least years if not a few decades. Naruto knew that he would last more than a century with his reserves.

The next room was much more orderly but with the same amount of death in it.

Naruto glanced towards the crystals of some people he knew.

'There's Lee and Gai, looks like they died in the middle of doing push-ups.'

'Both Ino-Shika-Cho formations are there, it looks like they didn't all wake up together.'

He continued walking to the last room, that's where his objective was.

He went through the stone archway into the small room and the group that was following him stood a bit closer to him, possibly in an effort to show their condolences.

There, next to the place where his crystal was once standing was a skeleton sitting in a seiza position. He would always remember that lavender kimono she wore. In a way it looked like Hinata fell asleep, the way her head was bent forward slightly. He didn't see the skull and bones, he saw his wife. The most beautiful woman in the world, a saint among people.

He tore his teary eyes away from the skeletal form of his wife and looked around, on the other side, Tsunade was leaning against a wall when she had died, Kakashi was sitting next to her, an orange book opened and resting in his bony fingers. They had awoken together, before Hinata did, and must have spent the time talking.

'Naruto... do the jutsu for all three of them.'

Naruto didn't feel any need to respond. Instead he turned towards the group.

"Could you please stand back a bit, I need to do something important now?" They nodded, thinking that he would do some funeral ritual for the fallen.

Naruto took out a kunai and slashed his palm, making a thin line of blood that dripped to the floor. After enough blood was on the floor he made the four seals that were needed.

'Dragon, Dog, Snake, Tiger...'

"Kuchiyose: Edo Keshin." Slamming his hands onto the small puddle of blood he waited. The blood started glowing, lighting the entire room, making the group from the Normandy draw their weapons and look around.

From under Naruto symbols began to appear and spread outwards, they circled around the three dead bodies in the room and the bones started glowing slightly.

All the light faded and the symbols went away. Three people appeared in the room, each wore the same clothes as one of the skeletons on the ground.

To the left, a blonde woman with and enormous bust appeared, with her was a masked white-haired man that had covered up his left eye, he seemed to be in uniform.

To the right was a young woman in a lavender kimono.

Naruto didn't say anything, the blonde woman spoke first.

"I believe I won that bet Kakashi, I told you he would summon us back, even if it is only temporary." She had a triumphant smile on her face, by now the Normandy group was pointing weapons at them, dead people appearing out of thin air was definitely not a natural occurrence.

"Indeed you did, Tsunade-sama, I had thought that his fear of ghosts would get the better of him."

He also seemed to be smiling under the facial mask he was wearing.

"Naruto..." Hinata gave him a smile and he broke, seeing her smile, seeing her smiling face was too much for him.

"Hinata, everyone, I'm s-"

"No." Hinata interrupted him before he could finish.

"I'll tell you the same thing you told me, 'why are you apologizing if it isn't your fault?'"

Naruto stared at Hinata and Tsunade spoke.

"You did all you could Naruto, we knew that the disease might not disappear in time, you did more than anyone could have asked of you. If you came here only to apologize for not dying, save your breath."

Kakashi continued.

"He's wearing both the hat and the robe; I think we all know what that means..." Hinata was the next one to speak.

"Naruto, are you really giving up, after everything you did and everything that happened? Did you really come here to end your life?" Shepard and his crew looked at each other, they felt awkward standing in the background listening in on what was obviously a personal conversation.

"What am I supposed to do?!" he almost yelled,

"Live! Don't throw your own life away, you never gave up, not once, don't start now!" Hinata was the one that yelled at him, to the surprise of the Normandy crew; she seemed like a really calm person.

"Find a new home, find new allies, find new friends... and remember to find love, that is the most important part. Find someone to love Naruto."

Naruto was looking between all three of them, trying to say something but not finding the words.

"It's time, we can't stay in this world much longer, good luck Naruto... give'em hell." Kakashi said to him, breaking his thoughts.

Tsunade just gave him an approving nod while Hinata smiled at him and with nothing else said, they disappeared.

Naruto stood there, his back turned to the Normandy crew, for a few minutes.

Shepard looked between his crew once more, giving more time to Naruto. He didn't want to ruin the moment by talking, but he was really interested in that thing he did to summon the spirits of the dead, that kind of power was simply mind boggling, Shepard wondered if there are any other supernatural things this guy could do.

"Damn fox knew this would happen..." Naruto turned and they were taken aback with the intensity of his eyes, he looked like a leader, someone who went through a lot to get to where he is.

He walked towards the group.

"Shepard, I've been through a war so I can recognize when others are dealing with one..." He took on a thinking expression for a few seconds before nodding to himself.

Naruto knelt down on a single knee and bowed his head.

"Shepard, I, Uzumaki Naruto, Sixth Fire Shadow of the Village Hidden Among Leaves, Third Human Sacrifice of the Nine-Tailed Fox, Second Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, am offering my services in battle to you with no required payment. If you would not have me as a subordinate, I ask of you to bring me to a place where I can be of use." Naruto looked up.

"I'm a warrior, Shepard, that's what I've been trained to do, that's what I've done for all my life."

The crew was stunned, the change in demeanor seemed a bit sudden and drastic, and the whole kneeling part was a surprise. Shepard looked at Garrus and Tali, looking for any help with the situation, he got none.

"You don't even know what we're up against." said Shepard, trying to get the barely adult blonde to give up.

"It wouldn't happen to be an enemy which can only be defeated if everyone stands together and fights, and if we lose, life as we know it would end?" Shepard's mouth hung open. Naruto just smiled, it wasn't one of his famous fox grins, but it was better than the constant depression.

"Been there, done that. What will it be Shepard?"

"...Alright, but I'm reserving the right to... release you from service."

"Fine with me." Naruto stood up and looked around, he walked to the wall that seemed unremarkable in any way and placed his right hand which was still covered in some drying blood on it.

The wall glowed with various designs and inscriptions for a few seconds; and then the wall crumbled. Behind it were shelves of what appeared to be scrolls and bladed weapons.

"I already know what I'll be taking from here; after I pack up, I'll have to blow up the entire village to make sure it isn't looted by anyone. Before that, I'll give you a ride to safety.

Without warning he latched onto Shepards shoulder and they both disappeared in a flash of yellow.

Seconds later he appeared and grabbed Garrus before they both disappeared, a few seconds later, Tali was taken as well.

It took 5 minutes for their stomachs to settle and another 5 for him to appear on the hill further away from Konoha, next to them, with a backpack full of scrolls.

"I'm ready, you should stand back, this one will be big..."

"How do you plan on blowing up all that?!" Garrus pointed at the village, surely, only a Dreadnought class ship could destroy that much ground in a short enough time frame, there's no way a kid like... woah...

Naruto had been concentrating too much to hear Garrus, but he answered him when he outstretched his right arm away from his body.

A slight humming sound was heard around them.

Naruto entered his Sage-Mode.

The humming became louder.

A ball of blue energy appeared in Naruto's right hand.

The humming raised in pitch.

The ball grew four blades.

The humming grew louder and louder.

"Senpō: Chōōdama Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"

In a fraction of a second, the ball grew in size so much that one of its sides was lying on the ground while the blades cut deep into it. Naruto raised it above his head with a single arm and the ground beneath him started cracking. He threw the attack.

Since they were on a hill overlooking Konoha the Rasenshuriken would hit at an angle. Naruto made sure that didn't happen. He clapped his hands in the Rat seal and steered the attack.

It fell towards the main street where it leveled to about two meters above ground, it got to the center of the village and activated.

The blades expanded to a ridiculous size. Houses were cut in half and fell into the blades where they disintegrated, the walls themselves were cut in half. The mountain suffered the least, the rock managed to hold on and the faces stood strong.

"Spirits!" Garrus was just staring at the destruction.

"Not yet." Naruto didn't look away from the village.

"Rasenshuriken: Bakuha."

The blades contracted and disappeared. Leaving only a tiny bright dot at the center of the village, among all the dust.

Then the dot expanded. It became a sphere large enough to cover the entire village. The walls were gone, the mountain was swallowed up and turned to dust.

The sphere only lasted for a few seconds before it disappeared, that was not an explosion, it was a giant Rasengan made entirely of wind there was no fire. Konohagakure no sato was disintegrated from the face of the planet by Uzumaki Naruto.

There was only a perfect crater left.

"Commander, what the hell was that; we could see it all the way from here!?" Joker asked through the comm channels.

Naruto was now sitting down, panting while trying to keep himself conscious, he failed after a few seconds, falling to the side and starting to snore.

"Commander!" That seemed to snap Shepard out of it.

"Send the shuttle..."

Naruto could have used the Kyuubi's power to destroy the village easily, but it felt wrong. He wanted to do it himself. In the end, he was the one who destroyed the village, just like all the villagers said he would, back when he was just a kid.

* * *

Naruto woke up in the same room he was in before, on one of the strange looking bench/couch things. It was strangely comfortable.

Since he was alone in the room and didn't want to start wandering around he decided to do some stretches and basic exercises, it's been a century after all, and doing one of his strongest attacks without any warm-up or Kuramas chakra made him pull a few muscles.

On the other side of the ship, the crew was talking about Naruto.

They were about to finish their conversation when EDI interrupted them,

"Commander, our guest is awake."

"Is he trying to get out of the room?"

"...I believe he is exercising..."

"You're not sure?"

"He is doing things that are not supposed to be possible according to laws of physics."

Shepard walked into the observation room with a few other people to find Naruto doing vertical push-ups on one hand.

Naruto had his back turned to the wall so he saw them when they entered the room.

He also had a single kunai balanced (pointed down) on each bare foot.

It made for a rather amusing sight to see the faces of everyone in the room.

"Um... hi?" his confused face told them that he was very used to doing things like this, they were the strange ones in his eyes.

"How in the name of..." Vega expressed his surprise.

Naruto figured out that even his basic exercises are too much for the crew here... wait till they see the real training.

Shepard made them all get out while he talked with Naruto.

After 20 minutes of explaining about the Reapers and how the Galaxy worked, Naruto was stunned.

"Well, It's not like anyone has any choice here, is it? It's either fight or die."

"Exactly, I wanted to ask you, you can do all that stuff because of that secondary circulatory system inside you, right?"

"Yeah, chakra, I'm guessing you've never seen anything like it?"

"We have biotics here, but I've never seen anyone do the stuff you did... bringing back the dead, I mean, that's pretty unrealistic."

"I know, that was the first time I did it, I'm hoping it will be the last. I'm guessing you want a demonstration?"

"Knowing what you can do would be helpful when I have to decide where to send you."

"I don't think you have enough room here, I'll need solid ground, and a lot of it, to demonstrate all I can do."

"Fine, we're heading towards Quarian space now, we need to deal with something there and there should be enough targets for you. I'll have EDI show you around the ship and introduce the crew as well as give you some equipment."

"Sure, I'll get back to warming up then." Naruto dropped to the ground and started doing push ups with a single finger. Shepard shook his head and left the room without a word.

Naruto did his hundred push-ups in no time, after that he started doing katas for his taijutsu style. It had a few simple elements from the Hyuuga Juuken style in it, courtesy of Hinata, but it was still mostly brawling.

EDI found him in the middle of a particularly complicated combo that involved most of his body being used in some way, elbows and knees to get the opponent into position, followed by a few punches and kicks, finished with a double open-palmed strike. He had a feeling clones would cause another reaction so he didn't use them right away.

"Huh, you're made of metal." it wasn't a question.

"Yes, this physical form is made mostly of metal alloys."

EDI saw that he wasn't very surprised.

"You do not seem surprised, why is that?"

"Well, it is a bit weird, but not as weird as some other stuff I saw back in the day."

"I would like to know about that 'other stuff', would you be willing to tell me some time?"

"Sure, though it will have to wait till I get settled in here."

"Of course. This way." She led him through the deck, showing him where everything was, introducing him to people.

He apologized to doctor Chakwas for taking her hostage and explained that he usually doesn't do stuff like that but the circumstances were unique. She took his apology under one condition, that he regularly checks in for medical exams.

Garrus also seemed friendly enough, though he was still a bit freaked that Naruto managed to annihilate an entire city in less than a minute.

If he ever felt like doing a prank Garrus would be a great accomplice.

Liara was a bit busy but said that she was very interested in the history of his world, he agreed to make time for her before the mission.

Then he met Ashley, she was across the hall from him, in the other observatory. She seemed decent enough, though she was a bit suspicious of him.

When he was done with his current floor EDI took him to the CIC, there, she showed him the various positions on the ship and introduced him to Traynor, she offered help in anything he needed and then EDI brought him to meet Joker.

Naruto took an instant liking to Joker, the guy was just perfect company.

He didn't complain about the fact that EDI took more than a few minutes to take him away from Joker, that's how long she left him with everyone else.

"… and then she said that she'll dye her hair pink!" Joker finished with a laugh, Naruto laughed with him.

"That's nothing, one of my closest friends actually had natural pink hair."

"You're just making that up." Joker didn't mean it as an accusation, more like a joke, natural pink hair? Yeah right...

Naruto took it differently, he never did like being called a liar, so without thinking he took out a photo from his pocket and shoved it in Joker face.

"Huh? …would you look at that, pink hair... and a cutesy blonde kid." Joker had a big grin on his face and reached for the photo, luckily, Naruto had reflexes honed by years of battle and managed to hide the photo back into his pockets.

"Not a word about this Joker, not a word... to anyone."

"Suuuuure!" Joker still had the same smile on his face and his tone didn't reassure Naruto.

Then he met with the engineers, that funny pair of engineers that work together would be excellent in a prank... the only problem was, Normandy wasn't really a big ship.

He already met with Tali, she said that she'll come by later and check up on him.

And now he was with Vega.

"So I hear you were trained for battle since childhood."

"You heard right."

"How about a spar, just to show you how we do things in the alliance?"

"Deal." Naruto cracked his knuckles.

EDI had already notified Shepard, and since he was nearby anyway, he chose to see the 'spar', as Vega called it.

Vega had taken his shirt of in an effort of appearing manly. Naruto followed his example and took his own shirt off, then came the warm-ups. Vega did a few stretches and Naruto did the same, trying not to show off too much.

By now Tali and Cortez were also watching, Garrus was on his way, already counting his money to place a bet.

The stretching ended and the fighters entered the ring.

"Hand-to-hand only, nothing else?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, no weapons or biotics."

Naruto shrugged and took out a pair of kunai from the back of his pants, and threw them into a target on the other side of the room with deadly precision. Then he took out two more kunai and did the same, then the same for about ten shuriken, after that he took out a Kama, a Kusarigama, a normal chain and a sheathed katana, which he placed outside the ring together with his still full pouch.

Everyone looked at him with wide eyes,

"Where the hell did all of that come from?" Vega asked, though he was a bit worried about the answer.

"Trade secret." Naruto shared a wide mischievous smile with them.

"Ready?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"Great, since you said you would show me how it's done, why don't you have the first shot?"

Vega wasted no time, charging straight and throwing a punch toward Narutos chest.

Naruto got in his stance calmly and deflected the punch with the back of his open hand. And that's how it went for the next few minutes, Vega would attack and Naruto would just deflect his attacks, until the point where he had enough.

He made a quick backflip and flipped a few times to get away from Vega a bit.

"I'll go easy on you so don't worry about dying, but you should worry about the pain. You are within the range of my Destruction. This is one my wife taught me."

Naruto had taken the Hyuuga Juuken stance and changed it slightly when Hinata taught it to him.

The feet and hands were in the same position, but the feet were firmly planted on the ground and the fists were closed.

He was still not using chakra, if he was Vega would most definitely die from this. But since he wasn't using chakra and was not aiming for fatal areas, Vega would be in a lot of pain for a while.

Naruto ran so fast that Vega barely had time to react. Two punches connected with Vega's ribs.

"Two points."

Two more connected with his kidneys as Naruto circled around him and delivered his hits.

"Four points."

Four more hits, two on each arm,

"Eight points."

Another two on the same spots on the ribs, four on the upper back and two to the backs of the knees.

"Sixteen points!"

Naruto stood down and helped Vega up, although it looked somewhat funny how Naruto carried the big stunned man.

The doctor had been there for a while, deciding that it was best to be available in case anything serious happened.

AN: That's as far as I got, PM's and Reviews are welcome as always...

I think this is one of my better works... from the unfinished bunch here.


	9. CrysisxMass Effect - Second Contact Wars

This is a Mass Effect / Crysis Crossover

It is based and inspired by another fanfiction "Dead Man Walking" which hasn't been updated in a long time.

There will be a lot of similarities between the two fanfics, though I would like to say that I was doing my best to make it different.

The main storyline will be during the First Contact War in Mass Effect Universe (which will be called Second Contact war in my fanfiction, the first one being against the Ceph/Charybdis in the Crysis universe). Meaning that there won't be a Commander Shepard unless I decide to make it so that the story continues further into ME storyline.

Crysis (Game – PC) – Ling Shan Islands, Raptor team investigates the islands, most of the team dies, with the exception of the Jake 'Nomad' Dunn, Michael 'Psycho' Sykes and Laurence 'Prophet' Barnes.

Crysis Comic (6 issue comic book) – Story told from the perspective of Prophet, bridging the gap between Crysis and Crysis 2; The surviving teammembers seek refuge with Hargreave.

Crysis 2 (Game – PC) – Prophet is too late to arrive in New York and is infected; he gives the Nanosuit to Alcatraz, a Force Recon Marine that he found dying. Alcatraz stops the spore and defeats the majority of the Ceph. In the end, Alcatraz is completely assimilated into the suit.

Crysis Legion (Novel) – Alcatraz describes the story of Crysis 2 through his eyes in a debriefing.

This is where I take over the universe and finish with the back story.

Alcatraz is a human, Laurence Barnes is a human, Nanosuit is a machine, when Barnes 'fused' with the suit he became Prophet, when Alcatraz completely fused with the suit, he became Prophet. My idea is that Prophet is the name for all three of those together. Prophet now has all the memories and thoughts of both Barnes and Alcatraz, and the power of N2 /SECOND/ Nanoshell or whatever you want to call it.

After the debriefing from 'Crysis Legion', Prophet goes on several campaigns around the world. With the help of Karl Ernst Rasch and the various other people/organisations, he manages to destroy every buried Ceph outpost.

He decides to be Cryogenically frozen and preserved in order to be ready once the next encounter with the Ceph happens.

While he is frozen, the world recovers and unites into several closely related unions. The American Union, The Eurasian Union and the Southern Union (Africa and Australia).

All of them are working together to get ready for possible threats from outer space. The threat of alien attack brings people closer together, almost completely erasing any hostilities between humans.

No other nanosuit versions have been made since most of the data was lost with the loss of Hargreave.

Technology;

At the time of the Second Contact War, the humans have the following technologies.

From Crysis;

Cloaking – specialized armor that enables people and vehicles to cloak, requires large amounts of energy and is sub-par compared to the cloaking systems of the Nanosuit.

Armor – The alloy that the Ceph used has been modified for human use and combined with the armor technology the Nanosuit uses; giving a powerful armor suit that is almost impenetrable to personal weapons before the invasion, but uses a small amount of energy.

Physical enhancements – Large exosuits with heavy armor and heavier weapons (mechs) mostly took over the role of tanks on the battlefield. There are no suits that are on the same level as the Nanosuit.

Mental Enhacements – Several different kinds of cranial implants that can improve a persons mental capacity, nothing as symbiotic or as powerful as the SECOND.

From Mass Effect;

Shields – Rarely used on people (lack of technology) mostly used on barricades and vehicles. Weaker than the ones in the ME games.

Ships – Less room, more functionality, mostly made in preparation of war, interior design resembling submarines.

Weapons – Weapons that are closer to the Crysis weapons. Instead of accelerating a particle towards the target, guns use 'bullets'. There is no problem with cooling, but guns use ammo and need to be reloaded. Clips have a substantially bigger capacity compared to the ones in the past.

Relays – All Human controlled relays are guarded. All colony ships are also escorted by a light fleet.

Biotics – none at the present.

Comms – The communication used aboard the second Normandy (quantum entanglement) has been developed and is in use on specialized ships that keep constant contact with Earth.

Earth has developed to be more militarized, while the planet itself has recovered greatly in terms of both ecology and social matter, and gives the aura of peace and prosperity, the military is constantly on the lookout for any kind of threat. The mentality of the people has been hostile to any mention of aliens, however that changed once the Prothean tech was uncovered on Mars.

Caph are still hated with passion, and humans are practically trained to distrust anyone that isn't human.

Population of Earth: 8 billion

Population sum of all colonies: 3 billion

Human fleet - Various Ships;

Fighters, bombers, interceptors and scouts – made for one to four people maximum, specialized roles.

Infiltrators – crew 10-15, fast agile and stealthy, serves in hit & run tactics, only kind of ship that can use cloaking.

Corvettes – max crew is 25, mainly used for scouting that can't be done by smaller scouts.

Frigates – various kinds (scout, light, heavy, attack...) maximum of 50 crew.

Destroyers – specialized in fighting other spaceships, heavily armed. Crew 75.

Cruisers – serves as the backbone of the fleet, 100 crew.

Battleships – 150 crew members, basically a big Cruiser.

Dreadnought – 200 crew, fleet flagships.

Carriers – 150 smaller craft on board, 300 crew (with the pilots)

Supercarrier – one in existence, 500 small craft on board, 1500 crew, acts as a flagship of the sixth fleet.

Systems Alliance Navy consists of 6 fleets, every fleet has a Dreadnought as a flagship (the sixth is a defensive fleet and has the Supercarrier as a flagship)

Every fleet has:

2-5 Carriers

2-4 Battleships

10-15 Cruisers

10-40 Destroyers

30-70 Frigates

80-120 Corvettes

30-50 Infiltrators

Total number of ships in all fleets: 1430 (In Mass Effect, human fleet had about 250-300 ships and it was the second largest, after the turian).

Approximate number of total crew on ships at all times: 64 500

Aside from the navy, there is also the army, which consists of various land, sea and air vehicles, infantry, and a small flotilla of spaceships.

(Basically, Humans could declare war on all the Citadel races and not lose.)

* * *

POWERING UP – 20%

...

POWERING UP – 54%

...

POWERING UP – 89%

...

POWERED UP. CryNet Nanoshell, 2.0

I was expecting some kind of hangover or something similar... all I can 'feel' is myself becoming more awake, not in the regular sense though.

MOVEMENT CONTROL ACQUIRED.

Like that, I can move now, all I need is to move my toes and fingers a bit, no need to start jumping around like a maniac.

My systems are coming online one by one. Carbon dating is the first thing on my to-do list, it will take a few moments... I should probably say hi to all the lab coats in the room. I can see a total of 5 doctors/scientists, 4 armed guards and a single old guy in a fancy blue uniform.

Stepping out of the pod took just a bit more effort than I thought it would.

This isn't the same room, my cryo-pod was moved... And by the people here I can see that the fashion changed too, a bit simpler than before, no bright colors. The lab coats are the same though.

"Lieutenant Commander Prophet."

"Wasn't I a Major?"

"You were, but you're temporarily transferred to the Navy, from now on. If you don't mind, we don't have much time, I would like to start as soon as possible if everything is fine with the suit."

It took me a few seconds to check the vital systems but everything seemed fine.

"Vital systems are operational, ready when you are."

He just nodded and hurriedly left through the door, pair of the guards went in front of him and two of them waited for me to go ahead; apparently they think I'll just attack them... some things never change.

132 years asleep... well, took the bastards long enough to show up.

"I'm Vice Admiral Jones, 3 hours ago, one of our patrol fleets was attacked by unknown alien forces. Single ship managed to get back to the closest colony, Shanxi, the numbers they were up against were not good, however, the fleet isn't the problem here, the colony is. As you can probably guess, planets that support human life are rare, and Shanxi is the latest one to be colonized, 15 000 people are there and the garrison has no way of defending against an orbital strike of larger size that is probably on it's way there as we speak. The colony commander, General Williams, dispatched the available ships he had and managed to destroy the attacking force."

"My mission?"

"You will be sent with one of our stealth craft, an Infiltrator Mk. 5, a crew of 11 other people will be at your disposal, all the data that you'll need in order to catch up is on board and waiting. "

"Anything else?" We were getting close to what seemed like a docking bay.

"It will take roughly 14 hours for us to assemble the necessary force and get to the system, we expect a full-blown war in less than 20 hours. You'll be there in under 45 minutes, It is possible that we are not facing the Ceph, therefore we will play this defensively; drive them out and try to make contact, they opened fire before we could do anything to provoke them. It is possible that this is a mistake... a mistake that cost both sides a lot of lives, but a mistake nonetheless."

He stood in front of the ship and turned to me,

"First two contacts with aliens have resulted in conflicts, a lot is riding on you Prophet, let's win this war faster than we did the last one."

I didn't miss the fact that he 'forgot' to mention the civilians on the colony; I know what that means... expendable.

I saluted out of habit, he saluted back, some traditions don't die, I guess...

If I could feel Deja Vu, I would feel it now while I am looking at the interior of the ship. Instead my super-processor/brain saw the resemblance to the submarines I used to travel in, a century and a half ago...

It was a fairly small ship, a standard looking soldier took me to my quarters and told me that they're expecting me on the bridge in 15 minutes, we'll be leaving in 3 minutes.

They're really eager to send me against those aliens.

I can't say that I was hoping they would just kill me while I slept, but I won't lie and say that I would have minded it a lot. If this symbiosis stops changing my body right now, I could probably go on for a century straight with proper fuel and no replacement tech.

I am dead. I can't exactly 'become' alive again and the only thing that I have in this thing everyone else would call life, is fighting. I kill aliens, I protect Earth, not because I can do it, but because I have nothing else on the schedule.

What? Do I start a family? I don't even know if I have the 'equipment' for that, for all I know, SECOND decomposed that part of me as it deemed it irrelevant.

Do I retire? And do what exactly?

All I have is fighting... not that I mind much, but that might be the antidepressants SECOND just pumped into me talking.

Anyway, they gave me a small room with a basic cot and a small desk. There was also a futuristic laptop there that looked really inviting... like a meal.

Damn, I didn't know SECOND could do that to me, it actually wants the info on that thing so bad it's trying to make me 'eat' it... or just download it.

I made myself a small timer on the corner of my display so that I'm not late to the meeting.

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.

DOWNLOADING DATA – 19%

DOWNLOADING DATA – 34%

DOWNLOADING DATA – 62%

DOWNLOADING DATA – 92%

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE.

Thank the Ceiling Cat, the data is all conveniently sorted into categories. First, the timeline.

Huh, Protheans... Element Zero, interesting... Mass Effect Relays, so that's how we'll be travelling... so that's Shanxi. Well, at least this new Systems Alliance Navy knows how to make a good report.

Next up is... science, yay... SECOND is probably making me do this.

Wow, those eezo cores can be really small, I could probably fit a nice one in the place where my right lung is supposed to be... I could actually, SECOND already calculated necessary materials and time I would need.

Guns work differently though, faster projectiles, more capacity, less recoil, no gunpowder. I hope they kept my Gauss Gun, it's still better than the standard sniper rifles here.

Checking through the rest of the data went fast, I'll just have to sit down later and think of a few uses all this stuff could have for me. Look at the time, 2 minutes until the meeting with my team... I would estimate their chances of survival but it's been a while since I've seen action so I'll give them a chance.

My systems seem to be working at full capacity right now, I was almost worried there would be some kind of technical problem. Ah, the bridge, dark, cramped and full of people... people that are saluting me.

"At ease, no need for saluting, who's the highest ranking officer here?"

"After you sir, that would be me, Lieutenant Junior Grade Steven Hackett." He looks a bit young, but he's confident. That's either going to kill him or keep him alive on this mission.

* * *

The Holding Bay, serves as both a warehouse, quarantine and the brig. I'm here to see my equipment.

They have a box filled with the 'ancient' weaponry, as they call it. To me it's just guns... well, not all of them.


	10. Bleach - Hell Chapter - Alternate Ending

AN: A few short ones are next up, this one is a modification of the Hell Verse Bleach movie (the 4th one)

She let go of the chain with a depressed look on her face, she couldn't do anything this time.

"Inoue! What's wrong! Yuzu!"

"It's no use, that girl is attached to the chain, there is nothing we can do." Yamamoto spoke as he slowly walked towards them.

"No, that can't-"

"This is all your fault!" Yamamotos anger was almost visible.

Ichigo clutched his head as he stared at the body of his sister; her face changed and he saw the lifeless eyes of his mother staring at him.

_My fault._

His little sister was gone, forever, she wouldn't even get to go to Soul Society.

_Dead._

Why did this happen, he knew that he could no longer look meet his mother in the afterlife, how could he after this?

_Kokuto._

That single name changed him completely, his heart stopped and his reiatsu changed abruptly, Inoue recognized it instantly, she was still having nightmares about that monster.

He was enveloped in a layer of his black reiatsu, it's power knocking unconscious the unseated Shinigami around him. In only a second, the reaitsu disappeared leaving inside Orihimes worst nightmare, Ichigo in that scary horned mask, standing with a hole in his chest.

The lieutenants had trouble staying on their feet while the captains were still in shock from seeing Ichigo take on this new form. Yamamoto was the closest one to him and he was ready to fight, Ryuujin Jakka in his hand."

"Yu...zu... Pro...tect... Failed..." Even with the scary mask and the twisted voice Orihime could swear that the Hollowified Ichigo was sad. Yamamoto on the other hand wasn't sure what was going on, he was about to ask Ichigo directly but Ichigo spoke first.

"Koku...to... Hell... Kill..." the last word sent chills down every spine in the hearing radius.

"Boy, what do you think you're doing?" Yamamoto was ignored, Ichigo turned towards the gates of Hell and started taking slow but deliberate steps towards them. He outstretched his right hand and his sword flew into his grip.


	11. Naruto -Angst

AN: This one was inspired by a pair of fictions I saw about a female Naruto that went through some really heavy abuse and turned psycho, you'll recognize a few elements I took from there if you've read them...

* * *

"That is all for today class, don't forget to do your homework!"

Iruka smiled a bit at the children that were almost stepping over each other to just get out of class sooner. Of course, Naruto was still in his seat at the back, waiting for everyone to leave before he even moved.

Iruka would have tried to strike up a conversation but he gave up on that long ago; he decided to help the boy as much as he could without getting close to him.

Shikamaru finally managed to drag himself out of the classroom and Naruto silently got up to leave.

Iruka watched him sadly out of the corner of his eye while he was leaving.

* * *

Naruto was sneaking through the alleyways right now, he had decided to sleep at the small park between the third and fifth training grounds tonight, no one should bother him there.

Once there, he hid in one of the bushes he had turned into a small shelter and got ready for sleep. Since there was light outside he decided to read for a while.

'Akuma no Monogatari' was the name of the book he got out of his pocket, it was a tiny book, a pocket edition; and it had a black cover with blood red lettering used as a title, at the bottom of the cover there was the name of the author: 'Jiraiya of the Sannin'.

Naruto usually read this book entirely at least once every day, he was famous for it in class, there were other things he was famous for, like being ignored by almost all teachers, even when it came to grading tests or doing exercises. No one even saw him use a kunai in class.

However, the rest of the class noticed how many teachers were wary of the book, like it had some of their darkest secrets in it. Shikamaru was the closest to figuring it all out, of course; since he had taken an interest in figuring Naruto out.

The bad news was that the book itself was in the shinobi part of the library so they couldn't just borrow it, the good news was that they would be shinobi next week.

* * *

A week later.

* * *

Everyone except Ino and Sakura were in their seats waiting for Iruka, Ino and Sakura were fighting over the spot next to Sasuke while he was praying to be saved from either of them.

A few moments later, Iruka came in and made both Ino and Sakura sit at the back, right in front of Naruto.

Naruto just kept reading his book.

After a while, it was the time for everyone to take their tests in the adjacent room. Some of them passed, some didn't, all the clan heirs, along with Sakura and Naruto now had their forehead protectors with them.

Naruto still hadn't put his on, choosing to hold it in his hand instead.

Soon afterward, the class was dismissed and almost everyone rushed out to see their parents, Naruto exited through the window today.

* * *

Shikamaru was walking home after a grueling day. First he had to get up way too early, like always, to go to the academy. Then there was the testing he had to pass to not get yelled at by that troublesome woman he called a mother. Then there was all the congratulations he received, and finally him telling his parents that he'll be back home in a few minutes, as soon as he picked something up.

He got back home and had dinner with his family, after finishing he stood up and walked to his room. He missed the looks his parents exchanged once they saw the little black book in his pants pocket.

* * *

Several hours later, close to midnight.

* * *

Shikamaru stood up from the toilet, he was probably done throwing up for tonight.

That book was graphic... _very_ graphic.

It talked about a village hidden among trees (a fairly obvious switch) and a young boy that was constantly happy. Then there was the part about the whole village hating the kid but the reasons weren't explained. And then came the graphic part.

The descriptions were painful to read, the villagers got drunk and beat the kid, then they tortured him in more ways than Shikamaru thought existed.

He couldn't even think about it without his stomach twisting, sure the academy did their best to prepare them for stuff like that but this book was...

The thing that got him running to the toilet was when he connected the dots, it said on the first page that it was based on true events and characters... and the main character was called '_Rasen_' it surely wasn't a coincidence that Naruto and Rasen are names with very similar meanings.

Shikamaru got out of the bathroom to see his dad waiting for him outside; the look on his face was obvious, it was time for an important talk.

* * *

The morning when they were supposed to be sorted into teams came and Shikamaru dragged himself to the academy, as usual.

He got to the class last, as usual.

He sat in the back, but not next to Chouji as he usually does. Instead he sat next to Naruto.

Naruto looked at him from the corner of his eye, he had been reading before Shikamaru interrupted him by sitting next to him and attracting all this attention. Shikamaru spoke silently so that only Naruto could hear him.

"...I'd say 'sorry' but that isn't strong enough word for what happened to you... I've read it last night and talked about it with my dad... I know what happened but I don't know why."

Naruto was silent, he had been expecting someone to figure it out and Shikamaru was the first on the list of possible people.

"I'm angry at the village, something like that shouldn't have happened to anyone... from the descriptions it seems that you almost died." Shikamaru wasn't really expecting an answer, he only came here to say that he knew and didn't approve; Naruto talked while Shikamaru was getting up.

"...I did... in more than one sense of the word." with that his eyes turned to the book and he continued reading.

Iruka entered through the door and saw Shikamaru going towards his own seat after talking to Naruto. He remembered how the young Nara had asked him about Naruto a few times.

He prayed that Shikamaru could get to him.

* * *

Kakashi stood outside the door to the classroom, it still felt strange to be only half-an-hour late, ever since the incident involving Naruto he reduced his lateness, mainly because he was late to take over the guard shift that night when Naruto had been attacked. If he had been on time, Naruto wouldn't have been attacked, he would still be smiling.

Kakashi took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

"Team 7?" the girl nodded.

"Roof, 5 minutes." Kakashi disappeared in a plume of white smoke, Sakura and Sasuke looked in wonder while Naruto walked to the door, of course, he took the long way around, not wanting to walk next to either of his teammates.

5 minutes later, they were waiting for their new sensei to appear, Naruto was almost on the other side of the roof, still reading his book, not wanting to socialize.

After 5 more minutes Kakashi appeared in another plume of smoke, leaning against the fence, observing his new students.

"Sensei, why are you late?" Sakura asked, surely it had to be important to delay someone of his skill from getting to the roof of the only building in 200 meter radius?

"I got lost." Kakashi instantly answered, expecting the girls question. Naruto kept reading his book while Sakura and Sasuke just stared at the older man.

"Now, let's get this over with, introductions are in order; I'll start:

My name is Hatake Kakashi, I'm a Jounin. My likes are my own, same for my dislikes, I have a few hobbies and dreams for the future. Your turn, pinkie."

"Um... My name is Haruno Sakura, I like... my dream is... and I dislike Ino-pig." When she talked about her dreams and likes she took glances towards Sasuke, Kakashi knew her type well, he had his work cut out for him.

Sasuke noticed that he was being stared at and decided to go next.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I have a few likes and many dislikes; my dream is more of an ambition, to restore my clan and kill a certain someone."

Kakashi had been expecting this too, he had a pretty good idea about what to do with Sasuke.

"And finally, Naruto." Naruto didn't even look up from him book.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I like reading one book, being alone and sleeping. I hate people and Konoha in general. I have no hobbies, my dream is my own."

This was the longest sentece they had heard Naruto say ever. But the part about hating Konoha put them off a bit.

"You... hate Konoha? Why?" Sakura asked, completely confused, why would anyone hate their own home?

"...Ask Nara-san." It was strange how Naruto could convey the message that he would not speak anymore without even moving, it felt like the air around him changed and Sakura knew that they would not get anything more from him.

Kakashi then explained the genin test they needed to have and was not surprised that Naruto gave no reaction.

Soon after that, The group split up and everyone went their own way. Sakura looked after Naruto for a few moments, contemplating whether she should try and get to know him better or not, in the end she gave up.

* * *

Naruto jumped over the fence to the #44th training ground; he didn't come here often, but since all the new genin decided to burn away their energy today, other training grounds were taken, besides, most animals leave him alone anyway.

He found the tree he used as a bed last few times he had been here and got ready for bed, it was high enough to get some light, so he decided to read another few pages of the book.

He never skimmed over a page, he carefully read every sentence, every time... and even though it described how he had been tortured mercilessly for hours, the reading was relaxing him. He remembered every injury from the book, and a few more, but Yamanaka-san must have missed those minor ones when he checked Narutos memories after the incident.

Naruto smelled a scent, it was something like a snake but human, he could feel emotions that definitely belonged to a human.

"Oi, what are you doing in my forest?!" She seemed agitated, and Naruto had no time for people other than the few he trusted. She landed on a branch of another tree, not too far away from him.

"I didn't know it was yours, I'll leave." Naruto barely threw a glance to the woman as he got up and prepared to leave, she must have noticed who he was and the fact that he had an old sleeping bag with him.

"I never said that you need to leave, I asked what you're doing here." She knew a bit about the kid, apparently he had broken down after what happened to him a few years ago, Jiraiya-sama even wrote a book about it, not that she ever read it, she didn't have time for reading.

"I was getting ready for bed." Naruto continued packing up still certain that leaving was the right choice. Anko would have none of that.

"You can stay in the forest you know, I'm only here to check up on the animals." That was the truth, Naruto could sense that she didn't lie about it.

"I'm leaving." He really didn't want to go to sleep while others were close.

"What if I said that I don't want you to leave." Anko made a face that most men would consider cute on other women, on her it just looked dangerous and foreboding. Naruto didn't react.

"I'd leave anyway." He was almost done packing up; finding another empty training ground wouldn't be easy. Anko tried using her natural gifts. Making a pose and changing her tone of voice slightly she started again.

"And if I, a helpless girl, get attacked in this dangerous forest who's going to help me?" she batted her eyelashes at him.

"Not me." His answer almost made her fall from her branch.

"Do you really want to be alone so bad?" She asked honestly, making a mental note to read that damn book some time soon.

"...I'm not alone...I'm never alone." She knew what he was talking about; at first, others were afraid of him, now he's afraid of them; and the only living thing that was with him through it all was sealed away inside him. Hokage did mention that Naruto probably has had some contact with the Kyuubi. She felt connected to him somehow, life dealt him a bad hand and he keeps going, like her.

They were both broken atone point, she knew how it felt for her while she was the one that needed help and no one was there except a precious few people. She would have killed for more people to put their trust in her. She made a decision.

"Well, I am..." Naruto paused, it was quiet but he caught it; she was serious and telling the truth.

"Why would you want me around?" He really was wondering about that, this woman seemed so different from everyone else.

"... It hurts when you're alone... I know." There was no more joking around for her, she was telling this kid about her life, not many people had that privilege.

"From experience, I can say it hurts more when I let others get near me." his voice betrayed the emotions inside him, he didn't want to talk about this.

"I've had experiences like that too, but that isn't all there is to life."

"Maybe for you, but you know what I am, there is no happiness meant for me in this world." He was serious again, if it wasn't such a delicate moment she would have been pissed off.

"You don't really believe that, do you?"

"That's the only thing that makes sense." he lightly shrugged and turned to his stuff, slowly packing up the rest of his stuff.

"Life doesn't make sense." She was getting desperate now, there was no way she would be letting him go on his own.

"...Life isn't supposed to make sense, the things we learn from it are." he said, finishing with packing up, he was ready to leave.

"...I'm not letting you go alone." she blurted out.

"What?" he was surprised, why was she so persistent?

"Wherever you go, I'll follow you, all night if I have to. I have a week off, can you afford a sleepless night a day before your genin exam?" She let a small smirk to her lips and mentally patted herself on the back. That was a good threat.

"Yes."

"What?" maybe not as good as she initially thought.

"I don't plan on fighting seriously tomorrow; besides, you can't catch me if I don't want you to catch me." He was serious about not being caught.

"...Why are you going this far to avoid me?" She jumped to his branch, now only a few feet away from him, she noticed how tense he was due to her close presence.

"I told you, I'm not supposed to be happy, I'd rather refuse all chances of happiness before they're forcefully taken away from me." he had turned from her and bent down to pick up his meager possessions and leave when he saw two arms circle around him from behind. The Kyuubi should have warned him about her sneaking up on him.

"...Everyone deserves to be happy..." she whispered into his ear.

His legs weren't working, he just couldn't get away from her, then again, it was kind of nice to actually be held by someone. It took him a few minutes to fall asleep in her arms, Anko smiled once she saw that and gently sat down, bringing him into her lap.

Naruto was now in his mindscape, he maneuvered through the maze of heavy chains that held the place together.

His mindscape used to be a flooded sewer, a reflection of his subconscious. It was still flooded, and a sewer, but it was now filled with metal chains of all sizes that connected all walls, the ceiling and the floor in a random pattern.

He made his way to the main chamber where the Kyuubi was sealed. The cage was still there, sturdy as ever, but the Kyuubi was asleep.

Naruto went through the bars and found himself a soft place on one of the tails before letting his mind rest, he was not looking forward to the nightmares.

* * *

Anko held Naruto close as he squirmed in his sleep. She had brought him to her apartment since it was close by and she didn't want to sleep in the woods with her minimal clothes.

He was having a nightmare and she was doing her best to hold him in what she hoped was a comforting hug... if only Kurenai could see her now she wouldn't believe her eyes.

Naruto eventually calmed down and she lied down next to him. If Kurenai saw her now, disturbingly enough, she would believe her eyes and think that Anko went hunting for younger men.

Few minutes later both she and Naruto were asleep.

* * *

About 2 hours later Naruto had another nightmare, Anko didn't wake up, she held him closer to her on instinct.

* * *

Naruto woke up to find himself in a hug, lying on his side, staring at a pair of breasts with only a black shirt blocking the view many men would kill for. He had the decency to blush and look up to try and find the owner of the shirt.

He remembered what happened last night with Anko, he saw his stuff lying in the corner, he was wearing only his pants and shirt, his jacket was draped over his backpack on the ground.

He also remembered not asking the woman for her name, and since she was still asleep he couldn't ask her now.

The clock on the wall said that he had about half-an-hour to get to the training ground 7, though if he had to guess, Hatake would be late again so he had enough time.

But first, he had to get out of the hug he was currently in, which wouldn't be easy since the woman was lying on one of his hands.

Naruto slowly tried removing his arm from underneath the woman, he was succeeding but it took him about a minute to get completely free. He turned away, getting ready to slowly exit the apartment and handle his morning needs somewhere in a forest before going to the training ground 7.

Once again, he was surprised by a hand coming from behind him, he was dragged down onto the bed where Anko draped herself over him, he was now half-covered by a woman double his age, with only a pair of shirts between them. She was still sleeping and he was now blushing even harder.

She mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'don't leave' but he couldn't be sure.

* * *

10 minutes later, after awkwardly waking up (without a hangover, which was strange for Anko) and some introductions, Anko managed to talk Naruto into using her bathroom and leaving his stuff with her since he had to go right away.

As reluctant as he was, she wouldn't let him say no, so he had to accept. He was done with another 10 minutes to spare, enough time to get to training ground 7 on time.

Once he was ready to leave he started to thank Anko, or Mitarashi-san as he called her.

"You are allowed to call me by my first name only, and the only honorific I'll allow is -chan, is that clear?" She used a tone she didn't know she had, it was commanding but not cruel like most of the other tones she used.

Naruto just stared at her, he couldn't just call her 'Anko', that would be too rude since they only knew each other less than a day. Anko-chan it is then.

She grabbed his shoulder as he was about to leave, and he looked at her questioningly, she fixed the collar of his jacket and let him go.

After he was gone she understood what had just happened.

Orochimaru might have ruined all the chances she had of ever having a child of her own, but he didn't get rid of her mothering instincts. Those were now active and Naruto was the target.

With mouth slightly open in shock she dropped down on her bed... If Kurenai finds out about this...

* * *

Naruto arrived to the training ground 7 exactly 30 seconds early, not seen by any civilians as usual. Of course, Sasuke and Sakura were there, both sleepy. He wondered how long will Kakashi be late. It didn't matter, he could start reading.

* * *

2 hours later.

Naruto was half-way through the book when Kakashi appeared. Sakura of course yelled at him for being late while Sasuke settled for glaring. Kakashi made an excuse about a black cat and retracing his steps before pulling out an alarm clock.

Once he was done with the explanation, and Sakura stopped complaining Naruto approached the group shutting his book, ready to fight, he'll ask him later.

"Begin!" of course, Sasuke and Sakura were hidden in seconds while Naruto just stood there looking bored.

"I can't say I wasn't expecting this. By the way Naruto, I was looking for you last night but couldn't find you, where were you?" Kakashi asked while closing his book and putting it away.

"I was sleeping last night. That's what people do at night." Naruto opened his book and continued reading.

"I know, but I couldn't find you at any of your usual places, where did you sleep?" Kakashi silently prepared himself, he had never fought Naruto before, but judging from what little they knew about him, he could use the Kyuubis power at least to a certain extent.

"Indoors." Naruto was now looking at the book and not at Kakashi.

"Indoors where?" Kakashi loosened his headband a little, he might even need a Sharingan for this fight.

"Sensei, I'd like to ask for a transfer." Kakashi blinked at Narutos question and abrupt change of topic.

"Why do you want a transfer?" Kakashi knew that Naruto didn't want to work with anyone, hell, the council is basically forcing him to be a ninja.

"It's obvious this team can't work." Kakashi had to agree that the team didn't seem like much now, but with enough work...

"I don't think there are any other teams that need a member right now." As far as Kakashi knew the only genin without a team was Maruboshi Kosuke, and he was the famed 'Thousand Year Genin'.

"Article 14, Point 6 of the Konoha ninja law; I'm allowed to ask for transfer into reserve forces." Kakashi remembered that article from the law, not many would want to be in the reserve forces, they are mainly made up of those injured for more than a few moths and kunoichi-housewives that chose to take care of their children instead of going on mission.

"But you'll be stuck on D-ranks for who knows how long."

"I don't need the money; I hunt my own food, I salvage what others leave behind and I sleep in the woods." Kakashi remembered another part of that law.

"...If I remember correctly, I need to approve you as a competent genin for that to work."

"Of course, and that's why you're getting ready for a fight."

Naruto placed his right palm over his stomach and looked towards Kakashi.

"I don't want to plague Hokage-sama with a mountain of paperwork so I'll hold back on scaring the entire village."

"Hakke no Fūin Shiki : Kaitsuu; Ichi"

Naruto grew claws instead of fingernails and his face took a more feral appearance with his eyes going red, his expression stayed the same.

Kakashi lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan, Naruto carefully stored his book for later.

Sakura and Sasuke were staring with wide eyes at the spectacle in front of them. The grass around Naruto was burning away and they could see a bit of the chakra swirling around him.

Kakashi noted that he barely felt any demonic energy, Naruto could control it extremely well, which meant that he could probably go even higher in power.

Kakashi thanked the heavens for his caution in the fact that he already revealed his Sharingan, without it he probably wouldn't have seen Narutos speeding form bounce off of a tree to his right and fly towards him.

Kakashi ducked and let Naruto pass overhead, it didn't take long for him to turn around and launch into a flurry of poor Taijutsu strikes. As strong as they were Kakashi managed to deflect them all,

"Your Taijutsu isn't very strong, I don't even see a style here. This is how it's done!" Kakashi found an opening and went forward to use it, sooner he finishes this the better.

The most annoying thing about fighting Naruto was the fact that his facial expression was the same all the time, he didn't grin or laugh or smile when Kakashi fell in his trap, therefore Kakashi didn't realize until it was too late that he did exactly what Naruto wanted.

"Nii.." Naruto simply said, the chakra output doubling. He was covered in a shroud of bubbling red chakra that formed fox ears and a tail around him. His face was the same as ever.

The end of Narutos chakra tail turned into a claw and with great speed went towards Kakashi. Since Kakashi couldn't dodge he crossed his arms to protect his chest and the claw enveloped the front of his body. He remembered that there was a tree behind him, the fact that the claw wasn't slowing down and he was being carried with it told him that he would be trapped if he didn't get away now.

A quick Kawarimi later he was safe in a bush while the log he replaced himself with got shredded in his place.

Naruto turned to look straight at him.

'Shit, how does he know where I am?!'

"I can go further, these were only the first and the second..." That was not cockiness, Kakashi was sure Naruto could follow up with the threat and he didn't want to test him further. Kakashi walked out slowly, putting away the kunai that had found it's way to his hand as a reflex.

Naruto placed his hand over his stomach again;

"Hakke no Fūin Shiki : Shuumaku"

"I'll pass on your request to the Hokage, now why don't we continue with the test..." Kakashi had just brushed the part of his belt that held the bells, there was no jingling sound from the bells.

He turned to Naruto to see him throwing a bell towards Sasuke and Sakura.

"I've done my part, I wouldn't mind going back to the academy, though we both know what the point of those bells was."

5 minutes later, Kakashi had the entire team running basic teamwork exercises and practicing combo attacks.

Kakashi would give a scenario, Sakura would find a way to use everyone's strengths in the optimal ways (mainly putting Naruto on the front line to take damage and buy time while Sasuke prepared traps/jutsu).

* * *

Late afternoon

Naruto and Kakashi weren't tired, Sasuke was sitting with his back to the tree, exhausted, Sakura was on the verge of unconsciousness. Kakashi stood in front of them all and put on his serious face.

"Team 7, I'll be honest with you, the council is making me accept you as a team, so no matter what, I have to be your sensei. However, you are far from team material.

Sasuke, you are fixated only on one thing; I'm saying this from experience, ignoring everyone else isn't worth it.

Sakura, you have a brilliant mind but your other skills are abysmal, you focus on all the wrong things and I can tell you after seeing similar cases, it won't end well.

Naruto, you focus on nothing, you are a ninja because the council made you be a ninja, your skills are mediocre at best if you're not using your special... gift."

"Point is, you pass, but only because you have to. As individuals you are some of the more talented ones in this generation, as a team I have no doubt you are the worst in years. If I don't see drastic improvement on all fronts, I'm going to resign as your sensei and leave you to the council." It was harsh, but he knew that it was probably the only way to get it through their heads.

"You have tomorrow off. Day after that, same time same place for training."

Kakashi turned and left after seeing that his message imprinted itself on them, he even noticed a small contemplative frown on Narutos face.

* * *

It was evening and Anko still didn't get back home, and Naruto was already tired from stalking her apartment all day. He didn't want to break in since she was at least somewhat nice.

But she had been away for the whole day and he was not about to ask for directions, besides, he could use this as practice for his stealth skills.

He read the book two times today; after which he tried finding a place to put his forehead protector, he was not about to tie it anywhere around himself, that would signify that he was under their control, and he couldn't have that. If it wasn't for the old man Naruto would have left for the wilderness, surviving along with the animals; not in the village, surviving among the monsters.

He decided to tie one end of the cloth around his belt, and allow the other one to dangle freely next to his leg.

Finally, at about 9 in the evening, Anko finally walked into his view.

He made a few sounds with one of his kunai and she noticed, since there were still people in the street he didn't want to come down from his rooftop.

Anko didn't go to him, instead she entered her apartment and opened her window.

He took that as an invitation to go inside, even though he wasn't fond of being in closed spaces.

Once inside he saw that she was in the kitchen, preparing tea.

"Take a seat, I'd like to talk to you about something..."

He was confused and a little bit worried, this was not his natural habitat.

* * *

10 minutes later.

Naruto was sitting on Ankos bed, his back leaning against hers, she was staring through the window while he was staring at the ceiling, they hadn't said anything for the last 2 minutes.

Naruto honestly had no idea how that happened, first she offered him tea, then she called him over to sit with her and started telling him the short version of her life story.

Next thing he knew, they were sitting with their backs against each other and sipping tea.

"...when was the last time you laughed?" She asked him, because he hadn't said anything since she finished her story, she felt like it was her responsibility to continue talking.

"...I don't remember."

"I laugh all the time, but it's never like it used to be, I don't remember the last time I laughed purely out of happiness either."

"You've read the book?"

"Yeah, I've heard that you keep reading it, why?"

"...To remember."

After that they stayed silent for a few more minutes, Naruto was about to get up and take his stuff, the Forest of Death sounded like a nice place to spend the night.

AN: Unfinished scene...

* * *

Tomorrow morning

Sakura was waiting for Sasuke in front of the Uchiha compound, yesterday she had asked him if he would like to come with her to ask Shikamaru what Naruto meant about hating Konoha.

Sasuke wanted to say no purely as a reaction to Sakura asking a question, he contemplated a bit and accepted but stated that it was by no means a date.

A few minutes later they were both on their way towards the Nara grounds.

A few more minutes and they were there.

Then after a few more minutes they were walking away from the grounds since Shikamaru was with his team on training ground 23.

It took them half-an-hour to get there and once the other team saw them they stopped their exercise to have a break and chat a bit.

Of course there were the usual greetings and introductions with the Sensei, after which Sakura came to the point of their trip.

"Shikamaru, I'm guessing you guys did the whole 'introductions' part yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, when we were doing ours yesterday, Naruto said at the end, and I quote: '...I hate people and Konoha in general...'." at this point Sasuke noticed that Asuma-sensei was sweating and Shikamaru only gave out a sigh.

"I can't say I'm surprised about that... alright, have a seat, this one might take a while." Shikamaru said as he took a seat and others followed.

He had taken to carrying the black book with him and when he pulled it out Asuma dropped his cigarette.

"Shikamaru, you... read it?"

"Yeah, Sensei, though I still can't decide if it was a good idea."

"That's the book Naruto reads all the time!" Sakura exclaimed, once more shocking Asuma, he had heard that the kid broke down and was nothing like he was before, but to read _that_ book all the time? Crazy.

Ino and Chouji silently sat, waiting for a proper explanation, though it was very noticeable that Ino wouldn't be willing to wait much longer.

So Shikamaru began the story.

He told them a short version of the book, starting with 'Rasen's' childhood. How he was constantly happy.

Then came the hard part, he explained the torture and the effects it had on him; how he spent several weeks in a coma and that the esteemed 'Sawanaka' clan had to be called in to extract his memories to figure out what had happened.

The final part of the book was written by Jiraiya in first person, how he had decided to write the story down and that all the names were changed.

"I think that's it... just so you know, the torture part was a lot worse in the book... I'm not proud of it, but when I read it I had to go throw up... It's just... I don't know how he's even sane after all that."

No one spoke for a long time, Sakura and Ino were crying, Chouji was on the verge of crying too, Sasuke just stared not believing what he had just heard.

AN: So that was my attempt at making a tragic story/backstory in a Narutoverse, I don't think I did that good of a job, but I really like the basic idea of it...

PM's and Reviews are welcome as always...


	12. Bleach - Hollow Takeover

AN: A Bleach short one, in which Ichigo and Unohana don't return in time for the battle of Karakura so the rest of the battle goes differently.

* * *

They were all wounded, while their opponent was smiling at them.

Aizen had already called upon Wonderweiss and his Extinguir to make sure that the head captain was weakened. However, most of them were still standing, despite the heavy condition that some of them were in. This was their last stand, if they were to fall, everything would fall with them.

The most alarming thing was the fact that Ichigo still hasn't come back, in fact, there was no word from anyone currently in Hueco Mundo.

Suddenly Aizen started laughing, making Gin and already released Wonderweiss look at him oddly. And just as it had begun, it stopped, he remained silent; and with a big smile on his face he announced:

"I'm tired..." Everyone was surprised, Aizen openly admitting something like that wasn't exactly what they expected from him,

"I am at my limit, playing around with all of you finally made me weaker... I have hit my limit as a Shinigami." this statement however, made everyone be more careful, it was obvious that he has another trick up his sleeve.

"It is beginning." As he said those words, he uncovered his torso, showing the Hogyouku in all it's glory. That started a strange process, he was being enveloped in a white substance, that looked a lot like the material that makes Hollow masks.

But it didn't get very far, as he was shot through the shoulder with a fast red beam-like attack. Everyone turned to the source of the attack, it was Urahara Kisuke, and standing beside him there was Yoruichi, and another Shinigami.

Urahara saw the chaos around him, and didn't waste any time on talking, they already had plans, prolonging them any more would be meaningless.

However Aizen was feeling talkative;

"So you finally decided to come here, and I see you've brought some old acquaintances.

Urahara used this chance to address everyone present,

"Everyone, please do your best now, it's time to finish th..." before he finished his sentence, Aizen got close to him and stabbed him, wearing a gleeful smile on his face which soon disappeared when Urahara exploded like a balloon in front of him.

He didn't waste time, instead, he charged at Aizen from behind, but it wasn't fast enough and Aizen managed to cut Urahara across his chest, it was a shallow wound, but it was enough to deter the attack.

Once more Urahara tried to finish things quickly, he activated the seal he managed to place on Aizens hands, making him look in shock after realizing his mistake.

"You understand what's happening don't you? I've sealed the Spiritual Energy outlets on your wrists; you'll be burned by your own power."

A greater shockwave spread from where Aizen was standing, and Urahara quickly got down to the remaining Shinigami forces.

"Everyone, I know that you're far from being in perfect condition, but this is not enough to finish him, we need to attack him with all we have.

They were all tired from battle, but anyone could see that they agreed to the plan.

Soon afterwards, the shock-wave subsided and from the fires came a figure like they have never seen before, Aizens new form was completely white, his eyes being menacingly purple.

Isshin and Urahara quickly went in to attack, but it was futile, Aizen managed to repel them easily.

But their main goal was to secure him, and that's what they did, they managed to wrap some spiritual chains around him, making him stay in one place.

"Yoruichi-san!" he yelled, signalling her to attack first, Wonderweiss went in to attack her but was intercepted by Soi Fon and Hirako. Gin was the next one to interfere so Lisa and Hitsugaya intercepted him.

Yoruichi started pounding her opponent with all her might, crushing him into the ground, after she was done, she jumped away to make room for everyone else and their attacks.

Since the chain was useless now, both Isshin and Urahara let go of it, preparing their attacks,

Everyone got their turn, and it was all finished in only a few seconds, they worked perfectly together rotating between holding back Gin and Wonderweiss and attacking Aizen.

As the last one, Isshin got close and raised his sword up high:

"Getsuga Tensho!"

A great wave of energy engulfed Aizen; and a lot of smoke was blown up high.

Suddenly, from inside the smoke a large pillar of energy erupted, making them all look in shock as Aizen came out, in a new form, resembling a butterfly. But his threatening smile was still there...

"Is that it? Are you done now? I guess it's time for me to move on to the real Karakura town and finish my objective."

Before, while they were going all out on him, they couldn't feel his energy, all they felt was his power, but now, the amount of power they felt dwarfed that by a great amount.

And then they felt another source of power coming from somewhere unknown to them.

Then the sky fell.

It started cracking at a very fast rate, and then, in only a few seconds, all of it fell.

It was a Garganta, a Garganta so big it covered the entire area under the barriers.

And from it, up above, there was one figure, slowly going down towards them.

They all knew those clothes, they all knew that sword, but they did not know anything about the power and the horned mask that their Hero was wielding. And what scared them most was the fact that his clothes and hands were covered in blood

Hirako was the first one to react;

"I-Ichigo, what is that mask?"

He remained silent, only walking towards them slowly.

Isshin was the next one to get a hold of himself,

"Ichigo, Ichigo! Talk to me Ichigo, say something!" He yelled as he flew towards him as fast as he could.

It was futile, Ichigo was long dead now, he was killed by a Cero Oscuras shot through his chest, leaving a giant hole there.

He wasn't the only one dead though, all the blood covering him is the proof of that, and soon, there would be more that will die by his hand.

Isshin didn't manage to get too close, he made the mistake of standing between Ichigo and his target. Without even moving his head Ichigo slashed Isshin across the chest, making him fall down from the sky.

While everyone was in shock, Aizen was happy, and he attacked right away, aiming for the neck.

He didn't miss, but he didn't hit either, Ichigo was able to easily grab the blade in his fist, and now holding it in his hands, he applied pressure to it.

The sight of anyone breaking Aizens blade was enough to make you cheer, but this didn't look like it was over yet.

Aizen retreated and did a quick Hado no 90: Kurohitsugi, skipping the incantation and engulfing Ichigos new form. His glee didn't last long, the black barrier was easily broken, but Ichigo was nowhere near. At least that's what Aizen thought.

Ichigo was behind him, blade already high in the air, slashing downwards. The force from the slash sent Aizen plummeting down.

He had lost all of his wings on the right side together with his right arm.

Wonderweiss was the one to attack him next; Ichigo simply slashed him and kicked him upwards into the void from which he came moments ago.

"K...i...ll; Ki...ll; Kill..." was what he said looking towards Aizens crouched form.

He started forming a Cero in front of his mask, aimed it towards Aizen and fired away. The explosion threw everyone back. No one had expected something as huge as that.

It disappeared as quickly as it appeared; revealing Aizen, still alive, with no wings and wearing what looked like white rags.

Ichigo was right on him, his hand already flying towards his chest, piercing his flesh with no problem. He gripped the Hogyouku and pulled, separating it from Aizen. Before anyone could even say anything he roared and crushed Aizen beneath his foot, charging another Cero, aiming it for his head.

AN: This is as far as I got, I hope you like it, PM's and Reviews are welcome as always...


	13. Naruto - Prowler

AN: Another short one, in this one, the Kyuubi has a lot more influence over Naruto. Kyuubi also isn't really evil in this.

* * *

He was prowling again, it was late evening and the shop he was looking at was almost ready to close.

Just as the storeowner stepped outside to look if there were any more customers Naruto slipped in.

He didn't want to be seen, it was a lot more fun that way. It was easy, as opposed to the one time he tried to steal from the man with a metal plate over his forehead. He was spotted easily and berated; he was very close to just making the man disappear.

The window was open and he left the store with a small bag of apples.

He had an apartment, he never used it though, people know where he is that way. The voice doesn't like that, it keeps telling him to stay in the shadows, to keep out of sight.

If he disobeys then it doesn't talk, instead it only bangs on the cage. That hurts.

He made his way to one of the forested areas inside the village and started eating his dinner. His dusty old cloak as a blanket to sit on and a salvaged kunai to help with the cutting of apples.

He saw before that some people can jump really high and run really fast. Only the ones with the metal plate, though. That wasn't important now, tommorow was his birthday, he would have to be extra careful not to be spotted; he remembered the last one, they chased him for at least half of an entire day.

Uzumaki Naruto would turn 7 tomorrow.

* * *

He recieved a gift. This is his first gift ever. The big Fox said that it was for his birthday, that doesn't make sense, the fox doesn't like him and gave him something for free. Is that normal? Do all people who hate each other give each other things for free? Then shouldn't all the other people give him 'gifts' as well? Everyone hates him, after all.

Even the old man in a big hat. The gift lets him see emotions. The old man hates him, it's just a little, but he hates him.

He tried to get noticed on purpose this time, the amount of anger the old man has is invisible when compared to the rest of the people in the village.

It dooesn't matter, why should it? Everyone hates him, because of the fox, at least that's what the fox said. Naruto can't see the fox so he doesn't know how much the fox hates him.


	14. Naruto - Naruko x Hinata - Challenge

AN: There's nothing I've written for this one yet, so you can consider it a challenge. I'll put the main ideas here.

-There is no Naruto, instead of a son, Minato and Kushina had a daughter, Naruko.

-First ten years are pretty much the same, somewhere around year 10 Sarutobi hires a kunoichi to explain all the stuff a pre-pubescent girl needs to know.

-If he sends Kurenai, Naruko learns everything she needs to know.

-If he sends Anko, Naruko learns most of the stuff she needs to know but she also gets a bit impressed by Anko.

-Naruko is still loud, a prankster and has high goals, but she is not as loud as Naruto, not as infamous for her pranks as Naruto and her goal is to be the first female Hokage (makes for a good conflict with Tsunade later on), so basically she a little calmer Naruto.

-In the academy her only real friend is Hinata, who opened up to her and they spend a lot of time together.

This is where the main part of the story comes in, the romance.

Hinata has romantic feelings for Naruko, but this time not even she knows it. Naruko will be the first one to figure it out, but even then, it will take time for that.

Hinata does better at school and at home with her Jyuuken so she isn't as much of a disappointment in her fathers eyes.

The big part of the romance starts after the three-year trip when Hinata finally figures out her feelings for Naruko. But that also brings other problems for them, since the Hyuuga would find it 'unseemly' for two women to have a romantic relationship, and to make it worse, one of them is a clan heir.

-Naruko still has the Kyuubi, though he's not as agressive as he was in canon at that point.

-Naruko has the appearance of Naruto's Oiroke no Jutsu, but a little younger.

-When it comes to fighting, Naruko is weaker but faster than Naruto, and since she occasionally trains with Hinata, she picked up a few simple moves from the Jyuuken and modified them to work without the Byakugan (something even Gai had trouble with).

-Her chakra control is still horrible, thanks to the sheer amount of it she has, but she can still use Kage Bunshin.

If you're interested in making this feel free to send me a PM if you want to know more.


End file.
