Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach; Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo...and sometimes I really feel jealous of those two...sometimes...

A/N: Heeeeey...yeah, yet again, the plot bunnies have attacked me by the hundreds of thousands. Now...I know what you're thinking, 'Oh, geez, now he's doing crossovers?'. The answer is simple...yes, I am. Well, we'll see where this train takes us, and just enjoy the ride.

Jinchuuriki no Seireitei

Prologue: Anew

It was raining...and it didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Lightning flashed across the sky, and lighted up the otherwise dark forest. A single person stood in a clearing, looking around, as though confused.

"Sasuke...where the hell did you go?" spoke a blond haired boy. He was wearing a black jumpsuit top with orange pants and a single vertical stripe running down the middle of his jacket.

However, Naruto Uzumaki, sixteen year old Genin of Konohagakure, was not aware of just how bad things were for him.

He blinked, and suddenly noticed a weight on his chest. Upon further inspection it turned out the weight was a series of linked chains, but they ended abruptly, as though they had been cut off from something. He tugged on it slightly, and was curious when he felt a small bit of pain when he pulled on it, "What the hell? How did I get this?" he looked around a bit more, still not sure of how he got here. All he remembered was following his former teammate from almost three years ago, Sasuke Uchiha, fighting him, then everything went black from there.

There was something off though about the area around him. He felt...as though he was being watched. That's when he heard a booming sound; like giant footsteps. He whirled around, and let out a gasp.

"Huh...I thought I smelled something delectable!" Naruto found himself face to face with a giant...beast of some sort. It walked on four legs, had a skeletal like face, a green body with a tail, and two glowing yellow lights within it's eye sockets. However, the most noticeable feature was the gaping maw that was about to engulf Naruto whole.

"Gah!! What the hell?!" Naruto jumped back, and reached for a kunai in his holster...only to find none, "Hey, what gives?! I know I restocked before I left Konoha!"

"Stupid morsel, get back here so I can eat you!" roared the beast, lunging at Naruto a second time, only to be denied by the boy's naturally good reflexes.

"Allright, I don't know what you are, but you're picked the wrong shinobi to mess with! Eat this!" Naruto made a favorite hand seal as he grinned, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He blinked, and spoke, "What the heck?! Where's my chakra?" He looked at the giant monster, "Hey, you! Did you seal my chakra?!"

"What the hell are you blathering about, you little welp?" the beast replied, taking a moment to speak. However, that moment of lowering its guard was a mistake on its part.

A flash of steel caught Naruto's eye, and the beast let out a groan as its skull-like face split in two. The beast roared in agony as it disintegrated into nothingness. Naruto took a step back, and went into a taijutsu stance, "Hey, who's out there?"

His question was answered as a single figure walked out of the shadows. It was a woman with about shoulder length black hair, wearing a black kimono of sorts, hamaka pants, sandals, and carrying a white sword, "Good thing I arrived when I did. That Hollow would have consumed you otherwise, then we'd be in trouble..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Hey, hey, are you a shinobi too?! Where's your hitai-ite?! Where are you from?!"

The lady sighed, "No, I'm not a ninja...I'm..." she looked up into the sky, as though trying to think of how to explain herself, "...I'm a Shinigami...or a Soul Reaper I guess is another way of putting it."

"A...Shinigami? A death god?" Naruto took another step back, "You're going to take me away and eat my soul?! In your dreams?! I've already had one Shinigami screw up my life, I don't need you bothering me as well!"

"Rukia, the kid doesn't even know he's kicked the bucket yet." spoke another voice in the background. A man with spiky red hair tied in a messy ponytail with various tattoos covering his body revealed himself from the shadows. He wore the same clothing as the black haired woman, and also had a sword in it's hilt.

Now Naruto was aware that at least ten other people with similar attire were present. He was, to put it simply, surrounded by twelve people, making escape very...unlikely, "What are you all here for?"

Rukia, or so Naruto thought she was named, spoke, "We're here to bring you to Soul Society. Since you're a Jinchuuriki...we have to go through certain clearing paperwork with you."

"Wait, what the heck is Soul Society?! What do you mean clearing paperwork? How do you know I'm a Jinchuuriki?!" Naruto was now officially freaked out by what was going on. He never met these people before, and now they were saying that he had to come with them to a place called Soul Society? Man, this just was not his week. First, Kakashi goes missing for two days, then reports from ANBU say that they found him dead in a creek outside of Rice Country borders, then Naruto finds Sasuke outside of Fire Country's borders with a group of people, including two Akatsuki members, and now this?

The red haired man looked at Naruto with an annoyed sigh, "Rukia, let's just-"

"Give him some time, Renji. You read up on his record. He's had a tough life..." Rukia replied, walking over to Naruto, "Naruto, Soul Society is a wonderful place where good people who die go to spend their afterlife."

Naruto went wide-eyed, "...but, I'm not dead..."

Rukia frowned. She was afraid of this. It wasn't uncommon for people to forget dying when they became spirits. She walked over to a nearby bush by the edge of the clearing, and spoke, "Naruto, I think you need to see this."

Naruto didn't like the sound of her voice; it sounded sad, the kind when someone had to give bad news. He slowly walked over to her, and looked behind the bush. What he saw caused him to fall to his knees.

There, on the grass, was the body of none other than Naruto Uzumaki. There was a burning hole in his throat , which was giving his skin a blackened, ashen color. He dropped to his hands now, and started shaking, "Th-this...this has to be a sick joke...a Genjutsu!!" he jumped up to his feet, "Kai!" he shook a bit more, "What are you trying to pull here?!" he looked at his body again, and clapped his hands together again, "Kai! Kai!! Kai, damn it!!"

Rukia put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Naruto...you're dead...the form you're in right now is your soul...that's your body. The chain coming out from your chest is the only thing connecting you and your physical self. That chain was shattered though, so you're dead..."

Naruto began to shed a few tears, "Shut up! I can't be dead! I have to get Sasuke back, stop Akatsuki, and figure out who killed Kakashi-sensei!"

Renji groaned, walked up to the two, and yanked Naruto to his feet, "Hey, get over it! You're dead!"

Naruto glared at the man, and spoke, "Who the hell do you think you are?! Get the hell-"

Before Naruto could speak anything further, he felt the end of Rukia's sword handle being place over his forehead. The ground began glowing around him, "Hey, what are you doing?! Damn it, stop this! Hey, are you listening?!"

Rukia sighed as Naruto faded with the blue light, the stamp of approval for crossing over to Soul Society on his forehead. As he dissapeared, a small black butterfly appeared, and Renji nodded, pulling out a small phone to Soul Society, "This is Vice Captain Renji Abarai of the Sixth Division. We have secured Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youkou, his konso was a success. He should be arriving to Soul Society shortly."

"Very good, Vice Captain Abarai. We shall send our arranged greeter to him then. You may return to the Seireitei now." spoke a voice from the other side of the line.

Renji nodded and turned off his phone. Pulling out his sword, he jabbed it into thin air...or so one would think at least. The sword, however, created a hole in space. A door appeared, and the twelve Shinigami walked through it before it closed again.

Sasuke Uchiha ran through the forest, still not entirely certain from what, but knowing he was in a dangerous situation. First, his chakra wasn't working, then these creatures started appearing, trying to kill him.

He had been heading towards Konoha to take out those still alive who responsible for the destruction of the Uchiha clan; Homura Mitokada, Danzou, and Koharu Utatane. However, he had run into an obstacle. His former teammate Naruto Uzumaki had appeared out of nowhere. That had been a little rough, seeing as he was dead. Sasuke took a full Rasenshuriken to the stomach...however, Naruto had been stabbed by a Chidori to the throat, instantly frying his trachea, lungs, and heart. Even Kyuubi couldn't heal those injuries so quickly.

Now though, Sasuke was being chased by these creatures...he was pretty sure they were yelling about food or something around those lines.

Sasuke jumped from branch to branch, and just as he was about to land on the ground, he felt a clawed hand grab a hold of him. The last thing Sasuke saw were two burning yellow eyes and large, dripping teeth.

A scream echoed throughout the forest...yet any living soul within the area would probably not have heard it.

Kakashi waited outside a room where certain souls were brought when the konso was completed and they had made it to the Soul Society. He had been informed that this person was a special case, and that Kakashi would be in charge of showing him around. While it was easy work (compared to combating Hollows for weeks at a time), he also hated mundane tasks such as these. At least he got to read his books in peace.

The door opened, and a single Hell Butterfly flitted out of the doors, followed by a blur of blond hair and orange. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and almost kicked himself for not seeing this coming. He should have known it would be him when they said 'an S-class priority case' for the soul entering the Seireitei, not the Rukongai like many others are. Oh well, may as well get it over with. That would explain why he was selected to give the newcomer a tour.

Naruto froze in place, blinked, and then slowly opened his mouth, as he saw the sight of a man he thought had been dead, "K...Kakashi...sensei?"

Kakashi looked up from his book, "Yo."

"What are you doing here?! Wait, you're a...a...umm...Shinigami? Yeah..." Naruto shook his head, "You're a Soul Reaper too?!"

Kakashi nodded, "I guess you can say that...anyway, I've been charged with showing you around the Seireitei." He rose from his seat, and headed towards the exit. After not hearing a second set of footsteps behind him, he turned to see a dumbstruck Naruto, "You coming?"

Naruto blinked, and shook his head, "...uh...yeah..."

About fifteen minutes later, Kakashi was showing Naruto around the Seireitei of Soul Society. Naruto quickly learned about the duties of Shinigami, Hollows, and such...well, he understood that Shinigami went after Hollows, that Hollows were bad, and that if Shinigami vanished, the Earth would be screwed.

"So...how many Shinigami are there?"

Kakashi looked up from his book to look at Naruto. It was still quite a sight for Naruto to see the man without his hitai-ite covering his eye, being replaced with a simple cloth bandana that covered up said injury. The scar was much more visible too.

"Well, I'd love to give you a number, but I'd be lying if I gave it to you. Let's leave it at plenty? That good?"

Naruto nodded, "So, you said that all Shinigami are put into one of thirteen divisions in most cases?"

"Correct." Kakashi replied, "There's the second division, lead by Soifon. They're currently tied to the Special Forces unit. The fourth division is in charge of healing others, they're lead by Retsu Unohana. There's also the fifth, which does investigation and such...that one is currently not filled by anyone...as far as captains anyway. Long story..."

Naruto, while still overwhelmed by all that was being thrown at him, strived to take it all in. He came to at least understand the basic duties of the Gotei Thirteen, and memorized some of the captains that Kakashi pointed out.

"So...Kakashi-sensei, you never told me what squadron you belong too."

Kakashi nodded, "That's true. I'm the fourth seated officer of the eighth division, headed by Captain Shusui Kyoraku and Vice Captain Nanao Ise." Having answered the question, he continued reading.

"Kakashi, what did I say about reading that book? In front of a child too, of all people!"

Kakashi looked up to see a woman with glasses, black hair tied back, and a book under her arms. She was frowning, and giving Kakashi a dissaproving look, "Hm? Nanao Fuku-taichou? What was it you were saying?"

Nanao grumbled a bit before looking to Naruto, "Who is this?"

Kakashi closed his book for a brief moment and placed a hand on Naruto's hair, "This is Naruto Uzumaki, the S-class priority soul we were informed of."

Nanao's face seemed to light up in realization, "Ah, of course. I remember now." She nodded to Naruto, "I'm Vice Captain of the Eight Division of the Gotei Thirteen. As you can see, I'm this lazy bum's superior. Until recently, I only had one pervert to deal with...but now that you're back, things have become much more annoying for me...by the way, Kakashi, where are those reports from your reassigning into the division?"

Kakashi rubbed his head, "Ah, yes. Well, funny story, you see, I was helping Momo-chan with some groceries the other day and-"

"Oh forget it, just turn them in by next week or else you'll be covering Hollow duty for the next month." Nanao stormed off, grumbling about doing 'having to do everything around here'.

As Naruto and Kakashi reached the end of the tour, Naruto spoke, "So...Kakashi-sensei...why did you show me all of this?"

Kakashi nodded, "I suppose you are curious about that, aren't you?" He smiled behind his mask, "Well, long story short, you're going to be inducted into the Academy for Soul Reapers."

Naruto was quiet for a moment. After he let the words sink in, he spoke, "Hold...I'm going to be a Shinigami?"

"Pretty much."

Naruto gripped his head in frustration, "I die, get stamped on the head by some Shinigami, follow a butterfly through some crazy world, and now this?" He sighed, "How long do I have to attend the Academy?"

Kakashi rubbed his chin, "Well, currently, the record is about a year."

Naruto groaned. Death sure wasn't what he had been expecting.