Chapter 18 – Reinforcements!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. They are the respective properties of Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo.

A/N #1: I am sincerely sorry for the delay in updates. Real life sort of caught up with me, along with the story that I adopted from Rocker1600. Like the last chapter, I provided an omake to make up for the delay.

[Break Room, Third Division Barracks, Seireitei, Soul Society]

Current Time...

"Aw! Why won't Utena and Anthy admit their love for each other," Sakuma whined to herself as she read from a manga. She was currently having lunch with both Kira and Aoshi in what could considered to be a break room. It was around half around the size of Naruto's office, and there was a small kitchenette in the room. The kitchenette was made up of a refrigerator, an oven, a sink, and a few cabinets. The three shinigami were sitting around a chabudai on top of cushions. Aoshi was eating a bowl of katsudon, Kira was eating from a bento, and Sakuma had a plate of various sweet foods.

Kira sighed in annoyance at his subordinate's outburst before turning to Aoshi to talk with.

"So how do you think the Captain is doing with his assignment?"

"I don't know. I doubt that Aizen would be risky enough attack Konoha so soon. But least he gets to be with his friends again."

"I just hope we get to see him again soon," Sakuma said as she took an anpan from her plate and took a large bite out of it. Her wish was seemingly answered as Haku suddenly appeared in the doorway of the room.

"Good, I've found you."

"What do you need, Lieutenant Yuki?" Kira asked as the 2nd Division Lieutenant looked at the third and fourth seated officers.

"I'm just here to deliver an order to both Sakuma and Aoshi. You two are to report to Head Captain Yamamoto's office immediately."

"What for?" Aoshi asked as Haku began to turn to leave.

"That'll be explained once you get there," He said as he disappeared in a flash of shunpo. The two seated officers then rushed off to the First Division, with Sakuma having the half-eaten anpan in her mouth.

[Head Captain Yamamoto's Office, First Division Barracks, Seireitei, Soul Society]

A Few Minutes Later…

The two 3rd Division members arrived and entered into Yamamoto's office. The Head Captain was sitting at his desk, with Lieutenant Saskibe standing next to him. A few feet away from the desk was a group of shinigami that had been chosen for the Konoha team's backup. It consisted of Toshiro Hitsuguya, Rangiku Matsumoto, Ikkaku Madarame, Yumichika Ayasegawa, and Rukia Kuchiki.

"What took you two so long," Toshiro asked as the two shinigami joined the rest of the group. Aoshi answered him as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"We were having lunch," Aoshi said as he and Sakuma went towards the group. Yamamoto looked at his fellow shinigami before speaking to them.

"Now that everyone is here, we can begin. I have recently received a report from Captain Uzumaki regarding an attack by Sosuke Aizen's forces on Konohagakure. It consisted of fully developed Arrancar, three of which belonged to a special group who went by the name of the Espada. Fortunately for us, Aizen's forces suffered several casualties, the majority of them were the followers of an Espada named Grimmjow. One of his followers was captured and is currently being interrogated for information. Because of these new developments, Captain Uzumaki has requested back up to deal with any future threats from Aizen," Yamamoto explained.

"Huh. I wonder if these Espada are going to be strong enough to force me to use my bankai?" Ikkaku thought to himself as Toshiro spoke up.

"Excuse me, Head Captain. I don't mean to question your judgement, but why are you only sending one confirmed Bankai user as part of the back-up?" he asked.

"The shinigami that are in Konoha are all confirmed bankai users, Captain Hitsugaya. And Captain Uzumaki has access to the power of the Tailed Beast Kurama. Your group ought to be enough," Yamamoto pointed out.

At this point, Sakuma spoke up.

"Uh, excuse me, but how is the Captain doing?" Sakuma asked as Yamamoto eyed her before speaking.

"Captain Uzumaki is doing fine. He only suffered minor injuries during his fight with the Arrancar. But for some reason, he is currently recuperating in a hospital."

Rukia, while glad to hear that Naruto was alright (though she didn't really expect Naruto to have any real trouble, so it didn't come as any surprise to her) she was more concerned about another member of the team.

"And what about Ichigo?" Rukia asked as Yamamoto looked towards the concerned young woman.

"Ichigo Kurosaki... is a different matter entirely. It would appear that he was brutally beaten by an Espada named Yammy. Apparently the Inner Hollow that resides within him tried to emerge during his encounter, and Yammy was to get the upper hand during the fight. He is also recuperating in the hospital."

Yamamoto had found out about Ichigo's Inner Hollow sometime after Naruto discussed the matter with Yamamoto in a follow-up report shortly after the first one. The only reason the Head Captain didn't do anything about it was because of the fact that Naruto had managed to convince him that Ichigo was more of an advantage to them rather than a burden and promised to train Ichigo to help him control said demon.

Rukia's eyes widened at the news of her friend as several thoughts raced through her head.

"I knew something like this would happen, but not so soon. Are these Arrancars really so powerful that they nearly caused Ichigo to lose control? Regardless... I'm sure Ichigo isn't taking this well."

"Are there any more questions?" Yamamoto asked, as he received no reply.

"Good. You may leave to prepare for your trip."

All of the Shinigami present nodded as they left Yamamoto's office and headed back to their respective divisions.

[Aizen's Throne Room, Las Noches, Hueco Mundo]

Meanwhile…

As the back-up Shinigami were making their preparations to head to Konoha, the remaining Arrancar that attacked Konoha had returned to Las Noches. A Garganta appeared in Aizen's throne room, and out step the three Espada. Yammy was currently carrying his severed arm with his remaining one. The only people that were currently in the throne room were Aizen, Gin, and Tosen. The former 5th Division Captain was currently sitting on his throne. He was slouching to one side with an elbow propping up his head as if he was bored. Aizen now sported clothes similar to an Arrancar's. He still wore his white robe, but his shihakusho had been replaced with a white kosode, white hakama, and white sandals with a pinkish-red sash wrapped around his waist. His nose had not fully healed yet, so he still had a bandage on it.

"We have returned, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra announced as he and his two comrades bowed (Grimmjow doing so reluctantly). Aizen then addressed his subordinate.

"Ulquiorra… how did your assignment go?"

"You may see for yourself," Ulquiorra said as he suddenly pulled his left eye out of his socket. He then crushed it in his hand and it suddenly turned into dust. Then dust then flew from his hand and flowed around the rogue shinigami. This was Ulquiorra's Solita Vista (All-Eyes World), an ability that allowed him to replay events that he has seen to others. Aizen then spoke.

"Interesting… so Uzumaki-kun has replaced Gin as the third division captain? I was aware that he had the potential to be a Captain, but I never thought he would have been promoted so soon."

"I wonder how Kira's adjusting to his new captain. Then again, maybe he hasn't had the chance to do so if Naruto is in Konoha so soon after we left the Soul Society," Gin thought to himself as Aizen continued to comment on what he saw.

"Hmmm, I didn't think that the Uchiha would have been beaten so easily by Grimmjow. Ulquiorra, what do you think of him?"

"I was unable to truly judge his abilities, Aizen-sama. From what I was able to gather, he didn't even bother to use his clan's Sharingan against Grimmjow, so I cannot be sure of his full capabilities."

"I see. And what of your thoughts on Uzumaki?"

"He… is someone who I can judge. From what I saw he is an enemy of interest. He is very powerful, and from what I can tell, he wasn't even using his full power while fighting. He is definitely a threat, and, with all due respect, I can see how he was able to defeat you, Aizen-sama."

Aizen grunted in annoyance at the mention of his defeat while a thought formed in Ulquiorra's head.

"This boy may prove be a worthy opponent to fight."

"Very well, then. If that is all you have, then the three of you are dismissed," Aizen said as the three Espada turned and left the room. Tosen turned to Aizen and spoke.

"Aizen-sama, you are aware that we have lost five of our Arrancar?"

"I am, Tosen, but those Arrancar were just mere Gillians. We shall simply replace them with stronger ones," Aizen replied in a reassuring tone.

Meanwhile, Ulquiorra was currently walking back to his quarters, an air of indifference (similar to Byakuya's) surrounding him. He suddenly stopped when he felt something grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. It was Grimmjow, who had a pissed off look on his face.

"Hey asshole, why the fuck did you interrupt my battle?"

The pale Espada responded by grabbing Grimmjow's hand by the wrist and removing it from his body. He then spoke to his fellow Espada, speaking in his usual emotionless tone.

"It was because you were outmatched by the Uzumaki."

"Bullshit! I had him on the fuckin' ropes!"

"You only assume that out of sheer arrogance. The boy was able to counter your most powerful attacks with virtually no difficulty and that wound he had on his back didn't even faze him, as if it were little more than a simple scratch to him. And he wasn't even using all of his power, despite the fact he had his bankai activated when, to be honest, he didn't even need it to fight you in that state. In fact, the only reason you were even able to injure him at all was because he was shielding those two shinobi you nearly hit with the Gran Rey Cero; otherwise that attack would've been just as ineffective as all of your previous ones. If I hadn't intervened, you would've been killed, especially since you threw all logic to the wayside and deactivated your Resurrecion. Even if you hadn't made such a stupid decision, you were doomed to lose either way."

"You idiot! I deactivated my Resurrecion to deliver the finishing blow! My Gran Rey Cero weakened him enough to the point where I didn't need it!"

"And that is where you are sorely mistaken; as I already stated, he didn't even need his bankai to beat you in his injured state even if you had kept your Resurrecion activated. Next time, don't just assume that your opponent has been defeated," Ulquiorra said as he began to walk off. Grimmjow stood there in anger, gritting his teeth.

"I'm not done with you, you bastard," The blue-haired Arrancar shouted as he tried to punch Ulquiorra in the back of the head with his left arm. However, the Espada simply moved his head to the right before grabbing his arm.

"You should not underestimate your opponent, or you may end up biting off more than you can chew," Ulquiora said before twisting Grimmjow's arm until an audible snap was heard. Grimmjow let out a howl of pain before grabbing his now broken arm. He then looked at Ulquiorra and began to walk off. He wisely decided not to provoke Ulquiorra any further and decided to head out to find someone to treat his broken arm (while making a note to himself).

The Sexta Espada was shimmering with anger. That punk Uzumaki had humiliated him in battle and, despite his hatred toward Ulquiorra, he begrudgingly admitted to himself that Ulquiorra's claims did make sense. That only made the Sexta Espada even angrier as that meant that the kid didn't even use his full power. He still rationalized to himself that he was coming close to defeating Uzumaki when Ulquiorra interrupted him. He thought he made the mistake of not going into his Resurrecion from the beginning. The next time he encountered him, he wasn't going to make that same mistake. He was going to tear the kid's head off and show it to his pathetic friends before killing them as well... or so he thought, as the Espada was only deluding himself into thinking he stood any chance against the young 3rd Division Captain.

[Naruto's Room, Konoha Hospital, Konohagakure, Land of Fire, Shinobi World]

Meanwhile…

"I'm bored," Kaze said to himself as his partner lay in bed, wearing a set of hospital clothes and reading his copy of Shonen Jump. Naruto was getting annoyed with his zanpakuto spirit's whining.

"Look, Sakura is the one that's making us stay here. If you're going to complain to anyone complain to her."

"It feels like we're been here for a year."

"It's been three days since we were admitted here."

"Why did Sakura even admit you here?"

"She wanted me to recover from the fight with that Grimmjow guy. And I don't want to piss her off by sneaking off. I heard she trained under Tsunade-sama and, with that in mind, being bored for a few days beats the alternative," Naruto said in his mind as he turned a page in his manga.

"What's the worst she can do to you?"

"Punch me in the face with chakra-enhanced strength, or castrate me... if I'm lucky."

"Um, h-hello?"

Naruto looked up from his manga to noticed someone standing in the doorway of his room. It was Hinata, who had her head peeking inside of the room.

"Hey, Hinata! Please come in! I've been waiting for someone to visit me today."

"No one's come to visit you?" she asked as she took a seat next to his bed.

"Not today; some of our friends have come in the past few days but that's about it. Well actually, Renji and Byakuya stopped by a few hours ago. They weren't too damaged by their fights with the Arrancar and I think they're patrolling the area for Hollows. I would be patrolling the area as well if Sakura wasn't forcing me to recover."

"Oh… I see. So, how is your friend Ichigo doing?"

"He got beaten pretty bad by that Yammy guy. Tsunade-sama healed him up and he's currently resting up... though his injuries are the least of his problems. How are you doing?"

"I-I'm doing well, Naruto-kun."

"Hey, now's a good time to tell her, man," Kaze no Moi said as Naruto grunted in annoyance at his Zanpakuto spirit's interruption.

"I was getting to that, Kaze."

"Who are you talking to?"

"Kaze. He's the spirit of my zanpakuto. Anyway Hinata, there's something I want to tell you."

The Hyuga Heirress perked up at this and paid close attention to what the Third Division Captain was about to say.

"When I was in the Soul Society, I realized something. I sort of realized that you were always admired me."

"And by realized, you mean that I had to spell it out for you."

Naruto ignored the comment from Kaze as he continued to speak.

"But I don't get why you would admire me. When I think about it, I was a boastful loudmouth back then."

"Well, w-what I admire about you, Naruto-kun, was that you would never give up or back down no matter what the odds or what anyone else said."

"I see... well, I just wanted to ask you one more thing: do you have feelings for me?"

"I… I do, Naruto-kun."

Naruto then started to speak as if he was trying to phrase his next words very carefully.

"Well, I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to blunt about it. I… can't return those feelings."

Hinata then had a slightly saddened look on her face as Naruto explained.

"I appreciate that you have feelings for me. Hell, I'm glad to see someone had them for me, but I can't return them... I never could. There are a few reasons for it, most important of all being the fact that I'm dead and most relationships between a living and dead person never really works out in the end. Maybe if I had lived we could of-"

"It's alright, Naruto-kun. I've made peace with your death. I just hoped that you were in a better place."

"Oh... well, I'm glad to hear it. Well, I want to thank you for believing in me and looking up to me when everyone else just saw me as a failure."

"You're welcome."

The shinigami captain and the Hyuga heiress continued to talk and catch up, as they had not seen each other for the past few days.

[Ichigo's Room, Konoha Hospital, Konohagakure, Land of Fire, Shinobi World]

Meanwhile…

The Substitute Shinigami stared at the wall of his room, as if he were in a catatonic state. He was currently in a bed, dressed in a hospital gown. After Ulquiorra and Yammy had left the training grounds, Byakuya had used his flashstep to get Ichigo to the Konoha hospital. Tsunade had managed to treat his wounds with her medical knowledge, and he had been committed to the hospital in order to recuperate.

While his body had recovered, his mind had not. He was still haunted by the fact that his hollow had tried to take over his body during his fight with Yammy. He thought he had finally kicked him out during his fight with Byakuya at Sōkyoku Hill. After that, the mask that kept coming back to him suddenly disappeared. However, over the past few weeks, he kept hearing a voice in his head. And it had been gradually getting louder, calling out to him. His hollow trying to take over his body had instilled a sense of fear in him.

"What am I going to do? What if this damn hollow takes full control of my body? It might kill everyone and-"

Ichigo's thoughts were interrupted when heard the sound of his door opening. He turned and saw a nurse stepped in, carrying a tray of food.

"Kurosaki-san, I brought you some lunch," she said as she noticed the tray that was next to Ichigo's bed. It contained his breakfast, which had barely been touched. She quickly grabbed the tray and replaced it with the one in her hand.

"Thank you," he said quietly as the nurse left. After a few minutes, he picked up a fork and scooped some rice into it. He put the food into his mouth and chewed before going back to his thoughts.

[Konoha Market Place, Konohagakure, Land of Fire, Shinobi World]

Meanwhile…

The citizens of Konohagakure were currently going about their day, with people chatting with each other or buying goods from stalls. It was as if a battle between death gods and creatures made up of accumulated human souls had never taken place. The damage created during Byakuya's fight with Edorad was now fixed up, and everything had gone back to being relatively normal.

This normality was destroyed, however, when what appeared to be a circular shoji door materialized in the middle of the market place. The door then opened up, and out of it stepped seven people. These people were the back up sent by Head Captain Yamamoto.

Aoshi took a good look at their surroundings before speaking to Toshiro, ignoring all the stares and hushed whispers and murmurs.

"Hey Captain Hitsugaya, wasn't the Senkaimon suppose to materialize in front of Konoha's gate?"

"I'm aware of that, Onokishi; I don't know what happened.. But I suppose that this is better than being hundred of miles away. We better go to Hokage's office. Uzumaki said that he explained everything to her."

"But I'm hungry, Toshiro," Sakuma whined as Toshiro let out a frustrated sigh.

"First off, it's Captain Hitsugaya. Secondly, didn't you eat lunch?"

"That was five hours ago, and I didn't even get to finish it."

Toshiro began to pinch the bridge of his nose while Aoshi grabbed the Third Seat Officer's shoulder.

"Look Sakuma, we can go get dango once we meet with the Hokage and then find out where the captain is."

"Alright, Aoishi-kun," Sakuma said as the shinigami walked off towards the Hokage's office.

Omake 3: Fox vs Tiger

Naruto was currently walking down the streets of Konoha. However, he was not dressed up in his Shinigami robes. Rather, he was currently wearing a dark orange hoodie with a white t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of sandals. In one of his hands was a plastic bag full of groceries while his other hand held a blue raspberry ice pop.

"Aren't you suppose to be in the hospital?" Kurama asked as Kaze no Moi replied to the bijuu.

"For the purposes of this omake, he isn't."

Naruto took out a bite out of his treat as he walked. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, however, when he heard a voice that he thought he'd never hear again.

"Hold it right there, you little brat!"

Naruto turned, and saw Mizuki with a cocky grin on his face. He now had a much more muscular physique, and wore a black vest, black pants, and a dark brown belt.

"Oh, it's you... how has prison been treating you, Mizuki? Actually how did you even escape?" Naruto said in an uninterested tone as he finished off the rest of his ice pop.

"Shut up! It was YOUR fault that I was sent to prison. Now that I've escaped from prison, I'm going to get my revenge and kill you!"

Naruto just stared at his former teacher in complete boredom before speaking.

"… you must be either stupid or possess suicidal levels of arrogance if you think you can beat me. I was able to kick your ass when I was a genin, so what chance do you have now?"

"I'll tell you what I have: I have this!"

Mizuki then took out a vial, and drank the contents of it. He then began to grow in size, and became more bestial in appearance. His hands became claws and his body was now covered in orange fur with black stripes.

"Do you like what you see, demon brat? I gained this power from Orochimaru! It's a variation of his curse seal. Now I'll rip your head off and-"

"Oh Vegeta, you're such an asshole."

Mizuki then look to see that Naruto wasn't paying attention to him. He was currently lying on his stomach, reading his copy of Shonen Jump and drinking a cherry flavored ramune. Naruto looked up from his manga, noticing that Mizuki was still standing there.

"Hey look, he became Tony the Tiger," Kaze said as Naruto finished of the last of his drink.

"Huh, neat."

"What?! That's all you have to say? I'm a freakin' tiger!"

"One of my fellow captains is a giant wolf man and I recently fought a guy who can become a panther hybrid. This is hardly impressive," Naruto said as a gust of wind enveloped him and had suddenly changed into his shinigami robes.

"I'm gonna tear you to shre-"

Mizuki didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Naruto's fist impacted into his stomach. The Third Division Captain followed this up by delivering a swift kick to the traitor's torso... and then another... and then another... and then 9997 more in a rapid barrage of kicks, sending him flying and crashing into the side of a building, knocking him out cold.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Kaze said as Naruto picked up his bag of groceries.

"It's Mizuki. What were you expecting?

Next Time - Rude Awakenings

A/N #2: The scene between Naruto and Hinata was to hammer a point home: there will be no pairings of any kind in this story. The main reasons behind this decision is because I'm not good at writing at romance, and if I did, it would probably come off as forced. Plus, there's a bajillion other stories out there with pairings in them. It wouldn't hurt to have one story out there without pairings. And for those who say that pairings add to stories that are just action and adventure, here's my rebuttal: there's more to stories than just parings and romance, like comedy and interesting character interactions.

Also, whoever can correctly guess the name of the manga that Sakuma is reading at the beginning of the chapter gets a free cookie!