The mask
Hello folks, this is your friendly neighborhood government agent the White Shadow here. This story was a variation of a different Fic I was working on. It had a lot of OC's so I decided to can it because too many can get annoying. This story will be a NarutoXbleach crossover is rated M for language violence and possible Harem action later on. But before I begin I have to state to things.
1: I own neither of the anime this fic is based on. If I did I would be sitting on a beach in Hawaii
2: This contains MAJOR SPOILER, so if you aren't keeping up with the Japanese manga (Which is much farther ahead than the American one) you have been warned.
"Please come this way Naruto-san."
"Yes Hayami-san" Naruto sighed
Uzumaki Naruto was completely and utterly bored out of his mind.
When he entered the shinobi academy he expected to come out of it as a ninja who would serve his village proudly risking his life in some of the most dangerous mission that could be given and earning the power and respect he would need to become Hokage.
And yet one week later he found him self doing some of the dullest missions known to man. Some of the things he had done were just a step above his daily chores.
To date this had been the most exciting mission his team had undergone and even it was pretty dull. His team had been assigned to a team of archeologist who were working on the border of Fire country and Wind country. They were hired to help with excavation of the sight and deal with any minor threat they might come in contact with.
The whole team wasn't exactly excited about it, but it was his first mission that got him out of the village so he couldn't complain too much. That is of course, until they reached their destination.
The harsh desert climate of the border was taking it's toll on the team who were used to a much more moderate habitat. Naruto who had nothing but long sleeved shirts and black T-shirts had it worse than everyone else. He gained some relief and a bit of excitement when their digging had opened a passageway to some underground ruins.
They entered the stone ruins to find several passageways. While the main groups headed down the larger passageways with Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi, Naruto was stuck with the job of babysitting the expedition leader's daughter Hayami.
Looking after her wasn't too horrible. Hayami was a young woman about the same age as him with short black and emerald eyes. She was nice and seemed very interested in the life of a ninja. Naruto of course had no problem with showing off all of the skills he had developed and the two became quick friends.
The problem was that they had gone down a narrower passageway that seemed less decorated than all the others and was probably just used for construction purposes. The expedition leader doubted it held anything of value or booby traps so he let his daughter go that way to fulfill her desire to be a part of the expedition without hurting herself.
So this left Naruto going down a rather stagnant and hot hallway, covered in dust which probably led to nowhere while the rest of his team was probably finding treasures beyond his wildest dreams.
He was so busy moping that he would have kept going if Hayami hadn't stopped he would have most likely walked straight into the wall in front of him.
"Man, I can't believe we walked all this way for a dead end." Naruto moaned as he looked at the carved slab in front of them. It was decorated with what appeared to be a masked figure with many creatures sprouting from him.
"Maybe not Naruto-san, these people weren't known for just decorating any old wall meaning this place must have some type of importance." Hayami said as she brushed away some dust revealing a small gap in between the slab and the wall.
"It must be a door! We'll have to go back and get the others to help open it."
"We don't have to do all of that, I'll just open it myself." Naruto said causing the girl to scoff.
"No offense Naruto-san, but even with the strength of a ninja this would be too…."
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow clone technique)!" Naruto shouted as six copies of himself appeared next to the blonde.
The seven Narutos walked towards the wall and pushed slowly moving the slab from its place.
Once the giant slab had been moved far enough he dispersed the clones and proceeded into the darkened corridor. Hayami followed shortly behind him.
As she entered the room with a lamp Naruto was able to get a slightly better grip on his surrounding.
"This place must be huge I can't see much of anything." Hayami said as they walked forward.
As they walked further into the room Hayami noticed a small pedestal. Surrounding it were what appeared to be several crystals.
"Let's go back and get a couple more lanterns. I don't like the idea of walking around this place half blind." Naruto said as he scanned the darkness futilely.
"That won't be necessary Naruto-san. I think I can provide us with a bit more light." Hayami said as she rested the lantern on the pedestal.
The two watched in wonder as the light from the lantern was reflected off of the crystals surrounding the pedestal then all around the room. Each crystal shined off another until twenty bright beams of light filled the room. With each crystal that caught the light the two could see large stone statues standing in columns on either side of them. Each statue was carved in the shape of strange, monstrous beast each more disturbing then the next. The only thing they seemed to have in common were the strange mask each creature had over its face.
"Whoa," Naruto said in awe. "What are these things Hayami-san?"
"I'm not sure." She said as they walked between the statues. "We don't really know much about their religion. Maybe these were the gods of their civilization, though they look more like demons to me."
As they walked through the chamber they finally reached the end of the row. Standing before them know was a statue that was about twenty feet tall. It had the lower body of a horse with a humanoid upper body. Its face was covered in a mask that was shaped like a Ram's skull.
"Why is this one in front of all the others?"
"I'm not sure. Perhaps it was the major deity of their faith. Is it just me or does it have something in its mouth?" Hayami asked as she pointed to the creature before them.
Sure enough in the creatures mouth Naruto could spot a small white disk.
"I'll get Hayami-san." Naruto said as he walked towards the statue.
"Be careful Naruto-san. It could be booby trapped."
The blonde stood in front of the structure eyeing it for anything wrong. Once he was confident enough he laid a single hand on it and applied a bit of pressure. When nothing happened he started to climb the statue. He stopped once again when he reached the neck of the beast to check for any traps. After he was sure it was safe he shimmied until he was staring it in the mouth.
Sitting on the beast tongue was what looked to be a simple, white, oval shaped disk about the size of a persons head. He noticed that it was absent of the layer of dust that covered the rest of the room and looked as if it had been set down there yesterday. He could of even sworn that it was glowing.
"What is it Naruto-san?" She shouted up to the boy.
"I'm not sure," Naruto said as he picked it up in his hand. "It doesn't look like anything import……"
The boy was stopped in his tracks as he felt a powerful wave of chakra flow through his arm. He suppressed as scream as he felt something digging into his palm.
He looked down at his hand to see the white disk fusing with his hands. It snaked its way under his skin flowing in like abnormal veins that bulged from hi s arm. The pain finally grew to a point where he could no longer hold back his screams and he fell to the ground wailing.
After he had fallen the strange disk continued to snake its way up his arm. He could barely notice the very concerned Hayami who kneeled above him. He writhed in agony as the disk reached his elbow and went up his neck.
When the mask reached his head it did four things. First it seemed to fuse into him completely causing the bulging it made to go away. Secondly, it caused Naruto to scream so loud that the rest of his team rushed towards his location. Thirdly, it caused a bright red chakra to engulf his body. And finally, it caused a pain that would overwhelmed every fiber of his being.
When Naruto finally regained consciousness he was laying in a small bed it what appeared to be. He let out a low moan at the throbbing pain that lingered in his head.
"Ugh, what the hell happened?" Naruto asked to himself.
"Actually that's what I was hoping to learn as well."
Naruto looked towards the voice to see his silver haired teacher with his nose buried in a little orange book.
"Kakashi-sensei, do you know what happened down there?"
"I have some knowledge of it although I think she would be able to give us a more accurate version." Kakashi said as he put down his book and pointed to his left.
Naruto turned to be surprised at the woman he had been completely oblivious to earlier. She wore a White long sleeved shirt with a black zipper going up the left side and matching pants and gloves. Her hair was sea green and went half way down her hair and matched her eyes perfectly. She had pink makeup under her eyes, but what stood out the most was the ram skull mask that rested on top of her head.
"That mask…… it's the same mask that was on that creepy statue in the ruins. Who are you?" Naruto asked.
"Greetings, my name is Neliel Tu Oderschvank and I am your servant Naruto-dono." She said as she bowed before a very shocked blonde.
"Um, you must have me confuesed with somebody elese. I don't have any servants."
"Oh but you do Naruto-dono. As soon as you placed your hand upon the mask of my old master you became the new ruler of La legión enmascarada, the greatest force of it's time."
"Look uh…… what did you say your name was again?" Naruto asked.
"Neliel Tu Oderschvank, Naruto-dono, if you wan't you can call me Nel instead."
"Okay Nel-san. I really don't have a clue of what you're talking about. I remember grabbing that disk in the ruins, but I've never heard of this leegon in mascara thing."
"I see, I suppose I should start from the beginning. Long ago before those ruins had been swalloed by sand their was a great warrior, my master who ruled over the country. He possesed the ability to create mask that would bestow upon the user great power like the one I were now. Through these masked we were all connected to him and we became La legión enmascarada, the masked legion."
"Under him our numbers grew until we were strong enough to take control of the country. He lived in the capital with each of us at his beck and call. Almost any one who came to know him eventually gained one of these mask. I was on my death bed due to illness so he offered me a mask as thanks for our friendship. I accepted and I became his first Hollow, the soldiers that he controlled. He brought in every one from friends, allies, and even enemies except for one person." She said as her face darkened. "She was a woman of great beauty and Master quickly fell for her. He was so lost in his romance that the idea of giving her the mask never appeared to him. Master had always been a bit of a melancholy man and she brought him the greatest happiness he ever knew. However, one day she betrayed master and slipped him a powerful poison. It worked slowly, but awe had no cure for it and it ate away at him. Once he realized that his love was the cause of his downfall he fell into a great sorrow and eventually rage. His anger was so great that he decided to kill not only her, but to destroy the entire capital. We tried to convince him to stop, but he was too far gone in his agony and forced our bodies to act."
"Everyone was dead, but it had a great effect on fatal impact on my master. You see, when you become a Hollow you lose the ability to generate chakra. We must either receive it from our master or steal it from another. It completely drained master of his chakra to release us all at once and in his already weakened condition it was obvious what would become of him. With the last of his strength he sealed us away into the mask you found and told me to help the next person to pick up the mask if I found him to be of good moral standing. You have proven yourself so and have gained our power."
Naruto and Kakashi sat in silence both trying to process the tale. Kakashi was deeply disturbed by this information. He had no idea how these new powers would effect the seal holding Kyuubi, but he knew that it would have a great impact. He could only imagine how the two powers would adapt to each other.
Naruto however had a very different question.
"Wait, how did you know I was of good moral standing?" Naruto asked curiously.
"I read your mind." Nel said nonchalantly causing the blondes eyes to bug out.
"What do you mean you read my mind?!"
"Don't you remember? When the your grabbed the mask it fused with your brain connecting all of us Hollows to your mind. How did you think I learned your language?"
"That's not the point damn it! You can't just go through people's heads! What if you decided that you didn't want meet to be your master? You would have gone through my personal life anyway!" He shouted.
"If I had decided that you were unworthy I would have simply killed you and used your chakra to seal away the ruins again. But do not worry Naruto-dono. I am the only one who looked deep into your memories and I only saw certain scenes." She said as she leaned over to him. "And I won't tell anyone about the noodle incident."
"Nobody can prove I did anything!" Naruto shouted causing Kakashi to stare at him blankly to which he could only scratch the back of his head and look away."
"All this is quite interesting," Kakashi said. "But what exactly do you have planned for Naruto?"
"What do you mean?"
"This La legión enmascarada was a military force correct? Do you intend to rebuild your dynasty using Naruto?"
"Our only job is to follow Naruto-dono's orders." She said as she turned and bowed to him. "Whatever it is that you desire, our power will be there for you."
This made Naruto very quiet. He had always wanted this kind of power and respect even if he wanted it from the village instead. But to have this kind of force dropped into his lap was a bit much. However, if they could help him achieve his dream…
"Can you help me become Hokage?" He asked seriously.
"Hokage, that is the leader and strongest member of your village correct? I know very little of shinobi arts, but when it comes to battle there is no greater ally than a Hollow." She responded confidently.
That was all Naruto needed to hear.
Okay so there's the prologue. I have one other story I'm working on along with this one so the next chapter should be up in a week or two. Review or I'll have your house wire tapped.
Preview
"Ugh" He groaned wearily. "To waste this much time on a piece of shit like you. I must have gotten pretty damn rusty over all that time. You even managed to give me a paper cut."
"J-just who the hell are you!?" Zabuza screamed.
"The name's Zaraki Kenpachi. Carry it with you to the after life."