Naruto: The Rogue Shinigami

Chapter Five: Training

"Thinking"

"Jutsu/Kido/Other techniques"

"Hollow/Zanpakuto talk"

Disclaimer: I do not and will not, ever own Naruto, Bleach or any of their Characters!

Author's Note:

Now despite all your fears, no I am not dead and no I haven't given up on my fanfic writing, I have just been very busy with work and the past few months have been hard on my family, with the recent deaths of my Uncle and Grandmother. I am currently working on Hope of the Senju Clan, which is nearly done, so if all goes well I will have the next chapter after the New Year.

Hope everyone enjoys the next Chapter of Rogue Shinigami

A Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

Previously on Rogue Shingami

With his time now limited, Naruto turned and smiled again at the injured Soifon, "Well it was fun while it lasted, but I guess our time is up, let's do it again some other time…But before I go, here's a little something to remember me by," where Naruto leaned down and kissed the female captain hard on the lips.

Shocked by what Naruto had done, Soifon's eyes widened to the size of saucers, but due to the state of her body, she could do nothing to stop him.

A few seconds later, Naruto pulled himself away from Soifon, who now looked murderous and wanted nothing more than skin Naruto alive with her bare hands. But before she could make any threats upon his life, the blonde Shinigami gave her a cheeky salute and said "Catch you later Fon-Fon-chan (5)" before taking off with Shunpo

Moments later, the entire Seireitei could hear Soifon's angry screams, as she swore bloody revenge on the blonde teen, shouting out that she would not rest until she found him, and what she would do to him when she did.

Needless to say Naruto had moved up on the female captain's hit list, replacing his mother as number one.

-Fourth Division Barracks -

Lying in bed in a private room in the fourth division Barracks hospital, the recently made vice-captain of squad 13, Uzumaki Kushina, was staring up at the ceiling. Various members of the fourth division came in to check on her condition from time to time, but she played them little. She had already been told by the fourth division vice-captain, Kotetsu Isane, that her injuries were not life threatening and that she would be able to leave few days.

This however wasn't good enough for the red headed vice-captain as she tried to leave, but before she could even get out of bed hid by a binding kido from fourth division vice-captain, who then told her that she could not leave until she recovered.

Unable to leave, Kushina was force to settle to staring at the ceiling and listening to the fourth division running around their barracks treating the various wounded, who were still coming in judging by the sound of things.

Ignoring the sounds Kushina choose to focusing on what mattered the most right now, her son, Naruto. After waking up, Kushina first thought she had been seeing things and had just dreamed it all. But when she saw the state she was in, she knew she hadn't dreamed, and never felt happier despite her injuries, she had finally found her child...well to be exact, he found her.

He was older now, no longer the crying infant she remembered him, he had Minato's bright blue eyes, but were shaped liked hers, and his blond spiky hair, with her face. He still even had the whisker shaped birthmarks on his cheeks, which had faded over time and could easily be missed if one was not looking carefully enough.

However has happy as she was when to have finally found him, it still left several questions, like how Naruto possessed the power of a Shinigami. Even if she believed what he told her about being a Shinobi-Shinigami Hybrid, it still doesn't explain how he possesses the power. Another thing that puzzled her was who trained her son as there was no way he could become that powerful all by himself. Whoever trained him was not only a skilled and powerful Shinigami, but also a highly skilled Kido master, as Naruto's skill level with kido was easily at the level of an expert and was better than some captains.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Kushina thought to herself, as the more she thought about it the more frustrated she became. Knowing she wouldn't get any answer lying here Kushina slowly pushed herself up and pulled the covers off, ignoring the pain coming from her body. She was going to find her son and get some answers.

Because of the drugs the fourth division members had given her, her body felt rather stiff, which was why her movements so slow. Removing the top portion of her robes, revealing the bandages wrapped around her chest, Kushina began to reach over to her uniform at the bottom of the bed.

But before she could lift herself out of her bed, the door to her room suddenly opened, revealing Captain Ukitake, of the 13th division.

"Hello Kushina-chan how are you feeling? When I heard that you were injured I came here as quickly as I coo—" Whatever else the white head captain was about to say was soon lost, as he finally took notice Kushina's state of dress, or lack of.

Standing right behind the captain were also third seat Kiyone Kotetsu and fourth seat Sentarō Kotsubaki, who only moment had been having a shoving match over who went through the door after Captain Ukitake, but were now staring at Kushina with wide eyes and large blushes on their faces.

-Enter Bleach OST Ditty For Daddy-

For several seconds no-one said or did anything and just stared at one another.

Ukitake was the first to regain his senses as a slight pinkness appeared on his cheeks. Raising his hands in denial the captain tried to explain that he had no idea that she had been changing and would not have entered had he known. But by that time it was already too late as Kushina let out a high pitch scream while covering her bandage chest with her left hand, and using her other hand to throw a metal bedpan at her captain. Hitting him right in the forehead and leaving a large imprint on his head as he fell backwards.

Acting quickly, both Kiyone and Sentarō grabbed their captain and bid a hasty retreat as they dragged him back behind the door, away from the angry red head. Who was throwing everything she could get her hands on at them, which included several chairs and her bedside locker.

When it appeared that Kushina had finally run out of things to throw at them, Ukitake peeked out from behind the door, hoping that she had finally calm down to a point where he could apologise to his lieutenant and explain the misunderstanding.

But no sooner had he popped his head out, the white haired captain immediately regretted it when he saw the now re-energised and furious Kushina drawing her Zanpakuto and unleash her shikai.

"Cap-tain," Kushina said slowly, her red hair flying wildly around with the same ferocity as the flames that now surround her, giving her a near demonic-like appearance, which was only highlighted by the red glow in her furious eyes. "YOU DAMN PERVERT!"

"W-W-Wait Kushina, This is all big misunderstanding" Ukitake pleaded as he waved his hands around in a panic. But his lieutenant was in no mood for listening to his pleas as her sword sprung to life and enveloped itself in flames, after which she swung the red blade down and roared "KITSUNE BI (Fox Fire)!"

Moments later, a massive explosion coming from the fourth division barracks could be seen and heard from all directions, followed by several people screaming.

- End Bleach OST Ditty For Daddy-

A few hours later now Kushina lay on her bed in her new room, (having destroyed her old one), sitting next to her was Captain Ukitake, who looked more than a little singed and had a bandaged on his forehead to cover the mark left from Kushina hitting him with the bedpan.

Kiyone and Sentarō were both in the burn ward, being treated for minor burns by some of the fourth division members.

After destroy a section of the fourth division barracks, Kushina had finally calm down enough to allow Ukitake to explain the misunderstanding and to apologise for entering her room while changing.

Once everything had been settled and Kushina had been moved to her new room, the former Kunoichi told him of her fight. However she left out the part about Naruto being her son, though she trusted Ukitake and considered him to be a good, kind and decent man. She was however not willing to take any chances, and wanted to get some answers before she told her captain anything. That way at least, should things go badly, he would at least have deniability, leaving him blameless for any backlash that may occur.

When Kushina had finish recounting the fight, Ukitake brought his hand underneath his chin and hymned loudly.

"Considering what you've told me and what I've heard before coming here, the person you fought is indeed a powerful individual, like his comrades."

"How bad is it?" Kushina asked.

Signing deeply, Ukitate replied, "I'm afraid it's nothing short of a disaster, the entire eleventh division has been wiped out, along with a large number of shinigami from other divisions as well as several seated officers, including lieutenants Omaeda and Abarai."

"Renji was take out?!" Kushina said in surprise. She didn't care much Omaeda, who had pissed her off on more than one occasion; she did like Renji, who had been one of the first of the senior officers to welcome her after she had been made lieutenant.

"Yes" nodded Ukitake. "According to the reports he fought and was defeated by another of the Ryoka, who is described as a young man with bright orange hair carrying a large Zanpakuto on his back."

"Looks like Naruto isn't the only strong person in his group, especially if that person was able to defeat Renji by himself" Kushina thought to herself as she knew that Renji was no weakling. "Guess things are pretty bad out there."

"I am afraid they are much worse" Ukitake replied sombrely.

Curious by this remark, Kushina said "What do you mean by that Captain?"

"In addition to the losses I already mentioned, Captains Kenpachi and Soifon have both been hospitalized after being defeated in battle. Also Captain Aizen was found murdered this morning with his Zanpakuto stabbed through his heart."

When Kushina heard this her eyes widen to the size of saucers, not believing what she had heard. "Captain's Aizen is dead?" Given how she was still rather new to her position as a lieutenant of a division, Kushina did not know any of the other Captains very well. Captain Aizen however was the exception, after making lieutenant; the Captain had offered his congratulations and remarked on how impressed he was in how quickly she had rose in the ranks. He even offered his assistance should she have any problems with her new duties, he even give her some advice from time to time that came in handy on more than one occasion.

"I'm afraid so," said Ukitake with a troubling, in the entire history of the Soul Society, there has never been a situation as dire as this one. With the loss of three captains and the large number of Shinigami injured, the Soul Society had lost almost a third of their total strength.

"Who defeated Captains Kenpachi and Soifon?"

"According to reports, Captain Kenpachi was defeated by the same individual that defeated Lieutenant Abarai, after he challenged the person to a one on one battle."

"He defeated Captain Kenpachi by himself?!" Kushina thought with no small amount of surprise. "Whoever that guy is, he must really be something." Although she hadn't really met, let alone talk with the infamous captain of the Eleventh division, she had heard enough stories about him to know that the man was as dangerous as they come and was more bloodthirsty than all Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū (Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist) combined. He was also said to be the only man ever to reach the rank of captain in the history of the Soul Society without ever attaining Bankai, or even Shikai, and possessed more spiritual power than any other Captain, save maybe the Captain Commander.

"And who defeated Captain Soifon?"

"From what I understand, the same individual who defeated you" answered Ukitake, causing Kushina to sit up in shock. "Not only that, but he is also the reason why lieutenant Omaeda and over fifty other Onmitsukido are now lying in the intensive ward here and why everything within a five mile radius of the battle site has been leveled."

Picking her jaw up from the floor, Kushina, just stared at her captain, half expecting him to burst out laughing telling her that he was joking. But when he didn't, she was force to face reality of it. "Just who hell has been training Naruto...The Great Sage?!"

Though not as strong as the Shinobi of her world, the members of theOnmitsukido were still capable fighters and not people that one should underestimate. But what stunned Kushina the most was that Naruto had defeated Captain Soifon, who was easily one of the deadliest Shinigami in the Thirteen Court Guard. The woman could move just as quickly as Minato could when he used the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) and could probably teach the Shinobi of her world a thing or two about stealth. Had the woman lived in the Shinobi, she would easily have become one of the most dangerous Shinobi alive.

Kushina had limited contact with the Captain of the Second Division; in fact she had only really spoken to her once. Having heard of her fighting skill and how she come from the Shinobi world, Soifon was interested in having Kushina in her division, believing that she would make a valued subordinate. However due to their conflicting personalities and beliefs, Kushina declined the offer, but despite her dislike on how the female captain did things, Kushina did respect her, as a fighter.

Seeing the shocked look on his Lieutenant's face, Ukitake said "I cannot blame you for being surprise, when I first heard the news I myself had much of the same reaction. You should consider yourself fortunate that you're still alive Kushina."

Kushina of course played little this attention to the remark and turned her face away from her captain. Having fought Naruto already; she knew that Naruto had no intention of killing anyone. If he had, she'd be dead already, along with a lot of other Shinigami.

"Captain" Kushina suddenly asked, "What do you think will happen to the Ryoka should they be captured."

Raising his eyebrow slightly at the question the white haired captain replied, "More than likely they will all be executed, if they aren't killed in battle."

Snapping her head back, Kushina shouted "THEY CAN'T!...HE'S ONLY A BOY!"

Caught off-guard by Kushina's declaration, Ukitake was about to respond, but before he could say anything, Kushina then said. "Captain Ukitake, you can't let them kill him! He's only a boy, he doesn't deserve this! Please, you can't let them kill him."

"Kushina, are you saying you know this boy?"

The red headed lieutenant did not answer at first, and just stared down at her blanket, gripping it tightly in her fists, as if struggling with telling him the truth.

"Kushina, if you want me to help this boy you need to tell everything, otherwise I cannot do anything" pleaded Ukitake, hoping that she would open up.

After a minute of silent debate with herself, Kushina related and looked up at her captain. "The boy I fought and who defeated Captain Soifon...He's my son, Naruto."

"Your son?" repeated Ukitake with no small amount of surprise. Ukitake of course knew Kushina's son, along with her strong desire to find a way to go to the Shinobi world and see her him. It was one of the reasons why he made her his lieutenant. When Kushina joined his division, the woman was nothing short of a force of nature, with nothing but sheer determination and willpower, Kushina made it to the rank of fifth seat, a feat that few could claim let alone match.

Upon seeing how rapidly she was rising in the ranks and how determined she was in becoming stronger, Ukitake took an interest. Naturally Kushina was more than little reluctant with sharing her past and explaining why she was so obsessed with becoming stronger and attain rank. But after much coxing and using using more than a little of his natural charms, Ukitake finally got the woman to open up with her, where she told him about her son Naruto and how she joined the Shinigami in the of finding Naruto. She then became determined to rise in the ranks of the Shinigami after hearing how the Shinobi World had been sealed off, where only high ranking Shinigami were permitted to visit the world.

Admiring her dedication in trying to get back to her son, Ukitake offered her his assistance; he then began to help train her in awakening her Shinkai and then later appointed her his lieutenant, once she had passed all the qualifications.

"Are you certain it was him?"

"I am" nodded Kushina.

"But how did he claim the power of a Shinigami, did he die?"

"No he's alive, I'm certain of it.

"How?"

"Because he was able to use Chakra, and only living Shinobi can do that."

"That still does not explain how he possesses the power of a Shinigami. It's been almost thirty years since the last Shinigami had been sent there. So he couldn't have been given the power by another Shinigami" said Ukitake with a frown, since none of this made sense to him.

"During our fight, he called himself a Shinigami-Shinobi Hybrid."

Upon hearing this, Ukitake's right eyebrow rose, indicating that the name meant something to him.

"Does that name mean something to you Captain?" asked Kushina, after seeing the white haired captain's reaction.

"Yes, somewhat, several centuries ago the Research and Development Institute of the twelfth division began a project called Project Synthesis. The plan was to combine the power of Chakra with a Shinigami in the hope of creating what your son called a Shinigami-Shinobi Hybrid, thus creating a new breed of more powerful Shinigami."

"So what happened to the project? Kushina asked, having never heard of the project until now.

"Not long after the project started, Central 46 ordered project to be halted due to ethical reasons" answered Ukitake.

"What sort of ethical reasons?"

"From what I was told, the reason was because the project leader began experimenting of living people," Ukitake explained with some distaste, causing Kushina to gasp in horror. But before she count say anything, Ukitatake continued with his story. "After the project was shot down, Central 46 ordered that all Senkaimon leading to the Shinobi World to be cut off, so to prevent another event like that from happening again."

"But how does this explain how Naruto gained the power of a Shinigami? Like you said the project was shut down centuries ago before he was born" stated Kuahina.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that" said Ukitake as he shook his head. "But it is the only thing that makes sense."

"Please Captain, you have to help him, he doesn't know what he is getting himself into" Kushina pleaded, she already lost him once, she couldn't bear to lose him again.

Unable to refuse Kushina's plea for help, Ukitake nodded. "Of course I will help you, he is your son after all."

Thanking the kind-hearted captain, Kushina then asked, "So what do we do first?"

"We do nothing Kushina-" replied Ukitake as he stood up from his seat. "I will look into the matter further, while you stay here and rest."

"But Captain...!"

"No arguments Kushina" the white haired captain said sternly. "You're still recovering from injuries and are in no shape to do anything right now."

"But he's my son" You seriously can't expect to just lie here?" argued Kushina.

"I understand your frustration Kushina but there is nothing you can do now, not when you are in this state."

Kushina of course tried to argue further, but before she could say or do anything, Captain Ukitake used a binding spell to force the woman back down the bed, keeping her from moving."

"Captain?!" shouted Kushina, as she struggled vainly against the spell her captain placed on her."

"I'm sorry Kushina, but this is the only way I can make sure that you stay here. I promise I will do everything I can to save your son."

As he left the room, the Captain could hear his lieutenant calling out to him, demanding that he let her go. Ignoring her pleas, Ukitake called over one of the fourth division members and asked them to give Kushina something that would calm her down and let her get some rest.

After the member nodded and left, the man let out a sad tired sigh. "I'm sorry Kushina, but this is for the best."

As made his way down the hall, the thirteenth division captain began to plan on what he needed to do. The first thing he would do is talk Shunsui. He didn't like the idea of involving his friend into something that could him get him into trouble, but he knew that if he was to have any chance of success, he needed Shunsui. But before that there was another member of his division whom he needed to see and needed his help.

-With Naruto-

"Owowowow," moaned Naruto, as he slowly rapped the bandages around his arms and waste.

On the chance that he might be followed again, Naruto decided against going back to his original hideout. That way at least, if he was being followed the injured Chad wouldn't be caught along with him.

Once he found a safe place to hid Naruto began to treat his injuries. As he dressed his wounds, Naruto began to wish he had paid more attention to his mother's medical lessons. Although he had stopped the bleeding and bandaged his wounds, it was only a temporary measure where they would soon begin to bleed again.

Taking two small bottles out from his medical pouch, Naruto took out a pill from each of the bottles and swallowed them individually. The first pill would ease the pain that he was feeling; while the second would replenish the blood he had lost.

After doing everything he could to treat himself, Naruto leaned back against the wall behind him and closed his eyes to rest, waiting for the first pill to take effect. The battle had taken a lot out of him, his spiritual energy was very low.

"I guess that's what I get for taking on a captain" Naruto thought to himself. If even a common Shinigami had found him now, he doubted he had the energy to even put up an effective fight.

However not long after he received information the clone he had set to help Ichigo, informing him of what happened.

"So Strawberry fought Kenpachi Zaraki to a tie, not bad, guess I didn't give him enough credit" Naruto thought as she slowly lifted himself up.

Thanks to his clone's info, he knew where his mother was, who had rescued Ichigo and brought him to one of her secret cave not far from where the execution site was.

After making sure that nobody was around, Naruto made his way to his mother's hideout using Shunpo, but at a much slower pace than normal due to his injuries.

-With Ichigo-

Inside Yoruichi's hideout the injured Ichigo slowly began to wake up, and found himself in Futon, in a dark room.

"Where am I? I'm not dead...at least I don't think I am?" thought the young man.

"Ah, you're finally awake" spoke a familiar voice.

Turning to the direction of the voice, Ichigo saw the talking cat Yoruichi.

"Yoruichi...euh, it was you who saved my life, wasn't it? Thanks for doing that."

"Be thankful to your strong life force, without it you'd never survive such serious wounds, no matter what I did."

"Would...?" repeated a confused Ichigo, before his memories of his battle with Kenpachi started to surface. "That's right, in fact I though he had killed me."

But sooner had Ichigo remembered his battle with the eleventh division Captain he remember something else even more important and stand up from the bed, surprising Yoruichi, while also reopening his wound.

"Hold still you idiot!" Yoruichi warned. "You're going to reopen your wounds, don't you understand just how serious you were wounded."

"I don't have any time, I have to go help Chad, he in danger!" Ichigo shouted. But before he get up fully he was pushed down by Yoruichi, who was now on his face.

"Chad is fine, so just relax" said Yoruichi after jumping of Ichigio's face. "Orihime, Uryu and Naruto are also fine."

"Chad was wounded when he fought another Captain, but he's fine, Naruto saved before anything could happen to him. Orihime and Uryu have so far avoided detection and don't even have a scratch on them."

Relieved to hear this, Ichigo began to relax and closed his eyes.

"Now I suggest that you stay here and rest, half of your organs were crushed, if it wasn't force this thing, you would've been sliced in half" said Yoruichi as she pushed the damage hallow mask towards Ichigo. "Fortunately for you, it looks like it absorbed most of the impact."

Upon seeing the hallow mask, Ichigo was of course more than a little surprised and confused, since he had been certain he had lost it back when he was in the sewer.

"That thing was on me...?"

"Yes, I was surprised to see that you were still carrying this thing on you."

"Are you sure that I was carrying it?" Ichigo asked.

Curious by this statement, Yoruichi asked him why, where Ichigo began to explain how he had it when he fought Renji and how it had saved him before. He then think it was some sort of good luck charm, but later lost it after Hanatarō threw it into the sewer water.

After hearing this, Yoruichi gave the young man a worried look. "I'll think I take this away if you don't mind."

Surprise by the sudden sternness in Yoruichi voice, Ichigo took the mask and told the female cat no, saying that it was his. But his resistence quickly faded, when Yoruchi began to emanate a large amount of spiritual pressure and energy.

"Hand the mask over now!" ordered the black cat, giving the young Shinigami tiger-like glare that promised serve pain if he did not.

Unnerved by this, Ichigo quickly complied and handed over the mask without any further argument.

"It's surprising..." Ichigo said suddenly, causing Yoruichi to ask what he meant. "I mean you carried me all this way by yourself, despite the fact that you're a cat and are so small."

"Oh that..." replied Yoruchi, now understanding what he meant. "Lifting things is no problem for me, once I return to my original form."

Confused by this statement, Ichigo asked what she meant.

Realizing that she had never showed Ichigo her true form, she decided to show him it, believing he had earned the right after making it this far. Gathering her spiritual energy, Yoruichi began to emanate more spiritual energy, casing steam to around her, where she then slowly began to transform into her human form.

"Y-Yo-You're a g-girl" a shocked Ichigo, not believing what he was seeing.

"Yea, you're even more shocked than I thought you be" replied Yoruichi as she folded her arms over her chest. "But I guess I can't really blame you, since everyone assumes that I am male, given the voice I use when I am in cat form. No matter how many times I show people my true form I always enjoy the reaction I get when transform, though I thought someone like you could handle it better."

"B-B-But I thought you were at cat" a still shocked Ichigo said.

"Don't be an idiot, cats don't talk, use your head Ichigo and think" said Yoruichi, before she bended down and began to explain how the device she used to bring Ichigo here. But before she could she fully explained how it worked, Ichigo's face started to heat up and turn red, when he finally got over his shock and realised Yoruichi's completely naked.

-Enter Bleach OST Ditty For Daddy-

It was in this moment that Naruto decided to appear by opening the door to the cave. Upon seeing his naked mother standing in front of Ichigo, he immediately jumped to one single conclusion.

Pointing accusingly at Kurosaki and shouted "STRAWBERRY YOU PERVERTED BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY MOTHER?!"

"Mother?!" thought Ichigo who was for the second time today shocked into dumb silence after hearing Naruto. But before he could even comment on it, he found himself flying backwards through the air curtsy of a punch to the face from Naruto. But before he could get very far he felt himself being pulled back by his Kimono and then being lifted up into the air by Naruto.

"Let me fucking go! I didn't do anything!" shouted Ichigo while holding his bleeding nose as the slightly shorter teen began to shake him around.

"LIKE HELL YOU DIDN'T! I CAUGHT YOU RED HANDED, LEERING AT MY MOTHER WITH THOSE PERVERTED EYES OF YOURS," roared Naruto. "I'LL HAVE YOUR BALLS FOR THIS!" At which point Naruto drew his short sword and prepared to castrate orange haired boy right on the spot.

"Calm down Naruto, he didn't do anything; I was just showing him my true form, that's all." Yoruichi explained as she waved off casually, not the least bit bothered by her adopted son actions as he prepared to castrate Icihgo right in front of her. "He's way too innocent and naive to try anything like that," causing Ichigo to shout out in indignation.

Turning to his mother, Naruto then let out a cry and covered his eyes to keep himself from looking at his adopted mother's naked body, causing him to drop Icihgo on the ground.

"Gah...Kaa-chan! Put some freaking clothes on, will you?!"

"AAhh, come on Naruto, it's not like you haven't seen me naked before, remember all those time we use to sleep and bath together" replied Yoruichi as she stood up,

Turning red, Naruto shouted "SHADDUP!", as he lowered his hand and glared at his mother, furious that she would bring up something as embarrassing as that up. "We haven't done that since I was nine!"

"UUUhhh, But you were so cute back then" pouted Yoruichi. "You use to love resting your head on my breasts as you slept."

At this point Naruto had turned bright crimson as steam started to form out of his ears. Ichigo also began develop a slight nose bleed as several rather inappropriate imagines began to form inside his head.

"Gagh, Will you stop saying stuff like that! You'll start giving people the wrong idea!" shouted Naruto.

"Ah come on Naruto don't be such a prude, you are getting at that stage, and it's not like I haven't seen you take an interest in girls."

"That's not the point here! It's because you pull stunts like this, that I'll start developing issues and have to see a shrink for the next ten years!"

"Oh please" Yoruichi waved off. "Next you're going to say that I am the reason why you developed a thing for older women. And don't deny it; I've seen your magazine collection."

If at all possible Naruto began to turn an even brighter shade of red, where he began to light up the dark room, while Ichigo began the grin, storing that little bit of information for later, knowing that it would probably come in handy. His grin however did not last long as Naruto backhanded him in nose, causing the young Shinigami to cry out in pain and curse him as he held his nose, which started bleeding again.

"Will you just hurry up and put some clothes on!" shouted Naruto, who didn't think it was possible for him to feel anymore humiliated than he did now.

"Are you sure...?" asked Yoruichi before she struck a rather provocative pose that seemed to highlight he large breasts even more. "You never know life is short and you might not get another chance to see a hot young thing like me naked again."

"Just put some close on already!" Naruto yelled again, before he poked Ichigo in both eyes with his fingers, (causing him to fall to the ground screaming as he covered his eyes), after he caught the orange haired teen catching another peak.

- Enter Bleach OST Ditty For Daddy-

Turning their back to the woman, the two male teens waited for her to change,ignoring her grumblings about how uncomfortable clothes. As she finished changing, Naruto kept a close eye on the Ichigo, on the chance that the orange haired boy took one last peak.

Once she had finished getting dressed, Yoruichi noticed Naruto wincing in pain and holding his right side. She became even more concerned when she saw Naruto cough up some blood. Realizing he was hurt, immediately had him lie down and began examine.

As she examined him, Yoruichi's eyes widened slightly when she noticed several butterfly-shaped stamps on Naruto's body. "Naruto, you fought Soifon?!"

"Yea" Naruto replied with a painful grin. "We kind had a run in not too long ago."

"Wait! Who the hell is this Soifon person?" asked Ichigo, not liking the fact that he was out of the loop.

"She the captain of the second division and leader of the Onmitsukido, a sort of Special Forces group for the Seireitei, and a very dangerous person to fight against" Yoruichi explained, taking a more serious tone of voice.

"She's also Mom's former student, back when she use to be Captain of the Second division" Naruto added.

Stunned by this new, Ichigo quickly looked back at Yoruichi, "Wait! Hold on a sec? You were at Captain?!"

Yoruichi however was in no mood to answer Ichigo's questions, and waved him off, telling him that she would explain later, and asked Naruto to tell her everything about his fight with Soifon while she treated him.

When Naruto had finished telling her what had happened, Yoruichi frowned after she finished treating him. Things had progressed much faster than she or Kisuke had predicted with Naruto and Ichigo's battles with Kenpachi and Soifon. Ichigo's draw with Kenpachi was impressive, but still not impossible given their respected abilities; Naruto's defeated of Soifon however was stunning to say the least. Though she had trained Naruto, she never thought it possible for him to able to defeat an opponent like Soifon.

"You should consider yourself extremely lucky Naruto."

Lifting himself up slowly, Naruto groaned, as he body still ached. "Well, I don't feel that lucky" he muttered. According to his mother, he had two bruised kidneys, eight broken ribs, another two cracked, a punctured lung, a fractured arm and lacerations across much of his body. Even after his mother's treatment, it would be a while before he would be a hundred percent again.

"Well what would you expect after fighting a captain, did you think you could walk away without some injury, though I am still surprised that you were able to defeat her. Even if Soifon had underestimated you and had been caught off-guard by your Ninjutsu, I wouldn't have thought that would be enough for you to defeat her."

"It probably helped that she wasn't trying to kill me for most of the fight. She wanted me alive to interrogate, as she seemed really pissed at you for some reason and demanded that I tell her where you were after she realized that you trained me."

"I see" nodded Yoruichi as that made sense, if Soifon lack the intent to kill Naruto, it would certainly give him the extra edge he needed to defeat her. "A word of warning Naruto, next time you have a run-in with Soifon, run, she won't make the same mistake twice."

Nodding Naruto then asked, "Hey Mom, can I ask you something?"

"Sure"

"When the hell are you going to teach me Shunkō (Flash Cry)?!"

"Huh?"

"I mean come on, you taught fon-chan but you won't teach your own son? I've been asking you for years to teach me that!"

"Soifon knows Shunkō?"Yoruichi replied in surprise.

"Oh please, like you didn't know" Naruto huffed childishly. "You told me you never taught anyone it, but Soifon used in our fight."

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I didn't teach Soifon Shunko, she must have learned that herself."

Folding his arms, Naruto just huffed, "Yea right, just like you said that didn't eat the last Raman cup in the fridge before you left."

"Oh please, your still not on about that" groaned Yoruichi as she rolled her eyes.

"It was my last Raman cup!" shouted the blonde angrily.

This continued for several minutes at the two began to argue over domestic issues, like who's turn it was to put out the trash and wash the dishes, along with what grocery's to buy and forgetting to put the toilet set down.

It only came to an end when Ichigo intervened after finally having enough with the utterly pointless topic, not to mention the fact that he was being completely ignored by both Shinigami.

After putting aside their domestic issues for the time being Naruto and Yoruichi turned the orange haired teen and were about to answer some of the question he had. But before they could, all three of them suddenly felt a strong spiritual pressure.

"Whoa, whoever this pressure belongs to, he's powerful" Naruto said to himself.

"I know this spiritual pressure...it's him!" declared Ichigo.

"It's coming from the Senzaikyū (Shrine of Penitence)" said Yoruichi, as like Ichigo she recognised this spiritual pressure.

Jumping out of his bed, Ichigo grabbed the flying device Yoruichi had used to carry him.

Seeing this Yoruichi yelled "Ichigo stop!"

"I can't" countered the young man, "The tower is where I told Ganju and Hanatarō to go to, I have to get there to save them."

"What good do you think you can do in your condition."

"Mom's right Ichigo's, both of us barely survived our own fights with a captain, we can't hope to beat another as we are now" warned Naruto.

"Well who else will save them if I don't" retorted Ichigo before he channelled his spiritual energy into the device, causing it to wrap around his arm and produce a large bat-like wing, allowing him to take off.

Racing after him, Yoruichi and Naruto could only watch as Ichigo flew away. "Damn that idiot" cursed Yoruichi. "He's just as fool hardy and stubborn as you were or should I say still are."

"Hey, well at least I'm better looking" countered Naruto, which caused his mother to give him a stern glare that said this was not the time for jokes.

Signing, Yoruichi then said, "Come on let's go and save that moron, before he gets himself killed."

Nodding, Naruto and his mother disappeared and reappeared on the forest below, racing across the three tops at top speed.

-Senzaikyū-

Falling to the ground, Shiba Ganju held his bleeding arm while the captain of the sixth division walked away from him and headed for Rukia and Hanatarō.

"Hey, where the hell do you think you're going" Ganju called out as he slowly stood back up.

"Apparently I did not make myself clear earlier, I spared you and told you to be gone" Byakuya replied coldly as he glanced back at the injured Ganju.

"Haha, Maybe you Noble families you have cowards who would run away from a threat like that, but no man of the Shiba Clan ever would!" declared Ganju.

At the mention of the Shiba Clan, Byakuya eyes widened ever so slightly, though no one else ever saw it. "I see you're from the Shiba Clan, forgive me for going easy on you..." drawing his blade, the Kuchiki Clan held it up to his face. "Now I'll make sure that you don't leave this place alive...Scatter Senbonzakura (Thousand Cherry Blossoms)"

After triggering his Zanpakuto's Shikai, Byakuya's sword evaporated into a thousand small pink Sakura-like petals blades.

Confused by what was happening, Ganju could only say "What the hell? His blade just disappeared! What's going on?"

Knowing what was going to happen, Rukia tried to warn Ganju, telling him to run away. But it was already too late by then as the Byakuya's blades surrounded him. Before he even knew what happened, Ganju covered lacerations as Byakuya's blades cut through him from all sides.

After he had defeated Ganju, Byakuya turned to Hanatarō, intending on finishing him off as well. When she saw this Rukia attempted to intervene by shielding the young Shinigamiu with her own body, while pleading with her brother to stop.

However before Byakuya could finish the attack, he found his arm being grabbed by someone, stopping him.

Turning, Byakuya was surprised to see that the person was Captain Ukitake, who just smiled and said "My, my, that was rather close, don't you think that is enough for one day Captain Kuchiki?"

"Captain Ukitake?" said Rukia with some surprise at seeing her division's Captain, though at the same time felt somewhat relieved.

"Hey there Rukia..." the still smiling Ukitake greeted. "It's good to see you, are you all right?"

"What think you are doing Captain Ukitake?" Byakuya asked coolly.

"Oh, well I could ask you the same thing Captain Kuchiki, releasing one's Shikai in a place like this is a first class offense. Even if it was for the sake of repelling Ryoka, what were you thinking?"

"By special wartime order, the release of Shikai and Bankai has been permitted."

"Special ordered?" Ukitake repeated in surprise, now only hearing of this. "So the Ryoka invasion really have gotten that serious?!"

Before Byakuya could respond to this, the two Captains suddenly felt a tremendous spiritual pressure approaching them.

Surprised, Captain Ukitake began to look around for the source of the spiritual pressure. "What Spiritual pressure is this? Clearly it is at the level of a Captain, but I don't recognise the pressure."

Feeling the Spiritual pressure, Rukia entire body began to shake, but unlike the two Captains, she recognised the pressure. "This Spiritual pressure...impossible!"

Within moments of sensing the Spiritual pressure, a large object flew up from below the Senzaikyū and landed next to Rukia, Hanatarō.

"Ichigo..." said Rukia, unable to say anything else as she still couldn't believe that Ichigo had made it all the way here, while at the same time become so strong in such a short amount of time. But instead of greeting her, Ichigo calmly walked past her to Hanatarō and asked how he was.

After Hanatarō had told him he was fine, Ichigo went over to Rukia. "I've come to get you out of here."

Because of the overwhelming emotions she was feeling right now, Rukia said nothing and just stared at Ichigo, looking like she would burst into tears at any second.

"Tsk, what kind of look is that? I came here to save you, you can at least look happy to see me" said Ichigo with annoyed look. But as annoyed as he looked, inwardly he was feeling more than a little uncomfortable, since he was not good with dealing with emotional girls and didn't know how to respond correctly.

"You fool Ichigo!" Rukia said suddenly, surprising the orange haired boy. "I told you never to try and come after me, I told you I would never forgive you if you did. Now you're all cut up and there is still worse yet to come."

It was at this point that Rukia finally broke into tears, where Ichigo then noticed the injured Ganju lying on the floor, covered in blood and cuts with Captain Byakuya and Ukitake standing over him.

"That may be so, you can yell at me about coming here at some other time...after I have defeated him" replied Ichigo as he stared directly at Byakuya who stared right back at him.

"Ichigo..."began Rukia, but before she could say anything more, Ichigo cut her off.

"What? Did you really think I would give up after coming all this way? Because I won't, so don't even ask me, I came here to save you and that's just what I am going to do...Oh and one other thing, from now on I am ignoring all your opinions, your coming with me whether you like it or not."

At this point, Ichigo pointed his finger right in Rukia's face and yelled "You got that! I'm the rescuer here, you just shut up!"

Not believing what Ichigo had just told her, Rukia just stared at taller boy before finally losing her temper. "Wh...What'd you say?! Who the hell do you think you are ordering me around like that?! A Rescuer doesn't ignore the rescuee's opinion!"

"Oh yea!" responded Ichigo, who was also now losing his temper. "What kind of rescuee complains about the rescue? Why don't you go sit down and tremble in fear and cry out, Save me! Save me! Like you're suppose to!"

With several tick marks forming around her head, Rukia fought the urge to smack Ichigo over the head and gripped her hand into a fist before yelling "I don't need to be saved! AND I DO NOT TREMBLE!"

In response Ichigo stuck out his tongue waved his hand in a taunting manner, causing Rukia to glare angrily at him.

However the two soon stopped their childish behaviour and calmed down. Rukia then smiled and said "You haven't changed a bit, so what's the point in arguing, I might as well save my breath since you never listen to what I have to say."

"Well what do you expect?" replied Ichigo, turning his back to the female Shingami. "All you ever do is worry about me and scold me. How about you try worrying about yourself for a change?"

"Ichigo..."

Smiling back at the girl, Ichigo then said "Don't worry I'm not dying here today, fact is I've gotten a lot stronger since you've been away."

At the same time, while Ichigo and Rukia were talking. Ukitake was staring at the young man with a look of nothing short of utter shock. Not just because of his sudden appearance, or the power he felt coming from him. But because of the frightening resemblance he shared with his former lieutenant Shiba Kaien, if one were to put them next to one another, it would be easy for people to think that they were brothers. "Byakuya what do you known of this young man?"

"I know enough" the Captain replied coolly before slowly walking over to Ichigo and Rukia. "He has no relation to the man you're thinking about. This one is nothing, nothing but a Ryoka. I'll destroy him and this...will all be over. He'll be dead and this trifling invasion of his will be over"

Seeing this Ichigo began to slow walk towards the older man. "Look at you, taking everything so slow and casual. All that time while Rukia and I were talking, you could've attacked, but instead you just stood there and watched."

"Who do you think you're talking to...do you think I would need an opening to attack the likes of you" said Byakuya coldly. "You should know better than to talk so tough, boy."

At that moment Byakuya unleashed his full Spiritual pressure. Despite stumbling slightly, Ichigo was able to stay on his feet and took his fighting stance, while both Rukia and Hanatarō to fell to their knees under the intense pressure.

"Oh...? To be so unaffected by my Spiritual pressure, you must have improved a great deal indeed" remarked Byakuya, who was indeed surprised by Ichigo's level of improvement from the last time they fought. "I do not know how you regained the power of a Shinigami, but I can tell you that you should've stayed peacefully in the world of the living. Instead you made the mistake of coming here, to throw away the life I so mercifully spared."

"I'm not going to throw it away, I'm going to beat you, and then leave."

"I thought I just told you not to be talking so tough, boy" said the Kuchiki coldly, before disappearing.

"He's gone..." though Ichigo in surprise.

"Shunpo!" Rukia said to herself, recognising the technique

After disappearing, Byakuya also immediately reappeared behind Ichigo and attempted to stab him in the back with his sword. But no sooner had he appeared, Ichigo brought his large sword around and blocked Byakuya's stab, shocking everyone watching.

Turning around, Ichigo grinned back at the still shocked Kuchiki head, "I see you, Kuchiki Byakuya." After which he then pushed Byakuya away with his sword.

"So what do you think Kuchiki, surprised? Your movements are all visible to me now!"

"Don't mistake skill with a little luck, fool."

"Well, why don't you try it again? And see if it really was just luck?" replied Ichigo before leaping forward to attack.

Unafraid, Byakuya used Shunpo again, seeing his movements Ichigo spun around and blocked the Captain's slash, after which the two began to exchange blows with one another.

As the battle between the two continued, Hanatarō couldn't help but be in awe at what he was seeing. "Amazing...! Ichigo's battling Captain Kuchiki as an equal."

Even Rukia couldn't hide her shock at Ichigo's rapid growth as she watch Icigo and her brother fight. "It's true; I can't believe how much Ichigo's strength has grown. The fact that he was able to follow Nii-sama's Shunpo is nothing short of astounding. Still Nii-sama's power is much more than just that, Shunpo is mere child's play for him. I have to find a way to stop this battle before Nii-sama decides to attack seriously. If I don't, Ichigo will be..."

After jumping back to avoid another one of Byakuya's slashes, Ichigo prepared to recommence their battle.

Realizing that Ichigo was no longer the same person he fought back in the world of the living, Byakuya decided to take the situation more serious. "Very well then, obviously you've improved more than I ever would've thought was possible. So you leave me no other choice, before you become too full of yourself. I shall show you the difference between us. The gap in power you could never hope to bridge, not even if you had a thousand years of training."

Raising his blade to his face again, Byakuya prepared to unleash his Shikai.

"Run Ichigo! Run!" yelled Rukia, fearing that same thing that happened to Ganju would happen to Ichigo.

"Scatter..." began Byakuya, but before he could finish his release command, a long white cloth appeared from above and wrapped itself around Byakuya's blade, preventing the blade from releasing. At the same time, a tall dark skinned woman appeared kneeling before him, holding the cloth.

"No way..." said Captain Ukitake, recognising the woman.

"Huh? It can't be...?"said Byakuya, clearly surprise by the sudden appearance of the woman.

"It's been a long time hasn't, Little Byakuya" said Yoruichi as she stood up and looked at the Captain of the sixth division.

"Shihouin Yoruichi" Byakuya remarked, revealing her full name to the others before cutting his sword free from her binds. "Former Captain of the Second division and Commander of the Onmitsukido unit...I haven't seen your face in a long time, you've been in hiding for over a hundred years, I thought you were dead."

"Well I wouldn't say I was hiding..." Yoruichi shrugged, showing no regard for the situation she and Ichigo were in. "Just busy doing other things, you know travelling to different worlds, killing hollow, eating different foods, motherhood, stuff like that.

"Motherhood?" thought everyone, minus Ichigo, not really understanding what she meant by that

"And what's that suppose to mean?" Byakuya replied, thinking that this was one of Yoruichi childish games.

"She means me, flower boy" answered Naruto, who suddenly appeared behind Byakuya, holding his short sword against Byakuya's throat, surprising everyone but Yoruichi, as they had not sensed him until he appeared.

Despite the fact that he had a blade at his throat, Byakuya remained perfectly calm and glanced back at Naruto.

"Oh, and who might you be?"

Smirking, Naruto replied "Heh, Haven't you heard, I'm the Rogue Shinigami."

At hearing the name, Byakuya eyes narrowed, "So, you are the one who defeated Captain Soifon, along with much of the Onmitsukido unit."

"Then he's Kushina's son" realized the surprised Captain Ukitake. Focusing on Naruto's face, (who thankfully didn't have his hood up), upon closer inspection Ukitake was able to confirm it as his appearance matched Kushina's description perfectly. He had his mother's face, but blonde hair, which according to Kushina he inherited from his father; he also had his blue eyes, though the shape was the same as Kushina's. In addition he could see the thin faded whisker shape birthmarks on his face, which made identifying him easier.

As pleased as he was in finding his lieutenant's son so quickly, the situation that he found Naruto in was less than desirable for Ukitake. If it was just himself he might have been able to talk the boy into surrendering or at the very least leave, so to allow a meeting with Kushina at a later time. But with Byakuya here there was little chance of that, especially considering how intent he was with killing all the Ryoka invaders. If worse came worse, he would be forced to intervene, which would make things even more complicated.

Upon hearing this, both Rukia and Hanatarō gasped in surprise, since this was the first they were hearing of this.

"H-He defeated Captain Soifon" repeated Hanatarō, not believing his own ears, since the Captain of the second division was one of the most feared Captains in the entire Seireitei.

"If Nii-sama said he did, it must be true then" Rukia thought to herself, since her brother would not say it unless it was. "But who is this person? I've never heard of anyone called by that name. Where did Ichigo find him? Is he ally Yoruichi-san? If he so, he must be extraordinarily powerful for him to defeat someone like Captain Soifon."

"That would be me..." replied Naruto with a somewhat cocky grin. "Guess my reputation has been going around. But if you want, you can call me by real name Shihouin Naruto."

"Shihouin...?!" repeated Byakuya, his eyes widening in surprising, now understanding what Yoruichi meant earlier, "Then that would mean..." glancing over at Yoruichi, who was now smiling and nodded. Originally she had planned to keep the fact that Naruto was her son a secret so to prevent the Soul Society from coming after him too hard. But now that she had revealed herself, and with his recent defeat of Soifon there was no point in hiding it since Naruto would already be a major target for the Shinigami.

"That's right, he's my son."

"Her son?!" thought both Rukia and Hanatarō in amazement.

However not everyone took Yoruichi's words so literal, as Ukitake knew the truth. "Her son eh? Well that certainly explains some things. I'm guessing that at some point Yoruichi must have taken the boy in!" thought Ukitake who couldn't help but smile in amusement at the whole thing. A hundred years ago, if someone had told him that Shihouin Yoruichi would take in a child and become a mother. He would have told them they were drunk, crazy or both, since the idea of Yoruichi a mother was laughable to say the least. "Still what are the odds that Yoruichi of all people would adopt the son of my lieutenant...fate certainly works in mysterious and amusing ways."

"Your son?!" Byakuya repeated, still not quite believing it. "I must confess, I would never have conceived even the very notion of you having a child, let alone a son, possible had you not just admitted it now."

"Well what can I say, we all gotta grow up sometime" shrugged Yoruichi. "Even a hot little thing like me has to think about the future eventually."

"Then it would seem that I will have to eliminate your son along with you."

"Wow, someone is feeing cocky" Naruto smirked, while keeping his blade close to Byakuya's neck. "Are you sure this is the same guy you told me about Kaa-chan? I mean I find it hard to imagine that this is the same hot headed little brat who would follow you around like a little puppy. In fact this guy looks like he has a major stick up his butt."

Ukitake had to fight hard to keep himself from laughing after hearing this, though Naruto had put it in a rather crude way, he couldn't exactly disagree with what the blonde boy had said. Ichigo and Yoruichi on the other had showed no such restraint as they both smirked at this, agreeing with the remark. Rukia and Hanatarō both looked horrified as only a mad man or a fool would say that about the Captain of the sixth division, especially to his face.

Glancing back at Naruto, Byakuya gave Naruto a hardened glare that would have sent most Shinigami running.

Unafraid of the man, Naruto just grinned and said "Hooo, that's a scary look you've got there, flower boy."

"It would seem that you're truly Yoruichi's son...if anything you've clearly inherited her insolence, along with her mouth."

Smirking again, Naruto replied, "Oh I've inherited a lot more than just that, and I'll be happy to show you."

But just as Naruto was about to move his blade closer to Byakuya's throat, the Kuchiki Clan head disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto, surprising the blonde boy. But when Byakuya went to stab him, Naruto evaded the stab with his ownShunpo, and appeared right next to his mother.

"Fast" Naruto thought with some surprise, "He's might almost be as fast as fon-fon-chan, (Naruto's nickname for Soifon). "

"Impressive speed" Ukitake remarked silently, Yoruichi has clearly taught the boy well."

"Looks like this isn't going to be easy" Naruto muttered to himself, before noticing Ichigio stepping forward, attempting to move past him and his mother.

"Yoruichi, Naruto, you both came here to rescue me, I realise that. I appreciate it, but at the moment I need you both to step aside so that I can beat this guy."

"Beat him...?" repeated Yoruichi. "You think you can beat him? You are a fool!

The next thing Ichigo knew Yoruichi disappeared and reappeared right in front of him, hitting the orange haired teen right in the stomach, surprising everyone around.

"Wh-What are you doing Yoruichi?" Ichigo cried before losing consciousness. Allowing Yoruichi to catch him as he fell forward

"It's a drug isn't it?" Ukitake said suddenly, causing everyone, minus the unconscious Ichogo, to look at him. "A powerful anesthetic maybe Gaten or Hoten, forced directly into his body to try and save him...What do you intend to do with him Yoruichi?

Yoruichi of course did not respond, instead she just stared at her former comrade with a blank look.

"You shouldn't waste your time trying to save him" Byakuya said, while slowly move closer to the three. "None of you will be leaving hear alive."

"My, my, Naruto was right about you Little Byakuya, you certainly have gotten a lot cockier from when I saw you last" smirked Yoruichi. "And yet I don't believe you have ever once beaten me in a game of tag, in fact I doubt you could even beat Naruto here?"

"Shall we give it a try then?" retorted Byakuya before using Shunpo to attack Naruto and Yoruichi, who was still carrying the unconscious Ichigo.

However as soon as he reappeared, both Naruto and Yoruichi had disappeared and appeared behind him. Sensing this, Byakuya spun around and attempted to slash them with his sword, but Naruto blocked this with his blade, allowing Yoruichi to jump back. But no sooner had she done this, Byakuya now appeared behind her.

When Yoruichi spun around, Naruto appeared in front of her and charged him head on with his short sword.

Unafraid of the attack, Byakuya allowed the young boy to get closer before, cutting him down in a shower of blood with one swift slash. However it distracted him long enough to allow Yoruichi to move past him to the other end of the bridge.

But as soon as Yoruichi feet had touched the floor Byakuya appeared in front of her. "Did you really think you could escape me with a Shunpo that slow?" the man asked coldly before slashing Yoruichi and Ichigo with his sword.

However no sooner had he done this, Yoruichi and Ichigo faded away. After which he then heard Yoruichi's voicing coming from behind him, "Did you really think you could catch us with Shunpo that predictable?"

Glancing back Byakuya saw Naruto and Yoruichi standing behind him, smirking. It was in that moment that one word pop into Byakuya's head "Utsusemi (Cicada)" where he realised he had been tricked.

Using Shunpo again, Byakuya spun around and cut all three Shinigami with one quick succession. This time the bodies did not fade away and fell to the ground with a loud thud, indicating that they were real, but when he turned to inspect them, the "bodies" exploded in several large clouds of smoke, baffling everyone there, especially Byakuya.

"Hooo, that was pretty close" spoke a familiar voice from above.

Looking up to the direction of the voice, Byakuya and the other could see Naruto and Yoruichi standing atop a nearby rooftop, smirking down on them."

"Three days...In three days I will make this boy and my son stronger than you, Kuchiki Byakuya. Until then consider your fight with Ichigo postponed" spoke Yoruichi.

"But feel free to chase after us if you like Flower boy" added Naruto with a cheeky salute before he and his mother disappeared with the still unconscious Ichigo.

"Looks like they got away" commented Ukitake, who sounded somewhat amused by the whole debacle. "That clone technique they used at the end looks like it can come in pretty handy in a tight spot; I was completely fooled until the disappeared. I'm assuming that was one of the Shinobi techniques Kushina told me about."

After finishing his musing, Ukitake noticed that Byakuya had already left, leaving him alone with the bleeding Ganju, the stunned Hanatarō and unconscious Rukia, who fainted after the excitement of the whole thing finally died down.

"Typical" muttered the annoyed white haired captain realised that Byakuya had left him here to clean up the mess.

After sending word to the fourth division to come and pick up the wounded Ganju, Ukitake lifted Rukia into his arms and carried her back into the tower, but not before promising her that he would get to the heart of the matter and find out the truth.

Once Rukia was back in his cell and the fourth division members had taken Ganju, Captain Ukitake led Hanatarō away, where he told the young Shinigami that he would do all he could to help him and the others.

-With Naruto and Yoruichi-

After returning to their secret hideout and boarding up the doorway, which had been broke when Ichigo left. Naruto feel to the ground completely exhausted.

"Man, I'm beat" Naruto moaned, as he felt completely drained after only using Shunpo for a short time.

"Can't say I'm surprised, you haven't recovered yet from your battle with Soifon and then you went off to face off against another captain" replied his mother.

"Guess your right" Naruto agreed, as it had taken everything he had just keep ahead of the Kuchiki Clan head. If he hadn't used his Kage Bunshin to trick Byakuya there was a good chance that Byakuya would have killed them all "That guy was fast, he could probably give Kaa-chan and fon-fon-chan a run for their money."

Once Yoruichi had finish redressing both his and Ichigo's wounds, Naruto looked over at his mother. "Hey, Kaa-chan, did you mean what you said earlier, about making me and idiot strawberry here stronger than flower boy?"

"I did" nodded the woman.

"So does that mean...?"

"Yes, once Ichigo is awake and well enough, the two of you will begin your Bankai training."

Upon hearing this, Naruto couldn't help shout "ALRIGHT!" while pumping his fist into the air, despite how much it hurt him. For almost two years now he had been begging his mother to let him start his Bankai training, but each and every time she had shut him down, stating that he wasn't ready yet and would have to wait. She had even made Kisuke promise not to teach him under threat of severe bodily harm if he did.

"Alright calm down," smiled Yoruichi as she watched her adopt continue to cheer, declaring that once he master Bankai he would kick all 13 division Captain's asses. "We have more important issues to discuss."

"Like who killed Aizen?" replied Naruto, where Yoruichi just nodded, before rescuing Ichigo after his battle with Kenpachi, Yoruichi had heard of Aizen's death, and like Naruto she was sceptical of it. "You think it might have been one of lieutenants, Ichimaru Gin or Kaname Tōsen?"

"Possible, but I can't be sure. Regardless, whoever did it wanted to make a big spectacle given the way displayed him" answered Yoruichi, though her voice seemed uncertain.

"You think there is something more to this that we're not seeing?" Naruto asked.

"I do, in fact given how showy Aizen's death was, it possible that he might have faked it all"

"But how?" exclaimed Naruto. "I read the reports from the autopsy by Captain Unohana, who preformed it herself. She would have spotted a fake, you said it yourself, she's not someone that can be fool easily."

"True..." nodded Yoruichi, while bring her hand up to her chin. "But we can't Aizen underestimate Aizen's. As powerful as he is, what makes Aizen truly dangerous is his intelligent; he has a knack for staying several steps ahead of everyone else. So it is not impossible to believe that he could have found a way to fool even Captain Unohana."

"So if he really did fake his death, what's his end game?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's linked to Rukia's execution."

"How so?"

"Well the fact that Rukia is being executed in the first place is one clue. Though giving one power to human is a serious crime, it's not one that would be deemed serious enough to require it. Furthermore, the rapid increase for the execution is also rather strange, usually they wait until a full investigation has been completed before even proceeding with the execution."

"So you think that Aizen may be manipulating things from behind the shadows from somewhere."

"It would certain explain a lot of things."

"But how? I mean aren't all the orders coming from central 46, and that place on lockdown ever since we invaded."

"I don't know" Yoruichi replied. "I just have a bad feeling about everything that has been happening lately."

In response Naruto just nodded, he knew that ninety percent of the time his mother instincts were usually right, and if she said that something was up, then he believed her. It also helped that he too shared her suspicious on Aizen's death, since given what he heard mother and the others, it didn't think the man could die so easily.

After a while Yoruichi decided ease the tension in the room by moving the topic of conversation away from Aizen. "Sooo..." she said slowly, "The Rogue Shinigami, is that what you're calling yourself now."

"And what's wrong with that?" Naruto asked with a slight tick on his head, after detecting the mocking tone in her voice.

"Oh nothing..." Yoruichi waved off before grinning, "If you're in the fourth grade that is?"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted in indignation, not liking how his mother was making fun of his moniker. He had spent ages thinking up a "cool," "badass" name to call himself that would also piss off all those uppity Shingami in the Soul Society.

"Ohh, you can be so sweet and naive my little Rogue" teased Yoruichi as she panted Naruto on the head, like she would a little child, Naruto a fume and yell at his mother to stop treating like a little kid, which only made Yoruichi laugh harder. Since regardless of how much he grew, Naruto would always be her little boy.

-First Division Headquaters-

For the second time within a week the Captains of all thirteen divisions were called for assembly. Under normal circumstances this would be considered highly unusually, given how most assembles for the thirteen Captains would be held once a month. However these were highly unusual times, given the how two Captains were now hospitalized, (along with hundreds of other Shinigami), while a third lay in the morgue.

Making his way to the meeting hall, Captain Ukitake spotted his close friend, Kyōraku Shunsui, Captain of the eight division, accompanied by his lieutenant Nanao Ise.

"Yoh, Pretty boy, glad to see you up and about."

Smiling tiredly at his friend, Ukitake just nodded and waved hello.

Noticing the tired look on his friend's face, Shunsui walked over to him. "You okay? You know if haven't fully recovered yet, I'm sure the old man wouldn't..."

"No, No it not that" said the white haired Captain, waving his hand and cutting Shunsui. "It's just some things with my Lieutenan Kushina."

"OOOOhhh, now I see, Ukitake you sly dog you, I didn't know you had it in you?" said Shunsui with a pervy grin

Not understanding what his friend was talking about, Ukikate's only response was "huh?"

"Oh come on Ukitake" said the still grinning Shunsei as gently elbowed his friend in the side. "Don't play dumb, you and that hot little red headed minx, I gotta say I envy your good fortune, they say red heads are real wild cats."

Realizing what his friend was getting at, Ukitake's face immediately heated up. "W-We've done nothing of the sort. She's my lieutenant, our relationship is strictly professional!" sputtered the embarrassed Captain.

"OOOhhh, are you saying you haven't at least once been tempted?"

Remembering the earlier event with Kushina where he accidently walked on her changing, the embarrassed Ukitake quickly shook his head and forced the blush down, before responding with a strong "No."

Somewhat disappointed by this Shunsei then replied. "Well that's a real same, if she was my lieutenant, I would have at least tried."

Sighing tiredly as she shook his head Ukitake said "Trust me my friend, I doubt even you would be capable of handling her."

Grinning at this, Shunsei was about to ask if Kushina was too much woman for Ukitake to handle but before he could. An annoyed looking Nanao Ise stamped on Captain Shunsei's foot, causing the Captain to yelp in pain. After which she reminded both Captains that they were expected in the meeting hall/

Realizing that she was right, both Captains thanked the lieutenant, where Shunsei added how he would be lost without her, hoping to get back in his lieutenants good graces. Huffing with annoyance Ise replied "Prehaps you would prefer lieutenant Uzumaki to keep you on schedule" before and turning and walking away.

Smiling, Ukitake then gently patted the back of the downtrodden Captain who was trying to call his lieutenant back. "It seems that I'm not the only one who is having trouble his his female lieutenant."

Sighing in defeat, knowing that Nanao would probably be made at him for good long while, Shunsei just nodded before joining Ukitake as the slowly made their way to the meeting hall.

When they arrived, they found that all the other Captains, (save Kenpachi, Soifon and Aizen) had already arrived and were waiting for them.

Captain Unohana was standing close to the Head Captain, who was directly opposite them at the other end of the room. Seeing them, Captain Unohana smiled kindly at them, while the Head Captain just stared at them, with the same stern look he always had one him. Standing opposite her was Captain Komamura, wearing his usual headgear, which hid his face.

Standing close to the large towering Captain was Captain Kaname, which not unusual given how close the two Captains were. Directly opposite the blind Captain was Captain Hitsugaya, who was seemly staring intently at Captain Ichimaru for some strange reason. However the Captain did not seemed the east bit bothered by it, and gave the younger captain the same creepy smile he would give everyone he met.

Next to the Captain Histugaya was Captain Kuchiki who seemed indifferent towards the entire meeting, which was normal given how Byakuya rarely showed any emotion at all. Next to the Kuchiki Clan head was Captain Kurotsuchi, who seemed somewhat annoyed by being summoned her. No doubt thinking that this was a waste of his precious time and would much prefer to performing one of his crazy experts back that the 12 division headquarters than be here.

Taking their spots opposite Captains Kurotsuchi and Kuchiki, the Captains then waited for the large double doors to close before the Head Captain began the meeting.

"Now that everyone is here, we can begin..."began the Head Captain, but before he could say anything further. The double doors to the meeting all opened up again, allowing Captain Soifon to enter, who hobbled in, covered in bandages and her arm in a sling.

"Forgive my late arrival Head Captain, but unfortunately given my current state I am unable to move as quickly as I normally would" said the Captain of the second division and the Onmitsukidō.

"There is nothing to apologise Captain Soifon" replied the Head Captain. "To be perfectly honest, given your condition we did not expect you to appear."

"I can assure you Head Captain, though my fighting ability has been several limited for the time being. I am still able to perform my duties" stated the female Captain.

Nodding, the Head then said, "Very well, please join us then."

Once Soifon had taken her position next to Captain Unohana, the Head Captain began the meeting.

"Now, as I was about to say, I wish to talk you all for coming here on such short notice and apologises for pulling many out of the frontlines. But given our recent loses, with the death of Captain Aizen and the defeat of Captains Zaraki and Soifon. I thought it best that we reconvene and re-strategize on how best to deal with these Ryoka.

In response no of the other Captains argued and remained silent. Thanking this as a sign of their agreement. The Head Captain signalled his lieutenant, Lieutenant Sasakibe Chōjirō, (who was standing out of the wall on the far right corner), to begin.

After nodding his head, the lieutenant of the first division snapped his figures, causing a large section on the right wall to lift, revealing a large wide flat screen. Many of the Captains were of course surprised by this when they turned to look at it, and wonder just how long the TV screen had been there, some even wondered if they could get Cable on it.

Taking out a small remote, lieutenant Sasakibe turned on the screen and began the debriefing, where the first person to appear was Chad, where a large picture of him appeared on the left hand corner of the screen along a large amount of written information.

"We shall start with the first Ryoka. He is dark-skinned, is about 6'5, with a muscular build, is under the age of twenty, has brown hair and has tattoo on his left shoulder, which consists of a heart with a snake and angel wings around it. According to reports he took out half of the eleventh division singlehandedly, along with a large number of members from other division, including several seated officers. His power is unknown, though according to reports it has immense destructive power and is similar to high level kido where he is able to fire large powers blast of energy from his right fist. Captain Shunsei fought him and was able to defeat him without any harm however before he could finish him, one of his comrades appeared and saved."

"How fascinating" commented Captain Kurotsuchi as watched a video clip of Chad's power. A dark grin then began to form on his face as he thought of all the interesting experiments he could perform on the young man once he got a hold of him.

"Is there anything that you would like to add to the report Captain Shunsei?" Head Capatain Yamamoto asked, turning to his former student.

"Not really" replied Captain Shunsei as he shook his head. "Chōjirō pretty much covered everything, however from my battle with him I did learn that the Ryoka's ability follows under the category of life-force techniques, meaning even if he is exhausted, he can keep using it until he runs out, resulting in his death."

Nodding, the Head Captain then signalled Chōjirō to continue with the debriefing, who nodded back and pressed the button on the remote to change the screen.

This time a picture of Ganju appeared, although unlike Chad, the information was more about his family than about him.

"The next person is Shiba Ganju, member of the Shiba Clan, and younger brother to the current Clan head, Shiba Kuukaku..." At the mention of the Shiba Clan, several of the Captains became interested, given how the Shiba Clan was once the fifth Great Noble family of the Soul Society, off what is now the four great Nobles families. However the Clan fell from grace after one of its members, deserted his position as Captain, and its most prominent member, the former lieutenant of the 13th Division, Kaien Shiba, was killed. "However unlike his sister or other more prominent members of his Clan, Shiba Ganju lacks many of his Clan's talents or skills. Instead his fighting ability mainly revolves using fireworks. For the most part he has shown great distain for Shinigami and acts like a common street tug. However he has shown some skill and cunning in battle where he was able to defeat fifth seat officer Ayasegawa Yumichika of the eleventh division. He was recently captured by Captain Kuchiki when he and third seat Yamada Hanatarō of the fourth division attempted to rescue the prisoner, Kuchiki Rukia."

When he received no comment from the Captains, Chōjirō takes this as a sign to continue and clicks the remote again, where a picture of Yoruichi appears along with a detail profile. However before he could say anything Head Captain Yamamoto stopped them, telling him that they already knew Yoruichi's abilities and that it was obvious that she was assisting the Ryoka in their invasion.

Seeing the Head Captains point, Chōjirō nodded and clicked the remote button again, this time however the profile showed no picture, instead it showed a silhouette with a large question mark, indicating that they had no picture of the person. In addition there was also very little information written on the file, indicating their limited amount of information on the person

"Unfortunately we have no picture of this person and our intelligence is limited. All we know is the person is a young attractive female with long orange hair and rather...ahemn, eeehhh... rather large, assets" finished Chōjirō, who seemed rather uncomfortable with the topic in question and had a large blush on both his cheeks. Shunsei on the other hand became very interested, where a large perverted grin formed on his face as he hoped that the next Ryoka he ran into would be the young busty female.

Seeing this grin, Captain Ukitake rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing exactly what his friend was thinking. The other Captains however showed no signs in caring in the size of the girl breasts and urged the lieutenant to continue with his report, which he was more than happy to do.

"Ahemn, as I mention earlier, our information on the female Ryoka is very limited, what little we have comes from the fourth seat of the seventh division, Ikkanzaka Jirōbō, who fought her and another Ryoka. According to Jirōbō-san the female Ryoka uses an unknown ability that allows her to fire a projectile weapon."

"Is it some form of Kido?" asked Capatain Hitsugaya.

"That is our working theory right now. But we currently don't have enough information to be certain" replied Chōjirō.

"Is that really all you got?" Captain Kurotsuchi asked in annoyance, though the girl's ability did perk his interest. The lack of information on her was highly irritating to the Captain of the Eleventh division and head of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute.

"Unfortunately yes" answered Chōjirō, "My apologises, Captain, but that is all that we have been able to gather thus far.."

Waving his hand in dismissal, Captain Kurotsuchi told the lieutenant move along with the debriefing, stating that he had more important things to do.

As Chōjirō prepared to move on the next person in the Ryoka party, Captain Kurotsuchi already began to plan on how he would locate the two Ryoka who had caught his interest. He then began to grin darkly as he thought of all he experiments he would perform on them once he got his hand on them.

Like the previous profile the next one had no picture and only another silhouette with a large question mark. However unlike the previous one, there was much more information.

"Again we have no photo of the Ryoka accompanying the female Ryoka, however we know a great deal more about him and his abilities."

"How so?" asked Captain Hitsugaya.

"To begin, he is a Qunicy."

At the mention of this, all the other Captains had surprised looks on their faces, as they had heard little about the Qunicy since they exterminated most of them almost two hundred years ago. Most of the Captains had in fact thought that the last of them had died years ago.

"A Qunicy huh? Are you sure about that?" Captain Shunsei asked.

Nodding Lieutenant Chōjirō began to explain. "Yes, it was confirmed by fourth seat Ikkanzaka Jirōbō, who fought him along with the female Ryoka. According to the report, the Qunicy is roughly of the same age as the female Ryoka, he is of average height and slender build. He has dark chin level coloured hair, has blue eyes, wears glasses and is dressed in standard Quincy clothing. He also wears a long white glove with blue lines, which can seemly summon a long bow, on his right arm. He is reported to be highly skilled, capable of using a Quincy technique seemlier to Shunpo, and is capable of firing multiple powerful energy arrows in quick succession, and defeated fourth seat Ikkanzaka with little difficult. He is also highly accurate when firing his arrows as he hit fourth seat Ikkanzaka in his Saketsu and Hakusui, resulting in him losing his powers."

"My, my, that Quincy is a rather cruel one, taking away Jirōbō-san's power from him like that" Gin commented with a smile, as if he found what happened to Jirōbō amusing.

"That or he's soft" remarked Captain Soifon. "It would have been more effective if he had killed Jirōbō."

"Perhaps" said Captain Ukitake. "But regardless he should not be underestimated, given how easily he defeated fourth seat Jirōbō. It would mean that it would take a Lieutenant or a Captain to defeat him."

In response the other captains all nodded in agreement, though Captain Kurotsuchi just looked at his nails, indicating his lack of interest. He already knew everything he needed to know about the Quincy, having experimented and dissected thousands of them over the years.

After finishing his report on the Quincy, Chōjirō moved on to the next member of the enemy group.

Again this profile lacked a picture, but had the most detail of all the members thus far. "The next person is of particular note and is considered one of the strongest of the group. His name is Kurosaki Ichigo, and he is the one whom Captain Ichimaru fought at the main Gate. Later he not only defeated third seat Ikkaku Madarame of the Eleventh division, along with numerous other members from the eleventh division. He also fought and defeated lieutenant Abarai of the sixth division and Captain Kenpachi."

"So he is the one who defeated Captain Kenpachi?" remarked Komamura, who sounded more than a little intrigued.

"He is also the same person whom the prisoner Kuchiki Rukia gave her power, although how exactly he regained the powers of a Shinigami is still unknown. He was last spotted escaping with ShihōinYoruichi after attempting to free Kuchiki Rukia but was prevented by Captains Kuchiki and Ukitake. Although his exact abilities are still unknown he possess spiritual energy and pressure equal to that of a Captain and he should be considered extremely dangerous."

"Well that's a given, since he did after all defeat Kenpachi of all people" stated Shunsei.

"Since you don't have a picture of him, do you at least have a description of him?" asked Captain Hitsugaya.

Nodding, Chōjirō began to describe him. "He is described as a tall youth with orange hair, wearing a standard Shinigami uniform and carries a massive Zanpakuto on his back in the shape of an oversized khyber knife. We believe this to the Shikai of his Zanpakuto, though how he is able to keep it in its release form continuously is unknown. Our best guess is that it is due to his unusually high spiritual power. The exact power and ability of his Zanpakuto is still unknown and under investigation"

When Chōjirō finished none of the Captains said anything as they digested the information they were given.

"Captain Kuchiki, given your own personal experience against this individual is there anything else you can tell us about him?" asked the Captain Commander.

"Nothing that is of worth mentioning Head Captain?" the Kuchiki Clan head replied coolly.

"Very well then, Chōjirō you may precede to the final member of the group" replied the Head Captain.

Clicking the button on the remote Chōjirō moved to the final profile, which like many of the others had no picture, but had some information.

"Of all the Ryoka, this one is the most mysterious and confusing of the group, his real name is unknown, but he refers to himself as the Rogue Shinigami. We have no picture of him and the only description we have of him that he is slightly above average height and wears a dark hood trench coat. His skill is considered to be very high, having defeated not only fourth seat Momochi Zabuza of the eleventh division, fifth seat Yuki Haku of the fourth division, but also lieutenant Uzumaki Kushina of the thirteenth division and Captain Soifon of the second division and of the Onmitsukidō."

At the mention of the one who defeated her, Soifon grind her teeth in anger.

At the same time, both Captains Kuchiki and Ukitake kept their faces blank, as did Captain Unohana and Head Captain Yamamoto, Captain Shunsei on the other hand had an interested look, hoping to learn more about the mysterious teen.

"According to reports, he possesses Captain level spiritual energy and pressure, and is highly skilled in using Shunpo and in hand to hand combat. He is said to use several strange unknown techniques and carries an unusual Zanpakuto which takes the form of a bladeless wooden handle with no guard and three red gems on the pommel of the handle. His skill in Kido is also said to be quite high and is believed to be at the level of an expert. Also according to fifth seat Yuki Haku, he possesses a Lightning Type Zanpakuto in the form of a long Katana..." explained Chōjirō. But before he could say anything more he was interrupted by Captain Ukitake.

"Pardon me lieutenant Chōjirō, but I believe you are mistake in your report. According to my lieutenant, Kushina, the individual known as Rogue possesses a Water Type Zanpakuto and it took the form of a double ended curved sword."

"You're both wrong" spoke Captain Soifon. "His Zanpakuto is a Wind Type and it takes the form of a small finger claw on his right index finger."

"Are you certain that you all fought the same individual, it could be several other more Ryoka, whom we are unaware of. They could be dressed in the same manner as this Rogue-san, so to confuse us" offered Shunsei. "It would certain explain why all of you say he wielded a different type of Zanpakuto. When I met this Rogue-san, I saw four other individuals dress just like him, who then carried his wounded comrade away."

"No!" countered the Captain Soifon. "I'm certain we all fought the same person, since this person has the ability to make solid copies of himself."

"Surely you're joking?" replied Captain Histugaya, finding it hard to believe that anyone could have such an ability.

"Captain Soifon is correct, both Captain Ukitake and myself witness this ability when he and ShihōinYoruichi rescued the Ryoka Kurosaki Ichigo when he attempted to rescue my sister" said Byakuya, where Ukitake just nodded.

"I too can also attest to this" added the Head Captain, causing everyone to turn to him. "Earlier on this individual sent a copy of himself to infiltrate my office. It should also be noted that the individual is highly skilled in hiding his presence."

Upon hearing this, the eyes of every captain in the room turned to the Head Captain, all looking shocked by the news. However two of the Captains suddenly became very concerned by the news.

"Head Captain, if I may why is it that we are only learning of this now? If there was an assassination attempt on you..."began Captain Hitsugaya, but was cut off by Yamamoto before he could say anymore.

"There was no need to report it because it was not an assassination attempt. The boy in question was simply looking information on the circumstances of Captain Aizen's death."

"Why would he be looking on how Captain Aizen died, wasn't he killed by the Ryoka?" asked Komamura.

"Perhaps, or maybe that's what someone wants us to think" replied Captain Shunsei, becoming even more curious with the events regarding Captain Aizen's death that before.

"What do you mean Captain Shunsei?" inquired Captain Kaname.

"Well think about it, like Captain Konoamura said, if the Ryoka were indeed the ones who killed Captain Aizen why would one of them risk being caught by infiltrating the Head Captain's office, simply to find out how he was killed."

"You're suggesting that someone else killed Captain Aizen and framed the Ryoka for his murder?" replied Captain Hitsugaya with a serious expression.

"It certainly makes sense" answered Shusei. "Naturally we would all assume that it was the Ryoka who killed Captain Aizen and not look into the matter too seriously, making the Ryoka the perfect scapegoat."

"But who could have done it, and why?" Captain Kaname asked.

"While I cannot say, who however is a different matter altogether, even caught off-guard defeating a Captain is no easy thing. Other than the Ryoka there are only a handful of people in the entire Soul Society capable of doing it. In fact most of them are in this very room."

"You're suggesting it was one of us" said Captain Unohana.

Shrugging his shoulders, Shunsei just said. "It's not impossible."

"Enough!" roared the Head Captain, causing everyone in the room to once again turn their attention back elderly Shingami. "This discussion has no merit; the cause of Captain Aizen death is not why we are having this meeting. We're here to discuss the Ryoka and the threat they represent. Once we've dealt with them we can then focus on investigating Captain Aizen's death, but until then we cannot afford to be divided, doing so can only assist the Ryoka. We must stand firm, united and resolute against such adversity, it is only through that can the Soul Society continue to survive as it has."

"Heh, the old man is sure fired up" Shunsei silently remarked

Putting aside the matter regarding Aizen's death for the moment, Captain Hitsugaya moved back to the discussion about the last of Ryoka. "If the individual that defeated Captain Soifon and all the others is really the same person, then why is the information regarding his Zanpakuto so conflicted?"

"Perhaps, it isn't" replied Captain Shunsei. "Perhaps he really does have all these abilities."

"Impossible!" cried Soifon. "A Shinigami can only have one Zanapkuto."

"You're mistaken Captain Soifon. I am not saying that this Rogue-san has three separate Zanpakuto, what I'm saying is that they are all the power of one single one. Although extremely rare, Zanpakuto have been known to have more than one spirit residing in them with each having their own unique ability and different forms."

"Captain Kyōraku is correct..." added Jūshirō while bring his hand underneath his chin, indicating that he was in deep thought. "However they were always released together in dual sword form, there has never been a case where a person has three spirits nor with such wide individual abilities which can be released independently of one another." After saying this, Jūshirō could not help but wonder if this was the result of the fact that he was a Shinigami-Shinobi Hybrid.

As if reading his mind, Captain Unohana suddenly voiced her opinion on the matter. "If I may Captain Ukitake, I may have a possible explanation of your query."

"Please elaborate Captain Unohana" voiced the Head Captain, hoping to hear an explanation for what they were being told.

"During his battle with this Rogue-san, my seated officer Yuki Haku reported to me how Rogue-san revealed himself to be a Shinigami-Shinobi Hybrid."

"Are you certain of this Captain Unohana?" the Head Captain asked, his voice full of concern, knowing the implication of this news.

Captain Ukitake of course took the news the worse since he had hoped to keep this information hidden, which was why he did not say it, knowing what would happen to the boy if other people learned of it.

Captain Unohana nodded here head. "It makes sense given this Rogue-san strange abilities and how unusually powerful he is."

"I believe Captain Unohana is indeed correct" added Soifon. "The abilities he used do match the powers that the Shinobi are capable of." After becoming Captain of the second division and of the Onmitsukido Soifon took an interest in the people from the Shinobi world who became Shinigami, believing they could be useful in improving the Onmitsukido. Soifon also began to silently curse herself for not recognising the Shinobi techniques sooner, as some of the former Shinobi whom she had recruited had told her about some of the techniques they used when they were alive and how they worked.

"This is indeed most concerning" commented the old Shinigami as he frowned before noticing the confused looks on some of the other Captains faces, though most of the Captains had some knowledge regarding the experiments done in the Shinobi world. Several of the more junior Captains, like Captain Hitsugaya, were left in dark regarding the matters, given how it happen before their time.

When the Head Captain had finished given a quick explanation of the experiments and why they were shut down, Gin was the first to comment on it.

"My, my, so you're saying that this Rogue person is one of the people who were experimented on?"

"More than likely he is a descendant of one, who somehow becomes a Hybrid. The experiments were shut down long ago and research head, Nagao Sanosuke, was imprisoned in a pocket dimension that lies between the Soul Society and the Shinobi centuries ago" replied Tosen.

"Captain Soifon, given how you fought this Rogue person perhaps you can give us a firsthand account on his fighting?" asked the Head Captain, believing that if the other captains knew how Naruto fought they would be able to defeat him by predicting some of his tactics and not fall for his tricks.

Nodding the Captain of the second division spent the next hour and a half talking about her fight and explained, in detail, Naruto's abilities, fighting style, tactics and how he defeated her. When she finished many of the Captain were more than a little impressed with the young Shinigami speed and fighting skill, Captain Unohana herself was impressed with Naruto's Kido. Others like Komamura however were more impressed with Naruto's with how Naruto was able to hold his own for as long as he did in as Soifon was easily the best fighter in hand to hand.

"An individual with the powers of both and Shinigami and a Shinobi, how fascinating" said Captain Kurotsuchi who was almost on the verge of salivating at the idea of getting his hands on Naruto. For years he had been fascinated with the Shinobi and the power they called Chakra. He was especially interested in those whom the Shinobi inhabitants called bloodline limit holders, finding them to be rare and valuable research materials due to their multiple abilities. However he had been unable to visit the world to find "volunteers" for her research, due to the restrictions placed on the world.

Now however it seemed that a living one had come right to him and what more he was an even rarer specimen than even bloodline limit holders. He was a Shinobi who also had the powers of a Shinobi and seemly had a Zanpakuto that had three separate spirits and powers. Tapping his fingers together the Captain of the twelfth division grinned widely as he couldn't wait to get his hands on the young teen. He grin only grew bigger as he thought about all the different experiment he would perform on blonde teen once had him.

XXXXX

Elsewhere a certain blonde hair Shinigami suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spin, causing him to shiver in fear.

Seeing this, his mother asked "You okay Naruto, are you cold?"

Shaking his head the boy replied, "No, but I just had this feeling that someone was talking about me in a very creepy way.

XXXXXX

As the captains continued to discuss about Naruto amongst themselves, Byakuya Kuchiki suddenly spoke up, causing everyone in the room to turn their attention to him. "If I may Head Captain, there is some additional information that you and the other Captains should be made aware of regarding this Rogue Shinigami."

"Please proceed, Captain Kuchiki."

"The individual calling himself the Rogue Shinigami is named Shihouin Naruto and is the son of Shihouin Yoruichi."

As expected this revelation sent shockwave throughout the room, although none took the news as hard a Captain Soifon who look liked she had just been punched in the stomach and could only think, "Yoruichi's son? Impossible!"

Knowing how serious this would make things, the Captain Commander gave the Kuchiki Clan head a harden stare. "Captain Kuchiki are you certain about this?"

In response the Kuchiki Clan head nodded, "I am, Captain Ukitake can also attest to this, as he was there when it revealed."

When Captain Yamamoto turned to his former student, the white haired captain nodded, though reluctantly. He had known that this new would get out sooner or later given how Byakuya was there when Naruto revealed his identity, so it was pointless to even try and deny it.

"Well this certainly complicates things" thought Shunsui with some amusement, as he found the idea of Yoruichi being a mother more than a little funny.

"My, my, this Naruto-san is certainly full of surprises" remarked Gin, who like Shunsui found the whole thing highly amusing.

The other captains of course did not respond to this, though Captain Tosen did seem to be in deep thought.

"A Shinobi-Shinigami hybrid, with a Zanpakuto that can take on three separate forms, who is also the son of Shihouin Yoruichi... Aizen-sama will certainly want to be informed of this."

"This is indeed a most troubling situation..." commented the Head Captain before looking down to Byakuya. "Did they happen to mention who the father of the boy was?"

Shaking his head, Byakuya said "No, they did not."

"Could the boy's father perhaps be Urahara Kisuke?" voiced Lieutenant Chōjirō, who had almost been completely forgotten about by most of the people in the room. "They were always rather close and it was Yoruichi-san's who first suggested promoting him to Captain of the twelfth division."

Hearing the suggestion, Soifon found herself getting angrier and hating Naruto even more, something she had though would be impossible. It was bad enough that he was her former teacher's son and that he not only defeated her but humiliated her by kissing her. But for him to be also the son of Urahara Kisuke, it was too much for her to bear, the very idea of Yoruichi and Urahara having a child together made her sick to her stomach. "When I find him he's going to wish he was never born."

"Though not impossible, I don't think that Urahara is the father" answered Shunsui, causing everyone in the room to focus their attention on him. "If the boy's father was indeed Kisuke, it would not explain how he has Shinobi abilities."

"Perhaps he restarted the experiments and succeeded in turning into a hybrid" suggested Captain Hitsugaya, but Captain Shunsui just shook his head at this.

"Urahara Kisuke is not the short of man to do something like that to his own child, nor do I believe Yoruichi would allow such a thing to happen."

At this several of the other captains, who all knew Yoruichi from the past, nodded in agreement. Shihouin Yoruichi was not someone who would let anyone use her own child as some sort of lab rat, only a fool would even try, and Urahara Kisuke was not fool enough to even try.

"Perhaps then Yoruichi had an affair with some Shinobi, and the boy is the result of it. He might not even have anything to do the past experiments?" Captain Komamura offered which received several nods from most of the other captains. Those that knew Yoruichi knew that the former second division captain had an unorthodox personality and would not be above having one night stands and was certainly not the type that would marry settle down and be a stay at home wife.

"That may indeed be possible..." spoke the Head Captain. "But still he must be captured, or at the very least his mother, where they can be properly interrogated and learn if there are any more like him or not and what part they may have played in Captain Aizen's death. Once we have learned everything we can, we will execute them, regardless of their status as members of the Shihouin Clan."

"Don't you think that is rather harsh Head Captain" interrupted Ukitake. "After all, most of the group are children."

"Age matters little; this group has already proven to be too dangerous to be allowed to live. The boy in question has already severely injured Captain Soifon along with numerous other Shinigami and has shown clear contempt towards us and the Soul Society. His mother is already guilty of several crimes towards the Soul Society, their actions more than warrant execution."

Realizing it was pointless to argue Ukitake said no more, since once his former teacher made up his mind, it was almost impossible to change it.

The meeting went on for about another hour before finally ending. Before dismissing the Captain the Head Captain also mentioned that the time table for Rukia's execution had moved up again by Central 46 and that it would proceed the day after tomorrow. When asked why it was being moved up again so soon the Captain replied that Central 46 felt that given the recent events it would be best get it out of the way and perhaps cause the remaining Ryoka to loos heart and give up their invasion.

Ukitake of course was not convinced by this, things were moving far too fast for his liking, which made him think there was something more happening. Not only because of the severity of Rukia's punishment, but also how quickly they had decided on execution and how quickly they were moving it up and ignoring the death of Captain Aizen. In most situations like this, they would have delayed the execution and focused more on capturing the intruders and investigating Aizen's death. As severe as Rukia's crime was, it wasn't serious enough to be deemed a crime punishable by death, and carrying out the execution itself most certainly didn't trump a invasion or the death of a Captain.

After they had been dismissed, Ukitake wasted no time in going over to Shunsui and asked if they could speak in private about some things.

Seeing the serious look on his friend's face, and already having an idea on what he wanted to discuss, the Captain of the eight division nodded and two of them headed for his barracks where they could talk in private without fear of being listened on by others.

-With Naruto, Yoruichi and Ichigo-

When Ichigo woke up the young orange hair teen was naturally more than a little upset by Yoruichi knocking him out and preventing him from saving Rukia and leaving behind Hanataro and Ganju. However the young Shinigami quickly got the wind knocked out of sails when Yoruichi rounded on him about how much of an idiot he had been running off while wounded and trying to take on a Captain class Shinigami like Byakuya by himself.

After he had cooled down a bit, Yoruichi then explained to Ichigo that nothing would happen to Rukia until her execution, meaning they still had some time. She also assured him both Hanataro and Ganju were fine and that they were taken in by Captain Ukitake, whom Yoruichi stated was a very honourable man, and would make sure that no harm would come to either of them.

Upon hearing that his friends would be alight for the time being, Ichigo finally calm down and asked "So what do we do now?"

Yoruichi just smiled and said, "Now we make you and Naruto stronger, strong enough to defeat Byakuya and others like him."

After leading Naruto and Ichigo to a secret underground training area, she then explained to Ichigo about Shikai and the final form of Zanpakuto, Bankai, and how powerful it would make them.

Natural Ichigo was surprised by this, having no idea of his Zanpakuto's second form, or just how powerful he could become once he mastered it.

Moving over to a large rock, Yoruichi took out what look like a strange oversized cardboard cut-out of a man.

"What is that?"

"This is called a Tenshintai (Change (Death)God Body), an important spiritual tool invented by Kisuke long ago, and used by the Onmitsukidō. Its specifically designed to draw out the true form of the Zanpakuto."

Confused by what Yoruichi was saying, Ichigo asked. "I don't really get what you're saying, how exactly does this help me get stronger and help me master Bankai?"

In response Naruto answered for his mother, having already gone through this explanation before with both her and Kisuke. "Basically before you can master Bankai, you and your Zanpakuto need to fight, which is what the oversized cut-out doll is for? Instead of you going to your Zanpakuto's world, like you did when you were awakening its Shikai, you bring him to our world using the doll by stabbing your Zanpakuto into it. After that you only have three days to defeat it before it turns back into the doll."

"I get it..." said Ichigo, finally understanding the point of this training. But as soon as he did, he suddenly realized something else. "Wait! If I'm going to use that to train, how are you going to do it?" looking at Naruto.

"Naruto doesn't need to use Tenshintai, as he has already mastered the level where he is capable of manifesting his Zanpakuto spirit into our world himself."

"Really?" asked Ichigo, whom seemed more than a little impressed by this, where Naruto just nodded in responce.

"Naruto have you decided one which one of your spirits you will contact, you only have enough time to train with one."

"I have..." nodded Naruto, but before he could tell his mother which one he decided on, Ichigo spoke.

"Wait! When you said spirits, are you saying he has more than one Zanpakuto?"

"Not exactly, like you or any other Shinigami, Naruto only has one Zanpakuto, however because of Naruto's rather unusual physiology he has three Zanpakuto spirits. Although having multiple spirits is not unheard of in the Soul Society, it is extremely rare for Shinigami to have them. Some even possess dual Zanpakuto, which is also very rare, where each sword has their own unique ability. However Naruto is a very special case, his three Zanpakuto spirits each with their own form, unique power and ability...in essence he has three Zanpakuto in one."

"That's pretty awesome" Ichigo commented as he found himself developing a new found respect for his blonde haired comrade.

"Yes, however..." continued Yoruichi, "because of this, Naruto would need to train with each of his spirit individually for him to master each of their Bankai forms, which is something we simply do not have enough time for if we wish to save Rukia."

Understanding this, Ichigo was about to ask what spirit Naruto planned to train with, but before he could, a sudden explosion from the entrance in the ceiling stopped him.

Fearing an attack, the three prepared to attack, but stopped when they heard a voice coming from the smoke covered entrance. "I was wondering what you could be doing, hold up in this place." Moments later a figure dropped down from the entrance and landed right in front of the three. Recognizing the voice Ichigo froze, which made both Naruto and Yoruichi worry.

As the smoke cleared, Ichigo's suspicions were confirmed when he saw Renji.

"Shit, we've been discovered" cursed Naruto, while at the same time wondering how they were found, since the place was supposed to prevent their spiritual energy from being detected from the outside.

Seeing that both Yoruichi and Naruto were preparing to attack, the lieutenant of the sixth division held up his hands in a non-threatening manner. "Relax, I'm not here to fight or cause any trouble, in fact I came here for the same reason that all of you came...to train."

"And why the hell should we believe you?" Naruto asked, not believing a word Renji said.

"Because, if I came here to fight, I sure as hell wouldn't have come alone, as I doubt I could take not all three of you all by myself" answered Renji, before turning back to Ichigo. "So who are your friends here?"

After assuring Yoruichi and Naruto that Renji was not a threat to them, Ichigo introduced them to Renji. Naturally the red haired man was surprised to meet the famed former captain of the second division and of the Onmitsukidō. He was even more surprised to learn that Naruto was Yoruichi's son.

Upon taking a closer look at Naruto's attire, Renji asked. "Judging by your attire, would I be wrong to assume that you're the so called Rogue Shinigami."

Smirking, Naruto replied, "The one and only."

"And is it true that you defeat Captain Soifon?"

"It is, though as you can imagine it wasn't easy and could have gone either way. Even Strawberry here was barely able to fight Kenpachi to a draw."

Knowing this already Renji just nodded, though inwardly the young man couldn't help but be in awe in two in what they had done. He was especially surprised by Ichigo's rapid increase in strength. The orange haired had barely defeated him in their last fight, yet shortly after it he was able to fight the legendary Captain of the eleventh division to a tie. An increase of that level in strength was unheard of yet Ichigo was living proof of it. As much as Renji hated to admit it, right now both Ichigo and Naruto were stronger than him, and his current level of strength was no near enough to save Rukia, let alone try. If he wanted to rescue his childhood friend he needed to become stronger, much stronger.

"If you really are here just to train, then why come here?" asked Yoruichi, who was still suspicious Renji and his motives.

Not really blaming Yoruichi for being suspicious of him, Renji shrugged and answered. "I simply needed and quite place to concentrate and train in peace, that's all, since we're just about out of time."

"What do you mean by that? How are we just about out of time?" asked Ichigo.

At first Renji seem hesitate to reply, but after a moment or two he answered, seeing it as the only way for them to allow him to train here. "It's Rukia's execution date; they've moved it up to the day after tomorrow."

Needless to say the three were stunned to hear this, since they had expected to have more time.

"You're shitting me, that barely gives us two days to train!" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Two days, no way, that's not enough time, there's no way Ichigo or Naruto can master Bankai that quickly" Yoruichi said.

"So are you just going to give up on us then?" Ichigo asked suddenly.

"Yea, it was your idea that we master Bankai mom, so you can't be the one to give up on it" Naruto added, becoming more determined than before.

"But what if tomorrow comes and neither of you have mastered Bankai?"

"We can't waste time on what ifs; failure is not an option here!"

"He's right mom" Naruto agreed. "If they moved up the date, then that just means we have to master Bankai even sooner than we thought."

It was at this point that both Ichigo and Naruto began to emanate a large amount of spiritual pressure, showing their resolve.

Seeing this Renji just smiled, "Heh, we actually just might stand a chance."

Seeing their determination, Yoruichi knew that there was no point in arguing. "If that is you decision, then we'll get started"

Turning to Renji, Yoruichi told him that she would allow him to train with them. However the red haired lieutenant said he would be fine as he had already mastered manifesting and knew what to do next. All he needed was a quite area to train in private.

Understanding his reason, Yoruichi nodded and indicated were he could go and train. After Renji had left, the former second division captain turned to Ichigo and Naruto and said "Okay then, let's get started.

N/A.

Well that's it for another instalment of Rogue Shinigami, hoped you all enjoyed it, sorry about the long wait, but I gave me reason why.

Now as you all can guess the next chapter will involve saving Rukia from execution, and of course Naruto and Kushina will met up again. Also in regards to who Naruto will fight, I'm afraid I cannot say, but I will say this, he and Kenpachi will cross paths with one another, so you can expect ALOT of mayhem and destruction when those two meet up. Naruto will also finally meet Aizen and show him that he is just as interesting as Ichigo in more ways than one.

As always please read and review, as I like to hear all your opinions on the Chapter or on the story in general. Please note that I will answer all your reviews to the best of my abilities, since I believe that authors should reply to their reviewers. Also note that any suggestions for the story are welcome and will be listen to and I will tell you what I think of them.

Links

In regard to my links to the picture, I am afraid there is nothing I can do about making them work, since for some reason fanfic has disabled the links and preventing them from being seen. I have however found a way around it, so that the addresses can be see, this way all you have to do is copy and paste the addresses to get the images. For those of you interested go to my Rogue Shingami section on my profile page and you will find the addresses to the images.

Now in regards of my grammar and spelling mistakes, although they may be a problem for some people, I'm afraid that they cannot be helped, and I'm doing the best I can with what I got.

Another thing to note is that flames are not welcome here, as I force no-one to read my stories and if you don't like them then don't read them. Also please note that all flames will be ignored, deleted or the flamers will be flamed back.

Again I hope everyone enjoyed today's Chapter and I will update again as soon as humanly possible.