Chapter 69: Young Master Naruto
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Chapter 69: Young Master Naruto
***Author Note***
Well, some of you wanted this, so I won't be apologizing xD
***End of Author Note***
Since Ichigo insisted on speeding his hollowfication training up, Shinji decided to comply with his demands, promptly knocking Ichigo out.
"So you just knock him out, stimulate his inner Hollow and let them duke it out? That's not very sophisticated, is it?"
Hearing Naruto's words, Shinji rolled his eyes while picking up Ichigo and carrying him into the basement.
"We have a special environment down here to give Ichigo the edge during his fight. Unfortunately, that is all the help we can provide. Everything else depends on Ichigo himself."
Naruto simply nodded his head as he and the other Visorde entered the basement, with Lisa, who was stumbling the whole time because she continued reading the book Naruto had given her, being the last to enter.
Following that, Shinji ordered the almost-round Visored, who is apparently called Hachigen Ushoda, to bind Ichigo with a seal, which manifested in five metal pillars crashing onto Ichigo's body, followed by a round dome surrounding them, which was there to limit the damage.
So, a few seconds later, a shrieking Hollow cry echoed through the building, putting everyone on guard. Suddenly, half of Ichigo's face got covered by a Hollow mask, as the pillars pinning him to the ground started slowly grumbling.
"Lisa, you're the first on duty."
Following Shinji's words... absolutely nothing happened, drawing everyone's gazes towards Lisa, who was quietly mumbling to herself.
"Guehehe~ As expected of Yuna-sama, this is another masterpiece~"
Seeing Lisa's current state of mind being in a weird place, Shinji's eyebrows twitched in irritation, and he was just about to take the book out of Lisa's hands when he suddenly got the impression that a grim reaper was holding a scythe to his neck, causing him goosebumps.
Before Shinji could do anything he would probably regret, Naruto patted his shoulder before walking towards the still-sealed Ichigo.
"Now, now, Shinji. You never get between a pervert and their porn, so leave her alone for now and let me handle this.
I assume I just have to go in there and hold Ichigo back, right?"
Shinji, who still had cold sweat flowing down his back, quickly pulled back the arm that was about to snatch Lisa's book, heard Naruto's words, and nodded his head.
"Yup, you only need to contain in either until he fails his transformation or succeeds. It's unfortunate, but if he fails, we'll have no other choice but to kill him."
Naruto simply nodded his head and continued walking toward Ichigo, and he was just about to pass through the spherical barrier when Shinji added a few more words.
"You think you can endure it, Naruto? I don't want you to come crying to me after you got beat up by Ichigo's Hollow~"
As soon as those words left Shinji's mouth, Naruto's demeanor changed as he flicked his wrist, causing a folding fan to appear out of nowhere while simultaneously scoffing in disdain.
"Who do you think this young master is? I'll show you the immensity of heaven and earth, youngster."
Shinji looked at Naruto's back, utterly dumbfounded, before quickly glancing at his fellow Visored, who had equally confused expressions on their face.
"What is that idiot talking about?"
"Mashiro thinks he has gone crazy~"
"Was that... his Hollow"
"Why does his Hollow talk like that?"
"Immensity of heaven and earth?"
"Was I just called a youngster?"
"Guehehe~ This is the best~"
Following Naruto's words, the Visored had all kinds of reactions, with a few immediately realizing that Naruto's Hollow was probably the one who just spoke.
Meanwhile, Naruto entered the barrier and stood now in front of the still-sealed Ichigo, waiting for him to break out of the seal.
He didn't have to wait long, as not even a minute later, Ichigo roared loudly while finally breaking through the seal, allowing him to stand.
"This young master is looking forward to this."
[Urgh, seeing my body speak like this is giving me goosebumps.]
[Still better than enduring your degeneracy.]
[Degeneracy? What are you talking about, Kurama? I'm as pure as they come.]
[Pah, maybe in this life, and we both know how hard you are working on changing that.]
[Oioi, if that was really so important to me, I would just hire a prost...]
'Can you keep it down? This young master finally got a chance to control the body, and I don't need any background noise while doing so.'
[Fine, fine, whatever.]
While the two Narutos and Kurama were internally chatting, Ichigo roared yet again before pouncing on Naruto, who easily dodged his attack before smacking his folding fan into Ichigo's face.
"Geez, lunging at me like a beast? Really? *Sigh* You are courting death."
Suddenly, the atmosphere around Ichigo changed as a Hollow hole opened in his chest while parts of his body got covered with a white substance, resulting in his Spiritual Power increasing significantly.
As soon as Naruto finished speaking, his Hollow mask crumbled, and his cloak turned back into his Zanpakuto, which he quickly sheathed away.
The moment that was done, he instantly threw a vicious glare at Shinji, who reeled back, wondering what he had done wrong.
"If you tell anyone about the way I talked, I'll introduce you to a layer of hell even you didn't know existed."
A shill went down Shinji's spine as he subconsciously retreated a step before eagerly nodding his head, agreeing to do as Naruto wanted.
Seeing that Shinji agreed, his gaze landed on the other Visored, who nodded their heads as well, making it clear that they understood. Well, everyone nodded, expected for Lisa, who Naruto was pretty sure, had no idea what was happening around her as she was still deeply immersed in her new book.
A few more seconds passed, and the smoke cloud from the previous explosion slowly settled, revealing Ichigo wearing a Hollow mask while the rest of the Hollowfied parts had fallen to the ground.
The barrier was lifted, and just when Shinji wanted to talk to Ichigo, Ichigo fell face-first onto the ground, causing his mask to detach from his face, making Shinji grin.
"Well, how are you feeling, Ichigo?"
Although Ichigo was clearly beyond exhausted, he still managed to grin slightly while answering Shinji.
"Not bad."
At the same time, deep within the walls of Las Noches, Aizen was holding up a shining crystal while admiring it with fascination.
"Soon, the Hogyoku will be completely unsealed, and then it's finally time to start the next step of my plan."
"Hee~ This one looks slightly different than the one you got from Rukia. Did you do something with it?"
To Aizen's credit, he only briefly twitched due to someone talking to him from behind his back.
"Yuna Uzumaki. What are you doing here?"
Seeing Aizen's seemingly calm reaction, Yuna nodded in approval and decided not to tease Aizen about getting jump-scared by her. Well, she had it recorded so that she could do so at a more appropriate occasion.
"What am I doing here? Well, I just walked in. It's not like the door was locked."
"It wasn't locked because I am in here."
"Yeah, I know. That's why I came here while you were in here. Since I'm your guest, I don't want to lock-pick too many doors. That would be just rude."
"Too many? So you DID lock-pick some."
"Err... No?"
Seeing Yuna's utterly shameless attitude, Aizen could only sigh and sigh again. Every day he had a conversation with Yuna brought him closer to straight up killing her, which undoubtedly would hurt his pride since he would basically admit that he couldn't figure out how she was messing around in Las Noches.
However, no matter how hard Yuna pushed his nerves, she never went past the point of no return and actually pushed him to attack her.
Initially, he assumed that Yuna was just lucky, but by now, he half-believed that Yuna could actually read him with an uncanny amount of precision, which terrified him a little.
"*Sigh* Fine, fine, whatever. Get lost already."
"Yeah, sure. Anyway, give me the Hogyoku; I wanna take a look."
As soon as she stopped speaking, she stretched out her right hand with her palm pointing skyward, apparently expecting Aizen to hand over the Hogyoku without question.
'She is as brazen as always. Should I just show the Hogyoku to her or not? Frankly, the Hogyoku is still mostly sealed, so it's not like she can do anything with it. Additionally, even I, with my vast Spiritual Power and deep knowledge of Kido, can't do anything to tinker with the Hogyoku, so even if I were to give it to her briefly, it wouldn't matter.
So, a few seconds later, Yuna held the Hogyoku in her hand and observed it with fascination. However, not even five seconds later, a frown appeared on her face as her gaze landed on Aizen.
"You are aware that this thing is at least partially sentient, right?"
Although Aizen was surprised that Yuna had managed to figure that out so quickly, he simply nodded his head without showing any of the surprise he internally felt on his face.
"Yes, I'm aware of that."
While nodding her head, Yuna continued inspecting the Hogyoku, looking at it from every possible angle while occasionally glancing at Aizen.
"Well, you can obviously do whatever you want, but are you sure fusing your body with this is a good idea?"
Yet again, Aizen was surprised that Yuna saw through his intentions, but yet again, Aizen managed to keep his expression in check.
"What makes you think I want to fuse with it?"
Yuna nodded in approval due to Aizen not giving a stupid answer like "How did you know about that" which would give her an easy approach to mess with him before she resumed speaking.
"Because that's the kind of person you are. Just having the Hogyoku help you break through the barrier between Hollow and Shinigami isn't enough for you. You want more. You don't want to become just another Arrancar. You want to transcend it all. You want to become a being superior to anything else and proclaim yourself the greatest."
As soon as Yuna finished speaking, silence reigned in the room as a tense atmosphere descended between Yuna and Aizen. However, the tense atmosphere quickly vanished a smile filled with nothing but the feeling of superiority appeared on Aizen's face while his Spiritual Pressure engulfed Yuna.
"That's right. As the days pass, I get closer and closer to my goal, and soon, I will stand supreme. I'll surpass everyone and firmly place myself on the seat of god."
Feeling the pressure on her body, a face-splitting grin appeared on her face as her own Spiritual Pressure exploded out of her body, contesting with Aizen's while causing the room to tremble.
"Hehe, we'll see about that. There can only be one person to surpass them all, and that person has been and will always be me, Aizen~."
Finished saying what she wanted to say, Yuna turned around and left the room, casually tossing the Hogyoku over her shoulder and towards Aizen while doing so. Just when she was about to leave the room, she turned her head and gave Aizen another insanity-filled grin.
"Let's have lots of fun in the coming days, Aizen~"
Looking at Yuna's departing figure, Aizen could feel some sweat trickle down his temple; however, after giving the Hogyoku a squeeze, confirming that its unsealing was only a matter of time, Aizen managed to calm down.
'She actually is a threat to the current me. I did not expect that. However, in the end, I'm still superior to her and even have her under my Zanpakuto's control. And then, after fusing with the Hogyoku, I'll demonstrate to her what true despair is as I show her my unrivaled power.' This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Chapter 69: Young Master Naruto
***Author Note***
Well, some of you wanted this, so I won't be apologizing xD
***End of Author Note***
Since Ichigo insisted on speeding his hollowfication training up, Shinji decided to comply with his demands, promptly knocking Ichigo out.
"So you just knock him out, stimulate his inner Hollow and let them duke it out? That's not very sophisticated, is it?"
Hearing Naruto's words, Shinji rolled his eyes while picking up Ichigo and carrying him into the basement.
"We have a special environment down here to give Ichigo the edge during his fight. Unfortunately, that is all the help we can provide. Everything else depends on Ichigo himself."
Naruto simply nodded his head as he and the other Visorde entered the basement, with Lisa, who was stumbling the whole time because she continued reading the book Naruto had given her, being the last to enter.
Following that, Shinji ordered the almost-round Visored, who is apparently called Hachigen Ushoda, to bind Ichigo with a seal, which manifested in five metal pillars crashing onto Ichigo's body, followed by a round dome surrounding them, which was there to limit the damage.
So, a few seconds later, a shrieking Hollow cry echoed through the building, putting everyone on guard. Suddenly, half of Ichigo's face got covered by a Hollow mask, as the pillars pinning him to the ground started slowly grumbling.
"Lisa, you're the first on duty."
Following Shinji's words... absolutely nothing happened, drawing everyone's gazes towards Lisa, who was quietly mumbling to herself.
"Guehehe~ As expected of Yuna-sama, this is another masterpiece~"
Seeing Lisa's current state of mind being in a weird place, Shinji's eyebrows twitched in irritation, and he was just about to take the book out of Lisa's hands when he suddenly got the impression that a grim reaper was holding a scythe to his neck, causing him goosebumps.
Before Shinji could do anything he would probably regret, Naruto patted his shoulder before walking towards the still-sealed Ichigo.
"Now, now, Shinji. You never get between a pervert and their porn, so leave her alone for now and let me handle this.
I assume I just have to go in there and hold Ichigo back, right?"
Shinji, who still had cold sweat flowing down his back, quickly pulled back the arm that was about to snatch Lisa's book, heard Naruto's words, and nodded his head.
"Yup, you only need to contain in either until he fails his transformation or succeeds. It's unfortunate, but if he fails, we'll have no other choice but to kill him."
Naruto simply nodded his head and continued walking toward Ichigo, and he was just about to pass through the spherical barrier when Shinji added a few more words.
"You think you can endure it, Naruto? I don't want you to come crying to me after you got beat up by Ichigo's Hollow~"
As soon as those words left Shinji's mouth, Naruto's demeanor changed as he flicked his wrist, causing a folding fan to appear out of nowhere while simultaneously scoffing in disdain.
"Who do you think this young master is? I'll show you the immensity of heaven and earth, youngster."
Shinji looked at Naruto's back, utterly dumbfounded, before quickly glancing at his fellow Visored, who had equally confused expressions on their face.
"What is that idiot talking about?"
"Mashiro thinks he has gone crazy~"
"Was that... his Hollow"
"Why does his Hollow talk like that?"
"Immensity of heaven and earth?"
"Was I just called a youngster?"
"Guehehe~ This is the best~"
Following Naruto's words, the Visored had all kinds of reactions, with a few immediately realizing that Naruto's Hollow was probably the one who just spoke.
Meanwhile, Naruto entered the barrier and stood now in front of the still-sealed Ichigo, waiting for him to break out of the seal.
He didn't have to wait long, as not even a minute later, Ichigo roared loudly while finally breaking through the seal, allowing him to stand.
"This young master is looking forward to this."
[Urgh, seeing my body speak like this is giving me goosebumps.]
[Still better than enduring your degeneracy.]
[Degeneracy? What are you talking about, Kurama? I'm as pure as they come.]
[Pah, maybe in this life, and we both know how hard you are working on changing that.]
[Oioi, if that was really so important to me, I would just hire a prost...]
'Can you keep it down? This young master finally got a chance to control the body, and I don't need any background noise while doing so.'
[Fine, fine, whatever.]
While the two Narutos and Kurama were internally chatting, Ichigo roared yet again before pouncing on Naruto, who easily dodged his attack before smacking his folding fan into Ichigo's face.
"Geez, lunging at me like a beast? Really? *Sigh* You are courting death."
Suddenly, the atmosphere around Ichigo changed as a Hollow hole opened in his chest while parts of his body got covered with a white substance, resulting in his Spiritual Power increasing significantly.
As soon as Naruto finished speaking, his Hollow mask crumbled, and his cloak turned back into his Zanpakuto, which he quickly sheathed away.
The moment that was done, he instantly threw a vicious glare at Shinji, who reeled back, wondering what he had done wrong.
"If you tell anyone about the way I talked, I'll introduce you to a layer of hell even you didn't know existed."
A shill went down Shinji's spine as he subconsciously retreated a step before eagerly nodding his head, agreeing to do as Naruto wanted.
Seeing that Shinji agreed, his gaze landed on the other Visored, who nodded their heads as well, making it clear that they understood. Well, everyone nodded, expected for Lisa, who Naruto was pretty sure, had no idea what was happening around her as she was still deeply immersed in her new book.
A few more seconds passed, and the smoke cloud from the previous explosion slowly settled, revealing Ichigo wearing a Hollow mask while the rest of the Hollowfied parts had fallen to the ground.
The barrier was lifted, and just when Shinji wanted to talk to Ichigo, Ichigo fell face-first onto the ground, causing his mask to detach from his face, making Shinji grin.
"Well, how are you feeling, Ichigo?"
Although Ichigo was clearly beyond exhausted, he still managed to grin slightly while answering Shinji.
"Not bad."
At the same time, deep within the walls of Las Noches, Aizen was holding up a shining crystal while admiring it with fascination.
"Soon, the Hogyoku will be completely unsealed, and then it's finally time to start the next step of my plan."
"Hee~ This one looks slightly different than the one you got from Rukia. Did you do something with it?"
To Aizen's credit, he only briefly twitched due to someone talking to him from behind his back.
"Yuna Uzumaki. What are you doing here?"
Seeing Aizen's seemingly calm reaction, Yuna nodded in approval and decided not to tease Aizen about getting jump-scared by her. Well, she had it recorded so that she could do so at a more appropriate occasion.
"What am I doing here? Well, I just walked in. It's not like the door was locked."
"It wasn't locked because I am in here."
"Yeah, I know. That's why I came here while you were in here. Since I'm your guest, I don't want to lock-pick too many doors. That would be just rude."
"Too many? So you DID lock-pick some."
"Err... No?"
Seeing Yuna's utterly shameless attitude, Aizen could only sigh and sigh again. Every day he had a conversation with Yuna brought him closer to straight up killing her, which undoubtedly would hurt his pride since he would basically admit that he couldn't figure out how she was messing around in Las Noches.
However, no matter how hard Yuna pushed his nerves, she never went past the point of no return and actually pushed him to attack her.
Initially, he assumed that Yuna was just lucky, but by now, he half-believed that Yuna could actually read him with an uncanny amount of precision, which terrified him a little.
"*Sigh* Fine, fine, whatever. Get lost already."
"Yeah, sure. Anyway, give me the Hogyoku; I wanna take a look."
As soon as she stopped speaking, she stretched out her right hand with her palm pointing skyward, apparently expecting Aizen to hand over the Hogyoku without question.
'She is as brazen as always. Should I just show the Hogyoku to her or not? Frankly, the Hogyoku is still mostly sealed, so it's not like she can do anything with it. Additionally, even I, with my vast Spiritual Power and deep knowledge of Kido, can't do anything to tinker with the Hogyoku, so even if I were to give it to her briefly, it wouldn't matter.
So, a few seconds later, Yuna held the Hogyoku in her hand and observed it with fascination. However, not even five seconds later, a frown appeared on her face as her gaze landed on Aizen.
"You are aware that this thing is at least partially sentient, right?"
Although Aizen was surprised that Yuna had managed to figure that out so quickly, he simply nodded his head without showing any of the surprise he internally felt on his face.
"Yes, I'm aware of that."
While nodding her head, Yuna continued inspecting the Hogyoku, looking at it from every possible angle while occasionally glancing at Aizen.
"Well, you can obviously do whatever you want, but are you sure fusing your body with this is a good idea?"
Yet again, Aizen was surprised that Yuna saw through his intentions, but yet again, Aizen managed to keep his expression in check.
"What makes you think I want to fuse with it?"
Yuna nodded in approval due to Aizen not giving a stupid answer like "How did you know about that" which would give her an easy approach to mess with him before she resumed speaking.
"Because that's the kind of person you are. Just having the Hogyoku help you break through the barrier between Hollow and Shinigami isn't enough for you. You want more. You don't want to become just another Arrancar. You want to transcend it all. You want to become a being superior to anything else and proclaim yourself the greatest."
As soon as Yuna finished speaking, silence reigned in the room as a tense atmosphere descended between Yuna and Aizen. However, the tense atmosphere quickly vanished a smile filled with nothing but the feeling of superiority appeared on Aizen's face while his Spiritual Pressure engulfed Yuna.
"That's right. As the days pass, I get closer and closer to my goal, and soon, I will stand supreme. I'll surpass everyone and firmly place myself on the seat of god."
Feeling the pressure on her body, a face-splitting grin appeared on her face as her own Spiritual Pressure exploded out of her body, contesting with Aizen's while causing the room to tremble.
"Hehe, we'll see about that. There can only be one person to surpass them all, and that person has been and will always be me, Aizen~."
Finished saying what she wanted to say, Yuna turned around and left the room, casually tossing the Hogyoku over her shoulder and towards Aizen while doing so. Just when she was about to leave the room, she turned her head and gave Aizen another insanity-filled grin.
"Let's have lots of fun in the coming days, Aizen~"
Looking at Yuna's departing figure, Aizen could feel some sweat trickle down his temple; however, after giving the Hogyoku a squeeze, confirming that its unsealing was only a matter of time, Aizen managed to calm down.
'She actually is a threat to the current me. I did not expect that. However, in the end, I'm still superior to her and even have her under my Zanpakuto's control. And then, after fusing with the Hogyoku, I'll demonstrate to her what true despair is as I show her my unrivaled power.' This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.
Chapter 69: Young Master Naruto***Author Note*** Well, some of you wanted this, so I won't be apologizing xD ***End of Author Note*** Since Ichigo insisted on speeding his hollowfication training up, Shinji decided to comply with his demands, promptly knocking Ichigo out. "So you just knock him out, stimulate his inner Hollow and let them duke it out? That's not very sophisticated, is it?" Hearing Naruto's words, Shinji rolled his eyes while picking up Ichigo and carrying him into the basement. "We have a special environment down here to give Ichigo the edge during his fight. Unfortunately, that is all the help we can provide. Everything else depends on Ichigo himself." Naruto simply nodded his head as he and the other Visorde entered the basement, with Lisa, who was stumbling the whole time because she continued reading the book Naruto had given her, being the last to enter. Following that, Shinji ordered the almost-round Visored, who is apparently called Hachigen Ushoda, to bind Ichigo with a seal, which manifested in five metal pillars crashing onto Ichigo's body, followed by a round dome surrounding them, which was there to limit the damage. So, a few seconds later, a shrieking Hollow cry echoed through the building, putting everyone on guard. Suddenly, half of Ichigo's face got covered by a Hollow mask, as the pillars pinning him to the ground started slowly grumbling. "Lisa, you're the first on duty." Following Shinji's words... absolutely nothing happened, drawing everyone's gazes towards Lisa, who was quietly mumbling to herself. "Guehehe~ As expected of Yuna-sama, this is another masterpiece~" Seeing Lisa's current state of mind being in a weird place, Shinji's eyebrows twitched in irritation, and he was just about to take the book out of Lisa's hands when he suddenly got the impression that a grim reaper was holding a scythe to his neck, causing him goosebumps. Before Shinji could do anything he would probably regret, Naruto patted his shoulder before walking towards the still-sealed Ichigo. "Now, now, Shinji. You never get between a pervert and their porn, so leave her alone for now and let me handle this. I assume I just have to go in there and hold Ichigo back, right?" Shinji, who still had cold sweat flowing down his back, quickly pulled back the arm that was about to snatch Lisa's book, heard Naruto's words, and nodded his head. "Yup, you only need to contain in either until he fails his transformation or succeeds. It's unfortunate, but if he fails, we'll have no other choice but to kill him." Naruto simply nodded his head and continued walking toward Ichigo, and he was just about to pass through the spherical barrier when Shinji added a few more words. "You think you can endure it, Naruto? I don't want you to come crying to me after you got beat up by Ichigo's Hollow~" As soon as those words left Shinji's mouth, Naruto's demeanor changed as he flicked his wrist, causing a folding fan to appear out of nowhere while simultaneously scoffing in disdain. "Who do you think this young master is? I'll show you the immensity of heaven and earth, youngster." Shinji looked at Naruto's back, utterly dumbfounded, before quickly glancing at his fellow Visored, who had equally confused expressions on their face. "What is that idiot talking about?" "Mashiro thinks he has gone crazy~" "Was that... his Hollow" "Why does his Hollow talk like that?" "Immensity of heaven and earth?" "Was I just called a youngster?" "Guehehe~ This is the best~" Following Naruto's words, the Visored had all kinds of reactions, with a few immediately realizing that Naruto's Hollow was probably the one who just spoke. Meanwhile, Naruto entered the barrier and stood now in front of the still-sealed Ichigo, waiting for him to break out of the seal. He didn't have to wait long, as not even a minute later, Ichigo roared loudly while finally breaking through the seal, allowing him to stand. "This young master is looking forward to this." Urgh, seeing my body speak like this is giving me goosebumps. Still better than enduring your degeneracy. Degeneracy? What are you talking about, Kurama? I'm as pure as they come. Pah, maybe in this life, and we both know how hard you are working on changing that. Oioi, if that was really so important to me, I would just hire a prost... 'Can you keep it down? This young master finally got a chance to control the body, and I don't need any background noise while doing so.' Fine, fine, whatever. While the two Narutos and Kurama were internally chatting, Ichigo roared yet again before pouncing on Naruto, who easily dodged his attack before smacking his folding fan into Ichigo's face. "Geez, lunging at me like a beast? Really? *Sigh* You are courting death." Suddenly, the atmosphere around Ichigo changed as a Hollow hole opened in his chest while parts of his body got covered with a white substance, resulting in his Spiritual Power increasing significantly. As soon as Naruto finished speaking, his Hollow mask crumbled, and his cloak turned back into his Zanpakuto, which he quickly sheathed away. The moment that was done, he instantly threw a vicious glare at Shinji, who reeled back, wondering what he had done wrong. "If you tell anyone about the way I talked, I'll introduce you to a layer of hell even you didn't know existed." A shill went down Shinji's spine as he subconsciously retreated a step before eagerly nodding his head, agreeing to do as Naruto wanted. Seeing that Shinji agreed, his gaze landed on the other Visored, who nodded their heads as well, making it clear that they understood. Well, everyone nodded, expected for Lisa, who Naruto was pretty sure, had no idea what was happening around her as she was still deeply immersed in her new book. A few more seconds passed, and the smoke cloud from the previous explosion slowly settled, revealing Ichigo wearing a Hollow mask while the rest of the Hollowfied parts had fallen to the ground. The barrier was lifted, and just when Shinji wanted to talk to Ichigo, Ichigo fell face-first onto the ground, causing his mask to detach from his face, making Shinji grin. "Well, how are you feeling, Ichigo?" Although Ichigo was clearly beyond exhausted, he still managed to grin slightly while answering Shinji. "Not bad." At the same time, deep within the walls of Las Noches, Aizen was holding up a shining crystal while admiring it with fascination. "Soon, the Hogyoku will be completely unsealed, and then it's finally time to start the next step of my plan." "Hee~ This one looks slightly different than the one you got from Rukia. Did you do something with it?" To Aizen's credit, he only briefly twitched due to someone talking to him from behind his back. "Yuna Uzumaki. What are you doing here?" Seeing Aizen's seemingly calm reaction, Yuna nodded in approval and decided not to tease Aizen about getting jump-scared by her. Well, she had it recorded so that she could do so at a more appropriate occasion. "What am I doing here? Well, I just walked in. It's not like the door was locked." "It wasn't locked because I am in here." "Yeah, I know. That's why I came here while you were in here. Since I'm your guest, I don't want to lock-pick too many doors. That would be just rude." "Too many? So you DID lock-pick some." "Err... No?" Seeing Yuna's utterly shameless attitude, Aizen could only sigh and sigh again. Every day he had a conversation with Yuna brought him closer to straight up killing her, which undoubtedly would hurt his pride since he would basically admit that he couldn't figure out how she was messing around in Las Noches. However, no matter how hard Yuna pushed his nerves, she never went past the point of no return and actually pushed him to attack her. Initially, he assumed that Yuna was just lucky, but by now, he half-believed that Yuna could actually read him with an uncanny amount of precision, which terrified him a little. "*Sigh* Fine, fine, whatever. Get lost already." "Yeah, sure. Anyway, give me the Hogyoku; I wanna take a look." As soon as she stopped speaking, she stretched out her right hand with her palm pointing skyward, apparently expecting Aizen to hand over the Hogyoku without question. 'She is as brazen as always. Should I just show the Hogyoku to her or not? Frankly, the Hogyoku is still mostly sealed, so it's not like she can do anything with it. Additionally, even I, with my vast Spiritual Power and deep knowledge of Kido, can't do anything to tinker with the Hogyoku, so even if I were to give it to her briefly, it wouldn't matter. So, a few seconds later, Yuna held the Hogyoku in her hand and observed it with fascination. However, not even five seconds later, a frown appeared on her face as her gaze landed on Aizen. "You are aware that this thing is at least partially sentient, right?" Although Aizen was surprised that Yuna had managed to figure that out so quickly, he simply nodded his head without showing any of the surprise he internally felt on his face. "Yes, I'm aware of that." While nodding her head, Yuna continued inspecting the Hogyoku, looking at it from every possible angle while occasionally glancing at Aizen. "Well, you can obviously do whatever you want, but are you sure fusing your body with this is a good idea?" Yet again, Aizen was surprised that Yuna saw through his intentions, but yet again, Aizen managed to keep his expression in check. "What makes you think I want to fuse with it?" Yuna nodded in approval due to Aizen not giving a stupid answer like "How did you know about that" which would give her an easy approach to mess with him before she resumed speaking. "Because that's the kind of person you are. Just having the Hogyoku help you break through the barrier between Hollow and Shinigami isn't enough for you. You want more. You don't want to become just another Arrancar. You want to transcend it all. You want to become a being superior to anything else and proclaim yourself the greatest." As soon as Yuna finished speaking, silence reigned in the room as a tense atmosphere descended between Yuna and Aizen. However, the tense atmosphere quickly vanished a smile filled with nothing but the feeling of superiority appeared on Aizen's face while his Spiritual Pressure engulfed Yuna. "That's right. As the days pass, I get closer and closer to my goal, and soon, I will stand supreme. I'll surpass everyone and firmly place myself on the seat of god." Feeling the pressure on her body, a face-splitting grin appeared on her face as her own Spiritual Pressure exploded out of her body, contesting with Aizen's while causing the room to tremble. "Hehe, we'll see about that. There can only be one person to surpass them all, and that person has been and will always be me, Aizen~." Finished saying what she wanted to say, Yuna turned around and left the room, casually tossing the Hogyoku over her shoulder and towards Aizen while doing so. Just when she was about to leave the room, she turned her head and gave Aizen another insanity-filled grin. "Let's have lots of fun in the coming days, Aizen~" Looking at Yuna's departing figure, Aizen could feel some sweat trickle down his temple; however, after giving the Hogyoku a squeeze, confirming that its unsealing was only a matter of time, Aizen managed to calm down. 'She actually is a threat to the current me. I did not expect that. However, in the end, I'm still superior to her and even have her under my Zanpakuto's control. And then, after fusing with the Hogyoku, I'll demonstrate to her what true despair is as I show her my unrivaled power.' This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.
