Chapter 32: The Thunder and the Roar
The torchlight in the underground chamber flickered violently, struggling to survive the suffocating pressure radiating from the two figures standing at the center of the room.
"You talk of bonds," Sasuke said, his voice cool and detached, his hand resting loosely on the hilt of his chokutō. "You talk of promises. It's childish, Naruto. I severed those ties long ago. I have no need for weaklings who cling to the past."
Naruto scoffed, the sound echoing harshly off the stone walls. He shifted his weight, the massive, jagged steel of Nozarashi scraping against the floor, carving a deep groove in the rock.
"Weaklings?" Naruto repeated, his voice dropping to a low, vibrating rumble. "You ran away to a snake because you couldn't handle your own weakness. You sought power in a bottle because you didn't have the guts to forge it yourself."
A vein pulsed on Sasuke's temple. His grip on his sword tightened.
Naruto's grin widened, sharp and feral. "And now you stand there, looking down on me? Don't make me laugh." He lifted the massive cleaver with one hand, pointing the jagged tip directly at the Uchiha. "I'm not here to beg you to come back, Sasuke. I'm going to enjoy kicking your smug ass until you remember your place."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed into slits of crimson. "Then die."
CHIRP-CHIRP-CHIRP!
The sound of a thousand birds filled the confined space. Sasuke drew his blade in a blur. Lightning Release chakra flooded the steel, turning the chokutō into a beam of blinding blue-white energy. The air smelled instantly of singed dust.
Naruto didn't flinch. His golden Reiatsu surged, responding to his will. It didn't coat his blade; it saturated it. Nozarashi hummed, a deep, bass thrum that rattled the teeth of everyone in the room. The golden energy solidified around the edge, matching the intensity of Sasuke's lightning.
"Let's go," Naruto whispered.
They moved.
It wasn't a dash. It was an explosion of kinetic energy. The stone floor beneath both of them vaporized instantly.
They met in the center of the room.
BOOOOOOOM!
The collision of the Chidori-infused blade and the Reiatsu-charged cleaver created a shockwave that defied the physics of the small chamber. The air compressed and then detonated outward.
"Get down!" Kakashi roared, tackling Sakura and Sai to the ground as a wall of force slammed into them.
Yamato threw up a wooden dome, but the splinters flew like shrapnel.
The ceiling of the hideout couldn't take it. The rock cracked, groaned, and then shattered. Tons of earth and stone collapsed upward, blown away by the sheer upward force of the energy release.
Sunlight pierced the gloom.
Naruto and Sasuke shot out of the exploding hole in the ground, riding the column of dust and debris into the open air of the rocky wasteland above. They landed twenty meters apart, skidding across the barren earth.
Sasuke straightened immediately, flicking his sword to clear the dust. He looked unbothered, but his eyes were locked on Naruto.
Naruto rolled his neck, a satisfying pop echoing in the silence. He rested Nozarashi on his shoulder, his golden aura swirling lazily around him. He had subconsciously dialed his output. He was matching Sasuke, volt for volt, ounce for ounce. He wanted to feel the struggle.
"Is that it?" Naruto asked, feigning disappointment. "Flashy lights and a loud noise?"
Sasuke vanished.
He reappeared directly behind Naruto, his blade already in mid-swing, aimed at the jugular. "Uchiha Style: Afterglow."
Naruto didn't turn. He simply dropped to one knee, the massive bulk of Nozarashi acting as a shield on his back.
CLANG.
The chokutō struck the flat of the cleaver, sparks showering down like rain. Before Sasuke could retract, Naruto pivoted on his knee, swinging his free leg in a sweeping kick aimed at Sasuke's ankles.
Sasuke jumped, flipping over Naruto. In mid-air, he performed six hand seals with blinding speed. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
He exhaled a massive sphere of rolling flame at point-blank range.
Naruto looked up at the inferno descending on him. He didn't dodge. He swung Nozarashi upward, a brutal, vertical uppercut.
The blade bit into the fire. The golden Reiatsu coating it acted as a physical wedge. The fireball didn't explode; it was split in half. The two hemispheres of flame washed harmlessly around Naruto, scorching the ground black on either side of him.
"Too slow," Naruto taunted through the smoke.
Sasuke landed, his frustration mounting. 'He cut the fire? With a sword?
Sasuke channeled more chakra. His body crackled with electricity. "Chidori Senbon!"
He thrust his free hand forward, launching a barrage of lightning needles. They moved at the speed of sound, targeting Naruto's vital points—eyes, throat, heart.
Naruto began to walk forward. He twirled Nozarashi in front of him, the massive blade acting like a propeller. Clink, clink, clink. The lightning needles were deflected, scattered into the dirt.
"Stop throwing toys at me," Naruto growled. He burst forward, closing the distance.
He swung Nozarashi horizontally. It was a simple, telegraphed strike, but it carried the weight of a freight train.
Sasuke saw it coming. His Sharingan predicted the trajectory perfectly. He ducked under the blade, the wind of its passage ruffling his hair. He thrust his chokutō upward, aiming for Naruto's exposed ribs.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
The lightning blade extended instantly, shooting out to impale Naruto.
It struck.
But it didn't pierce.
The tip of the lightning spear ground against Naruto's skin, sizzling and popping. Naruto's Reiatsu had formed a skin-tight layer of armor, a density that the focused lightning couldn't penetrate.
Naruto looked down at the beam of energy poking his ribs. "Tickles."
He grabbed the lightning spear with his bare hand.
Sasuke's eyes widened. 'He's touching raw chakra?!'
Naruto crushed his grip. The Chidori Sharp Spear shattered like glass.
Naruto lashed out with a backhand. Sasuke brought his arms up to block, but the force was overwhelming. He was launched backward, crashing through a pillar of rock before recovering in a crouch.
Sasuke spat a glob of blood. This wasn't right. Naruto was supposed to be a brawler, a clumsy stamina freak. But this... this was heavy. Every movement Naruto made felt dense, like he was moving underwater while everyone else was in the air.
"You've learned some new tricks," Sasuke admitted, wiping his mouth. "But you're still just a brute."
Black markings began to spread across the left side of Sasuke's face. The Cursed Seal of Heaven. It glowed with an ominous, purple light. His chakra spiked, becoming colder, darker.
"Level 1."
Sasuke's speed doubled. He blurred, appearing on Naruto's left, then his right, then above. He was testing, probing.
Naruto stood still, his eyes tracking the blur. Inside, his Kenpachi soul grinned. 'Better. Faster. He's actually trying now.'
Naruto's subconscious limiters clicked. A valve opened. His golden Reiatsu flared, matching the spike in Sasuke's power.
Sasuke attacked. "Lion Barrage!"
He came in low, kicking Naruto into the air. Or he tried to.
Sasuke's foot connected with Naruto's chin. Naruto's head snapped back slightly... and then stopped. He didn't leave the ground. He looked back down at Sasuke, whose leg was still extended.
"My turn," Naruto said.
He grabbed Sasuke's leg.
Sasuke tried to channel Chidori Current, sending electricity coursing through his body to shock Naruto into letting go. The lightning danced over Naruto's skin, but the blonde didn't even blink.
Naruto swung Sasuke like a ragdoll. He slammed the Uchiha into the ground—once, twice, three times—before winding up and hurling him across the wasteland.
Sasuke twisted in the air, his wings sprouting from his back as he activated Curse Mark Level 2. The brown-skinned, hand-winged transformation took hold. He caught himself in mid-air, hovering, glaring down with hatred.
"I will burn you to ash!" Sasuke screamed. He inhaled deeply, his chest expanding to an unnatural size. "Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Massive, dragon-shaped fireballs, hotter and faster than anything before, roared upwards and down from the sky.
Naruto watched the dragons descend. He planted his feet. He gripped Nozarashi with both hands.
"Burn?" Naruto laughed, a terrifying sound that drowned out the roar of the flames. "I'll cut the heat itself!"
He swung.
"Ryōdan."
A vertical line of golden force bisected the sky. The Dragon Fireballs were split, their structure unraveling. But the strike didn't stop there. The force of the swing continued upward, parting the clouds themselves, revealing the blue sky above the gathering storm Sasuke was trying to create.
Sasuke hovered in the air, his wings beating slowly, staring at the split clouds. The gap in power... it wasn't just a gap. It was an abyss.
Naruto lowered his blade, pointing it at the hovering Uchiha.
"Is that it?" Naruto yelled up at him. "Come on, Sasuke! Don't tell me you sold your soul for this? Make me sweat!"
From the edge of the crater, Team 7 watched in stunned silence.
"He's playing with him," Kakashi whispered, his eye wide. "He's matching Sasuke's power level just to extend the fight."
"He's enjoying it," Sai murmured, clutching his sketchbook. "This... is his bond."
____
Chapter 33: The Specimen
The sky above the rocky wasteland bruised purple and black.
Sasuke hovered on his Curse Mark wings, his chest heaving, his pride fracturing with every breath. Naruto stood below him, Nozarashi resting on his shoulder, looking not at the Uchiha, but at the clouds. He looked… bored.
"Don't look away from me!" Sasuke screamed, the sound tearing through his throat.
He raised his hand. The heat from his earlier fire techniques had done its work. The updraft collided with the cooling air, birthing a sudden, unnatural storm. Thunder rolled, a sound like mountains grinding together.
CRACK-BOOM!
A beast of pure lightning took shape in the heavens. It was a dragon, vast and blinding, its roar shaking the bedrock.
"Begone with the thunderclap," Sasuke whispered, his eyes bleeding from the strain, his hand guiding the apocalypse. "Kirin."
He dropped his hand.
The lightning dragon descended. It moved at 1/1000th of a second—a speed no shinobi could dodge. A speed that was absolute.
Naruto looked up. He didn't tense. He didn't raise his sword. His blue eyes widened, not in fear, but in anticipation. His subconscious limiters trembled, ready to shatter to meet this new, beautiful threat.
But the lightning never hit the ground.
A single, rhythmic sound cut through the roar of the storm.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
It was the sound of applause. Slow. Condescending. Wet.
A wave of pressure, utterly alien to the ninja world, slammed into the battlefield. It wasn't chakra. It wasn't the heavy, golden weight of Naruto's Reiatsu. It was something sterile. Cold. A crushing, pinkish-white static that tasted like antiseptic and old blood.
The atmosphere warped. The storm clouds didn't disperse; they simply... ceased to function. The nature energy fueling Kirin was disrupted by the sheer density of this new spiritual pressure. The lightning dragon destabilized, unraveling into harmless sparks that rained down like glitter before vanishing entirely.
Sasuke froze, his hand still extended, his ultimate jutsu dismantled not by a counter-attack, but by presence alone.
"My, my," a voice crooned, smooth and echoing. "Such a primitive display of thermodynamics. Using the atmosphere to compensate for a lack of internal energy? Ingenious, in a desperate, rodent-like way."
Three figures emerged from the shadows of the canyon wall.
Kabuto Yakushi stepped out first, his face pale and sweating, his shattered arm bound tight against his chest. Next came Orochimaru, his golden eyes gleaming with a malicious delight, his arms crossed.
But it was the third figure that stole the air from the lungs of everyone present.
He was a man, tall and slender, with pink hair and glasses. He wore white—the pristine white of an Arrancar, but modified, evolved. His outfit was a mix of a lab coat and armor. But his physical form... it seemed to shift. One moment his skin looked like porcelain, the next it rippled like liquid data. Four large, teardrop-shaped wings floated behind him, not attached to his back, but hovering in a magnetic halo.
Szayelaporro Granz adjusted his glasses, a smile of pure, scientific ecstasy on his face.
"You..." Naruto growled. His body reacted instantly. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. It wasn't the thrill of a fight he felt. It was the primal revulsion of a predator recognizing something wrong with nature.
"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru hissed, his voice slithering over the distance. "Playtime is over. You're embarrassing yourself."
Sasuke landed, his Curse Mark receding, leaving him panting and humiliated. He glared at Orochimaru, then at the pink-haired stranger. "Who is this?"
"A partner," Orochimaru replied, licking his lips. "And the reason we are all going to evolve."
Szayelaporro ignored Sasuke. He ignored Orochimaru. He ignored Kabuto. His eyes, magnified by his spectacles, were locked entirely on Naruto.
"Ah," Szayelaporro breathed, taking a step forward. "The main attraction. Naruto Uzumaki. Or should I say... the Eleventh Kenpachi?"
Team 7, watching from the rim of the crater, froze.
'Kenpachi?' Kakashi thought, his brow furrowing in confusion. 'That name... Jiraiya-sama mentioned hearing the pink-haired girl call him that. But what does it mean? Is it a code? A title? And how does this stranger know it?'
Naruto's grip on Nozarashi tightened until the steel groaned. "Who the hell are you?"
"Who am I?" Szayelaporro let out a soft, wet chuckle. "I am your most devoted admirer. I have been watching you, specimen. Since the very beginning."
He spread his arms, the floating wings behind him pulsing with pink light.
"I watched you as a lonely little boy," Szayelaporro narrated, his voice taking on a dreamy, voyeuristic quality. "Swinging on that sad little swing, enduring the glares of those insignificant villagers. Such a fascinating display of psychological resilience in the face of isolation."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. A cold pit formed in his stomach. The sensation of eyes on his back, a feeling he had ignored for years, suddenly made sense.
"I watched your pathetic little banishment," Szayelaporro continued, taking another step. "Such crude political theater. And the hunt that followed... oh, that was a delight! Watching you run, watching you break."
He pointed a slender, white finger at Naruto.
"But the highlight... the magnum opus of my observation... was your battle with Nnoitra Gilga."
Naruto's breath hitched.
"Oh, the look on your face!" Szayelaporro laughed, a sound devoid of joy. "The raw, unrefined power! Watching you push yourself to the absolute brink, to the point of self-destruction, all to defeat a single, flawed Espada. It was the most exquisite data I have ever collected."
"You..." Naruto whispered. "You watched that?"
"Watched it?" Szayelaporro sneered. "I orchestrated it. Who do you think guided that stray dog to your doorstep? I simply gave him a scent. I needed to see just how much pressure the specimen could withstand before it broke... or evolved."
The realization hit Naruto like a physical blow. The fight that had killed him. The fight that had forced him to meet Unohana. It hadn't been fate. It hadn't been bad luck. It had been a test. A lab experiment run by this pink-haired freak.
"And evolve you did!" Szayelaporro's voice rose to a crescendo. "Your Bankai awakening was... divine. A perfect catalyst. And your subsequent 'death' and revival under the First Kenpachi herself! Retsu Unohana... ah, I haven't had the pleasure of dissecting a soul of her caliber yet. But I will."
He licked his lips, his tongue abnormally long.
"You must tell me all about her methods," he purred. "Her ability to mend and destroy... it's the most perfect form of science! And now that you are ripe... now that you have marinated in her teachings..."
Szayelaporro's form seemed to vibrate, the air around him screaming as he unleashed a fraction of his Beyond Resurrección pressure.
"I must have you," he whispered. "I must open you up. I must peel back the layers of Jinchuriki and Soul Reaper and see what makes the perfect hybrid tick."
Naruto lowered his head. His bangs shadowed his eyes. The golden aura of his Reiatsu flickered, turning a dark, muddy orange.
"You watched me," Naruto said, his voice quiet.
"Every moment," Szayelaporro confirmed.
"You sent Nnoitra to kill me."
"To test you," the scientist corrected. "And his death provided fascinating data as well. Nothing is wasted."
Naruto looked up. The whites of his eyes were gone, consumed by black. His pupils were slitted, glowing gold. His teeth were bared in a snarl that wasn't human. It wasn't the Nine-Tails. It was pure, unadulterated Kenpachi rage.
"Then you saw what I did to him," Naruto roared, swinging Nozarashi up, pointing it at the scientist. "And you should have learned to look away."
BOOM.
Naruto launched himself. The ground vaporized. He wasn't holding back. He wasn't matching power levels. He intended to cut this man into pieces small enough to fit in a test tube.
Szayelaporro didn't flinch. He just smiled.
"Excellent," the scientist whispered. "Let the experiment begin."
Tbc