Minato: Life After the Sealing Rewrite

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto (Masashi Kishimoto) or BLEACH (Tite Kubo); I am merely borrowing the characters and plot elements for entertainment purposes. Also be aware that there may be some spoilers for those who have not read up to the point where Shinji has been introduced in BLEACH canon.

Just a reminder that there is a poll for Ichigo's paring on my profile page. If you want to see someone with Ichigo who isn't there, just PM me. Just remember, no Ichigo/Rukia, it's more likely that she'll wind up with Renji, seeing as they have a history together.

Chapter VII- Mod-soul Mix-up

—Daybreak, unknown rooftop—

Rukia was sitting atop a building, watching the sunrise and contemplating the recent hollow activity, as well as Minato's involvement in the events of the past month. She was contemplating what was going to happen once she returned to Seireitei, considering the number of statutes and laws she had broken, when her gigai gave a huge spasm, causing her to gasp in pain.

"Damn, this body needs repair if I am to continue recovery." she thought. "It confuses me, though. I have drained my reiatu before, but never have I taken this long to recover."

Discarding the thought, she headed to the place her gigai originated, a non-descript, back-alley candy shop run by a man with wooden geta and a funny hat.

—0800 (8:00 am), Urahara Shōten—

Ururu and Jinta were sweeping the street in front of the store when Rukia approached. Well Ururu was, Jinta was failing at emulating a baseball player with his broom.

After grabbing the handle of Jinta's broom when he began swatting at Ururu for mentioning his fear of Tessai, Rukia was let into the store.

"Ah, Jinta. It is not yet time to… excuse me Rukia-dono; I did not realize it was you. I will go wake the manager." Tessai said, getting ready to put down the boxes he was toting

"Too late, I'm already up. Seems this is happening a lot lately." came a lazy voice from a side room. "Irassyaimase, Kuchiki-san. We received a shipment from the other side recently. So what can I do for you?"

"I need 60 soumafixers. My gigai hasn't been responding properly."

"Zya, shall I take a look at it? I'll give you a discount!" Urahara said, suddenly very friendly, a wide grin plastered on his face. "All two-hundred and fifty-five parts! I'll only charge 4980 Kan (currency of Seireitei, I'm guessing)."

"No thanks!" Rukia said, indignant.

"Geez, fine." Kisuke said with a sigh of resignation. "Paying by card?"

"No, I'm paying with these." Rukia said, holding up a cell phone.

"Bounty rewards?" Kisuke asked, taking the phone. "Fine by me, let's see what you've bagged.

'Fishbone D,' nothing. 'Hexapodus,' nada. 'Acid Wire,' no dough. These are all small fry, aren't they? None of these are even on the bounty list. Oh? This one's worth something. 'Shrieker,' bounty: 5000. Says he managed to kill two Shinigami."

"Hmm. By the way, did my order arrive?" Rukia asked.

"Yes, it did!" Kisuke said, immediately brightening. "Please go retrieve it, Ururu."

After a couple minutes, a wrapped object was brought out, opening it up, Rukia seemed put off by something. "So… this was the only one available, huh?"

"Please don't say that. That is the second most popular version, so it was very difficult to obtain."

"I see… Thank you for being so quick. It was imperative that I get this."

"Maido arigatou gozaimasu, Kuchiki-san."

—1200 (noon), Karakura Kotogakko—

Things had calmed down from the fiasco of Shieker's attack on Chad, and Keigo was busy attempting to amuse himself with the previously possessed parakeet, who had just mixed up his name with that of an affluent Japanese actor.

"It seems like the bird has a smaller vocabulary, Chad." Mizuiro remarked. "Did something happen?"

"…I dunno. He was like that when I woke up this morning." Chad said, remembering Minato's words of caution regarding the events of the last couple days.

"Good morning everyone!" called Rukia in a cheery voice.

"Ah! Good morning, Rukia." greeted Mizuiro, as everyone ignored Keigo's exuberant response. "That's rare, you're late to school."

"Yes, I had some business to attend to at home. By the way, Kurosaki-kun… Do you have a moment?" Rukia said, exuding false endearment as she turned to Ichigo.

"Eh? What is it? If you need to talk then why not right he— urk!" Ichigo collapsed as Rukia none too discretely slugged him in the gut.

"Are you all right Kurosaki-kun!?" Rukia cried in forced worry. "Oh no! I'll have to take you to the nurse's office!"

Rukia proceeded to drag Ichigo out of the room as everyone stared, all wondering the same thing. Did she just punch him!?

—Abandoned courtyard, Karakura Kotogakko—

"Here!" Rukia said, tossing Ichigo what looked like a Pez Dispenser with a duck head.

"What the hell is this?" Ichigo said with a dubious expression.

"Gikongan! A pill that forcibly pulls the spirit from the body. Normally, it's used on those who have already died and haven't given up their bodies, but I'm giving it to you so that you can eject from your body when I'm not around."

"So… the reason you were gone this morning was to go and buy this?"

"Among other things. Remember that if you take that, your real soul will leave your body, while a temporary replacement takes over."

"Gikongan, huh? It says 'Soul Candy.'"

"Uh… th-that's because the Shinigami Women's Association complained that 'gikongan' isn't a cute name, so it was changed three years ago."

"Why is it a duck?"

"Does it matter?" came a voice from above as Minato appeared in a flash of light. "Just pop one and see what happens."

"Oh? And why don't you take one too?"

"I don't need one. Shadow clones, remember? Besides, only Orihime and Chad, and maybe Tatsuki, know I exist, so there is no need for a replacement. Either way, it wouldn't be safe, putting a temporary soul in my body. I have many abilities that aren't human, and a soul could cause havoc if it got hold of my body."

"Whatever. Let's get this over with." Ichigo grumbled, popping a light green pill out of the dispenser. For several seconds after swallowing, nothing happened. Then there was a blue flash and Ichigo was standing in full Shinigami glory next to his body, which was slumped over the wall.

"I really did come out!"

"Surprised? Now no one will notice your absences!" she exclaimed, pointing at Ichigo's discarded body, which had begun to stir.

"Nice to meet you!" the replacement said in a robotically cheerful manner as soon as it was fully erect. "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. My Favorite Phrase is 'Early to bed, Early to rise!'"

"108 Shinigami scientists calculated an 'ideal personality' for the temporary soul to adopt. Cool, huh?"

"No, it's not! What is that!? That's nothing like me!" Ichigo cried, outraged. His ranting was cut short by a beeping from Rukia's pocket.

"Perfect, an order! Leave him here and let's get going!"

"NO! We'll be found out! Hey, 'me,' get over to my next class! Minato, keep an eye on him!"

"Sure thing, Ichigo." Minato called as Ichigo disappeared around the corner. "So, you going to enjoy yourself while it lasts?"

"You know?" the temporary replacement asked, suddenly fearful.

"Well, I know you're not a normal gikongan. Why are you so scared?"

"I'm just nervous about being found out by Shinigami. I'm what's known as a kaizou konpaku, or a mod-soul. I was part of the experiment known as 'Spearhead.' My kind was created as a means of combating hollows by placing spirits with powers into cadavers, but we were deemed unnecessary and unnatural and were systematically destroyed by Seireitei. As far as I know, I'm the only one left.

I enjoy the chance at freedom, but I won't kill. Please don't tell anyone about me, I don't want to be destroyed!"

"Don't worry, why don't you limber up. We'll head to Ichigo's class and then, we'll have some fun."

"OK, I hope you can keep up." the mod-soul said before jumping from a stand still all the way to the roof on the other side of the courtyard. He turned back to see Minato, to revel in his amazed expression, only to be surprised to see him missing.

"So, you are a modified legs model." came the voice from beside him, causing the mod-soul to start violently. "That was a good jump, and would surely amaze most people, but it was sub-par compared to the jumps I'm used to making."

"How did you do that? No normal human can jump like that!"

"Where I come from, jumps of that distance are common for humans. Let's get you to class."

"Alright, but we're going my way!"

—Karakura Kotogakko, class 1-3—

Tatsuki and Orihime were eating lunch with their friends, lost in thought about the events from several days ago. Orihime suddenly stood, rushing to the window.

"What is it Orihime?" Tatsuki asked, curious at her behavior. "Ah! Don't do that! Your panties are showing!" she cried as Orihime put one foot on the windowsill.

"I smell Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said, looking very much like a predator stalking its favorite prey.

"'Smell?' What, are you a dog or something? Besides, this is the third floor. We're thirty feet up, even if you smelled him, he couldn't come through the…" Tatsuki never finished as someone who seemed to be the aforementioned strawberry appeared in the window, landing lightly on the sill.

"This is class 1-3, isn't it?" the figure asked, stepping off the sill to allow a blonde-haired man to take his place.

"H-how'd you get up here?!" Tatsuki yelled, pointing at 'Ichigo.'

"How? You saw, I jumped. You surprised?"

"So we have an attention-starved kaizou konpaku and a room full of witnesses. I just hope he isn't love-starved as well." Minato thought, exasperated as he watched the proceedings.

"Man! This class has some fine girls!" the mod-soul thought, inadvertently shooting down his companion's thoughts. "They're all above average! I've been imprisoned for a while. I'm hungry for girls too… It doesn't matter, I'll just pick one."

"K-Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said tentatively, drawing the attention of 'Ichigo.' As a result, the mod-soul's eyes were drawn to her chest, nearly stopping his heart.

"EXTRA LARGE!!!" he thought overjoyed, not seeing his Arian companion face palm at the perverse gleam in his eye. The mod-soul jumped, clearing the crowd of onlookers, landing on a desk in front of the confused Inoue.

"Nice to meet you, pretty lady." 'Ichigo' said in a smooth voice. "Would you please tell me your name?" he inquired, moving to kiss Orihime's hand before being grabbed in a full nelson by an enraged Tatsuki.

"You bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing? Get away from Orihime!!" In response, 'Ichigo' craned his neck backward to look at Tatsuki.

"You know," he started. "from up close, you're pretty cute too." This statement was followed by 'Ichigo' kissing Tatsuki on the cheek.

"Great, even here I'm surrounded by perverts!" Minato lamented. "Maybe giving him those copies of Icha Icha forced on me by Ero-sensei will curb his lust."

He was brought out of his musings by the crash of a desk flying out the window beside him, and he saw Ichigo's black-haired friend hefting a second.

"DIE!!!" Tatsuki screamed, hurling the desk at 'Ichigo.' "Wow, she's like Tsunade and Kushina combined!" Minato thought. "I'm just glad she doesn't carry shuriken, or people would be dead right now."

"What!?" the mod-soul asked. "All I did was kiss your cheek! Are you in grade school? Calm down."

"SHUT UP!!" Tatsuki roared, slamming a desk down on where 'Ichigo' had been seconds before.

"Well, I'm bugging out." Minato said, sensing Ichigo and Rukia coming. He jumped out the window and vanished into a tree across the street from the school.

"That's enough!" came Rukia's shout from the door moments later. A look of terror flashed on the mod-soul's face and he dashed to the window for escape. "There he goes, Ichigo!"

"Yeah!" Ichigo said as he jumped into the window the mod-soul had used for entrance. "Now… give up there's nowhere for you to…" he trailed off as his body leapt from the broken window beside him.

He watched stunned as his body landed unharmed thirty feet below before sprinting off faster than humanly possible.

"What's going on!?" Ichigo asked, stunned. "What in the world is he?"

"There's no doubt about it," Rukia said, completely serious. "he's a kaizou konpaku, a mod-soul!"

With that, Ichigo and Rukia sprinted from the room, leaving a confused Orihime and an outraged Tatsuki in the disaster zone that was their classroom.

A minute later, Ichigo's friends opened the door, freezing.

"Wha-? What happened here?" Keigo asked, awestruck at the devastation. Then he saw the enraged Tatsuki standing in the center of the room, radiating a black aura of malice throughout the room.

—Elsewhere, near Karakura Shougakko—

Minato was looking for the mod-soul, just to keep an eye on him. He was also thinking up an excuse for Ichigo, so that he could justify giving the mod-soul free reign. Then he spotted 'Ichigo' bounding down the street, flaunting his jumping prowess. He used a sunshin to get over to him, shouting out a 'hey' from a rooftop of to the right of his path.

"So, enjoying yourself?" he asked the mod-soul.

"Yeah! It's great being able to move and be free after so long. I'm also really happy that my abilities make me stand out."

"Mmm. Just remember that you're going to have to give that body back eventually."

"But if I do, they'll destroy me!"

"If Rukia explains to Ichigo about you, not likely." Minato said. "Ichigo is similar to me. He never liked the idea of tossing aside a being for the sake of convenience. I'm sure he won't let you be destroyed."

By this point, the two had made it over to Karakura Shougakko, where Karin and Yuzu went to school. They were perched on the roof of the shed, watching three boys in physical education uniforms play on their Gameboy Advances. As they played, they complained about gym and Karin.

"Ah! Damn it, my guy lost again! Can't you even fight? Who do you think created you!?" one said, annoyed, causing 'Ichigo' to tense up.

"Ha. Why don't you delete him?" his friend asked. The conversation had taken a turn that was all too familiar to the mod-soul.

"Yeah. Those that don't listen to their master… die!" said the first. "I'll just create a better one!" The mod-soul snapped.

The gym teacher was attracted by the boys' screams. "What's going on here?"

"Strange high schooler… appeared out of nowhere… jumping… orange hair… HE BROKE OUR VIDEO GAME!!" they cried, holding up their destroyed entertainment devices.

On a roof several blocks over, Minato and the mod-soul were sprinting away from the scene.

"So those three touched on a nerve, huh?"

"Yeah. They just ruined my great mood." Suddenly both froze, a cold, chilling feeling racing down their spines. Both whipped towards where they had been.

"You feel it?" Minato asked.

"Yeah, hollow. …Near where we just were! I think those three are about to be attacked!" 'Ichigo' confirmed before they both sprinted back in the direction they came from.

They reached the area just as a centipede-like hollow was just about to take a chunk out of one of the unsuspecting children. With an intense burst of speed, 'Ichigo' grabbed the trio, yanking them out of the way as the hollow lunged. After the hollow struck, it looked up into a powerful kick that launched it away from the mod-soul.

The mod-soul yelled for the trio to run and launched towards the hollow to follow up on Minato's attack. The boys scurried away as the wall surrounding the school was knocked down by the hollow striking it.

"Lure it up to the roof!" Minato called. "I'll meet you up there as soon as I separate from my body!"

Following Minato's instructions, the mod-soul leapt up to the roof, but not without taking an injury from one of the hollow's front legs. The hollow lunged after the mod-soul, halting to play with its food.

"Hehe… interfering with my meal, running around… I don't know who you are, but… a weakling like you shouldn't get INVOLVED!!" roared the hollow before lunging again, just to be cut off by a massive blade slicing through its front legs.

"You saved-" the mod-soul started, but was cut off when Ichigo grabbed him by the shirt.

"You idiot, that's my body you're dicking around in! If you get injured fighting trash like this, then stay out of it!"

"Hey! If I hadn't gotten involved, three kids might have died! I had to hold him off 'cause you weren't here!"

"I'll devour you both!!" cried the hollow, lunging once more, this time cut off by a black o-katana plunging through its mask.

"Be quiet while the grown-ups are talking." scolded Minato as it began to dissolve into a flurry of reishi (spirit particles). Sheathing his blade, Minato approached Ichigo.

"There you are. Been looking for you ever since I got back from that cleansing three hours ago." he said, addressing the mod-soul. "Sorry about that, Ichigo. I wasn't able to keep your body out of trouble." he admonished, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Ichigo was about to respond when a cane hit the back of "Ichigo's" head, forcing the mod-soul out.

"Mission complete!" came a cheerful voice as the owner bent down to retrieve the pill. "Hey there, Minato! You here helping Ichigo with his 'out-of-body experience?'"

"Hello, Kisuke. No, I have had nothing to do with the gikongan incident."

"Wait! What are you going to do with him!?" Ichigo demanded of Kisuke, who was tossing the green sphere about lazily.

"Dispose of it, of course. Why?"

"Wait a minute. You can see us? Just who are you?"

"Um… How do I answer that…?" Kisuke asked himself as Rukia snatched the mod-soul from him.

"He's a greedy salesman." she stated bluntly, ignoring the childish protests of the candy-store owner. "There's no need to confiscate him, Urahara. If anything happens, I'll take the heat."

"Whatever." Kisuke said, regaining his composure. "If this blows up on you, don't expect me to bail you out."

With that, the staff of Urahara Shōten left, leaving the trio alone on the roof of the school.

—Sunset, unknown street, Karakura—

The trio was walking back to the Kurosaki Clinic, discussing how to keep the mod-soul. After Rukia confirming that any body that could house the pill would be a suitable container, Ichigo picked up a stuffed lion off of a pile of roadside waste and inserted the pill.

Several seconds and one violent swinging later, the mod-soul kicked off of Ichigo's hands and landed facing the trio.

"Well, not the best in terms of body choices, but it'll work I guess." the mod-soul said after looking himself over. "By the way, am I going to get a name? You can't just keep calling me mod-soul all the time."

"How 'bout 'Kon?'" Ichigo asked.

"'Kon!?' I'm a lion, not a fox you moron!"

"So? It's short for konpaku, and with what you did to my body, which still stings by the way, you deserve it."

As Ichigo and Rukia walked off into the distance, Minato picked up the newly christened Kon and set him on his shoulder.

"Tell you what." he said. "If you go along with this, and stop throwing yourself at girls all the time, I'll give you something my sensei gave me as a wedding gift."

"What?" Kon asked, curiosity piqued.

"Let me tell you a little about a series from my world called Icha Icha."

Notes

Shougakko is Japanese for elementary school.

No, Minato is not a pervert, he just didn't have the heart to throw out the books that were given to him by the closest thing he had to a father.

Thank you to all who so far have read and enjoyed my very first fiction. I hope you continue to read and review this work, and remember that the version with phonetic Romanization will be coming out soon.

A last reminder that there is a poll on my profile page. I can't make an informed decision on just four votes people!

This story is a licensed product of Aperture Science incorporated, helping create a better future today for those of us who are still alive.

-Kyuubi799