Chapter 1-New Life
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the sixth strongest of the Espada in Aizen's elite army of the Arrancars in Las Noches within the realm of Hueco Mundo looked around the dark realm he found himself in, and wondered if this was the place where his kind went when they died? He had just lost to Ichigo in a battle worthy of an Espada, but Grimmjow did not know the meaning of the words "give up", and rose to fight Ichigo once again. However, before that could happen, the prick Nnoritra blindsided him, and sliced him in half before the darkness that was death took him here.
Wherever here was anyway.
"Hey! Is there anybody here in this shithole?! If there is and your strong then I want to fight!" said Grimmjow, as he had not intention of being, and doing nothing while the rest of the Universe did its own thing without him.
"Well if this isn't a surprise," said a feminine voice behind Grimmjow and the former Espada turned around to see her standing a few feet away.
Espada # 3 Tia Harribel
"What the Hell?! What are you doing here?" said Grimmjow, as he wondered how an Espada twice his rank was here, and not in Las Noches fighting the other Shinigami.
"I was killed...by Aizen," said Tia, as she told him what Aizen did, and how they were nothing to the man despite the fact they served him loyally.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope Ichigo, and his allies kick the crap out of Aizen when they face off against the prick," said Grimmjow, as he hated Aizen due to the man being a former Shinigami, but had been loyal if only for the most part due to the rogue Shinigami bring him strong unorthodox opponents, and loved fighting them all.
"You need not concern yourself with that now former members of the Espada," said a deep sinister voice with its spiritual pressure suffocating the two Arrancar.
"Who said that?" said Tia, as she drew her sword, and so did Grimmjow.
Only for them to drop when the pressure increased and forced them both to their knees.
"I did," said the demonic and ghostly being hovering above them with a crown of bones on its head.
"Who the Hell are you?" said Grimmjow, as he tried to stand, but didn't have the strength, and saw Tia was doing the same.
"Who am I? I am the Shinigami King," said the ghostly image above them became a tornado of power and changed a regal middle aged man with blood red eyes.
'This is the guy Aizen wants to kill? Ha! Good luck with that you manipulative dick,' thought Grimmjow, as he could tell right away this being made Aizen look like a pansy, and wipe the man out.
"Normally, I don't interfere in the affairs of the Human world, the Shinigami World, and even Hueco Mundo though make no mistake with my power I could wipe out all the Hollows there! I see more that goes on in all three worlds, then anyone else from each world, and I have been waiting for just right individuals for a mission that if completed will clear each of your slates clean," said the Shinigami King, as he let up on the spiritual pressure, and let the two Arrancar rise.
"What mission?" said Tia, as she was curious about the mission, and from the Shinigami King himself that was saying it was important.
"In another place and time in another dimension of the Human World there is a child that was burdened with holding a powerful demon by his own Father. This demon was so powerful that the man, who was called the 'Hokage' of this village that he chose to summon me personally to seal it away, and asked his child to be seen as a hero. The boy was not," said the Shinigami King, as he showed moments of the boy's life where he was attacked, hated by everyone around, and was shown little kindness with some of the people only betraying the young blonde in the end.
"Shit. Not even that prick Nnoritra would go so far like these idiots," said Grimmjow, as he felt his anger rise within his body, and Tia could easily agree with him on that subject.
"Yes. Because of my seal, the boy will be gifted with the power of the Shinigami, and one day have his own zanpakuto. However, because of his years of abuse in the very beginning of his life, the child will also gain a Hollow side, and will one day come out when the time is right. He will one day become what is known as a Vizard. Not unlike the one called Kurosaki Ichigo that you yourself encountered on more then several occasions Grimmjow," said the Shinigami King, as he saw the two Arrancar look at him in surprise, and then back at an image of a lonely blue eyed blonde boy wishing to be loved.
"So we go this world, meet the kid, and then train him? Is that mission? "said Grimmjow, as he had an eyebrow raised, and ignored Tia walking towards the blown up image of a depressed Naruto.
"No! You will not just train him. You will both raise him as if he were your own," said the Shinigami King, which made both Arrancars look at him in shock, and then at each other with wide eyes.
"WHAT?! What the Hell are you thinking with that line of thought?" said Grimmjow, as he had nothing against Tia, but he didn't like her like that, and was pretty sure she didn't like him that way either.
"I agree. Why put both of us together for this? Since I am the stronger of the two of us just leave it to me and send this weakling into the abyss," said Tia sharply while her eyes narrowed at Grimmjow.
"Yeah hav-HEY! I am not the weaker one here! You may have been the third strongest of the Espada, but you still got your ass killed, and by the very boss we both served!" said Grimmjow, who would have said more, as would've Tia with her own opinion of him had the Shinigami King once more used his spiritual pressure to shut them up, and force them into submission.
"That is enough from BOTH OF YOU! I don't care whether or not the two of you like each other in 'that way', as my only concern is the boy I am placing in your charge, and is suffering as we speak because you two are arguing about BEING A COUPLE! When I brought you here, it was because I knew you two were the best suited for this out of all the other possible candidates I had in stock just itching to do this, and will jump at the chance if I change my mind in sending you both. Something I am right now verytempted to do if you both don't get your egos deflated in the next five micro seconds of life!" said the Shinigami King, as he was not about to have these two get into a fight over such a stupid thing when the boy he brought a burden to was suffering, and needed help.
"All right! All right! I'm in," said Grimmjow flatly though his eyes looked at Naruto's and there was a flash of something in them at the sight of the kid.
"Me too. Though we are not sharing a bed," said Tia, as she looked at Grimmjow, who just scoffed, and then went back to the image of Naruto before putting she put a hand on the image of the boy's face.
"I don't care about that part your housing situation in regards to Naruto. Just make it work for the boy's sake. Maybe in time...the two of you will have a change of heart on the matter," said the Shinigami King seeing a blush form on their faces before he called forth a blast of white energy that teleported the two out of his domain.
(Konoha-Nightfall)
"Damn demon! Why won't you die?!" said a village, as he beat up a young eight year old Naruto in an alley area, and the boy would not give into his words.
"I'm not a demon," said Naruto, as he was punched again in the face, and knocked down with his head hitting dirty water.
"Yes you are! You are a freak of nature that doesn't deserve to be here. But don't worry, I'm going to do you a service in sending you back to Hell, and there is no better way for a demon then to set one on fire!" said the man, as he threw a bottle of sake' on Naruto, and then drew a match with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
The man was about to drop the match on Naruto when a flash of white light off in the distance caught his attention and the man missed the blonde's movement of hitting the attacker right between the legs. The boy had seen the attack used by a woman with purple hair a few Months back and decided to use it only with his fist instead of the knee since he wasn't tall enough yet.
The man cried out in pain, as he saw Naruto take off running, and snarled at the brat for hurting his family jewels, and limped after the blonde to teach him a lesson.
Naruto made it about two blocks when he tripped and fell on the ground with his attacker right behind him with the intent of trying to set the boy on fire. Even though Naruto had run this far, the man just had to follow the smell of sake' he hit the bleeding boy with, and the struggling moans of pain heard from his soon to be burn victim.
"I'm not a demon. Why won't you believe me?" said Naruto, as he saw the man corner him, and then pull out another match.
"Because you're a demon and demon's are not to be trusted," said the man, but before he could drop the match on the boy, he was struck in the head by a foot, and sent crashing into a wall with the impact causing the man to explode everywhere.
"What an asshole!" said the newcomer, as he looked down at the boy, and then over to the other person looking on in the shadows.
"Who are you?" said Naruto, as he saw the man had what looked like part of a skull the right side of his face, and then at the woman in the shadows looking at him cautiously.
"The names Grimmjow. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez," said Grimmjow, as he grinned down at the boy, and was surprised that the kid wasn't afraid of him for what he just did.
If anything, the kid looked grateful, but still cautious since no one clearly helped out the boy out of the goodness of their hearts, and wouldn't do this unless they got something out of it. It made Grimmjow angry that this place with such strange spiritual energy could do this to one of its own and simply treat the kid like a monster. The Espada never did that! Never! Aizen had made it a point to teach them all about loyalty to one another, to not do stupid things like infighting, which would allow the Shinigami to enter their world in order to destroy it, and them for what they had become.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Is the pretty lady with you too?" said Naruto, as he saw Tia look away though a blush did creep up on her face despite it being covered up for the most part, and then looked at Grimmjow currently smirking at the boy.
"Yeah she's with me. Sort of anyway. Her name is Tia Harribel. As for the reason we are here, is to help, and adopt you Naruto," said Grimmjow grinning, but his grin left him when Naruto scowled at him, and began walking away with a hurt look on his face before Tia appeared in front of the boy.
"Why are you walking away Naruto?" said Tia, as she was disturbed by Naruto's actions, and the look of sadness in his eyes.
"Because I know you're messing with me. Before I was kicked out of the Orphanage, I was tricked by several parents, who said they wanted to adopted me, and then not show up while I waited for them all into the night. I swore to myself I wouldn't be fooled by people like that ever again so don't expect me to jump for joy like you want only to take my happiness away," said Naruto, as he looked her dead in the eyes, and saw sadness in the equally blonde spiky haired woman.
'I am so tempted to using a Cero on this place right now and killing all these fuckers for hurting the brat,' thought Grimmjow, as he could practically feel the same thing from Tia, and walked over to the boy to set the record straight.
"I don't know about those other morons that lied to you kid, but were not messing with you, and we really do want to be your...parents," said Grimmjow, as he couldn't believe he said the word, and that it involved him of all people.
"Really? You're not pulling my leg and just saying that only to laugh at the end at my expense?" said Naruto and was surprised when the woman kneeled down in front of him to look directly into his blue eyes.
"Naruto, I swear to you on my zanpakuto that we are here to adopt you, and we will use all of our powers to make sure that you grow strong under our guidance," said Tia, as she saw the boy tear up with joy, and then tackle her in a hug.
Thank you! Thank you so much! You won't regret this. I promise!" said Naruto, as he cried right on her shoulder, and soon found himself drifting off to sleep in the former female Esapda's arms.
"All right enough of this mushy stuff. First thing we both need to do is eat something, then we need a place to stay, and then we're going to deal with these fuckers that made the boy's life miserable," said Grimmjow, as he found it weird to see Tia holding a child in her arms so gently, and close to her body since the woman had always kept a personal barrier that no one was supposed to cross.
"Agreed. I saw a small stand not that far our location when we first came here. I'm sure we could acquire something there provided we only threaten the owner to not charge us," said Tia, as they didn't have any money on hand, and knew little of the currency needed for it in this place.
"I know the place from the kid's memories. They're one of the few people here that treat him right despite everyone else doing the exact opposite," said Grimmjow, as he along with Tia moved swiftly from the area, and headed to the small ramen stand.
Seconds later, a ANBU squad appeared seeing the mess made on the wall, and felt the strange chakra that was still emanating from the area.
"What do you think? Is it the Kyuubi vessel? Did the fox take over and kill this...person on this wall?" said the ANBU Captain to the Inuzuka of the team and his canine sniffing the ground.
"Its hard to tell. The boy was here moments ago. Of that I have no doubt, but...," said the Inuzuka shaking his head while his canine companion went into a whimper and shook in fear.
"But what?" said the ANBU Captain frowning at his subordinate.
"There are two other things here. They were powerful and I think one of them did this. Not the Kyuubi vessel," said the Inuzuka fearfully at his ANBU Captain.
"The demon has summoned reinforcements! We must quickly inform the Councils and the Hokage himself before more of them come to secretly kill us all!" said another ANBU fearfully.
"Calm down Hawk. You don't know that. None of us do. If anything, these two powerful beings may have seen what many of have already have with the brat, and decided to help the kid for once. Spread out! I'll inform the Hokage while the rest of you search for the brat. If you do find him, but with strange looking people, then don't engage just yet, and send out a pulse of chakra before waiting for the Hokage to show up," said the ANBU Captain, as he saw them nod, and spread out to find the boy.
They could only hope the boy was nearby.
(Ichiraku Ramen Stand)
"So you two are going to adopt Naruto? You're not just fooling with him? Because if you are...," said the Teuchi, but was silenced by Grimmjow glaring at him with his blue eyes while eating, and Tia was holding the sleeping boy in her arms while contemplating how to eat her meal.
"First off old man, I don't like to be threatened by weak people, and if it weren't for the simple fact your food was so damn good along with being kind to the brat I would kill you right now. Second, I want information about this place, and I think you know what kind I'm talking about here," said Grimmjow, as he saw the old man look at his daughter Ayame in the back helping with the making of the ramen.
"Ayame dear, I think its time you went home, and called it a night," said Teuchi, as he saw his daughter pout, and look at him with depressing eyes.
"But I have so much to learn Dad! I've finally got your Beef Ramen Special down to the point where people will like it," said Ayame, as she had made the batch the two strangers were eating now, and the guy with the strange quarter mask with teeth was eating it up like there was no tomorrow.
The lady beside him wasn't so enthusiastic in eating, but Ayame thought the woman was distracted by the sleeping form of Naruto, and the fact people were glaring at the youth in her arms.
"You can try mastering it tomorrow. You know that is when our busiest day of the week starts and it will be the perfect time to test your own version on the village populous," said Teuchi, as he saw his daughter sulk a little, but nodded in understanding, and began preparing for the quick walk home.
"So she doesn't know about the kid holding it I take it?" said Grimmjow, as he saw the man nod his head, and let out a sigh before rubbing his forehead.
"No. At least I hope not anyway. There is a law in place that forbids people mentioning the connection to the younger generation, but I'd bet this ramen stand that the parents have been secretly breaking it, and poisoning their children's' minds," said Teuchi, as he had tried to keep his daughter from being poisoned by the villagers, and their arrogance regarding Naruto.
"Does anyone enforce this law?" said Grimmjow, as he knew that even Las Noches had laws, and they were strictly enforced regardless of how strongly some of the Arrancar opposed it.
"Barely. Doesn't stop them from trying to hurt the poor kid. I actually caught one of the Shinobi in charge of watching Naruto one day looking the other way when a group of bastards started to attack him. I basically yelled at the man to do something and he says 'Why should I?' before taking off," said Teuchi, as he had gone to the Hokage, and named names of the people attacking Naruto before the Sandaime decided to intervene himself.
'Shinobi? From what I've seen around this place, it reminds of the Shinigami from the 2nd Division, and do quick kills using speed combined with stealth,' thought Tia, as she saw the boy stir, and then awaken before turning to the sight of slowly cooling ramen.
"Ramen! Is this for me Mom?" said Naruto, as he saw Tia stiffen at the name, and then he shook in fear of being thrown away from her for saying the word.
As for Tia herself, she had never been called that before, but the way Naruto said it was that of affection, and love that comes from a parent bonding with a child. Smiling behind her shirt, she turned Naruto fully on her lap to face the stand counter, and made sure he was as close to the ramen bowl as possible.
"Yes Naruto-kun. It's all for you. Dig in son," said Tia, as she saw Grimmjow look at her in surprise, and Teuchi smile at the two since he could see how overjoyed Naruto was at this simplest act of affection.
And dig into the ramen bowl the boy did. Within seconds, the bowl was empty, and Naruto let out a content sigh before thanking the woman with another love tackle of a hug.
"Hey Tia. Why don't you take the gaki home? I will get you something for later when he's asleep," said Grimmjow, as he didn't know where that came from within his head, or why he even said that to Tia except that it felt...right.
Damn! This kid better not make him soft.
"Okay. Come on Naruto-kun. Show me to your home for us to stay the night and then tomorrow we'll speak to your Hokage...was it?" said Tia, as she found the title to be a bit weird, but powerful sounding nonetheless, and then looked at Naruto looking happy at the news.
Though at the same time she sensed fear from the child.
"Okay. Though I have to warn you, my apartment isn't exactly pleasant to look at, and the landlord is a jerk to me all the time," said Naruto, as he hated the old bitch, and the boy wished he could do something about it.
"We'll deal with that when the time comes," said Tia, as she put the child on her shoulder, and the two left with Naruto pointing her the best way to his home without getting hurt by people.
Tia made a special mental note to visit said people in the near future and show them her own personal definition of just what physical pain was when it came to the mind of an Arrancar!
"Okay, they're gone. Now tell me about the people here, and who I should be looking at in case someone tries to hurt Naruto again. Don't get me wrong, I can easily sense when someone will have ill intentions against the gaki, but I'd prefer to know ahead of time, and make sure the boy knows who he should be cautious about," said Grimmjow, as he saw the man nod, and motioned him forward so they could talk in a lower volume.
"A vast majority of the village is against the boy. Mainly the Uchiha Clan, who from my understanding have been trying to get the Hokage to order Naruto's execution since day one, and then you have the Civilian Council that handles the basics civilian affairs. After the Yondaime died sealing the Kyuubi, they moved in to take more power then they really should. At least, I personally think they've taken too much of it anyway, and are split down the middle between death or turning Naruto into a mindless weapon. The Clan Heads, who all represent their individual clan here in the Leaf are for the most part still in favor of the boy, but not all the members of their respected clans feel the same way, and have tried to hurt the boy by using it to get closer to the kid before attacking. The Hyuuga Clan, which is one of the most powerful if not influential clan among them, is still on the fence, but I suspect that the Clan Head wishes to support the boy after how the poor gaki helped save his daughter from being kidnapped by an Ambassador from another village during a peace treaty signing several years ago, and would do so if it weren't for the fact the Elders in that clan are being a pain right now," said Teuchi, as he let out another sigh, and saw Grimmjow looking pissed off at this information.
"So Naruto does something noble and they still treat him like he was crap afterwards," said Grimmjow, as he devoured the rest of his ramen angrily, and chugged down the broth before putting the bowl down.
"There's more. The Shinobi Council has been among those wishing the boy to be turned into a weapon and there is a man behind them wishing for the same thing. His name is Danzo. He was part of an organization with the Leaf called Root, which has secretly been supporting the Hokage from the shadows since its founding, but it was disbanded by the Yondaime after the last Shinobi war, and Danzo seeks to turn Naruto into something that would be monstrous for his own goals. Even though Root is disbanded, he keeps them around using the excuse of having them as a 'Private Security Force', and other loopholes to make sure the Sandaime can't do anything to reintegrate them back into normal Leaf Shinobi. The guy is known for being a war hawk among his peers and wishes to rule over everything with what won't submit being destroyed," said Teuchi, as he had been in this village all his life, playing the act of a simple ramen stand own, and listened to everything people said while pretending not to hear anything at all.
Something the Yondaime taught him when they were teammates before early retirement since being a Shinobi wasn't Teuchi's thing, but stayed until they all graduated to the rank of Chuunin, and took retirement from being a Shinobi after five years of service during the last war.
'So many people to hurt so little time,' thought Grimmjow, as he let out a growl, and his zanpakuto was surprisingly doing the same too.
"Also, I...I don't know if I should be saying this, but...but I think you should also be very cautious of the Sandaime too, and anything he may say to persuade you from adopting Naruto," said Teuchi, as he saw Grimmjow now frown at this news, and clearly wanted an explanation.
"I thought this Hokage was on Naruto's side? Are you saying that they're signs of the man isn't the noble man people think him to be?" said Grimmjow, as he saw Teuchi becoming more nervous, and wondered if there was something the ramen stand owner was afraid to say out of fear of being attacked by someone wanting to keep said information buried.
"As I said, I'm not sure if the Sandaime is actually supporting Naruto, or if he's only just doing it to manipulate the boy into staying loyal to the Leaf. However, I know for a fact that you are not the first to try adopting Naruto, and actually mean it unlike the rest of the bakas here in the village," said Teuchi seeing Grimmjow's eyes widen and then narrow dangerously.
"Who else tried to adopt Naruto?" said Grimmjow with his full focus on this Teuchi for this information.
"Me. I tried when the boy was four years old. I got all the paperwork done and presented it to the Hokage himself before telling him I would like to adopt Naruto. That I would raise him, loved him, call him son, and treat him like a human being. The first thing the Hokage tried to do when he heard this was telling me to reconsider my choice in the child I wanted to adopt and that there were other more safer children in the Orphanage that I should consider adopting. I told the old man that I wanted to adopt Naruto and no other. Period! I told him that boy is suffocating in that place and he needs to take several breaths outside of it or else the child will never trust anyone around him. The Sandaime just looked at me with a blank stare, as if he was telling me that he knew, but he just did not care, and told me again that I should choose a kid that wasn't such a 'sensitive case'. I told him, I knew about the Kyuubi, and I didn't think the fox was the boy, and wanted to adopt Naruto regardless of everything else. That was when I finally suspected the man was not fully protecting Naruto and had his own agenda," said Teuchi with his face going pale at the memory.
"You have guts to stand up to the guy, I'll give you that, but I also know you wouldn't be the kind of guy to back down from something like that unless something happened, and was given a clear sign to back off from adopting him," said Grimmjow, as he knew that even some weaklings have a spine, and will use it when fighting for something that they believe in.
"Correct. I had no intention backing down from this, but the Sandaime then mentioned my daughter, and it made my heart nearly stop. You see, my wife had give birth to my sweet girl Ayame a few years prior to the Kyuubi's attack on the Leaf, and then died of a heart attack a few years later from stress that came from giving birth. The Hokage told me that if I didn't stop what I planned to do, he would see to it that my daughter became an orphan just like Naruto, and that she got adopted into a clan to become its maid...for life! " said Teuchi, as he shivered at the thought since the only clans he could think of that would treat his daughter like crap were Uchiha Clan, and to a slightly lesser extent the Hyuuga Clan with a modified Cage Bird Seal.
"So this old bastard of a Hokage is also against Naruto while manipulating him to stay loyal for his own reasons. Sounds like some guys I use to know," said Grimmjow, as the old man reminded him of Aizen, and even Gin to a certain extent.
"I suspect he's up to something! Though what it is I don't know. All I do know is that he's not looking after Naruto's best interest. Otherwise, he wouldn't have announced the boy had the Kyuubi sealed inside of him for the whole village to hear, and do more in trying to protect Naruto from harm," said Teuchi, as he had to think about his current family, and couldn't adopt Naruto knowing that something bad would happen if he did before the ink was dry on the adoption papers.
"Well that's going change or my name isn't Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez!" said Grimmjow, as he now had to deal with paying the man for the food, and realized he had no currency to do it.
"Don't worry about paying me for the food. It's on the house. You taking care of that boy is more then enough payment for me in my book," said Teuchi, as he had given Naruto a few free bowls in the past, and helped when he could to fill the young kid's stomach.
"You're all right old man. See you around," said Grimmjow, as he got a few feet from the stand when an elderly man in full battle armor, and helmet appeared with a small army of masked Shinobi ready for a fight.
"Who are you? Where is Naruto?" said the elderly man, who was the Sandaime, and saw the former Espada turn to look at him with those dangerous blue eyes that reminded the Hokage of a predatory animal.
"Who wants to know? Are you by chance that so called Sandaime Hokage of this village I've heard so much about?" said Grimmjow, as he saw the Shinobi around the man tense, and the Hokage in question take a few steps forward.
"I am. Now I'll ask you again and I expect an answer. Where is the boy?" said the Hokage with more edge in his voice and what he got from Grimmjow was a grin.
A grin that turned into a laugh that echoed throughout the village in the dead of night.
"Oh this is too much! I was actually hoping to run into you earlier tonight, but I decided against hunting you down until tomorrow morning, and talking about adopting Naruto," said Grimmjow, as he saw the Shinobi around the Hokage stiffen, and so the did the Hokage himself.
"You wish to...adopt Naruto? Why? Who are you?" said the Hokage, as he heard some of his ANBU were whispering "demon lover", and "Kyuubi worshipper" along with some others that the carried over to the former Espada's ears.
"Of course I want to adopt the gaki! The only question I have for you ya old fart is why the Hell not?!" said Grimmjow, as he saw the Sandaime looking nervous now, and knew that the old man wouldn't dare break his own law even if the people did so themselves.
"You will talk to Hokage-sama with respect!" said an ANBU with gravity defying silver hair.
"Respect? Why would I show him respect? Tell you what old man, I'm tired right now, my friend is currently taking Naruto home, and I'm going to join her. We're going to talk to you about this in the morning when we've all had our sleep and depending on what we hear will decide the future of this place along with all its inhabitants," said Grimmjow, as he vanished from the Hokage's sight, and made everyone nervous.
"Hokage-sama, what do we do?" said the ANBU, as he saw the Hokage let out a tired sigh, and turned to look at them.
"Nothing for now. We will deal with them tomorrow. There is no lying in that man when he said we would speak to me in the morning. Keep an eye on Naruto's apartment, but make no move against the boy, or these two strangers unless they do something that may harm the boy. Understood?" said the Sandaime, as he saw them nod, and then departed quickly from his sight.
(Naruto's Apartment)
Tia frowned at the sight of Naruto's home and had to bite back the growl that wanted to escape her throat knowing that the boy may misinterpret at being disappointed with him. The apartment Naruto lived in was crappy to say the least, as there was a thick line of weird mold in one corner of a room, a splintered table in the kitchen barely supporting anything placed on it, the fridge where food was kept looked rust in over a third of it outer design, and the smell coming from it made the former Espada want to vomit. She was actually glad that her stomach was empty right now because if it were filled with ramen, then it would soon be empty again, and her contents would be on Naruto's floor.
The bedroom was no different. An open closet filled with little to no clothing, a patched up window that had been broken several times by the bed, and the bed itself was just a simple mattress on the ground with shitty patchwork that barely kept some of the springs in place.
"I'm sorry it not much, but its not easy keeping this place clean given how little I have, and what people will throw out to replace with something new," said Naruto, as he had taken what people threw out, and scavenged through what materials he could for his own home.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun. Soon this will all be just a bad memory," said Tia, as she was finding it difficult to keep her anger in check, and found the only thing remotely worth sitting in much less sleeping on was the couch.
"Thanks Mom! Um... I can call you Mom, right?" said Naruto, as he was a bit unsure about it since the woman was tense when he first called her that, and didn't know how else to address former Espada.
"Of course you can...son," said Tia, as she saw him smile a true smile instead of the fake one he had been using the whole time, and made the former Espada's heart ache knowing this kid had suffered so much in such a short time due to the pathetic humans in this small village.
Once again Naruto hugged the Arrancar woman again, only tighter this time, as if he still feared this was fake, or some kind of dream that he would wake up from to find himself in this Hell these people placed on him. Even now, Tia heard Naruto whispering for her to not leave him, let this not be a dream, and if it was that he never wake up from it no matter what.
There was a knock on his apartment door, which ended the moment, and for a second Naruto's entire body stood ridged from bad memories. People had clearly deceived him with gentle knocking instead of kicking down the door to come after the poor boy.
"Who's there?" said Naruto, as he wasn't going to let anyone in unless it was his soon to be adopted parents, and only then if it was really them.
"Its me gaki! Your future old man Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez!" said Grimmjow, as he was waiting outside for the kid to open up the door, or Tia for that matter since kicking it down would no doubt bring back bad memories for Naruto.
"Its him Naruto. I can sense his spiritual energy," said Tia, as she walked with the boy to the door, and opened it to reveal Grimmjow in all his former Espada greatness.
"You were right Mom! Um...what is spiritual pressure? Is it like chakra?" said Naruto, as he had heard the word before, and been in the boring classes that held it.
"Chakra? What the Hell is that?! Never mind, I don't want to know right now, and is not important to know until later on," said Grimmjow before he waved his hand like he was swatting the question away.
"There is more to be concerned about then that," said Tia, as she moved away from the door to show Grimmjow the state of the boy's home, and the smell somehow flooding his senses causing his face to go green before he managed to force the growing vomit back down his throat.
"Holy shit! It smells horrible in here. Okay! That's it! We are not living in this piece of crap place. Sorry kid, but you know its true, and it needs to be done," said Grimmjow, as he saw Naruto look down sadly, and once more the former Espada found his heart aching at the sight of this kid's sadness.
"I know. Its just...I have no other place to go and the old man said it was the only place he could get at such a low price," said Naruto, as he heard the man growl angrily, and feared it was aimed at him.
"Grimmjow! You're scaring Naruto. He thinks you're anger is aimed at him," said Tia, as she knelt down, and hugged the boy while glaring at the former Espada with "be careful when your angry you baka" look while soothing the troubled blonde.
"What? I'm not angry at the kid. I'm angry at that old bastard of a Hokage for leaving the kid in this state of a mess and doing so little about it!" said Grimmjow, as he looked at Naruto, and saw the sadness in the boy's eyes that had experienced years of anger at the hands of others blaming him for things that didn't even happen when he was around.
"So where are we all going to sleep?" said Naruto, as he saw his future parents look at each other in thought, and then looked back at the boy.
"Naruto-kun, are all the rooms on this floor empty?" said Tia, as she knew that the boy must have explored the other apartments in this building, and use them to hide from his enemies.
"Most of them. I use the air vents to sneak around to the other rooms during the winter since mine has little heating, but the landlord has all the keys, and checks the rooms every so often to make sure I don't get in them," said Naruto, as he had nearly been caught on a few occasions, but the landlord couldn't prove it, and would only cause problems in the long run with the Hokage.
At least that was what Naruto thought.
"Well, I think its time I had a chat with the landlord about the use of one of the rooms here, and have the three of us stay in one of the good apartment areas for the night," said Grimmjow, as he was about to leave when Tia put a hand on his shoulder, and shook her head no.
"Let me. This will give you time to bond with your future son," said Tia, as she walked out of the room, and Naruto told her it was the fourth door on the right at the end of the hallway.
'Joy,' thought Grimmjow sarcastically in his mind, as he looked at Naruto, and wondered what he could do with the kid to "bond" with him.
As for Tia, she was walking silently towards the old woman watching over this place, and making sure Naruto's life was miserable just to appease the old bat's arrogance. Tia may have been new to being a parents, whether by that of blood, or in this case of adopting the boy she found herself cherishing. However, Tia knew that what she was feeling was what a Mother would feel for their child, and was going to show this pathetic old bitch of the human race what it means to invoke the wrath of a Mother.
Especially, if that Mother is the former member of the Espada, and the third strongest of their ranks!
Knocking on the old woman's door hard, Tia heard the bitch complain about being visited in the middle of the night, and hoping it was Naruto so she could beat him with her ivory cane. This made Tia narrow her eyes at the door with balled up fists and red energy for a Bala in each hand though she held it back with great difficulty in order to speak to the old hag first. Then, when Tia heard enough, she would blast this bitch into oblivion, and take what was needed without regret.
"What do you want miserable little demo-oh! I'm sorry dear. I thought you were one of my more disruptive tenants," said the old landlord of a woman, as she switched from her "angry at Naruto" face, and put on her "welcome to my apartment complex I hope you have lots of money" kind of face.
"I see. As for one of your disruptive tenants, would that just so happened to be a blonde boy, and goes by the name of Uzumaki Naruto?" said Tia, who got the results she wanted with the old hag becoming angry at the mention of the boy, and look like she wanted to spit on the ground just to get the means to speak the kid's name properly.
"That's him. What did that monster do now?" said the old woman, as she had used all of her power to tax the boy, and kick him out of her apartment.
"Nothing. Though I'm sure that cannot be said the same for you," said Tia, as saw the woman snarl at her, and try to close the door before the former Espada stopped it with just the tip of her fingernail.
"Anything I've done to the boy is strictly legal. If the boy doesn't like it, he can leave this place, and never come back!" said the old woman, as she was in no mood to speak to a "demon lover", and would have tried to shut her door again had Tia not used her spiritual pressure to freeze the old bitch in her tracks.
"I doubt it. You along with the rest of this village have hurt Naruto for the last time. Its almost a pity you won't live to see Naruto become what he should have been from the start. Almost," said Tia, as she slugged the old woman in the chest, which upon impact had blasted the old bitch to piece, and scattered her old body parts throughout the room.
Now it was time to give Naruto a new and much better place to sleep for the night.
(Hokage's Office-The Next Day)
The Sandaime sighed, as he was not looking forward to this day, and was regretting it with every fiber of his being. The ANBU had felt high concentration of strange energy coming from the slightly rundown apartment complex Naruto was in and sent them to investigate while the trio were here in his office. Hopefully, they would be able to get some answers, and figure out just what was going on?!
"You can't bring that thing in there!" said the secretary outside and then the Sandaime heard a scream before metal was slicing through flesh before the door was kicked open in the span of three seconds.
"Anyone else in this building or you have in this village that wants to die at my hands?" said Grimmjow, as he had his hands in his pockets, and saw the Sandaime looking at him with old eyes.
"Please don't do that to anyone else while here," said the Sandaime though the grin he saw on Grimmjow's face told him it fell on deaf ears.
"That depends. Are you going to tell us why Naruto is hated? Are you going to explain to me why you're secretly sabotaging my future son's life with all this hatred for something that's not his fault?" said Grimmjow, as he saw the Sandaime scowl at him, and then look behind the former Espada to see Naruto was not with him nor was the man's partner in this.
"Where is Naruto?" said the Sandaime, as he was not about to let this man take Naruto away from the Leaf, and what he wished to accomplish with the boy.
"He's safe. In fact, Naruto is safer now then he would be in his shithole of an apartment you stuck him with, and I half a mind right now to use my powers to give this village of yours a new asshole! Now stop stalling and tell me what I want to know or I will do just that!" said Grimmjow, as he brought his spiritual pressure down on the Hokage, and saw the man hold onto his desk for dear life while looking up at the former Espada.
"You're not a normal person...are you," said the Sandaime, as he saw Grimmjow smile again, and raised his with his palm with red energy now forming around it staring the old Kage right in the face.
"Let me put to you this way. You either tell me what I want to know...or I kill you with this attack. Then I use it on your family, your friends, there family, and so on and so forth until I get an answer to all my questions," said Grimmjow, as he saw the old man nod his head, and silently submitted to the Arrancar before him.
In an instant the attack and the pressure were gone.
"All right. Naruto is hated for the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. A law was created to ban people from speaking of it and its connection to Naruto," said the Sandaime, which got him a scoff from Grimmjow, and having the Arrancar look at him extremely pissed off.
"Yeah a lot good that did. They still call him 'demon', 'monster', and a whole lot of shit that you don't punish them for. Its still the same thing as calling him Kyuubi! Hell, I was the one who saved the kid last night from being set on fire, and from the looks of things this isn't a one time deal with these damn villagers of yours," said Grimmjow, as he saw the old Kage wince, and shrink away like a frail old man.
Because he was a frail old man right now in comparison to Grimmjow.
"I do what I can for him, but my hands are tied, and I...," said the Sandaime, as he was silenced by Grimmjow's spiritual pressure once more, and looking into the eyes of a very angry Arrancar.
"Don't feed me bullshit old man. I know you've stopped people from adopting Naruto and meaning well. I know you don't care about Naruto like you claim you do to me. You try to lie to me again old man, I guarantee you that this village will not live through today, and we will take Naruto from here for a better life," said Grimmjow, as he saw the old Kage struggling to breath, and took the spiritual pressure away so the old Sandaime could breathe again.
"I did that to protect Naruto. No one in this village can protect Naruto because they all hate him and his Godparents are not here to watch over him like they were suppose to," said the Sandaime seeing Grimmjow narrow his blue eyes at him.
"So the kid had Godparent and yet they aren't here? Why?" said Grimmjow, as he saw the Sandaime flinch, and knew that the old Kage said something he wasn't supposed to.
"Because they have their Shinobi duties an-AH!" said the Sandaime, as he found his desk thrown out the window, and pinned to the wall by an angry Grimmjow.
"You're lying. I warned you about lying to me, but I guess you didn't believe what I said since any abuse I do to you would be frowned on by Naruto. Well, I highly doubt he'll hate me for roughing you up when I tell him the truth about everything you've kept from him, and I...mean...everything!" said Grimmjow before whispering what he knew about Naruto's lineage, as he saw the Sandaime's panicked look on face, and grinned at getting the old man's attention.
"Who told you?" said the Sandaime fearfully at Grimmjow.
"Let's just say there is someone higher up in the food chain then even me in this life who cares about Naruto to the point of having a someone of my...caliber watch over the kid since its clear you're incapable of doing it yourself," said Grimmjow, as he was not about to reveal the Shinigami King had brought him here instead of letting him die, and rot in the darkness that should have been his misery.
"I have done everything I could for Naruto given the situ-AH!" said the Sandaime, as he was slammed hard against the wall by Grimmjow, and it was clear the Arrancar's limited patience was thinning out dangerously before him.
"You did the bare minimum! Well that stops here and now. You are going call those two so called Godparents of his back here and they are going to accept their responsibilities to Naruto...or else!" said Grimmjow, as he had no problem adopting Naruto, but he had a problem with those charged with that responsibility taking off, and slacking on the job.
"I can't! The boy's Godfather is elusive due to maintaining his spy network for the village and his Godmother swore never to come back here due to the painful memories of losing loved ones from the last war. Even if I could tell them something, they will not act on it, and will not comeback to Konoha," said the Sandaime, as he saw Grimmjow grin at him wickedly, and was soon face to face with the former Espada.
"Oh I think they will. You see, I've been looking at that seal on the boy's body last night while he slept like a rock in my female companions arms, and while I may not understand the seal in general...what I did see was another seal on him that wasn't apart of what his old man did," said Grimmjow, as he along with Tia had seen Naruto's seal while the boy was asleep in the female Arrancar's arms, and saw the extra one due to their spirit energy revealing it to them.
"I don't know anything about an extra seal on Naruto," said the Sandaime, but was given another hard slam to the wall, and felt blood leak out of the side of his mouth.
"Lie to me again and I'll break your body until you tell me everything. The seal is faint to see by normal eyes, but it is there, and it seems to have some kind connection around his heart. Now before I came here to see you, I asked about the Yondaime, and the name of his teacher who also just so happens to be Jiraiya of the Sannin. From my understanding, he is the only living Seal Master this village has left with his only student in that field being killed when sealing the fox up in Naruto, and we both know that someone doesn't have to be a genius to put things like that together since the seal on the kid's heart looks pretty complex. Something only a high grade Seal Master could do. What is that seal's purpose around his heart?" said Grimmjow, as he saw the Sandaime look away from him, and in response the former Espada slammed the Hokage against the wall four more times with the sound of bones in his old body break like toothpicks.
"All right! All right! I'll tell you. It's a special dead man's switch Jiraiya put on Naruto in the event the boy is possessed by the Kyuubi and needs to be terminated by using a hand sign only I know aside from the Seal Master himself. When the seal activates, it strikes the heart like a bomb, and causes it to explode from the inside out to quickly kill the boy's body along with the Kyuubi itself," said the Sandaime, as he had been told of it by Jiraiya after the sealing was done, and told the Councils about it to spare Naruto an execution that several people demanded from the start.
"I highly doubt the boy's Father would approve of such an action if he was alive and even less on his treatment due to his dying wish for his only child to be seen as a hero of your miserable human race," said Grimmjow, as this news was pissing him off, and didn't like the idea of this old man having that kind of power over his future adopted son.
"Its only temporary. That's what Jiraiya told me. When the boy is old enough, the seal will vanish, and he will be none the wiser of it," said the Sandaime, as he saw Grimmjow snarl at him, and slam the old Kage's body into the wall again.
"Oh, I bet it would vanish. Right after the boy's mind, body, and spirit were forced into submission by you with the help of all the cowards in this place wanting to get their licks in before such an thing happens. So here is what you're going to do. You're going to send those two a message. You tell them that Naruto has had an 'incident' with the fox's power, but is now stable again, and you would like the two of them to come back in order to give the kid a checkup. Tell Jiraiya that the extra seal didn't work and you fear the Kyuubi may have found a way to neutralize it so you need him here to inspect it again. As for the other one, tell the woman it is extremely important she comes back, and that her Godson needs his Godmother...now!" said Grimmjow, as he saw the old Kage weakly nodding his head, and the Arrancar let the Hokage go with the injured man landing on his now sore ass to think about everything that's happened in such a short time.
"Who are you? What are you?" said the Sandaime, as he saw Grimmjow now leaving his office, and stop at the door to look back at him.
"My name is Grimmjow. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. And as for your question to just what I am? What I am you old fool, is Naruto's Father, and it would be in your best interest to not forget that," said Grimmjow, as he left the room with a grin on his face, and was now laughing the whole time.
It was laughter to Grimmjow, but to the Sandaime it was the sound of doom for the Leaf, and anyone else involved in the conspiracy against one Uzumaki Naruto.
(A/N: YAY! I wrote another fic. For those of you thinking "WTF!" I'm sorry for writing another story that will also take up more of my time, but I couldn't resist writing this due to my small writer's block on my other fics, and needed rest from them while letting other ideas come out to alleviate mental stress. Trust me I needed to let this be written. Hope you all liked this. Until next time...PEACE!!!)