Goddess of Ice: Corrupting Bleach - Chapter 72: Inside the Belly of the Beast

“In other words: you are threatening this venerable one.”

As soon as those words left Naruto’s mouth, even Yamamoto could feel the atmosphere becoming heavier, despite not even being present in the room, while Byakuya became on guard and Kenpachi smiled wildly.

“He, I thought this would just be another boring mission, but this is quite the nice Spiritual Pressure you have there.”

As soon as Kenpachi finished speaking, he drew his sword and attacked Naruto, a maddened smile twisting his face.

“Spiritual Pressure? What are you talking about? This is simply the weight of this one’s being.”

Before anyone could comment on Naruto’s words, Kenpachi had reached him and swung his Zanpakuto at Naruto, who only tilted his body to the side, dodging the attack.

Simultaneously, Naruto threw out an attack on his own, smashing his fist into Kenpachi’s stomach, resulting in him crashing against a wall while spitting out some blood. Surprisingly, the wall didn’t budge in the slightest, and there were no hints of damage on it.

“Attacking me with all of your three seals active? Courting death.”

Silence reigned the room as everyone looked at the downed Kenpachi, utterly dumbfounded. Especially Ichigo, who had fought Kenpachi before, couldn’t believe how easily Naruto wounded him.

However, Kenpachi was not someone who would go down easily, as a massive smile was still clearly visible on his face.

“Hahaha, that one was on me. I already know how overwhelmingly strong your sister is, so how could you be ordinary? To think I would be having this much fun on this seemingly simple mission.”

Although Naruto heard Kenpachi’s words, he didn’t pay any attention to him as his gaze returned to Yamamoto, who was surprised by Naruto’s strength. Obviously, he had briefly fought Naruto before, but at that time, he was far from this overwhelming.

‘Was he holding back when we fought? No, the problem is that Kenpachi is simply restricting himself too much. Although I get his point of view, wearing three seals to restrict his power is simply too much.’

Unaware of Yamamoto’s thoughts, Naruto drew his two Zanpakuto, instantly turning one of them into a cloak while the other one turned into a pair of gauntlets.

“Are you sure you really want to do this, old man? Mhh, no, that is the wrong question, so let me ask you something different.”

Naruto’s grin widened as his Spiritual Pressure exploded out of him, instantly filling the room with heavy pressure as the space around Naruto seemed to distort while heavy winds picked up, despite everyone being indoors.

“Are you sure you want to lose two Captains just before Aizen’s attack?”

Naruto’s Spiritual Pressure grew even further as a massive image of a ten-tailed fox manifested behind him, showing just of dense his Spiritual Pressure was since this kind of spiritual manifestation was only possible for individuals with extremely high Spiritual Power.

Yet again, the room was doused in heavy silence as everyone looked at Naruto dumbfounded. The implications of his words were rather clear: If you insist on forcing me, people will die.

While the Shinigami side was simply dumbfounded at how confident Naruto appeared while claiming that he would kill two Captains, the humans in the room were simply dumbfounded at how easily Naruto spoke of killing people.

Hearing Naruto’s words, Byakuya couldn’t help but frown deeply. Naturally, he could feel the obscene amount of Spiritual Power Naruto possessed, but so what?

“So you humans insist on continuing to trample on our pride, don’t you? Kurosaki Ichigo learning to use Bankai within a few days was already bad enough, but now that we have become allies, it can’t be helped.

And yet, here you are: Standing in front of not one but two Captains, claiming you would kill them. Are you proud of the huge amount of Spiritual Power you have? Or maybe, you are proud of the anomaly of having two Zanpakuto? So what? In front of two Captains of the Gotei 13, all of that is meaningless. Bankai.”

As soon as Byakuya stopped speaking, he dropped his sword, allowing it to fall to the ground, tip first. This was how his Bankai was initiated, and after his sword touched the ground, it would sink into the floor, resulting in dozens of huge blades growing out of the ground, which would turn into millions of tiny blades. However…

*Clang*

The sound of a blade uselessly falling to the ground echoed through the room as Byakuya’s arrogant facial expression was replaced with a confused one. He looked at the ground and only saw his Zanpakuto lying on the ground.

“Huh?”

“Hehehe.”

While Byakuya had no idea what had just happened, a soft chuckle echoed through the room, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Hahaha!”

The laughter grew more intense as everyone’s eyes landed on Naruto, who was the person currently laughing. He was currently slightly lowering his head while holding his stomach, seemingly trying to suppress his laughter.

However, after trying to do so, he finally gave up and threw his head back, laughing loudly.

“HAHAHA!!!”

First, everyone was dumbfounded that Byakuya seemed to have failed to activate his Bankai, and following that, Naruto laughed like a madman, confusing everyone even further. For a few seconds, the only sound audible in the room was Naruto’s laughter as it took him a little while to compose himself, and as soon as he did, he resumed speaking with a pity-filled look on his face.

“Seems like you still don’t get it, do you? Just where the hell do you think you currently are? Do you think this is just some random civilian home within the world of the living? Really?

Nee-san messed up your whole city after staying there for a week or two, but you think you can just bust in here, the place where she lived for over ten years, and be fine? What a joke.”

Hearing Naruto’s words, everyone in the room paled as they realized what kind of place they had just stumbled into, and even those not opposing Naruto couldn’t help but shiver in fear.

Seeing everyone finally realizing how deep in shit they were actually standing, a twisted smile appeared on Naruto’s face as he clasped his hands together, causing the floor he was standing on to shine.

“Welcome, in the belly of the beast.”

The glow underneath Naruto’s feet quickly spread, covering the whole floor, after which the glowing surface area continued covering the walls and, finally, the ceiling, covering the whole room with a dangerous-feeling glow.

While everything seems to simply glow with even light, upon closer inspection, one would notice that every surface area in the room wasn’t actually glowing but that the only thing glowing were minuscule symbols that covered everything. The only reason why it looked like the whole room was glowing was because there were just that many of those symbols.

Yamamoto, who didn’t exactly specialize in Kido, but was still well-learned in it, couldn’t help but be utterly dumbfounded by what he was currently witnessing.

Kido had a lot of applications, ranging all the way from creating simple explosives, over the infinite Spiritual Power-eating creatures used for Kenpachi’s seals, to the massive barrier covering Seireitei.

In his long life, Yamamoto had seen a lot of different methods of using Kido, many of them involving imbuing an object with Kido using a complex array of symbols, something only masters of the art could do.

Yet, here he was, looking at a room being enchanted with that kind of method to the brim, using symbols he had never seen before at a complexity and density he had never witnessed in his whole life.

Worst of all, all of this was apparently done by a human that hadn’t even reached the age of twenty.

Only now, seeing the impossible arrangement of seals in front of him, did Yamamoto realize that he had messed up. Seeing the complex arrangement of unknown symbols, Yamamoto realized that Kenpachi and Byakuya had just walked into a death trap. No, they didn’t simply walk into a death trap; they were ordered to do so by himself.

Since Sereitei has been uncontested for a very long time now, he felt its strength to be above everything else, so he sent two main pillars of Seireitei’s strength into potential enemy territory without giving it a second thought.

Strictly speaking, there was some wiggle room justifying Yamamoto’s decision, as Naruto, indeed, was only a youngster from his point of view, but considering how many signs of abnormal behavior had happened so far, Yamamoto firmly believed that he was the one who messed up.

Meanwhile, Naruto was just about to drown Kenpachi and Byakuya in a shower of pies when Yamamoto spoke up.

“Please wait a moment.”

Although Naruto was a little disappointed due to being interrupted, he still stopped what he was about to do because the tone of voice Yamamoto used was significantly different from before.

“I would like to apologize for my hasty actions. Rather than considering your side as an ally, I considered you to be subordinate, simply due to how it has always been. I hope you can forgive me for initiating this conflict and continue working together with us from now on.”

As a leader, Yamamoto obviously didn’t like issuing an apology, but just as he was willing to sacrifice a single human woman for the sake of winning this conflict, his pride was not above apologizing to do so, either.

“Captain Commander, you shouldn’t…”

“… apologize to a human, right, Captain Kuchiki?”

Finishing Byakuya’s sentence, Yamamoto could only shake his head as he yet again felt how annoying the pride of the noble clans was.

“You are trapped, Captain Kuchiki. The only reason why you aren’t dead yet is because the one in front of you decided that he would not kill you yet.”

Hearing Yamamoto’s words, Byakuya didn’t comment any further as he was aware that those words were true. In fact, the moment he realized that using Bankai was impossible, he prepared himself for a fight to the death. A fight to the death that he would probably not win.

Kenpachi, on the other hand, couldn’t help but be dissatisfied as well, as he was looking forward to a good fight, but after realizing that he couldn’t even remove the three seals he put on himself, he decided to drop this matter as well.

He still wanted to fight Naruto, but only in a location where he could actually display his real power. There was no point in one-sidedly getting beaten down because Naruto was in a location that gave him an absolute advantage.

As those conversations were happening, Naruto couldn’t help but frown, realizing that this fight was probably canceled.

‘Too bad, I was looking forward to bullying two Captains. I guess I could still continue pressing this matter, but since even the Captain Commander himself has apologized, I would look rather petty if I were to do so. Oh well, there will be a lot of situations in the future where I can bully a bunch of arrogant people, so it can’t be helped~’

As soon as those thoughts passed Naruto’s mind, the atmosphere in the room shifted yet again, becoming much more lighthearted.

“Hehe, since you have already apologized, there is no point in pressing any further. Since you have decided to stop pressuring me into doing what you want, you should have no problem with me going to Hueco Mundo, right?”

Although Yamamoto relaxed a little when Naruto easily accepted his apology, the moment he heard that he wanted to go to Hueco Mundo, he stiffened a little before sighing deeply.

“Frankly, I would prefer if you don’t go there, but if that is what you desire, I won’t stop you. Thinning Aizen ranks before they could even reach us should work out somehow as well.”

Obviously, Yamamoto could no longer demand that Naruto did what he told him to, so after hearing his question about going to Hueco Mundo, Yamamoto could only reluctantly agree with him going there while making up some excuses.

“Hehe, excellent. In that case, let’s gather everyone and head to Kisuke’s place.”

“Kisuke’s place?”

Naruto could only shake his head when he saw the confusion in Ichigo’s eyes after mentioning Kisuke’s place. After all, how else were they going to get to Hueco Mundo? Naruto could manipulate space at least to some degree, but there was a limit to that as well. Going somewhere where he had never been before was, unfortunately, impossible.

“That’s right, Ichigo. How else do you expect to reach Hueco Mundo? Knowing him, he has probably only devised a method to go there before we have even made the request.”

After realizing that Naruto had a point, Ichigo simply nodded his head in agreement while Yamamoto sighed deeply. Clearly, he still wasn’t happy about this arrangement. Seeing Yamamoto sigh deeply, Naruto’s gaze landed on him yet again, but this time he wore a mischievous smirk.

“Mah, no need to worry too much about this war. Isn’t Nee-san already there? There is a good chance that Aizen’s place is already half-collapsed by now, so what is the point of worrying about the situation?”

Frankly, if anybody else told him this kind of information, Yamamoto would have probably dismissed it instantly, but considering what he had just witnessed, combined with what Yuna had done within Seireitei, he couldn’t help but believe Naruto’s words to at least some degree.

“*Sigh* I’m getting too old for this.”

Just like that, the confrontation between the forces of Seireitei and the world of the living was resolved, and while everyone who wanted to invade Seireitei was walking toward Kisuke’s shop, Tatsuki couldn’t help but occasionally steal glances at Naruto.

In her opinion, Naruto never got angry. He was always goofy, laughing loudly while being silly and saying stupid stuff. However, he just witnessed another side of Naruto for the first time since dating him. As for her impression after learning that her boyfriend was someone who sneered at the world while having no problem killing those who opposed him…

‘Damn, domineering Naruto is so hot~’

… she was totally into it.

Frankly, she didn’t even know why she felt so attracted to this “new” Naruto, but she simply couldn’t help herself. Tatsuki was someone who wanted to be strong. She spent a lot of time training, honing herself to get stronger, and after meeting Naruto, learning how strong an individual could actually become, those tendencies became even more pronounced. She loved getting stronger.

And now, seeing a much more domineering side of Naruto, she could only feel that he had become even more attractive as he was actively showing of his superiority in front of not one but two Captains.

‘I wonder what he would think if I were to ask him to act like that when it’s just the two of us~.’

As that thought passed through Tatsukki’s head, she quickly realized what she was thinking about, causing her cheeks to turn crimson as she quickly lowered her head, hoping no one would realize what she was thinking about.

‘Damnit, Tatsuki! What are you thinking about? I-I’m not a pervert like that!’

While Tatsuki was getting redder and redder in the face, Ichigo clenched his fists while occasionally glancing at Naruto as well. Unlike Tatsuki, there were no unsavory thoughts occupying his mind, as only a single question occupied his thoughts.

‘How can he be so strong!?’

Kenpachi was a Captain he fought and lost against, while the only reason he somewhat won against Byakuya was that his inner Hollow got involved. Despite that, here was Naruto, suppressing both of them at the same time.

Obviously, Ichigo realized that there were some shenanigans in play from Naruto’s side, but remembering the overbearing pressure he felt when Naruto unleashed his Spiritual Pressure, Ichigo couldn’t help but wonder whether Naruto could have won without whatever arrangement he used to suppress those two.

‘Shit, I need to get stronger! Much stronger! Even now, after I learned Hollowfication, I’m much too weak. I don’t care whether I’m weaker than Naruto or not, but I need to be strong enough to protect what is important to me.

I won’t give up! I’ll go to Hueco Mundo, grow stronger and stronger as I continue fighting, and finally rescue Orihime! No one can stop me! I’ll surpass all obstacles blocking my way!”

Just like that, every combat-ready human gathered at Kisuke’s place, including Sado, who has been training with Renji, and Ichida, who somehow managed to not only regain the Quincy powers he had lost but actually grew significantly stronger as well.

Unfortunately, the people coming from Seireitei had to leave for now, with a promise of reinforcement later on.