Hollows are born from the corruption of human souls. They are easy to recognize — they have a hole in their chest and wear a mask on their face, showing the emptiness and evil inside them.
These twisted Hollows hunt and feed on human souls. Even the weakest among them are still terrifyingly strong.
Only Shinigami can fight Hollows!
Normal humans are helpless when facing them — they can only be slaughtered.
That's why Shinigami must protect humans!
"…"
These were the things Rukia Kuchiki had been taught back when she studied at the Spiritual Arts Academy.
But now, the boy standing in front of her had managed to push back a Hollow — using only a metal baseball bat!
"Could he be one of them too!?"
Rukia was shocked. She quickly turned her gaze toward Kurosaki Ichigo.
If this boy was really that strong, then even though she was hurt, maybe no one would die today — no human would get eaten by the Hollow.
But just as Rukia looked at Ichigo, he was sent flying backwards, landing heavily in front of her.
"... I got hit..."
Rukia silently turned her eyes away from Ichigo.
Instead, she focused on Nanaya, who was still fiercely fighting the Hollow with just a metal baseball bat. Right now, it seemed like he was the only one who could put up a real fight.
Meanwhile, after Ichigo was knocked down, Nanaya now faced not just one, but two Hollows.
In an instant, the pressure doubled.
Nanaya swung the metal bat with all his strength, so fast that it almost left afterimages. But the bat was starting to bend badly — it wouldn't last much longer before breaking completely.
"Damn it, Nanaya, hold on! I'm coming!"
Ichigo clenched his fists tightly, frustrated, and looked around, trying to find anything he could use as a weapon.
Hearing this, Nanaya blocked a Hollow's sharp claw with his metal bat, exhaled sharply, and shouted without looking back:
"Don't come over here and get in the way! You and the Shinigami girl should figure out how to kill these two monsters first!"
At this moment, Kurosaki Ichigo was still just a normal, strong teenager. He wasn't a Shinigami yet — he couldn't even defeat a Hollow with his current strength.
Nanaya wanted Rukia to quickly transfer her Shinigami powers to Ichigo. But he couldn't explain that out loud, so instead he gave them an excuse to talk and work together.
"I know, Nanaya! Just hang in there!"
Gritting his teeth, Ichigo limped over to Rukia's side and shouted:
"Hey, Shinigami! Got any ideas!?"
Hearing his question, Rukia looked at him, took a deep breath, gripped her soul-cutting sword tightly, and said seriously:
"There's only one way..."
"You must become a Shinigami!"
It was against the rules of Soul Society to give Shinigami powers to a human.
But right now, there was no other choice.
She didn't want to die here. She didn't want to watch this brave young man and his sister be eaten by the Menos Grande.
"I... become a Shinigami!?"
Ichigo's face showed shock.
Rukia nodded, then pointed her zanpakuto straight at Ichigo's chest:
"Human, stab this sword into your heart!"
"That's how... you'll gain the power of a Shinigami!"
Ichigo's eyes grew serious. Without hesitation, he grabbed the blade of her sword tightly.
"My name's not 'human'! I'm Kurosaki Ichigo!"
At his words, a smile appeared on Rukia's face.
"My name's not 'Shinigami' either."
"I'm Rukia Kuchiki!"
"…"
Meanwhile, in the middle of the battlefield —
"…"
Nanaya swung his metal baseball bat again, but this time there was a loud crack. The bat, already bent from so much force, snapped in half.
"Useless junk. Should've grabbed a steel bar instead..."
Nanaya frowned and tossed aside the broken bat. He glanced behind him, only to see that Ichigo and Rukia still hadn't finished what they needed to do.
"No helping it..."
Taking a deep breath, Nanaya tightened his fists and stepped forward to block the charge of the two Menos Grandes.
"ROAR!!!"
The two monsters roared in fury.
Being pushed back by a human was an insult, even to their low intelligence.
Blinded by rage, they swung their sharp claws and attacked wildly.
"Not good..."
Nanaya's pupils shrank. Thanks to his past experience fighting Kurosaki Isshin, he instinctively lifted his arms, using his forearms to block the deadly claws.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two heavy blows landed. Nanaya managed to block them, but his face twisted in pain — it felt like his arms would snap, and he almost broke his teeth from clenching them so hard.
"These monsters are ridiculously strong!"
When he fought with a bat, he hadn't realized just how terrifying their strength really was.
But now, using only his body, he could feel it — the force of their strikes was like getting hit by a speeding truck.
The claws kept pressing down, inch by inch, getting dangerously close to piercing Nanaya's throat.
The distance between life and death was now just about ten centimeters.
And it was shrinking fast.
Out of the corner of his eye, Nanaya spotted another Menos Grande nearby — this one spread its huge bat-like wings, let out a deafening roar, and flew straight toward him from above.
Danger!
A huge crisis was coming!
Nanaya's pupils widened. Deep down, he knew — he couldn't count on help from the people at Kurosaki Hospital.
In the original story, even when Yuzu and Karin were attacked, no one had come to help.
And now, Nanaya was just an outsider. No one would risk themselves for him.
If he wanted to survive, he had to rely on himself.
At the very moment of impact —
A strange warmth burst out from deep inside Nanaya's mind, the same warmth that had once spread from Rukia's chest.
It rushed into his eyes like a surging spring.
It burned! It froze! It was dark! It was violent!
Countless emotions exploded at once. His black pupils turned blood-red.
At that moment, Nanaya's gaze turned as cold as ice. His blood-red eyes locked onto the Menos Grande diving toward him, and he said almost instinctively:
"Amaterasu!"
In an instant—
The bat-winged Menos Grande, caught in the glare of Nanaya's blood-red eyes, suddenly sprouted black spots across its blue wings. Then, with a sharp whoosh, black flames burst into life, swallowing the monster.
The huge body crashed to the ground, its giant wings wrapped in the dark, furious fire.
"Roar... Roar... ROAR..."
The bat Menos Grande screamed in agony, thrashing wildly. It clawed at the black flames covering its wings, desperately trying to put them out.
But the black fire couldn't be extinguished.
Even the monster's claws caught fire when they tried to swat away the flames. Slowly, the fire spread, wrapping its entire body in a sea of black.
In front of everyone's stunned eyes, the massive, devilish-looking Menos Grande was burned to nothingness by the black flames of Amaterasu, its cries fading as it turned to ash.
For a moment, the whole world fell silent.
Kurosaki Ichigo and Rukia Kuchiki froze, still gripping the Soul Slayer sword.
Yuzu and Karin, who were standing not far away, also stood in stunned silence.
Even Nanaya, the one who unleashed the black flames, stared blankly at what he'd done.
No one spoke. Time itself seemed to stop.
After what felt like forever, Nanaya finally snapped back to reality. He looked in amazement at the black flames still burning quietly on the ground where the monster had been.
"This is... Black Flame Amaterasu?"
A flame that can't be put out, born from his own eyes... The name Amaterasu just instinctively came to his mind.
It matched exactly with what he remembered from another world — a power belonging to the Mangekyō Sharingan from Naruto.
Wait... Had he not crossed into the Bleach world after all?
Had he actually crossed into the Naruto world instead!?
Startled, Nanaya turned and glanced at the broken pieces of glass scattered around the room. He caught a glimpse of his own reflection.
The whites of his eyes were still there, but his pupils had changed.
His once black pupils were now blood-red, with a black windmill pattern spinning in the center.
"This is... Mangekyō Sharingan!"
The color, the shape — there was no doubt about it. These were the Sharingan eyes, and not just any Sharingan — the fully awakened Mangekyō Sharingan.
And the power he had just used — the unquenchable black flame, Amaterasu — matched perfectly.
"…"
"Wait... that guy, Nanaya..."
Ichigo, still holding the blade of the Soul Slayer, stared at Nanaya, eyes wide with disbelief.
At first, Nanaya had been struggling, barely managing to defend himself against the Menos Grandes. But now, out of nowhere, he had completely burned one of them to ashes in the blink of an eye.
How was that even possible!?
Rukia Kuchiki was just as stunned, standing frozen, unable to speak.
While the two of them were still in shock, their bodies moved almost automatically, following through with the plan they had agreed on earlier.
The blade of the Soul Slayer thrust forward.
With a squelch, the sword pierced right into Kurosaki Ichigo's chest.
Ichigo: "..."
He lowered his head and stared at the blade now sticking out of his heart. Then he slowly raised his head and looked at Rukia with a silent expression:
"Um... is it still necessary for me to become a Shinigami now?"
Rukia Kuchiki: "..."