79 Invasion of Karakura Town

A few minutes passed since Orihime got kidnapped yet again, and Yuna left Hueo Mundo. Currently, Ichigo was flying at high speed toward the place where he could feel Orihime's Spiritual Power. Additional to Orihime's, he could feel another familiar presence that caused him to worry.

"Damnit, why is Ulquiorra with her!?"

As Ichigo screamed those words in frustration, he accelerated even further, trying his best to reach Orihime before anything could happen to her.

As he was getting closer and closer to Orihime, he noticed Tatsuki fighting a horde of masked Hollow, causing him to pause. He wanted to help Tatsuki, but before he could do anything, she briefly glanced at him and scowled in annoyance.

"If you think I'm a damsel in distress and need you to save me, then you better prepare to get your ass kicked by me! Go after Orihime, you idiot!"

Having gotten the message, Ichigo nodded his head and flew past Tatsuki, but as he was doing so, dozens of the Hollow Tatsuki was fighting split off from the horde and went after Ichigo.

Seeing that, Tatsuki clicked her tongue in annoyance as the lava covering her feet started flowing faster, allowing herself to catapult herself between Ichigo and the Hollow horde, instantly eliminating three of them with a powerful kick.

"So annoying! That move costs a lot of stamina, so you better get going now, Ichigo, as I won't be doing that again."

"Thanks, Tatsuki!"

Only getting a wave of Tatsuki's hand in return for his thanks, Ichigo's gaze refocused on the place where he could feel Orihime's Spiritual Power and accelerated again.

However, as Ichigo was leaving, Tatsuki gave him another glance, putting her attention on the black cloak Ichigo was wearing.

'Mhh, when Ichigo uses his Bankai, not only his sword changes but his clothes as well. Maybe that is the next step for my power.'

Initially, Tatsuki could only cover her arms with lava, and after being pressured enough in combat, she managed to cover her legs as well. The area of her body she could cover with her power kept increasing, but it had been stagnant for a while now.

'I only tried to cover more of my body with it, but maybe that's the wrong approach. Instead of coating my body with lava, and need to think of something more concrete. Something, just like Ichigo's Bankai.'

Meanwhile, Ulquiorra was staring down Orihime, who steadily held eye contact with him without faltering.

"Are you afraid? Aizen-sama no longer has any interest in you, meaning that there is nothing more protecting you."

Despite the veiled threat, Orihime barely reacted as she started speaking with determination.

"I'm not afraid. Everyone has come to save me, so all I can do is wait for them to do so. Being afraid would undermine their efforts. My heart already is with all of my friends."

"Do you truly believe that your friends will save you?"

"Yes, I have no doubt."

The moment those words left Orihime's mouth, a nearby wall exploded, allowing entry to a black-clothed Shinigami. Naturally, that Shinigami was Ichigo, who instantly zeroed in on Ulquiorra.

"Step away from Orihime."

Hearing Ichigo's words, Ulquiorra only looked at him in indifference while drawing his Zanpakuto.

"My orders were to protect Las Noches and not to kill an insignificant girl. However, you will die because you ARE a threat to Las Noches."

"Hee~ I'm honored. You even drew your Zanpakuto. Does that mean you acknowledge me as an equal?"

"No, it means that I recognize you as someone who has to die."

Following those words, the duo clashed as their Spiritual Pressure collided, resulting in it being felt all over Las Noches.

Feeling the pressure, Tatsuki, who had just pulled her fist out of the abdomen of the Arrancar she had just killed, looked at the source of the pressure while frowning deeply.

Currently, her entire body was covered by a thin layer of red and yellow liquid that seemed to be constantly flowing, and upon closer inspection, one might notice that the flowing liquid was actually searing hot lava.

"What incredible power. To think Ichigo could grow so much in such a short amount of time."

Tatsuki couldn't help but clench her fist as she felt like Ichigo had taken a massive step ahead of her within barely a day.

"Now, now, no need to get all depressed. Didn't you power up just now as well?"

Suddenly hearing a voice, Tatsuki looked at the source of it and smiled lightly after seeing her boyfriend approaching her while a little girl was clamoring on his shoulders.

"Dangerous! It's dangerous, Naruto! We need to leave!"

"Hehe, calm down, Nel. Aren't I here? I can easily protect you."

As those words left his mouth, he started petting Nel's head, causing her to squint her eyes in pleasure, totally forgetting about the overbearing Spiritual Pressure covering Las Noches.

"Hehe, okay~"

Seeing the cute interaction between Naruto and Nel, Tatsuki's smile widened as she started speaking as well.

"Well, are you sure this is fine, Naruto? This is a lot of Spiritual Pressure."

Although Tatsuki was happy seeing Naruto and noticing the confidence that was still radiating out of his eyes, she couldn't help herself but be a little worried.

"Yeah, no problem. If it is only this much, I can still easily deal with it."

Hearing Naruto's words, Tatsuki nodded in understanding while a wave of relief washed over her. However, simultaneously, some other thoughts surfaced in her mind.

'Even this much is still something Naruto can fight against easily? Just how strong is he really? How much stronger do I need to get before I can finally be strong enough to be of help to him?'

As these thoughts passed through Tatsuki's mind, Naruto briefly glanced at her face, easily reading her expression and answering the unasked question.

"No need to falter, Tatsuki. Just think about how much stronger you got after we started training together, and you should be easily able to realize just how much more room for growth you have.

Just continue pushing, and you will inevitably break through all the limits of your power you yourself imposed onto yourself.'

Tatsuki couldn't help but sigh a little when Naruto easily saw through what troubled her and even managed to say words that would encourage and motivate her.

'*Sigh* Isn't Naruto a little too perfect? How is he so good at reading my th...'

Before Tatsuki could finish that thought, she realized why Naruto was so good at seeing through her.

'This damn womanizer has gotten used to dealing with women in his past life!'

Realizing what was going on, Tatsuki couldn't help but pinch Naruto, who only looked at her in confusion. Seeing the cute-looking look of confusion on Naruto's face, Tatsuki couldn't hold back anymore and started laughing, confusing Naruto even further.

While more and more question marks appeared above Naruto's head and Ichigo was fighting Ulquiorra, Yuna, and Aizen's groups arrived in the world of the living.

However, the moment they arrived, Yuna noticed that something was off. Well, something aside from most of the Captains and Lieutenants of the Gotei 13 being present.

"*Whistle* They prepared a whole fake town. Not gonna lie, that's quite impressive."

"It doesn't matter. Even if this isn't the real Karakura Town, nothing will stop me.

Tayuya, Starrk, Barragan, Harribel, come."

As soon as Aizen finished speaking, four Garganta opened up close to Aizen, revealing four groups of Arrancar. Well, three groups and an individual, as Tayuya had not taken any Fraccion.

Arriving at the world of the living, Tayuya scanned the crowd of Shinigami and instantly noticed Hisoka, who was currently looking at her in excitement as well.

'So she is really here, huh? I half expected that Yuna was messing with me, but this is great.'

Finishing her thoughts, she couldn't help but lick her lips in excitement with a wide grin on her face, causing a shiver to go down Hisoka's spine while she inevitably started smiling as well.

Aizen had noticed Hisoka as well but didn't pay much attention to her. From his point of view, Hisoka was just a random Shinigami that was promoted to Captain to fill up the holes his departure created.

Although Aizen briefly wondered why he didn't know who the newly appointed Captain was, as she was not one of the previous Lieutenants, which was a little weird. However, in the end, he decided that it was of no importance.

"Turn everything to ash. Ryuujin Jakka."

Suddenly, a massive wall of fire approached Yuna and the rest. Obviously, that firewall was shot by Yamamoto himself, and before anyone could react, it engulfed Yuna's group, trapping them in a burning cage.

"Oh my, ~ Seems like the old man is in a foul mood, hahaha~."

Hearing Yuna's carefree words, Aizen only scoffed in disdain as he allowed his sense to feel what was happening outside the walls of their fire prison.

"It doesn't matter. The only difference is that this battle will end before we even get a chance to participate."

"Hee~ That sounds boring, so I'm going out."

As soon as Yuna stopped speaking, she hovered toward the wall of flames blocking her path on all sides, causing Aizen to look at her with intrigue, and moments later, his eyes almost popped out as Yuna simply floated through the flames like they weren't even there.

'How is she not affected by the flames!? Even I can't take the Head Captain's flames lightly! How is she doing this.'

Feeling Aizen's internal distress, Yuna couldn't help but smirk as she slowly floated out of the flames. Obviously, she wasn't just tanking the flames but was actually creating a thin layer of ice on her body to prevent herself from burning.

Frankly, it would have been much more energy effective to just burst through the flames in one quick motion, but that wouldn't have messed with Aizen enough, so Yuna, unfortunately, had to choose the solution that took much more Spiritual power.

On the outside world, everyone could only look dumbfounded as Yuna casually floated out of her firey prison.

"Well, that wasn't very nice, old man. I'm here to watch a show, so why would you be blocking my vision? That's just rude, isn't it?"

Hearing Yuna's words, Yamamoto squinted his eyes as his gaze was fixated on Yuna. Even now, after interacting with her and her surrounding multiple times, he still couldn't get even a sliver of a read on her.

Although it looked like she simply went with Aizen to act as a spy, at the same time, Aizen seemed to have no problems allowing her to accompany him, which Yamamoto found suspicious.

After all, Aizen was a smart man, and Yamamoto didn't believe that Aizen would trust an outsider so easily. Obviously, he thought like that because he didn't take Aizen's competitive nature into consideration, allowing Yuna to be close to him, despite knowing she would betray him at some point.

While Yuna and Yamamoto were looking at each other with some tension in the air, one of the Arrancar started moving, raising his hand in the air and snapping his finger, resulting in his Fraccion quickly assembling a throne for him to sit on.

Seeing that, Yuna couldn't help but scoff in disdain.

'What a small fry. True kings use their deranged masochist maid as a throne.'

[Pretty sure they don't.]

'They don't? As expected of kings. They aren't worth much if they don't even have that kind of common knowledge.'

[Riiiight...]

Moments later, Barragan, who the throne was assembled for, sat down on his seat, giving him a regal air.

"Well, since the boss is currently not available, I guess I'll be the one taking command. Any complaints?"

Asking that question, Barragan looked at Tayuya and Starrk, who technically were higher in rank them him.

"I don't give a shit about stuff like that, so do whatever you want."

"Yeah, I don't mi... Owowow, why are you kicking me!?"

While Tayuya only claimed that she had no interest in giving any commands, Starrk gave away his responsibilities just as easily, causing his sole Fraccion, Lilynette, to kick him for discarding his authority so easily.

Seeing that no one of significance was arguing against his words, Barragan scanned his surroundings, quickly noticing the four pillars in the distance.

"I see; since this place is just a fake, you obviously needed something to move the original Karakura town. No matter how I look at it, these four pillars are the anchors keeping this fake place here, so after destroying them, everything should be back to normal."

The moment Barragan stopped speaking, he glanced at one of his Fraccion, who immediately blew a whistle-like attachment on his arms, causing a Hollow to appear at each of the four pillars.

However, just as soon as they appeared, they were cut down by the Shinigami waiting near the pillars for Hollow to appear.

Seeing the Hollow, he sent easily getting cut down; Barragan frowned while Yamamoto scoffed in disdain.

"How foolish. Did you seriously think I wouldn't assign any guard to such strategically important positions? These four pillars are guarded by four of Seireitei's finest warriors."

Hearing Yamamoto's words, Barragan yet again scoffed in disdain as he glanced at the four Shinigami that were now visibly guarding the four pillars.

"Four Shinigami? So what if the pillars are guarded by them? Since four ants are now standing in my way, I'll just send four dragons to crush them.

"Poww, Chuhlhourne, Abirama, Findorr. Crush them!"

""""Yes, your majesty.""""

'Wow, he just called those four weaklings dragons. What a funny joke~ Or maybe, that old man is simply delusional.'

While the fight between Shinigami and Arrancar was heating up, Yuna could only look at the whole situation in amusement. So far, not a single individual who she even had a sliver of interest in started taking action, so she would sit the situation out until the interesting fights started.