"Old man, old man… are you alright?"
A low groan escaped from the crumpled figure at the base of the ladder. The elderly man's eyes fluttered open, his vision swimming as two blurry versions of Minato's face overlapped in his mind. Slowly, the world steadied into focus.
"What the hell happened…?" he grumbled, squinting up at the blond youth above him.
Minato sighed in relief, rubbing the back of his head. "You kinda… fell off the ladder." He offered a sheepish grin.
The old man blinked, then slowly turned his head, taking in the toppled ladder, the cracked bucket, and the broken fence panel he'd landed on. Realization dawned.
"You little freak!" he barked, wincing as he tried to sit up. "What the hell was that? Some kind of Kido spell? Gah! My back!"
He clutched his lower spine, contorting like a dying bug.
"Kido spell?" Minato asked, genuinely confused. "I don't know what that is."
"Of course you wouldn't," the old man growled through clenched teeth. "Now look what you've done. If I don't meet that wildcat's schedule, she'll tear me to shreds!"
He made another attempt to stand but immediately collapsed with a pained gasp, gritting his teeth.
Minato blinked. "You know, it's not my fault you decided to climb a ladder and spy on me. What the hell was that about, anyway? Are you some kind of pervert?"
"What...Int?!" the old man turned red with fury. He raised a trembling fist to punch Minato, but a bolt of pain shot up his spine, freezing him mid-motion. He growled.
"You better count yourself lucky, boy…" he muttered, wincing as he hobbled upright, limping away like a war veteran who'd been through hell.
Minato burst out laughing, hands on his knees. "You really are something, old man."
"Hmph!" the old man snapped, refusing to look back. "You'll regret this when the wildcat comes looking for me!"
Minato chuckled and followed after him, still amused.
*
*
Three hours later...
The entire morning had been spent arranging, sorting and packaging the Shinobi esque tools for collection by the Shinigami. The old man was already exhausted, seated on a lazy chair and drinking tea, while Minato continued his work, his expression serious as he muttered to himself from time to time.
Sitting behind, the old man sized him up a couple of times, and then let out a crafty smirk. "You know, I have a friend in one of those Big fancy clans, with a daughter who's of age..."
He paused, drinking his tea, while he cast an eye at Minato who was focused on packaging the tools. "You're not too shabby. Decent skills, you're not bad looking, not as handsome as I was in my prime, but not bad regardless, although we could do something about the hair and your fashion sense.."
He went on and on..
In that same time,
The town square of District 50 was particularly busy today, deemed as market day, the town folks were busy. Some selling, others buying, a huge Durbar was on the horizon and preparations were being done..
In that moment, the sky above began to distort, as if space itself were being torn apart. The clouds twisted unnaturally, drawn toward a central point like a spiritual vortex. Suddenly, with a bone-chilling rumble and the sound of tearing fabric, a jagged, black void slashes opened in midair...
The edges of the spatial tear rippled and crackled with dark Reiatsu, resembling static lightning or molten obsidian. The void itself was pitch-black, so dark it seems to consume light entirely. Like a gaping mouth in the sky, it stretched horizontally with floating platforms of unstable spirit particles forming a path through the dimension between worlds. Occasionally, flashes of red lightning flickered inside the void, accompanied by a low, droning hum, as if the very fabric of space was resisting the intrusion.
"What's that?!"
The more intuitive and observant citizens were quick to notice the sudden disturbance, their entire bodies frozen in shock by the intense evil Reiatsu exploding forth from within the hole in space..
*ROAR!!!"
A resounding rose exploded forth, stirring incredible winds and waves. A towering head popped out of the hole in space, huge metallic mandibles that could crush steel. A huge hand extended and grabbed onto the nearest soul..
*CRUSH!!*
Despite the man's cries of plea, he was crushed under its huge jaw, as blood exploded onto the nearby citizens, painting a bloody and gory scene..
"RUN!!"
Those who were strong enough to resist the pressure on their bodies escaped without looking back, while those who were too weak to move were victims of brutality ..
*
"So you'll make a good son in law to the Shiba Clan, what do you think?" The old man kept on yapping, while Minato wished he could plug his ears. It was in that moment that he sensed it, the disturbance..
'What the hell?' His eyes widened for a moment. The malevolent Reiatsu was something that he had never even sensed before and it stirred a primal fear within him which he controlled immediately. The kunai he was wrapping slowly fell to the ground, and in that split second, he disappeared, gone in a flash of yellow light, before the kunai hit the ground with a resounding clang..
"You haven't answered me brat! Huh??" The old man's eyes widened in shock as he rose from his seat. Minato had disappeared. Too fast, he hasn't even blinked. The kunai that Minato was holding that fell to the ground in his absence drew the old man out of his reverie.. He felt it, that bloodthirsty coldness Minato had displayed from before, but it was gone in a flash.
He had gotten so close to Minato, that he forgot he was a bloodthirsty killer. As he bent to pick up the kunai, it was then that his senses picked up on the foreign malevolent Reiatsu.
"Hollows?!" His heart shook, beads of sweat slowly lining his face. His eyes revealing a trace of fear. Ignoring the pain in his joints, he rushed out, faster he thought he ever could..
*
---
The monstrous intruders rampaged through the district, tearing through buildings and reducing everything in their path to rubble and ash. Screams pierced the sky. Dust clouds rolled through crumbling alleys. Blood soaked the cracked stone paths.
Amid the chaos, a young boy, a familiar boy, stumbled forward, his head bleeding, the side of his face drenched in crimson. His eyes were wide, wild with terror, and his body trembled as he ran. He had watched his friends die, crushed beneath the gnashing jaws of that monstrous beast.
Despite his instincts and sheer will to survive, he found himself cornered. A huge shadow loomed behind him.
With a sickening whoosh, a massive arm wrapped around his fleeing body, snatching him into the air like a ragdoll. Panic exploded in his chest. He thrashed in vain, his breath caught in his throat. Below him, the Hollow's massive jaws opened wide, rows of spiraling, spiritual teeth gnashing, ready to obliterate him.
Tears flew from his eyes. He wanted to scream, but nothing came. Only silence.
He shut his eyes, bracing for the end. It never came.
The next time he opened his eyes, he would never forget what he saw.
There, holding him tightly against a lean chest, stood a man with shaggy yellow hair, with two long extensions cascading from the sides. His cold, piercing blue eyes glared past the boy with lethal calm. He wasn't bulky, but there was undeniable power in the arms that shielded him, a spiritual presence that wrapped around like a protective flame.
"Minato-san…" the boy choked out, in disbelief.
The rest was tears. He gripped Minato's jacket tightly, sobbing into it as the trauma poured out of him. Minato sighed softly, his features softening into a faint, reassuring smile. "It's alright, Genma. I'm here. Go and rest for now…"
He gently patted the child's back until his shaking slowed. Once Genma could stand again, Minato turned him around and sent him off with a quiet nod.
Only after ensuring the boy had safely vanished into the distance did Minato rise fully to his feet. Slowly, his head turned, his sharp gaze locking onto the enemies that had dared to attack this realm.
His cold blue eyes scanned the devastation, then focused on the monstrous forms.
'Hollows, eh?' he muttered in his mind, lips curling into a grim line.
The first of them was the one he had just saved Genma from. A hulking, simian beast, its posture brutish, its movements twitchy and savage. It towered like a monstrous baboon, with long, muscular arms that dragged along the ground, claws scraping stone with every step. Its hunched body was draped in matted, bone-like fur, streaked with obsidian plates that lined its spine like jagged armor.
The Hollow's face was encased in a snarling skull-shaped mask, warped and twisted, with a gaping mouth full of spiritual saw-teeth and mandibles that clicked ceaselessly. Two glowing yellow eyes burned from deep sockets, and its long tail ended in a jagged bone-club that twitched with anticipation.
Behind it, the second Hollow slithered across the wreckage.
A grotesque centipede-like behemoth, its segmented body rippling with obsidian-black armor. It had no eyes—only an elongated, cracked jaw-mask that stretched across its entire head. At its center, an enormous circular maw yawned wide, ringed with jagged teeth, and from within slithered a long, slick, prehensile tongue. The creature burrowed into the ground with ease, vanishing beneath the debris, hunting by spiritual vibration and striking from below.
The third was unlike the others, weird, certainly, with a human torso and beastly features in shape.
A floating figure, garbed in ceremonial white robes, the hems soaked in dark crimson. Her mask was blank and smooth, save for a single thin, vertical slit like a closed eye. Dozens of long, pale arms extended from beneath her sleeves, twitching and beckoning with ghostly calm. Her entire body radiated unnatural stillness, as if she stood still while the world trembled around her.
Minato narrowed his eyes, stepping forward slightly.
'That one, her Reiatsu is the most powerful..'
Her spiritual pressure was subtle, coiled and suffocating like mist. It didn't rage outward like the others, it crept, insidious and deep, invading thoughts, pressing on emotions.
And yet…
Behind even her, behind the torn hole in space that had let them into the Soul Society, he felt something else.
A darker, greater Reiatsu loomed beyond the hole in space.
It brushed against him, just for a moment, examining him, like a predator studying its prey.
Minato's brow furrowed. His left hand moved to his waist.
With quiet resolve, he unsheathed his blade, the steel whispering as it slid free.
He reversed his grip, holding it downward and low, the tip facing the earth. With his other hand, he formed the seal of confrontation, his fingers steepling before his chest.
At that moment, his own Reiatsu flared out, a sudden burst of blinding gold that clashed against the presence behind the Garganta like a tidal wave meeting a cliff.
The ground beneath him shattered, spider-webbing outward in all directions.
Minato spoke no words.
But war had just begun.
---