Chapter 3: Genin Gohan
It was around 9.30 p.m, the Hokage was in his office all alone doing his usual paperwork. He was about to call it a night and go home when suddenly he heard someone knocking at the window. He quickly turned around and got into a battle stance, preparing for battle. He soon dropped his guard, though, as he realized who was it that knocked at the window.
"If you wanted to talk to me, you could have at least gone through the door, Gohan" said the Third while opening the window, letting the young saiyan in
"I'm sorry, I had to wait till this hour to get Naruto off my back. I tried entering through the door but those guard ninja wouldn't let me at this hour."
" And what about the Anbus placed around this building?"
" They're sleeping now. Don't worry, they didn't even see me coming"
" Alright, so… to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"
"It's about Naruto"
"What about him?"
" You see… this afternoon, while we were walking home after the academy Naruto stopped at a store to buy some stuff…"
" Yes, and…?"
" And then the owner threw him out calling him "Demon brat""
The Hokage showed a bit of worry in his eyes for a split second before saying
" Well.. as you know, Naruto is quite a prankster and…"
" With all due respect, sir, just because he's a big prankster doesn't justify the fact that he was called DEMON brat rather than just brat. I don't know how things work here but from where I come from that's not really normal. There's something you're not telling me, and since it's about my roommate and friend, I want to know what it is. I want to see if I can help somehow. Please…"
"Sigh… What I'm about to tell you must not leave this room, you mustn't tell this to anyone else, not even to Naruto, understood?"
"You have my word"
"Very well… There was once a very dangerous and powerful demon called the Nine Tailed Demon Fox, or Kyuubi, if you wish… it was a horrific monster that no one was ever able to defeat, he had the power to crush entire mountains with just its tails…"
"Uhm… Impressive, I guess…?"
"Very, for our standards. Anyway, the demon attacked the village 12 years ago; we tried fighting it, but it was useless: it was just too powerful. Then the Fourth Hokage found a solution: to seal the beast within someone's body, and he was successful: although it cost him his life he managed to seal the demon within the body of a newborn baby, and that baby was Naruto."
"But why? Why him? Why couldn't the Fourth Hokage seal the demon in his own body!?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that so let's just say that the Fourth had his reasons. Neither Naruto nor the other children of the village know about this, the only ones who do are the adults who were present during the attack. I made it so that nobody would be allowed to speak about this matter to Naruto or the children in order to protect him… it's the least I can do…"
" Sigh… alright… but this also makes me want to ask you one more thing: one of the reasons why you allowed me to stay here is because of this, right? Because there's always the risk of the demon breaking free or something and in that case I would be the only one who could stop it, am I right?"
"…Yes…"
"But can't we just… I don't know… extract the demon while outside the village so that I may take it down? You know I'm strong enough to do that! There's no risk!"
"I would have asked you that already if that was possible. You see, the seal is made in a way that if the demon is ever forcefully extracted from its host, the host will die."
"Oh… I see…"
"I'm sorry for not telling you this earlier, I hope you understand that I had my valid reasons. But anyway, let's change the subject of this conversation, shall we? I heard about your first day at the academy…"
"Oh, yeah… Heh heh heh…!"
"Young Kiba's back is still aching and he's missing a tooth…"
"I-I warned him, but he wouldn't listen and…"
" I know, it's just that you have to understand that your little display of strength there was a bit too impressive. Not even Sasuke Uchiha has ever been able to defeat him so easily"
" I know, I was holding back during the whole fight, if I didn't he would've been the first 12 year old to ever land on the Moon."
"Yes, I'm just warning you to be more careful next time. Tomorrow the graduation test will take place; it usually consist of a written test and a practical one, but you'll only have to do the practical one due to your poor ninja knowledge. After graduating you'll be promoted to Genin rank and applied to a team under the guidance of a Jonin master"
"Oh… and what team will I be applied to?"
"I won't spoil the surprise to you, so you'll have to wait till tomorrow"
"Ok then. I'm sorry if I troubled you at this hour. I'd better get home now, even a saiyan needs to sleep."
"Wait! Before you go…"
The third a small case and a sack from his pockets
"These were found around the area where Naruto found you, and I thought they were yours"
He handed them to Gohan
"This is my sack of senzu beans! I completely forgot about it! And this is a capsule case! It must be from Bulma's lab! The vortex must've sucked it in too! Thanks"
" Don't mention it. Rest well, young man"
" Good night, Sir!" said Gohan as he flew out of the window
The next day, at the academy
The graduation test was taking place and as the Hokage had predicted Gohan didn't have to do the written test, which got him even more hate filled stares from Kiba and that Uchiha guy. All the students till now had managed to pass both tests and was now Gohan's turn
"Ok Gohan, since you were never thought how to perform the Bunshin no jutsu, you may show us any other kind of jutsu you know to pass this test"
"Don't worry, I know just the jutsu to use, and it's very similar to the Bunshin, too!"
"What?"
Gohan faked doing a couple of hand seals to make it look like it actually was a jutsu and then said:
"SHIN-SHIN NO KEN (Multi-form technique) !"
And to everyone's surprise another Gohan came out of the original one
"(Thank you, Tenshinhan!)" he thought
"Incredible! It's just like the Bunshin!" said Iruka
"Actually, it's a bit different, but I won't go into details" said Gohan as he made the other one disappear with a flick of his fingers
"Very good. You're promoted, you can go sit now. Naruto, it's your turn now!"
" Good luck, buddy" Gohan whispered to his friend
"Thanks"
Naruto then tried to perform the jutsu, but unfortunately failed, creating only a half-dead clone. Everyone in the class was laughing at him (almost everyone), which only made Naruto more upset.
For the rest of the day Naruto had been unusually quiet. Gohan didn't ask him anything as he could only imagine how he must have felt. Once they arrived home Naruto immediately went out, saying he needed some time alone. Gohan decided to rest for the rest of the day till night so he could go out to see what the capsule in the case the Hokage gave him contained.
Later that night
Gohan had to go into the forest outside the village during the night while no one would see him to go and test that capsule. For all he knew it could contain an entire house
"Let's try this out. HOP!"
He threw the capsule after pressing the button on top of it. The capsule explode in a thick cloud of smoke. After the smoke cleared he discovered that the capsule contained a spaceship identical to the one his dad used to get to Namek!
"This must be the spaceship Vegeta used for his training sessions before Bulma built him a gravity chamber in their house, so I guess it has a gravity machine inside. Not quite what I was hoping for…"
He pressed a button on the ship to shrink it back into the capsule
"I'd better bring this with me at all times, from what I've noticed so far the technology in this world isn't very advanced so they would probably freak out after seeing something like this…"
"STOP! DON'T DO IT, MIZUKI!"
"I-is that Iruka sensei's voice!?"
He quickly flew to where the voice came from and hid on a branch. He saw Naruto holding a huge scroll, Iruka injured by shurikens and Mizuki, the other professor present during the graduation test.
"(What the heck is happening here!?)
"HERE'S THE TRUTH, BOY! EVER WONDERED WHY EVERYONE HATES YOU SO MUCH? EVER HEARD STORIES ABOUT THE KYUUBI? THE MONSTER WHO ATTACKED THE VILLAGE 12 YEARS AGO AND KILLED MANY PEOPLE INCLUDING IRUKA'S PARENTS? IT'S YOU, BOY! YES, YOU!
"W-w-w-what…?" stuttered Naruto
"(NO! That son of a…)" thought Gohan
"WHICH MEANS THAT BY KILLING YOU I'LL BE DOING A FAVOR TO EVERYONE! YOU'RE NO USE TO ME ANYMORE ANYWAY!" and as he said this he charged towards Naruto with a huge shuriken in hand. Iruka was about to take the blow for Naruto but then Gohan appeared from a tree and (lightly) kicked Mizuki in the jaw, sending him to a tree, though he got up a second after.
"GOHAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" asked Iruka
"I was training in the forest when I heard you scream. Looks like I came just in time… Now let me handle this!"
"No…"
"N-Naruto…?"
"I'm the one who's going to end this… NOBODY TOUCHES IRUKA SENSEI WHILE I'M AROUND, YOU BASTARD! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"
As he said it an army of clones appeared everywhere
"(Kage Bunshin…!? But how…!?)" thought both Gohan and Iruka
"Now… where were we?" said the Narutos cracking their fingers and walking towards Mizuki
After a few minutes of reducing Mizuki to a bloody pulp
"Naruto… that was… incredible…" said Iruka
"Yeah… and Gohan… thanks… were you… listening to…"
" …what Mizuki said? Yes, I was. Don't worry, that secret is safe with me"
"Aren't you afraid of me being a… a demon?"
"What? You're no demon, Naruto. The Kyuubi was just sealed within you" said Iruka
"R-really?"
"And even if you were a demon, I still wouldn't betray a friend, believe me!" said Gohan, giving him the thumbs up.
"Y-you…"
"(Oh, Dende… is he going to…?)"
Naruto hugged Gohan while crying
" Hey, Naruto come here. I have something to give you"
"What is it, Iruka sensei?"
"Close your eyes"
Naruto closed them and Iruka placed a leaf ninja headband on his forehead
"You can open them now!"
"W-wha…?"
"Congratulations for your graduation!"
"I-Iruka… sensei…"
He started crying again and hugged Iruka, causing him pain due to his injuries
"(Well… all's well that ends well…)" thought Gohan
Two days later, at the academy
"Alright, class, now that you've all graduated you will all be now split into teams. Each team will be under the tutelage of a Jonin master. Let's start…
After a while
"Now, team 7 will consist of: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto…"
"YEEEESSSS!"
"No…."
"…and Uchiha Sasuke"
"YEEESSSSS!"
"Hn…"
"WHYYY!? WHY COULDN'T IT BE GOHAN!?"
"It was decided that each team member would compensate each other: Sakura has had the best marks in the written tests, while Sasuke was the best in the practical ones. You, on the other hand Naruto, are the worst student of the academy"
"But it's just not fair…"
"Stop whining, you moron…" said Sasuke
"YOU SHUT UP,BASTARD!" this caused Naruto to get hit on the head by Sakura
"DON'T CALL SASUKE-KUN LIKE THAT, YOU MORON!"
"Now, team 8 will consist of Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Son Gohan."
"(WHAT!? I GET TO BE IN THE SAME TEAM AS THAT JERK!?)" both Kiba and Gohan thought at the same time
To be continued in the next chapter