A/N: Well, that last chapter took too damn long to finish, so that's why this chapter is pretty high on my list of priorities. Shoutout to JChittester for the whole Ki being physical energy idea in the first place. I got some criticism about it, but, like I said, I am the goddamn Eneru of this Skypeia! Now! Vegeta, would you kindly do the disclaimer?
Vegeta: No.
Please?
Vegeta: No.
Pretty please?
Vegeta: No!
I will summon Ghost Nappa if you don't…
Vegeta: THE FOLLOWING IS A NON-PROFIT, FAN-BASED PARODY MADE FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY! TAB DOES NOT OWN DBZ OR NARUTO IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM! ALL THE RIGHTS AND STUFF GO TO THE ORIGINAL CREATORS! PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE! PLEASE DON'T SUMMON THAT DEMON! PLEEEASE!
I couldn't even if I tried. He's already alive and well. He's a movie director now!
Vegeta: YOU SONOVA-
Chapter Four: Giant Swords Can Kill a Guy Y'know!
"The more I travel this land, the more certain I am that these are no longer the same humans Dad and I lived amongst. They are stronger, but that power came with a price… There's so much hatred and distrust here, I almost can't breathe…"
-Gohan's Traveling Journal
"Are we there yet, Gohan-sensei?"
"No."
"…Now?"
"Nnnnope."
"…Mmm, how 'bout now?"
"Nuh-uh."
"…"
"Can I go back to reading now?"
"Are we there yet?"
A sigh. "Unless one of you wants carry Tazuna so we can fly there, we won't be there for a while. Any volunteers?"
"I'd rather be on the lookout for enemies."
"I need to keep the first aid kit secure."
"I guess it falls down to me to save the day, as usual."
Naruto crouched down to allow Tazuna to ride piggy-back style. The team then took to the skies to fly the rest of the way to Nami no Kuni in silence. Team 7, or as they called themselves, Team Ki, were recovering from the first life-or-death fight of their lives. The mission started out pretty casually. Gohan was quizzing them about possible battle scenarios.
Suddenly, Gohan addressed Sakura directly, asking "Sakura, has it rained recently?"
"Not for weeks Gohan-sensei."
"So tell me why there are two fools in a puddle further up the road?"
Sasuke answered, "Most likely, they are attempting to assassinate our client, Tazuna."
Naruto spoke up, "But a high level technique like that is far beyond the reach of bandits, suggesting these are shinobi after him."
Sakura spoke again, "After a mere bridge builder? Surely not."
Sasuke went next, slowly turning towards Tazuna, "Unless there's something else going on Mr. Bridge-Builder would like to tell us?" The whole team turned towards Tazuna, waiting for his response.
Only for a clawed gauntlet to decapitate him.
Gohan barely spared the cut up log in Sasuke's place a second glance, choosing instead to react quickly. "Sakura, you know what to do. Boys, with me." Gohan, Naruto, and Sasuke flew towards the two shinobi previously hidden in the puddle.
The fight was over before the two assassins knew it had begun. Gohan was more than a match for one of them. The purple gi-wearing man rushed the assassin head on, but then spun behind him and knocked him out with a chop to the neck.
Naruto and Sasuke quickly dispatched the other would-be assassin with their new techniques: ki blasts. The shinobi had never seen or heard of such a technique, and thus underestimated its power. However he was skilled enough to use Kawarimi, and dashed towards Sakura, who was frozen in fear. They had trained every day for the month prior to this mission, but she was still a wet-behind-the-ears genin, and this full-fledged assassin was coming straight for her. Gohan, Naruto, and Sasuke all ran towards her, intent on stopping him, but they were too far away.
Sakura thought to herself, "I…have to move… or I'll die… How will I ever impress Sasuke-kun like this…? I… must… MOVE!" Sakura's pupils shrank, and her chakra and ki spiked far higher than her normal limits. Two small horns ripped through her hitae-ate, and a pink and purple tail formed just above her rear end. Her eyes gleamed a dark pink, and Sakura's face took on a hardened look a rookie like herself shouldn't have.
"Extinction Beam," Sakura stated in a cold voice. Her left index finger pointing straight at the unsuspecting man. When he was at point blank range, a pink beam exploded from Sakura's finger, and turned him to dust. She then turned towards Tazuna, who had shakily emerged from his hiding spot behind a tree, and spoke in a slow, precise, and very chilling voice. "Tazuna-san, you lied to us. This mission was ranked C-Class. The most we genin are expected to fight off are bandits incapable of chakra usage. So, do tell, Mr. Bridge-Builder. Why in the name of Frieza's final form are there B-Class chakra using shinobi after you?" Tazuna swallowed as Sakura paused for a second. Then she spoke again, with a voice that unnerved the rest of Team Ki. "Fair warning: I despise liars."
Tazuna looked into Sakura's cold dark pink eyes. There was none of the friendliness and childish innocence that danced in her emerald eyes. The man sighed, and began his tale. Tazuna spoke of a man named Gatou, who had been mercilessly forcing the country of Wave into abject poverty. The self-proclaimed Super Bridge Builder fell to his knees, and clasped his hands together. "Please, I'm begging you! You have to help us! If I can finish the bridge, I can pay you the proper ranking of this mission! Just, please, don't abandon us!"
Naruto looked at the man, before smiling and shaking his head. "Jeez, old man, isn't it a little early to be going senile?! Of course I'm gonna help you! If I wanna restart the Saiyan race, I'm gonna have to make a name for myself."
And after that, Team Ki had decided to get to Wave as fast as possible, which brings us to the present. Team Ki was flying above the forest when Tazuna told them to land. A deep fog had begun to appear as they were flying, until they couldn't see too far ahead of themselves. The team landed, took a boat across a large lake, against the boatman's wishes. And when they reached the other bank…
"Hmm… stay on guard you three. Something's not rubbing me right about this mist… It feels…" Gohan muttered.
Just then, a quiet whooshing sound was heard. The sound triggered the memory of a few sparring sessions with Future Trunks. His eyes widened.
"Everyone! Get down!" Gohan yelled. Trusting his students to be quick enough to dodge the incoming danger, he grabbed Tazuna and dropped to the ground.
"Well, well, well. Some no-name jonin and his cute little genin. I doubt they can even hold a kunai right," a deep, growling voice echoed from the mist. "Well listen up, you weak little rats! I am Zabuza Momochi, Th-"
"Demon of the Mist. I've heard of you," Sasuke interrupted. "I'm gonna take your sword from you."
"So the little genin can read bingo books? Well you can try you little shit, but everyone who's tried… Heh heh, let's just say this blade's favorite color is a dark red."
"Enough. What do you want from us?" Gohan asked.
"Simple. The bridge builder's life. Hand him over, and I promise I won't leave you in too many pieces."
"That's a shame. Our mission is to protect him from scumbags like you," Sasuke interjected.
"Well then… I suppose I'll just have to kill you guys to get to him!"
"Like we'll let you! Reverse Fireworks, everyone!" Naruto yelled. Team Ki flew into the air, with Gohan carrying Tazuna. Just in time too, as Zabuza had appeared swinging his giant Kubikiribocho. Not seeing his prey, but feeling their chakra above him, he dropped his Kirigakure no Jutsu. His eyes widened when he saw the team comfortably floating in the air.
"What?! Is this a kinjutsu of Konoha?!" Zabuza demanded.
"Maybe you'll learn it in hell! FIRE!" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all bombarded him with ki energy blasts. The barrage finally ended, and a large cloud of dust hid what was hopefully Zabuza's corpse on the ground. When the dust finally settled, however…
"What the hell? Where'd he go?!" Naruto demanded.
"It was a water clone! Stay on your toes, guys, we don't know where he's hiding…" Sasuke cautioned, his keen eyes spotting the puddle of water marking where the clone had dispelled. They floated in the air watching the foggy area below them, waiting for Zabuza to make his move.
"Suiton! Suiryudan no Jutsu!" With that, a dragon made up of raging currents rushed up towards the trio, intent on trapping them in the watery confines of its jaws. It was not to be however, as the trio merely flew under it, causing it to crash into a tree. When Sakura's green eyes looked around for Zabuza, she saw that the entire tree had been reduced to mere splinters.
"How much chakra went into that dragon…?"
"Worry about how quickly this sword will be going into your abdomen!" a growling voice said from behind her. Sakura turned around and saw the intimidatingly tall man before her, a chilling grin underneath his bandaged lower face speaking to her of how little he cared for her life. Sakura blinked, hard, and when she opened her eyes, she was greeted with the sight of that hideous orange jumpsuit where Zabuza was standing.
"You keep away from Sakura, no-brows!" Naruto yelled, his fist, which had been in Zabuza's stomach mere moments before, outstretched. "Sakura, you stay here. Sasuke and I will handle this giant sword-wielding bastard. Believe it."
There was so much confidence and determination in his voice, she instinctively believed him, and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Is this the same Naruto I thought I knew back in the Academy?" she thought to herself.
Zabuza slowly walked toward them, carrying the Kubikiribocho in one hand, resting on his broad shoulders. "I always give credit where it is deserved, and you three genin are quite strong. However! I am a jonin, which means I outrank you little shits in sheer strength! This is where it ends for yo- Hurk!" The intimidating man was interrupted when 2 senbon needles pierced his neck, ending his life.
"Thank you for distracting him. I have been pursuing him for weeks to no avail. I will take the body to a safe place for disposal," said a young man who suddenly appeared next to Zabuza's body. He bowed to the trio of genin before grabbing Zabuza's body and disappeared in a blur of speed.
The trio of genin all relaxed, as Gohan appeared next to them via shunshin.
"Nice work. I give you a…. B plus," he said, letting Tazuna down; the man promptly puked on the ground.
"B plus? We kicked Zabuza's ass!" Sasuke objected.
"But you let his sidekick get away with his supposedly dead body," Gohan responded with a smirk.
The trio groaned, for whenever Gohan smirked the way he was smirking now, they were in for some serious training.
Team Ki was standing outside Tazuna's house after a few minutes walking through a very depressing farmer's market. The faces of the people were either afraid, wary, or just plain exhausted. The spirit of the people of Wave had been crushed by this Gato bastard, and it showed. Everywhere looked dirty, and run down. Most people were huddled together, barely moving. Some of the younger men walked around in groups with hard faces, and women were hardly seen on the streets at all.
"This… this is awful…," Sakura had muttered, looking around at the depressing scene.
"This is how we are forced to live because of Gato. We have to pay 'rent' or else…," Tazuna had replied.
Gohan's eyes darted around, taking in the setting. "Tazuna-san, let's hurry on to your home, shall we?" He subtly jerked his head in the direction of his team, two of whom were shaken up by the general mood of the town. Naruto, strangely enough, appeared almost unaffected. Gohan made a mental note to talk to all three of them later.
Now, they had arrived at Tazuna's home near the ocean, and were greeted by a black-haired woman.
"Tou-san, welcome home! Who are these people with you?" she said apprehensively, her eyes lingering on Gohan, and Naruto's fox appendages.
"Tsunami, meet the super amazing ninja a super amazing bridge builder like me deserves! They're gonna protect us while I work on the bridge," the drunkard replied excitedly. As they shuffled into the house, Tsunami disappeared into the kitchen, the team settled down at the table.
"Sensei, what did you mean when you said we let Zabuza's accomplice get away with his body?" Sakura asked.
"If that boy was truly a hunter-nin, he would have disposed of the body immediately, right then and there. And the fact that he used senbon to kill him was fishy to me. If I had to guess, I'd say that this unknown accomplice put Zabuza into a false death-like state. We have a week at best before Zabuza will be up and running," Gohan explained.
Sakura was nervous. The month after Gohan had passed them had been the most excrutiating month of her life. The sheer amount of training they did was insane. He trained them until they literally dropped. The tree-climbing exercise, the water-walking exercise, leaf balancing, kunai balancing, sometimes two or three different exercises combined into one. Her chakra levels had shot up, and so had her ki levels, and she was beginning to be able to keep up with Naruto and Sasuke.
"So then, we should do some more training then right? When are you gonna teach us the Kamehameha Wave?" Sasuke asked excitedly.
Gohan laughed, "I'm not gonna teach it to you, you're gonna make up your own techniques. I refuse to do anything but give you the materials. What you do with them is your business."
Naruto's eyes shined in admiration, practically fangirling, his fox tail waggling happily, "Gohan-sensei, you're so cool!"
Gohan looked at his fellow Saiyan, and had to restrain his jaw from creating a hole in the ground. Naruto was slowly becoming more and more foxlike as time passed. His face was becoming furry, his whisker-like birthmarks were becoming lesslike birthmarks and more like actual whiskers. Gohan looked out the window at the starry sky, and to his dismay, the moon still wasn't full! He looked back at the furry child soldier who had turned to the food Tsunami had brought out and was ravenously devouring it. "If the full moon doesn't reverse whatever this is, then Naruto's already shitty standing with the villagers will drop even farther... And then there was that business with Sakura's brief transformation, it her ki felt so cold. It reminded me of..."
Gohan's musing were interrupted by a knock on the door. A discrete hand signal put his team on alert as he went to go check the door. He opened it to find an eye-smiling Kakashi. "Hi there. We're the backup unit from Konoha you requested." Kiba, Shino, and Hinata stood behind him looking quite harried. "What's the matter? Can't handle a simple C-Rank?" Gohan's eyes twitched in annoyance.
A/N: Okay, so it's been WAY to goddamn long since I posted; it's been maybe a year or two actually… Yikes. So I went overboard with this chapter to make up for it. I hope you guys like my second fight scene ever. It took my forever to figure out how I wanted this to play out, and I actually do have a bit of a plan for how I want the next chapter or two to go. So maybe in a month or two, I can have chapter 5 out. Alrighty, that's about it! Although, I must say, nobody decided to unscramble last chapter's message, so that sucks. But the show must go on. Also, someone asked me why I'm putting Sakura and Ino in the poll if I hate them so much. One, I don't hate either of them, I hate how they just ended up kind of in the background. Sakura was on her way to becoming a major part of Team 7, but then suddenly Sharrinnegan! Suddenly Kurama! Suddenly Madara! Suddenly a whole bunch of other powerups that renders everyone else obsolete! But, rant over, I think Sakura and Ino have a lot of potential, but their original forms got robbed of that in favor of giving Naruto and Sasuke more badassery moments. I said it before, the point of Fanfiction is for writers to share what they think should've or could've happen. It's a community where ideas explode from the brain. Anyways, onto the power listings!
Naruto: 200,000
Sasuke: 10,500
Sakura: 9,560
Gohan: 100,500
Kakashi (No-Sharingan): 100,000
Kakashi (Sharingan): 102,000
Zabuza: 110,500
Haku: 9,000
I've adjusted them because I've decided that the Ki readings is just a measure of raw power. What the person does with that power is what separates the jonin from the genin. And lastly, in all of my fanfics, Ki shall be physical energy, Reiryoku is raw spirit energy, and Chakra is a combination of the two. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaalrighty then boys and girls! I shall see you! In the next chapter!
Ja ne~!
