Chapter 4

"Shut your mouth, Itachi! I've waited my whole life for this moment and spent every day training like a monster to finally meet and kill you! Nothing will stand in my way!" he shouted, dashing forward, lightning arcing up and down the length of the chokuto.

Itachi's hands flashed so quickly that only Raditz and Orochimaru were able to follow, "Katon: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Itachi called out firing a stream of small fireballs in the direction of Sasuke, making his bother flee to safety. "Your resolve is strong, Sasuke-kun," he noted, his eyes completely dispassionate as he looked onto his little brother. "Tell me, Sasuke. Have you gotten stronger or weaker working under Orochimaru?"

"How about I show you!" Sasuke challenged, his sword ignited once again in lightning. He darted forward at break-neck speeds, earning an eyebrow raise from Raditz. "Die!" Sasuke declared, stabbing his sword through the chest of Itachi.

Time seemed to slow down as Sasuke's blade went into and through his brother's heart. For a moment Naruto and Sakura almost found themselves cheering as the Uchiha killed his greatest target. Then the went went upside down! Itachi burst into a murder of crows only to reform directly behind Sasuke, stabbing him with a kunai in the back.

Raditz's eyes nearly popped from his head at the display before him. He'd seen energy blasts of all kind and even witnessed people divide and multiply, but he'd never seen someone do what he was currently witnessing! "P-Prince Vegeta, are you seeing this?" he asked.

An equally flabbergasted Saiyan prince nodded dumbly, forgetting he could not be seen. As he watched on an idea began to formulate in Vegeta's mind. "Raditz, take the boy that knows the fate of our women and bring him to Earth with you. We'll grill him on the details when you find your little brother," Vegeta ordered.

Raditz nodded. "Yes, Prince Vegeta. Raditz out," he stated and turned to look at Naruto. With speed unheard of by this planet, Raditz appeared before Naruto, slugging him in the gut and doubling the blonde over. You're coming with me kid. We've got some talking to do."

Itachi noticed the change in focus and motioned for Kisame to prevent the man from taking their target. "Kisame don't let that man take the Kyuubi host. Leader-sama will be extremely pissed if he kills Naruto." Even as he was speaking, Itachi was engaged in a three on one battle in which Kabuto, Sakura and Sai were defending the downed Uchiha. Sai having heard what Itachi said broke off the attack and went for Raditz himself.

As Sai approached he quickly pulled out an ink brush and a pad of paper and began sketching for all he was worth, creating as many monsters as he could dream up. It was with great surprise that Sai watched the man generate energy in the palms of his hands and with a cry of "Double Sundae!" he blasted a swath out of everything before him. A large trench, twenty feet wide and a good half mile in length was cut through the forest, leaving all eyes on him. "Well, I'll be taking my leave now," Raditz noted.

As he tossed the blonde over his shoulder, he heard the boy faintly speaking. Impossible, he shouldn't be able to wake for several hours! He thought to himself. "What was that brat?" he asked aloud, straining to hear what the kid had to say.

Naruto was in a world of pain, but he knew that things were just going to get worse if he didn't do something and quick! His mind was was still halfway unconscious and the pain in his body made it near impossible to think, but as he cracked one eye open to glance at Sasuke's prone form, he said the only thing he could think of. "Sasuke.."

Raditz looked between the blonde slung over his shoulder and down at the boy on the ground. "He's probably gonna die kid, there's no point in bringing him along. Besides, you're the one with the info I need." Even as he was speaking Raditz found himself walking towards the downed Uchiha, slowly bleeding out. "Pf, whatever," he grumbled lifting Sasuke as well. As he stalked towards the ship his tail curled around his waist.

Yamato bit his lower lip knowing that if he didn't act now his sempai would never forgive him. "Mokuton: Tree Binding Seal!" he called out his hands flashing through seals. He watched as several trees erupted from the ground, encompassing Raditz in a ten foot cocoon. "You're not going anywhere!" Yamato challenged, creating a Wood Clone. "Get back to the village as quick as possible! I've already sent a messenger bird but we need backup immediately," he ordered. His clone nodded and leaped its way into the forest making a bee line for the village.

With a mere flex of his gargantuan muscles Raditz freed himself from the bindings. "And I don't suppose you think you're going to stop me do you?" asked Raditz with a smirk on his face. Seeing his hands full and wanting to have a bit of fun, he took a few steps further and dropped both teens into his pod, sealing the door.

Turning back to the gathering of ninja, he was quickly face to face with Kisame, who used his bandage-wrapped sword, Samehada, to strike Raditz full force in the gut, with the intent to bisect him. Kisame's cocky smirk went away in a hurry when felt far more resistance than he should have. He turned slowly, oh so very slowly, around to view Raditz still whole. Not even his armor appeared scratched. "I-Impossible," he worded as the color drained from his face.

Acting quickly Kisame dashed backwards, sliding along the loose gravel. "Itachi, this guy's the real deal. We better be careful," Kisame warned, his sword still at the ready. One hand flashed through a series of seals, "Suiton: Shark Bomb Jutsu!"he bellowed, sending forth a giant shark that swam through the air as if it were in the ocean. Raditz smirked and fired a small ki-blast at it, only to watch the shark grow a hundred times it's previous size.

Kisame balked at the amount of power his jutsu absorbed from the small looking blast. If that had've been me hit by that... he thought morbidly, imagining what a miserable death that could have been.

Raditz watched in interest as he led the shark-based water attack on a wild goose chase, often vanishing an instant before being touched. "Interesting your attack won't detonate unless it touches what it wants,"' Raditz assessed.

Kisame's smirk returned momentarily at the praise.

Naruto, as pained as he was knew that Sasuke was dying. The raven-haired boy was bleeding out from the stab wound in his back. "Kuso! Sasuke, don't die on me, you asshole!" he managed to force out through gritted teeth. Sasuke didn't reply. Whether it was from inability or refusal, Naruto did not know. Taking the Uchiha's hand in his he tried to feed the other ninja some of the Kyuubi's chakra. He smiled as he noted the blood-flow stop and the wound close. Immediately after it sealed, Naruto fell into unconsciousness, the pain getting to him.

Sasuke opened his eyes at Naruto and turned to gaze outside of the window of the pod. What he saw was startling. "I-Impossible!" he noted in awe.

The area was bathed in a white light. The nearby trees rocked back and forth and the very earth seemed to tremble as Raditz took the brunt of the shark bomb. "Well, that actually stung a little," Raditz noted rubbing the kink out of his arms. His armor sported a small black scuff mark. "Look you got me dirty, Fishface," Raditz exclaimed in annoyance.

Just as Raditz raised his palm to end Kisame, he found himself glancing into the eyes of Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan. "Tsukiyomi," Itachi said calmly. Those gentle words brought the world spinning. Suddenly Raditz found himself in a world where everything was reversed. up was down, left was right and all the colors seemed to be negatives of itself. "What the hell is this?" Raditz demanded.

Itachi appeared before him, holding a katana. "This is my Tsukiyomi. You are now trapped in here, under my control. Everything in this world bows to my will, as will you by the end," Itachi drawled, his mangekyo eyes burning their way into Raditz's soul. "For the next seventy-two hours, you will experience death at the end of my blade. Ready?" Itachi intoned, enjoying the way Raditz struggled to free himself.

"Why can't I move? This is impossible!" Raditz declared, for the first time outside the presence of his prince, Raditz felt fear. Then he looked over Itachi's shoulder and saw it...

Itachi wondered what had the man before him so pleased. Surely he wouldn't find this as amusing. Without further thought Itachi proceeded to stab the man a million times in the heart, kidneys, lungs, jugular, subclavian artery, brain, and crotch. "That's one second," Itachi noted, seeing the panting, pained face of Raditz.

"W-What? One second? But this is impossible!" he shouted. Steeling himself he focused on the moon in the distance. The moon was full, and he could feel its energy invigorating him. "You're about to be in a world of trouble, punk," Raditz declared.

Itachi raised an eyebrow ask for an explanation when it happened...

Itachi leaped back, away from Raditz, landing near Kisame. "It's best we make a retreat. Leader-sama needs to know about this latest development," he said calmly to Kisame. Kisame mere nodded. "What happened? He looks fresh as a daisy, and you don't look quite as strained as before, Itachi," Kisame noted as he placed his sword on his back.

Itachi nodded. "I'll explain later. For now we must get out of here." Not waiting for a confirmation Itachi beat a hasty retreat. Seeing his partner fleeing, Kisame swiftly ran after him, not pausing as he looked back over his shoulder at the man that made even the great, fearless Kisame fearful.

Orochimaru chose that moment to emerge from the shadows. "While I am quite impressed by your display of power," he began, his voice sickeningly smooth. It made Raditz feel like he had creepy crawlies up and down his spine. "I'm afraid I can not allow you take Sasuke from me. H'es going to become my next body," he noted as if talking about the weather.

Raditz raised an eyebrow. "Next body? You're a body swapper, like Captain Ginyu?" he asked, wondering if Orochimaru would break out into a dance with odd posing.

A beep in his ear alerted Raditz to more pressing matters. "Sorry to cut this short as I've been loads of fun with guys, but I have to get going to Ee-arth," he said calmly, trying to get his mouth around the word.

Without giving Orochimaru another chance at speaking, Raditz fired a ball of ki into the air and allowed it to burst, raining down small but no less lethal blasts of ki. "Hope you enjoy the Crushed Sprinkles," he called out as he watched the shinobi evading the blasts for all of their worth. Meanwhile he calmly walked to his ship and opened the door.

Sasuke pretended to be unconscious still. In his mind he was planning out how much stronger he'd be if he could train under this guy...

Raditz climbed in, setting both teens in his lap and programmed his pod to return him to to his previous course. "Estimated time to reach Ee-arth?" Raditz asked the ship computer.

After a moment of processing the ship responded, "Time to arrival on planet Ee-arth, two months five days."

Sighing, Raditz pulled out a ration and ate. "Oh well, when these brats wake up they will probably be hungry," he noted, looking through the database for suitable planets to each the local life.

_ Travel Story _

Naruto squelched looking at the insect-like limbs cooking over the firepit. "You can't really expect us to eat that do you?" he asked of Raditz, who had decided to catch the boys some dinner.

Raditz quirked an eyebrow at the blonde, still surprised with how narrow the boy's eyes squinted when he was displeased. It was like the boy's eyes were closed! "Yes, brat! Now eat your meal!" he thundered reaching into the flames to pull out the exoskeletal leg from the flames and tossed one to each boy.

Sasuke took the offered morsel and cut into it with a kunai before eying the meat inside. Narrowing his eyes at Raditz he couldn't bite back his disgust. "I've done some pretty criminal things in my time away from the village but killing a family to eat them is new to me," he complained. He could still see the faces of the small family as Raditz had the boys make their first kills as ruthless warriors.

Raditz shrugged. "You wanted me to train you and your blonde friend here. And we do gotta eat. I'm not sharing my rations with you two beyond three days at a time!" he snapped, nonplussed by the gentle nature of the two so-called hardened assassins. "Besides this stuff tastes good once you get past the tough shell," he added as he bit into and through the shell of his own leg.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and tasted the morsel. It was strange to eat another sentient being but inside he kept hearing Kyuubi demand him to try it. "Damn fox," he muttered around a chuck of chitin and meat. Surprisingly Naruto found that he enjoyed the taste. "Hey, Raditz-sensei," Naruto exclaimed making both his travel companions groan.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"I was wondering... Will you show me how to make giant balls of explosions? I want to become Hokage so I need to be really strong and cool like you!" he shouted, pantomiming as he spoke.

Raditz chuckled and ran his hand through the boy's hair. "Sure, I will. But you need to get strong enough to make the blasts first. You got a long way to go, Naruto," Raditz answered affectionately. Despite all claims to the contrary Raditz was starting to grow fond of the two boys. It was almost like he had a family. Something occurred to him then. What if Kakarot has a family? He may not want to leave them behind... I better not waste time on those kinda thoughts. No way he left anyone alive. That planet has a round moon and only a dozen or so power levels that are even near Kakarot's potential.

Sasuke was eying Raditz, assessing the man. Everything about him expressed power. Soon enough I'll meet and surpass you, Raditz. Then I'll be able to kill my brother, he thought grimly, his lips in a tight narrow line.

"Hey, Raditz-sensei," Naruto called out around another bit of meat. All company sighed again. "What, Naruto?" "Who do you keep talking to in your headset? I haven't seen anyone else traveling with us," he inquired. The question gained Sasuke's attention. It was true that Raditz had been speaking with someone that no one else could hear.

"Oh, that would be my lord, Prince Vegeta and his head General, Nappa."

"Whoa a prince?" Naruto enthused. He'd never met a prince before. "You guys must have a huge kingdom full of really cool fighters like you, right?" asked Naruto.

Raditz face went dark for a moment. "Well," he started, his voice filled with sorrow and longing. "We used to have an entire planet! We had scientists and warriors and training grounds everywhere... But then one a comet came and destroyed our planet. I was away on a mission as was the prince and General Nappa is always at the prince's side to be his guard," stated Raditz, his large shoulders slumping ever so slightly.

Naruto, as sharp as a round table stated what was on his mind. "Doesn't sound like much of a prince to me. And why would space people be living on a planet when a comet was heading for it? It doesn't make sense..." he whined, eyes tightly closed and his arms crossed over his chest.

Sasuke snorted derisively, ignoring Naruto's observations. "Hey idiot, don't talk about people like that. What if an earthquake happened to Konoha? Would you like it if someone said such reckless things about your village? Especially if you were one of the handful of survivors?"

Naruto started to protest, but after the years spent with Jiraiya, he paused to reflect on what Sasuke had said. His shoulders slumped and he looked mournful. Turning his gaze to Raditz, who looked like he could care less, Naruto uttered an apology.

Sasuke found himself standing at odds with Naruto. Both teens were face to face, glares of death in both their eyes. "Naruto," Sasuke addressed.

"Sasuke-teme," Naruto returned, his voice equally filled with malice. "Rock Paper Scissors, GO!" he called in synch with Sasuke. Both landed on Rock only to repeat the process again and again until finally Naruto won a hand. "YATTA! I get the last bit of dessert!" cried Naruto as he leaped and then flew a distance, back to the camp.

It had been another month into their trip to Ee-arth – Naruto suspected it was supposed to be called Earth, but Raditz and Prince Vegeta steadfastly refuted the claim – in the time of traveling, Naruto and Sasuke had spent many hours practice their Taijutsu and Ninjutsu while also learning the basics in ki manipulation.

So far the two could fly and fire small balls of ki. Neither had the desire to try the flashy moves of Raditz as they were concerned with Chakra exhaustion, even tho Raditz said it wouldn't happen to them.

Raditz smiled proudly as he watched Naruto gulp down cranial stuffing of the crab-like man they had captured and eaten. It was amazing watching as the two boys progressed from fledgling to powerful warriors in a matter of months rather than a lifetime. "Naruto," Raditz called out. The blonde paused in his dessert-stuffing and looked up, his eyes narrowed to tiny slits while he had a bit of purple gelatinous ooze hanging from his mouth. "Eh?" he mumbled astutely.

Off tot he side Sasuke had his arms crossed, thinking the blonde somehow cheated. He so wanted that cranial stuffing! Next time, Naruto. Next time...

Raditz noted the interaction between his "students" but did not say anything about it. "Tell me what happened to the two women. I know we're not on Earth yet, but I need to know," Raditz pleaded. There was a certain glint in his eyes that made him look like a drowning man.

Naruto slurped up the rest of his dessert before setting it down, his hunger subsiding for the time being. "Well, from what I know, my mom was one and Sasuke's mother was the other. They both died a long time ago," Naruto offered.

Sasuke rounded on the blonde, anger flashing through his eyes. His Sharingan activated as he glared the blonde boy down. "Naruto, explain! Tell me everything you know, now!" Sasuke ordered, surprising both Raditz and Naruto. Raditz waved Naruto to continue and the blonde obliged, glancing tentatively at Sasuke.

"Well, Kyuubi used to be in my mom's belly before he was released and placed in me. He couldn't access her memories but he could see what was happening around her and hold conversations with her, just he does with me from time to time," Naruto informed, his eyes narrow slits as he tried his best to look like a scholar.

"They landed on our world together but after having something weird done to them our mom's were placed within clans of Konoha capable of keeping their secrets. Since my mom had red hair, she was sent to the Uzumaki Clan so she could blend in. Your mom looked like a Hyuuga but since she didn't share the eye trait, they plucked the eyes from a stillborn Uchiha and transplanted them into her. She was raised among your Clan," Naruto informed.

When the blonde stopped talking Raditz figured that was the extent of the boy's story. However, Sasuke was not satisfied with that. "That's impossible! What about me and Itachi? You even! We don't have tails, Naruto! And you're blonde, not a redhead," he shouted pointing out the glaringly obvious.

"I don't know all the details. That's just what the fox told me so far," he stated, shrugging his shoulders. He thought it was cool to be from another planet, half alien, half human. Just before Naruto could get lost in a world of daydreaming, Raditz spoke up. "If you're actually Saiyans it's possible that you can regrow your tails, even as half-breeds," he noted.

Sasuke turned a dark scowl into the distance, "But, what about Naruto being a blonde? That's just weird," he stated, sending the focus on the incredulity of it all. "In our world the strongest bloodline takes precedence, and we end up with traits of that parent. Surely, even if his dad was the Yondaime himself, he couldn't have been stronger than you, Raditz. So why didn't he get his mother's hair?" Sasuke wondered aloud.

Raditz paused to mull it over, putting a fist to his chin. "I'm not a scientist. I don't know those kinds of things. We Saiyans excelled at one thing and that was fighting and killing. The few of us that could think on the go, like my father, Bardock, were hailed as the great scientist of our world. Even then they paled in comparison to some of Lord Frieza's scientist," Raditz said calmly. He'd already explained to the boys that his planet had an alliance that still stood with a space tyrant named Frieza.

Naruto was so far out of his element with all of the questions and theories that he just gave up. "AHH!" he shouted loudly, gaining everyone's attention. "This is sooo boring! When are we going to train again?" he asked, looking like a depressed child, despite being sixteen years of age.

Raditz shook his head. "I swear, you're a stamina-freak, Naruto."

Naruto jumped up to his feet, prepared to train in accordance with Raditz. "So what? I just want to become Hokage! I can't do that if I'm not as good as Sasuke! I got to be better than him!" he shouted, pointing directly at said object of his ire.

"If you know what's good for you, dummy, don't point that finger at me," Sasuke intoned, his hands steepled elbows on his knees.

Naruto pulled down an eyelid and offered his rival a raspberry. "Plbbt! Why don't you make me, baaaaka?" he challenged.

Seeing as the meal was over, Sasuke dashed forward, engaging in Taijutsu with Naruto. The two boys brawled as hard as they could, throwing punches that should be able to shatter bone and kicks that could level mountains.

Raditz smiled as he watched his adoptive sons. "For your sake I hope you are Saiyans. Vegeta won't be too pleased to hear that I trained you two otherwise," he mused aloud.

End of Chapter

YES! First Arc complete! Next Arc is the arrival on Earth. Also more with Neji and his strange tie to Goku and Tien.