Finally, I'm back! (though not for long probably :c)
I've been really busy so I've barely had time to write this chapter, but fortunately I managed to finish it today. But anyways, I hope you like it!
I also want to apologize if it feels too short (as it is shorter than the normal chapter of this story), but this is minor chapter (a transition one, I guess) and the actual stuff begins in the next chapter. I'd also like to thank everyone that reviewed while I was inactive.
With that said, here's chapter 34, I hope you like it!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball or Naruto, all the credit goes to Akira Toriyama and Masashi Kishimoto.
Old and damaged buildings was all that formed the street, apart from some trees and the now destroyed road itself. At the end of the street, a less damaged one could be seen. On its roof, a sign with the inscription 'Otakama Restaurant' stood, in a surprisingly good state compared to the rest of the place. Gohan couldn't help but remember when the androids invaded the Amenbo Island and destroyed the city built on it, leaving a landscape similar to this one, at least on the parts that weren't pulverized.
Ino cringed once the bad smells reached her nose, quickly blocking her nostrils. Shikamaru sighed at his teammate's reaction, rolling his eyes afterwards. The blonde kunoichi noticed the gesture, and she surely wasn't specially happy about it. She asked if he had something to say, but Nara just shrugged before continuing to walk behind the jounin leading them.
Asuma ignored his students and continued walking forward. The saiyan followed his sensei as he walked towards the restaurant, from where a middle-aged woman came out. Sarutobi waved at her while smiling, seemingly knowing her from before. She waved back, although she didn't smile like the jounin had done. However, Asuma didn't seem to care, and just approached her.
"So, how's it been?" Sarutobi ignited his cigarette right after asking.
She beckoned the team of shinobi to go into the restaurant. "Not good, but at least we're alive." Even when she invited them to come in, she still was the first one to do so. "I'm guessing you already know the issue."
Asuma nodded as he followed the woman. "Apart from reparations, the basement, right?"
"Yes. The corpses are down there, you can take them." She sat down on a chair from one of the numerous tables. It was a big restaurant, at least bigger than they expected it to be. Probably it was successful at one point.
Sarutobi beckoned his students to go to the basement and grab the corpses. Then, before heading to the basement, he noticed that the woman had gone back to smoking, as he spotted the empty pack of cigarettes left on the table behind her.
Once the door of the basement opened, the horrible scent hit the noses of the young shinobi, which made Ino and Chouji gag. Gohan turned on the lights of the basement, and several bags were revealed. However, something else stood on the back of the basement, but before he could give it a more detailed look, Asuma arrived and told them to hurry up.
Naruto stood next to the tall, white-haired man, and behind them stood the gates of the village. In front of them, Kakashi and the blonde's two teammates observed the two that were about to leave.
Uzumaki hugged the silver-haired jounin, who blushed behind his mask. He didn't expect any display of affection from his student, so he was caught off guard. It had also been a while since he hugged anybody, so he really couldn't help but be uncomfortable.
The blonde shinobi continued to hug the next person, but once he saw the pink hair, his entire face got red. Sakura cringed at her teammate's reaction. At first, he intended to just wave her off, but she offered to shake hands, which Naruto accepted.
Next one, the black haired genin, who was still sitting in a wheelchair due to disobeying Gohan back when they fought against the One-tailed beast. Naruto raised his punch and put it in front of Uchiha, who did the same, resulting in a fist bump.
Once Naruto looked back at his new master, he was already walking towards the forest, which forced him to start running. He waved his team, no, his friends before crossing the gates of the village. And then, when they finally lost track of both master and student, they turned back and left for their respective homes.
"I hope they find Tsunade without much trouble." Kakashi said as he pushed the wheelchair forward.
Meanwhile, standing on the trees, deep into the forest that surrounds the village, two dark figures observed as both the blonde kid and the white-haired man got further away from the walls. The two of them wore the same black cloak with red clouds on it.
"It seems like Jiraiya rejected being the new Hokage." The tall and black-haired figure said, while his eyes went back to their normal black color. He tried to disguise the fact that his chakra reserves were low, but he realized that deactivating his sharingan was already a clear signal about it.
"Shall we go now?" Kisame asked, ignoring what his partner had just said.
"Not yet, there is something else I need to do before." His eyes suddenly gained an intense red color as he looked back. He made several hand signs, seemingly for no reason as nothing happened.
However, to Kisame, Itachi's silhouette started to fade into nothing. And as soon as the shark-like man started to look for his partner, a dead body was thrown at him. From his uniform and his forehead protector, he could identify that it was a jounin from the Grass. Apparently, they weren't the only ones spying on the Leaf.
In the main street of the neighborhood, a couple of chunin had arrived with a carriage, in which they started to pile up the corpses. There were some the younger shinobi had not noticed, as Asuma was the one to take them out, but once the two other chunin grabbed them, they were shocked. Kids, seemingly with they same age or maybe slightly older, were now dead and laying on a pile of corpses. They were maybe three or so, hard to say when you're stunned.
Asuma checked on his students, noticing the shock in their faces. Ino even seemed to be about to throw up. Gohan, however, was not as shocked. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, being weirded out by his student's reaction.
"You'll get used to this with time, don't worry." Asuma said as he leaned on a wall, igniting another cigarette and getting a smoke. He remembered when the news of the death of his brother came to him, and the desperation it brought to his life.
Gohan looked back at the jounin, and noticed that his usual cheerful expression was absent. He actually knew this facial expression, he'd seen it when future Trunks first got to see him. "And what if... we prevent it?"
Chouji nodded. "We surely can prevent this from happening, right?"
Shikamaru kept his sight fixed in the few trees that were taller than the walls, so they could be seen from inside. Ino, on the other hand, turned to Sarutobi, expecting an answer from him.
"It's hard, really hard, to prevent anyone from dying." Asuma said, not making eye contact with any of his students. "While I hope we could, with time I've come to learn that death is actually inevitable. And I also once dreamt about that."
"What about avoiding people dying young because of wars? Is that still improbable?" Gohan asked, this time turning complete to face the jounin.
Asuma looked at this student directly in the eyes, and noticed something similar—though not the same—to what he could also find in the eyes on his comrades and himself. He has seen things. "Well, you'd need to convince everyone of not fighting, and can you do that?"
The chunin waved off and started taking the carriage back, although this time they also carried the bodies away. Chouji wondered how people get used to such things. How could someone go as far as to perceive something like death as nothing really all that important. He then wondered if he would end up in the same way, even though he hoped not.
"Why not? Maybe with Gohan's strength we can achieve something..." Ino suggested, while turning to look at the jounin that was in charge of them.
Asuma closed his eyes and played with his beard. If Gohan was so strong already, how much would he improve when he grows older? And how stronger would he need to become for people to obey him and not fight, if that was even possible?
"No way." Shikamaru finally spoke up, and not to say anything positive, as usual. "No matter how strong you are, you can't convince people of doing anything they don't want to."
"Ugh, you're always so negative..." Ino looked away in annoyance, surrendering in any attempt of joining the conversation if Shikamaru was also participating. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
Asuma sighed and stood up. "Well, that would be today's mission, you can go back home."
"That's it?" Chouji asked, being surprised by how short it was.
Sarutobi nodded. "I told you it would be short. And you need to be ready for the one we're going into in two days."
"With team 21, right?" Shikamaru asked, remembering their previous conversation on the matter. As the jounin nodded, Nara scratched his chin. "And where will we go?"
"I'll tell you the details more in depth when we meet in a couple of days, don't worry." Asuma explained, but as he noticed that his student wasn't satisfied with the answer, he decided to say a little bit. "But, in advance, I'll tell you we're going to the border with the Sand."
Gohan's eyes snapped open in surprise, believing that after repelling the invasion, the problem was over. Had a war just started? Was the mission to do something related to an invasion as revenge? The saiyan was worried that he had been part of the start of a war, and also for the well being of his teammates.
"Is a war about to start?" Chouji asked, the concern being obvious on his face. He, just as Gohan, was worried, though he was pretty much aware of the risk of it happening.
"No, or well, I don't think so." Asuma explained while scratching the back of his head. "I'll explain you the details when we meet again, but don't worry, it's not war-related."
"Oh, for a moment I thought we were going to participate in a war." Ino sighed in relief, having thought about her possible death or the ones around her. "Pretty sure it's diplomatic then."
Sarutobi shrugged after standing up. "Well, see ya in two days, make sure to bring what you find necessary for a week-long expedition." He waved his students off as he walked away.
"A week long?" Shikamaru said with an annoyed face.
Ino nodded, while also seeming annoyed by it. Nara fell back, and once he was in the ground, he sighed.
So that was it, what did you think?
This will be more of a transition between the invasion of Orochimaru and the final arc, so that's why Suna is involved. I won't say much more, though, so you'll have to wait until next chapter.
Well, see you soon, hopefully.