Hey! I'm back! After quite a while... hehe.
I've been really busy lately, homework seems to be unlimited, but I finally got some free time, so here I am. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to post anything last week, so I hope you can understand.
Anyways, here's the chapter, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own Dragon Ball, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB, DBZ, DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).
"And what about Genma?" Raido asked, one of his eyebrows raising as he looked for his friend.
"Don't mind him, he trained the entire day with his team, he's probably sleeping by now." Hayate answered as he put his hands in his pockets and started walking forward through the street, his tired eyes glancing at the buildings in front of him.
"Man, he is turning into Kakashi..." Aoba replied, disappointed in how his friend had become into a boring man while still being quite young. He feared of ever becoming the same and decided to never take on a team of genin.
Night had come along with the glowing moon, the lights of the village illuminating the streets and insides of the buildings. Some villagers usually went out to eat dinner or to drink something, but there also were young jounin and chunin that also took advantage to rest from their quite tiring profession. This time, Hayate, Aoba and Raido had found the opportunity to reunite and have a fun time, but the absence of Genma was really noticeable for the trio, the only one able to not mind it being Raido, as the other two struggled not to go to his house and take him by force just to get the group back together.
"Whatever..." Raido said as he looked away. "Where will we go, anyways?"
"Maybe Ichiraku is good." Hayate proposed as he looked back at his teammates, noticing Aoba's new glasses. "Wait, are those new glasses?"
Aoba was taken by surprise, laughing nervously as he remembered how his glasses and nose was broken by the kick of a member of a terrorist organization. "I thought you had noticed from before..."
"I mean, they are quite the same, they're just cleaner, I guess." The lizard lover answered, turning back and continuing walking forward.
"Ichiraku is quite reliable, but we go there every time, don't we?" Raido was cut out as he noticed that his friend had stopped. "Huh?"
Hayate coughed before running back and beckoning his friends to follow him. The pair of jounin followed him behind a building that was at the side of the road they'd been walking in. Once in there, Hayate made sure no one had followed them, and went back to his friends, who were just really confused. "There's a genin from the Leaf talking to a jounin of the Sand, alone and in the dark."
"What?" Aoba asked, not understanding what was happening.
"You think something is going on?" Raido got his hand in his kunai pocket.
"I don't think that'll be necessary, let's just make sure it is true." Hayate said as he summoned a little lizard that held a scroll, grabbing the scroll and writing something in it before giving it back to the lizard, who climbed the building and ran away from the place.
"Huh?!" Aoba's confusion couldn't be greater. "You think a genin would be a spy?" He even laughed at such a statement. "Come on, be serious." His laughter stopped as his friends left him behind, going to spy on the suspicious pair, following them immediately after.
The jounin of the Sand, wearing a turban with a sheet that covered half of his face, talked silently to the genin of the Leaf, a silver-haired young man with glasses as well as purple and white simple clothes, who seemed quite discreet about doing so. Behind the wall that protected the bench they were sitting in, Hayate was hearing the entire conversation, while Aoba and Raido hid in the two buildings in front of the bench, checking on his friend. The jounin of the Sand was quick to notice the presence of the three, though, and decided to end the conversation and act as if they were talking about the exams, but it was already too late.
Hayate came out of his hideout, pointing a kunai at the jounin of the Sand in a firm position, his gaze going right into the man's only visible eye. "Surrender immediately, you are under arrest for conspiring against the village." The threat was evident on his voice tone.
A confident smile came out of Baki's face as his eyes closed. "Come on, you know you cannot defeat me." He felt the stung of the kunai as it went through his arm, but he ignored it. "Huh, you're more stupid than I expected."
Kabuto reacted almost instantly, but his punch was stopped by Raido, who had already reached the place, turning his eyes directly into the silver-haired's. Orochimaru's servant was caught by surprise as the one that stopped his punch disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving place for Kabuto to notice that the original scarred man was running towards him with his sword in his hand.
Meanwhile, Aoba had joined Hayate in his confrontation against the jounin of the Sand, who was now engaged in a fight to death against the duo of jounin of the Leaf. The sound of Baki's kunai blocking the lizard lover's sword were enough to block the sound of the Sand jounin pushing Aoba back constantly. After blocking many hits from the blade, the kunai finally broke, forcing Baki to block a last hit with one of his arms while he used his other hand to hit the other jounin's face, breaking his new sunglasses and winning some extra seconds to turn back at the lizard lover. His other arm went back to where Hayate was standing, landing a powerful punch at his chest and throwing him back.
Raido was having an even fight with the silver-haired ninja, struggling mainly due to his opponent being able to read his movements. Kabuto was standing close to the where the other fight was happening, surrounded by the two clones of his opponent, as well as the original one. Kabuto then created a chakra blade in his hand, which helped him to beat the clones quickly to engage a battle against the original scarred shinobi.
Then, what appeared to be a squad of shinobi from the Sand arrived at the place, which Baki joined quickly as he took the kunai out of his arm. Kabuto noticed this, throwing a smoke bomb and joining the squad of ninja.
"You arrived just on time." Kabuto said as he appeared from behind the squad's back.
"We've been watching over the village since the start of the Chunin exams, of course we came to help." A member of the squad said as him and his teammates started making hand gestures. "Now, it's time to erase your memories with this special genjutsu." The trio of jounin from the Leaf was caught by surprise by such a statement.
"I did not expect less from the Kurama clan." Baki said as a confident smile appeared once again in his face.
Aoba's and Raido's eyes widened as they heard the man's declarations, while Hayate just tried to respond quickly, biting his thumb and making some hand gestures before putting his hands down to the floor. "Summoning jut-"
Unfortunately, Hayate was too slow and failed to finish his technique before the genjutsu was applied in them, causing the trio to fall down to the floor, unconscious.
"The technique has been completed successfully, the invasion is not at risk anymore." A member of the Kurama clan stated.
"Had it not been for you and your clan and its hatred for this village, we would've been unable to continue operating secretly." Baki said, as his arm was being bandaged by one of the members of the squad. "We appreciate your services to the Sand, and you'll be rewarded."
The sun was intense that morning, very unfortunate for the genin that started their training that day. Team 10 was kind of lucky, though, as they had chosen a training camp with plenty of trees to create some shadows to stay in. Not minding that issue, training would obviously proceed as the sun isn't anything compared to the normal threats a shinobi has to face.
In the camp, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru were performing their special techniques on each other in order to practice them, Asuma was introducing Gohan into chakra. The young saiyan had asked for such thing as he found it interesting to know about it, although not forgetting his objective to show his friends the other way. The son of the Third was happy to have the saiyan with them, and he showed it through his facial expressions and the tone of his voice. The rest of the members were merely waiting for their master and teammate to start a more serious training.
Gohan, who was sitting down in the grass, with his typical purple clothes and messy hair, was quite concentrated in his new master's explanation.
"Chakra is the energy we have inside us, it is said that it is native from lifeforms, but it is also said that it was given first to the Sage of the Six Paths by a major power, we could say its origin is quite a mystery." Asuma explained, his hands supporting his words with gestures. "This energy is essential for every fighting capacity a shinobi possesses, as even the most basic taijutsu is based on said energy."
The saiyan nodded to show his understanding, letting his master continue after deciding to let him finish before he made any questions. For him, it would be disrespectful to do such a thing, so it was just one more reason not to interrupt him.
"There are several natures of chakra, basically types of chakra, but that's a more advanced topic at this moment, so let's go back to the basics." Asuma threw his cigarette and changed it for another one before continuiing. "As you already know, every living being requires of its respective chakra reserves, of which its capacity varies is determined by some specific characteristics that vary from person to person. Nevertheless, these reserves can be improved with training, which is what we'll work on today." Asuma turned to his back and beckoned the rest of his students to go where they were sitting.
"So we're finally starting?" Shikamaru said as he arrived, sitting down as far from Gohan as he could, which made the saiyan uncomfortable.
"Huh, you seem more motivated than you've ever been, that's weird coming from you." A confused Chouji remarked as he opened a bag of chips and started eating from it.
Ino sat down next to Gohan, smiling at him, then looking back at Shikamaru. This was seen by the saiyan as a response to what the Nara had done previously. "Yeah, that's not like you at all."
The jounin interrupted the conversation as he stood up, beckoning his students to do the same. After they followed his instructions, he raised his voice. "Team work is key to success in battle, so I don't think it would be convenient to have problems withing the group." Asuma glanced at Shikamaru before turning to the saiyan. "Whatever happened, you have to solve it, okay?"
Both genin nodded, not looking at each other at any moment. Gohan didn't even know what was happening with his teammate, but he was sure he needed to talk to him. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was affected by the clash of thought they had after the match of the saiyan against a shinobi from the Sound. Ino and Chouji just fought to relieve the tension between both, the blonde kunoichi noticing the unwillingness of Gohan of having such conflict while Chouji understood perfectly the Nara's problem.
The training went on with several exercises that aimed for an increase in the chakra control of the genin, while the saiyan warrior started to practice hand seals, resulting to be the first hard training he'd received in a while. Gohan showed impossibility for doing any jutsu at first, but then he started to show some progress as he found out the way to use Ki in a similar way the others used chakra, although it was very uneffective compared to normal chakra. The saiyan figured that he was just unable to use chakra and that chakra was something different from Ki.
He managed to create a couple of clones after several tries, but he started to notice the brutal waste of Ki it showed to be, rejecting the idea of continuing with that for a while and starting some physical training. Asuma was confused with the sudden decision taken by his student, but decided not to care that much and let him be, going back to his other students, that continued with the tree climbing training. As Gohan grabbed a couple of trees to train with them, the yells of a kid were heard from the distance. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance as he noticed that Konahamaru was the one that had arrived, for him, he was a smaller version of Naruto, and just didn't like the annoying atmosphere he carried with him.
Behind the brown haired kid, his two friends chased him with really concerned expressions; they wanted to stop their friend. Konohamaru ignored his uncle's greetings as he ran directly towards Gohan, his eyes determined. After he was ignored, Asuma noticed the bruises his nephew had in his arms and face, which lit his concern up, but before he could do nothing, the voice of the kid was heard once again.
"Gohan! Train me, please!" Konohamaru said as he pointed directly at the saiyan's face, his determination breaking and starting a slow transformation into frustration and tears. "The old man told me you were really strong, so please, train me!"
At this point, Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino were watching the scene with confused expressions. Gohan couldn't do anything but smile nervously and scratch the back of his head. "W-why don't you ask Asuma-sensei, for example, he's a jounin and I'm no more than a genin..."
"But the old man told Yuichi that you had survived a fall from the sky, my Uncle Asuma would never survive that!" Konohamaru replied, catching Asuma by surprise as such information was revealed, he never imagined that Gohan would be the object that fell down from the sky a couple of weeks before. "That's why I want you to train me! I have to be the strongest Hokage ever!"
An astonished Gohan struggled to answer to that for a couple of minutes. "I-I mean, you're still in the academy, you aren't ready for training to the genin level..."
Moegi and Udon had already reached Konohamaru, grabbing him by the arms as he tried to resist the grip of his friends. Gohan was really hesitant of what she should do in such a scenario. Behind the scene, Ino was absolutely shocked at what the little kid had stated the Hokage had said, denying to herself that it was real, but being really unsure about the matter. Chouji remained silent after the chip he was grabbing fell down.
"Come on, you can't believe what this kid is saying!" Shikamaru said with an annoyed tone. "He and Naruto are probably playing a joke on us!"
Gohan beckoned Moegi and Udon to release the young Sarutobi, which they did with nearly no hesitation. The little kid fell down on his knees as tears started to come out of his eyes, his friends hugging him in response.
"I'm just tired of being weak, of being a loser..." Konohamaru said, snapping his uncle out of his shock. "And now not even the boss spends time with me..."
"What about them, though?" Gohan replied, referring to the two friends that were hugging the kid at the moment. "I didn't know you were the grandson of the Hokage and the nephew of Asuma-sensei, you surely have a really strong family." He continued, his aura turning into one that was calm thanks to the empathy he suddenly had as he remembered his own childhood.
"What happened that left you like that?" Konohamaru widened his eyes as he felt a hand place itself on his head, turning his head up and finding the face of his uncle. "Did someone beat you up?" The jounin received a nod from his nephew. "You know, that does not define whether you are strong or not, what determines it is whether you are able to learn from mistakes or not."
"But I still need to become the strongest Hokage ever, and I won't reach that at this rate." The kid said as he cleaned his tears with his blue scarf, his determination coming back.
"I'm sure Gohan can train you when you're older." Asuma answered, his voice calm, as he scratched his nephew's hair. "You should go back home and rest a little," the jounin turned to the other two kids, "make sure he arrives safe and sound, ok?" The kids nodded before taking Konohamaru back, leaving team 10 alone again.
Asuma now turned to Gohan with a serious expression on his face, being noticed by Ino and Chouji, who watched carefully what was to happen. Shikamaru just crossed his arms.
"Asuma-sensei?" The saiyan asked with a confused tone.
"Was that true? Were you the thing that came down from the skies?" The jounin directly asked, his tone having something different about it that the young saiyan could not really distinguish.
"Uhh..." Gohan hesitated before answering, he just wished that Konohamaru had never said such a thing. This complicates things...
In the outskirts of the village, a meeting between Orochimaru and his subject was held, where every member of the Sound present assisted, a certain group of four shinobi escorting the snake-like man. Team Dosu members were almost trembling out of fear, contrasting with Kabuto and his only left teammate, that remained serious and calm at the arrival of their leader.
"Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto said bowing as his leader reached his position, "the mission has remained on secret, we're ready for the last phase of the plan."
"That's satisfying to here..." The snake-looking man turned to team Dosu, noticing their fear. "I'm guessing you failed in your respective matches, as I expected."
"No, sir, I didn't." Zaku answered, his voice shaky due to his fear.
"I see... Then I'll need one more sacrifice..." Orochimaru said to himself, discarding the possibility of using the shinobi with the broken arm as a sacrifice. "Maybe it won't even be necessary... Hiruzen is old and weak, after all..." The snake-like man started walking away as he continued thinking about his fight against the Hokage.
"Huh, who would've thought! Zaku surpassed Dosu." A four armed shinobi said, he was part of the squad that had escorted their leader there.
"It sure is surprising." The silver-haired ninja said as he adjusted his glasses.
"You're lucky, maybe you'll join us when Kimimaro dies, then." A blue-haired shinobi answered as he laughed.
So, that was today's chapter! I'll try to bring a chapter as soon as I can, so I compensate the delay, but I don't promise that I'll be able to do it.
Anyway, have a nice day and see you later!