Hey! I'm back, although I think I'm late again hehe, sorry.
Also, I have been a bit tired, so this chapter is a bit short compared to the others, so sorry for that. This chapter is focused mainly in team 10 and what Konohamaru did last time. I also wanted to tell you that there will be one more chapter after this before the Chunin Exams continue, so yep, it's getting closer. I've also been reading some reviews I've been getting and I'm thankful that they are constructive, I really appreciate feedback. Apart from that, I think there's nothing else to say, so you can start reading the chapter, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball nor do I own Naruto, all I own are a couple of new characters I added to the story, all the other credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB, DBZ, DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).
"Of course it isn't true!" Gohan replied, his voice kind of trembling, laughing nervously after replying. "It's impossible for someone to survive such a thing, isn't it?"
"It is hard to believe, of course, but according to Konohamaru, Lord Hokage said it." Asuma started talking, more to himself, as he scratched his black beard, the smoke of his cigarette flying up to the blue sky of that sunny day. "I'd better ask him directly."
The atmosphere was quite tense, shock now having turned into concern or judging glares towards the saiyan, who could not do more than just hope that such a thing remained secret. Shikamaru was processing the possibility of such thing being true, only convincing himself that it was impossible. Chouji directly took that as a weird joke from Konohamaru, continuing to eat his chips calmly.
"It is impossible, of course it is," the boy with the pony tail spoke up as he remembered something, "but you have never told us where you come from, so you're still definitely hiding something." He turned to his master, who was still thinking about the matter. "He could be a spy!"
Asuma was snapped out of his thoughts by this last statement; he hadn't considered that possibility. "But why did Lord Third let him stay in the first place, then?" He whispered, still talking to himself.
"Come on, how could Gohan be a spy? He definitely doesn't look like one." Ino entered the conversation. "If anyone were to be spy, it would be someone like Kiba or Naruto, they do look like someone bad, the look bad."
"What do you mean? Looks aren't everything, and it's not like Gohan looks any better than Kiba or Naruto!" Shikamaru now turned to the blonde kunoichi, his eyes failing to hide his annoyance.
"I mean, Naruto is a really nice guy." Gohan said as he remembered the times he spoke to the blonde genin. "I don't think he's a spy." He grabbed his chin and his eyes adopted a confused appearance similar to the one that was common in his father.
Chouji now sat down to finish his sixth bag of chips of the day, taking advantage of the situation to entertain himself with something as he ate. Asuma finally reached a conclusion, starting to walk away as he threw his cigarette away and ignited a new one. "I'll be going to talk with Lord Third, you can go home, we'll continue tomorrow."
"Alright!" The Akimichi cheerfully said as he continued to eat his chips, inviting the saiyan to sit next to him, also offering him a chip as his teammate sat down next to him.
"Anyway, I won't bother with you here," Shikamaru turned to the onyx-haired warrior, his eyes rolling as he was annoyed by Ino, "the issue is with you."
Gohan was startled by the sight of his teammate, his messy hair moving as he stood up, thanking Chouji for the chips. He walked towards the Nara, his face as friendly as possible, but failing to hide his nervousness behind it. The genin with the pony tail crossed his arms, his expression only getting more serious and his eyes carefully analyzing every move made by his teammate. Ino stopped complaining about the Nara, having noticed how serious he seemed to be about the matter despite Gohan acting as friendly as possible under said pressure.
Shikamaru opened his mouth, having taken a couple of seconds to choose his words, his hands ready to either grab a kunai or to jump back and execute his best technique. He, not like the half-saiyan, was able to hide his nerves behind his emotionless eyes and annoyed face. "I know you're stronger than me, so there's no need to intimidate."
The half-saiyan raised his eyebrow in confusion, noticing that his teammate was actually getting ready for a battle against him, which only caused to back off and bow in a way of apologizing. This caught the pony-tailed genin by surprise, scratching his head as he tried to understand what was going on.
"I didn't mean to intimidate you, I'm sorry." Gohan said, going back to a normal position until after he spoke. This came out of both his education and his need to keep his powers secret, at least until it was absolutely necessary to use.
"Don't even bother, I don't care if you intended to do it or not." He kept his arms crossed as his face only showed how his annoyance grew bigger and stronger. "Just give me a reason to believe you aren't a spy." His voice, firm, penetrated in the saiyan's ears, which got him more nervous than he already was. Tension only rose as Gohan took his time to think of a response, taking only that for Shikamaru not to trust him. "What are you thinking so much about, it's not that hard of a question."
"I... I don't know, I just don't have any reason for being a spy." The saiyan said as he grabbed his chin, his eyes showing his thoughtfulness. "This village gave me a place to live in and even money to sustain myself," he continued babbling as the pony-tailed genin only rolled his eyes.
Once the saiyan stopped talking, to which Ino and Chouji cringed, the Nara took the chance to reply. "Seems convincing, maybe I was a bit paranoid, how troublesome."
"Told you he couldn't be a spy!" Ino intervened as she pointed her finger at the genin with the pony tail.
Shikamaru turned his annoyed eyes to the blonde kunoichi. "Asuma-sensei is still going to talk to the Hokage, we can't be sure until the Hokage says so."
"Let's forget that, we should actually go to eat!" Chouji cheerfully suggested as he got up. "I've run out of chips already."
It had been a couple of minutes since Asuma arrived at his father's office, sitting in front of the old man's desk and being watched over by his assistant, Yuichi Senju. He usually had trouble going there, not because of the stairs or something related, but because he was treated like anyone else would by his father, which only made him feel uncomfortable and even disappointed at times. Unfortunately for him, he had to get used to such treatment from his dad, as he held the most important job of Konoha, the job of the Hokage.
Hiruzen had no clue why his son had gone to his office, neither did his assistant, but he didn't really think about it that much, only wanting to finish it quickly for him to continue with his paperwork. A couple more seconds went on before anyone spoke up in the room, Yuichi remaining silent, the son of the Third not knowing how to ask his father about the issue, and The Third limiting himself to hearing as he knew it would be easier to end the issue quickly that way.
"Where did Gohan come from, exactly?" Asuma finally asked, his tone plain and his face serious, quickly getting his father's attention. "I'm just curious about it, he hasn't told us much thing about him."
"Ah, I see, that's the issue." Hiruzen said as a grin was drawn in his face. "We don't really know, if I have to be honest, but we presume he comes from another world, maybe another dimension." He smoked from his pipe, letting a cloud of smoke escape from his mouth.
"A-another dimension?" The son of the Third asked in shock, his serious expression breaking. "Is that even possible? There's no way it is."
The Third grinned once again as he smoked from his pipe, his grin suddenly turning into carelessness. "We don't really know either, but that's the best explanation we have to him falling down from the sky." Yuichi rolled his eyes at this behavior as he believed he wasn't being noticed by the old man, but he always noticed this type of gestures from his assistant.
"So it was true..." The jounin finally said after half a minute of silence, his hands falling down after having held his head as he searched in his mind for another possible explanation. Then, he remembered that, if he fell down from the sky, he should've survived the fall, sparking another doubt in him. "And, just how strong is he?"
"We don't really know," the old man smoked from his pipe, this time letting a really big cloud of smoke out of his mouth after he did, "but we presume he has to be, at least, in the jounin level, arguably in kage level."
"Excuse me, sir, but how can a kid of his age be in the kage level?" Yuichi interrupted, being caught by surprise by such a statement.
Hiruzen smiled confidently, having expected that question. "Easy, young man, it is not everyone who survives from such a fall, and having seen prospects such as Itachi Uchiha and Minato Namikaze, why wouldn't an even superior prospect appear?" He left his hat in the desk before he continued talking and smoking from his pipe, revealing his bald head.
"Comparing him to Itachi and the Fourth... That can't be right..." Asuma said to himself.
"It is, from what he has shown, at least." The Third replied. "Maybe in a couple of years he'll be comparable to the likes of the Legendary Sannin."
"You always eat that much?" A shocked Ino asked as she saw how much and how fast Gohan ate, surpassing by far what Chouji ate. How is he so fit if he eats so much like that?
The squad had gone to eat at the restaurant Asuma normally took them to after the training, the four of them being hungry after the short but hard training session their master had given them. Normally, Chouji was the one to order the most at once, but the saiyan always ended up eating the most as he would normally keep on ordering food as he finished his current plate. This had always shocked his teammates, given that his physical condition is so good, expecting that someone who ate like that would be incredibly fat.
"Yeah, I normally eat like this, why?" Gohan innocently answered as he was eating a giant bowl of rice.
Shikamaru cringed at his teammate's reaction. "Uh, nevermind." Ino answered.
"Aw, man, you always beat me at eating contests." Chouji complained as he rubbed his now filled belly.
"Hehe, sorry, I really can't help it." The saiyan said as he scratched the back of his head, finally having finished his meals.
"And who's going to pay all that?" Shikamaru asked, his face serious, one could say he was even concerned. "I don't think any of us has the money at the moment."
"Uhhh, maybe I can pay in other way?" Gohan answered, being heard by one of the waiters and instantly getting his attention.
The waiter walked to the table, and stood in front of it. "I see you'll wash the dishes again this week... When will you pay your meals?" He asked, annoyed.
Gohan laughed nervously as Shikamaru cringed. Chouji joined the saiyan's nervous laughing. Ino laughed softly, finding it funny how innocent Gohan seemed to be at times despite him proving to be quite mature for his age. Gohan noticed this and blushed slightly, causing some surprise in the blonde kunoichi, who up to that point had only once thought of anyone else apart from Sasuke in that sense, it having been the saiyan that time.
So, that was the chapter, hope you liked it!
Remember to leave any feedback you consider necessary in the review section, otherwise, make sure to support the story with a favorite or a follow, I really appreciate that kind of support.
I'll try to have the next chapter soon so I can start writing the final phase of the Chunin Exams sooner, as I know will have more free time to write. That's all for now, though, I don't think I'll be able to have next chapter ready today, so yeah, see you next week with hopefully two new chapters! Have a nice day!