Hey, how are you doing?
So, sorry for taking so long, I now have more free time and I'll try to write a bit more to compensate these weeks, so yeah. Anyways, here's the second match of the Chunin Exams! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own DB nor Naruto, all the credits go to Kishimoto and Toriyama.
With severe injuries, Shino Aburame and Zaku Abumi were taken by medical ninja to the nursery. Shino's eardrums had ruptured, causing him to lose considerable amounts of blood by the minute, consequence of the enhanced sound wave thrown at both his ears, which also worried the medical ninja as his brain could've also been damaged in the process. Zaku, on the other hand, had been victim of a massive bug infection, causing him a severe loss of energy and an internal hemorrhage, which resulted in him falling unconscious.
The Hokage was quick to announce the next match, surprising Gohan as he expected them to give more time for the genin to be taken to the nursery. The ones to fight next would be Shiho and Ino, two of the ones the half-blood saiyan had managed to establish a friendship with, sort of. He'd met Shiho all those times he went to the library to find something that could help him go back to his home world, until he surrendered, that is. Ino was his teammate, one that, as well as Chouji and Shikamaru (at times), had been really nice to him despite knowing hardly anything about him. This made it hard for him to support any of both, but he finally decided for Ino, having talked more with her and having promised her to watch the match.
However, when Gohan was going to worry about what could happen to both, having remembered the previous match, he heard a familiar voice in his head. He didn't take long to identify it as he'd been waiting to hear it for several weeks. The sound of his father's voice filled his mind, distracting him and earning all of his attention. At first, he did not believe it was real, but he finally believed it as the voice continued calling for him. That voice was all he needed to exit the arena running at a surprising speed, for his new friends and villagers that is, ignoring everyone that asked him what had happened.
In a matter of seconds, Gohan had already reached the exit of the arena, and was already talking back, although he planned to run all the way back to his house.
"Dad? Is it really you?" The half-blood saiyan replied, the fact that he was still running being reflected in his trembling voice.
It took a couple of seconds for the voice to return and answer to him. "Gohan? Is everything okay? Are you okay?" A feminine worried voice, one that the half-saiyan knew very well, asked.
"Yes, mom, I'm fine." He answered, not helping but to smile tenderly as he arrived at his house. "I thought you were never going to find me."
"Of course we would find you! And we did, even though it took us this many years." Chi-Chi answered from the other dimension, confusing and catching Gohan by surprise as he entered his new house. "Although now that I notice, your voice hasn't changed that much, huh..."
"Many years...?" The son of Goku replied, although the volume of his voice made it seem as if he was talking to himself.
Chi-Chi didn't seem to notice the deep confusion his son had been thrown into by her phrase, so she answered naturally. "Yeah, it's been ten years, but I believe that we'll finally bring you back!"
"Ten years?!" Gohan exclaimed, his shock translating to his face and words.
Just before his mother was able to reply, the voice of Piccolo filled his living room. It had been quite a while since he heard the voice of his master, it was always good for him to hear. However, he was quick to lose the smile he'd gotten on his face. "What do you mean you aren't able to bring him back? Isn't the dragon able to do everything?"
"Everything within this realm, it seems." An unknown voice for the half-saiyan explained, which shocked Gohan. "I'd recommend you to start saying goodbye, I doubt Zalama will hold the communication much longer."
Goku tried to protest, but his voice was interrupted by Chi-Chi's crying, followed by the sounds of the legendary saiyan warrior trying to calm her down. Piccolo was heard trying to argue with the unknown man, but he was simply ignored after one extent. Then, only Chi-Chi's crying could be heard, to which the unknown man replied with some annoyance in his tone.
"If you will not say anything else, I'll tell Zalama that he can rest now, anything else you want to wish or want to say?" Gohan forgot any possible usefulness that wish could have and directly fell down to his knees, resisting his tears.
All those weeks spent trying to find a way to go back home, hoping the problem would solve with the always reliable dragon balls, lost. He never really took seriously the possibility of forming a life there, he had only followed the thought that he would leave soon.
"Listen to me, kid!" The rough voice of Vegeta called for him, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise. "I'm really sorry that you aren't able to come back here, I really would've liked to see my son beat you up, but I hope you live a good life there, and of course, that you never stop training. You have to live up to the name of the Saiyan race!"
Gohan never really stopped thinking of what now was his reality, but he still was able to hear the words from the prince of all saiyans. "Thanks, Vegeta." He said, remaining silent for a moment, thinking of that training part.
Vegeta said no more and left space for the next one, who were his parents. The first one to talk was her mother, of course, her crying pushing her son to do the same. "My baby boy... This can't be."
Goku intervened, his tone seeming a bit more sad that it was usual from him. "Gohan... Is there a nice place to live? Is it similar to our home?"
"Not really, but I guess it hasn't been that bad..." Gohan said, leaving those things he really disliked for himself.
"I see... Well, I'm sure you'll find a way to get through it, you've always been really intelligent, you know?" He said with a nostalgic tone in his voice, as if he was remembering the little time he'd spent with his son. "I know I haven't really been there for the most part, but I really want you to know how much I... no, how much we love you."
Gohan was about to crack up as he replied. "Don't worry, dad, I love the both of you too..."
"Don't forget to finish your studies, if there is such a thing there!" Chi-Chi added with tears running down her face.
"Yes, mom, I think there is something like that here, don't worry." Once again, he omitted the fact that he really didn't know if there was such a thing as being a scholar in that world.
"That's good to hear." She happily said as she cleaned her tears, her efforts being useless as she went back to crying some seconds after.
Goku interrupted as time was running out. "We should let the rest say goodbye, let's go." He told his wife. "Bye Gohan, take care, we'll try to contact you again once."
"Goodbye! Remember to eat healthy!" Chi-Chi finally said.
Before Gohan could reply, another familiar voice showed up. He knew he would crack up in this one, but he would still try to hold it. "Hey, Gohan." The voice of his mentor, his father figure, filled his ears. "I never thought I'd be saying goodbye to you like this, I hope this could be different."
"Mr. Piccolo..." The half-blood saiyan struggled to hold his tears.
"I'd like to thank you for always seeing me as a normal person, just like I did back then, and also for always showing me such respect and love, just like no one else has done before." Piccolo said in a tone that made only Gohan realize that he was also struggling to hold his tears.
"No, I am the one who has to thank you for always being there for me." His voice cracked at times, but he still managed to hold his tears, for now. "Thank you for being my father, Mr. Piccolo!"
Gohan finally let his tears go out, his sobbing surprising the namekian, who got a nostalgic smile on his face, which was weird to see for the others. "Thanks, Gohan, really, you've always been a nice kid... I-I think it's time to say goodbye."
"Mr. Piccolo, thanks for everything!" The half-blood saiyan said, already in tears.
"Bye." The namekian replied in his typically cold tone, leaving place for the rest.
The rest of the Z-warriors, Bulma and even Trunks, the one of the present, and Goten, Gohan's brother, said goodbye, although these last ones didn't even knew him. It was a hard thing for Gohan to assume. It did not hit him up until now, the fact that he was stranded in a new and mostly unknown world for him, and also one whose system clashed with his way of thinking and the values he'd been raised with. He hadn't cared much about it, but it was because he believed, no, he was sure that he would be out of there in no time. As time went by, he started to doubt, but he never considered the possibility of staying there, so he didn't really care much about the problems he witnessed and recognized.
Now, his suspicions confirmed by his loved ones, he received a powerful hit from reality. And then, when the voices of his family and friends vanished, he collapsed, tears finally streamed freely from his eyes, having resisted his tears as much as he could even though he had already been sobbing. His hands covered his face, trying to wipe the tears at times, but eventually always letting them continue flowing. He couldn't believe he had been so naive to believe the problem would solve magically, or to think it would even be solved in the first place.
The next thing he did was think about his new friends, specially the time spent during the month training, in which they all grew closer. He could at least be glad that he now had someone to support him, or to talk to. What he wasn't that glad about was the fact that he had accepted to become a shinobi, a part of the army of the system he disliked so much. He did it because at the time he was sure he would stay in there for a really short time, so he just did what he believed would avoid inconveniences for his research. He was now forced to either keep on being a shinobi or to desert the village, although he decided to give it more thought later, remembering that the exams were still going on. He got up and went to his bathroom to wash his face, then got his looks fixed where they needed it, and drank a glass of water before finally leaving.
Asuma and Chouji observed in confusion and surprise as Gohan left his seat at an amazing speed. The son of The Third was astonished by the speed the kid had used to run out of the place. On the other hand, Chouji was too confused to even notice the speed his teammate had reached. After the saiyan escaped their sight, they turned to the arena, where the two kunoichi were already standing in front of each other. Chouji was confident that her teammate would win, but in the other hand, Asuma had his reasons not to be as sure, the main one being that the other girl hadn't fought due to her opponent surrendering.
Meanwhile, in the balcony of the participants, a discussion was going on about who would win the match.
"She struggled against Sakura, I don't know Shiho all that well, but I don't think Ino will win this easily, at least." Kiba said, his eyes concentrated in the arena.
Shikamaru gave the Inuzuka a disappointed look, to which Akamaru replied by growling. "Well, if Sakura had any chance before, it was because Ino was tired," he explained, gaining the blonde genin's attention, "now that she is perfectly well, she'll probably win and with more ease."
"What did you say about Sakura?!" Naruto angrily turned to the Nara, menacing with his eyes.
"You don't really know the girl, maybe she can win this." Rock Lee replied, turning for a moment to the genin with the ponytail, then back to the arena.
Shikamaru ignored the blonde and answered Lee first. "I doubt it, our training was probably harder than any of yours could've possibly been." He said, surprising some and annoying others. "If Gohan hadn't surrendered, he probably would've won without much trouble."
"How can you say that if you don't even know what we did for training?" Naruto angrily asked.
"Just watch the match and you'll see." Shikamaru finally said.
In the arena, the two kunoichi stood in their fighting stances in front of the other, between them was Hayate. Ino was confident on herself, result of the training with Asuma and her teammates. Shiho, on the other hand, was nervous, and this could be noticed by the referee from the slight tremble of her glasses. The referee scratched the back of his head as he assumed the outcome of the match, then giving the signal for them to start.
The first move was from Ino, who threw a barrage of kunai at the dark blonde kunoichi. This kunai were avoided by Shiho, whose next move was to throw a smoke bomb.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Shiho yelled right after the smoke started to spread.
Ino heard nervously as several steps started to approach her, grabbing two kunai for her counter attack. First, two Shihos jumped on her, both aiming a kick in the exact same position but from different directions, to which Ino defended by jumping backwards and then stabbing them from behind. Both proved to be clones as they exploded into more smoke, which of course was taken as an advantage by the dark blonde. One more Shiho appeared from the smoke in front of the Yamanaka, kicking her in the stomach as the original one landed a low kick.
After falling down to the ground, Ino rolled onto the smoke that remained, standing up again once she was sure she was safe. How is she so strong? She seems weaker than she actually is... The blonde kunoichi thought before grabbing two more kunai and running out of the smoke. But I'm stronger!
"Huh, she looks so thin, and yet she was able to throw Ino down..." Shikamaru mumbled as Naruto gave him a mocking look.
As Ino saw the silhouette of her opponent, she aimed a kunai directly at it, but it exploded into smoke, which she already expected. From behind, Shiho appeared once again, although she made an unexpected move by everyone, she threw a smoke bomb directly at the Yamanaka's face. Now smoke covered almost the entire space they were on, which made it difficult for the audience to see anything. The Yamanaka coughed several times as she tried to recover composure from the explosion of the smoke bomb, moving her head frantically trying to find the kunoichi of the glasses.
Back in the audience, the remaining members of team 5 watched in pridefully as their representative did an amazing performance. Yakumo could not do anything more than to cheer for her teammate and be amazed by her use of smoke. "Its just as if she had her under a genjutsu! She can't do anything but defend!"
"Wow, so in the end it did work to know how to focus chakra in her limbs..." Nobuyuki, who was sitting on a wheelchair due to the injuries he received in his match against Gaara of the Sand, said as the smoke covered the head of his teammate
Genma, the leader of Team 5, was the most proud of the girl with the glasses. "The way she uses her smoke is incredible indeed, as well as her chakra control," he excitedly added, "but I don't know how much she'll be able to keep the pace."
"Huh?" Nobuyuki turned to his teacher, having already lost any visibility of the arena.
"I don't think she has the resistance needed to keep such a pace for much more time, and if her strategy requires to keep her opponent from doing anything, then she'll have to end this quickly." He explained as he adopted a thoughtful expression, the senbon in his mouth moving slightly as he played with it with his tongue.
"Hey, Nobuyuki, can't you see through smoke with you eyes?" Yakumo asked, receiving a nod in response. "Then do it!"
As the half-blood Hyuga activated his byakugan, he was able to see what was happening inside the cloud of smoke. Ino was struggling to block the constant attacks she received, her right arm having already several bruises as the kunai she held started to break. One thing she noticed gave her motivation to resist as much as she could, though, and it was that the attacks got progressively slower and weaker, finally reaching the point in which she could counter attack.
Shiho noticed as she started to get tired, but when she checked the status of her opponent, she figured she hadn't injured her enough, so she finally slowed down and tried to think of something else. Unfortunately for her, Ino noticed that she slowed down, and run herself towards her with her kunai in hand. This scared the kunoichi of the glasses, causing her to avoid it late and get a cut from the kunai.
Next thing the Yamanaka did was turn around, her hands gesturing a little circle towards Shiho, which took the girl of the glasses by surprise. "Mind Body Switch jutsu!" She yelled, causing Shikamaru to smirk while Asuma and Chouji cheered back on their seats.
The kunoichi of the glasses was just unable to do anything about it and just fell victim of the jutsu. What she did notice, was that even after being struck by the technique, the user still had to take over the mind of the opponent, which she tried to resist as much as she could. Ino tried to raise the dark blonde kunoichi's hand for her to surrender, but Shiho wouldn't let her. At this point, the kunoichi of the glasses was already on her limit, being physically tired and having run out of chakra, so as she tried to resist, she figured that she had no possible way of winning this. Finally, Ino was able to surrender while being in her opponent's body, quickly leaving it and starting to celebrate as she was back in her own.
"As Shiho Hisajima has surrendered, the winner is Ino Yamanaka!" The crowd cheered as Hayate made the announcement, although not as much as they did for the last match.
Shikamaru smirked as Naruto looked away in annoyance. Genma already knew this could happen, but he still would congratulate Shiho for the amazing start she had.
Yakumo was disappointed by the outcome of the battle. "Aww, Ino is really strong, how unlucky for Shiho..."
"Yeah, who would've guessed Ino would resist that much? I wonder when she got so strong..." Nobuyuki said as he remembered the match between Sakura and Ino.
"Look." Genma said as he pointed towards the arena, getting his students to see as Ino seemed to be really tired while exiting the arena.
Just as Ino was close to reaching the door towards the nursery, a medical ninja offered to help her. This wasn't noticed by Asuma and Chouji, as Gohan had just arrived, asking if the match was over.
"Yeah, you're late." The Akimichi answered as he ate one of his chips.
That was it! I think I did the Gohan talking to his family better than the original fic, but I don't know what you thought of it, so feel free to give your opinion in the reviews! Also if you want to comment on any other thing regarding this chapter, of course.
But anyways, see you soon (I hope) with the next chapter! :D