The events happening around him suddenly moved forward, and soon the saiyan found himself kneeling as his father stood between Cell and him. This time the field was even more deteriorated, presenting more craters. Cell, defeated, had gone back to his previous form, and in a desperate attempt, he tried to take the planet down with him.
His father placed his hand on the bio-android's body, and then turned his head to look back at his son for one last time. This time, streams of tears flowed down his face as he tried to scream desperately. He tried his best to stand up, but he was unable to. He was forced to observe as the past played in front of him, giving him no chance to change it.
Once his father teleported away with the Android, the space shifted once again. This time, the field seemed to be less damaged, even having the presence of grass around him.
He also noticed as his hands and legs became smaller, as well as his outfit changed. An intense glow of light forced him to cover his eyes, though he was still able to notice as a silhouette positioned itself between him and the light. And then, he recognized what was happening as well.
When the light vanished, the silhouette, now a familiar green body, fell down to the ground. His master was laying, dying, on the ground. And once again all he could do was stare as it all happened.
His eyes snapped open and so did his mouth as he finally managed to release a scream filled with his inner despair and frustration. Then, he gasped for air and took some time to recognize his surroundings.
White walls and curtains, a window that had a view of the village. Next to the bed he was laying in, a machine that reported his pulse, and in the opposite side, a chair where a blonde friend of his was waiting.
"Ah, you finally woke up!" The blonde girl said after being scared by the scream.
He glanced at her, allowing her to notice how tired his eyes looked. "Finally? How much did I sleep?"
"You were in a comma for like 3 days! You were lucky Asuma-sensei found you after those guys abandoned you to die."
"Ah... Yeah, right." He finally noticed the bandages covering his arms and torso. His previous dream, or at least he thought it was a dream, had distracted him from the fact that he got all burnt and injured.
"So you're telling me that that kid survived to the Akatsuki?" Aoba asked while he held a cup of tea with his right hand. The bearded jounin nodded in response, as well as the one that wore a green jumpsuit. "And he also beat a tailed beast before, what the hell..."
"The old man was right, god damn, that kid is strong. It was about time for that imbecile to be right about something!" Said a drunk Yuichi, taking another shot after speaking.
The group of shinobi had gone to have lunch at a restaurant, since they all had been very busy recently. And of course, the topic of their missions came to the conversation, hence why they mentioned the saiyan's performance.
"Don't speak like that about my father on my face, at least have some shame, drunkard!" Asuma complained, though Guy, who was sitting next to him, urged him to calm down. "But anyways, what are you doing here, you should be working as Hokage and you rather be here drinking."
"Meh, the elders will take care of it later, don't bother." Replied Aoba before the gray-haired man next to him could speak for himself. "But going back on topic, shouldn't that kid already be given jounin rank? He could probably take on all of us at once."
"Being a jounin requires more than just being strong, but of course what he has done until now is impressive, to say the least." Asuma said.
"Surely, it requires not only physical prowess to survive to Itachi Uchiha himself, who has a history of not just not losing, but killing most of his adversaries when he has the chance." Guy added.
"Makes me think... what are the chances he's with the enemy?" Yuichi suggested. "He handled the tailed beast, alright, but you did say he was found unconscious, right?"
"Yes." Guy answered.
"Then why would they not kill him?" Yuichi punched the table before taking another shot of sake.
"I got knocked out before he even arrived, but I could guess they were looking for something else." Asuma replied. "In the end, aren't reports suggesting that they are after the tailed beasts? And aren't Jiraiya and the fox kid hanging around looking for Tsunade?"
"You could make a point for that, but I have to agree with Yuichi that it is entirely possible for that kid to be allied with the Akatsuki, or maybe even just Itachi." Aoba said before taking another sip from his tea.
"Imagine if that kid betrayed us," Yuichi started talking, though it seemed to be more to himself than anyone around him, "I wonder if that kid could take the whole village down from inside."
"I got to know the kid better during this mission, and I doubt he's working with the enemy." Guy explained, wanting to defend the boy. "I saw him fight, and they did go all out, they didn't seem to be holding back. I choose to believe the kid saved us all, and was able to fight par on par with none other than Itachi Uchiha himself."
Aoba spit his tea as the gray-haired, and drunk, man standing next to him pointed forward. The jounin of the bowl cut raised an eyebrow out of confusion, while Asuma turned around to see what was going on. Then, he saw the black-haired boy running outside the restaurant.
"Isn't that the brother?" Yuichi asked, holding back a hiccup. "What an unfortunate timing, isn't it?" He laughed at the situation, while the rest remained silent.
They tried to think of something to do about it, but they ended up figuring that the best option was telling Kakashi about it, and let him handle it. In the end, he was his student.
Gohan was walking around the village along his teammates, looking for where to go and eat. It was a sunny day, so they were also looking for a place with space inside, so they could avoid the intense heat of the sun.
The boy of the ponytail was just waiting for his teammates to find a place, since he was not used to choosing restaurants for his friends. Ino, on the other hand, was actively competing with Chouji for which restaurant they would choose. Unsurprisingly, Chouji preferred junk food restaurants, while the blonde girl preferred healthier ones.
At this point, all of them had improved their physical conditions considerably; only except the saiyan, who didn't need to improve his physique. But even then, Ino was the most strict with her physique, since she had developed some sort of competition against Gohan, whom she wanted to reach in strength.
But as the saiyan was watching the usual discussion between his teammates, someone grabbed his arm. The grip was quite strong, and even managed to turn him around since he was taken by surprise.
"Train me." Was all the black-haired boy said as he faced the saiyan, leaving the latter speechless and puzzled for a moment.
"Wh-what?" Said Gohan, trying to process the situation.
"I asked you to train me."
"Me? Train you? Why?" The saiyan was sure the Uchiha mentioned previously that he didn't plan on training, but now he wanted to, and he asked him out of everyone. He was weirded out, to say the least.
"I want to be the strongest and..." He shook his head, trying to get his ideas straight. "I heard you fought my brother."
"Ah, yeah, sort of." Gohan cleared his throat as the silence surrounded the two of them. Was that his brother...?
The other members of team 10 finally realized about the presence of Sasuke. They limited themselves to staring at the two boys while they spoke to each other.
"Well, I guess I can," replied the saiyan finally, realizing it was a good chance to compensate for the small tense moments they've shared before. "I was supposed to start training Konohamaru too anyways, so you can join us. I guess."
Sasuke nodded, his eyes showing his determination. The glow they currently had was something the saiyan didn't exactly expect to see in him, and he couldn't help but smile at it.
"Though I can't promise anything, since I don't really know if I'm a good master at all..."
Gohan stopped the Uchiha's punch and grabbed it, limiting his arm's movement. The latter attempted to take his fist out of the saiyan's grip, but he was unable to do so. He gritted his teeth.
They had gone to one of the training grounds, which was basically a grassland, with a river crossing through it. Those days had been sunny, so the saiyan figured using that training ground would also be a good way to take advantage of the sun.
"I think it'd be best if we got into other forms of training, don't think it's fair for me to spar with neither of you." Gohan explained as he glanced at Konohamaru, and then back at the Uchiha.
The saiyan finally let go of the black haired boy's fist, only for the latter to try and kick him from behind, which the saiyan easily evaded. The brown-haired kid rolled his eyes as Sasuke kept on trying to just beat the saiyan.
"Can we start, please?"
"Yeah, let's start now." Gohan replied. "We can start by... Maybe using those rocks as weighs while you try to move against the river's current."
Sasuke wanted to laugh at first, at least until the saiyan pointed at two giant rocks, and then grabbed them all by himself and brought them closer. Konohamaru was shocked, though also excited because he was going to follow the same training Gohan followed to become as strong as he is.
I've been writing without really posting the chapters, just to make sure this arc is as consistent as possible. But now that I'm 3 chapters ahead, I guess I can post this one. And this one is shorter on purpose, since this is what I planned it to have and I don't want to make it larger forcefully, so better leave it that way.
Anyways, see you soon! And remember to leave any feedback you have in the reviews.
(And special thanks to Kage-kitsune9001 for reviewing literally the whole story! I appreciate it a lot!)