Heyo, I'm back with chap 42!
Though before you go into the chapter, I'd like to explain why the Genjutsu worked on Gohan. If you still don't wanna hear the explanation, then go on ahead and read the chapter, since here I explain a bit the difference between Ki and Chakra. But an important detail anyways is that this is all lore I invented! And I've made more changes to the lore in general, so, first, I mix these two things better, and second, I make the story a bit better in my opinion, or at least go the way I want it to go. But anyways, here it goes: Genjutsu, according to my made up headcanon, affects pretty much anyone, even if its millions of times stronger, as long as it catches the opponent off guard. So Gohan fell into the Tsukuyomi because he had just heard the word 'Genjutsu' before, but had never actually dealt with any, even less one of the strongest there are.
With that out of the way, let's go. Hope this isn't controversial!
A couple of weeks after team 10 and team Guy arrived from their mission, Naruto and Jiraiya returned to the village alongside the new Hokage and her assistant. That same day was the deadline the council gave them for Danzo to be appointed as Fifth Hokage if they were to not arrive. For such, Yuichi, interim Hokage, had been panicking and checking the time every five minutes. Until the group arrived, that is.
The silver-haired jounin was relieved when he saw the blonde woman arrive at his office and kick his ass out of the chair. Had they arrived a little later, Danzo would've been proclaimed as Lord Fifth.
The ceremony for her proclamation was made the same day, since everything was prepared for Danzo anyways. The whole village reunited for the ceremony, filling the streets in front of the Hokage Tower, as the Fifth Hokage was given the red and white hat. A hat so old that it had gone through the heads of every Hokage, from the First all the way to the new Fifth.
Afterwards, since they had been interrupted, Gohan, Sasuke and Konohamaru went back to training. They had been doing so for the past weeks, and especially the Uchiha had made considerable progress. The saiyan also progressed, but in his knowledge of chakra and the difference it had with Ki. From the only class he had with Iruka in the academy, he had noticed a fundamental difference between both energies: the way it channeled through one's body.
He figured they were counterparts of each other, since he was yet to find something similar to Ki in that world, but it was difficult to ignore how different they were in that aspect. Chakra seemed to channel through a complex system, while Ki just flowed around one's body, without any specific points or channels that could be blocked or enhanced in different ways. In general, Ki seemed to be simpler than chakra, also having less utilities, but its raw power being greater.
Gohan realized this as he tried to teach both Sasuke and Konohamaru some of his techniques, which they seemed to be unable to do, at least in the same way he learned. For such, most of their training had been physical, though he did dedicate some time with Sasuke to find out more about the distinction between the two energies.
That day they were training in the same training camp as the first day, and Konohamaru was also involved in their efforts to find a way for them to learn the saiyan's techniques, and even vice-versa.
Their several attempts had taken them to bits of progress in the basic training of Ki he was taught by his father and by Piccolo, though the most they got was Sasuke managing to make a small energy ball made mainly with lightning style jutsu.
The Uchiha did notice that for him to get close to doing what they wanted to achieve, he had to redirect the flow of his chakra in a simpler way. This meant avoiding some of the chakra channels in his body, and focusing on a simpler route. However, the effort this required was so great, that it took only a couple of seconds before he couldn't keep going.
Konohamaru also tried, and surprisingly lasted slightly longer, but didn't get close to what Sasuke managed to do.
Time was soon over for that day, without much progress. The Hokage proclamation ceremony had taken most of their time, but they would continue the next day as well, since they were really invested with it by that time.
And so, the day after, the three of them met in the training camp. This time they immediately jumped right into the Ki training, since the Uchiha was determined to achieve it.
He sat down on the grass, his legs crossed, and he put his hands together, in front of his chest. He closed his eyes and focused his chakra towards his hands. The saiyan reminded him that he had to simplify the route his chakra had to follow, but Sasuke didn't need such a reminder, since he had already blocked some chakra channels for a more direct way.
Slowly, while his hands were shaking and his body became progressively sweatier, what seemed to be an energy ball started to form in the space between his hands. His sight started to blur, but he wouldn't stop until the energy sphere was stable at the very least.
Gohan was fascinated by the Uchiha's achievement, while the young Sarutobi was left impressed by the energy sphere, even if it was small. But soon enough, as it expected, the energy sphere finally dissipated.
The Uchiha was left panting, his face red and sweaty. He tried to stand up, but as he tried, he fell down. The saiyan helped him stand up, but all they managed to do was leave him sitting. Sasuke was nauseous, but not enough to make him vomit.
"You did it!" Konohamaru cheered as soon as the Uchiha seemed to recover a bit.
"I have to say that was quite impressive, Sasuke!" Gohan gave him a thumbs up along a big smile, which provoked the same happiness in the boy that was sitting. It felt somewhat weird to see such a smile on the member of team 7's face, since he was known for being mostly a grumpy and distant person, but the son of Goku couldn't deny he was left with a feeling of satisfaction when he saw Uchiha smiling in that manner.
"I... I did it." Sasuke said, a feeling of realization crossing his body. He still struggled to breath, but he was already recovering after such an effort.
"This at least tells us that it is possible for you to use something similar to my Ki, even if extremely difficult." As Gohan explained, the thought of every enemy he'd face until then. And all of a sudden, he was not so sure if what he had just done was a good thing.
"Well, Sasuke was the first one to do it, but I'll be the first one to master it!" Konohamaru said before his attention was diverted by the sudden appearance of a jounin alongside the group of boys.
The jounin wore a face mask that covered the lower part of his face and his left eye, his silver hair only confirming the already existing suspicions of the boys. Even if only one of his eyes was visible, after so much time spent with Kakashi, that single eye was all Sasuke needed to know something was wrong.
"Sasuke." Kakashi plainly said.
Uchiha noticed that his master was holding something back, and he raised an eyebrow. "What?"
The silver-haired jounin remained silent for a couple of seconds, and then lowered his head, now looking at the ground on which his feet were standing. "Daichi was found dead in his room."
Even after he noticed something unusual through Kakashi's only visible eye, he remained cheerful, satisfied of what he had accomplished just some moments ago. All that happiness and feeling of realization evaporated, however, as soon as those last words were pronounced. A feeling of emptiness formed in his stomach, and this time he did throw up.
Konohamaru turned to look at the saiyan, looking for what his reaction had been, himself being so shocked he didn't find the right reaction. The somber reaction he found on Gohan's face finally released the chill his body was holding back.
Kakashi walked forward, towards his student, and he watched him from above until he stopped throwing up. The Uchiha raised his sight to face his master, and as he saw such a familiar face, tears started to escape his eyes, even if he didn't allow them to. He wanted to punch the ground until his hand broke, he wanted to destroy the trees nearby, he wanted to kill someone.
The jounin noticed that the boy's fists clenched hard enough to cause some bleeding on the palm of his hand. He himself was frustrated at the situation, since they hadn't been able to do anything about it, and he knew how important the Uchiha was for the boy. For years, after the massacre, Daichi had filled as good as he could the role his real brother, Itachi, left empty after fleeing the village. Such support had been key to the kid not killing himself, he was sure. Kakashi's life hadn't been easy, but he knew such episodes could take one to such actions, and he had been able to witness it several times, even himself being close to it in a couple of occasions. Now, as Daichi had filled Itachi's shoes on Sasuke's life, he felt the responsibility of doing so as well.
He grabbed the boy's fist, and beckoned him to stand up. "Let's go, you need some rest."
Sasuke just stood up, his legs struggling to keep him standing. The jounin noticed this and decided to just raise him with his arms and take him back to his house.
"I'm sorry guys, but, well, I need to take Sasuke... This can be hard to process."
"No problem." Was all Gohan could say, his somber expression now disappearing in favor of a more reassuring smile, though forced, from the saiyan.
After Kakashi took him home, he was left alone once again. Laying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling, his eyes had already been sucked dry and irritated.
For once, he thought his torture was over. He thought his life would start improving, along Daichi, his team, and his most recent friendship with the saiyan. But of course it had to go wrong. Daichi had been killed, and if what he was told was true, his eyes stolen.
He had enough, and for such he determined himself to keep training, until he mastered Ki. And when he did, he was going to kill the monster that ruined his life, the monster that prevented him from living his own life. It wasn't yet proven who the killer of Daichi had been, but for Sasuke it was obvious. He had no doubt of who the disgraceful assassin was.
After standing up, he punched one of the walls of his room several times, until one of his fists went through it. Then, he screamed as hard as he could. He screamed the name he hated the most, the name of his brother.
"ITACHI!" What remained inside his lacrimal glands, went out of his eyes during that scream, which lasted until the boy ran out of breath.
Then, Sasuke looked outside the window. From his house, he could see what once was the Uchiha district. He closed his eyes, and remembered how it used to look. Streets filled with kids playing, being looked over by their parents. Then, he imagined what it could look like in the future if he restored the clan. The first step towards his dream, towards the restoration of his beloved bloodline, which was one of the greatest in shinobi history, was killing the one that tried his best to destroy it. The first step was killing Itachi Uchiha.
As he turned around to go back to his bed, he found a foreign shinobi, a kunoichi to be more precise, waiting for him on the opposite side of the room. She wore a headband that held the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Sound. She handed over what seemed to be a letter, and as the boy grabbed it, she smirked.
"From Lord Orochimaru," the pink-haired girl said, "everything you need to know is there."
Sasuke glanced at the letter, and then back at the spot where the girl was, though this time finding only smoke. The young Uchiha opened his window so the smoke went out of his room, and once it was out, he read the letter.
So that was it, see you soon with the next chapter! (and maybe it has to do with a certain masked man, idk).