A/N: Made a few changes. Still the same story.
XXX
Tsunade pointed a finger straight at Bardock, "You. Me. Right now."
Bardock simply looked at the woman, "You serious?"
"She's serious?" Minotia asked Trunks, the others sighing at the scene.
"Dead serious." Tsunade said, confidently smirking, "I've been itching to beat your ass since the day we met."
The saiyan scoffed, "Now why you gotta say that. You know I can't back down from a fight…" before he smirked, "and I don't pull punches on women."
"That's nice, use it as your excuse when you lose." Tsunade said, cracking her knuckles.
Trunks and the others, getting excited, cleared the open land soon to be battlefield. Bulma sat down in a chair in front of the capsule home, casually reading a book and ignoring events.
The toads looked to each other in worry. It was to be a clash of titans and the landscape was going to suffer for it.
XXX
For Team Shikamaru, the flight back to the Leaf Village had been silent… uncomfortably so. To finally be back home should have been a breath of fresh air, but knowing what was out there… and what it was doing to people… they didn't feel safe.
The teens landed before the village gate, the ninja having little to say. Tenten swallowed, unable to look at her teammates, "I'll be leaving now." she said before she went on her way.
Neji scoffed and walked on, Shikamaru turning to Sasuke and Choji, "You guys go." he tapped his weapons pouch, "I'm getting this back to the Fifth." After receiving nods in return, Shikamaru flew off.
Sasuke watched Shikamaru and Choji leave, his dark eyes going up to the clouds above. He headed home…
XXX
Shikamaru walked through the Hokage tower, stepping through the Fifth's doors. Danzo looked to the Nara, putting a pause to the work he was doing, "Shikamaru, I expect to hear positives from your team's assignment."
"Yes." Shikamaru said, bowing his head, "The mission to stop the Akatsuki from taking the beast was a success. One of the two Akatsuki encountered in the assignment was eliminated… but not by our hands."
Danzo's one eye narrowed as he eyed the jonin before him. He had a good mind to know where this was going.
"Our team was intercepted by the appearance of the traitors Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, Rock Lee, and Hatake Kakashi. We encountered them when closing in on a powerful energy signature… Trunks's."
"I assume Trunks was the one who destroyed the Akatsuki?" Danzo asked.
"With ease, sir." Shikamaru said, "His involvement stopped us from apprehending the traitors present, and from fulfilling our secondary mission, eliminating Gaara."
"That's a shame." Danzo said, "But the Akatsuki are now fewer in number, and the Beast is out of their hands. We will take our victories where handed. Is there anything else you can present?"
"Yes." Shikamaru said, his tone of voice and eyes getting darker. "We encountered something after dealing with the Akatsuki… a creature that claims to be from Trunks home world."
"A creature?" Danzo repeated.
"Yes. A humanoid bug that possesses incredible strength and speed." He could remember how fast the creature was, how easily it knocked him unconscious. "It has an…" his thoughts went back to the horrific scene of the creature eating that old man from the inside out; how the man's body practically melted before his eyes. That sort of fate the teen couldn't wish on even his worst enemy, "ability to absorb biomatter from human beings, and regenerate from damage done to its physical form." as Shikamaru laid out these details, the more terrified he become of the creature. "It's a monstrosity. Extremely dangerous."
Danzo simply sat in disbelief at this knowledge. He watched as Shikamaru approached his desk, pulling a green stinger out of his pouch and putting it on the surface, "This is a sample of the creature we managed to collect. It claims itself to be of Android origins, a clone that holds the genetic material of the strongest warriors of Trunks dimension."
Those last few words rang through the elder's head.
"The strongest warriors of Trunks' world...?" Danzo asked.
"Yes." Shikamaru nodded.
"Thank you, Shikamaru. You may go." Danzo said, disregarding the young man who quietly left the office. The elder eyed the piece of tail sitting on his desk, as if it were some sort of mythological artifact…
This opened some possibilities…
XXX
Bardock and Tsunade stood apart, both staring the other down.
A white flame aura appeared around Tsunade, her pony tails whipping behind her. She tossed her green coat to the side, Bardock rolling his shoulders. Trunks and the others watched the coming battle from the skies above, Ma and Pa toad sitting atop Naruto's shoulders.
Wordlessly, the two youthful elders got into battlestances, before exploding into action. Bardock blocked a punch from Tsunade, the force shattering the ground around them and raising dust. The saiyan grinned, impressed with the woman's strength and power. He nodded before the two phased out, the force of their blow exchange forming massive craters all over the area.
Ma and Pa toad looked to one another, frowning. Home wreckers… the lot of them...
Trees burst apart into splinters, small mountains exploded into dust, rivers ruptured into craters that were quickly forming into small lakes.
Tsunade threw a punch aimed for Bardock's throat, the man casually leaning his head to dodge. He captured Tsunade's arm over his shoulder, and threw her behind him with her own momentum. To the saiyan's detriment, before he could fully throw her, the woman formed a chakra scalpel and grazed his right tricep, shutting down some of the nerves.
The sannin landed on the ground gracefully, grinning as she watched Bardock lift his right arm, the movement in it noticeably slowed.
"You're a clever little witch ain't ya." Bardock frowned. Tsunade engaged him, the woman running at him in a serpentine motion. The saiyan knew that she would come at him from the right, it being his slower side, and so slid into a fighting stance that put his left side first.
He swung his hand, sending a wave of ki to keep her at bay. Tsunade jumped high, before she flipped and came back down at Bardock. With his better arm, Bardock clashed his forearm against hers, the impact erupting a shockwave that formed a crater, before swinging a roundhouse kick, knocking her to a small mountain.
She quickly jumped up high and landed along its length with her feet as Bardock kicked the behemoth mound of rock, splitting it in half.
"Dumbass!" the woman taunted as she leaped off the splitting landform, dropping a kick at Bardock who leaped back.
Her kick split the ground into a miniature earthquake that Bardock had to fly out of…
The saiyan hovered over the sannin, Tsunade looking up at him.
"Uh, did she forget she could fly?" Trunks asked.
"She doesn't do that much, these days." Karin said.
Before Trunks could ask why, Sakura answered for him, "Last time she flew, her chest spilled out of her top."
"Understandable…" the half-saiyan immediately said.
Bardock charged ki blasts in his hands, before firing a volley at Tsunade, charging the last ball up with both hands before sending down at the woman.
Tsunade flickered and flipped around the immediate area to dodge, the weaker blasts scorching the dirt. The strongest ki blast came in faster than the others, leaving the woman with what she knew would be less time to effectively dodge. She quickly charged a punch, before knocking the blast off into the distance where it exploded in a flash.
Like a locomotive, Bardock came in from Tsunade's side, throwing a barrage of fists that the woman had to quickly adapt to. Several punches landed, nailing her in the face and torso. She returned several of her own, nailing Bardock. The two exchanged punches at a speed that made it appear as if they'd sprouted multiple fists.
"Wow… she's really holding her own." Shizune said, Tonton 'oinking' her approvement.
"Not surprising." Shinhan said, "That lady already had strength that can match a saiyan, and a method of paralyzing her opponents. You let her use ki and the results speak for themselves."
Bardock appeared in front of a massive tree, quickly phasing out again as Tsunade's fist tore straight through the massive oak like it was made of styrofoam. Her arm was buried in the tree up to her shoulder. Appearing behind the woman, Bardock laughed with his arms crossed.
"Ah, shut up." she groaned as she grabbed the trunk with wide arms, ripping the tree in half to swing at the saiyan like a massive baseball bat. Bardock blocked with his right forearm, the wood disintegrating against his forearm harmlessly.
He engaged her once again.
XXX
An apartment doorknob slowly turned, the door opening to Sasuke who took steps into his home. Naturally, he looked around. Everything was silent… and as he left it; living room, kitchen, den. The few dishes he left in the sink were still there, the cup he left on the coffee table in the living room was untouched, his bedroom door was still slightly cracked… yet, something was wrong…
The air was warmer… the smell, different… the energy, wrong.
Something shifted in his peripheral, his hand shooting straight to his weapons pouch. Six shadows dove right at him.
Sasuke hit the floor, clearing a grab from behind. He spun on his hand, kicking in a wide arc to keep the attackers at bay. He sprung up to the ceiling, standing from it as he dodged a right hook and tackle. It quickly became apparent that whoever these people were, they were looking to capture him, not kill him.
He swung a kunai at the throat of an attacker behind him, to his surprise water sprayed from the wound instead of blood. He dropped off the ceiling, swinging an axe kick down at the redhead young man down below. The man dodged, Sasuke's heel destroying his coffee table.
Before he could act any further, a block of crystal instantly shot up around him, encasing and freezing him in time. He was completely trapped.
Sasuke's eyes darted left and right, the teen finally getting a good look at the attackers. Guren, Kimimaro, Jugo, Suigetsu, Tayuya and Sakon approached him.
Guren smirked at him, "Hello Sasuke. We're gonna talk."
XXX
Tsunade grunted as she skid back along the ground, the woman using her knuckles to break herself. She panted heavily, exhausted from the bout.
Bardock stood before her, the warrior wiping the bit of blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his good hand, "Not half bad cow tits." he grinned, "But you still hit like a girl."
"Oh up yours, douchebag." Tsunade shot back, "I still drew first blood, didn't I? You couldn't sleep me, either? I call that a win."
Shizune stepped in between the two, hoping to stop this argument before it escalated. At this point, Bardock and Tsunade being at each other's throats became a normal thing. Fortunately, though, Bardock was much less homicidal towards the woman.
Kakashi sighed and then turned to Trunks. He could sense the power difference between the Brief's boy and Bardock, the man rubbing his chin as he thought, 'When comparing them at their base, it seems as if Trunks may have surpassed Bardock in terms of power… but how could that be?'
Bardock's eyes widened in pain, his hand going up to his head. This didn't go past anyone.
"Bardock!" Trunks approached the saiyan, "It's happening again?!"
"Again?" Tsunade asked Trunks. She remembered something similar happening to the saiyan three years ago, when he'd shown up at her house, "What's his problem?"
The vision showed itself as a steady stream of events, a hazy movie for lack of better description, "The pink woman… she's back…" Bardock saw her standing before… Kakashi? A grin marring her face, her mouth speaking in mute. She shrugged, before she held her hand up to the sky, ki filling her palm…
"Pink woman? What's she doing this time?" Trunks asked the elder saiyan.
Bardock shook his head, the man attempting to rid himself of the migraine inflicting him, "A... Attacking…" Bardock looked to Kakashi, "Him…"
Those present looked to one another. Sakura looked to Trunks, asking him ,"Pink woman? Attacking Kakashi? What?"
Minotia answered her, "Bardock has the power to see into the future."
All eyes widened.
"You serious?!" Naruto asked, "Why don't you ever use it in battle?"
"Trust me. I can." Bardock said, shaking his head of the migraine afflicting him "It's saved my ass more than once."
"But things still come at random." Trunks said, "He's been seeing things for a while now, but we're still having trouble making sense of it all." he folded his arms, "If the pink woman's attacking, that might've answered our friend or foe question..."
XXX
Sasuke glared hatefully to each of his captors, his eyes as sharp as the daggers he wanted to jam into each of their throats. He was trapped like a kennelled dog, his teeth baring like such an animal.
Guren simply grinned at him, not the least bit threatened by the Uchiha, "Relax, avenger. We can keep you in this position all day. How long you're stuck like this depends on when you wanna hear us out."
The hate in his eyes didn't wane, but his mouth relaxed, his signal to them to start talking.
"We're here to make you an offer, Sasuke." Guren said.
Sasuke's glare faded, his eyebrow raising out of curiosity. He asked her, "What kind of offer?"
Suigetsu responded for Guren, "To train… get buff, get tough."
Sasuke resisted the urge to snort, "With you? Piss off…"
Kimimaro huffed, "No. Not with us." He stepped toward Sasuke, "Does the name Kabuto sound familiar?"
Sasuke's eyes widened, "Kabuto…" the genin that helped his team out in the Chunin exams? that Trunks brutalized during the preliminary matches? Sasuke quickly took notice of the Sound ninja's headbands, their allegiance made all the obvious. He was a traitor the whole time? Sasuke scoffed, "Orochimaru's been dead for three years now. What could his lap dog do for me?"
Tayuya laughed a little, "Orochimaru's not dead and gone, dumbass. You think he's that easy to keep down?"
Sasuke passed her a confused glance, Kimimaro answering him, "Your curse mark. It functions as an extension of Orochimaru's soul. He lives on through everyone who bears it."
Now some things were becoming clear to the Uchiha teen, "I get it now. You want me on your team to help carry out your masters bidding. Toughen me up so I'm ripe when you find a way to resurrect him."
"You're quite the sharp knife." Guren said, "Come with us, stick around, and you could even get training from Orochimaru himself when we bring him back."
Sakon spoke up, "Come on. We'll teach you a few extra tricks from that mark you've been blessed with." He grinned at the Uchiha, "Bet you didn't know there was a level above the first stage of power you've experienced."
The Uchiha gave the six a blank stare, before grinning and shaking his head, "Idiots… all of you." The sound ninja's eyes widened as a purple aura enveloped Sasuke. In a flash of purple light his stage 2 form burst from him, shattering the crystal prison and surprising the group.
Tayuya, eyes widened in shock spouted, "No fucking way... that shouldn't be possible!"
Sasuke rolled his neck, feeling triumphant at the look of shock on the Sound nins faces, "What's wrong? You seem overwhelmed."
The six looked at him before laughing, various black markings rapidly spreading across their bodies as they too ascended to level 2, catching Sasuke off guard. His home was now filled with demonic monstrosities that resembled him.
Sakon grinned and mocked him, "Arrogant fool, you think you're the only one capable of wielding that kind of power?"
Sasuke's Sharingan activated, the young man fully prepared to fight these ninja to the death.
Tayuya cut her eyes, "Will you simmer down, you emo fuck, we already told you we aren't looking for a fight. You want power, right, to kill your dear big brother?"
"All you have to do, is play for Orochimaru's team for a while." Suigetsu said.
"It's on you, Sasuke." Kimimaru said, "If we had any interest in enslaving you, we'd take you in chains."
The Uchiha wasn't interested in their deal, truth be told. He'd gotten savvy enough to know that there was always a clause in the fine print. Obviously, the second they got the chance, he'd simply be a flesh sack for Orochimaru to parade around in. He knew of that psychopath's goal. But, he could find a way around that. With this simple mark, he was given a grand boost in power. It might be worth thinking about, if he could at least get a bit more out of this curse mark…
"I'll consider it."
The sound teens weren't satisfied with this… they needed a yes. Under different circumstances, they would take Sasuke in chains, but here, in the village, was a bad move. They had no choice but to settle.
"So be it." Kimimaro said.
The group then vanished, Guren looking to him with a final, "We'll meet again then."
XXX
Fukasaku approached the elder saiyan, the elder toad saying, "Someone else with the power of precognition? How convenient."
"What?" Bardock replied, Fu stepping to him,
"You heard him. There's someone else who can see into the future."
Bardock looked around to the others, "Then what the hell are we standing around looking pretty for? Take me to them!"
"Settle down, meathead." Tsunade said, "We'll get you to her, believe that." The sannin looked to the others, "I wanna know if Shion can make something out of these visions Bardock's having. We could plan for the future accordingly."
"Shion?" Trunks repeated the name, Ino deciding to explain her to him,
"She's a priestess from the land of demons. Shortly before you got back we had to help her seal a demon causing trouble."
"Sounds like you guys had fun." Trunks said, "I'm jealous."
Ino shrugged, "Well, ya know, coulda joined us if ya didn't take your sweet ass time getting back!"
"Alright alright fair enough." Trunks looked to the others, "We have free time. What do you say we make a trip to the Land of Demons, then?"
"We're in." Naruto said, "Shion did say she needed my help with something. Can't leave her hanging." Fu slowly looked to the boy with a blank glare, Shinhan and Lee pinching the bridge of their brows.
"Alright." Trunks said, before looking over to Bulma, the woman still sitting and reading. "Hey mom, you'll stay here, right?"
"Oh yeah, leave me behind while you guys go off adventuring again." the Brief matriarch said, huffing before getting up and walking back over to the Capsule home, "Because I'm just so unimportant!"
The teens sweatdropped.
Tsunade sighed, "Bring a change of clothes everyone. We may be gone for a while. Be prepared to leave in two hours." She walked off, Bardock's barking after her,
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! Fix my arm!"
The group headed back to the Capsule home to get packed, however, Shizune noticed #16 looking up to the sky, his expression blank. Shizune approached the Android, poking him in the arm, "#16, are you okay?" she asked him, Tonton 'oinking' in concern.
16 nodded, "I am fine." he said, leaving it at that and only that.
Shizune smiled at him and nodded, leaving to go and pack her things. #16 looked back up to the sky, the gentle giants expression turning to that of a frown.
He may have been machine, but even he had something of a sixth sense. If he could feel anything, it would be unease...
XXX
A/N: That's that people. Stay tuned for a small intermission chapter...