Haha what better way to start off 2019 than with an update from Saiyan Shinobi!?
Now this is the start of a mini arc that I've planned for a while since like I've said I have this entire story outlined and know how I'm going to end this story. I think you all will find this arc very enjoyable so with all that said and done, let's begin!
P.S: I should point out there's a scene in this chapter inspired by Chapter 29 of Mirai Shinobi so if the author of that story, Man of Wrath, sees this chapter by chance I just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration!
Sakura made her way through the Leaf Village Hospital as she carried a bouquet of flowers in her hand.
The reason?
After Ino's defeat and words to her back during the Chunin Exams, she decided she really wanted to visit the blonde and hopefully rekindle their relationship.
Upon reaching the right room, Sakura was greeted with a happy smile from Ino. Much to Sakura's relief, Ino looked better, apart from the bandages covering her face.
"Oh forehead!" Ino smiled as she looked up from a manga she was reading.
"Ino Pig!" Sakura smiled before she hugged Ino tightly, much to the shock of the beach blonde.
"S-Sakura?" Ino stammered in disbelief as Sakura immediately felt the same awkward feeling the Yamanaka was feeling.
"S-sorry….." Sakura sheepishly apologized as Ino tried to clear her disoriented mind.
"Thanks for the hug…" Ino awkwardly thanked as Sakura rubbed the back of her head.
"Y-yeah…." Sakura said before sighing as she decided to speak what was on her mind over the last day.
"Listen Ino, I've been doing some thinking…" Sakura began as Ino raised an eyebrow.
"About?" Ino asked.
"About your words in the Chunin Exams before you were carted off. Your apology for everything…" Sakura answered as Ino immediately felt discomfort. And for once it wasn't because of her injuries.
"Oh….." Ino shifted in her bed as Sakura decided to take a seat on top of it.
"You know, you have nothing to apologize for Ino." Sakura said as Ino raised an eyebrow.
"But-"Ino tried to argue before Sakura cut her off.
"It was all because of me our friendship ended and our relationship turned rocky anyways." Sakura admitted as Ino looked down.
"But I was no better…I could've talked us out of it but I just went along with it…" Ino tried not to tear up as Sakura failed at keeping her tears at bay before grabbing Ino's hand before smiling at Ino through her tears.
"Let's just put all that behind us and try to start over again…how's that sound?" Sakura suggested as Ino smiled back.
"Sure…I'd really love that." Ino said as Sakura breathed a sigh of relief before hugging the blonde who returned the hug while both girls were careful not to cause Ino too much discomfort.
The girls soon shared a smile before Sakura immediately got up.
"You're going already?" Ino asked as Sakura smiled.
"Yeah, I have special training with Kakashi Sensei today! I made it to the finals after all!" Sakura proudly declared as Ino smiled at her friend, feeling very happy for her.
"Good for you, Sakura. I'm sure you'll kick ass!" Ino grinned as Sakura returned the happy facial gesture.
"Thanks! Well I've gotta go now but I'll definitely visit you this evening before I go home!" Sakura promised as Ino waved Sakura goodbye.
"Okay see ya!" Ino waved.
"Bye!" Sakura said before making her way out of the hospital wing to the training field where her team's bell test occurred.
Sakura soon made her way to the training field where Kakashi lay casually waiting.
"Kakashi Sensei!" Sakura waved as the Haruno made her way to the field.
"Yo." Kakashi lazily greeted.
"Where's Sasuke?" Sakura asked as Kakashi pointed right.
"Over there." Kakashi answered as Sakura looked to see Sasuke practicing his taijutsu skills with his Sharingan activated with sweat flying.
"He got here real early so to start I asked him to start on his skills while using his Sharingan until you arrived." Kakashi answered as Sakura laughed.
"Haha, sounds like Sasuke." Sakura giggled as Kakashi cleared his throat.
"Okay then, now to get to business." Kakashi said before pulling out a slip of paper.
"A slip of paper?" Sakura asked as Kakashi nodded.
"Right. With this, it will determine what your Chakra type is. There are five different types, earth, water, wind, lighting and fire." Kakashi answered as he handed the teenager the paper.
"Oh I see…" Sakura nodded in understanding as she took the paper.
"Now infuse your chakra into it." Kakashi instructed.
"Yes sir." Sakura nodded before she did just that.
As she did so, the paper suddenly turned to dirt and slowly crumbled.
"Whoa!" Sakura exclaimed as Kakashi smiled under his mask.
"Alright, you have the Earth affinity." Kakashi stated.
"Earth?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"Right. With earth you can use the earth to your advantage, especially physically." Kakashi explained as Sakura felt nothing short of amazement at the news.
"Wow! That sounds amazing!" Sakura said as Kakashi smiled.
"Indeed it is. Now we can officially begin your training." Kakashi said as Sakura nodded excitedly.
"Right!" Sakura exclaimed as the two slowly made their way to start Sakura's training.
Although there was one thought prevalent in Sakura's mind.
"I wonder what Naruto and Gohan are doing…" The pinkette thought before she started her earth training.
While Sakura had the emotions of excitement and enthusiasm, the emotions a certain half-saiyan and Uzumaki were feeling were those of irritation, annoyance and discontent.
The reason?
Jiraiya had instructed the two young boys to meet at a local riverside at 7 in the morning.
It was 10 o clock in the morning now and Naruto was getting restless.
"Geez! Where the hell is that old guy anyways!? We've been here for three hours!" Naruto yelled, his already short fuse, about to snap.
"Who knows?" Gohan yawned. While he could tolerate BS better than the blonde, even he had his limits.
"It's just like waiting for Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto grumbled.
"Yeah no kidding." Gohan sighed before slowly floating upwards.
"What're you doing?" Naruto asked.
"Well just sitting here complaining about it, isn't going to do us any favors so why not just find him?" Gohan asked as Naruto facepalmed at the stupidity of his question.
"Oh right!" Naruto deadpanned before floating upwards before flying with Gohan as the two searched for their new master.
Gohan was able to lock on to Jiraiya's Ki before locating and finding it.
"Down there!" Gohan said as the two touched down to find Jiraiya.
….Peeping on a hot springs as said old man was giggling mischievously.
"Hehe…" Jiraiya grinned with a nosebleed unaware of the two kids behind him who deadpanned.
"Uh…." Naruto nearly face fell as Gohan face palmed.
"Yep, this guy is definitely like Roshi." Gohan sighed as he remembered how his father once told him how Bulma flashed him during their first meeting to get a Dragon Ball.
Gohan then mischievously giggled as an idea came to mind.
"HEY JIRAIYA!" Gohan yelled in Jiraiya's ear as he screamed in pain.
Naruto found the whole thing hilarious as he fell on his butt laughing.
"You little brat! Thanks for ruining my peeping!" Jiraiya growled in rage as the girls inside of the bathhouse all screamed before running.
"No! And those were some of the prettiest girls in the leaf!" Jiraiya comically cried as he slumped to the ground.
"And from what dad told me, he did that back when he first started training with Roshi." Gohan snickered as Naruto walked over to him.
"Now come on! Onwards to the training, Pervy Sage!" Naruto grinned as Jiraiya growled.
"Do NOT call me that!" Jiraiya glared at Naruto as Naruto suddenly grew irritated.
"And why not!? After all, you're nothing but a lousy little pervert!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Jiraiya.
"I am not a lousy little pervert!" Jiraiya countered.
"Then what are you?" Gohan deadpanned as Jiraiya heartily laughed.
"I'm a BIG one!" Jiraiya proudly proclaimed as there was a blank silence between the two boys.
After the awkward silence died, the three soon made their way to a nearby river bank.
"So what're you gonna do with us?" Naruto asked as he stood apart from Jiraiya.
"First of all, for you Naruto, I'm going to ask you to call upon the powers of the nine tails." Jiraiya instructed as Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked as Jiraiya kept his stern expression.
"You can't run away from the power before. Sooner or later you're going to have to confront this power. With it correctly it can be a valuable asset to you in the future." Jiraiya explained as Naruto still looked uncomfortable.
"Well…." Naruto tried to argue as Gohan decided to add in his two cents.
"It's the same with me and my Super Saiyan abilities. Originally I couldn't control it but with my dad's help I was able to get a good hold on it." Gohan added as Naruto sighed.
"Well…okay…if you say so." Naruto said as Jiraiya smirked.
"Okay then. Begin to work on your chakra control while I get started with Gohan." Jiraiya instructed as Naruto nodded in understanding.
"Okay!" Naruto said before putting his fingers together and gathering his chakra.
Gohan soon followed Jiraiya to a different location nearby.
"So what about me? What do you have in store for me?" Gohan asked as Jiraiya smirked.
"Kid, how would you like to have your own summon animal?" Jiraiya asked as Gohan stared at the Toad Sage in shock.
"Summon Animal? Seriously?" Gohan asked.
"Yep!" Jiraiya confirmed as Gohan couldn't believe what he was hearing before an issue suddenly came to mind.
"But wait, to summon an animal don't I need to use chakra? I don't use chakra." Gohan stated as Jiraiya kept his confident expression.
"Yeah I know. Kakashi was telling me so we were both able to come up with these." Jiraiya said before handing Gohan what appeared to be, beaded bracelets.
"What're these?" Gohan asked.
"Those are artificial chakra bands. With those, you'll be able to use chakra artificially with your Ki. Think of it like a prosthetic limb or arm so to speak. Though your Ki will able to be converted in a manner similar to chakra." Jiraiya explained as Gohan smiled excitedly at the thought of being able to summon animals like several ninja could.
"Okay, thank you Jiraiya!" Gohan smiled before putting on the bands before Jiraiya made a hand sign.
"Seal!" Jiraiya said as the beads suddenly turned a light blue.
"What's that?" Gohan asked.
"Now, with infusing the right amount of Ki, you'll be able to use chakra artificially for your summons." Jiraiya smiled as Gohan grinned.
The thought of being a summoner really made him excited.
"Now since unlike Naruto, you actually read, I trust you've read there are several different summoning animal families that are selected, right?" Jiraiya began seriously.
"Yeah that's right." Gohan nodded in confirmation.
"What summoning animal would you like?" Jiraiya asked as Gohan thought long and hard about what he could get.
Snakes? Nah, he wasn't like Snape from those Harry Potter films that he watched when he was younger.
Slugs? Nah, plus he liked salt on his food so that could lead to some interesting dilemmas.
Dogs? While he liked dogs, he felt it was more so Kakashi's speed.
Toads? If anything those seemed like Naruto's potential future summons.
A Monkey? Nah, while he was half-saiyan, he didn't think too much of the Saiyan lineage in his DNA.
What was something Gohan could get?
Gohan racked his mind before a smile of realization adorned his features.
How about a Dragon Summons?
After all the times he'd seen Shenron and not to mention, it'd be similar to his old friend Icarus!
It was a sad thing how Icarus had up and left one day. Hopefully the two friends would get to see each other one day.
"I've made up my mind. Can you give a Dragon summons?" Gohan asked as Jiraiya raised an eyebrow
"A Dragon summons?" Jiraiya pondered before he grinned.
"Haha I suppose that fits you. Okay then." Jiraiya said before summoning a scroll different from the one he carried.
"Now while I specialize with toads, Dragons live in a different area but I can manage the contract." Jiraiya stated as he unfurled a giant scroll.
"Now to begin, you'll need to sign your name in blood. Mainly with the use of your finger tip." Jiraiya explained as Gohan nodded, although he found that last part to be a little bizarre.
"Yes sir." Gohan said as he bit the tip of his finger tip, cringing slightly at the sharp pain.
Yeah he may've taken worse hits but never biting his own finger before.
Gohan soon signed his name in blood before making his signature official.
"Alright now mimic these signs." Jiraiya said as he made the appropriate hand signs as Gohan made sure to commit the signs to memory.
"Now, go ahead!" Jiraiya said as Gohan nodded.
"Right!" Gohan replied with fervor before making the handsigns before getting his summoning ready.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Gohan said before a poof of smoke arose, as…..
A baby dragon appeared, drooling with a snot bubble.
Both Gohan and Jiraiya stared at the infant, dumbstruck.
"Gohan, you know what to do, right?" Jiraiya said, slightly embarrassed.
"Y-yes sir…" Gohan blushed before calling off the jutsu.
"Now, try it again but exert more power." Jiraiya ordered.
"Okay!" Gohan said as he tried converting more of his Ki into the energy band.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Gohan said as he slammed his palm down again.
What he got wasn't a baby dragon but rather…..
An animated Dragon that was purple in color with yellow horns and a yellow abdomen area with a small purple and yellow tail.
The Dragon looked to be a young child.
"Hi there! I'm a new summons in training!" The Dragon smiled at Gohan who returned the smile. This dragon was just as cute and seemed just as lovable as Icarus.
"Hi there! I'm Son Gohan! And you are?" Gohan introduced himself with a kind smile as the Dragon scrunched his face in confusion.
"Uh...to be honest, I'm not really sure. My folks died before I knew them so I was never really given a name..." The Dragon shrugged as Gohan and Jiraiya frowned in sympathy at the summons. No child deserved to be alone.
"Wait I've got it! How does...Spyro sound?" Gohan smiled as Spyro and Jiraiya looked at Gohan in surprise.
"Spyro?" Both of them asked.
"Yeah! I think it fits ya! Whaddaya think?" Gohan suggested as Spyro giggled with glee.
"I love it! Spyro it is!" Spyro jumped up into the air like an excited child before coming back down.
"So Spyro, what can you do?" Jiraiya asked with Gohan wondering the same thing.
"I can fly anywhere across the Elemental Nations in a jiffy and am even good at fighting!" Spyro proudly grinned as he tried standing on his feet before falling over.
"Well at least somewhat." Spyro slightly blushed as Gohan and Jiraiya chuckled.
"Tell you what, Spyro. If you can fly me anywhere and I'll help ya work on your fighting, how's that sound?" Gohan suggested as Spyro grinned.
"Deal! Thanks a ton Gohan!" Spyro grinned as he held its paw up in a "High Five" gesture as Gohan happily reciprocated the gesture.
"Of course! Looking forward to working with you!" Gohan smiled as Spyro disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Huh, so Spyro, huh? Interesting name. Where'd you come up with that?" Jiraiya asked as Gohan laughed.
"Call it a hunch!" Gohan laughed as Jiraiya shrugged.
"If you say so." Jiraiya shrugged.
"Thank you, Jiraiya. I think I'll enjoy working with Spyro!" Gohan grinned as Jiraiya pat Gohan's head.
"Glad to hear it kid!" Jiraiya laughed as this next month was bound to be interesting for sure...
As Gohan and the rest of Team Seven prepared for the exams, the other victors spent time in their own training.
Shikamaru sighed in exhaustion as sweat dribbled down his hair and face as he attempted to manipulate his shadows as he trained with his father.
"Again, Shikamaru!" Shikaku ordered.
"What a drag!" Shikamaru groaned before getting ready to engage his dad.
After all, he was fighting Sasuke who was training under Gohan, so with that in addition to his Sharingan, Shikamaru would no doubt want to get any kind of special training he could get.
Shino worked with his bugs as he was perfecting their sucking and Aburame clan like abilities. After all, he had to make them powerful enough to defeat Gohan.
Dosu decided to not train as intensely as some of his fellow winners as he found Sakura to be a simple, weak girl and she would be dealt with as such.
Why should he worry about some prettied up Barbie doll?
Temari felt confident in her victory against the Hyuga heiress although being the tactician she is, she continued honing her abililties.
Speaking of the Hyuga heiress, she continued honing her Ki abilities as she sparred against her father, whom she had gained the respect of, following her test against Neji with.
"Good training for today Hinata." Hiashi praised his daughter as she smiled.
"Thank you father." Hinata said as she wiped sweat from her brow.
"I plan on succeeding in the Chunin Exams next month." Hinata smiled as Hiashi returned the smile.
"Exactly what I expect. And it's all because of that Son Gohan child." Hiashi said as he was grateful for Gohan's influence on Hinata. He helped her become stronger and even more confident.
Hinata drunk water from her bottle before looking at the sky smiling.
"Gohan…I promise to become stronger for you!" Hinata proudly thought.
One other certain Hyuga was in the training field as he was drenched in dirt, sweat and various wounds.
Much to the concern of his female teammate, Tenten.
"Neji! You've been going all day! You need to rest!" Tenten called out in concern as Neji ignored her.
Since he arrived back in the Leaf Village following the prelims, Neji had done his best in attempting in honing his Ki and using it to increase his own might.
Hopefully that would prove to be more than enough, Super Saiyan or no Super Saiyan.
"I…will….defeat you…Son….Gohan…." Neji thought before falling to the ground in complete and utter exhaustion.
"Neji!" Tenten yelled as she ran to her fallen friend.
Rock Lee and Might Guy were in a different location as he was working on a certain ability.
"Now Lee, you will have to fight against Naruto in a month. With Gohan's influence as well as Kakashi's that will prove to be very challenging." Guy said as Lee nodded.
"Yes sir I've got you. Although it means I'll have to work on that jutsu…" Lee thought…
As all this went on, a fully healed Gaara looked down from the rooftop he was on with a hard glare on his face.
"Son Gohan…the first person to ever defeat me…" Gaara muttered before noticing a leaf falling in his hand before he crushed it into little pieces.
"I promise I WILL kill you!" Gaara growled before laughing hard and slightly insane into the night…..
It had soon been a week since everyone had started their own individual training regimes and Team Seven were on their way to the Hokage's tower.
"So you guys learn how to summon? That's so cool!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yeah…." Naruto said as he groaned in annoyance. He could only summon a tadpole while Gohan could summon. What nonsense!
"Haha yep! I summoned a Dragon who's name is Spyro!" Gohan grinned.
"That sounds like one of the video games you showed me." Naruto noted as Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Of course you'd name a summon after a video game character. Geek." Sakura joked as Gohan laughed before deciding to ask his own questions.
"So what have you and Sasuke been doing?" Gohan asked as Sakura grinned.
"Well we've been working on our chakra natures! Turns out I have the Earth element!" Sakura gleamed.
"Wow, sounds like ya Sakura!" Naruto laughed as Gohan looked at Sasuke.
"What about you? What's your nature?" Gohan asked the last Uchiha.
"I have a strong connection with the Lightning Nature though my main one is fire due to me being an Uchiha." Sasuke said as he then smirked.
"I've even been working on a brand new jutsu. It's-"Sasuke tried to say before Kakashi cut him off.
"We're here." Kakashi said as Sasuke felt a bit of annoyance at being cut off.
"So what's the hubbub pops?" Naruto asked as Hiruzen felt a tick mark go off on his head before he decided to just sigh it off.
"Several of our ninja have gone missing." Hiruzen began as everyone gave the veteran shinobi looks of astonishment.
"Missing?" Sakura asked.
"That's right. In a Valley known as Kikyo Valley." Hiruzen explained as he held up a map.
"So basically you want us to go there and investigate the cause of the disappearances?" Kakashi asked.
"That's right. You all will leave within the hour." Hiruzen said as the five ninja nodded in understanding.
After departing the Leaf Village, the squad of Team Seven flew to where Kikyo Valley was located. However upon arrival, they noticed a bluish-purplish fog surrounding the canyon.
"What's that? Is it poison?" Naruto asked.
"Use your Ki to make a shield around yourselves to be safe." Gohan said as Team Seven did just that before they descended towards the valley.
However upon arrival they noticed the fog vanished.
"I say we all split up and investigate to see if we can find anything." Kakashi said.
"Okay." Sasuke said as everyone did just that.
However…after nearly half an hour, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura soon regrouped as they found squat.
"So did you two find anything?" Naruto asked.
"Zip." Sakura sighed.
"Nothing." Sasuke said in defeat before noticing something off.
"Hey…where's Gohan?" Naruto asked.
"That's a good question! Let's try sensing for him!" Sakura said as the rest of Team Seven noticed off….
"I can't sense Gohan's energy!" Naruto exclaimed as Sakura nearly had a panic attack.
"What!?" Sakura exclaimed.
Sasuke however kept a calm air.
"Calm down, let's just go and find him. I'm sure he's fine." Sasuke said as Naruto and Sakura recomposed themselves.
Soon the group of three flew down a ravine before finding their friend, much to Naruto's happiness.
"Gohan! Hey!" Naruto yelled as he flew to his brother, however…upon approaching him, he noticed that Gohan was lying atop of his back with his skin deathly pale.
"Gohan!" Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all yelled as they flew to their friend.
"Hey! Talk to us!" Sakura held Gohan's hand.
"Gohan!" Naruto slapped Gohan's head but to no avail.
"Gohan, what's wrong with you?" Sasuke demanded.
However as the group of three stood over their friend, the bluish-pruplish fog suddenly enveloped the three.
Sakura immediately fell off immediately.
"Sakura! What….happened…" Naruto muttered before losing consciousness soon after.
"Naruto! Sakura!" Sasuke growled as he got to his feet with a Kunai in hand and his Sharingan activated.
However….Sasuke soon felt drowsy.
"Damn it…" Sasuke cursed before his entire world turned black.
With Sasuke
When Sasuke soon woke up, he looked to find himself not in Kukyo Valley but in the old Uchiha compound.
"What the?" Sasuke asked before noticing he was smaller and his voice was higher and squeakier.
"What the?" Sasuke asked before noticing his body was moving on his own before he saw blood on the ground.
As he saw that, he noticed he was having a nightmare of that night…
The night of when he lost his clan….
"Why can't I move!? Why is my body moving on its own!?" Sasuke growled as he tried controlling his actions before he looked to see none other than his brother, Itachi Uchiha, looking down at him with cold, onyx eyes.
"Foolish Little Brother…You're not strong enough….your hate's not strong enough." Itachi scoffed.
"Live…continue to live and when you have the same eyes as me, come see me again!" Itachi yelled as he showed a different kind of Sharingan.
Sasuke growled before a voice appeared in his voice.
"If only you were stronger you could have saved them…." A voice mocked Sasuke as Sasuke clenched his teeth.
"Shut up! Just get out of my head!" Sasuke yelled as the nightmare suddenly ended.
With Naruto
"Freak! Monster!" Were some of the insults hurled at a young Naruto.
"Why am I seeing all of this again!?" Naruto growled.
"Such a one trick pony. Can you honestly get their approval? Quit deluding yourself." A voice mocked.
"Who's there!?" A younger Naruto asked.
"You'll be nothing but a liability to the villagers. Just a hopefully freaky loser." The same voice scoffed as Naruto shook his head.
"Just shut up! Leave me alone!" Naruto yelled, ending his nightmare.
With Sakura
A younger Sakura was crying as she was hurled insults from her peers.
"Look, it's little Miss forehead." Ami smirked.
"I wish Ino were here…" Sakura muttered, albeit unintentionally from her mouth.
"Look at you…a weak girl who grew to be a shallow girl. Maybe Ino is really better than you." The same voice that appeared before Naruto and Sasuke mocked.
"What!?" Sakura demanded.
"You'll always be the same pitiful crybaby who had to run behind Ino for protection. By the way, how're you two doing? If I'm correct, you ended your friendship over some boy who wouldn't give you the time of day, yes?" The voice mocked as Sakura growled.
"Shut up! We're rekindling our friendship so screw off!" Sakura yelled before she ended the illusion.
Soon all three members of Team Seven were panting on the ground before slowly getting up.
"Hey…you guys went through…" Naruto tried finding a way to explain his experience.
"If you mean having a 'nice' trip down memory lane, then yeah." Sasuke said before noticing Gohan was gone.
"Hey! Gohan's gone!" Sakura yelled in panic.
"We have to find him!" Sasuke ordered before they looked to see Gohan was right in front of them.
However…he was covered in what looked like ice.
"What the? Gohan!" Naruto said as Sasuke made several hand signs.
"Fire Style, fire ball jutsu!" Sasuke said as he attempted to free Gohan, only to notice that his jutsu did nothing.
"What!?" Sasuke gaped as dark laughter was heard.
"Hehehe…he belongs to me now…" A familiar voice to the three laughed as Sasuke pulled out a Kunai.
"Come out!" Sasuke growled as the voice darkly chuckled.
"Certainly…" The voice laughed as a huge creature came from the Shadows. It resembled a huge Dragon with ice spikes on it.
"What the!?" Sakura asked.
"A dragon!?" Naruto nearly fell back.
"Who the hell are you!?" Sasuke growled.
"I am Moryo." Moryo introduced himself before looking down on the unconscious son of Goku.
"Hehe, sorry to say but that's not possible. He belongs to me now…." Moryo grinned as Sasuke's glare deepened along with the other Team Seven members.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, not losing his tight hold on his kunai.
"I love feeding on those with despair. Especially with all of the mental trauma and angst this child has gone through his entire life." Moryo explained.
"You bastard!" Naruto growled as he was ready to release the nine tails on Moryo as Sasuke had an epiphany.
"Wait a second! You said 'those'. Do you mean…you killed all the previous Leaf Shinobi who came here?" Sasuke asked as Moryo's grin widened.
"Yes….Their souls were very delicious. Especially with using their worst memories against them." Moryo licked his chops as Sakura's eyes widened in horror along with Sasuke.
"Wait, so showing us our memories was a way to kill us?" Sasuke asked.
"Correct but in forming this team of yours, you all have made peace with your pasts." Moryo explained.
"But what about Gohan?" Naruto asked.
"This child has experienced a lifetime of trauma with an extremely life-changing tragedy occurring recently." Moryo said as Sasuke's eyes widened as he had an idea of what Moryo might be referring to….
"So Gohan must be reliving those memories…" Sasuke said as Moryo smirked.
"Indeed." Moryo said as Sasuke was seriously considering using his new jutsu against the dragon bastard.
"Does that mean Gohan is…dead?" Sakura took a step back as he grinned in amusement.
"Oh no. Far from it actually." Moryo chuckled as Naruto growled.
"Give him back you bastard!" Naruto yelled as Moryo raised an eyebrow.
"Oh feisty are we? Well how about we make a game of it?" Moryo asked.
"A game?" Sakura asked.
"Yes! Right now, his inner self is experiencing these memories as we speak. If you all can reach him before he gives into despair, I will let him go along with you all. But if you fail…." Moryo explained.
"We all die together." Sasuke theorized.
"I can see why you're hailed as intelligent, Uchiha." Moryo mused.
"Although I should warn you these memories are full of heartbreak and tragedy, you have all conquered your inner demons and can leave at any time." Moryo suggested as all three teenagers glared at the Moryo.
"Hell no!" Sakura glared.
"Gohan would do anything for us so who are we not to risk the same for him?" Naruto growled as Sasuke silently glared at the dragon.
"Very well…let's see if your bond and trust in each other is truly as strong as you all claim…." Moryo said before a bright light suddenly enveloped the three.
"Team Seven…" Moryo said before the three ninja soon found themselves in a new adventure of sorts.
Into Gohan's memories….
Talk about one HELL of a chapter! Gohan's learning to summon (and fail XD), Sakura learning she has the Earth Affinity and most of all, Team Seven going into Gohan's memories! XD
Now before I move onto discussion about that, several things I wanna talk about.
Like I said at the beginning of the chapter, the bracelet bead scene was inspired by Trunks using his chakra band for summoning in Mirai Shinobi. And I've talked with Man of Wrath about it and he was totally cool about the idea so before anyone accuses me of plagiarizing, there ya go! XD
EDIT 8/27/19: Okay so after thinking about things, I've decided to change Gohan's summoning from a Monkey to a Dragon. The reason being is that I haven't seen a thing like that in a DBZ X Naruto crossover fanfiction and plus I feel like having Gohan having a monkey summoning would be just a TAD too similar to Trunks' summoning in Mirai Shinobi so...yeah XP
Now if some of you have an issue with Gohan having trouble in his artificial chakra control, well I figured he had to struggle with something XD Plus if he just got everything on the first attempt people would be calling him a "Mary Sue" (a term which I find is HIGHLY played out TBH…)
I hope you all liked how I added snippets of what the victors of the preliminaries were up to as I feel if they get stronger without me even saying anything, that would be kind Bull Sy XD
I also hope you all liked how I gave Sakura the Earth Affinity. Now given what we see of her in Shippuden, I don't think that idea would be too far-fetched.
And finally, the memory watching portion of this chapter. Now this idea came to me after reading One Piece fanfics of the Straw Hats watching Luffy's memories and I figured "Hey, why not have Team Seven view Gohan's memories in a similar way!" and thus the idea for the arc was born.
Now if you guys wanna know how Moryo looks, just watch Boruto Opening 4 and imagine him with the appearance of that ice dragon.
It won't be very long so don't worry. But I feel this is necessary for the team's bond to become even stronger with each other so I think you all will enjoy the small twists I'll have in this mini arc and for everyone who wanted this, well consider this a New Years' present from me to you! ^_^
Now with all that said and done, please let me know your thoughts and I'll see you all in Chapter 23 coming January 17th!
With all that said and done, let's hope 2019 is a marvelous year! =D
