Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto Or Dragon Ball Z
"9045YX!"
Scrunching his closed eyes tighter, Naruto frowned as the shouting around him did nothing to ease the horrible throbbing in his head.
"Do you know how long it will take us to get there! Even using the fastest spaceship my dad has invented?"
Naruto heard quiet clicks of buttons being pushed and assumed Bulma was doing some kind of calculations to tell the others exactly how long it would take them to get wherever they wanted to go.
Where that was he didn't know? But if he had to take a guess they were talking about Planet Namek. Krillin had been close enough to hear Vegeta when the Saiyan had told Nappa that they could find dragon balls on Piccolo's home planet.
"4339 years and over three months!" Bulma shouted again causing Naruto to wince.
"And that's just the time it will take to get there! A round-trip? Never going to happen, at least not any time soon."
"Well, that had me worried too, but I'm pretty sure I have it figured out."
Naruto opened his eyes and sat up as Krillin started talking. Looking around he saw Goku lying next to him, and in front of him, all of Goku's friends and family were facing forward, none of them noticing he was awake.
"Something was bugging me about the spaceship Vegeta escaped in. And then it hit me. It was so small, barely big enough for one person. There is no way both Saiyans came here in the same pod. This would mean that Nappa's ship should still be sitting right where he landed it."
Naruto grabbed the back of the seat closest to him and used it to pull himself to his feet drawing the attention of all the passengers in the jet to him.
"Naruto? You're awake!" Goku cheered from his spot on the floor. "I heard from the others that you practically defeated one of the Saiyans all by yourself."
Glancing down at his old rival Naruto shook his head.
"The others helped as well, Goku. I didn't do it by myself."
As much as he wanted to say he did, he wouldn't lie. Before Nappa had transformed he could have said it. But if it hadn't been for the brief distractions the others had caused, the big ape would have killed him.
"Don't be so humble, Naruto." Krillin tutted from the front of the jet. "That big guy wiped the floor with all of us. Only you stood a chance against him. And you won!"
"But I still lost." Naruto grit his teeth. Kami was gone and so were the dragon balls. If Vegeta hadn't been arrogant enough to spout off his plans in the middle of their battle he would have been doomed to live the rest of his life as half a person.
Neither of them knew it, but in a sense, the Saiyans had beaten him.
"Hey," Krillin said when Naruto tried to take a step and stumbled. "You're still really injured. You should come with us to the hospital."
"Our alliance was formed to defeat the Saiyans," Naruto muttered still too weak to raise his voice to its normal level.
"We did that. So our little team up has come to an end."
"Alliance? Team up?" Krillin grinned. "Come on, Naruto. Just admit it, we're all friends now."
Sitting back down Naruto leaned against the wall of the plane. He didn't have the energy to leave now but when he did he was going after that spaceship the first chance he had.
Krillin didn't know what he was talking about. They weren't friends. If they were he wouldn't be planning to screw them over and go to Namek himself.
But he had waited long enough. Even postponed regaining his humanity for a year to bring Goku back to life. It wasn't his fault that the others had tried to fight the Saiyans when they knew they didn't stand a chance.
Their deaths had been noble and they had to have known what they were getting into when they sensed the power the Saiyans wielded.
"It's not my responsibility to bring them back to life."
Closing his eyes, Naruto let the exhaustion he felt take over and drifted back to sleep as Goku's friends kept talking. His non-human DNA would allow him to heal faster if he didn't keep exerting himself. And as soon as he was well enough he was going to Namek.
It was a good, simple plan that should have been easy enough to accomplish. Only he didn't take into account the variable that was human stupidity.
The week following the battle against the Saiyans was in Naruto's opinion even worse than the battle itself. He could deal with a few bumps and bruises but being forced to stay in a small practically sterile room while doctors and nurses poked and prodded at him was torture. There were things he needed to do. Like steal the Saiyan pod from the government and get to Namek.
Except he couldn't even do that now.
Glaring at the burning wreckage that had been being replayed on the television in the corner of his room, Naruto's fingers clenched into a tight fist at his side. It had to have been Bulma. The blue haired banshee wouldn't have let anyone else touch an alien spaceship.
"She just blew my chance at being human again into smithereens."
"Mr. Uzumaki," A soft quiet voice came from the doorway. "Mr. Son wishes for you to visit him. Do you feel up to it?"
Rolling his eyes as the nurse spoke to him like a child, Naruto slid out of his bed and walked out of the room. He wasn't offended by the exaggerated caring tone the lady used, but after a week of it, the sound was beginning to grate on his nerves.
Crossing the hall to the room he could sense Goku in, he walked through the door.
"Naruto, you're here!" Goku grinned in his hospital bed. "Great, now we can fill you in on our plan to wish everyone back. We-"
"Are going to use the ship Kami came to earth into travel to the Namekian home world Namek and if possible use their dragon balls to wish everyone the Saiyans killed back to life," Naruto said shocking all those still in the room.
Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Bulma, and Master Roshi. Naruto could sense Goku's wife Chi-Chi somewhere else in the building. This was good.
After her tantrum about Gohan being hurt fighting the Saiyans, he could tell that if she knew the true dangers of the mission to Namek she would keep Gohan on Earth. And no matter how much he disliked dragging the child into another battle, the half-Saiyan boy was one of the strongest fighters on the planet.
"What have you been doing the past week? Hiding outside in the hallway and spying on us?" Bulma folder her arms across her chest staring at the half-android. "Why not just come in and talk to us?"
"I needed to know when the three of you were planning on leaving for Namek." Naruto turned so he was talking directly to the blue-haired heiress. "After stealing Nappa's ship from the government I had planned on traveling there myself."
Bulma's eyes narrowed. "To wish everyone back to life right?"
"Of course."
"Is he lying?" Bulma frowned as Naruto stared back at her blankly. He had given up the dragon balls to wish Goku back to life but he had also been waiting years to make his own wish. And if he was going to wish everyone back to life why all the cloak and dagger?
"Wait, did you say you were going to steal Nappa's ship!"
"We don't have much time before Chi-Chi returns so I'm going to have to make this quick," Naruto announced ignoring Bulma who was glaring at him.
"The scouters the Saiyans used work as communication devices. We know that information to be true. And that means whoever Vegeta is working for knows that the dragon balls here on earth are gone. But it also means that they know about Namek as well. If we are really going to Kami's home world we need to be prepared to face resistance. Fighters as strong as Vegeta, maybe even stronger.
Naruto looked around the Hospital room.
"This isn't going to be some vacation where we walk in, borrow the dragon balls and come home. It's going to be a war. So I'm going to ask again. Now that everyone knows what this mission entails. . .does anyone volunteer to go to Namek?"
"I'm going." Gohan was the first to speak up. "Piccolo died protecting me. I have to bring him back, whatever it takes."
"Well if Gohan's going, so am I." Krillin sighed. He was not looking forward to fighting guys stronger than Vegeta.
"Oh, man. I wish I could go. Guy's stronger than, Vegeta?" Goku laughed. "It sounds awesome!"
Naruto nodded and reached into the pocket of his jacket pulling out a slip of paper. "Bulma, this is a list of things we'll need you and your father to build for the mission."
"Gravity chamber to train. Armor. Spare parts for their ship and food and clothes to last five years?" Skimming over the list Bulma's jaw dropped with each request.
"Are you kidding me?" She set her hands on her hips. "Do you know how long it will take us to build a ship fitted with a Gravity chamber? We need to leave for Namek as soon as possible."
"I understand that. But there is no point in leaving if all we're going to do is die once we get there." Naruto said and Bulma swallowed.
"He does make a good point." The heiress sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Even if we wanted to wait until we had that stuff, Vegeta is still alive. And unless his recovery is going to take months he is going to reach Namek before we even leave Earth. Do you have some smart plan to make sure we get there first, Mr. Red Ribbon General?"
"I do." Naruto walked across the room to Goku's bed. "The Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Goku used it when he was training for the World Martial Arts tournaments. Bulma, you and your father will enter the chamber and build what we need in there."
"Hey, that's a great idea!" Goku cheered. "Kami said that you can spend an entire year inside the chamber and when you come out only one day will have passed."
"That's great!" Bulma pumped her fist. This was perfect. With a room like that they would be able to leave for Namek tomorrow. "Good thing at least one of you muscle heads have a brain."
"Oh man, how much did she love being friends with someone who literally commanded an army when he was just a kid?" Goku and the others were fun but sometimes you needed to buckle down and get things done.
"Naruto is just the guy for that."
"Goku, do you have a way to contact King Kai?" Naruto asked the bedridden Saiyan.
"I've been listening in; you've made quite the fine plan."
Flinching as a strange voice talked within his mind, Naruto frowned. "King Kai?"
"Yes, I'm talking to all of you from my planet in Otherworld," King Kai explained as everyone in the room looked around for his voice.
"You won't be able to see me, but ask what you will and I will do my best to answer."
"Thank you," Naruto bowed even though King Kai couldn't see him. "I would like to know everything you do about Vegeta and who he works for. If he and the other two Saiyans sold planets there has to be more of them right? If not Saiyans, then other races who are allied with Vegeta. How many people does he have working for him? Their power levels? Anything you can tell us will be helpful."
"I'm afraid I do not know the inner workings of the organization, but I do know that Vegeta was not the leader. He was just another grunt working for an evil tyrant. Frieza, whose power far eclipses that of Vegeta's." King Kai said shocking everyone in the room.
"The Planet Trade Organization under the rule of Frieza has grown to control nearly the entire Universe. Their army is made up of conscripted and enslaved powerful races, such as the Saiyans, to take over suitable planets so that they can be sold to the highest bidders."
The Z-fighters in the room, as well as Naruto, remained quiet as the realization of what they were up against sank in.
They were up against an army. And with the death of the others, they had four fighters, if Gohan was included.
"Four against an army that controls nearly the entire universe." Naruto shook his head. Those weren't good odds. And in that army, Vegeta was a grunt.
It had taken nearly everything they had and they still barely managed to defeat the Saiyans. What chance did they stand against an army compromised of aliens just as strong, or stronger?
"Do not be discouraged. Vegeta was one of the organizations strongest fighters. Only a few, including Frieza, are stronger than him." King Kai said and everyone minus Goku and Naruto sighed in relief.
"It's a start." Naruto sat down on the chair next to Goku's bed. An army of fighters just as strong as Vegeta was a terrifying concept.
"How long did it take you to put this plan together?" Krillin asked from his hospital bed.
"We've only been in here a week. And Bulma blew Nappa's ship up three days ago."
"Krillin!" Bulma went red-faced as the others in the room laughed.
Naruto didn't join in. There was nothing funny about his chance at being human going up in flames. Literally.
"Being stuck in a hospital bed twenty-four seven has given me plenty of time to formulate a plan." He told the chuckling bald monk.
As the laughter in the room died down, Naruto looked at Bulma who was still sporting rosy cheeks.
"Why are you still here?" He asks.
"Excuse me?"
"You know your roll in the plan." He stood up from his chair and headed for the door so he could go back to his room.
"Get to work."
Exiting the room Naruto did his best to ignore the shrill shriek from behind him.
"Don't boss me around!"
I apologize profusely for the long wait! Chapters should come more regularly now that RL has calmed down a bit.
Hope everyone still reading and new to the story are enjoying it! Let me know what you think with a review!
Until the next chapter!