Disclaimer: I don't own either Naruto or Dragonball Z.
Notes: Thanks everyone for your comments and about the Ki-Chakra thing. I was going for them being the same concept, but one is using it on the inside were as the other is releasing it. I'll go into more detail later in the story. Oh and just to let you know, this will be a long fic.
To answer a few questions:
- Naruto won't be revealing himself... just yet. Its hard to say when, suffice to say he will...
- Right now its still in the works, but i can say that a new and powerful enemy will emerge soon and Akatsuki has something to do with it.
- Sasuke will show up a little later... how could he not!
- The Sharingan or any blood-limit the characters have will not be copied in this fic by another - the same goes for Gohan's SSJing ability, think of it as his blood-limit - since I've seen a few fics were the ssj ability is copied.
Anyway, on to the goood stuff. Enjoy.
Dialogue:
"talking" - normal speech
'In italics' - thoughts
-: Flashback :-
Chapter 5 - Down Memory Lane
The two fighters had ended up in a part of the village Naruto had never been to before. Holding up the small map they had acquired from the receptionist along with keys in hand, the pair casually found the right address. It was a small white-stained coloured apartment and was entirely made out of stone. On entering they discovered the room had a negative feel about it, as the windows were shut and boarded up and the place smelled worse than rotting corpses.
"Oh man! My old place wasn't even as bad as this!" Naruto exclaimed as he coughed and held his nose.
Gohan too was shocked but for a different reason, "This is unbelievable, how could they let others stay in a place such as this!" he shook his head. "Come on Naruto we have to do something about this." And on that note the two brothers dropped their bags on the couch and sped around the flat cleaning it from top to bottom.
Outside Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru looked on from a small hill top a fair distance away from the compound. Seeing the two Grass Ninjas enter the apartment Ino tilted her head to face her comrades. "So what do you make of these guys, they seem pretty normal to me. I wonder where their other team member is, you're supposed to have 3 to a team for this exam… right?"
"Uh, they don't look any different from any other Grass Nin i've seen." Shikamaru replied, turning around to look up at the sky and closed his eyes.
"Well that's what Tsunade-sama said when she informed us of the rules." Chouji stated, "But she also added that if special circumstances came up then a team could be enter with less members if they still wished to participate. Maybe they are one of the cases?"
"Huh, well if that's true, then it wasn't a good idea on their part since they'll be at a huge disadvantage, especially to us!" Ino said victoriously.
"Well they must be strong to not need another team-mate. Meh, this is too troublesome."
Ino's eye twitched and she stood up over the lazy Chuunin, "Everything's too troublesome for you Shikamaru!" she shouted, slamming her foot to the ground and waving her arms around. The two males slowly baked-up and covered their ears, knowing what they were in for next. Fortunately, a loud 'Poofing' noise came from the Hidden Grass Nin's flat stopping Ino in her tracks. As they looked over Team 6's eye's widened as the once boarded up, dirty looking apartment had been cleaned all over and the windows were now visible and washed in the few moments the trio hadn't been watching.
"W-what the..." Shikamaru managed. Still stunned the team decided to keep their gaze on the flat from now on.
Inside, Gohan had just come back in from washing the outside of the small house and taking off the wooden boards that were nailed across the window and cleaning them. When he came back into the living area he clicked a capsule, throwing it to the corner a loud 'Poof' sound was made. In it's place stood the wardrobe, 'May aswell do it now.' he thought.
By this time, Naruto had come back into the room too and yawned slightly. "Hey Gohan, lets go take a walk around the village and i'll show you some of the sights!" he smiled.
The tall teen shrugged, "Yeah why not, this place is cleaned up now so we don't have to do it later." And with that they turned and headed out the door.
As they walked back to society Naruto sighed, "Geez are those 3 still following us, oh well.. it maybe interesting."
Gohan wasn't really paying attention and instead was taking in his surroundings. The village reminded him of his home on Mt.Pau where life seemed simple, the way people were going about their business in peace and without worry. There were times that he would love to just live carefree, not fighting anymore and let someone else do it. But he knew he couldn't, he had a responsibility to protect the world since it was usually his or his friends fault for others attacking anyway. Shaking himself out of his gloomy mood he looked to his now black haired companion.
"So where to first Naruto?" he whispered as they passed others.
"Well i was thinking, i would like to see my old place again one last time. Then i thought we could just stroll round for a bit and see if anything new has happened, or changed. Maybe we can get those three to come out from spying on us and talk to them. I only got a glance at them in the restaurant." He said.
"Huh, are they still following us?" Gohan said looking clueless.
The smaller posing Grass Nin slapped his face, "Baka Gohan! I just told you that!" he sighed
"Oh sorry, i wasn't paying attention... so what should we do about it?" Gohan asked.
Naruto grinned, "Just follow me, i've got an idea." picking up the pace a little the pair headed to the forest.
After a few minutes walking through the densely crowed trees, the duo saw an opening in the distance.
"... 4997... 4998... 4999... 5000! Gai-sensei i have completed 5000 thumb-ups! What is the next training exercise?"
"Lee my student, you have blossomed well! YOUR FLAME OF YOUTH BURNS BRIGHTER THAN EVER! Next, we shall..." The tall bowl cut man wearing green spandex stopped and turned to see 2 people coming into his team's training area. He walked forward a few steps and stood his ground in front of a mini look alike of himself and two others. Eyeing them with suspicion, Gai spoke to the two newcomers, "Who are you two and what business do you have here?" Gai asked, in slightly anxious tone.
"Oh don't mind us, we were just passing by." Naruto said. "And so we can inform the others we know of their presence." He turned to his right and looked up. "Hey, you 3 can come out now; we know you've been following us since we exited the restaurant."
Gai and his team gave the young man puzzled looks. Suddenly, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru appeared slightly to their left and took up a fighting stance. Shocked by this they too got into their positions, waiting for an upcoming battle.
Gohan looked worryingly to his friend who turned to face the 7 Leaf shinobi, "Uh.. gosh, hi... um... we don't mean you any harm. Like my team-mate said; we were just passing through. I'm Teliac of the Grass and this is Inuzu. We are here to take the Jounin exams." the tall spiky haired fighter said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Shikamaru folded his arms and slightly tilted his head, "How did you know we were following you from the restaurant? We took every precaution and where far enough away for you to spot us. Only a high Jounin would have been able to sense our presence, unless you are one." he concluded.
Naruto decided to have some fun, "Oh really, i guess that explains why the Jounin over there was so surprised to see you!" he laughed as Gohan sweat dropped, not liking where this was headed.
"Gai-sensei is the greatest ninja in the whole World, do not disrespect him!" the min-sized version of Gai shouted.
Raising an eyebrow Naruto retorted, "Oh, and what are you going to do about it...?"
Rock Lee shook in anger before final releasing it and pointing his finger at the Grass Ninja with a flame of passion in his eyes. "I will challenge you now to a friendly Tiajutsu Dual. You will take back your words once i have beaten you!"
Gai spoke grabbed Lee, "My student! You make me proud!" He started tearing up.
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
They embraced... and it continued...
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
Naruto sweat dropped along with everyone else, remembering this all too well. Gohan just looked on, confused at the sight before him.
"Is that so... eh?" He turned back to his pale looking friend, "Can i play Teliac... please."
Gohan was sweating buckets being put in this position, "Gosh, why do we have to fight.. can't we all just get along?" He then whispered in Naruto's ear, "Why do you have to cause so much trouble? Just don't show them anything they don't need to see." After that he scuffled back a few spaces and sat on a rock grumbling something incomprehensible.
All the leaf ninja were shocked. The supposed leader of the Grass Ninja looked like he was going to pass out any second while the other moved into position to take on Lee, who was a Tiajutsu specialist.
All the Hidden Leaf backed up ready to watch the match. Smiling with the exception of Neji, who rarely smiled, Team Gia, Ino and Chouji knew it was going to be over in a few seconds. Shikamaru on the other hand wasn't so sure, the Grass Ninja gave off a weird vibe. 'Definitely one to be wary of. I wonder how he fights, this should be go a long way in finding out whether he is a threat.' he thought
Gai spoke, "The first to make the other unconscious wins the duel. Tiajutsu only... Ready...? Begin!"
Lee got into his favourite stance, but his opponent just stood with his hands by his sides. Frowning, Lee wondered what the Grass Nin was thinking. "You should take this battle more seriously, i am a specialist in Tiajutsu and will not be defeated easily." he smirked with confidence.
"Huh, are you sure? Your form could do with alot of improvement, but its to be expected from a Ninja of the Hidden Leaf." Naruto laughed, trying to anger and provoke Lee into attacking.
His plan succeed as the green spandex wearing teen shot from his current spot and jumped high into the air. "Konoha Senpu!" Lee shouted as he gave a mid-air roundhouse kick aimed at Naruto's head. A split second before impact, he raised his right arm to block the incoming attack with no effort in the slightest. Lee's eye's widened along with every other Leaf Ninja watching. Jumping back he set down into another 'imperfect' stance.
To the onlookers, it was like witnessing the impossible. Lee had just delivered a perfect Senpu Kick to the Grass Nin, but he had blocked it quicker than lightning. To make matters worse, Lee's weights which were inside his training socks didn't inflict any damage either, let alone make him move.
"T-that's impossible. No one can react that fast, i didn't even see him move!" Ino yelled.
Neji, who had also been in a state of shock, finally recovered and activated his Byakugan. He looked shocked and confused with what he saw. Shikamaru saw this and questioned him, "Neji, what is it, what do you see?"
"It's.. it's like he doesn't have any Chakra. I can barley see traces of it throughout his body. But it can't be, he shouldn't be moving with so little chakra inside him!" he exclaimed catching the attention of the others. He looked over to the leader of the two and saw the same thing, "He is the same too!"
"But that means they can't do any jutsus and must also rely solely on Tiajutsu. Lee has Chakra, but he can't mould it to make jutsus. If what you say is true about this guy, he wouldn't ever be able to do any either." TenTen concluded.
They turned there attention back to the fight which was still going on. Lee was in the middle of throwing a flurry of attacks against the challenger, but he blocked every strike ... with one arm! Once more he dropped back, this time panting. 'This isn't possible! He blocked all my attacks with only one arm without so much as breaking a sweat! I have to do something... i know.' The young Green Beast slowly unravelled his arm bandages till they were arms length. Naruto yawned, the last time he saw this attack it was remarkable, but now...
Suddenly, Lee bent down and disappeared, utilising his maximum speed with the weights on. Unfortunately, Naruto could see him move like he was in slow motion. As Lee reappeared launching his vertical kick at his opponent, it cut clean through a ghost of Naruto, who had vanished. All Leaf shinobi frantically looked around, even Neji couldn't find the Grass Ninja. Turning to Teliac who was sitting to the rock, he smiled shyly. In a flash, Lee was punched in the gut. Falling fast, he was out before he hit the floor.
Standing back up straight, Naruto gave a slight bow and turned to Gohan who now had his eyes closed. Before he moved away Naruto spoke, "That was... interesting. I hope to see what you other Leaf Ninja can do in the exam." he said in a mocking tone.
By this time, all the others on the sideline had run over to Lee to make sure he was still alive. Gai checked his pulse, and found he was just unconscious but was still in need of medical attention. He threw his student over his shoulder to take him to the hospital. Wanting to give a few departing words to the Grass Chuunin, he looked at where they had been standing, only to find them gone. Searching around, he couldn't spot them, "This is not good! You 5 better watch yourselves in the upcoming exam; those Grass Ninja are very powerful in Taijutsu. I have to go and get Lee to hospital to make sure he's ok."
"We'll come too!" Ino said, and with that they sprinted off in the direction of Konoha's hospital.
Emerging on the outskirts of the forest, the two posing Grass Shinobi stood. It was now late afternoon and the sun shone down brightly over the village. The pair began walking again to another location.
"Don't you think you went kinda overboard there, now they're gonna start asking all these questions!" The Z warrior said slightly worried.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Oh come on Gohan, it was just a bit of fun. Now we won't have to be bothered by others in the first part of the exams... if its anything like the Chuunin one."
Gohan sighed in defeat, somehow his best friend would always come up with a good excuse to keep him staying out of trouble, and the way he went about it with innocence just added to his release.
After sometime walking Naruto stopped just round the corner of small house, only a little larger than the one they were staying at. A girl was bent over what appeared to be some sort of memorial that had been set up just outside. The young woman was holding a flower in her hand and she placed it on top of many others that were lined up. She began to cry a little and spoke so softly that neither could hear her. Sniffling, she picked herself up. The girl had long deep purple hair matched with a hooded jacket of different shades of the same colour and black pants that extended to just above her ankles. A Leaf forehead protector could also be seen tied around her neck. Naruto finally recognised her as Hinata. 'Why would she be here? And what was she doing?' he thought.
With another sniff she departed from the scene. The two fighters looked to each other. "What was that all about? Who lives... or lived there?" asked Gohan.
"That's where i used to live. I don't know what's going on though, lets take a closer look." The duo sauntered over to the front of Naruto's old home. Beside the door was a small stone memorial with flowers randomly scattered over and around it. On the top was a picture of Naruto when he was still a Genin in the Leaf. The stone structure appeared to have writing on it. Taking a closer look Naruto read it out loud:
"This is statue is to honour Uzumaki Naruto, who gave his life to save others. A true Shinobi of the Leaf." he got back up and smiled. "At least they acknowledged me in the end..." He looked to his former house, "... a bit too late though eh? Guess i should have killed myself from the start if i wanted attention!" he joked.
Gohan didn't know what to say, "Uh.. I guess you had more than a handful that cared about Naruto." he said trying to comfort his brother.
"Doubful, only after i died... oh well it doesn't matter, its not like we're staying long. Even when they find out, i'm sure everyone will revert back to hating me." he sighed. "Come on, i want to see if they moved out any of my stuff." Opening the door the two went inside.
Naruto gasped, the place had actually been cleaned! Looking round he found nothing but the bare essentials, nothing of his was there anymore. "It must have been moved somewhere else" he thought out loud. "Ah lets go Gohan, this place reminds me of a worser time."
The two had just exited the house when they heard a scuffling of boots coming round the corner. With out hesitation they disappeared to the roof of the building opposite. After a few moments, a figure came into view. Both identified the who it was with ease. Only one girl had pink hair in the whole village, Sakura. The teenaged Kunoichi bent down and placed a flower with the others.
The two posing Grass Ninjas were able to hear what was being said this time from their new location. "Hey Naruto... i just came by to let you know i've been training hard with Zak and Sai for the Jounin exams. The gangs doing fine too, we've all entered for this year's and i'm sure most, if not all of us can pass." She paused for a moment and continued, "I can't believe it was 3 years ago this week the last time i saw you. You were so energetic and always smiling. I'm sorry i made it difficult for you all the time flaunting over Sasuke... i guess you never know what you had until you've lost it." she sniffed holding back the forming tears in her eyes. "Tsunade-sama has been training me as you know and i've learned lots of medical jutsu from her. I wish i could see you just one more time to show you... i'm sorry Naruto." With that she stood and walked away with her hand on her heart.
Naruto was puzzled, this wasn't like Sakura at all. Never would he have thought she could become anything more than a 'love-sick Sasuke bitch'. Surely his demise wouldn't affect her that much. Sighing at his now crowded thoughts, he looked to Gohan who had a small smile on his lips.
"See, i told you. The people do care for you Naruto, more than you think."
Naruto huffed, still not convinced, "Yeah right.. anyway, lets go. I could do with something to eat to take my mind off all this nostalgia."
"And you say i'm always hungry!" Gohan laughed as they vanished from the building top.
Meanwhile, Lee was sleeping in a hospital bed, still out from Naruto's blow. On the other side of the room, his friends and mentor waited to hear how he was doing. The silence was deafening for Ino who couldn't last any longer.
"How the hell did that guy defeat Lee! He's the fastest and one of the strongest of all the Chuunins, but he was taken down in an instsnt by that Grass guy!" she yelled.
Looking up, Gai had a worried face, "I don't know Ino. I've never come across Grass Ninja who are so adept at Tiajutsu before. Usually they rely mostly on Ninjutsu, but it seems they must have expanded their capabilities. Remember, the last time we saw any was at the Chuunin exams 4 years ago. And even then we didn't get to see them fight since Orochimaru killed them and used their bodies."
Shikamaru sighed at another busy day. He just hated busy days, "To put it simply we don't know what their abilities and limits are. Though it is clear from what Neji said, they can't use any Chakra for Ninjutsus and Genjusts since they don't have enough to pull off even the simplest. Therefore, using them may be the only way to defeat the two in battle."
"True, but even i could not see him with my Byakugan when he disappeared. Thus, we may not get a chance to use any. They are indeed strong opponents." Neji finished.
Chouji, who was looking more like his father every day, in every aspect, was busy eating his favourite bag of potatoes chips but still paid attention to the conversation. The same went for TenTen who sat back opposite. She looked fitter and more versatile than 3 years ago. Wearing a simple Chinese looking top and matching bottoms whilst training, she still kept the trademark buns in her hair, but they were now white rather than black.
Just then Tsunade came round the corner, followed closely by Shizune. The two walked up to the waiting Ninja and stopped. "Lee will be fine, he is just resting." Tsunade started, "What happened to him? How did he end up this way?" She asked.
"Hokage-sama, my beautiful student's flame burns brightly as he went into battle! It was a wonderful sight!" Gai hesitated, "However, we underestimated the ability of the Grass Ninja. He beat Lee with a single hit to the gut when they engaged in a friendly Taijutsu duel."
Tsunade and Shizune were shocked. Lee was nearly as strong as Gai, who was one of, if not the best Taijutsu master in Konoha. The Leaf Hokage thought back, 'One of those Grass Ninja did this to Lee in? I new something was different about them.'
Gai continued, "But after activating his Byukugan, Neji informed us that they only have trace amounts of Chakra in their body, so they won't be able to use anything but Taijutsu effectively in the Jounin exams."
"What?" she turned to Neji, "How much compared to a normal ninja?" she asked the fully white clothed Hyuuga.
"Less than a tenth that would flow through a normal ninja's Chakra pathways Hokage-sama." Neji replied, still slightly bewlidered from what he saw.
Both Tsunade and Shuzine were both flung back into a stunned state. "W-what! T-that should not be possible, with so little chakra a person couldn't survive!" the old woman shouted.
"Tsunade-sama, we also followed them before they encountered Gai-sensei and his team. They knew we were watching from the beginning even though we were well hidden!" Ino added.
Deep in thought, Tsunade came up with her decision. "It is clear that these are no ordinary Ninja. I will assign a few ANBU to watch over them whilst they are taking the exams. Wolf, Hawk." she called
Suddenly two ANBU wearing a Wolf and Hawk mask appeared beside her, "Hokage-sama, what are your orders?"
"You are to watch over the two Grass Ninja that are here to take the Jounin exams and report to me every 3 hours on their ware bouts and what they do."
"Hai Hokage-sama!" they replied and disappeared.
Tsunade turned back to the other Leaf Shinobi, "Lee should be awake in a short time so you can visit him then. Have you all prepared for the assessment?" an echo of 'Hai's' could be heard throughout the group. "Well then, i must get back to my office, a Hokage's work is never over. Good luck, i should see you all in the next 2 days." and with that she left the scene.
"I haven't had that in a while; Ichiraku's still the best ramen around." Naruto said patting his stomach.
The two fighters had been to Naruto's once favourite food place in the Village. It was nice to see Ayame and her father again even though they didn't recognise him. The stand looked in bad shape and he overheard them talking about how they would be going under soon if there weren't more customers. Fortunately for them, Naruto and Gohan ordered 30 bowls each. Shocked at how they were both able to eat and pay for it, the pair in the stand couldn't believe their luck. There was a God after all.
"Yeah, that raman stuff sure did the trick, though i needed a lot to fill me." Gohan said as he narrowed his eyes. "Oh man, it looks like they've sent others to spy on us now! I told you it was a bad idea to fight!"
Naruto laughed, "Meh, its only ANBU, they can do all the spying they like since they won't see anything. Come on we better head back to the apartment, its getting quite late. We should get some rest for tomorrow's events."
On the way back to the flat, 3 Rain Nin came out of the shadows to intercept them. Stopping in front of the duo, one came forward and spoke, "Where have you stupid Grass Ninja been! We have been waiting for you for over a day now!" The Chuunin said angrily. "Have you been instructed on the agreed preparations?"
Gohan and Naruto looked to each other and thought fast, "Uh.. since we have just completed a very long mission where our 3rd member was killed, we had no time to be informed of the plan and we were told you would update us." Naruto said with confidence.
The Rain Nin acknowledged but didn't like that the pair in front hadn't been told before hand, add to that they didn't appear to wear the usual Grass Ninja garments. "We are to gather information about Konoha's defences and potential targets for attack. Since the 3rd exam doesn't begin till a week after the 2nd from what we have heard, that time will be used to pass on the data to an outside source. On the day of the 3rd exam, our villages along with the Sound and Cloud will assault the Leaf and destroy it!" he ended with a balled fist of rage.
Naruto, a little fazed composed himself again, "We understand and will do what is necessary to destroy the disease that is Konoha once and for all." The 3 Rain Nin bowed slightly and walked away.
Gohan raised an eyebrow, "So, four villages want to attack Konoha at the end of the exams. They're fortunate we're here."
His comrade chuckled, "Yeah... you know its funny, Orochimaru did the same thing 4 years ago. I'm surprised he couldn't think of a better method of attack. But with 4 villages instead of 2 this time, it would be an easy victory for them."
They started again for their apartment, "We'll have to do something when the time is right. I don't want to reveal myself just yet and we could collect alot of intelligence from those 3 Rain guys about the other Villages plans of attack." Naruto summed up.
Gohan thought for a moment then looked back, "Ok, we may have to look round the border nearer the attack day. But until then we can pass on false information about the Leaf Village to this 'source'.
"Good idea, but right now i need some sleep. We should get some training in too before the exams start aswell."
End Chapter Notes
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Eish! Got a party to go to now!
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