Disclaimer: Own nothing.
Last time: Gohan and Sakura train together.
This time: Orochimaru throws a wrench in the plans.
It wasn't until sometime later that the Yamabushi settled down enough to listen to what the pale man had to say. The inner circle of the bandit gang was arrayed around the fire in a circle, with Orochimaru seated on a chair of bone and rawhide held together with animal sinew.
"So what you're saying is that this Gohan kid is the one who kicked our ass and defeated Ganosuke?" The leader asked, looking at the Sannin that was lounging in the chair like it was some kind of throne.
"Correct," Orochimaru answered.
"And you say that in return for your help in getting our raiding grounds back, you want us to bring you the kid?"
The snake propped his head lazily on one hand. "That is the terms. Easy isn't it? I'll deal with Gohan-kun. All you have to do is get him here." The men looked at each other with questioning gazes. Could they really trust this guy? On the other hand, though, getting rid of that little pest and his girlfriend would be a welcome change.
"Alright," the leader of the Yamabushi Bandits said finally. "We're in. Tell us what to do and we'll take care of the rest."
Orochimaru grinned. "Yes, I'm sure you will." The pale Sannin began to chuckle, and the noise echoed eerily through the cave, raising the hair on all of the assembled men. "Now, I'm sure you know that Gohan-kun is traveling with a kunoichi correct?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well it's simple," the missing-nin explained. "Gohan-kun has an intense drive to protect his friends. It goes to the point that he will even throw himself at a much stronger adversary or throw himself in the path of an enemy's attack in order to save them. You need to bring Gohan-kun to me. Obviously, he won't come if you ask politely." Orochimaru wave a dismissive hand. "Not that any of you are capable of manners." He took no notice of the angered looks on the men around him. The missing-nin continued without pause, "So therefore, you need to persuade him to follow you." Golden eyes searched each face. "I'm sure you can figure it out from there?"
"So we kidnap the girl, this Gohan guy follows her, and then you deal with the kid?"
Orochimaru smirked. "That's the general idea," he replied casually. The snake stood and slipped into the shadows. "I'll return when you have the girl. Oh, and she's wearing weights so you'll either have to get them off or have a few men carry her since none of you have the strength to do it on your own." One of the men snarled and snatched a burning stick from the fire, throwing the brand into the corner where the Sannin had vanished.
The corner was empty.
"Well," the leader said as he stood, trying and failing to hide the nerves he felt. "It's late at night and they should be asleep. If we want to move and get the girl, the time is now."
The men nodded sullenly, feeling as though they were marching to their deaths as they prepared to head out.
"Ahhh! That was a good meal!" Gohan remarked happily as he flopped back onto a futon.
"Gohan-kun, you ate half of the feast yourself!" Sakura admonished as she plopped down beside him, denting the floor as she hit from all the weights she was wearing. "I swear, sometimes I think you and Naruto could be brothers the way you two act!"
"Eh?" Gohan asked as he folded his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "I'd love to have a brother like Naruto! It'd be great!"
"Do you have a brother?" Sakura asked. She hardly knew anything about his life back in his dimension, other than that the teen next to her had fought in more battles to save the world than she cared to count, his father was a hero who'd willing sacrificed himself in an effort to save millions of lives, and that Gohan's mother was a nice lady with an evil temper.
"Huh? Oh yeah. His name's Goten."
"What was your father's name again?"
"Goku."
"Gohan, Goku, and Goten." Sakura grinned. "Not real original is it?"
Gohan laughed. "How about you Sakura?"
The kunoichi blinked. "Who me?" She looked away. "I'm an only child."
"Lucky."
"Maybe, but I've always wanted a little brother or sister."
"Trust me, they can be trouble. You wouldn't believe the fights Goten and I get into."
"But isn't your little brother like two years old?"
"Yeah, but he's also a half-saiyan, like me so…" he trailed off with a shudder. "You can imagine how bad it gets sometimes."
"Ouch." Sakura winced. From what she'd seen of Gohan so far…man, that house had to be in pieces more often than not. Gohan tugged the covers of the futon over himself then hit the lamp next to his head.
"I'm going to bed. G'night, Sakura."
"Night," she replied, going to the room across the hall, where her own futon was. Really, she was enjoying this training trip with Gohan-kun. Getting to know him better was a great thing. He could laugh just as easy as Naruto, was stronger than even Sasuke, and he didn't have a very thick skull or an over inflated ego like Sasuke.
Sakura felt odd.
She couldn't describe it. At the prospect of getting to know Gohan-kun, she felt…happy, but it wasn't like she normally felt when she was happy. It was something different, something she'd never felt before and had no way to describe it.
'What's this feeling?' She wondered as she stared up at the dark ceiling of her room. Sleep began to claw at her eyes and they dropped closed. 'I've never felt this before, but it doesn't feel…' She never finished her thought as she fell asleep.
Outside, hidden in the shadows and flitting across patches of moonlit ground, four blurs crouched outside the door to the hotel where Sakura and Gohan were staying. Moving as silently as they could, the four men slipped inside, hearts pounding from nerves and anticipation. Their bare feet padded lightly on the meticulously shined teak floors, a loud racket for a shinobi, but for a normal person, dead silent.
They arrived at a stretch of hall that held the target rooms. Two entered Sakura's room while the other pair trained bows on Gohan's door, ready to fire as soon as the brat poked his head out, though the weapons probably would just make him angrier.
Sakura awoke as she heard footsteps, noticed the enemy, almost screamed, but a cloth was pressed over her mouth and she lost consciousness. The four men scooped her up, grunting softly with the efforts, left a note for Gohan on her pillow and carted the kunoichi off.
"Why'd we take the girl, why not the kid?"
"I dunno. That Orochimaru guy's creepy. He said to bring the girl, not the kid, and I'm not about to argue with him. You saw what he did to Rei and his brother. Those two were among our best fighters and they were killed without effort." The other three shivered and quickened their pace.
"Gohan-kun!"
"Gohan-kun!"
The saiyan stirred at the voice then opened his eyes. Sakura's blurry shadow leaned over him. He knew it was her because the sun filtered through her hair and turned it a translucent pink.
"Sakura? What's going on?"
The kunoichi grinned, her eyes hidden by her bangs.
"Follow me!" She replied, and ran off through the trees.
"Sakura!" Gohan hurried after her, wondering just where she was going. He stopped short when he burst out of the woods and beheld the sight before him.
It was his house at Mt. Paozu, and arrayed outside the door was his mother, Sakura, Goten and his father.
"Gohan! There you are!" Goku called, his trademark grin lighting his face. "We started to think you got lost! Thank God Sakura was able to find you!"
"Dad? How?" Gohan asked. "You're dead. You died in the Cell Games!"
Mt. Paozu faded to a white blank, leaving only Sakura, Gohan, and his father standing there.
"Yeah, I did," Goku replied. "And this girl here will suffer my fate if you don't save her."
"Huh?"
Sakura looked tearfully at him. "Help me Gohan-kun! Help me!"
The white and other two people dissolved to blackness. A pair of eyes glimmered at him out of the shadows and Orochimaru's laugh filled the air.
The ground dropped out from beneath Gohan and Sakura's screams filled his ears as he fell.
"No! Sakura! Answer me! Sakura!"
The screaming continued, getting louder until it hit the point that it sounded like his eardrums would burst then Cell materialized before him, his foot stained with oil and blood.
"Cell!"
The fighter tried to snap into stance and power up, but his body wouldn't move. Cell's mouth twisted into an insane grin that distorted his face and the monster android spoke with the voice of another monster, one with gold eyes and pale skin.
"Yet another fighter you could have saved."
"NO!!"
Gohan sat up so fast that he cracked his forehead on his knee. He looked around for Cell, before realizing that he was still at the hotel in the village.
"A-A nightmare?" Sweat dropped into his eyes and the fighter realized that he was drenched. He touched one hand to his face as he tried to calm his racing heart. "But it felt so real."
Some compulsion drove him to his feet and carried him across the hall. Before the Z fighter knew what was happening, his hand was hovering before the door to Sakura's room.
He stopped, shaking his head. "No, I'm being stupid. There's no way she could be hurt. It was just a dream…" But there was a weird feeling in the back of his head that wouldn't leave him alone. "It can't hurt to check right?"
He opened the door a hair and peeked through.
The door flew through the air as Gohan ripped it from its hinges and bolted inside.
"Sakura!!"
She wasn't there. A note lay on her pillow.
"Please be alright," the saiyan prayed as he picked up the note and opened it. It wasn't Sakura's handwriting.
We have your woman. Come to our hideout. Come alone if you want to see her alive again.
-Yamabushi Bandits
Attached to the note was a crudely drawn map. The parchment crinkled as the warrior's fist clenched around it, his eyes smoldering as they turned a hard jade, rage flying through his blood, bringing it to a boil.
He turned on his heel and strode briskly down the hall, the attendants turning to greet him with smiles before they plastered themselves against the wall at the look on his face and the killing intent rolling off him in waves, Gohan's hair beginning to turn gold at the roots, the light color slowly spreading.
"Greeting sir!" The desk manager said, turning from the two women he was helping. Gohan glared at him, making him recoil.
"Did Sakura leave?" he snapped, checking on principal. There was a chance that this wasn't real, though Gohan knew that was a rationalization on his part.
"Sakura-sama? No, Gohan-sama, she didn't. Why?"
The warrior didn't respond, striding towards the door, casting his senses wide, searching for the signature he knew as well as the back of his hand after spending such a long time with her. A second signature intruded, lighting up his sixth sense like a flare.
"OROCHIMARU!!" Gohan shouted, his rage, contained for so long, finally erupting. He'd used these bandit bastards to kidnap Sakura while they slept last night in order to get to Gohan. The utter filthiness of the tactic was what pushed him over the edge.
The lobby was upended as Gohan let out a scream of rage, a gold aura blasting into being around him, his hair flashing gold, the winds tearing into the building, ripping savage gashes in ink paintings, shattering the pots of the potted plants, blowing the double doors that lead outside apart, the pieces flying down the main street of the village.
When it subsided, the Super Saiyan, his hackles raised and his Saiyan heritage screaming for blood and retribution, knelt and blasted straight out the front of the building in a flash of light and wind that shattered the floor, cracked the mahogany and granite check-in desk and filled the room with smoke and dust.
The clerk just stood there, his glasses askew as he turned, twitching back to the two women at the desk.
"N-Now, how may I help you ladies?" He coughed, shaking.
The pig in the arms of the dark-haired woman oinked, the animal clearly dazed.
Shizune turned to her mistress, who looked like she'd seen a ghost.
"Tsunade-sama," the kunoichi asked hesitantly. "That boy is going to fight Orochimaru. Are you going to let him go?"
The Shodai's granddaughter huffed. "It's not my problem," the Slug Princess replied. "It's probably a different Orochimaru anyway." She snatched the key from the clerk, who fainted as soon as she did.
"It's not a very common name," the other woman replied, though she said it softly and followed after the second Sannin.
The two sentries outside the cave that led to the Yamabushi hideout were watching the forest, thinking that Gohan wouldn't arrive for another day at least. The map had been crude and the saiyan boy didn't know the way, so when there was a flash of gold light in the trees that hid the cave from the narrow and winding path that led to the village, the two guards didn't think anything of it. It was probably the sun reflecting off something shiny.
A chirping met their ears.
"Odd bird ain't it?" asked one, look of to the side, where a couple of sparrows were fighting.
"Yeah. Never heard it…be…before." The man went pale.
"Hey!" his buddy called. "What's wrong?" Then he turned and almost fainted dead away on his feet. A boy, with furious jade eyes that seemed to bore right through them, his muscular body outlined in golden flame, his footsteps scraping ominously over the ground, which was strewn with dead leaves and sticks, was approaching them. A gentle breeze reached them as he got closer, but to the two men, it could've been a hurricane.
When he was passing between them was when the snapped into motion.
"Hey! Stop!"
The kid's eyes widened and the two men were blown off their feet as power, raw power, hammered into them like a sledgehammer, blowing them off their feet and sending them tumbling head over heels.
The left one slammed into a tree, his head hitting hard enough to dent the wood and fracture the bark, slumping into unconsciousness. The second man rolled right through a briar bush and his yelps of pain followed Gohan into the cave.
The entrance was a long hallway, strewn with boxes and detritus, lit every couple of feet or so by torches, but it wasn't enough and darkness abounded, though the light cast by Gohan's aura lit everything for a few yards around him. Many gaping holes in the walls led into storerooms and alcoves that had sleeping quarters and other necessities in them, like food and water. One cavern was so massive that the raiders were using it as a stable, the horses in there nickering and neighing with fright as the unnatural feeling of Gohan's rage touched them.
Deliberate footsteps echoed eerily through the whole base as the Super Saiyan walked down the fortress' main hallway. The tunnel finally widened into a space big enough for a large man to stand in.
And stand a large man did.
Ganosuke, his stomach and jaw plastered with gauze and bandages, was waiting for him.
"About damn time. Beginning to think I die of old age before you got here."
"Move."
The word was spoken in a low, silky voice that Gohan had only used when he was really pissed off. It was the commanding tone he'd spoken to Cell and Bojack with when the two villains had threatened the Earth.
Ganosuke grinned, his teeth yellowing and one or two even missing outright. "No can do. I've got orders and they say…"
A hand grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the wall of the room with enough force to embed it in the stone. Ganosuke slumped. Whether or not he was dead didn't matter to Gohan. His only concern was the monster that waited at the end of the passage like a fat spider sitting in the middle of a web.
"When I said move, I meant it."
Sakura huddled in the main room, trying to make herself as small as possible. She was being held at katana point, with two men on each side of her, their sword edges at her throat, her arms bound in such a way that even a seasoned jounin would have trouble getting themselves loose.
Not that Sakura could escape with Orochimaru right in front of her.
The Sannin was lounging in the chair again and he'd been the first sight she'd seen when she'd awoken and found herself tied up and a hostage. The missing-nin had been crystal clear on his objective.
He'd kidnapped her to draw out Gohan-kun and hopefully enrage him to the point that he couldn't think straight, thereby being easier to capture.
Judging by that hideous crunching noise earlier and the dead silence following it, Orochimaru had succeeded in both endeavors.
"He's coming," Orochimaru said suddenly, his gold eyes burning with anticipation. Sakura knew he was right. There was a massive amount of killing intent in the air and it leaked into the chamber they were in like some kind of foul vapor, making it hard to breath. "He's playing right into my hands, Kunoichi-chan. Do you have any idea what my plans are?"
"How should I know how a sociopath thinks?" Sakura bit out.
The Sannin laughed. "You have spunk. I like that. Hm, I guess I'll explain my objectives to you so when you go screaming to your death, you'll know what you've helped me to obtain. You see, Kunoichi-chan, I am a collector of sorts. I find gifted young people like Sasuke-kun and Gohan-kun and I bring them to my cause."
"So you're a sociopathic pedophile," Sakura snarled, "so what?"
"Your insults are weak, just like you, and in your position, insults are all you have. Do you know what I seek above all else, Kunoichi-chan? Well, I seek immortality." His face lit up with an insane light. "Though it's only a temporary means, I have developed a jutsu that transfers my soul into other bodies, thus allowing me to live forever. That's why I collect gifted warriors, so that I may have the very best body I can get. Sasuke-kun is just one potential candidate and Gohan-kun is fast becoming another favorite of mine."
"You're going to mark him," Sakura breathed, finally realizing why the Sannin was here. "You're going to give him that Cursed Seal!"
"Well, perhaps you have a decent mind after all. Yes, I am going to bestow my seal on Gohan-kun. I find it makes people a bit more…pliable. You should've talked him out of leaving Konoha. In the village, he had ANBU and the jounin corps to protect him. When I learned you left the village, I followed and now, here we are."
The slow tapping of deliberate footsteps reached their ears, growing with each second, right along side the anger that hung in the air like a wet cotton cloth. Orochimaru snapped his fingers and the two Yamabushi charged into the hallway, heading for a faint glow in the distance.
There were twin yelps of pain accompanied by a noise that sounded like bone meeting bone and the two guards flew back into the room fast enough the blow out the fire and send everyone's hair and clothes blowing around when they slammed into the wall on either side of the rawhide chair Orochimaru sat in.
The footsteps reached the chamber and the cavern was lit by a hard gold glow that cast equally hard shadows over everything in the room.
"Gohan-kun!" Sakura cried joyfully, then she stopped short, her eyes widening in horror. Gohan looked odd. He was transformed, so that was certainly a reason, but as much as the brilliant transformation always unnerved Sakura slightly, there'd always been a hint of the normal Gohan in the hard emerald eyes, the hint becoming obvious whenever the Super Saiyan smiled or wasn't about ready to go into combat.
That hint wasn't there now. Gohan's eyes didn't even flick over her to make sure she was okay. He was focused on one thing.
"Orochimaru," he growled, every word singing with rage. "You involved Sakura in this. Never, EVER, involve my friends in our battles or you'll regret it."
The snake man looked eager to begin, rising from his chair as if he was a puppet being drawn up on strings. "Oh?" he asked. "And how am I going to regret it?"
Gohan looked him straight in the eye and said the words Sakura never thought she'd ever hear from his mouth.
"I'm going to kill you."
The Sannin burst out laughing, the cold and merciless sound filling the chamber, echoing off the walls and making it seem like there were hundreds of men present, all laughing hysterically. "You? Kill me? Gohan-kun, perhaps you are addled by your anger. You do not possess the power to kill me."
"Then I'll break you. Crush your ego so thoroughly that you'll never want to fight again." Gohan smirked. Arrogantly. Not one of his confident masks that he had used last time to keep the pale man guessing, but a true sneer, one that would put Sasuke at his best to shame with no effort. The Super Saiyan's fingers curled and the air was filled with cracks and pops as Gohan's knuckles popped.
The two warriors began to circle each other, ki and chakra levels soaring through the roof. Orochimaru began to be outlined in a swirling blue vapor while Gohan's aura flared out brighter and wider. Closer they came, moving in an ever-tightening spiral while the killing intent from the two titans filled the cavernous chamber, making the very air seem heavy and humid, unfit for breathing.
A buzzing echoed off the walls as static electricity began sparking between the two combatants as chakra and ki met and clashed, making ethereal wisps of lightning dance between them and ripple up and down their forms. Orochimaru's long hair was beginning to lift from the charge being generated and the ground was cracking beneath them as it was compressed by the power pushing down on it.
The Sannin and the Super Saiyan stopped circling now that they were close enough to strike at any time. Silence, broken only by the crackling of electricity and crumbling of rock, ensued. The electricity began to dance faster and faster as the power in the room climbed higher.
They vanished.
The cave began bursting apart around the three that huddled in the corner. Orochimaru and Gohan were totally invisible as they moved, only illuminated for the briefest of milliseconds when the clashed and Gohan's aura lit them up.
The rawhide chair burst into a million fragments.
Holes appeared in the ceilings and walls.
One appeared right next to Sakura's head, just the right size for a fist and she screamed as she was pelted by pebbles from the impact.
They appeared.
Gohan's fist flashed.
Orochimaru caught it.
Orochimaru's fist flashed.
Gohan caught it.
Stalemate.
The power soared horribly and the stone floor of the cavern just couldn't take it anymore and the two sank out of sight as the solid rock depressed, unable to bear the weight anymore. The crater expanded to encompass the whole space, which was a good three thousand square feet and Sakura felt herself sliding down towards the fighting powerhouses. They were grunting and straining, muscles and veins bulging, teeth bared.
Orochimaru grinned triumphantly as he forced Gohan back, the Super Saiyan's knee hitting the ground hard enough to make it crumble.
Gohan grunted, bowed his head, pushed with all his considerable might, but Orochimaru remained as unmovable as the planet Jupiter. The snake began laughing madly and Gohan met his eyes and let out a yell, his aura flaring even higher. The Sannin's face went from insanely amused to horrified as the younger warrior surged to his feet and pushed Orochimaru backwards. Gohan's arms spread wide, spreading his opponent's as well, leaving the pale man wide open.
The teen leapt and thrust both heels almost straight up. A crunching filled the air and the Sannin was thrown into the ceiling, the entire cave shaking from the impact, stalactites falling from the roof like spears.
Outside, the entire flank of the mountain burst apart in huge explosion, Orochimaru emerging from it, tumbling helplessly. He threw his weight around and managed to get his spinning to stop.
"Incredible," he muttered. "Gohan-kun's power is increasing by the second. Is his power somehow related to the amount of anger he feels?" Gold eyes widened as the Sannin saw a glow shining from the hole he'd made on the way out. "Now what?"
Sakura looked on, horrified, as Gohan thrust his hands forward like he sometimes did, then brought them to his sides. "Ka…me…ha…me…." A blue ball formed in his hands, expanding fast until it was too bright to look at. "HAAAAAA!!"
The attack wasn't a ball like it normally was, it was a river of power that blasted out of the mountain, flashing across the sky towards Orochimaru, who found that he would be unable to avoid it. He crossed his arms to try and take the brunt of the attack. The sky was lit by a white flash that vanished in seconds. A massive explosion rocked the entire mountain and surrounding areas as the Kamehameha exploded in earnest, the white and blue ball of ki pushing the earth and trees beneath it away, sending a shockwave blasting outward, slamming the mountain hard.
Sakura did her best to hide from the ki's fury as it battered and smashed the mountain above her into gravel.
'This is a nightmare,' she thought, trying desperately to convince herself that it was true. 'This is a nightmare. I'm back at the hotel and Gohan-kun is sleeping, not trying to blow up the world.'
Dust fell lightly on her face and she risked a look. She couldn't believe what her eyes were telling her. The mountain above her was simply gone, the monolithic pile of rock looking like someone had taken an ice cream scoop and scooped out over half the mountain. Gohan stood in the middle of it, looking into the sky, which was devoid of any signs of tumbling Sannin.
"Good riddance bastard," he growled when he didn't feel Orochimaru's ki anywhere. He dropped out of Super Saiyan, but the anger in his eyes didn't fade. His hand reached for Sakura, who backed away, pressing herself to the cave that remained behind her. Gohan looked surprised, then hurt, turning downcast eyes on the ground. "Do you…fear me now?" he asked her.
She relaxed just a hair. "What?"
He smiled forlornly. "I don't blame you if you do. I lost myself there. Super Saiyan is a double-edge sword."
"What do you mean?"
"It's an exponential boost in power, but I become much more susceptible to anger and other negative emotions." He looked at his hands as if they'd betrayed him. "I've learned to master it, but that rage, that primal urge to kill is still there." The warrior got behind Sakura and tore the ropes binding her with his bare hands, snapping the cords as if they were nothing but burnt string. The kunoichi stood and turned around.
"So why use it?"
"Because there are people out there that I cannot defeat unless I use it. I had no choice but to…" A presence formed behind him and the saiyan boy spun, but it wasn't fast enough. Pale hands latched on to his shoulders and held him in place. "Damn! I didn't…"
He cried out as fangs sank into his neck and a corrosive, foreign, energy wound its way down his body. The world blurred for Gohan and was replaced by pain and Sakura shouting his name over and over. He hit something hard and in his blurry vision, he noticed that he was laying on his back, a triumphant Orochimaru standing over him, wiping a small trickle of blood from his mouth. Gohan realized that it was probably his blood. The Sannin's mouth moved, but Gohan couldn't hear the words. His vision was filled with pink as Sakura leaned over him.
Something hoisted him up onto his feet, but he couldn't stand and simply leaned against the object supporting him was. Orochimaru replied to something, then threw his head back and laughed. It would've been chilling if Gohan could hear. His neck burned and he yelled out, his free hand flying to the irritation. It got so bad that he couldn't think or feel, his body numb from the fire that ripped through it.
He wanted to pass out, to die, anything to make the pain stop.
He got his wish as the world turned black.
"Gohan-kun!" Sakura screamed as Orochimaru's fangs sank into his neck, blood spraying from the wound. Three marks appeared on his neck. A Cursed Seal. It looked nothing like Sasuke's, which was three comma-like dots. This one looked like raindrops, the tips pointing out from the center and the bulbous heads pointing inwards. Orochimaru released the saiyan, who crashed to the ground, his eyes glazed with pain, his face already turning red with fever.
"Gohan-kun! Gohan-kun! GOHAN-KUN!"
Orochimaru began to laugh, the haunting sound filling the air with malice as he continued on.
"Yes! Gohan-kun is mine! Soon. Soon he will join me and I will have one of the greatest powers in the world at my command. Both Sasuke and Gohan. I will be unstoppable! The entire world is mine for the taking!"
"But how? How did you survive!?" Sakura demanded, glaring at the Sannin but knowing he would crush her if she attacked.
The Sannin grinned, warping his entire face with it. "A simple Kawarimi and Kage Bunshin. Then under the guise of a genjutsu I snuck back here, while Gohan told you of his mysterious transformation. Super Saiyan? It's not a bloodline I've heard of, but I don't mind."
Gohan screamed suddenly, arching as the seal on his neck glowed like fire, his entire body shaking.
"Gohan-kun no!" Sakura pleaded. "Come on. You can beat it." The warrior didn't hear her and he finally, mercifully, passed out, falling silent as he did, though he whimpered every couple of seconds.
"Well. My work here is done. Farewell, Kunoichi-chan. Enjoy you're time with your precious Gohan-kun. He will not be around for long." The snake melted back into the wall, his cackles filling the air long after he departed.
Sakura floundered, not knowing what to do, her hands fluttering as she tried to figure out how to make Gohan's pain easier.
"Hello?" A voice called. Sakura whirled as a woman with dark hair and blue robes appeared in the shattered remains of the entrance tunnel. "Is anyone still alive here?"
"Over here!" Sakura shouted. The woman noticed her, then sighted Gohan and the black blemish standing out on his skin.
"Oh my God." The woman breathed as she darted over, moving with a grace and poise that only a shinobi could have. "Damn, I'm too late."
"Who are you?" Sakura asked, stunned as the woman pushed her aside and knelt at Gohan's side, her hand glowing with a green vapor as she moved over the unconscious Saiyan's body.
"Call me Shizune. I'm a Konoha-nin, just like you and this guy." She'd obviously seen the hirai-ates tied around Sakura's head and Gohan's waist. "Damn. I can't stop it." Shizune hefted the warrior up in a fireman's carry. "Come on, we have to get him back to Tsunade-sama. She's the only one who can help him at this point."
Shizune vanished and Sakura jumped before darting after her, heading for the village. Just in time too, as the mountain trembled, cracking, then collapsed in a heap of rushing smoke and chunks of rock.
"Well I can't help," the Slug Princess huffed as she looked over the battered boy stretched out on the futon. Sakura and Shizune had broken all speed records on their way back to the village. "The seal's too far along to stop and I don't know how to seal it away."
"But Kakashi-sensei did it!" Sakura protested. "Can't you?"
Tsunade huffed. "Kakashi might've been able to do it, but I don't know the jutsu for it. I'm a medic, not a seal master. You have to take him back to Konoha if you want help. That old fart Hokage and Kakashi are the only two who can help."
"Well then I'll do it!" said Sakura. She scooped Gohan up and dashed for the door, moving faster than she'd ever been able to, even with the accursed weights on. In the excitement of the last few hours, she'd forgotten all about them and she hardly felt them anymore.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Shizune asked. "If he wakes up…" She didn't finish.
Tsunade shrugged. "Not my problem anymore. Now come on. We've got to get to Tanzaku soon. I'm feeling that itch again."
"Tsunade-sama," her assistant sighed, but she followed the other medic from the village.
Sakura bolted up the road, bowling over other pedestrians in her mad rush to get back to Konoha.
'I have to make it. I just have to.' She thought desperately. 'I'm not letting Gohan-kun get disqualified like Sasuke did.' The kunoichi, in her rush, didn't notice that she'd omitted the –kun from Sasuke's name.
Close to a week later, the gate guards at Konoha were astonished when a sweaty and dirty Sakura arrived at the village's entrance, Gohan still out cold on her back, though his condition had improved drastically over the past day or two. She'd been running nonstop from the village where Gohan had been marked, eating only rations on the fly.
"H-Help him."
She fainted as the exhaustion of getting back without rest finally caught up with her.
"Medic!" one of the guards shouted as his partner dashed forward to check on the two unconscious teens.
Gohan finally awakened and found himself in the hospital.
"Where?"
"Damn!" shouted someone in the room as whoever they were jumped. When Gohan's vision finally cleared enough, he noticed that it was Kakashi, who looked rather tense, his hand in his kunai pouch, his Sharingan spinning. The jounin relaxed somewhat when he finally decided that Gohan wasn't going to go nuts like Sasuke did.
"So, you're finally awake?" Asked a second voice.
"Sarutobi…-san? How'd I get…"
"Sakura-san has a constitution and determination that matches yours," the Sandaime explained. "She carried you for a week without rest and with her weights on all the way from the village where you were staying."
"Sakura did?" the saiyan sat bolt upright, clutching at his neck as something there seared like fire. "Ugh."
"Easy," Kakashi told him. "You've been marked with Cursed Seal and it reacts to changes in its bearer's chakra."
"But I don't have chakra."
"We think," the Third said, "that ki and chakra are close enough for the seal to work on both types of users."
"So why am I not going nuts like Sasuke did?" Gohan asked.
"No idea," Kakashi replied. The Hokage, though, looked thoughtful.
"I suppose it's your pure heart. Sasuke, filled as he is with rage and a thirst for power and vengeance, is more prone to the Seal's effects than you are. Should you transform, I daresay that will change, but for now, you seem to be fairly resistant to the emotional side-effects."
"So I can't go Super Saiyan anymore?" Gohan asked, looking rather nervous at that prospect. Losing the transformation again would be like losing a limb since he relied on it so much. That use would only increase as Orochimaru had now deemed him a target.
"Once the appropriate measures are taken," the Hokage answered, "you won't have to worry."
"Appropriate measures?"
"Kakashi?"
"Right. Well, there's a way to seal away the Cursed Seal's effects. If you're ready, we can go do it right now."
"Let's go!"
Kakashi's eye curled as he pulled his hirai-ate back into position. "Fine then."
Gohan followed after the jounin, supported by Sarutobi, who looked rather concerned for the boy. They arrived at a room that when it was opened revealed that the interior was filled with a massive seal, inked out on the ground.
"Some kind of ritual?" Gohan asked.
"Sort of," Kakashi answered as he slit one of his fingers and began inking out characters onto the floor. "Now if you would take your gi top off and sit in the middle."
Gohan complied, shivering in the chill air of the dark room. He shuddered as Kakashi's bloody fingers trailed over his back and front, surrounding the seal on his neck with blood.
"All set. You ready?"
"Yeah."
"Well, here we go." The sound of leather on leather whispered through the air as Kakashi's hands folded together in a seal sequence. His hand slammed down on Gohan's shoulder, right over the seal. "Fuuja Houin!"
Gohan cried out as the area burned, the bloody letters on ground coming to life and snaking their way up his body. Just as quickly as it'd come, the pain was gone and Gohan craned his neck to see the three raindrops of his seal outlined in a squiggly pattern that he really had no words to describe.
"That's that," Kakashi sighed, dusting off his hands. "That secondary seal will keep the Cursed Mark in check. However, the Fuuja Houin draws its strength directly from you."
"What do you mean?"
A new loud voice cut in. "He means, Kid, that you have to have the emotional control and the willpower to not use the seal. If that ever lapses, for whatever reason, the seal will reactivate and you'll have a big problem on your hands."
The speaker was a tall man with long white hair, red marks under his eyes and a hirai-ate with the symbol for oil on it. He was dressed in a green gi with a red haori over it that had two yellow circles on each side. A scroll that reminded Gohan of Tenten's was tied to his back and he wore traditional clogs on his feet.
"Ah, Gohan-kun, meet Jiraiya, one of my students from many years ago. He's one of the Sannin."
"So you're the legendary Gohan I've heard so much about huh?" the man asked.
"You know me?"
"No, but I've heard of you. My apprentice won't shut up about you. The way he goes on, you'd think you two were brothers or something."
"Who's your…"
"GOHAN!"
He was tackled from out of nowhere by a flying orange blur.
"N-Naruto?"
"Hey you're back! And you're okay! Sakura-chan said that you were injured or something by that snake freak!"
"I'm fine," Gohan answered as he hurried to pull up his gi and cover the curse mark. Now the kid voiced a suspicion that he had in the back of his mind. "Am I disqualified from the Third Exam?" he asked.
"Not at all," the Sandaime answered. "You see, with Sasuke we had no choice because we didn't have the time to deal with the threat. The Third Exam isn't until next week and now that the mark has been dealt with, it should pose no threat. I see no reason to disqualify you. Unless you want to deprive Lee-san of a spar that he's been dreaming of for almost a month now?"
"Is he excited?" Gohan asked.
The Hokage and Kakashi traded looks. "I don't think excited is the right word for it," Kakashi answered, looking rather unnerved.
On the other side of the village, Lee stood on his hands, running for all he was worth. He'd been at it since before dawn and it was only the beginning of his fierce training schedule for that day.
"Only another week is left!" The boy shouted as he left a trail of rising dust behind him and dazed civilians looking at him like he'd gone nuts. "Soon Gohan-kun and I shall have a spar that the village will never forget!"
The people who heard him privately hoped that whoever this Gohan was, he would be tough enough to stand up to this crazy beanpole.
"Uh hey," Gohan said looking around. "Where's Sakura?"
The three elder men traded knowing looks.
"She's at one of the training grounds I believe," Sarutobi said. "You chose a very dedicated student. Even without you to guide her, she's never once stopped training."
"And what kind of sensei lets his student practice alone?" Gohan asked, standing and rushing out the door, the stagger in his gait quickly vanishing. "See you later!"
"Well he recovered fast," Jiraiya remarked.
"He's known for it," Kakashi replied, leaving as well. "If you get to know him, you'll see what I mean."
Gohan dashed through the streets of Konoha, homing in on Sakura's ki. She was in the training ground that Team Seven always like to use, the one where they had taken their bell test. The pink-haired kunoichi turned at the sound of his footsteps and didn't even let Gohan get one word out before she'd cried out in happiness and hugged him tightly.
"You're alright! You're alright," She whispered against his chest over and over again.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Kakashi took care of the seal, so you don't need to worry."
Sakura clung to him even tighter, tears soaking the black-haired teen's gi. "I'm sorry I was so useless," she sobbed. "I-I couldn't do anything to protect you!"
"What could you have done?" Gohan asked gently. "Orochimaru would've killed you and you know it. You did enough just getting me back to Konoha." Sakura finally released him and stepped back, wiping her eyes. "Thanks, Sakura."
"Really?"
"Yeah! How many kunoichi do you know would be able to get back here in a week with weights on and lugging my butt halfway across the country?"
The kunoichi giggled weakly. "Not many I guess."
"Right. Now come on. We've only go a week left before the exams start and I need to get you ready for Temari!" The two spent the rest of the week training, and before either knew it, at long last, it was time for the Third Exam to start.
Runs like hell
Don't worry! I marked Gohan for a reason and something good will come out of this, trust me. I'm not going to say too much about it, but if you think about the Cursed Seal's effects and Gohan's trouble with his transformations, you should be able to figure it out. And no, it's not the effect you're thinking of either. One of its lesser known ones. So anyway, I think that about does it. See you next time!
Runs even faster
Glossary
Fuuja Houin (Evil Sealing Method): The jutsu developed to seal away the Cursed Seal for as long as the user has the willpower to resist the temptation to use the Mark.