Disclaimer: Standard 'I don't own anything' stuff.

Jiraiya tumbled head over heels, rolling to his feet after only a few flips, but his feet were swept out from under him even before his weight had time to settle down. A firm hand grabbed the back of his gi and slammed him to the ground. Jiraiya's teeth rattled as he felt his back bounce off the wood that was underlying the Gamaguchi Shibari. Gohan's impassive face was above him, hand held flat, a blade that he was going to ram through Jiraiya's gut and probably kill him.

A dark shape swept Gohan off his feet and hurled him away just as Gohan had done to Jiraiya. The sage stood. "Thanks," he grunted, grudgingly, to his impromptu partner. Uchiha Itachi, missing-nin, butcher of an entire clan, currently wanted, and a member of the secretive Akatsuki, nodded, sparing Jiraiya only a quick glance before returning his Sharingan-enhanced gaze on Gohan, who was already on his feet and trotting forwards at a brisk pace, a precursor to an all-out charge. Gohan suddenly broke into a sprint and vanished.

Jiraiya spun on a hunch, trusting Itachi to watch his back should the old man's guess prove to be wrong. It wasn't. Gohan was behind Jiraiya, fist already halfway to the old man's face. Jiraiya avoided the blow. He knew that blocking would break his arms into tiny pieces. It would be like trying to stop a Doton jutsu. Low and inside Gohan's guard, Jiraiya unloaded, smashing a quick double tap into the boy's rock-hard midsection. The punches were chakra-enhanced though and Gohan folded, sightless eyes wide with what might've been surprise. Or it could've been an instinctive reaction, Jiraiya wasn't too sure. Jiraiya snapped the top of his wrist into the boy's jaw, rocking him backwards.

A foot pushed off his back. Itachi hung in the air, flinging a volley of shuriken at the unconscious boy. It was a point blank strike. You would be hard pressed to find a shinobi that could dodge in time, but Gohan wasn't a ninja and his movements weren't his own. He vanished. A hand braced itself on the sage's back. Jiraiya threw a glance of his shoulder. Gohan was on his back, holding his body aloft with one hand, both heels flashing for Itachi's chin. Jiraiya spun, taking away Gohan's support and weakening the blow. Itachi smashed into the top of Gamaguchi Shibari anyway, but the fleshy jutsu cushioned his impact, allowing the Uchiha traitor to drop soundlessly and gently to the floor.

Jiraiya used the momentum of his spin to launch another hammer blow punch at Gohan, but the blond-haired teen blocked it with an open palm, twisted the open hand and deflected Jiraiya's blow to the outside. The old man had no choice but to follow his momentum, bringing his face within easy striking distance of the warrior's deadly fists.

Pain erupted behind Jiraiya's eyes as a vicious palm-strike smashed into his nose. The sage felt blood splash over his face and for a second he had trouble breathing. His nose had been broken. Only then was the Sannin aware of lying on the squishy floor of the Toad Mouth Trap. He didn't even remember falling. Or maybe the term was flying since his back hurt like a son of a bitch. Itachi slammed into the wall next to Jiraiya only a few seconds later. Jiraiya pushed himself upright with a groan, gingerly feeling his shattered nose. He braced himself and gave the bridge a squeeze. Pain flared anew and Jiraiya cried out as he set the broken nose. It would have to do for now until he could either get one of the healer toads or see a human doctor, whichever came first. Of course, that assumed he and Itachi survived this little encounter.

"Have we gotten any good hits in on this kid?" Jiraiya asked.

Itachi shook his head a negative, but he could've just been trying to clear the daze he had to be in. "No, Jiraiya-sama," he murmured, staggering to his feet then helping the older shinobi up. "He's gotten much faster and he doesn't have to react like we do."

"What do you mean?"

"A human, in order to take an action, has to process the situation, devise a plan to deal with the situation, act on that plan, then analyze the results and begin to repeat the process. This can take a few seconds or a few milliseconds, depending on the person. Gohan-kun is unconscious. He's not thinking. The seal is doing the work for him. He has no reaction time. The seal is using what it has available to it to fight us."

"That's why we can't hit him?"

"Yes."

"So to beat him, we would have to interfere with the seal somehow, but that means we would have to devise a seal of constraint that is similar in purpose to the Fuuja Houin but at the same time, doesn't rely on the users willpower and it would have to be self-sustaining and have no ill effects." The sage shook his head but instantly regretted it when his mind filled with fog. "It would take weeks, maybe even months, of research, design, and analysis. We don't have that kind of time!"

"There is one alternative."

Jiraiya felt cold. He knew where Itachi was going. "Deprive the seal of resources," the Sannin murmured. "In other words, kill Gohan."

Itachi's silence was all the confirmation that the sage needed. "Unbelievable. I can't believe I have to take a teenager this seriously."

"You can't kill him!" Naruto protested from inside his cocoon of toad stomach. "You can't! There has to be some other way!"

"If you've got one, I'd love to hear it!" Jiraiya shouted. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a Sannin and the Uchiha here is one of the foremost geniuses that has ever been produced by Konoha! And we're utterly powerless!" He glared at Gohan. "This is the only solution, Naruto!"

"But!"

"No buts!" Naruto's teacher bellowed. "You'll listen to me for once! This is the way things have to be! We have no other alternative! If we don't stop him here, there's no telling what he'll do to the town…hell, there's no telling what he'll do to the world if we let him run amok!" A Rasengan flared to life in Jiraiya's palm. He shot a smoldering glare at Itachi. "Ready?"

Without so much as a word between them, the two shinobi shot at Gohan as fast as they could. Jiraiya couldn't see. He was moving too fast. If Gohan countered this, the Sannin would die. He wouldn't see the counter attack coming. From what Jiraiya understood from talking with Minato, Kakashi had had this very same problem when the scarecrow had first developed the Chidori. Itachi would have to be Jiraiya's eyes.

Jiraiya thrust blindly.

He felt the Rasengan connect. Gohan was dead. The Sannin knew it. Naruto would never forgive him for this, but it had to be done. No one had stood up to a Rasengan and lived to tell about it. Never. Just like no one saw the Hiraishin twice in one life.

The world came back.

And it was a violent shade of orange and yellow. Jiraiya blinked when he realized that it wasn't that the world was orange, it was that the Gamaguchi Shibari was filled to bursting with Shadow Clones. "What?"

The clones dispersed. They'd filled the entire hallway like sardines and there had been just as much room to spare too. What the Rasengan had hit wasn't Gohan. It was all the Naruto clones. Jiraiya rounded on his student. "What the hell was that for!?" He demanded. "You just cost us a chance!" As if to emphasize his point, Itachi flew past again, slamming into the wall for the…Jiraiya lost count of the times the two of them had smashed into the hard barrier. It was a wonder that the wall was still in one piece.

Naruto, free of his cocoon, stood panting before him, pale from the sudden exertion of chakra. "You…can't…kill him!" The blond reiterated. "I…won't…let you!"

"You won't let me!? You? You're not getting it! This is Son Gohan we're talking about here! He's your age and he's gotten away from Orochimaru with only minor injuries! He's taken on Suna's Bijuu and come out on top! If his stories are true, he's taken on enemies so powerful that we can only imagine what the battle must have been like! THIS IS A LIFE OR DEATH BATTLE, NARUTO, NOT SOME GENIN TEST!"

"I KNOW!" Naruto shouted in return. "I GET IT!" His voice dropped and became so soft that Jiraiya could barely hear him. "But he's the only one…"

"Only one what?" Jiraiya asked, fuming. He wanted to do nothing but slap some sense into his student.

"He's the only one who's never looked at me with that glare."

That stole the wind out of Jiraiya's sails. "What?"

"The villagers," Naruto answered, shoulders shaking, "always looked at me like I was shit on their sandals. Even their kids did it. Everyone at the Academy, the teachers, the students, everyone. I was all alone, all because of this thing!" He jabbed himself in the stomach to emphasize his point. Jiraiya knew that was where Minato had put the fox. "Gohan never did that. He never looked at me like I was some monster." The blond looked up, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Please, Jiraiya-sensei, don't take the one person who sees me for who I really am away."

"Your friends see you for you who are, Naruto," Jiraiya whispered.

"But I had to earn it! No one else has to earn acknowledgement like I had to! Gohan's the only one who's seen me for a real human, not for some monster or for some screw-up who's not worth their time!" He looked down at the floor again. A heavy and calloused hand on his head made him look up again.

Jiraiya had a look of understanding in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't know this meant that much to you. He's even closer to you than a brother, isn't he?"

Naruto wiped his nose on his jacket and nodded.

"I can see why," Jiraiya continued. "You've been treated like a screw up or a monster your whole life. No one wants that. No one wants to be treated like they're nothing. Gohan's the only one who's seen the real you. It's not that he's your friend or roommate. You're afraid to lose the one person who has treated you with kindness since the very beginning. You're afraid that if you lose Gohan now, you'll never find a person who will treat you that way again."

Naruto nodded again.

"Alright. I get it." Jiraiya ruffled Naruto's hair and glanced at Itachi, who was only now just beginning to climb back to his feet. "Itachi, I'm sorry, but I can't kill Gohan. It would deprive Naruto of something that he's never had before."

"I've been unconscious," Itachi answered. "What would that be?"

"Unconditional acknowledgement. Gohan's the only one who's acknowledged Naruto without Naruto having to earn it. He's the only one who's never had some sort of prior prejudice against my student here. That's one of the basic needs of any human. What right do we have to deprive Naruto of that?"

"If Gohan-kun kills us, many will lose their lives," Itachi answered. "You would sacrifice the lives of potentially thousands of people just to save this one life? That's irrational, Jiraiya-sama."

"You're right," Jiraiya replied. "but I'm not rational. I would sacrifice the world for one friend. So would Naruto, so would Gohan, and so would the Yondaime Hokage!" Jiraiya faced Gohan, who'd remained as still as a statue during the whole exchange. Jiraiya found that odd. He'd had plenty of chances to attack them while Naruto and Jiraiya were arguing. "I wonder."

"Wonder what?" Naruto asked.

"Gohan's had plenty of chances to attack us, but he hasn't. Why? Itachi!"

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama?"

"Where were you and that shark man standing when Gohan attacked the first time?"

"In this half of the hall."

"Where Gohan was?" Itachi nodded. Jiraiya grinned. "I think I might have found a way to stop him without killing him. Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"Make a Shadow Clone and sent it to attack Gohan."

"What!? I'm not going to do…"

"Naruto! Just do it. The clone probably won't even get close."

"Fine. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The Naruto appeared with a pop and charged at Gohan. The Super Saiyan was standing at the other end of the hall. The hallway was about twenty to thirty yards long, the two fighting parties standing at the extreme ends. When Naruto's Shadow Clone passed the halfway mark, Gohan's sightless eyes focused in on it. Ten feet after that, Gohan exploded into motion, appearing behind the Kage Bunshin and slashing one vicious knife strike through its neck, shearing the head from the shoulders. The clone popped and Gohan resumed his motionless state, but he was watching Jiraiya, Itachi, and Naruto now.

Jiraiya grinned, triumphantly. "Thought so."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Gohan's not in command of his body. The seal is. If Gohan were conscious, he'd see us and, if he acted anything like Sasuke does, he would attack us." Both Konoha shinobi missed Itachi mouth the words 'act like Sasuke', a puzzled look in his crimson eyes. Only seconds later, the puzzlement turned to shock, then anger.

"Orochimaru," Itachi snarled softly, keeping his voice low. "He marked Sasuke. I'll make him pay. No one messes with my little brother. No one."

Jiraiya went on, not seeing Itachi's reaction to the unintentional revelation. "The seal is in command of Gohan's body though. It can only sense people within a certain distance, about half the length of this hall, and it can only attack at a shorter distance than that."

"So as long as we stay outside the attack range, he'll only watch?" Naruto asked.

"Yep."

"But we have to attack sometime," Naruto pointed out.

"True. But now that we know that he'll only attack within a certain distance, it's easy to come up with a strategy. Itachi?"

"Yes. I will provide the distraction while Jiraiya-sama applies a preventative measure."

Jiraiya grinned. "You make it sound so easy. We're gonna need you too, Naruto."

"Me? Why?"

"You're the one man army. You can be either one or one thousand. We're going to need numbers as a distraction until I can do something about the Cursed Seal. Itachi will go with you."

At this, Naruto's eyes flashed. "You expect me to work together with him!?" Naruto bellowed at the top of his considerable lungs. "He tried to kill me!"

"We don't really have a choice now. If you want to save Gohan, you'll do this. Otherwise we go back to Plan A."

Naruto gulped and shot a glare at Itachi, who gave him an acknowledging nod. "Fine," he grumped sullenly. The blond cracked his neck. "Guess I'd better get going then."

"It would be good," Jiraiya agreed.

Naruto's fingers formed a cross. "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The entire end of the hall filled with Shadow Clones. Each of them pulled out two kunai, one for each hand, then the clones exploded into motion. Jiraiya blinked when he realized that the Kage Bunshin were using the yielding and springy surface of the stomach that lined the halls as a trampoline. Soon the air was filled with orange and blond pinballs. Itachi was among them, a blank and red wraith in a riot of color.

Jiraiya pulled out a notebook and not the one he kept observation for Icha Icha on. This one was a log he'd begun keeping after he'd learned Orochimaru was beyond help. It was a log of everything that Jiraiya knew about the Snake Sannin. Among those observations was information on the Curse Seal. It was secondhand information and the accuracy was most certainly questionable, but it was observations from Kakashi and that man rarely missed a step.

The Sannin ducked as a Naruto flew over his head and smashed into the wall, popping like an overfilled balloon. His eyes were dark blurs as he skimmed his notes. After he finished, he began to go over what he knew of the Fuuja Houin and its complexities. Those two pieces of information in hand, Jiraiya scrawled out the rough outline of a seal on the seal paper he kept in an inner pocket of his gi.

The formula was rough and there was a high probability that it would fail the second it was applied, but it was better than nothing. Naruto's head slammed into Jiraiya's foot. The sage looked down and saw the blond was wincing in pain.

"Hurts doesn't it?"

"Ouch," Naruto answered.

Itachi was the only one left engaging Gohan. The two were nothing but blurs, even to Jiraiya's experienced eyes. Of the blurs he could see, it didn't look like the Uchiha was holding his own. Jiraiya shook his head. Gohan was frightening, he really was. If this was what he would be like if and when that second seal of his was released, Orochimaru would do well to run for the hills.

Jiraiya tore off the seal paper and took a deep breath. "Naruto, have the energy for one more?"

Naruto was on his feet in a blink. "Who do you think you're talking too, Ero-sennin!? Of course I've got the energy."

The pervert chuckled. "No doubt there, I guess. Alright do it. I have to get close enough to use this." He held up the paper with the seal on it. The squiggly designs looked oddly like the Fuuja Houin, but at the same time, there was a secondary seal inside the small circle of the main seal.

"Here we go! Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The hall was again filled with bouncing orange blurs. This time, Jiraiya was among them, using the same method to try and mix in with the clones. Gohan was a blur of motion. Smoke was filling the air around him as his fist and feet flashed here and there, catching Narutos and Itachi in the gut, head, chin, chest, and thighs. Itachi was flung clear many times, but the Uchiha was always in the fray again only seconds after getting thrown away. Narutos were popping left right and center, but Jiraiya just kept slipping from the shadow of one clone to the next, waiting for his opportunity.

It came by freak coincidence, as often happened in battle. Two Naruto clones went for Gohan's feet while Itachi came in from Gohan's good side. The two clones were destroyed in seconds, but Itachi managed to hold on for a second or two. He was flung clear as well, but it was enough. Jiraiya dropped down behind Gohan, appearing out of the shadow of one of the Kage Bunshin.

Gohan spun and elbowed the Sannin in the jaw. Stars exploded in the Sannin's face as he felt his jaw break. At least he thought it broke. Maybe it was only dislocated. It still hurt like a son of a bitch though. A yelp of pain came from Naruto and the blond genin slammed into Jiraiya's chest, the two of them smashing to the ground in a heap.

All three were on their feet in seconds, ready for the saiyan boy to rush them, but he was frozen stock-still. He held as still as marble for a few seconds, then the boy's limbs began to shake and quake, like he was having a seizure. The raindrops of the Curse Seal turned white and began to crackle like electricity as Gohan's face twisted in mute surprise. His sightless white eyes were wide and his mouth was open in a silent scream, white arcs of jagged, electric-like energy flashing over the dark mars on his skin.

Jiraiya's seal paper was firmly fixed over Gohan's seal on his neck. Light began to build up, slowly, like a volcano rumbling just before it blew. The kanji for the number two appeared on his chest, the new seal pulsing angrily, like a heartbeat. It beat faster and faster before it gave a thump that was like thunder without sound, an impact with no noise, and a white shockwave blew everyone off their feet. The Gamaguchi Shibari was blown apart, along with the top floor of the hotel the trio was staying in. Thankfully, Jiraiya had had the presence of mind to use the jutsu to move everyone to the lower floors with the technique before the fight had gotten going in earnest.

Thick concealing dust filled the air along with raining wood chips and splinters and a shingle or three. When the dust cleared, Gohan, devoid of any Curse Seal markings, lay on the shattered floor of the ruined hall. A pile of debris moved and shifted. Jiraiya sat up with a groan, rubbing his forehead. He'd been clocked in the head by a doorknob that had been blown free. It had hit hard enough to knock his hirai-ate off. He found the protective piece of metal on the floor beside him. He tied it to its place and stood. The top of the motel looked like a bomb had gone off. There was nothing but a pile of shattered timber and saw dust left of what had been the top floor of a building only a few seconds ago.

Naruto sat up with a groan. He was scratched and battered, just like Jiraiya was, but he had blood in his blond hair, probably from a grazing blow from a splinter or something similar. The teen touched his bloody hair, blinked bewilderedly at his crimson fingers then wobbled upright. He groaned then looked around once, then again, more alertly.

"Hey! Where's Itachi!?"

"Gone," Jiraiya answered, standing up and brushing himself off. He gestured to where Kisame should have been laying, still unconscious. "And he took his partner with him."

"Do you think they'll come back?"

"Probably, but not for a while, maybe even a few years. They'll go lick their wounds, report to this Leader that the shark was blathering about, then come back when they have a surefire plan to beat me and Gohan."

"They want the fox," Naruto muttered, one hand clenching over his stomach.

"They won't get it," Jiraiya said firmly. "I won't let them. And you won't either, right?"

"You better believe it!" Naruto crowed. "If they show their cloaked asses again, I'll beat them all the way to Suna and back!"

"Suna?" Jiraiya laughed. "You gonna get that raccoon kid to help out too?"

"Gaara? Sure why not!"

The two of them laughed and laughed. It was laughter of relief. They were alive, the Kyuubi hadn't fallen into the wrong hands, and the Akatsuki were gone. Yes, the day was looking quite bright indeed.

Gohan stirred and opened his eyes. He sat up and hissed in pain as his neck seared. He yelped and clapped a hand to the black seal on his neck. It was burning beneath his fingers, pulsing angrily, like a thumb that had been smashed. Each pulse sent a jolt of pain through Gohan and made his head throb. He felt nauseous.

The memories of Tsukuyomi came flooding back to him and his stomach lurched. Gohan rolled over onto his front and promptly emptied the contents of his stomach onto the floor. When he'd finished, he didn't move. He wasn't reliving Tsukuyomi anymore, but he was reliving that fateful day, that day his father died.

He'd thought he'd buried the feelings. He thought he had gotten over Goku's death. Gohan thought he had finally moved on.

Tsukuyomi had brought back all of Gohan's guilty feelings which now seemed a thousand times worse after just reliving the incident. Tears, unbidden, but hot on his cheeks, fell from his eyes, dripping onto the floor. "Dad," Gohan whispered, good hand curling into a fist, pushing depressions into the floor. "Dad, I'm so sorry."

The grief passed, but Gohan remained jumpy, expecting to see Itachi jump from a shadow. The Uchiha had been right. The one thing that Gohan feared more than any other was the loss of his friends. The crushing blow to his psyche had been more than a physical defeat to the young man. It had been an eye-opener. Gohan now knew that there were people here, in this world, that were more powerful than he. Orochimaru was powerful, but Gohan felt that he could match the snake if only he had his second level back. Itachi was beyond that, if not in power, then certainly in intellect.

He wasn't invincible.

He wasn't a great warrior.

Gohan had felt that way here. He'd felt on top of the world. He'd felt like there were few who could challenge him, much less actually surpass him. How wrong he'd been. He'd been shown who he really was again, shown, in a brutal manner, what he'd known ever since Goku had died protecting the world from Cell. He was just an arrogant little kid, pretending to be a powerful warrior. Gohan had never managed to save anyone.

Piccolo had been killed by Nappa, all those years ago, all because Gohan had frozen. That might not have even happened had Gohan not been so scared in the first place. Piccolo had put together a plan that might have defeated the bald saiyan, but Gohan had been so paralyzed by fear that he hadn't followed through with his part of that plan.

Later, on Namek, Krillin and Gohan had both been beaten to the point of death multiple times by the Ginyu Force, that pink guy with the spiky head, the pretty boy who turned into a monster, and then by Frieza himself. It was during one of those battles that Krillin had been impaled. Maybe if Gohan hadn't been so slow on the uptake, he could've prevented it somehow.

Then there was this most recent time. Cell. The Cell Games. Gohan had had Cell on the ropes. The android had been powerless to stop the enraged demi-saiyan has he'd blitzed the mechanical menace with blows and ki attacks that, at one point, had left only half an android in the sky. Then Gohan had gotten arrogant and, no matter how many times his friends told him that it wasn't his fault, Goku had been forced to die a vain death in an attempt to stop Cell. It had failed and only a single one hundred and ten percent effort by Gohan had saved them.

Bojack had been much of the same. Gohan had been so afraid to tap his latent power that it had taken Goku breaking the laws of Other World to save him. It was only with his father's encouragement that had given Gohan the confidence to give in and utterly destroy the menace.

Orochimaru. He hadn't been able to stand up to the monster. All he'd been able to do was delay the Sannin, slow him down, prevent him from pursuing Sakura and killing her and in the end, Gohan himself had been marked by the snake's Cursed Seal of Heaven. He'd been powerless against Haku. Outclassed by the quiet boy's speed, Gohan had attempted transformation and, in the end, he'd been saved by Sasuke and Naruto and that had almost cost the two boys their lives.

Now with Itachi, Gohan had been destroyed, utterly defeated, in three seconds, just by looking the Uchiha in the eye. How was he supposed to beat that? Even if he couldn't react to Gohan's speed, Itachi's Sharingan allowed him to see Gohan, no matter how fast the saiyan was moving. He could try to avoid Itachi's gaze all he wanted, but the risk was too high. Eventually, Gohan would look Itachi in the eye and it would be over again. He didn't even know how he and Naruto had gotten out of this most recent predicament, but he had a feeling that Naruto's unpredictability and Jiraiya's power had had something to do with it.

"Damn, Gohan swore softly. He was just a failure, a failure that had ridden the coattails of luck and more powerful and skilled men. The teen rose to his knees and looked at his quaking fist and body. They were useless to him. Useless. He didn't have his father's determination and skill. He didn't have Piccolo's shrewd mind. He didn't have Vegeta's arrogance that allowed the Prince of Saiyans to never accept defeat. He didn't have Jiraiya's power nor did he have Sasuke's natural talent. He didn't have Naruto's unpredictability.

What did he have? Nothing, that's what. Just power that he had only the faintest of ideas of how to control and half of it was locked away from him now. He didn't even have complete control of his body. All of it came down to Gohan's inadequacy as warrior. He was only going to be a detriment to Naruto and Jiraiya in their search for Tsunade. He should just go back to Konoha and go through with his rehab. Maybe he could get to the point where he could protect his friends, all the time, every time.

Yeah, that sounded good. He would go back to Konoha and train. Train until his body turned to dust. Only then would he go with his friends, when he could protect them all without fail. He stood, head throbbing, and stumbled before regaining his balance and fighting the throbbing in his head. Gohan had to find Jiraiya so he could let him know where he was going.

When he emerged from the hotel, Gohan was surprised to find that he wasn't in the same tow that he remembered. Instead of a box canyon, the town they were in abutted a rock escarpment with stairs leading up to the rim. Rising above the lip of rock were the leafy boughs of trees. The town itself was larger than the last one, having more space to spread out. Gohan stumbled limply through town, taking in everything, but processing nothing. He saw more than one person look at him funnily because, even if he didn't see it, Gohan's eyes were dark and haunted from the memories that he'd been reliving before waking up and delved deeper into just after waking. He bumped into a man in a white suit and fell onto his rear. The man turned around, a cigar in his mouth, which was curled down into a frown. Gohan didn't miss the tanto poking out sideways across the man's bandaged stomach.

'Gangster' Gohan thought numbly.

"Watch where you're going brat!" The man bellowed, shoving Gohan as he stood upright again. Gohan tumbled to the ground again. When he stood, he knew that he should've been angry for being shoved around like that, but for some reason, Gohan felt nothing. He felt numb, actually, like a flame that wasn't anything more than spent embers. It had the potential to be powerful, but it just didn't have the fuel, or in this case, will, to flame up and devour what angered it. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" He made to shove Gohan again and this time Gohan's limbs responded, independent of his will.

His arm snapped up, whipped around in a counterclockwise circle, knocking the incoming blow over his shoulder while his foot swept in and took out the gangster's leg that bore all his weight. The man went down before he knew what hit him.

Gohan started walking away even before the hapless man had hit the ground.

The man picked himself back up, red-faced, baring and gnashing his teeth as he pulled the knife from its place at his stomach. With a yell, he threw the knife at Gohan's retreating back. It spun end over end, the sun glinting off the wavy line that marked the edge of the weapon. The target boy spun, inhumanly fast, when the blade was scant inches from him. He caught the knife effortlessly between index and middle fingers. The gangster's jaw dropped. With a deft flick, and nary a glance at his assailant, Gohan flung the knife at the man's feet, where it burrowed into the ground, vanishing with a small thud and a tremor.

The man's face blanched and the cigar tumbled from a slack jaw. He glanced from the hole that marked the blade's entry into the earth to Gohan, whose back had already vanished into the crush of the crowd.

Well, there we are. Hope the fight was good. I wasn't quite satisfied with it, but I figured it was better to go with it than keep tinkering with it and potentially make it worse. Besides, I was going more towards getting inside Naruto's head when faced with the potential loss of a person who's the only person to acknowledge Naruto as a person, not a demon or a screw up, from the very beginning. I also wanted to get in Gohan's head after he wakes up from Tsukuyomi. Don't forget that Gohan blames himself for his father's death, which is most certainly a traumatic thought, and he's also been tortured for what amounts to three days, and has had the fact that he failed to protect both Naruto and his dad thrown in his face. That would destroy the confidence of anyone, I would think. Don't worry though, he won't be emo for very long...at least I don't think it will be very long. So that's that. Until next time!

P.S. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!