The ninja smirked down at Gohan and Hinata from atop his perch on the roof of the building they were standing next to, eliciting a growl of annoyance from the former. There was a puff of smoke and moments later the ninja was standing on gound level a few feet away from Gohan and Hinata. He still had that cocky smirk on his face and it was beginning to get on Gohan's nerves. He just wanted to walk Hinata home and then maybe get in some meditation or some training by himself, but it seemed that he'd have to suffer through another interruption. The man was rather casual in his appearance, having short brown hair, brown eyes and standing at only about five seven in height. Gohan eyed him warily and tensed, waiting for some kind of attack towards himself or Hinata. The strange ninja was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Hello Son Gohan, I see you've gotten rid of some riffraff." Gohan frowned at the use of his name. This guy knew him and yet he'd never met him before that he could remember. The shinobi caught sight of the confused look on Gohan's face and chuckled darkly.
"Where are my manners? I am Yakushi Kabuto." He made a slight bow, but it left his small audience wondering if he was sincere or not. "You are probably wondering how I know you, are you not?" Gohan narrowed his eyes and nodded, waiting for an explanation.
"Well, let's just say that I'm a messenger and my master has done some research on you. You see, my master was originally very upset that you interfered with the abduction of Naruto-kun until he learned of your fight with Uchiha Itachi. He has grown quite...interested in you Son Gohan, and would like to help you on your quest for power." Gohan didn't look very trusting at the moment, so Kabuto waited for him to ask the question that was inevitably going to be asked.
"Why should I trust a guy that first of all wants someone to be kidnapped, and then won't even come and speak with me himself? Especially since his messenger has to pose as a leaf nin to even be able to get at me, and even goes so far as to have me attacked?" Kabuto raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"So you say I'm impersonating a shinobi are you? And even saying that I'm somehow connected with your previous assailants? Those are some pretty strong accusations."
"Yeah sure you wear a leaf headband, but if you were really an ally you would've either given us backup or gone to get help. My guess is that your master is nowhere near this village and that those guys laying on the ground are your subordinates." Kabuto gave Gohan a cold smirk and shrugged.
"Well, it seems you've seen right through this clever little setup. That's impressive for a non-shinobi. You must be very intelligent." There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared there was a ninja of the same height and color of eyes, but with silver colored hair held back in a short ponytail and a pair of wire framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. Instead of a leaf headband, he now sported one that had the symbol of a musical note inscribed in it, just like the ninjas that had attacked before.
"You are correct in your assumptions Son Gohan. I must assure you though, that my master would rather have been to this meeting himself, but is currently preoccupied with trying to find some help with a rather...difficult ailment he has recently suffered." He was of course, referring to Orochimaru's search for the legendary sannin and medic nin Tsunade for the healing of his arms from the third Hokage's final attack. Gohan didn't need to know this however, and Kabuto wasn't currently in the mood to divulge information that wasn't necessary, most especially information that would make the young man less likely to take up his master's offer. Kabuto wasn't ready for the declaration that Gohan made next, and was thus thrown off guard.
"If that symbol on your headband is anything to go by, I'd say you're from the Sound Village. I've been told that part of the reason for the destruction spread around this village is because of your village so again I ask, why should I trust you?" Kabuto nearly winced when he heard this. Sure, he should've known that Gohan would eventually find that out, but he'd been hoping that time hadn't come yet. This could make things much more difficult.
"I can assure you Gohan-kun, that the grudge my village holds against Konoha does not extend to you." Gohan narrowed his eyes in irritation at the title attached to his name, but did not say anything.
"And how can I trust that you're telling the truth?"
"There's nothing that I can say or do to convince you of that. You'll just have to decide for yourself. I would ask one thing of you though. Please at least allow my master to meet you once he is healed. You will not have to search him out, he will find you. Will you at least do that much?" Gohan looked hesitant, but nodded after a moment.
"Good. There is one more thing though." Gohan didn't like the tone in his voice, and tensed when he spoke.
"And what's that?" Kabuto took on a malicious smirk that unnerved Gohan with its ferocity.
"I'm going to test your abilities and make sure you're worthy of my master's time." Before Gohan could respond Kabuto rushed at him with surprising speed and forced Gohan to jump to the side to avoid a collision. He quickly realized that Kabuto did not stop and continued towards Hinata, who twirled to the side when he nearly stabbed her with a kunai. Gohan cursed inwardly and disappeared and reappeared behind Kabuto, who unexpectedly whirled around and sliced at Gohan's face. Gohan turned his face with the blade, but the kunai still left a nasty cut along his right cheek. Gohan ignored the pain and forcefully grabbed the wrist with the kunai and pushed on a pressure point, forcing Kabuto to drop the kunai and leaving him vulnerable to attack, or at least it seemed that way. Gohan smashed the heel of his palm into Kabuto's face, but where Kabuto had been there was now a cloud of smoke and the unconscious body of one of the other sound nin once again falling to the ground.
'What kind of technique was that? I know I hit him! And how did he get that body over here so fast?' Hinata abruptly reminded Gohan that he was in the middle of a battle.
"Gohan-kun!" Gohan's eyes widened when he saw that Kabuto had taken advantage of his distraction and once again rushed towards him, but this time he was forced to jump back when Hinata threw a kunai into his path from off to the side. Gohan took a running start and leaped into the air, coming back down on Kabuto with a foot extended. Kabuto grabbed his foot and used his momentum to throw him into a spin, releasing him directly into Hinata and sending them both flying back several feet. They both recovered quickly and jumped to opposite sides, effectively flanking Kabuto. He took a moment to look at both of his opponents before he flattened both palms and began gathering chakra into blades around them. Hinata sensed the gathering chakra and activated her byakugan when no immediate attack was made. Before she could warn Gohan about what Kabuto had done, he was already swining at Gohan and barely missing.
Gohan ducked under a swing and dropped to his hands in an attempt to land a kick to Kabuto's gut, but Kabuto jumped back and was right back in Gohan's face the moment he stood back up. Gohan desperately made sure not to let Kabuto's hands come anywhere near him, having sensed a bit of energy surrounding them and having no clue as to what he was planning to do with it. He found out the hard way when his dodge wasn't quite wide enough and his shoulder suddenly felt like it was being torn up from the inside. His eyes widened as he realized what the energy was for and put more of his energy into dodging, hoping to find an opening large enough to let him just take Kabuto out with one hit. Unfortunately for him Kabuto was much better than that and didn't let up his assault for a second and forcing him to constantly be on the offensive.
Hinata began to worry when Gohan winced at the chakra running through his shoulder and decided that it was time to lend some assistance, even if all she could do was distract Kabuto long enough for Gohan to knock him out or at least incapacitate him in some form. She watched and waited until Gohan dodged an extra forceful attack and immediately got a running start, intending on closing a tenketsu in either one of his arms or shoulders to cut his attack down. This plan however counted on Kabuto acting towards her the same way that the majority of people around her did, and that was completely forgetting she was there. She hadn't counted on him waiting for just such an attack and ducking to the side as her fingers came within inches of hitting him. Realizing what was about to happen, Hinata tried to withdraw the chakra she'd already put into the blow but was too late and caught Gohan squarely in the chest, mere centimeters from his heart. Her eyes widened in horror at the realization of what she'd done and she backed away from Gohan when he grunted from the pain.
"G...Gohan-kun!" He waved a hand dismissively.
"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'm fine. You actually missed hitting anything vital with that attack, thankfully."
"If you have time to talk, then you should be preparing for my next attack." Gohan roughly shoved Hinata out of the way when Kabuto came charging at them and ducked down in an attempt to catch his opponent in his unprotected gut. Gohan realized too late that this was not the real Kabuto as his fist caught only thin air and Kabuto disappeared as though he'd never existed. Gohan sensed him coming from behind and whirled around to attack only to end up gripping his head in both hands and falling to his knees as a piercing agony invaded his mind and the world around him began spinning. Hinata was moving before she even realized it and landed a punch directly to an unsuspecting Kabuto's jaw, causing him to lose control of his momentum and trip over Gohan, effectively causing him to kiss the dirt. He scowled as he stood up and glared at Hinata.
"I don't know why you insist on interfering Hinata-chan. My only intention is to fight Gohan and if you continue to get in my way I can't promise that I won't kill you." Hinata swallowed hard but met Kabuto's glare with defiance.
"I...I won't let you hurt G...Gohan-kun! He can't even fight back!" Kabuto looked down at Gohan and saw that he was writhing in pain on the ground.
"Hmmm...it looks like he's having some sort of mental breakdown. Perhaps it's a side effect of that technique Itachi used on him?"
Gohan slowly opened his eyes and briefly wondered if he'd gone blind. 'Where am I?' He cried out as a flash of white hot pain flared through his head and he saw an image of Piccolo killing his uncle Radditz and his dad. The image quickly faded away and was replaced by an unfamiliar memory in which a younger Sasuke asked him if he'd help him practice his shuriken throwing, which he declined saying that he was busy and that he should ask father. Sasuke complained a bit about how he treated him like he was a bother so he called him over and flicked him on the forehead and told him maybe next time. This memory faded even faster than the last one and Gohan saw Piccolo sacrificing himself to save him from Nappa's attack. This memory faded even faster and was replaced with yet another unfamiliar memory. This time he was standing in what appeared to be the living room of someone's house. He looked down and saw two bloodied corpses lying on the ground and a bloody katana that he held in his hand. The door at the far end of the room opened and in stepped a terrified Sasuke who didn't take long to realize what had happened and tried to attack only to be beaten back viciously. Gohan groaned and suddenly felt like losing the ramen he'd eaten not all that long ago.
"Stop it! Why am I seeing these things? I don't want to see any more!" Then, it was as though a dam broke as horrible memories both familiar and alien flooded Gohan's mind. He gripped his head with both hands once again in a vain attempt to make the horrible memories go away, which only seemed to encourage them and seemingly more flew through his head at the speed of light. Tears streamed out of his eyes and he dug his nails into his head, causing blood to trickle down his fingers and drip to the ground. "Please stop! I can't..." Something within Gohan snapped and his power began flowing out of him in uncontrollable torrents and lashing out at anything around him.
Hinata bcame worried when Gohan's head started bleeding and he began frantically moaning and mumbling for something to stop and she was about to try and comfort him when a violent aura of power exploded into being around him, blowing both Hinata and Kabuto back into the building on the opposite side of the alley. Kabuto made to leave but bolts of energy began striking out from Gohan's aura, forcing him and Hinata to dodge to avoid being struck.
Inside Gohan's mind things had only gotten worse. Sure the memories had stopped but now everything had gone black with only a silhouette visible in the darkness. Gohan's voice cracked with raw emotion as he called out to the stranger, hoping that whoever it was could tell him what was going on. The figure stepped forward and Gohan's face lit up in excitement.
"Dad, it's you!" Goku had been smiling warmly until Gohan called out to him. As he caught sight of Gohan his face twisted into a sneer of pure rage.
"You!" Gohan was taken aback by the tone in his voice but said nothing. Goku strode forward and roughly grabbed Gohan by the neck, slamming him into an invisible wall. "You killed me you worthless little vermin! Because of you I'll never be with your mother again or get to see your little brother!" The words stung and Gohan could feel tears beginning to form as Goku began applying pressure to his throat. He couldn't bring himself to respond, and didn't notice that Goku had mentioned his second son, whom he'd never seen or heard of before. "You're no better than Cell! I'm ashamed to call you my son." Gohan started to speak but Goku just backhanded him, leaving a red mark on his cheek. He dropped Gohan to the ground and turned his back on him. "I hate you and I never want to see your face again you monster. You're no better than Cell or Frieza."
"Wait Dad! Please, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to end like that!" Gohan reached out and grabbed onto his father's pant leg, causing him to look down at him. He growled and spat in Gohan's face before yanking his leg out of his grip and walking away, fading into the darkness. Gohan could no longer control his emotions and tears came flooding out of his eyes as he began sobbing uncontrollably. He could hear footsteps approaching from the same direction that his father had left in and thought he'd come back to kill him, but the figure that stepped out of the shadows turned out to be Piccolo instead. He looked down at Gohan, disappointment and disgust evident on his face. He only spoke one sentence before leaving, but that one sentence was more than enough.
"I expected great things of you Gohan, and you let me down." Piccolo spun around and walked away, his cape flowing in a nonexistent breeze. Gohan curled up into a ball and cried into himself when he heard two figures land in front of him. He looked up to see two very familiar and unpleasant individuals staring him down. The shorter, lizard-like one chuckled and the taller grasshopper-like one merely smirked smugly. The shorter one reached out with his tail and wrapped it around Gohan's waist, lifting him up to eye level. Gohan couldn't look him in the eyes.
"Please, just leave me alone or kill me." He muttered weakly, not even having the presence of mind to realize that he was facing two of his dead foes. Frieza laughed mockingly before he spoke.
"Come on kid, we're just trying to have some fun here. Besides, I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. You have after all, helped get rid of the one thing that I never could. Ah, watching a son betray his own father is delicious, especially if it's a Saiya-jin. He moved Gohan so that he was now eye level with Cell.
"And I wanted to thank you Gohan. If it weren't for you I'd never have been able to kill the great Goku. Maybe you and I should be partners." Frieza and Cell both laughed at the joke and Frieza smashed Gohan into the ground before both disappeared from sight, leaving a broken and battered Gohan in their wake.
"Stand up Gohan." Gohan looked up to see his mother, Krillin, Yamcha and Tien standing in front of him. He stood up, seeing the smiling face of his mother quickly turn into a scowl. "That's right, stand up and face your judgement." Gohan shook his head and took a step back, wishing they would just go away and leave him to wallow in his sorrow alone. They all took a step forward, making it clear that he wouldn't be getting away. His mother continued speaking. "How could you? How could you take away my husband, your brother's father? He'll never get to know what a great man Goku was because you let him die! I knew you'd end up doing something like this if your father let you fight but nobody wanted to listen to me. Now it's too late." She pointed an accusing finger at him as bitter tears flooded her eyes. "You're nothing but a monster! A wretched little monster that should just die!" Krillin, Yamcha and Tien stepped forward and spoke in unison.
"He was our best friend, and look at what you did to him! It should've been you that Cell killed." They all disappeared into the darkness and Gohan collapsed to the ground and curled into a fetal position, shuddering violently as he wept. It wasn't until what felt like several minutes later that Gohan felt a gentle hand helping him stand. He tried to get a look at the person, but could only make out a shadow, a darker shade of black amongst an endless void. The being's voice was soft, yet at the same time something seemed...off about it.
"Why are you crying Gohan?" He tried to look into the man's eyes, but could not see well enough within the darkness. He lowered his head in shame and grief as he spoke.
"Because I"m alone. Everybody hates me for something I've done and now I have nobody left that cares about me." The figure looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I can take your pain away." Gohan looked doubtful, and the figure sensed this. "I can give you power, power that they will respect. All you have to do is reach out and touch me. Just do this and all of your pain will disappear." Gohan tentatively reached a hand out, but just before he was about to touch it he stopped and pulled away, shaking his head.
"I can't. Your power, it's too destructive. I can feel it radiating off of you." The figure simply nodded and was gone.
Gohan suddenly opened his eyes and found himself face first in the dirt. He sluggishly looked around and saw several small craters and scorch marks on the ground as well as some damage to the buildings on either side of him. He tried to stand up but found that he didn't have the energy to and simply collapsed back to the ground. A small sob escaped his throat as he remembered all that he had seen and flinched when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. There was a girlish squeak from behind him and he turned his head to see Hinata standing over him, watching him with concern in her eyes.
"Ano, g...gomen Gohan-k...kun." He smiled reassuringly at her, mentally berating himself for making her think she'd upset him.
"It's okay Hinata-chan. I just had...a very bad experience and it's got me very weak and shaken up." He looked around. "Where'd that Kabuto guy go?"
"H...he was chased away by Anbu. Since he is a member of Otogakure he is an enemy shinobi." Gohan nodded but winced as the pain from his head wounds hit him full force. He brought a hand up to touch one of the spots that hurt and saw that his fingers now had fresh blood on them. He tried again to stand, but still failed so Hinata offered him a hand, which he took. She helped him up and let him lean on her shoulder. "I'll take you to the Hyuuga compound. Hoperully Otou-san will allow you to rest there." Gohan's eyes narrowed as he remembered both of his previous encounters with Hiashi.
"I appreciate the offer Hinata, but your father doesn't like me. While I was in that meeting he tried to turn the council against me for helping Naruto. Thankfully Kakashi-san and Iruka-sensei were there to speak on my behalf." Hinata sighed sadly at the way her father had treated Gohan.
"G...gomen Gohan-kun. My father..." Gohan didn't allow her to finish her sentence, having his own rather uncharacteristic description to add.
"Is a complete ass that needs to be taught a lesson. I swear if I see him treat you like he did the other day I'm gonna give him a thrashing he'll never forget, Hyuuga head or not." Hinata blushed at the thought of Gohan caring that much about how she was treated.
"A...arigatou, Gohan-kun." At that very moment, a figure blurred into existence in front of them, revealing itself to be an anbu wearing a cat mask. When the anbu spoke it became apparent that it was a female.
"My apologies Gohan-san, Hinata-san. I tried to apprehend Kabuto with the help of a few other anbu, but we were unable to catch him before he left the village. He didn't hurt you too badly did he?" Both Gohan and Hinata shook their heads.
"What about you, Gohan-san? You appear to be wounded and severely weakened." Gohan just shook his head again.
"I'm fine, I'll just need to get some rest and I should be back to normal by tomorrow." The anbu nodded before stepping forward and picking him up. Gohan gave Hinata an embarrassed smile at having to be picked up. "Heh, sorry I couldn't walk you all the way home Hinata-chan. I'll have to try again some other time." Hinata blushed and nodded. Neither had time to say anything else before the anbu disappeared from the area. Hinata couldn't help but be concerned for Gohan's well being after his earlier incident, and stared worriedly at the space he'd occupied only a moment ago.
"Please be okay, Gohan-kun."
By the time Gohan and the anbu had made it to Iruka's house, Gohan felt that he'd regained enough energy to walk on his own and thanked the anbu for her help. She simply nodded her response and disappeared into the shadows. He took a few steps towards the house before his eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of his head from the shock and he fell to one knee, once again grasping his head.
"This isn't real, this is just an illusion." He repeated this to himself over and over again but when he looked up, Iruka's house was on fire. He struggled to his feet as he noticed the cause of the destruction. The figure turned around and Gohan let out a horrified gasp as the face he was met with was a mirror image of his own. The other Gohan grinned at him, revealing teeth stained crimson with the blood of innocents. Gohan shuddered and took a step back, but turned around when he felt a wave of heat hit his back.
Gohan shuddered and once again fell to his knees as he retched and gave up the contents of his stomach. The sight before him was so horrible he couldn't stand to look at it and had to force himself to close his eyes. He counted to ten and slowly opened them, hoping the image would be gone. What he saw before him was one of the most gruesome massacres he'd ever seen, even surpassing what he'd witnessed of Frieza's handiwork on the planet Namek. The entire village was consumed with fire, with black smoke billowing up into the sky and obscuring an already cloudy sky. Even that wasn't the worst of it though. It was the bodies that sickened Gohan the most. They were everywhere and in many different forms of death. Some were laying face down in the dirt, their throats torn open, most likely by the other Gohan's blood stained teeth. Others were in different stages of dismemberment, missing an arm here, a leg there and even a couple that no longer had anything attached save for their heads, leaving their faces twisted open in eternal grimaces of agony. He felt hot breath on his neck when a voice whispered into his ear.
"This is your destiny Gohan. Learn it, love it, embrace it. You have been born with nearly limitless potential, and it is high time that you began tapping into that potential." Gohan flinched away from the voice and spun into a kick, hoping to catch the creature that wasn't him off guard. The creature merely smirked and ducked under the kick, allowing it to pass over its head. Gohan growled and jumped back, attempting to power up as he did so. For a split second Gohan felt that something was off and his aura flickered into being around him for several seconds and then suddenly snapped out of existence, leaving Gohan to drop to his hands and knees and gasping for breath.
"What's...wrong...with me?" The fake Gohan lifted used his foot to lift Gohan's chin up so that they were looking each other in the eyes.
"What's wrong you ask? What's wrong with you is the fact that you let your so called morals dictate the way you act. What's wrong is you constantly keeping me locked away in your mind." He smirked slightly before continuing. "However, thanks to that Itachi guy your mind is coming unraveled at the seams and your defenses are weakening. It won't be too long before you realize you need me and come crawling to me for help, at which time I'll gladly help and you'll become a being the likes of which this universe has never seen before." Gohan's eyes widened as he realized who, or rather, what he was talking to.
"You're...my saiya-jin half aren't you?" He received a mocking thumbs up as his answer.
"That's right. I'm the half that only ever gets brief moments of influence over you. I'm the half that gives you your power. It is only a matter of time before you become me, and then this world shall bow at our feet! Just look at this beauty, this work of art! Once you've accepted me you'll be able to spread this wonderful art to every corner of the universe!" Gohan paled considerably at the thought of causing so much death.
"You're wrong! I'll never become you! I'll never accept you!" Saiya-jin Gohan licked his lips in anticipation and grinned a toothy grin that accentuated his canines, giving him the look of a vicious predator.
"That's what you're saying now Gohan, but like I said before, this is your destiny. Now, I've become bored of this meaningless conversation so it's time for you to sleep." Gohan was about to protest but before he even realized what was going on he'd fallen to the ground and entered a blissful slumber. Saiya-jin Gohan looked down at him for a moment before smirking down at him. "Sleep well Gohan, for my time is nearly at hand."
Well, that's it for chapter 8. I must give my thanks to Hybrid thoughts (I'm assuming that was what you intended to put as your name, just tell me if I'm wrong.) as your review inspired a few ideas in this chapter.
A.N: I have noticed that there are a few of you reading this fic that don't agree with the way some of my fights have been turning out, so I guess a bit of an explanation is in order. I suppose the first thing I should say is that unlike so many people out there, I do not think of anybody in DBZ as being bullet proof or impervious to damage from anything or anyone weaker than they are. This fact is proven when Krillin threw a rock at a sleeping Goku thinking that exact thing, but said rock did in fact manage to hurt Goku because it caught him off guard. I believe that if they were completely impervious to these things, then rather than catch them or dodge them they'd simply ignore them and continue with whatever task they were already involved in. In the case of this fic, not only is Gohan trying to hide his full power, but he is also unsure of himself and also completely unprepared for the types of techniques that shinobi use, which leads me to ki and chakra.
One thing I keep seeing is people saying that the Naruto characters couldn't destroy a mountain, let alone a planet such as in DBZ, but how do you know this? The Ki in DBZ and the chakra in Naruto are used in such different methods that to compare them in such a manner is totally useless. In DBZ, ki is used to toss about massively destructive blasts of pure energy that have a tendency to create huge blast areas in the hopes of catching the opponent in the resulting explosion if a direct hit cannot be achieved. In Naruto however, Shinobi cannot afford to do such things as stealth is one of their most important assets in combat. If they were to start throwing about flashy and destructive blasts of energy it would draw too much attention and potentially endager the mission as well as the shinobi themselves, thus they would try to limit the area of effect a technique has.