There He Goes ~
K looked down on Goku and N with the most calm but disgusted face he could muster. Goku snuck out of the inn to roam around town, N tried to take things into his own hands instead of going to get help, and the whole town had been plunged into an all out war with the three akatsuki members stationed there. He had turned his attention to something else for less than an hour and Hoseki was full of chaos.
N's secret hadn't slipped out, but the fact that Akatsuki was targeting aliens, more specifically Goku was on the forefront, and K was trying to wrap his head around the whole situation. He looked between the two boys and finally locked on N, "Leave." He ordered in his usual monotone voice and the boy went back into the room with the other Kumogakure faithful. K's attention switched to Goku and he furrowed his brow, "Why must you be so foolish, Goku?"
Goku scratched the back of his head and smiled eerily at his sensei. He was mad at the man before, but after thinking things over he settled down, and he was slowly becoming his old self. The boy looked up at the man and then broke away from his cold gaze immediately, "I couldn't stay locked up here in this inn thinking about grandpa, so I thought I'd take a walk."
The black-haired jounin sighed, knowing he had partially created the mess he was in by not telling Goku, but now something ten times more serious was being held over his head. He knew Goku's full heritage and he said nothing, now he was being targeted for it, "And that walk turned into you and N being attacked, how?" He raised his brow and stared at Goku.
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, and he slowly turned his head to lock eyes with K once more. He took a deep breath, "So, turns out I'm an alien, and a group of guys want to lock me away and experiment with my DNA." He held up his hand and stared for a moment, before looking back at K with a puzzled expression, "and it seems like I'm the last person on Earth to find this out."
"You're implying that I knew this whole time," K pieced Goku's explanation together and nodded. He sighed, "You're not wrong in your assumption either, but there's a reason I didn't tell you." The man stepped up to Goku and placed a hand on the boy's head. "It's a lot to process, and I wanted you to focus on becoming the best shinobi before anything else."
"That's something I would have loved to know, it would have explained a lot," Goku looked down toward the ground and bit his lip, and then looked up at K with hopeful eyes, "So I have actual parents out there?"
"I've said too much," K removed his hand and walked toward the door. He turned and looked at Goku, "The least I can tell you is, you're an alien, and I can't let you fall into the wrong hands." He pushed open the door and gestured Goku to move out, "Now let's go." The boy walked past K without even looking at him, and the man shut the door behind him.
The room full of jounin and genin students turned to look at Goku and K awkwardly rejoining them. K decided to speak up, "We need to leave Hoseki immediately." The ones who were assigned the mission in the town gasped and he furrowed his brow, "Your mission is over. The citizens of Hoseki have this under control."
"What about all of those freaks running through the streets?" Chi-Chi asked with wide eyes, surely they needed to be handled, or else they would run free through Kaminari no Kuni, and eventually end up on Kumo's doorstep with problems.
"Everything's under control," K reassured and grabbed Goku off of the ground and threw him over his shoulders. "Goku and I will take a separate route, but the mission in Hoseki is over; effective immediately." The duo disappeared in a crackle of electricity and left the whole room in awe.
Chi-Chi was baffled, "Who the hell does he think he is?"
Krillin placed his hand on her shoulder, "Let's just go."
. . .
(Hoseki)
Pepper dashed through the streets and cut corners trying not to be trampled alive by wild experiments. He tucked and rolled out of the way of a literal arm being thrown at him. The boy ran into an alley and placed his back against a wall, his chest was heaving, and the group of experiments continued to run past him in hot pursuit.
He took a deep breath and relaxed a bit, pushing himself off of the wall and peeking his head out of the alley. A chill ran up his spine, making him turn around and stare at the ghastly white woman sitting on top of the dumpster. Her yellow eyes followed his every movement, and he took a step back.
She appeared before him in an instant and walked right through him. Her head was shaven clean and she wore simple white garments, twisting her body to smile at the boy, and then raised her hand into the air, "I found him." She said calmly and nearly every experiment that was chasing him before started to flood back into the street from every direction.
His jaw dropped, as he continued to back away from the growing crowd of enemies. He took a step behind the dumpster and kicked it out into the street, effectively blocking the entrance to the alley, and then it exploded; sending experiments flying in every direction.
Pepper ran up the length of the wall and jumped onto the roof top. He let out a sigh of relief, before that same chilled feeling washed over his body once more, and he looked up to see the same woman standing right in front of him with a smile on her face.
She tilted her head to the side, "Why do you try and run from the inevitable?" Her tone was soft, yet menacing in the same breath. Pepper stumbled backward and she was behind him to catch him before he fell, and held him in her arms, "Your fate has been decided." More of the experiments jumped onto the rooftop surrounded them quickly.
The boy grabbed the woman by the face and squeezed, still not believing she was real, and once he confirmed that; he poured his explosive chakra through his hand. He rolled across rooftop once her head exploded and bits of her brain were sent flying everywhere.
More enemies tried to pounce on him, but he showed himself to be very skilled, and blew them to bits way easier than the woman from before. Anyone who was unfortunate enough to make contact with Pepper had his explosive chakra transferred into them, and experience his wrath.
Soon enough the whole roof was littered with random body parts and bloody bits created by him. He took a deep breath and placed his hands on his head, trying to comprehend what was going on. Even after ending the ghastly white woman's life quite cruelly, he could still feel her presence looming over him and he groaned.
No sooner than when the thought crossed his mind, the same woman floated out of the ground with a sincere smile on her face. She had long, flowing white hair now and basic white garments to match. Her piercing yellow eyes were focused solely on Pepper, "You took my kindness for weakness, child, and for that; I cannot forgive you."
Pepper furrowed his brow, "I killed you, you were dead. This shouldn't be happening," He was more than confused at the moment, looking a woman he knew he killed right in the eyes once more.
"I was never alive to begin with," She smiled softly at Pepper and floated forward and looked him directly in his face. The woman grabbed him by his hand and forcefully pulled him off of the ground so he could fly through the skies of Hoseki with her. They got a wonderful view of all of the widespread destruction coming from Dr. Gero's son and Deidara engaging in battle, "I simply occupy a host body, since I'm really nothing more than a lost soul."
"Gero created you didn't he?" Pepper questioned, holding tight, so he wouldn't fall and splat against the ground.
"Yes, I am artifical soul number zero," She introduced herself, "I like to call myself Hashi, I'm one of Doctor Gero's many experiments, in his long lasting goal to create the perfect being."
"Are the gemstones the perfect beings he was trying to create?" Pepper couldn't help but question, since it was apart of his mission to a certain degree.
"No, far from it, but it's a start toward something great. He wants to create the perfect being from scratch, the gemstones had human bases that he worked from. His main goal, his magnum opus, is a completely living being without any artificial traits," Hashi explained as they flew right out of Hoseki and even deeper into Kaminari no Kuni.
"He pretty much wants to create life, real life at that, and not artificial beings," Pepper concluded, and Hashi nodded. "That's weird, but he can do whatever he wants." The boy released his grip and grinned once the night sky illuminated. Hashi's body bulged uncontrollably and soon exploded against her will, while he fell toward the ground at high speeds.
He tried to gain his bearings in mid-air, knowing it would take Hashi quite some time to find a new host body this far out. Once she became tangible to touch, she was nothing more than a civilian, and he could handle her as such. She probably planned on dropping him in some ravine to die anyway. He flipped in the air, but before he could land; he found himself in the arms of the woman once more.
He was proved wrong, and Hashi had found a brand new host in an instant, "I knew that would happen."
"You don't even feel wrong just wasting lives like this?"
Hashi smiled, "I can occupy anything, dead or alive. I truly am a ghost," They continued to fly farther out and Pepper could feel his heart racing. "Calm down, I'm not going to brutally kill you, child."
"What are you going to do then?"
"Drop you in a ravine."
At least he wasn't wrong again.
. . .
(Hoseki)
Beam after beam tore through the town and the duo of Bali and Deidara were narrowly dodging each one. They broke away from each other and went off in different directions to avoid being shot dead on. The boy's aim was impeccable, and he was only missing by a slim margin.
He furrowed his brow and tried to focus even harder on shooting the two Akatsuki members down. The boy placed his hand over his forearm and narrowed his eyes, making his blasts of ki more compressed like bullets and began firing away. Deidara and Bali were far too wily to be hit though and he eventually stopped trying to battle them long range, reattaching his hand as if it were nothing, and jumped down from the roof top.
Dr. Gero's son walked through the dead silent streets of Hoseki on alert. Deidara and Bali had gone into hiding once he eased up on his assault, and rightfully so. He came to a stop and closed his eyes, letting his energy leak out into the area and pick up any subtle anomalies, but found nothing. The revived warrior opened his eyes and looked into the sky, not even blinking when he saw a giant clay figure dropping down on him from above.
Bali and Deidara were perched on one of Deidara's clay birds not too far away. The blonde cracked a smile and held his fingers on his favorite seal, "That should do it, un." He looked over at Bali, waiting for a nod of agreement to satisfy him, but got a blank stare in response. Deidara rolled his eyes, "Katsu!"
Before the explosion could even sound off, the clay figure was launched high into the air, and then it exploded in the sky. Dr. Gero's son slowly floated into the air with the same stoic expression plastered on his face, and his eyes were undoubtedly locked on Deidara. He didn't have a single scratch on him, "I no longer wish to fight," The boy admitted and looked toward the ground. "It will be nothing but pointless destruction."
Deidara pointed at the boy, "Wait, aren't you Doctor Gero's son, L-"
"My name is Sixteen," The newly dubbed Sixteen corrected before his old name escaped Deidara's lips, "And I'm afraid I cannot help you find my siblings, they were taken away from us quite some time ago."
"Our reason for being here has changed; we want are the aliens that are hiding here," Bali informed Sixteen, hoping he'd ease up on the assault.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that either," Sixteen deflated Bali instantly, "Any business between the Akatsuki and Kumogakure's extraterrestrials will not be settled in Hoseki." He also didn't want to see two promising young shinobi ruined so soon. He lost his life at a young age and he knew they wouldn't be as fortunate as him to receive a second chance.
"I can respe—"
"Fuck that, Bali handle this bastard, and I'll go after Goku, un." Deidara didn't leave any room for argument, and pushed his alien partner off of the clay bird, before he ordered it to take off and leave the two to duke it out without him.
Sixteen calmly watched as the bird fly off, and decided to stay; even though he was fully capable of chasing Deidara down. His eyes shifted to Bali, and the man stumbled to a stand. The boy's complexion began to return to normal, and his deep yellow eyes were now fully focused on the alien standing on the ground before him, "I assume you're smarter than your partner."
Bali sighed, "Yeah."
. . .
(Kaminari no Kuni)
"So my grandpa knew?" Goku asked as he and K ran through the wastelands of Lightning Country.
"Yes."
"Raikage-sama knew?"
"Yes."
"Mabui-chan knew?"
"Yes."
The boy furrowed his brow, "I guess the real question I should be asking is who didn't know!?" He yelled out at the older man running in front of him. Even though they were arguing, they didn't miss a beat on their path back to Kumogakure, but that didn't mean the boy was any less angry, "How could you keep something like this from me!?"
K didn't turn his head to acknowledge the boy, "It was for your own good." He cooed simply and kept moving toward his home village. The other group of Kumogakure-nin was taking a separate path, so the group of alien hunters would have a harder time tracking down Goku. Once they arrived in Kumo, they would have nothing to worry about until they left again. He just couldn't lose his pupil right now.
The aforementioned pupil was angry, confused, and hurt all in the same moment. His whole life, he was lied to about who he was, and the only reason he found out was because of his fight with Vegeta and a maniac group of monsters who want to imprison him and experiment with his DNA. The alien child bit his lip to stop himself from yelling at his sensei anymore.
The two of them would reach Kumogakure before morning, and at least there he knew his mother would give him a proper explanation. As long as his life depended on it, he didn't want to be in the dark any longer. Hopefully, he'd be able to give some insight to N as well, who seemed to be going through a similar predicament.
"You know what, maybe this whole situation isn't that bad," Goku spoke up, grinning at his sensei.
Thoroughly interested now, K turned his head and raised a brow, "Why not?"
"Because now you actually have to teach me something so I can defend myself!" The boy exclaimed and burst out into laughter, feeling like he finally got the best of his sensei. Their whole trip, he hadn't learned anything useful from K, and now it was time for him to actually do his job. "So get ready for the training session of a lifetime."
"You're right," K nodded in agreement. Times were starting to get rough, and it was about time he got his student up to par. "Tomorrow, you learn the Solar Flare."
Goku groaned, "Wow, the solar flare." He said sarcastically, in the most monotone voice he could muster.
"Don't be foolish, Goku."
. . .
(Outskirts of Hoseki)
The pace of the group was slowed down greatly because of an injured Tights and Bulma. If they moved the way they did normally, the duo of sisters would get left in the dust. The six Kumogakure shinobi walked in a formation around Tights and Bulma, and they were all on their toes due to the Akatsuki.
It seemed that Bali, Deidara, and Pepper were occupied with the inhabitants of Hoseki, so they didn't plan on seeing them anytime soon, but that didn't mean they weren't on alert. They walked through the empty lands of Kaminari no Kuni with sharp eyes, which were constantly scanning for a threat. The entire group had varying thoughts as they paced through the land.
N wanted to know more about his history, parents, and why the Akatsuki were so intent on ridding the planet of aliens. Tights and Bulma were thinking about their own parents and where they would go from this point, and the rest of the shinobi were wondering why K was so insistent on leaving Hoseki.
Chi-Chi had her hands on hips as she strolled through the lands of lightning country. Her eyes were focused on everything in front of her, "I haven't been on a lot of missions, but this by far the weirdest mission I've ever been on." She broke the silence among them and offered a light smile.
"I agree," N responded quietly, pulling on his draw-strings as usual. His eyes were glued to the sky as he walked toward the village hidden in the clouds.
"Look on the bright side, kids," Roshi grinned at everyone in the group, "At least we made it out safely, and gained a couple of lovely friends at the end of the day." He lowered his red sunglasses and quirked his eyebrows at Tights, which only got an eye-roll in response.
N's sensei was constantly scratching the back of his head in irritation, but still managed to groan at Roshi. He didn't see why the genin looked up to such a pervert, but he would have to live with it.
Krillin stared at the blonde jounin with a raised brow, "Are you okay?"
"I'm sure I'll be fine," He smiled and stuffed his hands in his pockets, so he could he just ignore the itch.
"You've been acting weird since we've left the village, sensei," N looked up at the man and narrowed his eyes to focus on him.
No sooner than when he opened his lips to speak, a clay insect crawled from behind his head and onto his face. He tried to smash it with his hand, but he couldn't react quickly enough. In an instant, blood splattered every where, and the man's head exploded once the word 'Katsu' was heard in ear shot of the group. The headless body stumbled backward and fell to the ground, startling everyone around him.
N wiped the blood and brain matter from his face and quickly snapped his head in the opposite direction, watching as Deidara calmly appeared with his hands stuffed inside his cloak. The blonde haired boy focused on the area in front of the Akatsuki member and then thrust his hands forward, sending a wave of explosive chakra that ignited and expanded, before blowing the terrorist away and into the side of a stone face.
The alien boy's chest was heaving and he looked back at the group of fellow Kumo-nin, "We have to run, he's too strong for any of us to handle!"
Deidara dropped down to the ground without a scratch on his cloak and he grinned at N from afar, "You keep getting more interesting, un!" He complimented as he stepped forward and closed the distance between him and the group of shinobi in an instant. The teenage terrorist lifted his bang and revealed his eye scope, which doubled as a scouter, and looked the group over for himself, "Hey, the kid's not lying. I can take you all on by myself, no problem."
"Just tell us what you want!" Chi-Chi screamed at the blonde.
"Son Goku," Deidara replied simply and grinned when they all, save for N, gasped at his demand. "Give me the location of Son Goku, and no one gets hurt, un." When they all gave him confused looks in response, he sighed. The damned group of Kumogakure shinobi didn't know where the boy was; just what he needed.
"What do you want with Goku?" Tights of all people asked with her arms folded.
"Don't really have time to explain the whole Akatsuki regime, un," Deidara raised his hands to the sky, revealing the tongues that stuck out from his palms. His eyes were now focused on N, who was staring right back at him. "But I can't leave empty handed, so I'm taking the blonde until I get Goku."
"How exactly are you going to do that?" Krillin asked, getting into fighting position with no problem.
"Like this, un," Deidara cracked a devilish smile once they all watched in horror while a giant clay bird flew overhead, dropping a piece of clay shaped like a ball. It hit the ground with a 'thud' proving just how dense it was and everyone present just stared at whatever it was. His bird circled back, sweeping him off of the ground, and he ascended into the air. "Heh, Katsu!"
The group was so frozen in fear; they couldn't bring themselves to move once he uttered his trigger word. The condensed clay bomb created quite the large explosion, and it sent them all flying in different directions with varying instant injuries from the blast. Deidara watched it all happen from above, with a smile on his face.
He fed his hands more clay, and clones of himself formed and leapt from the bird. They all charged at the Kumogakure shinobi and latched onto them. N kicked the clay clone off of him and pushed himself off of the ground, his eyes locked onto the giant bird in the sky, and he held his bloodied hand up, "You're going down." He tried to focus it into a stream of energy, but it backfired, and exploded in mid-air; sending him flying backwards and smashing into the ground.
"Ha, I thought you were good before!" Deidara laughed, as his bird swooped down like it was feasting on it's prey and grabbed N with its talons. It lifted him off of the ground and took off back in the direction of Hoseki. The boy tried to squirm free, but it did nothing but tighten its grip, and he watched as the fiery battle field they created started to get smaller and smaller.
Krillin tried to run after the bird even though he was injured already, but he found himself tackled down by one of Deidara's clay clones. He smashed his fist against the ground and screamed out.
"Katsu!"
. . .
Bye N