Twenty One ~
Pepper was falling out the sky at an incredibly fast rate, seeing nothing but the ground of the empty lands, and for once; he was actually praying Hashi possessed another body and caught him, but she was nowhere to be found. He couldn't fly, and the boy was watching his whole life flash before his eyes.
In the matter of a blink, his body smacked against the surface of an oversized bird, and he looked up to see Deidara calmly navigating his creation back to Hoseki. He looked behind him and saw an even calmer boy, with clay around his neck, torso, wrists, and legs. Pepper grinned and looked at his older companion, "I see you made a new friend."
"Eh, he's just a consolation prize," The blonde teenager sighed as he turned to look at the downed Pepper. He looked the boy over with a frown, "The hell happened to you, un?" He stepped forward and pulled Pepper up and dusted him off.
"Had to deal with a ghost," Pepper informed his superior with a roll of his eyes, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He looked off to the side to avoid the devilish grin from Deidara, who burst into laughter.
Deidara snickered uncontrollably, "Seriously, a ghost?" He nearly buckled over in laughter but then he snapped up straight, "Wait, then what happened to her?" The blonde looked down on Pepper with a raised brow.
"I blew her head off."
The oldest shinobi placed his hand over his heart and let out a deep breath, "Oh, thank kami," He smiled at Pepper and continued to navigate their flight. Hoseki was starting to become clear to them again, and it was up in smoke from what they had done earlier, but it had settled down since he left.
Apparently Bali wasn't all for violence, since he was clearly seen perched on top of a building awaiting their return. The bird dropped down instinctively before the man and Deidara frowned upon seeing that the man had so willingly surrendered. The man jumped onto the bird without hesitation, "There's no point, kid."
"But I gave you an order," Deidara pressed on sternly, but got a roll of the eyes in response from the bandaged man.
"And I didn't listen," Bali retorted with a snicker to follow. He went and kneeled down to look N in his face, "This isn't Goku." Bali looked back at Deidara with a confused expression on his face. He messed up the boy's hair and pushed him forward, "Deidara, you had one job."
"Trust me, I don't want to be here," N finally spoke up after stumbling forward and furrowed his brow when he found himself in the face of Pepper.
"Don't want you either, but beggars can't be choosers," Deidara rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, his clay creation levitated and flew out of Hoseki in an instant. "I hope I never have to come back here, un." He looked down on the city and its inhabitants and flipped them off as the bird flew.
"Are we dropping this kid off to the boss?" Bali asked with a raised brow.
"No, we're getting those damn gemstones before we go home, un."
. . .
(Kumogakure no Sato)
For the first time in his life, Goku had been trusted to leave the village for weeks, and he had finally made it back home. After all of the things he had been through and learned, he was more than happy to be home. He was ready to confront almost every authority in the village about his true background, and his sensei was currently leading him to the most important man in Kumogakure.
K paced slowly through the village as they made their way toward the Raikage's tower. They had been traveling for almost two weeks back and forth and encountered way more obstacles than expected. Though he would never admit it, he was ready to unwind and finally take a break from his duties as a shinobi of his village.
"How come we traveled separately from the group?" Goku finally asked after they had reached their destination. He thought his sensei was acting weird since his encounter with Bali and Deidara.
"It was the safest option," K stated simply and shot Goku a glance. The older man thought the reason was obvious, but sometimes Goku could be a bit.. slow. Traveling with the other genin of Kumo would have made it way too easy for the Akatsuki to get rid of all of them in one fell swoop and then imprison Goku.
The young alien pre-teen rolled his eyes and continued to stroll behind his sensei. Their next destination was now in sight and the both of them entered the giant building. The boy placed his hands behind his head and yawned as he walked into the tower. He followed his sensei's every footstep until they were right outside A's office, and inside he saw Mabui with the Raikage.
Just as he was about to barge in and speak his mind, K walked in and closed the door behind him. Before the door slid shut, K furrowed his brow and mumbled, "Don't be foolish, Goku." The older man didn't get a chance to see the boy's upset expression because he was immediately looking the most angry man in all of Kaminari no Kuni in the face.
A stood up from his desk and instantly lifted it off of the ground and held it over his head, ready to throw it right at the notorious K, "YOU LET THE DEAL FALL THROUGH!?" He yelled at the man, referring to Iwagakure, and Mabui immediately grabbed onto his arm in an attempt to calm him down. "LET ME GO, HE DESERVES THIS!"
"There are more important details to this story," K tried to cool down the situation in his calmest way possible. A lot had transpired in the short two weeks he had been gone, "Funding Iwagakure's military efforts would be too risky for us, they've gained too much power already." He was pleased to see this news satisfied the man, and there was still more to come. "Iwagakure has two more, well trained, saiyan children living in their village."
"Are they stronger than Goku?" Mabui asked with a bit of worry in her voice. They had spent most of Goku's childhood training him for the inevitable problems he'd face, but they weren't the strictest teachers, and still let him live something of normal life.
"They have much more real experience," K explained and recalled his encounters with the saiyans, "But with the proper tutelage, Goku can surpass them. It's the illegal arms deals that Onoki arranged with Capsule Corporation and Gato Industries that we should look into."
"He has weapons? What kind of weapons?" A asked, his desk still raised above his head just in case K pissed him off before his debriefing was over.
"Weapons that could wipe out a whole village in a matter of seconds, with no chakra required," K showed how small the capsule that held the bomb was with his fingers. "And they're almost unnoticeable before they're set off. He has them by the case load." He explained and then let his hands fall to his sides.
A grit his teeth and dropped his desk back onto the ground, folding his arms over each other and breathing out slowly to calm himself down, "I can't believe I let that old fucker get the upper hand on me in our little race for power." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I want the full details in your report, I have another assignment for you now, K, you're going to Konoha."
K's eyebrow raised in interest, "What about Goku?"
"He's going with you," A stated simply and continued to explain K's new assignment, "It turns out Konoha isn't as innocent as the world makes them out to be, and they won't be forgiven for what they did to us."
. . .
(Hi no Kuni)
Naruto's body flew through the field and smacked against the base of a tree, and the boy buckled over and fell to the ground. As he was about to push himself up, his signature katana tore through the air and stabbed into the tree. The boy stood on his hands and gripped the hilt of his sword between his feet and sent it flying back in the direction it came from.
Sasuke dashed across the field at blinding speeds, going straight for Naruto, but the katana being thrown in his path broke his stride. He withdrew a kunai knife quickly and parried the blade into the air, and grabbed it by its handle. The raven-haired Uchiha pointed the tip of the sword at Naruto and beckoned him to come forward.
The blonde-haired genin rolled his neck as he came to a stand and furrowed his brow, "I thought this was supposed to be light," Naruto gestured toward the stab mark in the base of the tree. "You almost took my head off back there!" The boy complained and withdrew a kunai from his own pouch and dashed forward.
The Uchiha met Naruto in the middle of the field and the two clashed, "I don't take anything lightly." Sasuke pushed forward and overpowered Naruto onto the ground, attempting a quick slash downward while he was down, but the boy pushed himself back up in an instant and kicked his legs out.
The sword and kunai in Sasuke's grasp went flying into the air, and Naruto's foot connect with his chin and sent him upward. There was a poof of smoke above him and the katana was actually a Naruto clone in disguise, which kicked the boy back into the ground, and he hit the grassy field with a thud.
Sasuke was quick to regain his bearings and jumped back up to avoid being pinned down by Naruto's clone. Both Naruto's followed up by throwing a quick series of punches and kicks at the opposing genin, but he was swift with his movements.
The Uchiha blocked and parried every strike, finally jumping out of the way of the two Naruto's mid-punch and smirked when they crashed into each other. He walked up to the downed Naruto and grinned and folded his arms, "I think this is done."
The blonde looked up at the red-eyes of Sasuke and rolled his eyes, "You cheated." He said in reference to the active sharingan eyes that flicked off once their spar was declared over. His sparring partner held his hand out and helped Naruto off of the ground, "Next time I'll get you down for real." Naruto's clone poofed out of existence while he dusted himself off.
"Sure you will, dobe," Sasuke said sarcastically and turned his back on Naruto, starting to pace his way off of the field. He wasn't really interested what Naruto planned to do with the rest of his day, but he suddenly felt the ground shifting and he tumbled over and fell.
Naruto looked around and saw off in the distance a tree growing higher than a few others and the greenery start to thicken in a certain area. He shot a glance to Sasuke and they both nodded, but before they could take off to investigate; a poof of smoke in the center of the field caught their attention.
"Yo," Kakashi waved at his two genin students and smiled at them. He placed his hands on his hips and reared his head back, urging his students to come forward. "I've got some good news for you two, I already told Sakura." When the two boys were in front of him, he placed his hands on top of their heads and grinned.
Both Naruto and Sasuke were slightly distracted by the mutation of the forest, but Kakashi wouldn't intrude on their training session unless it was something important. The raven-haired genin grit his teeth and looked up at his sensei, "What is it?"
Kakashi's eyes perked up and he brought his genin into a tight embrace
(Kumogakure no Sato)
Master Roshi had a bead of sweat rolling down his dirtied face, walking slowly with his cane, and the unconscious body of Krillin slung over his shoulder. He was deathly tired and extremely stressed, the simple C-rank mission had turned into a disaster, and they had lost two members of their six-man cell.
Bulma and Tights had joined the group as well, since K refused to let anyone else travel with him and Goku. They were even more exhausted and stressed about what they had been put through in the last week they had been away from home. The two girls hadn't heard from their parents since they escaped Iwagakure, and didn't hear a thing about them either.
Tights knew what really happened, but she couldn't bring herself to tell Bulma the truth since her little sister wasn't accustomed to the shinobi lifestyle, and it would be a major loss in her life. She would know when the time was right.
The group was making their way toward the Raikage tower, so they could debrief about their mission, and find a place for Bulma to stay while she was in Kumogakure. They reached the tower quickly and were slowly approaching the man's office.
When they reached the hallway, Goku came sprinting down toward them, while K slowly walked behind him. He had a huge smile plastered on his face, "Guess what guys!? We're going to the Chuunin Exams!" The boy yelled out with so much excitement, but quickly deflated when he saw how battered they were, and the absence of one of his best friends, "Wait, where's Kiri?"
N's only surviving teammate frowned and nearly broke down, "H-H-H-H-He's go-gone," The girl looked away from Goku's distraught face and bit her lip so the whole group wouldn't see her sobbing.
K furrowed his brow, "What do you mean?"
"Those terrorists kidnapped him, what's so hard to understand about that!?" Chi-Chi yelled at the older man with a frustrated expression, "They killed sensei, and nearly blew Krillin-kun to pieces!"
Goku's whole mood changed, simply staring at the group in awe, and his tongue slowly slivered back into his mouth. The news of his entire graduating group being entered into the Chuunin exams didn't seem as exciting as it was anymore, and when the whole hall was filled with silence; the returning group walked past them and continued on to the Raikage's office.
Tights and Bulma still remained there with Goku and K, "Sorry about your friend, kid," The older Briefs sister said, as she placed her hand on top of Goku's head and ruffled his hair. "We're going to get him back home." She slightly smiled and looked at K with a raised brow, "Speaking of home, where will Bulma be staying, K?"
"For now, she'll live with Goku and his mother Mabui," K informed the duo of sisters and walked off, leaving them with Goku so they could handle the new living arrangement. He turned and looked at his student with a serious glare, "Goku, I'll be meeting with you tomorrow." The man disappeared in a crackle of electricity promptly after telling the boy about their plans.
"Bulma, I know we just got here, but I have to leave too," Tights admitted and brought her sister into her embrace. She kissed the girl's forehead and smiled, "I promise I'll be back soon." Tights looked down on Bulma and saw her eyes getting watery, and she tightened the hug, rubbing her sister on her back reassuringly.
"You always do this," Bulma mumbled out and broke away from the embrace. The teenage girl pushed Goku forward, "Let's go, Goku-kun, you're going to show me around town." They both walked off and left Tights alone in the hallway.
"Love you too, Bulma!"
. . .
Mabui was more than happy to offer her home to Goku's new friend Bulma, but neither her nor Goku expected her to escape a village with as much as she did. Their whole house was filled with Bulma's clothes, furniture, and technology her father had created.
What amazed Mabui even more was the fact it was all sealed in tiny capsules, and it looked like she wasn't done unpacking. The woman ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath, "Bulma-chan, why don't you take a break? I'll try to fit all of this into our guest room in the meantime," she said as she picked up a crate full of clothes and walked off.
The blue-haired girl placed her hands on her hips and sighed, "I guess I can take a break, I'm starting to get hungry anyway." She turned to look at a tired Goku, who had been moving her items into her new room for the last few hours. The girl smiled, "Come on, Goku-kun, you're going to buy me something to eat."
Goku dropped his crate of Bulma's emergency clothing and grinned, "Yes, let's go!" His mind hadn't even registered that Bulma said he was paying for her meal, he was just happy to be done moving her stuff, and he had just got paid for his mission, so it wasn't that big of a deal to him.
The boy skipped out of the door and Bulma followed behind him slowly. He was leading her to one of his favorite eateries in Kumogakure, and since he was paying for the meal; he figured he would be able to choose. Bulma followed him blindly the whole way.
They stopped in front of a sushi joint that was surprisingly packed with people, and once they got inside; they saw a lot of younger kunoichis gathered around a woman with blond hair who was quietly eating her meal. She was dressed in her casual clothes, a light purple dress that stopped at her knees and a pair sandals, but she was garnering too much attention to be a normal civilian.
Despite the group of girls surrounding her, her dark eyes spotted Goku in an instant. She set her chopsticks down and got up from her seat and walked up to the genin, and the mixture of children and teenage girls followed her to the front of the restaurant. The woman let a small smile grace her features and bowed toward him, "You must be Son Goku, I've heard a lot about you."
Goku had confusion written all over his face and he simply smiled, "You're right, I am Goku." He scratched his head awkwardly, because he had no idea who she was.
"SHOW SOME RESPECT YOU IDIOT!" A random kunoichi yelled at Goku and hit him in the forehead with a piece of sushi.
The alien boy immediately bowed out of respect toward the completely random woman who was starting the conversation with him. He winced lightly and looked up at the woman who was now smirking at him.
"I'm Yugito Nii," The woman introduced herself and motioned for Goku and Bulma to follow her back to her table. "You probably don't recognize me when I don't have my hair braided, but I'm a ninja just like you." She sat back down inside of her booth and got comfortable once more, picking up her chopsticks.
Goku was still wiping away a sticky piece of rice from his forehead and tried to force a smile, "Well, it's nice to meet you." Bulma elbowed him in his side and he grunted, "And thank you for letting us sit with you." He truly meant it once a waiter came by and set another platter full of sushi down in front of him and Bulma without him having to ask.
Once Yugito was seen engaging Goku in conversation, her loyal fans deflated and started to leave the restaurant. They were talking for quite some time, and she was just trying to pick his brain and get to know more about him. The woman was extremely interested in him, since he was only twelve and found a way to be a bigger target in the ninja world in two weeks than she had in her whole life, "I understand that you're going to be in the Chuunin Exams in a few months, Goku-kun, are you excited?"
He nodded while he had his mouth full of food and grinned, "Definitely, I'm going to kick some serious ass!" The boy yelled out and raised his fist into the air.
Yugito smiled at the boy, "So you wouldn't be against me teaching you something before you left for your exams then, right?" She asked with her chopstick pointed at herself, and a small smile on her face.
"Sure, if K-sensei is okay with it," Goku said in between throwing rolls of sushi into his mouth.
She furrowed her brow when he mentioned 'The Limitless K,' and nearly scoffed, but decided to stay silent. The woman simply nodded, "I see, run it by him then." She stood up and bowed toward Goku and Bulma once more, "This meal is on me, Goku-kun, I hope you consider my offer."
"I will, Yugito-chan," Goku winked at the woman and she walked off. He continued to eat his sushi with Bulma but slowly stopped when he saw her staring at him with squinted eyes and a raised brow. "What?"
"You don't seem at all concerned about N," She spat out and jabbed him in his neck with her chop stick. "Your friends get torn apart and kidnapped and the only thing you're worrying about is sushi and the Chuunin Exams?" Bulma was ashamed of him, because if she could do anything about finding her parents; she would.
Goku shrugged, "K-sensei told me not to worry about it."
. . .
(Hi no Kuni)
"Wake the fuck up!"
N opened his eyes and was met with a stern glare from Bali, who was currently standing over him. It had to be something close to noon, and the sun was shining bright over the group of Akatsuki, and their new hostage N. The bandaged man dragged aforementioned boy off of the ground and hoisted him over his shoulder.
"For a hostage, we treat him pretty good, un," Deidara complained as he started to lead his group through a thick forest that was getting more desolate as they traveled.
"He's still family," Bali replied.
"We're not family dude," N scoffed and dropped out of Bali's grasp, he didn't enjoy being carried by an alien. He fell into step with Deidara and started to scan his surroundings, and he had no clue where Deidara had taken him.
"Regardless, you sleep until like noon every day, and eat whatever you want," Pepper tried to make a point along with his teammate. "Don't ever say the Akatsuki didn't treat you well," He said semi-jokingly as he followed behind Deidara.
"What are we doing anyway?" N asked tiredly as he strolled behind the Akatsuki members.
Deidara turned his head slightly and grinned at his newly acquired hostage, "You're about to help us blow up one of Orochimaru's bases." He said as he continued to navigate them toward their destination, "I figured it all out on our way from Hoseki, there's only like one person more fucked up than Doctor Gero out there that would have the gemstones, and it's this damn snake, so we're going to get his attention, un."
N didn't even know who Orochimaru was, but he had a feeling he would be meeting the man today. The boy quietly groaned, "Why the hell do I have to do it?" He asked while pulling on the draw strings of his sweatshirt.
"You're still a fucking prisoner, kid," Bali spat out and pushed him to the front of the group. He placed his hands on his hips and gestured toward the open clearing in front of them, "It's an underground base, you go in, set off the bomb, and get the hell out." The alien instructed and pulled out a small capsule and handed it over, "All you have to do is click it, okay?"
"What if there are people in there?" N immediately asked, "And how do you know this is going to get that guy's attention?" He rolled his eyes and walked back into the group of terrorist with a frustrated expression plastered on his face. "Did you guys even think this throu-"
"You know what? I'll do it," Deidara pushed past N and stormed across the field mumbling incoherent curses under his breath, "Damn kid, un."
Bali shot a glance at N and furrowed his non-visible brows, "You're a special one, I hope you know." He alerted N and laughed a bit, "You're the only person that can piss off Deidara enough to make him do grunt work himself."
"You guys are fucking idiots," N shook his head in disappointment, and his point was backed up once they all turned to see Deidara sprinting back across the field with worry written all over his face. From the entrance of the underground base, the head of a giant snake was quickly slithering out with a sly grin on it's face, "See what I mean?" He asked, pointing at Deidara.
On top of the snake's head was a pale man perched proudly with an even more devilish grin than his summon animal. He had his arms folded over each other, "I knew you three would come looking for me," He looked between Bali, Deidara, Pepper, and finally stopped on N. "I heard about what you people did in Hoseki, and I see you brought me a new friend."
The opposing parties seemed to know each other quite well, save for N, and Bali grinned once the snake himself showed his face. "You were expecting us, that's cute," He raised a brow and took a step forward, "So that means you have what we're looking for then?"
"I'm afraid I do," Orochimaru grinned and let his arms fall to his side, "But I won't let my children go without a fight, Bali. I've made it too far in the grand scheme of things to lose them now," The pale snake-like man got into a fighting stance and readied himself for whatever the group of bombers would throw at him.
"Dude, should we do it?" Pepper asked, looking up at his two superiors, "I mean, we have a four-on-one advantage."
"No, you have a three-on-one advantage," N chimed in as he backed away from the group of Akatsuki members.
"I don't know, Orochimaru never played fair, even in his Akatsuki days," Bali remembered and looked over to the battle ready Orochimaru and frowned. "I doubt Kakuzu wants a pair of fucking kids anyway, he wanted shiny jewels."
"We came all this way though, and their DNA is probably worth some money on the black market," Pepper tried to sway Bali into the dangerous battle with Hi no Kuni's most famous shinobi. "And I'd rather deal with a deadly snake than an upset Kakuzu any day."
"Worst case scenario, Kakuzu rips us a new asshole, and we owe him some money, but with this guy," Bali pointed at Orochimaru while still looking down at Pepper with a furrowed brow, "He'll literally rip you a new asshole and then turn you into one of his fucking experiments, so you tell me which one sounds better?"
"You guys are pitiful," N spoke up and shook his head.
"WAIT A DAMN MINUTE," Deidara finally put his foot down after nearly exploding from anger, "I'm the captain of this damn division, and I make the executive decisions around here, okay?"
"Kid, please, you only have that title to make you feel good," Bali rolled his eyes and decided to hold a vote, "If you want to stay here and fight Orochimaru for some damn kids, raise your hand."
Deidara was the only person to raise his hand, and he immediately pouted after he saw the results of the vote, "Fuck that, we're getting this treasure, un!" He dug his hand into his pouch of clay and started to knead a creation, and once he prepared to send it toward Orochimaru; the clay bird he made detonated prematurely and sent all of the Akatsuki members flying in different directions.
Orochimaru was still standing in silence on top of his summon animal with a slight frown on his face. It looked like ever since he had left the Akatsuki, the organization had gone to shit, and he was oddly pleased to see that. He just watched a group of experienced terrorists bicker with each other and then have their own bomb back fire before it could do any real damage, "Hm, what an interesting turn of events."
N was the most surprised of everyone, and he took their constant fighting and plan failing as an opportunity to escape. He was the least affected by Deidara's dud of a clay creation, and he took off running into the forest to finally be free of the Akatsuki, but as he ran; he felt a chill run up his spine, and he turned his head to see what was behind him.
There was nothing.
His head snapped forward, and in the middle of the forest was a pale white woman floating with a pleased smile on her face. Her bright yellow eyes were locked on none other N, "Hello darling," She greeted and bowed toward the young boy. "My name is Hashi, and I've been waiting to do that for a few days now." Her soft smile never left her face and she floated toward N, "I couldn't let those people send you away."
"Why?" N asked, still quite wary of 'those people' coming to get him once more.
"You're special," Hashi placed her finger tip on N's nose and grinned, "I've been inside Deidara's bag since we left Hoseki with the intention of helping you escape," The woman twisted in the air and started to float away from the underground base. "Now follow me, let's get to safety before they realize you're gone."
The blonde haired orphan shrugged and followed after Hashi, wherever she was leading him. For some reason, he trusted her.
. . .
(Kumogakure no Sato ~ Mabui's House)
Bulma and Goku had long since returned home, and were probably sleep by now. It was the middle of the night, and Mabui was still up rearranging her home to accommodate their newest guest in Bulma. The girl had escaped a village with more clothes than Mabui had ever owned in her whole life. She was happy to have her living with them nonetheless, and continued to move her furniture back to normal.
There was one last box full of Bulma's clothes, so she decided to take it back to the girl while she slept. The woman picked it up and went to the back part of her home, where the guest room was located, and used her backside to open the girl's door.
When she turned around to set the box down, she was surprised to see Bulma sitting on top of her bed with her head buried in her knees. Mabui sat the box down and went over to the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her. She had only known her for the better part of a few hours, but it was her job as a mother to make the girl feel welcome.
The girl lifted her head up and was quite surprised to see the brown-skinned woman there to console her. She took a deep breath and sat straight up, "I'm guessing you came in here to see what's wrong, but I'm fine, I promise." She gave Mabui a fake smile, but the woman wasn't buying it.
"You don't have to lie, Bulma," Mabui stared at the girl with a serious expression on her face. "I know you're going through something, and I promise you it feels way better just to get it off your chest."
There was a brief moment of silence between them and Bulma finally let out another deep breath, "I guess I'm just worried about my parents," She would do anything to be back with her family in Iwagakure like it used to be, but to Onoki; her family was just another weapon, and she knew her father would never be okay with that. "I just have this weird feeling in my gut that they're ... gone, and the Tsuchikage was the one that got rid of them, but my sister would never tell me that."
Mabui felt bad for both sides of the situation, from Tights point of view; she could see why she would cover the truth, so her loved one could be happy, she had done it with Goku, but Bulma was obviously worried out of her mind, and deserved to know. The Kumogakure native brought Bulma into her embrace and kissed her on the head, "Your father was an intelligent man, I'm sure he found a way out without being killed."
"You're right," Bulma returned the gesture and hugged Mabui, now smiling at the older woman. She had the motherly touch that she needed in her life at the moment, and she couldn't be any more grateful. The blue-haired Briefs child nudged Mabui, "You know you have to talk to Goku, right?"
The woman sighed and got up from the bed, "Yeah, I know." Mabui looked out of the room and quietly dreaded the walk down the hall she was about to do, "He's told everyone except me about how upset he was, I'm assuming he's waiting for me to come to him with it." Mabui tried to bolster her own confidence, since telling your adoptive alien son the truth about his origin wasn't something she did everyday.
"Good night and good luck, Mabui-sama," Bulma offered a light smile toward the woman, before laying down in her bed and trying to go to sleep.
"Good night, honey," Mabui walked out and closed the door behind her. She took slow steps toward Goku's room, and knocked on his door just as quietly.
Once there was no response, she decided to take the initiative and open it herself. The woman smiled softly when she saw Goku laying on top of the bed sleeping in silence, so she decided leave him alone for the night, and bring up the topic for another time.
The only thing that bothered her was the fact that he was sleeping without a cover, and had his window wide open. That was a garunteed way to make himself sick, so she went into his closet and pulled down one of his many covers, and walked back over to his bed. Just as she was about to tuck him in, the boy twitched and scratched his ass, before turning away from Mabui.
She stared at Goku's backside longer than any normal mother should have, and grit her teeth when she saw his tail wagging happily as he slept. The woman dropped his cover to the ground, closed her eyes, and made a hand seal, "Kai." When she reopened her eyelids, the bed was empty, and Goku was no where to be found.
Her head snapped toward the open window and she couldn't hold in her anger any longer, "GOKU!"
Bulma immediately rushed into the room, but was frozen once she entered when she saw an empty bed, and a more than distraught mother, "What happened?"
"WHERE THE HELL IS GOKU!?"
. . .
(Kumogakure no Sato - Outskirts)
Sneaking out of a maximum security village couldn't be that hard, right? Getting out of his house was pretty easy, so he figured the rest of it would be cake walk. Goku was currently bouncing from roof top to roof top, in his not so well thought out escape from Kumogakure. He couldn't stand by while N was being held hostage any longer.
He pretended not to care the whole day, just to throw everyone off, and now his mission was set into motion. The boy left his house less than hour ago, gathered some materials, created a distraction, and now; what he thought to the be hardest part of his plan was right before him.
The boy knew he had the village's security all drawn to one spot, so slipping out wouldn't be a problem. He approached a quiet road outside of Kumogakure that would lead him back toward the smaller towns, where N had been kidnapped, and he would follow whatever clues he received from there.
For him to leave alone was a gutsy move, but Krillin was in the hospital, and no one else would even support him in such a crazy mission. He didn't know what to expect from it, but he knew one thing; he would come back with N in one peace. The boy had no choice but to hope for the best.
As he strolled back toward Hoseki, he had time to think for himself, and he was enjoying it a lot, but he was drawn back into reality once he heard a woman's voice humming off in the distance. The boy immediately panicked and went to hide behind a rock.
The woman passing by was none other than Yugito Nii, who was singing to herself as she returned to the village from one of her small missions. She didn't seem to notice the hiding Goku, and continued on her way back to Kumogakure.
Goku peeked his head around the rock and saw her walking back toward the village and quietly celebrated, but when he turned his head to face forward; Yugito was staring him right in his face. The boy shot up in an instant and held his hands up in a placating fashion, "How'd you do that!?"
"You're pretty bad at this whole hiding thing," Yugito admitted and stood up straight, looking down on Goku with a slight frown on her face. She stepped out from behind the rock and Goku had no choice but to follow her, "What are you doing outside of the village at this hour?"
"I have to save my friend, he was kidnapped by the Aka.. I don't know their name, but-"
"You don't think the Raikage is handling something as big as that?" Yugito questioned Goku with a furrowed brow. The village knew everything about Goku and N, and wouldn't let anything happen to them as long as they were shinobis in Kumogakure. "We're working on getting N back as we speak, so Goku, just go back home. It's none of your business."
Goku felt obligated to rescue his friend, since he felt guilty about N's capture. Had he never meddled in the Hoseki mission, they would have never settled for N as an alien hostage, and he'd be at home right now, but that's not how things went, "I can't just sit here and wait for him, the Aka.. whatever their name is, want me, and that's what their going to get."
"Don't be foolish," Yugito grabbed Goku by the collar and started dragging him back to the village. "I won't tell anyone what happened here tonight, you just have to do one thing for me."
"What's that?"
"Come stay the night with me, I want to show you something."
. . .
(Konohagakure no Sato - Training Field)
The blonde haired genin sat in front of his katana, which was stabbed into the ground while he meditated. He was struggling to keep his eyes closed and a sound mind with so much going on in his life, but since the Chuunin exams were coming up; he would do any kind of training to get an advantage, and Kakashi suggested the peaceful meditation to him. So far, he wasn't seeing the hype about it.
It was the middle of the night in Konoha, and he was all alone on the training field. Apparently, no one else was as dedicated to improving themselves as he was. He used the peacefulness of the training field as an attempt to clear his mind and get in touch with his 'spiritual' side, but it seemed like things weren't clicking.
No matter how in tune with nature he got, he still heard minor things distracting him from his training. He thought he was completely alone on the field, but he heard things like growling, which made him open his eyes; thinking there was a wild animal right in front of him, and he was only slightly wrong.
He was sitting in the warm water of a sewer, and was unfortunate enough to be looking the most dangerous beast in all of his history right in the face. The giant fox was still resting, but once Naruto stood up; his demonic red eyes snapped open and locked onto Naruto. The Kyuubi no Yoko frowned, "You?" He voiced his distaste for the young shinobi quite simply, "Who do I owe the displeasure for this visit?"
"Trust me, I don't want to be here either," Naruto grabbed the hilt of his inherited blade and held it firmly, since the malicious aura coming from the tailed-beast did a little more than worry him. "I don't know how I got here to tell the truth."
"You probably came to leach some of my power," The Kyuubi smirked, "You only come to me when you're in danger anyway."
"I don't need your power," Naruto said confidently and pointed his thumb at his chest. "I'm strong with or without you, fox!"
"Are you sure about that?" The Kyuubi couldn't hold back his devilish grin, "The only reason you've lived through half of your battles are because of me. Whenever you need that extra push, you always call on me. Whenever you need to be healed, you always call on me." The giant fox rested its head between its arms and closed his eyes, "But I'm guessing you never noticed, you're just as ungrateful as the rest of them."
Naruto stared at his open palm and started to realize how fast he could recover, or simply over power a stronger opponent when he needed to, "Maybe you're right," Naruto balled up his fist and furrowed his brow, "But that doesn't mean I need you. I didn't ask for you to be sealed in my gut."
"I know I'm right," The fox snappily replied and decided to ignore Naruto for the rest of his visit. He had nothing more to say to his host, since he knew their encounter wasn't going anywhere.
"Look here fox," Naruto held up his katana and pointed it at his oversized tenant living in his stomach. Unconsciously, he and the senju blade started to glow a bright yellow, and the boy grinned as he started to float within his mind scape. "As long you're going to be living with me, you're going to treat me with respect, and pay your portion of the rent." A beam of yellow light connect with the Kyuubi's forehead, and before Naruto knew it; his mindscape was illuminated in a bright light that he couldn't see through.
He was returned to the training field, but it had gone through an extreme makeover. Naruto's mind couldn't register anything that was going on, from his mindscape, and now he was sitting in the middle of a newly created forest. He was surrounded by weird looking trees, and a wooden hand reached out and tried to grab him by the arm.
"Naruto-nii!"
. . .