23 ~

Jiraiya paced through the secluded trail that led back to Konohagakure, whistling a tune to himself with his hands stuffed in his pockets. The man always returned home to give periodic updates about the ninja world to the Third Hokage personally.

As he walked through the dirt trail, his eyes started picking up little hints of a battle that took place not too long ago. He saw blood mixed in with the dirt and strange white bits that he only knew to be associated with extra terrestrials. The man kneeled down and examined it closely.

He scooped up a patch of dirt and picked out the the white remnants left behind by the alien, and reached into pocket to pull out his small money pouch. He poured out the scarce amount of change left in it and put the bits in it, "It's for the greater good, I guess." Jiraiya stuffed it back in his pocket in an instant. "Why would they not cover their tracks though?"

The white haired man came to a stand and continued his pace toward Konoha. He planned on dropping his new findings to Konoha R&D, and then continuing on to speak with his former sensei.

He turned his thoughts into actions and started moving forward once more and advanced into the Hidden Village he used to called home. When things got too hectic for him, he knew he could always count on Konoha remaining the same when he returned, and as anticipated; Kotetsu and Izumo were waiting on him at the gate.

The man ran a hand through his hair, and with his other hand waved at the two chuunin with a smile on his face. His gesture elicited a head nod from both of them, and he walked up to the booth, "What's new, gakis?"

"Explosion outside of the village yesterday, did you see?" Kotetsu asked with a raised brow.

"I saw the aftermath, pretty nasty in my opinion," Jiraiya left it at that, and decided not to share his findings. "Any idea where or who it came from?"

Ikumo shook his head in disappointment, "No, but it's unlike anything we've ever seen." He rested his face against his knuckle and yawned, "But they haven't done an actual search of the area, they're too busy gearing up for the chuunin exams coming up."

"I heard that Uzumaki kid made it this year too, it's going to be crazy," Kotetsu added with a smile. He was excited to see the talent that his home village produced go against the rest of the ninja world, because it certainly was an experience for him.

Jiraiya was frozen for a moment after hearing that Naruto made it into the chuunin exams, and the machine that was his mind instantly started working, "They're having the exams in the village this year?" The duo nodded and Jiraiya immediately walked into the village, and effectively ended the conversation with the pair of best friends that barely even noticed he left.

The man sighed to himself, "Well this changes everything."

. . .

( Location Unknown )

N clutched his ribs in extreme pain as he crawled across the perfectly laid marble floor. His blood stained the ground, and out his peripheral; he saw the same snake that sunk its fangs into his side slowly slithering across the ground. The boy had managed to blow half of the creature's body off and he planned on doing more.

The boy stuck his hand out, but suddenly felt another strike of pain, as a woman stepped on his wrist and stopped him from doing any kind of damage. She had shoulder length blue hair and same color eyes, which were locked on the boy, "734, calm down; we're not here to hurt you." Despite her comment, she pressed down on his wrist and furrowed her brow, "As long as you cooperate, you shouldn't have any problems."

"You kidnapped me and expect me of all people to cooperate with you?" N asked in a condescending tone.

"We can help you, and you can help us, but we knew you wouldn't come to us without guidance," The woman explained, as she removed her foot from his wrist. She picked him up off of the ground and stood him up. "I can tell you're not hostile, and you're willing to listen."

N had one hand over his newly created wound and the other on his drawstring, "I'll hear you out, if it means I'll stay alive."

The snake slithered up the woman's leg and into her cloak, and she didn't seem discomforted by it, "You want to meet your parents don't you?" She asked with a raised brow, taking a step closer to N, and looking down on him with a straight face.

"I do, but it seems like it's going come with consequences," N's vision was starting to get hazy due to bleeding out at a continuous rate. He looked at the woman with a furrowed brow, quietly gesturing to his open wound and she turned around to lead him somewhere else.

"We need you to participate on the chuunin exams as a member of the Akatsuki," She said quite calmly, while N's heart nearly skipped a beat. The woman turned and stopped moving completely, "If you don't want to, you're other option is living in the intergalactic prison with your kind."

N held his side and breathed slowly, and then looked at his bloodied hand. His options were very limited, due to his condition, and the sheer amount of powerful people he could feel roaming around wherever he was; he decided to cooperate with the woman, "If I do this, I want you to call me N, and not … 734. I'm starting to hate that."

"Very well N, my name is Konan." She bowed respectfully and continued their journey to the medical room, where a lone red-head girl sat in a chair reading an Icha-Icha Paradise book while waiting for someone to come and talk to her. "Karin, this is your new teammate, N; heal him." She ordered and walked out of the room.

The girl pushed her glasses up and warmed up instantly to the blonde, setting her book down on her seat and getting in his face, "You're an alien?" She asked as she lifted his shirt up comfortably and examined his wound.

"Not exactly," N said simply and looked the spiky-red-head up and down, "You're a medi—" In that instant, her hand was shoved into his mouth, and she forced him to bite down. His eyes widened, as he instantly started to feel better, and she transferred her energy into his body. The boy couldn't fight a grin from forming on his face, "I guess I judged you too soon."

Karin simply nodded her head and returned to her seat, so she could continue reading the only book the Akatsuki would give her. She pretended to read while she watched N slump against the wall and stare blankly at the roof, and being the good teammate that she is; she felt the need to console him. The girl set the book down, "It's not that bad, I hope you know."

N looked at her with a raised brow, silently prodding her to go on.

"According to the leader of this organization, we're like … bounty hunters, our team is going to be hunting down aliens and dealing with extraterrestrial activity from other villages." She shrugged and flipped a page in her book, "Pretty easy gig if you ask me."

"It's a little bit deeper than that, but I'll figure it out," N said as he slipped back into his own thoughts, and Karin had to actually return to reading. Him having to take people away from their families just to meet his own rattled his brain to no end, but he was positive he would find a way to work around it.

. . .

( The Hub ~ With Goku & Yugito )

"Who's the director?" Goku asked with something of a frown on his face, since the only time he 'summoned' somewhere was when he was in trouble.

"His name is Xabi, he's .. quite the character," Yugito explained to Goku with a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. While 'The Hub' was considered to be his domain, she hoped that she wouldn't have to cross paths with him during her visit.

Goku sighed and continued to follow after the woman, as she led him through multiple halls that went toward the back of the building. His office was located at the absolute dead end of The Hub and had no formal entrance. There weren't any doors and Goku saw the man with the vibrant red skin watch their every step toward his office.

He had his silk white hair tied into a ponytail with strands hanging out around his head. The man also wore a lab coat that swayed with his every movement, as he got up from his chair to greet the two visitors, "721, 734, how nice of you to join me today."

"Could you please stop calling me 734, my name is Goku." Goku rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest, acting like he wasn't impressed by the man's red skin.

"I know your name, who do you think gave it to you?" Xabi asked with a raised brow, and a smirk plastered on his face.

"Grandpa Gohan did," The boy said confidently but furrowed his brow when Xabi laughed.

"Gohan was one of my favorite re-creations," Xabi said with a smile on his face, patting Goku on the head, "The real Son Gohan died years ago fighting the four-tails jinchuuriki along with your sensei, K." The man was quick to reveal to the alien pre-teen with a grin only a mad scientist could muster. He could see by Goku's confused expression that he should further explain, "That famous story has been exaggerated over the years, giving all of the credit to K, but Son Gohan was the man who sacrificed himself for the village."

Yugito placed her hand on Goku's shoulder and furrowed brow, "I think that's enough, Xabi." She decided to speak up after seeing how the news made Goku feel. "That can't be why you brought us down here."

"He deserves to know," Xabi smiled at the woman and then turned his attention to Goku, who he saw readying himself to barrage the man with questions.

"Then who was the man posing as Grandpa Gohan?" Goku asked immediately.

"Due to dire need for him during war time, a forbidden procedure from my planet brought him back to life," The alien scientist didn't want to give too much information to Goku, just the basics, so he bit his tongue at that point. "He and I were connected from that point, everything he saw I saw as well, and I controlled him to a certain degree, so I could handle other world affairs among humans. What do you think was under his mask?" Xabi asked with his same devilish grin.

"Wait- so you're like my real granddad?" Goku didn't even digest the other information, only realizing that Gohan lived on through Xabi.

"I guess you could say that," Xabi tapped his chin and then simply shrugged before returning to his desk. He placed his feet on the desktop. The man let out a sigh of relief, "Now that I got that off of my chest, I can tell you what I really brought you down here for."

After hearing what Xabi opened their conversation with, she was quietly worried about what he might say next. Even she didn't know about Gohan's dark experience of dying, only to be brought back for the village's sake so Xabi could live vicariously through him. The wary woman's brow twitched when he opened his mouth again.

"I just wanted to tell you, I advise that you stay out of what's going on with your friend N," He pointed at himself. "It's my job to worry about the little alien youth being held in captivity. If I lose you too, that's my ass, and I like my ass, so keep your ass within the walls of this village, or else I'll lock you in the basement of The Hub."

Goku stared blankly at the man as if he were the 'Limitless K,' and rolled his eyes. He looked up at Yugito and saw stern glare locked onto him, with a hint of worry written on her face. It started to register that he was serious, and Yugito had seen it first hand, "I understand," was all Goku could mutter without getting himself in trouble with the higher ups.

"Good, you two can leave now," The red-skinned man shooed them away as if they were his annoying pets and returned to his previous work.

Yugito was more than glad to guide Goku away from the crazy scientist she was unfortunate enough to answer to. She had her arm around Goku's shoulder, so he wouldn't try to get away from her, and led him back to where they entered the building.

"Did you know Grandpa Gohan, like the real Grandpa Gohan?" Goku asked, looking up at his the woman he had met hours ago.

"Yes, he was a great man," Yugito's answer was short and concise, and she didn't add anything beyond that. She knew Goku wanted to know more, but she didn't feel like it was her place sharing that kind of sensitive information, so she would leave it to someone like Mabui.

Goku picked up on her hesitance to share any real tidbits about the man he knew as his Grandfather. The boy sighed and continued to walk with her out of The Hub. He didn't let it bother him though, knowing he would figure out the truth about Gohan's story, so he decided to leave it alone for the moment.

. . .

(Hi no Kuni ~ With Naruto)

The newly created forest that formed before Naruto's eyes started to slowly retract into the ground. The boy tried to scoot backwards, as a stoic man appeared with the right side of his face bandaged up. He had his hands held firmly over his cane, "Naruto-kun, I'm very pleased to finally meet you." The man took concise steps forward as Naruto tried to escape, "Your younger brother Jirou-kun is excited to meet you as well."

Naruto was backed against the trunk of a tree, "Brother?" The blonde was beyond confused and a little worried by the sudden appearance by the older man. The man nodded his head, "I don't have a brother!" He yelled out and jumped up, creating a clone of himself instantly, and they both tried to pounce on the old man with their swords drawn.

Despite his old and frail appearance, he was quite agile, and avoided the quick slashes from the young shinobi and his clone's katana. The Naruto's threw their swords directly at the man's head, and he simply shifted his body to dodge them. The sword was now lodged firmly into the base of a tree, and the two clones tried their hand at direct melee with the man but he parried or straight up dodged every strike.

The copy tried to swing low and sweep the man off of his feet, but his reaction was quick, and he jumped into the air. The elderly shinobi was just as quick to plant his foot into the clone's chest, sending him flying across the field and puffing out of existence.

The real Naruto tried to tackle him onto the ground, but the man flipped backward and landed without an issue. The man was finally going on the offensive after remaining passive, smacking Naruto against the head with his wooden cane, and closing the distance instantly.

From his wooden cane, he revealed the concealed sword within it, and didn't hesitate to stab into Naruto's arm while he was down, "I was hoping you wouldn't react negatively, but I should have known." He made a silent hand gesture and men clad in black appeared in an instant. "Sedate him," The elder gentleman said quietly as he walked off.

Naruto let out a scream of pain as he tried to dislodge the sword from his arm, but the grunt was over him as soon as Danzo directed him to do so.

"Yes, Danzo-sama," The grunt replied and withdrew a pouch full of powder quickly, reached in, and threw it onto Naruto's face. The boy fell unconscious in an instant, and the man scooped him off of the ground just as fast. He threw the boy over his shoulder and started to trail after Danzo, "Where are we going sir?"

"We'll return to the base for right now," Danzo held his hand out expectantly, and one of his grunts placed his wooden cane in his hand without hesitation. He returned to his frail old man façade and paced slowly out of the training field.

The rest of his minions disappeared into the shadows and took to a more low key method of travel throughout the village. The old man nearly grinned, but his stoic nature wouldn't allow it. He was one step closer to completing a plan he had been perfecting for years and no one was there to stop him.

(Outskirts of Konohagakure)

The heavily armored alien and his partner were walking slowly through an open clearing. In the center of it was a small and decrepit shake, it look like it hadn't been visited in years. The man with the back-length hair falling out of his protective helmet was leading the way. He turned slightly to look at his partner, who had been silent since he started leading him there.

He stopped moving and stared at the man, "I told you, we're going to find them, but for now; we need to focus on our actual mission." The man gestured toward the shack, "I'm sure this is going to help your case too."

"That's not what I'm thinking about," The alien man responded quietly, "Those Akatsuki guys really are on my brain." He walked past his partner and looked up at the shack, "But if you and the boss really think this is going to help, I guess I should focus."

The man smiled under his mask and led him into the shack, going straight to where he needed to be. There was a wall full of masks and he knew exactly which one to pick out. He held the demon-like mask in his hands and looked at his partner with a wide grin, "I heard King Kai is scared of this guy." The two shared a light laugh, but the room got serious once again. "Do you want to do the honors?"

The alien simply shook his head in response, "This weird shit is relative to your planet, not mine." He shooed the mask away with his hands, "I don't take part in whatever black magic you people created." The alien man moved to the corner of the room and prodded his partner to go through with whatever it was he had planned. He folded his arms over each other and leaned back to observe.

With his back turned to the alien, the man took the helmet off of his head and set it on the ground. He placed the mask on his face and turned to face his partner, and in an instant; the spirit of the shinigami materialized before the two. It was being controlled by the man who was brave enough to put the mask on, he held his hand out, and the shinigami mimicked his movement.

The ethereal death god had a tanto in its grasp, and the man controlling it slashed across the stomach. Multiple souls went flying out after being freed from the belly of the beast, and the same wound was projected onto the man. He was quick to remove the mask and fall to his knees after controlling such a presence like the shinigami.

The man sat down on the ground and quickly put his protective helmet back on. Second on his priority list was taking the top part of his armor off, so he could get the proper medical attention. He gestured toward his partner, who immediately walked up to the man and started treating his wound, "I hope he gets what he wants out of this," He mumbled to his alien partner and grinned. "You weren't scared were you?"

"I was only a little bit disturbed," He said as he wrapped bandages around the man. The alien didn't like to dabble in Earth's affairs, or how they operated. It wasn't anything like where he came from, and supernatural things like what just happened made him uneasy, "But it's for the greater good I suppose, he was supposed to be one of the best."

The man nodded, "I can't wait to finally meet him."

. . .

My computer magically started working again when I got back from SXSW, so here's another chapter.