The Tale of Shenron
Nine years pass and in the dark forest of Mount Paozu a 13-year-old Son Goku rolls through the forest beside a river on top of a large log he had chopped down with a saw. The handle rested on his right shoulder as he waved to a passing monkey with his free hand. Hidden in the trees and foliage however was a squad of shinobi in white animal masks watching him from afar. They were the Anbu unit in charge of observing Goku. Goku stopped by a small house with a roof which pointed upward like a crown, it was eastern styled and was a one room house, Goku's home, formally Gohan's but with modifications since being crushed nine years prior. Goku put his saw away, laid the log on one of its flat sides. Goku then took a fighting stance, leaning forward with his left leg, and then changing his stance abruptly before he grabbed the log and threw it high into the air before jumping after it and hitting it with a punch and a kick, spitting it into many equally even pieces.
Goku and the wood pieces fell to the ground, Goku then took his time picking every individual piece up and stacking them behind his house. Feeling hungry Goku patted his belly and headed into his house. To his right was a bed with a lamp and in front of him was an empty desk and a drawer that had a small pillow atop it with Gohan's most prized possession resting on it. An orange orb with four stars decorating it, Gohan didn't have a name for it but Goku had taken to referring to it as his grandpa. A strange way to honor his deceased grandfather but to Goku it didn't matter.
He placed both of his hands together in a prayer and said, "Hey Grandpa, I'm gonna get me a bite to eat." Goku then leaves but not before tying his grandfather's Power Pole to his back. Goku then leaves the house and runs off into the forest in search of food. As Goku left the area three Anbu trailed him while three others monitored the house. With the Anbu monitoring the house a man and woman wore Owl masks while the third, another man, who is the current leader of the group, wore a wolf mask. They all wore a similar outfit, acting as an Anbu uniform, it consisted of a black sleeveless shirt with matching gloves that extended up to his arm stopping a bit below their shoulder. On his left biceps and his right leg's thigh he wore a white wrapping that looked like bandages. They all had a red Anbu tattoo which was simple in design. It looked like a fancy six with a curved slash at the bottom of it. They all wore a gray flak jacket and gauntlets which were the same color. They wore dark blue pants and a pair of black open toe shoes which were common ninja wear in general.
Wolf-1 spoke in a demanding voice, "When was the last incident?" Owl-1, responded with a dry tone, "A week ago." Wolf-1 then asked, "Were there any casualties?" This time Owl-2 answered, showing no hesitation in her voice, "Three casualties including the previous captain." Wolf-1 paused for a moment and then said, "At one glance he seems like any other child, carefree, cheerful. Then you catch him on a full moon, and you understand exactly why this mission is so important."
The other two shinobi remain silent which is soon broken when a fourth Shinobi appears out of thin air bowing to Wolf. They wore a feline'esk mask and immediately said, "We have a situation…" Meanwhile Goku was dragging home a fish two times his size, his Anbu observers watched him when they all heard a strange sound that gradually became louder and louder. The Anbu could hardly believe what they saw, a vehicle, a car, such transportation was rare in the land of Fire among other ninja dominated nations, was barreling down the road toward Goku. The Anbu had many questions floating around their heads when they saw this.
They wondered what a western vehicle could be doing here, the entrance to Mount Paozu isn't just off limits, it has Anbu lookouts watching all the entrances, it should be impossible for someone to enter without being stopped by them. Regardless of what "could" have happened, what "was" currently happening is that Goku was about to come face to face with an outsider. A situation which the Anbu were supposed to avoid but doing so now would mean exposing themselves to Goku which was also against their mission. The whole purpose of the lookout was to avoid Goku coming into contact with anyone else and to avoid creating a situation where the Anbu had to reveal themselves to Goku. Before they could figure out what to do in this situation the car nearly runs Goku over, only to narrowly stop before hitting Goku, screeching to a halt. A blue haired teenage girl pops her head out and yells at the young man, "Watch where you're going you moron, I could have hit you!"
Goku reacted with hostility yelling back with a fiery expression, "So… a monster, eh?! Tryin' to snatch my fish from me?!" Without hesitation Goku picked the massive vehicle up with his bare hand while speaking through his exasperated groans thanks to the heavy vehicle, "Well…you're not… gettin' away… with my fish…!" Completely shocked by Goku's feat of strength, all she can yell out is, "What!" repeatedly. Goku then throws her car on its side, breaking its front windows and popping two of its tires off. Goku then takes out his Power Poll and yells out a challenge, "Now c'mon and fight me!" He repeated the words again and awaited the "monsters" counterattack. The teen popped her head out clearly agitated from the trauma of getting thrown. Goku was confused by her presence and exclaimed while pointing his Power Pole in the direction of the teen, "Yeesh… now a hideous demon emerges from the monster!" Apparently crossing a line, the girl immediately yells out, "I'll show you hideous!" and throws some sort of bean sized item at the ground in front of her. It erupts in white smoke and a child sized robot appears in its place. It was white and circular shaped, it spoke in a cybernetic voice, "Defense Drone Mark. 111 ready for combat!"
Goku comments on the robot, "What is that thing, another monster?" The girl immediately yells out, "Mark 111 cream that brat!" The robot begins to respond to the teen's orders, "Order received, combat mode activ-" before the robot could even finish its sentence Goku yelled out, "Power Pole Extend!" The staff in Goku's possession suddenly increased its length as Goku plunged it into the chest of the robot causing it to spark and explode.
The girl was completely shocked and frightened at the destruction of her robot while Goku simply said, "Power Poll Retract." The Poll soon returned to its original length which is when Goku twirled it in his hand and laid the bottom of the poll on the ground next to him like a walking stick. He said with confidence, "Yer' monsters are no match for me, Demon!" Goku then prepared to enter a battle stance again when the girl immediately surrendered, raising her hands to where Goku could see them and yell out, "Wait, whoa, time out! I'm not a demon, I'm human!" Goku stops on one foot and says in a confused tone, "Huh, a human, really?" The teen climbed out of her car and while gesturing to herself she said, "Yes silly, I'm just like you! Take a gander!"
While Goku examined her to figure out if she was telling the truth, the Anbu squad had a collective sigh of relief. They were lucky, from the defense robot to her pink outfit they could tell she was a simple tourist from the west. If it was another Shinobi, then word could get out about Goku which spelled trouble. A shinobi going missing in Mount Paozu would have been difficult to cover up completely and if they were resistant to Genjutsu, then the problem would only grow. A simple tourist on the other hand is a whole other matter, they would need to talk to their superiors before taking a course of action. Seeing how the situation is de-escalating the potential danger of the girl is quite small, if it comes to it, they could easily wipe her memory later on with a Jutsu. Regardless, they watched as Goku figured out that she was a girl, the first of which he has ever met and that she doesn't have a tail, but he choked that up to a "girl" thing.
Goku eventually decided to take her to his house and began to lead her that way. One of the Anbu left for the main Anbu unit to inform them of the current development. Meanwhile a single Anbu shinobi leaves the forest of Mount Paozu and enters the village of Konoha and heads for the Hokage' office, a large round, red building. Atop it was an old man wearing a red and white robe with a white and red hat which covered the top of his head. The Anbu shinobi then landed behind him bowing but before he can say anything the man in red robes asks without looking at the shinobi directly, "Is this about Goku?" The shinobi immediately responded, "Yes Lord Third, we have a situation." The man in red turned around revealing himself to be the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He then said, "Speak."
The Anbu shinobi then said, "An intruder has entered Mount Paozu." Hiruzen then asked, "How did this happen?" The shinobi immediately answered, "I'm sorry Lord Third, we checked the lookouts for the north entrance. They were dead, we still haven't found the culprit." Hiruzen bit his lip and thought to himself, "Is he making his move?" He then said, "Return to your unit. I need you to observe Goku, if the intruder is a shinobi, then you'll need to keep them from encountering the boy." The shinobi immediately asked, "What if they have already made contact?" Hiruzen immediately said, "Then eliminate them if they attempt to attack the boy, if not then follow them until you get an opportunity to eliminate the threat without alerting Goku."
The Shinobi immediately disappeared leaving Hiruzen alone to consider his next move. He thought to himself, "What should I do? This is a precarious situation and if worse comes to worse I may be forced to act against Gohan's wishes." Meanwhile Goku and the teenage girl Bulma had arrived at Goku's house while the Anbu unit watched from afar having been briefed on the nature of the intruder and having discovered the dead bodies of the lookouts who otherwise would have stopped the girl before she entered Mount Paozu. As Goku enters his house he says to Bulma, "Wait here a sec…" Bulma simply responds with, "Not much for home repair, are you?" She disregards his request and steps into his house while eyeing everything while Goku talks to Grandpa's orange orb, "Grandpa look! It's a female, a human female in our house!"
The second Bulma sees the orange ball her eyes light up and she yells out excitedly, "That's it, the Dragon Ball!" Bulma makes a beeline for it, nearly knocking Goku over who manages to stay on one foot. She yells out a celebratory, "Wa-hooo!" and begins to exclaim, "I knew it, my detector was right on!" Right when she begins to grab the ball Goku reaches out his hands while looking at her with a scowl, he yells out angrily, "Hey, Leggo o' grandpa! That was his last possession, even girls aren't allowed to touch it!" Bulma immediately let's go of it but keeps a simple smile while she reaches into her bag. She says as she's about to pull something out of the bag, "Well, I guess I hafta let you in on my Lì'll secret." She then pulls out her own pair of orange orbs with the same decorated stars as Goku's ball, only each one has a different number of stars.
The Anbu unit approached the house and listened in on what Bulma and Goku were saying. Goku yells out of surprise and says, "More Grandpa, two more Grandpas!" Bulma giggles as she lays the balls on Goku's table and explains, "No, no. They're called "Dragon Balls"." Goku speaks in a dejected tone, "Y'mean some poor Dragon?" Bulma ignored Goku's morbid assumption and said while picking up the two-star ball, "I found one in my cellar, I had no idea what it was and neither did anyone else I asked." Bulma then went on to explain what she learned from an old textbook, "There were originally seven Dragon Balls, and each of them glows with the light of the tiny stars inside, from one star to seven." Goku examined his grandpa's dragon ball and said, "Grandpa has Four stars in 'I'm." Bulma then said, "That's the Four-Star Ball while the first one I found was the Two Star Ball."
She then picked up her five-star ball and said, "And after weeks of searching the north valley, I finally found the Five Star Ball." Goku then asked, "You're collectin' them?" Bulma responded while resting her head on her right hand which was laid atop the table, "Almost Halfway there, But It won't be no cake walk from here on." Goku then asked, "Why do you want em', Gonna make one've them bead necklaces or somethin'?" Bulma sarcastically says, "Oh, but of course!" She then straightens up and says, "Listen goof, an amazing thing happens when you get all seven." She finishes her explanation, "And you chant just the right chant, to summon Shenron the Eternal Dragon! He'll grant any wish, but only one!"
The Anbu Unit listens intently at the explanation, Goku exclaims, "Wow, that's awesome." Bulma then adds, "The last person who collected the Dragon Balls became a king!" She then says, "But somehow in the centuries since, the balls got scattered again leavin it to Lì'll me to bring 'em back together!" Bulma then excitedly stood up and said, "And I've already settled on a wish! At first, I wanted a lifetime supply of strawberries, but now I think I'm gonna go for a Super cute boyfriend!" She then turned to Goku and asked for his Four-Star ball. Goku immediately kept it to his side and yelled out, "No, no way! This is th' only Grandpa I got left!" After a few minutes of arguing Bulma came up with a good trade for the ball. Bulma asks Goku to come with her to get the others, saying that his grandfather would be proud to see how strong he can get on the journey while leaving out the single detail that the balls actually get scattered across the globe after every wish.
After hearing all of this the Anbu unit's situation became a lot more complicated. As Goku packed for the journey ahead they talked amongst themselves just as the last member of their unit arrived to give them Hiruzen's orders. The Anbu shinobi talk amongst themselves, Wolf-1 asked, "What do you all think?" Owl-1 tilted his head and asked, "What do you mean?" Wolf-1 looked directly at him without saying a word. Owl-1 knew what he was thinking and let out a light chuckle and said, "You can't be considering what she said? Magical balls that can summon a Dragon which can grant any wish. That's insane, you can't seriously believe…"
Wolf-1 immediately said back, cutting off Owl-1, "I'm not saying anything, but if these balls really do what she thinks they do, then this could be a problem." Owl-1 scoffs in response and Cat-1, the shinobi who alerted everyone of Bulma's arrival, immediately chimed in, "I'm not one to worry over a potential crisis on some story a foreigner made up but if it's not…" Owl-1 immediately looked at him and said, "You think it's worth looking into." Cat-1 then said while looking at Owl-1, "On the off chance it's not all a story then we need to keep this info under wraps." Owl-2 then said, "If these balls really do grant wishes there is no end of problem individuals who we need to keep them from." Wolf-1 then said, "If the likes of Donzo and Orochimaru got them then who knows what could happen." Cat-1 then added, "Never mind those two, if any of the great nations learned of them and assumed they work, then we could be looking at the cause of the next Great Ninja War."
Owl-2 then said, "Even if they don't work like she says they do, this Shenron might actually be a summoning animal or maybe even a creature akin to a Tailed Beast." Wolf-1 then said, "Regardless we need to inform Lord Third of the situation and since we can't really leave the boy to do his own thing, Owl-1, Owl-2, we'll do as the Hokage wanted and observe him while Cat-1 reports this new information to Lord Third." Everyone agrees but before Cat-1 leaves Wolf-1 rips a piece of his clothing and says, "If you need to track us down use one of our Ninja Hounds to track me with this.
Cat-1 retrieved the piece of cloth and immediately left for Konoha while the rest of the Anbu began to shadow Goku, hoping to keep his monstrous Great Ape Form a secret white Cat-1 informs the Hokage on this development.
Author's Notes: Some may notice, if they are familiar with the characters of DB's true age that Goku is a bit older than he is in canon. Id did this because Dragon Ball has more time skips, not to mention longer time-skips than Naruto. So Goku is aged up in order to make sure he's the correct age by the time Shippuden's (or Naruto part 2 if you're a manga reader) events begin in the story.
Some may also note that Bulma brings out a robot instead of a gun, this is because OG Naruto avoided using guns because early on, they could have easily killed the main characters. This was before healing factors and feats got super crazy, so I decided to replace them with robots which will become more numerous later. I should note that guns are a thing, it's just that I have limited their access to the Naruto side of the world.
One last note, if you notice Goku's dialogued get super weird, that's because I used the manga for that part of the story. When I directly write for Kid Goku it won't be this level of southern hic.