A certain blonde boy woke up after a long night of deep sleep. The sun was already entering his room through the window of his small apartment. He yawned before standing up and heading for the table, which was right next to his bed.

He grabbed his old milk and the bowl that had the least amount of ramen leftovers in it. There, he put some cereal and then poured the milk. Some small oily particles from the broth of the ramen were still observable among the milk. However, the blonde boy was not even close to noticing.

After finishing his bowl of cereal in barely over a minute, he grabbed a piece of bread and ate it. Then, he finished what little was left of milk on the carton.

He then went to grab his usual uniform and looked at himself in the mirror while changing. His hair was all messy so he went to the bathroom to use some water to fix it slightly. Finally, he put his hitai-ate on, and headed for the door.

Naruto felt as if he had forgotten something, but figured it was not as important if he had failed to remember it. After closing the door of his apartment, he ran down the hallway and jumped into the streets of Konoha.

He had forgotten to take a shower.

After taking his usual shortcuts, he finally reached a familiar alley. There, his two teammates were already waiting.

"Good morning, Sakuraaa!" Yelled Naruto, waving at her while still running.

The pink-haired girl turned to look at him, not especially thrilled to see him. The blonde boy, however, ran into Sasuke before her.

The two boys locked stares and immediately looked in the opposite direction. The two crossed their arms and humphed. Sakura, who was already irritated by having to wait so much for their master, cringed at the behavior of the boys. Her mind was quickly filled with murderous thoughts of whom she called her inner self.

Three more hours went by before the silver-haired jounin showed up at the intended place for the meeting. Sakura and Naruto were furious at him, while Sasuke was simply unimpressed.

"Good morning. I'm afraid I got lost on the way here…" He said calmly as he waved. His only visible eye showed as little emotion as always.

He flinched slightly after the blonde boy ran up to him in the blink of an eye. It was not real, but he could feel as if a burning aura of fire surrounded the boy's body.

"Oi, Kakashi! Any new cool missions for team 7?! I'm tired of the boring-ass quests the old man has given us!" He raised his punch as now his eyes were caught on fire. "We want action! Something where we can use all of our skills and get stronger and-and-and-"

"Is that so?" Asked the jounin with his trademark uninterested soft tone.

"Speak for yourself, dumbass!" Yelled the pinkette furiously.

The last of the Uchiha humphed again, simply looking away as he remembered how he almost gave his life to save that idiot.

"If I remember correctly," the man put his index finger on his chin as he began to speak. "The last time we got a harder mission you all almost died."

The flame of Naruto's spirit did not wane a bit. "But now we've learned and are stronger! We can surely beat anyone's ass now."

"Not even close…" Mumbled the jounin.

"What was that?!"

Kakashi pretended to be oblivious and shrugged. Naruto squinted his eyes while staring at his master.

"Anyways, we do have a mission. Why else would I want to make my day worse by dealing with you?" He sighed and put his hands on the pockets of his pants. "Lord Third assigned us a C-rank mission. He said it's especially for you, Naruto."

The blonde boy's eyes began to glow, while Sasuke finally turned around with a suspicious look.

"Didn't know there were missions especially for idiots." Said the Uchiha softly.

"Oi!" Yelled Naruto, threatening Sasuke with his fist.

Kakashi ignored the two boys and continued talking like nothing happened. "Some villagers in the north of the country saw a god or two and we need to trace them down and kill 'em."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at how unimpressed the jounin was. A god? That's a very big word to describe someone.

"Master Kakashi, why is the mission only C-ranked if it's about hunting a god?" She scratched her chin. "And why are we assigned to do such a thing? We're just genin!"

The jounin totally forgot these kids did not know a single thing. Couldn't blame them much, though, as they were still very inexperienced.

He shrugged. "We get these sorts of reports all the time. Usually it's just some cheap wizard or a crazy priest. Once it was a rogue genin. Never anything too serious."

The pink-haired girl nodded in understanding. There was no way the Hokage would make some genin team hunt down a real god.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke were still staring down at each other. Kakashi only then noticed, and rolled his eyes as he realized he would have to explain everything all over again. That's why he hated being the master of a genin team. He hated dealing with kids.

The half-saiyan returned after slightly less than two days flying around the entire world. Normally, he would have been able to fly across the entire planet in a few hours, but he really tried to find his friends or any familiar location, which delayed his journey.

Piccolo was resting outside of the newly built hut, taking the sun. The hut, however, was not made out of wood. Instead, the namekian had used his magic to make one in the style of his people. Admittedly, it was probably better than anything Gohan intended to do with the wood he had gathered.

While he did not open his eyes, he was aware that his pupil had arrived.

"Well, how'd it go? You took your time." Asked the namekian.

Gohan could not even reach the namekian before he collapsed on his knees. He could not hold it back anymore and began sobbing.

Piccolo peeked at the boy with just one of his eyes. He sighed as he noticed it was just as bad as it sounded. Gohan was stronger than him, but he still was a boy. A boy that had been stripped from all his friends and family.

He pulled the half-blood saiyan into a tight hug. Such was a common gesture among humans, and while namekians did not exactly understand or share it, he felt it was effective enough. The last thing he wanted was to just watch as his pupil broke down in front of him.

"I don't know what happened, Mr. Piccolo," the boy struggled to even breathe between phrases from his agitation. "I couldn't find anyone. I couldn't even find any familiar places! Not even the lookout. Everyone is gone and everything is different."

Piccolo had been looking away due to his embarrassment. There was something about physical contact that he was just not used to. However, his interest was naturally captured by the boy's words.

"Not even the lookout?"

The boy could only shake his head.

It was definitive then. They were not on their own Earth. Somehow, the planet had completely changed its appearance and the people in it. Or could Cell simply kill them, destroy the places they know and let the planet be?

"The big cities seem older, more primitive. No Capsule Corp., no tall buildings, no cars."

"Could Dende have made a wish…?"

"Why would he wish for something like this?!" Gohan punched the ground, creating a small crater. "I lost everything."

"That way he would earn us a second chance." Piccolo was trying to give sense to the situation, despite the seeming lack of it. "Losing it all but our lives."

"What would it matter?!" Gohan pushed himself away from the namekian's hug.

Admittedly, it relieved Piccolo to finally be free of physical contact once again. However, he was not so satisfied with the now angry half saiyan walking towards his hut. For a solid few seconds he believed the boy would demolish it.

However, Gohan simply stopped himself and looked up at the sky. Tears still escaped his eyes. He had still lost everything.

The boy then had a realization. He still had someone left. Someone who had been a pillar in his life from the moment his uncle invaded Earth. Even if his situation was bad, it could be worse. He could be forced to deal with it alone.

"I'll go sleep a bit." Said Gohan before entering the hut.

The namekian nodded and once again let himself rest on the floor. As the warm light of the sun penetrated his green skin, he spoke to himself. Or to his insides.

"No lookout means no senzu beans," he said, with his eyes closed. "No dragon balls."

He really focused his mind.

"Kami, do you think you could grant me some of your abilities?"

A few weeks went by and it seemed that team 7 was finally approaching its target. They better be, because they had been hiking the mountains for several days now. The wind only got colder, and despite the abundant vegetation, the hills only got taller.

Early on that day, they had finally found a dirt road. It was an indication that someone was using it frequently. Possibly an indication of civilization. And indeed, two hours later, Naruto found the main entrance of the village.

The blonde boy jumped and cheered at the relieving sight of the village, while one of the farmers that were starting their work of the day stared in confusion at the sweaty and exhausted boy. Behind him, the rest of his team were trying to catch up to him.

Kakashi's only visible eye snapped open in relief at the sight of the farmers. After days of hiking, he was not sure how much farther he would be willing to go before calling the mission off.

Sasuke was as expressionless as ever. He was gasping for air and very sweaty, just like Naruto. The only sound produced by his body was the growls of his stomach.

Meanwhile, Sakura collapsed on the ground. She was completely exhausted and on the verge of dehydration. Every mission they went on, it became evident that despite her cognitive advantage over the boys, she was lacking a lot in the physical conditioning department.

"Oi, you! Old men!" Naruto yelled at the farmers as he ran towards them. Once he was right in front of them, they flinched due to his putrid smell. "Give us some food and water! We have come to save you!"

The boy gave them his trademark confident smile while he raised his hand in a thumbs up. However, the farmers were not very happy with the cocky attitude of the blonde boy. One raised an eyebrow, while another brought a bucket of water and poured it over Naruto. A third farmer brought a glass of water for the collapsed girl.

"What you need is a shower." Said Kakashi as he finally reached his student. Naruto squinted while shaking to get the water off him, like a dog would. "Apologies. We are the shinobi from Konoha that your leader hired. We came to deal with that Oni you reported a few days ago."

"Ah. Lord Saru will be happy to see you!" Said one of the farmers, while beckoning the shinobi to follow him.

As they traversed the town, they confirmed the seemingly humble nature of it. Despite this, it was still a very big town. It had been one of the first known settlements in the northern regions of the Land of Fire. With a story of over a thousand years, the town had survived even the Warring States Period and the Great Ninja Wars.

Kakashi recalled that old man Sarutobi was very nostalgic when reminiscing about the town. He was not sure of the reason at the time, but the name of the local governor gave him an idea of why that could be.

In the exact center of the town, an old temple stood firm with a banner of the Land of Fire right next to it. The statues of the Sage of Six Paths in each corner of the temple indicated that it had been built around his time, which only added cultural weight to the location.

Naruto carefully examined one of the statues, while the silver-haired jounin addressed their guide. Sasuke slapped the back of his head to prevent him from damaging a religious monument.

"If you do anything to that statue, I'll snap your neck!" Yelled Sakura, who cared a lot about such matters.

Kakashi glanced at his students to make sure the situation did not get out of hand. Then, he looked back at the farmer.

"Thank you very much for your assistance. We promise to do a good job."

The farmer bowed, and the jounin followed. "If you excuse me, I'll go back to work."

The jounin waved him off before turning back to his students. They were still yelling at each other.

"Get away from that statue, Naruto. Sakura is right, we don't want to break any of this." He grabbed the boy by his jacket and pulled him up. "It might not be as important for us in Konoha, but in the rest of the country these symbols are very valued. Break one and I will not save your life."

Naruto gulped. The pinkette only nodded to confirm all the words of her master, even though she really did not pay attention after he said 'Sakura is right'.

An old man came out of the temple. He was wearing a traditional white kimono under a pair of hakama pants. Over his pants, he held the sheath of his sword. The man was corpulent and imposing, while his white beard was very messy.

He smiled warmly at the sight of the familiar uniform of leaf-nin. "Come on in, please."

The temple was filled with religious iconography and candles. The smell of incense was very intense, and the smoke produced by it was visible all throughout the building.

The old man guided them across a hallway with many doors. However, they were beckoned to only go through the one at the end. It was the only door that was open, and a wooden table with many cushions around it could be seen through it. There were many candles in the middle of it and some other furniture around it.

Once they entered the room, they could see that the governor and his family were already having lunch. Three women, only one over her forties and the other two not older than thirty, were carefully seated while helping several children with their food. Most of them were toddlers, but there were three who were already adults, and a girl that was around Naruto's own age.

"You caught us in the middle of lunch. So I apologize for having to bring you here. I hope you can accept our food as compensation." Said the old man. He turned to the three women and beckoned them to go bring more food. They silently nodded before standing up and leaving the room.

Sakura glanced at Kakashi, who was unfazed by the situation. While polygyny was not the norm within Konoha, it certainly was outside of it. Especially for nobles.

"Those were my wives. These are my kids. They're mostly little ones, but four of them can already present themselves." He pointed his hand at the three adult males and the younger girl. They all had black hair and tan skin.

The three young men nodded in acknowledgement, while the girl carefully stared at the four shinobi.

"These four are supposed to defeat the gods?" She asked her father.

The old man punched the table while staring at his older daughter. "Be respectful, Touka! They are respectable shinobi from Konohagakure, the great military force created by the Feudal Lord."

"They seemed very strong. The one that wasn't a demon was just as tall as the one in the blue shirt but had bigger muscles than the one with gray hair."

"Touka, leave." Ordered the old man, while looking down at the table.

The girl was initially shocked by the words of her father, but eventually obeyed and left. Naruto mocked her without the governor noticing, but Kakashi threatened him with his single visible eye.

"Apologies once again." The old man sighed as he played with his messy beard. "But back to the topic that concerns us. I'll take you to the proof of our story when we are done eating."

"What is it?" Asked the silver-haired jounin. He was very skeptical, like everyone else in Konoha. The mission was only accepted because it was easy money.

"It's the arm of the demon. It seems he lost it when he crashed." His tone changed from his previous warm one to a more serious one. "It's currently being held by some fanatics just outside the village that stole it to worship it. I believe they're already building a temple just for it."

"Crashed?"

"Yes. From the skies." He took a sip from his tea before continuing. "I can show you the crater on the way."

A shiver went down Kakashi's spine. The single thought of the possibility of these mysterious figures being actual demons was previously inconceivable to him, but now it plagued his mind. Only Sakura felt the man's shiver, and she turned to look at him.

"Hmmm. Intriguing."

Inside, though. He had a bad feeling about this mission.