Team 7 set off to face their objective first thing in the morning. They left the rooms they had been granted by the chief of the village clean and well ordered. For breakfast, they only got a little bread and water. With that, they felt ready enough to enter the forest to quickly scout it and find their targets.
One of the farmers had told them the day before that it would be more efficient to follow the river. For such, Kakashi had left Pakkun and his other dogs in charge of scouting the forest, while they ran up the river.
It had already raised some alarms that, from all the possible animals to be found in a forest, they only heard birds. It had been especially strange for the jounin, who had gone through that situation many times before.
However, the theories he began to form in his head were interrupted when Sasuke spotted a building in the middle of nowhere with his sharingan.
They silently jumped from branch to branch as they approached the building. Its architecture was strange and unrecognizable to them. Kakashi had been all around the known world, and yet he had never seen something like it.
Naruto was about to jump into the place, but the jounin pulled him back onto the branch. Then, he pointed forward so as to show the little detail he had missed.
A green man was levitating in the small clearing in front of the hut. He wore a white turban and cape, on top of a purple gi. His ears were long and pointy, and his eyebrows were hairless and pronounced.
"You almost jumped right into the jaws of a demon, idiot." Mocked the avenger with a cocky smile on his face. It was always satisfying for him to be remembered of his continued superiority over his teammates.
"Shut up-!"
Naruto was hit directly on the head by the pink-haired girl, who furiously stared at him. "Don't yell, Naruto!"
"It's pointless," simply replied the jounin with a completely flat tone. His single visible eye was completely expressionless, but his heart rate was spiking as his body released a dosage of adrenaline. "He already knows we're here."
The three genin turned to look at their master with eyes completely open. Naruto was the one to speak.
"How?"
"No idea. You know what to do. Distract him while I prepare my little surprise, and I take over from there."
The trio nodded and vanished into the abundant leaves of the tree. Kakashi sighed and uncovered his second eye. The sharingan was already raging with its powerful red color.
A small brown pug suddenly jumped into his branch. It was wearing a hitai-ate with the symbol of Konoha, as well as a blue haori. His stare was just as inexpressive as that of the silver-haired jounin.
"Hmm. You found him first." The pug seemed disappointed. "Apologies."
"Your job is done for now." Kakashi said serenely. Meanwhile, he made a myriad of hand seals very quickly. "But I still need a favor. Deliver that letter."
"The one you gave us yesterday?"
The jounin nodded. "In case we don't make it, I guess it's better to let the Hokage know they are real demons."
"You were clear to the kids about the risks, right?" Replied the dog, still with a neutral expression. "For you to admit you might not make it back…"
"No, they'll fight better without knowing." Kakashi smiled with his eyes. The chirping of the birds became more intense as small sparks covered his arm.
"Hope you don't regret sending us back to Konoha." Was the last thing the pug said before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.
Once again, the copy-nin sighed. He turned to look at the small clearing in front of the hut.
Naruto stood all alone in front of the still levitating green man. The latter was more annoyed than anything else, while the fury of the blonde one was unmatched.
"Oi, green demon!" He pointed his finger directly at the face of the Namekian. "Prepare for death! The great Naruto Uzumaki has arrived!"
Piccolo opened a single eye, to confirm that the one threatening him was simply a human kid.
"Demon, huh?" He touched down while laughing softly. "Haven't heard that in a while."
Naruto gulped as the green demon towered over him. By his own estimations, he was even considerably taller than Kakashi.
A massive fireball emerged from the bushes around them, clearly targeted at the Namekian warrior. However, it was suddenly blocked by something that appeared out of nowhere.
Whatever hit the fire caused an explosion of smoke that covered the mysterious obstacle. It slowly dissipated, while Piccolo finally opened his eyes to stare directly into the soul of the blonde kid.
Naruto flinched and put his two hands in front of him, as if trying to protect himself from a mere stare.
Sasuke emerged from the bush, his Sharingan burning in his eyes. Behind him, the third remaining teammate followed, though with two kunai in her hands.
From the smoke, emerged an abnormally muscular boy. He wore the same clothes as the green man, except for the turban. One of his arms was raised, though it remained completely unharmed despite blocking a great fireball. His other arm was noticeably injured, filled with cuts and scars.
"Whatever you're trying to do, brats," Piccolo said, his annoyance translating into his tone. "I'd advise you to stop and run away while you still can."
"No can do, plant guy." Replied the bearer of the renowned dojutsu of the Uchiha. "You've brought this trouble to yourself."
Piccolo sighed, somewhat disappointed and annoyed at the situation. He grabbed his turban and removed it from his head. He let it fall to the ground, and once it made contact, it created a small crater on it.
The scene left the genin in shock, as they could not believe he was resisting so much weight on his head.
The Namekian moved one foot backwards and adopted his usual fighting stance. Gohan followed with his own stance, clearly ready to fight.
"What do you want?" Asked the half-blood.
Sasuke and Sakura seemingly disappeared into thin air, while Naruto made dozens of hand seals in under thirty seconds. He finalized his combination with the clone seal. He let out a big sigh before his body multiplied into hundreds of exact copies. With the appearance of each clone, a small smoke explosion was released.
Gohan gritted his teeth, initially worried at the sight of so many clones. It reminded him of Tien's technique, but on a whole other scale.
The Namekian seemed unimpressed, and turned to look at his student.
"His energy signal has been split. He's weaker this way." Then, he charged several Ki spheres and began launching them at the incoming horde of Narutos.
Gohan faced the horde directly and punched one straight to the face. The clone immediately exploded into more smoke. Initially confused, the half-blood then kicked another clone. It also exploded, revealing that their resistance was almost null.
The son of Goku then released a Ki explosive wave, which quickly swept his side of the horde. However, the insane amount of white smoke started to get annoying.
From behind, pushing away all the smoke, a massive fireball was once again thrown at the Saiyan. However, the latter turned around and pushed the wind forward with his Ki, which allowed for a powerful wind current to simply disperse the fireball. The wind also cleared what remained of the smoke, revealing the black-haired genin that had launched the attack, completely shocked at the ease with which Gohan simply dispersed his best jutsu.
From the side, Naruto jumped and attempted to scissor kick his neck. However, his legs were unable to do any damage to the Saiyan, who grabbed him by the right ankle and launched him towards his teammate.
Sasuke was unfortunate enough to catch the blonde with his torso, and fell down to the ground from the force of the throw.
Gohan felt one final energy signal approach him. He was distracted, however, by the intense sound of birds chirping that was seemingly getting closer.
The pinkette emerged from a nearby bush and reached the half-blood in the blink of an eye. She was wielding a massive axe. The Saiyan raised his hand and pointed it at the girl, who moved aside and spinned to completely move around him.
Gohan thought she was fleeing, but the girl closed in on him once she reached the opposite side, and landed a direct hit to his injured arm. Unexpectedly for her, the axe was the one to break once it hit the arm.
He simply ignored her as he turned towards his master, who had not intervened in the fight yet. The birds went silent, and the blue light coming out of the smoke standing in between them and the green warrior also disappeared. Slowly, the smoke dissipated, revealing an image that Gohan was simply not expecting.
The jounin had landed his chidori directly on Piccolo's abdomen, which caught both of the stranded warriors by surprise. The jutsu had been so sharp, that despite the seemingly massive difference in power it had been able to pierce through anyways.
Sasuke was simply captivated by the sight of his successful master, while Sakura and Naruto cheered for the jounin.
The Namekian was far from defeated, both were aware of that, but they had greatly underestimated their opponents.
Piccolo moved his arms to grab and crush the man with his own hands, while his opponent's own arm was still inside his abdomen. However, Kakashi vanished into a cloud of smoke and left a piece of wood in his place. He easily crushed the log and immediately regenerated his injury.
Naruto's jaw dropped one last time at how easily he recovered from the jounin's stellar technique, before it was dislocated by a powerful kick from the Namekian that landed directly. The boy was sent flying into a tree, which fell over him as the impact broke it down.
Gohan then grabbed the arm of the pink-haired girl, who was the one closer to him. He pulled her closer and hit her forehead with his index finger, sending her flying into a nearby tree in a similar manner to the blonde boy.
Only Sasuke was left, and both warriors nodded at each other before vanishing into thin air. The boy looked in every direction, trying to find them with his Sharingan, but it was useless.
From behind, the half-blood hit him directly in the neck, knocking him out. He was followed by Piccolo, who mercilessly kicked his chin and sent him flying into the sky.
"You were very annoying, kid." Said the Namekian before pounding him down.
Recognizing that his master had gone too far, Gohan tried to catch the Uchiha, but failed as Piccolo suddenly appeared slightly above him to kick him towards another tree. Sasuke broke through two trees before finally stopping his flight on a third one.
The genin, however, was completely out of combat and severely wounded.
"You might have overdone it, Mr. Piccolo." Said the half-blood, clearly disapproving of the excess of power used by his master.
"They're alive." He crossed his arms. "I was too merciful with those brats."
From the bushes, Kakashi was staring silently at the small clearing. His students had been destroyed within a few seconds, just after he had hit one of them with his strongest technique. He was already tired as he had put a lot of chakra into that chidori, and it was not a good signal that the green demon had recovered so quickly from it. Not to mention that the demons were also able to fly.
He carefully analyzed his surroundings. There was nothing left for him to do other than plan a retreat. One that involved him grabbing all his students and quickly getting to the village.
Maybe Pakkun was right. He would regret sending them back to Konoha.
A small cloud of smoke popped right on the Hokage's desk. A small brown pug swiftly jumped out of it, holding a letter in its mouth. The old Hokage put his pipe in his mouth while raising both of his eyebrows.
He had recognized the dog as one of Kakashi's pets, but was confused as to why he had been reverse summoned to his office. The dog pushed away one of the mountains of documents that filled his big desk, and carefully placed the letter there.
The old man opened his hand and a kunai appeared out of nowhere. He glanced at the man standing in front of his desk, who stared at the letter just as seriously.
Hiruzen cut the wrapping of the letter open with great precision, and carefully extracted the paper itself. He opened it as it was folded, and read the short message in under half a minute. He closed his eyes as he dived into his thoughts.
As the man finally released the smoke from his lungs, Danzo moved his stare from the letter to him.
"Is this certain, Pakkun?" Asked the Third.
"Not really, but he wanted to be sure."
Danzo now raised his head, making his posture straight. This was unusual for him, and only happened when he was either interested or being threatening.
The Hokage handed the letter to his advisor, who took an arm out of his tunic. He read the letter as quickly as Hiruzen, and carefully left it on the desk once he was finished. It was safe to say he was not happy.
"Did we lose three of our most valuable assets?" He coldly asked, once again returning to his usual curved posture.
"Perhaps." Once again, the Hokage smoked from his pipe. It was the easiest way of easing his stress.
Pakkun turned his attention from one to the other, somewhat nervous of their reactions. So far, they seemed inexpressive, but a subtle tension was starting to build up in the air. And he did not want to be in the middle of that.
"They were supposed to go to the Chunin Exams." Continued the advisor. "Suna will send their jinchuuriki to humiliate us, and now we lost our own."
"We will not lose the fox. The only question is whether we'll have it on time for the exams." He sighed. "And whether we'll have a substitute jinchuuriki ready, as well."
"You know the kid is the last of our concerns. We already have a backup." Danzo replied. "I will start gathering the assassination team that will be in charge of recovering the fox and the corpses."
"I can't be there if the goal is to seal it again." Reminded Hiruzen as his advisor began to walk out of his office.
"I'm aware." He confidently said, not even turning around to face his old friend.
Pakkun gulped, wondering what kind of monsters they would put together to carry out such a mission.
Now I'll take a little space to reply to some comments and questions, so if you aren't really interested or want to avoid possible spoilers, you are free to leave now :)
Next chapter should be up tomorrow or on Sunday. So look forward to it!
First of all, I'll answer in regards to pairings, as its been by far the most asked question: I haven't really decided yet since pairings won't yet be relevant. However I kinda have an idea and I don't really promise that the pairings will remain the same as in Hybrid Ninja. I also think there won't be definitive pairings that start from the very beginning. There might be a couple that end in the middle of the story and such. But overall I want to be clear that I haven't given it much thought and I haven't taken any final decisions.
Secondly: The Genjutsu question. I said it in Hybrid Ninja and I will say it again. I am aware that technically Genjutsu should not work in non-Chakra users. But I think it's less restrictive to let Genjutsu affect Ki users in this fic. I am also aware of how Ki works and its three pillars, and the mental strength of DB characters, but I'm going to have them be vulnerable to high level Genjutsu anyways, because otherwise there would be absolutely nothing 90% of characters could do against them, percentage which includes the likes of Itachi and Danzo. So yes, DB characters will be vulnerable to Genjutsu and that is a definitive creative decision I have taken, not a product of ignorance or whatever. I hope this ends the discussion on the matter.
Related to the second point: the new scale. Yes, Piccolo and Gohan are as strong as their regular DB counterparts within the Naruto world. I won't nerf them outside of their vulnerability to high level genjutsu. Additionally, you might have noticed that Piccolo is vulnerable to the sound of the Chidori/Raikiri, which I took from the Namekian weakness to whistling established in DB canon. That is the type of weaknesses I might exploit in the future, just to set a precedent and for you to better understand how things will work.
Thirdly: As for new DB characters to join the Narutoverse. This is a potential spoiler of some sort so make sure to run away if you don't wanna see it. There will be only one (1) more. But I think you'll like it.
Fourthly: Wanted to say hi to WhiteSerpent! I see you've gotten an account, nice! And thanks for staying around for Stranded! I remember your dedication to HN and I appreciate it, and I also appreciate your reviews and dedication to Stranded :) Hope you continue to enjoy the story.
Also thanks to everyone who has reviewed and followed/fav'd the story. I greatly appreciate the support.
Also one final note that might be relevant and wasn't really asked in the comments. I want to keep the vibe more similar to part 1 of the Naruto manga, so I will always look to the first (200 or so) chapters of the manga for reference for characterization, worldbuilding and other forms of lore and such. This also means the Otsutsuki will NOT exist in any form or way in the story and therefore a lot of the lore is changed (half from what was told in the beginning of the manga and half of my own invention), among other things. Of course aspects and characters of later in the manga will be there. Just wanted to be clear and transparent about that in case it ever raised questions, eyebrows, curiosity or started a discussion or something.
I think that's all. Hope I didn't say too much, I don't think I did at least. So yeah, see you very soon with the next chapter!