The Hokage carefully stared at the jounin laying on the bed in front of him. His head was almost completely bandaged, with only his eyes being visible. However, the man had decided to cover his single sharingan with an eyepatch.
Almost two weeks had gone by since he reverse-summoned himself and his two severely injured students back to Konoha. It had been the only conceivable way in which he could take them back to get medical treatment at the village. Given his own condition, he would have probably been unable to even make it down the mountains of the north. Same condition that forced him into a hospital room.
Next to him, stood an old man holding a staff. He wore a gray tunic over a traditional white kimono. Half of his head was bandaged, though that was his usual look given his permanent scars.
The third man in the room was the old Hiruzen, who serenely smoked the usual mix of herbs from his pipe. He was wearing the traditional attire of the Hokage, except for the hat. Despite the calming effect smoking caused him, his face was clearly plagued with concern.
"We are glad that you managed to save yourself and your students, Kakashi." Began the leader of Konoha. "You know you are important assets of our village."
"I lost one." Simply replied the jounin. His voice was as flat as ever. His eyes were lost in the view of the window of his room, too ashamed to look the man in the eyes.
"We've already prepared a replacement from the reserves." Danzo spoke, but did not glance at the injured jounin. He was always looking down, towards the floor.
"That was… quick."
"Danzo is very aware of interesting prospects that, due to unfortunate circumstances, were taken back to the academy or left in the reserves." Hiruzen explained.
"Luckily, you lost the most disposable of your genin." Continued the man of the staff. He was insisting on seeing the positive side of their outcome. However, his and the jounin's ideologies were very different.
Kakashi moved his single visible eye towards the elderly man. Shimura did not move a single centimeter. He understood that his comment was not well received. Of course, the jounin could not say or do anything about the comment. Not realistically.
"Do not worry. We have prepared an elite team of shinobi tasked with assassinating the demons and recovering the corpses. Including your student's. Sakura Haruno will have a proper funeral, as every soldier of Konoha deserves." The Hokage smiled, before inhaling from his pipe. "The mission will be carried out until after the first phase of the Chunin Exams, of course."
"Those demons…" Kakashi once again turned to look at the window. Saying he was skeptical of that mission was an understatement. "The Nine-Tails was no match."
Hiruzen glanced at his old friend, who was unfazed by the information. Then, he glanced back at the jounin.
"Even the strongest of all shinobi can be killed by someone skilled enough. You don't need to be stronger, just precise and smarter." Explained the advisor. "You must not worry about the mission or the so-called demons. Focus on the Chunin Exams."
"Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if my team will be ready on time…" The jounin said, trying to get it off his back. If he had a choice, he would not want to even think about the exams.
"They will." Danzo's tone was firm. His position remained the same, with his head lowered, but he was no less intimidating.
The Hokage looked uncomfortable, more than anything. "You must understand, Kakashi, that the participation of your team is… of great importance in the context of these Chunin Exams."
"If they don't heal quickly enough, we will find a solution." Shimura smashed his staff against the ground.
"As for your new student, Danzo will most likely refer her to you in the coming days." The old man glanced at his old friend.
"Ami Hattori." He declared. "I believe she was a classmate of your other students. So they will know each other well. She is certainly more talented than the other, but her team failed to impress their assigned jounin."
Kakashi glanced at the man once again. "Who was the jounin?"
"Confidential." Replied the advisor coldly. Once again, he did not move.
A group of three teens stormed into one of the many rooms of the hospital. A blonde girl was flanked by a fat boy and another one with long hair tied into a ponytail. She was visibly worried, possibly even scared.
Behind them, a nurse was trying to stop them. So far, she had failed quite miserably.
Three kids were already inside the room, standing next to one of the two beds. One was a brown-haired boy wearing glasses, and who had a runny nose. The second one was a ginger girl with wide eyes and red cheeks. And finally, the third one was a boy with spiky dark hair, and who wore an excessively long blue scarf. All three were carrying familiar green goggles on their foreheads.
Konohamaru jumped onto the blonde girl, who was running into the room as if it was her own. He kicked her head and landed back on the ground. His face showed his anger and annoyance, while he pointed at the trio of intruders.
"What the hell do you punks think you're doing here?!" Yelled the boy, as his two friends ran to his side to back him up.
Ino rubbed her forehead while her concern quickly boiled into even greater anger. She showed her fist to the kid, threatening him.
"Move away or die, little idiot."
Shikamaru sighed as he felt the hand of the nurse be placed on his shoulder. He had not even agreed to go there in the first place. They knew they were not allowed to enter.
"Ino wanted to check on Sakura, she's worried." Explained Chouji calmly. He was holding a bag of chips, which he occasionally ate.
The blonde girl gave her teammate a furious stare, before turning once again to the boy of the goggles.
"Now get out of my way."
Konohamaru was visibly confused. "Sakura? Who's that?"
Yamanaka was finally done with the boy, so she kicked him straight to the jaw. The boy was shot upwards and hit his head with the ceiling, before crashing down on the floor. His two friends came to his aid while he was rubbing the growing bump on his head.
Shikamaru walked past the kids, and shrugged as the ginger girl stared at him. He was guilty of nothing and he wanted that to be clear.
Ino scanned the room quickly. It was one of the bigger ones, but it only contained two beds. In one of them, Naruto was connected to several tubes and even had an oxygen mask. His body was almost entirely covered in bandages, with only half of his face being the exception.
Diagonally from his bed, there was another one. However, the sight of it was even more horrifying to the blonde girl. Someone was completely covered in casts and bandages. The only uncovered places of his skin were those in which the tubes connected to his veins, or the physiologically relevant parts of his face, like his mouth and nose, over which an oxygen mask had been placed.
The girl could only identify him through his eyes, which were closed anyways. Barely anything of his black hair was visible. The image was frightening to her, who frantically began to scan the room for a third bed that just was not there.
Chouji stared in shock at the blonde boy. He even dropped his chips. They were still rookies, and had seen very little. For such, it was hard for them to understand that the genin who had taken on an A-rank mission had been defeated to such an extent.
"Where is Sakura?!" Yelled Ino, turning to the nurse.
The woman was nervous. Initially hesitant to answer the question, though she eventually gave in with a sigh.
"Nobody else from team 7 survived."
Her heart pounded and her knees gave in. Sakura was dead. She was shaking and tears began to build up in her eyes.
"There's surely a misunderstanding." Suggested a Shikamaru in disbelief.
Chouji only lowered his head. His father had had a conversation with him the day after his graduation from the academy. The life of a shinobi was cruel and such things could happen at any moment. It was rare for shinobi to make it to adulthood for a reason.
Ino covered her eyes as she finally began sobbing. She had been looking forward to the exams as she would finally be able to challenge Sakura. Her friend had faced greater threats and harder missions, so she wanted to prove to her that she was not falling behind.
And after all, it ended like this. Not even able to say sorry for all she did to her back in the academy.
"There's no misunderstanding." A man entered the room. Half of his face was bandaged, and he used a staff to help with his balance. "Team 7 lost a member in their mission to the north."
Shikamaru recognized the man. He gulped at the revelation that one of their generation of graduates had died. Was it really their destiny as shinobi?
"Now leave. You are not authorized to be in this room." The man said before turning around and leaving. He had more important matters to attend to.
Konohamaru clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. He knew the mission had to go very badly for the boss and his team, given how injured he was. But he did not expect that he had lost a teammate to the mission.
Was he not so strong, after all?
A numerous group of people had gathered just outside the building of Capsule Corp. The massive green and lush garden of the company had been repurposed for the exhibition to be held that day.
The ceremony was private, and only had Bulma's own close friends as guests. Not a single journalist had been even informed about it, regardless of the revolutionary character of the technology to be showcased.
In front of the many chairs and tables laid on the extensive territory of the garden, an immense machine stood. It consisted of several mechanical parts that were hard to distinguish, though it seemed to have the form of a spiral that led to the big circle in the middle of it.
The guests, which were the likes of Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Tien, Chi-Chi, etc; were not really able to understand such technology. Their interest was more on whether the machine would really work.
Krillin was sitting at the same table as the anxious Chi-Chi, constantly fearing for his life as he suspected he could be the victim of any of her reactions. After so many years, he was still as bald as the first day he met Goku, but he had now grown a gray beard that went slightly past his chin. As for Chi-Chi, her hair had adopted a similar color, while her face was now covered with wrinkles.
Bulma did not look much different, other than her slightly gray-ish hair. She had not too long ago wished to be a few years younger, which meant she looked as old as the second generation, and not her own.
"After years, I think I might have found a solution." Said the blue-haired woman as she faced her friends. She was especially focused on Chi-Chi and her younger son, Goten. "I've achieved the impossible, hopefully."
Without thinking of anything else to add, she simply turned towards the computer she had connected to the machine. It was through it that she controlled it. After preparing all the details, she finally started the machine.
It was so loud that the ear drums of any regular person would just be pierced. A blinding light began to emerge from the machine. In terms of how it progressively got louder and brighter, it was similar to when one of the Z-warriors charged their attacks.
Excitement quickly built up among the guests. However, Master Roshi seemed skeptical.
"In case this works…" Said the old man, calling the attention of Krillin, Chi-Chi and Yamcha; who were beside him. "Would this not also bring Cell back?"