The first thing Kakashi and Shikaku noticed was the troubled expression on Inoichi's expression, so much so that he was sweating intensely.
"Inoichi? What happened?" The third hokage of the Leaf Village, Hiruzen Sarutobi, asked as he walked towards the three jonin. Thankfully with the disturbance of Gohan, he was able to get out of paperwork. At least for a little while, anyways… But he was sure he'd have more once the day was over with.
"The boy's name is Son Gohan… he's a warrior… a very strong one at that. He's definitely stronger than anyone in his age group." Inoichi explained to the three men nearby as Shikaku raised an eyebrow.
"He's that strong?" Shikaku pondered as Inoichi nodded.
"Not only that but it appears as if he's not from this world." Inoichi continued as Hiruzen put a hand to his chin.
"Explain." Hiruzen commanded.
"During his latest memory, he was fighting with some being called 'Cell' and the two were in some sort of beam battle of sorts. The battle was so intense it caused what looked to be some sort of… ripple effect sending Gohan from his world to ours." Inoichi finished his explanation as the other three men in the room looked at the blonde shinobi with looks of utter shock.
"I see…. Another world, huh? That's definitely interesting…" Hiruzen muttered as he appeared deep in thought.
"Do you believe he's an extraterrestrial of some kind?" Shikaku questioned.
"I wouldn't assume so. I mean he looks no different than the rest of us. Although according to the nurse who cleaned him up and dressed his wounds, there was no sign of a forehead protector on him so he's not a spy but he's a fighter of some kind." Kakashi explained as Hiruzen sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose in slight frustration. Honestly, was it too much to have a peaceful life?
"I should point this out, he appears to fight on the side of good so Gohan must have some sort of justice just like us." Inoichi pointed out as Hiruzen, Kakashi and Shikaku slightly relaxed in their expressions.
"So he's not evil. That makes things the more better." Hiruzen said before turning to the three shinobis.
"I thank all of you for your help today but I'll handle things from here. You're all dismissed." Hiruzen said to the Shinobi who still looked a bit skeptical.
"A-are you sure, Lord Hokage?" Shikaku asked.
"Positive." Hiruzen replied before the three men reluctantly nodded before disappearing in a poof of smoke.
"Son Gohan, huh?" Hiruzen asked while gazing at the body of the unconscious body of the strange child before going outside where he was bombarded with questions from one impatient Uzumaki Naruto.
***
It would be several, several hours later when Gohan would later awake not to a world of Z-Fighters but rather… a land of Ninja…..
As Gohan tiredly opened his onyx colored eyes, the first thing that came to mind was his recollection of the events prior to now.
"Dad! Mister Piccolo!" Gohan yelled in a cold sweat before exhaling.
"Just… what happened? Why am I in a hospital gown? Am I in the hospital? If so, where're Vegeta and everyone?" Gohan asked himself before attempting to feel the Ki signatures of all his friends before coming to a startling discovery.
"I can't feel anyone! What the heck's going on? Did they all die? Wait shouldn't I be dead?" Gohan wondered before the pain from his injuries came back full force as he grunted in pain. It was then he realized that bizarre effect that happened during the Kamehameha clash with Cell.
"Just… what… the heck… is going on?" Gohan moaned before two people walked into his room. One of which was an old man with a red kimono under a set of white robes with a red hat. Gohan had a feeling this man was important in some way given his appearance. To the side of him was a boy roughly around his age with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. Gohan commented to himself how much of a Super Saiyan he looked like along with an orange and blue tracksuit with a huge white collar and blue sandals. He had a goofy grin which instantly reminded the half-saiyan of his father. Why? He couldn't put his finger on it. The boy was then snapped from his thoughts as the elderly man cleared his throat.
"Hello there. My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village." Hiruzen greeted the young boy who nearly raised an eyebrow at the old man before his manners kicked in.
"Hello sir. My name is Son Gohan and I'm sorry but I don't know what a Hokage is. Could you please tell me what that is?" Gohan politely asked as Hiruzen and Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"The Hokage is the leader of the village! Did ya hit your head on a rock or something dude?" Naruto rudely asked as Hiruzen glared at Naruto for his impoliteness.
"Naruto!" Hiruzen glared as Gohan couldn't help but laugh at the kid. It was nearly like being with Goku.
"You kind of remind me of—"Gohan was about to comment with amusement before more pressing matters came to mind such as finding out where he was.
"Um, Mister Hiruzen, not to be rude but could you tell me where I am?" Gohan asked the Hokage.
"You're in Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Hiruzen replied as Gohan raised an eyebrow at the name of his current location.
"Konohagakure? I'm sorry but that doesn't ring a bell?" Gohan said in a voice of pure confusion as Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.
"So you're not familiar with the Five Great Nations?" Hiruzen inquired as Gohan's look of confusion never left his features. In fact it widened.
"No… I'm not…" Gohan said as Naruto raised his own eyebrow.
"How could this guy not be aware of the Leaf Village or any of the other ones? He's definitely stronger than a civilian though… Where did he come from?" Naruto asked as Hiruzen decided to speak up.
"If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?" Hiruzen asked.
"I'm from Mount Paozu." Gohan answered as Hiruzen stared at Gohan pensively as he had never heard of such a place from all the time he had been around the world.
"I see… Well I'm sorry to say but I've heard of no such place in all my travels around the globe. However this may sound bizarre to you but we were able to look through your memories and we discovered… you're not from this world….." Hiruzen explained as Gohan stared at the old man in utter disbelief.
"W-what!? How could you do that!? And what do you mean I'm not from this world! What's going on!?" Gohan asked as he could barely breathe.
"One of our forces was able to scan through your head for details of your origin and we were able to discover our worlds are particularly different… According to them, you were in a fight with someone before you abruptly ended up in our world." Hiruzen attempted to reason with the boy not even one hundred percent believing the words he was saying.
Gohan continued breathing heavily as he attempted to process this before he remembered his fight with Cell and the lasting effect on it, the lasting effect making him sigh sadly. Could that distortion during his clash with Cell possibly have sent him somewhere else? If so… was he gone from his world forever? Maybe…. his father and his friends could try to bring him back with the Dragon Balls? Wait, definitely! That had to work!
"Seeing as you're not in your home setting, I'd like to say however that I'm very sorry for your current plight. We'll be sure to figure something out for you in the meantime while I promise to find a way to send you back to your home. Although, if you don't mind me asking, would you happen to be a warrior of some kind? I ask that because your injuries were definitely those inflicted in a battle?" Hiruzen asked as Gohan nodded.
"Yeah I am. I got those injuries from my fight against Cell. Although…" Gohan explained before he turned his head to the side in slight sadness as Naruto and Hiruzen both inquired about who this "Cell" was. Hiruzen then noticed the look in his eyes was a look he hadn't seen even in the most experienced of ninja. The pain in his eyes was the same pain Kakashi used to have as a child.
What on earth could have happened to this child? Hiruzen asked to himself.
"Cell? Huh….." Naruto crossed his arms as Gohan decided to ask a pressing question in his head to Hiruzen.
"Mister Hiruzen, if you don't mind me asking, what do you all do here in the Leaf Village? And how could you see my memories?" Gohan asked as Hiruzen smiled at Gohan's politeness.
Such manners… He's definitely more well-mannered than most kids his age. Hiruzen thought smiling before deciding to answer his question.
"In the Leaf Village, our peace and stability are maintained thanks to our various ninja. Memory scanning is one of the abilities select people can actually do." Hiruzen explained as Gohan skeptically raised an eyebrow.
"Ninja?" Gohan asked as he remembered how his father actually battled the ninja Murasaki as a boy. From the way Goku described it, he defeated the ninja in a pretty humiliating way with his trusty power pole.
"Correct, and your previously injured state made me falsely assume you were a ninja who was in a fierce battle of some kind. Our ninja are assigned in different ranks, Jonin is the highest slate with Chunin following slowly after which Genin is at the dead bottom. The boy right beside me is a Ninja Academy student and in the Ninja Academy is where students study to become ninja. Now I would ask if you were personally interested in becoming one but with your broken arm, it'll obviously take some time to heal." Hiruzen said as Gohan's eyes suddenly brightened.
"Wait, that's it!" Gohan exclaimed as both men gazed at him in confusion.
"What's it?" Naruto and Hiruzen asked simultaneously before reaching into the pocket of his torn up GI pants and getting out a peculiar looking green colored bean. Thank goodness he decided to keep one in his pocket after retrieving them from the Cell Jrs. Although he only had one since he had to feed the injured Z-Fighters from fighting the little demonic munchkins.
"What is that? Some sort of Lima bean?" Naruto narrowed his eyes as Gohan smiled.
"No! It's a Senzu bean." Gohan explained as Naruto and Hiruzen became even more puzzled.
"Senzu bean?" Both males asked as Gohan's smile widened.
"Yep! It heals all your injuries." Gohan further explained before downing the magical seed. Naruto and Hiruzen watched intensely before all the wounds left his face along with his arm snapping back into place. He celebrated his rejuvenation by jumping out of his bed and appearing right in front of the bewildered Naruto and Hiruzen.
"Okay back to one hundred percent!" Gohan happily exclaimed in a voice as cheerful as his father's. Naruto and Hiruzen couldn't believe their eyes.
"H-holy crap, dude! That bean just made you all better!" Naruto stammered out with comically blank eyes as Hiruzen's reaction was slightly mellower.
"U-unreal! If we had something like that in our medical corps, it would most certainly be a huge asset to us! Have you any more of those beans, Gohan?" Hiruzen asked Gohan, who frowned.
"Sorry but that was the last one. All of them are made in a place called Korin's tower. He's the one who grows them." Gohan explained as Hiruzen sighed.
"I… had a feeling you'd say something like that… And I see….." Hiruzen sighed despondently as Naruto couldn't believe what he saw.
Earlier today this guy would've been on his deathbed and thanks to some strange bean he's okay!? Even better!? What the frick man!? Naruto thought in amazement as his thoughts continued, This seems like some crap you'd read in a damn manga!
After regaining his composure, Hiruzen decided to speak up once more.
"I don't want to pressure you though. If you wouldn't want to study in the Academy, I could arrange for you to work a job with one of our civilians in exchange for you earning some money. And before then, I'll even give you some money to live off on while everything's being arranged for you, Gohan." Hiruzen suggested to the hybrid who put a hand to his chin in thought.
Maybe… This is a second chance. I nearly let my own world be destroyed because of my naivety and arrogance. But perhaps … I can change and learn things from this world before returning to my own! Gohan thought before making his mind.
"Okay Mister Hiruzen, I'll study at this 'Ninja Academy' and become a ninja! That way I can repay my favor. After all you all saved my life so I should probably find some way to return the favor, right?" Gohan grinned a grin reminiscent of his father as the elderly man returned the grin with one of his own.
"Haha, glad to hear it! And I'll arrange for you to live with this boy right next to me. His name is Uzumaki Naruto and he's a student at the ninja academy as I previously said. He's the one who brought you here to this hospital so after that perhaps you two can become roommates of some sort." Hiruzen smiled as the two boys smiled at each other.
"So you really brought me here. Thank you for that, Naruto. I'm Son Gohan." Gohan smiled as he held his hand out for a handshake before Naruto whole-heartedly accepted it. He didn't even know Naruto for five seconds yet he took a huge liking to the blonde. His goofy, kind-hearted attitude, his unique charisma and bright, sunny personality was absolutely just like the man he admired and respected the most in the world, his father.
"Of course! I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto exclaimed in a particularly happy mood. It had been the first time any person his age had ever done this to him.
As the two boys held hands, they instantly felt a strong form of kinship between the two evaporate. Right then and there, something told the boys that they'd always be close, no matter what.
Haha, it seems Gohan's arrival here will be good for us all. Hiruzen laughed to himself as he was happy for Naruto gaining a potential new friend before getting their attention.
"Although, the first thing you boys should probably do is get Gohan a spare change of clothes. His top was ripped while his pants were barely holding together." Hiruzen suggested as Gohan smiled.
"Haha it's fine! I've already got a solution!" Gohan said before pulling out a peculiar looking tray.
"What is that?" Naruto asked before raising an eyebrow as Gohan opened the container to see a couple of bizarre looking devices.
"They're called Capsules." Gohan replied as Naruto and Hiruzen's raised eyebrows widened for the hundredth time that day.
"Capsules?" Both males asked.
"Yeah, you can seal anything in there, clothes, food, you name it." Gohan explained before coming to a particular one and pressing the top on it before throwing it to the side causing a ball of smoke to come, making Naruto and Hiruzen cough as Gohan was used to the smoke.
The smoke cleared revealing a bag of sorts as Gohan opened the bag and looked through a couple of outfits before making a decision. He dressed himself in a long sleeved blue t-shirt with white shorts and black sneakers and white socks.
"Thank goodness for Bulma!" Gohan grinned as Naruto and Hiruzen stared puzzled at the half breed.
"Who's Bulma?" Naruto bluntly asked as Gohan laughed at Naruto's manner of speaking. Yep, he was definitely like his dad.
"Bulma's a genius who's really handy with these. The business she's with practically lives off of these." Gohan explained as the two looked at the peaceful fighter with eyes of blatant disbelief.
"… This world of yours sure is eccentric… Here we seal our essential items in scrolls." Hiruzen said as Gohan looked at the former professor with intrigue.
"Oh yeah? That's reall—" Gohan tried to say before a huge grumbling noise cut him off.
"What was that!?" Naruto asked in amazement as a blushing Gohan held his stomach.
"My stomach… Hehe… I haven't eaten since this morning…" Gohan admitted in embarrassment as Hiruzen heartily laughed at Gohan's "plight".
"Well you were out since this morning and it is evening time now so I suppose you'd be a bit famished. Naruto, why don't you take him to your favorite place to eat? Gohan, come by my office and I'll give you a stipend to sustain you for the rest of the month." Hiruzen suggested smiling as Naruto grinned excitedly.
"Heck yeah! C'mon Gohan, I'll take you to Ichiraku!" Naruto grinned.
"Ichiraku?" Gohan could barely ask before he was dragged out by a grinning Naruto.
"Hey! Slow down!" The son of Goku yelped as Hiruzen laughed at the two.
Son Gohan… Let's see where your life as a ninja takes you… Hiruzen thought as he smiled at the two from behind.