Kale was concerned.

Yes, some could say that that was her default emotion by all metrics, but she was considerably more concerned than usual. And that was definitely a cause for concern.

Her dearest friend, one could say even a sister in all but blood, was agitatedly chomping on her customary dino meat, uncaring for the mess that she was making. Now this fact alone wasn't cause for alarm, if anything; it was pretty standard.

The issue came afterwards after her meal, where she normally forced one of her many subordinates to fight her, usually knocking several out without hurting them too much for a workout before crawling back to her throne. Satisfied.

So it came as a mighty surprise to anyone that knew the woman and her rampant battle lust that she had done nothing except stew on her throne, alternating between glaring at nothing in particular or appearing contemplative.

Then, the strangest thing happened. Kale remembered it so vividly that she could picture it easily, the shock and dismay that colored not only her expression, but the expressions also dominated the entirety of her best friend's gang as well. Their cries and wales echoing across their hideout.

It wasn't until she told them all to stuff their faces in each other's crotches that the gang calmed down; assured in the fact that Caulifla was still Caulifla. But Kale wasn't so convinced.

She forced herself to let go of her suspicions however and simply waited for her back at their hideout, patient, assuming that she went off to twist a few arms, threaten a few locals, butt heads with the authorities and call it a day. Another normal day.

Except, it became obvious to her that this was not a normal day.

Not only did Caulifla act strange in the morning, the woman didn't even come back until the late evening, bearing scratches and bruises eerily reminiscent of that time where she went off to antagonize her brother again…

Painted lips formed a scowl at the memory. Now that she thought about it, wasn't that the exact point where her precious friend began to act strangely? Wasn't it true that there the Caulifla of that morning was different to the Caulifla that returned?

The usually boisterous woman didn't speak much about that incident, and neither did much of the gang members –though it should be noted that Kale didn't really work up the courage to ask them directly. To anyone besides Caulifla, she always managed to become a stammering mess, though the other gang members didn't tease her much about it.

They were a dysfunctional group, but she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Which was why Kale was so nervous. Anything that could disrupt this group always made her nervous, and that was why Kale was drifting across the lush sky, keeping her ki carefully maintained so that she could follow her friend's route to…wherever she was going.

Another day had passed, and Caulifla had flew away to parts unknown once again, but this time around, Kale kept note of which direction she was heading. While the borderline fighting addict could be a decent leader when she wanted to; she was nothing if not straightforward, so Kale had no issues determining that the saiyan would be heading towards her destination without any hint of subtlety.

…She considered that a positive.

Drifting across the sky also made her nervous by the way. Just like physical contact, verbal contact, and eye contact. And animals too, now that she thought about it. And people she didn't know. And most people that she did know.

Hmm…

Moving past the thought, Kale tentatively sensed her closest friend's ki up ahead, sparking in roaring energetically as it always did, though it seemed more…lively than it has for a while. Of course, the young woman felt her concerns rise up a notch again, though she trudged on.

Soon after she realized where she was going, and narrowed her eyes a bit in faint suspicion.

Caulifla and her brother didn't have the best relationship, that had been an obvious thing to figure out with all of the times she had ordered her subordinates to piss him off. Though why, Kale didn't exactly know. Had something changed?

That was something she was about to figure out as she neared the distant house up ahead, it's colorful decorum standing out a bit even amongst the colorful fauna around it. Interestingly, there was a familiar figure standing right outside the home with her hands on her hips, scowling.

"Ane-san…" she found her at the very least, though she very much wasn't alone. She was in fact scowling at the three men that were bunched up together near the underbrush of the forestry. Kale could recognize at least one of them; she saw Caulifla's older brother on at least one occasion, but the other two were a mystery.

She twitched nervously just looking at the new faces. New faces were never good. Ever.

Squinting, she could tell that one of the two mystery men was a saiyan, seeing as he had spiky dark hair and the traditional Salada Defense Force armor, though he was a bit on the skinny side. There was nothing familiar about him besides the occasional nervous glances that were sent towards Caulifla; that she could at least understand. Though she still didn't like him.

Inevitably, that left the other half of the 'mystery man' group, who was currently cupping his hands together, gathering ki to create the ball contained by his palms. He was listening to Caulifla's older brother with grumbles and grunts as he shook his head, shaggy blond hair mimicking the smallest of movements.

Obviously fake hair, of course, since she knew for a fact that there was no saiyan that could have that kind of hair, unless it was dyed. So it was very likely that he was a punk like many of their gang's members, though even they didn't do something quite so silly. The strange whisker-like marks were just another level entirely, and Kale quailed at the thought of what kind of person would deface themselves so willingly just to create such an appearance.

Only a truly barbaric saiyan would do that –and such an individual was hanging around Caulifla!

Caulifla was in danger-!

"Whatcha' doin' up here, Kale?"

Kale yelped and managed to jump –no, fly higher into the air in sheer shock, whirling around to meet the befuddled gaze of the woman in question. Her hands squarely on her hips. "A-Ane-san…" all in a moment, her worries drained away. No harm would come to her as long as this woman was with her.

"Who's she, Caulifla? A friend? Her intense stare has been boring holes at the back of my head for a while now, ya know?"

The fact that an unfamiliar voice piped up near her was unnerving enough, the fact that it was addressed to her even more so, and the idea that it was literally right behind her made her world spin on an axis.

When her eyes inevitably found the source of the voice, she locked with the friendly grin of the ultimate delinquent that she was suspicious of mere seconds earlier.

"Yo! My name's –uh…?"

Kale heard no more, since her eyes had already started to spin at the close proximity much like her head. In fact; everything seemed to have spun around her, an idea that baffled her, though she could understand the sensation of falling for whatever reason…

"Hey! Now look at what you did! How the hell are ya gonna repay me for hurting my precious protégé, ehhhhh!?"

Naruto wasn't sure what was going on anymore.

When he woke up yesterday, he figured he would continue to learn more about the nuances of the newest influx of powers introduced to his body; ki, and have an otherwise peaceful day outside of the occasional mishap.

Then Caulifla came by, hands on hips, declaring that she wanted a rematch, despite the fact that she had clearly not completely recovered after their bout the other day. What kinda idiot came back to the guy that kicked their rear end while still bearing the wounds of their prior butt-kicking?

Then Naruto paused, remembering that he would always do that when he was younger.

He promptly allowed her to stay in the vicinity, but warned her that he was training, so he couldn't indulge the battle maniac until he was done. It took the saiyan woman all of an hour before she began to pick apart his attempts at gathering ki, much to her brother's chagrin.

It was always like; "What're you, some kinda sissy!? You gotta put more oomph in the thrust of the hand! Make 'em feel like you're tryin' to incinerate their guts!"

These interruptions had finally made him snap roughly near the end of their training cycle; just enough that he put together his accumulated knowledge of how to blast people into use and raised his hand to do just that to the ravenette that refused to stop criticizing his blasting form.

All that came out of the palm of his hand was the little ball of ki that was already at its death throes as soon as it left his hand, making such a tiny crater once it hit the earth that a rain drop could probably fill it hole by itself.

Caulifla barked out in laughter, clutching at her sides as she fell over.

Renso had the decency to disguise his abrupt guffaw into a cough.

Even Cabba chuckled, and he was still trying to avoid the rambunctious saiyan woman's attention the entire time she was here!

All while Naruto stared at his palm forlornly, feeling like it had betrayed him somehow despite how clearly nonsensical it was. Feelings mattered damn it.

Still recovering from her tumble on the grassy floor, Caulifla vowed that she'd be back the following day, though no one could fathom exactly why. According to the oldest male of the group; Caulifla did what Caulifla did, general good sense or logic be damned.

True to this statement, Caulifla showed up again the following day, insistent on having that fight, insinuating that he was just scared that she was gonna win the next time they fought. Childish in Naruto's opinion.

Renso had to get in-between the two of them as they grinded their heads against one another, sparks flying as tempers flared. Caulifla was promptly banished from their side of the clearing until his impromptu training was completed. "Unless she learned to how to be a decent saiyan being, she'd have to be treated like the brat she was." he claimed.

So Caulifla stewed on one side of the clearing while two out of the three men tried not to get fried as Naruto experimentally set things on fire with small ki blasts.

Then Caulifla's friend showed up and fainted soon thereafter, leading to the current situation. Reminding him of a certain shy friend of his in the process. "Hey! How the hell was I supposed to know that she would keel over as soon as I greeted her!?"

"It's about the principle of the damn thing! The principle! You knocked her unconscious, so that means you oughta do something in recompense, it's only natural, right?"

"What!? How is that natural or fair!?"

Next to the two arguing young adults, Renso shuffled his feet and leaned over the unconscious woman right behind his sister, inclining his head as he recalled her familiar visage in his memory banks. Her ebony hair tied into a high ponytail, that long bang over the left side of her face, that red shirt exposing her midriff, her red skirt, and those golden boots…

Ah, yes. "Your friend, imouto?"

Rounding on him, dark eyes hooded, his sole family member was openly scowling at him. "What? Wanna talk to me now?"

Ah, she was still sore about the fact that she was turned away like a child earlier that day, hm? She was also probably still hesitant in dealing with the man after everything that happened. "Don't be childish, come on."

Caulifla, for all of her bluster, still crouched in front of the woman in red, giving him an impression that she was some kind of mother protecting her cub. "…She might be."

"She definitely is." Naruto dryly placed his opinion onto the table, unaffected by the withering stare sent by the two siblings. "Oh come on, it's obvious. Isn't that right, Cabba?"

"Please don't drag me into this…"

Much to Cabba's chagrin, his relatively minor contribution into the conversation was noticed by the one person that he really didn't want to notice. Sharp eyes, like a thug's, were drawn towards him, a solitary eyebrow rising upon the owner's forehead in curiosity. "…Cabba? That sounds kinda familiar…"

The skinny soldier went stiff, much like how a small animal would when in the presence of a predator. Hoping beyond hope that her attention would be diverted elsewhere. Unfortunately, he forgot whom he was next to.

He wasn't talking about the blond this time around. "Do you seriously not know who he is? I get that you don't have that many brain cells to spare, but come on now…"

"Rather be a dumbass than be a fatass." his sister retorted, crossing her arms. "Besides, I seriously don't know him. How about you refresh my memory instead of being a smartass, hm?"

Naruto snapped his attention between the two, unsure whether they were genuinely insulting one another or were just joking around. Impossible to tell he decided, since he'd never sound so hostile against people he liked.

Wait. Shit. He did that all the time. Fuck.

Ignoring the violently shaking head of Cabba, Renso jerked his large head towards his general direction. "That's the guy that was with me when you had the bright idea to set off fireworks over my house."

Caulifla paused, searched her memory banks, and then guffawed loudly. "Wait, that was him!? I coulda' sworn that that was just a random hobo lookin' for a bruisin'! He went on and on about 'protecting people' and all that jazz, like some kinda soldier or somethin'. I didn't really pay attention after I threw him out at the mountain that you used to have."

"Used to have…" Renso sighed lowly, missing that mountain. His blood relative always did manage to break the things he liked.

Meanwhile, Cabba was leaning away from Caulifla's searching gaze, inspecting him thoroughly. "Coulda' sworn that you had more meat in those bones though…"

"Like you're one to talk." Naruto leaned over the unconscious woman just casually left on the ground, wondering what should be done with her. Just leave her there?

"Was that a challenge I heard?" predictably, the wildest saiyan of the group couldn't resist the bait. "Because I coulda' sworn that I heard a challenge, and I'd be very disappointed if that wasn't a challenge. Just enough so that I'd probably get it started without asking as a matter of fact!"

Battle maniac that one was. Reminded him of Kiba, though he was literally a mutt, so he got a pass in the shinobi's books. "You're obsessed with fighting, aren't you? Like I've told you over the past dozen times you've asked –I'm busy. I don't have time to fight you right now dattebayo!"

Caulifla stamped her foot so hard that it made the forest shake for a second, jabbing a finger at him. "You're just scared that I'll kick your ass this time-!"

"You tried that taunt already."

She froze, suddenly uncertain. "…Did I imply that you're got a thing for my brother?"

Renso choked on air as Naruto nodded. "That too."

"How about that you've got no balls?"

"Uh-huh."

"That you're afraid of losing to a chick?"

"Yep."

"That you're one of those scumbags that act that after you've won once that you could lord it over everyone afterwards?" she actually met someone like that before too.

"Yes, yes, and yes. You've tried everything, now let me train before I meet a guy that could kick my ass in the future. It'd be kinda stupid to lose because I can't throw a ki blast." the shinobi was exasperated, there was no mistaking this fact. Yet it seemed that the rambunctious woman knew no propriety or restraint.

Opening her mouth to protest again, the retort died in her throat when a groan emerged from behind her. Long ebony spikes swung around with her sudden movements as she cradled Kale's head as she came to, eyes fluttering. "Kale! Hold on, give yourself a sec, you hit your head kinda hard, ya know?"

Watching the scene with something approaching keen interest, Naruto leaned a bit towards Renso to mutter under his breath. "Who could've guessed that she could be patient with someone, eh Ranma-jii-chan?"

Renso didn't bother to react to the youth, he had more or less given up on making the blond alien get his name right and focused everything on the foreign idea that his sister could actually mutter out words of encouragement aimed at someone weaker than her. He never thought something like that was even possible for someone so…violent.

Bleary eyed, the woman that Naruto had managed to overhear was named Kale blinked at Caulifla for a moment before inspecting her surroundings, inevitably landing her attention squarely upon the group of men standing just a few meters away from her.

She 'eeped' and tried to make herself as small as possible by forming a tight ball and hiding behind the prodigy saiyan's baggy purple pants. "A-A-Ane-san…"

"Hey, hey…no worries, I know." Caulifla grinned widely at her self-appointed protégé, inexplicably pleased for reasons that no one there could fathom. "You came here to challenge that bastard too, right?"

Kale raised her head, jaw dropping to express just how completely off the mark her close friend really was. "U-Um, no that's not-"

Instead of listening -fat chance of that she supposed- the talented saiyan gang leader clutched her hands together in a vice grip, her dark eyes glistening in pride. "I knew that you'd understand my plight, Kale! None of my minions have the balls to challenge me to better themselves, I've always had to start the fight. It's boring without a challenge, ya know? And now that I figured out that there's someone this strong just hanging around Nii-san's place…you know what I've gotta do, don't ya?"

Grasping her slender arms, Caulifla lifted Kale up onto her feet, patting her companionably while the receiver gazed at her with eyes akin to what small animals had when staring down predators. "That's right, Kale! Here and today, I'm gonna prove that I'm still a badass and kick that guy's ass!" she said this while obnoxiously jamming her finger towards the blond that was blandly watching the scene.

Kale felt her shoulders slack in response, simultaneously unsurprised and shocked; if that made sense. "I-I see…"

"And that's why you're my protégé!" Caulifla crowed loudly, spinning on the balls of her feet to grin viciously at the assortment of males watching them, focusing on the one who seemed mostly unfazed by her performance. "So; are ya gonna be a bitch and refuse to fight me again!?"

Inevitably, Naruto felt all eyes slide up towards him, curious about he was going to respond. Too bad for them that he had dealt with worse than peer pressure. "Nah, I'm good."

The shinobi wasn't sure how people managed to slip on solid ground while they weren't moving, but all around him everyone managed it, excluding the newest addition of Kale that was simply sweatdropping at the scene around her.

Scrambling to her feet, Caulifla gaped at him. "Y-You can't just say no after I opened my heart out to everyone! That's fucked up!"

"I don't care." was the answer she received, to her frustration. "I'm busy. I'll think about it after I figured out how to blast people properly."

Once again, Caulifla scowled -at least that's what she intended to do; it looked more like a pout- at his response, unwilling to actively force him to fight due to some vague sense of fairness, but unwilling to give up. Naruto wished he could find a way to distract the girl with her one-track mind so that he could focus freely…

He thought about it for all of two seconds and snapped his fingers. "Alright, how about we make a deal?"

Renso and Cabba exchanged glances, expressing a pointed look and a wary look respectively, though Caulifla was oblivious to this as she saw stars. "You finally changed your mind!?"

The shinobi grinned. "Now hold on; you want to beat people stronger than you, right? That's why you wanna beat me up?"

"Of course!" slamming her fist into her palm, the resounding echo and the eager twist of her lips brooked no confusion about her aggressive intentions. It'd be impossible to guess at what she wanted.

"Then before you've gotta beat me…" Naruto thumbed Cabba casually -far too casually- over his shoulder, tossing him under the rhetorical bus for the sake of his sanity. "…You should beat him first."

Standing aside from the whole debacle, Renso decided that his old friend couldn't look more horrified; he doubted that certain infamous bounty hunters could spawn such a face. "W-What!?"

"Hah!?" Caulifla obviously agreed with that sentiment, though she was decidedly more aggravated than distraught. "Why should I fight a scrawny guy like him!?"

Well, her doubts had some merit, Cabba didn't really didn't look like much. "Because despite how he looks, I'd wager that he's actually stronger than you dattebayo."

Dark eyes narrowed dangerously at the comparison, hackles raised at what she perceived to be an insult, for what other way could she interpret his words? But then, like a storm that had materialized only to vanish into a pleasant sunny day…she smiled.

"Fine, I'll fight him. But after I defeat captain skinny bones over there and prove you wrong, then you've gotta fight me." she prompted doggedly, leaning forward just a tad.

Cabba felt himself relax. While the blond was ludicrously random at times, he figured that even he wouldn't want to encourage Caulifla, so his eyes snapped open wide and jaw rhetorically hit the floor when he saw Naruto nod in agreement. "Alright, I can live with that."

"Ehhhh!?"

"Alright!"

Two voices shouted out their opinions loudly, and it was obvious who voiced what, at least to anyone that knew them.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

It was a genuine question, seeing as Renso seriously wondered about this boy's sanity from time to time. Especially given his initial first impression of him; what with the fact that he fell unconscious on his front porch and everything.

Apparently, the blond wasn't too concerned. "Why? Don't have faith in Cabba?"

"I have faith in his abilities." the old man rubbed the small beard on his chin, glancing away to check the man in question. "I just don't have faith in that thug of a sister to take it easy."

Onyx took in the sight of his younger friend; Cabba, nervously shuffle in place as he steadily stretched his arms, his back turned to his future sparring opponent, who was grinning like the idiot she was while speaking to the fretting Kale. Unlike him, she looked to be raring to go since she was currently hopping off of the ground with her toes.

Just looking at the scene gave the retired soldier a headache, which was only exasperated when he turned and saw Naruto blasted an errant tree nearby. Cursing under his breath. "Yeah, well, he's tougher than you think. Trust me on that."

Finally, the shinobi met Renso's frown, unconcerned with the young soldier that he had seemingly sent to get beat up by his blast-happy family member. "How do you let loose your concentrated ki without it puttering out like a dying balloon?"

Sighing, he deigned to answer what seemed like such a simple query to most, but confounded the boy in front of him. "Your ki is a part of you, kid, imagine it like an extension of yourself. That feeling that you get when you gather your power in your attack? Retain it, even when the blast leaves your hands." he paused there, considering. "Or just stick to ki blasts."

The shinobi cocked his head, trying to equate what he learned with the chakra abilities he had obtained over the years. Thinking on it; he only had a limited amount of control over things like the rasenshuriken when thrown, yet the ki blast he kept firing sort of…sputtered out.

He understood why, at least; he understood now. He gathered the power and then flung it out like a ball instead of keeping his focus on it –that coupled with his inexperience in using ki to create a wave, and he wasn't advancing much at all.

He frowned and stuck at that though; why did the idea of a ki wave spark…something from the depths of his mind? An image of a blue wave coming out of cupped hands…

No, a pink wave?

Stuck in his conundrum, Renso regarded the blond silently for a sparse second or two before turning just in time to see his idiot sister and rookie friend faceoff against one another as they approached each other with steady gaits. Only one of them looked eager for this.

"Alright!" Caulifla slammed her fist onto her palm, teeth bared as her lips curled back, muscles coiling within her deceptively powerful arms. "Hope you're ready for this, cause I sure as hell am!"

For his part, Cabba scratched his cheek as he offered a nervous smile tinged with uncertainty. "I'd really prefer not to do this, if possible?"

"No way!" the predictable answer came, huffing indignantly. "C'mon, where's your saiyan spirit? I get it, you're nervous and shit, but if you've got the same blood as I do; then you oughta enjoy the challenge, right?"

She wasn't entirely wrong in her assessment; there was a part of him that shivered in faint anticipation at the incoming clash, though the soldier was hesitant to fight his friend's sister regardless –and not because he was confident in losing.

It was the opposite; he knew for a fact that he was going to win.

Prior to the Universal Tournament between Universe 6 and 7, Cabba probably would've lost in a fight with the prodigy in front of him; but things had changed drastically since then. Barring a miracle, there was no way that he could lose…and no way that Caulifla wouldn't notice if he held back.

If he defeated her? She'd become obsessed with defeating him and reclaiming her self-appointed title as the strongest.

If he held back? She'd notice and prod him consistently afterwards to fight back, refusing to let bygones be bygones. Caulifla was one of those saiyans that Cabba had the most trouble with; those that refused to stand still when they faced the prospect of a good fight. An irony considering his race.

Again, Cabba muttered dark things under his breath. He hoped that Naruto would become the lightning rod for her attention, but it seemed that he had managed to redirect that attention…

It was well played, as loath as the soldier was to admit it.

"Kale! Count us down!" Caulifla barked, crouching low, predator instincts fired up.

Raising an arm and counting down like her sister figure ordered, Cabba tensed whilst the knife-hand reached its lowest possible point, indicating that the match has started in earnest. And as he suspected; the wild woman didn't hesitate and charged headlong towards him.

A speeding bullet smashed into him, and the skinny saiyan could only wince and grit his teeth when Caulifla's hard head crashed into his crossed guard. Feet thrown out from under him.

With predictable viciousness she twisted in the air and struck her leg out in a roundhouse, sending him in an uncontrollable spin that ended with him slamming into the ground face first. The stinging pain reminded him of someone.

Oh, right, this felt like facing Naruto all over again. Down to the heady and complete self-confidence that she carried.

"Hey! Don't tell me that's all you've got? C'mon, I'm just gettin' started!" she declared loudly and boldly, hopping on the balls of her feet, an eager energy running through her. "I wanna see what that jerk Naruto swa that made him believe that you could even think about facing me!"

He knew exactly how and why, but that didn't change the fact that this situation was exactly what he wanted to avoid. Just how did he get himself into these situations exactly? He opted to help a random guy out in the middle of nowhere and then kept getting dragged along ever since; pulled along by the seat of his metaphorical pants.

Cabba felt a burst of frustration at the fact, anger spiking, forming a ball of ill feelings that burned into something tangible. Deep within himself, the young man held onto that feeling, and, for a split-moment; his dark eyes changed color. He refused to become a punching bag and stall out this fight.

"Well, whether you're ready or not, here I come!" with blistering speed Caulifla shot forward, tired of waiting for the other saiyan to get back up on his feet. Feeling disappointed with the lack of a challenge she was experiencing. Not even much of a warm up-

"Enough!"

Her fist halted a mere third of a meter away from the intended destination, frozen in place due to the hand that clutched her arm. Blinking, she expected to see a more serious Cabba finally take center stage; giving her a genuine challenge.

What she saw instead was a guy that looked like Cabba that had his hair bleached with liquid gold and his eyes replaced with burning emeralds. Her free hand rose up to tap her cheek in interest, humming. "…Huh, so that's a thing-"

Her head snapped up and her teeth clacked together, blood spurting through her teeth thanks to the vicious uppercut. Her sight became fuzzy for a moment, but she managed to shake it off once took a few steps back to recover. A bloody grin aimed at the sight of the skinny Cabba with his arm outstretched. "Now that's more like it! So what's this? Some super form that makes you go blond like blondie over there?"

He stonily stared at her, eyes sharpened like the sharpest of shivs. "It's called Super Saiyan."

"Sounds stupid." Caulifla remarked bluntly, adopting a fighting stance after wiping away the blood from her face. "But that punch of yours had merit; so let's see what you've got!"

Surging to meet the challenge, Cabba slammed into the gang leader, flying off into the distance and uprooting everything in their way. Taking to the skies after a hazardous climb with the two warriors disengaging and reengaging again and again, their intermittent clashes creating shockwaves in the air that was felt even to those who were watching on the ground.

This was especially for the case for Kale, who was initially confident that Caulifla would win; but couldn't help but be worried now. She pumped her clenched hands together, staring firmly at the sky where a golden aura continuously struck against a familiar violet red aura.

"Worried about her?"

Kale jumped when the blond appeared next to her, arms crossed, hair pierced by twigs of all sizes as if he had arbitrarily decided to sleep in a shrub. "She's ridiculously talented, seriously. Poor Cabba is gonna have a hard time keeping up with her once she actually tries and train herself up."

"…What's with you?"

The newly-forged ki user glanced at the diminutive woman, attempting to confront him, but quickly withered at his stare. "Don't look at me, I didn't want to have a fight with that crazy woman; I just wanted to learn how to shoot beams." he glanced away from her, releasing her from the crippling nervousness she was experiencing. "Thanks by the way, Ranma-jii-chan!"

Walking up by him, Caulifla's elder brother gazed towards the sky, watching his sister get smacked into the earth to send dirt and soil a few meters into the air before shooting right back up, refusing to give in. As always. "You want to thank me? Start using my real name from now on; Renso."

"Your name was Renso? Why didn't you say so?"

A groan was the only answer to that.

"What is that transformation?" Kale had to ask, managing to scrounge up whatever was left of her self-confidence for the question. "Is that why you have blond hair?"

"What? No, no, no. I'm all natural." the young man puffed his chest as he combed his locks, smirking. "He's using a transformation that raises his power to monstrous levels. Apparently all saiyans can do it, though I haven't figured out how he did it yet."

"All saiyans…?" the shy woman asked doubtfully, glancing back up in the sky. She's never heard of such a power before, so how could all saiyans accomplish this great change?

"It certainly looks impressive." Renso admitted, witnessing the golden aura in the sky released a beam that pretty much obliterated a nearby mountain as collateral damage when it was dodged by his feisty relative. "Hmmm…"

Glancing his way to study the older man's profile for a moment with mild interest, Naruto turned back to the battle, cocking a brow when a stream of ki bolts exploded on the Super Saiyan's position. It didn't do much if the return fire gave away anything. "Say, Renso, you were a soldier that went around the galaxy, right? In your travels; have you ever heard of a planet called Earth before?"

"Cabba told you about that, eh?" scratching the stubble on his chin, the retired soldier thought on the question, coming back with a definitive shake of the head. "Sorry kid, there's way more planets than you can count in a galaxy, let alone a universe. Learning the names of planets wasn't my thing, and even if it was; my main concern was taking out the scumbags in the cosmos."

"Are there a lot of those?" it seems that that much hadn't changed in this universe; pricks doing prickly things. No, wait, that last bit didn't make sense-

"There are, believe it or not. Hell, not too long ago Frost's entire organization was revealed to be a racketeering gig and he has been on the run since; with his group broken apart and still on the Most Wanted list. Then there's that crazy pirate gang made up of the Hera race…"

Renso shook his head despairingly, frustrated by the sheer amount of pirates and criminals that inhabited space. It was enough to make a professional soldier like him despair. Still; he had to get back on topic, it was plainly important to the younger man. "Anyway, if finding this planet of yours is that important, why not try and seek out the Namekians?"

"Namekians?" blue eyes tore themselves away from the aerial spectacle right as another explosion viscerally ripped through the air. "Who are they? Can they help me out?"

"They're probably the friendliest group of people you'll ever meet. They mostly stick to their planet; Namek, but they make a lot of friends with other races. They unintentionally probably have the biggest network that can help you pinpoint a specific planet. And barring that…"

He hesitated there, almost bashful. "Well –there's been rumors lately that there are wish-granting orbs that the Namekians hoard on their planet recently; whether they're true or not is anyone's guess. Either way, that seems like a decent bet, right?"

Naruto frowned, eyebrows scrunching. He didn't exactly have many other options to consider; if nothing else, this was at least a lead. "Then that's my next course dattebayo."

Right when he finished that statement, a meteorite skidded across the field and towards them, sliding to a stop right in front of them. The three humanoids peered down to see Caulifla covered in wounds, panting, and struggling to get back up. Her head bowed and features shadowed.

"Give it up." Cabba landed behind her soon after, his golden spiky hair made brighter by the aura that leaked out of every pore in his body. "You can't beat me, Caulifla-san!"

The fierce warrior whose face was grounded continued to struggle to get to her feet, teeth bared in as she pushed with the rest of her fragmented might to stand. And yet she faltered, arms buckling, and a pained chuckle escaped her chapped lips.

"Ane-san…?" Kale was seriously worried about her sister figure, not sure of how she should react to this strange reaction to getting beaten down. Her dark eyes widened when the wild youth raised her head, that bloody grin of hers coming back in force.

"Kale…" left eye half closed and bruised, beaming –beaming at her with an inexplicable joy that she had never seen upon her face before. "T-There are people stronger than me…!"

She slipped, falling onto her back, laughing and coughing at the impact. Stilling to stare at the sky, a genuine smile creeping upon the edges of her lips. "If there are strong guys here –there's gotta be strong guys out there too, right…?"

It was a strange thing for Caulifla to think about. For most of her life she had had incredible fighting power; easily trouncing over other saiyans for funsies. She had even started a gang just to experience the joy of fighting a little longer with a dedicated group –but this was different.

For the first time it felt like the world, no, the universe had opened up for her. There were plateaus yet unreached! Heights yet to be scaled! Fights that haven't been fought!

She laughed heartily, sputtering into a cough, head falling in a dull thunk on the ground underneath her. "I give, I give. I hate to admit it; but that pixie form of his really kicked my ass…"

"…What's this? A smart and reasonable decision? Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Renso snarked, sidling up next to her fallen body, kneeling next to her while Naruto and Kale trailed after; one clearly more agitated than the other.

"Fuck off." she managed to wheeze, too tired to argue further, blearily grinning at her wide-eyed protégé. "Yo, Kale~ I lost; weird week, eh?"

"Ane-san…" said younger woman murmured, scanning her wounds. They were worse than the last time she came back home full of wounds. "Are you ok?"

Rolling her head on the ground to see Cabba approaching them, back to his concerned old self again, her head rolled back to the other female, a sleepy smile gracing her. "To be honest? Never better."

Naruto snorted loudly at that, muttering something about saiyans, and turned to meet the skinny male warrior halfway. "Yo, Cabba; you won! Feel better with all of that stress you've been feeling out of your system?"

Cabba shouldn't have been surprised to hear that query, but he couldn't hide the shock that hit him regardless. "How did you-?"

"You seemed to be a little stressed after dealing with me for a while, so I just figured you needed to release that pent up frustration dattebayo. Did it work?" there was also another matter too that the shinobi kept close to his heart, opting to speak on it later, in private.

Scratching his cheek, the young man inclined his head with a chuckle, giving up in understanding this strange whiskered guy. "I can't say it didn't. Is Caulifla-san alright? I think I might've gone too far."

"Nah, she's a tough one." thumbing at her over his shoulder, Naruto raised an eyebrow playfully. "I should thank ya, it seems that her attention has been dragged away from me and towards the universe now; congratulations, you've saved us both from a headache."

"Oi~" Caulifla glared at both boys halfheartedly, sighing after another moment's hesitation. "Ugh, never mind, I'm too tired to deal with you assholes…"

"Pleasant, ain't she?"

"Shut it, Nii-san."

Renso patted her arm, ignoring the wince that she displayed and glanced at the sole natural blond in the group. "So you'll be leaving soon then, brat?"

"Yep, gonna leave tomorrow night after a bit more practice with my beam attacks. A vague lead is better than nothing at all, ya know?" Naruto turned to Cabba, nudging him playfully. "Wanna tag along?"

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"

"Oh come on, we're gonna be looking for magical wishing balls and going on an adventure! I mean; is there anything else that is as exciting as that going on for you right now?" he pressed, aiming to appeal to his adventurous spirit. "It'll be a hell of a story to tell to the ladies, ya know~?"

"Stop that." the saiyan soldier cleared his throat, flushed, then paused suddenly. "Wait, magical wish orbs? No- it can't be those, maybe…the Namekians? I heard there were rumors about them having wish-giving orbs too…"

"Uh, wait, do you know something about those magic orbs of theirs? Because you sound like you know something." call him suspicious, but last he checked people didn't just stop in their tracks mentally and go over what they knew if they didn't know something; not that he managed to hear a word Cabba said under his breath.

"I might, actually." Cabba made his decision then and there. "Alright, I'll come too, I want to meet these Namekians anyway, I think."

"Awesome!" pumping a fist in triumph, the blond was internally cheering at the idea that he wouldn't have to pilot his ship this time; he wouldn't want to destroy his new -stolen- baby, or get stranded. "We'll leave tomorrow night around 10, make sure to be here by then."

In agreement of what to do, Cabba glanced towards the downed Caulifla furtively. "What about her?"

"Eh, I'm sure that she'll get over this, buy a ship, and become an international punk that beats the shit out of people for shit's and giggles one day." Naruto nodded to himself, certain his prophecy was accurate. "Yep, I can see it."

"…Are you saying that she's gonna become an interplanetary criminal?" wasn't that irresponsible?

"Nah, she'll be alright." the blond patted him on the back, steering him towards a section of the forest that wasn't destroyed. "…Probably. C'mon, we should hammer out the details in terms of supplies and other stuff while I practice; maybe you could also give me some tips on how to fully control ki waves too."

"I wouldn't go that far…"

Watching the two boys vanish into the remains of the forest without a care in the world, Kale chose to regard the borderline introspective Caulifla, who's usually sharp eyes –always focused upon the present, seemed distant.

"Hey, Kale?" the shy saiyan already had a bad feeling; this woman, as much as she admired her, had always been a loose cannon at the best of times. "I wanna try something."

Renso overhead this and shook his head, expressing his chagrin at what his hardheaded sister had come up with this time around. At least he felt that way until she continued on with her conversation with Kale; who looked about as alarmed as someone as shy as her could look.

He was a different story altogether.

The night had fallen the following day in short order and Cabba had managed to arrive at the discussed time, holding a few packs over his shoulders for the trip. Naruto also stood by him, admiring his ship from the outside and then shaking hands with Renso for his time. "I really do appreciate your help and your lead; hopefully this trip goes off without a hitch."

"Yeah, well, you know what they say about the best laid plans." the veteran noted wryly, squarely turning to Cabba. "Take care of each other out there, it's a dangerous universe filled with scumbags."

"We will. Hopefully." Cabba honestly couldn't say for sure when around this blond. "Please tell Caulifla-san the next time you see her that I'm sorry for the fight-"

"Don't apologize to her for that bit, she probably won't take it well." Renso advised sagely, crossing his arms. "She's a firecracker, that one. Best just let bygones be bygones." he cracked a single eye open and regarded Naruto, serious. "Brat, just so you're aware, I left you a few surprises in your ship earlier today. Some things you may like, mostly. Alright?"

"Right, right." Only half paying attention, the shinobi saluted and took the first steps on the ramp of the ship to drop off the supplies he had scavenged across the forest for food and other necessities, Cabba following closely after him. "See ya later, Renso-jii-chan! We'll have a hell of a story to give ya when we get back!"

"I'm counting on it!" Naruto heard the older man retort before the ramp slid shut, giving the teen the chance to finally put his things away. It was during this process that he noticed something interesting within the cargo hold of the freighter he had stolen. Within the formerly empty space there were now packs there that didn't belong to either himself or Cabba; were those the things that Renso told him about?

Weren't there a little too many of them though?

He reached out to grab the nearest bag, a big and seemingly personalized duffel bag that had a skul sticker of all things on it-

"Oi, you shouldn't touch a lady's things, right?"

Naruto jumped a little too high in the air than he liked, spinning on his foot to gape at the entrance of the cargo hold, witnessing a sight that made his jaw drop. A woman with a familiar tube top, baggy pants, dark eyes, and very spiky dark hair leaned on the entrance's frame with a leather biker jacket over her shoulders, grinning toothily without a care.

The fact that he genuinely didn't know she was there told Naruto that he was becoming way too lax in his vigilance. "What the hell are you doing here, lady!?"

"I ain't a lady, I'm a punk." she retorted in kind, thumbing at a figure that was hiding behind her, peering at him over her shoulder. "And it ain't just me either; Kale is here too. As for why we're here; isn't it obvious?" she grinned viciously. "We want in!"

"…And you couldn't have told me this because…?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

Karma was a bitch, apparently.

AN: Okay, this was more of a set up for later. Sorry for taking so long; I actually had this almost done for 2 weeks now, but I kept postponing this for working on other stuff. My bad, everyone. :3

This fic probably won't have any focus on romance btw, I figured this when I finally got to finishing this chapter. Dragon Ball in general isn't much about romance anyway, so best to focus on the actual adventure.

Edit: That being said; it'll be a Naru x Caulifla if any romance at all, forgot to mention that. :I

See you all next time!

-RekkingPride