Saiyan Legacies

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or Dragonball Z.

"Speech"
"Thought"
"Demonic/Pissed"

AN/ IT LIVES! Wow, been a while since this story. For a while, just hadn't felt up to it. As always, felt the creative juices flowing so went at it. Don't know how this will be received. Realized I'd already hit my 10 page mark, so just threw it up. Hope it doesn't sound too rough. Don't be too critical. I spent all of last night in a daze writing half of this. I took it down after an hour because the meeting towards the end felt lacking. So fixed it up to be more complete. Mainly just trying to get through the training days and into the tournament.

Chapter 4: Relationships Are Amusing

"You don't have to come along," Gohan grumbled. To less experienced eyes, the trio of boys were blurs even at their relaxed pace as they cut across the rocky grassland. "You know that." Not a question. More like a warning.

A feeble one.

He tried to keep it honest. He really did. But Naruto's wide grin looked like it could split his head open at any second. "Are you kidding? Miss out on mom meeting your girlfriend-"

"SHE"S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" hands coming up in an exasperated clawing motion.

"Whatever," the blonde countered casually. "I wouldn't miss this for anything. You'd be lucky if I didn't' go and get my camera for this." Gohan's eyebrow twitched dangerously. Again, he reminded himself that fratricide was a no-no. "Well, why don't you take Goten out and spar some more?"

"No way, Gohan," the tyke enthusiastically rebutted. "I wanna see this "whip" Naruto was talking about." Somewhere along the line, Naruto had innocently brought the idea that his older brother was…whipped. Whatever that meant. Either way, he wanted to see for himself.

Gohan blushed to the tips of his ears, looking like he wanted to shrivel up into himself just to escape the moment.

Their home coming into sight, they could make out two shapes at the door. Their mom…and Videl. Gohan poured on more speed. Videl and their mother…talk about a disaster waiting to happen!

"I know I shouldn't, but I can't take my eyes away," the sole blonde Son, whispered to his overly anxious brother. "It's like a car crash, I just can't stop watching."

"This is not funny!" Gohan hissed back. It was bad enough that Videl and their mother reacted like baking soda and vinegar, but it was worse that you just couldn't break the pair of them apart. At this rate, it was up to them to either burn themselves out, or, for the Son boys to wait for the right moment where they could eventually pull them apart. He looked about ready to have a coronary from the stress of it all.

Much like Naruto though, Goten stood aside and let all the negativity go, laughing lightly.

"Man, how can he just laugh?" Gohan thought in envious exasperation. All the frustration warring between the two and he wasn't bothered in the slightest.

He was then overcome with memories of moments where his mother or Bulma would describe the tyke as being just like their father at that age. Gohan himself had never had the chance for that kind of free-mindedness. No. Their mother had beaten their noses into the grindstone before they had the chance to turn into their father. ""

Eventually, the former of the two options had happened. The multigenerational war between the two woman had faded into disagreeable grumblings. It was all Gohan, rapid-firing his excuse of teaching her to fly, being certain to avoid the whole topic of her blackmailing him, lest it start the fighting all over again.

Now, an hour later, ten or so in the morning if Naruto had to guess by the sun, they had gathered away from the house in a nearby field…far away from where they'd been wrecking the place that morning.

"I've never done this before," Gohan excused, his whole body drenched in nervousness. "But teaching can't be that hard, right?" laughing uneasily at it all.

Naruto grinned from ear to ear as he lounged against a boulder a dozen or so yards off from Mr. Gohan's Flying 101 class. Call it twisted, but he took particular glee watching his brother tremble under Videl's even stare.

Goten just stood there, beaming up at his brother. Any moment now…he'd be learning to fly!

"Right, okay, so, anyway, to fly you basically take some of your energy, then you put it beneath you, and your energy holds up. Nothing to it."

Naruto just sat back and watched. Really, for involving him in all this, being his entertainment was small beans. His reverie was interrupted when Goten fired off an energy blast, gouging a chuck out of a small raised portion of the land meter just away from them. Little tyke…the way the stories went, his dad's generation hadn't had anywhere near that dexterity with their ki in their early years, taking time and effort to build it up.

Progress through the generations, he figured.

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Hm?" Apparently, he'd been daydreaming again.

Goten hopping around, travelling meters at a time, came right over, jumping onto the boulder and sliding right down onto his brothers shoulders. "Gohan wanted me to come over here sos he can show Videl how to bring out her energy."

"Take a breather, little brother," Naruto encouraged. "This might take a little while."

"Well, if I'm here with you, can't you teach me how to fly instead?" A good question, but one Naruto immediately had an answer for.

"Nope."

"Awwww, why not?"

"Well, Gohan promised he'd do it and I'm not gonna take that from him." His blonde big brother grinned widely. "And, because it's more fun watching Gohan sweat." Goten didn't quite get it, but he understood enough that he laughed.

"But…I'm booooooooooored," Goten whined, slumping bonelessly forward over Naruto's skull. Naruto laughed and grabbed his younger brother by the back of his jumpsuit and swung him around until they could look one another in the eye. Big, pitiful eyes stared back at him.

"We could go train," the blonde Son conceded. "How 'bout a game of speed tag?" Goten's face almost looked ready to split open from the width of his smile.

"Alriiiiiiiiiight!"

Laughing, Naruto turned to his other brother and his…student. "Hey, Gohan! We're gonna go play around. Let us know when you wanna continue the lesson."

If anything, Gohan looked incredibly relieved to be less an audience. "Oh, that's okay. See you later!"

For the next hour, two the two in their super saiyans forms zipped around the far mountains, bouncing around from crag to rocky crag. Naruto took the lead, going slow enough to provide a challenge to Goten, but with the added obstacle of maneuvering himself around Goten's energy blasts. However, for the sake of discretion, the munchkin had been limited to minimal power. With Videl around, they had to keep things low-key.

Lunchtime was yet another ridiculously funny show. Gohan had been on pins and needles from the moment Videl showed up, and around their mother it seemed to only get worse.

Naruto almost busted a rib when, after revealing her family's wealth, Videl's standing in their mother's eyes did a one-eighty. The word "marriage" was all that was needed for him to fall from the bench of the picnic table, gasping between laughs as Gohan frantically babbled in denial.

By the end of day one, Videl managed, with considerable concentration, to float a foot off the ground. While Goten, having more experience in manipulating his own energy, was doing lazy circles overhead.

Anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together could see how off-put Videl was by Goten's speedy progress. Once she'd managed to break free of gravity though, pushing past her annoyance at being outdone by a seven year old, Videl was fired up and ready to go.

Except the sun was starting to set.

"I'll be back tomorrow."

Gohan mentally stumbled. "What? But you already know how to fly. All you need now is to practice."

"I wanna learn more about this," she countered sharply, leveling a powerful, chastising glare on the resident "teacher". "Or is my presence a burden on you."

Naruto politely refrained from telling anything truthful.

Gohan waved her off frantically. "No, no! Of course not! I just didn't think…" His brain finally just quit on him, taking a load off while its body made a fool of itself.

Bringing out a capsule from her pocket, "Good then," her tone shedding its hostility as easily as a jacket. "It's settled." Clicking the capsule's switch, she tossed it ahead of her. A massive 'POOF' of smoke and her ride reappeared from storage. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Gohan sighed, relieved. At least crazy day number one was done.

He figured his brother was home free from there, but Gohan decided to open his mouth again.

A moment later...

Climbing into her helicopter-jet, Videl slammed the door for good measure, pointedly not looking back at Gohan, her face a bright crimson as she silently fumed.

Hands behind his head, "What was that all about?" Goten asked, utterly confused.

"I…" Finally, after the long day was over…Gohan cracked. "I DON"T KNOW!?" sobbing a little. Naruto didn't understand all that much either, but he normally put that aside for ribbing his brother. For the moment though, he took pity on him and just patted him supportively on the shoulder, as a brother should.

And the moment passes.

"So, uh, I couldn't help but notice the chemistry going on between you two, today," Naruto hummed, dramatically scratching at his chin, grinning. "Who knew you were such a Casanova?"

Cheeks a bright red, "SHUT UP!"

The next day was much the same, flying lessons and all. Except knowing to expect Videl took a little of the pressure off. Surprisingly, the somewhat volatile young woman had showed up minus her pigtails. Gohan, doing the wise thing, just gave up, not even commenting on how what'd previously upset her had been adopted overnight.

The morning was spent flying for the newbies. Goten was zipping around, doing aerial acrobatics, while Videl steadily increased her ability, even if it was still below the tiny Son's level.

But she was proud of her progress, vowing not to quit until she could fly as well as him, zipping around like he was.

Lunchtime...

"Say, Naruto, have you told your mother about Hinata?"

The blonde Son coughed, choking on some rice that he'd been about to swallow.

But the seed was already planted.

"Oh, crud," he thought, coughing around watery eyes. He really hadn't expected her to go there. He probably shouldn't have joked about her and Gohan so casually while she was around. That…and he wasn't sure she could play the Hinata card. As far as he knew they were just really good friends.

It didn't mean he wanted his mom to get ideas though.

Videl smirked victoriously over at him. That'll teach him!

"Who's this Hinata?" ChiChi asked, looking to her son. There was no suspicion or anything else, just curiosity,

Sweating bullets, he did the only honorable thing he could think of. "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" jabbing his finger at the air behind them.

"Huh?"

"What?"

Snagging Goten by the collar, "GoingtoBulma's!Later!Bye!" and bolted, his little brother flailing in the wind behind him, amused smile on his face and bowl still in his hands.

ChiChi blinked before looking over at Videl. "But who is this Hinata?"

Later

Their father's death had been difficult on them all, each in their own ways. For him, it'd been his own uselessness. Taken down and left to watch, figuratively speaking, while the people he cared about were beaten around him. A failure. He had failed to protect his family.

For the first few weeks, he had been almost catatonic. The only signs of life he showed were to eat, albeit robotically, and to stoutly refuse any Senzu bean shoved his way. He had healed the old fashioned way, even if that was far faster than most others given his own innate healing.

And he probably would've stayed that way.

Ironically, the epiphany didn't come from any of his dad's friends, the ones he fought beside, but from Roshi. Perverted old man he may be, but he'd had sage advice for him all the same.

Flashback

"Your father is gone, Naruto." He hadn't exactly been gentle. Wise, but not gentle. "That means it's up to you. I'm an old geezer, my boy. And I stopped being strong enough to stand a chance years and years ago. Let's face it. I'm cannon fodder. This is the passing of the torch from generation to generation. Goku and the others took up the mantle, but time is passing and that burden is already being passed again to the new generation. Your father is gone, and you and Gohan are two of the strongest warriors on the planet. The burden to protect has fallen to you." They were on the back porch; the old man had taken him aside after Chichi had turned away for a moment. Looking up at the sky, the hermit sighed. "You'll never be strong enough to stop people from dying, no one can do that, but, if you're strong enough, you can save as many as you can. Goku knew that. He did his best to save everyone that he could, but he knew that all the same. Through his sacrifice, he entrusted the world to your generation. And someday, you'll have to do the same."

Flashback End

Naruto smiled wanly to himself. Never let it be said that Roshi was just a pervert. People of years tended to have sound advice of some form or another.

He had been ashamed of himself for being unable to do anything against Cell. He made an unspoken promise that day to never be that weak again. A promise to be strong enough for anything to come his way. But, despite his sudden drive, he knew he couldn't just say that to his mother. Given her reaction to their father's death, and their own near-death experiences, she'd fight tooth and nail against it. So he'd trained in secret. It'd been slow and difficult, both as a result of the pains of secrecy, but he kept at it.

It'd been sometime later that Bulma had mentioned something to him about that day. Something she'd apparently overheard Vegeta mumbling. "Fight…" Down and out, he had mumbled in his unconscious, bloodied state. "I want…to fight." By her word, he'd once admitted to her that that had been the impetus to get him back into the fight.

He never brought it up to the Saiyan prince.

(20 Days to the Tournament)

FWAM!

Naruto rocked back from the kick to his jaw before grabbing onto the outstretched limb and using his momentum as leverage to lash out with a kick to his opponent's gut. Vegeta took the hit, but remained upright as he blocked the blow with his forearm. Separating, their interlude soon dissolved into a flurry of punches, some blocked, some making contact.

For anyone else, anyone normal, it would've all been too fast to see.

To be fair, neither one was going all out. Going all out for either of them was tempting fate, the same going for most of their group. That said, they were both powered up, though their amped up energy levels were dampened down as much as possible.

The last time there'd been property damage, Bulma hadn't let any of them hear the end of it. They'd gotten an earful for near a month.

It had only been a small crater.

Naruto had finagled Vegeta into going for a fast-paced spar for the benefit of the boys. They had experience in light spars with one another, and sparring with their older family members, but little else. They were going nowhere near their top speeds, having to stay just slow enough for the kiddies to be able to track.

They'd witnessed spars between Naruto and Vegeta before, but this one didn't have any of the flaccid rules of the previous fights. That is…now, there was more pain. And they were witness to previously unseen speed.

Vegeta wouldn't say it, but he appreciated the spars with Kakarot's boy. His innate ability to heal, faster so than even the average saiyan, made him an exceptional sparring partner, able to take punishment and come right back, wounds healed or healing. It was a challenge. Not the one he truly wanted, that being Kakarot himself, but it would do for passing the time.

Sweat dripping off him, he sat heavily on the grass of the back lawn of Capsule Corps. The spar had lasted half into the day. They could've kept going, but stopped for the sake of the boys' attention spans.

Her son returned, Bulma had come out to join them, with the exception that instead of sitting on the ground she'd used some capsules to bring out an umbrella-topped picnic table, and a small refrigerator.

"Hey, Bulma."

Looking away from where Trunks and Goten were sparring, "Hm? Yeah?"

"I know biology isn't your forte," he excused. In truth, that was his bailiwick. Unlike Gohan, he'd gone for the more science heavy track. "In this case, xenobiology. But I've been thinking about something for a while, and I'd like to run it by you."

She shrugged before taking a sip of her Irished lemonade. "Shoot." Observing the children while he cooled off, Vegeta stepped away to get some of the water from the decanter on the table.

Chewing on his lip, Naruto watched the pair of youngest yet super saiyans, each releasing pent up energy from having to sit and watch for so long. "I've got a theory…about our super saiyan threshold states." A mouthful. He wondered if Vegeta, a strict warrior, understood all of that. But the mentioning of "super saiyan" was doubtless still more than enough to get him listening, no matter if he would understand it.

"What about it?"

"Well, from what you've said, Vegeta," looking to the elder saiyans. "High power levels would most often run in family lines with Saiyans." The Saiyan prince grunted in agreement. It was the simple truth. "I was thinking, with that taken into account, our genes, when they're passed on," subtly referring to copulation, "The children could be as fit as the Saiyan was when he or she passed them on."

Bulma paused mid-sip, looking into the distance thoughtfully. "I see," she mumbled.

"What are you babbling about?" Vegeta huffed, growing more irritated with every word passing that he didn't understand.

Naruto leaned back on the grass. "Think about it this way. I can't say for myself, since I'm not genetically related, but let's think about dad. Gohan and I were super saiyans by the age of eight because we were put under enough pressure, but we had to work for it. Then, after dad became a super saiyan, Goten was born, and it seemed like second nature to him. Look at Trunks. It's the same with him. Sure, he was born after you became a Super Saiyan, but you'd likely been at the verge…at…at that time." Awkward.

Bulma nodded, the idea becoming clearer to her. "So, the power level of the parent at the time of the genetic material's production is, possibly, directly linked to the potential of the child. An interesting theory."

Vegeta looked at them in something akin to disbelief, wondering if what he was hearing was accurate to what they were saying, and if it were true. "Are you implying that offspring of a super saiyan will be super saiyan?"

Bulma and Naruto shared a glance before the latter answered. "I wouldn't say it's guaranteed. There's not enough proof either way. I'd say it's more like the potential increases. The stronger the parent is, the stronger their progeny will be."

Vegeta contemplated his bottled water, lost in thought. "Remarkable. I had always known that family lineages afforded advantages in power. But after I attained the level myself, I never had any idea that it might affect my offspring so profoundly." Not that he'd actually given much thought to his future before, not in regards to having children. Trunks, though accepted, had never been expected. And this new idea… "All my descendants could be super saiyans." The thought filled him with a certain pride. The Saiyan race was still alive…and while its numbers were few, their power was greater than ever before.

"It makes sense," Bulma agreed. "For a race that relied so much on fighting, reason would support that their genetic material would adapt in the same manner. Hence, the more powerful the Saiyan, the more powerful the kids."

"Not to throw in a wrench, but there's also the other factor."

Bulma paused before nodding, "I see."

Twitching a little at being torn from his reverie for this…prattle, "What in the blazes are you on about now?" he griped.

"Well, there's one other possibility," Naruto threw out.

Bulma took it from there. "Hybrids," she explained for Vegeta. "Naruto, Gohan, Goten, even Trunks, are all hybrids, half saiyans. That could also be a factor in their strength."

Vegeta allowed himself a scoff. "Doubtful. Your first theory was believable, but I highly doubt that the might of the saiyan race could be so readily improved by such a weak race."

"For that…you sleep on the couch."

"Damn it, woman."

"One week. Want to make it three?"

"…" Standing stiffly from the bench, glaring absolute indignity back at her, the prince of the saiyans turned and stalked off, muttering haughtily to himself. "…And they call me evil."

"The pair of you," Naruto mused, just wowed by the married couple's interactions.

Bulma smirked superiorly. "Oh, he knows who wears the pants in this family. Just wait…so will you one day." That wiped most of the smile off his face.

The sun was threatening to set when Naruto and Goten left Bulma's, making a slow start on their journey home. Instead of flying though, to Goten's initial grumbling, they'd taken to walking. The little saiyan perched on his shoulders, arms folded across his own blonde head.

"Wow, Naruto," awed. "This is where you go to school?" This little detour had been meant to give Goten a chance to see where he and their brother were going every weekday, and, someday him too.

"Yep. Big place, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah! I can't wait until I'm old like you and can go to school." Naruto smiled at his choice of words. Goten still needed to work on his social graces before someone less understanding took fault at his choice of words.

Turning away from the currently empty building, it being Saturday and all, "Heh, give it time, Goten. Give it-"

"Um, hello, Naruto"

Spinning on heal, he searched out the voice, its owner right behind him.

"Um, hello, Naruto."

Kurenai almost dropped the grocery bag in her arms. Sweet Kami.

"Huh? Oh, hey, Hinata." It'd been nearly three weeks since they'd taken an absence from school for training. He hadn't seen or spoken to the shy girl since.

Now here she was in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt under a light jacket, long blue hair hanging loose behind her. The way the fading sun caught on her reminded him of just how...pretty...she was. A natural pretty, not like how he'd seen some of the girls in school with makeup caked on. He'd admit if asked that she was pretty.

She just radiated...niceness.

Videl was neither right nor wrong in her jab. He and Hinata ate lunch together frequently and did on occasion hang out right after school. But it was nothing serious, just talking. He'd figured that was what friends did. On the other hand, he could really see how someone could be interested in Hinata. She had a lot to offer in both looks and in nature. She was one of the few gentle people he'd met in the entire school.

The truth of it was, when it came to relationships, she was shy and he was something of a dunderhead. Gohan may have been in the dark when it came to understanding women, but Naruto's issue was in recognizing their behaviors. Like how Hinata blushed around him.

Something he might figure out sooner or later.

Next to her, was a woman of about eight to ten years older, dressed in a simple sundress. Shoulder length raven hair with a subtle curl, and striking faded-scarlet eyes., and fair skin.

Kurenai continued to stare, just trying to come to grips. …It was just uncanny. Age and defined musculature aside, it was like he was standing right in front of her.

"Naruto?" Head tilting back a little, he could just barely see his little brother's eyes peering down at him from between his blonde hair. "Who're they?" he asked bluntly.

Grinning at his brother's shyness, not meeting many people outside the family's friends, "This is Hinata, we go to school together," he explained. "Beyond that…remember your manners and introduce yourself."

Parting his big brother's spiky blonde hair so he could see better, and be better seen in turn, "Hi. I'm…Goten Son," he introduced brightly, grinning around the blonde spikes while also hiding behind them.

No-one could deny the irrepressible innocence of a child.

"And, as Hinata knows, my name's Naruto," he greeted the woman beside her, a grin matching his little brother's plastered across his face. "We sit next to each other in class."

Doing her best not to stare. Any more than usual. "Kurenai…Yuhi."

"My sister," Hinata supplied politely for her dumbstruck adoptive sister.

"Naruto and I just left Bulma's house," the diminutive saiyans informed innocently as they walked down the street, away from the school building.

At this Kurenai showed a little life. "Bulma?" It wasn't what you'd call a common name, much like "Naruto".

Naruto nodded casually. "Friend of the family," the sole present blonde explained. "She and our dad knew each other since they were kids."

"So, a long, long time!" Goten added with a laugh, not seeing the potential error at exaggerating. But, then, to him that was a really long time, before he was born even!

"Anyway, we came to town to visit, and-"

"Yeah! And I got to play with Trunks!" Naruto thanked any and all gods that Goten hadn't yet mentioned anything like "spar" or "train".

Kurenai and Hinata both noted the…oddness in the two names, but politely refrained from commenting. Kurenai though was curious about something one thing. "Bulma… You don't mean Bulma Briefs, do you?"

Going limp, Goten hung upside down from his considerably taller brother's shoulders. "You know Bulma?"

Kurenai covered her disbelief well. Bulma Briefs was a very well-known person, especially considering her family was one of the world's best at top of the line technology. Half of the things she recommended to the Hokage were from Capsule Corp.

It just baffled her that these two could know the head woman behind Capsule Corp., and be so blasé about the relationship their family had. Now she'd seen everything.

To their credit, she couldn't see any deceit in either of them. To be expected of the lovable tyke, but the big-Yondaime look-a-like was the same. An open book.

It just surprised the Hell out of her that they were so well connected!

Soon enough though, the parties had to separate. The Yuhi sisters to get their groceries home before they spoiled, and Naruto and Goten to continue on toward home.

"Later, Hinata!" the blonde called, walking backwards before turning back around and jogging off down the road.

Watching the retreating pair, Goten still clinging to Naruto's hair, Kurenai was deep in thought. Something that'd been happening ever since meeting up with the two. "Hinata." Looking over to see the still very much blushing girl. "Have you ever "seen" Naruto?"

The bluenette understood the hint, shaking her head. "Naruto? No. Why?" the soft-spoken girl countered, more than a little curious at the question.

"Try. Please," Kurenai insisted. Brow knitting, she looked again to where the two were almost out of sight.

Out of sight for anyone someone else maybe.

Concerned gaze looking back and forth, checking the streets, content that no-one was around, Hinata focused on Naruto. Veins lateral of either eye bulged, distending slightly against the fair skin. The distance closed rapidly as her gaze homed in on that same jogging blonde…

She winced, looking away. Fists coming up, she scrubbed at her eyes furiously. "Ow," she whined lowly.

Worry coming off her in waves, Kurenai held the bluenette by the shoulders, "Hinata? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" before pulling the girl's hands away from her eyes, the whites turned a pinkish hue from some irritation.

For the sake of easing her sister's mind, she stopped resisting her ministrations and held back from continuing to rub at her stinging, watering eyes. "I'm…okay," she assured. She really wanted to keep rubbing them.

Seeing clear as day the pain in her face, "Hinata, what happened?"

"So bright…" she murmured.

"Hinata?"

Wiping at her eyes one last time, the last time she swore to herself, "So much…energy," she explained simply, raising her voice from its whisper so that Kurenai could hear.

"Chakra?"

Hinata paused, thinking, biting her lip, before shaking her head. "I… No, I don't think so." Searching the horizon for the gone silhouette of Naruto, "You don't understand, oneesan," falling back onto familiar etiquette training. "He didn't have a chakra network. The energy…it wasn't chakra, not entirely, but it filled his body." She didn't dare mention the momentary blink of seeing him without clothes. Her little secret. "And, it was the same for his brother. He didn't have as much, but… So much energy." Her experience limited that it was, she'd never seen such a large source of power before in her life. It was like looking at the sun!

AN/ And that's a wrap for another chapter.