Naruto : Son Goku

The mountains of Paozu were some of the best places for meditation. An older man sat down on the cliff with his eyes closed, simply becoming one with nature; breathing calmly, and getting rid of the troubles on his mind.

He continued his deep meditation, letting his energy flow freely.

Behind him, there was a small hut, which he identified as his home. He was walking to go inside, but as he was about to slide open the door; he heard a loud crash. He turned around, seeing that not too far from his house; there was a giant plume of smoke.

And then what followed was the appearance of a Ki signature he couldn't identify.

It seemed the newcomer would be the only other Ki user besides Muten Roshi, the Ox King, the Crane school students, a few scattered monk settlements, and himself in the world.

Acting within his nature as a turtle school ambassador, the elder statesmen was inclined to go and investigate.

Running, he quickly turned his attention to the metal pod. The man was more than confused as to what was going on. It was silver, with a small red-ish window in the front of it. He walked up to it and tapped it with his foot gently, and surprisingly it opened.

His eyes widened behind and he gasped once he saw what was on the inside. He took a step closer to get a better look.

It was a baby! It was no normal baby, but a baby nonetheless. It cried and held its arms out for help like any other child, and the man had no choice but to help the baby out of the pod.

It was a boy, and the man found that out the hard way because he peed directly on his face. The baby started laughing and the man couldn't even be mad. He ran a hand through the boy's spiky black hair and almost smiled.

"Hey there kiddo," he greeted the child.

His eyes widened once he realized the almost "alien" nature of the Ki that belonged to the child, "Wow, you're different."

Through all this he didn't notice that a tail wrapped around his arm while he held the child, "You're a weird one too aren't you!"

He laughed a bit to himself, before tickling the kid on his stomach and looking past everything weird about him, understanding he was still a baby. "My name is Gohan! What's yours?"

He knew he wouldn't be getting any real response, just a confused stare. Gohan still smiled.

"I'll call you…Goku," He said as he looked at the boy's tail, "It seems fitting anyway."

The baby, now known as Goku, giggled with glee and happiness.

- Seven Years Later -

Gohan ducked as the young boy in front of him threw another punch at his head.

"Not quite strong enough to hit me yet Goku," he told the boy as he sent a punch at the boy.

The Saiyan deftly dodged the attack and countered with a round house kick. The older martial artist promptly caught the boy's leg and used Goku's own momentum to his advantage, sending the boy flying off into the bushes.

The child arose from the bushes and dusted off his blue martial arts uniform. "No fair," the boy said with a slightly somber tone. "I still can't hit you."

"You've only been training with me for a few years now," Gohan replied with the name, kind-hearted smile. "You'll improve with time. And I've been training my whole life. You can't expect to get results like that overnight."

"Grandpa," Goku started. "Is everyone as strong as you are?"

"No," Gohan replied. "Many people aren't even as strong as you are now. I've been studying martial arts for my entire life to gain the amount of strength that I have. But don't be discouraged that you're not winning. It takes time to be the best, but eventually I know that you will surpass me."

"Really?!" The child asked, excitement manifesting on the boy.

The elderly man chuckled, nodding in confirmation.

Over the past seven years since the untimely arrival of the boy from the stars, their lives of isolation in the wilderness known as Mount Paozu had been incredulous to say the least. In the first two years of their time together, Goku was as wild and aggressive as a toddler could possibly be. While the child not far removed from infancy posed zero threat to his personal safety, the intent to kill never subsided unless there was food to eat.

House repairs, great apes, broken dishes, ravaged clothes, Goku did it all. And then one day, on an accident that he still could not fathom actually occurred, the boy from the stars fell fifty feet into a ravine...

Bumping his head. Ouch.

Thanking Kami that his surrogate grandchild happened to survive the fall, Gohan was able to nurse the boy back to optimal health after a week of bed riddance. Upon the child's reawakening, his behavior and nature completely reversed itself and the boy was as pure of heart as anything he had ever seen.

In the years following the amnesiac shift in Goku's character, the senior martial artist trained the prodigal child in a manner similar to the way of the turtle hermit. The boy, enthused to fight and become stronger more than anything else, soaked up every movement like a sponge. It was ludicrous.

Whether or not he lived to see it, he knew that his adopted grandson would one day become the most powerful fighter under the heavens. It was written.

Gohan smiled in his thoughts, perhaps for the last time...

And just like that, the day had gone by in the blink of an eye, and Goku didn't go to bed, seeing the moon.

"Man the moon sure is pretty tonight. I wonder why Grandpa never let me stay up to see it when it was full like this," the boy said to himself.

Before the words were out of his mouth, Goku lurched back uncontrollably as his body began to spasm. His eyes turned bright red and canine teeth soon grew from his mouth. The front of the boy's face began to pull outward into a long snout. Brown hair grew all over Goku's body as his clothes were ripped to shreds by his rapidly growing body. Within seconds, the unwanted transformation into his Oozaru form was complete.

This would be the second turning point in the life of Son Goku.

- In The Aftermath -

The Sandaime looked at the seven-year old with apprehension.

With sheer luck he had been able to distract the Oozaru with his monkey summons to allow Hatake Kakashi a chance to cut the apes tail off. It had succeeded, turning the great ape back into the seven-year old he is. After breaching the village walls which were still in the process of rehabilitation from the Kyuubi like nothing, and then destroying a whole sector of the village. In what could only unarguably be the most random, sudden siege in the history of Konohagakure.

Many were in outrage. They clamored for the boy's execution.

However, the Sandaime being the kind man as always, protected the boy from the council and made the debacle an SS-ranked secret.

Having a Yamanaka check his memories didn't help, as they were blank. The brat remained an enigma to him even to this moment, and he examined him. He seemed below-average in height and weight compared to everyone else his age.

To any onlooker, many would think he was the Yonbi, Son Goku in full transformation. However, the boy didn't have a seal mark anywhere on his body and had previously possessed a tail before it had been sealed off. Just what was he?

The boy's eyes groggily slid open while the Hokage mused to himself, and he groaned. "W-what happened?" The boy said, with a yawn and half-opened eyes.

He then tried to move his furry appendage, but failed to even feel movement. "Where's my tail?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen snapped towards the child, tossing him a gi similar to the one he had prior to the transformation. The only difference were that the pants were black instead to the blue hue they once were.

"Put these on. I'll explain everything afterwards."

The Saiyan quickly changed into his new gi, awaiting the Sandaimes explanation. Hiruzen dropped his cigar on the floor, spewing smoke from his mouth and looking towards the boy. "So, as you know, your tail is missing. The reasons...are rather complicated. Transforming into some kind of Great Ape, you went on a rampage towards the village and breached it, ravaging it in fury. To stop you, we had to cut off your tail and seal it. By the way, what's your name?"

"Son Goku," the boy muttered solemnly, feeling solemn and guilty for his circumstances.

"I see," Hiruzen mused, thinking it ironic to the event that took place the night prior. "I now hereby declare what I just told you to be classified as an SS-ranked secret. You're the only one allowed to tell the secret other than myself to anyone who you deem trustworthy. Those that break those rules will be executed without hesitation, Goku-san. Understood?"

"H-hai," Goku stated hesitantly, responsibility having never been truly dawned on him. "Where's Grandpa Gohan?!" The boy inquired with nothing but curiosity pegged into his voice.

The Hokage looked downwards, dreading at the question being asked. What will the boy's reaction be?

Clearing his breath with a sigh, Hiruzen answered. "We were unable to find his body after we ended your rampage. Long before he passed on however, he left me a set of instructions regarding your future."

The boy had tears pour down his face, guilt rolling down his spine, shaking him to the core. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in anger at himself, and he cleared his eyes of liquid. "T-then what do I do?"

Hiruzen sighed, reading his directions. "You're to live in this village for four years and then live with...Kame-sennin? For the one year following your fourth year in the village. When you return, you will enroll at the Academy once more and become a Genin."

Goku nodded, not saying a word.

"Good. I'll have living quarters arranged for you and enroll you into the academy effective immediately. Dismissed."

Nodding, the Saiyan strode out of the room, a lot on his young seven-year old mind.

- 18 Hours After the Meeting -

"Hey wake up!" a spikey haired child said as he slapped the boy upside the head to get him up. The orphanage generally had a myriad of chores to be done and the blonde would be damned if he had to do some by himself when this new kid could help him.

Goku groaned as he woke up, his head pounding. He wasn't sure what had happened last night or where he was, but there was a loud blue eyed blonde kid around his age yelling at him for some reason.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the orphanage. What's your name?!"

"Son Goku," he said, pointing to himself.

The blue-eyed kid pointed to himself as well, "Uzumaki Naruto!" he said exuberantly.

Goku was then dragged from the bed by his hand and taken from the room in a rush.

"We've got a lot to do today!" Naruto said loudly as he dragged his new friend through the orphanage.

Goku had no idea where he was, but the blonde that had woken him up seemed friendly enough.

The blonde kept looking over and smiling at him as they went about doing chores, which Goku didn't mind. He had no problem with the boy or the chores and he had a feeling that if they didn't do what they were told the stern woman that he saw patrolling the large house would definitely have something to say about it.

Even with all his concentration focused on doing the chores and trying to be happy about it he still couldn't prevent the breakdown that hit him like a truck halfway through the morning as they were doing dishes. His grandfather had presumably been killed on accident in a form he had no control over, or even knew existed.

And when it rained, the gloomy mood settled in.

'Screw this,' he thought as he grabbed his new friend's hand and sneaked away. The kid was lucky he was mourning silently, he knew that bitch wasn't a fan of soppy kids. Even ones recently orphaned like this one, the insensitive cow. The amount of crap he had to put up with from her for no particular reason was ridiculous, he didn't know why he didn't just run away sometimes. Given the fact that he was in the academy in order to pursue of shinobi career, living alone didn't sound so bad anymore...

Emerging from the house, his companion in tow, Naruto quickly made his way to one of his favorite places within the village. Making their way a fair distance from the orphanage and climbing the winding stairs carved into a cliff they soon arrived at the top of the Hokage monument.

The sun was just beginning to properly rise into the sky and as it bathed the village in golden light Naruto couldn't help but smile. He was going to be Hokage someday and this village would be his. Everyone would recognize him for the great man he was!

He noticed a lack of sadness and looking over to find that Goku himself was captivated by the view the lookout offered.

Naruto felt for the guy. He barely knew him but he seemed nice enough. And the fact that he was now in the orphanage meant that something horrible must have happened to his guardian. No wonder he was sad, but concealing his turmoil.

He was lost and alone, just like Naruto was alone. But they didn't have to be alone any longer. They had each other.

-The Next Day-