"No way." Ginyuu shrugged, shaking her head with an amused smile. "Don't think spouting words like that will move us, stupid child. This isn't the first time some fool has played the hero and tried to defend his planet."
"Fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you."
Trunks narrowed his gaze. He clenched his fists so tightly that the shinobi swore they could hear his knuckles crack from the stands. He glanced at Goten—and as if reading each other's minds, they exchanged a firm nod.
"ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS! ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS! ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!"
A loud thud echoed as every ninja fell flat on their backs at the same time.
The Ginyuu girls widened their eyes, dumbfounded—but for completely different reasons.
"Did you see that, Captain?" Rikuumu said, sweat dripping down her forehead. "Those brats are master strategists! We'd better not underestimate them!"
"Nonsense! We stick to the plan! And if any of you get the bright idea of blowing this whole place up, you'll be buying everyone strawberry milkshakes when we get back, understood?"
"YES, CAPTAIN!"
"But…" Jiisu nervously ran a hand through her long white hair, worried her question might irritate the leader. "What exactly is the plan?"
The few neurons visible beneath Ginyuu's violet bangs seemed to swell to twice their normal size.
"What do you mean by 'what plan'? The plan where we kill these two, take all the ice cream and candy we can, wipe out every last human, and sell this filthy planet! What part of that didn't you get?"
"And the order of battle?" The captain tilted her chin up toward the towering blue alien over two meters tall. A single nod was all it took—everyone else instantly understood her intentions.
"ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS! ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS! ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!"
And once again, the poor shinobi collapsed onto their backs, unable to withstand the sheer idiocy from both sides.
"This is absurd." The jounin ran a hand through his silver hair, his words heavy with truth. Those women's behavior was childish—almost brainless—yet they had already shown how deadly they could be. "They act like fools… and still, Goten said they've slaughtered thousands…"
"H-how is that possible?" Asuma was the only one who managed to speak. His face had gone as pale as Kakashi's when he first heard it.
"Remember that purple light earlier?" The question was rhetorical—of course, they all saw it. "It looks like that's what wiped out an entire population. Maybe even a whole nation. We can't say which—but what's certain is…"
"Whatever it was, it happened to the West."
Asuma's words hit the Sand Siblings like a bucket of ice water. Temari and Kankuro both felt their knees weaken, seconds away from fainting.
"T-toward the West is Sunagakure." Temari's words trembled as they left her throat, just like her body, still crouched beside her fallen younger brother. She hugged herself tightly, searching for comfort against the tragedy that may have just destroyed her homeland, her people, her life.
Shikamaru felt pity for the girl he'd nearly beaten in their match, had he not forfeited after exhausting all his chakra.
"Nothing's certain," Shikamaru said, trying his best to reassure her, though she refused to lift her head. "The West also has the Land of Iron, the Land of Sky, and plenty of other territories. Sunagakure could still be safe…"
She gave no response—and he didn't blame her. In her sandals, he'd feel the same crushing despair.
Still, their sudden arrival was too unreal to process. One of Kakashi's first thoughts was how savagely the aliens had struck, considering how advanced they seemed compared to humans.
Surely their technology was thousands of years ahead of Earth's. And yet, shinobi attacks—even invasions—were carried out with far more planning. Laws, protocols, diplomacy, even war codes shaped their world. But these beings? Nothing of the sort seemed to exist in their culture.
Indeed, out in the universe, there was only one law: the law of the strongest. Aliens like these didn't negotiate. They took what they wanted, however they wanted. No constitution, no interplanetary council, no galactic organization to stop them. Just power. Whoever could, did. Whoever couldn't, died. Hard to imagine—but that was the truth. One only had to look at how Freeza's forces invaded Namek.
In the end, the universe was nothing more than a lawless village. A game without rules.
"YAHOOOO! I won, I won!" Trunks' triumphant yell erased Kakashi's grim thoughts—along with the similar ones running through the other jounins' minds. "Rock beats scissors!" He shoved his fist close to Goten's face in mocking victory before standing tall, clearing his throat, and focusing on the Ginyuu girls. "You heard him, Goten. Stay out of this. I'll take care of these clowns."
"It's not fair, it's not fair!" Goten whined, a tear welling in his green eyes as he puffed his cheeks like a sulking child—just like when he once cried because Gohan could fly and he couldn't. "You always win this game! Next time we're playing something else! I bet you're cheating!"
"Nonsense! How could I cheat? Sure, I always win, but that's only because you never ask to change the game until after you've lost."
Goten wanted to protest, but no words would come. Embarrassed, he bit down on his lower lip, cheeks burning hot as he blushed harder than ever.
"I won, I won!" squeaked the tiny Guruda, her childish voice triumphant after beating four others at rock-paper-scissors. "Don't any of you dare interfere—I'll finish off this trash myself! Then you can fight the boy with the tail."
Kakashi facepalmed. Unbelievable that the fate of Konoha—maybe even Earth itself—was being decided by a children's game used to pick teams for hide-and-seek. Was this really how extraterrestrials made decisions?
"Your power is forty thousand," the little green girl announced, pressing her scouter's button to confirm the reading. She flashed a fanged grin that looked disturbingly out of place on her freckled, childlike face. "Impressive. Not many beings reach that level. And it's rare to visit a planet where one fighter towers so far above the rest! But it doesn't matter—my battle power is close to one hundred twenty thousand!"
Her power was nearly ten times greater than her Universe 7 counterpart. The claim froze the shinobi's blood. If true, the little alien was three times stronger than Trunks. They didn't fully understand power levels—but it wasn't hard to put the pieces together when the numbers were that clear.
"D-did you hear that?" Kurenai's slim hands trembled. By instinct, she grabbed young Hinata's shoulders protectively, pulling her close. "I-it sounds like Trunks is way below her. If that's true, then…"
"Don't jump ahead." Asuma needed a smoke—the tension was unbearable. He lit one of his special cigarettes, the kind he tweaked himself to ease stress. "Remember, they can increase their power."
"B-but they're already in that Super Saiyan thing! How could they go even higher…?"
"Don't you see how calm they are?" Kakashi lifted his headband, exposing the Sharingan, eyes locked on the fighters. "Even transformed, they're suppressing their power. Their bodies don't leak a shred of energy. And neither looks the slightest bit worried. I'd wager they already know exactly how strong their opponent is. That's why they don't need those strange devices to sense energy."
Still, it wasn't enough. Kurenai stayed more nervous than usual—and truthfully, so were Asuma and Kakashi. Theories aside, nothing could be confirmed until the fight began.
"Come on, Trunks, don't let her scare you! You could beat all of them at once if you wanted! Show them you're the best!"
Ino's cheers rang across the arena as she punched the air hysterically, brimming with excitement in her show of support.
"What's gotten into her?" Shikamaru kept his thoughts to himself—he had no desire to get dragged into any mess with Ino.
Still, he wasn't wrong. Even Sakura watched her with a sweatdrop. Just moments ago, she was at odds with Trunks—and now she'd forgotten everything. Not only that, but she'd cheered just as loudly for Sasuke earlier when he appeared to fight Gaara.
"Ino, shut your mouth," Asuma cut in sharply. "Remember what happens when you distract Trunks. This isn't training. This is life or death. One slip, and it's over."
He rarely showed such gravity. Even his tone was heavy, rough, leaving no room for misunderstanding.
His brief warning was enough to silence the brash Yamanaka. She swallowed hard, eyes fixed on Trunks with quiet concern.
"Let's see how you handle my psychic power!" Guruda placed her hands on her slim waist, her body looking like that of a ten-year-old child. "If my calculations are right, in just…"
PAAAAAM!
The distance between them was twenty meters. Only Goten clearly caught how Trunks closed in on the green alien and smashed his right fist straight into her face. The rest of the Ginyu Force blinked in disbelief, unable to comprehend exactly what had just happened.
Trunks simply stood there, arm stretched forward, his fist still pressed against Guruda's face. Neither moved an inch. When he pulled his hand back, her face was a mess—purple blood streaming from her tiny nose and mouth, her expression twisted in pain, tears spilling from her eyes thanks to her fractured nasal bone.
"D-damn you!" She stumbled back two steps, clutching her face with her gloved hands, trying to ease the burning sting. Her broken nose forced tears to flow uncontrollably, and her cheeks throbbed just as badly. When she finally looked at her palms, rage exploded inside her—her pristine white gloves now speckled with purple blood.
Except for their captain, the aliens pressed the buttons on their scouters in unison. Shock washed over them.
"There's no doubt. His power is forty thousand units. How the hell did he move like that?"
"Jiisu, don't be stupid, calm yourself," Baata ordered, feigning serenity in the face of the inexplicable. "Remember, you and Rikkumu have the same battle level as me, but I'm still the fastest. Maybe it's the same with this brat."
"You're right, how silly of me. That must be it—of course!"
Only the captain remained wary. Her sharp eyes never left the two Saiyans. She realized at once—they could alter their power level in fractions of a second, so fast that the scouters couldn't catch the spike. All they had to do was raise their ki at the right instant, then drop it back down, conserving energy with terrifying efficiency.
"Damn you… I'll kill you! You'll see!"
Guruda had no intention of playing any longer. Veins bulged across her forehead as she thrust both hands toward Trunks. Her eyes flew wide, including the two usually hidden beneath strands of green hair at the sides of her head.
"KYYYYAAAAAA!"
The entire arena trembled. For the ANBU and foreign shinobi, the sensation was strange. But for those who had witnessed Goten and Trunks fight before, it was already becoming familiar.
Chunks of the northern stadium wall—shattered from earlier—rose into the air, along with the debris lodged in the empty stands, as the Ginyu soldiers burst free from the rubble that had buried them.
It looked like magic. No hand seals, no jutsu—just pure telekinesis, rocks hovering like pebbles instead of multi-ton slabs. Nearly fifty pieces of stone floated up, circling Guruda, waiting only for her command to launch at Trunks.
He stood calmly, arms crossed, unimpressed by a display that left others with mouths agape.
"So, mental powers, huh?" the Kazekage muttered.
The Third shot him a dark glare, displeased with that almost-excited tone. There was no time for such comments. Something was off about Sunagakure's leader.
"Throwing pebbles with your mind won't help you," Trunks said, tapping his bicep idly with one finger. "If you want this to be fun, you'd better do something else."
"As you wish." Guruda's lips curled into a wicked grin.
CRACK!
She clenched her tiny fists, shattering the outer layer of the floating rocks in a rough, ear-splitting crunch.
Fragments exploded outward, whistling through the air, cracking against everything in their path. Some even struck Trunks, but he didn't budge an inch—letting the shards break against his hardened body as if they were nothing.
Her intentions were clear. She reshaped the massive stones into sharp concrete spikes, ready to hurl them at Trunks and skewer him. Each spear stretched at least two meters long, thick enough to cleave a man in half.
"KYYYYAAAAHHH!"
With a shrill battle cry, Guruda thrust her palms forward, launching nearly fifty sharpened pillars at the Saiyan.
ZAAAS! ZAAAS! ZAAAS!
They sliced the air with a piercing whistle. Trunks, still calm, dodged at the last instant each time.
But it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Every time a spike missed, Guruda redirected it with her telekinesis, ensuring no attack went to waste. And they struck all at once—like when Frieza had hurled stones at Goku using his mind.
There was no doubt—her telekinetic ability was extraordinary. She manipulated the spikes with ease, precision, and above all, incredible speed. To the seasoned shinobi watching, all they could see were blurs of stone flashing through the air. Trunks himself was practically invisible.
Kakashi broke into a sweat, straining to track the fight with his Sharingan, just as Sasuke tried—and failed. If it were them, they'd already have been skewered long ago.
"Damn it, stop moving! Don't be a coward!" Guruda snarled, furious as the boy leaned back effortlessly, dodging yet another strike. Her patience was cracking… as was Trunks's.
"I'll end this now." Still dodging, Trunks clenched his fists and with a sharp cry, flared his ki.
"AAAHHHH!"
The sudden golden glow forced everyone to shield their eyes.
The rocks began to crack, splintering under the sheer pressure of Trunks's power. The tremor this time was massive, nearly toppling the crowd—everyone except the alien invaders.
The spears were gone. Nothing remained but dust, carried away by the soft Konoha breeze.
"I don't get it—the scouter still says that brat's power is forty thousand!"
Jiisu and Baata stared in disbelief. Rikuumu kept checking her device, but the numbers never changed. Something wasn't right. The captain knew it now for sure.
"So you've got some tricks after all," Guruda said, sweat dripping down her freckled cheeks. "Proud of your dodging, are you? Let's see how you feel when you can't move a muscle." She extended her palms again, veins bulging across her hands and forehead. "Paralysis Technique! AARGHH!"
The effect was instant. Trunks dropped his relaxed stance as every nerve in his body froze. It was like plunging into an icy lake, needles stabbing every fiber of his being.
"D-damn it! I can't move!" His face contorted. He fought to shift even a fraction of an inch. It was humiliating—helplessness wasn't something Trunks could bear. "Don't move, Goten! I can handle this!" he barked, snarling as he heard Goten step forward behind him.
Veins bulged across his bare arms as he struggled in vain against the immobilizing grip.
"Not feeling so confident now, are you? Hahaha!" Guruda sneered, approaching to tug at his cheeks, stretching them mockingly. "Such soft skin. What's your secret? Come on, don't be shy—tell me!"
"The secret is I'm not some disgusting green freak like you!" he spat, forcing the words past her grip. His hands clawed uselessly in the air, trembling with effort.
"I'll admit it—you're a handsome boy. Shame if someone were to ruin that face." Her grin widened with malice. She grabbed his dogi at the collar, raising her other hand into a fist. "Unfortunately, I don't pity anyone."
PAAAM! PAAAM! PAAAM! PAAAM!
She struck him savagely, counting each blow with cruel giggles. Not just punches—elbows to the face, knees smashing into his nose as she yanked him down by his dogi.
"Twenty! Twenty-one! Twenty-two! Twenty-three! Come on, I'm just getting started! Twenty-four! Twenty-five! Twenty-six…!"
Trunks's head snapped back and forth like a puppet, golden hair flying wildly with each vicious strike.
"Damn it, Goten! Don't just stand there—help him!" Ino screamed, nearly rushing forward, before Asuma grabbed her by the arm. "What are you waiting for? Do someth—"
"NOOO!" Trunks forced out, pride burning even as he was pummeled. "I… can… do this… alone!"
"No, you can't! Stop being so damn proud for once in your life!"
Everyone agreed with Ino. It was madness to face this alone.
"Goten, go help him now!" Kakashi barked, his first real order to the boy.
"Yeah, you heard your sensei—obey him!" Ino thrashed against Asuma, who had to grab her other arm to keep her from breaking free.
"If you interfere," Ginyu raised his finger like a pistol, pointing at the shinobi, "I'll kill one of them…"
Goten froze instantly. The attack was too dangerous. He could dodge it himself, but the others wouldn't stand a chance. It was a laser, like Frieza's—a streak of death. Maybe he could reach the stands in time, maybe not. He couldn't risk it.
"At least you've got two brain cells in that head, boy," Ginyu smirked, lowering his hand. "Good choice."
"Ninety-seven! Ninety-eight! Ninety-nine! And one hundred!"
PAAAAMM!
The last blow was a brutal headbutt, the girl's green hair whipping violently just like Trunks' blonde locks. She never loosened her grip on his green gi. Her gloved right hand was smeared red all over.
"See? I don't feel the slightest remorse for hitting that little face of yours." She let go, but Trunks remained frozen in the same stiff posture. The paralysis still had him.
He wasn't nearly beaten enough to look like he'd taken a hundred blows—only a couple thin trickles of blood ran down from each eyebrow, sliding over his face and dripping from his chin in small drops. His lips were a bit torn, but enough for them to bleed heavily.
"What will your little girlfriend say when she sees you like this?" She yanked his hair harshly, forcing him to turn toward the stands where all his friends were watching.
"She's not my girlfriend." He gritted his teeth, avoiding the worried kunoichi's gaze, even as Guruda kept twisting his hair to make him look.
"Then I guess it won't matter if I do this." Blushing slightly, the shameless alien slipped her free hand slowly inside the green gi, letting her fingers glide across Trunks' chest and abdomen. "Wow, for someone so young, you work out a lot! How many sit-ups do you do every day? Those abs are really well-defined!" (Bruh, WTF!?)
"Bitch…" Ino muttered under her breath, more angry now than worried. Sakura heard her and narrowed her eyes. "That's not right! Trunks is a boy, and that pervert's taking advantage of him! DAMN IT, GOTEN, DON'T JUST STAND THERE!"
"What about my chocolate?" Baata grinned mischievously. "Come on, Rikuumu, don't play dumb. You know I won the bet. Guruda couldn't help herself."
"Hmph, you're right. That little pervert's hopeless." The redhead growled, pulling a big chocolate bar from her suit and tossing it to her blue-skinned partner.
"Give me half!" Guruda demanded, still groping the paralyzed Trunks— I was part of the bet, so half is mine!
"No way. You don't even like this brand. And it's not a diet."
That word was key. Guruda was the thinnest of them all, with a figure like Sakura's despite being twenty-three. She counted every calorie. Any sweet she ate was always sugar-free.
"Then keep it, selfish." Her cheeks turned red again. "I'll settle for touching this chocolate instead, jojojo!" She kept running her hand along Trunks' toned abs.
"PERVERTED WRETCH! GOTEN, DO SOMETHING!" Ino was about to snap. Her eyes went white, her expression twisted psychotic. A dark aura oozed around her. Choji and Shikamaru held her down as best they could. "LET THAT STUPID BRAT FIRE HER BEAM OR WHATEVER, I DON'T CARE, BUT STOP THE LITTLE DEGENERATE RIGHT NOW!"
Goten was spooked. It wasn't quite the same as Sakura's wrath, but the kunoichi's fury was just as terrifying. He was about to step in when something happened.
"LET GO OF ME, NOW!" Trunks had reached his limit. He'd endured her blows patiently, curious how far she'd push it, but the groping? That was too much. His golden aura burst forth, blazing and fierce, shaking the arena's trees until they nearly ripped from the roots.
From afar, Orochimaru felt those surging vibrations crash against him, making his pale skin crawl. He had to hold down the Kazekage's hat to avoid blowing his disguise. The Third wasn't as lucky—his hat went flying.
Guruda was hurled back several meters by the violent gales of Trunks' ki, only stopping when she dug her small white boots into the arena floor, cracking it beneath her. Every scouter around them beeped wildly as his power spiked at breakneck speed.
It was over in a second. A golden glow wrapped Trunks' entire body. His hair shifted from pale platinum, like Ino's, to a sharper, fiery blonde.
"530,000! His power just jumped to 530,000!" Jiisu couldn't believe it. Now she and her comrades were screwed. In an instant, his level matched all three alien girls combined.
Just as Ginyuu suspected—the boy could raise his power at will. The problem was figuring out how far.
"Guruda, withdraw immediately. He's not your match."
The order was sharp, but the trembling girl refused to obey.
"I-I still have one last card to play. D-did you forget, captain?"
"I don't care! I said withdraw, NOW!"
The captain's rages were infamous. Years of mercenary life had killed whatever empathy she once had—if she had to dispose of her own crew, she would.
"As you command, Captain." It was clear Guruda was bitter. Humiliated at being forced to retreat. She needed something, anything, to soothe her bruised pride. "But before I go…" She raised a hand toward the shinobi. "Let's see how many heads I can smash at once."
Trunks' green eyes blazed with fury. He vanished. Goten watched in awe as his friend launched forward, left arm drawn back, winding up a monstrous strike. Guruda had crossed the line—
BAAAM!
A clean uppercut to the gut, flawless in execution. The stadium's pillars quaked, loose dust and pebbles raining down, the very foundations rattling at the Saiyan's overwhelming strength.
The green-haired girl wasn't on the ground. She blacked out for a moment, losing all sense of time and space, only to find herself suspended high above, the Hidden Leaf sprawled below like a distant painting.
She wanted to speak. Couldn't—her throat only croaked weakly. That monstrous punch had stolen her breath. She barely had time to glimpse the Saiyan charging at her again. He wasn't especially fast by her standards, but she knew she couldn't win. She puffed her cheeks.
The world froze. Time itself stopped. Reality distorted. Everything turned sepia, like an old photograph. Only Guruda retained her color—her technique left her immune.
She thought it was enough. She was wrong. Trunks was nowhere. He should have been frozen below her, flying up for an attack.
"Wh-where is that brat? He should be right there!" She spun in every direction, frantic. She pressed her scouter—nothing. He'd erased his presence. Her lungs still screamed from the gut punch, suffocating her within seconds. "C-could it be…?"
She turned timidly—there he was. Behind her, all along, frozen in her suspended world. Teeth bared, arms raised, both hands clasped into a giant hammer strike poised to crush her skull.
Panic consumed her. How did he get there so fast? She couldn't hold it. She'd suffocate at this rate. Her stomach still burned.
BOOOOM!
Her time-stop shattered. The hammer blow landed. Guruda lost consciousness, lost the fight. Her limp body plummeted at impossible speed, threatening to smash into the ground—
But Trunks caught her mid-fall, slowing her descent, not letting her hit like a dead weight.
They landed softly, still a hundred meters from the ground. Trunks carried the petite alien—small as Hanabi Hyuga—down to the arena.
His boots tapped down only ten meters from the rest of the Special Forces. This time, no gentleness—he dumped her at Ginyuu's feet like a sack of potatoes.
Her four eyes were rolled back white. Her green hair was matted with thick purple blood from the final impact.
"D-did you all… see that?" Kurenai swallowed hard. No one answered. Of course, they all saw him land with the alien girl in his arms, though not the rest.
"She's still alive. Leave now. You have no chance of winning."
At least Ginyuu knew it. Trunks had raised his power even higher, beyond 530,000, though the scouters couldn't catch the rapid rise and fall of his ki.
It was humiliating. Worse, reports now confirmed—energy signatures had been detected in North Galaxy, sector 4562, planet 322. Earth. Thanks to the Saiyans' fight, the planet had been exposed to the O.I.C. Ginyuu had dismissed the readings before, never imagining the opponent would be this powerful.
She was seething, nails digging so deep into her palms that violet drops of blood dripped from her fists. And then the damned monkey brat bounced into the arena, raising a hand in the air—
"Oh, oh! My turn, my turn! You fought already, now it's me."
No reply was needed. Both knew the aliens wouldn't back down. Goten figured right: the fight wasn't over.
"Yeah, just leave at least one for me. It wouldn't be fair if you finished all four." Trunks turned his back to the Special Forces, locking eyes with Goten. "Be careful. They might have special techniques. I don't know what happened, but that green one did something before I beat her. I'm sure of it."
"You bastard! How dare you ignore us!?" That was Jissu, reckless as ever, even more hotheaded than cocky Baata, who always relied on her absurd speed "If you turn your back, you'll regret it!"
"JISSU, STAND DOWN NOW!"
Too late. The "Red Magma" of the Special Forces lunged, the "Blue Hurricane" right behind her.
Trunks spun, ready.
A storm of fists and kicks rained down, a whirlwind of red and blue strikes, blurring into violet. Only a piercing hum filled the air as each attack sliced nothing but wind.
"Bastard! Stop moving!" Baata swung wildly, her long limbs cutting through the air like blades.
"Fine, I won't move…"
Still, the barrage missed, so fast and hard it stirred breezes strong enough to sway the trees around the arena and whip the robes of the stunned shinobi. Even the Kages' cloaks fluttered dangerously—Orochimaru had to hold his so it wouldn't fly up.
Then silence. Dust settled. The crowd could finally see—their strikes had hit nothing. They'd pummeled the air itself.
"Wh-what the hell are you?" Jissu stumbled back, terror-struck, "A-are you… a g-ghost?"
The truth was worse. Trunks hadn't stayed still at all—he'd moved so fast it seemed he hadn't budged. The only evidence: marks in the dirt where his boots slid with each sidestep.
"Idiots! Look at his feet, the ground's torn up! He moved the whole time—you two are just too slow!" Ginyuu barked.
The girls glanced down—sure enough, shallow trenches surrounded Trunks' boots. Rage boiled at his smug grin, and even more when he flashed them a cheeky peace sign.
"That's it! Forget the ice cream! We'll wipe this whole damn village out!"
ZAAAAS!
Jissu shot skyward in a violent purple aura, instantly reaching a kilometer above the village. Baata followed, just as fast.
No words were needed. They knew each other too well. Like Guruda, they wanted to vent their frustration by wreaking havoc.
"Rikuumu, prep your Destruction Beam! We'll keep the brats busy!" Baata ordered through her scouter.
"But the captain…"
"She didn't stop us, did she? That means she doesn't care! If she wanted to, she would've already." Her silence said enough. Baata pressed "Don't you see? The mission's at risk! Guruda's down!" The mention of Namek's disastrous failure shook even the blue girl. None wanted to relive that nightmare.
"F-fine. I'll do it. Over and out."
Communication ended. Jissu and Baata exchanged a fierce look and nodded.
"COMET STRIIIIKE!"
Their ki flared violently, wrapping them in red and blue spheres. Muscles strained, veins bulged, teeth clenched. Konoha was in danger.
Trunks, unaware, assumed it was a single massive blast he could deflect. He squinted against the sun, watching the whirling disk of blue and red ki form, spinning so fast it blurred violet.
"What the hell are they doing?" His face hardened as he realized—hundreds of purple spheres were shooting toward him. Small, but deadly concentrated.
He understood. Jissu and Baata weren't aiming at him—they meant to overwhelm him, force him to deflect them, risking Konoha with each stray blast.
"Damn you!" His aura flared gold. "Goten, help me knock them away! Don't let a single one land in the village! Smash them hard!"
"Move, and you know what happens!" Ginyuu aimed her finger-gun at the crowd.
Sasuke trembled with fury. His long black hair bristled, fists shaking. He hated being treated as weak, as if only the Saiyans could protect them. He wanted nothing more than to shut the alien's mouth himself.
Sakura saw it in his eyes and shrank. She wanted to calm him, to tell him to let it go, but she knew it would only enrage him further. She lowered her gaze, ashamed that she couldn't even do that much.
"Then target her, Goten! If she's going to keep threatening us, shut her up! The fight's no longer by turns—they broke the rules."
Trunks strained to shout instructions while his arm blurred at impossible speed, swatting each purple sphere away.
It should have been beautiful—hundreds of violet lights arcing into the sky like shooting stars, streaking away from the village.
All of Konoha looked up in awe. Children tugged their mothers' sleeves, pointing at the strange fireworks. Only those who had fled the stadium knew better—this was no festival.
Chunin guards on the red walls watched the glowing spheres sail overhead, vanishing into the mountains. Explosions rumbled in the distance. Ibiki Morino stood silent, grim, knowing it was the work of those two boys.
Awe turned to horror when one sphere dipped too low, slamming into the stone faces of the Kage Monument. The explosion shattered a visage in a blinding fireball as bright as the sun itself.
The smoke cloud was thick, black, suffocating. The entire village froze, every soul stunned. Those indoors rushed outside in panic, desperate to see what had happened.
The parents of Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru stumbled out of a shabby little tavern, clearly tipsy after downing a few too many cups of sake.
"What the hell is going on? Is it too much to ask for a bit of peace to eat after a grueling mission?" Choza Akimichi growled, furious that he'd been dragged away from his food—or in this case, from the bar. "Bet it's your kid causing trouble, huh, Shikaku?"
"I doubt it. Shikamaru's not stupid enough to pull something like this." Nara rubbed his forehead, shielding his eyes from the blazing sun. "You'd need half a kilo of explosive tags to make that kind of mess. No way he'd be carrying that many. What do you think, Inoichi?"
The jonin didn't answer. His silence was unsettling enough to make both men turn his way. When they followed his gaze, they froze too—utterly petrified.
Any buzz the alcohol might have given them evaporated instantly. Even the redness in their cheeks drained away.
The Fourth's face was gone. Completely obliterated, as if it had never existed. In its place, only a flat, scorched slab of stone remained, still smoking. Next to it, the Third's head was cracked and crumbling, shedding chips of rock and dust, looking ready to collapse entirely at any second.
The sight was so overwhelming, they nearly overlooked the purple streaks shooting out from the stadium, soaring far beyond the village, detonating wherever they landed. Even from such a distance, the blasts rumbled like distant thunder, the kind you'd hear rolling over some faraway town.
Something clicked in Nara's head. "Tell me, have those kids left the hospital yet? You know… the half-extraterrestrial freaks…"
"Yeah, that must be it. I thought I overheard Ino mention something about it to her mother this morning." Inoichi clenched his fists in rage. "I'm no one to question Lord Hokage, but sticking that boy on a team with our kids is madness. Those two are a dangerous threat. You remember what happened two weeks ago…"
Before anyone could answer, new explosions erupted across Konoha, rattling its already fragile buildings. Columns of smoke rose over rooftops, signals of multiple coordinated attacks.
"No, there's something else going on here." Shikaku rolled his neck, shaking off his laziness and readying himself for action. "Looks like the invasion's begun. Good thing we were warned…"
He was right—it was the invasion. What he didn't realize was that two invasions were unfolding at once. The blast that destroyed the Hokage Monument was mistaken as the signal to commence the shinobi assault, so the Sound and Sand operatives hidden around the village activated their plan, assuming Kabuto had changed the order last minute and issued a new, more destructive cue to shatter Konoha's morale.
When the colossal blast shook the village, Trunks panicked. He realized he hadn't managed to strike one of the ki spheres hard enough. Still, he forced himself to focus, deflecting as many of the attacks as far away as possible.
The earth shook violently. Brief had to brace himself, driving his boots into the cracking ground, his leg muscles straining to keep from being thrown off balance.
"Now what's happening!?" he snarled, never taking his eyes off the endless stream of ki spheres pouring relentlessly from the massive purple vortex spiraling in the sky.
"Trunks, don't lose focus—I'll take care of this!" Goten shouted, his voice sharp with uncharacteristic urgency.
That tone wasn't like him at all. Alarmed, Trunks cast a glance at the source of the tremor, tearing the ground apart.
It was Rikuumu—the towering redhead, nearly two meters tall, raising her arms high over her head and summoning a terrifying surge of ki. Her gloved fists were clenched together, crossed tightly above her crown. To Trunks, it looked like she was about to unleash some twisted version of Gohan's Masenko.
If only it had been a hand technique. Those were slower, easier to predict.
"RIKUUMU! DESTRUCTO… RAAAAY!!!"
Her jaw opened wide, revealing a glowing white sphere forming inside her mouth. A moment later, a blinding purple beam erupted, moving at an impossible speed.
"Damn it!" Trunks cursed. He wasn't worried for himself—he could survive it. But the village? At that magnitude, Konoha would be erased. He had to act. He'd rather let the smaller ki spheres rain down on the arena than see that monster beam detonate.
But he didn't need to move. In a flash, Goten appeared at his side, eyes sharp as emeralds, burning with determination. He clasped his hands together into one mighty fist and, just as the beam closed in, he slammed it upward.
"KYAAAAHHHH!"
The shinobi were frozen, overwhelmed by the rapid succession of events. In just seconds, Jissu and Baata had launched their comets, the earth had shaken violently, and then came that purple flash that blinded them—only for it to vanish just as quickly when Goten deflected it skyward.
"Look! Up there!" Kurenai shouted, the only one who ever spoke when stunned. The others stayed silent.
"EVERYONE, GET DOWN!" Goten bellowed from below, frantic. He knew it wasn't over. He'd redirected Rikuumu's blast into the atmosphere, but it still had to explode.
KABOOOOOOMMMM!
The world turned white. The roar was deafening, the shockwave brutal, even though the detonation was miles above the Earth's surface. In just two weeks, yet another colossal blast had shaken the planet—not as massive as the clash between Goten and Trunks, but still catastrophic.
If Konoha and the Earth had survived that battle, they would endure this one, too. But the battered, cracked head of the Third Hokage's monument didn't last. It collapsed in a cascade of rock, tons of stone raining down dangerously close to the Hokage's Tower.
Sakura blinked rapidly, much like she had that morning upon waking—only now, it was to clear the blinding haze left by the blast. She lay sprawled on the hard concrete, realizing she'd tumbled down the stadium steps, nearly into the arena itself. Naruto knelt beside her, speaking, but she couldn't hear a word.
"Am… am I deaf?" The dreadful thought vanished when Naruto grabbed her arm and pulled her up, sound slowly trickling back into her ears.
"I asked if you're okay, Sakura." His voice was worried. If she'd been scatterbrained before, what if the blast had scrambled her worse?
Many had fallen, some tumbling down the steps, but Sakura had clearly taken the hardest hit.
The jonin had fared better. Kakashi and the others had anchored themselves with chakra at their feet, riding out the tremor. Still, the jolt was so violent that Kakashi swore it had churned his breakfast inside him.
BOOOOMMMM!
Another shock struck, rattling the stadium, though it paled compared to the earlier explosion. No one panicked this time.
As the dust settled, towering above even the fifty-meter walls surrounding the arena, it revealed a vast crater, over ten meters deep. From it rose Goten, floating effortlessly, hauling the unconscious blue giant Baata. He held her limp form by the wrist, dangling her like a doll.
After Rikuumu's devastating attack, Goten had decided enough was enough. He'd blasted behind Baata in a blur and delivered a brutal downward elbow to her skull, knocking her out cold. Then he hauled her out of the crater she'd made on impact, dropping her beside Guruda's motionless body.
"That makes two. If you don't want this to keep happening, leave. Now." Goten's face wasn't the usual cheerful, absentminded mask. It was hard, serious, and promised nothing good for his enemies.
Even from afar, Sakura saw it. She saw that expression, and with it, realized that Goten was a true fighter, capable of deadly focus when the situation demanded. It was easy to misjudge him at first glance, to think him only a fool. But now she understood—his lighthearted nature was real, but it had nothing to do with "the other Goten" that emerged in battle.
Jissu landed, trembling at the sight of her comrade unconscious, eyes glazed, mouth hanging slack with her tongue out. Baata had shared the same power level as her and Rikuumu, but now everything was different. These two boys were far too strong. She hadn't even seen when Goten struck.
"Wh-who are you? How can you have so much power?"
Seeing her shiver, Trunks got an idea to end this once and for all—an idea Ginyuu also had, though for very different reasons. He wanted to unleash his special technique.
"We'll answer you with a demonstration." Trunks turned, beckoning his friend with a finger. "Goten, come here and show them what you've got. Show them what we can do." He pointed at Jissu's scouter. "And make sure that little gadget of hers doesn't short-circuit. She won't handle what's coming."
At his call, Goten bounded forward, landing firmly ten meters away from the Ginyuu girls.
Everyone leaned in, eager to see what would happen. But perhaps none more than Sakura and Naruto. What would Goten show them? A swell of pride warmed Sakura's chest—it was her teammate, her friend, and soon, her new sensei.
"Goten is amazing…" she whispered. Kakashi caught it, and he smiled, pleased she was finally seeing Goten differently. That would benefit Team 7. "Ino, watch closely. See what Goten can do." She shot her rival a daring look. "Bet it's something Trunks can't pull off. That's why Goten will do it!"
Ino folded her arms, frowning, tiny wrinkles forming across her nose. If Sakura was right, she was going to be annoyed.
"Alright… where do I start?" Goten tapped his chin, staring upward in mock thought. "Ah, yes! First, let me explain what ki is!" He pointed at the lone tree still standing after the massive explosion. "This… is ki!"
And with that, he fired a small golden orb.
BAAAM!
It wasn't the tree that cracked—it was the shinobi and the Ginyuu girls toppling backward at the sheer stupidity of the boy.
"So this is the incredible thing Trunks can't do, huh? You, billboard forehead idiot!" Ino slowly pushed herself upright, using the back of a seat for support.
"DAMN IT, GOTEN! TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY! JUST WHEN YOU WERE FINALLY DOING SOMETHING RIGHT, YOU HAVE TO RUIN IT!"
Naruto noted, with some relief, that after all the blows Sakura had taken, she was at least still as crazy as ever—if not more so.
The girl was practically spitting fire. A dark, sinister aura radiated from her body, black clouds of pure malice seeping off her frame. Naruto wisely stepped aside, not wanting to be ground zero for Haruno's blind fury. Even Sasuke, curse mark burning on his neck, took two cautious steps back to safeguard his own skin.
"I didn't mean that, you idiot!" Trunks pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed with exasperation. "Just raise your ki, alright? Show them your power so they can read it with those scouters or whatever."
"Ohhh! That's what you meant!" Goten scratched the back of his head and grinned from ear to ear, as always. "Alright then, get ready, here I go!"
That was the end of Goten's childish demeanor. Gone was the warm, cheerful smile. In its place came the fierce countenance of a Super Saiyan—the sharp jade eyes, framed by golden eyebrows, brimming with a raw, intimidating intensity.
It was the same serious, hardened expression Sakura secretly adored in Sasuke, but here it was on Goten, just as powerful, just as bone-chilling—no Sharingan required.
KYAAAAAHHHH!
His brilliant golden aura burst to life, flaring violently around him.
The clouds above began racing across the sky, spiraling over the warrior whose sheer power warped the very air. Darkness fell, thunder cracked endlessly, lightning split the heavens in frantic, blinding flashes—all of it paling next to the guttural, inhuman roar tearing from Goten's throat. No human could produce such a sound.
The noise was so deafening that everyone had to clap their hands over their ears—an awkward task, since they also needed those hands to steady themselves against the violent tremors shaking the stadium.
The quake was too much. Kakashi's heart pounded as he eyed the ceiling above—fracturing like brittle glass. Even the solid earth of the arena floor now resembled the shattered surface of a broken television screen.
Every last intact pane of glass in Konoha, whether untouched or repaired after the Trunks–Goten duel, is now shattered for good. The village was left windowless.
Beep beep beep beep beep!
The three scouters screamed in unison, their readings shooting past three hundred million. Ginyuu's own had maxed at three million—now Goten had blown past that a hundredfold. These weren't ordinary scouters; they were reinforced, able to measure absurdly high levels without immediately exploding.
"S-six hundred million… s-seven hundred million… e-eight hundred million…" Ginyuu's voice cracked. She couldn't take it. The sight was too monstrous. Trembling like never before, she ripped the scouter from her face and crushed it in her fist, unable to endure even a second longer of watching those numbers climb.
"A billion! He's at a billion already!" Jissu screamed, her voice shrill, desperate for reassurance from Rikuumu, who stood frozen, incapable of speech.
"ENOUGH! STOP IT!" Sakura had to cling to Kakashi's vest with one hand just to stay upright, covering an ear with the other against the earth-shaking roar. "YOU'LL BRING THE WHOLE DAMN ROOF DOWN, IDIOT!"
And just like that, he stopped.
It was unreal—as if Goten had flipped a switch. The tremors ceased, the levitating debris crashed back to the ground, the storm clouds withdrew, the sky cleared. At that final moment, the remaining scouters exploded—including those worn by the unconscious Guruda and Baata, still operational even in their state.
"O-one point one billion… he reached one point one billion!" Jissu's scouter detonated right against her eye, but she didn't even flinch. She wanted to die right there, overwhelmed by what she had just witnessed. No wonder they hadn't been able to touch them. And worse—this was nowhere near his limit.
"I'm sorry, Sakura!" Goten bellowed toward the stands, waving his arms sheepishly as his power settled back down. "Sorry, everyone! I won't do that again!"
Silence answered him. Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai exchanged uneasy looks, beads of sweat running down their faces. But beneath the nerves was relief—and even a flicker of excitement. They now knew, beyond any doubt, that the extraterrestrial invaders stood no chance. They had suspected as much when Goten floored the blue one, but this sealed it.
"I knew they were strong, but not to that extent." Kakashi exhaled heavily, pulling his headband down over the Sharingan. The fight, as far as he was concerned, was over. "If those numbers are accurate, the gap is astronomical. And these girls are supposed to be incredibly powerful."
"That's it! Well done! Now finish kicking their asses and send them packing!" Naruto cheered wildly, joined by his grinning teammates and a chorus of other voices from the crowd.
"For a moment there, I thought my heart would stop." Poor Tenten exhaled so long it seemed she hadn't breathed since the chaos began. A hand pressed against her chest as though steadying an ache. "Those two are incredible… I can't wait to start training with Goten. I bet I'll learn so much."
Sakura's ear twitched like a radar dish, straining to catch every word.
"Y-yeah, I'm going to train with Goten too. He said he'd help me improve my taijutsu."
"Really? That's great! I want to get better at taijutsu, too. I asked him this morning, and he already had a few ideas for me."
"CHA! YOU DAMN MONKEY! You didn't tell me anything! And I'm your teammate! TRAITOR! CHA CHA!"
Inner Sakura raged, unhinged. She couldn't process the obvious truth: Goten had agreed to train Tenten simply because she asked. He never turned anyone down. With Sakura, though, it was different—he had volunteered himself, determined not to see her helpless again, like during the Sound ninja ambush in the Forest of Death.
"Trunks promised me a few training sessions." Rock Lee jabbed a thumb at his chest and winked. "He said it would be harsh, but nothing can outlast the springtime of youth!" Tiny flames flickered in his pupils as, somehow, a wave crashed dramatically behind him on a lone rock he stood upon. Gai wept openly and embraced him, while the others turned pale.
"Hmph. I'd like to train with Goten, but I'm stuck with the pervy sage." Naruto chuckled slyly, recalling the mighty summoning he'd mastered thanks to Jiraiya—his newest trump card.
The tension shifted. For a moment, everyone seemed to forget what had just happened, lulled by the newfound certainty that nothing could go wrong now.
But Ginyuu's wild, manic laughter cut through the air, dragging them back to reality.
At first, Kakashi thought she'd finally snapped—cornered, hopeless, ready to surrender. But nothing could be further from the truth. The captain was celebrating.
Her cackles escalated into shrill howls, grotesque shrieks of madness echoing like a hymn to insanity.
It took nearly two minutes for her to stop. Clutching her chest from the strain, she brushed her violet bangs from her eye, still smiling widely. She cleared her throat, then declared:
"Your body will be mine."
Her aura flared yellow, engulfing her in an instant. The Saiyans couldn't make sense of the technique—her power level hadn't risen at all.
"CHANGE!!!"