Chapter :24

Confronting Sasuke

Somewhere, far away from the Hidden Leaf Village, in some hidden part of the world, two figures could be found, these were Orochimaru and Sasuke walking at a leisurely pace somewhere in some clearing surrounded by woods, with Sasuke following Orochimaru from behind. It was dark out as it was nighttime now. Suddenly, they stiffened and stopped as they seemed the sense a presence in their midst.

"Sasuke... It ssssseems that we have a guesssssssts in our midst." Orochimaru almost snaked out his words.

One could almost see the twisted smirk on his face, always eager for some new "prey" to possibly play around with, whoever and whatever it may be.

And indeed they turned their heads to the side to find a certain young boy in a red and blue suit and with partially untamed wild hair standing in their midst. His two fingers lowering from where they had previously been, touching his forehead.

"So...? Sasuke... and this is I presume that Orochimaru guy I've been hearing so much about. So this is where you are?" finally spoke Gohan, not even addressing Orochimaru and only giving him a passing glance in favor of Sasuke. Always keeping his eyes on Sasuke, and eyeing him seriously with his "game face" on.

"SSSssssasuke, it seems that he knows you. He seems interessssssting." slithered Orochimaru, one could almost imagine him licking his chops at the prospect of another youth in his grasp.

He seemed to go to walk up, as if he was going to place a reassuring hand on Gohan's shoulder. No doubt a ploy like he'd employed on many of his powerful youths he'd snared into his employ over the years. Thinking that it would work just as it did many times before, to entice yet another powerful pawn.

But Gohan's eyes snapped at Orochimaru, with the clear meaning of 'Don't mess with me or it'll cost you big time!' coming off of his expression. Orochimaru quickly retracted his gesture at this, clearly the old ploy wasn't going to work on this one. And it was clear from the gesture that he had the power to back it up judging from the confidence he had in order to make such a threat.

"Leave us, this is a personnal matter." finally spoke up Sasuke, addressing Orochimaru but still never taking his eyes off Gohan.

Orochimaru for his part just chuckled as this whole situation seemed to only amuse him. "Kukukuku... Very well. Since this is obviously a private matter, I'll leave you to your own affairs. But just remember Sasuke, I sense your friend is Powerful." said Orochimaru as he walked off.

This time Orochimaru really did lick his lips with his tongue. It was clear that he was eager to taste the power of something. But now Sasuke couldn't tell if that parting shot by Orochimaru was meant to say that he could find himself replaced as a vessel by someone he found more powerful, namely Gohan, or not. But either way, Sasuke couldn't care less who Orochimaru favored for his transfer. Just as long as he kept him around enough to train him.

But as Orochimaru walked by past Gohan, Gohan didn't let his eyes off him.

Gohan couldn't tell if this man had a sense of how powerful he was or not, even though although Gohan was hiding it. Gohan couldn't quite get a read on him. He definitely got the impression that he did in fact sense that he was powerful. But to what degree he couldn't tell. And if he did sense even how truly powerful he was, but if he did, then why did he seem so confident in himself as if he could actually someone get his hands on him.

Either he was just posturing in the face of the enormous power that was before him, or it could be that he just didn't get a sense on him at all? But Gohan distinctly got the vibe off the man that even if he did sense such power, it wouldn't change his attitude on it. Either way, Gohan couldn't tell, and just let the man pass.

Once Orochimaru walked off and entered the woods and they sensed that he was truly out of earshot did they get down to business with each other.

What are you doing here?" finally asked Sasuke, demanding an answer.

I came to see to check out if it's true or not. To see for myself about wether what they say about you is true... So far, can't say as I'm liking what I'm seeing." said Gohan, and although managing to school his features relatively steadily. He couldn't help but to leak out a look of disdain as he gave Sasuke an ice, cold, hard stare.

"Then why don't you tell the rest of us what about what you heard?" somewhat sarcastically asked Sasuke. Although already having guessed as to what Gohan was referring to, he nonetheless decided to rise to the challenge.

"That you'd forsaken and abandoned your friends and betrayed your village for some lowlife creep. That you'd left the path of light for the dark." recounted Gohan.

Sasuke for his part only seemed to smirk at his "accusations". Like as if he was proud of them or something. It was then a twisted and maliciously mischievous smirk that he then pulled. One that made Gohan sick watching it. "Whatever do you mean? I only went and followed your advice that you gave me? I found a teacher that could make me stronger that I needed, and I went for it." responded Sasuke, throwing it back at Gohan for the shot from earlier.

Gohan couldn't hide his disdain from that one. To have that thrown back at him was sickening. He wasn't about to let him get away with trying to pin this on him. The mask of calm collectedness he'd had up to that point melted away into an expression of anger. "Rrrrrrgh... This isn't what I had in mind for you and you know it!?" shot back Gohan as he growled out, staring a hole through him as he said so.

" ... " Sasuke didn't say anything back, he just intensified his glare to continue drilling a hole right through his confronter. And though no matter how much he didn't want to admit it, he knew it was that deep down, he was right.

But knowing that didn't make him happy to want to admit. And no matter how Sasuke wanted to lie about it and deny it, he knew that Gohan would see through it. And so he just went with not saying anything at all. He couldn't, wouldn't give him the satisfaction of admitting that he was right.

"You may have understood the meaning of what I was trying to make. But CLEARLY you didn't get the point of what I was trying to say!" aggravatingly snipped back Gohan.

"Oh!? And what would that be? What exactly AM I missing then?" posed Sasuke, his tone condescending as he sneered at him. Almost daring Gohan to explain himself and prove him wrong.

"Do you honestly think that this Orochimaru guy will give you the power that you desire? Do you honestly trust him?" posed right back did Gohan. While taken a bit aback that Gohan switched a question right back at him, Sasuke had no problem with answering back.

"Who says that I do? I only trust him to train me enough to reach my goal. But other than that I don't care if I can trust him." responded Sasuke with an ice, cold monotone delivery.

"I've learned from the village that he even once tried to subdue your brother. He didn't even have enough power back then to overcome your brother himself back then! Think! If HE doesn't even have the power himself to defeat your brother, do you think he can give you that power himself!?" demanded Gohan, his tone getting louder as he went along as to almost the point of out loud shouting it.

"He's still at a higher place than me. If he can't get to where I want to be. Then at least he'll get me to the next best place close enough. Besides, he's still far better than the alternative." commented Sasuke, still in his emotionless, barren, arrogantly motivated monotone.

"What was that!?" snapped Gohan. "You heard me! If I'd have stayed at that village I would've stayed weak "playing ninja" with those weaklings." put forth Sasuke.

"Do you realize what you've just said? Do you realize what you actually left behind? What you truly could've had had you stayed?" question an incredulous Gohan.

"What?" simply snapped Sasuke. Unaware of what Gohan was actually trying to get at. Though not totally.

"That the strength that I was talking about, the strength that guys like Orochimaru can't get, the true power that you could've had had you stayed was only achievable if you'd stayed with your friends. They would've stayed with you, trained with you, pushed you like no one else and motivate you. You could've had the kind of the strength, true strength that can only come from the heart. The power that could've been used to truly overcome your brother. That unlike you at least Naruto gets that. But now that you've gone and left for merely physical power that the kind Orochimaru could provide, you'll never get that power and now, now you're gone." leveled out Gohan, then turning his back to him, almost like he was disgustingly disappointed with him.

"And what do you know!? They couldn't understand me! An Uchiha! Born to be an Elite, born to be a Genius! That those before us, even the greatest genius only comes off as barely average. To me, everyone is an amateur. The Dobe and all his friends couldn't possibly understand that. That I'm meant to be faster and and go farther with my training than everyone else. Orochimaru understands that at least. And with his training combined with my Uchiha genius I'll be able to surpass everyone else with it! I need that power to surpass everyone in that time so that I might even possibly surpass my Brother!" snapped back and ranted Sasuke.

Gohan turned his head and looked back at Sasuke, leering at him, almost as if he were saying to himself 'Are you serious?'.

"So this is about expediency!? So you betrayed your friends just because you wanted a little power boost faster? Do you even hear yourself saying?" asked Gohan, seeing through the point like a hot knife through butter.

Sasuke didn't even give him the dignity of a remark as Sasuke just turned his head away and his chin up, like a snob rebuking and not acknowledging something.

But then Gohan turned back forward as if not paying him as any consequence. "So congratulations then... So then maybe you do get that power. So maybe you do surpass everyone else and get stronger faster in that time thanks to Orochimaru. But then what use will it be without friends? Because it's not just the power of someone, it's the friendships that help make it happen. Because if you have friends, then that power is made all the more powerful by the surrounding help. And because without friends, life will be hollow and empty. And at least NARUTO understands that." preached Gohan.

And at the mere mention of his ex-teamate and rival caused a reaction in Sasuke. "The Dobe!? And what could he ever possibly understand over ME? He's just a clanless, helpless, Dead Last, loser! Just like he always was in the Academy and how he'll always be. And he could never come to match me, a genius Uchiha!" incredulously reacted Sasuke.

"Well... maybe if you stopped relying on your damned fool-idealistic pride to be your guide, you might actually learn that one's fighting ability is hardly determined by one's blood. Or to underestimate a person's resolve to overcome." patronizingly remarked Gohan.

"You tell that to Naruto when he failed to defeat me at The Valley of the End." snarkingly sneered Sasuke.

"You know what? I find it somewhat ironic that while you try achieve some sort of acknowledgement in defeating and surpassing your brother. And yet when Naruto tries to prove himself against a similar genius in you, you lambast him? Why is that?" countered Gohan.

asuke was already at an emotional edge with this whole line of conversation they'b been having. But this last line somehow broke through and got Sasuke to snap and to show a bit of himself deep down that he was feeling.

"BECAUSE I carry the pride of the Uchiha! I AMMM the Uchiha now! And we can't let our pride be broken by some no-name loser! I am an Avenger, an that means I can't anyone get in the way of my goal. No more, no less..." shouted out Sasuke, admitting for his longstanding, deep pride and why for which the real reason he felt he couldn't acknowledge Naruto. Feeling like he'd admitted his personal soul. But for Gohan, those reasons were still hardly acceptable.

"Sasuke, you're so damned arrogant I honestly can't tell who's more deluded, you or that Orochimaru guy? Honestly, you remind me so much of Vegeta it isn't even funny." said Gohan. "Vegeta!?" questioned Sasuke, that new name suddenly making him a bit curious as to why Gohan brought him up, whoever he is.

"He was the Prince of All Saiyans and he's someone else I know who you remind me oh so much of." replied Gohan.

"Saiyans...?" asked Sasuke, speaking the word as if trying out for the first time on his tongue, which he was.

"That's right, they were a mighty warrior culture, they saw themselves as a mighty warrior race. And Vegeta was born prince of his people. And according to their laws he was born inherited with the greatest fighting ability of them all. So right from the very beginning Vegeta was taught to believe in the supremeness of his bloodline, much like you. But then, one day when Vegeta was still very young, his people came under the control of an evil and mighty tyrant named Frieza. A man so strong that he had greater fighting ability than even the Saiyans combined. And so he used them as part of his organization, using them as a mercenary force to attack other peoples. For years this tyrant used the Saiyans to do his dirty work and wiped out millions of people. But then one day Frieza became paranoid about one day the Saiyans rising up to overthrow him. And so one day he had them destroyed, but he left a handful of survivors, including Vegeta and the massacre was reported as a natural disaster that had wiped out their people. And so for years the pideful prince Vegeta toiled and slaved away and worked for this tyrant for years. But then one day he finally found out what really happened to his people. And so he rebelled against his former master and sought out revenge. And so he battled and gained strength until he'd gotten through his minions and was confident enough to take on Frieza himself. But then no matter how much Vegeta struggled, no matter how much strength he gained during the the fight itself, Frieza's strength was such that he undid him still at every turn. In the end, Vegeta could do nothing and he fell and was to be tortured by Frieza before the end. I watched... I remember..." spoke Gohan.

That last object was such that Sasuke could see what appeared to be a ghost of remembrance flash before Gohan's expression. As if he had been actually there to witness these events. Like some old horrible horror story he was reliving.

But then Gohan re-steeled himself and sharply looked Sasuke in the eye. "And so in the end he fell before his intended avenged. Ironically enough his task was taken up by another of his people, the one Saiyan that Vegeta couldn't stand, took up his mantle and avenged their people instead of Vegeta. And so you see, he fell even though he had the righteousness of revenge on his side, he still fell. He died, unfulfilling his quest for vengeance." finished Gohan, finishing his cautionary tale.

"And so? What should I care for it?" said Sasuke, snubbing it in his 'I-don't-care' attitude.

Gohan's eyes widened in abstruck incrediousity. "ARE YOU BLIND!? He died for his vengeance. It's a dangerous path to tread, and it can cause your own destruction to pursue it just as it did him." warned Gohan, eyeing Sasuke spitefully.

"And? What care should I for his fate? He failed, I won't." simply stated Sasuke, not caring for the one in Gohan's story. He was simply loser in Sasuke books, whoever he was.

"You are arrogant and you blind yourself if you think so. He was prideful and arrogant too, much like you. Like I said you remind all too much about him. All too much in fact. Don't compare your plight so favorably in comparisons to Vegeta's plight. I know of what you have to face in Itachi. I have faced him myself, and so I..." Gohan went on to say more but was cut off.

"What d'you say!?" snapped Sasuke, the immediate mentioning of Itachi setting him off. The mere fact that Gohan had ever had any contact with Him made him an immediate suspect for information on Sasuke's part, and he went at it like a rabid terrier dog.

"WHERE. IS. HE!" coldly and sharply sounded off Sasuke. His face contorted into an angry and dangerous scowl, his eyes with Sharingan activated bore into Gohan's skull, looking for any information on Itachi with dangerous and wild intent.

But even so, Gohan was undeterred by the pressure of the little fledgling Uchiha's glare. He'd suffered under the glares of some FAR more powerful people in his lifetime.

"Ah, looks like THAT's gotten your attention." lightly jabbed Gohan, almost as if the look he was seeing in Sasuke's eye was that of a baby who was playing peek-a-boo and just revealed himself about something. As if he was playing a game with him. Sasuke wasn't in any mood to be playing games.

"WHERE. IS. HE!" violently reiterated Sasuke.

"Look at yourself. You're like a whining child who's having a tantrum. Only reaching out for what he wants out of his reach." again condescendingly and calmly insulted Gohan. Although Gohan came off of it like as if he was stating facts, not an insult.

"WHAT!? AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING A CHILD? THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, YOU WERE THE ONE YOUNGER THAN MEEEE!" yelled out a very hot-headed Sasuke in rebuttal.

"When it comes to the maturity that comes from life on the battlefield? You'll always be a child compared to me." returned Gohan in a calm, but sharp look to his eyes.

"DD'vuhherrrrrrrrghhhr!" sounded Sasuke with clenched teeth, not being able to reply to that in any way that he could contradict.

"Relax there chief, he's not there anymore. Anyway, I only encountered him a few days ago on some trail outside of town somewhere. And even if I could remember exactly where we were, he's probably long gone from there. And I don't know where he went from there." tried to ease back did Gohan.

"I DON'T CARE! NOW JUST TELL ME WHERE HE WAS!" shouted out Sasuke. Again, any information about Itachi, even his last whereabouts would be crucial in tracking him down. And Sasuke was damned impatient when it came to anything involving new information about Itachi.

"And to what point and purpose. Even if you could track him down from there, what then? We both know that from here as you are now you're no match for him. I've fought him, so I should know." said Gohan.

"DD'ggggguhwrrrrrhg!" once again Sasuke sounded with gutural sounds as he practically regurgitated in a guttural sound through his clenched teeth while he veered his face away in shame. That reminder of his weakness was almost like a body blow that knifed into his stomach.

"But, during my run in with your brother, I was able to gather something that might be useful to you. Something about your clans' massacre." suggested Gohan, deciding to throw him a bit of a bone.

Afterall, he felt that maybe he'd suffered enough with what he'd been through. Besides, this was information that he deserved to know. At that, Sasuke turned around and looked back at Gohan with his eyebrow raised over his left eye inquizzitively, his curiosity piqued. "What?" simply asked out loud did Sasuke.

"Well, from what I was able to gather. From the way I had conversation with your brother when I encountered him. The way he felt around about certain things. There was something else at work in the Uchiha Massacre. Something that forced him to go through with it." informed Gohan.

"What was it?" asked further Sasuke, his suspicions were up.

"I don't know exactly what. I couldn't gather that much about what it was. I could only gather as much as I've told from overall over my whole length of conversation and encounter with your brother. That's all the information I have to give. Take it as it is. It's all up to you to make of it what you will." explained Gohan.

And at that, Sasuke seemed pensive as he digested the information. Looking down at the ground and with his arms crossed with a pensive expression on his face. Gohan could only hope that he would make use of that information and figure the rest out for himself. Hopefully it would lead him into the proper direction, Gohan hoped at least.

"You didn't just come all the way down here just to check up on me and to have a nice old chat? No, there's something else for that you came for. What was it?" finally snapped Sasuke after a good long while of thinking things over. "Ah, observant as ever. Heh, Sasuke? You're right, I came here also to warn you." admitted Gohan.

"About what?" inquizzitively asked Sasuke.

"That Naruto has left the village now to go of on his training with Jiraiya. And he'll be coming back to beat you, because he will beat you! As he will prove that the power of his friendship will be sronger than your darkness." said Gohan, and he said it as not as if a warning, but as a statement. Like as to him it would come to pass, as he firmly believes.

Sasuke seemed the reflect on this for a moment. But then, Gohan saw it. He saw the vicious, mischievously evil-like grin coming out from the left side of Sasuke's face.

"I see, looks like things are getting interesting." only muttered Sasuke, but Gohan could hear him clear as day.

Gohan then turned his back on him, seemingly disgusted by what he saw and making ready to leave. But bfore he did that, there was one more thing to say.

"You may be able to fool people with that attitude of yours, but not me. I see through you like others can't. You might put on this vinear, this act of being cold to the world and that arrogantly nothing else in the world is good enough for you all the time. But I can see through it. I see it all. You aren't like this in spite of you friends, but because of them. And don't ever let yourself be fooled by it." speeched Gohan in some last moment of advice.

And if Gohan would've looked back at Sasuke at that moment, he would've seen the remorseful, almost sad, pensive look on Sasuke's face.

But Gohan didn't need to look. He already knew that he had gotten to him and that the message stuck. And that was all he needed to know, a small smirk graced the side of Gohan's mouth.

And then he was gone. Vanished in the distinctive flicker of an Instant Transmission teleportation. Leaving Sasuke to look up at the dark filled sky, with the leaves rustling in the wind. Leaving him to deal with oncoming decisions of the upcoming three years.

Author's Thoughts: SO... This is the final chapter of this story. It's been a wild ride so far. As I am writing this it took me over six years of work and writing to get through to this point over the whole overarching story. Now I'm sorry for those of you who were maybe expecting something more of an ending? But I'm afraid, that this is it for the Naruto crew in this series. This is the end of the crossovers. Gohan has had a final confrontation with Sasuke, telling him off, and letting stew on things for the next three years. And possibly getting him to start down the suspect for the things that would play further into the plot of Shippuden. But for now, this is it! And this is what Gohan's influence has come to.

This particular chapter was a loooooooooooooooooong time coming. It probably took me the longest time of any of the chapters I've ever written to get through. Nearly three to four and a half MONTHS to get through writing this. Just writers block to follow writers block for each line and paragraph. I was just soooooooo unmotivated to writing this part of the story when it finally happened.

I had just concieved of this idea about Gohan confronting the early evil/bad Sasuke that we've learned to grow and love, almost since the very beginning. It was one of my top ideas about the story. And it was sooooooo hard to do! To get the balance right, between the evil/irrational Sasuke from Shippuden that we all love. And the slighly more sympathetic/intelligent good Sasuke that we knew before. I always felt that the Sasuke from the original Naruto was sympathetic, slightly cracked, but still having a bit of darkness while still willing to at least serve good. So I thought of him as more of a good guy, like Vegeta. A good guy with a dark edge to him. But then we came to the end of Naruto and then Shippuden, and I think we all know where history leads there? So it was a tricky balance to try to come between the two, as he's still not yet totally gripped by evil, yet still not willing to go over to good again so soon. But that he remain intelligent enough to see the faults and to realize what he's doing wrong when told. But not determined enough to veer away because this is the choice he's made. I tried to emote that.

Along the way I would dream up soooooooooooooo many ideas about the tones and, what would be discussed between the two and what would they mean that... When I finally got here I had so many ideas that I couldn't fit them all and I had to figure out which ones worked and which ones didn't and how they would fit together in what order? Which is not to say I didn't have the same problem with other chapters. It's that this one seemed so much mooooore compounded then the others. But finally, I came through and it's done.

For example, I had concieved of Gohan telling Vegeta's story of revenge to Sasuke way back when they were having their heart-to-heart back in the first part of the crossover. That it would be part as a cautionary tale for Gohan to warn Sasuke of his upcoming path to vengeance. But in the end I felt I that it would probably caution Sasuke too much at that point and that it might've led to possibly meaning that Sasuke would have to abort his path to darkness. And at that point in the story I wanted Gohan to giving advice, that meant to steering Sasuke away from the path, but being so vague that it doesn't end up being that way. And I thought that it was too direct in pathing Sasuke away. So it found to be better served at the end.

But first off I'd like to take this time to thank WingedFreedom622. Whose epic crossover Gohan's Dilemma I followed almost from day one, and helped inspire me to write my own. I just hope for him and for all of you appreciated my work.

And while this is the end of the crossovers, and originally it was supposed to be the end of the Dragonball Z Alternate Path storyline as a whole! But in time, I decided to give you something more?

You see, in the course of posting this crossover, I was inspired to writing a new part to this series. Now it won't be a sequel! It'll just be a sidestory. One where I'll be doing MY version of the Bojack Movie. Along with an Epilogue chapter that'll contain the essence of what I would've done had I followed up with the actual sequel. So at least you'll have that to look forward to. But be forewarned, I haven't finished it yet as I'm still working on it. And it might be a 2-to-3 weeks wait before I finish it? But rest assured, it's coming.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed Gohan's adventures in the Naruto World were, and I hope you liked how I had him influence everyone and events? And vice-versa as Gohan was affected by his new friends. In maybe subtle ways? But affected nonetheless. But now, that and the rest of the plot moving forward and into Shippuden, will just be have to be left to yours, and mine, imaginations?

But to any of you who wish to pick up my story and adopt it to your own and create your own version of this' Shippuden? Feel free to do so! Make it your own and BETTER version if you didn't like it so much? Feel free! But for now, my part and what I wanted to write, is done.

And to those of you who enjoyed this crossover so far? Thank you for reading. And to those of you who'll read this in the future? I hope you're enjoying it too! So anyway, farewell for now, and so long...