History's Strongest Shinobi

by Kenchi618

On that day years ago they put their faith in him, Naruto made a promise that he would be the best ninja he could be. Either all alone, or together with friends he was going to make his family proud. Whether the ninja underworld wanted him to or not he'd either die trying, or become the strongest shinobi in history. AU.

4. Conflict Builds Character

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. I will elbow a valley into the crown of your skull if you bring this up in front of me three times. Everybody gets three.

Chapter 4: Conflict Builds Character

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"Niijima, I swear to God. This better be worth every minute I've been here." Naruto said, sitting at a table in a small restaurant across from someone that had been trying to bust out his secret of being a ninja for the better part of the last year, "Now what were you saying about Ragnarok?"

Niijiima Haruo just rubbed his hands together in what he thought was out of eye-shot and turned back around acting normal, "Patience my friend. Are you enjoying your dinner?"

"It's great." And it was, but still, "But I came here for a reason you know."

He could swear he saw a pair of antennae spring up from the dark bowl-cut of Niijima as they conversed, "First tell me. What's your motivation for even being a ninja? A dark vendetta against those that wronged your clan? A taste for battle that can only be quenched from the shadows? What?"

Damn mangas and animes. Did they really give off that impression for the rest of the world to take from them? Maybe if a real high-level ninja was willing to give an interview or something that notion could be dispelled, but pigs would probably fly first.

Naruto had to sigh before looking down at his hands, "I want to be the best ninja in the entire world. A long time ago I made a promise to my parents that I would, and that nothing that ever happened to me, for better or for worse, would ever change that. I promised I'd never let it change who I was or take away the kind of person that they taught me to be. That's why I'm a ninja. Because I want them to be proud of me."

Niijima's next question would have been about his parents to sate his curiosity, but there was a blank look in Naruto's eyes as he spoke. There was something painful there, and he didn't want his new instrument to his eventual world domination to walk out of the door due to being offended.

Instead, Niijima grinned and held up eight fingers, "Valkyrie is just the tip of the iceberg. Even if you defeat her there are seven more after her. Thor, Hermit, Siegfried, Loki, Freya, Berserker, and Odin. Eight of the strongest fighters in the city. How long do you think you can survive before they get you?"

Naruto just smirked as if he were being challenged and he was supposed to be scared or something. Okay, maybe this crazy bastard wasn't the kind of person he was going to be able to get to by scaring him. At least not with this.

There was something though. A weak-point in the armor as it were, "…What about Stupid Kenichi then?"

That was something else entirely. He was training, but could he get ready to fight at that level fast enough?

With a sigh, Naruto set his arms on the table, "Ugh, with some time. He needs time. He can definitely do it. I know he can. But he just needs a little time. A month or two at the rate he's being tortured-, I mean trained, and he can definitely do it considering who's training him."

"And what about you?" Niijima prodded, "You're fine with the situation? Anything I can do to help you buddy?" This was to be the ground level of what would eventually be his enterprise that would take over the world. The golden geese were not to be killed!

Naruto was going to open his mouth to speak again before he realized that nothing Niijima had ever done had been solely for anyone else's benefit. This entire set-up was odd, but because Naruto really had nothing concrete of Ragnarok he didn't want to let a possible contact that could know something about them slip from his grasp. But trying to manipulate Niijima into coughing up something without indirectly giving the alien boy something just as important from his own point of view in return was risky business.

In other words while he was damn certain that he was the bigger snake in this pit, he didn't want a snake with stronger venom to get a bite in on him.

Right now he just needed to get into shape to fight at any time. And he'd be playing his cards as close to the vest as he could. He'd bluff for Kenichi for as long as he could, and try to back up those threats with appropriate action to mask the whole thing until he didn't have to any longer.

"You want to help?" Naruto asked rather cryptically. He needed something good. Something good enough to get Niijima off of his back to make him think he was playing ball, but something that would keep him from playing into Niijima's hands too much for whatever he really wanted from him, "I'll tell you what. Give me your number, and every time I do something to Ragnarok I'll send you a picture or a video."

It was quite obvious that he didn't expect Naruto to do anything like that in the least judging from how he started choking on his beverage and spit it out after hearing it, "Y-You would do that?"

"Whatever you want out of it, you want me and Kenichi to fight Ragnarok." Naruto figured with a shrug, "Well I'm going to see if I can take the fight to them anyway. But I'm going to need a little goodwill from you here, because it's hard to believe that you want to help us out of the goodness of your heart. You know, Koga showed up pretty quickly after I left Kenichi and Miu. I don't even think the echoes from our yells had faded from the air yet."

One of Niijima's pointed ears involuntarily twitched out of nerves, "Hahahaha… what are you saying? Why would I spread information about your argument on purpose so that Ragnarok would pick up on your trail?"

"I didn't say that. You did." Naruto said, feigning seriousness that was just beyond what was real. He wanted to laugh since he had Niijima hook, line, and sinker. The most important part of all of this was the walking away, which was what he did, picking up his backpack and leaving.

He didn't want to leave such a good bowl of ramen behind, since that restaurant had a mean ramen, but this had to work.

Come on Niijima. You had that brain and PDA full of random info. Give him something good from it so that he didn't leave.

"Valkyrie's name is Nanjou Kisara! Taekwondo user"

"Interesting." Naruto said in a sarcastic deadpan while walking to the front door. Niijima got up to follow him out since he knew if Naruto got outside without him being there he'd disappear. The way he scrambled over his own chair and paid for his own food and Naruto's without waiting for change after dropping twice the needed amount almost got Naruto to laugh, but he needed his poker face on.

He needed something better than that. He could have figured that out himself with a little digging beyond the surface. Hell, he could have figured that out the next day in school if he wanted to! A good contact didn't tell him things that he could find out without any help. He needed something special. Something only Niijima could get for him.

"I've got stats on Ikki Takeda and Kozo Ukita, 'The Puncher' and 'The Thrower' of the skill trio!"

"Divisional underlings from our school? Now you're definitely insulting me." He could have gotten that too. Niijima needed to bring his A-game or this conversation was going to be over.

"Please wait! Hear me out!" Naruto reached for the door and Niijima desperately dove for him to keep him from leaving, eyes closed desperately in his effort to keep a lynchpin of his endeavors from falling out of the slot.

Ha! Success! He got a hold of him right around the body!

"EEK!"

Man, Naruto screamed like a girl when he was caught… and was pretty shapely for a guy… and had boobs that his head was currently pushing up against.

…Well that wasn't anatomically correct at all.

"What does that creep think he's doing to Hibiki?"

"Get him off!"

Opening his eyes and looking up, Niijima found himself holding onto an older girl with curly blonde hair wearing a zip-up top in white and a soft pastel blue with a skirt in the same kind of color blue. Just outside of the restaurant there were seven more girls wearing a similar outfit with some having their extra color to their outfit being soft pink, soft blue, or one that stood out as a soft yellow.

None of them looked happy, and all of them were branching weapons like nunchucks, a whip, a flail, a chain with a weight on the end, a pair of tessen, a pair of sai, a bo staff, tonfa, and did that one have a spear?

Niijima didn't even bother trying to beg off and apologize. Girls with weapons? That would have just been wasted breath. Instead he quickly turned to run through the back of the restaurant in order to escape certain death, 'Where did Naruto goooo!?'

"Don't let him get away with that! Valkyries, kill that groping demon!"

From outside, Naruto stood across the street leaning against a street light as he proceeded to watch all eight of those weapon-wielding girls go in and pursue Niijima, damn the costs. He'd get away. If Niijima was going to get his ass kicked for something that he did to piss someone off it would have happened already. That guy was tops at running away.

"It was his fault." Naruto said under his breath to himself as he started to walk away with his arms thrown up behind his head relaxingly, "He tried to grab me from behind. So I substituted with something." He couldn't help his reflexes. When people tried to grab him he'd and replace himself with the closest thing nearby similar in size, "Blame Ryouzanpaku's masters."

So either this would tell Niijima to stop holding out on him or he'd just keep doing that each time he tried to pawn crap information onto him, or it would get Niijima to go out and get some real intel if he actually wanted something from Naruto badly enough. Carrot and stick.

This time around those Valkyrie chicks were the stick. And spear. And lots of other weapons.

Wait, that was a gang of older girls called Valkyries? He thought there was only one. This was making his head hurt. Why didn't Niijima tell him that instead of all of the other stuff that he either already knew or could have figured out in five minutes in the hallway tomorrow at school?

Ugh, he was not going back to deal with that tonight. As he walked down the street he turned back to the restaurant across the road and saw one lone girl outside staring at him in return, getting him to stop and return fire so to speak. She wasn't really glaring at him, but she was giving him a straightforward and stern enough look to rub him the wrong way. He didn't like being sized up.

But that was counteracted by the fact that she was very pretty. Exotic almost with her darker-toned skin. She had short, messy brown hair and a thin scar running across her left cheek, and her body was rather curvaceous and toned from what he could see through her clothes. She had an eye-like pendant around her neck and wore a blue spandex pants and a tight light blue sleeveless shirt underneath an open orange jacket.

She got extra points for the color of the jacket because it was great, and because she was a hot older woman. But the lack of any discernable expression on her face didn't really sit well with him.

Naruto freed one hand from behind his neck and waved at her across the street with a grin on his face before turning back around and starting to head home.

The girl just continued to stare at him as he walked away until the rest of the Valkyries came up behind her looking quite upset at some sort of misfortune, "We couldn't catch that weird, handsy high school guy that groped Hibiki-chan. He was really fast."

By then they noticed that their apparent leader was staring at something that was already gone, "Freya-sama, what's the matter?"

The newly identified Freya turned to her underlings and pointed to the door of the restaurant where the incident had started, "Do you know that you just let Kisara's target walk right past you? He used you for a misdirection trick on the boy that you chased away." They looked shocked and then a bit enraged at that new revelation, "I'm aware that it's a divisional Ragnarok problem instead of a group-wide one, but you girls should be more attentive."

"Yes Freya-sama." They all said together with varying degrees of embarrassment at being gently admonished by one of the Eight Fists of Ragnarok in charge of them.

As they all went back inside to try and settle the scene down and get the meal that they had originally come there to get in the first place, Freya had to think to herself, 'I didn't even notice him coax Hibiki-chan into his old position. How smooth was that?'

The only reason she knew what he'd done to begin with and didn't fall for the same ploy as the rest of the Valkyries was because she'd been the farthest away and had the best view of him walking away like nothing had happened. The others didn't even know that he was there, if they'd even be able to recognize him on sight at all. He was rather nondescript.

Hibiki had been the one to open the door and she still didn't notice him move right past her. They had gone through the exit at the exact same time! Admittedly, Freya didn't even notice what he'd done to somehow guide her underling into his old spot without alerting anyone else.

As she led the way back into the restaurant and raised her hand to open the door she revealed a black glove on her hand with the Roman numeral for III on the back of it, 'Interesting.'

XxX

(The Next Day – Ryouzanpaku Dojo)

Progress was steady.

Not really. Progress was really, really rushed. By the standards of anyone.

"Again." Sakaki said as he stood arms crossed, sternly watching Kenichi go through the techniques that he was teaching him. He had to pick and choose wisely what he was trying to give him to learn because apparently all of the masters with the exception of Shigure and Hayato wanted their bit of time to teach him something. He'd learned several moves from multiple styles, and even though they weren't that complex they didn't have to be.

The sheer versatility of having beginner moves from three different styles of fighting with markedly different principles behind them would make him a threat to any intermediate in one single style. Karate, Jujitsu, Chinese Kenpo, and Muay Thai.

Though all he really knew in that regard was the stance and how to move in it. No one felt it was safe enough for him to learn more in that one. Once everyone figured that Apachai wouldn't kill him trying to teach Muay Thai or beat him senseless every time they hit pads he'd really have four styles that he'd know the beginning aspects of.

Kenichi stood in front of Sakaki in his base Karate stance before lunging forward with his left foot at his current teacher with a stiff starter punch, but Sakaki just blocked it easily. He still smiled though, as he felt the punch aimed at his midsection land solidly, "Good use of Yamazaki. Remember to conceal that second punch for when your opponent blocks. They'll normally leave their body open if they believe they'll be hit in the face."

Backing off with a look of some accomplishment on his face, Kenichi wiped his brow and made sure that the band-aid under his eye hadn't come off from his sweating yet. He stood at the ready awaiting his next exercise, but before Sakaki could say anything he was interrupted.

"That's all the time you get for today with Kenichi." Kensei said as he walked out into the field, hands hidden by his sleeves behind his back as Sakaki glared at him, "You know the drill by now. Don't pout."

"I don't pout!" Sakaki said before looking at Kenichi one last time and patting him on the shoulder, "Just remember to keep drilling the moves you've learned until you can do them without having to think. That's the only way you truly become a powerful martial artist; when things like this become second nature."

"That's good advice." Kensei pointed out before smirking, "His teacher should probably be the one giving him advice during his turn with him though."

"Tough shit! I'll tell him what I want!"

While his two masters began to bicker, Kenichi chose to take a momentary rest on the wooden exterior floor of the dojo where Miu had been sitting and watching, "Everyone seems really excited to teach you Kenichi." She said as he took a load off for just a moment, "Have you ever thought of training here full-time?"

He had thought about it. It had been on his mind ever since Naruto had gone off on his own the evening before. And it still stuck in the back of his head, "Do you really think I should?"

"Well, it really depends on how far into this you want to go." Miu said, trying to be helpful and smile, "The stronger you want to be, the more time you'll have to devote to your training."

"…And if I wanted to be as strong as… Naruto, or you?"

Miu put a lot of thought into that question. She didn't know quite how long that would take, but she knew one thing for sure. No matter what, what he was doing now wouldn't be enough to catch up in one-hundred years, "Since regular fighters only train a few hours a day, if that, the way you do now, if you ever wanted to catch up you'd have to live here 24 hours a day for the sake of your training!"

What? He was already training every single day during evenings, but 24 hours a day? He'd have to move out of his home? Away from his family? He would literally have to breathe, eat, and sleep martial arts nonstop!

"I don't have time to sit around and wait!"

If he didn't, he would never become strong enough to start catching up or measuring up to Miu who seemed so strong every time she ever demonstrated any skill in front of him. And Naruto, who didn't need to wait and hide from anyone. Kenichi knew his character, and knew that the wait-and-see approach with Naruto was highly unpopular.

"Do you think I should?" Kenichi eventually asked, drawing a confused look from the delightful blonde girl, "Live here to train I mean. I'll still be going to school, and I won't be that far away from my family. But…" It was too big of a decision to make right now. He'd been training for a little over a month and a half.

Miu just put a hand on his arm once she heard him fretting, and that stopped him cold. Geez, why was her smile so disarming? It just wasn't fair, "I think Kenichi is brave for doing what he's done so far. You can go as far as you want to. I believe in you."

Nearby, Kensei and Sakaki had stopped their bickering enough to hear the conversation from Kenichi and Miu. This could be really good, but for now they needed Kenichi to actually fight. Naruto's full-court press approach of going ahead and getting his battles with Ragnarok over with was fine for him, but Kenichi needed some battle experience before they could begin teaching him more. He needed to see what he was capable of, to see what his training could actually do for him.

But to do that they needed to guide him into a fight or several, and the only one that was seemingly chomping at the bit to get himself into a scrum was someone that they couldn't really find.

At least until now.

When Naruto attacked Ryouzanpaku they never followed him to his home after they knocked him out and threw him out because no one knew when he'd get back up. But now they knew where he went to school, and while he could notice most of them following him easily enough to find a way to lose them or lead them in a circle there was one person that it was already proven he wasn't an expert at outright detecting.

Even then, if they found his house by that manner it would probably piss him off or scare him more than convince him to play ball.

"Sakaki…"

"I know. Let's go talk to Shigure."

"You go talk to Shigure. Now's my time to train Kenichi."

"Damn it."

XxX

(A Few Days Later – With Naruto – Evening)

It was time to go hunting. Or tracking in this case. It wasn't hard to find Ragnarok chumps outside of the area by Naruto's school. They were in a current mode of trying to recruit people that might have been tough or smashing the ones that decided that they would rather not join.

All he had to do was walk around until he found a street fight going on and hide until it was over. That was easy. If he couldn't do that, what kind of ninja was he? But none of them led him to any bosses. They'd just patrol around until late, call in, and never go back to any definite hiding place.

So whoever was giving them their marching orders was decent.

So it was time to go to someone who was smarter than him, way smarter than him, and see what he had to say about it.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

An apartment door opened up to reveal casual black eyes that sighed at the sight of Naruto in the early evening dark, "Go away Naruto, I'm telling you nothing's changed about that mission."

"I'm not here for that." Naruto assured him with his hands held up defensively, "Honest. I promise. Just hear me out, okay?"

Shikamaru stared at him long and hard for a good while before he eventually moved and went outside, shutting his door behind him, "Okay, I'm listening. What do you have? What's going on? Knowing you it's some kind of troublesome problem."

"It depends."

"On what?"

"On what you know about Ragnarok."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at him and shook his head, "Oh man, don't tell me you've heard of these guys too?" Naruto's eyes lit up at learning that Shikamaru knew about these people, "Yeah, I know a bit about them, but not everything. Not even close. Mostly because I don't care. I know enough to help me stay away from them."

"And if I was trying to go toward them?" Naruto asked, hinting at Shikamaru, "People know I'm a ninja at my school now, so now Ragnarok wants a piece of me. But if I beat the boss at my school that'll just make it worse."

Smart man. Well, smarter than Shikamaru had given him credit for in regards to thinking ahead in more than just a fight, "And you want me to give you some kind of heads up on what I know so that you can handle business at your school, or at least do it somewhere else to soften the boss at your school up?" Naruto nodded and Shikamaru smirked at proving that he was right.

Misdirection was Naruto's thing after all. He had a serious penchant for trying to confuse the hell out of whomever he was fighting, even at times like this. Naruto's long-term strategies didn't really go much further than doing whatever he thought was smart that most people would not see coming.

At least this was getting him off of that impossible Ryouzanpaku mission. While he was still stirring up trouble, it was better than stirring up trouble that he definitely couldn't handle. He'd rather Naruto fight a gang war against people their age than fight those scary masters. It was by far the lesser of two evils.

"Alright, give me some time." Shikamaru said, rubbing the back of his head lazily, "I hear things just like everybody else, but I need some time to figure out what's real and what's not so give me a bit."

A massive smile spread over Naruto's face as he extended a hand for Shikamaru to shake. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but he still couldn't help but smile too and shook it, "It's good to have you back Shika. I missed you."

"Yeah, yeah. I figure listening out for stuff I was going to hear anyway is better than a suicide mission." Shikamaru said as he went back into his apartment, "I'm not back though. I told you already, I'm done being a ninja. It's too troublesome."

After he shut the door, Naruto just let out a sigh and went along his merry way. It was a start. He'd been trying to get Shikamaru actively back into the game for quite some time. So if any silver lining existed around this Ragnarok cloud it would be a chance to see if he could get his partner back into action.

XxX

(Some Time Later – Ryouzanpaku Dojo)

Naruto stood in the dojo building in his stance facing off with Miu in their respective stances. Kenichi was watching intently as his best friend and the secret (yeah right) object of his affection faced off in a tense staredown.

Well, it was tense for him. He was basically holding his breath. The master currently in charge of training him in Akisame wanted him to watch two other fighters in the middle of combat so he could soak in the experience of watching a fight for once instead of just being the one caught up in it.

He'd been getting in more than a few tiffs with the street-level goons of Ragnarok a lot more these days. It was confusing Kenichi because he was still following Naruto's direction in how to move around the neighborhood and hide while in school, but in school it seemed like it was the only place he'd definitely be able to duck them.

Sometimes it seemed like Naruto would just walk them into a gaggle of thugs on accident and shrug harmlessly at his mistake.

"Oops."

He swore that the masters and his best friend were out to kill him somehow. But Miu was apparently fine with it as it was building his experience. So busy with fighting his own one or two at a time, Kenichi never really got to see what Miu and Naruto did to beat their enemies. But now he had the chance.

Miu had a smile on her face, dressed in a keikogi over her usual tight purple outfit, and Naruto was still wearing his clothes from school that day, sans shoes of course, but with backpack on him as always. What was with that thing? He wasn't smiling though, and his eyes were locked right on hers, blue on blue.

The thing was, Naruto and Miu hadn't ever sparred before. They'd always just tried to take each other's heads off. So this was kind of new to the both of them. Miu was excited, and Naruto was too, but he kept thinking that Fuurinji Hayato would bust through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man and throw him to the horizon the second they started, whether he could gain the upper-hand or not.

Pavlovian conditioning was a bitch.

"I think you know what you can and can't do Naruto-san." Akisame said as he was overseeing the would-be 'spar'.

Naruto didn't even let him know he'd heard anything, as both he and Miu were as still as statues, confusing Kenichi, "Why haven't they attacked yet? They've been like that for a while?"

Akisame just smiled over at his student and held a hand to his chin while he explained, "Both of them have fought each other so much that they're used to each other's moves to an extreme degree. When two people are this familiar with each other, one doesn't want to make the mistake of telegraphing a move that the other already knows about to leave themselves open."

How intense. And with that Kenichi found himself hyperfocusing on the two would-be opponents. Whoever made the first move would be at a disadvantage.

*Mewl*

Miu's eyes lit up at the sound of the kitten coming from outside before she realized that it was way too convenient for a cute little kitty to be outside. By then though, Naruto had made it to her front left corner of vulnerability and had attempted several fast, real speed and power punches that she was forced to block before retaliating with a flipping kick and forcing him out of range, "That was so mean Naruto-kun! That sounds real!"

"Ha! You're still a sucker for me throwing my voice?" Naruto gloated with a grin as he got as still as a statue once more to await an opening or a chance, "At least this time it didn't end up with you in a snare trap!"

This time Miu would take the initiative, being careful in her approach to attack. If she spooked him prematurely without cornering him he'd just stay out of her range until the spar time ended. Fighting indoors gave her the advantage.

Still though, this was Naruto, and if she wasn't fast in how she moved around he would eat her alive. But if she was too fast to move he'd still punish her as long as he knew where she was going.

Miu's approach had Naruto darting all over the open-doored dojo, but one of the rules of the spar was that he could not go outside or get too nasty. Way to tie his hands, not that he didn't have sparring etiquette. She was hitting air, but mostly wanted to see which direction he was partial to moving in. Something that Kenichi found difficult to pay attention to.

Each time Miu threw a punch, as she didn't dare kick at Naruto without being certain she'd have a good chance at hitting him, Naruto looked like he'd dodge one way but instead appear right at her side on the other. He had to rub his eyes to make sure his brain wasn't skipping a few frames in this movie.

"I can't tell how he's going to move, even when I watch his legs." Kenichi pointed out, feeling like the world a treadmill in one direction and Naruto was moving against it in every direction, "How can he do that?"

"It's advanced footwork. Many styles have certain steps. For example, Boxing has advanced footwork meant to fool opponents as well, but Naruto-san's is rather complicated."

"How so?" He could see that Naruto's body would move in directions that weren't always consistent with where his legs wound up taking him, but it always seemed so… smooth. Sure of himself. Kenichi was envious honestly.

"It didn't used to be so effective." Akisame said, dredging up older memories of his time there, "When he was younger there were certain moves he couldn't make without looking at the ground first, and Miu used that to track his movements and defeat him. It took him quite a while to keep from overwhelming himself."

But Naruto's eyes were up and ahead now, and he was feeling sassy and on the run, "Come on, hit me. You know you can. Don't make me move first!" In return she just stuck her tongue out at him. With that, Naruto moved forward again and picked the other front corner of vulnerability to attack Miu from. But he wasn't going to try and take her backside no matter what. Not a chance.

Naruto's hand-seal hand finally moved, shifting to a seal where his index and pinky were extended while his thumb pointed forward. He blew into the space open between his middle and ring fingers to send a white dust flying into the air, "Metsubushi (Eye Closer)!"

Kenichi gasped in shock at Naruto actually using some kind of blinding agent in the middle of a fight against Miu, "That's not fair! He's blinding her?" His protective side wanted to jump up and do something about it, but a stern look from Akisame kept him from doing so, "You're going to let him cheat like that?"

He didn't think that Naruto would be the type to fight in such a manner. He didn't seem like someone that would use a dirty trick like that to defeat an opponent, especially a friend, and especially during a spar.

But to his surprise, Miu just looked annoyed that she'd been hit with it, cringing before smiling again when Naruto popped her body with several punches prompting her to get back to defending herself.

"Naruto-san is a ninja." Akisame pointed out as the two continued to spar, "He obtains victory by any means he sees fit to win. What exactly did you think Ninjutsu techniques entailed? Tricks and maneuvers of opportunity to secure an advantage. But he would never truly try to blind Miu… during a spar at least."

Naruto went for a half-sweep, but stopped his leg and stood up with the other one to shove it forward in a kick that Miu countered with a kick of her own. Naruto bent his front arm to block with his forearm and spun around to give a spinning elbow that Miu ducked.

Her duck turned into a powerful leg sweep that almost knocked Naruto entirely upside down, but posting himself up on his hands he flipped through and landed back on his feet as Miu lunged directly at him with a confident smile. She figured he'd recover from her sweep, as the balance that Naruto's fighting style granted him made it very hard to ruin his stability and sense of dexterity, "Caught you Naruto-kun."

"Crap…"

Now that she was close, Miu sent one-armed barrages of punches his way that Naruto seemed to ghost through due to his deceptive foot motions. But he wasn't as cocky any longer. She knew how to overcome that mind trick and he knew it, so he just had to hope she used the one he was prepared to handle.

She punched forward and let Naruto step back only to place her punching hand on the ground so she could lithely bend the lower half of her body forward to deliver a pair of splitting scissor-kicks that was meant to crown the top of Naruto's head. Kenichi then promptly wiped his nose from the light bleeding it did upon thinking about her flexibility.

Naruto put his one arm up to block with, taking the pounding of the kicks with a grit to his teeth until Miu pulled them back down and underneath her body to kick his legs out. Naruto merely chose to swan-dive and safety roll over her instead of risking a feint that she was probably ready for.

After missing those kicks, Miu didn't skip a beat and twisted her body beneath her to get into a four-point stance before rushing at Naruto who was still mid-roll. He didn't bother turning around once he got up, instead running forward until he reached the wall with Miu still in hot pursuit.

Defying gravity, Naruto jumped at the wall and started running horizontally on it until he reached an upper corner and posted himself up in it, smirking down at Miu who stopped herself from chasing him farther, "Oh, you're so lucky I'm not wearing shoes or I'd have been running laps around these walls."

Neither of them moved from that spot so Akisame called it off, "That's enough."

Miu got up out of her stance and stretched her arms over her head while Naruto stayed in the corner with his three points of contact, feet and one hand, holding him up there, still with his free hand in the half-ram seal in front of his face, "Chalk dust?" Miu asked, referring to the powder Naruto blew at her earlier, "It's harmless."

"Yeah, right?" Naruto said as he stayed up in the corner, crossing both of his arms smugly over his chest, "It was all I had on me for it other than the chili powder since that would only blind you for a little while. I went for the one that wouldn't make you claw your eyes out though."

"You still fight like a jerk." She teased when he dropped down, the both of them walking over to where Kenichi was sitting down. Naruto plopped down cross-legged on the floor while Miu sat on her knees, "I didn't even see you reach for the bag."

"Pssht, I'm not fighting you fair." Naruto said dismissively, "And I'm not getting behind you either. You defend yourself better from behind than you do from the front…" He then noticed Kenichi looking at him strangely, "What's the matter?"

"The way you fought." Kenichi groused, deriding Naruto's lack of sporting martial arts pride.

"Oh come on! I didn't even cheat that badly! I did two things that might have been cheating!" There was no way he was going to battle anyone he took as a threat without doing something, anything, akin to what he'd tried twice in that spar to get an advantage. Just because he couldn't do everything didn't mean he couldn't try anything.

"The dust?" The boy with the band-aid on his face said suspiciously.

"That's a real Ninjutsu that takes practice and timing!" Naruto said, proud of his hard-earned underhanded skills, "She's fine with it."

"I'm used to it." Miu said with a sly look, saying that she wasn't fine with it, but things like that had happened so much it didn't really matter anymore, "But if a move works than it has merit." And just like that she perked up, pumping a fist in the air, "Now it's your turn. Do you want to spar with me or with Naruto-kun!" She left the choice up to Kenichi, happily waiting on his decision.

And Kenichi gulped for two separate reasons. He could either fight Miu or he could fight Naruto. So it was take on a girl that he couldn't touch even if he was of the mind to fight with women, or fight someone else he couldn't beat and risk getting something underhanded done to him in the course of the match.

"You should make your choice." Akisame warned Kenichi with a gleam in his eye, "If you don't I'll make the decision for you… and my decision will be both at once."

XxX

(A Few Days Later – Kouryo High School)

"Gardening Club?" Naruto said to himself as he walked through the halls alone, "No thanks. I've got plants at home to take care of. Don't need to take care of the school's too."

Kenichi was a member of that club, and their little argument from a week ago had more or less become water under the bridge. He couldn't stay pissed at his friend just for having a different point of view than him. One of them liked to look for trouble when it was coming their way, the other liked to go around it if he could.

But either way, with the end of school brought time for mandatory club activities again, and Naruto still didn't have one. Kenichi had taken up gardening which was something peaceful that he liked. Good for him. And a day or two Daimonji tried to pick a fight with him in the club by smashing the place up. Bad idea for him, because Kenichi basically took out the trash in one move, decisively this time.

So he was coming along. At least now he could whip Daimonji's ass without any kind of trouble, but as he had always said from the start; Daimonji was trash that didn't really know how to fight. He had always just been bigger than everyone else.

Their concerns weren't with the scrubs though. Naruto had pissed off the big boss so to speak. So it was just a matter of time.

In the meantime, he needed a club or he'd start suffering the consequences for it from the school. But they were all so terrible! He'd have played a sport, but there wasn't any sport he liked enough to waste time he could have been using to train.

Now, what did he like? Because whatever this school had wasn't it.

Gardening Club was a resounding no. There weren't many students there. A handful. And even if Kenichi was in that club too, it was a total buzzkill. He needed stimulation!

Okay, how about something a bit more useful to him?

Maybe Cross-Country Club? The training he had to do in order to just learn ninjutsu was so intense as a child that most of the others only did the bare minimum after it was no longer deemed necessary. It was meant to shock their cardiovascular systems into keeping up with the method of movement that they used.

Naruto believed that being traumatized by the long stretches of miles that they had to run at such young ages was what led to Shikamaru being so passive.

He on the other hand kept up that exact same crushing program to this day that would make some adult marathon runners look like lazy-asses. He'd dominate Cross-Country Club, and he could use it to completely eliminate conditioning from his training regimen altogether by doing extra miles to more accurately fit with the way he'd be training at home anyway.

That was something wasn't it? Yeah, and it would help him save more time in his day for other things! More time training or dare he say it some down time? An impossible dream!

"Alright! Now my grades won't get screwed by report card time!" Naruto cheered to himself out loud. His grades really didn't need any help getting lower right now, "Problem solver!" These weren't really ninja problems… actually they were since most ninjas his age would be out in the world by now anyway, so yes, he was still a ninja problem solver.

"Grr… shut up! You made me lose my game you blowhard jackass! I was in an online match!"

Naruto passed by an open doorway where a handheld gaming device was thrown at his head. He ducked it, forcing it to fly past him and smash off of the wall. He was not amused.

"Oh, I'm sorry that you're such a bitch you can't let a guy enjoy a moment!" Naruto said, sticking his head into the classroom where he'd just been berated from by some girl. He probably wouldn't have taken it so hard if she hadn't decided to fling electronics at his head. People tended to take offense to that, "Maybe you just lost because you suck!"

Some rather pretty red-haired girl wearing a beret and jeans with one leg had been the one doing the yelling from where she'd been lazing around on top of one of the room's desks. Instead of sneering at him angrily as he'd expected her to when he looked inside she was just staring at him owlishly, as if she knew him and didn't expect to see him or something.

"…" Naruto just stared right back at her until it started getting to him and he squinted his eyes at her to convey how uncomfortable he was, "Do I know you or something? You're looking at me like we're familiar with each other."

'Goggles, yellow hair, stupid look on his face when curious, loudmouth with a penchant for cursing, and a distinct lack of attempted chivalry.' All of that seemed familiar, and the sound of his voice did as well, 'Oh no, this is just too perfect. After all of that searching one of them just drops into my lap?'

"Oi, you okay?"

Hearing his voice again snapped her out of her reverie, giving her the clarity of mind to stand up and walk over to the door, "You know, you've been making a lot of ruckus lately." The girl said with a smirk on her face that didn't promise anything good.

That manifested itself in the form of a kick as quick as a skilled fighter's jab shooting out at his head. An unprepared Naruto felt his nose be brushed by the attack as he jumped out into the hallway.

As the girl stood in the hallway, five other punks stepped out from behind her all smirking at Naruto and trying to intimidate him with cracking their knuckles and shadow boxing, "More Ragnarok?" Naruto asked rhetorically, "Can I get a name to the ass I'm about to kick?"

"Oh you're definitely him." The girl said, grinning while tilting her beret over her eyes, "And I guess I can introduce myself so you'll have a name in mind when you wake up in intensive care. Nanjou Kisara. Valkryie: The Eighth Fist of Ragnarok."

"So would that make you the strongest or the weakest?"

"It makes me the newest!"

The second she yelled at him, Naruto immediately started in on her bodyguards without warning or mercy. He didn't have to stand there and listen to her, and while the others were he managed to take down three in rapid succession before the others caught up to the situation and attacked. By that time Kisara had already made her move on him, jumping swiftly through the air mercilessly.

At the time, Naruto had managed to take down his latest target by the back and finish him by slamming his forehead into the floor. But quickly got off of his downed foe's back due to Kisara's speedy attack aimed at him. Instead of pulling back off of it and opening herself up for a counter from an opportunistic Naruto, she went through with a driving kick that stuck into her subordinate's stomach.

Using that as leverage to do more, she launched herself at Naruto faster than her first jump much to his surprise, for multiple reasons, and lashed out with a quick kick that hit him in the face and knocked him into the wall.

Naruto spun with the direction of the kick to take away some of its power since he couldn't prevent it from hitting. He grit his teeth from the kick and spit blood out on the ground.

Even with the blood, he wasn't that hurt compared to the guy that Kisara had literally stepped on to get to him. The poor guy had been out cold when Naruto had gotten through with him, but the shock and pain from Kisara's kick woke him back up. He shouted out and turned over before vomiting heavily on the floor, nearly crying from the pain of having her nearly crush his stomach.

"What the hell was that supposed to be!?" Naruto shouted, blood still trailing from his lip a bit, "That was your own man! You nearly killed the guy! Just to kick me once!"

He was a ninja, but he'd never use someone that was supposed to be on his side just to land one blow. He had so few people that he could rely on or trust in the slightest… how could he do something like that and look them in the eye again?

"But it worked." Kisara said, hands on her hips uncaringly as she glanced back at the injured gang member she'd put in that state, "The only use he had after you ran through him in a second was to help me get to you. Weaklings don't get to pick and choose what happens to them." With a snap of her fingers she got the attention of all of the others remaining, "Go get as many of us as you can find. We've got this bastard now, and he isn't running."

"You should have made 'em stay." Naruto said with a growl in his voice as the Ragnarok cannon fodder left to go get more, "Now you don't have any more meat shields to sacrifice, and you've got to take me on all by yourself."

It was tough talk, but that kick was on a completely different level from Koga's. His kicks, though stronger than a normal person's, were sloppy and straightforward. These were faster, and she'd hit him right in the cheek from a move she'd altered on the spot. She'd called an audible on an attack and still rattled his skull. These were the kicks of a specialist.

Kisara seriously wanted to smash his face on the bottom of her footwear, but talent was talent, and toughness was toughness. He took a jumping kick from her that he hadn't even been prepared to take and remained standing the entire time.

"Do you want to join Ragnarok?" Kisara offered with a smirk and a sweeping gesture of her hand to reveal black gloves with an 'VIII' across the backs of them, "We've got control of the city, and there are supposed to be big plans in the works for us. You can't win this war, so why not hitch up on the winning side and help us get ready for the real battle?"

"So you can step on me the second you see the chance?" Naruto sneered, eyes flickering to the Ragnarok member crawling away from the scene, still holding his stomach and covered in his own bile, "No thanks. I'll stick with people that are my real friends." That bitch had just kicked him in the face with steel-toed boots. Why would he join her?

The sound of multiple footsteps came from the direction behind Kisara in the hall and in short order she was joined by a slew of even more underlings than she'd started with, "Well about those friends, where would you say they are now?" She said as they started forming a wall of sorts in front of her to begin moving on Naruto, "Because for people that you're willing to get your ass kicked for, they sure as hell aren't here. You won't last a minute."

At the end of the hallway behind Naruto, Niijima was hiding behind the corner watching the entire thing, 'No, why the hell isn't he running? That's got to be ten guys!' That ninja couldn't get himself destroyed here! A ninja, a real-life ninja could be the greatest boon to his world-domination plans to date!

There had to be something he could do.

Wait. Kenichi was trained, or was training. And he was still in the school in his afterschool club. Those two were supposed to be best friends, so that could work! And that Miu girl was in the Gymnastics Club to boot! She'd definitely show up!

'Hold on you stupid ninja!' Niijima thought to himself as he ran off at breakneck speed to find one or the other, 'There's strength in numbers! Strength in numbers!'

"You think just because you've got a bunch of mooks to put between you and me that this is gonna be enough?" Naruto said out loud meanwhile at his current predicament while he wiped the blood from his lip, "Let me tell you, you get one of those. I dare you to kick me like that again."

"What are you going to do ninja-boy?" Kisara taunted as her men blocked off as much of the hall between Naruto and her as they could while moving forward, "Dressing in black pajamas and running around making weird sign language symbols isn't really going to win you any fights." They ran forward to begin pounding away on him, but Naruto didn't turn and run the way they expected him to with the open hall at his back.

"Yeah, because running your mouth and hiding behind 'The Expendables' here is really gonna win this for you." Naruto said, drawing a quick fistful of shuriken that prepared to throw before realizing that even if he didn't get in as much trouble for fighting, if he pulled out sharp metal weapons in school he was going to get kicked out. Thus he stuck them back into his bag. Not here.

Instead of trying it as they were now closer than before, Naruto simply ran right forward into the mass of humanity before him and ducked through the first few before they tried to punch at him. They could swear they had him dead-to-rights, but someone would inexplicably wind up in the path of their punch so they wound up hitting their own guys and missing Naruto entirely.

Apparently, trying to hit one person in close even though they had the numbers edge was very difficult when he knew what he was doing, because he made it through entirely untouched, 'Don't underestimate Ninjutsu!'

Kisara saw all of this, as instead of bolting straight through he intentionally stopped and started to spook her men. Thus she was fully prepared when she was him bypass all of her gang members to go right at her, 'Cheeky fucker is fast.' She didn't have time to be surprised. She merely smirked at the show of skill and jumped at him when she did the same to her, "Well dodge this!"

Naruto saw that she was anticipating him coming in the entire way and went wide-eyed before altering his jump into a slide along the slick tiles of the floor. Kisara went flying overhead with a kick that would have been aimed right at his skull, and he wasn't about to get into a jump-kicking duel with a Taekwondo practitioner from what he knew about them.

With a screech of shoes on the floor, Naruto stopped himself and prepared to go back after her when the same Ragnarok members he'd gotten past the first time charged him again.

Naruto appeared to jump back, and all of them went after him to chase him down. With his second step back, Naruto jumped to the side to push off of the wall and lash out with a kick to the face that hit three people before the last one got close enough to punch him.

Naruto's used his left hand as a starting point to spin around the punch and his opponent's entire body, as if he was gliding across the floor until he reached the back of the fighter's head and prepared to finish him until he saw Kisara throwing another series of rapid-fire kicks with one leg from his peripheral vision.

He lifted an arm to block and did so, but the force of her kick made him spin, 'Goddamn it! I can't focus on her!' Two more heavy kicks followed and Naruto felt like someone had swung a baseball bat at his guard, 'Ugh!'

His back against a wall, Naruto looked at his left arm and felt the constant stinging that just wouldn't go away.

The same idiot that had just been saved by Kisara tried to attack Naruto again, but he should have left well enough alone when Naruto stopped his punch with the bottom of his shoe. The thug recoiled as if he'd just punched a row of thumbtacks and drew his hand back. He then tasted the bottom of that very same shoe when Naruto high-kicked him in the face.

The landed blow knocked the young man in a short arc through the air onto his upper back and Kisara attacked again with a kick aimed at his head instinctually he ducked it and a grin spread across her face as she pivoted her leg in midair and shifted to an axe kick, "Jeek Gi (Axe Kick)!"

She had him. Or did she? Instead of hitting Naruto she inexplicably wound up bringing her leg down on the shoulder of one of her own men that had been trying to come up from behind. Was that loser even that close to the fight to begin with? Whatever, if he was dumb enough to be that close he deserved his collarbone to be shattered. They all getting in her way and weren't bothering him much at all, 'Wait, where did he go?'

She was seriously regretting having that many people with her when Naruto took advantage of her most recent bit of fratricide to flip over her head and grab her by the shoulders with his arms crossed before kneeling upon landing and bending forward, unbalancing her and hurling her over his head with his momentum. Uncrossing his arms as he did so sent her spinning and rolling through the air into an oncoming slew of four new reinforcements, "Nichibotsu Kouka (Twilight Drop)!"

If those losers hadn't been there she would have smacked her head off of the floor like a cantaloupe, he threw her so hard. The flipping about wouldn't have helped her landing either.

With the cushion of people to prevent her from being potentially catastrophically flipped through the air, Kisara got right back up and shook off the disorientation, "Get off!" She groused, shoving people away that had been toppled over with her own body, "You're all useless! You can't even slow him down enough for me to take a shot at him? What good are you?"

Prompted by their tomboyish, yet still rather cute leader-in-arms, they got back up and charged Naruto again. Apparently it didn't matter if they took their time or not. If they went slow he'd blow right through them. If they went fast he'd make them look stupid, so they just threw caution to the wind and went for it.

"Fuck this shit." Naruto said, getting back into his stance, "I don't care anymore. Hide behind all of the idiots you want. I've got something for that." Reaching into his bag, he had one weapon on him that he knew he could use without getting in trouble.

Kisara covered her eyes as a plume of smoke burst up from where her allies had attacked their enemy from. What the hell?

Two smacks were heard from within the smoke, as well as a lot of jostling and fighting. It sounded like they'd managed to grab that bastard. Some ninja, getting stuck in his own stupid smokescreen.

A whistle alerted her to a place farther down the hall and she quickly ran forward before jumping over and through the smoke, landing on the other side to see Naruto standing on the lockers by an open window. Those windows opened?

Wait. That meant that her men were kicking their own asses. And as the smoke started to disperse through the window Naruto had opened she saw that this was exactly the case and she face-palmed hard enough to almost knock her hat off, "You damn idiots!"

"I know you're actually stronger than this." Naruto lifted his left arm to show a deep purple bruise that had come from blocking one kick he actually had to guard against instead of dodge, "A girl like you, you're really as tough as people say you are, but if you really want to break my neck like you said you did, next time leave the goon squad at home. You don't even need them. You just made me waste three minutes of my life beating up twenty guys."

Her eyes widened, as even though it was backhanded as all hell, it was still something of a complement. But even so, he was still walking away.

"Wait, you fucking coward!" Kisara cursed at Naruto before turning to her thugs as they had realized that they'd been fighting each other by this point, "Go get him and bring him back!" She ordered, and the others went after him, but Naruto wound up slipping out of the window to get outside, "Gah, I hate that son of a bitch! Go find him! And will someone get Takeda already?"

She already busted up his arm. The next time she was going to kick his skull in! And where the fuck did Shiratori go?

XxX

"Naruto what?" Kenichi shouted with a drop of the watering pail he'd been using to nourish the plants in the club room, "He found Valkyrie?" With an apron to keep dirt from getting on his white uniform shirt and gardening gloves on his hands he didn't exactly strike the most imposing figure.

"More like they ran into each other, but basically, yes!" Niijima informed him.

"Why didn't you do something?"

"Like what? I am doing something! Getting a fighter that'll actually help!"

At that, Kenichi gulped and made to make his move, taking off his gardening gear and handing them over to a fellow club member with dark hair in twin braided pigtails and glasses that had come over to see what was wrong with Kenichi, "Izumi-san, I've got to go. A friend of mine is in trouble. You met him earlier; Uzumaki Naruto-san."

The girl blushed and nodded, knowing that he was a fighter. Izumi Yuuka had seen him defeat the brute Daimonji that had tried to ruin the greenhouse earlier that week, and knew that he wasn't the budding delinquent that rumors sprouting up would have him believe. He was a good-hearted person that was able to actually stand up for himself. While she didn't like fighting at all, that was an attractive trait to her.

Still, she didn't know much about that boy Naruto other than the fact he seemed to be on great terms with Kenichi. But they were like oil and water for the most part, "Are you certain? Isn't that dangerous?"

It shouldn't have mattered if it was dangerous or not. And though he could hear the concern in her voice, Kenichi just gave the girl a smile that turned her face red, "Well, that's what friends do. He'd do it for me." The enamored look on her face went lost when Kenichi thought of something and turned back to Niijima, "Wait. Haruo, why do you even care about this at all? You're pure evil."

"It's all for my empire of course!" Niijima stated firmly, "I can see value in being owed one by a man such as that, and by you as well, since I'm the one telling you that there's danger afoot!" Kenichi just gave him a deadpan stare and wondered if there was anything that guy did that solely for the benefit of another person, "Now go before it's too late."

"You're not coming?"

"You're the one training! I'm brains, not muscle!"

Touché.

Before he could leave though, the greenhouse found itself populated by one more that shouldn't have been there, "I knew that following away a scampering rat would lead me back to a nest." A nigh expressionless, tall, older person, extremely effeminate with long, wavy blonde hair walked in wearing fine clothing: a white button-up shirt, dark pants, and a blue coat that reached their ankles, "And here this one led me right to Shirahama Kenichi."

Was this person even in high school?

"Ah…" Niijima backed away and wound up hiding behind the girl from earlier who was not a fan of that at all, "The top bodyguard for Nanjou Kisara. That's Shiratori, 'The White Shadow'."

Damn it, he didn't know there'd been anyone there in the hallway that had seen him run away from the trouble that Naruto had found himself in, and he definitely didn't think there would be someone that would go after him instead of staying to deal with the clear and present threat that had been Uzumaki Naruto! How negligent to allow himself to be tailed.

But Kenichi couldn't beat this person!

Kenichi blinked, noticing just how girly-looking this guy was, and slowly slid himself into the basic posture for his Karate. So he'd have to fight another member of Ragnarok, one that was supposedly good if Niijima's cowering was anything to go by, "What do you all want with me?"

"If you're not a part of Ragnarok…" Shiratori said in a quiet and hard to hear voice, calmly moving into position for a battle, "…You're not allowed to stand. Kisara-sama explicitly said to crush you and everyone else around you that plan on going against us."

'We didn't plan on anything. It just happened.' Was it so wrong to desire to not get your ass kicked on a near-daily basis? Did that really call for an entire gang to come after your head? It didn't make sense, "Where's Naruto-san?"

"Probably being dragged off in a bloody mess by now after what Kisara-sama has gotten through doing to him." Yuuka let out a shocked gasp at the casual admission of such brutality, "She probably knocked all of his teeth out for speaking to her the way he has been the last two times they've had words. But I wouldn't worry about him." Without warning Shiratori attacked Kenichi head-on, "You should be more concerned with yourself!"

The first thing Kenichi saw was a leg rising at his head, 'A kick-based fighter!' What did he learn about dealing with certain types of fighters from his masters after hearing about Naruto beat up Koga the Kicker?

"Too slow!" Too late, as Kenichi was forced block his body once Shiratori's leg battered his side and sent him stumbling into a counter that held up a row of the plants in the room with a bang, "You move like a beginner! Without speed you'll never come close to scratching a Taekwondo fighter!"

Amid the scream from Yuuka and Niijima's nervous chattering, Kenichi winced and held his side at the blow he had received, 'I blocked and that still hurt like hell! This guy's kicks are strong!'

"If you can't avoid my kicks, Kisara-sama would eat you alive." Shiratori said, standing in a sideways Taekwondo stance, "Her moves are the perfect blend of speed, dexterity, and power. Above even mine."

"My friend fought a Taekwondo user a while ago and he made it sound easy." Kenichi said, getting back into his stance, "You only use your legs."

"Tch." Shiratori moved toward Kenichi again and began throwing more kicks from multiple angles, "Koga is just a punk that learned enough Taekwondo to get ahead of others like himself. He doesn't train, and he doesn't come close to measuring up to real martial artists."

"I don't see how you can think you're much better than him." Kenichi said, finding that all he could do was dodge. Those kicks were heavy! And he knew something about heavy kicks training with a fighting monster like Apachai trying to teach him, "All of Ragnarok is just a gang! What would make your reason for fighting any better than his if this is what you're doing with it?"

"Because I wish to be like Kisara-sama." Shiratori said, launching a short volley of kicks that Kenichi painstakingly blocked before leaning out of the way of a pair of punches that came back in response. Not there to play around, Shiratori leaned out of the way of a punch aimed at the face only to lift a leg and block a punch aimed at the body with the knee, "Incredible the way that she is. I won't allow anything to halt her progress to the top, and I joined Ragnarok to ensure that trash like you never believes themselves to be on her level."

Kenichi was stunned. Shiratori hadn't even tried to block him high and had seen his second more subtle attack all the way through. Karate wasn't working? He then felt his jaw move several inches to the right when Shiratori moved the blocking leg to kick him across the face and knock him to the floor, 'Gah, the Yamazaki technique didn't fool this guy for a second!'

"Kenichi!" Yuuka cried out as she ran to his side, "Stop! Why are you doing this?"

"Like I said." Shiratori said with a flip of the hair, "Weaklings shouldn't try to stand tall as if they're worthy. People like Kisara-sama are where they are for a reason. The Eight Fists of Ragnarok are where they are because they made themselves better than you. Don't try to pretend that you measure up."

Niijima at this point had taken to hiding in the supply closet, 'Oh man. Stupid Kenichi doesn't have a single advantage here! Speed, power, experience, and especially talent, Shiratori has it all over him!'

Kenichi slowly got up and moved Yuuka aside in case Shiratori would actually attack him with a noncombatant in the way. His face was clearly marked up from the kick that had landed, but he put his hands back up regardless.

Scoffing at him, Shiratori merely got up into the same stance as before, not sweating the determined look on Kenichi's face, "Some people don't learn until you force it into their heads. If you can't touch me how would you ever hope to face Kisara-sama?"

He probably wouldn't fight her anyway since it was obviously apparent that Kisara or 'Valkyrie' was a woman, but that wasn't the point to be had. The point was that he was being told that because he had always been weak he had no right trying to become strong. Why? So gangs like Ragnarok could do whatever they wanted and mess with people all they wanted, but the second someone else came around to stop that from happening then it became some big crime? Some inexcusable slight against them?

No. If you were weak and you worked as hard as you could to change that you deserved to keep your head up. And even if you weren't strong, what did that matter?

"I might not be born into martial arts like my friends. I might not have been training for as long as this Kisara person." Kenichi said, narrowing his eyes at Shiratori, "But that doesn't mean I have to just lay down and let people walk all over me when they feel like it. People like you…" Kenichi got back up in his preferred Karate stance, not deterred in the least by the beating.

Shiratori raised an eyebrow in interest and went on the guard at this new situation presented in the battle.

"People like you are the reason I wanted to learn how to fight in the first place! To keep you from mistreating others just because you can!" Kenichi barked, gritting his teeth and not willing to back down now, "Being strong isn't a privilege, it's a responsibility!"

Yuuka looked at him as if he were some kind of hero, even though he didn't really look it at the moment, bleeding from the cheek and black-eyed as he was.

But for all of that talk, Shiratori was still faster and had the rangier attack with the kicks. Which was then demonstrated when he approached again. He was able to dodge three kicks from Shiratori that kept him from getting closer, but even after getting through the edge of the range of the kicks Shiratori wasn't in range of anything he could attack with.

Giving Shiratori time to chamber another kick and snap one straight up to hit him right under the chin, sending Kenichi stumbling back again until he was able to catch a hand on top of one of the counters that held the plants of the club.

His hand skimmed across the top until he was able to stop himself and a couple of planters fell to the floor, breaking and sending potted dirt all over.

"Pathetic." Shiratori said, slowly walking Kenichi's way.

"Kenichi!" Looking to the closet where Niijima was hiding, he saw the strange alien making a boxed in gesture with his hands before using two figures to mimic Shiratori kicking. He kept repeating the two hand gestures until Kenichi's eyes widened and he understood.

That was perfect. He'd been fighting in the open area at the front of the room by the door, because that was where the fight started and that was where he had the most room to move around. While that was true, the same went for Shiratori, who needed it more and could use it better with the kicks that had been battering Kenichi around since the outset.

The club room consisted of rows of twelve-foot counters with around two feet of space between them. It was a rather tight fit, and that was perfect. Shiratori walked right in, throwing forward kicks while Kenichi backed up, keeping his guard up to prevent himself from taking too much damage.

Finally going for a trick attack, Shiratori tried to swing a leg out to gain momentum but ended up banging the leg against the side of the counter. Kenichi took a page from Naruto's book and got opportunistic as he switched his stance to that of basic Muay Thai. Swinging his elbow he actually managed to hit Shiratori who was not used to having to block with arms. And not being used to blocking with arms meant that Shiratori also wasn't used to having to do things to reset after blocking with the arms, thus the default was to push forward and try to shove the enemy back.

'Chance!' Kenichi utilized a very simple defensive tactic when an opponent came forward like that. He grabbed the back of the head and neck of Kisara's most trusted bodyguard and pulled down while jumping up and forward to smash Shiratori in the face with his knee, "Kao Loi (Flying Knee)!"

Lights out.

Niijima could only watch with an expression of shock. Kenichi had not only legitimately won a fight (with his tactically brilliant assistance of course), but he'd done it in one blow after looking like a human kickpad for the majority of it. Not the prettiest win, but you could either win ugly or not win at all.

Kenichi stood over Shiratori's body for a moment before realizing that it was all over, "Sorry." He said, sighing in relief, "But that's the one move that Apachai-sensei worked my legs to the bone making sure I knew." Basic or not, it still worked.

"Kenichi old buddy!" Niijima exclaimed as he darted out from the closet and started patting the young man on the back jubilantly, "Do you see what teamwork can do! You: the muscle. Me: The brains and ambition. Uzumaki: the operational know-how! Straight to the top! I didn't believe in you, but I just saw it for myself! We can knock Ragnarok from the top!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Haruo!" Kenichi started moving away, holding up his hands defensively, "This Shiratori guy just said that Valkyrie is way stronger than him. I-I don't think taking on Ragnarok is the best idea by myself." At all. He just wanted to be able to handle them when they attacked him. He wasn't going to go looking for trouble.

"Right…" Niijima said, antennae sticking up out of his hair, tongue looking strangely forked as he was in thought, "…Not by yourself. Of course not, kekekekekeke…" When he realized Kenichi had moved away from him he then started speaking thoughtfully, "Shiratori was supposed to be one of the top guns of Valkyrie's gang though. She's a Taekwondo user like her leader so if nothing else you got some serious experience by beating her here."

"-He."

"What?"

Kenichi elaborated on what he said, "Shiratori was a 'he', right? A really girly looking 'he'…" His face turned a bit desperately when he saw the stone face that Niijima was giving him, "…Right? Haruo? Izumi-san?"

Holding up his PDA, Niijima showed Kenichi the file he had on Kisara's gang and those in it, with the page on Shiratori, "No. Shiratori is a girl. A flat-chested girl, but still a girl. Admittedly it's hard to tell under the coat and with those clothes though." He then noticed Kenichi start shaking, "What's wrong with you?"

Confused a bit too, Kenichi's fellow club member Yuuka went over to check quickly while Shiratori was still out and nodded in confirmation from behind her glasses, "Niijima-san is right Kenichi-kun. She's a girl."

"Noooo!"

"…Didn't I come here for a reason?" Niijima thought to himself as Kenichi started running around the greenhouse fretting about how he'd gone against his own moral ethics by knocking out a girl, "I swear I'm forgetting something."

XxX

(With Naruto – Outside of Koryou High School)

From the fourth floor where Naruto had been fighting Kisara, he lowered himself to the ground by a grappling rope he kept in his bag before pulling it down and packing it back up. As he walked around on the ground around the school he held his left forearm that was swollen with a dark purple or black bruise on the outside of his forearm that had almost spread around it entirely.

It hurt like hell.

'This is why I try not to block.' Naruto thought to himself, as every time his heart beat a pump his arm would throb right in that spot, 'Ugh, I think she cracked my forearm with those boots. I don't have any bandages in that damn bag?'

Of course when he knew he was going to school he had to allot a lot of space for books, and things that he could easily hide or get away with having in school in case anyone ever managed to check his bag. God knew he kept enough crap in there on a regular basis that he could spare some space for some first aid.

So his arm was probably injured, but now he at least knew something about one of their top foes firsthand, that she kicked like someone was swinging a sledgehammer. Stupid riffraff. Though he was able to grab plenty of them for well timed Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) attempts early on, they wound up being a pain in the ass when he actually started fighting Kisara herself.

He couldn't focus on too many people aside from her in battle when he was taking her on. She was too quick to give those kinds of openings to.

With a grunt, Naruto sat against the trunk of a tree outside and slumped to the ground, glaring at his left arm, "Well…" He said to himself before his phone went off. He'd given his number to another person now so more calls during the day had to be expected, "Hello?"

"Naruto-kun! Are you alright? Where are you?" Miu. So her Gymnastics Club was over? Good, because he wanted to go home. Joining cross-country club or whatever the hell could wait because his arm was KILLING him, "Haruo-san said that you were getting attacked by Ragnarok's Valkyrie."

"I was. She had a lot of friends." Naruto said, wincing as he moved his wrist and fingers of his free hand, "Didn't go as well as I'd hoped it would because I didn't finish it. But… it didn't go that bad either."

"Kenichi beat one of Valkyrie's lieutenants in his club room!"

"No foolin'? That's awesome!" Naruto said, perking up before wincing at his recent injury, "Ah… can we talk later though? I kind of have to go home now."

"Are you sure you're alright? Kenichi said he and Haruo-san can't find you."

She was worried about him? Aww, he couldn't believe he used to think that she was an enemy whose only reason for existing in this world was to stop him from getting those weapons. She was the sweetest thing to be concerned with him. But then again she was worried about everyone. She was very empathetic.

"There's word going around that there are a bunch of Ragnarok searching high and low for you. We're at the front gate and about to go to Ryouzanpaku. If you need we can wait for you and all go together."

Naruto stood up, unable to help the grin that spread across his face. Having people that cared about his well-being was definitely better than going it alone. If he had to fight every single one of the Eight Fists of Ragnarok for them he would, "Nah, just get started on the way home. I'll be fine on my own." He said as he jumped on a tree branch and then on the wall that surrounded the school property, "I can move just fine on my own. I'm gonna go to my place and train, but "

He continued speaking as he jumped off of the wall to leave school, with no one really around to follow him or even do anything about him making such a movement, but a pair of easygoing eyes watched his moves as he did so before he lost track of him altogether.

Takeda and Ukita walked out from one of the side doors of the school, the latter with a comfortable smile on his face, "What an interesting guy. He's the one that stood against Kisara-sama's kicks and crushed Koga?" He said to himself as he walked over to Naruto's tree with his left hand shoved into his pocket while he tried to use his other hand to judge the distance that the ninja had jumped up to in order to reach the first branch, "Some jump. The guy should really join track and field. Maybe our school wouldn't suck at it if he did?"

Ukita just sneered at the thought of someone causing their gang that much trouble at school, "Stop complimenting the guy would you? First Koga gets destroyed, Shiratori gets beaten by that Shirahama kid. Even Kisara-sama couldn't take that ninja bastard's head. Just what's going on around here?"

"I was just making an observation. You and I can't make that jump." Takeda said with his infuriatingly calm smile, "I don't think you could make it to that branch if you reached for it with your hands."

"I'm Ukita the Thrower, not Ukita the Jumper you jackass!"

"Yeah, yeah." Takeda waved off his hotter-headed ally's response before grinning to himself as he began walking away to leave school as well, "I wonder what's faster though; a ninja's steps or a boxer's jab."

XxX

(That Evening – Naruto's House)

All the way home, Naruto had been nursing that arm of his as every move it made felt like something in it was clicking down where he'd taken Kisara's power kicks. The difference in a Taekwondo user's kick from his own was considerable. A small girl like that had so much strength in her legs. Even without the steel-toed boots, the impact from her blows would have been sick.

He was actually a bit excited. This was different from the grim kind of fear he had in his heart before Ryouzanpaku missions. He couldn't help but compare that damnable feeling to the kind of feeling that ancient warriors would get before being asked to charge an enemy stronghold uphill in an open field. But this, it was a bit of a rush. He didn't want to become an adrenaline junkie or anything, but it was just something to point out.

Even with his left arm's ability downed, he could still use it. And each breath of fresh air he took on his way home made him feel hyperaware. The blood pounding in his ears made him feel like he could hear a cat jostle a trashcan from three blocks away. He felt like he could run a marathon and still have the juice to go a few rounds with Miu in a spar!

But he'd have to put that aside from now and fix his arm, and once he got through the front door of his home he locked the door behind him and immediately went looking around for his medical supplies. The one he had upstairs was basically empty of what he needed so he had to go downstairs to the cellar to get to the extras he'd stockpiled over the years. He just decided to get a snack to chew on and get busy.

While the two upstairs levels of Naruto's home looked extremely normal for a modern day middle class house, once you got past the trick-locked door and descended the stairs it stopped being so common. When in the hell did his dad find the time to set up a ninja dojo environment? It was larger in overall space than the entire first floor, front yard, and backyard with three different rooms in it. It was awesome and Naruto couldn't stop smiling out of pride when he'd first found it years ago.

It looked like a classical building interior from the walls and sliding doors, to the wooden floors out in the hallway around the main dojo room. But the floors themselves were a training tool, set to make even the steps of a cat sound out when they were walked on, in order to make moving silently and light-footedly a practice as absently thought of as blinking.

And why was there a mouse standing on two legs, looking at him with closed eyes… with a pink ribbon on its tail. It didn't even run away when Naruto walked toward it and stooped in front of it to stare at it before he broke off a little piece of his granola bar to hand down to the diminutive animal, "You're somebody's pet aren't you?" He said as the mouse spiritedly took the treat and nibbled at it after scampering up Naruto's shoulder.

It was obvious at that point, but it still had to be said. Why else would it be that comfortable with him, even if it knew he wouldn't hurt it? And why the hell else would it have a bow on its tail?

Nothing else did though, and Naruto wished he hadn't dropped his backpack with his weapons that he didn't keep down in the basement at the front door with his shoes. Digging through his pockets, Naruto looked for anything he might be able to use as a weapon, and eventually settled for taking off his belt to wrap around his injured left arm and fist.

Slowly moving through the halls to the back room of the basement where the particular weapons and equipment his parents had amassed before their untimely demises had been kept, Naruto slowly slid the door open to find a woman in a small pink kimono and purple stockings sitting on the floor holding one of his parents', and by proxy his, weapons.

In her hands she was carefully observing a three-foot steel chain with a small metal weight at both ends of it, just looking it over until her eyes panned up to lock with his. He looked ready to fight. Jittery, but very, very ready to fight.

He really believed that he could somehow win. That he could somehow get in some kind of lucky move, even though he'd never come anywhere near getting close to doing it before, even though she was armed, and even though all he had was a belt wrapped around his.

Well it wasn't like there was anywhere else to run, or if he even thought that he could escape either way, so that was probably a big factor as to why, "You're here, in my house." Naruto said, knowing that the cordiality with Ryouzanpaku was going to get him killed somehow, "…How did you even find me here?"

Shigure looked back down at the weapon in her hand and continued to appraise it, even as she spoke, "You attend Miu's and Kenichi's school. I followed you one day this week… to this place."

"Was it really that easy?"

"Not… really. You take confusing routes home. But I was on the rooftops."

Curses. Of course he didn't check the rooftops. Nobody moved like that other than very few people and his current enemies weren't amongst that particular group. He kept his eyes to the streets where Ragnarok members were more likely to be trolling around.

"Alright then." Naruto said, still standing in a stance ready to defend himself, "I always figured this would happen the second you figured out where I live." The locks on his door wouldn't have stopped him from breaking in so he figured someone else could have too, "So come on, let's get this over with. "

"I didn't come to fight." Shigure said, standing up from the floor and walking over to Naruto, "Do you know how to use this?" She asked him, holding up the chain and weight, "This weapon? You've never used it when you've been caught by us." He never used any of those things when he fought with them. He stuck to shuriken and other supplementary tools

"My manriki-gusari? I do weapons work every morning before school and I train with these every once in a while." Naruto said, crossing his arms over his chest, "I know how to use everything in this room just fine. I just can't carry any old thing I want with me. My bag is usually heavy enough without throwing more than I need in there."

Which was bullshit and the almost awkward way he said it showed as much. He armed himself to the teeth every single time he'd gone in there, it was just mostly with stuff that would help him hide and break into things instead of fighting though since he wouldn't have had a chance anyway.

The mouse on his shoulder jumped off and ran over onto Shigure's instead, shaking its head at him. Traitor. It could probably tell that he was full of crap though. Sure he knew how to use everything in there, but it didn't mean he was good at all of it.

Ryouzanpaku's resident master of all things weapon-related just stared at Naruto long enough to unnerve him, "I see." She then handed him the chain and walked back away from him a few steps, "Show me."

Like now?

Why?

Holding the chain in both hands at opposite ends, Naruto stood at the ready, keeping the chain outstretched in front of himself as if he were about to be attacked. He still stood wary, as if she drew that nodachi from her back it wouldn't matter what he had, she'd blow right through him.

He took a step forward to make a move to try and show her when Shigure spoke up, "Stop." She said before he could even try an attack.

"Wha-?" Naruto said, staring at her with squinted eyes, "I didn't even do anything yet."

Shigure could see that he had absolutely no faith in what he'd been holding and stopped him from making a move with a weapon that he clearly didn't want to use, "You need a longer chain to fight a weapon user with any kind of confidence. That length is good for hand-to-hand." She took the weapon from him and handed him another one about as long as his body, "This is more for you." He looked at it trying to adjust to the lengthened weapon and why she was even doing this, "Now try. You said… you could use everything in here. Use this."

Nodding to himself and to Shigure, Naruto held the chain at weighted end with his left hand while placing his right hand further up the chain leaving a foot and a half of slack at the end where he began spinning it over his head counterclockwise.

Dead silence filled the room with the exception of the swinging weapon whipping through the air, and Naruto wondered if he was doing something wrong again since she wasn't saying anything. Shigure simply stared at him impassively, and he couldn't tell what she was looking at or for.

"Attack."

He didn't know why he chose to listen, but Naruto suddenly threw the weighted end that he'd been spinning at her underhand, swiftly aiming at her body before she moved around it and went right for him. Naruto pulled the weight back as quickly as he could and spun around in a circle while it was retracting, turning it into a swinging weapon that Shigure jumped over before it could hit her.

Her feet pressed off of the ceiling and she launched down at Naruto, tackling him to the floor. The disoriented young ninja found the chain inexplicably wrapped around his neck and in Shigure's hand, threatening to choke him out.

She just stared down at him as he tried to wonder why that had happened so fast, and what the hell this had been about to begin with. God she was light, and he had a primo view of her mesh shirt-clad sizable bust underneath her kimono. And did steel have a scent?

As quickly as that, Shigure seemed to find what she'd been there to see and had removed herself from him and began walking out of the armory room, leaving Naruto on the floor with the manriki-gusari chain still around his neck, "The next time you come to Ryouzanpaku, you need to have a conversation with the masters. I'm here because of Sakaki and… Kensei. The Elder agreed. So I came here."

"Wait. Agreed to what?" Naruto said, getting the chain from the weapon off of his neck before getting up to follow her all the way out of his parents' basement training facility and out of his house entirely as she didn't stop again, "What just happened? And why do I need to have a conversation with anyone? I don't want to!"

She wouldn't hear it though, "And get your arm checked by Akisame… I know it's broken."

Seriously, what the hell just went on inside of his house? And how'd she know his arm was broken? He covered the bruise with his belt, didn't wince when using his weapons, and used the damn weapons the way he was supposed to! Those Ryouzanpaku masters were some scary people.

"I won't do what you say just because you tell me to out of the blue!" Naruto said once Shigure went out his front door, presumably to start on her way back to the dojo, "You're just the lady that kicks my ass every once in a while, you don't have any power over me!" She had barely made it out of Naruto's yard before those words got her to stop and slowly turn around.

When she did, both she and her mouse were looking at him with an intimidating stare that actually made him want to jump underneath his bed and hide like he was five years old again, "If you don't do those things, I'll come back… and make you."

Make him? Okay, fear for life or not, he wasn't going to take that. He resented it for several reasons that he had been about to voice aloud.

The first instinct he had was to open his mouth and bark out that she couldn't make him do a damn thing. But he thought wiser of it when he saw a slight flash of silver from the top of her nodachi sheath and quickly went back inside, shutting his door behind him as if that would stop her for even half a second if she'd really decided to come and get him.

"Right." Naruto said to himself as he swore he could still feel her glaring at his back through the wall and the door from outside, "You showed her Naruto. Scary sword lady or not."

Shikamaru always said that Ryouzanpaku was going to be the death of him one of these days. He was starting to think that maybe being positive and upbeat wouldn't make Shikamaru's prediction any less accurate for the near future.

---

And that's chapter.

Now I've got to go deal with bum-ass bum of a bum brother. That little fucker needs to get his shit together. I thought I was bad, at least I'm worrying about trying to make things better. He just doesn't seem to care. He was the one that actually had potential.

Whatever. It's not my problem. I've got my own crap to deal with. If he wants to be a lazy shit until he gets kicked out that's his own dumbass fault. He's gotten every chance in the world to do something useful.

Enough bitching about that. Later guys.

Kenchi out.