"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto formed six clones, each attached to the tree he was on. Anko and Naruto stared off at the rotund ninja they were facing.

"Ho ho! Shadow clones? You must be quite skilled. Well then..." With one hand, he summoned eight clones and sent them flying down towards the two, four going for Anko and the other four going for Naruto. Naruto formed his clones in a three pairs, each forming their own Rasengan. The fat ninja's face became slightly more serious while Anko began weaving signs.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The enemies clones blew a strong wind, strong enough to uproot a few dead trees and the attack was strong enough to blow away Naruto's clones and the main Naruto in a tree.

"Ninja Art: Deadly Poison Fog!" Anko blew out a huge plume of smoke at the man body but the giant purple pig inhaled it. The enemy grinned cheekily as the pig began to blow it right back at them. Widening her eyes, Anko directed her snake away from it.

"Naruto, move it!"

"Huh?" Naruto turned his attention to the a giant fog heading his way. "Woah!" He jumped away from the fat ninja's clones, moving through the trees as he and Anko narrowly escaped its range.

"Damn..." Anko raised her head up at the man. "Who the hell are you?"

The fat ninja took a bite of a cupcake he had gotten from his pouch. "Me? My name is Hokam-sama. And this is Sonya-chan. A special piggy that is immune to all poison and exudes it from herself as a plus. Get them, Sonya-chan!" The giant bug began stomping about, shaking the earth beneath their feet. Hokam's clones weaved signs extremely fast.

"Earth Style: Great Pillar!" Huge pillars of earth began popping out of the ground, one of them managing to hit Anko's summon and dispel it. She recovered on a tree, pulling out a kunai. Naruto clicked his teeth.

"This guy's tough... Guess there's no choice..." He bit his thumb before weaving hand signs and then slamming his palm on a branch. "Summoning Jutsu!" A huge plume of smoke was seen and out of it came a giant red toad. The toad was coloured a dull, rusty red, but around his eyes and on his lips and chest were brighter red markings. Over his left eye, was a scar and his tongue had a series of stud-like piercings on both the upper and lower side. He wore a large blue happi vest that had the kanji for shrimp on the back and carried a massive dosu blade at his hip. In his mouth was a kiseru pipe.

"Wha-? Aw, no. You again?!" Came its incredibly loud and gruff voice.

"Hey, Chief Gamabunta! It's been awhile!" Naruto greeted cheerfully.

"Why the hell did you call me in the middle of sake time?!" He shouted angrily.

"Chief, I need some help." Naruto pointed to the enemy, who was nonchalantly eating on top of the pig. "This guy's pretty tough and we need to take him down."

Bunta blew the smoke from his pipe. "Tch, why should I do something like that? I could just go home and drink my sake instead."

"Aw, Chief, don't be like that..."

Hokam watched from atop his pig, drooling at the sight of the toad. "WOAH! HE'S HUGE! I BET HE TASTES GOOD FRIED!"

That statement was loud enough for Bunta to take notice as he took his attention away from Naruto and turned to Hokam, glaring at him rather intensely. "Hey, chubby... what did you say just now?"

Hokam took a bite from his chicken leg. "You might be more tasty dipped in oil... though, being a frog, you're probably oily already. Hoo-hoo-ha-ha-hah!"

Bunta blew out another cloud of smoke before slowly reaching for his blade, his killer intent raging through the air. "I'm going to make mincemeat out of you, chubby!"

Hokam didn't take the threat seriously, opting instead to bring his head back and with a rather dreamy expression, drooled again. "Mmmm... meat." He took another bite of his chicken.

Down in the forest below, Anko performed another summoning and out of the smoke came another snake, this time bigger and white with black markings. The snake brought its head up to full height, bringing her leveled with Naruto.

"Take this!" Bunta jumped up high in the air, his tanto drawn. As soon as he jumped, Anko had her own summon slither through the forest, destroying the trees below. It opened its fangs to bite as Bunta came falling down with his blade pointed at the pig.

Hokam, however, was rather lax. "Hmm... This isn't too good. Sonya, stomp for me, baby!"

The pig snorted before stomping its feet hard enough to upheave the ground from beneath the snake and launch it into the air and over Sonya herself.

"Oh, damn, Chief!" Bunta came down on the snake, stabbing it right in the head and forcing Anko to jump off just before the blade hit.

"Damn you, brat! That crap almost hit me!" Anko free falled from the snake when Hokam decided to capitalize on this opening by throwing a bone at her. He threw it extremely fast, the object hitting smack-dab in her gut and powerful enough to send her flying through a tree and back first into another, her body falling from the trunk to a branch.

"Damn it!" Naruto turned his head to Sonya curling herself into a ball. She jumped and began rotating at high speeds, aiming herself at Bunta. "Watch out, Chief!"

He couldn't dodge it in time as Sonya sent Gamabunta flying, knocking Naruto off and leaving him falling from the sky. Attempting to save himself, Naruto began to summon clones when Hokam once again threw a bone at him, this one hitting his forehead and knocking his headband into the air. Naruto fell back into the forest, his body crashing through branches before landing on the forest floor, a crack heard from his midsection.

"Ooh..." Bunta was winded before finally disappearing in smoke with Sonya following his lead and doing the same. Hokam landed on a branch, laughing heartily to himself.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo-ha-ha-ha-hah!" He then jumped down to the ground, giving the floor a slight tremor. "You guys just aren't tasty, ya know? You're disgusting! I feel like I'm eating ramen or something. Blechh!"

Face down on the floor, Naruto's hand twitched. From the bushes, Anko, without her coat and with a few scrapes and bruises, jumped out with a bo staff in her hands. Hokam turned to her, downing a few sweets. "Ho, you're still alive, eh?"

Anko spit out blood before wiping her chin. "If you thought you kill Anko Mitarashi with a third-rate attack like that, that plaque build-up's hitting your brain too."

"You're pretty quippy."

"I'm good at kicking ass too." She ran forward, readying her bo. Hokam plopped a chicken leg that he plucked from his pockets into his mouth before stomping his feet in the ground, similar to a sumo stance and clapping his hands together. His chakra began to build up and his singular strand of hair began flowing like a flag.

"Earth Style: Rock Body!"

Anko struck Hokam's head but her bo broke like a twig, eliciting a surprised reaction from her. "Earth Style: Rock Fist!" Hokam struck Anko, who disappeared in a poof smoke. "Shadow Clone..." He turned around to see Anko sitting on a tree, her bo staff resting on her shoulder.

"That's some interesting jutsu you've got there, big guy."

"My jutsu allows me to make body as a hard as rock, making me impenetrable to any blunt attacks. Sorry, Mitarashi-chan. You won't be hurting me."

Anko smirked sadistically. "The more they resist, the more satisfying it is when you break them." She weaved hand signs quickly before making a circle around her mouth. "Ninja Art: Acidic Breath!" She spit out a large river of purple acid from her mouth, sending it down at him.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!" Hokam released a large pillar of rock, letting it shield him from the acid. Behind him, Anko came out and began to strike. She came down with the bo staff but Hokam grabbed it. "Useless... Wind Style: Aerial Palm!" Concentrating Wind chakra into his hand, he forcefully planted his palm into her stomach, shredding it slightly and sending her flying back-first into a tree. She slumped to the ground, disorientated.

"D-damn..."

"I really didn't want to kill you. My orders were just to track but you've seen me so, oh well." Hokam slammed his feet sumo-style before raising his palm. "Nothing personal, Mitarashi-chan."

"Oi, you fat bastard!"

"Hm?" Hokam turned his head to see Naruto struggling to get up. "Oh, you're still alive?"

"Take back... what you said..."

"What're you taking about?"

"What you said... about ramen... take it back...!" Naruto propped himself on his arms, his head down but his hair becoming increasingly spiky. Hokam could feel a rather dark aura preceding the air.

"Why should I?"

Naruto could feel his chakra flowing through his veins, he could feel the heat overwhelm his senses. He felt his own emotions magnified – his anger, his hatred. Naruto's teeth became fangs, his whiskers becoming wilder. Red chakra began circling around him as he slowly stood up on his feet. "Ramen... is..."

Hokam turned away from Anko, facing the boy with a more serious look. "The Nine-tails chakra... Our intel was right. This is the jinchuriki."

The feeling of malevolence became more pronounced as Naruto's voice became darker and rougher. "Ramen is..." Naruto's fingers became sharper, his coat, now unzipped, starting flowing dramatically. Naruto took up a sort of feral, animalistic stance with his knees bent and his arms crossed in front of him. Naruto finally raised his head, his eyes now a blood red with slits as irises.

"Ramen... IS LIFE!"


Ken and Batman were standing a few feet away from each other, panting slightly. They had been clashing and nicking each other for the past few minutes, neither overpowering the other. Ken smirked, swiping his sword a few times and cutting the air.

"Heh, you're not bad. If it wasn't for that costume and Konoha symbol, I'd think you were a samurai. But I can tell, you're not trying to kill me, are you? You hide it well, but when two skilled swordsman cross blades, they can feel each other's intent."

Batman didn't respond.

"Don't tell me... are you one of those self-righteous pricks who only kill when ordered?"

Batman ran forward, coming down on Ken with his dual blades who blocked with his own. "You talk too much."

"You talk too little." Ken retorted. He flipped back, kicking Batman in the chin before landing his feet on a tree trunk. Batman quickly recovered as Ken pushed off the tree, launching himself towards his opponent. Batman crouched under his slash and gave Ken two cuts on his thighs. They were, of course, not fatal.

Ken landed, sucking his teeth. "Damn, that hurt..." He turned around, taking up a stance and holding his sword with both hands. Ken jumped forward but Batman sidestepped and Ken cut a rock instead.

"I'm getting deja vu..."

Batman held one of the swords in his mouth before using his free hand to pull out some explosive kunai. Batman threw them, forcing Ken to flip back into the trees. Ken raised his head to see Batman had disappeared.

"This guy's pretty quick..." From the shadows, Batman threw shuriken at the man and as they flew, began weaving hand signs.

"Ox... Dog... Dragon... Rat... Dog... Boar... Snake... Tiger... Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The few shuriken multiplied to a dozen, flying down at Ken speedily. Ken was unfazed and simply blocked them with his sword but the last one, instead of coming into contact with Ken's sword, transformed into Batman and with pristine accuracy, brought his swords down at Ken. He blocked it before stepping back, bracing himself and kicking Batman in the chest. The attack was blocked by Batman's shin, but it was strong enough to send him flying back. Batman recovered by planting his feet on a tree, releasing chakra which allowed him to stick to it.

"Enough games, pallie. I'm all warmed up now. Let's get serious." Ken took up a stance, holding the dull side of his blade. He began channeling chakra into his sword, giving it a light blue hue. Ken grinned maliciously. "Let's party."

Ken jumped forward, faster than before and cut straight through Batman's body armor, giving him a shallow cut near the collarbone. Ken then spun and cut Batman's side before coming down and cutting his thigh. Batman, while not being able to see it, reacted merely on instinct, barely avoiding getting killed, stepping back far enough to avoid deep and lethal cuts.

Jumping back, Batman held up his swords and focused. He shut his eyes and painfully tried to channel chakra into his swords. It was too big and Batman was unable to focus, due to the pain of using so much chakra. Ken was suddenly before him and with the butt of his sword, struck Batman in the head and sent him flipping backwards into a tree. Batman fell off it and landed on his back on the forest floor. With his foot on his chest, Ken pointed the tip of his sword at his fallen foe.

"Huh. I guess you weren't as good as I thought. Oh, well." Ken raised his sword, his face becoming more fierce and enraged. "This is for Yoshi, you bastard."


Naruto, with Nine-tails chakra pouring through his veins, launched himself at Hokam. "Earth Style: Rock Fist!" Naruto and Hokam's fists collided, sending a slight rift in the air. Naruto was knocked back while Hokam skidded back slightly. Naruto recovered with a flip and his feet stuck to a tree. He pushed off it into the air and made a hand sign.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Dozens of clones appeared in poofs of smoke.

"Quite a few clones..." Hokam clapped his hands together. "Wind Style: Wild Hurricane!" Gusts of wind moving at high speeds rapidly spun around the area, dispersing Naruto's clones. Before they disappeared, three of them managed to throw a few kunai knives at Hokam, who deflected them with the bone in his hand and let a few more land behind him. Hokam turned his head to the sound of fizzing and saw explosive tags attached to the handles. They exploded, releasing black smoke. From this smoke, Hokam had jumped upwards, relatively unharmed when Naruto came falling from above, bringing his fist to hammer on Hokam's head. Hokam fell back to earth, landing with a crash. Naruto landed as well, before summoning up another clone. He held out his hand and his clone began forming a huge ball of chakra.

"How 'bout this one!" Naruto charged Hokam, who began standing up from the pile of rubble. He glanced up to see Naruto racing towards him with a ball of violently rotating chakra. Naruto thrust his arm out. "Take this! Rasengan!"

What happened next shocked Naruto to his very core. Hokam neither averted the strike nor dodged it. He raised his hand and grabbed the ball of chakra, letting the attack shred the palm of his hand. However, that was all it did. The attack didn't affect his wrist, arm and after the attack dissipated, Hokam seemed no worse for the wear.

"Wha... how?"

"Sorry, kid. You just ain't tasty enough to be in the kitchen with me." Hokam gave Naruto a strong uppercut to the stomach and the strike was powerful enough send him flying back, coughing up streams of blood.

Squirming on the ground in pain, Naruto's Nine-tails chakra faded. "D-damn it...! My stomach feels like it's about to explode...!" Naruto managed to glance up to see Hokam walking towards him, a small whirlwind circling around his fist.

"Time to end this. I'm all out of food."


"Die, you bastard." Ken brought down his sword to kill Batman, when, all of a sudden, he blocked it with his sword. That's what not surprised Ken. What surprised him was that he didn't cut through it. The reason was because Batman's sword had a thin steady wave of chakra around the blade. It was black, outlined by white.

Ken smiled, his interest peaked. "Hm? You holding something back?"

Batman couldn't hold the flow, as the strike to the head Ken gave him was making him disorientated and made it difficult to focus. The flow of chakra stopped and his blade returned to normal, leaving Ken somewhat disappointed.

Before Ken and Hokam could finish off their respective enemies, a telepathic link was made in their minds.

"Hokam, Ken, stop."

"Q?" Ken stayed his blade.

"That you, Q?" Hokam asked aloud, confusing Naruto who saw no one else there.

"Leader doesn't want you to kill them yet. We've drawn enough attention to ourselves. Killing them will draw far too much attention from Root and the Akatsuki. We need to abide our time. Withdraw for now."

"Damn... I guess we've got no choice." Ken glanced down at Batman, before sheathing his sword. "Next time." He jumped away, leaving Batman barely conscious.

Hokam scratched his stomach, before turning around and walking away. Naruto, with blood trailing down his chin, yelled after Hokam.

"Hey...! Hey, you! We're... we're not done yet!"

Hokam kept walking. "I'm done. I'm going home to eat." He disappeared behind the trees.

"D-damn it..." Naruto couldn't keep himself from passing out, his world fading to black.