A/N: Finally…we get some more action, as well as the start of the next arc. Do read and review, would you kindly?

…

{Play: "Nine-tailed Demon Fox" by Toshiro Masuda from "Naruto}

[Somewhere in Nami no Kuni]

The sound of a stone grinding away at a steel were heard through the silence of the cabin as a whetstone was drawn against a massive blade. The owner had the lower half of her face covered in bandages, and her short and spiky black hair was held up by a Kirigakure hitai-ate. Due to a life on the lam the kunoichi had a hard time finding clothing stores that sold bras for her generous bust, and so she had to make due - much to her embarrassment - with a tight tank-top that showed her nipples. It was also so short that it bared her midriff, and needed to be zipped up from behind by an attendant. Her body was well-toned from years as a killer, with sinewy curves that fitted well on a mixed martial artist.

She sat silently as she sharpened her blade; but the kunoichi was not alone. Sitting in the same cabin was a dainty young girl in her teens with teal clothes, and her black hair done up in a bun behind her head. She was busily polishing her faceless mask with the Kirigakure crest engraved on the forehead before going back to making senbon needles. Chakra was infused in her knife as she shaved off strips from a steel block before sharpening the tips. After a cursory inspection, the finished needles were put on a pile on the table.

Playing a game of gō were a pair of girls with large, clawed gauntlets; each one wearing a rebreather and a horned hitai-ate on their foreheads that denoted them as kunoichi from Kirigakure no Sato. The two girls seemed to consider their options carefully, as evidenced by how their match seemed to be frozen in time. The girl with two horns on her hitai-ate had a black piece in her un-gauntleted thumb and index fingers, contemplating whether or not she should make the move to capture the one-horned girl's bundle of white pieces. Finally deciding to make a move, she placed the black piece to capture the bundle of white pieces only for the one-horned girl to respond by placing her white piece in an area. "I win." she teased, "C'mon sis, you of all people know that you've gotta bring your A-game when you're playing me."

"Yeah, well you've been copying my moves every time we play Gozu." snarled the girl with two horns at her sister's taunting. "But don't forget, you still haven't broken our streak."

"Neither did you, Meizu."

"One of these days, I'll…"

"Will you two knock it off?" snapped the kunoichi with the giant sword. From the look in her eyes, the two girls could not help but hug each other in terror. "Can't I sharpen old girl Kubikiri without your ugly voices bickering!? If I have to hear you two arguing one more time, Haku and I are going to spank your asses…in public!"

Gozu and Meizu immediately nodded in affirmation. Their voices came out in unison, trembling in terror. "Hai, Ayaka-sama!"

Satisfied with the response, Ayaka went back to sharpening her sword. However, it was not to last as there was a loud pounding on the cabin door. Growling angrily, she put down her sword and stomped her way to open the metal door of the cabin. A quick glance downward had revealed it to be a man that stood a little shorter than she did. "What do you want?"

"Mo-Mo-Momochi-san," said the thug, obviously too terrified of the woman to say anything clearly, "S-s-someone's been winning in the u-u-underground fighting tournament on deck. And he's been kicking everyone's asses."

This did not elicit any change in Ayaka's expression. She scoffed while turning back to the cabin, waving her hand in dismissal. "If he's worrying you so much, then why don't you rig the match as usual, and send out the tigers?"

"B-bu-but, we already sent them out!"

Ayaka turned to face the man with curiosity in her eyes. "You sent out the tigers and he's still winning?"

"Yes! And he's asking for more tigers!"

There was no limit to the curiosity that Ayaka felt, and she had a feeling that everyone else in the cabin. "Ayaka-sama, weren't those ninja-tigers?" asked Haku, taking a break from her manufacture of senbon.

"Yeah they were," she said, "Tigers are said to be among the foremost animal summons for those looking to master the art of Taijutsu. To think they were being beaten." Ayaka turned her attention to the man that was having a panic attack. "Is he still out there?"

"Yes, and he's asking for more opponents to beat. Gato's just come back, and he's here to see the match for himself."

"That's…" began Gozu.

"…a first." Meizu finished.

"What do you want me to do?"

Ayaka smiled under her bandages. "Let the other tigers out." she said, "Haku, Meizu, Gozu, let's see if I can get any exercise after this. After all, I'm pretty sure Sensei would be rolling in his grave if he found out I'd died because I was out of practice. Besides, I'm pretty sure we need the fresh air anyway."

…

{"Drive In at Night Stage -USA-" by Hideyuki Fukasawa, from "Street Fighter IV"}

[Gato's Yacht, several minutes later]

A tiger had pounced, intent on sinking its teeth into its target's throat when it was punched from below the chin. Naruto had uppercut the tiger, before quickly grabbing its head and driving it back down to his knee. Such was the force of the blow that the tiger had been knocked out by the strike.

Naruto rotated his neck, feeling the satisfaction as he stretched all the muscles. There was not a lot of cheering for him; many on the deck was staring at him with their jaws hanging in shock. The only ones in the crowd that he could recognize were the Sand Sisters, all of whom were leading the crowd to cheer him on. "Don't you have anything harder?" he asked to the crowd, "You have so many shitty fighters here that I'm really starting to get bored!"

Aside from the cheering, nobody had anything to say to that. He'd already knocked down quite a few human fighters, and even going on to eighteen ninja tigers that were knocked out. His total victory count had been up to sixty-eight opponents including the tigers, all of whom were beaten consecutively. As Naruto looked around, he noted that quite a few people were sweating profusely as their gazes had met with his. There was a lot of suspicion at what he'd seen, but he still wanted to confirm with a single request: "If there's nothing else, I'd like my fight money now."

"Don't be so sure of yourself, brat!" said a voice from behind. "You wanted a better fighter? Well now you've got one!"

Naruto turned to see that the new challenger. It was a tall woman with spiky black hair, standing proud and looking down at him. The hitai-ate on her head had marked her as a kunoichi from Kirigakure no Sato, and the lower half of her face was covered in bandages. It was clear from the nipples showing on her tight black tank-top that she wasn't wearing a bra, and so her generous bust was bouncing around with her every movement. She wore tied urban camouflage pants, and arm warmers. Looking at what he was seeing with an appraising eye, he could only grin. "Well, finally I get someone worth fighting."

"And who would've thought that I'd get to fight the brat that defeated the Kazekage?" the woman asked, cracking her knuckles.

"Think you can keep up, miss…?"

"The name's Momochi Ayaka, the Demoness of the Mist. And I'll be more than enough for you."

Naruto raised his guard, before putting weight on his back foot as the arena was being cleared out. "Will you be the one that I can finally go all-out on?"

Ayaka slipped into a stance that Naruto had never seen before. It was halfway between the full-frontal exposure of the wrestler, and the fully-reduced profile of the boxer; it allowed for the possibility of both striking and grappling techniques. Her hands were raised, her back was hunched, and she was putting all the weight on the balls of her feet. She looked like a wild cat about to pounce. "We'll see, brat…we'll see."

"Heaven or Hell?" announced the referee, standing between Naruto and Ayaka.

"Duel One…" The tension was felt throughout the deck as everyone waited for the referee to start the fight.

"LET'S ROCK!"

Naruto and Ayaka began the fight by charging each other. Naruto began the fight by trying to punch at Ayaka's well-developed abdomen, hoping to disorient her only to duck under a roundhouse kick. This gave him plenty of opportunity to build up force in his legs during the crouch before kicking off. "Shoryuken!" Ayaka back-flipped away just in time to avoid the punch, before recovering long enough to run back at Naruto just as he was landing. She took one last step, leaping into the air at full force while extending both knees. "Tiger Knee!" Naruto was unable to dodge, as the attack had come very quickly; knocking him back as soon as the knee hit him in the abs. He was able to right himself in the air, and break his fall in a roll.

"Nice, I've not been hit like this while holding back this much for a while."

"Maybe we should both be getting more serious."

Naruto smiled. "I would, but I'm afraid if I do that, the fun will end too soon."

"That's fine with me. I'm just glad I get to keep up with my taijutsu practice."

…

[Gato's Yacht, upper deck]

A short man looked down on the battle with an interested eye concealed by his round sunglasses. While his body was small, his head was rather large; overall, he looked more like the stereotypical mafia boss than he did a legitimate businessman. This was reinforced by the suit he wore made of fine silks, the bodyguards flanking his seat and his advancing age. There was a sinister grin on his face as he watched the fights going on for every detail.

"Very exciting fight we have here," said the man, "who is that boy?"

"That's Uzumaki Naruto, the boy who defeated Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage," one of the guards supplied, "Apparently, he came here for the fight money."

"I hear that he has a bounty on his head to anyone that can bring his head in alive and in one piece." the other guard added.

"How much are we talking?" asked the man in the suit.

"Millions."

"I have a very good idea for him." he said, sneering. "The way I see it, that kid is worth so much money that I can start a bidding war!"

"But Gato, aren't you worried that a kunoichi will try to kill you and take him away if you do that?"

"Not if I pay them off first."

"And what makes you think we'll be able to turn him in?" asked the guard to the left.

"I'm not going to do it…no, not when I can get that bitch Ayaka to do it for me."

"Shouldn't we be dealing with the bridge-builder first though?"

Gato scoffed. "Will you relax? I have the plan that will make us all a lot of money! And if we play our cards right, the world will be ours. Just imagine it! All the power you could ever want, where even those dumb and slutty Kages would have to blow us for more money like the whores they are! And the first step to that is selling that kid off to the highest bidder."

…

[Gato's Yacht, lower deck]

Naruto and Ayaka broke out of their close-contact battle as they stared each other down. The former stood at the ready, breathing heavily as he considered what he knew of the woman he was fighting. She did not have the power levels of a Kage-level kunoichi, but she was more than capable of matching him in taijutsu while holding back. The style she fought with took full advantage of her longer arms and legs to hit him with attacks that had long reach; she was only using her fists, elbows, knees and shins to strike him, but he was able to see that she was also doing her best to catch him in a grapple. It was not a scenario he wanted to be in at all.

"What's the matter boy?" she taunted, not even winded. "Still think you want to keep this fight going? Are you going to take me more seriously?"

"Not bad, you're able to tire me out with taijutsu alone. If it weren't for the fact that I need that money, I'd say we were dancing more than we were fighting."

Ayaka sneered under her bandages. "Nice try, but flattery won't get you anywhere…now hold still before I put a few bruises on your pretty little face."

Naruto grinned in amusement. "I guess I can take this up a notch, since you can handle me while I'm holding back." He took a deep breath, and stood up straight with his palms facing the ground. A short while later, people could feel the yacht being rocked by a single pulse. "I hope you're ready to handle me while fighting with the Nothingness Style!"

{Play: "Fang" by Chiyako Fukuda, from "Asura's Wrath"}

Ayaka tightened her stance. She'd seen this style on television, her eyes following every movement as he fought the Kazekage. The feeling of confidence rushed up her spine as she watched Naruto leap forward in an attempt to land a palm-strike on her abdomen. She answered by jumping forward to knee him in the face, interrupting his attack. "Tiger Knee!" Ayaka then followed through by grabbing him by the head and striking him in the chest with her knee four times before throwing him back. Naruto recovered quickly enough to plant his feet into the ground and leap back into the fight, locking himself in a deadly flurry of explosive punches and kicks with Ayaka as the two of them tried to find an opening in their slow but powerful attacks. Every punch and kick that was intercepted by the two of them had rocked the yacht, threatening to destroy the vessel with the ferocity of the duel itself as the sounds of explosions could be heard upon impact.

Suddenly, Naruto found an opening. He pushed Ayaka away quickly and far enough to charge Ki into both of his fists. One fist shot forward, his hand opening to send a small sphere of energy flying her way. "Hadouken!" Ayaka side-stepped away from the first burst of energy only to watch helplessly as Naruto quickly fired the second fireball in anticipation of where she would land. The fireball hit her dead-center in the chest, but Naruto was not finished: he leaped forward, and wound his fist up to land an uppercut below her chin lifting her into the air. "Shin!" With the second uppercut, Ayaka was definitely sent flying. "Shoryūken!"

Ayaka fell to the floor, staggering back up. Naruto had no idea whether she had bloodlust or arousal in her eyes. "You really shouldn't have done that!" she snarled, a grin under her bandages as she swayed, "I really like when there's someone that's more than capable of kicking my ass. And it doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl, once you hurt me like you did, I can't help but feel excitement at the prospect of dominating you!"

"That's assuming you can dominate me." retorted Naruto, slipping back into his fighting stance.

"Oh that can be arranged, cutie!"

"Enough!" came the voice of someone on one of the upper decks, catching both Naruto and Ayaka's attention. Naruto saw that it was a short and balding man with round sunglasses flanked by two guards. He wore a fancy suit that seemed to scream 'businessman' and 'mafioso' in many different languages. There was a smug grin on his face not only confirmed to him that this was the boss of this operation, but that he wanted to punch the man's face in. "Ayaka, I have a new mission for you. Come and see me later about it."

Ayaka turned to face Naruto. It was very obvious that she was very put-off by her employer interrupting their fight. "This isn't over by a long shot, sweet-cheeks!" she declared, standing up straight, "Next time we fight, your ass is mine!"

"I'm counting on it, Lady Tigress."

The amused snort that she gave out had said enough for Ayaka. She turned to leave, beckoning her underlings to follow her with a nod. Naruto turned his attention back up to the midget that was glowering down at him with his asshole smile. No how hard he tried, he found it hard to like the man…especially with his aura of arrogance. "What do you want to talk about?" Naruto asked, knowing that men like that did not help others without a catch.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"Should I?"

There was no small amount of pride on the man's face as he spoke. "The name's Gato, CEO of Gato Shipping. I just saw you fight…really superb."

"Yeah, well I still have a long ways to go."

"Really? And yet you were able to beat the Yondaime Kazekage?"

"What does a CEO want with a traveling martial artist like myself?" Naruto asked, resisting every urge to punch the man to death.

"I'm glad you asked," he said, "How would you like to work for me? It'd give you a roof over your head and steady pay; way better than living on the road."

Something was off, and Naruto knew it. But still, he needed to consider his options carefully. "What would you want me to do?"

"Nothing big; I just want you to be my bodyguard."

"I'll take some time to think about it if you give me my fight money." Naruto said, watching Gato carefully.

It was subtle, but Naruto inwardly roared with the utmost in rage when he saw Gato twitching as though he said the most vile swear words in the world. "It'll be yours as front money if you accept."

He had a feeling this was coming. "Then I'll think about it carefully." Naruto turned to the sand sisters. "Let's go."

Gato watched as Naruto and the Sand Sisters left his ship. If he were angered in any way to the refusal, he didn't show it. He simply smiled maniacally as they left the docks. "I thought he'd do something like that. Now then, to do something about that dumbass bridge-builder."

…

[Elsewhere in Nami no Kuni]

"You do realize that he's never intended to pay you to begin with." Gaara deadpanned, her arms folded over her growing bust as she walked with Naruto her sisters. Their destination was the village at the center of the island.

"If he intended to pay me at all, he wouldn't have sent the tigers when people started winning." replied Naruto. "In fact, I highly doubt he'd even come around to paying me even if I decided to work for him."

"Then why the hell are you even thinking of working for him at all?" asked Kanna, her hands securing the bandaged parcel on her back.

"Because like it or not, we still need the money if we're going to take you girls back home to Konoha." said Naruto, "If Gato never intended to honor our agreement, then we'll just have to do some other jobs until then."

"I doubt we'll get much," Temari supplied, "Last I heard, things aren't going very well in these parts as far as money goes."

"We'll never know unless we…" Naruto was cut off at the sight before him, almost dropping his bōgu bag in shock.

{Play: "Cursed Shinshū Fields" by Mika Matsūra, from "Okami Piano Arrange"}

Many buildings had windows that were boarded up, the grime and damage accumulating with nobody to care for them. Some unfortunate buildings had holes in them, allowing onlookers to look inside with little trouble. There were even quite a few buildings that were burned down. Many people on the streets had despair on their faces as they wandered listlessly like zombies looking for fresh victims. As they walked down the streets, they could see how bad things were as even the stores were empty. And if they weren't, they were obviously forced to charge premium prices for such few products that weren't even good quality anymore.

"Are you lost?" asked a voice from behind. Naruto and company turned to see that it was a woman with dark hair and chocolate-colored eyes. She was easy on the eyes, with a modestly generous bust, and fair skin. Wrapped in her arms, she carried a bag of groceries that gave the impression of a mother trying to feed her family.

"Yeah, we're looking for a place to stay." said Temari, finally working up the nerve to speak.

"Well, I don't think you'll have much luck on that end," admitted the woman, "As you can see, all the buildings are closed up; many of which are condemned."

"We can see that." Kanna added, looking around at the devastation.

"If you want, you can stay at my place," the woman offered, "It doesn't look like you'll find a roof over your heads anytime soon."

Naruto smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Miss…"

"Tsunami." answered the woman. "And you're all welcome."

There was no limit to the amount of gratitude that the Sand Sisters and Naruto felt as they followed Tsunami to her home. As they continued walking through the streets of Nami no Kuni, they could only see more of the devastation as they passed by. The entire town was effectively a slum, with crime running rampant. "So whereabouts did you kids come from?"

"We came down from Sunagakure after the martial arts tournament," began Gaara, looking at Naruto. "After a long time of travel, our companion here decided to stop here to take part in the arena in these parts."

Tsunami looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze. "You took part in Gato's fighting arena?"

"I'm a traveling martial artist," he said, "I went there to win some money to stay on the road."

"Did they boot you out?" Tsunami teased, hoping to have a laugh at the boy's expense.

"No, in fact I was kicking their asses." Naruto admitted, eliciting a double-take and a look of shock from Tsunami. "And while I was beating down the best fighter, some guy named Gato offered me steady pay and a roof over my head if I worked for him."

The look in Tsunami's eyes seemed to take on a more aggressive fire. "Did you accept?"

Deciding that the truth was the best option, Naruto sighed. "I told him I'd think about it if he gave me my fight money. Instead of forking it over, the asshole told me it'd be my front pay if I worked for him. But after seeing what the town was like, I am having second thoughts about working for him."

Tsunami's gaze seemed to soften a bit after hearing that. "Good. Gato is so tight-fisted, he wouldn't even dream of paying you if it saved his life."

"I figured that." added Naruto, "So now, I've got to find some other way to make money before I go back on the road. I can only live on camping gear and foraging in the wilderness for so long."

There was a sympathetic look on Tsunami's face as she heard out Naruto's situation. She seemed to consider it until a thought had crossed her mind. "I may have a job for you…"

…

A/N: It should be pretty obvious who taught Ayaka her moves.

…

Conversion:

1 million ryō = 10 million yen = Approximately $80658.20 USD.

…

Vocabulary:

gō─a typical Sino-Japanese game using black and white stones, played on a 19 x 19 grid of lines. It's an advanced thinking man's game that involves catching pieces by surrounding them.

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Original Jutsu:

None yet…

…

Cameos/References

"Heaven or Hell? Duel 1…Let's Rock!"─Guilty Gear X