Author's Note: Herlos ladies and gents. Sorry for the delay by I sliced my index finger open by accident on the weekend, so typing is a bit painful. I just finished the this last chapter after hours of hard work, sweat and blood, listening to "Where are we running" by the Lenny Kravitz, ticking away like a maniac. Gods I love that song! Its very good for repeptitive work, (like typing). I had a blast with this, I hope you do too.

Warning!: All those with sensitive literary palates please be aware that I manage to swear like a barn-born sailor for the next little while. I mean absolutely no offense and if you find the need to be so please do it in the privacy of your own thoughts.

Enjoy!

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Once Kate had turned away Naruto let all hell break loose from his feet and flew across the burning wasteland of the cavern with fluid ease. It took him ten seconds to get to where the two hulking men were, bent over something that Naruto could only identify as a chakra charge. Not bad for a hundred meter dash.

He leapt high and pounded each fist into the bases of their necks and swung up between the two intruders. They had already set off the tag-line of explosives and fiery blasts were going off on the roof above. Naruto acted fast.

Pulling up from the swing he planted his feet on the wall and stuck to it with chakra, putting on an extra burst of speed. He dashed right and left to avoid the flying debris from the numerous bombs that were going off when he reached the ceiling and raced to outrun the line of fire.

If he could cut it off, the damage would stop.

Naruto took his speed to the maximum and whizzed by the calamity around him. Zinging rock shrapnel cut his face and limbs and shredded his garments. Well, at least he had another excuse to buy a new pair now, he thought as he reached the end of the shockwave just in time to rip the next tag in line away.

Naruto's momentum carried him for a few meters, sending pebbles streaming to the floor until he slid to a stop and looked down. Kami he was high off the ground!

He breathed deeply and took stock of the situation. The cavern roof was definitely weakened by all of the explosions. He wanted to pound himself flat for being too late to stop the damage. Careless!

It would be dangerous. One crack could mean that the whole thing caved in before Naruto could do anything about it. The entire section of that part of the cavern was webbed with cracks, and the Maison's men were just stunned, not hurt.

Not good.

Naruto took a second look at them. He'd thought there was something familiar about one of them, now he knew what it was. One of the large men was a guy that Arashi had floored near the beginning of the fight, called himself Dez. He was shouting at the other man.

"What'd you do that for Godo?!" Dez growled, rubbing a sore forehead where it had smacked the wall.

"I didn't do nothin'!" Godo snapped back angrily. "Yer the one that's hit me in ther head!"

Oh great, Naruto thought to himself, a bunch of geniuses these two. They couldn't even figure out that they had been attacked let alone that their plan had failed. Was the Maison short on lackeys? Because these two didn't look like they had enough brains between the two of them to fill a teaspoon. Not exactly representative of a powerful thieves guild.

Naruto sighed and let them argue, walking across the ceiling and back to the wall. There was something else that was familiar about those two but he couldn't quite place it. He began to slid down the wall as they continued to threaten one another with bodily harm.

"Youse ther one that did it Dez, you banged me head! Apol'gize afore I knocks yer skull in!"

"I ain't apologizin' till you say yer sorry fer hittin' me in ther firs' place!"

"Thas' done it!" roared Godo, wielding a meaty fist. "I mights be a thief but I'se no lier!" Godo hauled back to punch Dez in the nose, and missed. Dez retaliated with a kick to his partner's behind.

Naruto felt like smacking his own head against the wall when he finally touched down. These were the high chakra signatures that he was worried about?

He was about to write them off as dumb brutes when Godo landed, hard. A great crater formed around his body where it impacted the ground from Dez's kick.

Ok, Naruto thought, so they made up for in physical strength what they lacked in brain power. No big deal, really, all he had to do was avoid the fists of death and he'd be perfectly fine, great. Sakura would fit right in.

He felt a mad giggle fight to escape his lips.

Oh God, Sakura! He hadn't thought about her in ages. He could just imagine her challenging the two brutes to a punching contest, winning, and then doing some sort of weird victory dance that only girls seemed to be able to pull off without looking completely insane.

Naruto couldn't help it, he doubled over, trying his best not to fall and snigger uncontrollably .

Godo groaned up from his prone position.

"S'not funny Dez, stop laughin'."

"I'm not laughin' Godo, there's this kid standin' right next ter ya see." Dez said, finally noticing Naruto's presence. "An' he's kinda funny lookin'."

Hey! That's not fair, Naruto's inner self said. They're at least ten times as weird as fuzzy-brows, and I'm definitely cooler than him!

"You should take a good look at yourselves before you call anyone else strange." Naruto said before he thought about the words, and who he was speaking to, and just how absolutely bad they would take it. Simply put, in the good old fashioned Naruto way he leapt before he looked, right into the fire, forget the frying pan.

Well at least he knew that he could be himself again.

"Did'ja hear that Godo?" Dez sneered.

"I heard Dez."

"He seems ter be implyin' that we're the funny ones eh?"

"I'd say thas about right." Godo said as he rose from the ground and brushed the dirt from his soiled - and downright oderous - clothes.

"I say we teaches him whos the funny one eh? He'll look right odd with 'is spine shoved up 'is skull." Dez chuckled evilly and Godo along with him. They both advanced on a now slightly nervous Naruto.

Very thug-like of them to forget that they had been fighting with each other only moments ago, Naruto thought. How stupid could the situation get? Because there seemed to be plenty of it flying around right now. Naruto's previous laughter had vanished leaving him thwacking his imaginary head against a mental wall. He knew that these types would go for any target if they were given one. Naruto may as well have painted a big red bulls-eye on his chest, lain down on the ground and be done with it.

Why did his normal mind have to be so hasty? Arashi worked so much better, noticed things more clearly and thought things through. That wasn't him though, it would never be him. Arashi was just a made up person, a fiction; depending on him would be like…Like asking the Kyuubi to lend Naruto power again. So Naruto made a deal with himself at that very moment as he backed up to assess his options: when he was himself he would be only himself and no other, not the Kyuubi, not Arashi, and certainly not Konoha's Jinchuuriki, if he ever found out what happened to the place that is.

Suddenly Dez swung a fist that connected with the ground in front of Naruto, shattering it as he barely managed to dodge.

Ah! Soul searching later, fighting now! Idiots approaching!

Naruto took stock of his enemy. Godo was smaller than Dez so that meant he would move faster. Dez lumbered awkwardly on his right foot. A limp? Godo took out dirt crusted knife that had most likely never seen a proper cleaning since its forging. The monster flicked it slowly from hand to hand like a barroom tough, attempting to intimidate. Naruto smirked. If there was one thing he knew now, it was that these two hadn't the faintest idea what a real fight was like. Just the way that Godo handled that flimsy little tooth-pick was proof of that.

Okay, now he had something he could work with.

"I'd stay where you are if I were you." Naruto said in a sing-song voice.

"An' why's that?" Dez growled.

"That's why," Naruto pointed up. Their eyes followed.

Oh jeez! Naruto couldn't believe it as he went to ram both men in the stomach. Oldest trick in the book and they - SLAM!

Ow…

Ow.

"OW!" Naruto spat out blood as he held in his guts. They didn't fall for the ruse, or at least Dez didn't as Naruto's vision swam and he blearily surveyed the impression of malicious joy on the giant's face.

"Note to self, Dez's not as dumb as he looks," ran across Naruto's mind as he fought to stay conscious. It was a mark of his training that he didn't pass out right from the pain. He knew from personal experience as he shifted slightly that at least two of his ribs were cracked. He could almost hear Mori's disapproving drawl.

Two minutes into a fight and you get cocky boy, well done! Now what are you going to do?

Naruto knew what he was going to do as Dez drew back to punch him again. He was going to run - fast.

Naruto sprang off the ground to the side, avoiding the slam, into what was quickly becoming a graveyard instead of a cave. The brawlers pounded after him, making up for in stride what they did not have in speed. Naruto's teeth clacked together with jarring agony as his bones ground together inside his chest. Fan-fucking-tastic fun, he'd need to bind it somehow.

Feet striking the ground with slicing precision Naruto veered off to the left in what was almost a ninety degree angle. He peered at the wreckage around him as he ran… looking for something that could function as a serviceable wrap - there! A coil of cindered rope stuck from under a pile of stones ahead. Naruto scooped an arm under the prickly loops and swiped it away from the rubble as he ran, pulling up dirt and dust as well.

After spending his first weeks under Mori's attention as the bastard's personal piñata Naruto had invented a wonderful little list called 101 more things you can do with rope. (He'd already gone through a thousand ways to use it to kill his tormenter with it by that time.) One of those things was a useful little trick that bound up cracked ribs by wrapping it around said cracked area in a series of twisted knot-like helixes. It hurt like hell but it worked, as he'd found out the first time he'd used it to hold himself together after falling by accident one day from the ledge. That had hurt.

Naruto slung the rope around his shoulders as he ran; not the easiest thing to do but he didn't really have a choice, or, rather that he could choose between stopping and getting pummeled, or keep running and stay relatively out of harms way. A little no-brainer that one. He wished he could go faster to outdistance the blundering wonder brothers but there was the little problem of him being in no condition to go any faster than he already was.

His healing rate had slowed down considerably over the years, there was no depending on that anymore. He had himself, and that was it. Naruto let a small smile slip onto his lips.

Yeah, he was learning all about that, being self reliant. He kind of liked it. It wasn't the same as being alone, not really. Learning to like who you were was a hard thing to do, but at least he was trying - trying to forget that there was a monster inside of him wasn't easy. It was easy to hate it, hate himself for carrying it, but then again…It was always easier to hate something than to stand up and face it for what it was.

Now wasn't that what he was trying to do in the first place?

Naruto steered himself towards the center of the cavern where the structure was the strongest at the moment; it would have to be for what he was going to do. He whipped the rope over each shoulder twice, wrapped the opposite ends in a figure-eight around his torso, and then looped the two sides together and pulled tight. He winced. Damn that hurt! It was effective though, as he felt the grinding lessen to a dull throb.

No longer feeling so much like a badly constructed toy soldier Naruto graced the ground with a last thrust from his legs and vaulted into the air. It was fun to fly again.

Dez and Godo careened to a stop under Naruto's still rising form and glared up murderously. Naruto smiled at them cheekily.

"Can't get me up here can you, ya ugly buggers!" he taunted; not the smartest thing to say in his current situation but… What the hell, it was who he was, may as well enjoy it, bruises and all.

That was when the Raccoglitori on his wrists decided to act as proper representatives of gravity. Gravity politely said hello, I'm sorry, but I don't like being defied. Would you come down please? Naruto began to fall faster than he had risen.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit!

This was bad; this was not good; Godo had his knife out again; he was tossing it again, and again; wait; Godo? Godo and that stupid pig-sticker of his! Naruto's grin spread wildly over his face.

"Lesson one!" he shouted down as he fell rapidly, rapidly, rapidly drawing his sword.

"NEVER LET GO OF YOUR WEAPON!"

Strangely enough, Naruto thanked Mori internally for beating the crap out of him whenever he forgot his own. He would never let go now, not even if his hand was mangled.

Godo's blade was in mid toss when Naruto landed heavily on his arm, shearing through it, and flung the knife off into space with a precise catch and throw off his own cutting edge.

The giant howled and clutched the severed appendage while great gouts of his lifeblood spurted out.

"Lesson two!" Naruto said as he whirled around. "Guard your body!" He swung a leg out and kicked Dez in the right ankle - hard.

"He's killed me Dez!" Godo shouted wretchedly, "He's killed me dead!"

Naruto watched with grim satisfaction as the injured giant wailed about.

Then something strange happened.

"Aw, quit yer blubberin' you soddin' idgit!" Dez bellowed, clutching his leg. "Here's yer damn arm!"

Dez picked up the bloody thing, limped over, and slapped it back on - and it stayed.

"Thanks Dez…" Godo sniffed and flexed the limb without difficulty. Naruto's jaw dropped.

No, freaking, way.

No way in hell!

That just wasn't possible!

"Where the fuck did that come from?!" Naruto yelled. "That's just - that's just sick! You don't just stick an arm back on after its come off. It isn't right!"

"Neither's choppin' it off in ther firs' place." Dez snarled.

Naruto was shocked for a moment and then it clicked; oh, right, Dez not dumb, remember that. It was surprising that the man had the capacity for normal human reasoning, at least to Naruto it was, then again is was also surprising that the same person had so much chakra too.

Hold it.

That had to be the explanation for the arm, otherwise there was absolutely no way Naruto could logically accept what he had just seen; and he'd seen some pretty weird shit before. This didn't take the cake but it was pretty damn close.

Chakra had to be the answer.

Chakra, the perversion of the spirit. If controlled it was a valuable asset, if mastered it became a weapon.

These two…they'd been trained.

"Who taught you?" Naruto demanded.

"What're you on about?" came the reply. "We're not learnin' anything useful from yer 'lessons' boy, 'cept that yer a bloody coward!" Dez's mouth fired out the insult.

Naruto tapped his foot impatiently.

"I mean," he said, eyebrow twitching, "that you're controlling your chakra. No one can do that unless they learn it somewhere, so who taught you?"

"I don't know what ya mean kid but I'm not in any kind o'mood ter be arguin' with the likes o'you anymore. Yer meant ter be pounded an' thas'it!" Dez took something out of his pocket, a round pellet that Naruto recognized as a soldier pill, only by the looks of it the pill was at least twice as large as it should normally be. He popped the thing in his mouth before Naruto could stop him. Godo did the same.

"Wait!" Naruto put forth a hand to try and halt the action, but the chance was gone. He stared in horror as the effects of the pills took place.

Ordinarily, soldier pills were a means of giving the human body an extra boost of strength and stamina, only to be used in the direst of situations. If someone took too many at once their body would begin to break down from an overload of neurotransmitter impulses because it was using energy that it didn't really have. Chouji had been evidence enough of that, years ago, during a mission to retrieve Sasuke that had failed horribly. Too many pills too fast had severely damaged the boy's body. Luckily, if there were any person that could bounce back from such a blow it was Chouji. He might be a little lazy, and certainly overweight, but he was hellishly loyal. Chouji was one good guy to have in a pinch, as Naruto knew.

But these guys weren't Chouji. They were mean, massive, and quite swiftly getting larger at an alarming rate. They swelled, and swelled until each was at least as big as a house or more. When they finally stopped growing they peered at their new mass with greedy expressions. Godo in particular moved the arm that had been cut off and lightly thumped it into the ground. There was a loud crashing sound and then, when the hand was pulled away, Naruto saw that there was a gaping hole where the floor should have been.

Oh, well, great. Another freakishly strong clown was born. Naruto had had more than his far share of run ins with people who had no right to be more powerful than they actually were. The universe sucked, Naruto decided, because things like this happened.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to call this off for now?" he called up to the gradually blinking goliaths. They scowled down at him, seeming slower than before. Dez raised a gargantuan foot and made to step on the blond shinobi who dodged away from it. Alright, Naruto took that as a no.

To work then.

"Hey boneheads," he baited, "betcha can't catch me!"

Naruto leapt away running for what felt like the millionth time. He would need to come up with a plan quickly as the roof began to cave in. Dez and Godo charged after him with their overlarge and cumbersome new bodies. The force of their foot falls weakened the already precarious nature of the cavern. Fortunately gravity also had rules about unfairly sized beings.

The rule was this: the bigger the person, the slower they move; so Naruto who had trained almost exclusively in the art of endurance and speed had the upper hand.

Too bad the ceiling didn't know that. A jagged crack opened up above and showered boulders with crushing force. Naruto increased his velocity. As the world exploded overhead he raced against his own mistakes and the ones he couldn't make anymore.

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