To tell you the truth, after this arc gets done, things get a little wonky. I so far managed to plan up to here, and I know where I want the story to end, the events in between are broken up. You might not hear from me for a while after this arc is finished.

Oh yeah. James Ray Edwards. Wrote a story "How to be a Mr. Nice Guy." Essentially, it's the same formula, but it replaces Tetsuya with another guy (I'll leave the reading to you). I'm not saying he's stealing or anything. Let me say that again. I AM NOT WHINING ABOUT THEFT. Because he didn't really steal anything in the first place. Good story I must say, prolly better than this one. It sucks for my brain to keep hunting for parallels, but that's life. I did say this is your typical story, true… but I'm still surprised. Still, his guy can't beat my guy. My Tetsuya has an eyepatch.

And a cloak that billows out all badass in the wind. Yeah…

-

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Naruto fell to one knee, while he felt blood rush upward from his stomach to his mouth.

Damnit! How did this happen? Naruto managed to swear while his head spun in circles. Whether the head was spinning from it being hit so many times or from trying to pinpoint the location of the ninja, he wasn't sure.

Naruto didn't want to die like this. Alone and from some meaningless skirmish with some random shinobi.

Sensei… Haku…

Naruto could only look in an infinite time at his vision falling backwards, arms flying up to the sky that reached out between the trees…

Help…

The sky that was so white…

-

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Luv: A Day in a Life of a Bandit

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-

Months passed by after the whole business at Wave Country. Yes, 'business'. One should expect these sorts of things to happen when you're being underhanded. Still, times passed by as the three wandered wherever the hell they went as they pleased, doing small jobs here and there for money. Such is their life, training and perfecting for really no reason while they went and watched where they took themselves.

Today apparently, took them to stupidity.

The three samurai backed into each other while a variety of blades and other sharp implements, all held by a rather dangerous marauding band of this particular part of the country.

"GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY AND THAT WOMAN!" One of them shouted. Description was not required of him, since they were all so ugly and dirty they looked the same anyways.

"But… we don't have either of those…" Tetsuya said with a raised eyebrow. He was promptly kicked.

"Stupid fucker! Don't play smart with us! Just give us the woman and your swords!"

"Hey! You can't take Haku or my sword!" Naruto objected immediately. Another kick.

"You don't have to worry about me Naruto. I can take care of myself." Haku replied as always in her 'look, my eyes are closed therefore I am calm' mode. She looked unamused though, when one of the robbers grabbed the collar of her shirt and dragged her forward to be face to face.

"Oh? Think you're pretty brave, don't you?"

Meanwhile, various others were harassing Naruto and Tetsuya, groping them for whatever valuables they could feel and struggling to remove their swords, despite the resistance.

"Oi! Let go!"

"Get off!"

"Get your arms off my-"

One of the bandits pulled out of Tetsuya's cloak his Volume 94 (Special, mind you, special alternate cover edition) of Super Shiny Spinny Attack, looked at it disinterest for a few second, before tossing it behind his back, leaving it on the dust floor to be threatened by trampling.

Everything ended at that sacrilege.

"You… MOTHER FUCKER!" Tetsuya roared his mighty roar and burst out of the grip of his captors with a flying kick and proceeded to rain mostly holy judgment on his oppressors. Naruto and Haku took this as the signal to break free as well and fight back. From here on out, again the thugs were proven disadvantaged, even with their enemies deciding they weren't worth cutting apart.

One of the men being torn ragged by the three managed to scrabble away for a second, hysterically thinking to himself aloud, "Who the hell are these guys-"

Just as he was about to finish, a hand grabbed the back of the thief's collar, hoisting the man around so he could see a very un-amused single eyeball.

"I demand my right to file a complaint… AGAINST YOUR SUPERIOR!" Tetsuya roared with a fist cocked back at ready.

-

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-

Naruto heard the wood clack of those bamboo water thingies somewhere in a garden in the background. Well… that was easy

The three of them were resting in front of an old wooden temple that had been long since abandoned in the woods. It was a thrifty and un-flamboyant structure, with none of its wood painted and simple design. The wide-open interior and smooth wood flooring behind the closed front panels used to house the knees of hundreds of worshipers. Now, the abandoned temple served as the headquarters and home for near all the bandits in the area, including those that were trying to rob Naruto and the others.

The sun outside was starting to get a little stifling. All the bandits around regarded the three samurai cautiously. For the samurai themselves, they were more concerned about the sun they were sitting out in the open under. Tetsuya yawned a bit and dropped his single eye slightly, waiting patiently for the panel doors to open. Naruto just glared and felt one of his eyelids twitch in annoyance while he baked underneath. Haku for some reason was asleep. Or her eyes were closed in meditation. You could never be sure with her.

A particular thug, with half of his face purple and bulging, made his way around the walkway ringing the outside of the building and stopped in front of the paneled doors.

"Pwreseting our wreader, Tatzuemon." He managed to blurb out of his malformed lips. Immediately, the panel doors slide away, giving way to an audience with a man, who by comparison looked much better to his minions. He was a simple mossy green shirt and pants made of cotton, and had a pretty well trimmed beard. Nondescript was the word for him. But while cotton clothing and good hair, plus the tinted glasses were something anybody with a decent job could afford, compared to his minions, Tatzuemon looked like a king. Even the way he carried himself placed him on a pedestal above the others. The way he smugly observed the three defying him, the way he leaned on his side on the wood floor, head rested on a raised arm.

"Yo."

The men stood up with accusing fingers.

"You! You bastard!" Naruto stared.

"-ill cultured prick-" Tetsuya's voice came in between.

"-trying to mug us-"

"-kicking a samurai-"

"-forcing your perverted ass on Haku-"

"-MISTREATING MY VALUABLE LITERATURE-"

"-I oughta-"

"-I oughta-"

The two slipped up on their last bit of their shouts, before staring at each other bewildered. Then they bared they're teeth like the competitive males they were.

"You? What gives you the right to assault him?" Tetsuya pointed at his student.

" 'Cause you'd take too long to get anything done! Plus, you're just doing it for you comic!"

"I'm your teacher! And that was a special edition! Do you know how many volume ninety-fours have that cover?"

Jamming their head together, the two samurai growled at each other and glared until one of them would back down. Haku decided to intervene.

"Tatzuemon, as leader of your band, I Haku, demand on behalf of all of us, an apology for your misconduct upon us."

The leader of the band grinned a little at the eloquence. Tetsuya and Naruto gaped a bit.

"She…she cheated…"

"…yeah…"

"Haku, hmmm…?" Tatzuemon rubbed his bearded jaw at the name for a moment, before a moment of Eureka hit him.

"You mean 'Haku of the Ice'?"

"…Excuse me?"

"You must be the three powerful Samurai that have been making waves around the region with your actions! I heard rumors that the Haku had a Bloodline Limit."

"…I…have a nickname?" Haku replied testingly, hoping she was… sounding famous enough.

"Of course, you guys are starting to make a name for yourselves! I'm guess that the blonde kid over there is Uzumaki Naruto, the Exile of the Leaf."

"No! You got it wrong! It's Uzumaki Naruto, the guy who's going to be the most kick-ass samurai that ever lived!" The blonde kid corrected.

Tatzuemon looked finally at the last of them. "That must make you their teacher, the one who authored Gatoh's destruction. Inukage Tetsuya."

"…What? No really awesome nickname like in Super Shiny Spinny Attack?"

"Heh, please. Like you need something as gaudy as that. Your last name alone is special."

"Oh…" Tetsuya shrugged. He was hoping for something though. Like 'Eye-patched Avenger'.

Tatzuemon stood up and addressed his crowd then, who were starting to get confused. "Oi, don't you get it? We're in the presence of powerful warriors here!"

That wasn't helping. Now they're undefeatable boss was openly commending the hoodlums that just beat them up. Fuck The What.

"Well don't just stand there! Make necessary arrangements to greet our guests!" Tatzuemon barked quickly. The bandits all around immediately scrambled around.

-

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"I must truly apologize for my actions, though you cannot blame any of our men. We never did know your appearance, and it is our profession to rob people." Tatzuemon chuckled feebly, while a metal teapot boiled inside the circle of characters. The rest of the bandits, after lavishly spoiling the samurai, had been dismissed, leaving the bandit king with the swordsmen… and woman.

"Eh, don't worry about it." Tetsuya shrugged. Oh my god. There's a SSSA Poster here! Shit!

"Well… just… recognize us next time!" Naruto exitedly replied in an annoyed tone through his Ramen case.

"I will."

"Tatzuemon?" Haku inquired for something at the back of her head.

"Yes?"

"You don't seem to have any notable qualities of a fighter. What brought you to be a leader of a gang of bandits? I know Gatoh didn't know how to fight either, but his group was much larger, so there wasn't as much of a change of being directly attacked…" Haku wondered as she poured a cup of boiling tea. Before the scented water even touched her lips, her hand had already cooled it to a reasonable temperature.

"Nothing really. Before I came, this area was mostly a bunch of feuding men who were trying to figure out how to work it out among themselves. I brought something to them that none of them have, and thus here I am."

"What was that thing?" Naruto asked.

"Organization. I was an honest, working man once. Then I after I was forced into the squalor of poverty, I still kept my financial skills. I merely whipped up the men into order, and since I was the only once who could maintain it, they kept me here in this position."

"Woah… and here I was thinking you had to beat up everybody up to get somewhere high up…" Naruto muttered in awe at the idea.

"Not these days anymore. Politics are in everything. All you need to do is pull strings and set them up to pull others."

"Oi, boss man." The seated column of cloth wrapped Inukage drawled, changing the subject.

"Yes?"

"We can stay here for a night, right?" The column fell on his side and propped up his head with hidden arm, much like Tatzuemon earlier in the day.

"Well…"

"Well?"

"I…er… was hoping you might be able to do something for me… a job, if you wish to call it that… not as a condition for boarding here, I mean! You can stay here if you wish!" Tatzuemon quickly corrected himself, hoping that didn't insinuate anything.

Because, you know, being the only one in the room with three vagrants that want nothing more than a free room for the night, who also have the ability to kill you before you realized you were dead, is a pretty good reason to not piss anybody off.

"Is there money?" Naruto ventured.

"Of course, we can negotiate a price, if you wish."

"But why pay for a job? You have men already." Haku noted. Tatzuemon nodded at the thought but rejected that possibility.

"First. It will be good for my business for people to know that such… illustrious people agreed to work with us. That's just the business bit. Then there's the situation of the job…"

"And what's that?" Tetsuya asked.

"It's a little project of mine… I was always hoping for an opportunity to take revenge against Hanzo, the man who forced me into poverty in the first place. He's a rich merchant that bought out my store, and forced me out. For a while now, I've been having my men taking a extra care to look for Hanzo's properties. He now knows somebody is after him. I picked up information recently that he's passing through this region on a return from a business trip. I'm hoping to settle the score with him… personally, once and for all."

"Kidnapping?" Haku concluded.

"You people are pretty smart!" Tatzuemon chuckled.

"But it's still just a bunch of bandits up against some rich guy and his shitty bodyguards. Why the need for us?" Naruto scrunched up face as he tried to get an answer in from his head.

"Since he knows that somebody is after him, he's probably going to up his security a bit. He'll probably be hiring ninja of some sort. My men possibly can't handle that sort of power. I was almost afraid I'd lose this opportunity. Then fate has it that I would meet you, the very three who are said to be able to fight even the ninja to a standstill. The gods must wish my revenge to be reality."

"Uh, yeah. So you just want us to kidnap somebody. Okay, we'll think about it."

-

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"It's three or four ninja at most. Easy money."

"I'd suppose."

"We haven't taken a job in a while. I'm game."

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"Okay." Tetsuya stormed back into the room five second after they left.

"Excellent! Let us toast to this!"

"…Okay."

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After the horrendously fast agreement, drinking, and negotiating while drunk, plus the sleeping, a new day shown for on the aged temple.

Tetsuya was found among to first to trudge around the open-air walkways ringing the temple. He was tired. Damn tired. His head was all… shit and bleh and argh and it really would help if he stopped spinning in place… bah. He hated his demon. It was a fucking naturalist tree-hugger piece of shit that offered no protection from alcohol, despite its position as one of the Tailed-Demons. He wondered if Houkou being a pussy when it came to alcohol actually made him LESS tolerant than he could possibly be.

He really wanted that thing he drank once a while back. It was a sample of an import of something they made Across The Ocean. It was… Cough-ery? That was some good shit, even if he only drank it once and it tasted like crap and he had to buy a second one after he found out you had to put sugar and milk in it.

Ah, fuck it. He might as well half-consciously trip into that cold pool inside the garden, close enough.

Later, Naruto would come out and shout bloody murder at the site of his teacher trying to drown himself. It didn't help when everybody came out to see the spectacle. Tetsuya wasn't exactly pleased. Whether he would live or not, it still wasn't good for his reputation since it would be humiliating for Inukage Tetsuya, amazing… ninja… samurai… killing guy, to die undignified face first in a garden pool.

Naruto was going to die.

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The sun was rising, and a group of men stood on a dirt road that cleaved its way through the forest. Tetsuya stared down the road for a second before turning back to one of the thugs that guided them here.

Naruto, crouched and leaning on his knees yawned, trying to get his head off the infernal pain that took up the side of his head. Even Haku was stretching her face a little to keep her lids from drooping a little.

"Sooo… why this road again?" Tetsuya mumbled out.

"This is the most direct route for the target to take to get back home. If he wants to get back home as fast as possibly, it will be this road."

"Oh… and we won't be getting any help at all from you guys?"

"We're too spread out."

"That su-AHHH-ckkssss…" Naruto yowled out again tiredly.

"Alright, alright. Might as well get to this. You can go now… Bob the Bandit…"

'Bob', upon that, left.

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Before they began, Tetsuya led them off the road, and into the forest.

"Ah, Sensei! What are we doing? We should be waiting for that Hanzo guy to come by."

"Don't worry about that. We'll be spending enough time sitting around, so I decided to get you guys to practice a new technique."

Naruto and Haku unanimously echoed, "New technique?"

"I don't exactly know the actual name of this move, so I just call it the 'Five-Second Slash', 'cause well… just watch. You draw from the sheath into an attack, so watch."

Their mentor walked over to a fairly large tree and stood in front of it. Moving an arm through his sleeve, he grasped the handle of his sword while it stayed asleep in its wooden home. Spreading himself out, he laid most of his weight on his front leg. Then all of a sudden he dashed past the side of the tree, a flash of light marking the flying blade as the Inukage slid to a stop behind it, sword drawn.

"One…two…three…four…" Tetsuya called out, while fancily twirling his sword by the handle a few times before dropping his blade back into its protective cover on the count of "Five."

The moment the hilt slammed onto the sheath, a large cracking noise erupted from the tree while it began to fell, a diagonal line marking its trunk as the wooden tower fell between the students and their teacher.

"That was impressive, Tetsuya-sensei."

"Woah! How did you do that? That was awesome, Sensei! I mean… the style and everything! It's perfect for me!"

"It's mostly an application of Chakra to slide across the ground with that speed. Enough force and speed should be enough to cut through anything. For some reason though, it seems like it always takes a few seconds for the guy to die after the initial cut. Usually about five seconds, which why I call it that. Usually, you have enough time to make some awesome pose like in Super Shiny Spinny Attack before they die.

"That's awesome! That's the move for me, Sensei!"

"Remember, it's more flash that substance. Good for handling one guy, but five seconds are more then enough for the rest of a crowd to kill you. So don't particularly try it too much… I do remember this story of a particular swordsman who was able to get more than one guy at once. But then again, he was a freak of nature. Could run through entire crowds and mow them down. We're not that good. Anyways, I want you two to be practicing this while we're waiting. You're probably not good enough to cut through something like trees, so no worry about our target seeing trees mysteriously fall when he passes by. I want you to particularly get this right Naruto. You tend to fight with the sheath in your hand, so you can set up for this move faster. Haku, you keep practicing that thingy you mention you might be able to do with your Bloodline. Got it?"

"Yeah!"

"Yes, Tetsuya-sensei."

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Take One:

Three pairs of eyes looked through the shadows of a bush, and saw dust rising up from the path ahead of them. Soon enough, he saw a rather large procession of carriages moving towards their location. Lining either side of the escort was a troop of uniformed cavalrymen with spears.

"Wait for it… wait for it… waiiiiiit… NOW!"

Tetsuya, Naruto, and Haku charged through the brush, and stood in front of the line of carriages. With drawn swords, the three of them shouted as unintelligently as they could.

"FREEZE MOTHERFUCKERS!"

"ARRRRRGGGHH!"

"Halt."

Immediately, the calvary lined up in front of the carriage as a defense. "Protect the Lord Gonzo!" "Protect the Daimyo!"

The captain of the horsemen addressed the three samurai as politely as he could to a bunch of bandit scum, "Fools! Do you know who you challenge!"

"…Is it Hanzo, the rich merchant guy?"

"Fools! This caravan seats Lord Gonzo himself! Daimyo of this region, a thousand times more powerful and wealthy than whoever you pitifully target for your villainous whims!"

"Wait a second… is he encouraging us to get this guy instead-OW!" Naruto concluded allowed before his mentor's two fisted fingers rapped the back of his head painfully.

"Sorry! Wrong guy. We'll be going back into our bush now."

"Fools! You reveal your evil schemes aloud to us! Do you think we will let such conspiring criminals free! We will arrest you! Get them!

Ten Minutes Later:

Lord Gonzo was kneeling his pudgy body on his knees in front of the three Samurai, while nearby the calvary horses were escaping unseated or with unconscious bodyguards.

"Please! I'll give you anything you want! Just leave me alone!"

"We were trying to do that in the first place when your stupid bodyguards attacked us first!" Naruto shouted at the cowering lord.

"…Some lunch could be nice, though." Haku suggested.

Take Two (After Lunch):

Three pairs of eyes stared through the darkness of their bush, awaiting their prey. Soon enough they saw a cloud of dust rise up before them…

"Wait for it… NOW!"

The three of them charged through the bush, yelling and screaming.

"GIVE US HANZO AND DIE!"

"I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Surrender, and we will not harm you."

"Peace be with you."

At the last comment, the three of them gaped. In front of them was a row of clean but simple robes, and shaved heads.

"…Monks…" Tetsuya deadpanned.

"Please, withdraw those terrible weapons of destruction, and tell us, what do you desire of us?"

The three samurai embarrassedly hid their blades. "Umm… you guys wouldn't happen to have some rich guy named Honzo with you?" Naruto attempted.

"No, we do abstain from material desires to promote charity and connection with Buddha."

"Oh… okay. Wrong guy. We won't bother you anymore."

"May you be blessed upon your journey. I hope that you will one day put away those evil instruments of war, and live a life of righteousness again."

The procession of monks moved on, leaving three very confused samurai in the dust.

Take Three:

Naruto was the first to jump out at the sounds of hoof beats and a carriage.

"STOP!"

"Naruto, what the hell-"

"You didn't warn us Naruto-"

Tetsuya and Haku found their third comrade holding up a moving Ramen stand.

"W-what do you want? I don't have any money with me!" The stand manager stammered.

"I don't care about you money! I just want to eat here!"

The other two samurai shared their response mentally and verbally, "…"

"Naruto… what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm hungry!"

"We just had lunch a few hours ago." Haku complained.

"Well, I'm hungry AGAIN!"

"…"

"Er… what will you guys be… having?" The man, seeing no way out, hesitantly began firing up his stove.

"One Pork!"

"One Shrimp."

"One Miso."

Interlude (After the Afternoon Snack):

"Okay. This isn't working. All we're getting is food." Tetsuya groaned as he sat splayed out in the grass behind the bush.

"This is getting stupid. We can't confront every caravan we see." Naruto muttered, crouched and leaning on his knees while picking at the grass.

"We need someway of finding out whether they have Hanzo or not." Haku concluded while she

"We need somebody to pose for us, so unsuspecting travelers will allow us to question them."

"Someone with eloquence."

"Someone with grace."

"Someone easy on the eyes-"

Naruto and Tetsuya both stopped, and immediately turned to look at Haku, who glared back.

"I may be a girl, but I am wearing samurai clothing. Generally people prefer well dressed ladies, and we didn't exactly pack a pink kimono with us."

"Okay." Tetsuya shrugged.

"I see. That will be a problem." Naruto agreed.

Haku began to smile in relief, "Wow, it's not often that you two can agree with me-"

"We'll just have to steal one."

"That's a plan!"

"HEY!"

The Kimono Plot:

Two pairs of eyes stared through the darkness of the brush, and one of them was death-glaring the other two eyes, making them cringe slightly while they observed dust getting kicked up into the air ahead of them.

"On my mark… one… two… THREE!"

The three of them burst through the bush.

"STOP! WE DEMAND TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE WOMEN!"

"WE WANT YOUR GIRLS!"

"Please, don't mind us, ignore them, they're insane."

It seemed like this group of carriages were not defended, as the drivers immediately reeled back in fear at the sight of the three dangerous bandits. Jumping off, the drivers escaped into the woods, leaving the passengers helpless in their carts.

"Wow… that was easy." Tetsuya noted, as he sheathed his sword. Moving to one of the wagons, he threw the tarp off the back of one, revealing a group of mistresses, dressed in colorful kimonos and cowering among their closets of… whatever women carry with them.

"Ah ha! I knew it! Women always hang out where there are shiny things! You there women! I demand you remove your clothing and give them to me!"

Tetsuya unfortunately, worded his sentence incorrectly.

"Ah! Rapists!"

"Perverts!"

"Leave us alone!"

Here, it will be noted the time when women carrying around tons of stuff helps. Like for instance, make up. They then have a wood box they can throw to defend themselves against unruly, armed men demanding them to strip.

"Ah! Wait! I'm not here for your bodies, I just want your clothes-"

Too late, Tetsuya was ejected from the back of the carriage with a variety of flying women's items.

Haku sighed. But she decided since she wanted her mentor to live, she had to do something about the situation. The mistresses stopped at the sight of the female bandit entering their cabin politely.

"Um, excuse me, but you see…"

After… an eternity of women giggling and dressing up and shit later…

"So, what do you think?" Haku asked her friends as she spun around with her unbound hair and green and blue kimono.

But really, Haku was now like…

"…Damn…" Was all Naruto could say.

"Eh…" Tetsuya measure her with a thumb while he lay on his side, "… one out of ten, since you make me think of this artist freak that liked to blow things up from Earth Country. The chick was actually a man, and I had nightmares for days."

Haku's face raised an eyebrow, "I guess that's a thumbs up from both of you."

"Pretty much. Anyways, here's the plan-"

Take Four:

A rich young man spied out of the slot that was his viewing space, and saw a collapsed girl lying prone on the side of the road. In this heat, surely she would die while wearing those heavy robes.

Actually, they were pretty light, but the young man was a pervert and his brain was subconsciously finding excuses for how to remove the women of those 'restricting' clothes.

"Stop!" he cried out. He rushed out to the poor woman's side and rested her on one knee.

(Haku was really damn pissed at being a damsel in distress at this point, but she was a better actress than expected.)

"Are you alright?"

"…W...water…"

"Get some water!"

After nursing the woman to health, she stood shakily, with the help of the young gentleman.

"What is your name, miss?"

"…Haku."

"What a pretty name."

"And what is yours?"

"Goemon…"

"Is there… no one else with you?"

Oh, a fast mover, eh?

"No one but us! You must have traveled a long way, please let me take you the rest of the way."

"No, no… I think I can manage the rest of the way by myself."

"Please! Let me help you, I insist!" Goemon grabbed Haku by both her shoulders and made her look into his sexy eyes. With any luck he may be only seconds away from a score-

Haku kicked him in the nuts. Naruto and Tetsuya also burst out of the brush.

"AGGGH! DON'T TOUCH HAKU YOU BASTARD!"

"Vengeance! RWAAR!"

Take Five:

"So miss, what's your name?" The suspicious man with a fairly large carriage behind him, asked.

"Haku." She managed to reply after drinking her cup of water, "…May I know yours?

"That's not important. Say, you look like you're all alone. Running away from a boring life?"

Oh please. From day one I've been living on the edge. First being an orphan and starving, then risking my life as a samurai, and now acting like some sort of breathless, helpless waif.

"Uh… yes?"

"I see… say, you're a pretty young thing. How 'bout making some easy money? All you have to do…" He started tracing the outline of her thigh through the cloth with a finger.

Haku punched him in the face. Naruto and Tetsuya also burst out of the bush.

"YOU CHEAP PERVERT! I'LL CAVE YOUR BRAIN IN!"

"LOWLY STUDENT OF JIRAIYA! I SHALL SMITE YOUR EXSISTENCE FROM THIS PLANET!"

After Takes Six to Nine:

The day was setting, and Haku laid defeated on the grassy soil behind the bush. Next to her, Tetsuya tried to coax her to action.

Still, the samurai woman managed to murmur out, "I… can't… drink another cup of water…"

"Come on woman! Drink! Damnit! DRINK! We need you!"

"I… refuse…"

"Argh! Insubordination! You're so mean! Even Wretched Artist Xilas (Chapter 492, Volume 157) was never this bad!"

Naruto still continued to sweat and attempt to cleave the tree with his new technique as he watched the spectacle before him.

"Man… this job sucks."

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Next Chapter: Leaf Jounin Kurenai, and her three students take their first C-Class mission ever. Guarding a rich Merchant seems like no sweat! But who is that mysterious girl they find on the road?

A/N: Yeah, I'm slow this time. I've been busy. Plus I've been getting into this Ratchet and Clank, of which I recently got the entire series. Either way, I should be angry at myself for this. I really wanted to do this Arc for a while, but I've been too lazy to do so. Either way, enjoy.