Chapter Twenty-five: Inheritors part 2


One week had passed since Shino had met Fuu. In that one week, he saw Fuu every three days and the strange girl seemed to have gravitated towards him whenever they were at the official border crossing. Due to Takigakure's secrecy, many of its economic policies revolved around exchanges in their border and since then, the frequency of her visits became a regular thing. Many of Shino's peers seemed to grin at this and teased their junior about this occurrence for no less than five minutes as Shino replied in a matter of fact tone without ever stuttering or even bashful of his intentions with the girl.

"Man, you're hard to play mind games with, you know that, kouhai?" One of the chuunin commented and Shino shrugged at this.

"Perhaps my way of speaking tends to make jokes on my expense fall flat."

"There you go again, always so formal and droll. I don't understand why a cute girl like Fuu-san seemed way too okay hanging out with you." The chuunin further commented. Shino raised an eyebrow at this and the senior chuunin grinned.

"Wondering about that? No worries, kouhai, we don't have a diagram on how to understand the fairer sex and they don't understand how we think too. We don't exactly have blueprints in that shit. Best we could do is go with the flow."

Shino nodded at this, "I understand. But your implication of romantic undertones with her seem quite… Inappropriate for what Fuu-san thinks of me."

"You sure about that?" his senior grinned again as he patted his junior at the shoulder.

"I'm positive."

The chuunin shrugged at this, "If you really think that way, then let me give you some advice. Time spent together is time meant for meaningful bonds. In our line of work, every connection we share is important. We don't exactly have the best record of longevity for our careers. It's not wasteful as others might think. After all, our finite lives are meant to be lived, you know? Maybe you don't feel that way, but why spend time pondering when you can just throw caution to the wind? Well, that's for less serious stuff, anyway, kouhai. I'm sure you understand though, right?"

Shino gave a nod as a reply.

"SHINO!"

The conversation of the two Konoha shinobi was cut short when Fuu had arrived and was waving at him to get his attention.

"Don't look now, but your girlfriend is at your six. I'll be talking with one of the merchants, make sure you get yours, alright?"

Shino raised another eyebrow as his senior gave him a wink and a devilish smile as he slipped away from the Aburame to give the boy some alone time.

Was the man implying something?

Shino didn't seem to understand that.

"Moh, don't just stand there, Shino, wave back!" Fuu said with a pout. Shino adjusted his glasses and discarded whatever his senior had implied.

Shino merely gave a small wave as Fuu grinned and rushed over to him.

"So get this…"

Fuu began as Shino listened intently. Fuu was a flighty person, no pun intended, Shino had known for the time she had interacted with him. She was chatterbox full of stories that she found interesting and was as lively as one of his friends. Her boundless enthusiasm didn't seem forced, it seemed genuine for her. Her spirit certainly seemed to liven up everywhere she went. And for her to focus on him felt nice. A genuine appreciation for his presence felt honestly good for himself. Many of his friends back at home criticized him for his seemingly lack of presence whenever they gather but it was all in good nature, but sometimes he couldn't help but feel that a wall was built in between him and his friends. Although Shino certainly wanted to have better interactions with his companions back home, his aloof nature sometimes deterred many of his peers. Kiba had tried to encourage him to be more social, but Kiba's idea of social interaction and his idea of connecting were completely different.

As Fuu continued on, Shino had noticed many of her stories did not involve a whole lot of people, but rather places she saw and the animals she discovered outside her home. It was expected for Fuu to keep silent on anything about her village, but to not even talk about the people around her daily?

Wordlessly, Shino slowly came to a conclusion that he would rather not think about.

'Is she like Naruto? A jinchuriki? Perhaps it is why she's being targeted by Akatsuki.'

All at once, Shino felt like he had to be on alert at all times when talking with Fuu. Akatsuki was a dangerous group. It provoked a red alert status within his village, managed to slip by inside and almost captured Naruto for their mysterious goals.

From what he could gather, Fuu seemed aware of Akatsuki. That interaction with Shibuki, who he had realized to be the current leader of Taki, seemed to confirmed his suspicions on the matter.

If so, what was Fuu doing outside the safety of her village? Should she not be inside the village, safe and away from the hands of such a dangerous group?

Away from the two ninja, a taki nin had been observing their interaction, the man remained in a frown as one of the shinobi in their group mentioned, "Fuu-san seems livelier than usual, doesn't she?"

The senior of the group had nodded. Back at home, Fuu was an anxious and sullen girl. She didn't even interact much with her age group seeing as they were afraid of her.

"Shibuki-sama was right. Inside the village, she is a jinchuriiki, a vessel in charge of the Nanabi. But here, in this border, she's not but a little girl, hungry for friends."

Ever since the sealing ritual on her, people had avoided her like the plague. The previous leader had designated her as Taki's secret weapon aside from the Hero Water. It had put her on a status as a weapon too dangerous for anyone to use. Many of the elders saw her as a tool and unfeelingly told their children to avoid interacting with her as her ward can snap in a moment's notice. In their fear, people had avoided her like a plague.

"I do not appreciate this kind of sentimentality concerning the vessel. She is an asset to our forces. Treating her as something else is a negligent action especially with what she will have to deal with." One of the shinobi said, shaking his head in disdain of having the vessel interact with another human, a shinobi from foreign lands no less.

The eldest of the group scowled at that, "That may be true. But I have a daughter in the same age as her. If my daughter was the one who has to deal with that isolation, then I don't know what I would do if you said those words in front of me."

The other scowled back, "Happiness is a luxury in our work. Sentiments like that will kill us. This is ridiculous, Shibuki-dono needs to understand that we can't give her preferential treatment like this, we cannot afford it. Akatsuki is not a group one wishes to trifle with."

Blasted, inconsiderate fool. They all knew that, but a moment of humanity was what Fuu needed, not the everyday life of being labeled as a last resort of total destruction. Her fate was sealed the moment they sealed the Nanabi inside her. She was meant to live a cold and uncaring life, away from the eyes of the people and treated coldly by others until she died with no one else but her on her death bed.

The elder clicked his tongue at this.

An hour.

He was going to give Fuu an hour to talk to her friend like this before they had back to Taki.

Shino meanwhile, continued to listen to Fuu who continued to speak away in her own pace.

"Fuu."

Fuu immediately stopped when Shino had called her name, "Yes, Shino?"

She looked eager about what he had to say, "Do you not have any friends at your home?"

Fuu paused for a moment and Shino caught wind of her surprised expression before she grinned, "Of course, I have friends, Shino! I have Shibuki-sama and… and…"

Shino looked at her as she struggled to come up with names of friends she usually associated with. Shino then sat down and gestured for Fuu to sit beside him, patiently waiting for Fuu to speak. A minute later, Fuu was a bit sullen as Shino then spoke.

"The fact that you struggle to come up with a name other than Shibuki-sama is telling."

Fuu, for the first time since she arrived, was silent upon hearing Shino's words. She felt like running away after Shino had caught her lying again. But Shino didn't seem to mind her with that lie. He even told her to sit beside him. She looked down and grabbed her legs as she leaned down and buried her face to her knees.

"I noticed that your stories always seemed to revolve around places and animals you see outside but you never mention people inside your village. You never tell anything about having fun with others. I can tell. So don't come up with anymore lies when speaking to me, I can understand what it's like to be in your position. But I have a friend who struggled with the same thing."

Shino spoke, as nice as he could. Even if his words were soft spoken and still somewhat abrasive.

"Fuu-san, tell me, why do you need to tell me a white lie? Why the need to lie?"

There was a quiet pause for a moment as Fuu spoke, "Because you might think I'm weird."

Shino raised an eyebrow at this, Fuu was already weird. But it didn't mean that her weirdness was off putting. Shino understood social cues, better than what Kiba would give him credit for. Shino knew that Fuu's current predicament was more to blame than her personality.

"I would need to be straight to you, Fuu-san, from a normal person's standpoint, you are already a weird person. But that weirdness does not warrant isolation. Also, friends do not judge others for their eccentricities. Rather, they accept each other. No matter how many quirks one has."

Fuu seemed to smile a little from that. "But can you say that if you knew the truth?"

Shino wordlessly looked at Fuu whose face was still hidden by her legs.

'I have my suspicions, but I will keep silent about it, until Fuu-san is ready to talk.'

"Fuu! We're heading back!"

Fuu stood up wordlessly on her own as she looked down, Shino noted her look of sadness and disappointment for a second as it was replaced with a smile that Shino had come to appreciate as something else. For a moment, Shino saw a twelve-year old blonde haired boy who gave a wide face splitting grin before Fuu came running back to her group.

"See you, Shino."

"Fuu-san…"

Shino could not finish his sentence. Fuu was gone in a matter of seconds.


Konoha:

After a grueling week of a failed mission, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sai finally arrived at Konoha. Kakashi had to recuperate upon using the Mangekyo Sharingan. The two grass ninja with them had notified their village of an evacuation order of a nearby village and they had to help. Immediately, the town was forced to give up their land and their livelihood to live far away from the site of Kannabi bridge as possible. It was in their stay to recuperate that Sasuke started having nightmares. That statue that he saw had left a mark in his mind. Sakura had grown worried, seeing Sasuke waking up in a cold sweat night after night was like seeing a child having another traumatic experience for the first time.

It did not leave Sasuke in a blubbering mess, seeing as Sakura was there to help him get his sleep. His mental health did not need to suffer any longer.

The aftermath of the mission severely bogged down their return home. And once they were home, Kakashi had graced them with an immediate dismissal. Sasuke was about to ask about their teacher's access to the Sharingan's evolved state but that would be put in the back burner for now. By the time Sai had wordlessly left the group, Sasuke finally spoke.

"Sakura…" Sasuke was the first to say before Sakura was out of earshot. Sakura stopped her tread on the way home and looked back at her teammate who was looking to his right with a faraway look on his face.

"I need your help." Sasuke continued.

Sakura's eyes widened at Sasuke's words. It was the first time the Uchiha had outright asked for anyone's help out of his lips. Internally, Sakura wanted to swoon but she knew that it wouldn't help her case now. Especially not when Sasuke was asking for her help.

"What is it, Sasuke-kun? Is this about those Nightmares?"

Sasuke nodded as he recalled his dreams in vivid detail. He did not want to wake up to an empty house whose silence may not help his sanity.

Sakura frowned at this, "How can I help?"

Sasuke thought about his decision to ask help from her, he desperately wanted help for now, but his idea was somewhat inappropriate and it may give Sakura the wrong idea. Nevertheless, he was getting desperate. The nightmares were haunting and it was pushing his fears back into the fold. Sakura had been helping him throughout the nights as they headed home. And with no one else to turn to, Sasuke opted for Sakura's help.

"Just stay with me for a while. I'll have a room prepared at my house. If you want to, I'll even ask permission from your parents. I… I need this."

"Sasuke-kun…"

Sakura wanted to think that this was her chance, her opportunity to win Sasuke over to her. But the look on Sasuke's face told her that it wasn't what he needed right now.

"Alright, it might be a little awkward with my parents, but I'll do what I can to help you."

Sasuke nodded at this, "Thanks."

Now came the question of how she was going to convince her parents to let her stay at a boy's house. Alone.

That was going to be extremely awkward.

A few hours later, a lengthy discussion, embarrassment and threats coming from Sakura's father, the girl in question had some of her things in her bags as Sasuke helped her carry her luggage back to the Uchiha clan compound.

Haruno Mebuki, Sakura's mother watched her daughter who was looking serious discussing things with her teammate, a sullen and quiet boy that they knew to be Uchiha Sasuke, the last of Konoha's prestigious Uchiha Clan. She had heard much about the boy's temperament and his prodigal ability only fourteen and already reaching to the height of ANBU status. The boy certainly had the drive and that drive certainly helped her daughter to blossom into the kunoichi she is today. Their other teammate also had been making waves earlier and being apprenticed by one of the Sannin seemed like a pedigree many parents would kill for.

"Fourteen and already moving out of her parents! This is unthinkable! Why did we let her anyway?" Her thoughts were interrupted by an irate Kizashi, her husband who was looking at the young pair while grinding his teeth. He had subtly let his threat across the Uchiha a little earlier and the young man seemed to have just agreed to his threats, seeming like he just wanted to get over this conversation and run away.

"Because her teammate asked for her help, did he not?" Mebuki answered while Kizashi began grinding his teeth in rage.

"But going to his house unaccompanied with no adult supervision? That's like when some boy asks her 'Hey, my parents are gone, want to go hang out in my place and chill?'" Kizashi even went so far as mimicking his voice to that of a baritone and tried so hard to make it sound sexy. The man then continued with bloodshot eyes.

"I DON'T CARE IF HE'S THE LAST UCHIHA BUT IF HE SO MUCH AS TOUCHES A HAIR ON HER HEAD, KONOHA WILL BE EXISTING WITHOUT HIS CLAN IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE!"

Kizashi then pointed to Sasuke as the two were walking away, "Ya hear that you damn punk? No touching my daughter, ever! She only does so when my bones are turned to ash! You hear me!?"

Sakura was blushing up a storm when Kizashi shouted those threats as Mebuki had mysteriously obtain a frying pan out of nowhere and smacked the ever living daylights out of her husband.

"YOU'RE EMBARASSING YOUR DAUGHTER, GET INSIDE THE HOUSE! I SWEAR EVERY SINGLE TIME A BOY MANAGES TO LOOK AT YOUR DAUGHTER YOU SCARE THEM ALL TO DEATH! FOR THE LOVE OF- YOU'RE CRYING NOW!?"

Sakura was ducking her head out of pure shame as she and Sasuke made their way to the Uchiha compound.

"You have good parents."

Sasuke commented as Sakura looked at him in wonder. Sasuke then recalled his own parents, wishing still they were alive and well. Sakura then seemed to recall the outburst Sasuke had when they first teamed up and when Sakura was talking about Naruto's lack of parenting.

Sakura flinched a little, recalling that moment when she said how lucky Naruto was without his parents. Yet in the perspective of her teammates, they found Sakura to have the best childhood out of the three of them.

"I remember the time when we first assembled as a team. I remember telling you how lucky Naruto was having without parents. I remember that time when you got angry. I was insensitive to that perspective between you two." Sakura mentioned and looked down, but not out of embarrassment this time, but a kind of shame filled with remorse.

She then continued, "I understand now what you meant, Sasuke-kun. I understand now why you got so angry. I'm sorry. No one deserves a life like that. Where you don't have the love and support of your parents, going home alone, no one to greet you, in an empty house where no one welcomes you back. That's… That's so sad…"

Sasuke remained silent for a second as he looked up, the image of his destroyed family appeared in his mind.

"More than anything else, my family may not have been perfect, I struggled to come out of my brother's shadow, I wanted my father's approval and only had my mother who I used to ignore her lessons because I idolized my brother. Beyond that, even when we were not in better terms compared to others…" Sasuke then finally said his words, "I love them."

"There isn't a day that I get back to the graves of my clansmen, but especially my parents, there isn't a day that I don't mourn for them. Every single day is a reminder of how much I lost. How much I took my mother's love for granted, how I wanted nothing more than to bring that back."

He recalled himself going every morning as a boy crying on his parent's graves and going to school feeling devoid of any emotion that he felt. Every day was like walking past a burned down building. Every day he could recall Itachi cutting down his parents.

"But I know I can't bring them back, killing my brother won't bring back my parents. Kakashi said as much. But I…" Sasuke wanted to say it, Kakashi had taught him to focus and channel his anger to a single point. To a point where his obsession didn't cloud his judgement, a single minded focus that would be as sharp as a spear, Kakashi had drilled in his head the needed focus to achieve that and it certainly helped with his ANBU training.

"I get it. You want some form of closure. You want to bring Itachi's actions to justice. I understand, Sasuke-kun."

Sakura then continued, "Your single minded focus is to be admired, I can't help but feel a little amazed of how much you intend to carry out what you want to do. It's like having a driven purpose for that one thing."

Her smile disappeared as she continued, "That said though, the way that got you here is something I don't wish on anyone."

Sasuke nodded at this, "I know. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but what happened can't be changed. Not anymore. Kakashi understood why I have to kill Itachi. It took Naruto almost dying on us to understand that we can't cling to our past so religiously or be dragged down to a level that my brother would want me at."

Sasuke spat on those words at the end. No matter how hard he tried, Itachi's actions were unforgivable to him.

When they had finally arrived at his home, Sakura had noticed since she came here, that this part of the village always seemed empty.

She looked back at Sasuke who was already inside. A thought crossed her mind for a moment.

'Every single day for a better part of this decade, Sasuke-kun came back here in this desolate part of the village with no one to greet him, no one to say hello. Even Naruto didn't go here. He never stated why… Maybe he just wanted to give Sasuke-kun some peace and quiet, or he didn't know how he could approach Sasuke-kun here in this empty compound. Nothing is here, only houses with no people inside, only a reminder of what he had to go through.'

And now, Sakura finally understood Sasuke's sad and lonely existence in a sea of sorrow.

'He needs help, just as much as anyone else.'


Eastern Sea, Nadeshiko harbor:

Naruto sat on the deck as cargo was being placed inside the ship. To the naked eye, Naruto looked like he was simply meditating and relaxing on his own but to those who understood, Naruto was practicing his ability to sit still and remain motionless despite the surging waves of the sea rocking their ship.

A simple docking and replenishing supplies had turned into a setback when a storm warning came and the crew was forced to remain docked on this village. He had no idea just how long they were going to be stuck here but as the days grow in number so does the possibility of his sensei getting discovered and be caught in whatever problems he had set for himself and possibly dragging him along with that.

Whatever it is, Naruto wasn't willing to find out. He had to focus on getting stronger and stopping Akatsuki, that was his number one priority anything else would be a hindrance at this point.

"My, my, you don't seem to enjoy the view that you're getting near this village." A female voice commented to Naruto's form who was diligently remaining unmoving from his spot.

Naruto, who had his eye closed, merely replied without turning to the voice, "Sorry about that, I'm just training to stand still. My sensei told me this is an important part to what I'm about to learn."

"A shame. With your face and your chakra, you would be an asset for our village."

Naruto had to apologize again, "Sorry, my loyalties lie with my village. I can't just go and swear allegiance to another village like that. Though, I guess I should thank you for the compliment?"

He didn't know how to respond when someone complimented on his looks.

"And such moral standing. I would daresay you are quite the catch!"

Naruto had to stop his training at that moment, he had already failed when he first spoke, but it was rude to ignore someone when they spoke first.

He opened his eyes and turned to the girl who was speaking to him and found her to be one of the most beautiful women he had ever met.

Long flowing black hair framing her head, heart shaped face and gorgeous emerald green eyes, striking her gentle features and luscious lips. Her attire consisted of a furisode, a garment usually worn on special occasions back in Konoha, patterned with flowers Naruto couldn't recognize in colors of white and blue. Her obi tied to her back colored in pink and socks covered by her geta slippers, she looked like what he would describe as a cultured and high status girl, much like how Hinata is.

"I honestly don't know what to say to that." Naruto replied with a nervous chuckle as he stood up and gestured for a handshake.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I'm here because my master and I are on a trip to Uzushiogakure. Or what's left it, anyway." He said with a grin.

Kasumi looked intrigued at this, her mother had told her of an extinct clan that were near their waters, they were said to be as powerful as many of the ancient clans that were on the mainland. "Uzumaki? Oh, so you're an Uzumaki? I could not tell because of your hair. One of their distinct features has to be the red hair. I'm Shizuka, by the way, student to the former leader of my village"

Naruto had to wonder why he gets to meet people in practically royalty so casually in his life.

"I see. So what are you doing here, Shizuka? I doubt that a student of a village leader would be asked to do menial labor such as watching cargo in and out of this ship." Naruto asked and the girl daintily put her covered hands over her lips and let out a small laugh.

"Oh, that is precisely why I'm here. I have the duty to watch over when men do trade in our gates. As much as men try to ogle at us, we try to gauge the men who are in our presence to see if they are good husband material."

Shizuka then brought the hand that covered her lips to her left cheek and looked as if she was worrying, "You see, in our village, we are mostly women. Our fathers are determined when a kunoichi from our village challenges their prospects and when we are defeated, we seduce the men and pull them into our village to become our husbands. It has been that way for most of our lives."

Naruto began sweating bullets. If that was the case, then…

"So you gauge them by their strength and then drag them back here for marriage? I can't say that I find that a bit strange, to be honest. I mean no disrespect, though."

Naruto was careful not to thread into waters he didn't want to step on. Besides, what would Hinata's reaction be if he was suddenly challenged by this attractive girl?

"Yes, for the rest of the world, our traditions are strange, but for some of us…" Shizuka's face slightly reddened at the thought of a strong man who would sweep her of her feet.

"The thought of a strong and powerful man dominating me and beating me in combat as a sign of good upbringing is such a romantic gesture!"

Well, shit, he walked right into that one.

'You got easily played, brat.'

'Nobody asked you, Kurama!'

"O-Okay. Though I don't get why you would take your time to talking to a no name shinobi like me aside from my surname. Most of the Uzumaki's jutsu had been forgotten since they were destroyed by the invasion."

Naruto was pushing thoughts of a challenge away from himself as soon as he could. He didn't want to mess with fate and be fate's bitch if he could help it.

"I know, a shame it happened. But a shinobi of your caliber, young as you may be, deserve that chance as well."

'Shit, shit, shit, shit'

Jiraiya's voice entered his head, 'What's the matter, you pussy? Don't want to have a harem?'

Naruto inwardly cursed his sensei's tendencies and wished he could have a different form of help somehow.

"Oh, don't worry, even if you were eligible for that challenge, I still have a two years left before I can issue that to you, Naruto-san."

A chill just went up his spine.

"SO YOU'RE HERE AFTER ALL, JIRAIYA-SAMA!"

Well, crap.

Jiraiya shrieked and ran out of the cargo bay as he went for the deck at front. The old man then stopped before Naruto as he then instructed the blonde, "We need to go, now!"

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily!"

A massive slab of stone erupted from the seas as Jiraiya was startled long enough for a female figure to jump on the top of said stone and looked down on the three.

"Jiraiya-sama, it is time to pay the debt that you owe!"

"Oh come on! It's been years!" Jiraiya bargained. Hoping that whatever it is he promised years ago would not come out of this woman's mouth.

"Truly! And you have promised your student will be challenged by our leader's student should you not meet anymore! Seeing as you are here, that means that boy is your pupil, yes?"

Jiraiya slowly turned his head to his latest pupil and the boy was shaking in fury and contained rage that he could able to contain, "Ero-sennin…"

"Oh my, so you are the student of my master's first love! This changes things then!" Shizuka said this as she closed her umbrella and pointed it at Naruto. She smiled good naturedly as she pointed her umbrella.

"I challenge you to a duel!"

Naruto looked at his soon-to-be-dead teacher and began shaking the man by the collar, "YOU MASSIVE IDIOT! LOOK WHAT YOUR STUPID PROMISES GOT ME INTO! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF PAIN IN THIS ASS YOU JUST THREW AT ME!? HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO BAA-CHAN!? BETTER YET, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TELL THIS TO HER!?"

Jiraiya answered with a stone face as if it was the easiest answer in the world, "It's alright if we don't tell her."

"And Hinata-chan? What about her?" Naruto asked testily and Jiraiya answered by throwing him under the bijuu.

"That's for you to handle, kid. I'm not related to her by any way."

"Excuse me?" The duo turned to the girl wearing a kimono and said, "I believe that I and Naruto-sama are about to have a duel."

"DUEL'S OFF IF I SUDDENLY END UP GETTING HITCHED! I DIDN'T COME TO THIS TRAINING JUST TO SCORE!" Naruto vehemently, and forcefully rejected that offer. Hinata-chan was the only one for him! Nope! No deals!

"Tradition states that if I were denied this duel, then your life must be forfeit or I must commit seppuku after killing you, Naruto-sama. If you don't accept my duel, I may have to kill you before taking my own life." She said that with a smile and Naruto shivered at the though. A girl like her threatening him with murder-suicide sent chills down his spine and not in a good way.

"Just accept the duel, kid. If you win, you get a wife, if you lose you can escape that fate." Jiraiya was in by no means telling him of a cop out.

"Just to be clear, if you threw the match for me, I'd consider that a disgrace and have to commit ritual suicide too."

Naruto glared at Jiraiya, it was basically win and get married or die.

"I am so telling this to granny when I get the chance! This is your fault!"

"Ah, I actually thought it wasn't going to happen and as long as I don't get caught, it was fine." Jiraiya said this as if that it was his best idea ever at the time. Too bad he hadn't thought of a plan if ever it did happen. Like right now.

Naruto gave a sigh and then turned to Shizuka and said, "Fine, fine, I'm doing this stupid duel. But I'm not, by any means, marrying anyone!"

"Pussy…" Jiraiya muttered and Naruto had a tick mark at this, "I don't want to hear that from someone who turned down the chance to come and get some!"

Now that was a low blow for Jiraiya. Deciding to stop this conflict, Jiraiya just turned to the bridge and asked them to stay for at least an hour more after the cargo was done hauling.


Rice Country, Outside of Orochimaru's base:

Shikamaru and his team were currently running inside Orochimaru's base, scouring the place for any signs that could help them in this campaign.

It had been a week since they received their mission three days of travel and then another two days of surveillance before they finally raided the base. Gai had been sent as additional firepower for this team and was all too happy to get into the action of hopefully putting a dent on one of Konoha's greatest enemies. When the raid had commenced, Shikamaru and the team had noted that they had met little resistance when invading. The ANBU team had managed to intercept first and had taken the bulk of the defenses that the base had to offer. The report mentioned that the base was well guarded enough that any form of infiltration was too risky and that a raid of the base was better warranted but what he didn't expect was how flimsy the periphery of the base's defenses were actually.

He had a bad feeling about this, Shikamaru devised a back-up plan if ever guerilla tactics were into play. The ANBU would perform a sweep and with their training, they were sure to take down any stragglers inside and they had been effective in doing so. However, no matter how elite were these shadows of the Hokage, they had been disrupted and forced to split off when they encountered a problem that Shikamaru was afraid of.

Cursed seal wielders loyal to Orochimaru's cause.

Being one of the people that had experience in fighting these monstrosities, Shikamaru had an idea just how ferocious these people were. His first encounter was enough to leave an impression that any normal means of taking down their enemies were out of the question.

'Aim to kill and never let them have a chance to enter the second stage.'

He advised his team when he talked about their potential encounters. What he never realized was how Orochimaru had managed to increase the scale of his little monsters. But it had to have some drawback, he thought. No matter how good Orochimaru was, even the Sannin can overlook things that others tend to notice.

Unfortunate for him, he currently had no means to fight within a dim closed space, his jutsu was severely limited in this case and the only weapon he had on his person was his black short sword.

Surely enough, his radio communications device had made a sound and soon, there were encounters inside the base were there was enough room to fight. He was glad he got Gai to go along with him while Chouji and Ino were supported by Asuma.

A group of three people had soon entered his vision, Gai was quick to take point and charged at the enemy like a sharp spear.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Gai shouted and performed a flying kick to one of their opponents who was sent flying away from Gai's kick. Shikamaru, quick to draw his sword in a reverse grip, managed to slash one of his opponents down who fell to ground in a thud, the toxin in his blade taking place.

He noticed a torch flickering to the side and immediately had his shadow go to work, it morphed into a fine needle and pinned the cursed seal user down as it branched off into multiple needles and piercing the enemy's thick flesh before Gai had punched the seal user so hard that the man was planted to the wall and it caved from Gai's strength.

'No wonder Gai-sensei is Kakashi-sensei's rival'

And no wonder Asuma thought that Gai was enough help to be Shikamaru's vanguard.

The man was a beast with his hand to hand skills, almost unstoppable and he wasn't even using the eight gates.

"Shikamaru-kun, I believe that we are experiencing harsher and harsher resistance as we go inside. But there are no sightings of Orochimaru and Kabuto, did the others have better luck?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "No, sensei, Asuma-sensei and the others are still busy drawing attention. Ino has made some headway, but she's currently bogged down by another group. The ANBU had managed to regroup and are currently supporting Ino. At this rate, we will tire ourselves out before we can even begin collecting the information we need."

"A proposal then…" Gai replied, a grin on the man's face as he continued.

"I will blaze a trail from here to the very end of this base. I will take the lead and overtake our comrades and from this point, I will take down all within my way."

Gai then got into the Eight Gates formation stance and began building up power. Shikamaru could tell how much chakra was pouring out of the man as one by one, the gates opened within his body and began surpassing his limits

"HACHIMON TONKO, SHOMON KAI (Eight Gates Formation: Gate of Pain Release)!"

Power.

This was what Shikamaru could gather as Gai had unleashed four of the eight gates right before his very eyes, the chakra in the air thickened and gale force winds suddenly burst out from the density of chakra suddenly and violently awakened from his person.

Blood vessels dilated and Gai's skin turned red as his muscles began to feel the effects of his blood going to every cell in his body. Gai then bared down and took formation of a runner's stance before he rushed inside and a sonic boom leaving his wake.

In another part of the labyrinth, Ino was suddenly bombarded by the rush of so much chakra escaping from one place.

"What is this?" Ino asked out of nowhere as they advanced deeper into the base.

One of the masked ANBU had replied for her, "A sensor too, huh? Gai-san has begun to use the Hachimon."

Another one of the masked elite continued, this time, a purple haired female ANBU member "We should not let this get to waste. We advance further. We should be able to scour the base better with Gai-san leading the charge."

The other two ANBU members nodded their heads as Ino began moving as well.

'These guys work fast' Ino thought as she saw the ANBU members began forming a three-man arrowhead formation as the two in support began blasting and slicing away any one to their front. Ino was sure of it, these highly trained soldiers were seemingly untouchable.

Professional, efficient and unfazed, they moved throughout these corridors like a well-oiled machine, capable of bulldozing their way through as much as one of their senseis.

And their movements leave no waste or room for openings.

This was the kind of stuff that Sasuke was training in. Dangerous and calculating soldiers whose loyalty were firmly placed within the village.

Konoha's elite of the elite.

As she makes her way further and further within the base, she noted that these very skilled shinobi had a certain monotone that escaped their lips. Their voices seemed devoid of conflict.

'A will of iron'

She noted and then the ANBU team stopped when they had managed to enter a room. Ino followed suit.

"Where are we?"

One of the ANBU then pointed to a tube filled with liquid at the center of the room, beneath and above this structure were countless and haphazardly laid out tubes and surrounding the room at the very edges of it were machines.

"Gather up what you can find, notes, charts, everything. This place looks like a lab." The female ANBU, now identified as the squad leader commanded, her subordinates were quick to obey and began scurry about to look for anything that they might find important.

"Well, it's more of a prison than a lab."

They all stopped, all ANBU members were quick to grab the handle of their blades with Ino following suit. She was taught basic sword handling by her father in the last few months when she asked him how to protect herself better. Inoichi went out of his way to give her the best of what he could offer.

"Man, you guys are scary and jumpy. I can't believe you people wanted to raid this place, you got some serious balls if you want to tangle with Orochimaru this badly."

The water inside the tank stirred, and a form of a boy began taking shape but only the upper body. The boy smirked, the outlines in his body were taking shape.

"A prisoner, eh? Are you one of Orochimaru's experiments?" One of the masked shinobi asked, the boy inside answered with a nod of his head.

"That guy has a twisted curiosity concerning the human body. He's practically experimented on almost all the people inside this base, throwing away the dead and then removing the sanity of the others to be killed by his assistant." The prisoner commented as managed to look at Ino's sword and smirked.

"That's a nice sword you have there, can I have it?"

'Weirdo.'

Ino commented internally but did not speak, opting to let this prisoner of theirs to do the talking, he was a chatterbox telling all of this to them. But she wasn't sure if she should believe this boy or not, the others around looked like they were cautious as well.

"Can you tell us where Orochimaru keeps his files?" Ino asked this.

The prisoner merely pointed to his holding area and said, "I'm a prisoner here for who knows how long. Hell if I know where that freak keeps his stuff."

'Right, stupid question.'

The boy then continued, "Lots of people here are experiments, nobody but Orochimaru and his assistant knows where he keeps what."

It was then that the purple haired ANBU spoke as she drew her sword.

"If we set you free now, will you tell us anything that you know of your captor?"

The boy nodded, "Beats being inside here, okay, shoot."

"Wait, you aren't seriously offering your answers before we set you free, are you? What if we were actually bluffing?" Ino asked, this kid was insane.

"It's not like I have anything to lose at this point and everything to gain. The name's Hozuki, Suigetsu, by the way."

One of the ANBU then spoke, surprised by the boy's surname.

"Hozuki? From Kiri's clan, Hozuki?"

Suigetsu smirked once more, "The one and only."

Ino had heard the name of the Hozuki clan before, the second Mizukage apparently came from that clan. This boy has some clout.

"Change of plans, we're setting him free now." The ANBU captain command as she cut open the glass tube and letting the water flow out.

As the water drained, nothing was left of the container. The water then began to stir as the boy slowly began to form from the water rising up from the puddle and his previous colorless form began to fill out, crouching as he did so.

"What's with the sudden change of heart? Willing to trust me now?" Suigetsu said with a smirk, the purple haired ANBU merely scoffed at it and held her sword in a reverse grip, she charged her blade with lightning chakra and pointed the tip to the puddle beneath him.

"Don't get the wrong idea. We would have better chances of searching this hellhole with you than without. And a member of the Hozuki clan is more beneficial for us than not. Ushi, get this boy a pair of clothes. Ino, stand guard outside while he suits up along with Tsubame, this place is overrun with cursed seal users everywhere. Standby until I say we're ready to go."

The two shinobi nodded and headed outside. Suigetsu obeyed the ANBU captain's orders and put on freshly cleaned ANBU uniform from the ANBU with the bull mask.

"Got a sword with you?" Suigetsu asked the two, the ANBU captain scowled beneath her mask, "Don't push it."

Suigetsu held his hands up, "Fine, Fine, guess I'm just going to have to rely on jutsu. This is lame."

"As of this moment, your life belongs to Konoha now, your freedom is debt that will be repaid. Now prepare yourself, we will go hunting."

Suigetsu for the first time in years, now managed to walk on his own and he smirked. Freedom was a good thing. But these shinobi from Konoha sure do know how to drive a slave.

Well, it was time to go robbing the snake fondler's castle off its treasures now.

As they went outside, he saw the girl and the ANBU fending off more of Orochimaru's cursed seal slaves. Suigetsu had to rub his eyes a little, he could have sworn that the girl's form was shimmering.

'Mixing genjutsu and swordsmanship, huh? There's something you don't see every day.'

I was then that he noticed that the girl's form now completely dissolved, vanishing into thin air as she reappeared on another side. A shower of gore soon happened as the girl cut down five cursed seal users in an instant.

"Magen: Yurei o sasu (Demonic Illusion: Backstabbing ghost)" Ino swung her sword sideways before sheathing the blade to her back.

Those lessons from Kurenai were pretty handy.

Suigetsu whistled, Konoha was not known for its swordsmen, but they sure as hell know how to fight with one.

This little excursion of his got more interesting.

"We're blitzing."

The ANBU captain informed her underlings and they all charged on with the same arrowhead formation as before but now with Ino and Suigetsu flanking them at the rear.

It was then that they saw a human sized meteor streaking past them at incredible speeds as he smashed his way into the darkness.

"What the hell?" Suigetsu asked, startled that something like that came out of nowhere and his senses couldn't even feel that.

"Gai-san." One of the others noted. Suigetsu was surprised at this, 'They know that freak?'

"A shinobi village is a village laden with monsters like him. Nuke nin make the mistake of thinking people like Gai-san are harmless compared to the cut throat and more violent life of being on the run. But he's the type of person that people need to be wary most of all." One of the ANBU, Ushi, mentioned as the squad captain continued.

"He's the type of person who does what he sets out to do. If he's going to kill you, he really will kill you."

In another part of the base, Chouji and Asuma were soon surrounded by crazed cursed seal users, most of them were grotesque, misshapen creatures at this point, losing their sanity and cognition and reducing them to rabid beasts.

They growled as Chouji and Asuma were placed back to back.

The chain smoking jounin smirked while sweat was pouring down from his forehead, chakra knives charged with wind and forming into an ethereal saber. He carefully wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "I'm glad you powered through that training, Chouji, or else you would have been left exhausted here."

Chouji held his staff close to him, although panting slightly, gave a nod, "I'm glad I did too. These guys are relentless."

Chouji ducked just in time to avoid a clawed swipe from one of the crazed monsters and quick with his reflexes, Chouji had gathered chakra to his free right hand and it began to grow to a size of an elephant and with it, jabbed the man straight to his chest.

The strength of the punch sounded like thunder, a fierce shockwave escaped as the monster's body couldn't withstand the impact. Every bone inside him shattered with the ribs caving in and piercing the heart and lungs. Before the man was sent flying, the man was already dead just from that punch.

The cursed seal receeded, seemingly understanding that the life it was feeding off of was suddenly snuffed out and the man was sent flying upwards, towards the ceiling. The roof cracked from the single use of force. Asuma whistled. Chouji's hard was paying off. All of that focused power without a single wasted movement and efficiency certainly was better contained and released as what Shizune has said.

"Chouji! Asuma-sensei!" Shikamaru had arrived. The boy who was left behind by Gai who decided to rush his way inside the stronghold had managed to arrive just in time to see the ceiling being embedded with a corpse.

"Shikamaru? Where's Gai?" Asuma asked as he slashed another cursed seal user.

"He went on ahead and opened four of the eight gates. I don't know how long it will last but I decided to let him go and let the rest handle the deeper parts and help you two here. My guess he's with the ANBU and Ino and about to hit the deepest part of the base. We'll have swept the area by then hopefully." Shikamaru answered and the boy plunged his black short sword on to the nearest cursed seal user by the neck, now fully understanding what this cursed seal was capable off.

"I see, so in order to produce this in large quantities, Orochimaru had to decrease its potency." Shikamaru noted as he jumped and went to Asuma and Chouji's side.

"So you could tell, huh?" Asuma could tell that Shikamaru was able to deduce that these cursed seal users were not up to standard as they were hyped up to be. Those previous records that they had concerning their encounters with this type of empowered humans.

"I think this is a more thinned out version of the cursed seal, I had to gamble earlier and use my Kage Nui to disable one and somehow it worked. My blade, not empowered by chakra can pierce through their normally tough skin. Mass production really does reduce a product's quality. But I guess Orochimaru couldn't find better henchmen and decided to use numbers instead."

Shikamaru looked on to his side and vanished in a cloudless and soundless Sunshin. Asuma grinned, his student certainly had talent, and even though Shikamaru can be lazy as all hell, he certainly shows brilliance when needed.

In just a second later, Shikamaru had landed on top of one of the monsters and slapped one explosive tag on the back of the crazed user's head before Shikamaru vanished again and triggered the paper bomb to go off, taking out two more along with the poor henchman.

"We're currently five meters below ground and it is high noon. Chouji, can you create an opening above that ceiling?"

Chouji nodded at this and replied, "I can, but it will probably take a lot out of me."

"That's fine! Give it your strongest attack! Asuma-sensei and I will cover you!"

Chouji grinned at this and molded chakra all around his body, the Akimichi heir began shrinking in size, thinning slightly a little as his calorie control technique activated, blue, ephemereal butterfly wings formed behind his back as Asuma stood behind him and was in a boxing stance and punched another cursed seal user in the face with the knuckle duster part of his blade several times before beheading it.

Shikamaru, who saw Chouji began building up, weaved through a series of hand seals and ended it with the snake sign.

'Doton Jutsu?' Asuma thought when he noticed that Shikamaru ended the seals.

"Doton: Chikyu no Sento (Earth Release: Earth spire)!" Shikamaru shouted and slammed his right hand on the floor, his chakra melding with the earth. In an instant, multiple, tall almost column like tall earthen spires rose around them, forming in a symmetrical pattern of rows and columns as Chouji then jumped upwards and punched the ceiling, giving it with all his might as he shouted.

"CHOUDAN BAKUGEKI!" his armored fist made its way to the ceiling and soon, something started to rumble.

Above ground, the silent meadow of the forest soon changed as a bulge in the earth was seen and rumbled as it continued to rose up for a few seconds and then,

BOOM!

Earth and debris exploded upwards like a geyser for at least thirty meters upwards and large clods of earth exploded from the force below. Trees were uprooted, stone crumbled and animals made themselves scarce.

Down below, Chouji landed panting and almost exhausted. Shikamaru responded seeing as sunlight made its way to where he was and Shikamaru grinned, he saw shadows appearing from the pillars he created and immediately went to work. Shikamaru stretched his shadow and upon each shadow of the columns, his shadow's range extended and with each increase in his range, his shadow had immobilized a cursed seal user and with each immobilized henchman, his shadow's range extended some more.

By the end, with the exception of his sensei and Chouji, he had immobilized an entire platoon of cursed seal users.

"Asuma-sensei!"

Asuma grinned and began performing his own set of seals and ended in the tiger seal, a fire based jutsu. Shikamaru using a jutsu to merely extend his shadow was a pretty good plan.

"Chouji! Getaway now!"

Chouji, surprising both Shikamaru and Asuma, moved so quick enough that he by the time Asuma had exhaled a large amount of explosive ash, Chouji had stopped as Shikamaru's side.

"Katon: Haisekisho (Fire Release: Ash Cloud Burning Product)!"

The ash soon detonated and soon immolated the remaining henchmen to their deaths.

Shikamaru watched solemnly as he watched these poor people who had no choice but to fight for their enemy, who experimented on them to satiate a morbid curiosity. They did not have the right to refuse, and in the process, lost their minds and reduced to rabid animals. They had no choice but to do a mercy kill.

"Was that your footwork technique?" Shikamaru asked, turning his mind away from such sad thoughts

Chouji grinned as the boy sat down beside Shikamaru, clearly exhausted, "Its name is kuppo (Air Walk). It adjusts my stride and efficiently increases my speed when I run."

"Good job, boys, we'll wait for the rest of the team. Looks like we'll be waiting until the others are done."

Shikamaru nodded and looked up, clearly, he was exhausted as well. He couldn't wait to get back home and spend the rest of his rest days sleeping at home. Training can wait.


Eastern Sea, Nadeshiko Village:

A large encirclement of slabs of stone erupted, in the middle of this enclosure were two people, a boy and a girl, at least fourteen years of age. The boy was a sun kissed blonde, wearing a standard flak vest over a black and orange long sleeve shirt and black pants. His affiliation to his village made clear on his forehead protector, a swirl and the image of a leaf. His face told his annoyance of the whole thing. He didn't want to be near this village any time soon due to this experience.

In front of him stood a girl with long flowing black hair, wearing a tank top blouse of a darker shade of purple with the top near the breast covered with mesh armor and a pair of short shorts that covered at least her upper thighs. A kunai holster strapped to her left thigh with some bandages while the right had mesh armor going down to her legs. Her hands were covered by a pair of black gloves The girl then discarded her umbrella as she proudly showed her headband, the insignia of a flower with five petals and a star in its middle.

At the edges of this makeshift arena stood Jiraiya and some of the sailors who were curious about this outcome, some watching in eagerness while others were placing bets. It was not often that sailors find some entertainment during work considering their occupation, but whatever they could find, they would come in droves.

"Just so we're clear here, I am going to indulge in your challenge just because I don't want to see people killing themselves if I can help it. I would have thrown the fight but then that'd probably be an insult to you and you might just kill us both." Naruto said with no hesitation. He really, REALLY was going to have a talking to with Jiraiya when this was all over.

Shizuka merely smiled and responded in a prim and proper voice, "Oh, I wouldn't dream of it, Naruto-san. It's just like you, our word is our life. We must always uphold our word, for it is honor that we keep them. And you speak as if you can actually beat me."

Naruto sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I feel I should apologize for placing those burdens on you by my irresponsible master."

As if on cue, Jiraiya was shouting at the end of the ring, "I'M STILL HERE, NARUTO!"

"Whatever." Naruto said, dismissing his master's words to just get on with it.

Shizuka also went into her stance, "Oh, I don't mind at all, really."

Naruto's spine shivered at that as Shizuka continued with a blush on her face. Naruto squinted a little, was she breathing heavily?

"A strong man like you with such vast chakra is prime meat."

Again, Naruto's spine shivered.

And then, the two dashed at each other meeting at the middle, meeting the rules of all shinobi combat.

The first option of the Shinobi in combat, taijutsu.

Shizuka went for a punch to strike first, confident with her own abilities, Naruto, merely angled a block and stopped a punch that was headed towards his face. Naruto then parried the blow, and in quick succession, countered with his own punch with his free arm, that was parried by Shizuka with her own free arm. Naruto then went on the offensive and ducked, below and aimed for her torso with another punch, Shizuka angled her hand once more and prevented another blow by blocking and parrying as well. She then decided to kick as she grabbed his fist while Naruto ducked with the kick missing his head by a few centimeters.

Seeing her chance, Shizuka capitalized on this position by performing an armbar, she locked Naruto's trapped hand between her legs and rolled in midair taking down Naruto to the ground aiming for a submission. The blonde, seeing as he was about to fall into an arm lock, rolled with Shizuka in midair to prevent her twisting her arm and allow her leverage. He dropped on the ground as did Shizuka, but the lock was incomplete. The blonde managed to yank his hand away as Naruto jumped back.

Shizuka was good.

'She almost got me with that.' Naruto thought in cold sweat.

Naruto may not be as proficient with Taijutsu, but he was no slouch either, the almost instinctual ability to act and highly adaptive reflexes is what mostly helped him in his scuffles. Jiraiya was right, a good taijutsu specialist was a highly experienced one.

'Rethinking his options to engage in close quarters combat. I am certainly the better one at hand to hand alone, he must have realized. But he's certainly stronger he's probably faster too and he's only sizing me up.'

Shizuka got up, and leaned down, 'In that case…'

She dashed at the blonde, 'I can capitalize on this advantage!'

Naruto was quick to react, just before Shizuka can reach within his range, Naruto had made the decision to be on the defensive. Her punch was blocked with his right elbow hitting the side of her fist. She was suddenly surprised when with that move, Naruto rolled with that punch by parrying the punch with his elbow and placing her in perfect striking distance of his fist as he reared his right hand back.

'That was pretty decent move.' She thought, and the punch was sent flying at her face, she angled her head a little and the fist missed her completely, but the force of the punch had nicked her at her cheek producing a little bit of blood.

'I was right. he has power in those punches.' Shizuka concluded as she jumped to the side and began performing hand seals.

Ninjutsu.

Naruto was quick to react. When she held hands together to form seals, Naruto was already performing his own ninjutsu, and he executed his technique faster than hers because it only needed one hand sign.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)" Two clones popped into existence in a white cloud of smoke beside the blonde already engaging her in action. Shizuka stopped her hand seals in favor of retreating back renewing her set of seals again.

'An advance cloning technique!? This boy is no slouch!' She had heard about cloning techniques from her master about powerful shinobi who do cloning techniques as very competent and highly skilled. Cloning techniques were mere distractions at its origin, but those that can interact with the environment were a major jump from its parent jutsu.

She could not finish, the two clones began harassing her with fists and kicks around her, she could keep up, but it would not be for long. The clones, she noted were very coordinated in their attacks, she saw feints and blocks, covering their openings and weaknesses, their foot work were in sync. She shuddered to think that she had opened a realm she did not think she was ready.

Then another clone had appeared this time at her side, a fist hidden by his body, she couldn't tell where he was aiming at, but soon made its way when she felt pain.

He had managed to hit her in the abdomen and the punch certainly did not hold back. She staggered a little before she dodged a kick and then another from a follow up from another clone, as if they were cornering her.

When she jumped back, she kicked her seal weaving into high gear and finally let out her own ninjutsu.

"Nadeshiko-ryu Koha Repuuken (Nadeshiko style: Roaring gale chop)!" She thrusted her right hand forward with her fingers straight and outstretched and a powerful shockwave escaped from her fingers.

Naruto was alerted of such a powerful jutsu that he jumped away immediately, his clones did not fare much. They were soon dispelled after being hit with a powerful gale.

Naruto wasn't worried for now. He had after all, managed to get the first hit.

"I must say, you are as I had hoped you to be, Naruto-sama."

Naruto shivered at that suffix that Shizuka added, that chill seemed to have brought on a cold wind around him. This girl was relentless.

Perhaps he should respect that.

It was now that Naruto noticed Shizuka holding several kunai in both her hands. He raised an eyebrow at this.

'Weapons proficiency… I think she just got serious.'

"Uhh, we're in a duel right? Are you seriously aiming to kill?" Naruto asked, Shizuka's gaze sharpened and replied, "I aim for nothing less with your skill."

She then began unleashing her knives at him quick, the were at least a bit faster than what he saw with Tenten.

"Nadeshiko Ryuu: Shinkuu Enbu (Nadeshiko style Crimson Dance performance)!"

And true to the name, her unleashing her weapons at him looked like a dance. Every step was calculated and coordinated and with every step she unleashed her knives one by one. Naruto dodged the first, but noted the second was already past halfway between them. Naruto rolled to ground to dodge, as another made its way to his nose. The blonde leaned back and fell on the floor. He log-rolled to his left just as another Kunai went past him. He stopped when one narrowly hit him in his path and rolled backwards before somersaulting backwards as three kunai made its way towards him.

Naruto gathered chakra to his hands and grinded it against each other. He had his fingers in a chopping motion as blue chakra became visible a silent gust of wind escaped him.

"Kuukan Zangeki (Space Cutting strike)" and with a sweep of his hand sideways, he had immediately cut down the three kunai before it hit him.

The cut was clean and quick as the kunai were bisected and their trajectory stopped.

Naruto landed on the ground as he dashed towards Shizuka and cutting down her attack one by one.

He had decided dodging was useless. The technique that Shizuka used with her weaponry were hard to dodge. He was prone to committing mistakes with dodging anyway, but it didn't mean that he couldn't stop this technique.

Another invisible blade of chakra surged from his other hand and Naruto began cutting down kunai after kunai. Shizuka was surprised.

She had never seen anyone face the attack head on. Unless you were a Hyuuga or someone with a mobile defensive jutsu, the Shinkuu Enbu would always be able to meet its mark.

But this boy defied conventional fighting tactics in order to take her head on.

And his tactic worked. He had begun cutting down kunai after kunai against him and gaining ground fast. Shizuka had shifted to her tactic and went back to using Koha Repuuken and sent another shockwave at the blonde who dodged the blow by sidestepping but he was not stopping.

And when he got close, Shizuka was ready for him with another shockwave attack.

Naruto, was surprised, having no time to dodge, he was forced to take the attack head on and was blasted back by her technique. He was thrown back, and landed on the ground, skidding back as he stopped at least twenty meters away from his opponent.

'Tenrin would be useless against her.' Naruto thought, there was no spinning motion involved. He could use the Rasengan to power up the Tenrin, but he was not aiming to destroy everything in sight. He had to think of some way to beat this girl without resorting to maim and kill.

He got up and noted blood had dripped from his forehead and lip. He smiled and wiped away the blood.

This girl was not as she seemed.

Time to step up the game.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Instead of relying on two clones, he was going to use more.

Five clones popped into existence, surrounding Shizuka. The girl was startled once more when they began to enter in a formation. A chaotic one, she noted. But it seemed like it was serving its purpose.

One of the clones attacked, and Shizuka dodged but as she was dodging, another clone was already making its way to her blind side, she quickly made a few hand signs, minding the clones swarming her left and right. One got lucky and managed to kick her behind her left knee forcing her down forcing her to stop weaving seals. Naruto, not about to let her do her jutsu, exerted pressure by producing three more clones. Naruto grabbed one clone and it transformed into a Fuuma Shuriken.

Naruto unfurled the shuriken and tossed it at her, knowing that Shizuka was skillful enough to evade his attack as the two clones rushed towards her.

Shizuka then leaped forward, tackling one of the clones and then jamming her fingers with extreme prejudice on the clones chest, a shockwave, with a force that had nowhere else to go after the clone popped, recoiled and launched Shizuka in midair. Quickly thinking, Shizuka spun and began another used another technique.

"Enbu: Ni no Dan (Dance Performance: Second Step)"

She spun in midair like a top and in quick succession, unleashed a hail of knives towards his clones, dispelling them quickly. Naruto then formed another set of clones and rushed at Shizuka as they increased in speed.

At the side of the ring, Jiraiya noticed that Naruto was not using his more destructive jutsu.

"He's holding back? No, it's because this isn't a life or death battle that he thinks subduing the opponent is the best way to go. He has yet to use the Rasengan."

"Quite the tenacious little guy, isn't he?"

Jiraiya chuckled and said, "He has guts, that's for sure."

The clones had managed to get close and Shizuka stopped. Gathering chakra to her legs. She strengthened them and raised it above her head before smashing it on the ground. Naruto was familiar with this technique, or at least, he noted how similar this was to Tsunade's Tsutenkyaku.

"Koha Senkai giri (Hardliner Revolving Cut)!"

Her heel crashed to one of the clones and with gale force winds descending, caused an immediate explosion around her. Three of the clones were immediately dispelled but five more of them were still here.

With a quick weaving of seals, she ended with the seal of the dragon and inhaled deeply before pushing out wind from her mouth.

"Ressenpu (Violent Whirlwind)!" A spinning wave motion blast escaped from her lips and Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. This was his chance.

Naruto began kneading chakra and performed a set of seals ending with the seal of the dragon as well and gathered chakra to his arms, gusts of wind escaped and he aimed it at the big powerful wind jutsu heading his way.

"Tenrin (Providence Wheel)!" Naruto dashed forward and slammed his jutsu to the girl's attack. Gale force winds died down, and the natural whistle of the winds was music to his ears as it began to surround him.

"Ura Tenrin Kazahana (Reverse Providence Wheel Windmill Flower)"

Shizuka was surprised, she had never heard of jutsu like that.

Naruto, for the first time of this fight, grinned.

"Shizuka, I know you might hate me for this, but even if I win, I am not marrying you."

The girl closed her eyes, seemingly accepting of that fate, but it seemed she was determined. But this fight between them was over.

"I understand. I lose this match."

Naruto gave a sigh of relief and let the winds die down around him, deactivating his jutsu.

"By Nadeshiko tradition, I am obliged to make you my husband. But you seem adamant on stopping that from happening. Exactly why?"

Naruto grinned and answered sincerely, "I'm with someone else. She's a shy and quiet girl, but she puts on a brave front for others and kind, she often says things that make me happy, she's dedicated and she works hard for what she wants. She can be a bit hesitant and clumsy, but I like her the way she is. She's pretty, prettier with her dedication and devotion. I wouldn't trade her for whatever else that I may receive. And the way she dedicates herself, makes me think about supporting her, helping her through it all, making her dreams a reality. I'm sorry, but I think I'm crazy for that girl. I can't accept what you are willing to give."

Shizuka, though upset, seemed to look accepting of his answer.

"Really? The way you speak about her, I am quite jealous." Shizuka said this as she turned away from the blonde.

"You are free from our bonds. Please leave the island before I change my mind."

Naruto, wordlessly bowed at her and went away, victorious.

Back at the boat, an hour later, Naruto slumped at the deck and gave a long and tired groan.

"I really need to stop encountering talks about marriages for a while. The one with Hinata made the other Hyuuga except for Hinata's sister to glare at me like they want to skin me alive. But this just takes the cake."

Jiraiya grinned at his pupil, "Well aren't you glad you got away from that commitment problem?"

Naruto stared at Jiraiya with disappointment for a few seconds and replied, "Yeah, sure did and I didn't even make up a stupid promise of passing the buck on to the next poor shmuck that would carry throughout generations."

Jiraiya replied, "Come on, you're still on about that? You got your clean slate, right? Though I should tell you, encounters with women of that village are definitely going to be frequent in our country soon enough."

Naruto's eyebrow was twitching as he glared at his sensei who looked at him like he was growing two heads.

"What? You didn't think it all ends with one challenge, right? There's no rule in their village that says they can't challenge a man more than once."

Color drained from Naruto's face as he asked rhetorically, "You're kidding, right?"

Jiraiya grinned at him with a stupid look on his face, "Who the hell do you think you're talking to, kid? I'm a super pervert, I know the ins and outs of things that could make you do the horizontal dance."

Now how the hell is he going to explain this to Hinata when he gets back?

Back at the island, Shizuka stared at the sailing ship, now back in her kimono. Her guardian stood beside her, she looked at the ship as well and asked their former leader's pupil.

"Is it wise to let this boy go? He has clearly won the duel and you are within your full rights to seduce him."

"I am well aware. But he clearly has eyes for another. Besides, I thought it was premature of me as well to have challenged him."

Her guardian raised an eyebrow at this, "There is no rule in our village that says we are not allowed to challenge more than once. Are you sure of giving him up?"

"A lady must clinch all forms of opportunity, besides, who said I was giving up?" Shizuka's smile returned.

"In two years-time, I shall go to Fire Country and to Konoha directly to issue my challenge there."


To be continued…

So, I took some creative liberties with Shizuka, since this girl has not yet met her lover and her stalker. LMAO that was fun to write.

Also, it might take a little longer to update again, I have 2 presentations, a lecture and census to take care of aside from hospital work. I'll update this as soon as I can

Till then, read and review!