Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Street Fighter. There are five great tragedies in my life. This is one. Or two. I don't really know how that kind of thing works.

Chapter 41: Original S.I.N.

Ibuki was having a wonderful dream. She was in the big city, on her own, girl-on-the-move. Finally able to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, in college for journalism to get her dream job of being a reporter (a career where being a ninja could be pretty useful). No one could tell her what to do or how to do it anymore, and if she wanted to take a mission she had contacts for that.

She loved being a ninja, but her village simply had not adjusted life accordingly for the modern teenager.

Her dream was just like those shows on TV. Roommate shenanigans abound, good times all around, and of course a love interest that she was now fully able to pursue in earnest due to her complete freedom of person.

"Ibuki."

Oh, that view of the Tokyo skyline at sunset was absolutely gorgeous. For someone that wasn't a romantic her crush could certainly pull out the big guns in that department when he needed to.

"Ibuki."

Whisper her name like that again. God, this dream was the best one she'd ever had where sex wasn't involved. Of course maybe sex wasn't involved only because it hadn't gone long enough yet. Could she will her own dream to be nighttime? It was her own mental construct so she should have been able to.

"Ibuki!"

This time her name came with a shake and she was roused from her sleep with a hand placed softly over her mouth to keep her from yelling, just in case. She simply looked up at the familiar figure in the moonlight coming through her window and raised an eyebrow calmly.

Okay, so her dream had shifted gears rather abruptly. This wasn't the first time she'd had a dream where Naruto snuck into her village and her room to passionately nail her, but they usually didn't start that roughly with him covering her mouth to keep her from screaming.

"Are you not gonna scream when I move my hand?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Ibuki who was still laying with her head on the pillow, "Okay. I'm gonna move my hand now."

He did just that and Ibuki sat up with her covers pulled to her chest, "I'm not dreaming am I?" He wasn't ravaging her mouth with his yet or pawing at her either, so it had to be real life. If it had been a dream there would have been sexytimes happening by now.

"You dream about me?"

"Not the point. Why are you here? It's… 2 a.m." Ibuki said after checking her clock with a yawn, "Did you come sneak into my room to fool around? That's a long way to go just to make out. I like the dedication though." Much like Naruto, her brain was not the fastest to catch up to her mouth soon after waking.

The first thing Naruto wanted to ask was what she was talking about. The more pressing issue though was something else when he could see no bra on around the portion of her bosom that was visible. Just pretty, fair skin, "Are you wearing anything under the sheets?"

"Hmm." Ibuki pulled the covers away from herself just far enough to look underneath and shrug, "Wanna see?"

That wasn't an answer, but Naruto didn't care. He hesitated at first before giving her an extremely guarded answer, "…Yes. Yes I do." Lying would serve no purpose.

"Thought so." Ibuki said with a lazy half-lidded look Naruto's way before she hit him with another haymaker to his libido-limiter, "Wanna touch?" The few seconds of silence from Naruto in response got her to roll her eyes, "I've already been up against you naked before, or is sharing a hot spring with me really that forgettable? If you don't want to fool around why else did you sneak in here?"

"I never said I didn't want to touch... or that fooling around was a bad idea. And stop asking me so nicely." Red-faced Naruto said, really glad that it was dark so that she couldn't tell how red he was, "But I don't think we have the time."

"It's not going to be sunrise for hours." Ibuki replied as she looked over at the clock side of her bed that her tanuki was sleeping near, "We have time Naruto. We can cuddle and kiss a bit, get some sleep, get ready for school, and leave to make it there at the same time I get there every day."

"I was planning on taking you to India, not school."

Ibuki just stared at him in the dark and once again a silence fell between them for a few moments, "You're taking me on vacation? I love it, but if that flight isn't leaving in exactly three hours I still want to sleep and optimize my Naruto time. I don't get much by myself you know."

The thing was, Naruto wasn't exactly in the Glade of Ninjas alone. He had Dhalsim and Batsu waiting outside of the village for him to come back with a pretty kunoichi in hand. He had managed to sneak into the village and her room with his mad ninja skills.

But in the end pulling her out of bed in the middle of the night, even for a pretty good reason, was very rude. She'd go with him no matter what because she was a sweetheart and because she loved the idea of travelling.

But he didn't want to wind up as some despicable person that would pick his friends depending on how easily he could get them to do things. That wasn't fair at all.

In return, all Ibuki really wanted was a chance to earn some affection from him. She actually had a lot of it already, he just didn't get to show it.

It was easy to show Cammy that he cared and was grateful for her because they lived together. It was easy to show Karin because most of her missions wound up with them almost alone together all the time. And Sakura, she already knew and had known for years. They didn't even have to say anything about it to each other.

With Ibuki it was oftentimes harder. They were always around other people. Always. If it wasn't at school or with their friends in the city, in the Glade of Ninjas there was always someone watching. Sanjou, Guy, the other citizens interested in what made Naruto tick. It was always something.

'Stop being such a damn wuss already!' Naruto said to himself before reaching out to Ibuki's cheek and giving her a kiss on the lips. She was thoroughly shocked at first and idly wondered if she was still asleep before reaching a hand behind Naruto's neck and pulling him down on top of her.

Cammy had never kissed him on the mouth. She just didn't, so Naruto didn't know what hers was like, but Ibuki was definitely a more playful kisser than Karin was.

Kissing Karin was cute because she seemed so uncharacteristically jittery whenever doing so. She didn't really know much about real romance past getting the attention of the opposite sex. It was turning out that she didn't know much about what she was doing when it came to exhibiting actual intimacy and was nervous that she would wind up making it bad.

Ibuki just didn't care. She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get to Naruto's tongue in any way she wanted to.

Content moans and her positioning his hands wherever she wanted him to put them on her hips and trim stomach. She purposefully kept his hands from rising far enough to grope at her breasts or get underneath the covers that concealed her body from view. The tease. Oh yeah. She'd thought about doing something like this with someone once or twice.

She wasn't going to be giving up anything between her legs for him just like that, but it was definitely more fun than just sleeping the night away. She'd listen to what he was there for after she had gotten her fill of being bad for a bit. Ibuki was just happy that Naruto was finally there to help her with that.

XxX

(A Few Hours Later – Just Outside of the Glade of Ninjas)

Batsu and Dhalsim had to wait outside in the forest around the ninja village for the simple fact that Dhalsim was not a ninja, and for all of Batsu's interest in all things ninja he was absolute shit at sneaking. They wouldn't be able to step two feet into the village limits without blowing everything.

"So even though you can teleport you have zero stealth skills." Batsu said, leaning against a tree while Dhalsim took the time to meditate in order to restore his energy, "That's kind of appropriate."

Of course he couldn't sneak. He wore golden rings on his arms and legs. He could make noise sitting still.

A man of few words, Dhalsim didn't reply to Batsu. Outside of explaining the situation to the first pickup for Team Naruto upon teleporting to his house around midnight, he hadn't really said a word. Which meant that it had been a rather insufferable two hours for Batsu to deal with. There was nothing to do but sit around in a forest and chill out.

Boring.

What the hell was taking Naruto so long? He said he'd be back in forty-five minutes tops. In and out. It had been two goddamn hours.

Oh well. As long as he got to go to India for cool stuff he could sit in that forest until the sun came up. He hadn't been out of Japan in almost a year. The last time he'd left the country he'd gotten his leg shattered like a dinner plate by an egotistical Muay Thai fighter, so he was hoping that this time went marginally better for his health.

Still, this was like pulling teeth. Maybe he could try to make some more conversation? It was worth a shot, "So you're like some kind of mystic, magic man right? That means you're worldly wise or something." No response, but Batsu didn't give up, "Well I've got this thing. My girlfriend wants me to go to college in the fall, and I don't really think I'm a college guy, but she and my mom won't let me quit on it. Something about potential or whatever. So what do you say?"

At this, Dhalsim cracked an eye open and peered over in Batsu's direction and actually graced him with words, "If you align expectations with reality you will never be disappointed."

"…That doesn't really help me any." Batsu deadpanned in return, "Thanks though, I guess."

Once again Dhalsim didn't say anything.

And thank goodness two speedy figures darted down from the surrounding trees when they did because all of that waiting crap was for the birds, "Oh my God." Batsu said in an exasperated manner when Ibuki and Naruto landed cleanly one after the other. Apparently Naruto had changed into real clothes to fight in while he'd been gone, "What, did you get lost? You were the one that was supposed to know your way around here, remember? We're wasting time and you just left me with Siddhartha Gautama here."

"I'm not Buddhist." Dhalsim pointed out matter-of-factly, "Nor am I Hindi."

"…You're killing me here man."

Naruto walked forward and stood in front of Batsu with an unreadable expression on his face, "Dude. First of all, shut up. Okay?" Batsu just blinked confusedly, "Second of all, other than going to school today, which we're both knowingly skipping by the way, what else did you really have planned today that you'd be in a rush? Because no matter what the trip to and from is taking six hours for both."

"…Cram school."

"The college thing?"

"Yep."

"You don't even want to go tonight do you?"

"God no. I already called Hina-chan and told her something came up."

"That 'something' being me, and she knows that. So what's the problem?" Batsu just looked around aimlessly with sheepish body language, "Is it your mom? Or were you just bitching because you technically didn't sleep last night? Welcome to my world."

Ibuki, dressed in her normal ninja outfit placed her hands on her hips as she frowned at Batsu, "You got a problem with me taking some Naruto time buddy? Even you get more than me, and you're a guy… with a girlfriend I might add."

"Don't ever say that again." Both Naruto and Batsu said, getting the implication before Batsu turned to stare at Naruto, asking an unspoken question that Naruto rolled his eyes and shook his head at, "They why do I feel static around now? It wasn't here before you two showed up. Magic man?" Batsu concluded questioningly, looking over at Dhalsim.

"I am getting an enhanced sense of amorous pheromones from the surrounding area." Dhalsim said, turning Ibuki's face red at having a stranger basically call her out like that so bluntly, "I believe that Naruto and this young lady would be the most obvious sources for this."

Batsu smirked between the two of them and slowly grabbed the two of them before sticking them closer together. Ah, he loved his friends so much. They were so entertaining more often than not that he couldn't stand it sometimes.

A sigh came from Naruto as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "We really didn't need that. Can we just get going to India already? Apparently there's some dam that needs sabotaging and ninja action is required." Naruto said, trying to get things back on the original topic of him gathering anyone in the first place.

"About that." Ibuki chimed in, her face returning to its normal fair color, "There's no way we're getting to India in six hours. There's travel time to the airport and then there's the ten-hour flight itself, and then there's the time it'll take to get to wherever we're going in India. This is going to take a while."

Really, she could slip away from her village for a while but if she was gone for too long she'd end up raising the ire of her superiors again. What was life without getting all of the experiences you could out of it?

Upon hearing her concerns, Naruto then realized that he'd never told her exactly how they'd be getting there in the first place, "Ibuki meet Dhalsim. He's a weird yoga master with some kind of space-time power… amongst others." Ibuki bowed to Dhalsim who returned the favor. She was still a bit miffed at earlier, but that wasn't any reason not to be courteous, "Dhalsim, this is Ibuki; super-cute badass kunoichi-in-training."

"Space-time?" Ibuki said questioningly as Dhalsim finished bowing to her also, "Wait, you mean that teleporting thing he did during the tournament? I thought that was just for short-range transportation."

"I can go anywhere in the world as long as I know the destination well enough, but that is what the mind-reading is for."

"That's kind of creepy."

"So I've heard. Twice already as a matter of fact." Dhalsim directed everyone closer to him before getting down in a meditative position, "To transport this many people will require a lot of concentration. Each of you grab hold of me and do not let go no matter what."

With a shrug everyone placed the directed limb on Dhalsim and felt the power within him jump. And with that they left the forests surrounding Ibuki's beloved Glade of Ninjas in a holy man's teleport.

Next stop India.

…In about six hours or so.

XxX

(That Afternoon – Aohura City, Japan – Karin's Personal Manor)

"India." Karin said in a flat voice, finding it necessary to turn around from her seat on a piano bench. She'd been taking some down time after school with some music while she and Sakura listened to exactly what the deal was as to why neither Naruto nor Ibuki were in class today, "Naruto-san went to India last night."

"Yes." Cammy said calmly, as she usually did, because most everything that she did was devoid of much discernable emotion. She was much better at exhibiting it than she had been a year ago, but it was still a work in progress, "He planned on taking Ibuki and Batsu."

Sakura looked a touch confused at his choice of companions on such a trip, "Why didn't he get me, or Kanzuki-san? Why didn't you go as a matter of fact?"

"It was too late at night to go and get either of you from home. It was past midnight." Cammy explained, "And there was something of a need for a rush, so actual travel plans couldn't be made for both of us to go so suddenly. We couldn't just drop everything and leave together."

Sakura still looked a bit put off at missing out on something like that though, as did Karin.

The later had an outlet for this however as she turned back around and began playing a much faster song than the one she had been playing before in order to relax, "So there was no time to make travel arrangements or tell us himself what was happening. How in the world did he manage to procure a plane ticket for India in such short order, unless Dhalsim had already purchased tickets ahead of time?" She asked rhetorically, as she knew that Cammy probably wouldn't know the answer, "But then he would have known for certain that Naruto-san would accept?"

It sounded a bit fishy to the analytical business mind of the Kanzuki heiress, but then again that was more than likely the fact that she'd gotten used to bad things happening around the people associated with them; most notably Naruto. Even when he wasn't trying to push an issue something flew his way.

She couldn't blame him most of the time, lovable scamp as he oftentimes was, because she found it hard to stay angry at people these days; most notably again with Naruto. Damn him.

It was also hard to stay angry at Cammy, because she was so damned adorable even to the rest of the girls. When she said things like this though, it was kind of hard to keep it that way, "They didn't take a plane, they teleported."

Teleported from Japan to India? Really?

That certainly stopped the train of the conversation cold, and Karin's piano playing for a second time. How exactly did one respond to something like that? To her credit, Sakura tried though, "…Come again?"

Their amnesiac assassin had no problem with repeating herself. Just because she didn't really show shock and awe that well didn't mean that she didn't understand just how outrageous everything she'd just said sounded. It didn't make it any less true though, "Dhalsim used his teleportation technique to transport himself and Naruto to wherever it is that they were going."

Sakura and Karin both looked at each other across the room with a similar expression that they were missing something. They both thought that his teleporting was just some short-range thing useful for battle, not that he could use it to go anywhere he wanted. In all honesty that was kind of creepy. Not that they were judging him, but it just was.

The guy was quite mysterious, or at least that was the impression from him that they picked up from watching the tournament on TV and from what they were told about him by Naruto and Cammy. That didn't mean he was a bad person either. And he'd done something or another to earn Naruto's trust quite thoroughly. Something with the Kyuubi that they barely understood.

Either way, apparently he owed him one because he didn't hesitate to lend his help to him for a moment.

"Okay." Sakura said, trying to salvage what was left of her understanding of the fabric of reality. Seriously, a dimension-hopping best friend? Spiritualists that could bend time and space to transport themselves? And she used to poke fun at Naruto for being afraid of ghosts? At this point one could have popped out and shaken her hand and it wouldn't even have listed in the top ten of odd things that had happened to her in the last several years, "So when will they be back?"

"I don't know."

"What are they going to do?"

"I don't know."

"Why'd he leave so quickly then?" Cammy opened her mouth again at Sakura's last question before she was cut off by the girl in question, "Please don't say that you don't know again." Adhering to the request, Cammy didn't, because that was exactly what she was going to have said, "Ugh… my God Naruto. I hate you…"

She did not hate him as a matter of fact. That was just not true at all and everybody knew it. She loved him. He was her best friend and she would do anything for him. But she could do without a few of his traits that made him who he was, such as the ones that told him it was entirely acceptable to run off to another city or country at the drop of a hat. At least he didn't have Ryu's wanderer syndrome. Now that would have been a little too much.

"That sounds accurate enough with the kind of situation he would find himself in." Karin said under her breath, playing several more keys on the piano idly before standing up and smoothing her skirt back out, "At least this time it has nothing to do with that detestable Shadaloo."

"Or any militia-based gang looking to take over the country." Cammy added on as an afterthought.

"Or a conspiracy to kidnap and brainwash every fighter under the age of 20 in the city with powerful potential in order to create a stable of obedient killers to help a possessed high school student take over Japan." Sakura said, getting blank looks from both Karin and Cammy, "Oh, sorry. That was before we met either of you."

"When the hell was this?" Karin said, raising her voice a touch in surprise. She actually found herself a bit embarrassed at raising her voice so crassly and abruptly. Perhaps the company she kept was finally wearing on her, "Actually please forget I asked that, I do not think I want to know."

Sakura just nodded in acceptance. It really was for the best anyway.

XxX

(Meanwhile – With Naruto – Rural Village in Kerala, India)

According to Dhalsim, six hours had passed upon the moment they'd teleported to the moment they'd arrived in the middle of his village, but to Naruto, Batsu, and Ibuki they might as well have blinked because that was how long it felt like it had taken.

It had thoroughly exhausted the mystic man however as he needed help from the others to walk the rest of the way to his house, and in the meantime while waiting on him to recover enough to help them move on the dam the youngsters got a chance to sightsee.

"I was totally not expecting to ride an elephant today." Ibuki chirped brightly as she sat atop the aforementioned gargantuan animal behind Naruto, holding on around his waist to stay on, "Or ever for that matter." She took pictures of tons of things around them with her phone.

"Yeah." Naruto said in agreement, "If so many bad things didn't happen to us on a regular basis I'd say that no one lives cooler lives than we do." Oh who was he kidding? Even with the terrible things that tended to follow them around as a consequence, his life was more awesome than almost anything else he could think of, "I'll tell you what, if being an adult isn't halfway this much fun I'm gonna be disappointed."

Who would have ever thought they'd wind up driving an elephant? Who even knew Dhalsim owned elephant, as in plural?

But there they were, riding elephants that they had picked up from Dhalsim's own home on the way out to where the dam sat. Dhalsim would have teleported them there after making it home, but he was tired and he needed to let them know about the whole situation first, with the water to their village being cut off and everything that came with it.

Right now they were just taking a quick look around the place while Dhalsim rested at home with his wife. His surprisingly hot wife that was half his age, about four years older than them… that he'd already had a young child with. They definitely hadn't seen that coming either.

Upon returning to Dhalsim's modest home, both ninjas jumped off of the obedient elephant that returned itself to the portion of Dhalsim's land reserved for his 'pets' and went inside where Batsu was busy eating and watching Dhalsim's son Datta while his wife Sari made sure Dhalsim himself was getting his strength back properly.

"S'up jerks?" Batsu asked as he watched his two ninja friends reenter, "You two weren't gone long."

"Meh, I've been here before." Naruto said as he sat down at the table Batsu was eating curry at. The blond-haired teenager rested his chin down on his arms and grinned when he saw Dhalsim's son staring at Ibuki like he'd been love-stricken, "Hey kid, how long do you think your dad's gonna be? We didn't really plan for this to be a long trip."

To his five year-old credit, Datta was able to turn his attention away from Ibuki long enough to hear and comprehend Naruto and his question, "Uh, I don't know. Father doesn't teleport far away so much, and he never takes people with him." And with that he started following Ibuki around again like a lost puppy. To Datta's defense, Ibuki was gorgeous and by his standards exotic, so if she happened to be his first crush he definitely could have done infinitely worse.

Either way there were important things afoot. So Dhalsim tended to avoid going on long trips via teleportation? While Naruto and company didn't feel it, Dhalsim seemed to have endured every last second of the journey by the time they arrived.

Moving to one of the back rooms of the house, Naruto poked his head in to find a bedridden Dhalsim being tended to by a young lady with brown skin and brown hair in a single braid, wearing a sleeveless golden dress and a yellow shawl, "Oh man…" He said as he walked in and stood at the foot of the bed, "You didn't have to move us so fast if it was going to mess you up like this. We could have gotten here some other way."

Sure, it would have taken longer, but at least he wouldn't be confined to his bed.

"My apologies." Dhalsim said with a slight amount of difficulty. He seemed to be sweating even as Sari placed a wet rag across his forehead, "I fear I was in fact a bit hasty in recruiting and returning with you and yours."

Sari shook her head from her seat by her husband's bed and looked over and up at Naruto, "He is normally so calm and neutral, but when things befall the village he has a tendency to lose himself and his level head somewhat." She clicked her tongue as her attention turned back to her husband, "I've known him since I was a little girl and I've never seen him attempt a Yoga Teleport over such a long distance before. This is clearly the result of such a thing."

Knowing full well that he wasn't going to be heading anywhere to fight until his body would allow him to, Dhalsim gestured for Naruto to come closer which he did until he was close enough to stoop down by the bed and by Sari, "I will not be able to accompany you to the site of the dam, but I can give you what I know about it in my stead."

With that he placed his hand abruptly on Naruto's head and a day full of thoughts and memories that weren't his own filled Naruto's head at once. Damn it, he wished he'd give some warning before doing things like that. His pupils dilated and he fell back onto the floor before his brain rebooted and he jumped back up, holding his temple.

Sari just smiled at Naruto apologetically while he got his mind back together and suffered through the headrush migraine from hell, "He's painfully direct at times isn't he?" She said dryly.

"He's your husband." Naruto said, trying to get his vision to stop swimming, "I've had direct-er… and painfully-er. Don't worry Dhalsim. I've got this for free, because I still owe you for what you did back at the martial arts temple in Thailand. We'll get that water flowing downriver again."

All the stoic man did was nod before setting his head back down on his pillow. Someone like Naruto would do his best to ensure such a thing came to pass, and his friends had upstanding spirits as well. Something like this could be left to them and could be handled.

XxX

(Aohura City, Japan)

"Is your mission complete yet?"

"I'm getting to it." Juri said, sitting on a low hanging rooftop overlooking an alley as she spoke on her phone, "Geez Seth, you're such a buzzkill. You finally put me on an assignment where a girl could have a bit of fun and you're trying to get me to rush through it. Do you want the job done or do you want it done right?"

"I want it done thoroughly." The serious voice on the other line said with no room for any shenanigans on the part of his subordinates.

"Well there you go." The Korean femme said with a slight grin on her face, "I've made first contact with one of your targets already. It shouldn't take long to locate all of the others in this country. In this town they're especially infamous."

"Oh? How so?"

Juri laughed slightly as she looked down in the alley where she'd just lain waste to an entire gang of well over one-hundred. They were still twitching and groaning in pain and anguish… those that were well enough off to know that they were hurt, "Trust me. If bottom-feeding losers like the people I just dealt with know of them I'm sure by sundown I'll have the location of all of them. Every. Last. One." And then she could pick and choose at her leisure who she wanted.

"I expect results out of you. There's a reason that you were placed on this task."

"Because you don't have anyone in S.I.N. stronger than me." She just kept feeling the need to mess with her boss. As if she didn't fear any sort of reprisal from him, "But I get your point. Don't worry. I'll get it all done." And she didn't. As long as she kept executing her missions Seth wouldn't try to do anything to her. And even if he did, it would probably be fun to deal with.

Anyway, this well of information was all tapped out. Just as well. Beating up on the local mooks for some necessary intel was extremely boring. They didn't even try anything interesting like coming at her all at once to maximize their chances.

Hopefully her first intended mark would provide her with a bit more of a challenge.

XxX

(Sundown – India – Isolated Dam Area)

With the setting sun at their backs, Naruto, Batsu, and Ibuki had come at a great time to hide while getting a great look at the concrete monolith that was steadily blocking off the water to Dhalsim's village and other areas farther downriver for their own aims.

"Okay." Naruto said, having counted around twenty separate armed guards patrolling the premises thus far, "So blowing this thing up probably isn't the first idea we should go with here since it would probably flood half of the area once we did it."

"I'm not sure blowing this thing is an option anyway." Batsu added on, pointing out the sheer size of the dam, "Look at that thing. I'm pretty sure it'd take everything we've got just to bust a single floodgate."

Ibuki rolled her eyes. Of course she'd be dealing with a pair of luddites. Naruto was the man that openly despised TV and did everything in his power to avoid going on the internet for anything he could get otherwise firsthand, "You know, that's what the control room in places like this are for. There's a way to release the water and open the floodgates. Someone just has to go in and screw with it."

By someone she meant herself, otherwise with the luck of the other two they'd wind up triggering some sort of base self-destruct sequence that would kill everyone and destroy everything within a ten-mile radius.

From their hiding place in their tree, Naruto sat back and started thinking, "From what Dhalsim showed me these guys'll react to anything they see and try to kill it. Fast. With everything they've got. So we can't all go inside. If one of us gets busted inside we're all going to be trapped in there, and I don't really like the idea of getting caught inside another base."

The last time he infiltrated a pseudo-military setup he wound up getting attacked by twelve super-hot female assassins and then had to fight a stark-raving all-powerful lunatic with a machine that could regenerate his fatal injuries.

So his record for things going swimmingly in such a scenario wasn't exactly great.

"So who's going in?" Ibuki asked before both she and Naruto looked at Batsu and spoke in unison, "Not Batsu." For all of his interest in ninja things his stealth left quite a bit to be desired. He knew that, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to act belligerent about it.

"Oh to hell with you both." Batsu responded, dropping down three branches to show his displeasure at them.

"Well whoever's not going in needs to be able to make enough of a fuss out here to occupy most of the guards." Naruto said, pointing to the nearest one quite a distance away, "And they have guns, so whoever does it needs to make it a win." With that he let out a sigh, "I don't even know why I said all of that when I know it's going to be me."

Ibuki pinched Naruto's cheeks and ignored the half-hearted glare he gave her in return, "Then you two should hop to it while I hop to getting inside of that place somehow. I'm not infiltrating until I know you guys have got their attention."

"Yup!" Batsu said, cracking his neck to the side as he placed his fingerless gloves onto his hands, "Alright teme let's get this show on the road and give her an opening." Dropping down from the tree, Batsu didn't mince words or movements before running at the first living thing he saw out in the open. Letting out a sharp whistle he made sure he had the attention of others before launching the first person he could reach with a nasty uppercut.

And with that the first shots were fired in his direction that Batsu dodged by taking cover behind the nearest tree.

Naruto sighed and formed the cross hand-seal with his fingers. He was more irritated at Batsu stealing the opening move than anything else. The flashy and obnoxious entrances were his thing, and his friend went and muffed it all up. Seriously, one punch? He could have tried a little harder than that couldn't he have?

"See you on the other side Ibuki." Naruto said, getting a wink and a thumbs-up from the playful kunoichi before she moved out of the tree in a speedy blur. That was his cue to raise a little hell too, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"

The tree filled up with multiple Narutos that all counted to three before hurling kunai with small bags attached into the air.

A small incendiary charge was attached to them as they flew over the heads of the soldiers shooting at Batsu's place of cover that now numbered two full squads of eight. In mid-flight the bags exploded, sending small bits of shrapnel flying all over, aimed at the ground where it hit a few guards and wounded them, but forced many more to cease attacking Batsu out of fright.

'Chance!' Batsu thought to himself with a grin as he ran out from behind his cover and threw a lightning-quick wide-reaching kick that nailed several soldiers at once, "Mikazukikero (Crescent Moon Kick)!" The action knocked them out of the battle while Naruto's clones beat the daylights out of everyone else, "Nice. What was in those bags and where'd you buy weapons like that?"

"I didn't buy anything." Naruto said with a rather pleased grin on his face, "I made them myself. It's gunpowder and lots of random stuff like thick chunks of glass, porcelain, parts of metal cans, other things like that. Just random stuff that could be sharp and dangerous."

How positively green of him to weaponize stuff he could find around the house, "That's extremely ghetto." Batsu pointed out. Homemade explosives? Speaking of which, did he still have those Molotov cocktails sitting on his counter in his kitchen?

"Whatever." Naruto replied flippantly, "I could have used explosive tags but who pulls those on mooks? I save those for people that it would actually require an explosion or two to beat. Besides, they made enough of a bang where more people will be coming, see?" Naruto concluded, pointing in the direction where they could hear orders being barked out and bootsteps heading their way.

"When you're right you're right." Batsu said, punching into his palm before forming a ki-ball in one hand that he punched forward at the oncoming soldiers with the other before they could stop and start shooting at them, "Kiaidan (Guts Bullet)!"

He might as well have had a grenade launcher from the way the volatile ball of human energy exploded right in front of them. Naruto's clones wasted no time making further copies of themselves and charging forth to dispatch the enemy before they regained their bearings.

"Don't you know who I am? I am a one ninja army!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs as he and Batsu prepared for more soldiers to come in force after this, "Bring your guns! Bring your tanks-!

"Don't bring tanks!" Batsu shouted to directly contradict Naruto, "…Unless you don't have tanks in which case I'm with teme; bring your goddamn tanks!"

"-And I will blow up all of it!" Naruto concluded before he heard safeties being switched off. He and a few of his clones shoved their hands into the ground forcefully and started spinning their chakra through it, "Rasenshinsen (Spiraling Tremor)!"

The ground shook and chunked up with portions rising to block bullets around Naruto and Batsu, and other portions falling out to trap the legs of guards in manmade cracks in the earth. A brave number of soldiers actually made it through and climbed themselves over the raised parts of ground to aim their guns at Naruto and Batsu who raised their arms in surrender. It didn't really stop them from opening fire on them and riddling them with bullets.

Bullets that turned them into smoke that dissipated in the air, much to their confusion.

"Hey." Naruto whispered over the shoulders of some of the soldiers looking at where he and Batsu had apparently been a moment before prior to their mysterious disappearance, "What are we all looking at?" Before anyone could freak out and make a move, Naruto smashed two heads together hard enough to crack some skulls and grabbed another to hold him hostage as a human shield that got the others to hesitate.

They held off of firing long enough for Batsu to basically crush them with the largest piece of fallen tree that anyone had ever been hit with, as he had hurled it directly at them. It had to have weighed several hundred pounds at least. And there was blood. Quite a bit of blood actually.

Batsu dusted off his hands while Naruto continued to hold on to his frightened human shield, "This is like if Balrog fought an infant. New guns or not." He said, kicking at the rifle on the ground that he'd never seen before, "They keep shooting at where we are and not at where we're going to be." They were the most unforgiving moving targets any gunman would ever have the displeasure of firing at, "Who are these guys?"

Switching his purely human shield tactic to neck lock and a wrenching arm submission that he'd learned from Cammy, Naruto decided to get the answer to that question as he held his captured soldier's shoulder behind his back at a rather awkward angle, "You heard the man." Naruto said in English, "Who's shooting at us and blocking off the river with a random dam?"

Apparently he was not any sort of real soldier with a true allegiance to a cause because feeling the pressure on his shoulder socket from Naruto's learned joint-lock loosened his lips quite quickly, "S.I.N. hired mercenaries to run security for them and outfitted us to test their equipment! It's their dam!"

S.I.N. like that weird company that ran the gala that Karin took him to two months ago? What did they do again? He didn't care at the time because all of those obscure companies and corporations blended together with the vague explanations of what they did.'

Batsu almost let out a laugh at hearing that, "Well it really is true. The biggest companies in the world all have shady secrets that keep them moving forward. Rich girl Kanzuki's old man made deals with Yakuza, and S.I.N. exploits rural places in up-and-coming countries."

"Behind every great fortune is an even greater crime." Both Naruto and Batsu would have high-fived at that moment of articulation as far as both of them were concerned, but Naruto was still holding onto a hostage, "Oh. Tell me what the dam's for or I'm gonna turn your arm into a kanji." Naruto said noncommittally.

"What do you even care?" The soldier asked, getting his arm jerked a bit for being argumentative.

"We're radical environmentalists." Batsu outright lied, "Now answer the damn question!" Their impromptu interrogation seemed like it would be cut a little short as the ground started to shake a bit.

As the ground seemed to quiver, the captured soldier had it in him to smirk at the forthcoming misfortune of his enemies, especially the yellow-headed punk that was bending his arm like he was Stretch Armstrong, "You want to know what the dam is for you stupid brats? I'll tell you. We're using hydroelectric power from this river and the amounts of open land around here-."

At that moment a row of trees happened to get run over by a large machine; a newfangled tank without treads. Instead of treads it had one single glowing, rotating orb peeking out of the bottom of it. It seemingly kept the tank upright and mobile, and despite how absolutely heavy a tank was it didn't even make a mark in the ground where it had rolled.

"-For extensive weapons testing."

Both Naruto and Batsu stared at the very agile-looking tank for the longest time before Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh! That's what they do. They make weapons. S.I.N. is a weapons developer." As Naruto seemed to pat himself on the back for remembering any of Karin's business talk while he managed to hide ogling her in her dresses, the cannon of the tank was then pointed directly at them. He then realized the severity of his previous comment, "Oh fuck! S.I.N. is a weapons developer!"

The first crack of the tank's experimental gun ripped through the air right at them.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Nightfall – Aohura City, Japan – Karin's Personal Manor)

Three hours ahead due to the time zone difference, the day was basically winding down 3000 miles or so away in Japan.

For a lot of the day, Karin had been using her resources and her massive computer system set up in her home to try and find something going on in India that would require someone like Dhalsim to request intervention from someone like Naruto.

Even with everything she had at her disposal she had nothing. Which was amazing when one thought about it. She had been able to procure information on things of a sensitive military nature at times, and now that Naruto actually knew people in the military she could probably do better nowadays. There shouldn't have been anything in the world that she couldn't find out as long as she knew what she was supposed to be looking for.

But here she had nothing. No shady land contracts, no major upheavals or power shifts in the region that would cause strife. Nothing that seemed like a matter that a ninja could help with.

With a yawn, Karin stretched her arms out over her head and took off the gloves that allowed her to interact with the smart-screen projections. She'd been standing there and walking around the different screens for hours, multitasking leads that wound up in dead ends, "I can without a doubt say that I am honestly baffled at what is going on."

Her audience consisted of Cammy and Sakura. Mostly Cammy, who was the only one awake and watching everything that transpired while Sakura had eventually checked out and wound up sleeping on a sofa with her head in Cammy's lap, "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you anything that was of more help."

A slight frown appeared on Karin's face at Cammy apparently talking herself down. The girl never really had much of an ego, which was usually great for Karin because in turn she herself had a rather large ego that surpassed even Naruto's at times, but there was something wrong with someone as inherently earnest as Cammy apologizing for something she had no control over.

Rival in the race for Uzumaki Naruto's affections or not.

"It is quite alright." Karin assured her in return, "I cannot expect to have all of the answers so easily all of the time." Placing the gloves on a pedestal that was meant to hold them, all of the computers began powering down loudly enough to stir Sakura from her sleep with a confused start, "Whenever effort is required to accomplish a task it is a sign that what you are working for is worthwhile."

"That's a pleasant way of looking at it." Sakura pointed out, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she pulled out her cell phone to check what time it was. 10:24 at night, "I'm surprised honestly, hearing something encouraging like that from you."

"Of course." Karin said with a grandly superior smile, walking out of her work station with her hands on her hips, "I bring that mindset into everything. Training, school assignments, my work. It is the approach of a winner Sakura-san. You would do well to remember that."

Did she just blatantly bait Sakura into responding? Of course she did. Anyone with eyes could see that. Did it work? Without a doubt it did.

Even though she had just woken up, Sakura was more than ready to duel with her original rival once again if she was up for it. And she seemed to be from the smirk on her face, "So I'm guessing you want a match."

"I am always up for proving my superiority to you." Karin replied, "You are aware of such." Why the hell not? They hadn't done anything active all day long, so why not fight with each other a bit?

Sakura reached into her backpack and pulled out a pair of red 4 oz. gloves that she prepared to put on as she stood up, "I didn't know you were so keen on getting your butt kicked. Should we do this outside or do you have a place inside so I can tuck you in after I put you to slee-, YAAH!" She exclaimed after she found herself stricken on the rear from behind. But there was only one person that was in position to do that, "Cammy, why?"

"Naruto said you two can't argue." Cammy said, still holding up the offending hand that spanked Sakura, "So don't argue." Sakura could glare at her all she wanted. Naruto said what he said about Karin and Sakura fighting, and that was that. If he wasn't there that didn't mean his word didn't stand.

Speaking of loyalties, at that moment, Shibazaki ran into the computer room breathing heavily and looking quite disheveled. The usually composed and cool steward of the Kanzuki heiress seemed like he'd just gotten through running from a monster.

Karin moved forward to her family's employee and put a hand on his back while he was bent over and catching his breath, "Shibazaki what is the matter?"

Taking a moment to get his air back, he eventually stood straight up and tried to save some face, adjusting his glasses on his face, "Ojou-sama we need to get you away from this mansion. There is an attack taking place."

Then why didn't any alarm go off? The place was state-of-the-art set up with the security system in place. And what about the mercenaries she had guarding the grounds? If Shibazaki knew what was happening that meant that he should have already had armed guards on the job. He usually handled most security disturbances without ever bringing them forward to her at all. He was an able employee like that.

Shibazaki didn't know what to say, "Ha… it is as if the assailant turned off our security just by entering the premises… and the power." He involuntarily shivered, "I have never seen any human being completely dodge automatic gunfire like that in my life."

"How can anyone simply deactivate our systems?" Karin asked, actually significantly surprised by that fact, "This is the same system S.I.N. put on the market for military use. Not only is it brand new and barely on the market, but from the computer room I should have been aware if someone were hacking into the mansion."

"We cannot stay here." Shibazaki reiterated, desperately holding on to Karin's arm as if pleading for her to leave, "You are in grave danger if you are indeed the target. I know of your battle prowess, but your safety and protection comes first."

"Well thanks a mil Jeeves." A confident female voice said from outside, and Shibazaki's face showed him to be one step short of soiling himself out of fright, "To think that one little demonstration has you so high on my abilities. How much could you really have seen though? You ran away so fast before I was even halfway done. And you didn't even see what I did once I got inside."

Karin's face hardened and moved past Shibazaki who was babbling for her to stay back and away. Outside of the room in the corridor stood a woman slightly older than Karin wearing baggy white pants and a breastplate instead of an actual top. She was barefoot with foot garments meant to be worn by kick-centric martial artists and had dark hair held up in a unique horned style.

The wealthy girl's eyes lingered on the white pants that were stained with specks of red. More than likely the blood of her security unfortunate enough to run across her.

"You compromised sixty-four armed guards and a brand new security system complete with infrared grids, thermal imaging, motion sensors, outdoor and indoor security cameras that operate in full and no light… all combined costing over 110 million yen." Karin clicked her tongue while crossing her arms firmly over her chest. She sounded more than a little miffed at the latter, and had good reason for it due to how much money she had spent on it. Even so, she mustered a clearly fake yet extremely pleasant smile, "So, how can I help you?"

It could never be said that Juri Han wasn't a fan of sarcasm when she actually laughed somewhat at Karin's response to her presence inside of her home.

But the entire situation tickled her significantly. The most realistically welcome response she'd received from anyone in Aohura City since arriving and it was totally fake, "Ah, I like that." She said, calming down her laughing to wipe away a tear from her eye, "Anyway. I've come to kick someone's ass so hard they meet their maker… and I don't mean God. I literally mean that she's going to meet the person that made her, because I'm going to kill her and Bison's already dead."

Adept enough to put together the clues and know that she was referring to Cammy, Karin pursed her lips, "And that brings you here for what reason? I live here alone, and if you're referring to M. Bison of Shadaloo I really don't know why you're here. The last time I checked the man attempted to destroy my family's company, so I truly doubt you would find anyone here associated with him."

"Hmm." Juri hummed to herself before her leg shot out to the side and kicked a hole in the wall that a small jet could have fit through. Even though they'd been quiet and content to let Karin try and talk her way out of a conflict, Sakura and Cammy couldn't do anything once they were seen inside of the computer room, "So you don't know anything about that little doll-eyed hussy in there being one of Bison's personal bodyguards and assassins?"

"No. I cannot say I have any recollection of that knowledge."

"Ah. I see."

A touch of silence reigned for a moment until Juri moved forward almost faster than Karin's eyes could keep up with. It was definitely faster than her body had been prepared to move or react to when she found Juri's hand underneath her chin, stroking her jawline.

"Are you sure about that princess?" The impression that Karin was getting from Juri was startling to say the least. This woman was a predator in the purest form. Anything she targeted would be victimized, and there wouldn't be anything other than a direct force powerful enough to get the job done that could stop her, "Are you really sure? You're a good liar. Really you are. Couldn't have done it better myself honestly. But let's play six degrees of separation for a moment."

"You, Kanzuki Karin, are a lucrative business partner to American hotel tycoon Ken Masters, who is the noted fellow disciple of former world champion Ryu, who defeated the late/great 'God of Muay Thai' Sagat. The last person Sagat had been seen in any kind of physical contact with before his death was one Uzumaki Naruto, who is listed as living with a girl in his apartment under the name Cammy White, of which many of the official records of her existence have been faked up to a year ago. She seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to the Doll 'Killer Bee.'"

She seemed thoroughly bored by giving her reasoning as to why Cammy was the girl that she was looking for, but there wasn't a single thing that she'd said that was inaccurate or misinformed.

Okay, not that it wasn't something that couldn't have been obtained with a decent amount of legwork and background knowledge, but it was still extremely eerie to hear someone that they didn't know saying all of those things about them and the people that they knew.

"I could have dumbed that down and just said that you know her because you routinely hire the man that she lives with in this town, but that would have been even more boring than what I did." Juri said, stroking Karin's cheek with a finger, "Also, that look on your face is just too priceless."

Yes, this woman was a predator that seemed to revel in playing with her prey.

*CLICK*

Off to the side, aiming through the doorway, Shibazaki shakily held up a revolver properly with two hands, and even that didn't give Juri any concerns, "Leave the premises now." He managed to muster some confidence due to the firearm in his possession, "I'm no killer, but I will have no problem ending your life for Ojou-sama's."

"Well aren't you the textbook definition of classy, giving me the chance to back off." Juri said, still holding on to Karin who seemed to be pondering the merits of making a move despite the fact that her neck was just about in the enemy's hands, "But here's the thing Alfred. The only thing that's going to happen when you pull that trigger is me moving your cute little 'Ojou-sama' right into the path of your shot, if it's even straight to begin with. And all the money in the world can't stop a bullet through the brain. Then I'm going to kill you before you can even set the hammer for another shot so put the gun down, give me Killer Bee, and that'll be that."

"If I'm the one you want that's fine with me!"

From the other side in Juri's blindspot where she hadn't been looking, Cammy was crouched with her fist cocked back for a punch that she lunged forward with. Juri had to let go in order to dodge the attack, otherwise Cammy's red metal-gauntleted fist would have hit her directly in the side of the neck.

When the hell did she even move? Even if Juri hadn't been looking at her through the hole in the wall that she'd made in exchange for threatening Karin and keeping an eye on her gun-toting butler she still should have seen Cammy move via her peripheral vision. But then again, Cammy had been on her right side. That was kind of important to her awareness of her surroundings.

An attack like that was a kill shot. That meant that this was definitely Killer Bee.

Flipping away from Cammy and a newly freed Karin, Juri's smirk turned into a more manic-looking grin as her left eye shone in a dangerously bright pink color, "Well there you are. I've been looking for you kitten. You've made some friends in high places, but then again so have I."

"We've never met before." Cammy said firmly, standing ready to do battle against this new enemy, "I couldn't have done anything to you to justify attacking my friend's home like this."

"I was going to attack you once you went home, but it didn't look like you were leaving anytime soon." Juri admitted with a shrug, "I figured it was going to be some kind of sleepover or whatever it is you high school girls do in Japan."

Sakura actually stopped and thought about it. That was actually a great idea… if this wasn't happening at the moment. Put that in the back pocket for another time when the topic could be brought up without looking negligent and scatterbrained in regards to a dangerous situation.

*BANG*

Shibazaki had actually taken the opening of Juri being away from Karin to foolishly shoot at the woman that had already fairly warned him not to do such a thing. It took every ounce of first step speed that Sakura had been improving on recently to reach Shibazaki fast enough to shove him out of the way of a single kick that would have torn his head clean off of his shoulders.

Sure, the resulting shove from the didn't-know-her-own-strength schoolgirl wound up with him sailing halfway across the room with his body halfway implanted into a wall, but it was vastly better than the alternative.

"Tch." Juri sneered down at Sakura, both of them still frozen in position from their previous actions, "I was going to save you and Kanzuki for later, but I might as well kill three birds with one stone right now."

"You can't take all three of us at the same time." Sakura refuted full of belief in herself and her own abilities. She hadn't been training her tail off for the last eight months for nothing. She knew she was stronger. What she'd just done had proven it. She was not that fast when they had been fighting Mad Gear, "Go away and leave Cammy alone."

"I didn't know you were for harboring murderers!" Juri said, spinning through her previous post-kicking posture to attack Sakura with another nimble kick that tore the air where her head had been, "Do you have any idea how many lives she's ruined at Bison's orders? DO YOU!?"

Finally springing into action, Karin decided that enough was enough and proceeded to join Cammy in attacking Juri while she was trying to get rid of Sakura with a varied array of kicks. Both blondes moved in attacking in a high-low pattern.

"Spiral Arrow!" Her go-to move in mind, Cammy launched herself low at the devilish woman's back leading with her legs and body spinning like a drill while purple ki exuded from her body.

"Ressen Ha (Violent Massacre Break)!" Karin launched herself in a swift midair arc, preparing to bring her arms down in a crushing strike on her to-be target.

Seeing her friends attacking at Juri from behind in a way that cut off two potential paths for attack led to Sakura choosing to stand her ground and position her hands to fire off her signature ki technique to thread the needle from the opposite side, "Hadoken (Surge Fist)!" Sakura's larger than appropriate Hadoken blasted forward from her hands and filled the already difficult but still possible to dodge through space, making such a thing damn near impossible. For anyone.

It was a terrible situation and Juri knew it full well. But before any sort of panicking could take place in her mind, she remembered just what she was now capable of. Her left eye glowed brightly for a split second as her body was revitalized with unnatural energy and she managed to avoid all three moves that had been synchronized to trap her.

It was impressive, because all three of them took extremely different approaches to fighting but they were all able to coordinate their attacks on her at a moment's notice without saying a word to each other, "That was nice." Juri commented, a safe distance away back out in the hallway, "I wouldn't try it again because I'd crush that little formation in a heartbeat, but yeah, almost anyone else would have been in some serious trouble there."

Even in a three-on-one situation she still saw fit to play with them like a cat and a wounded mouse.

"Do not patronize us!" Karin exclaimed, more aggravated than ever after her home had not only been infiltrated and damaged, but after the perpetrator of the act had managed to avoid a pick your poison scenario where she should have had to choose which attack she took damage from, "I know fighters, ninjas, world-class athletes, and people trained in strictly evasion for years that could not do what you just did! What just happened?"

"It was her eye." Sakura pointed out, "Something happened when you two attacked and she turned back to face me when I shot my Hadoken. I saw a flash and then she just moved." She moved when there should have been no feasible way out.

"Points to you for being observant." Juri purred, sauntering forward with her hands on her hips, "It's too bad those points aren't redeemable for giving you a chance against me. But we'll see. The night is young after all."

The girls moved into separate positions and launched themselves in the three-pronged attack at Juri, who was still a bit blown away at how three completely different fighters could try and work together the way that they were doing.

But they just kept missing. Every one of them couldn't strike a blow, and all Juri was doing was dodging them, seemingly sizing them up instead of actively fighting them.

Karin was the first to pull back with Sakura and Cammy doing so as well after they realized that their formation was broken, 'This is a waste of time. She knows we can't touch her unless she tries something against us herself.' And she was having too much fun making them look like fools.

It was about time to remedy that.

"This is completely unacceptable!" Karin stated with a stomp to the ground, "What is happening here? She attacks my home but refrains from actually fighting to try and finish us! She is making sport of us, and I will not stand for it!"

"Wah-wah-wah princess." Juri said, making bawling gestures by her eyes with her hands, "Go cry me a river. As if the weak can dictate to the strong what to do. If I want to play with you I will. Make me fight back if you can. I'm having too much fun just watching you fail."

Cammy's eyes moved to the side and saw Karin's fists clench tightly. Too tightly for preparation to defend herself and she knew what that meant, "No, really, don't-." But Karin moved before anything could be done to stop her. Cammy could swear that she saw her mouth move before she went ahead though. It looked like she'd said 'trust me' or something along those lines.

"Guren Ken!" Closing the distance in the blink of an eye, Karin launched two powerful hard-stepping palm strikes that whipped through the air before pulling back as they both missed cleanly, "Grr."

"Ah, ah, ah." Juri wagged her finger chidingly at the blown attempt, "Strike one. You've got to do better than that."

Karin shook her wrists out and seemingly ignored any calls to get back in line and work in trio with the others before moving ahead and trying Guren Ken again, this time after the second strike she slid for a kicking tackle at Juri's legs that missed again.

"Ooh, closer that time." Juri taunted again after she jumped over Karin, placing herself between the heiress at her front and putting Cammy and Sakura at her back. Both of them made moves to try and attack from behind, but Karin held up her hand to stay them, apparently fuming at every single move she made missing, "Yes, listen to the girl. She's got one move left before I show her just what separates me from all of you."

By now she'd realized what the Guren Ken was all about. It was clearly the staple of how the girl fought. The technique that opened up the rest of the moves that she tried to use since.

It wasn't about the first or second blows landing, even though she was still trying to land her hits and was moving cleanly and quickly. They were still real attacks, fast and hard, but despite that all that mattered most was the third move she made, which she had designed the combo to be next to anything. No matter how clean her palm strikes were, no matter if they landed, there would still be a definite three parts to the attack, and as long as Juri knew that there was nothing Karin could move forward with that would even scratch her nose.

'What is she doing?' Sakura thought to herself, 'Why is she stopping us and doing this alone?' Turning to look at Cammy she saw the girl carefully staring at Juri, but not to spot an opening to attack with, 'She's analyzing her? But she's not attacking.' Sakura let out a small gasp to herself and blocked the smile on her face from coming up, 'She's analyzing how she's dodging!'

Something that was just as important in this case with a tricky opponent. If there was a pattern to how Juri kept evading them, taking a step back to observe it secondhand was the absolute best thing to allow someone like Cammy to do, and Karin was giving her plenty of chances to do so without putting her in danger since Juri had already admitted to being there to kill the former Doll.

Sakura just kept her fists tensed while Karin seemed to be stewing in her own anger. Getting back into her original attack posture, Karin moved forward one more time to attack a waiting and willing Juri with one more Guren Ken combination.

First stepping palm strike: miss.

Second stepping palm strike: miss.

Third strike, changed up to a double palm strike: miss. And badly. She didn't even move forward a step in attacking, and Juri had seen enough as she backflipped out of range of the blow that wouldn't have hit her anyway, "Shinkusen (Flash of Suffering)!"

In the middle of her lightning-quick backflip, she shifted directions in a swooping, diving kick that was sure to be followed up with more and more behind it.

Behind her extended arms with her lowered head no one could see the smirk on Karin's face when she moved her fully extended arms upward to stop Juri's kick without even moving back an inch. The moment Juri's foot touched her hands she swiped her arms apart in an opening motion, knocking her entirely off kilter, "Yasha Gaeshi: Joudan (Demon Lord Barrier: High)!"

Cammy's blue eyes twinkled once she saw Juri knocked topsy-turvy in the air and did not miss, "Cannon Spike!" Leading with a single boot to Juri's back, Cammy drove the kick through and knocked her up towards the ceiling.

'Karin countered her? What did she even do?' Sakura didn't have time to dwell on that as she had to hurriedly charge the falling Juri to jump at her, hands held up and over her head in a double-sledge position, "Sakura Otoshi (Cherry Blossom Drop)!" Sakura proceeded to hammer Juri thrice with the attack before she fell far enough away that Sakura couldn't hit her again.

Upon her landing she watched Juri hit the ground and slide across the floor with a screech coming from the friction on the surface. Her head turned toward Karin as if it were on a swivel and she got view of her rival's very pleased expression.

And why wouldn't she be pleased? Her actions led directly to three homerun hits landing on the person trying to make them look like untrained amateurs. Where was Shibazaki to give her some praise for how incredible that was? For how brilliant she was.

Karin had noticed back before the Second World Warrior Tournament a problem in that kept persisting for her. That no matter how hard she trained, some of the people she spent time around were faster than her and she couldn't bridge the gap quickly enough to set that disadvantage aside. As far as speed went in the regular group of her friends, she was upper fringe bottom tier.

Naruto, Ibuki, and Cammy were top three out of the six of them in quickness, while Sakura and Batsu were beneath her at the bottom, but unlike everyone else except Cammy she didn't have any options for distance attacks to make up for it.

Her physical martial arts skill and comprehension ability happened to be the absolute purest out of every last one of them though, despite the fact that her ki manipulation didn't go any further than augmenting her strikes. She was intelligent, resourceful, and diligent enough to find her own way to fix her speed disadvantage problem that manifested itself in the Yasha Gaeshi stances.

This defensive technique was created entirely to deal with enemies faster than her. She knew that the deadly woman would counterattack since she'd boasted that she would do so after Karin missed her third free move on her, and Karin had realized even before any of that the impossibility of hitting her via conventional methods. Her missed attack at the end of the Guren Ken chain wasn't a miss. It was just a bluff, putting her in the necessary stance and tricking Juri into forcing the counterattack, thus allowing her to land her own counter to Juri's original counter.

Damn it, talent like that couldn't be earned, you had to develop that from scratch! It took a little deviousness too. Just a little bit. And a vindictive streak to take advantage of the character traits of others to manipulate the whole scenario. No one ever said she was the nicest, but you didn't have to admit she was a nice person to admit that she knew what she was doing in a battle.

Cammy still eyed Juri's body carefully, but had to ask the question that even Sakura wanted to know, "How did you just do that?" She said to Karin who was more than happy to explain the genius of her unassuming new technique.

"It is quite simple really." Karin started to say none too modestly, "Whenever one takes any sort of blow while blocking, the arms recoil inward first and foremost, whether the defense is broken or is rock solid, it matters not. The very moment someone makes my arms move from their outright positioning even in the slightest, I trained myself to recognize it and gently move any attempt to lay a hand or foot on me aside."

There was nothing 'gentle' about how she handled the kicking barrage from Juri that never got the chance to get started. How insane did her timing have to be in order for that to work, and how painful was it to train it? How she even found the time between all of her business work over the last several months was another issue.

"So you weren't trying to give Cammy a chance to see how that woman moved in defense." Sakura said, kicking herself for ever thinking that Karin would try and put teamwork first in a situation such as this, "You were trying to goad her into attacking you after you faked making a mistake." And the flow of smashing team attacks that followed was just a fortunate by-product.

Oh well, you couldn't complain if it worked out.

Still quite proud of herself, Karin nodded, "For some reason people think that the fact that I am wealthy makes me prone to throwing temper tantrums when things do not go my way. I have never given off that impression in the past have I?" She asked self-consciously, getting a series of averted eyes from both Sakura and Cammy, "Either way, acting as if I were fighting rashly paid off for us, so I cannot complain about the preconceived notions of others."

On the ground, Juri remained perfectly still before finally rose like the undead, starting from the feet up. Needless to say she did not look pleased.

She popped her back a bit amid the stares from the other girls before she finally graced them with the sound of her voice again, "Okay, that was a good one princess. I'll admit it. That little Batman gambit of yours took some smarts and some talent to pull off." She said in an oddly even-tempered voice. For someone that had just been sent head-over-heels and hit with attack after attack she didn't sound like it in any way, "Treating you like those trash fighters on the streets of your town wasn't fair. You're definitely all worth more than just a warm-up."

For some reason that compliment didn't exactly make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Once again her face turned a dangerous kind of maniacal at the prospect of battle, "Remember the name Juri Han little Doll. It might give you some extra points when the grim reaper asks you who sent you to him."

Alright, I actually wrote more for this, but it was too damn long. Way too long. And I split the whole thing in half.

So later I'll be throwing out the other one, but I have to do a little bit of work on it to try and make it seem like a natural chapter instead of just a straight split. So… expect that, and have a good day.

Hopefully it works for you. Kenchi out.