Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Street Fighter. I need a new fighting game like Bushido Blade to come out. One of my favorite titles lost to time. I was a big fan of that combat system, and I was impressed with it back in PS1 days. I can only imagine what a game like that would look like and play like now.

Chapter 56: Zero Hour

Dust settled as Sakura stood with her hands still outstretched from a blast of her mightiest Hadoken, her eyes locked on Naruto in shock and awe. He stood barely twenty feet away with one arm pointed at her and one pointing away from anything that could have been destroyed.

Limply dropping from her pose down to her knees, Sakura scoffed and couldn't help but slowly smile, "You did it," She knew he could, but it made her heart flutter to see it firsthand.

A trail was burned into the ground in the space between them. Sakura had shot her Shinkuu Hadoken right at him. She hadn't wanted to, and had been afraid that she'd hurt him badly the entire time due to how much stronger her ki attacks were now, fully capable of killing their targets, but Naruto insisted, saying that it was one of the most important things he would ever ask her to do. He never asked her for anything, so reluctantly she had given in.

Not only had Naruto stood his ground against the killer attack, he had redirected it.

Standing off to the side, Ken observed, breaking into a slow clap after the dust had settled and the sound of the attack's rumble had dissipated into the air. He'd been helping Naruto train for a fight against someone with a similar base in fighting style. He'd also been the one to suggest that Sakura fire something heavy at Naruto in the first place.

Ken's focus had been to make sure that Naruto was prepared for the physical portion of their martial art. When it came to the actual sparring, he'd been absolutely relentless. Anything he had the fortitude to throw at Naruto full-speed during a spar would still be nothing compared to what Akuma would bring when the real thing happened. His raw ki manipulation was beneath Akuma's, Ryu's, even Sakura's at this point, but when it came to the actual hand-to-hand he was philosophically their superior.

Still, what he'd just seen…

"Congratulations kid," Ken said, "You just stopped a blockbuster-level attack," Just to stand up in front of something like that took no small amount of courage, but to have the presence of mind to use a technique to turn it back around... 'I don't think saying he has balls is enough of a compliment here.'

Naruto didn't beam cockily, or laugh at his own success. He merely looked at his hands and clenched them into fists. They were numb, but he still felt just fine. This was the jutsu that would make or break the most important fight of his life.

Sakura jumped up and ran over to Naruto, throwing her arms around his neck for a massive hug, "You did it! You finished it!" She could have almost cried. She didn't think it would have meant so much to finally see it happen, but it did.

Naruto squeezed around the girl's waist, shutting his eyes and sighing in deep relief. A stark contrast to his usual demeanor. This had been the most important part of his preparations, and he needed to know that the redirection technique was usable against an attack that would without question maim, or even kill him if it hit him directly.

He knew why she was happy. She knew the gist of his plan when it came to his reason for learning the redirection technique.

Seeing him actually use it, and stand up against her best attack without a scratch while doing it gave her hope. Hope that Naruto wouldn't lose. Hope that he wouldn't wind up a stain smeared across the Pacific Rim.

Hope…

Yeah, he was good at that.

XxX

(With Ryu – Mt. Mikagura, Japan – Gouken's Dojo)

Trekking up the mountain that he'd spent his entire childhood and teenage years on brought on a wave of nostalgia that Ryu hadn't expected as he returned to the only place he had ever called home. He could remember running the barely beaten path up and down, to and from the small dojo day after day for years, at first alone and then with Ken when he'd begun training there as well.

Things were so much simpler then. Train to be the strongest. That was all there was to it. And that was how things had remained, even then. It was just that things kept getting in the way.

He hadn't been back since he'd first left to travel the world and try his hand at taking on the strongest the world had to offer. It was definitely time for a return.

He could think of no time better with the knowledge that Gouken was truly alive and well, and he could think of no better reason to head back than to get his master's advice. The issue with Akuma, Sakura, the Satsui no Hadou, and so many other things were looming just in the distance.

Ryu had hoped that staying there for a few days would have given him some clarity. He wanted some sort of guidance. A way to find a solution to the several situations surrounding him.

Sitting out in front of the small dojo building that had been home in his youth, Ryu leaned his travel bag against his side before looking over. His beloved master stood next to him before sitting down to accompany him. The two reserved men simply sat and stared at the scenery, and it really did feel like old times; back when they had nothing but each other's company.

It had been a time when Ryu could expect to receive Gouken's direction and advice without actively seeking it. But now, it seems he'd come to the source of so much wisdom as though he were a man suffering of thirst, returning to the well which had borne him an untold amount of water in his youth.

Gouken had not advised him, because honestly it was no longer his place. Ryu was an adult. A martial artist of worldwide repute, revered in dozens of nations spanning the globe. He would not make his decisions for him, nor tell him how to live. He could only make suggestions, the way he had for the young girl Sakura. In the end, it was up to the person listening on how to interpret and apply what they were told.

"Master Gouken," Ryu eventually said, feeling the weight of his own thoughts and expectations, "I feel like I'm missing something about all of this. About Sakura, and my own growth," What had happened the night he'd fought with Naruto resonated with him. He couldn't shake it off and just state flat-out that Naruto was wrong about what was the proper thing to do, "I feel as though there's something fundamental that I'm failing to grasp."

He failed to reply at first, but that was simply his way. Instead of simply talking, Gouken wished to measure his words carefully, both to get his point across and to do so in the way that was the easiest for the listener to understand. For Ryu, the best way in the past had been to be direct.

The old man turned to his adopted son and protege, "Ryu, there comes a time in every martial artist's progression where they have to figure out what they stand for, if they wish to continue forward," He explained, tapping on his head and then at his heart, "You must find a tangible focus for your energies that will bring you peace to think about. A balance. Being the strongest is an unclear goal to aim for."

There was no real way to measure it. There were people in the world stronger than those Ryu knew of, and even beyond. To be ridiculous, what if there was life on other worlds? Would he then concern himself with trying to prove himself the combat superior to every being in the galaxy? What if there were other dimensions as well?

It was an intangible goal not just because of that, but because it was one that he could never keep and maintain. Eventually, Ryu would age. He would eventually slow down a step. The condition of his body would eventually reach its limits, and then it would all go downhill. It was nature. There was always someone stronger, and if there wasn't at a certain point in time there would be later.

Even if he ever reached that achievement to a satisfactory degree in his mind, one day he wouldn't be the strongest anymore, and then he would find the inevitable end of the line with his defeat. If there was anything that was clear by now, it was that Ryu did not take the prospect of defeat very well.

Ryu furrowed his brow in thought and consideration. This had gone against certain things that he had determined for himself. Nothing mattered, but the fight. The steady, disciplined progression of his skills, "I don't understand. How am I supposed to find what this is? I can think of nothing of the sort. Is it really such a vital thing?"

You didn't have to be a grizzled adult to find the center of your universe, the thing that would keep your feet on the ground.

"It isn't so terribly difficult. It's something that's supposed to come naturally," Gouken said, "For one thing, Ken has done it. If you want another example, the boy that Sakura has found herself attached to has already done it as well," That much had been clearly evident when he'd met Naruto the first time, "Age, experience, and diligence have nothing to do with it. It's not something that you can consciously seek. It's something that comes to you, but only if you're open enough to accept it."

It was taking most of Ryu's ability to understand to keep up. He couldn't look for it? So how would he know whenever he found what this just so happened to be? And it was supposed to be something concrete? Because it sounded just as abstract as Gouken said his life's goal was.

Ryu's furrowed brow was evidence enough that he either didn't get it, or still didn't see it as important. Possibly both. Thus, Gouken continued.

The easiest way to turn Ryu onto something was to appeal to its use as far as the martial arts went, "If you need a practical reason, this helps you create techniques that better suit your own dynamics and philosophies. From a metaphysical standpoint, if you continue to fight and grow with nothing to stand for, you can find yourself lost. Gaining power just for the sake of gaining it will never bring about one's full potential."

"Why?"

"Attempting to break limits and reach beyond current plateaus is best done with a sense of urgency," Gouken told Ryu with a smirk, "Training to improve is all well and good my child, but in my experience, the greatest strength comes forth when it is truly needed."

It was clear that who he was talking about. The circle of kids out of Aohura City. It was obvious. Naruto and Sakura weren't the same kids he'd gone up against at an airport in Hong Kong for kicks. The two of them alone had gotten stronger over the course of a full year than he'd thought possible, to the extent that they could pass him.

If Naruto hadn't already.

"And they found a need?" Of course they found a need. He didn't even have to ask such a question. The sheer danger that they'd been thrown in since he'd come to town the first time alone would have been enough to make them step up to deal with it. It wasn't just Naruto and Sakura either. The ninja girl, Cammy, the Kanzuki heiress, and Naruto's friend Batsu. Even Naruto's frienemy Uchiha Sasuke had raised his game in response, "…They all found their reasons? Real things to maintain a hold of?"

Now he seemed to be getting it, at least a bit. Gouken nodded in confirmation, "Yes. They've found reasons to make their leaps and bounds in strength, whereas your only concern has been to ensure that you are stronger than the next person in front of you."

Just being stronger by itself wasn't enough of a need to find that breakthrough to the next level? Once again, such thinking went against the very foundation of Ryu's understanding.

Ryu stood and took his travel bag with him, slinging it over his back before turning to Gouken and bowing, "Thank you for your hospitality, master. I believe I've learned what I hoped to. It was... so good to see you again," He finished, truly glad to have seen his master once again. But the road called.

"You as well my son," Gouken said before reaching out and planting a flat, conical hat onto Ryu's head for him to travel with, "Take care. Your real potential still hasn't been realized, and I know you will be greater than I could ever dream."

Ryu stood back up and adjusted the hat on his head with a true, wide smile on his face, "I'll return soon for a visit. There are things I need to take care of first."

This had been just what he'd needed to begin working things out. Whatever his answer was to become the kind of man Gouken knew he could become, he would find it. One day he fully intended on making good on Gouken's belief that he would be the greatest fighter of them all.

XxX

(Aohura City, Japan – Karin's Mansion)

It was a matter of days away, the to-be fight with Akuma, and the closer that day seemed to get, the more closed off the normally tight-knit crew of youngsters in Aohura City seemed to become. They kept mostly to themselves as their concern over the outcome grew, but Naruto kept them all in the loop even if seeing him did make them worry further.

Even if he wasn't in good conscious going to allow anyone he cared about on that battlefield, he wanted them well aware of how he was going to go about getting the job done.

"I am… uncertain about this Naruto-san," Karin admitted with a thoughtful frown, concern clearly evident as she gave her viewpoint on the matter, "You are relying heavily on several unrelated traits of your opponent in order to ensure your stratagem's success. In my opinion, if one aspect fails, I am afraid you will find yourself at a loss."

Him being at a loss during that fight meant that he would probably actually LOSE the fight, and him losing that fight more than likely meant that she would lose him. When she said that she was afraid of him being at a loss, she really, honestly meant it.

"Look Rin-Rin, planning shit isn't my strong suit. I'm more of an adjust-on-the-fly kind of guy," Naruto admitted with a grumble at hearing the doubts being sent his way, "But to me, Akuma is the kind of person that fights one kind of way all of the time."

If no one has ever been powerful enough to force you to deviate from your normal method of combat, why would you choose to? That was the basis behind the planned approach. Even though he'd already fought Naruto once, as well as Sasuke, Sakura, Ken, and Ryu, the common factor in all of those fights was that Akuma had fought almost the same way every time around.

Which to an extent made him predictable. Still, just because Naruto sort of knew how Akuma was going to fight didn't mean he was ready to endure it. No, it just helped him in formulating a way to get what he wanted out of the battle from the raging demon's end of things. He had never strategized for a battle with anyone in his life, at least not beforehand.

"Besides," Naruto said with confidence, trying to assuage her concerns, "This whole thing is Cam-approved."

Karin felt that something about that logic was off. Cammy was the most tactically adept of them all. If there was a way to fight something, it was more than likely that she would be the one to know how to, or find a way to get it done. Very little of what Naruto had told Karin sounded to her like anything the cute little assassin would have signed off on, "Cammy-san approved of your plan, you say?"

"Yeah, I ran all of this by Cam first, and she took out enough of the sucky ideas and came up with better ones to make her feel better about me doing it," Naruto explained, visibly deflating as he remembered how Cammy had hacked away at his original 'plan', "She wasn't even nice about it the way you're being. She just told me if I did stuff a certain way I was definitely gonna die."

Well that made more sense. Good. There were only so many ways to get things through Naruto's head. In Karin's experience, the easiest approach was to simply force it right in there. Way to go Cammy, "So this is merely a revised version of an even more foolhardy plan? I shudder to think what it had been before."

It wasn't Cammy-approved, just Cammy-accepted. There was a difference. The latter simply implied that it was simply the best that was going to be done in a given situation, not that it was an established method to be taken. In the end, Cammy had accepted it, because she of all people, with her complete, unconditional loyalty to Naruto, was not going to be the one to keep him from doing something.

"Well this is what I've got," Naruto told her, bringing that conversation to a stark conclusion. The two sat in silence as Karin stared down at the tea on the table in front of her. No doubt by now it was ice cold. It had been poured for her by her butler nearly a half an hour before he'd left her and Naruto alone, "Are you scared?" He asked her out of the blue.

The earnest question caused her to sit up ramrod straight. Kanzuki Karin did not admit weakness of any sort so readily, least of all fear of another living creature or for another living creature, "Of course not!" She protested loudly before seeing the earnest expression on her beloved's face, "...Are you saying that you are?"

Impossible. Not he, who faced down enemies that most people in the world could never have dreamed of. Not he, who was her strength and courage when there was no reason for her to have any.

This was one person that she could have said without a doubt in her mind feared no mortal creature in existence. At least, she would have until that very moment.

"Yeah, I'm totally scared," Karin's eyes open wide in complete surprise. Naruto had never admitted to being afraid of standing up to anything before, at least to her knowledge. Naruto saw this and smiled at her, "Surprised?" She nodded slowly and uncertainly, "You know, I think you try harder when you're scared. That's... that's when it works best for me, I think."

"But you… you…" Karin struggled to find the words in the face of Naruto's nervous smile, "…You are the most courageous person I know. H-How could you be afraid?"

"Being brave isn't never being afraid of anything," Naruto told her, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Being brave is when you're scared to death of something, but you face it down anyway," After saying his piece, he frowned and tried to yank some of the gravity out of the conversation, "You're the only one I've ever said that to, and I'm still gonna rearrange his face. So if anyone else asks, no I'm not scared of that asshole."

"Why?"

"If everybody else knew I was scared, they'd be scared too," Naruto said to the wealthy young lady, "I figured if anybody'd understand hiding what you're feeling and stuff, it'd be you. That's why I'm telling you."

Karin bit her lip, not quite knowing how to approach him. Dealing with things like this were not necessarily her forte. Yet this was the man who had always been there for her, even when she had questionably been a brat to everyone around her.

She didn't have the strength to stand with him on the battlefield against this Akuma being, if what she had been told about him and had seen with her own eyes was any indication. But no matter what, he still had her support, and she would make sure that he knew it as best as she could.

Sliding into the ninja's lap, Karin wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and embraced him as tightly as she could, as if he would disappear back to whence he had originally came if she let him go. Pulling away just far enough, she kissed his cheek and slid her lips close enough to his ear to whisper softly, "If you die, I will invest in a way to return you to life, just so that I can kill you myself. Do you understand?"

Naruto hugged the wealthy young woman back, snugly pressing their bodies together, relishing in the close contact. A grin covered his face at the thought of Karin trying to talk tough and be sweet at the same time. Oftentimes there was such a conflict between her actions and her words, "I know you would."

But he didn't need them to match up to know that Karin honestly cared.

XxX

(Hokkaido, Japan – Rishiri Island)

Akuma's eyes were set to the sky as the sun came up. Today was the day. Last night had been the first of the full moon period. The sand had run out of that boy's hourglass to prepare. Whatever he had come up with in the last month had better have been enough, or else his life was forfeit.

He had survived once when Akuma knew that his Shun Goku Satsu had made full contact. That by itself was exciting enough. A challenger with enough strength to survive an attack that had killed everyone he'd stricken with it before, and enough strength to come back from it even stronger than before.

"This must be it," Akuma said to himself, "He will not let me down. I am certain of it."

The boy would fight. He would keep coming without surcease. It would take Akuma's full measure to destroy him, and that was what he wanted. He hoped that for once he could finally show the full fruits of his decades upon decades of labor.

It was time. More than anything else before, Akuma sorely hoped that he would not be disappointed by this challenge. For the first time since smiting his coward of a brother and putting him six feet deep, he hadn't been excited to fight. Now it was even more so, because unlike that pathetic pacifist Gouken, the boy was actually fully willing to attack him with intent to kill.

The thought was almost enough to make him smile. Almost.

He had waited until the agreed upon date. He had chosen the battlefield that he wanted. Now he just needed to summon his quarry.

XxX

The first night of the full moon, Naruto didn't sleep. He couldn't. He stayed up, sitting on the roof of his new apartment, staring at the full red moon. A damn blood moon. It was almost funny to think about after Cammy had told him what it was. Either way, Naruto wound up staying awake until sunrise, staring at it with Cammy by his side. Neither of them said anything, Naruto unusually silent.

It was only after he was suited up the next day and ready to put boots to the ground that he came to the startling realization that he had no idea where he was supposed to go.

He tried to fool himself into thinking that the blank stare the gorgeous little assassin gave him after learning this information was just her usual expression, but he knew that she had long since been showing more emotion in her demeanor. On this particular occasion it was all because of him.

So of course he had to make a call to someone with resources, fortunately the only person he would have thought to call had already made her presence felt. It was so convenient knowing a girl with a fleet of luxury vehicles, who could produce a helicopter within the span of ten minutes. The only problem was that since it was her helicopter, using it fell underneath her rules, and she was not willing to grant flight without her presence.

The resulting argument between two forces of stubbornness lasted long enough that the party of three became a crowd of six. Sakura felt partially responsible for this occurring, and wanted to see it through to the end in her own right. Ibuki wanted to support Naruto the way he had done for her when she had needed it in Brazil, the way he had ever since the day they had met. Batsu had only driven over to see Naruto off before he headed off to battle, because that was what bros did for bros.

With time wasting, everyone eventually climbed into the aircraft, trying to figure out where to go while Karin's steward piloted.

"How do you not think to ask where this thing's supposed to happen?" Batsu asked, shaking his head as his hand covered his face. The entire time he'd been getting his ass kicked helping Naruto train for a showdown as best he could, and they didn't even have a venue, "God, how did none of us even ask you before now?"

Because they figured that with the seriousness Naruto had taken everything regarding the conflict with Akuma, faith and outright discomfort over the idea of such a battle happening had prompted them to forgo asking the particulars. That had clearly been a mistake.

The hood of Naruto's fighting outfit was pulled over his head, hiding what it could of his face out of embarrassment, "There was a lot of stuff happening," And that was his defense.

"I think that's enough," Ibuki said, brushing Naruto's arm with her fingertips in a comforting gesture, "Complaining about it won't do anything now," Part of her was hoping that this was a sign that it wasn't meant to be, that it wouldn't happen.

She had been the first person to find Naruto after his original tussle with Akuma, and what she had seen that day could never be unseen. Ibuki would have been just fine if this could have become someone else's problem, or better yet, no one else's problem at all. It shouldn't have been the responsibility of any human being at all to have to stand against that… thing. She'd only ever seen Akuma once, looked into his eyes once, and even from a distance that had been enough.

It was impossible to imagine actually standing and fighting against something like him.

Cammy sat and thought it over before realizing that two of their immediate inner-circle had something that had proven to be very useful in this regard, "Isn't it possible for Naruto or Sakura to sense him?" Both had displayed that sort of ability in the past.

It was a fair idea, but it wasn't apropos in this instance as Naruto shook his head with a frown, "Not from super-far away. Not unless he's really projecting it," Turning to Sakura, everyone saw her trying to close her eyes and focus in on the obvious feeling of Akuma's Satsui no Hadou, but to no avail as well, "If it was that easy to sense him out, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have gotten anywhere near Sakura-chan the last time."

The military is investigating into what could have caused such a disturbance this morning. If you're just joining us, around ten o'clock this morning, a single character was carved into the southwestern face of Mount Rishiri. It is unknown as to what could have created the symbol so quickly and vanished just as fast, but it seems to be a beckoning-."

From up front, Shibazaki turned off the news announcement that had interrupted the commercial radio station that they had been listening to. Without a word he turned around in the seat and got a nod from Karin before changing course and taking them all north. They would have to fly up past Hokkaido to reach that place.

Really? Cutting a message into a mountain to get him to approach? How gaudy.

But Rishiri Island, eh? Well at least now they knew where to drop Naruto for this little showdown. That was the moment where it all felt real. The mood inside of the helicopter felt airtight, as hardly anyone seemed to want to even breathe. The only thing cutting through the oppressive silence of the passengers was the sound of helicopter blades turning.

No adults this time. It was all on them, or more specifically, on one of them. On Naruto.

Things hadn't been this serious when they'd been going to fight Bison. Then, the battle with Vega had taken off some of the tension, and the entire time they had deferred to the adults in Guile, Chun-Li, and Charlie until right when it all escalated.

Things hadn't been this serious against Mad Gear, as they were just a gang, led by a military-minded, talented man, but still just a gang. Everything was right in their wheelhouse for that conflict.

Against Seth and S.I.N., Naruto had been so angry, and everything had transpired so quickly that there hadn't been time to let anything sink in. Now everyone had a month to let Akuma's challenge, and the repercussions of it sink in.

Looking around at the fallen faces of those closest to him, Naruto shut his eyes and pulled back his hood, undoing the headband that he'd worn for years. The metal from the original plate of the forehead protector was dinged and scratched, but the cloth was replaced every so often to keep it in good enough condition.

"Here," Naruto said, holding out the headband to Sakura, her eyes wide at the implication of such a gesture, "I'm pretty sure it'd get torn to bits and I'd lose it today anyway."

"Naruto, I-," Sakura stopped talking when Naruto moved forward and gently kissed her on the forehead before placing his headband on her. As he pulled back from her, he could see moisture building up just behind her eyes "...Why are you giving this to me? Isn't that the only thing you have from your home?"

"Yep. You haven't been wearing the white one you got from Ryu lately, so take care of mine for me," Naruto told her. She had more than likely lost it during her fight with Akuma, because he hadn't seen her with it since, "Besides... this is my home."

It was his home, and just like the last one he had – no, more so than Konoha in a way, because he had chosen to accept this one as his own – he would fight to keep someone from ruining something beautiful in his life.

XxX

(Some Time Later – Hokkaido, Japan – Rishiri Island)

Akuma took up his time sitting on the rocky shoreline of the island, his eyes turned to the south, waiting for the sight of what he wanted coming along the horizon. He could feel it edging closer and closer as the day dragged on. Apparently the message had been received. It was one thing that the weaklings of this planet were good for; if nothing else they knew how to get word around.

Apparently they were so effective at it, they could get word to people who had no business being there as well.

Ryu stood less than twenty feet away, behind the very monster that he had spent years fearing becoming anything like. And yet, Akuma did not acknowledge him for even a moment. Not for the better part of an hour after the white-clad warrior's arrival.

Eventually a low, irritated growl came from the self-proclaimed 'Master of the Fist', "The message I left was not for your eyes, whelp. There is nothing for you here, not even oblivion at my hand."

Ryu's hands clenched in his red gloves, as it had taken a deep introspective look at himself to muster what it took to come out and confront Akuma. He would not simply turn around and leave, "This is what you wanted isn't it? Well stand up so we can end this today."

"I have no interest left in you," Akuma said bluntly to Ryu, "I've grown weary of getting my hopes up. Every time you take a step forward with your power, you take two steps back. Coward," He snorted, "…Afraid of your own strength. What possible value could I find in crushing you?"

"So you challenge a child-?"

"That is no child."

"-You challenge a CHILD," Ryu continued, not allowing Akuma's weak point to stop him, "With the intent of killing him and ruining another? You validate your place by killing anyone who may show a hint of promise before they can even reach it?"

Akuma did not rise to the bait of Ryu's questioning of his fighter's philosophy, "I've lost faith in this world. It's been so long since I've had a true test. What is the use of all of the power I have at my command when I can never fully use it?" He had honed his powers, given of himself to the Satsui no Hadou, only to learn that he could find no equal to match him on the battlefield, "Fighting the weak is something only the weak would take pleasure in. I want the sort of battle where I see my life flash before my eyes. I want to see death standing directly in front of me so that I can lash out at him. You will never be able to bring me such a thing. I see that now."

"And Sakura will?"

"That… is undecided," Akuma did finally open his eyes to speak on the subject at hand, "The fight I want, I'm not expecting out of her anytime soon. Just call it an investment in the future. Besides, I've already challenged the one I know will give me what I seek."

Ryu closed his eyes in consternation, as he had already been aware of what was going on, "…Naruto."

Akuma felt an honest jump of excitement in his heart, thinking of the young man's growth since he'd first annihilated him, "I don't need to place my hand in the process of guiding him. All I need to do is put something he wants at risk and he'll stand to face me. There's no question of if he can rise to the occasion. It's simply a question of when. And I say, that time is now."

And if it wasn't, well that would just be too unfortunate for him, wouldn't it?

"I won't let you," Ryu declared. There was no part of him that thought this was right. He would not, could not allow this happen as long as he had the power to try and stop it, "No matter what it takes."

"You are a fool. You are not even enough for a warm-up," Akuma declared, his fancy with Ryu's development having long since passed, "So go. Let the ignorant masses refer to you as the best in the world. As long as you know the truth for yourself; that you are nowhere close. Because of your own fear of what you could have been," Ryu still stood, thus prompting Akuma to drive the nail in deeper, "I told you to go, you whimpering babe! You no longer hold my interest!"

He concluded this by smashing his fist into the ground, causing a shore-shaking tremor. But Ryu held his ground, merely taking a step back to garner himself some extra space, "You'll punch at the earth but you won't fight me? The ground rarely ever hits back, just so you know."

That did it.

Ryu felt the stagnant pressure of the air around him increase as Akuma stood up and slowly turned to face Ryu. Perhaps there was something to this whole 'taunting' thing after all? Ken did it all the time, and he had never seen the point of it, but now… he was beginning to see the applications to such an infuriating tactic. It did seem to get him the results that he wanted.

Then he felt the first punch. It came without warning, and Akuma hadn't even bothered taking up a stance before gliding over to him like a phantom and blasting him in the chest. Ryu was barely able to protect himself before he was sent flying.

"Begone, weakling," Akuma said, watching Ryu's body smash off of several rocky, seaside peaks before falling into the water. It served him right. Akuma had no time to suffer fools. He didn't make an appearance to humor the egos or senses of justice possessed by others.

Wait, since when was the sound of helicopter blades nearby?

Damn Ryu! He distracted him enough to mask the approaching signature of the boy! By the time Akuma realized this he had been hit by more punches than he had ever taken at one moment in his life. An engulfing mass of vengeful blond shinobi hit him as often as they could, thinking nothing of their own existences as Akuma tore through them like tissue paper, dispelling them and the rest of their brethren.

But it never ended.

Naruto did not let up. Every blow was thrown with ill intent. Every shot that landed was meant to break bone, to tear flesh, to hurt him as quickly and as finitely as possible. The second wave of clones, having learned from their vanquished ilk, even drew kunai, for the little good that human-made steel would have on his skin.

"ENOUGH!" Akuma roared, flaring his devilish, red ki, killing off the remainder of Naruto's dozens of clones with the violent initial discharge. The man stood aggravated in a small crater of his own creation as he pinpointed the weakened signature of the perpetrator, standing forty yards away, completely out of the line of fire, "You."

"Me," Naruto said, not taking a step forward. Instead, he formed a half-ram seal to do nothing more than draw upon his own chakra. At Akuma's feet, the sound of dozens of snakes alerted him, but there were none.

Instead there were explosive tags buried underneath the rubble of the ground that Naruto's clones had been dispelled on. Tags that had ample time to detonate with the time it took to scope them out. Whoops.

*BOOM!*

The resulting blast was large enough that Naruto had to move out of the way lest he find himself caught within its confines, and even then he still felt the scorching heat of the explosion licking at his bare arms and the unwanted extra push of the shockwave driving him farther away.

Naruto dragged his feet to a stop on the rocky ground and turned around to look at the fruits of his labor before being chided for it, "Don't stare, dumbass!" The Kyuubi bellowed at the dog he had a stake in for this fight, "You know that wasn't anywhere near enough! Hit him harder!"

He punctuated this by forcing enough chakra through the seal on Naruto's body to enshroud him. Already on the job, Naruto had already finished the hand-seals for his next move, firing chakra bullets from his throat with a yell, all of them locked on to the combat energy signature that had long since been established as Akuma's.

The volley continued until Naruto's throat felt bloody and raw, the only thing that stopped him from continuing. Sucking down air to try and catch his breath, the chakra cloak around him stabilized enough to form one visible, waving tail behind him.

Even that hadn't finished him off. But hopefully it had angered him, or goaded him into stepping things up. One or the other. Both were just as good. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that simple to get what he wanted. And if Naruto couldn't get what he wanted out of his opponent, there was no way he would win.

"Yes," Akuma said as the dust around him settled. He found himself pleased at the sheer killer instinct behind Naruto's initial onslaught, "A fair opening attack. If that is how you plan on fighting-," He stopped a Rasengan aimed right at his face, just short of making contact by grabbing Naruto's wrist, "-This may be worthwhile," A sharp squeeze felt the bones in Naruto's wrist pop out of joint as his Rasengan lost its form.

Gritting his teeth in pain after the dislocation, Naruto's whisker marks darkened and thickened, as the red cloak of energy around his body grew in strength, bubbling intensely. In his free hand, an even larger Rasengan formed, one that Akuma couldn't have stopped, even if he'd caught the young man by the wrist again, "Odama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere)!"

Naruto slammed the technique into Akuma as he blocked with his own free arm, smashing it downward and causing the rocky shore side beneath them to crack and shatter, sending them both down to the ocean. He was able to stop himself by clinging to a cliff with chakra as rocks and debris fell and splashed into the water.

Wincing at his injury, Naruto snapped his wrist back into place and waited for Akuma to surface. The damaged area burned intensely as the chakra did its work of repairing what was left to fix. Rolling his hand around, he prepared for the first sign of the enemy to continue.

From below, the seas parted. A purple blast of energy flew up at Naruto, the size of a 747. Choking down a gasp, Naruto scampered up the cliff just in time to avoid being caught in the scope of Akuma's killer Hadoken. Naruto beat a hasty retreat away from the rocky cliffs as they seemed to lose all of their structural integrity once the ki attack passed by, crumbling and falling apart.

Stopping at the entrance to a nearby forest, Naruto dodged again as Akuma crashed down from the sky, slamming his fist into the ground and rending the landscape into rubble.

The monster of a man stood straight up, dust and pebbles dropping from his hand as he addressed Naruto, "Did you learn anything from the last time we fought?" He said as he watched a third tail of chakra emerge from Naruto's cloak, "That kind of power by itself won't be enough to even scratch my flesh."

Naruto had reached the limit of how far he could safely go on his own. That much hadn't changed since the night they had clashed in Budokan Hall. He had found ways around it, ways that he felt the need to tap into quickly, but he could only hope that it would be enough to draw Akuma's very best forward.

"I know, but it's like an engine. I've gotta warm it up," Naruto said, trying to put on a confident facade, "I can't just go from zero-to-sixty. Give me a sec."

A smirk came to Akuma's face at that, "No."

Naruto felt what little sense of security he'd had about the battle sink with that one word, "No?"

"No," Akuma confirmed before explaining, "I'm fighting you because I believe that you have the ability to truly test me. What kind of ability would it show if I let you utilize your best attacks. That's not the way a battle should ever work. It's up to you to attempt your best, and it's up to me to keep you from doing so. Whoever succeeds will win, whoever fails will die."

He wanted to see how skilled Naruto was when he had to work against him. That did not mean that Akuma would grant him liberties to give him an advantage. An opponent he had to hold the hand of throughout a fight to ensure a challenge was no one worth fighting in the first place.

Naruto's eyes went wide as the last thing he wanted to happen began to occur; Akuma began to fight him at his base level of power. The original plan called for Naruto to hit Akuma as hard as he could, as often as he could, to force Akuma to draw on as much power as possible quickly into the battle. The assumption had been that anyone actually willing to take the fight to him would have alarmed him so greatly, he would have retaliated in the easiest manner, by coming back with more power.

Pounding away with three tails of chakra wasn't enough. That had already been established. But Naruto hadn't had the time to split control and go for six. There had been an opening, where he could have gotten the drop on Akuma unawares, and he had taken it. Hitting six tails before making his move would have lost him the element of surprise.

When balancing and weighing his options in the span of a handful of seconds, he'd taken the free, open shots on a negligent foe opposed to powering up and taking him head-on in a situation that still wouldn't have guaranteed success.

Akuma's movements were difficult to keep up with. Only Naruto's failed attempt to stop him by extending his chakra arms gave him the warning he needed to dodge a crushing straight punch. The force behind it was so great it cleared a path through the forest after it had missed, barreling down trees for yards.

Naruto avoided peril from several punches and kicks by pushing them past him without ever putting his body in the path of their trajectory. He'd learned from training with Ken the way that a master of the style intended to throw their physical attacks, and there was no disciple of that style more adept with the actual hand-to-hand techniques than Ken.

He moved in and wrapped Akuma in a five-limbed bearhug, using his arms and chakra tails to try and crush Akuma's body and burn him with the powerful, caustic chakra of the cloak. The focused force of all of Naruto's strength being harnessed in such a small area caused the ground to shake underneath them.

Looking up at the hulking martial artist's face, Naruto saw no reaction, even as he looked down to stare right back at the young ninja. Akuma broke the hold, with what felt like nothing more than a full-body flex of his muscles. Without a second of wasted motion, Akuma grabbed Naruto by the face and took off through the forest, felling trees by slamming his body into the trunks.

Naruto dug his three chakra tails into the ground to try and drag Akuma to a stop, but he only wound up serving to effectively till the ground, as any speed lost wasn't significant enough to keep the man's actions from hurting him.

On one of Akuma's swings, Naruto freed himself, flying forward until he landed ahead of Akuma in the middle of his path. Charging forward, he met him, shoulder lowered, and slammed himself right into Akuma's torso. He barely budged, and Naruto held tight in his own right. Sinking his claws into Akuma's gi, he then wound up and sank both of his fists into his kidneys.

Akuma let out an irritated growl and lifted a fist up, covered in purple ki, intent on punching it straight through Naruto's back, when a powerful blue Hadoken exploded in his face.

The surprise attack gave Naruto enough time to grab Akuma with two of his chakra tails and lift him high into the air before slamming him down into the dirt, using the third tail to smash him down even harder. Before Naruto even felt him twitch, his tails dragged him through the ground, bringing him back up long enough to be served up on a silver platter.

"Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (Tornado Whirlwind Leg)!"

A very familiar attack came spinning into Akuma like a buzzsaw, the user's ki looking similar to lightning around his body. He came in faster than Naruto had thought possible from someone not named Ken, blasting Akuma dead-center with the hardest point of his heel. Akuma's mouth was forced open from the impact as blood and bile rocketed from the inside of his body.

Like the world's meanest game of tetherball, Akuma played the ball, while Naruto's chakra tails played the rope, only there was no pole. The black-clad destroyer cleared an entire section of forest with his body, propelled by the force of one man's leg.

Naruto watched Akuma disappear amid the violent sound of trees snapping and uprooting from the soil before turning to the perpetrator of the attack, "R-Ryu?" He asked, keeping control of the delicate balance that his temper existed under when using three tails. Ryu wasn't really his favorite person in the world at the moment, but any port in a storm, and there were few people Naruto would have trusted to actually be capable of bringing the noise against someone like Akuma.

If he was there to help, more power to him.

Half of Ryu's gi top was gone, one side hanging off of his shoulder. His body was covered in bruises and cuts from Akuma's single punch that had knocked him out before Naruto had ever even arrived. He woke up after feeling the clash of power between the two and quickly made his way to interject himself into the proceedings, "I would ask you to leave this to me, but I doubt that you would. You've invested too much into this already to just turn and flee."

Naruto nodded, glad that Ryu understood that much of the situation, "If you're aimin' to team up, that'd be great."

"It shouldn't be that difficult," Ryu said just as an explosion of power rocked the two of them from a distance, "...I believe that would be for us."

"Give me a sec," Naruto said, holding a hand-seal as he tried to clear his mind and focus, "I'll be right behind you."

Ryu believed him, and headed forward in the direction of Akuma, stopping when he found him slowly walking their way. The sheer dark red aura around him burned with enough strength to bend and break trees out of his way as he walked by them.

Not stopping to gawk, Ryu dashed right at him and unleashed jackhammering punches at Akuma. He dodged them and struck back with a single open palm full of the sickening ki of the Satsui no Hadou. Ryu avoided it, but Akuma's hand struck the ground and sent rocks and dirt flying right into his body, eyes, face and all. Akuma flipped over the debris, and barely able to see, Ryu prepared to defend from an aerial attack.

"Hyakki Gouzan (Hundred Demons Great Slash)!" Akuma landed in front of him and ducked low to slide right into Ryu's legs, knocking him to the ground.

His adversary downed, Akuma lifted his leg and stomped down at Ryu's face with his sandal-clad foot. Ryu caught it in his hands, barely able to keep Akuma from crushing his chest cavity. It took all of his strength just to absorb all of the impact and save his life. His entire body sank into the ground as Akuma's sandal touched his chest.

Removing his foot, Akuma prepared to elbow down through Ryu as though he were a stack of bricks. Thinking quickly, Ryu pressed his hands together and fired a Hadoken into the air from his back, missing Akuma's face by inches. Using that opening to get back up to his feet, Ryu grabbed Akuma by the collar of his gi. Akuma quickly broke his grip and turned the tables, using Ryu's collar to slam him into a boulder.

As he was held against the rock, Ryu felt his skin begin to bleed and burn underneath the grasp of the ruthless fighter and his oppressive aura. He just couldn't dig deep enough. Akuma wasn't offering him an opening to hit his go-to moves. Akuma knew every technique Ryu knew, and could utilize them with a killing edge to back them up.

Ryu had gotten him twice with the element of surprise, but otherwise he'd been neutralized consistently. Twenty more years of his high-end training, and Ryu still wouldn't have been certain that he could reach that level. It was on par with, if not beyond Gouken.

It shamed him. It made him feel lower than he ever thought he could feel. He had come to fight in place of someone who he thought could not defend himself, only to find that he wasn't any better off. He did not have the might to bring Akuma down. Not alone.

But he wasn't alone. And it was at that moment he remembered that fact, forcibly.

A look of surprise registered on Akuma's face as he felt Naruto's energy signature literally double in intensity in a single moment. It was all the time he had to register this new, interesting turn of events as Naruto bulldozed every bit of foliage in his path, using his speed boost to appear at Akuma's side and swat at him with all six of his chakra tails. It was three more than Akuma had last seen, and though he blocked enough of them to keep from taking a real blow, the impact sent him spinning away, carving an infinity-like pattern in the ground with his feet as they remained planted in the dirt and grass.

What he locked his eyes on, he almost mistook at first. A small body covered in bloody red, pulsing energy, the bones of what appeared to be a fox armoring the top of his head and the back of his body. This was not a human being any longer, but it was all Naruto.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen mankind produce. A being that clearly only had one purpose to exist, to destroy whatever stood in the path that required its presence in the first place.

Ryu's jaw dropped at the sight as he pressed his back against the rock Akuma had first slammed him against. This was the level of power that Naruto had achieved. The sort of power that made even Akuma stop and take notice.

Naruto's voice came out distorted, as if two of him were attempting to speak from the same body, "I told you didn't I?" He vanished and reappeared at Akuma's back, "Just give me a sec."

A grin on his face, Akuma turned to deliver a bone-shattering punch, but all he hit was the red afterburn of Naruto's aura. A chakra tail latched onto the extended arm and attempted to pull Akuma, but he clenched his toes and kept a hold of the ground. With a wrenching pull, he yanked Naruto off of his feet and sent him into the air.

"Let me show you," Akuma said, ducking down as he prepared to leap into the air, "A taste of the power that will rend the heavens asunder!" He left the ground like a rocket, flying at Naruto with the fastest, most powerful Senpukayku he had ever lain eyes on.

The technique was unstable and would only inflict grievous harm on its target. Instead of it focusing on the blunt parts of the user's foot and leg, it incorporated the blade portion of the foot, and the thinner, sharper area of the leg itself. That was to say nothing of the staggering killing power behind it. If done to a weak enough target, it would cut clean through whatever it was, and not much seemed to be strong enough to endure it.

Before Akuma could head up after him though, Naruto preempted him, throwing out all of his tails as a balancing tool to right himself in the air. The tails began to rotate in front of Naruto, red beams glowing from their tips. Raw chakra fired from the tails, reminiscent of a six-barrel gatling gun, "Jidou Shinkoshoku Hanabi (Automatic Crimson Fireworks)!"

Akuma let out a roar as he was engulfed by shell after shell of Nine-Tails chakra tore apart the landscape around him. Errant shots flew all over, so much so that Ryu had to dodge a few. The boulder he had been leaning against was turned to scraps of rock just from a handful of them.

Moving right through the center of Naruto's focus of fire, Akuma rose into the air, leading with his fist, his body cloaked in red ki, "Goshoryuuken (Great Rising Dragon Fist)!"

Naruto cut off his rate of fire long enough to push himself through the air and avoid the punch that would have cut into him, vanishing into the rising smoke and dust. Akuma maneuvered his way to the ground quickly with the Ashura Senkuu movement, and kept his senses wide open upon landing, knowing full well that Naruto would use the cover to move around and strike at a weak point whenever he found it.

"Shinkuu Hadoken (Vacuum Surge Fist)!"

The cloud of debris split wide to clear the way for Ryu's shining blue energy blast that burned a trail through the ground as it rushed to its target. Akuma moved out of the way as Naruto stormed in, attacking with a swipe of his claw. Despite the miss, it caused a wave just off the coast of the island. Trying to follow through the motion with a kick was Naruto's folly.

Akuma caught Naruto's leg out of the air and twisted his own body around it before dropping to the ground on top of it, all of his weight and force aimed right at Naruto's kneecap. Naruto howled in agony only for Akuma to wrap his hand around Naruto's open mouth, ki pulsing in the palm of his hand, set to fire down his throat, "Taste oblivion, child!"

Ryu kicked at Akuma's face and found it blocked by his free arm. The simple act of repelling Ryu's attack knocked him ten feet away where he responded with a Hadoken. Akuma swatted it away with the back of his hand only to feel razor-sharp teeth sink into the bottom of his hand, even through the ropes he kept them wrapped in. He stood up off of Naruto and pulled his hand away, losing a chunk of it in the process.

Naruto's tails pushed him off of the ground and quickly went above his head, forming the largest Rasengan any of them had ever seen him make, and that Naruto had ever even tried, aimed right at Akuma. Both Akuma and Ryu moved as far away from Naruto as possible in opposite directions as the jutsu hit the ground with a guttural roar .

The land composition of Rishiri Island did not agree with that particular course of action. Unfortunately for it and everyone else on it, the parties responsible weren't exactly worried about the widespread consequences of their powers.

Oh man. The rumble in the north is on. It's going down, and there's no telling who or what will be left standing in the end. Our main man is having a rough time trying to force Akuma into doing what he needs him to do. Even reaching the limits of his own control, Naruto has yet to force Akuma to go all out.

And Ryu is finding himself coming up short and falling behind as he strives to make a difference and rid himself of his literal demon. To prove to himself that he is not guided by the darkness in every person's heart, that he is above it, he must vanquish the man that embraces and embodies it. But will he lose sight of his reason and principles in his bid for supreme victory?

Ooooooohhhhhh.

Now, once more I find myself compelled to pizimp the Fandom Flux Podcast, because I'm trying to make that internet money, you know what I'm saying? If you want to hear what an idiot I am in real life and my dumb opinions on things, there's a link near the top of my profile page to the Youtube page where the episodes are, as well as to the actual site itself.

...Trying to get some fat stacks here. Or Phat Schtackz if you're cool.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Kenchi out.