Chords of Love: Ballad to Various Loves

Chapter 3

Waking up was tough, especially after three days of staying up in a row, but then again he's done worse so it wasn't that bad. The main thing that had been making his sleep a bit crappy was Harold as the scrawny dude's constant snoring.

Now he liked to think of himself as being patient with being able to handle things but with having stayed up for three days his patience was beyond thin. Harold was lucky he and Duncan had just shoved him into a sleeping bag and tossed him outside the front door.

"How are you holding up?" Courtney asked as she sat down beside him, setting his bowl of oatmeal down for him since she had offered to get it for him.

"Better a bit, some more sleep would have been great but that's my fault for not thinking to bring ear plugs" Naruto told her, giving her a thankful smile for worrying about him.

"I have a few extra pairs if you need them, I wouldn't mind giving you them if you need them" she said with a smile which made him chuckle a bit with a grateful smile.

"Thanks, really helps out" he said before they noticed Chris walk in, look around a bit before he came over to their table.

"Whoa Naruto, Duncan, you two look like crap!" Chris told them bluntly, making Duncan glare heavily at him before Naruto sighed.

"Yes we had rough sleep a bit last night due to Harold's snoring. We fixed it but only got about five hours of sleep, thanks for noticing" Naruto flatly told Chris while giving him a flat look, his eyes calmly telling the man to stop it which thankfully Chris got as he held his hands up in surrender. This also thankfully got Duncan to relax a bit since he was also on edge due to lack of sleep.

As the door opened Naruto quickly burst out laughing as Harold stood there for a second and started walking towards them. The guy was walking as if he was the hottest thing around with a visible 'look at me' vibe going on, completely oblivious to other people's laughing at him and his incredibly thin drawn on marker mustache.

He only seemed to really notice when he sat down at the table. "Okay what!?" Harold yelled, clearly getting to him a bit before Geoff leaned over the table.

"Someone messed with your face dude" he told him as Harold picked up a nearby spoon to look at his reflection on it.

"Whoever drew that I feel you missed out the chance to use spray on hair dye to turn his hair blonde and make him look even more like Napoleon Dynamite" Naruto said with a chuckle, noticing a smirk on Duncan's face as he looked up at him as if to say 'I'll keep that in mind'.

"Ugh I'm so tired…I can't feel my face" Gwen groaned out as she pushed open the door and slunk over to her team's table, barely even looking around as she slumped onto the table once she sat down.

"Ah a familiar feeling, I remember that from the first time I stayed up this late. Its hell but you'll be okay, just take it slow" Naruto told her from across the way, getting her to look up slightly and smile at him before she went back to having her face buried on the table top like Duncan's was.

"So let's go over the rules one more time" Heather started once it seemed everyone else was busy talking amongst themselves and Gwen had seemingly passed out. "Number 1: I am the captain of this alliance so I get to make the rules. Number 2?" she said as she motioned towards Beth and Lindsay, leaving it open for them to continue in hopes that they knew the answer.

"Breaking the rules can result in getting kicked out of the alliance?" Lindsay answered a bit unsure but hopeful that she was answering correctly.

"Good!" Heather praised as she was glad the airhead at least understood that much. "Number 3: I can borrow any of your stuff without asking but my stuff is strictly off limits" she told them, getting them both to look at themselves unsure about what she just said before Lindsay rose up a finger.

"I don't know about that last rule…" Lindsay said as that didn't quite make sense to her.

"That's cool, I can change it. I can also find someone else to take to the final three with me" she threatened, smiling as they quickly shook their heads as if afraid of not being brought along with her.

"Okay campers listen up! Your next challenge is in 10 minutes and be prepared to bring it!" Chris told them which only made them groan a bit at.

"Seriously? What about the whole 'three days between challenges' thing you told us about?" Courtney asked as her team had two people in zombie-like states as opposed to the other team which only had Gwen like that.

"Well here's the deal, the awak-a-thon was a mellow challenge. No real action. Which means we need to crank out another blood pumping challenge to help make up for it" he explained, making Duncan sit up and glare heavily at Chris.

"Should we keep expecting you to go back on what you tell us?" Duncan growled out, clenching a fist and slamming it on the table as Chris smirked and nodded.

"Who knows? Depends on the day. Remember, 10 minutes!" he reminded them, not really caring about Duncan's glare as he left to seemingly get ready for the challenge.

"Don't worry, we have Eva to help if it's a physical challenge….right?" Katie asked, looking over to Eva who was actually sporting a bit of a smirk as she looked up from her oatmeal once noticing everyone's eyes were on her.

"Yeah, I can help make up for those two since they did help us win the last challenge. That's what teammates do right?" she told them, smirking a bit at Naruto who could feel the slight teasing in her tone.

'Eva teasing eh? Good for her' he thought as he smirked back at her with a chuckle as they did their best to finish up breakfast in time.

They were just told to walk along the beach by the camera crew and that they'd know it when they saw it and that was definitely the case. It was kind of hard to miss a large court with see through walls and bleachers on the beach.

"Seems it is physical…perfect" Eva said with a grin as she popped her knuckles, making the other team a bit nervous as they walked inside.

Once inside Duncan quickly flopped down onto the bleachers with a loud thud, though the punk didn't seem to care in the slightest. "Wake me up and it'll be the last thing you do" Duncan threatened them before putting his face back down onto the bleachers.

"Don't worry, we should be fine since we do have one more person than the Gophers" DJ said since he could understand Duncan not wanting to be bothered, he was one of the final three in the last challenge after all.

"This is all your fault you know," Courtney started as she narrowed her eyes at Harold with her hands on her hips "you and your snoring face!" she told him as she jabbed her finger on his chest.

"Its called a medical condition. Gosh!" Harold told her, yelling the last bit which made a lot of people nearby shrink a bit due to him getting in Courtney's face to yell.

"Easy there Napoleon Dynamite, no need to yell your catchphrase at us or next time you snore you might find your sleeping bag in a canoe this time and not just on the porch" Naruto warned with a hard glare since yelling like that at Courtney, scaring Katie, Sadie, and Bridgette in the process was not cool. Thankfully he got the warning as Harold shrunk back and scooted away from them, nodding slightly which made the girls smile at him a bit before a loud whistle went off and Chef, in referee gear, walked past them.

"Today's challenge is the classic game of dodgeball" Chris started to explain once Chef was beside him. "The first rule of dodgeball is-Do not talk about dodgeball?" Chris continued to say before Noah cut him off, getting chuckles from several people who understood the reference.

"As I was saying," Chris continued ignoring Noah's comment "if you get hit with the ball, you're out" he said as he threw the ball at Courtney, hitting her in the gut and sending her back a bit.

"You okay there?" Naruto asked as he was quick to catch her before she fell down, getting her to weakly smile up at him as he set her back on her feet.

"Yeah I'm fine… thanks Naruto" Courtney told him with a soft blush, finding being in his arms to be rather…something before she shook herself out of it and looked back at Chris. "But hey! You can't do that!" Courtney told him before she yelled at Chris and threw the ball back at him only for him to catch it.

"If you catch the ball, the thrower is out and the catcher gets to bring in a team member out on the court" Chris continued to explain before he tossed up a ball into the air. "Now Geoff, try and hit me" he told the party boy who seemingly waited for his cue.

"If you are holding a ball you can use it to deflect a ball but if it knocks the ball out of your hands, you're out" he told them before Lindsay rose her hand.

"So, um, what do I do again when the ball comes at me?" Lindsay asked confused before Chris gave Geoff a signal for him to throw.

"You dodge!" Chris yelled as he deflected the ball thrown by Geoff back at Lindsay. Chris fully expected it to hit the airheaded blonde only for a hand to shoot out at the last second and grab it, keeping it from hitting her.

"Or you catch it. Think you got it Lindsay?" Naruto asked her with a smile as she, and the others, stared in shock as his hand was mere centimeters from her face to show he had just saved her from being hit in the face.

"Y-Yeah, I think I do" Lindsay said in a slightly dreamy tone from being saved like that, smiling up at Naruto as he tossed the ball to his other hand, shook the hand he caught it with, and threw it back at Chris who in turn got hit square in the gut.

"O-Ow…y-you have one minute before the first game starts…" Chris said, clearly winded and a bit hurt from the throw before he cleared his throat and straightened himself. "Due to the Bass having one team member more than the Gophers and the Gophers having lost the last challenge they get to choose one Bass member to only be able to participate in one game. Five people per team now get ready!" he told them, getting annoyed looks from the Bass and smiles from the Gophers before he walked off.

"So it's going to be obvious who they are going to pick but really, it's between two choices" Bridgette said as she looked at Naruto and Eva, the latter looking more annoyed by it.

"One is speed and power while the other is just raw insane power" Sadie commented with a giggle as Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head embarrassed while Eva crossed her arms with a proud smirk on her face.

"Whichever they choose we still need a strategy and I think I got something to 'test the waters'" Courtney said as they huddled together and she told them a bit of what she had in mind, which honestly was a bit of a mind game that they knew they could back up.

As Chef blew the whistle, telling them their one minute was up, he looked over to the Gophers for their answer.

"We've decided! Eva will be the one to only be able to be used for one game" Heather announced to Chef, seemingly having talked it over with her team and came to an agreement.

"Tch, like I care. Just means you're afraid of me, personally I'm flattered" Eva said with a shrug of her shoulders before sitting down next to where Duncan was laying down at. "Won't make much of a difference as we'll still cream you" she added as the first five of their team walked out onto the court.

For starters they had agreed to go with their 'light' members, consisting of DJ, Courtney, Katie, Tyler, and Harold. It had been the start of Courtney's plan as one game was a decent sacrifice to see what the Gopher's start was going to be.

The Gophers, from where Naruto was sitting next to Bridgette, seemed to be a bit of a mix with some 'weaker' members like Lindsay and Cody, mixed in with strong and smarter ones like Leshawna and Heather with a screwball of Izzy added in.

"Bring it on fishies, if you think you can win three in a row then you got another thing coming to you" Heather goaded with a smirk, giving a 'come at me' wiggle with her finger while eying them down.

"Oh you're going down! We're gonna bring the dinner to the table and then we're gonna eat it!" Tyler said trying his best to trash talk only for everyone on his team, even Harold, to face palm or roll their eyes at.

"Both teams ready? Best out of five games wins! Now lets dodge some ball!" Chris started them off before Chef blew the whistle to officially start the first match.

Cody was the first to go for a throw, trying to go for Tyler only to miss. Tyler seemingly went into 'serious mode' as he narrowed his eyes only to start spinning around in a circle, potentially trying to use centrifugal force to make his throw stronger….only to let go at the wrong time and send a ball flying directly at Sadie and knocking her off her seat.

"That'll smear the makeup" Chris said with a chuckle while Naruto and Bridgette helped her up.

"Great job, now lets see if you can hit someone on their team!" Courtney yelled as she put another ball into a sheepish looking Tyler's hands.

Though as Izzy quickly pounced, throwing a ball fast at Tyler and hitting him square in the face at high speed, he didn't get to use it as he fell back a bit and out of the ring.

"Ow!" Tyler winced as Chef blew his whistle and he limped over to the bleachers, not noticing the somewhat smug look on Sadie's face as she rubbed her cheek, which no one blamed her for.

"Okay Tyler is benched for the other games with that poor performance" Eva said with a roll of her eyes as everyone nodded a bit.

"Time to unleash my wicked skills" Harold announced, a driven look on his face as Leshawna rolled her eyes at it.

"Yeah? Well bring it string bean, lets see what you got!" Leshawna goaded, walking closer to him with her arms spread out to clearly let him have a free shot at her.

But…like Tyler, it was clear from the start that Harold wasn't going to work as he balanced the ball on his knee as he stood on one foot with his arms stretched out like a bird only to grab the ball with both hands, take one step forward, and slam the ball on the ground.

This literally did nothing as it bounced back down and slowly rolled towards Leshawna who picked it up and smirked and Harold. That was enough to make Harold scream like a literal little girl before she pegged him hard in the back, also sending him skidding out of the ring.

"And that is two people benched for later games" Geoff suggested with Eva nodding in agreement as given she and Naruto were the most athletic, Courtney had asked them to see who would and wouldn't work in later matches.

"Can someone tell me what I'm supposed to do with this again?" Lindsay asked, walking forward a bit with a ball in her hands before Katie threw hers and pegged Lindsay in the head knocking her over.

Naruto had to wince a bit as he noticed a bump forming on her cheek as she walked off the court. He felt a bit bad as she seemed a bit upset before he smiled and gave her a thumbs up once she looked his way which thankfully seemed to cheer her up.

He though quickly had to catch a ball that got sent flying at him, raising an eyebrow as he looked over to see Heather's arm still in the motion of having thrown it.

"What the heck was that!? Ref he's not even on the court!" Courtney yelled, upset that Heather would attempt something like that for whatever reason before Chef looked over at Heather with a raised eyebrow.

"Whoopsie, slipped!" Heather said in a fake 'accidental' tone which Courtney and others weren't buying while it only making Courtney more upset as she picked up a ball and threw it at Heather.

Heather gasped and let out a grunt as the ball pegged her in the face, not knocking her over but jolting her head back. "Whoopsie, slipped" Courtney mocked back at her with a smirk, only making Heather glare as she stomped off the court.

Izzy was next to get out, her ball being caught by Katie with Leshawna then taking Courtney out. After that Leshawna was the next to drop out as Katie and DJ teamed up on her, her only able to block one shot before the other hit her square in the gut.

With only Cody left it was pretty easy for DJ and Katie to take him out which spelled pretty well for the Bass as even with their 'weaker' members they were able to win the first round.(*1)

"Nice job everyone! That was great!" Bridgette told them as Katie and DJ walked back, Sadie quickly hugging her friend as Naruto and Geoff fist bumped DJ.

"Yeah, you guys didn't do half bad but don't get complacent. We still have to keep at it" Eva told them, getting them a bit pumped up as Chef blew his whistle to show them they had to pick their five.

Next round the Gophers went with Beth, Trent, Izzy, Lindsay, and Justin while the Bass went with Katie, Sadie, Bridgette, Geoff, and Courtney.

Both Eva and Courtney wanted to save him for a later round as, alongside Eva, he was another ace in the hole.

"You know, I don't mind honestly since I'm still a bit waking up" Naruto said as he stretched and yawned while Eva nodded beside him.

"Hence why you aren't playing. We need you full batteries when you go out which is also why we aren't waking Duncan up despite him probably being good at stuff like this" Eva explained, glancing over to the sleeping punk who was still completely out like a light.

The game actually went pretty good, Sadie getting Justin out with Bridgette catching Beth's ball to get her out. Though, everything seemingly started going downhill as Chef pointed at Tyler and motioned for him to get in the ring.

"What!? No! Put in DJ, not Tyler!" Courtney yelled as Chef shook his head with a smirk.

"Sorry girlie but I choose who goes in, not you brats. Now continue the game!" he ordered, blowing his whistle to start the game again.

Tyler seemingly hadn't even heard Courtney's complaint as he ran through their side of the court, picking up and snatching five dodgeballs with a determined look on his face. "No, no, no! Stop him!" Eva yelled out, Geoff trying to before he had to jump back as Tyler started spinning again.

The first ball that shot out hit Chef in the guy, the larger man not too affected more than just being confused what was going on while the next nearly missed Chris who ducked in time.

"Hey! Watch the face dude!" Chris yelled out with a glare, not happy about nearly being hit.

After that the next one flew at the Gopher's bleachers, causing everyone to dive out of the way to avoid being hit.

The last two however flew out at the same time, both of them hitting Lindsay one after another in the face. The first made her jolt back while the second one knocked her down and got Chef to blow his whistle.

"Finally!" Courtney exclaimed, glad that despite the 'chaos' that was Tyler, he at least hit someone on the court.

"Both of you are out! Lindsay for getting hit and Tyler for hitting her twice as well as everyone who wasn't in the game" Chef announced, making Tyler shrink a bit before Lindsay hobbled off the court, her face swelling and making it hard for her to see before she nearly fell over.

"Easy there Lindsay, wrong set of bleachers and you nearly took another spill" Naruto told her, surprising her, as he kept her from falling over. "Here, lets get you some ice. Does that sound okay?" he suggested while he stood up and helped her back to her feet.

"Yeah, that sounds great" Lindsay told him with a slight dreaminess to her tone as she smiled up at him, getting him to chuckle as he looked over to Chris.

"Hey Chris, I'm going to go take Lindsay to get some ice, that okay?" Naruto asked the host, getting a raised eyebrow before he shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure thing man, just be back in time for the next game. I'll radio the camera guys when it's close to starting as we need a few minutes to collect the balls Tyler flung all over the place" the host told them with a sigh as when Tyler had almost hit him and the Gophers both of those balls had knocked over carts of dodgeballs as well.

"No! Hey, you can't go off with someone from the other team like that! You are so close to being out of the alliance!" Heather yelled after them, getting Naruto to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Chill Heather, I'm just helping someone injured and last I checked there are no rules against that, right?" he asked, looking past Heather to Chris who nodded. "Also, if I were you I wouldn't yell about an alliance for everyone to hear" he whispered with a chuckle, winking at her before walking off with a happily smiling Lindsay.

"Get some ice from my fridge but I swear if anything is out of place you are getting skinned pretty boy!" Chef yelled at him, making Naruto look over his shoulder and salute at him.

"Sir yes sir" he told Chef before they walked out of the 'glass box' that the dodgeball court was in.

Lindsay was all smiles and giggles as she walked beside Naruto. She had talked to him a good bit since arriving at camp, he was so nice to her when they talked whether it being him just helping her or them talking about various things. Plus he was hot so that only made it all the more better!

"Well someone seems happy despite the swelling" Naruto teased, making her blush and giggle a bit at.

"Sorry, I'm just happy right now" Lindsay said, smiling over at him and hugging his arm while bouncing happily.

Naruto blushed darkly as he had to look away, not only due to the softness of her breasts as she hugged his arm but also due to the sight of them bouncing a bit. 'You'd think a girl with her….size…would be more careful' he thought as he coughed into his fist.

"Careful there Lindsay, you're kind of pressing against me" he told her quietly, subtly pointing down to her breasts which only got her to cutely tilt her head in confusion and look down before giggling and hugging him tighter.

"Oh its okay. You helped me yesterday so I don't mind" she told him with an innocent smile which only made him blush more as he continued walking with her and trying not to look….too much.

But boy was it hard….

"Here you go, just hold that against your face a bit and it should help" he told her as he put a baggie of ice that was wrapped in a paper towel against her face before she put her hand over his and took over holding it.

"Thanks Nathan, you really are so sweet and kind even though I'm not on the same team as you" she said with a dreamy sigh as she looked at him with her one good eye.

"It's not like I'm doing anything special, just helping someone out who needed it. I don't really care that you are on a different team since that shouldn't stop people from helping like this….also my name is Naruto" he explained while he sat on one of the tables, Lindsay sitting in beside him.

"That's why you are so nice! You are also really nice to Gwen as well, you two talk a lot" Lindsay said with an innocent smile, it turning a bit mischievous as she noticed his blush. "Oh my gosh you like her!" she yelled, making him quickly cover her mouth with a blush which made her let out a muffled giggle at.

"I-I, it's not like that. She's just interesting, t-that's all" he muttered as he took his hand off her mouth, her big smile only making his blush darken a bit.

Lindsay could only giggle, finding it cute how he was reacting. "She is so lucky to have someone like you like her" she told him before putting her head against his shoulder as she leaned against him.

"Hey guys, the second match ended with the Gopher's winning. Chris wants you back" a camera man said, making Naruto silently grateful that this conversation about who he might like was over. He didn't quite mind talking about his feelings but doing that with another girl, the girl being Lindsay who was incredibly attractive, he felt a bit odd bout it.

"Oh yay! We won one!" Lindsay cheered, bouncing excitedly and clapping her hands and once again giving Naruto an eyeful of her chest bouncing. "Oh wait, sorry. That probably wasn't nice of me to do around you" she muttered as that meant Naruto's team lost.

"Lindsay, you can be happy about your team winning. Don't worry" he told her as he patted her arm which made her smile and hug his arm again.

"Aw thanks, you really are super nice" she told him once more while she gave his arm a squeeze against her chest which caused him to grow nearly as dark as his hair before he started to walk out of the mess hall, making Lindsay follow with a smile.

He felt a bit nervous as he walked back into the dodgeball court, Lindsay still on his arm as he walked her back to her set of bleachers since she was still a bit wobbly. "Now just, try not to get hit in the face anymore" he said with a chuckle as she nodded with a smile.

"Okay, I'll try my best" Lindsay said with a bit of a frown as she really didn't know why everything was trying to hit her in the face today.

"So…what was that all about?" Gwen asked from behind him, getting him to jump a bit before he turned around to see Gwen standing there with her arms crossed and a bit of a frown on her face.

"What? Oh the hugging on my arm thing?" he asked as Gwen nodded and he chuckled a bit. "That was Lindsay's choice as she was a bit wobbly, I offered to hold onto my arm and she took it as hugging it" he told her as he felt telling her she just started hugging his arm would feel odd. But then again it was Lindsay so he felt maybe that'd be okay, though he didn't want to take chances since Gwen didn't look happy.

"Why'd you go with her and do that anyways?" Gwen asked, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow while still frowning.

"Cause she was injured and nearly fell on me. Wait, don't tell me you're jealous?" Naruto asked with a big smile, it only growing as Gwen widened her eyes and actually started to blush.

"W-What!? No! That's stupid! Get back to your side already" Gwen stuttered before she quickly started to push him back to his team's bleachers while he slowly let her push him.

"Fine, fine, no need to push or protest so much" he teased, looking over his shoulder to give her a wink which only made her push her harder before turning and stomping off once he got to his team's bleachers.

"Gosh you are so lucky to have someone like Ned like you Gwen. He is like so hot~. You two would be so cute together and you totally like him back, right?" Lindsay told her, getting Gwen's blush to only grow as she, a bit frantically, tried to wave Lindsay's comment off.

"W-What? I-I don't like him like that and he SO doesn't like me like that. You said it yourself, he's hot while I'm just…me" Gwen told her with a sigh before she walked off and plopped back on her seat, crossing her arms with a frown.

She felt a bit upset as even if she did like him she doubted his actions with her were anything more than 'popular guy being a bit friendly and flirty with every girl' type thing that she had seen at her high school before.

"Whoa dude, what did you do to make Gwen so upset?" Geoff asked as he and a few others had watched her stomp off and could see her a bit upset on her team's bleachers.

"She isn't angry, you guys wouldn't understand" Courtney told them as it was rather obvious, given she was a girl "but that seriously isn't important right now!" she yelled, changing subjects while she walked over to Naruto and looked him in the eyes. "Did you tell that blonde Gopher any of our secrets?" she asked before he shook his head.

"I gave her some ice for her bumps, we talked about like one non-challenge related thing, and then we came back. Nothing more" he told her, looking her back in the eyes before she accepted it with a nod.

"Good cause you are going in this round. Stay on your toes and don't get cocky" Eva told him as she jabbed her finger at his chest while glaring at him.

"Don't worry, I won't let you all down" he told them both before he, Geoff, Katie, Bridgette, and DJ went out on the court with Heather, Gwen, Trent, Izzy, and Leshawna coming out for the Gophers.

"Seems we are destined to fight you and I" Naruto teased Gwen a bit with a smirk as Gwen rolled her eyes but was unable to hold back a bit of a smile.

"Yeah but I'm not afraid to hurl a ball at your face" she told him, getting him to chuckle.

"Well bring it on" he replied, giving her a 'come on' motion with his hands as Chef blew his whistle.

Once the game started he was quick to knock up a ball from the ground with his foot so he could grab it without bending over, wasting no time before he threw it at Heather. The speed of all this and how relaxed he was about it shocked and surprised everyone a bit as he stepped back with a shrug. "What can I say? I was a beast at this in high school" he told them before he dodged a throw by Izzy.

With that the game was on with Trent responding and taking out Katie, trying to go for two with another shot taken at Bridgette only for her to catch it and get him out and have Bridgette call in Sadie. Thankfully it seemed Chef had allowed the teams to decide who they called in after the Tyler incident

From the Gopher's side Leshawna was next to get taken out by Sadie with Gwen quickly getting revenge for it.

Naruto though focused on trying to peg down Izzy since she was nearly as unpredictable as he was, dodging his throws and making him dodge hers and the others. Then again given how fast he took out Heather it wasn't surprising.

The balls were flying especially fast this match, DJ and Geoff quickly getting taken out by Izzy while Sadie got taken out by Gwen catching a ball thrown at her.

"Look, if we are to take them out we have to get Izzy first since she is the wild card" Naruto told Bridgette as things calmed down a bit, balls in their hands as the other side seemingly looked ready to throw at a moment's notice.

"You think you can get her?" Bridgette asked, not taking her eyes off the other side as Izzy bounced like a boxer and Gwen was eyeing down Naruto.

"Maybe, you get Gwen and it'll make this easier. I can keep Izzy pinned down a bit to help" Naruto told her before nodding and quickly throwing a ball at Izzy and diving to grab another nearby to throw at her.

Izzy had to leap back twice to dodge Naruto's throws, frowning as she saw Bridgette readying a throw at Gwen as she seemed focus on trying to get Naruto out. Izzy barely was able to throw her ball at Bridgette before a ball thrown from Naruto hit her in the gut.

It was a triple knockout it seemed as Izzy, Bridgette, and Gwen all got out at nearly the exact same time with Bridgette getting Gwen, Izzy getting Bridgette, and Naruto getting Izzy.

"Whoa man! That was insane!" Chris yelled as he was clearly loving the action and intensity of the match.

"Glad we impress" Naruto said as he gave a bow before walking back to the others, quickly having to catch Courtney as she leapt at him to hug him.

"You were amazing Naruto! If we put you and Eva in the next match we can definitely win this without even needing a fifth match" Courtney told him as she hugged him tightly, her arms around his neck and her face somewhat buried in his chest while his arms went to her hips. As she looked up though she quickly grew a dark blush and let go of him, stepping back and coughing into her fist.

"S-Sorry, the intensity of the moment got to me" she muttered, a bit embarrassed before he waved her off.

"Don't worry about it, excitement runs high and you were just happy for a win" Naruto assured her, blushing a bit to himself as he wondered what was up with the girls today, before Geoff draped his arm over his shoulder with a smirk.

"We are going to murder them in this round. Five games really won't be needed when we decimate them!" Geoff cheered, getting everyone to cheer alongside him.

"Bass, are you ready?" Chris asked, getting them to look amongst themselves with Naruto and Eva looking at each other and smirking before they turned to nod to Chris.

"Oh yeah, we're ready" Eva told him as she cracked her knuckles and walked out alongside Naruto, Geoff, Bridgette, and DJ.

"Oh come on! You can't use Eva right now!" Heather yelled in protest before Eva smirked back at her.

"All Chris said was that I can only play in one game, never said it had to be the fifth round! Come on Gophers, lets see what you are made of" Eva goaded them while popping her neck and staring them down, easily intimidating them.

The Gophers were a bit afraid, save for Izzy who looked exhilarated, as she alongside Leshawna, Cody, Trent, and Heather walked out.

"Remember, don't get cocky and stay on your toes. I don't want to waste my only turn in this stupid challenge" Eva warned them, getting a determined look from them all as they nodded to her and she smiled as the whistle blew.

Naruto used the same trick as before to get a ball quickly to his hands only this time he tossed it over to Eva who quickly threw it at Cody with enough force to send the teen flying back to hit the back wall hard.

"So, who's next?" Eva growled out as she clutched another ball that was tossed over to her only for it to pop in her hands.

The Gophers were smart, trying to go for Eva but Eva wasn't an easy target. She could dodge and block easily, getting Trent out by catching his ball and then throwing it out at Leshawna to take her out.

Heather was easy to take out, still a bit shocked by how powerfully Eva had taken Cody out only to get hit by her as well.

The Bass basically decided to let Eva have free go of this round, mainly trying to stay out of her way and toss her a ball when she needed it. It didn't take long before literally only Izzy was left on the Gopher's side since she was the hardest to hit.

Though Izzy didn't go just for Eva, she was actually able to take out Bridgette and DJ while Eva was taking out the rest of her team.

It wasn't until Eva looked at Naruto did he get the message to help her, quickly picking up a ball and throwing it at Izzy, getting her to dodge and allow Eva to get a clear shot just as she jumped to the side. And with that it was over.

"Yes! There we go!" Courtney cheered from the sideline with her other team cheering alongside her.

"Eva that was insane! You killed it out there!" Geoff yelled as he patted her on the back with a big smile.

"Yeah that was so cool! You were like a one woman army!" DJ complimented her since he was also amazed by how she just took them all out on her own without even barely batting an eye.

Eva felt a bit embarrassed, alongside proud, as they complimented her. She was never really used to stuff like this, most of the time people avoided her or were scared of her. Being a welcomed member of a team and celebrated like this was incredibly new to her

"Well you know what this means! Hot tub celebration!" Naruto cheered, surprising everyone as he hoisted Eva up to where she was sitting half on his shoulder and half on his bicep.

Eva blushed a bit as Naruto lifted her, not expecting this at all as she grabbed onto him a bit for support before his forearm went over one of her thighs to help stabilize her. "Easy there Eva, I won't let you fall" he told her, looking up at her with a smile as she could only nod back with a blush on her face.

The rest of the Bass cheered in agreement at the hot tub celebration idea as why have a hot tub if they didn't use it more often?

"Gophers? You two just got clobbered by the Bass, what happened?" Chris asked as he watched the Bass leave the court, still celebrating and hoisting Eva up.

"What can I say? Weak effort" Noah said with a weak shrug of his shoulders, getting raised eyebrows and upset looks from everyone as from the start he had been very much 'sports aren't my forte'.

"Oh shut up Noah!" Gwen told him before she got up and stomped away with Heather standing up next with her hands on her hips.

"You know what, for once I actually agree with her" Heather said as she walked off with the rest of the team following her and leaving him alone on the bench, not picking up why they were upset.

-Campfire – Later that Night-

"Campers, you already placed your votes and made your decision. One of you will be going home and you can't come back, ever" Chris told them as he stood across from the Screaming Gophers, the campfire between them as he held a plate with nine marshmallows on it. "When you hear me call your name come pick up a marshmallow" he explained as one by one he started to list off names.

He started with Izzy then went on to Gwen and so on until only Lindsay and Noah remained.

"And the final marshmallow goes to…." Chris said, pausing for dramatic effect "Lindsay" he declared, getting the blonde to jump up excitedly and run over.

"What are you kidding me!?" Noah yelled in shock, having expected Lindsay to get voted off due to being useless in this challenge and having walked off with a member of the other team.

"Whatever! See if I care! You just voted off the only person with brains on this team!" Noah yelled before shielding himself as he was pelted with marshmallows.

"And you need to learn a little thing called respect turkey" Leshawna clapped back as she dusted off her hands with a stern glare on her face before Noah rolled his eyes and walked off towards the Dock of Shame.

-Back at Camp-

Naruto smiled as he sat next Eva in the hot tub, Eva still being a bit nervous about all of this while everyone celebrated around her. "Relax Eva, enjoy it as you won us this victory since I doubt I would've been able to win if I was in the next round. Heather's smart so she would have figured out a way around my a bit. You were a beast" he told her, patting her on the back as she nodded and stared down into the cup of soda she was holding.

"Yeah, I guess you are right. I should enjoy it" she told him with a smile before they noticed the Gophers returning to camp.

"Hey who'd you guys vote out?" Geoff asked as he got out of the hot tub and dried off to let the next person in.

"It was between Lindsay for walking off with your team member and Noah for doing nothing. We went with Noah" Heather explained, narrowing her eyes at Naruto a bit as he rolled his eyes in response with a groan.

"Seriously, you nearly voted Lindsay off just for me helping her when she was hurt? You guys gotta relax a bit" Naruto told them while he looked at them with a flat look.

"Oh shush Heather, none of us were going to vote off Lindsay. You're just saying that cause of your stupid alliance" Leshawna revealed as she, and the others, couldn't care less about her alliance given who the two members were.

Now if it was an alliance with powerful people then they'd get worried.

"Well I'm glad the rest of you understand, wouldn't want someone voted off for a stupid reason because of me" he commented, smiling and waving to Lindsay as she walked in which got the blonde to happily wave back.

Naruto though frowned as he noticed Gwen's frown as she looked at him before she turned and walked away. "I'll be right back guys, save an orange soda for me(*2)" Naruto told them as he hopped out of the hot tub and jogged after Gwen.

"Hey Gwen! Hold up!" he called out to her, barely getting her to stop as she walked alongside Leshawna.

"What do you want?" Gwen said in a short tone, getting Naruto to frown as he rubbed his arm.

"I was, I don't know, hoping we could talk? I feel like you are upset at me and I'll admit I'm dense at times but if I did something to upset you I want to know so I can…not do it anymore?" he told her a bit unsure as he had no real idea what he did to get her this upset at him.

Gwen frowned as she sighed, beating herself up inside a bit as she realized just how she was acting. "It's nothing with you…it's just me being stupid…and a girl" she muttered before she looked up at him. "Trust me, you are a really nice guy so you didn't do anything, promise" she assured him before he nodded, still looking a bit unsure before Leshawna patted Gwen on the back with a smirk.

"Trust me Sugar, if you did something wrong I'd be the first to tell you. You're fine so go back to enjoying your hot tub party but you'd better let me in there one of these days as I was made to look good in a hot tub~" Leshawna told him with a wink, getting him to chuckle and smile before giving her a salute.

"Yes ma'am, whenever you want" he told her before turning to Gwen. "So, we good?" he asked as Gwen nodded with a smile.

"Yeah we're good" she told him before shooing him away, getting a chuckle out of him before he went back towards his team.

"That boy is too fine for his own good, I mean did you see those abs~?" Leshawna asked as she licked her lips while she and Gwen watched him walk away.

"Oh yeah~ W-Wait, I mean, no! Stop that!" Gwen groaned out as she stomped away with a blush.

'That white girl has something strong for him…and she definitely ain't the only one' Leshawna thought with a chuckle as she continued walking with a smirk.

"Everything okay?" Bridgette asked as Naruto slipped back into the hot tub, her handing him an orange soda with a smile.

"Yeah, just realizing girls are confusing" he told her with a smirk, getting her to giggle and pat him on the arm.

"Trust me, I know what you mean. Just…be careful" she told him since to the other girls it was obvious there was something going on between him and Gwen alongside other girls being into him as those abs and muscles were something else. Today had to be extra hectic for him as Lindsay, as well as Courtney and Eva, were also getting close to him.

Naruto could only sigh as he opened his soda. "Yeah, we'll see how well that goes" he muttered thinking that maybe tomorrow would be less….huggy.

-Chapter End-

!IMPORTANT NOTE! In case you are unaware or didn't notice til now I have changed the name of this fic and made it into a harem story. I did it because there are too many amazing girls to just leave be and this way it can be something I more easily enjoy and write easier.

I hope everyone is okay with that

*1 – Yeah I'm not including the stupid boomerang shot and static cling homing shots that Cody made in the episode as they were….really ridiculous to put it lightly lol

*2 – I said orange soda cause that is my favorite, nothing to do with typical Naruto orange obsession (something I don't tend to do). Felt like I had to clarify lol

Also, as you noticed, due to Eva being there alongside Owen not being there things were a bit different with the matches. Eva knew how to lead 'combat' and Owen wasn't a 'beast'.

And before you mention the lack of confessionals, Dodgebrawl didn't have any confessionals other than one scene with Courtney when she mentioned how Eva was strong and voting her off hurt them and Harold at the end (though due to him not winning the game it isn't a thing either). I do plan to add them in with later chapters but this one didn't have any lol

This chapter was simple in terms of challenge since with Eva around it of course was going to be simple and Naruto – while not a ninja – would still be very athletic and good at dodging and whatnot. He's quick on his feet in any iteration of him I feel.

I wanted to add the interactions with some girls in this chapter as not only is it now a harem fic but I felt after seeing him shirtless during the Awak-a-thon it'd start some feelings for him in some other girls.

Eva and Courtney are easily the first two to start as in the previous chapters I had Naruto be close and friendly to them. Lindsay was another I felt would be easy to start given how sweet and kind she is and how – due to my edits in the previous chapters – he kept her breasts from falling out when she was upside down.

Plus the innocence of Lindsay would definitely serve as a great 'ignition' for things in other girls where they see how clingy and close she is and get jealous a bit you know?

Now the 'Harem Reason' – aka the explanation of why the girls share him – in this fic will be different than how I do things in other fics. In other fics I tend to go with an umbrella so to speak, aka something that covers all of them. In this fic it'll differ from girl to girl with the initial girl he is with – Gwen – being okay with it for her own reason and that leads to others getting with him.

Now I want to do something where girls from other seasons show up before their original seasons, meaning like – for random example – Crimson showing up in Total Drama Action and whatnot. My reason for this is that I am impatient and want to change things up.

Also he isn't paired with absolutely everyone as girls like Sadie, Beth, the girl who always lies, the larp-ing girl, and the larger cop, aren't my cups of tea so to speak.

All In all I hope you all liked this chapter as it was fun and nice to write.

Killer Bass:

Bridgette, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Eva, Geoff, Harold, Katie, Naruto, Sadie, Tyler

Screaming Gophers:

Beth, Cody, Gwen, Heather, Justin, Izzy, Leshawna, Lindsay, Trent

Eliminated:

Ezekiel, Owen, Noah

Til the Next Time

Drop a review!

See Ya!