Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favorites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.


"Masky, you're the lucky bastard that is going to go first!"

Naruto flashed a grin at Masked Deuce as she stretched her arm. She felt a smile building onto her face when her masked companion paled at her words. Was she cruel to make the weakest member go first? Oh yes, she was but there was a good reason for her to do this. It would be so predictable if she just simply went with the second strongest member of their crew.

"Are you using me as warm up?" Masked Deuce grumbled. The teen folded his arms and loosened his jaw as his blue eyes narrowed at her before flickering to Ace. She offered him a shrug and slid her hands into her pocket, only smiling wider when the male narrowed his eyes even more at her. "You should go with Ace! I'm going to sit here and watch—"

"—Oh don't be scaredy-cat, I'm not going to beat you up until you need a doctor." Her back bone let out a little groan as she folded half of her body down. Her fingers touched the soft stand as the back of her legs screamed from the stretch. Letting out another huff, Naruto pulled herself back up. "The worst that you might feel is a bruise forming! I'm going to take it easy on you!"

The blue-haired man snorted. "The fact that you can send me to the doctor isn't reassuring me one bit!"

"Will you feel reassured if I allowed you to have the first attack?" She placed her hands on her hips and eyed the teen right in front of her. Her muscular friend bobbed his head, dropping his shoulders and let out a tiny sigh of relief. Naruto chuckled and rolled her eyes. The boy really had no idea of what he signed up for.

I wonder how much he improved under Ace. Naruto shifted her body around and narrowed her eyes at Masked Deuce. The wind rustled as the blue-haired boy charged at her. The sand hissed and wiggled as blue eyes flared up with determination. The teen curled his hands into a fist, raised it up like a bow and the whiskered teen shifted to the left.

Masked Deuce stumbled before swirling his body at her. He is still too slow for my liking. It might be because of the fact he was fighting in a sandy terrain but that did not give him an excuse to be slow. A person should always be prepared to fight in every terrain. A fist hurled towards her and Naruto let out a yawn before grabbing the fist.

"You know you are actually stronger than you look!" Naruto chirped. The fist burned her palm as it tried to make her budge from her position. A whistle sliced through the air as Masked Deuce clenched his jaw. He wiggled and twisted his hand but she only tightened her grip. She smiled even wider. "But you know strength isn't everything!"

From the corner of her eye, she could see a leg being twisted and Naruto let out a sigh. She ducked as the wind pressed a harsh kiss to her scalp. Masked Deuce quirked his lips into a smirk. You know if I was 12, I wouldn't have realized what you are planning to do. Naruto plastered on her poker face as another fist launched at her.

She caught the fist and twisted it around before kicking Masked Deuce on the stomach. Her friend winced before being sent flying straight towards the boulder behind him. Cracks began to form in the shape of her companion as the male let out a groan. I saw all I needed to know, which is why I ended the fight here. Naruto hummed and flickered her eyes to Ace.

Her Captain looked at her like she was the greatest person ever to walk the ocean and that only made her grin. It is really easy to impress him. Naruto smiled even wider as her stomach fluttered with happiness. It was nice to have someone look at her like that. Konohamaru gave her the same look but that was probably because she was his cool big-sister figure.

"First of all, let me repeat the fact that you are stronger than you look," Naruto chirped. Masked Deuce groaned and pushed himself up from the sand before sinking right back down into the sand. "But you're way too slow for my taste, so we are going to work on that. The only other thing that you have going for you is that you try to think of tactics, which is great…if you have time."

Masked Deuce lifted his head and growled. "You didn't give me time! I thought you were going to go easy on me!"

"I did go easy on you," Naruto sang. Blue eyes looked at her with disbelief and the whiskered teen dug her finger against the inside of her ear. She flicked the dirt out of her ear before sliding her hands into her pockets. "If I didn't go easy on you then you wouldn't even have been able to try and punch me. You also wouldn't even be able to lift your head."

The blue-haired man groaned. "You mean your punch can be stronger than this? How the fuck are you this strong?"

"You can blame my amazing genes!" Naruto grinned and crossed her legs together as her blue-haired friend looked at her like she wasn't even human. The whiskered teen cleared her throat and unzipped her jacket. Flinging to the other side of the beach, she continued on. "And my punch can actually break a building."

"Did you actually hold back on your punch?" Masked Deuce asked. He rolled over to his back and rested his hands on his stomach before turning his head to her. "Because I think you might have actually broken one of my ribs."

"That was only 5% of my actual strength," she replied. The male gawked at her and Naruto could only roll her eyes at him. It seemed like between the three of them, the doctor was going to be the overdramatic one. Honestly if her punch had actually broken his ribs then how could he talk so much? It wasn't that bad.

Of course if she said that then her friend might actually throw a hissy fit.

Masked Deuce moaned. "I'm afraid to know what 10% of your actual strength would do to me."

"Oh you're going to find out when you do the Uzumaki Naruto approved training regime." Her friend blinked and then paled as the birds chirped in the background. Naruto beamed and clapped her hands together. "The more you trained, the more I'll increase the strength of my punch to match your newfound strength."

"I'm afraid to ask but how do you plan to increase my strength?"

Naruto closed her eyes and rubbed her jaw. That was a good question to ask because she never really had to increase her strength, but there had to be a way for her to increase his strength. Weights would be a good idea but she would need to find a blacksmith for that job. The whiskered woman grimaced.

It was just bad luck that neither Ace and Masked Deuce had chakra because it would have been easy for her to use resistance seals on them. I guess I'll make him do Lee what Lee did to improve his strength. Naruto chuckled and looked up at the blue sky. Her friend was definitely going to hate her for this but he would thank her one day for it.

"Well until I find a good blacksmith to do resistance bands, I'm going to make you do push-ups," Naruto chirped. Masked Deuce relaxed his shoulders, only to narrow his eyes at her. His blue eyes lingered on her smirk and it was not long before the male turned white as a ghost. "I'm going to find a boulder and put it on your back."

The doctor threw his head up at the sky. "Are you trying to break my back, Naruto?"

"I'm not going to put a huge boulder on you, just a medium-sized boulder." She rolled her eyes when the blue-haired man looked at her like she was insane. Honestly, why must he complain so much? It wasn't even going to hurt him and even if it did hurt him, it was going to make him stronger. He needed to be strong if he wanted to survived in the Grand Line.

Shaking her head, Naruto flickered her eyes to Ace. The black-haired teen laid on the ground with drool dribbling out of the corner of his lips. It was kind of cute if you asked her but then again everything about her captain was cute from his pretty grey eyes to his freckles. Honestly maybe she might be a little bit biased when it came to him.

Naruto glanced at Masked Deuce and shook her head when the male's eyebrows twitched. It was understandable for the boy to be annoyed by the fact Ace could sleep at the most random moments but hitting him wasn't going to help. The blonde took a deep breath and shuffled her way to her captain.

She placed his head on her lap and blinked when Masked Deuce raised his eyebrows at her. "What?"

"You aren't going to wake him up?" Masked Deuce asked, gesturing to the sleeping male on her lap. He pushed himself up from the sand and dragged his feet towards them, wincing as he did so. A frown played on his lips and the male flickered his eyes at her. "You are really going to let him sleep before fighting you?"

"He looks like he is having a nice dream," Naruto answered. She felt her cheeks heating up when Ace snuggled deeper into her stomach. The whiskered teen allowed her hands to roam those wavy black-locks that belonged to her captain. It was so soft, softer than even Sakura-chan's hair and her teammate took pride when it came to taking care of her hair.

Ace had a large smile on his face and that was enough for her to know he was probably having a pleasant dream. It was always horrible whenever someone decided to wake you up from a nice dream. Naruto hummed and darted her eyes to the other boulder, where a blond-haired female gazed at her and Ace with irritation in her eyes.

"So you are going to wait till he wakes up before starting his round?"

She nodded.

"Lucky bastard."

She could only laugh as Masked Deuce glared at their sleeping captain. Ace was probably lucky that she was allowing him to sleep before starting her analysis on him, but she had huge expectations on him. Unlike their masked companion, he had the Devil Fruit and that should make things interesting for her.

Naruto grinned.

It was definitely going to be fun to fight Ace.

~X~

"Are you finally ready, Sleeping Beauty?"

Ace flushed a pretty shade of red as Naruto slid her hands onto her hips. It had taken 15 minutes for the boy to finally wake up from his nice dream and in those fifteen minutes, he managed to wet her black-shirt. Not that she actually mind the whole drooling on her, god knew she had been worse this morning.

She grimaced as she recalled what happened in the morning. Why did she have to hug her captain like that? She should have had better control over her actions. No matter how drunk she had been in the night before, the teen should not have been hugged like he was some kind of teddy bear. Now it would be impossible for him to take her seriously.

"Why do you call me, Sleeping Beauty?" Ace complained, offering her a tiny pout as Masked Deuce snickered. He stretched his arm and shot an annoyed look to their resident doctor. The blue-haired man only raised his hands up, lips twitching into a large smile, and the whiskered teen shook her head.

Naruto sighed and inspected her pouting Captain. The answer was definitely obvious if you asked her and if it had been anyone but Ace then she would think they were trying to fish out a compliment from her. But her captain looked absolutely confused at her words as if he could not fathom about why she chose this new nickname for him. It wasn't fair. The male should know he looked good.

If her captain had a serious personality then she had no doubt that he would have been popular with the girls back in Konoha.

"Because you looked so pretty when you are asleep," Naruto explained, grinning. Her smile widened when her captain flushed a deeper shade of red and from right behind them, Masked Deuce groaned. She twisted her body around and narrowed her eyes at the smiling blue-haired man.

He held up his hands innocently and the blonde shook her head before darting her eyes back at Ace. The younger teen still had flushed cheeks and his grey eyes blew wide. Naruto tilted her head and glanced at the boulder, where her friend's stalker stood, before looking back at him with furrowed eyebrows.

Didn't her captain know he was actually a really good-looking guy?

"If that naïve fool knew that you don't give compliments that easily then he would probably blush an even deeper shade of red," Kurama grumbled. Naruto puffed her cheeks and furiously shook her head. This was definitely not the time for her to be irritated with the grumpy fox, not when she had to focus on the task at hand.

Shaking her head, Naruto looked back at the boulder and frowned as the blue-eyed woman shot her a look of disbelief and anger. Well it had been so long since a girl had given her that look. The last time a girl glared at her like that was when Sasuke handed her a pencil. Not a day went by when several of his more rabid admirers reminded her of that stupid fact.

They didn't even care that Sasuke had given it to her because she forgot her own pencil.

"Can we finally start this fight?" Masked Deuce barked. He let out a little hiss and the blonde couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at her dramatic friend. She just hit him one time and he was already acting like she broke every single bone in his body. If I wanted to break his bones then he couldn't even bark.

She pinched her nose as Ace shot an unimpressed look to the male. He shook his head and Naruto looked up at the sky. A cloud drifted along as if it was getting lost in the path that they called life. The cloud swirled, twirled and then whirled until it took the shape of a rather large dog.

Letting out another sigh, Naruto clicked her feet together and focused her gaze on her bouncing captain. "I'm expecting big things from you, Freckles!"

The pinkness in her captain's cheeks faded away, almost as if it had never been there, and Naruto grinned. It seemed like her captain was no longer going to allow himself to get distracted by her comment. It was a pity. The male looked like a cute, little puppy whenever someone complimented him for his dashing looks but that wasn't the sad part. She couldn't teach him the importance of not getting distracted if he was like that.

Well that lesson could be done in the next island.

Ace charged straight at her, grey eyes burning with excitement, and the blonde chuckled. She sided to the left and captured the hurling fist. Pressure build around her hand and Naruto frowned as her feet skidded back. Sand slid back as Ace flashed her a charming grin and Naruto grinned.

I think with Ace, I can go 30% of my natural strength. She tightened her grip around his fist and slid her feet back into place. It was rare to find someone who was naturally this strong. Sakura-chan was strong but that was because her pink-haired friend used chakra-enhanced strength. This was definitely not chakra-enhanced strength.

Exhaling, Naruto curled her right hand into a fist as Ace pushed and shoved his fist deeper into her left hand. Sweat formed around her friend's face as his grey eyes lit up with excitement. The whiskered teen smashed her fist against his chest, frowning just a little bit when no distinct crack sound pierced through the air.

The male groaned and released his fist. He clutched his stomach but if he thought that she didn't notice that cunning glint in his eyes then he had another thing coming. Just because you're my friend, doesn't mean I'm going to worry about you in this battle field. That could come after she acknowledged his weaknesses.

Weaknesses that was glaringly obvious if you asked her.

Flames busted out of her captain's fingertips as his grey eyes flashed with a fiery determination. Naruto grinned. The flames swirled and dashed straight towards her. Sweat formed around her body as the flames continued to fly towards her. She jumped up, wind slicing downwards on her, and Naruto looked down.

Ace dropped his jaw and yelled. "How can you jump that high?"

"I'm a kunoichi and a good kunoichi must never spill their secrets," Naruto retorted with a cheeky smile. The male groaned and knitted his eyebrows together before placing his palm at her. Hesitance colored his features and his grey eyes wavered just a little bit like he was actually worried about hitting her with those flames.

That will be his downfall. Naruto took a deep breath and weaved her hands together through a series of handseal. The chakra inside of her stomach kneaded and twirled as tower of flames began spinning towards her. The air around her became heavier and sweat clung to her cheeks. If she had been anything but a kunoichi, then she would be worried.

But Naruto was a kunoichi and even though she might not have been the best student, she still had a couple of tricks up her sleeve. Water build up inside of her and she sewed her eyes shut. This was only a theory but it was an important theory for her to check out. If she was indeed right then Ace did have another glaring weakness that should be fixed.

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!"

Water spurted out of her lips, forming into one large torrent as it clashed against the flames. Fire hissed and whimpered as the water charged through the impenetrable tower. The flames died down and from right below her, she could see Masked Deuce gawking at her. Ace slacked his jaw at her.

"Since when could you use water?" Her captain demanded once she landed back down onto the ground. Naruto blinked and then chuckled when she realized that the water bullet had also caused the male to be drenched to the bone. His yellow jacket hugged him even tighter as droplets of water tickled down the hard lines of his chest.

Offering him an innocent smile, Naruto cleared her throat and asked. "I didn't tell you about the five elemental chakra nature?"

"No," Masked Deuce replied from right behind them. The whiskered teen turned around to look at Masked Deuce, who flickered his eyes from Ace's wet open button shirt to her innocent smile. Suspicion filled his eyes as he stitched his eyebrows together. She whistled when the man finally shot her an accusing look.

The doctor really did have the worst image of her if he believed that she would sincerely try to get Ace's shirt. I'm not a pervert and I already saw what Ace looks like without a shirt on. She hummed and clasped her hands together. It was not like she was dying to see what the male would look like when he was soaked to the bone.

She had some decency after all.

"Since I already have a clear idea of what Ace's weaknesses are, I'm going to explain the five elemental chakra nature to you guys," Naruto chirped. Ace bobbed his head and the blonde scanned the beach. There seemed to be no twigs for her to use, which meant if she had to draw diagrams then her finger would have to be the pencil.

It seemed like she was going to introduce everyone to her mediocre drawing skills earlier than expected.

As Ace pulled Masked Deuce closer to her, Naruto began to draw the circular diagram of the Five Elemental Chakra Nature. Even though she knew how to speak the common tongue of the World Government, she didn't know how to write in their language. Taking another deep breath, she drew a symbol underneath every elemental nature.

"There are five basic elemental natures," Naruto began as Ace and Masked Deuce crowded around her. "Fire, water, wind, earth and lightning are the basic building blocks for the elemental ninjutsu. Each element is stronger and weaker than another element. Fire is weaker than water but it is stronger against wind, which is why—"

"Shouldn't you explain what chakra is?" Masked Deuce asked, frowning. "I thought your godfather was making things up when he wrote it in his books!"

Naruto let out a sigh and gazed up at the white, fluffy clouds. I don't think we're going to leave from this spot anytime soon. Well they had plenty of time and it was better for her to explain everything now, then for her to go through the whole process again. Besides, it made her feel smart and that was always a benefit.

Yup, explaining things for her two friends wasn't all that bad if she thought about it in that way.

~X~

Oh dear god, how do I get rid of her?

Ace hunched his shoulders as a familiar blond-haired woman waved her hand at him. A hopeful smile played on her lips and the black-haired teen forced himself to smile as he waved his hand at the girl. The smile on his one-night-stand widened and fear crept up in his stomach as a realization dawned on him.

That bounce in her steps told him that the girl was probably going to try and attack him again.

Steadying his shaking body, the 17-year-old boy snuck a glance at Naruto. His blond-haired kunoichi slid her backpack onto their tiny boat before picking up Masked Deuce's luggage. It looked like the kunoichi had no problems lifting the heavy bag of medical equipment, not that he ever doubted her for a moment.

"Something seems to be bothering you, Cap!" Naruto called out. The whiskered teen did not turn around but Ace could see the corner of her lips turning down into a frown. He snuck a glance at the blond-haired woman speeding his way, who was trying and failing to push the crowd of people away, and Ace jumped down to their boat.

Sneaking one last glance at the crowds surrounding them, he leaned closer to the whiskered teen. Her citrus scented hair tickled his nose and Ace bit back a sneeze. Between his two crewmates, it would be within reason to presume that the whiskered teen would have more experience with the matter.

"I need help on how to get rid of a clingy one-night-stand," Ace whispered into her ear. He placed his arm around her neck and lowered his head just a little bit. Naruto turned her head and he blinked when blue eyes gazed at him. It didn't dawn on him how close they were standing until he noticed that the three whisker marks on one cheek was darker than the other cheek.

A shiver ran down his spine as Naruto's heated breath grazed against his lips. The blonde closed her eyes and Ace wondered what was going through her mind. Did she think he was a horrible person for doing this? Was she furious for him getting a little bit distracted during the time she was working? He hoped not.

"Did you tell her that you weren't interested?" The kunoichi asked with a deep sigh. He blinked and tilted his head as the blue-eyed girl turned her head towards the crowded pier. The 17-year-old girl chuckled and shook her head, before sending him an amused look at him.

"You aren't mad?" Ace scrutinized the blonde. A bright, playful smile played on her lips, and his frown deepened. Why wasn't she upset about the fact that he did this? He always imagined the whiskered teen would not be happy if she knew about this. There was no way he imagined Naruto would be amused about this.

The whiskered teen sighed. "As far as I'm concerned, you can do whatever you want because you're single. Now answer me: did you tell her that you weren't interested?"

"I told her that I wasn't interested in anything more than a one-night-stand!" He grumbled. Naruto pinched her nose and poked her tongue against her cheek. She furrowed her eyebrows together as if she was deeply considering how to fix his problem. He could try and be nice but that hadn't work in the last few days.

Everything seemed to be fine when Naruto came back from her training under her chef. It was like the sight of his whiskered kunoichi had been enough to repel her but it seemed like it had been temporary.

"Have you tried ignoring her?" asked Naruto, looking around the pier. The blonde tapped her finger against her chin and looked considerate as his former-one-night stand continued to push away people. She shook her head. "Nah, Sasuke tried that with his admirers and they seemed to grow more clingy when they did that."

Ace paused. "How did he get rid of them?"

"He never found the right way to get rid of them," Naruto shrugged. She laughed and her smile changed into a sheepish smile when Ace shot her an annoyed look. How was that going to help him get rid of that woman? He needed stories of solutions and not stories of failure! He let out a sigh and the whiskered teen exhaled. "Look, if you really want to get rid of her, try to be brutally honest with her?"

Ace shot her a frown and furiously shook his head. Why should he be brutal with her? It would hurt her feelings if he told her that she annoyed him by following him. Makino always told him to be polite and kind to females, especially when girls could be more sensitive than boys. The woman never explained the exact reasons for why girls were different from boys.

The 17-year-old male rubbed the back of his neck and inspected the blonde. Did he really have to tell the girl that he was never going to think of her again? There had to be a better way for him to make her realize that he would never come back here. His grey eyes widened as the sun shone down on her, offering her a bright glow .

"Can't you be my fake girlfriend instead?" Ace pleaded. He rubbed her shoulders and offered what he only hoped to be was his most pitiful pout as the whiskered teen looked at him with a frown playing on her lips.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. "The whole fake girlfriend thing will never work! I've been hanging out with you for the past day and that woman have been glaring at me for most of the time! If it really worked then she wouldn't even glare at me!"

Ace groaned, dropped his head and scowled as the blonde patted his back. Naruto had a point but he really wished she didn't have to point this out to him. It would be so much easier if his official cook would just play along with his request, but this was Naruto after all. Once the blonde made a decision, she was never ever going to budge from her decision.

"Why can't you do the whole thing for me?" He pleaded, widening his eyes at Naruto.

The blonde offered him an unimpressed look and shook her head as her bright blue eyes fixed on the woman, who was only now a couple of meters away from them. He hoped that Naruto was actually considering to help him with this problem, because he didn't want to be the bad guy.

It was already bad enough he kind of used her.

"Sorry Lover Boy, you got yourself into this mess," Naruto put down the luggage and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "And you are going to get yourself out of this mess because this won't be the last time that you'll get yourself in this mess."

He really couldn't wait till they get off this island.

~X~

A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter and I hope that all of you enjoyed this chapter. This chapter didn't have much going on, but the next chapter will have the crew in a new island. The end of the chapter wasn't really plan but I hoped that the final part showed a little bit of the bonding between Ace and Naruto.