Here is the next chapter. Just one thing I would like to say. I got a review asking me to stay in character. I just wanted to say that that will happen most of the time. I am making Naruto slightly more mature, as he is captain and all those lives are in his hands. But rest assured, he is still rash and wild. Okay… start reading!

Naruto glared at the white ship about a mile to the east of the Beacon. Its polished wood gleamed brightly against the sparkling water. Even the sails were the purest of white. With a nonchalant glance, Naruto looked at his own sails. The dark black that seemed deadly had faded to a dullish ebony color. Worse than the cleanliness of the other ship were its people. Noblemen and women dressed in silks and furs loitered around the deck drinking fancy drinks. The ladies wore voluminous dresses with silk gloves. Some carried little tiny umbrellas even though it was neither hot nor raining. Their necks positively dripped with diamonds and stones. The men had on finely tailored suits with fancy watches. They chatted and gossiped about pointless things. Stocks, their daughter's weddings, and the pie they had for desert last night, and so much other droll talk. Ignorance. They didn't have to worry about the Akatsuki or the lives of his crew, not to mention best friends.

Naruto imagined himself on board. "Oh really? Do tell. He did what with who? How absolutely scandalous," he muttered in a rich accent to himself. He stopped when he got a strange glance from Neji.

"Their ship seems to be made in the Victorian style, so their safe should be down these stairs," Kiba muttered to Naruto, pointing at a crude drawing of a ship.

"Uh-huh. How are we supposed to get there?"

"Man, you are losing your touch! Just get out there, make a distraction. Give some sort of: 'don't move, I'm a pirate. Aaargh!' shit to them and wave your sword wildly while Neji and I grab the loot. We toss it to Shikamaru. Then we're out!" Kiba muttered impatiently.

"Oh, Kiba, your plans are always so well thought through. What happens if there is no loot? Or they have protection? Or they have formed an alliance with Akatsuki? Or if they have a bunch of executives waiting to arrest us, or-"

"You know, there is a way to say things nicely!" Kiba pouted, interrupting Shikamaru's tirade of pessimism.

Naruto grinned, feeling oddly exhilarated. They had not "done" a ship in a long time. He brushed off Shikamaru's comments: "relax man, we're pirates aren't we? We can fight our way through."

Naruto tucked an array of daggers into his belt along with the famous Rasengan. He slid poison needles into a special pocket of his boots. After mussing up his hair for the supposed "sexy" look it added, he slid on the captain's hat. The thing was pointless and heavy. It neither shielded him from sun nor rain. When he tried to explain that to his crew, they were shocked. ("It's about the symbolism Naruto, not the practicality", was all he got from Kiba.) Kiba threw a pistol at him. Naruto chucked it back.

"Keep it. I'm better with swords anyway," Naruto mumbled. Kiba gave him a strange glance.

"Man, you have to have this pistol. A pirate without a gun is just a thief (credit to that last line goes to my reviewer Lucifer20XX. Thanks). With that, Kiba threw the gun back at Naruto who tucked it into his belt.

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"Okay, guys, here is our plan. We first.."

"Aw, Shikamaru do we have to have a plan, I mean you are such a…. OWW!"

"Thanks Neji. As I was saying, no doubt they will have some men who can fight. If the fight gets too gruesome and long , you will threaten to kill a noble. Worst case scenario, Akatsuki or anything, wew Kamakaze it. Anyways, then, we grab the money, toss it to Konohamaru and leave," Shikamaru finished.

"Why do I have to stay on board? I wanna come on board with you guys!" Konohamaru, their youngest member shouted.

"Suck it up, shorty," Kiba said snidely.

"Sorry man, but you gotta stay aboard. It's actually really important. If one of them comes aboard here, it's your job to make sure they don't get anything," Naruto explained smoothly to angry fourteen year old.

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The crew stood rigidly at the helm of the deck. The approaching ship loomed in the distance. Though each were pretty good fighters, they still felt a rush of anxiety mixed with adrenaline.

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, why just rush into danger pointlessly?" Shikamaru asked nervously.

"We're pirates, we don't need a point," Kiba bit back.

"Both of you shut up. We go in, but if it gets too intense, I guess we'll come back," Naruto sighed.

Shikamaru threw him a grateful glance, although he was fully aware that Naruto would probably stay if things got intense. He seemed to live off of dangerous, heart pumping experiences.

That was a major strength of his, but also a major flaw.

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"Here we go," Naruto mumbled once they were passing the ship.

With several war-like shouts, they jumped aboard the ship. Instantaneously, there was chaos. Ladies began screaming and running around. The men were actually doing the same. He saw Kiba and Neji run into the main doors of the ship. A few men, mostly from the crew began fighting his men. Unfortunately, they were no match. Naruto took down one man, with a quick kick to the head. He sighed, apparently, no extreme fighting was going to occur. Each of his men had had years of training. Naruto decided that he needed to gain some sort of order aboard this ship.

"SILENCE! Do not utter a word, unless you'd like to taste the blade Rasengan. I am the Pirate Captain Uzumaki Naruto. Let us do what we came here to do and we will leave you alive," he shouted in a dramatically loud voice.

"Now, drop whatever valuables you have into this sack. If you don't, we'll do it for you," he sneered.

Naruto watched as Kiba held out a large sack. Wait, Kiba?

"Kiba, you're supposed to be with Neji. Why the hell are you here?" Naruto screeched.

"Well, there was nobody down there, so I thought Neji would be able to do in on his own!"

"Kiba…" Naruto growled.

"See, there he is!" Sure enough, Neji came aboard laden with about 4 bags stuffed with gold. Expertly, he tied the bags to a rope and got ready to throw them to Shikamaru.

"We thank you ladies and gentlemen. I do hope we meet again in the future," Naruto concluded in an ominous voice, mentally snickering at the horrified expressions on all of their faces.

One by one, (with Naruto still pointing his gun at a random lady), the crew hopped down, until Neji was left with the bags.

Suddenly, Naruto felt the gun in his hand get knocked away by a flying dagger.

"MEN CHARGE! DON'T LET THE PIRATES GET AWAY!" a high pitched shout came from above. Naruto was shocked to see a pink blur along with maybe 2 others jump down from the watch deck.

But, Naruto smirked at seeing how none of the other men tried to help. He motioned for Kiba and Neji to surround them. He sized up the one who had shouted.

She was around his age. Tall for her age too. Bright pink hair framed a quizzical face. Green eyes sparkled with unleashed fury. Well, she was definitely good looking and brave too, but she was way out of her league here.

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"Well, well, well, what have we here? Damsel in distress decide to borrow Daddy's sword?" Kiba sneered, eyeing the long sword she held.

"Better borrowing from Daddy then your little Mummy's sword," she replied smoothly, sniggering at his short, stout dagger.

"Brave words, but you're overpowered here," Naruto cut in, before Kiba could reply.

"Wrong. You there, pick up that sword and fight!" she yelled to one of the nobles who had an expensive looking sword strapped to his side.

"Are you crazy? This is an antique!" the man yelled back. At this, all of Naruto's crew burst out laughing.

In quick blurs, the two men with the rosette lunged in attack at Kiba and Neji.

With a cry, the girl launched herself at Naruto. Naruto was surprised, most men didn't launch themselves that easily, let alone a woman. But, years of fighting honed his reflexes. THWACK. Naruto's sword met hers in an upright parry. The next few moves were simple attacks and blocks. She was doing extraordinarily well against the Rasengan. She pulled back and tried a long sweeping side cut that would have sliced his guts out. Naruto stepped forward and pivoted his sword so it blocked her sword and arm. The girl seemed to have put all of her strength into that move, because her sword (upon missing) landed in the ground with an oomph, and she stumbled. Taking advantage of that, Naruto took another step forward. His arms grazed hers now and he had her trapped with both arms clutching the sword sandwiched between their bodies. She looked panicked on what to do, until a quick grin settled on her face.

PUNCH!! Her fist swung hard at his forehead. He dodged, but since he was so close, it landed on his nose with a small crack. A trickle of blood fell from his nose. The feeling was one of more shock than pain. Seeing that he was distracted, she picked up her sword and stepped back, ready to start the intricate dance again.

Naruto was angry. How could a girl manage to get the first blood? He snarled and bounded in attacks. Her green eyes widened at the sight of all the overheads and slices that charged towards her. She blocked steadily, but Naruto was using brute force against her. Trying to reposition herself, so his force would be a disadvantage, the pink haired girl used quicker, faster jabs and retreats. Naruto grinned. That was what the Rasengan was made for. On her next quick jab, he twisted his sword and jabbed forward at her stomach. She tried to sidestep, but the sword caught her arm. Blood spurted from the deep cut. Rasengan was made from such hard metal that its cuts were deep. Yet, she was holding off better than most men he fought. She hissed in pain and continued fighting. Yet, the blood loss was getting to her. She saw that too, and played the defense.

BANG! A shot fired in the air. Shikamaru was in the middle of the ship, with his gun raised.

"Apologies captain, but another ship is coming. We need to go. Now," Shikamaru said.

Naruto noticed that the girl was watching Shikamaru. Bingo. She was distracted. With one movement he bashed the hilt of his sword to her blade. While it flew out of her hands, he reached into his boot and pulled out the second gun and pointed it at her head.

She swiveled around at him, disappointment clouding her green eyes.

"Y-you were supposed to beat him! H-how could you LOSE?" a woman wailed, clutching her hair.

"If some of you had gotten off of your asses and helped me I wouldn't have," she yelled back. A shocked silence filled the ship. A few of Naruto's men whistled.

"Why, you little…" the same woman yelled to her.

"Well, shit," he heard her mutter under her breath.

Naruto grinned and motioned for Kiba and Neji (who had beaten the other men) to bind her hands. She stiffened and immediately started struggling.

"Get your hands OFF me, you filthy bastard! I am going to beat the shit out of you!!!"

Wincing slightly at her shouting, Kiba lashed the ropes on her hands tighter. After Kiba got her hands tied, she was tossed onto his shoulder and marched onto the ship.

Green met blue as Sakura glared at the smirking Naruto from Kiba's shoulder.

TBC

AN: pretty long chapter. Finally Sakura has met Naruto. I'm making her skill level closer to Naruto's in this story. I'm a fan of cliffies, so no I didn't forget, but some of the loose ends (why is Sakura on that ship? Why don't they like her? Where did she learn?) will all be answered in the next chapter.

What to expect:

An interrogation, plenty of resistance, strong language, maybe more fighting.

PLEASE REVIEW.