Chapter 5

Brittany slung her arm around Naruto's shoulders and grinned at him cheekily. "So Naruto, are ya having fun on your second dig with us? There should be an awesome payday from this place!"

Gina looked over at her sister with a deadpan expression as she added her two cents to Brittany's thoughts. "That's true, it should be an awesome payday, just like you said... IF EVERYONE ELSE HADN'T DISCOVERED THE PLACE AT THE SAME TIME!"

Naruto grinned as he pulled down the pair of sunglasses he wore and smiled evilly as his gaze fell on his target, Ryan Tabbot. After the last time the two men had met, Ryan had not set foot anywhere near the Digger's property, this simple act letting Naruto know that the young man had gotten the message that the shinobi had delivered to him. Naruto walked forward and slapped Ryan on the back forcefully, scaring the shit out of the young man as he tried to back away from the blonde.

"Ryan! How nice to see you again and so soon! So, did you have a chance to think about what I told you before?" Ryan looked towards Gina fearfully and sighed as she looked away immediately,. Turning her nose up at the frightened young man. Sighing, the young treasure hunter nodded his head, causing Naruto to grin in triumph.

"All right, you win, I'll still work with her and I guess we can be friends, that is if she'll even talk to me." Naruto grinned and leaned in closely to hammer out some of the fine details, not wanting to leave anything to chance or interpretation.

"Good... very good. So, no more trying to get in her pants, no more trying to grope her, nothing, got it? And if your a good boy, I may help you with your fighting style, you're really just using a mish mash of good moves and it's kinda embarrassing, you really should be able to excel in one or more styles and that's where I can help." Ryan's eyes widened, surprised at the offer a he nodded slowly. Naruto slapped his back again, nearly sending Ryan crashing into the floor before walking back over to the girls. Just as he got within range Cheetah grabbed his arm and pulled the shinobi aside.

"What gives? First you scare the crap out of him then your all buddy buddy with the guy!" Naruto grinned evilly as he let lose a evil sounding laugh, an action that had Brittany studying the blonde before her intently. "Just what are you planning in that diabolical mind of your Naruto?"

"Well, I did say training... but I didn't say it would be the training from hell, he'll suffer more than he ever has and I can disguise it all as trying to make him a better martial artist." Cheetah looked at our young shinobi, eyes wide and an excited smile on her face.

"Please, please lemme help! Every session, please, please, PLEASE!" Naruto gave Brittany a thumbs up and was suddenly holding over 300lbs of ecstatic were-cheetah in his arms. Brittany then joined in with her own maniacal cackle while Ryan watched the entire exchange, wondering if accepting the possible training sessions had been a mistake.

Naruto let Cheetah go and looked at the rest of Gina's gathered rivals. 'Let see, pair of twins, getting some strange vibes off of them... must be the Montara twins Gina warned me about. And what the heck is a guy dressed up like a business man doing here? Eh, worlds full of weirdos, I'll just roll with it. I'm guessing the girl with the wings and the black girl beside her are Penny and Charlotte, which leaves the last group of baldy, the midget and the wannabe.'

The last three people that Naruto looked at seemed to be the most annoyed with the hold up as the World Archeological Foundation representative was trying to figure out who had the rights to this new site. As they all waited, Naruto began to mold some chakra to see if anyone so much as even twitched. The wannabe and the twins both looked at Naruto sharply, causing the blond to grin widely. 'Well well well , it seems they're not all useless after all. Only a few people in the entire world should be able to feel the energies that form chakra in this day and age, this trip may actually be a somewhat interesting.'

Galford looked at the man in front of him and couldn't help but shiver slightly, his senses telling him that this man was not to be trifled with. Actually, his senses were screaming to him to act immediately, the message they were providing Galford went something like this. 'RUN YOU FOOL! WHY AREN'T YOU RUNNING! DAMMIT, WE ARE GOING TO DIE, BAKA!' Crouching down at his master's height, Galford softly cleared his throat to grab the attention of his employer, his honor demanding that he inform his master of the potential danger before them. "Lord Talon, we must be wary of the man with the Diggers sisters... he is very dangerous."*

*Writer's note: Yeah, no shit Sherlock, ya think?

Pee Wee... er, Lord Talon glanced at the man that Galford had just pointed out, his smirk widening as he observed the man before him. "Hmph, he doesn't seem that dangerous to me. He looks weaker than Tabbot and I know that you would wipe the floor with that blowhard." Galford nodded slowly at what his employer said but continued on.

"Regardless of what you may see, he is much more than that. I do not know if I would be able to defeat him if he tried to attack us." Talon's interest was piqued as he looked at the young man again.

"Really? Maybe a genetic sample of the 'dumb muscle' wouldn't be a bad idea. If we have the opportunity, we'll collect one." Just as Talon finished speaking, the 'dumb muscle' sharply turned his head and pierced the young genius with his shade covered gaze. Talon swallowed loudly, his brow dotted with sweat as he felt the heavy gaze of the man before him. 'Maybe... I spoke too soon...'

Finally, the question of who would be able to claim the site was resolved, though not to everyone's satisfaction. As all the relevant parties had registered the site at the same time, they would all have to share the discovery. The site was divided up into equal sections, each team was randomly assigned a sector that they would be able to excavate. Naruto grinned as each group began to argue, but Miss Hagger was unmoved by anything they said and stuck by her decision to carve up the site equally among the explorers. After the capital had been divided and the Diggers team arrive at their site, Gina sent Brittany to check in with Genn and Seance before they arrived in her car with the rest of the teams gear.

Naruto smiled as he held Gina in his arms, the young shinobi using his powerful muscles to leap across the pitfalls and treacherous spots of the Northern sector that Gina had been assigned. The young genius grumbled a bit every time Naruto set her down, but the potential discoveries in front of her just waiting to be cracked helped her get over her annoyance, somewhat. Naruto watched Gina reach into a alcove in the wall, pulling out several artifacts that had piqued the young genius' curiosity, so for now the pair were staying put.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest as he thought about the situation involving him, Gina and Brianna. Initially, he had thought that the girls were just normally this 'touchy-feely' with people they knew, but after several weeks the dense blonde realized that things were starting to escalate between the three instead of simmering down. He could tell that both girls were interested in him, he wasn't quite that dense anymore, but that was where the problem lay.

Both girls were appealing for different reasons, Gina and her devotion and single minded drive to anything that she wanted and Brianna's desire to make her own mark on the world and were desires that he could relate to. Not to mention Gina's obsession with anime and video games were growing on him and there was no need to even mention how much he loved blowing things up with Brianna. Each had their own needs, hobbies and likes and dislikes but it seems they both wanted the same thing this time.

Him.

Naruto knew if he chose one over the other, the girl that was left out would be devastated. For once in his life, Naruto had no idea how to get out of this without someone getting hurt. 'In the end, I may just have to disappoint them both, they'd end up hating me most likely but at least not each o...'

Just as Naruto was about to finish his though, Gina looked back at Naruto and smiled at him cutely, the excited archeologist turning back to the items laid out before her as she smiled happily. Naruto's resolve to step back from both girls crumbled immediately, a sigh of resignation passing his lips. 'Ah hell, I am so screwed.'

As Gina continued to tap away at her computer, Naruto cocked his head to the side as he stretched his senses out over the cavern. From the moment that she had left, Naruto had been keeping a figurative eye on Brittany as she made her way towards the entrance where the main communication hub was located. As the were-cheetah's chakra reached the main hub, a pair of new signatures appeared, causing Naruto to frown when he recognized one of the signals. 'Oh no you little wannabe, not today.'

One hand sign later, a clone appeared behind Gina, surprising the young woman out of her near euphoric daze as she tried to solve the mystery before her. "Gina, I think there's something going on with Cheets. This guy'll keep you safe for now, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Leaping towards the exit Naruto grinned as he thought, 'Time to show everyone what a real ninja is.'

Cheetah growled as she kept dodging the blows from Zelda and Galford, each doing their best to put her down permanently. 'DAMMIT! What I wouldn't give for a little help here!' Moments after Cheetah finished that though she felt a pair of arms encircle her and pull her away from the fight. Looking up she saw the smirking face of Naruto right above her.

"Heya Cheets, having fun?" As he stood and let her go, Cheetah looked back at Peewee's goons and cracked her knuckles, a large grin splitting her face now that she had some backup. "Oh I will be now, Baldy is all yours. Galford is mine." But before anyone could move, Naruto was on his knees in front of Cheetah, holding her hands in his own and doing something she never thought she would ever see him do.

"PLEASE! Please, please, please lemme kick this wannabe ninja's ass! I'll do anything for ya, anything!" Cheetah was completely shocked at what she was seeing before her, never suspecting in a million years that she would get to see the powerful Naruto begging her for something. Suddenly a look of understanding crossed the were-cheetah's face as she replayed what Naruto had said, the young woman realizing that Naruto took his training and his abilities seriously, not wanting anyone looking down at his skills or mocking what a real shinobi should be. A devious smirk crossed Brittany's face as she pulled Naruto to his feet.

"Well... what can you offer me? After all, you are the one butting into my fight, I find it only fair that I get something out of it if your taking the best fighter to yourself." Naruto put up one hand, reached into his jacket with the other and pulled out a small card. "You can have the item listed on this card."

Zelda growled loudly as the her opponents ignored her, the indignation of being passed over was more than the woman could take as she pointed at the arguing pair. "HEY! Stop jabbering and..."

Zelda trailed off as both Naruto and Cheetah gave her a death glare, their gazes promising swift death if the woman spoke again. Taking a step back, Zelda looked at Galford but the ninja just held his hands up and shook his head in resignation, an action that caused a trickle of fear to grow in Zelda's stomach. 'This can't good...'

Cheetah looked at the card in confusion but after she read the few lines that were there, the were-cheetah's eyes widened in joy as she grabbed Naruto in a hug, squeezing the man joyously and squealing happily. "YES! I'll take it! He's all yours!" Naruto took back the card and grinned.

"Deal, now where were we?" Naruto and Cheetah both pivoted and launched themselves towards Zelda and Galford, the speed they were moving at causing both goons to try and backpedal in shock but it was too late.

Naruto grinned as he began to 'educate' Galford, dancing back and forth between each of his strikes and watching the genetically engineered ninja get even more frustrated as he failed to land a single blow. Finally Galford leaped back, brought his hands to his side and began gathering his energy there. Naruto smirked at the attempt and when Galford yelled, "Hadoken!" Naruto disappeared from his sight.

Galford froze when he felt a presence appear behind him and heard, "A ninja doesn't let the opponent sneak up on them from behind, baka. Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi!"

Pee Wee looked back at the tunnel his minions had used to intercept Brittany Diggers in an attempt to keep her busy, a girlish scream echoing down the tunnel caused Pee-Wee to sigh. "Sounds like Zelda was defeated... again."

Naruto smirked as the chakra enhanced ass poke sent Galford rocketing across the chamber, directly into the far wall. Cheetah and Zelda had watched the whole thing happen and both could only respond in one way. Both girls started to laugh their heads off as Galford slowly rose from the ground as quickly as his wounded pride(and ass) would let him. As both girls gained control of themselves, Cheetah jabbed Zelda in the face, stunning her and unloaded a multi hit combo that sent her skidding towards her mortified partner.

"You see how much of a threat I think you are, wannabe? That was the move that my teacher used on me after I was a ninja under his command for only a day! You're that much of a joke to me!" Galford growled in anger as he pulled a ball from his belt, throwing it to the floor. Thick smoke was released from the bomb, causing Naruto to slide in front of Cheetah, just in case this was cover for a sneak attack. But after several moments Naruto relaxed as he felt the two enemies leave, their chakra rapidly heading south.

Spinning around, Naruto grinned as he held his fist up in front of himself, a move that confused Brittany for a moment. Several seconds passed when the were-cheetah grinned widely as she gently bumped fists with the shinobi, a loud whooped from the shinobi causing the girl to giggle loudly.

"Aw yeah, that was awesome! Thanks for coming to give me a hand! And don't you dare think about backing out on what you said you'd deliver since the fight was so short!" Naruto rubbed his finger under his nose and grinned.

"No worries, totally worth it to show that guy his place. You'll get the 'item' in a few days. But I better get back to Gina, just in case. You never know what trouble she may have gotten into."

Meanwhile, Gina wasn't exactly in trouble, more like she was embarrassing herself. The Naruto clone had walked ahead of Gina a little bit while she was inputting some more of her findings into her computer, giving the beautiful young woman a good look at the clone's ass as she began to multitask. 'It may not actually be him, but they are completely identical. Wish I had a quarter..."

A quiet "Psst, Gina!" behind the distracted girl caused her to fall back on her basic survival method whenever Penny was around: Give Penny a wedgie before her rival could do the same to her. Gina, using her epic wedgie skills,slipped her arm around her back and snagged the underwear of the person that had snuck up on her, a high pitched squeal informing her of her success. Mission accomplished, Gina looked over her shoulder with a smirk that quickly turned into complete and utter mortification. Penny hadn't been sneaking up on her, it was...

"Now you see Charlotte, that's why I sent Ryan ahead to talk to Gina." Gina glared at her rival and her harpy friend, growling at the sassy grin she got in return. The Naruto-clone chuckled as he turned around and watched the scene in front of him. Standing beside Gina he put his arm around her shoulders as Gina's cheeks flushed brightly. Ryan... well Ryan was trying to get his underwear back in his pants and once this was done he quickly decided to make an exit, thinking that it'd be less embarrassing then his current situation.

"Gina, you never told me you like to wedgie people... OW!" Gina elbowed the clone in the stomach, fortunately it wasn't hard enough to pop him but he did feel it. Turning back to her rival she growled out,

"Why are you here Penny?" Penny sighed and crossed her arms as she looked at Gina

"Erwin's got me concerned. I mean he's the kinda guy to off people rather than share, if he could get away with it he'd kill us all and leave us here to rot. I say we team up to make sure nothing like that happens." Gin adopted a unconcerned look and jerked her thumb at Naruto.

"I don't need to team up with anyone, this guy is all I need anymore. Him and Brit together are pretty much unstoppable."

Penny hmmm'ed at the young man beside her rival and got a good look at him. "Um... I don't know what's so special about him, sure he's cute but other than that he looks so... normal." Gina snorted and began to snigger, resting her head against the clones chest as she slowly regained control of herself.

"Uh huh, normal... right. Don't worry, we can take care of Pee-Wee, we can use the car to get to his site and make sure he's..." Gina frowned as an alert on her computer had her tapping several keys rapidly, until finally she screamed in rage. "MY CAR!"

Ionis smirked as he surveyed his work. Genn and Seance had been taken out the moment they had exited the car, leaving it ready to be occupied by Pee wee and his crew. Just as the reset of the group arrived, Ionis cocked his head to the side and gestured at Galford.

"What happened to him, he's limping pretty bad." Galford froze suddenly and looked at Zelda. Zelda looked at Galford and used all her willpower not to burst out laughing. Galford looked at Ionis and said,

"It's a long story, you don't want to know. Just get in the damn car."

As the quartet got in the car and Ionis used his magic to disguise himself as Gina he muttered, "What crawled up your ass and died? Sheesh."

Zelda couldn't take it anymore, her laughter doubled her over as they flew off in the Ginamobile.

"Why would they need to fly somewhere... they must have found something in their area that pointed to some kind of treasure, but the only place that you'd need to fly... the Northeast! That's it! I wish there was a way to stop Pee-wee and his goons, but they've locked me out!"

Penny smirked as she flew off with Charlotte's help but Gina didn't care about that, she was trying to think of a way to turn this around.

Naruto grinned and nudged Gina with his hip. "Hey, how badly do you want to stop them, cause I can do it but you have to promise not to get annoyed."

Gina gave Naruto a cockeyed expression and hmmm'ed softly. "All right, but you better tell me what your about to do... and it better not involve wrecking the car!" Naruto laughed and shook his head as he made a strange hand sign.

"No no, nothing like that, first off you installed that external system we talked about that can accept voice commands, right?" At Gina's confused nod Naruto took a deep breath and continued on. "Good, I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't get angry at me that I have full access to all your security protocols, including the car. Also I've been hiding a disguised clone there for the last week, just in case." Gina looked at Naruto in shock and the shinobi continued. "After all, it's the perfect place to put a shadow clone that no one would ever expect. That sign I just made? It let him know what to do, the car should be stopping right about... now."

Gina was thinking of what she had just been told and the fact that she knew there were always several clones in the house at any given time helping out it made sense to have a way to pass info that didn't involve popping... 'Wait, if he can use a hand sign to tell his clones what to do... OH YOU HAVE GOTTO BE KIDDING ME!'

"THAT'S HOW YOU CHEATED THAT FIRST NIGHT WE PLAYED STREET FIGHTER!" Naruto gave a fox like grin and the clone popped, warning the original that his secret was blown. "NARUTO!" As Gina tried to get her breathing back under control, she had to ask herself, 'What could Naruto possibly have disguised his clone as if it's in the car?'

With Cheetah and the real Naruto they were making their way back to where they had left Gina. Naruto suddenly stopped and paled a little. 'Uh oh, I'm in trouble...'

Turning to the north east he looked at Cheetah and said, "Change of plans, everyone is making a run for the north east, I'll go and cause some mayhem, you get Gina and meet me there!"

Before Cheetah could even agree to the new plan Naruto took off in a flash down the corridor. Cheetah looked at the rapidly fading back of her friend and scratched her head in confusion at his sudden change in attitude. "What the heck is his problem?"

Meanwhile, back with the car

Erwin rubbed his hands together greedily, everything was going exactly as he planned and there was nothing...

A loud bang interrupted Erwin's inner thoughts and he looked around wildly for the cause of it. "What was that!"

A sudden weight landed on top of the car, causing the vehicle to wobble while everyone looked out the windows, wondering what kind of trouble they were in now.

Naruto-clone #2 was in a word, pissed. First, he had been stuck as a spare tire for the last week since he got the short straw when they drew lots for the duty, second he was sleeping when the order came in to the stop the car thieves and finally he had to fight his way out from under some huge ass piece of equipment that Gina had loaded in the car. So, needless to say he was not exactly in a mood to deal with car thieves. Placing a hand on the roof he said, "Authorization Uzumaki Alpha, Sierra, Sierra, Kilo, Charlie, Kilo, Romeo. Engage hover mode and lock out all other secure users until secondary command code for user Uzumaki is provided! Acknowledge last order!"

A quick double honk of the car's horn and the Ginamobile immediately began to slow. 'That'll teach them to steal our stuff! Little bastards, they're lucky the original promised I wouldn't destroy the car!'

Erwin became very nervous when their forward speed slowed drastically until finally it stopped completely, just shy of their target. Looking over to his left, Talon grabbed Ionis and pointed at the controls. "Ionis, do SOMETHING." Ionis tried everything he could think of to get the car moving but nothing was working.

"Sorry Lord Talon, it appears we have been locked out... what the hell is that thing?" Everyone looked out the front windshield at the Naruto-clone currently crouching on top of it. Said clone was angrily glaring at everyone and as he did so his eyes shifted from his normal sky blue to a deep red, the marks on his cheeks darkened and his fangs lengthened slightly, causing everyone in the cockpit to react accordingly. Zelda and Galford screamed bloody murder, Ionis opened his spell book for a teleportation spell and Erwin... well, Naruto would want to clean up the car before he gave it back to Gina. Moments later Ionis' teleportation spell kicked in and the car was empty once more.

Naruto arrived at the edge of a cliff and saw the hovering car a several hundred feet ahead of him,m the sight causing the blonde to grin widely as hr cupped his hands in front of his mouth. "NICE JOB NUMBER 2!"

"SUCK MY DICK, ASSHOLE!" Naruto grinned at his clones pissed off response, giving it the mental command to pop as he looked around, staking in what was happening around him. He saw 2 helicopters and some kind of fighter craft slowly making their way to a building he could barely make out, so he looked for a good way to get to the other side. Deciding to do it the shinobi way, Naruto ran to the wall and using his chakra to help him scale the sheer rock until he reached the ceiling and began running full tilt towards the car. As he neared the stalled vehicle he saw Peewee and his goons reappear on the far ledge, the group running as far away as they could from the car, their actions causing the shinobi to grin widely. Leaping from the ceiling, Naruto rocketed towards the hovering car and landed on the roof. "Authorization Delta, Omega, Delta, Gina, Echo, reengage drive and weapon systems for all main users!"

Naruto grinned as the car honked twice once more, the blonde sliding into the driver seat and began activating the weapon systems in the car. "Gonna have to thank Brianna for all those late night lessons on using the car's features, it'll finally come in handy."

A few sniffs and Naruto's nose wrinkled. "Ah dammit, now I have to wash the seats before we leave! Ok, time to make'em pay!"

Halfway around the world, Brianna had a sudden warm fuzzy feeling in her chest. Looking towards the north she grinned as she though of Naruto, saddened that she couldn't go with them but an experiment that she had been running was in it's most critical stages so she couldn't leave it alone. Brianna was snapped out of her thoughts when the phone rang and she scrambled to grab the handset. Once she heard what the caller wanted she wished that she hadn't been able to make it in time.

Naruto aimed for Peewee and his crew, then activated the external speaker systems for the car. "Halt car thieves, I am here to make your life a living hell, surrender and die!"

Ionis raised his hands and shouted. "Um, excuse me, sir, don't you mean surrender OR die?"

Naruto grinned maliciously as he activated the missile system and just before he pushed the firing stud, his maniacal laughter echoing through the gallery. "I meant what I said."

Gina and Brittany arrived just as the Gina mobile launched it's missiles. The threw their arms in front of their eyes to protect themselves from debris and the glare, when the explosions were over they looked forward and nearly doubled over laughing, Naruto had apparently used the non lethal missile system, consisting of a series of flash bangs and entrapment gels. Pee Wee and his crew were futility struggling to move but they weren't going anywhere for a while, Cheetah even had a hard time getting out of the stuff and she was stronger than everyone in Pee Wee's group.

"That crazy knucklehead, I could kiss him right now." A sidelong glance and a smirk were the only answer that Brittany provided to Gina's comment. Gina looked over and sighed. "Ok, fine, I want to kiss him all the time, happy now?" Brittany giggled and grabbed her sister, seeing a way that she could get across the chasm in front of them. Moments later the two women landed and waved at the floating car.

"Naruto! Set it down and we'll go see what's so important!" Gina watched as Naruto made a slightly wobbly descent and made a mental note to take him on lessons to fly the car... with plenty of time put aside to 'get to know each other better'. The car finally touched down and Naruto jumped out, grabbing Gina and twirling her around as he laughed. Gina couldn't help herself and began giggling loudly, Brittany stood to the side as she smiled sadly.

'Those three had better work this out or there will be hell to pay.'

Once they were all under control, Gina went over and found a large crate that was half hanging out of the trunk. With a grin she pushed a key on her wrist comp and the container suddenly transformed into a fully armed Hurt bot. "Alpha 4, ready for action?"

The hurt bot turned to it's creator, it's weapon systems making several whirs or clicking sounds as it's voice boomed out, "All system's nominal, ready for combat! Warning, subspace distortions detected!"

Behind the group the Montara twins finally showed up, their hands clasped as their psychic powers began to flare around them. "All of you will leave this place to us or you will burn!"

A massive jet of pyrokinetic flame raced towards the Digger crew but the hurt bot stood in front of it, it's shields were more than enough to handle the impact. Naruto jumped over the mech and raced forward, throwing the Montara sister to the wall and knocking her cold and grabbed the brother's clothing,knocking his out with a well placed punch. "Now that that's taken care of... Gina, ways clear, lets go. Cheets, wanna run interference with the hurt bot out here and keep mister 'I'm a ninja businessman' off our backs?"

Gina circled on her new love interest and jabbed a finger in his chest. "Hey, speaking of cheats, I know how you..."

Naruto pointed behind Gina and yelled, "Look, it's Charlotte, she's carrying Penny into the building!"

Gina growled as she began running towards the entrance. "This conversation is shelved for now, but you are is SO MUCH TROUBLE."

Naruto grinned as he ran forward, scooped Gina up in his arms and put on a burst of speed, entering the chamber just as Penny managed to gain access to a multitude of what looked like floating diamonds. Naruto slowed as he looked up with wide eyes and saw teeth... lots and lots of teeth. Said teeth said a single word that got everyone's attention

"LEAVE."

Gina, Penny and Charlotte all looked at the floating sets of teeth and eyes with wide eyed expressions of fear, not saying a single word. Naruto on the other hand had sparkles in his eyes and said, "THAT IS SO COOL!"

Break

Erwin Talon was not having a good day. First, they had to share the dig site with all these other peasants. Next, his plan to keep the Diggers busy had failed when his minions were beaten. The car fiasco would haunt his dreams for a weeks and finally the entrapment gel was still sticking to him in certain, uncomfortable places.

After they had finally freed themselves thanks to a handy spell from Ionis, said mage and his faithful ninja were keeping Brittany Diggers and the Hurt bot she had helping her busy while Talon and Zelda ran for the building everyone had been trying to get into. Just as they were about to enter, the pair saw Gina in the arms of her newest stooge come barreling out, screaming, "RUN YOU FOOLS, RUN!"

As Erwin watched the pair race away, he saw Penny and her harpy fly overhead, a four foot long diamond in their grasp. "That's bigger than I am! Inside, now!"

As Erwin and Zelda turned back to the doorway they were greeted by a set of teeth, very large teeth. "THEIVES, YOU HAVE AWAKENED MY FURY!"

Erwin, for the second time today, now had to change his pants. Moments later a bright green light bathed the doorway and Erwin knew no more.

Break

Naruto looked back at the tall... dragon like thing and grinned as he ran faster. Brittany saw him and caught up to him, screaming at her sister in his arms. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? WHAT DID YOU DO GINA!?"

Gina held onto her hat and yelled back, "NOTHING! BLAME PENNY, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!"

Before they could move again Gina's hurt bot blasted off towards the new enemy, fulfilling it's programming to protect it's creator. A moment later a blast of green energy engulfed it and after it cleared, there was nothing, not even wreckage of the mech remained. Naruto and Cheetah looked at each other and took off immediately, knowing that it was a good time to run.

Naruto and Cheetah poured on the speed and saw the exit in front of them, but they were going to have to jump to make it. Just as Naruto and Cheetah leapt forward, the Montara's decided to throw a monkey wrench into into that plan, using their psychic powers to steal Naruto's momentum and save themselves. Cheetah landed on the ledge without a problem but Naruto was falling towards the ground, the shinobi glaring at the smirking twins as they sailed past him. 'If it was just me, that's not a big deal, but Gina's here too! When I get my hands on those two...'

The thought was cut off as his back hit the ground and the pair rolled a short way before Nartuo's back hit a stalagmite. Grunting through the pain, Naruto looked down at his passenger and was greeted by a pair of worried eyes. Looking towards the ledge, Naruto saw Cheetah's head popped up and heard her startled yell. "What the hell are you doing down there? Get the hell out of there, right now!"

Naruto rose to his feet and looked behind him, seeing several of the green orbs that had chased after the others closing in on the both of them. 'Well, looks like it's now or never, I was hoping to keep this one a secret but things never go the way you expect them to!'

"Cheetah! Get your ass outta here, I got another way out! I'll meet you at the entrance!" Cheetah gave him a worried look for a moment then remembered what the blonde shinobi had done the first time they all met him. Cheetah smirked and said, "You better, I'm not explaining to Bri what happened to you if you don't! Not to mention you still owe me!"

Naruto grinned as the were-cheetah turned around and ran through the exit. Looking down at Gina again he grinned and cocked his head to the side. "Hang on tight... this may feel a little... weird."

A moment later they were both gone, the only sign of anything having been in the area was a flash of yellow light.

Gina nearly screamed as the pair were plunged into darkness, the surprised genius falling a few feet to the hard stone ground. Reaching for her pockets, Gina pulled a flashlight as she looked for Naruto. Moments later she saw him laying a few feet away from her, face down on the ground and not moving. Gina scrambled towards him and pulled him into her arms, the archeologist started to cry as she placed Naruto's head in her lap. "Naruto! Come on, don't you dare do this to me! I haven't... I haven't even..."

A weak groan caught Gina's attention and she looked into the tired eyes of the knucklehead she was falling for. "Hey, s'ok, I'm just really tired. Haven't quite figured out the right seal formula for that one yet, so it's really draining. But, we're safe... for now."

Gina looked around her and saw that they were in a enclosed space with a long passage way that snaked out behind her. "Where are we?"

Naruto groaned as he tried to get up but a firm push from Gina followed by a glare stopped him from moving. Naruto sighed as he got comfortable, I mean who wouldn't in this situation? "Side passage, about a mile from the entrance. I tagged it earlier before we headed north. We should be safe to stay here for a while till I get a bit of my chakra back."

"Tagged?" Naruto weakly pointed to the left of the pair, Gina shone her light in the direction and saw a gleaming tri-prong kunai that had been stabbed into the ground. It's hilt had a small scrolled wrapped around it, the only word she could make out was 'Flash'.

"The Hiraishin no Jutsu, or Flying Thunder God Technique. It was my dad's but he never got a chance to teach it to me, so I've been putting it together through trial and error over the last 18 years after I found Julia. Dad used to literally flash around the battlefield and decimate his enemies. Me? Heh, one use and this is what happens, for now at least." Gina sighed as she absently started to run her fingers gently through Naruto's hair, planning on making the most of the fact he was at her mercy and unable to move.

"Naruto, there's something I need to talk with you about. Ever since you arrived... when you saved me from that fall...I..." A hand on her cheek stopped Gina in shock. Looking down at Naruto a tired smile dominated his face as he said, "Hey, s'ok, it's all part of what I do. The two things I'm best at are, first: Kicking ass. And a very close second is rescuing the beautiful damsel in distress."

Gina felt a few tears appear in her eyes and she decided that it was the best time to make her move. 'I may never get another chance, it's time to show him what he means to me!'

Leaning forward Gina closed her eyes as she gently kissed Naruto. It was a little awkward since he was in her lap but it was worth it to her. As she felt Naruto respond to the kiss Gina's heart soared, then just as quickly it crashed to the ground when Naruto tried to push her away. "Wait, wait, can't... can't do this, can't choose one of you over the other."

For a moment Gina was hurt, unbelievably so, when the words Naruto had just spoken finally registered. With a soft smile she kissed the weakened man's forehead and murmured soothingly. "Shhhhhh, s'ok, we'll talk about it later, k? Don't worry, I'm not mad, this just shows I chose right this time." Pulling Naruto into her lap Gina held onto him like he was the giant teddy she kept in her room, the pair cuddling against each other as they managed to fall asleep

Gina awoke to the heavenly feeling of being in Naruto's arms again. Snuggling in closer, Gina kept her eyes closed until she heard a soft chuckle, Looking up she saw Naruto's smiling face beaming down at her. Gina reached a hand up and gently stroked the whiskers on Naruto's cheek, giggling at the rumbling sound in his chest at her action. "Hey sleepyhead, we're almost there. I'm taking it slow for once, we're been walking for a little under a a half hour or so."

Gina nodded and settled back against her rescuer's chest, feeling more safe than she ever had, even when she was with her dad. 'So this is what mom was trying to explain to me, huh? Guess she was right, you don't know what it feels like till it happens.'

As the pair finally reached the exit, the bright light momentarily blinded them. Seconds later they heard, "GINA! NARUTO!" and were nearly tackled by an enthusiastic ball of energy, aka Brittany. Naruto grinned as he lowered Gina back to the ground, but the genius refused to let go of him and buried her face in his chest. "No, don't wanna, pick me up. Now."

Brittany giggled while Naruto sighed, deciding to give into the 'request'. 'So needy. And clingy. Ah, who am I kidding, I'm enjoying it too.'

As Naruto's eyes finally adjusted he saw that everyone else was already here, some appearing more confused than others. Heck, even the Ginamobile was there as well.

"So what exactly happened?" Penny sauntered over, gave the recently returned pair a smirk and said,

"Well stud, it looks like those lights that were chasing up were only a way to make us leave, everyone they hit was teleported back here. And as you can see, the entrance is sealed off now with a barrier, no one is getting back in there again." Looking behind him Naruto saw the barrier that Penny had been referring to and hung his head tiredly, realizing he didn't need to pull out Flying Thunder God after all. A hand on his cheek turned his gaze back on Gina and she grinned at him.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll keep it a secret on how we got out, but you so owe me now." Naruto laughed and leaned into the hand on his cheek. Moments later heard painful sounding smack. Turning back around Naruto saw Penny rubbing the back of her head, Cheetah poking Penny in the shoulder and the recently arrived Seance tried to hold his laughter in.

"Oi, Penny, no ogling his ass, he's spoken for already." Gina's arms tightened around Naruto's neck possessively and she glared at her rival, Naruto chuckled at the situation, wondering if this is what Sauske had to go through with all the girls that chased him.

"Ok, I think it's time we headed home."

Omake – What did Cheetah sell her chance to fight Galford for?

While Naruto was observing the girls he had sent several clones around the US to try and start a shipping business or as the Police like to call it... a smuggling ring. How else would he get the materiel that he needed to do his job? Several of the items he needed to get were highly expensive, illegal or both.

As he managed to get his venture off the ground with the help of the knowledge he had learned from Jiraiya during his training journey, Naruto ran into a business man that couldn't provide him the material he wanted even though the order was already supposed to have been fulfilled and shipped. He replaced it with a product he claimed was of equal value and shipped it to the central location of Naruto's operation. When the crates arrived, one of his clones opened a crate and cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"What the hell is the boss going to do with 10 shipping crates full of ice and fresh tuna?"