Final Fantasy VII Remake: A Tale Of Midgar Book I

by Arch-Daishou00

Destiny... A set course is not meant to be changed. A path is already written and set in stone. Aerith had long thought that was true. Till he appeared by the whims of the prince of madness, and it all had begun to change. Now an heir of Rama stands upon Gaia's soil. Nothing will ever be the same again... As the goddess of harmony, designed.

3. Clash at the Colosseum

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Co-Author and Beta: Godospartan the Kitsune

Re-edited 11/16/22

Chapter 3: Clash at the Colosseum

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Exasperation shone in Naruto's cerulean; "It has been nearly three days since I did that little job for the Watch. And now this Sofiya decided that I get a 'maybe' in whether I join you guys?"

"Pretty much," Dutch quipped back and lit up a cigar.

Both men were sitting at the blond's table, with the atmosphere being more than a bit tense. While Naruto had gotten paid for his work wiping out the Crimsons, he heard nothing about having a job with the Neighborhood Watch. So naturally, this has more than made the Uzumaki a tad irritated.

And from his and Kurama's perspective, the reasoning came only to one thing; "this is because I was a ninja isn't it?"

"More or less," the bald man breathed out some smoke.

That garnered a loud groan and glare for the bald man; "I didn't fight in the damn war Dutch."

"That you're aware of, with that amnesia of yours, who is to say." Well, that earned him a nasty glare; "WhiAte same time, I can tell you're a decent and good person. Just convincing Sofiya of that will take time and effort. She lost her entire unit when they went up against Godo Kisaragi himself during the war. It had left her with many scars on the outside and within, to say the least."

Hearing that, some of the younger man's irritation ebbed, "that unit was like a family to her?" Dutch nodded, which made Naruto sigh; "Alright, I get it. But what does that mean for me? I need work and Gil for the basics, you know."

"I'll look around for contracts for you. Keep showing the results you did with the Crimsons that will show Sofiya you can be trusted and get you on board." The older man rose from his chair; "For what it is worth, I think you're already one of us. I might have fought in the war, but I don't hold grudges. What's done is done." Then, with the Dutch turned to leave, "Keep at it, Uzumaki."

Observing the older man leave through the garage door, Kurama grunted, "He's on your side; I can vouch for that."

'That's nice, and all but won't put food on the table.' Naruto leaned back against his chair, stretching. "Can't wait on Dutch for whenever he can find work for me." Then, leaning back forward with his arms on the table, he glanced at his left arm. Wrapped around his wrist was a thick leather bracer with ornate metal stitched in. Within this said metal were his two magic materia of lightning and healing.

A small gift from Dutch and the rest of Watch as thanks, besides a hefty sum of Gil for taking out the Crimsons. The ebony bald man had explained that the material in the bracer allowed materia to be placed in it for the person to use. Well, that made it easier for the blond to carry, if nothing else.

"Need to train to figure out how to work these things right."

Kurama grunted back; "Goes without saying. However, since you only learned fire and wind chakra natures, Your lightning skills are only used when using senjutsu."

'And since I could never learn shōsen, now I can use healing materia.' Naruto quipped back, 'once I figure out how to use that too.'

"And there is also that one glaring problem we discovered some time ago."

At that, Naruto only grunted back with irritation.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

A large plate of hot eggs and sausage was set down at one of the tables of 5th Café. A cheerful smile graced Aerith's lips; "Anything else, Mr. Uzumaki?" her tone a teasing melody, wearing a pink sundress and sandals.

The said blond rolled his eyes; "Quite fine now, Ms. Gainsborough." A giggle met his mock formal tone as the brunette went to help other café patrons.

Grabbing his fork, the young sage began eating; 'Chef is almost as good as Karin and Ayame-Nee.' "You need something, kids?"

A cute squeak escaped the lips of a seven-year-old girl with long brunette hair adorned in a simple pink dress. Beside her was a nine-year-old in a red shirt and shorts with messy brown hair who grumbled, "How'd you know?"

"Just because I am a retired ninja doesn't mean I lost my old senses." The blond kept eating as he gestured for the two to sit at his table.

The kids sighed in defeat as they took a seat opposite him; "I told ya he'd know," the girl quipped back dryly.

"Oh hush…"

Naruto cocked a brow; "Sarah and Oates, right?" Both nodded despite staring at his food; "Take it; you guys need something or are you just coming to say hi?" The blond deadpans, observing the kids nodding while remaining focused on his food; "Did you guys eat before leaving the Leaf House?"

"W-we wanted to play at our hideout and forgot," Sarah mumbled with a blush.

Grunting, the blond called out to Aerith, who quickly came over, "Why hello, you two."

"Can you get some food for them? They ran off before having breakfast."

The brunette shook her head with a smile; "You two know Mrs. Collins and Ms. Folia will be chewing you out later." Both kids wanted to shrink from the adults' gazes. "But I'm sure Chef Boyd won't mind making free meals for you. Just this once, though;" Aerith giggled as Sarah brightly thanked her repeatedly while Oates gave a grateful nod.

Naruto remembered Aerith mentioning that the kiddo was a bit of the silent type but acted like the big brother of the orphans, with Sarah as the big sister. "So, while you're waiting for your food. Mind telling me why you came to see me? Did you two need something?" The blond asked, leaning back on his chair and resuming eating.

"Oh right," Sarah's eyes shone with recognition; "A bunch of hedgehog pies invaded our secret hideout!"

The blond paused for a moment, "those reptile frog creatures?" He swore the names of the monsters in this realm were so damn strange. But, then again, so were the monsters around here. He got a shiver when he recalled seeing those Gorger bugs.

Oates nodded; "yeah, they've been bullying and chasing us around since this morning. So we had to seal off the rest of our hideout."

"Can you help us?!" Naruto's eyes twitched upon seeing Sarah giving him a puppy dog gaze.

…Damn kids, he never could say no to them, back home and now here. "Alright, I'll deal with them." Both kids cheered; "Can I finish eating beforehand or deal with it now?"

Oates thought, "They haven't tried prying open the stuff we used to cover the entrance."

Naruto cocked a brow; "They haven't?"

"The adults say hedgehog pies are not that bright but not stupid," Sarah remarked. "But can be super pests in groups."

Well, at least that was something to know what he would be dealing with. "I'll get on it. Once I'm done eating."

"Cause a hero needs a full stomach to take on the bad guys," Naruto deadpans from Aerith's quip passing by them to serve a table.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Naruto's ponytail and sage haori jostled from the light breeze as he stood perched on the roof of a warehouse. "The underdeveloped land," the blond droned; "They name every place around here?"

As Naruto could guess, all the makeshift rivers and lakes around the slum started from Aerith's cottage. From there, it is spread out all over the place, and here it pooled into a large (thank Amaterasu it be clean and unpolluted) lake. Surrounding it were dozens of long-abandoned warehouses and various buildings in mild to horrible disrepair.

It also did not help that many buildings were densely packed together. "Finding these things is a pain."

Kurama chimes in his two Gil, "Not being able to sense where they are by using those sage skills of yours is also annoying."

'Thanks for the reminder,' Naruto grumbled back; 'it is the only thing that makes any sense why I can't use Senjutsu.' He sends a glare over at the towering structure that was the 'pride' of Shinra.

It damn near brought an overwhelming panic attack into the Uzumaki when he could not achieve Sage Mode. It took quite a while for Kurama to pacify his host (Smacking Naruto over the head with a tail); before they had both concluded the reactors were using 'Mako'. It was more along the lines of using the very life force of nature itself.

It explained the vast and lifeless barren wasteland surrounding the city. Nothing could thrive in such a dead zone around this 'utopia of civilization'. Was Shinra even aware, or did they remotely care that they were destroying the planet?

'Well, I can at least say I am not getting rusty.'

"See anything up there, big guy?" The blond sage peered down below him at the form of Kyrie, tapping her foot impatiently. His tagalong partner had decided to join him once he had left the café with the kids and ran into the cap-wearing teen girl upon nearing the kid's secret hideout. She even followed him into this area where the kids had closed off from the monsters.

But it begged the question, "Why are you coming along?" Naruto's voice a drawl as his gaze turned a dry deadpan. "Can you fight?"

"Why not come down here and find out buster." Uzumaki seriously doubted she could back up that claim; "I'm your guide and moral support."

"…You're avoiding Evan, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Riiiight; Huffing, the ponytailed blond leaped down to the teen's side; "So you know anything about these…."

"Hedgehog Pies," Kyrie refreshed the older man's mind.

"Yeah, those. Who the hell named them that anyway?"

The busty brunette teen shrugged; "Not a clue; I just know they are ugly little perves." Her words were met with a cocked brow; "And they can cast fire spells."

Well, isn't that lovely? The duo strolled quietly as possible through the old warehouses rounding the lake. Halfway the sound of strange guttural high-pitched chattering both caught their ears. A sweatdrop came from Naruto as Kyrie was now hiding behind him. Rolling his eyes, he kept walking before coming to a clearing with a dozen old crates and broken machines.

Naruto stopped and blinked a few times as he saw bipedal frogs with red skin, green eyes, and large stomachs. And a sharp row of spins on their back. And they all came up to Naruto's waist height as they danced around and chattered amongst themselves.

"Are they sapient, maybe?" The sage questioned in a hushed tone. Then, glancing behind him, he deadpans as he sees Kyrie hiding a foot away behind some crates. Then, shaking his head, he looks back to the toad-like beasts; 'Think they can be reasoned with?'

"I'll be laughing when they set you on fire."

'Love you too.' Naruto cleared his throat loud enough to get the little creature's attention; "Hey guys!" He offered them a kindly wave; "You all are bullying the kids who play around here. Could you stop that and go somewhere else?"

"What are you doing!?" Kyrie hissed at him from her hiding place. "You don't reason with them!" She poked her head out, yelling. A loud squeak came from her as she saw the Hedgehog Pies quickly notice her and hide again.

The sight of her seemed to have brightened their moods as they all smiled, muttering in their weird dialect while making very suggestive gyrations. Familiar body movements that Naruto has annoyingly seen done by several perverts he sadly calls family and friends.

His eye twitched before peering back to Kyrie; "Think they are saying they'll leave if you spend some time with them."

"LIKE HELL, I'M LOSING MY VIRGINITY TO A PACK OF MONSTERS!"

"Were you going to allow that?"

'Oh hell no,' Naruto turned back to the hedgehog pies; "Don't think she is interested, guys."

Such rejection was not accepted, however, as the slimy monsters tried to act all tough, their leader standing as tall as possible and shaking fangs and claws. Finally, rolling his eyes, the blonde simply skipped forward and punted that leading ball of creepiness into the nearby machinery before raising his hands. "Goal!"

That got the fury raised out of the others in full gear, two jumping at him with the intent to claw his face open. Ducking under them was easy enough, leaving Naruto to backflip into the air, practically playing leapfrog as he got back between them and Kyrie. Then, raising his hand, he chose to give the new slotted bangle a try, careful to jolt the tiniest amount of energy into the green elemental orb, and it shot out a blast of electrical discharge that zapped one of the two Hedgehogs into a burnt crisp. "Easy enough, not a bad way to do it."

"Look out!" They were priming some fire magic on their own, and the sage leaped up with a backflip, kicking the second monster near his back as his fists clenched in preparation for beating them down senselessly.

One fired at him as he started falling back down, but he deftly twisted and flipped horizontally, rolling on his side over the flaming ball before smacking the other one's head into the ground so a second fireball did not launch his way point-blank. Then, grabbing one of the spines from the frog-like monsters, he lifted the one he punched and threw it into the one that launched the first fireball and, with a little more magic, shot a bolt through their heads with a double kill. Then, turning to the one he thought was last, the one he kicked back before the flipping attack, Naruto grabbed the jumping monster by the face and yawned. "Not exactly hard to deal with compared to what I used to face."

Though more manageable in comparison individually, he soon realized he was not to let his guard down. The blonde never did as he was suddenly jumped by several, some even casting spells as they got closer to roast him. Tossing the monster in hand to the ground, Naruto jumped into the air and smirked as the entire pack piled on each other and exploded fire in each other's faces. "Thanks for making this even easier!"

A loud shriek caught his ear as he sharply turned on his heels to witness Kyrie being chased around several crates by the last two little frog imps. Seriously, the blond dryly stared before marching over; 'you'd think they would be more into self-preservation.'

Kurama dryly quipped, "Those brats did say these things were idiots."

The sage cringed as both monsters now had large long tongues hanging from their mouths with lust glowing in their eyes. Duel fists met their perverse pursuits to their faces sending them flying into several crates before being ended by a large bolt of lightning. "No means NO!"

Kyrie finally stopped running and huffed, catching her breath; "That was so gross."

"Reminds me of a few pervs from back home." A grunt came from the blond as Kyrie glopped him in a hug.

"My hero~" Naruto deadpans as he felt the hat-wearing girl purposely rubbing her endowed 'assets' on him.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Double-checking the area for any more of the little pervs, they went back to the kids' main hideout to tell the good news. Though Naruto cocked a brow as Kyrie spun a tale that did not match what they currently went through. But it had nearly all the kids hooked as they listened to her wide-eyed.

After the tale, the little girl Sarah came up to Naruto properly. "Thank you again for helping us. Whatever you did, you protected our favorite spot."

With a smile, the blonde patted the girl's head. "Think nothing of it. Glad to help out." 'Though I'd love to get paid for such work... Can't say no to kids, though.'

The young woman telling tall tales chose to get Naruto up and take him off. "Alright, let the kids have fun here; adults have fun elsewhere!"

"You're still fifteen," Naruto dryly quipped before catching what looked like a necklace Oates tossed him.

"You're cool like Aerith, so come back here anytime you want to hang out."

That made the tall blond grin as he nodded before Kyrie pushed him towards the narrow corner they would have to walk sideways through. Starting their way, Naruto glances at the necklace in his hand. The chain was rough looking, as was what hung off it. The design looked like a strange monster skull roaring.

But Naruto could tell and feel the care made into the little trinket as he put it on; "Good kids."

Kyrie shrugged as they both turned the corner and made it out back into the central district of the slum. "Well, that was a fun day," the teen girl stretched.

"Having told the kids how you had valiantly fought beside me against those from dastardly frog imps that wanted to get into your pants?" the teen sheepishly looked away as the blond used some of her own words from the tall tale she told the kids.

"Well, they're kids and will believe anything."

"Have fun, you two?" Both turned at the sight of Aerith coming towards them.

Naruto shrugged; "Better if I got paid, but happy to help those kids at the Leaf House."

"That's the spirit," the flower girl beamed; "So what's next?"

"Finding work with actual pay."

A dry deadpan came from the buxom teenager; "Can't we have lunch first?"

"We?" Naruto cocked a brow. "And I just had breakfast."

"An hour ago," Aerith clarified with a surprised look from the sage. Did they spend that long looking for those little bastards? Ugh, he was going to have to step up his tracking skills.

"Well, you'd just get lost being your own," Kyrie quipped back with her hands on her hips.

Aerith seemed to agree with her; "And more fun when having friends around." She now stood beside Kyrie.

'I just lost this conversation, didn't I?' Kurama snorted as his host thoughts before the blond sighed, "Alright."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Back at the 5th Cafe; Kyrie gleefully smiled as she held a sandwich in her hand; "A good reward for honest work." Then, taking a few bites, she froze before seeing the dry, deadpan stares from her companions sitting beside her; "Shut up."

Rubbing his eyes, the Uzumaki peered over to Aerith; "So your shift here ended?"

"Yup, so it means I get to make sure you two don't get into too much trouble."

Kyrie, however, looked offended; "Hey, I'm an honest girl."

"No, you're not," Both Naruto and Aerith dryly chorused, earning a tongue stuck out at them.

Barely the first week Naruto had been there, he had come to learn about his young friend's less than-reputable means of earning Gil. Given the state of the slums, Naruto knew some people had to steal just for something to eat. However, dear Kyrie was not as morally bound as others. Hence, stealing, scamming, and even seducing anyone and everyone just to get their Gil.

This led to a few close calls and nearly getting beaten up or raped and killed; she made it out with hardly any scratches. Till a few days ago, Naruto had to save her cute little hide from a group of bandits she had tried to trick. Now even as scary as that was for the buxom teen, she sorely had not learned her lesson. For which even her grandmother (A thief herself, mind you) was exasperated with her granddaughter's antics.

But Naruto had made Kyrie swear to only steal from people who had it coming. Though he wasn't holding his breath that she'd follow it.

"At any rate, think we can find work around here?" Naruto questioned.

Aerith shrugged; "Usually, someone needs some help around here."

"Amending my question, paying work? Last I checked, it usually goes through the Watch, and they don't have anything for me right now. Not for lack of trying to impress them, which Dutch at least agrees with my stance on things." The blonde sage could only grumble at the situation being as it was. It was not a bad place, but the circumstances were less than his ideal for the type of place they were in.

Knowing what he must be thinking, Aerith smiled softly. "While money circulates, the transfer still goes over our heads. The Slums lose money more than making any, so many either try to leave, usually with funds from outside Midgar, or try their hand and employment on the disc. This makes many who decide to stay here eager to take action. Right now, your best bet is less likely for here and more likely outside this sector. Many other Sectors still need help, and their Watch group might have Gil on hand."

"I wouldn't bet on it." The buxom young thief retorted. "Anything nearby is out of the question; we're talking about the slimeballs of Wall Market.

Or, more specifically, Don Corneo, who ran the place with his band of goons. Both Aerith and Kyrie expressed how dangerous the man was. The fact Shinra troops nor watch patrols there says the man is serious business. "And there is the fact people are already suspicious of me since I am a former ninja."

Both ladies winced; "Yeah, that did not help matters much. Considering how bad it was," Kyrie mumbled.

"Can you two elaborate on the subject for me?" Naruto asked, leaning back against his chair; "Maybe it will help me understand and get through to this Sofiya lady."

Aerith was quick to speak up; "It's not that she hates you or anything like that. On the contrary, Miss Sofiya is a nice woman."

Her longtime friend received her words with a skeptical glance: "Are we speaking about the same lady 'cause she scares the hell out of me."

"That's because you get in the way of how she runs things and think she looks like death with those scars." Though diverting back on topic, the flower girl peered back to Naruto. "Speaking of scars, she has many from that war, which is why she is never too trusting to any individual who may happen to specialize in sneaking around, say Ninja... or thieves." Giving a glance to her friend on that one before continuing.

"What happened then for her to get those scars? What was the War even like?" Inside his head, the sly fox was already speculating a large amount of incomplete information.

Both girls' eyes were downcast and solemn; "Not much was ever really said," Kyrie murmured; "Grandma doesn't like talking about it."

"Mom doesn't either," Aerith stated; "We just know there were growing tensions between Wutai and Shinra. This turned into war." The brunette rubbed her hands; "And so many people lost their lives on both sides."

That was war in a nutshell. There were no real winners in war, and the blond could attest to that. "And Sofiya?"

Kyrie glanced at Aerith, who spoke, "She was a colonel who led a unit in the Shinra military. Dutch said while none of them were a part of SOLDIER, they were elite troops good at their jobs. They have been like a family to Sofiya since she was an orphan. During the war, they were dispatched into the thick of Wutai forces."

"Dutch only said they encountered the leader of Wutai himself, Grandmaster Godo Kisaragi," Kyrie finished.

Knowing little, what he did hear so far was clear. A grandmaster of a nation full of shinobi? "Sounds like a Hokage, doesn't it, brat?"

Ignoring the comment, he had to figure out more information; it wasn't just a shinobi nation, and it couldn't be so simple. "In war, the worst losses are collateral damage and civilian lives. So how bad were Wutai's methods? And how did Shinra push her squad to their assignment?"

At the question, both girls shook their heads; "We're not a part of Shinra. How the hell would we know?" Kyrie countered, "And Sofiya and Dutch don't say much about their military days. They're not exactly social butterflies."

Okay, that was a fair point. "Sorry about the questions."

"It's fine," Aerith waved it off; "I wish we could help, but we don't know. You have to find a way to convince Sofiya you can be trusted and helpful around here. And I know you can pull that off."

Well, it was nice to know someone had confidence in him. The blond leaned back against his chair; "So, just need to keep doing the grind around here."

"You could try the other sectors too. Avoid Wall-Market, do good deeds around the slums should show something," Aerith addressed, trying to be positive.

At that, the blond gave a curt nod.

XxX ~ one week later ~ XxX

Naruto tapped his finger on his table as he dryly glared back at Dutch, who sat opposite him. "Still... Nothing..." The blond tried to keep his frustrations in check because Dutch was just the messenger. But after one whole week of going around Sector four through one in their respective slums, doing all manners of odd jobs, Sofiya STILL was not answering on whether he could join up with the Watch.

By this point, it had to be a hatred for all ninjas as to why he was not being answered.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Dutch shook his head; "Have I mentioned Sofiya is extremely stubborn?"

"I'm stubborn; my whole damn clan is stubborn, but this is just bullshit, and you know it."

"Depends on the stubborn. You've done good, great even. But the truth is you've been doing too good, which can be detrimental to a push into a group. It shows your dedication, but that dedication can seem like a mission, and a mission means you've got motives we aren't seeing. Now, I can vouch till the wolves howl to the moon night after night, but she's seeing it in another light. A tricky situation with a tricky person." Taking a sip from his canteen, the rugged man of action could only let that digest.

Naruto still saw it as a flat-out refusal to answer, but there was a point. "Dutch, there's nothing you can do but give her this message. If she's stubborn about me joining and refusing to see me in person for a talk... All I can do at this point is to show her action, and she's sitting behind a desk. I need a way to show her, with her own eyes on the scene, what I am about. If she refuses, I know she's against me because of the ninja thing."

The bald man rubbed his goatee deep in thought; "You've heard seen Wall Market, right?"

"Aerith, Kyrie, Elmyra, and even Mireille tell me to avoid it because of this Don Corneo guy."

"Smart advice;" Dutch nodded; "The man is well connected, with the bulk of his men being former military-led by two thugs named Scotch and Kotch."

A dry deadpan bore on the blond's face; "That's their names?"

"Don't know or give a shit; the point I'm making is these two hosts an event in Wall-Market called the Corneo cup in the don's battle Colosseum."

"And why exactly does that matter?" The sage could only speculate, as every other advice was to avoid like the plague. "I don't see a benefit in going to a place everyone says to stay away from. If he is as bad as said to me before, then going there would be like a gauntlet of pain."

With another swig, the bearded man sighed. "Exactly, but you'll need to join this gauntlet of pain if you want what you asked for. Thanks to our leader's pragmatic and toughness, she can watch that particular event. This means if you want her to see you with her own eyes... You need to be there too."

Getting the idea, Naruto could only narrow his eyes in doubt. "Very tempting now, but I still don't see how I go about it besides running in and playing the loudmouth." He almost could tell Dutch was close to a grin suggesting it but stopped that from happening within eye-view.

"As it so happens, Corneo offers a prize of one million Gil in the Cup."

The blond nodded; "And the catch that comes from all that, Gil?"

"Surprisingly, he does keep his word on the cash. Guess he is smart enough to know if you short-change people, you won't have customers in your market."

Naruto rubbed his chin for a long moment; 'What do you think?'

"Worth a shot. If that female refuses to hire you, she is an ignorant fool. Plus, that kind of Gill can go a long way for you," Kurama expressed his opinion on the current matter.

Rubbing his chin, the sage thought for a long moment, "When does this cup start?"

"Tonight, but I recommend heading to Wall Market early so you can get the lay of the land. Oh, Don also has a group called the Trio; outside of Corneo, this bunch controls market districts how they see fit."

"Names..."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

With silent steps, Naruto walked down the long broken dirt road to Wall Market as Dusk settled over Midgar. "So you were itching to come along, eh?" The questioned, glancing to his side.

He was met with a sharp look from Aerith, who wore one of her shin-length pink sundresses, buttons from the waist up, a short red jacket, and a cord necklace with boots. The bangles on her wrists jingled as she crossed her arms; "You don't know just how dangerous Corneo is, and a friend does not let their friend go alone into danger."

With a small blank stare, the former ninja could only question her on the strength between them. "Don't get me wrong, you're tough... but you think I need protecting?"

Ignoring that comment, the young woman smiled as she skipped along with his pace. "Can't have all the fun by yourself, so might as well enjoy my company!"

Rolling his eyes, they kept a brisk pace as darkness fell; Naruto kept a firm check on his equipment. If he were going to attend a contest of thugs, he'd need every advantage, including hidden surprises. He even wrapped his gauntlet in a thick wrap to hide it and as a slight handicap until he needed it.

'Heavier punch with less effort if I let momentum and gravity take the wheel. Keeping an ace in the hole is worth the little quirkiness of it all.'

Coming closer to the wall, Aerith was starting to feel like the walk was too silent. "So, do you think this is the best idea? I mean, there's got to be better ways, right?"

"Not at present. Short of face-to-face with Sofiya right this minute, the potential gain during this visit is worth the added risk. Anyway, I am still not keen on you doing much of anything during this trip." Though he knew she probably could do a lot of things reasonably well given the circumstances, he almost wanted to get that little help.

No, if he wanted to prove to Sofiya he had no agenda and truly wanted to help around here, the blond had to do this alone. "Who said you were to fight alone, brat?" Kurama chimed.

'Well, I'd rather not use your power unless necessary. Better to not draw the wrong attention to us.' The blond peers at his friend; "So, can you fight?"

His question was met by Aerith pulling out a small cylinder metal bar. He deadpanned and was about to chastise her till she turned something hidden on the bar, and it began to expand outwards. Segments interlock as the seams vanish till finally, a staff came to match the height of the brunette, who grins back at him. "I can handle myself," she remarked brightly.

Naruto took note of at least four magic materia locked into the staff. Extending her hand, she let her new friend take to inspect. Overall pretty solid for whatever metal this was and balanced right with the weight. His eyes focused on the four green orbs snuggly fit in her staff; "So what kind of magic materia?"

"Fire, ice, wind, and healing,"

"So your kind of like a mage, eh?" he handed back her staff.

"Something like that. I've always been good with materia; Zack made this for me to defend myself." She held the metal staff close, and fondness glowed from her emeralds.

"Your old boyfriend," The blond cocked a brow as his friend gave a slight nod; "Whatever happened to him, if you don't mind me asking."

At that question, Aerith gave a halfhearted shrug in return, gazing out in no particular direction; "Not a clue. Since he's in SOLDIER, he was always busy with missions around Gaia. Or he could be sweet-talking a girl in Costa del Sol, who knows."

Shiva blessed her; she was trying to mask her voice's hurt.

"But what about you;" She questioned, glancing at him; "You ever have anyone special?"

"An actual serious relationship;" Aerith nodded as the blond thought for a moment rubbing the back of his neck; "I did have quite a few flings, though."

Could they be called flings since it was mostly just sexual interactions? It was most definitely a physical attraction thing when it came to Ino, Fu, and Haku-Chan. That one time with Hinata. And by the Gods, he had no idea how he and Samui had ended up in the bed a few times.

A scoff and eye roll came from Kurama; "Well, let's see; you got her out of her ridiculous mindset. You also saved her cute little backside from death quite a few times."

'It did not go over well with the Uzumaki, that was for damn sure.' Not that he cared either way, though. He never held a grudge like many of the Uzu elders did for Kumo or Iwa because of what happened back during the Second Shinobi War. While it had made him a bit of an outsider to his clan, he had already been one and was used to that being Jinchurriki.

His clan was made to understand that he would not or ever abide by old grudges and hatred over the past. Eventually, they had come to accept that, whether they liked it.

Gaining a real and lasting friendship with his fellow blond was more than worth it. "Yeah, I can say I never had any real serious relationship."

"Hmm," Aerith cocked her head, "Surprised by that."

The blond shrugged as the two went into a comfortable silence, with Aerith shrinking down her staff and putting it in her jacket pocket. The dirt path was simple, with numerous old, broken buildings, vehicles, and construction equipment. Close by them was a flowing stream from sector 5.

The dirt path slowly became a cement path with towering enormous walls on either side; "Well can say this place's name was quite literal."

Aerith nodded; "It became like this once this area became a den full of criminals. At first, it was meant for workers' construction on the plates."

"And those kinds of places attract crime like bees to honey."

"I heard a turf war with the gangs, and Don Corneo came out on top. The walls were put up because Shinra did not want to mess with them. Now everything and anything happens in Wall-Market."

It sounds like at least half a dozen shady places Naruto has been to back home, either on the nations or the surrounding continents. "Prostitution, drugs, weapons, gear, vehicles; that sums up what goes on here," Naruto droned

"Among other things, there are a few honest places here, but not many, as Zack and mom told me."

Lovely, so it went without saying you had to watch your money and your backs in this place from nearly everyone. Makeshift lamps soon lit up the area and their path as dusk became nightfall. It would be at least another hour before the Corneo Cup began so that they could look around the place.

Soon the duo came to a flight of stone steps with several makeshift stalls of people peddling wares. Going up the steps, they saw several buildings close-knit to one another of varying designs. Some reminded the blond of traditional houses back home, while others were very modern. One place had gotten his attention as it looked like a massage polar in the Fire capital and Konoha. Two red stone lamps graced the front of the building with a rather fate feline statue with a paper umbrella opened beside it. The door of the shop was very refined wood with colored glass.

"Wonder what that place is?" the blond questioned, garnering his friend's attention.

An answer came for them in the form of a beautiful fair-skinned woman with a slender frame, jet black hair up in golden hairpins, adorned in a black kimono with a golden flower pattern secured by an orange obi tied in the front that opened to the door. In one hand, she held a collapsible fan; closing the door, the woman sighed; "Everything always gets busy when the cup is on," she muttered dryly, turning. She came to a halt as her brown eyes saw two figures standing near her door. Though Aerith could tell this woman was more focused on Naruto, her eyes seemed to be taking in everything about him.

In a flash, the woman smiled warmly; "I know I would have seen either one of you around before." Then, she strolled over in a manner that reminded the sage of a high-class courtesan; "First time in Wall Market?"

"If it weren't, then we wouldn't look like we do." Naruto couldn't put his finger on it, but the woman was almost eyeing him in a way he had seen so rarely it was curious.

"I suppose so." Walking around to get a better look, the woman hummed in interest. "My, aren't you a special case... What brings you into the parlor of Madam M?"

Crossing his arms a little, the blonde wondered how to answer. Truth? Or try to get information? 'Information it is.' Finally, giving a sincere smile, Naruto answered. "Well, we're seeing who can tell us more about certain places and events..."

"Hmm," M tapped her chin with her closed fan; "By your gear, I dare say you're here for Corneo Cup."

"Fair assumption," the blond muttered as the woman walked around him. This was one of the Trio Dutch had mentioned so that he could get some information from her. But, first, he depended on whether she was in a talkative mood.

A cute frown adorned Aerith's lips, who noticed the older woman was outright ignoring her. "Any place special around here?" The brunette's eye twitched as M glanced at her but turned back to Naruto.

"The Corneo Cup is quite the serious event in Wall-Market," the older woman spoke, placing a dainty hand on the blond's broad back, slowly rubbing to one of his biceps; "It is a homage to the Don for his victory claiming this area. Every year all walks of life come to fight for the glory, fame, and of course, Gil."

"Any other details of the cup?" Naruto questioned as the woman's hand came to one of his own. She stared pretty intently at it while her fingers rubbed his palm.

Just by feeling and looking into the experiences hand of fate within her own, Madam M kept a stoic appearance, but in her mind, she could see decades of power and finesse despite this young man's appearance. "Besides the usual banter? I wonder, indeed, if this cup may be uniquely interesting. I can say that three judges have personal stakes in the Corneo Cup, and usually, the contestants most likely to succeed are one of them."

Still, the younger woman in her red jacket was pouting even more now at being the odd one out. But she decided to try to be on top of the discussion. "I heard that one cannot enter without an ok from one of those three. Is that true?"

Annoyance shuns in the older woman's gaze, shifting it towards Aerith; "You are indeed correct, 'little' girl." A slight outraged growl came from the florist over M's sarcasm.

"So!" Naruto spoke loudly to get both ladies from glaring at one another and possibly starting a catfight. "Any particular judge who would be open to vouch for me?"

Charm returned in an instant from the older woman, who smiled sweetly back at Naruto; "You just so happened to be speaking to one right now."

At those words, the sage quickly decided to put on a bit of his charm; "Then would the beautiful Madam be so gracious enough to give me admittance to the cup?"

"Hmm," M purred, quite liking his praise, "I could, but what would you do for me?"

"What would you want?"

The Madam leaned in, looking up at the taller man; "I assume you're aware of the prize money?"

"You want a cut of the profits," Aerith deadpanned.

M glanced at her; "So there is a brain in that pretty head of yours." Ignoring the cry of outrage from the younger woman, she returned her gaze to the specimen in front of her; "It seems only fair if I grant you admittance."

"Fifty/fifty sound fair?"

"Hmm, normally I'd go sixty/forty, but since you're being so courteous, I'll agree." Leaning away from the blond, she moves her free hand between the partially exposed top of her breast to pull out a ticket; "hand this to the man at the fighter's Colosseum. Don't worry; you will find it easily. May I ask your name, handsome?"

The blond gave a formal bow out of respect; "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Well, Mr. Uzumaki, I look forward to tonight..." She hands him the ticket and grips his collar so she can lean him down to her face; "Win this, and I'll offer one free massage on the house afterward."

"You've been very generous, Madam." Then, turning to take his leave, he had to almost drag his friend out from potentially ranting her head off and starting what could only end badly.

Still seething, the young brunette woman followed before glaring in front of her friend. "You're not going to accept that massage are you? That woman is... UGH!"

The blond chuckled, "I have more to worry about than a massage." But it would not take a genius to hear Madam M's immense disdain for mentioning Corneo's name.

That could be something to use as an advantage for later.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Once leaving M's district, they entered the Market's primary area of commerce, filled to the brim with all manners of shops and stalls placed together over large tarps. From the makeshift to the proper buildings stacked on top of one another and stalls, there seemed to be anything and everything for anybody who wanted to unload their Gil.

Neon lights illuminated the area, including a large windmill on a building. Paper lamps of varying sizes hung over people's heads nearly everywhere. Finally, at the highest peak of the market stood a monumental and enormous building that resembled a Daimyo mansion painted red with gold accents and complete with golden dragon statues.

"Wow," Aerith murmured as she and the blond saw droves of people roaming throughout the place. "Sector five does not even have this many people roaming around."

A low growl came from Uzumaki's Bijuu companion; "This place reeks of evil and corruption," pure disgust was palpable in Kurama's tone.

'How bad?'

"Remember Han'ei?" At the mention of that nation, Naruto's face grew stoic and blank; "Yeah, feels like that."

"Hey," the blond's thoughts were broken by Aerith's voice as he gazed at her at his side. Concern etched in her emeralds; "Are you okay? You got rigid all of a sudden."

In a blink, Naruto flashed a quick grin; "Yeah, just old memories." He remarked before walking ahead.

'…You're a terrible liar, you know,' the florist mentally mused before following his side. "Where should we go to kill time?" The blond's eye twitched as her arm latched onto his.

"That truly depends on the vice you wish to state here," an aged, calm, and deep raspy voice garnered the duo's attention; "You two seem rather new to this place."

Both turned and gazed upwards at a towering, muscular gentleman in his fifties, dressed in a simple but decent-looking black suit and dress shoes. He had fair skin with few wrinkles, a chiseled defined face with a full, well-trimmed black beard and mustache, and short jet black hair slicked back. He gazed at both youngsters with vibrant blue eyes, but Aerith noticed a particular shine to his left, likely a glass eye, maybe. "What brings a lovely-looking couple to this neck of the slums?"

"We're not a couple, actually," Aerith sputtered.

The older man gave a cocked brow; "Indeed? So why are you latched onto the young man's arm?"

Naruto deadpanned; "Because she has zero sense of boundaries." At that, the man laughed haughtily; "Name is Naruto; this is Aerith. And you are?"

"Hangi," the man gave a slight formal bow, "One of the many patrons who roams this den of commerce and sin. Of which you both can find in the plenty if that's what you're seeking."

There was...Something odd about this man, and Naruto could not put his finger on it. 'You feel anything malicious from this guy?'

"Not at present," Kurama chimed back; "Feels like a normal human to me."

Hmm, probably just paranoia; "We're here for the Corneo Cup, believe it or not. Well, I am since I'm participating."

"Ah," Hangi nodded approvingly; "Perhaps they will entertain this year at last. And you seem well versed in combat."

"How can you tell?"

The man gestured to the blond; "Your posture, stance, how your eyes are critical to everything around you. Plus, that katana strapped to your belt is a dead giveaway."

With a slight hum of playful whimsy, Naruto shook the handle a bit. "Who's to say it's not for show? After all, I could have stolen it and am trying to look cool for my big debut."

"Dear boy, it's almost insulting to think you can fool me. No one straps a blade of that quality around here without knowing its value, and no one who values such an item here in Midgar would be anything less than skilled at such a weapon." The man playfully glared.

Almost wincing from reproach, Naruto knew he had failed at being humorous and aloof. "Alright... Fair point there, sorry. Still, what interest do you have in me? I'm curious..." Naruto almost didn't know which eye; the real one seemed just as strange as the glass-looking one.

"You think Naruto can win it all," Aerith questioned.

"Who is to say, my dear;" Hangi shrugged, "But a fair warning about the Don's Colosseum. Killing is permitted, so be prepared for the less honorable to stoop to any low to win the game."

The blond gave a stern nod accepting the warning; "Before then, any place around here where we won't get robbed?"

"Hah!" The tall gentleman let out a hearty laugh; "Would any adventure be any fun without some element of danger?" He gave the two an amused grin; "But it is far more fun looking for yourself than being given all the answers." Hangi had begun to walk away; "Until we meet again, my new friends."

Both observe the man leave; "Well, he was different, wasn't he?" the brunette quipped.

"Strange old guy." Still, Naruto could not shake the strange gut feeling about that guy. Probably just overthinking it.

Strolling through the crowd, Hangi kept his grin; "Let us see who you truly are through blood and battle." Raising his arm, he pats the slender shoulder of a pale-skinned beautiful woman with short frost white hair of average height dressed in a leather cropped bustier and leather pants and mid-heel boots; "Should prove quite a show, don't you agree."

The woman's pure sapphire remained fixed on the Uzumaki, who Aerith dragged around.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Cerulean and Emerald stared at two golden statues outside of Corneo's Colosseum, one being a warrior holding a weapon against a dragon. The building looked much like a traditional house back home but had the same color scheme as the mansion up the hill beside it, with two large red doors opening. Inside were a dozen or more people standing in a row of three lines towards elevator doors with staff selling tickets. Further right of them was another elevator with a man calling out for any potential combatants who wanted to fight. A few concession stands were inside, selling all manner of items and even food.

'Feel like I'm back at Mexica,' Kurama snorted from his host's mental comment. "Guess I go see that guy over there for fighting."

"While I get stuck in one of these lines," Aerith pouted.

"Hey, don't pout. I need to do this alone, so just let me do this." While also thinking he was not about to get an earful if an accident happened to her. "Just enjoy the show; you're experiencing something new. Who knows, maybe you'll come back to fight yourself later." The blonde could only wish that had never happened.

Sighing, Aerith just nodded. "Fine. Kick some extra butt for me, alright?" She gave a wink as she raised an arm and held her bicep. "I'll be cheering you on as hard as I can."

With a nod, the sage went to the elevator and presented his pass to the one yelling for contestants. "I'm in to represent the Madam."

The man at the combatant elevator took the ticket to inspect; "Yup, that's her signature. Alright, go down the elevator," without another word, the man pushed the button on the wall beside him opening the elevator doors.

Walking inside, the blond turned in time to see Aerith wave at him before the doors closed. Soon the elevator descended downwards; "Hopefully, it won't be too crazy."

"You know you just jinxed yourself," Kurama dryly quipped.

A deadpan bore on the blond's face as the elevator came to a stop and opened its doors. Walking out, Naruto found himself in a large cement hallway with several doors on either side. "Hey, blondie over here!" Close by one of the doors was a short bald man in a tank top and slacks with shades on. Strolling over, the bald man gave Naruto a look over, "Madam M's new boy toy, eh? The guy up top radioed me, let's see if you last one round pretty boy."

...Pretty boy?

The blond shook his head before clearing his throat; "How many rounds?"

"Right to business, I like that; the name's Glover, by the way." Glover gestured to the enormously large gates at the end of the hall; "Three rounds with the third facing down the current champion. Or champions, in this case, Sam's mechs have won for two straight years."

"Mechs," oh, this was going to be a joy...

"Chickening out, pretty boy?"

"Not on your life, baldy."

"Hah, spunky. If you can even get to them, I'll be impressed. Don't know what you'll do with your hand all wrapped up like that, though." The strange man pointed to the bulky wrapping around the arm with the slotted gauntlet with his Materia. Though the man did not know the hidden stones were there.

"Don't worry about me; this is just a way to put everyone in their place." Then, looking at the room beside him, he pointed. "This where I stay and wait?"

"Would, pretty boy, if it wasn't your turn first. We have some very interested parties pulling you into the first match. Not sure if that means you're doomed to fail or if you're something special. The way I see it, you'll be dead first round." The man chuckled. "Can't wait to be right and get some money on that bet."

Deadpanning, the blond made his way towards the gate; "Now you're going lose that bet on principle!" he yelled back.

Glover only laughed at the taller man's words, "Believe that when I see it!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Aerith huffed out of annoyance as she finally got her ticket and went down on the more crowded elevators for the stands. Once the doors opened, the florist looked in awe at the utterly massive underground arena in the shape of an octagon with a giant television monitor. Four rather imposing and intimidating warrior statues stood on four corners of the arena. Much like Corneo's mansion, the arena's interior was red with golden accents, with seats filled to the near brim.

"Doubt I'll find a place to sit in this crowd," the brunette mused to herself before going up to the railing amongst the rest, leaning against it. 'Everything is... changing so much now.' She cupped her hands, gazing down to the arena floor; 'But I can't tell if that is good or bad anymore.' Then, shaking her head, she dashed away the negative thoughts; 'Focus on the present, Aerith; can't worry about the future.' No matter how uncertain it is anymore.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"Man, this place is packed!" A young, slender, fair-skinned woman with reddish brunette hair in a ponytail exclaimed, sitting on a bench in the crowd. "Is it always like this, Biggs?" She wore a red bandanna on her head, a plain blue t-shirt, and jeans with fingerless gloves. Her amber eyes glowed with excitement for what was to come.

Sitting at her side, a tan-skinned man snorted; "Well, the Corneo Cup has always been a crowd gathering in the Slums and folks up topside Jessie. Too bad all the Gil goes to the slime ball running this place." He is a few years older than his female companion with a lean build, short, swept-back black hair, and a red bandanna on his head. Dressed in a plain olive shirt and dark green cargo shorts with boots. "Wonder why Dutch was so damn adamant for us to come here?"

The noise of flickering lighter garnered the attention of the woman, also dressed in olive but with military pants and boots. She had long wavy waist-length blond hair up in a ponytail; idly, she lit a cigar in her mouth. What drew their attention the most about her was her cold ocean-blue eyes and the large scar on the right side of her face. "Dutch never does anything without reason," the woman spoke in a husky tone blowing out some smoke; "So let's keep our eyes peeled for anything."

Biggs and Jessie nodded; "You got it, Boss Sofiya."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

On the other end of the stands, Hangi kept his grin, sitting beside the white-haired woman who kept her stern gaze; "You really should relax, my dear old friend."

"Your far too lax," The woman quipped back in a calm, melancholy tone. "We don't know if this Outlander poses a threat."

"Not at present, I agree," Hangi shrugged, "But these battles should illuminate Omkara."

A doubtful look graced Omkara's beautiful face glancing at the man.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Two men stood at the center of the arena was a gigantic metal octagon plate; "Ladies and gentlemen; " one of the men with dark skin, slim and muscular build with a blond Mohawk dressed in an unzipped red puffer vest, a black studded belt, blue jeans, and tall brown boots roared. "Are you ready!?" At that, the people cheered. "I said, ARE. YOU. READY!?" The roar of the crowd grew louder.

The man beside him was adorned in a green-buttoned jacket with white cuffs, black and white gloves, silky black pants, and tall black boots. Fair-skinned wearing shades much like his partner with a high ponytail and both sides of his head shaved spoke up, "then we welcome one and all to this year's Corneo Cup!" The man soon pointed to himself, "For the newcomers, my name is Scotch, alongside my partner in crime, Kotch!"

The one in the Mohawk laughed aloud. "We have a killer first match, folks! In one corner, we start with the personal guard to Corneo himself, and this team's been undefeated in grudge matches for years. But, while normally not part of the tournament, they decided to give this newcomer a thrashing!"

Pointing to one end as he spoke, the gates opened to several men wielding melee weapons of various natures, two being shock batons and a few being bladed. One even looked dipped in some sort of oozing material. "That's right, the personal guard to Corneo is going against one of the Three's newest promoted fighters! We know little besides the fact he looks armed to the teeth, but he's alone and not looking hulked up enough to carry himself back after getting sliced to bits!"

"Let us welcome our challenger, looking like a Soldier retired, Naruto!~" The man adorned in green waved to the other door, which opened up, and with little hesitation, the blonde sage just appeared in the ring with lightning speed. Rolling his wrapped arm's shoulder, he glared at the guard. "Oh, ho... My, we have an eager contender!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Aerith's attention from either side of herself, hearing the jeers and boos. Ignoring them, the brunette cheered loudly for her new friend, "Kick their butt Naruto!"

Over at their seats, Biggs and Jessie stared wide-eyed; "Hey isn't that the Wutai guy Dutch has been going on about," The grey-eyed man questioned.

"Yeah," Jessie nodded quickly; "I've heard he has been kicking all kinds of asses of monsters and bandits alike from sector five and one."

Sofiya remained indifferent save a slight narrowing of her eyes; 'So that's why you wanted me to come here, Dutch.' She supposed she could see what this Ninja could do.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The Trio of Wall-Market sat in a more private and lavished arena area. A large smile graced Madam M's lips observing her chosen. Beside her sat a middle-aged average build man with a thick full beard and dark sapphire eyes. He was dressed in a plain white button shirt with a thick leather open vest, blue jeans with a brown belt, and a large golden buckle with a Chocobo engraving. And finally, a cowboy hat adorned his head, completing a cowboy's look: Chocobo Sam, proprietor of Sam's deliverers.

"Gotcha a new boy toy, M?" The man questioned with a deep rough voice.

M only gave the man a slight glance; "All I will say is I feel terrific about my chances this year, Sam."

Both shift their gaze right at the sound of giggling from the several beautiful girls dressed in bee costumes standing around the seat of the trio's third member. And perhaps the most eccentric of the bunch. Wearing a flashy purple and gold jumpsuit opened in the font revealing the man's chest, he kept his hair shaved off with a well-trimmed goatee: Andrea Rhodea, owner of the Honeybee Inn nightclub.

One of the girls smiled; "He's a handsome one, isn't he," she spoke in an upbeat, bright tone.

"Wonder if he's single?" M rolled her eyes at the younger girl's idle gossip.

Andrea, however, remained silent, keeping his eyes on Uzumaki.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The 'leader' Naruto assumed of this group came right up to the blond; "We heard all about you playing hero in the slums."

"Oh yeah?"

"Hehe, heroes always die young, "the man chuckled cruelly, holding a longsword.

Kotch whistled, "And we got words flying already, folks!"

"Let's see who makes it out alive," Scotch yelled before grinning; "Let this fight begin!" Soon, he and his partner ran off the arena floor as a loud gong sounded.

"Old proverb; do not underestimate an older man in a profession where men die young. I may not be old, but I've got the years behind me." In the blink of an eye, Naruto raised his wrapped arm and had the big fist clocking the leader so hard the man flew back and hit the wall with such force that the spot was covered in dust and smoke covering what was left of the individual launched into it.

As the smoke fell, the leader was just plain cold and unmoving. Putting the giant arm behind him, Naruto raised a single hand facing up, gesturing for the others to approach. "Heroes come in all shapes and sizes; mine isn't that righteous nobility crap."

In a rage, one of the men with shock batons ran forward to try and do some damage, which prompted his team to follow suit. However, Naruto ducked under the first strike and then danced around the second with a fluid motion that gave his arm momentum to wallop the oozing weapon wielder to the floor. Then, raising his leg behind him simultaneously, he smirked and kicked the man square in the chest, launching him into his friends, two knocked down from the collapsed weight.

Catching the sword coming towards his throat, the sage snapped the thing in half before jabbing the business end into the knee of the one stupid enough to try their luck cutting him. As he countered and struck this man, his friend ran forward from his back and attempted a surprise strike. The blonde grabbed the collar of the sword wielder and kicked his leg from under him, allowing Naruto to use the man like a hammer to smash the other man knocked into the ground and kick both of them unconscious.

Two left, staring down the blond as they got back up from their friend's body falling on them. "Forfeit, and you both keep your toes`." Then, in a strange turn, he put on some airs, acting like he was leaning back against something, arms up and behind his head as he whistled and acted like no one was there, playfully mocking them.

"You're a prick; you know that? Making them shit themselves just to show off. I like it." The fox supplied his vocal input into the situation.

Thinking back to his partner with an inward grin, Naruto just agreed. 'Course you do.'

Corneo must be paying these idiots a fortune if they were choosing to bull rush the sage instead of forfeiting like reasonable and sane people would. Well, he did offer them a chance, at least. The blond remained as he was, not remotely bothered by the two, both letting out wild screams with their weapons ready to bash at him. Then, in a blink, he sidestepped both, pivoting with one of his feet; he raised his other leg. When the men turned back to face their opponent, they were smashed in the chin by a powerful roundhouse kick. The force of the attack sent both men spinning through the air before landing unconscious on the ground.

Naruto looks down at the two; "Should have just quit."

"H-Holy shit! Cane, you folks believe it," Kotch yelled as he ran back inside the arena with Scotch; "Did you all see that!?"

"He took out Don's men less than a minute!" His partner spoke next, "We have a winner Naruto!"

The crowd roared with a mix of shock, awe, and jeers of anger. Quite a few lost their bets as they were cussing and yelling. Not that Naruto cared about gazing at the crowd, he stopped once he saw Aerith waving and cheering for him. The blond offered her a thumbs-up before returning to the opening gates for a quick break. Strolling down the waiting hall, he paused at a frowning Glover.

"So how much did you lose, baldy?"

"Shut up."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

A raucous laugh came from Hangi; "Oh, I like this boy already!" He smacked his knee with a wide grin on his face.

"He knew he outclassed those men, so he purposely held back," Omkara rubbed her chin, mentally assessing the battle; "Yet his prowess showed he can be both brutal and cunning."

"There is a fully hardened and haughty warrior lying within that young man," Hangi leaned back against his seat; "Battles upon battles have sharpened him into a powerful weapon."

Omkara leaned forward, "But a weapon for good or evil. We must see more."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Leaning against the wall in the waiting hall Naruto whistled out a tune as he waited for the next fight. Glover was talking on his cell phone, muttering out a curse here and there on the opposite side of him. "Naruto Uzumaki, please return to the arena," an announcer's voice came over a loudspeaker after a chime.

"I'm going to win this time, pretty boy!" Glover spoke up as the blond made his way for the arena; "You just got lucky in the first round."

Naruto smirked, not looking back; "Keep telling yourself that!" Soon the massive doors opened. Seeing the arena once more, Kotch and Scotch stood at the center; "Are you, folks, as surprised as we are?!" Scotch roared at the crowd, "The newcomer Naruto utterly demolished Don Corneo's elite!"

"Ohh, the Don is pissed, so he decided for the next match to make things more interesting," Kotch took over as the door on the other side opened. Walking out came three giant bipedal reptiles with red scales, horns protruding from their shoulders and end of their tails, razor-sharp fangs, and talons that gleamed in the lights. "One of the many pets of the don. The Vlakorados!" The crowd roared.

The twitching eye of the sage was clear, and he did not know about these things beyond rumors. He could have sworn he saw one the other day beyond the walls but never ventured to check it out. 'Well then, first, gauge the dinosaur for any strengths and weaknesses.'

With a small laugh, the fox had another thought. "Or just roast them, can't be any other time than now to show off the materia, right?"

'That might take shocking the audience to a more literal level if I fuck it up, and if I don't put enough power, who knows if this thing is resistant.' Naruto hummed more as the announcers kept talking up the dangers of the beast, which he realized he should have listened closer to.

"I hope the new guy can keep himself alive against their rather sharp teeth and claws because as large as they are, they are still wicked fast!" Kotch spoke as his partner grabbed his shoulder, ready to jet.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Had Aerith's eyes grown any wider, one would have assumed they would have fallen out. Since she was a little girl, she had heard stories about the Vlakorados; Zack even spoke about them and how dangerous they were. But, instead, a snicker came from a spectator beside her; "Damn is Corneo pissed to bring these guys out."

"Lost a fortune because of that asshole; he has this coming!" Another person yelled out.

Tuning them out, the brunette cupped her hands; "You got this, Naruto!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"Now this had gotten interesting," Sofiya quipped, taking a drag from her cigar.

Jessie, however, did not share her boss's sentiment; "How is that even fair!? From what I've heard, those monsters even give SOLDIER a hard time!"

"Doesn't look good does it," Biggs shared in his friend's worry; "where the hell did the Don get those?"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

A low growl came from Madam M's throat, gripping her closed fan tightly; "That cheap dirty little-"

"Looks like your new toy is going to be Vlakorados food," Sam remarked.

"Shut your trap, Samuel!"

The honeybee girls around Andrea visibly flinched and hugged their boss; "Madam M is scary when calling Chocobo Sam by his full name." A girl whimpered meekly.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Naruto deadpans; "You guys are not showing me much confidence, you know." He dryly stated as both Scotch and Kotch stood fearfully behind him.

"You have not seen these bad boys in action, have you?" Kotch reproached, "Well, try making your death badass!" He soon ran out beside Scotch; "Round two begin!" Soon the gong was hit to start the fight.

As soon as the gong ringing had ended, the two ferocious bastards had already run a beeline at him, but unlike the dumbass guards before, they spaced; one went around him to flank with a whipping tail, and the other jumped to get in above him.

Seeing only one way to go, Naruto ran forward and dashed swiftly under the jumping one to get out of the way. As he turned, he tugged the massive wrapping from his arm and let free his trump card to show exactly what he planned to do to end this.

Knowing full well the fight would cause him to use this; he had to be very careful, so he surveyed his surroundings and almost limbo-ducked under the swiping arm, ready to rip his head off. But instead, the blonde grunted with effort as he flipped forward and over the combo move as the other's arm tried.

Landing deftly on his feet, he turned to see that the first attacking beast had climbed up the wall to use it as a springboard, then jumped right at him at velocity and with its large sharp feet directed for his chest. Focusing every ounce of his strength, the sage took a deep breath and held it in as he roared in pain and effort, catching the foot in his hand and stopping the creature from finishing the blow.

The audience stared in absolute shock as the man single-handedly stopped the large Vlakorados in mid-air, huffing loudly with the last breath to throw the thing back and into its partner. Then, crashing into its twin, the beasts flailed against one another.

The Sage pointed his arm and lit the Materia with energy. "Sayonara, bastards!" Then, with the mildest energy, Naruto shot a fierce bolt of electrical energy into the two beasts. He knew little that they were also lightning users and, with their extensive back horns, canceled the shot out entirely, getting up and hissing in hatred. "OH, COME ON!"

"Aren't you forgetting something, brat?" Kurama chimed in, "The third one."

At that moment, the blond's danger sense blared, dodging in mere seconds the spiked tail of the third reptile monster. Then, getting a reasonable distance back from the beast, he saw it was not charging at him. Instead, it slowly paced around before roaring at the others. 'The alpha?'

It had to be, as the other two quickly came to the third one's side.

"These are smarter than the average beast Naruto; don't lose focus on any of them."

That went without saying, but the blond took his Bijuu's words to heart. His brow soon cocked as the Alpha let out several short hisses and grunts, to which the other two paid close attention.

It was a short briefing on strategy, which would be considered. The two he had been fighting were gauging him, teaming up and using strategy already, but the Alpha was watching; now the sage knew he was in for it if he didn't try to stop their plans.

Of which were finalized as the Alpha charged in rapidly, closing the distance. Naruto quickly jumped as high as he could in the air over it but was ganged up on in the air as the duo he had fought jumped right in for him. However, they were already giving him new tricks to thwart, as he grabbed his sword, blocked one claw, and kicked at the other, causing him to twist and be thrown into the wall below.

As he hit the wall, he opened his eyes to see the instance of a big redhead before suddenly feeling the ramming force of the Alpha full-on, crushing him further into the indentation of the surrounding wall. Then, as the Alpha backed up, it rose triumphantly over its perfect plan.

Grunting in pain, Naruto chucked himself out of the hole in the shape of himself in the wall and, without missing a beat, grabbed his sword. "Alright, no more, mister nice guy. I was going to try and show off a bit, but these things might get to me without my harder moves. So let's throw them off balance."

As the three were looking to finish him off, flanking him and surrounding him, they hissed and were getting ready to snap. A deep breath was taken and let out before the blond sage suddenly bolted; faster than the eye could blink, he charged his blade with wind and cut the foot off the alpha, and launched himself into the air, twisting and rolling his body as he built up a gust that soon took the form of a small tornado.

The swirling vortex lifted the Alpha before the single human let himself be carried in the current and used the swirling winds to carry his form as he slashed at and through much of the monster's hide, cutting the creature in ways to make it bleed profusely until it could no longer sustain its own life.

As the winds died down, Naruto landed on the bloody cut-up corpse of the alpha and used it as a launching ground to jump on top of one of the two he was facing at first and grabbed onto its back horns. "Here's an idea; try shocking me now!"

"You're plan is insane! I like it; fry these turkeys!" Kurama laughed as he could see the plan's next step inside his partner's mind.

The remaining Vlakorados seemed wild as the one Naruto rode attempted to buck him off. However, the blond soon leaped upwards as the second one tried to bite at him. In a blink, the sage's hands went through a slew of hand seals before an orange hue became visible inside his mouth as he took a giant deep breath.

The eyes of nearly everyone in the audience went almost the size of dinner plates at the sight of what resembled dragon fire erupting from Naruto's mouth!

Thankfully the two beasts were less resistant to fire, but just in case of any sudden surprises, the sage flew through more, and his flame burned brighter and hotter till it was almost blinding. The arena was awash in heat and light until finally dying down to show the three beasts were no longer among the living.

As the competitor landed and looked at the three freshly cooked corpses, he grinned and raised his fist. "Guess who's paying for dinner!" For a show, he decided to cut the beasts into slabs of meat to be prepared as dinner at anyone's convenience, though he was curious to know if this monster were precisely something people would eat if they got the chance.

A complete and total stunned pregnant silence gripped the onlookers of the stands. Even the trio was slack-jawed at the sight before them; the ever-present grin widened on Hangi's face before a resounding ear-deafening cheer shook the arena. Kotch and Scotch ran past Naruto and stared in shock at the now burnt Vlakorados' pets of Corneo and back to the blond, who smirked at the two while cleaning his sword.

Scotch's mouth moved for a minute before his voice came out, "N-n-Naruto wins round two!"

"Holy shit," Kotch exclaimed, taking off his shades to gawk at the reptile corpses; "Ladies and gentlemen, we have Vlakorados steaks for everybody!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"Did I just see a man breath fire like a dragon?" Biggs weakly questioned out loud.

Jessie was not in any better shape as shock remained on her face. "Can Wutai ninjas do that?"

Neither question was answered by anyone around then nor by Sofiya, who now kept a firm gaze on Uzumaki.

Where she stood, Aerith was practically jumping and cheering while relief washed over her internally. But, by Minerva, was that terrifying to watch!

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Walking back into the waiting hall, the blond found Glover, who stared wildly at the taller man who crossed his arms; "So what now, baldy?"

"Remind me never to piss you off, Mr. Uzumaki."

"Smart," Kurama chuckled.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Madam M leaned against her chair as the crowd was still buzzing with the second bout of the Cup while the staff cleaned the arena. "So what do you think of your chances, Sam?" The smugness in her voice was as thick as possible. "How do you think your 'champions' will handle Uzumaki?"

"Who's to say," Sam quipped back, adjusting his hat; "But still hold my cards for my champs."

"That young boy," Both Sam and M sharply shift their heads from the voice of their primarily silent third member of the trio spoke up; "He has the eyes of a veteran who has seen and survived hell itself within the body of a young man. The battlefield is a second home to him. You could see it in his eyes," Andrea commented before peering over to Sam; "I'm afraid this round will also be his, Samuel."

Madam M smirked and gave her fan a few passes over her face. "My, you think I have the winning champion today? Rare of you to admit a winner so early."

"Naturally, this one is even more intriguing than any other I have seen thus far." With his girls giggling behind him, Andrea nodded. "But you are correct; it is still early to call a winner. I am quite certain it's already over, however..."

"However," Sam cocked a brow.

The conversation was cut short as Scotch spoke up at the arena center now that it was cleared; "Ladies and gentlemen, this has been truly one of the most shocking and exciting Competitions we have seen in quite a time."

"Who would have thought the guy playing hero around the slums could back it? But hot damn, has this bastard been impressive tonight!" Kotch took over, gesturing to the crowd.

Scotch soon held his hand to his heart; "Sadly though, we have reached the finale of this year's Corneo Cup. But I think we can all agree we are all going to see one hell of a match!" at his words, the stands exploded in cheer.

So far, the matches were getting harder. Aerith wondered what else they had, so the florist took a deep breath and started cheering her best. "You can do it! Beat this thing and beat them up! Go, Naruto."

Almost like a mob, the mentality was contagious as the crowd turned to support with cheers for him to win. That got many in the darkness staring and wondering how to end this whole thing in their favor. Scotch smiled wide. "Now, simmer down, everyone! Do we have a doozy of an opponent for our final match... Let us introduce Naruto to his next fight!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Jessie released an explosive sigh that escaped her ruby-red lips; "Talk about getting the blood pumping. Now, what are we in for?"

"Probably more or the same," Biggs quipped before glancing over to Sofiya; "So you still against this guy, boss lady?"

So far, the former military woman had shown her discipline in remaining unreadable expression-wise during the last bout. Even when the blond breathed out fire, "He is talented."

"Ugh," A groan came from the ponytail brunette; "Are you still against him, after all we just seen? Just because he is from Wutai-"

"It was never because he is from Wutai," the older spoke, blowing some smoke; "that was never the problem. From everything Dutch had explained and from what I've seen, Naruto is a professional and good at what he does. But he is also one of those people who likes to be the hero."

As the blonde came out, the Mohawk man with threads of calm was hooting and hollering with the crowd before yelling out the next battle opponent. "And this man's next challenge comes straight from another of our illustrious Trio! So come on out, and show us what they got! These champions are solid and slated for killing anything in their path!"

"Though I would be wiser to say they haven't lost their matches yet... Naruto, prepare! You face the advanced firepower of these machinations!" The doors opened, and Scotch announced them. "The advanced Sweeper and Cutter!"

Spiraling out of the gate in every direction was a golden metallic painted Sweeper, with reinforced legs and arms and wheels that turned in every direction, its guns with red stripes as it revved the engine. Zooming in beside it was another golden robot. Still, this with blue and black flaming designs along its bottom rims and two double-bladed chain-sword arms, zipping so fast it sounded like the engine was about to blow, but all it did was smoke from the speed and torque of the engines. Each had large feathering accessories adorning their less practical nooks and crannies.

Naruto stared wide-eyed at the dual death machines before glaring at Scotch and Kotch; "Which trio member?"

"Chocobo Sam," Kotch grinned, thumbing upwards behind him.

Cerulean orbs turned towards the trio as Sam tipped his hat to him; "You're an asshole!" The blond yelled as loud as possible.

"Born and bred, son," Sam yelled while barking a laugh with a raised middle finger. "Let's see how you handle my boys!"

With a low growl, Naruto gazed back at the mechs while getting a pat on the shoulder from Scotch; "Good luck! Begin!" He yelled as he and Kotch ran to safety.

Just like the rounds before, the hatred against him was real as the Cutter was quick to race at him to cut him to ribbons when the announcers were at safe distances. Luckily, he expected it and dodged the other way, only to find gunfire zipping past him to make him flip up and out of the way.

The Sweeper had rounded the outside, and clean shots were taken as the bullets flew with rapid-fire suppression. Scoffing, Naruto kicked off the face of the cutter and rolled his body over the things next, swiping cut. Landing, he was instantly met with more gunfire, so to get the hell out of dodge, he sped around in the same direction, rounding around the arena as he tried to figure out the best way to take the duo. "Not playing around, huh?"

"Seems he's got it out for you, but they shouldn't be able to withstand much electricity. They are machines, to be clear." The fox hoped that would be the case, but he was suspicious.

Giving it a shot, Naruto stopped to turn around and, with blistering speed, met the sweeper front and center. Then, just as the Sweeper was about to run into him, he charged a lightning attack from the Materia, charging it more as he expected the thing to move away.

He was correct, but it did so in a shocking way, as it jolted to the side on a dime and spun around to meet his back, firing at him at close range. Jumping into the air to avoid it, the sage fired at the center of the arena where the Cutter was zooming for him, and the strike hit proper to its target.

Kurama groaned aloud. "I should have known... Witnessing your fundamental skills, he must have modified them to resist your more damaging elemental attacks... Go figure..." True enough, the thing was unimpeded as it rushed to where Naruto landed to slam the chain swords down upon him.

The smoke cleared from the impact to show Naruto very narrowly slotting between the swords, body rigid and as flat as he could. Then, erupting in a burst of wind, Naruto flew away into the air. He grabbed his blade and struck at the Cutter, only to have it raise one arm to block. The chain was revving fast against the weapon, the torque enough to push the blond away and having to land in front of the thing again, only to have an explosive suddenly go off between him and the Cutter, blowing him backward.

The force of the blast blew him back hard-hitting and rolling onto the ground. Adjusting himself, the blond could stand and slide back instead, spitting out some blood. "Let's get serious 'ttebayo."

Up in the stands, the crowd watched in quiet awe, not looking away. Finally, worry glowed from Aerith's eyes, cupping her hands out of concern; "You got this, Naruto!"

A smirk came from the Uzumaki hearing his friend before returning to serious.

The Cutter was instantly on him again, slamming one cutting device down as the other geared to react to any other movement than desired. Naruto, however, had vanished entirely from sensors as the Cutter saw nothing but the broken floor it hit. It turned to find its prey, only to see its counterpart firing at the blond, who appeared to have gained more of himself. If one used an untrained eye, they would think he had cloned himself.

Grinning from the stands, Hangi chuckled. "He's a clever one... Indeed, this is very interesting..."

More and more appeared around the Sweeper, who suddenly switched to different ammunition that spat fire all around itself, flaming buckshot torching the arena floor. The strangest thing was it did not hit the blond, the shadows of the images in the fire as the flames did not die down but grew ever higher, until suddenly it condensed and became a blue flame that swirled inside itself, almost giving an ethereal sight of swirling fire and blue haze and steam that was suddenly sucked into a single line of blue. Within a minute, Naruto appeared with the blue line from the area but was shining bright in his hand as he shoved the length of the blue light through the front of the Sweeper, cutting through into its very core.

Silence befell the arena for a moment before the blue flames returned and burst from all orifices; the machine had to exhaust the heat, and its body suddenly broke into several large pieces in a pile with several melted innards drooling from its golden steel shell. Naruto backed off, his hand covered in permeating black smoke. Hissing, the blond turned and pointed it toward the Cutter. "Next!"

Glaring eyes of Omkara narrowed on the young man. "He generated plasma... from the fire itself. That takes a condensing pressure so high it could crush diamonds."

"He used only two clones, with high speed and wind pressure to do it. I wonder if that was his plan or if it was on the spot. Quite the tactician." Hangi hummed in interest.

Kurama mused, "That plan came right out of your ass."

'Worked, didn't it.'

The Bijuu only chortled back. Within moments Sam's second mech lunged for the sage.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"Would it be wrong to say this guy is seriously starting to turn me on," Jessie's remark earned an eye roll from both Biggs and Sofiya.

"And here she goes," the man of the group muttered dryly.

Just as the Cutter came into range, something made things worse for the Sage as the arms rose before splitting, the double-bladed chain swords turning into 4 in total single-bladed chain swords, with the Cutter now spinning itself like a top and coming right for its enemy.

Naruto attempted to jump over the thing, but it raised the blades to intercept him, swinging out and reaching with rapid jabbing strikes. Cursing at the sudden change in attack, Naruto blocked each one with his blade as they came, each forcing him back up in the air and juggling him. 'It's relentless suddenly, damn it!'

Sensing its strikes being ineffective for any damage, it stopped swinging to let the human fighter fall closer. Then, with its four blades revving and the chains spinning with blistering smoking speed, the arms whipped out from all directions to slice at its prey.

Blocking the one coming from his side, Naruto was spun with such force his body was almost generating its orbit around his center of mass. Still, with every effort, he caught sight of the incoming golden arm attacking from above and, with his momentum, kicked at its side, trying to catch it from the safer side plate.

The maneuver saved him from being hit, but not from the next strike that was coming directly from where he fell, forcing him to take the brunt full on. His blade sparked as the metal was warped from the force of the thing's strike as it threw him up and into the ceiling.

Landing on his feet and stopping, the blue-eyed shinobi caught himself without slapping against the hard surface like a pancake. "It's learning how I move my body... So that's some programming, alright."

Sticking to the ceiling for the moment, he stood upside down. He knew he couldn't use the fire trick again, and he wouldn't be able to generate plasma from the Materia's lightning. 'I need a new trick... It's using its weapons for everything and being relentless. I need to slow it down.'

After a moment, he grinned. Then, jumping back down into the arena, he flew down and landed quickly behind the thing, the further away from it he could get before it turned and started to charge him again. Finally, zooming to the side directly from the thing's path, Naruto watched it have to stop and turn before racing towards him again. While doing the same thing, Naruto kept making the thing stop and turn again and again until he suddenly flew in the other direction, with an even tighter turn angle to catch him. This caused the Cutter to miscalculate and turn completely around, waving its weapons to catch him within range before he sped past.

Running in quickly, Naruto watched as the Cutter fell on its side from the forceful stop and turn on the dime he created, and as it hit the ground, he directed his next attack by getting in and putting his hands against the chassis. "This is gonna hurt..." Then, with his whole body, he swirled wind into a vortex. Still, he contained it around only his body, concentrating on blocking out the pain as he made his body into the focus to build a giant wind elemental Rasengan, using his bodies pressure to grind into the chassis bit by bit and protecting him the Cutter, who was furiously fighting to get back up, the chain swords slapping against the rotating swirling wind of the sphere around him, the speed and pressure from the wind cutting his body everywhere as he pushed forward, silently screaming in his head from the pain.

Within seconds, he ground the Cutters body in half and sucked the rest of the thing into the sphere to be atomized by the swirling vortex that only got fiercer in wind density and speed until nothing was left of the metal monster. When it was done, the sphere vanished. Thankfully, his clothes were just okay, not a scratch on them, but his arms, legs, and face were showing cuts everywhere, some enough to show blood.

The blond's limbs screamed in pure protest as he cursed, "Okay... That sucked."

"This had to be the single dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen you pull off," Kurama abolished his partner; "You were lucky you didn't cut off your limbs!"

Ignoring his Bijuu companion, the blond saw the stunned crowd soon uproar in deafening cheer, chanting out Naruto. Almost immediately, Scotch and Kotch ran over, "WE HAVE AN UPSET!" The ebony-skinned man bellowed, garnering a louder cheer; "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new champion of the Corneo cup! Naruto Uzumaki," the blond groaned as the man raised his arm. Scotch waved his arms around them, shouting at the crowd.

Aerith danced on the balls of her feet, cheering beside the others. Close by, Jessie whistled and raved next to an impressed Biggs, who clapped beside her standing as well. Sofiya, however, made seated, but now a smirk graced her lips.

From the opposite side, Hangi stood with the crowd applauding like the others. Omkara, however, gazed at the young man in the arena below with a shocked expression. During the battle with the mechs, she and her companion saw the smile bore on Naruto's face. And for a moment, she did not see the blond, but the visage of a legendary hero not seen in this realm.

Impossible... It had to be!

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Sam dryly stared down from his seat at Madam M, who danced and cheered around. "Well, someone is happy, aren't they?"

However, before the woman could give a biting retort, loud music blared from the giant monitor before a figure appeared on the screen. "I had a feeling this would happen," Andrea Quipped.

On the screen was a portly build man dressed in a white shirt opened on the chest; over that was a red coat with fur trimming. Looking in his late thirties with fair skin, a thin mustache, and hair shaved save the top of his head with a heart tattoo on it. In Naruto's opinion, the man's smile resembled a weasel or snake; "Have to say I am impressed, and that does not happen often," the man on the monitor spoke with a deep, smarmy tone.

Soon the crowd shifted from chanting Naruto to 'Don'. So this was the ruler of Wall Market, eh?

"Best Corneo Cup we have had in years, don't you all agree," Corneo grinned as the crowd latched to his words. "So, how about we keep this cup for one more match!"

'Huh...' The sage mentally muttered tiredly.

"Oh, don't give that look, Mr. Uzumaki; I fully intend to make this worth your wild by sweetening the winner's pot by five million Gil!" The crowd gasped at Don's declaration. So he was throwing this much money for this?! Somehow Naruto felt a catch to all of this; "But to win it all, you have to beat my most prized pet Udug!"

The blond noted that the blood from Scotch and Kotch's faces vanished and looked ghostly pale. Even the Trio were not faring any better as horror etched on their faces.

Corneo gave a wink; "I'll give you a ten-minute break, so make the most of it, champ!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Sitting in one of the fighter waiting rooms, Naruto bandaged himself up as he took this time to rest up. 'Why do I feel like he wants to take me out?'

"Cause that is exactly what he is trying," Kurama advised.

Huffing, the door of his room shot open to his surprise as Aerith ran in; "By Shiva, are you alright!" The brunette rushed over to his side.

She received a long stare; "How were you allowed down here?"

"Because I allowed it," the voice of Madam M drew his attention as she, Sam, and Andrea stepped inside; "I'm sorry."

The blond cocked a brow; "For what? So you knew this would happen?"

"No, I did, Andrea Rhodea at your service," the lavishly dressed man gave a respectful nod. "Once in a while, Corneo loves to spice up his tournament, and this year has drawn quite the crowd. More so because of your performance."

That clicked instantly. He cursed himself for being so flashy then. "So because I decided to bear down my win in such a way that both steamed his winnings from his bets, and I am such an uproar of a spectacle, I made this possible... Yay me." Groaning louder, he slumped. Aerith came to him to see if she could not help restore him from his wounds, only to find them already healing rapidly, even after such a stunt.

Andrea ignored that as he stepped up. "Too true, but I am riding a bet you can win this next one too. Something about you gives me confidence in this bet." With a smirk, he leaned in towards the blond. "Want some information to help keep you alive against your next match?"

Naruto cocked a brow; "You're that confident in me?"

"Andrea is a hard man to please," Sam addressed, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed; "But if he has a feeling about someone, he is usually always right about them."

Madam M gave the nod; "You can trust Andrea. Sam, not so much."

"You are all heart, hun."

Ignoring the two, the young sage gave Andrea a look before sighing, "Take what I can get."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Biggs's eyes kept paced with Jessie, who walked from side to side; "You're going to wear the floor out, you know."

"I got a bad feeling about this," the ponytail brunette quipped back before looking to Sofiya; "don't you too?"

The older woman lit a new cigar; "If what I have heard about this Udug is correct, Naruto will be in for the fight of his life." Her face grew severe; "And be ready to defend the crowd; this pet of Corneo won't be as tamed as those reptiles."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Hangi kept his eyes on the crowd as many were returning from the intermission; "I would have to say the crowd has doubled since earlier."

"They have indeed," Omkara remarked distantly; "This will be the test."

"The test, you say?"

Omkara nodded; "The test to see if this boy is indeed what I think he is."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The giant competitor doors opened as Naruto walked out to the arena with Scotch and Kotch beside him; "you up for this man?" Scotch questioned.

"Don't have a choice if I want that, Gil."

Kotch gave the taller man a look; "Udug is a whole new ballgame compared to what you faced."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the things I've faced."

A chuckle came from Scotch; "You got balls, bro."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Aerith felt a little out of place as she stood beside Madam M's chair among the trio. "Is it really alright for me to be here?"

"It's fine, my dear," Andrea addressed with a smile from his seat. "And safer up here."

With evidently shaking legs that even the back rows almost a mile away could see, Kotch tried to play it cool with a pose. His voice was mostly even in an attempt to keep appearances. "This is it, folks, the last match! Bonus round for some extra money coming your way! We've seen a fist-to-fist beat down, tornadoes and barbeques, and something out of anyone's imagination from this blond first show! But can he face off against the biggest and worst thing that can fit in this arena!?"

Much more composure was shown by his partner Scotch, though he was profusely sweating. "Corneo's a man of his word; this will be the fight to end it all! Let us bring out our contestants! After a refresher, our super-powered new champion, NARUTO!"

Coming out in a puff of smoke, the young man crossed his arms and gripped his hidden Kunai, just in case it was something that would instantly try to rush him again. 'Been the theme so far... But this feels different. I can almost smell it from here; it has some power.'

"And now... Welcome, Corneo's challenger and one of his favorite beasts... Udug!"

Within seconds both Scotch and Kotch beeline back to the waiting hall as the door opposite opens. Halfway an ear-shattering roar rocks the arena with such force the crowd goes silent. Within Naruto's mind, Kurama's eyes narrow; "This beast holds power; immense power."

Once the doors were fully open, one enormous purple-skinned paw with long, razor-sharp claws hit the ground. Two very long horns become visible and attached to the body of an utter giant purple, heavily muscular furred feline with a large mane on the top of its head. Its yellow cat-like eyes glowed with pure rage with an open, snarling maw of enormous teeth. All ready to rip the blond in half if he gets careless. The beast's tail swayed, showing a fin at the end of it.

'This is a pet?!' Naruto mentally screamed, 'He's nearly as big as you?'

Kurama only scoffed.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Aerith's mouth nearly unhinged; "A Behemoth!?"

"He lets it roam the sewers below with Abzu," Sam adjusted his hat; "Hard to say how many victims both had killed who went down there." Andrea's honeybee girls hugged their boss fearfully at the sight of the beast.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Had Jessie's eyes gotten any bigger, Biggs wondered if they would pop out. Not that he was doing any better as a chill ran down his spine; "How the hell can he beat something like that alone?" his question was met by silence.

Thankfully, Naruto did NOT have to move... Not yet, anyway, as the Behemoth was slowly lurking around, judging its smaller prey. It sniffed the air and could smell him. It growled as a single eye scarred shut twitched. It was rolling closer with a swift swipe, testing the blond's reaction, with another lightning-quick attack unseen by the natural eye.

As the claw came close, Naruto quickly backed out of the attack and quickly noticed the tail striking with a whipping motion and swirling to slap him into the air, only to punch it hard with his fist and knock it to the side. The giant thought appendage was hardly affected as he slid back a few feet from the force. "Alright, that's not good; his thin tail is that big and pure muscle? No out-muscling anything on this beast. I'll need to outmaneuver him."

"And I suspect it's even smarter than that alpha from before..." Kurama growled more, sensing he would be needed by the end of this.

With a sudden roar, the Behemoth jumped up and slammed both front claws down, the arena crushing the floor in rubble and shaking the arena in a quake. Then, it used the very magic to uproot a few pillars of the ground up in front of it with sharp spikes and saw as the blond had jumped up at first, then clasped his feet on either side of the very tip of one spike that would have impaled him had he not thought quickly.

'The fucker can wield magic!' Naruto cursed, gaining some ground away from Udug, who shifted his gaze toward his prey with annoyance.

A sneer came from Kurama; "Ten to one, that beast is sentient. So you might have no choice but to use some of my power."

'Are you nuts?!'

"You can't use Senjutsu in Midgar, and against a monster like this, you can't hold back an inch!"

Frustration glowed from the Sage as he had been blissfully in no needed his partner's powers while here thus far. And Naruto had hoped it would have stayed like that since not want to catch any unwanted attention. But it looked as if the Gods were not going to make that easy anymore. Soon the human and beast circled one another, Cerulean and gold staying fixed on the other.

The two soon stopped; "You are sapient, aren't you?!" People in the stands looked bewildered, looking at one another at Naruto's words. Was he hopped up on painkillers or something?

However, confusion turned to complete terror as the Behemoth gave a curious look before its maw upturned to a sinister smile showing its row of sharp teeth. "Smarter than the average prey I hunt," Udug spoke back in a chilling deep guttural voice. "Perhaps you'll be a worthy challenge before I devour you."

That explained the aura of pure evil radiating off this big guy. Naruto drew his ebony katana and pointed it at the Behemoth; "I'm not going be that easy, Udug."

"Better for me..."

Swiftly, Naruto charged his blade with sharp wind chakra and focused it to the finest point he could, and without even moving, expanded the point right at the sizeable monstrous being before him. The tip quickly sunk itself into the Behemoth... But Naruto looked shocked as it only went in less than an inch. Then, canceling the channel of his energy, Naruto jumped back as fast as he could when the Behemoth shattered the spikes he caused to erupt in the ground and charged in for another attack.

Landing on his feet, Naruto raced between the legs of the thing and jumped up high. Then, thankful for the training, he opened up a single chakra gate, launching his infused foot into the creature's gut, but it did not even budge off the ground a single bit, though all felt the shockwave of force.

Activating a second, Naruto roared in excess as he kicked even harder, finally managing to lift the Behemoth off of a single leg; then, with every ounce of strength left from the boost, he kicked again to cause the beast to get just enough off footing... But, sadly, the Behemoth had other plans as it rose on all its feet and let gravity do its job.

Thanks to the boost given by his inner gates, the blond sped out of the way, avoiding the squish his body would have endured. As he got out, he let himself generate another Rasengan, wind infused in his hand as he ground it into the side of the big thing's body. His energy evaporated, and he saw scuffs at best. The thing's hide was so thick and challenging it was almost like the best armor he'd seen since coming here. "Oh boy... HOW THE FUCK IS THIS FAIR!"

Whatever curse the blond had else died in his throat as he was forced to shunshin within a blink to avoid Udug's giant maw. A low, pained grunt escaped the blond's lip; opening the gates was always a double-edged sword. But thankfully, unlike his longtime friend Lee, Naruto only used one or two in slight moderation if the situation called for it. It still didn't mean it hurt like hell every time.

However, his focus was on his sword, which showed neither a crack nor dullness to the edge. Though if there were a blunt edge, the blond would be panicking. Adamant, Mythril, Ebony, and Orichalcum; are the four most legendary metals of his world that are nigh indestructible. When any one of those metals fashioned into a blade can cut through anything like it was paper.

And this damn beast; "It's not that the sword is not strong enough," Kurama interjected, hearing his host's thoughts. "That sword could kill that bastard; it is just that-"

'I'm not physically strong enough.' Not like Tsunade-Baachan, Sakura, and a few members of the Uzumaki. If he could use Senjutsu, that be another story, 'I fucking hate this city.'

"You'll hate this thing more by the end of it because here he comes, and it looks like he's not holding back now"

Though the Behemoth had not been fully affected by the eight gates, the brunt and brute force trauma were enough to sting, and he was not enjoying the blond giving him more of those hits. Opening its jaws, it concentrated fire in a ball and charged it up, ready to cast fire magic at his prey. Like a cannon going off, the monster launched the large destructive flaming ball at Naruto.

Knowing the type of damage it would cause, the sage knew he couldn't just avoid it without it cascading into the audience, so with a loud scoff, he flew through his seals before using his lightning material. Unfortunately, while he let lose a large strike of lighting from the Materia, his hand engulfed in a whirlwind, and all three elements clashed in a bright sparking force that was causing the entire arena to heat up from the pressure the collision created.

The fireball was not dying down a bit, but it had stopped thanks to the quick thinking of dual elemental attacks, which relieved and worried the ninja. Having an idea, however, Naruto generated the lightning and tried to bend it to his will; as the wind pushed against the fire, the lightning started arcing around the fireball and condensed the thing.

Grinning, Naruto grabbed his blade. 'I just need strength, but strength is force, and force can be applied in multiple ways...' Jumping in, Naruto allowed the wind and lightning to capture the fire magic and cause the entire thing to shrink in size suddenly. Then, stepping onto the ball midair, Naruto charged his blade back with his wind chakra. It activated the last gate he could muster, and with a kick, the ball he stood upon exploded with such force it sent him flying into the Behemoth at such speed it even impressed Hangi, who watched in surprise...

The Ebony sword struck into the Behemoth's shoulder, but this time the speed and force with which it landed sunk the blade fully into the flesh, and because Naruto used all his might with the gates to slash through in a single stroke, he managed to cut through the very top of the beast's shoulder all the way through. Unfortunately, the resistance of the slice cut Naruto's momentum by almost all of it, so when he finished, he landed behind the beast, who roared in pain. Looking at its shoulder, it saw blood, but it was not deep enough to cause him any hindrance beyond the pain of finally being cut into.

Yet despite the rage and pain, Udug looked... Pleased as he glared at the human, "A hunt would be boring if the prey did not fight back."

"Well, I'm so glad to make your day," Naruto's voice dripped with sarcasm. Said words were met by the sizeable muscular tail slamming into him with such speed and force that it sent the blond flying across the arena and through one of the warrior statues.

"Naruto!" Aerith's scream rang out as a deafening silence came over the crowd. Instinct took over as she reached into her coat for her staff. A pair of hands, however, stopped her in place that came to rest on her shoulders. Every hair on the back of her neck rose, with a pronounced chill crawling down her spine. From the corner of her eye, Aerith could see a dainty feminine mocha skin hand.

But what she could feel behind her…

"Now, now," A perennially adolescent-sounding voice of a woman lectured from behind her. "The Finale already has its cast. No need for an extra."

In a blink, Aerith spun on her heels, only to find no one behind her. She could hear her heart pounding; Madam M cocked a brow observing the younger woman; "Something wrong?"

In a blink, the brunette turned back with a smile; "Nope, nothing!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Blood dripped from the blond's head and mouth as he remained stuck within the statue. His head hung low; a deep chuckle escaped Udug's maw; "All fall before my claws."

"Is that so whelp..." The blond's mouth moved, but the voice that came from it was not Naruto.

The behemoth's eyes rose instantly, and the crowd soon became tense as an intense and over-pressing aura enveloped the entire arena. Slowly Naruto's head rose, but his cerulean were placed blood crimson with slit irises. His whiskers became darker and sharper along with the blond's hair. Red energy soon glowed over the statue; "Tag in," Kurama quipped before unleashing an ear-piercing roar as the warrior statue shattered and the blond landed on the ground.

Within seconds, the figure of Naruto was in full sprint and was already slamming its coated red fist into the beast's jaw within the blink of an eye. However, unlike the last few times, this one packed enough power to shock everyone as the Behemoth recoiled and nearly tripped over itself from the impact.

The red aura was still permeating over the impact against the cheek of the Behemoth, but as it reared its head back to look at the newly strengthened prey, the blade it was wielding rose high and struck down with finesse and speed. Thankfully, the instinct of this massive Behemoth was to get out of the way, and that was its best move as the sword cut clean through one of its horns and even caught it on fire from the friction of the metal.

Immediately letting itself rampage with a fighting force, the Behemoth tried striking with its paw, enhanced by an electrical current, though it did nothing to hurt anything as the blond had blocked the strike and flipped in the air.

Seeing its chance and not letting a second go by without payback, it conjured a roaring fireball again, and it's one horn powering a lightning attack simultaneously. "This is what you get for that cheap shot, worm!"

"You're strong, but you're so pathetic to think us a worm. My vessel is no chump!" Flaring its five tails behind him, the Kyuubi-controlled body raised the blade, filling it with every element and encasing it in its aura. "Goodbye!"

Roaring, the Behemoth let loose its magic, lightning, and fire, escaping in torrents of smaller fireballs flying at high speed by the dozen, with the lightning entrapping any escape. Everyone in the Arena was wide-eyed and screaming as they imagined their deaths finally arriving at this beast's hands.

Smirking, the Behemoth felt victorious. But, until it noticed that the magic was not erupting in all locations and was seemingly sticking to a single point as its stopping point, stopping its magic, it watched as the barrage was held in place in the air. "No... Not possible!"

"Rethink that one... WORM!" The Kyuubi had used its tails and aura to act as a conduit to withhold and trap the magic within before launching the magic right back at the beast below it. As the magic burst in the Behemoth's face, the resounding impact shook the arena again.

As the smoke cleared, the Behemoth looked rough, scorched, and bleeding from the injuries gained thus far, smoking from its magic hitting him in full measure. Then, looking at the red aura in front of him, he saw the blade, a shining red and orange light swirling with energy and raw elemental power. "It's over..."

And it was, as Kyuubi zipped at high speed all around the Behemoth, cutting into it and slicing it through every single inch of its body, causing the thing to bleed from every gash, causing the Behemoth to scream and thrash in pain as it lit up in the fire, was steaming from the lightning roasting its carcass, its wounds being forced open with water, and then dug trapped within the earth with every strike until he was just encased in rock, bleeding and steaming and shaking in tormented pain.

Kyuubi sheathed the sword at a dead stop behind the creature just as the blade vanished. The sound of the sheath fully enclosed the blade; the Behemoth erupted in a red aura and caused its body to decay from the heat and lack of blood, turning him into a giant piece of dried husky flesh.

'Well,' Naruto groaned as Kurama's chakra faded with his consciousness taking back over; 'So much for keeping things subtle.' The blond leaned forward as his whiskers returned to normal, and his eyes became cerulean once more. Above, the stands remained silent before a roar engulfed the entire arena.

"Any more finesse, and we would have been monster food. So I prefer the direct approach."

Shaking his head, Naruto saw Scotch and Kotch run out to his side. "What... What the actual fuck was that?" The ebony-skinned man questioned. He only received a grin; "Alright, keep your secret big guy."

Scotch ran a hand through his hair, staring at the remains of Udug; "Can we say Amazing!" Then, he yelled to the crowd, "Think we all can agree we have the new undisputed champion of the arena! NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

A low grunt came from the blond as he sat shirtless in the waiting room with Aerith tending to his wounds. Thankfully not alone as Andrea's honeybee girls were assisting her with a very pleased Madam M and Andrea in the room as well. "Always trust my intuition, my boy," the older man spoke with a grin.

"Gotcha; where's the cowboy?"

The smile on M's lips only got wider, "Tending to the scrap that was his prized mechs."

"Ah, well, he should count himself lucky. He still has scrap to build them from." He sighed in relief as he was being cared for, though a little glance down as one of the honey girls had started to rub his chest, maybe not in the way that benefits healing...

Though noticing the handy touches, Aerith was more concerned about the recent fight. "Well, I'd say. Whatever you did to that Behemoth would have made the arena explode if you didn't control whatever that was. Never have I seen anything like that. It felt... weird."

"That is a good question; what kind of ace in the hole was it anyway? And why not use it sooner? You'd have me worry a second more just to be flashy?" Madam M almost huffed in disgruntled curiosity, putting on a dramatic tease that was borderline hypocritical to her question

Naruto shrugged back; "I'm just really good with my Mana skills."

'He's avoiding the question,' Andrea cocked a brow, seeing annoyance bloom on M's face. "At any rate, Glover will be here with your reward."

Speak of the devil, the door soon opened with the bald man in question with two large briefcases; "All here, Mr. Uzumaki." Glover placed the cases on the table; "Two million five hundred thousand Gil in each." Then, the man opened both cases to prove it was all there.

Aerith's eyes grew as humanly wide as possible, along with the Honeybee girls. None of them ever saw that much money in their entire lives!

A whistle came from the blond before one suitcase was closed and quickly taken from the table by Madam M; "I believe we agreed to fifty/fifty share."

"Yes, we did, Madam M; a Deal is a deal." Naruto grinned back. A knock on the door garnered everyone's attention to the door. Standing at the entrance was a tall thuggish look man in rugged leather.

"Hey champ, the don would like to see you," the man spoke aggressively.

The Honeybee girls were behind the blonde and Andrea as they did not like that tone. Naruto either, as he gave a direct stare, one that said, 'I could end you here and now, chump,' but he did not voice it. "I'm guessing he's going to try something else... Maybe poison me or something."

"Not Don's style... As bad as he can get, he's not the type to use those means when calling on a popular fighter." Andrea hummed aloud, however. "Still, don't let your guard down. And when you have recovered, please come by. I would like to see what else you can do, off the battlefield, of course." With that, the Honeybee master and his worker bees left, though sad they could not tend more to the handsome blond.

The tall thug gave a dry look; "Hey, hey, nothing underhanded here, I promise."

"I believe that about as much as Yasaka being friendly," Kurama scoffed.

'And because of that attitude, you never got to see your daughter much,' a deep growl came from the Bijuu but said nothing with the blond getting to his feet. Instead, he looked to Aerith; "Grab the winnings. Meet you at that diner near the Colosseum?"

The florist gave a thumbs-up; "you got it, be careful."

"Hmm," M hummed, peering at the thug who stared back before looking back to Naruto; "Have fun with the Don."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The blond grunted, walking up the giant stone step towards Corneo's mansion. This place looks like one of those gaudy homes nobles and Daimyos enjoyed sitting in and doing nothing. Corneo was big on red and gold; it seemed as if the mansion and buildings around it were made of the finest materials, with a built-in waterway flowing everywhere.

"Your boss spares no expense," Naruto muttered beside the thug.

At that, the thug laughed; "When the Don took this place during the turf war, he made damn sure everyone knew who ran Wall Market. Cause it sure as hell ain't Shinra!"

'No idea if that's better or worse... Then again, he gets his guards from Shinra if those asshats in round one are any indication...'

Reaching the final steps, the blond got a full view of the mansion by Amaterasu; how much did it cost to make a place like this? All the while, people around the slums suffer. People like this always made Naruto's mood sour. After Han'ei and that colossal mess, the blond did a great deal of soul-searching before retiring as a Ninja soon after.

Strolling over a wooden bridge, they took steps to large double doors the thug pushed open. It looked like this was the front hall before the main house. There were crates, shelves with items, and even a food stand. Walking past all that, they reached the doors of the main manor.

The interior was decked out to the brim with all manners of items and tacky from head to toe in red and gold. The room was round, with a stairway going up to a second floor. The first floor had everything a rich, entitled crime boss slob would want, even a reception desk. Naruto cocked a brow seeing a fifteen-year-old spiky silver-haired boy sitting behind it dressed in simple street clothes and a ball cap. The kid glanced up from reading the book he was looking at with amber eyes; "so you're the new champ, eh? Boss is upstairs."

"Awesome," the tall thug grinned before motioning the blond to follow up the stairs; "That's Leslie, good kid."

Walking up the steps were several doors at each corner, and the two made their way to the large double doors at the center. The thug opened one of the doors; "Boss is waiting."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The blond felt himself cringe internally as he stepped into Corneo's office, which had to be a Daimyo's wet dream with the most obnoxious and decked-out office room he had ever seen. Even the desk for this man looked like it would cost a mint. All around were statues and artwork, which likely came from Wutai given the style. The man was sitting at the desk with a smile Naruto wanted to punch. The blond also noted several armed men were standing around the room.

"The man of the hour!" Don exclaimed as he rose from his seat. And was a relatively short poultry man now seeing him close up.

"Yeah, apparently so. Shall we get down to business? I'm looking forward to getting some for a bit of rest." But, honestly, he wanted to find Dutch and see if that woman leading the watch had anything to say against him.

Don laughed a little bit as he rounded his table. "Don't be in such a rush, and you might find this place your new home, given your achievements thus far." The munchkin did not notice the brows of the sage twitch at that.

"So this is a recruitment pitch?"

Corneo winked; "Indeed, it is my boy. Such talent and skill like yours could be compared to SOLDIER first class! Where did you learn all that?"

The blond crossed his arms; "Trade secret."

The older man shrugged; "Fair enough, so I'll happily get to the point I-"

"I don't accept."

"...I could give you many things you may want, anything! Riches, comforts, women..." He grinned, trying to spell off the usual spiel of things his men would often want. "Come on now; this is my final offer; what do you desire, my boy?"

"Not... Interested." Naruto frowned heavily. "Look, I came here for some cash, and that's it; you gave me my share, so I'm out. I'm not as feeble-minded as to want many things, especially anything you want to give me. I don't need to be rich enough to make my choices comfortable. So again, the answer is no."

At that declaration, Don's expression became unreadable; "Well, I suppose we have other ways for you to join us?" He walked back behind his and sat. "I always get what I want."

"Now," An edge came to Naruto's tone; "And how will you persuade me?"

The Don was soon adorned with a much crueler smile. "Well, you have quite a few friends in Sector 5, even having one of them here in wall Market with you. A pretty thing if a bit too homey for my tastes, but I'm sure my boys would love to get acquainted with her."

The blond nodded; "I'm sure they would. But it will be rather hard when I break their legs."

"Hah! You have been in four intense battles, taken quite the beating, and are likely severely injured. However, one snap of my fingers and my boys here will happily knock some sense into you." Corneo laughed.

"Don, let me make this simple for you..." With an invisible pressure of energy surrounding him and causing the others to feel heavy and fearful, he stared menacingly at the shorter blond older man. "Whenever someone thinks I get weaker from my battles, they tend to be wrong. Whenever someone tried to get the drop on me when they thought I was tired from a tough fight, they lost their heads. If you want to test me, then go ahead, snap those fingers."

Suddenly, one of the thugs holding a metal object in their hand snapped in half so cleanly it was sharp along its cut edges. The Don's confidence shattered in seconds from the younger blond's menacing glare. "It'll be the last time they snap at all... Because no one will ever harm those, I care about. Ever. Again."

The men around the sage were stricken with fear before the aura let up, giving them the idea it was indeed a bluff. However, as each tried to run at him, without warning, the taller blonde man became a blur, and several images of him spread out, and with expert finesse and speed, they all quickly made work of the guards.

One guard saw his sword being pulled, and then his shirt was cut off cleanly before the punch was shoved in his gut and the blade sliced across his cheek. That all happened before the image in front of him of the champion kicked him squared in the family jewels and launched him up into the ceiling. A second man was grabbed by the head and kicked from under his feet before being spun like a windmill and then grabbed by the arm to be tossed around like a cloth towel before being thrown against a wall. He slid down into a pot with his head first.

The third and fourth were taken out the same way, punches into their faces causing them to lean back in pain before baking grabbed by the chest and pulled in, as a knee gutted them roughly. Then, finally, a hand grabbed their skulls from the back and slammed them face-first into the floor.

As the last guard came to cut the main target in the middle, all the after-image clones of Naruto vanished, and the still-standing blonde sage grabbed the guy by the throat. Then, without a second thought, the sage punched the man in the gut a dozen times faster than the blink of an eye before letting the man out of his grip and falling to his feet. Then, raising his leg, Naruto finished him with a swift and forceful heel into the face and launched the man over Corneo's desk and into the back of the room, unconscious and badly hurt.

Naruto did not even turn upon hearing the war cry from the thug who brought him here and ran to attack him from behind. His attempt to bring down the blond was met with a backhanded fist to his jaw, sending the taller man falling backward like a tree into dreamland onto the floor.

A panicked hand shot forward from under the desk, strolling around the desk, wielding a gun. This was easily grabbed and taken by the blond, who tossed it aside, then knelt to stare into the terrified eyes of Don Corneo. A pleased chuckle escaped Kurama's maw; "And thus, we see the coward for what he is."

The blond slowly leaned forward; "Let me just say this and pay attention." He gripped the man's chubby cheeks, making the short man squeak; "You send one thug to Sector five, and I will know they are one of yours. You will wish it was Shinra coming after you. Because you will never see me coming before you die screaming," The Don's face turned ghostly white as crimson slit eyes glared into his own. "Are we in agreement?"

Corneo's head nodded rapidly; "Y-y-yes, Mr. Uzumaki. I will never bother you or the people of sector five!"

"Good boy."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

A loud explosive sigh escaped Naruto's lips after leaving Corneo's office and going down the stairs to leave. Leslie, who had stayed after the reception desk the entire time, only locked eyes with the blond. Neither spoke a word as the blond left the mansion. 'Was that a little too much?'

"For a cockroach such as him, he deserved worse. But what you did was more than enough to scare him off."

Good; once leaving the mansion and strolling past the bridge, the blond began his descent down the stone steps. Up ahead, he could see Aerith sitting at one of the outside tables of the diner on the opposite side of the Colosseum. His brow cocked as he noticed she was not alone and was chatting with older man Hangi and a woman around his age with short frost blue hair.

Aerith noticed him offering a wave, "so what did the Don want?"

"To be one of his men," Naruto grunted as he drew closer; "I turned it down."

"Truly," Hangi looked surprised; "Having a position as one of his men would have garnered you many luxuries."

The blond rolled his eyes; "Luxuries I could care less for." Naruto took a seat on one of the chairs.

"Corneo is not a person to say no to," the woman spoke up; "I'm Omkara, a friend of Hangi's."

"Nice to meet you," Naruto nodded before leaning back on the chair; "Yeah, he tried threatening me, Aerith, and the folks of Sector Five."

The brunette tensed; "Sounds like something he'd do."

"Convinced him it was not a good decision. And I hate people like him, never could stand bullies."

A pleased grin bore on Omkara's lips; "You have a stout heart."

"Thanks," Naruto soon rose from his seat; "Well, I think I'm heading home for the day. " Aerith soon got from her seat, picking up the briefcase that was in her lap. "You can stay, you know."

"Oh, I know, but not much of a fan of this place."

Hangi laughed, "Ah, my dear, you don't know what you're missing."

"Nice meeting you two," Naruto gave a polite nod to both as he and Aerith left for home.

Omkara and Hangi kept their gaze on them both as they walked away. "That boy is truly unique," The old man chuckled.

"She will want us to figure out how he came here."

"It does go without saying. We will be busy for a while."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Inside the diner, people were buzzing over the events of the Corneo Cup. Though Biggs wondered if Jessie was about to burst, "That was so freaking awesome! He took down a Behemoth; who could do that single-handedly?!"

"Unless your SOLDIER or a highly skilled warrior, it is impossible," Sofiya addressed the younger woman as they sat at a table. "And whatever he used facing that monster, he made certain the audience was safe." But what was that power? Some secret of Wutai, perhaps?

The pony-tailed young woman gave the older blond a look; "Still think he is doing this to play the hero?"

"Have to agree with Jessie; this guy is the real deal. We would be stupid not to hire him," Biggs lamented.

Sofiya glanced at both before lighting a new cigar; "you're right, and he may also help with our other occupation."

At that, both Biggs and Jessie turned serious; "You think so?" But then, Jessie's voice turned hushed.

"Dutch has stated Naruto has expressed quite a bit of disdain for Shinra. But he could need an explanation of what those monsters do if we want him to join."

Biggs leaned back against his chair; "Makes sense; he might not even want to involve otherwise."

Sofiya nodded; "For now, I'll see Naruto personally tomorrow to offer him a role in the Watch. I owe him that much."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Sofiya is based on balalaika from Black Lagoon.

Hangi is based on King Bradley of Fullmetal Alchemist

Omkara is based on Natalia Kaminski from Fate Series