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Wakfu: Chronicles of the Lost Ninja

-Chapter 17-

-Last Time-

You see, it turned out when she grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and pulled him closer, she inadvertently pushed his arm up to her chest, right between her breasts to be exact. If that wasn't bad enough however, due to whiskered blonde being just over a foot taller than the greenette, his arm was easily longer than her torso thus resulting in his hand resting right on top of her-

-Town Square-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

-And Now, Team Real Gobbly Room-

"Sheesh, what happened to those two?" Ruel asked with a raised brow as he and his old friends Calben, the short mostly bald guy with goggles, and Posho, the skinny seemingly blind guy wearing a diaper watched Eva carried a blushing and sputtering Amalia into the room and set her down in a chair.

At the same time, a flustered Naruto speed walked over to the exact opposite side of the room and leaned against the wall while staring out a nearby window. Meanwhile, a very confused looking Dally and Yugo both shrugged as they entered the room.

"Heh, I'll tell you later." Eva said with a barely suppressed giggle before suddenly jumping back to avoid the vine that whipped at her.

"You tell anybody what just happened and I'll use your corpse as fertilizer!" Amalia yelled, several more vines rising up around her in a threatening manner while she eyed her friend with a burning glare that was completely ruined by her equally burning face.

"Yeah, yeah, or throw me into the dungeon till I'm an old maid," The Cra said with an amused roll of her eyes, idly ducking another attempted plant slap while turning her attention back to Ruel and Co. "Anyway, not to skip over your little reunion but we still have to figure out how to earn enough money for our trip."

"Hey, I have-"

"Not anymore my dear Evangeline, for I have found us the perfect solution to all our problems." Ruel said cheerily, unintentionally cutting off Naruto once again.

Rolling her eyes as the old Enutrof spoke, Eva almost instantly lost the humor on her face while massaging the side of her head. "Let me guess, it has something to do with Gobbowl?"

"Please hear me out before you go dismissing what I have to say," Ruel said, getting a soft scoff from the Cra but otherwise motioned for him to continue speaking. "Look, tomorrow Real Gobbly plays against Lamechester United for the Gobbowl Final, and the winning team will get 10,000 Kamas but their two players short. We help them in just one quick game and we'll have more than enough to pay for everything we need."

"You mean IF we won."

"Well do you have a better idea?"

"…"

Silence filled the room while a strong tension built up between himself and Eva, the pair just staring at each-other with unreadable expressions. Finally, after almost a solid minute, the Cra turned away with her arms crossed and a scowl on her lips. "…Fine, we'll play."

"Great!" Grinning in victory, Ruel wasted no time heading off outside, only stopping long enough to motion the rest of the group to follow. "Let's not waste any time then, time to see what you young'uns know."

"We get to play gobbowl!" Yugo cheered happily while following after the old Enutrof along with Calben, Posho, an equally excited Dally, a resigned Eva, and still pretty flustered Amalia. The only one not moving was Naruto, who opted to stay where he was with a deep frown on his lips and his eyebrow twitching rapidly.

"That's it, somebody is getting pranked." He muttered sourly while pushing off the wall and cracking his knuckles menacingly.

At that exact moment, everyone else felt a shiver run down their spines, warning of the impending doom awaiting them. Sadly for them, that warning would go unheeded as they quickly shook it off and Naruto caught up with them, none of them noticing the hint of mischief twinkling in his eyes.

"So… how exactly does this gobbowl game work exactly?" The whiskered blonde asked, getting a few stunned looks from Ruel's friends while the old Enutrof himself clapped the boy on the back.

"Well my boy, it's rather simple-"

-One long incredibly confusing explanation later-

"…And that is pretty much it, any questions?" Ruel asked, him and Naruto now seated on a bench watching as Yugo, Dally, and Amalia frantically run laps around a jogging track as a heard of angry black Gobbals chased them whilst Eva stood on the sidelines with a deep-set deadpan.

"Not really, seems simple enough," Naruto said with a shake of his head. "I just got to get the ball to the goal and I'm not allowed to use jutsu to do so, right?"

"Couldn't have summed it up better myself," The Enutrof said with an approving nod. "However, while it may sound easy you have to remember that the opposing team is going to be doing their damnedest to make sure you don't."

"Hai, Hai, which is why I have to keep my eye out for any sneaky business like fake-outs or cheating," Naruto said while Ruel nodded again before the whiskered blonde tilted his head with a thoughtful expression. "You know, can it actually be called cheating though if its technically allowed in a sense? I mean, cheating is when you break the rules yet you just said that the rules say underhanded stuff like cheating is allowed… as long as your either not caught or pay a bribe at least."

"Eh, you're right but people will still call it cheating anyway, mostly those going on about stuff like morals and player constitution," Ruel said, shrugging as he stood up with a grin. "Now enough with the chit-chat, let's see how well you can actually play."

Grinning right back, Naruto was a bit more enthusiastic as he pushed himself into the air and flipped right over the elderly Enutrof before landing perfectly in the middle of the training field with a wide grin. "I'm ready when you are."

"Hmph, showoff," Ruel muttered good-naturedly as he slipped on a glove, picked up a gobbowl ball from a nearby bin, and moved to the nearest goal end. "Okay blondie, let's start simple, just catch the ball and try to get past me with it. Think you can do that?"

"Piece of cake-Ttebayo." The whiskered blonde retorted confidently as he got into a casual ready stance, cracking his neck for added emphasis.

However, as this was happening neither Ruel or Naruto noticed as Eva finally lost her prior apathetic-ness upon seeing the duo step out onto the field.

"Haa… Haa… Hey look… Ruel and Naruto… haa… are squaring off." At the same time, a very tired Yugo trudged to a stop as he wheezed for air with Amalia and Dally joining him a few moments later when the gobbals gave up pursuit in favor of munching on some grass.

"Whoo… kick that old codgers… butt Naruto." Amalia tried to cheer, only for it to come out a weak wheezing gasp as she doubled over, sweat practically pouring from her skin.

'Hmph, cocky little brat, let's see how well he handle's my patented Stroud Special,' Ruel thought while slowly winding his arm back, gritting his teeth as he focused all his strength towards the upcoming throw. Then, just as he snapped his arm forward, a blue gem embedded in the side of his glove began to glow brightly before the gobbowl ball launched from his grasp like a cannon shot.

Zooming through the air in a near-imperceptible blur, it only took a split-second for the oddly shaped ball to cross the field as it hurtled toward Naruto. Yet despite this, the whiskered blonde didn't even so much as flinch, his pose still completely neutral and calm as impeding pain was mere milliseconds awa-

Gone.

"Huh?" Ruel couldn't help but voice his confusion as both Naruto and the gobbowl ball seemed to vanish into thin air just before the latter could hit the former. Not even a second later, the old man felt a sudden rush of wind pass by him and reflexively spun around to see the missing blonde now standing at the field goal, the same grin on his lips as he held up the gobbal fur sphere with a lightly smoking hand.

"So, how was that?" Naruto asked casually while lightly tossing the ball up and spinning it on his fingertip.

'Fast!' Ruel, Dally, Amalia, and Yugo unknowingly thought at the same time, their eyes nearly bugging out of their skulls at what they just saw. The only one that didn't look surprised was Eva, who instead had an amused smile on her lips as she took in everyone's expressions.

"By Enutrof!" A male voice shouted out, snapping everyone back to the present as Toot came marching onto the field with a flabbergasted expression, Calben and Posho right behind him with similar looks on their faces. Going right past Ruel, the floatie-wearing Enutrof went straight for Naruto. "You got some impressive legs on ya brat, I haven't seen someone run that fast since the Emporg made his debut in Brakmar over fifty years ago."

"What can I say, I aim to please." Naruto said with a shrug, idly tossing the gobbowl ball over his shoulder as he spoke.

"Indeed you do," Toot muttered, giving the blonde one last look over before turning towards Ruel with a mixture of emotions on his face, both positive and negative. "I'll admit Ruel, you may be a no good two-bit deserting scumbag but it seems you still got a good nose for sniffing out talent."

"And your tongue is still as sharp as a razor," Ruel said, dramatically raising a hand to his chest with a faux hurt expression. "Come on old friend, I know we didn't part on the best of terms but-"

"Best of terms?! Of course we didn't! You up and vanished on us one day to become a bounty hunter!" Toot cut Ruel off angrily. "No warning! No goodbye! You didn't even give us time to find a replacement for you!"

"Okay… so it was pretty bad terms…"

"No kidding you two-faced varmint!"

"Oh now you're just being petty toot."

Sweatdropping as the pair continued to launch retorts, barbs, and insults back and forth, Naruto gradually inched away from the arguing old men until he was standing next to Evangeline. "I think this is our cue to give them some privacy."

"Definitely." The blonde archer said before they both retreated from the area, with Amalia, Yugo, and Dally tagging along a few moments later when both men started bawling their eyes out and hugging it up.

Once Ruel and Toot were done burying the hatchet, the next several hours would seem to fly by in a blur as they ran the whole group through various drills, mock matches, and exercises that left even Naruto winded. Though that was mostly because he wasn't allowed to use any chakra to boost himself like he normally would.

He wasn't the only one struggling with such issues either, as Amalia would keep instinctually trying to use her vines to catch the ball, Dally accidentally using his equipment at bad times which generally resulted in him eating dirt, and Yugo forgetting he was not supposed to use his portals. Eva and Ruel were the only ones who didn't have much trouble, though it was clear Ruel had more than a little rust after not playing for so long.

Still, they at least managed to hammer down the basics before calling it a day and everyone headed to bed to get a good night's rest for the game tomorrow.

-The Next Day-

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Really Ruel, I can't believe you tried to pull such a stupid stunt," An annoyed Eva said, dragging the old Enutrof along by the ear as she and the rest of the group marched down the halls of the Gobbowl Arena. "I mean seriously, planning to let us oversleep just for some old gag, have you finally gone senile?"

"Hey! It was tradition! Ouch! We did it every game-Ow- to unnerve our opponents!" Ruel yelped out while fruitlessly trying to get his ear free of the Cra's iron grip.

"And pray tell, exactly how many times did that actually work?"

"Honestly not once, the only ones who got unnerved by it were us." Posho stated casually before Ruel could retort, earning a brief glower of betrayal from the old man.

"Of course it wouldn't, you guys were probably too busy wheezing and sweating from your last minute sprint to be even remotely intimidating," Amalia muttered with a roll of her eyes before turning towards Naruto with an appreciative smile, a tinge of red appearing on her cheeks as she did so. "Thank Sadida you made that clone to wake us up on time just in case."

"No problem Happa-chan, always happy to help," The whiskered blonde said, chuckling softly at Ruel's self-earned misfortune while he stretched his arms. "Besides, I had a feeling Irezumi-jiji would try something funny."

"That's Ruel for you, he has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve," Yugo said while laughing nostalgically. "You should have seen all the ways he'd try conning my dad for a free meal whenever he visited."

"I can imagine."

"Alright ladies, that's enough of the pillow talk!" Toot called out as the group stepped into their team's assigned room. "We got fifteen minutes till game time, I want you all dressed and ready in five! Understood!?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it, there's no need to yell jiji." Naruto said with a dismissive wave as the group head into their changing rooms.

"Oh boy, I can't believe we get to play official gobbowl match!" Amalia exclaimed once she and Eva stepped into the women's side, dancing in place energetically. "This is so exciting! Don't you agree Eva!"

"Yeah, sure, I'm absolutely thrilled to play this barbarous sport." The archer muttered sarcastically as she walked right past her charge and straight towards the series of nooks set in the far wall, specifically towards a pair in the middle which had their bundled up outfits within.

Stopping in her impromptu jig, Amalia rolled her eyes before crossing her arms and giving her friend an amused stare. "Do you have to be such a rotten citranana? It's not that bad and who knows, you might actually have fun."

"I'm not taking that kind of advice from the girl who threw a tantrum for almost three hours when your father made you take cooking classes." Eva retorted, causing Amalia's face to flush in embarrassment.

"Oh come on, that was a long time ago."

"It was three months before we left the Sadida Kingdom Amalia."

"Well I… erm… I mean… … …shut up Eva."

"Oh no, how hurtful," Eva said, smirking at the now sour glare Amalia was giving her before almost immediately losing any trace of humor upon grabbing a piece of her uniform and looking it over. "By the way Amalia, you might want to take a look at these before you get your hopes up too much."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The princess asked with a quirked brow, only to quickly dawn a look of shock when the blonde elf-girl turned around to show her the top in her grasp. That shock then just as swiftly turned to anger as evident by the many, MANY tick marks which appeared on the greenette's forehead and the loud grinding of her teeth.

-Meanwhile, Team Entrance Area-

"RUUUUUEL!"

"Heh, sounds like the girls found their uniforms," Ruel said with a nervous chuckle as the rage-filled scream rang out over the muffled fanfare. 'Oh boy, this idea was way funnier sounding in my head.'

"What did you do this time?" Naruto asked the old man dully, his face set in a complete deadpan that was shared by everyone but Dally, who just looked confused.

Most of them were still wearing their normal outfits, but with small additions such boost shoes, and/or strength gloves. Yugo had the number ten loosely stitched to his helmet, Ruel wore a fluffy looking helmet, and both Dally and Posho carried odd shields shaped like weird blocky faces. The only real noticeable difference was Naruto, who'd opted to go without his sage coat or his normal orang and black jacket and instead wore a plain black t-shirt that hung somewhat loosely.

Before said Enutrof could say anything in response to the whiskered blonde's question though, the answer came forth in the form of one extremely PO'd sadidan princess and a blank-faced cra marching up to the group. The reason for this was not hard to figure out as both of them were dressed in moderately revealing cheerleading outfits, completely with pom-poms and bunny-ear headbands.

Stomping right up to the elderly Enutrof, Amalia glared angrily and jabbed a finger into his chest with enough force to make him stumble back a few steps. "You dirty liar! You never planned to let Eva or me to play at all, did you?!"

"Erm, well, I'm sorry my dear Amalia but with Naruto as our secodnary receiver, Yugo our backup sprinter, me going as the main receiver, and Dally as a blocker we already have a full-*Thud* *Fwo-Thwap*-sweet mother of Enutrof!" Ruel started to say as sweat poured from his forehead, before squealing in pain when the greenette stomped her foot, causing a root to shoot straight up between his legs.

As the poor man fell over into a fetal position, Amalia grumbled angrily under her breath while stomping back over to where Eva was standing whilst the rest of the males instinctually covered their privates.

"Toot… explain… game plan… thank you." Ruel groaned out in a squeaky tone after a few moments of while continuing to rock back and forth in agony.

Sighing in exasperation, the floatie wearing Enutrof stepped up before the group and cleared his throat before speaking. "Alright, the plan is simple. Me, Ruel, Posho, Calbien, and Dally will go out on the field for the first quarter where we'll test out the waters and see just how good these Lamechester fellows really are. Play to win but don't go the extra mile yet if you don't need too because we'll still have three more quarters to go afterwards, got it?"

"Makes sense, can't waste all our strength at the start or we'll be to tired for the end boss." Dally said with a grin while everyone else just nodded.

"Exactly boyo, now if we do well we'll stay the course in the next quarter and see how it goes from there before strategizing further," Toot stated, once again getting a round of nods. "On the other hand, if we end up getting trampled then Naruto, I'll have you swap out with Ruel to even the odds but at the same time try to keep a clamp on your true speed if you can. The longer we can save that little trump card, the less time Lamechester will have to try and find a counter for it."

"Got it-Ttebayo." Said whiskered blonde said cheerily.

"And finally, Eva," During this whole conversation, Evangeline had an expression of bored resignation written all over her face. However, the moment the blonde heard her name, that look snapped to confusion as her attention shot up. "I want you to watch the enemy closely both on and off the field, keep a keen eye out for any funny business they might be up to or anything we can use to our advantage."

"Oh… uh… sure, you got it." She muttered somewhat unsurely, caught off guard by the fact she was given an actually task. She was honestly expecting something like-

"Oh, and don't forget to act girly."

'There it is.' Eva thought as her deadpan returned full force.

At the same time, a loud booming rang out, followed by muffled yelling.

"Alright, that's our que guys." An inexplicably recovered Ruel said as he popped up from the floor and pulled a previously unnoticed lever on the wall which then made the large pair of gates before the group to slowly grind open and thus revealing the arena.

The field was huge, with intricate colored circles laid out all over, the symbols for Team Real Gobbly set out on one half along with a shaded bench while the same for Lamechester United on the other. (Google Gobbowl Field for better description)

Similarly, the stands surrounding the field were divided up by team, with the mostly empty left side being for Real Gobbly, the almost overpacked right for Lamechester, and finally the middle sections being neutral.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen! Are you all ready for a fabulastical game of Gobbowl!?" A energetic and cheerful voice called out through several speakers threaded through the arena, connected to a watch-tower where a short redheaded man could just be seen. Upon his question, the whole stadium erupted into cheers. "Of course you are! So let's not waste any time and get right too it shall we!? Today is a competion for the right to move up to seventh precinct! On the defending team we have the underdog locals Real Gobbly!"

Once again cheers rang out while Ruel, Dally, Posho, Calbien, and Toot stepped onto the field, though not nearly in as great of volume as before and with a not so small amount of booing and jeering coming from the Lamechester side.

"Hey look guys!" Yugo yelled, pointing up at Real Gobbly's side of the stand as he, Amalia, Naruto, and Eva took up seats on their team's bench. "Check it out, Kabrok and Miranda are here!"

"Who?" Naruto asked with a raised brow while instinctually gazing towards where the boy was pointing to see an elderly Osmodian guy and a sensually dressed Ecaflip woman holding a Real Gobbly flag sitting together in the mostly empty stands, barely listening as the announcer did their team's introductions.

"Some people we met during our travels before we found you- *BWWAAAAAAAAM!* they were the ones who sold us the talking map," Amalia explained, pausing briefly when Kabrok pulled out an odd rubber duck and squeezed it, releasing a nearly defeating airhorn sound. "They specialize in magical knickknacks."

"Oh… neat." The blonde said with a nod.

"And now, for the ones you've all been waiting for! I give you folks LAMECHESTER UNITED!" Turning his attention back to the field, Naruto was just in time to see the opposing team walk onto the field.

"Starting off we have none other than Kriss Krass!" An athletically built Sacrier guy with deeply tanned skin, shaggy grey hair, and a heart tattoo on his chest pretended to punch the air with a lolling tongue grin. "He's a sly guy who's born to cheat, the leader of Lamechester United and their receiver!"

"Next up we have Monty 'Shot-blocker!" An overly buff Osmodian guys stood on all fours, acting like a rabid dog as he viciously chewed up a gobbowl ball. "A tuff guy for sure, but with a win loss record like his you have to wonder if he's the ball!"

"Jay the pitcher, otherwise known as 'the catapult'!" A tall and super muscular Iop posed dramatically as the crowd cheered. "Best watch out of he'll knock you clean out fo the arena with his patented catapult grapple!"

"Moving swiftly onto Jeremy!" Another Iop, only have as tall but still incredibly muscular, who broke a weird gobbal style axe over his knee. "Also known as the 'pedigree chump', he's known t ogo out of his way to knock out some of his opponents' teeth!"

"And lastly but definitely not least we have the return of Benji," A super short Enutrof with his face covered in a goggled mask ran onto the field at high speed, kicking up a cloud of dirt that quickly faded to show his face drawn in the grass. "The team's oldest player and their speedster!"

"Uuuuh… why are people throwing their underwear at him?" Naruto asked with a raised brow as he watched several women, and a few men, in the crowd took off their underpants and tossed it towards the still posing short speedster.

"They're just being a bunch of Iop-brains," Eva stated in a dry tone, waving her hand dismissively at her fellow blonde's question. "Don't think about it too much or it'll kill your IQ."

"Alright, if you say so." Naruto said while the two teams started to square off at the center of the field, Kriss and Ruel tossing a few stinging comments at each-other and the goalie, a short fellow riding on a gobbal, galloped out to stand between them with a gobbowl ball.

"Is everybody ready?" The goalie asked, hopping up into a standing position as he spoke. Getting just a set of silent nods from the team leaders, he grunted in understanding before suddenly lobbing the fluffy sphere straight into the air.

"And here we go!" Acting fast, Ruel and Kriss leapt after the ball in a bid to get to it first, which sadly for the former ended in failure as the latter was just a touch faster. Grabbign the ball with a grin, the Sacrier immediately started to line up a pass, only to pause briefly upon seeing the field.

The moment the ball went airborne, Real Gobbly had taken on a mixed offense/defense maneuver, with Posho and Calbien falling back towards their goal while Dally and Toot headed for left and right field respectively. Meanwhile, Lamechester went full offense, Monty and Jay charging left field and Jeremy and Benji taking right. In the end, both sides got mixed amounts of success, with poor Toot getting trampled in a blink by Jeremy leaving Posho and Calbien to intercept him and Benji while Dally met Monty and Jay mid-charge and despite the clear size difference was surprisingly able to stop them both cold.

"Straight to the action! No hesitation! No holdback! Such an ablolasticastatic display! That's the beauty of Gobbowl right there folks!" The announcer called out cheerily. "Lamechester has the ball but it seems Real Gobbly aren't letting them go with it, not without a fight at least!"

'Hmph, not bad for a bunch of old fools and a rookie,' Kriss thought, his gaze snapping around quickly to take in where everyone was before the grin on his lips widened as he focused back on Ruel who was right in front of him now with a hand reaching for the ball in his grasp. 'But still not good enough.'

"Gotch-huh?" Just a second before Ruel could swipe the ball, the Sacrier suddenly grabbed the old man's arm and used it as leverage to flip himself upside in midair. Then, not giving his opponent any time to react, Kriss chucked the gobbowl ball back towards Monty and Jay.

"Monty! Gobbal Rush!" Kriss yelled as he righted himself just in time to land perfectly in a crouch and burst into a sprint. Snapping his attention away from the deadlock he was in with Dally upon hearing his name called, Monty caught the ball with one hand and stuffed it into Jay's arms before grabbing the Iop with both arms and literally hurling the player into the air.

"My oh my! After a Gobbowltastic pass by Kriss, Monty has actually tossed his own teammate with the gobbowl ball! What could they be planning?!"

Right as the announcer asked this, Jay passed the ball over to Benji as the short Enutrof passed below him with Calbien right behind him while the Iop let gravity do its thing as he crashed back to the ground.

"Benji has the ball and is making his way to the goal! But Calbien's hot on his tail! Will he make it or-Uh-oh, looks like he's got even more company now!"

"Got'cha you little varmint!" Toot yelled as he cut off the sprinter's path and making a move to steal the ball, before grunting in surprise when the shorter man grabbed his face and vaulted right over him.

"Kriss!" Instead of continuing to run though, Benji spun on his heel the moment he touched earth again and tossed the ball towards his team leader as he was sprinting by. However, his aim was off by a few feet and he ended up sending it right to Ruel instead, who was noticeably surprised yet pleased by the sudden development.

"What!? Can it be!? Has Benji missed his mark!?"

"Alrighty boy, now we'll show you how… we… play…" Ruel started to say happily, only to end up trailing off midsentence when he noticed a growing shadow surrounding him, prompting to look up with a place just in time to see Jay, Kriss, and Monty descending on him with wicked grins. "Oh son of a-"

*THUD* *SMACK* *CRACK*

All of Team Real Gobbly winced as Ruel was dogpiled by the three plays, the impact kicking up a large cloud of dust while the sounds of pain grunts, war cries, and the familiar sound of fist hitting flesh rang out.

"Oh boy that's gotta hurt! Turns out it wasn't a mistake at all! It was all a trap set by Lamechester!"

"He sounds waaay to happy about that." Naruto muttered, giving the announcer booth an annoyed look before turning back to the field with concern on his face as Lamechester finally stopped their beatdown and an old Eniripsa woman floated out onto the field to treat his wounds.

"Welcome to the beauty of Gobbowl." Eva chipped in sarcastically.

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry for the cut-off but I'm a bit behind on my updates and I got a lot of stories to work on. That said, I do hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please review.