Disclaimer: See previous chapters

T. Riyanto - Wait no more.

airnaruto45 - None taken. It will be a slow change, but I am working on it.

SulliMike23 & airnaruto45 - The answer is in this chapter

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The next day, the team of three made their way down the stairs after resting in one of the many rooms of the palace. Despite the luxurious surroundings, the group was on guard. The introduction yesterday showed that there was more to this tournament beneath the surface; more so than what they had initially been told. Shang Tsung's sinister intent was no missed by any of them, so caution was a must. And as they made it to the exit and out onto the palace grounds where the ring of the first set of matches would begin, they kept a watchful eye on the spectators already assembled there.

"Get ready, everyone! Naruto Uzumaki is here and ready to rock this tournament!"

Her eyes wide with shock, Sakura whirled toward her loud teammate, ready to pound him into the ground for his loud announcement, but decided to hold back on the punishment, as much as he deserved it. With the anxiety she had been feeling lately, it was good to have some levity at the moment, even if the source was an obnoxious one that manage to get the attention of most of the people around the ring and embarrass her...

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" she half-yelled at him.

The young ninja grinned, seemingly oblivious to the gazes of the other participants. "I just couldn't help it. I feel totally pumped up for this."

"Well, I hope so." Kakashi replied. "Since you've probably just made us the target of everyone here now."

Naruto chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head as he did, while Sakura simply sighed and lowered her head. Saying nothing more, the team moved in toward the crowd, some of whom had now dismissed them and turned their attention back to the ring, seeing the first set of combatants enter the circle. Naruto frowned as he recognized one of the combatants.

"Hey, it's that guy!"

Indeed, it was the same man Naruto had bumped into when they had first arrived on the island. Gone was the fancy suit and tie, replaced with nothing but a pair of black fighting shorts, gloves and leg protectors. The black shades were still on his face, but as he stared at his opponent, he slowly removed them and hooked them to the back of his shorts. Not having noticed him when they first arrived, Sakura couldn't help but flush at seeing the man's strikingly handsome looks and well toned body.

"You okay, Sakura?"

"Yeah, sure." the kunoichi quickly replied, working to force down the blush that was on her face. Naruto frowned, figuring the reason why she was blushing until a call came out from within the crowd

"This ain't a movie, you faker!"

The two teens turn to see a group of men jeering and booing at the man from the side of the ring. "Yeah! Get out of the ring!"

"I'd listen to them if I were you, Cage." his opponent taunted further, an obvious friend of the others outside of the ring. "There are no stuntmen here for you to switch out to."

The man -Cage- narrowed his eyes, but didn't reply immediately to the taunts being thrown at him. Rather, he simply settled into his fighting stance. High above them in the balcony throne, Shang Tsung lifted a wrinkled hand toward the combatants and declared with a booming voice.

"Begin!"

The taunting opponent made the first move, rushing forward and shooting his fist out in a blur of motion. But the punch hit only dead air as Cage swiftly spun around and slid to the side of the man. With a surprised growl, the taunter wheeled about and lashed out with a heavy, but fast kick. Cage hopped back, but made no move to retaliate. The taunter launched a fury of punches at Cage, but they were all dodged and evaded. At the end of the last blow, Cage skipped back, keeping his stance ready.

"Why don't you fight me? I guess you really are all show and no substance."

Outside the ring, Naruto and Sakura continued to watch the fight, with differing thoughts. On Naruto's part, he was frowning with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was still upset at Cage for his insult back from when they first arrived. But he also didn't like it when it happened to others as well, especially by a group of people. And to add to the annoyance was the fact that Cage had yet to make a move. He had to do something aside from letting 'Big-Mouth' (a Naruto nickname) attack and run his mouth all over the place like that, at which he vocalized.

"Why doesn't he do something besides letting that guy run his mouth like that?"

"He is doing something."

Blinking, Naruto turned to his right to see a young man, dressed in a dark brown gi and wearing a white headband that drifted down his head, mixing in with the medium length of black hair. Although he was speaking to Naruto (and Sakura, who had just turned her attention to him), his gaze remained on the two combatants in the ring.

"He's toying with him." he continued. "You can see it in his eyes."

"Are you sure?" Naruto replied, turning back toward the ring. "Looks like he's just jumping around to me."

Looking back to the fight as well, Sakura mentally agreed with the stranger. While Naruto had said he was just jumping around, she knew all about the advantages of evasion. In her early training sessions, Tsunade had taught her that a medic-nin couldn't afford to get injured or hurt, as they were vital to a team on a mission. Therefore, being able to evade attacks was key and the sannin ruthlessly made sure that her apprentice learned it. But more than that, evasion led to counterattacks, strategies, discovering an opponents strengths/weakness and openings when a person used up their energy in attacking.

Case in point...

After a long period of failed attacks, 'Big-Mouth' finally managed to score a blow to Cage's chest, causing him to step back. The large fighter grinned and was about to mock him further, but paused when he saw Cage smirk at him and making a dusting motion to his chest.

"How did a clown like you ever get in this tournament?" he taunted. "My grandmother hits harder than that."

Enraged, 'Big-Mouth' prepared to unleash his fury on him. But his rage was cut short and down when Cage finally went on the offensive, rushing forward while the guy was still talking and landing a brutal three-hit punch combination to the guy's face that ended with an elbow to the guy's jaw. Staggering back, Big-Mouth let out a mumble of pain and from where she was, Sakura could see that his jaw was probably cracked, if not broken altogether. 'Serves him right for talking so much I guess.'

But Cage was far from finished as he pressed on, stabbing his foot into the guy's gut and then snapping it up into his face in quick succession. Naruto's eyes widened at the show and speed of attacks. It was definitely comparable with some of the taijutsu forms he had seen before, but there were few times he had witnessed it with such intensity. 'Bushy Brows would have loved this.'

Meanwhile, 'Big-Mouth' staggered back again, but still didn't fall. Cage gave the guy a mental nod, but that was quickly squashed by the need to end this. Rushing at the dazed guy once again, Cage suddenly kicked while he was midway across from him. Both Naruto and Sakura had to blink twice as Cage's body left a trail of afterimages behind him and his kick sailed on, smashing right into the guy's chest with such force and speed that it sent him flying out of the ring, right over the others who taunted him no less. From high in the throne, Shang Tsung could clearly see the defeated opponent and announced.

"Johnny Cage wins!"

Meanwhile, as the other taunters looked down in shock to see their defeated (and unconscious) comrade, Johnny Cage strode over to the edge, whipping out his shades and placing them on as he stared down at them all, smirking all the while.

"For the record, I do my own stunts."

Cheering resounded from the crowd around them and even Naruto wound up joining them for a bit (before remembering he didn't like the guy). Next to them, the young man finally turned his head to face them, looking at the two with a set of deep blue-purple eyes.

"See? You can't underestimate your opponent, not if want to have any hopes of getting through this tournament."

For a moment, Naruto was silent. For a moment, Sakura believed that the severity of their mission had finally sunk through into him. She felt a moment's worth of guilt for seeing his spirit dampen like that, even though she knew it had to be done. But then he just broke out a wide grin and confidently declared.

"Even so... I won't lose!"

Lowering her head, Sakura shook it slightly, moaning to herself. 'I really should have known better.' Watching the three briefly, Kakashi couldn't help but smile again beneath his mask. 'Still the same knucklehead.' The young man however, at seeing the shinobi's enthusiasm, returned the grin with a small one of his own.

"Not much gets you down, eh?"

Naruto simply scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, chuckling all the while. Their moment was cut short when a shadow came up from behind the stranger. Turning about, it was revealed to be one of the dark-cloaked shadow monks that had been seen around the island. The dark figure pointed at the stranger and then turned around and began walking away. Seeing this, the stranger turned back to the shinobi.

"Guess I better go. I wish you both the best of luck. Especially you, Naruto." He began to jog after the departing monk, but managed to turn about and call to them. "Oh, and my name's Tobias. Tobias Boon. But you can call me Toby."

Sakura waved at him. "Sakura Haruno. It's nice to meet you, Toby."

"And maybe we'll get to face each other, Naruto."

"Oh yeah. Believe it."

With that, Toby dashed away after the monk, leaving the team to themselves once again. Sakura smiled, feeling better at knowing that there was at least one friendly person here. True, it wouldn't (or at least, shouldn't) stop them from completing their mission, but at least there was someone there who was totally hostile to them. Naruto meanwhile, continued to grin as he made it a point to face this guy in the tournament.

"Man, now I really can't wait to start."

"While it's good that you're excited about competing..." Kakashi spoke suddenly. "...remember that we're on a mission here."

Sakura nodded in agreement and was about to add to the senior shinobi's words when her mouth suddenly froze and her eyes widened. Naruto blinked as he saw her eyes widening further and her mouth was now open in a silent gasp.

"Sakura? What's w-?"

Then he felt it. The presence of a strong aura coming from right behind him. Looking up, he saw that Kakashi's gaze was frozen as well, although it wasn't the outright shock that was on Sakura's face. As he turned about, he realized that the aura he was sensing was familiar. Too familiar. And true enough, the moment he turned toward the ring fully, his face shifted to match Sakura's.

In the ring, two new opponents faced each other. But the gaze of the ninja team was focused on one. Naruto forced himself to blink, hoping he wasn't seeing things. There, standing the ring was a young man with raven black hair, long bangs and a cool expression on his face. The clothing was different and a sword was strapped on his back, but there was no mistaking his identity.

Their comrade...

Their 'former' comrade...

"Sasuke..."

AN: This didn't come out to be as exciting as I wanted it, but I figure it would be best to start off slow and build momentum. At least that what I keep telling myself. But enough of my opinion. What's yours? ^_^