Chapter 015

It was during the stand-off the jinchuriki was able to take quick stock of their appearances as well as their abilities thus far. They both fought well in conjunction with the other, using speed, tenacity and coordination honed from years of experience. This made them a big threat. As for their outlooks, the one ahead of him was about half his body taller, same as the person backing them up. The two of them also wore dark shirts, trousers, sandals, gloves, and dark grey, figure-hugging body vests similar to an ANBU's. They also carried swords and had black fabric masks covering their faces, keeping their identities secret. The only way you could tell them apart was that one had short light brown hair and the other had shoulder-length dark brown hair, almost maroon in comparison to the other.

There was one other thing Naruto came to the awareness of.

The blonde blinked as he glared up at them. "You two are girls?" The way their shoulders twitched gave him his answer. He lowered his stance and glanced between them harshly. "Kunoichi, huh?. I guess I can safely say that you're not from this village either."

A light thump behind him followed by fast approaching footsteps cut Naruto short from his interrogation. Not a smart thing to do when in a fight but he wanted answers, and his little Q&A session didn't stop him from responding to the sneak attack, in which he back-flipped right over another masked kunoichi lunging at him from behind. He kicked off of the back of their head and sent them stumbling forward, allowing him to make a greater leap and land further away from the enemy.

When he did and set himself in a crouched position, he glared up to see all three enemy shinobi up on their feet and staring at him. It was kind of a creepy sight with all of them wearing masks where only their eyes were visible.

"A party of three, though I would have preferred one," Naruto grumbled, looking at the previous two before focusing on the newcomer, who had short silver and grey hair to match her mask. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing skulking around these woods?"

They were blunt questions sure, ones he knew he wasn't going to get answers to so easily but was still compelled to ask. It wasn't like he was getting defensive about 'his' territory exactly, the problem was much bigger than that. So, instead of bitching about the odds Naruto decided to step back a little for more space, noticing in that split instance the eyes of the silver haired kunoichi glance towards his pocket before looking back towards him.

It was thanks to that subtle lapse in attention that the blonde was able to discern what this team of enemy kunoichi was really after, which had him smirk deviously.

"So you're after the kunai? It must be pretty important for you to be trying to kill a scrappy young kid just to get your hands on it." He saw the trio flinch, which caused his smirk to unconsciously widen. "Too bad. I've got it and I ain't giving it back."

The woman with the silver hair grunted. "Stupid boy. Hand over the weapon and we'll let you go. If you don't, then we'll make you give it to us."

Naruto shook his head. "You know I hate it when people don't say the magic word. But as much as I'd like to talk about proper manners with you and stuff, I'd rather rip off those masks so I can get a good look at your faces!" Throwing his right hand up, he then tossed a pellet into the ground. The ball detonated and filled the air with a thick white smoke, blocking him completely from view.

The three kunoichi backed up a little in surprise and began scanning the area for any signs of movement. Since he was just one child against a squad of full-grown ninja he was either trying to make a break for it or was swinging around the side to get behind them, which had all of them on their toes and ready for pursuit.

But of course, while others with any level, straight-forward thinking would have normally ran for the hills when the odds were stacked against them, according to article one of the shinobi handbook the advantage always fell toward the combatant who could get the drop on their targets first, and that one in this instance just happened to be Naruto. With the kunoichis' attention so utterly focused on the areas of the woods further out, they didn't expect for the jinchuriki to suddenly come sprinting out of a nearby bush to the leader's right and nail one of the masked kunoichi right across the face, which he did.