Pick Your Battles...

Chapter 11 - Pick Your Battles...

"You've got to calm down teme." Batsu tried to tell Naruto as the two of them walked around Aohura City one day after school. As it usually had for the last week and a half, it fell on mostly deaf ears as Naruto continued stomping around, radiating an aura that kept people from choosing to get close. Even when passing the gangs in town they had refrained from making eye contact with him when they felt the underlying killing intent permeating from him.

He probably didn't even know that he was being that scary, which was weird because usually nobody was scared of Naruto, period.

"I'm calm." Naruto said in response, though this had to be the most blatant lie he had ever told. Even he was well aware of how bad it was because of how his temper was messing with him, "Can't I be mad about something? This is the second time Shadaloo did something to my friends like this. I get pissed off for real too."

Ever since the attack on his high school Naruto had been in a rather foul mood of sorts. It hadn't really started to manifest as anger until Ibuki had been taken back to her village for the duration of her recovery period. She would not be allowed to leave, and Naruto still didn't know where the village was, thus he and his friends couldn't visit her and find out how she was.

With no injured friend to focus on in a caring and empathetic manner that accentuated how powerless he felt to help during the actual incident that hurt her, he turned to the next best thing available to alleviate his internal tension; aggression.

"You're one guy." Batsu asserted as a point, "Shadaloo? That's an entire organization of criminals that you don't know a damn thing about. They're not even from Japan from what you told me, and JSDF can't go internationally so let Interpol handle it. Did you ever stop to think that we're just a bunch of kids? What the hell can we do in the end?"

"Well fuck Interpol, I'll say that much." Naruto bluntly replied aloud with a dry look on his face, "They didn't catch Vega after I fought him in a hospital and shot him across a main street in Tokyo through an office building, and those girls got away last week too without a peep after trying to kidnap the richest girl in Asia."

His friend had a point though. In the end they were just a couple of kids… even though one of those kids could buy a small country if she wished, another contained within him the power to end all existence in a slow-burning, chakra-induced Armageddon, and every last one of them could tear through an entire city of local tough guys in a day. Still his stance on law enforcement stood. If you want something done right you've got to do it yourself. Unfortunately for Naruto he didn't know how to do it right either so he had no room to talk, but he would not admit that aloud.

All Batsu could do was stand by as he watched his friend vent, clicking his tongue in a chiding manner, "Wow, you really are pissed. I've never seen you this mad about anything for this long before. But I guess trying to kill you twice and hurting your friends would do that to you."

A stiff nod came from Naruto as apparently Batsu was finally starting to see his point of view, "Damn right. Now let's go order the plane tickets already. Staying in Japan just sitting on my hands is making me crazy. It's time to get this show on the road." While Naruto had mostly outgrown his desire for adventure that had been stoked thoroughly after he was a fresh genin, he still couldn't help the little jolt in his chest that came with the thought of travelling the world.

Part of that could have been the anger though.

Oh well. He couldn't really complain in the end about anything that had happened to him really. This was the life he chose to live even as a kid. If he didn't want trouble and if he didn't want to put himself in mortal danger then he should have chosen to be a tailor or an accountant, something nice and safe. Pain and death were required to be endured during the life of a ninja.

The two kept walking through the streets, heading towards the nearest travel agency that they knew of to book themselves a rather long trip for themselves and two other people. Eventually though, they came along a building that got them to stop in their tracks and stare at the loud and flashy words emblazoned upon the glass windows that let them see inside clearly.

Hibiki Dan's Saikou-Ryuu Ultimate Dojo of Supremacy!

3395 yen per month and you too can be a finely honed machine of martial arts skill!

Branch no. 17

And as they looked inside, the place was filled with teens that seemed enthusiastic to be in there. They were all lined up doing punching drills under the watchful eye of Dan himself, pink gi and all. He seemed to know what he was doing as far as this went, but Kami help those poor students when or if he started teaching the 'worthy' ones ki techniques.

But really, both Naruto and Batsu were stunned at just what had fallen into their quaint little city, "He actually built a gym here?" Naruto said in a bit of disbelief, "And people actually go to it? How long has this been here?"

"Fuck that. That's not the important thing about it." Batsu interrupted before pointing at the small ID number underneath the gym, "This is gym number 17… so that means he has 16 other gyms somewhere else." The implications of this were staggering to Batsu, "That means he made enough money with 16other gyms somewhere else that he decided it was a good investment to make another one here."

That was terrifying. And in addition to that, every fiber of their being told them to just walk away and forget all about it.

Still, how could you just walk away from something like that? You didn't. And neither did they as both the blonde and dark-haired teens of the spiky variety ventured inside to get an in-depth look at just what that place was all about.

Upon entering, Naruto immediately received sight of something annoying. In the back of the dojo by the door they had entered through there were a few trophies that Dan had won, and behind them there was a blown up still-shot of him landing a very good punch on Naruto during their previous run-in in combat. The only good hit he landed in that fight.

'Why am I the one in the gigantic picture?' Naruto thought to himself before he heard Dan's voice from the front of the dojo where his students were with him.

"Well look who it is!" Dan stated, pointing towards the back where Naruto and Batsu were. All of his students followed his finger and sighted the two young men as well, "My greatest rival of all; the master of every dirty trick in the book himself, Uzumaki Naruto… and his friend."

Naruto just stuck up a middle finger in response while Batsu strangely enough didn't do anything, "You know, the fact that he doesn't know my name actually makes me feel better about this whole thing. Just a bit though." Batsu said with a grin.

However Dan wasn't through yet. He was just getting started on his tirade, "I see you've come to sabotage the opening of my newest gym. Well it's too late for that. I've had plenty of time to show my students that my teachings do equal success, so you can't turn them against me now!"

Naruto looked around at all of the students that were standing firmly behind their sensei and felt a bit out of place to say the least, "…Uh, I wasn't going to." What did he care if these guys wanted to pay Dan to teach them how to fight? It wasn't his problem… it wasn't really a problem at all. But they were all looking prepared to give him a beatdown, and that was a problem, "Can we leave?"

"Not until I prove my style is the strongest in the world." Dan chuckled, with a lot of his students laughing along with him.

"Oh… I get it." Batsu said, pounding his fist into the palm of his other hand, "They want to kick your ass." He explained to Naruto who already knew that much.

Looking around the room, Naruto shrugged and pointed around the room, "Okay, we can either fight one at a time, or all together!" He was looking for something to vent a bit on anyway. Someone trying to beat him up was perfect; it gave him an excuse to project some anger elsewhere.

XxX

(Thirty Minutes Later – Sakura's House)

"I feel way better now." Naruto said with a sigh as he sat on the couch in Sakura's living room. He got a hit to the head for his troubles that had been meant to scold more than to hurt, "They started it. And it was Hibiki Dan."

Sakura shook her head at him and plopped down on the sofa next to him, "You did 400 thousand yen worth of damage to that dojo Naruto." She said, fixing her eyes on the TV in front of them similar to the way Naruto had been, "You're lucky that a dojo has insurance for that kind of thing."

He probably gave Dan's dojo some good publicity, showing that his dojo was where all the action was once she thought about it. And again, it wasn't really his fault because Dan was the one that kept sending his students after Naruto and Batsu in waves like some kind of kung fu movie.

"Don't talk like I just walked in there and tore it apart all by myself." Replied Naruto before pointing off elsewhere in the house to wherever the bathroom was, "Batsu did some of that too. Why do you think he's in your bathroom washing blood off of his hands and uniform right now?"

Letting out a groan, Sakura covered her face with a couch pillow before shoving it in Naruto's face, "You two didn't even set up the trip to leave did you? You completely forgot what you told me you were going to do after school! And now it's closed!" She complained as she tried to get him to eat the couch pillow, "I knew I should have gone with you, but nooooo. You were all like, 'I'm not ten years old Sakura-chan. Me and Batsu can get tickets Sakura-chan. This is my trip, I should be the one to handle all of this stuff Sakura-chan.'" She finished, trying to lower her voice to mimic Naruto's way of speaking.

Sputtering once he was finally able to garner enough room to breathe again, Naruto managed to fight back in his own way via getting his hands in Sakura's face to push her back, "Damn it Sakura-chan…" He grit out as the two shoved each other's faces competitively, "I know what I'm doing. I can book a traveling trip, I'm not stu-. Ow!" Naruto exclaimed when Sakura bit his fingers after they got too close to her mouth.

The two continued to scuffle until they fell off of the couch with a resounding thud onto the floor where neither of them let up, as Sakura had landed upright on Naruto and wasn't about to let him go so easily. As a countermeasure, Naruto quickly stuck his own finger in his mouth before jamming it in Sakura's ear, getting her to recoil and put some distance between him.

A grinning Naruto leaned up and smacked Sakura across the face with the pillow she had earlier been trying to teach him a lesson with. She almost looked shocked at first before she switched to glaring at him, her short brown hair all sorts of messed up from their scuffle, "I'm going to give you a chance to apologize for that." And in response, Naruto hit her in a similarly hard manner with the pillow thrice more.

Sakura then proceeded to tackle him again and began the disturbance anew.

This continued for several minutes until Batsu made it out of the bathroom, fretting because his mom was going to let him have it for getting into fights with people in public again and messing up his uniform to boot.

He returned to the living room to see the bout between Naruto and Sakura having degenerated to a point where Sakura had trapped Naruto's head between the couch and the wall. With her knees pinning his arms to the ground in a manner similar to the way she had when they had fought during the tournament she hovered over him and threatened him with a dangling spit instead of punches this time.

Batsu walked over to another chair in the room where he saw Sakura's little brother, a younger boy with messy brown hair wearing a soccer uniform as he sat and watched his sister and her friend fight in his house, calmly sipping at his juice box the entire time, "Who you got your money on kid?" Batsu asked, leaning against the chair as it had the best view of what was going on, "I think teme just ups and quits in about ten seconds."

As if responding to his comment, Naruto desperately wiggled underneath Sakura, "Come on, get off already!"

"Oh you are so lucky I drank milk today." Sakura replied carefully so as not to end the torture, refusing to acquiesce to Naruto's demand.

Sakura's little brother Tsukushi just waited a moment as he took another sip from his juice box, "Nah. They've done this like a million times since I was five. This happened like six times before. Watch. Naruto's about to do something to get back up before it's too late." Twenty seconds passed and this didn't occur, "…I think." He then chose to call out to Naruto who was losing in his eyes. That just wouldn't do, he wanted Naruto to win, "Hey Naruto, from the way you're stuck there you'd think you actually like Sakura sitting on your chest!"

The comment from the peanut gallery that consisted of Sakura's nine year old little brother got her to freeze and stiffen up in embarrassment as Batsu laughed at the way that sounded coming from the kid who seemed confused as to why that was funny.

A ring of the doorbell attracted attention as Sakura saw that as a good enough reason as any to get off of Naruto without anymore awkwardness, allowing Naruto to sit up and crack his neck after having it stuck at an angle for quite a while, "I didn't quit and she didn't spit on me so I didn't lose."

Batsu snickered and shook his head, "No that's not why. You didn't lose because you got to see up Sakura's-." He stopped when he ducked a punch from Naruto and circled away from him, "Oi!"

Tsukushi rolled his eyes and got up from his seat, walking past Naruto and thunking him in the side as he moved by him to go upstairs to his room, "Why didn't you fight like that when you were wrestling with Sakura. Letting a girl pin you like that… it's embarrassing Naruto." The concept of play-fighting apparently didn't mean much to that kid.

"You won't be thinking that in like three years." Naruto muttered to himself before watching Sakura walk back into the room, "Who's at the door?"

Sakura's face was in a monotone expression as she stared Naruto down and blinked a few times for added effect, "That was Shibazaki. Apparently since you can't be counted on to get tickets without starting World War III in town, Karin handled the travel arrangements for us."

"Cool."

"No… not cool. That means we owe her now."

"Not really. I saved her ass last week so if anything we're even now."

XxX

(A Few Days Later – East China Sea – Onboard the Queen of Victory)

As they had been travelling north away from Aohura City to the shore in order to board Karin's directed method of transportation to begin the trip, Sakura was about to complain about how since Karin was dictating the travelling things would be bothersome.

Hell, if they were using a method of travel like hers to reach the mainland she could be as bothersome as she wanted to be as far as Naruto was concerned.

A gigantic giga yacht, the 'Queen of Victory' was actually the same yacht that Karin had used during a day trip sailing about with Naruto as her bodyguard. It was how they planned to travel to their first foreign destination. It sure beat the hell out of a plane ride that was for sure. A spacious yacht was way more fun than a cramped plane first of all, even if it would take a bit longer.

The damn thing even had a helipad with an actual helicopter on it and a submarine attached as well as other smaller speed boats to boot. It was like the ultimate hotel on water with all of the live-in servants and crew running the vessel on the Kanzuki payroll.

But at the moment, Naruto wasn't choosing to indulge in the luxuries onboard. There would be plenty of time for that later. For now he had to work on getting stronger, to deal with what was more than likely to come soon.

The blonde girl he fought inside of his school almost two weeks ago was very strong despite his feelings that he would have won had they continued to fight, but she was merely an operative. If Shadaloo still wanted a piece of him, or of Karin, they'd either send someone stronger to strike next time or bring more numbers.

Wearing his orange and baggy one-piece hooded fighting suit with the blue supply belt around his waist and sandals on his feet, Naruto sat at the rear deck by a very large pool, but his attention wasn't on swimming or needlessly tanning. Instead he sat cross-legged on the deck facing out towards the ocean with his eyes closed, 'Okay, give it to me straight fox. How strong am I?'

He'd been wondering this for quite some time. It had been eating at him for years, but he kept refusing to think about it. It had never been an issue, of how strong he was. There was no Akatsuki here, there was no one to protect here. All that mattered was that he had the ability to help himself, and he felt that he had cultivated that ability and had grown steadily as a ninja, creating several new techniques all on his own and getting faster and stronger with no end in sight.

He had yet to be thoroughly outclassed in battle. If he found something wrong with the way he had handled an opponent he simply went back and solved it. At first the stronger ki manipulating fighters in Aohura City could give him fits but that was only at first when he started living in Japan.

Now of the Aohura City-based fighters only Batsu, Karin, and Sakura had progressed enough to the point that they were still able to run up against him. The only ones with ambition to improve beyond what they had as natural ability. Along with them, Ibuki was another person that Naruto had deemed very strong, someone he could trust his life to when it came down to it.

But Ibuki was down and hurt now, and it wasn't just a matter of training to get by easier until he could find his way back to his world. Now he had a friend in dire straits due to criminals and the same criminals wished him dead for turning down their invitation to join them. He wasn't strong enough to keep one friend safe when she needed him, well he couldn't let that happen again.

A rousing growl within Naruto's head let him know that his perpetual watcher was indeed paying attention and had heard his question, "What does it matter when you're not as strong as me?" The attempt to get under Naruto's skin at the slight at his abilities failed as it seemed Naruto was being dead serious, "I don't know. I don't know the strength of those in charge of the organization after you or your 'friend' so I can't tell you. Until we learn more, I can't give you a good opinion."

"Until 'we' learn more?" Naruto repeated a small grin climbing to his face as he did so, "Does that mean you're starting to see us as partners now?"

"Not. Even. Close. If you learn something that will mean that I'll learn it too since I'm here stupid… unless I find what you're doing to be too boring and I fall asleep. For the most part your life has a tendency to be very boring to me. This goes for back in the Elemental Nations as well."

Kyuubi had a point though. The world was very big, and Naruto had only been in Japan thus far. He was about to enter the proverbial uncharted waters as he started moving between countries. Who knew what or who he would find out there?

"You must be quite bored if you find it entertaining to look out at the ocean Naruto-san. I apologize that my family's yacht is not as entertaining as you had hoped it would be this time around."

Naruto's attention was brought away from his internal conversation back to the real world as he turned around and saw Karin submerged up to her neck in the spacious pool that he had chosen to take a moment of personal inflection by, "No, I'm not bored." Naruto responded, scooting towards the edge of the pool where he continued to sit cross-legged as Karin swam towards him, "I'm training." He asserted, leaning forward to get a bit closer without falling in.

"Training usually involves getting up and moving just so you know." Karin replied with a smirk as she continued to keep herself upright in the water, "I chose to spoke to you after fifteen minutes of swimming and watching you do nothing. Are you seriously telling me that you failed to notice me here for that long?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow on her delicately soaked features.

Well that was embarrassing, and Ishizaki was there as well, holding a towel and refreshments for when she chose to get out of the pool. Had it really been fifteen minutes? At times when he spoke to the Kyuubi it seemed like a second hadn't even passed and at other times he lost track of time altogether like right then.

But in order to save face he needed an excuse and he actually had one handy that wasn't 100% fabrication, "Well I guess it's because I don't sense any killing intent from you. You and Ishizaki never want to hurt me I guess." Shibazaki on the other hand, he could feel the skinny steward of the Kanzuki heiress coming from a mile away sometimes. Luckily the man was not on this trip or it would have gotten annoying.

"Of course I don't wish to hurt you." It sounded as if Karin was almost offended at Naruto's apparent observation of her behavior, "No matter how things appear between you and I or between myself and the others I don't wish harm upon you. You've done nothing to me to warrant such. You have always been a respectable… friend. And I appreciate this."

Appreciated what? The trip? There wasn't much to appreciate from her end towards Naruto anyway, "Why? I didn't do anything. You're the one that's working everything out. This is your yacht, and if we have to travel somewhere further than the yacht can take us fast enough you said we'd be using your family's jet. If anything I should be the one saying that."

And there Naruto went again, not accepting thanks for doing something for a friend. While it was pretty noble, it could get annoying at times when one actually wished to thank someone like that, "You righteous fool." Karin stated as she reached towards the ledge of the pool and began to climb out by Naruto, "Do you really believe the travel arrangements are a problem for me? I could fund thousands and thousands of trips around the entire world, not just what we're doing now."

Naruto didn't answer at first, choosing to burn the sight of Karin's well sculpted sixteen year old body and her very flattering black bikini with the gold rings holding it closed in strategic areas into his mind. If she did indeed happen to be the living incarnation of the devil's seed in human form as he often joked aloud then he had to say that if nothing else the devil looked good. The devil looked damn good. It took every bit of willpower he had to try and refrain from ogling her enough to estimate her measurements.

Having much to her delight aptly stunned him into silence with her beauty, Karin carried on with the point she was previously trying to make, "The thing that I appreciate is that you have chosen to aid me with my family's problem. Honestly, if I were to even locate anything to do with Shadaloo I would be very hard-pressed to do anything about them on my own. The ability to gather information is useless without possessing what is necessary to act upon it." She said as she began to dry herself with a towel from Ishizaki, "I never even discussed what I would pay you for this."

"I don't want money for this." Naruto opposed with a frown on his face, "This is actually important. It isn't some small crap like what you've been paying me for. It actually involves someone getting hurt and lives getting ruined."

It wasn't even just for Karin really even though he probably would have felt the same way if it were. The thing about it was that the businesses that Karin's father owned actually rounded out to millions of employees. If that empire was wrecked entirely like the one business in Tokyo was just because Shadaloo wanted an exorbitant, unreasonable amount of their money for funding then too many people would lose their jobs from it whether they paid or not.

Not to mention the fact that he wasn't about to let a group of criminals start targeting him again. This time he didn't have Jiraiya to watch over him and save his ass, he had to do it himself, which meant he would be handling his own problem directly come hell or high water.

Karin made a sound of contemplation at Naruto's reasoning as she dried herself off, "You really are an interesting person Naruto-san. And you're certain that your loyalty to me is not merely because I am your benefactor?" There was a teasing tone to the statement made by the prim blonde and there was a mischievous glint in her eye as she did so.

"Nope." Naruto replied with a wide grin. He was catching on to the development of a bit of banter between them, but he still had no idea where it was actually going, "You being my vain, prissy boss lady doesn't have anything to do with it."

"I see." With a thoughtful tone, Karin handed her towel back to Ishizaki before she turned to the man and took the prepared drink from him that had been presented on a tray, "Ishizaki, call Shibazaki and make sure he knows that Naruto-san is to be marked down as number 3859."

A confused expression crossed Naruto's face at his new identification as a seemingly random number, "What?" He asked, tilting his head to the side, "Number 3859 of what?"

"Of the world's gentlemen I have managed to charm." Karin stated as if it were obvious, ignoring the stunned look on Naruto's face, "Your actions both qualify you as a sort of gentleman and shows that you've clearly fallen for me. Do not try to refute it. Your words will only prove that you are in denial." The matter-of-fact method of speaking she used showed that she actually believed this to be fact.

Naruto's stunned look turned into one of general apathy as Karin calmly sipped at her beverage with an air of victory surrounding her, "Okay I won't say anything." He then used one hand to shove her right back into the pool, drink and all, eliciting a yelp of surprise from the girl, "Actions speak louder than words anyway, dattebayo."

As the triumphant ninja-for-hire started to walk the length of the pool to head back inside before Karin got out and perhaps started to chase him (He didn't know what she would do if she were actually angry), she resurfaced, sputtering before slapping the water at Naruto to try and splash him. This only got him to laugh as he started to run away.

Once again she climbed out of the pool, glaring at the path Naruto had taken to run away as if she could will it to burst into flames with enough willpower as Ishizaki gave her a fresh towel to dry herself with once more, "Ishizaki… please have the cooks strike the choice of ramen from the menu for the remainder of our trip."

XxX

(Two Days Later – Hong Kong Interpol HQ)

Inside of a busy office with many cubicles and multiple agents working on their own cases at their desks one particular young woman sat at her own, leaning forward with one hand in her cheek as her other hand steadily tapped a solid piece of metal on the surface of her table.

She wore a blue unitard with yellow lines going down the sides that did next to nothing to hide her beautiful figure, as well as yellow and blue athletic shoes, studded wristbands, and a yellow embroidered blue vest over the upper body of the unitard. Her hair was brown and done up in a pair of 'ox-horns', a pair of buns on both sides of her head held with two yellow ribbons.

Her brown eyes were locked firmly on the piece of metal in her hand, ceasing to tap it on the desk in order to look at it intently. It was a small bronze pair of wings with a skull in the middle that had a lightning bolt on its forehead; Shadaloo's insignia.

She let out a sigh just as a series of files were dropped on her desk along with a flash drive. Turning around to the agent that delivered these things to her they just shrugged in response to her raised eyebrow, "Don't blame me. This is supposed to be your investigation, well you have to see everything that goes with it."

Great, more paperwork.

With a pointed look, she took the flash drive and stuck it into her desktop computer, turning back around in her chair, "This is maddening." The woman said to her fellow agent who by now had leaned against the edge of her cubicle to make a bit of conversation, "It's been two years and I don't feel like I've gotten any closer to bringing that bastard down yet."

"No one knows where Shadaloo operates out of." The agent said, "That's why this is so difficult. They don't focus themselves in one particular area. It's like they have a finger in some part of every relevant country's military. Probably ours too. You're killing yourself over this whole thing, it's not healthy you know."

"Neither is letting a drug dealing, genocidal megalomaniac have his run of the world."

"It's enough to drive you to drinking isn't it Chun-Li?"

The woman's lips quirked upwards slightly in response, "Absolutely." With that she decided that there wasn't anything else going on while she waited for that AWOL U.S. Air Force lieutenant to show himself to her to help out, thus she was on her own for the time being and didn't want to be the one that brought nothing to their eventual meeting. Maybe there would be something in here that would lead to more than just a wild goose chase this time, "Alright, thanks. I've got to get to work on this."

"Good luck." The man said as he walked off to get to his own neglected workload.

Chun-Li started perusing through the files on her desk with the first paper being a copy of a passport for one Uzumaki Naruto; a blonde haired, blue eyed teenager from Japan, 'He's just a kid. What in the world does this have to do with anything?' As she waited for the computer to finish scanning the flash drive for viruses and to finish installing what was needed to recognize it she kept going through the file.

No relatives, guardians, or licensed/legal accounted for means of support.

No background prior to four years ago.

A rather well known mercenary throughout much of southern Japan, though usually affiliated with the Kanzuki Zaibatsu running odd jobs for their heiress.

Not to mention eyewitness reports of his strange abilities in combat along with some oppressive energy originating from his body. There was something very familiar to Chun-Li about that, and not in a good way either.

He had even taken part in a destructive episode outside of a Tokyo hospital with another noted yet unproven Shadaloo associate in Vega after a tournament in which yet another Shadaloo enforcer, Balrog, had fought in. His high school had been attacked two weeks ago in a calculated effort to kidnap the daughter of Daikenjuro Kanzuki, the Kanzuki Zaibatsu's head, and while he was not listed as a suspect for the attempted kidnapping of the girl Karin it was still something to look at.

These things didn't mean much as far as any sort of guilt or association went, but it was also too suspicious to ignore when there were no other leads at all to partake in. The nose of her investigation had been left out in the cold for too long for her to not even give this a try.

And he was in the country as of two hours ago, hence the copy of his passport being sent to her by whoever minded the fence about this sort of thing. Anything Shadaloo-related in any way was sent to her since anything could help. And once the flash drive finished installing on her computer she bore witness to a recording of the end of Naruto's battle against Sakura during a tournament match in Japan, 'That power…'

With that, she stood up and decided to try and pay this boy a visit. His means of entering Hong Kong were also listed, being by a yacht that was docked in the southern harbor so she'd start by heading in that direction.

XxX

(Sundown – Elsewhere in Hong Kong – Southern District – Aberdeen Square)

The first and most important thing to Naruto at the moment was to find his clues on anything that could return him home. The thing about it though, was that he didn't know the first place to look. How could he? And whenever he needed to find out anything in the past in large places like Tokyo or Hong Kong there was only one thing to do.

Hop on down to the most hustling, bustling place he could find and put his ear straight to the ground to listen for any inkling of info he could find. In his experience, the more farfetched and outlandish something seemed the more likely it was to be true if someone had the gall to say it out loud.

After they had been cleared to enter the city from the place where the yacht had docked, Naruto had wasted no time in making his way to the largest shopping area he could find in the area.

All he needed was to get his foot in the door of the underground somehow, and to do that he didn't need any of his friends around. They all would have just been out of place and that wouldn't have helped him at all. He was sure he'd get an earful from everyone when he showed back up though; the reason being that he for all intents and purposes ditched them after the plan of action was deemed to be that they would wait until first light tomorrow to begin exploring Hong Kong.

Yeah, he wasn't into that plan of action. What kind of shady information would he ever get walking around in broad daylight with two girls that insisted on wearing their schoolgirl uniforms even while out on this trip? Not the kind of shady information he was hoping for, that was for sure… especially on something as weird as what he was endeavoring to find.

He might have been able to pull it off with Batsu, but Batsu's complete lack of knowledge on the clandestine activities of the underworld would have negated any minor street punk advantage that bringing him along would have held.

So flying solo, at least during this try, was the approved method of action in Naruto's book of operating.

Everything he tried though was for naught. He went to the most back-alley, creepiest places that sold arcane artifacts or traded in the black magics of the region just trying to pick up some sort of trail. After the sun started setting and many places started closing he was just about to give up for the day. He would try one more time when night fell, if there was any place open after dark he'd start there, but he wasn't holding out hope here.

But since he was getting bored just hanging out by one of the large ornate gates leading into the shopping center maybe he'd go look for a ramen stand in the meantime. There had to be one in a place as big as Hong Kong right? Damn Karin, she hit him right in the stomach for shoving her into the pool a few days ago… literally.

Patting his stomach that he mentally apologized to for depriving it of the greatest food in the world for something he thought was funny, he noticed the presence of a woman he didn't know walking up to him to lean against one of the pillars of the gate nearby him.

She was well aware of the fact that he was wary of her company, and that went right along with the fact that he was a dead ringer for the kid she was supposed to be looking for. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and an orange outfit that a local wouldn't wear; check, check, and check.

On the other hand, Naruto felt that this woman was a fighter of some sort. She had to be, with thighs that muscular that were clearly visible in the clothes she chose to wear. The question was though, what did she want?

Deciding not to beat around the bush with him any longer, Chun-Li walked towards him and held up a badge, "Naruto Uzumaki? I'd like you to come with me. I think you've got some things that I want to know." She barely finished her question before Naruto took off running. She watched for a moment in shock as he ran into the square before she let out a grunt, "Damn… I scared him. Well I didn't really play that one cool."

In her defense she didn't think he spoke very good Mandarin if any at all which was why she spoke slowly and deliberately to get her words across, he was just a kid four years younger than her after all. Well she was wrong. He could speak it. He was better at it than he ever thought he was.

Naruto was weaving through the people in the crowd finishing up their shopping or leaving to head home after their shifts at work, not turning around to face the woman that had tried to 'question' him. For someone like him a strange, powerful-looking woman in a foreign country that wished to bring him in for questioning could not equal anything good. He wasn't about to wind up tied to a chair in a basement somewhere being tormented for info he didn't have for anyone.

Turning his head, he let out a panicked gasp when he saw that the woman was keeping up with him. Was she that fast? No way. Well it didn't matter because a street was coming with busy traffic and they weren't going to suddenly stop for a pedestrian running out without any warning. That was cool with him. He had the right of way no matter what, stop for him or not.

Naruto started preparing to cross the road by jumping up onto a low hanging streetlight that allowed him to begin skipping and running on the power lines until he was able to use that height to launch himself clear across the street, landing across it and over a chain-link fence cleanly.

He looked back to make sure he lost his pursuer and was treated to the sight of her jumping off of the roofs of the moving cars with light-as-a-feather touches, as if her toes were barely touching them. This culminated with her jumping and landing on the gate he had just cleared, as if she were a cat without any effort spent at all, "You done running yet?" Chun-Li asked Naruto with a stern look on her face that showed she wasn't chasing him for fun.

Naruto had been thinking of a snippy response as he placed his fingers in the form of his cross hand-seal but held his tongue when he realized that just making clones to cover his escape wouldn't do anything. He was in an alley and any halfway decent combatant could dust his clones as they tried to hold her back and cover his own escape. It was a narrow alleyway and she could just cut a path through them if she was really good. It happened more than he banked on.

No, he needed her eyes off of him and then he'd get away clean, so he'd have to keep running and then he'd Henge himself to escape, "I'm not going anywhere with anybody I don't know lady."

Rolling her eyes, Chun-Li reached into her vest and pulled out her credentials to show Naruto, "My name is Chun-Li, I'm an agent of Interpol. Is that enough to get you to come with me or not?"

For a moment, Naruto was about to say yes and go with her, but at the last second he just narrowed his eyes at her, "No…" He stated flatly. He wasn't going anywhere even if she was Interpol, "I didn't do anything. Go catch a real criminal."

"I'm trying to if you'd just come with me." Stupid brat. Why did kids like him have to be so difficult about everything, "Come on kid. Come with me and tell me everything you know about Shadaloo. I know you've had some dealings with them."

Dealings? So this chick thought he was in with those clods? That was an insult to his character if Naruto ever heard one, and he was not about to let that one slide, "Oh that's all you want?" He said in a dangerously edged voice, "Okay, I'll tell you something. I'll tell you that you're wasting my damn time chasing me down over this. I'll tell you that you can't find Shadaloo because Interpol can't find their own ass with both hands and a map. Is that good enough or do you want any more?"

Chun-Li bristled at Naruto's barbed remarks at her investigative agency but quickly calmed herself down. He was just some punk with a smart mouth, "Okay then… this is why fighting ability is important after all." She said, punching into her other palm as she looked down at Naruto from her perch on the fence, "…Handcuffs and a badge can only get you so far."

"Is that a threat?"

"Are you going to keep being a little punk-ass?"

In a perfect world they wouldn't have fought.

In a perfect world Naruto would have been able to evenly regulate his completely understandable paranoia and allocate it correctly, thus bestowing some sort of trust and respect onto the international law enforcement figure in Chun-Li despite their short chase episode. The two of them would have put their heads together and would have found out that even then they still didn't know anything about Shadaloo, at which point they would exchange contact information and would thank each other for trying to help, promising to do so in the future if anything ever came up.

In a perfect world due to the fact that she had a file on him, Chun-Li would have been somewhat understanding of Naruto's lack of faith in law enforcement due to the fact that they were unable to do a single thing for him or his friends in the very recent past. The reason being that three of his associates not including himself nearly got killed by Shadaloo operatives with not a peep coming from Interpol or anyone even when Naruto managed to more or less gift wrap four of them on separate occasions. She would have worked to assuage this and eventually she would have managed to coax him into peacefully helping her.

Yeah… the world wasn't perfect.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Side-Streets of Aberdeen, Hong Kong)

Naruto's plan to investigate things on his own managed to backfire a bit.

Yes, he was able to slip away from the Queen of Victory easily enough for hours while everyone else was content with waiting until the next day to begin their exploration of the massive city. But once it was confirmed that he was indeed not on the ship and that he wasn't answering his phone it would be obvious that his friends would go and look for him.

Because Naruto by himself in Hong Kong spelled nothing but trouble if past experience everywhere else he had ever been was anything to go off of.

So now Sakura, Batsu, and Karin were searching for their wayward blonde compatriot before he wound up setting off some sort of international incident. As much as that sounded like a joke there was an entirely realistic possibility of that occurring and they all knew it.

Luckily for them, Naruto had an app in his phone that let another phone that was registered with his own track him GPS-style. It just so happened that Batsu had a compatible phone since they both bought the same model at the same time. So as long as Naruto's phone was on, and it was because every call rang a few times before going to voicemail, they could locate him and were in the midst of doing so right then.

"I'm going to pull Naruto's ear off dragging him back to the yacht when we find him." Sakura fumed slightly as Batsu led the way, pinpointing Naruto's location, "Maybe that'll jumpstart some brain cells. Who just leaves without telling anyone? That's dangerous." Although she did figure that Naruto never got the parental lecture to tell people where you were going before you left, so there was that to consider as well.

"Just calm down." Batsu said as he continued to lead the girls along in the direction of Naruto, "He isn't moving anywhere so unless he dropped his phone we're going to get to him soon. He's just a few blocks away." The phone then started beeping as Naruto's signal began to quickly move away from both where it had been and from them as well, "…And now he's moving. Damn it!"

A fast moving Naruto was an extremely hard to keep up with Naruto, especially when they didn't have eyes on him in the first place. So it was understandable when the lot of them groaned at having to chase Naruto down, "I think it would be prudent to return to the yacht and search for Naruto-san with the helicopter." Karin offered as a solution to their mobility problem.

"We don't have time for that. Naruto's fast. If he's running then by the time we get back to the yacht he could be who knows where." Sakura replied, looking over Batsu's shoulder at the phone where she could see the blip that represented Naruto moving sporadically in no particular direction, but it was rapid movement like a mouse in a maze, "What the heck is he doing?"

The sound of a chain jangling didn't really catch their attention until it got loud enough for the three of them to notice that there was a very large man standing directly behind them looking over not only their shoulders but their heads as well, "What are we all looking at brats?"

At the sound of the English accent along with the aforementioned language being spoken, all three of them turned around to see a massive, hulking black man with a black open leather vest, black leather pants, combat boots on his feet, a necklace, fingerless gloves with a ring on each of his fingers, and a blonde Mohawk that was sharp like a bird's beak with a structurally impossible hole in the middle of it. A tattoo of a red heart sat on the side of his head.

"You lot stick out like sore thumbs. Big ship, chary clothes…" The man said with a chuckle as Batsu, Sakura, and Karin hopped a decent distance away from him, eliciting a chuckle out of him, "And 'ere I thought you'd be bloomin' hard to find."

"Who the hell are you ya jackass?" Batsu spat, ready to give this man a beatdown if he was there to start trouble. Chances were good that this would be the case, but starting a fight with no reason wasn't the best course of action available, "Why are you looking for us?"

The large man laughed again before smirking at the trio of teens, "Name's Birdie. And the reason for me to be making your acquaintance this evening is for that little piece of talent right there." He said, gesturing towards Karin, "Your fam doesn't care about you that much if they let you come this far away from home do they?"

Well that was all Batsu needed to hear as he tightened his hands into fists and prepared to turn that guy's face into a Jackson Pollock painting no matter how big he was. He would have stepped forward too, but before he could, the last person either he or Sakura thought would choose to fight did just that, "What are you doing rich girl? I don't think you can pay this guy off."

"She might be able to." Birdie said to contradict him, "What's it gonna be girlie? Are you gonna make looking the other way worth ol' Birdie's while monetarily or are you coming with me so we can all give your family a ring and chat a bit over just what you're worth to 'em?"

Karin didn't say anything at first, just choosing to set herself into her Kanzuki-ryuu Kakutoujutsu fighting stance, "Sakura-san, Ichimonji-san, you two should try to find Naruto-san and figure out just what he is doing." She flipped her curls over her back to stay out of her face so that she could see properly without anything hampering her vision, "I will be more than enough to handle this myself."

While Sakura could say that she wasn't the biggest fan of her 'rival' Karin, she certainly didn't wish anything bad upon her. They were friends too, even if they didn't act like it at all. The sheer fact that they hadn't murdered each other yet attested to that, "Are you sure? I mean he's trying to kidnap you."

An airy laugh came from Karin at the mere thought of it, "Do you really think that I would be that easy for one person to kidnap all on their own? No matter how much of a vulgar hulking brute they may be. So go. Naruto-san may require assistance. I on the other hand do not."

Still looking concerned to leave Karin alone, Sakura had her arm grabbed by Batsu who took off running in the direction that Naruto's signal was coming from, "Come on Sakura, you heard the princess. She's got this covered."

The footsteps of her allies from Aohura City got fainter and fainter as Karin still stood facing down Birdie with not a hint of worry in her eyes as they stood underneath the dull streetlights.

"Well it's just as well." Birdie stated flippantly at Sakura and Batsu leaving, "Bison didn't want the other brats anyway, just you. And I think it right adorable that you think you can give me a run for me money you little totty."

Ah, Bison. Naruto told her that was the name of the man trying to put the squeeze on her family and their holdings, "Your boss only sent you for me?" Karin said, feigning fear before laughing it off, "Either you're very strong, or he doesn't value you very much. I guess the only way to find out is simply to fight you then."

Birdie merely gestured for her to bring it before preemptively lashing out to grab her with one hand and put an end to this early. However she was not some normal teenage girl, nor was she some greener-than-grass amateur martial artist as she side-stepped him without a bit of wasted motion, so fast that he had hardly seen her move, "Wha?"

"I certainly hope that's not as fast as you can go." Karin taunted, posing somewhat with her hands on her hips as she stood mere inches beside the massive arm that Birdie was going to grab her with, "Come on, put some effort into it. If you wish to hug me you've got to be quicker than that."

Growling at Karin's insolence, Birdie pulled his arm back and punched at Karin, missing her again as she wasn't even trying to dodge him. She feigned a yawn this time however, "You posh little twat!" He shouted angrily as he started rapidly punching at her as fast as he could. To a normal person it would have been a requiem for a cracked skull and a caved-in sternum from the speed and power behind them, but to Karin it was like someone moving through molasses, "Hold still!"

"Ressen Chou!"

Birdie stumbled back, holding his stomach with one hand as Karin still stood in her stance from where she had driven a stiff elbow right into his belly. He hadn't even seen her move, it was like she had been a ghost and it felt like he had taken a hit from a beanbag shotgun... at least three times in succession.

Karin got right back into her basic stance, her sharp brown eyes centered right on Birdie as he tried to get his wind back, "You may be very strong, but power without technique or speed does nothing. I can see your moves before you make them and I can counter you in three different ways before I'm ever in danger." She shut her eyes in thought to her last defeat, "The man I'm training to overcome… he is fast, he is strong, and he knows how to fight against anyone. And he's only getting better. That means I must as well."

"Well you can call him and cry to him to save you once I kidnap you!" Birdie shouted, unwrapping a chain from his other hand. He was told not to injure Karin too badly, well he had to beat her up a bit if he wanted to bring her in. Bison could just deal with it if he didn't like it, "Bandit Chain!" He slung his chain directly out at her neck to grab hold of it.

Karin grit her teeth angrily and dodged the weapon intended to choke the life out of her before rushing forward, "There's a reason my father allowed me to come on this trip without a veritable army of mercenaries to protect me. Guren Ken (Crimson Lotus Fist)!"

With a hand glowing with ki she rapidly punched Birdie in the stomach with one arm like a jackhammer until he doubled over spitting blood and saliva from his mouth. She then ended things with a fanning kick that popped him up into the air and allowed her to strike him down with a spiking side-elbow strike that sent him face-first into a brick wall hard enough to crack it.

There were cries of alarm from the people that had been giving the scary-looking Birdie a wide berth to do what he wished, whatever it may have been, to the three teens. Karin merely dusted her hands off and walked over to Birdie who had flaked off of the wall and had fallen to the ground, face up and staring at the sky.

Karin kneeled down by him and grabbed him by his hair, messing up his Mohawk and eliciting a groan of agony from him, "The reason my father allowed me to go on this trip with no one to protect me… is because they would only get in my way. Now…" She started dragging him off by his hair much to the shock of everyone watching this teenage girl haul Birdie off to who knew where as if he were nothing, "You and I are going to have a nice little talk about just who sent you to retrieve me."

XxX

(With Naruto)

The reason that Naruto had started rapidly moving away from where his friends had felt his signal was quite simple; his fight with Chun-Li was not a stationary battle. It couldn't be. She was too fast for him to stay in one place to try and bash her around.

He had dodged several kicks that he would swear up and down the backwind of them could have torn someone's pancreas out. The durable blonde ninja had actually taken one that had hit solid and had jettisoned him into the side of a car, denting it with his entire frame… and hitting the metal car wasn't even the most painful part of it, the kick was still the worst part of it by far. A rib-rattler if he had ever taken one.

Apparently those shapely legs of hers weren't just for show, as they possessed some serious power as well as versatility in their use behind them if she had the control to jump off of the roofs of moving cars as if they were stepping stones on a river. That by itself was impressive because he wouldn't have tried it, hence why he elevated and jumped the entire street in one go.

Neither of them had been able to hit the other cleanly since then, both being very wary of the other's potential to attack, and the fight had become a battle of maneuvering that had travelled to what had at first seemed like a flat, open area, perfect for a showdown.

Until Naruto realized that it was in fact one of those dry fountains that had many grated openings in the ground where water would be shot up in the air randomly. Maybe he should have been tipped off by the fact that it was well lit. Well wasn't that just peachy.

"You're pretty good." Chun-Li commented on Naruto's fighting, "I mean your technique is completely formless, but that's not really an insult. It's hard to anticipate your moves at all when you attack." She said as she took a few deep breaths. Keeping up with this speedy little punk was a workout all on its own. He seemed to enjoy running away from her and making her follow him to change the terrain of the battle to suit his fancy.

A grinning Naruto returned her compliment in kind, "You're strong too. I didn't think there were cops out there that were good at fighting like this without a weapon."

Chun-Li grinned right back at him, "I like bringing my perps in alive and in one piece. That's kind of hard to do if your go-to move is always to pull a gun on them." As they spoke the geyser-like fountain erupted around then in random areas, "I've got to be strong enough to bring armed criminals down easily. Most of them are stupider than you'd hope for."

"Well you aren't bringing me in anywhere without one hell of a fight first." Naruto asserted just as a geyser blast came between him and Chun-Li. By the time it stopped three seconds later, Naruto was gone from her sight.

Her eyes widened at the subterfuge and she looked up to see a dozen Narutos falling from the sky altogether around her. The first one tried a falling punch that she stepped out of the way of before kicking it in the head and that gave way to others coming at her in their own way. It was definitely weird, but Chun-Li had to keep her wits about her lest she find herself overwhelmed. She could ask questions later once she dragged him back to HQ and threw him into interrogation.

At the moment, Naruto's clones were doing two things at once, trying to corner her, and avoiding the blasts of the fountain that had enough power to dispel them. This made them easier targets for Chun-Li to take her time with and take down. There was no rush.

Eventually, Naruto's remaining seven clones caught on to the game and stopped pursuing her. It was clear that she wasn't going to run away, and just chasing her put them at more of a disadvantage than she was.

Chun-Li almost pouted when the multiple Naruto doppelgangers stopped coming forward and instead sat back waiting for her to make a move they could capitalize on. She almost pouted, because she had a move she could still make, "Kikoken (Spirit Energy Strike)!" Using both hands outstretched in front of her like a push, she fired a yellow ball of energy with a wispy blue aura around it.

It was like a cannon shot it was so fast, and one of Naruto's clones were destroyed. A smirk came over the female Interpol officer's face as she saw the stunned looks on all of the Narutos. One of them then wiped that look off of his face, he didn't know why it was surprising to see someone blast him with ki anymore. He seemed to find a new person that could do it every week.

"Fuck it." One of the Narutos, probably the original, said as he reached out to grab two others by their collars. He spun around a full 360 before showing his strength as he launched both clones at Chun-Li like projectile weapons.

"That's insane!" Chun-Li involuntarily exclaimed, dodging the two clones, but as they flew past her they threw metal weaponry her way, forcing her to cover up as she was cut and nicked by the shuriken and kunai thrown her way. The two clones that were recklessly hurled met their demise but their job was complete.

This was the best opening Naruto could have hoped for, her covering her face.

And he took full advantage of it, using his remaining clones to surround Chun-Li and kick her straight into the air like a spiraling rocket, "U! Zu! Ma! Ki!" The original Naruto crouched down in the middle of his clones and created even more, twenty more, that jumped into the air to attack Chun-Li in an endless pattern, "Uzumaki Naruto Mugen Rendan (Naruto Uzumaki Infinite Combo)!"

Chun-Li opened her eyes from the cringe she had at being kicked into the air at once by five different sources and saw over two dozen Naruto clones leaping at her intending to beat the daylights out of her. Not tonight they weren't. Pulling one leg close to herself she left the other outstretched and began kicking at a purely inhuman rate that was impossible to follow with the naked eye, "Hyakuretsukyaku (Hundred Rending Kicks)!" They jumped straight to their demises as if they were all being fed to a wood chipper. And the impact of constantly colliding with the airborne Naruto clones were keeping her up in the sky as well.

"Who the hell kicks that fast?" Naruto mused to himself as he watched his clones dispel in smoke. He started making a few more hand-seals to prepare another attack when Chun-Li started falling towards him from the air.

"Hazanshu (Supreme Mountain Kick)!" She flipped through the air and landed in a split of an axe kick that crushed the solid metal of the geyser-fountain beneath her point of landing. Better that than landing on Naruto who had the foresight to not try and stop any kick that Chun-Li began that had any sort of preexisting momentum behind it.

Naruto watched her stand up and saw the deep imprint that was a perfect cast molding of her leg. As if to test it for himself he punched the portion where he was standing and only left a fist mark where he had hit it, and that alone almost broke his damn hand even with the gloves on, "What are your legs made of, diamonds?"

Quiet laughter was elicited from Chun-Li who now stood in a stance where her side was facing Naruto with one leg set off of the ground as if prepared to kick him into oblivion if he were insane enough to get close again and test her, "Speed to me is more important than strength really. Having all of those muscles that some fighters have is all well and good, but good luck trying to hit anyone with decent evasive skills."

Naruto idly thought to himself that from what he could see of Chun-Li's thighs through her tight unitard she didn't have any problems with developing her strength and staying fast, "You're telling me. I think if you kick me one good time you're going to tear my arm off."

She took that as the compliment that it was sort of meant to be in turn, "You, you're the toughest person to chase down just to hit that I've ever fought. It shows you're not stupid. Most men, even if they are somewhat skilled, just assume because I'm a woman and I'm smaller than them that they can just block my attack and counter me without any consequences. If you had tried to block my last attack it probably would have torn your arm off honestly."

"Good to know." Naruto said aloud before he was forced to jump out of the way and dodge a blast of water from the fountain that was right by him. All of his strong attacks required that he get close to his opponent. He wasn't going to beat Chun-Li just using spitfires because he'd never hit her enough with them. But he wasn't going to get closer to those kicks either, otherwise he could label himself the ignorant misogynist for underestimating her power.

So it was a standoff.

Both Naruto and Chun-Li just stood at the ready, both prepared to anticipate and react to an attack or ready to launch one at the first opening. As if it were the signal to start, a blast of water shot between them and Chun-Li already knew that Naruto was going to make a move.

She felt his presence in her blindspot and was already reacting, turning her kicking leg to him ready to blow him away. She then hopped back a bit at seeing a very large amphibian the size of a person just sitting there and looking at her as it croaked aimlessly, "A frog! What?"

"It's a toad!"

From behind the large toad, Naruto jumped up and vaulted himself up over Chun-Li to quickly get behind her. With her leg and foot speed he wasn't going to get her back that easily, thus he used his adjusted summoning technique as the diversion that it now counted as to do so with a use of Kawarimi when she caught on to his movement.

He hadn't counted on her flexibility being just as impressive as the strength and speed of her legs. How could he have? From how he had jumped over her it was an impossible angle that only Orochimaru would have been able to reach to defend against. He had an aerial bombardment of Chakra Spitfires at the ready to put her down with his advantageous positioning, but Chun-Li had other plans.

She bent over backwards, directly on her hands into a handstand and pushed off into the air, aiming herself directly at Naruto before she unleashed a torrent of ten ki-charged, air-tearing, shifting power kicks in succession, "Hazan Tenshoukyaku (Supreme Spinning Air Kick)!" It was a move intended to punish aerially attacking foes since they couldn't exactly move while in the air, so she could put nothing but pure power behind each and every kick.

Naruto was forced to hold back his projectile attack for personal preservation purposes as he turtled up in defense as the kicks started to blast off of the guard comprised of his legs and arms that creaked and groaned in protest under every shot. She had to be fracturing something and he didn't know what would be worse to lose to injury, a leg or an arm. If she broke his leg(s) he'd get substantially slower and she'd tear him apart with the clear mobility advantage, if she broke his arm(s) his hand-seals would be shot and half of his special attack repertoire would be disabled.

But with the last kick, Naruto found he wasn't going to fall from the air anytime soon. Well he still had something of his own. Before Chun-Li had ever attacked him he had finished his hand-seals for his spitfire technique, and he had found that adding two extra ones gave a little variation on the move that he was ready to expose in its first use in battle, "Isseishageki Chakura Tanki-sha (Chakra Spitfire Volley)!"

From Naruto's mouth he spat a series of pure chakra projectiles that were smaller than a normal spitfire by 1/8th, but what they lacked in size they made up for in quantity. A sheer volume attack as they came at Chun-Li who had also been stuck in the air in just over a dozen or so blasts like bomblets.

On the ground she would have been hard-pressed to dodge them, but in the air she had no shot at doing so at all.

In her best impersonation of Naruto from moments earlier, Chun-Li tried to protect her body as they exploded off of her and propelled her to the ground while Naruto was sent flying in the air in the opposite direction from her power kicks.

The first to hit the ground because of the fact that she was propelled that way, Chun-Li hit the metal of the geyser-fountain with a pained yelp as she held her torso in pain from what she had just suffered. Naruto on the other hand was knocked into a low-lying billboard that his body punched straight through before he fell through the shrubs behind it, barely breaking his fall on the ground, "Ow…"

Chun-Li let out a few coughs as she sat up and stood up as she saw Naruto starting to do the same, "Why aren't you using that power that I know you have? That Psycho Power. The red stuff." If he chose to use that against her she wasn't sure that even her very best kill-shot could defeat him. It was taking a toll on her to keep up with him as he was, he just never stopped.

"What-Power?" Naruto responded confusedly, "You saw my red chakra? You're the second person that did and got what it was called wrong. I don't know what that power you're talking about is."

"But you have to." Chun-Li responded, not letting this drop. It was important, "You used it to fight, there are two separate reports of you using it; both during a tournament battle and outside of a hospital later that night against a masked attacker. That's a power that looks very similar to what the leader of Shadaloo utilizes to make himself inhumanly powerful."

Naruto frowned and stood up out of his chosen fighting stance, "Well it's not what you think it is. Is that what you wanted to ask me earlier?"

"It's not the only thing…" Chun-Li replied with a frown of her own. If he hadn't freaked out and run away like a guilty party they could have hashed this out without all of the bodily harm. Once again; in a perfect world, "I did want to ask you if you had dealings with them, like if you were simply Bison's eyes on the Kanzuki heiress to help him plan moves against her and them."

"No way! I'd never hurt Karin!" Naruto stated, offended at the thought, "I'd never do that to any of my friends! Some Shadaloo guy named Vega tried to recruit me like that, but I said no to him so he tried to kill me. That's it. And Karin is my friend so when Shadaloo tried to take her away they had a problem with me." He then raised an eyebrow at her, "That's it? That's all you wanted? You made it sound like you were going to-."

"-Tie you to a chair in some dark basement and torment you for information that you didn't have?" Chun-Li ventured, and when she saw an embarrassed blush spread across Naruto's face she could tell she had hit the nail on the head, "Geez kid, you're paranoid." But from what he had just told her, just because he felt that people were out to get him didn't mean there weren't any. Clearly.

Naruto blinked at the woman blankly before he sighed and plopped down on the ground cross-legged, "Oh man… I'm in so much trouble… I just got into a street fight with an Interpol agent." He started to moan while clutching his head, "Ah, my friends are gonna kick my ass if they find out about this."

Now Naruto looked like a more normal teenager instead of some kind of elite warrior or finely honed killing machine as the previous battle would have given full credence to. She walked over to the seated Naruto and gave him a few pats on his spiky head, "It's okay… it's just a misunderstanding. No harm done." No harm done that a little rest, ice, compression, and elevation couldn't fix.

"So I'm not an international criminal?" Naruto asked, turning big blue eyes shimmering up at her in desperation Chun-Li's way.

She couldn't help but giggle, "No you're not. Actually you might be able to help me. You have a cell phone don't you?" Naruto paled and fished his cell phone out of his supply pouch hoping that it wasn't broken before handing it over to Chun-Li. She took it and raised an eyebrow at what she saw on the first screen before shrugging it off and inputting her number, "If you're a target of Shadaloo, then you call me if you need help or if something comes up. Bison isn't to be trifled with. He beat me and made it look easy."

That was surprising. A wide-eyed Naruto took his phone back, "Really? But you're so strong." Chun-Li seemed to be mad when she thought about her loss, but she nodded in confirmation, "Wow…"

"He has an army of underlings." Was the warning that came from Chun-Li, "You may have fought a few of them, but his resources are incredible. Not to mention how scary-powerful he is. So I'll make you a deal. If either of us get the opportunity and we choose to take them on, we'll call the other to help."

Well this was a total 180 from how he first expected this woman to be. She seemed way nicer than how stern she was when they had first had a run-in, "…You just met me."

"Yeah."

"…And we just fought."

"…Yeah?"

"And now you think I can help you?"

Chun-Li fixed Naruto with a strong gaze that he returned. One that made tough guys wet themselves after having dealt with this little lady in the past, but even after having his skeletal frame rattled he seemed ready to go through it again, 'Impressive.' She started to pace around him before she spoke again, explaining why she asked him to help, "Well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or they could be. And I can't do this by myself. You're strong, and I need strong friends for this. I only have one person that plans on helping me so far… and he isn't here yet."

Well he planned on staying in China for a foreseeable time because it was the only country whose languages he could speak that had enough supernatural crap in it to help him in his search for a possible way home. So as long as he was there why not make friends with an Interpol agent? He'd probably need it later on down the line.

"Alright." Naruto extended his hand and Chun-Li took it in a heartfelt shake, "You've got it." If there was only other person that was going to help her that wasn't going to be enough. And since he was looking to stomp a mudhole in this 'Bison' person that was the Shadaloo boss anyway, he might as well do it with friends, "So now at least I've got someone else that wants to help me kick Bison's ass."

"Don't make it sound so easy. I've got to find him first." Chun-Li crossed her arms in a displeased manner, "There are way too many Shadaloo hotspots around southern Asia to pinpoint exactly where their general focus is, so we can't center in on them. It's not like they're uniformed criminals either and they've got numerous fronts all over the world that fund them. For everyone that's brought down another one gets taken. We can't stop their financial support."

'So that's why they want Karin's family to play ball.' Naruto thought to himself, "Well before now you didn't have a bonafide ninja watching your back. I'll be… in Asia for the time being so I'll come running to wherever you need me if you do."

"Wow." Chun-Li said in response to Naruto's seemingly dead serious statement, "That's a serious friend."

All he could do was hold his hands behind his neck and grin widely, "A Konoha ninja is a good friend to have."

XxX

(Hidden Location Somewhere in Thailand)

Naruto's red energy… it was marvelous. Such concentrated might in even such a little sample of residual energy that was taken from the wounds of both Vega in the last few months and Juli from just two weeks ago. And such power had gone untapped until then? No longer.

The source of the energy was still alive and kicking so Shadaloo scientists could use what they had of Naruto's little samples that had been recovered for a test. All that was needed was a subject. Someone that could truly benefit from the boost and the benefits that would come with it.

Luckily there was someone in the Shadaloo doghouse with Bison that was actually eager to allow this to be done to him.

Not only had Vega fallen in bitter defeat to Uzumaki in Tokyo, but he had failed in his most recent mission to retrieve his rogue member of the Dolls, Cammy/a.k.a. Killer Bee who had gone rogue for some reason when her brainwashing inexplicably faltered during a mission in India. Now no one knew where she was going, but Bison knew that she would return home. She knew where it was, and if her buttons were pushed enough she would come looking for him. Those with newfound independence always made it a point to return to their former masters to prove it. And that was when he would have her.

She was his property in the purest form of the idea. After all, years ago scientists had engineered her body using his DNA as a template, solely for the use of transferring his essence into once his own body broke down from his extreme uses of Psycho Power. That was the only reason she existed to begin with, thus free will was never a right for her to have.

But that would take care of itself soon enough. There were more interesting concerns to take care of, such as the splicing of Naruto's red energy with Vega's cellular composition.

In addition to improving his strength, something that Vega would have jumped at regardless, he knew that this dangerous experiment if successful would keep him firmly in Bison's good graces. Out of the three Grandmasters of Shadaloo between Vega, Sagat, and Balrog, the only other one other than Vega that Bison could regularly count on for important measures was Sagat, and Sagat never seemed to be that in tune with what the group was all about.

Sagat's place as Bison's right-hand man was due to his undeniably powerful fighting ability, second to no one else in the world. This was the sole reason that Bison had originally sought him out and recruited him.

Balrog was too bumbling and simple to be counted on for anything too complicated, thus Vega was Bison's main man of operations. And this participation in the experiment simply solidified that fact.

"How are things looking Senoh?" Bison inquired as he walked, clad in a dark cape that covered his arms and uniform, his pupil-less white eyes staring down the hallway emotionlessly as he walked next to (slightly in front of) a diminutive and grotesque man in a white scientist's uniform. He had long, stringy grey hair and was balding on the top, "What do the results say on the experiment?"

"It's incredible." Senoh said, grinning in a manner that showed he had many missing teeth in his mouth, "Vega's body responded violently to the splicing of his cellular makeup with that of the boy Naruto Uzumaki's red power at first. We had to tie him down in order to keep him from harming himself and those around him at first, but he eventually settled down. We've been observing him for the last seventy-two hours. Thus far it has been a success."

"And?" Bison asked impatiently, not sharing the man's flair for the dramatic when it came to results.

Sensing this very fact from his dangerous and murderous leader, Senoh got straight to the point, speeding up to walk in front of Bison so that the man didn't reach the door to the lab first and find him impudent for not opening the door for him, "W-Well Master Bison, Vega's body has gone through radical changes. The coagulation of blood in the healing of his wounds has multiplied twenty-fold. His scar that was left on his body from the internal injuries inflicted on him by the boy healed right before our eyes in a day even after we diagnosed that it wouldn't fade for another month at least. His muscles are more readily able to react as his reflexes have increased considerably and if I'm correct his strength has as well. We're still running tests, but we believe that the mere presence of the power in his system has naturally enhanced his physiology."

An interested shine lay in Bison's eyes as he walked into the lab once Senoh opened the door. The man was brilliant, had little to no morals, and he was a completely utter coward; his kind of scientist. Inside the lab he found Vega dressed in his normal combat clothing marveling at his now scar-free torso in a full body mirror, looking as fit as a fiddle, "Vega. I've heard of your successful results from the infusion of the Uzumaki boy's energy."

"Oh yes…" Vega said, still checking himself over with a smirk on his face. He was as flawless as ever. That ugly spiral bruise/scar that marked not only imperfection on his body but was a perpetual reminder of his defeat to that monster of a child was gone as if it had never existed at all, "You can see the results for yourself Master Bison. As if nothing ever happened at all."

"That's good to hear." Bison stated as he stood behind the Spanish ninja, "I'd like to get you back to work as soon as possible. There's much to be done these days. Many activities in motion. So tell me how you're feeling."

Vega turned around to face Bison, still smirking as he placed a new porcelain mask onto his face, "How else?" His eyes momentarily glowed red before returning to their normal hazel color, "…Pissed off and ready for round two."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

{Character Profile}

Name: Chun-Li

Nationality: China

Gender: Female

Age: 20 (Birthday: March 1)

Height/Weight: 5'6 ½/Secret

Bloodtype: A

Likes: Her father, sweets, yogashi, American candy.

Dislikes: Crime, indecisive and shady people, Shadaloo.

Hobbies: Competitive shooting.

Rivals: M. Bison, Naruto Uzumaki (friendly).

Fighting Style: Tai Chi

Current Techniques: Hyakuretsukyaku (Hundred Rending Kicks/Lightning Kick), Kikoken (Spirit Energy Strike), Hazanshu (Supreme Mountain Kick), Kaiten-teki Kaku Kyakushuu (Rotating Crane Leg Kick), Tenshokyaku (Spinning Air Kick).

Hyper Techniques: Senretsukyaku (Thousand Rending Kicks), Housenka (Phoenix Fan Petals), Kikoshou (Spirit Energy Blast), Hazan Tenshoukyaku (Supreme Spinning Air Kick).

Background: Chun-Li is an Interpol investigator searching for clues to the death of her father over three years prior. This eventually led her to the tracks of the crime syndicate Shadaloo and its leader M. Bison, but she was unable to bring him to justice or even come close to subduing him, suffering a crushing defeat for her trouble. Chun-Li is a speed based fighter more privy to utilizing her incredibly impressive leg strength to her advantage in combat. She favors kicking techniques that can crush metal at their strongest and are lightning fast at their quickest. She can perform gravity-defying feats involving jumping that are impressive even by superhuman standards. Some criminals that have been captured by her have gone on record swearing that they had seen her jump off of nothing more than air itself. Chun-Li is generally a very cheerful and kind woman, but tends to take her job gravely serious due to her young age for such a position and her ongoing quest to force her father's killer M. Bison to pay for his crimes.

Name: Birdie

Nationality: England

Gender: Male

Age: 28 (May 22)

Height/Weight: 7'1/244 lbs.

Bloodtype: O

Likes: Beer, beef jerky, making money.

Dislikes: Children, the police.

Hobbies: Gluttony, criminality.

Rivals: Balrog (both are exceedingly greedy), Zangief (finds his Mohawk as a challenge from when he was a pro wrestler), E. Honda.

Fighting Style: Wrestling & Brawling

Current Techniques: Bull Head, Bull Horn, Murderer Chain, Bandit Chain.

Hyper Techniques: The Birdie, Bull Revenger.

Background: A former professional wrestler, Birdie turned to a life of crime when his career waned. Gaining notoriety through street fighting on the side of his main job as a crime enforcer and bouncing at nightclubs, he eventually got an invitation to enter Sagat's original World Warrior Tournament. Unfortunately while suffering from a strain of the flu he ran up against the eventual winner of the overall tournament, Ryu, and was defeated soundly. Afterwards, still making his name in the underworld criminal ranks, he became a member of Shadaloo after demonstrating his fighting prowess for them. Birdie's combat style is the epitome of brawling, completely unrefined and willing to use any means to ensure victory. He relies mostly on his size and build to defeat his enemies, and is very partial to grabbing them either with his chain or with his bare hands. Smaller opponents beware, but he can be overcome by a fighter fast enough to avoid him and strong enough keep him from moving forward like a juggernaut until he can hurt you.