The Subtle Art Of Attrition...

Chapter 35 - The Subtle Art Of Attrition...

Before the sun had even peeked over the horizon to signify the new day, Bison had taken it upon himself to survey the scarred-up garden that had served as the site of his Killer Bee's attempt to murder one of his enemies.

Like the commander of an army walking the field after a horrible battle, he took in the entire scene, observing every detail he could pick up in the dawning light.

Obviously a very severe conflict had taken place there, there was smoke still rising in areas of the field and on the ground he could see dried blood in different places. He had sensed her initiate the battle, and then felt the overwhelming energy that came with the deliciously violent red aura that he was well aware was possessed by Naruto, something he hadn't sensed throughout the tournament.

"Quite clearly she has failed." Despite this, the grin on his twisted face was still ever-present. Killer Bee was a failed attempt at providing the perfect body for his incredible Psycho Power, and he merely found one last use for her. Recycling they called it.

He could no longer feel the subconscious connection between them, which made sense to him. If she had gone up against Naruto and actually forced him to utilize 'the red' against her, there was no chance of her surviving. The boy was an absolute barbarian, a berserker of sorts, when he drew upon that power, and without a doubt he would have torn her apart.

He wasn't jealous of such a gift, though it was clearly amazing. Clearly his Psycho Power was more versatile and had the added bonus of allowing him to keep his intellect. Naruto's turned him into a mindless killer. It turned Vega into a raving lunatic of a narcissi-…

Okay, well Vega had already been a raving lunatic of a narcissist before Naruto had killed him in combat. But at least he had been able to keep it mostly under control until he had the red energy bonded with his cells. It drove him past his previous brink of sanity and then some.

This was all aside from the point. From the signs of combat, it was intense. Even if Naruto managed to survive it in one piece, big deal.

It was of no consequence.

At high noon he would have to deal with Sagat, and that would be very a very high-stakes battle indeed. No one escaped combat with Sagat unscathed even when coming in fully healthy, and from the looks of things Naruto would not be fully healthy coming in.

If that boy could deal with the entire previous day of fighting, get no sleep due to the attempt on his life by Killer Bee that he survived in a hellacious battle, and after all of that somehow emerge victorious in mortal combat with Sagat…

If that were to occur, he would have to ensure that this enemy did not survive this day to leave this temple alive. He was far too dangerous to any future ambition of domination Bison could have to be allowed to survive. If he killed no one else today, he would ensure that the world would watch Naruto Uzumaki suffer and die even if he had to do it himself.

XxX

(Hours Later – Within the Temple – Naruto's Room)

The wake-up call of knocks at his door came much too soon for Naruto who seemed to feel like he had just nodded off by the time the sun was up and bathing the countryside in light when he finally shut his eyes and dozed off. Then a second later the blasted banging on his door came.

His body hurt from the day before, though admittedly he could already feel the Kyuubi connected back to him again and patching his rough spots up. You don't know what you've got until it's gone, most definitely. After what his friends had to do to him the previous night just to deal with his dark side's assault he should have felt like a tenderized steak.

Naruto peered over to the still soundly sleeping Cammy lying down on his chest and trailed a hand gently down her back. He carefully moved her off of him without waking her so that he could hop out of bed and answer the door. Said hop then resulted on him slipping on the floor and banging the back of his head on the hard stone floor.

"Damn it!" Naruto let out in a quiet cry as he sat up and rubbed his new bump while looking down at the spot where he slipped. A bitter frown crossed his face as he saw what it was that had done it and got back up, "Are you kidding me?" He muttered to himself as he fished a clean set of boxers out of his luggage while another knock came at the door.

Without wasting another moment he stormed to the door and almost threw it open with an uncharacteristic scowl on his face, "Yes?" He seethed in a low voice as he saw Chun-Li standing there with one hand on her hip, the other held out and set to knock again, "May I help you onee-chan?"

Raising an eyebrow at cranky Naruto, Chun-Li pointed at the nonexistent watch on her wrist, "It's ten-thirty. Your ass needs to be in the courtyard and ready to roll by noon. Remember? World-renowned fighting tournament with shady sponsors? Semifinal round? You vs. Sagat? Big grandiose trap by a narcissistic madman to have us all amuse him and make him money along with giving him chances to kill us under the radar?"

Naruto just blinked tiredly at her, using one hand to post himself up in the doorway shamelessly in his underwear, "…I didn't even get to sleep until probably after six or seven. Give me a second to reboot before you start treating me like a kid."

"Oh you're definitely not a kid anymore 'little brother'." Chun-Li teased dryly, "You see, I stopped through with Guile after everyone got patched up to see how you two were doing, and when I got to your hall I believe I heard her…" She emphasized, pointing within at the sleeping Cammy, "…Screaming in your room. Good screaming, not bad screaming. I know the difference, otherwise I would have kicked the door down."

At that point, Naruto had enough shame in him to avert his red face away from allowing Chun-Li to look him in the eyes, "Guile knows too?" Oh Kami no. Stupid martial arts monks with their lack of soundproofed rooms and echoing halls, "Motherfucker." How was anyone supposed to have a private moment in an echoing stone building?

"Yeah, but he just shook his head while we were walking away, muttering about stupid hormonal kids. We left you alone." Chun-Li assured him before narrowing her eyes and smirking, "So how was it? From what I heard you didn't sound like you froze up or fumbled around during your first time. Good for you!"

"What, are you jealous?"

"Ha, funny. No, I'm just nosy like that. But seriously, how was it?"

"…Can I just go get dressed now? I really don't want to answer that and be 'that guy'. It's personal."

"I'll just ask Cammy later when you both eat breakfast then. She doesn't care about her own personal stuff so she'll tell me just like that."

No. Stupid inquisitive Interpol detectives… just let sleeping dogs lie for fuck's sake, "No you won't. What happens in Bangkok stays in Bangkok goddamn it."

"We're technically not in Bangkok to begin with. We're like fifty kilometers outside of the city." The older woman commented idly as if nothing about the conversation that was slowly turning Naruto's whole body red bothered her in the least, "Hey, what's that shine on the floor by the be-? Aww, you pulled out. That's so cute."

SLAM!

"Good morning by the way~!"

In a grumbling huff after slamming the door in his way too cheerful friend's face, Naruto turned around and gathered up the clothes and gear he would endeavor to wear and use that day. This had better not have been the start of the theme of the day, because it was going to get old quick.

"I should have let evil-me kick the shit out of you more." He remarked about Chun-Li before moving to the side of his pretty roomie, looking down at her content face half-buried in a pillow, "…And I officially don't care anymore. Worth it." She couldn't hear him, but her body shifted and she sleepily wrinkled her nose momentarily before sighing and continuing her slumber.

That was probably her subconsciously seconding his comment. Right on.

He didn't know if it was his dark side or not, but part of him wanted to wake her up and see if she wanted to have another go-around. He quickly rid himself of that thought. Things were confusing enough already. Plus they didn't have the time.

What happened last night and whatever happened from then on would be something that could (and would have to) be handled after the tournament was done. He didn't regret it, not for a second because it had been incredible, but what it all meant was beyond him and probably Cammy to an even greater extent. Just how aware or interested in the whole intimate relationships thing was she?

It came out of absolutely nowhere. He and Cammy were close. That much clearly had to be true after spending eight months under the same roof alone, and at times she did have her own little personal quirks that he'd picked up on over time, same as any girl. He did indeed love her, but did he love her?

He'd die for her any day of the week, but all the same he'd die for a number of people, many of them girls as well. This completely muddied the waters on that front to say nothing of how confused he was with all of it, and he could say with absolute confidence that he would have never figured that out of all of the problems he'd faced in his life that this of all things would have wound up being one of them.

Damn it. After spending years of his teenage life lamenting the fact that he couldn't get women to dig him he now wondered if he'd wished on one too many stars. This was the kind of shit he needed parents for. His old man could probably give him some sagely advice. His dad was probably the greatest man that ever lived. How else could a child as awe-inspiring as him have been conceived?

'Meh, to hell with it right now.' Naruto thought to himself as he went to gently rouse Cammy from her sleep. He'd deal with it when he didn't run the risk of possibly being murdered on worldwide television by a bald guy twice his size with an eyepatch, ridiculous strength and ki, and obvious anger management issues. That was the more pressing issue at the moment.

XxX

(Elsewhere on the Grounds – Sometime Later)

In another place on the vast temple grounds, the day of another was starting. Or should it be said that it never ended?

A knock came to the door of Sagat, though unlike the one that had come at Naruto's it was markedly more reserved and timid.

Standing up from his meditative seat on the floor, Sagat cracked his stiff neck to the side as he walked to the door and opened it up, a comparatively diminutive young monk standing behind it, staring up at him, "Sir, you requested to be left alone, completely isolated until the following day of matches began. Well the first semifinal bout is to begin in less than an hour."

Despite having been awake through the night, Sagat seemed thoroughly refreshed and at his naturally intimidating best, "I see. I will be down in the courtyard soon." One more match and he would have the glorious battle he had been seeking since falling in bitter defeat to Ryu all those years ago.

The monk quickly moved to one side as Sagat had to duck underneath the doorway to step out and begin walking through the halls to the outside area. While doing so he passed by Ken who was dialing up his wife on his phone, but paid the man no mind. That was the wrong practitioner of that certain style to be focused on.

The one he wanted to face was Ryu. No one else would do. It simply wouldn't be the same. It would feel almost hollow after all he had done to put himself in a position to get the fight he truly wanted to wind up facing someone else in the finals.

And Ken wasn't very focused on Sagat either. If dealing with him was necessary he'd care then. Until the finals if both of them made it there neither of them had anything to say to each other, thus his presence meant nothing to him.

He had to look at the big picture. Two more victories and he wouldn't just be the American champion any longer. He'd have a shot to lay claim to being the best in the world. Now that was something to call home over.

Speaking of something to call home over, Ken found himself passed by in the breezeway outside by his to-be opponent of the day in Sasuke who seemed to be just killing time by walking around the grounds while it was having its mini-festival before the fights, "Hey."

Hearing a voice call out to him, Sasuke stopped and turned to catch sight of Ken hanging out of the opening in a stone wall meant to be a window, "What do you want?" He asked evenly. Fraternizing with someone he was about to go to war with really wasn't his thing unless they were about to start hurling insults back and forth.

Ken just grinned at the dark assassin and raised a gloved fist out to him, "When it comes time for us to fight I want to see the best you've got. You'd better bring it kid. It's 'Championship Saturday' today." He jested.

Shaking his head at the boisterous blond American fighter, Sasuke felt like he kind of reminded him of someone before responding, "Don't you worry about that, but you should be careful what you wish for." Sasuke started to walk away until he heard Ken's voice again.

"Really? That's your best banter?" Ken said, seemingly disappointed by Sasuke's previous rebuttal, almost getting Sasuke to trip over his shoes as he stopped walking, "I thought a pretty boy like you would be one of those subtle kind of shit-talkers. Jeez, what are you gonna throw at me next? How about the old tried and true, 'I'm the one your mother always warned you about' line? Though I think you should save that one for picking up chicks."

Sasuke turned around and glared at Ken for such a stupid thing to talk about and scoffed before choosing to hastily leave, vanishing in a Shunshin, "Idiot."

After the swirl of wind and leaves subsided, Ken smirked and pumped a fist as he went off on his own business, "In his head in thirty seconds." Now Sasuke would be all pissy and aggressive to start the fight and he could prepare for that, "Who's more abrasive than Ken Masters? Nobody!"

Now to find his buddy Ryu in case he was still sulking about the fight yesterday. Seriously, sometimes Ryu had to learn how to let some things roll off of his back and move on. Lose a fight and he was fine? Lose a fight and almost lose control while trying to kill his best friend? He turns into a sulking mess.

XxX

"So you got into a fight with yourself with the fate of your body's control on the line, got laid afterwards, didn't sleep a wink after all of that, and now you're about to fight the 'God of Muay Thai'." E. Honda said, basically summing up Naruto's situation as he walked with the young man dressed back in his normal orange fighting outfit as opposed to the blue he had worn on day one, "Do you want me to knock you out now to save Sagat the trouble?"

"Shut up E." Naruto grumped in return at the joke. Chun-Li was with Cammy helping her find something more civilian to wear now that they were both done fighting in the tournament, and that left Guile and E. Honda to keep with Naruto until bell time, "If you don't have anything helpful to say just save it until the flight home. You can make fun of me all you want then. And what's your damn problem?" Naruto asked Guile who wouldn't look him in the eyes.

"Let's just say it's been a long two days." Guile stated flatly in return, nose still bandaged from yesterday, "The sumo's got a point though kid. Exactly how much do you have left in the tank after all of the fighting yesterday and no sleep?"

"And the sex. Let's not forget the sex." E. Honda added with a chuckle as they traversed the temple grounds that were closed off to the crowd filing into the stands in preparation for the highly awaited fights of the day, "I think we're glossing over that when we should be taunting the hell out of Uzumaki as is our right as his seniors, but I will say now that I'm the one that saw something like this coming eventually. You spend a lot of time around pretty girls your age."

Guile did not want to be reminded of how he almost kicked down the door to Naruto and Cammy mid-coitus, thus why he was refraining from looking in Naruto's general direction. He was a conservative kind of guy, so sue him, "Can we focus here? In case you haven't noticed, in about ten minutes a gigantic Thai kickboxer is going to be doing everything he can to rearrange those marks on Naruto's cheeks all over his face with his fists. Ask me how I know." The airman said as he gestured at his own broken nose.

Naruto had watched Guile fight Sagat, and he watched Cammy fight Sagat. Cammy gave him some fits simply by outquicking him until he adjusted to her movements. That meant he was adaptable. He had to be. He'd been fighting since before Naruto was born so he had to have seen pretty much everything under the sun. Nothing was going to surprise that man today.

He had a temper though, so maybe there was a chance that Naruto could pick up on that. That was a slim thing to bank on in a pinch though, but the paths to victory seemed narrow. Getting hit was an absolute no-no period. Kyuubi or not, Guile's face and how quickly he had been defeated was plenty of evidence that even if you considered yourself tough, Sagat chewed up and spit out tough guys on a daily basis.

No head down and bullying through for this one. A game plan had to be hashed out appropriately and it had to be done before Naruto walked down the steps through the crowd into the courtyard in seven minutes.

"Man, I need Ryu." Naruto said aloud begrudgingly. He didn't really want to admit it about that guy because there was just something about him that he couldn't like, but Ryu was the only person he knew of that had actually gotten the job done against a motivated and top-of-his-game Sagat. It would be idiocy to not try and pick the martial artist's brain for some good info, "Where the hell is he? Has anyone even seen him since yesterday?"

No one around him had since the match with Ryu and Ken came to an end, and that gave Guile and Naruto pause, "What if… Bison. Do you think?"

"I don't think so." Naruto tried to reason, "I'm sure Ken was with him, and if Bison had attacked the two of them I'm pretty sure they'd have torn up more stuff than we did last night when we fought. Balrog got crushed by Chun-Li so he's a non-factor, and Sagat wants to fight in the tournament only so he wouldn't have pulled anything shady against Ryu."

"This temple's too damn big." E. Honda said with a good-natured laugh, "He's probably just off by himself. It's not even that hard. This place is like a small town." For example, Blanka went back into the jungle after everything was over with and didn't come back until breakfast. And then he went right back into the jungle to wait for the fights to begin.

The rumbling sound of crowd noise came into their ears as local music played over the speakers, getting everyone ready for the main attraction of the tournament to begin.

Right. Well it was officially time to prove that he was here for more than just allowing Bison to take potshots at trying to take his life. Time to bust a former world champion's jaw, "I'm soooo ready to kick his ass, dattebayo!"

"I sure as hell hope so."

"Guile, you are the worst cornerman on Earth. You're supposed to be hyping me up."

"I'm a realist kid. If you don't like it, go fuck yourself."

"-Or get Cammy to do it for you."

"Shut the fuck up E! Not the time!"

"Heh heh. This is going to be a fun day."

XxX

In the crowd Chun-Li sat right at the front waiting on the matches to begin alongside Cammy with seats saved for E. Honda, Guile, and also Blanka and Ryu if they ever showed up to watch the remaining bouts, "Why won't you tell me what it was like? You know you don't care about whether I know or not."

"Because Naruto told me that my business was my business." Cammy replied, looking out around the crowd. She really hated being surrounded by so many people. There was always the chance of something bad happening in that kind of scenario. She wasn't fighting any longer, so she wasn't dressed in one of her leotards, instead looking more the part of a normal girl her age with a light blue pinstripe sweater and a black skirt, "I'm not shy about it, but we're around people right now."

"So later then?"

"Probably not then either. Sorry."

"You don't sound sorry."

"That's because I'm not really sorry."

Chun-Li mustered a glare as Cammy donned a beret in the sun, but let the topic settle. She should have known that Cammy wouldn't care too much for the matter of girl-talk. She was such a strange one.

With that path of conversation unceremoniously cut off before it could ever began, there was another elephant in the room that needed addressing. Namely the seven and a half feet of Sagat standing in the courtyard, arms crossed and patiently waiting for his opponent to arrive.

"So do you think Naruto can beat Sagat?" It was a fair enough question. Sagat had managed to walk through Guile and he wound up decimating Cammy despite her hitting him with a blistering series of offensive attacks, "Even at full strength I wouldn't be sure about saying he could, but now he's exhausted as well."

There wasn't any doubt or hesitance in Cammy's voice as she answered, "Yes he can." The scar-cheeked girl turned Chun-Li's way momentarily before looking back out at the field as Naruto started descending the stairs amid cheers from the crowd, "I couldn't tell you how or even why, but it's as clear as day to me. There isn't anyone in the world that I know of that I would pick against Naruto."

She believed that way for the simple fact that she had never been given a reason to feel otherwise. In eight months she had only seen Naruto in a state of true vulnerability once, and she didn't see the party that had done it. With the exception of the month she and the others had to care for him after the destruction of Budokan Hall in Tokyo he had never done anything but earn her confidence in him time and time again.

He had a tendency to get overexcited and run his mouth at times, but he worked his ass off to back it up whenever he could. And right as he walked down the stairs and slapped hands with the crowd that reached out for him there wasn't a hint of playfulness on his face.

Putting her cheeks in her hands, Chun-Li leaned her elbows on the metal railing of the stands, brown eyes locked onto the center of the courtyard, "Time to go to work little brother."

XxX

Naruto's sandaled footsteps scraped against the brick underneath his feet until he stood directly in front of Sagat and looked up nearly two feet to stare into his face, "So… I'm Naruto, nice to meet you. I'll be the guy helping you tear this courtyard to hell until one of us can't intelligently defend themselves anymore." Tension breaking smart remark, ho.

The way he kicked Cammy's tail the other day didn't slip Naruto's mind for a second. But it was a tournament match, and getting pissed off wasn't the way to get ahead in this one. Not today. Not yet.

Sagat let out a 'hm' but didn't smirk or change his expression, "You very well may be right. You are strong, but you won't prevent me from getting what I want out of this tournament. Rest assured I will be going to the finals for my destined challenge, and I will go through you if it requires such. You're not at 100%, anyone with eyes can see that. But I will show you no mercy. Injured child or not."

With a sniff, Naruto jumped back, his body in a reactionary stance that was ready for anything. Sagat put his hands up in his contemporary Muay Thai stance and the two just waited for the call to start. Naruto was expecting Sagat to have marching orders to kill him or maim him, and he wasn't anticipating anything less from the man. Even fighting normally, Sagat was infamous for his temper and ability to kill opponents without even trying to.

Sweat dropped from Naruto's brow onto the ground, but even as the bead of perspiration moved down his face he didn't flinch, eyes not moving from Sagat for a second. In return, Sagat's single eye seemed to be looking through Naruto, like a transparent final wall he had to punch through to achieve his goal.

"Ladies and gentlemen let me welcome you to the second day of the Second World Warrior Tournament! We have three fights left to determine who is the strongest, and we're going to start you off with the 'God of Muay Thai' in Sagat, taking on Naruto Uzumaki for one of the elusive two spots in the finals! Let's not waste anymore time shall we? FIGHT START!"

"Ying Seụ̄x (Tiger Shot)!"

Sagat was quick to unleash an orange-hot ball of flaming ki from his fists at Naruto, not that he was expecting to hit him, but he wanted to see what Naruto would try for a first move. What kind of fighter would he be if pressed?

Not naturally a reactionary kind of person, when forced to do so Naruto's first response was often to quickly dodge to one side or another and try to get an angle to strike back from. It was a rather generic approach to evading attack, but since he was usually faster than his enemies due to his being a ninja and because he usually retaliated instantly no one ever really managed to do anything about this.

Sagat was not one of these people.

The moment Naruto landed from his move to dodge the Tiger Shot, he ducked a roundhouse kick that would have probably torn his head off if he wasn't so abnormally tall that Naruto was able to somehow duck enough to avoid it.

Sagat spun around in a full 360 from the kick and tried it again low on the ducking Naruto, but missed again when Naruto rolled to the side. Contorting his body through the roll, Naruto got his legs back beneath him and sprang right at Sagat explosively to begin trying to punch past his guard with rapid strikes, but the range his arms had to travel to actually hit Sagat's face was incredible.

It looked like a father fighting against his child from afar due to how Sagat only had to barely lean back to avoid getting hit in the face and protect his body with his massive arms to ensure that Naruto didn't attack it.

A short knee from Sagat snapped forward and struck Naruto high on the chest, stopping his attempted barrage with a skillful counterstrike of his own. He didn't need to be faster than Naruto, something that was simply not going to happen, he just had to be prepared to retaliate right when it was needed.

Years of combat training gave Sagat picture-perfect timing. Even against the quickest of foes he could get them to telegraph their movements for him, just like he did with Cammy. Naruto was a different breed of beast in that regard, but the basic principle was still the same.

'This isn't working! If I want a shot at his head I've got to leave my damn feet every single time!' Naruto thought to himself as he broke off and moved back, ignoring the jabbing pain bunched in his breastbone.

He'd never gone up against anyone that big before that actually fought with their entire size. Sure, he'd beaten Zangief who stood seven feet tall, but with the style he used Zangief stayed hunched so that he could spring forward for a grab at any moment. Naruto barely had to punch up to sock him in the jaw. With Sagat, he knowingly fought high to avoid anyone reaching his head.

Not only that, but in two previous fights against powerful opponents in Guile and Cammy he had only been hit in the face one time in the first round. That was it. No other time had he been struck above the stomach, and his body was as hard as rock. Conditioned as he knew that it would always be the chief target of any enemy he faced.

In follow-up pursuit after turning the tide, Sagat jumped through the air at Naruto, missing him and instead punching a hole into the ground before sending that same fist out in a rangy strike that Naruto backflipped out of the way of. Growling at the boy, Sagat pressed forward again, trying to move Naruto closer to the row of statues in the courtyard to try and somewhat corral him.

Never stop moving. Wait for your opening. He'll give you one. Everyone always gives you just one. These were the thoughts going through Naruto's head. He was no martial artist, he never would be and he never claimed to be for a moment. He wasn't about form and real technique. If you gave him an opening to punch you he'd punch you. If you gave him an opening to kick you he'd kick you. He'd stab you, throw you, bite you, he'd hit you any way he could if you let him.

"K̄hèā Seụ̄x (Tiger Knee)!" Sagat leapt at Naruto, flying like a wrecking ball and leading with his knee as a battering ram. Naruto had been backed close enough to the statues in question to warrant trying to crush him against them, but Naruto simply jumped back against a statue and stuck his hands and feet against it before springing off just as Sagat plowed straight through it and destroyed the stone construct.

Naruto managed to clear his head and turned to try and muster a counter, but the aggressive Muay Thai master was already turned around, firing another Tiger Shot at him that Naruto again dodged and backpedaled from. Sagat let out a snort as if he were a bull and slowly walked forward, taking his time as he tried to analyze what he had learned thus far.

Naruto's way of moving was more spastic than Cammy's despite their speed similarity and he lacked the finer points of evasion that she did in how smoothly her every move was designed to be, but Naruto was so used to his own body mechanics and was so aware of how he tended to move that it didn't matter. Any mistake he made in his movements he could reflexively make up for if you tried to take the slight imperfection of his actions as an opening to attack.

It wasn't being intentionally clumsy, because clumsy was far too harsh of a word to describe it. There was nothing inept or lumbering about anything that Naruto did. It just seemed that he moved with a pinch of calculated recklessness, constantly trying to stay loose and adaptable. This boy really believed that he could turn the tables on any foe in a heartbeat and was willing to put his body out there to do such.

This was the problem Fei Long had with him in round one. One such as Fei Long whose every movement was so heavily refined and practiced to be called upon at the slightest need for it had been fighting against his polar opposite in Naruto who did what his body felt was right at any given moment with no rhyme or reason.

'He's smarter than he lets on.' Sagat said, narrowing his eye on Naruto's form until he found himself the target of a barrage of sharp metal objects sent his way, 'So that's where the Cammy girl learned how to do such a thing in the last round.' Naruto threw far more than Cammy did, seven to her one.

Being prepared for the weapons this time, Sagat moved but quickly found that he had managed to get tangled in some kind of wiring, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Just like that he saw five Naruto's running circles around him, all holding onto a single strand of metal twine, "Kage no Mayu (Shadow Cocoon)!"

The weapons had been a trap! In the rings of the kunai and shuriken Naruto had let fly he had strung ninja wire that Sagat hadn't been able to ID with his unfamiliarity with ninja tools and his lack of depth perception with one eye.

The clones running circles around did their best to try and speedily tie Sagat up. He was smart enough to prevent his arms and his neck from being bound, but his legs were a tangled mess. He was immobile, and against someone like Naruto that was as good as making yourself a target dummy with waving appendages.

In his right hand he quickly formed a blue ball of spinning chakra and leapt at Sagat directly, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"

Sagat's one eye went wide at the sight of the attack. He couldn't move, and any attack that Naruto used while he was in that state would most definitely not be of the cream-puff variety. This wasn't the time to hold back apparently, as if he truly wanted to reach his destined encounter he could hold nothing back.

The scar on his chest started to glow an angry red with the ki rapidly coursing through his body as his rage at possibly losing short of his fight with Ryu started to build, "P̄hælpĕn Korṭh (Angry Scar)!" His body exploded with visible burning orange power just as Naruto's Rasengan struck him.

Not discouraged by Sagat's powerup, Naruto drove the Rasengan right into Sagat's chest and blew him back through another in the row of statues that they had been fighting near. He hit clean. He knew that he did. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the Rasengan landed dead center. Nobody would get up from that. A regular person would have died if he'd hit them that cleanly.

There wasn't a single person that didn't stand up and get caught up in the finality of such a blow landing. Many of them had never seen such a resolute blow land against their hero before, but a seventeen year old, albeit one that knew exactly what he was doing in a fight, had managed to do so.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Tamagawa Minami High School – Aohura City, Chigoku Region, Japan)

"What a crushing technique! I don't think Naruto could have hit him any harder if he'd tried to! That's probably it for this fight!"

Every single person in the class with a phone smart enough to do so was streaming the fight live in real time... even the teacher. It seemed it was a bigger deal than Naruto thought it would be when he left to fight the tournament.

But it didn't matter whether or not he had the attention of the people back home, only a few of them mattered.

The second Naruto had managed to ensnare Sagat, Ibuki jumped fifteen feet in the air out of her desk out of excitement. Watching the last two fights he had been in almost had her chewing her fingernails out of frustration. Against Chun-Li she never gave him the room to let him fight the way that he needed to, and against Fei Long he had gotten caught up in the gravity of the moment.

But this was exactly the kind of thing that she knew he could do if someone gave him what he needed to make such a thing happen, "That's how you do it Naruto! I was starting to think you'd never break out a tactic like that!"

"Of course. It is only natural, or did you expect him to falter so easily? My eye for talent and selecting those with the potential for greatness cannot be questioned." Karin said, preening openly at her desk with a smug look on her face, "Naruto-san is no fool. He had best earn his self-professed title of 'best ninja in the world.'"

Both Sakura and Kei had been stunned into silence, mouths wide open in amazement. It wasn't that it was so out of left field that neither of them expected such a thing to happen, because they knew that Naruto was damnably good, having known him for years. But come on, even when the family members of astronauts knew that they were about to go into space, it didn't make the sight of the takeoff any less amazing.

"'Atta boy Naruto." Sakura eventually said to herself as replays of the previous move kept playing on the screen of her phone, "Don't you let up. Show everybody what you've got."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Sagat – Outside of Bangkok, Thailand – Martial Arts Temple)

Naruto's clones all high-fived at a job well done before dispelling while the original flexed out the hand he had used to strike Sagat with the Rasengan, "A friend of mine told me right before I came here that an indirect win is still a win, and after the night I had yesterday she's absolutely right. I'm not stepping into a slugfest with you. There's no reason to."

Last two rounds for various reasons Naruto had fought strangely. Against Fei Long he had been starstruck and wanted to go toe-to-toe with someone he was a great fan of. Against Chun-Li, he was unable to use his full range of skills because Cammy had broken his wrist before the match.

Both showings had been a departure from the norm on how he chose to do battle, but it was time to do what he had to do today to win. Execution was key. He knew what he was capable of, and he knew he had the skills to pull off the victory.

"…That was a powerful move."

From the rubble of the row of statues, Sagat's towering figure rose, brushing the pebbles and dirt off of his body as he strode out of it. His orange aura still blazed and the scar on his chest was still growing red.

Naruto couldn't believe it. To stand up after such a thing, it was just unfathomable. His ribcage inside of his body should have been like broken glass shifting around in a bag after getting nailed with a direct hit from the Rasengan.

"So dangerous." Sagat said, touching at the brand new spiral bruise on his torso as he continued to stride forward, "Had I not done what had, you would have wounded me more grievously than you did." His hand formed a fist right across the prominent scar on his chest, "After being nearly killed by Ryu's Shoryuuken let's just say I had to come up with a way to protect myself from open attacks."

Just like that, Naruto's legs started to feel like lead, 'No, no, no… I can't be getting tired yet! I'm wide awake!' His vaunted conditioning had played a trick on him. He had never properly rested from the night before, having stayed up until right before dawn, but staying stationary in bed had fooled him into thinking he was back at full strength.

He was barely several hours removed from a violent physical and spiritual clash after a day full of tough fights and now he was back in another one. He had just gotten the Kyuubi back. This was not advantage Naruto.

And seeing Sagat stand up from the most solid Rasengan he had landed on a real opponent in months sucked the pitiful second-wind right out of him.

Who just took that head-on and got up from it?

Sagat stopped walking and observed Naruto, as the boy was set and waiting once again for whatever was to come his way next, "You've suffered from exhaustion somehow and you haven't recovered yet have you?" Yes, he could see it. Naruto was sweating more than he should have been for the amount of effort that had gone into the battle. His skin looked clammy, and the muscles in his arms looked spastic.

"It doesn't matter." Naruto said with all of the bluster he could rally into his speech, and it was usually enough to make anyone he fought second-guess themselves. Sagat was not just anyone though. When it came to tough or confident talk, he had heard it all, "Even if I am tired, I've still got enough energy to beat anybody else I have to go against!"

"Show me then." Sagat demanded before firing another blast from his fists at Naruto, "Ying Seụ̄x (Tiger Shot)!"

'That move again?' Naruto thought to himself as he saw the fireball flying his way. He was ready to dodge it when a silhouette took form behind it and burst straight through in the form of a large broken piece of statue hurled at him as if it came from a catapult.

In a panic, Naruto had to jump over the swift and heavy flying object by moving in the only direction he knew he'd be able to avoid it without getting an arm or a leg ripped off in the process; up.

Naruto knew the second that he left the ground that it had been a mistake, but he considered it better to chance it than to get nailed by a 400-plus pound chunk of rock.

"S̄eụ̄x Sxydāw (Tiger Uppercut)!"

Sagat's spacing strategy paid off when finally forced Naruto into one of two options that he had been prepared to retaliate to. The moment Naruto went vertical, he leapt into the air and hammered Naruto right in the stomach with a brutal punch that drove blood and spittle right out of him.

XxX

"Fuck." Ken said plainly, having stood with Ryu at the top area overlooking the courtyard as the two friends and training partners watched the semifinals, "I knew Sagat was strong, but man… he took one of Naruto's signature moves and came back with that?" Even Ken wasn't sure that he would be tough enough to take a Rasengan and even stay conscious, let alone fight back afterwards.

Ryu didn't say anything at first, merely observing the battle with vested interest, 'When it comes to fighting the way that Sagat and I choose to, from what I've seen Naruto won't be able to compare to Sagat's might. But Naruto's strength lies in Sagat's weakness. Naruto's method of fighting has nothing to do with logical technique." Sagat's rigid adherence to the principles of martial arts tradition stood more prevalent than even Ryu's own, 'And that is how he can be overcome.'

Naruto had the ability to use avenues of attacks and strategies that took advantage of the unique ongoing situations he would find himself in. Ryu remembered that in two conflicts against Naruto, he was able to gain the upper hand with moves he had never seen anything like before.'

God he wished he was still in the tournament. He wanted to try his hand against everyone left, but he'd have to settle for keeping a watchful eye on the rest of the event, rooting for Ken to pull off the win.

XxX

"Sagat lands a powerful blow! It's been covered in Thai media that he trains the strength of that move by utilizing it underneath waterfalls to increase its destructive power, and I think punching through a kid is easier than punching through a crashing waterfall!"

Spinning through his rising aerial attack, Sagat landed on his feet and watched Naruto land violently near the top of the stairs, bouncing once out of it before coming to rest face down on the ground, cradling his chest and shifting around painfully.

He ignored the crowd and just stared at Naruto's body twitch and writhe in place before turning away and laughing with his arms crossed over his chest, body still blazing with powerful ki, "You're a tough child, but that only means so much and takes you only so far. You're not much of a martial artist. I'm sure you knew that though."

Naruto didn't respond, instead crawling farther up the stairs, pushing himself back up with the help of the top step, grunting quietly with great effort as he did so.

Sagat stopped laughing when he saw that Naruto was still trying to get up and continue. Why? He didn't have the discipline of a martial artist, but he most certainly had the spirit of a fighter. He started scaling the stairs after Naruto slowly. Taking his time and going at his own pace.

"I'm not done." Naruto said as he slowly stood up and seemed to have a long folded blade in one of his hands. Wiping the blood from his mouth with his free fist, Naruto glared out at the master of Muay Thai and with a flick of the wrist flipped out the remaining three blades of his fuuma shuriken, "You know, all my life I've had to deal with people telling me that I'm not this and I'm not that. They'd ask why can't I be more like so-and-so? Or what makes me act the way I do and pick my way to do things? Do you want to know why I don't care for trying to be like you or guys like Ryu or Guy? A 'proper' fighter?"

He didn't answer before letting the fuuma shuriken fly, spinning like the blade of a buzzsaw as it careened at the titanic veteran.

Sagat made sure to check the air around it for more metal wire connected to the weapon and saw none, thus he judged it safe to show Naruto just why he had the right to lecture other potentially powerful fighters as straightforward as he did.

Extending one hand, Sagat caught the blade out of midair through the center gripping ring and held it out for the boy to see. He expected Naruto to give a more visible reaction than a raised eyebrow, but chalked it up to him being better at schooling his emotions than he had figured he was. It didn't matter. He held onto the weapon as he continued to walk up the stairs, edging ever closer to Naruto's higher level.

Just before he opened his mouth to speak again, the shuriken that he caught transformed in a puff of smoke and reached out a pair of hands to grab at his eyepatch. The scamp turned it so that it covered his good eye, leaving the useless one exposed and effectively blinding Sagat.

Angrily slamming the clone into the ground hard enough to leave a crater and dispel it, he quickly reached up to right his eyepatch, but that short window of time was all Naruto needed to make something happen with a smattering of hand-seals. With Sagat unable to see, he wouldn't be able to anticipate what was coming, "-Because I live for proving guys like you wrong! Isseishageki Chakura Tanki-sha (Chakra Spitfire Volley)!"

The bombardment of tiny chakra blasts flew from Naruto's mouth and exploded off of Sagat's frame one after another in rapid-fire succession until the payload was spent. Fans that had previously been crowding the side of the stands to see the fight on the stairs better scrambled away when the volley began.

"Uh… I don't know what just happened folks." The announcer called out over the speakers as the large plume of dust surrounding Naruto's aiming area at Sagat engulfed a large portion of the stairs, "I've seen a lot of things in years and years of calling fights of all sorts, but seeing a kid turn a metal weapon into a copy of himself is kind of new to me…"

Still looking tired, Naruto had to squint to keep the dust out of his eyes from his last attack on Sagat, 'I didn't think he'd actually try to catch the transformed shuriken-clone to prove a point, but I'm glad he did because that ended up way better than what I was actually planning on doing!'

Naruto had created a clone the moment he clawed his hands over the top step, the summit of the stairs concealing the smoke from a Kage Bunshin, as it also with did the instant transformation that the clone used to turn into a shuriken.

The transformed clone-shuriken had been cradled to his chest to hide it until he got up… and also because Sagat had busted his insides to hell with that Tiger Uppercut and he needed some temporary comfort in clutching at his injuries.

The original plan had called for Sagat to dodge the shuriken and the clone to transform back into a human form after it flew past the man, thus giving him a free shot at Sagat's back.

Things turned out a bit differently than he had expected, but adaptability was paramount for success. It all ended up the same either way; Naruto got a much needed free shot at Sagat. With the time allowed to prepare for more, Naruto made the cross-seal and formed a small row of Kage Bunshin prepared for more fighting, though splitting his chakra that much again seemed to noticeably drain him even more.

It didn't matter. As long as his knees weren't knocking and his vision was still straight it wasn't real exhaustion. Uzumaki Naruto didn't get real exhaustion… yet. There was a first time for everything and he was sorely hoping that today was not the day for this particular first.

"Not good enough…"

Once again the dust cleared to reveal Sagat still standing. The tape on his fists was discolored red, brown, and black and his body was covered in bloody burns roughly the size of golf balls.

"You can choose to use any underhanded method to gain the upper-hand that you want." Sagat said as he spread his hands apart and they started crackling with surging yellow ki, "It's all simply just another test I have to pass before I meet my greatest rival in the finals once more. Khæn Nxn Seụ̄x (Tiger Cannon)!"

The booming flash of ki nearly blinded Naruto at the sight of it once it took form. Sagat's ki blast expanded past the width of the grand stairway, to more than half the height of Sagat's body, and rocketed up at Naruto and his phalanx of clones that looked completely shell-shocked.

The blast completely pulverized the entire top of the stairs, turning it from a once beautiful piece of architecture to an ugly scar that had been torn out of the temple grounds. It had carved a trench through a portion of the upper level above the stands and taken off into the air and even took out the small building not too far behind it that had been set aside as the medical bay the on the first day of matches, blowing it sky high.

"Hmm…" Sagat grunted to himself at the very destructive aftermath of his ultimate attack as the entire area still shook from the reverberation of the ki exploding. There was something missing from the devastation he had just caused. There wasn't a person at the heart of it, "He moved. Impressive."

Such flat-footed speed in the face of a technique that covered as much space as it did and moved as fast as it did. Naruto wasn't even the fastest person left in the tournament, but something had to be said for such dogged survival instincts.

Said individual had somehow wound up in the crowd, having landed on several spectators in his panic to avoid the Tiger Cannon, "Ow…" Naruto groaned as he tried to carefully remove himself from the people that he had landed back-first onto, "That was close. Looks like you aren't going anywhere yet."

"It's only a matter of time."

"Yeah, for you to lose. Not me." Naruto replied, standing up on one of the seats to prepare to jump out of the stands and back at Sagat, "You hit way harder than me, and you almost just vaporized me, but don't underestimate me. You underestimated Ryu, and he tore your chest open like you were getting bypass surgery."

Sagat's scar flashed red like a beacon at the reminder of how he received the lasting reminder of the devastation of Ryu's most powerful Shoryuuken, "That doesn't matter. After I'm through with you and Ryu is through with his semifinal match we'll see if he can do it again."

A look of confusion flashed over Naruto's face, "What the hell are you talking about? You're not going to get to fight Ryu-."

"-Because you're going to win this match." Sagat finished for Naruto, cutting off what he thought was going to be a plucky, spirited response full of determination, "Spare me. Don't tell me what you're going to do, show me."

Naruto was about to rise to the remark, but held himself back, finding it more interesting to figure out what Sagat was thinking. Also, every second he got to catch his breath would only make him stronger, "No, seriously, what the hell are you talking about? Ryu's out. He lost last round, to Ken. The winner of this gets either Ken or Sasuke in the finals." Didn't this guy watch the rest of the quarterfinal matches after he beat Cammy?

In all actuality, Sagat did no such thing. He was the first winner finished for the day and he wanted to get as far away from the quarterfinal match he had taken part in as he could, washing his hands of anything to do with what he had said in the heat of the moment to try and trigger Cammy's Shadaloo programming (as far as he knew it hadn't worked). He wanted to put it out of mind and prepare himself for the next day.

He cared nothing for who he would have faced in the semifinals, either Chun-Li or Naruto; he would defeat either of them. And he assumed that Ryu would defeat Ken, as he considered Ryu the superior fighter. His own bias had much to do with that as well, but he didn't see Ryu losing to anyone left in the running.

"You lie." Sagat replied, but he didn't see any reason why Naruto would have, thus the conviction in his words was weaker than it should have been, "You're not lying."

"No. Cross my heart. He's out." Even the crowd members around Naruto nodded in agreement with him, backing him up, "You didn't know he got beaten? What were you doing yesterday after your fights were through?"

Granted, the big scary man had stalked off on his own immediately after his fight was over, and there weren't TVs anywhere in the temple other than in the medic bay that was now a pile of rubble, but someone would have had to isolate themselves completely to avoid finding out about the results of the tournament that they were a part of.

Sagat's visible ki died down and the glow in his scar faded away. There was an angry look of disbelief on his face at the information being presented to him. But as if his single eye were attracted to look that way, he turned toward another area of the top rim of the courtyard where he saw Ryu standing next to Ken. A begrudging nod came from Ryu who didn't try to say a word.

"I see." Looking down at his fist, Sagat wasn't feeling the same motivation that he had at the outset of the match. It felt eerily similar to the way he had felt during his depression times after the loss to Ryu in the first tournament.

Looking over at Naruto he could see that the young man was still ready to fight. Eyes were stuck straight on him, watching his every move and thinking of the best way to approach him out of the audience to get back into the battle.

His own hopes on the other hand had been shattered. His entire motivation for taking part in Shadaloo's activities for years was nothing more than a true rematch against Ryu. He had worked for a criminal organization, put his own morality into question in the last round of matches by using a brainwashing command on his opponent, and for what?

Bison had screwed up his attempt to get his desired fight against Ryu every time it seemed as if it would come to fruition. And now when he finally seemed as if he would get his chance, it wasn't to be once again.

Shaking his head at the situation placed before him, Sagat shook his head and almost felt like laughing. It had to be some kind of karmic slap for the way he reacted to the loss that changed his life, 'When finally pressed with great adversity after an entire career of success, when I was finally at my lowest, I made the wrong choice and I've been paying for it ever since.' "I'm dropping out of the competition."

The abrupt declaration elicited a crowd reaction of complete disbelief and shock. This was the national hero of the entire country, the greatest Muay Thai fighter of his generation and possibly beyond.

He had been so famed that Naruto had known full well who the man was before the First World Warrior Tournament, before finding out that the man was in Shadaloo, before he had even met him in person.

That was why it turned out to be a thorough shock to his system to find this to be happening, "Why?"

"I am not the man I used to be." Sagat said as he ambled down the stairs to leave through the courtyard. Naruto followed him through the crowd, moving through the people to keep pace with him all the way back down, "My anger to get revenge against Ryu and humiliate him the way I was humiliated drove me. But after everything that has happened since the day I swore I would defeat him… is it really worth it at the cost of my legacy?"

His legacy? This was a tournament being seen worldwide. Would that boost his legacy? He was already legendary, what else did a man like Sagat have to prove anyway? "But our match?" Naruto reasoned, "We're still fighting. You can still win the whole contest. What about that?"

Far be it from him to try and talk his way out of an opponent basically surrendering, but it made no sense. Sagat's raw power and vitality had made it abundantly clear to Naruto that if he wanted to win he would have to try and start tapping into the Kyuubi's power, something he wasn't sure he could even do again on cue yet. There was nothing about this that was settled, and no reason to quit for either of them.

At least in his mind. Not so much in Sagat's.

"I'm not sure I would defeat you here if we continued, despite being far superior to you in experience, strength, and technique." Sagat admitted as he finally reached the courtyard ground and began walking away to the exit of the entire temple, "For all of your deficiencies as a martial artist, there is one thing that I would be remiss to ignore. Your fists have soul. You believe in every move you make, from the punches you throw to the steps you take. I can't feel that anymore."

When his anger was dried up he felt that he had nothing else inside guiding him. Whatever he had at his peak, it was starting to go, and he didn't know what it was to find it and stop it from doing so.

He wasn't going to find it as he was though.

All Naruto could do was watch Sagat walk off of the field and out through the heavily damaged entrance without turning back once. Sagat had left the building.

"It seems that Sagat has elected to bow out of the tournament… and that leaves the winner, advancing to the final round of the Second World Warrior Tournament; Naruto Uzumaki!"

Everyone was dead silent, even Naruto. And who could blame any one of them? It was completely unheard of. In twenty-five years of active competition, Sagat had never voluntarily given up of his own accord. Not due to injuries, personal tragedy, nothing had made him do so before.

Still quite surprised at the turn of events, Naruto merely plopped down in the nearest seat in the crowd and just stared as Sagat's frame grew smaller and smaller and finally disappeared. So out of it was he, that he barely noticed his allies had come up to him and surrounded him.

Ken was the first to pat Naruto on the back in congrats as even Ryu stood with him, cracking a smile, "Well it looks like after the next match I'll be seeing you in the finals. Looking forward to kicking your ass again!"

Even when Cammy grabbed one of his hands between both of hers and he got a strong pat on the back from E. Honda he seemed out of it, "Naruto?" Chun-Li asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face to get his focus on her, "What's the matter? You just won."

"Yeah, sure." He didn't feel like he had won. Sagat hadn't been defeated. The upper hand belonged to no one at the time of the fight's conclusion. He didn't necessarily feel happy or upset about it. It was a pretty hollow feeling, "I just want to rest as much as I can more than celebrating right now. I'll do that after I win the whole thing."

While it was weird to see Naruto so reserved about something, especially after succeeding, it made enough sense. Conserving his energy was paramount, especially considering who his two potential opponents were.

Ken stretched his hands over his head and flexed out his knuckles, chuckling slightly to himself, "I'm up then. Don't think you'll be resting for too long, because I'll be making this quick." With that, Ken hopped the railing and jogged out into the courtyard amid the interest of the crowd, "You'd better hope we somehow wind up taking each other out, because if I win you definitely won't be!"

Naruto flipped off Ken, though the man didn't see it as he played to the crowd while stretching and awaiting his opponent. Everyone still seemed a bit out of it from what had just happened moments ago.

At the top of the stairs, Sasuke stood, looking at the heavy damage that had just been wrought on the area with a small sense of amusement. He should have expected that so much would get destroyed, but now there wouldn't be any more medical treatment so it was officially a game of attrition. All he had to do was make sure that he came out healthier than Naruto and he'd have this all in the bag.

He could handle Ken without wasting too much of himself in the process. He knew that he could, 'One more fight Naruto, and we can finally finish this once and for all.'

XxX

(Outside of the Temple)

Sagat hadn't even gone back to retrieve the few belongings he had brought with him to the event. He merely walked away from the temple without turning back once, taking the secluded dirt road until he reached the main road where he could begin his trek back to his village. He was going home to reinvigorate himself.

"Where do you think you're going Sagat?"

Stopping in his tracks, he didn't even need to turn around to know that Bison had gotten the drop on him. What else was new? He honestly hadn't been expecting that he could just walk away and not pay for it.

"Home." He said, finally turning to face Bison who didn't even seem to have his usual evil grin on his face. His expression was a mixture of disappointment and apathy to Sagat's presence, "I'm tired of this. Tired of you. But most of all I'm tired of having lost myself." He looked down at his hands and shook his head, "I'm going to find myself once again, and become the world's best fighter in the world before I become too old to do so."

"What an empty goal." Bison said with a cruel chuckle, "Even when you were the 'God of Muay Thai' you were never the best in the world." He held up his right fist surging with sickly purple Psycho Power, "Even when you were at your peak, thought by all to be the most powerful, this was a farce only because titles of fighting mean nothing to me." He turned around and gestured to the temple that stood a mile or so back, "You can win all of the matches that you wish, train yourself and defeat Ryu if you can. It means nothing."

Sagat's eye narrowed at the sight of the arrogant would-be emperor and his egotistical words, "And why is that?"

"Because of the fact that no matter what, I was always stronger than you. Even now I'm still stronger than you. Especially now. I don't want to be known as just the strongest in the world. I want the world itself."

"Says the man that has spent this entire tournament cowering in the shadows, hiding himself from the enemies he lured here himself."

"I expected my elites to be able to deal with them, but once again I overestimated your abilities. I thought I had trimmed the fat after Vega had been killed, but I seem to be surrounded by incompetence." Bison explained, before unclipping his cape from his shoulders and throwing it aside, "I'm not hiding myself from you though am I? What does that tell you?"

Sagat scoffed at him and prepared himself for battle once more, "That you are a greater fool than I ever figured you to be."

"Cute, but wrong." Bison corrected unamusedly, "It means that I do not require your services any longer. But you can do one last thing for me. You can die. No one will notice your death with the tournament still going on, and you'll be a splendid warm-up for when I make my grand entrance to destroy the winner of my tournament in front of the entire world."

The idea of Bison interrupting the tournament at the end just to steal the glory from the person that managed to win it all made him sick, and out of the three left the man had a grudge against two of them. He didn't have any for Sasuke, but he would probably have still killed Sasuke regardless. This man had no limit to his iniquity.

Right then and there he made the decision that Bison could not live through the remainder of the day. He had been a perpetual dark cloud hanging over the heads of everyone, and it was time to put it to an end, "The last time you met your end it was at the hands of a child. This time there's an adult to do the job and make sure it's finished."

"I met my end at the hands of a child with the power of a raging monster inside of him, thirteen female assassins with faulty programming, the two most powerful fighters of the United States military, the strongest woman in the world, and two disciples of a legendary style. And let's not forget the high-explosives that leveled my entire base." Bison said, laughing at the mere thought of Sagat by himself being able to compare to the force that it took to stop him last time,

A concerted effort of the best fighters in the world and an entire strategy centered around ruining the device that enhanced his powers, and they still almost didn't escape with their lives.

Compared to that, a battle with Sagat was laughable. Bison was who he was for a reason. He was confident in his prowess for one simple reason. One-on-one he had never been defeated since he embraced Psycho Power as the true way to gain strength.

"You're sprinting to your death in challenging me, even if I am weaker than I had been a year ago. You're still fighting a God."

And he would not fall on this day either. Especially not to an old tiger with broken fangs and claws...