Chapter 064

"It's clear that we have a common understanding of fighting for those we seek to protect," Naruto said, "One of the selfless and bravest things a person can do is sacrifice their life for someone you care about."

"I see," said Haku as she smiled before she stood up from where she had crouched down and took her basket.

"You will become strong then," she said and walked away. Naruto watched her retreating form until she was completely out of sight. Turning, Naruto started walking off away from the scene, heading back to the house where Kakashi and the others were.

'I'm sure you knew who she was Naruto,' Yondaime said.

I know she's that fake hunter nin, Naruto replied, I have heightened senses after all don't I? But there was no point in alerting her to the fact that I'm aware of this since she didn't pose a threat to me; not that I allowed my guard to drop.

No sooner had he thought that statement, a kunai came speeding for his head. Sensing the danger, he immediately dashed out of the way as the kunai lodged itself into one of the nearby trees.

What was I saying about not allowing my guard to drop, Naruto thought while going into full shinobi mode.

"Impressive for a Genin fresh out of the academy," said a new young feminine voice, "Most would have died from that surprise attack."

Naruto looked up to see a girl his age standing high up on top of tree branch. The girl grinned before she flipped and landed down gracefully on her feet. Upon standing back and facing him, Naruto got a clear look at the very attractive girl in front of him before noticing the symbol that her headband carried. Yondaime went on full alert on seeing THAT symbol.

'She's from Iwagakure,' Yondaime warned with no form of humor in his voice.

"So you're a kunoichi from Iwagakure," Naruto said, knowing fully well that Konoha and Iwa have a form of hatred for each other, especially after what Yondaime did to them during the Iwa-Konoha War many years ago. That memory was still fresh in the minds of the Iwa nins who lived during that time.

"Yes I am," the girl said, "My name is Ryota, but my alias is "Shining Stone"."

"…," Naruto said nothing but kept his guard up.

"And you're Senju Uzumaki Naruto son of Godaime Hokage," Ryota said, "And you're also the idiot who self-proclaimed himself Konoha's Second Flash. (Scoffed)…As if you're the second coming of Yondaime Hokage."

"I don't have time for you girl," Naruto said coldly, "Crawl back underneath the Rock from where you came."

The kunoichi snarled at Naruto's insult to both her and Iwa.

"You fool," Ryota said, "I was thinking of bringing you back alive! But I think I'll just return with your corpse instead!"

"Thanks for your invitation to Iwa in a body bag but I plan on living passed today," Naruto shot back as he got into a fighting position.

'Naruto,' Yondaime warned, 'Don't use any of my fighting stances or attacks. We don't want to alert Iwagakure further about you than they already seem to know. It would be trouble should they discover that you're both my and Kyuubi's container.'

Naruto mentally nodded in understanding. Before Naruto did anything else Ryota did a complex series of hand seals before her body glowed in mystic chakra. Moments later, Naruto detected power building up in her.

"Iwa No Chikara (Rock Strength)," Ryota said as she felt the power and changes coursing through her body.

This is trouble, Naruto thought as she suddenly dashed at him speedily and leaped into the air before coming down straight at him. Seeing her coming, Naruto jumped out of the way as she punched into the ground with tremendous force, breaking the ground apart as earth pieces and particles came flying at him. After being assaulted by the flying earth pieces, Naruto landed down on the broken up ground some distance away from the girl.

This girl must have excellent chakra control to be able to perform such an attack, Naruto thought, It's almost like fighting Kaa-chan, only my age.

The girl in turn smirked at Naruto with a confident look. Haughtily she said, "Does the amount of my strength intimidate you? Clearly the gap between our abilities are-"

Her speech was cut short when Naruto punched the ground and sent a massive force straight at her. She quickly jumped and evaded the attack as she land down to the right of where she once was standing. She turned to Naruto who was looking at her with a calm but serious expression.

That one attack matched the one I used just now, Ryota thought in shock, I wasn't expecting this! He must have as good of control of his chakra as I do! And he didn't even use any jutsus or hand seals for it.

Rather than being angry at this revelation, the kunoichi instead smiled brightly at him, which caught Naruto off guard, though he didn't dare drop of guard.

"Why are you smiling at me like that," Naruto asked cautiously.

"I waited a long to time to face off against someone who could stand a chance in giving me a good fight," Ryota answered, "Some of the shinobis back in my village are afraid to fight me, especially since I'm an Iwa prodigy. When I accepted this mission, at first I thought that I was going to return back to Iwa with some Yondaime Hokage-wannabe Genin fresh out of his village's ninja academy. But after seeing what you did just now, it's safe to say that there's more to you than meet the eyes. I wish to see which of us is the stronger fighter."

"I'm not here for your amusement girl," the annoyed Naruto retorted, "I have more important things to do than to satisfy your ego."

"As if you had a say in the matter," Ryota shot back as she rushed at him and started doing combat with him. Neither Naruto nor Ryota held back from delivery fast and solid hard punches and kicks to each other, with the surrounding trees being the casualties of their battle. Punch after punch, kick after kick, this kept on going as they did battle, occasionally blocking and ducking from each other's attacks. Thus far, no other jutsus but brute force was used in their fight.

After another minute, both Naruto and Ryota pulled away from each other to catch their breaths. Both ninjas were breathing hard as they stared each other hard to the face.

Damn, Naruto mentally cursed, This kunoichi is a real problem and she doesn't look like she's done yet.

What a fighter, Ryota thought admirably, What kind of training regiment did he undergo? I don't recall any mentions of Yondaime Hokage having insane strength; only insane speed. From the looks of it, one would think that this Naruto character and I are evenly matched. But I intend to fix that in time.

Naruto saw that the Iwa Jounin was up to something, though he didn't know what.

"It would seem that we hit a stalemate," Ryota said as she stood up and dusted herself, "Let's stop here for now. I think I've learned enough about you today."

"Where are you getting at girl?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Ryota said, "I'll leave you alone for now. But next time, (venomously) I'll kill you."

With that, she jumped into the air and dashed speedily through the trees and away from Naruto.

"She's going to be a problem," Naruto said aloud to himself.

'Yes I know,' Yondaime spoke after watching how his son handled the Iwa kunoichi, 'But I'm happy that you didn't reveal what you're really capable of doing. The last thing we need is Iwagakure acquiring too much about you.'

Naruto nodded in agreement before running back to the house. After a good long run, Naruto found Sasuke and Sai guarding the house. Upon his arrival, the two boys noticed Naruto's dirtied and somewhat ragged appearance.

"What happened to you," Sai asked, "Ran into trouble I presume?"

"Nothing some food and a little rest can't fix," Naruto remarked with a smile on his face.

"You didn't answer the question," Sasuke shot at him, "Did you run into any of Gatō's men?"

"No," Naruto said, "I ran into something worst."

The two boys looked at the blonde carefully on hearing that.

"Who," Sai asked.

"Some girl with an ego," Naruto said, causing the boys to sweat-drop. A moment later…