Come As You Are...

Chapter 30 - Come As You Are

Balrog hated Southeast Asia. It was one of his least favorite places on the planet. Too many rural places for his tastes, he didn't speak the language, too many people didn't speak English, and he was always afraid he'd wind up stuck in the jungle and wind up dead. Since that was the way that Vega's life ended that fear came back, and since it happened in Thailand and that was where the tournament was to be held he wasn't a fan.

He knew Bison put the tournament out in Thailand because that was the country where Shadaloo more or less had the most freedom to do as they wished, and he understood that. Even so, he'd much rather the tournament be held in a place like Las Vegas or New York City. Hell cities in Europe like Paris or London would have been preferable.

Solace could be taken for the former heavyweight boxing champion in the fact that if he really missed the glitz and glamour that much he could always drive out to Bangkok since they were close enough. That place wasn't too shabby all things considered. Booze, women, a place where a guy with money could live large. A good place to take a break in between times where he was busting skulls.

And he could look like a badass on world broadcasted television and make those idiots that banned him from boxing realize that he was still the best, and that any 'champion' they crowned after him was a paper substitute at best. He was one of the four 'legends' that received an open pass to go straight to the main show along with Ryu, Sagat, and one other man that hadn't been named.

"Sagat's entering too." Balrog reported as he entered Bison's office. The tournament would take place at a massive martial arts temple twenty minutes outside of Bangkok that was honored to be the setting for the Second World Warrior Tournament. For the most part Bison had his run of the place to set up whatever he needed to, and that included an office in one of the rooms, one that overlooked the open plaza where the fights would take place and the fans would watch after proper stands were set up, "He said he'll be here for the opening ceremony, but he's training until then."

"Expected." Bison said simply, holding his hands behind his back as he watched the construction of the arena that would host his grand games, "All I had to do was mention that Ryu would be taking part and he bought right into it. Such simple men… mere brutes, nothing more. Never looking past the surface. All that matters to them is the fight. It takes more than ability itself to be the greatest."

Balrog wasn't certain about that. It worked just fine for him his entire career and afterward, but then again the only thing he was all about was getting paid so it didn't matter to him either, "Whatever you say boss." He conceded without any care one way or the other, "What's the plan? For when everybody gets here I mean? How are we taking all of your enemies out?"

To the hulking boxer's confusion, Bison started laughing. Balrog couldn't really see what was funny. He didn't think his question was dumb in the least, "There is no real plan." Bison said, much to Balrog's confusion, "This is all to taunt our enemies and let them know that their very best didn't even come close to destroying us. Destroying me."

All of the effort and sacrifice put into trying to end the strife brought forward by Bison and his organization, and he was going to flaunt that it was all for nothing. That even after all of that Shadaloo was about to make a mint. The entire world was going to pay Shadaloo a near mint to watch these people beat each other into pulp.

"I won't do anything." Bison said with a grin. The prospect of if he would and when he would do it would drive the more obsessive competitors mad, "After the tournament is over I'll face the winner in a surprise 'bonus match' for the grand prize of the event, to let the fools know that they're on borrowed time, and that they will all die very soon."

A show that he was still an imposingly powerful figure. A victory for his ego to defeat the person perceived as the champion, making the world understand his strength.

And if it was one of his enemies all the better to embarrass them on a grand stage before he snuffed their life out. The rules of the tournament would allow such a thing right there on the spot… accidental of course. A death in the heat of battle. Either way the fans would eat it up.

Balrog chuckled nervously at the thought of facing Bison after the entire thing was over, 'Probably best to drop out after I've made a good run to the finals, maybe the semis depending on who the last guy is.' It was better than having to fight Bison who might kill him depending on his mood at the time, 'Yeah, I'll make up some kind of hokey injury, probably about how I broke my hand cracking my last opponent's skull.'

"Relax Balrog." As if sensing his underling's distress, Bison chose to assure him of his safety, "Killing you would never be my intention, especially if you were to emerge victorious. That would be a waste of your strength." He had redeemed himself after being upset by some kid in Japan, and winning the tournament would only affirm that fact, "Now Sagat on the other hand…"

The man had been nothing but trouble the entire time he had been under Bison's employ. Insubordinate to say the very least. Bison believed that Sagat's single-minded desire for a clean rematch with Ryu would make him easily to manipulate, but it only made him a fool. His usefulness was running out. The only thing that Sagat had left of use for Shadaloo was to make a statement.

If Sagat was the one that emerged victorious Bison would definitely kill him.

The intent in what Bison was trying to convey was clear to Balrog and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, "Right. Well if that's all I'm gonna go train." He said, slowly backing out of the room, "If that's cool?"

"You're dismissed."

Bison chuckled as he wasn't certain that Balrog had ever moved as fast as he did when he left his office. That was the way it should have been, people cowering at his power. His chuckling then stopped when he looked down at his hand and then at the rest of his arm.

His scientists had his DNA to create extra bodies for his spirit to inhabit, but they weren't as powerful as his original body that he had turned into a masterpiece via his training methods. He hadn't had his new body for long enough to bring it back up to that same level, and it was noticeable. He didn't carry the same amount of muscle mass that he held before his previous body was destroyed. When he hit something now, he wasn't assured that it would be destroyed in one punch.

And it was all their faults. Thinking they could 'save the world' from him with just their fists. Well the world sure did care about that didn't it? Because the world was about to hand him money to watch them kill each other. That in of itself would be a slap in all of their faces. The people would cheer him and praise him for putting the tournament together, and all his enemies would be able to do would be to stand there and deal with it.

Those fools would all pay.

XxX

(Mountains South of Aohura City)

The normally still forests that covered the mountains outside of town were quiet, with only the occasional sounds of birds chirping sounding out to illustrate the untouched nature of the area. For dozens of miles leading away from the more metropolitan areas of the Chugoku region you would be hard-pressed to find a human being anywhere in those woods.

It wasn't impossible. You just had to look past the fact that you could hardly hear them and you had to acknowledge the fact that sometimes those blurs soaring from branch to branch in the air weren't birds.

'Come on. It can't be that hard to catch her.' Naruto thought to himself out loud. Standing against a tree, Naruto lowered a sheet that he had been using to camouflage himself before getting on the move again, trying to track his target, 'I can't believe she hasn't run into any traps yet.'

In something of a break from his usual grueling training program, Naruto had taken something of a break due to it being Sunday. Of course with a little over two weeks remaining until the tournament was to take place it wasn't really a break.

Upon Ibuki's request so that she didn't have to go through the same old routine that she normally had to go through on her day off from school Naruto headed into the mountains to train with her. Apparently that was a more fun alternative to what would have happened otherwise.

So without any reason to say no since it was also a change of pace for him too and could be quite fun depending on how it went, Naruto agreed and headed out Sunday morning to do his thing.

'I've only got two minutes left to find her or it's a draw.' Ibuki had to track Naruto first in the game that they were playing to train but was unable to find him, even without his clones to deter her, within a twenty minute time limit, 'She can't even use Henge, so why is she so good at this?' He hissed stressfully, the nippy winter air causing his breath to be visible, 'I'm freezing my-.'

A snap of branches caught Naruto's attention and he immediately took off in that direction. Within a matter of seconds he came to an open tiger pit that he had set up to trap Ibuki and it appeared that she had tripped it and escaped without falling in. Damn it.

But he then smirked when he got sight of her footprints on the ground. Yeah, because he had made sure that the trap was very muddy just in case she tripped it and escaped before he got there. And just like that he was on her trail. One minute left.

Pumping extra effort to his legs he eventually caught sight of Ibuki in her brown ninja garb. Apparently she had foregone trying to hide again after tripping his trap and choosing instead to simply burn the clock out by running away. Turning around to check behind her she went wide-eyed at the sight of Naruto. It was noticeable even behind her facemask, "No! Why are you so fast now?" She thought that she could at least stay ahead of him in a full-on run until the game was over.

"Dragging a jeep'll do that for your legs!" Naruto shouted as he continued to close the distance, "You can hide but you can't run!"

"That sounded so stupid!"

"Yeah, well you're running though aren't you?"

He had a point, but then again in ten seconds it wouldn't matter what it was because time would be up, "Either way it's all over!" She said confidently hoping that everything would be called off soon.

"You're right." Naruto remarked, pulling out a kunai that he threw in Ibuki's direction, "It's over!"

It didn't hit her, but it scared the hell out of her as it passed her by, "That better have been blunted! Real weapons are against the rules!" Ibuki shouted at Naruto before she heard a snapping noise and a huge net lifted from underneath the brush of the ground and caught them both. At least it would have had Naruto not replaced himself with a log at the last second with a Kawarimi.

"Time!" Came a stern shout from somewhere else nearby in the forest.

Safely from his place on the ground, Naruto cackled up at the sight of arms and legs sticking out of a mass of sticks and leaves, "Ha, take that! I gotcha! Nice try kunoichi babe, but I'm on my game!"

"Yeah… too bad you didn't win though." Without him sensing her, Ibuki jumped onto Naruto's back and held on tightly much to his surprise. She pulled down her facemask to show her grin and pointed up at the net, "Could you cut my tanuki down please? I don't think Don-chan's very happy up there."

Looking back up at the net, instead of seeing a mass of arms and legs in it he saw one very perturbed looking raccoon-dog staring down at him. Naruto palmed his face and threw a shuriken at one of the ropes supporting the trap to break it.

As Ibuki's pet fell and landed back on its feet her sensei Sanjou made his presence felt, holding up a stopwatch that he had been using to time their game of tag, "So?" He asked expectantly in regards to the results.

"Draw." Both Naruto and Ibuki said simultaneously, with a varying level of satisfaction at this fact for the both of them; one dejected, the other one content with the outcome, "Damn you." Naruto added after the fact, "I want a rematch."

"Of course you do, but I don't." Unlike Naruto, Ibuki wasn't that competitive when it came to things like this. One round that ended dead even was more than enough for her, "I asked you to come out here and do this for a reason Naruto." She said, pulling on his cheek.

"Because you didn't want to do your normal training today?" Naruto ventured randomly as he scratched his head.

Yes, but he didn't have to say that in front of her sensei, "Kind of… but it was to help you too in a way." She said as she jumped off of Naruto's back and landed in front of him in a flourish before pointing like an instructor, "What would you do if you had to fight someone in the tournament that you couldn't overpower or beat straight up? Would you run?"

"Not a chance!"

"Well you should." Ibuki said with her hands on her hips, "I don't mean hightail it out of the arena, but you're a ninja. Don't get into a slugfest. And if this event really is a trap you're going to want to remember that an indirect victory is still a win." If Naruto started getting his ass kicked she was afraid that the ultra-competitive chip on his shoulder would kick in and he'd get into something of a pissing contest with his opponent.

Realizing that he had been set up with that question when he saw Sanjou nodding in silent agreement, Naruto blushed a bit and got slightly defensive, "I'm not dumb Ibuki. I know that."

"I don't mean anything by it." She said with a shrug, "It's just something that's easy to forget in a martial arts competition. You don't have to fight like everyone else just because of where you are. You're different for a reason, and I doubt there are going to be that many rules anyway."

Naruto nodded in understanding, not taking offense any longer. Ibuki just wanted him to win, or at the very least stay as safe as possible in case the deck wound up being stacked against him during the matches. By now it was common knowledge to his inner circle on what was wrong with him, so she just wanted to make sure he'd be okay.

Yet another reason why Naruto thought that his friends were awesome. They definitively cared about his well-being and wanted him to succeed.

"Ibuki." Sanjou said with his arms crossed, gesturing in the general direction of the Glade of Ninjas, "It's time to return home. Just a short exercise when we return and you can have the remainder of the afternoon off." The girl pumped her fist victoriously at hearing that, "Let's go. Say goodbye to Uzumaki-san and let's go."

Naruto watched Ibuki nod to her sensei before he took off swiftly, returning back to their village, "Alright. Well I'll see you tomorrow okay?" Naruto said, feeling that he should let her get on her way.

"You mean I'll see your clone right?" Ibuki tried to correct with a grin only to get a shake of Naruto's head, "No clone? Really now?"

"Me and Cam have to leave for the venue on Thursday." Naruto explained, holding his hands behind his head as he walked along the forest floor, "She thought that it would be a good idea to cut the training off after today to give ourselves a chance to rest up a bit." He didn't really have a reason to disagree, "So I'm going to school for half of the week."

Well that was good. He didn't always have to go jackhammer with his training the way he had been for two months because it showed in his body. Due to the fact that his fighting outfit exposed them his arms had some serious definition to them and Ibuki was sure that if she could finagle another hot spring kind of meeting she'd find that Naruto would have a six-pack this time around instead of his previously more streamlined physique.

When she had grabbed onto him earlier he felt like a rock. He seriously seemed to be at least five pounds heavier at first glance.

"Tomorrow it is then." Ibuki confirmed with a nod as she stepped forward a bit bashfully, "So ah, thanks for coming all the way out here just to play with me a for bit Naruto."

It wasn't a date akin to what they had been on in the past, and she didn't rightly think she could try to kiss him goodbye because she was certain that Sanjou was still somewhere watching to bust her when she did it, but damn it she wanted to. It wasn't fair that she had the absolutely no opportunity to get him alone. She just wanted a shot at being normal, but she couldn't do it.

It was sort of the reason she was usually so physically personal with Naruto, because compared to the rest of their friends she was the one there the least due to her proximity from Aohura City. Being straightforward in that regard, as much as her shame would allow anyway, was her best tool to get Naruto's notice.

The turmoil on her face was evident to Naruto even if she didn't think it was that clear to see, and it was something that he'd seen not too long ago from Karin. While he was certain that Ibuki's hang-ups weren't the same as Karin's had been it wasn't hard to see that once again it was about him. It was hard however to accept that it was about him. He was aware that she had some kind of interest in him, but with her personality it was hard to tell how serious it was.

Unlike then however, if it wasn't a situation where he needed to force the issue he wouldn't. It wasn't a good idea to try and pull a ninja's secrets from them, so in this case he would leave sleeping dogs to lie as much as possible. He placed a hand on her cheek and gave her a kiss on the other one before moving past her, "Any time. Later Ibuki."

Ibuki's mouth was open in surprise that he'd done something that forward, but by the time she turned around he was already gone. Probably because he was afraid that she would clock him or something for what he did. It was actually really comforting.

'If Karin thinks that she gets to just automatically have him after one damn kiss she's got another thing coming.' Not a chance, not while nothing was certain yet. In the meantime she'd just find a way to watch the tournament and root for him from Japan, "You'd better give those jerks hell Naruto."

XxX

(Two Days Later – Just Outside Bangkok, Thailand)

Compared to winter in Japan, Naruto felt much better being in Thailand. Hi no Kuni back home always had amazing warm weather, and he thoroughly realized that after living in Japan he despised seasons with a vengeance. Winter made him lazy because it was so cold and he hated freezing to death. Milder climates were what he loved.

A yawn came from Naruto as he and Cammy sat in the backseat of a car being driven by their fellow Pacific qualifier and relatively close friend in E. Honda. They had all correlated their flights out to Thailand together as they all saw no reason not to. Cammy didn't know the sumo that well, but Naruto trusted him immensely and that was enough for the pretty soldier.

"So why'd you even join the tournament to begin with E?" Naruto asked trying to drum up some conversation on their way to the site of the fighting event, "Shouldn't you be training and competing in high-profile sumo matches to get to yokozuna?" He didn't think that street fighting would help get a sumo promoted in rank.

"I'd have to ask the same thing of you kids." E. Honda said with a smirk as he looked in the rearview mirror. He knew that Naruto was pretty competitive, but he didn't seem to be the type to care too terribly about winning things like this. Cammy was pretty mysterious to him since he hadn't met her prior to the qualifying matches, but she seemed a nice enough girl, fond of Naruto too, "I've got my reasons, trust me."

Naruto rested his head against the window as he looked out at the lush scenery available to him to see, "Well I'm here to fight just to make sure that some bad people leave my friends alone in exchange for getting to fuck with me free of charge. Of course it's not gonna be that easy." He then pointed over to Cammy, "Not with her here too."

As she was being acknowledged, Cammy held up a peace sign and a small smile for E. Honda's benefit as he chuckled at the teenage girl, "You've got a thing for coming across cute girls Uzumaki. Tell me I'm wrong."

A roll of the blond ninja's eyes came very quickly, "You're not… but then again all of these girls can kill me, Cam included. Cam especially as a matter of fact."

Uncharacteristically, Cammy pouted at Naruto's implication, cheeks puffed out, arms crossed over her chest and all, "I don't see the need to keep asserting this point to you Naruto. I won't ever, ever, ever kill you. Ever. No matter what." She hadn't even killed anyone the entire time that she had lived with him, "Did I really leave that bad of an impression when we first met? I can't imagine."

That was because she couldn't properly remember. The answer was yes. Yes she did.

"You keep telling me that." Naruto said, fishing his cell phone out of his pocket before quickly scooting across the backseat to squeeze closely to Cammy to take a picture of both of them just hanging out in the car, "And it's not like I don't believe you." Seriously, if she was going to 'black widow' him she would have done it by now, "You're a scary-brutal fighter, but you're actually sweet the rest of the time. I just like messing with you."

"I can't think of what kind of satisfaction you could possibly get out of that." Cammy straight-faced with her cheek squished against Naruto's before he quickly sat back across in his own seat once his picture was taken.

All Naruto did was laugh a bit and make sure that the picture had gotten their good sides before addressing E. Honda again, "So really, why are you here E?"

Raising an eyebrow at Naruto's persistence, he figured that it wouldn't be that big of a deal to tell them. They were all going to the same place together, "Well to put it short I'm getting tired of the rest of the world more or less lambasting my profession kid. Outside of Japan no one takes sumo seriously. I'm in this tournament to prove that we're skilled warriors too."

"You don't have to tell me." Naruto responded. His body could still feel the aches and pains he had endured from his first battle with E. Honda, "You proved it to my ribs and back just fine."

There was a joking tint to how Naruto said it, but E. Honda was well aware that he meant most of that statement, "There's another reason too." He admitted with a more serious tone this time, "I found wrestlers in rival stables taking biochemical drugs to give them advantages in the ring. A dealer was tracked down with connections to Shadaloo." Naruto let out a scoff as if to say 'Of course.'

There was no need to say anymore. Hanging out with Naruto enough would get you the knowledge of the Shadaloo story with the Psycho Drive and the Dolls and the amnesia and Charlie's sacrifice… and you'd get a crash course on what Shadaloo was all about, so E. Honda knew who the tournament was sponsored by.

After hearing the story of the driver of the vehicle, Cammy leaned back in her seat and stared up at the ceiling, "Is there anyone we know that doesn't have some sort of issue with these people?" Because thus far everyone in the car did at least.

Even she did, even if she didn't fully understand what it was herself. All she had to go on was what she had been told by her friends after suffering from amnesia and the dreams that would sometimes occur at night with her taking vague assassination orders from.

Naruto put a hand on Cammy's shoulder as a large set of stairs heading up to a temple came into view, the destination of the fighters set to participate, "Cam if there are people in the world that don't have problems with Shadaloo, it's probably just because they haven't gotten around to fucking with them in particular yet."

XxX

(Martial Arts Temple)

From the room set aside as his office, Bison could hear the roar of the crowd outside. It brought a grin to his face as he stood up and grabbed his cape prior to leaving his quarters. Opening the door to walk down the stone hallway the noise grew louder, with festive music in the air as he neared a walkway that allowed those passing by on it to view the open courtyard that had been adjusted to serve as the arena for the tournament.

It would only hold ten thousand people to view from within, a small number compared to what they would get in a grand arena had that route been chosen, but with all of the cameras set up to transmit around the world it didn't matter. No one would be left out in getting the chance to see this. Tickets cost an arm and a leg, only allowing those with means from wherever they originated to come and view it in person, but the place was still packed.

For such a dark man he simply couldn't peel the grin from his face as he stood in the shadows overlooking the entire show that he had set up. It was time to enjoy the fruits of his labor, "Now fight and destroy each other just to wait for a chance to get yourselves to me… my entertainment."

Down in the actual arena the sixteen competitors stood lined up next to each other in a straight line for everyone to see in the ring. The ring was simply the stone ground of the normal temple courtyard, fraught with statues across the area. The courtyard was surrounded by high-rising walls that contained the stands for the fans with only a prominent temple staircase leading up to a building overlooking the courtyard existed for the fighters to come down from as the path in and out.

At the moment, Naruto stood glowering in between Cammy to his left and a smirking Sasuke to his right who seemed to be quite satisfied at Naruto's reaction to his presence, "So this is why you weren't in town huh?" He muttered under his breath, "You think that's funny don't you?"

"Not particularly." Sasuke lied to his face, noticing Chun-Li to his right giving them both a chiding glance as if to tell them to behave in public, "What's your problem?"

"You two both look like kids trying to one-up each other right now." What, was she trying to keep them both in line? Yeah, good luck with that since neither of them were going to listen to her at all, "Can't you handle things professionally?" Chun-Li had by now with the clues presented to her worked out that these two were either friends or they hated each other. Probably both from the looks of things.

Great. Well she'd be damned if she had to wind up playing big sister and separating those two. Naruto respected the hell out of her but wouldn't listen to anything she'd try to get him to do and Sasuke only cared what she had to say when she was acting in her capacity as an Interpol agent. It would have probably been the equivalent to having to hold two tigers back from tearing each other apart.

Sasuke gave her a look as if to ask her what she thought he was doing, and Naruto did the same only he spoke up, "Why? I'll be professional when I fight, so until then who cares." He then pointed further down the line at one of the competitors shifting in place as if he wanted to dance, "I'm not that guy so I don't want to hear it."

Chun-Li looked that way and noticed who Naruto was talking about. A black man with a braided mohawk that was quite muscular, with a huge grin on his face seemed to be ecstatic just to be there. He was barefoot and shirtless, wearing loose orange pants with the words MAXIMUM inscribed down the legs of them, "That's 'The Southern Comet' Dee Jay, from Jamaica. He's probably the top professional kickboxer in America, and he's apparently a huge recording artist to boot. He's really famous."

A huge recording artist huh? Well Naruto liked music from America, but he hadn't heard anything from that guy before. Maybe he'd try and find something later if the idea wasn't knocked out of his head during the matches.

There were a few unfamiliar faces in the crowd of sixteen, but mostly they were people that Naruto and/or Cammy had met at one point or another. As expected, all of the players in the destruction of the Psycho Drive were in attendance including Guile, Ken, and Ryu, 'Maybe since Sakura-chan and Batsu didn't fight Bison themselves he didn't feel a reason to invite them to compete?'

That was his best reasoning. Batsu had been hurt by the time of the final encounter, and while Sakura had fought she hadn't fought against Bison himself… thank goodness. His paranoia was still pretty high though, but the TV cameras and all of the play-by-play booths made him feel better. Nothing too shady was going to go down in front of those things.

And the competitors seemed to be so powerful… what in the world was Bison going to possibly try with all of them in the same place?

Guile was standing there in his camouflage pants and olive tanktop, looking as stern as ever, seeming like he just wanted to get this show on the road. Ken was standing next to Ryu, trying to pick with his best friend via poking him in the ear while Ryu was standing at attention trying to take the whole thing seriously. The look on his face told everyone that he wanted to chuck Ken into the stands though.

There was Balrog, the most destructive boxer in the entire world. Zangief, the most skilled wrestler alive and a man that Naruto had battled against in the past was in attendance as well. Blanka was hunched over and crouched, taking in the whole experience as only a jungle man could. E. Honda stood smirking at being on such a stage. Dhalsim was quietly sitting on the ground and just meditating (Naruto would have to speak to him later).

Sagat, someone deemed as the most dangerous man in the world and a legend in the Muay Thai martial art just stood staring over many heads to get sight of Ryu. That's right, Ryu beat Sagat and left that huge scar on the one-eyed bald man's chest in the first tournament. There was also another man slightly taller and thicker than Sagat that seemed to be descended from Native American Indians with painted cheeks, an open sleeveless jean jacket and jean pants and moccasin boots.

There was a man with short brown hair and a muscular frame wearing black pants and black kung fu shoes just doing breathing exercises as he waited for the festivities to start in earnest. Wait a minute, Naruto knew who that was.

With wide-eyes Naruto quickly pulled out his cell phone and called home. He was going to rack up some serious long-distance charges but he didn't care, "Holy crap Sakura-chan, Fei Long is here." He whispered in a bit of awe at what he was witnessing, "It's the real deal too!"

"I know! The line-up ceremony of all of the fighters is on TV right now and I can see him! I mean really, Fei Long? I know he's a real fighter, but thought he was filming 'Triad Revival' so what's he doing here?"

"I don't know, but it's awesome!" Naruto more or less gushed over the line, "Should I try to get his autograph? No, that wouldn't look cool. We're supposed to be in a contest right now. What would that look like?" The only thing cooler would have been if Chuck Norris had shown up to compete, "…Could I get one later?"

Both teenagers were huge fans of Fei Long's action movies, and one of the first things they had managed to bond over in their childhood had been the absurdly stimulating films of the kung fu variety that starred Fei Long himself back when he was their age. There weren't many people in the world that Naruto would be caught fanning out over, but this man was apparently one of them.

"Oh, Naruto hang up, the camera's on you right now! Up and to the right."

Heeding Sakura's direction, Naruto looked in the indicated direction to see a camera with a flashing red light on it aimed right at him. He pasted a grin on his face and waved up to it, "Hey Sakura-chan take care of Cam's cat! Batsu you ass you owe me 5500 yen! Dan… you still suuuuck!" He yelled rapidly to make sure he was heard.

"Idiot…" Sasuke muttered at Naruto's side before realizing that the camera was now on him. All he did was scoff and turn away from it, forcing it to move onto the next person in line who was Chun-Li. She merely smiled at the camera with her fists on her hips until a box was presented where everyone was to take a small ball from it with a number on it. Naruto, Sasuke, and everyone up the line from her had already received one.

"Alright everyone!" The announcer of the tournament said aloud, "All of our participants have received their lot numbers for their placement in the brackets! Sixteen fighters from all over the world, twelve qualified in hard-nosed bouts past hundreds that have fallen along the wayside, and four are legends of martial arts here to show the world who is the best, so let's begin! Whomever has number one speak up and go up from there!"

"I've got number one." Cammy said with a shrug. She didn't really care who she got to fight this early in the game, so long as she got to analyze the field of competitors after her match was over to prepare for the next one.

Blanka's face lit up at hearing that as he was the next to speak, "Two." Getting to face a friend was a good shake for him. He couldn't ask for much more in his first big experience in a fancy, elaborate tournament like this.

"Very well then! The first match is the beautiful and mysterious femme fatale in Cammy White against the savage warrior of the Brazilian jungles; Blanka! Next participants please!"

Next to step up was Guile, holding up his own ball for the world to see, "Three."

It took a second but once Sagat looked at his ball his gaze narrowed on it as he crushed it in his hand and stepped forward to meet Guile, "Four." Both men stared each other down, Guile not flinching despite the fact that he was dwarfed by Sagat's sheer size.

"Match two will be the United States Armed Forces champion Major Guile going up against the first resident legend of the competition, the God of Muay Thai himself; Thailand's own national hero, Sagat!"

Naruto didn't waste any time stepping forward with his entry ball in hand, tossing it up and down in his hand, "Five, so who am I fighting first?" He asked, turning around to the line of remaining fighters that could be his possible opponent.

He dropped his ball when Fei Long stepped forward in return, seemingly followed by a small film crew right there with him, "I'm taking you on in round one. I've got number six." There was a calm and serious air about him, and a smooth gait in his step as he moved to meet Naruto, "I hope you're strong."

"…Yeah." A seemingly speechless Naruto managed to say in return. Instead of blustering up and trash-talking he slowly lifted up his cell phone and took a close up picture of Fei Long that he then sent to everyone he knew. A good number of them were actually at the tournament with him or watching it elsewhere so they just found it redundant.

Fei Long's film crew just looked at each other as Naruto stood star-struck, "This kid is terrible for a soundbite." The cameraman said with a shake of his head, "We're trying to film a documentary on Fei Long's street fighting here. We need a guy with better banter than this."

"…Anyway, the next match involves the self-proclaimed 'Best Ninja in the World', the seventeen year old Naruto Uzumaki. His opponent will be the second of the four legends of our tournament. The dynamic master of the Hitenryu style of combat and world-famous movie star; Fei Long!"

"Calm down Naruto." Chun-Li said as she put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to get him to chill out a bit, "You've still got to beat him you know. Speaking of beating people I'm number seven." Her mood soured when she heard some smug laughter and a figure then towered behind her.

Standing there was Balrog, looking down at her with a dirty grin, "Well it looks like we're going to be having a lot of fun right off the bat pretty lady." He commented, holding up his own ball in his boxing gloved hand to show the number eight, "Not the kind of fun I'd like, but…"

Chun-Li scowled up at him and walked past him to get back in line, "Trust me, it's the only 'fun' someone like you is getting out of me."

Balrog just glared at her back before walking to the line-up once more as well. Yeah, she was definitely going to pay for that little remark.

"The 'Strongest Woman in the World' Chun-Li takes on the third legend of our tournament; the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world that never lost his title in Balrog for the fourth bout of the first round!"

"Nine." Ken said with a smirk on his face as he looked around.

He didn't have to look far, Zangief didn't make himself very hard to find, "Ten." Instead of being intimidated by the musculature of the large Russian's frame, Ken seemed spurred on by the challenge.

"Eleven." Ryu eyed down his five possible remaining opponents waiting for someone to step up, and he got it in the form of a sumo wrestler.

E. Honda grinned over at Ryu, pleased at the prospect of fighting against a fellow countryman, "Here's to a good match brother." Ryu put a small smile on his face and nodded before the two men bowed to each other out of respect.

"The fifth fight will be the United States Martial Arts Champion Ken Masters against the 'Russian Destroyer'; the 'Red Cyclone' Zangief! Fight number six involves the fourth legend invite and our previous champion of the World Warrior Tournament; Ryu! He takes on one of Japan's most elite sumo wrestlers here to prove his strength to the world; E. Honda!"

Sasuke checked over the rest of his competition and straightened up the collar of his black Chinese top before making his presence known, "Thirteen."

"What's with that lack of rhythm mon? Liven up!" Before he could get too far ahead of himself, Sasuke found his way cut off by the very upbeat Dee Jay who seemed way too ecstatic to meet his opponent, "I'm hopin' to get a good beat from our fight!" He then turned and postured to the crowd who seemed to love him, "Yeah!"

'Oh Kami not this guy…' Sasuke thought to himself as he glared at his ball marked number thirteen. Unlucky indeed, 'The only beat you're getting from our fight is a beating.' He needed to get away from that dancing fool before he killed him prior to the match starting. He'd rather deal with Naruto's crap.

"Kickboxing standout 'The Southern Comet' Dee Jay versus the rather dark youth Sasuke Uchiha in match seven! And that leaves the final fight of the first round to be the hulking Native American Thunder Hawk to face off with the mystical Yoga master Dhalsim."

Dhalsim's blank white eyes opened and looked over to T. Hawk who nodded over to him stiffly, getting one in return from Dhalsim before he went back to meditating. No fight hyping banter? No face off? What was the fun in that?

"Ladies and gentlemen the field is set for your Second World Warrior Tournament!" A massive screen projected portraits of all of the fighters matched against each other appropriately according to their lots, "Over the next two days we will determine who is the strongest on this very stage! First round and quarterfinals today, semifinals and final round tomorrow afternoon! The winner of the tournament gets a standing prize of one million dollars or its equivalent in the currency of their choice, and a special honor from the tournament organizer!"

XxX

A two day tournament. Apparently there weren't any rules, just the way Ibuki had stated would probably be the case back home. There was no time limit, no ring restrictions, no limitations on what one could do to win, no way to get disqualified short of outside interference.

And that 'special honor' from the tournament organizer didn't sound too desirable.

The building at the top of the stairs was meant to the hub for the fighters to stay at in between matches. It overlooked the entire courtyard and gave a prime view of the action in the courtyard for all of the competitors, also keeping them above the view of fans themselves out of the way and giving them easy access to the ring when it was their turn to fight.

"Well…" Ken said as he sat in the garden out front of the building along with Ryu, Naruto, Cammy, and Chun-Li, "If we all just walked into a trap it'll at least be one hell of a ride." He looked over at Cammy and turned to Naruto who was on a stone bench wrapping his hands in tape before putting his gloves on, "I can't believe you brought the girl with amnesia Naruto."

"Screw you, she's a smart girl, she knows what she's doing here." Naruto replied, biting off the end of one of his taped hands before testing them both out, punching into his palms, "So speaking of here… what do we do here?"

The part of Chun-Li that knew that the tournament organizer mentioned earlier was Bison wanted to find him and bust his ass, but there were too many variables working against that choice of action. He picked the temple as the setting for this entire shebang, and trying to start something here probably wouldn't end well at all. It was a martial arts temple after all, and hundreds of monks trained in extreme forms of combat were here thinking that this was the greatest thing ever for their little haven. They wouldn't take too kindly to the party being crashed by people like them. So Bison basically had security without even having to hire security.

There were too many cameras to go trolling around, and that wasn't even to comment on what would happen if they actually found him. How were they going to write off an assault on the man? No one else knew what they knew and probably wouldn't care either way.

But then again the same thing went for Bison too. He couldn't just outright attack them either, which was probably why he had Balrog and Sagat entered in the tournament to do it for him, and those two were more than capable of dealing out some Shadaloo vengeance all on their own.

So what was his angle here? It didn't make any sense. There wasn't any way that he could take anyone out. Not here. Not during this tournament. No one was ever going to be left alone well enough to try anything on them.

When it came to tactical thinking Chun-Li felt that she was probably the best one there. Ryu just knew how to fight directly and break down what was going on right then and there, same for Ken. Naruto was good at gambits, but this wasn't that kind of situation, those only worked in the middle of conflict at hand and when one was in dire straits. Cammy might have been good at them, but she didn't seem to particularly know herself. The extent of her training and how good she could have been at premeditated action wasn't really known due to the amnesia.

"I don't think it matters one way or the other who's sponsoring the tournament." Ryu finally said, sitting down by a small moss-covered boulder, finally adding his input into the situation, "It can't just be called off at his whim, it needs to have a straightforward ending. We aren't the only ones that have to play by the rules this time."

And he had a point. This was a legitimate professional sporting event, an event that had eyes on it from all over the world. Every inch of this place would be scrutinized. It wasn't like some private military base that he owned in the deepest part of the remote jungles. He couldn't do what he wanted there.

That put things quite clearly in Ryu's mind as far as how to take things, "So the only thing to do is face this challenge head on and fight. It is the only path present to us."

Ken had to chuckle at that and walked over to Ryu to drag him up and give him a noogie, "Heh, I figured you'd say something like that. I can't say I hate the plan though. It's certainly got enough fighting in it for my tastes." He predictably got thrown off and away by Ryu, but flipped through it and landed on his feet, "So whatever, it's a fighting tournament… let's fight!"

There was some kind of simplistic charm to Ryu's approach from Chun-Li's point of view. It was basic; if they were strong they would endure whatever trial was present, and if they weren't they would merely have to gain the strength to do so, "Alright then. Fight it is. If we can beat out Balrog and Sagat then I guess we won't have anything to worry about until later at least."

"A headfirst charge straight in?" Naruto said aloud as if testing the notion in his head, "Normally I'm the kind of guy that's all for that because it's easier..." He admitted a bit shamelessly, because it was kind of true, "…But the last time we did something like that involving Shadaloo, do you remember what happened?"

Of course they did. A good man ended up dead and really all for nothing, because Bison still lived and Shadaloo still existed. It was probably a good thing that Guile was off brooding by himself, so that he didn't have to hear that. It managed to bring the conversation to a grinding halt.

"And now it's the moment you've all been waiting for fight fans! It's time for the first match of the day! Round one matchup: Cammy White vs. Blanka!"

"Well it looks like we don't have any more time to ponder the situation." Cammy said, stretching out a bit before she started walking toward the stairs to descend, "There's a show to be put on after all." The levelheaded girl vanished from sight to enter the arena to fight.

With a frown on his face Naruto just stared at her as she left, "Kick some ass Cam." Everybody else probably felt alright with the way things were currently, but Naruto had been burned enough over the last year with that line of thinking to serve others a lifetime. If not by Shadaloo again and again then by the conflict with Akuma, and even more.

Ken plopped a hand on Naruto's shoulder to get his attention as he sighed, "Hate seeing her go but you love to watch her leave don't you kid?" He asked rhetorically with a grin on his face. Chun-Li seemed to find the interaction funny as well. Damn jerks. Just because they were older than him.

Naruto didn't even bother directly addressing that with a 'shut up', as it would only let Ken pick on him more. He just got up and walked over to the ledge along with everyone else outside so that they could watch the fight, "…I'm telling Eliza that you said that about a sixteen year old girl." Seventeen in January, but that wasn't the point, "I wonder how that'd go for you once you got home. I could actually call her now if I-."

"Oh come on Naruto I was just messing with you!"

XxX

Down in the arena, Cammy was checking over her gauntlets to make sure that they were placed tightly around her hands and forearms. She was ignoring the catcalls from some of the more amorous crowd members, but she was a bit used to it by now. She noticed that her outfit seemed to have that kind of effect on others. Even boys that knew her like Naruto and Batsu did had been caught leering at her from time to time (a lot of the time actually) when she wore her leotards.

A right many cries of alarm came from the crowd and Cammy's gaze turned in that direction to catch sight of Blanka scampering down through the audience that parted like the Red Sea for him. He flipped down into the courtyard and stood directly in front of Cammy, slightly hunched over and flexing out his hands to show Cammy his very sharp fingernails.

"Hmm…" Cammy said to herself as she slowly stepped into her own stance in preparation for Blanka's pending attack, "Well then Blanka, let's get started shall we?"

"Cammy vs. Blanka: Fight!"

Immediately, Blanka slid almost instantaneously across the ground, hurling the length of his body at Cammy, fully outstretched with his fists set forward to try and punch Cammy low. She was faster though and cartwheeled back out away from the attack before jumping at Blanka and trying to punch him while he was still down on the ground.

Blanka quickly recovered from his own first attack and got up to avoid her falling punch. A swipe of his sharp claws came close enough to nearly knock Cammy's cap from her head, but she managed to duck low enough to avoid getting another cut on her face that had the potential to scar her. In retaliation she posted up on one arm to throw a swinging low kick, putting her entire body into it with both legs to batter Blanka's body and follow up with an extremely hard right cross that landed stiffly and smashed him in the face.

Blood flew from Blanka's mouth and he went spinning back a short distance after taking the hit from Cammy's hard gauntleted hand, but this didn't do much to deter him. In a rage he plodded forward again, hands raised over his head to smash down on Cammy who merely hopped to the side to avoid it. She stayed close to counterattack though, but this was all according to Blanka's plan. After smashing the ground he quickly spun around in a circle with an outstretched leg and swept her feet out from underneath her.

Cammy hit the ground and started pushing herself up off of the ground, but before she could quickly get back up, Blanka began pounding on her back repeatedly with both hands in a hammer-fist motion. Each hit elicited a small cry of pain from her, but instead of giving up she turtled up to ride out the abuse and hope that Blanka got tired sooner than later.

It didn't take much more for Blanka to get sick of Cammy's defensive posture and he stopped his brutal assault in exchange for kicking her away like a soccer ball. He managed to knock her out of her curled-up state, but this was an opening that Cammy was looking for.

She might have started out sprawling all over the ground, but the nimble girl quickly regained her footing and wasted not a bit of motion as she immediately attacked the charging Blanka who had been looking to follow up on her. The second one of her feet touched the ground, Cammy pushed herself forward and spun toward Blanka like a corkscrew, leading with her feet, "Spiral Arrow!"

Due to his overexcitement, Blanka wound up taking Cammy's damaging spike of a kick straight in the chest that sent him flying away from her until his body hit the stone-bricked ground with an audible thump, right on his back.

Breathing heavily at just what it took for her to land a clean blow, Cammy blocked out the resounding cheers of the crowd and tried to figure out a gameplan for taking down Blanka. She got him with a good shot, but Blanka was far more durable than that. It would take more, "Come on… get up, you're not done yet."

On cue, Blanka backflipped right up onto his feet and swiftly sent his entire body hurling up through the air at Cammy, arcing at her with the trajectory of a cannonball, "Rolo Retroceda (Backstep Roll)!"

Cammy grit her teeth and quickly dodged as Blanka's curled-up spherical form smashed into the stone ground and pulverized parts of it. She found herself caught up in a dangerous dodging game as Blanka proceeded to bounce through the air at her, trying to crush her down again and again like a deadly super ball.

This was so annoying, but if she faltered in her elusive actions for a second the fight could be lost for her.

XxX

Up on the ledge, Chun-Li looked down on the battle with a watchful eye along with the others, "Why isn't she trying to counterattack?" She got Blanka good once before with a sudden retaliatory strike that she could tell had rung his bell.

"Cam is fast and her attacks are sharp." Naruto said as he sat on the ledge as well, trying to keep from shouting down at Cammy since she wouldn't hear him over the crowd and the play-by-play announcer on the speakers, "She's the kind of person that can hit you right in the throat in the middle of a fight, but she usually doesn't have much one-hit finishing power. She doesn't want to try something and get caught underneath Blanka for an attack that won't even stop him."

"She usually doesn't?" Ryu asked, interested in the conversation at hand. He liked the cut of Cammy's style; very acrobatic and precise. Blanka fought like a wild animal trying to survive against another wild animal, and it was appropriate for who he was. Not very pretty, but it was extremely overwhelming, "What do you mean by that?"

The memory of the fight Naruto had against Cammy when they first met passed through his head, as well as the battle they shared against Bison. She caused a bit of serious destruction in those fights, with one move too, "She has a lot of power in her, but when she lost her memory she forgot how to pull it up to charge her moves. Believe it or not she's not as dangerous as she used to be."

"Really?" Ken said, scratching his temple in befuddlement, "That cute little thing is really that bad for you to call her dangerous?"

"Okay…" Naruto deadpanned up to his fellow blonde who was standing directly behind him, "Imagine Cammy as fast as she is right now, which is actually faster than she used to be by the way, only she had enough power to crush a row full of metal locker doors with one kick too."

Chun-Li raised an eyebrow and turned her attention back to the battle. It was surprising because she had never seen Cammy do anything with that kind of force behind it, but if Naruto had she was inclined to believe him. The kid wasn't really a good liar, "And you two never figured out how to use it again?"

"It wasn't a part of her brainwashing process the way teaching her fighting style was so Cam can't remember how she did it." Naruto reasoned with a shrug. It wasn't like he never tried to help her, "This isn't ki or chakra. Apparently it's leftover from whatever Bison uses, and I don't know the first thing about pulling that stuff out."

It was fundamentally different from what Naruto was used to. Accessing it was different from getting to his chakra, both normal and from his biju, so it was more difficult than trying to help Sakura reach her own ki as children.

Either way, Cammy needed to come up with something slick, because while she could run away all day long it wasn't going to win her the fight.

XxX

Blanka was still seriously trying to hit Cammy with his rampant attack since she couldn't seem to counter it. It was only a matter of time until she made a mistake and wound up getting caught, and that didn't sit well with her at all, "Until you forget mankind's rules and fight like a beast you can't beat me!"

'Cannon Spike won't knock him off of his trajectory.' Cammy thought to herself begrudgingly. At best she'd break her damn leg and only neutralize his cannonball-like attack. Well she still had her speed to rely on, and it was her bread and butter right at that moment, 'Just one little opening, that's all.'

Cammy's dodging took her nearby some of the statues that littered the courtyard. And as Blanka once again shot overhead, rolling rapidly he bounced off of one of them, strong enough to crack the sculpture she was near.

He bounced back in the air and Cammy's eyes lit up as she timed Blanka's landing, hopping towards the area as she spun in an elegant 360 and smashed him with a powerful backfist the moment he came unwound. He was too reckless with his attack, but it came with the territory of how Blanka fought.

After being on the defensive for almost two minutes, it was finally time for her to put an end to this. Cammy quickly jumped into the air and aimed a straight-legged kick down at Blanka as his eyes opened and he got a glimpse of what was coming at him, "Cannon Strike!"

Blanka saw the blur that was Cammy jump into the air, but was unable to follow how quickly she moved to pounce upon him. Like in the jungle, when he was pressed with a predator that was quicker than him and going for the kill he had one standby move always available, "Elétrico Trovão (Electric Thunder)!"

The green man's body began generating flashing electricity that Cammy fell directly into. Her kick landed, but it didn't harm him nearly enough to matter in return for being electrocuted. The crowd winced in unison when she went down from the special technique. You didn't need to know very much about fighting to realize that getting shocked by a human taser hurt like hell. No one wanted to take a few thousand volts.

Both Cammy and Blanka slowly stood up, but Cammy seemed to be worse for wear. Somewhat beaten up, her eyes seemed glazed and her posture was stunned, as if she were on Dream Street. Smelling the proverbial blood in the water, Blanka immediately lunged at the girl to finish her off, but her body abruptly tensed and seemed to move all on its own.

The moment Blanka was about to strike her, Cammy rolled forward and flipped up his shoulers, legs around his neck to deliver a brutal headbutt directly to his face to knock him back. After landing the blow she immediately rolled down his back as he stumbled backwards and tripped him up with her body. Before he even hit the ground Cammy had turned him onto his belly and had his arm in her grasp that she quickly dislocated.

Posturing up on the arm and twisting like a gymnast when Blanka clutched for his injured limb, Cammy spun him around and quickly came back down forcefully sitting on his back with her arms wrapped around his head and neck.

"Cam stop!"

Hearing Naruto's voice above all else, the dullard look in her eyes faded and her body snapped out of autopilot just before she could do something unspeakable to someone that was a relatively good friend. She froze in place with her arms still set in place to break Blanka's neck.

'I did that?' Cammy thought to herself as she continued to hold onto the injured Brazilian, 'I've never done a move like that before… I think. Is that-? Is that more of my training?' She was admittedly very brutal in the way that she dealt with opposition, but she had enough self control to keep from doing such a thing to people that she knew. She didn't even remember initiating the attack.

"Well it looks like we've got someone in checkmate, and it's all over! The winner of the first match; Cammy!"

Omake: Check-Up Day

(One Month Before the Second World Warrior Tournament)

"Why am I the designated lab rat?" Naruto said aloud, and he had ample reason to. While running on a treadmill that was actually going rather fast he was plugged up to a bunch of sensors attached all over his body with only a pair of boxers hiding his modesty, not that he cared too much about that part. The part he cared about was that he was more or less in a room being viewed from outside, "I feel like I'm getting set up to go through a maze."

"Extraordinary people require extraordinary medical care Naruto-san." Karin commented through an intercom from outside where there were tons of monitors keeping track of things like Naruto's vitals, his muscle response, and other things that if she talked to him about them he'd probably zone out and try to look at her chest, "You are about to enter a very high-level tournament. The highest as a matter of fact."

Naruto glared at her lightly as he continued to run to nowhere, but he just rolled his eyes and focused back onto his 'task', "What kind of test is this? All I know is that if I stay on this stupid thing for any longer I'm gonna start rapping in English, and nobody wants to hear that."

Ignoring him for the time being, there was a bevy of doctors standing with Karin observing him. Apparently there were tons of superhuman things about him that had been picked up in other tests, "This is incredible. His heart rate is 55 beats per minute."

That didn't seem like such a big deal to Karin who merely shrugged as she continued watching Naruto run, "The normal resting heart rate for a skilled and conditioned athlete is 40 beats per minute. It is far higher than what I assumed it would be for him." That was a bit disappointing.

"Comin' straight outta Compton, crazy motherfu-!"

She then muted the feed of sound from Naruto's side when he actually did start rapping out loud. There was seriously something not screwed too tightly inside of his skull somewhere. Something got knocked loose or something. One reason for the checkup was because he had never had a single one the entire time he lived in Japan.

"No, we're not talking about his resting heart rate, we're talking about his heart rate right now… running on the treadmill."

That was different. Good lord, what kind of cardiovascular fitness was that? Did his heart really not have to work that hard to pump blood to his active body?

Oh wait. Upon looking at his legs she knew what the problem was. When she looked down, Karin noticed what the speed of the treadmill was low for Naruto's standards to force him to exert the necessary effort, "You only have the treadmill on 32 kilometers per hour. He's twice as fast as that."

Naruto ran on the streets fast enough to keep up with motor vehicles doing the 55 km/h speed limit in residential neighborhoods. Hell, she was far faster than 32 kilometers per hour herself.

The doctors looked confused. That speed was usually more than enough to quickly register stress on a normal person to run this test accurately, "…Is this boy human?" Another of the doctors asked as he saw Naruto actually yawn while running at what many normal people would consider a horrifying sprinting pace that he had been keeping up for almost ten minutes.

Karin glared at him as if he were asking the same of her as well, getting the young doctor to wither a bit underneath her glance. Anyone could do what they did… with years of dedicated training and access to supernatural energy like Naruto had, "So I am assuming that Naruto-san has a clean bill of health."

"Karin I'm bored! If we're not going to do something fun together and I have to do this can you at least make it hard so I can train?"

Omake: Counting Sheep

(Two Days Before Naruto's Departure – Aohura City – Saikyou-ryuu Dojo)

"I can't believe I didn't qualify." It had been three weeks since the qualifying round when Dan had been rubbed out by E. Honda and he was still rather bitter about the defeat, especially since Naruto, Cammy, and Blanka had all made it in and they had travelled to Tokyo with him to enter, "I mean, don't they need alternates or something just in case? I should get something out of this."

Sakura just sighed in silence as she walked through the back area of the dojo with its proprietor. She and Naruto had come there afterschool to make sure that Blanka knew that Thursday was the day that Naruto and Cammy were going to leave, making sure that he had a way to get himself to Thailand where the event was supposed to take place, "Uh huh…"

Still determined to make lemonade out of the lemons that life presented to him, Dan turned to Sakura with a fire in his eyes, "Hey… do you think I could get Uzumaki to wear this?" He asked, holding up an iron-on emblem of the dojo complete with contact information and everything, including the going rates for monthly membership and a big picture of himself giving a thumbs up, "…Or several. You know, as a favor."

"I don't think so." Sakura said, trying to let him down gently, "Naruto might think it's a conflict of business interests. He's a mercenary you know, so I think if he had to use the tournament to promote something it'd be that." Not really, but it sounded sensible enough to get him to drop the issue.

It didn't however. An evil chuckle came over Dan as they walked back toward the main room of the dojo, "He keeps his fighting gear in that backpack of his right? I'll just add it onto his clothes and put it right back. A good idea right?"

All Sakura could do in return was laugh nervously, 'Even if you managed to pull that off, if Naruto found out you did that he'd kill you in your sleep.' And upon returning to the room at the front they found Naruto sleeping on the floor right in front of the window for all passersby to see, his winter jacket covering him like a blanket, "Oh Naruto…"

"What's wrong with him?" Dan asked before he started sneaking quietly over to Naruto to try and steal his fighting clothes from his pack, "It's four in the afternoon. Why's he sleeping in a strange place instead of at school where kids are supposed to?"

"He did sleep at school. I drew on his face and took a picture." Sakura informed Dan. And why wouldn't he be? He'd been driving himself up the wall ever since he decided that he was going to wind up fighting in the tournament, even on his birthday. It was crazy, "He's been mainlining concentrated caffeine almost nonstop for two straight months. He had to crash sometime."

One-third of the sugary beverages consumed in a ten mile radius of the small shop in Naruto and Sakura's neighborhood had arguably been imbibed by Naruto for quite some time now.

"Gotta love that dedication to improve. Reminds me of myself." Dan remarked as he crept closer and grabbed Naruto's bag only to find that the blond had an iron grip on it, "Come on brat, let go."

A sleeping Naruto merely wrestled the bag back from him and positioned it under his head like a pillow, "Mah, no Cam. I don't care if you hate soups, leave my ramen alone. And don't touch my damn hat. I know it's cool… Hokage." Sakura palmed her face at hearing Naruto's mutterings.

Seething at being thwarted by a snoozing teenage runt, Dan raised a fist out of anger only for Naruto to lash out with a sudden foot that kicked him in the junk and dropped him to his knees with a squeaky yelp.

Sakura dragged Dan back away by his collar as he turtle up and sobbed quietly, "Don't do aggressive stuff while Naruto's sleeping, it's like he feels the ill intent somehow. So where's Jimmy-chan? We came here to make sure he knew about the tournament."

"Jimmy's left already." Dan said weakly, "…He wanted to hang out in Thailand's jungle for a bit before he had to go fight… crazy guy." Who the hell thought sightseeing in places meant going and seeing how dangerous the wildlife was?

But then Naruto and Sakura came there for nothing. Well wasn't that annoying?

"Right then." Sakura walked back over to Naruto and shook him awake gently, "Come on Naruto, wake up, we're going home." As she put on her coat a bleary-eyed Naruto sat up abruptly and looked around at the empty dojo before getting up to leave, "Later Hibiki-san."

Still laying on the ground clutching his jewels, Dan could only listen to the pair leave and then watch them walk past the window on the way back to their neighborhood as if he wasn't in excruciating pain, "I hate those kids…" He hoped that Blanka somehow busted Naruto's ass in the tournament.

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

{Character Profile}

Name: Fei Long

Nationality: China (Hong Kong)

Gender: Male

Age: 22 (Birthday: April 23)

Height/Weight: 5'9/168 lbs.

Bloodtype: O

Likes: Kung Fu, self-assertiveness.

Dislikes: Indifference, lacking emotion, apathy, faithless people, all things evil.

Hobbies: Doing his own stunts.

Rivals: N/A

Fighting Style: Hitenryu

Current Techniques: Rekkaken (Blazing Fist), Shienkyaku (Flame Ignition Kick), Rekkukyaku (Air Tearing Kick), Tenshin (Divine Will).

Hyper Techniques: Ryuhassai (Eight Dragon Smash), Rekkashinken (Blazing Earnest Fist), Rekkashingeki (Blazing New Style), Gekirinken (Imperial Wrath Fist).

Background: Hong Kong born, Fei Long began training himself in different forms of Kung Fu from the age of six years old, showing himself to be a prodigy that eventually developed his own style as a result. While testing his training out in street fights and underground tournaments around Hong Kong he caught the attention of a movie director who quickly made him a star in a series of critically acclaimed action films. Despite being world famous, Fei Long still feels the need to assess and sharpen his skills in true underground battles instead of choreographed fights on the screen, which is the reason he decided to accept his invitation to the Second World Warrior Tournament. He is very serious about his martial arts, and is calm even in the face of potentially overwhelming enemies, though he can tend to be a little cocky when everything seems well in hand. He uses a blistering fighting style that incorporates lightning fast punches and kicks, as well as an ability to cover space in a seeming blink of an eye.

Name: Dee Jay

Nationality: Jamaican

Gender: Male

Age: 24 (October 31)

Height/Weight: 6'0/203 lbs.

Bloodtype: AB

Likes: Shouting, singing, dancing, watching TV (cooking shows).

Dislikes: Silence, harsh people, people who lack rhythm.

Hobbies: Bamboo dancing.

Rivals: N/A

Fighting Style: Full Contact Karate/American Kickboxing

Current Techniques: Air Slasher, Double Rolling Sobat, Jackknife Maximum, Machine Gun Upper.

Hyper Techniques: Sobat Carnival, Sobat Festival, Climax Beat.

Background: Dee Jay is a good-natured, spirited championship-caliber kickboxer at the top of his division due to his rather flashy and flamboyant fighting style that takes his own musical rhythm into account. A very positive person, it is extremely difficult to anger Dee Jay or otherwise wipe the smile from his face as he enjoys most things in life, especially fighting. Dee Jay's unique penchant for rhythms got him a recording deal, making him a successful musician known the world over. He enters the Second World Warrior Tournament in an attempt to find some new rhythms inspired from the opponents he faces in combat.

Name: Thunder Hawk

Nationality: Mexico

Gender: Male

Age: 29 (July 21)

Height/Weight: 7'7/360 lbs.

Bloodtype: O

Likes: Collecting skins, animals, his headband, soccer.

Dislikes: Professional wrestling.

Hobbies: Carving wood sculptures, conversation, hunting.

Rivals: M. Bison

Fighting Style: Thunderfoot Tribe's style of martial arts.

Current Techniques: Mexican Typhoon, Tomahawk Buster, Condor Dive, Condor Spire.

Hyper Techniques: Double Typhoon, Raging Typhoon, Raging Slash.

Background: T. Hawk is a Native American based in a tribe out of Mexico. When he was an infant, he and the members of his tribe were forced off of their land by Shadaloo. Many of the tribesmen warriors that resisted, including T. Hawk's father, were killed in battle by M. Bison. T. Hawk wants revenge against Bison and to regain the lands that were lost by his people to Shadaloo. After the brainwashed Doll Juli (Julia), his very close childhood friend, was returned to him after the recovery of the girls from Bison's base in Thailand by Interpol agent Chun-Li, T. Hawk endeavored to actively take his tribe's vengeance out on Shadaloo due to the damage done to her psyche and memory. After finding that the tournament was sponsored by Shadaloo he entered to look for an opportunity to do so. He is a very brave and selfless man, but comes off as rather emotionless due to the hardships his people have faced throughout his life. His fighting style is surprisingly finesse-oriented despite his overwhelming size, but when he chooses to take advantage of his power he has extremely devastating potential.