Chapter Twenty-Seven: Pride Before A Crash

(Somewhere Deep In The Forest Of Death)

Great just what I need, Naruto thought before he felt a mighty strong punch to his face, sending him flying a long distance backwards and through several trees, breaking them on contact before crashing into the ground. He didn't have much time to react when an arm made from the ground burst from out the ground and started pulled him into the ground. Seconds later, Naruto burst and was sent flying from the ground and into the air before landing down to the floor. Before reaching the ground, Ryota emerged from the ground and delivered a swift swing kick to Naruto's side, sending him on a collision course with another tree. The blonde plummeted down to the ground and onto his face.

Appearing in front of him, the girl walked over him and mocked, "This is sad. I thought I was going to be given a challenge."

"Yeah…my luck…," Naruto said as he staggered back to his feet, "…I recall telling a group of ninjas that I call challenging the strongest ones to give me a good fight."

"Well, here I am," Ryota mocked, "And you don't have much fight left in you from what I'm seeing."

"I'll warn you once," Naruto retorted, "I've faced off and survived against people worse than you. And your arrogance will be your undoing."

"You're all talk but no action," Ryota said as the armors on her body started glowing brightly. Moment later Ryota was surrounded by a speeding rotating sphere of what looking at glowing rocks. Ryota then performed a couple of hand seals, which in effect signaled the glowing rocks around her to shot themselves at Naruto. Seeing the rocks coming his way, the blond shinobi started punching and breaking the rocks to pieces. What Naruto didn't realize was that they rocks he was breaking were sticking to parts of his clothes. By the time he was done, the blonde looked up at the kunoichi who in turn was looking at him calmly.

"Nicely done," Ryota said before getting into her fighting stance, "Let's rock!"

"Only your head," Naruto retorted as he charged at him. She in turn charged at him and seconds later, the duo were engaged in a fierce fist fight. Naruto applied his insane strength against the ANBU-level Iwa kunoichi level who was able to go on toe with him. True to her word, the armor increased her strength and durability, and from what Naruto was seeing, the amount of damage with was inflicting onto the armors didn't last long at all. In fact, the armors would continuously repair itself back to their original glory without so much of a single scratch or blemish being present on them.

After another moment, Naruto pulled back to catch his breath.

All those attacks and not one of them had any significant affect on her whatsoever, Naruto thought as he looked at Ryota with frustration. Ryota however just looked at him with a cocky smirk on her face.

"What's wrong," Ryota taunted, "Am I took much woman for you?"

"Shut up," Naruto spat, "I dealt with people worst than you before!"

"Blah Blah Blah," Ryota retorted, "You should know son of Yondaime, I'm not your common everyday enemy. This armor of mine makes me invincible. No matter what amount of damage you inflict on it, it'll just repair itself with the elements in the ground. And as you can see, we're surrounded by solid ground and earth."

Naruto thought for a moment and saw that he was at a distinct disadvantage. Still he maintained his composure and didn't allow the kuniochi to intimidate him.

"Human and bijuu alike," Naruto said calmly, "No one's invincible; the enemy is just hard to beat until a stronger and smarter opponent takes them down. Kyuubi's defeat to my father is proof of that."

Naruto heard Kyuubi snarled venomously before cursing both Naruto and Yondaime. Yondaime merely chuckled at this.

Smiling confidently, she replied, "You're quite the philosopher, son of Yondaime."

"What got you all happy and smiling at me all of the sudden," Naruto asked while keeping his guard up.

"Naruto-kun," Ryota asked with a touch of mockery with the "kun" honorific, "How do you enjoy being somebody's toy?"

"Where are you getting-," Naruto wasn't able to continue when his own fist punched him in the face, "What the fu-"

Naruto unintentionally punched himself again.

"Ah ah ah," Ryota scolded mockingly, "Watch your language before a lady."

"Damn you," Naruto now punched himself in the gut, hard, sending himself down to his knees while holding his belly and groaning in pain, I've somehow lost control of my body! When and how did that happened!?

The blonde looked at his clothes and sensed chakra moving through the small glowing rock particles that fastened to his clothes.

Damn it, Naruto realized, It's those rocks she hurled at me. She's channeling chakra through her armor and into those particles on me to control my body movements. I'm practically her living puppet at this moment!

"That's exactly where you belong son of Yondaime," Ryota said haughtily, "Before my feet on your knees. By the time I'm through with you, I'll have you beaten, broken, naked and humiliated; I'll turn you into a spectacle for all of Iwagakure to see, so they can all behold your shame."

Doing another set of hand seals, the particles on Naruto's clothes resulted in his body being froze and pulled down to the ground like a magnet. The blonde fought hard to resist the pull but gravity was evidently against him at this point. He felt like his bones were going to be crushed from the pressure and weight.

"Feeling heavy," she taunted, "I think you're carrying too much on you. Perhaps you ought to lighten up, don't you think?"

This isn't my day, Naruto thought sourly before Ryota made him grabbed his vest and tear it apart off him…

(Meanwhile)

Teams, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were going about their ways through the infamous forest, battling whatever creatures or enemy teams came their way. All four teams, including Gaara's team, wondered where Naruto was seeing that he wasn't allowed to enter the forest from any of the entrances they were instructed to enter from. Gaara's team managed to get a hold of a heaven's scroll after their run-in with three Ame-nins. Gaara made quick works finishing them off in the most effective and painless way possible. (A/N: by now, all of you should know that scene in the anime and manga)

Team 8, who happened to have eye witnessed Gaara's method of disposing of the Ame-nins while in hiding in the bushes, made a break for it, believing that staying around would result in their deaths as well. When Temari questioned Gaara about his method seeing how Naruto had repaired his seal to suppress Shukaku's influence, Gaara's reply to her was simply, 'Old habits die hard.'

Team 7 was about their way looking for another team's scroll to steal. Like the others, they ran into trouble of their own with an opposing team. Sai and Sasuke made quick work against them though Sakura wasn't able to do much because of hesitation, which resulted in Sasuke discrediting her harshly much to her grief.

(Much Later That Afternoon)

Naruto, who was now stripped of almost all of his clothes, left barefooted, no gloves, shirtless and bare-chested, and with what little is left of his mostly destroyed and ruined pants, was now speedily running and dashing like a blur through the forest. His hair was a mess and covered in dirt, and his body from head to toe had sustained brutal external and muscle injuries, bruises and bleeding cuts from Ryota's vicious assaults.

This happened when she grew rock tentacles with sharp miniature razors from the ground and used them to restrain and whip Naruto after she forced him to tear off most of his clothes. She wanted him to plea and give her the satisfaction of begging for mercy and admitting defeat. When he refused, the beatings intensified with the razor tentacles tearing into his body with every hit. Not seeking to remain as her personal 'play' thing, Naruto tapped into his remaining chakra and with Godaime-like strength, broke free from her grasp before taking to flight on foot.

However this served little to help him escape from her. With the use of her live earth armor, she was able to pinpoint exactly where he was and intersect him before he could make any large distance between himself and Ryota. This was proven true when a slab wall burst forth from the ground seconds before Naruto crashed hard through it before hitting the ground. This has happened to the blonde shinobi several times so far since his 'escape' from Ryota.

"Run, run as fast as you can, Naruto-kun," Ryota's voice taunted through the forest, "You can't hide from me. I'll know exactly where you are and where you're going before you can get anywhere."

Despite his many injuries and lack of breath, Naruto took the time to regain his strength.

Chidori, Raikiri, Naruto thought sourly, What time not to know how to perform and use those jutsus! Why didn't I learn those jutsus again father!?

'Stop complaining,' Minato rebuked, 'You're not finished with this fight yet!'

Raiton jutsus are effective against Doton jutsus, Naruto retorted, Regrettably I never bothered to learn any Raiton jutsus.

'In that case,' Minato replied, 'Adapt to the situation and improvise! I'm sure you can come up with something to use against her! You're not a Kage-level shinobi for nothing!'

"Are you done catching your breath, Naruto-kun," Ryota's voice taunted, "Our game of cat and mouse isn't finished yet!"

To make her point clear, a tentacle made from gravel burst forth from the ground and wrapped grabbed Naruto from by the neck from behind. Naruto struggled against the pull of the tentacle as he tried to pry it off him.

Shit, Naruto cursed, I'm so low on chakra and most of my strength is gone!

A moment later, four more tentacles grew from out of the ground and grasped and wrapped around his legs and arms. The tentacles then pulled him and forced him down on both of his knees before pulling him back to face Ryota as she emerged from the ground in front of him with his arms being restrained by the other two tentacles.

The Iwa nin walked over to Naruto with a triumph smile on her face.

"Namikaze Naruto," Ryota started, "Son of Namikaze Minato, the renowned Yondaime Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash; the self-proclaimed Konoha's Second Flash, reduced to kneeling before Ryota, Iwa's Shining Stone."

"…," Naruto remained silent while trying to remain calm and keeping his emotions in check. That however was soon put to the test when she suddenly kicked him in his crotch. Naruto groaned and closed his eyes shut tight as he bit down on his tongue to keep from screaming despite the pain.

"That was for fingering me before you left me to rot in that damn forest back in Nami No Kuni," she remarked coldly. The blonde managed to swallow his scream and keep his tears from falling while hearing the fox laughing insultingly at his plight.

"You're pathetic," Kyuubi mocked darkly, "You're getting your ass owned! You should have killed this bitch when you had the chance after you've beaten her! Now you're ruing day for showing mercy to an egotistical kunoichi who wants nothing more than to break you down for what you're worth!"

Momentarily ignoring his pain, Naruto retorted, Kyuubi-teme, shut…the…hell…UP!

Kyuubi growled at the boy and chose not to give Naruto his chakra to heal his injuries.

To hell with you Kyuubi-teme, Naruto spat, I don't need your damn chakra though I can force you to comply! It's not like you have anywhere else to go besides with me to the grave, servant!

This time Kyuubi roared at the Naruto with animosity before thrashing against his cage. Naruto grinned and chuckled outwardly at Kyuubi's reaction to his last words to him.

"What's so funny," Ryota asked, only for Naruto to laugh louder. The girl grinned at the blonde, "So you've finally gone crazy? I must have kicked you so hard that the shock fried your brain. You'll be more of a spectacle for the people of Iwa as I present you before them."

A moment later, Naruto calmed his laugher down before regaining his composure. Looking at Ryota, Naruto said, "I'm laughing because I was too blind to realize something that was right in front of me the entire time."

"And that would be," she inquired. He replied, "You're afraid of me."

She blinked and looked at him with a confused expression, "Afraid of you? You really must have lost your mind kid."

"You didn't have what it took to fight me when I was in my prime before and after the day I entered this forest," Naruto mocked, "The fact that you waited all this time until I was exhausted, weakened and vulnerable after spending three days in this forest fighting to survive proved that. You knew that you couldn't rely on your own powers to fight me; that's why you resorted to summoning an armor of extraordinary powers to use to do battle with me."

Naruto saw the angry look on Ryota's now reddened face and saw that he was getting somewhere. He continued, "Tell me Ryota, why didn't you report your findings about me to your Tsuchikage? You found out and knew the truth about me for nearly three weeks. But like you said, your Tsuchikage would have dispatched a whole platoon of skilled ninjas and perhaps his ANBU against me. Doesn't that tell you something about both yourself and me? You openly admitted that your Tsuchikage wouldn't have enough faith in your abilities as the Shining Stone of Iwagakure to fulfill your mission to bring me back. That's one of the reasons why you chose not to report your findings to your Tsuchikage. You didn't want to lose face in front of everyone back in Iwa that I alone was too much for you and you were in need of assistance in the form of an army to go after one Genin."

Ryota was now fuming venomously at Naruto who was grinning at her despite his confinement, "In our last battle, I merely used three simple jutsus to bring about your downfall and defeat, and it only took less than two minutes. You on the other hand had to go through all this trouble just to try to force me to beg you for mercy just to satisfy your ego solely to attempt to prove that you're stronger than, how did you put it, me, a fresh out of the academy Genin who fingered you before leaving you face down on ground at my feet. Before I was able to finish what started back then, I sensed that my comrades were in danger. Seeing that you weren't much of a threat, no less a challenge to me anymore, I left you where you were, so you could nurse what was left of your wounded pride under the uprooted tree I placed you under."

At the Ryota went over and slapped him hard, leaving a red palm print mark on his left cheek. She didn't want to admit to the fact that Naruto's harsh words were getting to her. He saw the fury in her eyes.

"You're ambitious, arrogant and full of yourself! As the saying goes, Pride is before a Crash," Naruto added, "I truly pity you, because even now when I'm weakened and in this horrid condition you can't get me to beg you for mercy!"

She slapped him hard again, thing this on his other cheek.

"Truth is a bitch isn't," Naruto cracked with a grin. At that point, Ryota's anger got the better of her.

"I'll kill you," she yelled as she lunged onto him to strangle him. She was so angry with lost focus that she didn't realize that she unintentionally loosened the grip the tentacles had on Naruto. Taking advantage of the situation, Naruto, with his remaining strength, broke free from his captivity.

"What," she said before Naruto lunged and tackled her to the ground on her back. Naruto clenched his fist tightly before he delivered a hard and swift punch to her left cheek.

"That was for kicking me," Naruto said. Ryota felt the painful blow that was given to her face before Naruto grabbed and hurled her high into a tree before hitting the root of the tree and then the ground. Seeing that she was momentarily down, he turned and ran as fast as he could away from her.

"DAMN YOU!," Ryota swore as she got up and rubbed her now bruised cheek and threatened, "You're gonna regret that!"

She started chasing after him, following the vibrations his feet were making as each step he made served to pinpoint exactly where he was. Naruto knew that it wouldn't be long until she caught up to him. Soon his eyes came to see a clearing up ahead. When he got there however, what he saw was a waterfall with the waters below leading down into a chasm. Seeing no other option, Naruto took a deep breath and jumped into the waterfall where he was pulled in and swallowed up by the hard-hitting waters. Ryota appeared moments later to see that she lost track of Naruto.

"Damn him," Ryota yelled before punching a tree hard enough to uproot and knock it down to the ground. Her armor was unable to detect Naruto seeing that he was no longer touching the ground. Seeing no other option available, Ryota turned and ran to find where the falling river waters going into the chasm would lead. Moments later, Naruto popped out from the waters to see that Ryota was gone.

I'm guessing that her armor couldn't sense where I was; I must be outside her element seeing that I'm in the waters, Naruto figured as he remained afloat in the river waters. Naruto analyzed the situation he was in and presently, going against Ryota in his condition wouldn't be the smartest choice. Right now, he was in need of medical attention and a lot of it. Presently, he didn't possess anywhere near enough chakra to heal any of his injuries and Kyuubi refused to lend him any, though Naruto chose not to use it anyway. Only one choice was available.

'Naruto,' Minato said, 'You're planning on absorbing and using my chakra to fully mend and repair your body, yes?'

Naruto mentally nodded as he went through a series of complex hand seals.

'I'm no expert in medic and healing jutsus,' Minato added, 'However using and absorbing too much of my chakra at one time in your present physical condition might have some side effects though I'm not sure what they may be.'

That's a risk I'll have to take, Naruto retorted with his mind clearly made up. When he was done performing the necessary seals, his body started glowing with Minato's chakra pouring out of the seal on his stomach and into his chakra coils before completely engulfing his body, beginning the restoration. The seal containing Yondaime was hidden with a strong genjutsu Tsunade designed and made for Naruto and could be modified to blend in with him as he ages and grow.

During the healing process however, something unexpected suddenly happened: Naruto felt pain coursing throughout his entire body inside and out, from every bone, muscle, and organ and skin tissue, as though he was being pulled apart. It felt excruciating.

"…What's…happening…to me…," Naruto groaned in great pain before realizing that his body was undergoing a change as Minato's chakra grew stronger and continued reshaping and mending Naruto's body.

(Back In Konoha)

Tsunade had dispatched the ANBU after receiving word that Orochimaru was in the forest of death. She didn't know for what purpose he was there but with everything that's been happening and the invasion that's to happen, she wasn't taking any chances.

(Later Back In The Forest)

Naruto, fully healed and revived, swam his way towards to the shore with no clothes over his body. In spite being completely naked and soaked, he felt great and alive, as though he was reborn. Soon he eyes came to see that a large tiger was making its way towards him with bloodlust radiating in its eyes. Naruto grinned at the large cat before picking up his kunai that was washed ashore next to him. After doing that, the tiger jumped at him with the intentions of making a meal out of him. Naruto wrestled with the large predator before overpowering it and effectively slitting its neck with the kunai, killing the tiger.

"I'm happy you showed up when you did kitty," Naruto said with a voice that sound more grown and mature than his usual voice. Using the kunai, Naruto got to work skinning the dead tiger, wanting to make using of its fur and skin. He knew that what he had in mind was going to take a while.

(Later)

Ryota was down by the mouth of the other end of the chasm and Naruto's body still hasn't show up yet.

"Damn," Ryota muttered, "Where is he?"

She searched around all over looking for any traces that would lead to where Naruto was. Ryota continued this for some time and was unsuccessful in detecting anything that would pinpoint Naruto's location. At this point she started growing frustrated. She decided to retrace her steps back to where she last saw him.

Returning back to where the waterfall, she came across a dead tiger that was stripped and cleaved of most of its skin and fur. From the looks of it, she saw that it had to have been done by a sharp object. She also noted that the tiger's four fangs were pulled from out of its mouth and the rest of its body was left to be eaten by the maggots and worms.

"He was here all along," Ryota realized, "By from the looks of this, this tiger has been dead for a while so he moved on from here sometime ago, which he's-"

She stopped when she detected vibrations of feet movements through the ground. With a grin on her face, Ryota took to flight and followed in pursuit.

"I'm coming for you Naruto-kun," she said as she run in the direction from where she picked up the vibrations. Before long, she spots Naruto as she last saw him running through the woods.

"Gotcha," she said as she summoned a boulder and threw it into the blonde, only for it to puff out of existence.

"Damn," she growled, "A kage bushin."

A moment later she picked up movements elsewhere. Heading over to that direction, Ryota came to see Naruto again running away from her after seeing that he was found. He didn't get far when the ground open up under and closed shut over him, only to puff out of existence as the first one.

"Another kage bushin," Ryota said with a irritated tone. Soon she started picking up movement from various directions. She wasn't able to tell the real one from the fakes as she attacked and killed off every kage bushin she found one at a time or in pairs.

"Where the hell are you," Ryota yelled in frustration after taking out another clone. Just she thought she wasn't going get her answer…

"Looking for me," said a voice from above that sounded familiar to the girl, but more grown and confident. Ryota looked up into the trees to see Naruto looking down at her. What she was seeing however was anything but what she was expecting.

Standing on the tree branch was a newly structured Naruto who was taller than before. He no longer had any of the baby fat on his body or face. Rather, his body was now leaner and muscularly built and pronounced. Though he's still thirteen however, his face looked like that of a fifteen-year-old instead of a thirteen-year-old boy.

Also, Naruto was now wearing the tiger's skin and fur. He used some of skin as underwear while using the rest of the skin and fur as loincloth around his waist (A/N: think of Disney's Tarzan, only it's with tiger fur and skin). Some of the fur and skin was used as a belt to fasten the loincloth around his waist, with the tigers fangs used to help keep the belt in place. Naruto's two kunais were placed at his sides into the loincloth by his waist. His Konoha head protector was still tied around his head and he was still barefooted.

Caught off guard by Naruto's new appearance, Ryota had to focus her mind on her objective though some blood seeped down her nose which she had to immediately wipe away.

That guy now looks like a forest ninja-version of the Yondaime, Ryota thought. She was about to say something when…

"I assure you that this is no henge if that's what you're thinking," Naruto made clear, "I am the real thing."

"When did this change happen," she asked.

"Never mind that," Naruto retorted, "It's time to fight! Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"

Naruto summoned an army of 20 solid clones and surrounded the girl. He jumped off the branch and onto the ground.

"Get her," Naruto order his clones. Obeying, the clones charge at the kunoichi to do battle with her. Confident in her own abilities, Ryota performed a couple of hand seals, which in effect signaled the glowing rocks around her to shot themselves at the clones coming at her. During the momentarily distraction…

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu," Naruto said after biting his thumb and thrusting his bleeding thumb into the ground, summoning a half-human/half-fox humanoid masked woman dressed in ceremonial battle attire.

"Naruto-sama," the masked fox woman greeted and bowed, "What do I owe the honor?"

"Your assistance Tao," Naruto said, "This Iwa kunoichi has been a thorn at side for some time now."

Tao nodded as she jumped into the air and yelled, "Henge!"

A burst of smoke surrounded the masked fox woman as she transformed into a red and orange staff with a large blade at the end of the staff. Grabbing the staff, Naruto swung and maneuvered it a couple of times to get a feel for it. By the time he was done, all of his clones were all gone, leaving with alone with the Iwa Jounin kunoichi, who now turned to him and noticed the staff in his hand.

When did he acquired that weapon, she wondered with a perplexed expression before deciding to forget about it.

"I had just about enough of you," Naruto said he posed the blade of the staff in her direction. The girl didn't look the least bit intimidated and she smirked, "You think that little butter knife will be affective against my power?"

Naruto started swinging the staff around him in a graceful display almost as if he was dancing with it before facing her again.

"Let's find out shall we," he invited.

"Let's," she said as she started firing her rocks at him, only to see Naruto slice and hack at the rocks with fast and fluid movements, not one of them touching his body. Irritated, she performed another series of hand seals and combined all of the rocks together, forming a stone-carved looking katana with it.

"Iwa No Tsurugi (Rock Sword)," Ryota said as she grabbed her katana and swung it around get a feel for it as Naruto did with his staff. When she was done, both Naruto and Ryota looked at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move as the wind blew pass them. After what felt like an eternity, both Naruto and Ryota, with narrowed eyes, dashed and rushed at each other with their selected weapons.

Meeting each other, a fierce staff and sword fight commenced between the two shinobis. Clash after clash with their weapons, they struggled to gain dominance over the other and neither looked like they were going to give in to the other. Loud sounds of their weapons clashing against each other repeatedly echoed around their surroundings. From the way they were fighting, one would assume they were dancing with each other, but this was a deadly dance with death between two skill ninjas.

Jumping high into the air the two fighters raced at each other through the air and continued with their battle as they clashed their weapons. Before Naruto could block, Ryota swiftly swung her swords and slashed it across Nauto's left arm, causing a deep gash to result from it. The blonde kicked away from her and landed down on the ground with his now bleed arm gushing blood out of his wound. Ryota landed down gracefully with her bloodstained rock sword in hand.

"You've put up a good fight I must admit," the kunoichi said before her expression and voice turn cold, "But I think I've played with you long enough. I'm afraid that I have to take you down now."

Taking her threat seriously, Naruto rose back up…

"Kage Bushin No Jutsu," he said as he summoned seven clones to him, all them bearing a staff like his own.

"It doesn't matter how many clones you make," Ryota said as went into killer mode, "You're still going to die."

"Sorry," Naruto said, "But like I said to you some time before, I plan on living pass today."

Naruto and his six clones charge at the kunoichi. With grace and swift movements, the Iwa nin did battle with Naruto and his clones. Much to her surprise the clones proved to be more of a problem than before as they were dealing harder and more effective blows against her. Focusing her chakra into her katana, her weapon started shining brightly in her hands. She then plunged her sword into the ground surging chakra from the sword and into the ground at Naruto and his clones. A glow appeared underneath Naruto and the clones before stone-carved blades burst from the glow and stabbed Naruto and the clones through their chests and out of their backs. The six clones puffed out of existence. Naruto coughed out blood while the stone blade was still deeply embedded into him.

Ryota pulled her sword from out of the ground, which into effect caused the blade impaled into Naruto to come out of his chest. The blonde dropped his staff as he fell to his knees and held his bleeding chest. Seeing his weakening stated, Ryota walked over to him with her blade in her right hand ready to finish him off. Standing in front of him, she said, "I told you no matter how many clones you make you were still going to die."

What happened next caught her off her guard; Naruto started chuckling.

"…?," Ryota looked at his questionably.

"And I told you not to underestimate me," Naruto said before he lunged at her and held onto her tightly. A moment later, Naruto started glowing before he suddenly exploded on her. Ryota was sending flying backwards with crashing into several trees. Weakened and injured, the kunoichi got up and staggered back to her feet.

"…Shit…," she cursed before she came to realize something, "Wait a minute. He created seven clones, which meant there was eight of him. But only six came at me, and Naruto himself. That would mean that he hid the eighth clone and…the eighth clone was a Daibakuretsu Kage Bushin (Exploding Shadow Clone). He used Kawarimi and replaced himself with it just before I used my attack on him. I wasn't expecting that…I'd have possible died had it not been for my armor…"

Her clothes under her partly charred armors were now torn in a few places as a result of the explosion on her, but it was nothing serious. With her remaining chakra, she readied herself for another fight as she looked around for Naruto but unsuccessful in finding him.

"Where the hell are you," she said.

"Right here," Naruto's voice spoke from behind before he suddenly massaged and groped her lower bottom rear. Infuriated by his perverted gesture, she speedily turned and delivered a hard punch to his face, sending him flying far and crashing into a large tree.

"HENTAI," Ryota screamed letting her feminine hatred for perverts takeover her despite her blushing face. It was bad enough that Naruto fingered her anally in their second encounter; now he went and pulled this stunt despite the situation he's in, "YOU'RE SO GOING TO DIE!"

Just the reaction I was counting on, Naruto said as he created two more clones. The clones nodded to him as they started running around him in circles at full speed until they looked like blurs. Ryota wondered what the blonde was up to, not realizing that power was being generated around Naruto. Before long, the two clones dispelled leaving Naruto by himself again, but something was different this time. Naruto was standing before the ANBU-level Iwa kunoichi with a blue self-sustaining human-structured spiraling field of chakra encased around his body form.

Naruto eyed the enraged kunoichi who then rushed at him. Timing it just right, Naruto teleported away from where he was and reappeared at her left.

"What," she could only say before Naruto yelled and delivering a solid punch delivered to her face with damaging force. Being sent flying to the far right, she looked to see Naruto suddenly appeared in front of her and delivered an unforgiving kneecap hard into her guts with the concentrated spiraling chakra around his body grinding into her causing major damage.

With the breath knocked out of her, Naruto punched and sent her flying again into the air before giving the command to his staff to start gathering chakra into itself and morph into a large paintbrush. His glowing staff-like paintbrush, which was in a reddish-orange white glow, rushed at her and swiped across her armors, causing glowing seals to appear on the armors.

After teleporting to her, Naruto did some fast complex hand seals and said, "Kitsune No Ninpou: Hikari No Mamori No Jutsu (Fox Ninja Arts: Talismon of Light Technique)!"

The seals spread over the armors before effectively breaking and exploding them off her completely. As she was sent flying again because of the explosion, Naruto, with his spiraling field of chakra still encased around his form, teleported to her and…

"Fuuton (Wind Release)," Naruto said, "Rasen (Spiraling)…"

Ryota looked and…

""KA"!," he punched her hard, causing her to scream in a most painful manner at a beam of bluish white light was seen momentarily over her form. The brunt of the punch sent her flying downward diagonally to the ground. Suddenly he appeared in front of her and said, ""MI"!"

Being punched again, she was sent flying backwards diagonally away from Naruto towards the ground. She nearly hit the ground when…

"KA"!," Naruto appeared out of nowhere again somersaulted her straight high into the air with a strong kick. As she rocketed into the air she opened her eyes in time to see and hear…

"ZE"!," again Naruto appeared in front of her in the air right before he released his attack on her in the form of a very large spiral sphere that was expanding from his body. The impact on her resulted in a massive explosion in mid air, blowing and destroying everything away in its path. Ryota crashed into the ground with brute force, forming a large crater upon her impact.

Naruto teleported in front of the crater the kunoichi's body made from her crash landing. Looking into the crater, Naruto, with his staff in his hand after it changed back from a paintbrush, saw the amount of damage his attack did to the Iwa Jounin who was lying in the crater facedown. Her long hair was a mess, she was severely battered and bruised all over and bleeding in many places. Her Jounin gear and uniform were heavily damaged and torn in many places and covered in her blood.

Weakly, she coughed up and choked painfully on some of her own blood that was coming from her mouth as her gaze looked up and found Naruto standing in front of her.

"You…," Ryota asked weakly, "…How could I have…lost to you again?"

"You have only yourself to blame," Naruto said with no emotions in his voice, "I warned you that your ambitious arrogance will be your undoing. If you had been truly focused on the job, you might have had a stronger chance in beating me."

"…Such power…," Ryota said before losing consciousness, accepting her fate and soon to be delivered deathblow by Naruto's hands. Seeing that she was now unconscious, Naruto went over to her and knelt down to the side of her. He reached over and removed the Shunshin seal he placed her butt earlier.

'Leave it to the surprising maverick ninja to turn a perverted gesture into a strategic means for attack,' Minato said.

Of course, Naruto agreed, That Raibu Tsuchi No Yoyori (Living Earth Armor) of hers requires near perfect chakra control to maintain its function. To disrupt that, I focused on warping and playing with her emotions by attacking her ego and insecurities with manipulative slandering. It was easy really, because she reminded me so much of Sasuke: egotistical, ambitious, and revengeful and with a complex to prove that they're stronger than me through the use of physical power. People like that are easy to manipulate.

With her mind and sense of judgment clouded with rage and a wounded ego, I later intentionally groped her without alerting her to the fact that I placed a jutsu marker under her rear, knowing she wouldn't have the capacity to concentrate her chakra efficiently into her armors after I added to her emotional instability. In effect, the strength and durability of her armors were weakened, making her an easy target for everyone to hit.

'Pure genius,' Minato admitted, 'Underhanded but absolutely cunning. To be completely honest, I wouldn't have conjured up anything like that.'

"Keep this up kit," Kyuubi snickered darkly, "And you'll be the second coming of Itachi."

Shut up stupid fox, Naruto shot back, I don't recall asking for your opinion.

The great fox snarled at the blonde.

Minato cut in, 'Changing the subject, your new attack was most impressive.'

Rasen Kamikaze (Spiraling Wind of God), Naruto replied, That's my new jutsu I've been working on for sometime now. I used my two clones to perform and combine the shape and nature manipulations around my entire body. In a sense, I become a human Rasengan, only deadlier and stronger. Asuma-sensei gave me some pointers recently in nature manipulation after I learned he was a wind affinity. However, that jutsu still isn't fully perfected yet.

This fact was proven when Naruto fell to his knees and one hand while using his other hand to hold his chest before coughing up a little blood from his mouth.

Holding that jutsu together in its imperfect state places a great deal of stress on my body, Naruto explained while holding his chest, Plus it's still unstable, which is why I sustained some internal damage after performing that jutsu, but its nothing I can't handle seeing that I didn't use that attack at maximum. Had I done so, well…the damage might have been more extensive…

Yondaime nodded in understanding, knowing that there was another part of the Rasengan he wanted to add in as well with his wind affinity. But seeing that he won't be able to accomplish that, he decided that he'll teach it to Naruto in a later time in his life.

Naruto allowed his staff to transformed back to Tao. The masked fox humanoid woman stood next to Naruto quietly as he began healing himself.

"What should be done with her now," Naruto asked out loud.

"Slay her," Tao suggested, "She'll be trouble if we allow her to live or leave freely especially with what she now knows."

Thinking back to what happened between himself and the kunoichi, Naruto started contemplating on what he should do now.

"After seeing her abilities and intentions, it's clear that she'll come after me again to try to finish what she started," Naruto said, "She did try to kill me, or so it seemed and would have succeeded in defeating me were she given the opportunity to do so."

Naruto stayed quiet while thinking about what should be done with her. Sure he could kill her and be done with, he knew. But after contemplating on the situation for a couple of more minutes, an idea formulated in his mind.

"Tao," Naruto asked.

"Yes?"

"How good are you with seals," he asked

"That depends on the nature of the seal and its purpose," Tao replied. Naruto said, "I have something I would like for you do, and something else I would like for you to do some looking into for me if you will."

Tao nodded as Naruto detailed to her the favors he wanted her to do for him.

(Four Hours Later)

Ryota woke up and found that she wasn't in as much pain as before. She sat up and found that most of her injuries were gone and but also that most of her clothes were damaged and ruined, leaving her in her bra and what little was left of her pants that exposed parts of her panties.

"Good you're awake," a voice said. Ryota turned to see Naruto looking down at her with both the earth and heaven scrolls in his hands. She backed up away from him until she was up against a tree.

"Relax, I didn't rape or inappropriately touch you in any way," Naruto assured. Not believing his words, especially after he groped her again earlier, she asked cautiously, "What did you do to me?"

"I healed your most of your injuries, bones, blood vessels, colon, intestine, your right lung and liver, all of which I heavily damaged inside you earlier in my last attack," Naruto explained, "You'd have died within the hour had I not done so."

"Why did you spare me when you knew I came here to kill you," she asked cautiously.

"I spared you because I found use for you. I want you to personally deliver a message for me to your Tsuchikage," Naruto answered, "Tell your presiding Tsuchikage not to send any ninjas after me; because I won't be as merciful to them as I was to you just now. Plus, you did say that I can have this earth scroll and my freedom if I defeated you. Seeing that I accomplished that feat, I'll take my leave now with the earth scroll that you've saved me the trouble in finding."

Naruto then turned and started walking off away from her. Ryota shouted, "Hey! You shouldn't so trusting and turn your back on me! I can kill you right where you stand!"

"I took that into consideration while you were unconscious," Naruto said without turning to look at her, "That's why that kubiwa fūin (Choker Seal) was placed around your neck."

Seeing a small nearby like, Ryota ran over to it and looked into the lake to see that Naruto was telling the truth. A kubiwa fūin of some sort was around her neck.

"That particular seal is most complex and very hard to make, even for a seal master. I wouldn't advise you tampering with that seal or attempting to remove it," Naruto warned, "It's specially designed to respond to a particular chakra. If you or anyone else but me tampers or attempt to remove it, that kubiwa fūin will active and strangle you to death."

Ryota's eyes widened in disbelief at her situation; she couldn't believe what Naruto did to her, or even how he managed to accomplish it. Angered by the situation, she found and picked up one of her kunais on the ground as she ran after him.

"You son of a bitch," she yelled as she grabbed and turned him to face her with her kunai at his throat.

"I wouldn't advise you killing me," Naruto warned as he focused chakra into his chest enough to reveal the seal that was placed on his chest exactly over where his heart is.

"This seal on my chest was specially designed to respond to my vitals and it's part of the kubiwa fūin on your neck and choke you to death. Even if you managed to bring me back to Iwa, your safety isn't guaranteed since they'll possibly kill me anyway, in effect, you'll pay the ultimate price by dying with me.

"Also, that kubiwa fūin is designed to prevent you from revealing my secret about my birth father and Kyuubi. It'll choke you death should you make an attempt to reveal my secret without my consent. So what's your choice: your mission or your life?"

There was a long silence between them. Naruto stopped channeling chakra into the seal on his chest, making his disappear back into his chest.

"Am I really worth you forfeiting your life just to satisfy your mission and ego," he asked with a calm demeanor. Naruto made no attempt to defend himself as she hesitantly removed the kunai from his neck. She remembered what her Tsuchikage told her about Naruto. Like Naruto, her Tsuchikage warned her not to underestimate him. But she allowed her ambition, pride and overconfidence to overshadow the warnings given to her. And now she's paying for it in full.

Without saying another word, Naruto turned and started walking off, leaving the Iwa kunoichi to her thoughts in the forest. The kunoichi wanted to go after him, but her feet wouldn't budge from where she was. She was angry, completely humiliated, and afraid. For the first time in a long time in all her shinobi career she was afraid and didn't know what to do. Overwhelmed by what befell her, she fell to her hands and knees.

A moment later, Naruto heard the sounds of sobbing and weeping from behind him.

"…Please kill me," Ryota cried with tears pouring down her face. Naruto stopped where he was as she continued, "…Please…I can't bear the shame of returning back after what happened!…I beg you…just end my life…"

Naruto stayed quiet momentarily before he decided to speak, "I have no need to kill you; humbling you the way I did satisfies me enough as it is. What you choose to do now with your life with its consequences is your choice."

Saying what he wanted to say, Naruto turned forward and continued walking away from her with his two scrolls and on his way to the tower. Ryota lowered her head as she cried again, almost refusing to believe how accepting the mission to retrieve Naruto had ultimately sealed her fate alongside his should anything fatal befall him.

(Later That Evening)

Naruto arrived at the tower. He opened one of the numerous doors and walked in. What greeted him was an empty room with a board on the wall. He read aloud, "A balanced person needs both heaven and earth. If you have heaven, but not earth, run in the fields and gain strength. If you have earth, but not heaven, go to a wise man and seek help. When you have gained them both, use them well."

What does that mean, Naruto wondered. Yondaime chose not to answer that for him, wanting Naruto to figure it out for himself.

"I have both the heaven and earth scrolls," Naruto said, "I'm taking it that it means that I'm supposed to open them here. It's worth a shot."

Naruto opened the scrolls at the simultaneously. Realizing that they were summoning scrolls, he placed them on the floor in "X" each other. A puff of smoke later revealed a smiling Jiraiya, who was caught off guard but Naruto's new physical appearance and clothes but managed to control his surprise.

"Excellent work, Neo Yondaime. Congratulations on passing," Jiraiya said.

"Ero-jisan," Naruto exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"To welcome you, and explain that," Jiraiya said and pointed at the board, "It's a poem that we use to explain, very simply, how you should train. The heaven it refers to is skill and experience. The earth is strength, speed and stamina. If you have skill, then train your body. If you have strength, then seek help to train your skills."

Naruto simply nodded, "Am I one of the first to be here?"

"No," Jiraiya answered, "In fact you're the last one here. All of the other teams came before you."

"What," Naruto retorted, "Damn that Anko-chan! Knowing emo-Sasuke, he won't let me hear the end of it. He'll be calling me dead-last indefinitely!"

"Speaking of that spoiled brat," Jiraiya said, "Both him and his team ran into a Kusa-nin earlier today…he was Orochimaru in disguised."

Naruto's head shot up on hearing that.

"Damn it," Naruto swore, "I knew there was something off about that Kusa Genin when I saw him earlier that day at the entrance gate of this forest! I just couldn't put my finger on it! If I'd have known-"

"It's not your fault so don't blame yourself gaki," Jiraiya assured, "He slipped passed all of us without our notice. So we all share the blame in all this."

"Why did he attack Sasuke and his team," Naruto asked, "What was his plan?"

"We're not sure yet," Jiraiya said, "Besides planning an invasion against Konoha, we don't know for what purpose he attacked and branded Sasuke with a cursed seal."

"You mean the same one that bastard gave Anko-chan," Naruto asked.

"So she told you about it," Jiraiya realized, "I'm surprised really. Her history with Orochimaru isn't something Anko takes pleasure discussing with practically anyone. (Grinned) You must have made quite an impression to move her to tell you about it."

"Sure I did," Naruto remarked in sarcasm, "By the way, where's that Snake bastard now?"

"…We don't know," Jiraiya sighed, "He escaped before the ANBU and Anko appeared on the scene. Sasuke was out of control when they came across him. It was clear that the cursed seal was having psychological effects on him. Luckily, they managed to contain him enough to neutralize his instability."

"Any 'casualties'," Naruto asked.

"By Orochimaru, beside that Kusa Genin he killed, none," Jiraiya continued, "The only ones who are capable fighting Orochimaru on even grounds are Sarutobi-sensei, Tsunade, you and myself, and I'm sure that Itachi himself can do the same. For anyone else, engaging Orochimaru is suicide."

"…I see," Naruto remarked.

"So until we know something more about Orochimaru's hidden agenda with regards to Sasuke," Jiraiya said, "We have to play things safe and keep things on a down low. Understand"

Naruto nodded wordlessly.

"By the way gaki," Jiraiya said, "You can drop the henge. Though I will admit that I'm impressed with the look you gave yourself for this part of the exam. You really got the spirit of a jungle forest ninja."

"Ahh…ero-jisan," Naruto replied while scratching the back of his head, "There's something you should know…"

That was when Naruto went into details explaining to Jiraiya everything that happened in the No Return sector before arriving at the tower. Jiraiya listened to Naruto's every word as the boy was allowed to speak. Thought it went without say that Jiraiya was stupefied at what Naruto explained to him in regards to his physical change however, Jiraiya laughed and applauded lecherously upon hearing how Naruto groped Ryota as a distraction before placing his jutsu marker under her rear. And when he explained his previous encounters with her and how he performed Kakashi's 1,000 years of pain jutsu on her in their second encounter, Jiraiya told Naruto that he couldn't be more proud of the fact that he found use of being a pervert as an attack strategy.

Getting back to the main subject, Naruto continued with the story because Jiraiya continued teasing him. After hearing everything from Naruto, the aged Sannin stayed quiet as he processed the entire story. When he was done gather his thoughts…

"If this story was told by anyone else," Jiraiya admitted, "I might not have believed it. Leaving that Iwa kunoichi to live despite begging you to end her life…I'd figure you'd have brought her in for questioning."

"There was no point in doing that and her freedom wasn't without a price," Naruto replied, "We both know how much Iwagakure despises my father and we already know they'd have dissected me to see what secrets they could learn about me and use against Konoha. I doubt Ryota will attempt revealing my secret to anyone, especially after I told her what would happen if she does."

"Confident in your seals I see," Jiraiya remarked with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I had good teachers," Naruto replied, causing Jiraiya to sigh at him, "You're taking a very huge gamble Naruto; it's evident that Tsunade-hime molded you in her image but you're taking her gambling influences into territory even she'd dread to tread."

"Look," Naruto retorted, "Sooner or later I'm going to have to face off against stronger enemies who'll want to end my life because of whose son I am or for some other reason and I'll have to deal with my enemies in the best way I see fit. You, jiisan and kaa-chan won't always be there to protect me. What happened in the sector of No Return is proof of that."

Sighing, Jiraiya retorted, "Naruto, I'm very well aware of that fact. All I'm saying is for you to be careful and not do something you'd regret later."

"Don't worry ero-jisan," Naruto reassured with a confident smile, "Things often have ways of bouncing back in my favor. So I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"…Just like Minato when I trained him during his Genin days," Jiraiya sighed, "…Hard headed and stubborn. And having him sealed inside you only makes you twice as bad!"

Naruto snorted, as did Yondaime; they were expecting Jiraiya to say something positive about the both of them. A moment later the older man went over to examine Naruto's body. After a thorough examination on the boy's body, the Toad Sannin acknowledged the situation Naruto was in.

"Minato was right when he said that side effects might result from using too much of his chakra at one time to heal and restore your body," Jiraiya said, "I would have never expected that doing so would cause your body to irreversibly age by nearly two years."

"Irreversibly," Naruto asked with a surprised tone, "You mean I'm stuck like this?"

"I'm afraid so," Jiraiya confirmed, "As you know since the night of your birth after Yondaime was sealed into you, you've been absorbing his chakra in a gradual process. Since then, your body has been undergoing some changes physically and mentally, with Tsunade-hime and I there to monitor and control the changes, and watch for any irregularities. By using and absorbing that large a quantity of his chakra all at once to heal yourself, your body was forced to adapt and change in order to accept and infuse that amount of Yondaime's chakra into your system without causing damage to your body. In doing so, your physiology was restructured and mended to Yondaime's likeness. To say that you'll stand out in the crowd would be an understatement."

"What might have happened if I'd have used Kyuubi's chakra," Naruto inquired.

"Though your body would have healed completely however," Jiraiya explained, "There's no telling exactly what side effects, dire or not, that Kyuubi's chakra might have had on you all together. I highly doubt though that it'd be something any would want to see or experience."

"…," Naruto was quite for a moment.

"And until the fifth day, you're to stay in this tower. I would suggest getting plenty of rest for the remainder of the time. There is a bedroom for you, and I'll leave you to find the rest yourself. See you later."

"Hey," Naruto said, "Is it possible to bring me some change of clothes?"

"I thought you were taught proper manners," Jiraiya retorted "You didn't say 'please'."

Annoyed, Naruto said, "Can you please bring me back some change of clothes?"

After a moment…

"I think not," Jiraiya smirked.

"What?!," Naruto exclaimed. Jiraiya grinned lecherously, "I wanna see the look on all of the females' faces when they get a look at the new you! It'll provide me plenty of new raw materials to use and work with for my next greatest seller of my Icha Icha Paradise series!"

Jiraiya waved and puffed into a cloud of smoke.

"ERO-JISAN!"

Naruto has brought about Ryota's defeat once again and made it to the tower to meet Jiraiya. How will Anko, Tsunade and everyone else react to Naruto's new appearance and physique? What will now become of Ryota? Find out next time.