A/N: Not a lot of action; but I do plan to build up. Plus, I intend to move through this faster. Do read and review, would you kindly?

…

[Play: "Faith of Jevel" by Darren Korb, from "Bastion"]

[Somewhere in Nami no Kuni, roughly a week later]

A young girl sat on the rooftops of Nami no Kuni, watching through scarlet eyes as people went about their business; or lack thereof, as was the case. She wore a pale lilac jacket and skirt with white trim and a white bowtie on her neck, long black stockings and shoes, and her waist-length, cream-colored hair was parted from her face by a pair of golden cups. White-gloved hands supported her hands as she sat on the edge. "This is where he's at?" she asked herself in disbelief, looking down in disgust at the sorry state the town was in, "It's a dump! I mean, why would he even want to stop here?"

As she stood back up, the girl pat her skirt clean. "Then again, according to the history books, this place is going to be important both to his and her development, so I'll have to wait and see. Besides, it'd be rude if I didn't at least say hello to my own friends."

Cracking sounds could be heard as she stretched herself out. "That, and I'm pretty sure that they'll need that workout pretty soon anyway."

...

{Play: "Spike in a Rail" by Darren Korb, from "Bastion"}

[Nami no Kuni, bridge construction site]

The sound of power tools at work filled the air as construction of the bridge was underway. As her father was out of town to hire kunoichi bodyguards, Tsunami was barking orders at the construction workers to make it sure that the project stayed on schedule. The bridge was almost halfway finished, and everyone's spirits were lifted since the day those foreigners had come to

One of the new guys however, was very interesting as he was known to beat down Gato's goons whenever they would show up at the site. And if they tried to pull another Kaiza on him, he wasn't having any of it; he would just beat them up and toss their asses into the sea. Everybody originally thought he was joking when he said he beat the Kazekage in a martial arts competition, but every thug that bit the dust at his hands made his story all the more believable. It also made them grateful that he turned down Gato's offer of steady work.

"Hey Naruto!" called out a construction worker, "I need some more concrete here!"

"You got it, Saburo!" Naruto called back, picking up five bags of concrete and hefting them over his shoulders.

Since he'd come to work on the bridge, Naruto had surprised all the construction workers when he lifted large amounts of powdered concrete onto his shoulders. They even saw him hauling around bundles of I-beams needed for supporting the bridge. Their jaws dropped when they heard that everything he did was a light workout compared to the cabin-sized boulders he lifted and dragged around for more serious strength training. The fact that a 160-pound teenager considered the backbreaking construction work they did a light workout had caused everyone on the project to also be glad he had no intention of leaving the martial arts scene. If he did, he'd be likely to put them all out of a job.

Still, his presence on the bridge gave the construction workers an impromptu replacement for all the vital heavy machinery operators they'd been slowly losing since the start of the project. The fact that he could protect himself was a bonus, and so he doubled as the security detail for the crew. Plus, the boy was good company; providing a much-needed morale boost to combat a seemingly hopeless situation. The story of his travels and the opponents he'd fought had reached their ears, making them all the more determined to finish the bridge so that they could have the freedom to one day see the world he saw. Maybe even watch his fights with imports that would undoubtedly be coming in to the village.

All thoughts were interrupted as soon as a loud whistle was heard. "Lunch time!" The workers turned to see that Tsunami had returned with a basket of fruits and vegetables, and the girl in the cat-eared hoodie named Kanna.

It was a relief when those two words were uttered on the intercom. "Finally!" said Naruto, wiping the sweat from his brow, "I never thought we'd ever stop."

Sitting nearby, and on pro-bono guard duty was another Suna kunoichi that came to town with Naruto with four ponytails named Temari. The three of them were easy on the eyes, in all honesty; and they corroborated with a lot of the fights Naruto had been in since his big fight in Sunagakure. Kanna and Temari were personable enough; but Gaara, the redhead with the "愛" tattoo on her left brow spooked everyone to no end. She was kind enough to use her Suna Bunshin to add more manpower to the construction effort to support Naruto in continuing with the bridge-building. Only her sisters and Naruto were brave enough to approach her, the latter of whom usually spent his breaks with her.

As they sat down, the Gaara's demeanor seemed to unconsciously soften as Naruto took a knife, and shared his apples with her. When the felt that she had softened enough, her sisters settled down around them to enjoy their meager rations of wild fruits and vegetables. Due to the extreme shortage of food in the markets, as well as the criminal spike in prices (emphasis on 'criminal'), Tsunami had to forage in the woods for a vegan meal that she cleaned herself.

The food they ate gave them a sample of how victory tasted, and they were more than motivated to see this project through. And with Naruto and his friends assisting and providing security, it was only a matter of time before it was done. Soon, you fat bastard; soon. Naruto thought to himself, I'll make you pay for what you did to this place, and no amount of money is going to stop me from giving you what you deserve.

…

[Elsewhere]

Looking down on Naruto from her place in the sky, the girl watched as he took a lunch break from his temporary job as a construction worker. She giggled to herself. "Naruto, you silly! You could've just killed Gato and been done with this mess! Although, I suppose you didn't know at the time that you would indeed get to kill Gato soon."

Placing her hand under her chin, the girl began to think carefully. "I'm pretty sure you'll be getting that much-needed workout soon. You and your sister. But I'll be seeing you at Konoha, Naruto-kun!"

…

[Tazuna's house, later on]

Naruto took a nap in his tent, having made camp outside in the backyard. The place would be used for the Konoha shinobi that would come to stay, as well as for the Sand Siblings. Tsunami kept insisting that he should at least stay inside…if only so that she could pay him back in earnest for all the hard work he was doing for the bridge. In turn, he stubbornly insisted that the guest room went to the kunoichi. He did however, promise that he'd show up at the table for dinner.

Besides, Naruto didn't like the way that her son Inari looked at him. He didn't care for the kid's attitude, saying stuff like 'Gato will kill you all, and especially you' and pretty much being a jerk overall. If it weren't for Tsunami's assurance that he'd seen better days and the sobs he heard coming out of the boy's room, he would have punched the little brat's lights out. Eh, he's not worth it anyway.

As he dreamed on, he felt an odd weight pressing down on his chest. Naruto opened his eyes blearily, his vision cleared up to reveal a head of red hair and gray eyes looking into his. It was Harumi, laying down on top of him, resting her head on his chest with a smile on her face. "Rise and shine, Naruto-kun!"

"Harumi?" he asked, suddenly sitting up. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, this and that," she said, rolling off of Naruto to sit next to him. "Come on in. I want you to meet my sensei!"

Any words of protest were cut off when Harumi grabbed Naruto by the wrist, dragging him into the house. Within seconds, he found himself in the presence Sakura and Sachiko, a kunoichi laying on the couch, and a bespectacled old man that sat nearby. Harumi indicated the kunoichi on the couch. She wore the flak jacket of a jōnin, and her hitai-ate as an eyepatch over her left eye while gazing at him with her sleepy right eye. "Naruto-kun, I'd like for you to meet Hatake Kasumi; sensei of Team Seven. The old timer over there is Tazuna, our client."

The old man in question had a pot-belly, and but powerful arms and legs. His mouth was obscured by a beard and mustache, and his wrinkles and gray hair showed his age. He held Inari in his arms, the boy overjoyed that his grandfather had returned. The look he leveled at Naruto spoke volumes of his curiosity. "And you are?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, I've been working here on the bridge while you were gone."

Tazuna turned to face his daughter, the question on his mind more than obvious to her. "He's been a big help. Especially with the kunoichi from Sunagakure he brought with him. In fact, because of them, we've made excellent progress on the bridge."

"Well where did they come from?" he asked, pressing on for more answers.

"They were at Gato's fighting arena on his yacht." began Tsunami, "When Naruto won, Gato would not give him his fight money, so now he's working for us for room and board."

Satisfied with her answer, Tazuna turned to Naruto with a softened gaze. "Thanks for your help. Stay as long as you like."

…

[Gato's yacht]

"So, what brings you ladies here?" Gato asked with a confident smirk on his face, surrounded by his bodyguards. The person he spoke to was a barefooted woman with tied, baggy white pants that ballooned around her ankles, a pair of fighting gloves, and a single piece of cloth tied behind her back to cover her modesty. Her black hair was done up in a pair of pointed twintails, framing a very attractive face with a sadistic grin. She seemed to be heterochromic, had a very streamlined and athletic body with modest curves and lightly-muscled arms.

Behind her stood a woman with reddish-pink hair, and wearing a black suit with a small tie. Her generous bust was almost bursting out of the white shirt she wore, and her eyes were behind a pair of yellow sunglasses. A slender body that had shown subtle signs of recovering extremely well after childbirth had garnered a large amount of lust in her direction. This woman was Crimson Viper, a contender in the Sunagakure Martial Arts Tournament that saw Uzumaki Naruto's amazing victory as it rippled across the world.

"My bosses sent me here to beef up your security," said the woman, her features unchanged despite her obvious disgust of the man, "They aren't confident that you'll be able to handle Uzumaki. That, and I'm here to collect on the money you owe us."

"Hmph! Well then, you can tell your bosses that I will pay them whenever I like!" answered Gato, still feeling confident in his security. "Nobody threatens the almighty Gato! Not even the all-powerful Shadaloo!"

With the snap of his fingers, the two bodyguards barely took a step when the woman leaped forward in a single bound, decapitating one guard with a single kick, before kicking the second one hard in the throat. As the guard suffocated from his swelling trachea, Gato made a move to press a button on his desk only to watch as the woman sliced the desk in half and press his neck against the wall with a single foot. "At least you have some balls." she laughed, squeezing harder on Gato's throat, "Now that I've got your undivided attention, I want you to get this into your thick, greedy skull."

As she spoke, her voice took on a darker tone without dropping her smile. "Shadaloo has already been patient enough with you on your repayment due to your family's long-standing membership with us. We've even been lenient with you after your little embezzlement scheme blew up in your face. Even now, you're living on borrowed time, Gato…if you don't give us the goddamn money you owe, then we get to kick your ass out of Shadaloo. It won't matter how many of these flunkies you hire, and it won't matter where you run; we'll send everyone if we have to so that we can collect on what you owe us one way or another. Do you understand?"

Giving the woman a frightened nod, Gato was relieved when she finally released his throat. As she took a seat nearby, the businessman took into stock what he'd just heard. If this woman was telling the truth (which she likely was), then he was already up Shit Creek without a paddle. He seriously needed to pay back Shadaloo for everything he owed; lest he wind up being on their organ donor list to pay his debts. Sadly, the math he did in his head calculated that his debt had gone up to roughly 60 million ryō; a number he would have a hard time paying back in the near future. Ah well, at least I get to have a little bit more fun before I die. After all, I still have to chew out that bitch Ayaka for her failure to kill the bridge-builder!

…

[Tazuna's house, five nights later]

Naruto sat with the Sand Sisters at the table, waiting for dinner to come after a long day's work. The job had progressed well the past few days. Aside from the odd construction worker chickening out (and Tazuna pretty much firing them all), there were few setbacks. In spite of that, the bridge was a quarter of the way done, thanks to Naruto and Gaara working together to assist on the project. Coupled with the fact that Temari and Kanna also helped with security, and the morale boost seemed to increase. They could make it!

In the meantime, Harumi and Sachiko were training hard on the tree-walking exercise. To this day, Naruto never had an idea of what it would be like to have chakra, but it was always cool for him to watch kunoichi do stuff like walking up trees and on water. But in any case, he'd long ago made peace with the fact that being born as a boy meant that he was unable to use chakra. Besides, as hard as ki was to master, it was still plenty powerful in his eyes. It'd been a good five days now, and so he expected a good amount of progress; considering that Kasumi pretty much drilled them on their training.

Since Sakura had already completed the exercise, she was assigned to guard duty for Tsunami. It was an easy job, but Naruto could tell from her subdued expression from across the table that she now knew how important this mission was. No doubt, she'd seen the condition the town was in, and could not help but feel sorry for what was going on.

Any further thoughts were cut off when Kasumi walked into the house with a tired Harumi and Sachiko hobbling their way to the table. Naruto could tell that they had been working hard from the chakra burns on their bodies. The victorious look on their faces spoke volumes of the progress in their training so far.

"We managed to do it!" Harumi cheered, while Tsunami distributed the teacups. Naruto graciously took on up and began to sip away.

"We're still tied, dobe!" Sachiko reminded. "And I refuse to allow myself to be compared to you."

Harumi looked to Sachiko with a decidedly un-amused look on her face. "Like I'll let you win too!"

"JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" cried a very familiar voice. Naruto didn't need to take his attention away from the cup to know it was Inari. "It won't matter how much god-damn training you get down! Gato's far more powerful than you think! At the end of the day, he's going to kill us all! So what would foreigners like you know about suffering? I'll bet you all sleep well at your own homes, enjoying bedtime stories and good food with your own parents while all of us suffer here!"

"And what are you doing about it?" asked Naruto, his voice a low growl as he started squeezing on his teacup.

"What the hell did you just say?" Inari threatened.

"I asked you, 'what are you doing about it?'" Naruto repeated, the cup finally shattering under the tension of his grip as he stood up. If he noticed he was being wreathed in an aura of black flames that frightened everyone to no end, he did not show it. It didn't help that his eyes took on a very fierce shade of red as he looked at Inari. "Your mother goes out every day to make sure you get fed, in spite of the fact that there's barely anything in the stores at all."

One step closer towards Inari.

"Your grandfather is working hard to try and get the bridge finished so that you would have a future, while a lot of construction workers are leaving him!"

Another angry step towards Inari.

"And what are you doing? Nothing but going to your room, and crying about a guy that obviously died for this village filled with nothing but COWARDS!" Naruto snapped, causing Inari to fall on his butt. He was too terrified to say anything, because the black fires seemed to intensify as Naruto got angrier. "Oh yeah, I know all about Kaiza, and you know why? Because the construction workers talk! I know that he was like a father to you, and that he really loved this village. I also know he died because he cared enough to fight back against some greedy-ass fatso that hides behind his own money! And what are the rest of you people doing? Nothing! You're all just hiding in your own homes, crying about all the injustices that Gato is doing to you, and you still don't do anything! WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR SPINE?! If you hate that fat coward, Gato so much, THEN FIGHT BACK!"

As he began to calm down, whatever anger Naruto had for Inari was replaced with disgust. Inari's knees were knocking together in utter terror even after the black flames had dissipated, and Naruto's eyes had returned to their normal blues. "I am honoring your father by helping your grandpa fight back against Gato." he calmly said, squatting before Inari as he scuttled backward. "He loved this village enough that he was willing to die for it, and do you want to know why I respect him?"

"W-why?" asked Inari, half-curious and half-terrified.

"Because Kaiza didn't make Gato mad; he frightened the hell out of him."

"T-t-that's a lie," Inari said, disbelieving in what Naruto said. "He died because Gato was mad at him."

"That's where you're wrong," Naruto countered. "Gato killed Kaiza because he was afraid of him. Just think about it; if there's one man in town that's willing to stand up to him, then how soon until he gets more people to stand up? How long until the village follows this example? Gato's solution was to kill Kaiza before he managed to round up anyone else that was willing to help him revolt."

Inari allowed this tidbit to settle in his mind as Naruto stood back up. "Kaiza's rolling in his grave right now because people like you are letting Gato get away with his crimes. You wanna make sure that he rests easy down there? Then stop being a crybaby and think of something -anything- you can do to fight back against Gato, and just do it."

Naruto turned to face the rest of the people at the table. Many of them were gobsmacked at the verbal browbeating he'd dished out on Inari. Even Gaara was in wide-eyed shock at the fact that Naruto had displayed such frightening power when angered. "Please excuse me. I need to blow off some steam."

"Take as much time off as you need," Tazuna said sagely, "but make sure you show up at the bridge tomorrow. We need you to help us finish it"

As he walked past the table, Naruto found that he was stopped by Harumi grabbing him by the wrist. "I'm coming with you." she said, a determined look in her eyes, "I need to stretch too…"

…

[Somewhere in the Kirigakure wilderness]

Crows were cawing, looking everywhere they could for any scrap of food as Haku stole through the woods with a basket in her delicate hands. The air was much spookier given the amount of mist that obstructed her vision, not helped by the fact that crows were sometimes summoned by kunoichi. Either way, she took careful steps throughout the woods, looking for the medicinal herbs she needed to speed up Ayaka-sama's recovery.

She was honestly not surprised when the Oni Shimai were captured and turned in to the authorities. In her mind, the two of them were pretty incompetent to have been beaten that easily by two genin working together. Ayaka-sama however, at least put up more of a fight (understandable given that her opponent was a jōnin). Sadly, she was injured badly after her fight with Hatake Kasumi, and she was raring to fight not just Hatake but Uzumaki.

Things did not get any better when she found out that Gato owed Shadaloo a lot of money. She didn't like the way that the two women that had been sent by the organization looked down on Ayaka-sama. Especially not that black-haired spider-woman

When she heard that Mei-sama wanted Uzumaki brought before her alive and in one piece, Haku didn't know what to think, except that she was all the more motivated to capture him. They way he was able to fight with Ayaka-sama on a roughly equal footing seemed to underline how useful he was to the rebel cause. Plus, he was a very good-looking boy; apart from her debt to her mistress, why wouldn't she want to capture him?

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the sound of two people fighting, followed by the sound of trees being knocked down. Haku rushed towards a clearing, watching as Uzumaki fought with a red-haired girl in hand-to-hand combat. It was clear to her that the two of them were fighting with the same style, but it was clear that Uzumaki was better given that his movements were far confident; he was far more comfortable in his attacks, as though he'd practiced in it for years. Meanwhile, the redhead had stumbled more often, and her movements were clumsy, which were all signs that she was new to the style.

As the two of them were sparring, the clearing seemed to widen. Such was the devastation caused by their attacks that a good amount of the trees had been felled by their bare hands. Haku had to stay a good distance away to watch, as the action died down. When the dust settled, she was able to see the extent of the damage: a shattered rock, a cratered ground, and a lot of destroyed trees. Incredible. If this is how powerful Uzumaki's style is, even in the hands of a mere beginner as the redhead, imagine the possibilities if chakra were added.

"We done?" asked the redhead, panting.

"Yeah, I think I blew off enough steam." Naruto answered. "You got even better."

The redhead smiled gratefully. "Well, next time you get that angry, come see me. We'll suss it out like this again."

Haku found herself unconsciously walking quietly towards the duo as they calmed down. A sharp snap had brought their attention to her, and she found that there was a twig that was being crushed by her left foot. She then looked back up to glance back at the two of them awkwardly. "Ummm…hi."

"Can we help you?" asked the redhead.

"I'm looking for herbs to help my friend," Haku answered honestly. "Then I heard that commotion out in the forest."

Both Uzumaki and the redhead smiled and laughed nervously. "Yeah well, I needed to blow off some steam," he said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "I just couldn't do that indoors."

"You need any help?" asked the redhead.

"Sure thing."

As the three of them wandered around in the woods, Haku and her new companions learned quite a bit about each other. The redhead was named Harumi, and she had been with Naruto since the two of them met when they were just six. She just couldn't put her finger on it, but for some reason, both Harumi and Naruto seemed to be pretty much the same person; at least as far as personality and mannerisms went. There were even subtle similarities between the two of them that neither of them seemed to have noticed…even going so far as their fighting style.

"Do you both have anyone precious to you?" she asked.

"We both have a lot of people that we want to protect back home," Naruto began, "But most importantly, we want to protect each other."

"If we didn't meet each other, and all those other people that we care so much about, we'd both have killed ourselves long ago." finished Harumi, pulling Naruto closer to her. "So yeah, we have precious people."

Haku had no idea why, but for some reason the way that Harumi was touching Naruto seemed to disturb her. Was she jealous? But then again, the answer the two of them gave out had caused her to feel a sort of warmth in her heart. "That's good," she finally said, going back to finding her herbs, "I find that you are a lot stronger when you have someone you want to protect. I can only imagine how strong the two of you truly are."

"Is this friend of yours someone you want to protect?" asked Naruto.

"Yes. Without her, I'd be nothing."

"Then I guess the three of us have something in common." said Harumi, smiling sincerely.

"I suppose we do." said Haku, picking up her basket. "I thank you both for keeping me company. Farewell."

Naruto and Harumi both watched as Haku stopped after taking ten steps away. "By the way, I'm a boy."

"Seriously?" asked Naruto in disbelief.

"You're too pretty to be a boy." Harumi finished.

Haku chuckled to herself. "Well, it was worth a shot."

…

A/N: The bridge fight shall be VERY hard…the only good news being that at least Wesker won't be there. Or will he? Also, on a scale of 1 to 10, how screwed do you think Gato is if he owes Shadaloo the equivalent of roughly $5 million USD?

…

Conversion:

1 ryō = 10¥ JPY (Japanese Yen) = $.08 USD (US Dollar)

Gato's debt to Shadaloo: 60 million ryō = 600 million JPY = 4,835,982.00 USD

…

Vocabulary:

Saburo─a Japanese name meaning the 'third son.'

Feral apple─an apple that hasn't been grown in a farm.

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Original Jutsu:

None yet…

…

Cameos/References

Girl in the beginning─Ingrid