Okay, now I know what you're thinking, "Another story Kenchi? Really? What's wrong with you? Have you been eating too many paint chips or something?"

Well I respond to that with a hearty shake of my head and a deep belly laugh. Yes this is another story, and it's one that popped into my head. Please take note that I thought of this story's parts over the course of Saturday morning and by the end of that night I was ready to roll with this pilot chapter.

If there's one thing I know, it's the continuity of the games that I play, and want to see if I can make this work out. A Naruto/Street Fighter crossover. Strange? More than likely. Do I care? Not particularly. If you don't get knocked on your ass you don't know how far you can go, and I want to see if this is going to knock me on my ass.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Street Fighter. I want to make a sandbox-style game in the vein of Bully if you've ever played that, but just encompassing most of the things that people do in normal life without making it super boring. If done right I think it could do respectably business-wise… but then again I suck at idea-making.

The Newest Challenger

Chapter 1: What's the Harm in a Little Fight?

How long had it been since he had ended up there?

Three years…

Waking up over Three years ago in a strange place with people that didn't speak his language and all kept looking at him all pitiful. He didn't need to understand them to know that much at least when they looked at him. Before then pity wasn't what he had been used to, but he understood the look all the same. It almost got to him as much as the looks of people that tried to deny he existed.

Almost. With the pity though they'd feed him. They understood ramen well enough to get him some of that. Not the good stuff like what Ichiraku would have given him, but hey, whatever. He liked instant well enough anyway.

In a matter of hours they got someone that could speak his language and his face brightened up. Maybe now he'd get some answers. He knew he had been running toward the border of a different country before blacking out and reawakening wherever he was, but he had never heard of any other country in the Elemental Nations speaking anything other than his own native tongue.

And he had definitely never heard of any United States of America.

Apparently they had never heard of a Konohagakure no Sato either… or a Hi no Kuni… or even an Elemental Nations to boot.

They had to wait for six hours for Naruto to wake back up after fainting.

When he did they asked him the standard fare as to where he came from, his age, any contacts or family. Naruto didn't trust them as the last thing he had been doing was chasing Sasuke to the border of Hi no Kuni and fighting him. He loudly demanded to tell him where Sasuke was as he thought he was somewhere in enemy territory, but was only met with confusion.

After two weeks though, they had enough of the young twelve year old boy and deported him. Deport being a nice word for kicking him out of the country. At the very least they were kind enough to put him somewhere where he could understand the language. Some place called Japan. He would be their problem from that point forward.

He would have normally gone kicking and screaming, fighting all the way, but two weeks was long enough for Naruto to find out just how shit out of luck he happened to be. This world was huge, and out of all of the massive landmasses recorded on the planet there was no continent labeled Elemental Nations on the map no matter which atlas he was forced to look through to find his home by those keeping him.

There was definitely a way home. There had to be. But he hadn't found it yet. Not in three years… but it wasn't like he could go anywhere to look for it, because travelling required money, and he was most certainly not with money. But if there was a word that defined Uzumaki Naruto, it certainly wasn't quitter.

"There that gaijin punk is!"

Dressed in a dark blue school uniform, with a dark blue headband around his forehead emblazoned with a by now beaten up metal Konoha plate on it, Naruto turned around on a city street sidewalk to find eight teenagers his age looking at him predatorily, all wearing a uniform of a different color; black. A different school in the area obviously. Oh goodie.

"What do you guys want?" Naruto asked, looking them over with his blue eyes, even though he already knew the answer to that. It was the same thing and it had always been the same thing since middle school. Groups of jerks meant one thing.

"To kick your ass!" The main one, at least Naruto presumed he was the main one, said as he stepped forward. The others followed behind and the people that had been crowding the sidewalk cleared out upon seeing them try to face off with Naruto, "Just because you run Tamagawa Minami High doesn't mean you're the toughest guy in Aohura City!"

Naruto gave them a deadpan look, sparing a glance at the badge on the breast of his uniform that did indeed identify him as a student of that school, "…Says who?"

Damn it, it had always been like that to an extent since the first day he had first been forced to venture into school by those that had sent him to Japan in the first place. His blue eyes and spiky blonde hair weren't necessarily par the course for citizens of that nation and made him stick out like a sore thumb not even mentioning the three horizontal whisker-marks on both of his cheeks, but nothing really went down until Naruto was first asked where he had come from.

Naruto had said he came to Japan from America with a smile adorning his face at the rather innocent question. From the reaction he got when he told worldly knowledgeable adults about his actual factual home he was definitely not going to do the same to a bunch of kids. Not when he had a second chance among them, who knew how they'd take it? Besides, maybe he could make some fast friends this time instead of taking years to do it?

This was not the best idea though. He might as well have told them he was from a place that didn't exist as far as they were concerned because it might have gone over better. By the end of school that day a group of boys wanting to 'show him how things were done' tried to strong-arm him and intimidate him. When Naruto didn't cow and they tried to push him around he proceeded to strong-arm them… by kicking the five attackers around and going home.

From that point forward he periodically got into fights with every tough guy that had a chip on their shoulder and literally didn't like Naruto's face. By the end of his middle school tenure he had more or less cleaned his entire school out when it came to kids like that.

Then the World Warrior tournament was broadcast around the world and every jackass that could throw a punch halfway straight started thinking that they were the second coming of Ryu. Especially in Aohura City. Punks without training that learned of his 'prowess' made his high school experience up until that point one big battle.

It was decent training to keep himself in shape anyway. When he got home if he couldn't have gotten much better he could have at least kept what skills he had sharp.

With that mindset, Naruto calmly looked the lot of them down through squinted eyes as he pulled out a cellphone and quickly dialed a number, "Hello, emergency response? I'm at Akakiji Intersection and I'm going to need…" Naruto trailed off to count the number of his would-be attackers, "Enough ambulances for eight people." Hearing that Naruto was prematurely calling ambulances for them pissed all of the boys off, "Thanks a lot."

The leader ran forward at Naruto with his fist drawn back to strike him, "You're just full of jokes aren't you, you-!" He was cut off from both his attack and his rant by Naruto's closed phone bouncing off of his forehead hard enough to draw blood followed by a rising kick planted under the chin that knocked him ten feet into the air.

He floated up into the air gracefully landing almost fully upside down on the ground on the back of his head, unconscious with a thud that had the others looking at their leader in abject shock and awe at how quickly he had gone down. Looking up at Naruto they saw him picking his phone up off of the ground and placing it back into his pocket.

"We can still beat him, just take him all at once!"

Naruto paled at hearing that and ran away down the street, turning into an alley that they chased him down only for each boy that went inside to come flying back out rather authoritatively, some of them landing in the street and disrupting traffic.

The last one standing didn't go into the alley immediately, instead stopping short of going in and pulling out a pocket knife, standing there to wait on Naruto to make his exit instead of charging in after him. Numbers obviously didn't work, "You've got to come out sometime Uzumaki! Let's see how tough you think you are now huh!" After a few seconds, nothing, "I can stand here all day! The longer you wait, that's just time for my boys to wake up, and then we all get another shot at you!" He noticed the people crowding around but keeping their distance and turned on them, "What are you all looking at? You want some too?"

"Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"

Out of the alley while his opponent's back was turned, Naruto rushed out as quick as a whip and slammed his blue orb of energy right into the teen, sending him flying through a roadside display and out through the other side, crashing against a parallel parked car door and denting it significantly with his frame.

Naruto cringed when the sound of the car's alarm started going off and figured he had spent enough time messing with those guys. Walking at a brisk pace he quickly made to vacate the scene until a sharp clearing of one's throat got him to stop in his tracks.

Turning around in fear of it being the owner of the car, Naruto found that it was also someone his age, but his relief faded when he realized who it was and cursed aloud, "Fuck-! I mean, heeey Sakura-chan! What's up?" He greeted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

Kasugano Sakura. Naruto's first actual friend that he managed to make for better or worse in Japan. Imagine Naruto's surprise when he met someone else named Sakura… and then found out that it wasn't that uncommon of a name at all. This Sakura's similarities to the one he knew ended more or less right there though. Instead of pink hair this Sakura had short brown hair and eyes and wore the uniform for girls of their school; a short blue skirt, a white and blue short-sleeved top with a yellow scarf tied in the front around her neck, a pair of red Converse shoes, and a white headband wrapped around her head.

"You said we were going to meet up out front after school was over with Naruto." Sakura said with her hands on her hips as she stared the uneasy Naruto down, "You haven't trained with me in almost a month you know." Damn her… ever since she actually met Ryu she was so hard to deal with.

Sakura had met Naruto not too long after he had shown up in Japan, and when Naruto had first performed a few of his ninjutsu to win a fight in the schoolyard after classes that had gotten out of hand she had hastily introduced herself as a fan of fighters and fighting in general. As his friend she had eased him into the whole experience of living there as best she could in exchange for just hanging around with her and her friends which he had no problems with.

Then came the World Warriors tournament two years ago and she had caught a glimpse of Ryu on TV. From then she had seemingly reverse-engineered her own fighting style based on the bit she already knew and from what she had scoped out of watching Ryu's fights in the tournament. It was kind of impressive if not a little scary how effective a little initiative and a pretty good training regimen could be for that girl.

Sakura pointed at Naruto and shook her head, "You're still doing your ki attacks the wrong way." She said as they proceeded to walk, getting a scowl out of Naruto. Like she knew the first thing that made his attacks work. Rasengan wasn't ki, it was chakra, and it wasn't just a ball of light, it was a pressurized ball of power that was spinning in all directions, "You might as well throw a punch the way you use it. Why don't you just let me teach you the Hadoken (Surge Fist)?"

Because his name wasn't Ryu and he didn't want to fight like Ryu either. His chakra or ki in this world as it seemed to be called operated under the same premise and it was just as widely known with certain kinds of people knowing how to use it after very hard training.

"Because your Hadoken sucks." Was the excuse Naruto used since he was sick of explaining that fact to her. In response though, Sakura thunked Naruto on the head… kind of like his Sakura only he didn't end up eating pavement afterwards. She was nice enough to hold back, "Ow! What? It does suck! You know it does! You can't even throw it ten feet!"

Sakura stuck his tongue out at him, getting him to roll his eyes before a grin stuck itself onto their faces, "That's why I want to train with you. My techniques are better when I'm fighting people and you're the best fighter I know. Well… other than him of course." She finished with a slight blush on her face.

"Get. Ryu. Off. The. Brain." Naruto said, poking her in the side of the head with each word uttered, "And I wouldn't say you 'know' him. You met him once… sparred with him… and that's it. It's been a year already, come on now. And the next time you go running all over the world for the summer to look for someone, don't leave me here." He pouted at not getting to go with her.

"I didn't have the money for you and me to go…" Sakura defended. Last year she had left Aohura City to go find Ryu and ask him to train her the day after school let out. Naruto had to find out when he had dropped by Sakura's house from her mother and little brother. Needless to say he was quite upset because Aohura was very boring other than the fights he kept getting into.

"Speaking of money…" Naruto said, changing the subject before he depressed himself with his neverending quest for funds, "…I can't even do anything with you today. Sorry." He added when he saw her perturbed pout. An angry Sakura wasn't good for his health… just like the other one. Huh… go figure, "I've got a job today."

Hearing that he had a job got Sakura to narrow her eyes at him, "When you say you have only one job 'for today' that usually means only one thing Naruto. What does she want from you today?" She asked in an exasperated manner.

"Um… who exactly?" Naruto said, looking away, trying to play dumb.

"You know Karin hired you to show up again." Sakura remarked with a twitching eye at his cavalier attitude on the matter, "Why can't you just take a different client or something?" She whined, trying to coerce him to shirk his prior engagement to train.

The two girls were not particularly fans of each other and from meeting Karin, Naruto could honestly see a few reasons why, but it wasn't too bad, "Because she pays better than anyone else in town would for the same work." He said just thinking about how one job from Karin had Naruto sitting pretty with four months of rent paid forward the last time she hired him, "And she's never asked me to kill anyone either, so there isn't any reason to ever turn her down."

The most he ever did for Karin was beat up a few street toughs that had been caught wolf whistling at her at her school or pranking the ever loving hell out of the same people. The hardest thing Karin had ever asked him to do was to courier her last birthday present all the way to Aohura City from a cargo ship in Tokyo. It almost got carjacked on the highways back, but Naruto kept it safe, and he got to drive a completely cherry ride that he would have never afforded himself.

"The way you put that you'd think people ask you to kill others a lot." Sakura said, only being met by silence that explained all she needed to know, "Wait, you do get asked to kill people?"

A shrug met her from Naruto as they started rounding into the neighborhood both lived in, "Sometimes. I never do it though." No one he was ever requested to go after ever gave him a good enough reason to end anyone's life, and Naruto wouldn't kill unless his life were truly on the line, "I am a ninja you know." He said with a saucy grin.

"Right. I forgot." Sakura said with a smile, "I never see you do anything… ninja-ey until you start fighting for real." Wrapping her head around the fact that the fabled assassins legends from the past spoke of just hung out in the open sometimes was difficult, but she'd seen him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Most ninja do walk around in public you know. How else would I have a place to stay in town or be able to buy groceries if I was just-." He moved his fingers in a frantic, mysterious fashion, "-Lurking in the shadows all the time?"

Yes, Naruto was a very eccentric person and was at times difficult to deal with, but he was a dear friend. He would have been a good friend based sheerly off of the entertainment factor of hanging around with him alone, "Yes, yes… because when I think of Uzumaki Naruto I think of the word lurk. Right behind all of the shouting, the arrogance, and the short temper."

Naruto righted himself as his cell phone went off, "One sec Sakura-chan, let me get this. Hello?" The two walked and a frown made its way to Naruto's face, "I'm almost home, what's the big deal?" Silence as he listened to the response and answered back, "I got sidetracked on the way back from school and I had to walk anyway." More silence to listen again and what was said obviously didn't please him, "…Why does everyone who knows I'm a ninja say that to me? What good would jumping from roofs do if I'm not hiding from anything! *sigh* I'll be there in a minute." He finished in a defeated voice.

Watching her friend hang up his phone, Sakura raised an eyebrow at him, "Who was that?"

They rounded a corner and got to Naruto's block to see a rather valuable looking car sitting outside of his apartment complex. Naruto pointed at it and saw Sakura's face get a little angry at the sight of it, "I'll give you three guesses before we get there." He said in a laughing voice as they got closer to the car and the back window rolled down slightly, "Hey, what's up Karin? How's it go-?"

"Front passenger's seat Uzumaki-san." Only the brown eyes of the person in the backseat could be seen through the slightly cracked darkened window, and her voice didn't seem like she was very patient. The eyes quickly darted from Naruto to Sakura's glowering form and seemed to twinkle in momentary amusement, "Hello Sakura-san."

"Kanzuki-san." Sakura replied sharply. At that point Naruto swore he could see lightning fly between the two girls' eyes and decided to play rudimentary peacemaker.

Opening the unlocked passenger's door broke the tense deadlock of wills between the girls as Naruto spared Sakura one last wave, "I'll see you in school tomorrow. I don't really know how long this'll take so we can train some other time, I promise." Sakura nodded before returning to glare at Karin who was doing the same through the crack in her window. Sighing to himself, Naruto sat down in the passenger's seat and buckled himself in next to the driver; a tall skinny man with glasses and a grey suit with white gloves. Naruto knew this man decently enough as Karin's steward Shibazaki, "Hey there Shibazaki-san." The man had little patience for him and it was best not to tread on the toes of rich people of those that worked for them.

Karin was utterly loaded.

"Do not presume that just because you are heading to the Kanzuki family's manor for your job's briefing it means that my eyes aren't on you." The man said in a matter-of-factly voice, "I will be watching you closer than ever now."

Naruto held his tongue and sank into his seat. The money was great, so he'd bite his tongue for the time being, especially since his boss was right behind him in the car. Naruto tried to turn his neck around to get a look at Karin, but she hastily put a stop to that, "Eyes front Uzumaki-san."

She wasn't even looking at him as from the inflection of her voice she was still glaring at Sakura and when he looked out his own window he saw that his schoolmate was doing the same. She averted her glance to look at him and waved goodbye to him before the car pulled off.

XxX

(Just Outside of Aohura City – Kanzuki Family Estate)

Okay, he knew she was rich and that her family was absolutely affluent, but he certainly had not been expecting this. It was obviously why she only chose to see him when paying him for his work.

Rumor had it that Karin's family owned a compound that sat on 200 miles of land. Naruto didn't believe that rumor as he felt it was bullshit and no one owned that much land in one specific spot.

Well seeing the 'little' bit of land that Karin's family gave her to stay while she chose to attend high school in Aohura City, and the absurdly large mansion that sat on it, he was inclined to give those rumors a little bit more weight now.

After parking, Naruto quickly sprang out of the car to look at his current surroundings. It was huge. Running his way out of there would have made for a good workout, so whatever was about to go down had better have been on the level.

It was a comfortable temperature outside despite the fact that it was getting on to be summer and the wait was rather insufferable. Naruto honestly couldn't wait for the month-long break when it was coming up for his own personal reasons.

"Well Uzumaki-san, we don't have all day." Apparently Karin caught him staring at the property because she had to get his attention. Naruto turned towards her and began to follow after her and Shibazaki as they walked through the large driveway to get to the front doors.

Kanzuki Karin was a shorter girl than him and had blonde hair much like his own, styled into curly ringlets with a blue bow in the back. Her school uniform was completely red, skirt and all right down to her shoes, with some white trim around the collar and the ends of the short sleeves and a blue scarf tied around the front.

"So…" Naruto started as he followed them inside and tried not to stop and stare at the rather roomy and ornate digs that accentuated the mansion, "I don't want to sound like I'm in a hurry or I don't want whatever this job is, but what do you need? You never told me over the phone, and I'm pretty sure you don't want me to kill someone." If someone in that family wanted to kill someone it would be Karin's father who ran the family's corporation. He doubted that her father even knew who he was, "You usually just flat out tell me what you want, I go do it, and then you meet me to pay me."

Karin turned around to face him with her painfully pretty features and smirked at him before flipping her hair and continuing to walk. Shibazaki shot him something of a dirty look before leading him along as well and Naruto flipped him off behind his back, "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy the trip." Karin said as they walked through the mansion. He swore that just one of those rooms could hold his entire apartment three times over, "I know there's some kind of novelty when people like you see places like this for the first time."

While he didn't like the way she said that, she also had a point. The trip was kind of worth seeing all of these things, riding in that car… and possibly getting to chow down on some of the rich people food in that mansion. If she were a good host she'd feed him before he left and who would he be to turn down such a generous offer from his constant boss?

"Yeah but you usually act like even meeting to pay me is a hassle for you." Naruto pointed out, as their previous face-to-face meetings didn't necessarily scream out that she wanted to invite him to her home.

Eventually they made their way into a rather large atrium with a garden, a clear amount of sunlight whenever it was available, pillars, and within the pillars a rather large circular stone brick circle.

Suddenly Karin held out her hand behind her without turning around, directing Naruto to stop, which he did. She continued to walk forward a ways, probably twenty feet if he had to estimate and if he hadn't been known for sucking at anything involving numbers, distance, or guessing in school.

Shibazaki held up her school bag and opened it to allow her to reach inside. As she did so she continued speaking to Naruto, "Well there is a very good reason you're here I can assure you of that." She pulled out a pair of brown 4 oz. gloves and casually put them on with her back turned to her guest, "Did you know that I fought Kasugano Sakura before?" She didn't need to see him, she could feel in the air that Naruto had tilted his head to the side in a confused manner, eliciting a slight giggle out of her, "Yes, I fought her last year right before she went on her little trip without telling you or anyone. I held a tournament and everything. Where were you?"

So that's why they hated each other. A past catfight between two very cute girls, and he had missed it. Where the hell was he when all of this was happening?

Probably working out of town…

"So who won?" Naruto asked curiously as he sat cross-legged on the ground in a bored manner. He didn't even know that Karin could fight at all. That was some new and very welcome information, "Wait you had a tournament? Was there prize money?" Damn it, he could have gotten himself paid.

Dodging all questions, Karin had her own query she wanted answered, "Believe it or not but I've heard… that you Uzumaki Naruto are one of the best fighters in Japan. People don't know who Sakura is, but a lot of people know you by name. I didn't even know who you were until I was told that you didn't enter my little tournament, you were that notable that your presence was missed, and then I found out that you were a local freelancer and hired you for some odd jobs."

While he didn't know, or particularly care he was slightly famous, Naruto's work and never-ending search to find a way home had him work as far out as Sapporo before. That wasn't the point of his focus though, "Seriously, you had a tournament? Damn it, I miss everything…"

Ignoring Naruto's apparent one-track mind, Karin turned around, finally revealing the fighting gloves on her delicate hands, "I've also heard that Sakura has never defeated you. That by proxy implies that you are stronger than me, and I hate mere speculation." She said with her hands on her hips as Shibazaki moved far out of the way, "So I'm prepared to give you 1.5 million yen-."

"Deal!" Naruto said, his eyes just seeing the money right then. Maybe now he could fund a wider search for someone with some answers that could help him other than just where he was landlocked to. He didn't even need to think about it. He might have even killed the appropriate person for that much money.

"-I'll give you that much money if you can defeat me cleanly in a one-on-one fight. Right here, right now."

That got the money-dreaming grin to drop off of Naruto's face, "Wait, you want to fight me right here, right now?"

"I do believe that is what I just said to you Uzumaki-san." Karin pulled her brown gloves tightly onto her hands, already knowing that she had him at the mere utterance of how much she would give him, "But if you lose to me then you tell me how to defeat Sakura."

What? Like he had advice for that? Even now that she had some of Ryu's moves copied to memory he could still kick her around pretty good. He didn't cognizantly have plans when he fought Sakura… he just fought her and adjusted on the fly. The same way he had always fought. They had never gone all out against one another either. There were just certain attacks that Naruto was never going to use against a friend.

Still, he could probably bullshit an answer that would satisfy her even if he did lose. But when Karin found out it was B.S. when she fought Sakura again she would never hire him again. But then again he wasn't going to lose, not just because he believed he'd win, but because for 1,500,000 yen he would damn sure find some way to win even if he was fighting the most famous fighter in the world.

"You're on." Naruto said, unbuttoning his uniform top and quickly relieving himself of it to reveal a sinewy muscular build when it came to his arms and torso. A tattoo of a Konoha leaf insignia sat on his upper right pectoral muscle as a reminder that he was getting back some day, "So what are the rules?"

Karin was right on top of having rules set for this little encounter, "You cannot leave the confines of the stone brick ring or else you will be disqualified-." She started with, getting a frown out of Naruto, "-You cannot attack a downed opponent, no strikes to the eyes or the groin for what it is worth, and we fight until one of us are knocked out of the ring or to the ground for a count of ten. Traditional tournament rules Uzumaki-san. I know you're a street fighter at heart but these are the terms. Take them or leave them."

Fucking rules… who fought with rules? He wasn't a prize fighter even though the notion had taken him every now and again. Rules were tailor-made to keep a good ninja down.

Apparently he was going to be abiding by them today, because he nodded in agreement as he dropped his backpack, pulled a pair of cloth hand-wraps from his back pockets and wrapped them around his hands. If he had time to change clothes he probably would have hopped into something more comfortable for this situation, but opportunity didn't knock that often for him, "Let's do this then, dattebayo!" Naruto said jumping up and down thrice excitedly before setting himself in what looked like a rudimentary stance for brawlers.

A confident look upon her features, Karin set herself into a fighting stance with her left leg and arm out forward, her right leg back, and her right hand held cocked at the ready in a knife-hand posture, "Shibazaki, you are the referee, and you will be impartial won't you?" She asked, leaving an underlying tone in the air that said he had better call it right down the middle.

"Of course Kanzuki-sama." Shibazaki said with a half bow as he stood between them in a referee's position, "Are the fighters ready?" Naruto nodded with a smile, cracking his neck to the side as he loosened himself up. Karin nodded as well, still smirking in anticipation, "Very well. Fight!"

Never one to take the affirmation to fight lightly especially since he had been the one issued the challenge, Naruto went right at Karin since he couldn't even leave the ring to confuse her. This left the only other options to flat out put her down or knock her out of the ring.

He didn't expect her to duck under his first punch though.

Nor did he particularly expect her to cartwheel safely right out of the way of his spin kick that he tried when she moved to his side.

The girl was nimble. He only fought a dozen or so people that he would readily register as dangerous outside of Sakura since he turned up in Japan, but from sheer reaction alone he'd say that Karin would have to be added to that list. It must have shown on his face too, because her face simply oozed confidence when he faced off with her again, "Are you wondering what my style is?"

He actually hadn't been, but sure, why not? So Naruto just nodded.

"Kanzuki-ryuu Kakutojutsu. You can't really learn it because it's something I developed myself." Karin pointed to herself haughtily, "I'm just better. I don't like handling my own business in a physical sense with those beneath me. That is why I hire you. And you do good work, but you just cannot beat me."

"For 1,500,000 yen I'll kick Sagat right in his scrote and smile about it. Then I'll kick the shit out of him when he starts something. Don't believe me? Just watch this!" Naruto proclaimed brazenly before attempting to attack again.

"I have to admire your determination though." Karin said until Naruto placed his index and middle fingers in a cross formation, "And what exactly is that going to do? I just said you can't poke me in the eyes."

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"

Instead of just one Naruto, Karin was now forced to fight four of them while the original Naruto sat back and watched, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. The four Narutos and Karin began engaging in a furious flurry of punches and kicks, trading back and forth. Whenever Karin would lash out at one clone it would block and she would have to contort her body and use her full range of flexibility to avoid corresponding attacks from the other three that knew how to coordinate their movements.

Naruto, or his clones, landed the first significant strike of the fight as when Karin found one of her kicks blocked by a Naruto another one blasted her in the body with one that doubled her over, the other two Narutos retaliating in kind, "Bunshin Kaiten Kakato Otoshi (Clone Spinning Heel Drop)!" The two clones somersaulted at her and landed axe kicks on her head and shoulder, knocking her right to the ground as they dispelled and revealed that the Naruto who had originally blocked her punch was the real one and he had been fighting her himself all along.

Shibazaki looked on stunned. He had been in awe of the Kanzaki Zaibatsu heiress's combat prowess, fighting evenly against four opponents at once, but Naruto had been all four of those opponents at once. That was a whole different league of freaky that he wasn't prepared to see. Naruto clearing his throat brought him back to the present and from the perturbed look on Naruto's face it was clear that he was looking for a count.

As Shibazaki actually began counting to ten, Karin stood up off of the ground and got back into her stance, "That… was rather interesting. I've never seen anything like that before." Naruto grinned at her from the compliment, but just like that, Karin tried to turn the tables and went back in on him, "It's not even close to being over yet though! Ressen Chou!" In a show of blinding speed, Karin dashed forward for a pointed elbow smash intended to crack sternums.

She had to have some lion in her because now that it was one-on-one again her pace seemed to quicken further from just that one move. Naruto blocked the attack with his forearms and could swear she almost broke one of them before he had to block one of her punches and tried to trap an arm. He yanked her in, but ate a fast trio of chops to the forehead for his trouble that shook him up. Thank goodness for the metal plate. But that was only the beginning of Karin's offensive attack.

A fanning, can-can looking double kick combo pressed two shots right under Naruto's chin and popped him up into the air, "Mujin Kyaku (Inexhaustible Leg)!" While Naruto was stuck and prone ten feet off of the ground she wasted no time in setting up her next attack, jumping directly at Naruto with her arms drawn in a double-sledgehammer motion over and behind her head, glowing somewhat, "Kanzuki-ryuu Kou'ou Ken!"

She smashed Naruto down to the ground hard and with enough authority to get a crack out of a few of the bricks and heard the air easily whoosh out of his body from the strike.

Karin stood over Naruto and flipped her curled hair over her shoulder as Shibazaki started the count on Naruto, "Looks like there's no money for you Uzumaki-san." She said, looking at the downed Naruto's face, only for her words to register his eyes to pop wide open. She let out a small shriek when Naruto pulled his legs inward toward his chest and kipped up to his feet before cracking his neck and giving her a dry look, "How in the world did you stand back up from that?"

"With my legs." Naruto quipped before seeing how close she still was to him, in shock that he got up from one of her strongest attacks. Naruto made the cross seal and in a puff of smoke Karin was surrounded by several Kage Bunshin that all moved in to kick her into the air from all sides, "U! Zu! Ma! Ki!" The original Naruto sprang off of the back of one of his clones to jump into the air over Karin where he proceeded to finish the combination and kick her to the ground, "Uzumaki Naruto Rendan (Naruto Uzumaki Combo)!"

Karin hit the ground face down and a worried attendant Shibazaki didn't even bother counting as he rushed in to check up on her while Naruto backed off and poked at his own bruises, "Kanzuki-sama!" He gasped in pleasant surprise when he saw her move, lifting her head off of the ground to look up at Naruto on her elbows, "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Damn it Shibazaki…" Karin grunted out as she tried to stand up, eventually making it back to her feet, "I wasn't done yet. Now you've gone and gotten me disqualified." Naruto blinked when he realized that she had indeed stood back up before a count of ten seconds, and that in a fight with actual rules this would be the equivalent of someone's corner throwing the towel it, "That means I won right? Whoo! Yatta! I won! 1.5 million yen! That's like…" He started counting on his fingers trying to do some basic calculations, "…I don't know how many American dollars or Euros or whatever, but I'm sure it's more than enough!"

"…Almost 15,000 Euros and almost 20,000 U.S. dollars… and over 12,000 pounds."

Naruto stopped celebrating and did comparisons in his head, "Damn… that's a steep drop-off. Oh well. It's more than I had already!" He said before chuckling in a pleased manner to himself as he grinned and rubbed under his nose. He walked up to Karin and extended his hand, "That was a really good scrap. Too bad your butler interfered before we could really cut loose."

Shibazaki took offense to being called a butler while Karin looked at Naruto's extended hand like it was an unknown gesture for someone like him to do such a thing. Begrudgingly she reached for his hand and shook it, "So now I've lost to two people beneath my station. That's simply no good." She said with a frown adding on the scuffs and light marks of strife marring her pretty face, "Fine. I'll take you to the vault later and I'll pay you accordingly per the terms of your victory. But for now… Ishizaki!"

CLANG!

Naruto fell face-first to the ground with swirls in his eyes and a lump on the back of his head. Over him stood a quite large and burly man with grey slacks, a white short-sleeved dress shirt, and an apron. In his hands happened to be a quite dented metal platter.

Karin looked at the man and then kneeled down by Naruto's head, poking at his lump several times before looking up at the person who had just hit him, "…I merely intended for you to bring myself and my opponent some refreshments Ishizaki. I did not need nor did I wish for you to hit him."

"My apologies Kanzuki-sama." Ishizaki said as he bowed to Karin. He stood back up and hid the platter behind his back before coughing to get her attention as she held Naruto's head in her hands, lolling it back and forth as she came to conclude that he was utterly unconscious, "Do you wish for me to fetch the young man an ice pack, or perhaps he requires stitches?"

XxX

(Sometime Later – Naruto's Apartment)

Thank goodness for knowing rich girls like Karin, that was all Naruto had to say as he looked at the large jars of savings he kept in a locked secret compartment in the hardwood floor underneath his bed. Having just made his clones painstakingly count the money, Naruto concluded that over the three years he had been in Japan he had managed to save up almost 12 million yen by way of penny pinching and working his ass off every day doing loose mercenary work for most of those four years. That was enough to fund a trip around the world if that was what he really wanted to do.

Pretty soon, probably by the next year's summer, he'd have enough money to do what he wished. What he had been saving for and living day after day at the start for; to search high and low for any possible way back home. Even after three years he still had no idea what happened. One moment he and Sasuke were clashing with their respective techniques and the next he was in America. But the world was big and the internet and TV, hell even Sakura told him it was full of weird things. Who knew what he would find out there? And he could make his own money on the road if need be. Three months at the very least was how long a good trip would take.

Missing some school would come with it, but he'd fall on that grenade. Yes, what a crying shame… to skip some school. A necessary sacrifice it was.

He had no idea what he was going to do, where to look, or anything like that, but he was going to keep hope alive. And with that hope in mind, Naruto jumped out of his bed and bit his thumb well enough to draw blood as he started rolling through hand-seals, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

Naruto slammed his hand on the ground and in a puff of smoke he waited with bated breath for it to clear out so that he could see if this time he had done it. Maybe this time he had summoned Gamakichi! Or… Kami help him he'd even take Gamatatsu this time. Just anything… anything except.

*croak*

Naruto dropped his head as he got a sight of just what he had summoned. A regular old, run of the mill swamp toad. Not even a strange color other than what he had seen in the books. No armor… it was just big. Really big. Half his size actually.

"Yo." Naruto said to the toad that just stared at him with its throat moving in and out. It just sat there doing nothing, "Come on. Jump. Spit fire or oil. Pull out a sword or put on some armor. Do something." He poked at the toad with his foot to urge it on.

The toad then proceeded to hop right onto Naruto's bed. Swamp slime and all.

Great. Because he felt like sleeping on the couch in his living room anyway that night, "Goodnight Mr. Toad." Naruto said with a sigh as he grabbed his night clothes and headed to the bathroom, forming a half-ram seal and dismissing the toad back from whence it came.

XxX

(Later That Night)

Naruto sat in a flooded boiler room looking inside a great barred gate at the darkness inside of it. He could make out an absolutely towering figure inside, but it was either sleeping or just pretending to in order to ignore and make light of his presence.

Nonplussed by his tenant's lack of attention to him, Naruto just sat there and stared before opening his mouth to speak. As he inhaled the slightest breath to begin talking, a great set of claws slammed through the holes in the bars in an attempt to grab him, but they stopped just short of grazing the bangs on his forehead.

Staring at the razor sharp claws in front of his face, Naruto just blinked once before trying again to start a conversation, "How did we get here?" It was the same song and dance each time he came to converse with the beast for the past three years. If he knew the Kyuubi by now then the next thing it would say would be-.

"We could tear this world asunder. Free me from this seal boy."

"What happened at the Valley of the End?"

"Why do you try to eke out this meager living of yours? Trying to live in harmony in this town with the people that wish to cause you harm. You fight those foolish enough to challenge you, and that is a start, but you could go so much further. Make them fear you. Give your heart to me Uzumaki Naruto, succumb to your rage, your hatred, your desire to just make this world you see as a dream disappear. I can do this for you. Let me do this for you."

The claws pulled back inside of the cell and Naruto just continued to sit and stare. Yelling at the Kyuubi for three straight years didn't solve any problems whatsoever. He didn't even know why he came back in there anymore. Maybe just because it was the only thing he really had to remember his home by? He was sent over to Japan with no weapons, with not even the tattered orange clothes he had on his back in exchange for new ones to last him until he could find his own way. Maybe talking to the Kyuubi, despite its repetitive answers just so happened to be his way to try and keep his focus.

That he would get home.

No matter how long it took.

"Naruto wake up!"

XxX

"Naruto wake up!"

Awaking with a start, Naruto fell out of his sleeping spot on his couch onto the floor and rubbed his head from the fall. In a white t-shirt and frog covered boxers, Naruto slogged to his front door and opened it to find Sakura dressed for school, "Yo."

"Yo yourself." She said in reply, looking him over and raising an eyebrow, "Move your butt to the bathroom and get ready to go. We're going to be late for school again waiting on you to get ready."

Naruto rubbed his sleepy eyes and turned to head back inside with a yawn as he made his way to his room to get his uniform and then to the bathroom to get prepared for the day, "You could just go without me. We're not late for another hour."

"If I don't make you go then you'd just be wasting your money by not showing up." Sakura said as she leaned against the closed door of his bathroom to wait on him, "I can't let my favorite sparring partner fail out of school now can I? Even if you are a gun-for-hire."

"Guns are for chumps." Naruto said from the bathroom as he brushed his teeth, "And you can find other sparring partners. The city is full of people that I think would probably fight you."

"Maybe…" Sakura said idly, "But they're not friends like us."

'Friends like us.' Naruto thought to himself as he finished brushing his teeth and started his shower, 'Huh…'

(Flashback – Two Years Ago)

"How come you never talk about America Naruto?" Sakura asked Naruto as he was hard at work training in her family's backyard. Sakura was training too, but Naruto was working straight from scratch as he tried to learn how to create his own distance ninjutsu. She noticed Naruto stopping in his use of the ram seal to build his chakra out of his listening to her, "You look American and you act American, but you don't tell any stories, nothing. And where did you learn how to fight like a ninja in America? You don't tell anyone anything and it's been a year."

Naruto dropped his ram seal and stopped to look at his yearlong friend. He had met a few other cool people, but due to their proximity and the fact that she had reached out to him first, Sakura was most definitely the closest… after he got over how weird it was to know another girl named Sakura.

Looking at the curious brown-eyed girl, Naruto didn't know what to say, "Well there's not much to say. Is that bad?"

Sakura just shrugged her shoulders and jumped into a stance to charge up her ki that Naruto had somehow shown her how to tap into when she had asked about it, "Okay here goes! I'm gonna get it this time! Just like Ryu! Hadoken (Surge Fist)!" She thrust her hands forward with the palms of her hands touching, one vertical and the other upside down. Nothing but a short fizzle of energy was slightly visible and then nothing. The dejected girl dropped to her knees and let out a desperate sigh, "Ahh… no!"

Naruto laughed at her a bit and held out his right hand with a big grin on his face, "Hey Sakura-chan." He said to get her attention before sticking his tongue out to focus on his jutsu and in a matter of moments formed a one-handed Rasengan. A year of on again/off again training to get it down pat and he certainly pulled it off, "Bet you think my 'stupid' Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere) isn't so lame now huh? At least I can actually maintain it! You can't even make your move!"

Sakura stared at the spinning blue orb before coming to her senses and jumping back to her feet to clinch her fists at Naruto angrily, "You think you're so cool! That's why you look like a cat!"

A cat? Naruto's focus on maintaining the Rasengan fell along with his jaw as he stared at Sakura in complete and utter surprise, "A… A cat? Really?" He tried to look at his own cheeks as he tugged on them, "Is it the birthmarks?"

A gleam came to Sakura's eye as she ran at Naruto and dove at him with a jumping uppercut, "I might not be able to do Hadoken, but I can do this!" And she wound up hitting the very distracted Naruto right on the chin knocking him into the air and flat on his butt, "How about that? My Shouryuken (Rising Dragon Fist)!"

"It sucks!" Naruto yelled from his backside, rubbing his chin, "You got three feet off of the ground max! My vertical leap is ten feet higher than yours!" He stood back up and worked the kinks out of his jaw before smirking at her, "But if you want to fight that's cool with me!" He wasn't really going to beat her up. If he ever laid a truly unkind hand on someone like Sakura he'd never forgive himself.

A fight seemed to be just what Sakura wanted as she let out a celebratory jump, "Finally, you're fighting me again! It's so much fun having a friend I can spar with! This is great!"

A friend. Well that was just alright with Naruto as far as he was concerned.

(End Flashback)

And that was when things started turning towards Naruto's direction. Life in a strange place became less strange and far more tolerable. Even fun from time to time as he met a few more people that he got to know one way or another. It definitely could have been worse. But he'd still get home no matter what. He had to find a way.

That was what Naruto thought to himself as he stared at his own post-shower reflection in the fogged up mirror. That he still had to get home. He had a life to live, people to get back to...

"Come on Naruto. We've got twenty minutes to get to class so get dressed and let's go."

But what about the life he had here? It wasn't so bad. And what about these people that he knew here? They had their quirks, but they were good people at heart even if it wasn't outwardly evident in some cases (*cough* Karin *cough*).

Would he really just let go and let the past die? Could he let it go? More importantly, did he want to deep down?

Finishing putting on his uniform and opening his bathroom door to motion to Sakura to go with a smile pasted on his face, he had to wonder to himself… and wonder he did, all the way to school, all the way through his classes and lunch, all day long.

Even if he didn't find a way home, and it was 99.9 percent possible that he would never do so, why was a part of him feeling like he'd be so comfortable if that were indeed the case?

Character Profile

Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Nationality: Japan
Gender: Male
Age: 15 (Birthday: October 10)
Height/Weight: 5'8/154 lbs.
Bloodtype: B
Likes: Ramen of all sorts, pranking certain people, gardening, video games, geography, helping people, American music.
Dislikes: Vegetables, cats, the delinquents in Aohura City that pick fights with him, the stereotypes for ninja.
Hobbies: Gardening, working freelance odd jobs for money to pay for school and housing, hustling playing darts against others for pocket change.
Rivals: None at this time (that he considers).
Fighting Style: Ninjutsu/Self-Developed Taijutsu that focuses on his speed advantage over others. When faced with a rare speed disadvantage clones are used liberally to supplement.
Current Techniques: Kunai/Shuriken, Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique), Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique), Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere), Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique: Toads), Uzumaki Naruto Rendan (Naruto Uzumaki Combo), Chakura Tanki-sha (Chakra Spitfire).
Hyper Techniques: Uzumaki Naruto Mugen Rendan (Naruto Uzumaki Infinite Combo), Odama Rasengan (Great Ball Rasengan), Chou Ikitaihou (Super Breath Cannon).
Background: The jinchuuriki (power of human sacrifice/demon container) of the Kyuubi no Yoko and a genin-level shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato at last check. Under unknown circumstances he was ripped from his home and wound up in a strange place with no way back in sight. Settled in Japan in Aohura City where he became a 'ninja' or a 'mercenary for hire' despite the fact that the bulk of his jobs don't always involve fighting and center more along odd jobs quite often. Is raising money for himself to fund a trip around the world to try and locate anyone or anything that can give him the answers he desires. Has continued to painstakingly train himself and has created more than a few ninjutsu and other fighting techniques from scratch over the course of three years.

Name: Sakura Kasugano
Nationality: Japan
Gender: Female
Age: 15 (Birthday: March 15)
Height/Weight: 5'2/120 lbs.
Bloodtype: AB
Likes: Track and field, White rice, baseball, Ryu.
Dislikes: Math, playing video games with her brother or Naruto because she never wins, when Naruto plays rap music during sparring sessions.
Hobbies: Practicing English, cooking, playing baseball.
Rivals: Karin Kanzuki, Naruto Uzumaki (friendly, one-sided)
Fighting Style: Imitation of Ryu's fighting style rooted in Ansatsuken.
Current Techniques: Hadoken (Surge Fist), Shou'oken (Rising Uppercut), Shunpukyaku (Twirling Gale Kick), Sakura Otoshi (Cherry Blossom Drop).
Hyper Techniques: Midare Zakura (Tumultuous Cherry Blossom), Haru Ichiban (First Spring Storm), Shinkuu Tengyou Hadoken (Vacuum Heavenly Command Surge Fist).
Background: A young Japanese high school student with an intense fascination with world famous fighter Ryu. The first friend a misplaced Naruto found in Aohura City, she began to participate loosely in street fighting after watching the World Warrior tournament two years ago. A very quick and dedicated study, she has reverse engineered many of the fighting techniques utilized by Ryu in her own fashion after only a few sightings of it, though Naruto constantly teases her due to the fact that they noticeably aren't as strong. Having actually met her idol the previous year her drive to improve is now stronger than ever.

Name: Karin Kanzuki
Nationality: Japan
Gender: Female
Age: 15 (Birthday: September 15)
Height/Weight: 5'3/120 lbs.
Bloodtype: O
Likes: Total victory.
Dislikes: Sakura (more or less), minds of commoners.
Hobbies: Coming up with techniques for her own self-made fighting style.
Rivals: Sakura Kasugano
Fighting Style: Kanzuki-ryuu Kakutoujutsu.
Current Techniques: Guren Ken (Crimson Lotus Fist), Hou Shou (Crumbling Palm), Mujin Kyaku (Inexhaustible Leg), Ressen Chou, Ressen Ha (Violent Massacre Break), Yassha Gaeshi – Joudan/Gedan, Arakuma Inashi.
Hyper Techniques: Kanzuki-ryuu Shinpikaibyaku, Kanzuki-ryuu Kou'ou Ken.
Background: The heiress of one of the richest families in the world, running the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, Karin is in possession of exorbitant amounts of money and a motto taught to her by her father, "All you need is victory." Karin has her own interpretation of the meaning to say, "The worst we'll ever be is the best." With her resources, drive, and interest in martial arts, Karin created her own fighting style and is fancied as a rather talented fighter. The rival of Kasugano Sakura, she strives to avenge a humiliating public tournament loss to the girl and prove her superiority. She originally found amusement in hiring Sakura's close friend Uzumaki Naruto for what she believed to be menial work to mess with both her and him, but when Naruto simply took this as normal work instead of as a slight she continued to legitimately hire him, finding use in him. A proud and somewhat snooty girl due to her upbringing, she is rarely seen without her protective attendant Shibazaki or her kinder butler Ishizaki.

Now for those that are aware of the reference, this is one year after the events in Street Fighter Alpha 2, which is one year before the events of Street Alpha 3, which I'd say is roughly a year or so before the events of Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Don't ask me how I know that or how I came to that conclusion.

So yeah. I'm going to give this story the old college try once I wrap up some previous business that supersedes new projects. Hopefully it goes well. Here's one for trying yeah? Capcom fighting games bridge into each other too so I'm going to try and touch that a bit.

Later. Kenchi out.