Money is no Object...

Chapter 3 - Money is no Object...

"Why are you here?" Seemed to be the only thing that Naruto could say at the moment, as he had repeated himself well over twelve times already. Each time sounded more desperate than the last, "For the love of Kami why are you here?"

He had been sitting in class and then suddenly found himself called out to the front of the school to be checked out immediately. Now who on earth could check him out of school? He didn't have any guardians or anything of the sort.

And then he saw three people standing outside of the front gate right by a limousine and this brings us to the current situation.

"Why are you here? Why the hell are you here?" Naruto kept stressing repeatedly as he stood in front of Karin and her entourage Shibazaki and Ishizaki, "I have school-. Man, I never thought I'd use that as an excuse for anything before." It made him feel dirty to try and do so.

"Excuse me Uzumaki-san." Karin said, though she didn't sound apologetic in the least, "But I pay you handsomely, thus I own you. You do remember the terms of our arrangement don't you? You fight and climb the rankings and I will make sure that you are very well compensated." She smirked and laughed with her hand covering her mouth, "I more or less own you if you remember correctly."

"First of all nobody owns Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied, crossing his arms stubbornly and squinting his eyes at her, "…They rent him. At best they lease him. But definitely nobody owns him. Second of all, don't you have school?"

"I am tired of my school." Karin stated dismissively, "I've had Shibazaki look into moving me to a different one, a transfer. Perhaps this one." She ignored the look of pure horror on Naruto's face and turned to walk back towards her limousine, "Well come on then. We are wasting precious time." With a snap of her fingers, Ishizaki's hulking form picked a catatonic Naruto up and carried him to the back of the limo before getting in the front with Shibazaki.

XxX

"What wonderful weather for a day trip." Karin stated brightly as she and Naruto rode in the back of a chopper with Shibazaki and Ishizaki in the front. Naruto was sitting next to her in his fighting equipment, marveling at the sight of Japan from the air, "Don't you just love taking your days off to travel?"

"…It's Thursday." Naruto replied glibly, only souring his mood for a second before childlike interest took over once again at the view. He was ignoring the fact that Ishizaki had made Karin tea while they were in the chopper and wondered how she was drinking it so evenly and gracefully, but he just chalked it up to some whole rich girl home training kind of thing and let it lie.

For Karin though, it was so interesting watching how commoners like Naruto took to the things that someone like became used to years ago. Flying in a helicopter was really no different to her than catching a train was for Naruto. But the time for that was over as it was time to make sure her little vanity investment began to pay itself (or himself) off.

"Let us get down to business shall we?" Karin said, crossing one leg gracefully over the other, getting Naruto's attention away from looking outside to look upon her instead, "I have given you ample time to get your affairs all in order and get used to the idea. Now I want to begin seeing some results. You will begin fighting within the top 20 Japanese fighters listed on that site immediately. Are we clear?"

"Really?" Well she did kind of have a point as far as Naruto was concerned. It had been over a month since August when they had struck the deal. September was in full swing and it was almost October. If he was her he would have wanted something done by winter as well, "Well, where are we going boss lady?"

Boss lady… how boorishly delightful. At least he was aware of who was signing the checks here.

Taking a sip of her tea and sighing in contentment at its taste and the fact that Naruto seemed to be onboard with the whole thing, Karin only then began to explain, "To Tokyo of course. Many of the greater fighters Japan are hard to locate. But I found one that should stop the speculation of if you are deserving of being ranked or not. This is where we are headed now."

"And you had to pull me out of school for this?"

"Would you rather I used your one day off on Sunday?"

"Touché."

The two sat in silence with Karin continuing to drink her tea and Naruto making sure he had his phone with him in case someone called him. He held back a laugh as by now he had gotten several worried text messages from his friends wondering if he got abducted or something since they knew he was a ninja and a mercenary to boot.

Eventually after responding to his friends and scrolling through his contact list to look at Karin's number, he shrugged to himself and raised his phone to take a picture of her in between her refined looking sips. He smiled when he saw that it was actually a good picture and captured who she more or less was.

Satisfied with his phone picture, Naruto placed it as the picture that would come up whenever Karin called him and looked up at said girl who was giving him an amused look of interest. Feeling like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have, he went to explain, "Heh… I kind of have a picture of all of my friends by their numbers in my phone. I didn't have yours."

"So we are friends to you?" The smirk on Karin's face never fell as she asked her question, "And you believe that I would freely associate with a commoner to that extent?"

He wasn't sure if that was a trick question or not, so he just answered it earnestly, "Yes? You're not just my boss, and I've had way worse friends than you." It was true, he had worse friends before. Karin had never even really done anything to hurt him outside of fighting him the one time, which was more fun than dangerous. And this wouldn't be the first time that Naruto found a friend in a client of his either. Even Batsu was technically one of those, "So tell me why you're a fighter anyway. There's got to be a reason right?"

"You really wish to know the answer to that question?" Karin said, holding out her empty teacup as Ishizaki turned around in his front seat and gave her a refill without spilling a drop in the moving chopper. Naruto nodded rather eagerly with a grin on his face, "Very well. I guess we have time before landing." She said as she could begin to see the very large city's outskirts in the distance, "Well…as you probably know already, I am the heir to the Kanzuki fortune. You also probably believe that this led to a rather easy upbringing, correct?" When she saw Naruto hesitantly nod she smirked, "You would be sorely mistaken on that front then Uzumaki-san."

"You can call me Naruto if you want to." Naruto said before raising an eyebrow in confusion, "How was it hard though?"

Calmly taking a sip of her tea as if the answer didn't matter, Karin addressed it, "Oh, well simply put; my father wanted a boy to inherit everything and wound up with me. I would like to say that he was not completely displeased by my gender but I would probably be lying to you if I said as much."

Sexism against his daughter? That wasn't cool with Naruto. Sexism in general wasn't cool, as he knew more than a dozen women that could knock his teeth out on any given day, Karin included, "That's messed up Karin. But that doesn't really tell me much."

"I was not done Naruto-san. You are quite the impatient one even when I am volunteering to tell you this story." Karin said, chiding Naruto in a way before continuing, "Father has put up multiple tests in my path to deem me 'worthy' of receiving my inheritance. When I was nine years old I was left in a forest miles away from any property that we owned with a mere pittance of food and water. I was told that if I did not return safely I would be disowned. I did this in four days when it took my father two weeks."

"That's some Forest of Death crap… only without the giant deadly animals and plants…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing… err, keep going."

Karin looked at Naruto suspiciously, but did as instructed, making sure to note this 'Forest of Death' place, 'Perhaps it is where he received his training?' Shoving that to the back of her mind to look up in a world atlas later, Karin did continue on with her tale, "The next one was simply a display of my superior charm and beauty. I was to charm a minimum of 5000 of the world's gentlemen or I could never receive the inheritance."

Wow… that was also very messed up. And it just had to beg the question… Naruto just couldn't help himself, "And you really got that many? You know that you're like fifteen years old right? Even if you got one a day that would take like… a lot of years." Math was not really Naruto's strong suit.

"That is what galas and multiple other social gatherings are for Naruto-san." Karin said with a babying smile, patting Naruto on the cheek, "At this point I am at 329…6? Is that correct Shibazaki?" She asked her steward who was flying the chopper.

"Uzumaki-san makes 3297 Kanzuki-sama."

Naruto frowned at the pilot/steward/man-of-many-talents, "She didn't charm me."

"I've charmed you into my service." Karin reasoned nonchalantly with a confident smirk, "So yes, I have indeed charmed you Uzumaki Naruto, number 3297… even if it is not what you would consider charmed. Still, there is plenty of time for that as well. Eventually you will fall for my beauty as well." She flipped her hair back once haughtily, "Commoners often want what they cannot obtain."

"Right…" Naruto said skeptically before shooting a glance at the city of Tokyo. He had seen it from above a few times before due to other times he worked in Tokyo for Karin, but he wondered how it looked at night instead of in the daytime like it currently was, "Your story?"

"Yes, where was I?" Willing to leave the topic of charm where it was in order to continue talking about herself, Karin carried on, "Oh yes, and the latest test was just last year as a matter of fact. I had to stop a stampede of fifty bulls all by myself."

Bulls? Naruto remembered his own run-in with bulls right before the final round of the chunin exams. Clones barely helped him out of that mess, "How did you do that?"

"I'm certain it is on the internet somewhere if you look hard enough." Assured Karin, smiling the entire time, "It took place during the running with the bulls in Spain so I'm certain someone somewhere has footage of it." And he would definitely be looking for it later the moment he was free.

Once again… all of this was very messed up.

And it still confused Naruto about why he was doing this for Karin, "So why exactly do you want me to do this again? I'm confused. You're strong, and from what you just told me you're stronger than you showed me when we fought."

"To defeat the best fighter in the entire world of course." She then pointed expressively at Naruto for added emphasis, "Which will be you I might add. It is the entire reason I am your manager."

"Yeah I kind of get that." Naruto said with a confused expression on his whisker-marked face, "But why don't you just fight your way up through the rankings yourself? I'm sure you could do it."

A laugh came from Karin as she shook her head, seemingly at Naruto's naivety, "Why does it matter how the job is accomplished as long as the proper results are achieved. If by defeating you after you have defeated all other obstacles in my way I can attain the same thing that I otherwise would have had to struggle endlessly for then why would I not take that course of action? All you need is victory Naruto-san. It doesn't matter how you obtain it."

Sitting back in his chair, Naruto started tying his Konoha headband around his head tightly to prepare for the eventual disembarkment from the helicopter and remembered his own thoughts on becoming Hokage in Konoha one day, "I don't agree with that Karin. The journey to get to what you want is important too. If I actually do end up being the best fighter in the world it'll be because I was prepared for it, because I grew into it. But you're the boss. You don't really care what I think do you?"

'*gasp* You think?' In a feigned surprised manner was the first response that came to Karin's mind, but she thought better of it while she was drinking. It wouldn't do to have him upset at her at the moment. There was still travel that needed to be done and then they'd have to fly back to Aohura City later, thus changing her response, "The ideals of the middle class mean very little to me." Apparently having no shame in openly admitting such, Karin continued to drink her tea as they flew towards a helipad situated on the top of a skyscraper, "I hope that you are ready to take your first step up the ladder Naruto-san."

XxX

(Afternoon – Aohura City – Sakura's House)

In Sakura's living room she sat on a couch next to Kei and Ibuki who wound up being friends with the two of them by way of Naruto over the past two weeks that she had been a student in their school. At the moment, Sakura was in a very good mood due to the fact that she was playing video games with another person and happened to be winning for once, "You are the second ninja I've ever had in my house, and you're by far the worst of the two at video games."

"I've never played before. Give me a break." Ibuki complained in vain as Sakura had already stomped her several times straight in a fighting game that she had retired from playing since she herself found herself repeatedly being decimated by her little brother and by Naruto and his well-trained hands, "Oh damn it!" She said as Sakura knocked her out once more.

Kei shook her head in amusement before addressing the kunoichi in the group of girls, "So how do you like going to school at Tamagawa Minami High? You're adjusting way better to school here than Naruto did. We thought it was just something that he wasn't used to since he was a ninja… but now after seeing you pretty much fit right in we know it was just more of him being weird."

"I'm not a ninja like Naruto." Ibuki said, remembering watching Naruto fight. They used the same weapons, but other than that there wasn't much they had in common other than the speed and general philosophy, "But I love going to school here. No random ambushes from teachers trying to make sure we stay attentive… and there are so many cute boys in this town. I'm just upset that I have to leave and get back to my village before the sun sets."

A satisfied Sakura set her controller down, content with the victories she finally got over some kind of living person, "I wonder what happened to Naruto today. None of our friends have heard anything from him. He isn't around town causing any trouble anywhere. He's not at his house either, and he's not answering his phone."

Kei held up her phone and waved it in Sakura's face, "He sent that text two hours ago while we were still in class saying he was fine." At that point her phone vibrated with the signal of another message and Kei opened her phone before letting out a yell of alarm at what she saw, "Aah-! Oh wait, he has those stupid clones to do things like that for him… bad joke."

"What?" Ibuki asked curiously only for Kei to hold up her phone and show the ninja girl the same picture that Sakura was currently looking at on her own phone; Naruto swan-diving off of the top of a skyscraper with no support, "Hah, that's so cool. Where is he?"

"'Greetings from Tokyo.'" Sakura said, reading out the actual message that came with the picture, "'I'm fine. Not dead yet for all of you babies out there. I'm working for Karin right now. Wish me luck.'" Sakura sighed heavily after finishing reading, "Karin… of course. Who else has the power to pull Naruto out of school?"

Kei laughed and put her phone back up in her bag, "I'm sure he loved that."

"You mean Kanzuki Karin?" Ibuki asked with a bit of whimsy, well aware of the daughter of the richest family in the Pacific and possibly the world, "He works for her? Wow. I wonder what she makes him do… or how much she pays." She then noticed Sakura and Kei's phones and sighed, "I want a cell phone so bad… but comm. technology isn't allowed in my village."

"So?" Kei replied with a shrug, "You're a ninja. So sneak it in. You can do that, right? It's not like they check you whenever you go home." Ibuki's eyes lit up and she looked at Kei thankfully for the idea, "You're just now considering this an option? You've been coming back and forth for two weeks."

"I don't like the idea of helping Ibuki-chan break her village's rules Kei-chan." Sakura said, but relented a bit when she saw Ibuki's shining eyes begging her to agree that it was a good idea or at least okay for her to try, "Mmm… but I guess it's her choice in the end. Fine. I guess we can take her to the mall to get a phone before she has to go home." The fun-spirited female ninja jumped up in celebration and grabbed both girls to drag them on out of the house in a hurry.

XxX

(With Naruto – Tokyo, Japan)

From the helicopter right to a limo, that was how Naruto, Karin, and her entourage traveled to wherever Karin was supposed to be taking him, "Your family lives in Tokyo right? Are we going to stop by their place for a bit?"

"We are not going there today." Karin said, her cheek in her palm as she looked out the window, "We are unable to get there by car anyway. Do you know how large my family's property is? You need a chartered plane to land at our airstrip just to get access. We have our own rivers, mountains, and even our own climate. You do not 'stop by' the Kanzuki compound."

"Oh that is such bullshit." Naruto spouted freely, not caring that Shibazaki was glaring at him for the use of such language around Karin, "I'm not that stupid Karin. That's totally impossible. Nobody owns that much property in Tokyo."

"Nothing is impossible. Not if you have enough money to afford it. I can assure you that we most certainly do." As she spoke, her eyes lit up slightly, getting the Kanzuki heiress to perk up noticeably, "Ah, we have arrived at last." The limo slowly rolled to a stop and the two up front got out to open her door as she gave Naruto some instruction, "Your opponent is more than likely inside. He owns this bathhouse. If he is not there then at least we can learn where to find him within."

Before he could ask for more information, Karin's door was opened and she gracefully stepped out. Of course, no one opened Naruto's door, so he did it himself and got out to quickly catch up Karin and her servants, "Karin who am I fighting anyway? You never told me." He didn't really care, but it was good to have some kind of background.

They walked into the bathhouse to find that it was quite populated.

Populated with sumo wrestlers of all people.

The four visitors walked through the place with Karin not caring any less about the very large and underdressed men walking around them even though Ishizaki kept trying to shield her eyes until she elbowed him in the stomach to get him to stop.

"Karin…" Naruto said again, this time with more trepidation, "…Who am I supposed to be fighting?" He asked her again.

She didn't say anything at first, she just smirked shrewdly at him before clearing her voice and speaking up quite loudly, "Edmond Honda!" Upon hearing that man's name called out not only did Naruto freeze in place, the routine chatter of the place quieted down, even with the men in baths stopping what they were doing to see two kids and a pair of servants fully dressed, "This is the bathhouse owned by Edmond Honda is it not? I'm requesting his presence if he is here!"

Edmond Honda? Yeah, Naruto knew who that was. If you lived in Japan and kept up with athletics you knew who that man was, and he was none too happy with it, 'Oh you bitch… oh you stone-cold bitch. I am going to get you back so bad for this, dattebayo!'

A heavy series of footsteps started coming their way, getting Naruto to turn and see a man that was a few inches taller than him but was exceedingly larger as he was a sumo wrestler like most of the others in the building. He had his black hair up in a traditional chonmage hairstyle, wore red kabuki makeup on his face around his eyes, and wore a short blue yukata over his massive frame.

Eventually he reached the visiting party and looked down at Karin and a wide-eyed Naruto. Looking between them, the man spoke up in a rather authoritative voice, "I'm Edmond Honda. What reason are a pair of kids like you looking for me?" He spared another look at Naruto, "I don't think I can train him. He's too puny."

'Puny? Fuck you.' Naruto thought to himself.

Before he could even respond to the man, Karin pointed at Naruto and spoke with full self-assurance and complete feeling of security, "He's here to fight you. Good luck Naruto-san." She said as she and her entourage moved out of the way and got out of the vicinity.

"I'm here to what him? Good luck?" Naruto looked down at the floor and noticed something that had been concealed by the steam of the bathhouse. Blue tiles all over the floor with the exception of a large circle made of yellow tile and two yellow bars on the ground where he and E. Honda happened to be standing. A ring. That was just bad luck all around, "Uh, yo… what's up?" Naruto said, forcing a grin on his face and extending his hand to the large sumo, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet'cha."

E. Honda gave an amicable smile and shook Naruto's hand heartily, "Ah, same." He said before continuing with something that Naruto wished he hadn't heard as the grip tightened, "I've heard of you."

Fuck.

"Challenge accepted!"

In one move, E. Honda held onto Naruto's hand and swung him around overhead before throwing him away. Naruto screamed for dear life as his body sailed through the air and hit the wall with a mural of a sunrise, a mountain, and a man before he fell into a tub full of water.

Everyone in the bathhouse let out a collective 'ooh' when Naruto hit the wall, but started laughing once he fell into the water, "Can't you do better than that?" The elite sumo said with his hands proudly on his hips as the entire place seemed to get a kick out of the one-hit finish.

Karin was not pleased by Naruto's performance thus far, "Come on Naruto-san. You had better not let me down right out of the gate."

Amid the laughter, Naruto pulled himself up from underneath the water leaning against the side of the tub as he spat water out onto the floor and smoothed his soaked blonde hair back to keep it out of his eyes, "That was funny to you guys huh?" The laughter continued, even from E. Honda as he still stood in the ring. While he was laughing he pulled the top half of his yukata down off of his shoulders, showing that he was almost purely muscle. This did not intimidate Naruto any further than the prospect of fighting a sumo head on though, "Well here's my punchline."

The water in the tub Naruto was in began to churn before a clone shot out of the water like a torpedo at E. Honda. The big man narrowly turned to the side to avoid the clone punching right into his belly as it rocketed past and hit the far wall, dispelling. The same thing happened again, and again, and again, at a faster and faster rate as clones just kept blasting out of the water, bombarding E. Honda who simply couldn't dodge anymore.

The joke was officially over as far as the sumo was concerned as he ground his feet down tightly and took up a sumo stance before rocketing off repeated hand-thrusts in front of himself so fast that the eye couldn't see the movements, "Hyaku no te Binta (Hundred Hand Slap)!" The shots started hitting the clones so that he wouldn't be harmed, with popping noises going off repeatedly and smoke bursting in his face from the repeated demises of the Kage Bunshin.

'What talent. He's blocking back one of Naruto-san's strongest techniques with just brute force and his hands.' Karin thought to herself as she saw E. Honda force back Naruto's clone barrage. His hands were moving so fast that she couldn't even see them move. Now it might have been the humidity of the bathhouse finally getting to her a bit, or it might have been the fact that she might have been stressing over the fight just a smidge, but a bead of sweat could be seen forming on the girl's head as her eyes raptly paid attention to the combat at hand, "Come on Naruto-san." Karin said under her breath as raucous cheering from the other sumo wrestlers went up in the bathhouse, "You can do it. I'm certain of it."

And just like that, the clones stopped flying out of the large tub with no original Naruto left in sight in the water, confusing the hell out of E. Honda, "I didn't knock the real one out during that pile up did I? I didn't notice if I did or not."

"Bunshin Kaiten Kakato Otoshi (Clone Spinning Heel Drop)!"

Naruto and five clones fell from the steam-concealed ceiling of the bathhouse and smashed E. Honda with ax kicks that slammed down on his head and shoulders. While his Uzumaki Naruto Mugen Rendan (Naruto Uzumaki Infinite Combo) didn't bear him any fruit, Naruto didn't miss a beat in return as the original that struck E. Honda in the head with a kick landed first and lunged at the huge sumo without fear, striking him in the face several times, being forced to leave his feet each time to deliver a significant blow to the most vulnerable place on his body in Naruto's opinion, the head, instead of his large stomach. But each shot smacked audibly off of the large man's head and put a concerned hush over the bathhouse.

Moving in towards E. Honda as he had him on his heels now, Naruto was stopped cold from continuing his barrage by a slap to the side of the head from a massive hand that he swore busted his eardrum and knocked him to the ground on the slick tile floor.

Seeming to get angry at their creator's being stricken, the clones attacked again with a vengeance, but E. Honda's defenses were back up and the best they got out of the exchange were a few punches and kicks to the body, which might as well have been them hitting sandbags he was so thick. With a few sweeping-arm swings, the clones met their demise, but in the end they brought Naruto enough time to stand back up and even to freely stumble around to regain his equilibrium as he bled from his ear to signify his busted eardrum.

"Why is one so young seeking out a battle against me?" E. Honda figured to ask as he charged a wounded-looking Naruto down only to be surprised by Naruto's raw speed and ability to adapt to his injury, not knowing that Naruto had a demon within him that had already restored the portion of his inner ear that kept his brain balanced (even if he still couldn't hear out of that ear).

"Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!" Naruto slammed the spinning blue orb into E. Honda, though he got his very large arms up to block a lot of the blow. Still, he was propelled away from Naruto like he was hit by a truck and smashed into the tile wall of the bathhouse, "Because my boss lady told me I had to." Naruto responded belatedly with the blood at this point mixing with his sweat to make the injury to his ear look far worse than it actually was.

However, Karin was not concerned with Naruto's well being if he was still able to fight on that level, 'I do not even know if he realized that he just utilized a brilliant strategy.' She thought to herself, a thoughtful finger placed under her chin as she continued to observe, 'He could have cancelled his Rasengan attack, but he continued with it and instead of trying to hit Honda's body he settled for the arms… but that could be just as important a move to make.'

If Naruto broke, cracked, fractured, did something to E. Honda's arms in the last exchange he had either significantly lessened the effect of, or had taken out a powerful weapon of the sumo completely. It was up for speculation if Naruto even realized what he had just done. He had opened a window for himself to win that fight if he realized what he had started and how to take advantage of it.

But Karin wouldn't say a word about it aloud. No she would not. If Naruto couldn't win this fight without someone barking orders to him or anyone advising him through it then it was better to find out now than later when there were times she would not be around like she was right then.

The outsides of E. Honda's forearms had angry dark purple spiral bruises on. Telltale marks of what could have occurred if he hadn't blocked Naruto's attack. He pulled himself off of the broken pieces of tile wall as they fell to the floor and stared Naruto down before letting out a chuckle, "Strong… you're very skilled." He spared glance to Karin and raised an eyebrow before returning his attention to Naruto, "And you've chosen quite a lovely young lady to undertake such an endeavor for. It is incredibly honorable of you to challenge me in order to win her heart."

Naruto's jaw dropped in astonishment while Karin just smirked to show her amusement to the sumo's statement, "What? Are you out of your mind? I should finish beating you up just out of principle! She's my boss and she hates me!"

"I do not hate you Naruto-san. I just dislike you with great intensity."

"You heard the lady!" Naruto shouted at E. Honda as he formed three more Kage Bunshin to go up against E. Honda and made three hand-seals to start another jutsu to hedge all of his bets, "Chakura Tanki-sha (Chakra Spitfire)!"

When Naruto cocked his head back to spit his chakra projectile at E. Honda smirked and went spread-eagle as he seemed to gracefully and quickly float into the air headfirst directly over Naruto like a kite who due to the angle of his head got a good view of just how high into the air a 300 plus pound man could get. On his way up he smashed his way through Naruto's clones with his head and defeated them. It was admittedly very impressive if it wasn't about to get so utterly terrifying.

For a moment, Naruto swore that he had Sharingan, because he saw the next few moments in slow motion. In his mind absolutely everything slowed down as E. Honda flipped through the air over top of him to transfer into a direct butt drop.

"Sumo no Shibuki (Sumo Splash)!"

E. Honda landed backside first on the ground only to hear a crack. Thinking that it was probably Naruto' ribs and/or sternum, he stood up and looked down only to gasp when he saw a broken bucket full of purifying salt underneath him instead of a thoroughly smashed blonde teen boy.

Why was this kid so damn tricky?

At that moment a tray sailed through the air like a shuriken and bounced off of the back of E. Honda's head, knocking him to the ground with the force of the unexpected throw.

Standing next to Karin was Naruto, with a manic grin on his face and his arm still extended from the throw of the pan, "Why did you throw Ishizaki's serving tray?" Karin asked him, crossing her arms over her chest and sounding slightly miffed at the wanton disregard for her servant's things. Especially a thing that was used to carry her refreshments.

"Because I don't have anything that won't kill him on me, and I know that the stupid thing is totally solid." Naruto replied, quite pleased with himself before he saw the reprimanding look on her face, "Hey, he can have it back." Both kids looked over at E. Honda, seeing him standing back up with the tray in his hands, bending it angrily, "…Nevermind."

"…That is coming out of your payment… and if you lose this fight you will still pay for that."

Did that mean she wouldn't pay him if he lost? He didn't have the time to think of that, instead choosing to attack again against the sumo that was progressively growing angrier. E. Honda didn't know what to make of Naruto. One moment he fought directly with honor, going right at the man, and the next he was getting hits from the blind spot, tactically retreating and hitting him with random objects like the tray.

He was still twice Naruto's size though. And Naruto was directly charging him again.

But it wasn't as direct as Naruto wanted him to think it was. Right before getting within E. Honda's effective range of reach, Naruto quickly formed his cross hand-seal, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" Three shadow clones popped into existence and the first Naruto dove at E. Honda. The sumo caught the first boy as a reflex and simply threw him backwards over his head. The second Naruto had done the same thing as the first, half a second after the first one, shoving both feet into Honda's fully exposed stomach due to his throwing the first clone over his head and doubling him over. The third Naruto jumped up and delivered a hard punt kick to Honda's head that snapped his head up and back, sending blood flying into the air.

With a flourish, the last and the original Naruto finished with a jumping punch that slammed right into the mammoth man's face, and down he went like a tree, falling backwards onto the ground with Naruto collapsing to the ground along with him due to the angle of the attack.

"Good heavens." Shibazaki said in amazement at the utter brutality and simplistic misdirection of Naruto's previous attack. Naruto had to hit E. Honda with upwards of five punches in order to register the same damage that Honda could deal with one. He spared a glance towards his mistress Karin who was watching the fight intently at this point, not speaking or making any comments, "Children should not fight like this."

Naruto pulled himself up off of the floor, dripping sweat and a little bit of blood as the humidity inside of the bathhouse was smothering while engaging in such a physical activity. When he felt Honda's hand wrap around his shin and looked down to find a very angry sumo holding onto his leg with blood running down his face above his brow, Naruto felt like he was in some kind of monster movie.

With surprising agility and scary strength, E. Honda sprang up to his feet and slammed Naruto to the ground in one move, depositing him face-first onto the tile floor. Before Naruto could even let out a groan of pain, a palm strike was delivered to his back from above that cracked the tile beneath him, "GAAAH!"

"Oicho Nageru (Oicho Throw)…" E. Honda muttered as he pulled his hand off of Naruto and grabbed him by the back of the collar to lift him off of the ground, "That wasn't bad at all. You've done very well for yourself. Go home. Heal up. Fight again another day little one." He heard Naruto mumble and slur something under his breath that he couldn't hear, "What was that?"

The slurring was just a feint to get Honda to put his head closer to Naruto's mouth in order to hear him better, "…Chakura Tanki-sha (Chakra Spitfire)!" The blast radius exploded off of the side of Honda's head and in Naruto's own face, but the sumo dropped Naruto to the ground where he landed on his feet with pops and cracks of his back that showed how unhealthy he happened to be at that moment and that it wasn't all just acting.

A sneak attack from Naruto's move left scorching injuries on the entire right side of E. Honda's face, knocking his hairstyle out of place and forcing him to stumble back, both of his eyes bloodshot red from the concussive damage of the chakra shot bouncing and exploding off of his head.

Naruto formed one Kage Bunshin that was crouching, its back in just as bad shape as his, but it was able to do its job as Naruto held his right hand to the clone and both of them formed a denser, considerably bigger Rasengan between them.

E. Honda was not willing to try and block again, with the two clones holding the dangerous looking orb, he set himself in an intense sumo stance preparing for Naruto to make his move. Naruto stood up and he and his clone ran forward to charge E. Honda down who responded by shooting his hands out at Naruto in a blur, preparing to overwhelm him.

"Hyaku no te Binta (Hundred Hand Slap)!"

"Odama Rasengan (Great Ball Rasengan)!"

The large ball of chakra hit against E. Honda's rapidly thrusting hands with the sound of a belt sander. Even though he stood upright, E. Honda's entire body started sliding back as if he was a sled on an icy slope. With a mighty final yell, Naruto drove E. Honda into the wall with an explosion erupting from that spot and debris from the tile flying everywhere.

Karin couldn't help but smile as she heard a pained grunt come from the place where Naruto and E. Honda had hit the wall and she saw that E Honda was sitting against a crater in the wall, his arms visibly broken with the top layer of skin from his hands to the elbow mangled like tissue paper.

Breathing heavily, Naruto looked down at E. Honda, "You're strong… But don't ever… underestimate me." He said before turning and walking out of the bathhouse, holding his back and hoping that it would only take an hour or so for to slip his vertebrae back where it was meant to be from its slightly askew state. He stopped when he heard Karin clapping from where she had been standing with her entourage and took a moment to point at her, "Don't ever… ever… ever do that again."

With a huff, Karin watched as Naruto walked out, silently whining about his back, swearing he slipped a disk or two as he went outside into the early evening air, "And just what is he so upset about?" She asked Shibazaki and Ishizaki who was cradling his bent up serving platter like something precious, "He won didn't he?"

XxX

(Two Days Later – Aohura City – Arcade)

"Are you still mad at her teme?" Batsu asked Naruto as he was seated and turning the wheel of a racing game. The two had met up after Batsu's school let out to do something random, mostly because Batsu had not heard the story of Naruto going to Tokyo to fight one of the most famous sumo wrestlers in the entire world in its entirety, "I don't get it. You won. That Kanzuki Karin definitely isn't the nicest girl I've ever met for sure, but I don't get why you're still pissed off at her."

"When she said she wanted me to start winning fights I didn't think the first person she'd make me go up against would be that famous. I actually knew who this guy was without being told first." Naruto said, leaning against the racing chair of Batsu as his friend fell into 4th place, "I can still feel the guy cracking my ribs."

Batsu was listening, but he didn't seem to be caring too much or seeing the problem, "Yeah, I don't see what the problem here is. You just got a win inside of the top 10 of that site's last listing. Be happy, have a coke and a smile, and shut the fuck up."

"Okay…" Naruto said, with his eye twitching, wishing that he could kick the chair hard enough to dislodge Batsu without breaking the damn thing, "Would you fight E. Honda right now?"

"What am I fighting him for?"

"Nothing." Naruto replied, "You're not fighting him for anything. He didn't do anything to you, you're fighting him just because. And he's coming to take your head out by the way."

A scoff came from Batsu at the rather obvious answer. A street punk? The argument could be made that Batsu was one, but crazy enough to fight the number 7 ranked street fighter in Japan for nothing? Absolutely not, "Hell no I wouldn't fight him for no reason. I like not going to the hospital for stupid reasons thank you."

"That's the point." Naruto stated with a slight kick to Batsu's racing chair as he made his way to another machine and put in his coins to begin playing a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game, "I don't like surprises like that. If that's how it's going to go every time then I might as well tell Karin that I'm going back on the deal right now."

"I was not aware that ninja quit their missions."

Batsu's head snapped around and he crashed his game car once he heard the female voice, seeing Karin standing there with her two attendants. Naruto on the other hand hadn't turned around at all, but he did have a bit of a scowl on his face, "How'd you know I was here?" Naruto asked without turning around.

Deadpanning a look at Naruto, Batsu responded instead of Karin, "You stick out like a sore thumb and you hang out in specific places. You're not as hard to find as you think you are teme."

"You have been skipping school ever since your last victory and you haven't picked up your business phone once." Karin stated walking over to the arcade game that Naruto was playing, her eyes drifting towards his hands and wondering what he saw in such a thing, "Are you still upset with me? I paid you immediately upon our return to my-."

"It's not the money Karin!" Naruto snapped suddenly, not caring about the game any longer and walking away from the machine altogether, "You threw me into a fight with one of the most dangerous guys in the world, and you didn't even tell me. I went in cold. What am I? Are we actually friends like I thought we could be or am I just some asset?" He saw her open her mouth and cut her off, "If you give me that 'I'm a commoner' crap I swear we will be fighting right here."

Batsu wasn't expecting Naruto to just take off and was prepared to follow after his buddy, "Naruto, where are you-?" He stopped trying to go after him when he saw Naruto turn his head towards him and shake it, "*sigh* Alright. I'll call you later then."

For once when dealing with Naruto's hotheaded personality, Karin wasn't smirking in good humor out of intentionally trying to push buttons. It was easy to get Naruto to overreact, but he never legitimately flipped out before, "I was simply separating business and personal affairs. You are a ninja, why can't you?"

"Because I can't do that with friends. I won't." Naruto's gait slowed when he felt Karin was following him, but he started walking when he felt Shibazaki and Ishizaki following her like always.

She thought she would catch up to him and they could hash out something that was two days overdue, but when he started walking away again she realized that her entourage was to blame, 'He's giving me a choice… to make this professional or personal.' She narrowed her eyes at his back once she saw him make his way outside the arcade and turned to address her two attendants, "You two, remain here while I have a conversation with Naruto-san."

"But Kanzuki-sama, you saw how angry he was. If he attacks you-." Shibazaki started to say until a sharp glare from Karin cut him off.

"If he attacks me you would only be good for a human shield in that situation." Karin said, turning to head outside after Naruto, "Naruto-san would rip you apart like stationery in three seconds or less." With that said, she walked outside to see Naruto attracting a measure of attention by sitting atop a streetlight. She was not about to climb a streetlight to have a conversation and she was not about to yell it up to him so she stomped her foot on the ground, the reverberation of her footstep actually getting his attention. She pointed to the limo on the curb with a measure of authority, "Get in the car Naruto-san."

Naruto looked down at her before looking back off in the distance, "No."

"Get in the car right now."

"I'm not going on a mission for you right now… I don't feel like it."

And then instead of his patience this time it was hers that ran out, "Get in the damn car! I am trying to have a private and personal conversation with you, and I cannot do that with you perched on the streetlight like a crow! Now get down or I will make you!"

That was a completely new experience. Naruto had never seen Karin lose her cool for a single moment before. Not once. She was always in control of… well, everything, especially her own emotions. She was composed and confident. And he could still see the confidence, but none of the composure, "You're gonna make me? How are you going to make me do anything that I don't want to do?"

She didn't reply this time, just looking up at him angrily and pointing once more with authority at the limo with all of the people officially stopping to look at the two of them. She turned towards them and dared anyone to consider that she had been in the middle of a scene and everyone just went back to normal as if nothing happened. Sparing one last intent glance up at Naruto she opened the back door to the limo and got in before shutting the door.

"Sometimes I hate my job…" Naruto dropped down from the streetlight and onto the sidewalk where he got directly into Karin's limousine and saw her sitting towards the back, her arms crossed over her chest, a leg over the other that was shaking rather impatiently with her brown eyes staring him down. Climbing into the long seat directly across from her, he sat down and they just sat there staring at each other for a while until Naruto spoke up, "Well?"

"I am just taking a bit of time to think…" Karin said in a terse voice, "…To think about why on earth you would want to mess up a sure thing based solely off of one bout of miscommunication. I made a mistake, and I freely admit that in hindsight. Perhaps I was impatient, but, the way you reacted in return was childish." He opened his mouth and this time she cut him off, "Something that is not expected or encouraged in an assassin and a mercenary, no matter what their age."

Well now that they had actually faced off and had a bit of a blowup between them already it felt like the air was cleared a bit and Naruto didn't feel so uptight anymore, "You're confusing me. I don't know if you're my boss, my rival, my friend, my manager. What?"

"I've always been your employer." Karin replied matter-of-factly, "We first met only because I hired you. Whenever you are around me it is due to me summoning you for work purposes." She stopped when she saw that Naruto was looking like he was just about to start laughing, "What is it that you find funny?"

Naruto pointed at Karin and snickered a bit, "The reason you first hired me was to fuck with Sakura-chan after you two fought and you lost to her. Remember the jobs you made me do? You made me dust your whole grand parlor because I can't go home until a mission is done and you thought it would take me months to finish. It took three hours with clones. You made me do the stupidest stuff because you thought I'd complain to Sakura-chan or I'd be too tired to spend time with her and it would mess with her head. How'd that work?"

"It didn't." Karin said, remembering with a bit of a smile how efficiently Naruto handled every single stupid and seemingly insurmountable chore she gave him back when they first met last year.

He'd complain a bit about how he was supposed to be a killer and then he'd clean a massive part of her home full of nooks and crannies and knickknacks, or wash and wax all of her vehicles, or run the stupidest, most obscure and cumbersome errands in Aohura City for her, and he would make it look easy. Eventually she simply stopped trying to get to him to get to Sakura and started legitimately hiring him instead of just trying to mess with him.

"And your jobs haven't been actual jobs for the last six months. It might as well be me just hanging out with you." Naruto said, leaning back in his seat with a grin as he had a point to hone in on, "As a matter of fact that's all they are; me and you hanging out, or me getting back at somebody for you."

"Nonsense."

"Not really." Naruto was really getting insistent in his point and his own mind he was gaining momentum, "Before this whole fighting business started do you remember the last five things you hired me to do?" Karin looked away from him out of the darkly tinted windows but nodded regardless, "Yeah you do. How is riding with you on your yacht a mission?"

"Who knows what could happen at sea? A ninja like you has survival skills. You were useful."

"Yeah, for fishing, diving off of your sail, and watching you tan all day long." Despite the sarcasm lacing his voice, that was actually a very good day for Naruto. Very relaxing, "Okay, well what about going shopping with you in Tokyo? It was annoying as hell after a while, but that's not a real mission."

"It was in case of protection!"

"You're the last rich girl on the face of the planet that needs to be protected by anybody and you know it." Naruto said as he could see Karin's face beginning to turn red and decided to go in for the kill, "Admit it, the only difference between me and a hooker at that point was that hookers actually got-."

"Alright!" Karin finally exclaimed, kicking Naruto in the shin to get him to shut up as her face was atomic red at this point due to the inflection of what he was about to say, "I understand your point. I will admit that they weren't conventional jobs for a mercenary."

Feeling like his point was proven, Naruto nodded astutely, "Yep. They were things I'd do with a friend. And all I have to say about that is that if you wanted to hang out with me you never had to pay me to do it. You're in the friend phone, not the business phone see?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of crap, outdated by ten years prepaid phone with only ten minutes left on it, "Business." He then pulled out his other phone that he bought to spoil himself earlier that year and showed Karin her contact info along with the picture he had taken the other day, "Friend. And friends don't treat friends like cockfight roosters."

So they were friends. Out of an entire world full of people that would kiss her ass once they learned of who she was she had met some people that didn't care that much about such a thing, and here was one. While she may have resented what she saw a lack of respect from people like Naruto and to a far lesser extent Sakura, they were the closest people to her outside of Shibazaki and Ishizaki.

"But I knew that you could win that fight." Karin argued in return, "You can try to hold back all you want to against your friends and against me, but I know that you are more skilled than you appear. If you look past the idiocy, the flagrant arrogance, the stupid look you have often on your face… if one can look past these things then it's clear that you are a fantastic fighter. And I want that fighter to become the best in the world so that I can beat him."

Yes, she just insulted him several times right to his face without missing a beat, but that was who Karin was and Naruto had accepted that months ago. She was brutally honest if nothing else, and sometimes that came off with her seeming like something of a haughty, stone-cold bitch. She was most certainly not stone-cold though as evident by her next action.

"Fine…" It seemed like Karin was accepting that if she actually wanted Naruto to remain cordial to her she had to treat him differently from someone that she paid… because even though she paid him too, it was not because he needed the money, "I suppose I will warn you well in advance the next time instead of acting so hastily."

"Good." Naruto chirped brightly as they had come to an understanding, "I always knew you were a good girl Karin. I keep telling people but they don't belie-."

"-But." Cut in Karin, moving right in front of Naruto to hold up one finger between herself and him, "I still expect you to do as I instructed of you. At the beginning of the new year there will be a rather large open tournament. You will enter, you will win. Understood?"

In a defiant manner, Naruto stared Karin down as she was barely a foot away from him in order to assert her point. It seemed to be a standoff that seemed to be happening more days than in the past nowadays, but one with no real malice behind it.

It was more or less Karin's way of saying, 'Do what I say or no money for you and I'll find some way to make you miserable after you refuse.' It sounded like he had a choice in the wording of her requests, but there really wasn't much of one.

However on Naruto's side of the stare off, it was Naruto trying to say, 'Are you asking me or telling me? Even though it's nice I don't need your money and if you try to get me back… don't start something you can't finish.' It was the same song and dance as always, right down to the ending, "Okay. I'll fight in it, and I'll win it, all for my vain, prissy boss lady... and her money."

What was the worst that could happen? It wasn't like there could be too many people out there as tough as E. Honda that would come to a tournament that was only national at best, right?

"Good. I'm glad that matter was settled so easily." Karin remarked as she opened the door to the limousine and stepped outside, "Now get out of my car."

With that, Naruto climbed out of the limousine and shoved his hands into his pockets as they started to walk away back into the arcade. The air between them was no longer as tense as before and it felt much better all around, "You're still going to treat me like you own me aren't you?" It was like everything was back to normal again.

"Why naturally of course." The pleasant smirk on Karin's face certainly said that everything was back to normal, "Please note that it is only due to the fact that I do indeed own you Naruto-san. No matter what you may believe to the contrary."

"Nobody owns me… they rent me."

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

{Character Profile}

Name: Edmond Honda

Nationality: Japan

Gender: Male

Age: 27 (Birthday: November 3)

Height/Weight: 6'1/302 lbs.

Bloodtype: Unknown

Likes: Baths, nabeyaki, tiramisu, chankonabe, sandwiches, noodles.

Dislikes: Indecisiveness, dishonoring his family, chocolate cookies, rice vermicelli.

Hobbies: Cooking.

Rivals: Zangief

Fighting Style: Sumo

Current Techniques: Hyaku no te Binta (Hundred Hand Slap), Sumo Gyorai (Sumo Headbutt), Sumo no Shibuki (Sumo Splash), Oicho Nageru (Oicho Throw), Oni Muso (Peerless Demon).

Hyper Techniques: Kyuukyoku no Satsujin Zutsuki (Ultimate Killer Headbutt), Orochi Shandaki (Great Snake Breaker).

Background: A powerful and skilled sumo wrestler focused on becoming known as the best of all time, Edmond Honda is currently the rank below the rare and highest level of sumo wrestlers (Yokozuna), and stands with the highly revered rank of Ozeki. Upset that the world does not view sumo with the same respect and prestige of the Japanese, E. Honda began challenging fighters all over the world to prove his own strength and to show that sumo wrestlers are among the best fighters in the entire world, one day wishing to achieve the final title of Yokozuna.