(Somewhere Deep In The Forest Of Death)
Great just what I need, Naruto thought before he felt a mighty strong punch to his face, sending him flying a long distance backwards and through several trees, breaking them on contact before crashing into the ground. He didn't have much time to react when an arm made from the ground burst from out the ground and started pulled him into the ground. Seconds later, Naruto burst and was sent flying from the ground and into the air before landing down to the floor. Before reaching the ground, Ryota emerged from the ground and delivered a swift swing kick to Naruto's side, sending him on a collision course with another tree. The blonde plummeted down to the ground and onto his face.
Appearing in front of him, the girl walked over him and mocked, "This is sad. I thought I was going to be given a challenge."
"Yeah…my luck…," Naruto said as he staggered back to his feet, "…I recall telling a group of ninjas that I call challenging the strongest ones to give me a good fight."
"Well, here I am," Ryota mocked, "And you don't have much fight left in you from what I'm seeing."
"I'll warn you once," Naruto retorted, "I've faced off and survived against people worse than you. And your arrogance will be your undoing."
"You're all talk but no action," Ryota said as the armors on her body started glowing brightly. Moment later Ryota was surrounded by a speeding rotating sphere of what looking at glowing rocks. Ryota then performed a couple of hand seals, which in effect signaled the glowing rocks around her to shot themselves at Naruto. Seeing the rocks coming his way, the blond shinobi started punching and breaking the rocks to pieces. What Naruto didn't realize was that they rocks he was breaking were sticking to parts of his clothes. By the time he was done, the blonde looked up at the kunoichi who in turn was looking at him calmly.
"Nicely done," Ryota said before getting into her fighting stance, "Let's rock!"
"Only your head," Naruto retorted as he charged at him. She in turn charged at him and seconds later, the duo were engaged in a fierce fist fight. Naruto applied his insane strength against the ANBU-level Iwa kunoichi level who was able to go on toe with him. True to her word, the armor increased her strength and durability, and from what Naruto was seeing, the amount of damage with was inflicting onto the armors didn't last long at all. In fact, the armors would continuously repair itself back to their original glory without so much of a single scratch or blemish being present on them.
After another moment, Naruto pulled back to catch his breath.
All those attacks and not one of them had any significant affect on her whatsoever, Naruto thought as he looked at Ryota with frustration. Ryota however just looked at him with a cocky smirk on her face.
"What's wrong," Ryota taunted, "Am I took much woman for you?"
"Shut up," Naruto spat, "I dealt with people worst than you before!"
"Blah Blah Blah," Ryota retorted, "You should know son of Yondaime, I'm not your common everyday enemy. This armor of mine makes me invincible. No matter what amount of damage you inflict on it, it'll just repair itself with the elements in the ground. And as you can see, we're surrounded by solid ground and earth."
Naruto thought for a moment and saw that he was at a distinct disadvantage. Still he maintained his composure and didn't allow the kuniochi to intimidate him.
"Human and bijuu alike," Naruto said calmly, "No one's invincible; the enemy is just hard to beat until a stronger and smarter opponent takes them down. Kyuubi's defeat to my father is proof of that."
Naruto heard Kyuubi snarled venomously before cursing both Naruto and Yondaime. Yondaime merely chuckled at this.
Smiling confidently, she replied, "You're quite the philosopher, son of Yondaime."
"What got you all happy and smiling at me all of the sudden," Naruto asked while keeping his guard up.
"Naruto-kun," Ryota asked with a touch of mockery with the "kun" honorific, "How do you enjoy being somebody's toy?"
"Where are you getting-," Naruto wasn't able to continue when his own fist punched him in the face, "What the fu-"
Naruto unintentionally punched himself again.
"Ah ah ah," Ryota scolded mockingly, "Watch your language before a lady."
"Damn you," Naruto now punched himself in the gut, hard, sending himself down to his knees while holding his belly and groaning in pain, I've somehow lost control of my body! When and how did that happened!?
The blonde looked at his clothes and sensed chakra moving through the small glowing rock particles that fastened to his clothes.
Damn it, Naruto realized, It's those rocks she hurled at me. She's channeling chakra through her armor and into those particles on me to control my body movements. I'm practically her living puppet at this moment!
"That's exactly where you belong son of Yondaime," Ryota said haughtily, "Before my feet on your knees. By the time I'm through with you, I'll have you beaten, broken, naked and humiliated; I'll turn you into a spectacle for all of Iwagakure to see, so they can all behold your shame."
Doing another set of hand seals, the particles on Naruto's clothes resulted in his body being froze and pulled down to the ground like a magnet. The blonde fought hard to resist the pull but gravity was evidently against him at this point. He felt like his bones were going to be crushed from the pressure and weight.
"Feeling heavy," she taunted, "I think you're carrying too much on you. Perhaps you ought to lighten up, don't you think?"
This isn't my day, Naruto thought sourly before Ryota made him grabbed his vest and tear it apart off him…
(Meanwhile)
Teams, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were going about their ways through the infamous forest, battling whatever creatures or enemy teams came their way. All four teams, including Gaara's team, wondered where Naruto was seeing that he wasn't allowed to enter the forest from any of the entrances they were instructed to enter from. Gaara's team managed to get a hold of a heaven's scroll after their run-in with three Ame-nins. Gaara made quick works finishing them off in the most effective and painless way possible. (A/N: by now, all of you should know that scene in the anime and manga)
Team 8, who happened to have eye witnessed Gaara's method of disposing of the Ame-nins while in hiding in the bushes, made a break for it, believing that staying around would result in their deaths as well. When Temari questioned Gaara about his method seeing how Naruto had repaired his seal to suppress Shukaku's influence, Gaara's reply to her was simply, 'Old habits die hard.'
Team 7 was about their way looking for another team's scroll to steal. Like the others, they ran into trouble of their own with an opposing team. Sai and Sasuke made quick work against them though Sakura wasn't able to do much because of hesitation, which resulted in Sasuke discrediting her harshly much to her grief.
(Much Later That Afternoon)
Naruto, who was now stripped of almost all of his clothes, left barefooted, no gloves, shirtless and bare-chested, and with what little is left of his mostly destroyed and ruined pants, was now speedily running and dashing like a blur through the forest. His hair was a mess and covered in dirt, and his body from head to toe had sustained brutal external and muscle injuries, bruises and bleeding cuts from Ryota's vicious assaults.
This happened when she grew rock tentacles with sharp miniature razors from the ground and used them to restrain and whip Naruto after she forced him to tear off most of his clothes. She wanted him to plea and give her the satisfaction of begging for mercy and admitting defeat. When he refused, the beatings intensified with the razor tentacles tearing into his body with every hit. Not seeking to remain as her personal 'play' thing, Naruto tapped into his remaining chakra and with Godaime-like strength, broke free from her grasp before taking to flight on foot.
However this served little to help him escape from her. With the use of her live earth armor, she was able to pinpoint exactly where he was and intersect him before he could make any large distance between himself and Ryota. This was proven true when a slab wall burst forth from the ground seconds before Naruto crashed hard through it before hitting the ground. This has happened to the blonde shinobi several times so far since his 'escape' from Ryota.
"Run, run as fast as you can, Naruto-kun," Ryota's voice taunted through the forest, "You can't hide from me. I'll know exactly where you are and where you're going before you can get anywhere."
Despite his many injuries and lack of breath, Naruto took the time to regain his strength.
Chidori, Raikiri, Naruto thought sourly, What time not to know how to perform and use those jutsus! Why didn't I learn those jutsus again father!?
'Stop complaining,' Minato rebuked, 'You're not finished with this fight yet!'
Raiton jutsus are effective against Doton jutsus, Naruto retorted, Regrettably I never bothered to learn any Raiton jutsus.
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