'In that case,' Minato replied, 'Adapt to the situation and improvise! I'm sure you can come up with something to use against her! You're not a Kage-level shinobi for nothing!'
"Are you done catching your breath, Naruto-kun," Ryota's voice taunted, "Our game of cat and mouse isn't finished yet!"
To make her point clear, a tentacle made from gravel burst forth from the ground and wrapped grabbed Naruto from by the neck from behind. Naruto struggled against the pull of the tentacle as he tried to pry it off him.
Shit, Naruto cursed, I'm so low on chakra and most of my strength is gone!
A moment later, four more tentacles grew from out of the ground and grasped and wrapped around his legs and arms. The tentacles then pulled him and forced him down on both of his knees before pulling him back to face Ryota as she emerged from the ground in front of him with his arms being restrained by the other two tentacles.
The Iwa nin walked over to Naruto with a triumph smile on her face.
"Namikaze Naruto," Ryota started, "Son of Namikaze Minato, the renowned Yondaime Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash; the self-proclaimed Konoha's Second Flash, reduced to kneeling before Ryota, Iwa's Shining Stone."
"…," Naruto remained silent while trying to remain calm and keeping his emotions in check. That however was soon put to the test when she suddenly kicked him in his crotch. Naruto groaned and closed his eyes shut tight as he bit down on his tongue to keep from screaming despite the pain.
"That was for fingering me before you left me to rot in that damn forest back in Nami No Kuni," she remarked coldly. The blonde managed to swallow his scream and keep his tears from falling while hearing the fox laughing insultingly at his plight.
"You're pathetic," Kyuubi mocked darkly, "You're getting your ass owned! You should have killed this bitch when you had the chance after you've beaten her! Now you're ruing day for showing mercy to an egotistical kunoichi who wants nothing more than to break you down for what you're worth!"
Momentarily ignoring his pain, Naruto retorted, Kyuubi-teme, shut…the…hell…UP!
Kyuubi growled at the boy and chose not to give Naruto his chakra to heal his injuries.
To hell with you Kyuubi-teme, Naruto spat, I don't need your damn chakra though I can force you to comply! It's not like you have anywhere else to go besides with me to the grave, servant!
This time Kyuubi roared at the Naruto with animosity before thrashing against his cage. Naruto grinned and chuckled outwardly at Kyuubi's reaction to his last words to him.
"What's so funny," Ryota asked, only for Naruto to laugh louder. The girl grinned at the blonde, "So you've finally gone crazy? I must have kicked you so hard that the shock fried your brain. You'll be more of a spectacle for the people of Iwa as I present you before them."
A moment later, Naruto calmed his laugher down before regaining his composure. Looking at Ryota, Naruto said, "I'm laughing because I was too blind to realize something that was right in front of me the entire time."
"And that would be," she inquired. He replied, "You're afraid of me."
She blinked and looked at him with a confused expression, "Afraid of you? You really must have lost your mind kid."
"You didn't have what it took to fight me when I was in my prime before and after the day I entered this forest," Naruto mocked, "The fact that you waited all this time until I was exhausted, weakened and vulnerable after spending three days in this forest fighting to survive proved that. You knew that you couldn't rely on your own powers to fight me; that's why you resorted to summoning an armor of extraordinary powers to use to do battle with me."
Naruto saw the angry look on Ryota's now reddened face and saw that he was getting somewhere. He continued, "Tell me Ryota, why didn't you report your findings about me to your Tsuchikage? You found out and knew the truth about me for nearly three weeks. But like you said, your Tsuchikage would have dispatched a whole platoon of skilled ninjas and perhaps his ANBU against me. Doesn't that tell you something about both yourself and me? You openly admitted that your Tsuchikage wouldn't have enough faith in your abilities as the Shining Stone of Iwagakure to fulfill your mission to bring me back. That's one of the reasons why you chose not to report your findings to your Tsuchikage. You didn't want to lose face in front of everyone back in Iwa that I alone was too much for you and you were in need of assistance in the form of an army to go after one Genin."
Ryota was now fuming venomously at Naruto who was grinning at her despite his confinement, "In our last battle, I merely used three simple jutsus to bring about your downfall and defeat, and it only took less than two minutes. You on the other hand had to go through all this trouble just to try to force me to beg you for mercy just to satisfy your ego solely to attempt to prove that you're stronger than, how did you put it, me, a fresh out of the academy Genin who fingered you before leaving you face down on ground at my feet. Before I was able to finish what started back then, I sensed that my comrades were in danger. Seeing that you weren't much of a threat, no less a challenge to me anymore, I left you where you were, so you could nurse what was left of your wounded pride under the uprooted tree I placed you under."
At the Ryota went over and slapped him hard, leaving a red palm print mark on his left cheek. She didn't want to admit to the fact that Naruto's harsh words were getting to her. He saw the fury in her eyes.
"You're ambitious, arrogant and full of yourself! As the saying goes, Pride is before a Crash," Naruto added, "I truly pity you, because even now when I'm weakened and in this horrid condition you can't get me to beg you for mercy!"
She slapped him hard again, thing this on his other cheek.
"Truth is a bitch isn't," Naruto cracked with a grin. At that point, Ryota's anger got the better of her.
"I'll kill you," she yelled as she lunged onto him to strangle him. She was so angry with lost focus that she didn't realize that she unintentionally loosened the grip the tentacles had on Naruto. Taking advantage of the situation, Naruto, with his remaining strength, broke free from his captivity.
"What," she said before Naruto lunged and tackled her to the ground on her back. Naruto clenched his fist tightly before he delivered a hard and swift punch to her left cheek.
"That was for kicking me," Naruto said. Ryota felt the painful blow that was given to her face before Naruto grabbed and hurled her high into a tree before hitting the root of the tree and then the ground. Seeing that she was momentarily down, he turned and ran as fast as he could away from her.
"DAMN YOU!," Ryota swore as she got up and rubbed her now bruised cheek and threatened, "You're gonna regret that!"
She started chasing after him, following the vibrations his feet were making as each step he made served to pinpoint exactly where he was. Naruto knew that it wouldn't be long until she caught up to him. Soon his eyes came to see a clearing up ahead. When he got there however, what he saw was a waterfall with the waters below leading down into a chasm. Seeing no other option, Naruto took a deep breath and jumped into the waterfall where he was pulled in and swallowed up by the hard-hitting waters. Ryota appeared moments later to see that she lost track of Naruto.
"Damn him," Ryota yelled before punching a tree hard enough to uproot and knock it down to the ground. Her armor was unable to detect Naruto seeing that he was no longer touching the ground. Seeing no other option available, Ryota turned and ran to find where the falling river waters going into the chasm would lead. Moments later, Naruto popped out from the waters to see that Ryota was gone.
I'm guessing that her armor couldn't sense where I was; I must be outside her element seeing that I'm in the waters, Naruto figured as he remained afloat in the river waters. Naruto analyzed the situation he was in and presently, going against Ryota in his condition wouldn't be the smartest choice. Right now, he was in need of medical attention and a lot of it. Presently, he didn't possess anywhere near enough chakra to heal any of his injuries and Kyuubi refused to lend him any, though Naruto chose not to use it anyway. Only one choice was available.
'Naruto,' Minato said, 'You're planning on absorbing and using my chakra to fully mend and repair your body, yes?'
Naruto mentally nodded as he went through a series of complex hand seals.
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