''We're surrounded.'' Naruto stated calmly as shadows came out of the trees around them.

''Oh, aren't you afraid?'' Came the voice of a female, however, Naruto just looked in a calm manner to everyone that was surrounding him, Haku and Jiraiya. An evil smile appeared in his face before he said: ''Toad, apparently, this one is the leader. Let me deal with him/her.''

Jiraiya and Haku just nodded slightly, in the two weeks they were going towards Kurogakure, they were attacked by many wandering Ninjas and Bandits. Alas, none were strong, Naruto thirst for battle was just increasing over the days, as such, they're simply going to let him go for the strongest.

''How arrogant of you! You think that you can defeat me? Naive. I have observed you three, the one with a Toad mask is the leader, you're just a subordinate, after I kill you, the leader is the next!'' The clear voice of a woman said.

Naruto sighed loudly before he said while raising his sword: ''Less talk, more fight.''

Swooosh!

Instantly, Naruto appeared behind the woman as the sound of swords clashing with swords sounded around him. The blonde teenager was using nothing but ordinary Ninjutsus such as Raiton: Body Flicker Technique and so on.

Clang!

The woman raised her own Sword to block his and swept her legs towards him with incredible speed. Dodging, Naruto appeared behind her and kicked the back of her legs, making her lose balance.

However, the woman wasn't messing around either. In an instant, she retreated before throwing shurikens towards Naruto, that blocked with his Swords as the sound of metal colliding with metal rang in the air.

''Hoo? It seems that you have at least a bit of strength, however... That's not enough!'' The woman said while smirking underneath her mask. At that moment, she sped up and appeared behind Naruto, slashing the side of his stomach!

'It seems I'll have to increase my speed slightly...' Feeling her increase in strength, Naruto smiled while feeling the pain at the side of his stomach. Blue Lightning flickered around his body as he appeared beside the woman.

'He's fa-' Before her thoughts could complete itself, a punch connected at the right side of her face. The woman was sent meters away before crashing in a tree as she yelled in pain: ''GAH!''

''Dammit, you're strong, b*stard!'' The woman said before they started to trade blows at an intense speed. Naruto's smile just widened overtime after feeling the burning pain at his body, the sweet feeling of fighting against a strong opponent!

Even if he was holding himself back a bit, Naruto was having just so much fun with that fight. It even made him wonder a bit, how would that woman react if she knew he was holding back!

Smiling widely, he said: ''Well, that was a good stretch! I'm sorry but your end has come!''

Swoooooooosh!

The air around danced wildly as Naruto suddenly appeared beside the woman. With a single punch that connected to her face, the mask cracked before falling to pieces, blood staining the ground.

If not because of the bruises, the face of the woman would be absolutely beautiful. However, Naruto didn't care about that, as the injured woman fell to the ground after feeling the sudden increase of Naruto's strength, she despaired.

Her face changed quickly as the approaching Naruto raised his sword before slashing down. As the woman's head rolled in the ground, fresh red-colored blood staining it, the blonde teenager said indifferently: ''Goodbye, woman. Requiescat in pace.'' [1]

Looking around, he saw that all of the enemies were dealt with, every single of them were dead. The beautiful green-colored grass was now stained with a bloody red-colored liquid, bodies and bodies part around.

Jiraiya ignored the blood that was over his cloak before saying: ''I recognize them. It's a mercenary group composed purely by women named Flowery Mercenary Group. It pains my heart since I killed them but since they tried to kill us, it's ok. Fox, seal their body, though not much alone, when their bounties are placed together, it's a huge sum.''

''Since they were 'hunting' us, doesn't that mean that we... or rather, you, already have a bounty?'' Naruto asked as Jiraiya nodded before saying: ''Yeah, one can't change his identity after registering, my alias 'Toad' has a bounty, their objective probably was to overwhelm me with numbers.''

Haku sighed in relief before saying: ''I see. I thought that maybe they knew about our identity. Let's rest to recover our injuries, while you, Toad, wasn't injured, Fox and I were injured.''

Nodding, Jiraiya looked over Naruto and saw the many sword cuts over his robe and the leaking blood. He smiled underneath his mask while thinking: 'If he had used Kekkei Genkai and other techniques, that fight would end in an instant. Even with his base strength, he shouldn't have had been injured like that, probably held himself back.'

'He only used Kenjutsu and held his strength back. That woman was just of Jounin strength, ugh, that brat is putting himself in unnecessary danger just for the sake of a fight.' He thought as Naruto and Haku both sat around after cutting the heads and putting them inside Sealing Scrolls.

It wasn't brutal as it seemed, though, the one to do it was Naruto because Haku didn't want to do such a thing. Even after killing them, the long-haired, slightly feminine youngster was hesitant, as such, Naruto simply did it and swiftly dodged the blood that oozed out.

''Nee nee, Toad, I feel that we're losing quite a bit of time, can't I just make a portal and teleport near their base?'' Naruto asked while feeling a bit annoyed, two hours had passed since the fight, he had already recovered completely.

Looking over Naruto, Jiraiya said indifferently: ''You'll be breaking the rule I created so... No, we can't do that, the purpose is so that you train like any ordinary ninja, developing your base strength, you have the highest talent I've ever seen even when compared to your older brother, stop complaining as if you can't do it and let's go.''

Sighing, Naruto flickered around as they went towards their target's base 'Ah... Life is hard.'

If people heard what he was thinking, they would definitely be angered. With such talent and even hard-working with a strong will, he was complaining! Sighing once again, Naruto followed Haku and Jiraiya.

[1] Requiescat in pace as a reference to Assassin's Creed. For those curious, it means 'Rest in peace', commonly used by Ezio after a kill.

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