Just then, Naruto stopped as one of his kage bunshin popped. He absorbed the information and experience that was being transferred to him.
"Found you," Naruto said before he used his acquired transparency jutsu and body flickered to where the kage bunshin previously was. He found himself standing on top of a high tree branch. The young red-haired woman was surrounded by some of Gatō's wannabe samurai thugs. Naruto decided to watch and see how things would play out in case she didn't need his help.
"Hey sexy," one of the thugs said smugly. "You look lost and lonely. How would you like to come and provide your company to us?"
"Sorry," the woman replied. "but I never substitute unwanted trash for men."
"What was that?" the second thug yelled angrily as he prepared to pull out his sword. "I think we should teach you a lesson!"
"Forget that," the third thug suggested. "How about we have a little fun with her instead? Besides, I haven't had a woman in a while, and right now I'm in need of a good lay."
"I'm down with that idea," the first thug agreed, eying the young woman up. "I can tell that this gorgeous broad here is an untouched virgin, and I'd love to be the one to screw her till she passes out."
Naruto saw that the three thugs had rape in mind, something he couldn't allow. He was about to intervene when he saw her race through a set of hand seals before clasping her hands together. Chains made out of solidified chakra suddenly started popping out of the ground and binding the thugs in their place. The three would be rapists struggled to break free, but to no avail.
"You three crooks work for a man named Gatō," the woman stated. "I want to know everything you know about his operations."
"Like hell we'll talk!" the second thug remarked. The woman frowned and caused some more of the chains to go around their necks before beginning to strangle them. At the same time, the rest of the chakra chains tightened around them. The men found it difficult and painful to breathe.
"I'll ask again," the woman said. "Tell me everyone you know about Gatō."
"We don't know anything about him!" the lead thug confessed. "We're just hired mercenaries paid to do a job! That's all, I tell ya!"
"Consider your jobs done in advance," the woman replied before making a hand seal, which caused the chains to break all three of the men's necks, effectively killing them. Releasing the seal, she dropped the corpses of the men down onto the ground as the chakra chains formed from her seals vanished.
"Great," she muttered. "Another dead end."
The bare-footed woman took to the trees and started running off, jumping from tree to tree. Naruto followed in hot pursuit, not wanting to lose track of her this time. After ten minutes, the woman found herself a good distance from where she killed the three thugs. She leaped down from the tree branch and landed gracefully on the ground.
"For someone who doesn't use sandals, you're sure fast on your feet," Naruto complimented, startling the woman as he revealed himself to her when he dropped the transparency jutsu. She looked up and saw Naruto crouching down on a tree branch above the tree she was standing under.
"It's you," she acknowledged, "the one called Naruto."
"I'm flattered you know my name but I don't know yours yet. I will admit that it wasn't easy tracking you after seeing you for the first time several days ago. As a kunoichi, you're quite elusive. But as a ninja myself, I learned to search for and hunt for many things, even the chance to meet and bless my eyes with the sight of gorgeous women like you," Naruto remarked.
"Do you flirt with and compliment every female you see, even those clearly much older than you?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her breasts.
"No, I only do that with the sincere and lovely ones like you, who have the tendency to hide behind objects so they can watch and admire me while in hiding. Sorta like what my girlfriend and her kid sister do. You obviously share a common trait with them," Naruto teased.
The red haired woman replied, "Funny. While I admit that I've been watching you for some time, it wasn't for romantic reasons I'll tell you that."
"So why have you been watching me all that time?" Naruto asked.
"I was in the forest that day when you guys first arrived here. I went to investigate why Konoha ninja were here in Nami no Kuni, and that's when I saw you from behind the tree by his house."
"We were hired to protect Tazuna and his family until he completes the construction of his new bridge. Though the mission was higher ranked than what this country could afford, we decided to continue the mission anyway," Naruto elaborated.
"You and your friends are quite the noble shinobi, unlike most I've run into in my travels," the woman remarked.
"Tell me, why are you here in Nami no Kuni? I know you're not an enemy, seeing as we both want Gatō out of the picture. I saw how you tried to interrogate those three wannabes for information about him," Naruto said.
"I've only been here a few weeks. By the way, my name is Honoka, and I've traveled from place to place. I don't have a home or family to go back to. After seeing Gatō's cruel rule over this poor country and the people living here, I've been trying to come up with ways to overthrow him. I can handle taking on those armed thugs, but going against Zabuza alone would be suicide, and he has his young female partner."
"Her name is Haku; she looks to be two years older than me, she has a nicely shaped figure from head to toe, though she has a B-cup rack. She has soft-looking creamy tan skin, long black hair with a sweet smile and adorable face that can melt any good man's heart.
"Haku is very knowledgeable about the human anatomy, knows a great deal about pressure points and has the ability to put anyone in a deathlike state. Her weapons of choice are long needles. She knows a lot about healing herbs and cares for those precious to her like Zabuza. I'm assuming that was why she was gathering the plants in the first place considering how badly wounded he was after our last encounter," Naruto concluded. Honoka looked up at Naruto with a flabbergasted expression. In a brief yet very detailed summary, he gave her a whole lot more information on Haku than she had been able to attain, and Naruto only had two run-ins with the girl.
"What kind of a ninja are you?" Honoka asked.
"One of a kind!" Naruto remarked.
"Such modesty," Honoka snickered cynically.
"And what about you, Honoka? I saw your display earlier and I must say I like your seal jutsu with those solidified chakra chains. They were pretty cool," Naruto praised.
"Thanks. Chakra chains and fūinjutsu have always been my strongest points. But I do know some water jutsu," Honoka replied.
"I'm very knowledgeable in seals too, and we have something in common, though I don't have any expertise in chakra chains through seals like you do," Naruto said with his trademark smile before he flipped down to the surface over to Honoka. When he reached her, Naruto saw that she was six inches taller than him, not that it bothered him anyway.
As he was about to say something, he started feeling the same sensations rising in his being again and now that he was standing so close to her, what he was now feeling was at its peak. Naruto had to focus hard and keep himself together.
It's that feeling again, Naruto thought to himself. Only this time, it's a whole lot stronger than it ever was before. Why am I feeling this about her?
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