Naruto woke up to find himself in the center of a large arena, filled with empty seats and clear-blue skies.

"Why do I feel like I know this place?" Naruto whispered to himself just as he heard laughter coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw two people drinking tea and looking at magazines.

"Who knew that exotic women could look so good?" the older man of the duo said. He had long hair, grey hair, and wrinkled skin. He wore a yellow kimono which has a flower design on it along with a black haori, and a red scarf with flower designs as well.

"Yeah man, but I personally like the busty selection that Gold Pleasure Group Magazine offers. Much more to grab a hold of, ya know?" the other man said. He had long black hair that fell down his back, thin black eyebrows, relaxed eyes, pronounced tear-troughs, and thin stubble above his lip and on his chin. He wore a simple pair of shorts and a flower-patterned Hawaii shirt.

"Hehehehe, yeah, I guess I do know," the older man said, giggling as they turned the pages. Naruto stared at them for a few moments before the younger man turned around and smiled.

"Hey there, Naruto! How's it going?" he said, waving at him

"Uhhh... do I know you?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. The man stood up as he rolled his shoulders, smirking.

"Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. But I guess that doesn't really matter," he replied

"So you wanna go first, or do you want me to?" the older man looked at his friend, expecting a response.

"Naw, I'll go first, Kojiro. Just watch and study,"

"Alright," Kojiro replied, putting away their magazines and laying on the ground, "I'll just watch from here, Hatsumi!"

"Hatsumi... Kojiro... where in the hell have I heard those names before?" Naruto pondered to himself.

Hatsumi got closer and closer as Naruto continued to think to himself, unaware of his intentions.

Naruto was still thinking to himself where he heard those names before. They rang so many bells in his mind and yet not a single one rang the right way. He then started to pull his hair and yell in anguish,

"WHERE HAVE I HEARD THOSE NAMES BEFORE?!" Naruto screamed.

It was then, Hatsumi stopped nearly a meter from him, spreading out his legs, raising one hand and lowering the other,

"Hey, kid. You gonna come at me or not?" he smirked, looking Naruto in the eye.

Naruto looked back at him, confused by what he was saying, "What?"

"Come on. We've got all night. But keep in mind, I prefer taking things slow," Hatsumi replied, lowering his guard a bit, "but if you need a warm-up, I can wait. Guess you could say I need to warm-up too,"

"Y-You're gonna fight a kid? Really?" Naruto deadpanned, making Hatsumi sweat.

"Well, that's the thing here," Hatsumi started his sentence before his happy demeanor vanished and was replaced with one that made Naruto's body stiffen, "you're not a normal kid. If anything, fighting you would be like fighting an animal. And by the looks of things, I'd say you've experienced things that normal kids don't get to,"

"Tch, yeah... I guess so," Naruto replied, taking a deep breath before leaning forward and leaping at Hatsumi. Naruto cocked back his fist, ready to throw a punch as Hatsimu just stood there and smirked.

Naruto threw his punch, swinging around his arm as Hatsumi took a step to the side. Hatsumi then grabbed Naruto's arm, using his right arm to parry it across his head. He then slammed his left forearm on Naruto's shoulder, causing him to do a back-flip and slam into the ground. Naruto felt the ground hit his back as Hatsumi stood over him.

"Wow, you caught some air there," Hatsumi teased Naruto, looking down at him as he got back into his stance. Naruto slowly stood up, Hatsumi waiting for him patiently.

"Alright, let's try this again," Naruto pushed off his right leg and launched himself at Hatsumi.

Naruto unleashed a kick at Hatsumi, who simply took a step back and allowed the kick to fly by. Naruto spun in the air and used his left leg to launch a back-wards, round-house, getting closer to the man. But Hatsumi simply took another step back, placing his palm on Naruto's foot and pushing on it, causing Naruto to spin.

Losing his balance, Naruto fell to the ground. He caught himself with his hands and forced himself back at Hatsumi, going for a flying double-kick. Hatsumi just moved to the right, watching as Naruto flew by him. Catching Naruto's right arm in the air, he pulled him and forced him back to the ground. Naruto managed to land on his feet, but Hatsumi was still holding onto his arm.

Hatsumi managed to pin Naruto's wrist against his chest using one hand while the other was putting pressure on Naruto's elbow, "I'd advise giving up, Naruto. You don't want to lose your arm," Hatsumi warned, emphasizing his point by putting more pressure on Naruto's limb

'H-How the hell am I going to get outta this one?' Naruto thought, 'I can't kick... and if I try to punch him, I'd lose my arm in the process. So how am I gonna get him?'

"You can just tap out, kid. I know it's a double-standard, but I don't wanna hurt you any more than I have-ta," Hatsumi stated to Naruto. Naruto took a few breaths before he gritted his teeth and leaned forward, taking Hatsumi with him.

Naruto quickly pivoted on his right leg and swung his left leg out, gaining momentum as they fell.

Using the moment he gained, Naruto swung it as hard as he could at Hatsumi's head, trying to make him let go. Naruto smirked as he managed to get Hatsumi off of him, feeling that the pin he had on his elbow joint was gone, as Hatsumi used his hand to block the kick.

But Naruto's eyes widened as he saw Hatsumi smile. There was a glint in his eyes that made Naruto angry as Hatsumi raised his hand and curled his index finger.

"Thanks, Naruto. You moved the way I wanted you to," Hatsumi then struck Naruto three times in the head, hitting his glabella, philtrum, and chin.

"Hatsumi-Style Aikido... Gathering Clouds: Triple Strike," Hatsumi stated after he struck Naruto.

Hatsumi then let go of Naruto, who fell to the ground. Blood flowing down his face from the injury to the middle of his brow. Naruto twitched as he sat back up. His jaw felt like it was gonna snap in two. He could only smell the iron-tang of blood. His vision was being blurred by the trickle of the red liquid coming into his eyes, 'Why... Why doesn't this hurt as much as it should?' Naruto thought to himself, standing up, still twitching

"I thought you would've gone down after that, kiddo," Hatsumi said, scratching the back of his head, "but just give-up,"

"N-No... n-never," Naruto replied, taking a step towards him. He then started to fall, making Hatsumi sigh.

"*Sigh* Kids are stubborn as all he-!" Hatsumi could barely finish his sentence as Naruto managed to wrap his arms around the man's waist. Hatsumi smirked as he reached for Naruto's waist-line. But as he expected, Naruto moved backward, forcing the man to reposition his feet.

"You went for my waist, knowing how to reposition my center of gravity... crafty, where did you see this?" Hatsumi asked, placing a hand on the back of Naruto's neck

"K-Kengan... A-Ashura... a-a man-ga I-I read," Naruto stuttered, "c-come to think o-of it... I-I figured out y-your name, 'F-Floating C-Cloud', H-Hatsumi Sen,"

"Yeah, that's me. Got my ass handed to me when I did this... but I'm gonna do it my way when taking you down kid," Hatsumi replied as he bent his knees, forcing Naruto into an unfavorable position. The man then grabbed Naruto by the back of his pants and pushed down on his neck, hitting a nerve that caused Naruto to lose feeling in his arms. Naruto then saw the ground fast approaching as Hatsumi said: "Hatsumi-Style Aikido. Reverse Starfall," and Naruto's heard was plunged into the arena floor.

Naruto woke up and punched the air... although, he didn't really punch the air.

"SONVABITCH!" a man shouted as Naruto looked at his fist to see it covered in blood. Looking over to his right, he saw Jiraiya on the floor holding his nose... and a shattered plate of pancakes on the floor.

"MY BREAKFAST!" Naruto screamed as he hopped out of bed

"BREAKFAST?! WHAT ABOUT ME, BRAT?!" Jiraiya complained, still holding his nose

"...... who are you again?"