"Naruto..." - Sakura

"It looks like he lost control...this is the worst timing possible." - Chiyo

Kakashi tried to muster all his strength and prepared himself.

He knew if he couldn't place the seal on Naruto, failing their mission would be the least of their worries.

But luckily, something appeared to distract everyone for a second.

"E-Eiji? Is that really you?" - Eiji instantly recognized this voice.

Meanwhile, Kakashi used the change to place the seal on Naruto's forehead.

"Tenten...isn't that?" - Lee

Eiji cursed inwardly but kept silent and Pakkun got to Kakashi's side.

"Eiji...I have a lot to ask you..." - Tenten wasn't hysterically like a certain orange and pink-haired duo always was when seeing their beloved Sasuke.

"Tenten, I knew he is your childhood friend, but he is currently a criminal wanted by Konoha..." - Neji said that, but his head was still filled with the Byakko he saw from a distance with his Byakugan.

"Neji, how can you say that?! He is still a former Konoha-comrade!" - Lee

"Can you please at least say...something, Eiji?" - Tenten tried her best to stay calm.

"Guys, don't forget our mission...even if he is wanted, saving Gaara has priority..." - Sakura

'Sigh...thank you, Sakura...I hope you all just scram...' - Eiji hoped silently that they would just leave him alone.

Naruto who returned to his normal self stared at Eiji and said: "Mark my words, someday I will beat you up for good and you will apologize to every Hokage for being an insult to that title...let's go and save Gaara, everyone!"

Naruto was about to turn around, but Eiji suddenly laughed loudly: "This...is really the worst day in both of my lives...hehehe...I had enough of your shit, Naruto!"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"?"

Eiji suddenly stopped his laughter and got so serious, that the air seemingly started to freeze.

"Naruto...you know there is a limit to your arrogance...despite me trying my best to hold back against you all and not trying to fight, you keep acting like you can do whatever you want...looks like I'll have to teach you some basic manners like the dog you are...Sage...Mode..."

Before he even finished saying his last word, he vanished and appeared next to Naruto.

"!"

Naruto couldn't even react, but he felt how Eiji grabbed his face with one hand and threw him.

And then before he even landed, Eiji was there again and punched him into the face.

"ARGHH!!!"

"NARUTO!!!" -Sakura

Naruto opened his eyes and saw the transformed Eiji above him.

He gritted his teeth and tried to get up and fight, but another fist landed on his face.

"I don't care about your sad past or that you suffered because you have the Kyubi sealed in you...but it looks like you need a good beating to see reality..."

With those words, Eiji started to rain his fists upon Naruto.

But Sakura was already approaching Eiji from behind and was about to slam her fist at him.

Without looking, Eiji summoned snakes that trapped Sakura.

But the others weren't only sitting and watching either: Lee flew with a kick towards him, Neji approached from the other side and Chiyo connected her chakra threads on Naruto.

Though with Sage-Mode, Eiji could sense it and he just suddenly vanished again.

"Naruto...are you alr-" - Sakura, who with her strength only need a short amount of time to break out from the snakes, ran towards Naruto, but he suddenly vanished as well.

"This speed...can we even do something against it?" - Chiyo

Even Kakashi had trouble following his movements with his Sharingan.

"There, they are!" - Neji used his Byakugan to spot them.

But Eiji already smashed his fist a number of times again into Naruto's face in that period of time.

'Hm? I just felt something cracking...I better stop there...' - Eiji's hands were full of blood and he looked at Naruto.

Naruto's face was completely swollen, plus blood, tears, and snot were intermixed and made Naruto's face look like a slime-blob.

Seeing that, Eiji just shrugged his shoulders and thought, that Sakura can just heal him.

Anyway, beating Naruto up like that made him feel really great, however, he decided that he should search for his sword and then finally leave.

But before that, he said to Naruto: "Next time before you bark like a dog, make sure that you are actually the bigger dog."

Meanwhile, Tenten, who looked at it the whole time while biting her lips so strongly that blood flowed, finally made up her mind.

'I don't know what you see me as, Eiji, but I'm not someone you can just ignore anymore like that. I will get my answers from you, even if I have to fight you...' - she knew she had to go all-in from the start versus him, so she summoned a bunch of puppets.

Eiji sensed it with his Sage-Mode and looked at her with an unreadable expression: 'Tenten...'