Chapter 2: Pride Comes Before...

"Now, Ryu, I want you to channel your chakra into this sheet of paper here…"

"And I still say it will be pointless. My affinity will always be wind and fire."

"Maybe so, but it can't hurt to try. You were using a different energy source back then. Now come on."

Sighing, Ryu Suzaku started to gather his chakra. Suddenly, he stopped.

"Let's make this interesting: if my affinity truly is wind and fire, you'll give up smoking for a week."

"And, if you lose, you give up sake. Done?"

"Done."

Thus, Ryu's chakra was focused and was forced into the paper, which promptly split in half and burst into flame.

While Asuma Sarutobi tried to break the record for the world's biggest sweatdrop, Ryu nabbed his cigarettes.

"Sucker!" he gloated.


Years passed (I always wanted to write that).

Ryu became accomplished at manipulating both wind and fire chakra, although getting him to use them further than 5 metres away from his body seemed to be a chore, something no one could come up with a decent theory for.

As if it mattered.

In the long run, Ryu's mastery of wind chakra gave him a truly formidable addition to his already impressive Falcon Style of taijutsu. This, along with his raw pace meant that he was often employed for heavy combat missions requiring back-up as quickly as possible.

It wasn't, however, until he was put on a mission with his first friends in Konoha, that he earned a reputation that preceded him.

"So, why are we moving so slowly?"

"For many reasons. For stealth. For our clarity of mind. For the fact that no one can match your 'brisk jog' in the Fire Country."

"Shucks, Kakashi, I'm touched."

"Quiet, Suzaku." Despite the fact that Kakashi had forgiven him for that spar in Training Ground 13, he still would never refer to Ryu by his given name.

"Yosh! Our Flames of Youth will Blind our Unyouthful opponents! They shall be Beaten Back by those in the Springtime of Youth!"

"Kakashi, I thought we were meant to be stealthy?"

"Yep, but you're my subordinate. You have to listen to me."

"Joy."

The mission was to investigate some a large number of Sand missing-nin making a nuisance of themselves on the border of Fire and Wind Country. As the scenery became less green and more sandy, Kakashi decided to call the team to a stop.

"So! My Eternal Rival! What is the plan you have so Youthfully constructed?"

Well, that was new.

Kakashi restrained himself from pretending he hadn't heard, and outlined the plan.

Gai would be heavy combat, taking out as many grunts as possible, with instructions to save a few for Ibiki to have fun with.

Suzaku would pick off the stragglers, and those who tried to make a break for it, because, as Kakashi put it, he was faster than a heroine in his Icha Icha.

Once Kakashi had stopped giggling, he declared that would engage the leader, as there was no way to be able to know his skill level, and Kakashi was versatile enough to adapt. "Plus," Ryu added, "you're the leader, and you want some glory,"

This earned him an eye smile from Kakashi, and a lecture on Unyouthfulness from Gai.


"Well, it seems we have attracted enough attention to be welcomed properly! Sharingan Kakashi;" he eye smiled, "the Beautiful Blue Beast of Konoha;" he stuck a nice guy pose, "And some chuunin? Your protégé, Maito Gai? Well, at least he isn't colour blind."

That last statement Kakashi to put his face in his hands, Ryu to twitch irritably, and Gai to drop his head dejectedly. The laughing from all others present could not have helped matters.

"For your most unyouthful comments," Gai murmured, "YOU WILL PAY!"

With that, Gai summoned a turtle that flattened half of the missing-nin there. While they looked on in terror, Kakashi leaned in to his subordinate.

"There is a reason why we don't talk about Gai's condition," Kakashi mused. "Now, there's a change of plan. I'll pick off whoever Gai doesn't get, while you get the leader."

"Why?"

"For a couple of reasons. Did you notice his headband?"
"Not really."
"He's a Cloud-nin, and not a former one. Considering their current relationship with us, that's quite worrying. In addition, he's getting away."

"What? When?"

"He's quite quick, but you should be able to handle it," Kakashi said wryly. "All I ask is that you bring him in alive."

"Hai, Kakashi-sempai!" With that, Ryu Suzaku disappeared, leaving a couple of shinobi incapacitated in his wake.


The Cloud-nin grimaced as he made his rapid escape. Their cover had been blown, again. He'd have to report his failure to the Raikage, again. The secrets of the Byuakagen were not Kumogakure's. Again.

Sometimes he hated his job.

"Still," he pondered aloud, "I haven't met a shinobi faster than myself, so it should be impossible for me to be caught…"

Oof.

He recognised the man in front of him as the tree-hugging chuunin from before, his attire almost impossible to forget. How he had gotten here, he didn't particularly wish to know, but if he wanted a fight, by Kami, he would get one!

He eyed his opponent and snarled, getting into a fighting stance. The Leaf-nin smirked, and made a gesture upwards. When his sight cleared, he saw that he had cleared the canopy of the trees. Wind chakra, obviously, but this was the least of his troubles. For his adversary was right up there with him.

This just wasn't his day.

Ryu Suzaku stood over his vanquished foe with more than a little satisfaction. It had been a while since he had a good fight, and though this clown hadn't given him one, he appreciated the chance to stretch his legs. Literally. Because his new Falcon Kick needed to be tried out on someone… Anyway, time to haul him back to Kakashi and Gai. He leaned uncomfortably close to his prisoner.

"Quickest shinobi you've seen, eh? Let me show you the true pace of those who wield the will of the Falcon."

In a flash, he had him over his shoulder, and was gone.


Worst. Mission. Ever.

Not that it hadn't been a success: quite the contrary. But the fact that when Gai had finished his rampage, he had broken down and started sobbing about how he had given in to the Dark Side of Unyouthfulness. As Kakashi patted his shoulder with as little physical contact as possible, he just prayed that Suzaku was all right.

"Look what I found!"

That should do it.

"Suzaku-kun, well done! Now your next task…"

"Hmm?"

"Get Gai off me before he soaks my flak jacket through!"


Several months later, after the Cloud jonin had been brought back to Konoha, and released after a session with Ibiki ("You did half my work for me, kid," he muttered to Ryu in a bar later), the new Bingo Books came out. And guess who confronted Ryu about the document's new addition?

"Yosh!"

You guessed it.

"My Youthful Comrade! The Springtime of Youth has shone through and gotten you and entry in the Kumo Bingo Books!"

Ryu did a double take. "Wait, what?"

"Behold!" Gai produced the book with a flourish, with the book already turned to the right page.

"That must've taken practice, Gai."

"Yosh!"

Unsure whether that response was positive or negative, he glanced at the page Gai had opened on. A wistful smile twisted his lips as he saw the nickname, the rank and the bounty he had been given.

"We must all go and celebrate the Flames of your Youth getting you recognised as a B-Rank ninja! Me, the Beautiful Blue Beast of Konoha! My Eternal Rival, the Feared Copy Ninja of Konoha! And you, my Youthful Comrade, the Blue Falcon of Konoha!"

As Gai continued to rant on, Ryu was sure that wherever his sensei was, he was laughing at the irony of it all.


Several months later, the chickens came home to roost after Ryu's new found notoriety. It started out a normal day, after his lunch break; he was eating his take away barbeque (as you do on a weekend: no one wants to be around when the Akimichi's get there) As he finished picking his teeth, he felt a surge of energy. Which, if all is considered, isn't that strange in a ninja village. He'd be the first to admit that training accidents happened all the time. No, what caught his attention was the size of the surge. And the fact that it wasn't chakra. Ryu wasted no time heading towards the source.

Well, he wasted a bit of time. Like, say, 17 seconds?

Once he was there, he was taken aback. The man's facial expression, posture, and fighting style… only the colour of his attire told Ryu that this wasn't his old sensei stood before him.

Well, that and the fact that he had just strangled a kunochi and roundhouse kicked her straight into the air.

Sensei never hit girls.

No, this was Sensei's clone and killer, the one who had sent him running here in the first place, the man who still occasionally haunted his dreams…

Blood Falcon.

Ryu caught the woman from mid air, laying her down as softly a hyperactive toddler would stroke a cat, and growled out: "You're here for me, aren't you?"

Impassive eyes met passionate ones.

Fists were clenched and fighting stances were taken.

And then, they clashed.


Anko had seen battles conducted quickly. Her sensei was, after all, one of the legendary sannin, and the only ones strong enough to go toe to toe with him were the others, so she had observed him keep his skills sharp before he had taken his leave. Hell, she even participated sometimes, feeling breathless and out of her depth.

Anko had also seen battles between opponents of the same style. Gentle Fist, Intercepting Fist, Iron Fist, Hebi, Tiger Style… when used against each other, they seemed to interlock, the best users seemed like they were interlocked in a dance. A deadly one, but on no less passionate than those conducted on dance floors.

This, though, was unreal.

After that Juggernaut had disposed of her like she was nothing, and then that… baka… had caught her, then left her on her ass, they had started getting serious. It was plain for all to see to everyone present that the stranger was a berserker intent on destroying everything before him, and that the brave, up-and-coming chuunin would do all he could to stop him. It was clear to Anko, however, that these two had history, and not the cute, fuzzy kind that you find in bad romantic comedies.

She only hoped that he could exorcise his demon better than she ever could.


This was harder than Ryu would have thought possible.

Blood Falcon's fighting style was almost exactly like sensei's, and though he came close to feeling inferior, a couple of factors kept him from taking this view rationally. For starters, this abomination had obviously been expecting him to be rusty.

Nope!

Secondly, this was not the complete Falcon style that his sensei had so meticulously and painstakingly taught him. It was fundamentally altered when used by the impostor, often in the favour of foul play; something that all Falcon users were trained to abhor. Well, if dirty tricks were all Blood Falcon would bring to the table, he would persevere, and show him the Virtues of Hard Work!

Wow. TOO much time spent around Gai.

Which reminded him: he was a shinobi now! He had more than a few tricks up his sleeve that this man was not expecting. With that joyous realisation flashing through his mind, he leapt back and flashed through hand signs.

Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger…

Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!

Blood Falcon leapt over the fireball from Ryu's mouth. The ninja in question smirked: his enemy had done half of the hard work for him. A flip kick later left our hero at the definite advantage, as he began his mid air barrage. A haymaker to his face, a jab to his throat, a burst of wind chakra enhancing the length and power of a kicking combo, before a knee to the mid-section. And now: the hard bit.

Ryu knew how resilient this man was. He had seen his sensei sacrifice his life against this monster, putting his all into the best attack only to see him rise from the flames, like some kind of twisted phoenix, laughing mockingly at his noble sacrifice. Quite frankly, Ryu wasn't entirely sure he was beatable. But now wasn't the time for doubts. Now was the time for action, and as Blood Falcon began to drop, he leapt up to meet him, eyes ablaze with barely restrained fury.

"For sensei! Falcon… PAUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"


"Please tell me," Sarutobi muttered, "that what you just demonstrated was not underpowered."

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I'm in a hospital bed. What do you think?"

Sarutobi sighed, and took a seat. It was three days since the attack of the Juggernaut, as the higher level shinobi had taken to calling it, and a couple of hours since Ryu had regained consciousness. Still, he needed to be debriefed as soon as possible, and so that was why the Sandaime found himself conducting an interrogation on a hospital bed.

Sarutobi was ashamed to say it wasn't the first time, and he doubted it would be the last.

"Had I have known you'd bring me so much trouble when you arrived, I would've never put you on the books of our shinobi."

"Well, I aim to please."

"Suzaku-kun, this is serious. How do we know he won't come back? Last time you only sent Kakashi flying, a long way, admittedly, but…"

"Hokage-sama," Ryu had his jaw clenched, and a look of seriousness Sarutobi had only seen once before. "He killed my sensei. I would never do a half-hearted job in his memory. Besides, I know he's dead. I watched him turn to ashes before my very eyes."

"Ashes?" The Hokage enquired faintly.

"Hai."

"Kami… Ryu Suzaku, from this point forward, your…"

"Falcon Punch?"

"Hai, hai, that, will be considered an S-Rank heavy combat jutsu. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good." The Sandaime looked at the forlorn figure before him, and decided that he should somehow salvage some positivity from the meeting.

"This man… he killed your sensei?"

"Hai."

"And you killed him."

"Hai."

"So this means you have surpassed your sensei, does it not?"

Ryu seemed to consider the Hokage's logic with awe and a little terror. Sarutobi chuckled, and decided to leave the conversation, and Suzaku-kun's utterly humourous expression there.

His promotion to Tokubetsu Jonin could wait until he was out of the hospital.