Disclaimer: First Chapter~
Ryu was laying down in a field of grass, daydreaming. She had already turned in her application. She had arrived earlier than the others because she had to turn it in separately.
-Flashback-
Ryu was jumping from roof to roof, quickly heading over to Kakashi's apartment. She held the application furiously in her hand and she had an angry look on her face. The sliding door was open and Kakashi was sitting on the couch.
She jumped in and threw a chakra infused fist right at his head and he dodged. "What is the meaning of this, dattebane?! I already took my chunin exam! I'm a jounin, dattebane!" She said furiously at him. He watched with a neutral look on his face, which got her more angry.
Kakashi moved his hand and raised it to place it on her head. Affectionately petting her head. It made swing another fist at him. "Why did you just do that, dattebane?!"
"You reminded me of a wolf pup that was denied food by her siblings and started growling at them." Kakashi said lazily. Ryu blinked in surprise, her anger deflating.
"Your 'chunin exam' is not a true chunin exam. You're going to be an observer and report anything unusual at the end of each day via one of your summons. You have the power in intervene also, but you cannot directly help your genin team-mates with your full power. No healing them either, Ryu. Got it?" He asked. She nodded. "Good." He eye-smiled at her, affectionately rubbing her head again.
-Flashback Ends-
Ryu stood up and took out her mask from one of her pockets and put it on her. She henged into an older version of herself, about the age of eighteen and made sure she was wearing her ANBU clothing and put on the black robe, making sure her hair was hidden with the hood.
Kurama had made sure that even her voice had changed, but she had yet to know what it sounded like. She quickly ran over to where the first stage of the Chunin Exams would be and bumped into Kakashi, who was standing in front of the door of the room. Ryu grinned.
"Yo, sensei." Kakashi blinked and looked her up and down.
"Nice henge. I'm guessing you basically just look the same but the mask covers your face and the hood, your hair?" He asked. She nodded.
"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! I WON'T LOSE TO YOU BASTARDS! YOU GOT THAT?!" Naruto's voice blew out from the closed door. Ryu sweat-dropped and sighed.
"Even I knew it was better not to catch attention to myself when I took the chunin exam." She shook his head. Kakashi stared at her with his one eye with an expression of disbelief.
"That is a lie. Sure, during the first stage you were quiet but the second stage, I remember that you basically had all the other shinobi on your heels." He replied. Ryu winced.
"Hey! That was not my fault! Someone commented on my age and started insulting my skills and the village! It's not my fault I got pissed and released Kurama to come out and play…" She trailed off. Kakashi sighed and shook his head. He started circling Ryu and looking her up and down. "What are you doing?"
"This henge is pretty convincing." He noted. She snorted in reply.
"Of course it is, dattebane." She replied. Kakashi stopped in front of her and stepped forward, she stepped back. He shook his head and turned, walking away. Ryu blinked in surprise and shook her head.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Ryu's part of the exam wouldn't start until the second part. She was already at the area, twirling a kunai around her finger. In fact, she was sitting on top of the fence. The Forest of Death was basically her second home with how often she trained here with Wolf.
Anko was directing the chunin on how to set up some of the things she needed as Ryu watched. "Will you stop just watching, Fox? What would Wolf do if he saw you just sitting there?" Anko called up, turning and glaring at Ryu.
"Wolf would be sitting here with me, what are you talking about?" Ryu replied. Anko sighed.
"That's true isn't it. He would just be sitting there. Dam you prodigies!" She said with a roll of her eyes. Ryu laughed."Go scout out the Forest or something. Don't just sit there. The chunin that are helping me are starting to curse out ANBU because of how you're just sitting there." Anko scolded.
"Well, would it help if I stopped the henge?" Ryu asked. Anko shook her head.
"That would make the chunin angry that someone younger than themselves got into ANBU." Ryu sweat-dropped.
"But I really don't want to scout out the Forest again. It's basically my second home!" She argued. Anko stared at her in disbelief.
"W-what? Even with all those dangerous creatures in there?"
"Yea. Wolf often took me in there to train." Ryu shrugged. "Most of them are too weak. The only one that give me any challenge are the tigers because at least, they have some speed." Anko just turned and walked off. 'Those two aren't even human, why am I surprised?' Anko thought to herself. 'After all, they are called demons for a reason.'
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Anko had gone to get the genin and Ryu had resorted to glancing over some old scrolls of hers. Ryu could hear the sound of voices get closer and glanced behind her at the gate. She could see Anko arriving with the mass of genin behind her.
Ryu stood up and jumped over the fence, quickly hiding herself in the shadows of the Forest. "Welcome to the stage for the second test, Practice Area 44. Also known as…The Forest of Death!" Anko said with an evil sneer.
The genin stared up into the Forest, in shock. "This is creepy…" Sakura murmured.
"You'll soon find out...why it's called The Forest of Death!" Anko smirked. Naruto snorted.
"You think that scares me?! That's nothing! I'm not afraid!" He replied. Anko chuckled.
"Yea. You're spirited." She took a kunai out from her sleeve and threw it at Naruto, cutting his cheek. She appeared behind him. "Kids like you are quickly killed." She laughed and licked the bleeding cut on his cheek. Anko suddenly felt a flare of intense KI.
She knew exactly who it was and glared into the direction of it. 'So this kid is her brother, huh?' Anko thought. She started explaining the goal of the second exam and Ryu quickly lost interest. She would be silently following Team 7 the whole exam, though never intervening.
Ryu quickly grew bored and started twirling around the kunai again. She was sitting on a branch of one of the trees, completely suppressed her chakra. She had no need to physically go to where Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke was. She was completely familiar with their chakra and was watching them that way.
Out of no where, a team of genin jumped through and landed on her branch. Ryu stared and they stared back. They readied their weapons and Ryu shook her head. "I'm an observer, not one of the other genin down there. Can't you tell by my mask?" She drawled. She waved them on and they hesitantly went on their way, looking back every so often.
"What if they had attacked you, even if you told you that?" Wolf asked, standing on the other side of the tree on another branch.
"I would have dodged their attacks easily and hirashin somewhere else of course." Ryu replied. Wolf flashed to stand in front of Ryu.
"Is this where you're going to watch them at?" He asked. Ryu nodded.
"I can sense every little thing from this spot. You taught me that, shishou." Wolf's eyes softened, remembering the first time he was assigned to teach Ryu.
-Flashback-
Wolf had been called to the Hokage's office and he was a bit confused on why. He had already submitted his mission report and he knew that his reports were always completed fully. As he was standing in front of the desk, Wolf knew that the Hokage was up to something. He wasn't grinning exactly, but he had an evil spark in his eye.
"Wolf, I'm going to take you off the mission list and give you something that requires you to spend more time in the village." Wolf frowned from under his mask but didn't say a thing, however disapproval radiated from his being, making the Hokage chuckle.
"It won't be an easy job, mind you. As I was going through the list of ANBU, I was trying to decide who was the best for this and I knew you were the right one." He grinned. "Send her in!" He called out. Wolf froze. 'Her?'
A girl at the age of eight with long blonde hair, tied into a single high ponytail walked into the Hokage's office. "Introduce yourself to your new shishou." Hokage said to the kid. The girl turned and looked Wolf up and down with narrowed eyes.
"Uzumaki Ryuuko, age eight, chunin." She said simply. Wolf blinked. 'Age eight? Isn't she too young?' Wolf turned to the Hokage.
"I want you to teach her all your skills. She is going to be in ANBU and I want you to be the one teaching her." Wolf's disapproval radiated intensely. The Hokage sighed in defeat. "She threatened to burn my novels and no one was able to catch her."
'She indeed is Sensei's daughter.' Wolf thought. He knelt down to her height. "Wolf, but you can call me shishou." Her eyes sparkled in excitement.
"Okay, shishou!"
-Time Skip-
"Shishou, why are the other shinobi scared of you? I heard them call you demon." Ryu asked. Wolf paused and sighed. It had been two years since he started training her and he had already told her his real name by then.
"Because the Hatake family has demon blood in it. To be specific, the demon blood of a wolf demon. It's the reason why the Hatake line has wolf traits in it. You already know some of them that I have." Wolf explained.
"Oh, so it's not the same reason why Naruto and I are called demons?" Ryu asked. Wolf jolted in shock. It was the first time she had mentioned anything of the Kyuubi within her and Naruto.
"No, it's not." Wolf replied. Ryu nodded.
"Okay."
"Ryu, are you in danger of ever losing control of the Kyuubi?" He asked cautiously. She shook her head.
"No, Kurama and I are on good terms. We got into an agreement about it. It's Naruto we have to worry about. Since his half carries more hate." She shrugged. "I can't help him on it though. He has to deal with it himself. Earn the respect of his half." Wolf nodded in understanding.
"If you ever need anything, you know you can come to me right?" He told her and she smiled.
"Of course, shishou! I trust you completely!"
-Flashback Ends-
Ryu suddenly stood up, surprising Wolf. "What's wrong?" He asked. She started jumping towards the direction of where Team Seven was.
"I feel a weird chakra near where Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke are." She said quietly to Wolf, who was alongside her. She reached the area and stopped, blending into the shadows. Narrowing her eyes at the scene below. Sasuke and Sakura were shaking.
Ryu could feel the killer intent from the other genin standing a couple feet away from them. 'This...isn't normal KI!' She thought, turning her gaze to Wolf and he nodded, confirming her thoughts.
Sasuke took a kunai out and stabbed his leg, overtaking the fear and quickly running away to cover with Sakura. Wolf and Ryu followed silently. They were waiting for the 'genin' to show who they actually were. A snake came down and attacked them. 'Snake?' Ryu thought.
"You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment. Prey should always be trying their best to run away...in the presence of a predator, that is…" The genin remarked, his tongue not of a normal length. He started heading towards the two when shurikens stopped him.
It was Naruto. Ryu breathed a sigh of relief. "Shishou, when should we intervene?" She asked Wolf quietly.
"Not now." He replied. Naruto had punched Sasuke for trying to give the enemy the scroll they had, arguing that how could they know if the other guy would leave them alone even after they gave him the scroll.
The other genin laughed. "Naruto, you are correct! Since I can just kill you and take the scroll."
"Shut up!" Naruto snarled, running full speed at the enemy.
"No! Run away! Naruto!" Sasuke yelled at him.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Ryu and Wolf blinked. It was a giant snake. 'Just as I thought!' Ryu flashed to Naruto, since he always had a hiraishin kunai in his kunai bag and kicked him out of the way and with a chakra infused fist, punched the snake's mouth closed.
"Who?!" The enemy said in shock. The dust settled and it revealed only a fox mask and black cloak.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Anko was standing in front of three bodies, dead to be exact. "After examining their papers and personal items, they seem to be the Hidden Grass shinobi who were entered in the exam, but...as you can see...they have no faces. They are blank, as if they were melted off." Anko stared in horror. She knew exactly who could have done this.
"Show me the pictures of these three!" She demanded. The pictures were given and she recognized them. 'So at that time…He already..' She thought. "This is bad! You guys go report this to the Hokage! Send some ANBU captains to the Forest of Death! I'm going after them right now!" Anko yelled at the chunin.
'Hopefully, Fox would have already noticed something was off and gone after it. Hopefully, she wasn't too late and he had yet to act on anything.' Anko thought, heading into the Forest instantly.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Ryu and the other were matching blow for blow. She was also making sure the giant snake wouldn't be able to get close to the others. 'Tch!' She thought, with this giant snake in the way, I can't go all out!'
Naruto was angry and the malicious chakra of the nine-tails leaked out of him, distracting Ryu and allowing enemy shinobi to hit her. Ryu went flying and landed heavily on a tree. The enemy caught Naruto, and he was struggling to get out of the disgusting tongue.
"Hehe...so the Kyuubi-brat is still alive. When your emotions are heightened, the power of the Kyuubi overflows...very interesting." He lifted Naruto's jacket and shirt. "Oh my, the seal is visible…" A five part seal was placed on top of the seal.
"Sasuke! Naruto is..!" Sakura yelled, panicking. He threw an unconscious Naruto to the side and Sakura saved Naruto from falling down with a kunai pinning his jacket to the tree. Sasuke started attacking. He was able to trick him and burned his face.
"Who the hell are you?!" Sasuke asked furiously.
"My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again...then survive and pass the exam." Orochimaru replied. "Of course, defeating my men, the sound nin trio on the way."
"What the hell are you talking about?! We'd never want to see your face again!" Sakura replied.
"Hehe...it won't go that way." Orochimaru replied, doing a hand sign then his neck stretching and he was heading toward to where Sasuke was. A yellow flash appeared besides both Sasuke and Sakura and it flashed away again with both of them. Orochimaru froze in shock. 'I thought the Yellow Flash of Konoha was dead!'
They appeared a couple trees away, Sakura on the right and Sasuke on the left of an ANBU. 'It's the dam Fox masked one again!' Orochimaru thought. "You two may rest now. Go get the other one. Don't worry about him. We have him." The ANBU told the both of them.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked. The ANBU turned towards them and reached up to pull the mask off slightly, revealing the familiar face whiskers and blue eyes that looked exactly like Naruto's. It was Ryu.
"W-what? You're….?!" Sakura asked, shocked. Ryu sighed, she put on the mask again.
"I'll explain later." She replied simply, her attention turning to Orochimaru. "Now that there is no more distractions, let's go all out, shall we….Wolf?" Ryu called out, a grin in her voice.
"Agreed." Another voice said from behind Orochimaru. The two ANBU engaged in a fight with Orochimaru, though they were just fighting to stall time for more ANBU to come as backup. Sakura and Sasuke stared in awe at the fight.
They were nothing more than blurs, with just flashes of sparks and clangs of steel against steel. Sparks of lightning could be seen and some blood was sprayed. Wolf and Ryu landed where Sasuke and Sakura were sitting.
"You two, go get Naruto from the tree and go! Your exam is still going on." Ryu said to them. "Your scroll was burned but you can always get another and get both. Your exam has not ended yet, so scram!" She snarled harshly at them, scaring them and they did as they told, getting Naruto and running towards the Forest.
"Hmm, you two are just stalling for backup..I can tell...so that is my cue to escape." Orochimaru observed, disappearing into the tree. Ryu cursed and was about to start tracking him down when Wolf stopped her.
"No, we did what we could. Let the others take over. You still need to do your duty of watching the team. Let's go find them shall we?" Wolf suggested. Ryu sighed and nodded, heading towards the direction that Sakura and Sasuke went with Naruto.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Ryu arrived where Sasuke and Sakura camped out just in time for the sound ninja that Orochimaru had said that were his men to show up and start attacking the two. Sasuke was tired from the fight with Orochimaru and could do fairly little and Sakura wasn't strong. Ryu was about to leap out and help them when she was held back by Wolf.
She looked back and was about to shrug his hand off when she saw him shook his head. "It's her fight now. You won't always be there to save her." Wolf said reassuringly to Ryu.
"But, those are Orochimaru's men!" Ryu protested.
"If I think they are in any danger, I will let you intervene, okay?" He said softly. Ryu sighed and nodded and just watched the fight. Ryu watched and almost jumped down a couple times, especially when the girl had grabbed Sakura's hair and held on to it. Sakura took a kunai and cut her hair off.
Ryu stared in shock, remembering something similar.
-Flashback-
"Ne, shishou. Do you think I should cut my hair? I mean I keep it in a ponytail, but what if it gets in the way?" Ryu asked Wolf. She was currently brushing her hair from leaves and sticks because of their training earlier.
Wolf shook his head and started helping her picking the leaves and sticks out, his hands moving much faster than Ryu because he could actually see where they were. "You can do whatever you want. Most ANBU kunoichi like to keep their hair short, but honestly, I prefer long hair on females." Ryu fell silent, soaking in what Wolf had said.
It was silent for a couple minutes as Ryu sat there, allowing Wolf to quickly rid her hair of the leaves and sticks. "There, all done." He said quietly when he finished. Ryu quickly pulled her hair into a ponytail.
"Thank you, shishou. I think I'll keep my hair long for now." She smiled. He ruffled her hair, affectionately.
-Flashback Ends-
By the time Ryu had already came out of her thoughts, it seemed like another genin team from Konoha went to the defense of Sakura, who was now bleeding steadily. The attack formation they had was good, however it failed.
'It would have worked on a genin level team but those three are not genin!' Ryu thought. She shrugged out of the black ANBU robe and pushed it to Wolf. "What are you doing?" He asked. Ryu took off the fox mask and held it out to Wolf. He took it and watched as Ryu dropped the henge and returned to her twelve year old self.
"I won't just stand here as my team-mates are being killed off one by one! I'm going in. Not as Fox, but as Uzumaki Ryuuko!" She said, her blue eyes blazing with a challenge, daring Wolf to stop her. He sighed and shrugged, letting her go.
Ryu jumped down from the branch, landing in front of Sakura. She cracked her knuckles and grinned. "Sakura, can I ask to make sure it was those people over there that did this to you?" Ryu asked, smiling. However the killer intent she released said otherwise.
Dosu stared in shock. 'Where did this one come from?' He thought. 'Orochimaru warned us about two ANBU in a Fox and Wolf mask to look out for but...who is this?!' He thought. Sakura nodded at Ryu's question and Ryu turned to fully face the sound nin.
Her smile dropped and she became serious, releasing her chakra, no longer suppressing it. Dosu felt the shear large amount of the chakra and it's malicious intent. "Her chakra is too large!" He said in surprise.
"Dosu! No need to be afraid of this brat!" The one that controlled air pressure said with confidence.
"No, Zaku! Don't you feel that chakra?!" Dosu yelled out. Zaku pointed both hands at Ryu and released a large amount of air, dust flew and completely covered the area. The dust cleared and Zaku grinned in triumph. After all, there was no one standing in the impact.
"Yes! I've blown the brat away!" He said, grinning.
"Eh? Blown whom away, dattebane?" Ryu said from behind Zaku. He turned his head and stared in horror before Ryu kicked him, not even bothering to infuse chakra in the kick, sending him flying. Ryu appeared behind him once again, just a yellow blur. She grabbed his arms and pulled it behind him, placing her foot on his back.
Her eyes were red, having allow Kurama suggest her what to do. "So you're proud of these arms of yours, dattebane?" She grabbed the arms tighter and pulled, her foot pushing the other way on his back. Sasuke, Sakura and the other Konoha genin stared in shock as a loud snap! was heard. Wolf was still watching up on the tree branches, with a neutral expression, knowing that this was not even close to what Ryu could do.
Ryu turned towards Dosu. "So you're the last one. Will you give me some fun?" She smiled. Ryu cracked her neck and walked towards him. 'Just who is this? This isn't Ryu!' Sakura thought. Sasuke was still staring in pure shock at Ryu.
"Stop. That's enough." Sasuke called out to Ryu. Ryu turned her head and her eyes returned back to their normal blue. Though she still turned to Dosu. She saw the fight leave him.
"You are strong." He remarked. "We can't defeat you at this time...Here's a gift for you. Please let us leave." He had took out one of the scrolls that they needed to pass and placed it on the floor and left with his two team-mates.
Ryu turned to Sasuke and Sakura. She walked towards them and sat in front of them. "How's Naruto?" She asked.
"He's unconscious but fine, I think." Sakura replied. Ryu sighed.
"I wasn't suppose to help you in this exam at all. So I can't heal you two. Sakura, you have earned my respect though. I hope we can become friends. I know you two have questions about me, but I will tell you this. Finish this exam and pass, then I will answer any questions you two have." Ryu said. Both of them nodded and Ryu stood up and disappeared.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Ryu was back in her ANBU clothes and henge. She was heading her way towards the center of the Forest, choosing to wait there for Team Seven. Wolf was besides her as she jumped from tree to tree.
He had not said anything when he handed back her things. Not even scolding her. In fact, she could sense approval radiating from him. Ryu grinned and sent her feelings that they would pass, mentally to Team Seven.
Thank you for reading!