Don't own Naruto, only Ryu, Hitori, Fuji, Koteshi, Kitaro and Shikato

Operation Dragon: Phase 2

The furious blonde clenched his fists in anger. He was trembling uncontrollably as his eyes took in the scene in front of him.

A smouldering pile of rubble was what was left of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Department. Smoke was pouring out as flames consumed the remains of the building.

Performing the necessary hand seals, he clapped his hands together into the tiger seal.

"Suiton Ryu no jutsu!"

A water dragon rose from the ground and flew towards the fire. With a roar, it opened its mouth and consumed the area.

A hand shot out of the pile of rubble and clawed at the earth. Naruto bounded towards the survivor and grasped his hand. Pulling him upwards, a smile broke out as Naruto recognized the man as Ibiki. Surprisingly, Ibiki was unharmed. Grunting a thanks to the jinchurikii, he dusted himself off.

"What happened here?" A curt voice interrupted.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed as he growled. "It was Ryu."

Naruto's head snapped in Ibiki's direction. "What? How could he have done so much damage? Did you not suppress his chakra?" he demanded.

A vein throbbed in Ibiki's forehead as he answered through gritted teeth. "I did. However, we did not know that his ANBU tattoo has become a curse seal similar to Orochimaru's curse seals."

Naruto swore mentally as he took a deep breath. "This is bad."

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A figure landed softly onto the balcony. Slowly standing up from his crouching position, the ninja opened the balcony door and walked in. With well practiced stealth, the shinobi padded down the corridor on his left. Easing the door open, he slipped in.

A hand stopped the intruder's advance and pushed him back out. As the intruder stumbled backwards, he could feel a kunai pressed against his throat. After a few seconds, the intruder was set free as the attacker finally recognized him.

"Naruto! What's up?"
Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto laughed nervously as he stared at Anko.

"Well, I was just looking for Kakashi."

Anko grinned mischievously as she said teasingly, "Aw…and I thought that you were coming to visit me."

Before Naruto could answer, a voice interrupted him.

"Well, well, if it isn't Konoha's Lightning Shinobi."

Naruto grinned as he turned to face Kitaro. Raising a hand in greeting, Kitaro uttered his famous monosyllable. "Yo."

Striding forward with his hands in his pockets, Kakashi's son drawled, "Dad isn't here. He's most probably at the Stone Monument. What do you want him for?"

The blonde smirked. "Can't I visit my sensei once in a while? See you guys later!" he said as he teleported away in a puff of smoke.

Kitaro stared at Anko as she looked worriedly at the silver haired man.

"What?"

Anko gazed out of the window as she sighed. "I'm worried. Naruto never looks for Kakashi unless something serious has happened. It must be really bad if he came all this way to find him."

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The silver haired jonin was crouching in front of the Stone Monument as he paid his respects to his best friend, Obito Uchiha. Kakashi looked wearily at the newcomer as he placed some flowers in front of the monument.

Kneeling down, the newcomer traced a certain name on the monument as he stared silently at it.

Kakashi stuffed his hands into his pockets as he waited for Naruto to pay his respects to his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha.

The blonde stood up and turned to look at Kakashi.

"Come with me. I've got something I need to tell you. Let's talk it over lunch, okay?"

The scarred jonin nodded.

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The two Konoha shinobi entered Ichiraku's and sat at the end of the counter in the corner and ordered their lunch.

Naruto leaned forward. "I take it that you heard about the Tazumi incident, right?"

Kakashi nodded again.

"What about the ANBU incident?"

Another nod.

Naruto frowned. "What do you make of the curse seal?"

The other jonin folded his arms. "It must have been bestowed upon Ryu by someone in the Akatsuki, considering Orochimaru is dead and that Ryu is associated with Akatsuki."

The two stopped talking briefly as their ramen were placed in front of them. Cracking open their chopsticks, the dug in.

As the Copy Cat Ninja slurped his noodles and drank the miso soup, the other glanced at his sensei worriedly.

"Another thing I wanted to talk about is… Sakura."

Kakashi cocked his eyebrows as he looked questioningly at his former student.

Naruto put down his chopsticks as he continued. "I don't know what to do. She's resigned from work and doesn't leave the house any more. She's lost so many precious people, it's amazing how she managed not to break for so long."

Kakashi's eyebrows furrowed as he thought about the situation.

Rubbing his chin, he muttered, "We need to talk with the Hokage. She'll know what to do."

Naruto groaned as he said, "Yeah, but it won't be much of a help for Sakura. How are we supposed to tell her that her son killed his brother and defected from the village?"

Kakashi smiled sadly. "I just wish Sasuke was here. He would be able to help."

Naruto drained down his tea. Setting his cup on the table, his eyes hardened as he said, "There's no use looking at the past, we should instead focus on the future."

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Don't own Naruto, blah blah blah.

Betrayal

He brushed away the hot red liquid trickling slowly down the side of his face. Slowly, he moved his fingers upwards until they reached the source. Grimacing, he found that it was his eyes.

A loud slam jolted him from his thoughts as a masked man walked in.

Quickly wiping the blood with his hands, he looked up briefly in acknowledgment before turning to face the wall. The other man narrowed his eyes slightly.

In a raspy voice filled with exhaustion, he asked, "What is it, Madara?"

The elder Shinobi padded forward. Clasping a hand on Ryu's shoulder, he spoke slowly.

"We're going back to Konoha."

Ryu turned around, eyes widened with shock. "What?"

Chuckling, Madara Uchiha eased himself against the wall. "You heard me, we're going back to Konoha. And this time, we finish the job."

Ryu stood up abruptly.

"Are you mad? There is no more Akatsuki already. There's only you and me! You think we can take down a village? Just the two of us? Maybe you can, but I can't! I can't even beat the Jinchuuriki!"

A flash of red emitted behind the orange mask. "We are going."

Moving towards the door, he said, "We leave tonight."

Ryu could only watch as his "leader" left the room. Burying his head into his hands, he thought bitterly, "Shit, Tsunade won't be back till the day after tomorrow."

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A swirl of leaves under the moonlight indicated the arrival of two Shinobi in Training Ground 3.

Madara grinned behind his mask as he surveyed his partner. Everything was going according to plan.

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Naruto was at Ichiraku's slurping down ramen beside Kakashi and Sakura until he turned to the others in alarm.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, I can sense a very powerful chakra."

Throwing down some money to cover the meal, the three rushed out.

However, Kakashi stopped Sakura.

"Sakura, it's best if you don't go," he said seriously.

She started to protest but Kakashi silenced her. Smiling gently, he said, "Trust us, won't you."

Receiving a nod, he nodded in satisfaction before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

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"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Ryu asked.

A sinister rumble sounded from the bottom of Madara's throat.

Ryu looked at him confused.

"What's so funny?"

A raucous laugh erupted from the Uchiha's throat, ripping the silence of the training grounds apart.

Eyes bleeding red, Madara stared at Ryu.

"Problem?" Stepping forward, he gripped the other shinobi's throat and started to tighten his hold. "Yes, you are the problem."

Choking, Ryu struggled to free himself. "What are you doing? Get off me!"

Madara laughed as he performed some hand seals. "You think that I didn't know? You're a Konoha spy, Ryu. One of the best too. I didn't know initially of course, but I started to suspect halfway through. My suspicions were confirmed tonight."

Pushing his chakra onto the palm of his hand, he slammed it onto Ryu's chest.

"Your efforts to escape are futile, you know? After all, I am Madara Uchiha."

Ryu could feel his chakra being sucked from him. He was finding himself getting weaker by the second and was finding it difficult to breath.

Madara continued. "You killed Hitori and gained the Mangenkyou in the process. I noticed the blood on your face earlier." Extracting his palm, he dropped Ryu onto the ground.

The younger Uchiha threw up and fell to his knees. Looking up, he growled, "Kill me then."

Madara knelt down and tilted Ryu's chin so that they were staring eye to eye.

"No, that's fine. The Jinchuuriki and some others are coming as we speak. They can be the ones to finish you off."

Ryu retched again, sweat covering his face. Weakly, he said, "So, it was a trap. There is no plan to invade Konoha."

Madara laughed again before fading away.

Picking himself of the floor, the ANBU captain stood up shakily. Unclipping his Akatsuki cloak, he dropped it.

Feeling a powerful chakra, he sighed. "Naruto."

Turning slowly, he saw that Naruto was engulfed in a red chakra. Confusion marred his features.

Naruto gave a feral snarl. "You bastard! You broke Sakura's heart! She's lost everyone, her two sons and husband! I'll kill you!"

The Uchiha used the last of his chakra to activate his bloodline limit. "Tsukuyomi," he whispered as the blood spilled from his eyes.

Naruto did not seem affected though as he surged forward. His clawed hands slashed across Ryu's front as the ANBU was thrown backwards.

Falling down, Ryu did not get up. He had no chakra to spare.

Grabbing Ryu by the throat, Naruto hoisted him up and slammed him against a tree.

"You're an Uchiha," he hissed.

Ryu closed his eyes.

Naruto roared in anger. "You're an Uchiha!"
Ryu managed a weak smile.

Naruto's anger seemed to lessen as the red aura disappeared. Red slitted eyes turned back to baby blue ones and he loosened his hold.

Whispering, he said, "Forgive me, Sasuke."

Spinning around 360 degrees, he slammed a Odama Rasengan into Ryu's chest.

Blood spurted everywhere as Naruto stared at the gaping hole in the ANBU's chest.

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