Disclaimer: Chapters One, Five and Ten (and soon to be Fifteen)
The cold air in the tent was frightening. Naruto was being treated by Ryu with Sai, Kakashi and Yamato standing at the opening. Ryu had a cold look in her eyes and each disapproving glance from her toward him, made him freeze in fright. Ryu was also ruthlessly cleaning the wounds before bandaging them. She had refused to heal him because she had said "For being an idiot, he deserves to heal on his own!"
Kakashi had tried to convince Ryu to reconsider but she had turned her glare onto him, which made him stop talking mid-sentence. Yamato didn't even try, since if Kakashi couldn't then no one would be able to convince Ryu to heal her brother. "Maybe I should talk to the Kyuubi and tell him to let you heal normally." She muttered under her breath.
"You should rest for a while…" Kakashi said to Naruto. Naruto shook his head.
"I have to see the Raikage! I need to convince him to forgive Sasuke!"
"They'll be holding the conference soon! Every village has placed restrictions on missions and leaving the village!" Yamato said. "Plus you don't have the seal anymore! As the host, you shouldn't be allowed to leave the village! Besides in the last battle, you got all the way to eight tails! You're lucky the seal worked and held back the fox, but what about next time?" Naruto opened his mouth to reply but Ryu interjected.
"It wasn't the seal that stopped Kyuubi from coming out. It was our father. Or better known as the Yondaime Hokage. I'm guessing that he told you the same thing he told me, Naruto. The Masked Man is behind everything, the attack sixteen years ago and he was probably using Pain too." She said, with a frown.
"It's just as Jiraiya feared. That's who was behind the attack sixteen years ago. He had the Sharingan and the only Uchiha missing-nin who hated Konoha and had the power to control the Kyuubi was Madara." Kakashi said, with a serious tone.
"Whose Madara?" Naruto asked.
"The former leader of the Uchiha Clan, who is said to have been defeated by the First Hokage. We have to tell the Elders. Sai!" Kakashi said.
"Yes…?" Sai replied.
"You tell the Hokage." Kakashi ordered and Sai nodded hesitantly. "Naruto! What did Yondaime tell you?"
"Huh?"
"Fathers usually have things to say to their sons." Kakashi replied. Naruto blinked in surprised before grinning.
"He said he had faith in me!" Naruto replied. Ryu smiled back and shook her head in relief. When she had found out who their father actually was, he was surprised that she was taking control over the seal at such a young age. So he had been able to sit down and talk to her for a bit, with his chakra not being used to close the seal again. When it was time for him to leave, he had told her that he was proud of her and expected great things from her and her brother.
"Great!" Kakashi raised his thumb up. "You go after the Raikage! Well, Yamato, Ryu and I will go with you!"
"What!?" Yamato exclaimed. Ryu sighed.
"Oh well, I'll support you, Naruto." Naruto smiled at her and she smiled back.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Naruto and Konohamaru were facing each other. "Sexy Jutsu!" Konohamaru said. The two Root members were watching the two, confused. Kakashi popped up in the bushes in front of them and used Sharingan on the two and they dropped to the floor, unconscious. Ryu was right beside Kakashi and pouted.
"Why couldn't I have just killed them?" She asked. Kakashi glanced at her with a blank stare.
"Could you kill both without one getting away?" He replied. She nodded.
"Of course. It's not hard. I just gotta punch one and kick the other, both in the head." Kakashi sweat-dropped.
"Why are you so blood-thirsty?"
"I'm a demon. It's expected of me to be blood-thirsty. Plus, I'm annoyed. Those two Kumogakure ninjas got away before I could beat them to an inch of their lives for punching Naruto when he wouldn't even fight back!" She snarled. Kakashi reached up and ruffled her hair.
"Calm down. Don't let your anger control you. Then your attacks will get sloppy and predictable." He said, sternly. Ryu looked away in shame, her anger cooling off instantly, like he threw an ice cold bucket over her head. "Now let's go meet up with Yamato, why don't we?" Ryu nodded and they went off.
When the two of them arrived, Naruto was already standing besides Yamato. They nodded to each other silently and went off, Yamato leading the way since he would be the one tracking the Kumogakure ninjas. After an hour or so, they arrived in the Land of Iron and Naruto sneezed from the cold. Yamato shushed him.
The Kumogakure ninjas met with the Raikage and his two ninjas. One of them told the ones there were following that they were being followed. "Come out, Konoha dogs!" Kakashi silently told Ryu to stay behind and he received a glare in reply but he knew that she wouldn't disobey his orders. Naruto, Yamato and Kakashi jumped out.
Ryu silently snarled with Kurama snarling with her. She couldn't make out what they were saying but when Naruto fell to his knees and bowed with his head down, she wanted to leap out and convince the Raikage by force. She was barely containing her rage. Kakashi tried very hard to keep his eye blank. However, he could feel the malicious intent coming from Ryu, quite easily and he wondered if the others could feel it too or it was simply because he was tuned to her.
Kakashi saw the Kumogakure ninjas glance at the trees behind Kakashi, Yamato and Naruto and he knew that they felt it too. It grew when the Raikage turned to leave. His group of ninjas had their hands near their weapons, ready in a moment's notice to attack. After they left, Kakashi gave the signal for Ryu to come out of her hiding place and she did, landing in front of Naruto, who was still bowing his head.
"Naruto…" She said softly, the anger deflating into sadness. "That's enough, Naruto. Let's go." She said, kneeling down and gently coaxing him to stand and lean on her. Kakashi stayed behind, knowing that only Ryu could comfort Naruto.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
They were at an inn, with Naruto laying on the floor, lost in thought. Naruto had his own room because they felt like he needed some time alone. Ryu was sitting outside the door, nibbling some rice balls. They were just made and still a bit warm. Kakashi was staring at Ryu and chuckling at how she was eating the rice balls.
He walked up to her, and reached down to swipe some rice that was sticking on the side of her cheek. He pulled down his mask and licked the grain of rice away, before leaning down and took a giant bite out of her rice ball. She pouted at him and quickly stuffed the rest of her rice ball into her mouth. He grinned at her and stole a quick kiss before pulling his mask up again and returning to his spot, leaning against the wall.
The two of them heard an explosion coming from Naruto's room and they acted quickly. Ryu flashed to Naruto's side and had a kunai out, ready to defend against any attack and retaliate. Wood came and wrapped around Madara and also made a blockade in front of Naruto and Ryu. "Naruto, stay still." Yamato said sternly. Kakashi appeared behind Madara and had a Chidori already prepared to strike Madara.
"Nice move, Hatake Kakashi...you're fast." Madara commented. Kakashi glared.
"I won't let you get your hands on Ryu or Naruto that easily!" He replied.
"You must have heard me, then, right? None of your attacks will work on me, Uchiha Madara!"
"So you admit you are Uchiha Madara." Kakashi said with his eyes showed wariness. He didn't reply, but rather just stayed silent.
"I just want to talk for now...don't be so tense." He said finally. "Naruto...how did you make Nagato betray me? I'm curious about you."
"That doesn't matter!" Naruto snarled. "What did you do to Sasuke?!"
"Sasuke...eh? Alright, I'll tell you about a man eaten up by the ninja world's hatred and bitterness, about Uchiha Sasuke!" Madara replied.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Madara had left and the Inn owner was yelling at Kakashi and Yamato. Naruto was sitting alone on top of the inn. Ryu was standing besides Kakashi, spaced out and worried for Naruto. All she could do was support him. She didn't know how he felt because she wasn't very close to Sasuke.
Ryu could feel Naruto start to gather Nature Chakra and was confused on why he was doing so. Yamato jumped onto the roof of the inn that he had just fixed and called to Naruto, "Naruto! Come back inside already." Naruto opened his eyes and instead of standing up, he looked down to where he had sensed Sakura, Lee, Sai and Kiba.
"There you are. Finally!" Kiba said, relieved.
"Why are you all here?" Kakashi asked. Sakura frowned and looked at Naruto.
"Naruto...there's something we have to talk about…" She said solemnly. Naruto jumped down and landed in front of her. "Naruto...I love you." She said, blushing and looking away. Ryu could hear the falseness in her voice and narrowed her eyes in response. Sakura started explaining how she didn't like Sasuke anymore and how Naruto could stop chasing after him for her.
Naruto frowned. "Stop it, Sakura. This isn't funny." Sakura stared at him.
"What are you so upset about? I've just fallen for you instead of Sasuke...they say a woman's heart is like the autumn sky, right?" She replied.
"I...hate people who lie to themselves!" Naruto said furiously. Sakura and Naruto started arguing and Ryu tuned them out. She glanced at Kakashi and met his gaze. They both slightly nodded, detecting something else was with Sakura and not that she simply wanted to stop Naruto from going after Sasuke.
Sakura gave up and left with Sai, Lee and Kiba. Kakashi tilted his head slightly towards them and Ryu got the message. She disappeared without a trace.
~The Kyuubi Twins~
Ryu was following behind Sakura, Lee, Sai and Kiba, though at a distance where they wouldn't be able to tell she was. She had also completely erased her chakra so that they wouldn't be able to detect it and only a powerful sensor-type would be able to tell she was there. She also made sure to stay down-wind at all times with Kiba and Akamaru's noses.
After a while of running, Ryu caught Sasuke' scent at the same time Kiba did. The group stopped and Ryu watched them carefully. She wasn't close enough to hear them. They were arguing and Sai suddenly stopped all of them from going. Lee and Kiba started attacking Sai when Sakura threw three sleeping gas bombs at them and they fell asleep. Sakura went towards Sasuke and Ryu followed.
After another couple minutes, they arrived at the area where Sasuke was. Sakura landed in front of him and Ryu was too far away to make any words. But she saw Sasuke point at Karin. Sakura approached the girl, holding out a kunai. Ryu saw Sasuke raise his hand, charged with Chidori and acted.
Ryu flashed to Sasuke and Sakura by the hiraishin kunai in Sakura's weapon bag. She grabbed Sasuke's arm and pushed it in the other direction, making him miss Sakura. Sasuke raised his leg to kick Ryu but she easily dodged it and twisted in the air to kick him herself, making him fly away a couple feet. "Heh! One after another." Sasuke sneered.
"Hmm..yea, but this one has no problem killing you." Ryu sneered back. "Unlike Sakura...or Naruto, even Kakashi, I've always disliked you. So, instead of Sakura and Kakashi shouldering a burden of killing someone they care about, I'll do it instead and have no problems about it. You'd just be another number to the total." Sasuke started laughing.
"You say that like you actually could! I've been dying to kill you...Ryu." Sasuke replied. Kakashi arrived and landed beside Sakura and Ryu. Kakashi glanced at Karin who was unconscious.
"Sakura...heal her until she's able to talk. There's still time. She knows a lot about the enemy." He ordered her.
"What about you two?" She asked.
"Sakura..take her with you...and get out of here." He turned his head and eye-smiled at her. "Don't worry about Ryu and I." He turned back to Sasuke. "Ryu, I'll take care of him." Ryu grinned and tightened her fists.
"Hell no. I said it to him, I'll say it to you. I have absolutely no problem with killing him. To me, he'll just be another number to the total. I will not let you bare the burden of killing him. If Naruto ends up hating me, so be it. However, don't let him interfere with my fight." She replied, her eyes cold. Sasuke ran at them and Ryu rushed to meet him, the clang of his sword and her kunai rang through the area, they parted and both jumped down to the water.
Sasuke activated Susanoo and it's arrow came flying towards her. Ryu flashed to behind Sasuke and aimed a chakra infused fist at his head, cracking the Susanoo armor. He turned to hit her with the Susanoo arm but she had already jumped away to safety. "Even absolute defense will crack to brute force…" Ryu observed. "What about brute force with powerful offense?" She wondered to herself.
Ryu felt darkness coming from Sasuke in a strong amount, his Susanoo changing once again. Even she could feel the danger from it and tensed, however it shrank and disappeared, Sasuke grabbed his eyes in pain. Ryu saw Sakura running towards Sasuke to kill him but she hesitated just before she could stab him and Sasuke noticed, turning and grabbing her throat. He took the kunai from her hand and raised it to kill her. Ryu cursed and was about to activate hiraishin when Naruto saved her.
Ryu appeared beside Kakashi, who was blocking Naruto. Naruto made a kage bunshin, prepared to fight Sasuke. Ryu turned her her head and stared at him, silently telling him that this was her duty. Naruto glared at her. "You're open! I won't show any mercy!" Sasuke interrupted, chidori charged and running at them. Ryu turned around and quickly engulfed her hand with lightning chakra also.
Kakashi instantly recognized the higher density of lightning chakra compared to Sasuke's. She was using Raikiri instead of Chidori. He realized that she was serious about killing Sasuke herself. They crashed together and the two jutsu's made a bright light that blinded them all.
The light faded and there stood Ryu over an unconscious Sasuke who was heavily bleeding. "Ryu! You killed him?!" Naruto yelled. Ryu 'tched'.
"I refrained from killing him, just for you, Naruto. He's unconscious. We'll take him back to Konoha. I'll watch him to make sure he doesn't go on a rampage and if he does...I'll truly kill him this time." Ryu replied, bending down and grabbing Sasuke's arm and slinging him over her back. "Let's go back." Naruto nodded. Ryu raised her gaze and glared straight at White Zetsu, promising death if he dared interfered.
"Ryu, go ahead to Konoha with Sasuke. I'll follow behind with the Naruto and Sakura with the girl." Kakashi said. Ryu nodded in understanding and flashed away.