I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Eight
Ryuu stepped outside, seeing Sasuke and Jugo waiting for Suigetsu. Karin was off to one side, clearly feeling like shit for being so hard on him.
"Where's Suigetsu?" Sasuke asked.
"He hasn't come back yet," Ryuu stated. "We'll have to assume he'll meet us there."
Sasuke nodded and turned away from the hotel.
"We should be able to get there by lunch time if we move now," Sasuke stated. "Let's go."
They left, moving quickly, Karin bringing up the rear and barely paying any attention. Finally they reached a mountain shrine a distance from the Hidden Cloud Village. There was a black man with white hair combed back, a goatee, and a white Hidden Cloud uniform with a scarf along with a pair of sunglasses. Sasuke and Ryuu landed next to each other in front of the man with Jugo and Karin landing a short distance behind them. The man stood, watching the two Uchihas carefully.
"Akatsuki?" the man asked. "You ain't takin' me, fools, ya fools."
"We're not Akatsuki," Sasuke stated. "We're here to protect you from them. They wear black cloaks with red clouds."
"Right," the man snorted. "Name's Killer B. But you won't live to remember me. Fools, ya fools."
Sasuke looked over at Ryuu who nodded.
"You're up first," Ryuu stated. "My eye has a few more minutes."
Sasuke nodded, activating his Sharingan. Then, he drew his chokuto. B snorted and reached behind himself, throwing seven short throwing blades into the air from a square pack he wore on his back. As the blades fell, he caught them with one in the eye of each elbow, one under his left arm, one on his right shoulder, one between his right thigh and his abdomen, and the last in the back of his right knee. Ryuu's eyes widened as he activated his Sharingan. Sasuke charged, slashing at B only for B to begin to spin, and slash, and stab, the blades sailing into the air, a few at a time, as he did. Sasuke was unable to keep up, being forced onto the defensive instantly. As Ryuu watched, Sasuke was backed up further and further until B threw three blades, all three driving themselves into Sasuke, two in the torso and one in the left thigh. As soon as he landed, B leapt at him, slashing with one of his remaining swords. Ryuu stepped between them, blocking the attack with his new tanto and then shoved the blade away and slashed at B. B leapt back just before Jugo's fist hit the side of hit head, chakra shooting out of pores on his elbow like thrusters, blasting B away from them. Karin rushed over to Sasuke, pulling up her sleeve and holding her arm out.
"Bite," Karin ordered.
Sasuke did as instructed, her chakra flowing into him and healing him. Ryuu noticed countless bite scars on her arm, and likely her other arm and possibly more as well, then turned back to B who was standing at the top of a chunk of the ground Jugo had plowed up.
"Jugo," Ryuu growled. "You and I will go at him like we intend to kill him."
He put his tanto away and created a Flame Sword. Jugo's left arm mutated like his right and the two charged at B. They began to attack him in a flurry of moved, B easily avoiding them and sending them away from himself whether with a kick, punch, or simply by dodging them. Soon, Sasuke joined in with both physical attacks and with a Chidori. After a moment, B kicked both Uchiha away and Jugo crashed down over him. When the dust settled, B was gone.
"Karin!" Sasuke snapped looking at her.
She nodded, closing her eyes and sensing for his chakra.
"He'll stop holding back soon," Ryuu warned.
"There!" Karin shouted pointing to a mountain off to one side.
"Quick bastard," Ryuu grumbled. "I may have to use that one after all."
"Throw me Jugo," Sasuke ordered.
Jugo did as instructed, hurling Sasuke at the mountain as Ryuu hung back with the others. As Sasuke flew, B leapt at him, body covered with boiling red chakra now. Sasuke managed to flip out of the way at the last second and B continued, streaking toward them. Ryuu began to use the Body Flicker Technique, grabbing Jugo and Karin, hauling them out of the way as B crashed down, blasting the terrace they had been into one massive crater, a cloud of dust obscuring it. Ryuu landed lightly, setting the other two down as Sasuke landed beside him.
"Karin, begin to sense his chakra and rad his movements," Sasuke instructed. "Ryuu, how much longer?"
"A few seconds," Ryuu stated. "Here he comes."
Sure enough, B exploded out of the smoke a moment later, flying at Sasuke. Just as he did, Ryuu used his one active eye to place B under a genjutsu, immobilizing him. Sasuke smirked, having used his Mangekyo Sharingan to do the same. B passed them, crashing down as Sasuke groaned, holding a hand to his eyes. He turned around just in time for B's arm to crash into his upper chest, blasting him backward.
"Lariat!" B shouted before throwing a punch at Ryuu.
Ryuu flickered, the punch passing through him, before solidifying and leaping away. B stopped as Ryuu landed beside Jugo, who was holding Sasuke.
"His neck and chest have been severely damaged," Jugo stated. "Crushed. I can help."
"How?" Karin asked.
"I'll merge with him," Jugo stated. "I'l share my body and chakra. Since his body is compatible with my curse mark it should work."
His curse mark began to glow red, along with his right arm, which began to combine with Sasuke's collapsed chest. As he worked, Ryuu took a breath and reached up to his bandages, gripping them and pulling them free, letting them fall to the ground below. He opened his eye for the first time in days and smiled. No pain. He drew his tanto, inspecting it in the reflection. The kunai hadn't changed much, except that the shuriken design Shisui had had in his Mangekyo Sharingan had become the ring end but with the curved blades now sticking straight off of them, giving them a four-pointed star look.
He smirked and put the tanto away, crossing his arms. B raised an eyebrow before Ryuu formed the same creature as the first time he used his Mangekyo Sharingan between them. It formed its two Amaterasu Swords and slashed at B. B leapt over it, deciding not to test out the blades. The moment the blades passed under B, heavy iron bands appeared around B, shrinking and molding to his body, locking his arms to his sides and his legs together. He crashed down as Ryuu let the creature fade, grinning.
"These are very strong binds," B commended. "I doubt I'll break out like this."
"You won't," Ryuu stated. "My jutsu is stronger than your chakra shroud."
"Indeed," B nodded. "Let's try something else then."
Tentacles began to grow from his back, smashing the bands instantly before B grew, becoming something of a cross between an octopus and a bald ox.
"My true mode as the abode of the Eight-tails will now unfold yo," B warned. "You lose."
He stopped growing when he towered over them. Just as he finished, Ryuu appeared in front of him, standing on the air. B swung his right fist as him but B caught it with a resounding crack. Then, he spun, smashing B into the side of a mountain.
"I know it's less than fair," Ryuu sighed. "But my left eye has the power to bring Genjutsu to life. In this case, the genjutsu that my power is on level with your own."
B pushed himself up and exhaled smoke from his nose. he charged forward, streaking at Ryuu. Just before he reached him, a massive solid steel wall appeared between them and B crashed headlong into it, denting it massively but knocking himself unconscious. Ryuu let the wall fade and landed in front of B. B shrank back down to normal just as Sasuke sat up and looked around. Jugo was now the size, and physical age, of a child, making Sasuke raise an eyebrow.
"You won?" Sasuke asked.
"Easy," Ryuu shrugged. "Once I had my good eye back."
Sasuke nodded and Ryuu walked forward, kneeling in front of B and placing him into a paralysis Genjutsu, taking the time to lock his consciousness from the Eight-tails' and keep the Eight-tails from breaking him free as it had before. Then, he woke him up with a splash of cold water from the lake around them.
"Yo fool, this ain't cool," B protested, realizing he had been captured. "Let me up so I can show you what's up."
"Listen and listen well," Ryuu sighed. "We're not Akatsuki. We're not here to capture you or fight you. It may not seem that way, all things considered, but you attacked first. We came here because we're looking for the Akatsuki. And the Akatsuki are looking for you. If you were to disappear, say, take an unexpected vacation without your Raikage knowing, he'd be forced to call a Five Kage Summit to deal with the Akatsuki. Understand?"
"You want me to beat feat?" B snorted. "If I did that, I'd get beat, fools, ya fools."
"You can leave willingly or under a Genjutsu," Ryuu pointed out. "Your choice."
B thought for a moment then nodded. Ryuu released his two genjutsu then stepped back as B stood.
"See you around, fools," B smirked.
Then, he was gone. Ryuu smirked and turned back to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded and the group left by Body Flicker Technique, returning to the Hidden Leaf without stopping.
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