Welcome to the next chapter.
joharasbel; Thanks.
handreleroux840; It was on the previous two polls, and didn't win, maybe next time.
ShadowUzumaki55; He did yeah, we'll see more of them soon~ They did yeah, Anko and Karin managed to do a few things together. Glad you liked the Yugao fight. Ryouta's got some tough times ahead yeah.
Silver crow; Thanks. Yeah, she is. Pakura stayed behind for a few moments to make sure everything was fine, directing the remaining Suna Ninja's there, before going over the village to do the same thing, she didn't stay at the hospital. That's just Garaga's personality, he's basically a tsundere which Ryouta gets, and right now, Ryouta's dealing with a lot to worry about something like that. We'll see what Danzo does. Ameyuri surely does. Pakura felt like she betrayed people like Ryouta, and Haku, people like that. Ameyuri does it because she finds it funny, she never really cared about Kushimaru. We'll see if Ryouta sees his Mother again. Yeah, Gaara would know, but Shukaku wont care about such things. Yeah, he could do with Fu and Yugito. Everyone will have sometime to relax after the invasion ends. Maybe could be with Mei. Pakura's got a unique role, is all I can say. Yeah, the girls from One Piece could do. Trihexa could do yeah with the neko's. Maybe he could have some comrades like that. Yeah, maybe he'll have a harem from the get go.
Shadowfigure; Thanks. We'll see if he does~ Pakura could be~ She'd be cool.
Skull Flame; Danzo's got some shady stuff going on yeah. Pakura is yeah. Glad you liked it~
LezarioFanficio; Thanks!
Hinata fan; Some of them will yeah. He did yeah, he went to protect them. Haha, maybe Ameyuri will. Yeah, Danzo's looking out for what he believes is best for the village. The invasion will end very soon. Thanks for the harem suggestions.
Yami Lord; Thanks! Yeah, it could be cool. Danzo's doing some shady stuff to gain favour for sure~ Thanks for the harem suggestions.
Guest 1; Thanks! Yeah, he surely is. It would be yeah. Danzo surely is. Thanks for the suggestion.
JustAFan; Thanks! Maybe Baki is yeah. Ryouta did yeah. Danzo has some ideas definitely. He is yeah. Thanks for the harem suggestion.
Guest 2; We'll see Yukine's plans pretty soon and what's gonna happen there. Pakura is yeah. Thanks, I'm glad that you liked the moments between them. Haha, I'm sure those girls wouldn't appreciate Ameyuri's way of speaking. Well you never know, maybe Pakura will take up that position~ Baki learned a good bit from that yeah. The Transformation Jutsu really is, surprising it wasn't used more, and yeah I never saw it as an illusion either, since it was shown people are able to transform into weapons, with the same weight as a weapon and thrown so it couldn't be an illusion, and as you said, Naruko isn't the best with illusions. Yeah, he'll let them know. Yukine was someone that planned for a lot of things. Ryouta is yeah, and when he sees Kabuto...things will get quite spicy. The fake Ryouta question will be answered in this chapter. Thanks very much! Thanks for the harem suggestions. Yeah, Ryouta will show some stuff with the Kusanagi.
Guestforce; Thanks. Pakura's gonna do her best in trying to stop the war going on, and we'll see the fruits of her efforts pretty soon. Thanks for the harem suggestions.
TheGreatGodzilla; No problem, hope everything works out in the end. Thanks. Yeah, he could start doing things like that during Shippuden. Maki is being used in the Edo Tensei. We'll see how Ryouta and Kurotsuchi's relationship shall go. We'll see how Ryouta meets those girls soon enough. I haven't done crossovers before, maybe one day.
War Sage; Thanks. Yeah, she could be. Ryouta did yeah, and he very well will do. It was quite difficult on Garaga yeah. Glad you liked the fight. Glad you liked that moment. Yeah, that's Danzo for you. After this chapter, two. Kaguya will appear again soon. Thanks for the harem suggestions.
Guest9; Thank you very much, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Yeah, would've been interesting. Thanks for the harem suggestion.
Andrew123456; When we get there.
Guest 3; Thanks. Yeah, people can be kind and have different personalities driving their actions. It depends on the series if I'd do an anti hero character or not, some series could be interesting to see, some wouldn't make sense to me to have such a character in or wouldn't be that interesting to have such a character in.
Guest 4; Yeah, he could have the Rasenringu. Yeah, it's pretty sad that he died.
Guest 5; Thanks for the harem suggestions.
With those reviews out of the way, it's time to start the chapter.
Shukaku's awakening
Standing off against one another, Satsuki, Kabuto (with fake Ryouta) and finally Gaara all looked like they were going to charge at the other, at least that was true for Satsuki and Gaara, Kabuto on the other hand had to think of the best way to end this.
Gaara aimed her hand towards Kabuto, but he held the kunai deadly to the boys throat.
"If you come closer, then I'll make sure you can't ever speak to this boy again."
Satsuki growled, staring deeply at the fake Ryouta, wanting to hope that it wasn't Ryouta.
"Let him go!"
Gaara yelled out, but Kabuto shook his head.
"I do, and my bargaining chip goes and I can't have that yet."
Kabuto said with a smirk on his lips.
However, deep inside he did worry.
"This wasn't the place, I was trying to lead Gaara back to the centre of the village, but it seems this girls fierce determination at protecting her love, seems to have stopped that. But if I was to make the plan go ahead now...maybe I could lure her back to the village, she'd be less mentally stable, and then she'd cause destruction all around. I'm sure her Tailed Beast would want that."
As he thought about it, Satsuki kept thinking about what was the best thing to do, what would be the best thing to do next.
She thought that if she could have Kabuto distracted for a few moments, then she'd be able to get in close, and strike him down.
However at the same time, she wasn't sure what he could do to Ryouta.
Gaara on the other hand was losing patience, and with Shukaku screaming in her mind, she was losing more and more of her grip on reality. He was taunting her inside of his mind, she couldn't cope for much longer.
The fact that her affection was being held in such a disgusting manner, having a blade to his throat, it was overpowering for her, and she couldn't...she just couldn't do it in the end.
Sand erupted from her, and it circulated Kabuto.
Kabuto grit his teeth, he couldn't avoid it all at the same time, he saw that the sand was even wrapping around the fake Ryouta, and was going to pull him away, so he had to make a split second decision.
"As I said...you made the wrong choice."
Satsuki realized what that meant, and began jumping forward as fast as she could.
However, Kabuto took the kunai, and pierced the fake Ryouta's heart with it.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Letting out a cry that sounded like Ryouta, she saw the fake open his eyes, and his gaze fell onto her.
Satsuki's eyes began to leak tears as she saw her beloved being in immense pain. Her face scrunched more and more into anger, and pain at the sight of Ryouta's life being extinguished before her eyes.
"It's not real...it's not Ryou...that isn't Ryou...it can't be Ryou..."
She repeated over and over again, while Gaara stared on with wide eyes.
Her hands began shaking, and her face twisted.
From her eyes as well, she began to cry, something that she rarely did…
But seeing him beginning to lose his life...lose the person that was able to understand her, and now that he was dying before her eyes...she couldn't take it.
Shukaku was laughing at this, he was causing her mind to go into a frenzy, causing her even more pain.
"It's sad, I didn't want to do it...but I didn't have a choice."
Kabuto said with an evil smirk on his lips, but that made Gaara snap.
The cold...callous way that Kabuto spoke.
His smug face…
At the end of 'Ryouta's' life, she couldn't handle it anymore, as sand began to be summoned all around her, swishing and deadly moving through the air, Kabuto saw that Gaara wasn't able to keep control.
He tried to move, but Gaara's left arm transformed into the arm of Shukaku, smashing her clawed fingers into Kabuto's body, blasting him through a tree, and then pinned him to another tree, all the while the body of the fake Ryouta began to fall down to the ground.
Gaara however manipulated the sand below him, catching the body.
"You're not going anywhere..."
Gaara's voice was demonic, shifting into Shukaku's voice.
"D-Damn it..."
Kabuto tried to move, but the sand arm fully wrapped around the tree, and then pinned him tightly to it. He couldn't move at all, even his arms were stuck, and it began crushing him.
Gaara pulled her arm back, detaching the sand so Kabuto couldn't escape, then regrew another clawed arm made out of sand.
"Ryou..."
Satsuki felt immense rage inside of her.
Pain that she couldn't even fathom.
If this was Ryouta...then he was dead before her.
She didn't react in time…
She watched as Gaara brought the fake Ryouta too her, and shook the body.
But there was no response.
"Wake up...wake up..."
As if she was lost in a sea of rage, she couldn't do anything for the boy that she cared for.
He was lifeless…
Kabuto had killed him.
"This world...is cruel...when...I found someone...that looked at me...like a person...they were killed...and I couldn't save them...Ryouta Uchiha...I wont...let your death...be in vain...I will kill him..."
The young girl had seen a lot of death.
But this was one of the only times it had truly been so impacting.
The passing of a person she cared for, senseless...
Now, she wished to kill Kabuto, and anything that got in her way.
Racing off as fast as possible, Ryouta was going to head towards the forest were Satsuki and the others were in hopes that they would be okay, but as he did, he saw in the village that some people were being cornered by some Oto Ninja.
He also saw that there were some other places that needed his assistance.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Creating a few clones, Ryouta sent them off.
So Ryouta flashed over towards the ones close that needed help, and held out the Kusanagi, and though he didn't have much experience with it, he did know how the swords powers worked, he just hoped that he would be able to use it.
So while standing on a rooftop with a few Ninja's down below, he held out the Kusanagi, and grit his teeth, willing the blade to move as he presumed that's how it would work…
And it did.
The blade elongated, and shot like an arrow, piercing through several of the Oto Ninja, and taking them out of the fight, protecting the Ninja of Konoha. He went down, and saw that some had some life threatening injuries, so he applied basic Medical Ninjutsu to them, healing their wounds the best that he could to the point they'd stay alive since he was pressed for time.
It didn't take him more than a minute to do it, so when they were stabilized, he addressed them directly.
"Please retreat to a safe area, I'll handle these Ninja's here."
Ryouta organized them the best that he could, the Ninja's bowed their head, and looked grateful, and retreated, so Ryouta faced down a group of over ten Ninja, so he activated the body flicker, and pulled out both swords.
His original one, and the Kusanagi.
Ryouta blitzed forward.
The Ninja weren't that strong, so he was able to slice them both down as he ran between them.
His speed was beyond what they could be capable of doing, and as a result, he managed to take down a majority of the fighters.
Save for one, that he went to deal with, when a huge amount of electricity shot down from the sky, so Ryouta retreated back, as the lightning bathed the enemy in such destructive force, shocking him until he couldn't move anymore.
Ryouta knew who this was.
"Ameyuri-san, you might as well come out now."
A giggling could be heard coming from behind, so Ryouta turned to see the lightning maiden herself. Wielding the two blades, her swords danced with strong electricity, that made her seem more destructive in the way the ground was being destroyed.
"My Uchiha-kun, you're here before my eyes. I can't believe it, I'm so happy right now, my body is twitching with renewed excitement, I am going to be able to enjoy my time together with you, my Uchiha-kun."
Ryouta growled, as he held his swords out before him.
He didn't know what her next trick was, but he wasn't going to be caught off guard...
Meanwhile, Gaara's menacing eyes went towards Kabuto, and she sent out her sand in whip like forms, slapping and slashing Kabuto's face, drawing blood. He winced at each attack, while feeling the sand crushing his body more and more.
"No...stop it!"
"You...killed him...now you die…!"
Kabuto tried to escape, but then Gaara formed shurikens out of sand. Her grip on sanity was falling more and more, all she could vision was the death of Ryouta within her over and over again, the lifelessness of eyes that she'll never be able to see again, it was too much for her.
She couldn't allow it Kabuto to get away with it, so the shurikens took deathly aim at her.
"Shit...if they penetrate me, I could be in a bad way. And this damn sand, I didn't think she'd be that fast, I must have wasted more chakra than I thought that I would do, and now I'm in a situation...Orochimaru-sama, what am I supposed to do? If she gets me now, then..."
As he thought about it, Gaara's eyes went towards Satsuki, who in of herself was also dealing with the loss of Ryouta. She was crying, yet she held back her true feelings, as she wasn't definitely sure that this was Ryouta.
But he sounded like Ryouta.
It looked like him.
Even his chakra colour was the same.
But something was felt off.
She couldn't see Kabuto being able to best Ryouta, and that lingering thought in her mind gave her the slither of doubt that this before her wasn't Ryouta, that gave her the hope that he was still okay, and she'd have to confirm before deciding on what to feel, even though it was difficult.
As Gaara went to unleash the shurikens towards Kabuto, the young man panicked. He was stuck right now he didn't know how to get out of it, beyond one way that he thought might work, at least that would appeal to the Tailed Beast.
"Is it me that you really want? Or would you prefer to fight the Uchiha? If she didn't get in your way, then you could have stopped me earlier."
Gaara's eyes went towards Satsuki, who growled right at Kabuto.
"Trying to get out of this Kabuto. Why don't you tell us how you defeated Ryou huh?! Because I know that he'd not lose to you in a fight, and even if he did, you'd have way more injuries than you do currently."
Gaara paused, and turned back to Kabuto for the answer.
Kabuto sweated a little.
"Because...I had a sleeping gas that was able to stall him enough for me to achieve victory."
"That wouldn't work on Ryou."
Because Satsuki knew he had the Mangekyou, she just couldn't see Kabuto being able to win against Ryouta. She could see a Kage level fighter doing it, but not from what she knew about Kabuto, granted she didn't know everything, but she didn't need to know much to know Ryouta would go down so easily.
"You might have delusions about the boy you loved, because now that he's deceased, you're trying to deceive yourself, trying to make it seem like he might be alive, that there's a chance that he could still be out there, waiting for you to return to him. But I promise you, that he is dead, and he isn't coming back."
Satsuki just couldn't believe it.
Kabuto's slimy words were causing her heartache.
Gaara as well, was losing her inner self, and she wasn't able to fight off Shukaku.
More and more, he was going wild inside of her head, which in turn was harder for her to be able to stop his influence, so much so that Shukaku briefly took over, and directed the sand shurikens towards Satsuki.
She grit her teeth, and avoided them, as a sinister smile appeared on Gaara's lips via Shukaku.
"Uchiha girl! Don't run! It's sad your boyfriends gone, let me send you to him!"
Satsuki looked surprised by how different Gaara suddenly was.
"Something's changed, this doesn't feel like the same Gaara that was grief stricken a few moments ago, it seems now that she wishes to end me. Damn Kabuto, whatever I say he's going to try and counter me. I have to force Kabuto to tell me with my eyes..."
Satsuki thought, as she saw Shukaku's dangerous looking eyes that peered right at her as she continued avoiding the shurikens of sand that he kept launching towards her, forming more and more that seemed to spring off of the sand like appendages that he had formed around Gaara's arms, and half of Gaara's face.
"Haha! What's wrong Uchiha girl?! Scared?!"
"I'm not your enemy, Kabuto did this-"
"I don't care about the Uchiha boy! All I care about is fighting strong enemies!"
Gaara not caring about Ryouta, didn't feel right, when she had done so beforehand.
To the point that she was crying.
But now...it was replaced with a maniacal look on her face.
"Whatever is going on with her, if she has some kind of split personality or something...but I have to get to Kabuto...but, if it is you...no, I can't think I've lost you until I know."
Satsuki fought the urge down to allow her mind to drift to the fact that Ryouta was gone.
"Aren't you gonna fight back?!" Satsuki glared. "Fine, I'll show you something that will blow your mind!"
Shukaku in Gaara's body lunged forward as Satsuki shot down the tree, avoiding the shurikens, but now Shukaku was releasing them more furiously than before, with more speed and deadly accuracy that even she had to admit were very fast.
Thanks to her Sharingan however, she did her best to avoid, which she did with finesse and fine control over her movements, albeit one managed to get through and sliced across her leg.
She winced for a moment, before she turned her eyes to see Shukaku coming in for her.
"Damn it."
She leapt off of the tree, as the clawed arm of Gaara's ripped through the tree, grabbing it with incredible strength, launching it for Satsuki.
Satsuki placed her hands together, and began weaving through some hand signs.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Before she released it, she rebounded off of a tree, and with all her might, she pushed the strength of her legs, slamming into the wood, and shot it right back towards Gaara's controlled body, then released the giant fireball, that caught the wood, and set it ablaze, which also broke off at the same time, and fired wooden flaming projectiles towards Shukaku.
Even the Tailed Beast was surprised to see Satsuki do it, so he drew on more power...
But something stopped him.
It was Gaara's will.
"Damn it Gaara...not now...!"
She was trying to fight back, she wouldn't allow Shukaku to fully take her over.
This kind of move gave Satsuki's attacks time to come even closer, to the point that it was right in his face.
But Shukaku didn't seem bothered, shooting both arms out. The flames began to appear on the arms of Shukaku, as the wood pierced into the sand like flesh, with the giant fireball coming in hot and heavy.
Because Gaara stalled him by fighting back, along with delaying the shield of sand, the flames blasted Shukaku right in the face, and sent him flying backwards, smashing deep through several trees, as Satsuki leapt through them, building her speed more and more, until she appeared behind Shukaku, and twirled in the air, before slamming her foot deep into the body of Shukaku, sending him flying right down into the earth, smashing enough into said earth that the ground below him was disturbed a good deal.
Satsuki flipped in the air, and landed sideways on a tree.
"Now it's time for Kabuto."
Satsuki knew she probably didn't have long, so she shot up the tree.
Getting towards Kabuto who was a few trees away after hopping over, and landed before him.
Kabuto was struggling to get out of the sand that bound him, and had managed to wiggle his hand to point upwards, creating a chakra scalpel to try and cut through it the best that he could, but that stopped when he saw Satsuki.
"You're going to tell me where Ryou is."
"Didn't you see he died?"
"He'd not die to someone like you." Satsuki's eyes met with Kabuto's own, and began using her Genjutsu. "Now you're going to tell me where he is, right now."
However, as she went to use her Sharingan, Shukaku came rampaging up, and swung a claw for Satsuki.
She went to dodge, when sand wrapped around her legs, pinning her down to the tree.
"Damn..."
She whipped out a kunai, and slashed down at the sand, as Shukaku's wild eyes went towards Satsuki.
As she cut through the sand, Shukaku's hand appeared before her body, ready to pierce through her.
She went to defend…
When suddenly Naruko came shooting out from the trees, and kicked Shukaku right in the face, sending him back into another tree. The leaves from the trees began raining down, as Naruko landed before Satsuki.
"Naruko..."
"Satsuki, are you alright!? The Ryou there, it isn't real one! It's some kind of fake!"
"Isn't real...so it is a fake after all."
Having that confirmed by Naruko was something of a relief for Satsuki.
"Yeah, apparently Karin could sense the real one was with the old man, so Kakashi-sensei sent me and Sakura-chan and Shikamaru as back up. But Shikamaru stayed behind to stop some enemies, while Sakura-chan went to go and back up the others."
Satsuki understood that would make the most sense.
If Ryouta was with Hiruzen right now…
But that only made her worried now on what kind of fight this was.
And the fact that Kabuto had a fake one, meant that it was for some kind of trap.
Kabuto looked at the young girl who had arrived, and knew this could be quite annoying, if Satsuki and Naruko teamed up, and Gaara who was still fighting for control with Shukaku, and she happened to gain back full control...then it would mean all of what he did was for nothing, he couldn't fail Orochimaru now.
Back with Ryouta, he watched as Ameyuri pulled in closer and closer. She had some lightning dancing around her swords, while Ryouta looked between his own dual swords. Ameyuri's lips curled upwards as she approached quickly.
"My, when I wasn't looking, you began dual wielding as well."
"I don't have time for this right now."
Ameyuri snickered.
"That's really mean, I came all this way to come and see you as well. Aren't you even going to give me a hello kiss?"
"No, sorry."
"Well that's too bad because I'm not finished yet!"
Ameyuri swung her blades down, releasing a devastating burst of lightning, but Ryouta avoided it and leapt to another rooftop, where he sent out Kusanagi with it elongating ability which went right for Ameyuri who's eyes widened in surprise.
"You might not be finished, but I am Ameyuri-san!"
She leapt back, with the sword piercing the house, as Ryouta created flames across it, travelling down the sword and towards the roof of the house, which began burning, creating flames all around the young woman.
However, Ameyuri merely twirled around, sending out her lightning and dispersing the flames.
"Nice sword, I haven't seen anything like that before. My, and here I was thinking about gifting my blade to you. But, if you've already got some swords, then don't mind me darling. I'll just keep these for myself for a little while, is that alright with you sweetie?"
Ryouta didn't get what it was that she wanted, so he leapt over to the house, where she came in with her signature twirling, swinging the blades doubly hard for Ryouta's body, but this time he breathed fires onto both blades, clashing with her violently.
Ryouta, dual wielded the blades, swung for her several times, which she parried, albeit was surprised by the speed.
She then returned the strikes, coming in from different directions and pressuring the young man as he was able to block and evade.
"This is the best darling, I'm just getting started!"
Ameyuri snickered as she pushed off of the roof, and came down with a double bladed strike.
Ryouta jumped away, only for a lightning field to eject all around her, however Ryouta combatted the lightning as he weaved through some hand signs, the swords he had briefly hovering above him for a few moments as he tossed them up, then caught them again as he released his Fire Release right down towards her.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Unleashing it at close range, Ameyuri witnessed her lightning field being broken through, and the flames continued on for her, so she twirled the swords around, charging more and more electricity into her blades.
"Nice attempt boy!"
She swung her dual blades out, cleaving right through the giant fireball.
But as she did, Ryouta got in close, and came at him with his regular sword, with it being set on fire, so Ameyuri clashed with her sword, a shockwave running out between them, as Ryouta came in with his other sword.
Ameyuri laughed, and placed her other sword up, readying the lightning to fire off at him.
As it left her blade, and sprung towards Ryouta, his Kusanagi was coming up.
Faster and faster thanks to the Body Flicker, Ameyuri watched as her lightning was cleaved in half thanks to the Kusanagi, splitting down the middle, and discharged away from Ryouta's body.
"W-What?! My lightning was cleaved through!"
Ryouta swung Kusanagi at her, and because she was briefly stunned, he parried her blade away from her body, then turned the direction of his hand so his blade was pointing towards the area that her chest was.
Using the elongating ability of the blade, he caused it to shoot right for the young woman, her eyes widening at the side, so she forced her chakra into the sword clashing with Ryouta, and propelled him backwards enough so she could raise her swords in an X shape to guard, but the pressure and strength behind the piercing, forced her off of the roof, and smashing down into the ground, injuries appearing on her from the heavy smashing.
"Damn boy, it seems that you're stronger than I thought that you'd be with that blade. Now I'm intrigued!"
Rocketing herself off from the ground, she was able to make it back up to Ryouta, and then swung her swords down, unleashing a huge burst of lightning from her charged blasts, so Ryouta avoided them by flipping back, but the house he was on began crumbling so he jumped three houses away, as Ameyuri's lightning had covered such a wide radius.
She then turned to Ryouta, and ran very fast, so Ryouta did the same thing, knowing he didn't have long so he had to finish this here and now, and began contemplating using the Mangekyou, since he felt each moment that passed, Satsuki and the others were in danger, and if they got caught up in whatever was going on with the fake him…
Their blades clashed, a shockwave going between them as Ameyuri smiled.
"You're popular, aren't you? I heard about your exploits within the Forest of Death."
"Keeping tabs on me, that's nice."
Ryouta parried several of her attacks, and came at her, but she ducked, and returned it with a stab for his face.
Missing by mere inches, she swings down but he avoids, and then slashed for her, the lightning around her blade was being cut by the Kusanagi as Ameyuri smirked dangerously.
"Of course, if we're going to have the battle to the death that I have envisioned, I have to make sure that you're improving. But, not today, because I feel like that you shouldn't be fighting me right now, there's so much for you to do after all."
Ryouta wondered why she was saying that, and why she was fighting him if that's how she felt about this suddenly.
"If you know, then why are you stopping me?"
"Because that's my task."
Now Ryouta was very curious.
His first instincts was to go to Orochimaru, so as he dueled her, he asked her outright.
"Is it Orochimaru?"
"That info is only gonna pass my lips when I decide if you're worthy enough to have it. I have to prepare my baby for his fight with me, don't I?"
"Fine, then lets do this!"
Ryouta charged for her, using his speed, he went faster and faster, to the point even Ameyuri had difficulty keeping her eyes on him.
As a trained warrior, she was used to seeing fast moving objects, but it seemed his speed was more than she thought.
When she went to stab the ground to unleash her lightning…
"No!"
She saw his blade sweeping from down below, so she had to jump.
However, in that moment, he swung Kusanagi for her.
She didn't even bother trying her electricity, so she decided to block with the blades crossing over her body. The blade bashed against the two lightning swords, sparks dancing between their respectably blades.
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Not yet, I'm still thinking."
Ryouta tried to read her.
But she was keeping eye contact to nothing at all, not even slipping up for even a moment.
It was clear that she wasn't giving him a chance, so he had to make a move.
Ameyuri pulled back, and crossed her swords together.
"Lightning Release, Lightning Fang!"
From close range, she shot off a bolt of lightning that Ryouta dodged, only for Ameyuri to move in close, charging the lightning around her swords, and placed both of them out, repeating the process in firing the attacks in a close range way.
Ryouta avoided them all, crossing the distance and got in close.
But suddenly pain etched itself onto her face, as she began coughing, and blood came out of her mouth, something Ryouta noticed, as he swung for her.
Because of the brief stop, his blade sliced across her arm, and forced her down to the ground.
Wincing, she looked on as Ryouta landed, and began moving towards her.
"No way, it seems that you're still coming for me. But I can't have that at all."
She snapped her fingers, and like she had done with Anko beforehand, she summoned a good number of enemies coming out of the woodwork. He saw Oto Ninja that were coming around him.
Ameyuri then licked her lips.
"My boy, don't forget sometimes back up is a good thing indeed."
Ryouta crossed his eyes at her, knowing he didn't have time to waste like this...
However, a certain man was about to make himself known.
With Naruko having arrived, Satsuki looked towards her, and then the possessed Gaara. Naruko herself could see that there was something clearly wrong with Gaara, that the maniacal smirk that was on her face wasn't the one that she believed to be her own.
"It's funny that you're here!"
Shukaku directed to Naruko…
No, it didn't feel directly to Naruko, as Shukaku stared at Naruko's stomach area.
"Gaara..."
"Quiet brat!"
Naruko watched as Shukaku charged towards her, so Satsuki moved forward. However, Shukaku raised his arm, and swung it for the young girl. Fortunately, her Sharingan eyes allowed her to avoid and get below Shukaku, kicking him in the face.
Or she tried, as sand came up and defended against the kick, then the hand came down to try and wrap around her, when Naruko took out several shurikens, firing them towards Shukaku's form, but without looking, sand rose up and defended against the wild attack.
Satsuki repelled Shukaku who placed his hands together, and shot off a blast of air. Because he was in Gaara's form, the blast was around a manageable size, so Satsuki was able to avoid it, while Kabuto looks on from his prison.
"Satsuki! We have to get through to Gaara! It's the only way!"
"She isn't exactly in the talking mood."
As she said it, Shukaku shot off several air bullets towards them, taking out pieces of the trees with the pressure of the air alone, so the pair jumped back a few trees away, while Kabuto felt the air around him vibrating due to how close they were.
Shukaku glanced at him, before giving off a devilish smirk.
"You wanted me out, didn't you?"
Kabuto scowled at the Tailed Beast.
"..."
When Kabuto didn't answer, Shukaku showed his smirk.
"That's good, don't worry, Gaara didn't hear about that being a fake. Thanks for the assist, but get in my way and I will kill you. For now, I'm going to have some fun with these two!"
Kabuto looked perplexed.
Naruko and Satsuki together look upon Shukaku who comes in fast for them.
"Her speed, and strength have increased. From what damage I've done, it seems the sand just regenerates anyway, so we can't win in a battle like that."
"Then what do we do?"
Naruko asks, Satsuki looks upon Naruko and thought what would be best.
She had come to see Naruko as someone that could fight, that was dependable. Through the forest, with Zabuza, everything that she had witnessed...she knew that she didn't have the ability to do this without her, so Satsuki turned to Naruko seriously.
"Help me get in a Chidori on her."
"What…? That lightning Jutsu?"
Satsuki inclined her neck.
"Yeah, it pierced Gaara's sand beforehand, it can again. If you can pin her down long enough, I can get off a Chidori and inflict enough damage to stop her."
Naruko looked at Shukaku, and into the eyes he had.
Naruko thought about what Ryouta had said, how Gaara was like her, how she also had a Tailed Beast, and right now, it reminded her of her own Tailed Beast. The sinister look on Gaara's face, wasn't her expressions.
It was that of the One Tail.
Gaara couldn't help these things happening.
"Satsuki, we can't kill Gaara!"
"I don't plan on killing her, just stopping her before she can kill us."
Satsuki didn't have the full story, but she understood at least that something wasn't right with Gaara.
Naruko wanted to help Gaara.
Right now, even though it was Shukaku's eyes, there was a tiny bit of Gaara that shined through, that showed the pain that was deep within Gaara. She probably didn't know the fake Ryouta was fake, and that he was dead.
If it was her, and she saw Ryouta die…
Then she might have also had trouble keeping herself from being overtaken by the fox, so her struggles were very understandable to someone like Naruko.
So she was going to do her best, no matter what for Gaara, to bring her back to her senses.
Back with Ryouta, he was being surrounded, he didn't want to waste chakra with Mangekyou, but he also felt like that if he wasted much more time, then he'd be too late to where Satsuki and the others were.
Ameyuri however revealed a smile on her face.
"You know, Ryouta-kun, during our time apart, I missed the company. Don't you know what it is like to be all alone?"
Ryouta wondered why now, of all times, she was bringing this up.
"...There's different ways of going about wanting to have a connection between others. I have to say that it is dangerous to work for people like Orochimaru, or whoever it is that you're working for. How can you trust them?"
"Oh, I don't trust anyone in this world. I do the things I do, in order to live, to survive, you know?"
Ryouta tilted his head.
"Survive? What do you mean? When you coughed up blood then..."
Ameyuri smirked.
"Not everything lasts forever, you know?"
Ryouta believed he understood what she meant.
"...Have you got some life threatening..."
As he was going to ask, Ameyuri cut him off with a strong but surprisingly soft expression on her face.
"Suffice to say, lady luck didn't shine on me in that way. So I have to do what I need to do in order to survive. I am not ready to go out of this world, until I find the right person to do that to me. To take me out. I want to die on my terms, not what things have decided for me."
Ryouta looked at her, believing right now, she looked scared of dying, which was very understandable.
"Ameyuri-san...you're afraid, aren't you? To die..."
"Afraid of death, I've never met anyone that isn't afraid to die. Even if it is for noble reasons, everyone has fears of being in deaths embrace. But it shouldn't bother you, because I am your enemy."
Ryouta furrowed his brows.
He wished to understand her.
Even though she was the enemy, in the moment that death was brought up, she looked sad...lonely.
It didn't excuse anything she was doing or was going to do, or even did, but it showed that Ameyuri at that moment, did look rather vulnerable, even if she would deny it endlessly.
"What is it you have? Can't it be treated?"
"Boy, it's sweet you care, it's a thing that I really do have to admire. But don't forget, I am your enemy."
"Even if you're my enemy, Ameyuri-san, every Ninja experiences deadly situations almost daily, but that's a death we can control to a certain degree, Ninja know the risks when they do missions...this, what you're going through...I wager, you can't have much control over that, I can see why that would be frightening."
She didn't want to admit it.
But he was right.
It was something that literally was eating away at her.
Ameyuri then showed a small smile.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you. You're so different to most people that I've met, who'd give one shit about their enemy? Right now, I'm in your way, yet you still are showing kindness to me, yet I know that you'd still cut me down if you had to."
"If I had to."
Ryouta expressed, with Ameyuri smiling.
"Exactly, that's what makes you a unique Ninja. Wanting to be kind, yet not afraid to kill if you have no other option left. So maybe I'll tell you, if you're a good boy~"
"Tell me what?"
Ameyuri snickered.
"I'll tell you one day when you've fought me to the death. Until then..." She snaps her fingers, the enemies turn on Ryouta. "...you've got another concern to worry about."
Ameyuri turned her back on him, as the enemies came for Ryouta.
He went to move to slice them down, when he heard a sudden "Wind Release, Vacuum Wave!" so Ryouta looks up, and sees what was coming down. A sweeping wind that sliced through the enemies Ninja.
But more than that, he saw a face that he hadn't seen in such a good long time.
The face of Danzo.
Ryouta never liked Danzo, there was something about him that felt too off. Like he had some kind of agenda that was hidden behind his stoic façade, so when it came to Danzo...he couldn't trust him, a feeling at the back of his mind told him that he was very dangerous, along with some things Hiruzen had said, Ryouta trusted Hiruzen, and adding that onto his own feelings regarding Danzo, he remained on edge, and ready at any moment to fight him.
Danzo's lone eye went towards Ryouta, who stared up at him.
"Danzo..."
"My, you're Ryouta Uchiha-kun. You have grown quite a bit."
The way he said it, Ryouta didn't like.
Ameyuri didn't say anything, Ryouta noticing that she was keeping unusually quiet all of a sudden.
"You're supposed to be under house arrest." Ryouta took his blades, and aimed them towards Danzo who furrowed his brow. "Come with me quietly, I can't let you run around."
Danzo had his senses stay sharp.
He had to be as smooth as he could.
To draw the least suspicion and reap the most rewards out of this conversation.
Ryouta needed to be someone that Danzo would get close to, without making it appear obvious, he had to be someone that Ryouta trusted. He couldn't simply go for what he desired right now, and that was the boys eyes.
He had learned from back when he tried the same thing with Shisui, he even felt like he was staring at Shisui in certain aspects when he gazed upon Ryouta's form, the unshakable will Shisui had, Ryouta had as well as a sharp mind, Ryouta didn't trust Danzo one bit, and Danzo knew that, so he had to do his best to be as convincing as possible as if he gave even a bit away, Ryouta could put the details together, and realize the truth, so right now, he had to tread lightly.
"Wait Ryouta-kun, I was under house arrest, that is true. However, I had to fight after those guarding me were killed. Now I've come here, and seen that you were in trouble, so I had to come and assist you, because I care for those within this village."
Ryouta studied Danzo's face, as Danzo looked on as calmly as possible.
"If that is true, then you wont have a problem coming with me, and letting me put you under arrest."
"Is now the time to worry about me?"
"No matter the circumstance, you aren't allowed to be running around until Hokage-sama has given you the orders. Even in a situation like this, you're dividing resources that could be placed into fighting off the enemy. People could be searching for you, while they could be protecting the village. So come down to me, slowly, and keep your hands far away from each other, and don't use your chakra, I'll see it with my eyes if you do, I will cut you down if you try anything."
Danzo could hear the wisdom in his words, and how he spoke like an adult despite his age.
Danzo thought that this would be more trouble if Ryouta didn't go the way that he wished, so he spoke in a manner that tried to show his dedication to the village and its people.
"Even though your words are true, I give you my word that I am fighting for the benefit of Konoha, I have been able to save many. Trust in me Ryouta-kun."
Ryouta couldn't.
He was worried for Satsuki and the others.
But he also wasn't able to leave either.
If Danzo was as dangerous as Hiruzen had forewarned, then he knew he'd have to stay and stop him.
"I can't trust you. You're a criminal."
Danzo looked on, he could see the Will of Fire burning bright within Ryouta.
Danzo's lone eye went towards Ameyuri very subtly, who smirked, and turned her blades onto Ryouta, but before she could, Danzo 'saved' him by leaping down and getting between them, with the blade passing through a gap of Danzo's hand, cutting into his flesh, 'protecting' Ryouta from harm.
Ryouta looked on, as Danzo turned his head back, his hand bleeding.
"Go, I'll deal with her. I understand your apprehension in me being free, but the village needs your talents as well and they cannot be stalled here. Despite what you think of me, I care about this village, all within this village."
Ryouta still couldn't leave.
He was immensely worried about Satsuki, Gaara, and the others.
But Ryouta didn't trust Danzo to be alone with Ameyuri, for both of their sakes.
However, Danzo took the blade, and launched Ameyuri through a building, and followed after her.
"Danzo!"
Ryouta went to move, when he saw Anko and Karin in the distance.
"Ryouta! There's a fake of you!"
"I know, Garaga-san told me!"
"Go with Karin, and get there quickly."
Anko said as she, and Karin arrived.
"But Danzo-"
"Leave that ass to me, you go and make sure the others are fine!"
"But Sensei, he's highly dangerous."
"I know, don't worry, I've sent word for others to join me, they'll arrive shortly."
Ryouta wasn't sure, but also knew he had to go and save the others, so he reluctantly nodded.
"Sensei, be very careful...Danzo's claiming to be trying to protect the village...but something doesn't feel right."
"I know. But right now, trust in me, I'll make sure he's stopped."
"Okay Sensei, be careful." Ryouta towards Karin, before holding her in his arms. Karin blushed brightly. "Sorry about this Karin-san, we have to go very quickly."
"That's totally fine with me Ryou-kun."
Karin didn't have a problem with it.
Being held by someone like Ryouta...that was something she definitely loved to feel.
He glanced at Anko, who showed a small smile.
Ryouta was worried.
But he also trusted his Sensei, so he and Karin together took off running and shooting across the rooftops, and then going into the sea of trees.
Back with Naruko and Satsuki, having decided to team up, they prepared to face down Gaara being controlled by Shukaku.
"So if we're working together, Naruko you've got to pin her down long enough for me to get off a Chidori. With the speed she's at, and the damn sand, it could prove to be annoying."
"If it's pinning down, then I've got an idea!" Naruko bit into her thumb and weaved through some hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Naruko had wanted to summon the chief toad.
But what she got was a very small toad that looked up to Naruko.
"Big sis, what's going on?"
Naruko's eyes widened.
"I tried to summon chief toad! Who are you?!"
"Gamakichi, you tried summoning my Dad? It seems that you aren't that good huh?"
Naruko grit her teeth, while Satsuki shook her head.
"It's bad when your own summon seems to be irritated by you."
Naruko shot a glare for the young girl.
But then Gamakichi let out a breath.
"So, what is it that I can do for you exactly?"
"Can you bind people?"
"But I'm a small toad, I can't go and bind anyone until I'm older."
Satsuki sweat dropped.
"Are you for real Naruko?"
Naruko's eyes shot to Satsuki.
"What did you say!?"
"How is this small toad going to help us?"
"Grr! I meant to summon a bigger toad, not this one..."
"But that's how it ended up."
Naruko scowled as did Satsuki, both annoyed by the other.
"I don't see you summoning anything!"
"I don't need to summon anything right now, you need to help me fight off Gaara."
"I will! Damn it-"
As she argued, she saw Shukaku come at them, so she grabbed the small toad and jumped to a different tree, protecting the toad, while Satsuki shot for Shukaku, and punched forward.
Using her speed as quickly as she could, she avoided Shukaku's swing and then got in close, delivering a series of punches and kicks towards Shukaku, but the sand monster was able to use the sand around him to block all of the attacks, then swung his arm out, threatening to wash away the young girl with such strong waves.
However, thankfully she avoided it by throwing shurikens with wire attached, embedding into the side of a tree and then pulled her body along, but Shukaku didn't stop, and launched several blasts of sand towards her.
Sharply ready to pierce her, she dropped her wires, and landed on a branch below her, only for the sand blasts to come in close, so she weaved through some hand signs, then she inhaled strongly, turning towards the sand attacks.
"Fire Release, Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
Unleashing multiple small spheres of fire, she blasted the sand bullets coming for her, again and again as Naruko leapt forward, keeping the toad a good distance away, and created a number of Shadow Clones, launching them towards Shukaku.
Shukaku's eyes turned towards her, and smirked.
"That it?!"
The sand creature unleashed a blast of wind from his mouth, and cut through several of the clones, but she didn't stop going in for the beasts body, but while she did, she saw Gaara's eyes briefly, and saw how lonely, and in pain Gaara really was in.
She didn't want Gaara to suffer, so she had to do her best to stop Shukaku at the same time.
So she surrounded Shukaku with more and more clones, all the while Satsuki produced some wire and began firing it off.
The clones barraged Shukaku from each angle possible. Coming in from the left, the right, front, back, up and down, and other locations on Shukaku's body, the attacks began to punch deep into the sand, going faster and faster.
"I wont let you beat me!"
Shukaku swung his clawed hands around, cleaving through the different clones and dispersing them, but again and again, Naruko created more clones, while Satsuki got ready to do what she thought would be the best.
Shukaku let out a roaring sound, and released a pressure of wind around from his mouth, dispersing a good number of clones.
But even then, Naruko created more and more, something even Shukaku found to be astonishing.
"How many times do I have to cut through your damn clones?!"
Shukaku wished that Gaara would go to sleep, so he could draw more and more power.
But Gaara was fighting him every step of the way, and trying to regain control.
But Shukaku was also pushing back.
While they did have that war within, Naruko managed to have a number of clones take Satsuki's wire, and form a complex structure around the beasts small body, and then launched herself forward, wrapping the wire tightly around Shukaku's body.
"What the..."
"Now Satsuki!"
Shukaku looked on and saw that in the distance, Satsuki had her hand down, and had lightning gathering around her palm. The lightning radiated a near ear piercing sound as the clones of Naruko held onto the limbs of Shukaku, added with the wire tying him down, this was the best move that they could make.
"Right!"
Satsuki propelled herself with incredible speed.
Shukaku tried to make some sand appear before him, and then attack Satsuki, but Naruko had her clones get in the way, and take the hit for the young girl, creating a path for Satsuki to get in close to the large beast.
Satsuki adopted a small smile on her face, before she fully got before the struggling Shukaku.
"Chidori!"
Not looking to kill Gaara, Satsuki didn't aim for such a killing shot.
But did manage to place her hand against Gaara's upper body and sent the lightning right through Gaara's form. Shukaku's eyes widened as the lightning spread through the entire body and shocked him to the point that he felt it deeply.
Satsuki then twirled, and kicked Shukaku's body down towards the ground, as Naruko swung forward, and grabbed Satsuki mid air, landing on a tree together.
Satsuki leaned down onto the tree, feeling some tiredness coming over her.
"Using two Chidori's a day is my limit..."
"But that was cool! Maybe we really work well together!"
Satsuki glanced at Naruko, and saw that in fact, they did work quite well together, and thanks to that, they managed to do something neither could alone.
They looked down, seeing that Gaara's form wasn't moving.
Nothing was happening, so they hoped that Shukaku had been stopped, and Gaara was able to have some rest…
But then a menacing laughing could be heard coming from below.
"...That was a strong attack, I was even attacked to such a degree that it stopped me completely. The Uchiha really is pretty good, and the blonde brat is also someone that caused me problems...but now I can feel it, Gaara's will is weakening, so now I can do it, I can unleash my full power...hahahahahaha!"
Naruko and Satsuki watch on as sand begins to form more and more around him.
Building more and more, Shukaku's markings appeared around the sand, as it formed something that looked otherworldly.
It looked like some creature had truly been formed...
Ryouta and Karin zipped through the forest as fast as Ryouta could go. Karin couldn't even see the trees all that well due to the speed that he was going. It was clear he was covering so much ground so fast that even she was having trouble thinking about how fast they were going.
Showing how determined Ryouta was to get to those that he cared for, and loved.
"Ryou-kun, I can sense Pakura-san going around the village, what's going on?"
"She's stopping this invasion on Suna's side, she's an ally now."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, we can trust her."
If Ryouta said it, then Karin didn't have a problem believing in him.
However, as they got nearer and nearer due to the intense speed Ryouta was going, Ryouta saw something in the distance.
They were still a little ways away, but he could see growing above the trees, was a being made out of sand.
From their location, he couldn't see it fully, but he could see the head of the large beast, and he recalled the same eyes the night that he and Gaara had to fight one another.
"W-What the hell is that!?"
Karin yelled.
Ryouta on the other hand knew what this was.
He didn't even have a moment to spare, as he shot forward as fast as he could.
"Gaara-san...the Shukaku has taken over completely. Satsuki-chan….Naruko-chan..."
He worried for them.
Since Karin told him what was going on with sensing their chakras.
She also told him about Kabuto.
Whatever the circumstances, Ryouta hoped he'd be able to get there in time trying to help both them, and Gaara herself, before Shukaku causes mass destruction...
As the fights for the village were going on, Yukine and Hiruzen were going up against the enemy, with Hiruzen fighting off Orochimaru, and Yukine dealing with the two previous Kage.
Orochimaru though knew something wasn't right, and felt like they were trying to stall for time, for reasons he didn't know. He also wondered what it was that Ryouta was getting, since Yukine had made it clear that they weren't going to allow him to know.
But even then, thanks to the break Hiruzen had, and the chakra he received from Yukine, he was getting in more blows than he should be, and Yukine, despite not being fully powered, she was able to use her tricks to stall and bind those previous Kage.
She didn't need to be stronger, she was being smarter, than the basically mindless Zombies were at that moment. Because Orochimaru robbed full control of themselves, they didn't have the capacity to fully adapt to what was going on before her eyes.
Suddenly, Yukine stops, and then turns to Hiruzen.
"Hiruzen, he got it."
"Good, so he did it..."
Orochimaru looked perplexed.
"Got what!?"
Orochimaru demanded.
Yukine's eyes scornfully gazed at Orochimaru.
But she didn't say anything, vexing Orochimaru, so he presumed what was happening.
"I wont undo the Jutsu, even you don't have a Jutsu that can force me to make such a thing possible. Even if you've mastered the Jutsu to a higher level, only I can break it, and I will never do such a thing for as long as I am here."
"Maybe not, but there's other ways to skin snakes, and I'll show you some right now."
Orochimaru pulled back, as Hiruzen gazed towards Yukine.
It seemed that she was serious, so Orochimaru was going to match her seriousness.
Even if he himself was worried about the outcome, he knew that he'd have to do something, so he quietly allowed a snake to leave his sleeve, with Orochimaru thinking "I didn't want to use this, but I might not have a choice, this isn't going to my plans at all, damn it..." with Orochimaru's eyebrows narrowing ever so slightly at the sights before him.
End chapter!
So this chapter dealt with Ameyuri and Ryouta briefly coming into contact with one another, with her dropping some hints for things to come, and then for a short time, Danzo and Ryouta met again after all these years. Though Ryouta isn't aware of Danzo's involvement with Shisui's death right now since he saw Sugaru as a child before he was rendered unconscious and others not truly knowing of it yet though is still quite suspicious of Danzo and his motives, this meeting will be important to the future story between those two characters.
Meanwhile, Gaara and Satsuki briefly had a confrontation with Kabuto, before Gaars witnessed 'Ryouta's' death, and then she began losing control, with Shukaku taking this chance to take over, and deciding to fight Satsuki, and later Naruko who came to offer assistance, and together, managed to work hard, but now Shukaku's fully awakening after Gaara's will has fell.
Then at the end, it seems that Orochimaru has one last trick up his sleeve, but what that'll be, we'll see very soon!
Well, until next time, thanks for reading.
Ryouta; Satsuki, Sakura, Naruko, Hinata, Gaara (fem), Ino, Haku (fem), Kurotsuchi, Karin, Konan, Mei, Anko, Samui, Hanabi, Mabui, Temari, Pakura,