I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.

New Team

Ryuu walked through the trees in silence, Fu following after him. After a few minutes, they reached the clearing where Yugao usually trained him and found Yugao waiting with her mask on and with four others. One of them was Kurenai, one was Hinata, and two of them were wearing black pants, black sandals, a grey jacket with their midriffs exposed and a second jacket that extended across their backs and then around a few inches in front of each shoulder over it. The black jacket, basically little more than detachable sleeves, had the left sleeve short and the right sleeve a three-quarter sleeve, ending a couple inches before their black gloves, which had the index fingers and thumbs uncovered. There were red straps over their shoulders with a tanto attached behind their right shoulders. One of the two had straight silver hair reaching almost to his shoulders and the other had shorter black hair that was a little messier, though not by much Both were also unusually pale.

"Master, who are they?" Ryuu asked.

"This is Sai," she indicated the one with black hair, "and Shin. Starting now, they're your team. At least for the duration of the Chunin Exams. Also, while you're training your teamwork with them, you're also going to be having a shadow clone train with Hinata, and another learning Genjutsu from Kurenai."

"Um, not that I mind, but why?" Ryuu asked.

"You're learning Genjutsu from me because Yugao's not amazing at it, and Kakashi's busy training Sasuke," Kurenai said. "You're training Hinata because I know you understand how she feels about hurting others."

Ryuu felt his stomach began to sink as the faces from his nightmare returned to him but he nodded. "Okay. I'll do what I can."

"Remember," Yugao said. "Don't overdo it, since you're using Shadow Clones, you'll be getting the exhaustion that your clones gain as well as their memories, resulting in mental feedback, in a sense. It's going to get very exhausting, very fast."

Ryuu nodded and Yugao turned to Fu. "I understand you're very powerful, Fu. Would you mind being their opponent?"

Fu nodded, walking to the far side of the field, Ryuu walking over to Shin and Sai while creating two clones for his other training, both of whom prepared to charge.

"Don't go charging in," Ryuu said as he and Fu both readied themselves.

"Why?" Shin asked.

"She's far too fast for that," Ryuu said.

"Begin!" Yugao instructed, Fu shooting toward them instantly. Shin and Sai shouted in surprise as Ryuu stepped forward, ducking under Fu's first punch, catching her arm by the elbow with his own, yanking her backward. She flipped, landing on her feet and grabbed him, hurling him as Shin and Sai both punched at her. She caught Shin's arm, slamming him into Sai and hurling both before spinning, catching Ryuu's punch. She threw a knee at him and he pushed off of it, flipping over her and hurling her over him. She flipped, landing on her feet as Ryuu activated his Sharingan.

"Shin, Sai, we're going to need to work together," Ryuu said. "Since I don't know what the two of you can do, watch for an opening and use it."

Both nodded and Ryuu charged, Fu speeding forward, punching at him. He ducked sideways from it, punching at her only for her to block the punch. He threw a punch with the other hand and she leaned back out of the way, allowing Ryuu to drop his first hand to the ground, and bring his foot up, kicking at her. She ducked under the kick, slamming a palm strike into his gut. He shot backward instantly and ink snakes burst out of the ground, wrapping around her instantly, binding her in place. As soon as they did, Shin sped forward, drawing his tanto. Suddenly, Fu wasn't bound in the snakes. She was standing behind Shin with his own tanto to his throat.

"I yield," Shin said.

Fu released him, turning and blocking Sai's Tanto. As soon as she did, she leapt over Ryuu's foot as he swept at her feet. She flipped over Sai, shoving him into Ryuu. Ryuu caught him, shoving him to the side and diving out of the way of a straight punch by Fu. He landed in a roll, regaining his feet in time for Fu to appear in front of him, slashing downward. He drew his own tanto, blocking the one she stole from Shin, seeing that it was double-edged and tipless.

He shoved the blade to the side, releasing his own and tackling Fu. As soon as they hit, he set his hand against her abdomen, a paralysis spreading over her body instantly. He sighed, rolling off of her and standing, walking to his tanto. He tossed Shin his as well then turned to Fu just as the seal flashed and burst off of her like broken chains, fading. She shot toward him again and he ducked, slamming a palm strike into her gut and placing a gravity seal at ten times gravity. Fu crashed to the ground instantly and Sai appeared over her, tanto to her throat.

"Enough," Yugao said. "Your teamwork is shaky at best, but it'll improve. Well done."

"Thank you," Ryuu said, releasing Fu and helping her up. "Granted, she was holding back more that time than when she fought me and Sasuke, but still."

"True," Yugao nodded. "Alright. Now. The three of you also need work on your Kenjutsu skills. I'll be handling that."

Ryuu nodded and walked over with his tanto, Sai and Shin joining him a moment later.

Ryuu released his clones and clenched his teeth, holding a hand to his head as their memories flooded him. Hinata had done well. She had improved her Taijutsu quickly, even picking up some techniques that weren't Gentle Fist, which his clone had learned hurt. A lot. But apparently, it wouldn't immediately disperse a clone.

"So, Shin, Sai, what's you two's story?" Ryuu asked.

"We're a part of a small group of ANBU known as the Foundation," Shin said. "It's run by Danzo Shimura. I'm sorry, that's all I can say about it. But, we were brought into it when we were young. We don't have families other than the Foundation, but Sai's like a brother to me."

"Do you ever regret joining?" Ryuu asked.

Both remained silent. Ryuu nodded and sighed, rubbing his temples. "Sorry. I have a killer migraine now. I'm going to head home. See you tomorrow."

"See you," Sai smiled.

Ryuu left the field with Fu, Fu flying them to Ichiraku's, Fu buying her own this time. Then, once they had eaten, they headed up to the top of the Hokage Monument to watch the sunset. As they sat there, Ryuu wrapped his arm around Fu's waist, holding her close to himself, Fu leaning on his shoulder and Ryuu setting his head on top of hers.

"You'll be careful, right?" Fu asked. "During the Chunin Exams?"

"Of course Fu," Ryuu smiled. "I'll be just fine."

Fu smiled and nodded, slipping her hand into his, lacing their fingers together. Ryuu smiled, stroking his thumb over hers. A few minutes later, the last of the light had bled from the sky and Fu flew them back to Ryuu and Sasuke's house. Ryuu led her inside, silently making his way into the house and peeking into Sasuke's room. What he found was something that nearly had him rolling on the ground laughing. Sasuke was trying on a tuxedo, examining his reflection in the mirror. He covered his mouth, fighting to remain silent.

"If you're going to watch, you could at least help," Sasuke said after a moment.

Ryuu burst into a fit of laughter for a moment before pushing the door open and walking in, looking in the closet and at the dozen or so suits of varying shades of blue and black. Again he fought not to laugh.

"What's the occasion?" Ryuu asked.

"First date," Sasuke said. "To that nice restaurant over on the other side of the village."

Ryuu pulled out a navy blue suit and tie with a button-up white shirt, laying it out and grinning widely. "Sakura?"

Sasuke grumbled something and turned away, holding the suit up in front of the mirror. This time, Ryuu really did laugh.

"Just put it on you freaking girl," Ryuu laughed.

Sasuke blushed and hurled the tuxedo's jacket at him, Ryuu catching it and laying it out before walking to the door.

"By the way, Fu's going to be staying with us for around a week, so when you and Sakura get back here to make out, try not to wake us up."

Then, he slipped out, shutting the door just before Sasuke's shoes thudded against it loudly, Ryuu laughing. He led Fu to his room, shutting the door behind them and sighing.

"Finally finished," he sighed, sitting on his bed. "That was the longest training session I've ever had. Kurenai's ruthless."

"She did seem to be going awful hard on you," Fu agreed, pulling her top off and dropping her skirt.

Ryuu shouted in surprise, looking away, face turning scarlet instantly. "Fu, w-what the hell are you d-doing!?"

"What do you mean?" Fu asked.

"W-Why are you..."

"Hm?" Fu looked down then back up at him. "I almost always sleep naked."

"You didn't on the ship!" Ryuu said, holding his hand up to block her body from his sight.

"It was cold on the ship," Fu shrugged. "Why? Should I not?"

"Why do you want to?" Ryuu asked.

"It's more comfortable this way," Fu shrugged. "Besides, I need to do my laundry."

"B-But...you can't just...I-I mean..." Ryuu struggled to form a complete sentence.

"Would you prefer that I keep them on?" Fu asked. "They're sweaty and smell bad."

Ryuu swallowed hard before sighing. "A-Alright. You can w-wash them. B-But after that, p-please put them b-back on. A-And don't l-let Sasuke s-see you walking around like that."

Fu smiled and nodded, giving him a bone-crushing hug before picking up her clothes and turning invisible. The door opened and closed again for several minutes. Ryuu climbed into the bed after it had closed, lying down and struggling to force the mental image of Fu removing her clothes from his mind. He was probably in for a long night. After a bit, the door reopened and he glanced over at it just as Fu reappeared, still not wearing anything.

"God...Fu! Why aren't you dressed?" Ryuu asked.

"They have to dry," Fu said. "Unless you want wet clothes in your bed."

Ryuu groaned, holding his hands over his eyes. After a couple of seconds, he felt Fu's weight settle on the bed as she climbed in, covering herself with the blankets.

"I don't see why you're making such a fuss anyway," Fu said. "We're all born naked. Wearing clothes is more unnatural than not."

"Please stop talking about it," Ryuu said, carefully peeking at her, sighing as he saw she was covered, even if only by the blankets.

"Okay," Fu shrugged. "Anyway, I'll get them tomorrow morning and put them on."

"I said you had to put them back on once they were clean!" Ryuu said.

"Yeah but it'll take that long to dry," Fu said. "Besides, You won't have to worry about it. You'll be asleep."

With that said, she scooted over, cuddling up to him and wrapping her arms around him. Ryuu swallowed hard, hyper aware of everywhere their bodies made contact. They may be young, but he was still a male. And she was still extremely attractive. Ryuu shook his head, trying to force the thoughts away. He rolled away from her, hoping it would help. It didn't. Neither did her snuggling up to his back a moment later, pressing herself into him with a contented sigh, already asleep. He tried to get away from her but she wouldn't let go. He couldn't even roll onto his back again.

"Fu," Ryuu said.

"Hm?"

"I need to roll over."

"Mm."

He sighed when she didn't move, but just as he was going to try and move her again, she released him, allowing him to shift onto his back again. Then, she flopped on top of him, head on his chest and her hands out to her sides, her leg, naturally, landing between his, as if he didn't have enough trouble keeping his thoughts clean. After a moment, a smile grew on her face.

"Someone's nervous," she said, looking up at him.

His eyes widened massively and he began to try to stammer out a response, only for her to giggle.

"Relax," she smiled. "Close your eyes."

He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. Then, he felt her hand slip into his, her head settling back onto his chest. Then, slowly, he actually did begin to relax. Finally, his heart had slowed to a normal pace and he began to drift off to sleep finally.

Leave a review.