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

Day One

Ryuu looked around carefully as they travelled. He wasn't a fan of the Forest of Death. It was silent, dark, creepy. Everything you'd expect from the name. Beside him, Fu remained silent, also scanning.

"I don't see anything," Fu reported.

"My ink mice haven't spotted anything either," Sai added.

Ryuu nodded. Then, after a few more branches, he stopped.

"We've been going for half an hour," Ryuu said. "We should be a little more than halfway in. If we wait here, we'll find someone with both types of scrolls. So, time to fess up." He held out his Heaven scroll. "Fu?"

Fu held out her Earth scroll. "If we meet someone with both, we'll have everything we need."

Ryuu nodded. "Sai, how long can you maintain your mice?"

"As long as I want," Sai said.

"Alright, your mice will be the first line of defense," Ryuu said. "Any of you have sensory abilities?"

The other three shook their heads and Ryuu nodded.

"It's fine, we'll take shifts. I'll watch first," Ryuu said.

"So, let me get this straight," Yoro said. "Your entire plan is to just sit here, hoping someone stumbles upon us with two scrolls?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Ryuu shrugged.

"And what if no one does?" Yoro asked.

"If by day three we haven't met anyone, we'll move to the tower," Ryuu said. "Eventually, someone will have to pass us to complete the exam."

"It's a fair strategy," Shin said. "I agree."

"I say we just take your scroll and be done with it," Yoro said.

"No," Fu said. "We're not taking Ryuu's scroll."

"Why not?" Yoro asked. "I'm sure they can get another."

"I said no," Fu said.

"Hate to interrupt," Sai spoke up, several ink mice running over and forming words on his scroll, "but apparently someone wearing green is headed directly toward us."

"Lee," Ryuu sighed. "You ready for him Fu?"

Fu nodded, grinning and cracking her knuckles while Ryuu stepped up beside her, cracking his neck. Then, Lee, Neji, and Tenten all stepped out of the trees, Lee grinning and Neji simply staring at them.

"Well well, it looks like Neji was right," Tenten said. "You were planning to work together."

"Hello Tenten," Ryuu smiled before it dropped. "Neji."

"Fu, I wish to have a rematch against you!" Lee stated. "Please fight me!"

"Absolutely," Fu smiled. "But first, what scroll do you have?"

Neji held up an Earth Scroll, Fu doing the same.

"Just for fun then," Ryuu said.

"Actually-"

"Shut up Sai," Ryuu said, Neji's eyes gluing themselves to Ryuu as his Byakugan activated. "Great. Alright Neji, yes. I'll fight you for it."

Neji readied himself, Ryuu, Fu, and Lee doing the same. Then, all hell broke loose.

Ryuu wasn't sure what happened first. It might have been the trees to his right exploding, Yoro and Kegon vanishing in the hail of debris. It could have been the ground in front of him ripping apart as though from an explosion below. It could have been the paper bombs all around the clearing exploding, scattering smoke and debris everywhere. Or it might have been the fireballs raining from the sky. All Ryuu knew was that he was suddenly lying on the ground with his ears ringing and his left arm severely burned and broken. He inhaled and began to cough as his lungs and throat burned. He forced his eyes open, staring at the scorched, smoking wreck that had been a clearing. The smoke was too thick to see properly, and there was still dust hanging in the air, but he could make out his scroll on the ground in front of him. For a moment.

Then, a pair of shinobi appeared over it, one of them kicking it away while the other grinned. The one that kicked it wore a stone mask with slit eyeholes and a frown, a sugegasa on his back, a black gi over a long-sleeved mesh shirt, black pants, and open-toed boots. The other wore black clothes under a tattered dark grey poncho, a sugegasa on his bald head, and had purple war paint around his mouth like lipstick. Ryuu could hear a warbling noise that was probably them speaking, but he couldn't make out their words. He began to stand, but his head spun and he fell to the ground again. The warbling increased as the two laughed, until Fu and Lee appeared in front of them, both kicking their opponent and sending them flying. Lee had a gash on his side that was bandaged haphazardly, and had blood coating the side of his face. Fu looked to have escaped most of the damage and instead had only a few cuts and scrapes and one nasty bruise on the side of her face that would likely swell and turn into a black eye. Then, both of them vanished into the smoke after their opponents. Ryuu tried to stand again, but again his head spun and he collapsed. Then, the smoke lit up several times and Fu flew out of the smoke, landing in a roll and stopping beside him, blood running down the bruised side of her face now and her clothes singed around the edges. She reached down, placing a hand over each of his ears and a green light filled his vision for a moment before his ears cleared.

Instantly, the sounds of battle hit him and he sat bolt upright, staring at the smoke, activating his Sharingan. With them active, he was able to see the flicker of Lee and either one or two shinobi inside the smoke, fighting. He couldn't tell who was who, or who was winning, though. He pushed himself up, holding his hand out and firing a Gale Palm from it, clearing the smoke. Just as he did, Lee spun, the bo staff he was holding slamming into both shinobi and launching them into trees, cratering them.

"My thanks, Ryuu," Lee said, landing beside him, panting and with one eye closed and swelling, as well as the blood filling it from his head injury. "They're good at using misdirection, and they're surprisingly good at Fire Style jutsus."

Ryuu nodded, looking down at his arm as Fu finished healing it. He flexed it and rolled his shoulder a couple of times before nodding, walking forward with Fu. The two shinobi landed in front of him and Ryuu recognized them as the teammates of the much more terrifying Grass Ninja he had seen before.

"You guys fucked up," Ryuu said. "You missed."

"Well, our orders aren't to kill you," the one with the mask said. "Our boss wants you alive."

"That other Grass Ninja pretending to be a genin, you mean?" Ryuu asked. "I see. If I had to guess, he wants my Sharingan, which means your boss is probably dealing with Sasuke and his team right about now. I'll have to go and help them after we deal with you."

Both shinobi crouched and Ryuu and Fu shot forward. The shinobi met their charge, Ryuu sliding under a haymaker and slamming his hand into their gut, placing a gravity seal, dropping his opponent to the ground. As soon as he did, he spun, seeing Fu flip over a fireball that was headed for him.

"Oh terrific," he grumbled, leaping over it only for it to explode on the ground, hurling him anyway.

He landed hard, groaning and beginning to push himself up, watching as Fu thoroughly beat her opponent into the ground. He couldn't match her speed or strength. But he still wasn't alone. When Ryuu was blasted, his gravity seals had faded, allowing the other shinobi to stand. Ryuu sprinted forward just as a barrage of dragon-head-shaped fireballs flew at Fu. Ryuu made his own hand seals as he skidded to a stop behind her.

"Fire Style, Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Ryuu shouted, the jutsus exploding against each other, cancelling out and throwing everyone away from it.

Ryuu groaned, pushing himself up and dusting himself up, then helped Fu up.

"I'm getting really tired of being blown up," Ryuu grumbled.

"Agreed," Fu nodded as her opponent landed beside his, both forming hand seals. "Now what?"

"Fire Style, Searing Migraine!" they both shouted, twin streams of flame shooting out of their mouths and joining, growing rapidly as they fanned out across the ground in a wall ten feet high.

"Oh that's not okay," Ryuu said, forming hand seals of his own. "Wind Style, now!"

"Wind Style, Ripping Cyclone!" Fu shouted instantly, slamming both hands into the ground.

Instantly, a massive tornado formed, sucking up the flames and turning into a massive flaming funnel reaching nearly double the height of the trees. It shot toward the two enemy shinobi, but when they scattered, the flames suddenly shot straight upward, the tornado vanishing as the flames burned themselves out, leaving a cloud of smoke above them. Just as the two ninja landed, Fu appeared over her opponent, kicking him straight down into the ground, breaking his neck and killing him, and Ryuu slammed an axe kick into the other, shattering his mask and dropping him to the ground just as numerous ANBU appeared around them.

"Relax," Ryuu said. "Just dealing with some genin imposters."

One of the ANBU landed over Ryuu's opponent, placing a chakra disruption tag on him. A moment later, his flesh began to flake off. When it was finished, an entirely different person was lying there.

"He's a missing nin!" the ANBU reported.

"Bring him with you," another said. "We'll let the Hokage decide how to deal with him. How's the other?"

"Dead," the ANBU checking him reported.

"Bring him too then," the leader said.

The ANBU nodded, picking the body up just before they all vanished.

"That was..." Fu trailed off.

"Unusual," Ryuu finished. "Lee, you alright?"

Lee nodded as Neji stepped into the clearing, supporting tenten, whose side was covered in blood, though she was bandaged now. Neji held out Ryuu's scroll but he shook his head.

"Get her to the tower," Ryuu said. "We'll figure something out after we save Sasuke and the others."

Neji nodded and took off with Tenten and Lee. Then, Fu looked around.

"Know where our teams went?" Ryuu asked.

"We're here," Shin said as the four of them walked out of the trees, all battered and bloody but alive. "So, no scroll now, huh?"

"We'll find someone," Ryuu said. "Sai, can you tell which way Sasuke and the others-"

Just then, a strong gust of wind, almost strong enough to knock them over, blew through the clearing. They all stared at one another.

"That's the tail end of a Wind Style jutsu," Yoro said.

"Alright then," Ryuu said. "We'll start there."

Then, he turned, heading the direction the jutsu had come from, the others following.

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