I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Twin Swords
Ryuu narrowed his eyes as he watched the shinobi standing before him. The shinobi had short green hair, an Amegakure headband, a sleeveless wetsuit with black down the middle of the front and back with light purple down the sides, an umbrella on his back, a black forearm sleeve on his right arm and a black glove on his left, black sandals, and a tool pouch behind him. The enemy shinobi smirked as the three Ame genin from earlier grew out of the ground alongside him, Fu stepping up beside Ryuu, Idate behind them.
"So, you must be Aoi, then," Ryuu said.
"Not bad," Aoi nodded. "And these are my subordinates. Oboro, Kagari, and Mubi."
Ryuu nodded to the genin before turning back to Aoi. Behind Aoi and the genin, Rokusuke's ship landed and he took off running toward the shrine. Ryuu rolled his eyes.
"Fu, handle the genin," Ryuu said. "Then get Idate past Aoi and get him moving again."
"Right," Fu nodded.
"Oh, so the tough guy wants to fight me all by himself, does he?" Aoi smirked. "Alright, fine. Try this!"
He hurled several senbon, Ryuu drawing a kunai and deflecting them all easily.
"I should warn you, I've fought stronger than you before," Ryuu said. "You're not going to be as effective against me as you think."
"We'll just see about that," Aoi snarled.
Suddenly, lightning flashed overhead, accompanied by a massive crash of thunder. Then, rain began to pound down around them, the Ame genin chuckling as they began to spread out. Ryuu looked around, seeing a large flat chunk of rock a short distance out into the water. He motioned for Aoi to follow and ran to it, Aoi keeping pace with him, both skidding to a stop. As they reached the stone, Aoi hurled his umbrella into the sky, the umbrella unleashing a barrage of senbon as it spun. Ryuu formed several hand seals and exhaled a Breakthrough into the cloud of senbon, blowing them away harmlessly, destroying the umbrella. Aoi huffed, pulling a vajra out of his tool pouch and extending a golden blade made of Lightning Style chakra. Ryuu smirked, drawing his tanto. He charged, slashing at Aoi with chakra streaming along his tanto, only for Aoi to block the blade, electricity shooting over Ryuu's body and hurling him backward. He flipped, landing on the water, then leapt into the air as Aoi stabbed the water, lightning flying out across its surface, dead fish floating to the surface for hundreds of yards. Ryuu flipped, landing on the stone platform again, breathing hard.
"Not bad," Aoi smirked. "You're quick. And you're a lot tougher than I expected. That shock would have knocked most people out."
"Alright, try this!" Ryuu shouted, exhaling a Vacuum Blade onto his tanto and sprinting forward.
He slashed at Aoi and Aoi slashed as well. Except, when their blades met, there was a moment of resistance before the Blade of the Thunder Spirit cut through Ryuu's Vacuum Blade just above the end of the tanto blade, then sliced a gash into Ryuu's chest, electrocuting him as it did and hurling him backward. Just as he landed, an explosion sent waves shooting along the water and Idate took off along the path away from shore, the three Ame genin trying to follow, only for Fu to appear in the way, smashing them all backward. Ryuu turned back to Aoi, sheathing his Tanto.
"So, what kind of jutsu do you want to try next hotshot?" Aoi asked. "This sword can cut through anything. Even chakra."
"Fire Style, Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Ryuu shouted, exhaling a massive ball of fire at Aoi experimentally.
Aoi smirked, slashing upward as the fireball reached him, then back downward, slashing the fireball in half, both halves exploding behind him harmlessly.
"Well alright then," Ryuu smirked. "Guess I finally found that one person Kakashi."
Ryuu drew his tanto again, exhaling a Vacuum Blade onto it and shooting forward. As Aoi slashed at him, Ryuu ducked to the side, escaping the blow and standing mere inches from Aoi, splitting his side open. Aoi shouted in pain as Ryuu activated his Sharingan, stepping around behind Aoi but keeping close then spinning. As Aoi, expecting Ryuu to have tried to put distance between them after his attack, spun, Ryuu caught the back of his elbow, stopping his slash before leaning back and slashing upward, splitting the back of Aoi's shoulder open as Aoi leapt away, forcing him to drop the Blade of the Thunder Spirit, which Ryuu caught. He tucked it into his own ninja tool pouch, letting his Vacuum Blade fade and sheathing his tanto, preparing himself for a Taijutsu fight, Aoi doing the same, his injured arm seeming unable to fully form a fist.
"Let's see how you do without your favorite toy," Ryuu said.
Aoi darted forward, using his wounded arm to block Ryuu's punch before slamming his own into Ryuu's jaw, moving faster than Ryuu expected. Ryuu staggered backward, turning, and Aoi slammed a kick into his gut. As Ryuu staggered away from the kick, Aoi yanked his tanto out of its sheath, holding it in reverse grip and spinning to slash Ryuu across the stomach. Ryuu drew his trench knife, blocking the blade and shoving it upward, splitting Aoi's abdomen open, then slamming his own kick into Aoi's ribs, launching him back to shore before catching his tanto and putting it away. He followed Aoi, drawing a kunai in his left hand, and Aoi stood, holding his injured arm to his abdomen, backing away from Ryuu.
"Time to finish this fight," Ryuu said, putting the knives away. "It'll take three seconds. Ready? One..." He darted forward, slipping under a punch. "Two..." he slammed his hand into Aoi's chest, placing a gravity seal at ten times Aoi's normal weight, sending him crashing to the ground. "Three." He placed a paralysis seal on Aoi that grew more powerful the harder Aoi tried to move in order to break it, effectively making it impossible for him to move.
Once finished, Ryuu stepped back, smirking at Aoi before looking to the side, seeing the three Ame genin tied up off to the side of the path. He walked over, placing a paralysis seal on them too before removing the gravity seal on Aoi. Then, he left a clone to watch the four of them and took off along the path again. After about an hour of not catching up to anyone, including running past the halfway mark, Ryuu released his gravity seals, streaking along the path rapidly. Then, finally, after another half hour, he caught up to Idate and Fu just after a rope bridge, reapplying his gravity seals.
"You're actually really fast," Idate said. "Impressive."
"Like I said, you're not the only one who trains with weights," Ryuu said. "Aoi and his genin are being watched by one of my clones. They shouldn't be going anywhere, though."
Fu nodded and they all continued to run in silence. As they turned around a corner onto a straight away, Ryuu saw Rokusuke up ahead, managing to maintain his lead.
"Why are we in back?" Ryuu asked. "Let's go Idate, get a move on!"
Idate growled in annoyance, picking up the pace, slowly gaining on him. Then, suddenly, Ryuu skidded to a stop, swearing harshly and spinning, drawing his tanto in time to block a katana blade. Fu spun as well, shouting for Idate to keep running. Idate did just that as Ryuu leapt backward, landing beside Fu and watching as Mhao smirked, resting his katana, identical to his last one, on his shoulder, Aoi stepping up beside him with one that looked nearly identical, except with a gold grip rather than blue.
"Mhao," Ryuu snarled. "How?"
"I told you we'd meet again," Mhao grinned. "I hope you didn't forget me."
He lowered his sword to his side, blue flames springing to life along the blade, Aoi's blade lighting up with electricity.
"Fu, can you handle Aoi?" Ryuu asked.
"Easily," Fu nodded. "You settle things with this freak."
Ryuu nodded and charged. As he met Mhao, he slashed, Mhao blocking it before Ryuu launched pure Wind Style chakra out of his foot, blasting him forward, shoving Mhao backward along the path for several hundred meters before Mhao dug his feet in, skidding to a stop. Then, Mhao shoved Ryuu's tanto upward and slashed at him, Ryuu darting sideways out of the path of Mhao's blade. Mhao spun, slashing at Ryuu, who leapt backward, an arc of blue flames following. Ryuu leapt into the air over the flames, watching them explode against several trees, igniting them as well, then landed on his feet, slashing twice, sending two arcs of flame at Mhao. Mhao slashed his own sword twice, their flames meeting in the middle and exploding. Then, Mhao burst out of the smoke, slashing at Ryuu only for Ryuu to erupt into a fireball, blasting Mhao backward into a tree. He growled angrily, pushing himself up and looking around, finding Ryuu standing on the side of a tree, watching him.
"I hope you didn't forget me," Ryuu said. "Otherwise, this fight will play out no differently than before."
Mhao snarled in rage as Ryuu slashed, sending out an arc of flame and vanishing, reappearing a short distance behind Mhao and firing another. Mhao leapt over the strikes, the flames meeting and exploding, blasting Mhao higher into the air. Then, Ryuu appeared over Mhao, spinning.
"Leaf Hurricane!" Ryuu shouted, slamming his foot into Mhao and sending him blasting into the ground, shattering it.
Mhao stood, slashing upward and sending a massive wall of flames at Ryuu. Ryuu shouted in pain before exploding into smoke, Mhao's jaw dropping.
"Hidden Waterfall Hurricane!" Ryuu shouted from above Mhao, a pair of clones holding his feet and firing Gale Palms to send him streaking downward, Ryuu's fist crashing into Mhao, blasting him into the ground again. Then, Ryuu leapt backward, forming hand seals. "Fire Style, Dragon Flame Bomb!"
The stream of flames shot out of his mouth at Mhao, only for Mhao to slash it, the flames dispersing in a wave heading for Ryuu. Then, Fu grabbed him, yanking him out of the way as she flew to the ground, a blue fireball just barely missing them. Ryuu growled in annoyance as Mhao stood, Aoi appearing beside him, smirking.
"That sword gives him a huge power boost," Fu said. "This will be a pain in the neck."
"Try this!" Mhao snarled, the flames on his sword shooting into the air. "Fire Style, Uroboros!"
Ryuu swore, grabbing Fu and using the Body Flicker Technique to dodge aside as a massive blue snake made of flames erupted out of Mhao's sword as he slashed, a piercing shriek filling the air as it began to rampage around, leaving a trail of ash in its wake.
"What the hell is that thing?" Fu gaped.
"It's an exceedingly nasty Fire Style Jutsu," Ryuu said as Fu launched a powerful stream of water at it, the water evaporating on contact and not seeming to hurt it at all.
Finally, the snake stopped, hissing as it watched them, the ground around it beginning to smoke.
"It's like living fire, and the more it consumes, the more powerful it grows," Ryuu said. "Which is a problem because it can consume almost anything. Even its own flames."
"How do we defend against something like that?" Fu asked. "Kill Mhao?"
"No," Ryuu said. "It's self-sustaining once formed. However, when Yugao and Kakashi taught me about this jutsu, they also taught me a way to beat it."
"How?" Fu asked.
"Hold your breath and plug your nose," Ryuu said. "This is going to hurt, a lot."
Fu did as instructed and Ryuu formed several hand seals before holding his hands out to his sides.
"Wind Style, Vacuum Lock!"
All at once, Fu felt like she was being pulled in every direction. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting to ignore the utter agony she was feeling. Every cell in her body seemed to be on fire. The seconds ticked by. One...two...five...ten. Finally, it ended and Fu fell to her knees, gasping for breath, tears of pain running down her cheeks. She looked up and around, finding Ryuu lying on the ground, blood running out of his eyes, nose, and mouth. She shouted in fear, beginning to heal him instantly.
"Sorry," Ryuu said. "No...oxygen...no fire."
Fu looked around, realizing that the snake had been extinguished. It had worked. Though, it clearly wasn't a pleasant jutsu. She turned her eyes to Mhao and Aoi, who were struggling to pick themselves up off the ground, only barely faring better than Ryuu. Finally, they were on their feet and Fu stepped back from Ryuu, who pushed himself up unsteadily.
"I'm tired of this fight," Ryuu said, not even able to keep his Sharingan active now. "Mhao, let's finish this."
Mhao streaked toward him, but just as Mhao slashed, Ryuu's legs gave out, Ryuu falling backward, avoiding the slash. Then, as Mhao tripped over Ryuu's feet, Ryuu placed a hand to his chest. Suddenly, a massive glowing red seal shot across Mhao's body, Mhao screaming in pain as he crashed to the ground, clutching his sides. Fu shot forward, slipping under a slash from Aoi, drawing her own tanto and standing so close to him that she was actually pressing against him. He moved to leap backward and she jumped with him. Then, as he grabbed her by the throat to force some distance between them, a Water Blade sprouted from his chest, impaling her as well, only for her to explode into a cloud of smoke. He looked back to see the real Fu standing below him before falling limp. Then, she threw his body aside, picking up his sword and channeling chakra into her knee, snapping the blade of the sword over it. Then, she walked over to Mhao and Ryuu as Ryuu stood, forming the Seal of Confrontation. The seal, three rings of seal script wrapping around his torso, suddenly flashed and faded, his body falling apart with the lines the script had occupied as the cuts. Ryuu sighed, falling against Fu, who supported him for a moment before picking him up in a piggyback and beginning to run. As she did, he passed out.
When he woke up again, he was lying on the deck of a ship, Ibiki standing on a ramp and watching Idate carefully, Fu sitting beside Ryuu.
"Big Brother," Idate said.
"Who are you?" Ibiki asked. "The only person who ever called me that died three years ago."
"No, I didn't," Idate said. "I ran away. But I've decided that it's long past time for me to return, and face my punishment for what I did."
Ibiki studied his brother for a few more moments before nodding, turning and walking onto the ship, Idate doing the same. Then, Ibiki returned with a pair of handcuffs, Idate allowing him to put them on.
"Brother, in my shirt on the right side, there's a concealed pocket with a folding knife," Idate said. "Will you hold onto it for me?"
Ibiki nodded, pulling the knife out and staring at it for a moment before slipping it into his pocket. "Helmsman, take us home."
The man steering the ship nodded, spinning the wheel and sailing away from land.
"Did we win?" Ryuu croaked, Fu smiling down at him.
"Idate won by a mile," Fu smiled. "Don't worry. You shouldn't have to stay in the hospital this time. I'll have the damage healed up by the time we get back."
Ryuu nodded, smiling. Then, he closed his eyes, passing out again.
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