I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Begun
Ryuu opened his eyes as the pounding on his front door continued. He pulled the blankets off of himself, standing and pulling his shirt on, Fu looking up at him just as they pounded again.
"Ryuu! Wake up!"
It was Naruto. Ryuu sighed, changing into a pair of black pants, a long-sleeved black shirt, his flak jacket with his tanto attached to the back, and his forehead protector. He took a long, slow breath, then turned to Fu, who knelt on the edge of the bed, wearing only her underwear. She kissed him softly, holding him there for a moment before he pulled back, smiling.
"Be careful," Fu said. "And when you get back, it had better not be in the hospital."
"It won't be," Ryuu said. "I'm sick of that building. I'm not going anywhere near it."
Fu nodded, smiling, and kissed him again as Naruto began to pound on his front door again. Finally, Ryuu pulled away and turned, walking out of his room and to the front door, opening it and finding his team assembled. He pulled his sandals on as Shikamaru spoke.
"You look like you're ready for a fight," Shikamaru said.
"Would you all be here, and be pounding on my door so urgently, if we weren't?" Ryuu asked, knowing full well that Shikamaru had had the truth explained to him from Tsunade. "So, what's up?"
"Sasuke took off to go and train with Orochimaru," Naruto said. There's been a report of there being four Hidden Sound Village ninja escorting him, each at least Jonin level."
"Above, if I had to guess," Ryuu said, standing and walking past them out of the house. "Who's in charge of the recovery mission?"
"You are," Shikamaru said.
"Good," Ryuu nodded. "Do we have a report on the Sound Village ninja?"
"Yes," Shikamaru said, handing him a stack of four folders.
He took them, opening them and seeing it had all of the information Kabuto had given them in an official-looking format, though there were no pictures. He leafed through them.
"We need to go now!" Naruto snapped, slapping the folders out of Ryuu's hands just as Ryuu had closed the last one. "Fuck the folders! We need to get Sasuke!"
"Relax," Ryuu said. "Sasuke wouldn't go willingly."
"He did go willingly!" Naruto shouted. "That's what we've been saying."
Ryuu nodded, remaining silent for a moment as he looked at them all. Neji, Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba, himself, Choji, Sai, and Shin.
"Choji, you're the best powerhouse we have besides myself," Ryuu said. "You'll handle Jirobo, their powerhouse."
"Wait, we're not going to use any special plans?" Shikamaru gaped.
"If we can, yes," Ryuu said. "But my best guess is that they're crunched for time, so they'll leave behind individual members of their team as a delaying tactic. If that's the case, Sasuke is our priority. So we have no choice but to do the same. If we do end up splitting up, Choji, you handle Jirobo. Neji, you handle Kidomaru, the spider-looking guy. Kiba, Akamaru, and Shin will handle Sakon and Ukon, remember, they have a Kekkei Genkai that allows them to merge bodies. You're not fighting only one of them, it's two. Shikamaru, you're the best strategist, so you'll fight their strategist, Tayuya. Sai, myself, and Naruto will deal with Sasuke as needed."
"Great, can we go now?" Naruto asked.
Ryuu nodded and they all took off at a sprint, leaving the village. As they ran, Shin began to cough, falling back a bit before catching back up, wiping blood on his pants. Ryuu dropped back beside him with Sai.
"Are you okay?" Ryuu asked.
"Not really," Shin said. "I'm sick. There's nothing that can be done for it. It's not important."
"Have Tsunade take a look at you when we get back," Ryuu said.
"No, really, it's fine," Shin smiled before dropping his voice. "Besides, we're Root ANBU. We're to be forced to fight each other to the death to kill our emotions off once we get back."
"Yeah fuck that," Ryuu said. "When we get back, I'm having Tsunade get you out of Root. And arrest Danzo."
Shin smiled, shaking his head. "It's fine, really."
"No," Ryuu said. "It's not."
Then, Ryuu moved back up to the front, looking to Shikamaru who gave him a knowing and stern look.
"What do we do if he's stronger than we expect?" Shikamaru asked, Ryuu knowing he meant Kimimaro.
"Leave that to me and Sai," Ryuu said. "We'll handle him."
Shikamaru sighed, nodding. Ryuu thought of something and turned to the others, effectively running backward.
"By the way," Ryuu said. "These are Orochimaru's top henchmen, right?"
"Some of them," Shikamaru nodded, dreading what Ryuu was thinking.
"Good," Ryuu nodded. "I don't expect much, but if there is any way at all that you can capture even one alive, do so. Sakon and Ukon would have the most helpful intel, being the leaders, but since they're also the most deadly, I sincerely doubt they'll be captured alive. Shikamaru, you're the best bet to catch one alive. And Tayuya is smart, so she'll probably have a lot of useful intel."
Shikamaru groaned but nodded. "I'll see what I can do, but there's no guarantee any of us will even win our fights."
"Oh we'll win," Ryuu smirked. "Let's pick up the pace. We don't want them getting away with our friend."
Ryuu huffed, staring up at the sealing tag. First he sensed their friends from the Hidden Sound getting into a fight, then they run into a perimeter barrier. Lovely. "Neji, how far around?"
"Just a moment," Neji said, scanning the forest. "Not too far. Five hundred meters to the left."
"Let's go," Ryuu said, taking off again.
As they ran, they kept on the alert for more traps. Shikamaru had been right when he said that the Sound Four would be on high alert and would be leaving traps. Not long after the perimeter barrier they found tripwires. After about ten minutes, Shikamaru suddenly caught Naruto less than a second before he set his foot down, using Choji's scarf to hold himself up and pull himself back. Ryuu looked where Naruto was stepping and saw why. There was a second layer of tripwires. While the first layer were hastily and sloppily laid to catch the light, the second layer was camouflaged and in the shadow of the other, hiding them. He was amazed he didn't pick it up.
"They're clever," Neji said.
"They may have stopped to rest, and are using this to try and help them do it more safely," Ryuu said. "Unless someone's injured. Neji."
"Right," Neji nodded, activating his Byakugan and looking ahead. "I see them."
"Sasuke?" Ryuu asked.
"I don't see him," Neji said. "But there's a container with them, big enough for a body, and with sealing jutsus all over it."
"That's probably him," Ryuu said. So much for stalling for time. "Let's go. And be careful about it. We need to make sure there are no other traps, and that we don't alert them to our presence too soon."
They all nodded, spreading out through the trees, keeping silent. However, as they were sneaking closer, Ryuu activated his Sharingan, stopping as he saw chakra flowing through a spiderweb to his right.
"Oh shit!" Ryuu growled.
No sooner had he realized their mistake did a massive explosion go off to his right, sending Shikamaru and Neji flying out of the trees. Ryuu used the Body Flicker Technique to get to the edge of the explosion, where they wouldn't be looking, and watched what was happening. As he watched, he looked down, seeing webbing attached to his feet. He swore, forming a chakra scalpel and cutting himself free, glad that Kabuto was right about the chakra scalpel.
"When?" Ryuu breathed before it clicked.
The tripwires had had a third layer, webbing. He watched as Kidomaru yanked his hand, pulling all of the others into the clearing. Kiba hurled a smoke bomb, but Kidomaru kept the webbing moving and high in the air, keeping everyone's feet above them until the smoke cleared. Then, Shikamaru caught them with his shadow. However, before he could do anything else, several shuriken flew out of the trees at Shikamaru, forcing him to release them to dodge it, receiving a few cuts.
"Earth Style Barrier, Earth Dome Prison!" Jirobo shouted suddenly, slamming his hands into the ground and forming a dome around Naruto and the others, placing his hands on it and channeling his chakra through it.
After a moment, Ryuu saw the others' chakra appearing in the dome and flowing into Jirobo. "Yeah, that's not happening."
He appeared beside Jirobo, slashing downward with his tanto and forcing Jirobo to leap away, Sakon giving him the chance to escape by blocking the tanto with a kunai, kicking Ryuu backward. Ryuu flipped, landing on his feet as the side of the dome exploded, the others walking out of it.
"Thanks Ryuu," Shikamaru said. "Now then, we'll be taking Sasuke with us."
"I'm thinking, no," Sakon said, leaping backward.
Just then, a massive chunk of the ground under them broke free, hurling them away from the others. Ryuu flipped, forming several hand seals and placing his hand on the chunk of stone, the stone shattering and flying away from them, allowing them to land safely, finding everyone but Jirobo gone.
"I knew it," Ryuu said. "They're in a rush. Choji, can you handle him?"
"Yeah," Choji nodded. "He's mine."
"Yeah right, kid," Jirobo smirked. "I'm gonna crush all of you!"
Naruto and Kiba leapt at Jirobo and he swatted them both aside with ease. His strength really was immense. However, as soon as he stepped forward, Choji crashed into his side, expanded and spinning like a boulder, blasting him sideways away from the others, all of whom took off after the rest of the Sound Four.
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