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

Rescue

Ryuu watched as a drunk man bumped into a sober one, who promptly punched him, dragged him into a building off to the side, then hurled him out through the window a moment later with nothing but his underwear left. He sighed.

"Jeez," Ryuu sighed. "This town may not be trashed and rundown like the last one, but it's even worse than the last one."

Yugao nodded. "I want you all to head to the other side of town and wait for me outside of it. I'll look around town and see if I can learn anything."

"Shouldn't I do it?" Ryuu asked. "I may be a child but I can defend myself against anything these guys throw at me. On the other hand, I'm the only one in our group who no one in the town will try to rape."

Tayuya tensed but Yugao shook her head.

"I'll be fine, Ryuu," Yugao said. "Have some faith in me. I'm not letting anyone rape me. Now go to the other side of town and wait for me like I said."

Ryuu nodded and Yugao walked away, Ryuu and the others leaving town on the far side and waiting a little ways down the road. Just s they stopped, their would-be attacker from the last town tumbled out of the bushes, landing on her hands and knees before clutching at her right shoulder. Ryuu walked over, kneeling in front of her and beginning to heal her, only for her to scramble away from him, drawing a kunai in her left hand.

"I was only trying to heal you," Ryuu said, hands raised.

The girl glared at him suspiciously just before several dozen kunai flew out of the trees. Tayuya and Fu scattered instantly, Ryuu flipping over the girl and grabbing her left arm, hurling her. Then, he used the Body Flicker Technique to avoid a barrage of kunai, catching the girl and turning toward where the kunai had come from. Suddenly, one man with a brown shirt, light blue pants, dark blue hair parted in the middle, and a massive pair of sheers for a weapon appeared beside Ryuu, moving to slash him and the girl, only for Ryuu to step off of his hand, slamming his other foot into the man's head and doing a back-flip, landing on his feet and smirking. As they landed, he looked to the side where Fu was fending off a bald man with similar clothes to Ryuu's opponent, and a scar up through his right eye. Ryuu looked back at his opponent just as the sheers snapped closed on him and the girl. The man chuckled for a moment before the falling halves of both Ryuu and the girl burst into a flock of crows. At the same time, both Fu and Tayuya dissolved into crows as well.

Ryuu sighed as he turned away from the bald man, having finished placing both of them in a Genjutsu together, and turned back to the path, following Fu and Tayuya as they put a bit of distance between themselves and their failed attackers. They soon found a building on the side of the road, one that sat at the top of a large wooden platform with stairs leading up to it. Ryuu leapt over the stairs to the front door and slid it open with his foot, stepping inside and setting the girl on the ground. She had passed out at some point, so Ryuu gently lay her down as Fu and Tayuya walked in. As they did, the girl stirred, jumping away from them, eyes narrowed.

"Relax," Ryuu said. "We're not going to hurt you. We need to treat your wound before it gets any worse. If you would prefer, I can wait outside and Fu can do it."

The girl stared at him for a moment before nodding. Ryuu nodded as well and slid the door open, motioning for Tayuya to follow before stepping outside. He slid the door closed behind him and leaned on the railing, watching the trees below them.

"Will your master be able to find us here?" Tayuya asked.

"Who, Yugao?" Ryuu asked. "Easily. She taught me to sense chakra, so I left a trail of breadcrumbs for her to follow."

"Couldn't those guys that attacked us follow them to?" Tayuya asked.

"I'm sure those three know where we are anyway," Ryuu said.

"Three?" Tayuya blinked.

"There was one watching from underground," Ryuu said. "It's not a big deal. We'll deal with them when they arrive. Until then, there's really nothing to worry about."

"If you say so," Tayuya said. "So, who is this girl?"

"My best bet is that she's related to someone Orochimaru kidnapped and wants to save them," Ryuu said. "She probably thought we were working for Orochimaru and attacked us because of it."

"You're right," a voice behind them said, both turning to find the doors open and the girl standing there, mask removed to reveal long orange hair, reaching her waist. "My name is Sasame Fuma. The person you are referring to is my cousin, Arashi."

Ryuu nodded, motioning for her to head inside and following with Tayuya. The four of them sat in a circle, Ryuu facing the door so that he could react first if anyone unwelcome arrived.

"So, why were our three friends after you?" Ryuu asked.

Sasame began her explanation with a history lesson, explaining that the Feudal Lord of the Land of Rice Paddies went to war with the neighboring countries but lost, resulting in the shinobi clans of the small nation falling into poverty. Many abandoned the Land of Rice Paddies altogether, while others stooped to thievery. Then, she said that an emissary of the Hidden Sound Village had arrived, promising a Hidden Village to be formed in the Land of Rice Paddies, allowing the shinobi clans to return to their former glory. They said that the Hidden Sound Village needed volunteers to serve, and that her cousin had been one of those selected. But then, the shinobi selected had never returned, and no word had ever come from the Hidden Sound Village.

"Don't worry," Ryuu smiled. "If you help us reached the Hidden Sound Village, we'll get your cousin back."

Sasame stared at him in surprise before nodding. Then, Ryuu sighed.

"I think we've overstayed out welcome," Ryuu said.

"Why?" Tayuya asked.

"Look up," Ryuu said.

Tayuya and Sasame both looked, eyes widening as they saw the hundreds of thousands of spiders swarming around on the ceiling. Ryuu inhaled, then looked up, launching a massive fireball that exploded against the spiders, obliterating them all, along with the roof. He and Fu leapt to the top of the wall, looking around outside at the webs covering literally everything for a ways.

"Ninja Art, Wind Spiders," a voice said from all around them. "My babies have spun a trail of the purest silk, and led me right to you. The four of you together shall take our secrets with you to the depths of darkness." He began to laugh and Ryuu rolled his eyes.

"Your spiders don't scare me," Ryuu said. "I met someone else who could summon spiders and who was about five times more terrifying than you. His webbing was practically unbreakable."

"Is that right?" the voice asked. "Well, it's a shame he's not here. I'd love to see which spiders were superior."

"Definitely his," Tayuya said, landing on the wall opposite Fu, Sasame landing on the last wall.

"Born to be born," a deep voice said from all around them. "Breathing but to live. One sunrise and one sunset. Kagero's life, like a mayfly, lasts a single day, but pitying one so ephemeral is, in itself, pitiable. Know that I am at my greatest when lying in the deep and dark of the earth."

The ground began to shake, the building they were on pitching to the side and beginning to tilt dangerously. As it did, a head grew from the ground, which began to sink around it instantly.

"Ninja Art, Antlion Jutsu!" the voice shouted.

The pit rapidly grew until the tower was caught and fell inward. As rocks and trees reached the center, they were dragged under around the person that Ryuu assumed was Kagero, and crushed somewhere below ground. Ryuu and the others leapt off of the building, landing on the side of the pit and beginning to be dragged in. Ryuu formed a shadow clone, who leapt off of Ryuu's foot, and fell at Kagero, forcing him to leap out of the way of a punch before the clone exploded into smoke. As soon as Kagero was airborne, Fu extended her wings, shooting into the air and slamming a punch into Kagero's gut, launching him skyward. Then, she flew down, grabbing the other three and hurling Ryuu at Kagero. Ryuu inhaled, forming hand seals, then, as he reached Kagero, blasted him at point blank range with a Pressure Damage, sending him exploding into a boulder and shattering it. Then, the other two appeared, grabbing Kagero and fleeing. Ryuu flipped, landing beside the pit and walked over to Fu and the others as Yugao arrived. Except, she wasn't alone. Jiraiya, Sakura, and Naruto were all there as well.

"What are you three doing here?" Ryuu asked.

"We were sent to aid you," Jiraiya said. "Hope you don't mind."

"Mind, no," Ryuu said. "Necessary, also no."

"Well, I think it might have been," Jiraiya said. "If I hadn't shown up when I did, your beautiful sensei would have had to blow her cover."

"Oh really?" Ryuu asked. "Why's that?"

"A group of fifty odd bandits decided she looked like an excellent target," Jiraiya said. "She was about to teach them not to mess with her but I intervened and took them down for her. Then, when they found out who I was, they were more than happy to tell me everything they knew."

"Anything useful?" Ryuu asked.

"Only that they were from the Fuma clan, and that their leader's name was Hanzaki or something like that," Jiraiya said. "Sadly, he didn't know where the Hidden Sound Village was."

"Hanzaki and his men are traitors to the Fuma clan," Sasame spoke up. "If you're sure about trying to find the Hidden Sound Village, I can take you there."

"Yes please," Ryuu nodded.

Sasame nodded, turning and beginning to lead them away from the village, the others all following.

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