I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Him Again
Ryuu watched as the flames slowly died down, revealing the blue demon-themed katana and the man holding it, the same that Ryuu had killed twice now. Fu recognized him too, and drew her own tanto and the silver kunai he had given her, Ryuu's eyes flicking to his tanto, stabbed into the floor halfway between himself and Mhao.
"Who is this guy?" Naruto asked.
"Stay back," Ryuu said. "His name's Mhao. He's an expert in Kenjutsu and has powerful Fire Style Ninjutsu. I've also killed him twice now."
"But that's impossible," Sakura said. "You must not have killed him."
"He decapitated him and burned him both times," Fu said. "And before you ask, no, he doesn't have any brothers."
"Why are you here Mhao?" Ryuu asked.
"I told you, I want to kill you," Mhao said, walking to Ryuu's tanto and ripping it out of the ground, tossing it to Ryuu, who caught it, eyeing Mhao suspiciously. "But don't worry. It won't be nearly as boring this time. I brought friends with me this time."
Ryuu's mouth fell open as more pale-skinned, white-haired shinobi began to step out of the shadows, coming out from behind pillars. There was a vast array of weapons, and a massive number of enemies. And as if that wasn't enough, Arashi suddenly stood from where he had been lying behind Mhao. His body was blackened at first, but Jigumo and Kamakiri twisted together then shot back before stopping, shaking all of the soot and ash off of their disgusting body, leaving them virtually unharmed.
"Dammit," Ryuu growled. "This is going to end very badly for us."
"How strong are they?" Yugao asked.
"Each is between roughly mid to high chunin, maybe low jonin," Ryuu said. "And Mhao used Fire Style Uroboros last time."
"Great," Yugao sighed, drawing her sword. "Okay. Who's dealing with what?"
"Naruto, can you handle Arashi?" Ryuu asked.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "No problem."
"Good," Ryuu nodded. "Tayuya, you and Sakura keep Sasame safe. This is going to be very unpleasant."
Tayuya nodded and she and Sakura ran to where Sasame was hidden. Then, Ryuu shot forward, flames rolling off of his tanto as it crashed into Mhao's sword, Mhao's blue flames fighting against Ryuu's instantly. Ryuu almost instantly lost track of everyone else as he shoved Mhao's sword away and they began to leap around the room, slashing at each other as well as launching fireballs and arcs of flame at each other whenever they were too far away to use their blades. An explosion rang out on Ryuu's left at one point and a pale arm sailed past him. Then, he leapt at Mhao, their blades clashing, and Mhao flipped backward, kicking Ryuu away. As Ryuu flipped, another explosion rang out and Naruto sailed past him, flipping and landing on a pillar before sprinting down it and back at Arashi, forming multiple clones as he did.
Ryuu leapt to the side as Mhao crashed into the pillar where he had been and slashing rapidly, several arcs of flame exploding against the pillar, Mhao having escaped. Then, as he landed on another pillar, he sensed Tailed Beast Chakra. Mhao stopped as he landed on a pillar as well, both looking toward the source and seeing Fu, wielding a khakkhara having reddish orange chakra flowing off of her as she absolutely demolished several of the pale shinobi. Several would leap at her at a time and she would smash them away, spinning the khakkhara expertly and fending off six attackers at once. As Ryuu watched, the khakkhara snapped in half as one of the shinobi blocked it with a massively over-sized sword with a rectangular blade. Fu didn't miss a beat and stepped forward, driving the broken end of what she still held onto into the shinobi's heart, hurling him and drawing her tanto and kunai again, flipping over another shinobi and lopping off his head with the tanto.
"Die!" Mhao shouted, only for Ryuu to spin and slash his sword aside, slamming his foot into Mhao's gut and launching him into the ceiling.
He flipped to the ground just as Kamakiri's sheers spun through the air, blasting through multiple pillars before flying back toward Arashi. Ryuu flicked his wrist, a water whip forming and catching the sheers, swinging them around and driving the blades down into the back of a shinobi who had been charging at Sakura and Tayuya instead, killing him. Then, he flipped sideways away from Mhao, Mhao sending out a massive explosion of blue flames, hurling Ryuu away. At the same time, Naruto crashed along the ground, stopping beside Ryuu in a glowing, rainbow, triangle pyramid of transparent chakra, shouting in pain as it slowly shrunk. Ryuu looked to Arashi, seeing Arashi's hands in a triangle as Jigumo and Kamakiri watched. Behind Arashi, Yugao was struggling to fend off eight of the pale shinobi, all wielding different weapons, and behind her, Fu, holding her own against seven, reinforcements seemingly having come to her other opponents aid.
"Don't forget about me as you try to plan a way out of this," Mhao said, walking toward him, sword resting on his shoulder. "Forget it. You're not escaping this time. There's just too many of us."
Ryuu glanced past Mhao, eyes falling on Tayuya, and he smirked. She was exactly what they needed. Ryuu sprinted at Mhao, blocking his first slash and shoving it to the side, slashing at Mhao and making him flip over Ryuu. Then, just as he did, Ryuu's free hand hurled a flute from his ninja tool pouch at Tayuya before he spun, drawing his trench knife and blocking Mhao's blade, skidding backward.
"Tayuya!" Ryuu shouted, Tayuya snapping out of the fact that he had trusted her enough to not only give him a weapon, but a flute. "Now!"
"Demonic Flute, Chains of Fantasia!" Tayuya shouted before beginning to play the flute.
Ryuu grit his teeth, hoping he hadn't just made a huge mistake. However, as Mhao moved to attack him again, Mhao suddenly went rigid, ceasing to move. Then, in an invisible wave spreading through the room, all of their enemies halted similarly, even Arashi. Ryuu sighed in relief. Then, suddenly, a massive, blindingly white explosion erupted from the barrier Naruto had been in. It began to spread rapidly, blasting pillars apart as it went. However, it stopped before reaching anyone else, and faded, Naruto standing and dusting himself off.
"You okay?" Ryuu asked.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded, looking around. "Shall we?"
"Get them!" Ryuu shouted.
He sped forward, splitting Mhao up the middle before exhaling a Vacuum Blade onto his tanto and spinning, slashing rapidly and cutting Mhao into countless pieces before smashing the sword, hilt and all, into almost as many pieces. He looked around, seeing Fu standing in a circle of corpses, and Yugao finishing off the last of her opponents. Then, he looked to Naruto, watching as he formed a Rasengan with a clone, then charged, slamming it into Arashi and blasting him backward into a pillar as Tayuya lowered the flute. Instantly, both Jigumo and Kamakiri's faces began to scream in agony, chakra exploding out of their eyes and mouths. Then, Arashi coughed, blood splattering out of his mouth as his body returned to looking human.
"Arashi!" Sasame gasped, running toward him. He smiled, pushing himself up and hugging her as she reached him. "Hold on! They're medical ninja! They can heal you!"
"No," Arashi said. "Even if they did, look. The jutsu is already beginning to regenerate."
Sasame looked, seeing Jigumo and Kamakiri's bodies clutching at his legs. Just then, the ground shook, the ceiling began to crack before massive chunks began to fall. Before anyone could be hit, a massive blue and yellow toad appeared, smashing the stones already falling.
"Pervy Sage!" Naruto shouted.
"Sorry I took so long, I was a bit held up," Jiraiya said. "Though, it looks like you all had a worse time of it."
"Hey, where's Kagero?"
"I'm here," Kagero said, stepping out from behind a pillar, a pale shinobi held in her right hand by the back of his collar and a deep gash in her left side, her white dress mostly stained red already.
Ryuu ran over, catching her as she collapsed and setting her down, quickly starting to heal her side. It was slow, the wound struggling to stay as it was. But after a moment, it began to seal, closing up faster by the second until she was fully healed, if exhausted from blood loss. Ryuu picked her up, leaping to the toad and setting her down, the others all joining him there, minus Sasame. Sasame was pleading with Arashi to come with them. Finally, Arashi took her in his arms as though he was going to jump to the toad, then threw her. Ryuu caught her just as the toad leapt out through a hole in the ceiling, the rest of the ceiling collapsing, crushing Arashi. Sasame screamed and fought to get back to her brother, so Ryuu put her to sleep with a Genjutsu again. Then, as the toad landed on a mountain a ways away from the hideout, they all watched as nearly a mile's worth of trees shifted as the hideout collapsed.
"That place was massive," Ryuu said.
"No doubt," Naruto said. "Now what?"
"Before anything, Yugao, I think you owe Tayuya an apology," Ryuu said.
Yugao sighed, bowing. "I'm sorry for not trusting you. Thank you for saving us."
"No, you had every right not to trust me," Tayuya said. "In your shoes, I definitely wouldn't have even allowed me on this mission. But, I'm glad I could help. Here, you can have this." She held out the flute."
"Keep it," Yugao said. "We might need you if any more of those freaks show up."
Tayuya smiled and nodded.
"Alright," Jiraiya said. "Back to Hanzaki."
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Ryuu said. "Didn't Hanzaki try to rape Yugao?"
"No," Jiraiya said.
"Excuse me?" Yugao asked.
"Hanzaki explained it to me," Jiraiya said. "The ones that tried to rape you were from the Shiin Clan."
"It wouldn't surprise me," Kagero said. "The members of the Shiin Clan have always been immoral bastards."
"Then why was Hanzaki there while I was being assaulted?" Yugao asked.
"Who, the guy with the long back hair and the freakishly pale face?" Jiraiya asked. "That wasn't Hanzaki. Remember the man I showed up with? That was Hanzaki."
"Wait, when we first met up with you, you said that the people who tried to rape her claimed to be Hanzaki's men from the Fuma clan," Ryuu said.
"No I didn't," Jiraiya said. "I said that all I learned that was useful was that Hanzaki and his men were from the Fuma clan. But the group that tried to rape Yugao wasn't Hanzaki or his men."
"I'm confused," Naruto said. "Who raped who?"
"No one raped anyone," Yugao said. "Jeez. Let's just find the real Hanzaki and we'll figure it out from there."
Jiraiya nodded and they all headed to the village where Yugao had been assaulted. Once there, a tall man with broad shoulders, a red headband, a black muscle shirt under a sleeveless white cloak, and light purple pants met them at the gate. Jiraiya introduced him to everyone as Hanzaki. Then, Hanzaki's men arrived, all with cuts and bruises from a recent fight.
"You're the one that was...attacked, in the alleyway, right?" Hanzaki asked.
"Yes," Yugao said. "He claimed to be named Hanzaki, and his men claimed to be from the Fuma clan."
"No," Hanzaki said. "They were the Shiin Clan. His name was Shiin, and we've driven them out of town. Though, it wasn't easy."
Yugao nodded and turned to Kagero. "Look after Sasame. I don't trust this guy."
"I will," Kagero nodded.
"I'll help," Kotohime, a woman who had apparently given Jiraiya a hard time in Orochimaru's hideout but who he had saved from being crushed and then brought back with them, added.
"Sasame, will you be okay?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Sasame nodded. "Thanks to all of you."
They all nodded, saying their goodbyes and left the town, all heading toward home. Before they had gone far, however, Ryuu stopped, turning back.
"Kagero!" Ryuu shouted. "How do you make your wings?"
"It's just focused chakra!" Kagero shouted back.
"Focused chakra?" Ryuu blinked. "I can do that. I think. Thank you!"
She waved and he turned, catching up with the others.
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