I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Painter
Ryuu glanced at Fu as they neared the village. She was unusually quiet today, but she didn't seem mad, or upset. More like she was thinking.
"You okay?" Ryuu asked.
"I'm fine," Fu smiled. "I just..."
"What is it?" Ryuu asked.
"I'm really sorry," Fu said. "I shouldn't have let it get that far."
"In case you didn't notice, I wasn't trying to stop you," Ryuu said. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm not mad."
"You're not?" Fu asked.
"Of course not," Ryuu smiled. "Last night was the best night of my life. I got to spend the entire day with you, and I got to spend half the night making out with you. What is there to be mad about."
"Going too far," Fu said quietly, blushing slightly.
"I don't regret anything," Ryuu said. "And I never will."
Fu smiled and nodded, slipping her hand into his. "Thank you."
"Any time," Ryuu smiled.
Just then, they reached a hill overlooking the village, finding Naruto lying on his back, and a girl in a pink kimono off to the side, painting. Ryuu blinked.
"Who's that?" Ryuu asked, nodding at the girl.
"I don't know," Fu said.
"Hey Ryuu, hey Fu," Naruto greeted before spotting the girl.
He walked toward her, Ryuu and Fu following. As they reached her, Ryuu saw that she was painting the village, and doing an amazing job of it.
"You're an amazing artist," Ryuu said before noticing the rainclouds over the village in the painting, even though it was a beautiful, sunny day.
"Hey, there's no rain clouds today," Naruto said.
The girl said nothing, using white to trace a portion of cloud, creating the flash of lightning in her painting. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of Ryuu's neck stood on end and he looked up, seeing dark clouds forming above them, filling the sky, lightning flashing high up in them.
"What the..." Ryuu breathed, staring at the clouds, Naruto and Fu doing the same.
Suddenly, the girl swiped down the painting with white, the white streak seeming to glow suddenly before a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky, blasting the roof of the Academy, exploding and starting a fire.
"The Hokage's House!" Naruto gaped.
Ryuu activated his Sharingan, staring at the painting. It was just a painting, and yet, staring at it made the back of his neck tingle. He stared at the girl, having the same feeling, yet seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Something was clearly off, though. There was no way it was a coincidence that she painted a lightning bolt striking the Academy and then suddenly it happened.
"Who are you?" Ryuu asked.
She didn't answer, simply walking away with her packed up painting supplies. Ryuu stared at the Academy, seeing two streams of water being sprayed on the building already.
"Fu, go see if you can help with the fire," Ryuu said. "And make sure no one's hurt."
Fu nodded, extending her wings and taking off toward the Academy. Naruto and Ryuu chased after the girl.
"Wait!" Ryuu called out. "Stop right there!"
Suddenly, a pair of Medical Shinobi with Hidden Leaf Headbands appeared, one grabbing her as the other injected a sedative. As Ryuu and Naruto rushed forward, an ANBU appeared in front of them wearing a dog mask with two green markings on each cheek and with short messy brown hair.
"Naruto Uzumaki, Ryuu Uchiha, you both need to leave this area immediately," the ANBU said. "You are not to breath a word of what you saw here."
Ryuu blinked in surprise, watching as the ANBU walked over to the two Medical Shinobi and the unconscious girl.
"Wait a minute!" Naruto shouted. "You need to tell me what the hell is going on here!"
"Don't try to interfere," the ANBU warned.
Then, a cloud of smoke shot up around them, all of them vanishing. Ryuu stared at the spot they had occupied a moment before before letting his Sharingan deactivate.
"Naruto," Ryuu said. "We need to head back to the village."
Naruto nodded and they turned, heading to the village. Once there, Ryuu headed to the Academy, heading for Tsunade's office and stopping outside the door, finding Sakura eavesdropping. He silently walked around her, leaning on the wall opposite the door from her.
"Alright Kurenai," Tsunade said. "If you think it's best for you to step down, then that's up to you. I'll start finding a new Jonin to take over as Team Eight's captain."
Ryuu's eyes widened and he backed away from the door, motioning for Sakura to leave, which she did instantly. Then, Ryuu walked toward the door again as it opened and Kurenai glanced at him, smiling, before turning and walking away. Ryuu stepped into the Hokage's office and closed the door, placing a silencing seal on it.
"Ryuu?" Tsunade said. "Welcome back. Is something up?"
"Who is she?" Ryuu asked.
"Who?" Tsunade asked.
"The girl that created the storm and made a lightning bolt hit the Academy by painting it," Ryuu said. "Before I could speak with her, two Medical Core shinobi knocked her out and an ANBU told me and Naruto both to leave it alone before disappearing. So who is she?"
"Shouldn't you be leaving it alone if an ANBU ordered you to?" Tsunade asked.
"Okay, fine," Ryuu said. "Be that way. I assume Kurenai quit in order to deal with the situation, so I'll just follow her."
He opened the door to leave only to stop as Tsunade spoke.
"Ryuu," Tsunade said. "This doesn't concern you."
"On the contrary," Ryuu said. "When someone tries to assassinate my Hokage, it's my duty as a Hidden Leaf Shinobi to find out who and why."
With that, he walked out of the room, leaving the building and heading toward home, only to find Fu and Tayuya walking toward him.
"There you are," Tayuya said. "Yugao wants to talk to you."
Ryuu nodded, following them back to their house, finding Yugao standing in the back yard with Kurenai. He stopped as he saw Kurenai.
"Ryuu," Yugao said. "You're not supposed to be talking about it."
"So you heard already, huh?" Ryuu smirked. "Figures. Are either of you going to fill me in?"
"Her name is Yakumo Kurama," Kurenai said.
"Ah, the infamous Kurama clan," Ryuu nodded. "Genjutsu Kekkei Genkai, if I remember correctly."
"That's right," Kurenai said. "When she was younger, I was assigned as her sensei. I was supposed to teach her to control the Kekkei Genkai. But it was more powerful with her than the others. However, she has health issues, she's not physically strong enough to be a shinobi. She had heard about Lee trying to become a genin using Taijutsu alone back then, and she wanted to be like him. She wanted to be a genin through Genjutsu alone. But I didn't have enough faith in her. I refused her request to be trained as a shinobi. When she refused to give up, I placed a sealing jutsu on her, blocking her power."
"Why?" Ryuu asked. "Is there something dangerous about the Kekkei Genkai?"
"Yes," Kurenai nodded. "The Kekkei Genkai is so powerful, that there are cases where the shinobi that has it can't control its full power. In those cases, a second personality is born. This personality is referred to as Ido. It's a monster that thrives on fear, hate, and destruction, and that takes control of the shinobi, using their Kekkei Genkai to kill. The reason it's a secret, is that the Third Hokage ordered me to train her, and that, if I couldn't teach her to control the Kekkei Genkai, thereby destroying the Ido, I would have to seal the Ido and the Kekkei Genkai both away."
"So, in a way, she's like a Genjutsu Jinchuriki?" Ryuu asked.
"I suppose that's one way to look at it," Kurenai nodded.
"Hold on," Tayuya said. "I'm confused. How can this Ido thing kill if the Kekkei Genkai is just Genjutsu?"
"The Kekkei Genkai isn't normal Genjutsu," Ryuu said. "It's Genjutsu so powerful that it becomes real."
"No way," Tayuya breathed. "That's possible?"
"Only if you're a Kurama, and lucky enough to have the Kekkei Genkai," Ryuu said. "Anyway, what changed?"
"The monster took control of her and burned Yakumo's home, killing her parents, but she didn't know about the Ido," Kurenai explained. "She thought the fire was started by order of the Third Hokage, believing that we intended to kill her for being a threat."
Ryuu nodded. "Yeah, that'd probably make me mad too. What do we do?"
"I'm going to go and see her tomorrow," Kurenai said. "I need to ensure that the Ido hasn't taken control."
"And I'm guessing you want me to help since I have the ability to see through Genjutsu?" Ryuu asked.
"Yes," Kurenai said.
"Alright," Ryuu nodded. "But why not now?"
"Just trust me on this, okay?" Kurenai asked. "We leave tomorrow. Tayuya and Fu will be coming with us."
Ryuu nodded and Kurenai left. Ryuu sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Then, he turned, heading inside to get something to eat.
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