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

Interlude

Ryuu stood as Temari stepped out of the building, glaring at him. He had been waiting for a little under two days for this. He and Fu had managed to fly nonstop to the Hidden Sand Village. However, it had taken him a little longer than he expected. Rather than a day, it had taken him about thirty hours. The rest of the groups that had made it were all around them, gasping and panting for breath from having run the entire way. Well, with the exception of Lee's team, since all they ever did was run. After a few moments of telling everyone that they were the only ones that had passed, Temari turned to Shikamaru, who began backing away.

"I never agreed to-" That was all Shikamaru could get out before Temari grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him into a kiss.

Instantly, Ryuu and his friends began to cheer and laugh, Ryuu noticing several of the Hidden Sand ninja doing the same. Finally, she pulled back, shoving Shikamaru, who fell onto his rear, staring off into the distance in a daze, making everyone laugh harder. Then, they saw Temari's expression and went silent, Ryuu raising an eyebrow. She was glaring at him, but even while doing that, there was a wicked, sadistic grin plastered to her face. Sado chuckled. He was actually excited to see what she'd do to pay him back.

Ryuu turned, raising a hand to wave to her as he and the others headed into the building, everyone else doing the same. Any teams that hadn't done so already, meaning pretty much everyone, went to choose rooms, each team having their own. Then, a little while later, a loudspeaker announced dinner, calling all genin to the cafeteria. Ryuu walked there with his team, finding that they were the last to arrive. As they walked in, they saw that the villages had separated themselves from each other. The Leaf was on one side, the Sand on the other, and the Hidden Rain in the middle. It seemed that the Hidden Grass Village had failed to make it through.

He turned to the food and smiled. There was a massive feast prepared, even with both Choji and Fu present. Ryuu smiled and glanced at Fu, then at the other two villages' shinobi.

"Hey Fu, see if you can get them all to be friendlier with each other," Ryuu said. "You are still good at making friends, right?"

Fu smiled and nodded. Then, her entire personality seemed to shift, becoming the over-excited, bubbly, innocent Fu that had introduced herself by asking him to be her friend. She darted over to the Sand Village table first, greeting everyone rapidly, actually managing to get a few people to agree to be friends. Within minutes, she had most of the table laughing and smiling. Then, one of the guys standing against the wall pushed off the wall. He was tall, muscular, and shirtless. He had on a black cape, a white turban, as was common in Sunagakure, a forehead protector over the turban, a metal face mask styled to look like large pointed teeth interlocked, a brown cloth belt, and black pants. He had purple markings reaching forward from under his cape and curving toward each other, two per side, and ending in points.

"Hey girly," the guy said. "I'll be your friend too."

Ryuu instantly disliked him, based on the tone of his voice and the way his eyes seemed to be incapable of rising or falling beyond Fu's chest.

"But first, I got a job for you," the guy continued. "I should probably warn you, though, it blows."

Fu's smile vanished as fast as Ryuu appeared in front of the genin, holding him against the wall by his throat with one hand.

"I'm sorry," Ryuu snarled. "I must have heard you wrong. What was that thing you just said to my girlfriend?"

"Let him go, Ryuu," Neji said. "We don't need to cause any trouble."

"I'll let him go when he apologizes to Fu," Ryuu said, lifting him a little higher.

The genin glared at Ryuu, apparently being more brave than smart.

"Dude, just apologize!" a Hidden Sand shinobi off to the side with orange hair and a long pointed nose said.

"Fine!" the genin finally choked out. "I'm...sorry!"

"For?" Ryuu said.

"For asking you to suck my dick!" the genin choked out.

Ryuu raised an eyebrow before setting him on his feet, snorting. "Was that really so hard?" As he was walking away, he picked up their entire table with one hand, moving it out of the way and clearing Fu a path. "He's all yours Fu."

The genin's eyes widened before Fu shot forward, stopping in front of him and drilling a knee into his groin. He collapsed instantly, clutching at his damaged manhood and Ryuu set the table back in its place.

"Maybe next time, you'll remember to have respect when you speak to a girl," Ryuu said.

"What the hell!?" one of the Suna genin demanded, this one wearing a brown mask with black over the eyes. "I thought you said if he apologized you'd let him go!"

"One, I did let him go," Ryuu pointed out. "Two, he had no respect when he apologized. And three, I can't speak for what Fu does."

"But weren't you protecting her?" the genin asked.

Ryuu snorted in amusement. "She definitely doesn't need protecting from someone like him. But aside from that, no, I wasn't. I just don't like it when people talk to my girlfriend like she's a prostitute."

One of the Hidden Sand genin that Ryuu assumed was in the injured genin's team sprinted forward, throwing a punch at Ryuu, only for Ryuu to suddenly be behind him, hooking his foot through the genin's and tripping him.

"Well well, it looks like we've got a tough guy," Ryuu smiled. "Calm down kid. I'm not looking for a fight. The problem's been dealt with."

"You are the problem!" the genin said, standing and turning to punch him again, Ryuu sighing.

"Stop it!" a feminine voice shouted, the genin stopping and turning to look, Ryuu doing the same, both seeing Matsuri standing. "This is stupid! Stop fighting like children! We're here to enjoy dinner, not start a brawl!"

The genin sighed, walking back to his table, and Ryuu smiled.

"Thank you Matsuri," Ryuu said.

"How do you know my name?" Matsuri asked.

"Ryuu was our team leader when we were sent to help Lord Kazekage rescue you from those four ninja from the Village of Artisans," Neji said. "However, he was captured by a very powerful rogue ninja before we could complete the mission, and spent a year and a half held prisoner."

"Yeah, and when he got back, they rewarded him for not giving up any village secrets and for escaping by demoting him," Tayuya said. "Fuckin assholes."

"It's fine," Ryuu said, fists clenched and eyes squeezed shut, trying to force the memories away. "Let's just enjoy dinner."

He walked back to his table and the others all silently got food, no one especially hungry anymore. Fu got him a plate, as well as piling her own high with food, and the two of them dug in, Ryuu sighing as the memories began to fade again.

"Thanks," Ryuu smiled. "Sorry I ruined things."

"It's alright," Fu smiled. "I think a few will still be my friends. And besides, I was about to do a whole lot worse than that to him."

Ryuu smiled, shaking his head. After everyone had eaten, they all headed back to their rooms. Ryuu lay on his bed, yawning and covering his mouth.

"You got lazy," Tayuya said.

"So?" Ryuu asked. "It's not like resting is really a bad thing. We're staying in a desert for several days starting tomorrow."

"True," Tayuya said.

Just then, there was a scream from outside, Ryuu sitting bolt upright as he recognized it as Choji's voice.

"Fu, go!" Ryuu said.

Fu leapt out the window, taking off instantly and Ryuu followed, Tayuya heading toward the door downstairs. As soon as Ryuu was outside, he held a hand in front of his face, having to squint to see through the sand. He activated his Sharingan to help and saw a massive shadow holding both Choji and Ino in the air. As he flew closer, he could almost swear it was a giant scorpion with two tails. Then, another appendage of the shadow, clearly a claw, grabbed Sakura, holding her up too. He shook his head. Definitely a giant scorpion.

"Hidden Waterfall Hurricane!" Fu shouted, flying down at the thing from above, crashing down on its back and making it shriek in pain, releasing its captives.

Then, as soon as they were free, the scorpion began to flail around, trying to shake Fu off, Fu cheering as she remained in place.

"This is fun!" Fu shouted.

"Just take it down already Fu!" Sakura shouted. "It's dangerous!"

"Aw," Fu sighed. "Okay."

She drew her tanto and drove it down into the scorpion's head, killing it and making it collapse as Ryuu landed beside it and the rest of their friends ran over. Fu jumped to the ground and smiled proudly.

"Good work Fu," Ryuu smiled. "Anybody hurt?"

"We're fine," Sakura said, holding a cut on her shoulder.

"You're bleeding!" Lee gasped.

"I'll be fine," Sakura smiled.

"Just hold still," the Hidden Sand genin Ryuu had marked as a stronger one the first day, the one with the white shirt and brown hair, said, holding a hand over Sakura's injury and healing it within seconds.

Ryuu raised an eyebrow. She was good. Maybe almost as good as Kabuto.

"You're a Medical Ninja," Ryuu said, walking over. "Where'd you learn?"

"My mother," the girl said, holding her hand out. "I'm Ameno."

"Ryuu," Ryuu said, shaking her hand. "You're really good."

"Thank you," Ameno smiled. "And you're dating a very...interesting girl."

"True," Ryuu chuckled. "She's...well, she's Fu. Not much else can be said about her."

Ameno smiled. "Take good care of her. You won't find anyone else like her."

"You kidding?" Ryuu chuckled. "I couldn't get rid of Fu if I tried. I was considered dead for a year and a half and she still waited. If she can do that for me, there's no way I'm letting anything happen to her."

"Good," Ameno smiled.

"What's going on over here?" Might guy demanded, running over with Gaara and Temari. "Just what exactly happened here?"

"Going outside at night is prohibited," Temari said. "The second exam begins before dawn. Hurry up and return to your quarters!"

"We're sorry Temari," Ryuu said. "We-"

"Oh Guy Sensei!" Choji said, running over. "Oh please! We are starving here!"

"What!?" most of the genin, excluding Ino and Sakura, said.

"Choji, you ate more food than Fu!" Ryuu said. "How are you that hungry?"

"It's Choji," Ino said.

"Fair point," Ryuu said.

"What?" Guy asked. "Seriously? You're starving?" He pulled a package of saltine crackers out of his flak and handed it to Choji. "Go back and focus on mundane thoughts, and even that fire will go out. Missing a single meal won't kill you." He turned sideways to them, crossing his arms while giving them what he thought was a hidden thumbs up. "Think of it like part of your training."

Ryuu rolled his eyes and turned back to the barracks. "Goodnight everyone."

hey all said their goodnights, heading inside and splitting up, heading to bed.

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