I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Demon Desert
"We are definitely not alone," Ryuu said, drawing his tanto and trench knife. "Tayuya, you're going to want something sharper than that flute."
Tayuya put it away, drawing a pair of kunai as Fu drew her tanto and silver kunai, both looking around carefully.
"I can't see anything," Tayuya said.
"Be grateful," Ryuu said. "Trust me, it's not a very pleasant sight."
Tayuya rolled her eyes, pulling out a flare.
"No, don't!" Ryuu said, but he was too late.
She struck the flare, holding it up as its light flooded the cavern. It was massive. They were easily several hundred feet deep, and the cavern stretched for close to a quarter mile at its smallest, then continued too far to see in the other direction. The problem was the things all around them. Ants that stood as tall as them, spiders of any and every kind one would expect from a desert, ranging from trapdoor spiders the size of a horse, to tarantulas that were several feet larger, to Camel Spiders the size of a house, there were Emperor Scorpions as tall as Ryuu and as long as a ship with a stinger as long as Ryuu's forearm, Deathstalker Scorpions about three-quarter their size, Fat Tail scorpions the same size as the Emperors, the only difference being their much smaller and sharper claws, and Red Scorpions about the same size as the Deathstalkers. As they looked around at the bugs, the telltale rattle of a most likely gigantic snake echoed through the cavern.
"Put that out, right now," Ryuu said.
"If I do that, we can't see them," Tayuya said.
"If you don't, we die," Ryuu said. "It's attracting them."
Tayuya focused on the front line, and sure enough, they were slowly inching their way forward. She dropped it, stomping on it and using chakra to put it out. Darkness filled the cavern instantly. Ryuu watched the creatures, barely darker shadows against a black background, as they stood motionless.
"Shouldn't we fly out of here?" Tayuya asked.
"If we move, they attack," Ryuu said.
"Aren't you a master of the Body Flicker Technique?" Tayuya asked.
"Tayuya, just shut up and trust me here," Ryuu said. "Orochimaru had most of these types of insects in the hideout I was in. I preferred fighting them over killing people, but they were...well. I fought in the dark, except for one single shaft of it, and any light I made attracted them. They wouldn't go into that one shaft of light, though, only gather around it. So long as I didn't move."
"So we're stuck?" Tayuya asked.
"Yomo is on his way to get us help," Ryuu said.
"From who?" Tayuya asked.
"The first people he finds," Ryuu said.
"So we wait?" Fu asked.
"We wait," Ryuu nodded. "Be ready though. As soon as someone else shows up to help, they'll have to stir the insects up."
"Okay," Fu said.
"We're doomed," Tayuya said.
"Indeed!" a voice shouted from somewhere in the darkness, Ryuu swearing loudly. "I'm so glad my Antlion was able to bate you down here."
"Mhao," Ryuu growled. "So that's how Orochimaru got his hands on these things."
"That's right," Mhao said. "And I had to work long and hard to train them to act as you described. You're welcome. Of course, I could set things off in an instant if I wanted."
"And then you'd be in the same boat," Ryuu said. "I gotta say, though, ambushing me with giant trained bugs. That's pretty creative. I have to give credit where credit is due."
"We can't stay here," Tayuya said. "Once the sun begins to set, we're dead."
"You're right," Ryuu nodded. "However, we can't leave Mhao alive."
"Of course we can't," Tayuya grumbled. "Where the hell is that fucking crow?"
Just then, Yomo cawed loudly above them, circling. They all looked up just as Sakura, Ino, Choji, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Shira, Shira's two teammates, Ameno, and Ameno's teammates all arrived.
"Why are you just standing there?" Sakura shouted.
"They're surrounded," Neji said, Byakugan active and eyes wide with shock.
"Yeah," Shira's shorter teammate agreed.
She had orange hair in a pair of pigtails, orange eyes that were currently freakishly dilated, and wore a mesh belly shirt under a brown flak that also left her midriff exposed, and a pair of jean short shorts. The other teammate had blonde hair in a very bushy and messy ponytail, a pair of folding fans, and a maroon dress with mesh at the top for shoulders and sleeves.
"By what?" Shiro's other teammate asked.
"Bugs," the shorter said. "Sen, you'll have to stay here. Genjutsu doesn't work on them."
"Don't come down here!" Ryuu shouted. "Any movement will make them attack."
"Well then what do you want us to do?" Ino demanded. "Watch you die?"
"Neji, Mhao is down here somewhere," Ryuu said, Neji staring at him before nodding.
"Understood," Neji nodded. "Tenten, you, Sen, and Shishio will cover them from up here. Ino, you help them aim."
"I just said don't come down here!" Ryuu shouted.
"Koji," Ameno said, looking to her blonde teammate. "You stay with me as much as you can."
"Understood," Koji nodded, looking to the other teammate. "Flood the place Shishio."
Ryuu growled in annoyance just as blue fire exploded into existence a long, long way away within the cavern. Then, a second bonfire. Then a third. More began to appear around the edges of the cavern, filling the cavern rapidly with blue light, making it almost as bright as broad daylight. Each bonfire had a Mhao in them, and also spread throughout the cavern were other Homunculi. Ryuu's jaw fell. There were dozens. And all of them were strong.
"Oh," Ryuu breathed. "Okay. You can come down now! Close range skilled fighters only!"
"Do it now!" Koji said.
"Sand Formation, Shisa!" Shishio shouted.
Instantly, sand from both above ground, below ground, and around Ryuu and the others exploded into movement, forming lion glowing with chakra about the same size as Akamaru. All of the lions charged instantly, but so didn't the insects. Ryuu swore as he deflected a stinger with his tanto, streaming chakra along his trench knife and slashing the tail, removing it. Then, he spun, ducking as an ant's jaws snapped closed over him. He darted forward, splitting its underside open with his tanto then leapt onto its back and into the air, extending his wings. A moment later, Fu was by his side, hurling Tayuya out of the pit.
"How do we-" she stopped as a spider leapt off of the ground at them.
Ryuu exhaled a Vacuum Blade onto his tanto and shot forward, splitting it in half and allowing it to crash to the ground. "Fight!"
Then, Sakura crashed down on one of the desert's native scorpions that had three stingers and were about the size of the Hidden Leaf Village's Academy, the scorpion's front half exploding. Next, Choji and Koji fell through the hole, Koji with a hammer made of sandstone formed around his right fist, and a shield around his left. He smashed the hammer down on one of the ants while blocking a stinger for Choji, who used both of his expanded fists to crush a pair of spiders. Ameno landed behind Koji instantly, Koji ducking as several ants charged him and a jumping spider fell toward him, only for Ameno to spin, a pair of water praying mantis arms to form over her hands and outward, chakra streaming through them and allowing her to shred the ants as Lee and Shira each planted a kick into the spider, hurling it.
Ryuu turned, looking around until he spotted the snake. It was massive, nearly as big as Orochimaru could summon. He shot forward, inhaling as he neared it. It lunged as he pulled up short, exhaling a fireball into its mouth. The fireball exploded, splattering its head all over. Then, Ryuu shot to the ground, avoiding several jumping spiders. As soon as he landed, he slashed a pair of ants, Sharingan flashing before he began to move. He streaked forward, splitting a pair of ants before jumping, planting his feet into another and sending it blasting through more insects, several being ripped apart by the force. He spun, sashing a spider across the face as it lunged at him, making it fly to the side, blocking a scorpion's stinger instead. Then, Ryuu looked up as a pair of Homunculi leapt at him, one with a long braid and a white cloak wielding a kusarigama and the other with hair just past his shoulders and messy, not unlike Ryuu's own hair, and a white tee-shirt and pants. Ryuu huffed, slashing and sending an arc of flame out, blasting both and igniting them, hurling them backward into the sea of bug. He spun, sending an arc of flames tearing through the bugs before it exploded, sending numerous flying.
As soon as he had, he spun, slashing a scorpion's stinger aside, letting it stab into the ground before streaking forward, tossing the tanto into the air and forming a Repulsion Seal on his fist, drilling a punch into the scorpion. The entire insect exploded, sending its guts and pieces of its body flying. Then, Ryuu turned, catching his tanto in time to block another stinger. Before he could kill that scorpion as well, Koji crashed down on its back, driving a sandstone blade down into it. Ryuu shoved the stinger away and spun, exhaling air bullets into the swarm of insects, killing multiple before streaking forward, slashing his way through half a dozen before leaping over a scorpion's claws. He flipped, landing on its back and driving his Vacuum Blade into it, the scorpion collapsing, its tails crashing down on several ants. Ryuu ripped the blade free of the scorpion as one of Mhao landed before him, grinning. Then, the rest of the Mhaos landed around him. All of them had short messy hair now, as opposed to their usual long hair, and had gotten rid of the forehead protectors.
"Let's finish this, shall we?" Mhao asked.
"Be careful what you ask for," Ryuu snarled, doing a quick head count.
A total of twelve Mhaos. Mhao grinned, the one in front taking a step forward. Then, Ryuu was in front of him, slashing his throat before moving on to the next, and the next. After the third, he stopped, all three bodies dropping before the others charged. Ryuu ducked under one sword and flipped, kicking that Mhao away before blocking three swords. He spun, slashing them with his trench knife, all three staggering backward and holding their intestines in with one hand. Ryuu slashed, an arc of flame exploding against the three and killing them, lighting a fourth on fire before Ryuu spun, ducking under three swords as they stabbed at him. Instantly, a fourth Mhao fell at him from above. Ryuu stabbed his tanto into the scorpion and formed hand seals rapidly.
"Fire Style, Phoenix Rising!" Ryuu said, grabbing his tanto as he exploded skyward, flames rolling of of his entire body.
His tanto's blade met Mhao's sword and and explosion shook the cavern, Mhao flying away, charred and with the broken remains of his sword embedded in his face. Ryuu turned back to the three that had stabbed at him and they leapt at him. He flew down at them, knocking their swords aside before appearing behind them, their heads rolling backward. The last Mhao began to clap.
"Well done," Mhao smiled. "Impressive. You're even better than I remember. However."
He raised a hand and the other Mhaos transformed into blue flames flying to his hand before encasing his body. He grinned wickedly as his muscles grew and he gained a foot. Then, he roared, slashing his sword and sending an arc of blue flames flashing past Ryuu, exploding through the insects and slaughtering several dozen.
"Not bad," Ryuu said. "You're actually strong now."
Mhao grinned, Ryuu streaking into the air and out of the cavern. A moment later, Mhao followed, flames exploding out of his feet.
Fu flipped, splitting a spider's head in half then spun, swiping a hand and sending Wind Chakra surging through the closest insects. As she did, Sakura leapt over her, drilling a punch into an ant, the ground exploding as her fist reached it, sending insects flying. Tenten sent weapons raining down into the insects as they struggled to recover and Choji rolled past, flattening half a dozen ants before stopping just short of a scorpion. Before it could stab him, Koji blocked one of its stingers, Shira and Lee both kicking the other two down into its own back. Then, they kicked off of each other's foot, flipping and crashing down on two more, killing them.
Koji spun, slashing an ant before his sword turned into a hammer and he jumped, spinning as he fell and hit a spider in midair before the spider and hammer both crashed into a Fat Tail Scorpion, the impact shattering the ground and flattening the scorpion and spider. A spider lunged at him but Ameno's mantis arm slashed it into the air before a sand lion crashed into it, throwing it away. A Homunculus leapt at them, swinging a massive axe, only for Fu to slam a foot into tits abdomen, launching it backward into a second, both crashing down in front of a scorpion who stung both instantly. Fu spun, planting her fist into an Ant's face before flexing her palm, sending a blast of Wind Styler chakra through her palm, turning the ant into a projectile that exploded into a tornado against a tarantula, ripping several ants and the spider apart before fading.
"This is getting exhausting!" Sakura shouted, drilling a punch into a scorpion and sending it blasting through the insects behind it.
"Agreed," Choji nodded, ripping a chunk of ground free and sending it plowing through the insects.
"Bear with it!" Fu said, inhaling and forming hand seals. "Wind Style, Pressure Damage!"
The blast drilled its way through a spider and three ants before exploding against a scorpion, clearing a wide area. Lee landed in it instantly, inhaling before opening the Third Inner Gate, then blasted off into the insects, opening the fourth and fifth gates as well. On the opposite side, Shira had yellowish energy flying off of him, his own skin darkened like Lee's and his muscles bulging.
Fu flipped over a stinger, drawing a kunai and driving it down into the scorpion before flying up to the tail, grabbing it and spinning, swinging the scorpion around, then smashing it down on another. Two spiders leapt at her and she held her hands out, Wind Style Chakra exploding into existence, raging around her in a sphere, tearing them both apart. As soon as she let the sphere fade, she formed several hand seals.
"Wind Style, Ripping Cyclone!" Fu shouted, a pair of massive tornados of razor-sharp Wind Style Chakra began to tear through the insects.
The others began to hurl the insects near them into the air toward the tornados, allowing them to be dragged in and ripped apart. Finally, Fu let the jutsu end, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead before pulling her fist back, glowing blue Wind Chakra forming around her fist like a gauntlet before she shot downward, fist blasting down on a scorpion, the ground exploding and the Wind Style Chakra exploding outward as small arcs of wind chakra, shredding more insects.
Ryuu flipped over Mhao's sword, slashing at him only for Mhao to flip out of the way, slashing at him again. Ryuu blocked the sword, shoving it upward before drilling his fist into Mhao's face. Mhao flew backward before flipping, slashing and sending an arc of flame at Ryuu. Ryuu sent one of his own back, then vanished, reappearing behind Mhao, who spun, slashing at him, only for his blade to pass through Ryuu, who was flickering. Ryuu smirked, more Ryuu's spreading out from him, all of them flickering. Mhao smirked as the closest one through a pun, Mhao making no move to block or dodge it. As a result, the fist drilled into Mhao's abdomen and sent him flying. Mhao flipped, roaring in rage and streaking forward, slashing at one of the Ryuu's, only for the sword to pass through him, the other three slashing at him. Mhao spun, blocking the slashes before all three flipped, kicking him in the face. He flew downward, blasting into the ground before slashing, sending a wall of flames exploding into the sky. Ryuu appeared beside him, solid once again, only to slam a fist with a Repulsion Seal into Mhao's side, sending him exploding into the air.
Mhao flipped, forming hand seals, Ryuu forming his own.
"Fire Style, Uroboros!" Both shouted, A massive blue fire snake exploding off of Mhao's body as Ryuu exhaled an equally massive normal-colored one.
They both shot through the air at each other and crashed into each other, combining into a red and blue sphere of fire. Then, the fireball exploded outward just before Ryuu and Mhao reached it, their blades crashing into each other's yet again. Both began to slash and block rapidly, sparks and explosions of normal and blue fire exploding off of the impacts of their blades rapidly. Finally, Mhao's sword slipped past Ryuu's only to pass through a flickering Ryuu before that one vanished altogether and another planted his feet in Mhao's back, sending him crashing to the ground. Mhao rolled over, forming hand seals.
"Fire Style, Searing Migraine!" Mhao shouted.
"Fire Style, Majestic Destroyer Flame!" Ryuu shouted, exhaling the much, much larger and more powerful jutsu.
Mhao shouted in surprise as his flames were almost instantly overpowered and Ryuu's flooded across the ground for hundreds of meters. Mhao had leapt over it and roared, flying at Ryuu again, sword raised. Ryuu narrowed his eyes.
"I've had enough of you," Ryuu snarled. "I'll be by your hideout soon to put an end to you."
Mhao roared in rage, slashing at Ryuu. Ryuu swung his tanto around and then over his shoulder, a Vacuum Blade forming as he did before he slashed downward at Mhao. His Vacuum Blade split Mhao's sword blade down the center, bending the halves outward before the blade also split Mhao down the center. Mhao passed through Ryuu as Ryuu began to flicker, then stopped, looking back as Ryuu looked back at him and vanished. Then, Mhao's halves fell apart.
Fu punted a scorpion she had just killed, sending it rolling through the insects, its body breaking apart as it did. Then, before she could kill anything else, she blinked and found a ring of Ryuus standing shoulder to shoulder around her and the others, every single insect inside of the circle suddenly dead. All of the Ryuus were flickering and formed the same set of hand seals.
"Fire Style, Majestic Destroyer Flame!" they all shouted, exhaling a massive sea of flames into the cavern.
The moment they did, however, crow clones of Ryuu grabbed everyone who couldn't fly, flying them out before the flickering Ryuus all faded, leaving the real one beside Fu.
"Let's go," Ryuu said.
Fu nodded and they flew into the air as the fire began to surge back toward the empty space. They got out of the hole just in time for Ryuu to grab Fu and use the Body Flicker Technique to appear off to the side, flames exploding out of the hole for a moment before fading, leaving a ring of glass around the hole. Smoke curled out of the hole for a few minutes before fading. Fu flew back down, looking into the hole experimentally and seeing that the entire inside had been turned into glass, and all of the insects had been incinerated.
"Why didn't you start with that!?" Sakura demanded.
"I needed someone to keep them busy," Ryuu said. "Besides, I was under orders not to show my true power."
Sakura sighed and nodded. "Well, now that that's over, I suppose we should get back to the exams."
"Yeah," Ryuu said, his clones setting the others down and dispersing into crows, who then vanished in a flurry of black feathers. "Fu, Tayuya, let's go."
Both nodded as Ryuu and Fu landed. They began to walk away only for Ryuu to fall to his knees, staring down at his side where there was a scratch. He held a hand to it, then pulled it away at the purple-tinted blood coating his hand.
"Shit," Ryuu groaned. "I was close, too."
"Ryuu!" Fu gasped, catching him as he began to fall.
Ameno ran over instantly, taking him and laying him out before opening her water bottle and forming hand seals. "Hold him down." She began to make hand seals as Fu and Tayuya complied. "Medical Water Style, Water Mosquito."
A shrill buzzing filled the air as a cloud of tiny mosquitoes made of water flooded out of her water bottle, swarming around in the air before flying down in a spiraling funnel. Fu and Tayuya doubled the pressure as they realized what was about to happen. Then, the mosquitoes reached Ryuu's wounds and began to flood his veins, shoving their way into his body as Ryuu screamed in agony, thrashing, only for Sakura, Shiro, and Lee to help hold him down.
Finally, the mosquitoes began to return to the surface, leaving his body black, rather than the clear water they had been. They flew away from his body and collapsed. Ameno didn't look pleased, through.
"There's so much!" Ameno breathed. "I need more water!"
Everyone else ran over, opening their bottles, Ameno turning all of the water into mosquitoes, all of which returned to burrowing through Ryuu's veins. Ryuu began to scream again, but they managed to keep him held down. More and more mosquitoes began to return from inside of Ryuu, taking more and more venom with them as they went.
"How much venom did those scorpions have?" Sakura asked as Ameno shook her head.
Through the pain, Ryuu managed to form the seal of confrontation, a scroll appearing out of a seal on his right forearm, landing and unrolling itself before he unsealed that too, producing a dozen water bottles. Ameno used those as well, and soon Ryuu was screaming and thrashing anew. Finally, the last of the poison was extracted and Ameno switched hand seals, Ryuu's body glowing green for a moment.
"I repaired the damage the mosquitoes did using the last of them," Ameno said. "I'll take care of the wound now."
She reached over, hands glowing green as his wound slowly sealed itself. Finally, she was finished and they all let up on Ryuu, who groaned.
"I am never letting you cure my poison again," Ryuu grumbled, trying to move only for his entire body to protest.
"Easy," Ameno said. "You're going to be weak from the damage the poison already did, as well from the after effects of that jutsu."
Ryuu nodded, Fu helping him stand. Tayuya retrieved his scroll and slid it into her pouch before looking around.
"We need water," Tayuya said.
"There's an oasis this way," Ameno said.
She turned, walking away and they all followed her, for lack of a better idea.
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