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

Destroyed

Ryuu sighed as the pain from the poison's damage finally faded. It wasn't complete. His entire body was still almost entirely lame, and moving faster than a walk hurt, but for the time being he was okay. In other news, Gaara had made the announcement that the third part of the exams had been canceled, calling it 'unnecessary' because everyone present knew that the most important thing for a shinobi was friendship. He said that each village would receive a detailed report about each team's performance, and that would decide whether they were promoted or not.

"You ready to head home?" Fu asked.

"Yeah," Ryuu nodded. "I don't think we'll make it in a day this time, though."

"Probably not, no," Fu smiled, nodding.

"Thank God," Tayuya groaned.

Ryuu laughed and they headed out, moving slower than the others, on account of Ryuu. After several hours longer than necessary, they reached the edge of the desert, stopping in the trees to rest while Ryuu recovered a little. Then, they continued. After a bit, Yomo cawed above them and Ryuu's eyes narrowed. Fu glanced at him and he nodded, the three of them beginning to run full speed instantly, Yomo flying over them, again cawing. Ryuu glanced back, Sharingan active. He could sense the two bonfire chakras behind them. They were closing in rapidly. And Ryuu was beginning to slow again.

"Fu, take Tayuya and go get help," Ryuu said.

"We've been over this," Fu said. "None of us are staying behind to get the other away safely."

"Fu," Ryuu said, tears running down his cheeks. "It's them. We can't win this without help. Please go."

"I'm not leaving you!" Fu said. "You can't fight them alone! You can barely run!"

"I'll go," Tayuya said. "I'll get help and come back."

"Please hurry," Fu said.

Tayuya nodded and vanished, using the Body Flicker Technique to try to reach the others faster. Just as she did, Fu and Ryuu landed on a cliff, stopping as two men landed on either side of them. One had grey hair slicked back with his cloak open and a scratched out Hidden Grass forehead protector around his neck, a pendant hanging from below it consisting of a triangle inside of a circle. On his back was a large red scythe with three blades and a black cable attached to the base of its shaft then running up the man's right sleeve. The other was taller and had a grey hood over his hair with a scratched out Takigakure headband on the front, the backing with a part of it reaching up the front of his hood in a triangle. He had blood red sclerae and mint-colored irises, and a black cloth mask over the lower half of his face.

"Say Mister, aren't you from the Hidden Waterfall?" Fu asked, looking to the taller man. "Yeah, I know you. After you failed to assassinate the Hokage, you stole the hearts of the Village Elders and escaped! You're Kakuzu!"

"He stole their hearts?" Ryuu asked.

"He wields a Forbidden Jutsu known as Earth Grudge," Fu said. "It allows him to control black cords within his body, making him something like a living mass of those cords, and he can have up to five hearts, allowing him to wield the five Chakra Natures."

"Damn, she's got you down to a T," the other one said. "I'm Hidan, by the way. I follow Lord Jashin's will."

"Who?" Ryuu asked.

"You'll find out," Hidan smirked, drawing his scythe.

Ryuu growled in annoyance and drew his tanto and trench knife. He and Fu both released their Gravity Seals instantly, both vanishing and Ryuu reappearing around the two rapidly, slashing and sending arcs of flame flying at them. Kakuzu leapt over them and Hidan laughed as they hit him, exploding. As the smoke cleared, it revealed him to still be standing, his burns healing and his cloak ruined above the waist. Hidan shot forward, reaching Ryuu just as Ryuu stopped, his scythe crashing into Ryuu's tanto. Ryuu shoved it upward before beginning to flicker, the scythe passing through him. He jumped, two more appearing around Hidan as all three slammed a foot under Hidan's jaw, sending him flying into the air. As soon as he was airborne, Fu blasted into him from below, sending him flying before beginning to reappear wherever he was heading, sending him bouncing through the air.

Ryuu turned to Kakuzu in time for his trench knife to block Kakuzu's dark brown and completely solid fist. Ryuu shoved it away, beginning to flicker as five more stepped out of him, only for Kakuzu to spun in a blur, his fist crashing into Ryuu and sending him flying. Ryuu crashed to the ground and flipped, coughing up blood before he landed on his feet, streaking forward again. Kakuzu sped forward, his fist meeting Ryuu's trench knife before Ryuu slashed his tanto, the blade and arc of flame both hitting nothing but an empty Akatsuki cloak.

"You're not the only one capable of using the Body Flicker Technique," Kakuzu said, suddenly behind Ryuu.

Ryuu began to turn, but Kakuzu's fist blasted into him from below, sending him hurtling away. Ryuu crashed into the face of another cliff before Fu crashed into it beside him. Both fell back to the ground and looked at each other.

"I guess we have no choice," Fu said, boiling red chakra beginning to flood off of her. "I'll try not to hurt you."

"I can handle it," Ryuu said, standing and beginning to flicker, two dozen more flashing out of him and speeding toward Kakuzu.

As they neared him, four bulging masses of black cords with a mask each shot out of his back, forming themselves bodies and flying at the Ryuus. Each opened their mouths, firing a blast of each Chakra Nature except Earth at them. Ryuu flipped over a stream of flame then slid under a wall of wind blades. Then, he flipped into the air and slammed a kick into the Water Style mask and shattering it just before a bolt of lightning blasted into his chest, hurling him backward into the cliff again. He groaned, slowly pushing himself up as Kakuzu sped forward. Kakuzu slammed a fist into Ryuu's gut, blasting him into the cliff and cratering the cliff before slamming several more punches into Ryuu, making him shout in agony. Instantly, a creature made of blood red chakra standing on all fours with a pair of wings and a long thin tail extending behind them appeared beside Kakuzu, slamming both fists and both feet into him and sending him hurtling away.

As the creature caught Ryuu and began to heal his shattered bones, Ryuu realized that it was Fu using her Tailed Beast Chakra. Suddenly, Hidan appeared over Fu, slashing downward with the scythe, only for Fu to spin, knocking the scythe blades away with her hand and slam a fist into his chest, caving in his ribs. Hidan screamed in agony as he shot backward. Ryuu formed a Wind Rapier, forcing himself up before forming his wings so that his legs wouldn't have to support him. Then, Hidan stood, vomiting blood onto the ground before drawing the same symbol as his pendent was on the ground with the blood before holding his scythe up. Ryuu's Sharingan noticed a drop of blood on one of the blades and flicked to Fu's hand, where there was a tiny slit in the chakra coating her body before it sealed. Hidan licked the blood off of his scythe and Ryuu grimaced. A psychopath. He had suspected so since the beginning of the fight, but now he was sure. However, as he watched, Hidan began to change. His skin turned black with white markings looking like a skeleton.

"Thank you for making my job easy," Hidan grinned.

He pilled a small metal cylinder out of a pocket in his cloak's lower half, swinging it. As he did, several more cylinders suddenly extended from it, ending in a sharp point. Ryuu prepared himself to catch the spear, but instead, Hidan drove it through his own abdomen, grinning as blood ran down his chin. Then, Ryuu's blood ran cold as Fu's Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak vanished and she coughed, blood flying out of her mouth and blood running out of a hole suddenly in her abdomen. Ryuu didn't understand. He had stabbed himself, so there was no way Fu was wounded in the exact same spot with the exact same kind of wound. Ryuu simply couldn't understand. But understanding or not, as Hidan raised the spear again, Ryuu shot forward, catching the spear and tackling Hidan out of the seal before planting both feet in his chest, hurling him away. Then, he flipped, narrowly avoiding Kakuzu's fist, which shattered the ground. Ryuu flipped, growling in rage.

"Enough of this!" Ryuu snarled, forming a pair of Flame Swords and spinning, slashing at Kakuzu rapidly.

Kakuzu avoided every slash for several seconds before a bolt of lightning blasted into Ryuu's back, slamming him to the ground before Kakuzu hardened his foot, punting him. Ryuu crashed into the cliff and Kakuzu began to walk toward them, cracking his knuckles.

"Too easy," Kakuzu snarled.

Ryuu looked to Fu just as blood red chakra exploded off her, shooting into the sky. He looked up, seeing it form into a massive, armored rhino beetle with a long green tail, six wings extending from the base of the tail, and a pair of serrated blades for hands on its one set of arms.

"Chomei," Ryuu breathed.

Chomei roared loudly, the sound shaking the ground before giant spheres of red and blue chakra began to form into a massive purple sphere in front of its head, the purple sphere growing rapidly until it was almost as big as Chomei himself was. Chomei's head turned slightly and Ryuu knew he was worried about him.

"Do it," Ryuu said. "Kill them. Protect Fu."

Chomei turned back to the front, the purple sphere starting to shrink, compressing rapidly. Then, suddenly, it stopped, Chomei shrieking in agony. Ryuu extended his wings, flying up into the air and watching as Chomei shrieked again, cracks forming in the purple sphere, light spilling out. He looked down at the two Akatsuki members, seeing Hidan in a new symbol, a pair of new stab wounds in his torso and a sadistic grin on his face.

"Run Ryuu!" Chomei shouted as the sphere began to shine.

Ryuu turned blasting forward and grabbing Hidan as he passed, leaving the circle and impaling Hidan on a tree branch just before the sphere exploded. The blast sent Ryuu flying, bouncing along the ground, both legs snapping and his left arm going with it. Finally, Ryuu stopped himself with his wings, flying back toward the massive crater that had been formed. Fu was lying in the center of the crater now, Hidan and kakuzu both standing over it, Hidan with a chunk of the branch still through his chest. Ryuu shouted in rage as Kakuzu reached for Fu. Kakuzu turned toward him as Ryuu formed a Flame Sword, activating the Body Flicker Technique and flying straight for Kakuzu. He slashed at Kakuzu's throat, taking his head off completely before reaching for Fu. At the last second, a mass of black cords with the three remaining masks crashed down on the opposite side of Fu, all three masks firing. A massive blast of Fire, Wind, and Lightning chakra filled Ryuu's vision. Then, there was an all-encompassing agony before he found himself lying on the ground. He was on his back, staring up at storm clouds as rain pounded down around him. He looked to the side, seeing that Fu's necklace was clutched in his left hand, which he realized was almost healed, though it had stopped. He tried to stand, but his body failed to respond. He looked back up at the clouds as lightning flashed overhead, but he realized, he couldn't hear the thunder. Or the rain. Or his own breathing. He couldn't feel it either. He looked to his left again, seeing blood running down into the crater from below him. It was his. He knew that much. He must have been wounded somehow. He tried to look down at his body, but as he tried to look up again, his head suddenly felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds. And his vision was darkening. It began to blue before finally fading.

Oh well. He was sure Fu would be along to heal him soon. She had promised to always be there when he needed her, after all. She had promised.

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