I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
"White Zetsu."
"Black Zetsu."
Desperation
Ryuu's eyes creaked open, staring up at the dark inside of a cave, feeling like his eyes were burning, like he had stared at the sun too long. He didn't remember being in a cave. Maybe this was Hell. Fu would probably know where he was. He blinked, remembering pain, and light, and a giant bug telling him to run. He remembered Fu's burned and bloodied body, and fighting the Akatsuki. His eyes widened.
"Fu!" He shouted, sitting up, only to fall to the right.
He groaned, rolling onto his back, then looking down. His eyes widened. There were bandages wrapped around his torso, strapping his right arm, and some form of solid brown covered over his right side, hiding the arm from sight. He was in a bed, with the covers pulled up over him, so he threw them off, staring at his right leg. It was as white as snow, and shriveled, from above the bottom of his boxers. He lifted the waistband, and saw that the white continued under his bandages. He reached down and felt the leg, but it wasn't skin. It was smooth but solid. Like a really weird, really smooth stone, or really, really hard clay.
"Careful you don't make it fall off," a voice said beside him.
He turned, seeing a humanoid thing that looked like a bunch of tentacles or spikes of the same white substance as his new leg all twisted together into a humanoid body. The only feature besides the odd spiral design of the face was the one eyehole the spiral design was around.
"Who are you?" Ryuu asked.
"You can call me Tobi," the thing said, the tentacles unravelling, revealing himself to be hollow. "I'm made of what the right side of your body are. It's called Hashirama Cells, and because of it, you don't have to pee or poo anymore! You're welcome."
"I don't..." Ryuu stared at him before shaking his head. "Whatever. How long was I asleep?"
"You were asleep for three days," the thing said.
"Three days?" Ryuu blinked, staring at the floor. "So then..."
"I see you're awake," a deep voice beside him on the other side said.
Ryuu turned to look and stared at the orange mask shaped the same as Tobi's face, then at the black cloak with red clouds below it. Ryuu formed a Flame Sword and spun, slashing at the man, forcing him to jump backward.
"Get the fuck out of here," Ryuu snarled.
"I didn't kill your girlfriend," the man said.
"I don't care who you are, or what you say," Ryuu snarled. "You're Akatsuki, and if I ever see you again, I'll tear you apart."
"Come now, is that any way to speak to the man who saved you?" the man asked, a Sharingan shining from inside the mask's eyehole.
"I don't give a shit what you did!" Ryuu shouted. "Leave! Now!"
The man watched him for a moment before sighing. "Tobi, I leave you in charge of his rehabilitation."
"Yes sir!" Tobi said, saluting dramatically as the Akatsuki member turned and walked into the shadows, disappearing.
"Who was that?" Ryuu asked.
"Tobi," Tobi said.
"So who are you?" Ryuu asked.
"Tobi," Tobi said. "Pretty soon, you'll be Tobi too."
"Tell me the truth!" Ryuu shouted. "Who the hell was he!?"
Tobi was silent for a long while. "Madara Uchiha. Secret Leader of the Akatsuki."
"If Fu alive?" Ryuu asked.
"For now," Tobi said. "It takes three days to seal a Jinchuriki's Tailed Beast."
"Can you take me there," Ryuu growled.
"Yes," Tobi said. "But Madara will be mad."
"If you don't, I won't let you rehab me, and then he'll be mad," Ryuu said.
After remaining still and silent for a long moment, Tobi unravelled, shooting forward, Ryuu pulling back only to stop as Tobi closed around his body.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ryuu growled.
"This way, you can use my body, since yours isn't working," Tobi said.
"Oh really?" Ryuu asked.
"Yeah," Tobi nodded.
Ryuu felt something stick to the back of his head and felt Tobi's Chakra trying to seep into him, pushing it out instantly, pushing his own chakra into Tobi instead.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Tobi asked. "No, don't do that! Stop it!"
Then, Ryuu tipped to the right, falling off the bed and to the ground. After a moment, he pushed himself up, finding that Tobi's right arm was working as if it were his own, now.
"Tobi, you still with me?" Ryuu asked.
"Yes," Tobi said, monotonously.
"Well, at least you're alive," Ryuu said. "Maybe broken, but alive. You're going to help me save Fu, alright? After all, we're friends."
"Yes," Tobi said. "We're friends."
Ryuu turned, looking around, finding the exit from the cave blocked by a boulder. "How do we get out of here?"
"I can travel through the ground using roots," Tobi said, monotonously. "It's called Mayfly. It's the same as the original version uses."
"Original?" Ryuu asked.
"White Zetsu," Tobi said. "I'm an imperfect clone."
Ryuu grit his teeth but calmed himself. "No," Ryuu said. "I'm saving Fu by my own strength. I'm also not giving you the chance to warn Zetsu about me going after her."
"I wouldn't do that," Zetsu said, a tiny bit of inflection starting to seep into his voice. "We're friends."
Ryuu nodded, walking over to the boulder and forming several hand seals. "Wind Style, Majestic Demolisher Flame!"
He exhaled a massive jet of flames that completely engulfed the boulder and instantly melted a trail through the center before exploding, the hole allowing the explosion outward, sending the boulder flying away from the cave. Ryuu walked out of it and looked around.
"Which way?" Ryuu asked.
Tobi's left arm snapped up, pointing.
"Thank you," Ryuu said, extending his wings.
"You're welcome," Tobi said.
Ryuu exploded off the ground, flying in the direction Tobi had pointed, Sharingan scanning the ground. As he flew, Tobi gave him small corrections in direction. Ryuu flew constantly, the moon slowly setting as the sun rose, making its way across the sky. Finally, Tobi pointed to a valley and Ryuu flew down, staring at the sealing tag on the front of the boulder. He looked around.
"Do you know where the other tags are?" Ryuu asked.
"There are four," Tobi said, the exact knowledge of where they were suddenly shining in Ryuu's brain, as though he had actually been there.
"What the hell was that?" Ryuu asked. "How do I remember?"
"Zetsu and his clones can transfer knowledge through contact, or by making contact with any trees or roots," Tobi said.
Ryuu nodded, and crouched, four flickering Ryuus taking off and heading to the tags. Then, as one, they ripped them off before Ryuu shot forward, slamming a fist into the boulder, shattering it. Inside the cave, there was a massive statue of a creature that looked mostly human with a spiked chest plate, both hands upward as if in prayer and shackles connecting them, a bald head with sharp teeth in its mouth, and nine eyes around its head. Eight were closed, but one was open partway and twitching, an iris mostly visible inside but wavering.
"What is that thing?" Ryuu asked, his one usable Sharingan flicking to the glowing, multi-colored silhouettes on the statues fingers, and the two actual people.
Hidan and Kakuzu. They were standing on two of the statue's fingers, and they, along with all of the silhouettes, were staring at Ryuu.
"Who the hell are you?" Hidan asked. "How'd you know how to get in here?"
"He's with me," Zetsu's silhouette said. "Why did you break in, though, instead of simply going through the floor?"
"Open your head," Ryuu snarled, Tobi complying.
"Oh shit, him again!?" Hidan shouted, grabbing his scythe. "I thought you killed him!"
"I blew half his body to kingdom come," Kakuzu said. "Apparently, he's as resilient as we are."
Ryuu glared at them, then looked to the center of the room, where blue fluid-like chakra was extending from the statue's mouth to a massive sphere of it around Fu, who looked to be in pain, boiling red Tailed Beast Chakra seeping out of her from her eyes and mouth.
"So, you managed to take control of that clone, did you?" Zetsu asked. "Impressive. Should I reinforce Kakuzu and Hidan?"
"Do it," own of the other silhouettes, who had purple rippled eyes, said.
Ryuu snarled angrily, eyes burning. He shot forward, Kakuzu landing in front of him. However, when Kakuzu moved to throw a punch, Ryuu found that he could see it coming this time. Kakuzu was apparently tired. He was telegraphing. Ryuu ducked under his punch, drilling his right palm into Kakuzu's gut.
"Fire Style, Flash Palm!" Ryuu shouted, an explosion shooting out of his palm and sending Kakuzu flying through the air, passing through the chakra stream and breaking it.
The other silhouettes all recoiled, some shouting in pain, some groaning, the one with purple eyes barely wincing. Then, the rest of the blue chakra vanished, Fu beginning to fall, Hidan leaping toward her. Ryuu appeared in front of him, slamming a palm strike into his chest and sending a pulse of chakra into him on instinct, wooden spikes exploding out of Hidan's body from Ryuu's palm, detaching from Ryuu as Hidan fell.
"He can use that jutsu!?" One of the silhouettes shouted.
Just then, Zetsu grew out of the ground as Ryuu caught Fu. Then, Ryuu inhaled.
"Fire Style, Majestic Destroyer Flame!" Ryuu shouted before exhaling, the flames instantly flooding the cavern, filling it completely and exploding out through the entrance, Ryuu appearing a distance from it.
Then, Ryuu activated the Body Flicker Technique, speeding away from the cave. He could see Zetsu's face every so often in a tree, so finally, he stopped, setting Fu down as Zetsu grew out of the ground.
"You can't escape," Zetsu said. "What's up with your eyes?"
Ryuu smirked. He wanted to see what his eyes could do? Fine. Ryuu would happily show him. Ryuu crouched, roots exploding out of the ground around Zetsu before Ryuu shot forward, forming a Wind Rapier and severing the roots before appearing in front of Zetsu, stabbing him and looking into both Zetsus' eyes. A moment later, both were under a powerful Genjutsu and Ryuu was off, carrying Fu away from him yet again.
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