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

Control

Ryuu stared at the mirror as he worked. When he woke up, he had had Tayuya help him to the bathroom to inspect the damage. He had scarring across most of his face, which was slowly fading as he worked Medical Ninjutsu on it. Aside from that, he could feel a massive burn scar under his bandages on his torso. Once he was finished with his face, miraculously having made it look as good as new, he began to heal his torso, feeling the burn scar fading. Finally, he stopped, wishing he could see the scar to know how he was doing.

"Ryuu, you here?" Kabuto's voice called out.

"Up here!" Ryuu called back. "Tayuya, can you check on Fu?"

Tayuya nodded, leaving, and Ryuu leaned on the counter, staring at his eyes. Something felt off about them. About his Sharingan. He remembered being able to read Kakuzu's moves when he went to rescue Fu. Remembered Zetsu asking what was up with his eyes. He focused, and after a moment, his Sharingan began to move, change. The tomoe grew into black teardrop shapes, all three reaching straight outward. Then, three more formed in between the first three, except that these three were only outlines, with thicker black on the rounded part near the pupil and red inside. Lastly, small latticework-like pieces formed between the teardrops, each thin near the pupil before growing outward near the outside. From there, the lines moved inward and curved down, crossing, then wrapping back down, meeting at the bottom of the shape again. It was weird and hard to accurately describe, but he didn't watch them for long. Kabuto stepped into the bathroom behind him and he blinked, letting them deactivate.

"Mangekyo?" Kabuto asked. "Interesting. Come on. I'll help you down stairs to the couch so we can start. Tobi's already down there."

Ryuu nodded and followed Kabuto down the stairs. Once there, he sat down on the couch and Kabuto held his hands on either side of Ryuu's head, green chakra glowing from his hands.

"Alright, try moving your leg," Kabuto said. "This should help rebuild your neural pathways."

Ryuu nodded and tried, managing to make the leg twitch. He continued to try, but the leg refused to move. Finally, Kabuto sighed, letting the Medical Ninjutsu fade.

"The pathways are rebuilt, but you have to make the leg work on your own," Kabuto said. "It's not going to be easy."

Ryuu sighed, nodding and settling in for a very long rehab process.

Ryuu staggered forward, falling and catching himself on the wall. Tobi and Kabuto watched from off to the side as he caught his breath, then pushed himself up, continuing to hobble around the room from one bit of furniture to the next. He had been working on his rehab for weeks. Fu had woken up after three days, and was currently out training with Tayuya. She had wanted to be there for Ryuu, but Ryuu had told her train Tayuya, and to keep her own training up. Of course, Fu wasn't alone. There were no less than two dozen ANBU watching over her and three Jonin training with them.

Ryuu caught himself on a doorframe and sighed, panting and with sweat running down his face. He looked up at Tobi and Kabuto, who made no move to help him, then down at his leg. It had barely grown at all in the weeks he had been rehabbing. His arm was worse. He had gotten the protective casing and bandages off, allowing him to see that the white continued up his torso just to the right of center, then up over the top of his shoulder. The scar on his torso had been deep and covered his entire torso, but he had managed to make it fade to a very slight discoloration that was barely noticeable. The real problem was that where the Hashirama Cells met his skin, it turned from snow white to skin-colored. It didn't look natural. it didn't look good. It looked like he wasn't human. He felt like her wasn't human.

He pushed off of the door frame, struggling toward the couch. Before he could reach it, however, his new leg gave out and Kabuto caught him.

"What exactly is a Mangekyo Sharingan?" Ryuu asked.

"Orochimaru explained it as the last stage of a Sharingan," Kabuto said. "It grants the Uchiha who unlocks it certain powers, for example, Itachi can use Amaterasu, black flames that can burn through anything, including other flames, and Tsukuyomi, his absolute genjutsu, which even another Sharingan has never been able to see through. With Tsukuyomi, he can torture his victims for months in a second."

Ryuu nodded.

"There's more to it," Tobi said. "The more the Mangekyo Sharingan is used, the worse the Uchiha's vision grows. Using it causes blindness. However, there are ways to stop it. One is known as the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. An Uchiha can transplant the Mangekyo Sharingan of a close family member, preferably a brother, into their own eye socket, flood it with their own chakra, and the result is one of two things. Either it kills them, or their Mangekyo and that of their brother combine into an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. The other way, is Hashirama Cells. In the past, an Uchiha was grafted with them and is able to use his Mangekyo at will without any signs of going blind, even after years of using it as his primary means of combat. However, his is the only case in which the Hashirama Cells have been used, until you, so we have no way to be sure that your case will be the same as his."

Ryuu nodded. He sighed, standing slowly from the couch, his leg wobbling slightly before he began to do squats and lunges. After a bit, he stopped, feeling his leg growing weak, and dropped to a pushup position, both arms catching him. He sighed. His new arm was starting to have better reflexes. He began to do pushups, trying to ignore the burning in his new arm. However, after only fifty, his arm gave out and he dropped, sighing.

"You're getting stronger," Kabuto said.

"It's not enough," Ryuu said. "I don't even have Gravity Seals on yet and still I can barely move."

"I doubt you'll be able to use Gravity Seals for a while yet," Kabuto said.

"We'll see," Ryuu grumbled, standing.

"Ryuu," Tobi said as Ryuu was making dinner one night, the two of them being the only ones in the kitchen.

"What?" Ryuu asked.

"Do you remember me telling you about the Uchiha that had Hashirama Cells grafted onto him?"

"Yes," Ryuu nodded, glancing at him. "Why? What's up?"

"I'm the one that rehabbed him, as well," Tobi said. "He was a dear friend to me then. I still consider him a friend, but...he's become cold. Emotionless. Well, not entirely. And it's my fault."

"Wait, are you saying that he's still alive?" Ryuu asked, turning to him.

"He is," Tobi nodded. "He works behind the scenes as the true leader of the Akatsuki."

"Madara?" Ryuu asked. "So he actually was an Uchiha. I thought he stole a Sharingan, the same way Kakashi was given one."

Tobi stared at the table in silence. "Its my fault he's become what he is. He was wounded saving his best friend and the love of his life. Madara found him and saved him, then put me and White Zetsu in charge of his rehab. But...while he was, the love of his life was captured and made a Jinchuriki, then sent back to the Hidden Leaf. We were ordered to take him there, but not until it was too late to save her, so we did. He used my body, like you did, but just as he got there, his friend killed the love of his life, to protect the Hidden Leaf. But he didn't know that. All he saw was the love of his life murdered by his friend. So he went ballistic. He massacred dozens of Hidden Mist ANBU. When he was done, he had lost faith in the world, and he adopted the name Madara. He became cold and emotionless, just like we had wanted. He wanted to create a dream world where the love of his life could still be alive. So he found the original members of the Akatsuki and killed them, all except the leaders. He manipulated the Third Mizukage to create the Blood Mist Village so that he could convince their strongest shinobi to desert. He manipulated the leaders of the original Akatsuki into adopting his view of the world by having one of them killed. Then, when the Akatsuki began down the path they are on now, he began to recruit, and have them recruit. And he began to follow the true Madara's plan to change the world."

"Do you regret your actions?" Ryuu asked.

"Yes," Tobi nodded.

"Then we'll save your friend," Ryuu said. "Eventually. What was his name?"

Ryuu activated his gravity seals and grit his teeth. It had been months since he had used them, and in addition to that, his new leg and arm had never used them. But it was tolerable. He crouched, readying himself as Tobi took a combat stance of his own. Then, both lunged, striking at the other rapidly, blocking the other's strikes as they went. As they fought, Kabuto, Fu, and Tayuya stood off to the side, watching. Finally, Tobi caught Ryuu's left arm and spun, slamming him to the ground, hard.

"You've gotten better," Tobi said. "You're really strong."

"But I'm not strong enough," Ryuu said. "I'm still slow."

"It's your arm and leg," Fu said. "There's still a little lag. It'll improve."

"I hope so," Ryuu sighed, staring down at the white side of his body.

Fu saw the look in his eyes and walked forward, wrapping her arms around him. "It's late. Let's go watch the sunset, like we used to."

Ryuu smiled, nodding, and extended his wings, flying them both into the air, stopping once they were above the clouds and taking a seated position, Fu sitting in his lap. He held her against him, sighing and resting his head on her shoulder.

"You're still you," Fu said. "No matter what happens, and no matter what you have attached to you now, you're still you."

"I'm...barely human anymore," Ryuu said.

"Ryuu, we're shinobi," Fu said. "We can spit fire out of our mouths, or rocks, or wind that cuts through things, or lightning bolts, or entire oceans, if we have enough energy. I don't think human really quite describes any of us. Besides, I have a giant demon bug living inside of me and can use his wings or tail whenever I want to."

"But you're still human," Ryuu said, staring at his hand. "I'm...I don't even know what I am."

"You are Ryuu Uchiha," Fu said, slipping her hand into his. "Just like you've always been. You are the man I love with all my heart and the best person I've ever met. The only difference is that you now have a really, really smooth hand that's fun to pay with and that I bet would feel amazing inside of me."

She whispered the last part and Ryuu snorted, shaking his head and hugging her, Fu hugging him back.

"I don't even know if I'm capable of having sex anymore," Ryuu realized. "Let alone if it's safe."

"Well, I guess we'll have to find out, huh?" Fu smiled.

Ryuu smiled as well, shaking his head, and kissed her, Fu kissing him back without hesitation. Before long, however, Ryuu pulled back, sighing and looking to the sun, now mostly hidden behind the curve of the earth. They watched it set the rest of the way before Ryuu sank back to the ground, landing lightly, Fu remaining encircled in his arms for a long while before pulling back, slipping her hand into his again as they walked inside.

Ryuu flipped over Tayuya and Kabuto, kicking both away before flipping and landing on his hands, spinning and slamming a kick into Tobi as well, throwing him away. Fu shot toward him just as his feet hit the ground and he began to deflect her blows, barely keeping up. Finally, he ducked under a punch and grabbed her arm, spinning and hurling her. Then, he spun, sweeping Tobi's fist aside and into Tayuya's, Tayuya shouting in pain and Tobi pretending to also be injured, even though Ryuu knew from first hand experience thanks to his own prosthetics that Tobi could hit something a lot harder than Tayuya's hand before feeling it.

Ryuu spun as kabuto swiped at him with a Chakra Scalpel and Ryuu dropped into a low squat under it before pushing up, sending an uppercut rocketing into Kabuto's jaw, sending him flying. Then, as he reached his full height again, Ryuu jumped, allowing Fu's punch to pass under him. Tobi leapt at him in the air and Ryuu spun, both trading blows for several seconds before Ryuu caught Tobi's arm and flipped past him, kicking him into the ground. Tobi crashed down hard before flipping to his feet as Ryuu landed.

"Good," Tobi said. "We're done for today. You're just about back to normal."

"Finally," Ryuu sighed. "How long was that?" Five and a half months?"

"Just about," Kabuto nodded, massaging his jaw while Fu healed Tayuya's broken hand. "You've done well to get that arm and leg to where they are so fast."

"I suppose," Ryuu sighed. "Still, five months is a long time."

Kabuto nodded. "Come on. We should go let Lady Tsunade know that you're done rehab finally."

Ryuu nodded and left with Kabuto and Fu, since it was decided that Tobi had to stay at the house, and it was Tayuya's day to cook dinner. As they were walking, they met Kakashi, who smiled.

"Hello Ryuu, finally finished?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah," Ryuu nodded. "Took me long enough."

Just then, Anko stepped around the corner with a small girl, maybe two years old, waddling along behind her. Ryuu stared at the girl, confused.

"Hello Anko," Ryuu said. "Who's that?"

"This is Kana," Anko smiled, the girl staring at Ryuu with her golden yellow eyes that Ryuu instantly recognized.

"Oh my God," Ryuu said. "She's not..."

"Yes," Anko said. "She's Orochimaru. When he kidnapped me during the second exam, well...she's the result."

"Oh my God," Ryuu said. "I...don't even know what to say."

"It's alright," Anko smiled. "I still love her. She's not the one that did it. And I have Kakashi to help out, so it's fine."

"Kakashi?" Ryuu blinked before smirking. "I had heard you were together but I thought it was just a rumor."

"No, actually we've been together since she got back tot he village," Kakashi said.

"I see," Ryuu nodded just as he remembered his discussion with Tobi about the fake Madara. "Kakashi, there's something..."

"What is it?" Kakashi asked.

Ryuu stared at him, then at Kana before sighing. "No, it's nothing. Good luck with the kid."

Kakashi watched him for a minute before nodding. "Thanks."

As they all continued on their way, Fu and Kabuto both turned to Ryuu.

"Is there something wrong?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes, but Kakashi can't deal with it," Ryuu said. "He has a family now. I'll just deal with it myself."

"If you say so," Kabuto nodded.

They reached the Hokage's office a few minutes later and Ryuu knocked.

"Come in," Tsunade called.

Ryuu opened the door, stepping inside and Kabuto closed the door behind them.

"Ryuu," Tsunade smiled. "You look good."

"I'm done my Rehab," Ryuu said.

"Really?" Tsunade asked, looking to Kabuto, who nodded.

"He's back to where he should be," Kabuto said. "I'm clearing him to be finished rehab."

Tsunade nodded and turned to Ryuu. "Okay then. As of today, your shinobi status is resuming. Additionally, I believe there's a promotion in order. For the Chunin Exams, I'm going to be promoting you to Chunin. However, in light of the fact that you faced two extremely powerful Akatsuki members and survived, then faced them both a second time, as well as Zetsu, and rescued Fu in doing so, the Shinobi council and I have decided that you're to be promoted directly to Jonin. You'll be in charge of Fu and Tayuya, and Yugao will be available if you need an extra hand."

"Thank you Lady Tsunade," Ryuu bowed. "Did Tobi provide you with information about the Akatsuki?"

"He did," Tsunade said, handing him a file. "However, I forbid you from tracking down any of the members, or from going after Hidan and Kakuzu for revenge."

"I have no interest in going after them for reasons of revenge, Lady Tsunade," Ryuu said, scanning through all of the files. "But Fu is still in danger, so I need to know as much as I can about them all. That way I can defend her."

Tsunade nodded. Ryuu finished scanning the reports, using his Sharingan to memorize them, and set them back down. He bowed and turned, leaving the building with Fu, Kabuto staying behind. Once outside, Ryuu sighed, staring up at the clouds.

"What's wrong?" Fu asked.

"The leader of the Akatsuki possesses the Rinnegan," Ryuu said. "And Tobi didn't know much about him."

"Are we sure that Tobi's actually being fully honest?" Fu asked.

"According to Kabuto, Zetsu absorbed the genjutsu I placed on him by forcing my chakra into his," Ryuu said. "So, in a way, that genjutsu is now real. He's on our side."

"What's the Rinnegan?" Fu asked.

"It's the strongest of the Three Great Dojutsu," Ryuu said. "I'm not sure what its exact abilities are, but the Sage of the Six Paths possessed the Rinnegan."

Fu nodded just before both of their stomachs rumbled. Ryuu chuckled and they both headed toward Ichiraku's.

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