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

Practice

Ryuu watched as the Hidden Sand Village grew larger rapidly. There was no sign of an ongoing battle, however, as they approached, arrows began to fly toward them from guard towers around the village. Ryuu swiped a hand, sending out an arch of wind, clearing the arrows and they sped over the wall. They reached the Kage's building quickly and landed, Fu and Ryuu letting their wings fade as numerous Hidden Sand shinobi arrived, only for Matsuri to shove her way through their ranks.

"Ryuu, Fu, Tayuya!" Matsuri smiled. "Thank God you're here!"

"Where's Gaara?" Ryuu asked.

"He was attacked by-"

"The Akatsuki," Ryuu said. "We know. Gaara sent us a distress signal while he was fighting. Where is he?"

"He shielded us from an attack that would have leveled the village," Gaara's former jonin captain, Baki, said, stepping into the circle. "He was captured by the attacker. Kankuro went after them but was poisoned fighting the partner of the Akatsuki member that fought Lord Kazekage."

"Who was it?" Naruto asked. "What did they use to fight?"

Fu glanced at Ryuu worriedly, seeing the agitation and anger in his eyes.

"The one that Lord Gaara fought was a blonde that used explosive clay," Baki said.

"Deidara," Ryuu said. "Former member of the Hidden Stone. He possesses a variation of the Explosion Style Kekkei Genkai. His partner is Sasori of the Red Sand, a puppet master. Apparently, he hides himself inside of a puppet called Hiruko. His actual body is inside, and also apparently a puppet."

"How do you know all of this?" Baki asked.

"Let's call it an inside source," Ryuu said. "Listen to me carefully. I need to know which way they went, and I need to know now."

"What about Kankuro?" Matsuri asked.

"Team Kakashi is on their way," Ryuu said. "Sakura is a skilled medical ninja. She's trained under Tsunade and can save Kankuro."

"Ryuu," Fu said, Ryuu glancing a her, seeing the determined, unyielding expression. "We're not abandoning Kankuro. You saw Ameno's jutsu. You felt what it does. You can copy it."

"Wait, where is Ameno?" Ryuu asked.

"She's away on a mission," Baki said. "She was our first choice. Can you use her Water Mosquito jutsu?"

Ryuu sighed, closing his eyes, holding a hand to his side where he had been stung by a scorpion. "I'll try. But I can't promise anything. And it'll take me time and something to practice on to figure it out."

"We have training dummies that Ameno practiced on," Baki said. "How long do you think it will take?"

"Probably several days," Ryuu said. "It's a complex jutsu, and I've never tried it before."

Baki nodded and the three Hidden Leaf shinobi were led inside to a small empty room. A few minutes later, Baki and several other shinobi brought in a large empty basin, a wooden dummy filled with tunnels forming fake veins, and several jars of a thick syrup-like substance to serve as fake poison. Ryuu sighed. It wasn't going to be perfect. He needed to practice separating poison from blood as well as poison from body. He sighed as Fu filled the basin with water and Tayuya filled the dummy completely with syrup. Ryuu sighed, closing his eyes and thinking back to the chunin exams as he activated his Sharingan. He slowly copied the hand seals from memory, then focused on the water. After a moment, a single Water Mosquito formed and Ryuu rolled his eyes, letting it fall away. He tried again, and this time the water merely rippled. He tried a third time and got two mosquitoes.

"Jesus," Ryuu grumbled. "I suddenly have a whole new level of respect for Ameno." He focused, the mosquitoes flying to the dummy and forcing themselves through one of the holes, only to instantly turn back into water as he lost control. He sighed, resting his face in his hands for a moment. "It's going to take me until Sakura's here before I can do this jutsu right, by which time it'll be too late."

"Better to know it and not need it," Fu said."Besides, maybe you'll surprise yourself."

Ryuu sighed, continuing to try to form a full swarm of mosquitoes. The more he formed, the less control he had, shockingly. The more he made, the more his head screamed from trying to control so many and from trying to focus on them all. It felt like he was trying to sense the entire Leaf village again. He sighed. Ameno would probably make an amazing sensory ninja.

"Keep trying," Fu said. "You're getting better at it."

"Yeah, I can do a whole three now," Ryuu grumbled, trying again and forming four.

"See?" Fu smiled. "Better."

Ryuu gave her a blank stare and she sighed.

"Fine," Fu said. "Let's make it a competition then."

She formed the hand seals and a half dozen mosquitoes formed. Ryuu rolled his eyes.

"You know, sometimes I really hate how much of a genius you are at Taijutsu and anything water related," Ryuu said.

He continued, managing to add a mosquito every couple dozen attempts, where Fu managed to add one every handful of tries. Finally, Ryuu sighed, sitting against the wall and holding his head, waiting for his headache to settle. As he did, Fu continued to practice for a few more minutes before also stopping, grimacing as she sat down beside him.

"Okay," Fu said. "Maybe we should wait for Sakura to make an antidote."

"What, you're just going to give up?" Tayuya asked.

"Trying to control so many constructs at a time, especially that small, is painful," Ryuu said. "It requires ridiculous amounts of focus and control."

"Something that you don't have much of ever since you started hating yourself," Fu said, Ryuu staring at her. "Don't act surprised. You've never been able to hide anything from me."

Ryuu sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. "Sorry."

"For what?" Fu asked. "Ryuu, you lost half of your body and had something we didn't even know existed grafted onto it as a prosthetic. You have nothing to apologize for. You did everything in your power and then some to save my life, and because of that, I'm here. You saved my life, at the cost of your arm and leg. You will never have to apologize to me. And just because half of your body is lighter than the other and a lot smoother, it doesn't mean you're not human, or that you're any less than you were before. You are still exactly who you've always been. I've told you. No matter what happens, you will always be Ryuu Uchiha, and you will always be the man I love."

Ryuu sighed, leaning on her shoulder, Fu wrapping her arms around him. Ryuu remained there for a long while, saying nothing, staring at the water. Finally, he sighed, pushing himself up.

"Well, we're not going to save anyone by sitting around feeling sorry for me," Ryuu said, kneeling beside the basin and forming the hand seals. "Medical Water Style, Water Mosquito."

Several water mosquitos formed, hovering over the basin as more began to form, then more. When he stopped, he had formed about three dozen. Not the swarm that Ameno could form instantly, but much, much more than he had been making before. He took a breath, focusing, and sent the mosquitoes into the dummy. Half fell apart instantly, and Ryuu felt his chakra take a sharp drop trying to stabilize the rest. Sweat began to bead on his face and left side, falling into his eyes. He closed them, extending his senses. He could feel the mosquitoes, he could tell where the false veins ran thanks to residual chakra in them to help Ameno train, he suspected, but he couldn't track all of the mosquitoes. He focused, gritting his teeth against the feeling of his brain trying to rip itself apart.

"Don't push it," Fu said from behind him, gently beginning to massage his temples and comb her fingers through his hair. "Sensing a lot of things isn't about tracking, it's about watching. You see the whole picture rather than trying to focus on anything in particular."

Ryuu sighed, struggling to zoom out, struggling to not focus on anything. Slowly, more and more of his mosquitoes began to register to his senses. Finally, he was able to see them all, along with the false veins. He began to use the mosquitos, extracting the syrup as quickly as he could without losing control of jutsu. Each time he removed a mosquito, he tried to make it drop the syrup, only for the entire mosquito to fall away.

"I can't reuse them," Ryuu said.

"Neither could Ameno," Fu said. "Remember? When she used it on you, she had to keep making more."

Ryuu nodded, forming more mosquitoes each time some were released. He continued the cycle, removing more and more of the syrup until it was finally all gone. He sighed, letting the last of the mosquitoes fall away and dropping onto his rear, groaning again. Fu knelt behind him, running her fingers through his hair again for several minutes before placing a gentle kiss on top of his head.

"You did well," Fu said. "Rest for a bit, then try again, okay?"

Ryuu nodded as Fu refilled the dummy and tried, managing to create slightly more mosquitoes than him and managing to empty the dummy slightly faster. Ryuu rested his head against her shoulder, waiting for the throbbing in his head to fade. Once Fu had finished, she rested her head on top of his, slipping her hand into his right one after pulling the glove off. Ryuu tried to pull his hand away but Fu held it in place firmly. Finally, Ryuu gave up and Fu turned it so that his palm was up, trailing her finger lightly over his palm. He watched her do it, enjoying the tickling sensations and allowing himself to lose himself in her presence.

"No ridges," Fu said after a few seconds. "That's why they're so smooth."

"Partly," Ryuu said. "I think whatever they're made of is part of it."

"Just think," Tayuya said. "You can steal whatever you want and no one will be able to catch you. And if they blame you for it because of the no fingerprints thing, you can blame Tobi."

Ryuu smiled. "I'm not a thief. I'm a pacifist whose job is to kill."

"Ryuu..." Fu looked down at him and he smiled, kissing her for a moment.

"It's alright," Ryuu said. "I've made peace with that. As much as I can. And I have you."

"And you always will," Fu smiled. "I will always be with you."

"I know," Ryuu smiled. "I know."

"You know," Tayuya said. "Between the two of you, you might be able to save Kankuro."

"Not yet," Ryuu said. "We've only learned to remove everything. We'd take his blood with the poison. We need something to mix the syrup with so we can practice separating them."

Just then the door opened and Matsuri walked in, carrying some bottles of dye. She set them down beside the dummy and looked at the basin.

"Ameno used to water down the syrup then mix it with dye and try to take the dye out," Matsuri said. "I figured you guys would need it eventually."

Ryuu nodded, smiling. "Your timing was perfect. Thank you."

Matsuri nodded, smiling. "So, is there any progress?"

"We can do a...passable job if we do it together," Ryuu said. "But we'll need to keep the poison as undiluted as possible so that Sakura can make an antidote, for when we fight Sasori again."

"Okay," Matsuri nodded. "I'll make sure to let them all know that."

Ryuu nodded and Matsuri left, closing the door behind her.

"Why does it feel like we're in prison?" Tayuya asked.

"We'll probably be released once Kakashi gets here," Ryuu said. "Or if we ask nicely."

Fu smiled before getting up and watering down some syrup before mixing in dye and pouring it into the dummy. Ryuu went first, trying to extract the dye without pulling out the syrup. He failed. He refilled it trying again. Again, he failed. Fu tried with the same result. Ryuu sighed. This was going to be hard.

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