I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
"White Zetsu."
"Black Zetsu."
Saved
Ryuu stirred, twisting and cracking his back. He sighed quietly, glancing back at Fu. He was sure that they had gone to bed clothed. He remembered getting too hot and taking off his shirt, explaining why he was only in a pair of pants. But He didn't remember Fu ever taking off her own clothes. All of them. He sighed, smiling. Some things never changed. He stood, pulling his shirt back on, followed by his gloves, headband, and flak. He stretched, twisting to one side, then the other again just as someone knocked on the door. He walked over, opening it a crack, glad it opened away from the bed. Kakashi was standing outside.
"Pakkun found their trail," Kakashi said. "They're at a river about halfway through the Land of Rivers."
"That narrows it down," Ryuu said. "We'll be out in a minute. I'll wake Fu up now."
Kakashi nodded and Ryuu closed the door, leaning against it, sighing quietly. His fear from the day before returned. Before he could lose himself to the fear, however, Fu stepped up in front of him, cupping his face and making him focus on her.
"It's going to be okay," Fu said. "I promise you, it's going to be fine."
Ryuu nodded and Fu kissed him before getting dressed and pulling her scroll onto her back. Once she had, they left the room, heading to the Kazekage's office, where the others were gathered. Kakashi handed Ryuu a map with the hideout's location marked.
"We discussed it, and you two should go on ahead," Kakashi said. "We probably don't have long until they finish sealing Shukaku, which means Gaara dies. You two can get there fastest, so it lessens the chance of that happening. We'll be there to back you up as soon as we can, so..."
"We'll be fighting alone against whoever's there for at least a day and a half," Ryuu said. "Half the distance home, half the time. Plus we have to expect they'll send someone to slow you down, so there's a high chance it'll be at least two days, maybe more."
"We don't know that there are any more than two," Baki said.
"And we don't know there are any less than nine," Ryuu said. "For all we know, this could be their base of operations, and they're all there."
"Ryuu," Kakashi said. "This is our only chance to save Gaara's life. We need you two to do this. But we can't force you. I know that...after what happened with Hidan and Kakuzu...no one will fault you for deciding to protect Fu over Gaara."
Ryuu stared at the floor. "Run away, you mean. No one will fault me for running away."
"It's your choice, Ryuu," Fu said. "I'll be by your side no matter what you choose."
"And if I let him die, I won't deserve to have you there," Ryuu said. "We'll go. But I need you to move faster than a day and a half pace. If there's more than two...Fu and I can't handle them. And besides that...we're overdue for the other one."
"He has been awfully quiet recently," Fu agreed.
"If Mhao shoes up, or if there are too many for you to handle, I'm ordering you, here and now, to cut and run," Kakashi said. "Don't try to be a hero. Don't risk your life, or Fu's. Don't try for revenge, and don't be a sacrificial pawn. If there are more Akatsuki members than the two of you can handle for two days straight, or if Mhao shoes up and proves too much of a nuisance to deal with immediately, just run. We'll save Gaara ourselves. You need to keep Fu safe so that they don't get more than one Jinchuriki."
"What about Naruto?" Ryuu asked.
"Don't count him out just yet," Kakashi said. "He's stronger than you think."
"He's more stubborn than I give him credit for," Ryuu snorted before sighing. "Okay. We'll go now."
Kakashi nodded and Ryuu held his hand out, Kakashi reaching out to shake it. As he did, Ryuu formed the Seal of Confrontation and a seal appeared on the back of Kakashi's thumb, a piece of it leaving his thumb and traveling to his ear.
"Make the Seal of Confrontation with your thumb extended along your finger and place it to your ear and we can communicate," Ryuu said, placing a matching seal on everyone else in the room before placing one on himself. "I'll try to keep you updated."
Kakashi nodded, and Ryuu and Fu left, flying into the air and away from the village.
"Where's Yomo?" Fu asked as they flew toward the Land of Rivers.
"Staying as far away from the Akatsuki as I can keep him," Ryuu said. "Just like you should be."
Fu gave him a blank stare and he rolled his eyes, smiling. He watched the ground as the desert began to turn into grass and trees. He watched the ground pass by below them for several hours as they flew. Finally, they began to pass rivers. They were getting close, and he was getting nervous and antsy again.
"Hey," Fu said, slipping her hand into his. "I'm right here with you. It's going to be okay."
Ryuu nodded, forcing himself to calm down and looking ahead of them. Finally, after about another twenty minutes, they spotted the hideout, hidden behind a boulder on the river and with a sealing tag on the face of the boulder. Ryuu landed on the water, staring at the tag. He stepped forward, punching the boulder and watching ripples flow over the surface of it from the barrier.
"Five Seal Barrier," Ryuu said. "This shouldn't take long."
"You have to remove all five at the same time," Fu said. "We should use clones."
"Don't worry," Ryuu said. "I'll take care of it."
He climbed the boulder, setting a hand on the seal tag and focusing. After a moment, seal script spread over the barrier and flashed before shrinking into the seal tag, which lit on fire, Ryuu dropping to the ground as it burned away. Then, he punched the boulder again, the boulder exploding inward. Inside, Gaara was suspended in midair, surrounded by a large mass of blue chakra, with a tendril of it extending from the mass into the mouth of a statue, bright orange Tailed Beast Chakra oozing out of Gaara's eyes and mouth and then flowing through the blue chakra to the statue. The statue's hands were raised, its fingers extended upward and separated, a silhouette on each, all glowing bright green. Most were little more than shadows with the outlines of their cloaks and the clouds on the cloaks in green and red mixed, however, Deidara, Sasori, and Zetsu were all solid.
"So you've arrived," Kakuzu said. "I wish I was there to deal with you again."
Ryuu sprinted forward, hurling a kunai with an explosive tag at the three present members, roots bursting out of the ground and blocking the kunai and explosions. Then, Ryuu jumped, extending his wings and flying forward, slamming his hand into the statue's throat.
"Fire Style, Blockbuster!" Ryuu shouted, and explosion erupting out of the statue where he had been, Ryuu standing beside Fu again. The explosion faded but did nothing.
"It's not that easy to end this jutsu," a silhouette with grey rippled eyes said calmly. "Just stand there and be patient. We'll deal with the Jinchuriki you've brought with you in a moment."
"Any ideas Fu?" Ryuu asked.
"We need to get Gaara out of that stuff," Fu said.
"I feel like that's easier said than done," Ryuu said, swinging a hand and pulling water behind them, the water extending into the cave they were in a short ways.
He swung the whip, wrapping it around Gaara, only for the chakra from it to be instantly absorbed. Ryuu sighed. The only way was to go through the jutsu directly, but that would cost him nearly all of his chakra.
"Okay," Ryuu sighed. "Let's give this a try."
He inhaled, extending his wings and forming hand seals.
"Fire Style, Majestic Demolisher Flame!" Ryuu said, using the jutsu to send himself rocketing up toward the blue chakra.
He got about halfway before Zetsu slammed a kick into him, sending him blasting back into the ground. Ryuu flipped, landing on his feet and glared at Zetsu as roots burst out of the ground around him.
"We won't be letting you take him," Zetsu said. "Not that you'd survive trying it that way anyway, but still."
"Fu, deal with the jutsu if you can," Ryuu said. "I'll handle Zetsu and the other two."
Fu nodded and Ryuu shot forward, drawing his tanto and trench knife, ducking under a stab from one of Zetsu's roots before jumping and flipping, slashing the next root, then landing on top of it. He activated his Sharingan, sprinting forward and leaping into the air as two more roots stabbed into the one he had just vacated. As he fell past Zetsu, he slashed, splitting Zetsu in half, only for both halves to turn into wood. He spun as he landed, slamming the blade of his tanto into a root, diverting it to the side before lunging, slashing with the trench knife and removing Zetsu's head, Zetsu again turning into wood. Ryuu stopped, growling in annoyance as he turned back to the roots, a dozen more Zetsu's growing out of the ground. He looked past them to where Fu was dodging away from several misshapen clay humanoids that were trying to catch her.
"That's enough of this," Ryuu growled. "Fu, leave!"
Fu glance at him, then nodded and was enveloped in a flash of light, vanishing before the light faded. Deidara looked at him, raising an eyebrow as several Ryuus stepped out of Ryuu, all flickering slightly. The Ryuus calmly walked away from each other. Zetsu sent his roots at them, but just as the roots stabbed through where the Narutos had been, the Narutos were suddenly spaced around the cavern, forming hand seals.
"I've had enough," Ryuu said, all of them forming hand seals. "Fire Style, Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
They exhaled the flames inward at the same time as another Ryuu appeared on the statue, slamming both hands into its face, sealing script spreading over it rapidly.
"Stop him!" the leader shouted.
Instantly, dozens of walls of roots appeared, holding the flames back, barely, as Sasori appeared over the Ryuu at the statue, tail stabbing downward at him, only for another Ryuu to appear in front of the first, slashing the tail aside and streak forward, slashing at Sasori.
Sasori moved to avoid it, only for that Ryuu to suddenly be directly in front of Sasori, his tanto covered by a Vacuum Blade, splitting Sasori's puppet shell in half instantly. The other Ryuu's seal flashed gold and the blue chakra surrounding Gaara suddenly separated from the statue, the Tailed Beast Chakra still inside of it returned to Gaara before that Ryuu leapt off of the statue at the blue chakra, seal script forming over his palm.
"Don't let him touch it!" Itachi warned.
Zetsu leapt at Ryuu, a half dozen roots shooting past him to stab at Ryuu. Before it could, another Ryuu fell out of the first, slashing with a flaming jutsu sword, the blade extending and removing all of the roots, lighting them on fire before also splitting Zetsu in half. Then, Ryuu reached the sphere of blue chakra, slamming his palm into it. Instantly, seal script raced over the sphere, which shone gold. After several moments, the light shone blindingly and Ryuu felt an enormous drain on his chakra as the sphere began to dissolve. He grunted, shoving more chakra into the seal and the sphere began to dissolve faster.
"No way," Deidara breathed. "That's possible?"
"What kind of...jutsu is that?" a tall member with a sword on his back, Kisame, asked.
"It's a Barrier Dissolvement Seal," Itachi said. "Effective, but exhausting. I had heard you were alive, but I wasn't expecting this. You've grown a lot to be able to perform that jutsu...Ryuu."
"Itachi," Ryuu growled. "I can't wait until Sasuke and I find you."
"All in due time," Itachi said. "If you don't die here."
Ryuu sighed, kneeling beside Gaara, who had fallen to the floor as the sphere had finished fading. Ryuu knelt, feeling Gaara's pulse and sighing when he found one, though faint. A second Ryuu appeared, picking up Gaara before turning and walking away from the Akatsuki.
"Stop him," the Akatsuki's leader ordered.
Deidara's clay minions leapt at the second Ryuu but passed through him, crashing to the ground before exploding, the second Ryuu walking out of the fireball with Gaara, both completely unscathed.
"That's impossible," Deidara said. "How did you..."
"He's Shisui Uchiha's son," Itachi said. "Shisui used to be able to create clones using nothing but the Body Flicker Technique. Those clones could attack as tough they were actual clones, but when attacked, strikes would pass through them entirely. This is the same thing. He has become just as fast as his brother was at that age."
"Well, as long as it's just a trick, I'll just have to roast the whole room!" Deidara said, hurling a dozen small clay birds into the air, the birds suddenly expanding to roughly the same size as the carriages Michiru from the Crescent Moon Kingdom had used to transport his stuff when they first met.
Then, the birds all erupted into flames, filling the cavern completely. Deidara and Sasori landed on the cliff opposite the cave just as Zetsu grew out of the ground beside them, only for Ryuu to appear a distance behind them. He turned toward them as Fu landed behind him, Gaara held in her arms.
"Impressive," Fu said. "How'd you keep Zetsu busy?"
"Distracted him with a bunch of fire," Ryuu said. "Then I split him in half."
"This kid is...annoying," Deidara growled.
"Indeed," Sasori nodded.
"You guys seem a little off," Ryuu said. "You didn't try very hard to keep Gaara. In fact, besides Zetsu, neither of you actually really tried at all."
"He has a point," Zetsu said. "Would you two care to explain?"
"Honestly?" Deidara asked. "He looked like a bratty kid, and I kinda wanted to see you in action for once. You don't fight often, and I got curious."
"Well, now that you've seen what I can do, would you mind showing them what you can do?" Zetsu demanded.
Deidara rolled his eyes and stepped forward, Ryuu curling his hands into fists.
"Fu, leave," Ryuu said. "Take Gaara to Sakura. Then come back."
"Be careful," Fu said.
Ryuu nodded and Fu jumped into the air, extending her wings, only for a massive clay dragon to slam its tail into her, sending her blasting back into the ground. Ryuu stared up at it, then at Deidara, who grinned.
"Like it?" Deidara asked. "I don't think even you and your pretty girlfriend can outrun this."
Ryuu turned back to the three Akatsuki members and and exhaled a beam of Lightning Style chakra, which drilled through Deidara, who fell away into clay. "Fu, see if you can deal with Deidara. I'll watch Gaara."
Fu nodded and flew into the air again, the dragon following, now with Deidara on top of it. Ryuu drew his tanto and trench knife, readying himself. As he did, Sasori pulled out a scroll, unrolling it and sending chakra threads into it from his fingers, the threads pulling out a puppet with long messy blue hair, and a long dark grey cloak with tan fur lining the hood. Ryuu streaked forward instantly, speeding toward the puppet as a cloud of iron sand began to flood out of its mouth. Ryuu dropped into a slide as a long spike of iron sand erupted out of the cloud, barely missing him. He rolled to the side out of a second spike that shot downward out of the spike, flipping to his feet and leaping backward, exhaling a barrage of Air Bullets, which flew at the puppet, crashing into a cloud of iron sand harmlessly. Ryuu landed on his feet and growled in frustration. It was like trying to fight Gaara.
"I wouldn't hold back if I were you Sasori," Zetsu said. "Otherwise you'll be killed. He's far stronger than you're giving him credit for."
Sasori nodded, pulling a second scroll from its holder on his back, tossing it into the air as he opened a panel on right side of his chest. Instantly, hundreds of chakra threads shot out of the opening, driving themselves into the scroll from above before pulling out easily a hundred puppets, all wearing red cloaks and with a massive variety of bladed weapons. Ryuu cocked his head before grinning.
"I see," Ryuu said. "You've got tricks. So do I."
Sasori sent the red puppets at Ryuu, who smirked, two Shadow Clones, two Crow Clones, and one Afterimage Clone all forming and charging into the ranks of the puppets. As the puppets assaulted Ryuu, Ryuu began to flip, slash, kick, punch, and otherwise destroy the puppets as rapidly as he could, his clones doing the same. The puppets attacked relentlessly, all of them moving according to Sasori's will, and with Sasori on the sidelines, he seemed to have the perfect vantage point to masterfully manipulate them all at once. Ryuu was amazed with his skill. After several moments, Ryuu extended his wings, flying backward as his clones were all destroyed, except the Afterimage Clone, which he allowed to fade. He stopped as he cleared the cloud of puppets, doing a quick headcount with his Sharingan, counting twenty seven left, not including the one with the iron sand.
"Not too bad," Ryuu mused. "So, now I just deal with the-"
He flipped to the side, barely escaping Sasori as he himself crashed down where Ryuu had been. Before Ryuu had even landed, a cable ending in a spike and coated in poison, which had been wound up in Sasori's abdomen before, exploded out of the dust cloud at Ryuu. Ryuu used the Body Flicker Technique to get out of the way, landing on his hands and feet and skidding to a stop, watching as a pair of massive blades unfolded from Sasori's back, spreading into multiple blades before beginning to spin like propellors. At the same time, a pair of barrels extended from Sasori's palms and he grinned wickedly.
Ryuu growled in annoyance and flipped sideways, out of the way of a massive conical spike of iron sand, which exploded into the ground. As Ryuu landed, the puppets all shot toward him, Ryuu quickly forming hand seals as they closed in.
Fu flipped in mid air, avoiding a pair of clay eagles and streaking downward at Deidara. He smirked, leaning aside as she swung a punch at him, barely missing. However, before he could react, she flipped, slamming a kick into his side. He flew away from her, growling in rage and forming the Seal of Confrontation with his uninjured hand. Instantly, the dragon's tail shortened three segments, the dragon spitting out three smaller, pig-like dragons, all still much larger than Fu, before flying after Deidara. The three smaller dragons all flew after Fu, who turned, taking off as fast as she could, dodging and weaving through the trees, struggling to escape his creations. He had already proven that they were faster than her, now it was a monumental challenge to avoid the three dragons, who kept smashing through trees and bull-rushing her from every side, one after another. Finally, she flipped, flying straight up as the three crashed into each other.
As soon as they did, she flipped, forming hand seals. "Fire Style, Giant Fireball Jutsu!"
She exhaled a massive fireball onto the three and all three erupted into fireballs of their own. The explosions combined into a massive mushroom of flame, the concussion blasting into Fu and hurling her, her wings fading. She shouted in pain as it hit, flipping higher and higher into the air before reforming her wings and catching herself. Just as she did, Deidara's dragon spat out another, this one barely ten feet away already. She shouted in surprise, launching herself backward and pulling her knees up, crossing her arms.
"Die!" Deidara shouted, detonating the dragon.
The explosion instantly caught Fu, filling the air as Deidara laughed. However, after a few moments, the smoke exploded outward, clearing and leaving Fu covered in her Tailed Beast Cloak, her shins and forearms burned badly, and her top ripped off, but alive.
"Well well," Deidara grinned. "Trying to persuade me to let you live?"
Fu glared at him as though trying to will him to drop dead. Deidara laughed as the dragon spat out a dozen more dragons. Fu's eyes narrowed and she floated to the ground, landing in the crater left by the the original three's explosion. She knelt beside the scroll, which had been blown off by the explosion, and unrolled it, exposing a massive seal, and began to form hand seals as the dragons shot toward her.
"Takigakure Hidden Technique, Replication!"
The seal flashed as Fu fed it chakra. A moment later, a pillar of light exploded out of it, reaching twenty feet into the air before Fu clones began to explode out of it, crashing into the dragons above Fu with a variety of jutsus, all of the dragons exploding. Then, more clones flooded out of the pillar of light, all flying at Deidara, who shouted in surprise. Then, the Fu clones all blasted into Deidara, launching him away from the dragon, which went limp and crashed to the ground, plowing up a wall of it before stopping beside Fu. Fu let the light fade, rolling up the scroll before standing and turning toward her clones, just as a massive explosion went off, obliterating them. Deidara crashed to the ground just inside the clearing, bruised and bloodied, with his other arm blasted off below the shoulder and his eyes glassy and lifeless.
"Not too tough," Fu said.
"Is that so?" Deidara's voice asked suddenly.
Fu's eyes widened and she spun toward the dragon just as it began to shine.
Ryuu stopped, the puppets doing the same, as an explosion filled the sky in the distance. Ryuu, Zetsu, and Sasori all watched as, a moment later, a tiny speck of red chakra descended to the ground and a column of light shot into it, releasing a flood of Fu clones. Ryuu grinned as they swarmed Deidara and finished his hand seals.
"Wind Style, Ripping Cyclone!" he shouted, slamming his hands own, a tornado exploding into existence in front of him, almost instantly catching and tearing apart the last of the red puppets.
"Not bad," Sasori said.
He shot forward, bursting straight through the tornado and began to assault Ryuu instantly with his propellors, blasts of super-compressed water that sliced through the ground with ease out of his left hand's tube, flames out of his right hand's, and his stomach cable. At the same time as he did that, the last puppet he was controlling began to attack Ryuu with a dozen curved blades on its right arm as well as the iron sand. Ryuu flipped and dodged away from the onslaught, taking to the air just as a massive explosion went off, the concussion slamming into him and launching him out of the way of an iron sand spike, but making his wings fade. Zetsu stared at the massive mushroom cloud it left behind in silence as Sasori continued his assault.
"Sasori," Zetsu finally said, Sasori pausing. "Go and help Deidara. He's about to lose."
Sasori looked to Ryuu again before nodding and turning. Just as he launched himself into the air, however, Ryuu appeared in front of him, a Vacuum Blade over his tanto as he slashed, splitting Sasori in half, taking care to split a small cylindrical object in the left side of Sasori's chest in half, since he could sense Sasori's chakra spreading from it. Sasori's halves crashed to the ground, his other puppet also dropping, and Zetsu stared at Ryuu, who sighed, allowing his Vacuum Blade to fade and drawing his trench knife again.
"You killed him," Zetsu noted. "Not bad. But you're going to find I've lost patience in fighting you."
"Funny," Ryuu said. "I was about to say the same thing."
Deidara pushed himself out of the ground on the edge of the crater, picking up his Clay Clone and breaking it down into clay again, stuffing it into his pouch. As he watched the mushroom cloud, he couldn't help but grin. If a single dragon had been enough to take off her top and wound her, maybe this one would leave her weak enough for him to actually enjoy her body before turning her over to Zetsu. He grinned even wider at the thought. It had been a while since he got to have fun.
Finally, the smoke and dust began to clear, revealing Fu on her hands and knees, the last of her blood red Version Two Tailed Beast Cloak fading, revealing that the rest of her clothing had indeed been blasted off. Deidara watched as she tried to stand, only to collapse, unable to move again. Deidara smirked, holding out a hand, a clay centipede being spat out of his hand's mouth and expanding, burrowing into the ground before bursting back out of it below Fu, wrapping around her legs and holding them open before coiling around her abdomen to hold her up, then her arms, holding them behind her but far enough away to keep her from forming hand seals. Deidara laughed as Fu struggled weakly to break free, barely able to even hold her head up. He laughed, walking forward and dropping his Akatsuki robe as he did, unzipping the front of his pants.
"Well well," Deidara grinned. "Look at you. The Seven-tails Jinchuriki brought to heel so much that I can actually enjoy myself for a bit while Zetsu and Sasori finish off your boyfriend." He laughed, stepping up to Fu, who began to struggle a little harder to get away. "Oh don't act like you don't want it. Trust me, I'll make sure you at least know what a real man can do before we kill you. You'll love it. Now then, ready or not, here I come."
Before he could, however, sand exploded up from below him, launching him into the air at the same time as ripping the clay centipede apart and throwing the pieces away from Fu, catching her and setting her on the ground. Gaara appeared beside her, draping Deidara's cloak over her for decency before turning to glare at Deidara.
"Well, looks like you're up earlier than I thought you'd be," Deidara said. "I suppose I can deal with you first."
He moved to step forward only for the and below him to explode up around him, binding him in place before completely covering him.
"That's enough of you," Gaara said flatly. "Die. Sand Burial!"
He made a fist, but nothing happened. His eyes widened before the sane began to expand slowly, starting to fall away, revealing Deidara's heavily bloated and grinning face.
"I'm not going alone!" Deidara shouted, erupting into a fireball.
Ryuu flipped over Zetsu's roots and landed on his feet, streaking forward, slashing his way through them, only for Zetsu's fist to collide with his face. Ryuu flipped backward, suddenly feeling weak as Zetsu's spores began to grow out of him, just as they had when Zetsu had helped Mhao capture him. Ryuu grit his teeth, forming hand seals.
"Fire Style, Blockbuster!" He knelt slamming his hands into the ground, flames exploding out of the ground below him, roasting all of Zetsu's spores, Ryuu flipping into the air, barely able to stay conscious.
"You just sealed your fate," Zetsu said, raising a hand.
Before he could finish Ryuu, however, Might Guy crashed into Zetsu, hurling him away before Tenten caught Ryuu. She handed him a soldier pill and he thanked her, eating it and pushing himself up, looking around. Neji and Lee landed beside him a moment later and Zetsu growled a string of curses, sinking into the ground. Ryuu spun instantly, exploded off of the ground with enough force to shatter it and streaking toward where Gaara had gone to help Fu. He crashed down beside Fu just as Deidara exploded into a fireball. He grabbed Gaara and Fu instantly, noticing that the only thing covering Fu was an Akatsuki cloak. Then, he turned, leaping away from the fireball as it expanded after them rapidly. However, before it could catch them, they passed Kakashi, who formed several hand seals, his Sharingan transforming into a Mangekyo Sharingan, one with a three-bladed shuriken as the main design then a curved line reaching from the top half of each arm clockwise toward the next, shrinking as they went until they reached a point, touching the next arm at the center.
"Kamui!" Kakashi shouted, the fireball beginning to spiral around a single point.
Ryuu stopped, setting Gaara and Fu down, taking care to make sure she was covered again, and watching as a tiny vortex formed in the center of the fireball, the fireball spiraling into it, being swallowed completely. Once it was gone, Kakashi closed his eye and the vortex winked out, Kakashi sighing and falling to one knee.
"Good job," Ryuu said. "I didn't know you could use Mangekyo Sharingan."
"I didn't use it for a long time, so it took me a while to remember how to activate it," Kakashi said. "Longer to remember how to use it."
Ryuu nodded as the rest of Team Kakashi landed around him, Naruto landing beside Gaara, asking him if he was okay. As they talked, Ryuu picked up Fu again, using the Body Flicker Technique to get somewhere private and setting Fu down, helping her sit up and pulling the cloak onto her arms, fastening it so that it covered her properly.
"What happened?" Ryuu asked, beginning to tend to her wounds.
"He caught me off guard, twice," Fu said. "His clay packs a hell of a punch. I wasn't able to block it fully, so it ruined my clothes, and I wasn't able to move. If Gaara hadn't shown up...he would have..."
She fell silent, Ryuu clenching his hands into fists before taking a steadying breath.
"I'm sorry," Ryuu said. "I shouldn't have let you fight him alone."
"It's alright," Fu smiled. "He wasn't able to do anything, and now he's dead."
"No," Ryuu said. "It was a clone that exploded. Deidara's too smart to get caught by Gaara that easy."
"So, he's still around?" Fu asked, a hint of fear creeping into her voice.
"No," Ryuu said. "Like I said, he's smart. He knows he can't beat us all, so he'll have taken off. Zetsu got away too, but I killed Sasori."
Fu nodded. "Are you okay?"
"For the moment, yes," Ryuu said. "But I'm sure I'll have trouble sleeping tonight."
Fu nodded as Ryuu finished healing her and sat up, kissing him. "I love you."
"I love you too," Ryuu said, pulling her to her feet.
He turned, allowing her to climb onto his back before heading back to the others, walking slowly. Just as he stepped out of the trees, he stopped seeing a massive group of Hidden Sand Shinobi arrived, several sprinting ahead of the rest to greet Gaara, including Temari, Kankuro, and Matsuri. Ryuu smiled as Matsuri met Gaara with a flying hug, Gaara smiling and hugging her back. Fu gave Ryuu a slight squeeze and he started walking again.
"We're going to get them together, right?" Fu asked.
"Of course," Ryuu smiled. "All jinchuriki need someone who accepts them without question. And for Gaara, that's Matsuri."
Fu smiled and nodded, remaining silent as they walked the rest of the way over to the others. Ryuu stopped beside Gaara, who looked over at them and nodded.
"Thank you, Gaara," Ryuu said. "Fu told me what happened. I can't thank you enough."
"You don't need to," Gaara said. "I owed you for getting me out of that cave. Let's just call this even."
Ryuu nodded and looked to Kakashi. "So, now what?"
"We'll head back to the Hidden Sand for now," Kakashi said. "Something tells me the two of you are going to need to rest for a while. You did all the hard work, after all. I'll send a report to Tsunade once we get there. You two should each probably do the same."
Ryuu nodded and they all turned, heading back toward the Hidden Sand, the Suna shinobi cycling through to express their gratitude to the Hidden Leaf Shinobi and their relief at Gaara being safe to Gaara.
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