I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
State of Emergency
Ryuu groaned as he collapsed into his chair. His entire body ached, his chakra had barely recovered halfway, and it had taken them several days to almost literally limp home. He had reported the mission's events to Tsunade, and he had thanked the others, and then he had gone home.
"Finally home," Fu groaned, dropping into her own chair.
"I just want to sit here and rest for the next three days," Ryuu said. "Short of an emergency summons, we're still on vacation."
As if on que, the bell sounding an emergency summons began to toll. Ryuu and Fu both let out a sobbing groan and slowly pushed themselves to their feet before walking outside. Yugao and Tayuya, who hadn't taken part in the fight and was fine, were already speeding away.
"I'm so done with this job," Ryuu groaned.
He extended his wings, Fu doing the same, and both flew toward the Hokage's Office. They arrived first, both entering and closing the door behind them before collapsing into Tsunade's chairs, groaning.
"I'm really sorry about this, you two," Tsunade said. "After the fight you just went through, you two should be resting."
"It's fine," Ryuu said, beginning to heal his muscles, Fu doing the same. "What's the situation?"
"We received a message late last night," Tsunade said. "Someone has revived Moryo and released him from the underground palace he was sealed away in. His Ghost Army is on the march. We'll be working with other nations to put an end to this crisis."
"Okay," Ryuu nodded. "First question, who's Moryo?"
"An ancient and powerful demon, born of the evil within men's hearts," Tsunade said.
"What does the Ghost Army consist of?" Ryuu asked. "Actual ghosts, or just some soldiers that are really hard to kill?"
"Terracotta statues," Tsunade said. "Ones reinforced by chakra, and who move and attack on their own, destroying everything in their path."
"Have any been destroyed?" Ryuu asked.
"No," Tsunade said. "But Kakashi and Guy have already gone on ahead to attempt to slow the Ghost Army down."
"I see," Ryuu nodded. "Okay. How do we proceed?"
"The only way to stop Moryo is for the Priestess of the Land of Ogres to travel to the shrine where Moryo's physical body is sealed in the Land of Swamps and seal away Moryo's soul again," Tsunade said.
Ryuu groaned. "The Land of Ogres? Really? Couldn't whoever it is cause trouble while we were already there?" He sighed. "Alright. I recommend Naruto and Sakura take the mission, with Rock Lee as Sasuke's replacement."
"That's a good idea," Tsunade nodded. "And I assume you'll be leading them?"
"No fucking way," Ryuu snorted. "Whoever is trying to revive Moryo is alive. They'll have to be killed. I've got enough nightmares. No, I'm going to be fighting the nice, nightmare free army of walking garden gnomes."
"But what about Team Seven?" Tsunade asked.
"Send Neji with them," Ryuu said. "He's a good strategist, a good leader, and his Byakugan will be more helpful protecting the Priestess than my Sharingan. Oh, and send Hinata."
"Why?" Tsunade asked.
"Because a long time ago, I promised to help her and Naruto get together but for that to happen, they have to be around each other," Ryuu said.
Tsunade chuckled. "Very well. But that means that Team Eight will be a member short."
"What's their mission?" Ryuu asked.
"Assist in delaying the Ghost Army, though they're being kept out of the actual combat," Tsunade said.
"Then they can take Tayuya," Ryuu said. "Her genjutsu will be useless against the Ghost Army, so she can help them. If necessary, her taijutsu is good enough."
Tsunade nodded. "And I assume you want to go to the front lines with Fu."
"Yes," Ryuu nodded.
"Alright," Tsunade sighed. "Your orders are to meet up with Kakashi and Guy and do what you can to slow the Ghost Army."
"Does cutting off their arms and legs count as slowing them down?" Ryuu asked. "they're just stone statues, right? So then I should be able to stop them if we break them apart."
Tsunade considered for a moment before nodding. "Do it. But be careful."
Ryuu nodded and he and Fu left, getting outside just as Sakura and Naruto arrived.
"What's going on?" Sakura asked.
"Tsunade will fill you in," Ryuu said. "Good luck on your mission Naruto. Oh, and be nice to her. She's wanted to go on a mission with you for forever."
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked. "Sakura and I go on missions together all the time."
Ryuu chuckled and raised a hand as he and Fu walked away. Then, both extended their wings and took off, Ryuu whistling and calling Yomo, who flew up next to them within a few minutes. They flew slowly for them, slow enough to continue repairing their muscles as they flew, and to try and recover some of their chakra. Finally, after about a day, they landed at the top of a canyon where Guy and Kakashi were spreading explosive tags along the edge.
"Kakashi Sensei, we've been sent to reinforce you," Ryuu said.
"Good," Kakashi nodded. "We can use the help. We're going to drop a bunch of boulders on them, see if it stops them."
"If it doesn't, and I doubt it will, Tsunade's given me permission to engage them directly," Ryuu said.
"You may want to reconsider," Kakashi said. "There won't be enough room to move between them, even with your Body Flicker Technique, and you probably don't know any jutsus strong enough to clear a large group at once."
"What about this?" Ryuu asked, forming a Chidori.
"That'd probably work for individual statues," Kakashi nodded, "but for groups, it wouldn't be enough. Hm...I suppose I might have one that would work, but you won't be able to copy it with your Sharingan."
"Why?" Ryuu asked. "Is it a Kekkei Genkai?"
"Well, no," Kakashi said. "But it involves an extremely high level of change in chakra form, to the point that the Sharingan can't copy it. Even if you can see how it works, your chakra control still isn't enough to copy it just from your Sharingan alone."
"Can I see it?" Ryuu asked.
"I suppose so," Kakashi said, holding out a hand. "It's actually a jutsu that Naruto uses. He learned it from Master Jiraiya of the Legendary Sanin, who in turn learned it from the Fourth Hokage, my old sensei who created the jutsu and taught it to me." He began to move his hand in a circular motion as Ryuu watched his hand with his Sharingan.
As Ryuu watched, chakra began to form into a point just above Kakashi's hand, spiraling in every direction in a chaotic swarm of extremely compressed and violent chakra, all of it fighting itself and shoving outward with what seemed to be enough force to level a building, yet it was all contained and stable thanks to an outer layer of chakra. Ryuu watched it swirl but watching it gave him a headache. He winced, then had an idea. He focused, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan and the headache cleared in seconds as he watched the chakra rage and swirl around in what seemed to be slow motion. After a moment, he held out his hand, focusing and channeling his chakra into it, a sphere like Kakashi's, a transparent blue one with visible chakra raging around inside, formed over his palm, but it was looser than Kakashi's, and bigger. Instead of the size of a fist, it was the size of Ryuu's head.
"It's not contained properly," Kakashi said. "However, it looks like you got two thirds of the jutsu correct. I'm impressed. Your Sharingan are incredibly sharp."
"Thanks," Ryuu said, deactivating his Sharingan and letting the jutsu fade. "That jutsu's exhausting. So is Mangekyo Sharingan."
Kakashi nodded. "It's called the Rasengan."
Ryuu nodded. "I'll keep trying it. But if I can't get it, I'll just get creative with what I have."
Kakashi nodded, reaching up and gripping his forehead protector. "If at all possible, I'll try to lend a hand."
"Thanks," Ryuu nodded, looking up to where Yomo was circling overhead just as Yomo called out once. "They're in sight."
"Right," Kakashi nodded. "Guy, get in position!"
Guy nodded and crouched on his side, holding a kunai with an explosive tag. As he did, Ryuu and the others crouched on the other side, Kakashi also holding a kunai with a tag. After a few more minutes, statues began to stomp into the canyon, moving slowly, about one step every two or three seconds. However, there were a lot. Kakashi was right. He wouldn't have enough room to move between them, even using the Body Flicker Technique. At most, the biggest gap was in the middle of four, and it was maybe a foot across. He may be able to fight in tight spaces, but not like that.
"I guess I'm getting creative," Ryuu said.
"I'll help," Fu promised.
"Stay low," Kakashi said.
They waited, watching the statues march into the canyon. Then, when they had moved in far enough, Guy and Kakashi detonated the tags, sending thousands of tons of debris crashing down on the Ghost Army, only for them to continue stomping through the canyon anyway. Ryuu sighed, extending his wings and sinking to the floor of the canyon, activating his Sharingan and watching the Ghost Army march toward him. He considered what jutsu he wanted to use. After a moment, he formed several hand seals, exhaling a Pressure Damage. It exploded into the first line of statues, sending them flying, but all of them landed without any damage and reintegrated into the army, continuing.
"Okay," Ryuu said. "Wind is out. Fire Style, Searing Migraine!"
Flames washed over the statues, but when the smoke cleared, they were glowing cherry red and still marching. He swore and exhaled a pencil thin stream f water, which was capable of slicing through metal with ease, only for it to disperse against the army harmlessly.
"Christ," Ryuu grumbled. "Alright, lightning then. Lightning Style, False Darkness!" He exhaled a jet of lightning from his mouth and it exploded against a statue, only for it to once again continue on the other side. "Jesus, they really are invincible."
Fu shot down, slamming a Water Blade into one while Kakashi, who was hanging from her free hand, slammed a Chidori into another's head. The Water Blade was Harmless, but the Chidori took its head off, only for it to keep walking. Fu shot into the air again and Ryuu sighed, flying up to the top of the cliff with her.
"You were right about there not being any room," Ryuu said. "I need an open area to slow them down."
"There'll be passing through an open field in about a day," Kakashi said. "After that, they'll be travelling through a forest the rest of the way, and it'll be too dangerous to fight them directly. At least until the shrine in the Land of Swamps."
"I'm not expecting to let them get that far," Ryuu said. "Fu and I will head to the open area, if they change direction, send up a flare and we'll meet up with you. I'll be working on the Rasengan while we meet."
"If you master it by the time they arrive, let me know and I'll tell Naruto you beat his record," Kakashi said. "Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, took three years to create it, then nine months to master it. Jiraiya took about one year to master it. Naruto took a little over a month to learn to perform it, although, he uses clones to do so, rather than doing it himself like myself and Jiraiya. And technically, I'm not that good at it either. I have to keep my hand moving when I do it to get it right. Master Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage were able to perform it without any extra movements or clones."
"Well, now I have something new to beat Naruto at," Ryuu said. "Come on Fu. We should go get ready."
Fu nodded and they flew away, following the canyon until it opened into a gigantic field. The field was enormous, and was barren for a ways before turning to a grass land. Ryuu and Fu landed in it and Ryuu sat down, holding out his hand and concentrating, beginning to form a Rasengan, only for it to disperse into the air almost instantly. he shook his head and tried again. Again he failed. He tried again, and again he failed. He sighed. It would take a while. Fortunately, he had nothing better to do. So, he settled in to practice, Fu eventually sitting down to try as well, Ryuu briefly explaining it to her. Then, they began to race to see who could learn it first.
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