I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Final Round
"How long do you think Tsunade will give us before she sends Naruto after us?" Choji asked.
"Less than twenty four hours if Naruto can perfect his jutsu," Ryuus aid. "If he can't, twenty four tops."
"Will we be done by then?" Ino asked.
"Yes," Shikamaru said. "Ryuu can go toe to toe with Hidan Kakuzu easily, provided Zetsu doesn't interfere."
"Which is why you factored him into your plan," Ryuu smirked. "See, this is why I let you plan for this fight."
Shikamaru nodded. "Regardless, it still leaves us with one extremely important variable."
"Reinforcements," Fu said. "If extras show up besides Zetsu, we'll be in serious trouble, even with Ryuu here."
Ryuu nodded. "Just pray Itachi and the leader don't show up."
"Right," Shikamaru agreed. "That would be the worst-case scenario, obviously excluding the entirety of the Akatsuki. And any of those three are grounds for an immediate retreat, no matter how the battle is progressing."
The others nodded.
"Is there a chance that the entirety of the Akatsuki show up?" Choji asked.
"With as much of a headache as I've been, repeatedly beating Hidan and Kakuzu, protecting Fu, saving Yugito, and living in the village where Naruto is, yes," Ryuu said. "We have to assume they want me dead. And they'll want Fu."
Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru nodded.
"We'll be careful," Shikamaru said. "We're almost there."
Ryuu nodded and reached back, resting a hand on his chakra blade. "As planned, you make the first strike and I'll come in once you've got them immobilized."
Shikamaru nodded. "Try to kill them both with your first strike, if you can."
"Believe me," Ryuu said. "I plan to do exactly that."
"Are we sure me being the bait will be enough?" Fu asked.
"Plenty," Ryuu said. "Just be careful."
"I will," Fu nodded.
Shikamaru gave the signal and everyone scattered. They were in an area that Ryuu would call a desert, if not for the gigantic grey trees around. but they didn't seem to fit the land. The land was dry and cracked like a desert, and the trees were all dead. However, they were all at least ten feet wide. most of them more than that, and were spread about two hundred feet or more between any two.
Ryuu landed on the side of one and sank into it, positioning himself where he could watch the ambush unobstructed. Fu hid similarly opposite him, Choji hid himself in a tree where he would attack from if necessary for him to help, and Ino hid off to the side, awaiting a chance to make use of her special jutsus. Then, they waited. After nearly a half hour, Kakuzu and Hidan finally arrived. Shikamaru waited until the timing was perfect and hurled a pair of kunai with paper bombs attacked. Kakuzu hardened his hand to block it, and Hidan used his scythe's cable. The resulting explosions hid the two from view for half a second, but they both leapt out of them almost instantly, Hidan now without his scythe, as he had dropped it when the cable broke. Ryuu waited. Shikamaru's shadow chased Hidan and Kakuzu into their next position just before Shikamaru hurled the chakra blades he had borrowed from Asuma at them, both of them dodging and allowing the blades to stab into their shadows, only to realize doing so had immobilized them.
"We've been had," Kakuzu said.
Four Ryuus appeared around Kakuzu, two in front and two behind, and stabbed him through the chest with their chakra blades, Kakuzu shouting in pain. Ryuu narrowed his eyes.
"Well played," Ryuu said, just before the ground around Kakuzu exploded into a writhing flood of black cords.
All four Ryuus had disappeared just before then, Ryuu reappearing beside Hidan's scythe, resting a hand on it.
"No, hey don't-" The scythe melted as Ryuu's hand glowed red, leaving a puddle of liquid metal behind. "Aw, you asshole! Do you know how hard it was to make that thing!?"
"Do you know how few fucks I give?" Ryuu asked. "I'm going to deal with Hidan fir-"
Shikamaru, who had attached his shadow to Hidan's, turned and sprinted away, Hidan being forced to go with him. "I'm taking this one! I've got a score to settle with him!"
"What the fuck Shikamaru!?' Ryuu shouted after him before sighing. "I swear, it's one thing after another with you people." He vanished just ahead of Kakuzu's cords, reappearing on Kakuzu's opposite side before Kakuzu had even realized he had moved. "Very well. I'll deal with you, then, Kakuzu."
"I think not," Kakuzu said. "I'm not foolish enough to fight you alone."
His cords returned to him, forming nine massive tentacles that launched him off of the ground then spread like wings, only for Fu to explode down into his back, sending him bouncing away. He flipped, stopping himself just as his four masks emerged from the cords and fired their respective jutsus at her. She shrieked in pain as the jutsus exploded, and as soon as the explosion ended, his black cords yanked her limp body from the dust and took her with him as he fled.
"Get the fuck back here with my girlfriend!" Ryuu seethed, taking flight and streaking after Kakuzu.
After several moments, he appeared in front of Kakuzu, the tentacle holding Fu falling away at the end where it was suddenly severed, then shot back the other way, his fist exploding into Kakuzu's chest, sending him exploding into the ground bellow Choji, who plummeted toward him instantly, his hair spiked, hardened, and forming a spear as he fell. He exploded down on Kakuzu, then leapt away, but as Kakuzu walked out of the dust, his body was hardened. It softened as soon as he was out and he smirked.
"Physical attacks are virtually useless against me," Kakuzu said. "I would have thought you knew this."
"We did," Ryuu said, driving a Chidori through Kakuzu's torso. "But you tend to forget your surroundings when you brag."
He ripped his arm back out and vanished less than a second before Kakuzu's tentacles could impale him, causing them to instead smash Kakuzu into the ground. He lifted himself up with his cords and ripped his cowl and mask off, revealing his brown hair and Glasgow smile. He snarled angrily and separated his four masks.
"Fine," Kakuzu snarled. "We'll play this your way. Let's see if your friends are as fast as you!"
His masks began to indiscriminately blast everything around them and Ryuu began to flicker, grabbing Choji and Ino, who also began to flicker, as they avoided the explosions, Ryuu running as quickly as he could as the masks' jutsus exploded all around them. Finally, he skidded to a stop behind a tree, all three of them smoking slightly from a fireball that had come a little too close, despite their speed, and shoved both of the others to the ground before vanishing, reappearing high on the tee just as a beam of Lightning Style charka exploded through the tree down low, barely missing the other two thanks to them laying down, then shot upward, ripping the tree apart as it rose. Ryuu smirked just as it neared him and drew his chakra blade, slashing it in reverse grip and firing a barrage of Air Bullets out, the Air Bullets flashing across the distance between them and punching through the four cord monsters. However, none of the masks were hit and Ryuu grumbled, exploding forward off of the tree, his wings spreading from his back instantly as he shot forward. Kakuzu began to spray jutsus at him again, a Searing Migraine, a Pressure Damage, an Exploding Water Shockwave that had electricity flooding through it, but Ryuu began to flicker and dodged and flipped, avoiding the jutsus as he streaked toward Kakuzu. Kakuzu roared in effort, all four masses combining, the masks spinning, before a vortex of all four elements erupted out of them, rapidly closing the distance and enveloping Ryuu, only for him to suddenly be behind the mass, slashing. His chakra blade's silhouette split both the water and lightning masks before Ryuu spun, his chakra blade spinning into the air and his hardened fist slamming its repulsion seal into Kakuzu's fist.
Cords exploded out of Kakuzu at the seam in his forearm, through his elbow, and through his shoulder, before Ryuu flipped, hardening his leg and forming a repulsion seal on the top of his foot before he slammed it down into the top of Kakuzu's shoulder, sending him exploding into the ground. Then, he caught his chakra blade, streaming his chakra through it, forming the silhouette, then dropped, stabbing down at Kakuzu's chest, only for cords to explode into him out of the ground to his left, hurling him away. He flipped, landing on his feet just as Kakuzu's remaining masks fired a combined jutsu at him.
"Wind Style, Cyclone Wall!"
A spiraling, domed vortex of raging Wind Chakra too thick to see through and green-tinted formed around him and the blast of enhanced supercharged flame exploded into it, only to spiral around the dome, transforming it into a dome of flames that Ryuu then allowed to go out as he ended his jutsu, which was sustaining the flames. He sighed, beginning to flicker as Kakuzu absorbed his two remaining masks into his cord tentacles.
"Aren't you tired of holding back yet?" Kakuzu asked. "We both know this ends only when you kill me. If you're too afraid to do that, what chance do you have?"
"I'm not too afraid to kill you," Ryuu said calmly, four more of him stepping out of the original, all four still flickering. "But it's not quite time for me to finish you yet."
Kakuzu snarled in annoyance. "You cocky little brat! I'll rip you limb from limb!"
He exploded forward, sending out one of his arms and Ryuu knocked it aside, forming a Chidori again and charged, the other four Ryuus scattering. Kakuzu fired a blast of wind and flame at Ryuu, but he was suddenly to the side of it, and when Kakuzu swept it over to him, he was suddenly on the opposite side. Then, before he could sweep the blast back to Ryuu, Ryuu punched at him, only for Kakuzu to catch it. Ryuu grinned as a second upper body formed from Ryuu's back, both flickering rapidly, and drilled its fist into his face, caving it in and sending him rocketing away from Ryuu. Then, one of the other Ryuu's met him in the air and windmill kicked him, sending him exploding through the ground for a ways, forming a deep trench before Kakuzu flipped out of it and the next Ryuu's fist exploded into his chest, sending him streaking into the air where the fourth Ryuu smashed his clasped fists into Kakuzu's back, sending him exploding into the ground.
Ryuu sprinted toward Fu as he watched Zetsu grow out of the ground, except, he wasn't alone. He opened his Venus Flytrap into tentacles and Itachi stepped away from him.
"I am never travelling like that again," Itachi said.
"You'll have to in order to get back to Kisame," Zetsu said. "It's kind of fun having a partner."
"I'm not your partner," Itachi said.
"Shit!" Ryuu breathed before clenching his fists. "Itachi!"
Itachi stopped, then turned, staring back at Ryuu. "He was supposed to be fighting Kakuzu."
Just then, a massive explosion went off in the distance and Kakuzu's voice roared in rage.
"He is fighting Kakuzu," Zetsu said. "This is one of his Afterimage Clones."
Itachi watched Ryuu for a moment, seeing him flicker, then nodded. "I see. You've grown powerful Ryuu. You've become as fast as your brother."
"Faster," Ryuu snarled, drawing his tanto and trench knife as a kunai dropped out of Itachi's right sleeve into his hand, his left arm, previously folded against the inside of his cloak like a Ronin, shoved that side of the cloak off and drew a kunai from inside the right side of the cloak.
"I see," Itachi said. "I'm proud of you. You grew up well."
"You killed our family," Ryuu snarled. "By the time this fight's over, I will know why. And then I'm going to deal with you and take Fu home again. I'm not allowing you to hurt her."
Itachi watched him for a moment before looking back at Fu, then at Ryuu again. "If you're faster than Shisui, why haven't you taken her already? I wonder, are you actually being pushed too hard to face Kakuzu to be able to split your attention enough to face me as well?"
Ryuu grit his teeth. He was right on the money, as usual. Itachi always was said to be the smartest person in any room. Except maybe for Shikamaru, or Shikamaru's father Shikaku. Ryuu took a long, slow breath, then exploded forward, extending his wings, and streaked directly past Itachi, slashing at Zetsu, who had been going after Fu. Zetsu avoided the slash by blocking it with a root, and the battle began instantly, both Zetsu and Itachi investing their full attention in trying to beat Ryuu.
Ryuu flipped over Kakuzu's tentacles and landed on his feet, streaking forward and punching at him, only to vanish just before a fist exploded into Kakuzu's back, just as the cords around his body were expanding to fire a Wind-powered Fire Style jutsu. The chakra exploded instantly, erupting into a fireball that rivalled the trees for height. Ryuu reappeared beside Ino and Choji and swore.
"What?" Choji asked. "You're winning! That explosion probably-'
"It only pissed him off!" Ryuu interrupted urgently. "Both of you need to run, now! Itachi and Zetsu are here! I have an Afterimage Clone fighting them, but he's too far away for me to keep it up long, or make more."
"Shit!" Ino swore. "What about Kakuzu and Hidan? And Shikamaru?"
"Shikamaru's got Hidan handled," Ryuu said. "I'll send a clone to warn him, and I've already reverse-summoned Yomo to warn Tsunade that Itachi is here and to respond accordingly."
"We can't just run away!" Choji said.
"You both heard the plan!" Ryuu snapped. "Itachi showing up is immediate retreat criteria! Fall back to the rendezvous!"
"What about you?" Ino asked.
"This is a part of Shikamaru's plan," Ryuu said. "I delay them long enough to retrieve Fu and to allow you all to escape, and then I rejoin you on the way back to the village."
Ino and Choji nodded and turned, sprinting away. As they did, Ryuu exploded forward, drilling a punch into Kakuzu's chest as he moved to intercept them, then turned and fled toward Itachi. Kakuzu flipped and chased him firing at him rapidly as he did, just in time for Ryuu to stop flickering, then fade from existence.
"Fuck!" Kakuzu snarled. "He's faster than I thought. Where'd he-" He stopped as a series of explosions went off in the distance and roots exploded into the air. "Found you!"
Ryuu flipped and ducked around Zetsu's roots, slashing any that he had to, all the while deflecting Itachi's knives as Itachi pressed him hard. He was careful not to look directly into Itachi's eyes, and as they fought, he pressed Itachi back hard enough to not give him any chance to use Genjutsu any other way. He flipped over Itachi, spinning, and his blades tore through Itachi, only for Itachi to explode into a flock of crows. Then, as Ryuu landed, he solidified and felt the version of him fighting Kakuzu fade. He sighed. Finally, he could go all out here.
"Fire Style, Great Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Itachi shouted, a dozen fireballs exploding into the ground where Ryuu had been.
"Wood Style, Great Tree Spear!" Zetsu shouted, massive spiked roots exploding out of the ground all around them, stabbing upward violently and reaching above the trees before stopping, effectively forming a jungle of roots in the process. "Did we get him? Don't count on it."
Ryuu knelt beside Fu, who was still unconscious from having to tank Kakuzu's jutsu using her Tailed Beast Chakra, and lifted her gently. "Hey. It's time to wake up now, Fu. We're in some real trouble here. I could use an extra set of hands."
Fu winced, letting out a small groan as she stirred before looking around, then up at Ryuu. She smiled, then stood, Ryuu unsealing her own tanto and silver kunai from a scroll and handing it to her.
"What are we up against?" Fu asked.
"Itachi and Zetsu, and about to be Kakuzu, too," Ryuu said.
Fu swore. "I guess we shouldn't play around, then."
Ryuu nodded. "Remember, we only need to give them enough time to finish Hidan and escape.
Just then, the Shadow Clone he had sent to warn Shikamaru released its jutsu and reported that he was going to be wrapping up his fight soon. Ryuu sighed. That was good. That meant that Shikamaru would get away safely. All Ryuu had to do was make an opening, and they could get away.
Suddenly, Ryuu grabbed Fu and vanished just before Kakuzu's Wind-enhanced Fire Style jutsu exploded down into the roots, completely obliterating it and missing Ryuu and Fu by only a second. Ryuu flipped into the air off of the concussion and extended his wings, Fu hovering beside him with her own wings, boiling red Tailed Beast Chakra coating her body.
"Not bad," Kakuzu smirked. "I understand now why you were suddenly losing power. You had to fight on two fronts."
"And now that you're here, I can focus my efforts," Ryuu said, beginning to flicker as more and more of him began to spread outward from him, stopping at ten. "I wonder if you can keep up."
"I'll deal with Zetsu," Fu said.
"No," Ryuu said. "Zetsu can make a poison to slow our reaction time, and is probably doing so already. I'll be dealing with him first. Take Kakuzu. Carefully."
"I'm stronger than I was that first time," Fu said. "I'll be fine."
Ryuu nodded and all of him flapped his wings, a sea of chakra feathers streaking down at the three Akatsuki members, erupting into a sea of massive explosions. As soon as the flames were gone, the Ryuus shot downward. One of them swiped a hand, clearing the dust and smoke just in time for a blast of flame to pass through him. Then, five of the Ryuus reached Zetsu, beginning to hack and slash their way through the tentacles as Zetsu struggled to slow them down. Off to the left, one Ryuu and Fu were going after Kakuzu, flipping and dodging around his strikes, delivering their own, both of them using repulsion seals to enhance theirs. The last four Ryuus were attacking Itachi, who was keeping up with them almost perfectly.
"This is getting annoying!" Kakuzu snarled, flipping over Ryuu, the Wind Style mask sending a barrage of short blasts at them, the blasts exploding against the ground as they both avoided them.
"Welcome to my world!" Ryuu shouted, drilling a punch into his back and sending him exploding into the ground.
He bounced into the air and Fu's fist, with both repulsion seal and Tailed Beast Chakra, exploded into his side, sending him blasting through Zetsu's roots and into the other Akatsuki Member. A half-second later, all five of the Ryuus attacking Zetsu shot passed, their Fire Swords splitting both Akatsuki members into multiple pieces, only for Zetsu to transform into a wood mannequin and Kakuzu to fall away as water. The Ryuus flipped and slashed downward as roots exploded out of the ground, Zetsu rising in the center of them, even White Zetsu glaring.
"You're very annoying," Zetsu said. "Just die!"
The roots came alive, whipping and stabbing at the Ryuus, who all either passed through them or slashed them with their flaming swords. Then, Itachi exploded through one into Zetsu on the business end of a Pressure Damage, courtesy of one of the Ryuus he was fighting. Both crashed to the ground and more and more roots began to explode out of the ground, swarming at the Ryuus, only for all but one to fade. The roots turned and swarmed at him as he rapidly formed hand seals.
"Fire Style, Majestic Demolisher Flame!" Ryuu shouted before exhaling a jet of flame that incinerated any of the roots it met instantly, heading toward Zetsu and Itachi rapidly.
More roots stabbed at Ryuu, but Fu flashed around and around him, slashing and destroying them with a pair of Water Swords. Suddenly, black flames began to fight against Ryuu's.
"Amaterasu!" Itachi's voice said as the black flames began to win out over Ryuu's, slowly creeping back toward Ryuu.
Then, Ryuu was gone, as was Fu, and the roots exploded together, Itachi's flames crashing into them and beginning to burn them away. Ryuu reappeared in the air over them alone and they all looked up.
"It's time we ended this," Kakuzu said.
"I couldn't agree more," Ryuu said, beginning to form hand seals. "Wind Style, Heel of the Wind God!"
A sphere of green-tinted Wind Chakra roared to life around him before exploding into a tornado. Except, they all saw a second and turned, seeing Fu at its center, directly opposite them from Ryuu. Then, they sensed chakra building up above them and all looked up, seeing a rapidly-growing sphere of raging, green-tinted, razor-sharp, super-compressed Wind Style chakra above them. Within seconds, it was hundreds of meters across. Then, Ryuu and Fu both swung one arm downward and the sphere plummeted toward them. Zetsu began to sink into the ground, only for chakra threads to yank him back up. He swore just as the sphere exploded into the ground, squishing slightly before exploding outward like the most powerful downburst ever. Blades of Wind chakra tore at everything inside of the explosion. Then, it reversed direction, racing back inward and bringing all of the debris from the trees and ground it had decimated, then spiraled into a gigantic tornado, anything and everything inside of it being shredded by blades of wind, battered by flying debris, and finally sent exploding back into the ground as the tornado curled in on itself at the top and became a downburst one final time. As the dust slowly cleared, it revealed a massive crater with Zetsu and Kakuzu laying at the bottom. Itachi, however, was gone.
"You continue to impress," Itachi said from behind Ryuu, Ryuu spinning and seeing him standing on a tree that had been at the edge of the blast radius. "That blast was truly a devastating one. Fortunately, the build up was just a bit too slow."
Ryuu's brow furrowed in confusion and he looked down just as Zetsu and Kakuzu dissolved into a flock of crows. Ryuu sighed, disrupting his chakra and breaking the Genjutsu. The crater wasn't where it was supposed to be. The blast had hit off to the side of their intended targets. Fu flew down next to Ryuu and glared past Itachi to where Zetsu and Kakuzu were stepping into view.
"We slipped up," Fu said.
"Yeah," Ryuu nodded. "We'll have to be more careful."
Fu nodded just as Kakuzu's masks opened, firing a massive blast of flame again.
"Wind Style, Rasengan!" Naruto's voice suddenly shouted.
"Water Style, Ripping Torrent!" Yamato's shouted.
"Hurricane Vortex Jutsu!" Both shouted, as a Rasengan packed with Wind Style chakra, with an excess forming a sort of shuriken silhouette around it, met a massive vortex of water, exploding into a massive typhoon that completely nullified the flames.
Just as the two combined jutsus met, Kakashi appeared behind Zetsu, stabbing him through the head with a Lightning Blade, only for his body to melt into goo. Ryuu swore. Zetsu had escaped again. Again. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai all landed below Ryuu and Fu and they floated to the ground beside them as Kakashi retreated to stand with them, Yamato joining them a moment later with Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino. Across from them, Itachi dropped down next to Kakuzu.
"This isn't looking good," Kakuzu said.
"We should leave, now," Itachi said.
"Right," Kakuzu nodded.
He blasted the ground between them, kicking up a cloud of dust, just as Ryuu slammed his hands down.
"Ninja Art, Anchor Point!" Ryuu shouted.
Strings of seal script shot out of a point on the ground, wrapping around Kakuzu and yanking him back before fading, leaving lines of seal script tattooed into his body where they had touched him. He stood, turning and beginning to run again, making it a hundred meters before the seal script flashed into existence between him and that same spot, yanking him back once again.
"Be happy, Kakuzu," Ryuu said, clearing the dust the rest of the way with a quick Wind Style jutsu. "I created that seal just specifically for you. I just hated having to see you go so bad, you understand."
Kakuzu shouted in rage, firing another blast at Ryuu and the others and they all scattered, avoiding the blast. "I'll kill you all!"
"No," Ryuu said. "This time, you'll die."
"I'll deal with him," Naruto said, stepping forward.
"Excuse me?" Ryuu asked.
"This is the perfect time for me to test out my new jutsu," Naruto said. "Besides," he looked back at Ryuu, "even if it's him, killing him would haunt you, right?"
Ryuu was silent for a moment before nodding. "Thank you."
Naruto nodded, turning back to the front. He formed two clones and both charged instantly. They both drew a kunai and exhaled a Vacuum Blade onto them, then began to attack Kakuzu rapidly. Kakuzu dodged and weaved around Naruto, his cords having shrunk down from tentacles to a writhing mass behind him with the two masks just above his head and to either side. As Naruto's clones struck at Kakuzu again and again, Kakuzu began to get annoyed. Every time he'd catch one clone with his cords, the other would sever them. Finally, he jumped, flipping over Naruto's clones and blasting both with a Fire Style jutsu, destroying them.
Naruto, having watched the fight from the back, took a moment to analyze the clones' memories before nodding to himself. "It's doable. Especially thanks to all your training, Ryuu."
"Alright then," Ryuu nodded. "Let's see what you've got."
Naruto nodded and crouched, spreading his feet slightly. He created three clones, and two of them instantly went to work forming his chakra into his new jutsu. A Rasengan formed, a high, irritating whine ringing out instantly, and the same shuriken blade silhouette from before formed around it before growing to about the size of a fuma shuriken. It began to kick up a strong wind and most of the others shielded their eyes. Ryuu stared at the thing as Naruto lifted it over his head. It was almost painful to look at.
"Wind Style, Rasenshuriken!" Naruto said, then nodded to the clones.
They all drew kunai and took off immediately, forming themselves Vacuum Blades and sped toward Kakuzu rapidly.
"Oh no you don't!" Kakuzu snarled, both masks opening. "I'm not so foolish as to fall for that trick again!"
The masks fired their jutsus, only for both of the jutsus to crash into one of the same element from Fu and Ryuu, the four jutsus being deflected harmlessly behind Kakuzu and exploding. Kakuzu swore, sending out his cords, only for the Narutos to shred their way through. They began to slash at him rapidly, and as he was struggling to keep ahead of them, the real Naruto charged.
"When did Naruto get so strong?" Ino asked.
"I've been training him relentlessly in taijutsu and kenjutsu for forever," Ryuu said. "Looks like it's finally paying off."
Fu nodded, smiling. "He's come a long way."
Naruto neared Kakuzu just as he smashed one clone into the ground and destroyed it. In doing so, Kakuzu saw Naruto coming and swore. He extended his cords into tentacles again, or maybe they were supposed to be wings, and then leapt off of the ground over Naruto. However, Naruto turned to look back at him and smirked. Kakuzu's brow furrowed in confusion until all three Narutos exploded into smoke. Kakuzu's eyes widened and he looked up, seeing another Naruto passing over him, this one also holding a Rasenshuriken. He passed Kakuzu completely before another clone appeared, allowing Naruto to leap off of him. Kakuzu roared, a mass of cords shooting toward him, only for yet another clone to fall past with a Vacuum Blade, slicing off both the cords attacking Naruto, and two of Kakuzu's wings. Kakuzu swore, going out of control and flipping instantly, allowing Naruto to slam the jutsu into his face. It shot outward instantly, taking Kakuzu with it. As it flew, the Rasenshuriken's blades shredded Kakuzu's cords. Then, it faded. Ryuu blinked, staring at Kakuzu as he fell, bouncing off of the ground and landing heavily on his back, both masks intact and attached to his shoulders by a handful of cords each. Ryuu looked to Yamato, who looked panic-stricken.
"Did it work?" Ino asked.
"No," Ryuu said. "I burned out."
"It's not my lucky day, today," Naruto said, walking past them and stopping, forming a pair of clones again, reforming his jutsu. "It works about seventy five percent of the time. I guess today's just not my day."
He charged again, the clones running at his sides, both once again wielding Vacuum Blades. Then, as they neared Kakuzu, cords exploded out of him, reforming his tentacles, which he sent at the Narutos. However, before they could reach him, a flickering Ryuu appeared in the cords' way, shoving a hand forward and sending a massive, blue, Wind Chakra, demonic hand out of his own hand, the hand blasting through the tentacles easily and clearing Naruto's way to Kakuzu. Then, Ryuu disappeared just in time for Naruto to slam the Rasenshuriken into Kakuzu's gut. This time, after flying for several seconds, it exploded, erupting into a gigantic dome of raging Wind Style chakra, the high whine climbing to a scream as it exploded. Kakuzu hung suspended in the air as tiny blades of chakra tore at him on a molecular level, Ryuu only realizing that's what has happening by seeing the chakra around Kakuzu seeming to boil and rage around him, and blood forming over most of Kakuzu's body. The two masks Kakuzu still had broke apart, the pieces reduced to dust by the chakra blades, and the jutsu finally faded, Kakuzu hovering there as chakra blades continued to assault his body. At the same time, Naruto's legs gave out and Ryuu caught him, taking his arm over one shoulder as Fu took his other side, the two of them supporting his weight for him.
"Impressive Naruto," Ryuu said. "Most impressive."
"Impressive!?" Ino scoffed. "That was amazing!"
"That was so cool!" Choji agreed as Kakuzu's body finally fell, crashing heavily to the ground.
"Does this mean I get a day off from training?" Naruto asked.
"Tell you what," Ryuu smirked. "You can take two days off because I'm going to be enjoying a weekend of no responsibilities."
"Sweet," Naruto grinned. "Kakashi Sensei, where are you going?"
"I'm going to double check," Kakashi said over his shoulder, walking toward the crater. "I'd rather not have this one come after us again."
"Good point," Ryuu said. "Bring his body with you. Tsunade will want to see what his new jutsu does."
Kakashi nodded and slid into the crater. Ryuu turned and pulled Naruto onto his back before extending his wings to hover, since it was less tiring than walking. They all turned, starting to leave and Fu hovered along beside Ryuu, Fu positioned as though laying on her back. After a few minutes, Kakashi caught up, holding up a scroll and nodding, and Ryuu turned to Shikamaru.
"How'd you deal with Hidan?" Ryuu asked.
"I blew him up to dismember him, then burying him fifty feet down under several tons of rock," Shikamaru said.
"Good," Ryuu said. "Personally, I'd like to see if he can survive being dissolved in acid, but your way will work."
Shikamaru nodded and they all settled in for a long trip home.
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