I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Battle on the Lake
A loud crack filled the air and they all spun, staring as the crystal continued to crack.
"No!" Naruto gasped. "Hinata!"
Then, it shattered. And it left Hinata lying on the ground, bruised, beaten, and dirty, but unharmed by the Crystal Style Jutsu she'd been captured with. Ryuu sighed in relief, seeing relief wash over Naruto in waves, his eyes actually watering before he blinked the tears away. Ryuu knelt beside Hinata, pressing his fingers against her neck and feeling for a pulse.
"She's alive," Ryuu said. "Her pulse is faint, though."
He began to transfer her some of his chakra at the same time as using Medical Ninjutsu to try and help her heart get working properly again, stabilizing her. Naruto knelt on Hinata's other side worriedly. Finally, her eyes fluttered open and she looked around.
"N...Naruto?" Hinata asked.
"Hey," Naruto smiled. "Welcome back." He helped her sit up before hugging her, Hinata blushing crimson but hugging him back. "You need to be more careful, Hinata," Naruto said as he pulled away. "You scared the hell out of me."
"I-I'm sorry, N-Naruto," Hinata said.
"How did you survive?" Ryuu asked.
"When I saw I was going to be hit with her Jutsu, I pushed chakra out of all of my chakra points at once, surrounding myself in a barrier," Hinata said.
"Hinata, you're a genius!" Naruto grinned.
Hinata blushed profusely yet again. "Th-Thank you, N-Naruto."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Naruto asked. "You look a bit red."
Hinata smiled and nodded. "I'm alright."
Naruto nodded, smiling.
"I guess her jutsu doesn't work on everything after all," Shino said. "It can't crystalize chakra."
"So it would seem," Kakashi nodded.
"We should go after them," Ryuu said. "They're too dangerous to allow to regroup and plan another ambush. We should find them and deal with them before they can cause any more problems. But this time, I'll take the Crystal Style user out. I'm too fast to be caught by her jutsu."
"You'll..." Kakashi trailed off, staring at him. "Our mission is to investigate them, not fight them."
"And what are we learning sitting around here?" Ryuu asked. "Other than the fact that Hinata's a genius."
"And just how do you suggest we go about tracking them?" Kakashi asked. "They leave no scent, so it's impossible to track them that way, even for Akamaru."
"Easy," Ryuu said. "We ask for help." He whistled and a handful of various birds flew down out of the trees, landing on his head, shoulders, and hands. "We need to find those ninja my friends were fighting a little bit ago. Think you can give us a hand?"
The birds took off again and the trees around them came alive with whistling, cawing, and chirps, the noises spreading outward in a wave before all sides but one went silent.
"That way," Ryuu said. "Tayuya, Sakura, Sai, you two stay back and look after Hinata while she rests."
Both nodded.
"We'll be back soon, Hinata," Naruto promised.
"Let's go," Ryuu said.
The others all nodded and those who hadn't been chosen to stay back left, fallowing the bird calls. After a few minutes, Yomo suddenly shot down out of the trees ahead of them and tackled a bat to the ground, driving his beak into its eye and killing it. Then, the forest came alive with noises yet again. This time, however, it was the angry chrieks and cries of birds attacking their prey, and dead bats began to fall from the branches every so often. Then, the forest was silent yet again.
"He's going to notice all of his pets are gone," Shino said. "And the birds weren't quiet about attacking them. Nor are they quiet about telling us where our targets are."
"You're right," Ryuu nodded, whistling twice.
Slowly, the birds began to quiet down at the same time as Crow began to guide them above the trees. They all ran in silence, keeping their eyes open for any sign of trouble, Ryuu keeping his Sharingan active, but there was nothing.
"So, Kabuto, what does Orochimaru have in store for us here?" Kakashi asked.
"There's a lake ahead of us where Guren will be heading," Kabuto said. "Orochimaru discovered something in that lake that he took a very keep interest in."
"What?" Naruto asked.
"The Three-tailed Demon Turtle," Kabuto said. "Orochimaru also found a child with the power to control the Three-tails, though I have no idea how. If Guren is here, it means that Orochimaru has decided to make Yukimaru the new Jinchuriki of the Three-tails."
"Then we should hurry," Yamato said. "What can you tell us about Guren?"
"She's extremely loyal to Orochimaru, to the point of being obsessed," Kabuto said. "She was originally going to be one of Orochimaru's vessels, on account of her Crystal Style, but Orochimaru lost interest. She likely believes that completing this mission will get Orochimaru to choose her again in place of Sasuke, but that will never happen. Orochimaru has always prized the Sharingan above all other jutsu."
"We'll deal with her," Ryuu said. "And then we'll seal the Three-tails and move it to a safe location where we can protect it from the Akatsuki."
"That may not be a good idea politically," Yamato said. "The hidden Leaf already has two Jinchuriki. If we collect another, we'll be risking war. Tensions with the Hidden Cloud are still high after the incident after you saved the Two-tails Jinchuriki."
"I don't care about politics," Ryuu said. "I care about stopping the Akatsuki. If they get the Three-tails, they're one step closer to focusing their efforts on Fu, and I will not let that happen."
"Neither will we," Yamato said. "However, the Three-tails originally belonged to the Hidden Mist Village. Now that it's not the Blood Mist Village anymore, maybe we should give it back to them, both for their protection, and as an offering of peace."
"The Hidden Mist isn't strong enough to defend a Tailed Beast that they already lost once," Ryuu said. "You have too much faith in others."
"And you have too little!" Yamato said. "You think you can defend everyone yourself, and that no one else is powerful enough to, but you're not all-powerful! You have to trust others! One thing that has always plagued the Uchiha Clan, and that has always brought them to ruin was that they let their hubris, and their self-reliance control them. You're better than that, Ryuu. You have to learn to have faith in others."
"And what has trusting others ever gotten me!?" Ryuu snapped, stopping, the others stopping as well. "I got captured and tortured by Orochimaru, I was forced to kill two of the people who meant the most to me, I was locked up by the Hidden Cloud Village for helping! Hell, I got half of my body blown into paste and got turned into an inhuman freak! People aren't trust-worthy! Trusting others makes you weak, and vulnerable! The only person who can ever truly protect anything is someone strong enough to protect them alone!"
"Ryuu," Fu said, setting her hand on his shoulder. "You know that's not true. You're not like your family. Remember? You hate violence."
"I'm not that person anymore," Ryuu said, forming his wings and taking off, leaving the others behind quickly.
He sped toward the lake in silence, tears stinging his eyes. They couldn't understand. None of them could. He was a monster. But if being a monster and risking a war was what it took to protect Fu, he would accept that fate. Just then, a ninja with a grey body suit, a tuft of pink hair sticking out from under it, and green lipstick leapt at him from the trees ahead of him. He growled in annoyance.
"Get the hell out of my way!" Ryuu snarled, hardening his right hand and forming a repulsion seal before drilling his fist into the ninja's face, sending him exploding through several trees before streaking past him. "I'll be back to deal with you once I take Guren out. She's the biggest threat."
Finally, he broke out of the trees and streaked out over the lake, Yomo falling back to lead the others. On the lake, Ryuu could see the Three-tails, a massive, spiky, grey-shelled turtle with three crawfish-like tails and a sort of grey chitin-like exoskeleton covering its entire body inside of five pink crystal pillars. In front of it was a canoe with a column of chakra shooting up out of it into the clouds, Guren and Gozu both inside of it with a young boy between them and a man Ryuu didn't recognize in front of Guren. Ryuu drew his tanto, exhaling a Vacuum Blade onto it and shot down at Guren. As he neared the boat, Yukimaru's chakra column faded and he collapsed, Guren catching him, only to immediately shove him to Gozu before spinning, forming herself a pair of blades just in time for Ryuu's Vacuum Blade to spark against them as he passed over her. He swung around, gritting his teeth.
"Guren!" Ryuu shouted. "Stand still and let me kill you!"
He shot around for another pass, but Gozu's fist expanded from normal-sized to massive, Gozu slamming the back of it into Ryuu and hurling him away. Ryuu flipped, snarling annoyance as Guren leapt out of the boat, ordering Gozu to stay with Yukimaru.
"Guren, forget him!" Kabuto's apparent replacement snapped. "Restrain the Three-tails!"
"If he kills me, I won't be able to restrain anything!" Guren snapped.
Just then, the Three-tails roared angrily, streaking forward, apparently meaning to ram them. Before it could, Gozu landed on the water in front of it, catching it by the face and halting it in its tracks. Ryuu stared for a moment before shaking his head. Gozu was a monster.
"Guren!" Gozu shouted. "This is your chance!"
The Three-tails roared, hurling Gozu aside just as Guren rounded on the beast, forming hand seals rapidly.
"Crystal Style, Divine Pathway Jutsu!" Guren shouted, placing her hand into the water.
Giant blue crystal spikes began to erupt from the water in a massive path heading toward the Three-tails and drilled themselves into its underside, only for the Three-tails to be momentarily lifted, completely unharmed, before the crystals shattered and it crashed back down in the water again. The canoe flipped instantly, Orochimaru's scientist landing on the water with Yukimaru.
"Guren, control that beast or I'll be forced to tell Lord Orochimaru how brilliantly you've failed him!" the scientist said. "I'm getting the boy out of here before he dies too, or else Orochimaru will have both of our heads."
"If you're running away, then hurry the hell up!" Guren snapped, flipping backward from Ryuu's slash before beginning to fend him off rapidly, bits of crystal scattering from her blades every time she blocked his Vacuum Blade, only for them to instantly fix themselves.
Ryuu pressed Guren hard, Guren retreating around and around in the water, blocking or dodging his strikes, repeatedly getting into position to counter, only for Ryuu's speed to allow him to continue attacking her immediately, leaving her no time to do so. "I'm not letting Orochimaru have the Three-tails or the boy! And you will never hurt my friends again!"
Just as he finished speaking, he slashed with both hands, shattering Guren's blades only to be forced to leap backward as Gozu exploded down into the water where Ryuu had been a moment earlier. Ryuu glanced at Guren as she hurled a pair of giant crystal shuriken, both of which expanded to be even taller than the Three-tails, only for them to shatter against its shell. Guren growled in annoyance. She began to form hand seals, and Ryuu shot forward, Guren swearing and leaping backward. However, just as she avoided Ryuu's blade, the Three-tails roared, charging again. However, it suddenly jerked to a stop.
"Guren!" Gozu's voice shouted from somewhere behind the Three-tails. "Do it!"
Ryuu turned to the Tailed Beast just as one of its tails rose, Gozu clinging to a spike on the end of it, then flicked, hurling Gozu away. Ryuu turned back to Guren just as she finished her hand seals.
"Crystal Style, Crystal Wall, Eighth Formation!" Guren shouted, massive, pink, crystal spikes erupting from the water around the Three-tails, completely encasing it within seconds.
Ryuu shot toward her and she snarled in annoyance, reforming her crystal blades in time to once again begin fending her off.
"Would you just fuck off!?" Guren snapped. "I have bigger problems right now than you!"
"Right now, I'm your worst problem!" Ryuu snarled, shattering her blades again, and stabbing at her.
She spun around it, slamming a hook kick into his head and hurling him, as he had done to her earlier. He flipped, landing on his feet in time to block her blades with his own a second before the crystal prison around the Three-tails shattered. Ryuu ignored it, glaring into her eyes with his Sharingan. She gasped harshly as he placed her under a genjutsu, then fell limp, dropping into the water and beginning to sink like a rock. Ryuu huffed, watching her for a moment, before the Three-tails roared. He turned to him just before Guren surfaced, coughing and sputtering, the feeling of drowning having freed her.
"Your Jutsu wasn't strong enough," Ryuu said.
"Then maybe you'd like to stop trying to kill me and let me focus?" Guren snarled.
"No," Ryuu said, stabbing down through her torso, only for her to shatter into pink crystals, which disintegrated instantly.
Then, he flipped backward over Guren, landing behind her and pulling his tanto back to slash her across the back and sever her spine, only for the Tailed Beast beside them to slam a tail into the water, the resulting wave crashing into both of them, Ryuu instantly losing all sense of up and down.
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