I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Battle
"He's here."
Ryuu stood, turning around his chair and facing the door as Mifune and his two guards leapt away from it, allowing Orochimaru to walk into the room calmly, a wide, knowing smile on his face.
"Why Danzo, it seems you've been found out," Orochimaru said.
"I was hoping you wouldn't show up," Ryuu said, drawing his tanto.
"Come now, there's no need for violence," Orochimaru said. "I'm simply here to ask you where I can find something that belongs to me by all rights."
"And what's that?" Ryuu asked.
"My child," Orochimaru said, everyone looking around at each other, then back at Orochimaru. "The child that I conceived with Anko. My daughter. I want her back. It's such a painful experience to not be able to hold my child. I tried asking Anko, but she simply refused to tell me. Perhaps a few more days of my special treatment will loosen her tongue. Or perhaps I'll just have to settle for the next child instead."
"You're wasting your breath," Ryuu said. "Thank you for warning us that you have Anko. I'll be sure to find you and take her back. As for Anko's child, she's not yours, so you will never see her."
Orochimaru hummed. "Anko said something similar. However, I beg to differ. However, I didn't actually expect you to give her to me, much less have her with you. I actually came for something else entirely."
Just then, Mei shouted in pain as another Orochimaru appeared behind her, jabbing a syringe into the side of her neck. Ryuu appeared beside them instantly, but Orochimaru simply smiled and vanished, leaving Ryuu to begin healing Mei's neck. He glanced at Onoki, but Onoki was fine, and Orochimaru was gone. Ryuu grit his teeth. Orochimaru already had Quick Style integrated into whatever host he was in.
"Where'd he go!?" A demanded.
"He's gone," Ryuu said. "He got what he wanted."
"Why my blood?" Mei asked.
"For your Kekkei Genkai," Ryuu said. "He's perfected a way to steal them from DNA samples. He used another, called Quick Style, to escape before I could catch him." He stepped away from Mei. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Mei said. "He put a hole in my carotid artery. If you hadn't reacted when you did, I'd be dead."
"Why didn't he take mine?" Onoki asked. "My Particle Style is more powerful."
"Maybe he's not ready for a Kekkei Tota," Ryuu said. "Or maybe he's not interested."
"He needs to be dealt with," Gaara said. "How many Kekkei Genkai does he wield that you know of?"
"Including the Mizukage's, that should be twelve," Ryuu said. "To include both the Sharingan and Ketsuryugan."
"The what?" Gaara asked.
"It's a Dojutsu with Genjutsu abilities rivalling those of the Sharingan, and the ability to control blood," Ryuu said.
"Ryuu," Fu spoke up. "We should get moving."
"For what?" Gaara asked.
"To catch up," Ryuu said, looking to Danzo's suddenly empty chair. "Orochimaru provided him the perfect distraction."
Everyone leapt to their feet instantly, but Ryuu waved them off.
"Fu, stay here with the others," Ryuu said. "Tobi, stay with her. I'll deal with Danzo personally, finally."
"Be careful," Fu said.
"I will," Ryuu nodded, then vanished. He sped out of the tower, then away from it and through the snow for a surprising distance before stopping in front of Danzo and his two bodyguards in the center of a frozen lake. "Hello again, Danzo. I believe I warned you about the price of moving."
"If you attack me, you will be a traitor to the entire Leaf Village!" Danzo said. "I am Hokage!"
"You are a traitor," Ryuu said. "Killing you will change nothing, because you haven't been officially appointed yet. As of now, you're acting Hokage, and your treason supersedes mine."
"Fu, Torune!" Danzo said.
Both shot forward, only for Ryuu to flicker and both to crash down to either side of Ryuu, skidding across the ice and leaving trails of blood. Danzo's eyes widened in surprise.
"I don't like killing," Ryuu said. "Ever person I kill haunts me. But in this case, not only do I think I'll be fine with killing you, but I'm also not going to just take your head off before you can react. After everything you've done, you're not going to get a quick, easy death. I'm going to make it slow. I'm going to let you work to survive, only to realize how hopeless it is. Then I'll kill you."
Danzo grit his teeth, snarling angrily and shoving the black cloth over his right side away, revealing the gold braces on his right forearm, keeping the Hashirama Cells sealed. He reached over, pulling a small metal pin from a flat section extended from each, taking a round section from the main part in between each one. Ryuu waited patiently for him to undo the seal, and finally, it dropped heavily to the ground, followed by the bandages. As they finished, Danzo raised his right arm, which had ten Sharingan embedded in it along the length of its forearm. Ryuu narrowed his eyes.
"I'm going to take you Sharingan and add them to my collection," Danzo said. "Shisui's too."
"No, you won't," Ryuu said.
Danzo glared at him before pulling a kunai from his left sleeve, exhaling a Vacuum Blade onto it. Then, he stabbed it into the ground, forming three hand seals. "This world cannot exist on ideals and beliefs alone. The true epitome of a shinobi is to work in the shadows, never seeing the light of day, and to live a life of self sacrifice. Someone like you could never-"
Ryuu's arm snapped up, a Wind Rapier forming and flashing outward, piercing through Danzo's groin. Danzo shrieked in agony instantly.
"Shut up," Ryuu said. "You have nothing to say to me. You sealed your fate when I was twelve and you tried to kidnap Fu. No. Even before that. You signed your fate when you stole my older brother's eye and ordered my other older brother to slaughter my entire clan. I told you I would make you suffer before you die, and I meant it."
He retracted his Wind Rapier until it was three feet long again, as usual, before walking forward calmly. Danzo remained on the ground, screaming and wailing in agony for a few more moments before Ryuu drove his Wind Rapier down through his head, silencing him. He felt guilt beginning to blossom in his chest instantly and sighed.
"Even for you, huh?" Ryuu asked. "I'm actually surprised."
He spun suddenly, his Wind Rapier sweeping a Vacuum Blade aside. Danzo spun instantly and Ryuu's mind became a mess of confusion. He was certain the body behind him wasn't a clone. However, as he blocked the Vacuum Blade and glanced back, there was no body. He shoved Danzo's blade away and split him diagonally across the chest, killing him instantly. Then, he picked up the upper left half of Danzo's body. It was definitely real. However, a moment later, he leapt to the side just as a barrage of Vacuum Bullets began to flash past. One of them grazed his left hand and he hissed in pain, opening it, except that he hadn't been holding anything. He vanished instantly, reappearing off to the side and stared at the ice. Fu and Torune's corpses remained where they were, as did the hole where Ryuu's Wind Rapier had gone through Danzo's head into the ice. However, Danzo was now standing off to one side, watching Ryuu, and the most recent corpse Danzo had left was gone, along with its blood. Ryuu narrowed his eyes. What was this? It wasn't a clone jutsu. He wasn't under a Genjutsu. Ryuu's own Teleportation Jutsu sprung to mind, particularly his use of it in saving Asuma from Hidan, but this couldn't be that. Danzo wasn't that fast.
Danzo sprinted toward Ryuu and Ryuu drew his tanto as Danzo drew another kunai, exhaling a Vacuum Blade onto it again, then beginning to slash at Ryuu rapidly. Ryuu fended him off easily, deflecting slash after slash as his Sharingan watched Danzo carefully. Finally, his eyes noticed something. Two of the Sharingan on the inside of Danzo's forearm were closed. Danzo moved to stab Ryuu and Ryuu stepped past him, slashing off his arm at the elbow, then his head as he caught the arm. He stared at the two closed Sharingan before sensing Danzo behind him suddenly. Danzo exhaled a Wind Style Vacuum Blast at him, but Ryuu's Susanoo's ribcage formed around him, blocking it, before he turned, its right arm forming and flashing around at him. Danzo moved to leap backward, but the hand caught him anyway, his right arm sticking out from between the middle and index fingers, exposing the now three closed eyes. Ryuu glanced at the his own hand, but the arm was gone, as he had suspected.
"Izanagi," Ryuu said. "You're sacrificing your Sharingan one at a time to extend your life in hopes of killing me. That's unfortunate. You're simply wasting them."
His Susanoo crushed Danzo, blood spraying out of the fist between its fingers, Danzo's right arm spinning away. However, as it did, Ryuu let his Susanoo fade, sighing in relief as the agony of using it faded as well. He turned, looking around just in time to see Danzo appear off to one side, already charging and holding a kunai with a Vacuum Blade. He raced forward, leaping into the air and slashed at Ryuu, only for Ryuu to scatter into a flock of crows. Danzo turned, looking around, watching as the sky overhead turned red, the clouds a dark grey, and the ground below him black. He looked up at the sun as the cloud in front of it drifted out of the way, revealing Ryuu's Mangekyo Sharingan.
"A Genjutsu," Danzo said. "Not bad."
"Thank you," Ryuu said, the crows around them forming a dozen replicas of Ryuu's upper body. "I learned from the best."
"Unfortunately, this won't be enough," Danzo said, forming the Tiger Hand Seal. "Release!"
Chakra pulsed outward from him, but nothing changed.
"What!?" Danzo gaped.
"You're mistaken, Danzo," Ryuu said. "It was already enough."
Ryuu released his Genjutsu as he pulled his Vacuum Blade free of Danzo's heart and Danzo coughed, beginning to choke on his blood as his head rolled to the right. Ryuu slashed off his right forearm for him, lifting it so that Danzo could see the number of eyes closed on his forearm. Danzo sighed, slipping away before his corpse faded from sight. Ryuu turned to him as Danzo watched him carefully. Five Sharingan down. Five to go. Danzo inhaled, then began to swing his head and upper body around, sending wave after wave of Wind Style chakra at Ryuu, only for Ryuu to begin flickering, the jutsu passing through him harmlessly as he walked forward. Danzo grit his teeth, forming hand signs rapidly.
"Wind Style, Giant Vacuum Bullets!" Danzo shouted before exhaling a pair of massive spheres of super-compressed Wind Chakra bigger than Danzo's entire body.
They sped at Ryuu quickly and Ryuu held out his left hand.
"Beast Wave Gale Palm!" Ryuu said, the massive demonic hand of Wind Chakra flashing out and expanding, hitting the two spheres and sending one tearing through the ice off to the left as the other shot into the air, both fading after a ways.
Danzo swore, just as Ryuu smirked. Then, a second Ryuu burst out of the ice behind Danzo, splitting him up the middle. Danzo faded before he even hit the ground, and a moment later, he reappeared off to the side. Just as he did, however, Ryuu appeared in front of him, a Beast Wave Gale Palm focused around his left hand before he punched him, the jutsu exploding outward and smearing Danzo across the ice. Danzo reappeared off to the side once again and Ryuu turned just as Danzo bit his left thumb, forming hand seals quickly.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Danzo shouted, slamming his hand down.
A massive orange elephant-like creature appeared below Danzo with a pair of metal splints on the base of its trunk. As soon as it appeared, it began to inhale. A powerful wind kicked up instantly, Ryuu beginning to skid across the ice quickly toward it. He nodded approvingly and put his tanto away, beginning to form hand seals.
"Fire Style, Dragon Flame Bomb!" Ryuu shouted, exhaling a massive stream of white-hot flames, which were instantly enhanced by the elephant's Wind Style Chakra, flooding the elephant's mouth.
It roared and thrashed in pain instantly, burning from the inside out for a few moments before dozens of Water Dragons exploded from the ice, flooding into its mouth and extinguishing the flames for it before the elephant exploded into smoke. Ryuu looked around for Danzo just as Danzo's Vacuum Blade burst from his chest.
"I got you," Danzo said.
"Maybe," Ryuu said. "Except, I was never actually here."
"What?" Danzo asked, just as Ryuu's body faded from existence.
Danzo spun, seeing Ryuu standing a shot distance away. Ryuu sighed, breathing hard after using his Teleportation Jutsu to it fullest extent, and bent forward at the waist.
"Well, I suppose having one of your eyes functional will still be enough," Danzo said.
Ryuu looked up at him, both Sharingan flashing dangerously, and Danzo's eye widened.
"But how!?" Danzo demanded. "I killed you, and then you appeared over there! That was Izanagi!"
"Wrong," Ryuu said. "That was the true power of my Teleportation Jutsu. I can move so fast that I can exist in two places at once." He straightened up, resisting the urge to wince as the shallow puncture wound in his back from where Danzo had almost gotten him flared, though it was sealing rapidly. "Then, I simply choose to have been in one location over the other."
Danzo's jaw actually dropped before he hurled several shuriken, Vacuum Blades appearing around them as they flew. Ryuu flickered and they passed through him before he attached a Chakra Thread to each, swinging them back around and hurling them at Danzo, keeping the thread on one of them. Danzo leapt into the air over them and Ryuu curled his finger, the one with a thread still attached instantly arcing back up and splitting Danzo at the knees and diaphragm. As Danzo reappeared again, he was gasping and panting for breath and checked his Sharingan, seeing three still open. Ryuu smirked.
"Losing count, Danzo?" Ryuu asked. "I suppose you are dying awfully quickly, aren't you?"
Danzo snarled in rage and charged, forming a pair of Vacuum Blades around a pair of kunai, slashing at Ryuu rapidly with them, Ryuu fending him off with a pair of Wind Rapiers. Danzo snarled in annoyance, pressing Ryuu harder and harder, and yet, a knowing smirk remained on Ryuu's face. No matter how fast Danzo moved, or how viciously he attacked, to Ryuu's Sharingan, and his own natural speed, Danzo was still barely moving at a crawl. Finally, Danzo moved to stab Ryuu just as one of his eyes closed. Ryuu's eyes widened. One minute. That was the full duration of his jutsu.
Ryuu spun around Danzo's blade, slashing off both arms, then stabbed him though the heart. A moment later, Danzo vanished, yet another eye closing. Ryuu grinned as Danzo reappeared off to the side, checking his arm, seeing he was down to his last eye, the one on the back of his hand. Ryuu let his Wind Rapiers fade and drew his tanto.
"It's time to finish this," Ryuu said. "Allow me to finally repay you for my brother and my clan."
Danzo huffed and shot forward. Ryuu moved to meet him and Danzo made no move to avoid his strike, instead, stabbing at Ryuu with both blades. Both drove themselves through Ryuu's chest, only for Danzo to realize Ryuu was flickering. Ryuu slashed, his tanto's blade splitting Danzo's chest deep. Then, Ryuu stopped flickering behind Danzo again, kneeling and using Torune's shirt to wipe the blood off his blade.
"Not yet!" Danzo croaked. "I can still finish you!"
He turned, only for his legs to give out. He crashed to the ground, his right arm ending up out in front of him. He sucked in a breath, only to get two lungfuls of blood. He looked up at his hand, just as his vision blurred, then faded, revealing the closed eye on the back of his hand.
"Surprised, Danzo?" Ryuu asked. "The Genjutsu of the crows wasn't the only Genjutsu I cast. You should have been ore careful. My older brothers were the greatest Genjutsu wielders in history, and I inherited one's visual prowess, then studied Genjutsu under the other, who was more skilled. You never had a chance of beating me, just as I said. From the moment you were caught in my Genjutsu, I made you believe you had an extra eye open."
"Ryuu!" Fu called out as she landed off to the side, running over with Naruto and Utakata.
Ryuu turned, walking away from Danzo and met Fu with a hug, just as there was a massive, splintering crash behind him. He spun, watching as a massive tree erupted from Danzo's right shoulder, shredding his shirt before pulling him into it. The tree closed around him, and a few moments later, blood began to run out of the trunk before the ice below it broke apart and the tree fell, sinking into the lake, the bodies of Danzo's bodyguards going with it.
"You beat him," Utakata said. "Very impressive."
"Yeah," Ryuu said, allowing the guilt he'd been holding back to flow.
"Hey," Fu said, turning his head away from the hole and back to her and pressing her forehead to his. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."
"Yeah," Utakata nodded. "You did what you needed to. If you hadn't dealt with him now, there's no telling how much bigger a threat he'd have become. He could have started a war against the Leaf with his Foundation, or he could have gone after Fu and your child later, when she's not able to properly defend herself. He needed to be dealt with."
Ryuu nodded, giving Fu a kiss. "Thank you. What'd I miss with the Summit?"
"Madara arrived just after you and Danzo left," Fu said. "He probably waited until you were gone specifically. Once he showed up, he told everyone about Project Tsukinome, then declared war on the entire Shinobi World. He said that the only Tailed Beasts he actually needed were Naruto and Utakata's, and that even if he can't get any of the others, he can still move ahead with his plan."
"Wonderful," Ryuu sighed. "And the plan to protect us Jinchuriki?"
"They'll be making a decision later," Naruto said. "Madara let it slip that he sent some guy named Kisame to deal with the Two and Eight-tails' Jinchuriki, so the Raikage ended the meeting early to go save them."
"How'd he know where they were?" Ryuu asked.
"Apparently he knew where to find them as soon as you said they went into hiding to be together," Utakata said.
"Well, my condolences to them, I suppose," Ryuu said. "Still, At least he'll be able to save them."
Fu nodded. "I hope Yugito's okay."
"She'll be fine," Ryuu said. "Now come on. We need to get home and let Kakashi know he needs to be Hokage now, and then you need to fill him in on the Summit. I'll have to call A too so Kakashi can talk to him about the Summit."
The others nodded and Ryuu and Fu spread their wings, both picking up one of the other two before turning and flying back toward the Hidden Leaf Village.
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