I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.

Detour

Ryuu smiled as he drifted along. He'd finally managed to find a way to fly backward while positioned as if lying on his back, allowing Fu to lounge on top of him, as she currently was. He'd had to shift his wings from chakra formed into feathers to an immobile silhouette, and with them he was slower, but they were easier to use, less tiring, and he was able to fly in any direction equally easily. He smiled, giving Fu a light squeeze as he glanced around.

To their right, Hotaru and Utakata were seated inside one of Utakata's bubbles, drifting alongside them while Utakata held Hotaru. To the other side, Naruto was walking hand-in-hand with Hinata, who had her head resting on his shoulder and her free arm wrapped around his arm, and who giggled every time Naruto complained that he had to walk instead of having a way to fly like the other three Jinchuriki present. Besides the four of them and Utakata and Naruto's girlfriends, their group also included their escorts and protection detail. Tayuya, Kabuto, Yamato, Might Guy, and Aoba. Ryuu glanced at Aoba, allowing his Sharingan to memorize him. He had black hair spiked up and to the left, sunglasses, a serious demeanor at all times, and he was skilled with a sword.

"So, how long is the boat part of the trip?" Ryuu asked.

"Five days to a week, dependent on wind conditions," Yamato said.

"Alright," Ryuu asked. "Now, I'm just going to make sure we're all clear on this. Fu and I are getting the bedroom closest to the bathroom."

"Yes, we know," Tayuya said. "Fu's going to need it. Jeez, you remind us like every other hour."

"Just making sure you all remember," Ryuu smiled.

Just then, a messenger hawk shrieked urgently above us. Ryuu flipped instantly, setting Fu on the ground and whistling, holding his hand up for the hawk, which swooped down instantly.

"What is it?" Yamato asked as Ryuu pulled the scroll out.

"An emergency message," Ryuu said, reading the message, his frown deepening. "We're being diverted for an emergency mission."

"What?" Fu asked as Ryuu passed the message to Yamato.

"Someone attacked Tonika Village, half a day's run from here," Ryuu said. "The villagers were slaughtered."

"How many?" Guy asked.

"All of them," Yamato breathed, staring at the scroll.

"A total of six managed to escape, one adult and five children," Ryuu said. "Everyone else was killed. Tsunade wants us to investigate and see if we can figure out who did it, though, for obvious reasons, she stressed that we need to be careful."

The others all nodded and Ryuu formed a Crow Clone for everyone but Fu.

"Climb on," Ryuu instructed as all of his clones spread their normal, chakra-feathered wings. "I'll fly us so we can see it easier and find it sooner. Tsunade called it 'The Hole' and said we'd know it when we see it, so it shouldn't be difficult."

Everyone nodded and climbed on and Ryuu took off, speeding away from the port, Fu flying at his side as his clones flew around them. Within a couple of hours, they had found The Hole, a massive, perfectly round put in the middle of a barren wasteland with pure, sparkling water, massive green trees, and the remains of a village in the center. Ryuu flew everyone down to the village, hovering over it as they surveyed the damage. It wasn't just attacked. It was completely obliterated. Everything in the village, buildings and trees alike, had been burned to the ground, enormous craters pock-marked the village by the dozen, and Ryuu's Sharingan picked out a charred foot off to one side that had been cut off around mid-shin.

"Oh my God," Fu breathed, covering her mouth, Hinata having to look away.

"They burned it to the ground," Yamato said. "What kind of weapons would the assailants have had to use to do all of this?"

"Jutsus," Ryuu said. "I'm going to spread everyone through the Hole in pairs to search for anyone or anything."

Everyone nodded and Ryuu's clones all took off, as did Ryuu and Fu. Yamato, Aoba, and Guy all stayed to search the remains of the village, Kabuto and Tayuya were paired together, Naruto and Hinata stayed together, and Utakata and Hotaru stayed together, along with one of their two Ryuu clones in order to help protect them both in the event of a fight. Ryuu and Fu flew to the woods off to one side and began to walk through it in silence, looking around for any sign of survivors, or attackers.

"That wasn't a normal attack," Fu said.

"No, it wasn't," Ryuu agreed. "That kind of damage is done when you mean to exterminate someone, or to test a new power."

Fu nodded, looking around. "This forest is so beautiful."

"Agreed," Ryuu said as the skin along his spine prickled. "If not for that sense of danger screaming at me, I might enjoy being here."

Fu nodded in agreement just as they turned a corner in the path they were following and stopped. There had been another battle here. A massive crater matching those in the village broke the path up ahead, and all around it, there were massive gashes torn through the ground everywhere, and on the ground in front of Ryuu was a katana's hilt, the blade having been sliced off just above the tsuba.

"This has Akatsuki written all over it," Ryuu said.

Fu nodded and they looked around. "Someone's here."

Ryuu nodded in agreement. "Naruto and Hinata are by the water about two hundred meters that way. Let's go meet up with them and see what they've found."

Fu nodded and they turned, cutting through the trees before finding a trail heading in the same direction and began to follow it. However, after a hundred meters, they both sensed Naruto's chakra spike before an explosion chook the trees around them. Both appeared at Naruto and Hinata's sides instantly, all four of them staring out onto the water where Orochimaru was grinning at them widely.

"Ah, Ryuu, how good it is to see you," Orochimaru smiled pleasantly. "I was hoping to find someone good to test them against, but I never could have dreamed that it'd be you that would show up."

"Who's 'them?'" Ryuu asked. "More failed experiments?"

"I wouldn't have though you'd be one to talk about my experiments so casually," Orochimaru hissed, grinning wickedly.

Ryuu grit his teeth, clenching his fists before forcing himself to calm down, drawing his tanto and trench knife, streaming his chakra along the trench knife as he swung his tanto down to the side, a Vacuum Blade forming on the way.

"My, how you've grown," Orochimaru said, sounding like a proud mentor or parent. "I've never seen someone able to make a Vacuum Blade just by waving their blade through the air before. You've come a long way."

"I'll handle Orochimaru myself," Ryuu said. "None of you are anywhere near strong enough to deal with him, unless you've already got Sage Mode ready, Naruto."

"No," Naruto said.

"Okay," Ryuu nodded. "Then the three of you will need to deal with whatever experiments he wants to test. Be extremely careful about it. The others will all be on the way already, so you'll have backup soon."

The others nodded as Orochimaru's grin grew.

"Allow me to introduce you to my most recent experiment," Orochimaru said as the water began to rise in front of him, Ryuu's eyes seeing snakes swarming inside of the water as it began to fall away in layers. "It's a special kind of snake I created from my own DNA and Hashirama Senju's Cells combined using the Homunculus process. They can reproduce and multiply at a rat of about a thousand a day." The water stopped falling away as it formed a human silhouette. "Also, when they're given the nucleus of a cell from someone else's DNA, they'll absorb it and reproduce it endlessly. And with this water, which is overflowing with life energy, their regenerative powers are multiplied even further." Orochimaru raised a kunai with a purple tag bearing some form of seal and stepped forward.

"It's a cloning snake," Ryuu summarized.

"In a sense, yes," Orochimaru grinned as he pushed the kunai into the silhouette's head. "However, I haven't gotten the chance to test it just yet, so I'd appreciate it if you'd do it for me. I need to know how well it works."

Slowly, the water began to change, transforming into pale skin, silver hair slicked back, and a face Ryuu had never wanted to see again.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Ryuu growled. "Him? Of all fucking people?"

"That's right," Orochimaru smiled. "Your dear old friend, Hidan."

Fu drew her own tanto and her silver kunai, forming a Vacuum Blade of her own over the tanto as Naruto and Hinata both drew their Chakra Blades, Naruto forming a Vacuum Blade and Hinata forming a similar blade made of Lightning Style chakra, which was only slightly less effective than the Chidori sword Sasuke had taught Ryuu.

"That is so much more of Hidan than I ever wanted to see," Fu said, not taking her eyes off of Hidan, despite not wanting to look at him until he put clothes on.

Hinata's face turned scarlet the moment Fu spoke, but she activated her Byakugan as her face set into a determined mask. "We'll handle Hidan while you deal with Orochimaru."

"Right," Ryuu nodded, the muscles in his legs tensing in preparation. "On my mark."

"I guess it's safe to assume it's not just a coincidence that you're here," Yamato said suddenly from the branch of a tree off to Ryuu's left. "You attacked the village, didn't you?"

"Ah, Yamato," Orochimaru smiled. "My, you've grown up quite well also." His eyes widened suddenly before his grin grew, literally stretching up past his eyes, deforming his face. "Yes, that's perfect! I can use that!"

"Use what?" Yamato asked.

"Oh nothing," Orochimaru grinned. "Well, not nothing, but you'll be too busy to worry about it."

"Besides the reason you're here, you're going to tell us a lot more," Yamato said.

"Will I?" Orochimaru asked. "I'm not so sure."

Just then, Guy and Aoba landed on the water behind Orochimaru, the Utakata, Tayuya, and Kabuto, forming a complete circle around him, only Hotaru missing, as Ryuu's clone was keeping her safe and away from the fight for Utakata.

"You won't escape," Yamato said flatly.

"Perhaps now would be a good time for me to show you my other pawns," Orochimaru said before clapping.

Instantly, the ground behind Ryuu shattered, a dozen pine coffins exploding up from it, their lids falling off instantly. Ryuu's gut dropped as he saw all of the faces inside of them, each one ashen-skinned and with cracks spreading over them.

"Nagato!" Naruto gasped.

"Kakuzu!" Yamato gasped.

"They're...from the Akatsuki!" Hinata said.

"Not all of them," Ryuu said, staring at three on one end. "Sakumo Hatake and Hayate Gekko." He stared at the third face as well, framed by white hair and with a Konoha flak jacket on, exactly as Ryuu had seen him in the picture on Tsunade's desk.

All of the dead Akatsuki members were there except Kisame, as well as a handful of Hidden Cloud and Stone ninja Ryuu didn't recognize. They couldn't win this fight.

"Be careful!" Kabuto warned. "Those corpses have all been reanimated by Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu!"

"They're all alive?" Hinata asked.

"Not alive," Ryuu said. "They're not immortal, indestructible weapons."

"You bastard!" Naruto snarled, eyes flaring red and pupils elongating.

"You robbed their graves!" Tayuya accused.

"I did," Orochimaru nodded. "You wouldn't believe how hard I had to work to find some of them. Sakumo was especially hard, though some were even harder than his."

"You're going to give them to the Akatsuki, aren't you?" Ryuu asked, Orochimaru grinning instantly. "Why?"

"You're as quick on the uptake as ever," Orochimaru grinned. "I have my reasons."

He unrolled a scroll, and Hidan's hand swung back, pressing to the storage seal on the scroll and summoning his scythe from it just as a new group arrived from behind the coffins that Ryuu didn't recognize the chakra of, though he had larger concerns.

"Shall we begin?" Orochimaru grinned, Hidan swinging his scythe around and readying it.

Just then, Naruto fell at Orochimaru and Hidan from above, shoving a Giant Rasengan at them. Then, just as it exploded against Hidan, the chaos began.

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