I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Growing Problems
Ryuu watched Naruto, frowning. He was lying on the beach, gasping and panting for breath. He'd been getting more and more sick since some time after the fight with Orochimaru's reanimated shinobi, but Ryuu couldn't find anything wrong with him. Currently, Naruto looked like he might be dying because the three male orphans from the attack on Tonika village had asked him to train them. The children were being taken care of by the other survivor, Dokku, and his childhood friend, and probably soon-to-be girlfriend, Shiseru, one of the guards who'd help fight Orochimaru's pawns. Ryuu liked them both, and the children were all great. They were all like a big family already, and it had only been two days.
"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Hinata asked worriedly.
"He'll be alright," Ryuu nodded. "It's probably just a stomach bug."
Hinata nodded. "You couldn't find anything with your Medical Ninjutsu, could you?"
"No," Naruto said. "But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. If it was poison, I could find it, and since I couldn't, it's probably nothing to worry about."
Hinata nodded, walking down to the beach to check on him, Ryuu watching as Naruto instantly put on an air of being in less pain than he was in.
"I think Yamato and Guy should be back soon," Fu said.
"I hope so," Ryuu said. "We'll need them the next time Orochimaru attacks.
"Hey you two!" Tayuya called out to Naruto and Hinata, stepping up beside Ryuu. "We're heading back now!"
Both nodded and made their way over. They followed after Dokku and the others, Ryuu noticing Naruto falling back further and further, Hinata remaining with him worriedly. Finally, they reached the house and Ryuu turned to Naruto.
"I'm going to check you again," Ryuu said. "If I still can't find anything, I'll call Tsunade."
Naruto shook his head. "I'll be fine...after I get some sleep."
"You can't even talk in complete sentences, Naruto," Ryuu said. "It won't take long."
"Get out!" Miina, the youngest of the orphans and the sweetest little girl Ryuu had ever seen, shrieked suddenly, her hands slapping into Naruto's stomach and shoving, only to slip to the side. She tried again and again, her hands ending up sweeping back and forth. "Get out! Get out!"
She began to repeat the order over and over, quickly growing hysterical, though when Ryuu looked at her, he didn't see as much fear as he was hearing. He saw concern.
"That's enough, Miina!" Shiseru said, catching her by the shoulders. "What's the matter!?"
Miina pulled free of Shiseru and continued, except, she was most definitely brushing Naruto, not pushing him.
"Please, don't say such rude things to Naruto!" Shiseru said, Miina not listening, then grabbed her again, more firmly this time and pulled her away. "Stop Miina!"
"GET OUT! ! !" Miina wailed.
Shiseru turned Miina around to face her, but Ryuu set a hand on Shiseru's shoulder just as she pulled her hand back, stopping her.
"She's not pushing him," Ryuu said, kneeling and looking into Miina's eyes, using Genjutsu to see the memory of what she saw.
Instantly, he was standing in a void with a few inches of red liquid on the floor and Naruto standing before him. Except, Naruto was in a trance, and black snakes were swarming out of the water, covering Naruto in seconds. And then, the Nine-tails appeared behind Naruto, chanting "Take it!" over and over again. Ryuu blinked, ending his Genjutsu and swore harshly.
"Hinata, check Naruto with your Byakugan!" Ryuu said, Shiseru lifting Miina instantly, Miina having stopped trying to tell Naruto to get out and instead simply crying.
Hinata activated her Byakugan instantly and turned to Naruto, gasping harshly. "Snakes! His stomach is full of snakes!"
"It's Orochimaru's cloning snakes from that water," Ryuu said. "He must have swallowed some while he was underwater. No wonder he's sick, they're draining his chakra and plugging up his stomach."
"What do we do?" Hinata asked.
"Meet me at the beach," Ryuu said. "He needs to get them out."
Hinata nodded and Ryuu gripped Naruto's shoulder before using his Teleportation Jutsu to carry him to the beach.
"Puke, Naruto," Ryuu instructed. "Puke until they're all out."
Naruto dropped to his knees instantly, shoving his fingers down his throat. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, he burst. A spray of vomit sailed through the air, tiny black snakes squirming inside of it. And then, suddenly, Naruto couldn't stop. The snakes flooded out of him constantly, Naruto's hands clenching in the sand. After another moment, Fu and Hinata ran over to them, Hinata activating her Byakugan again.
"There's so many!" Hinata said worriedly.
Naruto finally managed to stop long enough to gasp in aa breath before continuing, gagging and retching and groaning as he spewed snakes. They all swarmed toward the water, but Ryuu exhaled a stream of flames, incinerating them all before leaving a fire below Naruto for him to vomit them into. And still Naruto continued, gasping for breath whenever he could. Finally, after close to fifteen minutes, he finally collapsed beside the fire and Ryuu allowed it go out. Hinata scanned Naruto and nodded.
"That's all of them," Hinata said.
Ryuu nodded and reached over, using his Medical Ninjutsu to shrink his stretched stomach down to where it was supposed to be. Once he was done he sighed.
"Why couldn't you detect them with your Medical Ninjutsu?" Hinata asked.
"Because they were cloning his DNA," Ryuu said. "Including his chakra signature. To my Medical Ninjutsu, it just felt like healthy tissue."
Hinata nodded, helping Naruto up. "Are you alright, Naruto?"
Naruto groaned. "I hope I never catch the flu again."
Ryuu chuckled before standing. "We should get back to the house."
The others nodded and Hinata helped Naruto stand, Naruto's entire body still shaking and weak from not being able to breath while he threw up. Ryuu and Fu walked ahead of them, only to stop as they saw the village chief, the elderly man who had been present when they fought Orochimaru's pawns, standing in front of Shiseru's house with one clergy member, several guards, and a man with messy white hair and a white beard, bandages wrapped around his eyes. Just as they saw them, Miina suddenly shoved the older man before grabbing her older brother, Leo, and pulling him away from the older man.
"No!" Miina shrieked. "Grampa isn't right!"
Ryuu appeared in front of them all, seeing the bandages fall away from the older man's face, revealing his black eyes with white irises, the same as Orochimaru's other reanimated shinobi had.
"He's been reanimated," Ryuu said. "I'm sorry, but this isn't your grandfather anymore."
"My, she's even sharper than you are, Ryuu," Orochimaru hissed from a roof off to the side. "She's very special."
"Orochimaru," Ryuu growled as he jumped down to the street.
Ryuu hurled the reanimated man at Orochimaru, only for him to flip, landing on his feet and skidding to a stop. Just as Orochimaru clapped, Hinata and Fu landed beside Ryuu, all three watching the coffins appear. A moment later, Utakata and Kabuto both appeared as well, Naruto now being supported on Aoba's shoulders behind them Hotaru standing at his side.
"I'm impressed you were able to get the snakes out of Naruto," Orochimaru smiled. "Not that it matters. That was only a mildly interesting wrinkle."
The coffins faded, leaving behind Hayate, another Leaf Shinobi Ryuu didn't recognize who had a katana on his back, a Hidden Stone Shinobi who was hunched forward and holding a pair of curved blades with the handle sideways in the back of them, a Hidden Waterfall Shinobi with a jagged scar down one side of his chin, a heavy-set Hidden Leaf Shinobi, and several more.
"We've been tricked!" the Village Chief growled.
"Would you mind if I borrowed your friend?" Orochimaru asked, pointing at Dokku. "I have a few questions to ask him."
"We would mind, actually," Ryuu said, drawing his blades and glancing down the line, seeing a distinct lack of Akatsuki or Sakumo. "And without Sakumo here to protect you, you're all mine, now."
"Oh good," Orochimaru smiled. "I was hoping to get to try out all of my new Kekkei Genkai soon."
The reanimated shinobi all charged, all of them ignoring Ryuu, who likewise ignored them and shot toward Orochimaru. He grinned, forming Amalgam's bone blade to block Ryuu's Vacuum Blade before Ryuu flipped, his tanto and trench knife smashing several ice spikes as they formed around him and shot inward. As he landed, he spun, slashing at Orochimaru, only for his Vacuum Blade to shatter against Orochimaru's hardened right arm. Ryuu growled, leaping away from a punch that shattered the ground before a massive wave of lava flooded out of the dust after him.
"Water Style, Water Wall!" Ryuu shouted, spewing a massive wave of water into the lava, instantly cooling it at the same time as deflecting several ice spikes when the water exploded skyward.
Just as he ended the jutsu, he spun, his tanto spinning into the air as he hardened his right fist and drilled it into Orochimaru's own fist, which was reinforced by his Steel Style. Sparks flew from their fists, but even though the impact hurt, Ryuu's fist didn't crack. Orochimaru hummed proudly, then flipped, his left foot hardening and suddenly being encased in crystal as his leg stretched and whipped down at him. Ryuu put his trench knife away and encased both arms in Isobu's shell just in time to cross his arms over himself, blocking the kick. The ground beneath his feet cratered before he lunged, his left fist exploding into Orochimaru's chest. Orochimaru shot backward, flipping and landing on his feet before grinning, the ends of his rope belt streaking through the air and compressing into spikes. Ryuu caught his tanto and defected the spikes before flashing toward Orochimaru. Orochimaru spun out of the way and Ryuu spun, left hand forming a Wind Rapier as he sheathed his tanto. The Wind Rapier crashed into Orochimaru's Blood Sword and stopped, only for a second to flash toward him from Ryuu's right hand. Orochimaru spun around it, then grabbed Ryuu and hurled him back toward the others where he landed in a roll. He rolled to his feet just as Naruto, who was struggling to keep Hayate from killing him, everyone else busy fending someone off, including Hotaru, collapsed, screaming and writhing in agony.
"Naruto!" Hinata shrieked, the man attacking her with a katana grinning and moving to finish her, only for Ryuu to appear behind her, his tanto blocking the sword.
As Hinata ran to Naruto's side, Ryuu glared at the man. He recognized him. He was an Uchiha, one who had come to Ryuu's house several times to scold Shisui for not going to the town meetings where they were discussing their coup, and for not allowing Ryuu to go. His Sharingan glared into the Uchiha's own Sharingan, which were surrounded by black sclerae, and the Uchiha leapt away. Ryuu wracked his brain. What had his name been? He remembered Shisui saying it.
"Inabi," Ryuu said. "Inabi Uchiha. That was your name."
Inabi's face betrayed no emotion at hearing his own name, or seeing a fellow Uchiha. Instead, he sprinted forward and slashed. However, even with his Sharingan, Inabi wasn't exceptionally strong. Ryuu deflected his sword and removed both his sword arm and head easily before spinning and forming a Vacuum Blade to block Orochimaru's bone one and blood swords both. Orochimaru grinned wickedly instantly.
"Vapor Style, Solid Fog Jutsu!" Orochimaru said before exhaling a jet of acidic fog at Ryuu's face, only for Ryuu to appear off to the side before it could hit him.
"Beast Wave Gale Palm!" Ryuu said, the jutsu blasting Orochimaru away from the village and out over the water as well as dispersing Orochimaru's acid fog into the air, nullifying it.
Then, Ryuu spun, once again blocking Inabi's sword. He glanced at Naruto, who was clutching at his chest in agony as Miina knelt beside him, shaking him and screaming for whatever snakes were obviously still inside Naruto to get out. Just as Ryuu split Inabi in half across the chest and moved to run to Naruto, Miina's hair began to float up around her and he sensed chakra all but shine from her, stinging his eyes.
"Get out of Brother Naruto!" Miina finally shrieked.
Then, just as her hair fell, Naruto wretched, spewing a thick black sludge onto the ground. Ryuu's gut dropped. That was why Hinata couldn't see them. They'd changed once they were inside of him. She couldn't see snakes that small. These were so small that it looked like a fluid, not a swarm of snakes.
Dokku picked Miina up, retreating from Naruto as the pool of microscopic snakes grew rapidly, Naruto trembling and convulsing as he continued to vomit them up. Ryuu spun, knocking Inabi's blade aside again before grabbing him by the face.
"Just stay down!" Ryuu snarled, placing a dozen layers of Gravity Seals, Paralysis Seals, and Curse Marks that would rob him of his movement on him, then dropped him, allowing him to crash to the ground.
Everyone watched the snakes in shock as the puddle grew. Even with Naruto having already gotten the larger ones out for fifteen minutes, by the time he finally stopped vomiting these ones, the puddle was about ten feet across. Then, the snakes began to move, the puddle shifting out from below Naruto just as he collapsed, gasping and panting for breath, barely conscious. Hinata knelt by his side instantly and Ryuu and the others watched as the snakes began to converge, rising from the ground by squirming over each other. Orochimaru landed off to one side, laughing as he watched the new clone grow. A moment later, they had formed into Naruto's Tailed Beast Cloak Version Two with four tails. Ryuu's gut dropped just as Orochimaru appeared behind the clone, shoving a kunai with a control tag into the back of its head. Then, the clone snarled, spinning and swiping at him, Orochimaru using his Quick Style to avoid the swipe, glaring at the clone with his two Dojutsu.
"Too late," Orochimaru said, forming hand seals. "You're mine!"
His chakra pulsed and the clone began to twitch and spasm, roaring angrily, the kunai falling out of its head and the tag burning away. Then, it spun, flashing across the distance to Hinata, fist cocked back. There was no time to react, and Hinata couldn't even scream before the punch flew.
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