I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters. As always, I skip the first exam because a written test just isn't that exciting.


Lost

Ryuu looked around and sighed. He had been waiting at the clearing where he and Yugao always trained for well over an hour now. He knew that the entire village knew he was back. Just about everyone had greeted him. Everyone except Yugao. Maybe it was supposed to be his day off.

"How long have you been here?" her voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

"An hour," Ryuu stated. "Maybe more."

"Well, since you just got back, I'm going to start training you for the Chunin exams," Yugao stated walking around in front of him and seeing his bloodshot eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Just...miss a friend," Ryuu stated. "Anyway, the exams are in a couple days right? Better get training."

"Yeah," Yugao nodded drawing her katana. "Shall we begin?"

Ryuu nodded drawing his tanto and created a Wind Blade. They both charged and slashed at each other, blocking each other's blade before spinning past each other and swinging again, blocking each other's blade again before Ryuu leapt back. He began making hand seals before exhaling a fireball at her and she leapt over then spun and slashed at him again. He blocked the blade then spun, throwing her at a tree before ducking under a shuriken then leapt to the side away from a slash.

"Impressive," Yugao nodded. "And your Sharingan's not even active. How were they so powerful?"

"They wear armor that weakens everyone else and absorbs jutsus," Ryuu stated.

"I see," Yugao nodded. "I don't have much more to teach you. Practice your jutsus without your Sharingan. You already signed up for the exams?"

"Yeah," Ryuu nodded.

Yugao nodded then turned toward the trees.

"I'm going to talk with the others," Yugao stated. "I'll see you soon. Good luck."

Ryuu nodded and Yugao left. Ryuu began to practice the jutsus he already knew without his Sharingan but soon began to try to use the Chameleon Jutsu and the Attack Prevention Technique without them. The Attack Prevention Technique he got relatively skilled at quickly but he still had trouble with the Chameleon Technique.

"That's a difficult jutsu," Hayate stated appearing over him. "I'll show you something similar if you want."

"Sure," Ryuu nodded.

Hayate nodded and dropped down to him to help him train for a day before he had to leave to prepare for the exams as well.


Ryuu waited patiently at the gate. It was the second exam. The first had been a written test. Ryuu had answered the questions by watching the three Chunin secretly added to the group using his Sharingan. He had kept it active as long as he could so no one thought anything of him having them active during the test. At the end of the test and after several people were failed for cheating then others were intimidated into quitting, the instructor had passed anyone left.

The second exam was slightly more straight forward. every team got either a Heaven or Earth scroll and had to acquire the opposite from another team in the woods by any means necessary, including murder. After both scrolls were in a team's possession, they had to go to the tower in the center of the training ground known as the Forest of Death, where the exam would be taking place, and give the scrolls to the jonin waiting there. They were not allowed to open the scrolls under any circumstance. Aside from that, it was all fair game.

Among the others competing were three from Sunagakure, almost everyone from Ryuu's academy class, Neji, Tenten, and Lee, and three Sound Village genin. The Sound Village genin had various abilities, one of them being able to disorient people and make their ears bleed and glasses break from throwing a punch thanks to a gauntlet one wore. The other two had not shown their abilities publicly. Neji, Tenten, and Lee had tried not to show their strengths either but Lee had slipped up and caught one of Sasuke's kicks that shouldn't have been possible to catch. Ryuu's main worry were two people. One seemed to be the leader of the Sand Village team named Gaara. He had done several missions up to B-rank without getting a scratch and his cold, practically evil demeanor scared Ryuu worse than the thought of fighting the man that had kidnapped him. The other person was the leader of a team from the Hidden Grass Village. He never got a name but the person was just generally creepy. She had no sense of personal space as seen when she placed her extendable, prehensile tongue less than an inch from the second exams' proctor's mouth. Aside from that, her general bearing was off just enough for Ryuu to not want anything to do with her.

Currently, Ryuu was standing in front of a gate in a fence surrounding the Forest of Death, waiting for it to open, his Heaven Scroll stashed in a seal on the back of his left hand. Finally the gate opened and Ryuu walked through calmly. The forest was massive to allow the groups to search for five days and possibly find nothing. After five days, they would be disqualified i they hadn't reached the tower with both scrolls.

"So," Ryuu muttered thoughtfully looking around. "They'd have gone straight in which means..."

He turned a few degrees to his left and began running. After a half hour, he stopped in front of the group he had been heading for an a few minutes later, Lee, Neji, and Tenten arrived. They all stopped as Neji and Ryuu both activated their Dojutsu but Tenten stepped between them.

"Why don't we all show scrolls before we tear into each other needlessly," Tenten suggested.

Neji pulled out an Earth Scroll and Ryuu laughed for a moment before producing his Heaven Scroll. Lee grinned stepping forward and crouched.

"Good," Lee said cracking his neck. "I'll take him first."

"Put up a good enough fight and I won't take your scroll after I take you all down," Ryuu offered.

Ryuu resealed his scroll into its seal then readied himself, not touching his weapons. Lee charged forward, running down one tree then up the other to the branch Ryuu was on. He started with a punch that Ryuu ducked under before Ryuu spun and blocked a kick. Lee dropped and swung his leg at Ryuu's feet but Ryuu flipped sideways onto his left hand, sending his right leg at Lee who caught the kick before spinning and throwing Ryuu into a tree. Ryuu landed on his feet then jumped to the ground as Lee dropped at him with a falling axe kick. Ryuu blocked it, the ground under him cratering. Then, he jumped back, allowing Lee to fall to the ground. Both charged and Ryuu threw a punch which Lee caught, instantly throwing a kick. Ryuu moved to block the kick only for Lee to spin past him and become a blurred streak. Ryuu spun around only for Lee to appear to his left and throw a punch. Ryuu managed to duck under it and into Lee's knee. Ryuu stumbled back as Lee ran forward but Ryuu jumped into the air then used his Body Flicker Technique, appearing behind Lee and driving him into the ground before he could react.

"Not bad Lee," Ryuu smirked just as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. "Now stand up."

Just then, seven men appeared around them, all with almost identical faces and matching outfits including the armor Ryuu had expected. One had red hair in a spiked Mohawk, one had his hair spiked outward from his head about on inch across at the base of each and all plated in steel, another had his green hair in a flat-top, another was the warden from the base Ryuu had escaped from who had his steel teeth glinting in the sun, one had black hair falling to his shoulders, another had blood red hair in a small Afro, and the last was skin-bald.

"Destroy the armor," Ryuu muttered. "It weakens those around them while absorbing jutsus. After that's gone, me and Lee will take them all out."

Neji and Tenten nodded as the one with the green flat-top dropped down and charged at Neji while another hurled a kunai with a string of paper bombs at Tenten. Tenten unrolled a scroll, blocking the kunai with another, then using the explosion to send hundreds of her own kunai with smoke bombs. The ninja all blinked in surprise as the smoke grenades exploded. Ryuu and Lee instantly appeared in front of them, Lee with his fifth gate open and Ryuu with hit trench knife and a kunai. Lee drew a short metal rod, smashing it into one ninja's armor, the chest plate exploding instantly while Ryuu slashed the ties on one before moving to the next and doing the same as the first one's armor fell to the ground. After a moment, he leapt back with Lee and glanced to the right to see Neji use a series of seemingly glancing blows to cut the straps on the armor of his target. Tenten had used well-placed kunai to cut two of the shinobi's armor straps leaving only one in armor. It was the one that Ryuu had almost snuck past during his escape.

"Fuck!" Neji's opponent shouted jumping away from a strike as the others all fell back as well. "Now what? We're all vulnerable."

"You're all vulnerable," the last armored ninja stated. "I'm still safe. Kill them. I'll work on repairing your armor."

"Sure," the one with the Mohawk snorted rolling his eyes. "And while we're dying, you'll have plenty of time to run away."

"Neji," Ryuu spoke up clenching his hands into fists. "You take Mohawk and Flat-top, Tenten, you cover us, Lee will take Afro and Baldy, and I'll handle spikes, the guy with the long hair, and the asshole that knows me."

Lee darted forward first and the two Ryuu had named dropped down and darted at him, one with a pair of short swords and the other bare handed. The bald one, who had nothing with him, began making hand seals and stopped, releasing a massive blast of wind. Lee leapt over the blast, which tore the ground up in its path, before spinning and kicking the ninja with the Afro into the first. Both stood just as Lee crashed down on the Afro ninja, driving a kunai into his chest then spun and kicked the other ninja in the jaw, snapping his head around backward.

"They're not very strong without their armor," Lee snorted.

"Kill him," the last ninja ordered and the one with the Mohawk and the one with the Flat-top both leapt at Lee.

They hurled dozens of shuriken and kunai at him but before he had time to react, Neji appeared in front of him, spinning and knocking the kunai and shuriken out of the air. Both ninja landed and took defensive positions as Neji stood with his right arm extended behind him with the palm upward and his left arm directly opposite it downward with the palm also up while his right leg was bent at ninety degrees behind him and his left straightened in front of him.

"Don't be afraid of the kid," the armored ninja shouted. "Kill him!"

"They already killed two of our brothers!" the one with he Mohawk pointed out. "We're not strong enough to kill them!"

"Use your favorite jutsus!" the armored ninja shouted.

"Wind Style, Pressure Damage!" the one with the flat-top shouted firing a massive blast of wind.

"Fire Style, Searing Migraine!" the other shouted mixing white-hot flames with the wind.

Lee and Neji both scattered into the air as Ryuu darted toward the one with th long hair. He spun, spitting several disk blades of water at Ryuu. He leapt over then then returned the jutsu, the blades cutting the shinobi into five pieces. As the flames died down, Neji landed beside the ninja with the Afro, hitting him in the chest with a weak palm strike that made him stagger backward and into the other ninja before he collapsed, his face beginning to turn purple.

"What did you do?" the ninja with the flat-top demanded catching his friend.

"I shut down his diaphragm and half of his heart," Neji stated. "He'll die slowly and painfully. Now, it's your turn."

The ninja fired a Pressure Damage at Neji who ducked under it then darted forward, jabbing the man in the throat. The ninja staggered away, clutching his throat then fell to his back choking on blood. Ryuu appeared behind the last ninja, slashing his armor ties then leapt away, landing beside Lee and Neji.

"Hit him!" Ryuu ordered just before hundreds of ninja tools began raining from the sky.

"No," the ninja Ryuu had just de-armored muttered holding up his hand.

A burst of wind shot out from behind him and scattered the weapons. Then, the two remaining ninja exchanged a single, knowing look before they dropped to the ground.

"You've made a grave mistake leaving us for last," the one with the spiked hair grinned. "We're the best."

"Your older brother is the best," Ryuu stated.

"Not quite," the one that Ryuu harbored a personal hatred for stated. "I am exactly as strong as him, but have a less unrealistic view of honor. It's a hindrance. Morals are outdated."

"We'll see how far that belief takes you," Ryuu growled. "I'll handle them."

"Yes, you will," the ninja with spikes agreed appearing beside Neji and Lee, kicking them both sideways through the trees.

Then, he vanished, reappearing behind Tenten and smashing her into the ground. Ryuu turned toward him only to see that he was gone. He spun back around and saw him standing beside his brother again.

"I'd introduce myself but you both know me perfectly," Ryuu stated. "I think it's your turn."

"Akuma," the one with the spikes stated.

"Koi," the other stated. "Strongest of my brothers. Now, shall we begin? Take him."

Akuma darted forward in a blur and threw a kick at Ryuu. Ryuu blocked it and felt Akuma's left fist break a rib. He flew away from them and crashed into a tree then pushed himself up as Akuma charged again. This time, instead of a punch or kick, he drove his head of spiked hair directly into Ryuu's torso. Ryuu shrieked in pain, Lee and Neji both stirring as he did only to be knocked out again by Koi who blasted both with a wall of wind.

"You've failed our test Ryuu," Akuma stated standing and pulling Ryuu off his head then throwing him to the ground. "We'll keep you alive, barely. Just enough to study your eyes."

Ryuu groaned as his vision began to fade and his mind began to drift. His memories were a series of jumbled images and faces. Then, a single thing focused. Fu. He could see her as if she were standing in front of him now. Except, she was. With a shock, and a great deal of difficulty, he focused his vision and saw Fu standing in front of him with a kunai stuck in Akuma's throat and another ready for Koi's reaction.

"You!" Koi growled. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"What does it look like?" Fu questioned. "I'm saving his life."

"You think you can handle me?" Koi spat. "Fine. Let's see how great you really are."

Fu shoved Akuma's body away, taking her kunai back then sprinted forward and slashed at Koi. He ducked under her kunai and Ryuu's eyes followed. The tiny amount of movement that required sent pain flashing through his head while his Sharingan deactivated before his vision went black. He felt himself falling for a moment before the feeling stopped and he heard a cry of pain. A moment later there was a metallic clash before a solid thump sounded and everything went silent, his vision slowly returning as he lay there. When he could see again, he saw Koi on the ground with both kunai through his neck and a kunai of his own laying just out of his hand. Fu stood over him with her right arm holding her left shoulder as her left arm hung limp, blood dripping off the ends of her fingers. Fu turned toward Ryuu as his vision faded yet again.


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