I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Break Away
Ryuu ducked under a kick from his latest opponent, as it had been every time recently, it was simply a Kekkei Genkai generated monster from his captors' other most promising subject. They had stopped putting him in the arena with a living being because for one thing, his mental state had been deteriorating fast from the number he had been forced to kill, all of them refusing to work with him against Kabuto. In addition to that, they were dropping fast as Ryuu was still alive, proving he had never lost. The latest construct for him to fight was a humanoid made entirely out of steel. He was having some trouble figuring out how to go about killing it but he had a few ideas.
Ryuu had been in captivity for over a year now. He couldn't tell for sure but it had been a long time since he had seen the sun. His clothes had long since stopped fitting him and had been swapped out for course brown rags, like the other detainees wore. The rags were held on largely by the frayed brown rope belt but the last thing anyone was concerned with was their clothes.
"You're too slow," the living statue stated as Ryuu ducked under a punch.
It spun, its right heel slamming into his upper arm, launching him away but not breaking it. He had come to an agreement with the Kekkei Genkai's user. Since constructs were all he could fight, the constructs would train Ryuu and in exchange, when Ryuu escaped, he would take the user with him. Ryuu pushed himself up, rubbing his arm then sprinted forward, exhaling several wind disks, all of which smashed when they hit the statue. He dove sideways away from a punch then stood, slamming his hand down.
"Earth Style, Mobile Core!" Ryuu shouted as a massive column of stone shot up from under the statue, smashing it into the ceiling.
A moment later, the column exploded and the statue landed on the ground. It clapped for a moment before smashing its own fist into the ground, the force sending a massive crack at Ryuu. He leapt into the air forming hand seals quickly.
"Fire Style, Dragon Flame Caterwaul!" Ryuu shouted exhaling five of the small dragon heads.
They all exploded on the statue, making it glow red as Ryuu made more hand seals.
"Water Style, Water Wall!" Ryuu shouted.
The water hit the statue hard, slamming it into the wall and cooling it, hardening it into one position. After a moment, the statue began to move again, a loud screech accompanying its movements this time. It charged forward, slower now that its own body resisted moving. Ryuu held his hand out to the side, forming a Chidori then charged forward, driving it through statue while ducking under a punch then spun, ripping it out of one side and stepped past the statue. He spun around again, finishing the cut then quartering the statue.
It collapsed and the door in the wall opened. Unlike every time before, it wasn't the Warden that walked in. It was a shinobi with a long black robe with red clouds and long blonde hair in a pony tail and bangs covering his left eye. Ryuu deactivated his Sharingan before the man spotted him and the man grinned.
"Hey kid," the man smirked. "Fancy meeting someone else here. I was just on my way to the spot that should be most abandoned. If you have friends, I'd beat feet."
"Why are you warning me?" Ryuu asked.
"Simple," the man smirked. "The more that escape, the more get to see my art."
"What's painting have to do with anything?" Ryuu asked.
"Art is not a painting," the man snarled. "Art, is an explosion."
Just as he said this, the ground shook and he grinned.
"Time's up," the man stated pulling a ball of clay from a pouch under his robe. "If you're leaving, go now. The Warden's out."
Ryuu sprinted out of the room then through the hallways, having memorized the path, to the cells and instantly killed the one guard then hit the button that opened the cells. People began streaming out and stopped when they saw Ryuu.
"Now, who was saying we could break out?" Ryuu grinned.
"Glad to see my statue wasn't too much for you," a boy younger than Ryuu near the front smirked. "Let's get out of here."
Ryuu nodded, activating his Sharingan and they all sprinted out of the room, following the hallways as they wound and curved around and around, seemingly going nowhere. Finally, they reached the exit, sprinting out of the base just as the entire thing exploded skyward, a massive white bird that looked like a living statue hovering over it and watching. Fire shot out of the tunnel they had just left and Ryuu stopped it from incinerating them with a Water Wall. Then, it was over. They were free, and they could leave. Ryuu turned directly away from the base and found a second shinobi in a black robe with red clouds waiting there. He was hunched over to the point of standing barely three feet tall and had a mask over his lower face and black hair in several strips leading backward.
"Another one?" Ryuu blinked before he remembered Kabuto telling him about the group after Fu.
A group wearing the same robes as this one and the last were.
"Shit," Ryuu breathed. "It's them then. I'm out of here."
He deactivated his Sharingan, walking toward the man.
"Where do you think you're going?" the man demanded.
"I'm leaving," Ryuu stated. "Explosions are great and all, but Art is supposed to be something viewed for generations. And I've seen enough of that base to know I want to see something else."
He was within five meters of the man now. He stopped walking when a long, segmented, metal, white tail extended from under the back of his robe and reached forward, crashing down in front of Ryuu. Ryuu looked around the tail at the man and then looked back as the bird landed behind him, the first man standing on its back.
"Going somewhere kid?" the blond man asked.
"I was planning on leaving," Ryuu stated.
"We can sense the Seven-tails Chakra on you," Deidara stated. "You're a Jinchuriki."
"A...fuck no," Ryuu snorted. "I'm no Jinchuriki. I met one though."
"Where?" the blond man asked.
"Around," Ryuu shrugged. "She sent me here then disappeared. If I were you, I'd try the Hidden Sound Village. She said something about looking for protection."
"Orochimaru then?" the man with the scorpion tail mused. "Good to know. Thank you for the information. Now, return to the others. We're going to do some...recruiting."
"Sorry, but I'd rather die than work for you," Ryuu stated activating his Sharingan.
"Uchiha?" the man in front of him blinked retracting his tail. "How interesting. Itachi will be interested to know that you're alive."
"Itachi?" Ryuu snarled. "So he's in your group too?"
"Yes, Itachi is in the Akatsuki," the man behind him stated. "Name's Deidara, that's Sasori."
"Ryuu," Ryuu stated not turning around. "Now, kindly get out of my way, you you'll both be returning to Itachi in pieces."
"Big words," Sasori sneered. "Go for it."
Ryuu darted forward, creating a Flame Sword and when the tail shot toward him again, he deflected it with his blade. After a moment, he ducked under it, slashing at Sasori. Sasori leapt backward, the tail shooting back toward Ryuu as he did. Ryuu spun, blocking the tail with his sword and shoved it to the side just before his Flame sword broke, the pieces scattering and going out like pieces of flame before the sword regenerated.
"Not bad," Sasori commended. "You're quite fast. But that's all. You're going to die now."
Ryuu snorted in amusement and let his sword fade before exhaling a stream of flames at the two ninja. They both retreated from the heat and when the flames died down, Ryuu's head was sinking into the ground. Sasori drove his tail at it but it escaped just before he could hit it.
"Damn," Sasori growled. "He got away."
"On a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think Itachi will be?" Deidara asked.
"He'll say that he could see it coming because Uchiha are better than anyone else," Sasori stated. "Let's just go ask Orochimaru about the Jinchuriki."
"I'm looking forward to that," Deidara smirked.
Ryuu rose out of the ground behind a tree and then sprinted through the trees away from the base. Just as he thought he might get away, a hand reached out from behind a tree, brushing his thigh and it exploded into pain, sending Ryuu crashing to the ground.
"I thank you for getting out test subjects out of the base," Kabuto smiled walking toward him. "But we really are going to have to do something about your escape tendencies."
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