The Begining Of An Alliance

They ran for several hours, the Anbu would occasionally go further ahead and do a quick scan while Ryuu always stayed beside Yagura, and Nobu would stay on Ryuu's shoulder.

"I know about your nickname, the Phoenix King of Konoha, but I didn't think you had an actual Phoenix as a pet," Yagura stated.

"Who are you calling a pet?" Yagura's eyes widened upon hearing Nobu's deep voice.

"How fascinating, he talks too…"

Ryuu smiled.

"Nobu is an amazing Phoenix, he can do much more than talk, you know," Ryuu stated as he held Nobu on his finger.

"Is he a Summoning animal?" Ryuu shook his head.

"Well, I'm a Jinchuriki of a Phoenix."

"I see…

How interesting…" Ryuu nodded.

"I wonder…" Nobu looked at Ryuu, interested in what he had to say.

"Is it even possible for you to become a Summoning?" Ryuu telepathically asked Nobu.

"Of course, I can become a summoning. However, there hasn't been a Phoenix Summoning in thousands of years, and a Phoenix Summoning jutsu takes more chakra than the average Summoning jutsu."

"Really?" Nobu nodded.

"The previous summoner of our kind was the sage of six paths." Ryuu's eyes widened.

"How awesome! I'd like to have you as my Summoning.

If that's alright with you."

"What's the point of you being my summoner when I can appear at any moment while you're a Jinchuriki? You are my master, but you sure are stupid sometimes..."

Ryuu nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Come on, stop calling me master, you and I are partners, you know," Ryuu said with a smile.

"I'll do my best to not call you that, master."

Ryuu dropped his head depressingly.

'No respect…'

Yagura oddly looked at Ryuu.

'How strange.' He thought.

After another day of traveling, they arrived in the land of noodles; it was a suitable spot for two villages to meet; it had a plain farm where the farmers would work.

The land of noodles was as expected known for its excellent noodles and this is where they were made.

"Ryuu? Tell me, how did you convince the Daimyo to allow us to ally here? I heard he doesn't like outsiders much." Yagura asked.

"The Daimyo from the land of noodles owed me a favor."

"Of course, is Hokage-sama nearby?" Ryuu nodded.

"He's inside." Obito and Sakumo came outside of the house.

"Hokage-sama, I'm glad you made it safely." Yagura smiled and offered Sakumo a handshake.

"I'm also glad you made it safely, Mizukage-sama." Sakumo smiled and shook Yagura's hand.

"You hungry? I was having some splendid ramen inside." Yagura nodded.

"That'll be great, I'm starving."

"Mizukage-sama, you should be careful-"

"Ao, you worry too much."

Ao followed the Mizukage while Ryuu followed Sakumo inside.

They spent an hour going through the terms and conditions of the alliance.

And after doing all of that, Sakumo and Yagura shook hands to confirm the alliance.

"Yagura, have this, anytime you want my help I'll be there within a second."

Ryuu gave Yagura a dark kunai.

"Thank you Ryuu, you're welcome to Kirigakure, and your village also has our support in the future."

Ryuu escorted Yagura outside.

"I'll take Yagura and his escorts back to Kirigakure while you go to Konoha with the others." Obito nodded.

"It'll only take a second, but teleporting this many people at once has some effects." Yagura nodded.

Ryuu released a thick dark smoke from his eyes and it spread out, coating everyone with smoke and ash, he closed his eyes and they vanished and appeared in the Mizukage's office.

"Ryuu, thank you for this, I promise Kirigakure and Konohagakure will remain allies for a long time."

"No problem, Yagura, I also swear, Konoha will never betray Kirigakure and we'll always be allies." Yagura nodded.

Ryuu and Yagura shook hands, and then Ryuu teleported back to Konoha.

'I met the three tails, he's much friendlier than all the other tailed beasts I've met, that's amazing.' Ryuu thought to himself as he walked to Sakumo's office.

Sakumo held a meeting, he was waiting for the others to arrive.

"Now that Kirigakure are our allies, expect to be exhausted with the upcoming mission requests."

"I'm ready for all of them!" Sakumo nodded.

"You're dismissed for now, unless you want to stay for the meeting.

I want to address another problem."

"Sorry dad, I have plans, let's talk later."

Ryuu went to change, and after that, he teleported back home.

Ryuu appeared on his training grounds, a giant red-leaved tree surrounded it. Some leaves had fallen around the marked area opposite the lake.

Ryuu walked to the middle of the training ground and sat down, crossing his legs.

"Nobu, is making you a Summoning animal any different from other animals?"

Nobu appeared beside Ryuu as a much bigger Phoenix.

"Making a Phoenix a Summoning differs greatly from normal summons, not only will you need far greater chakra to summon us, but you will also get far better abilities because of our mastery in chakra. Abilities that you already have with me."

"Alright, I get it." Ryuu closed his eyes and started meditating.

3 hours passed, and Ryuu was still meditating.

"You look like you need a break."

Kakashi spoke from above the tree.

"Hey, Kakashi!" Ryuu smiled once again.

"Yo." Kakashi jumped from above the tree and greeted Ryuu.

"Working on a new jutsu?" Ryuu shook his head.

"I'm just meditating more, I thought I could strengthen my connection to nature, you know."

"It's been a while since we had a friendly battle, do you want to train a little?"

"Of course, let's have a duel, I have everything prepared for such a situation." Kakashi smiled.

'Of course, he does.'

Ryuu made a hand sign and then sealing marks appeared on the tree. He took two katanas from inside the tree and then threw one of them to Kakashi.

"Why do you have those weapons there?"

"This is where I train alone now."

"Alright, whenever you're ready." Ryuu nodded.

"I'm ready."

They stood across from each other and bowed, and then they got into a fighting stance.

"Let's go!"

Whoosh!

They used chakra on their feet to get faster; they carried leaves to the middle.

Cling! They clashed in the middle and a wave of leaves flew up.

Kakashi backed away, launching a kick toward Ryuu.

Ryuu blocked the kick and countered with a slash toward Kakashi's chest.

Cling!

Their swords clashed against each other, creating sparks between them.

Ryuu and Kakashi exchanged blows in a taijutsu fight, with both of them fighting to a near stalemate.

"Let's get serious!" Both Kakashi and Ryuu entered lightning chakra mode.

They both enhanced their speed and exchanged blows from their swords, making thunder-like sounds, from afar they looked like two bolts of lightning clashing.

Kakashi's lightning chakra mode was faster than Ryuu's, but it didn't have a better defense.

"I'll finish you with this move!"

Ryuu gripped his Katana tightly.

"Hmph!" Kakashi also gripped his Katana tightly.

Whoosh! They launched another attack, giving it everything it had.

Boom!

They clashed, both their blades had shattered from the impact and only the handle remained.

Ryuu laced his with fire and threw it toward Kakashi.

Kakashi laced his with water and threw it toward Ryuu.

Boom!

The two Katana clashed in the middle, and steam started clouding the area.

Without wasting time, Ryuu and Kakashi headed towards each other again, and they both landed a punch on the other's face.

"Ugh!" they grunted as they both spat out blood.

Ryuu faked a kick to Kakashi's ribs and went for the head.

Kakashi countered and swept Ryuu's other foot.

He went for a punch toward Ryuu, who was on the ground, but Ryuu caught his hand and used his leg to launch Kakashi away.

"Huff! Huff!" They both were panting while staring at each other, getting ready to make a move.

"Dynamic entry!"

Boom!

They both did the dynamic entry and were sent back by each other's moves.

"The Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake."

"The Shinobi Scourge, Ryuu Uchiha." They both glared at each other.

Ryuu slid his forehead protector to his right eye and then activated his Sharingan.

Kakashi activated his left Sharingan.

"It's time to get serious, don't you think, bro?" Ryuu asked with a smirk.

"Have it your way." Kakashi was the first to charge toward Ryuu.

Ryuu and Kakashi fought against each other.

Kakashi went for a punch but Ryuu dodged it, then Kakashi went to elbow him, but Ryuu blocked it and punched him in the gut, sending him flying back.

Their spar attracted the attention of a small blonde-haired boy, whose clone babysitter had dispersed following Ryuu's and Kakashi's presence.

Naruto wobbled towards the training grounds and found a place to sit.

Ryuu and Kakashi fought for the next 4 hours, once they were done, Kakashi's face looked beaten up while Ryuu's had a few scars, Kakashi couldn't fight any longer so Ryuu won.

"After all these years, you still don't get tired from a fight with me. Even when I use my Sharingan or when I'm enhanced by the cells of the first Hokage."

"Yeah, but you're getting stronger too, you know."

"I'm still behind you for now."

"Let's go, I'll leave my clones with Naruto, we have to go back to work, you know." Kakashi nodded.