Kirigakure Alliance

The next week, early in the morning, one of Ryuu's seals woke him up.

He left his bed and went to the gate in his silver haori.

Ryuu had a giant compound surrounded by many trees to hide.

'It's Kaoru, I wonder what he wants this early.

There better be some kind of emergency.'

Kaoru was an Anbu member of Obito's squad, he specialized in scouting and was an expert in lightning-release ninjutsu.

He was completely bald, with almost nothing on his head, and he had a short mustache; Kaoru described having hair as a burden and was a very hygienic man; he hated blood on his skin so he wore a lot of long sleeves.

"Captain, I'm sorry to wake you up this early."

"Yeah, what is it?"

Ryuu yawned.

"Well, Hokage-sama is requesting your presence, he says this can't wait."

Ryuu slowly wiped his eyes.

"Fine, tell him I'll be there shortly."

Kaoru bowed before flickering away.

Ryuu went back to his room, he got changed into his Anbu uniform.

Ichika woke up after noticing Ryuu's absence.

"You're leaving?" Ryuu nodded.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama needs me, he says it can't wait."

"It's alright, I had a great time last night."

Ryuu smiled.

"Me too."

Ryuu kissed Ichika before wearing his mask.

"Later, Ichika." Ryuu teleported to Sakumo's office.

Obito shortly arrived after Ryuu.

"I'm ready for my mission." Ryuu took a knee.

"Did you and Obito enjoy your breaks?"

"Yes." They said,

"I would hope so.

I have a mission for you two.

A few years ago, the third shinobi war ended, and even after the war, there's a sense of hostility between the 5 great nations.

This partnership with Kirigakure won't go unnoticed, I'm sure there will be multiple shinobi from different nations who've come to disrupt the negotiations.

Luckily, this isn't a partnership to strengthen either side's military, if it were, we'd need to be more discreet because if we weren't more discreet, that would be the beginning of another war.

But that's where you two come in, protect the Mizukage, he's on his way here, this job only requires one of you, the other job is to safely bring the documents from the Daimyo and to also protect me as I go to confirm the alliance."

Ryuu and Obito looked at each other.

"What about Kakashi? Is he on another mission?" Sakumo nodded.

"Yes, Kakashi is on another secret assignment." Ryuu nodded.

"Ryuu, go with the Mizukage, as I go with Hokage-sama.

You have a better relationship with Yagura, he'll trust you more." Obito suggested.

"Now that we settled all that, we leave tomorrow at sunrise," Sakumo said before putting his feet on his empty desk and relaxing.

Later in the day, Ryuu went to buy more smoke bombs.

Shisui saw Ryuu as he was also buying smoke bombs.

"Hey, Ryuu-sensei, will you train me and Itachi today?"

"Sure, but next time, I would like to expand our little group.

I want more of a challenge, you know." Shisui tilted his head.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Shisui, next time we train, I would like a team match vs me and Kakashi.

You and Itachi will get Obito and Guy, isn't that a good idea?"

"It's still kinda unfair." Ryuu tilted his head.

"How? You guys get more numbers, you know."

"But sensei, I still believe you could beat us even if we had Kakashi, you could probably still beat us if we tied one hand behind your back." Ryuu smiled and let out a nervous laugh.

"Shisui, I'm glad you hold me so highly, you know." Ryuu took his smoke bombs.

They walked towards the cliff where they trained. On the way there, Ryuu remembered something he wanted to ask.

"Shisui, how come you've never told me about your parents?"

"My parents?" Ryuu nodded.

"I've known about your father's illness for a while, especially that one time I came to your house.

You can talk to me, you know."

Shisui looked down, frowning because of the sour topic.

"I just… don't want to give you a burden.

You're always so busy with other stuff, it seemed it would be a burden for you to save people only I care for.

I already know how much you do for our village, and I appreciate it."

Ryuu looked at Shisui, saddened to hear this from him.

'Is this…

How I really am?

Even my only student won't come to me for help…

I'm pathetic…'

"Shisui, you should know this by now.

You're more like a younger brother than a student to me, you know.

I won't let the people you care about suffer just because you feel that I'm too busy for you. I will always be there for you.

Anyone you care for, and I mean anyone, is also my responsibility. You don't have to take it all by yourself, and you don't have to worry about me taking all the weight.

I will always be there to help you."

Ryuu put his hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"After I come back from my mission tomorrow, I'll do whatever I can to save your father, you have my word," Ryuu said with a wink.

"Thanks, sensei, that means a lot," Shisui replied.

"Alright! Let's go do some training!"

Ryuu dashed at full speed, leaving Shisui in the dust.

"Wait up!" Shisui used the body flicker to catch up to him, but Ryuu saw it as a challenge, and also used the body flicker jutsu, passing Shisui once again.

'Too fast…' Shisui barely kept up with Ryuu.

When they reached, they found Itachi sweating; he had been warming up.

"Big brother, your break is already over?" Ryuu nodded.

"And what about you Itachi, do you also have a mission?" Itachi shook his head.

"No, I came back yesterday, I haven't been called for another mission yet." Ryuu nodded.

Ryuu started stretching.

"Same old rules until all of us get the three tomoe Sharingan."

"No using the Sharingan." They said together.

"Alright, let's begin," Ryuu said after making the unison sign.

Both Itachi and Shisui stood beside each other, facing Ryuu.

They quickly withdrew their shurikens and threw them toward Ryuu.

Cling!

Ryuu held a kunai and deflected most of them, the rest he dodged them.

"Fire style: Phoenix flower jutsu!"

Boom! Boom!

Small fireballs headed toward Itachi and Shisui.

Itachi turned into a flock of crows and vanished from the area.

Shisui used the body flicker jutsu to dodge.

"Uchiha style: halo dance!" Shisui jumped up using the body flicker jutsu and then he quickly sent waves of fire toward Ryuu.

Ryuu dodged the flames and threw his shurikens toward Shisui.

"Shuriken shadow clone jutsu!"

"Wha- "Shisui saw nowhere to go, Itachi appeared and helped Shisui block the shurikens.

Shisui quickly formed a hand seal and inhaled a lot of air.

"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Boom!

Enhanced by Itachi's wind release, Shisui shot out a massive fireball, and it flew at an incredibly high speed toward Ryuu.

*Poof!*

Itachi widened his eyes and looked back after one of Ryuu's shurikens turned into a white cloud of smoke.

"Wind blade!" He hit Itachi with the wind blade.

Itachi turned into flocks of crows.

Itachi appeared above Ryuu with his hands out.

"Wind Style: gale palm!" Itachi pushed Ryuu back to the ground.

"Chidori!" Shisui aimed his Chidori toward Ryuu.

"Hmph."

Ryuu grabbed Itachi by his collar and threw him toward Shisui.

Shisui's eyes widened, seeing Itachi flying towards him.

'I can't… stop…'

Whoosh!

Shisui watched as Ryuu appeared above him, grabbing his collar and throwing him and Itachi on opposite sides.

Boom!!

Shisui's hand made a small hole in the ground.

"Earth-style hiding like a mole jutsu!"

Boom!

Ryuu's clone came from the ground, taking Shisui and Itachi's legs, and then it turned into water forming mud.

"Earth-style: Dark swamp!" The mud spread through the ground and turned into an extra sticky swamp of mud.

"I win," Ryuu said with a bright smile.

Itachi and Shisui were frowning and panting.

"You barely held back this time, big brother. I could've died."

"Yeah and maybe if you did I wouldn't have to listen to you complaining about living, you know." Ryuu jokingly said.

Ryuu teleported both of them out of the swamp and healed Shisui's hand.

"Both of you are doing so well.

It makes me proud to call you my student and my brother." Itachi frowned.

"You always say that after beating us, it's not working." Ryuu smiled and turned to laughter.

"Itachi, you sure are a sore loser, you know," Ryuu said as he chuckled.

"Anyway, I better get going now, I can't be late for this mission."

Ryuu waved them off and teleported to Sakumo's office.

"Hokage-sama, I'm ready to go now." Sakumo nodded.

"Obito, we should also get going," Sakumo said.

Ryuu and Obito both teleported.

Ryuu reached the Mizukage's escort.

Yagura had a handful of shinobi with Ao leading them.

While Mei was in the village, she would run things while Yagura was gone.

"Right on time," Yagura stated.

"I feel safer already."

"I'm pleased to hear that, Shall we begin our journey?"

Yagura nodded.

'We're heading to the land of noodles, it'll be a long journey, but it's the only place where there's mutual ground.'

The Mizukage's Anbu members hid in the shadows and behind the trees, some were scouting, looking for enemies while others were making sure there weren't any traps.

They started their journey out of the village, Ryuu was wary of future threats and so he sent 5 clones and spread them around, they all used sage mode to increase their senses.

Nobu once again appeared on Ryuu's shoulder.

"Stop being so paranoid, I know you wish to make this alliance work, but don't let eagerness cloud your judgment.

If there's anyone nearby, I will sense and tell you."

"Right, I have nothing to worry about." Ryuu forced a smile.