Ryuu entered sage mode.
'Now all I have to do is find the person with the most chakra.'
After finding him, Ryuu dashed ahead to catch up.
'All four of us are students of Jiraiya-sensei, I'm finally going to meet you, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.'
Ryuu caught up to them.
All three founders of the Akatsuki were there wearing their classic black robes with a red line running down the center.
Yahiko, the leader, had short spiky orange hair, and Nagato had pale white skin and long straight red hair, his hair covered the right side of his eye, and his Rinnegan was still visible.
Konan had short, straight, blue hair with a bun.
They stopped walking.
"Yahiko, Nagato, there's someone following us."
Yahiko nodded.
"Look, whoever you are, just pass by. We don't want any quarrels with you."
He said as he revealed his sword hidden behind his cloak.
"Neither do I."
Ryuu appeared in front of them.
"You're an Uzumaki?"
Nagato asked.
"Half, I'm Ryuu Uchiha from Konoha, I'm a student of Jiraiya-sensei too, I know you three, Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko."
Nagato's eyes widened, and Yahiko put his sword back.
"Sorry for that, we've been a little on edge lately."
Yahiko and Ryuu shook hands.
"I hope I didn't disturb you guys, were you on a mission?" He shook his head.
"No, we were on our way back to our base.
We run an organization called the Akatsuki.
We want to achieve world peace, not trying to force this, but it'd be nice to have another student of Jiraiya-sensei with us, you in?"
"Sorry, I just came here to meet you guys, I'm on a mission with Jiraiya-sensei, he'll be glad to know you're all ok."
Yahiko nodded.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Ryuu."
"Great to meet you too, but before I leave, I want to ensure your safety."
Ryuu made three kunai's out of dark ash.
He made a seal and placed it on Nagato's and Yahiko's chests.
"Hey umm, I need to place this on your chest, but umm…"
Ryuu shyly scratched his head and blushed.
Yahiko frowned.
'Yeah, he's Jiraiya-sensei's student, for sure.' Yahiko said to himself.
"What about my back?"
"Your back?" She nodded.
"R-r-right, your back." Ryuu placed it on Konan's back.
He made a hand seal and made them all disappear.
"Anyway, is there anything you'd like me to say to Jiraiya-sensei?"
"Tell him we're doing fine and tell him to visit us after the war." Ryuu nodded.
"Well, I'll see you all later."
Ryuu used transformation jutsu to transform back into Ryuji.
He opened a portal and teleported near Pakura and the rest; they didn't get far but were in the land of wind.
"Yo." Ryuji arrived behind them.
"You're alive!" Pakura ran towards him and hugged him.
"Easy there, I'm still in pain, that wasn't an easy fight."
"Oh, sorry." She let go.
'We walked back to the village, it took a few days because this time we weren't in a hurry.'
After they arrived, they went back to the Kazekage's office; he had dismissed Pakura and the others to speak to Ryuji privately.
"So you completed the mission successfully and fought against Hanzo and his salamander so that your team survives and lives, then ended up with only a few scars?"
Ryuji nodded.
"Consider me impressed."
Ryuji smiled and nodded.
"Thank you, Kazekage-sama."
He nodded.
"Go back home and freshen up, come back to my office later."
He nodded and left.
He went back home and to his surprise; he found his sensei home early.
"Hiroto-sama, you're here so early. Is everything fine?"
"Huh?" He looked back and smiled.
"Back so soon, kid?"
Ryuji smiled and greeted him.
"You wouldn't believe what happened on my mission, here let me make some tea and tell you all about it."
He nodded.
"Before you say anything, you should know that I found where all the captured Konoha shinobi are kept, now all you need to do is free them."
Ryuji widened his eyes.
"I thought I had to do it myself and that's why I was so excited to see you back here, but now this is much better."
Ryuji nodded.
"So, when is this supposed to happen?"
"It's best we do this tomorrow morning, that's when they're bringing in more prisoners, I'll give you all three locations where the war camps are." He nodded.
Ryuji came back with the tea.
"So, what did you want to say?"
"I found them." He tilted his head.
"Found who?"
"Your other students, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan." His eyes widened.
"Your mission was in Amegakure?"
He nodded.
"They said they were doing fine, they said you should visit them after the war."
Hiroto smiled.
"I'll meet them after the war, it's been too long." Ryuji nodded.
"They're exactly how you described them.
Yahiko reminds me of you, especially when he smiled and Nagato is as kind as you said he'd be, I even noticed his special eyes."
Hiroto's eyes widened.
"Sensei, umm, do you think I'd have a shot at Konan?" His eyes widened and he laughed out loud.
"Hahaha!" He wiped his tears.
"You know, I don't see why not, any woman would be foolish to reject you if you ask me." He ruffled his hair.
Ryuji smiled.
"However, you'd have to fight Yahiko for her, he's been in love with her since they were kids, he thought he could hide it."
Ryuu nodded.
They drank their tea, and a few hours passed.
"I told Kazekage-sama that I'd go visit him."
He nodded.
"Alright, but remember the mission." He nodded and left.
He walked to the Kazekage's office.
"Knock knock knock!"
"Come in!" He entered.
The Kazekage was with Rasa and an Anbu member.
"You're finally back." Ryuji nodded.
"I'm sorry I took so long, I was with Hiroto-sama." He nodded.
"Won't you take a seat?"
"Right." Ryuji sat down.
"You're probably wondering why I called you here.
I sent an Anbu black op to follow you and see how your skills were, it seems you're better at using magnet release than you claimed to be."
Ryuji shyly scratched his head.
"Not really, I still wasted a lot of chakra using magnet release."
He nodded.
"Which is why I called you here, you see part of the reason Rasa is my apprentice is because he also has magnet release although he uses his differently, he makes gold dust out of his magnet release and I've been teaching him more techniques and he's getting stronger.
Strong enough to take on an apprentice for himself."
Ryuji's eyes widened.
"Lord third, you mean…"
He nodded.
"I've decided to make you my apprentice, from here on now, you will learn from me and you'll be under my care too."
He nodded.
"When do I start?"
"Right now." He nodded.
"No problem, but I have an errand to run for Hiroto-sama in the morning."
He nodded.
"About your father, I've noticed that he seems to have an interest in the Konohagakure shinobi we captured, do you know why?"
He nodded.
"Well, he has some history with Konohagakure, he's never really told me much about it, but I'm sure they did something horrible."
Rasa nodded.
"Well, let's not waste time, come with me, I'll teach you about magnet release and how useful it can be."
Ryuji nodded.
They went to the training ground and spent hours training in Magnet release, but eventually; the morning reached and Ryuji was supposed to free the captured shinobi.
"Thanks for the lessons, once I'm done I'll come back." He nodded.
Ryuji left and entered his house, where he found his foster father Hiroto, who had fallen asleep and was snoring loudly.
"At least this time you made it to bed."
Ryuji whispered.
He entered sage mode.
"Wood clone jutsu." He made five clones.
"Transparent escape jutsu."
He vanished.
He had dispelled the transformation jutsu, then he left.
'The shinobi who's leading them out of Sunagakure is leaving in an hour, I should wait for him to leave the village before I get him.'
Sigh.
Ryuu sat down and crossed his legs.
'In the meantime, I'll try to get in touch with that voice I heard when I got my Mangekyou Sharingan.'
He took a deep breath and started meditating.
Each exhale was releasing hot steam.
An hour passed and Ryuu felt the guard leave his house, he opened his eyes and his eyes had changed in appearance.
He had slitted eyes, and they filled his eye with flames.
He widened his eyes.
'My eyes see so much clearer now, but everything looks so strange.'
"Argh!" He held his eyes.
That eyesight didn't last long and disappeared back to normal.
The guard left the village and headed to the Kazekage's office.
Ryuu stealthily followed him and after he was done talking to the Kazekage, Ryuu left with him.
'Now's my chance.'
He quickly grabbed the guard and teleported him to his dimension.
The shinobi didn't even have time to make a sound when Ryuu grabbed him.
"Transformation jutsu!" He transformed and took his identity.
"I guess I'm lucky you wear a mask, you're making my job easier, thanks."
He left.
"It's time to free all these shinobi."
Ryuu had taken over his memories.
'This shinobi spoke little, he barely had any friends, the ones that befriended him are far from the village fighting the war, I almost feel bad for him, but anyway, it's time I get serious and complete my mission.'
After a few hours, Ryuu reached the war camp where they kept the Konohagakure shinobi, they had suppressed their chakra using fuinjutsu and now all he had to do was take them back to their base.