"Wake up ninja!" an earth ninja called. "There is danger. The Dark ninja are invading!"
Ryu woke up. The others followed.
"What is happening?" Nadia asked.
"Lord Nemesis and his troops are attacking!" Rokkan warned.
Ryu clenched his fists tightly.
"What's this feeling? It's as if my heart is on fire" he thought.
"Escape quickly! We'll hold them off for as long as we can" Rokkan advised.
"No! We'll stand and fight together! Crystal village was conquered, Water and Fire Kingdoms fell! We won't lose the Earth Ryu too! Just as the dragons are brothers, so are the ryu. What's the point of having our powers if we don't defend the ryu?!" Ryu said boldly.
"You have great honour, even as a mukenin. Very well, today, the Water ryu, the Fire Ryu, the Crystal Ryu and the Earth Ryu will fight as one!" Rokkan said as he slowly raised his ring.
"Hey, wait a minute, is it that easy to tell that I'm a mukenin?" Ryu thought with a bored expression on his face.
He didn't like being called a mukenin even if it was true.
Ryu, Michael and Atlanta raised their rings as well. Four flashes of lightning came out of the rings simultaneously as the Dragon Saints appeared behind their respective human saint. Crystal stared at Atlanta in astonishment.
"Your darkness has left you. Very well then, let's ride…my dragon companion" Crystal said.
"I'm sorry Crystal but you'll have to wait a while longer. Attack from the air with the other saints, we'll fight on the ground" Atlanta said.
Crystal bowed. "Let's go brothers!" she called and they took to the skies.
Nemesis appeared before the comrades.
"So we meet again, Atlanta, Michael…and you Ryu" Nemesis smiled his sly smile.
"This time, it's your end!" Ryu roared.
"You are a fool Ryu, a weak fool who runs from his own feelings" Nemesis said.
"Stop talking so much! You don't know anything about me!" Ryu roared as an intense wind blew the trees with tremendous force. "COME!" Ryu challenged.
"What's happening?" Nadia asked.
"I don't know" Michael said.
Ryu charged towards Nemesis. Nemesis formed his favourite seal.
"DARK ELEMENT! SIXTY SHADOWS OF JINN!!!" Nemesis called as sixty shadows of himself appeared and knocked Ryu to the ground.
"R!" Ryu roared as he got up and charged at Nemesis again.
He got beat up a second time.
"Y!" he called again and attacked Nemesis!
"DARK ELEMENT! SIXTY SHADOWS OF JINN!!!" Nemesis called again as more shadows appeared and knocked Ryu to the ground.
"Why do you fight for the Earth Ryu?" Nemesis asked.
"The balance of the ryu sustains the world. Without the ryu, this world will crumble away. Even the Dark ryu is worth fighting for! I will free them too!" Ryu said.
At that moment, Crystal, Molten, Hurricane and Terranica descended from the skies.
"U! RYU'S SECRET ART! RYUUGAN!!!(Dragon Eyes!)" Ryu yelled as a fiery chakra engulfed his whole body, his pupils slowly became vertical slits and his eyes assumed the likeness of the dragons'.
"What's this?!" Michael asked.
"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW DID HE? I'VE NOT SEEN THIS SINCE…GAIDEN!" Crystal exclaimed.
Nemesis' shadows were attacking.
"I can read their movements clearly now" Ryu thought.
The first shadow attacked. Ryu dodged its attack and punched it in the face. It disappeared.
"FIRE ELEMENT! MIST-FLAME DANCE JUTSU!" Ryu roared as he blew an intense flame that incinerated more than half of the shadows leaving about twenty.
"IMPOSSIBLE! HE IS WINNING AGAINST MY CLONES?!" Nemesis thought in shock!
Ryu was getting closer to Nemesis.
"I must end this! PHOENIX FLAME JUTSU!!!" Nemesis roared as he blew intense flames towards Ryu.
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Ryu roared as a clone of himself appeared beside him, grabbed his hand and swung him out of the path of the flames!
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Ryu called again as another clone appeared in his path and offered him a lift.
Ryu stepped on the clones hands and was thrown into the air!
"What sort of combo is that?!" Michael wondered.
"ONCE MORE! SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Ryu called as a clone appeared above him, grabbed his hand, swung him twice and threw him towards Nemesis.
"Was Ryu always this powerful? Is this really Ryu?" Nadia wondered.
"Who is this boy?! He is too powerful!" Nemesis wondered.
"TAKE THIS! SHARK! LEVIATHAN!!!" Ryu called as he formed seals.
"IMPOSSIBLE! THAT'S MY JUTSU!" Michael exclaimed.
"NO WAY! IS HE GOING TO…?!" Nadia exclaimed.
"WHAT?!" all the dragons exclaimed in shock.
"The Earth ryu will never fall into your hands! EAT THIS! WATER ELEMENT! WATER DRAGON JUTSU!!!" Ryu roared as a dragon of water appeared and knocked Nemesis into a line of trees.
"Water Element?! How can he…?!" Crystal exclaimed.
"Just like Gaiden. Ryu…you are amazing" Molten praised.
"I'M NOT DONE YET! LIGHT AND FIRE! COMBINE!!!" Ryu roared as he combined light and fire to form a new element.
"Lightning Element! Lightning Bolt!" Ryu roared as he charged up a current of lightning.
"Impossible! That was Gaiden's most secret technique. It took Gaiden years to complete it! This boy used half an hour!" Crystal exclaimed.
HHAAAAAHHHH!!!" Ryu yelled throwing bolts of lightning at Nemesis.
The lightning bolts knocked Nemesis into a rock.
"I'M STILL NOT DONE! EARTH ELEMENT! CRUSHING CRYSTAL CAVE OF GENJUTSU!!! (Illusions!)" Ryu roared.
"My technique? Taken to a higher level?!" Crystal exclaimed in shock.
A cave of crystals surrounded Nemesis. Inside the cave, shadows of Gaiden slashed furiously at Nemesis. Nemesis screamed as the crystals collapsed on him, crushing him.
"We need to stop the other Dark ninja" Rokkan called.
"Okay. Atlanta, stay with Ryu" Michael ordered.
Atlanta nodded. Michael and the others dispersed.
"You did it Ryu! You stopped Nemesis!" Atlanta said.
Ryu's Ryuugan vanished and his eyes returned to normal. Nemesis' fist suddenly broke through the crystals. Ryu opened his eyes in shock.
"No way" he muttered as Nemesis rose from the crystals.
"You are very powerful, Ryu of the Fire Ryu, named after the great dragons and their ninja clans…but didn't you ever care to find out what happened to Gaiden after he first entered the Jinn state?" Nemesis smiled as he breathed heavily.
Ryu opened his eyes in realization as he vomited blood.
"You know, the irony is that, I thought this would happen if I ever saw Michael and Nadia in love. Somehow, I can stomach it" Ryu laughed.
"Just like you Ryu, to make a joke in a dire situation, however…that will be your last! Fire Element! Phoenix Flame Jutsu!" Nemesis roared but nothing happened. "What?! My power!" Nemesis exclaimed in fear.
Ryu laughed.
"When I used the Crystal Cave of Genjutsu on you, I ordered Gaiden's clones to sever your chakra circulatory system. Didn't you ever hear that the Sword of Rai could cut through chakra?" Ryu said.
Nemesis opened his eyes in realization as his body grew stiff.
"M-MY B-BODY! I-I CAN'T MOVE!" Nemesis roared.
"I take away your power!" Ryu yelled.
"Do you?" a voice said from above.
"Wh-What?!" Ryu exclaimed in shock and fear.
The beaten Nemesis vanished.
"A clone?!" Ryu exclaimed in shock.
"A shadow of Jinn to be more precise. They can receive direct hits without disappearing. They only disappear when ordered to. Now tell me…who is powerless?" Nemesis laughed.
Tears flowed down Ryu's face.
"YOU BASTARD!" Ryu charged to attack Nemesis.
Nemesis knocked him aside.
"Your anger betrays you. How can you hope to beat me when you're only mukenin. You're not even a ninja! Now Atlanta, FINISH HIM AND TAKE THE RING!" Nemesis ordered.
Ryu opened his eyes in shock!
"Atlanta?" he said weakly.
"Impressive isn't she? She deceived all of you. Her pretence tears almost made me cry" Nemesis mocked.
"Pretence…TEARS?!" Ryu exclaimed as a memory flooded his mind.
"Ryu! There's something I need to confess!"
"I know all about it"
"Wh-What? How? Then why didn't you confront me…and KILL ME?!" Ryu remembered.
"No! NO! NOOO!!! IT'S A LIE! IT HAS TO BE!!!" Ryu roared.
"It isn't. And to think you lost your ninja identity just because of…A GIRL!" Nemesis mocked.
Ryu wept in pain. His tears evaporated when they hit the ground.
"NOW ATLANTA!" Nemesis ordered.
At that moment, Crystal and the others landed. Crystal narrowed her eyes.
"Don't stop her! This has to happen for the real truth to be discovered, the truth within her soul! The eternal battle raging inside her, BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL! TODAY SHE MUST CHOOSE WHICH SHE BELONGS TO!" Crystal said.