Hokage: Ryo's Path

Like many other instructors, Shisui’s first test to his team was the Bell Test.

In the past two years, working in the Anbu helped Shisui make substantial growth in both personality and strength, becoming a more reliable and mature Ninja.

This team was stronger than the average Genin team, with Lain and Itachi being both above Chunin tier, and Izumi also being stronger than most Genins.

Nevertheless, for over half an hour, none of the three could even touch the bell, let alone grab it.

Shisui, nicknamed Shisui of the body flicker in the Manga, was now even faster after having to deal with the extremely fast and teleporting Ryo.

Lain and Itachi were more of Ninjutsu type Ninjas, the type that would usually have trouble dealing with a speed type Ninja. With Shisui being far better than the two even in Ninjutsu, the two did not stand a chance.

On the other hand Izumi was more of a Taijutsu type Ninja.

With so many failed attempts, the geniuses on her side soon realized that they were not going anywhere this way. Their only chance was to support the one that’s more flexible and better at Taijutsu, Izumi.

With the three competing for three years, it was rather intuitive for them to cooperate. By just looking to each other’s eyes, they rapidly changed their strategy.

Lain and Itachi started using Ninjutsu differently, as a way to corner and shackle Shisui for Izumi to try to take away the bell. This gave Shisui a lot of trouble, but he still had a very clear edge on them.

Nevertheless, the two understood well Shisui’s main weakness: he just would not really hurt them.

Therefore, the two became much more aggressive in their approach, which allowed Izumi to touch the bell several times. Unfortunately for them, Shisui’s reflexes were two fast, and every time Izumi did that, he quickly flickered away.

Over an hour later, all three lied on the ground exhausted. Shisui approached them laughing and said: “If it was instructor testing you, you would probably succeed. It’s a pity that you were stuck with me; hahaha!”

“Huh, you’re just older than me! I’ll be stronger than you at your age!” Never admitting a total defeat, Lain defyingly whispered on the side.

As for Itachi, he was also dissatisfied with his own performance. However, being around Shisui since childhood, he knew all about how strong his instructor was, and said nothing.

Poor Izumi on the other hand was rather nervous, worrying that her failure would cause her team to be sent back to the Ninja Academy!

“Well, you still did very well. Your individual capabilities are outstanding, and your teamwork is also very good. While you did not steal the bell, I’ll still allow you to graduate. Congratulations; you’re now officially ninja, Team 6!”

“Really sensei?!” Izumi asked carefully.

Shisui smiled and nodded: “Of course! Now, have some good rest, and after you recover, I’ll invite you for some barbecue; my treat! Sensei, want to come?”

“Another day, Shisui! Lain, you’ve done very well today; I’m very satisfied with your performance!” After saying that, Ryo disappeared.

In the Hokage office, Ryo suddenly appeared. With this happening before him for so many years now, Sakumo wasn’t even fazed, and just said as he felt Ryo’s presence: “How did the three of them do?”

“They did well; better than what you would expect from good Genins.”

“I can believe that; I also think those three are pretty good.” Sakumo shared Ryo’s thoughts.

After chatting for a while, he suddenly remembered something: “Right, Ryo, didn’t you say that Minato’s resurrection would require Orochimaru to complete this experiment? How is that going so far?”

Ryo sighed: “Oh, not too good I’m afraid. In the past two years, Orochi san has been working on this diligently, but unfortunately, the clones he’s creating are nothing like original physically, with some of them not even being suitable to refining Chakra.”

“Hold on, did you say they are inferior physically? Well, shouldn’t that be something that’s acquired through training?”

“That is true, but if the body is not good, Minato Ni-san wouldn’t be able to recover his strength, even through training.”

Sakumo nodded, and didn’t say more.

From the office, Ryo teleported to Orochimaru’s lab.

After two years of construction, the lab was finally complete. In the past two years, Orochimaru was looking around the world for the Ninjas mentioned in Ryo’s list, and among them, he found Kimimaro, who quickly became one of his most loyal subordinates.

Like most of the time, Orochimaru was now experimenting with cloning in the lab deep under the base.

As Ryo said to Sakumo, his experiments were not going smoothly or making much progress.

However, Orochimaru was never discouraged by the consecutive failures of his experiments. In the past two years, he just kept on repeating them again and again like a mad scientist!

Upon entering, Ryo did not bother Orochimaru, and just picked up the data on the last experiment off the table and reading through it.

A while later, Orochimaru and Anko left the inside lab. Seeing Ryo, the latter asked: “Ryo! What bring you hear?”

“Nothing; I just thought of the cloning experiment earlier and came in to check out the results.”

“Ryo kun, I’m afraid I have to disappoint you once again; we still made no progress with that experiment!” Orochimaru answered.

“Yes, I figured that out.” said Ryo as he raised that data in his hand.

“Well, although we’ve made no progress with the cloning experiment, I have found something interesting through your list of Kekkei Genkai!”

“What is it?” Anything that made Orochimaru interested was certainly something to grab Ryo’s attention as well.

Orochimaru smiled and said: “Anko, tell Kimimaro to bring the other kid over for Ryo to see!”

“Okay, Sensei!”

“Kimimaro and a kid?” Hearing Kimimaro’s name, Ryo had a guess on the identity of the other kid.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long until Kimimaro arrived with a child with orange hair.

“Orochimaru sama, Ryo sama!” Kimimaro greeted the two.

“Ryo kun, this child next to Kimimaro is the interesting discovery I mentioned.

“He is indeed really interesting! I never saw someone who can absorb Natural Energy naturally like this.”

Ryo Ice Release was different, interacting with Water and Air Natural Energy exclusively. Sage Mode relied on training and absorbing Natural Energy after having contact with it and practicing with one of the Sage Animals of the three unexplored Sage Regions. Jugo was indeed the first person Ryo met to naturally have such an affinity for Natural Energy.

“Ryo kun, basing on Jugo’s interaction with Natural Energy, I’ve perfected a new technique, one that would allow ordinary people to use Natural Energy. I’ve named it Juinka (Cursed Seal Transformation)!”

After saying that, Orochimaru took Ryo to his base’s training ground where two children were fighting.

Ryo saw a 3 tomoe mark on the neck of one of them. Then, Orochimaru stimulated the cursed seal, and the child had a black line pattern similar to that of Sasuke in the Manga spreading on his body.

As the black lines became denser, the child’s Chakra had more and more Natural Energy infused with it.

With the help of the cursed mark, the child, who was previously losing, could easily overwhelm the other child he was fighting.

“So what do you think Ryo kun? This not bad!” Orochimaru sounded rather proud.

“Well, this effect looks very good. It’s a pity that not everyone should be able to survive the toll of absorbing Natural Energy!”