Hokage: Ryo's Path

After returning to Konoha, Ryo didn’t just rest, but immediately began guiding Lain with the use of the Yin Seal.

After reading the scroll that Tsunade gave them, Ryo sighed, for her modifications on the seal made it far less simple than it used to be.

This was still a Yin Seal, but she added her own modifications on it, mainly based on her own research on her grandfather.

Her seal when opened allows its wielder to use the abundance of Chakra sealed within it, allowing them to get amazing healing or use massive Ninjutsu.

This technique showed stunning feats in the Manga, and even Madara acknowledged that Tsunade’s healing was comparable to Hashirama’s.

And then, Sakura showed even more powerful use of the technique.

Another thing was that this modified seal retained the Uzumaki’s Yin Seal capability of maintaining women’s youth. This made it very attractive to them, but of course, Lain was just a teenager, and she had no interest in this.

In short, this technique would bring Ryo’s sister great growth. Therefore, he wanted her to learn it as quickly as possible.

As for [Chakra Enhanced Strength], Ryo felt that with Wood Release, Lain didn’t need to learn such a technique. However, with her reaching a bottleneck in developing her Wood Release Jutsus, it was a good idea for her to learn it; it just wasn’t a priority.

Therefore, after helping Lain with the Yin Seal, Ryo just left her on her own, to choose the way to develop in. Instead of disturbing her, he just went to the Ninja Academy.

While Ryo and Minato practiced in Mount Myoboku, Naruto and the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho entered the Ninja Academy.

Ryo’s purpose was to observe Naruto and Sasuke, and see if he could extract a trace of Indra and Ashura’s Chakra from them.

Ryo had already discussed the matter with Korin. With the help of Indra and Ashura’s Chakra, they would try to emulate the Truth Seeking Ball. After understanding that power, Ryo should become able to determine his future growth direction.

However, because Naruto and Sasuke were too young to refine their own Chakra, Ryo took his time, leaving them to develop, for extracting any amount of Chakra from them while they were young could hinder their growth.

Now, things were different. Both were already 5 years old, and they had been refining their Chakra for over two years. Therefore, Ryo decided to make his move.

When arriving at the Ninja Academy, Ryo found Naruto’s class on the school’s training ground.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio was also there with Naruto, and Ryo was in no hurry, so he watched the children’s training.

The trio had been trained by their own clans, and should all be obviously stronger than their opponents.

However, the performance they showed when training made Ryo very dissatisfied.

Ino had what seemed less like a fight among Ninjas, and more like a slap fight with Sakura. Shikamaru just tied his opponent, and didn’t bother to beat him, until his Chakra ran out, but the hardest one to watch was Choji, for he just forfeited without unleashing or receiving an attack, just to finish his bag of chips that was still half full.

After that, it was Naruto and Sasuke’s turn. This was the first time for Ryo to see young Sasuke in a long time. The last time he saw him, it was when he held him as a baby.

“The brat is really handsome indeed. He looks so cute; no wonder so many girls are falling for him...” Ryo whispered to himself.

Soon, the two started to fight. Unlike in the Manga, Naruto had been a friend with Kurama from childhood, and had received teaching from both Kushina and Ryo. Now, he was among the best of his class.

As for Sasuke, he had been trained by Fugaku and Itachi, which was nothing to scuff at either.

A battle between two rivals with comparable strength is always the best thing to watch. The two kids both found it difficult to beat each-other. In the end, Naruto could only “cheat”, and to beat Sasuke, he used some of the Kyubi’s Chakra.

With the battle over, neither Naruto nor Sasuke could move, both having numerous minor Injuries. Iruka immediately prepared to send both for treatment.

“Hold on; you’ll be handing these two kids to me!” Hearing Ryo’s voice, Iruka froze in place.

Noticing Ryo on the side, his face turned red and he instantly became flustered: “You’re.. Ryo Yamanaka sama?!”

Naruto had been unable to move, but when hearing Ryo’s name, he shouted: “Hey! Uncle!”

Ryo smiled a patted Ryo’s head: “You’ve done well, Naruto! So did you Sasuke; as expected from Fugaku san’s son!”

“You know my father?” Sasuke had not experienced the annihilation of his clan, he was much nicer and polite than how he became after that fateful night.

“Well, we’re relatives actually. Ask your father if you want later on; he’ll tell you all about it! Now, here, let me treat you first!” As Ryo said that, green light was emitted from his hands.

Most of Iruka’s class were children from the big families, and the worst of them had Ninja parents. These brats all recognized the [Healing] Jutsu at a glance.

Ryo placed his hands on Ryo’s and Sasuke’s shoulders, and the two’s injuries were all healed at a speed visible to the naked eyes.

At the same time, Ryo guided Korin’s power, getting it to flow into the kids’ bodies. After sensing power akin to the Juubi’s, the hidden powers in their bodies became agitated, and Ryo could sense them as well.

After being done, he smiled at the two kids and asked: “So, how do you feel?”

“Wow! Great! You’re great! It doesn’t hurt at all!” Naruto showed a happy smile.

“Thank you for your great help Ryo sama!” Sasuke politely thanked Ryo.

“Well, I should go! Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, I’m very dissatisfied with the performance of all three of you, and I’ll be doing something about it myself!” As soon as he finished his words, Ryo disappeared.

The three kids were all embarrassed, but they all also knew that Ryo was absolutely right.

After he left the academy, Ryo directly teleported to the Wind Country’s desert. The Truth Seeking Ball was an extremely powerful entity, and he could only choose this inhabited desert for his experiment.

...........

“Korin, how is it going?” Ryo asked Korin, who was in his bag.

“It’s going smoothly; my power and these two bits of Chakra are being integrated easily, and this should be successful soon!” Korin controlled her own power out of Ryo’s body, merging it with the Chakra from Indra and Ashura.

In a short while, under her control, these three forces merged into a black sphere, lurking in midair.