Hokage: Ryo's Path

The Black Sphere lurked quietly in midair, and Ryo could not perceive any danger from it down to its core.

“Korin, are you sure you haven’t made a mistake?!” He frowned.

Korin ignored his words, just controlling the sphere into a shape similar to his Ice Scalpel’s, and then shooting it at a dune that’s over 10 meters away.

As soon as the Black Scalpel hit, the sand it touched began to degrade on a granular level.

This kind of ablation happened silently, and if it wasn’t for Ryo’s great perception ability, he wouldn’t have been able to even notice anything beyond the impact of a blade with a dune.

He was shocked, and now, Korin finally began answering him: “Truth Seeking Balls are constituted of all five elements and Yin-Yang Chakra. Its power is essentially the power of the world itself, and it shouldn’t feel any different from that. It’s only natural that you would not perceive how dangerous it is.”

“Korin, you can perfectly control it, it seems!”

“Of course, it’s made up of my own power; I should have no problem controlling it!”

Korin’s answer made Ryo’s eyes bright, and he said: “Korin, let the Truth Seeking Ball attack an Ice Clone of mine.” After saying that, Ryo went into Ice Elementization and separated an Ice Clone from his body.

Korin gave him time to get some distance, before turning the scalpel back into a sphere and launching it straight through the clone.

The moment the clone made contact with the sphere, Ryo felt that he had lost contact with the Ice, and the clone crumbled instantly!

“Gasp...” Ryo took a breath, for the properties of the Truth Seeking Ball were just unlike anything he had seen before.

“Ryo, don’t be too anxious. I have found out a little secret while manipulating the ball.” As Korin said that, the Truth Seeking Ball turned into an oval shield.

“I know, the only defense against it is Natural Energy.”

“Not that; I’m talking about the special feeling they give off when getting deformed.”

“Special feeling?” Ryo heard that, and immediately began focusing on the sphere.

Korin was also very cooperative and transformed the Truth Seeking Ball into several various forms.

After over a dozen transformations, Ryo finally understood what Korin was talking about.

“The Truth Seeking Ball’s power is actually this black substance itself. It seems like your power didn’t remain in energy form like with the Rasengan, but it was materialized.”

“Yes. Again, it was purely made out of all five elements, Yin Yang Chakra and Indra and Ashura’s power.” Korin answered.

“But wasn’t this made with your own Natural Energy?” Ryo recalled how Korin created the sphere.

“At the beginning, this was indeed my natural energy, but I don’t know what happened in the fusion process, and this is nothing like it anymore. I didn’t try to make a ‘Truth Seeking Ball’, or this black substance. I just did the fusion and it was there. I think it’s the effect of Yin and Yang Chakra.”

After hearing Korin’s words, Ryo thought of Black Zetsu. He was the product of Yin, Yang and Kaguya’s will.

At this thought, Ryo understood what Korin was also thinking: she was talking about the existence of Black Zetsu that had eluded her for years.

Later, Ryo and Korin did many more experiments with the Truth Seeking Ball, but learned nothing new.

“Well, there’s one more experiment to do: Korin, try to break down the Truth Seeking Ball!”

Korin nodded and tried to do so, and the separation process was far more laborious that the fusion, taking Korin a long time.

Little of her power was consumed by the end, and a small amount of Indra’s and Ashura’s Chakra was released. After all, Ryo took nothing but a trace of these Chakras from Naruto and Sasuke, for he didn’t want to limit their progress.

Ryo retrieved this Chakra, not wanting to waste it. Being an Uchiha himself, the power went straight to his eyes!

They felt hot, and instantly, a row of blue ribs appeared around his body.

Looking around, Ryo became so excited, never expecting that Indra and Ashura’s power would allow him to unleash the power of his own Susanoo!

He activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, and following the structure of what the Indra and Ashura Chakra had created, he began to add to his Susanoo.

The Chakra began to solidify around his body; shoulders appearing about the blue ribs, followed by arms, and as Ryo added power, a blue skull slowly emerged.

After that, no matter how much effort Ryo put into the process, his Susanoo never changed. Being so excited by finally getting Susanoo, Ryo found it hard to be satisfied with only reaching Stage One.

“Korin, help me out!” Korin yelled at Korin on the side.

Without hesitation, she lent him her power, and with her help, the blue skeleton was gradually covered by what was akin to muscle, which grew bulkier and bulkier until it wrapped it completely.

Stage 2 Susanoo was complete, and Ryo stopped immediately, knowing that for now, this was the limit of what he could develop.

Now Ryo understood how Sasuke jump from First, to second, to third Stage Susanoo in such a short time. It was prompted by his rage, but also by the Chakra of Indra.

Ryo himself could only develop Susanoo when getting the Chakra.

“Ryo, isn’t this the technique used by that fake Uchiha Madara we’ve encountered in the Wave Country? How come...”

“Didn’t you read my memories? You should already know that the Mangekyo allows its wielder to use Susanoo.”

“I just saw some of your memories; not all of them!” Ryo had previously thought that Korin had read all his memories upon her creation, but now it seemed like this wasn’t truly the case.

Realizing that, Ryo began explaining: “After one activates the Mangeko, they would gain a third power, one named after a god!”

“A god?” Korin sounded a little shocked.

“Yes! It’s called Susanoo, and Uchiha Madara was able to face Hashirama himself with its power. Even a perfect Jinchuriki would have a hard time against it!”

“This technique is actually that’s strong? It’s just a gathering of Chakra!” Korin said with some disdain.