Hokage: Ryo's Path

Well, we could just crash our way in! Oni san and Shisui have their Susanoo, and I have the Wooden Man. I’m not afraid!”

Hearing Lain, Hana quickly answered: “No! Lain, we should act carefully. As far as I know, the Tenseigan is more powerful than the eyes you have. Going in just like that would only get you in trouble. On top of that, there is only one passage leading in. There is naturally high security there, as the Gedo Mazo used to be held inside. Just barging in would only let the branch family know of my return, which could be very detrimental to our following moves.”

“Hana san is right. We can’t rush in directly. We don’t know how strong the enemy is, so the risk is great. Also, how many times have I told you to call me Shisui SENSEI?!”

“What? Itachi has always called you just Shisui! Why can’t I do the same? Just because you call Oni san Sensei, you want to feel the same grandeur?!”

“You...” Shisui froze, as Lain’s words took him by surprise.

“Too much talking you two!” Ryo glanced at them!

“The Byakugan is indeed very strong, but it’s not impossible to cheat. I have my Chakra Camouflage technique, and after entering Ice Elementization, even the Byakugan should perceive me as a part of nature, a block of ice! Well, the only thing is that they could perceive the drastic difference between my temperature and that of the environment. Hana, it’s really hot now; is the difference in temperature at night drastic?”

“You mean, is the moon cold at night?”

“Yes!”

“Yes, indeed,” Hana said, “Without the sun, the moon is really cold.”

“That’s good. Then, we’ll wait for the evening. I’ll sneak in, and then teleport back to you and get you inside!”

Soon after, the sun went down, and the temperature gradually but quickly began to drop. A couple of hours later, it was perfect.

“Alright! I’ll get going. You guys wait here and be careful.” As soon as Ryo finished his words, he masked his Chakra and entered Ice Elementization.

He slowly approached the area. The surrounding puppets did not notice him, as he exuded no Chakra.

The Branch Family, never being invaded for so long, were rather careless. Perceiving Ryo, they just thought he was an Ice formation due to the cold.

In this way, Ryo snuck in.

It’s just that Ryo didn’t know how to go any further as he didn’t know the place. Therefore, he placed a scroll with a Teleportation Barrier Mark on it and teleported back to Hana.

He then took them all and teleported to the mark.

“Hana san, please tell us how to enter.”

She pointed to the tallest building not far away and said: “It’s actually rather easy. You should just go through the passageway of that building.”

“Is that so? Alright, stay here, and I’ll go in and check.” After saying that, Ryo went in alone.

He soon reached the vicinity of the central building, and he could sense ten people around it. This meant that there were ten of the Branch family inside.

After a moment of hesitation, Ryo decided that the best course of action was to quickly get rid of these people.

They were scattered, giving him enough time. He was certain that he could deal with each one of them without alarming the others.

Without further hesitation, Ryo entered the building from an outside window.

Following the Chakra he sensed, Ryo opened his Mangekyo, enhanced his Ice Lightning Chakra Mode, and flickered to the one closest to him, slitting his throat.

While at it, he used his Yamanaka mind reading techniques to read his memory.

He did this nine more times, killing everyone in the building.

After everything was done, Ryo entered the passage that Hana mentioned.

This was different from the passage that linked Earth to the Moon. It didn’t rely on Space-Time folding.

He followed it all the way and finally reached the interior of the clan’s den.

To be cautious, he didn’t come out of the passage directly, instead perceiving the area around the exit, and only walking out when confirming no one was around.

Compared to the desolate surface of the Moon, this area that was carved inside, it looked much more prosperous.

It was just like in the movie, with the only exception being that people were populating it, not just puppets.

Ryo was even more surprised when he sensed that the area was richer in Natural Energy than most of the areas of Earth.

Later, he used the Transformation Jutsu to look like one of the patrolling Moon Shinobi he had killed and began collecting information inside.

After some investigation, he found that the entire population of the Moon was rather small, a bit less than a thousand belonging to the Branch Family.

Puppets, on the other hand, were many, close to 10,000. They were all mobilized by the Tenseigan, and in this area, they should actually replenish themselves with energy and regenerate indefinitely.

According to Hana, these puppets’ power was proportional to their sophistication.

Since Hana hadn’t seen puppets as powerful as the ones at the entrance before, Ryo speculated that the puppets they would find inside shouldn’t be much more powerful than that.

Indeed, of each ten puppets or so, one was as advanced as those he saw before. That meant around a 1000 puppets of that level.

A thousand of those, regenerating indefinitely, along with nearly a thousand Byakugan using powerful Shinobi... Ryo felt that the situation was not easy.

After roughly gauging the strength of the Branch Family, Ryo left a scroll at the home of the Ninja he was disguised as and then teleported back to his friends.

After explaining the situation to everyone, he took them in.

“Hana san, we’re in. What should I do next?” Ryo pulled Hana to the side.

After a moment of contemplation, Hana said, “Go to the place where the Tenseigan is placed and take control of it! Only by getting control of the Tenseigan could we stop these puppets. Otherwise, we would have our hands tied just dealing with them.”