Chapter 26: The Aftermath
After Danzo left, the Anbu delivered a report the the 3rd. As he opened it his face got worried.
“Minato, here, take a look at this report.” Minato was a disciple of his own, Jiraya, who has been on the battlefront in World War II. So the 3rd totally trusted him. “This is really a serious matter. We have this new big problem that I can’t solve!”
Minato took the report and read through it quickly. After finishing, he gave Ryo a strange look!
“You check it out too kid!” The 3rd also noticed Minato’s expression and let Ryo take a look at it.
Ryo read the report: It said that the death forest was invaded and partially destroyed by a massive Jutsu that is similar to a Biju Bomb.
Reading this, Ryo wasn’t surprised. He understood Minato’s look, as both were the convicts here.
“The village was invaded by an unknown ninja, and he used such a big Ninjutsu that should be a challenge to face if he attacked the people next time!”
The 40 year old Hokage was still at his peak, with much more of an intense temper than what was depicted in the anime. He felt he was being provoked by another powerful Shinobi and that pissed him off!
Ryo and Minato kept staring at each other, until Ryo finally leaned over and said to the 3rd: “Hokage sama, what happened in the Forest of Death is… well probably… I mean it might be… Minato Oni-san’s doing!”
“What?! Minato, you actually developed such a masterpiece?”
“Hokage sama, this is my advanced version of Rasengan, called the Rasenshuriken. I had a Flying Thunder God mark in that forest, and that’s how I haven’t been seen entering.”
The 3rd who thought previously that this was done by an outsider that sneaked in, was relieved
“Minato! Experimental Ninjutsus don’t come at this scale. Rasengan is the Ninjutsu you just gave the village no?”
“Yes, Hokage sama! The Rasenshuriken is the result of incorporation of nature transformation into the Rasengan. I developed this along with Ryo.”
Ryo, who was watching the conversation from the sidelines, jumped in as soon as he was mentioned by Minato, to say that he had little to do with this, and that it was mainly the fruit of Minato’s work.
“You two actually came up with such a big Justu. I’ll bail you out this time. Never do such a thing again without notifying me!”
Hearing the 3rd’s words, the two sighed with relief.
“Minato, take me to the Forest of Death. I want to check out this technique with my own eyes.
“Yes, Hokage Sama.”
In the dead forest, the scene from the other day was reproduced. Minato used a Rasenshuriken blowing a hole in the other side of the forest.
Seeing the power of the Jutsu, the 3rd became silent. And when the Anbu, who were all around the forest waiting to ambush the supposed outsider, when they arrived to the scene, he announced this matter as an S-class secret that nobody but him can ask about.
Back in his office, he smiled looking at the two. He always knew that Minato was so talented.
Minato became a special Jonin at the age of 10. After learning the Flying Thunder God jutsu, and being trained on the battlefield of WWII, the 16 year old Minato reached the Kage level. Now, he develops an S-rank Jutsu: Rasenshuriken. He is becoming one of the main pillars of Konoha.
But on the other hand, at 5 years of age, Ryo displayed a great deal of talent in Medical Ninjutsu. It happened just in time, after the greatest medic in town, Tsunade, became unable to operate after developing blood phobia.
With his excellent surgical ability, Ryo snatched Sakumo away from the fangs of what Konoha’s doctors saw as death. After saving a 100 lives over the course of past 2 years in the hospital, his skill was recognized by all Ninjas in Konoha.
Because of this, the 3rd thought that Ryo’s talent was mainly in the field of Medical Ninjutsu. But after applying months early for graduation from the academy and beating a 2 dotted Sharingan Uchiha Chunin in the exam, Hiruzen had hope in his future as a fighting Ninja.
Today, Ryo is helping Minato with Rasengan and Rasenshuriken. The hokage was convinced that he also can reach a level allowing him to face Kages at a young age. His only gripe was that Ryo was getting away from becoming the medical Ninjutsu beast that he can become.
Ryo didn’t know that his strength was recognized by the 3rd, he didn’t like good old Hiruzen that much.
“Hokage sama, if there is nothing for us to do, can I leave now? Kushina Ne-san must be waiting for me.”
“Well, you both have been excused.”
After all these events, the Hokage had to deal with the follow-up. The two men and left him, and Minato used “Flying Thunder God” to get Ryo back to Kushina.
But little did they know that Danzo came back to the office as soon as they left.
“What’s this deal about the Yamanaka’s? Didn’t you promise me when Root was created that I could select who ever I want from any clan?”
“Yamanaka Ryo gave Konoha an A-class Jutsu in exchange of sparing his family of this.”
“Root are the ones protecting Konoha in the dark, giving their lives for it in silence. Aren’t the Yamanaka’s a Konoha Clan? You are spoiling this kid too much! If you give him to me…”
“ENOUGH!”
The 3rd lost his temper. Without the stolen Sharingan, Hashirama’s cell, and with his hand chopped off by Sakumo, the only thing that protects Danzo from Hiruzen was the latter’s self control.
“Danzo, I’m the Hokage!” Hiruzen stopped being nice to his old friend. Even though Danzo didn’t like his choices, the power gap made him retreat.
“I know. From now on we shall no longer pick Yamanaka’s into Root.” The 3rd nodded and Danzo left.
The next day, Ryo started learning seals. The 1st one that Kushina showed him was the “Fire seal”!
It actually wasn’t complicated, but it was very effective. In the manga, it was used by Jiraya to seal “Amaterasu”.
Ryo was no Uzumaki. His talent with seals was ordinary. Yet it took only one day to complete the fire sealing method.
It was only in the evening that he left the 3rd training ground.
Ryo raced back to his clan’s household. He took a short cut through the Hot Spring’s hotels. Usually, it’s a peaceful sprint through the hotel. But this time, the scene was different.
A white haired man, lying on the roof, with a dirty look on his face.
What he was doing was totally clear to Ryo.
(Translator Note: FINALLY!)