Hokage: Ryo's Path

Two days went by ever since Ryo 1st met the trio. In the Rain country, a massive wide-scale

search for the Akatsuki begun.

Two days ago, Yahiko returned the scroll to Ryo, and asked him to bring it back to the

Akatsuki’s camp. The only problem was that he never told Ryo about the camp’s location!

Ryo could only helplessly start looking for their location, for over two days.

However, unlike the 1st time when he was searching blindly, Ryo now at least became

familiar with Yahiko’s Chakra. After two days, he finally was able to locate him with the

help of Sage Mode.

While they were waiting for Ryo, Yahiko, Nagato and Konan were also anxious. Yahiko

forgot to tell Ryo about his location, and the other two thought that he had left him the

information on the scroll, so they never reminded him of doing it.

After returning, Yahiko could only ask if anyone left an address to Ryo, and he found out

that he never got even a general direction.

This was very embarrassing, and the trio feared that Ryo might never find them this way.

However, they couldn’t dare to send out people to look for him. With the announced clash

between the Rain Village and the Akatsuki, sending people out is sending them to their

death.

The Akatsuki’s camp was located deep in a mountain on the west side of the Rain Country.

After confirling that he wasn’t followed, Ryo entered their base.

At the outer gate, Nagato was constantly using Rainmaker Jutsu, and he confirmed Ryo’s

entrance.

Learning that Ryo finally found their camp, the three were finally relieved

They each greeted Ryo, and took him in to the cave. This was their 1st official meeting.

“I’m sorry; I forget to give you the address to our camp.” After the four sat down, Yahiko

embarrassedly scratched his head.

“Haha! No problem, looking for someone is one of my specialties.” Ryo said with a smile.

“First, I’ll introduce myself. My name is Yahiko. This is Nagato, and this is Konan.”

“Pleasure to meet you. My name is Ryo Yamanaka.”

After knowing each other, Ryo handed over the letters from the Hokage and the Tsuchikage

to Yahiko.

Although they’ve seen them before, the three were still pretty excited seeing the letters, and

Ryo wasn’t about to disrupt their happiness, as he admired the beauty of their feeling that

their dreams can be achieved.

It took them all a while to calm down knowing that peace in their country was finally in

reach. Although they were happy, they all knew that they should have to pay a price.

“Ryo san, what are you conditions?” Asked Yahiko.

“It’s just one condition. You must do whatever you can to keep Hanzo from interfering with

the war between Konoha, the Rock and the Cloud. I believe you also don’t want to see him

get involved. Our purpose is the same.”

Yahiko looked back at his friends. Nagato was expressionless, and Konan gave him a little

nod.

“If that’s the only condition, then we agree. On behalf of the Akatsuki, I agree with your

condition, and I promise not to let Hanzo interfere with your war.” Yahiko answered in a

serious tone.

“Good, I also promise on behalf of Konoha that all our battle will not affect the Rain

Country. Now, if you may, could you provide me with written responses to both the Hokage

and the Tsuchikage?”

Yahiko nodded and wrote the replies, and the contract between the two parties were

completed.

With that being done with, Ryo started looking at the trio with more curiosity.

The three all looked older than him, but with his temperament it looked as if all four were

peers.

The one that caught his eyes the most was of course Konan. He didn’t have any sort of

feelings towards her, but he just couldn’t help but be attracted by her rare beauty.

Just like in the Manga, Konan was wearing a black Akatsuki uniform embroided with red

clouds. Her hair was light violet-blue; her amber eyes were large. At the time, she didn’t

wear the labret piercing or the light blue paper floweron her head. She looked more playful

and cuter than she was later on in the Manga.

Ryo then turned his eyes towards Nagato and pretended to be surprised. The latter thought

that Ryo was disturbed by his eyes and subconsciously avoided Ryo’s look.

“Your hair! Looks exactly like my Sensei’s! Is your last name Uzumaki?” Asked Ryo.

Nagato apparently did not expect that Ryo would be concerned with his hair and last name.

He first looked back at Ryo, and then nodded.

“Then you and my sensei are both survivors of the Uzumaki clan! I didn’t expect my

Sensei’s clan to have a member in this organization.”

Nagato heard Ryo, and his body trembled. He did not expect to have surviving clan

members.

“Great Nagato! You have surviving clan members! You’re not alone.” Yahiko excitedly

patted on Nagato’s shoulder.

“Ryo san, can you tell us about the Uzumaki clan?” Konan saw that Nagato was speechless,

and spoke out for him.

Ryo nodded: “The Uzumaki and Senju clans are distant relatives. Both are descendants of

the legendary Rikudo Sennin. They...”

With Ryo small narrative, the three formed a simple understanding about the Uzumaki clan.

After they learn about their descendance from the Rikudo sennin, the three looked like they

had finnaly understood a lot of what was concerning them.

When they heard that the clan is almost extinct, Nagato had some sense of loneliness, but he

was strongly interested in the few survivors.

“Thank you for telling us about all of this, Ryo san!” Nagato sincerely thanked Ryo.

Ryo wasn’t just being nice. In fact, his main purpose was giving Nagato a stronger sense of

belonging, to keep him from going astray in the future.

“By the way, who is your Sensei? From what I’m seeing, Nagato is definitely Kage tier, and

Yahiko and Konan look to be Jounin tier. Your Sensei must be someone amazing!” Ryo tried

to bring up the subject of Jiraya.

As soon as he mentioned their teacher, all three’s faces were full of nostalgia. After they

looked at each other, Konan was the one to speak.

“You actually must know our Sensei. He is one of the legendary Sannin, Jiraya! He was here

before, and he taught us for three years.”

“It turned out to be you!” Said Ryo, showing surprise, “I heard Jiraya san mention that he

had three disciples in the Rain Country.”

“Ryo, you know our Sensei?” Yahiko heard Ryo’s words and he quickly approached him

with his eyes open wide.

“Of course! Our relationship is pretty good! I’ve learned half the Ninjutsu I know from

him!”

“How has Sensei been doing recently?” Hearing Ryo’s answer, Yahiko asked with some

excitement.

“Ah! Well, he can breath, eat and sleep, but he’s in war you know. He can’t peek at women’s

spas, so I bet he’s not feeling too good.”

“Peeping at women’s spas? Sensei would never do such a thing!” Konan hugged herself in

panic.

“Why not? I found him before Konan, watching you with wicked eyes!” Yahiko added fuel

to the flamess

Finding a common topic, Ryo and the three were drawn into conversations, talking about

their experiences. Their laughter rang out of the camp from time to time.

In the country, Jiraya kept sneezing for the entirety of the afternoon.

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T/N: Hey there, J_Otaku here. I hope you like the story so far and are happy with the

releases, I just posted chapter 176 in Patreon! If you’re interested in supporting me

and reading more chapters, hit the button below ^^