Hokage: Ryo's Path

The next day, Konoha Ninjas were assembled, with Orochimaru in the lead, and Minato and Ryo on his left and right. Kushina and Minato’s team were right behind the three.

Orochimaru wasn’t good with speeches; he was the type that showed everything with his actions. Even so, Konoha’s Ninjas all had utmost respect to him.

With the ones mentioned taking the lead, Konoha’s Ninjas started moving in a mighty spectacle towards their decisive battle.

In the Wind Country’s battlefield, Sakumo and Jiraya noticed the movement of the Rock and Sand, and they immediately mobilized their troops to follow the two enemy camps to Kikyo Pass

The two Konoha troops arrived to there at the same time.

All of Konoha’s Kage tiers gathered in a tent do discuss their following actions.

“Sakumo san, do you have any information to share with us?” Orochimaru asked.

Sakumo thought and said: “The only thing worth noting is the danger of the Sand’s Puppet division, which we all know. The Hidden Rock seemed to have some movement in their camp recently, and it seems they’re plotting something big. Either way, we should be extra careful.”

After a brief exchange of information, everyone formed a general understanding on the enemy’s overall strength. The next step was assigning opponents.

The six Kage tiers in the camp were not that far off each other in terms of strength, with Sakumo and Minato being the stronger ones.

Sakumo proposed that he should deal with Chiyo and Ebizo, and no one had any objections.

Minato also suggested that he should handle Onoki. The others were then divided: Orochimaru was to face Bunpuku, Jiraya was to face Rasa, Ryo was facing Kitsuchi, and Kushina was to face Han.

After the meeting, Ryo went to see the medical team, and on the way, he went and took Shisui along. Sakumo on the other hand went to where Kakashi and his friends were at.

Minato and Kushina went to contact the heads of the main clans around, while Jiraya remained with his old pal Orochimaru.

Ryo was initially planning to arrange Shisui to remain with the medical team. However, the team was put off the battlefield.

It was because the Sand, after Ebizo’s arrival, always sent Ninjas after Konoha’s medical team. Sakumo was overwhelmed and couldn’t defend them anymore, so he assigned all of them to remain behind and provide support from the backline.

Therefore, Ryo had to put Shisui with the Uchiha clan.

The Uchiha clan’s representative on this battlefield was Fugaku Uchiha, an acquaintance of Ryo. The latter had no idea of how Fugaku’s power evolved over the past few years.

Ryo’s perception capabilities were far beyond those of most, he perceived danger well. Facing Fugaku, he could feel that this man in front of him was extremely dangerous.

As the man in front of him should be a quasi Kage tier by now, Ryo’s feeling that he was so dangerous can be explained by one thing, and that is that Fugaku’s Mangekyo had been awakened.

Fugaku’s Mangekyo didn’t get much attention in the Manga, and its specific power wasn’t explained. However, it should at least have Amaterasu, which was already really powerful.

Ryo actually liked Fugaku a lot after their encounters in the Wind Country Battlefield, just the eye contacts he gave him were enough for Ryo to be really grateful.

Ryo was very curious about the Mangekyo as he greeted him: “Fugaku san, I haven’t seen you in a long time!”

“Long time no see Ryo! I’ve been getting news of your growth over the course of the past few years. Your father would be very proud!” Fugaku turned and smiled at the sight of Ryo.

Ryo felt a bit awkward, as he didn’t have any image of his father. He went on to discuss Shisui’s matter: “Fugaku san, can you please take care of my apprentice, Uchiha Shisui?”

“Uchiha Shisui? You’re took in an Uchiha as a disciple?” Said Fugaku with some surprise

“Yes! Shisui, come in and say hello!” Ryo nodded, and then invited Shisui in.

Hearing Ryo, Shisui rushed in.

He had heard the discussion between the two just now, and never expected his Sensei to have such a good relationship with the man who was candidate to be the next Uchiha clan head.

Although he had some doubts, Shisui was smart enough to not ask question about what he didn’t need to know. He saluted his elder: “Hello, Fugaku san! Pleasure to meet you!”

“Well, you came in the right time! My son, Itachi, will be coming in a few days. When that happens you can get a companion!” Said Fugaku with a smile.

Hearing Itachi’s name, Ryo smiled, and was looking forward to meeting him. After all, he was a man that Ryo practically worshiped in his past life.

After settling Shisui’s matter, Ryo began to put his Teleportation Seals in several key places, and waited for the battle to begin.

On the other hand, Jiraya was bragging to Orochimaru about his new book. The latter was surprised to see that Jiraya started writing. After reading a few pages, he felt it was dumb, and stopped reading.

Like in the Manga, the book was “The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi” was summery of jiraya’s hopes and ambitions.

It was a shame that his writing style wasn’t as good at the time, that almost no one liked it, and no one arrived to its signing at release.

Orochimaru obviously wasn’t interested in this novel, but out of friendship, he didn’t ridicule Jiraya.

Another interesting conversation that took place was during the father son meeting between Sakumo and Kakashi. Facing his father after such a long time, Kakashi’s cold façade collapsed immediately.

Their discussions were very simple. Both mostly asked each other about their current situation. Sakumo specifically asked about his wife. Hearing Kakashi say that she was doing well, Sakumo felt relieved.

Then the two went on to spare. Kakashi’s progress during that time wasn’t small, but facing Konoha’s White Fang, he could only be beaten with ease.

At the end of that fight, Kakashi felt that his father was just too terrifyingly strong. He initially thought that his strength evolved enough to make the gap between them less pronounced.

This battle, with his own growth in strength, Kakashi realized the gap between him and his father. He felt far behind.

Sakumo however was very satisfied with his son’s progress. He himself was not that strong at Kakashi’s age. He felt the happiest knowing that his son was growing up and evolving.