Hokage: Ryo's Path

Chapter 70: The Situation

Another battle with Sakumo made Ryo realize his defects in both mentality and strength.

His way to go was relying on a speed, and killing in one hit. This assassination style was similar to that of Minato in the Manga.

The main difference with Ryo was that teleportation relied on Ice, while Minato’s Flying Thunder God was a space-time Ninjutsu.

Ryo’s ice allowed him to teleport within the range of 50 meters. On the other hand, Minato’s Flying Thunder God has no distance restrictions. As long as he has an object marked, Minato could cross unlimited distances. Ryo’s Ice teleportation was incomparable to that.

This technique also allowed Minato to go deep behind the enemy line to complete to most difficult of mission, while still being able to retreat at will.

After facing Sakumo, Ryo felt the need to change his fighting style.

His idea was to use his “Ice Release” to condense things that work like Minato’s Kunai. Like some form og a tool that could be used as teleport markers.

With that, Ryo should be able to find the perfect position for teleportation without using huge blocks of ice that would give it away.

And this kind of tactic can also confuse the enemy into making him think that Ryo needs tools or markings to teleport just like Minato.

If he could perfect this idea, he’ll maximize the mobility he gains from his Ice Release, and that would add up to his Lightning Chakra mode blinking.

Ryo went and sought Sakumo’s help with improving this idea. The latter was tired with managing the camp, so he accepted his request.

Over the following days, the White Fang threw off all the affairs of the camp to Jiraya, and focused on helping Ryo develop his new Jutsu in the desert outside the camp.

Ryo’s choice for a marker was an Ice Scalpel. After all, he had a lot of experience with them in this world as a medical Ninja, and in during his past life as a great surgeon.

Unlike the Chakra scalpel, this new one was not sharp enough to cut through meridians, but it was still sharp.

It was made by turning moister in the air into Ice by using natural energy, then condensing said ice into the form of a blade. During their production, Ryo infused the scalpels with his body’s own Natural energy, thus making them stronger.

After making the perfect scalpel for the task, Ryo needed to become more familiar with this marker based teleportation.

He has had a lot of experience with Ice teleportation of the years. Now, he was just changing the way he positions. With this, he’ll soon be able to use this scalpel freely within 50 meters.

After Ryo finished his vision of the technique, it was time for him to master it.

To master a Justu, there is no way around training. Ryo’s new Jutsu revolves about teleportation involving small pieces of ice. It was complicated enough to even make Sakumo’s head spin.

Ryo and Sakumo were on completely different levels when it comes to strength. But between his Ice-Lightning Chakra mode blinks and his Ice instant teleportation, Ryo’s speed actually exceeded Sakumo’s ability to react.

This made Ryo able to have a decent fight with Sakumo. This was the 1st time it happened ever since they started these challenges a few years ago.

As Ryo and Sakumo were practicing, an Aburame Ninja came shouting to them: “Sakumo san, Ryo san, Jiraya san called for you immediately.”

The 1st thing Sakumo thought about was that the Sand should’ve made a move. He immediately stopped fighting Ryo and Ran towards the camp. Ryo also grabbed an Ice Scalpel and followed him.

“Jiraya! What’s wrong? Any movements made by the Sand?” Sakumo rushed like the wind his tent and went straight to the point.

Ryo who followed him entered the tent just in time to hear Jiraya’s answer.

“No, it’s the Village hidden in Rocks, they declared war on Konoha. The Cloud village also declared war on both of them at the same time.” Jiraya handed a letter to Sakumo, who passed it on to Ryo after he finished reading it.

“Jiraya, who’s in charge of the different fronts back home?” Sakumo didn’t see the messenger around, so he asked Jiraya.

“Now everything in the village is being handled by Sarutobi Sensei. Before that, he had already suspended Danzo and the two advisors. He made Minato Kamikaze in charge of the hidden cloud battlefield, and Orochimaru as commander in chief of the battlefront with the Hidden Rock. And on the battlefield of the Hidden Mist, he had the Heads of the Hyuga clan and the Ino-Shika-Cho Alliance. He said that we can handle the Hidden Sand.”

Sakumo was surprised that the 3rd had suspended Danzo and the advisors. But that wasn’t important to him as he had no interest in politics.

All that he was concerned with was the battle with the Sand. Ryo thought the same.

After hearing what Jiraya just said, Ryo understood that Konoha wasn’t exactly in a bright situation. The 3rd world war went all out, and Konoha was now faced by all of the other 4 great nations.

This biggest problem was that the battle front with the Sand alone required three quarters of Konoha’s medical Ninjas, along with two of its pillars.

On the other hand, the Rock, Mist and Cloud villages were all attacking Konoha, but for some reason, the Rock and Sand were not in war yet, giving both countries an advantage in distribution of their troops.

So it was clear to Ryo that their role should be holding the Sand off until war starts between them and the Rock. That way, Konoha should be in a relatively balanced state against all 4 big nations.

Sakumo didn’t know as much as Ryo about the war’s events, but he knew well how important their position was. They should get an advantage against the sand as soon as possible.

The Sand camp was outnumbering that of Konoha. And with the two Quasi-kage level Shinobis who arrived recently, forces between the two camps were equal, and that’s if Jiraya could really take care of Shukaku.

Ryo was also thinking about the same thing. He was wondering about the best way to break the deadlock.

“Sakumo san, if we find a way to make the Sand’s Sensory Ninjas disappear, could that turn the tide of this war?”

Ryo’s words caught Sakumo’s and Jiraya’s attention. If the Sand were to lose the Sensory Ninjas, they would lose the advantage thy have being familiar with the battleground.

“If that happens to the Sand, of course it would be great for us. But how could that ever happen?” Sakumo asked.

“I can find the sensorial ninjas in their camp, but there should be no way that I could kill them.”

Over the course of his childhood, Ryo learned the Yamanaka’s secret techniques. That, along with having the Sharingan and the spiritual power granted to him when crossing over, made it easy for him to detect all Sensory Ninjas in the Sand’s squad.

“Sakumo San, how do you feel about having the two of us sneak in and kill those Sensorial Ninja?”

Ryo’s crazy idea scared both of the Sakumo and Jiraya, “How can this be? They same ones you want to kill will be the ones to detect you whenever you enter their camp.

“I have secret technique that helps me hide my Chakra from sensorial Ninjas.” As he finished his words, Ryo use that technique to hide his Chakra.

Jiraya called for the Aburame Ninjas, who weren’t actually able to locate Ryo.

“Ryo, hand me this secret technique, and wait for me to master it. Then we’ll handle those sensory Ninjas.