Hokage: Ryo's Path

Chapter 230: End of the Experiment

After dealing with Danzo, Ryo was feeling better. During the following few days, he trained Shisui rigorously in the 3rd training ground.

Suddenly, he received a letter from Orochimaru.

It said that the Lain’s experiment had undergone a special change. His face changed greatly, and he immediately said goodbye to Shisui, teleporting to Orochimau’s lab.

“Orochi san, what happened?” As soon as he arrived, he asked Orochimaru.

The latter handed him a scroll with the data on the experiment, and it made him concerned.

From the scroll, he learned that the integration process was going very smoothly, until today.

What happened concerned Lain’s Chakra. Since the experiment started, her Chakra levels were rising greatly and steadily. However, on that day’s morning, they suddenly dropped! Orochimaru couldn’t figure out why this happened, so he could only immediately send for Ryo.

After returning the scroll to Orochimaru, Ryo rushed to the glassware where lain was placed. He hadn’t seen her for a while now, so at first glance, he frowned in surprise.

Her body was completely ok, her vitality was even greater that what he had seen before, indicating that the fusion process was going very smoothly. So, how come her Chakra was dropping so much?

A few minutes later, Ryo just had to leave the lab. Just like Orochimaru, he couldn’t find the problem.

In the next few days, Ryo returned the lab frequently to check how Lain was doing.

Her Chakra stores continued to drop steadily over the course of the next three days, only to suddenly rise on the fourth! In just one day, they exceeded their initial levels!

In the glassware, her Chakra stores soared so fast; she absorbed all of the nutrients placed by Orochimaru’s bio-fluid he placed around her, gradually changing its color from green to transparent.

Orochimaru quickly noticed, changing the liquid with new supplies.

With this new nutritional support, her Chakra stores continued to rise, but slowly. Her body also began to exude strong vitality similar to that of Hashirama’s cells.

This change made Orochimaru particularly excited. With all these symptoms that Lain’s body had manifested, he was practically certain that the experiment was a success. Now, she only needed a steady nutrient supply, and she should eventually be able to use Wood Release.

Ryo shared these views with Orochimaru. He also felt that Lain was now out of the danger zone, and that the integration was complete.

After confirming her safety, he returned to rigorously training Shisui in the 3rd training ground.

However, now another kid accompanied Shisui often to training: Uchiha Itachi!

He came every day to practice in the third training ground, but Ryo didn’t want to interfere with his growth, and never accepted his as a student.

Still, this was Fugaku’s son, a man who had been very kind to Ryo. Therefore, he never drove him away.

Learning that the famous Ryo Yamanaka was training Shisui, Itachi came religiously to practice here, becoming the newest addition to the 3rd training ground’s “roaster”.

His fire release talent was much stronger than that of Shisui. The 5 year old was able to learn many of the Uchiha’s fire release techniques.

His Genjutsu talent was also very good, mainly reflected in his Spiritual Power that far exceeded that of an average five year old.

Unlike any other Uchiha, Houyi and his son Ryo did not have an affinity to Fire Release. However, when sealing Korin into his body, Ryo gained that affinity with her.

Therefore, he could occasionally give simply guidance to Itachi. Besides that, he only advised Shisui to make him a Crow Contractor.

Shisui had always had that thought, but wasn’t sure if Itachi’s Genjutsu talent was enough for him to benefit from it.

After he heard Ryo propose the same thing, he stopped hesitating. After making Itachi their contractor, he began to guide him on dealing with the Crows.

In this way, one month passed, and Ryo felt that he had taught Shisui enough. His disciple was a very fast learner, and he obviously still had a great untapped potential. However, just training wasn’t going to get him any further; he need battle experience.

By now, Shisui was already at the level of a weaker Jonin. With his great Body-Flicker technique, if he was to open the Mangekyo, he should be even able to take on an elite Jonin and even escape a quasi Kage in combat.

Now, he had enough skill to protect himself, so after some thought, Ryo finally decided to get him to train with the Anbu for a while.

However, before he could get that to happen, news reached him from Orochimau: Lain was awake!

She had been in her glassware for two month, during which her body received all sorts of changed.

At first, she was able to consciously guide her body to start the integration with Hashirama’s cells by following Ryo’s instructions. After that, her body fell into a state of deep sleep.

It wasn’t until today that she adapted enough with the new cells to wake up.

She opened her eyes, and tapped on the glassware while Anko was near. The latter immediately notified Orochimaru.

After checking out on her, he told Anko to release her, and went personally to inform Ryo, who immediately teleported with him back to the lab.

When she saw Ryo, Lain smiled and began to shout: “Oni.. sa.. san!” Ryo patted her head happily.

After two months of not speaking, her speech abilities where somewhat slow, but Ryo could clearly hear the joy and excitement in her voice.

“Anko, I’ll take Lain back home now, and we’ll deal with everything else when she’s back to one hundred percent.”

Anko stopped him asking in surprise: “Back home? Isn’t this child an orphan?”

“Lain is already a Yamanaka!” Ryo said with a smile, and then explained the matter to Anko.

During the past two months, Chinse won the clan’s consent, and made Lain officially a Yamanka. Inoichi even added her name into the Yamanaka’s genealogy.

After listening Anko nodded, and had nothing to say. Lain on the other hand was really excited to hear the news!

Ryo teleported with Lain back home, going straight to Chinse’s room.

He explained Lain’s situation to his mother briefly, asking her to talk with her often to help restore her speech abilities back to normal.

Chinse agreed immediately, and rushed out of the room with Lain!