Hokage: Ryo's Path

“Fukasaku is here? Let them come in immediately!”

Arriving at the Great Sage Toad’s place, Ryo could hear Gamamaru yelling loudly.

As much as Ryo could remember, Gamamaru had always seemed almost half dead, whether in the Anime or in this life.

His action and tone had always been slow and dull, giving people the sensation that he was about to pass away at any moment.

But today, the Great Sage Toad was obviously different. After everyone entered, his eyes were particularly alert, looking Ryo up and down.

“He is...”

“Great Sage, he is Ryo Yamanaka, the one you’ve dreamt about!”

“Yes yes... Yamanaka! You’re the Juubi Jinchuriki!”

Everyone was immediately stunned at Gamamaru’s words!

“Juubi Jinchuriki?! How is that possible?! Wasn’t the Juubi divided in nine by the Rikudo Sennin? Aren’t you just being confused because of age?” Shima was the first to wake up from her daze and answer.

“Ma! Don’t talk like that to the Great Sage Toad!”

“You two have always been harmonious, don’t quarrel now! And no, I’m not mistaken. I could sense the Juubi from that kid.”

“Ryo, has Korin Evolved?” Minato whispered.

“Well, on the Kyubi’s night, she had already gathered Chakra from all Biju, but her Mental Strength was not enough to control it all.” Ryo established a telepathic link with Minato.

“What were you going to do?”

“I was going to let them know!” said Ryo as he took Korin out.

Seeing Korin, Fukasaku reluctantly pointed at her asking: “Great Sage, is this the Kyubi you’re talking about?”

“Yes, it is her. I have never seen anything else in my life that’s fully made out of Natural Energy.”

“Ryo chan, the Great Sage had seen the Juubi with his own eyes, and he shouldn’t be wrong. What’s the story of this cat? Can you tell us?” Fukasaku asked after some hesitation.

“Pa, that should be his secret! Should you ask that question?” Shima whispered.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as Gamamaru sama, Fukasaku sama, and you Shima sama can keep this between us.”

The 3rd nodded and agreed to never say anything. Therefore, Ryo smiled and said: “In a sense, Korin is indeed a Juubi, because...”

He went on and explained the matter of Korin to the three Sages.

In fact, now with her fully evolved, unless the actual Juubi is resurrected, no one should be able to hurt Korin. Therefore, Ryo was talking with ease of mind.

Moreover, he had another purpose of telling the three about this, as he needed some information from them as well.

After listening to Ryo’s narrative, Gamamaru looked at Korin, and his eyes went muddy again.

“Now, I have already told you all about Korin; can you tell me one thing?”

“What is it?” Gamamaru’s tone was as weak as before.

“I want to know about Kaguya Otsutsuki!”

“Kaguya?” Hearing that name, the Great Sage Toad immediately asked: “Where did you hear that name?!”

“In the past, the Riku...”

Ryo was just about to explain, when Gamamaru interrupted him again: “Hold on! Fukasaku, Shima, you two go out first!”

Although the two Great Sage Toads were somewhat reluctant, Gamamaru’s word was absolute, and they left the place with Minato.

“Now you can continue!”

“In the past, the Rikudo Sennin left a slate that was then inherited within the Uchiha clan. One could read the contents of the Slate with the Sharingan. The higher the level of the eyes, the more things one could read. When I got these eyes, I saw those things.” As Ryo talked, he opened his Mangekyo.

“Mangekyo Sharingan? So that’s the case! It seems like the old man did a lot for his two children!”

“I’m not interested in understanding things about Indra and Ashura; I just want to ask about Kaguya.” Ryo did not have time to listen to a whole tale, as he did remember most of what he needed from the Manga.

“What do you want to know? Ask!”

“I only have one question: Do you know where the Kaguya came from?”

Hearing the question, Gamamaru closed his eyes and began to recall: “It’s been too long, and my memories are a little fuzzy, but I heard my father say that Kaguya had come from another world, one higher and much stronger than ours.”

“Is that all?”

“Well, my father only told me that.”

Ryo thought that Gamamaru was his only shot at learning something new about the past, but now, it seemed like he didn’t get much more than what he learned from the Manga.

“It seems like my words didn’t help you that much. If you want more, go to Shikkotsu Forest, and ask the Elder Slug. She had been around for longer than I had been; maybe she knows more.”

“Great! Thank you for your help!”

“You’re welcome, I don’t know what you want, tracing such things, but I can feel that you only have good intent for this world, I....” Gamamaru hadn’t finished talking, when suddenly started snoring!

Ryo sighed helplessly, turned around and left the place.

The two great Sage Toads and Minato were awaiting him outside. As soon as he left, they immediately surrounded him.

“Ryo chan, what did you ask the Great Sage?” asked Fukasaku curiously.

“I’m sorry, Fukasaku sama, but the Great Sage asked you deliberately to leave, so I can’t tell you...”

Ryo didn’t want to leak out anything unnecessary about Kaguya, and Gamamaru’s actions came in as the perfect pretext.

Fukasaku sighed helplessly, and asked no more.

After the two great Sage Toads returned how with Ryo, the latter began to practice with Minato.

The Yondaime’s first task was to restore his old levels of Chakra. In this world of Shinobi, having low levels of Chakra was a fatal weakness.

As for his future practice of Sage Mode, Ryo intended to let Korin help maintain Minato’s Senjutsu Chakra Balance.

She could control Natural Energy, so for now, Minato could go all out absorbing Natural Energy, and she would absorb back any excess, preventing all side effects until he gains perfect control.

In this way, Minato’s body should grow more fitting to the use of Natural Energy.