Hokage: Ryo's Path

Rasa was seriously injured. As Jiraya was about to deliver the final blow, Rasa shielded himself with Gold Sand and escaped.

Finding out that the alliance has been defeated on all levels, from ordinary Ninjas to Kage tiers, Chiyo and Ebizo also chose to retreat.

As these three backed down, they gave orders to the Sand Ninjas to withdraw, and they did so, led by their villages Jonins.

This time, Konoha’s Ninja chose not to let them go, and chased them even after the victory, led by Minato and Jiraya.

The rest of Konoha’s Ninjas, under the leadership of Sakumo and Orochimaru, were to deal with the remaining Rock Ninjas.

However, due to the location of Kikyo Pass, the closest country was the Earth country, so many of the Rock Ninjas retreated in advance, leaving behind only 2000 of their companions.

These two thousands were left alone, so they didn’t intend to go back alive. All of them rushed straight at Konoha’s Ninjas.

In order to reduce any possible casualties, Sakumo and Orochimaru joined the battle.

Two thousand men, led by a few Jonin, were facing 2 Kage tiers. It took no time for them to be completely annihilated.

The next step was clearing the battlefield.

Orochimaru was directing the actions of all Ninjas, while Ryo led his medical team to look for any survivors that can be rescued.

The medical team searched for survivors, witnessing the cruelty of war. At this time, near body of a Sand Ninja, the figure of a small arm moved.

A woman in the medical team noticed this struggling arm. But she hesitated to rescue it, as it was near the corpse of an enemy Ninja.

Ryo sensed she was acting abnormally and looked back at her.

Ryo didn’t have any impression of this medical Ninja. She wasn’t one of the medics that he had brought. However, he asked about what was bothering her anyway.

She mentioned the small arm, and Ryo used his perceiving abilities and sensed that there was really life in there. Ryo motioned Ming Hyuga to hold the child up and bring him.

Because they were on the battlefield, the medical Ninjas were even nervous when approaching injured children.

However, after the kid was brought by Ming, they were relieved to see that this child should not be feared. What kind of threat could a 3 or 4 year child pose to them?

Ryo began his treatment immediately. The kid’s injury was not heavy, but his head received a heavy blow. With Ryo’s treatment, he quickly regained his consciousness.

At this time, Ryo felt that the child was familiar. He kept looking at him, thinking that he had seen this silver-gray hair before.

The female Medical Ninja saw the child wake up, and asked him very gently: “Child, who are you? What’s your name? where is your family?”

The kid looked clueless, as a fool, looking at the sky, and not answering.

After a good while questioning the child, he did not answer. Ryo could only leave him in the care of the female Ninja.

He went on, and continued his search for other survivors.

After a long search, he returned, and found the female medic holding the sleeping boy.

“So, has this child been identified?” asked Ryo, whispering.

“Ryo san, this child has lost him memory. He remembers nothing. I intend to adopt him into my orphanage.” The medic answered.

“Your orphanage? What is your name?” Ryo thought of something, but he wasn’t sure.

“My name is Nono Yakushi, the caretaker at the village’s orphanage.” She answered.

Hearing her name, Ryo understood why that child looked familiar.

In the Manga, he was another one besides Naruto to successfully achieve Sage Mode; he had used Edo Tensei to launch the Fourth world war, and he was able to give the two Uchiha brothers a hard time.

If it wasn’t for the strength of the amazing Genjutsu, Izanami, Kabuto might have been able to erase Itachi’s consciousness, subdue Sasuke, and rewrite the fate of the world of Shinobi.

Thinking of the future, the idea of killing this child popped into Ryo’s mind, but he quickly dismissed it.

No matter what happens in the future, Kabuto right then was still just a child, and Ryo could not bring himself to do such a thing.

Moreover, Ryo was very confident in himself. Even if Kabuto did turn bad, Ryo was confident in his ability to kill him without needing a Genjutsu such as Izanami.

Therefore, Ryo didn’t question the matter of Nono taking this child. And let her take him away.

Just like in the Manga, she named the child Kabuto Yakushi, and took him back to the orphanage.

The battlefield was almost cleared, and Minato and Jiraya came back.

In their pursuit, they killed over 2000 Sand Ninjas, and Chiyo’s puppets were destroyed by Minato. Hearing that, Sakumo breathed a sigh of relief.

After they returned to Konoha camp, Sakumo and Orochimaru wrote their reports on the battle and sent them to the 3rd Hokage. For the meantime, they only needed to stay on standby.

A few days after the battle of Kikyo pass, the Sand village surrendered and sent ambassadors to Konoha to sign a peace treaty.

Sakumo also received order from the 3rd to immediately return Bunpuku to Konoha.

The Ichibi was subdued by Orochimaru and didn’t get to escape. It was sealed within its Jinchuriki by Kushina.

A Jinchuriki was a great bargaining card. Of course, Konoha was not going to let go of such an opportunity. Minato used Flying Thunder God and delivered Bunpuku to the 3rd’s Abnu. Later, the two sides, shall discuss the appropriate compensation.

As the ones defeated, it would be reasonable for the Sand to offer land to the Fire Country. But such a country, that’s mostly desert, would have their people starve to death by giving whatever fertile land they had. Konoha was very aware of this.

Konoha’s requirements were very simple. From now on, any rewards for any mission performed by the Sand would have 20% of its revenue given to Konoha. The Sand representative heard the demands with his heart bleeding.

Nevertheless, this demand was actually more humane than other alternatives, the Sand unwillingly had to agree.

At this point, the only two countries still in war with Konoha were the Earth and Water country.

After the negotiations ended, the 3rd announced that all of Konoha’s Ninjas in Kikyo Pass could return to Konoha.

Some of these Ninjas had been fighting in the Wind Country ever since the war began, and hadn’t seen their families for over half a decade.

So they were eager to return, and couldn’t wait to reunite with their families.

Sakumo understood their feelings very well, as he hadn’t seen Kakashi’s mother for a long time.

So as soon as he received the 3rd’s letter, he held a public meeting in which he announced: that everyone shall return to Konoha!