Hokage: Ryo's Path

He passionately stared at Tsunade’s face, wishing to cut her body open and study her right now!

Ryo saw him licking his lips, and he reminded him in a low voice: “Okay, Orochi san; I don’t think that taking blood samples so frequently from Tsunade is such a good idea anymore. If she fails to get this Kekkei Genkai because of excessive blood loss, she will definitely kill you!”

Ryo’s words were just him beating around the bush, but they were enough to remind Orochimaru of the old beatings he had from the Senju Princess.

As a scientific researcher, Orochimaru was not so afraid of death. For science, he was ready to give everything. But the pain that Tsunade was to inflict was too much for a few drops of blood. He decided to go with Ryo’s advice.

After reaching an agreement. Orochimaru and left with Ryo, asking him about the follow up to the Uchiha incident.

Ryo told him everything, and Orochimaru was surprised: “I didn’t expect that Sensei would stay still. I believed that a clash with him is inevitable! Well, after all, he had inherited the will of the 1st Hokage. The village would always come first to him!” Said Orochimaru with a smile.

Being the 3rd’s protégé, he knew his teacher, and could quickly understand his thought process.

The two continued talking for a while, but Orochimaru wanted to shift the subject from his relationship with his teacher: “Ryo kun, what did bring you here; besides wanting to check on Tsunade?”

Ryo understood that Orochimaru didn’t want to go on with the subject, and he said: “I want you to help Lain with Earth Release Ninjutsu for a while.”

“Earth Release? Why? To improve her control over her Wood Creations.”

“well actually, I will be needing her help with something in the future, and her Earth Release mastery itself would be helpful.”

Without any further questions, Orochimaru agreed.

The next day, he went to the Training Grounds with Lain.

Orochimaru was a student of the Sandaime, and knew many Ninjutsus. In a way, he was a walking library of Jutsus.

His methods also were special. While being difficult to follow, they were a perfect fit for Lain. After all, he didn’t bother with C Class Ninjutsus, demonstrating and teaching the more powerful techniques right off the bat.

Seeing how fast she was learning under his guidance, Lain’s attitude towards him changed slightly.

She was right now a Kage Tier Ninja, and she had an eye for power. She could attest that she had never seen a Ninja with more mastery over Earth Release.

This change in attitude made the learning process even smoother, and Ryo decided to stop bothering with them, and focus on helping Shisui.

The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was substantially more powerful that a normal Mangekyo like that of Ryo.

One of its perks was allowing Shisui to use the Complete Susanoo without trying too hard to attain it.

His usual Susanoo would then get wings and be able to fly into the skies, all while get even more powerful.

After Shisui activated the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, his Susanoo only lacked the wings, and was only one step away from its full potential.

The best way to help him evolve was to put him in fighting Situations. Therefore, Ryo took him with him to the desert of the Wind Country.

With Korin’s help, Ryo released the Ice Colossus.

This was the second time that Shisui has seen the Colossus, but this was different from before.

In fact, the Ice Colossus seemed to be so powerful; Shisui couldn’t help but envy Ryo for being able to control it.

Immediately, he activated his Mangekyo, releasing a green Susanoo around the size of Ice Colossus.

With his Susanoo at fourth stage, Shisui had great confidence: “Sensei, let’s go!”

He then punched the Ice Colossus. Ryo smiled and did not dodge, stretching out his palm to stop the punch.

Susanoo was very strong, but the Colossus was not weak either, stopped the punch with no apparent damage.

Shisui showed a bitter smile of dissatisfaction, and urging all his strength, he unleashed a barrage of attacks.

In the desert, the power of the two behemoths was rather similar. For a while, neither of them had a clear advantage.

But over time, Shisui began to falter. Even with the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, fighting in this mode was not as sustainable as fighting with Korin fueling your beast.

In the end, he ended up being defeated, as he couldn’t maintain the Susanoo state.

He sat down in the desert, too tired to move. Ryo gave him M.R.Ps and water, and when he sensed that his power levels were back to normal, he asked him to continue practicing.

In this way, the two fought for over half a month. Over the course of this period, Shisui became a lot more proficient in using his Susanoo.

Ryo was feeling that the success of this training was drawing near. But then, he sensed that Lain’s Ice Scalpel was suddenly broken!

Immediately, he teleported to his sister. “What’s wrong, Lain?” He appeared behind her back, worried.

“Oni san, Orochimaru sama asked me to call you back. He said it was about Tsunade hime... something went wrong!”

“What?” Ryo became more concerned, and he teleported straight into the lab.

As soon as he popped in there, he was greeted an anxious look on Orochimaru’s face.

“Orochi san, what happened to Tsunade hime?”

Seeing Ryo, Orochimaru finally breathed a sigh of relief, saying to Ryo: “Ryo kun, come and see!”