Hokage: Ryo’s Path

In the Hokage’s office, Ryo detailed the situation in the Rain Village to Minato.

After the latter listened to him, he frowned in surprise. He never expected that Danzo would make a secret alliance with Hanzo.

“Minato Ni-san, that’s not the full of extent of his conspiracies, Danzo and his Root are more terrible than we ever thought.

“Terrible? Ryo, how strong do you think root is?” Minato asked quickly.

“A single root ninja is not strong, but they are strong together, and then have more than just a few Tokubetsu Jonin Ninjas. In the rain country, most of them remained conscious after taking the impact of my Denjiki Rasengan’s explosion, and some did not even fall.”

Hearing Ryo, Minato’s face was gloomy. Root was growing so strong under the 3rd’s nose; why did he just sit still? (While it should be normal for Root, an Anbu group, to have strong Ninjas, Ryo’s presence did force them to disband previously, then to get reformed into a much weaker nucleus.)

After a moment of contemplation, Minato asked: “Ryo, do you think that the 3rd knew of the expansion of Root?”

Ryo thought and then said: “I believe he knew that they were expanding, but I don’t believe he realized that it was to this extent.”

Ryo’s thoughts coincided with those of Minato. After hesitating for a while, he finally turned and asked an Anbu: “Go to Konoha’s higher-ups, and tell them that we’ll be holding a high-level meeting tonight.”

After the Anbu Ninja received the order, he nodded and went perform his task immediately. Ryo bid farewell to Minato, and directly teleported to Orochimaru’s lab.

During all the time he spent on the mission, Ryo kept thinking about Lain worriedly.

He had taught her his clan’s secret techniques, and how to refine Chakra. However, he still did not know how things would end up when she takes the experiment.

Ryo walked immediately to the lower floor where she was at, and happened to find Orochimaru looking at Lain who was in glassware excitedly.

From the expression on Orochimaru’s face, Ryo realized that things had probably gone well. He immediately flickered to his side, using his spiritual power to perceive Lain.

She was in a surprisingly good state, which made Ryo very happy. He did not expect that she would go through the hardest phase so soon.

And judging by the powerful vitality emitted by her body, Hashirama’s cells must’ve already started to integrate into her body.

Now, as long as nothing goes wrong, she should end up like Yamato ended up in the Manga.

Thinking of Yamato, Ryo turned to the other side. However, he was surprised by what he found!

Yamato’s body was asleep, and so was his consciousness. Even Hashirama’s cells were not as active as they were usually.

Yes, he was making progress, and the cells were being integrated into his body. However, this was happening at a much slower pace!

After seeing Lain, Ryo told Orochimaru about Danzo, and then mentioned the high level meeting that was scheduled later that night.

Orochimaru didn’t have any special reaction; he just nodded.

In the evening both of them left the lab to Minato’s office. They arrived 10 minutes early, and took their seats waiting for the remaining heads of clans.

After everyone arrived, the meeting officially began. The topics mentioned were as boring as ever, with Minato discussing some trivial problems all around Konoha.

After talking for over half an hour, he finally mentioned the Rain Country.

As soon as he did, Danzo’s faced changed, realizing that tonight’s meeting was all about him.

Minato described to everyone some of the events that took place in the Rain Country, and then mentioned that some people in Konoha actually intervened in the Rain Country’s private affairs, colluding with Hanzo.

“Hokage sama, don’t you know who this person is?” The Hyuga’s clan head asked, just to be followed by many others.

Hearing their voices, Danzo’s face became as gloomy as ever, realizing that he had been ambushed by Minato.

Sitting not too far from him, the 3rd noticed how gloomy his face was, and immediately understood most of what had happened.

He sighed helplessly. Danzo was still his old companion, and he decided to bail him out.

“Minato, what you are mentioning is huge! Is there any evidence?” The 3rd was a cunning old wolf! After so many years of experience, he knew immediately how to destroy Minato’s plan.

The noise in the office went down after hearing the 3rd, and everyone stared at Minato waiting for evidence.

In fact, Minato only had Ryo’s word for evidence. He actually held this meeting just to pressure Danzo, and see if he would crack under tension or slip up enough to be convicted.

What he never expected was that the 3rd would realize this lack of evidence, and use it to get Danzo freed from the tension.

“I have the evidence right here!” Ryo said as he took out a sealing scroll. “I’ve been on a mission in the Rain Country, and encountered some unexpected situations. Therefore, I went to investigate, and I found this!”

Ryo opened the scroll, and was about to empty it, when the 3rd quickly stopped him saying: “Ryo, hold on! I think it’s necessary to investigate the value of this evidence before exposing it to everyone.”

“Sandaime sama, what is it? Do you want to see the evidence, or not?” Ryo smirked and asked.

Everyone else in the conference room also felt that the 3rd’s behavior was abnormal.

“Oh, Ryo, I just asked if there was any evidence. I never said that I want to see it.” The 3rd said while smiling.

“Oh! But what is evidence for? It’s there to be seen, and it’s happening sooner or later! Anyway, I’ve already opened….”

“Enough Ryo Kun! Sit down!” At that moment, Orochimaru interfered, interrupting him.

Ryo looked at Orochimaru in disbelief; he never expected that he would speak for Danzo and the 3rd.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then Minato also stopped him: “Ryo, you should sit down for now! The Sandaime must have a reason to say what he said.”

Reluctantly, Ryo put away the scroll; Danzo and the 3rd were finally relieved.

By this point, the meeting could not persist, and it was ended by Minato after he announced that the Anbu will thoroughly investigate the matter. The 3rd also said that once the one responsible is determined, they would not go unpunished.