Hokage: Ryo's Path

Kushina said thoughtfully, “Ryo, you don’t know what kind of person Jiraiya-sensei is, do you? The first time I saw him, I was a bit uncomfortable.

Yamanaka Ryo was dumbfounded, “Sister Kushina, Naruto is not a lustful person; this will not happen. You know well what Uncle Jiraiya can do. He is the most suitable teacher for Naruto, do not you think?”

Kushina was silent. She was distraught with Jiraiya’s bad habits, but she never doubted Jiraiya’s personality and skills. Like Minato’s sense, Jiraiya did all the things a teacher should do.

Eventually, Kushina agreed to Yamanaka Ryo’s method, allowing Naruto to train under Jiraiya.

After reaching a consensus, Yamanaka Ryo asked Kushina to keep the secret for the time being and not let the matter be known to Naruto.

..........

The next day, Yamanaka Ryo teleported to the Uchiha Clan.

Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto were already waiting for him.

Last night, Sasuke suddenly proposed to go to Orochimaru to train, which scared the couple.

To put it bluntly, in their view, Orochimaru was like a mad scientist. For his so-called science, Orochimaru left Konoha, and he might abandon Sasuke one day. So, the Fugaku was very uneasy about him.

Yamanaka Ryo knew the concerns of the two. As parents worry about their children was normal.

After that, Yamanaka Ryo explained to them some of Orochimaru’s situation. In Yamanaka Ryo’s narrative, Fugaku gradually found that Orochimaru wasn’t as cold-blooded as they thought; instead, he seemed to pay extra attention to the people he cherished.

The couple was relieved and agreed to let Sasuke go to train with Orochimaru.

After convincing Fugaku and his wife, Yamanaka Ryo was ready to leave when Uchiha Mikoto called out.

The couple looked at each other; Uchiha Fugaku nodded, while Mikoto turned around and went to the study room.

Not long after, she took out a scroll and handed it to Yamanaka Ryo, “Ryo, just now you said that Kaguya Kimimaro has a Kekkei Genkai disease, right? As a reward for Orochimaru’s help in teaching Sasuke, this is for you. Please give it to Orochimaru; it will help with Kaguya’s condition.”

Yamanaka Ryo froze, not realizing that the Uchiha Clan would have a cure for the Kekkei Genkai disease.

Uchiha Fugaku saw what Yamanaka Ryo thinking; he then smiled and explained, “This is not a cure for Kekkei Genkai disease, but the method that Kaguya Clan uses to suppress the growth of bone Mugen.”

“The Uchiha Clan snatched it from the Kaguya Clan during the Warring States period.”

Yamanaka Ryo nodded and accepted the scroll while secretly thinking, ‘I told you so! The Kaguya Clan’s perfect Kekkei Genkai Kimimaro should not be the first. The ones who always had the perfect Kekkei Genkai before did not die like Kimimaro, and the emotional source is in Uchiha.”

Yamanaka Ryo shook his head. He then took Sasuke to teleport to Land of Rice Fields, Otogakure.

.............

As soon as he entered Otogakure, Sasuke was attracted by this place’s utterly different feeling from Konoha. He knew that this place was suitable for becoming stronger.

“Sasuke, you stay here; I’ll go find Orochimaru.”

Sasuke nodded and continued to focus on the surrounding ninjas, while Yamanaka Ryo went to Orochimaru’s laboratory by teleport.

“Ryo, what brings you here? Is something wrong?”

“Well, I found a disciple for you.”

Orochimaru smiled, a little surprised. He then stopped the experiment in his hands and asked, “Disciple? Who is it?”

Yamanaka Ryo smiled and said, “You know him, Sasuke Uchiha.”

“Fugaku’s son? I’m not interested.” Orochimaru decisively refused after thinking about it.

“Why? Sasuke is very talented.”

“Just because he is the son of the Uchiha Clan, the son of Clan Leader, I don’t want to get into this trouble. Uchiha Fugaku has Mangekyo, and personal strength is not weak, so it would be too much trouble for me to teach his son.”

Yamanaka Ryo sighed and thought to himself, ‘Sure enough, Uncle Snake is no longer the same as in the original story. Now, he has cloning technology to back him up and doesn’t need Sasuke’s body at all, so he has no interest in teaching Sasuke.’

“Uncle Snake, since you do not intend to accept Sasuke as a disciple, then forget it.”

Orochimaru froze, obviously did not expect Yamanaka Ryo to give up so quickly. This was not consistent with Yamanaka Ryo’s character. Orochimaru looked at Yamanaka Ryo warily.

Sure enough, the next second, Yamanaka Ryo said, “Uncle Snake, let’s make a deal!”

Orochimaru licked his lips and said, “What will you come up with to impress me?”

“My bargaining chip is simple, Kimimaro’s life! If you can teach Sasuke seriously, I will save Kimimaro’s life.”

Hearing Yamanaka Ryo’s conditions, Orochimaru’s expression instantly became serious, “Ryo, did you mean it?”

“Of course, I will not joke about it.”

“Okay, deal.”

After getting the affirmative reply from Yamanaka Ryo, Orochimaru agreed without even thinking.

Yamanaka Ryo smiled and took out the scroll given to him by Uchiha Mikoto and handed it to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru took the scroll and immediately opened it to browse the contents. After reading it, Orochimaru’s expression became very excited.

“Uncle Snake, it looks like you are delighted with my chips!”

Orochimaru nodded, “Well, I didn’t expect you to have such a thing.”

“Hey, in fact, this scroll is not mine. It’s from Fugaku’s wife. She gave it to thank you for teaching Sasuke.

Orochimaru smiled a dark face, and Yamanaka Ryo continued to say, “Uncle Snake, please do not be angry! The result is actually the same. You taught Sasuke and got this scroll, didn’t you?”

“Humph! I will not bother you; where is Uchiha Sasuke? Take me to see him.”

Perhaps because of Fugaku’s wife’s scroll, Orochimaru was quite nice to Sasuke after seeing him. Yamanaka Ryo struck while the iron was hot and handed Sasuke over to him.

...........

Meanwhile, in the Konoha village, Jiraiya is quietly observing Naruto.

The first thing that caught his attention was the attitude of the people in the village towards Naruto.

Many villagers lost their friends and relatives at the hands of the Kyuubi that night. Later, the news about Nine-tailed Jinchuriki was deliberately leaked out by Danzo. It was reasonable to say that the attitude of these villagers to Naruto should be terrible. However, he did not expect that the villagers were partly smiling at Naruto and partly ignoring Naruto’s presence. Of course, some people showed a distant look, but none looked at Naruto with hatred.

This surprised Jiraiya, but then he found Naruto’s attitude toward the villagers was even more strange. No matter how the villagers behaved, Naruto was always smiling.

Naruto’s smile was warm and healing, reminding Jiraiya of Minato. Jiraiya then looked at Naruto with a softer gaze.

Eventually, Jiraiya decided that whether Naruto was the Child of the Prophecy or not, he would teach Naruto, just because of this warm smile that could infect others.