Hokage: Ryo's Path

Chapter 88: Anko’s Talent

After the Rock’s retreat, Konoha’s Ninja’s cheered. They have been in the Earth Country’s battlefield for over a year and eating loss after loss. Some of them even fell into tears of joy because of the victory.

“Ryo, I’ll go back now. Call me at any time!” Gamahiro went back to Mount Myoboku.

“Orochimaru, remember my 200 sacrifices!” Manda disappeared as well.

“Orochi san, your summoned beast is really... different!” Ryo has always hated Manda’s character, and took the chance to badmouth him.

“Don’t worry about it; he’s always been that way.” After finishing his words, Orochimaru returned to the battlefield, to arrange Konoha’s Ninja’s retreat.

On that night, Konoha’s camp celebrated the victory. During this battle, they managed to take the lives of nearly the thousand Rock Ninjas at the cost of 700 injuries and a few deaths. On the Rock side, injuries were countless.

The joy of this victory wasn’t only limited to Ordinary Ninjas, but in Orochimaru’s tent, even the clan representatives were full of excitement and Joy.

On the other side, the Rock camp was gloomy, and the elites of the Rock had a meeting.

“Tsuchikage sama, I can assure you that there’s another Kage tier in Konoha’s camp along with Orochimaru.” Gari was really upset and ashamed of his escape.

“Yes Gari, I met him on the battlefield today, and he is indeed incredibly strong. He was even able to block my Dust Release attack!” Said Onoki, nodding in agreement.

“Tsuchikage sama, is he the one that had that immense summoning?” A Jonin asked.

“It should be him. When I saw him, the kid was sitting on top of his head.”

“Tsuchikage sama, is this Toad the one that Jiraya the Sannin is famous for?” Another jonin asked.

“It’s the same kind of beast, but not the same one. And this kid is not on par with Jiraya yet either.”

“Tsuchikage sama, would you like to call Roshi into this battlefield?” Said Gari after some hesitation.

“I agree!”

“I agree!”

Seeing everyone’s agreement, Onoki could only promise to send someone to find the Yonbi Jinchuriki.

Konoha’s Ninjas had no idea about the Sand’s plans, and Ryo had no idea that he was meeting his sworn enemy so soon.

The next day, Ryo’s medical team was assigned into treating the minor injuries, while Ryo was assigned by Orochimaru to teach Anko.

Orochimaru himself was too busy because of repercussions of the battle.

Yesterday, he actually had Anko fighting on the battlefield. He was never a soft-hearted person. He hoped to see her grow as fast as possible, so the battlefield was his best option.

However, she saw Ryo’s performance yesterday, and that did not feel good!

She had graduated over a year and a half ago, and she was one of Orochimaru the Sannin’s disciples. Now, her strength is just that of a Chunin.

However Ryo, without having Orochimaru the Sannin as a teacher, is now at least Kage Tier. Her old classmate was far ahead of her, making her envious and filling her heart with doubts.

“Hey, Ryo can I ask? At what tier are you now?”

“I’m on the tier that Orochi san is on. Still, I’m not as strong as him.” Ryo had nothing to hide from his old classmate, and this was no secret anyway.

“You’re Kage tier! I remember you were just one year older than me! You’re really a freak!” She was a bit embarrassed as she said that to Ryo.

“Hey we’re classmates, you’re going a bit far aren’t you?!”

Hearing him, she realized she shouldn’t have said that. Anko was similar in character to Naruto. She looked at him with her big eyes and apologized without hesitation.

Ryo shook his head helplessly, and then started teaching her.

Most Ninjutsu’s were not the way to go. His knowledge in that field were nothing next to that of Orochimaru, he wouldn’t add anything.

With Taijutsu, he could teach her anything either. His Taijutsu was always a weak point of his; he was never the physical type.

Giving it some thought, he decided to teach her Body Flicker techniques. Ryo’s blinking method was the Lightning Chakra Flicker, relying on lightning to stimulate his cellular activity, increasing his strength greatly.

There were many blinking techniques. Ryo’s particular knowledge of this technique was on another level. He could also use them to achieve speed much faster than what most Ninjas could achieve.

He started by asking about whether or not she had Lightning affinity. After confirming she didn’t, he could only teach her the regular body flicker.

He explained the details of his method to Anko and demonstrated the technique and its effects.

Afterwards, he started training her, while making some ice scalpels for his stock.

“Ryo, the energy in your blades is so special!” Anko was attracted by the natural energy in his Ice Scalpels, making her look at his curiously.

“Anko, you can feel the special energy in the Ice Scalpels?”

Ryo became really curious about Anko. He did not expect that other than him, other people could perceive Natural Energy without being trained by a Sage.

“Yes I can, it’s like that of Manda!”

“Anko, have you ever tried to control this energy?”

“Yes, but I could never absorb it, so I gave up.” Anko said with some disappointment.

Ryo nodded and did not continue to ask, while she was still interested in watching him make the scalpels.

“Anko, practice the Body Flicker Jutsu. If your progress satisfies me, I’ll give you one of these scalpels!” Seeing how interested she was in them, Ryo decided to make them her incentive to train harder.

She immediately agreed and went on to continue her training immediately.

In the evening, Ryo checked out her progress. For a beginner, the level she reached was really good. Ryo gave her no observations, and rewarded her hard work with an Ice Scalpel.

Ryo and Anko returned to the camp, and the two went to Orochimaru’s tent.

“Ryo kun, what did you teach her today?” Orochimaru, who had great expectations of the training session, directly asked.

“I taught her the Body Flicker Jutsu. She didn’t do bad.”

“The Body Flicker Jutsu? Anko sure is lucky to have such a generous classmate!”

After chatting for a while, Orochimaru felt that Ryo had something to say, and trying to find an opportunity to bring it up. He asked: “Ryo kun, is there anything?”

Ryo did not think that Orochimaru would be so sharp, and helplessly smiled and said: “Orochimaru san, do you know that Anko can naturally sense natural energy?”

“I know, but I haven’t practiced the Sage Mode. I have nothing to teach her about it!”

Ryo nodded, and asked no questions. He actually thought about it, helping Anko absorb Natural Energy. Still, he wasn’t sure of success, so he simply did not propose.