Hokage: Ryo’s Path

"Ryo, don't you want to meet the Kyuubi?"

Ryo was shocked by Kushina's proposal, and he said subconsciously, "This is not good Ne-san!"

"What's the matter? It's taking you a long time to say you don't want to see it!" Kushina rushed Ryo.

"Ah, yeah let me meet him!" Ryo was still really interested in the Kyuubi. At just half strength, the great fox was able to beat 5 other Biju.

"I knew you wouldn't refuse!" Ryo was embarrassed and scratched his head.

"Well then, now my mind will enter the Kyuubi seal, and yours will follow using your Yamanaka techniques." Ryo nodded, and his consciousness entered Kushina's body.

Under Kushina's guidance, Ryo successfully entered the 9 tail seal.

Kushina's seal was similar to that of Naruto from the inside. She took Ryo to the gate of the Kyuubi's cage.

It was the same gate as in the Manga, but the seal on it was gone.

Kushina passed through one of the gaps in the cage and climbed onto one of the nine tails. The Kyuubi actually turned a blind eye to her behavior!

"Hey, I came to see you again Kyuubi!" Kushina was being ignored by Kurama, so she started pulling on one of his other tails.

"Ne-san be careful, get out of there!" After seeing the Kyuubi, Ryo finally understood what the world was so afraid of.

He might be as prideful as he was depicted in the Manga, but the drawing fails to transmit his might! In his presence, Ryo was being smothered by the terrifying atmosphere that his immense power creates.

When Kushina and Ryo came in to see the Kyuubi, he didn't even look at them. But just his breaths were enough to make Ryo tremble.

"Well, what's wrong Ryo? Didn't you say the people and Biju could live together peacefully?"

Ryo looked at the careless Kushina jumping up and down on the Kyuubi's tails. How strong and fearless can one be? No wonder Naruto had such a character. Ryo sighed again cursing genetics.

"Kushina, enough already. Now you don't just come to bother me, you bring a little brat along with you?!" Kurama was so annoyed by Kushina's behavior.

With all his power, he was still helpless. He can't kill her, for if she dies, he dies. Scolding her is of no use, he's never seen such a shameless person.

Not so long ago, she came in and removed the seals she had on him, saying that humans and Biju could live together in peace.

"Hey brat, you're the one telling Kushina about humans and Biju being able to coexist in peace?"

The human who said such words, is actually someone that Kurama was extremely interested in.

"No… Yes! It's me!" The huge amounts of Chakra coming from the Kyuubi's way made Ryo breathless.

"And how about now, after you've seen me; do you still think the same?"

Ryo was silent. Even though he read the Manga and knew the final outcome, facing such a powerful entity, he lost all his confidence in saying that.

"I believe that will come. Even if I'm not the one to be friends with you, the next one after me will!"

The Kyuubi glanced back at Kushina and didn't answer her.

After coming out of the seal, Ryo was all gloomy. He had a huge progress over the past two years. So he was disappointed that he didn't have the courage to face Kurama.

And in this world, there are people even stronger than Kurama. Uchiha Madara, Hashirama Senju, the Rikudo Sennin, Kaguya… All of these characters were not just able to defeat the Kyubi, they were able to control it.

This was a huge wake-up call to Ryo.

He knew that he had no time for self content. He is far from being able to even talk to Kurama, so he has no business dealing with those god-tier characters.

"Ne-san, let's spare!"

"Great!" Kushina never saw Ryo be so serious.

In the 3rd training ground, a new round between the two began.

Kushina went, as usual, to her tailed coat mode. And Ryo went straight into Ice Elementization.

"[Water Release: Water Bombs]" Ryo launched a large amount of attacks in the direction of Kushina.

In her Tailed Coat mode, she easily dodged those attacks. She was really familiar with Ryo's fighting style: Lightning Chakra mode with focus on Chidori, or Ice teleportation then use of lightning to use lightning.

Kushina was focused on waiting for Ryo's thinder attack, staying away from areas with a lot of water to avoid him teleporting on her.

In the past two years, Ryo solved the problem of overusing Chakra for Ice. This time, he was planning on giving Kushina a surprise.

Ryo used to need water to make ice. But in Mount Myoboku, he learned how to use Ice in the way of the Yuki clan after working on the [Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death].

Most Yuki clan members actually used their Kekkei Genkai to freeze the water content of air. After mastering water release with Jiraya, Ryo was able to mimic that.

"Ne-san, here I come!" Right then, Ryo appeared directly in front of Kushina. Ryo didn't use Chidori, nor did he use Raikiri or anything of that sort. Kushina was totally surprised and didn't know what to expect.

"[Ice Blade]!" The empty handed Ryo suddenly had a blade in his hand. Kushina was caught off guard, and she couldn't avoid his attack. He landed it, scratching her Coat.

This was a success. Kushina wanted to respond right away by striking him. He was right in front of him so she took a direct strike.

"[Ice Armor]!" Ryo gathered the moister from the air condensing it rapidly into what looked like an Armor around his upper body. Ryo's body was unscathed.

"[Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death]" Ryo condensed the moister in the air into needles all around Kushina.

Kushina was being harassed by the endless needles hitting her from every direction. While not strong, they had had penetration power. And also, all the Ice limited her movement.

After thousands =of needles hit her, Kushina's coat was in all dented. Ryo took that chance to use his ice blade, and her state was finally broken.

With his new techniques, Ryo finally beat Kushina in her tailed coat mode for the 1st time.

Author's note: Yesterday, a friend recommended me a comic book that gave me a lot of inspiration. From now on, Ice release will be far more interesting, and not just for combat.