Chapter 5: Bad News, And A Sad Experience
This year, Konoha has been winning battles all over. The sand has surrendered, the mist failed in reaching the fire country, and only cloud and earth could fight each other. Konoha emerged from this war victorious!
The news about the victory was sent back the village getting the villagers and the ninja were left behind relieved. The war is over! Everyone stood in line greeting the returning heroes! And Ryo was in the welcoming team.
“Look, they’re back!”
Sensor Ninjas and those with Dojutsus first saw the troops in the distance, and soon after all of Konoha started to see them. The cheers of the villagers grew larger as the ninja forces approached.
Ryo squeezed himself Through the crowd with his physical advantage. There are three people in the lead: The ninja princess Tsunade, another Sannin Orochimaru, and the last was the white fang, Sak.u.mo Hatake.
Orochimaru who was stationed in water country was able to block the attacks from them for the past 2 years. Sak.u.mo brought the sand to their knees after killing their greatest puppeteers. As for Jiraiya, he was still with Nagato and his friends teaching them and taking care of them.
The three were headed by the 3rd Hokage: Sarutobi Hiruzen. All came smiling as they received their well deserved praise by the citizens of Konoha.
“(Teacher) Sandaime, fortunately, they did not disappoint!”
“Indeed! Indeed!” The 3rd Hokage was proud: Once these three were just little brats and now they can protect the leaf.”Teacher, let’s let the heroes go home!”
After finishing the program and applauding, the ninja army spread around, and there were nearly a hundred stretchers at the end of the team. Most of these ninjas were seriously wounded and their survival wasn’t certain or even probable. Many others have fallen in the battlefield already.
The 3rd also told the people welcoming them to let way for the stretchers. Ryo got affected by this atmosphere. He used to be a doctor so seeing people sick and dying didn’t chock him or anything, but the immensity of the scale of injuries that come with wartime was difficult for him to imagine. It knocked into him the fact that this world is real, and death in it is just as real as well.
After the stretchers were carried into the village, Sak.u.mo and the 2 sannin split up by orders of the Hokage. He knew that what they needed was not a banquet, but a reunion with their families.
Ryo kept his emotions held within him as he returns home with the rest of the Yamanakas. As he entered the house, he so his mother listening to Hatake Sak.u.mo while shedding endless tears, and besides them, Yamanaka Inoichi had his eyes all red.
“Ryo, Your uncle is gone!”
Inoichi’s voice wasn’t loud, but it hit straight through Ryo’s soul as if it was the sound of thunder in a quiet night. Ever since his birth his uncle held him, taught him to walk, taught him skills, and gave him the warmth he never received from his father in both lives. Now he is gone!
Inoichi remembered his father left when Ryo was just 2 years old, so he should have forgotten him by now. He did not know that Ryo had the mind of an adult along with the excellent memory of a doctor.
“Sak.u.mo-san, Who was it?” said Ryo with his head down in a calm voice.
Sak.u.mo also thought that he had forgotten his uncle, and casually said, “The four-tailed Jinchuriki, Rochi”
“Is that right? I will kill him!” Said Ryo in a firm voice, raising his head as his tear were flowing unstoppably from his eyes.
“Oh! This… this is!”
“Yes, it’s his son! Ryo. It seems that he should remember everything from his birth. This child is too strong.” Sak.u.mo looked at a 5-year-old child in front of him.
“Ryo, you remember your uncle…”
“Of course I remember. How could I forget?” Just before the fact, this world was like a game to him. The people around him were NPCs. Except for the family he cherished, everyone was dispensable. But the return of the army of ninjas today made it possible to realize that this is a real world.
That coupled with the death of His uncle. The double stimuli made it possible for Ryo to awaken his father’s Blood limit skill.
The young Ryo Yamanaka had his eyes glowing like scarlet rubies. The room was suddenly in a strange silence.
“Aunt, are those eyes the …” Breaking the silence is Inoichi.
“Yes, Ryo’s father, my husband is an Uchiha.”
“(Sak.u.mo) Inoichi, You now know that this child has awaken the Sharingan at 5 years of age. Do you think the Uchihas will ever let such a genius live with another family? You are now the new Yamanaka clan head. Are you willing to keep him with his mother here within your family? This can cause the Yamanaka clan a whole lotta trouble.”
“Sak.u.mo san, my aunt, and little brother will always be my family. So unless they want to go on their own, our clan will always be their home.”
“Good! Since that is the case, this matter can only be known to the people in this room.”
“Yeah, I understand” Inoichi’s att.i.tude make Chinse feel particularly warm and happy that she has such a family.
After the three people reached a consensus, Sak.u.mo saluted the lot and left the place, as whatever is left to be said is an inner business of the Yamanaka’s.
“Ryo, don’t be sad. My father wouldn’t want to see you like this.”
The death of Akihito did indeed make Ryo grieve endlessly. But when he awakened the Sharingan, grief got turned into a driving force for advancement. As long as his eyes evolve, he might get the Rinnegan, or any other form that helps him get resurrection powers. So maybe, his uncle can be resurrected. What he needs now is power!
A week later, the 3rd hokage held the funerals of the heroes of Konoha.
In front of the Spiritual Tablets, all the ninjas were in black. On the soothing tablets were carved the names of ninjas who sacrificed their lives for the peace of Konoha.
At the end of the funeral, Chinse called Ryo and Inochi to her room and spoke to them about what happened years ago.
Ryo’s father was one of the Uchiha’s elite, names Uchiha Houyi. He didn’t appear in the original series. He was different from the rest of the Uchiha as he had no fire affinity: only lightning.
The Uchiha’s are known for their skill with fire and High ninja skills. But Houyi’s lack of fire affinity got him discriminated against by members of his family. That is until he awakened his sharingan at 10 years old!
The earlier the Uchiha’s sharingan is awakened, the higher his talent. So houyi was considered a rare genius even among the great Uchiha clan. Trained by his family, 16-year-old Houyi became a special Jonin with his sharingan and his thunder powers. And then at the age of 18, he became a fully fledged Jonin. He was sent to the wind country where he met Chinse who worked as medical Ninja there.
In the country of the wind, the sand puppeteer ninja showed great proficiency at using poison. Konoha’s ninja’s slightest mistakes resulted in them getting poisoned and the absence of medical ninja meant certain death. As a result, 70% of Konoha’s medical ninja were stationed in the wind country.
As Chinse saved his life from poisoning and Houyi saved her in the battlefield heroically, the two ended up falling in love with each other.
Ever since year 31, they were together. Because of the war, the news about their marriage didn’t spread. Only their commander Sak.u.mo knew. The next year she got pregnant and Houyi faced Chiyo’s son and daughter in law on the field. Even though he fought marvelously, he ended up getting poisoned and he died in his wife’s arms as she failed to save him.
As Yamanaka Chinse grieved, Hatake Sak.u.mu contacted her cousin Akihito.
The Uchihas were never really in agreement with the Hokage’s. And with the Yamanaka’s consistent support for them along the years, Chinse wouldn’t have a great life with the Uchihas. Now that Houyi’s dead, Sak.u.mo couldn’t stand to see his friend’s wife being bullied by the Uchiha’s. With Akihito, he decided to hide the matter of the marriage, let the Yamanaka’s bring her back to her clan where she should be able to raise her son with no problems.
This way, Ryo could grow up peacefully. Chinse intended on speaking out about his origin whenever he developed the Sharingan. But n.o.body could expect this day coming so soon.
“Mom, are you a medical ninja?”
“Well I learned pharmacy ever since my early days, and when I was 14 I entered Konoha’s hospital and only left when I had you.”
“Mom, are we the Yamanaka medically talented?” Ryo remembered that in the original show Ino had a bit a bit of medical ninjatsu knowledge and added that to the fact that his mother was a medic too. With his understanding of the human body, along with medical ninja and his lightning powers, they might form together a potent combination
“Well, our family does have excellent Chakra control because of our practice of mind body techniques so we don’t have problems with using simple medical ninjutsu. But studying medical ninjutsu in depth is no easy task.”
“Mom , that…”
“Look Ryo let’s talk about this later! You have school to go to and I have to talk to your brother now.”
Although he was curious about what she was going to say to Inoichi, he didn’t want to bother her so he just nodded and left.