The next day, on the 3rd training ground, Ryo took the initiative and challenged Kushina to a fight. Now that she knows about his techniques, Ryo wasn’t able to last for more than one minute.
After that “morning exercise” was finished, Ryo and Kushina complained to each other about the 3rd and Minato.
Being able to sense good and evil, Kushina felt nothing but good intent from Ryo. So she had her guard down talking to him.
Most Konoha shinobis weren’t really close to Kushina. The Red hot Habanero didn’t have many friends to talk with. Ryo’s introduction into her life gave her someone to open up to.
Although they’ve known each other for no more than one day, Ryo gained Kushina’s trust!
“That grumpy old Kage won’t let me go out on a mission. What’s wrong with Kyubi’s Chakra in battle? I master it well!”
Kushina just leaked out something that should have been kept a secret! Even though she is as careless as they come, even she knows that this is something to hide! Ryo is one of her few friends! Most people with good intent would avoid her being scared by the Kyubi’s power!
“Well Kushina Onechan, shouldn’t the fact that you’re the nine-tail Jinchuriki be kept a secret?”
Ryo’s answer made her breathe a sigh of relief! She didn’t sense any change in his emotions towards her. She immediately came down to Ryo and patted on his shoulder: “I don’t worry about telling you such things. I know you’ll keep it secret.”
Hearing her words, Ryo was stunned that he gained so much trust in just one day!
“Are you not surprised by knowing this?”
“I noticed your tail since yesterday! I read about it in a book in the library. It’s a sign that shows you have that power, the power of the Biju isn’t it?”
Konoha’s library does actually have such a book. He stumbled upon it accidentally while studying 2 years ago.
“So... aren’t you afraid?” Kushina’s voice became faint as she said that, and she couldn’t look him in the eyes.
“Of course I’m not afraid! A Jinchuriki is still human. And the Biju aren’t that bad actually! I heard uncle Sakumo say that the Hachibi is good friends with his Jinchuriki in the Cloud village. Onechan aren’t you friends with the Kyubi?”
Ryo knew the truth about Kurama. To him he was just a big prideful fox who, if understood, can be nothing to be afraid of.
Hearing Ryo’s word made Kushina silent for a good while. She doesn’t hate Kurama and actually often talks to him, even though he never answers.
Kurama is one of the few creatures she could talk to actually! Although he never answers her, she almost sees him as a friend. She doesn’t know anything about his thoughts, but when in need, he always lends her Chakra.
Ryo’s word made Kushina consider the possibility of humans and Biju co-existing in peace.
“Well, do you think that we can become able to live with Biju in peace one day?”
“That day will definitely come!” Ryo didn’t just predict that, he saw that day! He continued to say: “how much power can you get off the Kyubi onechan?”
“Three tails safely. I begin to lose consciousness when going for the 4th.”
“Well Kushina Onechan, can you show me that power?”
“Yeah!” Saying that, Kushina’s body began to ooze with chakra: One tail, two, three tails! They were waving behind her red chakra-coated body!
Seeing such a power manifesto made Ryo sweat. Naruto had half of Kuruma’s power, and his 4 tails state was enough to almost kill Jiraiya! With a full Kyubi sealed inside, Kushina’s 3 tails should be comparable to Naruto’s 4.
“Hey, Nechan, can use run your fastest towards the gate?”
She nodded, and Ryo activated his Sharingan and stared at her. Despite that, he was far from being able to capture her position.
“Wow! And this is only the three tail mode!” The anime described the Kyubi as beast powerful enough to rule the whole world. Now that Ryo saw this with his own eyes, any doubts he had about about before were gone. This made him speechless.
In the manga, both Madara and Obito were able to control this beast. The thought of such a powerful creature being possible used by an enemy put a lot of pressure on Ryo!
“Ryo, aren’t You a Yamanaka? How come you have the Sharingan?” After deactivating the Chakra Cloak mode, Kushina noticed Ryo’s eyes.
“My father is an Uchiha. Don’t tell anyone one Kushina onechan.”
“No wonder your hair is black. So that’s why! Rest assured, my mouth is sealed shut!”
“Who did just expose that she was a Jinchuriki?!” Looking at her carelessness, Ryo thought that he might have just made a mistake!
In the next few days, Ryo kept training with Kushina and noticed that he started to last a bit longer in front of her. Feeling some improvement alleviated a lot of the pressure he felt.
Now is the year 40, 22 years away from the 4th world war. 22 years are plenty for Ryo to get much stronger.
In the past few days, Ryo found out during practice that Kushina’s fighting style was too simple. She doesn’t really use much Ninjutsu or any Genjutsu, relying mainly on shadow clones and Taijutsu in fights. She has a ton of chakra, so Ryo thought he should help her change up her fighting style so that her huge amounts of chakra don’t go to waste.
“Hey Kushina onechan, how many shadow clones can you make?”
“I don’t know, let me try!”
She formed the seal of: “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu”... A few seconds later, the whole third training Yard was full of shadow clones.
“Wow, how much are those?”
“How much? These are a 1000 clones, I can do more!”
A 1000! At this moment, Ryo really wanted to be an Uzumaki. With so much chakra, he could turn the whole battlefield into ice, and no one will even touch him!
Ryo was salivating and looking at Kuchina’s Uzumaki red hair. While he was staring she slapped his back.
“Hey hey Nechan what was that for?” Ryo’s daydream was interrupted by Kushina’s uncomfortable glare.
“I’ve been asking you about what made you ask me to do this!”
“Oh yeah, I was thinking of a Jutsu, one especially suitable for you!” His wicked smile made Kushina shudder.
When telling her about the details of the Jutsu, she was laughing. Her evil laugh made him shudder as well!