"Hehe... A three-tomoe Sharingan at such a young age, along with the strength to kill two jonin. The Uchiha clan hasn't produced such a top-tier genius in many years..."
In a dimly lit underground chamber, an emaciated old man stared at the corpses of two Rain-nin and sighed. He had already learned of Ryun's existence through White Zetsu.
This old man, who looked like he was on the verge of death, was none other than the once-feared "Shinobi of the Wandering Tales," Uchiha Madara!
During his battle at the Valley of the End, he had bitten off a piece of flesh from the "God of Shinobi," Senju Hashirama. Later, he transplanted Hashirama's cells into his own body and awakened the Rinnegan just before his natural death in old age.
Through the power of the Rinnegan, he successfully obtained the husk of the Ten-Tails (the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path).
With the power of the Demonic Statue, his life was prolonged. Using Yin-Yang Release, he "created" the Spiral Zetsu (the original form of the 100,000 White Zetsu) and the Swirly Zetsu (Tobi) by "utilizing Hashirama's cells and the Demonic Statue's power." In the original story, the Spiral Zetsu was killed by Eternal Mangekyō user Sasuke, while the Swirly Zetsu only died after the Infinite Tsukuyomi was dispelled and the Divine Tree withered. (These two Zetsu might actually be ancient humans sealed within the Demonic Statue, awakened by Black Zetsu after merging with Hashirama's cells, making Madara mistakenly believe he had created them.)
With White Zetsu's assistance, Uchiha Madara could monitor every movement in the ninja world, giving him the ability to strategize from afar.
"Investigate his background in detail. The more thorough, the better..." After a long silence, Madara issued the order.
This suddenly emerging young man had caught his attention. His "Moon's Eye Plan" still lacked an executor, and he believed this child had great potential. There was a high probability he could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, making him worthy of close observation.
"Yes, Lord Madara!"
A White Zetsu acknowledged the command and slowly sank into the ground.
At this moment, Ryun had no idea he had attracted the attention of the "Ghost of the Uchiha."
After traveling a long distance, he found a relatively safe cave to rest in.
He didn't bother trying to regroup with the retreating troops. For now, he lit a campfire to warm himself and planned to return after recovering his strength.
The war between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain had reached a stalemate, with both sides suffering losses. The chaos continued, and Ryun had no intention of joining Orochimaru in further schemes until his strength improved.
He had only been in the Land of Rain for a few days and had already fought three major battles, two of which had nearly cost him his life. He decided not to push his luck any further. Otherwise, as Tsunade had warned, he might truly meet his end sooner or later...
A day later, Ryun had mostly recovered his stamina and was in decent condition.
Sitting by the warm campfire, he began studying the two high-level Lightning Release jutsu Orochimaru had given him.
One was an A-rank jutsu called "Lightning Release: Lightning Leopard," and the other was a B-rank jutsu called "Lightning Release: False Darkness."
The first technique required mastery of both Lightning Release's nature transformation and shape transformation, making it extremely difficult and thus classified as an A-rank jutsu.
The second technique did not require shape transformation, so it was only a B-rank jutsu. (The rank of a jutsu reflects its learning difficulty, not necessarily its power.)
"Lightning Release: Lightning Leopard" was very similar to the "Lightning Release: Lightning Hound" used by Hatake Kakashi in the original story.
Both involved condensing lightning chakra in the palm and shaping it into a beast to attack the enemy. However, the Lightning Leopard was faster than the Lightning Hound, though its power might be slightly weaker.
This jutsu emphasized speed—ordinary Body Flicker techniques would struggle to evade it.
Since Ryun had already mastered both nature and shape transformation for Lightning Release, learning these two high-level techniques would not be a problem. He planned to use shadow clones to speed up the process.
Soon, the quiet cave echoed with the crackling of lightning.
At a Konoha camp in the Land of Rain, the defeated Sannin were in low spirits.
Hanzō of the Salamander's strength was overwhelming. Even though they had taken antidotes beforehand to resist his poison mist, they still couldn't defeat him.
At this point in time, the Sannin were still too young!
"I wonder how Ryun is doing..." Orochimaru murmured softly.
Ryun had not returned to this backup camp, and Orochimaru suspected he might have encountered serious trouble.
This battle had been chaotic, and Orochimaru himself had barely survived. He hadn't had time to check on his student's whereabouts.
"He should be fine. That kid is strong. Even if he ran into danger, he'd probably escape," Tsunade said, offering rare words of comfort.
"Has anyone been sent to look for him? Or asked others?" Jiraiya asked.
He believed Ryun was likely in grave danger. The battlefield was ruthless, and even they could only barely protect themselves, let alone a child...
If Ryun were unharmed, he would have returned to camp and regrouped with his comrades, not disappeared without a trace.
Though he privately thought Ryun might be dead, Jiraiya didn't voice it to avoid upsetting Orochimaru further.
"I've asked around. Some saw him being chased by two enemies, but due to the chaos of the battlefield and the poison mist, no one could help him..." Orochimaru lowered his head as he shared this information.
He had learned of Ryun's heroic performance on the battlefield and was certain that his student had attracted enemy attention by fighting too fiercely.
"Ryun's strength is on par with a jonin. The only ones who could force him to retreat would be two jonin..."
When Orochimaru said this, Tsunade bit her lip anxiously, fearing the worst for her younger brother figure.
"Someone!" Tsunade shouted toward the tent entrance. She wanted to send a search party—alive or dead, she needed confirmation.
But Jiraiya raised a hand to stop her.
"That area is enemy territory now. It's too dangerous..."
He didn't want to risk more lives just to find one person.
"Dammit!!!" Tsunade slammed her fist onto the low table, shattering it instantly.
Compared to Tsunade's anger, Orochimaru, as Ryun's teacher, remained much calmer.
"I believe that child won't die so easily in the Land of Rain. He has remarkable strength and knows how to feign weakness. He's an exceptional shinobi. I don't think two jonin could keep him trapped. Ryun was probably delayed by something."
Hearing this, Tsunade paused.
Especially the words "feigning weakness" and "exceptional shinobi"—Orochimaru's evaluation was nearly identical to her grandmother's past assessment of Ryun.
Ryun's youth often led others to underestimate his strength. Tsunade knew just how special this boy was... Yet, she still subconsciously thought of him as too young and instinctively doubted his capabilities...
Now, thinking carefully, she suddenly understood the meaning behind these words.
After processing Orochimaru's words, Tsunade's anger and worry faded by seventy or eighty percent.
"Orochimaru, has he awakened the Sharingan?"