The world was still draped in the deep, velvety blue of pre-dawn when Ryu arrived at the Sarutobi estate. The air was cool and carried the scent of night-blooming flowers and damp earth. He found Hiruzen exactly as he had imagined: sitting on his veranda, a cup of steaming green tea held in his weathered hands, watching the first faint hints of purple and orange paint the eastern sky. He looked less like the 'God of Shinobi' and more like any other grandfather enjoying a quiet, peaceful morning.
That impression shattered the moment their eyes met. Hiruzen's gaze was as sharp and clear as a winter morning, missing nothing. He smiled, a genuine warmth that reached his eyes. "You are punctual, Ryu-kun. A fine quality in a shinobi. Come, finish your tea with me, and then we will begin."
They shared a comfortable silence as the sun slowly climbed, chasing the last of the shadows from the tranquil garden. When the cups were empty, Hiruzen stood, his movements surprisingly fluid for a man of his age. "Follow me."
He led Ryu not to a grand training field, but to a secluded, expansive clearing behind his home, surrounded by ancient, towering trees. The ground was packed earth, scarred and pitted from countless hours of intense training. This was Hiruzen's private sanctuary, a place where legends had been forged.
Hiruzen turned, his expression shifting from that of a kindly host to a stern master. "Before your training can begin, I must know you. Not your name, not your potential, but the sum of your power as you are now. I need to see the depths of your skill and the height of your will."
He settled into a relaxed, unassuming stance, yet the air around him seemed to thicken, pressing in on Ryu with an immense, invisible weight. "Your task is simple," Hiruzen said, his voice losing its grandfatherly warmth, replaced by the hard edge of a Kage. "Come at me with everything you have. Do not concern yourself with holding back, because I assure you, I will not."
Ryu's heart hammered against his ribs. This was it. He knew he would only have one chance to land a meaningful blow, one chance to surprise the man who had seen everything. He wouldn't waste it on feints or taijutsu. He needed to unleash his ace from the very start.
"As you wish, Lord Third," Ryu said, his own expression hardening into a mask of pure focus.
He closed his eyes and drew on his chakra, not just the lightning, but the wind as well. A low, electric hum filled the clearing as a crackling blue aura erupted around his small frame. Then, he fed his wind nature into the vortex. The blue warped, swirling with streams of vibrant green, coalescing into a brilliant, unstable aura of pure teal. The ground at his feet cracked, and his pink hair stood on end, each strand alive with static.
Hiruzen's eyebrows shot up, a flicker of genuine astonishment crossing his features. This is… it is structured like the Raikage's Lightning Armour, yet different. More volatile. To develop a jutsu of this caliber on his own… at his age… this boy is more than a genius. He is a prodigy of a generation.
The teal armour around Ryu pulsed, and with an explosive burst of power, he launched himself forward. He moved so fast he seemed to bend the light around him, leaving a shimmering afterimage hanging in the air where he'd stood. He appeared directly in front of Hiruzen, his fist cocked back, the compressed energy of his armour ready to be unleashed in a devastating blow.
But Hiruzen was already there. He hadn't moved, yet he was perfectly positioned. "Too direct," the old Hokage murmured.
Before Ryu's punch could even begin its forward motion, Hiruzen's own hand shot out. It moved with a deceptive, relaxed speed that was faster than Ryu's eye could follow. His palm, glowing with a soft, pure white light—Yang Release, the very essence of physical energy—intercepted not Ryu's fist, but his gut.
The impact was absolute. The brilliant teal armour shattered like glass, the Yang-infused strike neutralizing the chakra on contact. The force of the blow drove the air from Ryu's lungs in a pained gasp and sent him tumbling backward through the air, crashing onto the hard-packed earth. He lay there, curled around his stomach, the world spinning.
Before he could even register the pain, he felt an immense, searing heat. He looked up to see Hiruzen, a perfect sequence of hand seals blurring into a single motion, his cheeks puffed out. "Fire\ Style:\ Great\ Fireball\ Jutsu!"
A monstrous sphere of roaring flame, far larger and more intense than Itachi's, blotted out the sky as it descended on him. Instinct took over. Ryu forced his aching body to move, rolling desperately to the side. The fireball slammed into the ground where he'd been, the shockwave of heat and force washing over him, charring his clothes and searing his skin. He cried out, scrambling to his feet, his body bruised and burned.
He needed time. He needed a distraction. Weaving a frantic hand seal, he poured the last of his accessible reserves into a single jutsu. "Shadow\ Clone\ Jutsu!"
Two perfect copies of himself poofed into existence beside him. "Go!" he commanded. The clones, sharing his desperation, charged Hiruzen from opposite flanks. While they occupied the Hokage, the real Ryu staggered back, hiding behind a large boulder. He thrust his hands forward, gathering every last, desperate dreg of his chakra. The spinning vortex of teal energy, his final gambit, began to form between his palms.
Hiruzen dealt with the clones with contemptuous ease. He flowed around the first clone's attack, redirecting its punch into the dirt, and dispatched it with a single, precise chop to the neck. The second clone he simply allowed to pass before extending a leg, tripping it and dispelling it with a casual stomp.
There, Hiruzen thought, his senses pinpointing the massive, chaotic chakra gathering behind the boulder. He's planning something big.
He flickered, appearing directly in front of the real Ryu, his hand raised for the final blow. He drove his fist forward, aiming for the boy's abdomen to safely disrupt the jutsu.
This time, however, the impact felt… wrong. The Ryu before him dissolved into a puff of smoke, a splintered log clattering to the ground in his place. A Substitution! Clever boy!
"Secret Technique: Magnificent Destruction!"
The real Ryu's voice roared from behind him. Hiruzen turned just in time to see a brilliant, blindingly intense beam of pure teal energy, thick as a tree trunk, erupt from the boy's hands. It tore through the space where he stood, screaming through the air and carving a molten, perfectly circular tunnel through three massive boulders at the edge of the clearing before finally vanishing into the distant forest. The sheer destructive power was breathtaking.
Ryu stood panting, his arms trembling, his entire body screaming from chakra exhaustion. He stared at the path of utter annihilation, a triumphant, weary grin spreading across his face. He had done it. He had actually hit the God of Shinobi.
"An impressive technique."
The voice came from directly behind him. Ryu's blood ran cold. Before he could even turn, a gentle but firm hand chopped him lightly on the back of the neck.
The world went black. Ryu's consciousness winked out, his body crumpling forward. But he didn't hit the ground. A strong, steady arm caught him.
Hiruzen held the small, unconscious boy, looking over at the path of destruction. The Hiruzen that had been hit by the beam dissolved into smoke. A shadow clone. He had made it at the last possible second.
To create a jutsu of that scale, combining two separate nature transformations… and the battle sense to use a substitution at the critical moment… Hiruzen thought, a slow, proud smile spreading across his face. I was right. The future of the Leaf is in truly remarkable hands.
He carried the boy back to the house. The moment he stepped inside, Biwako was there, her hands on her hips, her warm eyes flashing with stern disapproval.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi! Look at this child! He is burned, bruised, and completely drained! Were you trying to train him or break him?" she scolded, taking Ryu from his arms with a surprising strength.
"Now, now, my dear, he was the one who insisted on going all out," Hiruzen said, though he knew it was a weak defense.
"And you are the adult who was supposed to know better," she retorted, laying Ryu gently on a soft mat in the living area. A warm, green aura enveloped her hands as she began the healing process, her touch erasing the burns and soothing the deep bruises. "Honestly," she murmured, her expression softening as she looked at the boy's peaceful, sleeping face. "To push himself this hard… he must be carrying a heavy burden."
Hiruzen watched her, his own smile softening. "Yes," he said quietly. "But he will not have to carry it alone."