The night was thick, seeping into the edges of Konoha.
Ryo flicked the mud from his Kusanagi scabbard and stepped into his small, simple dwelling.
A tingling sensation lingered on his left shoulder from Tsunade's rough treatment, but deeper still was a burning exhaustion spreading from within his body.
Every muscle screamed. Every bone groaned. His whole body reminded him of the insane life-and-death battle with Tsunade in the Forest of Death only hours earlier.
Did he win?
No. Strictly speaking, he'd been beaten into submission.
But forcing Tsunade to that extent, making her bleed and stumble, that was enough.
His next goal was to beat her so badly she couldn't get out of bed. How practical that was remained to be seen, since Tsunade was a medical ninja, but that didn't stop him from wanting to try.
Ryo wiped his face, sweat and dirt clumping in his palm.
He didn't light a lamp. Moonlight spilled faintly through the window, just enough to outline his cross-legged figure.
Time for a debrief. His mind spun like a precision machine, replaying the battle frame by frame.
"Integration, 50.6%," he calculated. "Elite jōnin-level combat power. Barely qualified."
But the number didn't move. It was stuck.
His body was holding him back.
Armament Haki was powerful, but it demanded extreme physical strength.
Ryo looked at his eleven-year-old body. His heart beat steady, muscles bulged, blood rushed like ocean waves. Among his peers, his physique was monstrous.
But still immature. It couldn't fully support Armament Haki.
Muscle fiber density, bone durability, blood vessel tolerance, these needed years to temper.
Right now, it was like strapping bicycle wheels to a sports car. Press the accelerator all you want, it won't move.
Frustrating.
And worse, Ryo understood the essence of Haki—unwavering conviction.
Yet his progress hit a wall for another reason entirely.
His body wasn't just immature, it was bottlenecked.
The system's integration rate couldn't climb without real life-and-death pressure. Shadow Clone drills and sparring weren't enough anymore. His instincts sharpened, his techniques refined, but without the visceral edge of true killing intent pressing down, his growth slowed to a crawl.
He wasn't afraid of danger, he just refused to throw himself into suicidal battles before he had the capital to survive them.
So his strength crawled forward only through natural development, muscle memory, and swordsmanship refinement. Painfully slow.
The irritation burned like a hot wire around his heart, tightening more and more.
No.
The scent of war had already seeped into Konoha like a cold mist.
Standing still was suicide.
Ryo forced down the frustration and the red-haired figure flickering in his mind.
His gaze turned to the other source of power within him.
Chakra.
There, he had an overwhelming advantage.
"Chakra nature?" he muttered. "All five elements, basic use, nothing special. Common sense for a transmigrator."
The real key was quantity.
Ordinary ninja had chakra. Elites had a lot.
Ryo's physical talent was so far beyond normal.
On top of that, his transmigrator soul buffed his mental power. And somewhere in his bloodline lurked the spark of Conqueror's Haki.
Quantitative change into qualitative change? Wrong. He was skipping straight to a sea of chakra.
As an adult, he would probably walk around with reserves on par with a Tailed Beast. A living chakra sea.
And for the past two years, he had abused the ultimate cheat: Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Other shinobi risked their lives using it.
Him? With his absurd physique and mind, he could tank the backlash of multiple clones at once.
More clones, more progress. Basics? Control? Tree climbing? Water walking? Nature transformations?
He had an army grinding for him.
His chakra control wasn't supernatural, but it was close to microscopic precision. That ocean of chakra obeyed him like a tame Tailed Beast.
So, ninjutsu? That was where the cards lay.
Flying Thunder God? God-tier. Sealing techniques? Six Paths level. Perfect trump cards.
But all forbidden.
Tsunade wasn't handing those over. If he could barely walk, why would she let him run?
Fine. If he couldn't reach for the top-tier, he'd forge his own path.
His target: Rasengan.
No hand seals. Instant activation. Unexpected. Deadly.
Naruto spammed his way to Super Kage with nothing but Rasengan variations.
Ryo knew the principle. Reverse-engineering it was easy. His memory was a treasure trove.
Two years of research paid off. Chakra shape transformation—second nature. Nature transformation—early progress. Rasengan with elemental attributes was already within reach.
For two years, he hadn't taught it to Kushina.
Why?
Because she was already overloaded. Academy during the day, Mito drilling sealing arts at night. She was pale from exhaustion.
Ryo just wanted her to have some normal days before the world crushed her.
But now?
The horn of war had blown.
Could he guarantee he wouldn't be drafted tomorrow?
No.
If he was gone, what about Kushina?
Her level now? Taijutsu, average. Ninjutsu, aside from some Uzumaki sealing basics and a few D-rank water tricks, hopelessly weak.
Not acceptable.
She had to be armed.
The plan crystallized.
Step one: teach her Rasengan before graduation. A trump card for both offense and defense.
Step two: once she became the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, teach her Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
With her Uzumaki bloodline's massive chakra and Adamantine Sealing Chains, plus the shadow clone cheat, the results spoke for themselves.
Naruto had pulled it off with less talent and only Asura's chakra cheat.
Kushina's talent wasn't any worse. She just needed the right push.
Then? Perfect jinchūriki. A complete Nine-Tails inside her. Infinite chakra. Super Kage-level combat power, guaranteed.
"Perfect jinchūriki, massive chakra, shadow clone spam, Rasengan… safe and secure." Ryo made his decision.
(To be continued.)