Chapter 256: Ryo’s Way
The moment that Shisui pulled out his blade, his whole temperament underwent a great change. His mere presence felt dangerous, as if dealing with him was like messing with a sharp blade.
Ryo could sense the Chakra of the people around his apprentice. There were over 30 of them, most being Chunin, with 2 Jonin being in the lead.
With Shisui being surrounded for quite some time now, he had probably gauged their power well enough as well.
Initially, he was worried that his companions would not escape, but Ryo’s arrival comforted him.
Shisui knew his Sensei’s character. While he would not hesitate to take life, he would not just watch the innocent die without interfering. With his companions being safe, Shisui could finally attack at ease.
Suddenly, his figure became blurred, and then a series of afterimages formed a trail going to one of the Jonins. The latter could not even react before his throat was slit by Shisui.
Most of the surrounding Ninjas were shocked by what they had witnessed. However; being near 30 men, they still had it in them to attack.
Witnessing him killing one of their two leaders, everyone instinctively threw their weapons; Kunais, poisoned needles and Shurikens went towards Shisui who remained standing in front of the dead Jonin.
What they did not expect was that these hidden weapons would just go through “Shisui”, as if hitting a mere shadow!
As they were still stunned, Shisui himself jumped from one of the other shadows, targeting the other Jonin.
The latter was still frightened by everything that had just happened, and did not put up any resistance.
With their leaders gone, what remained of the enemy team was of no threat to Shisui, and the battle turned into a one-sided slaughter.
“Good job, you’ve made great progress; especially on your afterimage technique! Your shadow seem so realistic now; you haven’t been too lazy after all!” Ryo was very satisfied with Shisui’s performance.
“It’s all Sensei’s teaching!” Shisui smiled, a bit embarrassed.
Not rejecting flattery, Ryo nodded and smiled; this kid knew by now how to play on his ego…
After chatting for a while, the apprentice went to the point saying: “Oh, by the way, why did you come looking for me Sensei?”
“Don’t worry about that. Complete your mission for now, and I will wait for you at the 3rd Training Ground.”
Shisui nodded, and began to pack the corpses of his enemies into scrolls to take them to Konoha before leaving. Meanwhile, Ryo went to the 3rd training ground.
A few hours later, he heard: “Sensei! I’m here!”
He left time for the rushing Shisui to catch his breath, before saying: “Shisui, some civilians and Ninjas in the village have been in this conflict with the Uchiha clan. I thought you should probably already know about it, and I was curious about your thoughts on the matter.”
Shisui was not expecting the question, but he had nothing to hide: “Most of my clan is not taking this matter to heart. To them, these are just jealous people, ones to be ignored if calm, and arrested if causing trouble.”
“And what do you think?” Ryo continued to ask.
After a few moments of thought, Shisui replied: “I’m actually against what’s going on. This method will only further intensify the problems that the village has with the Uchiha. Fugaku san also thinks the same and had even called for a clan meeting about the matter.”
Hearing that Shisui and Fugaku did not think like the rest of the Uchiha, Ryo was secretly relieved. At least, there were a few people in the clan who were sane.
After thinking about it, Ryo decided to talk to Fugaku before making any move.
At night, Shisui stopped by Fugaku’s place with a scroll that Ryo gave to him.
At this time, Fugaku was troubled by the conflict going on in the village, and was of few words when addressing Shisui.
The latter could tell that his clan’s head was really not in the mood for a chat, so he just delivered the scroll and left.
Watching Shisui leave, Fugaku opened the scroll, quickly browsing through it, just to frown: The Scroll was an invitation to him to come to the Naka Shrine at night.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he decided to go. After all, this was an invitation from Ryo.
Soon after, he arrived at the Shrine, and found Ryo waiting for him.
“Ryo, what’s the matter? Why did you bring me here?” Uchiha Fugaku went straight to the point.
Ryo was also too lazy to talk nonsense: “I want to talk to you Fugaku san, about the situation of the Uchiha in the village!”
“What about it?”
“It’s about the recent conflict. I don’t think it’s now time to determine who is right or wrong. What’s done is done, and the clan is already alienated from the rest of the village.”
Fugaku did not expect Ryo to be so straight about the matter, but he did not argue with him. After all, what Ryo just said was an objective undisputable fact.
“Fugaku san, I believe your silence means you agree? Well, I guess also you’re not finding a good way to deal with this yet, are you? Therefore, why not try my way?”
“Your way? What is your way?” Fugaku asked with some doubts.
“My solution is to move! Get the Uchiha clan to move to the periphery of Konoha!”
Fugaku’s face turned heavy, for Ryo’s method was just too bold! However, being the head of his clan, he immediately understood what Ryo’s aim was.
First, this will allow the Uchiha’s to have less contact, and thus, less friction with the rest of Konoha.
Second, this will give the villagers an illusion of victory over the Uchiha. They would feel like they had joined hands, and defeated the mightiest clan in the village. With such a “reward” to their “efforts”, they would be much less persistent when it comes to “punishing” the Uchiha.
The only problem is that the Uchiha clan had been isolated from the center of Konoha before. If they are to be moved again to the periphery of the village, they might not have a chance to ever come back!
Ryo knew about Fugaku’s worries, but he could not give him any promise that he would get them back. He wanted to help the Uchiha, but they had to make some compromises.
Instead of answering directly, Fugaku asked Ryo: “Why do you want to help the Uchiha, Ryo?”
Ryo knew that he was going to hear that question. Smiling, he answered: “Well, my father is an Uchiha after all, and the one who’s trying to frame your clan is probably an enemy of mine.”
“Your enemy?! Ryo, you already know who’s behind this?” Fugaku asked in surprise.
“Well, I do have some clues, but I’m not sure yet!”
Fugaku nodded and did not continue to ask. The conversation between the two ended, and Ryo’s figure disappeared into the night, leaving only Fugaku to think about his clan’s future.