Chapter 79 - 79 (1/2)
The Hidden Stone suffered a huge loss after a big battle against the Sand. The Sand themselves had just lost to Konoha. Even though they won their battle against the Stone, they could not bear to fight any more.
This caused the troops in the battlefield of the Wind Country: Konoha's, the Sand's and the Stone's troops to be mutually restrained. In the earth country, Konoha, the Stone and the Hidden Cloud were in a similar state. In the water country, it was the same for Konoha, the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Mist.
The five major countries were restrained and the 3rd world war entered a stage of attrition after nearly half a year of all out battles.
That way, time flew, and a year passed quietly.
During that year, while there were no major moves made on the different battlefields, various small-scale encounters and ambushes continued.
On the desert field outside Konoha's Camp in the Wind Country, Sakumo and Ryo continued training daily.
It was year 44, and Ryo was almost 12 years old. He was about the same age as Naruto throughout most of the 1st anime.
During that year, Ryo had undergone great changes in more than one way.
The first way was in height. During that year, Ryo seemed to be springing up. Now he's about 1.6 meters tall. (TL note: That's around 5ft 3 in)
Then there was the amount of Chakra he had. Ryo's initial Chakra stores were much higher than those of a regular Ninja because of his Ice Release. Although he was by no means close to Naruto in that respect, his levels still reached those of of quasi-kage.
With that, his overall strength significantly increased.
In a recent encounter, Ryo had to face Chiyo. Apart from Ice Colossus, Ryo used all he had against the 55 year old veteran.
She was definitely Kage tier, but Ryo still managed to hold his own against her and the fight ended in a tie. He was already that strong.
Looking at the boy in front of him, Sakumo couldn't help but sigh while witnessing his rapid growth.
At the mere age of 12, Ryo was capable of taking on a weaker Kage. Even the renowned ”God of Ninjas” Hashirama Senju only reached Kage tier at the age of 13.
After finishing his training with Sakumo, Ryo returned to the medical team. After a whole year of hard work, most of the Medical Ninjas operating under him were able to put modern medical knowledge to use.
They actually managed to form a greatly deepened understanding of the human anatomy and physiology, and also acquired much better surgical skills.
”Hey Ming, how are you today?” Back at the medical team, Ryo went to visit his old team member Ming Hyuga.
During his battle with Chiyo a few days ago, Ryo had his hand full fighting her. All the other medical Ninjas only had Ming and two other Chunins to protect them.
Fortunately, this encounter was accidental, and Chiyo only had an elite Jonin by her side.
Ming was strong, and his Byakugan helped. But he was no opponent for the elite Jonin.
After checking on him, Ryo left and went to his sister Ryoko Yamanaka. She didn't have as much spiritual power as him, but she had much better control.
Six month ago, they started studying the secret techniques of their clan together and strengthening their mental control. Off course, with that learning process, Ryo had to endure the inevitable Romance.
After all, over the past year, Ryoko's relationship with Rokk Nara continued to heat up. Rokk, who used to be the usual lazy Nara, became a whole other person in her presence, being really humorous and even surprising from time to time.
The two had great feelings to each other. Being trained together ever since childhood, that built up a great emotional foundation for their relationship. Adding to that his change in character, Ryoko was heels over head for him.
Today, when visiting his sister, Ryo found that Rokk was not there.