It was drizzling outside, making things damp. Ryou found a cave and began interrogating Kakashi and the other two.
Obito was making a big fuss, so Ryou hung him up as well.
"Speak or not? Speak or not? Speak or not?"
Ryou took out a wooden vine and severely interrogated Kakashi.
Kakashi was very tough; he hadn't uttered a sound even after being beaten for so long.
Ryou showed a fierce look: "Still stubborn, huh? Candy, shock him, use your Lightning Release on him."
Candy, sucking on a lollipop, felt speechless.
Obito shouted from the side: "Ryou, just ask already! You've been hitting Kakashi for ages and haven't asked anything yet?"
Ryou asked Obito with some confusion: "Ask what?"
Kakashi directly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Rin felt heartbroken and pleaded: "Ryou-senpai, I beg you, stop hitting Kakashi, hit me instead!"
Obito felt distressed for Rin and rushed to speak: "Ryou, if you have the guts, kill me! If I, Uchiha Obito, frown even once, then I'm not a true man."
Their reunion was too sudden; Obito hadn't prepared himself, and he felt that his current appearance would make Rin despise him.
But Rin didn't; she was very surprised to see Obito.
Obito felt he still had hope. As long as he could escape Madara's control, he could be with Rin again.
Ryou looked at the three ill-fated lovers and felt speechless.
Obito liked Rin, but Rin liked Kakashi, and Kakashi didn't like Rin; his eyes were currently only focused on the affection he held for Obito.
Kurenai didn't hold back either: "Uchiha Ryou, you despicable villain, just wait! The Hokage will surely deal with you."
"A mere Kurenai dares to be presumptuous?"
Ryou pulled off Kurenai's shoe and tickled the soles of her feet.
Facing such torture, Kurenai couldn't help but burst into tears of laughter after a while.
"Uchiha Ryou, just give up. We will absolutely not tell you anything."
"Hmph!"
Ryou snorted, put down Kurenai's foot, and found a cloth to stuff in her mouth.
(╬▔皿 ▔).
Kurenai wore a furious expression, looking as if she wanted to kill Ryou.
Ryou walked up to Kakashi and vigorously searched his belongings.
Kakashi seemed to realize something and struggled fiercely, desperately twisting his body to protect his ninja tool pouch.
But the more he struggled, the more energetic Ryou became; he directly ripped off his ninja tool pouch and found a book inside.
Ryou took it out and read—"Adventures of a Flirtatious Man."
Kakashi closed his eyes in despair, thinking how much better it would have been if he had died earlier, avoiding this moment of extreme embarrassment.
"Good grief, Kakashi, you've also turned bad, reading this kind of adult material?"
Ryou slapped Kakashi's face with his little yellow book: "Has the reserved pale-haired boy transformed so quickly?"
Obito and Rin glanced at the book title.
Rin looked at Kakashi with disbelief. Kakashi, if you wanted something, you should have just said so; I could have given it to you.
Even Kurenai stared at Kakashi blankly. Wasn't Kakashi that kind of aloof, cool Ninja? How could he be secretly keeping such a book?
Could it be that Ebisu was right, and Kakashi was secretly passionate inside?
Obito was overjoyed in his heart. Since Rin had seen Kakashi's secretly passionate true colors, his own chances would greatly increase from now on.
"Good job, Kakashi, reading a book like that! I must tell Minato-sensei when we get back."
Kakashi kept his eyes closed, pretending to have fainted.
He was completely socially dead!
Ryou slapped Kakashi's face with his little yellow book: "Is this how Konoha educates the new generation of Ninjas? It's truly doomed."
"I confiscate your book."
Ryou confiscated Kakashi's little yellow book and continued searching his ninja tool pouch.
He suddenly felt something that felt like a Kunai.
Ryou took it out and looked at it, feeling puzzled.
The Kunai was about 20cm long, longer than a standard Kunai, resembling a miniature short sword.
Ryou noticed spiral-shaped formulaic patterns on both sides of the Kunai, which looked like Sealing Jutsu formulas.
Ryou's expression suddenly changed drastically: "Quick, run—"
This type of Kunai was a Flying Thunder God Kunai, a Kunai specially made by Minato.
As long as he had this Kunai, Minato could sense the location of Kakashi and the others and teleport there quickly.
Before Ryou finished speaking, a golden figure appeared holding a blue-and-white Rasengan.
"Minato-sensei!"
Kakashi, Rin, Kurenai, and Obito all showed expressions of joy.
Minato was always Ryou's strictest father.
Ryou quickly grabbed Kurenai's body to shield himself.
Minato reacted instantly, flipped over, and retracted the Rasengan.
Ryou wasted no words, taking Kurenai and Candy, activated the Mayfly Technique to burrow into the earth, and vanished instantly.
"Minato, if you want to save Kurenai, exchange your Flying Thunder God Technique for her!"
"Hee hee hee..."
Tobi and Black Zetsu also controlled Obito's body, activated the Mayfly Technique, and hid within the wall.
"Minato-sensei—"
Obito shouted with all his might.
"Obito!"
Minato rushed forward, but Obito had already merged into the rock wall of the cave.
Minato was a step too late.
"Damn it!"
Minato angrily punched the nearby stone wall... After untying Kakashi and Rin from the vines, Minato questioned them.
"What happened? Why did you discover Ryou's whereabouts?"
Kakashi explained the reason: they suspected the Akatsuki's Medical Ninja Yakuganra was connected to the missing Tsunade, so they followed a group of Rogue Ninjas to the Akatsuki's base.
Who knew that tracking led them to an adult entertainment club. Just as Kakashi and the others were about to leave, they suddenly saw Ryou walking out of the club with two young models!
Could Kakashi tolerate that? Kakashi immediately stepped forward to snatch his young models away... Minato also understood that Kakashi and the others discovering Ryou was completely an exception.
But it was also a pleasant surprise; confirming Ryou was in the Land of Rain meant one thing: Nagato's Rinnegan was indeed related to Madara.
Then Kakashi began recounting the process of his fight with Ryou.
"Minato-sensei, Uchiha Ryou copied my Chidori, and even perfected it. He even gave it a name—Raikiri."
"Minato-sensei, my technique has completely become his."
Kakashi looked somewhat dejected. Ryou being able to copy Chidori had already shaken his Shinobi Way, and perfecting Chidori and naming it Raikiri made Kakashi feel utterly ashamed.
People called him the genius of Konoha, but compared to Uchiha Ryou, he felt he was no genius at all.
Minato was only slightly surprised, not particularly shocked.
Since Ryou could even develop forbidden jutsu, instantly mastering an A-rank secret technique was not particularly difficult to understand.
The Uchiha Clan was inherently a clan favored by heaven.
Minato comforted Kakashi: "Kakashi, don't be sad. Ryou is a genius on the same level as Jiraiya-sensei and the others."
"All this time, it was the hereditary disease that was dragging down his Ninja talent."
Rin interjected: "Then Teacher, if the Village had helped Ryou-senpai resolve his hereditary disease back then, would Ryou-senpai not have had to defect or resurrect Uchiha Madara?"
"..."
Minato suddenly froze.
That's right, Ryou's hereditary disease was just a genetic defect, something Konoha could have solved with effort.
If so, the Village would have solved Ryou's hereditary disease, won his loyalty, and gained a genius Ninja comparable to the Sannin.
Ryou would not have researched forbidden jutsu, killed his fellow Villagers, defected from Konoha, nor would he have resurrected Madara.
If things had developed as Minato imagined, the disastrous situation today would not have occurred.
All of this only required supporting him a little when Ryou was at his most desperate.
But Minato knew this was impossible: the Village's vigilance towards the Uchiha, the Senju Clan's hostility towards the Uchiha, and the Hokage-sama's wariness of Ryou.
All these factors forced Ryou to become a rogue ninja.
If it happened again, would the Third Hokage still take Ryou as a disciple and win his heart?
No, because the only lesson humanity has ever learned from history is that it never learns any lessons.
Even if Ryou's incident had erupted, the rift between the Village and the Uchiha would still exist.