chapter fourteen

Walking into the compound, he by passed his uncle and aunts house to his own apartment that he acquired after passing the chunin exams marking him as an adult. After a much needed bath he scrutinized himself in the mirror noticing the changes time had wrought on his body. He had grown to 5.2ft, taller than Itachi. His lean muscular body was devoid of any fat, thanks to the body training technique and sun breathing technique he got from ROB. 50% of his muscles had turned into pink muscles, he could confidently say he had one of the strongest bodies at his age. The breathing technique has the ability to make a normal person have the strength to battle demons, and using it in a world where Ninja are already trained to be stronger and faster than normal the effect is more profound. With both techniques, the body training and sun breathing, he could defeat a normal Jonin using only Taijutsu without actively using his breathing technique.

He got dressed and went to sleep, tired from the mission and stressed by the situation of the Uchiha.

............….

The next morning, Ryu planned to visit Naruto and Karin. After many attempts and despite the resistance from Danzo who was still trying to get his hands on the boy, he finally got Naruto situated with Karin and her mom.

Reaching their front door, he knocked and waited to be let in.

'Ahh!! Ryu nii-san!' Karin exclaimed, opening the front door wide.

'Yo Karin, how are you?' he smiled down at her.

'I'm fine.' She blushed, ducking her head. She had grown up since she was first brought to the village.

'Where is Naruto?' he looked around for his blonde head.

'He went out to play with his friends at the park.'

'Oh! No problem then.' He said. 'So what you up to?'

'I was just practicing the seals that you taught me.' She beckoned him in.

'Really, let me see how good you've become.'

Both Naruto and Karin had started attending the Ninja Academy. Ryu had taken it upon himself to teach Karin the secrets of sealing Jutsu two years ago and she had a real talent for it. Naruto on the other hand was a complete failure at it, so Ryu tutored him in the way of Body training and Taijutsu. He also teaches them both chakra control, Karin could already walk on water and Naruto was still at tree climbing because of the poor chakra control of the Nine tails.

He spent part of the day with Karin teaching her till her mom came home, and after that he went to the training ground that they usually train. He met Itachi and Shisui sparring, he watched in silence from the top of a tree till Shisui won the spar. He dropped down in front of them grinning, as Shisui helped Itachi up from the ground.

'Yo, Ryu you're back.'

'Yo Guys.' Ryu answered. 'Shisui what are you doing here, don't you have a mission?'

'Done and dusted.' He smirked, folding his arms across his chest.

'Good job.'

As they were done with training, the three Uchiha's went to the Naka River to rest for a bit and catch up.

'So how is the situation'?'

'Bad.' Ryu sighed, as he looked for a place to sit.

'We couldn't do anything but delay the plan.' Itachi said.

'Of course, it is. With how prideful they are it will be hard to get them to stop'

After Ryu passed the Chunin exam he wasn't still allowed to join the clan meetings, yet still they had him and Itachi working as spies for them.

'So, did you find any allies?' Ryu asked.

'No' they confessed. 'They are still loyal to the clan.'

'So that plan is a no go.' Ryu exhaled.

'Yeah.'

'It seems they still have eyes on me.' Ryu asked no one in particular.

'Well that's because they fear the strength of the flaming sword demon.' Shisui confirmed with a smile.

The clan had asked Shisui to keep tabs on both Ryu and Itachi, for their trust in them was virtually non-existence, especially Ryu. He was the strongest of the three and could take them both on to a draw.

'I'm guessing there is the option of assassinating me.'

'But they already crossed that off the list.' He nodded.

'It would take too much to take you down and they need their full strength for the coup.

'Stopping a coup is harder than I thought.' He said. 'No matter which angle you look at it, the only way to stop it is if one side is completely wiped out. It is as Danzo said, even if Shisui uses his eyes the village will not stop suspecting the Uchiha and that might lead to another coup.' He thought about what Danzo said in the anime when he watched it.

'Guess we will keep on trying and see what we can do.' Shisui said.

Ryu could see that Shisui had already decided to take matters into his own hands and use his ability on the clan.

'Okay take this.' Understanding that there was little he could do, Ryu gave them each one of his flying thunder god kunai. He had mastered there flying god thunder god technique two years ago.

'Keep this with you at all times if you're in trouble just channel chakra into it and I will be there.'

'Is this the…' Shisui breathed in awe as he saw the kunai.

'Yes it is.' Ryu answered.

'Okay I will keep it.'

He resolved to do something about Danzo, there was no way he could allow him to have Shisui's eyes.

'NII-SAN' we turned as we heard Sasuke calling.

'Nii- san, I have been looking everywhere for you!' he panted, turning to look at all of us.

'Yo.' Shisui greeted.

'Shisui…Ryu ni, you're both here…what's going on?'

'You're too young to know.' Itachi flicked his forehead, making him pout.

'Now Itachi, you can't keep Sasuke out of everything.' Shisui argued as he took Sasuke aside.

'You see, we were talking about which one of us is the strongest but both of them don't want to admit that I'm stronger, isn't that right Sasuke?'

'No Nii-san is stronger.'

'Really! But I have the Sharingan.' Shisui flashed his eyes.

'Nii- san has it too!' Sasuke disputed.

Ryu watched them argue about who was stronger with a sad smile on his face.

'So Itachi, you going for a mission? He asked.

'Yeah, I wont be long, a few days at the latest.'

'Okay, say hello to aunt for me.' Ryu farewelled Itachi as he took Sasuke back home leaving him with Shisui.

'Shisui, you're planning something aren't you?' Rye asked.

'You can tell?' Shisui smiled, not at all surprised.

'I have been with you long enough to know.'

'I have a plan to stop the coup, only I can do it.' He insisted, his face tight.

'Okay.' Ryu nodded. 'I won't ask for details but call if you need help.' He said before he stood and walked away.

'Yeah thanks.'

Shisui planned to use his Mangekyo Sharingan to stop the coup and had to meet with the Hokage. Ryu had to be ready for Danzo as he had already changed a lot of things and couldn't predict what would happen. He sent a clone to shadow Shisui and keep him out of danger, as for the coup he already has a plan for that.