Paving the Way

Yamanaka Ryo used Healing Technique to help Naruto and Sasuke briefly treat their injuries, and then took the two kids to his office.

"Tell me about it! Why?"

Both of them lowered their heads, and neither of them said anything.

"You two, if you don't give me a reasonable explanation, I'm going to have to notify your parents."

At the mention of parents, Naruto and Sasuke were a little shaken.

After a moment, Naruto said, "It was Sasuke who said he wanted to spar with me."

"Sparring? It doesn't look like you're sparring to me; you're fighting for your lives."

Naruto scratched his head, looking like he wanted to say something. Sasuke still bowed his head in silence.

Upon seeing this, Yamanaka Ryo guessed that the reason should be on Sasuke's side. He then said to Naruto, "Okay, Naruto, you go back first! I'll go to your house tonight and talk to your mother."

"Huh? Uncle, it's better to forget it..."

Yamanaka Ryo glared at Naruto. Naruto's neck shrunk, and he didn't say anything as he hung his head and left.

After Naruto left, Yamanaka Ryo said to Sasuke, "Well Sasuke; now it's just the two of us, can you tell me why?"

Sasuke didn't explain why, but asked in a whisper, "Ryo-sama, can you guide me in my training?"

"Guiding you? Why? The Uchiha Clan has your father, and Shisui, isn't it enough to have them around?"

Sasuke smiled and raised his head. A pair of scarlet three tomoe Sharingan spinning in the pumps; his eyes were full of doubt, disbelief, and hatred.

Sasuke looked into Yamanaka Ryo's eyes and said with unparalleled determination, "I want to surpass someone. I want to find him and ask him a question. I saw him the other day, and you alone repelled him and that shark-faced man. Only you can give me such power."

Yamanaka Ryo then understood why Sasuke changed so much. It turned out that he saw Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame before.

Although Itachi didn't destroy the entire Uchiha Clan like the original story, he slaughtered a large part of the Uchiha Clan. He left the same seed of hatred to Sasuke before leaving.

Itachi still hoped that the future Sasuke could end his life and give an explanation to Konoha, Uchiha, his parents, and Sasuke.

With this in mind, Yamanaka Ryo had decided to teach Sasuke. However, the current Sasuke was too weak, nothing worth teaching him. After a moment's hesitation, Yamanaka Ryo decided to hand Sasuke over to Orochimaru first so that Orochimaru could help him refine Sasuke for a while.

The atmosphere of Otogakure, where the weak were eaten by the strong, was the best way to exercise people's will and make them grow up at the fastest speed.

"Sasuke, right now, you are still too weak to qualify for my teaching. If you are willing, I want you to go to Orochimaru to train for a while, and when you are strong enough, I will come back to teach you."

Yamanaka Ryo told his idea to Sasuke, and when Sasuke heard Orochimaru's name, he froze. He then thought of the man who had scared away Kurotsuchi and saved them as soon as he appeared in the Forest of Death.

"Orochimaru? He shouldn't be bad, either!'

Upon thinking of this, Sasuke's eyes firm up, "Ryo-sama, I am willing to go to Orochimaru."

Yamanaka Ryo smiled and said, "Then you go home and talk to your parents. Tomorrow I will take you to Orochimaru."

Sasuke nodded and left Yamanaka Ryo's office.

"I wonder whether it is already time. It seems that I can't let Uncle Jiraiya idle."

After saying that, Yamanaka Ryo figure disappeared from the office.

.......

Today was the day when Jiraiya's new work was on sale.

Jiraiya was unprecedented not to pick up materials but to find a good location to look at the Konoha bookstore and pay attention to his new books' sales.

The Konoha bookstore had long put up posters promoting Jiraiya's new book, and nearly a thousand civilians and ninjas lined up at the door, waiting to buy Jiraiya's new work.

"This year's fans are also so enthusiastic. It seems that my new book sales are going to be record-breaking, hahaha!"

Jiraiya was hyped over his new novel selling well when Yamanaka Ryo appeared behind him, interrupting his beautiful dream.

"Uncle Jiraiya, I need to talk to you about something. Come with me."

After saying this, he took Jiraiya to his office by teleportation without any reason.

......

In the office, Jiraiya said with a grimace, "Hey! Kid, you better have something important, you know today is the day of my new book launch. If you interfere with my life because of some insignificant little thing, I will definitely kill you."

"Of course, it's not trivial! Uncle Jiraiya, I am talking to you about the Child of the Prophecy."

"Child of the Prophecy? What do you know, kid? Tell me!" Jiraiya was stunned, then immediately urged to.

After learning of the Child of the Prophecy from the Great Toad Sage in his youth, Jiraiya searched for it.

However, after so many years, the Child of the Prophecy he thought had passed away one by one—First Nagato, then Minato.

Even if Minato had been resurrected, but how could someone who had already died become the Child of the Prophecy? So Jiraiya was still searching, looking for someone who could really correspond to the Great Toad Sage prediction.

So now that Yamanaka Ryo had information about the Child of the Prophecy, Jiraiya was incredibly excited.

Yamanaka Ryo smiled and said, "Uncle Jiraiya, the Child of the Prophecy I'm talking about is Naruto."

"Naruto? Don't be ridiculous. How is that possible."

"How is that impossible? Uncle Jiraiya, you do not notice? Naruto has a special charm in him. This charm can infect others so that people close to him can not help but want to help him."

"Uncle Jiraiya, I think the so-called Child of the Prophecy is such a person who can guide and change others."

"Guide and change others? I understand what you mean, kid, but I still can't believe that Naruto is the Child of the Prophecy. Give me a few days; I will confirm it properly."

"Well, of course."

......

That night, Yamanaka Ryo went to Kushina's house as promised.

Kushina knew that Yamanaka Ryo was coming and specially prepared a big table of delicious food.

Before dinner, Yamanaka Ryo suddenly said to Naruto, "Naruto, I see your mother does not seem to have prepared wine. Can you help me go buy a bottle?" Yamanaka Ryo said and handed Naruto money.

Naruto grimaced, somewhat reluctantly, but went out buy it anyway.

After hearing the door slam, Kushina came out of the kitchen just in time to see Naruto leave, "Huh? It's almost time for dinner; what's Naruto doing?"

"Sister Kushina, I was the one who sent Naruto away; I wanted to discuss something with you."

"Discuss what?" Kushina asked a little strangely.

"It's like this. I want Naruto to follow Uncle Jiraiya to train for some time. During this time, you can also go to Minato and live together as a couple, how about it?"

Yamanaka Ryo thought Kushina would immediately agree, but he did not expect Kushina's expression to look serious.

Her expression when she looked at him also carried some wariness.