Hokage: Ryo's Path

Chapter 66: Pakura of the Scorch Release

“Ryo Yamanaka? Kazekage Sama, you’ve summoned Shalun and myself from the village just to deal with him?”

In the Sand camp, in Rasa’s tent, an 18-year-old girl and the 4th kazekage were discussing the matter of Ryo.

“Yes, Pakura, the Kazegake has summoned you two, so that you take care of Ryo Yamanaka in the upcoming battle. Shukaku will be rampaging against the ordinary Ninja.” Said Chiyo.

“Chiyo Ba-San, is this Ryo Yamanaka strong?” asked the tall man who had been silent, Shalun.

“He could suppress Shukaku in the desert.” Bunpuku’s words made both their faces dim.

They both knew well how powerful Shukaku was, especially in the desert, and that it’s practically immortal there.

Even together, they were no opponent for it. However, this Ryo Yamanaka could suppress it, meaning that he’s actually even more powerful. This mission started sounding more like death to both of them.

“It’s not like that. This kid uses the techniques of the Akamichi clan. He’s also used over half of Konoha’s Water Release and froze it. He used that as armor to his giant body and became to fight Shukaku. In general, his strength is comparable to that of Shalun.” Chiyo explained the situation to the two according to her understanding.

“Yes, what Chiyo said is right. Ryo Yamanaka is good with ice, so Pakura, your Scorch Release should actually be the perfect counter. With you and Shalun in our ranks in the next battle, that kid is as good as dead!” Said Rasa.

Shalun and Pakura listened to their explanations.

At a young age, Pakura saw her father use his Scorch Release to crack the ice of the Yuki clan. When she heard that Ryo was relied on Ice release, she felt a lot more confident. Her Scorch Release should be an absolute counter to him.

Actually, the arrival of these two gave the whole camp a lot of confidence. In the previous battle, they couldn’t be completely victorious over Konoha’s Ninjas despite the fact that they isolated their strongest fighters. In the 1st battle, they lost to Konoha because of the sudden appearance of a Quasi-Kage tier Ninja amongst their Ranks. Now with two more Quasi-Kage fighters joining their ranks, their victory during the upcoming battle was guaranteed.

In Ryo’s previous world, people often said in forums that Naruto’s strongest power wasn’t his Yin-Yang release. It was his mouth. With his mouth, he convinced Tsunade, persuaded Nagato, and convinced Obito to get back to the right path.

Although this world is yet to witness Naruto’s mouth, his Sensei’s was right there beside Ryo.

Just now, he and Sakumo were admiring Jiraya’s skill with words. After all, fear has spread among Konoha’s Ninjas when they heard that the Sand had two more Quasi-Kage Ninjas on their side. But Jiraya had an impressive spontaneous speech that fired them up and made them pumped up for battle.

“Sakumo San, with Jiraya san having such an ability, what are we rushing into the battlefield for?” Asked Ryo.

Sakumo was also impressed. Usually, he’s a man of few words, a serious man who lets his action speak for themselves. But this scene reminded him that Jiraya’s mouth could do more to morals than a battlefield victory.

“Hey Sakumo San, kid, that speech wasn’t too bad wasn’t it?!” Jiraya proudly asked.

Sakumo and Ryo looked at each-other and then gave him the thumbs up.

Afterwards, Sakumo sent people to summon the representatives of all clans, and all elite Jonins back to hit tent.

“Sakumo San, Jiraya San’s Speech just now came in time and stabilized our men’s Morals. But still, there could still be a power gap.” Said Rokk Nara.

“The Nara representative is right. The sand now has two more Quasi-Kage Ninjas in their camp. One of them is a Scorch-Release Kekkei Genkai user that should counter Ryo Yamanaka’s Ice. And on top of all of that, they still have that killing machine Shukaku. We’re in a really bad postion.” Said a Jonin.

“You don’t have to worry about Shukaku, I have a way of dealing with it.” Said Jiraya with full confidence.

The people present breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the other camp had a huge power-up, everybody still believed in Jiraya’s strength.

“Ryo, what do you think? Ryo was sitting on Sakumo’s right hand side thinking and Sakumo thought that he had some idea to offer.

“Oh? I’m sorry, I’ve been thinking about Pakura of the Scorch Release.” Hearing Ryo’s answer, Sakumo nodded. He thought that Ryo was worried about his Ice being counter but in fact, he was just thinking about Pakura herself.

Pakura of the scorch release rose to fame by the end of the 2nd world war. Just to testify for her strength, she is now 18 and already one of the pillars of the Sand village. That’s what Sakumo has told Ryo yesterday.

In the Manga, she became a Hero of her village during the 3rd world war due to her Heroic efforts on the battle field against the village hidden in the stone.

Unfortunately, after that battle, the Sand village fell under immense pressure. And in order to settle the problems between them and the Sand, the Mist Village proposed gave an offer to the 4th Kazekage that involved sacrificing some of his fighters.

In the end, the 4th Kazekage chose to give in to the pressure. He sent Pakura out for negotiations with with the Mist, and had Mist Ninjas disguised as her companions attack and assassinate her.

Today, she is Quasi Kage tier. This is year 43 post the Konoha’s inception, and 4 years remain until the war ends. In 4 years, she could probably reach the level of a Kage.

However, even such a great Ninja cannot escape the wrath of politicians.

Pakura in the Manga wasn’t too impressive to Ryo. She only appeared when summoned with edo tensey and in the memories of her disciple Maki.

Ryo only remembered about her powers that her scorch release “Heat Orbs” evaporated all the water in her opponent’s body, and that she freely manipulated those orbs.

“Ryo, her Scorch release should be such a bother for you. But at the same time, her power is too great, and you should be the one fit to handle her.” Said Sakumo.

Ryo nodded. Scorch release should be able to evaporate the water that Ryo could use for his Ice release. But he was confident that whatever he has already frozen should not be melted by such ability.

In the following days, the two camps were in a state of full alert and nervousness.

Konoha was in a disadvantageous position, and they would never opt to take the initiative to attack. But it wasn’t obvious why the Sand didn’t attack just yet.

Ryo and Jiraya were invited to Sakumo’s tent, and they found Aburame and Hyuga ninjas waiting there. They had already informed Sakumo of the intelligence they gathered and now they told the two about it as well.

The Aburame’s bugs could sometimes be even more useful than the Byakugan. Just now, one of them found out that the Sand were transporting something out of the Byakugan’s range. When the Aburame’s informed the Hyuga Ninjas about this, they advanced and found out that what the Sand were transporting secretly was puppets!