"Gasp!" Ryuu woke up in Phoenix Flame mode and this time his fire was bright golden and his pupils changed, they became dark and slit, the color that was once white started burning in an orange and red fire and his iris disappeared.
This time, I stared back at the giant bright eye, it's almost like it was trying to communicate something to me but just when I was about to say something I was pulled out and into another world, a dark world with nothing but ash and smoke, like that smoke Rikuto had yesterday and just like the previous time I still couldn't move.
This happened seven times during the night. I would wake up sweating and panting, but finally, I found some sleep.
Just when Ryuu fell to sleep, he felt something licking his face.
"Tsunade chan, stop.
that tickles, He he he, what's with you today?"
When he woke up his eyes widened and he wiped his face and mouth.
"Tsunade, huh? Not bad, not bad at all." Rikuto said with a smirk on his face.
"So that's Nakamura?" he nodded while petting him.
"Honestly, I'm surprised she likes you already, I once tried bringing her a companion, and she ate him while he slept." Ryuu gulped.
"Wait, before we do this…" Rikuto silenced him.
"I already know what you want to know.
First, I lied to you, your friends aren't dead."
Ryuu widened his eyes and folded his fist.
"What do you mean?!"
"When you're in that state, your mind and body are at their weakest, I had to lie to you because I wanted you to get the Mangekyou.
The day I got to you, I had to knock them out and take them away. For now, you're presumed dead by the ninja world, your friends are safe, I figured you would hate for them to die, so I protected them by containing the explosion using a higher level of Phoenix Flame.
A simple lie like that wouldn't work on anyone, but if I added genjutsu to it when you were that vulnerable, it was the perfect way for you to get the Mangekyou without killing your friends or family.
Also, you can go back and get your book."
Ryuu remained speechless, but nodded after a few minutes.
Thinking about all the pain I caused I just couldn't go through with this, but I don't have a choice now.
After breakfast, I wore one of his other masks and left; I teleported near the gate in Konoha and used sage mode to enhance my camouflage jutsu; I was practically invincible while enhanced with sage mode, even the mighty Byakugan would struggle to see me, my range of sensory ability was so enhanced I could feel people beyond the village.
I didn't want to risk getting caught by Kakashi, or sakumo so I had to enter with stealth, I used lightning chakra mode' to move faster and when I reached Sakumo was there I could sense him,
"I hope he doesn't see me coming and I also hope Kakashi won't come back."
Ryuu reached his house, after confirming no one was in his room, he teleported there and got his book, after getting the book Ryuu wanted to check on his friends, he followed Kakashi without being seen.
He was heading to the cemetery; he went to one stone and dropped some flowers
"I wish I could've done more to save you, I know you would've done more for me, you always did, I should've been the one who died, everyone's lives would be better like that."
Hearing Kakashi talk like that and knowing that I couldn't help him, I couldn't stay there anymore, so I teleported back to Rikuto's Cave, I found him training.
"I got it."
He nodded.
"What happened?" Ryuu didn't answer him.
Seeing that Ryuu was annoyed, he changed the subject.
"So, what memories do you think you have in there, apart from the future and stuff, of course."
Ryuu widened his eyes and then remembered that he has been there since he was born.
"I know it's strange but just know there is nowhere I won't find you, I will always be there for you even when you don't want me to be, I will walk with you even when I'm dead I'll leave my presence with you because that is my duty as your elder brother, to always love and protect you."
Ryuu smiled and looked at him.
"Well, it's my duty as your younger brother to annoy you as much as possible, so expect a tough battle."
He smiled and nodded.
"Shall we train?" I shook my head.
"Before we do that, I need you to help me unlock my memories, now that I have my Mangekyou Sharingan, plus I also want to see if you can also read what's written there."
Rikuto shook his head.
"Our mother's fuinjutsu is more special and advanced than any other, usually a fuinjutsu affects a group of people altogether, but hers is different, if she places one that only allows you to see it then only you can, but if you read the hand signs for me, I can help you."
I nodded.
I spilled my blood on the book and opened it, then I flipped to the chapter about my memories, I opened my Mangekyou Sharingan and read it out loud.
"Before you perform this jutsu, I advice you to have someone near you because this jutsu will cause you a lot of pain, you will go through what I believe is a lot of memories and emotions, it's different from other memory suppression jutsu, usually there's no chance of getting your memories back but I trust you will do great things so I used this version to seal them somewhere you can access."
I flipped the page.
"Ryuu, before you perform this jutsu, get someone else, it's not that I don't trust Rikuto, I can't give you the details but he can't perform this, get someone else."
Ryuu widened his eyes, but soon remembered the previous man in the book.
'This is a great opportunity to go back, even for a second.'
"Rikuto, my return to the land of the living has come earlier than expected." He tilted his head in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It says here that I have to have a minimum of three people to do this, I need to go back and get someone, I already have someone in mind."
He thought about it for a while, then nodded.
"On one condition." I nodded.
"You're allowed only one person to know you're alive, take your pick." I nodded.
I thought about it for a while and already knew who my first choice was.
Ryuu teleported to Kushina's House.
"I'm lucky she's here, for a second I thought I would find her with big brother Minato." He said to himself.
Ryuu snuck into Kushina's House.
"Psst, Big sis Kushina, come with me." He whispered.
"Aaah!" She freaked out and jumped off her couch.
"Please keep quiet. I'm alive, but I don't want anyone to know."
"Boom!"
She punched him through the wall.
"What was that for?"
He said as he got up.
"You dare try to fool me with someone so close to me!?" Her hair stood up, she was so furious the ground was shaking with each step she took.
"No-no-no, it's me, here I can prove it."
Ryuu Quickly entered Phoenix Flame mode.
"I'm not convinced!" She tried hitting me but didn't get close because of the fire, it burned her hand.
"What are you doing? You'll get burned, stop it!" Ryuu exited Phoenix Flame mode.
"Geez, Kurama stops being so lazy and just heal her." Kushina's face changed.
"Ryuu?" I nodded.
"All it took for me to make you understand is saying Kurama? That's low, Big sis, I thought we were…"
Ryuu was interrupted as Kushina tightly squeezed him, with tears flowing through her eyes.
"You're alive." She weakly said.
"Sorry for the scare, Big sis, and I'm sorry for not telling you, I couldn't because I was in a coma again."
She didn't respond but kept holding onto him.
Ryuu couldn't help but tightly hug her back.
After that, she made some tea, and we sat as I told her my plan.
"So you're telling me you can't come back to us yet?" I nodded.
"I need your help on a fuinjutsu that my mum made, you're the only master in fuinjutsu apart from me, Big bro, and Jiraiya-sensei." She nodded.
"Really!?" She nodded.
"Alright! Let's go!"
Ryuu took her and teleported her out of the house and back to Rikuto's Cave.
"Big Brother! I'm back!"
He was feeding Nakamura.
"I see… Kushina Uzumaki." She tilted her head in confusion, then tapped me on my shoulder.
"Ryuu, who is this? And how does he know my name?" Ryuu chuckled and looked at him to see if he could tell her, he nodded.
"Meet my elder brother, Rikuto Uzumaki." Her eyes widened.
"Rikuto?" She ran and hugged him.
'Now I was confused, do they know each other?'
"Do you know him?" She nodded.
"Kushina and I are the same age, we met in the academy."
"Idiot!" She punched him.
"I thought you were dead, what is wrong with your family? You're all full of ghosts, I won't be surprised if your parents are alive!"
Ryuu shyly scratched his head.
"Anyway, back to what I called you here for, I can't show you this jutsu but I can tell it to you."
Ryuu grabbed the book and told the hand signs to her.
"Ryuu, this is…" Kushina widened her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"When we were kids, we used to be told about fuinjutsu that were too dangerous to perform and this was one of them, the most advanced memory fuinjutsu in existence.
If I don't perform this properly, you could lose your mind and die a slow and painful death, you'll battle yourself within your head, are you sure you want to continue?"
Ryuu gulped, then folded his fist.
I knew it was the only way, so I nodded.
"What do you need me to do?"
Rikuto asked.
"Hold his hand, this jutsu is powerful and painful, he needs someone to hold close to him and I can't do that while performing it, so you have to."
He nodded.
"Are you ready?" Kushina asked, Ryuu looked at Rikuto beside him and nodded.
"12 symbol Memory erasing seal release!"
The book started shaking, something was tearing through the pages, and it made the book glow.
"What's going on?" Rikuto shrugged and said nothing.
The book stopped glowing, then Ryuu's old chain appeared in his hand.
"This is the painful part."
Ryuu's chain attached itself to his neck.
It burned through my chest but that wasn't the most painful part, my head was ringing and somehow freezing.
"So cold…" Ryuu fainted, and so did Rikuto, who fainted while holding Ryuu's hand.
"How strange that shouldn't happen," Kushina said.