"So you've finally returned."
"I found out that Ren Kurosaki had a cult that was willing to follow him all the way through, even in death." Minato frowned.
"And that's not the worst of it.
He brainwashed hundreds of people not just from Konohagakure but from other villages too into believing that he would save them from war.
I had to slaughter them all, seeing that they refused to listen and were about to enter Kumogakure, giving Konoha a worse reputation in Kumo."
"I see..."
"That's all I found out from the mission."
"You've done well." Ryuu nodded.
"Minato, I have to tell you something."
Ryuu removed his mask.
"I've lost my ability to use Phoenix Flame, I can't instantly recover chakra and my sensory abilities have dulled."
"But how?"
"It doesn't matter, but what I'm about to ask you to do for me will be difficult to do in your position, but it must be done."
Ryuu looked at Minato as he requested a favor from him.
"I need a month off, I've lost a key part of my skill set and I need to build more by obtaining the eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.
Now that I don't have my most powerful move, I need to improve my Sharingan."
"I understand." Ryuu's eyes widened.
"If that's how long it will take you to recover the strength you've lost, then so be it." Ryuu smiled.
"Thanks a lot, Hokage-sama."
Ryuu teleported away.
'That child is so annoying…' Minato said as he went through some documents.
Ryuu had teleported to Tsunade, she was having lunch with Ichika in the Senju compound.
"Oh, hey Ryuu!" Ichika said.
"Hi Ichika, how've you been?"
"I'm alright, I've been getting lessons on medical ninjutsu from auntie Tsunade."
Ryuu smiled.
"That's great, you're getting lessons from the second-best medic in Konoha."
"Oh really? And who's the first?"
Tsunade asked from behind Ryuu.
Ryuu had drops of sweat on his forehead.
"I was just joking, Tsunade-chan…"
Ryuu flew right past Ichika after Tsunade punched him.
"Tell me what you want from me, Ryuu."
Ryuu's head was swollen.
"Well, I have a favor to ask you."
Tsunade sighed.
'This can't be good.' Tsunade said to herself.
"What?"
"I've lost my Phoenix Flame and I need to gain some strength back, even if it won't be the same."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"Everything.
I need you to transplant my eyes into my brother's eyes and his into mine."
Her eyes widened, and she frowned.
"Ryuu, you know I can't do that and you know the reason I can't, so why would you even try to ask me this?" Ryuu smiled.
"Do you remember when I told you I could help you out?" She nodded.
"Today is that day."
Tsunade stubbornly closed her eyes, as if she heard that before.
"How will you do it? I've already seen professional doctors and I've done everything possible to help me, I've even tried to wipe the memories away with genjutsu but nothing works."
Ryuu shook his head.
"That's your problem, you've tried to Bury the memories and you've tried to forget, but my way of doing this will be different.
I've studied genjutsu from the likes of the Kurama clan, the strongest genjutsu users in the village.
I studied under Murakumo Kurama, the head of the main branch of the Kurama clan, and I can help you.
But this treatment…"
Ryuu frowned.
"This treatment will not be easy, it's going to be quite the opposite, I'm going to force you to relive the days that Nawaki and Dan died multiple times, for you it will be years and countless amount of times repeating while for us it will be minutes, eventually, you'll be immune to it and also immune to your fear."
Tsunade frowned and looked away.
"I'll only do this if you agree," Ryuu said.
Tsunade thought about it for a while and then she nodded.
"Ichika, you should probably wait outside, this won't be easy to watch…"
Ichika punched his swollen head.
"Are you calling me weak?!
I can handle myself too, you know!"
Ryuu gulped.
"No, that's not it, I'll just continue what I was doing, you do whatever you want, you know." He weakly replied.
Tsunade chuckled.
'She's like a mini Tsunade…'
"Well, are you ready?" Tsunade nodded.
They both sat down, crossing their legs.
Ryuu closed his eyes and made a hand seal and infused a lot of chakra into his eyes, when he opened his eyes, his Mangekyou Sharingan had appeared…
"Look into my eyes."
Tsunade looked into his eyes and entered the genjutsu.
She was shivering and panting, her body had heated up after a few seconds.
And Ryuu's eyes were bleeding.
'Ryuu…' Ichika watched as Ryuu treated Tsunade.
After a few minutes, Ryuu had finished treating Tsunade.
Tsunade wiped her face, she had been crying, shivering, and sweating.
"Has it worked?" Ichika asked.
"Let's find out." Ryuu grabbed a knife from the kitchen.
"Tsunade-chan, check this out." Ryuu cut himself with the knife.
Blood was dripping on the floor.
"So did it work?"
She stared at the blood to see if she would get a reaction.
"Although, I still feel a little shaken, It'll go away with time." Ryuu nodded.
"So, are you ready to do this?"
Tsunade nodded.
Ryuu smiled.
"We can do it in the house that I built near my training grounds, you and Ichika can take the equipment there while I tell Rikuto to come."
They nodded.
Ryuu teleported to Rikuto's Cave, he was there and wasn't busy.
"Rikuto, I fixed Tsunade-chan's problem, let's get the eternal Mangekyou Sharingan now."
"Alright."
"But there's something else I have to tell you…"
"Ryuu, I know. It finally spoke to me, the Phoenix told me what happened."
Ryuu nodded.
"I understand why you want to get the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan now, you just want to protect everyone and that's alright with me."
"Well, let's go then." Rikuto nodded.
Ryuu took him and Nakamura and then teleported to his place.
Ryuu knelt and rubbed Nakamura's head. "Nakamura, my friend will take care of you, so be nice to her."
Ryuu said as he patted his head.
'I'm finally getting my eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, it's about time.' Ryuu said to himself.
After a few minutes, Tsunade and Ichika arrived with all the equipment.
"Shadow clone jutsu!" Tsunade made a clone of herself.
"What the hell is the wolf doing here?"
Tsunade asked.
"Nakamura is our pet, Rikuto lives alone so no one will take care of it, so I brought him here." Tsunade frowned.
"Fine, as long as it doesn't stay in the same room as me." Ryuu smiled.
"I think he's kinda cute," Ichika said as she rubbed Nakamura's head.
"Whatever, If I'm going to be doing this, it'll be easier to do it with a clone, that'll spare time." Ryuu nodded.
"Auntie Tsunade said you'll need to be taken care of for a while, so I'll help you out until your vision gets healed." Ryuu smiled.
"Thanks, Ichika." Ichika smiled and nodded.
"Well then, let's begin." Ryuu nodded.
Tsunade's clone took Rikuto to the other room and after a few minutes, she began the surgery.
'It's been a couple of hours, how long is this going to take?' Ryuu said to himself.
"It's all over now, just wait a month before you remove this bandage, the same goes for your elder brother."
"Alright." Tsunade picked herself up as she began getting ready to leave.
"Tsunade-chan, thank you for this, and thank you too, Ichika."
Ryuu couldn't tell, but Tsunade was smiling and so was Ichika.
"Ryuu, I'll be leaving in a week, I'm going to go travel more now that you got rid of my blood phobia, I'm leaving Ichika's lessons to you now."
"Alright, have a safe journey, Tsunade-chan." She left.
A month passed and Ryuu's eyes had healed.
"Are you ready?" Ichika asked.
"Yeah." She unwrapped Ryuu's bandages.
'I can feel it, my eyes, they're so much stronger…
What was it he said again?
Ah, that's right…
These eyes can see just fine in the darkness…' Ryuu opened his eyes.
Ichika's eyes widened as she saw his 16-pointed wheel mixed with multiple ripples and three tomoe.
"How does it feel?" She asked.
"Amazing, I can't explain it but, it feels like I can do anything now." Ichika smiled.
She blushed as she stared at Ryuu.
'He's so…'
"I'm OK too," Rikuto said from the other room.
"Oh, Uhm, sorry about that," Ichika said as she blushed.
"It's alright." He entered Ryuu's room.
"While Nakamura and I are here, would you like to do a quick spar with me? To test out our abilities." Ryuu nodded.
"Let's do it.
Thanks a lot, Ichika, tell your aunt that I said thanks again till then. I'll be gone now."
"Idiot, did he forget she left??"
Sigh.
Ryuu teleported with Rikuto to the training grounds.
'Teleportation feels so much better now and these ashes…
They're so light now.
It really feels like I can do anything.'
Ryuu said to himself.
"Are you ready?" Ryuu nodded.
They got into a fighting stance, apart from each other.
Rikuto and Ryuu both made hand signs.
"Fire style: fierce dragon flame jutsu!"
"Water dragon jutsu!" Ryuu's fire dragons and Rikuto's water dragon clashed in the middle.
Ryuu used flying Raijin to teleport behind Rikuto and swung his blade.
Rikuto dodged the blade and kicked him, and then he made hand signs.
"Wind Style: Wind sword barrage!"
Ryuu's eyes widened.
He quickly teleported away using Kamui, and swords of wind blew past him.
"Wood style: Deep forest emergence!"
The ground was shaking, and giant trees grew from the ground, taking Ryuu and Rikuto into the air.
'That took a lot less chakra than before, it's like it didn't take any at all, even compared to the Hashirama cells, this takes things much further.'
"Alright, let me show you the power of my Mangekyou Sharingan!"
Rikuto's eyes spun around and a shape similar to Ryuu's eyes appeared.
Ryuu squinted his eyes and focused on Rikuto.
"Over here." Rikuto vanished without even a blur and appeared behind Ryuu in a flash.
Ryuu's eyes widened and he held his fists high, blocking the next punch.
'Was that a teleportation?'
Boom!
Rikuto sent Ryuu flying back with a powerful punch.
Ryuu crashed through multiple trees.
"Huff Huff…" Ryuu panted.
'I didn't even sense him, I wasn't even close.
But how?'
Ryuu used the branches of wood to help him get up.
'He's not teleporting, otherwise, I would've been able to react to him just like I react to Minato.
That means… he's moving faster… running faster.
But that also means I can't use teleportation because he might also have heightened reflexes…'
Ryuu entered sage mode.
"You have it all figured out, don't you?" Rikuto said from above Ryuu.
His voice echoed in the forest.
"Woah!" Rikuto pulled Ryuu's leg and launched him into the air.
'But… no one moves this fast… not even I can move…'
Ryuu blocked his face, getting ready for a punch.
"Above you!"
Ryuu's eyes bulged out as Rikuto's fists slammed into his back.
Boom!
Ryuu's body was slammed through the trees once more, he fell through the trees and was buried underground.
Ryuu weakly made a hand sign.
"Wood style: wood explosion jutsu!"
Boom!!!
Multiple trees exploded, sending a massive Shockwave and multiple pieces of debris.
Ryuu climbed up from the ground and stood up, ready to fight.
"Multi-Shadow clone jutsu!"
Ryuu made hundreds of clones that surrounded him.
"Don't you get it, I'm too fast, I can even kill all those clones before you realize it," Rikuto stated from a far distance.
Ryuu smirked.
'No matter how powerful you are, this jutsu will always have a high success rate.'
*Poof!*
"Harem jutsu!" All of Ryuu's clones transformed into red-haired naked women and surrounded Rikuto.
"Wha…"
Rikuto crashed into a tree as he was staring at the girls and his nose was bleeding.
"You've clearly forgotten my ability, elder brother." His eyes widened as he felt a Kunai on his neck and back.
*Poof!*
Ryuu's clones all dispersed.
He tried to move and use his ability, but he couldn't.
"But how?"
Ryuu smiled.
"Shadow possession jutsu, complete."
A clone of Ryuu appeared beneath them.
"That explosion and the pretty ladies they were all a distraction, you know."
Ryuu stated with a smirk.
"Alright, fine, you win."
Ryuu released his grip with a proud smile.
Rikuto bumped fists with Ryuu.
"You've got much stronger than I ever imagined."
"Of course I have! Anyway, what was that Mangekyou ability you used? Was it some sort of teleportation or speed enhancement?"
"My Mangekyou Sharingan can temporarily make me faster, I move so fast that normal time looks like it's paused.
I can also drain chakra from my target during that time, but this time I didn't make it do that.
I have another ability.
I can seal away anything in my sight, although that used to take too much chakra now it doesn't."
"Impressive.
You almost beat me, I thought you'd win this fight for sure."
Ryuu used wood style to make the trees he made go back into the ground.