Hokage: Ryo's Path

Back when Ryo fought Lain with Susanoo, he just used the first stage to test her Wood Human, and he was eventually beat by her.

As for Man’s full-fledged Susanoo, it was much more developed. Since every stage of Susanoo’s development increased its strength exponentially, Lain was easily pushed away.

However, this attack did not make her yield. Lain’s temper was provoked, and she immediately summoned a Wooden Dragon that Wrapped the Susanoo.

Since the Wooden Dragon could absorb outside energy, she intended to let it drain Maan out of power, making him unable to maintain Susanoo.

What surprised her, however, was that the Susanoo wasn’t letting any Chakra leak.

Maan regained controlled as he freed himself up from the shackles made by the Dragon, and then slowly began approaching Lain.

She bit her teeth and decided to go to a brawl against him. This way, the Susanoo and the Wood Human had a melee in the forest.

This Wooden Man was just fortified by the Natural Energy from Orochimaru’s cursed seal. It didn’t take Maan long to crush it in half.

After finishing it off, Maan did not think about finishing Lain off, instead chasing in the direction where Danzo escaped.

But even before he took a few steps, his Susanoo was suddenly hit from behind by a massive force!

Maan’s face changed and he quickly turned around. He was shocked, for what he saw was a whole new Wood Human that was much larger and majestic than the previous one...

He looked up, just to see Lain standing on top of her creation with bride and wrath!

Her face was different, and Maan, who had often been told of Madara’s great battle against Hashirama, immediately realized: She was in Sage Mode!

“She has the perfect combination of skills with the First Hokage’s cells... she’s slowly but surely turning into the same beast as hashirama Senju!” For a moment, Maan began to feel fear.

Nevertheless, it was very clear to him; if Danzo was to escape alive today, he would definitely join the higher-ups of Konoha to attack the Uchiha clan.

It would be all his fault... the devastation of his clan, just because he was foolish enough to be unprepared, weak enough to be held back... “NO! I can do more!”

His heart was filled with regret, and he continued to push his Mangekyo even further beyond....

“Still, Lain, unfortunately for you, you cannot stop me!” Maan’s voice just fell, when what resembled clothes started wrapping his Susanoo, all while it got a little larger than before.

As his Susanoo was developing, Maan was collapsing. His vision blurred even more, and he couldn’t keep his body from trembling.

To a wielder of an ordinary Mangekyo, just using the second stage of Susanoo was a massive burden for their eyes and bodies. Now, Maan was going into 3rd Stage, effectively paying in his own lifetime for the survival of his clan.

Lain looked at him hesitantly; Danzo and the few survivors on his side were all gone, and she no longer had any reason to fight Maan.

In fact, she never wanted this whole battle to happen. She was just being a little girl who was pushed to what’s in her brother’s best interest.

On top of that, she was a Yamanaka, standing in the way of an Uchiha! While she and her brother weren’t afraid, the same did not go for the entirety of their clan and alliance. And why would she want conflicts with that clan? Her best friends and rivals were Uchiha!

Thinking about all of this, she said to Maan: “Go and chase Danzo if you want; I want stop you anymore.”

She then took a few steps back, and undid her Wood Human. Maan was watching in awe, but then felt relieved. He left Susanoo, and picked himself up as hard as he could to chase Danzo.

Meanwhile, Danzo and his men were already far away. When leaving the forest, they saw a Ninja in the distance, and they rushed at him to get support.

This angel they found, this blessing they expected, turned out to be none other than Uchiha Fugaku!

Danzo did not care, and in great contrast with all he used to say about the Uchiha, he actually trusted that their Patriarch would do the right thing!

“Fugaku dono, you’re here! I was...” Danzo’s words were not thought, when suddenly all faded to black, and then to red...

The others saw Danzo suddenly falling to the ground, and they panicked, fleeing all over! Fugaku sighed and did not hesitate to end all of their lives, besides that of Danzo.

When Uchiha Maan arrived, he found Fugaku awaiting him among the corpses.

Not only Maan was surprised, even Fugaku was shocked to see Maan being such a mess: “Maan, I thought you had activated you Mangekyo already; how come you’re having this much trouble against such weaklings?”

Maan blinked twice, and he couldn’t understand how Fugaku knew about his eyes.

“Fugaku dono, how do you know?”

Fugaku smiled and said: “Well, it’s because your eyes aren’t in that much of a stable state. Your eyes leak Dojutsu power whenever you use your Mangekyo.”

“Even then... How do you know that my Dojutsu power is that of the Mangekyo?”

“Because I have my own pair!” Fugaku activated his own Mangekyo.

Maan stared at Fugaku with great surprise. After a moment of silence, Maan asked: “Fugaku Dono, besides you and I, are there any other Mangekyo?”

“Yes. Katachi dono awakened it when much older, but now he’s retired. As for Shisui, he should probably have it already. He’s had a great jump in level. However, I cannot sense his Mangekyo so I can’t be sure.” Fugaku told Maan all he knew.

Maan gasped, for at least three of his clan had the Mangekyo Sharingan, with another one being strong enough to have one.

This meant that the Uchiha clan now had at least four Kage Tier Ninjas, or at lease top Tier Quasi Kage tier ones.

“So man, I let you ask what you want, but you haven’t answered me yet. How could you be defeated?”

Maan said with a smile of embarrassment: “Ryo’s sister...”

Fugaku turned around to Danzo and said: “Poor child, not being able to distinguish good from bad...”

Maan looked at Danzo as well, and he couldn’t help but say: “Fugaku dono, Danzo cannot stay alive.”

“Those old geezers, the councilors, have already told the 3rd that you were planning to kill him as he left the village. You did that indeed, but the 3rd wouldn’t believe that. However, he did come to me to have a few words. Therefore, I came over on a special trip just to keep Danzo alive. It’s not time to kill him!”

“But... I already killed many of his men, and you did as well. Fugaku sama, if this reaches the higher-ups, our clan would...”

“You don’t have to worry, because this time, the Hokage will be on our side. Am I right, Kakashi?”

Hearing Fugaku calling his name, Kakashi carefully put a book in his top’s pocket, and then jumped down from the tree he was on...