Inside Madara's underground base.
Ryou was currently fighting against the White Zetsu clones.
Over a dozen White Zetsu clones with pale, greenish-white skin surrounded Ryou.
These White Zetsu clones just stared intently at Ryou with their hollow eyes, their mouths curling into eerie smiles.
Their Chakra was scattered yet possessed a strange sense of synchronization.
One White Zetsu clones's arm transformed into a sharp wooden spike as it charged forward.
Ryou kicked it away, and immediately, all the White Zetsu clones rushed him.
Ryou's hands quickly formed hand signs.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar...
Times were different now; Ryou was no longer the Ninja who used fake hand signs to deceive the Anbu that day.
In nearly a month, Ryou had finished studying the Uchiha Clan's Fire Release scrolls and had mastered almost all of their Fire Release techniques.
Raging flames erupted from Ryou's throat, sweeping toward the many White Zetsu clones like a torrent of lava from a breached dam.
Obito and Ryūzetsu were hung to the side like Zongzi, staring blankly at the battle between Ryou and the White Zetsu clones.
Waves of shock surged in Obito's eyes, which widened to their limit in an instant.
He had also looked at Madara's Uchiha Fire Release scrolls along with Ryou, but he didn't have Ryou's talent; he couldn't learn a single Fire Release Ninjutsu from them.
Yet Ryou was able to learn all the Fire Release techniques within a month.
It seemed that, just as Minato had said, what had been limiting Ryou all along was his fragile body.
As long as the physical limitations were resolved, Ryou had the potential of the Sannin.
"Aaaah—"
Several White Zetsu clones were caught in the flames and immediately let out deafening wails as their greenish bodies rapidly carbonized and disintegrated.
However, some White Zetsu clones used the Mayfly Technique to dive underground, using the earth to avoid Ryou's Fire Release.
Suddenly, there was a major movement from the White Zetsu underground.
Wood Release: pitcher plant Technique!
Suddenly, all the White Zetsu clones underground merged together, transforming into a giant wooden pitcher plant that erupted from where Ryou was standing.
Ryou leaped away, but the pitcher plant extended flexible vines to grab him, its center blooming into a massive calyx that emitted a rotting, foul stench.
"Ah~ this scent~"
Tobi smelled it and felt quite an itch.
Ryou couldn't stand it; he dodged the pitcher plant's vines and used Body Flicker to appear right in front of it.
"Fire Release: Heavenly Prison!"
Blood-red Chakra light radiated from Ryou's hand as he struck the pitcher plant out of thin air.
Immediately, chains condensed from the fire element appeared on the pitcher plant, these curse seal chains binding it tightly.
Heavenly Prison was not an Uchiha Fire Release technique; Ryou had asked White Zetsu to steal it from Kusagakure.
Fire Release: Heavenly Prison is a Fire Release sealing technique that prevents the victim from molding Chakra; if they stray too far from the caster, they will be burned to death.
In the original story, even Naruto could be sealed by the Heavenly Prison, and Heavenly Prison is an advanced version of it, even imprisoning the ancient demon "Satori" in the "Blood Prison" movie.
If Heavenly Prison could imprison a monster like "Satori" that even Sage Mode Naruto struggled against, what chance did a pitcher plant formed from a few merged White Zetsu clones have?
"Damn it, that's our Kusagakure secret technique!"
Ryūzetsu's teeth itched with hatred; this was a Fire Release secret technique of Kusagakure.
Because she couldn't endure Ryou's tickle torture, she had talked, and Ryou then sent White Zetsu to steal it from Kusagakure.
The three Fire Release secret techniques of the "Grass Fruit"—Heavenly Prison, Heavenly Prison, and Heavenly Prison Fire Sword—along with the "Demon Lantern" technique of the "Grass Flower," had all been stolen and learned by Ryou.
With the pitcher plant unable to escape, a cyan-blue spiraling sphere of light immediately condensed in Ryou's palm.
"Rasengan!"
The Chakra at the edge of the sphere was like a boiling vortex, constantly sucking in the surrounding airflow and emitting a sharp hum, as if it could grind everything around it to pieces.
Obito shouted excitedly, "There it is, Sensei's Rasengan."
Ryou turned back and cursed, "It's my Rasengan! I developed it first. The patent for the Rasengan is mine; everyone who uses it should pay me a patent fee."
This was the downside of having no fame; the Rasengan was developed by Ryou and taught to Minato, but he himself had pitifully little combat experience.
The Rasengan was popularized in Minato's hands, to the point that some Ninjas believed it was Minato who developed it.
With a thought, Ryou's Rasengan grew even larger.
Big Ball Rasengan!
This move didn't require much technical skill; it just involved making the ball bigger, but it required more Chakra, and the difficulty of control increased exponentially.
This wasn't hard for Ryou.
Ryou was a Medical Ninja, and the entry point for a Medical Ninja was high-level Chakra control.
Ryou slammed the Big Ball Rasengan into the pitcher plant; instantly, the pitcher plant was as if struck by a small typhoon, the high-speed rotating Chakra tearing through its wooden layer and blasting into its body.
In the blink of an eye, the pitcher plant was dealt with by Ryou.
Ryou brushed the dust off his clothes and gave a Sasuke-style sneer: "My clothes are slightly soiled!"
The White Zetsu clones were not weak.
The essence of a White Zetsu clones is a plant-based biological weapon, with individual strength roughly at the Genin to Chunin level.
They mainly relied on numerical superiority and special abilities for combat; their individual high-end combat power was not high.
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, they served as cannon fodder to deplete the numbers of the Shinobi Alliance.
Although their individual combat power wasn't high, they were extremely troublesome; White Zetsu clones required no sleep, food, or breathing, and could adapt to any extreme environment.
They could also move through the ground and walls; if one wasn't careful, they were like potato mines.
Beyond that, White Zetsu's difficulty lay in shape-shifting, Chakra absorption, Wood Release, and more.
Encountering a single White Zetsu, an experienced Chunin could easily handle it, but encountering a group of them, even a Jonin would have to flee.
On the other side.
Black and White Zetsu emerged from the wall.
White Zetsu evaluated Ryou, saying, "He's stronger than the average Jonin. He's truly a natural Ninja. It was worth my trip to Kusagakure to steal those secret techniques for him."
Ryou learned Ninjutsu very quickly, not only because of his great talent but also because of Madara's guidance.
Madara had woken up once in the middle of it; seeing Ryou learning Ninjutsu, that face similar to Izuna's sparked a desire in him to teach.
Of course, the most important point was the powerful replicability of White Zetsu cells.
White Zetsu cells can absorb a Ninja's Chakra to perfectly mimic them, imitating not just the Chakra but also the Ninjutsu.
Based on this, Ryou absorbed Madara's Fire Release Chakra and quickly mastered all of the Uchiha Clan's Fire Release.
Of course, it was also because Fire Release techniques rarely reached A-rank difficulty; the Uchiha Clan's Fire Release scrolls were mostly B-rank.
If it were A-rank or a forbidden jutsu, White Zetsu cells wouldn't be able to copy it.
After Madara went back to sleep, Ryou still wanted to learn Ninjutsu, so he set his sights on Kusagakure's Fire Release secret techniques and sent White Zetsu to steal them.
White Zetsu was unwilling, but Ryou threw a tantrum, and eventually, White Zetsu got so annoyed that he had no choice but to visit Kusagakure once more.
A small Ninja village like Kusagakure had no defense against White Zetsu's superb infiltration abilities; to him, it was like a back garden.
Black Zetsu snorted disdainfully at White Zetsu's words: "He's just an ordinary Ninja! Without awakening the Sharingan, he'll be trash for the rest of his life."
Black Zetsu had been lurking for over a thousand years; what kind of genius hadn't he seen?
For B-rank Ninjutsu, is there even a need to learn them? A three tomoe Sharingan can copy them at a glance, and Indra's reincarnations can even create techniques out of thin air.
In Black Zetsu's eyes, Ryou was still confined to the realm of ordinary Ninjas, only fit to sit at the table with mediocre people.
To sit at the same table as Madara, one would need at least a pair of Mangekyo.
Being unable to awaken the Sharingan was Ryou's biggest problem at the moment.