A Warrior's Path

The first few months were torture for the group. They had to go through sparring sessions with Ryu where he beat them like c.r.a.p, then ninjutsu session where he again beat them like c.r.a.p, them comes stamina session where he makes them all faint due to exhaustion. Tenten had it worse since she wasn"t that strong to begin with.

Ryu pushed her even further in ninjutsu as well as chakra exercises. Her low capacity for chakra was her weakness.

Each day they endured h.e.l.l but all of them became stronger by each day. Training became harder and harder but Ryu didn"t break them, he allowed their body and spirit to regain strength before he started again.

Today was different, they were given half a day of rest. Ryu told them that he would have a surprise for them. They just didn"t know whether it was good or bad for them.

Ryu was currently inside a seal s.p.a.ce similar to the one he used when awakening chaos energy. He held two cases which was separated from the center. One half contained a body while the other half contained some kind of mist.

This was Minato"s and Kushina"s body and soul. Ryu was finally ready to bring them back.

Ryu " Navii, if I use Perfect Rebirth will my life force be drained like Nagato and Obito? "

Navii " No master. There is a reason why their life force was drained. Chakra is not strong enough to support this kind of heaven defying ability, therefore you need a stronger energy source, aka life source. Life source is what determines length of a person"s existence, how many years someone lives, how healthy he is, these are all dependent on life source. It"s many times stronger than chakra.

What master uses is Chaos energy, the source of everything. You are the only one capable of using this technique without any form of repurcussions except maybe drain in Chaos energy."

Ryu was astonished " Doesn"t that mean I am omnipotent? "

Navii " Wrong master. There are limitations to this technique. First, you need to have Body and Soul of the targeted person.

Second, this is a lower realm. Heavenly laws are weak here so doing something like this here is fine but if you did this on any higher plane, you will be punished by the laws itself. Even if you are loved by laws this will still happen.

Third, the amount of energy required is staggering, what I refer to is Chaos energy and that"s for this lower realm.

Fourth, you are messing with laws of life itself. Unless you are a G.o.d, your vitality will definitely be affected. Take Nagato for example, he used Rinnegan Rebirth to return everyone back to life, buy he died due to this. Those people were only dead for a max of one hour yet Nagato had to sacrifice his entire life to bring them back. If you were a G.o.d this wouldn"t happen because G.o.ds have the strength and authority to mess with laws. "

Ryu sweated hearing that, he really did plan to use this technique if he ever encountered situations like this but looks like it"s impossible.

Ryu " Alright. Navii what should I do? "

Navii " Channel Chaos energy into the container, it will automatically use Chaos energy to unify the separated body and soul."

Ryu held a container in each hand as he channeled Chaos energy inside. He could see the soul of both of them inch towards their body but the rate was extremely slow. Ryu pumped more energy.

A few hours pa.s.sed, Ryu was drenched in sweat. His eyes were red, veins bulged all over his body. He pumped Chaos constantly for three hours, the amount he used would put any tailed beast below 4 tails to shame. He was on the verge of collapse.

" Looks like I am doomed to fail."

Just as he was about to give up, both Minato"s and Kushina"s body produced some sort of pulling force that dragged their souls to them.

Finally both souls merged with their respective bodies. Ryu heaved a sigh of relief but not for long. The containers started to shiver, it"s frequency increasing by the second.

Ryu"s face changed " It"s gonna break."

He quickly threw them away, but the expected BANG didn"t happen. Instead a small *puff* resounded.

Ryu looked towards where he threw the containers. A man with yellow hair and a women with red hair stood before him. Both of had confused expressions at first but then slowly their face changed to that of disbelief.

Ryu spoke tired " Yo! "

Minato replied stuttering " Y.. Yo!"

Kushina on the other hand rushed to Ryu and hugged him " Ryuuuuu!!! You have become sooooooo dazzzling!!!."

Ryu had a wry smile " How the heck does her brain work?! In this kind of situation that"s the first thing she realise!!"

Ryu got out from her embrace, he said bitterly " Kushina nee san, read the mood."

Kushina tilted her head in confusion " Huh?"

Minato face palmed " We were dead remember. But now here we are, shouldn"t you atleast be curious? "

Kushina " Don"t sweat the small stuff. It"s Ryu who brought us back so all is well."

Ryu/Minato "*#@&£"

Minato calmed down, he asked " How? "

Ryu spoke half truth " Remember me throwing those containers, they are specially crafted. Your body was injured but not dead. Your soul almost left your bodies, I simply froze your condition as is. Then healed it over the years, it wasn"t until now that I was strong enough to finally merge your soul completely."

Minato pondered, there were some holes in that explanation but mostly the truth. Since Ryu didn"t intent to explain, he dropped it.

Minato " How long were we...

Ryu " Almost 13 years. "

Minato and Kushina stayed silent. Kushina teared up " Then.... Naruto is now thirteen. I have missed a lot."

Minato and Ryu comforted her,

" Kushina, we are alive right now. All we can do is to not miss any more."

" Yes, Kushina nee san, moreover Naruto wasn"t alone. He has me, mother, father, Sasuke and his friends. His life may not be the best but it never lacked colours."

Kushina still cried, it took both of them some time to finally calm her down. Minato asked about the village. Ryu recounted all events that affected the village to date. Minato and Kushina were infuriated learning about how everyone treated Naruto but they were also helpless. People"s mind can"t be changed.

Minato spoke " So you are currently on a training journey with.... Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru and Tenten. "

Ryu smiled cheekily " Yeah. And among these two girls, one of them is your son"s potential wife candidate. No she will be his wife."

Kushina"s eyes shone when Ryu said that. She looked at Ryu eagerly, waiting for him to speak further. Minato was also excited " Looks like my son is quite the charmer ".

Ryu could guess Minato"s thoughts " Oooh, how wrong you are. "

Ryu spoke " Come with me, I will introduce them. Try to find which one it is. "

Kushina and Minato took the challenge. But suddenly Minato spoke up " Is it alright for them to see us? After all we are dead."

Ryu " It"s alright. This training will continue for three more years before we return. When that time comes, there is no need for both of you to hide your ident.i.ties."

Kushina argued " But I want to see Naruto!!! "

Ryu calmed her " I will take you to see him, but you can"t make contact with him until I say so."

Minato asked curiously " Why the secrecy? Our ident.i.ties will be revealed in the future, so I don"t see a reason why it shouldn"t happen sooner."

Ryu spoke seriously " Don"t tell me you guys forgot how you died. You are both Strong but what about the ones around you, can you protect them all the time.

Don"t mention both of you, I alone am enough to beat all kages together but I still refrain from exposing my strength. It"s because of a force that linger in darkness. They may strike a weak link among us, so all of them have to be strong, atleast to protect themselves.

That"s why I took these kids with me to train, it"s also the reason I let Naruto and Sasuke go with Jiraiya to train. So until I say so don"t make contact with anyone else."

Even though they really wanted to see Naruto, they suppressed their emotions.

Ryu and company reached where Neji and others were. Ryu waved at them to come closer.

Hinata looked at Minato as she spoke to Shikamaru " He looks familiar."

She didn"t notice how Shikamaru stared at Minato. Neji was the same, he identified Minato instantly. As for Tenten, she also had a confused expression.

Ryu grinned " I told you I had a surprise. Well this is it. Let me introduce you,

This is the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

This is his wife Kushina Uzumaki."

**BANG**

A loud explosion happened within their minds. The legendary fourth Hokage who repelled Nine Tails attack was standing before them, how could they not be shocked.