Chapter 4: The Crimson Eyes
-9 months later-
It was cold morning in the hidden leaf village, as Ryu got out of his bed at 7 in the morning and went to the bathroom to freshen up thinking of the progress he had made over the past nine months.
Over the months Ryu had given it all to his training and had focused mainly on his taijutsu, ninjutsu and kenjutsu but that didn't mean he hadn't practiced his genjutsu and shurikenjutsu. He had learned most of the basics of kenjutsu from Ria and a couple moves from the scrolls he picked up from his mother's library and was also thinking of buying a blade for himself most preferably a tanto which suit his size.
Onto his physique he had grown quite taller in the last months and had also started to put on some lean muscles on his body, his face had also lost most of it's baby fat giving him a cute yet handsome look.
Speaking of his ninjutsu poweress, he had learned 3 C ranked fire jutsu (dragon fire, flame bullet and the phoenix sage fire) and even 2 B ranked fire jutsu (dragon flame bullet and phoenix sage flower nail crimson).
His taijutsu had gotten stronger by leaps and bounds and he was confident in his uchiha interceptor fist style although it felt kinda incomplete without the sharingan which was a crucial part of the famed taijutsu style. He had been training with Ria from time to time to practice his kenjutsu over the last few months and would also spar with Kagami to evaluate his strength and to test out his jutsu's in real battle.
Kagami being infamous in the entire shinobi world for his genjutsu had also taught him different ways how to break a genjutsu and also 2 genjutsu ( demonic illusion: false surrounding and demonic illusion: hell viewing) both of whom he had mastered.
Ryu had also been focusing on increasing his chakra reserves which he had gotten upto mid chunin level and had also worked on increasing his chakra control so as to not waste his chakra uselessly.
Over the last few months the thing that amused him the most was that how much him and mikoto had gotten to each other, they had even started to call each other by thier first names a few months back and mikoto would usually come to his house either to talk or just to watch train while also completing her homework which Ria had assigned to her.
Although he sincerely cared about mikoto and considered her his first friend mikoto seemed a little shy to him and would blush whenever he held her hands or smiled at her which did confuse him a little bit but he didn't pay any mind to it.
From the last 9 months he had become quite popular in not only the uchiha compound but also the village and was considered a prodigy of the uchiha clan, it was probably because he had gotten the uchiha fan stitched on all his clothings which signified that he had already mastered the fire release: great fireball jutsu at the age of 4 which was unheard of and he would always do his ninjutsu training in a secluded training ground which Kagami had gracefully assigned to him for a given time in the evening and perhaps someone saw him practing his dragon flame bullet jutsu or something, he totally ignored the wishpers and looks he uses to get from the public.
As ryu freshened up and had his breakfast he remembered that today was his 5th birthday and the clan head Kagami and Ria had invited him to thier house for lunch, so keeping that in mind he first took a little stroll through the streets of konoha and even bought a couple of kunais and shurikens and then after around an hour he returned back home.
As Ryu glanced at the clock hanging on the wall he saw that he still had 3 more hours left until he needed to leave for the clan head's house, so he just decided to continue his ninjutsu training and so he went to the library and picked the scroll lying on the table which he was reading last night, it was the fire release: flame whirlwind which was another B ranked ninjutsu, as he left for the training ground a couple minutes away from his house.
After 2 hours of non stop practicing the flame whirlwind, Ryu had managed to somewhat get a hang of but reckoned that it would take atleast a week to master this powerful fire jutsu and could already feel the power and potential of this jutsu.
All covered in sweat and dirt and with a few burns on his sleeves due to loosing control of the fire, he quickly ran through the rooftops of the houses at full speed which had increased to low chunin level, courtesy of his hard work and perhaps innate talent.
Upon reaching back home Ryu quickly freshened up and changed into clean clothes while also binding his shinobi pouch to his waist as he never knew when Kagami would ask for a spar, after locking his house he started walking towards the clan head house.
As he reached Kagami's house he softly knocked on the door and after a few seconds it opened to reveal a smiling Ria to whom he gave a small bow saying,
"Good morning, Ria oba-chan"
Seeing this pinched one of his cheek much to his displeasure making him frown slightly as she said smirking,
"Ha~ Ryu kun didn't I tell you to drop all this formal stuff hmm"
"Hai, you did Ria oba-chan"
"Smile a little bit Ryu kun it's your birthday afterall, now come on inside Mikoto and Kagami are waiting for you"
Nodding his head and removing his sandals he quickly followed Ria inside into the main hall where he saw Kagami and mikoto sitting and talking about something, seeing him both stood up and walked towards him as Kagami just grinned and patted his head saying,
"Well well if it isn't the birthday boy"
Making him slightly shake his head at Kagami's somewhat childish attitude, as Mikoto went upto him and said with a sweet smile on her face,
"Happy birthday Ryu kun"
Making him smile slightly and pat her head like he always used to and said,
"Thank you Mikoto"
Making Mikoto's fair cheeks turn slightly pink afterall she wasn't as shy as before and seeing her light blush her parents had different reactions, Kagami had a urge to take Ryu for a spar and beat him senseless while Ria just giggled slightly quite amused and thought to herself,
'Oh Naori, I think we would we be mothers in law in the future'
As Kagami just fake coughed and said with a sigh,
"Alright alright mikoto go on and give him the gift you prepared"
Making Mikoto's face light up as she quickly ran down the hall while Ria came upto him and handed him a scroll saying ,
"Here take it Ryu kun its your birthday gift from me, it's the shunshin jutsu I think you can lean it in no time"
As he gratefully bowed his head afterall shunshin jutsu was one the most convenient jutsu's one could learn and said with a slight bow,
" Thank you for the gift Ria oba-chan"
Seeing it was his turn Kagami stepped forward and handed him a purple coloured scroll to him with a somewhat serious and sad expression on his face and said,
"Here Ryu it's a letter your mother had written for you moments before her death, as for why I didn't gave it to you before, it was her wish to give you this only once you turn five years old"
Hearing this Ryu's eyes grew wide and his hands holding the scroll couldn't help but start shaking a little in shock, seeing this a worried Ria placed a hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him and said,
"Calm down Ryu kun, it's all right"
Although he was kind of feeling betrayed by Kagami for not giving him the letter earlier he understood the clan head's position so he took a long breath and said with a small bow of head,
"Thank you for giving this to me Kagami oji-san it means a lot"
As Kagami sighed in relief and said with a smile,
" Don't worry Ryu afterall I owe a lot to Naori and also for your birthday gift I'll teach you a kinjutsu, the shadow clone justu afterall you certainly have the chakra for it"
As Ryu nodded gratefully his mind still eteched on the scroll in his pocket.
Just then Mikoto came in walking through the door and he was quite suprised to see a medium sized cakes in hand. As mikoto came in front of him with the cake Ria smiled adoring her daughter's cuteness and said to him,
"You know Ryu kun Mikoto baked this cake all by herself for you specially"
Making Mikoto blush in embarrassment and say shaking her head,
"N..no Ryu kun kaa-san helped me a lot"
As he just smiled at her and said,
"Thank you mikoto I love it"
Also making the uchiha heiress smile cutely at him.
By the time Ryu had celebrated his birthday and had lunch at the clan head's house it was already evening and there was a orange hue in the sky, as Ryu left Kagami's house he directly went to the cemetery while also buying a bundle of purple lilies for his mother on the way.
Upon reaching the uchiha cemetery he stood in front his mother's grave stone which also had a metallic plating on which was written - 'Naori uchiha , a loving daughter, friend and mother'. As ryu quickly replaced the wilted lilies with the new ones, he sat down and took out the purple scroll given to him by Kagami, as he opened the scroll he saw the paper was a little brown and there tear stains on it and then he started reading,
'Dear Ryu kun,
If you're reading this then this means Im probably dead and the doctors weren't able to save me, well it doesn't matter now. You should know my little Ryu that i would always be watching over you and I love you more than anything. Remember to eat right , sleep on time and keep your head up high afterall you are my son. I would always love and protect you my little Ryu even if it's from the after life. Grow strong and don't forget to get yourself a good wife and give me some grandchildren ok?
I love you my Ryu kun,
Your kaa chan,
Naori uchiha
PS- I have let you a little gift in the left wall of the library although you may need a little understanding of fuinjutsu to unlock the blood seal.'
As he read through the letter he was sobbing uncontrollably and didn't notice a sharp pain in his eyes, after half an hour of reading the letter over and over again he finnally wiped his tears thinking,
'Kaa- san I will not let you down I'll make sure to be the strongest shinobi the world has ever seen'
As he looked towards the name plate on his mother's gravestone he was astonished to see his eyes blood red with one black tomoe rotating in both of his eyes.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone