"Time really flies. Another year older already... Guess that makes this old ancestor twelve years old now."
Dressed in white, Akio stood beneath the falling snow, watching flakes drift through the winter sky.
After the family's annual New Year's feast, the Land of Whirlpools was finally treated to a heavy snowfall.
He had barely spent half an hour chatting and laughing with his descendants before the entire countryside had been transformed into a blanket of white.
Naruto, naturally, was the first to yell,
"Snowball fight!"
Tsukika was exactly the age where anything involving snow sounded irresistible.
Still, she wasn't about to fight fair.
She immediately recruited her big sister Karin to help teach her hopeless big brother a lesson.
Soon an all-out snowball war erupted.
One side consisted of:
Tsukika.
Karin.
Haku.
Toneri.
...and Kushina.
The other side?
Just Naruto.
There was no way Naruto was accepting those odds.
After sprinting across the battlefield, he dove behind Akio for cover.
Then he watched in complete disbelief as a snowball curved gracefully around Akio in a perfect S-shaped arc, striking him squarely in the face.
"...This game is rigged."
Akio narrowed his eyes before glancing over his shoulder.
"All right."
"Count your old ancestor in."
Naruto turned and ran for his life.
...
Where there's pressure, there's resistance.
Under overwhelming enemy fire, Naruto launched a heroic last stand worthy of legend...
Only to eventually abandon the "heroic" part and focus entirely on survival.
Thus, the first day of Konoha Year 61 came to a cheerful close.
A brand-new year had begun.
...
The next morning, Akio assigned all the children an extraordinarily difficult training exercise.
Leave no footprints in the snow.
In martial arts novels, that phrase symbolized supreme mastery of movement techniques.
In the Naruto world, it was entirely possible as well
But only with extraordinary chakra control.
Even most adults couldn't manage it.
Among everyone present, only Nagato could do it effortlessly, and even he relied on Earth Release to lighten his body.
Meanwhile, Kushina and Minato continued trudging through the snow, leaving footprints with every step.
"Looks like everyone's fundamentals still need work."
Akio smiled before closing his eyes.
He carefully examined the subtle changes within his own body.
After removing all 268 aging-related genes, he could vaguely sense something had changed.
He just couldn't identify exactly what.
Until he understood every consequence...
There was no way he would perform the same surgery on anyone else.
"Physical development has slowed slightly..."
"...but not by much."
"Instead of reaching full maturity around twenty, it might happen at twenty-three or twenty-four."
"That's perfectly acceptable."
"As for everything else..."
"Great-Great-Grandpa! Great-Great-Grandpa!"
Tsukika's excited shout, practically in his ear, snapped him out of his thoughts.
He opened one eye.
"Look!"
Stretching both arms behind her like tiny wings, she ran a graceful circle around him before staring up expectantly.
Akio raised an eyebrow.
Her footprints barely disturbed the surface.
"Mutsuki, that was excellent."
"Yay!"
Beaming with pride after receiving praise, she ran back toward Minato and Kushina.
"She's talented."
"Children have an easier time because they're lighter, but reaching this level at only five years old..."
"She's already mastered enough chakra control to learn the Water Walking Technique."
"She's every bit as gifted as Itachi was at that age."
"Then again..."
"Kushina and Minato are both once-in-a-generation prodigies."
"And Naruto's potential isn't lacking either..."
Akio stopped speaking.
"...Genetics."
He suddenly realized something.
Changing a person's genes...
Would inevitably affect what they passed on to future generations.
"If enough people undergo this anti-aging procedure..."
"...then hundreds of years from now, living well past a hundred could become perfectly normal."
He pursed his lips.
Looks like I may have accidentally influenced the future on a millennium-wide scale.
Not bad.
Just then, a member of the Land of Whirlpools' patrol force appeared in a Body Flicker beside Nagato, whispered a brief report, and vanished again.
Nagato blinked before immediately turning toward Akio.
"Sensei."
"The Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumī, has entered the Land of Whirlpools."
"She came alone."
Akio frowned.
"She came by herself?"
Nagato looked surprised.
"How did you know?"
"It's the New Year. I can't imagine why the Mizukage would travel here alone unless..."
"Let's go."
Akio interrupted with a wave.
He immediately headed toward the Whirlpool Kage Building.
Nagato hesitated briefly, signaled Konan, and hurried after him.
Not far away, Kushina exchanged a glance with Minato.
"Something's happened," Minato said thoughtfully.
Kushina shrugged.
"When has New Year's ever passed quietly around our family?"
"Besides..."
She pointed toward Akio's back.
"Look at Grandpa."
"He already has everything under control."
Minato fell silent.
After a moment, he changed the subject.
"When we get back to Konoha..."
"I think I'm finally going to take on an apprentice."
Kushina blinked.
"That little girl named Tenten?"
Minato nodded.
"She has remarkable talent for space-time techniques."
"And she's bright, hardworking, too."
"It's a shame she's a little older than Naruto."
Kushina smiled.
"Actually, that might be better."
"An older girl knows how to look after people."
"Our son certainly isn't going to look after himself..."
She continued talking enthusiastically.
Minato: "..."
How did this conversation end up here?
...
Inside the Whirlpool Kage's office, Akio and Nagato met the Fifth Mizukage.
At twenty-seven years old, Mei Terumī had completely outgrown the youthful look she'd worn when she first became Mizukage.
She now carried herself with effortless confidence and mature elegance.
"The First Whirlpool Kage..."
"Didn't Lord Uzumaki Akio return home for the holidays?"
The moment she saw Nagato, she hurriedly asked.
Nagato paused before instinctively glancing toward Akio.
Mei followed his gaze.
"...And this is?"
Akio pursed his lips.
"Shouldn't you be asking, 'Who is this handsome young gentleman?'"
Mei froze.
Her emerald eyes widened.
"...Akio-sama?!"
"Feel free to stick with 'handsome young gentleman.'"
Brushing a lock of hair away from one eye, Mei took a steadying breath.
"...Handsome young gentleman..."
"Yagura has disappeared."
Akio slowly closed his eyes.
"I figured."
"When?"
"Last night."
She hesitated.
"He invited me to dinner, but..."
Akio sighed.
"I'm not surprised."
"The organization known as Dark Akatsuki is hunting the Tailed Beasts."
"As the Three-Tails' jinchūriki, Yagura was always going to become a target."
"So it really was Dark Akatsuki?"
Mei's expression tightened.
"But with Yagura's strength..."
"How could he disappear without anyone noticing?"
"There are countless ways to kidnap someone."
Akio shrugged.
"They could've drugged him."
"They could have an informant inside the Hidden Mist."
"Or..."
He smirked.
"Someone could've transformed into you and lured him away."
Mei's expression changed instantly.
"...Akio-sama."
"Can you do anything?"
He shook his head.
"Not yet."
"I'm waiting for them to make the next move."
Akio had anticipated Yagura's capture ever since the former Mizukage declined his invitation to relocate to the Land of Whirlpools.
When the enemy operated from the shadows, perfect defense simply wasn't possible.
Instead...
He was using Naruto as the bait.
Sooner or later, Akatsuki would have to come after the Nine-Tails.
Years ago, Kinkaku and Ginkaku had been completely obliterated by his Dust Release.
That left Naruto and Kushina as the only practical sources of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
If necessary, sacrificing strategic positions like Yagura, Killer B, or even Gaara was acceptable.
Once the enemy revealed themselves...
He would eliminate them.
Then worry about bringing everyone back afterward.
Akio shook his head with a sigh.
"Still..."
"What a waste."
"Yagura was one of the few people who could still pull off the 'eternally youthful' look."
He glanced down at his own child-sized body and grinned.
"Though these days..."
"I've got him thoroughly outclassed."
---
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