A brilliant slash like a shooting star flashed through the air. One moment, Sakumo was standing before Shikaku; the next, he was behind him, slowly sheathing his blade.
Shikaku didn't panic. Instead, he frowned deeply and turned toward Sakumo.
"Jōnin Hatake, did you just sense someone?"
Sakumo nodded solemnly. "It felt like… I was being watched."
Inside the space dimension, Akio's expression darkened. He hadn't expected Sakumo to actually sense his spatial ninjutsu.
"Was it my gaze or something else?" Akio muttered, shaking his head. Even with sensory abilities, he could never develop that kind of instinctive "intuition."
Watching Sakumo still on guard, Akio sighed. "Forget it. I'll just leave."
But before he could, Shikaku spoke gravely, "The battle plan's been compromised. Mission canceled, Jōnin Hatake."
Akio nearly laughed out loud. Seriously?
"Sakumo, tell him it was just your imagination," Akio's voice echoed in Sakumo's ear.
Sakumo stiffened for a moment, then turned to Shikaku. "My mistake earlier. False alarm, no need to rewrite the plan."
Shikaku frowned, sensing something odd. After a pause, he smiled faintly, moving his lips silently, four words formed without sound: Elder Akio?
"Why the silent act?" Akio grumbled, stepping out of the spatial fold.
"Elder Akio, you finally came," Sakumo greeted him.
"Like it makes any difference," Akio waved dismissively. "Victory's already in sight; you don't need me here."
He had already reviewed the entire battle plan earlier. The Land of Rain had become the main front. Konoha's forces were advancing steadily, pushing Suna's troops to their limits. They were practically at Hanzo's doorstep. Sunagakure wouldn't be able to hold out much longer, and the Rain forces had already taken heavy losses. Poor Hanzo, he hadn't wanted to join the war, but he didn't have a choice.
Shikaku shook his head. "We still have to prepare for Iwagakure. They've begun mobilizing as well."
Akio shot him a glare. "So what if you're a genius strategist? Don't tell me you haven't already made arrangements. You probably contacted Kakuzu ages ago."
Before either could react, Akio vanished again, heading toward where his four disciples were stationed, he'd already seen their location in the mission roster earlier.
The Land of Rain was small, but still a country. With the whole region turned into a battlefield, running into large groups of shinobi was rare.
Konoha had deployed roughly two thousand ninjas there, divided into small squads, anywhere from three to thirty people conducting guerrilla warfare.
Akio's four disciples formed one such squad. They had no fixed mission; their job was simply to "sweep up" any Rain ninja they encountered.
When Akio found them, a battle had just begun.
Nanako and Jitou hadn't even moved yet, Nagato and Konan had already finished off an enemy force three times their size in under thirty seconds.
Akio's eyes lit up with delight. He could see it, Nagato had "broken through."
Not in the sense of unlocking some mystical chakra pathway or becoming an innate sage, but his very presence his aura had transformed.
In the shinobi world, such "pressure" or killing intent truly existed. It was most often seen in elite jōnin or S-rank shinobi, people whose very existence radiated danger.
War really did forge people. Nagato, barely fifteen, had already stepped into the S-rank level. That kind of rapid growth… even Naruto and Sasuke had to work hard for it.
"This kind of overwhelming aura… seems I was never meant to have it."
Akio sighed deeply as his students began cleaning the battlefield. He stepped out of hiding.
"Yo, sensei! You finally showed up!"
Nagato was the first to speak. Akio's smile instantly vanished.
"Nagato, why are you saying 'yo' again?"
Nagato scratched his head awkwardly. He just thought it sounded cool…
"Sensei," the other three greeted, walking up to him. They clearly had a hundred questions but held their tongues for now.
"You're wondering where I've been, right?"
They all nodded quickly.
"I'm not telling you." Akio wasn't sure how to explain it anyway, what could he say? My mastery of Gentle Fist transcended the void, and I wandered into another world?
"Hmm… actually, that's not a bad explanation," he mused.
"We'll just… not ask then," said his uncooperative disciples.
Akio paused. "You brats… fine, whatever."
Shaking his head, he added, "Nagato, you've made real progress. You can start training Dust Release now. The rest of you, return to camp and wait for me, I'm going to deal with Sunagakure's forces."
His students looked stunned especially Nanako and Jitou. Akio almost never intervened directly in Konoha's wars, let alone personally take on an enemy army.
"We'll go, sensei," Nanako said first, not pressing for reasons. After all, Akio wouldn't tell them anyway.
Akio smiled faintly. He truly couldn't fight openly right now, but if he wanted to earn more Witness Points from this Third Shinobi War, he had to make some moves.
"Spatial abilities are perfect for stealth operations, after all."
He didn't plan to wipe enemies out one by one that would take forever. Instead, he blinked across the landscape toward Sunagakure's encampment.
Along the way, he passed multiple battlefields but didn't interfere, though Sunagakure's ninja soon noticed strange things happening: their kunai vanishing mid-fight, their puppets disappearing altogether…
Back in his spatial dimension, all sorts of objects began piling up. The fat cat was having the time of its life playing with the loot thankfully, Akio had the good sense to bury all the sharp and spiky things at the bottom.
After about half an hour, he had crossed the entire Land of Rain, "collecting" countless items and running into several acquaintances.
"Keep fighting, everyone. I'm practically getting rich off this."
Akio took stock of his haul: over five hundred kunai. Judging by the average number per ninja, that meant he had "looted" around two hundred people… though in reality, probably closer to twenty. Most of the rest came from traps and possibly even some from Konoha's own troops.
The Sunagakure camp was now in sight. Akio hesitated briefly then smirked. "No, the Suna camp probably has better stuff."
The thrill of thievery was oddly satisfying.
"Thief? No, no, I'm a heroic rogue walking the battlefield!"
He started creeping through the Suna camp, moving from tent to tent within the space dimension.
Like Konoha's camp, the largest tent was the field hospital. Akio silently "borrowed" a few rolls of bandages and some medicine.
The second largest tent was the supply depot two guards stood watch outside, and one of them looked familiar.
"Wait, isn't that the kid who led me into the Kazekage building back then? Sorry about this…" Akio murmured as he began his heist.
Inside were piles of weapons, food, and spare puppets but what caught his attention were several boxes he immediately recognized: explosive tags exported from the Land of Whirlpools.
"Perfect. I'll take these back and resell them."
A space-time ninjutsu, turned into a personal looting technique. The original Obito was far too naive if he'd done this, Akatsuki would've never needed to worry about funding.
When he was done, the tent was practically empty. Akio gave a sheepish chuckle.
"Well… this counts as participating in and altering the course of the war, right?"
---
[Every 50 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
For early access to advanced chapters visit my P@treon:
P@treon/ Dexy3
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!