"Elder Akio, didn't you say you'd sell at cost?" Hiruzen asked urgently.
Akio's face was deadpan. "The cost went up, I'm adding compensation for mental distress."
"Meow?" The fat cat finally tired of biting him and began to "act cute," rubbing its big round face against Akio's foot, clearly begging for food.
"Go on, eat. Eat yourself to death," Akio muttered through gritted teeth. Still, he conjured up some dried fish in his hand. Ever since he'd started keeping this cat, he'd stored an entire scroll full of fish snacks enough to feed it for a lifetime.
Hiruzen watched silently as Akio started feeding the cat, exchanging a look with Danzo neither of them knew what to say.
Then Akio's patience finally snapped. "One bite for you, one bite for me… one bite for you" He began competing with the cat for food, looking utterly broken inside.
A chill ran down Hiruzen's spine. "That price is fine! Fine!" he blurted.
Akio sighed. "That tree earlier, consider it a free gift. Have the payment sent to me later."
He waved dismissively, scooped up the reluctant fat cat, and turned to leave. He didn't even care about the tree anymore. The lost space nodes… well, he'd just figure it out later. He had plenty of time to experiment.
"Ever since I got this space ninjutsu, I feel like I'm falling apart… this was what I was so excited for?" Akio groaned to himself.
"Forget it, better focus on mastering it properly. I'll also teach Nagato Dust Release, see if he can learn it."
After twisting through a few side streets, he finally returned to the Senju compound, where his four disciples were waiting.
"Teacher, did Kushina return to the clan?" Nanako asked.
Akio blinked he'd completely forgotten to tell her.
"You were all away, and only Izumi was at home. I wasn't at ease, so I asked Kushina to go back and look after things."
"Then I'll go too, Teacher," Nanako said decisively, the doting granddaughter type through and through.
Akio nodded, then looked toward Jitou.
"I'll go find Guy," Jitou said.
Akio raised a brow. "Guy didn't go to the frontlines?"
Jitou shook his head. "Only Kakashi from their year went to war. The rest stayed behind. Though Duy went; Guy's been training on his own."
"I see. Go ahead, then."
That didn't surprise Akio much. He hadn't seen any children under twelve at the front except Kakashi, of course.
"Obito must be fuming. He's probably off somewhere training like crazy right now."
After the two "senior" disciples left, only the two younger ones remained before Akio.
Nagato looked eager, while Konan's face was full of envy.
Akio opened his mouth to speak but then a faint purring sound came from his arms. The fat cat had fallen asleep again.
"Eat, then sleep. What a blessed life."
Jealous and resentful, Akio gathered some Wind Release chakra into sharp spikes and jabbed it right into the cat's rear.
"MEOW!" The cat yowled and leapt into the air in horror.
Satisfied, Akio smirked, then sealed the cat back into his spatial storage. "Go riot in there if you want."
The two disciples had witnessed the entire scene. They were furious on the cat's behalf… but too afraid to say a word.
"Nagato," Akio began, "today I'll teach you Dust Release."
Nagato's eyes lit up. "Which training ground are we using?"
Akio shook his head. "No need for a special location, right here's fine."
"Dust Release is a kekkei tōta, a Bloodline Selection that surpasses ordinary kekkei genkai. It's a fusion of wind, earth, and fire nature transformations… basically, it's extremely powerful. That's all you need to know for now."
"You'll need to train all three nature transformations. You already have earth and fire down, but your wind nature still needs work."
Since the Rasenshuriken was too dangerous to teach before mastering Sage Mode, Akio still hadn't taught it to him.
After thinking for a bit, Akio's eyes lit up. "Remember how I poked the fat cat earlier? That's how you'll train Wind Release. Got it?"
"Yo!"
"Good, then do it." Akio's face stayed serious, but inwardly he was cursing Killer B's entire family tree.
"Teacher, what comes after that?"
Akio froze. What did come after that? He didn't know either.
"After that, you… uh, connect the three elements in a triangle, and that's it."
Nagato gave him a "Killer B question mark" look how to connect them? How to train that?
Akio sighed and patted his shoulder. "Work hard, kid! Konan, you supervise him!"
Before Nagato could ask more, Akio turned and left. He'd used Dust Release for years, but that was all thanks to the "system." He still had no idea how it actually worked.
"It's fine. Nagato's a genius," he told himself to stay calm.
With his disciples all assigned tasks, Akio headed to Nawaki's home.
Ever since Itachi's birth, Akio had been swamped with endless matters and hadn't had time to visit.
"Elder Akio," Mikoto greeted politely, holding baby Itachi in her arms.
"Just call me Great-Great-Grandfather, like Nawaki does. No need to be so formal."
Akio was somewhat familiar with Mikoto she was a canon character, after all but she herself hadn't met him many times.
"Oh, you still have that carving?"
He hadn't been to Nawaki's house in a long while, and was surprised to see the sculpture he'd made for their wedding still displayed.
Before Mikoto could reply, Akio had already scooped up the baby from her arms. The moment he did, the sleeping Itachi began wailing at the top of his lungs.
Akio froze awkwardly, quickly handing him back before he could even get a proper look.
Watching Mikoto soothe the crying baby, Akio sighed inwardly. Itachi was still far too young barely seven months old. Even if he was destined to be a genius, he couldn't exactly walk, talk, or call anyone yet.
As she rocked the child, Mikoto gave Akio an apologetic smile. "Great-Great-Grandfather, Itachi's just not used to strangers."
Akio chuckled. "No problem. Take him out for walks in the village sometimes, you're not worried about your clan trying to snatch him, are you? Relax. They wouldn't dare."
Mikoto blushed, a little embarrassed. Truthfully, she was worried. Her elderly great-uncle, who'd stayed behind instead of going to war, loved to come peek at Itachi every few days probably waiting for a chance to 'borrow' him permanently.
When Itachi finally quieted down, Akio grumbled internally, "Must be that damn fat cat's smell that scared him. Tsunade and Kushina were perfectly calm when I held them!"
Inside the space seal, the fat cat sneezed in its sleep, scratched its cheek with a paw, and continued snoring.
The baby was still too young to observe much from, so Akio could only sigh and leave. Before going, he told Mikoto, "When he learns to say 'Mama,' make sure you tell me. I'll come visit again then."
After wrapping up everything, Akio transformed back into his Hagoromo disguise and dropped by Ichiraku Ramen to greet Sara.
She'd now officially become the "head chef." Her ramen tasted almost identical to Teuchi's not surprising after more than a year of training.
Life settled back into calm routine. Akio returned to his little "online shop" to focus on refining his space ninjutsu. Three days later, Hiruzen came knocking.
"Did we win the war already?" Akio asked, confused. The Land of Rain had been quiet for days now.
Hiruzen shook his head. "Iwagakure has entered the war. I came to discuss a deal, I want to buy Iwa's weapons and supplies. The price is negotiable."
Akio: "…"
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