After having lunch with Obito and Sara and sending the two off to train, Akio returned to his own intense regimen of practice.
With each day of hard work, his mastery over space-time ninjutsu grew sharper and more refined.
Before long, another month had passed. Among all of Akio's techniques, only Dust Release: Human Realm Separation Technique remained uncastable. In other words, his strength had nearly fully recovered, there simply wasn't a single ninja left in the world who could push him to the point of needing that technique.
The Hyūga clan also sent good news. After a month and a half of tireless research, they had successfully restored the Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms. For now, no one could fully perform it, but Hiashi was making steady progress.
Akio wasn't in a hurry, he wanted Hiashi to perfect the Two Hundred Fifty-Six Palms version first, then hand over both techniques together.
Meanwhile, Sara had more and more free time. She had refused to open another Ichiraku branch in Uzushio, so Teuchi was forced to take on a new apprentice and start from scratch. Business had slowed down considerably due to the war.
Akio, worried Sara would get bored, assigned her to take care of the fat cat. The creature ate and pooped endlessly before, Akio could just burn the waste with Fire Release in his training space, but at home... well, "poop-scooping" really didn't fit his status.
Having completed the first phase of his training, Akio once again found himself idle. He had originally planned to take six months to fully master space-time ninjutsu, but it had taken him less than two.
"I really am a genius,"
he muttered to himself.
Leaving his " Kiboku-dō shop," he reverted to his true appearance and returned to the Senju compound time to check on Nagato's progress.
"Yo! Teacher, you're here!"
The greeting was the same as ever. Akio had long since given up trying to correct Nagato's speech habits.
"I came to see how your training's going."
Nagato's expression turned... resentful. "Teacher, I've got the Wind Release nature transformation down, but how in the world am I supposed to train Dust Release!?"
Akio sighed. How indeed? What was he supposed to do go have a chat with Ōnoki?
He focused for a moment, then gestured a triangle with his fingers.
"This is wind, this is fire, this is earth. Connect them, spin clockwise. Keep them balanced… you get it?"
Nagato shook his head immediately.
Akio looked pained. "How do you not get it?"
Konan's gentle voice chimed in, "You mean like this, teacher."
Three paper slips floated up, each marked with a kanji Wind, Earth, and Fire connected in a triangle, spinning clockwise.
Nagato's eyes lit up. "Ah! I get it now."
Akio's face darkened. For some reason, he felt… embarrassed.
"Guess my disciple's just too dense. Can't grasp anything abstract," he grumbled.
"Since you understand now," Akio continued, "keep training. Master Dust Release, then Sage Mode. Once you combine the two, you'll have about half my strength."
"I understand, teacher!" Nagato said, full of determination, clearly ignoring the "half my strength" remark.
Akio nodded. "Konan, you too keep it up."
She smiled sweetly, but her words made Akio shudder. "I've already prepared several million explosive tags."
"Y-you… take it easy, alright? Don't overdo it." He could already picture Konoha getting blown sky-high. "Remember, relying too much on external tools isn't the ninja way. Your own strength matters most."
"Understood."
Akio waved and turned to leave. Konan he trusted; Nagato… well, fate would decide.
Just as he stepped outside, he ran into Mikoto holding baby Itachi.
"Great-grandfather, I heard you were here, so I came to see you. You said to let you know when Itachi learned to talk, he just did!"
"So soon?" Akio blinked. Itachi wasn't even nine months old.
"Just a few days ago." Mikoto's smile was full of motherly warmth.
Akio looked at the tiny child in her arms curious, wide-eyed, quietly studying the world around him.
"No, not like a kitten," Akio thought bitterly.
"That damn fat cat ruined my image of 'cute cats' forever."
After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Come on, call me 'great-great-great-grandfather,' let's hear it."
Mikoto: "…"
If he grows up stuttering, you'll be to blame, she thought.
Realizing how ridiculous it sounded, Akio scratched his head. "Uh… how about 'ancestor'? Try calling me that?"
Itachi stayed silent.
"'Forefather'? …'Elder'?"
…
Mikoto couldn't help but smile helplessly. This ancestor of hers was more childish than Nawaki.
"Itachi only says 'Mama' right now," she explained. "And not even that often only when he's hungry."
Akio chuckled. "Smart kid. Knows who to call when he's hungry."
After circling around them twice, he sighed. "Still too young. Once he's a year or so, I'll start his early education!"
"Early education?" Mikoto blinked, a little alarmed.
"Geniuses win from the starting line," Akio said with mock wisdom.
Mikoto nodded stiffly, already fearing for her son's peaceful childhood.
"What's with that look? You should be proud! I've never personally tutored a one-year-old before. Itachi's honored."
"That's… exactly why I'm worried," she thought.
Itachi, perhaps sensing something ominous, waved his tiny hands toward Akio and smacked him right in the face.
Akio froze, then burst into laughter. "Remarkable! So young, yet brave enough to strike at me."
Mikoto could only shake her head.
Itachi babbled softly. Mikoto smiled. "Did you hear that? He called me again he must be hungry."
Akio's expression darkened. That's him calling you? He hadn't understood a word.
With a flick of his hand, a familiar dried fish appeared in his palm. "Here, have a fish snack. Nutritious and tasty."
Mikoto gave him a strange look, turned, and left without taking it.
"…Fine, suit yourself," Akio sighed, tossing the fish into his own mouth.
He wandered out of the Senju compound, squinting up at the glaring sun, and smiled faintly.
He wasn't stupid of course he knew a baby that young couldn't eat solid food yet. He just didn't want to awkwardly say, "You should feed him milk," so he covered it up with a joke.
"Itachi's growing healthy, Nagato's starting to grasp Dust Release, my own space-time ninjutsu is complete… The war in the Land of Rain has turned into a stalemate. No need to intervene for now. In a few months, I'll take Obito to the battlefield for experience. But for now…"
Akio looked off toward the direction of Kirigakure.
"Time to handle some real business."
He paused, then grinned.
"Who knows? Maybe my next opponent will be a total idiot."
---
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