Chapter 86 — The One with the Eternal Eyes
Akira sat perched high atop the ancient Rōran wall, the wind whipping the edges of his ANBU cloak against the stone. He had deactivated his Fox mask, allowing the harsh light to fall across his face.
His Byakugan gleamed faintly, not yet at full power, but its augmented vision spread effortlessly across the cracked dunes and distant towers of the ancient city. Through the shimmering heat haze and shifting sand, he saw them—two colossal chakra signatures, like stars against the dusty backdrop.
One burned like the sun itself, impossibly golden, wild, and radiating the energy of the Tailed Beasts. The other was calm, cold, and razor-sharp, like a blade constantly drawn from shadow, laced with the subtle, distant power of the Six Paths.
"So… they finally came," Akira murmured, the revelation settling over him with a profound sense of destiny.
"Parallel-world Naruto and Sasuke. From the Boruto era."
He closed his eyes for a moment, a faint, intrigued smile playing on his lips. His mind quickly cross-referenced the immense chakra signatures with the timeline knowledge he possessed.
"Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage… and Sasuke Uchiha, the wandering captain of the shadows. They should be around thirty-three, thirty-five now, if they maintained their original timeline's trajectory."
The continuous, distorted chakra waves that pulsed off the Dragon Vein beneath the sand clearly showed the point of their temporal entry. The chaos was settling, leaving behind ripples of the future within the past.
"Interesting," he thought. "Brother Minato is moving toward the epicenter—he'll probably meet Naruto first. Then…"
He opened his eyes again, the golden light intensity of the Byakugan. He had seen enough to confirm the impossible.
"Let's go greet my future little brother, Sasuke."
Akira launched himself off the wall, leaping down silently and landing with the barest shush of displaced dust near Kakashi's position on a lower rooftop.
Kakashi (Dog mask fully lowered) turned instantly, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny. His tone was sharp, focused on mission protocol.
"What is it, Akira? You abandoned your post. Don't tell me you just came for a walk in the desert. Did the Suna Jōnin have anything useful?"
Akira folded his arms, his gaze distant, already past the immediate threat.
"The Suna threat is tertiary now. Someone far more critical is out there. Two, actually. And one of them… his strength is beyond anything we've seen. Even if every Kage alive in our current era were to fight him together right now, they wouldn't last an hour."
Kakashi stared at him for a second, waiting for the punch line, the playful sarcasm he was accustomed to. But Akira's expression didn't change. His voice was calm, almost devoid of emotion, which was far more unsettling than panic.
"You're serious?" Kakashi finally said, his tone a strained mixture of disbelief and genuine, strategic concern.
Akira only nodded. "Completely."
"Then what is the protocol? We can't take on someone like that head-on. We report and retreat to Minato-sensei immediately."
A faint, almost teasing smile curved on Akira's lips, the severity of the crisis clashing sharply with his composure.
"It's simple," he said quietly, lowering his hands.
Kakashi frowned deeply beneath his mask.
"Simple? You just said this person could wipe out all the Kage. How is anything about that simple?"
Akira turned to him fully then, the corners of his mouth lifting in a soft, knowing smile that was equal parts mischievous and profound.
"Because," he said, his voice light but absolutely certain,
"that person doesn't look like an enemy. He looks like a hero."
Kakashi blinked, momentarily startled. Confusion, suspicion, then reluctant, professional curiosity flashed across his eyes.l He knew Akira was speaking impossible truths.
"You're unbelievable," Kakashi muttered, rubbing the back of his neck and accepting the absurdity. "One day your confidence is going to get both of us killed, and I'll have to explain it to Sensei."
Akira chuckled under his breath, turning toward the city center where the chaos had erupted.
"Maybe. But not today. Today, we make history."
The desert wind rose around them, carrying the faint echoes of the distant Dragon Vein. Somewhere within that shimmering, chaotic heat, two legends from the future were already walking closer to destiny.