Akio's sudden disappearance wasn't voluntary, it was passive.
Right after completing the final sequence of the Gentle Fist, he felt a powerful pull coming from within his own body, as if he were being drawn into himself.
When he blinked again, Nagato and Konan were gone, and he found himself standing inside a sealed space.
It wasn't very large, roughly a cube about a hundred meters per side. The surroundings were bare and unadorned, but a massive Eight Trigrams Seal carved into the ground immediately made Akio realize his situation.
"Gentle Fist mastered to its limit… and I've obtained a domain? The Eight Trigrams Domain?" Akio's face brightened.
Instinctively, he opened his status panel to check.
To his slight disappointment, his Body stat remained at 5000 points, it hadn't increased from reaching mastery in Gentle Fist.
"Where's Gentle Fist then?" He searched carefully but couldn't find the skill listed anywhere.
"My level 10 technique…" Akio frowned. Other skills at level 10 never disappeared, and his body still remembered how to use Gentle Fist instinctively, so he hadn't really lost it.
After scanning the list twice more, he finally noticed something new under Special Abilities:
Space (1/8)
Akio froze for a moment, then a grin stretched almost to his ears.
"Space-time ninjutsu… this is the kind of technique future me would use! I actually have my own dimension now!" His heart raced with excitement. He looked around eagerly. "Although… it's kind of small."
Nagato and Konan were completely forgotten as he began exploring his "territory." The space was indeed empty. He didn't plan on decorating it anyway. One full lap took barely five minutes.
"Pretty small, but better than nothing. And it says one out of eight, so maybe it can be expanded? Wait, 1/8… does that mean I can expand this seven more times, or that I can unlock seven other spaces?"
He looked down at the massive Eight Trigrams Seal beneath him, it seemed to hint at the latter. This space was clearly tied to Gentle Fist reaching its peak, so the remaining attributes might each unlock their own spaces.
"Seven attributes left… so, wind could be the Hurricane Space, fire the Inferno Space, no, the Scorching Hell Space!" Akio began giving each potential domain grand names. "Yin Release… a Mind Space. Yang Release… a Body Space?"
He grimaced. "That one sounds a little… off."
"Oh right, there's also Sealing Arts: a Sealing Space! Maybe there's no Yang Space after all."
After indulging in a few minutes of fantasy, he decided on the current one's name: Eight Trigrams Space.
Checking his status again, he noted that the new ability hadn't raised his overall rank, it remained SS+. Still, this new spatial technique finally compensated for his defensive weakness. With this, if he fought Madara again, Rinnegan and all he might not be at a disadvantage.
He had 1080 Witness Points now. Mito's passing and Kushina becoming the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had given him seventy points, and now the appearance of this spatial ability left him debating how to spend them.
If he used them now, he could instantly unlock another space. He was especially tempted by Yin Release, if he could reach level 10 there and gain a Mind Space, he might even develop high-level genjutsu like Tsukuyomi.
"Patience. Hold it in." He gritted his teeth. Unlocking more spaces wouldn't give him a real power boost yet. What could, however, was Kekkei Mōra. With that, he could freely travel between his domains, just like the legendary Yomi Pathway.
To distract himself, Akio began studying the Eight Trigrams Space more closely.
Since there would be multiple spaces, each one clearly had different properties, likely tied to their originating attributes.
First, he tested his surroundings, no trace of senjutsu chakra. As expected, this space was completely isolated from the outside world.
He tried a few basic elemental techniques next and found their power significantly reduced, likely due to spatial compression.
"A domain obtained from mastering Gentle Fist… it's designed for close combat, suppressing ninjutsu. Figures."
He tried Dust Release next, barely managed to form it before the walls absorbed it completely. Its power felt halved.
"A space specialized for taijutsu duels… pity. I'm more of a ninjutsu type."
Sensing around, he raised a hand and sliced through the air. Instantly, the outside world appeared before him like a projected window.
The same training field but Nagato and Konan were nowhere in sight. He must've spent some time studying the space, though not too long, because.....
Not far away, a fat orange cat was napping on a tree branch.
"Perfect test subject. Come here, Fat Cat." Akio grinned, then realized he didn't actually know how to bring it in.
He had been pulled in unconsciously earlier, so how was he supposed to reverse it?
He stretched his right hand toward the "window," but it passed through harmlessly. He couldn't touch anything outside.
"Well, this is awkward. Fat Cat, get in here!" he muttered in frustration, then noticed his chakra drop slightly.
Outside, the fat cat suddenly bristled, its fur standing on end as an intense sense of danger hit it.
The space in front of it distorted, and before it could react, the cat was sucked in completely.
Akio stared blankly as the cat materialized at his feet. Both of them froze for several seconds.
Finally, ignoring the cat's grumpy wake-up bite on his leg, Akio burst into laughter. This space was full of surprises.
"No physical contact required as long as the target doesn't escape instantly, I can pull them in just by thinking about it. My space-time ability is top-tier!"
He looked down at the cat, which had given up biting and lay sprawled out, dozing again.
"This space is your home now. Sleep all you want."
"Been missing for about an hour already, huh? I should head back before Nagato and Konan start looking for me in Konoha."
Akio focused his thoughts on leaving. He kept it up for half a minute
Nothing happened.
"…What the hell? Why can't I get out?" His face darkened. He hadn't moved an inch.
Then he noticed something strange, he could sense countless tiny nodes scattered throughout the space. Curious, he focused on one at random.
In an instant, the world around him changed now he stood in a vast frozen tundra.
"It even has space-jumping… Each of those nodes leads to a different location? I'm rich!" Akio thought with awe.
Then reality sank in.
"…But wait. Where exactly am I?"
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