When Akira opened the door, he was genuinely surprised to see the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, standing outside.
The incident with Uchiha Kawa had shaken the entire ninja world. Akira had expected this visit, or at the very least, to be summoned. He had mentally prepared for scrutiny from three key figures: Danzo, Fugaku Uchiha, and the Third Hokage himself.
Danzo had wasted no time. Not long after Akira returned to the village, he was summoned. Fugaku, too, had visited personally, bringing gifts. But the Third Hokage hadn't called for him at all yesterday, and now he stood here in person—holding what appeared to be a package of food. This unexpected gesture caught Akira off guard.
Feigning surprise, Akira greeted warmly, "Lord Hokage, what brings you to my house? And with gifts too. I'm so embarrassed! Please, come in."
The Third Hokage chuckled, his tone kind and familiar. "I heard you returned, so I came to see you. I should have come yesterday, but I thought you must be tired from your journey. I didn't want to disturb your rest. So I came today instead, and I brought some breakfast."
Akira couldn't help but compare the old Hokage to Danzo and Fugaku. The Third knew how to show care and tact. Danzo had summoned him without a second thought for rest. Fugaku was better, showing courtesy with a personal visit. But Hiruzen? He brought breakfast.
The Third Hokage unpacked the bundle, revealing warm, freshly packed food. He invited Akira to eat with him. Despite knowing this was a calculated move to build rapport, Akira was still quietly touched. Few people had shown him such kindness, in this life or the last.
As they ate and talked, the Hokage spoke with a grateful tone. "Thank you for your bravery. Your intervention during the battle helped stall Yekura. Without your actions, the consequences could have been unimaginable."
Akira shook his head, a note of regret in his voice. "I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. I had already used up the chakra stored in my Yin Seal before the battle. I couldn't maintain the fight. If Kawa hadn't appeared at the last moment, I might not be here now."
"You fought until your chakra was gone, despite having the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape. That kind of resolve is rare. It comforts me to see such strength in our younger generation," the Hokage replied sincerely. Then his smile softened. "Also, no need to call me Lord Hokage anymore. You're Tsunade and Orochimaru's disciple—that makes you my grand-disciple. Just call me Grandpa Third."
Akira blinked, caught off guard by the intimacy. "Okay, Lord—uh, Grandpa Third."
Smiling, Hiruzen continued, "You made a great contribution. What would you like as a reward? Just say it. Grandpa will take care of it."
Akira looked bashful, hesitating, then finally said, "I heard the creature summoned by the Sand Village is called Shukaku—a Tailed Beast with immense power. Ordinary techniques can't destroy it, only sealing can subdue it. I want to learn sealing techniques, in case I ever face one again."
Akira had been thinking about this ever since the battle. During the fight, he had used Moon Eclipse to sever Shukaku's hand and tail. Those parts didn't return to the Jinchuriki when Shukaku was re-sealed. Now they were trapped in his Susanoo's remnants—and ultimately sealed in his eyes. The residual chakra from the Ten-Tails within Shukaku made it impossible to dissolve, and lately, Akira's eyes had felt heavy, swollen. Releasing that chakra was an option, but he was reluctant. Tailed Beast chakra was valuable.
He needed sealing techniques, not just for future battles, but to extract and store this chakra safely.
The Third Hokage, unaware of Akira's true intentions, assumed the boy simply wanted to be prepared. "Sealing techniques aren't forbidden, and it's wise to learn while you're young. I'll gather some scrolls and send them your way."
Akira bowed his head, smiling. "Thank you, Grandpa Third."
After a moment of quiet, the Hokage shifted slightly. "Akira, did Danzo summon you yesterday? What did he say?"
Akira wasn't surprised. The Hokage would have heard. Danzo had been predictable. "Yes, he summoned me to Root. Asked a lot about Uchiha Kawa. But I don't know much, so I didn't have answers. Then he asked if I wanted to join Root. I refused. I'm not interested in becoming an Anbu."
The Third Hokage frowned slightly, though he masked it well. He had suspected Danzo would dig into Akira's connection to Kawa, but he hadn't expected him to recruit the boy. That was a step too far.
"You made the right choice. Root is not a place for someone like you. I'm glad you declined."
The conversation drifted after that. The Hokage, like Fugaku, didn't press too hard. He asked carefully, indirectly, never overstepping. Akira repeated the same story he'd given everyone else—that he barely knew Kawa, knew nothing of his current whereabouts, and hadn't spoken to him since the battle.
Satisfied, the Third Hokage didn't push further. He knew Akira was a Uchiha by blood, even if distantly, and likely had ties he wouldn't betray. But he also trusted the boy's judgment and loyalty to the village.
When breakfast was done, the Hokage stood and thanked Akira again. "I'll have those sealing technique scrolls sent to you soon. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to come to me."
Akira bowed respectfully, a quiet sense of gratitude and wariness lingering in his heart.
As the door closed, Akira stood still for a long moment. The Third Hokage had played his role masterfully. But Akira wasn't a child to be bought with kindness. He had chosen his path—and nothing, not Hokage nor clan, would steer him off it.
After seeing off the Third Hokage, Akira wasted no time. The moment the door clicked shut, he dove straight into developing his Bloodline Limit ninjutsu. That was just the kind of person he was—once he set a goal, he couldn't wait even a moment to start pursuing it.
The world outside was far from peaceful. Though the Hidden Leaf was in the midst of negotiating peace with Sunagakure, tensions remained sky-high. The risk of war with another nation was always just a spark away. Akira knew that the elite ninjas who had just returned from the Wind Country battlefield might soon be deployed again. The clock was ticking.
In the brief calm he had, Akira planned to push his limits. If possible, he wanted to develop a new chakra attribute in the coming days—better yet, two—and shape them into full-fledged Bloodline Limit techniques. He knew that when he unveiled them, they would shock even the most seasoned of shinobi.
Though Akira had tried to keep a low profile since arriving in this world, his natural brilliance made that nearly impossible. He couldn't help but feel a touch of regret—why hadn't he arrived in this world with a system or a cheat code like in the stories? A golden finger that rewarded him for causing emotional turmoil—fear, awe, envy. If such a system existed, he was sure that with all the awe he'd inspired in the past year, he'd already be near godhood.
But no, unlike those lucky protagonists, Akira had to claw his way forward with grit and relentless work. Every new step he took in ninjutsu, he carved for himself.
He created several shadow clones to assist with fusing new chakra attributes. Then, on a whim, he tested a theory—were his clones neurologically linked to the body of Yakushi Kabuto, the other soul he was fused with? He tried to sense the connection.
Nothing.
As he suspected, only the two main bodies were linked. The clones had no connection. If they were connected too, Akira chuckled, he'd be unstoppable. An army of brains working in tandem—he could probably develop even Kekkei Tōta with ease.
The biggest hurdle in developing new chakra attributes lay in using two chakra nature transformations simultaneously. Using one transformation was simple—akin to making one eye rotate in a circle. But using two at once, each focused in a different direction, was like trying to draw a circle with one eye while the other drew a square. Genetic predisposition, training, and talent all played a role.
For Akira, this basic dual-tasking was almost trivial—he had two brains, after all. The real challenge was making the two chakras harmonize and merge.
He recalled everything he knew about Bloodline Limits from watching Naruto and its various spin-offs in his previous life. Combination ninjutsu and Bloodline Limits weren't the same. Combination techniques, like the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet enhanced with an Earth Dragon Bullet, merely stacked the effects—fire added heat, earth added structure. It was like mixing paint.
But Bloodline Limits were more like chemical reactions. They fused core traits from different elements and birthed entirely new properties. Where combination jutsu was superficial, Bloodline Limits were fundamental. They involved extracting specific traits from each element—intensity from Fire, density from Earth, and so on—and refining them to blend into something entirely new.
Even then, the resulting Kekkei Genkai could differ by individual. The Magnet Release of Sunagakure's elite—like the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand or Rasa's Gold Dust—differed greatly from Kumo's Toroi, whose magnetism was rooted in Lightning Release. The variation came from what trait each shinobi emphasized and how strongly it was cultivated.
Akira hadn't been able to fuse a new attribute yet. That was because, unlike others who were born with innate affinity toward specific traits, his chakra nature transformation—while powerful—was too balanced, too general. He hadn't developed any one elemental trait to an extreme.
But he wasn't discouraged. He thought of Darui, the Fifth Raikage, who wielded a special black lightning. That technique could have been innate—but Kakashi's Purple Electricity wasn't. Kakashi had developed it after losing the Sharingan, refining his Lightning Release to an extreme.
If Kakashi could do it, Akira believed he could do it too. His potential far exceeded most.
So Akira changed course. Before trying to fuse two natures again, he would master one—hone it until he could command it in all its depths.
He started with Fire Release. The element had two core characteristics—combustion and heat. His training in medical ninjutsu meant he'd always favored control and endurance, so his Fire leaned toward sustained combustion. But what if he could push the other trait—heat—to its extreme?
Akira formed chakra in both hands. In the right, he maintained the combustion-focused nature transformation. In the left, he experimented, adjusting the chakra to push the heat, not the burn. He visualized the flame so hot it melted steel, the very air shimmering around it.
Sweat beaded on his brow. His chakra wavered, then snapped back. Again. Again. He kept adjusting.
Hours passed. He felt the tiniest difference in the flames. His left-hand fire didn't spread far, but its center glowed white—hotter than he'd ever managed before. He grinned. That was it.
It was working.
He kept practicing, switching traits, observing, refining. With time, he'd be able to separate and manipulate traits at will.
And once he could master these core traits, he could start fusing them. Then, Akira would create something no one had ever seen before.
His bloodline would rise—not as a gift, but as a force he had forged with his own hands.