Akira urgently wanted to find a way to use his new abilities without his eyes turning into those flashy patterns.
Unfortunately, after searching through every scrap of knowledge he had, he hadn't heard of any sealing jutsu that convenient.
After excitedly testing his new abilities a few more times, exhaustion finally caught up with him. Satisfied, Akira collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
---
Early the next morning, explosive news spread across Konoha like a plague.
The Uchiha clan, once an untouchable noble family, had been wiped out overnight.
Only one survivor remained—
Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke didn't show up at the Academy that day. Rumor had it he was in Konoha Hospital, suffering from severe psychological trauma.
The previous night, Itachi had shown absolutely no mercy. After casting Tsukuyomi, Sasuke was probably still trapped in an endless nightmare of watching his entire family being slaughtered.
---
Inside the classroom, Hinata and Ino sat on either side of Akira, their gossip instincts burning fiercely.
"Akira, did you hear? The Uchiha clan was wiped out last night! And the killer was Sasuke's own brother!"
Ino leaned close and whispered dramatically into Akira's ear, her warm breath making it itch.
Hinata, sitting on the other side, nodded worriedly while twisting her fingers together.
"Sasuke-kun must be feeling terrible right now… something like that happening to him…"
Hinata was naturally kind-hearted. She always ended up worrying about others.
Akira shrugged casually, his tone as calm as if he were talking about the weather.
"No idea. I woke up and came straight to school this morning. Didn't hear anything."
Of course he knew.
More than that—he had practically been sitting in the front row last night. He had even nearly become a participant.
If Akira himself had been a member of the Uchiha clan, seeing that hellish scene would probably have made him want to tear Itachi apart piece by piece.
Corpses everywhere.
Blood flowing like rivers.
The only word that could describe it was carnage.
What made it even more horrifying was that the executioner wasn't some outside enemy—
but their own kin.
Over a thousand lives had vanished beneath the joint massacre carried out by Itachi and Obito.
It had to be said—the Uchiha clan had a tendency to produce extremists.
Whether it was the ancestor Madara Uchiha, Obito the love-obsessed lunatic, or many others who awakened the Sharingan, their thinking often drifted toward dangerous extremes.
But Akira firmly believed in self-preservation above all else.
He had no intention of getting tangled up in that mess.
Hinata looked at Akira's calm expression and asked hesitantly:
"Akira-kun… do you think something like that could happen to the Hyuga clan someday?"
Akira immediately waved a hand, cutting off her thoughts.
"Relax. Your clan isn't nearly as chaotic as the Uchiha."
"With your rigid main-family and branch-family system, nobody even gets the chance to stir up that kind of trouble."
"And besides, the real issue isn't whether there are lunatics."
"It's that without help, how could one person possibly kill that many people?"
Hinata froze for a moment, frowning as she processed the implication.
"You mean… there was more than one killer?"
Akira quickly glanced around the classroom.
The other kids were busy gossiping and hadn't noticed them. He also didn't sense any Anbu surveillance nearby.
Lowering his voice, he spoke quietly.
"Isn't that obvious? Without help, how could one guy—no matter how strong—wipe out an entire clan?"
"The Uchiha weren't weak. There were at least a dozen elite jōnin with fully developed three-tomoe Sharingan."
"And Sasuke's brother, genius or not, was still just jōnin-level at the time."
"Taking on more than a dozen people at the same level alone? Without backup, that's pure fantasy."
"But keep that to yourselves. Don't go spreading rumors."
"This whole thing runs deep. It's not something small fry like us should poke our noses into."
Ino frowned and opened her mouth to ask more questions—
but Akira's stern glare shut her down immediately.
Hinata, although full of questions, obediently fell silent.
Changing the subject, Hinata looked shyly at Akira.
"Um… Akira-kun… about what happened at my house last night… I'm really sorry. I didn't expect Father to act like that."
Akira waved it off.
"It's no big deal. You're the Hyūga clan's princess. If your dad didn't react at all, that would've been weird."
"If he hadn't done anything, I'd start wondering if someone replaced him with an impostor."
Gathering her courage, Hinata asked again, cheeks slightly red:
"Akira-kun… do you really not have any special feelings toward me?"
Seeing the mixture of hope and fear in her eyes, Akira couldn't help reaching out to ruffle her long hair.
"We're eight years old. We haven't even grown up yet. Don't think about things like that."
Hinata looked slightly disappointed at the vague answer, but she still nodded obediently.
"Okay…"
What she really wanted was a clear answer.
But Akira always seemed to avoid giving one.
From Akira's perspective, however, he had already rejected her quite clearly—just politely.
Beside them, Ino covered her mouth and giggled, clearly enjoying the almost-romantic-drama moment that had just fizzled out.
In truth, even though the Yamanaka clan didn't have rules as strict as the Hyūga, marriage within their circles was still heavily restricted.
The three clans of Ino–Shika–Cho alliance had long maintained internal marriage traditions.
Outsiders were rarely allowed in.
Especially not someone like Akira—a civilian ninja with no clan background.
If Ino seriously tried to marry him in the future, Inoichi would likely be the first person to object.
In this era where bloodline theory dominated everything, clan loyalty weighed like a mountain.
Even clans without bloodline abilities guarded their secret techniques fiercely and refused to marry outsiders.
So Ino's confidence that she and Akira could end up together?
Pure teenage fantasy.
---
As the shockwaves from the Uchiha massacre slowly faded, a week passed.
Finally, Kakashi Hatake returned to the village from his mission.
The timing was suspiciously perfect.
Akira couldn't help suspecting that Hiruzen had deliberately sent Kakashi away beforehand.
Kakashi had already heard about the tragedy on his way back.
All he felt was regret.
After all, it was the clan of his late friend Obito.
His later favoritism toward Sasuke made that obvious.
He was compensating for his guilt toward Obito by taking special care of Sasuke—even teaching him his signature jutsu, Lightning Cutter.
Now that the Uchiha clan was gone, Kakashi surely didn't feel good about it.
---
In the dense forest behind Konoha, Akira arrived at their usual secret training ground.
Today, Kakashi wasn't reading his infamous novel "Icha Icha Paradise."
Instead, he stood there in full Anbu uniform, a short sword strapped to his back.
Beside him stood another masked Anbu ninja with a slender figure.
And Akira knew her well.
Which made him want to turn around and run.
But since he was already there, escape wasn't an option.
He could only walk forward and greet them.
"Kakashi-sensei… Yūgao-senpai."
Before Kakashi could say anything, Yūgao Uzuki stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Akira's neck, mischievously pinching his cheeks.
"Well, well! Akira-chan. Haven't seen your big sister in a while. Did you miss me?"
Akira endured the cheek-pinching without expression.
"Yūgao-senpai… can you please stop pinching my face? It's going to get stretched out."
Ever since they'd grown close, Yūgao had started treating Akira like a little brother.
After all, he had once saved her life—completely by accident.
Their relationship had become very solid.
Yūgao laughed and patted his shoulder.
"Oh? Someone's gotten bold after not seeing me for a while. Talking back now, are we?"
Akira sighed and tried to pull away.
"I'm eight years old now. Not a three-year-old kid."
"Oh? Eight years old is supposed to be big?"
"I'm eighteen—right in the bloom of youth."
"In my eyes, you're still just a little brat running around in diapers."
With that, Yūgao casually removed the mask from her face.
Beneath it was a breathtakingly delicate face. Her rare violet hair gleamed brightly under the sunlight.
Though undeniably beautiful, Akira had no mood to admire it. He sighed and got straight to the point.
"You've heard about the Uchiha incident, right?"
At the mention of that heavy subject, Yūgao dropped her playful expression and nodded solemnly.
"Yeah. We received the intel while we were still on the mission. Honestly, I still can't believe Itachi did it."
Originally, Yūgao had belonged to another Anbu squad. This time, however, Hiruzen temporarily reassigned her to team up with Kakashi. After returning, she naturally became Kakashi's regular partner.
In a sense, she had filled the vacancy left behind by Itachi.
In her eyes, Itachi had always been a formidable and respected ninja. Back when he served in the Anbu, his reputation had been legendary.
Akira turned to look at Kakashi, who had remained silent the entire time.
The one-eyed ninja finally spoke calmly.
"I doubt Itachi could have pulled that off alone, even if he is talented."
"If the Uchiha clan were that easy to wipe out, they would've been annihilated during the Great Ninja Wars long ago."
"So…"
Kakashi's visible dead-fish eye turned meaningfully toward Akira.
Akira's lips curled slightly.
Almost in perfect sync, the two of them spoke the same four words:
"Inside help."
Yūgao blinked in surprise. After thinking it through carefully, she realized it actually made perfect sense.
"True. Itachi may be a genius, but at most he's jōnin-level."
"But the Uchiha clan leader—Fugaku Uchiha—was undeniably Kage-level. Back during the war he carved out a terrifying reputation on the battlefield."
"How could Itachi possibly defeat his own father alone?"
As an Anbu elite, Yūgao might not have been among the absolute strongest fighters, but she had access to far more classified intelligence than ordinary ninja—and she was sharp.
After hearing her analysis, Akira smiled.
"Nice deduction, Yūgao-senpai."
"My guess is this massacre involved a whole group of people working behind the scenes. There were probably some dirty political deals involved."
"Everyone knows how powerful the Uchiha clan was. Wiping them out without making a sound? Even if the Third Hokage personally took action, it might not have been that easy."
Kakashi nodded approvingly.
"That's right. But the waters here run deep."
"If someone really dug into it, who knows how many big names would get dragged out."
"Akira, that's enough. Don't keep digging into this."
"Too much curiosity can get you killed."
Kakashi had spent years in both Root and the Anbu. He understood the political darkness of Konoha all too well.
If the higher-ups of Root and Anbu hadn't at least approved—or even participated in—the operation, he would never believe the official story.
One man silently exterminating an entire clan in one night?
That nonsense might fool the ignorant villagers.
Even if Itachi had awakened the Mangekyō, at that time he would still not have been a match for Fugaku.
Back then, he probably couldn't even use Amaterasu smoothly yet.
What would he use to challenge a war veteran who had awakened his Sharingan during the Third Great Ninja War?
Of course, this whole affair didn't really concern Akira directly.
He nodded obediently.
"Got it. I was just speaking casually."
Then he glanced at Kakashi.
"By the way, Kakashi-sensei, you showed up dressed like that today. Just finished turning in your mission?"
Kakashi nodded, his voice slightly heavy.
"Yeah. It was an A-rank mission. Something went wrong midway—we lost a few teammates."
A faint trace of sorrow flickered across his eye.
Akira didn't want the atmosphere to become too heavy, so he turned toward Yūgao with a smile.
"So what brings you here, Yūgao-senpai?"
Yūgao grinned mysteriously and pulled a scroll out of her ninja pouch, waving it in the air.
"Ta-da! Guess what this is?"
"A secret manual on kekkei genkai fusion!"
"We picked it up as a little 'souvenir' during this mission. Haven't you always been interested in this kind of thing?"
Akira froze for a moment.
Then his gaze locked onto the scroll, and his eyes practically lit up.
"Seriously? You actually managed to get something like that?"
Yūgao placed the scroll solemnly into his hands.
"It's real—realer than gold."
"Kakashi-senpai and I already verified it."
"The theory behind developing bloodline limits isn't exactly top-secret among the higher levels of the ninja world."
"But knowing the theory is one thing. Actually doing it is another."
"That's why shinobi with kekkei genkais are so valuable."
Akira eagerly unrolled the scroll and began scanning it at lightning speed.
The more he read, the faster his heart beat.
At that moment, Kakashi poured a bucket of cold water on his excitement.
"Akira. The theory might be sound, but creating a kekkei genkai artificially is playing with fire."
"Throughout history, only a handful of people have succeeded."
"If you're not absolutely certain, don't try anything reckless."
"You're already strong enough with the combined techniques you've mastered."
"There's no need to hang yourself on a single tree."
Truthfully, Kakashi believed the idea was far too naïve.
If kekkei genkai were that easy to create, the ninja world would be full of people using Ice Style and Wood Style already.
They wouldn't be so rare.
But he didn't want to crush Akira's enthusiasm either.
Since they had acquired the scroll during their mission anyway, he brought it along—hoping that even if Akira eventually gave up, he'd at least understand how dangerous it was.
Akira closed the scroll and smiled confidently.
"Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei. Yūgao-senpai."
"I value my life more than anyone. I'm not going to gamble with it."
"I know my limits."
Kakashi rolled his eye skeptically.
"Even if I didn't give it to you, you'd probably experiment on your own anyway."
"Better to give you the official manual so you understand just how unrealistic this is."
Akira grinned.
"I'll just try it. Who knows—maybe I'll turn a bicycle into a motorcycle."
"Besides, I'm not going to put all my energy into this."
Yūgao couldn't resist pinching his cheeks again.
"Logically I know you probably won't succeed…"
"But emotionally, your big sister is rooting for you."
"If you actually manage to pull it off, Konoha will gain another genius."
Akira quietly slapped her hand away with a smile.
Both Kakashi and Yūgao were only pouring cold water on him because they worried he might hurt himself.
But they also knew Akira's stubborn personality.
Once he set his mind on something, he wouldn't turn back until he hit a wall.
And so Akira began a long, tedious series of experiments attempting to fuse kekkei genkai.
It wasn't as simple as mixing two types of chakra together and waiting for sparks.
It required an extremely powerful body and absurdly precise chakra control.
One mistake—and his meridians could shatter completely.
---
Seasons passed.
Spring turned to autumn.
Four full years slipped by in the blink of an eye.
Akira's life became incredibly regular.
Aside from attending the Ninja Academy, whenever Kakashi wasn't on a mission he would drag Akira off for brutal training.
During those four years, Akira stopped greedily learning new ninjutsu.
Instead, he focused entirely on practical combat skills.
Kakashi, Might Guy, Yūgao, and even the Wood Style user now known as Yamato became his free high-level sparring partners.
Yamato had now become an elite subordinate directly under the Third Hokage.
His status was second only to Kakashi.
Although his Wood Style was nothing compared to the miraculous landscape-shaping power of Hashirama Senju, it was still an extremely troublesome control ability for most shinobi.
Four years of grinding honed Akira like a blade.
His strength had climbed from ordinary jōnin level all the way to the threshold of Kage level.
Yet this terrifying growth remained hidden.
Even Kakashi—who spent time with him almost daily—had no idea.
Everyone assumed Akira was, at most, an elite jōnin now.
Even that alone was already shocking for a twelve-year-old.
After all, Kakashi himself had only just become a jōnin around the same age.
Akira's growth rate was even more outrageous.
Over these years, the group had acted extremely discreetly.
Neither the cunning Third Hokage nor the scheming Danzo realized that Akira had already grown into a young dragon lurking in the shadows.
At the Academy, Akira still played the role of an utterly average student—
a quiet, forgettable boy with middling grades and almost no presence at all.