Unfortunately, Akira knew very well that his current mastery of Wood Style was probably still inferior to that of Yamato.
After all, most of the Wood Style techniques he knew had been "borrowed" during sparring sessions with Yamato.
Many of the deeper Wood Style secret arts—such as the Wood Golem Jutsu or Deep Forest Emergence—weren't even techniques Yamato himself could perform, so naturally Akira had no way of learning them either.
Although, in essence, Akira's Wood Style was far more advanced than Yamato's experimental version, thanks to the support of extremely powerful Yang Release, when it came to actual application and development of the techniques, he was still only at the starting stage.
He could either shut himself away and slowly develop techniques on his own, or shamelessly ask the village for the First Hokage's scrolls to study.
But considering the current situation, unless he had completely lost his mind, he would never walk straight into that kind of trap.
Looking up at the dark ceiling, Akira muttered helplessly to himself.
"My chakra reserves are still a weak point. Sure, they're much stronger than an ordinary person's, but they're nowhere near the absurd level of Hashirama Senju."
"I can't even match Naruto right now. And if that kid borrows even a little chakra from the Nine-Tails, I'd fall even further behind."
Akira rolled over and sighed again.
"Looks like the revolution is far from finished… still a long road ahead."
"Good thing this special body of mine keeps getting stronger on its own. The growth is slow, but at least there's no ceiling."
This limitless physical growth was his greatest trump card.
Early on, it might not look particularly impressive—but give him enough time, and in the later stages he would become something terrifying, a being whose body alone could rival the gods.
For now, though, he still had to keep a low profile.
Even though Yamato currently possessed top-tier Wood Style techniques like the Wood Golem, the pitiful amount of chakra he had simply couldn't sustain such power.
The difference between Yamato and the First Hokage wasn't about whether they understood Yang Release—it was purely a matter of the size of their "fuel tanks."
To put it bluntly, Yamato's total chakra reserves, even when completely drained, probably wouldn't equal one-tenth of the chakra Hashirama used to casually create a single Wood Clone.
Trying to forcefully activate the Wood Golem would simply drain Yamato dry in an instant.
Akira, on the other hand, held two powerful cards in his hand: Wood Style and the Sharingan, along with his specially modified monster-like physique.
With that kind of foundation, he had no interest in tinkering with other messy bloodline combinations.
After all, shinobi fought using chakra—and the most compatible cheat codes for chakra were still the Sharingan paired with Wood Style.
That was what you called perfect synergy.
---
The next day, the sun was already high in the sky when Akira finally pushed open the door of his house.
By the time he wandered to the meeting point, several more minutes had passed before Kakashi's iconic silver hair came into view.
Naruto's eyes widened as he pointed at Akira and shouted,
"Damn it, Akira! You're way too sly! You even timed your arrival with Kakashi-sensei's lateness!"
Akira only curled the corner of his mouth into a faint, meaningful smile and didn't bother replying.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head, his single visible eye curving into a crescent.
"Ah… I got lost on the road of life."
Before he could even finish the excuse, Naruto and Sakura shouted in perfect unison,
"As if anyone would believe that!"
Meanwhile, Sasuke stood beneath a tree with his hands in his pockets, frowning impatiently.
He had always despised people with no sense of time.
Seeing that he couldn't fool them, Kakashi simply squinted his dead-fish eye and waved his hand.
"Alright, alright. Today's Team Seven's first outing. Let's head to the Hokage Tower and pick up our first mission."
The moment Naruto heard the word "mission," his drooping whisker-marked face lit up instantly.
In his mind, an entire action movie had already started playing—himself charging heroically through battle and dazzling everyone.
While the three of them walked ahead noisily, Akira deliberately slowed his pace and moved beside Kakashi, speaking in a low voice.
"That old man came to see me yesterday."
Kakashi's steps paused for a moment. His previously lazy gaze instantly sharpened.
"The Third Hokage? What did he say?"
What worried him most was that Akira—this uncut gem—might attract the attention of the old man.
Being exposed to the Hokage's scrutiny at this stage was definitely not good for Akira.
Akira shrugged casually.
"What else? He tried to recruit me. I refused outright. If I'd agreed, he'd probably have thrown me straight into the ANBU."
"You know me—I've got a bit of a cleanliness issue. I can't stand the smell of blood."
Kakashi nodded thoughtfully.
"True. A place like the ANBU would destroy you."
Logically, Kakashi knew that with Akira's ruthless edge, he would probably thrive in the ANBU.
But if Akira himself didn't want it, then that was that.
Kakashi figured the Third Hokage's approach had probably just been a tentative probe.
He likely hadn't discovered anything deeper yet.
---
For the next month or so, Team Seven's life was unbelievably dull.
Every mission they received was D-rank.
Helping wealthy ladies find their missing fat cats, picking trash along the riverbanks, or pulling weeds in the fields.
Akira took slacking off to a whole new level.
Every mission, he simply sent a Shadow Clone to handle things while his real body hid in the dense forest behind Konoha, training like mad.
Strangely enough, during that entire month, the Third Hokage seemed to have an abundance of free time.
Every single day, without fail, he came to the back mountain to play shogi with Akira.
Akira couldn't figure out what the old fox was planning, but since the man kept showing up, he simply played along.
With his decent chess skills, he sparred with the Hokage across the board.
Each match lasted about an hour, and the two of them chatted endlessly.
As for Akira sending a Shadow Clone to handle missions, the Hokage surprisingly turned a blind eye.
---
One day, while Akira was immersed in the pleasure of training, a familiar figure suddenly staggered into his sensory range.
It was Yūgao Uzuki.
But she looked utterly miserable.
Her body was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages, and her purple hair was covered in dust.
Akira's brows instantly knitted together as he hurried over, a trace of urgency in his voice.
"Yūgao-nee, what happened? Who did this to you?"
"What kind of monster managed to push you this far?"
Yūgao might only be a Special Jōnin, but her swordsmanship was among the best in Konoha.
Aside from that one accident in the past, Akira couldn't imagine anyone injuring her so severely.
Her chest and abdomen were covered with horrifying wounds.
Yūgao's trembling hands removed her ANBU mask.
Her normally heroic face was now pale as paper.
Seeing how she looked as though she might collapse at any moment made Akira's expression grow heavier.
"Stop forcing yourself, Yūgao-nee. Lie down—I'll treat your wounds."
She pressed her lips together but nodded obediently.
In front of Akira, she had long since lowered all her guard.
She knew the boy in front of her cared about her sincerely—without any ulterior motives.
As she lay down on the grass, Akira carefully removed the blood-soaked bandages.
The partially clotted wounds twisted like grotesque centipedes.
"Tsk… whoever did this was ruthless. Good thing I know the Healing Jutsu. Otherwise your body would really suffer. Hang in there, Yūgao-nee."
During his time at the hospital, Akira hadn't been wasting his days.
When it came to medical ninjutsu, he had practically maxed out the skill tree.
In terms of medical skill, he dared say he surpassed most of the doctors at Konoha Hospital.
Only three people in the entire hospital could perform the Healing Jutsu—and he had mastered it perfectly after studying countless medical texts.
Even the doctor who had spent a year teaching him had eventually been left doubting his own life choices.
So Yūgao trusted Akira's hands completely.
As Akira placed his hands above the wounds, gentle green medical chakra flowed like a stream.
The terrifying injuries on Yūgao's body began visibly healing.
While maintaining the chakra flow, Akira asked casually,
"Yūgao-nee… mind telling me what you ran into?"
He knew the rules.
As an ANBU captain, Yūgao couldn't casually disclose classified missions.
She stayed silent for a moment, looking at Akira's focused face.
Seeing his complete concentration broke down the final barrier in her heart.
Her voice came out hoarse.
"It was a town on the border of the Land of Grass."
"A group of insane ninja appeared there—people who drink human blood."
"They're unbelievably cruel. And terrifyingly strong."
"The entire town has turned into their hunting ground."
"After draining the blood of countless residents, three of them have already evolved into monsters at the jōnin level… and five others are at least chūnin level."
"The ninjas of Kusagakure couldn't hold them back and had to request help from Konoha."
"The Hokage sent me to lead the support team… but…"
Her voice broke.
"The three comrades I brought with me… all died covering my retreat."
Tears slid down her cheeks.
Those three teammates had thrown themselves against the monsters so she could escape and deliver the information.
The pain was suffocating.
That was why she had only received a quick bandaging at the hospital before instinctively coming to Akira for comfort.
Over the years, whenever she faced something she couldn't overcome, she would come to him.
Akira continued treating her calmly.
"Don't worry. The village will avenge them."
"When I examined your wounds earlier, I noticed a strange chakra mixed into your blood."
"Turns out it's corpse chakra… the kind that feels like it crawled out of hell."
He explained calmly.
In the ninja world, everyone possessed chakra—but ordinary people had only tiny amounts that couldn't be refined.
Yet these twisted shinobi had mastered a forbidden method to forcibly extract chakra from human blood.
The chakra obtained through blood-drinking was impure, but once converted, it could actually be used like normal chakra.
Still, the efficiency was extremely low.
No sane person would bother with such a troublesome method.
And once exposed, such evil techniques would surely be hunted down by the entire ninja world.
Yūgao frowned.
"You actually know what jutsu they're using?"
She had only known they grew stronger by drinking blood.
Despite both being chūnin level, their strength and speed had completely overwhelmed the elite ANBU.
Akira calmly finished removing the last bandage around her chest.
"I once read about it in a forbidden medical text while studying medical ninjutsu."
"There's a fringe medical jutsu that forcibly extracts life energy from blood and transfers it."
"And the stronger the target you drain, the greater the chakra amplification."
"But it's far too cruel. It's been classified as an absolute forbidden jutsu in medical ninjutsu."
He asked casually,
"After they drink blood… do they look normal?"
Yūgao shook her head, fear flashing in her eyes.
"No. Their physical strength, explosive power, even their neural reaction speed—everything surpasses human limits."
Akira chuckled.
"That's because the foreign chakra has already forcibly altered their cells."
"Remember—chakra itself is energy extracted from cells."
"There's a limit to how much the body can be enhanced. Most people can only strengthen themselves slightly."
"The reason the ones you faced were so strong is probably because they were already taijutsu specialists."
Yūgao's eyes lit up.
"That's right! Their taijutsu was terrifying, but their ninjutsu was mediocre."
By now, the wound on her abdomen had completely healed.
When Akira began treating the injuries on her chest, Yūgao's cheeks flushed despite herself.
Even though he had seen it before during previous treatments.
Akira, however, remained completely calm.
His focus stayed entirely on the healing process.
Green chakra flowed steadily from his hands, accelerating cellular regeneration.
Noticing Yūgao's embarrassment, he deliberately changed the subject.
"So what's the village planning to do? Just abandon the mission?"
The tactic worked.
Her attention shifted instantly.
"No. The mission was originally ranked A, but it's been upgraded to S-rank."
"The higher-ups are discussing assembling an elite team to wipe them out."
"The Land of Grass is right next to us. We can't allow such monsters to sleep beside our doorstep."
"Their own jōnin numbers are pitifully small, and they must remain in the village to guard against enemies."
"So the daimyo of the Land of Grass has offered a huge payment for Konoha to deal with it."
Akira nodded slightly.
"That won't be easy."
"Those lunatics who grow stronger by drinking blood probably fight far above their rank."
"A chūnin killing a jōnin there might be routine."
"And if I'm not mistaken, they probably have a secret jutsu that burns all their chakra to gain ten minutes of invincibility."
"In that moment, a chūnin could erupt with jōnin-level power… and a jōnin might even touch the level of a Kage."
"So yeah. They're troublesome."
Yūgao's eyes widened in realization.
"That explains it!"
"My three teammates were strong chūnin. They fought desperately but only managed to injure one enemy."
"And that enemy suddenly became incredibly powerful—we were crushed instantly."
"These wounds…" she said quietly.
"They were stabbed by that man after he suddenly exploded with power."
Akira withdrew his chakra and sneered.
"He's already dead."
"That forbidden jutsu burns life in exchange for power. Once the chakra runs out, even if the First Hokage returned from the grave, the user would still end up meeting the Hagoromo Otsutsuki."
Burning chakra in that way was essentially burning one's life force.
For people whose vitality had already been enhanced by blood-drinking, igniting that power was basically like opening the Eight Gates.
There was no coming back from it.
The result would always be annihilation.
And the stronger the user, the worse the death.
Unless someone could perform miracles like Rinne Rebirth or extreme Yang Release, there was no saving them.
It was even worse than dying after opening the Gate of Death.
Because that technique could burn away the soul itself.
Yūgao didn't understand the medical explanation.
But she understood the conclusion.
The man who killed her comrades was already doomed.
She sighed, her eyes dim.
"It's all my fault… I was too weak…"
After more than ten minutes of meticulous treatment, her wounds were finally healed.
Akira helped adjust her clothes and said gently,
"They made the most rational decision a shinobi could."
"You were the strongest among them. You had the highest chance of escaping."
"The information mattered more than their lives."
He picked up her flak jacket and placed it over her shoulders, then crouched in front of her.
"So Yūgao-nee… don't carry all the blame yourself."
Her fingers clenched the jacket tightly.
"Then is there really no way to counter those monsters?"
Akira shrugged casually.
"Of course there is."
"The simplest method is just killing them the old-fashioned way."
"Cut off the head, stab the heart—they'll die like anyone else."
"They're not truly immortal."
"No matter how tough the bones are, a sword will still cut through them."
Yūgao frowned deeply.
"But according to your analysis, they have three jōnin and five chūnin."
"If all eight of them burn their lives at once… wouldn't Konoha need an entire squad of elites at Kakashi-senpai's level just to suppress them?"