In that instant, a violet-gold radiance seized the soul.
His original pupils vanished, replaced by rings of deep, rippling patterns. At the center, three tomoe still remained, but at the very core floated a small golden sphere, wrapped in fine blue-white arcs of lightning.
The moment Tsunade saw those eyes, she instinctively covered her mouth and cried out in shock.
"This… this is the Rinnegan?!"
She could hardly believe what she was seeing. These were the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, the eyes of a god.
Akira looked at Tsunade's stunned expression and smiled.
"I didn't expect you to recognize them, Tsunade-hime. You really are well-read."
Tsunade stared at him as if she were looking at a monster.
"Jiraiya told me about Nagato… but why do you have these eyes?"
This had gone far beyond anything she understood.
Weren't those eyes supposed to belong only to someone with the bloodline of the Sage, some child of prophecy?
And Akira's eyes looked even more noble and mysterious than the legends described.
Akira took a moment to organize his words.
"You could call it the final evolution of the Sharingan. The conditions to awaken it are just so harsh that ordinary people wouldn't even dare imagine it."
He did not mention Indra, Asura, chakra reincarnation, or any of that. Even if he explained it, Tsunade might not understand, and it would only make things more complicated.
In the end, this was a beautiful accident, a miracle that should never have existed.
Tsunade stared into those violet-gold eyes and murmured, "The power in those eyes… it may have already surpassed the limits of a shinobi."
Even the leaked aftershock from their evolution had sent her, a Hokage, flying hundreds of meters.
If he used their full power, who in the ninja world could possibly withstand it?
Akira gave a light shrug and casually showed off a little.
"I still need to test how strong they are. But my chakra reserves definitely increased quite a bit."
When Tsunade heard that, she reached out and placed her fingers against Akira's wrist to examine him.
The next second, her hand jerked back as if she had been shocked.
"This… what a terrifying amount of chakra! Your total reserves are at least three times what they were before!"
"Put three Nine-Tails together and it would probably look like this. At this point, is the Nine-Tails the tailed beast, or are you? I feel like even Grandpa's chakra back then wasn't this outrageous!"
Akira smiled and did not argue.
In truth, his current chakra reserves had indeed surpassed Hashirama Senju's.
If the Ten-Tails was excluded, then purely in terms of total chakra, Akira's reserves were now even greater than Asura's had been.
After all, the Nine-Tails alone had chakra comparable to the other eight tailed beasts combined.
Akira now possessed three times the power of a full Nine-Tails. He was practically a living nuclear weapon.
He still had not mastered Yin-Yang Release, so in terms of realm, he might still fall short of the Sage of Six Paths. But with his raw physical strength and ocular power alone, if Madara and Hashirama in their primes came back to life, they would probably be pinned down and beaten by him.
Aside from Tsunade, no one else in Konoha knew that Akira had awakened the Rinnegan.
He understood very well that the tallest tree caught the strongest wind. He was not afraid, but he hated unnecessary trouble.
This power was enough to sweep across the ninja world. Nagato's borrowed Rinnegan would probably look like a child's toy in comparison.
But Akira had no interest in conquering the world or becoming some savior.
What interested him more was finding out where the limits of his body truly lay, and whether it could really continue evolving without end.
After feeling the surging power inside him, Akira looked at Tsunade, and warmth suddenly rose in his chest.
Earlier, while he had been inside the barrier at the critical point of evolution, he had still sensed Tsunade's panic outside, and that reckless figure trying to force her way in for his sake.
There was no one else around. The mountain wind was cool.
Akira stepped forward and gently pulled Tsunade into his arms.
…
Time passed quickly. Konoha spent two peaceful years in quiet recovery.
In the blink of an eye, Akira had reached adulthood.
At the Senju estate, morning sunlight spilled through the window lattice.
Akira stood by the window, pushed it open, and took a deep breath of the cool morning air. A relaxed smile curved at his lips.
"The weather's nice today."
Behind him came the soft rustle of someone getting dressed.
A short while later, Tsunade lazily walked up behind Akira and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Looking at the young man before her, now over six feet tall, broad-shouldered, and carrying the presence of a fully grown man, Tsunade's eyes softened with a warmth that almost seemed to melt.
"I really don't want this damned Hokage job anymore. I'm exhausted. Why don't you become the Sixth? I'll be your personal guard. How does that sound?"
The night before, on Akira's adulthood birthday, the two had finally stopped avoiding the feelings between them.
Now Tsunade's complexion was rosy, her skin smooth and youthful, and her whole body seemed radiant.
Akira had not been stingy, either. He had directly used the power of the Rinnegan to refine a miraculous pill for preserving youth and vitality.
The medicine could lock Tsunade's body in its peak condition, allowing her appearance and physical state to remain in her twenties until the end of her natural lifespan, even if she exhausted her chakra.
From now on, she would no longer need to rely painfully on the Strength of a Hundred Seal just to maintain her face.
Hearing Tsunade complain, Akira turned around and gently tapped the tip of her nose with a smile.
"Spare me. I have zero interest in becoming Hokage. I just want to quietly stay by your side as your guard. That's much more comfortable."
Ever since the two had made their relationship clear, the sharp edge around Tsunade had softened a great deal. She had become warmer and more graceful.
Those ridiculous days of drinking and gambling like a reckless young woman would probably become rare from now on.
Tsunade raised her head and looked at Akira, who was now a full head taller than her. The height difference gave her a strange sense of security.
But that security came with a bit of resentment.
"With your ability, why do you insist on hiding?"
Akira sighed.
"Honestly, I think Kakashi-sensei is the best candidate. He's improved rapidly over the past two years and has probably already touched the threshold of Kage level. His Mangekyō Sharingan has also become much smoother to use. There are still side effects, but he's more than strong enough to hold the line."
"Besides, his reputation in the ninja world is already solid, and the jōnin corps respects him. You should give him more responsibility and train him as the Sixth Hokage."
He meant it sincerely.
Kakashi might look lazy and half-asleep most of the time, but he really was suited to being Hokage. More importantly, he could handle paperwork and shoulder blame.
Tsunade poked Akira's chest in frustration.
"Every time I bring this up, you push it onto someone else."
She had her own selfish thoughts. She was the Fifth, and if her man became the Sixth, that would make a fine story.
Akira glanced at the wall clock and smiled.
"All right. You'll be late if you don't leave soon, Hokage-hime."
The moment work was mentioned, Tsunade wilted like a frostbitten leaf.
She was genuinely exhausted.
If possible, she wished Akira would take that entire mountain of paperwork off her hands.