Tsunade vaguely remembered that the Akatsuki had once claimed their goal was to bring peace, but the idea sounded like a bad joke.
Using weapons of mass destruction to create peace? The irony was almost absurd.
Jiraiya fell silent for a moment, then said slowly, "Maybe it's tied to that three-year stretch when they were obsessively collecting forbidden jutsus. Back then, they suddenly stopped hunting Tailed Beasts and shifted toward gathering sealing arts and secret jutsu."
Tsunade did not know the full details, but even she could tell the two had to be connected. The stink of conspiracy was getting stronger.
After a long pause, Jiraiya let out a weary sigh. "Still, keeping Naruto out on the road with me from here on out would be too dangerous. Back in the village, under Konoha's barrier, he'll be safer."
"And with those three years nearly up, Orochimaru is probably running out of patience with Sasuke's body too."
"With Naruto's personality, there's no way he's giving up on Sasuke. From here on out, it all depends on whether Sasuke can break free of Orochimaru before that deadline arrives."
At that, Tsunade instinctively turned and glanced toward Akira, who was quietly reading off to the side.
It was true. As long as Akira remained in the village, the Akatsuki would need a death wish to launch a direct attack on Konoha.
"From now on, I'll have Akira keep a closer eye on Naruto."
At this point, Tsunade did not worry about Akira's safety in the slightest. In her mind, anyone in the shinobi world capable of truly threatening him probably had not been born yet.
Jiraiya grinned. "That was part of my plan in bringing Naruto back, honestly. Letting Akira watch over him is like putting a shrine guardian in front of the Nine-Tails."
"At the end of the day, Kyuubi cannot be allowed to fall into anyone else's hands."
When all was said and done, every decision Jiraiya made was for Konoha's future. For both him and Tsunade, the village was part of who they were.
After their private talk in the office, the three of them got up and headed for Training Ground Three.
By the time they arrived, the sunset had painted half the sky crimson. Sakura and Naruto still had not shown up.
Kakashi, on the other hand, had arrived early. He was leaning against a tree, using the last light of dusk to read that familiar little orange book with grave concentration.
Tsunade looked at the scene and immediately lost patience. "Why are men so completely captivated by this kind of trash?"
Jiraiya scratched his cheek awkwardly. He still believed in the literary value of his work, but having Tsunade dismiss it that bluntly did sting a little.
Akira lightly jumped up and perched on a high tree branch, watching the sun sink lower and lower past the horizon.
Not long after, Sakura and Naruto finally came running in, both breathing hard.
This time, it was Kakashi putting the two of them through a survival exercise.
Strictly speaking, this was a real shinobi engagement in miniature.
Because actual shinobi combat was nothing like Akira's usual straightforward style. It was not just a matter of exchanging giant attacks the moment two people met. Real fights were built on probing, traps, feints, and psychological warfare.
That was required study for any ninja.
Ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Those were the three pillars of a shinobi's strength.
Only someone who had honed all three to a serious level truly qualified as a jōnin.
Guy might have looked like a taijutsu fanatic, but his fundamentals in ninjutsu and genjutsu release were not weak in the slightest. They were simply overshadowed by the brilliance of his taijutsu.
That was why Guy was a genuine elite jōnin.
Unlike Lee, who truly had almost no talent at all in ninjutsu or genjutsu and could only charge straight down one path.
Still, both Lee and Guy possessed chakra, and plenty of it. A strong body naturally produced large amounts of physical energy.
They simply had abysmal, practically nonexistent talent for elemental transformation.
Lee had it worst of all. If Guy had not recognized his potential back at the Academy, he probably never would have earned a forehead protector at all.
In truth, Kakashi had noticed that hardworking taijutsu-only prodigy a long time ago as well.
So whether it was Guy or Kakashi, no matter how unserious they might have seemed on the surface, both had poured tremendous effort into this generation of students behind the scenes.
Because they were Konoha's future. They were the next bearers of the Will of Fire.
Kakashi's transformation had really begun when he left Root and joined the Third Hokage's direct ANBU branch.
And in the outside world, the reason Guy was usually ranked just a little below Kakashi was simple. Kakashi was too complete.
Masterful ninjutsu, powerful taijutsu, sharp genjutsu, and on top of that a mind so calm it bordered on frightening. Kakashi was nearly the textbook definition of a perfect conventional jōnin.
You could say Kakashi was a model shinobi in the purest sense, terrifyingly strong in every category.
That was why Kakashi's name was not only famous in Konoha. He showed up on bounty lists in other villages too.
Once your strength surpassed Kakashi's, you had basically touched the threshold of Kage-class.
As for chakra reserves, Kakashi was not actually lacking. Among jōnin, he easily ranked above average.
The reason he always gave off the impression of being low on chakra was entirely because that Sharingan eye could not be shut off and was constantly draining him.
If he used Mangekyō Sharingan, the effect was even worse, more like opening a floodgate and sending himself straight to the hospital.
And that was true not just for an outsider like Kakashi. Even pure-blooded Uchiha could not spam the Mangekyō without consequences. The burden it placed on the body and eyesight was devastating.
So for Kakashi to develop the Sharingan this far with a non-Uchiha body was practically a miracle, and proof of just how terrifying his talent really was.
That was also one of the reasons Akira kept favoring Kakashi as a future successor.
Give him a few more years to mature, let his strength settle fully into Kage-class and his seniority keep growing, and he would absolutely be qualified to become an outstanding Hokage.
Akira sat on the treetop, legs dangling, looking down at the fight below.
To be honest, at first he found it fairly interesting.
But the battle dragged on far too long.
From sunset to moonrise, then from moonrise to the first pale light of dawn, the two sides were still probing each other and tossing kunai.
Akira had almost never experienced such a long tug-of-war. The way he ended fights was usually quick and decisive. Even his longest battle had been over in half an hour.
And that had been against those Kusa ninja monsters who had boosted themselves with artificial power all the way up to Kage-level.
When it became clear the fight was still not ending anytime soon, Akira yawned, pulled out a book, and started reading on his own.
Tsunade glanced back toward him in the tree and saw immediately that his mind had left the battlefield a long time ago. She could not help sighing.
"For him, this kind of low-level sparring really is just too dull."
Jiraiya laughed too. "Makes sense. From where he's standing, this probably looks like children swatting at each other."
"That said, the results of my training over these past three years are obvious enough. Those two brats have managed to push Kakashi into taking them seriously."
Tsunade shook her head lightly and offered her own verdict. "Three years, and Naruto still falls back on the same three tricks. Shadow clones, Rasengan, and brute force. Nothing especially new."
"His fundamentals are solid, sure, but his offense is still far too one-dimensional. That kind of thing gets punished fast once people know how to counter it."
Honestly, if Naruto did not naturally carry that number-one unpredictability of his, relying on just those tools in high-level fights would be a serious handicap.
And with that straight-line personality of his, complicated tactical setups were never likely to be his strong point.
Jiraiya disagreed. "A move doesn't need to be flashy. It just needs to work. If you can apply even the simplest jutsu properly in real combat, it can become something incredible."
"The Fourth Hokage didn't have a huge variety of attacks either, and he still shook the whole ninja world. As long as Naruto keeps refining the basics to their limits, I believe he'll find his own path."
Tsunade arched a brow. "Don't you think you might be setting your expectations a little too high?"
Jiraiya had been about to say more, but then his gaze drifted up toward Akira in the tree, and all the force went out of him.
"Compared to that freak, everyone looks ordinary. But Naruto's potential is limitless. If he truly masters the Nine-Tails one day, maybe, just maybe, he'll at least reach the point of chasing Akira's shadow."
Tsunade's expression stayed perfectly calm, though the corner of her mouth curved with faint amusement. "Do you actually believe that?"
It was not bias talking. It was simply fact. In Tsunade's entire life, she had never seen talent that could stand beside Akira's.
Even Jiraiya in Sage Mode probably would not come out ahead against the current Akira.
And that "ten times stronger" estimate was not something she had tossed out carelessly.
She had genuinely felt the kind of gap that left people in despair.
Jiraiya gave a helpless shake of his head. Truthfully, if this had been the Akira of three years ago, he might still have entertained some fantasy about Naruto catching up.
But now, Akira felt like an endless ocean with no visible bottom.
Could Naruto really bridge that kind of distance, even with the Nine-Tails?
Even Jiraiya did not have an answer.
He might have said out loud that Naruto could surpass the Fourth someday, but deep down he had already suspected, even three years ago, that Akira had likely long since surpassed the Fourth himself.
The two were simply operating on different planes.
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