With enough effort, Naruto might one day catch up to Sasuke, because for all his genius, Sasuke still existed within the boundaries of what people could understand.
But Akira was different. Against a monster like him, did effort alone really mean anything?
At just sixteen, he already possessed power on the level of a Kage, maybe even beyond. That was not a gap, it was a difference in dimension.
Of course, if Jiraiya had known that a year later Naruto would get a ridiculous power-up of his own in the form of Six Paths chakra, his jaw probably would have hit the floor.
In a world ruled by bloodlines, hard work mattered, sure, but without some kind of edge, you would never even earn a seat at the table with the Ōtsutsuki.
Akira's body itself was the greatest reason he could even dream of matching monsters like them.
After all, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was the kind of being that truly could not be killed, only sealed away.
Akira was strong now, but his three-tomoe Rinnegan still had not unlocked sealing jutsus on the level of Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei.
What he really wanted to know was where the limit of this body lay, and whether it truly could keep evolving forever.
The next morning, as the first ray of sunlight pierced through the trees, the long test finally came to an end.
Through teamwork and timing, Naruto and Sakura finally managed to snatch the bells from Kakashi.
This time, both of them had shown astonishing growth. They were no longer the dead-last screwup and the crying little girl from years ago.
Akira closed the thick book in his hands, jumped down from the tree, and applauded with a grin. "Nicely done, Naruto. You actually got the bells. Looks like you really put yourself through hell these past few years."
Jiraiya puffed up with pride. "Of course he did. I put him through a devil's training regimen. His growth was bound to be explosive."
Tsunade smiled too, clearly satisfied. "Sakura's made huge progress as well. Her control over monstrous strength is already solid. Looks like my effort wasn't wasted."
Akira stepped up beside Tsunade and muttered under his breath, "Your effort definitely wasn't wasted, but Sakura nearly died from that training more than once."
Tsunade's training methods had always been notorious for being simple and brutal. If it did not kill you, she pushed harder.
More than once, even Akira had found himself wincing from the sidelines. Tsunade's fists were no joke. A slight miscalculation and someone got reduced to pieces.
At that, Tsunade shot him a glare. "I did it for her own good. If she wanted to master monstrous strength and Strength of a Hundred, how was she supposed to do that without building a body strong enough to support it?"
"Just look at the explosive force she can produce now. That didn't come from nowhere."
Akira shrank back a little and laughed. "I never said you were wrong. I just said the process was a little savage."
Tsunade gave him a knowing look. "Really? Because when I asked you to help take some of the load and train Sakura yourself, didn't you run faster than a rabbit?"
Well, there it was again.
Akira immediately decided silence was the better option.
It was true. Tsunade had tried to rope him into Sakura's training, but it was too time-consuming, and Akira had neither the patience nor the spare energy for it, so he had declined outright.
At that moment, Sakura and Naruto walked over. Sakura had caught enough of the conversation to offer an awkward but polite smile.
"Tsunade-hime really was doing it for my sake. If I hadn't gone through that kind of hellish training, I probably would've died on some mission by now."
Akira gave her a look full of sympathy. "That sounds less like gratitude and more like trauma with strong survival instincts."
Tsunade rolled her eyes at him, like he was trying to paint her as some kind of sadist.
The training might have looked inhuman, but the results had been immediate and undeniable.
Sakura turned a little red when Akira hit the mark and did not dare argue, because deep down she really was afraid of Tsunade.
Even after learning all those new skills, she still felt like a baby chick in front of her teacher.
Then Naruto suddenly took a step forward, eyes burning as he stared at Akira.
"Akira! Fight me! I want to know exactly how far away I still am from you!"
Jiraiya and Tsunade both pressed a hand to their foreheads, wearing identical expressions that said, Of course it came to this.
This kid really is stubborn to the bone. He just has to go get himself flattened, Tsunade thought.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, had his own take. Fine. Let Naruto take a beating. It'll help knock some reality into him before he starts thinking a little training makes him invincible.
Kakashi walked over too, lifting his headband to reveal the crimson Sharingan beneath, a trace of curiosity in his voice.
"To be honest, I'm curious too. I'd like to see just how strong Akira has gotten. For the last three years, your name's been all over the ninja world, but I've never once actually seen you fight seriously."
Over those three years, Akira had taken on plenty of missions, but most of them ended with him crushing the opposition through sheer pressure before a proper fight even began.
Those so-called jōnin usually lost their nerve before Akira ever had to draw a blade.
And Akira was not especially bloodthirsty. Unless someone crossed a line he cared about, he rarely bothered killing them outright.
So while the shinobi world was full of stories about him, the people who had actually seen him fight at full power were mostly long dead.
Kakashi had been buried under mission work these last few years, so he and Akira hardly had time even to sit down over tea, much less spar.
Konoha's talent shortage was still severe. Tsunade had been forced to push even newly promoted jōnin like Neji out onto the front lines, but experience was not something you could rush.
So Kakashi had long wanted to get a real measure of his student.
After all, Akira was his only true personal disciple. That kind of bond was not something Naruto or Sasuke could match.
Akira looked at the eager faces around him, sighed, then smiled. "Kakashi-sensei, I've spent the last three years running around and sightseeing. I've barely trained. There's a decent chance I haven't gotten stronger at all. Maybe I've even slipped."
Kakashi rolled his eye. He clearly did not believe a single word of it.
Anyone in the world might slack off eventually.
Akira was not that person.
That kid's obsession with getting stronger had long since seeped into his bones. By now, growing stronger was probably something he genuinely enjoyed.
"Enough pretending. If I still couldn't read your personality by now, I'd be a pretty pathetic teacher."
Jiraiya and Tsunade both nodded in agreement.
Tsunade especially knew better than anyone what kind of monster Akira really was.
Naruto cracked his knuckles with a grin. "Then I'll just find out for myself whether you've gotten stronger or weaker!"
Sakura took a deep breath and stepped forward too, her expression firm. "I want to test it too. I want to know what these three years of blood, sweat, and pain were worth."
Seeing how serious they both were, Akira stopped trying to dodge the issue and nodded. "All right then. If you're this fired up, I'll play along."
He strolled out toward the middle of the grass like he was taking a casual walk.
Off to the side, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi withdrew and watched in silence.
They all knew Naruto and Sakura had no chance of forcing out Akira's true trump cards.
Even so, simply getting to watch him make a move at all was reason enough to pay attention.