Chapter 12

[Status: Akira Sabaku]

[Spirit Animal: Dark type]

[Passive Trait: Lifespan greed]

[Jinchuriki Types: Steel, Fire, Psychic, Flying, Fighting (locked), Bug (locked), Poison (locked), Grass (locked)]

[Moves (Line 1, 6%): Iron Defense, Ember, Teleport, Gust]

[Moves (Line 2, locked): Mach Punch, String Shot, Poison Sting, Absorb]

[Odd Skills: Disguise, Inventory, ESP, Flight, Bug Speech (locked), Poison Factory (locked), Botanic Functions (locked)]

[Bug Speech (locked): A skill that allows the user to communicate and bond with bugs and other insects, similar to but superior to the Aburame. As you get stronger, it gets stronger.]

[Poison Factory (locked): A skill that will naturally arise from the host's future poison type. Allows the user to produce and replicate any number and types of toxic substances, poisons, medications, and drugs that they have been exposed to or studied, similar to, but superior to, a factory producing toxins and drugs.]

[Botanic Functions (locked): A skill that originates from the host's future grass type. Allows the user to become like flora, plants, and grass Pokémon in general, with abilities such as photosynthesis and other natural actions related to botany. Increases in strength and variety of uses and utility in proportion to the user's strength and insights.]

'Those all sound really handy, but I'm curious why I don't get any strange skills from fire type, fighting type, or steel type, though,'

'I can't make any reasonable assumptions about the fire typing, but shouldn't I be getting something from the fighting type, like an aura sense or something?'

Akira wondered to himself, since the system wouldn't tell. He spent the night engaging in various activities, including guessing.

One of those activities was quickly learning the shadow clone technique. It was simple for someone like him, given his ninjutsu talent and the fact that the shadow clone technique also had dangerous and forbidden characteristics related to his dark nature. Furthermore, he was already familiar with the Earth Clone technique, which had its own set of advantages and disadvantages when compared to Shadow clones.

He was opening and closing his status window and some new related and locked windows whenever he got bored, still reeling from the fact that he had met Hiruzen Sarutobi so casually today, and that the elderly man wasn't nearly as evil as he had expected him to be in any version of the Naruto world he had been introduced to or exposed to… Hiruzen was a mysterious individual, and there were numerous ways to interpret both him and Konoha. The Chinese Hiruzen was the version of Hiruzen that Akira was most familiar with.

Was this Hiruzen different? If so, was it because Tobirama was still alive in this world?

Or was he supposed to be just like this even if his master died?

Akira was questioning himself because Hiruzen could be a potential ally in the future as a result of that meeting and the mission he assigned. Akira was struggling to cope, searching for illogical gaps in anything Hiruzen did or said the night before that could reveal some evil hidden within.

People could never be too cautious and overly thoughtful in this ninja world, Akira reasoned, but there were none of the ostensible gaps he sought. And he didn't sleep that night because he didn't need to, not because he was coping or worried.

He was exhausted enough to sleep, like his uncle or Shira. But, unlike them, instead of going to bed, he used the system's "cultivation mode," also known as the "cultivation parameter," which allowed him to sleep with his eyes open in real time. He could study, think, or do anything else that didn't matter while his mind and body healed from stress, trauma, overwork, and injuries.

This was extremely effective at preventing sleep and allowing him to sleep without shutting down his body, but the strength and speed with which all other effects occurred was proportional to his current strength. Currently, he possessed an elite chunin-level capacity for self-healing cultivation. It wasn't fast or slow, and it wasn't useful in real combat yet because it wasn't fast enough from a strategic standpoint.

Currently, it was just a strange skill that proved useful outside of combat.

Because Akira didn't sleep and cultivated, Yashamaru was surprised the next morning when he was the first one to wake up in the room and discovered him still wide awake with his eyes open.

His uncle Yashamaru, who had a good eye for details, said, asked through an early-morning yawn, with more curiosity than worry,

"Good morning, kid... Couldn't get any sleep last night, it seems, could you?"

Unlike his brother Gaara, who would often lose sleep due to the restless, constant struggle of containing the One-Tail Bijuu sealed within him, Akira was naturally born with dark circles under his eyes, which could be seen as either a blessing or a curse. They had never detracted from his handsomeness and instead added to his dark, brooding charm. These circles persisted regardless of how much or how little he slept, making it difficult to determine when he actually managed to get any rest.

Yashamaru, like anyone else, including Akira's parents, couldn't tell if Akira had slept or not unless he displayed clear and unmistakable signs of being tired.

Akira responded with a polite question and statement,

"Good morning, sir... Is it that obvious? I couldn't get any sleep whatsoever. I'll make an effort not to be a burden on our way back, though."

He was still using formal language when talking to his high-ranking uncle because he had learned his lesson and didn't want another misunderstanding like yesterday. Since he didn't want to tell his uncle another lie about developing a new anti-sleep technique along with the "iron defense jutsu" he lied about, talking like a good subordinate was the right thing to do.

"How can you be a burden when I need you, soldier? You are the strongest after me in this group, I am counting on you." Yashamaru responded to his nephew with a long yawn, followed by stretching his arms and tired neck.

He then asked with a knowing, mocking, uncle-like chuckle,

"Can I make a reasonable guess that your lack of sleep is connected to the presence of the third Hokage yesterday?"

Akira pretended and replied politely, submissively,

"Yes, sir. I'm still a little shocked, to be honest... Did he actually give us that mission and those scrolls containing jutsus?"

Yashamaru replied with a smile,

"Yes, they say never meet your idols in person, but it seems like meeting yours went well."

"I can't really boast about the same thing when it also suddenly happened to me back then…"

Akira frowned with curiosity and asked, "Who did you meet? Or, rather, who is your idol?" while Yashamaru stood up from his bed, looking thoughtful, a sour expression on his face as if recalling something.

Yashamaru replied, appearing more serious or displeased, allowing Akira to make his guess based on the publicly known information he mentioned, with a hint of crypticness,

"Who used to be my idol?"

"That person has an everlasting brand of eyes, just like the legendary Madara Uchiha... The only other one…"

Few, if any, members of the Uchiha clan besides Madara had ever unlocked and possessed the Eternal Mangekyo. As a result, Akira quickly deduced a name from the cryptic response.

Yashamaru was also in his thirties, so he couldn't admire people younger than him who, according to the information, didn't even possess those ridiculously strong eyes...

In this world, it seemed that although they weren't hated, apart from the Uchiha themselves, not many people looked up to the Uchiha as admirable idols because of their unattainable eye power. However, Yashamaru seemed to be one such person.

**********************************

After a big breakfast, the group finally left the town located down the valley.

The stop had been interesting, but staying in the land of fire indefinitely, even if very far from Konoha, wasn't ideal for people from the land of wind.

After hours of running, at noon, the group was finally only kilometers away from the frontier of the land of wind, which was situated further to the southwest from their earlier position, which was more towards the southeast.

Akira wanted to spend more time allowing Keiko, who was secretly known as Pakura, to rest and regain energy and strength. However, Akira was now taking orders from Yashamaru, so he didn't have the time or opportunity to make that decision. It wasn't as if he could explain why he wanted to spend more time in an allied country.

He was working on a job, and now that the job was finished, he had to return home since he was still on duty and not on vacation.

During a brief pause in a drier yet still green clearing…

Everyone was eating small bento lunches when Akira, who was sitting near Keiko, asked her with concern and curiosity,

"How are you feeling now?"

He didn't ask his question very clearly because they were being watched.

Keiko, who was intelligent, responded cleverly, without revealing more than necessary,

"I feel well-rested, improved, and sufficiently confident. Don't worry about me."

Akira nodded, feeling reassured.

In the event that something accidental and unfortunate occurred during the meeting with Rasa, he needed to know how she was feeling at present. It seemed that she had rested enough to have the confidence to confront him without panicking and making a mistake. He had a slim chance of knowing who she was unless she did.

Since she would have to stay in the Sand Village while he goes to Konoha a month later, it would be better if she could quickly adjust to her revival with some level of stress-free confidence. With her powerful bloodline limit and her elite jonin senses, even though her chakra had greatly diminished after being resurrected by Akira, she was the natural scarecrow and counter of people from the Land of Wind.

Although Akira didn't care much about his dad and would prefer for her to abandon her revenge plans, he wouldn't stop her from becoming Kazekage and overthrowing Rasa if she could. He cared more about a strong Suna in this dangerous world, where he wanted to survive, than the honor of his scheming and somewhat incompetent father whom he had met three months ago.

Rasa relied a bit too much on Konoha, which wasn't a problem, but it was in his case because he wasn't strong enough to communicate with them on equal, fearless terms.

Yashamaru approached suddenly, his stomach not bloated today because the respective bentos didn't have much food inside.

He asked Keiko, the forty-year-old beauty, with a hint of curiosity,

"You're stronger, faster, and more resilient than I initially thought, even without your scorch style, it seems… Now I understand how you were able to survive and escape the genocide in your town, unlike your other family members."

"But what about this foolish kid sitting next to you that reminds you of your son? He doesn't look anything like you."

"What did your son look like?"

Akira had mentioned that she treated him like a son she had lost.

"To be honest, it wasn't really the physical traits, but rather the immense talent for fire style that reminded me of him..." Keiko answered, appearing sad and melancholic, as she was reminded of the difficult past.

She was even glancing at Akira and tearing up to make it look genuine.

Akira didn't know how she was doing that so effortlessly. She appeared to possess a wide range of talents beyond what he had initially anticipated. If she wasn't like this before she was murdered, it could only indicate her newfound determination for perfect revenge and the necessity to adapt swiftly to her new circumstances.

By the time the group crossed the border, Akira had completely stopped worrying about her because she had proven herself several times over.