Chapter 8

Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Kinjutsu, Ninjutsu... The gist was easily grasped, and the list continued.

This world had a very different history, beginning with the absence of the sage of six paths.

All the jutsus that were normally used in Naruto were the same, with the addition of a lot more, weak or strong varieties that shouldn't have existed before.

Akira was a Ninjutsu expert. Of Puppet jutsu, in particular. He did, however, specialize in elemental jutsus as well. He had a lot of chakra and good control over it, so unless the fights were long, it was rarely taxing on him.

His identification as an above-average genius, as opposed to his older brother Gaara, who was a stupendous genius, was due to the fact that he did not have a bloodline limit. Akira though, like Gaara, had inherited both of his parents' talents for chakra control and chakra reserves.

This, combined with the fact that people in this world did not have to spell out loud jutsus during fights in order to perform hand seals that released techniques, made him a lethal fighter. However, the strength, success, and speed with which a jutsu skill was cast was still dependent on individual talent, practice, and expertise.

In this world, ninjas were, well, ninjas... They were true Shinobi. They did not shout out loud before releasing techniques to warn their opponents that they were about to hit, hurt, or kill them with a skill. This was advantageous to Akira's fighting style.

He was the kind of genius who didn't need to make long hand seals or seals with two hands... All he needed were three fingers. Even in this world, this was extremely uncommon. Nobody in his family could do that. Also, the natural elemental affinities he was born with were just like him and the system... A tad evil, wicked when used in tandem…

"Do you really insist on being a test subject? Don't say later that I didn't repeatedly warn you about this guy's new skill."

Yashamaru frowned slightly, expressing his dissatisfaction, and said to Akira as he was discussing Shira. Like any good uncle, he probably didn't want to see Akira get hurt on his watch.

The doubtful, hesitant Shira was walking to stand in front of Akira to assume his fighting position as well when Akira responded to Yashamaru,

"You don't have to behave like my uncle tonight. We are still on a mission, remember? As long as we aren't back at our Sand Village, I would appreciate it if you didn't act like mom does with me."

"As a jonin overseeing your student with some potential, you should do everything in your power to help him make progress in a skill he's newly developing, shouldn't you? Why should you worry about me? You should be concerned about Shira, whether he has a new skill or not, I have never been lazy either,"

Akira was about to speak again when both Shira and Yashamaru suddenly became curious.

Yashamaru was the first to ask,

"You seem strangely confident with confronting the unknown... Don't tell me you've acquired a new skill as well?"

Akira couldn't help but raise one corner of his mouth slightly and respond with a shrug,

"I wouldn't rule out anything, but I wouldn't reveal a new skill even if I had one."

Akira wasn't planning on showcasing his Pokémon skills unless he needed to do so. Every skill for a Shinobi was one additional skill that could be utilized to catch enemies off guard in challenging situations. Additionally, he did not want to reveal his intelligence and complete information to his village and others unless there was no alternative.

The fact that he had both the flying and psychic types, both of which were extremely resistant to taijutsu, was already a plus. He was now incredibly resistant to taijutsu. Shira was free to try and abuse him if he could. Shira needed to inflict him damage, and Taijutsu was only a quarter as effective against him, even if he managed to land hits.

The Pokémon types Akira had obtained from the system weren't powerful when it came to attacking because no attack parameter had been changed. Nothing had been transferred over from the world of Pokémon when it came to that, and Akira was still a regular Shinobi when it came to attacking. But having those types was incredible when it came to defense.

"You sneaky kid, what are you hiding up your sleeve if I know you well enough…?"

Yashamaru asked with a laugh and a hint of relief in his voice, which was different from how worried he had been before.

"Nothing." Akira responded to him and then said to Shira, who was finally standing in front of him, ready and finished warming up,

"I'm ready whenever you are. You can go ahead and show off your new skill. I'm eager to see it, especially after all the bragging from your sensei."

Shira nodded gently, then he said, with his face growing serious,

"Get prepared then."

After he said that, his expression became even more serious. He spread his legs apart and then began to bring his fingers together, making rapid hand gestures. He also breathed in the surrounding air, which started to visibly shift and stir up the sand on the ground and the grass nearby.

Shira soon caused a small whirlwind of sand and grass around his body, a whirlwind that was expelled diagonally and in an upward direction. The area where all of this was happening was pretty small, but not so small that it wasn't surprising.

His chakra aura, which was fluctuating violently around him, changed from blue to a yellowish color. After some time had passed, his eyes began to turn white.

Upon witnessing the change, Akira was startled when the movement of wildly swaying, rocking energy came to a halt. He still didn't remember the name of the breathing technique when Shira, who now had completely white eyes, focused his gaze on him and his position, saying,

"I've called this new skill of mine, which isn't fully ready yet, the Sevens Heavens Breathing Method. Get ready to face its first stage, *The First Activity* because I'm coming for you..."

Akira, with widened eyes, blinked twice upon hearing before grinning slightly mischievously and replying,

"You still haven't changed, haven't you?"

Shira was dropping his ability's name and giving him hints during a fight, even though he didn't have to... Just like Lee and Guy, he always longed for honorable fights with opponents who weren't his true enemies and whom he didn't have to fight to the death or kill.

"I guess some things can't change. Get ready, I can't be too polite in this state, I need to let off some steam."

Shira replied.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he vanished at breakneck speed.

Akira's eyes darted around the area, keenly observing Shira's agile movements. He was gracefully dancing around him, looking for a chance to make his move.

"Oh… This boy…"

Yashamaru was astounded and muttered as he stood in the distance, far from the fight, seeing how Akira was able to detect his student's movements.

Shira finally made his move.

He was sprinting towards Akira at that super speed, wildly stirring up the air, sand, and grass around him, when Akira suddenly flashed an even bigger smile.

His fingers moved for barely a second and completed a hand seal sequence, after which he said to Shira, who was coming up from behind him,

"Some things never change, indeed. You got faster, though."

As soon as the words were done, Shira's face twisted into a scowl, as if he had just remembered something...

Out of nowhere, a solid wall of dirt shot up from the ground.

It was wide and thick, with no room for Shira to do anything except break it or scale it in his fast-paced rush towards Akira.

Shira yelled and charged through, delivering a powerful punch that shattered it. He was strong enough to handle it, and it wouldn't hurt his body in the least if he wasn't using the "Sevens Heavens Breathing method."

But the real problem arose once the wall was busted.

Akira was nowhere to be seen.

"Fuck!!"

Shira let out a sudden curse, swiftly jumping away from where he was standing with a terrified scowl on his face.

As he landed in the distance, a shadow appeared slowly and theatrically, as if from a broken stage prop, slithering up from the ground like a mole coming out of an underground burrow.

The shadow said, finally fully standing amidst dissipating smoke,

"You remembered this one, huh? Seems like your reflexes have gotten faster too, that sucks."

"Looks like this might turn out to be a real marathon…"

The mole-like figure, who was naturally Akira, added with a level of headache, asking,

"How long can you stay in that First Activity state?"

He didn't know how to help people have sudden insights in skills, which was disappointing because being an immobile training dummy for Shira probably wouldn't achieve that.

"How can you even keep up with me when I'm like this?" Shira asked, shocked and confused, about whether Akira was still a top-level chunin.

Yashamaru was also frowning when Akira responded,

"How should I know? After all, it's been almost a year since I last saw you."

Akira then said once more,

"If that's all you got, we're going to be here forever."

"How long can you maintain that state? Come on, let's not make it a boring game of whack-a-mole... You've already lowballed me now."

Yashamaru burst into laughter out of nowhere and chimed in, saying,

"This kid always manages to impress, and here I was expecting a new skill from him, Hahahahaha."

He then said to Akira cheerfully, "We underestimated your progress instead, have we? You seem to be a low-level Jonin based solely on your speed."

"Like I said, how should I know?" Akira responded.

Yashamaru, not to be deceived, burst out laughing once more. "Great!"

He then exclaimed to his stunned, incredulous student, "Come on, Shira, turn on your Second Stage! Don't you worry about the underlying damage, I'll patch you up on the way."

Akira asked, curious,

"Underlying damage?"

After he did, Shira then started to lay out the problems with his incomplete skill, starting with the second stage of the skill, the "Second Activity"...

It was intriguing, to put it mildly.

Akira listened attentively because he was also interested in the dark, particularly forbidden skills.