Chapter 198: Uchiha Akira Can Fly

"Akira, let's go!" Naruto called out after they finished their meal. The two had made a decent impression on some of the shinobi in Sunagakure, and with that, they turned and left the ramen shop.

"Hey! You haven't paid the bill yet!" Gaara quickly shouted as he saw the pile of empty bowls Naruto had left behind.

"We traveled all this way to help out Sunagakure, and you won't even treat us to one meal? Talk about stingy!" Naruto called back, waving his hand as he grabbed Akira and dashed away even faster.

"That guy... what a pain," Gaara muttered under his breath as he watched Naruto run off.

To be fair, considering that Uchiha Akira was one of the strongest men in the ninja world, and Naruto was the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, treating them to one meal wasn't really a big deal. But what annoyed Gaara most was the feeling of being tricked by Naruto.

"Boss, we'll pay," Temari, ever the responsible older sister, stepped up and spoke to the shop owner.

"Thank you! That'll be 12,000 ryō!" The ramen shop owner said nervously, glancing at Gaara as if afraid he'd lose his temper.

"12,000 ryō?!" Temari's face darkened. Sure, prices were high in the Land of Wind, but she'd never experienced a meal costing over 12,000 ryō.

Then again, Naruto had devoured more than 30 bowls by himself, so perhaps the bill made sense.

The encounter with Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro over a bowl of ramen was a small episode. After leaving the shop, some of Sunagakure's ANBU arrived and escorted Akira and Naruto to a designated residence. After all, they were important guests from Konoha, so there was no way the village could let them pay for a hotel out of their own pockets.

Letting them stay in Sunagakure for free was a matter of pride for the village.

The two stayed for three days. During that time, Akira focused on building up his chakra reserves, knowing a battle was imminent. He used the simulator each day, carefully storing chakra for when he might need it.

While in the village, Akira also observed Naruto's growth. Compared to the opening of Shippuden, Naruto was stronger now. He had begun tapping into the power of the Nine-Tails, unlocking four tails' worth of chakra.

In addition, Naruto had developed the S-rank Rasen Shuriken.

However, Naruto was still training to master Sage Mode and hadn't succeeded yet. That was the extent of his current abilities.

Akira gave Naruto a few tips about harnessing the Nine-Tails' chakra and offered some advice on Sage Mode, having been through similar training himself.

During those days, Naruto also sparred with Gaara several times. Back during the Chunin Exams, Naruto had been terrified of Gaara. But now, Naruto had the upper hand in their sparring sessions, which irritated Shukaku, the One-Tail sealed inside Gaara.

Shukaku already hated the Nine-Tails, and now seeing his own Jinchūriki being outdone by Naruto only made him more furious.

During one of their sparring sessions, Akira quietly collected some of Shukaku's chakra, as well as some of the Nine-Tails' chakra, and sealed them away.

In the original story, it was clear that in order to revive the Ten-Tails, you needed the power of all nine Tailed Beasts. But it wasn't necessary to have the full power of each beast. For example, the Nine-Tails' chakra had been split into Yin and Yang, and even half of its chakra had been sufficient.

So while you needed the chakra from each of the nine Tailed Beasts, it wasn't necessary to have every last bit of their power.

With that in mind, Akira seized the opportunity to gather some of Shukaku's and the Nine-Tails' chakra. Who knows? Maybe one day, he might be able to collect all the chakra from the nine Tailed Beasts, and who knows what benefits that might bring?

It was just a little insurance for the future.

One day, while Naruto and Gaara were once again sparring, Akira was observing when suddenly the piercing sound of alarms rang through Sunagakure, followed by a series of explosions.

"We're under attack!" Gaara's face hardened as he looked toward the source of the explosions.

"It seems the Akatsuki are here. And it looks like they've been spotted," Akira said calmly.

He had been expecting this. The simulator had shown that the Akatsuki would attack around this time.

"Let's go help!" Naruto shouted, quickly bolting toward the battle.

Seeing Naruto run off so urgently to help Sunagakure, Gaara felt a flicker of surprise. Despite their rivalry, the fact that Naruto, who had experienced similar hardships as a Jinchūriki, was so quick to aid his village, moved Gaara in a small way.

He didn't say it out loud, but Gaara's feelings toward Naruto were changing. He didn't see him as an enemy anymore but rather as someone similar to himself.

Akira and Gaara quickly followed Naruto, heading toward the source of the commotion.

Soon enough, they saw the attackers.

Perhaps because Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, was still alive in this timeline, the Akatsuki's attack force was even stronger than in the original story.

Two of the attackers were in the sky, while the other two fought on the ground.

In the sky, Deidara was riding his clay bird, launching aerial bombardments with heavy explosives. Alongside him was Konan, using her paper wings to fly through the air, supporting Deidara with her paper-based attacks.

The two airborne fighters were taking full advantage of their ability to fly, drawing much of Sunagakure's attention.

On the ground, Sasori, using his Performance of a Hundred Puppets, and Zetsu, with his black-and-white split body, were causing chaos as they moved through the battlefield.

"I've found the One-Tail's Jinchūriki!" Zetsu shouted, his exceptional sensory abilities quickly pinpointing Gaara's location. He pointed directly at Akira and the others.

"So it really is the Akatsuki attacking Sunagakure!" Akira said.

Although the village had prepared for this, seeing four figures in black robes with red clouds made Rasa's face darken. These figures matched the descriptions from the intel perfectly.

Rasa's expression grew even more grim when he saw Sasori.

Sasori had once been Sunagakure's pride—a genius puppet master, much like how Kakashi was renowned as Konoha's Copy Ninja. But now, Sasori had betrayed the village and joined the Akatsuki. And worse, here he was attacking Sunagakure.

Deidara, flying high above, was doing the most damage with his explosives. Rasa couldn't stand by and let that continue. He manipulated his gold dust, shaping it into a massive hand to grab Deidara out of the sky.

As the Kazekage, his top priority was protecting the lives of Sunagakure's citizens.

However, Deidara's clay bombs came down like rain, shattering the golden dust into pieces with explosive force.

It seemed that Deidara's firepower was enough to overpower even the Kazekage.

"No wonder Deidara's firepower is considered on par with a Kage," Akira thought as he watched the scene.

The Third Kazekage had been assassinated by Sasori and turned into a puppet. The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had been killed by Orochimaru in the original timeline.

Even Gaara, the Fifth Kazekage, had been captured by the Akatsuki, and Shukaku had been forcibly extracted from him.

If you really think about it, Sunagakure's Kazekages didn't have the best track record.

And now, even Rasa was being overwhelmed by Deidara's attacks.

Rasa wasn't weak by any means—he was definitely Kage-level. But if you quantified his strength, he'd probably rank around 20,000 points.

While anything from 10,000 to 100,000 points was considered Kage-level, Rasa's 20,000 points only made him slightly stronger than Danzo. No wonder Orochimaru had been able to assassinate him so easily.

Orochimaru's power was well over 30,000 points, and with the element of surprise on his side, it wasn't shocking that Sunagakure hadn't even realized their Kazekage had been replaced by a fake.

"Alright, let me handle this!" Naruto shouted, eyes locked on Deidara.

With a loud cry, Naruto raised his hand, and the sharp sound of his Rasen Shuriken filled the air. This was the S-rank wind-style jutsu that incorporated nature transformation into the Rasengan.

Naruto aimed carefully, then hurled the Rasen Shuriken toward Deidara in the sky.

Fighting Deidara, with his ability to fly, was tricky. The only way to take him down was with a powerful ranged attack like the Rasen Shuriken.

Meanwhile, Akira's attention shifted to Konan.

Since Nagato's attack, Hinata had been left in a coma, like a lifeless shell.

Now that Konan had appeared, it was time for Akira to settle the score.

Activating his three-tomoe Sharingan, Akira focused on using his left eye's ability to extract techniques from his opponent.

First, he extracted the Clone Technique. Worthless. He quickly discarded it and tried again.

Next, he got the Rope Escape Technique. Again, useless. He tried once more.

Then, Paper Shuriken. No good. He kept going.

Finally, he succeeded in extracting the Dance of the Shikigami—Konan's signature paper jutsu.

Perfect.

With a thought, Akira's body transformed into countless sheets of paper and began to flutter through the air.

It was Akira's first time experiencing the sensation of flight, and it felt exhilarating.

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A bonus chapter if we reach 300 Powerstone

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Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 255+ at patreon.com/Emik01.