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"A true genius... maybe geniuses are all rebellious," Akio muttered to himself, weighing the bracelet in his hand. It was something Yuna had left behind—an item capable of completely masking all chakra fluctuations in the body. So powerful, in fact, that even Akio, after putting it on, felt as if he had no chakra at all.
Most people trying to guard against sensory-type ninja would think externally, but Yuna had taken the opposite route, developing something that worked from within.
"This kind of thing didn't exist in the original work. It's way too convenient," Akio sighed, glancing at the visibly dejected Sakumo beside him.
Tobirama and Sakumo had both returned by now, but clearly, neither had found anything useful.
Akio handed Yuna's letter over to Sakumo, and after reading it, the boy's expression turned deeply conflicted.
"Tobirama, tell Hiruzen about this. Have him send some trusted Anbu to search quietly—don't make it public. If it spreads, Yuna will be in even greater danger."
The Uzumaki clan's special constitution and sealing techniques had always been the target of greedy eyes. And Yuna, as the daughter of the current clan head, would attract attention from every large and small village if word got out.
Tobirama nodded. "Understood."
Akio then turned to Izuko, visibly troubled.
"Izuko, don't worry too much. You have to believe in Yuna. Remember, I took you to the battlefield when you were only twelve. Yuna is already nineteen, and she's incredibly smart..." Akio trailed off. He had been confident in protecting Izuko back then, but Yuna had left on her own.
He glanced at Dōzan, who had been getting "educated" by Mito for over an hour now. Scratching his head, he sighed deeply.
"Honestly, I kind of wish she had taken Dōzan with her."
Izuko was silent for a moment, then looked up at Akio. "Sensei..."
Akio waved her off. "Yuna has barely left Uzushiogakure, and even when she has, it's just been to Konoha. Not many people know her. As the Uzumaki clan leader, your appearance in other villages could stir trouble. Let me go instead—I'll create a few shadow clones to search in different directions."
Izuko hesitated, and Akio continued, "You should go back and keep her disappearance quiet. Don't let the clansmen spread rumors. If word gets out, it'll become even more troublesome."
Izuko nodded. "Then please, Sensei, take care of it." She turned and returned to Uzushiogakure.
"Please, huh..." Akio chuckled bitterly. "How am I supposed to find one person in the vast ninja world? There's no phone signal, no GPS, and I can't even ask around easily."
He didn't expect to find her quickly. All he could hope for was that some clue would turn up eventually—or that she would come back of her own accord once she'd had her fill of the outside world.
"But this is more of a headache," Akio glanced at Sakumo again. "Kakashi Hatake's future is already looking bleak. Let's not end up losing him too."
"Man, if I'd known things would turn out like this, I wouldn't have tried to play matchmaker... I'm still single myself," he sighed and shook his head.
Unexpectedly, only a month passed before Sakumo seemed to recover completely. If it weren't for his slightly quieter demeanor, Akio would've thought he'd imagined the whole ordeal.
Just as Akio predicted, Yuna's cutting-edge technology and genius mind rendered the Anbu's efforts fruitless.
However, his shadow clones did turn up some useful information. Akio had them investigate the shinobi population in every village across the ninja world...
During this time, a series of paranormal incidents had been reported. Villages equipped with sensory ninja alarms all triggered their alerts. It was Akio's clones making one final symbolic effort—activating the Kagura Mind's Eye before dispersing.
Each time Akio received the memories of a dispersed clone, he grew more disappointed—and also puzzled. Every clone had acted in exactly the same way. That meant he, too, would have made the same choices. Yet he couldn't quite believe he was the kind of person who stirred up so much trouble...
To avoid drawing suspicion, Akio even used the Kagura Mind's Eye once in Konoha, setting off alarms himself.
Now, every village had experienced false alerts, but none had caught the culprit. The peaceful ninja world of the past two years was once again in chaos—rife with suspicion and on the verge of conflict. All it needed now was a spark.
"Still, Sunagakure and Kumogakure really have developed jinchūriki," Akio muttered, frowning.
His clones had returned with some valuable intel.
Two years prior, Sunagakure had successfully sealed Shukaku into a monk, though the host's instability had led them to keep him imprisoned.
Kumogakure's Eight-Tails jinchūriki was similarly under lock, but surprisingly, their Two-Tails host had already reached a relatively stable state and could even tap into the tailed beast's chakra temporarily.
"Feels like Kumogakure is the real research powerhouse in the world of Naruto," Akio mused.
He didn't keep the information to himself—he shared it with Tobirama, knowing it would eventually reach Hiruzen.
"Not finding Yuna... is actually good news. At least it proves she wasn't captured by another village. If I can't find her, chances are no one else can either."
"Next up: my own power-up!"
Over the past month, Akio had advanced his Gentle Fist to level seven and was thrilled to see over a hundred points added to his weakest stat—'Body'—confirming his earlier theory.
"The Second Great Ninja War isn't far off. I don't know which villages have their eyes on Uzushiogakure, but this time, I'll make sure they regret it!"
He threw himself wholeheartedly into Gentle Fist training, and in the blink of an eye, over two years had passed. It was now approaching the twenty-ninth year of Konoha.
Yuna still hadn't been found. Though worry lingered in Akio's heart, he kept reassuring himself. His Gentle Fist, however, had advanced dramatically...
"Maybe Gentle Fist—or Taijiquan, really—is just better suited to old-timers like me?"
Gentle Fist LV8 (1,101,030 / 5,000,000)
"Who'd have thought Gentle Fist would be my first self-trained level 8 skill? And without a bottleneck, no less. That's great news."
Akio paused his training and made his way to Tobirama's home once again.
Tobirama's body had grown frail, barely strong enough to take on a chunin. No matter how powerful a shinobi, even Akio, time remained undefeated.
Sensing the man's weakening chakra, Akio sighed. "Tobirama, I came to say goodbye. I'm heading back to Uzushiogakure."
Tobirama froze. "You..."
Akio shook his head. "I've stayed long enough. I won't attend your funeral... but we'll meet again."
"I see... that's fine too."
Akio bade farewell to a few familiar faces in Konoha and returned to Uzushiogakure.
Less than two weeks later, news arrived from Konoha:
The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, has passed away.
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