Five kilometers north of the Land of Fire, within the Land of Rivers, deep in the night.
Akio and Madara's battle had raged for several hours.
The battlefield was now covered in towering trees that blotted out the sky, half-melted icebergs, and flowing magma…
Akio had cycled through every kekkei genkai he possessed. No one was better than near-full-power Madara as a sparring partner to test techniques on.
"Compared to mindless training, you really do learn faster in real combat…" Akio muttered, then frowned. "My chakra's already down by half. Time to wrap this up. I've pretty much familiarized myself with all the kekkei genkai."
High above, two wooden dragons clashed. Akio's dragon suddenly shattered.
"Old man! Finally running out of gas?!" Madara shouted.
A wooden dragon dove toward Akio at high speed. He clenched his right fist, chakra gathering in his palm.
"Eighty Gods Vacuum Fists!"
Countless overlapping fists tore through the air in front of him. Not only did the wooden dragon crumble to dust, every tree in that direction was obliterated.
"Stars…? Has it really been that long?"
Akio had been having too much fun cycling through bloodline limits, completely losing track of time, the dense trees overhead had kept him from noticing the sky had already gone dark.
Stretching slightly, he glanced at Madara.
"It's already night. I'm kinda hungry. Let's stop. I'll send you back, you must be hungry too."
A beat later he corrected himself:
"Oh, right. Corpses don't get hungry."
"Old man! You won't live to eat another meal! After fighting this long, your chakra must be low!"
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
Akio looked up and formed the same seals.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
Identical fire techniques collided in an area full of trees, and the scattered sparks instantly ignited a roaring inferno.
Madara had used the jutsu with this thought:
Even if I burn everything, Impure World Reincarnation won't kill me. At least I can give the old fossil some trouble.
Akio had used it with this thought:
A fight between me and Madara shouldn't end with me landscaping the Land of Rivers. Let's just burn it down.
So when Madara saw the blazing forest, he was momentarily confused.
But it suited him just fine. Forming new seals, he shouted:
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"
Akio's thoughts hadn't changed. He mirrored Madara's seals again.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"
As the two fire dragons slammed into each other, Akio's brain abruptly derailed.
I can use most ninjutsu and kekkei genkai now. From here on, I can just copy whatever someone else uses. Who knows, maybe I'll earn a reputation like some kind of Sharingan copy-ninja… the 'Phoenix-Eyed Akio.'
The heat waves snapping at his face interrupted his nonsense. Akio swept his gaze around and nodded in satisfaction at the spreading flames.
"Madara, this fight is about over!"
"Old man, stop bragging! You should be thinking about how to escape! The one advantage of Impure World Reincarnation is that as long as the caster lives, my chakra is practically unlimited and I can't die! You've got a bunch of weird abilities, sure, but as long as I avoid that bone of yours, you'll run out of chakra eventually!"
Akio listened to Madara's triumphant speech, still smiling, and shook his head.
"Madara, you forgot something. Has dying for too long made you forgetful?"
Madara frowned. Akio grinned.
"Sage Mode on! Sage Art Sandbag-Sized Fist!"
"You bastard!!"
…
Ten minutes later, Akio watched Madara's body slowly crumble apart and sighed.
"Still not durable enough. Still not enough. I didn't even use the Eight Gates and you're already done. Hope I get to meet you again, maybe you'll be stronger next time."
It was almost the same scene and almost the same lines as before, but Madara didn't respond this time.
His heart felt exhausted. For the first time, he doubted the future of his revival plan.
The Ten-Tails… damn that old man. If I ever become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, I swear I'll
Madara returned to the afterlife mid-complaint.
"Ahh… good times always end fast. Who knows when I'll get to punch 'Madara-brand sandbags' again… Guess I'll need to track down Orochimaru."
A field of flames surrounded Akio, but he kept a constant repulsion field open around himself.
A few flashes later, he flew out of the burning zone and finally saw the sky turning gray with dawn.
"This fight must've lasted six or seven hours… Haven't had this much fun in ages."
He created several shadow clones to set up sealing barriers to ensure the wildfire didn't spread infinitely, then teleported back.
In another hour, the battlefield would automatically become a scorched wasteland, wiping away evidence that he had mastered countless kekkei genkai for now, he didn't want anyone to know.
"Speaking of which… where did Danzō go?" Akio frowned. He had been so engrossed in beating up Madara that he'd forgotten about Danzō entirely.
A glance into his spatial storage showed Danzō's outer robe was still there. With that clothing, he could rely on that dog-blooded fat cat to locate Danzō.
"Back to Konoha first."
Akio vanished.
…
Inside Konoha, along the quiet streets.
Akio walked slowly.
It was still early. The streets were empty. Hiruzen was likely not in the Hokage office yet.
Akio wandered toward the Senju compound.
He wanted to see the child who shared his name, to see if the boy had inherited even half of the ancestor's handsomeness.
If not… he'd have to change his name!
Before he reached the Senju district, Akio sensed Fat Cat's chakra.
A two-story house nearby. Inside, he sensed both Fat Cat and Tenten's faint chakra.
He teleported into Tenten's room. She was only six years old, Akio felt no need to avoid anything.
Tenten was still asleep, and Fat Cat was curled beside her pillow.
"Getting along well, I see."
Sensing Akio's scent, Fat Cat opened its eyes, lazily glanced at him, then went right back to sleep.
Its look conveyed a single thought:
This unreliable servant is no longer worthy of Lord Cat.
Akio chuckled and shook his head. Wind-nature chakra flowed into his hand, and he lightly nicked the cat's paw, drawing a drop of blood, then disappeared.
"Meow?!!"
"Hm? Fat Cat, what's wrong?"
Tenten rubbed her eyes, turned her head "Ah! You're bleeding!"
Fat Cat stared blankly as Tenten cupped its paw and then, stuffed the bleeding part into her mouth to stop the bleeding before letting go.
"There, all better. Don't worry, Fat Cat. Go back to sleep."
"Meooww! My blood isn't something you can just drink!"
Akio had been feeding it supplements for five years straight.
Its blood… was very nourishing.
Out on the street, Akio cut his own wrist lightly, collected a drop of blood, and merged it with the cat's blood.
"Summoning Blood Contract, seal!"
When he finished, he exhaled in relief.
"Call it when you need it. When you don't, let Tenten handle… the litter box."
"I'm a genius."
---
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