Following Kurotsuchi's group, Akio and the three children entered Iwagakure without any resistance.
Kurotsuchi escorted them inside, then waved cheerfully.
"Red-haired mister, we need to report to Grandpa first. See you later!"
Akio waved back.
"Sure. We'll look around the village."
Once Kurotsuchi and the others were out of sight, Karin completely lost it.
"Hahahahaha—hic! Red-haired Shanks-mister, where are we going first?!"
Akio's face darkened.
"Pull yourself together. Kimimaro is watching."
Karin froze, instantly dropping her wild demeanor. She sneaked a glance at Kimimaro—only to realize he wasn't looking at her at all, but calmly surveying Iwagakure's architecture.
Akio sighed.
"I disguise myself as Shanks, and this is what breaks you?"
Karin was still twitching with suppressed laughter.
"Elder, we're literally inside Iwagakure. There's no way they won't figure out who you are. And that whole 'performance artist' nonsense…"
"I never planned to hide it for long," Akio replied casually. "Ōnoki will hear about me soon enough. He just won't necessarily tell the kids."
Karin paused, about to ask why, when Akio smiled.
"Come on. Let me show you around Iwagakure."
Meanwhile — Tsuchikage's Office
The elderly Tsuchikage Ōnoki hovered in midair, pressing his fist down on Deidara's head again and again, rotating him slightly each time.
Deidara hunched his shoulders, clearly furious but not daring to talk back.
Kurotsuchi, meanwhile, was laughing—not maliciously, just genuinely amused.
"Grandpa, you have to fly just to scold Deidara now."
Ōnoki glared, then sighed.
"Damn brat grew up too fast."
"Not him," Kurotsuchi said bluntly. "You're just getting shorter. I'm taller than you now."
Ōnoki bristled, mustache twitching, but ultimately had no answer for his granddaughter.
After calming himself, he floated back into his seat.
"So, kid. I heard someone intercepted you outside the village?"
Deidara turned away stubbornly. Kurotsuchi answered instead.
"It was a red-haired guy named Shanks. Said he was hungry and decided to shoot down a bird to eat—turns out that bird was Deidara's."
"Hunting birds?" Ōnoki muttered. "Red hair… Shanks… That sounds very familiar."
"That guy's dangerous," Deidara added. "He had an Ice Release user with him, and another kid who fights with bones. Like the legendary Shikotsumyaku. Hmm."
"Ice Release… and Shikotsumyaku?" Kurotsuchi's eyes widened.
"So that was the bone technique. No wonder he was strong—you couldn't beat him, Deidara, and he's younger than you."
Deidara flushed.
"That's only because I ran out of clay! My art would never lose otherwise! Hmm!"
Kurotsuchi frowned.
"If Shanks was suspicious, why did he let Kimimaro fight you one-on-one? That kid was terrifying."
"Was Shanks himself strong?" Ōnoki asked suddenly.
Kurotsuchi nodded.
"Very. Uncle Daishi tried to ambush him with invisibility and got knocked out with a single kick."
Ōnoki nodded slowly. He already had a pretty good idea who this "Shanks" really was.
"Did he say why he came to Iwagakure?"
"He said he was just sightseeing," Kurotsuchi replied. "And that we should spar more with kids our age—to get stronger together."
Ōnoki hummed.
"So… training the next generation."
After a moment's thought, he spoke again.
"If he has no hostile intent, then sparring is fine. But before that—Deidara."
Deidara stiffened.
"…Ah—!"
Iwagakure Casino
Akio stood behind the three children, watching them gamble.
Gambling had a way of pulling people in. Even Kimimaro, usually stone-faced, was flushed as he stared at the dice cup. Karin was yelling nonstop. Only Haku remained relatively calm.
Why were they here?
Because Akio was broke.
Their travels had burned through his savings—money he'd pried loose back when he worked as a cook. Without a few opportunistic run-ins along the road, they'd have gone bankrupt days ago.
Now that they were in Iwagakure, Akio barely had enough to pay for lodging—food wasn't even an option.
So the casino it was.
Half an hour later, the three kids returned, defeated. First-time gamblers losing everything was hardly surprising.
Akio stepped forward with his last thousand ryō, mentally cueing dramatic background music.
An hour later, the kids were staring at him in disbelief as that thousand turned into ten thousand.
"God truly is all-powerful," Kimimaro said reverently.
"Elder, share a little?" Karin asked greedily.
"People are watching us," Haku warned quietly.
Akio grinned.
"Let's go. Buy whatever you want."
The bravado didn't last long.
Akio froze in front of a shop.
"You're charging five million ryō for this?!"
In Haku's hands was something Akio had never seen in the shinobi world before—a monocular telescope.
Rare, sure. But worth an S-rank mission payout?
He could probably build several himself with lenses and proper spacing.
The shop owner, a stocky middle-aged man, puffed up proudly.
"This isn't an ordinary scope. Rare materials, master craftsmanship. We only have two—Lord Tsuchikage bought the other one himself."
Akio paused, took it from Haku, and looked through it.
"Oh? It requires chakra."
The magnification wasn't extreme—around forty times—but focusing chakra into the eye produced an incredibly clear image.
"Interesting… prolonged use might have unexpected benefits."
Constantly channeling chakra into one eye could enhance visual acuity, maybe even grant resistance to basic genjutsu. If that was the case, five million ryō was actually a bargain.
Akio switched eyes and adjusted his view.
"Huh?"
In the distance, Kurotsuchi and Deidara were walking toward them.
Though Deidara's disheveled hair and unmistakable "don't look at me" posture begged one question—
What exactly happened to him back there?
---
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