Tsunade walked over to the bed, gave Sasuke a quick examination, and said flatly, "He's in better shape than Kakashi. His brain's still intact."
Then she glanced at Akira. "Your turn?"
Leaning against the windowsill, Akira waved lazily. "You handle this one. Healing Kakashi-sensei took a decent chunk of chakra, so I'd like to rest for a bit."
Tsunade shot him a look.
With that monstrous chakra reserve and absurd physique of his, would healing one Kakashi really tire him out? He was obviously just looking for an excuse to slack off.
Still, she didn't call him on it. Green chakra lit up in her hand as she personally began treating Sasuke.
About five minutes later, Sasuke slowly came to.
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Sakura, crying in relief, and Naruto, grinning like an idiot.
Once Sasuke was awake, Akira straightened from the window and looked at Tsunade. "There's still one difficult case left. I'm afraid that one's going to be trouble, Tsunade-hime."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. Normally, Akira could handle something like that himself, but for whatever reason he was determined to drag her into it.
At that moment, Might Guy, who had been following behind them, suddenly sprang forward with tears in his eyes and cried out, "Right! My beloved student! Tsunade-hime, please, I beg you to save him!"
Tsunade said nothing and followed Akira to Lee's room.
After a detailed examination, her brows drew tighter and tighter.
Watching her expression, Guy felt his heart crawl into his throat.
Tsunade turned and looked at Akira, her gaze complicated.
Akira sighed, then looked at Guy and said, "Guy-sensei... Lee's condition is not good. It can be treated, but the risk is extremely high. If the surgery fails, he may not survive the operating table."
"If we don't operate, he'll have to give up being a shinobi."
"This is one of those questions with only two answers. Risk his life, or accept his fate."
The moment those words fell, Guy went rigid, his fists clenching until they creaked. Somewhere in his heart, he had already known it, but hearing the sentence pronounced aloud still felt unbearable.
For someone like Lee, who treated the way of the ninja as life itself, being unable to continue as a shinobi was no different from death.
Guy opened his mouth, wanting to comfort his student, but his throat felt blocked. He couldn't force out a single word.
At last, he turned desperately toward Tsunade. "Tsunade-hime... is there truly no other way?"
Tsunade shook her head and answered gravely, "Akira's right. Bone fragments are lodged in the nervous system. Even if I operate personally, the success rate is only fifty percent."
"If you choose surgery, you have to be prepared for the possibility of death."
For Lee, it was like being struck by lightning.
Teacher and student both fell into a dead silence. It was too cruel a choice for anyone to make lightly.
Seeing the pain on both their faces, Tsunade stood. "That's enough. I'll give you time to think. Once you've decided, come find me."
Then she signaled to Akira with her eyes. "Let's go."
Naruto followed behind them, his brow tightly furrowed. That kind of helplessness made him miserable.
Once they were out of the hospital, Akira lowered his voice. "That surgery really is nightmare-level."
Tsunade nodded. "Fifty percent is the best number I can honestly give."
Shizune walked beside them, her eyes darting back and forth between Akira and Tsunade.
She still couldn't shake the feeling that the atmosphere between those two had become strange. Too synchronized. Too natural.
Once they stepped out of the hospital, Akira was ready to slip back home and catch up on sleep, but Tsunade suddenly called after him.
"Hey. I don't have anywhere to stay."
Akira stopped and turned, giving her a very strange look. Even Shizune's eyes widened.
The way she said it sounded so suspicious that it was almost impossible not to misread.
Akira coughed. "The village didn't arrange anything for you? Shizune, the leadership can't possibly be that thoughtless. They're not going to leave the Fifth Hokage sleeping on the street, are they?"
Shizune hurriedly nodded. "Of course they arranged something. We just left the office too quickly, so we never picked up the key..."
Tsunade shot her a cold glance.
Shizune instantly felt the back of her neck go cold and obediently shut her mouth, pretending to admire the scenery.
Akira thought for a moment, then said carefully, "You're from the Senju clan, aren't you, Tsunade-hime? The old Senju compound should still be there."
The Senju hadn't vanished completely. Most of them had simply blended into the civilian population or shifted into less visible roles within the village.
So Tsunade saying she had nowhere to stay was an outright lie.
Tsunade didn't get angry. She just looked at him with that faint, almost dangerous smile of hers.
The two of them held each other's gaze for a few seconds.
In the end, Akira was the first to surrender. He raised both hands and sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll go with you to check out the Senju estate. Happy?"
In the end, he still found an excuse not to let Tsunade stay at his house.
A man and a woman under one roof was already a recipe for trouble. If something happened, he wasn't confident in his own self-control.
A sly look flashed in Tsunade's eyes. "That's more like it. Aren't you interested in all sorts of strange and unusual jutsu? The old Senju house is full of them. If you're capable of learning them, they're yours to study."
Shizune's jaw nearly hit the ground.
Those were clan secret jutsus.
When had Tsunade-hime become so generous?
After thinking it over for a long while, Shizune could only conclude that Tsunade had truly accepted Akira as a direct disciple, maybe even as the future inheritor of her teachings.
Given Akira's talent in medical ninjutsu, withholding those things from him would be a waste.
Even Akira was caught off guard. "The Senju clan's secret jutsus... you're really willing to just let me look through them?"
He knew exactly what the Senju had been during the Warring States era. They were one of the few forces in history capable of standing toe-to-toe with the Uchiha. Their foundation ran unbelievably deep.
Especially the sealing jutsus left behind by Mito Uzumaki. Those were something Akira had wanted to get his hands on for a long time.
Tsunade stepped closer and lightly tapped his shoulder in a familiar way. "Come on. Stop dragging your feet."
There was no way Akira was going to refuse something this absurdly good.
Tsunade's little scheme was simple enough. She wanted Akira to learn more, and she wanted more excuses to keep him close.
She knew he was a genius, but even the greatest talent still needed guidance.
In the past, Akira had lacked resources. Now that she was Hokage, she naturally intended to pile the best possible resources on top of him.
She hoped that one day he might reach the same height as her grandfather, Hashirama Senju.
The three of them soon arrived at the old Senju grounds.
Looking at the courtyard overgrown with weeds and sunk into silence, Akira couldn't help sighing. "To think that the village's greatest clan once stood here, and now it's fallen this quiet."
Tsunade was silent for a moment, her gaze dimming slightly. "There was no avoiding it. After Konoha was founded, the Senju took the initiative and dissolved into the village to set an example."
"And the main line was already thin. No extraordinary heir ever really emerged after that. Decline was inevitable."
Looking at the loneliness on the side of her face, Akira had the impulse to comfort her more directly, but with Shizune standing there like a lantern, he settled for a hand on her shoulder instead.
"No matter what, the village won't forget what the Senju gave up."
"And besides, you're still here. One of the Legendary Sannin, and now the Fifth Hokage. As long as you're here, the Senju spirit is still alive."
That finally pulled a smile out of her, clearing away the heaviness from a moment ago. "Your mouth's sweet enough to make it sound like the Hokage seat belongs to our family."
Akira only smiled and didn't answer.
Tsunade led them skillfully through the courtyard until they reached a hidden underground entrance.
"Come on. I'll take you to the Senju archives."
Shizune hesitated. "Tsunade-hime... is this really all right? Everything in there is top-level classified."
Without even turning around, Tsunade answered, "Akira will be my personal guard from now on. There's no reason to keep any of it from him. Shizune, stop fussing."
There were still a few dozen elderly caretakers living quietly on the Senju grounds.
The moment they saw Tsunade return, tears sprang into their eyes. It wasn't because she had become Hokage. It was because she had finally overcome her fear of blood and was willing to come home again.
As for Tsunade bringing an outsider into the archives, none of them objected.
Most of the important jutsus were already backed up elsewhere in the village anyway. What remained here was precious, but no longer irreplaceable.
The moment they entered the underground archive, the scent of old paper washed over them.
The enormous library was filled with mountains of scrolls, more impressive than any place Akira had ever studied before.
He picked one up at random and couldn't help exclaiming, "This foundation is unbelievable."
Tsunade sat down casually on a dust-covered table. "If there's anything you want to read in the future, come whenever you like. Consider this your personal library."
The scroll trembled slightly in Akira's hand. Even given his unusual place in Tsunade's life now, this level of trust still felt extreme.
"This... are you sure?"
Shizune, beside them, had already gone numb.
Back when her uncle Dan had been with Tsunade, he'd never been treated like this.
If Dan had been able to learn a few survival-oriented Senju jutsus, maybe he wouldn't have died so early.
Seeing Akira hesitate, Tsunade rolled her eyes. "What, you don't want to learn? Then get out."
Akira instantly switched to a bright grin. "Learn? Of course I'm learning. Only an idiot wouldn't."
Tsunade fixed him with a burning look. "Akira, with your talent, I want you to reach toward that legendary realm. It won't be easy, but I believe you can."
Standing beside them, Shizune's heart nearly stopped.
That realm?
That was the level of the God of Shinobi.
Akira nodded firmly. "I'll do my best."
Inwardly, though, his real thought was much simpler.
Give me enough time, and even surpassing the First Hokage might not be impossible.
He moved to a shelf filled with sealing jutsus and pulled down a scroll bearing the unmistakable crest of the Uzumaki clan.
"There are Uzumaki sealing arts here too?"
Tsunade came over. "Of course. Those were part of my grandmother's dowry."
Akira unrolled the scroll.
The very first thing written there was:
Strength of a Hundred Seal.
"So it's an inherited art after all."
Tsunade nodded. "The base seal was passed down from my grandmother, yes. But the full Hundred Healings jutsu was something I developed on top of it."
"Your chakra reserves are already absurd. If you start storing them with the Yin Seal, when you release it... you could probably arm-wrestle a tailed beast."
Tsunade had always assumed Akira's chakra was simply the result of monstrous natural talent.
If she had known his reserves already rivaled a complete Nine-Tails, her jaw probably would have hit the floor.
So far, only Katsuyu, who had signed a contract with him, truly knew the extent of it.
Akira was extremely interested in the jutsu and immediately sat down to study.
Sealing arts were notoriously difficult. It wasn't enough to memorize the formulas. You had to understand the internal logic of how chakra flowed through them.
Time passed in silence.
The only sound in the archive was the turning of pages.
More than an hour went by.
At last, Akira closed the scroll and let out a long breath, excitement flashing in his eyes.
Tsunade lowered the medical book in her hands and stared at him in surprise. "You've already finished? It's only been an hour."
Shizune's eyes went wide. Back when Tsunade had learned that jutsu, it had taken months.
This wasn't something diligence alone could bridge.
This was pure talent crushing everything in its way.
Akira nodded. "I understand the principle now. Let me try it."
Tsunade had just been about to tell him not to rush, that mishandling it could damage his chakra network, when Akira had already started weaving signs.
His fingers moved so fast they left afterimages.
"Yin Seal... Activate."
The instant the final seal formed, a tremendous suction burst from his body.
Dense black markings appeared across his skin like living snakes, racing toward the center of his forehead.
In the end, all of those markings converged there, condensing into a violet diamond-shaped seal.
Tsunade's mouth fell open and stayed there.
Shizune shot to her feet as if she'd seen a monster. "It... it worked? How is that possible?!"
One attempt.
One success.
What kind of absurd miracle was that?
Akira touched the mark on his forehead and felt the oceanic chakra within him being compressed and stored away, bit by bit.
That seal really was like a bottomless abyss.
"Well, that settles it. From now on I'm basically carrying around a portable power source." He smiled in satisfaction.
Tsunade stared at him for a long time before finally managing to say, "You really are a freak."
She truly felt shaken.
This boy wasn't just a prodigy. He was a monster.
Fortunately, he belonged to Konoha. If someone like this had been born in an enemy nation, or turned out with the wrong mindset, he would've become a nightmare for the whole ninja world.
Having mastered the Yin Seal, Akira eagerly reached for the next scroll.
Tsunade, however, pressed a hand down over his. "If you've already learned the Yin Seal, then I may as well teach you The Hundred Healings too."
Akira blinked. Shizune, on the other hand, practically shouted. "Tsunade-hime! That's your personal secret jutsu!"
Tsunade's gaze remained steady. "So what? If he wants to learn it, I'll teach it."
Akira didn't actually have a pressing need for it. His natural regeneration was already absurdly good.
But on second thought, there was no such thing as too many skills. And The Hundred Healings enhanced monstrous strength as well.
So he nodded. "All right."
The corners of Tsunade's lips lifted as she began explaining the core principles behind the jutsu.
That explanation alone lasted three full hours.
The Hundred Healings was ten times more complex than the Yin Seal itself, because it required precise control over every cell in the body.
Shizune listened from the side and felt more and more lost. That was exactly why she still hadn't mastered it. The concepts were simply too deep.
When Tsunade finally finished, Akira closed his eyes and thought in silence for a few minutes.
Tsunade didn't rush him.
In her mind, no matter how talented Akira was, a technique like this should still take him at least ten days or half a month to truly digest.
Then, in the very next second, Akira moved.
His hands formed a special seal.
"Yin Seal: Release! The Hundred Healings!"
Boom!
A violent surge of chakra exploded outward with Akira at the center, shaking the very air.
Cracks spread across the solid stone floor of the archive like a spiderweb.
Dark markings raced over Akira's entire body, crawling even across his face in intricate, mysterious patterns.
Without hesitation, he picked up a kunai and drew it across his arm, opening a deep wound all the way to the bone.
Blood burst out.
Tsunade's heart lurched.
Then the next moment, steam rose from the wound. Flesh regenerated with frightening speed, and in less than two seconds the jagged injury was completely gone. Not even a scar remained.
That level of recovery was terrifying.
Akira looked down at his perfectly restored arm, but there was no joy on his face at all.
He released the jutsu, turned to Tsunade, and said with complete seriousness, "This jutsu is powerful, but the side effects are too severe."
"It forces healing by accelerating cell division. Use it too much and it shortens your lifespan."
"Unless there's absolutely no other choice, you should try not to rely on it. It's basically trading life for life."
He knew Tsunade made it all the way to the end in the original story.
Even so, now that he had felt the process for himself, he understood just how punishing it really was.
He had no desire to watch Tsunade age herself away for the sake of that jutsu.
The light of the purple diamond seal on his forehead gradually faded. Akira let out a long breath, fully releasing The Hundred Healings state, then turned to the woman beside him.
A faint reassuring smile touched Tsunade's lips. "Relax. This is a secret art of the Senju. It's not going to go wrong that easily."
Though she said it casually, the hand hidden in her sleeve had already curled into a fist.
When Akira released the Yin Seal just now, she had felt it perfectly clearly.
That rush of chakra had been like an ancient beast waking from sleep. The pressure had been monstrous, far beyond what ought to be possible for a human being, almost on the level of a tailed beast.
And he had only learned the Yin Seal a few hours ago.
Just a few hours of accumulation, and the release was already enough to trigger that kind of chakra eruption. Which could only mean one thing.
The "container" itself was already impossibly vast.
A chakra foundation on that level meant that even without using the Yin Seal at all, Akira's own natural reserves had already stepped into tailed beast territory.
Across the entire ninja world, the number of shinobi who could reach tailed beast-class chakra through their own bodies alone could probably be counted on one hand.
Someone like Kisame Hoshigaki might barely qualify, but his case relied heavily on Samehada devouring the chakra of others. It wasn't truly his own.
Tsunade rubbed her chin, her eyes filled with sharp curiosity. "Just what is going on with your chakra? The amount is completely unreasonable. I'm starting to suspect you're really a tailed beast wearing human skin."
Seeing the expression on her face, Akira had no intention of hiding it. In front of a genuine expert, there was no point pretending.
So he nodded openly. "Your instincts are right. My chakra reserves really are huge. Probably around the same level as the Nine-Tails."
Tsunade almost laughed from disbelief. "You really do say outrageous things with a straight face. Do you understand what the Nine-Tails even represents? Of all the tailed beasts, it has the largest chakra reserves and the most overwhelming raw power."
Even her grandfather, Hashirama Senju, the so-called God of Shinobi, had probably possessed chakra roughly equivalent to Naruto plus a complete Nine-Tails combined.
Akira let the smile slip from his face and looked straight at her with clear eyes.
"When have I ever lied to you?"
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