Drop Some power stones! If you like the chapter! It helps to keep me motivated to upload more!💎💎💎
------
Akio stayed in Konoha for about half a month. Between the "hero saves the beauty" incident and Tsunade's proposal to integrate medical-nin into regular squads, he earned 10 Witness Points each—making his visit quite fruitful.
Before leaving, he even escorted Tsunade to the Shikkotsu Forest. There, he learned from the Slug Sage that Tsunade had the potential to master Sage Mode under certain conditions, which delighted him.
"Now that I think about it, Tsunade might end up surpassing Jiraiya someday."
As for Orochimaru, Akio didn't make any comparisons—he honestly had no idea where to even begin assessing Orochimaru's true capabilities.
"Survivability: SSS. Definitely not someone to mess with."
Sure enough, Nawaki ended up following Akio back to the Land of Whirlpools. It seemed that competing with Fugaku for Uchiha Mikoto's affections had become his greatest motivation for training.
Akio glanced at him with a smile. "Nawaki, you're already fifteen, and Mikoto is fourteen. If you don't hurry, she might get married soon."
Nawaki shook his head firmly. "No way! Mikoto said she'd wait until I defeat Uchiha Fugaku!"
Akio's expression froze. He muttered to himself, "What the… This sounds like Nawaki is trying to rescue Princess Mikoto from the evil overlord Fugaku."
He shook his head, not quite buying into it.
"Probably just kind-hearted Mikoto encouraging him."
Upon returning to Uzushiogakure, Akio didn't go looking for Nagato right away. He had something even more important on his mind.
"Yuna, how's the kunai-cutting machine research coming along?" Akio asked as he pushed open the door. Yuna was still hard at work.
Upon seeing Akio, she paused and then glanced over at another Akio standing nearby.
"Grandpa Akio, you used a shadow clone to trick me again!" she shouted.
Akio's face stiffened slightly, and he gave an awkward chuckle before frowning.
He had already absorbed all the information from the clone. With a sigh, he asked, "So it failed?"
Yuna shook her head. "Not exactly, Grandpa Akio. We just can't get the precision up to spec. But if a ninja with at least Chūnin-level chakra control operates it, there shouldn't be any issues."
Akio nodded, though he felt a bit disappointed. In this chakra-dominated world, they still couldn't develop a fully automated tool that didn't rely on chakra. Though the kunai could now be mass-produced, ordinary civilians remained excluded from the process.
Akio had long since forgotten all the economic development strategies he'd studied, but he still remembered one basic truth: only by giving civilians a stable source of income could a nation grow strong. That was the whole reason he'd proposed building the machine in the first place. He hadn't expected it to end this way.
Seeing his downcast expression, Yuna smiled and shook her head. "It's not a lost cause. I'll keep trying."
Akio nodded. "From here on, there's probably nothing I can really help with. I'll go find Nagato."
Yuna blinked, then smiled. "Nagato's five and a half now. It's about time for him to begin his training."
Akio waved goodbye and turned to head toward where Izuko was. Both Yuna and her husband had been busy lately, so Nagato had been staying with Izuko most of the time.
Sure enough, when he arrived at the clan leader's hall, little Nagato was there sitting quietly, watching Izuko work.
"Sensei, you're back?" Nagato asked.
Akio nodded with a smile.
"I'm back. And Nagato is going to be your new junior disciple."
Izuko looked surprised. "Sensei, you're really going to officially take him as a student?"
Over the years, Akio had guided many—Sarutobi Sasuke, Shimura Ken, Kushina, Nawaki, the Hyūga brothers… but in his heart, only three had ever been truly accepted as his disciples. Now, he was about to add a fourth.
He nodded and looked at the still-confused little Nagato. "This kid has real talent. I've decided—he'll be my fourth student."
For some reason, Izuko's expression turned strange.
"Please don't turn him into another Jitou…"
Akio paused, then laughed bitterly.
True enough, among the three disciples he'd officially taken, the two girls were fine—one focused on fūinjutsu, the other on ninjutsu. But the one boy who trained in taijutsu? A total disaster. A black mark in Akio's teaching history.
"Don't worry. You three were good, but only capable of specializing in one area each. Nagato is different. He might be able to inherit all my skills—ninjutsu, taijutsu, and fūinjutsu."
Izuko still looked unsure. "Ninjutsu and fūinjutsu should be enough…"
Akio's eyes narrowed. "A shinobi can't afford to have weaknesses. Take you, for instance—your strength is decent, but it still isn't enough to reach the very top of the ninja world…"
And so began Akio's disciple-lecture mode.
After quite a while, Akio finally turned to little Nagato, said a few words, and led him to the next room.
The first step in a ninja's journey—aside from learning the history of the shinobi world—was chakra extraction. But as far as Akio was concerned, history could wait. After all, he could shamelessly claim that he was the living history of the shinobi world.
Which meant Nagato's training would begin with chakra extraction… and a healthy dose of Akio's "glorious legacy."
When it came to chakra extraction, there wasn't much of a difference between individuals—there was really only one standard method used across the entire ninja world.
Fortunately, Nagato was exceptionally gifted. Using the same standard method, it only took him ten minutes to succeed.
And what did that mean? Akio's bright red face said it all—he had been called a genius of the Uzumaki clan for managing it in ten hours back in the day…
There was no need for chakra paper either. Akio activated his Kagura's Mind Eye, which had been enhanced after his Yin Affinity reached level nine, and instantly sensed Nagato's chakra nature.
"Wind, Earth, and Fire? That's… incredibly convenient!" Akio rejoiced. Though Nagato didn't have the Rinnegan or all five elements, he had exactly the same three chakra natures Akio had started with as a child.
"This makes things easy. I can train him exactly the way I trained myself back then!" Akio muttered. "And with Wind, Earth, and Fire, there's potential for him to develop Dust Release…"
Then he sighed. "It'll depend on his own talent, though."
After all, Akio's success with Dust Release had come entirely from his system. He could only describe the general concept—he had no idea how to teach someone else to master it. That's why even Izuko still hadn't learned it.
"From today onward, I'll officially begin teaching you ninjutsu and take you on as my fourth disciple!" Akio smiled at little Nagato.
"Okay!" Nagato nodded, a bit shyly.
Akio suddenly froze as a message appeared before his eyes:
"You have witnessed and completely altered a Naruto timeline side story: Nagato's Sensei. Gained 10 (x10) Witness Points."
"This counts too?!" Akio was overjoyed. "In that case, maybe I should take on a fifth… or even a sixth disciple!"
---
For early access to advanced chapters visit my P@treon:
P@treon/ Dexy3
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!