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"Teacher, Elder Ancestor, take care on your way!"
Might Duy, neatly dressed and brimming with joy, saw Akio and Jitou off at the door.
Outside, Akio and Jitou exchanged a glance and sighed in unison.
After the truce in the Second Great Ninja War, Konoha entered a wave of weddings. Though Konoha had the upper hand on every battlefield, war inevitably brought casualties. So once peace resumed, "population growth" became Konoha's top priority.
Akio received several wedding invitations. Nearly every clan, large or small, had members getting married—but he turned them all down. He wasn't interested in attending weddings of the younger generation.
However, driven by curiosity about what Might Guy's mother looked like, he accompanied Jitou to Might Duy's wedding.
The wedding was small, and only Akio and Jitou were invited. To Akio's disappointment, Duy's bride was an ordinary civilian girl. Not only that, but the two were excessively lovey-dovey, leaving Akio and Jitou feeling like they'd been emotionally clobbered.
"Jitou, if even Might Duy can find a wife, how can you be so hopeless?" Akio chided, exasperated.
Jitou gave him a resentful look, which made Akio feel slightly guilty—it was partly his fault for raising him like this.
"Sensei, do I have a sensei's wife?" Jitou fired back.
Akio froze, then quickly waved his hand. "You're still young, you wouldn't understand. Back in my youth, I was wildly popular with the ladies... I just didn't care for them."
Jitou didn't reply, but the disdain on his face was crystal clear.
Akio's face darkened. Just as he was about to explain, Nawaki came walking over from a distance, bruised and battered.
Akio grinned at him. "Got beat up again?"
Nawaki clenched his fists, then slowly relaxed them. Through gritted teeth, he said, "If he weren't four years older than me, there's no way I'd lose!"
"Great-grandfather, is there a way I can quickly surpass him?"
Akio chuckled and shook his head. "No shortcut. Just train hard."
The one who beat Nawaki up was Uchiha Fugaku—yes, that Fugaku, father of the future Sasuke.
And the reason? Naturally, it had to do with Sasuke's mother—Uchiha Mikoto.
Nawaki, a partial heir of the Senju clan, had fallen for a girl from the Uchiha clan. Not just any girl, but Mikoto. Akio was speechless—he didn't even know whose side to take.
Emotionally, of course, he should support Nawaki. But he also feared that if Fugaku didn't end up with Mikoto, Itachi and Sasuke might never be born.
So lately, he had opted for a hands-off approach. Even Kenji hadn't stepped in. If this union went through, it would mean a Uchiha marrying into the Senju—not exactly a loss.
But the Uchiha weren't having it. Especially Fugaku, who had beaten Nawaki several times, always aiming for the face. His strikes were measured—not too heavy, not too light—which Akio approved of. It would toughen Nawaki up a bit.
"Hey, Nawaki, want to train together?" Jitou perked up.
"No thanks, I'll train on my own!" Nawaki dashed away.
Recently, Might Duy had been busy with wedding preparations, and even someone as single-minded as him couldn't train all day. That left Jitou feeling "lonely." When Nawaki was feeling down, he succumbed to temptation and agreed to train with Jitou. After just one day, he was left completely exhausted and never wanted to do it again.
Watching Nawaki run off, Akio sighed. "That kid hasn't suffered enough."
He was starting to regret not sending Nawaki to the battlefield. He could've just left a shadow clone to watch over him—it would've been a valuable experience. Now, the kid couldn't even handle a bit of tough training.
Time passed swiftly. The wedding spree that began in April lasted for half a year and finally came to an end.
To Akio's relief, Sakumo had also gotten married. It wasn't surprising—the Hatake clan had few members. If Sakumo had refused to marry, the elders would've never allowed it.
"Yuna…" Akio murmured as he practiced his soft fist style. "She said she'd be back in one to five years. It's been over four now… I hope nothing happened."
He was genuinely worried. So was Izuko. They had quietly dispatched several Uzushio patrol teams to search in secret.
But red hair was a very distinctive feature. Their Transformation Jutsu wasn't on Akio's level, so once they went out, many shinobi villages picked up on their movements.
Fortunately, Akio's feat of single-handedly wiping out Kumogakure's elite forces still cast a long shadow, so no one dared to make a move.
"But seriously… why is it that the details of that battle have spread far and wide, yet no one calls me the 'God of Shinobi'?" Akio looked puzzled. "Even a title like 'Uzumaki the Undefeated' would be nice…"
He failed to consider that his eccentric reputation had already spread across the ninja world. Who would ever call him the God of Shinobi with a personality like that?
"Come on! Three hundred more!" Jitou's voice rang out. He was supervising Nawaki's push-up regimen.
Apparently, Mikoto's charm was irresistible. After months of hesitation, Nawaki had finally asked Jitou for special training. But now… he was starting to regret it.
"Gr… Great-grandfather… huff… why can't… I learn… your Taijutsu?" Nawaki gasped.
Akio smiled. "This is the Gentle Fist. You're not from the Hyuga clan—how could you learn it? You don't have my talent."
Nawaki was left speechless.
Over an hour later, as the sun dipped below the horizon, their grueling training session ended. Nawaki collapsed to the ground.
"Same time tomorrow!" Jitou called out, adding to Nawaki's despair.
Akio shook his head. "No need for that. Let Nawaki train on his own. We're heading back to the clan tomorrow, Jitou."
Jitou blinked. "Is something happening in the clan, Sensei?"
Akio smiled. "It's almost New Year. Time to prepare for the festival."
"New Year?" Jitou looked confused. "Isn't that still two months away?"
"This year I'm going all out. Need time to prepare."
"Another masked festival?" Jitou didn't seem excited.
"No, this time it's a proper celebration. I'm throwing it for myself."
Jitou was taken aback. Akio continued, "Next year, I'll be a hundred years old."
Even Akio let out a sigh. Without realizing it, he'd been in the shinobi world for nearly a century.
"Really? Great-grandfather?" Nawaki asked curiously, lifting himself off the ground.
"You think I'm joking?" Akio sighed again. "Lady Mito is sixty-six now—she has to call me great-granduncle!"
"Sensei, does that mean… you've been single for a hundred years?" Jitou had clearly been holding that one in. Where had he learned such a sarcastic sense of humor?
Akio's face froze.
"Get lost!"
He sighed inwardly. "More like a hundred and twenty-four years…"
His mood dampened, Akio looked at the two of them again. "We're all single. No one gets to make fun of anyone else!"
A melancholy atmosphere settled over the entire Konoha training ground.
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