Mito's absence didn't bother Akira at the slightest. In fact, without her watchful eye and interference, his progress with ninjutsu experiments had accelerated.
His peace was interrupted only days later when someone he hadn't invited showed up, bringing along a kid. Akira wanted to kick the man out immediately, but the presence of the child made him hesitate. It was annoying.
He recognized the adult vaguely. The way he stood felt familiar, definitely someone who'd been in the command tent during that mess back then, but Akira couldn't recall his name. Red hair was too common among masters nowadays. Sometimes he wondered if half of them were secretly distant Uzumaki relatives.
"Who are you?"
"Lord Akira!"
Respect dripped off the man's tone as he stepped forward and lowered his head slightly.
"I am Sarutobi Sasuke of the Sarutobi clan. This is my son, Sarutobi Hiruzen."
"Sarutobi Hiruzen," Akira repeated under his breath, narrowing his eyes at the boy standing beside him. The kid looked about five or six at best, loud presence, upright stance, face stiff with forced seriousness, but his eyes burned with the kind of pride only kids carried that early in life.
Akira tilted his head. 'Is this the one who'll end up calling himself 'Strongest Hokage'?'
Hiruzen must have sensed his interest. He straightened up even further and stepped forward suddenly.
"Master Akira! I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen! Please accept me as your disciple!"
Akira's stare shifted to Sasuke in immediate suspicion. There was no way this brat could know about him unless someone had talked, and given how Akira kept to himself, there weren't many chances for outsiders to do that naturally.
Sasuke caught on quickly to the look and jumped into explanation before Akira could open his mouth.
"I told Hiruzen about your achievements, he admires you very much. That's why we came requesting apprenticeship under you."
Akira flicked his gaze between them. Sasuke looked calm enough for now, Hiruzen had barely contained excitement boiling under his little fists, and for some strange reason, Akira felt tempted to take him in.
It wasn't right. The sensation twisted in his stomach immediately afterward, he knew he'd rather throw himself into fire than teach Sarutobi Hiruzen anything. That kid would go on to betray everyone: Senju, Uzumaki, Uchiha, Akira hated everything about that future.
And now? Some weird pull was telling him to nod?
Uncomfortable suspicion followed instantly. Akira began checking himself for genjutsu. Nothing, it was clean. No chakra interference either, not from the kid or Sasuke. Both stood perfectly normal as his eyes swept over them for several minutes without speaking.
When he finally pulled back, he frowned deeper than before.
'There's no odd chakra… So why in hell do I feel like this?'
Sasuke took one step forward cautiously after seeing Akira retreat from Hiruzen's side.
"Lord Akira…?"
Akira glanced at him once and waved it off carelessly.
"Your son isn't bad. Even if he fades later, he won't bring shame to your name."
Relief washed visibly across Sasuke's face at those words. Even Hiruzen looked thrilled at what sounded like praise, and opened his mouth to thank him,
"No," Akira cut him off sharply. "daga kotowaru"
They froze immediately, confused expressions shared between father and son.
"…Why?" Sasuke asked carefully after regaining speech.
Akira ignored him. He locked eyes with Hiruzen instead and leaned forward slightly, not with power, but clarity in tone.
"I said, I refuse."
His mouth practically spat the word, and this time there was no room left for alternate interpretation.
Despite that finality, Sasuke stood frozen, eyes darting nervously now between Akira's expression and how quickly the mood had soured without warning.
Akira didn't give them time to collect themselves either.
"What exactly are you doing here?"
His tone dropped low. One step forward, not laced with any chakra, but it was enough to make Sasuke stiffen from head to toe. That invisible weight wrapped around his chest again and squeezed hard enough to trigger old fears he hadn't felt since facing Madara herself years ago.
Akira said nothing else for several moments, just stared while expectation mounted over their heads like storm clouds ready to break loose at any moment.
Sasuke straightened up and forced himself through it. "I want my son to have better chances," he began carefully. "No bloodline traits in our clan… it's tough to keep up with others over time, "
"Be honest."
Akira stepped in again, face unreadable but clearly unimpressed by excuses reliant on self, pity or vague strategic ambition.
Sasuke clenched his jaw and kept pressing on anyway.
"…Lord Hashirama and Lord Tobirama have been busy with the village. I thought… this would be fine."
"Be honest," Akira said again, but this time with softness that felt sharper than steel scraping bone.
Sasuke flinched,, palms damp now as sweat dotted the back of his neck, and gave himself only seconds before the answer fell out of him word, by, word:
"I want my Hiruzen to have the chance to become leader of the alliance one day."
When silence fell again, this time longer, it wasn't relief that followed for Sasuke. It was exhaustion, the kind that came from swallowing fear for too long and finally letting it escape in one breath too many.
Even Hiruzen stood stunned by the confession, eyes wide as if he hadn't realized just how high his father had aimed until now.
Akira said nothing at first. He just stared at both of them, and then gave one dry chuckle under his breath and curled his lip faintly in reply.
"That's it?"
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