In theory, Chidori was actually the harder jutsu to learn.
Naruto, being the knucklehead he was, had taken so long because his chakra was all tangled up with the Nine-Tails, making control unbelievably difficult.
Give it to a more normal prodigy, someone like Jiraiya, and learning it in three days would be nothing unusual.
Of course, an old hand like Akira was never going to say that part out loud.
Jiraiya looked at the knowing smile on Akira's face and seemed to catch the meaning anyway.
He let out a sigh. "Fair enough. If you can handle Chidori that smoothly, then the Rasengan probably really isn't a big deal for you."
The Rasengan might have been the pinnacle of shape transformation, but it still lacked nature transformation.
And both of those were things Akira had already mastered inside and out.
Jiraiya had personally seen Akira use Lightning Style the other day. That level of chakra control had been textbook perfect.
For someone like him, the Rasengan was probably little more than dessert after dinner.
Naruto, on the other hand, the dead last of the class, was probably going to have to suffer through it.
After all, shinobi who could perfectly combine shape transformation and nature transformation were few and far between. Even among jonin, only the best of the best could really pull it off.
Akira smoothly changed the subject. "Honestly, I'm more interested in Tsunade-hime's medical ninjutsu."
Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "So you didn't come along just for my jutsus after all."
Akira smiled. "That was part of it."
Looking at Akira's utterly insincere smile, Jiraiya knew exactly what that meant.
Apparently, the Rasengan really was a little too underwhelming to tempt Akira now.
The three of them wandered on until they finally arrived at a bustling hot springs town not far from Konoha.
Jiraiya was in a great mood and swept an arm out grandly. "We're setting up here tonight. Time to relax and enjoy ourselves!"
Akira didn't particularly care either way, but Naruto, who had rarely ever left the village, stared wide-eyed at the lively streets glowing with lantern light and nightlife.
The three of them entered a hot springs inn that looked expensive at a glance. Just as they were about to check in, a gorgeous woman with a graceful figure was standing by the entrance, batting her eyes at them in a way that could have dropped lesser men on the spot.
Naruto and Jiraiya were hooked instantly. Their souls practically left their bodies.
The woman really was stunning.
Even Akira had to admit she was beautiful.
But his eyes were sharp. One glance was enough for him to tell that she was under a genjutsu and not thinking clearly at all.
Honestly, a veteran like Jiraiya had probably noticed too. Unfortunately, the man's resistance to a pretty face was practically nonexistent.
Akira sighed and couldn't be bothered to expose it.
Naruto's face turned bright red, and just as he was about to rush over and strike up a conversation, Jiraiya grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. "Here's the room key. Be a good boy, go upstairs, and work on your chakra control. I'll check your progress when I get back. I've got some important business to take care of."
Naruto, in the middle of that awkward age, froze for a second before exploding. "Pervy Sage, you just want to go mess around with that pretty lady, don't you?!"
"I'm coming too!"
Jiraiya drew himself up and lied through his teeth with a straight face. "The hell you are. You're just a kid. One of the most important rules for a ninja is to stay away from women, got it? Go train. I'm going to gather intel."
That righteous little speech left Naruto rolling his eyes. He wanted to argue, but couldn't even find a place to start.
Even so, he knew perfectly well that the old creep was absolutely going off to flirt.
Jiraiya tossed Naruto the key, then turned to Akira with a grin. "Akira, you keep an eye on Naruto."
Akira shook his head helplessly. "This really doesn't seem like a good idea, Jiraiya-sama. That woman is obviously..."
He stopped halfway through the sentence. He couldn't really be bothered to involve himself any further.
Turning away, he took the key and headed straight upstairs.
A tool under genjutsu was still just an empty shell, no matter how pretty she was.
Naruto grumbled the whole way up, while Akira ignored him completely.
Once he saw the two boys head upstairs, Jiraiya immediately switched to a lovestruck idiot's face and hurried off toward the woman.
Inside the room, Akira flopped straight onto the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and made absolutely no move to train.
Naruto sat cross-legged on the other bed, forcing chakra together with the kind of strained expression that looked painful, and started gossiping. "Akira, do you think Pervy Sage's going to get slapped?"
Before Akira could answer, Naruto started cackling to himself. "He definitely will. No question. There's no way a gorgeous woman like that would ever go for a creepy old guy like Jiraiya."
Akira rolled over and continued pretending to be dead.
Seeing how steady Akira's breathing was, Naruto couldn't help complaining. "Don't you need to work on your chakra too? You're seriously this lazy?"
Akira remained silent.
With no other choice, Naruto kept training miserably on his own. Before long, the room was full of shadow clones.
After several hours of messing around, Naruto's clones were sprawled all over the floor fast asleep, while the original was still stubbornly grinding away at chakra control.
By then, it was completely dark outside, and that old bastard Jiraiya still hadn't come back.
Just as Naruto was puzzling over the profound philosophical question of why shadow clones could fall asleep, there was suddenly a knock at the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound was dull and steady.
Akira's eyes snapped open, clear and sharp, without the slightest trace of drowsiness.
Naruto dispelled his shadow clones with a pop, looking delighted. "Ha! He definitely got rejected and came crawling back. Serves him right!"
He jumped off the bed and ran barefoot to open the door.
At the same time, Akira slowly sat up, staring at the doorway with an unreadable face as his chakra quietly began to gather.
Naruto yanked the door open, looked up, and his smile froze.
Standing there was a man in a black cloak patterned with red clouds, his eyes cold as ice.
Naruto stared blankly. "Y-you... who are you? Where's Pervy Sage?"
Akira moved soundlessly to Naruto's side, laid a hand on his shoulder, and looked over his head at the man in the doorway. "So it's you, Itachi Uchiha."
Seeing Akira's calm, blank expression, Itachi's scarlet Sharingan narrowed slightly.
Even the shark-like man standing behind him looked surprised.
"Heh, this brat saw us and didn't piss himself?" Kisame Hoshigaki rested his greatsword on one shoulder and bared a mouthful of sharp teeth.
Without changing expression, Akira pulled Naruto behind him and shielded him completely.
Over the past year and a half, Akira had shot up in height. By now he stood around five foot nine, almost the same as Itachi.
He met Itachi's eyes and spoke in a tone as casual as if they were making small talk. "Itachi, the woman beside Jiraiya-sama was under your genjutsu too, wasn't she?"
A flicker of surprise passed through Itachi's eyes. This boy could actually sense the traces of genjutsu he had left on that woman?
If Jiraiya had seen through it, that would have been one thing. But in Itachi's eyes, Akira was at most a somewhat exceptional elite chunin. Where had that kind of perception come from?
Itachi had no interest in starting a bloodbath in town, especially not against an innocent kid like Akira, so he answered coldly.
"I didn't expect you to see through it."
Kisame let out a strange chuckle. "Itachi, looks like your village really does produce a lot of talented kids. He's only thirteen, right? That kind of composure... not something you see every day."
Itachi's voice remained perfectly flat. "Hand over Naruto and I'll let you die quickly."
It was little more than a line. He didn't take Akira seriously at all. The delay was just buying time until Jiraiya showed up.
Akira acted as if he hadn't even heard the threat. "You came all this way because you want the Nine-Tails inside Naruto, right?"
Kisame grinned, showing a mouthful of pale fangs. "Kid, you know quite a lot. Even our objective."
Back in Konoha, Kakashi had already identified them, so Kisame naturally assumed Jiraiya had filled the two boys in.
Just as Kisame was still wondering where Jiraiya had gone, footsteps sounded at the far end of the hall.
Jiraiya appeared carrying the unconscious beauty over one shoulder, his face dark. "Well now. Didn't expect to run into Itachi here."
The instant Jiraiya showed himself, Kisame's expression turned serious. He took Samehada off his shoulder and shifted into a combat stance.
Itachi, on the other hand, still looked as calm as ever as he slowly turned to face Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-san..."
Itachi didn't know Jiraiya well, but he knew enough to understand that one of the legendary Sannin was not an opponent to take lightly.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, was tense as well. He still didn't know Itachi was a spy for Konoha. To him, Itachi was simply an extremely dangerous rogue ninja, and those Mangekyo Sharingan eyes forced him to stay on full alert.
Protected behind Akira, Naruto finally understood. These terrifying men had come for him, or more precisely, for the demon fox sealed inside him.
Naruto clutched his stomach, brow furrowed, his thoughts in turmoil.
"They want that fox... that monster sealed inside me."
"Ever since I was little, that damned fox is why the whole village treated me like I was cursed... If they can really take it away, would that finally set me free?"
As Naruto's mind spiraled, Akira, as if reading his thoughts, said coldly without turning around, "If they extract the Nine-Tails from Naruto, Naruto dies. Though I doubt either of you would care about a 'minor detail' like that."
Naruto, who had just been thinking it might not matter if they took the fox, felt as if he had been struck by lightning. A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
"If they take the fox... I die?"
In an instant, the confusion in Naruto's eyes vanished, replaced by a fierce will to survive.
Itachi and Kisame both gave Akira a long look. Even Jiraiya glanced at him in surprise.
Jiraiya understood at once. Akira was warning Naruto, making him understand exactly what it meant to lose a tailed beast.
Kisame swung Samehada once and pointed it at Akira. "Kid, we didn't finish our fight back in Konoha. Let's see what makes you think you can stand in our way."
Akira stood motionless in the doorway and looked at Kisame with complete innocence. "Shouldn't your opponents be legendary shinobi like Jiraiya-sama? I'm just a lowly genin. I'm hardly qualified to fight you."
Jiraiya, who had been bracing himself for a serious battle, nearly stumbled. "Akira, that's a little cold, don't you think? Selling out your teammate that fast?"
Akira turned and looked at him as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "Isn't it true?"
Jiraiya's mouth twitched violently. He cursed inwardly. This kid really was devious, just like Kakashi.
Kakashi always looked so polite and proper on the outside, but cut him open and everything underneath was black.
Still, Jiraiya rather liked that kind of personality. Someone too perfect just felt fake.
The situation in front of them was not a good one. Facing two S-rank monsters like Itachi and Kisame, Jiraiya was confident he could fight, but Itachi's Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu were both extremely troublesome.
If it came to a real fight, both sides could easily end up wrecked.
Of course, Akira had only said that to run his mouth a little.
He turned to Itachi, and a spark of battle lit in his eyes. "That said, I've wanted to see for myself just how monstrous the Uchiha clan's Mangekyo Sharingan really is."
Watching the eager look on Akira's face, Itachi felt a wave of helplessness.
His Mangekyo was meant for Sasuke, his foolish little brother, not to be wasted on Akira.
And besides, his body was in no condition to be throwing his ocular power around carelessly.
Kisame stepped forward with a savage grin, Samehada twitching in his hand. "Your opponent is me, brat. Don't aim higher than you can reach."
Akira glanced at Kisame with open distaste. "Sorry. I'm not interested in fighting something that looks like a fish."
Kisame's Water Style might have been overwhelming, but against Akira's Lightning Style, the elemental disadvantage was real.
And frankly, Akira had no particular enthusiasm for trading blows with a hulking slab of muscle.
That naked disregard completely enraged Kisame. Veins bulged at his temple. "You little punk! Looks like you really don't know what death means! You think that kick back in Konoha was all I had?"
Itachi silently withdrew to the far end of the hall, keeping his attention on Jiraiya and leaving Kisame to deal with Akira.
In his mind, Kisame was more than enough to handle him. Maybe not kill him, but crippling him would be no problem.
Seeing Itachi so detached, Akira's mouth curved in a cold smile. "Looks like your intel is pretty lacking."
If the two of them really knew what Akira was hiding, then he would have to seriously rethink when he had exposed himself.
Right now Kisame only wanted to smash this sharp-tongued kid into paste. He swung Samehada up and charged.
Akira spoke sharply over his shoulder. "Naruto, get back. This isn't a fight you can interfere in. These two are both Kage-level monsters."
Naruto, who had been about to rush forward on sheer adrenaline, froze at the command. Feeling the suffocating killing intent pouring off Kisame, he had to admit this man was on a completely different level from Zabuza.
Kisame stopped wasting words. He raised the massive bandaged blade and brought it crashing down toward Akira with a shriek of wind.
Akira clenched his right hand in the air, and a sword slid free in an instant.
Clang!
The harsh ring of steel exploded through the corridor, sparks flying.
From Akira's seemingly lean frame burst astonishing brute force. His slash actually made Samehada, a weapon weighing hundreds of pounds, cry out in pain.
"Hissss!"
Kisame had intended to crush Akira with raw strength, but instead his wrist went numb. Akira's strike carried overwhelming power and knocked Samehada off line.
In the next instant, Akira closed in. His blade flashed like lightning and cut across Kisame's chest.
From inside the room, Naruto saw it and shouted excitedly, "Nice one, Akira!"
But there was no joy on Akira's face. Instead, his brow tightened slightly.
Slash!
Almost at the same moment, without even looking, Akira drove his blade viciously into empty space beside him.
Blood sprayed at once.
The Kisame whose chest had just been cut had been preparing to attack from the side, only to find Akira's reaction speed monstrously fast.
That first Kisame had only been a water clone, dissolving into a puddle on the floor.
But Akira's blind thrust sank solidly into the real Kisame's abdomen, blood dripping down the blade.
Kisame's shark-like eyes widened in disbelief. How could this kid's reflexes possibly be that fast?
Akira pulled the bloody blade free and looked at him coldly. "A famous member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, the man they call the Tailless Tailed Beast... you shouldn't die that easily."
Clutching his wound, Kisame staggered back two steps, ferocity blazing in his eyes. Ignoring the injury, he swung Samehada sideways again.
The instant the barbed blade was about to touch Akira, a blinding burst of lightning erupted around him.
Crackle! Boom!
Violent electricity instantly condensed around Akira's body into a dense lightning barrier.
The moment Samehada hit it, it was like striking a high-voltage power line. A thunderous blast sounded, and the blade was sent flying by the violent recoil.
"Hissss!!"
Samehada screamed like a living thing, trembling violently.
It had been stunned by the electricity.
The voltage in that lightning barrier was terrifying. An ordinary person would have been turned to ash by a single touch.
Samehada managed to withstand it by devouring chakra and using the massive reserves inside itself to cancel out the damage, but even so, the shock had hit it hard.
The hard wrappings around the blade burst apart at once. The sword body swelled open, revealing the hideous mouth of teeth hidden inside, and it drooped limply like a dying fish.
Looking at the bizarre weapon in his hand, Akira gave a light laugh. "Interesting sword. It's alive."
And the once overbearing Samehada, sensing the lightning aura coming off Akira, actually began to feel intense fear. Its body went soft as rope, losing the iron stiffness it usually had.
Kisame's face looked foul enough to curdle milk. "Damn it! You pick now to fail me?"
A huge part of Kisame's strength came from the chakra supply Samehada provided.
Now that the sword had practically been fried, one-tenth of the chakra in its body had vanished in an instant. For Kisame, that was a brutal loss.
Akira's strike had basically left the demonic blade traumatized.
Feeling Samehada's chakra drain away, Kisame's fury ignited. "You little bastard, I'll tear you apart!"
If the sword wasn't usable, then Kisame simply grabbed the hilt and started ripping the remaining chakra out of Samehada by force.
In just a few seconds, more than half the chakra inside Samehada had been wrenched out by Kisame.
In an instant, Kisame's presence exploded upward. Blue chakra blazed around him like fire, so vast it was comparable to a small tailed beast.
Kisame clenched a fist, and the wooden floorboards beneath his feet shattered. He shot toward Akira like a cannonball.
Akira looked at the chakra overflowing from Kisame and curled his lip in contempt. "You want to challenge me in taijutsu? You?"
In a flash, Kisame was right in front of him, his heavy punch, loaded with terrifying chakra, driving straight for Akira's face.
Akira didn't dodge.
Instead, his body shuddered, and the brilliant lightning flared again, no longer forming a shield, but wrapping around him like armor.
This was a B-rank jutsu Akira had developed after studying the Raikage's methods: Lightning Style: Lightning Armor.
The technique wasn't ranked especially high, but its chakra requirements were absurd, starting at roughly half a tailed beast's worth.
And Akira's chakra reserves had long since risen close to the level of a full Nine-Tails, with recovery speed to match.
In his hands, Lightning Armor was practically a divine jutsu tailor-made for him.