Seeing the clarity return to Naruto's eyes, Akira smiled faintly.
"The seal is gone, so you won't have to worry about losing control the way you did before. But your emotions are still the trigger. If you lose your grip on yourself, the Nine-Tails' chakra can still spill out. That's because your body still isn't a strong enough vessel."
"The training from here on is going to be brutal. You need to push your body until it learns to handle that power on instinct. Once that happens, even if you're furious, the Nine-Tails' chakra will stay under control."
Naruto clenched his fists, his eyes burning with resolve. "Don't worry, Akira. I won't mess this up!"
Akira dropped back into his chair and said lazily, "Don't just say it. You want to bring Sasuke back, don't you? Right now, you're still not there yet. But once you can control the Nine-Tails, Sasuke won't look like some impossible mountain anymore."
"Even if he has the Sharingan, even if he awakens the Mangekyō Sharingan, none of that will matter in front of overwhelming power."
Once Naruto entered the Nine-Tails' chakra mode, Sasuke would have no chance unless he awakened the Rinnegan.
And if Sage Mode got added on top of that, it would be an utterly one-sided fight.
Sai, who had been silent the whole time, now looked at Akira with naked awe, and maybe even fear.
Anyone who could tame a disaster like the Nine-Tails, whether through words or sheer force, was obviously terrifyingly strong.
Back in Sunagakure, he had already heard that Akira had subdued Naruto during one of his rampages with one hand.
But now he had seen Akira casually undo the seal and make the Nine-Tails cooperate. With power like that, no wonder even Danzō-sama treated him with caution.
Tsunade moved with her usual decisiveness. "From today on, you'll train exactly the way Akira tells you to. And you'll train hard. You need to master that power as quickly as possible."
Naruto nodded so hard it looked like his neck might snap, then bowed to both of them. "Granny Tsunade, Akira, just watch what I can do!"
Once everyone else had filed out, the Hokage's office fell quiet.
Tsunade could no longer hold back her curiosity. Leaning forward, she asked, "What exactly did you say to the Nine-Tails?"
Akira sank lazily into the back of his chair, twirling the pen in his fingers. "Nothing complicated. First I beat it into behaving, then I laid out the facts."
"I told it the Akatsuki are hunting Tailed Beasts all over the world. Their Gedo Statue can only be controlled with the Rinnegan. Once it gets pulled inside, the Nine-Tails' consciousness will be wiped out, and it'll turn into nothing more than a lump of mindless chakra."
"The Nine-Tails is arrogant, but it still doesn't want to die. It doesn't want to become a chunk of raw energy, so helping Naruto get stronger was its only real option."
"Honestly, the Nine-Tails was never impossible to talk to. People in the past were just too blinded by fear. No one ever tried speaking to it as an equal."
"Even Mito-hime and Kushina-hime relied on pure suppression. That kind of relationship is more like a warden and a prisoner. You can draw on the power, but you'll never truly understand one another."
"That's why at best they could enter a chakra mode. They could never reach a real Nine-Tails mode. The difference in combat strength between those two levels is enormous."
Tsunade nodded thoughtfully. It was true. Every jinchuriki in history had treated the Nine-Tails like a curse. Who would ever think of making friends with a curse?
Looking at the unfathomable boy in front of her, she sighed. "Good thing I kept you close. If you'd stayed a free-roaming ninja, you probably wouldn't even have bothered to look up for a mess like this."
Akira let out a quiet laugh. "Not necessarily."
Tsunade curled her lip. She knew him too well. He was the kind of person who believed fewer complications made for a better life. Without the right bond, he absolutely would not have cared what happened to Naruto.
Then her expression turned serious. "What do you think the Akatsuki really want with all the Tailed Beasts? To rule the world?"
Akira was quiet for a moment before giving his own theory. "Maybe they're trying to create the ultimate deterrent. Tailed Beasts are the strongest weapons in the world right now. If someone controlled all of them, they'd hold absolute power over everyone else. Anyone who resisted would be wiped out."
"So maybe they're trying to force peace through absolute fear."
The explanation sounded insane, but in the logic of the ninja world, it also made a terrible kind of sense.
Tsunade's brows pulled tight. ANBU had almost no success infiltrating the Akatsuki. Every member was an S-rank missing-nin, and most scouts sent after them never came back.
Right now, the whole ninja world felt like a powder keg, and the Akatsuki were the madmen running through it with a lit torch.
Restless, Tsunade walked to the large window and looked out over the prosperous, peaceful village below. Then she let out a weary sigh.
"I don't know how much longer days like this can last."
Looking at her slightly lonely silhouette, Akira felt something soften in his chest. He rose and stepped beside her, staring out at the village too.
"As long as I'm here, nothing is going to bring Konoha down."
Tsunade turned her head and looked at the calm confidence on his face, and warmth rose quietly in her chest.
She reached out and gently covered the back of the hand he had resting on the windowsill.
The warmth in his skin eased the tension in her heart almost immediately.
Lately she had felt as though she were walking a knife's edge. Trouble inside the village, trouble beyond it, each crisis threatening to trigger another.
If Akira had not been there behind her, from the Land of Demons and Moryo to Naruto's loss of control, she honestly did not know how she would have managed.
Officially, he was her guard.
In truth, he was the pillar holding everything up.
Whenever a real Kage-level threat appeared, or something even beyond that, there was no one in the entire village except Akira who could handle it.
Feeling the softness of her hand against his, Akira glanced sideways and teased, "What, the pressure getting so bad you need someone to lean on?"
Tsunade, unusually, let herself show a softer side and smiled. "Maybe. But when you're here, the weight doesn't feel quite so heavy."
Akira grinned. "That's what height is for. If the sky falls, the tall one catches it."
At six feet tall, straight-backed and broad-shouldered, Akira made Tsunade, at barely five foot four, look almost delicate beside him.
Catching the jab about her height, Tsunade shot him an annoyed glance. "You calling me short again?"
Akira only smiled and turned his hand, lacing his fingers with hers.
As far as Akira was concerned, no matter what the future held, even if another great ninja war broke out, Konoha would remain safe as long as he was here.
But he also understood what Tsunade truly feared. Not the war itself, but the suffering and losses it would bring.
She kept her eyes on the streets outside for a while, and then, as if the thought had come from nowhere, she asked quietly, "Tell me something... if we had a child someday, what do you think they'd be like? Would you want a boy or a girl?"
Akira blinked, clearly not expecting the conversation to leap in that direction.
Seeing the surprise on his face, Tsunade's cheeks colored slightly, and she looked a little embarrassed. "Maybe it's just age. Lately I've found myself thinking about strange things."
Akira considered it seriously, then answered in a gentler voice, "Let's wait a little longer. At least until we've cleaned up the Akatsuki mess."
Tsunade gave a faint, bitter smile. "That youth pill you made for me brought my body back to its prime, but I know how old I really am. Sometimes I can feel it. My mind doesn't always move at the same pace yours does."
***************************
Read advanced chapters ahead of everyone else on my P@treon.
P@treon/GodDragcell