Striking while the moment was right, Akira's hands shifted through another set of signs, and he spoke in a low voice.
"Spirit Transformation Jutsu!"
An invisible yet overwhelming spiritual force spread from his body, blanketing the entire space.
The jutsu took effect. Everyone connected to this point in time began losing their memories like morning mist fading under sunlight.
Whether it was Minato's team or Queen Sāra searching through the ruins for her people, their eyes gradually grew unfocused.
As the Dragon Vein's chakra was fully suppressed back underground, their consciousness became increasingly blurred.
Akira looked one last time at the young Minato Namikaze and sighed with some regret.
"Too bad I don't have time to see Tsunade in this era."
At this point, Tsunade should have been in her early thirties, right at the height of her mature charm.
Akira could not help feeling a little regretful. That would definitely have been a sight worth seeing.
But after another thought, he smiled and let it go.
"Forget it. There'll be plenty of time later."
Regret or not, he could not remain in the past for too long, and he definitely could not stroll around Konoha. The butterfly effect from something like that could collapse history entirely.
Once the course of history shifted too far, simply wiping a few memories would no longer be enough to fix the disaster.
The Spirit Transformation Jutsu could knock people unconscious through a direct spiritual impact, but it also carried a powerful memory-cleansing effect.
Minato watched Akira's gradually transparent figure vanish, feeling his own mind sink into darkness.
But there was no panic in him. He still wore that familiar warm smile.
"With you there, Konoha's future will surely be bright."
The moment Minato and the others fully lost consciousness, the last strand of Dragon Vein chakra was sealed away.
Space-time twisted. Light and shadow overlapped. Akira returned to his original timeline.
When he opened his eyes again, the two kunai embedded in the altar were no longer Minato's old design. They had become Akira's own.
Nearby, Temari had been about to rush into the Dragon Vein's pillar of light, only for it to disappear into nothing.
On the previously chaotic altar, only Akira remained, standing there alone.
Temari hurried over and looked him up and down, asking curiously, "What just happened?"
Akira brushed dust from his clothes and sighed. "The Dragon Vein went berserk. Mukade used it to escape decades into the past, so I chased him back and killed him there."
Temari stared at the two unfamiliar kunai on the altar, her eyes nearly popping out. "Then why did the kunai change?"
Akira nodded and explained, "Because I was the one who sealed the Dragon Vein in the past. Naturally, the ninja tools left behind became mine."
Temari thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "So Mukade is completely dead?"
Akira gave a firm hum of confirmation.
Temari sensibly did not ask what exactly Akira had done in the past.
Since the present timeline showed no abnormalities, that meant he had handled it perfectly and had not created some strange history-altering disaster.
Being able to meet the legendary Minato Namikaze had been interesting for Akira. The Fourth Hokage's strength was truly impressive, but when it came purely to mastery of Flying Raijin, Akira now knew he had surpassed him.
Before this, it had only been Akira's own guess. They had never actually worked together, so he had not been completely certain.
Now that they had fought side by side, he had his answer.
His judgment had been right.
The Flying Raijin space-time seal he used this time was different from Minato's original. Akira had improved the structure of the formula, turning it into an irreversible dead seal.
Even if someone pulled out the kunai in the future, the Dragon Vein could never be opened again.
The two of them left the underground ruins. Once outside, Akira found that the remains of Roran had changed completely compared to when he first arrived.
The already broken walls and ruined pillars were even more shattered now, and several terrifying giant craters had appeared across the landscape.
Temari stared at the scene, completely stunned. "This..."
Akira explained calmly, "Back in the past, Mukade used the Dragon Vein to create a group of war puppets. The fight got intense. Those things were powerful, almost comparable to Tailed Beasts."
The phrase "comparable to Tailed Beasts" left Temari frozen in place. That was not a casual description.
But looking at the devastated terrain in front of her, it was hard to explain the destruction any other way.
Especially the two enormous basin-like pits in the distance. Even after decades of wind and sand, it was still clear how terrifying the explosions must have been.
One could only imagine how shocking that battle across time had been.
Then again, Akira was the kind of monster who could suppress the fully rampaging Nine-Tails with one hand. Compared to that, maybe this was not so strange after all.
Just as Akira and Temari were preparing to return, a red-haired girl wearing a veil approached from the opposite direction.
She looked almost exactly like Queen Sāra had all those years ago.
Seeing that familiar face, Akira's lips curved into a nostalgic smile.
Temari blinked and glanced sideways at him, not understanding what he was smiling about.
The two passed by the girl, and Akira did not stop to greet her.
The girl, however, paused after walking past him, as if she had sensed something.
She turned around, tilted her head, and stared at Akira's back, confusion filling her eyes.
"How strange. Why does that stranger feel so familiar? Is it some kind of feeling my mother left behind?"
After returning to Sunagakure and accompanying Temari to report the mission's completion to Kazekage Gaara, Akira did not stay long.
At the village gate, Temari watched Akira's back until he disappeared from sight. She stood there for quite a while before finally turning back.
Akira, meanwhile, had not gone far. Once he confirmed there was no one around, he activated the Flying Raijin Jutsu and returned to Konoha in an instant.
When Akira appeared in the Hokage's office, he arrived just in time to witness a disciplinary disaster.
Tsunade had just thrown a super-strength punch, sending a boy named Sora flying straight out of the room.
Sora slammed into the corridor wall like a rag doll, making a heavy impact.
Before he could even slide down, Tsunade was already storming forward, clearly ready to give him another lesson.
At that moment, Naruto and the others noticed Akira appear out of nowhere.
Tsunade sensed the movement as well and turned around. When she saw it was Akira, some of the anger on her face faded, and she smiled.
"Handled it?"
Akira smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Everything went smoothly."
Naruto rushed over excitedly and bragged, "Akira, I've already mastered the kind of chakra mode that uses eight tails!"
"Not bad," Akira said. "But don't get cocky. Keep training hard and aim to master the full power of the Nine-Tails as soon as possible."
Naruto felt like his whole body was bursting with strength. He grinned with complete confidence.
"Don't worry. I've totally got this!"