Sakura watched Akira from the side. She did not interrupt, but she could not quite hide the smile tugging at her lips.
Naruto had heard earlier that Akira had gone to the Land of Wind to help Sunagakure capture a missing-nin.
But he had not been worried at all.
In Naruto's mind, Akira was basically untouchable in the ninja world. There was no way anything could happen to him.
And it was not just Naruto. Sakura and Tsunade trusted Akira with the same blind confidence.
After a brief exchange, Akira's gaze shifted toward the boy currently embedded in the wall outside the office.
"Who's that kid? I don't recognize him."
At Akira's question, Tsunade finally remembered she had been in the middle of teaching someone a lesson. Her face darkened again.
In a flash, she appeared in front of Sora, her fist already tearing through the air toward him.
Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Sora! Apologize already!"
Just as Tsunade's iron fist stopped less than an inch from his nose, Sora's survival instincts exploded.
"I said saint! You're a living saint!"
Earlier, Sora had dug his own grave by calling Tsunade an old lady, and she had sent him flying with one punch.
Now, if he wanted to live, his brain had to work fast. So he changed course instantly.
The moment Tsunade heard those words, her fist abruptly veered aside and smashed into the wall next to Sora's head instead.
Boom!
The sturdy wooden wall shattered in an instant. Splinters flew everywhere, and half the wall collapsed.
Sora went ice-cold, sweat pouring down his back while he screamed internally.
This woman is a complete maniac!
Tsunade's anger cleared at once, and she raised a brow.
"A saint?"
Sora nodded so fast his head looked like it might fall off. "Yes, yes, absolutely! A living saint!"
Tsunade smiled in satisfaction, grabbed him by the collar, and hauled him back inside.
"Well, this brat has a pretty sweet mouth after all."
Watching her change moods that quickly, Naruto and Yamato both looked completely speechless.
They were already used to Tsunade's explosive temper. Sakura, on the other hand, kept sneaking glances at Akira.
I wonder if he ran into danger on this mission. The hem of his clothes looks a little torn.
Everyone else was watching Tsunade throw her weight around. Only Sakura was quietly studying Akira.
Akira noticed her gaze immediately, but he did not pay it much attention.
Tsunade dropped Sora in front of the desk, sat back down in her chair, crossed her legs, and asked, "Kid, I heard you have Nine-Tails chakra sealed inside you?"
Sora froze. "You... how do you know that?"
Tsunade frowned and said seriously, "Don't worry about how I know. The graves of the Guardian Ninja Twelve at the Fire Temple were recently robbed, and it may be connected to the power inside you. For now, you'll stay in Konoha and cooperate with the investigation."
Sora opened his mouth to argue, but Tsunade's sharp glare landed on him first. The pressure in that stare nearly crushed the breath out of him.
He could only mutter unwillingly, "Fine, I'll stay. Not like I'm scared."
He was not stupid. The woman in front of him was terrifyingly strong. Killing him would be no harder than crushing an insect.
At that moment, Sora secretly glanced toward Akira, who was leaning by the window, curiosity rising in his chest.
This guy clearly had not been in the room just now.
So how had he suddenly appeared?
Tsunade turned to Naruto and ordered, "For now, Sora is your responsibility. Keep an eye on him and don't let him run around."
Naruto immediately snapped upright and saluted. "Yes, Granny Tsunade!"
After Naruto left with the prickly newcomer, the large Hokage's office was left with only Akira and Tsunade.
Tsunade dropped her official attitude and looked at Akira.
"Did something troublesome happen during the mission?"
Akira leaned against the windowsill and smiled easily. "Nothing too troublesome. While I was chasing Mukade, the Dragon Vein dragged both of us several decades into the past."
Tsunade nearly jumped out of her chair. "You went back several decades?!"
Akira nodded.
It really did sound unbelievable. Time travel was nearly impossible even by the standards of the ninja world.
Tsunade's curiosity flared at once. "Then what did you do back there?"
Akira continued, "After Mukade arrived in the past, he took over Roran before it was destroyed. He built a massive puppet army and even created a super puppet with chakra levels comparable to the Nine-Tails."
"Fortunately, I wiped out both him and the puppet."
"I also happened to run into the Fourth Hokage's team while they were carrying out their mission in Roran. We had a brief exchange."
Tsunade paused, thinking back carefully. Now that he mentioned it, the records did say Minato Namikaze had once gone to Roran on a mission.
And back then, there had indeed been a battle in Roran devastating enough to nearly erase the ancient kingdom from the map.
Tsunade stared at Akira with wide eyes. "So the mysterious person who wrecked Roran back then was you?"
Akira rubbed his nose. "Most likely, yes."
Tsunade found it hard to believe. "If time travel is possible, then as long as the Dragon Vein exists, couldn't someone else go back and start changing history?"
Akira waved a hand, signaling for her to relax. "No. I sealed the Dragon Vein permanently. The Fourth's seal could still be undone, but mine is stronger. It's a one-way dead seal. No one is opening it now."
Only then did Tsunade let out a breath of relief.
Akira looked at her and teased, "I didn't really think about it before, but after fighting the Fourth, I realized my speed is actually a little faster than his."
Tsunade rolled her eyes at his smug expression. "Isn't it normal for you to be stronger than the Fourth now? Even if my grandfather came back to life, he probably wouldn't be able to beat you."
"But if you met them, why did the Fourth Hokage never leave any information about you?"
"Because I erased the memories of everyone who saw me," Akira said. "To prevent history from changing."
"If people in the past found out Konoha would produce a monster like me in the future, there's no telling whether I'd even be born properly."
Tsunade nodded in agreement. He was right.
If enemy nations learned decades in advance that Konoha would one day have someone like Akira, they would do everything they could to prevent him from ever existing.
After all, back then, Akira's parents might not even have been married yet.
Once the serious matters were settled, Akira suddenly sighed.
"I left too quickly. I never got to visit Konoha and see you at thirty. If I had gone after you while you were in your prime, I wonder what we'd be like now."
Tsunade shook her head with a wry smile. "If that had happened, I probably wouldn't have even looked at you."
The Tsunade of those years had still been trapped by her old wounds. If Akira had appeared then, the most likely result would have been a door slammed in his face.
Akira smiled confidently. "So what you're saying is, my timing and charm are better now."
Tsunade gave him a richly expressive eye roll, then turned serious.
"This matter with the Fire Temple still feels strange. Those grave robbers seem to be planning something with the bodies of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, and everything points toward Konoha."