Bang!Akira Sato's shoulder bumped into someone, knocking them to the ground.
"Are you okay?"Looking at the figure on the ground, Akira found them vaguely familiar. Especially the walking stick that had fallen a short distance away.
Hearing Akira's voice,"It's you?"The girl who was struggling to get up lifted her head, revealing a face wrapped tightly in bandages like a mummy, with eyes glowing with excitement.
Although her appearance was hard to see clearly, Akira immediately recognized who she was — the Hyūga girl who had been surrounded and beaten by the clan's main family in the small grove before, Hyūga Aozuki.
There was no mistaking her: the combination of Byakugan and her missing leg made her unforgettable.
"Yes, it's me. Your injuries...?"Akira nodded, acknowledging that he was indeed the one who had saved her that day. He didn't see any reason to deny it, though he did find it strange.With medical treatment, her injuries shouldn't still be unhealed, right?
"Sometimes, not being healed isn't necessarily a bad thing,"Hyūga Aozuki's voice turned low.From her words, Akira understood — she deliberately maintained the appearance of being injured, so those who bullied her would think she was still miserable, giving them a sense of satisfaction and keeping them from causing further trouble.
Akira didn't press further about her injuries. But a thought came to him, so he asked tentatively:"By the way, are you able to access the Hyūga clan's historical records and documents?"
The Hyūga clan was an ancient family with a long lineage, and unlike the Uchiha, they hadn't suffered the chaos of a clan head defecting, so their historical documents should be well-preserved.Also, this kind of non-jutsu-related material would typically only be maintained by old ninja clans.
"No problem."Hyūga Aozuki nodded after thinking for a moment, though she didn't understand why Akira was asking about this.
"I was wondering if you could help me look something up?"Akira's eyes lit up. This might help him solve a problem.
"Of course!"This time, Hyūga Aozuki answered without hesitation.Ever since her parents' deaths, she had been living in hell. That time in the grove, she hadn't entirely ruled out the idea of ending her pain right there.But Akira had appeared like a light cutting through her inner darkness.Now that he was asking for her help, she wouldn't hesitate no matter what.
(For reference: in the future, even elite followers under Orochimaru or manipulated geniuses like Shisui or Itachi were deeply affected by similar situations — so this kind of reaction is quite normal and even reasonable!)
"I want to know if there's a place called 'Shouzaki Castle' in the ninja world,"Akira explained his request.
At this point, he didn't yet realize he had, without meaning to, achieved something that would match one of Orochimaru's future accomplishments:he'd gained a devoted little follower!
At least he had saved her life — Orochimaru, on the other hand, usually only needed a few persuasive words to snatch someone over to his side.Clearly, Akira's charisma still had a long way to go.
"I'll go look into it right away!"Without even grabbing her walking stick, Hyūga Aozuki darted off at high speed, leaving Akira stunned.Even with a missing leg, her speed wasn't any slower than an ordinary person sprinting.But after thinking about it, Akira realized —She's a ninja!As long as she had chakra, she could turn the impossible into possible.Her speed and balance showed she had much better chakra control than he did.
It even crossed his mind:Maybe all her usual clumsiness and helplessness was just an act, a way for her to survive.In the harsh ninja world, age didn't necessarily equate to maturity.Just like a certain "dutiful son" of the Uchiha who, at seven years old, was already thinking in full-on "Hokage-style" reasoning, it wasn't surprising that someone like Aozuki could put on a convincing façade.
With the matter of Shouzaki Castle now in progress, Akira finally carried his books back to his clan compound.
The bustling life along the way looked completely out of place compared to the cruelty of the ninja world — especially when compared to the desolation and poverty outside the village walls.But Konoha's prosperity rested entirely on the strength of its ninja.
Back in his lab, Akira spent the next few days in full-on "pay-to-win" mode.The tens of thousands of ryo he'd gotten from recent mission rewards, plus his previous savings, were all spent acquiring materials for making Clarity Elixir.
"Pay-to-win"?You think I'm exaggerating?
He especially raided the Yamanaka flower shop more than once.Previously, to make just one dose of Clarity Elixir, he had to gather materials quietly over a long time to avoid attracting attention.But now, with cash to spend and no need to hide, he could mass-produce several doses quickly.
His body was utterly drained!After using several doses of the Clarity Elixir, Akira fully experienced what it meant to have his "brain hollowed out."
But the rewards were very real.He finished devouring all ten thick, dictionary-sized medical books.Not just reading them — he memorized and digested the knowledge.If it were only about skimming, techniques like "quantum reading" would suffice.But to retain and digest the knowledge, only the heightened focus state induced by the Clarity Elixir would do.
What would take an ordinary person months or even a year to learn, Akira mastered in just a few days.It's just that, unfortunately, the elixir didn't increase his combat ability — if it did, that would be way overpowered.
Today, though, Akira was forced to leave his beloved lab.First, Minato Namikaze had finished his own work and summoned Team Three to review their progress over the past few days.Second, news had arrived from Hyūga Aozuki — she had found something.
It had taken several days because the Hyūga clan's archives were vast, and she was searching alone.With both these matters pending, Akira had no choice but to leave his lab.
Of course, his experiments hadn't been without extra gains these past few days.His healing potion had reached a qualitative breakthrough.Animal testing had been successful; the next step was human trials.Once confirmed, he would have secured a powerful trump card.
But here's where he was stuck:Human trials!Even in the ninja world, where human life was often worth less than a dog's, it wasn't easy to arrange human testing — at least not at his current status level.Especially with Root (Danzo's faction) secretly watching him.If Akira dared to pull something like that, he'd be immediately discovered and sent off to sing "Prisoner's Lament" in a Root jail cell.
As for experimenting on himself?Sorry, Akira wasn't that brave. He wasn't about to "sacrifice himself for science."
With these thoughts in mind, he headed to the small grove near the training grounds, where he'd arranged to meet Aozuki.After that, they could head straight to the nearby training field to meet up with Team Three.
"Akira-kun, here's the map of Shouzaki Castle!"As always, Hyūga Aozuki had her face wrapped in bandages. Upon seeing him, she handed over a scroll (ninjas had a habit of recording everything on scrolls).
The map was hand-drawn by her.As for how she addressed him?Akira didn't feel anything was off about it.
Whoosh!Unrolling the scroll, Akira saw the detailed map and annotated information.Ah, I see!There was no "Shouzaki Castle" — instead, there was a place called Drowning Marsh. The city had disappeared, leaving behind a desolate swamp.
That swamp lay along the southwestern border of the Land of Fire, right next to the Land of Rivers, in a completely uninhabited area.It wasn't too far from where Team Three had carried out their previous mission.
As for how to obtain the summoning scroll?Akira already had a plan.For a ninja, once you knew the target and intelligence, setting up a scheme wasn't hard at all.
And no, he didn't mean using the Uchiha.If you let them handle it, who knew whose hands the scroll would end up in?Summoning beasts were such valuable assets — no one ever thought they had too many.
So, Akira planned to use a very particular ability.
(To be continued)