The early afternoon sun filtered through the trees as I walked the familiar dirt path leading to Minato-sensei's home. Leaves rustled in the warm wind, their shadows dancing across the road. The air smelled like fresh grass and distant firewood, calm, peaceful. But my thoughts were anything but.
For the past month, I'd practically lived here. More time spent at Minato's house than my own. At first, it felt weird. But now… now it felt like something I needed. Something I chose. These last two weeks have been a whirlwind of study, training, and movement. I'd made more progress this half-month than the entire year before it.
But time was ticking. I still had one major task: creating a seal to protect Rin.
I'd already strengthened Kakashi. That was step one. Step two—reinforcing the bond between him and Rin—was underway. The final task was crafting a seal that could not only suppress corrupted chakra but also serve as a beacon for Minato-sensei to arrive instantly if danger struck.
And for that, I needed to understand something I didn't have access to: Adamantine Sealing Chains.
The problem was, those chains weren't just some scroll technique you could pull off a shelf. They belonged to Kushina. And activating them took a heavy toll—even brief use drained her stamina fast. Prolonged use? It could damage her health. Asking her to use them just so I could "look" wasn't going to cut it.
I needed another way.
My feet carried me through the village instinctively. I wasn't even fully aware of my surroundings until I noticed a familiar figure walking ahead—Rin. Her brown hair moved softly in the breeze, and she walked with a steady, quiet pace. But something felt off.
"Big Sis Rin!" I called out, jogging to catch up.
She didn't turn.
"Big Sis Rin?" I said louder, stepping beside her.
Still nothing. No eye movement. No change in pace.
My brows knit in concern. I hurried forward and stepped in front of her, arms out.
"Big Sis Rin!"
She flinched, blinking rapidly as if waking from a trance. Her eyes focused, and when she saw me, her expression turned confused.
"Oh… Akira. I didn't see you there."
"You were walking right past me," I said, tone half-playful, half-concerned. "I called you like three times. Are you okay?"
She hesitated. Her lips parted, but no words came at first.
"I'm fine," she said softly. "Just… thinking."
"About what?"
"Nothing. Just… thoughts," she said again, and gave a faint smile.
But I wasn't buying it. Her voice carried a weight it usually didn't. Rin was normally bright, open-hearted, and her cheerfulness had this way of lifting the air around her. But now it felt heavy. Muffled.
I didn't push. If she wasn't ready to talk, I wouldn't force it. But I made a note to nudge Kakashi later. If anyone could get through to her, it was him.
We walked together in silence for a while, the air between us calm but thoughtful.
Minato's house stood just ahead, tucked beside a gentle hillside with soft red shingles and scroll wards lining the doorframe. A small breeze fluttered one of the hanging charms. Inside, I could already hear the distant clatter of dishes and a faint laugh of Kushina.
As we stepped through the gate, I turned to Rin. "Let's grab some tea later, okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that."
I stepped inside.
There she was, Kushina Uzumaki, standing in the kitchen, apron on, stirring a pot of something fragrant and spicy. She turned with her usual firecracker smile.
"Akira! Welcome back!"
"Sensei!" I said, jumping into character. "I've been reading about the Uzumaki clan."
"Oh?" she said, clearly intrigued. "What caught your interest this time?"
"I was reading how each Uzumaki has unique abilities. The Eye of Kagura, regenerative healing... but the most powerful one I read about was—" I paused dramatically. "—the Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Kushina lit up instantly, tossing her head proudly.
"Of course! That's one of our most legendary techniques. Those chains can hold down even a tailed beast!"
"Really? That strong?" I asked, my eyes wide in mock awe.
"The strongest sealing technique passed through the bloodline!" she said with a grin. "It's more than strong, it's elegant. Deadly. And beautiful."
I leaned in, voice soft and full of "innocent wonder."
"So... you can use it too?"
"Of course," she said, striking a confident pose.
My chance.
"Can you show me?"
Her smile faltered slightly. "Ah… sorry, Akira. Even summoning one chain drains a lot of chakra. And if I hold it too long, it could mess with my body."
I nodded, feigning disappointment. "I figured… I was just curious. I've never seen a real Adamantine Chain up close before, and I thought maybe observing it might help me understand some of the sealing stuff I've been reading about."
Inside my mind, I called out.
"Nano? How long can I safely analyze the chains at full intensity?"
'The host can observe for 45 seconds without suffering neurological degradation.'
Not much time. But enough.
I turned back to Kushina, my expression pleading.
"Please, Sensei. Just for one minute. I won't ask again. I'll be quick, I promise. I'll even call you the Most Beautiful Sensei in the World for a whole week!"
She blinked. "That's... tempting."
"And I'll report Minato-sensei's movements. All of them. For a month!"
She squinted, lips twitching.
"Add one more thing. Get Itachi to call me the Most Beautiful Sensei in the World, too."
I froze.
"…You want me to make Itachi Uchiha say that?"
She gave a sly grin. "Yup."
I almost choked. "Sensei, I'd have an easier time convincing Kakashi to change his book choices."
She smirked, triumphant. "Then no chains."
I stared at her, mind racing. There had to be another way.
"Okay, okay—how about this? A bet."
Her curiosity piqued. "I'm listening."
"You've seen my new jutsu, right? We both write our names on it. Then Minato-sensei picks which one he likes best. If I win, I get to study the chains and Flying Raijin."
She crossed her arms. "And if I win?"
"I do everything you asked. The Itachi thing, the title thing. Everything."
She narrowed her eyes. "You sure you wanna risk that?"
"I'm confident."
She gave a short nod. "Deal."
We both grabbed a slip of paper. I thought hard, channeling my inner Minato. He liked grand names—long, over-the-top, with way too many syllables.
I wrote:
Wind Style: Atomic Resonance Ultra Hyper Revolving Destroyer, Volume 4.
Kushina finished hers. We sealed the slips and called Minato in from the next room.
He blinked at us. "Uh... what's going on?"
"We need you to name a jutsu," Kushina said calmly.
"I'm judging?"
"Yes," I said. "No context. Just pick whichever name sounds more... appropriate."
He took the slips, reading them silently.
A moment passed. Then two. He chuckled under his breath.
Finally, he lifted one.
"The winner is… Wind Style: Atomic Resonance Ultra Hyper Revolving Destroyer, Volume 4."
"YESSSS!" I exploded in joy, pumping my fist in the air.
Kushina's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! That name sounds like a genin wrote it, hopped up on drugs!"
Minato scratched his head. "Yeah, but... I kind of like it. It sounds like something I would've come up with."
I smirked. "A deal's a deal."
Kushina groaned dramatically, tossing her head back.
"I can't believe that name won…"
She turned to me, half-grinning, half-exasperated.
"Alright, brat. You've got one minute."
The sky had mellowed into a pale gold when we stepped into the backyard, just me, Minato-sensei, Rin, and Kushina. The wind was soft, the kind that nudges tree leaves into hushed conversation. A tranquil space. You'd never guess something dangerous was about to happen.
She straightened her posture, her aura shifting. Her chakra flared subtly, the air pressing down like invisible gravity. Then, from behind her, a single Adamantine Sealing Chain emerged, gleaming, pulsing with ancient chakra, golden-orange, and wrapped in a faint red shimmer like it was forged in a storm.
It didn't crackle or rage. It throbbed, like a living artery of raw sealing energy.
In my mindscape, I didn't waste a second.
I said. "Alright, Nano, start scanning, but focus on how the chains purify chakra and block corrupted tailed-beast chakra. Prioritize the sealing functions. Run it at full efficiency, got it?"
"Confirmed," Nano replied."Time remaining before host sustains neural strain: 45 seconds."
As soon as the scan began, something inside my head burst open. Not like pain. Not even like pressure. It was like a dam opened and let all the water flood towards the ground.
Seal diagrams. Chakra nodes. Advanced spatial compression formulas. Converging and diverging seal matrices. My mind filled with information that should not have made sense, but it did. Every second, thousands of micro-understandings coded themselves into place.
I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. My eyes were fixed on the chain, but I was no longer looking at it. I was inside my mindscape, feeling lots of info passing through my brain and getting registered at the same time.
To the others, I looked still, focused. They said nothing, respecting my trance.
But inside, my mind was roaring. The neural library Nano had built to organize my knowledge began filling shelf after shelf. Whole archives were being written into existence, row by row, faster than I thought possible.
"Scan complete. Knowledge transfer was successful.""Estimated time for full cognitive assimilation: 23:59:59.""Warning: Brain temperature exceeding safety thresholds. Engaging neurological sleep mode."
Then darkness.
The last thing I heard was a panicked voice—Kushina's.
"Akira!"
There was no pain. No dreams. Just an endless dark, weightless void. Time slipped sideways.
A faint smell of sandalwood and tatami. Warmth on my skin. The rustle of someone's clothes nearby. I opened my eyes slowly.
I was lying in a bed I vaguely recognized as Uncle Inoichi's guest room. Soft sunlight filtered through a paper screen. Beside the bed, my two aunts, Inoki and Yoshino, were sleeping, heads resting against the mattress, curled awkwardly on the floor.
They must've been here for hours.
In the distance, I heard muffled voices of Minato sensei's voice, calm but heavy, and another… Uncle Shikaku's. They were in the next room.
I sat up slowly, and then my mind throbbed.
A searing flash of understanding tore through my skull. Not pain. Processing. My entire consciousness filled with the weight of the information I had absorbed. It was like my mind had expanded, and now all the pieces were locking into place.
I clutched my head, gritting my teeth. Seal formulas flooded my thoughts, arranging into neat, glowing rows inside the neural archive Nano had built.
Two entire rows filled. Fully.
The overload passed. I slumped forward, exhaling slowly.
"Knowledge integration complete," Nano reported.
"Cognitive functions at elevated capacity. Emotional processing efficiency has dropped by 20%."
I blinked. "Wait, Nano. What do you mean by emotional processing dropped?"
"Host's brain has entered a hyper-analytical state. To allocate more resources to cognitive expansion, the brain deprioritized non-survival emotion clusters—e.g., joy, grief, affection. This is a defensive adaptation, not a permanent condition."
I frowned, unease creeping in.
"So… I'll feel less emotions?"
"Yes. Emotional response systems are temporarily suppressed. It is not recommended to sustain this state long-term. It may lead to permanent emotional numbness."
My breath caught in my throat.
"And how do I reverse it?"
"You must actively engage in consistent emotional stimulation. Feel emotions, any of them. Repeatedly. Enough to convince your brain that emotions are essential cognitive processes again."
"How long will that take?"
"Subjective timeline. Estimated duration: six months, depending on exposure and emotional awareness."
I sat quietly for a long moment, thinking about the price of knowledge. The price of power.
Eventually, I stood up carefully, trying not to wake my aunts, and walked toward the hallway.
In the living room, the conversation paused as I stepped into the doorway.
Minato was on his feet in a flash, body-flickering to my side. "Akira!"
He grabbed my shoulders gently, checking my eyes, my pulse, and my temperature. "Are you alright? Any dizziness? Pain? Nausea?"
I shook my head. "No… actually, I feel clearer than I've ever felt. My body's fine. More than fine. My mind... It's like it won't stop running."
Shikaku stepped forward, arms crossed. "That's a good sign, technically. But we weren't sure you'd even wake up today."
Uncle Inoichi walked up behind him. "Your brain was in overdrive, Akira. The doctors said there wasn't permanent damage, but your core temperature was rising rapidly. We couldn't keep you at the hospital, since it was too full due to less manpower and more casualties from the war. So we brought you here, monitored you through the night."
Minato led me to the table and gestured for me to sit. "You were out for nearly 20 hours."
I explained what I could. "When I looked at the chain, it wasn't just visual. It was like I understood it on every level. And then I couldn't stop understanding. My brain kept absorbing... everything. Then it overheated."
Inoichi looked thoughtful. "How do you feel now? Any lingering effects?"
I hesitated.
"No pain," I said finally. I cannot tell them about my emotions being fucked up for now.
That's when I heard footsteps. The front door slid open.
Kushina entered first, facing a storm of guilt and worry. Behind her were Rin, Kakashi, and even Itachi.
They all came.
I looked at them, and something shifted in my chest. Faint, but real. That warmth, that gratitude.
I'm not alone.
Even if my emotional wiring was off right now… with these people around me, I'd find my way back.
Kushina stepped forward first. "Akira, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would hit you like that. If I'd known—"
"It's okay, Sensei," I said, cutting her off. "You gave me what I asked for. And I got more than I expected."
Everyone circled me. The mood lifted, finally. Rin looked relieved. Kakashi gave a rare, quiet nod. Even Itachi softened slightly.
And in that moment, I knew something deeply, viscerally:
I might have lost a part of myself… but as long as I had them, I'd get it back.
The only thing missing from that perfect moment—the last piece of this strange puzzle—
Was Father.
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Chapter length-2400 words
(A/n):- Sorry for delay i want to try something new in next chapter i do not know how much better i am at it but you will know it quickly just give me your opinion on the next chapter as i am trying it first time
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