The Senju Compound at dawn was quiet, its tiled rooftops glinting under the early sun. Songbirds chirped gently as a breeze stirred the trees, brushing against the houses with a rustling calm.
Akane sat up groggily in bed, rubbing his eyes. The futon beneath him was unexpectedly comfortable, still strange because he could still recall his long lost mattress, He blinked at the ceiling.
'Huh… I'm in Konoha. Still weird.'
A knock came at the door, gentle and composed.
"Akane-san," Mito's voice called through, "the preparations for the sealing ritual are complete. We'll begin in thirty minutes."
"Coming!".
---
Senju Sealing Shrine Hall
The sealing room seemed old—as if predating the village itself even if that was logically impossible since the village was just newly established. Its walls were inscribed with spiraling Uzumaki glyphs, and the air smelled of crushed ink and old parchment. Dozens of glowing candles cast flickering shadows across the sealing formation, a complex spiral of black ink on aged parchment.
' Maybe it's this ritualistic setting that gives the look of an ancient room? Anyway I'm still viewing all of this from a modern person lenses ' Akane thought.
Mito stood at the center, flanked by Hashirama and Tobirama. She was clad in formal robes, her hair pinned back in elegant twing buns, a brush in one hand.
"Place your palm here," she instructed.
Akane stepped into the formation, then glanced at Hashirama. The Hokage gave him a calm nod. Tobirama, meanwhile, watched with sharp, evaluating eyes.
Akane knelt, pressing his palm against the inner circle of the formation.
"Now, pour a small, steady stream of chakra into the seal," Mito said.
He did as told. Chakra flowed from his palm—clean and controlled at first.
But then, something strange happened.
The seal flared. Black ink surged upward, momentarily turning blue, a pulse of energy rippling through the room. Candle flames swayed violently.
"Wha—?!" Akane flinched.
Mito's eyes narrowed. Tobirama stepped forward, fingers twitching toward his ninja pouch, just in case. But Hashirama calmly placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.
" It's stabilizing," Mito said after a moment, her tone quiet but serious. " Unusual… but not dangerous. The chakra… it resonates. "
Akane blinked. "Was that supposed to happen?"
"No," Tobirama said flatly.
"maybe," Hashirama said cheerfully.
Mito sighed. "It's… fine. The seal accepted your chakra. The contract is in place."
The ink cooled. A faint spiral pattern now glowed beneath Akane's palm before fading into his skin.
---
Training Grounds
The sun stood high overhead, casting sharp shadows over the Senju training grounds. The field was scarred with scorch marks, gouged earth, and shattered wood from past shinobi training. Birds watched silently from the trees.
Akane stood awkwardly across from his assigned mentor: Shiro Sarutobi, a dark brown-haired jōnin who looked like he subsisted on sarcasm and grilled meat. His flak jacket looked a little rough, clearly he had done already some missions, and his right arm was bandaged from wrist to shoulder.
He eyed Akane like he was a particularly interesting wild animal.
"So," Shiro said, munching what looked like tabacco. "You're the metal-fanged freak the Hokage's been cooing about."
Akane blinked from the unexpected sentence. "Um. Technically, yes?"
Shiro exhaled, unfazed. "Let's start with chakra control. Leaf concentration exercise. You do know the theory, right?"
"Yeah! Concentrate chakra into the center of the forehead while sticking a leaf in said place."
"Show me."
Akane turned to a thick tree nearby. He picked up a leaf from the soil, concentrated a minimal amount of chakra on the center of his forehead and sticked the leaf.
' Seems easy enough ' thought Akane and it was easy, thanks to his perk in controlling his energy, stable, consistent energy output was the key.
Time passed and so an hour passed without problems, still Akane was becoming restless, if he wanted he could do other things in the meantime, but he knew to not rush things, outside of the village between shinobis the reality was that of the nature, the more you are able to adapt the better you survive, or you have to become strong enough to bend such rule, like Kakuzu from the Waterfall Village.
Shiro then clapped his hands, singling the end of the exercise. Then he spoke, " Now, tree-walking, you know how it works?"
Akane denied that he knew how the tree walk worked, firstly because he didn't want to look already more suspicious after the contract mishap, secondly because his now Sensei could demonstrate the process, a thing was reading about it in the Manga, another was actually seeing it in real life.
Shiro started to walk towards the nearest tree while speaking, " Akane-san pay attention, the process is similar to the previous exercise, steady cackra output, it needs to be precise, too much the bark of the tree simply explode, blasting you away, and less than necessary you slip off the tree. "
Then Shiro proceeded to walk slowly up the the tree, looking like gravity was actually just a theory, then walked down from it slowly, demonstrating the entire process to Akane.
" Got it Sensei " Akane said with conviction in his voice.
Then Akane turned to a thick tree nearby. He charged a small amount of chakra into his feet—well, what he thought was a small amount—and stepped forward.
He got three steps up the trunk.
BOOM!
He shot twenty feet into the air like a firework.
"WHAAAGHH—!"
THUD.
"Damn it!"
Shiro winced, not out of concern, but because Akane landed headfirst into a pile of leaves and groaned like a dying cat. "Control, not power, you overgrown battery. Try again."
"Okay, okay...I nearly had an heart attack," Akane muttered, brushing dirt out of his hair.
Attempt two: he used less chakra. This time, he climbed halfway before slipping off and landing in a more dignified tumble-roll.
"Better. Again."
They repeated it fifteen more times. By the end, Akane could at least stay on the trunk for longer —though his steps were uneven and inexperienced.
" Sensei, it's normal to be propelled like that if you don't have control? " Asked Akane, recalling his fist attempt at the end of the exercise.
"No that's because you're a hazard, Akane-kun," Shiro said, mockingly. "You've got chakra like a thunderstorm with a caffeine addiction. Until you learn finesse, you're more likely to blow yourself up than throw a proper kunai."
Akane grumbled something unkind and lay back in the grass.
"Next up: taijutsu sparring. On your feet, metal boy."
"Wait, what? We're not even—"
Shiro lunged before Akane could finish, moving fast—really fast. Akane only barely blocked a chop with his forearm, the force sending him skidding back.
"Lesson one!" Shiro barked. "No shinobi waits for you to be ready!"
Akane gritted his teeth, shifting into a loose stance. "Fine then! Let's go, old man!"
Shiro smirked, launching into a flurry of precise, controlled strikes. Akane blocked most of them with his forearms, thanks to his somewhat sturdy body, but he lacked technique. His counters were wild and clumsy.
One swing of his knuckle cracked a training post clean in half.
Shiro's eyes widened. "…Okay, that's new. Your bones are denser than they look, and such amount of chakra overloaded strikes..."
Akane panted. " No comment."
"No kidding." Shiro cracked his neck. "Let's keep going. I want to see what happens when you actually try to kill me, oh and use less chakra on your strikes unless you want one of your limbs to explode."
" Noted sensei...still i'd rather not kill my first teacher. "
" Cute. Hit me harder. "
They sparred until the sun dipped toward the horizon. Akane ended up bruised, dizzy, and wheezing, but there was a new glint in his eye—a flicker of excitement.
He hadn't trained like this in his old world. Not with stakes. Not with power that mattered.
---
Village Tour
After washing up, Akane walked through the heart of the village with Hashirama himself. The Hokage seemed genuinely excited to show him around—pointing out shops, bakeries, construction sites, and families.
"This place'll be great someday," Hashirama said, beaming.
"It already feels alive," Akane replied.
He watched kids chasing each other with wooden kunai. A carpenter laughed with his apprentice while working on a new roof. A woman handed out dango to a passing genin squad.
Despite its early days, Konoha pulsed with warmth. With life.
Akane found himself smiling.
---
Evening: New Home
His house was small—a single room with a futon, a table, and a modest kitchen space. But it was clean and had a small garden patch in the back. It felt… peaceful.
Akane sat down on the futon, slowly unpacking the few things he had. His mind still processing all that happened in these two days.
Outside, the crickets began to sing.
Tomorrow would come soon.
But tonight, he finally slept under a roof he could call his own.
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