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Although the trip to Ryūchi Cave ended in some disappointment for Akio, he still gained something outside of the cave—the Tenbin Clan agreed to relocate to the Land of Whirlpools.

"We're truly sorry, Senior Uzumaki Akio. You've helped us so many times, and yet we even misunderstood you before..." said the 10th Clan Head of the Tenbin Clan.

Akio waved his hand. "It's fine. Considering how unlucky you've been, I won't hold it against you."

The Clan Head: "…"

Suddenly, he felt a little uneasy about the future of the Tenbin Clan.

Fortunately, even though Akio joked around, he became serious when it came to actual matters.

The Tenbin Clan wasn't exactly small, but not too big either—just over 120 people. Akio could use Sage Mode to fly them all back to the Land of Whirlpools, but while doing that alone was easy, bringing over a hundred people through the sky would attract too much attention.

Walking back, on the other hand, felt too slow. Only five of the group even had genin-level strength. Traveling across the Land of Fire on foot could take nearly a month.

"Should I use Shadow Clones to lead them back?" Akio muttered. That was actually the most practical solution, but... Shadow Clones were...

"Forget it—might as well just fly!" Akio gritted his teeth and prepared for his first flight with over a hundred people.

Since most of them were ordinary civilians, he didn't dare fly too high or fast—only around a hundred meters above the ground. People on the ground could clearly see their faces.

And so, that day, many civilians and shinobi across the Land of Fire personally witnessed the spectacle of over a hundred people flying overhead. It quickly became the talk of the region.

After returning to the Land of Whirlpools, Akio briefly explained the situation to Izuko and asked her to take care of them. Then he returned to Konoha.

The entire trip to Ryūchi Cave had taken only three days—much faster than he'd expected. Since he had already assigned a month-long training regimen to the three kids, he still had plenty of time.

Tsunade had previously mentioned that Jiraiya was working on a book, which had caught Akio's interest.

Over the past few days, Akio had begun to recall that the book was likely titled Tale of the Gutsy Ninja—reportedly based on Nagato, with Naruto's name even coming from it. But now that Nagato had become his disciple, who knew how Jiraiya would spin the story?

Speaking of writing…

"Let this senior writer offer some guidance!" Akio suddenly remembered—he had written three books himself, two of which had been published. Though not widely known, that still made him a writer.

It was Akio's first time visiting Jiraiya's house. Though Jiraiya was now an S-rank shinobi, he had grown up as an orphan, so his home was still modest.

"But... surprisingly tidy," Akio muttered as he walked in without even knocking.

"He's really into it. Didn't even notice me come in," Akio chuckled inwardly, sensing Jiraiya's chakra in the back room.

Just as he was about to open the door, he hesitated. He knew Jiraiya's... habits. Would there be something scarring behind this door?

As he hesitated, the door opened on its own. Jiraiya appeared, sporting heavy dark circles under his eyes.

Clearly drained, he didn't immediately register Akio's presence.

Akio gave him a once-over and smirked at his exhausted look. "Jiraiya, take care of your health."

"Right," Jiraiya mumbled and brushed past Akio toward the bathroom.

"This guy…" Akio muttered. Something felt off about that reaction.

He entered the inner room—his first time seeing a bookshelf in the world of shinobi.

"Figures. Writing novels isn't easy… unless you're a genius like me."

His gaze shifted to the desk, where a few freshly-written pages lay.

Akio picked up one:

"A ninja's true strength isn't in the number of jutsu they know, but in their unyielding willpower. To press forward without betraying one's convictions, and to never give up—no matter what."

Akio nodded and smiled, putting the page down.

"Damn, got hit with a dose of inspirational fluff without realizing it…"

Just as he reached for the second page, Jiraiya burst into the room.

"Sen—senior, why are you in my house?!"

Akio didn't answer. Instead, he grinned. "What, not calling me 'Old Freak' anymore?"

Jiraiya stammered. "I was young and reckless back then…"

Akio was about to look pleased, but Jiraiya added, "Besides, I might need to start calling you Great-Grandpa soon. 'Old Freak' doesn't quite cut it anymore."

Akio was speechless.

"You're beautiful."

Not caring if Jiraiya got the joke, Akio continued, "I'm here as your senior in the writing world. Thought I'd offer you some guidance."

"Senior… writer?" Jiraiya looked at him, full of disbelief.

Akio waved his hand dismissively and looked toward the bookshelf. "You might even have one of my books in there!"

"No way," Jiraiya scoffed.

Akio stood up immediately and started searching.

The shelf had two tiers. On the top... Akio glanced over and judged Jiraiya with his eyes. It was filled with explicit adult magazines—and they looked super boring.

Yes, "boring" was the key point here.

The bottom shelf was more respectable—books on shinobi knowledge, world geography, the origins and conflicts of the Five Great Nations... everything you'd expect. Or rather, everything except his own books.

"Seriously? None of mine? And you dare call yourself a writer…"

He muttered under his breath, but as he turned his head, he caught sight of a familiar book on the top shelf.

Village Founding Dreams… wasn't that one of mine?

A bad feeling rose in his chest as he turned to Jiraiya.

"This title sounds perfectly normal—why's it up there with the adult mags?"

Jiraiya blinked, took the book, skimmed it, and suddenly realized.

"Senior, you don't know this book? It was written during Konoha's founding by an unknown author. Sadly, he strayed from the path."

"Strayed?" Akio's face darkened.

Jiraiya nodded solemnly. "That's right. The book tells the story of two legendary shinobi—Uchiha Madara and the First Hokage—sharing a deep... bond of male friendship."

He heavily emphasized "male friendship," looking visibly distressed.

"If he had written about a man and a woman, he might've created a classic. What a waste…"

He even shook his head dramatically. "It's too late now. The author probably died long ago—this was written back when Uchiha Madara was still in the village. There aren't many copies left. I worked hard to get this one, so don't ruin it."

"I was going to ask if you had another book from the same author, but you don't even know him. And you call yourself a writer?"

Akio gritted his teeth. "Forget a second book—I even have the unpublished third one!"

"There's a third one?!" Jiraiya's eyes lit up.

"You want to see it? Sage Mode—Activate! Seventh Gate—Gate of Wonder, Open!"

BOOM!

Jiraiya's house exploded.

"You crazy old freak! What the hell was that?!"

And just like that, the title of "senior" lasted exactly one scene.

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