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Akio took a full 360-degree photo of the Mukade version of Sasori with his camera—no blind spots. The battle was growing fiercer by the minute.

No wonder Mukade was hell-bent on destroying the Five Great Nations, Akio mused. Once the Dragon Vein was connected, the rapid regeneration ability it granted was practically on par with the power of the Sage of Six Paths...

That comparison, however, might infuriate Madara.

"Centipede! Where did you take Sāra?!" Naruto's voice rang out, making Akio's expression darken slightly.

It wasn't that he was worried about that "cheap daughter" of his—after all, as the heroine of this movie scenario, there was no way she'd actually be in danger. He just…

"Centipede? Don't tell me that thing's actually a centipede… did I waste my time filming the wrong person?"

"Naruto, it's probably not Mukade," Minato said while dodging the strike of a scorpion tail—no, centipede tail. "It seemed like some kind of space-time ninjutsu just now."

"Space-time ninjutsu?" Akio paused in surprise from a distance. "Then… was it the future me?"

After thinking for a moment, Akio's expression turned strange.

Wait… could she actually be my daughter? Born when I traveled to the past?

The shift in battle interrupted his train of thought. Mukade's ability to regenerate endlessly prompted Minato to instruct the others to stall him while he went to seal the Dragon Vein and cut off Mukade's energy source.

Naruto, of course, said… "I'm going with Dad."

With those two gone, Choza Akimichi and Shibi Aburame got even more ruthless.

A flood of insects surged forward, engulfing Mukade and relentlessly draining his chakra. Shibi even gave the technique a flashy name—Insect Sphere… an oddly fitting name.

Choza seized the opportunity, swallowing a pill with a determined expression.

"My fate is mine to shape, not Heaven's"—and apparently, so is my body size.

With a Super Multi-Size Jutsu, he transformed into a towering giant, nearly 20 or 30 meters tall… a giant fatman, who smacked Mukade away with one massive palm.

"The Akimichi and Aburame clan feud from the Warring States period continues, huh?" Akio muttered, twitching slightly at the sight. That slap must've crushed a good number of bugs…

Mukade crashed into a wall, taking half of it down, and lay still for a moment.

Meanwhile, the genius boy Kakashi was fighting desperately against the puppets when suddenly—they froze.

"Is it over?" Kakashi exhaled in relief—only to see them begin trembling and moving again.

As for Mukade, who had been faking death, he suddenly burst with visible blue chakra light, sending insect corpses flying through the air.

"The Dragon Vein really is something else. Even this scrub's chakra volume is nearly a third of mine now." Akio frowned, more determined than ever to make direct contact with the Dragon Vein.

And judging by how Future Me is protecting Sāra… maybe if I go back in time, I can finally get a girlfriend?

While Akio was lost in his little fantasy, the battlefield had shifted drastically.

Now in a powered-up form, the final boss Mukade was completely overpowering Choza and Shibi. Without the protagonist halo or a boss-tier buff, the two clearly didn't have what it took to turn the tide.

Kakashi, still only eight and a half years old, found himself overwhelmed by the puppet army with no viable strategy in sight.

At that moment of crisis, Minato appeared in front of Choza and Shibi. A single Rasengan saved both of them.

At the same time, Naruto appeared in front of Kakashi—his Rasengan identical to his father's—saving Kakashi in turn.

Naruto beamed, overflowing with pride.

Going back in time and saving Kakashi-sensei… feels awesome!

"You're back? Did you cut off his energy source?" Choza asked urgently.

"The door to the chamber was destroyed. Outside… there were too many puppets. We couldn't get through," Minato replied.

Both Choza and Shibi's expressions darkened—until they felt a surge of enormous chakra coming from Naruto's direction.

"Oh? He can already use that move?"

Behind Naruto, two arms of Kurama's chakra extended outward. In front of him, a black orb-like Rasengan began to form.

"A Rasengan infused with Yin-Yang Release. That's just one of my leftovers," Akio smirked, watching as the attack crushed half of Mukade.

However, the black Rasengan clearly wasn't enough. Mukade regenerated rapidly.

"Naruto, use the regular Rasengan!" Minato shouted.

Naruto didn't know why, but being a good boy, he always listened to his dad.

As Naruto began forming a Rasengan, Minato instantly appeared beside him, forming his own.

"When two Rasengans of similar attributes touch, the resulting power is far greater."

Akio stared, dumbfounded, as the two Rasengans merged into an unstable elliptical form that radiated immense energy.

"Taikyoku Rasengan!" Minato and Naruto shouted in unison, marking the dramatic defeat of the movie-version final boss.

"The problem isn't defeated or not… that Taikyoku Rasengan nearly matched the power of my Sage Art: Rasenshuriken. That's insane..."

Akio tried fusing a Rasengan in each hand—but they canceled each other out and vanished instantly.

"Why can't I do it?"

"Identical attributes can't merge. Only similar ones can."

The voice of Future Akio echoed in his ears again.

Akio glanced around but didn't see him.

Still hiding in some pocket dimension, huh?

"I'm so jealous of space-time ninjutsu. When do I finally learn that stuff…" Akio sighed bitterly. Future Him really had an awful personality.

On the other side of the battlefield, with Mukade defeated, all the puppets ceased functioning. Minato, Naruto, and the others headed toward the Dragon Vein.

After clearing away the sealed door, Minato stepped forward to seal it.

"As I thought, it's sealed with Flying Thunder God Technique," Akio observed as Minato embedded a custom-made Flying Thunder God kunai into the Dragon Eye. He then used the Eight Trigrams Seal, preventing the Dragon Vein's energy from ever leaking out again.

With the sealing complete, Akio let out a quiet sigh of relief.

This should align with the canon storyline now. Time to test out that time-travel experience.

"If I channel both the sealing formula and the Dragon Vein's energy into my body, will that work?" Akio muttered as he noticed Naruto's body beginning to glow with a soft white light.

"Is it time to go back?" Akio smiled at the awkward way Naruto was saying goodbye to Minato and the others.

"Minato probably figured out long ago that you're his son. Why are you still being so cagey… Well, maybe it's better this way. At least it proves that Minato survived until Year 63 of the Konoha Calendar."

Akio nodded to himself.

Just before Naruto was about to vanish, Akio peeked out slightly and waved at him.

Naruto blinked, then smiled brightly.

"So… he does recognize me." Watching Naruto disappear, Akio let out a deep breath. He'd been worried he might suddenly vanish too. The Future Him still felt… off.

"Speaking of which, why did my future self leave without saying a word? Not even a goodbye?"

"Fine, whatever. But now the real question is—where the hell is my so-called daughter…?"

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