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Outside the Village Hidden in Hot Water, the three of them—Akio and his companions—leapt out of a well.

Akio frowned, glanced back, and used two Earth Release techniques to fill the well completely. Although the three had checked every room multiple times after he destroyed the altar, ensuring nothing was left behind, he still didn't want this place to ever see the light of day again.

"It really might have been the middleman…" Akio sighed. "If he wasn't dead, unless he was trapped in a place like this, I definitely would've sensed him back then."

"What now, senpai?" Jiraiya asked in confusion.

Akio hesitated for a moment. "Let's head back. That Akatsuki member should be gone—I can't sense his chakra anymore."

The three immediately set off at high speed toward Konoha. On the way, Akio frowned again, checking over his newly acquired skill.

'Breaking Curses… So that extra power system before was actually a curse?'

He began to piece it together—the so-called "jutsu" was not only a curse, but a particularly vicious one. It bound the soul tightly to the body; on the surface, it granted immortality, but the flesh would still age. Decades later, the victim would suffer the agony of bodily decay, and until the body was completely gone, the soul would never be freed.

"So, in my previous life, Hidan's death must have been pretty painful…" Akio muttered. Then another thought struck him—he didn't even know how old Hidan was right now. Maybe he hadn't gained immortality yet, or perhaps that corpse down there was him.

Still…

"I destroyed the altar, lifted the curse on it, and in doing so, I got this 'Curse-Breaking' ability. But what good is it?" Akio thought for a moment and fell silent. "Could the system be hinting that I should use it to release the middleman from his suffering?"

For the rest of the journey, he kept thinking about what in the shinobi world could be considered a curse, but came up with nothing.

'The Cursed Seal? The Caged Bird Seal?' Akio frowned. Getting a completely useless skill made him feel rather bitter.

"Why did I get a curse-breaking skill? A curse-casting one would've been way better… Whoever I curse has bad luck—then I could rename myself 'Uzumaki Calamity Star'…"

He glanced back to see Jiraiya and Orochimaru following diagonally behind him. He wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"Fall over, Jiraiya!" Akio suddenly shouted.

Jiraiya stumbled and almost face-planted into the ground.

"It worked?" Akio blinked in surprise.

"Senpai, you…" Jiraiya looked torn between laughing and crying. "What are you doing?"

Orochimaru also stopped, curiosity in his eyes.

Akio frowned. "Jiraiya, when I yelled just now, did you feel a sudden force making you almost trip?"

Jiraiya's mouth twitched. "Yeah—a sudden surge of idiot energy."

Akio sighed deeply, not even having the strength to argue.

"Let's go. We're heading back."

"Useless skill… What a waste of my youth!"

…

By midday, the three were back in Konoha. Jiraiya and Orochimaru went to report the mission details to Hiruzen, while Akio finally had some free time.

Taking on his usual appearance, he took a stroll around the village to "show off" his presence. He'd been gone too long for someone his age—if rumors spread that "Uzumaki Akio is dead," it would be annoying.

He also visited the Senju compound to check on Mikoto Uchiha's condition, then had a chat with Mito… explaining exactly where that "daughter" of his had come from.

By now, there weren't many secrets Akio kept from Mito—aside from the fact that he was a transmigrator with a system, she even knew about his time-traveling adventures.

"Second Grandpa, even after more than twenty years, your personality hasn't changed at all."

Her words made Akio's face darken. This conversation was going nowhere…

After finishing all explanations, Akio found a quiet corner and once again took on his Hagoromo disguise.

"Finally, I can go home and see my daughter. Let's see who dares stop me this time," he muttered, heading straight for Ichiraku Akioen.

This time, the elusive Sakumo didn't pop out to intercept him, and Akio walked in without trouble.

"Welcome… Wait, you're… Boss Hagoromo?" a woman's voice called.

Akio paused, looked at her, and after a moment, remembered—she was Teuchi's wife, and quite the beauty.

"Yeah, that's me. My Sara's been doing well here, right?" Akio smiled, though inwardly he wondered if this was going to turn into some soap opera scene where the boss's wife gets jealous of a young female employee.

The woman smiled. "Sara's a good kid—very sensible. She's helped us a lot lately."

Akio nodded. "That's good. I'll go see her."

Sara had already refined chakra, and Akio sensed she was upstairs.

As he walked, he grumbled to himself, 'Sara's a good kid? You're maybe seven or eight years older than her, tops, and you're already calling yourself "auntie"?'

A few steps later, he reached the second floor and saw Sara sitting nearby, with a four- or five-year-old girl tugging at her and calling "Big Sis, Big Sis!"

"Ayame?" Akio chuckled, recognizing the familiar face.

"Father, you're back?" Sara stood up.

"What, no customers right now, so you're helping Teuchi babysit his daughter?"

Sara shook her head. "Ayame's very cute. Ayame, come here—call him 'Uncle.'"

"Forget that—call me 'Grandpa.' Let's not raise Teuchi's seniority," Akio objected.

He didn't ask why Sara called Ayame "Caiyi"; probably a nickname.

"Grandpa Hagoromo." The little girl's adorable voice rang out, and Akio responded with a gentle smile.

"Daughter, go make me a bowl of ramen. Let's see if your cooking's improved over the past half-month." Akio had plenty he wanted to say to his daughter, but when he saw her, this was the first thing that came out.

Sara froze for a moment, then smiled and nodded before heading downstairs.

"Peaceful days are back again. This time, for real—just waiting for Senju… 'Sun-Slayer' to be born," Akio thought as he lounged in his chair, giving the unborn little rascal a dramatic nickname.

Life returned to normal—Minato recovered quickly and went back to training and taking missions with his three students. Akio practiced Gentle Fist, added some flashy decorations to the "Optimus Primes," and waited for Mikoto to give birth.

Sara's cooking improved steadily, now almost matching Teuchi's—Akio could barely tell the difference anymore.

He thought he'd have nothing to do until June, but in late April, Obito proudly handed him a piece of paper.

"A Chūnin Exam registration form?"

In that instant, Akio could almost see a massive wave of Witness Points coming his way…

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