Akira stepped forward and patted Shion on the shoulder like an older brother, smiling as he said, "All right, no more crying. Just make sure you train the next generation of priestesses properly. Mōryō probably isn't getting out again in this era, but there's no reason to let the craft disappear."
Shion looked up at him through tear-filled eyes and nodded hard.
"I will! Thank you, Akira-san!"
Off to the side, even Yugito's expression had softened a little when she looked at him.
When they had first met, she had thought the boy was smooth-talking, glib, and far too frivolous.
But back in that hellish volcano, the sight of Akira standing alone in front of everyone, risking his life to seal Mōryō, had earned her genuine respect.
Looking at him now, Yugito spoke in a tone so serious it was almost unfamiliar.
"Akira... this time, you were the one who saved the world."
It was probably the first time this proud jinchuriki had ever spoken so gently to anyone.
Akira only smiled faintly and didn't act as if he deserved applause.
At first, he had actually considered dealing with Mōryō through Yin-Yang Release.
In the end, though, that turned out to be unnecessary. Spatial sealing alone had been enough.
That spatial sealing jutsu was one of his own creations, developed after studying countless sealing scrolls.
The threshold for using it, however, was absurdly high. Almost no one alive could have pulled it off. Even Akira himself needed Sage Mode just to gather enough chakra to activate it.
It was no exaggeration to say that using Spatial Seal consumed several times more chakra than his True Several Thousand Hands.
With Mōryō finally dealt with, Akira and the others escorted Shion back to the capital of the Land of Demons.
The sight that greeted them was hard to look at.
The once-prosperous capital had been trampled into ruin by the Ghost Army. Broken walls and collapsed streets stretched everywhere.
The losses had been terrible. Fresh graves of every size dotted the city.
Fortunately, the central district had not fallen completely, and a handful of surviving guards were still stationed around the priestess's palace.
The moment they saw Akira return with Shion safe and sound, Samui and the others, who had been holding the line, hurried out to meet them.
One glance at the shattered remains of the stone soldiers on the ground was enough for all of them to understand.
Mōryō was gone.
Samui strode up quickly, and for once, a visible flicker passed through her normally ice-cold eyes.
"I honestly didn't think you'd pull it off."
Akira looked her over.
This great beauty from Kumogakure was in rough shape now, covered in dust and streaked with blood.
There was no helping that. She had been fighting at full intensity here for two straight days and nights.
The Ghost Army's individual units were weak, practically trash on their own, but their strength lay in endless numbers. No matter how many you smashed apart, more kept coming, and the ones you destroyed didn't stay down for long.
That kind of nonstop war of attrition had been brutal on Samui, Neji, and the rest.
They hadn't even had time to change clothes.
Akira looked at her with open approval in his voice.
"I didn't expect you all to hold out for two full days under those conditions."
Even caked in dirt, Samui still had a fierce kind of beauty about her. Her battle-worn outfit only made her already striking figure stand out more, giving her a wild edge she normally kept hidden under that cold, unreadable face.
And despite the poker expression she still wore, the concern in her voice when she spoke to Akira had been impossible to miss.
Akira understood her temperament well enough not to tease her about it.
Samui's eyes shifted toward Shion, and a trace of confusion flashed across her face.
She couldn't understand how this fragile-looking priestess had made it through completely unharmed.
That just didn't make sense.
Even if Shion hadn't ended up sacrificing her life, how could anyone come through a battle on that level without even a scratch?
That had been a world-ending fiend from another dimension.
Akira could tell exactly what she was thinking, so he answered casually, "Have Yugito fill you in later. In any case, the mission's over. We should be heading back to our villages."
"Oh, right. How are my two teammates doing?"
Samui still had questions, but she had the sense not to push. Instead she answered directly, "They did well. Just a few light injuries."
Akira nodded and headed into the priestess's palace.
The place had already been hit during the fighting, and half of it had collapsed, though several of the side chambers were still standing.
The moment he stepped into one of them, the heavy smell of blood hit him.
Neji and Lee were lying on makeshift bedding, soaked through from head to toe.
Neji's clothes, once pure white, had turned a dark black-red.
It was the color of dried blood.
Akira and Yūgao hurried over.
Sensing someone nearby, Neji and Lee struggled into sitting positions. The moment they saw Akira, their eyes lit up.
"Captain... did it work?"
Akira nodded, though his brow furrowed.
"Yeah, it worked. But this is what you call light injuries?"
"Lie back down. Both of you. I'm treating you."
Lee and Neji both managed sheepish smiles.
They had spent two days fighting like mad here for one reason only: to protect the innocent civilians sheltering in the city.
There had been several hundred people gathered in the palace grounds for refuge. Without someone holding the line, they would all have been slaughtered.
Treating the two of them took Akira more than ten full minutes.
Looking at the brutal wounds across their bodies, he couldn't help muttering, "If I'd gotten here much later, the two of you would already be dead."
He truly had not expected Samui's standards for "light injuries" to be that extreme.
When she had said they were only hurt a little, he had honestly pictured something that needed nothing more than a bandage.
Instead, these two had practically been taking turns knocking on death's door.
Yūgao stood quietly behind Akira, watching him fuss over his teammates with that familiar mix of sharp words and careful hands, and a soft smile touched her lips.
Akira really had grown up.
He had become so much more dependable, and that filled her with quiet pride.
Once their injuries were finally dealt with, Akira gathered the team and prepared to leave this place behind.
As for rebuilding the Land of Demons after the disaster, that was not his responsibility as an outsider.
The losses had been terrible, yes, but the country still existed, and so did its people. Rebuilding a homeland was something that meant more when done by the hands of the people who belonged to it.
Before leaving, Akira made a point of seeking out Yugito and Samui one last time.
He wanted to warn Yugito again about Hidan before they parted ways.
For all her proud, untouchable attitude, that exact personality made her the kind of person most likely to get caught by a trick like Hidan's.
Curse Jutsu was just too disgusting a jutsu.
As long as he got even a single drop of your blood, even a Kage-level fighter would be left with no way to fight back.
At parting, Akira looked at Yugito with unusual seriousness and said in a low voice, "That information I gave you before, make sure you burn it into your memory. Don't ever underestimate the Akatsuki's methods."
"One mistake really will get you killed."
Seeing the rare gravity in his expression, Yugito felt something tighten in her chest and nodded almost on instinct.
"I understand."
She just wasn't the type who knew how to say thank you properly.
Once he was done, Akira turned to Samui and gave her that familiar smile.
"Until next time."
Then he turned away cleanly and led the Konoha team off.
Samui stayed where she was, watching his retreating back. Her face remained as cool and unreadable as ever, but her gaze lingered long after he should have faded from view.
Yugito flicked a glance at her and said mildly, "He's practically over the horizon already. Still watching?"
Samui snapped out of it, turned toward Yugito, and asked with genuine curiosity, "What exactly was he saying to you with that serious face? Something about the Akatsuki?"
Yugito leaned lazily against a nearby tree, thought it over, and then repeated the intelligence Akira had given her.
After all, Samui did seem to know him pretty well. And Yugito wanted to hear what Kumogakure's resident strategist thought of it.
By the time she finished, Samui was visibly shaken. Even her usual ice-mask couldn't hide it.
"The Akatsuki's strength... it's really that terrifying?"
"If what he said is accurate, then the Akatsuki's total combat power isn't weaker than any of the Great Villages. In terms of top-end strength, they may actually surpass them."
"He named six fighters at Kage level just offhand, and several others haven't even appeared yet. Those are probably monsters of the same class. Looking across the entire ninja world, what village could field that many Kage-level fighters at once?"
"And they're collecting Tailed Beasts on top of it all. We still don't know why, but if those living weapons ever get turned loose on a battlefield, it would be a catastrophe for the entire world."
The more Samui thought about it, the colder she felt.
As for whether Akira's information was true, she found herself believing it almost automatically.
Yugito looked at her and frowned. "You trust what he said that easily? Doesn't any of this strike you as strange? Why would he tell me something that important in the first place?"
"I don't buy that he was just feeling charitable. There has to be some hidden motive."
Even after the trust he'd earned in battle, Yugito still couldn't make sense of it.
They weren't family. They weren't even from the same village. In fact, they came from rival ones. So what exactly was he after?
As an experienced ninja, she was never going to be naïve enough to simply accept everything at face value.
Samui thought for a moment, then looked at Yugito and said, "Maybe he really does just admire you. The way that guy thinks jumps all over the place. Nobody can ever fully tell what's going on in his head. But my instincts say he wasn't lying about the intel."
Yugito suddenly let out a quiet sigh, her eyes turning teasing.
"Why are you so quick to trust him? Did I actually guess right? Have you fallen for him?"
Samui froze for a very obvious moment. Then her brows drew together, and her voice sharpened.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about? He's from Konoha. I'm from Kumogakure. How would that even work? I'm just judging based on instinct and on what I know of him. He has absolutely no reason to lie to you about something like this."