"Oh? So, you do recognize greatness," Jiraiya smirked.
"This jogged my memories. Didn't expect to see you here." Akeru paused.
Then he added the man's identity:
"Ex-Captain of the Green Praying Mantises."
"O—Huh?" Jiraiya blinked, pen in hand, clearly confused.
"Hmm?"
"Never mind. Makes sense you'd only know me as that."
"What do you mean? Do you have another identity?" Akeru tilted his head, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Hehe, I am an author," Jiraiya said, pulling out a small book.
"Make Out Tactics." Akeru read the title with a frown.
'So, he is from the Naruto-verse. At least it's equivalent. Wait, does that mean there are some other characters from different worlds here?'
"It seems you recognise this book. You are in your youth, so I won't be surprised if you have read this book. Do you want an autograph?"
"Nope. I am good." Akeru smirked inwardly at the old man's crumbling expression.
'No way I'm letting him win this one.'
"Anyway, thoughts about my Rasengan?" Jiraiya changed the subject.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's great, right?"
Akeru smirked. "Not bad." He stretched out his right hand, a Rasengan formed above it.
"H-How?" Jiraiya's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"It's quite easy with my level of mana control. It was a challenge a few years back when I reverse-engineered it."
"You reverse-engineered it? Just from a description?" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he looked at the boy in suspicion.
"Yes. I even upgraded it. Watch."
The mana sphere, while rotating, now started vibrating.
"Amazing." Jiraiya understood the mechanics of the spell at a glance.
It was an offensive upgrade of Rasengan.
Jiraiya suddenly despaired. A kid not even a quarter his age could not only re-create his technique but also upgrade it to heights he wouldn't be able to reach any time soon.
"It's okay, old man. Everyone has their own journey. You should focus on your own." Akeru patted the crouching old man's shoulder with barely hidden glee.
He used the same words the old man had used on him a few moments ago.
"Tch", Jiraiya clicked his tongue while standing again.
He won't let a startup brat ruin his mood.
If only Jiraiya knew that Akeru had achieved the same feat before he reached 12 years old, then...
"Old Man, though I would love to chat with you more, I need to leave as I need to continue my investigation.
"Is that so? What exactly is happening? Is this four-leaf guy our enemy? What about his prowess? Can I do something to help?" Though Jiraiya had retired, he didn't mind doing some fun stuff every once in a while.
Plus, he still had a lot of adoration for his home country.
"Your old bones aren't ready anymore for this kind of stuff. You have already done enough. Just relax in your last days."
Akeru didn't wait for Jiraiya's reply as he instantly bolted.
"Youngsters these days, they have no respect." Jiraiya shook his head as he walked back and sat on his chair.
He took out a communicator and dialed a number.
"Julius?"
"Yeah, it's been a while."
"I am fine. What about you?"
"I actually have some questions for you."
---
Time- Around one week since Akeru confronted Noel.
"I finally found it! The solution!" An excited voice came from the other side of the communicator.
"What did you find?" A monotone voice asked.
"The tracking part. I just need to somehow use my mana to find other people's mana that match their physical characteristics from my memory. A person's mana tells a lot of things about their physical body." Finral rambled about a lot of things he had learned recently.
"How long?" Akeru interrupted him.
"Huh?"
"How long until you are done with the creation of this spell?"
"Well... I haven't delved into something remotely close to this... so..." Finral felt ashamed, making excuses.
"How about comparing this with your already existing spell?"
"Meaning?"
"I mean, your current spell could already use a place in your memory as an anchor, right? How about you analyze that first and then try to do that for a person. That would be transferable, right?"
"...Right, I forgot that I was trying to create a spell using that as a base." The amount of embarrassment Finral felt currently couldn't be described in words.
He had become one with embarrassment.
'My senpai image is shattered, hasn't it?'
"Anyway, I will wait for the good news." Akeru cut off the call.
He then deactivated 'Bystander's Indifference' and turned on the stopwatch.
A similar scene to what had happened a few days before played.
However, unlike last time, which resulted in Akeru hyperventilating, this time, that didn't happen.
"Oof, now that was something. I am so close to becoming normal again." Akeru smiled as he clenched his palm into a fist.
CRUNCH
The stopwatch turned into dust, seeping out of Akeru's palm.
He doesn't need the stopwatch anymore, as he can function normally when not interacting with any of the people from that dream.
...
"Wait... Why did I break that thing? It was a gift from Mimosa! She's going to kill me!" A panicked expression appeared on Akeru's face.
He crouched and looked at the stopwatch—whatever was remaining of it.
Akeru racked his brain for a solution.
"Ahem."
Akeru's entire figure froze as he heard somebody clear his throat from behind him.
"Did I come at the wrong time?"
"N-No. This... is nothing. You saw nothing, heard nothing, right?" Akeru narrowed his eyes as he turned back and looked at a black-haired individual who smiled wryly.
"My lips are tight, Boss. Mimosa-san won't know that you broke the stopwatch she gifted you."
Akeru's lips twitched as he heard Ren's teasing tone.
"Yeah, she must not know. Otherwise..."
"Jeez. You should look at yourself in the mirror. People would shit their pants if they see somebody giving them a look like that. Lucky for you that I am your brave subordinate."
"Very Brave. So brave that for a second I thought you changed positions with Erza." Akeru deadpanned.
"I still have a long way before I reach her level of bravery."
"I wonder about that. Anyway, it seems your brief time in your new position has made some changes in you. Some interesting changes."
"Boss, I was just pulling your leg. You need to become a bit more shameless when dealing with shameless people." Ren innocently whistled.
"Are you trying to say that I am shameless?"
"Yes."
"You clearly me-, Wait, you agreed?" Akeru didn't believe what he heard.
"Yup. I agree that you are shameless." Ren said while looking him in the eye, as if daring Akeru to refuse his words.
"Tch, I indeed am. Anyway, let's get to the business, are you done with that array?" Akeru quickly changed the topic, not wanting to make Ren admit more things that he doesn't want to admit.
Also, being shameless is a thing to be proud of, not an insult... At least, that's what Akeru said to himself.
Ren's mood shifted. "Though, I don't exactly know why are doing this, I would like to tell you that people from church of Malgeth are... unhinged, if not directly batshit crazy."
"Unfortunately, I need to do this for a mission. This is the only way to gather more information." Akeru said with a sigh.
He'd rather be home, training and getting stronger.
Yet here he was, digging for intel on some random guy.
'No, this is a serious matter. I am the only one with the correct skill set to do this. Plus, what I am going to do now is kind of fun too. So, it is not entirely bad.'
"Well, I won't ask you about the details, but I have already warned you." Ren sighed as his right palm got covered in a blue hue.
He pressed his palm to Akeru's chest.
A rune array started forming inside Akeru's body.
"Thanks. I wouldn't have been able to make it without your help." Akeru said while mimicking the exact patterns Ren was showing him.
Drawing a rune inside someone else was even harder than doing it on yourself.
Akeru could do the former and was exactly doing that while following the instructions Ren was showing him.
Akeru didn't have the expertise to create such a rune array currently, so he took Ren's help.
"Done. Here are the details on how you would maintain it, but for your use case, that would not be needed...probably." Ren handed Akeru a paper, which the latter put in his bag after glancing at it.
"Thanks! Let me try it."
'Bystander's Magic: Silent Nobody.'
***
A/n- Guys, unfortunately, we didn't reach the PS goal. I guess that was due to only giving 3 days. So, I am giving you till Sunday to reach 100 Powerstones this time.
***
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