Akira immediately spotted the mechanism that activated the hidden elevator.
Ever since absorbing Sasori, Akira had become perhaps the most adept individual in the shinobi world when it came to deciphering ancient mechanisms, traps, and seals. The architectural intricacies of the Gelel Empire, once a mystery preserved for generations, now unfolded before him like a children's puzzle.
With a light hook of his foot, Akira triggered the mechanism built into the cylindrical platform. There was a low rumble, and then the entire structure began to shift forward before descending rapidly into the earth. A brief moment of weightlessness washed over him. The sensation was eerily similar to riding an elevator—a rare experience in the shinobi world.
When he reached the bottom, the elevator platform stopped with a quiet thud. Akira stepped off and turned back just in time to watch it rise again, sealing him inside the subterranean chamber. From the design, it was clear there must be a similar mechanism below to return to the surface. But that was a problem for later.
"So this is it," Akira muttered, his voice echoing slightly in the expansive underground vault. "The place where the Gelel ore vein is sealed... and where the Gelel Stones were once forged."
The architecture mirrored the style of the ruins above but was far better preserved. Clearly, this chamber had been constructed with sturdier, more resilient materials. Every wall, every pillar radiated a sense of reverence, as though this place had once been sacred.
Murals lined the chamber, telling the story of the once-mighty Gelel Empire. But Akira only gave them a cursory glance. He wasn't here for history—not yet. His eyes lifted upward, drawn toward the ceiling, where he could faintly sense the energy pulsing from the sealed Gelel ore vein above.
At the very heart of the chamber was a complicated sealing technique. Intrigued, Akira stepped closer and examined it. The intricate patterns shared similarities with the Flying Thunder God Technique, though this one had a singular purpose: banishment. It had the power to open a rift in space-time and cast the entire Gelel ore vein into another dimension. Only those of royal Gelel blood could activate it.
Akira frowned. The Naruto world held many dimensions—some tethered to geography like the Three Great Holy Lands, others lost to mystery, like the realm where Isshiki Otsutsuki kept his second Ten-Tails. Where this rift led, Akira couldn't guess. It wasn't in the Gelel Book, and likely never had been. Such a critical piece of knowledge would be passed down orally, guarded from records that might fall into enemy hands.
Perhaps Haido knew. If needed, Akira could extract the truth from him in time.
On the other end of the chamber, Akira reached out and pressed his palm to the cold stone wall. In response, a console-like stone pillar emerged from the floor. This, he realized, was the true key—the control node that sealed the ore vein and perhaps even forged Gelel Stones.
But it needed something he did not have: the blood of the Gelel royal family.
That was a problem.
The Gelel Empire, though not ancient, had fallen long enough ago that its survivors were scattered, forgotten. According to what Akira could piece together, the empire had likely collapsed during the Warring States Period, before Konoha was ever founded. As the five great nations began employing ninjas en masse, their might outclassed even the warriors imbued with Gelel energy.
The once-glorious Gelel Empire had stood no chance. And as the new world of shinobi rose, the memory of the empire was buried beneath the tides of time.
Of all the people alive now, the only known bearer of Gelel royal blood was Temujin. But Temujin was just a child, likely not even born yet. He lived far away on the Eastern Continent, across oceans and thousands of kilometers.
The East Continent was a land of war and strange technology—computers, engines, and machines that the ninja world lacked. It had advanced quickly through necessity, with no chakra, no jutsu, only invention and war to propel its people forward.
Akira thought of Haido. He was from that distant land, but whether he possessed any royal lineage or even knowledge of it remained unclear. Could Akira even find him, let alone Temujin?
Unlikely.
Akira's expression hardened. There would be no easy path. If the seal couldn't be opened through the royal bloodline, it would have to be broken by force.
But that came with risks.
The energy inside the seal had been collecting for decades, perhaps centuries. Haido once speculated it could destroy half the continent if released suddenly. Akira scoffed. Such claims were likely exaggerations—even a tailed beast's death only created temporary chakra storms.
Still, caution was wise.
He summoned his Susanoo, its full form shimmering into being with its imposing aura and vast wingspan. The mighty construct enveloped both Akira and the puppet Sasori. Through his mental connection, Akira aligned himself with the Flying Thunder God mark he had previously left in Konoha. If things spiraled out of control, he would vanish in an instant.
Taking a deep breath, he formed a Rasengan and drove it into the control pillar.
There was a thunderous boom. The entire chamber trembled as cracks split the ceiling above. From those cracks spilled a radiant blue-green light—the first signs of the unsealed Gelel energy.
Without hesitation, Akira summoned the complete Susanoo once more. The titanic warrior drew its sword, Moon Eclipse, and plunged it into the shattering ceiling above.
The structure gave way.
Stone and dust rained down, but Susanoo held firm, protecting its master. Through the collapsing debris, Akira finally saw the source: the Gelel ore vein itself, or rather, the overwhelming energy it emitted.
The vein was still hidden behind a glowing tide of energy, bright and thick enough to obscure everything. The blue-green chakra-like aura surged forward, engulfing Akira. Susanoo absorbed it, its blade and armor beginning to shimmer with the same vibrant hue.
The energy didn't burn. Instead, it flowed through Akira like warm water. It was like stepping into a hot spring after a brutal winter battle. He could feel every cell in his body greedily drinking in the power, reinvigorated and evolving.
Deep within him, the remnants of Uchiha Kagami's bloodline and the power of Sasori's puppetized body stirred, resonating with the new energy. They had remained dormant until now, awaiting this precise moment.
Akira closed his eyes, breathing slowly, reverently.
"This... this is what it means to touch the legacy of an empire."
Akira felt it the moment the energy flooded his body—a vast, boundless surge of life force, ancient and wild. It coursed through him like a tidal wave, seeping into every cell, every sinew, every corner of his being. It was unlike any chakra he had ever felt. Not just raw power, but the essence of vitality itself.
The overwhelming energy accelerated the absorption of Haku and Sasori's residual physical essence that lingered within him. Bit by bit, their strength merged into his own, until Akira's body pulsed with a newfound resilience. His muscles coiled tighter, his bones hardened, and his senses sharpened as if the veil of human limitation had been torn asunder.
As the life force saturated his form, Akira felt his chakra responding instinctively. It did not expand wildly, but grew denser, more refined—like a warrior honed by a thousand battles. His chakra no longer flowed; it thundered. It rose from 4.5 units to 5, then 6, swelling until it reached 10 units. Then it stopped.
Not because it had reached its limit.
No, it was his body that began to scream in protest. His meridians, once sturdy, now bulged painfully under the pressure. He winced as the torrent of power battered at the thresholds of his endurance. The swelling, the heat, the searing discomfort—he could feel it all.
"Too much... too fast..."
His Susanoo, once obsidian and domineering, began to shimmer with blue-green veins of radiant chakra. It looked like molten ore, raw and untamed, coursing across its armor like rivers of divine energy.
"This power... it's beyond anything I've encountered," Akira muttered. "Even the Tailed Beast Ball from Shukaku wasn't this intense."
The difference was clear now. Shukaku's chakra was finite, tied to his corporeal form. But the Gelel Stone had been sealed away for decades, slowly accumulating power like a ticking time bomb. The sheer concentration of energy—like a Yin Seal formed over centuries—was staggering.
The pressure inside Susanoo began to mount. Its form trembled. The Moon Eclipse sword, once effortlessly absorbing the surplus, now struggled.
Akira narrowed his eyes and shifted the Mangekyo pattern in his eyes. The black Susanoo dissipated into smoke, and from the ground, a white Susanoo erupted upward like a spectral colossus. Radiating an aura of serenity and might, it was majestic, sacred. Even its demonic tengu mask exuded a certain nobility.
The Gelel Stone responded immediately to the change, flaring up again with pulsating light. Akira wasted no time. With a sweep of his hand, he summoned the white Susanoo's sacred artifact: the Hero's Seal. A large, radiant shield emblazoned with a golden sun.
"I remember this design," he whispered with a touch of nostalgia. "It looks just like that shield from the animated movie I watched as a kid..."
He named it then, the Hero's Seal.
Unlike the Moon Eclipse, the Hero's Seal wasn't meant to destroy. It was made to endure. As it met the surface of the Gelel Stone, an immense stream of energy rushed into it, faster than anything the Moon Eclipse could ever manage.
Akira exhaled, a deep, heavy breath of relief as the pressure on his body eased. The Hero's Seal had already absorbed a third of the energy that Moon Eclipse had struggled to contain.
"So much power... but manageable now."
He watched the sacred shield greedily consume the luminous energy. Even if it couldn't absorb all of it, what remained wouldn't be catastrophic.
Then a thought struck him—an unexpected insight. His chakra had strengthened not just in quantity but in quality. The Gelel energy hadn't just empowered his body; it had trained his chakra itself. Made it more resilient, more refined.
He remembered Temujin from the original timeline—how he lost all his abilities without the Gelel Stone. Akira had assumed it was a crutch. But now he saw it differently.
The energy of the Gelel Stone wasn't just a source—it was a catalyst.
"The royal family couldn't use it properly... because they weren't ninjas. Their bodies never learned how to process energy like this."
His thoughts drifted deeper. Chakra, in its essence, was born from natural energy refined by the Ten-Tails. The Gelel Stone had likely formed under the same cosmic process: buried deep underground, pressure and heat condensing energy-rich minerals into a rare, chakra-like ore. Over millennia, it had absorbed nature energy until it became what it was now.
To Akira's chakra-starved cells, it was a feast. A banquet of natural energy.
"No wonder my body reacted like that..."
He felt the residual traces of Sasori's unabsorbed energy within him begin to dissolve. The Gelel energy was metabolizing it, converting it seamlessly into strength. But his chakra, while slightly enhanced, didn't grow by much now.
"There are limits... even for me. Chakra growth has to be gradual. Controlled."
He turned his attention back to the Hero's Seal. It had absorbed almost all of the remaining energy. The mineral veins began to dim, their violent aura subsiding. The sacred seal shimmered with power but showed no sign of overloading like the Moon Eclipse had.
A few more moments passed, and then it was done.
The Gelel vein had stabilized.
Akira finally allowed the Susanoo to dissipate. Instantly, he felt a leaden weight press into his eyes, as if the sheer force of the sealed energy now resided within his own vision.
The discomfort reminded him of Shukaku's seal—but worse. The Gelel energy had no distinct form, no personality or shape to contain it. It was wild and unruly, and it burdened his ocular powers heavily.
"I can't keep this sealed in my eyes," he grimaced. "Not for long. I need a better solution."
He thought of the Uzumaki clan's sealing arts. Though his training had only scratched the surface, Sasori's knowledge of Sunagakure's techniques might offer a temporary fix.
"If I can stabilize it elsewhere, I'll reinforce the seal once I'm stronger."
The light around the Gelel Stone faded completely. At last, Akira gazed upon its true form. No longer blinding, no longer chaotic. Just a beautiful, ancient mineral, glowing faintly in silence—a sleeping god beneath the earth.
Akira stood there in awe, his body still humming from the ordeal. He had survived the fury of the Gelel Vein. No—he had conquered it.
But he knew this was just the beginning.