After the meal, Yun Xi stopped dwelling on the rewards the system had offered earlier.
Ichiraku Ramen really was delicious!
But!
That was absolutely not the main reason Yun Xi had chosen to return to the village.
After all, looking at the rewards offered by the two choices, a training scroll for the Three Body Technique wasn't enough to make Yun Xi choose to defect from the village!
Yun Xi didn't want to become a big shot in the Ninja World, only to be asked why he had defected from Konoha and answer, "I did it just to get a training method for the Three Body Technique..."
Whether anyone would believe him was beside the point.
Just imagining that scene made Yun Xi feel embarrassed!
Besides, Konoha might not be perfect, but was Yun Xi the sort of person to casually abandon his own choices?
A mere training method for the Three Body Technique wasn't enough to make Yun Xi betray Konoha!
Of course, that still wasn't the main reason.
The real reason...
Yun Xi didn't dare defect from Konoha right now...
Never mind that Yun Xi was unarmed.
He had no money...
He couldn't use any ninjutsu...
And he had no pretty girls around...(crossed out!)
Even if he had all those things,
he still wouldn't choose to become a heartless rogue ninja.
After all...
Yun Xi remembered that, in the original Naruto story, it seemed like no rogue ninja had a good ending...
Never mind the Akatsuki, that den of rogue ninjas.
Even Zabuza Momochi and Haku, the early villains, had absolutely miserable deaths.
And then there was Uchiha Itachi...
Orochimaru...
They both seemed to have ended up badly...
"Doesn't Ichiraku Ramen taste good?"
After thinking it over, Yun Xi silently reassured himself, while also studying the system he had acquired to figure out what it could do.
An hour later, Yun Xi finally understood how this so-called Choice System worked...
Whenever Yun Xi encountered a pivotal situation, the Choice System would appear automatically and offer an appropriate reward based on the choice he made.
As for the quality of the rewards...
That was generally determined by how serious the situation Yun Xi faced was.
But...
It seemed Yun Xi wasn't the one who decided whether a situation was serious. The system made that judgment.
Take the two choices Yun Xi had faced earlier, for example.
One had asked Yun Xi to choose where he would transmigrate.
The other had asked him to choose his path of growth in the Naruto world.
Yun Xi thought both choices were very important, but judging from the rewards the system had offered,
they didn't seem all that important...
"Forget it. I'll stop thinking about this for now!"
After failing to figure it out despite all that effort, Yun Xi stopped dwelling on it and started walking toward Konoha.
Although he had already figured out that he had transmigrated into the Naruto world and was just outside Konoha Village, there was still one major problem he hadn't resolved.
He had no idea what period of the Naruto story he was in!
Yun Xi considered himself a bit of a Naruto fan. He knew some of the story, from the First Shinobi World War through Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.
But that didn't mean he didn't care about the timeline he was in!
The Ninja World during the First Shinobi World War was completely different from the one at the beginning of the original story!
In the former, the Five Great Shinobi Villages hadn't even been established yet, and the world was extremely dangerous.
In the latter, the villages still schemed against one another, but they showed some restraint. Compared with the earlier timeline, it was much safer.
At the very least, Yun Xi hoped he'd transmigrated into the timeline at the start of the original story.
First, he could use his knowledge of the future to buy himself time to grow stronger.
Second, he didn't want to start off with the world falling apart around him and a hell-difficulty beginning on top of that...
"Great!"
After walking along a path at the edge of the forest for more than ten minutes, Yun Xi began breathing heavily from the exertion.
But that didn't dampen his joy!
Through a gap in the lush, dense forest, Yun Xi finally caught sight of the outskirts of Konoha Village.
He could also see the Hokage statues towering over the highest point in the village!
There were four in all.
They were:
The First, Senju Hashirama.
The Second, Senju Tobirama.
The Third, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
Seeing the four Hokage statues eased Yun Xi's anxiety.
At least he could tell that he was probably in a timeline after the Third Shinobi World War. Otherwise, the statue of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, wouldn't be up on Kage Rock!
"If that's the case, I can live with it..."
After figuring out roughly when he was, Yun Xi smiled and continued toward Konoha. But just as he reached the Konoha Gate, a black figure suddenly appeared!
"Whoosh!"
Before Yun Xi could react, a kunai glinting with a sharp, cold light shot toward him. The attacker gave him no chance to respond!
He darted behind Yun Xi, caught the kunai he had just thrown, and held Yun Xi in place...
"Who are you, and why have you been loitering around Konoha?"
The voice was clear and youthful, cold, yet carrying a distinctive hint of killing intent. In his previous life, Yun Xi had only been a shut-in.
He had never encountered anything like this!
Still, Yun Xi didn't panic too much. He silently suppressed his fear, tried to forget the sharp kunai pressed against his neck, and slowly turned around to explain himself.
But the instant Yun Xi turned,
the person behind him caught him completely by surprise!
Black hair, a Konoha Forehead Protector, and a solemn expression...
Uchiha Itachi!
And he was still Uchiha Itachi before defecting from Konoha!
"How did I run into Uchiha Itachi here..."
After encountering Uchiha Itachi, Yun Xi could more or less confirm that he was in the period before the Uchiha Clan massacre.
In other words, a few years before the Naruto story began.
But...
Yun Xi was still surprised.
A trace of confusion appeared on Uchiha Itachi's face, especially when he saw that Yun Xi not only ignored his question but was looking at him strangely.
"I'll ask you one more time. Who are you?"
Uchiha Itachi spoke again to the silent Yun Xi.
At the same time...
Ding! Congratulations, host. You have activated the Choice System—Respond to Uchiha Itachi. {Choice One: Honestly reveal that you're a civilian. Reward: Chakra Extraction Method.} {Choice Two: Make up an excuse to fool Uchiha Itachi, then become a free-spirited rogue ninja. Reward: Uchiha Itachi's Favorability -100.}
Before you continue