System Activated!

Light.

Other than that, there was nothing.

No up or down, no left or right, no measure of time passing.

The weight of his body vanished.

The feeling in his hands and feet vanished.

Even the sound of his heartbeat was swallowed by that endless white light.

Xuan Shi's consciousness floated in the void.

He felt as if he had become a thin speck of light, like a mote of dust drifting in the torrent of the universe.

But he was not lost.

"Behind" him, thousands of tiny blue lights followed close. They gathered into a glowing river, winding through the chaos.

Those were the souls of the entire Uchiha clan.

They were Fugaku's resolve, Yashiro's fury, Itachi's remorse, Mikoto's motherly love, and... Akane's hope.

The weight of thousands of souls now pressed down on the shoulders of him, the sole navigator.

"So this is... the gap in time?"

Xuan Shi's consciousness rippled.

On his retina, that familiar blue panel had become the only clear existence in this void.

Only now, it had turned a blinding bloodred.

[Warning! High-dimensional causal resistance detected!]

[Time turbulence intensity: SSS rank.]

[Shield integrity: 85%... dropping rapidly.]

['Family Prosperity' must be burned to maintain passage stability!]

The white light around him began to warp.

In the once pure space, black cracks split open one after another. Purple lightning lashed out from the cracks like whips, the killing intent of the time turbulence made manifest.

If even a single bolt grazed them, their souls would instantly be reduced to ash.

"Burn!"

Xuan Shi let out a furious roar in his consciousness.

On the panel, the remaining number "5" suddenly ignited.

It was no longer a cold number, but turned into a tangible golden flame.

Flames surged out, forming a vast golden dome of light around him and the river of souls behind him.

Crackle!

The purple lightning whipped against the dome, spraying golden sparks across the sky.

The dome shook violently, groaning under the unbearable burden, but in the end it did not shatter.

With the force of that burning power, the river of souls abruptly accelerated, like a golden arrow piercing through the chaos before them.

Their speed grew faster and faster.

The scenery around them began to turn bizarre and dazzling.

It was no longer monotonous white light, but countless flowing images.

That was history playing in reverse.

Through the dome, Xuan Shi saw the scenes outside flashing past at high speed.

He saw the ruins of Naka Shrine.

Countless shattered stones flew back into the dome against gravity, cracks healed, and smoke and dust retreated underground.

Thousands of corpses lying on the ground sat back up, blood flowed back into veins, and wounds healed. The deathly pallor on their faces dispersed, and they returned to that night filled with hope and resolve.

The images continued to reverse.

He saw the masked man—Obito.

Obito's figure flew backward under the moonlight, the spatial vortex spinning in reverse and spitting him out.

He saw Itachi.

The blade in Itachi's hand pulled out of Xuan Shi's chest, and blood flew back into his body. Itachi walked backward into the darkness, his gaze shifting from resolve back to confusion.

He saw Akane.

The little girl who had fallen in a pool of blood stood up again, the wound on her neck disappearing. She ran backward into Xuan Shi's arms, a smile blooming on her face once more.

The scene stabbed into Xuan Shi's soul.

"Wait for me..."

He murmured in his heart, Your big brother is taking you home now.

The images flickered by so fast they blurred into a single line.

Shisui flew up from the rushing waters of the Naka River and returned to the cliff's edge.

The Nine-Tails' massive body ravaged the Hidden Leaf Village, then shrank, pulled by golden chains and sealed back into Kushina Uzumaki's body.

The figure of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, flashed past, a golden flash carving a reverse arc through the night.

Time was flowing backward.

Cause and effect were being rewritten.

Every second, they crossed countless days and nights.

[Warning! Family Prosperity about to be exhausted!]

[Remaining: 1.5... 1.0... 0.5...]

The system's cold notification sounded like a death knell.

The golden dome began to thin, turning transparent, and even cracks appeared across it.

The time turbulence outside seemed to sense the weakness of its prey and slammed into the shield even more frantically.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each impact sent a tearing agony through Xuan Shi's consciousness.

It was as if someone were sawing at his nerves with a dull saw.

But he could not stop.

Once he stopped, he would be lost in this endless river of time, turning into a wandering ghost.

[Remaining: 0]

As the last drop of fuel was exhausted, the golden dome completely shattered, scattering into specks of starlight.

Whoosh—!

The violent space-time hurricane poured in instantly.

"Ah!!!"

Xuan Shi's consciousness let out a scream.

The sensation was like being skinned and thrown into salt water, and like being tossed into a meat grinder to be crushed over and over.

The river of souls behind him also began to churn violently, and some of the light points at the edges even started showing signs of collapse.

"Stay... steady!"

Xuan Shi crushed teeth that did not exist.

He forcibly gathered his consciousness, like an eagle protecting its young, spreading out his spiritual power and guarding the clansmen behind him with all his might.

The system panel flickered in and out amid the storm.

A complicated star chart unfolded before his eyes.

Countless points of light flickered on the star chart. They were different points in time.

Some were dim, some were bright.

He had to find that point.

The turning point of all the tragedies.

The anchor point that could let the Uchiha be reborn.

"Where is it..."

Xuan Shi's consciousness searched through the storm.

The agony blurred his perception, but he still fixed his gaze on that star chart.

He found it.

Deep in the star chart, a red point of light was pulsing rhythmically.

[Target anchor point search complete.]

[Time coordinate: Konoha Year 47.]

[Location coordinate: Land of Fire · Hidden Leaf Village · Uchiha Clan Compound.]

[Target compatibility: 100%.]

That was it!

One year before the Nine-Tails' Attack!

The Fourth Hokage was still alive!

Shisui was still alive!

Itachi had not yet joined the Anbu!

It was an era filled with variables, and filled with hope.

[Final world barrier remains before target.]

[Power depleted. Impact will rely entirely on inertia.]

['Memory Overwrite' and 'Soul Fusion' about to begin. The past 'self' will receive the memories of the future. Execute?]

The system confirmation box popped up, blocking the very center of his vision.

Xuan Shi looked at that red button.

There was no hesitation at all.

Even if a mountain of blades and a sea of fire lay ahead, it would still be ten thousand times better than that future doomed to destruction.

"Execute!"

He roared in his consciousness, "Get us... in there!!!"

Boom—!!!

The river of souls was like a maddened dragon, slamming viciously toward that red point of light.

No slowing down.

No holding back.

This was a suicidal charge across time and space.

Thud!

At the instant of impact.

The world seemed to stop.

Immediately after, there came a crisp shattering sound.

It was the sound of the world barrier breaking.

Blinding white light erupted again, instantly swallowing Xuan Shi's consciousness.

The feeling of weightlessness vanished.

Replacing it was a gravity so heavy it made him want to vomit.

It was as if countless hands had seized his ankles and were dragging him down from the clouds to the earth.

Falling.

Falling madly.

The howling of wind reached his ears. It was the sound of air friction.

His consciousness began to blur, and darkness surged in from all sides, trying to drag him into the abyss of sleep.

He could not sleep.

He still had to confirm... he still had to confirm whether they had truly arrived...

Xuan Shi desperately widened his "eyes."

In the final second before his consciousness sank completely into darkness, he saw a familiar stretch of green.

It was Konoha's forest.

It was... home.

"Zhi liao—zhi liao—"

Cicadas.

Their cries rose and fell, tireless.

It was the sound unique to midsummer, noisy, yet brimming with vitality.

The wind blew through the leaves, making a soft rustle.

From far away came the tinkling sound of a wind chime swaying.

Xuan Shi sucked in a sharp breath.

His lungs opened like bellows, greedily devouring the air.

There was a smell.

It was no longer the stench of blood, nor the smell of scorching.

It was the scent of bedding baked in the sun, the fresh fragrance of earth, and a faint trace of mosquito coil.

It was the smell of being alive.

"Huff... huff..."

Xuan Shi shot upright from the tatami.

Cold sweat had soaked through his pajamas, sticking wetly to his back.

His heart pounded violently in his chest, thud, thud, thud, as if it were about to smash through his ribs and leap out.

He gasped for breath, staring blankly around him.

A familiar room.

A wooden ceiling, the fan-shaped clan crest hanging on the wall, ninja tool pouches piled in the corner.

And outside the window, sunlight so bright it was almost dazzling.

This place was...

Xuan Shi raised a trembling hand.

It was a pair of young hands.

No calluses left from gripping a blade on the Night of Clan Extermination, no scars torn open by chains when he tried to save his younger sister.

The fingers were long and slender, the skin taut, filled with the vitality of youth.

He was still alive.

Not only alive, but... young again.

He threw off the blanket, not even bothering to put on his shoes, and rushed barefoot to the window.

He pushed it open.

A wave of heat rushed into his face.

People came and went on the street.

No corpses.

No blood.

No ruins.

The old woman selling dango was smiling as she gave a customer change.

A few children chased and roughhoused in the street with bug nets in hand.

Patrol members of the Police Force walked past, backs straight, pride on their faces, not that gloomy look of being isolated.

Everything was so peaceful.

So peaceful it even felt a little unreal, like a dream he might wake from at any moment.

Xuan Shi gripped the window frame tightly, his nails digging into the wood.

Tears welled up without warning.

He was back.

He had really come back.

He had not died on that despairing night, had not become prey for Obito and Danzo.

Carrying the hopes of his entire clan, he had crossed the torrent of time and crawled back to this shore where everything could still be salvaged.

Ding.

A crisp notification rang out in his mind.

The belated system interface slowly unfolded.

[Arrived at destination.]

[Current time: June 15, Konoha Year 47.]

[Location: Uchiha Clan Compound.]

[Entire clan soul regression... successful.]

[Detected that memory fusion for the entire clan is currently in progress. Estimated completion within 24 hours.]

Xuan Shi looked at that line of text, and the corners of his mouth slowly rose.

His smile grew wider and wider, until at last it became soundless, wild laughter.

He turned and looked at the calendar hanging on the wall.

Konoha Year 47.

There were still four months until the Nine-Tails' Attack.

Shisui was still alive.

The Fourth Hokage was still alive.

The chessboard had been reset.

But this time, the one playing the game had changed.

"Obito, Danzo."

Xuan Shi looked at the azure sky outside the window, a chilling cold light flashing in his eyes.

"Since I'm back,"

"your nightmare... begins now."