Chapter 13

Tch, forget it. He could dump this headache on the Hokage to figure out himself.

Seeing Kakashi's completely unconcerned attitude, the Third knew he had asked for nothing.

After this meeting, he had finally seen it clearly—Uchiha Yi really was a good kid.

But the problem was, this kid's aspirations were a little too unconventional, weren't they?

He wanted Hinata to be his wife?

Having something like this land in his lap was more troublesome than fighting a war.

Forget it. The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became.

At Ichiraku Ramen, Uchiha Yi was still mulling over what had just happened at the Hokage Building. The more he thought about it, the wider his grin became.

He had been telling the truth, but when the old man heard about his "great ambition," his face had probably turned green, right?

Served him right. The old geezer had insisted on testing him. If he did not give the Third something to worry about, he would be letting himself down. "Yi, what are you smiling about?"

Her voice was soft, melting into the air like cotton candy.

The one speaking was the girl Uchiha Yi had just proudly declared he would marry in front of the Third—Hinata Hyuga.

Uchiha Yi had forcibly changed the way she addressed him, making her stop calling him "-kun" and call him only "Yi."

For the difference of that one word, Hinata had practiced for three years before she could say it naturally.

Even then, it was still as quiet as a mosquito's buzz.

When they left the Hokage Building, they happened to run into Hinata, who had just turned in a mission. Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame were with her.

So the group headed into Ichiraku Ramen together.

No one knew when it had started, but this little shop had become the gathering place for students of their class.

Uchiha Yi could not explain it himself. Naruto probably started it.

Still, Ichiraku's ramen was genuinely good.

After eating it for so many years, he had never gotten tired of it. "Ah, nothing. I was just talking to Grandpa Third about something important concerning the rest of my life." Uchiha Yi tossed out the line, half serious and half joking. "Something important for the rest of your life? **, Uchiha Yi, don't tell me you've taken a fancy to some girl and asked the Third to propose on your behalf?"

The only person who could say something like that was Kiba Inuzuka, whose nerves were thicker than water pipes. "Woof!" Akamaru howled along from beside him. "P-Propose? Yi, is that true?"

Hinata froze completely. "Hinata, don't listen to Kiba's nonsense. Yi is only thirteen. What proposal? That's impossible."

Shino Aburame rarely said anything so sensible.

Although Uchiha Yi's "something important for the rest of my life" was not much different from Kiba Inuzuka's nonsense.

But seeing Hinata visibly relax, Uchiha Yi did not keep pressing the matter. "Mm, Shino gets it. Sure enough, you're just like that idiot Naruto—you speak without thinking. A proposal? I can't believe you even came up with that."

"Still, Ichiraku Ramen really does taste unbeatable."

Uchiha Yi smacked his lips. After eating it for all these years, he had never grown tired of it. "Uh, it was nothing. I just ran into the old Third and talked about something related to an important matter in my life." He casually tossed out the line, half serious and half joking. "An important matter in your life? Damn, Uchiha Yi, don't tell me you've got your eye on some girl? You want Lord Third to go propose for you?"

The moment those words came out, Kiba's loud mouth immediately started making a fuss. This guy's thought process was just like Naruto's. "Woof!" Akamaru joined in the commotion. "P-Propose? Yi-kun, is that true?" Hinata's face instantly flushed crimson, and even her voice trembled. "Hinata, don't listen to his nonsense. Yi is only thirteen. What proposal? That's completely impossible." Shino rarely said anything useful.

Uchiha Yi glanced at Hinata. Seeing her visibly relax, he did not keep harping on it. "Shino's the sensible one. Kiba, you're exactly like that ** Naruto. You never think before you speak. A proposal? I can't believe you thought of that."

"Damn it! Don't compare me to that idiot Naruto! I'm not like you—uh, fine, since you're treating me to ramen, I'll let it go this time."

Kiba had just jumped up to lose his temper when Akamaru bit his pant leg. Only then did he suddenly come to his senses and hurriedly changed his tune. "You're afraid Yi will beat you up again, aren't you?" Shino added calmly. "Shino, you... Fine. I'm full. I'm leaving."

Kiba could not stay any longer. He turned and left. "Hey, we still have to turn in the mission together!" Shino called out. He nodded at Uchiha Yi, then quickly followed after him. "Yi-kun, I'll be going too." Hinata followed with a red face.

I wasn't even done talking yet.

Uchiha Yi watched the three of them flee into the distance and shook his head speechlessly.

Forget it.

He got up to pay the bill. He had not gone far after leaving when he turned a corner and ran into some excitement.

Naruto and the other two were confronting someone—the people standing across from them were Gaara's group.

Compared with the original story, Sasuke's anger seemed to burn even hotter because of Uchiha Yi's existence. He was restless to the extreme. "Who are you?" Sasuke asked Gaara coldly. "Gaara of the Desert."

Killing intent was already pouring off Gaara. Sasuke's attitude had clearly angered him. "Looks like you've got some skills. Let's fight." The killing intent in Gaara's eyes instead stirred Sasuke's fighting spirit.

Tch, this would not do. If Gaara got carried away, things could become troublesome.

Whoosh!

Just as the two were about to fight, Uchiha Yi stepped in and stood between them. "Hey, hey, don't be so tense, you two. It doesn't look good."

So fast!

Gaara's heart sank. He had not seen how the other person appeared at all. "Hmph!"

Seeing Uchiha Yi come out to smooth things over, Sasuke knew the fight was not happening. He snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Sasuke was still Sasuke.

Uchiha Yi sighed inwardly and was about to leave as well.

But at that moment, a violent killing intent exploded behind him. "You seem strong. What is your name?"

Uchiha Yi turned around. The veins in Gaara's eyes had bulged, and his head began to ache. "Uchiha Yi."

"Uchiha Yi, right? Fine, I'll remember that. Now, lie down!"

"Hey, Gaara!"

"Stop it now!"

Temari and Kankuro's expressions changed as they tried to stop him.

Unfortunately, they were too slow. "Sand Coffin."

Gaara raised his right hand, and yellow sand surged toward Uchiha Yi as if it had come alive. "Tch, what a nuisance."

Uchiha Yi shook his head. The next second, before the flowing sand could even touch the corner of his clothes, he had vanished from where he stood.

When he reappeared, he was right in front of Gaara. "Leaf Whirlwind."

Bang!

His kick landed squarely on Gaara's face.

The Armor of Sand cracked on the spot, and beads of blood seeped from the fissures.

What was going on?

Temari and Kankuro stared wide-eyed, completely stunned. "This is bad, Gaara's bleeding." Temari's voice trembled. "Hahaha... Pain, blood! You really didn't disappoint me. This is the opponent I wanted!"

Gaara's emotions exploded at once, and his body began transforming into sand.

Uchiha Yi frowned. This guy was even crazier than he had imagined. "Die!"

As the words fell, a hand of sand burst from his body and clawed viciously at him. "I didn't want to make this such a big deal. You insisted on asking for a beating, so don't blame me."

Uchiha Yi's gaze darkened. "Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique."

Blazing flames condensed into a giant dragon and smashed the hand of sand apart with a boom.

Boom!

Sand and dust exploded, filling the air with a gray haze.

Using the smoke as cover, Uchiha Yi flashed in front of Gaara, punched him to the ground, then immediately planted a foot on his back.

His eyes snapped open, and the three tomoe spun rapidly.

Mangekyo Sharingan—activate!

He was not targeting Gaara, but the big fellow inside him. "Shukaku, behave yourself!"

This time, Uchiha Yi held nothing back. His ocular power poured straight in.

"Argh! Who the hell are you? How can you..."

A scream erupted from inside Gaara's body, but only Uchiha Yi could hear it.

Gaara had already completely passed out.

As for Shukaku, after taking a fierce blast of his ocular power, its vitality had been damaged. It would not be coming out to cause trouble again anytime soon.

When the dust settled, Temari and Kankuro still stood there dumbfounded, their mouths hanging open.

Uchiha Yi tossed the unconscious Gaara directly at their feet. "The Chunin Exams are your business, but this is Konoha. Outsiders should not get too arrogant."

Back home, Uchiha Yi held a strange ball of chakra in his hand, the corner of his mouth curling upward. "Heh, I actually got it? This was an unexpected bonus."

When he had attacked Shukaku earlier, he had deliberately torn off a piece of chakra from the big tanuki inside Gaara. It was not ordinary chakra, but source energy.

With that cut, Shukaku would forever be missing that portion of its power.

Even better, as long as he used a certain method to plant this chakra into a suitable vessel, Uchiha Yi could completely cultivate a small Shukaku with his abilities.

He was not doing this to gather the tailed beasts and form the Ten-Tails.

Of course, gathering all nine tailed beasts and activating a Sage of Six Paths mode would indeed be powerful. But Uchiha Yi knew perfectly well that if his Extreme Sharingan reached its limit, he would surely awaken a Sage Mode unique to himself.

So why was he still collecting tailed beast chakra?

Pure curiosity.

He wanted to see what kind of thing he could raise by gathering the source energy of all nine tailed beasts, then carefully cultivating it.

He had considered this long ago. Now that he had the strength, naturally he had to test it himself. "Fine, I'll put it in a Shadow Clone Technique first."

Poof!

White smoke burst forth, and a shadow clone appeared before him.

This was no ordinary version. After more than a month of hard training, Uchiha Yi's Super Multiple Shadow Clone Technique had reached level 5.

The higher the level, the more clones he could produce, and the faster his proficiency increased.

Super Multiple Shadow Clone Technique: Level 5 (3000/1000000), Super S-rank ninjutsu. The original version was an A-rank forbidden technique. After being enhanced by the Extreme Sharingan, it no longer had any side effects.

At level 5, he could create 1,000 shadow clones at once, each possessing half the strength of the original body.

At this level, Uchiha Yi had discovered a trick.

The fewer shadow clones he created at once, the closer each one's strength came to that of his original body.

For example, if he made only three, all three shadow clones would possess ninety-five percent of his combat power.

At Uchiha Yi's current level, ninety-five percent was already terrifying enough.

He directly implanted the mass of source chakra he had stripped from Shukaku into this shadow clone.

At level 5, he could create a thousand shadow clones at once, each possessing half his combat power.

After reaching level 5, Uchiha Yi had figured out the trick—if he created fewer clones, each clone's strength would be closer to his original body. For example, if he made only three, those three could each wield ninety-five percent of his original body's power. At Uchiha Yi's current level, ninety-five percent was already terrifying enough.