Chapter 14

He siphoned a bit of Shukaku's source chakra, implanted it into one of his clones, then tossed the clone into a special space—the Flying Thunder God Space.

He had unlocked this space after training the Flying Thunder God Technique to level five. It was not very large, just a cube one hundred meters long, wide, and high. Most of the shadow clones he had made were holed up there, grinding skill proficiency.

After taking care of that, Uchiha Yi had nothing to do.

It was worth mentioning that the Third Hokage had called him over earlier for the Chunin Exams. The difference was that he would not need to take the exam—he could be promoted straight to chunin.

It might be peacetime now, but there were always exceptions.

After returning from the Land of Waves, Uchiha Yi had revealed another portion of his strength. After much deliberation, the Third Hokage decided to promote him to chunin ahead of schedule. That was mainly what he had called him over to discuss.

So the Chunin Exams had nothing to do with him anymore. As long as the Third Hokage assigned him a promotion mission, he would officially become a chunin.

When it came down to it, Uchiha Yi still could not decide how to deal with the old Third Hokage.

Save him, or not?

Lately, he had been focused on raising the Flying Thunder God Technique's level, so the Extreme Sharingan had indeed been neglected. Even so, reaching level five before the Konoha Crush Plan began was a certainty.

Level five meant the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

By then, his strength would be genuinely formidable.

Well, at least during the early part of the story.

So if he was willing to intervene, keeping the old Third Hokage alive would not be difficult.

But...

Whenever he recalled what had happened on the night of the clan massacre, a thorn would lodge itself in Uchiha Yi's heart. He always felt an indescribable discomfort toward the Third Hokage. That was why he had been unable to make up his mind. Forget it. I can't be bothered to think about it. I'll decide when the time comes.

Uchiha Yi simply shoved those troubles aside, rolled over, and went to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Uchiha Yi, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly opened his eyes.

Someone was here. "Who is it? Since you're here, get out," he said coldly. "Heh, Uchiha Yi, you really do have some skill."

A figure emerged from the dark corner—a masked man dressed entirely in black. "Who are you? What do you want?"

Seeing the man's outfit, Uchiha Yi already had a rough idea. "You don't need to know who I am. You only need to understand that you'd best come with me obediently. Otherwise—"

Whoosh!

Before he could finish, Uchiha Yi flashed directly in front of him and grinned. "Hey, little rat. Let me take you somewhere nice."

Whoosh!

In a flash of light, Uchiha Yi dragged the masked man away with him.

When the two reappeared, they were already in a mountain forest far from the village.

The masked man was somewhat dazed, but he immediately leaped backward. "Flying Thunder God Technique? You actually know the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

After retreating to the side, the masked man's voice was filled with shock. "That scared you? Then what about this?"

"Y-you... your eyes?"

The masked man was nearly losing his mind.

He was no ordinary person—an elite jonin and one of Danzo's finest subordinates, with considerable strength even among the best.

Thus, when he caught sight of the three tomoe in Uchiha Yi's eyes suddenly merging into a five-pointed star pattern, he immediately understood—everyone had been played by Uchiha Yi. "Mangekyo... Sharingan?"

The masked man's voice was dry, as if squeezed from his throat.

Uchiha Yi said nothing, but his eyes were answer enough.

Yet that answer only made the masked man more determined to kill him. "Earth Release Barrier: Earth Prison Dome."

Rumble—

The ground violently shook as layers of earth surged up, sealing Uchiha Yi in on all sides like a birdcage.

The masked man did not spare it even a second glance. The instant he cast the Earth Release, he turned and fled for his life.

The Flying Thunder God Technique was bad enough, but Uchiha Yi had even awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?

This was not something he could possibly face head-on.

Wait... Flying Thunder God?

Something suddenly flashed through his mind, and the masked man's expression changed drastically.

Whoosh!

What he feared came true—his vision merely blurred for an instant before Uchiha Yi's figure blocked his path. "Yo, we meet again."

Uchiha Yi's lips curled slightly, his smile faint.

The Flying Thunder God Technique: Level 5 (652/1000000), an S-rank space-time ninjutsu and a type of Body Flicker Technique. Enhanced by the Extreme Sharingan, it had risen to a super S-rank space-time ninjutsu.

At its current fifth level, he could directly mark Flying Thunder God formulas without requiring any specific tools.

Moreover, there was no limit to the number of marks.

Uchiha Yi himself had marked several hundred Flying Thunder God formulas and was still nowhere near the limit.

Damn it, there was no escape!

The masked man gritted his teeth and gave up on running. "Earth Release: Heavenly Clayfall."

A different space suddenly tore open above Uchiha Yi, and massive quantities of clay poured down.

But before the masked man could form the hand seals for Fire Release, Uchiha Yi's counterattack had already arrived. "Fire Release: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"

Four enormous fire dragons shot into the sky, not only blasting the clay into nothingness, but directly burning away the other space as well. "Damn it!"

The masked man cursed angrily and rapidly formed hand seals, intending to cast another technique.

But Uchiha Yi had already had enough. "Amaterasu."

A mass of black flames suddenly erupted over the masked man's body. "Aaaah—"

The masked man screamed miserably, but there was nothing he could do.

Only after Amaterasu had reduced him completely to ashes did Uchiha Yi use the Mangekyo Sharingan to extinguish the black flames.

If left alone, that damn thing could burn straight through the entire ground. "Hm? Have they arrived?"

As though he had sensed something, Uchiha Yi flashed away. The Flying Thunder God activated, and in the blink of an eye, he was back home.

A short while later, several figures arrived at the scene—they were ANBU. "There are signs of battle."

"Residual Fire Release and Earth Release chakra. The power was substantial. The clash was at the jonin level."

The ANBU swept their eyes across the area and quickly reached a conclusion. "Yo, we meet again."

Uchiha Yi's lips curled up, and his tone carried a hint of casual irreverence.

The Flying Thunder God Technique, current level: 5 (652/1000000). It had originally been an S-rank space-time ninjutsu that required special marks to use. But after being enhanced by the Extreme Sharingan, it had surged straight to super S-rank.

Now, he no longer needed kunai talismans as a medium. Wherever he went, he could leave marks.

The key was that there was no limit to their number.

He had casually thrown down several hundred formulas already, yet he had not felt any sign of reaching the end.

The masked man's heart sank. He was finished—there was no escaping.

Since he could not escape, he would not run. "Earth Release: Heavenly Clayfall!"

A rift suddenly split open above Uchiha Yi's head, like a mouth torn open in midair, and huge clumps of clay came crashing down.

The masked man was about to follow up with Fire Release, hardening the clay to trap his opponent.

But Uchiha Yi gave him no such chance. "Fire Release: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"

Four enormous flaming dragon heads exploded forth with a roar. They not only blasted the clay into powder, but forcibly destroyed the other space overhead as well. "Fuck!"

The masked man ground his teeth and rapidly formed hand seals, still trying to launch another round.

But Uchiha Yi had run out of patience. "Amaterasu."

Black flames flared up directly from the masked man's body. "Aaaah—"

His screams tore through the night sky, but they were useless.

The black flames seemed fused to his bones. No matter how he tried, he could not put them out.

Only after the man had been burned completely into a pile of ash did Uchiha Yi activate his Mangekyo Sharingan and withdraw Amaterasu.

If he did not, this entire forest would burn to the ground.

Having just finished, he suddenly frowned. "They're here?"

With a flash, the Flying Thunder God activated, and he was already back home.

Not long afterward, several black figures landed on the devastated battlefield.

They were Konoha ANBU. "There are signs of battle."

"There are remnants of both Fire Release and Earth Release. The power was considerable. It should have been a clash between at least jonin-level fighters."

The few men crouched down and examined the ground for a long while, piecing together a rough picture.

But of the two combatants, one had been burned to ash, while the other had not left behind even a single hair.

There was simply nothing to investigate.

When the news reached the Third Hokage, the old man considered it for a while and assumed it was merely a private grudge between ninja from other villages who had come to participate in the Chunin Exams.

He only instructed the ANBU to keep a closer watch and did not take it too seriously.

But in some dark corner beneath Konoha, someone thought otherwise. "Kunin is dead?"

A trace of unreadable light flashed through Danzo's lone eye. "Who did it? Anyone capable of killing Kunin would have to be at least an elite jonin, and one of the very best."

"Was it deliberate? Or merely a coincidence?"

"Or could it be... connected to that sinner, Uchiha Yi?"

He wanted to send Root personnel to investigate further, but the ANBU had already increased their patrols. If Root made a move now, they could easily expose themselves. "Forget it. We'll discuss it after the Chunin Exams."

Danzo's voice was low, as though squeezed from his throat.

After speaking, his figure withdrew into the darkness once more, as if he had never been there at all.

But he did not know that someone had already marked down this debt.

Uchiha Yi sat in his living room, a cold smile on his lips. "Damn it, that old fox Danzo is still keeping his eye on me?"

"What the hell did I ever do to him?"

"He even sent an elite jonin after me. He really thinks highly of me."

"Fine. Just wait."

He sneered, already forming a plan.

This time, when Orochimaru carried out the Konoha Crush Plan, he absolutely would not let the Third Hokage die so easily.

On second thought, the old man could not die yet.

The Third Hokage had a favorable impression of him. Uchiha Yi knew that perfectly well.

He understood better than anyone just how terrible the Uchiha Clan's reputation was in Konoha Village. If the Third Hokage died and Tsunade took office, his small frame might not be able to withstand the Senju Clan's old grudge against the Uchiha Clan.

Who in the ninja world did not know about the mess between the Senju and the Uchiha?

"Looks like I need to keep the Third Hokage alive first."

"The priority now is to raise my Sharingan another level and obtain the Eternal Mangekyo."

Having made up his mind, Uchiha Yi began grinding the Sharingan's level in earnest. It was at this critical moment that the Chunin Exams began as scheduled.

The preliminaries eliminated a batch of people, and the first written test had just finished collecting papers.

The second stage followed immediately. "Not bad. I made it in time."

He muttered softly, and the panel only he could see appeared in his mind.

Host: Uchiha Yi