Finally Home

After seeing Yun Yan finally leave Ichiraku Ramen and completely part ways with Naruto, Kakashi, who had been watching from outside, let out a deep sigh of relief.

Thank goodness. It was just a chance encounter. Thank goodness nothing unexpected happened.

Heaven knew how worried Kakashi had been just now. If Yun Yan had truly gotten involved with Naruto, the aftermath would not have been ordinary trouble.

If Yun Yan had really done something to Naruto, Kakashi felt that all of Konoha might have been thrown into turmoil.

Fortunately, none of Kakashi's worries had come to pass. Thank goodness! Thank goodness!

After repeating thank goodness several times in his heart, Kakashi temporarily stopped paying attention to Naruto inside Ichiraku Ramen. The child would not run into trouble in Konoha.

He still had to continue his mission and keep watch on Uchiha Yunyan.

Thus, after eating and drinking his fill, Yun Yan once again strolled through the streets at an unhurried pace, while Kakashi cautiously kept watch from neither too near nor too far away.

One was fully aware, while the other was cautious and vigilant. Somehow, the two of them formed a strange sort of harmony.

As time passed, Yun Yan had had his fill of wandering around. He left Konoha's bustling commercial district and began heading toward a more remote and quiet area of the village.

Kakashi, following him, could easily guess where Yun Yan was headed in this direction.

Without a doubt, it was the Uchiha Clan compound.

Due to their conflicts with Konoha, as well as their various struggles against Konoha's upper ranks and other clans, the Uchiha Clan had been ostracized, and their compound had been placed in a relatively remote part of Konoha.

That was why Yun Yan grew farther from the crowds and deeper into silence as he headed toward his own clan compound.

After a stretch of quiet seclusion, the land ahead gradually opened up. Houses began appearing in clusters, and more and more people with black hair and black eyes came into view.

This was the Uchiha Clan compound!

Having finally arrived at the Uchiha Clan compound and seen his so-called clansmen, Yun Yan's feelings were somewhat complicated.

He had transmigrated here, and as a soul transmigrator at that. The moment he arrived, the original owner's soul had completely scattered, his consciousness utterly wiped away, vanishing from this world for good.

The only two things the original owner had left behind were this body, which Yun Yan had inherited and taken over perfectly, and all of the original owner's memories, which Yun Yan had also inherited.

Fortunately, Yun Yan possessed all of the original owner's memories. Otherwise, it would have been far too easy for him to give himself away.

Yet even after inheriting all of those memories, Yun Yan still had little sense of belonging as a member of the Uchiha Clan.

On one hand, the original owner had been little more than a nobody within the Uchiha Clan. He had never been valued, had received few benefits from the clan, and thus had not been thoroughly indoctrinated by the so-called pride of the Uchiha Clan.

On the other hand, Yun Yan truly could not stand the Uchiha Clan's arrogant, condescending nature, nor their actions that often seemed downright brainless.

Taken together, these two factors meant that even though Yun Yan was an Uchiha, he still had no fondness for the Uchiha Clan.

But no matter how one put it, Yun Yan currently bore the Uchiha name. This body carried Uchiha blood, and his eyes were Sharingan—Mangekyō Sharingan, no less!

He had inherited the karmic ties of that bloodline and formed karmic ties with this clan. No matter how unwilling Yun Yan was, he had to acknowledge that fact.

That was why Yun Yan's mood was so complicated as he returned to the clan compound.

Looking at the compound before him, Yun Yan sighed. In the end, he stepped forward, entered the compound, and prepared to go home.

Yun Yan entered the Uchiha Clan compound without hesitation, but Kakashi, who had been following him, was far more conflicted.

The place before him was one of the few places in all of Konoha that Kakashi did not wish to enter.

It was not only because the people inside were somewhat abnormal and hostile toward Kakashi's Hokage faction. More importantly, there were quite a few jonin inside—many Uchiha Clan jonin.

Kakashi was not afraid of those jonin, of course. But with so many of them, and with him needing to penetrate deep into their territory, even Kakashi found it troublesome.

Just as Kakashi was debating whether to continue following and watching, his single exposed eye suddenly widened! Shock filled his gaze!

What had Kakashi seen?

It was none other than his surveillance target, Yun Yan.

The moment Yun Yan entered the boundaries of the clan compound, he clasped his hands behind his back and made a universally recognized friendly gesture at the hidden Kakashi behind him!

That gesture was Yun Yan's warning to Kakashi: I noticed you long ago. That's enough. Don't come any farther. If you're discovered after going any deeper, the consequences will be troublesome.

The instant Kakashi saw that gesture, he understood everything!

This guy... had discovered him long ago!

Damn it! He had thought he was well hidden, that his tracking and surveillance had been subtle. He had never expected Yun Yan to have been playing him the entire time, making him look like a clown!

After the shock came unavoidable confusion, even a sense of dread upon further thought.

Yun Yan had discovered him long ago, which meant... Yun Yan's strength might already surpass his own!

Among Konoha's elite jonin, Kakashi was already among the very best. If Yun Yan was even stronger than him, then that meant...

No way... It couldn't be, could it?

Thinking of that possibility, cold sweat began to form on Kakashi's forehead.

Watching Yun Yan head deeper into the Uchiha Clan compound and grow farther and farther away, Kakashi did not act rashly for the moment. He began considering what to do next.

Since he had already been exposed, and since it was inconvenient for him to enter the place ahead, there was no point in continuing the surveillance. Continuing would only make him unwelcome.

He had to return at once and report this to Lord Hokage!

With that thought and lingering alarm in his heart, Kakashi's figure flashed, vanishing into the woods outside the Uchiha Clan compound.

After getting rid of Kakashi, that irritating clingy stalker, Yun Yan's mood improved somewhat.

He swaggered into the compound, looking left and right with complete leisure.

Since he had not returned for several years, and since the original owner had never been particularly popular to begin with, Yun Yan encountered several Uchiha Clan members along the way, yet not a single one recognized him! And he did not recognize any of them either!

Though their faces were unfamiliar, those passing Uchiha Clan members did not suspect much. Yun Yan's black hair and black eyes were the standard appearance of the Uchiha Clan, so there was nothing worth doubting.

As for not recognizing him... that was normal too. The Uchiha Clan was large and had many members; not everyone knew one another.

For all they knew, he was a clansman who had spent years away carrying out missions and had only just returned. Nothing unusual about that.

Thus, while remaining strangers to his own clansmen, Yun Yan had only walked a short distance before nearing his home.

That was how it was. Since Yun Yan had not been valued, his home was not deep within the compound but rather on its outskirts. He had only walked a few steps and was nearly home already. Nothing surprising about that.

It was only when he was close to home that Yun Yan finally ran into several former neighbors, people he at least knew.

After greeting them, exchanging a few pleasantries, and briefly explaining what he had been doing these past few years, Yun Yan stopped paying them any mind and officially arrived home.

Taking out his key, he unlocked the door, pushed open the gate, and stepped inside.

The moment he entered, Yun Yan saw his home's neat Japanese-style courtyard.

Looking at the courtyard and the carefully arranged Japanese-style garden scenery within it, Yun Yan frowned.

After thinking for a moment, Yun Yan passed through the courtyard and headed straight inside. He opened the door and saw the condition of the interior.

The rooms in his home also followed a Japanese-style layout and decor, which was nothing surprising.

His home was perfectly normal.

That wasn't right, was it? How could it be perfectly normal?

He had not been home for years. By all reason, the courtyard should have been overgrown with weeds and long since fallen into disrepair. How could it still look so neat and orderly?

And the house itself was spotless, without even a trace of dust. After such a long time, there should have been a layer of dust inside, shouldn't there?

That was what was unusual. That was what was wrong. That was why Yun Yan had frowned.

But after frowning for a while, Yun Yan's brows relaxed. He had guessed something.

Mm, it seemed that only the reason he had guessed could reasonably explain this.