Uchiha Yi slipped back into Konoha and went straight to the Hokage Office to report in.
Looking at Uchiha Yi, now a young man taller than himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a tangle of emotions. How much time had passed? Yi had already grown this strong. By now, he might even have surpassed him.
"Thank you for what you did. Without you, I dread to think what would have happened to Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru." Both as their teacher and as Hokage, Hiruzen was deeply grateful to Yi.
Without Yi, he might have lost the three students he cared about most. If not for the matter of the Uchiha Clan, Hiruzen would have welcomed Yi's growth without reservation.
"I only did what I should have. Tsunade is my teacher, and I'm close to Orochimaru and Jiraiya too. There's no need to thank me for helping them when they were in danger." Yi spread his hands. At last, he had the strength to face Hiruzen as an equal.
"I kept you off the battlefield because I wanted to protect you while you grew stronger. After all, you're only ten. Lord Hashirama founded the village precisely because he didn't want children sent to war.
"But now you've become so strong that you've put me in a difficult position." Hiruzen gave a helpless smile.
Whatever Hiruzen might become in the future, right now he was a worthy heir to the Will of Fire.
Yi truly had not seen a single child under ten on the battlefield. Hiruzen had kept his promise.
But during the future Third Shinobi World War, Hiruzen might have to break it. Konoha's forces would be stretched so thin that even children fresh out of the Ninja Academy would be sent to the front.
"I'll follow your lead, Uncle Sarutobi." Yi