Me, Hokage? Give Me a Break

Jiraiya fell silent too. He remembered how Nagato lost his memory every time his Rinnegan appeared, then remained weak for several days afterward. Weren't those precisely the side effects of a power his body couldn't handle?

Anger flared inside Jiraiya. He looked up at Yi. "Then whose Rinnegan do you think they are?"

Yi shook his head. "I don't know, but there is a way to awaken the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. I haven't seen any records about the Rinnegan."

He paused, then added, "According to the records, Madara Uchiha was the most likely person to awaken the Rinnegan."

"Madara Uchiha?" The Third Hokage's and Jiraiya's expressions changed instantly. The Third Hokage recalled how the Nine-Tails had gone out of control during the Nine-Tails' Rampage. It had looked exactly like Madara's method of controlling tailed beasts. His heart sank, and he found himself believing most of what Yi had said.

The Third Hokage's expression shifted uncertainly. Having lived so long, he knew better than anyone how terrifying Madara was. If Madara really was involved, didn't that mean there was a conspiracy behind Nagato's Rinnegan?

Jiraiya scratched his head, still stubbornly refusing to budge. "Impossible! How old would Madara Uchiha have been? How young was Nagato? Could he have lived that long?"

Seeing how nothing got through to Jiraiya, Yi inwardly rolled his eyes. He hasn't spent time with Naruto yet, so he still thinks Nagato is the Child of Destiny the Toad Sage spoke of. You want to argue with me? Just you wait.

Yi scratched the back of his neck and frowned, mulling it over for a long while as though wrestling with himself. Finally, he forced out, "Actually, the Uchiha have a secret underground meeting chamber. There's a stone tablet down there that the Sage of Six Paths left behind."

The Third Hokage had been sipping his tea. His fingers froze, and his cup nearly struck the writing desk as his eyes snapped up.

Yi continued, "That tablet holds quite a few secrets and records plenty of ninjutsu, but not just anyone can read it. It depends on how many tomoe your Sharingan has. The more tomoe, the more of the hidden information you can see."

The Third Hokage stared at Yi for a couple of seconds before asking, "Yi, are you sure this thing exists?"

Yi nodded without hesitation. "Absolutely! I sneaked in to look at it after awakening my three-tomoe Sharingan. You really do need the Sharingan to read the writing."

He paused, then added, "Basically, the Uchiha Stone Tablet gave me a precedent. That's why I believed the tablet here."

Jiraiya leaned closer, scratching his cheek. "So does that tablet say how to get the Rinnegan? Is it the same as this one?"

Yi scratched his head. "I honestly don't know. I came straight here after awakening my Mangekyo Sharingan. I haven't gone back to look at the tablet in the Underground Chamber."

The Third Hokage frowned, then turned to Jiraiya. "Go bring that tablet here."

Yi quickly chimed in. "Lord Jiraiya, could you bring Kakashi-sensei along too? The information about the Mangekyo Sharingan on the tablet would help him as well, if that's all right with you, Lord Third."

The Third Hokage was pleased by Yi's openness and willingness to share. He nodded to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya acknowledged the order, then left to find the Underground Chamber at the address Yi had given him.

Within minutes, Jiraiya returned with a thoroughly bewildered Kakashi following behind.

Once they explained the situation, Kakashi's bewilderment turned serious. He immediately activated his three-tomoe Sharingan to examine the tablet, then switched to his Mangekyo Sharingan. Sure enough, he saw the method for obtaining the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan by transplanting eyes, just as Yi had described.

Now Jiraiya was thoroughly unsettled. Feeling that it still wasn't enough, Yi drove the point home. "Lord Third, when I examined this tablet with my eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, I saw some new information too."

The Third Hokage hurriedly asked, "What information?"

Yi spoke with absolute certainty. "The God Tree is actually the Ten-Tails. The One-Tail through the Nine-Tails were all split off from the Ten-Tails!"

"What?"

All three of them froze.

Yi continued, "The tablet also records that Black Zetsu altered quite a lot of its contents, including the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Activating it requires gathering all nine tailed beasts. Isn't the Akatsuki hunting tailed beasts everywhere right now? They want to revive the Ten-Tails, then grow another God Tree to serve as a new Progenitor of Chakra!"

Jiraiya's expression changed instantly, and he slapped his thigh. "I heard out there that an organization called the Akatsuki was collecting tailed beasts. Could it be..."

Yi nodded. "No 'could' about it. That's definitely what they're doing! And someone in that organization might have the Rinnegan!"

The Third Hokage and Jiraiya both looked deflated. It was so much information that their heads hurt. Even Kakashi had dropped his usual dead-eyed expression.

Yi secretly sighed in relief, unable to resist grumbling inwardly. It took all that effort to get these two old foxes to buy it. This was way more exhausting than trading speeches with Naruto!

After taking a moment to recover, the Third Hokage issued an order. "This must remain secret. Keep both tablets here for now."

Yi, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all answered, "Yes!"

The Third Hokage then told Jiraiya, "Go investigate that student of yours. Don't delay."

Jiraiya accepted the order with a worried expression, then turned and left.

The Third Hokage turned to Kakashi. "Go rest and recover."

Although Kakashi had only just recovered from the damage caused by Tsukuyomi, using his Mangekyo Sharingan earlier had drained him again. He didn't argue and left.

The Third Hokage looked at Yi and nodded approvingly. "Yi, you've done well. The rank of special jōnin no longer does you justice."

He paused, then continued, "I'm giving you a mission. Once you return, you'll be a jonin."

Before Yi could even nod, the Third Hokage gave him his orders. "Go bring Tsunade back!"

Yi was stunned. He wants me to bring Tsunade back?

He hadn't even had time to warm his seat in the Third Hokage's office, and he already had to head out on another mission?

Ugh, why did life have to be so hard?

Uchiha Yi glanced back at the door to the Hokage's office, his head buzzing.

That old Third Hokage actually wanted him to bring Tsunade back to the village?

He was a member of the Uchiha Clan. Wasn't going to find Tsunade just asking for a beating?

But on second thought, he now had the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Tsunade's monstrous strength might not be enough to beat him.

So that was why the Third Hokage had dumped this hot potato on him?

Oh, whatever. He'd go.

Uchiha Yi shook his head and returned to his lodgings. The Third Hokage had told him to leave tomorrow, so he still had time to catch his breath.

But he hadn't even enjoyed two quiet days before he packed his things and headed out. He had wanted to catch up with Hinata, only to learn that she was away on a mission and hadn't returned.

Find Naruto, then? Forget it. He didn't want to get dragged into a battle of speeches with that guy. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

Rather than waste time arguing with Naruto, he might as well wander around and earn some extra cash along the way.

The Third Hokage soon received word. Stroking his beard, he nodded approvingly. This was a good kid. He had been told to leave tomorrow, yet he had already set out. He really had the village's interests at heart.

Finding Tsunade wasn't actually difficult. The woman had no hobby besides gambling; any gambling house in the world was somewhere she might turn up.

This time, however, entering the gambling houses gave him a promising way to earn extra money. The perceptive power of his eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was no joke. Even gambling equipment that blocked chakra might as well have been transparent to him.

So he played a couple of rounds at every gambling house he visited. He wasn't short of money himself, but Kazahana Koyuki, the daimyo of the Land of Snow, certainly was.

Kazahana Koyuki now ruled the Land of Snow, with Uchiha Yi backing her up. But Kazahana Dōtō's obsession with Chakra Armor had previously drained the treasury dry.

Although the Land of Snow made money selling Chakra Armor, armor on Nadare Rōga's level cost far too much to mass-produce.

He had intended to have Koyuki develop armor that could raise a genin's strength to that of a chunin. It would be cheaper and suitable for mass production, but research still required funding first.

Koyuki hadn't said anything, but he remembered. He had originally planned to swipe some money from wealthy households. Now that he had the gambling houses, though, there was no need to resort to petty theft.

Cheating with the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan to make money? Uchiha Yi felt no guilt whatsoever, though the spirits of his Uchiha ancestors were probably rolling around in fury in the Clan Tomb.

He did run into a few gambling house owners who, maddened by their losses, tried to take his money by force. They had forgotten that Uchiha Yi's fists were far stronger than their guns.

Not only did he get his money back, he also shut down their entire establishments. He even had a ready-made justification: he'd caught them cheating. Everything was perfectly aboveboard.

And so, for several days in a row, he sent money to the Land of Snow, much to Kazahana Koyuki's delight. At night, Uchiha Yi was delighted too.

After all, he was out here looking for someone. Every day, he used Flying Thunder God to return to the Land of Snow right on schedule, never wandering around at night. Life couldn't have been easier.

After spending half a month like this, he finally found Tsunade outside a small tavern. Amusingly enough, she was fleeing a crowd with Shizune and Tonton in tow.

Uchiha Yi grinned at the sight. Wasn't this the same old story? Lady Tsunade was being chased by debt collectors again.

He darted straight into the tavern and paid off Tsunade's gambling debt of thirty-five million ryō. Good grief, that was almost as much as Asuma's bounty.

He was still wondering why he was measuring gambling debts in heads when Tsunade's voice burst out.

"Brat, what do you want with me?"

Tsunade drunkenly slapped the table. The smell of alcohol almost wafted straight into Uchiha Yi's face.

Uchiha Yi inwardly rolled his eyes, but remained respectful on the surface. I'll put up with it.

He knew why the Third Hokage wanted Tsunade back. The old man felt his health was failing and wanted to step down. Jiraiya had been his first choice, but he'd refused, leaving Tsunade as the only option. It was practically settled. Yi didn't dare offend her, or she might make his life difficult later.

"Lady Tsunade, Lord Third ordered me to inform you that you should return to the village."

Uchiha Yi stood beside the table, sounding as deferential as a little lackey.

"I'm not going back!"

Tsunade slammed her cup onto the table. Though her eyes were hazy with drink, her words were firm and left no room for discussion.

Uchiha Yi had expected that response. Despite her drunken state, he spoke again.

"Lady Tsunade, do you know that Konoha has been in an uproar lately?"

Tsunade swirled her cup without even raising her eyes.

"Oh? So what?"

Though word of the incident had spread throughout the shinobi world, Tsunade had no intention of returning. Uchiha Yi stopped beating around the bush.

"Lady Tsunade, Lord Third wants you to return so you can become the next Hokage."

Tsunade's hand slipped, nearly sending her cup to the floor. Then she gave a derisive laugh.

"Me, Hokage? Give me a break."

Uchiha Yi inwardly rolled his eyes, but his expression remained respectful.

"Lady Tsunade, please come back with me."

"No!"

"You really won't?"

"Absolutely not!"

Uchiha Yi suddenly smiled, and his tone lost some of its deference.