I'd Like to Hear Just How Much Trouble You Can Cause

"Fine, I agree. I'll cooperate with that brat, but if he turns out to be hopeless and can't use even half my power, don't blame me!"

"Sure, no problem!"

That settled the matter. Before Uchiha Yi left, however, he deliberately left a trace of ocular power inside Naruto's seal space, right in front of the Nine-Tails. The Nine-Tails was furious about it.

The Nine-Tails always kept his word. Once he agreed to something, he wouldn't go back on it. Five measly years? He could afford to wait. But Uchiha Yi was amused. Five years? You really think you'll get away clean? It's not like you haven't seen what Naruto's silver tongue can do. Think you'll still be able to leave then?

Outside, Tsunade and Jiraiya only saw Naruto pass out. Then Uchiha Yi sat cross-legged and closed his eyes in meditation. When he opened them again, he beckoned to the two of them.

Jiraiya hurried over as soon as he saw the gesture. "What is it? Did something go wrong?"

But Uchiha Yi's answer left him completely baffled. "Nope. All done!"

"All done?" Jiraiya froze. "The Nine-Tails agreed?" Tsunade was startled too. How little time had passed? What if he didn't agree? What could that beast possibly do about it?

Uchiha Yi scoffed inwardly, then smiled and nodded at Tsunade. "Lady Fifth Hokage, you can rest easy when I'm handling things. It's done. If you don't believe me, check for yourselves."

Jiraiya said nothing. He pressed his right hand against Naruto's stomach. A moment later, he gave Uchiha Yi a complicated look and nodded to Tsunade.

"I can't sense the Nine-Tails lashing out anymore, and Naruto's chakra has stopped fluctuating. That fellow's as tame as a house cat now!"

"See? I told you everything was fine." Uchiha Yi shrugged. "That's settled, so I'll be off."

The moment he finished speaking, Uchiha Yi vanished with Flying Thunder God. Not long afterward, Naruto woke up.

Still uneasy, Jiraiya put Naruto through a whole series of tests before finally relaxing. He didn't know what Uchiha Yi had done to Naruto or what he'd discussed with the Nine-Tails, but the Nine-Tails had stopped causing trouble. That was unquestionably good news for Naruto.

It also prompted him to move up their departure. Three days later, after sharing a farewell meal of ramen with Uchiha Yi, Naruto and Jiraiya left the village.

I'd better get moving too. Watching Naruto disappear into the distance, Uchiha Yi made up his mind. With everything settled, it was time for him to take action.

Although he'd won his battle against the Nine-Tails easily, it had taught Uchiha Yi one thing: even with the Rinnegan, senjutsu wasn't something he could simply disregard.

The system had told him that once his Limit Sharingan advanced another level, it would automatically unlock senjutsu. At that point, senjutsu would become one of the Limit Sharingan's ocular techniques, just like Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi.

But who knew how long it would take to upgrade the Limit Sharingan? Uchiha Yi had no intention of training in senjutsu either. In his view, the senjutsu of Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest all had significant flaws.

Besides, the system had said that as long as he had enough natural energy, his Rinnegan would allow him to awaken his own unique senjutsu. As for where he could find a massive supply of natural energy, Uchiha Yi already had a place in mind. There would definitely be enough there.

However, he'd only just obtained the Nine-Tails' source chakra and had spent the past two days nurturing it. He didn't need to raise a new Nine-Tails, only let it evolve normally. He'd left the work to a Shadow Clone, and it was almost finished.

Amid swirling yellow sand and an endless desert, Uchiha Yi finally reached his destination. A stretch of ruins lay in the sands. This was Rōran, home of the Dragon Vein.

When it came to the place with the most natural energy in Naruto, the first thing Uchiha Yi thought of was Rōran's Dragon Vein. The system had said that the more natural energy he absorbed, the more powerful his awakened senjutsu would be. And the stronger his senjutsu, the stronger his chakra mode would become.

Then he would truly possess Six Paths Sage Mode. Only then would he genuinely enter the Six Paths tier.

"So this is Rōran?" Standing atop a ruined city wall, Uchiha Yi surveyed the surroundings. "The Dragon Vein should be over there."

Uchiha Yi flashed over and soon arrived at the Dragon Vein's location. Just as he remembered, it had been sealed by the Fourth Hokage. Even sealed, however, he could sense the seething natural energy underground, as though it might erupt at any moment.

Upon reaching the seal, Uchiha Yi's gaze flickered. He asked the system, "When I undo the seal and absorb the Dragon Vein, I won't get sent to another time and space, will I?"

Rest assured, host. Once the seal is released, the moment you touch the Dragon Vein, this system will absorb it. You will not be absorbing it yourself; this system will absorb it and convert it into pure natural energy for your use. The probability of traveling through time and space is nearly zero!

"Tsk. And here I thought I might get to take a trip back a dozen years or so!"

A trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes.

But recalling that the Dragon Vein's disturbance and the resulting time travel wouldn't happen for another two or three years, he put it out of his mind. Besides, his goal was the Dragon Vein itself, not wandering around in the past.

Before coming, he'd combed through Konoha's classified archives. Given his current standing in Konoha, quite a lot of core information was available to him. Especially after he'd dealt with the enormous burden that was the Nine-Tails, the Konoha High Command understood his capabilities, making things far less troublesome. The old saying held true: with enough strength, everything became negotiable.

That was why Uchiha Yi had set his sights on this prize only after confirming the Dragon Vein really existed. He'd also thoroughly studied the Fourth Hokage's sealing formula and knew how to release it.

His hands rapidly formed hand seals, and he gave a low shout. "Dragon Vein seal: release!"

Boom! The ground jolted violently, and a tremendous force surged upward from underground, threatening to burst apart.

He turned and asked, "System, can we start?"

The system answered immediately. "Anytime!"

Delighted, he quickly reached out to touch the Dragon Vein.

Ding! Absorbing the Dragon Vein...

The instant the system notification appeared, Uchiha Yi saw torrents of purple-blue energy surge toward his right hand like columns of water. Yet no matter how much poured in, the system absorbed it instantly, leaving him thoroughly satisfied. He was happily imagining awakening senjutsu and activating Six Paths Sage Mode, a little thrill building inside him, when the system suddenly blared another notification.

Ding! An unknown change has occurred in the Dragon Vein. The system is being affected by an interfering force.

An unknown change? Interference? Those words instantly soured Uchiha Yi's mood. Sure enough, things grew worse the very next second, and the system issued a string of alerts. "Ding! Due to interference from an unknown force, this attempt to absorb the Dragon Vein has failed... Ding! Warning! Warning! Warning!"

Motherfucker! He'd already wanted to get away, but his hand wouldn't budge, as though it had been welded to the Dragon Vein. The system's warnings kept blaring wildly. Without hesitation, he activated his chakra mode to break free, only to discover that his body had been immobilized. Although he immediately broke through the restraint, in that brief instant, an irresistible pulling force latched onto him. The next second, his entire body jerked to a halt, and he vanished.

The moment he disappeared, the previously seething Dragon Vein vanished as well, as though it had never existed. There was something deeply uncanny about it.

He didn't know how much time had passed. It might have been an instant, or it might have been ages, before the pulling force abruptly disappeared. Light filled his vision, and he found himself somewhere unfamiliar: a bustling, prosperous town with an enormous tower at its center, piercing the clouds. It felt strangely familiar. Holy shit. Did I actually travel through time? The thought crossed his mind, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He immediately called out to the system. "System, did I travel through time and space?"

But the system gave no response.

He called again. "System, stop playing dead! Get out here and explain!"

"System, did you die?"

"Fuck you, system!"

Even after all that shouting, the system remained silent. Uchiha Yi knew something had gone wrong. The system's gone? No, the main interface still works. Did traveling through time drain its energy and force it into dormancy? He was utterly exasperated. Forget it. First, I'll find out whether I really traveled through time.

He stood atop a tall building for a while, then explored the surrounding area, overwhelmed with emotion. "Holy shit, I really did fucking travel through time. I'm in Rōran's past!" He rolled his eyes. System, what happened to that 'nearly zero' probability? Nearly zero, my ass!

Suddenly, a thought struck him. If the system's dormant, could absorbing the Dragon Vein wake it up? He almost applauded himself for the idea. Right, let's find the Dragon Vein. I remember it was that way...

His figure flickered, space warped, and when he reappeared, he was beneath the enormous tower. The Dragon Vein was inside. But just as he was about to enter, a melodious voice rang out.

"Who are you?"

Uchiha Yi turned and saw a stunningly beautiful girl with dark red hair. A thought stirred in his mind, and he couldn't help asking, "Are you Sara?"

The girl's gaze sharpened as she watched him warily. "Who are you? How do you know your queen's name?"

Uchiha Yi froze. Queen? Sara's already the Queen of Roran?

If Mukade hadn't traveled back in time, Sara's mother wouldn't have died. At this point, she would surely still have been firmly seated on Rōran's throne. Then again, even if Mukade hadn't killed her mother, the old woman might not have lived this long anyway.

Uchiha Yi could only speculate. But the sight of him standing there muttering to himself only made Sara angrier.

"Gone mute, have you? Fine. Your queen has plenty of ways to make you talk."

Sara spoke coldly. With a lift of her hand, two dark shapes lunged at Uchiha Yi.

"Puppets?"

That made sense. This place was near the Land of Wind and situated in a desert; there was nothing unusual about finding puppets here. Uchiha Yi understood that, but his hands didn't stop. With a casual lift of his hand, the Zero Nine Seven technique blasted both puppets into scrap.

"You..."

Sara trembled in fright. Two capable puppets at her side, dismantled with two effortless moves?

"Who exactly are you? What do you want with my Rōran?"

She truly was a queen. Though only fifteen or sixteen, she carried herself with impressive composure. At the very least, she hadn't screamed on the spot like other girls her age might have.

Everything blurred before Sara's eyes, and suddenly the man was right in front of her. Even more shocking, she couldn't move.

"Do you know Mukade?"

Uchiha Yi leaned closer and asked, though he didn't really think Mukade had traveled back in time yet. The timing didn't add up. When he'd gone to retrieve the Dragon Vein, the seal had still been completely intact. By that reckoning, Mukade couldn't possibly have appeared.

Sure enough, Sara's next words confirmed his suspicion.

"Mukade? What are you talking about? I advise you to release me immediately, or you'll be in more trouble than you can handle."

"Serious trouble?"

Uchiha Yi laughed. "I'd like to hear just how much trouble you can cause."