As long as nothing went wrong

It failed? Even without activating the Rinnegan, and with Tsukuyomi: Illusion Realm short of its full power, even the Nine-Tails couldn't withstand it. Yet Mukade could?

Mukade noticed the genjutsu and burst into wild laughter, his voice dripping with mockery. "Genjutsu? So you're from the Uchiha Clan!"

As soon as he finished speaking, purple-blue chakra surged out of his body. "With the Dragon Vein, I'm immune to all genjutsu!"

With that burst of chakra, Mukade broke free of Susanoo's hand. It cost him five spider legs and eighty percent of his body, but the Dragon Vein's power restored him instantly.

"Immune to all genjutsu? Want to give Infinite Tsukuyomi a try, then?" Uchiha Yi realized why his genjutsu had failed. The Dragon Vein itself was a vast mass of pure natural energy, and its enhancement had put Mukade's chakra into an abnormal state, making genjutsu difficult to apply.

Of course, if he activated the Rinnegan and used Tsukuyomi, Mukade would certainly fall prey to it. But a mere Mukade wasn't worth activating the Rinnegan for.

Still, why did he keep running into these egomaniacs?

His earlier encounter with Orochimaru was one thing, but then Danzo and Hiruko had appeared, and now he had run into Mukade too.

Barely recovered, Mukade sucked in a mass of puppet parts, swelling his humanoid puppet into a colossal monstrosity. With his hands on his hips, he roared, "You're dead, you little brat! Don't think you're the only one who can get bigger! You can't possibly withstand this new body of mine!"

Mukade laughed between gasps, his laughter crazed and smug.

Uchiha Yi scoffed impatiently. "Shut up!"

His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan suddenly blazed, and Susanoo's right arm shot out, sending Mukade flying with a single punch.

A third of the giant puppet was smashed away, but Mukade only laughed more wildly. "You're wasting your effort! With the Dragon Vein, I'm invincible!"

The moment he finished speaking, a surge of Dragon Vein energy flowed into him, instantly restoring his shattered body.

"Fine. Let's see which is faster-your recovery or my demolition!"

Susanoo's arms hammered away, each punch faster than the last. Mukade tried to dodge, but the instant he moved, a massive fist slammed into his puppet body and smashed it to pieces, leaving him unable to move at all.

Worse still, he soon discovered that his regeneration couldn't keep up with the destruction. A dozen breaths later, only a shell remained of his enormous puppet. Finally, even that shell exploded, exposing Mukade's true body.

Uchiha Yi stopped and stared coldly at him. "Is that all you've got? So much for your puppet body's hyper-regeneration."

Mukade stamped his feet in fury. "Damn you! You think this is enough to beat me? Dream on!"

He frantically drew in Dragon Vein chakra, trying to repair his body through hyper-regeneration. But just as he tried to channel its energy, he discovered that his connection to the Dragon Vein had been severed.

"Kamui: Reversal!"

This was a Space-Time Ninjutsu Uchiha Yi had developed from Kamui. It required hand seals and used Kamui's power to twist space. He had now completely warped the space around Mukade. Mukade was no longer in the main space, but had been shifted into a gap between spaces, naturally cutting him off from the Dragon Vein.

Uchiha Yi couldn't be bothered to explain any of that to him.

"Tsukuyomi: Illusion Realm!"

This time, nothing went wrong. With a ripping sound, Mukade's soul was dragged out, and his puppet body fell apart on the spot. From that moment on, Mukade was dead beyond saving. Even if Uchiha Yi spared him, his soul could no longer possess the puppet.

Before long, Uchiha Yi deactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan. A complicated look flashed through his eyes-bewilderment, astonishment, and a touch of surprise.

His figure vanished in a flash. Following Mukade's memories, he found a dungeon. In its deepest recesses were two prisoners covered in sealing talismans-Naruto and Yamato!

In Mukade's memories, Naruto had pursued him until he had nowhere left to run, forcing him to use the Dragon Vein to travel to Rōran in this era. That was much like the plot of Naruto he had watched in his previous life. The only difference was that, in the original story, Naruto and the others encountered Mukade later, whereas here, Naruto and Yamato had been captured as soon as they arrived.

But Uchiha Yi wasn't concerned about that. What concerned him was that the Naruto before him wasn't the Naruto he knew at all. The complicated explanation was that they were different; the simple explanation was that this Naruto wasn't the one he remembered.

He couldn't sense the Eye Power he had previously left in this Naruto's Sealing Space. He also noticed that the Nine-Tails still harbored intense hatred toward this Naruto. Their ages were roughly the same, but something was clearly wrong.

The question now was what had happened. Were there two Narutos? Or two different Naruto Worlds?

It seemed he would have to ask the system. Uchiha Yi's gaze sharpened. After a moment's hesitation, he placed Naruto and Yamato inside his Flying Thunder God Space.

The next second, he teleported straight to the Dragon Vein. Unsealed, it was a lake of energy.

He had already activated his Rinnegan. With a thought, he used Universal Pull to draw a stream of energy out of the lake. "I just need to touch it?" Uchiha Yi muttered.

Boom! The entire energy lake shuddered, and a tremendous force surged from his right hand. Ding! Absorbing the Dragon Vein...

The familiar system notification sounded, and Uchiha Yi breathed a sigh of relief. His guess had been right. The Dragon Vein contained an enormous amount of energy. He had absorbed nearly ten Shukaku's worth of chakra, yet it still hadn't run dry.

After absorbing so much energy, however, the system finally woke up. Ding! System energy reserves replenished. Intelligent mode activated!

Intelligent mode? Something stirred in Uchiha Yi's mind, and he called out, "System, are you there?"

"Yes, host!"

That answer... "Never mind. Tell me what's going on right now."

With a casual wave, Uchiha Yi brought Naruto and Yamato out of thin air. He had put both into a deep sleep with his ocular technique. Unless he willed otherwise, they would remain asleep for several days at the very least.

He stared at Naruto, doubts nagging at him. This guy was nothing like the Naruto he knew. He didn't believe for a second that they were the same person.

The system remained silent for a long while before replying, "That's right. He is indeed Naruto, but he doesn't belong to your original timeline. I was just about to tell you about this."

Uchiha Yi seized on that key point and asked, "System, when you say parallel world, do you mean this Naruto is Naruto Uzumaki from another timeline?"

He rolled his eyes, unable to resist complaining. "The Naruto World has parallel worlds too? Are you bullshitting me?"

The system continued, "You think the Naruto World is too low-level to produce parallel worlds? But I've already absorbed its sole law of time, and now both worlds are doomed. This all happened because I absorbed the Dragon Vein. The Dragon Vein is natural energy, but it contains a trace of the law of time. While consuming it, I accidentally touched that law, which caused this whole mess."

Uchiha Yi scratched his head, still not quite understanding. "Keep it simple. Don't beat around the bush."

"Simply put, it's much like the situation with Future Trunks and Kid Trunks in Dragon Ball."

He understood at once. "You mean that when I crossed timelines this time, I created a new spacetime too?"

The system replied, "Not entirely. Although an additional parallel world appeared, there are actually two Dragon Veins. The one before you belongs to the other timeline. I've already absorbed the original. Once I consume this one too, spacetime will return to its proper state, and the extra parallel world will disappear."

As they spoke, Uchiha Yi suddenly sensed people approaching. He looked up to see Minato Namikaze leading a group over, with Sara in tow. Minato Namikaze looked surprised. "What are you doing?"

He stared at the mass of energy, then turned to Uchiha Yi. "Is this the objective you mentioned earlier?"

Uchiha Yi nodded. "That's right. I'm eliminating the spacetime disturbances caused by the Dragon Vein. It contains a law of time. If it runs wild, the entire world will suffer."

Sara approached then and looked at Uchiha Yi. "Thank you. I know about Anrokuzan's ambitions now, and I also know that my people..."

He interrupted Sara with a teasing smile. "Heh, no need to thank me. Just don't call me a bastard again."

Sara's face flushed bright red, the heat spreading to her ears. For a long while, she couldn't get a word out.

Uchiha Yi asked, "Then you won't mind if I take the Dragon Vein away, will you?"

Sara shook her head, her tone sincere. "Not at all. Although our clan can borrow the Dragon Vein's power, we've wanted to escape this wretched fate for a long time. If you can take it away, I couldn't ask for anything better."

Just then, the system's notification suddenly sounded. "Ding! Dragon Vein absorption complete!"

Uchiha Yi's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "System, did it work?"

The system replied, "It worked. The fusion is underway now. It'll be finished in a day."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "A day? Fine. As long as nothing went wrong."

Minato Namikaze walked over and looked at him. "Is it over?"

Uchiha Yi nodded. "Yes, but I need to return to my original spacetime."

At those words, Sara's eyes widened, a flicker of reluctance appearing in them. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know how to begin.

After her mother's death, Anrokuzan had kept her under house arrest. She rarely interacted with outsiders, much less spoke to men. This man who had suddenly appeared had not only saved her, but also resolved her troubles. Different feelings had already taken root in her heart. Now that she heard he was leaving, she felt hollow inside, filled with reluctance to part.

Minato Namikaze said, "To avoid disrupting history, let's erase one another's memories of this."

Uchiha Yi waved a hand, cutting him off.

He looked at Minato Namikaze, his voice slightly urgent. "Minato, I came here specifically for the Dragon Vein. If my memories are erased and I remember nothing when I get back, won't all my efforts have been for nothing?"

Minato Namikaze considered it for a while and found his argument reasonable.

Uchiha Yi moved to act, instantly activating his Rinnegan. He shouted inwardly, Tsukuyomi: Illusion Realm! Minato Namikaze and the others froze at once.

He swiftly altered their memories inside the Illusion Realm, but just then, the system's notification suddenly sounded. "Host, you don't need to do this."

Uchiha Yi froze and hurriedly asked, "What do you mean by that?"