If you died out there, who would I turn to?

Like the Rinnegan, the Tenseigan came with gravitational powers. Only now did Uchiha Yi get a proper feel for them: its pull was slightly weaker than his Rinnegan's Universal Pull.

Though its pull fell short of Universal Pull, its power was still tremendous compared with ordinary ninjutsu.

He activated Tenseigan Chakra Mode, which was far stronger than Otsutsuki Tsukiya's had been, and formed nine Truth-Seeking Black Rods at his fingertips. Six of the rods spun into a blue ring of light, unleashing a vicious tornado in an instant. Even Otsutsuki Tsukiya's stone statue, which had yet to fully dissipate, was easily swept into the air.

He raised a hand. "Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

The remaining three black rods suddenly fired a beam of golden light, blasting the airborne statue to pieces.

Whether it was Silver Wheel or Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, his versions were vastly more powerful than Otsutsuki Tsukiya's. Watching the rubble rain down, Uchiha Yi lifted his eyes, and the fragments instantly gathered into a stone eye.

The ability to control rubble was pretty handy. After a few rounds of testing, he had a good grasp of it. Tenseigan Chakra Mode was reliable, too.

Though he had yet to reach the threshold of the full Six Paths level, he was at least on par with Six Paths Madara back then. Uchiha Yi considered the power rankings in the Naruto World: above jonin, there was also the pseudo-Kage level. Gaara's father might well have belonged to that tier.

Even the sickly Kimimaro could kill him, so his strength had to be at the pseudo-Kage level.

Kage-level strength had its own tiers: ordinary Kage, strong Kage, extremely strong Kage, and super-Kage. Only above super-Kage did one reach Six Paths Madara's level.

However, he could not maintain Tenseigan Chakra Mode for long yet. Though he had the Dragon Vein's natural energy around him, what left him speechless was that the system had merely swallowed the Dragon Vein and given him Six Paths Sage Mode. It had barely increased his own chakra at all.

That made sense. The system had swallowed the Dragon Vein, not him, so naturally his body had not improved in the slightest. The system confidently assured him that his body would be strengthened once he upgraded the Limit Sharingan another level.

Uchiha Yi rolled his eyes. His Limit Sharingan proficiency was already past halfway, but he knew perfectly well that without absorbing other ocular powers, he could certainly have filled the remaining half outright. Had he known, he would have upgraded the Eight Gates first.

Putting that aside, Uchiha Yi began gathering his spoils. There was little time left before he returned to his original timeline.

He dug out Otsutsuki Tsukiya's Byakugan as well. As for Ōtsutsuki Chuan Yu, whom he had sealed with Exploding Planet, he was a genuine member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan with an utterly pure bloodline. His value was astronomical!

There was little else of value. He also looked around the Ōtsutsuki Clan's stronghold. Just as he had sensed earlier, Otsutsuki Tsukiya had sacrificed everyone there. He did not find Otsutsuki Toneri. He did not know whether Toneri had been hidden elsewhere or simply was not there, but the latter was more likely.

It was fifteen years earlier, and Otsutsuki Toneri was about their age. He probably had not even been born yet!

He appeared once again at Rōran's original site, and Sara returned with him.

Sara stared at the endless yellow sands before her and exclaimed, "This is the world fifteen years later? It looks so much like Rōran!"

Uchiha Yi said nothing. This was Rōran in the first place. Just as the system had predicted, Rōran was completely gone. Even the documents about Rōran that he had stored in Flying Thunder God Space vanished the instant he returned.

What relieved him, however, was that when he had used the Tenseigan just now, that familiar trace of an aura on the moon had still been there. Fortunately, all his earlier meddling had not affected this original timeline.

The moon was still there, and the Giant Tenseigan on it had not changed! This was far too bizarre! Uchiha Yi muttered inwardly, then stopped dwelling on it and immediately took Sara back to his country.

There was a reason he did not return to Konoha. Sara's origins were now a mystery, and Konoha would have no way of establishing her background. Bringing her there would be inappropriate.

Kazahana Koyuki, the queen of the Land of Snow, might have something in common with her. But when Uchiha Yi appeared before Kazahana Koyuki, her reaction startled him. "You rotten brat, you're finally back! Where have you been these past two years?"

What? Two years? Uchiha Yi froze.

"You mean I've been missing for two years?"

After hearing the details from Kazahana Koyuki, Uchiha Yi was utterly dumbfounded. System, stop fucking playing dead! Get out here and explain! he roared inwardly at the system.

"You can't blame me for this. I told you before that if you affected that disappearing parallel world too much, it would have repercussions in this timeline."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"Incorrect, host. You absorbed the Giant Tenseigan and wiped out the Ōtsutsuki Clan!"

"But you said it would work!"

"Don't falsely accuse me, host. All I said before was that the effects would be limited in scope."

The effects were indeed limited, and they had not shaken the foundations of the main timeline. Put simply, after his escapade in the parallel world, his return had taken him straight to two years later. Nothing else had changed.

Uchiha Yi rolled his eyes and grumbled at the system, "That explanation actually sounds reasonable. I've got nothing to say to it."

Though it still bothered him somewhat, Uchiha Yi had no other choice but to accept the system's explanation.

He asked Kazahana Koyuki for a full account of everything that had changed over the past two years and more.

Though the Land of Snow remained a small country, it was now a genuinely wealthy nation.

It had made a fortune entirely thanks to the introduction of Chakra Armor.

Though Konoha had sent ninja to help protect it, plenty of other countries still coveted this lucrative prize.

Though everyone thought Kazahana Koyuki had unleashed her strength, it had actually all been the work of Uchiha Yi's Shadow Clone.

That Shadow Clone carried a portion of his chakra, backed up by Shukaku's chakra. Never mind fighting Kakuzu-it could even take on the Six Paths of Pain without a problem.

The mysterious powerhouse had been Kakuzu. Seeing that the Land of Snow was rich and lacked formidable defenders, he had come to rob it. Instead, the Shadow Clone had destroyed three of his hearts in three moves, sending him fleeing in terror.

Though the Shadow Clone's battle had lasted only two or three minutes and involved just three moves, it had deliberately devastated the battlefield to warn the other countries.

Uchiha Yi made a mental note of the incident. Once he finished asking about the situation, he set off for Konoha.

Though he had only been away for two years, he had no idea how Konoha had changed. He needed to hurry back and see.

At first, Kazahana Koyuki had teased him for bringing home a strange girl when he already had a fiancée, calling him a shameless flirt. But once she learned that Sara had traveled through time from a parallel world, she immediately fell silent.

Though Kazahana Koyuki initially thought Uchiha Yi was using Sara as an excuse, Sara later confirmed his story, leaving her with nothing to say. Still, she took quite a liking to the adorable girl.

Uchiha Yi returned to Konoha, but the moment he stood atop that iconic cylindrical tower, he spotted the familiar figure who made a fuss whenever anything happened.

One glance told him that Shippuden was now beginning.

Naruto spotted him and leaped high into the air, jumping straight over to him. He slapped his shoulder and shouted, "Yi! Long time no see! Come grab a meal with me at Ichiraku Ramen!"

Uchiha Yi rolled his eyes and grumbled inwardly, I was eating chashu with you at Ichiraku just a few days ago, and you call this a long-awaited reunion? Did the Nine-Tails chew up your memory?

Out loud, however, he said, "No, I've got something to do."

Though Tsunade had long known about his Nine-Tails Shadow Clone, everyone else thought he had "gone missing."

Tsunade sighed in relief upon seeing him. Sitting with her legs crossed and a sake cup in hand, she looked up and glared at him. "Uchiha Yi! I sent you to investigate the Akatsuki two years ago, and you stayed away for two whole years! If you died out there, who would I turn to?"

Uchiha Yi grumbled inwardly, My Shadow Clone was clearly training hard in seclusion, yet you insist I was slacking off at home.

Out loud, he merely shrugged. "There was a minor complication. I happened to learn something about the Byakugan and Tenseigan, so I went to investigate. As for the Akatsuki..."

He paused and looked out the window. "I already have a plan."

At this point, revealing some information was no big deal.

"I've already investigated the Akatsuki. I currently have information on several of its members."

Uchiha Yi then shared what he knew about Itachi, Orochimaru, Kisame, Kakuzu, and Hidan. He said nothing more about the others.

But even that was enough to leave Tsunade stunned for quite some time.

After hearing everything, Tsunade told Uchiha Yi to see the Third Hokage. Only then did he realize why something had felt wrong ever since his return. After thinking it over, he realized the Third Hokage had not appeared alongside her.

That was unlike the Third Hokage.

Before long, however, he saw the Third Hokage lying there, barely clinging to life.

"Oh, Yi, you're back?" The Third Hokage tugged at the corners of his mouth. His health had collapsed after his battle with Orochimaru, and now he had finally reached this point.

"Grandpa Third." Uchiha Yi nodded and chatted with him for a while, but the Third Hokage's breathing grew weaker and weaker, as though this were his final rally.

The Third Hokage looked at Uchiha Yi with his eyes open, wanting to say something. But his earlier words had exhausted all his strength, and he could not get the rest out.

Uchiha Yi knew what he wanted to say, however, and spoke. "Don't worry, Grandpa Third. Konoha is my home, and I'll protect it. Though I don't think being Hokage is a good job, Naruto still wants it. With him around, you can rest easy. I'll make sure he becomes Hokage, too."

Hearing that, the Third Hokage's eyes dimmed slightly. He had always wanted Uchiha Yi to become Hokage, believing he could contribute more to Konoha, but Uchiha Yi refused.

Still, at the mention of Naruto, a trace of comfort flashed in the Third Hokage's eyes. With Naruto's cheerful personality, perhaps he would make a good Hokage as well.

As he left the Third Hokage's room, Uchiha Yi secretly infused him with a trace of yin-yang power. Even that could not help much, however. His body was in such terrible condition that Uchiha Yi's current Yin-Yang Release could not heal him completely.

More importantly, the Third Hokage himself seemed to have lost the will to live. He felt it was time for him to go. That trace of yin-yang power could only keep him alive a little longer.

Seeing the Third Hokage like this left Uchiha Yi feeling heavyhearted. A thought even crossed his mind: perhaps dying at Orochimaru's hands back then would have been better for the Third Hokage.

But that thought soon faded, because a long-haired girl appeared before him. It was Hinata, who had grown taller over the past two years.