The Prey Has Nowhere to Run. Attack!

Fine. Let them keep up the act this once.

Uchiha Yi never opened his eyes, yet the Hyuga Three Elders inexplicably felt their bodies tighten, their hearts pounding with a vague sense of foreboding. Though his eyes were closed, that invisible pressure felt like shards of ice burrowing into their bones.

"Don't worry, Elders. I really am-doing just fine." The moment Uchiha Yi finished speaking, a muffled boom shook the floor of the entire meeting room. His chakra was unbelievably pure, without the slightest impurity, yet it bore down like a mountain. All three elders were instantly immobilized.

The First Elder's pupils contracted sharply, and he cursed inwardly. Is Uchiha Yi some kind of monster? He knew he was no match for the Third, but against a Kage-level fighter, he could at least hold his own without falling behind. Yet now, the sheer eruption of the other man's chakra left him unable to move even a finger. Awe grew wildly within him, until he could not even summon the thought of resistance.

The chakra vanished as quickly as it had appeared, dissipating after only a few breaths. But as soon as Uchiha Yi withdrew his power, the three elders spluttered, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

Hyuga Hiashi had not been targeted and remained completely unharmed, but he was stunned nonetheless. Even from a distance, he had felt that pressure. Its density was more terrifying than the Nine-Tails' chakra.

The enhancements from Uchiha Yi's bodily modifications had already begun to show. His own chakra now matched the quantity possessed by Shukaku, the One-Tail. With the three-hundredfold boost from his level-seven Eight Gates on top of that, chakra quantity was no longer something he needed to worry about.

"Elders, I advise you not to get any funny ideas. Honestly, if it weren't for Hinata, I wouldn't waste my breath on you. You aren't worthy!" Those words stabbed straight into their hearts, but faced with the fear etched into their bones, they could not utter a single word of protest.

Uchiha Yi rose, took Hinata's hand, and started to leave. At the doorway, however, he paused and tossed a remark over his shoulder. "You three are getting on in years. From now on, enjoy your retirement. Just leave the Hyuga Clan to my father-in-law."

The Second Elder and Third Elder were about to speak when they collapsed stiffly, as though struck by a sledgehammer, and lost consciousness. The First Elder sighed and pursed his lips. "Fine. We'll do as you say. From now on, the Hyuga Clan will answer to your father-in-law. We three old fossils won't interfere again."

Uchiha Yi glanced back with a smile. "You're too kind, First Elder. How could I possibly meddle in your clan's internal affairs?" The First Elder's bitter smile deepened. Inwardly, he surrendered completely. Uchiha Yi isn't just terrifyingly powerful-he's utterly unreasonable!

He was secretly pleased, too. Uchiha Yi truly cherished Hinata. If he had only wanted her for her looks, why would he bother with presumptuous old fools like them? Previously, he had believed that even if he could not defeat Uchiha Yi, joining forces with the Second and Third Elders would at least let them inflict heavy losses on both sides. Only now did he realize how naive he had been. Fight him? They were not even qualified to touch a hair on his head!

Ah, forget it! He glanced back at the silent Hyuga Hiashi and considered that handing the Hyuga Clan over to Hiashi entirely might not be such a bad thing.

After leaving the Hyuga Clan compound, Uchiha Yi wandered the streets with Hinata's hand in his. From the moment they had entered until they left, Hinata had not said a word. Whenever Uchiha Yi looked at her, she simply gave him a gentle smile.

Uchiha Yi poked her cheek. "Hinata, aren't you angry about how I treated the three elders?" "Not at all." Hinata shook her head, slipped her arm through his, and leaned lightly against him. "Whatever you do, Yi, I'll always be on your side."

That's Hinata for you! Warmth filled Uchiha Yi's heart. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Hinata, I love you more and more." Her face instantly flushed crimson, but this time was different. Even in the middle of the street, she did not let go of his arm. Instead, she held him tighter.

After strolling around for a while, they bought some ingredients and went home. Hinata cooked that evening. Uchiha Yi had not expected much, but her cooking turned out to be surprisingly good. From that day on, Hinata moved into his home for good, and the two settled into a shamelessly intimate life together.

After returning to Konoha, his plan was to remodel the moon. Uchiha Yi was now certain that Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had never been sealed inside it. What had actually been sealed there was the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path-the Ten-Tails' empty shell. Besides, that shell had long since disappeared from the moon. He already knew Nagato had summoned it away.

As for where Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was sealed, it was not on the moon, but locked away in a space between the cracks of the shinobi world.

It made sense when he thought about it. In the original story, when Kaguya Ōtsutsuki broke her seal, she emerged directly from Six Paths Madara's body, completely unsealing Six Paths Madara. Put plainly, she had been resurrected.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was immortal to begin with, so the moon was actually an absolutely safe place.

Uchiha Yi had thought it through thoroughly. The Fourth Shinobi World War was certain to break out, but that would make things troublesome in the Land of Snow.

He was not worried about the people there. He simply could not stop worrying about Kazahana Koyuki.

Given Kazahana Koyuki's personality, she would undoubtedly fret over the ordinary citizens. More importantly, he felt it was time to claim a territory that truly belonged to him.

The moon was practically made for the purpose, and he was now remodeling it.

He could not use his ocular techniques for the moment, but he could use the Super Multiple Shadow Clone Technique freely.

The Super Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was currently his highest-level ninjutsu. After all, he used it frequently, and it had already reached level eight.

Super Multiple Shadow Clone Technique: Level 8 (1,205,800/1 billion). Super S-rank forbidden technique. Originally an A-rank forbidden technique, it no longer had the restrictions of a forbidden technique after being enhanced by the Limit Sharingan.

At level eight, it could create a hundred thousand shadow clones at once. Their strength depended on their number, and he could produce up to ten clones possessing ninety-nine percent of his original body's combat power. Ninety-nine percent was already the limit.

According to the system, this was due to the laws of the shinobi world. After all, shadow clones and other clones in this world could never reach the original body's strength. Even matching it was difficult.

If Uchiha Yi could break through the shackles of the shinobi world, he would be able to create shadow clones as powerful as his original body.

Still, even shadow clones with ninety-nine percent of his combat power were genuine top-tier fighters. With ten of them using Wood Release together, they could cover the moon in green forests within a few breaths.

To remodel the moon completely, he had even cleared out a skill slot specifically to equip an Earth Release skill.

He had to admit that combining Earth Release and Wood Release from the shinobi world produced incredible results. In just three days, the moon underwent a complete transformation.

On the surface, the moon still looked the same, but he had transformed its interior into a place capable of accommodating over a hundred million people. That was only one part of it, too. He had turned the rest into cities.

Not only that, he had reinforced the moon's surface. It was like enclosing the cities beneath a spherical protective shield. No matter how large a meteorite struck it, the interior would remain unharmed.

The only problem now was that the interior could not do without sunlight. Everything around him was pitch-black, and he was stumped.

Ordinary people did not have his ability to see everything clearly with their eyes closed. Was he supposed to make a Giant Tenseigan just to provide lighting?

The system soon offered him a solution. He could use the tailed beast chakra he had collected earlier to raise a few tailed beasts and make them serve as a sun.

Huh? That works too? Uchiha Yi was a little surprised.

Yes. Based on the host's current shadow clone count and power level, dedicating nine shadow clones with ninety-nine percent combat power to cultivating chakra tailed beasts, then merging the nine clones, would produce enough chakra to serve as a sun without any problem.

Tsk. So I still have to collect the tailed beasts' source chakra? Uchiha Yi was rather speechless.

He had not originally intended to touch the tailed beasts. He was indeed interested in Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Byakugan and Rinne Sharingan. To put it bluntly, he had set his sights on them and planned to reap the rewards at the end.

But now, looking up at the moon's interior, he felt that it really did need a sun. That settled it-even with his eyes closed!

Having made his decision, Uchiha Yi prepared to act. He named this plan the Sun Creation Project!

He immediately returned to Konoha.

In fact, he had learned several days earlier that Sunagakure in the Land of Wind had sent a plea for help. The Fourth Kazekage, Gaara, had been abducted by mysterious attackers.

At first, Tsunade had wanted to send him, but she abandoned the idea when she saw the discomfort in his eyes.

He could guess what happened afterward: Tsunade must have sent Naruto and the others. Sure enough, when he returned, Naruto's team had already been gone for several days.

However, Uchiha Yi had no intention of rushing after them. He already had chakra from Shukaku, the One-Tail, and the Nine-Tails. Rather than head to the Land of Wind, he planned to visit Kumogakure.

He figured that the Akatsuki's immortal duo should be going after the Two-Tails' jinchūriki around now.

Her name was Yugito Nii, right? Uchiha Yi could not quite remember, but he did not care either.

After briefly explaining things to Hinata, he set off.

Inside the Dark Underground Passage in the Land of Lightning, the Akatsuki's immortal duo finally caught up with Yugito.

With a thunderous crash, a red flash slashed toward Yugito ahead. A massive triple-bladed scythe with a red handle suddenly came hurtling at her, forcing her to stop.

"You little brat, you sure can run." Hidan's voice rang out as he and Kakuzu appeared. "Still, when it comes down to it, I'm the slowest attacker in the organization. I keep missing you."

"Hmph. So you really are the Akatsuki?" Yugito's gaze turned cold, and her killing intent surged.

She had learned about some of the Akatsuki's members and their goals in advance, and the organization's strength was terrifying to begin with.

Earlier, after discussing the matter, Tsunade and the Third had decided to inform the other shinobi villages that the Akatsuki was targeting jinchūriki.

Kumogakure had received the letter as well, but the Fourth Raikage had not taken it seriously at all. Even though he did not believe it, he had not sat idle. He had sent trusted subordinates to investigate, including Yugito, Kumogakure's Two-Tails jinchūriki.

"All right, the prey has nowhere to run. Attack!"

"Hold on."

Kakuzu had only just spoken when Hidan pulled out a special bracelet, crouched down, and began muttering.