The Scroll of Seals Was Finally Coming

"How is it you?" Itachi's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He had never panicked this much, even against the strongest enemies.

The child before him was actually Yi? A boy around Sasuke's age possessed such strength? "Uchiha Yi?" Disbelief crept into Itachi's voice. "That's right. It's me." Yi nodded, smiling without a trace of unease.

Itachi's expression was complicated. He opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, not a word came out. Seeing this, Yi stepped closer. "Itachi, tell me honestly-is there anyone in this world better suited to protecting Sasuke than me?"

Itachi said nothing, but inwardly, he already agreed. No one was better suited than Yi. After all, this child understood how to protect Sasuke even better than he did. Though he had a hundred questions, none of them mattered in the current situation.

"All right. I accept this deal." Itachi nodded, and Yi finally felt the weight lift from his chest. "Good. I can protect Sasuke for five years, until he graduates safely. Do you accept?" Neither explicitly mentioned what the allotted place meant, but both understood: it meant keeping Sasuke safe for those five years.

"I accept!" Itachi agreed without hesitation. Yi quickly rubbed his hands together. "Then it's settled. Once the timing is confirmed, make sure you tell me right away." As soon as he finished speaking, Yi stepped onto a mark and vanished on the spot.

Itachi stood there, stunned, for a long time. Only after the chakra presence had completely disappeared did he flicker away. Back home, Yi finally felt much more at ease. Knowing Itachi, he would not go back on his word.

Still, Yi did not completely let his guard down. He hid all the kunai bearing the Flying Thunder God Formula in the most secluded places he could find. After all, it never hurt to be wary.

Although he had hidden plenty of Flying Thunder God marks inside Konoha, he could not neglect the area outside the village. Uchiha Yi deliberately placed two or three kunai in the woods along its outskirts. If the day came when he had no options left, he could simply make a run for it. This was his fallback, not something to use unless he was truly cornered.

Over the next few days, Yi kept his head down and trained as usual. Might Guy, however, suddenly returned from duty with some time off. Guy thought it was merely his normal leave rotation and noticed nothing amiss, but Yi knew perfectly well-this was no ordinary vacation. The Third Hokage had deliberately recalled the jonin stationed outside the village to deter any movement from the Uchiha.

It was not just Guy. Yi had seen plenty of familiar jonin return to the village over the past few days. They're about to act, he thought. Still, he had expected this all along. With Guy here, finding somewhere to hide would be easy.

During their earlier training sessions, Yi had mentioned several times that he wanted to stay at Guy's house. It was one of his backup plans-to hide there and survive the massacre night. Naturally, he had been eating and sleeping at Guy's place these past few days.

Within two days, Itachi sent word. The Konoha High Command had made its decision: they would act in three days. Itachi also said he had not deliberately asked the higher-ups for any additional places on the survival list, but Yi knew he would be completely safe spending those three days at Guy's house.

Keeping that message in mind, Yi went straight back to training with Guy. The three days passed in a flash. Yi trained until he passed out, and when he woke the next morning, he found Guy looking grim.

Seeing Guy's expression, Yi's heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, Guy soon spoke. Itachi had defected and slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan. Now, only Yi and Sasuke remained.

It's finally over! Yi felt relief wash over him, but a chill immediately spread through his chest. Though he had long known the massacre night would come, he still could not calmly accept the reality of it.

After all, he had grown up among the Uchiha. Many clan members had helped him over the years, allowing him to live peacefully even after his parents died. Now, all those familiar faces were gone. Claiming he felt nothing would have been a lie. They were not mere fictional figures, and Yi was not heartless. How could he remain unmoved?

Yet with his current strength, all he could do was watch. After the massacre night, Yi returned to his own home, only to find that the Uchiha Clan Compound was already being parceled out to others. He sneered inwardly.

Yi could also feel several additional gazes on him. Most likely, they were watching him-either Anbu or Root operatives. He was one of the two surviving Uchiha children. Even though he was young and supposedly untalented, he was still under surveillance. Sasuke was probably being watched even more closely.

At this point, Yi stopped doing anything conspicuous. He quietly returned to school and no longer trained himself to exhaustion, instead acting like an ordinary orphan. At most, he occasionally trained a little with Guy. Sure enough, once he put on this act, the gazes watching him gradually dwindled, though some remained.

At home, Yi sensed several concealed presences outside his window. His gaze sharpened, and his Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun as he murmured, "Looks like I'll have to stay careful until I'm strong enough."

That was fine, too. His Eight Gates had only just reached level three, so he could use these peaceful days to focus on advancing his Limit Sharingan. Several years slipped by, and before he knew it, it was year 60 of Konoha. Graduation season had finally arrived.

In the classroom, Yi was filled with mixed emotions. Five years had passed since the massacre night. Throughout those years, he had behaved with impeccable restraint. To anyone watching, he was merely an ordinary student-albeit one of the Uchiha's two remaining survivors. Precisely because of that identity, Konoha had kept him under surveillance for all five years.

At the front of the classroom, Iruka announced, "The graduation exam begins now. When your name is called, go to the classroom next door." After a pause, he added, "The subject of this exam is the Clone Technique." Naruto's face fell the moment he heard that.

Naruto whipped his head around to stare at Yi, looking utterly miserable. "Huh? The Clone Technique? I'm doomed! Yi, what am I supposed to do?"

Yi scratched his head. "Uh, don't worry. It's really easy. You'll pass without any trouble." But the moment he said it, Naruto looked even more hopeless.

Yi had no idea what else to say. Over the years, his relationship with Naruto had been neither close nor distant. Naruto treated everyone like an old friend and kept pestering him. Yi had tried teaching him the Clone Technique, hoping to lend a hand, but had eventually given up.

The Nine-Tails kept interfering inside Naruto, making it impossible for him to distribute his chakra in precisely the right amounts. Naturally, he could not manage the Clone Technique.

Uchiha Yi did have a way to help Naruto, but it would require using the true abilities he had kept hidden.

And setting aside the handful of observers watching him, the surveillance around Naruto was far denser, like a mesh of countless eyes.

Every time he spent time with Naruto, Uchiha Yi could feel several gazes stabbing toward him like tiny needles.

That was why Uchiha Yi was always especially careful whenever he was with Naruto.

He certainly would not call Naruto a hopeless idiot.

"Fail!" Iruka shouted, slapping the desk.

A limp clone lay sprawled on the floor, and Iruka exploded at Naruto.

At that moment, Mizuki spoke up from beside Iruka. "Iruka-sensei, Naruto's movement and stamina are both good. Although this clone is limp, he has technically managed the technique. Why not give him a passing grade...?"

Uchiha Yi stared at Mizuki. His eyes lit up, and a cold smile curled his lips.

Oh, the Scroll of Seals. You're finally coming.

The Clone Technique was child's play to him. Passing the exam was a foregone conclusion.

When it was Uchiha Yi's turn to take the exam, a faint, soft voice reached his ears.

He turned and saw Hinata standing there.

Clutching the hem of her clothes, Hinata called softly, "Good luck, Yi-kun!"

Five years ago, Uchiha Yi had been feeling down over his parents' deaths. While out for a walk to clear his head, he had stumbled across some children bullying Hinata.

In the end, he and Naruto, who happened to be passing by, had beaten up the bullies together.

Ever since then, Naruto had thought the world of him.

But after that encounter, the person Hinata remembered was not Naruto, but Uchiha Yi.

Because he had been under surveillance for the past five years, Uchiha Yi had barely interacted with Hinata. He had not expected her to come cheer him on.

Uchiha Yi smiled. It seemed he had already taken Naruto's place in Hinata's heart.

He smiled at Hinata, and she instantly flushed all the way down her neck. Then Uchiha Yi turned and went to take the exam.

The exam went without a hitch, and he passed smoothly.

He put his forehead protector on, then went over to comfort Naruto and offered to treat him to ramen.

Naruto could not muster any enthusiasm. He hung his head dejectedly, uninterested even in his favorite ramen.

As they parted, Uchiha Yi suddenly called, "Naruto."

Naruto instinctively looked up. He froze for less than a second before snapping out of it.

"Don't worry. I believe in you. You'll definitely graduate!"

Naruto gave a listless "Oh," then turned and left.

No one noticed that Uchiha Yi's scarlet eyes had returned to normal.

Uchiha Yi soon returned home and began examining his status panel.

Host: Uchiha Yi

Limit Sharingan: Level 4 (61278/100000), comes with an infinite evolution buff, currently at the Mangekyō stage

Skills: 3/4 (four slots available), Eight Gates, Fire Release, Flying Thunder God Technique

Level 4 comment: Hey, kid! You've got the Mangekyō Sharingan now, but use it too much and you'll go blind! Don't wait until you're a blind fortune-teller before you think about leveling up!

Over these five years, Uchiha Yi's Sharingan had long since evolved into the Mangekyō.

However, the level-four Mangekyō still had the flaw of causing blindness with frequent use.

Unlike other Mangekyō, though, his Limit Sharingan would only go blind if he kept it active day after day.

As long as he left his Mangekyō inactive for a while, even a slight loss of vision would recover on its own.

Without that limitation, his Sharingan would have become the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan long ago.

With the Limit Sharingan system, he did not need anyone else's eyes. He could evolve it into the eternal version himself.

But if he kept the Mangekyō active around the clock, he would go blind in half a month.

With his current chakra reserves, maintaining it for half a month would be no problem at all.

Even without activating his Mangekyō, his chakra was already at jonin level.

With the amplification from the Eight Gates, his chakra reserves reached Kage Level.

Eight Gates: Level 4 (53349/100000), enhanced by the Limit Sharingan, allows all Eight Gates to remain open permanently without injury

At level four, he now had the Gate of Pain permanently open, multiplying his chakra fortyfold.

With that fortyfold boost, he had more chakra than an ordinary Kage Level ninja.

But because the Mangekyō could cause blindness, he did not dare keep it active all the time.

If he only used the three-tomoe form, his level-four Limit Sharingan gained just one proficiency point per hour.

That was why, even after five years, his Limit Sharingan was still stuck at level four.

He muttered, "Hmm? Has it started?"

In his room, Uchiha Yi suddenly felt his eyelids twitch. Before he could react, a piercing scarlet color flashed into his eyes.

The pattern was a crooked five-pointed star with two tomoe linked end to end at its center. Together, they formed his Mangekyō Sharingan.

As a cheat-powered Limit Sharingan, it had awakened more ocular techniques than anyone else's-a full three.

The first was Amaterasu, which he had eagerly awaited for so long. There was also Susanoo, the standard Mangekyō ability. As for the last, it was not the Kamui he had wanted, but a genjutsu similar to Tsukuyomi-Vision Resonance.

It had little offensive power, but its utility was absurd. As long as he placed a mark on a living creature, he could share its vision. The mark was also deeply concealed, making it very difficult to detect.

Using Vision Resonance, he had long since discovered that the people watching him belonged to that scheming old bastard Danzo and the Anbu.

Today, however, he was not watching his observers. Instead, he had placed a mark on Naruto. His purpose was simple-the Scroll of Seals.

Ever since his Limit Sharingan reached level four, the extra skill slot had remained empty. He had asked the system about it and learned that he could choose a ninjutsu to slot into it himself. His first thought had been the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. With that skill, he could rapidly accumulate proficiency in all his ninjutsu.

The awkward part was that slotting a technique required knowing its complete contents. The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was forbidden, and he had no way to obtain its contents from the Scroll of Seals. He had previously tried sneaking close to the scroll, but it was heavily guarded. Besides, he did not have Kamui. Even if he got his hands on it, Sealing Jutsu would likely obstruct him, leaving him unable to extract the information.

That was why he had kept waiting for the opportunity on Naruto's graduation day. And now, his wait was finally over.