Damn That Bastard!

He immediately dismissed that theory. If Konoha really had such a powerful Wood Release user, their name would already have resounded throughout the shinobi world.

Wood Release held extraordinary significance for Konoha. There was no way a powerful user could simply appear without drawing attention, which made this man's identity all the more mysterious.

While the Raikage crouched there pondering Uchiha Yi's identity, Yi had already slipped back to Konoha, where he happened to run into Naruto, who had also just returned.

The moment they met, Naruto started telling him about the trip, from rescuing the Kazekage to battling the Akatsuki.

Unlike before, Naruto had grown much stronger. This time, Sasori had fallen to his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, finally pulling him out of the self-doubt that had plagued him since Yi beat him up.

Not only that, thanks to Yi, Kakashi had also figured out how to use Kamui much earlier.

Deidara had escaped with his life, but Kakashi had severed both his arms with Kamui.

As for Kakuzu, Yi had already killed him. Whether Deidara could get his arms reattached was none of Yi's concern.

What Yi hadn't expected was that Sasori had revealed information about Sasuke before the end. Naruto immediately leaned over to persuade him.

"Yi, come with me to bring Sasuke back, will you?"

"Uh, this isn't really a good time for me."

Naruto paused, then asked why.

Go see Sasuke? With his current temperament, Sasuke was practically a bristling ball of fury. Yi had no desire to go looking for a beating.

He could already picture it: the moment he showed up, Sasuke would charge straight at him for a fight. The odds were a solid hundred percent.

He didn't spell out his reasons, only repeated that it wasn't a good time.

"I really can't right now."

Yi helplessly pointed at his tightly closed eyes.

But what nearly made Yi explode was that only now did Naruto shout as though he had discovered a whole new world.

"Yi, what's wrong with your eyes?"

They had each finished a bowl of ramen since meeting, and this idiot had only just noticed something was wrong with his eyes?

Yi wanted to string Naruto up and beat him, but then he decided that taking an idiot seriously was beneath him, so he held back.

He only said, "It's nothing. Just a minor problem lately. It'll get better after a while."

Hearing that, Naruto immediately urged him to see Tsunade.

"No need. I've already had them checked. It's fine."

"Oh, that's good. Too bad you can't come get Sasuke with me this time."

Naruto looked so disappointed that Yi didn't know what to say.

"It's fine. Just go yourself. Aren't you the closest to Sasuke?"

"Tch, who's close to him?"

Naruto immediately grew defensive.

But Yi's next words made him bristle outright.

"Tsk, tsk. Still claiming you're not close? You've even kissed. Don't you want to take responsibility?"

Naruto panicked. "Yi, don't make things up!"

"I'm not making anything up. You really did kiss!"

"That was an accident! Definitely an accident!"

"An accidental kiss is still a kiss."

Naruto froze on the spot, wanting to cry but unable to shed a tear.

A huge ball of light floated in the air. With his eyes closed, Yi nodded.

"Mm, not bad. It's finally starting to feel right."

Hinata stared at the ball of light, her eyes glowing blue. She could sense the absurdly vast amount of chakra inside it.

The light contained chakra from the One-Tail, Two-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails, but it was still unstable.

Yi's four tailed beast Shadow Clones had created it. According to the system, forcing a fusion at this level would cause problems.

The tailed beasts were fine on their own, but there weren't enough of them yet to fuse into the Ten-Tails.

Although Yi had collected chakra from the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails and was cultivating it, he could only rely on his Shadow Clones to control the fusion.

Fortunately, these four Shadow Clones were special and didn't require Yi's chakra to sustain them. Otherwise, in his current condition, maintaining four clones with ninety-nine percent of his strength would have been quite troublesome.

Fighting wasn't much of an issue. At most, a clash on the Eight-Tails' level would cause some fluctuations; anything else would have little effect. That was enough to let them settle down here without worry.

Hinata looked up at Yi and asked softly, "Yi, is this where we'll live from now on?"

Yi nodded, sounding a little pleased with himself. "Yes. Do you like it? I put it together using all sorts of Earth Release and Water Release tricks. It's just missing some birdsong and flowers."

Hinata suddenly remembered something and asked, "Then when are Koyuki and Sara coming over?"

Yi had been visiting the Land of Snow often lately and had won Sara over too. Whenever he thought about how the fiery Sara showed such tenderness in bed, even shyer than Hinata, he ended up putting off his plans to live with Koyuki and Sara several times. But looking at Hinata beside him, all he felt was a comforting warmth.

Yi knew how close Koyuki and Sara were, and Hinata wasn't jealous either. She truly was a wonderful wife.

Although Yi couldn't use his Sharingan and his Shadow Clones were restricted, he could still use Flying Thunder God.

So he soon dispatched a large number of Shadow Clones to bring Koyuki and Sara to the Moon Palace.

Moon Palace was the name Yi had given their home. Both women liked it, and Koyuki immediately decided to stay. Yi's Shadow Clones could handle affairs in the Land of Snow.

The Land of Snow also had a "Snow Queen," who was actually Yi's One-Tail Shadow Clone. By now, it no longer needed Sara to supply chakra.

Cultivating these chakra tailed beasts wasn't easy. They had no independent minds, making it easy to become a perfect jinchuriki, but they couldn't perform Complete Tailed Beast Transformation. Their chakra reserves were roughly on par with the originals.

Kazahana Koyuki used one to make Chakra Armor that amplified ninjutsu. She said she wanted to help Yi. He didn't think it was necessary, but he didn't stop her. As long as his woman was happy.

After settling matters at the Moon Palace, Yi took Hinata back to Konoha. The moment they arrived, an Anbu stopped him.

The Anbu bowed respectfully. "Lord Yi, the Fifth Hokage requests your presence!"

Yi nodded, then smiled at Hinata. "Hinata, I'll go see her first."

Hinata nodded. "Okay. I'll have dinner ready and wait for you."

Yi marveled inwardly at how wonderful it was to have a wife like her. Unfortunately, Hinata only said, "Welcome home," not that teasing line-"Would you like dinner first, or would you like..." Kazahana Koyuki had said it, and it was very alluring, but he wanted even more to hear Hinata say it.

Never mind. We have plenty of time. One step at a time.

In the Hokage's office, Tsunade stared sternly at Yi, clutching a wanted notice. "Yi, explain yourself. What exactly is going on?"

Yi took one look at the notice and was instantly speechless. It had been issued by Kumogakure's Raikage and identified him as a powerful member of the Akatsuki.

Yi rolled his eyes. "I didn't do anything. Isn't this wanted notice a bit ridiculous?"

The notice said the Akatsuki's goal was to capture tailed beasts and that Kumogakure's two jinchūriki had been ambushed. Yi complained, "What ambush? It was clearly..."

But Tsunade soon frowned, evidently failing to follow his train of thought.

Yi paused, then explained, "Remember what happened in Sunagakure a while ago? The Akatsuki have already made their move. I investigated them. They're capturing the tailed beasts in order, starting with the One-Tail, then the Two-Tails. Their target this time should have been Kumogakure's Two-Tails."

Tsunade's brow furrowed even more deeply.

"Why did you attack Kumogakure's Two-Tails jinchūriki?"

Naturally, Uchiha Yi wasn't going to say that he wanted the Two-Tails' source chakra to cultivate his own chakra tailed beast.

He couldn't reveal that, so he could only offer another explanation.

"But when you arrived, the Two-Tails jinchūriki, Yugito Nii, had already been attacked by Akatsuki members. You stepped in to help, didn't you?"

Yi nodded with a pout. But who could have expected that, as soon as he dealt with the Akatsuki members, Yugito Nii would decide he was after the Two-Tails and attack him without listening to a word?

Kumogakure's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, happened to witness the scene, immediately decided Yi was an enemy, and started fighting him.

The more Tsunade thought about it, the worse her headache became. Remembering how the Raikage had sworn that Uchiha Yi belonged to the Akatsuki left her feeling deeply frustrated.

After all, Yi had helped Konoha resolve plenty of problems and even shielded them from disaster. Yet now he had a bounty on his head. Tsunade's temper flared.

She stared at Yi, recalling the Stone Tablet he had previously used to fool them. She knew the Rinnegan could wield Wood Release, and that the next step beyond Yi's eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was the Rinnegan.

Tsunade asked gravely, "Do you really have the Rinnegan?"

Yi didn't hide it. He nodded and admitted it outright.

Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief. This was a good thing. Having someone so powerful in Konoha gave the village far more confidence.

But with the Akatsuki already making their move, shouldn't Naruto stay in the village?

Tsunade looked at Yi, who casually suggested sending Naruto to Mount Myōboku to train in Senjutsu. He would be safe there.

Tsunade nodded. Just as she relaxed, Shizune rushed in, flustered.

Shizune cried, "Lady Tsunade, something terrible has happened! Naruto sneaked out of the village!"

Tsunade exploded, smashing her desk with a slap as she roared, "Where's Kakashi? Didn't I tell him to keep an eye on Naruto?"

Yi couldn't help grumbling inwardly. Kakashi had probably done it on purpose.

Tsunade reached the same conclusion and cursed, "Damn that bastard!"

She looked up at Yi, clearly intending to send him after Naruto.

Yi was ready. He immediately turned and ran, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Oh, Hinata's made dinner! I have to get home and eat!"

Shizune stood frozen in place. Seething with anger, Tsunade pointed at her and snapped, "What are you standing around for? Have Yamato take a team and bring him back!"

After leaving the Hokage's office, Yi rubbed his chin, feeling very pleased.

He had known the Three-Tails' condition before, but not its location. Now he had a lead. After all, he remembered that Naruto and the others would encounter the Three-Tails and Obito Uchiha this time, so he needed to find the Three-Tails first.

For now, though, the most important thing was going home to eat Hinata's cooking.

Once home, Yi tried to get Hinata to say that teasing line, "Would you like dinner first, or would you like..." But her face turned bright red, and she was too embarrassed to get the words out.

Yi was amused, finding this more entertaining than dinner.

But Hinata was far too shy and refused to say it no matter what, so Yi could only give in and reheat the food.

Hinata had no strength left, so Yi even fed her during dinner.

But as they ate, they became entangled with each other again.

Yi felt that his body had become much stronger after his transmigration Rinnegan evolved, and he couldn't help wanting to be intimate.

Hinata's physical condition had improved considerably, so she could endure it, but little by little, she began to struggle to keep up.

A thought surfaced in her mind: perhaps she could learn the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Corpses lay scattered in every direction across a vast clearing.

Sasuke sat cross-legged atop several bodies, staring straight at Orochimaru with eyes as cold as ice.

A flicker of impatience flashed through Orochimaru's eyes, and he abruptly flicked out a half-meter-long tongue. "You couldn't even finish off this handful of people? You're unbelievably stupid!"

Sasuke remained expressionless. "The target I'm looking for isn't among them."