Little man, why did you bring home another woman?

Uchiha Yi stared at Konan on the ground and nearly swore. He had only come to collect tailed beast chakra-how had he ended up with this mess?

Before long, Nagato appeared in a dark corner. The moment he landed, Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu emerged.

"Nagato, did it work?" Obito asked.

"No." Nagato shook his head. "You were right. There's something strange about that Uchiha Yi. He has spatial abilities, too."

"Is he strong?" Obito pressed urgently.

Nagato lowered his eyes. Something unusual flashed through them before he quickly suppressed it and shook his head. "No. His abilities are strange, but he isn't that strong. I miscalculated this time and lost the Six Paths of Pain, but I've figured him out now. He does have some skill, but with all Six Paths of Pain attacking together, we could handle him easily."

"Oh, I see!" Obito believed him without the slightest doubt. Delight flashed in his eyes. As long as they could win-that was all that mattered. His only fear had been that they couldn't.

Black Zetsu suddenly remembered something and spoke up. "Nagato, this time, all your Pain bodies were..."

"Yes." Nagato nodded without hiding it. "The Six Paths of Pain split up to gather intelligence on the tailed beasts, and Uchiha Yi and those old men in Konoha picked them off one by one. I've already sent Konan to find new bodies. We'll lie low for a while."

Black Zetsu believed him this time, though he still felt something was off.

After leaving the area, Black Zetsu walked beside Obito, already making plans of his own. Nagato had exhausted far too much chakra and looked unlikely to last much longer. He needed to prepare ahead of time. Without realizing it, he glanced at Obito, an odd gleam passing through his eyes.

Obito noticed none of this. He had just received a message from Sasuke and was hurrying toward the Moon Palace. Meanwhile, at the Moon Palace, Uchiha Yi sat obediently in place, with Hinata, Kazahana Koyuki, Sara, and Hanabi seated across from him. Not far away, Konan still lay unconscious on the floor.

Kazahana Koyuki's eyes curved with her smile as she tapped the tabletop. "Well, little man, why did you bring home another woman?"

Uchiha Yi knew she didn't truly mind, but her manner only made him more uncomfortable. Hinata and Sara had never gotten angry over the other women around him either, yet the more understanding they were, the guiltier he felt.

If they actually got jealous, he could stand his ground and say, "I just want more women." But faced with these gentle girls who indulged his every wish, he simply couldn't bring himself to say it. He grumbled inwardly, Wait, I'm only taking Konan in. I haven't added her to my harem. There's absolutely nothing between us!

Even though the system had told him Konan was suitable to become his spring retainer, and mentioned her purity and hairless body, he hadn't been tempted. Tempted? Are you kidding? Would I, Uchiha Yi, be tempted by something as trivial as romance?

Uchiha Yi scratched his head and protested, "What do you mean, 'brought home another woman'? Listen, Konan, she..."

He explained Konan's story from beginning to end, emphasizing all the tragic parts until Hinata's and Sara's eyes reddened. Kazahana Koyuki watched with a sigh, thinking, Oh, these two foolish little sisters of mine. Hanabi, on the other hand, said nothing the entire time, though she occasionally cocked a meaningful little glance at him. What was that supposed to mean?

Unable to take it anymore, Uchiha Yi simply found an excuse to escape. He waved at the women. "Uh, that's pretty much what happened. I'll leave Konan in your care for now. Konoha just suffered an attack, and there's still..."

The moment he finished speaking, Uchiha Yi vanished in a flicker, leaving the girls to gather and chatter over their plans. Back in Konoha, Tsunade summoned him as soon as he returned.

Tsunade got straight to the point. "Is it settled? What happened to the enemy?"

"It's settled," Uchiha Yi replied. "As for the enemy, the mastermind ran too fast. I couldn't catch him."

Tsunade nodded. "I see. Looks like I'll still have to make the trip."

Uchiha Yi furrowed his brow. "Where?"

"The Land of Iron!" Tsunade answered. "Kumogakure's Fourth Raikage is calling a Five Kage Summit."

Something else had happened during this time: Kumogakure's Two-Tails and Eight-Tails had been attacked. The attacker was Sasuke Uchiha, that Uchiha Sasuke fellow, but this time Kisame had been with him. Known as the Tailless Tailed Beast, Kisame possessed an absurd amount of chakra and was a formidable opponent himself. Both tailed beasts had ended up badly injured. If the Raikage hadn't arrived with reinforcements in time, Killer B, the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki, might have been taken away.

This left Uchiha Yi with a strange impression. Why did Uchiha Sasuke seem stronger than in the original story? That wasn't right. Even with Kisame along, their chances against both the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails should have been slim. Judging by the original story, if the Eight-Tails had unleashed his full strength, Sasuke and his group might have suffered badly. For things to turn out like this, there could only be one explanation-Sasuke was much stronger now than he had been in the original.

Now that was interesting. A thought occurred to Uchiha Yi, and he suddenly found things increasingly entertaining. Just then, Tsunade spoke. "Uchiha Yi, I formally appoint you captain of the escort for this Five Kage Summit. You'll come with me."

Uchiha Yi paused. "What? Come with you..." He had intended to refuse, but then he realized he could meet Sasuke this way and test his suspicion. He nodded. "All right, I'll go with you."

"When do we leave?" Tsunade asked.

"In seven days," Uchiha Yi replied.

Seven days later, their party would head for the Land of Iron. At Uchiha Yi's speed, he could get there from Konoha in a few breaths, but to avoid frightening anyone, he would take two or three hours at most. He told Tsunade that bringing Shizune would be enough and that they didn't need anyone else. Tsunade agreed.

The invasion by the Six Paths of Pain had given Tsunade a thorough understanding of Uchiha Yi's strength. Without him, Konoha might have been done for. So when he guaranteed that nothing would go wrong with him there, she agreed.

Uchiha Yi also intended to use this time to finish something he had started earlier: he had obtained the source chakra of the Four-Tails, Five-Tails, Six-Tails, and Seven-Tails from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

After three days, he finally cultivated those four tailed beasts' source chakra into the system's chakra tailed beasts. A great sun appeared above the Moon Palace!

It was a sun formed from tailed beast chakra, with no independent consciousness, composed purely of chakra. In theory, something in this form should never go berserk. Yet no one had expected that one of Uchiha Yi's shadow clones was hidden inside it.

As it happened, this clone had originally been formed by combining his nine shadow clones. Now only one remained, but that single clone was anything but weak-it held all the chakra of the nine tailed beasts.

In an actual fight, this clone's combat strength was no worse than Uchiha Yi's own. Even against a top-tier powerhouse like Six Paths Madara, it could meet him head-on and win. It made a dependable line of defense for the Moon Palace.

But Uchiha Yi was a little frustrated. The system said this sun clone still wasn't fully formed. Why? It was missing something.

It lacked the Nine-Tails' chakra. The chakra Nine-Tails he had accumulated earlier contained only the half inside Naruto. The other half remained sealed in the Fourth Hokage's spirit! This meant the chakra Nine-Tails he had raised was incomplete, leaving the sun clone one final piece short.

Still, its current state was more than enough. It could maintain itself indefinitely without even consuming his own chakra. Yet the system told him that if he collected all the tailed beast chakra and fully matured the clone, he would receive a major surprise. Uchiha Yi found it a hassle, but the thought of that surprise tempted him.

He had four days left anyway. Finishing this wouldn't be hard. Having made up his mind, he prepared to act. Before that, however, there was one more matter to resolve-Konan. After discussing it with Hinata and the others, the women had reached a decision.

Kazahana Koyuki spoke first, her voice gentle. "Konan suffered too much before. Let's let her forget her past." In that same room, Uchiha Yi sat obediently across from the women, listening to Kazahana Koyuki explain their final arrangements. In truth, it was her idea, and Hinata and Sara had followed her lead. After all, Kazahana Koyuki was the oldest and a queen, making her the most suitable person to handle something like this.

Uchiha Yi nodded. "All right. I'll alter Konan's memories now." His expression remained neutral, though he felt a little strange inside. Just then, Hanabi suddenly laughed. "Dear brother-in-law, don't get smug just yet. My big sisters said that even if we erase everything, we still need to give her some new memories. Leave that part to us."

Uchiha Yi was speechless. Only then did he realize that ever since their trip to the hot springs, every time Hanabi called him "brother-in-law," there had been an elusive hint of flirtation in her voice. And he was certain the girl was doing it on purpose.

Wait, adding memories? He had considered that himself. While changing Konan's memories, he could erase her old ones and secretly slip in a little something extra-not actual memories, just a few suggestions about how brave and handsome he was. With those suggestions, the new Konan would... ahem, probably feel some affection for him. Unfortunately, they had seen right through his little scheme.

Even with his plan exposed, he betrayed nothing and nodded. "All right, we'll do it your way!"

They followed him to Konan's room. She was still trapped in a genjutsu that Uchiha Yi had reinforced. He had also supplied her with Yin-Yang Release chakra. Otherwise, after so many days without food or water, she would have collapsed long ago.

"Tsukuyomi: Illusion Realm!" His Transmigration Rinnegan slowly opened as Uchiha Yi activated the genjutsu. He had never tried using it at full power, but he estimated that it was no weaker than Infinite Tsukuyomi. Konan was the target, but Hinata and the others entered the Illusion Realm as well. Hanabi had insisted on joining them.

Once inside the Illusion Realm, the women got to work. Uchiha Yi felt warmth stir in his heart-they had planned everything in such detail. After all, time flowed differently within Tsukuyomi: Illusion Realm. A single second outside could mean more than ten days within. Though it consumed considerable chakra, keeping Tsukuyomi: Illusion Realm active indefinitely was easy with his current abilities.

The women's idea was simple: directly altering Konan's memories would surely leave her feeling uncomfortable, so they might as well give her a new path through life from the very beginning. This time, within the Illusion Realm, they would stay with Konan as she grew up all over again.