After returning to Konoha, Uchiha Yuan immediately went to report to Minato Namikaze. Although Uchiha Yuan hadn't personally seen the Three-Tails being taken away by the Kirigakure shinobi, with Obito and Black-White Zetsu both appearing, the Three-Tails was as good as caught.
So Uchiha Yuan directly told Minato that Kirigakure and Kumogakure had made some kind of unknown agreement, and afterward, the Kumo shinobi withdrew while the Kiri shinobi captured the Three-Tails.
Minato Namikaze breathed a sigh of relief. Truth be told, he didn't want to see the Three-Tails fall into Kumogakure's hands.
Kumo already had two perfect Jinchūriki; if they had one more, it would be far too great a threat.
"Yuan, thank you for your hard work this time." Minato patted Uchiha Yuan's shoulder.
"It wasn't that hard—just ran a few errands. But you, the Hokage, don't look like you're having it easy."
Minato gave a bitter smile at those words. Just as he was about to reply, Kakashi suddenly appeared in the Hokage's office.
"Hokage-sama, Anbu has new urgent intel."
Hearing that it was urgent, Minato immediately turned serious. He took the intel scroll from Kakashi and skimmed through it quickly, then handed it to Uchiha Yuan.
Uchiha Yuan was momentarily surprised—letting him see Hokage-level intel so directly didn't seem proper.
But since Minato offered, he didn't decline and read over it briefly. The content was simple. Stripping away all the fluff, the core was just one sentence: The Four-Tails Jinchūriki was killed in the Land of Hot Water.
Uchiha Yuan hadn't expected news of what he did to spread so quickly. The ninja world's intel network really was fast.
Of course, he only thought this inwardly. Outwardly, Uchiha Yuan acted unaffected and even helped Minato analyze the implications of the intel.
After wrapping things up with Minato, Uchiha Yuan returned to the Uchiha clan compound.
Based on Minato's attitude about the Four-Tails Jinchūriki's death, it was easy to infer how the other major villages would react—especially Iwagakure, who definitely wouldn't let it go.
So Uchiha Yuan decided to lay low for a while.
And indeed, Iwagakure exploded with rage upon learning of Rōshi's death.
Ōnoki dispatched a large number of shinobi to investigate and see if anyone knew who had killed Rōshi.
Kumogakure, always enjoying a good spectacle, spread the news across the entire ninja world.
Now the whole world knew the Four-Tails Jinchūriki was dead, and Iwagakure was offering a huge reward for any clues.
Very soon, the bounty stations sold out Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana.
Iwagakure began a full-scale hunt for the two masked individuals.
Uchiha Yuan, however, wasn't concerned. After all, they were after two masked people—what did that have to do with Uchiha Yuan?
Worst case, he'd just stop wearing a mask when doing bad things.
And so, half a month passed. Despite Iwagakure's massive manhunt, they got nothing, and the bounty for Rōshi was even withdrawn from the bounty stations.
This meant someone had already turned in Rōshi's head and collected the reward.
When Ōnoki heard this, he was furious. It was a direct slap to Iwagakure's face.
When Uchiha Yuan learned that Hyuga Asana was the one who did it, he just shook his head helplessly.
Still, he didn't criticize her. Whatever Hyuga Asana did was fine—as long as she was happy. And if Iwagakure was foolish enough to provoke her, Uchiha Yuan wouldn't mind giving them a lesson.
That afternoon, after completing that day's simulation game, Uchiha Yuan leveled up to 60. His current status panel was as follows:
Chakra: 966
Constitution: 280
Ocular Power: 1119
Vitality: 449
Nature Affinity: 4
Level: Lv60 (0/150)
Attribute Points: 0
Upon reaching level 60, Uchiha Yuan immediately claimed the level reward.
Originally, he thought the reward would be another set of jutsu like before, but this time, it was something more like the talismans from Jackie Chan Adventures.
Item Name: Modified Rat Talisman
Item Type: Soul-type Item
Item Effect: Can copy the soul of a dead creature and allow the user to transform the copied soul. The transformed soul will become the instrument spirit of the Rat Talisman. Put the Rat Talisman into a dead object or an object without a soul, and the Rat Talisman will give the object kinetic energy and act according to the will of the soul in the Rat Talisman.
Friendly Reminder: To copy a soul, the user must either kill the target or obtain their consent.
The Rat Talisman can only hold one copied soul at a time. Modifying the soul consumes a large amount of ocular power. If the modification is unsatisfactory, the copied soul must be destroyed and replaced. Use with caution.
After reading the description, Uchiha Yuan's eyes lit up.
This was like receiving a pillow when you were drowsy! He had been worrying about how to make his mini Ten Tails controllable—ideally with some level of autonomy, like how Naruto and Kurama cooperated in the original.
Now with this Rat Talisman, that desire could be perfectly fulfilled.
As for the soul to copy, Uchiha Yuan thought he should find someone with rich combat experience, erase all their memories except those related to combat, and implant full obedience to his commands.
There were plenty of such people in the ninja world—but they were usually the backbone of their respective villages.
And considering the Four-Tails Jinchūriki had just died, killing another important figure might cause some problems.
So after filtering his options, Uchiha Yuan turned his attention to the dead.
The item description didn't say whether the soul had to be freshly killed or already dead—just "deceased."
Male ninjas are out of the question. Uchiha Yuan isn't keen on having a man's soul sealed inside him.
Among the women, the one who interested him most was Mito Uzumaki, the First Hokage's wife.
She had lived a long life, mastered many jutsu, secret techniques, and sealing arts, and had more than enough combat experience.
As for her burial place, he could just ask Kushina Uzumaki.
The excuse was easy to make: in about six months, Yamato should have fully fused with the First Hokage's cells. By then, he would have mastered Wood Release.
With a new Wood Release user emerging, it made perfect sense to "pay respects" to the First Hokage's spirit.
Now the only issue was finding someone who could use Impure World Reincarnation to summon Mito Uzumaki, so he could copy her soul.
At present, Orochimaru was the most suitable person—he undoubtedly knew the technique.
But Uchiha Yuan didn't want Orochimaru to know anything about the Ten Tails.
"Forget it… I'll find a way to learn Impure World Reincarnation myself," Uchiha Yuan muttered.
When it came to this matter, he trusted himself more than Orochimaru.
(To Be Continued...)