Chương 99

The journey back took considerably less time than before. Rei no longer had any reason to hide his movements, though he still avoided the main roads out of habit. The smoke rising above Konoha could already be seen from several kilometers away, the aftermath of Orochimaru's invasion still hanging heavily over the village. As he approached the outer defensive perimeter, several chakra signatures suddenly surrounded him from different directions.

"Stop right there!" Half a dozen Konoha shinobi dropped onto the surrounding branches with weapons already drawn. Their expressions remained tense until one of them noticed the unconscious man slung over Rei's shoulder.

"... Wait." The leader's eyes widened.

"That's... Baki!" Several others immediately recognized the Sand jonin as well.

"The commander of the Sand forces?"

"He was one of the invasion leaders!" Their gazes slowly shifted toward Rei, disbelief written plainly across their faces. They all recognized the boy. He was only a genin.

"You... captured him?" one of the chunin asked, unable to hide the shock in his voice.

"He fled after our fight. I chased him beyond the village border and managed to bring him down before he could escape." Rei replied.

"You can ask Kakashi sensei."

"Kakashi is your teacher?" The leader was taken aback and now was taking a closer look at Rei, to which Rei gave a nod. The name Kakashi carried weight everywhere and nobody would take his name lightly, so this guy was probably speaking the truth, but it was still unbelievable seeing his age. Maybe this was one of the victors of the Chunin Exams. They didn't attend, but it didn't mean that they didn't know that the exams were going on since the whole farce started because of those exams.

But their curiosity toward the Chunin Exams wasn't that high as these were just children in front of their eyes. The patrol exchanged stunned looks before quickly taking Baki into custody, layering him with additional restraints and suppression seals. Even unconscious, an enemy jonin wasn't someone they intended to underestimate.

"... Outstanding work. Bringing back a Sand jonin alive will be invaluable for the village." A small smile finally appeared beneath the exhaustion on the leader's face.

"You've done more than enough today, Rei. Leave the prisoner to us." Another shinobi patted him lightly on the shoulder.

"Go home and get some rest. The invasion is over. We'll take it from here." Rei didn't argue. He simply watched as they carried Baki away toward the village under heavy guard before quietly turning around and walking through Konoha's damaged gates, where the sounds of medics, rescue teams, and rebuilding efforts had already begun replacing the sounds of battle. Today had finally come to an end.

Three days later, the entire village gathered beneath a sky that seemed just as heavy as the hearts of the people standing below it. Long rows of memorial tablets had been arranged before the Monument Stone while fresh flowers covered the ground in every direction. There were no celebrations for surviving the invasion. Only mourning for those who never returned. Even the loudest children of Konoha remained unusually quiet, sensing that this was one of those rare days when the village itself was grieving.

Rei stood among the crowd beside his parents, dressed in simple black clothing. His mother quietly held a bouquet of white lilies while his father remained silent with folded arms, staring at the countless names carved into the memorial. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Rei's expression barely changed as he watched familiar faces scattered throughout the gathering. Maybe he could have warned or even saved the Third Hokage, but he chose not to.

One might see it as cruelty, as he had allowed a somewhat innocent man to die, but one couldn't just look over the fact of what he had done. Letting Danzo have the Root even after the Uchiha massacre and allowing Naruto to suffer just couldn't be looked over. A part of him wanted the butterfly effect to let him survive, but it didn't. If he wanted to help, he was sure that Danzo would have gotten involved, which he already had even though he stayed as far away as possible.

As these thoughts went through his head, he saw Kakashi standing before the monument with his usual unreadable face, though the slight tightening of his visible eye betrayed his thoughts. Gai rested a reassuring hand on his rival's shoulder while Kurenai, Asuma, and many other jonin paid their respects in silence. One after another, the clan heads stepped forward to pay their respects before the village elders addressed the gathering.

There were no grand speeches about victory or glory, only quiet words honoring the Professor who had protected the village through three great wars and countless crises. Whatever opinions he held of the man, one truth remained undeniable. The Third Hokage had died as the Hokage of Konoha. And today, the entire village mourned him.

Rei was looking at the Ryuchi Cave contract and thinking about what he was going to do with it. After he had received senjutsu, the use of the Ryuchi Cave contract had gone down, but it didn't mean it was entirely useless. Sasuke was supposed to make a contract with it, and though he hadn't asked Sasuke if he wanted to, he was sure Sasuke would love to.

But the problem remained that the contract was kind of exclusive to Orochimaru, so if Sasuke ever used the summoning while being a resident of Konoha, Danzo would come out of his hidey-hole drooling. It had been a month since the funeral in the origin world, and he had kept a lookout for those two Akatsuki members, but they hadn't shown up. Meanwhile, after a long stretch, he was finally able to control senjutsu. Of course, he didn't try using senjutsu here but rather in the MCU.

And there too, he tried his best to control his release of senjutsu and his control over his strength. Suffice it to say, he now held pretty good control over his strength. It was well past sunset by the time Rei finally put the Ryuchi Cave contract away. The room had grown dark without him even noticing, his thoughts drifting from one possibility to another before the familiar voice of his mother echoed from downstairs.

"Rei! Dinner's ready!"

"I'm coming." The moment he stepped downstairs, the atmosphere felt noticeably lighter than it had been since Hiruzen's funeral. The sorrow still lingered, but life had slowly begun moving forward again. His father was already seated at the table while his mother placed another steaming dish in front of them with a satisfied smile. Daichi had just returned from Sunagakure, as he was one of the men who took Baki.

He was a very proud father as his son was the one who took Baki down and was one of the reasons why Sunagakure surrendered, as there was nobody with his seniority in Sunagakure. This had earned quite the praise from everyone, including Kakashi, and apparently the high elders too were happy with him. Of course, it didn't matter to Rei.

"Eat before it gets cold." His father spoke of his adventure to Sunagakure and how the village spoke about how they had been misled, as they themselves had lost their Kazekage, while his mother lightly scolded him for bringing work to the dinner table, and Rei simply listened while occasionally throwing in a reply that made both of them laugh. It was peaceful. Once dinner ended, Rei helped clear the table before wishing both of them good night and returning to his room.

He closed the door behind him, lay back on his bed, and stared quietly at the ceiling.

"... Finally." Then, without any warning, a sharp pain exploded inside his head.

"Ghh..." Rei immediately sat upright, clutching his forehead as unfamiliar memories surged through his mind like a broken dam. It lasted only for a few seconds, but it was quite clear to Rei. Essentially, there were changes in the clauses of his contract. Phase IV The contracts remain the same and now have more additional clauses. *The people with a half contract can inherit one technique/ability/physique from the host. *The people with a full contract can inherit two techniques/abilities/physiques from the host.

The ability/physique/technique inherited from the host would follow the same rules as the host does. Inheritance doesn't mean total mastery/control, and each one would have to toil themselves to get their desired mastery. The inherited power will not have any side effects, same as the host's. Change in time From now on, the time dilation won't be static. It will be in the ratio of 1: 2. The User's origin world will be the consequent, while Earth-199999 will be the antecedent.

Essentially, two hours in the origin world will be one hour on Earth-199999. Rei couldn't believe what he was going through in his mind. It had only been around 2 years in the MCU world, and they were essentially at the end of 2009 there, and when he was expecting the changes in phase to come after 4 years, it had essentially arrived in 1 year for him in the origin world and 2 years in the MCU world.