Naruto: The Beautiful Uchiha is Actually Me?

Chapter 196 Hmm?

He was a shadow, a ghost without a physical form.

From the beginning until now, I've tried countless times. Ordinary people probably can't imagine what it feels like to see the person you're with day and night die in front of you time and time again.

"There must be some way... I can maintain this existence; there must be something I haven't discovered yet..."

Yan Yi's consciousness fell back into darkness; this was the seventeenth reset.

Each time, Yan Yi would accompany him from the very beginning of his life, until he witnessed his death many years later.

Yan Yi's thoughts began to become chaotic. She didn't know how many years had passed, or how much time had gone by. Every single time... maybe seven years, maybe nine years, but no matter how the details changed, Itama's ending was still that he died on the battlefield.

Unlike the first reset, there are subtle changes each time, and his death was not entirely due to being surrounded and killed by the Uchiha.

Even in this ending, Yan Yi saw an Uchiha boy who looked very much like himself kill Itama with his own hands, plunging a sharp, cold blade into his chest.

Is that a coincidence?

Perhaps he looks a lot like himself, or even that boy is the original "Uchiha Genichi" from this world. Maybe the name is different, but this person actually existed. He is the brother of Uchiha Madara, who did not appear in the "storyline" but existed in the conversation.

That's not me...

Yan Yi shook his head, letting his thoughts drift into the void. When he opened his eyes again, he would still return to that familiar forest.

"again..."

"..."

"Failed again... Let's try again..."

"..."

"I don't believe it... Something must have changed... It's very close..."

"..."

"Again..."

Although he has no physical form, he is conscious. Being conscious means that he needs to fight against the vast emptiness of time, the repeated resets that cause his consciousness to be eroded time and time again.

No one can maintain a clear consciousness on such a long, repetitive timescale. If Yan Yi hadn't transformed that "salvation" into an "obsession," his consciousness would probably have long since vanished into nothingness and fallen into eternal silence.

......

This is the 503rd time...

He had witnessed countless scenes of his beloved being killed, and from the initial unbearable pain to the current numbness, it seemed that he no longer had any emotions.

However, this reset made Yan Yi's eyes brighten a bit, because he realized that his intervention was not meaningless.

He had tried to stop it all with his voice and his touch, but now... those things were too superficial.

What he needs to do first is to make Itama aware of his existence. If he can do that, then the hope for the future will be magnified countless times!

Alaya-vijnana is essentially one's own eye technique; is it really impossible to interfere with its details? Perhaps it's just that the method hasn't been found yet.

"I think I have a way... My efforts weren't in vain..."

This was the 503rd reset. Yan Yi opened his eyes again. He was still surrounded by the familiar forest of the Land of Fire. Not far away was the Senju clan territory where his eye technique target, Senju Itama, was located.

This familiar scene—even with her eyes closed, Yan Yi knew exactly what was going to happen next...

He repeated the process over five hundred times, noting the differences each time. After arranging and combining these elements in his mind, he created a branching diagram in his thoughts, much like a tree diagram.

After all, even using the most basic statistical methods, we need to find the patterns of change between each "future".

Today is a day to celebrate in the Senju clan's territory...

"The same start..." Yan Yi muttered to himself, silently walking towards the most conspicuous building of the Senju clan.

......

Ten years, this time, it actually broke through ten years.

So far, despite the battles, thanks to various coincidences, or perhaps the power of fate arriving a millisecond late, Itama has survived for ten years without dying on the battlefield.

Yan Yi followed Ban Jian closely, witnessing his joys and sorrows. When Ban Jian was happy, Yan Yi would feel happy too, and when Ban Jian was down, Yan Yi would sit beside him and keep him company.

Throughout the entire process, Yan Yi did not utter another word, but his attempt transformed from words and touch into a test of consciousness.

He wanted to try to touch the other person with his consciousness.

Although there haven't been any successes in the past decade, this is just the beginning compared to the previous five hundred or so resets and five hundred or so seven or eight-year periods.

Today was just another ordinary day. As usual, Itama ate breakfast and then began his training.

Yan Yi sat on the stone steps of the cultivation ground, watching intently as the boy in the center of the ground vigorously wielded the wooden sword in his hand.

His eyebrows, his demeanor, his expression. His distinctive hairstyle, and the sweat dripping from his forehead. If there's a measure of how much one can truly imprint every detail of a person in their heart, then Yan Yi can say he has achieved that.

"..."

After finishing his training, Itama returned home. Just like in all the previous timelines, he wasn't good at playing with his older brothers. He preferred nature, small animals, and quiet.

She quickly took a refreshing shower, changed into a clean set of clothes, a green casual robe embroidered with the Senju clan's emblem, and wore a beige haori over it, with a pair of simple wooden clogs on her feet.

Without saying a word, Itama picked up an apple from the table and turned to walk towards his "secret base." The path up the mountain wasn't particularly winding, but after passing through several groves of trees, he finally arrived at that familiar little cave again.

"Ah! So comfortable... It's so nice to be alone..." Itama stretched happily, blurting out what was on her mind.

Returning here feels like returning to one's own safe haven. There are no tense clansmen, no stern father, and no noisy trivial matters.

All that remained was the gentle breeze through the trees, bringing a touch of coolness, and dappled sunlight swaying softly in the tranquil afternoon.

Yan Yi, supporting herself against the wall at the entrance of the cave, slowly walked to the side of the board room and, just like countless times before, quietly sat down beside him.

He didn't speak, because Itama couldn't hear him; he didn't touch, because he couldn't reach him. But his consciousness was still trying to make contact with Itama, even if only for half a second, just to get his attention...

Itama took out an apple from his pocket, wiped it gently with his sleeve, and then took a big bite. The sweet juice immediately filled his mouth, and a happy expression appeared on his face.

"This apple is so sweet..."

Yan Yi sat quietly beside him, watching the white hair on his left side that was slightly blown up by the breeze, and the longing in her eyes reached its peak.

He desperately tried to change his fate so that he could protect this moment and spend many more "this moments" with him in the future...

I want to... hug you.

Even just the simplest hug... I really want that, I really...

She raised her hand and then lowered it again, because Yan Yi knew that she could not touch him.

"Ok?"

Just as Yan Yi put his hand down, Ban Jian suddenly turned his head and looked at Yan Yi with a puzzled expression... but he only looked at her with a confused expression before turning his head back and continuing to eat his apple while gazing at the shadows of the trees outside.

"!"

Yan Yi's pupils visibly contracted, because in the instant that Itama turned his head, Yan Yi felt... his consciousness, that unconscious force that he couldn't control, actually sweep over him?

Although it lasted less than a second, it was the first time in over five hundred resets that he had been caught by the unconsciousness of the boy in front of him...