Chapter Eighty-Three: Legends of Terra

The sun began to set, and the moon slowly rose into the sky.

It should have been a peaceful night, but tonight, the streets of Konoha were nearly deserted.

This was all due to the incident that had taken place beneath the Hokage Tower. In less than a single day, the news had already spread throughout the village.

Under the relentless questioning of Uchiha Li, the Third Hokage admitted his fault on the spot and chose to step down.

The official announcement that followed was like a wild horse unleashed, sweeping beyond the village and reaching every shinobi village simultaneously.

Such a result was difficult for most people to accept, yet they had no choice but to do so.

Within the village, all the major clans were holding meetings nearly simultaneously, discussing the matters of the future.

It was easy to imagine that few people would sleep soundly tonight.

But none of this concerned Uchiha Li anymore.

At this moment, he had locked his door tight and entered the Terra Space.

Ever since he had used Mass Relocation to move the Grell Vein into Terra, the revival of the space had been accelerating day by day.

This had caused much of the white mist at the edges of Terra to dissipate, revealing a new area beyond the Apostle Hall.

Uchiha Li named this new area the Laboratory Zone.

As the name suggested, this zone would serve as his site for learning and researching genetic technology.

He had already arranged all the research materials and equipment given to him by Orochimaru within.

“Ah, this is so difficult! Can people really learn such things?”

Flipping through Orochimaru's materials, Uchiha Li grew more and more irritable as he read.

His capacity for learning was hardly lacking—indeed, he was stronger than most people in this regard.

But this sort of genetic technology was deeply obscure and difficult to grasp.

After an entire afternoon and part of the evening, Uchiha Li felt his head spinning and set the materials aside.

Since there was no rushing it, he decided to take it slowly: a little each day, without making things hard for himself.

Activating the teleportation array, Uchiha Li returned to his room in the real world.

At that moment, a series of urgent knocks sounded at the door. Realizing this, Uchiha Li quickly opened it and greeted, “Yao, why aren’t you asleep at this hour?”

Uchiha Yao pouted suspiciously. “I should be asking you that! What are you doing hiding in your room all alone? I knocked for ages and you didn’t answer.”

As she spoke, she squeezed into the room, glancing around.

Uchiha Li scratched his head and replied hastily, “Nothing much—just fell asleep for a bit, so I didn’t hear you at first.”

He felt deeply relieved in his heart.

With the existence of Terra Space, he had nothing to fear about his secret being discovered.

After searching for a while and finding nothing unusual, Uchiha Yao gave up, though she still asked doubtfully, “You don’t usually go to bed this early. Are you hiding something from me?”

“Of course not,” Uchiha Li lied with a straight face.

He simply wished for Yao to live a carefree life, without being entangled in matters relating to Terra.

“Really?” A knowing smile curved on Uchiha Yao’s lips. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Wait, I get it now!”

Hearing this, Uchiha Li nearly jumped up, momentarily doubting his own senses. Could she have found out even though everything was hidden in Terra?

Forcing himself to stay calm, Uchiha Li feigned curiosity. “What is it you’ve figured out?”

Uchiha Yao’s familiar gentle smile appeared. “I know why you’re going to bed so early now!”

“Huh?”

Uchiha Li heaved a sigh of relief at her words.

But Yao’s next sentence sent him crashing from heaven to hell.

With a serious expression, Uchiha Yao said, “I hadn’t realized your health had declined so much—you're already showing signs of exhaustion.”

“…”

Uchiha Li opened his mouth, wanting to refute her, but for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

If he denied it, Yao would only suspect him further.

But if he didn’t, what would happen then?

After weighing his options, Uchiha Li forced a laugh. “It’s probably not that serious. A bit of rest should do the trick.”

“That won’t do. If you’re feeling weak, you need proper nourishment.” Uchiha Yao shook her head, her tone earnest. “Here’s what we’ll do: from now on, you’ll have medicinal soup every morning and evening until your health is fully restored!”

At these words, a trace of despair flashed through Uchiha Li’s heart.

Yao’s tonic soup was incredibly potent—he could barely handle it once a day as it was.

Now, twice daily—how much energy did she expect him to have?

He hurriedly grabbed Yao’s hand and protested, “Yao, drinking too much tonic soup can be counterproductive. Once a day should be enough…”

Looking at Li’s pale face, Uchiha Yao recalled a passage she’d read in a book about the consequences of a weakened body and its impact on happiness.

Her cheeks flushed as those strange phrases popped into her mind, but she quickly forced them away.

Rubbing her face, Uchiha Yao declared resolutely, “No. You have to drink it, like it or not.”

After a pause, she added, “If there’s still no improvement, I’ll increase the dosage!”

Uchiha Li pressed his hand to his forehead, feeling as though darkness had descended on his future.

In that moment, he was seized by the impulse to tell Yao the truth, to prove he wasn’t weak at all.

But as the words reached his lips, he held back.

“It’s just some soup. It’s not going to kill me—what’s there to fear!”

Better to endure the medicine than risk exposing his secret and dragging Yao into it.

Seeing Uchiha Li offer no further resistance, Yao’s smile grew even gentler. “It’s all for your own good.”

“Oh, right.” Uchiha Yao took a scroll from her sleeve. “The clan leader asked me to give you this, and told you to use it sparingly.”

Hearing this, Uchiha Li set aside thoughts of the medicinal soup for the time being and accepted the scroll.

As expected, it contained the billion ryo that Fugaku had prepared for him.

It was ample to sustain the early stages of his genetic technology research.

As for the remaining funds, he already had a preliminary plan.

He intended to capitalize on Terra’s current popularity—thanks to the Akatsuki’s dissemination—by writing a novel about Terra and the Apostles.

As Terra’s reputation grew, so too would the sales of the chronicle.

And as the chronicle sold, it would further deepen Terra’s mysterious and powerful image in people’s minds, paving the way for his future endeavors.

Having handed over the scroll, Uchiha Yao said nothing more and turned to leave.

However, at the doorway, she paused and said, “The clan is about to sell off some of our outside assets. I’m in charge of the process, so I’ll be away for a few days.”

Uchiha Li was taken aback, but replied, “You’ll have clan members with you, won’t you?”

Without turning, Uchiha Yao answered calmly, “Don’t worry. I’ll be back in two or three days. The Guard Division will send a squad to accompany me, and the clan leader himself is supposed to come as well.”

“All right, just be careful. If anything happens, make sure the clan leader takes the lead,” Uchiha Li reminded her instinctively, making no attempt to stop her.

After a moment, he added, “By the way, let the clan leader know I’ll need to postpone my duties at the Guard Division for a while.”

Uchiha Yao glanced at his pale face, her eyes narrowing, but said nothing more as she left.

Uchiha Li, meanwhile, sat down to begin outlining and drafting his “Legend of Terra.”