Uchiha En never expected his Sage Mode to last so short a time. What could he do in a dozen seconds? What was the use?
"Asana, why is this happening?" Uchiha En turned to Asana and asked.
"The first time entering Sage Mode, it doesn't usually last very long," Asana explained.
"Then how long did you last the first time you entered Sage Mode?"
"About a minute!"
Uchiha En fell silent upon hearing this. He probably understood now: there were two reasons his Sage Mode lasted so short a time. First, he wasn't proficient enough in Sage Mode, and second, his natural affinity was too low.
Both of these shortcomings would require a lot of time to overcome.
Fortunately, time wasn't pressing for Uchiha En right now.
Moreover, he planned to put all his points into natural affinity for a while, striving to reach the level of the First Hokage, who could summon anything with a clap of his hands.
Unknowingly, a year passed.
Naruto and Sasuke were already three years old.
During this year, Uchiha En and Asana developed a new cursed seal based on the Caged Bird Seal.
This cursed seal had no active effects, nor did it affect the Byakugan in the slightest. Its only purpose was to activate and destroy the Byakugan after a member of the Hyuga Clan died.
Asana found a time to replace the Caged Bird Seal on the foreheads of all clan members with this new one, and also handed the Jutsu for casting the seal to Hyuga Hizashi and Hyuga Hiashi.
From then on, the Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird Seal became a thing of the past.
It's worth mentioning that in the period immediately after the Hyuga Main Family and Branch Family separated, many members of the Branch Family went to cause trouble for the Main Family.
Hyuga Hizashi, following Asana's orders, made an example of several troublemaking clan members. At least on the surface, no one from the Hyuga Branch Family dared to go to the Main Family's side.
Asana had no good feelings for the Hyuga Main Family members, but one person was different: Hyuga Hinata.
Asana remembered Orochimaru telling her that Hyuga Hinata's Byakugan had a very high purity, just like hers.
Having been with Orochimaru for so many years, Asana had adopted some of his habits.
Asana was therefore very interested in Hinata. She wanted to see if this child could achieve Byakugan evolution without genetic modification.
So Asana personally went to the Hyuga Main Family. After a long conversation with Hyuga Hiashi, Hyuga Hinata officially became her disciple.
Since then, Hyuga Hinata would come to the Uchiha Clan for lessons every day.
At this age, Asana naturally couldn't teach her any profound Ninjutsu, as she hadn't even started Chakra extraction.
So Asana taught foundational things.
However, what Asana didn't expect was that while Hinata's Byakugan purity was very high, her temperament was quite ordinary, making her not very suitable to be a Ninja.
This gave Asana a headache.
During this year, Asana taught Hinata while cultivating Sage Mode with Uchiha En, leading a rather fulfilling life.
Meanwhile, Uchiha En strengthened the ties between Konoha and the Uchiha Clan.
He and Minato Namikaze further suppressed the Third Hokage's influence, completely sidelining the two Advisor elders. Now, the Village was run by Minato Namikaze, the Hokage.
The Uchiha Clan could then naturally hold any position in the Village.
Now, some Uchiha Clan members who could no longer be Ninja due to the war found other jobs in the Village.
Uchiha Ming, who had long retired, also went to the Ninja Academy to become a teacher.
It is worth mentioning that Uchiha Ming's Sharingan had recovered under the influence of the first hokages cells.
Originally, Uchiha En wanted him to return to the Police Force, but Uchiha Ming said he had rested for too long and no longer wished to be a Ninja.
Uchiha En ultimately respected Uchiha Ming's wishes and let him become a teacher at the Ninja Academy.
While Konoha enjoyed a relatively peaceful year, the Ninja World was far from calm.
First, in Kirigakure, Uchiha En received a letter from Ujiha. The higher-ups of Kirigakure were very dissatisfied with the current Fourth Mizukage, and some were already discussing overthrowing him.
Ujiha sent a high-ranking member of the Yuki Clan to join these people. As soon as they decided to act, she would publicly reveal that the Fourth Mizukage was being controlled.
This would allow them to depose the Fourth Mizukage, and Ujiha, as the one who exposed the Fourth Mizukage's control, had a strong chance of becoming the Fifth Mizukage.
Uchiha En was very satisfied with Ujiha's arrangements. He wanted to unite the Ninja World in the future, and if Ujiha could become Kirigakure's Fifth Mizukage, it would be equivalent to controlling Kirigakure in advance, saving a lot of effort.
Besides Kirigakure, the other three Villages were also restless.
In the Hidden Sand Village, the Ichibi would frequently rampage, disrupting the Village's peace.
Uchiha En felt something was off after hearing this news because his original Four Symbols Seal on Shukaku, reinforced with his Mangekyo Eye power, was far more robust than any previous Hidden Sand Village seal. So why was Gaara still rampaging?
Uchiha En later learned that Rasa, in order to quickly familiarize Gaara with Shukaku's power and make him a perfect Jinchuriki, performed a questionable maneuver: he directly released the Four Symbols Seal.
This was no longer Uchiha En's fault; it was their own problem.
Meanwhile, Kumogakure and Iwagakure were at war again.
The reason for their conflict was simple: the Third Raikage died at the hands of Iwagakure Ninja, an irreconcilable blood feud.
The war between Iwagakure and Kumogakure originally had nothing to do with Konoha, but for some unknown reason, Kumogakure played a questionable move and launched an attack on Konoha's border.
Fortunately, Minato Namikaze was prepared, and no significant losses were incurred.
After several months of confrontation, Kumogakure proposed peace talks.
The current Konoha was quite different from the Konoha in the original work.
Although the Third Great Ninja War and the Night of the Nine-Tails caused heavy losses to Konoha, those were primarily in mid-to-low tier combat power.
In terms of high-tier combat power, Minato Namikaze and Kushina were alive, and the Village had powerhouses like Uchiha En and Asana.
If a real war broke out, Kumogakure would definitely not fare well.
Besides, Kumogakure had no reason to fight on multiple fronts.
As mentioned before, the blood feud of the Third Raikage still lingered, and their conflict with Iwagakure was irreconcilable.
Kumogakure's attack on Konoha was likely a test of Konoha's attitude and hidden strength. If Konoha caved, they would extort a hefty sum; if not, they would promptly end the war.
Minato Namikaze understood Kumogakure's intentions, but he didn't want the war to escalate.
After all, Konoha had just gone through the Third Great Ninja War and the Nine-Tails' rampage, suffering massive losses in mid-to-low tier combat power. At this time, Minato Namikaze did not want to start a war.
"En, shouldn't the Cloud Village Envoy be arriving today?" Asana asked, wearing a white kimono.
"Hmm, by my calculations, they should be here. Shall we go take a look?"
"Okay!"
Uchiha En smiled and instantly teleported with Asana to the Village entrance.
They arrived just as the Cloud Village Envoy reached Konoha.
"Are those the Cloud Ninja?"
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