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HSU: Ch. 21
🕑 Added 2024-11-26 21:01:09 +0000 UTCAfter wrapping up his first lesson in the second round, Masashi, with a very frustrated-looking young Itachi, returned to the Uchiha compound using the Flying Thunder God.
Maybe I went too far with the chakra theory. He watched as Itachi stumbled slightly, eyes distant and unfocused.
Dropping off the dazed Itachi to Mikoto, Masashi headed home.
It had been a long time since he last taught, and he felt a bit rusty, thinking he hadn't done his best.
This wasn't his first time as a teacher; in his first life, he'd briefly taught at the Ninja Academy.
Back then, things were tough—the academy's first class had just 38 students. Konoha was primarily composed of ninja clans at the time, and most families preferred to train their children at home.
This tradition was still common among the ninja clans today: while a few might attend the Academy, the majority still receive clan-based education.
That first class was star-studded.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, Uchiha Kagami, Akimichi Torifu, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu were all in it.
If it hadn't been for bad luck, Kagami, who was also a member of Tobirama's guard unit, would have had a seat among the third Hokage's close advisors.
Had that happened, the Uchiha clan's situation might have been much better.
However, no matter how strong clans were, this way of organizing will eventually collapse—it was only a matter of time. He remembered saying this to someone before but couldn't recall who.
Right now, timing was crucial.
Mikoto had just found out she was pregnant, and they were nearing the year's end.
This meant Sasuke would be born next year, in the same year as Naruto. This also meant that Obito would likely attack Konoha and release the Nine-Tails next year.
Masashi wasn't too worried about the Nine-Tails being released; he was more concerned that, as in the original timeline, Minato would sacrifice himself.
If he died, it wouldn't be a good thing for the Uchiha clan.
If only he knew the core sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan, he would apply multiple seals to Kushina.
People said seals can't be stacked, but if buffs could stack, then so could debuffs, right? It might impact stability, but wasn't keeping the Nine-Tails locked the priority?
Kushina truly embodied the technical precision of the Uzumaki clan, growing up immersed in it.
In his first life, Masashi had a brief relationship with an Uzumaki girl. After that experience, he wouldn't go through the trouble of dating an Uzumaki woman again. He decided to rely on his skills to change the fate of a certain husband.
In the weeks that followed, he settled into a fulfilling routine of 8-hour workdays with weekends off.
The Hokage's office had stopped assigning missions to the Uchiha clan. During one busy quarter, the Uchiha and Hyūga clans had even teamed up for missions, leaving the other clans to complain.
While it was initially just a manpower issue, it became clear that the Uchiha clan's involvement wasn't appropriate.
"The missions have dried up," a clan member mentioned during a patrol.
"Expected. The village fears our strength," Masashi replied calmly.
In his view, this was only natural.
He received a decent salary, based on the earnings from missions of a similar level. As a jonin, his base salary matched the minimum payout for an A-rank mission, with additional bonuses.
On top of this, the Uchiha clan also provided extra allowances and bonuses to clan members. Although this didn't compare to the earnings from S-rank missions, it was still significant over the course of a year.
Content with this, he wasn't the type to look down on his income just because he'd completed S-rank missions in the past. His earnings were already more than most jonin in Konoha.
Every day, he happily went to work, diligently trained, and occasionally took Itachi out for field practice, offering him history lessons and guidance on his techniques.
Life was comfortable, though he still had one minor frustration—his Yang Release was still as sluggish as ever.
Oh well, he thought, you can't force things.
To prove he wasn't a selfish person and to show that he wasn't stingy, Masashi even invited someone over for tea. He rarely did this but had recently invited Shisui for a drink.
The tea from that batch was especially potent, and the others had a great time with its unique, energizing effect. Even Shisui's hands turned red as he stayed reserved, like a quail, while the others laughed and drank without restraint.
For Masashi, it was a little disappointing that even such an exciting time didn't awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan. He'd missed yet another chance to become an important figure in the clan, unable to prove that 'awakening with joy' was the right path for the Uchiha.
Honestly, he unlocked his three-tomoe Sharingan during tea-drinking, and the feeling was pure bliss.
The days passed, and winter finally arrived. Heavy frost settled on rooftops. The streets grew quiet, with fewer and fewer people about.
The winters in the Land of Fire weren't particularly harsh, but the people of Konoha were so used to the warm sun that they didn't care for this cold season and preferred to stay indoors.
This was especially true in the western district, which looked a bit more run-down without the lush greenery to hide it.
Mornings were desolate, with few people out, though by noon some locals would gather in sunlit spots.
Masashi, however, liked this weather. He'd learned his Ice Release in a world of snow and ice.
One clear morning, he left his home and walked across the snow, leaving a trail of footprints until he reached the training ground.
There, he began practicing his jutsu, forming various hand seals and producing ice sculptures that rose up only to melt away like water.
Through repeated practice and adjustments to his chakra, Masashi finally started to grasp the finer details of Ice Release. With a loud clap, he struck the snow, and a massive hand rose from the ground, its middle finger extended defiantly toward the sky.
"Took a little long," he muttered, dispersing it back into the snow. But precision matters more than speed.
Whether it was shape manipulation or chakra nature transformation, he felt the technique was now at the level he'd aimed for.
The next step was figuring out how to incorporate sealing techniques into his Ice Release.
Both the Full-Body Susanoo and Wood Release techniques have a similar quality—they could carry the essence of the user's ninjutsu.
Madara's Susanoo could form seals to cast jutsu; Sasuke's Susanoo could use Amaterasu; Hashirama's mastery of Yang Release allowed his Wood Release to absorb chakra and utilize senjutsu chakra as well.
In comparison, Ice Release doesn't quite match up to Wood Release. The Yuki clan had a limited range of techniques, typically just creating defensive shields or using chakra-linked spatial shifts.
For offense, it mostly transformed into projectiles like senbon or kunai, which only had limited freezing power.
It was decent for defense but pretty weak for offense.
This discrepancy was a matter of culture—Kiri prioritized assassination, and the Yuki clan leaned towards the classic assassin style, stacking their agility stats.
This approach didn't suit Masashi. He didn't see any value in copying the Yuki clan's jutsus into the Uchiha library; it would just be a waste of his Sharingan's power.
Spatial shifts? Flying Thunder God was far superior for that.
Hitting a target from behind with an ice block and a flurry of senbon? Techniques like Flying Thunder God Slash were far more effective.
Masashi wasn't interested in a technique that mimicked a minor threat.
Shields were alright, but they didn't need complex seals. Ice shaping alone was sufficient for that.
After careful consideration, he concluded it was better to emulate the goodwill-oriented methods of a certain clan leader from his first life.
There was just one issue: ice had enough hardness but lacked the flexibility of wood. Even after adjusting the chakra ratio, at best he could form figures like Godzilla or King Kong.
But using it to bind a Tailed Beast? Forgot it. A Tailed Beast could do a warm-up stretch and shatter it to pieces.
Copying Wood Release exactly was out of the question.
But that didn't bother him. In his first life, he wasn't a ninja but a nerd. If Naruto didn't have the solution, then One Piece might. After all, copying was hardly copying if it was from different anime, right?
With this resolve, Masashi spent his days honing his ice sculpting skills in the training field, enjoying it immensely.
"Masashi, the children have never seen anything like this. What is it supposed to be?" an elder remarked, watching young ones gather around his latest creation.
"Just a small addition to make the Uchiha garden great again," he replied modestly, adjusting the frozen hair of what appeared to be a surprisingly accurate ice sculpture of Donald Trump, complete with an exaggerated pout and impossibly swooping bangs that somehow defied the laws of both gravity and ice physics.
Noticing his unique wintertime hobby, his older relatives requested him to make ice sculptures for the clan's children to enjoy.
Masashi couldn't refuse; watching their grandchildren play was one of their greatest joys. After all, he himself had been a target of their playful antics when he was little.
Taking the opportunity to refine his skill, he set up a small exhibition. When the day arrived, it was a major event. The children were thrilled, the elders even more so, and high-ranking Uchihas like Fugaku even brought their own kids to see it.
"Think about it—we can show the village a different side of the Uchiha," Masashi suggested during a clan meeting.
Fugaku's brow furrowed. "An ice festival? How would this benefit our position?"
"By making us indispensable to the village's culture, not just its military."
On Masashi's strong suggestion and his considerable sculpting skill as proof, the Uchiha clan requested permission from the Hokage building to host an Uchiha Ice and Snow Festival.
Tickets were inexpensive—100 ryō for the public, free for children under six and seniors over sixty, and 500 ryō for shinobi, with injured shinobi admitted free of charge.
The Hokage building didn't think much of it and granted permission. Minato was open-minded, and the elders didn't believe many would come, since winter outings were hardly popular.
That winter turned out to be Konoha's most bustling season since the village was founded.
Konoha alone had tens of thousands of shinobi, and the total village population was over a hundred thousand. The enthusiasm that poured out left the Hokage building in shock.
The festival was packed on day one and continued for three months, running until January of the following year. Masashi sculpted nonstop to maintain attraction, creating unique ice sculptures every day and even recreating famous landmarks from his past life by memory.
After three intense months, his Ice Release's speed had improved to a point where he could sculpt with a snap of his fingers.
However, it left him physically drained, not only from the ice work but also from setting up lights within the sculptures.
At month's end, when he received his share of the proceeds, Masashi decided it was all worthwhile—it earned him more than any mission he'd done last year.
The Uchiha clan leaders promptly decided to make it an annual winter event. No one had anticipated that the ice festival would be so profitable and popular.
The Hokage office couldn't refuse subsequent applications; not only did villagers flock to the festival, but people from other parts of the Land of Fire came, and even visitors from foreign lands, making it a highly successful enterprise.
The Uchiha Ice and Snow Festival quickly became one of Konoha's iconic attractions.
At Masashi's suggestion, the Uchiha clan leaders, despite their reluctance, allocated a portion of the profits to the Hokage office.
Fugaku made a show of sincerity, insisting the Hokage office accept the donation for the growth of Konoha. He refused to leave until they did.
The former Third Hokage's advisors were dumbfounded, eventually escorting Fugaku out with reminders to take care of himself. Even Danzō, usually stern-faced, softened.
This change in relations affected the clan significantly. Uchiha clan members noticed that ninjas from other departments began greeting them warmly, saying, "We're all part of the same system; we should get along."
The clan's popularity skyrocketed.
Masashi also gained fame. Walking through Konoha, people now addressed him as Masashi-sama.
Though he found the title unappealing, as it made him feel sixty years older, there were undeniable perks. During the festival, he could drink free at any bar.
"Why do they call me 'sama'? Do I look like someone who takes advantage of things like that?" he muttered, after being called out yet again.
He looked at Shisui and Itachi beside him, visibly uncomfortable. "And why are you here today, Itachi?"
"Masashi-nii, have you been stressed out lately? You seem pretty tense," Shisui said with a grin. "And I have to say, this positive shift in villagers' attitude towards the clan is all thanks to you."
"This is only the beginning," Masashi replied, shaking his head. "The real work is yet to come."
He looked up at the sky, his Sharingan reflecting the winter sun. Winter was over, a new year had started, and a real crisis was on its way.
