Year

After learning the Shadow Clone Technique, Yin Jie's original body never went to the Ninja Academy again for the entire semester, instead focusing on refining chakra and improving the ninjutsu he had learned.

He could clearly feel that his spiritual energy and physical energy were steadily increasing every day.

In other words, unlike his peers, whose chakra growth was slow due to the limitations of their bodies or souls, his chakra reserves could continue growing rapidly.

As for ninjutsu—

Through constant practice, he realized that he could use his talent for chakra control to simplify certain ninjutsu that required complicated hand seals.

With fewer seals and greater speed, he could unleash ninjutsu of equal—or even greater—power.

This was especially true for the classic Fire Release techniques passed down through the Uchiha Clan.

More notably, through his daily training, Yin Jie had gradually worked out the technique of one-handed seals. With a single hand, he could cast some relatively simple ninjutsu.

Autumn passed, winter came, then spring and summer. Before long, Yin Jie's first full semester since enrolling had passed in quiet peace.

Although it was only Yin Jie's shadow clone attending school during that semester, it did not affect the strengthening of his relationships with his classmates.

Of course, by classmates, he only meant Shiranui Genma, Ebisu, and Uchiha Aya of his own clan.

These three were the first bonds Yin Jie had formed with "people his own age."

As for the other students, they were truly nothing more than ordinary classmates. He merely knew their names.

Time reached June of Konoha's thirty-seventh year.

The ninja war, which had originally been expected to end in the first half of the year, showed no signs of coming to an end. Instead, it seemed to be escalating once more.

Among them, Hidden Sand Village was the most aggressive.

The Hidden Leaf Village and Hidden Sand Village had erupted into several chaotic battles involving more than a thousand combatants on the Land of Rain battlefield.

The results were so brutal that even the commanders of both sides suffered serious injuries during one clash.

The Hidden Leaf Village's side was doing relatively well.

Sakumo Hatake had merely been caught off guard by Chiyo and poisoned by a newly developed mixed toxin.

However, since Tsunade had been present, Sakumo Hatake was out of danger not long after his timely retreat, thanks to her medical ninjutsu.

Hidden Sand Village, however, had it much worse.

As the price for her underhanded move, Chiyo had half an arm cut off by a slash from Sakumo Hatake. In the end, she could only helplessly sever her entire right arm at the shoulder and replace it with a puppet arm, causing her strength to decline for the short term.

Thus, the Hidden Leaf Village once again gained the upper hand and the initiative in its war against Hidden Sand Village.

Until Tsunade's lover, Kato Dan, died on the battlefield.

During a small-scale clash with Hidden Sand Village, Kato Dan was slaughtering enemies with the Spirit Transformation Technique when one Hidden Sand ninja, who had risked his life to scout ahead, found the location of his original body in a forest.

Having already obtained some intelligence on the Spirit Transformation Technique, Ebizo immediately ordered a small group of elite Hidden Sand ninjas to disengage from the battle, bypass the front lines, and rush straight toward the small forest where Kato Dan's original body was located.

After a fierce battle, the Hidden Sand ninjas successfully eliminated the three teammates protecting Kato Dan's original body. They then took advantage of Kato Dan's realization that something was wrong, when his spirit had just returned and he could not use his strength, to blast him into the air with a large number of explosive tags.

By the time Tsunade received the news and rushed over to rescue him, Kato Dan's internal organs had already been shattered by the explosion...

Seeing her boyfriend die before her eyes without being able to save him, Tsunade was consumed by guilt. Her will sank into deep despondency, and the extreme emotional turmoil that brought her close to collapse even caused her to develop hemophobia, something utterly unacceptable for a ninja.

For that reason, Tsunade left the front lines and returned to the Hidden Leaf Village.

The Hidden Leaf Village and Hidden Sand Village returned to a stalemate.

But at that moment, the situation suddenly took an unexpected turn.

Hidden Cloud Village, which had kept the Hidden Leaf Village constantly on guard by stationing troops in the Land of Hot Water and along the northeastern border of the Land of Fire, suddenly feinted. It directly changed targets and launched a long-range assault across more than half the ninja world against Hidden Rock Village.

Caught completely unprepared, Hidden Rock Village hurriedly pulled back its lines and began redeploying its forces, concentrating on dealing with Hidden Cloud Village, which had invaded the Land of Earth.

As a result, the pressure on the Hidden Leaf Village's two battlefields—its standoff with Hidden Rock Village in the Land of Rain, and its northeastern Land of Fire front against a potential Hidden Cloud surprise attack—was drastically reduced at the same time. More than half of its combat strength was freed up.

The entire war was instantly revitalized. The outlook became bright, and victory seemed close at hand.

A considerable portion of the forces freed up were sent by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, to reinforce Sakumo Hatake.

Therefore, after fighting on the front lines for nearly another half year, Uchiha Yasashiro was finally able to return to the village to recuperate.

Yin Jie learned about Tsunade from Uchiha Yasashiro.

Yet all he could do was sigh helplessly to himself and feel profound sorrow for what she had suffered.

The original story had not described Kato Dan in much detail, and had only briefly mentioned the battlefield where he was stationed and the missions he carried out. Moreover, Yin Jie was currently just a child still attending the Ninja Academy, with no way of obtaining any intelligence related to the war.

So even if he wanted to change things, there was nothing he could do.

After thinking it over carefully and discussing it with Uchiha Yasashiro, Yin Jie brought a prepared gift and went alone to visit Tsunade at her home.

After all, Tsunade had shown him kindness.

If Tsunade had not decided to go to that town back then, there probably would not be an Uchiha Yin Jie today.

Therefore, after learning that Tsunade had returned to the village, he should personally visit her and offer his thanks no matter what.

Besides, anyone who had watched Naruto would probably want to build a good relationship with Tsunade!

More importantly, if the Uchiha Clan wanted to rise to power through a nonviolent coup, it would have to win Tsunade's support.

At the very least, they needed to maintain a good relationship with her so that she would not speak out against them.