Konoha's Past

But what about Sasuke? Nearly everyone connected to him was dead, and the Uchiha clan had previously plotted a rebellion. Even if the village higher-ups did not dare make things difficult for Sasuke out of consideration for Itachi, they would not show him any kindness either. The only person he could rely on, Yuun, could not easily help because Sasuke did not remember him. Most importantly, Yuun harbored the soul of an adult, while Sasuke was still just a child.

"No matter what, Hana." Yuun slowly shook his head. "I don't think disturbing him now is a good idea."

Hana looked at Yuun hesitantly, then finally sighed. "All right, I'll listen to you."

"Don't worry. When the time is right, all of this will be resolved." Once Yuun learned that Itachi had personally placed the seal on Sasuke's memories, he was no longer surprised.

"Speaking of which, my little brother has really come to resent you lately." Hana said, half-jokingly. "You bullied him terribly."

"There was nothing I could do about that." Yuun shrugged and said with a faint smile, "Who told him to keep refusing to do his homework? Look at Sasuke. No matter how much homework I assigned, he always finished it easily."

"You have the nerve to say that?" Hana could not help laughing. "You were deliberately being cruel. You assigned so much homework that every one of those little kids you taught ended up with two dark circles under their eyes."

"It was all your fault. If you hadn't shoved all your classes onto me, they wouldn't have suffered like this." Yuun said with a smile. As for the other reason, he did not mention it. If those little brats had not kept courting death, he would not have wanted to be so ruthless.

"Excuses, all excuses." Anko, who had just finished enjoying a feast of dango, spoke up to expose Yuun. "I saw your lesson plans. You clearly added that homework at the last minute."

"Hehe, my classes are almost over anyway." Yuun showed no shame at being exposed and chuckled. "It's good to leave the little ones with a deeper impression before I go."

A few days later, Yuun received a salary not much lower than the reward for a B-rank Mission and leisurely left the school. Upon learning the news, the students all celebrated in jubilation. Even Hinata Hyuga, who had always been the model student, breathed a sigh of relief.

After that brief episode at the Ninja Academy, Yuun returned to his old cycle of missions, training, and more missions. Several years passed, and Anko was promoted to Special Jonin because of her outstanding performance during an S-rank Mission. Hana was still only a Chunin. In truth, the limitations of the Inuzuka clan's secret techniques were simply too great. Without a suitable ninja hound, their strength might not be halved, but it would at least be reduced by thirty or forty percent. However, having switched to becoming a medical ninja, Hana did not mind too much. After all, it was common knowledge that medical ninjas found it difficult to rise in rank.

However, Yuun knew that while Hana was raising ninja hounds for her younger brother, she was also raising new ones for herself. Once she had new ninja hounds to work with, and after a few more years of honing her skills, promotion would only be a matter of time. As for Yuun himself, after spending several years in the Shinobi World, he had earned the nickname "White Gale." With the Hyuga Clan withdrawing across the board, such a young Elite Jonin naturally drew attention wherever he went.

Speaking of the Hyuga Clan, their strategy had to be mentioned. Ever since Hizashi had committed suicide over the incident involving the Cloud Shinobi leader, Hiashi, who possessed considerable strategic vision, realized that the Hyuga Clan had become too conspicuous and drawn the malicious suppression of certain people. The Hokage was clearly happy to see powerful clans being suppressed as well. Thus, after Hizashi's death, the Hyuga Clan completely kept a low profile. Not only did Hyuga clan members withdraw from every department in the village, they even gave up their advantages in areas such as reconnaissance and guard duty, leaving only a few people in the medical division.

That was also why the younger generation later did not even recognize the Byakugan. Back when the Hyuga Clan had stood unrivaled during the Third Shinobi War, who in the Shinobi World did not know their name? It had to be said that Hiashi's retreat greatly exceeded the village higher-ups' expectations. Yet they could do nothing to the fully withdrawn Hyuga Clan. After all, two of the three great clans that had founded Konoha were already gone. If something happened to the remaining Hyuga Clan as well, Konoha would truly become a complete disgrace.

This was also one of the reasons Konoha became so strained after Orochimaru launched the Konoha Destruction Plan and a group of ninjas led by the Third Hokage died. Once the Hyuga Clan withdrew, several ninja clans of some standing, which had always followed the Hyuga Clan's lead, refused to act as well. A shortage of manpower was only natural.

Looking back, Otogakure had not been established by Orochimaru for very long. No matter how skilled he was at teaching, how many capable subordinates could a man obsessed with research truly have? Even with those hundred-odd Hidden Sand ninjas added in, they were merely a rabble alongside a heap of rotten trash. After more than a decade of suppression by Konoha and the Land of Wind's daimyo, Hidden Sand had long since become hopeless. It was difficult to imagine that only a few hundred people could pose any threat to Konoha, which had over ten thousand ninjas. Yet in reality, those few hundred people left Konoha so strained that even the academy's teachers had to go out and undertake missions. The only explanation was that Konoha had split internally.

Calling it a split might have been a slight exaggeration, but enormous disagreements undeniably existed. As everyone knew, Konoha had been founded by the Senju Clan and the Uchiha clan, led by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Although ninja clans such as the Hyuga Clan had joined them, there was no doubt that the newly founded Konoha had been the domain of clan ninjas. However, after the Second Hokage established the Ninja Academy, things changed. The academy trained a large number of civilian ninjas. As the saying went, where there were people, there was conflict. Once civilian ninjas emerged as a social class, power struggles with clan ninjas became inevitable.

While the Second Hokage was alive, things were still manageable. Although he had established the Ninja Academy, as a member of the Senju Clan, he was still fundamentally one of the clan ninjas. He gave greater consideration to the interests of the various ninja clans, and with his prestige, civilian ninjas would not openly express dissatisfaction even if they had it.

But by the time of the Third Hokage, things were different. Although the Sarutobi Clan was also a ninja clan, it had already declined before the Third Hokage grew up. As a result, he had not been influenced by his clan during his upbringing, which inevitably made him lean toward civilian ninjas. This could be seen from the few disciples he took in and some of his later actions.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru were both civilian ninjas. Tsunade was a clan ninja, but she was the granddaughter of the Third Hokage's teacher, so that was simply a matter of personal ties. Then there were his policies during his rule. Nearly all those who suffered losses during the Third Hokage's administration were clan ninjas. Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang, had been forced to commit suicide after failing a mission. Hizashi Hyuga had been driven to suicide by the Cloud Shinobi. Shisui Uchiha had his right eye dug out for no reason before committing suicide. The Uchiha clan had been exterminated over their so-called rebellion. The shady dealings behind all this were obvious without even thinking about them.