After ing up his first lesson in the sed round, Masashi, with a very frustrated-looking young Itachi, returo the Uchiha pound 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 st 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 css had just 38 students. Konoha rimarily posed of ninja s at the time, and most families preferred to train their children at home.

  This tradition was still ong the ninja s today: while a few might attend the Academy, the majority still receive -based education.

  That first css 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 happehe Uchiha 's situation might have been much better.

  However, no matter how strong s were, this way anizing will eventually colpse—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 regnant, and they were nearing the year's end.

  This meant Sasuke would be bor year, in the same year as Naruto. This also meant that Obito would likely attack Konoha and release the ails year.

  Masashi wasn't too worried about the ails being released; he was more ed that, as in the inal timeline, Minato would sacrifice himself.

  If he died, it wouldn't be a good thing for the Uchiha .

  If only he khe core sealing teiques of the Uzumaki , he would apply multiple seals to Kushina.

  People said seals 't be stacked, but if buffs could stack, then so could debuffs, right? It might impact stability, but wasn't keeping the ails locked the priority?

  Kushina truly embodied the teical precision of the Uzumaki , growing up immersed in it.

  In his first life, Masashi had a brief retionship with an Uzumaki girl. After that experience, he wouldn't gh the trouble of dating an Uzumaki woman again. He decided to rely on his skills to ge 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 . During one busy quarter, the Uchiha and Hyūga s had even teamed up for missions, leaving the other s to pin.

  While it was initially just a manpower issue, it became clear that the Uchiha 's involvement wasn't appropriate.

  "The missions have dried up," a member mentioned during a patrol.

  "Expected. The vilge fears our strength," Masashi replied calmly.

  In his view, this was only natural.

  He received a det sary, based on the earnings from missions of a simir level. As a jonin, his base sary matched the minimum payout for an A-rank mission, with additional bonuses.

  On top of this, the Uchiha also provided extra allowances and boo members. Although this didn't pare to the earnings from S-rank missions, it was still signifit over the course of a year.

  tent with this, he wasn't the type to look down on his ine just because he'd pleted 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, him history lessons and guidan his teiques.

  Life was fortable, though he still had one minor frustration—his Yang Release was still as sluggish as ever.

  Oh well, he thought, you '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 retly 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 hed and drank without restraint.

  For Masashi, it was a little disappointing that even su exg time didn't awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan. He'd missed yet another ce to bee an important figure in the , uo prove that 'awakening with joy' was the right path for the Uchiha.

  Holy, he unlocked his three-tomoe Sharingan during tea-drinking, and the feeling ure 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 particurly 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 greeo hide it.

  Ms were desote, 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 m, he left his home and walked across the snow, leaving a trail of footprints until he reached the training ground.

  There, he began practig his jutsu, f various hand seals and produg ice sculptures that rose up only to melt away like water.

  Through repeated practid adjustments to his chakra, Masashi finally started to grasp the finer details of Ice Release. With a loud cp, 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 bato the snow. But preatters more than speed.

  Whether it was shape manipution or chakra nature transformation, he felt the teique was now at the level he'd aimed for.

  The step was figuring out how to incorporate sealing teiques into his Ice Release.

  Both the Full-Body Susanoo and Wood Release teiques have a simir 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 parison, Ice Release doesn't quite match up to Wood Release. The Yuki had a limited range of teiques, typically just creating defensive shields or using chakra-linked spatial shifts.

  For offe mostly transformed into projectiles like senbon or kunai, whily had limited freezing power.

  It was det for defe pretty weak for offense.

  This discrepancy was a matter of culture—Kiri prioritized assassination, and the Yuki leaowards the cssic assassin style, stag their agility stats.

  This approach didn't suit Masashi. He didn't see any value in copying the Yuki '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 blod a flurry of senbon? Teiques like Flying Thunder God Ssh were far more effective.

  Masashi wasn't ied in a teique that mimicked a minor threat.

  Shields were alright, but they didn't need plex seals. Ice shaping alone was suffit for that.

  After careful sideration, he cluded it was better to emute the goodwill-oriented methods of a certain leader from his previous life.

  There was just one issue: ice had enough hardness but cked the flexibility of wood. Even after adjusting the chakra ratio, at best he could form figures like Godzil or King Kong.

  But using it to bind a Tailed Beast? Fot it. A Tailed Beast could do a warm-up stretd 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 iraining field, enjoying it immensely.

  "Masashi, the children have never seen anything like this. What is it supposed to be?" an elder remarked, watg young ones gather around his test creation.

  "Just a small addition to make the Uchiha garde again," he replied modestly, adjusting the frozen hair of peared to be a surprisingly accurate ice sculpture of Donald Trump, plete with an exaggerated pout and impossibly swooping bangs that somehow defied the ws of both gravity and ice physics.

  Notig his unique wiime hobby, his older retives requested him to make ice sculptures for the 's children to enjoy.

  Masashi couldn't refuse; watg their grandchildren py was one of their greatest joys. After all, he himself had been a target of their pyful 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 childrehrilled, the elders even more so, and high-ranking Uchihas like Fugaku even brought their own kids to see it.

  "Think about it—we show the vilge a different side of the Uchiha," Masashi suggested during a meeting.

  Fugaku's brow furrowed. "An ice festival? How would this be our position?"

  "By making us indispensable to the vilge's culture, not just its military."

  On Masashi's strong suggestion and his siderable sculpting skill as proof, the Uchiha requested permission from the Hokage building to host an Uchiha Id 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 en-minded, and the elders didn't believe many would e, since winter outings were hardly popur.

  That wiurned out to be Konoha's most bustling season sihe vilge was founded.

  Konoha alone had tens of thousands of shinobi, and the total vilge popution was over a huhousand. The enthusiasm that poured out left the Hokage building in shock.

  The festival acked on day one and tinued for three months, running until January of the following year. Masashi sculpted nonstop to maintain attra, creating unique ice sculptures every day and even recreating famous ndmarks 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 do year.

  The Uchiha leaders promptly decided to make it an annual winter event. No one had anticipated that the ice festival would be so profitable and popur.

  The Hokage office couldn't refuse subsequent applications; not only did vilgers flock to the festival, but people from other parts of the Land of Fire came, and even visitors from fn nds, making it a highly successful enterprise.

  The Uchiha Id Snow Festival quickly became one of Konoha's iic attras.

  At Masashi's suggestion, the Uchiha leaders, despite their reluce, allocated a portion of the profits to the Hokage office.

  Fugaku made a show of siy, 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 esc Fugaku out with remio take care of himself. Even Danzō, usually stern-faced, softened.

  This ge iions affected the signifitly. Uchiha members noticed that ninjas from other departments begaing them warmly, saying, "We're all part of the same system; we should get along."

  The 's popurity 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 unfortable. "And why are you here today, Itachi?"

  "Masashi-nii, have you been stressed out tely? You seem pretty tense," Shisui said with a grin. "And I have to say, this positive shift in vilgers' attitude towards the is all thanks to you."

  "This is only the beginning," Masashi replied, shaking his head. "The real work is yet to e."

  He looked up at the sky, his Sharingan refleg the winter sun. Winter was over, a new year had started, and a real crisis was on its way.