Uchiha En shook his head and said with a smile, "You're wrong about that. Naruto's mission is indeed C-rank, but this mission involves Gato."
"Gato? You mean that wealthy merchant Gato?" As soon as Gato was mentioned, Asana suddenly became energetic.
Uchiha En looked at Asana strangely, not understanding why she was so interested in Gato.
The reason was actually simple: Asana and Orochimaru had long been eyeing Gato.
Orochimaru's Sound Village was not as wealthy as Konoha. The Village's development and Orochimaru's research all required a lot of funding, so Orochimaru usually paid more attention to wealthy individuals. And Gato happened to be one of the richest merchants in the Ninja World.
Uchiha En didn't dwell on this matter and returned to the previous topic: "Yes, him! Naruto and his team's mission this time involves a direct conflict of interest with Gato."
"Conflict of interest? How can Ninja and merchants have a conflict of interest?" Asana asked, frowning.
"Asana, are you clear about what kind of country the Land of Waves is?"
Asana nodded and said, "Of course I know. It's a small island nation with pitifully few Ninja, lacking protection and economic resources, and its people live in poverty."
"Logically, the Land of Waves is located at a crucial transportation hub and is by the sea. Its people could entirely sustain themselves through maritime transport and fishing, but as you said, the people of the Land of Waves have no economic resources."
Asana suddenly understood upon hearing this: "En, has Gato controlled the maritime transport?"
Uchiha En nodded and continued, "Yes, for an island nation like the Land of Waves, controlling the maritime lifeline means controlling everything in that country.
The people of the Land of Waves don't want to be controlled by Gato forever, so they started building a large bridge. Once this bridge is completed, Gato will lose control over the Land of Waves' maritime transport.
Therefore, Gato hired Ninja to obstruct the construction of this bridge, while Naruto and his team were hired by the people of the Land of Waves to help build the bridge."
Hearing this, Asana became even more interested. She pressed, "En, who are the Ninja Gato hired?"
"Gato hired Zabuza Momochi."
"Zabuza the Demon, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist? Interesting. Then let's go watch the show together tomorrow."
Uchiha En smiled and nodded.
Early the next morning, Uchiha En and Asana instantly teleported to the Land of Waves. Sensing Uchiha En's presence, Lightning, who had been circling near Kakashi and his team, immediately flew to Uchiha En's side.
"En, why did you take so long to arrive? I'm tired from flying!" Lightning complained, its body continuously shrinking until it became the size of a swallow and landed on Uchiha En's shoulder.
Uchiha En stroked Lightning's feathers and said, "Sorry, sorry for making you watch them for so long."
"Lightning, when did you learn to change size?" Asana asked, looking at the silver falcon on Uchiha En's shoulder.
"En gave me Dragon Vein Chakra before. After absorbing it, I gained the ability to change my body size."
"That's an interesting ability, somewhat like a Tailed Beast's characteristic."
Uchiha En no longer paid attention to the chatting person and bird, instead turning his gaze to the other side.
This should be Naruto and his team's third encounter with Zabuza and Haku.
Haku's mask was off, and he was confronting Naruto and Sasuke, while Kakashi looked lazy, casually dealing with Zabuza.
With Kakashi's current strength, dealing with just one Zabuza was no challenge at all.
Soon, Kakashi's team captured Zabuza and Haku. As for Gato's small fry, they were simply there to be defeated and were dealt with quickly.
"Asana, do you think that child over there is a boy or a girl?" Uchiha En asked, pointing to Haku, whose Chakra was sealed.
Asana followed Uchiha En's direction and looked at Haku. She stared at Haku for a long time, then simply activated her Tenseigan, and only then said, "He's a boy. Although he doesn't have an Adam's apple and his body shape is somewhat like a girl's, the distribution of his acupoints and meridians is that of a boy."
Uchiha En smiled upon hearing this. He had also just confirmed that Haku was a boy, and with Asana's corroboration, it was almost 100% confirmed.
After the show, Uchiha En and Asana instantly teleported to the Sound Village.
"Lord En, Lady Asana, Lord Orochimaru is waiting for you in the laboratory," Kimimaro said, rushing to greet them when he saw them appear.
Uchiha En looked Kimimaro over and asked, "How is your body?"
"Thank you for your concern, Lord En. Lady Asana and Lord Orochimaru have supplemented my Bloodline Limit, and my Bloodline Illness has recovered."
Uchiha En nodded and went to Orochimaru's laboratory with Asana.
As the two entered Orochimaru's laboratory, Uchiha En finally saw the Hyuga Clan member whose Byakugan had regressed.
Just as Asana had said, although the child in front of him wore clothes in the Hyuga Clan style and had the same hairstyle as the Hyuga Clan, his eyes were not milky white but like those of a normal person.
Uchiha En activated his Rinnegan to examine the child's physical condition, then asked with a strange tone, "What's the situation with this child? Why is there an aura of Scorch Release within him?"
"According to my understanding, his mother was a war orphan from the Second Ninja World War. The Scorch Release should be related to his mother."
"But Scorch Release shouldn't be able to suppress the Byakugan! The Byakugan originates from the Ōtsutsuki Clan's bloodline."
"That's what Orochimaru-sensei and I don't understand. En, we called you here because we wanted the Ten-Tails to take a look at this child."
"Nijo? That's indeed a good idea."
Uchiha En then called out Nijo.
After Uchiha En explained the situation, Nijo glanced at the Hyuga Clan child: "Oh? This child is quite interesting!"
With that, Nijo placed its claw on the child's arm. After nodding and shaking its head for a moment, it revealed an expression of sudden realization.
Uchiha En saw Nijo's expression and knew it must have discovered something, so he immediately asked, "Nijo, what did you find out?"
"Actually, this child's Byakugan hasn't disappeared; it has merely evolved. No, to say it evolved isn't quite right; it should be that it became stronger. This evolution exhausted the potential of the Ōtsutsuki Clan bloodline within this child, which is why you can't sense the Ōtsutsuki Clan bloodline within him," Nijo explained unhurriedly.
Uchiha En and Asana were both somewhat surprised upon hearing this.
"Nijo, are you sure?"
"I'm sure. His Byakugan became stronger, just like your Sharingan slowly accumulates Eye power. This child's Byakugan simply became stronger suddenly, and the Ōtsutsuki Clan bloodline couldn't supply it in time, causing its potential to be drained."
Asana nodded and said, "En, listening to Nijo, I remember that when the Hyuga Clan massively released the Caged Bird Seal before, several branch family members' Byakugan became stronger."
"You mean, this child's eyes are like those of the branch family members whose eyes were suppressed by the Caged Bird Seal for years? When the Caged Bird Seal was released, years of suppression instantly erupted, causing the branch family members' eyes to become so much stronger in a very short time.
He also had some similar suppression, and now that the suppression suddenly disappeared, his Eye power surged, draining his bloodline potential, leading to the Byakugan's regression?"
"Yes, it's very likely to be that way."
"Then, Nijo, can this child's Byakugan recover?" Uchiha En asked, turning his head.
"Let me see!" With that, Nijo placed its claw on the child's arm again. A moment later, Nijo shook its head.
"It probably can't recover. If the Byakugan had regressed and he could have rested well, it might have recovered, but this child immediately developed a second Bloodline Limit after his Byakugan regressed."
Orochimaru, who had been silent, licked his lips and said, "Is that so? What a pity. He would have been a very good experimental subject!"
"So now the question is what was suppressing him all this time."
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