Before anyone realized it, half a year had quickly passed, and the time had reached January of Year 48 of Konoha.
During these six months, Uchiha En found Orochimaru and exchanged two White Zetsu corpses for the Edo Tensei technique.
The difficulty of learning this technique was quite high. Uchiha En's talent in learning Ninjutsu was generally average, and it took him more than three months to barely master the technique.
After that came practice. Uchiha En used bandits from the Land of Fire border or spies sent by other Villages as test subjects, gradually improving the precision of the Edo Tensei.
Currently, Uchiha En can summon Ninja with 50 to 60 percent of their strength from when they were alive.
However, Uchiha En discovered that the Edo Tensei technique has two uncontrollable aspects: the age and physical condition of the summoned Ninja.
Some Ninja summoned using Edo Tensei appeared in their prime, young adult state.
Other Ninja summoned using Edo Tensei appeared exactly as they looked just before their death.
Uchiha En even consulted Orochimaru about this phenomenon, and Orochimaru stated that he also couldn't control the age and physical condition of the Ninja summoned by Edo Tensei.
Hearing this, Uchiha En sighed. It seemed Orochimaru's mastery of Edo Tensei was inferior to that of the later Yakushi Kabuto!
Yakushi Kabuto was capable of "buffing" the Edo Tensei summoned Madara.
However, this minor flaw did not affect Uchiha En's plan. He intended to copy souls, not summon Ninja for combat, so the Ninja's condition didn't matter.
Aside from practicing Edo Tensei during the past six months, Uchiha En dedicated a large amount of his energy to the hawk faction.
Uchiha En initially chose a slow infiltration, starting with a few hawk faction members in the Third Squad, gradually changing their minds and then having them influence their family and friends.
The Uchiha Clan members of the Third Squad, above all else, were highly trusting of Uchiha En. After hearing some of Uchiha En's ideas, they were somewhat moved.
Coupled with Uchiha En's continuous persuasion, all the Uchiha Clan members of the Third Squad chose to stand on Uchiha En's side.
Using them as a center point, more and more hawk faction members began to agree with Uchiha En's philosophy.
Of course, the Uchiha Clan ultimately respects strength, and mere persuasion certainly couldn't make the hawk faction completely defect.
Uchiha En directly exposed his Mangekyo Sharingan.
After learning that Uchiha En possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, many of the persuaded hawk faction members chose to side with Uchiha En.
As time went on and the number of hawk faction members dwindled, Uchiha Takeshi and Uchiha Chizan both became restless.
But they had no way to counter Uchiha En; after all, the Mangekyo Sharingan was displayed right there, and every member of the Uchiha Clan knew what the Mangekyo Sharingan signified.
With the mass defection of hawk faction members, the dove faction members outnumbered the hawk faction for the first time in many years.
Moreover, the defectors agreed not with the dove faction's ideology, but with Uchiha En's ideology, which would greatly help Uchiha En subsequently oust Uchiha Fugaku.
Naturally, Uchiha En exposing his Mangekyo could not be hidden from Konoha's higher-ups.
The Third Hokage, who still commanded a large number of Anbu members, specifically invited Uchiha En to his home.
When Uchiha En arrived at the Sarutobi Clan compound, he found Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Homura Mitokado already there.
As soon as the Third Hokage met Uchiha En, they exchanged simple pleasantries, and then he asked about the abilities of Uchiha En's Mangekyo.
Uchiha En naturally refused to answer this question.
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