Chapter 1: Flames, Lightning, and the Edge of Blood
Flames, lightning, blades flashing through blood.
Yellow sand, puppets, a ninja war wasteland.
Young Konoha shinobi tangled with the enemy, pressed together.
Both sides' blades pierced the other's body.
…
"Tomocheng, wake up! Don't you dare fall asleep!"
"You're losing too much blood—stay awake, or you won't wake up again."
Uchiha Yashiro gently shook the half-conscious Uchiha Tomocheng, shouting in panic.
Yashiro applied large amounts of hemostatic powder, wrapped bandages, and pressed hard to stop the bleeding.
The half-awake Li Tomocheng was instantly jolted awake by the pain!
Lingering in his mind was the terrifying pale-blue electric current.
His final obsession lingered on the fragmented memory of "pulling a crab trap from the stream."
Before he could reach the shore, he was electrocuted to death in the river.
Frustration, rage, pain, and the shock of rebirth compressed into a boiling emotion in his heart.
"I, Li Tomocheng, was actually electrocuted by a bunch of trash using new energy to fish illegally?"
Li Tomocheng, a "Liu Huaqiang"-style small-county warlord, didn't have many secrets to success.
He relied on his large extended family, the unity of Li Family Village, and his savage, "flexible" tactics.
In this western region's small county, he used clan influence to live a life where he "never had to bow to anyone."
He owned two private coal mines, a coal-washing plant, the county's largest hotel, and over thirty street-front shops.
Though "township entrepreneur" sounded unimpressive, his handsome reputation as the "Aaron Kwok of Li Village Town" was legendary.
Even the relatives from Li Family Village who followed him were nearly the wealthiest group locally.
Who would've thought he'd die at the hands of a gang of lawless poachers electro-fishing?
The sting of pain, combined with the fusing memories, quickly made Tomocheng grasp his current situation.
He, Li Tomocheng, had been reborn!
Reborn into the body of someone named Uchiha Tomocheng.
His older brother was the most forgettable Mangekyō master in Naruto—Uchiha Fugaku!
Li Tomocheng inwardly complained, "Having a brother like that is awkward as hell."
The current Fugaku was only two years older than him. At 18, Uchiha Fugaku hadn't inherited the Uchiha clan head position.
Moreover, Tomocheng utterly despised Fugaku's indecisiveness.
Having lived a second life, he naturally wouldn't let this foolish "Oniisaka" run the Uchiha family.
Facing the Uchiha around him, Tomocheng stayed relatively calm.
He only said in a hoarse voice, "Yashiro, don't worry. My injuries aren't serious."
He didn't dare show too much emotion. The people around him were Uchiha kin, and to avoid being noticed as abnormal, he had to distance himself from them quickly.
Tomocheng was willing to keep a low profile, but some of these Uchiha shinobi didn't share that sentiment.
A scarred-nose Uchiha shinobi looked at Uchiha Tomocheng with disgust. "Yashiro, don't waste time on this brat Tomocheng. He's got three-tomoe and still can't beat a single Suna ninja. What a disgrace."
Uchiha Yashiro snapped angrily, "Watch your mouth!"
The other two shinobi nearby looked indifferent, as if Tomocheng, the second son of the clan head's main line, wasn't anything special.
Uchiha Hyaku, whom Tomocheng had saved at the cost of his life, wore a ferocious, teeth-gritting expression.
He wanted to fight to the death for Tomocheng.
But with only two-tomoe, even his fiercest glare lacked intimidation.
Tomocheng clutched his wound and stood, pointing at Uchiha Iwa's nose and scolding him bluntly: "Don't think just because you're Uchiha Setsuna's grandson, you can talk big to me. In the Uchiha clan, I'm still the main line. Even if I slapped you in public, Setsuna would only vent at Fugaku."
Tomocheng's ferocious glare made Uchiha Iwa flinch and step back.
Feeling humiliated, Iwa glared back defiantly.
Yashiro stepped between them, looking worriedly at Tomocheng. "Your wound is deep. Let me escort you off the battlefield."
Nearby, Uchiha Hyaku also looked at Tomocheng with concern.
"Let me carry Lord Tomocheng. I'll take him to the medical ninja in the rear."
"I'm not dying from this!"
Tomocheng waved them off. "I'll retreat to the rear for treatment myself. I don't need you babysitting me."
He looked down at Uchiha Yashiro. "Yashiro, take Hyaku and the others to reinforce the northeast. I spotted hidden explosive tag traps near the black boulder."
Tomocheng's expression was grave. "Hurry and recall the Konoha ninja in that direction. A bunch of younger shinobi were heading toward the trap zone."
Yashiro was hesitant, but Tomocheng insisted on retreating alone.
"I'm fine. This wound won't stop me from retreating for treatment." With that, he clutched his abdominal wound and withdrew without lingering.
Tomocheng wasn't confident in the newly fused memories. He worried that changes in personality or behavior would tip off the Uchiha who knew him well.
A prompt rang in his mind, making it clear: "After rebirth, the golden finger has arrived!"
[Approval Value: 73]
[Approval Value] quantifies the recognition, admiration, expectation, and affection from clan, friends, and family toward the host.
(Change fate with intent; alter injustice with emotion.)
Staring at [Approval Value], Tomocheng was puzzled.
"This [Approval Value] is weird. Does rebirth mean the heavens want me to be a good guy?"
Tomocheng raised an eyebrow. "I'm the richest man in Li Family Village. Who dares say Tomocheng isn't the greatest good guy?"
[Attempt to alter the fate of key characters to obtain Destiny Dice]
A bizarre six-sided die appeared in his mind.
A cube seemingly made of flesh, each face bearing a different number of Sharingan. The most terrifying face had six blood-red Sharingan spinning relentlessly.
With this prompt, Tomocheng understood the true use of [Approval Value].
Altering a key character's fate rewards a 1–6 point Destiny Die.
Spend [Approval Value] to roll the Destiny Die and gain rewards based on the points:
1 point: Minor lifespan boost. 2 points: Physical item reward. 3 points: Physical enhancement reward. 4 points: Ability/skill reward. 5 points: Bloodline/talent reward. 6 points: Cross-world random reward.
The more Tomocheng read, the more excited he became. "With this heavenly (external) cheat, even Otsutsuki Ichiraku would personally serve me ramen!"
There were so many characters in this world whose fates he could try to change.
Like the explosive tag trap he'd found in the northeast.
If the enemy Jonin hadn't gravely wounded Tomocheng en route, the one blown up wouldn't have been Nawaki but Tomocheng himself.
Since he'd just been reborn, he had to play it safe.
Otherwise, just altering Nawaki's fate could open up countless ways to win over Tsunade.
Tomocheng shook his head. "Why overthink? There are plenty of chances to change fates. First, secure my own life."
Checking his abdominal wound, he found the mysterious energy from rebirth had already made it much shallower.
"As for whether Yashiro can save Nawaki this time, that's up to his own luck."
Sending Yashiro to warn them was just doing his part and leaving the rest to fate.
[Successfully altered Uchiha Tomocheng's fate]
[Fate Trajectory: Died in the Second Shinobi War]
[Reward: Uchiha Tomocheng's Destiny Die]
"Me? So in the original Naruto, Fugaku's younger brother died here in the Second War?"
Tomocheng narrowed his eyes.
"Even changing my own fate counts as a reward? Now the possibilities are huge."
In his imagination: Find the indecisive Uchiha Fugaku and forcibly sterilize his own brother.
Or, use his charm as the brother-in-law to steal his sister-in-law, Mikoto?
Either could instantly alter the fates of Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke…
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