To stop anyone from discovering his secret stash in the future, Uchiha Souji reluctantly buried every single bottle of his beloved Happy Water. It was heartbreaking—he had ten tons of the stuff—but survival came first. If someone found out a six-year-old kid owned a mountain of soda, he'd definitely be dissected by Orochimaru by morning.
After all, the system that blessed him with such items was… questionable.
Every time Souji looked back at the random rewards he had received over the years, he felt like his luck was being mocked. Most people in novels received cool abilities, cheat modes, or combat skills. Souji? He got soda. Mountains of it. His system had the terrible luck of a scammy game developer with a 0.0001% drop rate.
Still, once in a while, something useful showed up—like the Ghost Blade he received last night.
While Souji was thinking about his strange system, far away on the village road, Uchiha Fugaku was heading home with a heavy mind. But strangely, he didn't think about politics or the conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha clan.
He kept thinking about the boy training under the moonlight.
That child's tenacity.
That stubborn determination.
That fierceness in his eyes—
It all reminded Fugaku of something fundamental:
The essence of a shinobi.
A true ninja was someone who endured what ordinary people never could. Anyone could talk about working hard. Anyone could brag about talent. Anyone could repeat motivational phrases.
But very few could actually do the work.
Hard work didn't guarantee results, and that fact crushed many shinobi. It made the comfort of laziness too tempting. Why push yourself when you could simply wait for your next small salary of two thousand ryō?
The Third Ninja War had just ended. Countless shinobi finally relaxed, and once a person relaxed after such stress, it became extremely hard to rise again. Konoha was entering a period of calm—and with calm came laziness.
Even within the Uchiha clan, many had begun to slow down.
But not that child.
Fugaku stopped walking for a moment. Then he spoke into the darkness calmly:
"Go check on that kid."
A leaf trembled high in a treetop, but no one else would have noticed it. Fugaku didn't look back. He simply continued walking toward home.
By the time the sky began to lighten and the first hints of dawn touched the horizon, Fugaku was already seated inside his home, drinking tea and reading the news. His expression was relaxed, yet the moment he sensed someone nearby, he calmly said:
"Report."
As the head of the Uchiha clan, he carried enormous burdens. He managed a clan filled with powerful shinobi who all had intense personalities—many of them hot-headed, stubborn, and proud. The internal issues alone were enough to drive him insane.
Yet even with all this pressure, Fugaku still found time to care about a boy he had seen once in the dark.
In a hushed voice, the shinobi hidden in the shadows reported:
"Uchiha Souji. Orphan. Both parents were Chūnin of the Uchiha clan. They died in the Third Ninja World War. He currently lives alone, supported by the village's relief fund and his parents' pension. He goes hunting in the mountains to survive."
Fugaku nodded slightly. The report continued:
"Chakra attributes: fire and lightning. No Sharingan awakened yet. Talent evaluation: mid-to-lower."
It sounded average… painfully average. Souji had no natural advantages. No powerful body. No extraordinary chakra capacity. No early Sharingan.
He was simply ordinary.
Yet last night, that kid swung a sword like a demon until three in the morning.
Fugaku frowned at first—then slowly smiled.
He understood what this meant.
Souji knew his weaknesses. He knew the dangers of the world. And instead of giving up, he pushed himself.
This kind of awareness at such a young age was rare.
"This child… is a talent."
Fugaku's eyes brightened with interest.
If Souji had been present, he would have absolutely fainted on the spot.
Talent?
Him?
He would yell:
"I'm NOT talented! I'm just panicking for my life! Stop misunderstanding!!"
But Souji wasn't there. Instead, he was wiping sweat from his face and suddenly sneezing.
"Ha-choo!"
He rubbed his nose, confused.
"Someone must be talking about me…"
Shaking his head, Souji sheathed his sword and prepared to go home. But before he could take a step, a figure appeared in front of him out of thin air.
A masked Uchiha operative.
Souji's heart instantly dropped into his stomach.
That uniform…
That mask…
This was the Uchiha clan's intelligence unit—something like their own private ANBU.
Every major clan had one. Gathering information was a matter of life and death in the shinobi world.
Souji tried not to panic, but panic hit him anyway. The muscles in his face twitched like crazy, and he felt like he was about to faint.
But to the masked shinobi?
He looked cold.
He looked calm.
He looked in control.
The man nodded with admiration.
Now that is a real Uchiha expression. Not even flinching under pressure. What a remarkable child.
In his mind, Souji was screaming:
"I AM NOT CALM! I AM D Y I N G INSIDE!"
Yet on the surface, his stiff face looked tough.
Then Souji forced himself to speak, and due to his nerves, he forgot to use honorifics:
"The clan head is looking for me?"
His tone was cold. Certain. Direct.
The masked man froze.
He instantly recognized that Souji had correctly deduced his identity as Fugaku's personal guard. And his confident tone? That wasn't something normal children had.
This kid… is a genius at reading people? At gathering information? At staying composed under stress?
The ninja's respect for Souji rose instantly.
"Yes. The clan head requests your presence."
Souji blinked.
Then blinked again.
In his head:
"??? Why are you suddenly respectful? Did I awaken a secret bloodline? What's going on?!"
He expected the usual Uchiha rudeness—cold glares, arrogant tone, that classic "you owe me money" look.
Instead, the man was practically polite.
For a moment, Souji wondered:
Could Fugaku actually be my real father? Did my parents lie to me before dying?!
But he forced himself to act serious. He gave a small nod, placed his left hand lightly on the hilt of his sword, and walked slowly toward the clan head's house.
Of course… the real reason he walked slowly was because he was utterly exhausted from last night's insane training.
But to the masked shinobi, Souji looked like someone important—someone unfazed by meeting the clan leader, someone for whom even the clan head was just another person.
Such composure… such calm… this child is unbelievable.
Souji, meanwhile:
"I'm too tired to walk faster… someone please help…"
Thus, one misunderstanding after another built up around him.
And for the first time in his young life, Uchiha Souji unknowingly walked toward a future where someone powerful was watching him closely.
.