This Is Hard for Me

"Only half a card's worth of chakra, and I've already hit my limit again. Am I really my mom's biological son?"

Uchiha Kazuhiko began to wonder about his bloodline.

As a Uchiha, questioning everything was an instinct etched into his genes.

As everyone knew, in the world of Naruto, strength could only be passed down through blood, teacher-student relationships, and cells.

By that logic, Kazuhiko had reason to wonder if he was really his mother's son.

After all, his mother was a Medical Jonin.

And a powerful Uchiha who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

"I inherited Mom's talent for medical ninjutsu, so I must be her son."

The Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, naturally came with Yin Release Chakra. Medical Ninjutsu, on the other hand, represented Yang Release Chakra. Anyone who could wield both Yin and Yang Release was as rare among the Uchiha as a giant panda.

"The only explanation is that I haven't awakened my Sharingan."

If a Uchiha awakened their eyes, their strength would explode.

Their chakra reserves and perception would improve tremendously, as would their ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.

Kazuhiko couldn't help but look forward to the day he awakened his eyes.

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west...

Clearly, half a card's worth of chakra was average even among cannon-fodder Genin, let alone the Uchiha Clan.

Going by Kakashi's normal chakra reserves of six points in the original story, a Genin's maximum should be around two or three points, or roughly a third to half a card.

By that measure, Kazuhiko was a complete failure of a Uchiha.

Without his traits, his 0.25 cards of chakra would leave him half as strong as other Genin at their limit.

"I can't imagine how much bullying and scorn I'd have suffered without My Medical Jonin Mother."

As everyone knew, the people of Konoha treated everyone equally—by bullying them all.

Whether you were a Hyuga princess or a Uchiha dead last, if you weren't good enough, you could expect to be bullied.

Just like the keyboard warriors of his previous life: timid in person, but full of swagger once they started typing.

"The Sharingan: Hypnotic Genjutsu and Shisui's exclusive trait can't be permanently fixed yet. I can only equip them for now, so I'll keep working on fixing other traits."

[Equipped Trait: Uchiha Style Taijutsu (Green)]

[Uchiha Style Taijutsu: Scientific physical training increases the speed of Uchiha Style Taijutsu and improves reaction time, making it superior to ordinary taijutsu.]

[Permanent Trait Condition: Master basic taijutsu and become proficient in Uchiha Style Taijutsu.]

The instant he equipped the trait—

Shisui's memories, feelings, and experience from training in taijutsu flooded Kazuhiko's mind, impossible to shake off, as if they had left calluses on his brain and muscles.

The sweat Shisui had shed during practice, the pounding of his heart when his body neared its limits, and the aching soreness in his muscles...

Uchiha Style Taijutsu suddenly became crystal clear in Kazuhiko's mind.

Whenever he wanted, he could imitate Shisui, using the memories and experience etched into his mind and the conditioned reflexes of his muscles to perform Uchiha Style Taijutsu.

So this was Shisui's complete understanding of Uchiha Style Taijutsu!

Following Shisui's memories and experience, Kazuhiko began training in taijutsu, stepping, dodging, blocking, and throwing punches...

He was completely immersed, focused on nothing else.

The thrill of constantly growing stronger made him lose track of time, utterly absorbed.

But this state of flow was soon broken. His stamina ran low, and his untrained body forced his progress to slow rapidly. He could no longer reproduce Shisui's movements and rhythm.

Even so, Uchiha Kazuhiko was very satisfied with his progress.

"At this rate, permanently fixing [Uchiha Style Taijutsu] might take less than three days. It'll be quick."

Could I be a taijutsu genius!?

Should I try drawing the Eight Inner Gates first?

Kazuhiko flopped into bed and drifted off to sleep.

The clinic office, Psychology Clinic.

Uchiha Kazuhiko held a teacup, skimmed off nonexistent foam, and calmly sipped his tea.

Uchiha Shota, who had come in for a follow-up, sat across from him, talking about his days at the Ninja Academy.

"Hyuga Yizu, the genius of the Hyuga Branch Family, was my strongest opponent at school. Before I met him, everyone said I was exceptionally talented, a rare genius. Even the eldest's grandson couldn't beat me. I was invincible among my peers!"

Invincible among his peers...

Kazuhiko took another sip of tea and gave him an impressed look of approval.

[Uchiha Shota's favorability increased]

"When I entered the Ninja Academy, my father told me that everyone who got in had a special talent and was one of the chosen. I wasn't intimidated. I stood out in the entrance exam and made a name for myself."

Kazuhiko nodded.

[Kick the Konoha Kindergarten]—a very impressive record.

At this point, Shota's gaze wandered. "But then I met someone I'll never forget for the rest of my life: Hyuga Yizu!"

Another character for the Sharingan genjutsu.

But for the sake of your mental health, you'd better forget about that Hyuga boy.

LGBT is beyond your grasp.

"Hyuga Yizu, the genius of the Hyuga Branch Family—whether it was theoretical scores or practical lessons, he always outclassed me with ease. It was suffocating... In just a year and a half, he graduated from the Ninja Academy thanks to his Byakugan, then quickly passed the Chunin Ninja Exams. He joined the Anbu as the top scorer, and that year, the Anbu recruited only one ninja from a clan."

"The following year, I lost in the Chunin Ninja Exams to another genius from the Hyuga Clan. If I'd led my team to beat the Hyuga back then, maybe I could've joined the Anbu and kept chasing after Hyuga Yizu..."

There were no maybes.

Uchiha Kazuhiko had already decided that.

The Hyuga joining the Anbu was a source of pride for their clan and a way to serve the village. The higher-ups welcomed it wholeheartedly, and the Byakugan was perfectly suited to the Anbu's core missions.

But if you were a Uchiha joining the Anbu, you were Konoha's lapdog and Hamas's spy—despised by your clan and distrusted by the higher-ups.

Most importantly, after the Nine-Tails' attack, the Anbu wouldn't recruit Uchiha ninja at all.

Shisui was an exception, a go-between whom the Third Hokage had specifically brought into the Anbu to appease the Uchiha.

"Tell me about your father. I've read his record. He earned great honors serving Konoha and our Uchiha Clan. He was an outstanding ninja."

Kazuhiko continued guiding Shota, keeping control of the conversation.

Thanks to Shota's exceptionally high favorability, talking with him was easy. There was no need to use genjutsu to hypnotize or guide him, which saved time and effort.

[Uchiha Shota's favorability toward you increased]

[Uchiha Itachi's favorability toward you increased]

Hm!

It seemed something strange had gotten mixed in.