Preliminary Decision

The setting sun's afterglow streamed through the window lattice, casting long shadows across the tatami. Kyohaku stood alone in the middle of the living room, looking around the home that had once been filled with laughter.

Everything remained as it had been that day. On the low table lay his father's unfinished ninjutsu scrolls, the flowers his mother had arranged were slowly withering in their vase, and a new schoolbag prepared for him still sat in the corner. The air carried a faint scent of dust and an almost imperceptible trace of blood—it might have been an illusion born from memory.

Everything remained, yet the people were gone... Kyohaku sighed softly. It was both Chen Cheng's lament and Kyohaku's grief. The two sets of memories had merged perfectly at this moment, bringing twice the pain.

He slowly knelt before the table, his fingers brushing over the notes his father had left behind. Those dense lines of writing recorded a Chunin's understanding of ninjutsu, his hopes for life, and his love for his son.

"Since I'm here, I'll make the best of it." He murmured in Chinese, his tone growing firm. "From today onward, I am Kyohaku Uchiha."

His foremost task was survival. And the greatest threat to his survival was not the wars of the future, but having his identity exposed. It was normal for a five-year-old child's personality to change after suffering such trauma. But if his words and behavior differed too greatly from before, it could still arouse suspicion—especially among those who had known the original owner best.

I have to avoid risks. His professional instincts as a forensic pathologist from his previous life began to take over. This environment is full of triggers for old memories. It isn't conducive to playing a new role. There are too many witnesses, and the neighbors know the past too well. The best solution: change environments and reduce contact.

He began calmly analyzing his current situation, his thoughts as orderly as if he were dissecting a corpse:

Strengths: the protection of the Uchiha name, some starting capital, and the cognitive advantages brought by memories of his previous life.

Weaknesses: the body of a five-year-old child, a disabled leg, no one to rely on, and insufficient understanding of the original owner's behavioral patterns.

Threats: the risk of having his identity exposed, the wars of the future, and the Uchiha Clan's fate.

Opportunities: the Ninja Academy's educational resources, reducing attention by staying away from the Uchiha Compound, and using foreknowledge to make preparations in advance.

A plan gradually took shape.

Sell this property. This place carried too many memories, and too many risks. He would move to the edge of the village and find some inconspicuous place. That would both reduce contact with familiar people and provide him with a considerable amount of starting capital.

Ninja is an expensive profession. He recalled the prices of kunai mentioned in his father's notes, the wear and tear on shuriken, and the costs of maintaining ninja tools. Not to mention future medical expenses and possible prosthetic modifications...

Night quietly fell, and the house gradually darkened. Kyohaku did not light a lamp. By the last traces of daylight, he began searching through the house for important items.

In a drawer in his parents' bedroom, he found the property deed, a bankbook, and some loose cash. The bankbook showed savings of two hundred thousand ryo. Together with the compensation payment, it was no small sum.

"This should be enough for starting capital," he muttered.

Moonlight flowed like water outside the window, spilling over the quiet Uchiha Compound. The occasional footsteps and voices of passing clan members could be heard, but no one stopped. In this family that revered strength, a disabled child who had lost his parents seemed to have been invisibly pushed to the margins.

That works too, Kyohaku thought. The less attention I get, the more freedom I have.

He ate some dried rations for dinner, then laid out bedding in the small room beside his parents' bedroom. This had once been his room, and childish drawings still covered the walls.

After lying down, he stared at the ceiling and continued refining his plan:

Tomorrow, he would go to the Konoha Administrative Department to inquire about selling the house. His reason would be—he needed money to treat his injured leg, and living alone in such a large house was too lonely. A perfectly reasonable excuse.

The location needed to be near the edge of the village, with little foot traffic, but not so remote that it would arouse suspicion. Ideally, it would be close to those "important people of the future," where he might have a chance to observe or even contact them.

Obito Uchiha... He thought of that fellow clansman who had also been marginalized. If I remember correctly, his house is somewhere near the eastern side of the village. That would be a good choice.

The moonlight gradually moved across the window lattice, and Kyohaku's consciousness slowly blurred. Before he fell asleep, his final thought was: First step: survive. Second step: become strong. Third step... change those damned fates.

Deep into the night, the five-year-old child curled up in his bedding, yet his face bore a resolve far beyond his age.

His new life would begin with his first decision tomorrow.

Thank you all for your comments. I'm an old webnovel reader and a new author. I've only been writing for a little over two months, and I'm deeply grateful to everyone reading this book. This is my third one. Many readers believe that a disabled Uchiha who leaves the Uchiha Compound would definitely be taken by Danzo for experiments, so I'll briefly explain my thinking while writing this. I believe there are three points. First, at this point in time, Danzo was still dependent on the Third Hokage and was merely a tool for doing dirty work. He could not afford to provoke the major ninja clans. Second, the Third Hokage had to let any disabled ninja orphan live long enough to grow into adulthood. Even without much attention, the Third Hokage still had to uphold the Will of Fire. Third, whether it was Danzo or, more importantly, the Third Hokage, if he could cultivate pro-Hokage Uchiha like Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, why could he not cultivate other Uchiha? It simply was not shown in the original story. A disabled Uchiha estranged from the Uchiha Clan could both demonstrate his Will of Fire and possibly be cultivated into a pro-Hokage Uchiha—why not? Otherwise, why do you think Orochimaru would later have the grounds to cultivate an Uchiha? As for the Uchiha, or rather ninja clans such as the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga, the policy was the same: from the Second Hokage to the Third Hokage, and even Orochimaru and Tsunade, they all maintained a stance of suppression.