Playing the Grandson Is a Technical Skill: Uchiha En's Survival Guide

The bedboard dug painfully into his back.

En stared at the crack in the ceiling, turning the situation over in his mind three times.

The Third Hokage's ANBU had been squatting on the roof for a week. Danzo's Root had come knocking tonight. Fugaku's side had made no move, but En had heard that Uchiha Yan had gone to inspect the Nanga River in person.

Three factions were watching a twelve-year-old orphan at the same time.

Back when he watched Naruto in his previous life, he thought Danzo was disgusting, the Third Hokage was spineless, and Fugaku was stupid. Now that he was the prey, he realized that these three old foxes combined were more suffocating than year-end KPIs.

"The stronger you are, the more dangerous it is. The weaker you are, the more likely you are to die."

En rolled over, silently clenching his fingers beneath his pillow.

There was only one way to survive—weak, but not useless; obedient, but not soft.

Dawn broke.

The Ninja Academy.

Minato had arrived five minutes before En and was leaning over his desk, studying a book on shuriken throwing techniques. When he saw En enter, he immediately sat up straight and pulled out a cloth bundle from his backpack.

"Today it's grilled rice balls! I deliberately used less salt!"

En took it and gave it a squeeze. It was hard as a rock.

"Did you grill it or burn it?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes. Grilled means food. Burned means charcoal."

"Why are you like this every time?" Minato puffed out his cheeks. "You finish them every time."

"That's because I'm poor, not because your cooking is good."

Minato glared at him for three seconds, then smiled, his eyes curving into crescents.

"Then I'll make them every day, so you'll have something to eat every day."

En took a bite of the grilled rice ball. This was not the right vibe. I don't swing that way, so don't you go trying to play house.

Sure enough, it tasted like charcoal.

But he chewed it very seriously.

During exercise break, a substitute teacher from his clan called En into the hallway.

"Uchiha En, the clan head sent word for you to visit the main house in the clan grounds after school."

En lowered his head, putting on the nervous expression a twelve-year-old ought to have.

"Did I... do something wrong?"

The teacher waved a hand. "Don't be nervous. It should just be routine concern. You're an orphan, so the clan has to check in on you."

En nodded and returned to his seat.

Minato leaned over. "What happened?"

"The clan head wants to see me."

"The clan head? Isn't he someone really important? Could it be a good thing?"

"What good thing do you think a clan head would want to discuss with a loser who failed the Three Basic Techniques?"

Minato thought about it. "Maybe he wants to give you extra food?"

"...Is there nothing in your head besides food?"

"There is. Becoming Hokage, too."

En said nothing more.

Under the desk, he elementalized half a centimeter of his right index finger, then withdrew it.

Two seconds. A little faster than yesterday.

After school.

The clan's main house.

Fugaku's study was not large, but every item within it radiated Uchiha grandeur. Portraits of past clan heads hung on the walls, scrolls containing secret Fire Release techniques lined the shelves, and even the teacups on the desk bore red-and-white fan crests.

En sat formally on the tatami, his back straight.

Fugaku sat across from him, holding a teacup as he assessed him.

The silence lasted more than ten seconds.

"Do you still remember your parents' names?"

"I do. My father was Uchiha Xiao Ye, and my mother was Uchiha Ruyan." (Empress Ruyan, hehe.)

"They died carrying out missions for the clan." Fugaku set down his teacup, his tone even. "The clan will not forget."

En lowered his head. "Thank you for remembering them, Clan Head."

"I heard about the Nanga River."

The air seemed to freeze.

En did not look up, keeping his breathing steady.

"When did your ability awaken?"

"Reporting to the Clan Head... after I fell into the water. I'm not really sure what happened. My arm suddenly became very hot, and then..."

"Can you control it?"

"Barely. I can only make my right hand hot, and I can't maintain it for long."

Thirty percent. Reveal only thirty percent.

Fugaku's gaze lingered on his face for several seconds, impossible to tell whether he believed him.

"The clan's medical ninja initially believe that you may have awakened some kind of mutated Fire Release bloodline limit."

En nodded without speaking.

"Are you willing to contribute to the Uchiha?"

That was the real point.

En raised his head, his gaze carrying just the right amount of sincerity and the yearning an orphan should have.

"Clan Head, my parents died for the clan. This life of mine belongs to the clan as well. As long as the clan needs me, I'm willing to share its burden."

Fugaku's expression softened slightly.

"Good. Starting tomorrow, the clan will arrange for someone to teach you the basics of Fire Release. As for that ability of yours... don't use it in front of outsiders for now."

"Yes."

"And—" Fugaku paused. "If anyone from the village comes looking for you and asks you anything about the Uchiha, you do not need to answer. Tell me directly."

Translated, that meant—don't talk to anyone outside the clan.

En relaxed inwardly.

Fugaku might see him as a chess piece, but at least for the time being, the Uchiha clan head was willing to stand in front of him.

The first layer of protection was secured.

By the time he left the main house, it was already dark.

En walked along the paths of the clan grounds, performing his routine Observation Haki scan.

The Third Hokage's ANBU were still on the roof.

Danzo's Root were still eighty meters away.

But there was one additional presence.

About sixty meters behind and to his right. An Uchiha chakra signature. An adult, around chunin level.

Fugaku had sent someone to watch him too.

Three-way surveillance, complete. Good. A love triangle... no, a triangle was the stable shape.

En shoved his hands into his pockets and continued at an unhurried pace.

His face wore the relieved expression a twelve-year-old orphan ought to have after receiving the clan head's concern.

But in his mind, he was calculating something else.

Tomorrow, that Root member who called himself a "counselor" would come again. He could not refuse—refusing meant falling out with Danzo, and falling out with him now was courting death. But he could not truly get close to Root either. That would be handing his neck to the noose.

The best method was to have a third party block them for him.

Back in the little house, En shut the door and sat on the bed.

He closed his eyes and brought up the system panel.

[Magma-Magma Fruit Evolution Progress: 8%]

[Observation Haki: Lv.1 (Perception Radius: 100 meters)]

The data had not changed. But today, his survival strategy had completed its first step.

Fugaku's protection would stop Danzo from making an open grab.

The Third Hokage's surveillance had instead become his safety net—with ANBU around, Danzo's people would not dare lay a hand on him.

All that remained—

En opened his eyes and looked out the window. Moonlight shone over the dilapidated roof.

Tomorrow, he needed to discuss something with Minato.

It was not a big matter.

He only needed to ask him—whether he was interested in visiting a white-haired teacher together.

That teacher was very powerful, very lecherous, and wrote books unsuitable for children.

But his name was Jiraiya.

One of Konoha's Three Ninja.

The Third Hokage's direct disciple.

—As long as he got on that line, he would be much safer.

En lay back on the bed, a curve lifting at the corner of his mouth.

Back when he was a corporate drone in his previous life, the most successful thing he had ever done was not working overtime.

It was navigating between three superiors, making them keep one another in check, and getting himself out clean.

Different world, different skin.

The essence had not changed.