Installing a Trait

For the remaining clansmen, as long as they could awaken the One-Tomoe Sharingan, there was no doubt they would grow into Chunin in the future.

As for the 400 Elite Genin and the 200 children who had only recently been promoted, even the oldest were merely fourteen or fifteen. They were all the Uchiha's future.

The Uchiha bloodline had never lacked talent. As long as they were given enough time to grow up in peace, becoming Chunin after reaching adulthood was practically a certainty.

Back in the Ninja World, the Konoha higher-ups had pressed them at every turn, while Danzo lurked in the shadows. They had been forced to send children barely in their teens onto the battlefield, using the foundation of their clan to fill Konoha's bottomless pit. That had been the helpless choice of those with nowhere left to turn.

But things were different now.

They had land of their own, a secure place to settle, and the chance to lie low and build their strength slowly.

Natsu lightly clenched the roster in his fingers, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.

This time, he would never allow Uchiha children to be sent onto the battlefield at such a young age, trading their lives for that illusory "Will of Fire."

As Natsu's words fell, Uchiha Setsuna's brow furrowed even more tightly.

Pinching the corner of the roster in his hand, his tone held not the slightest doubt—only the genuine concern of someone who had seen too much reality. "Natsu, I know you want the clan to rise, but how can it be so easy for every clansman to become a ninja?"

He paused, looking at the young man before him, and made his meaning even clearer. "Our Uchiha bloodline is powerful, yes, but talent has never been distributed equally.

Some children from the branch families train for five or six years and still struggle with even the most basic chakra refinement, let alone becoming proper ninjas.

Then there are the women and the elderly. They have never received systematic ninja training to begin with. Starting from scratch now would be far too difficult."

Fugaku, who had just finished arranging the clan census, happened to walk over and heard their conversation in full.

He stopped and took over, his voice steady but unable to conceal his concern. "Setsuna is right. Back in the Ninja World, the proportion of ninjas in our clan was already among the highest in the entire Ninja World, yet nearly half our clansmen still could not walk the path of a ninja."

"Chakra refinement, taijutsu fundamentals, aptitude for ninjutsu—which of those does not require talent? They cannot be piled up through resources and time alone." Fugaku looked at Natsu and continued,

"More importantly, we have only just arrived here and have yet to understand this world's true nature. If we rashly make the entire clan devote itself to ninja training, any mishap could shake the morale we have only just stabilized."

What the two of them said was an unshakable reality that had endured throughout the Ninja World's long history. Natsu listened quietly without interrupting or rushing to refute them, even nodding from time to time.

He knew better than anyone that in the original Ninja World, having every clansman become a ninja had been nothing but a fantasy. Even a clan as powerful as the Uchiha could not make every member into a ninja.

After the two had finished speaking, Natsu finally raised his eyes. His expression did not ripple as he said calmly, "Uncle Fugaku, Uncle Setsuna, I understand everything you have said."

At the same time his words fell, he issued an order to the system in his mind. "System, activate the [Time Traveler] Family Trait. Apply it to the entire clan."

[Orange Family Trait · Time Traveler activated. Clan-wide coverage complete. Cross-world rule adaptation has simultaneously taken effect. All clan members have obtained barrier-free world rule adaptation privileges.]

The instant the cold system notification rang out in his mind, a gentle yet omnipresent warm current silently swept across the entire camp, slipping into the bodies of every Uchiha clansman.

There was no earth-shaking roar, no world-ending phenomenon—only a subtle, imperceptible change.

A clansman chopping down trees brought his axe down in a smooth swing. A log so thick it normally took three times the effort to split was cleanly cleaved in two with a single blow. It was as if his strength had suddenly increased by a great deal out of nowhere, and even his breathing became exceptionally smooth;

On the training ground, the children practicing shuriken found the chakra at their fingertips smoother than ever before. Kunai that had previously hit only six or seven times out of ten now all struck the bullseye ten meters away, leaving even the children themselves frozen in shock;

The ninja in the watchtower felt his Three-Tomoe Sharingan grow slightly warm. His ocular power, once somewhat sluggish, became incomparably fluid as if moistened by warm water, and even his sensing range seemed to expand by a faint margin;

Even the women mending clothes in the tents felt the exhaustion from their days of travel swept away. Something seemed to awaken within their bodies. The chakra seeds that had once been so faint as to be almost imperceptible now became clear and tangible, slowly flowing through their chakra pathways.

Fugaku and Setsuna both shuddered.

Both were battle-hardened Elite Jonin, and their awareness of their own bodies was far keener than that of ordinary clansmen.

Fugaku instinctively circulated his chakra. The amount of chakra that had been stuck at a bottleneck for years showed faint signs of loosening. Every inch of muscle and every bone in his body brimmed with an unprecedented sense of power, and even his perception of the sea breeze and air currents around him became incomparably clear.

Setsuna's eyes widened outright as his Three-Tomoe Sharingan activated instantly. He could clearly feel that his ocular power had improved, if only by an almost imperceptible amount. More importantly, he suddenly felt an inexplicable closeness to this unfamiliar world, as though he had been born to live here. The rules that had once felt utterly incompatible now seemed within reach if he merely stretched out his hand.

The two turned toward Natsu in unison. The concern and worry in their eyes had long since vanished, leaving only overwhelming shock and disbelief.

Seeing their stunned expressions, Natsu's lips curled slightly as he finally revealed his trump card. "What you just described were the rules of the Ninja World. But now, we are no longer in the Ninja World."

"I have just activated a Family Trait. From now on, everyone in the clan can adapt to this world's rules without any barriers.

Not only can we preserve the Uchiha's chakra and Sharingan, but we can also possess the powerful physiques of this world's natives. The threshold for chakra refinement will be lowered, and the probability of awakening the Sharingan will see a qualitative increase."

He lifted his eyes toward the clansmen in the camp, whose faces were filled with delight as they sensed the changes in their bodies. His tone was calm, yet carried an unquestionable certainty:

"Every clansman becoming a ninja has never been empty talk."

West Blue, Marine Branch 74.

A three-story gray-white Marine office building stood beside the harbor. The salty sea wind carried fine sand through the open window of the top-floor office, making the documents on the desk rustle loudly.