A Year of Development

"I had already thought this through." Natsu naturally understood Setsuna's concerns and immediately laid out the entire plan.

"I planned to gather every adult ninja in the clan and establish a dedicated Family Guard. They will take shifts patrolling the entire island, maintaining vigilance, deploying the outer barrier, and serving as the clan's final line of security.

"The first few years will definitely be difficult. We will be short on manpower. But once the first batch of academy children completes their training and graduates, the Uchiha's strength will only grow geometrically."

He did not give Setsuna a chance to speak again and continued, making the faculty arrangements perfectly clear. "As for the academy staff, I have also settled on a general framework.

"From the clan's twenty-three Three Tomoe Elite Jonin, select three clansmen who specialize respectively in genjutsu, ninja taijutsu, and ninjutsu to serve as the academy's lead instructors.

"Each lead instructor will have three Jonin from the same field as assistant instructors.

"Under each assistant instructor, assign three Special Jonin or Elite Chunin skilled in the same direction as teaching aides.

"We will use this structure to establish the temporary academy first.

"Once this batch of children has completed their training, those with the ability and willingness can be added to the teaching staff. It will be passed down generation after generation, ensuring that the Uchiha's legacy is passed on steadily."

Fugaku, who had remained silent beside them, stopped stroking his chin. He raised his eyes toward Natsu, and the contemplation in his gaze gradually turned into certainty.

At last, Fugaku looked up. His gaze swept across Natsu and Setsuna before finally settling on the faint sounds of children playing from the eastern side of the camp. In a deep voice, he delivered the final verdict. "Natsu is right. This plan is feasible."

He looked at Setsuna, whose expression was still troubled. His tone was steady, yet filled with unquestionable certainty. "The Uchiha endured for decades in Konoha, always constrained. On one side, we had to guard against the higher-ups' schemes; on the other, we had to use our children's lives to fill the holes on the battlefield. And what did that get us in the end?

"Now that we have our own territory and a chance to breathe in peace, following the same old path would mean repeating the same mistakes.

"What does this temporary shortage of manpower matter? In three years—five at most—the children graduating from the academy will give us an Uchiha far beyond what we are now."

With matters put so plainly, the last of Setsuna's reservations vanished. He nodded silently and said in a muffled voice, "Fine. We'll do as you say. I'll take the lead in finalizing the academy staff and Family Guard personnel. We can have the framework in place within three days."

And so, the matter was settled.

Three days later, the Uchiha Family Academy was officially established on the eastern side of the camp. More than six hundred clan children under fourteen were divided into six classes according to age and talent. Every day, they systematically trained in chakra extraction, basic taijutsu, shuriken throwing, the Uchiha Clan's foundational Fire Release, and guidance for awakening the Sharingan.

At the same time, the Family Guard, composed of every adult ninja in the clan, was officially formed. It was divided into four squads—patrol, reconnaissance, barrier, and combat—and maintained twenty-four-hour rotating watches, protecting the entire deserted island without a single gap.

Spring passed into autumn, tides rose and fell, and in the blink of an eye, an entire year had gone by.

The once-desolate island no longer bore even the slightest trace of its former barrenness.

The expanded harbor sat securely within a sheltered stretch of coastline, capable of accommodating three large ships at once. Ninja stood guard at the docks year-round, their scarlet Sharingan constantly sweeping across the sea.

The original three-meter wooden walls had long been replaced with nearly five-meter-high composite stone walls reinforced with Earth Release. A watchtower stood every fifty meters along the ramparts. Not only were ninja stationed atop them as sentries, but cannons seized from pirate ships had also been mounted there.

Inside the walls lay the neatly planned clan grounds. Bluestone roads stretched in every direction, while the academy, training grounds, ninja tool depot, and council hall were all fully equipped. Beyond the walls were vast tracts of newly reclaimed farmland, pastures, and iron mines stretching as far as the eye could see.

Over the course of that year, Natsu and Fugaku officially named the island Origin Island.

It was the Uchiha Clan's place of rebirth, where they escaped Konoha's dead end and broke free from the shackles of fate. It was also the place where they would take root again upon this magnificent sea and begin a new chapter of their legend.

To accelerate the island's development and allow the clan's ninja to quickly familiarize themselves with this world's rules and methods of battle, Uchiha Yashiro led the combat squad out from Origin Island from time to time aboard pirate ships seized from Har, targeting the pirate crews running rampant along the West Blue shipping routes and the black ships trafficking slaves.

These villains, who had committed countless crimes throughout the West Blue, had no ability to resist before battle-hardened Uchiha ninja capable of casually unleashing ninjutsu. Often, before they could even make out the approaching ship, Water Release had already overturned their vessel, while Lightning Release had paralyzed everyone aboard. They never even had the chance to fire their cannons.

Every voyage brought the squad home loaded with spoils—the Beli, supplies, and weapons aboard were all confiscated, while the pirates and slave traders were tied up tightly and escorted back to Origin Island.

Those who obeyed were incorporated into the subordinate labor force, responsible for reclaiming wasteland, mining ore, and constructing infrastructure, earning a chance to live through labor.

Those who dared resist, especially those whose hands were stained with too many innocent lives, were thrown directly into the training grounds deep within the deserted island and became targets for the clan's young ninja to practice on.

The continuous influx of laborers allowed Origin Island's development to advance at an astonishing pace.

In just one year, the entire island achieved food self-sufficiency. Ore excavated from the iron mines was smelted into iron by clan ninja skilled in Fire Release. Not only could they forge ample quantities of ninja tools such as kunai and shuriken, they had even replicated the Navy's standard cannons and reinforced the island's defensive fortifications with them.

The changes within the Uchiha Clan itself were even more earthshaking.

The effects of the [Time Traveler] trait were fully unleashed over the course of that year.

Of the clan's original twenty-three experts stuck at the peak of Elite Jonin, eleven had officially entered the Kage Level. The remaining twelve had also touched the threshold of the Kage Level and could break through at any time.

Of the 104 Two Tomoe holders, more than ninety percent had reached the Jonin level. The Sharingan awakening rate and advancement speed were a full three times higher than they had been in the Ninja World.

What was even more delightful were the children in the academy.

After a year of systematic training, the awakening rate for the One-Tomoe Sharingan among clan children under fourteen had exceeded forty percent. Quite a few children barely over ten could already skillfully perform the Three-Body Technique and basic Fire Release, and their chakra control far surpassed that of ninja their age in the Ninja World. Their future potential was immeasurable.

Several exceptionally talented Jonin had even used the trait's rule adaptation to touch upon the threshold of this world's Armament Haki, opening entirely new possibilities for the Uchiha's power system.