He looked at the new ability that had appeared.
Then he checked the three skills already equipped on the panel.
[Taijutsu (10× boost active)] [Eyesight (10× boost active)] [Chakra Extraction (10× boost active)]
After some thought, Gua decided to unequip Chakra Extraction for now and equip [Shuriken].
His Chakra Extraction had yet to produce any tangible results. It was nowhere near as useful as the boosts from Taijutsu and eyesight.
He did not hesitate for long.
Gua unequipped [Chakra Extraction] and set [Shuriken] to train automatically.
The panel changed again.
[Taijutsu (10× boost active)] [Eyesight (10× boost active)] [Shuriken (10× boost active)]
Just like before, even though he had equipped the shuriken skill, his talent was so poor that nothing showed up right away.
They trained for an entire day.
For most of that time, Itachi practiced throwing shuriken while Shisui coached him from the side.
Gua watched nearby.
It was not that Shisui had given up on Gua. After several attempts, he had discovered that Gua had not even mastered the basic stance for throwing shuriken.
He realized that Gua's talent might be even worse than he had thought.
So he had Gua practice the proper shuriken stance on his own for now.
Gua was happy to go off to the side and let his skill train automatically.
He spent the whole day that way.
"All right, let's call it a day."
When the sunset painted the horizon, Shisui ended their training for the day.
Itachi and Gua both waved goodbye to Shisui.
They headed home.
"Itachi, were you out playing with your friends?"
Itachi opened the door when he got home. With the sliding door open, he saw his father, Fugaku, sitting inside with a stern expression. Sasuke's cries came from the next room.
"How many times have I told you? You're the hope of our clan. How can you waste your time playing around like this? How are you coming along with the Great Fireball Technique I taught you last time?"
Itachi was already used to his father being like this and showed little resistance. He took off his shoes, entered the house, and explained casually,
"I went to the Back Mountain with Shisui and Gua to train today. We practiced shuriken."
At his son's words,
Fugaku's stern expression eased slightly. His son had not gone out to play, so he had not disgraced Fugaku.
Still, Fugaku's voice remained low.
"That boy Gua..."
"Gua is outstanding."
Itachi walked into the inner room to check on Sasuke, answering his father as he went.
"Outstanding?"
Fugaku froze, wondering whether his son's brain had been fried by a fever.
Uchiha Gua had the worst talent in the entire clan. What was outstanding about him?
Has he been spending too much time with Gua lately?
Fugaku frowned slightly.
He remembered Itachi mentioning Gua not long ago.
Back then, Itachi had said, "Gua can actually extract chakra now."
His tone had been full of praise.
It was not that Fugaku was petty or unwilling to acknowledge someone else's merits. He simply knew this boy Gua very well. The limits of his talent were plain to see.
Besides, he sat around idling like a bookworm every day. How could he possibly become an outstanding Uchiha?
So Fugaku felt certain that someone had led his son astray.
"Itachi, you should keep some distance from Gua from now on."
Fugaku spoke when he saw Itachi emerge with the swaddled Sasuke in his arms.
Itachi sat down at the doorway, holding Sasuke.
Sasuke giggled in his older brother's arms.
"Dad, Shisui had me spar with Gua in Taijutsu today."
"Hm?"
Fugaku thought little of it at first, then seemed to realize something. His gaze sharpened. "Did you hurt him?"
His son needed not only strength, but also good character.
Someone petty and narrow-minded did not deserve to be his son.
Itachi shook his head.
"I lost."
Fugaku froze at those words.
"What? You lost to Gua?"
Itachi nodded. "Yes. Gua really is outstanding. There are just some things he isn't very good at. But in the things he excels at, he does very well. He's an outstanding Uchiha."
"Oh... is that so?"
Fugaku's gaze grew deep as he looked at his son's back, seated on the threshold. There was no telling what he was thinking.
Meanwhile,
When Gua returned home, his mother, Nai, was already preparing a lavish dinner.
His father, Dashan, was still reading the newspaper.
Or rather, he was pretending to read it. His mind was not on the paper at all, and he kept glancing outside through the open doorway.
Dashan was waiting for his son to return.
In Dashan's eyes, his son spent all year idling at home and was practically halfway to being autistic.
Today, he had suddenly gone out and stayed away for an entire day.
Even though he was with two reliable boys, Itachi and Shisui, Dashan still felt a little worried.
When Gua came into view, Uchiha Oyama put on an act of reading his newspaper intently.
"The village really hasn't been peaceful lately. Ninja keep disappearing for no reason. Looks like the police force's workload is going to get a lot heavier."
"Oh! You're home, son!"
The moment Gua stepped through the doorway, Uchiha Oyama put down his newspaper and spoke with delighted surprise, as though he had only just noticed him.
Gua smiled. "I'm home."
"Did you have fun out with Itachi today?"
Uchiha Oyama asked with concern.
"Yeah, it was all right. We just practiced shuriken, though my talent is terrible." Gua took off his shoes, entered the house, and sat opposite his father.
"Hey, it's perfectly normal not to be good with shuriken. It's just in our family's genes. Your old man isn't good with them either, and your mother Nai is an absolute disaster at throwing them."
Uchiha Oyama waved a hand casually, making it clear that none of that mattered.
His approach to parenting was all about keeping his son happy.
A knowing smile tugged at Gua's lips.
He knew perfectly well about the Ninja Academy Shuriken Tournament championship trophy beside his father's bed.
Gua suspected that his father's shuriken skills had played no small part in winning over his mother, Nai.
But Gua did not expose him on the spot.
His father and mother were both far too protective of him.
Because he had spent his first six years idling, Uchiha Oyama and Uchiha Nai had once suspected that their son might have some psychological condition.
Only Gua knew that he had simply been out of options back then.
Without awakening a system, he would have lived to thirteen at most.
By the standards of the world he had come from, that was only the first year of middle school.
Damn it! My life would barely have started before my whole clan got wiped out. Anyone would shut down in my shoes.
But now, his transmigrator's cheat had finally arrived, late though it was.
As long as he kept training on idle, he would be invincible eventually!
Before you continue