Long-term intelligence gathering and screening, for instance. Peripheral assignments that did not demand much combat power but required secrecy. Acquiring resources and maintaining supply channels...
All of these needed reliable people to carry them out.
He needed a foundation entirely under his control.
So where would he find the people?
The Uchiha Clan was practically a tailor-made reserve pool for someone with his "special requirements."
The Sharingan was widely acknowledged as one of the cheat abilities of the Naruto world. Its floor was respectable, and its ceiling was extraordinarily high.
A Kekkei Genkai was an innate barrier to entry, meaning its bearers started ahead of most common-born ninja.
As for personality issues? Were the Uchiha generally extreme, arrogant, starved for affection, and desperate for recognition?
To Cheng, those were not flaws at all. They were advantages!
They were easy to control. Give them a little of the recognition they craved most, power, or some supposed "alternative future for the clan," and it would be easy to win them over and establish loyalty.
A cold curve tugged at his lips as he picked up his glass and took another sip.
According to the "plot," this clan will be purged in a few years anyway, by a traitor from their own ranks working with that scheming old bastard Shimura Danzō.
He thought calmly, Rather than let all those Sharingan fall into that old bastard Danzo's hands, or go dark and be wasted on the night of the massacre, I might as well pick a few promising ones I like and put that scrap to use. At least... that would count as preserving some improved stock for the Uchiha.
After that bit of self-mockery, he continued considering Nako's value as an individual.
Her lack of talent was not a problem.
He was not