Naruto:The System's Shadow

Chiya Hotaru, of course, did not change her surname to Uchiha. Regarding surnames, the Uchiha, like other major ninja clans, possessed a certain inexplicable pride. They would not casually bestow their surname upon an outsider, unless that person married into the Uchiha clan.

For the next few days, Kaito remained in his room, quietly recovering. Chiya Hotaru attended to his every need. The young girl was exceptionally diligent, doing her best to fulfill any task Kaito requested.

Visitors streamed in to inquire about his health. People he had never interacted with before, including several Uchiha jonin, made their appearance. They would engage in small talk, praising Kaito as a genius they had recognized long ago, and commending his great contributions to the clan, urging him to continue striving for excellence. Kaito found it all quite tiresome.

The arrival of Uchiha Izuna surprised Kaito somewhat, but it also made sense.

The two didn't talk much. Izuna mostly informed him about Madara's condition. Although he didn't explicitly state it, Kaito knew that Izuna likely wouldn't oppose him again.

During their conversation, the topic shifted to the casualties of the recent attack. Izuna's expression turned somber. Out of eighty-seven genin, forty had perished, including all three of Madara's brothers aside from himself and Izuna.

Uchiha Tajima had returned. Upon receiving news of the attack, he had hastily led a group back, abandoning the ongoing battlefront. The three-clan war, which had lasted for two years, had temporarily ended, with each clan suffering heavy losses. The Uchiha clan had sustained relatively greater damage, making it a defeat for them.

The third elder, Uchiha Yutaka, had been severely reprimanded and stripped of his position as an elder, relegated to the status of an ordinary jonin to atone for his mistakes.

Finally, Izuna departed, leaving with the parting words, "I will catch up to you and Big Brother."

Kaito merely smiled at this, thinking, "The boy's living in a dream."

"Hotaru."

"What is your command, Lord Kaito?"

"I'm exhausted. From now on, turn away all visitors. Just say I need to focus on my recovery."

"Yes."

Finally gaining some peace, Kaito exhaled. Did they not realize he was still recovering? He didn't have the energy to waste on their prattle.

When left in silence, Kaito liked to ponder things. Analyzing the situation was always beneficial before he possessed sufficient power.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should have been a similar attack in the original story, and besides Izuna, all of Madara's brothers, including myself, died in that incident. Perhaps even more people died."

Kaito had always had a question while reading the original story. During the Warring States period, the Uchiha and Senju were the two strongest clans, their strength roughly equal, having fought each other for centuries.

However, why was it that when Uchiha Madara became the clan leader, the Uchiha gradually fell behind the Senju, eventually being completely defeated?

No matter how it was sugarcoated, with talk of the two clans abandoning their animosity and joining hands to establish Konoha for the sake of world peace, it couldn't change the fact that the Uchiha clan was defeated in the original story. The Senju clan proposed the alliance from a position of victory, which was why the Uchiha clan's status was inferior to the Senju's after the founding of Konoha.

It wasn't that the Uchiha didn't fight for dominance, but that they couldn't win.

Initially, Kaito had attributed it to the overwhelming might of Senju Hashirama. However, it didn't seem to be the whole story. While Senju Hashirama was the reincarnation of Asura, a god of the ninja world, Uchiha Madara wasn't lacking either. In the original story, every time the two clashed, they never reached a quick resolution; fighting for an entire day was common.

Since the top-tier combat power was basically the same, the most likely explanation was a lack of mid-level strength, compounded by the recent attack by the Hyuga.

If Kaito wasn't mistaken, the attack in the original story likely resulted in heavy casualties among the Uchiha and Madara's generation, causing a gap in their ranks. Therefore, when Madara became the clan leader, the Uchiha clan's overall strength compared to the Senju clan was already at a disadvantage, making their defeat not surprising.

"So, counting that yesterday I was there, it helped the Uchiha defend the younger generation's combat power. Only gave me a small maid, that's too stingy."

Kaito's mind wandered aimlessly. Since he couldn't move anyway, he could only pass the time this way.

"Oh yeah, it seems like I killed their jonin and completed the mission, got some points. Quick, check it out."

Opening the system page, a dazzling array of exchangeable items appeared before Kaito's eyes. He swallowed hard as he looked at the Rinnegan, which required a million points. He could only stare in helpless longing.

With a thought, he scrolled down, feeling a sense of satisfaction as he looked at his 10,000 points. He had finally escaped the ranks of the impoverished masses.

With 10,000 points, he could exchange for an S-rank ninjutsu. He felt a surge of heat as he looked at the familiar names of various ninjutsu.

"Sage Art: Fire Style: Goemon, Rank S, Requires 10,000 points."

"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken, Rank S, Requires 10,000 points."

"Wind Style: Great Ball Rasenshuriken, Rank S, Requires 10,000 points."

"Summoning Technique: Five-fold Rashomon, Rank S, Requires 10,000 points."

"Lightning Style: Chidori, Rank S, Requires 10,000 points."

"Creation Rebirth, Byakugou Seal, Reanimation Jutsu, White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu's Puppet Collection, Yin Seal, Four Symbols Seal, Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique, Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change..."

S-rank ninjutsu after S-rank ninjutsu flashed before his eyes, making Kaito's mouth water. Unfortunately, his points were only enough to exchange for one, which was what made it so difficult for him to decide.

After thinking for a while, Kaito suddenly thought of a ninjutsu and murmured, "System, exchange for Amaterasu."

Amaterasu was a Mangekyō dōjutsu, a S-rank Fire Style in the original story, only capable of being used by Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke.

In Kaito's estimation, even if he awakened the Mangekyō in the future, the chance that his dōjutsu would be Amaterasu was very low. He might as well exchange for it now. The thought of using the three-tomoe Sharingan to unleash Amaterasu made him a little excited.

"Amaterasu, Rank S, Requires 10,000 points, Cannot Exchange, This jutsu requires Mangekyō Sharingan first."

"Damn system..."

"However, given that the protagonist possesses the three-tomoe Sharingan, you can forcibly exchange it for an additional 5,000 points, Insufficient points, cannot exchange."

"...Not only is it a scam, it's also greedy." Kaito added inwardly, but at least he knew that Mangekyō dōjutsu could be forcibly exchanged for an extra 5,000 points, which was a kind of gain.

"According to this theory, Wind Style: Rasenshuriken cannot be exchanged either, because I don't have Wind Style..."

Kaito possessed a single Fire Style affinity and couldn't learn ninjutsu of other affinities. After thinking about it, he changed the system screen. The exchange for other affinities required 2,000 points, and there was also Sage Mode, Cursed Seal, etc. Sage Mode required 50,000 points.

Kaito had thought he had escaped the ranks of the impoverished, but now he realized he was still penniless.

"Forget it, don't think about these things. Let's just exchange for an S-rank ninjutsu first. I already have the Rasengan as an A-rank ninjutsu, so the attack power is enough, but it's hard to hit opponents who are too fast. In that case, I need to exchange for a ninjutsu to compensate for that shortcoming."

Kaito kept thinking, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He thought of a ninjutsu, a golden combination with the Rasengan in the original story. In fact, the Rasengan was created to complement this ninjutsu.

"System, exchange for Flying Thunder God Technique!" Kaito said with slight excitement, hoping that he could exchange it.

"Flying Thunder God Technique, Rank S, Requires 10,000 points!"

The system's voice came calmly, and a warm current appeared in Kaito's body. His 10,000 points instantly became 0.

Kaito didn't feel any regret, but was incredibly happy. He finally had a truly ace-in-the-hole ninjutsu. With the Flying Thunder God Technique combined with the Rasengan, he could already imagine the Uchiha Kaito's flash of lightning resounding throughout the Warring States period.