Recently, Shinichi had grown taller and stronger than most children his age. Through relentless training and Minami's chakra-nourished meals, his physique developed rapidly. Yet, despite his progress, Shinichi couldn't ignore a fundamental truth: this world lacked the fundamental energy – what he once called Ki – that had defined his previous life.
After months of training, he accepted it.
Achieving his former Grandmaster level was impossible here. Or at least it is going to take much longer. The energy of this world was simply too scarce. But rather than to dwell on what couldn't be, Shinichi chose to focus on what he could. He turned his attention to chakra control, and more importantly, to the life he was building with his family.
***
Minami, who was ever observant, had grown concerned. Shinichi rarely spent time with children his age. So, in response, he decided to engage with the younger members of the Uchiha clan.
At first, he felt out of place. The immaturity of five-years-olds grated on him. But then he remembered his own childhood; his time as a war orphan in the Imperial Knight Order. He had been one of them once. And now, with his maturity and experience, he could guide them.
So he did.
He began training them using a modified version of the Knight Order's methods. Gone were the brutal trials, the emotional erasure, the fatal consequences. What remained was a framework, a refined and softened training disguised as a game.
---
One afternoon, Shinichi stood in the center of the playground, chalk in hand. He drew circles of varying sizes and distances across the ground, forming a strange pattern that caught the children's attention.
He turned to them, eyes gleaming with playful challenge.
"Alright! From now on, the playground is on fire. The only safe spots are these circles. Step outside the lines, and you'll burn. As future shinobi, you must complete this challenge. If not…"
He paused dramatically.
"…then forget about becoming a shinobi."
Gasps. Wide eyes. Determined nods.
The children leapt into action, hopping from circle to circle with earnest effort. It was easy to convince them. After all, in a clan like the Uchiha, becoming a shinobi was every child's dream. All Shinichi had to do was Motivate them.
----
In his past life, the training had been far more brutal.
Fifty wooden poles, each two meter tall, spaced with cruel precision. Children were forced to leap from one to the next, balancing on surfaces barely large enough for half a foot. Falls meant injury. Sometimes, death.
Kuro had mastered it after falling four times.
The method forged warriors. It build coordination, balance and speed. It numbed fear. It filtered out the weak and those who couldn't improve; they were sent to the frontlines as cannon fodder or tasked with collecting corpses and weapons.
It was efficient and ruthless, but also necessary to combat the foreign threats.
But Shinichi was no longer Kuro.
Now, he used a toned-down version to train young Uchiha children. Not to harden them, but to prepare them. To protect them. And most importantly, to give them strength without stealing their innocence.
As he watched them laugh and stumble and try again, Shinichi smiled.
This was his new path.
He continued to oversee their "play," acting as a referee. With dramatic flair, he'd declare who had stepped over the lines and "caught fire," and who had survived the blazing playground. But as time passed, some children began to lose motivation from experiencing too many failures and too many falls.
So Shinichi added a spark.
"If any one of you completes the run, and becomes the top, the fastest," he announced, "I'll give you a chance to challenge me for the position of 'leader'."
The children's eyes twinkled with excitement again.
At that age, every child dreamed of being the playground's ruler. Shinichi was the unspoken king – taller, , more mature, and undeniably charismatic. The boys knew they couldn't dethrone him, but second-in-command? That was within their reach. The girls, meanwhile, saw a new opportunity to catch his attention. Flowers hadn't worked. Gifts were ignored. Even their lovingly packed lunches paled in comparison to the one Minami made for her son.
Shinichi saw through their innocent ambitions. But he had a plan. He didn't want to be the eternal referee. He wanted to pass the torch and create a cycle that could continue without him.
So he added another rule.
"Also! At the end of every month, we'll hold a competition. The top ten fastest runners will be rewarded with… my mother's packed lunch!"
The playground erupted.
Fire blazed in their eyes. Uchiha Shinichi's mother, Uchiha Minami, was a legend. Her culinary skills were whispered about like forbidden jutsu. One bite of her cooking could change lives.
It had before.
When Shinichi was younger, still clinging to his past as cold and unsociable Kuro, Minami had taken drastic measures. Worried he'd live a lonely life, she packed an enormous lunch box and forced him to share it with other children.
That day changed everything.
The kids who tasted Minami's food returned home and promptly declared their mothers' cooking inferior. Chaos ensued. Scolding were rampant. Some were punished with half-day stints kneeling outside with their arms raised. But there was no resentment, only longing. That heavenly taste had ruined them.
Soon after, Uchiha mothers began visiting Minami.
Some came to complain. Others came to beg. But when they saw her bulging stomach, pregnant with her second child, they softened. Smiles bloomed. Complaints turned into polite requests for help.
Minami, ever gracious, offered guidance. Recipes were shared. Techniques were taught. And slowly, the Uchiha kitchens began to evolve.
After much contemplation, Minami compiled ten simple recipes, easy enough for any mother to prepare and published them as a small booklet sold cheaply within the clan. It sold out almost immediately. Children returned home to better meals. Families gathered around dinner tables with renewed joy. The living standard of the Uchiha clan quietly rose.
This happened a year ago, just months before Kaito was born.
***
Minami had considered selling the booklet outside the clan. But before she could decide, Uchiha Sosuke visited her with a proposal.
He had noticed other clans beginning to open businesses and industries near and within Konoha. though the Uchiha's wealth and property far exceeded most, Sosuke believed that starting a business, one that could become the pride and face of the Uchiha within Konoha, might help mend ties with the villagers.
A restaurant.
Minami was intrigued. She began organizing her recipes and cooking methods into structured manuals. She divided them into basic, intermediate, and expert levels, each with two versions: one for civilian chefs, and one fore the ninja chefs.
To win over Shinichi – no, Kuro – Minami had poured everything into cooking. She became the culinary goddess of the Uchiha clan. Her mastery of chakra-enhanced cooking was unprecedented.
Fire chakra for grilling and roasting at precise temperature.
Water chakra to preserve freshness and juiciness.
Wind chakra for drying and precision slicing.
Lightning chakra to evaporate moisture instantly.
Erath chakra to stimulate oven-style cooking.
Beyond elemental chakra, she used pure chakra manipulation to expedite fermentation, mold dough, and enhance flavor. Her progress in chakra transformation as a mother far surpassed her achievements as a kunoichi.
Compared to her new manuals, the original ten-recipe booklet was laughably amateur. A brochure, really.
---
Minami had planned to finish the manuals quickly, but Kaito's birth delayed her. It wasn't until the fall of Year 23 that she resumed and completed the textbooks. She then accepted ten disciples, eight civilian women and two young kunoichi. Minami was surprised that capable kunoichi wanted to become chefs. Upon inquiry, their flushed faces and shy replies made it clear: they wanted to conquer the stomachs of the men they liked.
Training began.
Minami quickly realized that ninja cooking was far more demanding. It required mastery over elemental chakra manipulation so all ten disciples started with the civilian curriculum. But the ninja manuals served as excellent training guides, offering inspiration and direction for chakra control and nature transformation.
For many shinobis and kunoichi alike, the hardest part of chakra control training was knowing how to and where to begin. Minami's cooking gave them one path to try out.
Progress was swift. At their current pace, Minami believed they could open the restaurant within a year.
---
But then Madara attacked.
The timing was awkward. Opening a restaurant outside the compound now would be seen as a political move. Every Uchiha action was scrutinized, interpreted as a hidden agenda.
After much discussion between the elders, Sosuke, Minami, and Fukashi, they agreed to open the restaurant within the newly organized Uchiha compound first. A branch in the village could come later, once tensions eased.
The Uchiha clan would fund the venture, supply fresh ingredients, and provide training grounds. It was clan business now.
Ironically, if the Uchiha had known that Hashirama and Tobirama feared an all-out conflict and the activation of Izanagi, Uchiha would have opened the restaurants outside the compound immediately. Their goal wasn't profit, it was reputation. They wanted to be seen, to be understood. and to be part of the village again.