Emerging from the brutal Warring States period and further ravaged by war, the Uchiha clan had poured great effort into restoring their population and strength by rigorously training the new generation—though the focus was on orphans and those from diluted bloodlines.
Each year, new children joined the program. To motivate them, a few top performers from earlier batches were held up as examples. After all, what child didn't want to be a hero? They weren't yet tangled in complicated thoughts.
Fortunately, the Uchiha still adhered to their traditional training methods from the Warring States era. The elders who oversaw the education of the younger generation were survivors of that period, and their approach was extremely strict. All trainees received systematic instruction in the Uchiha's foundational skills. How far they could go beyond that depended entirely on themselves.
When the Second Hokage established the Ninja Academy and mandated that children from all clans attend, it clashed with the Uchiha's plans. But there was no way around it—you couldn't fight the system. Most core clan members entered the academy after turning seven.
Later, Uchiha Fuhei's perpetually sour expression said it all. While training within the clan was strictly supervised, once they entered the academy, many children let loose. Although core family members still had elders keeping an eye on them, some promising talents completely loosened up after starting school. The gap between them and others gradually widened—they were only slightly better than those from civilian backgrounds.
As for the "dead-last squad," they were civilian-born students with the potential to become ninjas but no background—cannon fodder on the battlefield, plain and simple. The third tier was slightly better—high-grade cannon fodder. A few might become chunin, and in rare cases, special jonin.
This was what Uchiha Fuhei told Uchiha Tsukiki and the others: "There is no royal road to learning; diligence is the path. The sea of knowledge is boundless; hard work is the boat."The same applied to ninjas. Without resources or exceptional talent, they would fade into the crowd without making a ripple. Without effort, there was truly no chance of rising above.
Unfortunately, his well-intentioned advice often fell on deaf ears. More than once, Tsukiki noticed Fuhei secretly frustrated, even stepping in to teach personally. But the clan's older children who had already entered school merely went through the motions, and eventually even avoided him.
The elders and retired clansmen in charge of training the next generation grew deeply disappointed. The only consolation was that after years of effort, they had still managed to train quite a few qualified ninjas for the clan.
Among them, more than a dozen had awakened the one-tomoe Sharingan. Those who couldn't become ninjas could still contribute to the clan's businesses. All in all, the investment paid off, and with the rising numbers from the main family's descendants, the clan's population had recovered significantly.
Otherwise, not only the Uchiha elders but even Uchiha Fuhei might have been running around with kunai, ready to slash someone. This showed how deeply rooted the Uchiha were as the top clan of the Warring States period—even the Senju couldn't match their educational foundation.
By the time Tsukiki transmigrated, he had unwittingly enjoyed the last benefits of the late Warring States period. After that, the Uchiha became lost in past glories, until they were eventually wiped out by Konoha's internal and external forces—with the village itself remaining completely unscathed. It showed just how weakened they had become.
The more Tsukiki learned, the more he understood the depth of the Uchiha's heritage. Just regarding the Sharingan, they had systematic training methods to enhance spiritual power and increase the awakening rate. This was why the Uchiha's genjutsu were so powerful.
Even without the Sharingan, diligent training could lead to significant achievements in illusion techniques. These were the clan's core secrets—its most foundational principles. It was said they had been shared with Konoha, but the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, recorded them in the Scroll of Seals and locked them away.
Most clans saw this as the Uchiha casually offering something trivial, as many clans did. Even many Uchiha ninjas thought so. Only those responsible for the clan's core education knew the truth.
The higher-level techniques were suited for fewer people; what was widely taught was most suitable for building a foundation. This was known only to the elders who had trained branch family members for generations—because no one would believe it. The arrogant main family descendants believed they had better methods.
What they didn't know was that these were insights painstakingly developed by countless elite Uchiha over generations. Otherwise, how could the Uchiha have dominated the Warring States period? How could their numbers have rebounded so quickly?
Every time Uchiha Fuhei earnestly advised them, most of Tsukiki's peers listened as if it were just a story. Only Tsukiki pondered thoughtfully.
To be honest, he had given up (illusions) of having extraordinary talent—it was unrealistic. Among over thirty peers, he wasn't the most talented; he was among the weakest.
His physical condition was decent. Though initially weak, children are highly malleable. He gritted his teeth through every physical training session. As for secretly training extra? Not a chance—the current regimen was already optimal for them. Overtraining would damage their bodies.
Don't underestimate Uchiha Fuhei just because he was a chunin. He was among the top of his rank. With his Sharingan, he could even hold his own against a jonin—or so he claimed. Whether there was exaggeration or not, his skills were more than sufficient.
Few among the current group would ever surpass him—perhaps none. Awakening the Sharingan was a major hurdle. Unless one's spiritual power was strong enough to stimulate the eyes and produce special chakra, it was very difficult to awaken.
Over the centuries, very few Uchiha had awakened the Sharingan without losing loved ones. Those who did were often already in their twenties, and their future achievements were unknown—most were consumed by war.
Tsukiki learned this from the clan's library, which housed not secret techniques but accounts of the ninja world, local customs, and cultural insights. After all, at its peak, the Uchiha accepted missions from across the world.
Rushing into missions without knowledge or understanding was unthinkable. The Uchiha had always had clever minds, and their education was comprehensive—including reading, writing, and cultural studies.
The same was true for the core descendants of other major clans in Konoha. That was why clan ninjas often outperformed civilian ones at the academy—they had a stronger foundation. Even the slow birds flew first; no matter how hard the latecomers tried, they could never catch up.
Tsukiki learned all this during his time reading in the clan library out of boredom. It was also one of the essential skills for ninjas—what Uchiha Fuhei called "intelligence gathering."
This was how Tsukiki could assess his own situation through various pieces of information. The more he learned, the more disappointed he became. Apart from later excelling in physical strength and firmly holding the top spot, he ranked poorly in swordsmanship basics, chakra extraction, and Uchiha throwing techniques.
It was worth noting that Uchiha children started learning chakra extraction no earlier than age five, and only if they were healthy and strong. Exceptional cases like Itachi, who was remarkably skilled at three or four, were not permitted.
The Uchiha's talent was undeniable—in every field, someone always stood out. But whether they would achieve anything in the future was hard to say, as there were too many obstacles on the path of growth.
It took Tsukiki a week to learn chakra extraction—top-tier among civilians, but only mid-to-upper among the Uchiha. Not outstanding, not terrible—but nowhere near the main family's standards.
As for Uchiha throwing techniques, hitting stationary targets was no issue, but curved throws, moving targets, and various advanced techniques were a disaster. Fortunately, Uchiha Fuhei was there to correct them. There was progress—otherwise, Tsukiki would have broken down long ago.
As for swordsmanship basics—the Uchiha had widely used bladed weapons during the Warring States period, with many sword techniques, though they lacked a unified system. A solid foundation in swordsmanship combined with the Sharingan was ideal, but Tsukiki still fell behind his peers. After all, aside from ninja skills, children loved swords.
Can you imagine a highly motivated, swordsmanship-talented child training two to three times harder just to look cool? During sparring, Tsukiki was beaten to the point of self-doubt by opponents wielding blunt training swords. He felt the entire ninja world was against him.
Thankfully, Tsukiki couldn't accept such outcomes. Failure after failure, he kept getting back up. From being completely helpless to holding his own, his drawing technique became quite polished. As Uchiha Fuhei put it, his sword skills were among the best for a genin.
But Tsukiki knew to take Fuhei's words with a grain of salt. Believing them entirely would only lead to a hard lesson sooner or later.
The last part was evening training. It could be considered a visualization method—focusing attention for extended periods to imagine an object. It sounded baffling and offered no clear guidance.
Unlike other clans, the Uchiha, skilled in genjutsu, required strong spiritual power. Thus, they practiced seated meditation to increase the chances of awakening the Sharingan. However, this method was slow—far slower than the growth from directly awakening it.
Under Uchiha Fuhei's guidance, the children practiced earnestly. Their minds were pure but easily distracted—a truth that made Fuhei fret.
Below, the Uchiha children dozed off, scratched their ears, or counted stars. Only Tsukiki, being a transmigrator, felt this resembled visualization. Though he didn't know how to do it, he followed Fuhei's instructions step by step, visualizing the complete form of Susano'o.