A beautifully crafted, oversized roulette wheel spun rapidly in Uchiha Kaien's mind.
[Affection -10]
As it spun, a blue orb of light—completely invisible to others—appeared before him.
Once Kaien returned to his room, he eagerly poked the orb, causing it to shatter instantly.
A blue-tier item. Much better than the guaranteed green—his mood instantly improved.
[Trait Acquired: Affinity]
[Affinity: Your words naturally inspire trust. You're more likely to gain the affection of others through your actions. Slightly improves others' first impressions upon meeting you.]
Kaien was quite satisfied with the trait he had just acquired.
So far, the only known feature of the system was the lottery, which required spending affection points. Clearly, this trait worked hand-in-hand with the system's core function.
Affinity meant he could now earn affection more easily, turning interactions into points, which could then be used to draw new rewards and grow stronger.
If he could get affection from anyone, wouldn't that mean he could rack up a ridiculous number of points in just one day?
Of course, that idea was too good to be true.
After asking the system, he received a clear response.
[Answer: Only individuals with chakra can provide affection. The affection they generate scales with their strength and potential. The higher their capabilities, the more affection they can offer.]
Naturally. If he could farm affection from just anyone, Kaien figured he'd be able to punch Six Paths Madara and kick Kaguya into the moon before the year was out.
Even a system had to follow some kind of logic—energy doesn't just appear out of nowhere.
After studying the details of his new trait, Kaien turned to the "allowance" Uchiha Fugaku had handed him earlier.
Inside were 50,000 ryo in cash and a scroll containing a ninjutsu.
While that amount paled in comparison to the wealth Kaien had seen in the main estate, it was still a generous sum.
For reference, a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost just 60 ryo.
That meant Kaien could afford 833 bowls.
At a pace of 3 to 5 bowls a day, that was more than 200 days of ramen.
And this was just one month's clan stipend.
Beyond meals, the money was more than enough to cover the cost of ninja tools and herbal medicine for taijutsu training.
Truly, the Uchiha Clan was as wealthy as they were powerful.
For comparison, Uzumaki Naruto's monthly stipend in the original story was only about 2,000 ryo. By the end of the month, he didn't even have enough for ramen and had to go fish by the river.
In contrast, the Uchiha were practically saints!
As for the scroll—it contained the Great Fireball Technique.
The original Kaien had already learned it, but due to his young age and limited chakra reserves, he couldn't execute it properly just yet.
That would improve with training.
As the child of two jonin with fully matured Sharingan, Kaien's own potential wasn't lacking. He could even be considered a prodigy.
With the added boost of awakening his two-tomoe Sharingan early, this was about as strong of a start as anyone could ask for—aside from the whole bloodline illness thing.
With food and training resources secured, and the world currently at peace, Kaien had just one goal: cure his bloodline illness, and survive.
That's also why he'd temporarily set aside his pride to try and earn Uchiha Fugaku's affection.
It wasn't just perfectionism—he was under real pressure to survive.
If he wanted to live, he needed to unlock the system's full potential, no matter the cost.
After organizing his thoughts and gains, Kaien decided to head out for a walk—to test the effect of his newly acquired trait.
...
Konohagakure Training Grounds
Kaien had changed into a simple training outfit and was warming up at one of the public training fields in the village.
He still needed to get a better sense of this body's baseline physical capabilities.
Since the bloodline illness had only just begun to affect him, the impact shouldn't be too severe yet.
Even so, Kaien couldn't shake a certain heavy, uncomfortable feeling in his body—something subtle, but persistent.
Maybe it was the lingering exhaustion from the original Kaien's emotional breakdown.
If this weird discomfort was going to be an everyday thing... life was going to be rough.
He figured the best course of action was to eat well, sleep early, and keep his nutrition up—maybe he could squeeze out a few more years that way.
He started with some basic exercises: push-ups, planks, and pull-ups.
Without using chakra, his numbers were pitiful.
Twenty push-ups. Less than two minutes on a plank. A dozen pull-ups—though that was thanks to using the low bars in the kids' section.
Physically, his body wasn't much different from an average kid in his previous life.
Kaien couldn't help but admire how absurdly overpowered a fully trained shinobi body was in this world—130 trillion cells working in sync? Madness.
Then he tried again with chakra.
The difference was like night and day.
With just a bit of chakra reinforcement, his performance skyrocketed. Truly, chakra was a miraculous energy.
Finally, he observed the effect of his [Affinity] trait.
Just walking down the street had people turning to compliment how cute he looked.
Even Kaien, thick-skinned as he was, couldn't help but blush a little.
Being showered with praise like that—it was honestly a bit embarrassing~
Unfortunately, none of those regular civilians generated any affection points.
...
That confirmed it. To gather affection, he'd have to focus on the ninja class.
After finishing his workout, Kaien was covered in sweat. His short, slightly messy hair clung to his forehead. His cheeks were flushed, and his breathing came in quick bursts.
"Excuse me... are you training to become a ninja?"
A voice called out from nearby.
Kaien turned to see a boy around his age, with tousled blond hair and a clean-cut, almost delicate appearance. He was wearing a blue-and-white track jacket.
Kaien lifted his head slightly, his dark eyes flashing as he took in the sight of the newcomer's unmistakable blond hair. He smiled warmly.
"Yeah. I'm starting at the Academy soon."
Namikaze Minato blinked in surprise when he saw Kaien's face.
What a cute little girl...
[Affection from Namikaze Minato +1]
Kaien had suspected it the moment he saw the blond hair.
Not every kid in the ninja world could be that good-looking, right?
A handsome blond kid, just the right age—he had to be Namikaze Minato.
And sure enough, he was.
This was a golden opportunity. Future Fourth Hokage, right here. If Kaien could make friends with him now, maybe he could ride those coattails later—and live a long, peaceful, fish-catching kind of life.
"Eh? I'm about to start at the Academy too! Does that mean we might be classmates?"
Minato's eyes sparkled.
This kid had clearly been training just now, and his form had looked textbook perfect. He had to be from a ninja clan.
If they became friends, maybe he could learn a few things about training.
Also... she's just so cute...