THE UCHIHA ASCENSION

The next day, Uchiha Kiyo woke up from hunger again. Feeling the weakness in his body, he gave a wry smile.

"Yesterday, I was a little too invested, and my chakra depletion caused me to pass out."

However, he quickly regained his excitement.

"But it should have been a success yesterday, right? Probably? Sure enough, my idea was correct. If I can perfect it, I can apply it directly. Chakra refinement will no longer be a problem... but..."

At that moment, his stomach protested loudly, forcing him to compromise.

"Sigh! Let's eat first."

Uchiha Kiyo got up and began preparing his meal. As for training? It was skipped again.

"A good thing like this only happens once in a while. I should reward myself properly."

For the first time in a long while, Uchiha Kiyo felt a wave of relief. The enormous pressure he had been carrying had finally lifted.

No one could truly understand just how heavy the burden had been on Uchiha Kiyo before this.

Because of his caution regarding chakra depletion, he had never dared to refine chakra recklessly. Instead, he had spent so much time trying to find a way to counter the loss of cellular vitality. This concern weighed heavily on him—after all, it was directly tied to his future strength. Uchiha Kiyo couldn't afford to be reckless. A single failure could cost him years of training just to make up for lost time.

Luckily, he had found the right path.

Now, he no longer had to constantly live under this crushing pressure. More importantly, by overcoming the greatest hurdle—chakra refinement—his future progress would be much smoother.

Perhaps due to this newfound relaxation, after breakfast, Uchiha Kiyo attempted to refine chakra—only to find that his chakra reserves had increased by over 50% overnight.

This discovery left him stunned.

(It should be noted that before going to bed every night, Uchiha Kiyo had been refining chakra. And in both instances when he had passed out, he had woken up the next morning to find a significant increase in his chakra reserves.)

Carrying his lunchbox at noon, Uchiha Kiyo headed to school.

However, upon arriving at the Ninja Academy, he was met with a locked gate.

For a moment, he stood in silence. Then it finally hit him—

"Today is the weekend... a holiday."

...

"So, does this mean I got carried away by happiness? Overly excited? Heh... If that's the case, I'll take a dozen more of these moments!"

With nothing to do at school, Uchiha Kiyo turned around and walked home.

As he walked, he began reviewing last night's experiment.

"Yesterday's method was still too risky. If the chakra had exploded, it wouldn't have been a minor accident. I was too overexcited and didn't think about safety at all. I need to write this down—no more reckless actions in the future. Luck won't always be on my side. If I rely on luck every time, I'll eventually get myself seriously injured."

Through analyzing his experiment, Uchiha Kiyo also reflected on his mistakes.

Having learned his lesson, he shifted his focus to another question—

"What should I name this technique? Ugh... naming things is always the most troublesome part."

The chakra restoration technique he had developed earlier was called "Self-Cultivation Technique."

Now that the foundation was complete, all that remained was to refine his technique and eventually use it within his body.

He settled on a decision.

For the next month, he would continue honing the Self-Cultivation Technique until it became second nature. After that, he would officially integrate it into his chakra system.

But for now, the Self-Cultivation Technique wasn't the top priority anymore.

Over the past few months, he had been so focused on perfecting it that he had neglected other essential training. Now, a huge backlog of work awaited him.

With chakra refinement no longer a concern, Uchiha Kiyo could now train more aggressively without worrying about long-term consequences.

In fact, he had a hunch that the Self-Cultivation Technique might increase his natural chakra reserves as well. But this was just speculation. He would need at least a month of testing to confirm it.

Next on the agenda?

Chakra control training.

But before that, Uchiha Kiyo had another interesting experiment to conduct.

He wanted to create a personal status panel for himself.

That's right—a panel.

When he first regained his past life memories, he had hoped for a cheat-like system interface—but reality quickly disappointed him.

There was no system. No overpowered interface.

"No system? Fine. I'll just make my own!"

Even though stat panels weren't an exact measure of strength—since combat ability also depended on experience, tactics, and skill—they could still be useful for tracking progress.

The first step? Defining a chakra unit.

For consistency, he needed a standard chakra measurement—and what better technique to base it on than the Three Basic Academy Jutsu (Three Body Technique)?

His plan was simple:

One perfect use of a Three Body Technique (without chakra waste) would be defined as one unit of chakra.

But there was a problem—

Uchiha Kiyo himself couldn't yet perform the Three Body Technique perfectly, without any wasted chakra.

How would he determine the unit then?

That was easy.

He would simply measure how much chakra he did use, calculate how much was wasted, and derive the actual required amount.

A grade-school-level math problem.

In truth, he had wanted to do this much earlier, but the Self-Cultivation Technique had consumed all his time. Now, he could finally put this idea into action.

"Well, it's not too late."

Uchiha Kiyo pulled out a notebook and began his calculations.

After half an hour, he had roughly estimated his chakra levels and officially set his unit of measurement:

1 Card = The chakra required to perfectly execute a Three Body Technique.

Kakashi: …

Of course, Uchiha Kiyo hadn't intended any hidden meanings with this name. He just thought "Card" sounded good.

And didn't a certain high-energy battle manga also use "cards" as an energy unit?

With the unit set, he proceeded to create his first-ever personal panel—Version 1.0.

---

Name: Uchiha Kiyo (Age 6)

Chakra: 1.3 Cards / 3.6+ Cards

Chakra Affinities: Fire (Untrained), Water (Untrained), Earth (Untrained)

Ninjutsu: Three Body Technique

Secret Techniques: Self-Cultivation Technique

---

Yes, it was crude.

But Uchiha Kiyo, lacking a system, had to make do.

At least this panel wouldn't insult him with commentary like:

"You are weak. Work harder!"

One notable detail in his chakra stats was the "+" symbol.

It indicated that his chakra had not been fully refined yet—meaning his true upper limit was still unknown.

Moving forward, Uchiha Kiyo planned to update his panel periodically to track his growth.

With the remaining chakra, he would practice the Self-Cultivation Technique, and spend the rest of his time on physical training.

Speaking of training…

That was another headache.

Until he learned Medical Ninjutsu, he couldn't afford to push his body too hard—or risk accumulating permanent injuries.

---

Meanwhile, that same night…

Mount Myōboku.

One of the Three Great Sage Regions—and the one most deeply intertwined with the ninja world.

There, an ancient toad stirred in its sleep.

Suddenly, Great Toad Sage trembled violently, as if about to enter a prophetic dream.

Yet—just as he was about to witness something monumental—his consciousness was forcibly pulled back.

"Hmm? That was strange... Was I about to foresee something important?"

He pondered briefly. Then shrugged.

"Oh well, it's probably nothing important."

---

Far away, in an unknown space—

A mysterious figure in white smirked.

"And with that, everything is in place."