If Uchiha Kei had heard what Nara Shikaku said, he would've wholeheartedly nodded in agreement and added, "You're right, but… helping the Uchiha clan is just a bonus. The real reason is to complete the system mission—that's my chance to grasp the future!"
Indeed, solving the Uchiha clan's crisis wasn't a big deal to Uchiha Kei. After all, how to do it and what to do had already been dissected to death by keyboard warriors from his previous life. Their infinite, god-tier strategies had long told him everything he needed to know.
In truth, Konoha isn't some world pulled straight from *Game of Thrones*. At its core, it's a power-based militant regime—essentially a militarized faction. Compared to the complex political games of actual historical worlds, this place is fairly simple.
Living here for eighteen years and witnessing things firsthand, Uchiha Kei was sure: while schemes and conspiracies existed, they weren't nearly as over-the-top as the wild headcanons cooked up by online fans.
The reason he'd done nothing before was simple—he lacked prestige, strength, and most importantly, the ability to protect himself.
In a world where power rules, if you're weak, you'd better have some rare and useful skill to make up for it.
Now, though the game development system hadn't made him strong yet, it had given him a unique power to change the game.
And it worked. Once Uchiha Kei made his moves, the major clans in Konoha had no defense. All they saw were the benefits of joining his Gaming Merchant Association. None realized the underlying political power structure forming behind the scenes.
Even the few who caught on were powerless to stop it. With massive profits in sight and other clans already signing on, refusing to join would mean huge losses. Even smart men like Nara Shikaku chose to play along—if you can't beat them, join them.
After all…
If the so-called Konoha Four (Sarutobi, Mitokado, Utatane, and Homura) tried to push back later, everyone could just feign ignorance. And if pressed, they'd simply say they joined because Sarutobi, Mitokado, and Utatane's families were on board. It was support, not defiance.
Play dumb to the end—that's the plan.
If the Konoha Four really had the kind of scheming talent online fans imagined, then they should've already taken control of the entire Land of Fire, not still be glorified tools for the feudal lord.
In any case, with this move, a new power bloc had formed, and the Uchiha's worst-case scenario was behind them. The future looked bright—as long as they didn't self-destruct, the clan would remain rock solid. With clan backing and the right leadership, becoming Hokage was no longer out of reach.
Uchiha Kei had fulfilled his promise to the Uchiha clan. Now that his early momentum had succeeded, his focus could shift from clan politics to expanding his own "Game Developer Life."
In fact, when the clans signed and pledged funds to the Uchiha, promising to help grow the genjutsu-based game market, the Uchiha elders realized everything had changed.
After all…
It had been a long time since anyone in the village had greeted them with warmth and praise, speaking of the Uchiha with admiration and eagerness to cooperate.
Wait—actually, the Uchiha clan had never been treated this well. As one of Konoha's founding clans, they had always been the troublemakers.
From the fearsome Uchiha Madara down to every nose-in-the-air Uchiha, the clan had a talent for causing problems.
Uchiha Fugaku, quick to grasp the situation, solemnly addressed his father and the elder Uchiha Setsuna:
"Father, Elder Setsuna—Kei-dono has fulfilled his promise. We Uchiha are no longer isolated. We now have allies and supporters."
"Though this was achieved through mutual interests, as Kei-dono said, family ties between clans are an illusion. Only shared benefits are real."
"That's why we must not squander the great opportunity Kei-dono has opened for us. We must restrain our clan members—no more arrogant troublemaking."
"As Kei-dono said: Pride is a virtue. But taken too far, pride becomes arrogance. And arrogance… is an original sin."
After Fugaku's serious declaration, Uchiha Masanobu and Uchiha Setsuna both nodded in agreement. They knew how arrogant their kin could be—and how easily they offended others. Clearly, strict discipline would now be necessary.
Otherwise, even this golden opportunity could be squandered by their own people.
That could be figured out later. For now, they needed to keep backing Kei-dono and help him expand his game empire.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Kei had just finished examining the system's Shop and Emotion Points Draw features.
These two systems were delightfully straightforward. Basically, they were the typical "Store" and "Gacha" you'd find in scummy mobile games.
The Emotion Points Draw system was the classic gacha—spend points to pull ten items at a time. Anything could appear in the pool. No guarantees, no pity mechanic. Even worse than the brutal FGO rates from his past life. Your luck was all that mattered.
As for the Shop, it offered limited-quantity items refreshed monthly. The better the item, the fewer you could buy.
For instance, this month's star item was a "Mental Energy Booster"—only one allowed. It permanently increased the user's mental energy by 10%. The description, of course, was comically dystopian: Increased mental energy improves work efficiency and overtime performance.
A real gem for cultivating elite corporate drones.
The more he looked at the system, the more Uchiha Kei realized its ultimate goal was to turn him into a hyper-efficient game-dev workaholic.
Still, that didn't stop him from instantly redeeming the mental energy potion. The shop didn't use Emotion Points—it operated on System Coins, earned by converting real-world game sales.
Today's sales had already been automatically converted: every 100,000 ryō earned equaled one System Coin, and only revenue from system-approved missions counted.
For example, that one mission that fully unlocked the system had generated a whopping 1 billion ryō in sales, netting him 1,000 Coins.
The potion cost 600 Coins. Kei had more than enough.
Upon purchase, the potion went directly into his system inventory. He had the option to use it or give it to someone else.
In the future, once he was stronger, he could share items with others. But right now, he was weak and couldn't afford to share—so he used it on himself.
The potion didn't even need to be drunk. It activated instantly.
A warm surge flowed through his brain and into his eyes. His eyes tingled and ached, making him close them and rub them instinctively.
When the discomfort passed and he reopened his eyes, his vision had clearly changed. His Sharingan was active.
But this time, it was different.
His vision had improved dramatically. Movements around him appeared slower, more readable.
His heart stirred. He rushed to a mirror.
And there it was—his eyes reflected the double tomoe of an evolved Sharingan.
He had finally broken past his bloodline limits and leveled up!
And at the same time, the spiritual network techniques resonated with his upgraded Sharingan.
He immediately realized something: with this new Sharingan, he could now do things that were impossible with the single tomoe version.
Like...
Redirecting the spiritual network "ports" to other people via the Sharingan—establishing a network connection that would allow them to help make games too!