The sun was setting over the Konoha training grounds, and Ryan was currently face-down in the dirt.
Evaluation: Physical stamina is… garbage, he thought, his lungs burning. Scientific conclusion: Being four years old is a biological scam.
He had spent the last hour trying to do basic sprints. In his head, he was a genius strategist. In reality, he was a toddler with the coordination of a drunk penguin.
"Ryan-kun! You fell again!" Nono called out from the porch of the orphanage, stifling a giggle. "I told you, your body isn't ready for 'Intense' training. You look like a beetle flipped on its back."
"I am... analyzing the soil density, Nono-san!" Ryan shouted back, his voice squeaky and indignant.
Dammit, he cursed internally, pushing himself up. Medium-low talent. That's the verdict. My chakra coils aren't 'narrow'—they're just... aggressively average. If a Uchiha's coils are high-speed fiber optics, mine are a copper wire from the 1980s. Reliable for a phone call, but I'm not downloading 4K Susano'o data on this hardware.
He sat on a stump, wiping mud off his face. He knew his limits. If he stayed on the "Standard Shinobi Path," he'd end up as a Special Jonin—the guy who stands in the background of a Kage summit and gets killed by a stray kunai in the first five minutes of an invasion.
The Ice Wolf, Ryan mused. That's the key. My soul still carries the 'data' from the beast that killed me. If I can find its ancestor or a similar species in the Land of Snow, I can perform a 'Chakra Graft.' But I can't just walk out of the village. I need a mission. A solo mission. And those are only for Chunin.
He looked at his small hands.
To become a Chunin at age six or seven, I have to be more than just a ninja. I have to be a leader. And since I don't have a clan... I'll just have to 'borrow' someone else's.
The next day at the communal park, Ryan didn't train. Instead, he sat on a bench with a bag of cheap candy, watching the "Elite" children play.
There, in the center of the field, was a boy with goggles and a jacket far too big for him. Obito Uchiha. Nearby, a girl with purple hair—Anko Mitarashi—was aggressively kicking a training post. And further off, a bowl-cut kid was doing handstands.
Obito is a late bloomer, but his DNA is gold. Anko has the grit. And the Maito kid... well, he's a biological anomaly, Ryan analyzed, popping a candy into his mouth.
"Hey! You!"
Ryan looked up. It was a young boy from the Akimichi clan, looking hungrily at Ryan's candy bag.
"That's a lot of sweets for a kid who looks like he's about to fall over," the Akimichi boy said.
Ryan smiled. It wasn't a "cute" smile; it was the smile of a CEO offering a predatory loan.
"It's specialized caloric intake for 'Brain Development,' actually," Ryan lied smoothly. "But I have more than I can eat. Tell me, do you like winning? Because I'm looking for a 'Chief of Security' for my future Academy team. The pay is high-grade snacks and never being the kid who gets picked last for sparring."
The Akimichi boy paused, confused by the big words but interested in the "snacks" part. "Chief of... what?"
"Basically, you get to hit people I don't like, and I make sure you always have the best food," Ryan simplified.
Step one: Build a loyal frontline, Ryan thought. If I don't have the talent to be a God-tier Shinobi, I'll be the Director. I'll let the clan kids do the heavy lifting while I focus on the 'Science' of stealing beast chakra. I just need to make sure they're loyal to me, not the village.
As he watched the kids play, a silver-haired boy walked past the park. He didn't stop. He didn't play. He just walked with a small wooden sword strapped to his back, his eyes already showing the coldness of a soldier.
Kakashi Hatake.
Ryan's eyes narrowed.
There he is. The benchmark. The 'Genius' everyone will compare me to. If I want the Hokage to give me a solo mission to the Land of Snow, I have to prove I'm more 'useful' than the White Fang's son.
Ryan stood up, his small legs wobbling slightly.
I have two years. Time to start the 'Human Resource' acquisition. By the time we hit the Academy, I won't just be an orphan. I'll be the boss of a miniature army.
"Hey! Goggles!" Ryan shouted toward Obito. "You're doing that throwing form all wrong! Want to know how to actually hit the target using physics?"
Obito stopped and looked over, blinking. "Physics? Is that a new Ninjutsu?"
"Better," Ryan grinned. "It's the truth."