Chapter 36 (Patreon)

In the training ground behind Konoha’s mountain.

Yujiro’s right hand tightened around the hilt of his blade.

Lightning-nature chakra slowly gathered from inside his body and flowed into the weapon.

Three seconds later—

The pitch-black blade suddenly lit up with dazzling arcs of lightning.

In the distance, Shisui and Kakashi’s expressions shifted slightly.

The two exchanged a glance, and both saw the same shock in each other’s eyes.

A change in chakra nature.

And he was applying it directly to a weapon.

That meant Yujiro’s chakra control had already reached an extremely refined level.

For a child his age, that was ridiculous.

This was the kind of skill even a Chūnin—or sometimes even a Jōnin—needed serious training to handle properly.

Yet Yujiro was doing it as if it were nothing.

“One-Sword Style: Chidori Slash.”

Yujiro gave the move a name on the spot.

To put it simply, it was a combined attack using Chidori’s lightning-nature chakra and his black blade.

He swung his sword horizontally.

The dazzling lightning instantly turned into a crescent-shaped slash, tearing toward Kakashi and Shisui.

“Move!”

Kakashi and Shisui barely avoided the attack.

The large tree behind them was not so lucky.

The lightning slash pierced straight through it, exploded from within, and left the trunk scorched black.

Kakashi looked back, his throat moving slightly.

“…That was no weaker than an A-rank ninjutsu.”

Shisui exhaled slowly.

“He’s too strong.”

With this level of ability, Yujiro could already qualify for ANBU.

At that moment, Yujiro was quietly sensing the chakra inside his body.

He noticed something important.

Chakra was energy stored within the cells.

And after entering the second stage of his Limiter, his body had clearly undergone a major change.

The chakra he had just consumed was replenished in only a few breaths.

Yujiro was very satisfied with that result.

In other words, as long as his stamina held out, he could continue using attacks on that level.

It could almost be treated like a normal slash.

Besides, the technique he had just used was only an ordinary Chidori Slash.

It was just a test.

Now, Yujiro wanted to try merging wind-nature chakra with the black blade.

“One-Sword Style: Wind Blade Slash.”

Yujiro drew his sword again, poured wind-nature chakra into the blade, and swung.

A black wind blade shot forward.

Dozens of large trees were sliced apart in an instant.

The cuts were terrifyingly clean.

Yujiro looked at the destructive power of the attack and nodded in satisfaction.

This much power was acceptable.

Otherwise, surviving in this world would be troublesome.

On the other side, Kakashi and Shisui looked as if they had seen a ghost.

Sure enough, comparing people only made you feel worse.

Yujiro could not be judged by common sense.

“Let’s continue training.”

Yujiro turned his head and smiled faintly.

That smile alone made both Shisui and Kakashi’s bodies stiffen.

About seven or eight meters to the right, Uchiha Itachi was also watching Yujiro with clear admiration in his eyes.

Yujiro-san is really strong.

I have to work harder too.

And just like that, their training continued.

…

A week passed quietly.

Yujiro’s Limiter progress had increased by another two percent, reaching 10.6%.

Although he had been pushing himself through harsh training every day, the results were becoming less obvious.

He needed another method.

Today, Yujiro did not leave the Academy early.

Because today was the strength test for the first week after admission.

Calling it a “strength test” was a little exaggerated.

In reality, it was mainly shuriken throwing, followed by sparring between students.

At that moment, the students were gathered on the Academy training field.

The instructor stood in the center of the field and raised his voice.

“Next, we’ll begin the first-week assessment.”

“This test has two parts. The first part is shuriken throwing.”

“The second part will be sparring.”

“Good. We’ll begin with the first test.”

“When your name is called, step forward and throw.”

“First—Uchiha Itachi.”

Itachi, who stood beside Yujiro, calmly walked to the center of the field.

He picked up six shuriken and took a quiet breath.

Then he jumped.

His hands moved smoothly through the air, and all six shuriken struck the center of the targets.

“Wow! Amazing!”

“He’s so cool!”

Several girls nearby immediately looked at him with sparkling eyes.

“Good. Ten points.”

The instructor nodded and wrote down the score.

After that, the students went up one after another.

Uchiha Izumi and Uzuki Yūgao each scored nine points.

The others also had a few decent results, with some reaching eight or nine points.

There were also students from the Inuzuka Clan among them.

However, Yujiro did not pay much attention to the clan children.

Ten minutes later, it was finally his turn.

“Yujiro.”

Yujiro walked onto the training field calmly.

He wore a black martial uniform, with an ink-black blade at his side.

Even the instructor’s eyes showed a trace of surprise.

But it was only surprise.

During this past week, the instructor had paid some attention to Yujiro.

After all, this boy basically slept through class every day.

Yujiro held the black sword in his left hand and casually picked up six shuriken with his right.

Then he flicked his wrist.

Without even looking at the result, he turned around and walked back toward Itachi.

The instructor sighed softly and lowered his head, preparing to write zero points beside Yujiro’s name.

But at that moment—

Gasps sounded from all around.

“No way…”

“He threw them with one hand like that, and all six hit the bullseye?”

“Yujiro is amazing!”

The girls around the field immediately became excited.

Facing Yujiro’s calm and effortless attitude, they were completely won over.

The instructor quickly turned his head.

All six shuriken were embedded perfectly in the center of the targets.

He could not help but suck in a breath.

Was it luck?

No.

That was impossible.

If all six had landed perfectly by chance, then it would be too much of a coincidence.

The instructor shook his head.

There was no need to think about it.

It was skill.

He immediately wrote ten points on Yujiro’s score sheet.

On the other side, a pale-faced boy wearing a headscarf, with a toothpick clenched between his teeth, tightened his fists fiercely.