Undercurrents

The Uchiha clan's genius ninja, Shisui Uchiha, was known as Body Flicker Shisui. The "Body Flicker" in his title referred to the Body Flicker Technique.

Of course, Yu had never expected to use the Body Flicker Technique as well as Shisui Uchiha. After all, he fell short in both strength and skill.

The Body Flicker Technique was like a short-range teleport. In certain situations, it could catch people off guard—for example, when you wanted to look cool.

The Body Flicker Technique only required eight hand seals, so it was easy to learn. And since it couldn't pass through walls or anything like that, the path had to be unobstructed.

[Body Flicker Technique]

It took less than two seconds to form all eight seals.

The instant he finished the hand seals, Yu's body turned intangible. The next moment, he was standing atop a wooden post ten meters away.

With his hands behind his back, Yu gazed into the distance from atop the post. He immediately felt an overwhelming aura of coolness welling up inside him.

"What an absolutely top-tier technique for showing off!" Yu exclaimed.

The Body Flicker Technique might not be much use in battle. Unless you had power like Shisui Uchiha, it wasn't very useful for most ninja.

Of course, the Body Flicker Technique was just one kind of movement technique. Something like the Flying Thunder God Technique was devastatingly effective in combat, but unfortunately, it wasn't something just anyone could learn.

For the next while, Yu focused on practicing ninjutsu. At last, he was doing more than just practicing hand seals; Chakra was no longer holding him back.

"Now that I've found a solution for Chakra, the next step is to make a Chakra Conducting Metal Skeleton. That way, I'll at least be able to protect myself a little in the Ninja World." Yu spoke, feeling the weight on his shoulders lighten a little that day.

The timing of Yu's arrival in this world hadn't been too bad. He had only lived through one terrifying Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall, and then enjoyed a full five years of peaceful development. The story of Naruto wouldn't begin to unfold until he graduated from the Ninja Academy five years later.

Yu was very careful in his daily life and avoided getting involved with too many people, especially those who would play a major role in the story later on. Even when he was with Sasuke and Naruto, he never revealed his true strength. Now that he had a way to grow stronger, there was no need to do anything that might change the story.

He had studied the "butterfly effect" seriously. He had even written a paper on it back in college, so he didn't want his presence to drastically alter the original story.

Aside from Sasuke and Naruto, he had barely interacted with any of the main characters. The Konoha 12 probably only knew that Sasuke had a younger brother who was close with Naruto.

"Wallflower" was the perfect way to describe Yu. Even the Third Hokage had stopped having him watched.

Naruto had always been under the Third Hokage's surveillance, and Yu, who often spent time with him, naturally appeared in the Third Hokage's line of sight as well.

Because Yu had deliberately kept up this act, the Third Hokage saw him as a child who had awakened a special Kekkei Genkai but was physically weak and unable to undergo intense training. More importantly, the Uchiha blood in Yu was faint, making it unlikely that he would awaken the Sharingan.

A Uchiha descendant with limited potential naturally wasn't enough to attract the attention of someone as important as the Third Hokage.

What Yu didn't know was that Danzo had once had his eye on him. As one of the main instigators behind the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Danzo couldn't tolerate the thought of any Uchiha surviving. Sasuke and Itachi were already difficult enough for him to accept, and the appearance of Yu made him even more disgusted. Danzo knew all too well how powerful the Uchiha were, and feared their extraordinary potential for growth.

Of course, Yu had been personally protected by Hiruzen Sarutobi. Even Danzo didn't dare to act against him directly. Hiruzen Sarutobi had once sent people to keep an eye on Yu partly to protect him.

But when Yu began setting up a laboratory, Danzo sensed an opportunity. In particular, when Yu showed signs of conducting biological experiments, Danzo not only refrained from stopping him but secretly helped him. The tissue samples Yu had obtained from the Overlord Ninja Tiger and the Four-Tusk Wild Boar King were among Danzo's doing.

Danzo understood perfectly well why Yu had built a laboratory and was conducting biological experiments. Many people in Konoha were researching ways to strengthen their bodies, but such experiments were especially dangerous, since it was easy to cross the line into human experimentation.

If Danzo could confirm that Yu had conducted human experiments, then no matter what Hiruzen Sarutobi thought, he wouldn't be able to protect Yu. And though Danzo had many Uchiha corpses in his possession, he would much rather study a living Uchiha.

So Danzo once sent someone to approach Yu and subtly offered to provide test subjects. Not only did Yu refuse to fall for it, he turned around and reported the whole thing.

Human experimentation wasn't a trivial matter. Even Danzo, a powerful figure in Konoha, couldn't let it come to light. Covering it up cost him dearly.

Gradually, Danzo realized that Yu really wasn't anything special, and that his Uchiha blood was very faint. So Danzo withdrew the people he had stationed around Yu.

At present, many people considered Yu to be of very little value.

Even with an adult's mindset and an understanding of how events in the Naruto world would unfold, Yu never imagined that so many undercurrents were swirling around him. If he hadn't always been careful, who knew what might have happened?

Both Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi had watched Yu from the shadows, and neither had acted too aggressively. Even Danzo had needed to set a trap to achieve his aims, so Yu was perfectly safe for now. Unless something unusual happened in Konoha, his life wouldn't be affected.

He had been raising the little Slimes, and there were already fifty of them in his laboratory.

For some reason, Number Two had displayed unusual abilities, even though Yu had never used him in any experiments.

Number Two had now grown into a large Slime more than a meter in diameter, and had even sprouted a pair of bright, sparkling eyes. He now looked exactly like a Slime in its original state. Compared to Yu, Number Two looked far more like a real Slime.

Number Two had even developed a degree of self-awareness and could understand some of Yu's words. Of course, Yu could also control Number Two's actions with commands, and it was an extremely smooth process.

If Number Two kept growing, Yu thought he might gain a second body—one he could control by placing his own consciousness inside Number Two. So he decided not to experiment on Number Two and to let him grow naturally.

Number Two had become one of Yu's helpers in the laboratory, mainly responsible for feeding the little Slimes.

Of all the little Slimes, Number Two was the only one to develop on his own. The others remained instinct-driven life forms. The little tiger Slime was still as adorably stupid as ever, and its self-awareness hadn't improved.

The work on making the Chakra Conducting Metal Skeleton was also progressing slowly. Chakra Conductive Metal couldn't be manufactured and processed like ordinary metal; it required special techniques.

And since he wanted to make the Chakra Conducting Metal Skeleton as well as possible, he had been practicing his Ninja Tool-making skills lately.