Uchiha Yuan's Whimsical Idea

When Sarutobi Retsu called his name, Uchiha Yuan stepped forward. Then he felt several gazes lock onto him.

With a slight sweep of his eyes, Uchiha Yuan saw the owners of these gazes.

Hyuga Kagami, Uehara Isami, Hatake Harukaze, and Senju Gen, standing in the crowd.

Uchiha Yuan walked slowly, thinking as he did.

As Hyuga Kagami and the others released their chakra, Uchiha Yuan observed and sensed them carefully.

In his perception, the chakra of Hyuga Kagami and the others were like several streams of glowing air of different colors, some dense, some light; while his own chakra was viscous, like a liquid stream of light.

To put it metaphorically, everyone else's chakra was alcohol of varying proof, while his chakra was high-octane gasoline.

'It seems I need to dilute my chakra, otherwise, I'll definitely attract attention.'

At this moment, Hatake Harukaze returned to the ranks and passed by him, saying softly, "Yuan-kun."

Uchiha Yuan glanced at Hatake Harukaze and transmitted his voice, "Are you wondering why I told you to hold back your strength?"

Hatake Harukaze said softly, "Yes."

Uchiha Yuan transmitted his voice, "Chakra is generated from blood and qi. You persist in your standing meditation training every day, and your blood and qi are constantly tempered and strengthened through circulation, so your chakra has far surpassed that of others in the class."

"Do you remember our ideal? We are still in the growth phase. To protect ourselves, the best course of action is to hide among the crowd."

"Once you unleash your full power, you will be considered a genius. After all, the Hatake Clan has already produced Kakashi-senpai. At that time, you will inevitably attract the attention of the village's higher-ups, which is detrimental to our plan."

At this moment, Uchiha Yuan thought of Shimura Danzō. Whenever a genius appeared, he wanted to absorb them into 'Root'. Once targeted by this old schemer, there would likely be various schemes against him. Although he would eventually confront Shimura Danzō and others, he was not yet strong enough. Uchiha Yuan just wanted to be an unremarkable, ordinary ninja academy student.

Hatake Harukaze suddenly realized, "So that's how it is, I understand."

Uchiha Yuan solemnly instructed, "Harukaze, you must firmly remember, we are just ordinary students right now."

Next, Uchiha Yuan came to the testing pillar. He first took a few deep breaths, then shouted loudly, and put on a show of giving his all as he threw a punch at the testing pillar.

The screen of the testing pillar lit up, displaying the data: D-rank, 30.

Upon seeing Uchiha Yuan's data, Uehara Isami smiled; Hyuga Kagami frowned slightly.

Uchiha Yuan returned to the ranks with a frown and a gloomy expression; everyone could feel his displeasure.

After several more students tested, only one person remained on the roster.

Sarutobi Retsu called out, "Last one, Senju Gen."

For a moment, the surroundings fell silent. Under the gaze of everyone present, Senju Gen walked up to the testing pillar.

Looking at the pillar before him, the expectations of his clan members couldn't help but surface in Senju Gen's mind.

Little Gen, the clan's population is dwindling. The burden of upholding the Senju name rests on your shoulders.

At this thought, Senju Gen's expression turned resolute, and he threw a swift, powerful punch.

Bang!

The screen on the testing pillar displayed the data: C-rank, 17.

Although Sarutobi Retsu had been mentally prepared—after all, this was the Senju Clan—he was still shocked upon seeing the result.

One could only say that they were worthy of being the Senju Clan!

Senju Gen exhaled, and as he returned to the line, his gaze remained fixed on Uchiha Yuan.

Uchiha Yuan met Senju Gen's gaze for a moment, then turned and walked away.

In the deep forest, towering trees reached for the sky, their lush branches and leaves blocking out the sun.

A massive crimson-black python slowly descended from a tree, its purple-red tongue flicking in and out as its cold, serpentine eyes locked onto a wild deer grazing ahead.

This was the Death Forest on the outskirts of Konohagakure.

Suddenly, a series of intense clashing sounds rang out, and the startled deer bolted away.

In a clearing deep within the forest, a translucent barrier had been erected. At the four corners of the barrier stood four identical versions of Uchiha Yuan.

In the center of the barrier, amidst the sharp, piercing sounds of metal clashing, two figures flickered and leaped, locked in a fierce exchange.

Violent chakra fluctuations rippled across the surface of the barrier, unable to escape to the outside world.

A moment later, the two flickering figures came to an abrupt halt.

Two Uchiha Yuans appeared in the clearing. One held a Shuriken in a forward-thrusting position, while the other Uchiha Yuan opposite him had caught the blade between two fingers.

Uchiha Yuan put away the Shuriken and said to the version of himself opposite him, "Teacher, I have lost."

The Uchiha Yuan opposite him, while identical in appearance, had different eyes—his gaze was filled with loneliness and cold detachment.

Standing opposite Uchiha Yuan was his teacher, Hatake Sakumo.

Hatake Sakumo looked at Uchiha Yuan with admiration and said, "Yuan, your strength is even greater than it was last week. The Hatake Sword Style has been completely integrated into your techniques. What you lack now is experience fighting against more strong people."

In Hatake Sakumo's view, the Uchiha Yuan before him was the most gifted genius he had ever seen.

He had initially agreed to Uchiha Yuan's request to become his apprentice for two reasons: first, he had been moved by his words; and second, he hoped that by doing so, he could eventually have him pass on the Hatake Sword Style to Hatake Harukaze.

However, after beginning to teach Uchiha Yuan, Hatake Sakumo was shocked to discover that he was not only incredibly intelligent, quickly mastering both Taijutsu and Ninjutsu.

He was also adept at independent thought, posing novel and profound questions. During the process of answering and discussing them, even Hatake Sakumo felt he benefited greatly.

For instance, Hatake Sakumo was currently experiencing a special application of the Shadow Clone Technique. He watched as Uchiha Yuan began to deconstruct and analyze the Ninjutsu after learning it.

Just the day before, Uchiha Yuan had summoned a Shadow Clone and allowed Hatake Sakumo to possess it.

Then, many years after his death, Hatake Sakumo once again felt what it was like to be alive.

Even though Hatake Sakumo had experienced countless battlefield skirmishes and enemy territory infiltrations, his heart had long since become as unshakeable as a stone, unmoved by changing circumstances. Yet, after successfully possessing the Shadow Clone, he found it difficult to remain calm.

The Shadow Clone Technique could be used like this!

After that, Uchiha Yuan shocked Hatake Sakumo once more.

After learning the 'Double Suicide Decapitation Technique', he had actually developed an Earth Release technique capable of traveling underground.

It was known that Earth Release Ninjutsu had a similar technique called Earth Submergence, and Uchiha Yuan had essentially developed his own Ninjutsu.

Through a conversation with Uchiha Yuan, Hatake Sakumo learned of several of his ingenious ideas.

For example, Uchiha Yuan believed that the Flying Thunder God Technique, classified as a forbidden jutsu by the village, was not as miraculous as it seemed. It wasn't a true space Ninjutsu but rather an extended application of the Summoning Technique.

Another extended application of the Summoning Technique was the Explosive Tag Chain Reaction.

This made Hatake Sakumo feel that Uchiha Yuan already had a clear direction in mind and would eventually decipher these two S-rank Ninjutsu from the village's Forbidden Scroll.

After successfully using a Shadow Clone to allow Hatake Sakumo to possess it, Uchiha Yuan wished to engage him in a real battle.

To this end, he specifically found an open space in the Death Forest on the outskirts of the village.

This area was not monitored by the village's barrier team.