Live Combat Exercise

Meanwhile, after their painful lesson last time, Itachi, Kotetsu Hagane, and the others...

Whenever they saw Yu at the Ninja Academy, they practically acted as if they'd seen a ghost and hurried off in the other direction.

That day,

all the ninja students from Class Three, including Yu, had gathered at the spacious Training Ground of the Ninja Academy.

"Class, today's activity is a live combat exercise."

"It's meant to build combat experience and reveal everyone's weaknesses."

Looking over the assembled students of Class Three,

their instructor, Kurenai Yuhi's Father, nodded with satisfaction and announced loudly,

"So today's exercise will take the form of a free-for-all."

"You can choose your own opponents, and you can also look for temporary allies during the battle."

A free-for-all live combat exercise?

Hearing their homeroom teacher, Kurenai Yuhi's Father, the ninja students below immediately began murmuring among themselves.

Yu, in particular, felt several hostile gazes land on him from the surrounding crowd.

It seemed...

the Ninja Academy's teaching methods during wartime were different from those in peacetime.

Standing among the crowd, Yu thought it over, seemingly oblivious to the hostile looks around him.

After all, anything could happen in a real battle.

An exercise like this could indeed reveal a ninja's ability to adapt in combat, as well as their weaknesses.

It was worth mentioning that

the instructor for Yu's Class Three

was the black-haired, red-eyed man standing before them, with a somewhat gaunt face.

He was none other than Kurenai Yuhi's father in the original story, the Konoha jonin who died during the Nine-Tails' attack—Kurenai Yuhi's Father.

At this point, Kurenai Yuhi's Father had yet to become a jonin, unlike his role in the original story as an instructor for Chunin and Genin.

But his strength was already close to that of a jonin, making him the strongest instructor at the entire Ninja Academy.

It was precisely because he was confident in his own abilities

that Kurenai Yuhi's Father dared to use a free-for-all exercise, a format that could easily result in injuries, to hone the skills of all the students present.

"Then..."

"The live combat exercise starts now!"

Without another word, Kurenai Yuhi's Father announced the start and moved to the side to observe.

"Sorry, Yakushi!"

Sure enough, the moment Kurenai Yuhi's Father declared the exercise underway, a voice came from behind Yu.

While the other students began searching for bushes and trees to hide in, one of Yu's classmates rushed up behind him and threw a punch at his back.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head,

Yu saw the expected sneak attack coming and shifted slightly to the side, evading the punch by a hair's breadth.

"Ow, ow, ow! That hurts! Let go!"

Amid a string of pained cries, Yu turned around with ease and ended up behind his attacker.

He grabbed the boy's arm, twisted it lightly, and pinned it behind his back, leaving him unable to move.

"Shiranui Itsuki, you're out!"

Seeing Yu subdue a student in less than two seconds after the exercise began, Kurenai Yuhi's Father, watching from the side, immediately declared him out. A strange glint flashed in his deep red eyes.

As the instructor for Class Three,

he paid close attention to Yu, a student whose overall grades surpassed even the genius Shisui of the Uchiha Clan.

He also wanted to use today's exercise to see how strong the boy who had outperformed the prodigy Uchiha Shisui really was.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Several sharp whistling sounds cut through the air.

Just as Yu had sent Shiranui Itsuki out of the exercise,

five or six sharp shuriken flew toward him from all around and, in the blink of an eye, struck his body!

"Ah! Sensei! That guy Yu's been killed!"

The students were only children, after all. Seeing what had happened, several of them cried out in alarm.

"Quiet! Keep your eyes on the fight!"

Kurenai Yuhi's Father barked from the side, a flash of sharpness in his deep red eyes.

"Poof!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Yu struck by the shuriken turned into a piece of wood.

"Hmm... His Substitution Technique was excellent."

"Even I almost missed when he switched out his real body."

Watching Yu perform the Substitution Technique, Kurenai Yuhi's Father nodded with approval.

"Hey, those shuriken just now..."

"Gave away all the places you guys were hiding."

A calm voice rang out, and Yu reappeared in full view of everyone.

His body blurred into a streak of speed, and in the blink of an eye, he had knocked down every student who'd thrown shuriken at him.

"Ow! That hurts!"

"Teacher Kurenai, Yakushi Hane is way too strong!"

After Yu had knocked all four or five students out of the exercise,

the little kids rubbed their aching limbs and walked over to Kurenai Yuhi's Father, complaining.

"So cool!"

"Go, Yu! Take them all down!"

Watching Yu's striking appearance and overwhelming strength,

the girls on the sidelines were practically faint with excitement, cheering him on as if they'd formed a fan club.

Yu?

Hearing the new nickname the girls had given him, Yu wore a wry smile. This sort of over-the-top spectacle could probably only happen in a world of anime...

Thinking this, he didn't slow his steps for a moment.

Yu strolled through the chaotic Training Ground as if he were taking a leisurely walk.

Yet along the way, he casually dealt with one opponent after another as they sprang at him.

"Secret Technique: Insect Sphere!"

A shout rang out,

and a dense swarm of black insects suddenly spread through the air, converging on Yu from every direction.

"The Aburame Clan's secret technique?"

"Not many insects. Looks like you haven't mastered it yet..."

Facing the student Aburame Shiro, who had suddenly appeared before him, and the swarm closing in like a faint cloud of black smoke,

Yu's expression remained calm. The Aburame Clan's secret techniques were powerful, but an Academy student's skill level was no threat to him.

"Leaf Whirlwind!"

Yu gave a low shout and sank slightly at the knees.

His powerful sweeping kick whipped up a fierce whirlwind.

It swept away every insect closing in around him, along with Aburame Shiro.