Cry Out, Chidori

"Yu!!"

"Give it your best! You're the best!!"

"Show those guys what you can do! You're the greatest genius in our orphanage!!"

Just as Yu walked into the Training Ground, he suddenly heard a series of familiar voices coming from the crowd watching nearby.

"Urushi?"

"Mayuna? Momoka? And..."

He turned and saw Urushi, Mayuna, and a few other friends from the Konoha Orphanage pushing their way out of the crowd. They were waving their arms and loudly cheering him on.

"Director? You all came?!"

And that wasn't all. Yu also spotted Yakushi Nonō among the crowd.

She was wearing the black-framed glasses he had given her yesterday. Standing beside Urushi and the others, she silently encouraged him with her eyes.

"Give it your best, Yu."

"Show all of Konoha—show everyone your talent and ability..."

Standing in the crowd, she kept her eyes fixed on Yu, who stood in the Training Ground before her.

Yakushi Nonō's hands were clenched tightly inside her sleeves, betraying the turmoil she felt at that moment.

"Do well."

As Yu passed the proctor, Kurenai Yuhi's Father, he heard the usually steady, taciturn man offer him a quiet word of encouragement.

After all, as the ninja instructor and homeroom teacher for Yu's class, Kurenai Yuhi's Father had high hopes for a student who had repeatedly displayed astonishing strength and talent.

I can't help it. I didn't expect the director and the others to come...

Looks like I'll have to take this a little more seriously...

At that moment, Yu felt everyone's eyes in the Training Ground fixed on him.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but his gaze began to gleam with a sharp light.

"The Uchiha kid's performance just now was impressive. Let's see how you do."

The man standing in the middle before Yu was a mature-looking Genin, with the rugged air of someone who had returned from the battlefield.

"Hey, kid. I'd advise you to spend a few more years at the Academy!"

"Don't let that Uchiha kid's results go to your head."

"He's a rare genius, even among the Uchiha Clan!"

A Genin with a scar across his face spoke to Yu, his contempt plain to see.

"We've all been on the battlefield. We're nothing like a kid like you who's never left the Academy."

"Never killed anyone, have you, little boy? Don't wet yourself and start crying later. Why don't you go home and suckle at your mother's breast!"

Another Genin, with a cold expression, began taunting him from the side.

"What a headache... You know what I mean?"

Faced with the three Genin's taunts and scorn, Yu suddenly spoke from the middle of the Training Ground.

What?

At Yu's abrupt remark, the three Genin froze in surprise.

"In the world of anime, the ones who don't survive past the first episode are usually the loudest, most obnoxious extras like you."

Staring at the three Genin before him, whose faces he couldn't even be bothered to remember, Yu's lips slowly curved into a mocking smile.

"The rules for this practical exam say we have to survive for five minutes, but I don't think we need to bother..."

"Because... I'll end this fight in just five seconds."

What was he talking about?

Five seconds?

As Yu's quiet words rang out, the entire Training Ground fell silent.

It wasn't just the three Genin before him. Everyone watching began to think that this white-haired kid was unbelievably arrogant!

Who did he think he was?

Senju Hashirama, who had ended the chaos and brought the Warring States period to a close? Or Uchiha Madara, the Asura of the Ninja World who had dominated the world?

"Ha ha ha ha!!"

"What a delusional little brat!!"

Sure enough, as soon as Yu finished speaking, the three Genin burst out laughing in anger.

"Guess that Uchiha kid got under his skin..."

"Kids who don't know their place like him are usually the first to die on the battlefield!"

With that, the scar-faced Genin pulled out a sharp kunai, a cruel smile on his face.

"Who cares! Maybe the kid's scared out of his wits!"

"Let's go! We'll show this ignorant brat what a real ninja is!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, all three Genin sprang into action. Each drew a weapon and charged straight at Yu.

Though they had acted contemptuous, none of the three had let their guard down.

The three Genin who had just been defeated by the Uchiha genius Shisui had already become a laughingstock. They had no intention of suffering the same fate at the hands of this white-haired kid.

"Here we go?"

"You have four seconds left. Ox—Rabbit—Monkey..."

As the Genin charged at him from three different directions, Yu's amber eyes narrowed. His hands had already formed three hand seals.

"Cry out! Chidori!!"

To everyone's astonishment, a dazzling mass of blue-white lightning suddenly erupted in the vast Training Ground.

"Crackle, crackle, crackle..."

It sounded as if a thousand birds were chirping at once. Amid the piercing din, a ball of wild, crackling lightning appeared in Yu's left hand.

The immense display drew everyone's attention in an instant.

"What is that?!"

"What kind of ninjutsu is that?!"

Everyone present was stunned by the technique Yu had suddenly unleashed in the Training Ground. None of them recognized it.

"Chakra you can actually see with the naked eye?!"

"You've got to be kidding! A technique of that level?!"

"How could a kid who hasn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy use something like that?!"

In the crowd nearby, a seasoned ninja cried out in shock.

After all, no one in this era had ever seen a technique like Chidori.

Hatake Kakashi was only eleven and had yet to develop this A-rank Lightning Release technique.

"A forbidden technique!!"

"That's a forbidden technique!!"

"That kid can actually use a forbidden technique of that level?!"

What's more, the sound of Chidori's chirping carried faintly from the Ninja Academy's Training Ground in the distance.

Even the Third Hokage, watching through a crystal ball with the Telescope Technique in the Hokage's office, was stunned. Shimura Danzō and two other members of the Konoha High Command were just as shocked.

"I've never seen a Lightning Release technique like that... Could that kid have come up with it himself?!"

The Third Hokage, hailed as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," was proficient in all five elemental types of ninjutsu. Yet at that moment, he realized he had never seen a Lightning Release technique like this.

His weathered, wise eyes had never looked so astonished.