Yu's Talent

"Can someone this young already use ninjutsu?!"

"Yu really is a genius!"

Seeing Yu use the Healing Technique, a form of Medical Ninjutsu, at such a young age,

the two girls beside him, Mayuna and Momoka, practically had hearts popping out of their eyes.

"You have to understand..."

"Even the village's fully qualified medical ninja aren't any better than that!"

Kids in this world... They really did grow up fast...

Noticing the hearts in Mayuna and Momoka's eyes,

Yu couldn't help the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. He hadn't expected to get two little fangirls so soon...

"But why does that white-haired kid look so familiar?"

Yu turned his gaze to the silver-gray-haired child before him, who was steadily recovering under his Healing Technique. He frowned slightly.

As he watched the child slowly recover, Yu couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen him somewhere before.

It was as if some key detail was missing. For the moment, Yu couldn't quite remember, so he stopped trying to figure it out and focused on treating him.

"Since he was brought back from that battlefield, he's been with me for only a year."

"Not only has he managed to mold chakra, he's even learned the Healing Technique on his own."

Yakushi Nonō gazed, stunned, at Yu's slight figure as he treated the silver-gray-haired child with the Healing Technique.

Standing still, Yakushi Nonō stared at him, momentarily lost in thought. "This child's talent for ninjutsu... It's truly astonishing."

"And the effect of the technique..."

The silver-gray-haired child was already beginning to wake under Yu's Healing Technique.

A look of amazement flickered in Yakushi Nonō's eyes.

The Healing Technique focused chakra in the user's palm and applied it to the patient to heal them. It was a form of Medical Ninjutsu.

Throughout Konoha, those capable of using the Healing Technique were almost all qualified medical ninja in the Konoha Medical Corps.

That was because the technique tested not only the user's mastery of it, but also their ability to control chakra beyond what was normal.

Yet Yu was only five years old.

And after just one year of training, he'd already mastered it.

Such talent and ability...

Even Yakushi Nonō, who had once traveled across the Ninja World on espionage missions, had never seen anything like it.

As she looked at Yu, Yakushi Nonō's thoughts seemed to drift back to a year ago.

She remembered the battlefield where Konoha's ninja had routed the Sunagakure ninja of the Land of Wind, and the first time she'd seen Yu.

He'd been nothing like the other war orphans, who cried and made a fuss.

When Yakushi Nonō first saw Yu, there had been a little blood on his small face, but his unusual amber eyes were calm and composed, even a little curious.

Like a baby who had just been born into the world, he'd made such an impression on Yakushi Nonō that she remembered the little boy with hair as pale as moonlight at first glance.

"I'm Yakushi Nonō, the director of the Konoha Orphanage. What's your name?"

"I don't have a name."

"Then I'll give you one. How about Yakushi Tetsuchū?"

"..."

"You don't like that? Then how about Yakushi Maruko? Or Yakushi Shin-chan!"

"..."

Maruko? Shin-chan? Had he been transported into the worlds of Chibi Maruko-chan and Crayon Shin-chan?!

Couldn't she come up with a name that was at least a little more normal?!

Looking at the gentle-faced, deviously minded woman before him, Yu had just transmigrated and was ranting inwardly.

"Ahem, I guess you don't like any of those."

Perhaps she sensed that the little boy's expression was changing.

Yakushi Nonō looked a little embarrassed. After clearing her throat, she finally regained her gentle smile.

"Then... how about Yu?"

"Yakushi Hane. I hope you'll be free and unbound like a bird, with the sky as your home."

"Director! He's awake!"

Mayuna's sudden cry from beside them

pulled Yakushi Nonō's thoughts back to the present.

The silver-gray-haired child had recovered under Yu's Healing Technique.

"That's incredible, Yu!"

Seeing Yu save the dying child in just a few minutes, Urushi looked at him with envy.

"What's your name?" Yakushi Nonō asked gently with a smile, seeing that the child was fully conscious.

But the child only stared back at her blankly.

"Then what about your parents?" Seeing that he remained silent, Yakushi Nonō continued.

At her question, the silver-gray-haired child's eyes dimmed, but he still said nothing.

"You don't know anything? Honestly!" Urushi grumbled beside Yu, watching the child fail to answer any of their questions.

"When I was treating him, I took a look."

Yu stared at the silent silver-gray-haired child.

He nodded thoughtfully. He'd more or less guessed the child's identity. "He probably hit his head and lost all his memories."

"Hmm. Then let's take him back to the village first," Yakushi Nonō said, nodding in agreement with Yu's diagnosis. "Urushi, give him a hand."

"Tch. Why do I always get stuck with the hard work?"

Hearing that Yakushi Nonō had given him another exhausting task, Urushi grumbled.

"You're in luck. Give me your hand."

Though he complained, Urushi came over readily and draped one of the gray-haired child's arms over his shoulder.

With nightfall still some way off,

Yu, Yakushi Nonō, and the others hurried onto the road back to Konoha.

The Third Shinobi World War was in full swing, and if night fell, they'd face strict inspections at the village gates before they could get back in.

After traveling for a little over ten minutes,

Yu and Yakushi Nonō's group finally returned to the Konoha Orphanage.

It stood near the edge of Konoha, practically pushed out of the center of the prosperous village.

Before them stood a large wooden building, a little like a classroom.

This was Konoha's orphanage—the home in this world for Yu, Urushi, Mayuna, and the other orphans.

"We're finally back!"

At last, back home at the Konoha Orphanage, Urushi immediately dropped the child from his shoulder.

"Sorry, Yu."

Yakushi Nonō suddenly turned to Yu with an apologetic expression. "With your talent and ability in ninjutsu..."

"If we could send you to the Ninja Academy, you'd surely become an excellent ninja someday."

As she said this, Yakushi Nonō's gaze dimmed. "But with only the subsidies from the country and the village, we..."

Clearly, Yakushi Nonō had seen Yu's talent and ability in ninjutsu.

If they could send him to the Konoha Ninja Academy, Yu would surely grow into an outstanding ninja.