Talent Perception and Crisis

The world of Naruto was originally just an ordinary life-bearing planet. It lacked advanced technology or dazzling magic, and human society remained in a backward, feudal stage. However, ever since a meteorite fell from the sky centuries ago and the God Tree was born, followed by various disasters and transformations, a special power known as chakra emerged and spread widely.

The birth of chakra granted humanity unimaginable power and successfully established them as the sole masters of this land. Initially, those who possessed chakra were members of the Ninshu. As time passed and the world changed, those within the Ninshu who controlled this extraordinary power gradually came to be known as ninjas. The birth of the ninja marked the prologue to the most magnificent epic chapter that continues to this day.

The foundation and source of chakra is the biological energy contained within the 130 trillion cells of the human body. This biological power, long buried within the body, was later consciously perceived and extracted by humans. The peculiar energy born from the perfect fusion of spiritual and physical energy is what is known as chakra.

Because he had lived two lives, Yuehua Ai possessed spiritual strength far exceeding that of an ordinary person. Even as a toddler, he could perceive his own cellular energy through a method similar to meditation. Once these two conditions—difficult for ordinary people to achieve—were easily met, he naturally experienced his first time refining a "warm current" from his body, though that experience was far from pleasant.

As his time living here increased and his understanding of the world deepened, Yuehua Ai naturally realized that the "warm currents" in his body were what people called chakra.

Possessing chakra naturally led to exploring it. During the half-year that his life gradually improved, Yuehua Ai often used his unique meditation method to extract chakra. Although he still had much to learn about how to use it, he had a profound and intuitive sense of its impact on his own body.

The most obvious manifestation was in his physical stamina. Yuehua Ai and the other three in his group faced massive physical exertion every day as they set out to find the Sannin. The intensity of this exhaustion was often too much even for Yahiko and the others, yet Yuehua Ai, who followed silently in their footsteps, never once fell behind, even without anyone's help.

One must remember that at this time, Yuehua Ai was not even five years old, and there was a seven or eight-year age gap between him and Yahiko's group.

With such a comparison, the situation was obvious: under the enhancement of chakra, in terms of physical stamina alone, the young Yuehua Ai no longer had much of a gap compared to Yahiko and the others. Of course, this lack of a gap was based on the fact that the three of them had not yet refined chakra; otherwise, the situation would have been entirely different.

Beyond physical stamina, the greatest change chakra brought to Yuehua Ai was in his perception.

This perception was different from the five human senses. It was neither seeing with the eyes nor hearing with the ears; it was an indescribable, profound spiritual sense. It was different from a vague sixth sense; to a certain extent, Yuehua Ai's perception was clearer and more definite. To use a metaphor, it was like looking into a mirror—though he could not touch the existence in the reflection, his heart could confirm its presence.

In truth, Yuehua Ai's situation was rare but not unheard of. If one were to tell a veteran ninja, they could easily provide an answer. This was simply a rare sensory talent among ninjas. Those who possessed this perception and focused on developing it were usually called sensory-type ninjas, such as Karin Uzumaki, who followed Sasuke in the original Naruto story, or the Yamanaka Clan, to which Ino Yamanaka belonged.

Faintly sensing the chill coming from behind him, Yuehua Ai focused his mind, struggling to control his chakra as it flowed toward his brain. He stopped running, closed his eyes, and used this method of temporarily blocking and slowing his five senses to enhance his innate spiritual perception.

With Yuehua Ai as the center, his spiritual power expanded outward like ripples in water. Although he could not perceive specific images and had no clear feedback on minute details, larger objects—such as the broken walls of buildings in the ruins—could be reflected in his mind like a three-dimensional image.

Three meters, five meters, ten meters... Yuehua Ai's sensory range continued to expand, and everything around him appeared in his consciousness like a sand table model.

Because he was limited by his own chakra, the maximum sensory radius Yuehua Ai had achieved during his last attempt was only fifty meters.

A fifty-meter radius sounded short, far less than the range of the naked eye, but one must not forget that compared to direct vision, this was an omnidirectional, holographic, blind-spot-free scan. Compared to the five senses of an ordinary person, its superiority was self-evident. Of course, this superiority was only in comparison to ordinary people and average ninjas; for Kekkei Genkai like the Byakugan and Sharingan, they were still far superior in terms of direct observation.

The surrounding scenery was gradually incorporated into Yuehua Ai's mind. Just as his sensory range reached thirty meters, a humanoid object radiating orange-red light suddenly appeared in his perceived world.

Compared to the lifeless, gray models in his sensory world, this humanoid object with its orange-red glow was like a sun in the dark night—so distinct and prominent that it was impossible not to notice.

Opening his eyes, Yuehua Ai glanced stealthily behind him. Through his perception, he had now confirmed the location of the hidden person.

The opponent was hiding in a building behind them, with a collapsed structure in front of it. Looking back from their current angle, their line of sight was blocked by the collapsed building, while the opponent stood on another structure, looking down and taking in all their movements.

Not an ordinary person. It's a ninja. We've really been targeted. Thinking of the cold, chilling gaze from before, it was likely the person had ill intentions. Facing this situation, Yuehua Ai frowned secretly, yet he was at a loss for what to do.

"Hmm, did you discover me? What an interesting little brat. This will add to my amusement. Heh, since you've found me, then..."

From concentrating his mind to close his eyes and perceive, to opening them and confirming the position, Yuehua Ai had spent less than two seconds. However, although his movements were stealthy and quick, to an experienced ninja like the one hiding, there were still too many flaws. At the very least, the iconic and habitual sensory method of a sensory ninja was not something secret to him, even if it wasn't exactly common.

Keeping a thread of his spiritual power focused on the direction of the hidden person, Yuehua Ai quickly took two steps to catch up with Konan. Just as he hesitated whether to inform the others of his discovery, he received feedback from his spiritual power in the next instant.

A whistling sound of something cutting through the air struck from behind.

"Watch out!" "BOOM!"

The hair on the back of his neck stood up. Yuehua Ai gave a start, and before he could do more than shout to those in front, his small body was blown away by the shockwave that followed.

"D-damn it, what's going on?"

Wiping the mud and water from his face with a look of hatred, Yahiko gritted his teeth and scrambled up from the ground.

"Tsk tsk, what a lucky bunch of brats. Not a single one of you died!"

A mocking voice drifted over. From a position a dozen meters away, a young man dressed as a ninja stood high up on a half-collapsed attic.

The young man looked at them with an amused expression, his indifference as if he were examining a nest of ants on the ground. He had intentionally thrown that explosive tag off-target. In this desolate battlefield ruin, it was quite rare to see people, and those who did pass through were usually ninja squads heading to support various fronts. This was the first time he had discovered ordinary people like these.

Hmm, four brats. One has a bit of sensory talent, the other three are just ordinary people. Oh, and there's a pretty little girl in there too. Tsk tsk, I'll have to put in a little more effort. I can't break such rare toys too easily, or I'll be very lonely afterward!

The four of them stood up and huddled together, all watching the young man above them with vigilance, too busy to brush the mud and water from their bodies.

Yuehua Ai squinted. Through the curtain of rain, he clearly saw the forehead protector on the young ninja. That symbol—it was a Rain Ninja. It was a ninja from their own village.

"You are... a Rain Ninja... Why are you attacking us!" Yahiko stepped forward, and after seeing the pattern on the other's forehead protector, he couldn't help but shout the question.

"Why? Hah, you actually ask why? Do I need a reason to find a few little mice to play with?"

Fiddling with a kunai in his hand, the young man didn't care at all about the boy's questioning.

He tucked the kunai into his ninja pouch, straightened his clothes, and leaped down from the attic ruins. He walked a few steps forward and stood still at a distance of less than five meters from the group.

Five meters was neither far nor near for both sides. The young ninja did not continue to approach, and the others dared not react; after all, the opponent was a ninja, and they were merely ordinary people.

"What a bunch of cute little mice!" The young man smiled wickedly as he examined the tense expressions of the boys. He loved watching that nervous look of theirs, as if they were facing a great enemy yet dared not move.

"Mice..." The young man's words made the boys clench their fists, and they felt a wave of pressure at his proximity.

"What, aren't you?" The young man retorted, tilting his head at them in a show of confusion. After a second, he opened his mouth wide in a look of sudden realization, as if he had just understood something.

"Mice, oh no, no, no. You have to understand, if I hadn't suddenly taken an interest in you, in reality, you wouldn't even be worth as much as mice..."