Early in the morning, before sunrise, Uchiha Yu was already dragged out of bed.
Together with Mikoto, he headed toward the entrance of Konoha to wait.
Yesterday, they had already met Tsunade and Orochimaru.
Although not much was said, they had been ordered to gather at the village gate before dawn.
“Morning…”
Nawaki walked over while yawning loudly.
Uchiha Yu merely nodded before once again focusing inward on the condition of his body.
Inside him, three fist-sized clusters of mysterious energy slowly rotated.
Each cluster constantly released tiny traces of power that merged together near his heart, eventually forming a completely new kind of energy.
Over the past seven years, Yu had already figured out what this new energy was.
At first, he had been ecstatic.
But after discovering how absurdly slow its growth rate was, that excitement had long disappeared.
After seven entire years, the energy had only grown from the size of a grain of rice to roughly the size of a little finger.
“Yu…
be careful when we arrive there.”
Mikoto looked at him worriedly from the side.
Yu withdrew his focus and smiled calmly.
“You already know my strength.
Instead, you should worry about yourself.
Medical and logistics units are not as safe as people think.”
Seeing the two acting serious, Nawaki suddenly burped loudly.
“Relax, Mikoto.
This guy is a complete monster.
Fighting ten people alone wouldn’t even be a problem for him.”
While the three chatted, several familiar figures approached from nearby.
Three boys and two girls.
All of them were classmates from the Academy.
Tanaka Kenta, Sato Haruko, Kobayashi Meina, Saito Yuki, and Kimura Tatsuya.
“Yu-kun!”
The moment the two girls noticed him, they immediately ran over excitedly.
“Yu-kun, you probably haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right?
This is mine.
We can eat together!”
The two girls hurriedly presented their lunches while looking at him expectantly.
Yu glanced at them expressionlessly.
“Sorry.
I don’t eat with ugly people.”
“Wahhh!
Yu-kun is too much!”
The two girls instantly burst into tears and ran away.
The three boys nearby twitched angrily.
Show-off!
However, none of them dared say it aloud.
After all, Uchiha Yu genuinely hit people.
And when he did, he hit very hard.
“Yu, how can you talk to your classmates like that?!”
Mikoto glared at him angrily.
Yu helplessly spread his hands.
“If I don’t speak harshly, they’ll cling to me endlessly.
Sigh…
being handsome is really troublesome.”
“Go die already.”
Nawaki could no longer tolerate him and immediately raised both middle fingers.
“Hahahahaha!”
At that moment, an exaggerated burst of laughter suddenly sounded nearby.
The next second, three figures appeared before the group.
Tsunade.
Jiraiya.
Orochimaru.
Jiraiya laughed loudly while looking at Yu.
“Are kids nowadays all this interesting?”
Tsunade immediately kicked him away impatiently.
“Shut up.
You’re already annoying This Lady so early in the morning.”
Afterward, she turned toward Yu with narrowed eyes.
“Brat, have you stared enough?”
Yu immediately withdrew his gaze calmly, though inwardly he cursed all those people who claimed Tsunade was flat.
Clearly, she was very impressive.
Tsunade snorted before turning toward the three girls.
“From today onward, This Lady is your captain.
You will follow me from now on.”
The three girls hurriedly nodded nervously.
“Yes, Captain Tsunade!”
However, all three were secretly confused.
Was this really Konoha’s legendary Princess Tsunade?
Wasn’t she supposed to be elegant and gentle?
Yu then shifted his gaze toward Jiraiya’s side.
The remaining three boys had naturally been assigned there.
As for Namikaze Minato, the future Yellow Flash had only recently entered the Academy and was still far from graduation age.
Orochimaru smiled faintly as he looked toward Yu and Nawaki.
“Nawaki, Uchiha Yu, please take care of me from now on.”
Nawaki scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“No, no, it should be us asking Orochimaru-sensei to take care of us.”
Yu, however, merely nodded calmly.
“Captain, please guide us well.”
Orochimaru’s golden snake-like pupils narrowed slightly.
“Hehe…
Yu-kun really is different from ordinary children.”
Yu naturally did not respond.
At that moment, Tsunade’s impatient voice sounded from the front.
“We’re leaving already!
If you have questions, ask them on the way!”
She clicked her tongue unhappily while walking.
“This Lady finally returns to the village, yet before I can even rest properly, the Old Man sends me right back to the battlefield.
Is there seriously no justice left in this world?”
Jiraiya quietly muttered from nearby:
“Rest properly?
More like lose all your money gambling again.”
Bang!
Before he could react, Tsunade kicked him flying once more.
“Get lost!”
Jiraiya’s miserable scream instantly echoed through the forest.
The group soon departed from Konoha.
Because they needed to escort Yu and the others, the Sannin deliberately slowed their pace and traveled by foot.
Along the way, Nawaki remained extremely excited, constantly asking questions and imagining what the battlefield would be like.
The others were not much different.
Only Yu remained unusually calm.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru walked ahead silently.
Occasionally, traces of pity and helplessness flashed across their eyes.
After all, these children were only ten years old.
Yet they were already being sent to war.
As the group passed through a small forest, the Sannin suddenly glanced subtly toward a large rock nearby.
However, none of them reacted outwardly and simply continued walking as though nothing had happened.
Yu naturally noticed their small actions.
The corners of his lips curved upward slightly.
Without hesitation, he pulled out a kunai from his ninja pouch and instantly threw it toward the rock.
Boom!
An explosion erupted instantly, followed immediately by a painful scream.
“What happened?!”
Before the Academy students could react, several enemy shinobi suddenly burst out from the surrounding woods.
Three of them rushed directly toward Jiraiya.
The others charged straight toward the rookies.
“E-enemies!”
The students who had never experienced real combat instantly panicked.
Their minds went blank as they stared at the charging shinobi.
Only Mikoto and Nawaki reacted quickly, immediately drawing kunai defensively.
“Die, brat!”
One enemy Genin rushed directly toward Yu since he had exposed their ambush.
However, Yu remained calm from beginning to end.
No panic.
No fear.
His hand slowly moved toward the katana hanging at his waist.
Swish!
A cold flash of white light instantly sliced across the air.
Before the enemy Genin could even understand what happened, his head separated cleanly from his neck.
Blood erupted violently into the air.
“Nani?!”
Everyone nearby was horrified.
Even the attacking enemy shinobi froze momentarily in shock.
At the same time, Yu’s pupils turned crimson red.
Three tomoe slowly rotated within his eyes.
“The Sharingan!”
The enemy Genin instantly panicked and hurriedly shut their eyes.
Unfortunately for them, they had completely underestimated the monster standing before them.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
One after another, the remaining enemy Genin collapsed onto the ground.
None of them were dead.
However, their bodies trembled violently while terror completely filled their eyes.
Only they knew what terrifying illusion they had just experienced.
“This…”
Even Tsunade and the others looked surprised.
Originally, they had merely wanted to observe how these children would react during an ambush.
Unexpectedly, the Uchiha child had performed so overwhelmingly.
Orochimaru casually snapped the neck of the shinobi fighting him while a strange look appeared in his eyes.
“That chakra fluctuation just now…”
His golden pupils narrowed dangerously.
“Three Tomoe Sharingan at such a young age.
This child truly possesses extraordinary talent.”
Naturally, this was also Yu’s first time killing someone.
Yet surprisingly, he felt almost nothing afterward.
No nausea.
No fear.
No guilt.
Instead, he strangely felt refreshed.
Jiraiya suddenly looked confused.
“What is that kid doing?”
The others also turned toward Yu.
At some point, he had dragged two paralyzed enemy Genin toward Nawaki and Mikoto before tossing them onto the ground.
The two looked at him in confusion.
Then Yu spoke indifferently.
“Kill them.”