Sweat soaked Yuji’s body long before the sun reached its peak. His breathing was heavy, yet steady and controlled. Two weeks had passed since the shinobi of the village had been mobilized to the border.
In the training ground behind the Uchiha compound, the clang of steel and the crackling of chakra echoed endlessly.
Training had become the center of Yuji’s daily life. To him, there were no shortcuts to strength. Talent mattered, but discipline was the foundation that determined how far a person could truly go.
Recently, one name had spread throughout the entire Uchiha Clan.
Shisui Uchiha.
Yuji had overheard several clan members discussing how Shisui awakened his three-tomoe Sharingan after losing one of his teammates during a mission.
One tragedy.
One death.
And his Sharingan evolved straight into three tomoe.
Yuji paused in the middle of a kunai swing.
"...That’s truly incredible."
He wasn’t jealous.
If anything, he simply acknowledged the truth.
Shisui was a genuine genius.
Just as Yuji remembered from the original story.
Ever since graduating from the Academy early, Shisui had already surpassed most shinobi his age. Now, after awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan at such a young age, his reputation had reached even greater heights.
The clan elders praised him.
Senior shinobi admired him.
Children his age looked up to him as their role model.
For Yuji, however, all of that came with an unexpected advantage.
The attention that had once been directed toward him was gradually shifting to Shisui.
And that suited him perfectly.
The fewer eyes watching him, the more freely he could develop his own strength without answering uncomfortable questions.
Yuji let out a quiet breath.
"Keep being the center of attention, Shisui..."
"I prefer training in the shadows."
He bent down and picked up a kunai embedded in the ground.
Lightning chakra flowed into his palm, coating the blade in a dense layer of crackling electricity. Tiny sparks danced across the metal, producing sharp snapping sounds.
Yuji took a deep breath.
Then—
Whoosh!
The kunai shot forward like a bolt of lightning toward a massive tree in the distance.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion shook the training ground.
Wood fragments burst into the air.
A huge hole had been blasted through the center of the trunk, as though something far more destructive than an ordinary thrown kunai had struck it.
Yuji silently observed the result.
It was one of his successful experiments.
Instead of merely sharpening a kunai with Lightning Release chakra, he compressed the chakra to an extremely unstable state. Upon impact, the chakra detonated from within, creating destructive power far beyond a normal throw.
The advantages were obvious.
Extremely difficult to block.
Most ordinary defenses would simply be pierced through.
Of course, every technique had its price.
The kunai was destroyed along with the explosion.
Single use.
Disposable.
Yuji gave a small nod.
"Acceptable."
If a single attack eliminated the target, sacrificing one kunai was hardly worth worrying about.
His three-tomoe Sharingan slowly spun.
The world around him seemed to slow.
Yuji lowered his stance.
Then—
He vanished.
Only a few tiny sparks of electricity remained dancing across the ground.
An instant later, he reappeared dozens of meters away beside another tree.
His Body Flicker Technique had improved dramatically over the past few months.
By combining it with Lightning Release chakra, he could greatly increase his speed without activating his full Lightning Release Mode.
That mode granted overwhelming speed and defense.
But it also consumed an enormous amount of chakra.
His lightning-enhanced Body Flicker, on the other hand, was far more efficient and practical for most battles.
Yuji had already established one of his personal rules.
As long as an opponent could be defeated using ordinary techniques...
He would never reveal his trump card.
Only enemies who posed genuine danger would force him to activate Lightning Release Mode.
He refused to rely on a single technique.
A good shinobi always had multiple options.
Yuji raised both hands.
His hand seals blurred from sheer speed.
Poof!
A cloud of white smoke burst across the training ground.
From within it stepped another Yuji.
Shadow Clone Technique.
A B-rank ninjutsu the Hokage had awarded him as a reward for his achievements.
Many people would have chosen a flashier technique.
Yuji never regretted his decision.
To him, Shadow Clone wasn’t simply a way to multiply manpower.
It was the ultimate research assistant.
It accelerated experiments, tested theories, and reduced risks whenever an idea ended in failure.
Yuji had deliberately focused all of his development along a single path.
Lightning Release.
Lightning Nature Transformation.
Lightning Shape Transformation.
Until those three fields reached the level he desired, learning dozens of other ninjutsu would only divide his attention.
It was better to master a handful of techniques perfectly than to know hundreds without truly excelling at any of them.
Yuji and his clone exchanged a glance before nodding simultaneously.
Their hands formed seals together.
Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere!
Lightning chakra gathered into both of their palms.
At first, it was nothing more than wild electrical sparks.
Gradually, the chakra compressed.
Condensed.
Forced into a smaller and smaller space until it formed a brilliant blue sphere of lightning.
Its surface spun at incredible speed while emitting a sharp humming sound.
It was a C-rank Lightning Release technique that his father had taught him only a week earlier.
However, Yuji had extensively modified it by applying advanced Lightning Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation, compressing the chakra far beyond its original design.
Its power had nearly reached A-rank.
His clone raised a hand toward the sky.
"Release."
BOOM!
The Lightning Sphere streaked forward for roughly twenty meters before losing stability.
BOOM!!
Another explosion echoed across the training ground.
The shockwave swept through the surrounding trees.
Yuji watched the projectile’s trajectory without blinking.
"...Still too slow."
Power wasn’t the issue.
Its destructive capability was already more than satisfactory.
The problem was speed.
The projectile still failed to meet his standards.
He immediately analyzed the cause.
The Lightning chakra serving as both the barrel and propulsion system lacked sufficient pressure to maximize acceleration.
If he wanted greater speed, he would need to increase the internal chakra pressure before firing.
Yuji raised his right hand once more.
Another Lightning Sphere formed.
This time...
It was different.
He carefully infused Yin Release chakra into the sphere’s core.
His Sharingan rotated slowly, controlling every microscopic fluctuation.
Little by little...
The brilliant blue color began to darken.
Black lightning flickered between the blue arcs.
The sphere became denser.
Heavier.
Far more dangerous.
Yuji narrowed his eyes.
"Success..."
He could clearly feel its stability improving.
Without hesitation, he aimed his palm toward the sky.
More Lightning chakra poured into the sphere as propulsion.
The pressure continued rising.
Higher.
Denser.
Then—
BOOOOM!!
The black Lightning Sphere shot forward like a thunderbolt descending from a storm cloud.
Ten meters.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Its speed far surpassed the previous attempt.
A heartbeat later—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
A terrifying explosion shook the sky.
The roar resembled a bolt of thunder splitting the heavens during a raging storm.
A violent shockwave swept across the entire training ground.
Leaves flew everywhere.
Small branches snapped one after another.
One unfortunate crow, who had merely been flying by minding its own business, immediately changed career plans and decided that migration was a much safer profession.
Yuji remained standing, silently watching the sky as it slowly returned to normal.
His expression showed no satisfaction.
Instead...
He became even more serious.
"Still not enough."
"This power... still isn’t enough to change the future."
In the shinobi world, talent alone could never save anyone.
Shisui himself was proof that even a once-in-a-generation genius could fall.
At least, that was how the original story had ended.
That was precisely why Yuji sought more than mere strength.
He wanted enough power to protect those who were still alive, confront the disasters yet to come, and defy the cruel fate history had already written.
Until that day arrived...
His training would never end.