Naruto: legacy of the lightning

I tinker with the materials and tools in the training field, using whatever I can to craft my own weapons. In my past life, I always liked a specific combat style, but here in this world, I want to see how effective it is when combined with ninja tactics. Partly because of my interest in that foreign style and partly because I'm not familiar with Japanese culture, this idea came to me.

About an hour passed and the training field was already filling up. I had my arsenal ready and was warming up for this bout.

"All right, everyone, this is the final test. You'll fight each other to evaluate your combat skills," the teacher paused and looked at us. "You can use any technique or tool, but only until one side surrenders or can no longer fight."He studied us to make sure we understood, then called out some names.

I stood there holding my roughly-made new weapons and watched the earlier matches—they were dull, just kids fresh from the academy. Mostly the three basic jutsus and some taijutsu. Most lacked tactical structure—they just repeated what they'd been taught without understanding principles. A waste of time... but at least useful to gauge the standard.

"Furukawa Kenji vs Haruki Yoshida," announced the teacher after the previous match ended.

I climbed onto the ring and stood opposite my opponent, who smirked at my weapons."You're really going to fight with that?" he laughed."Yes," I replied in a monotone voice as I removed my weights and even my shirt, leaving only pants and boots."Do what you want, but don't cry when I beat you," he said cockily. He made the ready signal, and I did the same—then the fight began.

"BEGIN!!!"

The boy jumped back, but before he landed I let out a shout imbued with genjutsu, which stunned him momentarily. Then I advanced at full speed with Body Flicker, raising my small, crude rectangular shield directly at him.

The shield slammed into his body, sending him flying backward into the ground. He snapped out of the genjutsu and saw a stick aimed at him. But he stood up determined not to give up. He used a clone. Predictable. There was no way he could know my shout this time had no genjutsu. All he needed was the memory of the first impact to react exactly as I wanted—guard up and distracted. Then Body Flicker again—without an ocular dojutsu, he wouldn't see it coming.

I struck the clone in the process, making it vanish, and kept moving forward. The shield hit him again; this time his guard was too high, so I swung the stick at his side. It wasn't a real weapon, but it was enough—after all, we're kids, and accidents happen. This isn't Kirigakure; no one expected us to kill each other.

I used the shield to block his view, and he backed up further. Then he noticed an object flying toward him."Did he really throw that?" he yelled, confused.

I hurled the shield at him, spinning it to gain some flight and distract him. Then I used a shadow clone for a pincer attack. The shield served as cover while I slipped behind him, grabbed his arms, and my clone caught the shield mid-air and slammed it into his nose, making it bleed from the impact. Then using the stick, I struck his side again and finished him with a punch to the chin. He fell unconscious.

During the last hit, some of his blood spattered across my face and torso, giving me a barbaric appearance. I dropped his body and raised my weapons, shouting to announce my victory.

POV: Everyone Present

One student dropped his kunai. Another took an unconscious step back. Nobody spoke, but the air grew heavy the moment Kenji's yell echoed.

The teacher stared, stunned. Kenji hadn't used academy tactics or anything taught in Konoha. This style was aggressive and brutal—far from what anyone expected from a quiet, studious kid. The final blood spatter across his face hit everyone hardest.

Still recovering, the teacher declared the winner:"Kenji Furukawa!" he announced loudly.

Kenji lifted his bloodstained wooden stick in victory, then calmly put his shirt and weights back on.

"Does this kid always train with weights on his clothes?" the teacher wondered silently, then shook his head and carried on with the evaluation. He made notes in Kenji's profile: 'Needs personalized, specialized training—do not underestimate.'

Kakashi watched the fight with mild interest, but the tactics surprised him—not because he admired them, but because something told him not to underestimate this simple style. One mistake and you could end up just like the opponent."Glad I'm not his enemy," he thought with relief.

Meanwhile, the Third Hokage smoked his pipe as always, observing the academy exams through his crystal ball. He saw a boy fight unconventionally, using a crude wooden shield and stick. The boy shouted, stunning his opponent."Was that shout a genjutsu trigger?" Sarutobi wondered, puzzled.He watched as the boy slammed the shield while applying chakra to amplify the impact wave."Using the shield and chakra to boost the impact… interesting." He took a puff and observed more closely.

The fight ended, blood flew onto Kenji's face, and he gave his victory yell."Why so savage… more beast than ninja," he noted, another puff drawing reminiscent thoughts of Kumogakure ninja—like the Raikage's lariat or their lightning taijutsu.

Hiruzen's expression turned somber. "Furukawa Kenji… I need to make sure he doesn't go off the rails."

He ordered ANBU to investigate Kenji's background and gather intelligence—he wanted to guide and win over this child for the Fire Will faction.

Meanwhile, an old man with bandages over his right eye and arm, and an X-shaped scar across his chin—looking like a war veteran—watched Kenji from the shadows. Leaning on a cane, he was impressed by the boy's brutality and strength, imagining him as a perfect fit for Root."That wasted brutality… under my tutelage, it'd be the perfect weapon. In that old monkey's hands, it'll go to waste," he said sinisterly, laughing quietly. "He's the ninja I've been seeking—brutal and emotionless."

A Root ninja nearby watched the match unemotionally. Internally he was baffled—this wasn't how Root-trained shinobi fought. "What the hell?" he thought inwardly, his expression unreadable—his cursed tongue seal suppressed any reaction.

Shimura Danzo, Konoha's shadow, planned to recruit this boy as a Root soldier—a soldier so strong and brutal that all evidence left behind would be a bloody massacre as if a beast had descended.

POV: Kenji

The exams ended, I won my fight, and could leave. I grabbed my shirt and walked away. They said the written test results would come out later.

I exited the academy and burned the makeshift weapons I'd made—couldn't clean the blood off them anyway, and they were just trash from rushed crafting. No longer useful even for training. I washed the blood off my face and torso in a small pond and decided to rest. I unpacked a sealed scroll-blanket onto the grass and fell asleep. It'd been a long, exhausting day, and my mind needed a break.