As the two flowers bloom, they represent a branch they belong to.
Just as Kushina and Mito were discussing how to deal with the nine-tails...
Natsuhiko had just finished his dinner and walked out of a ramen shop called "Double Happiness Ramen."
Since his return to the village, this shop had become his first choice for solving his hunger crisis. Besides the fact that the ramen here was cheap and delicious, there was another reason.
He discovered that the legendary Otsutsuki Ichiraku(Teuchi), the uncle who took good care of Naruto in the original work, was working as a ramen master here!
This revelation solved a mystery that had puzzled Natsuhiko for many years: why couldn't he find the famous transmigrator checkpoint, Ramen Ichiraku, anywhere in Konoha, whether during his school days or this time back in the village?
It turned out that the uncle had not established his own place yet!
After discovering that Otsutsuki(Teuchi lmao) worked at this shop, Natsuhiko started to come here to eat. Not with any specific purpose, just to witness firsthand how the not-so-perfect uncle, who was currently still a novice, would grow into the future Uncle Teuchi.
After leaving the ramen shop, Natsuhiko walked towards the southeast corner of the village.
After a short while, he arrived at his own doorstep.
In front of him was an unremarkable Japanese-style residence. The house wasn't large and showed signs of ageing, but it was quiet and peaceful.
Although it was somewhat akin to praising someone for being honest when they had no other virtues...
This house was actually left by Natsuhiko's parents. Even though he didn't come into this world with any cheat abilities, he still inherited the transmigrator's tradition: both parents deceased.
Shortly after he joined the academy, his parents, having set the ultimatum "give birth to a younger brother or sister for our Natsuhiko upon return," while heading to the frontline. Not only did they not have another child, Natsuhiko never saw them again.
Fortunately, at that time, Natsuhiko could take care of himself, so he wasn't sent to an orphanage. His parents, being honest and frugal people, saved the money earned from missions, resulting in savings left behind that were a great comfort for Natsuhiko.
With the village also providing a monthly stipend, Natsuhiko's life wasn't too difficult initially.
Of course, this was before he joined the sealing class.
As the saying goes, "Paper seals made the Third Hokage poor." Sealing Jutsu, like a giant Gold devouring beast, quickly depleted the savings his parents had left behind.
Luckily, Natsuhiko managed to learn enough before going bankrupt to make a living by taking on missions and avoiding making this initially modest family into a random homeless family.
It's not hard to imagine that Natsuhiko's stingy rune-drawing habits originated from that time.
After exhausting those savings, the only thing left by Natsuhiko's parents was the house in front of him.
Even in the toughest times, Natsuhiko never thought of selling it. After all, this was the last imprint left by his two thrifty parents in this world.
Opening the courtyard gate and passing through the empty front yard, Natsuhiko took out the key, opened the front door, and walked in.
After entering, he habitually said, "I'm back."
Before the tone could fully fall, Natsuhiko heard the crackling footsteps on the old wooden floor of the house.
Soon, three chubby children who looked like they were only two or three years old appeared in the corridor in front of the entrance, looking delighted as they stared at Natsuhiko.
"Father, you're back and chubby!"
They shouted in unison, opening their arms and running towards him with short legs.
Natsuhiko initially wanted to dodge, but fearing he might hurt them, he stood still feeling resigned and allowed them to play around him.
So, the three little ones easily surrounded Natsuhiko.
The little mischievous-looking fellow in red dress, tried to climb onto him by grabbing his clothes.
The one in blue clothes seemed obedient, holding Natsuhiko's hand while secretly taking out a marker from his pants.
The one in green clothes, well-behaved, clung to Natsuhiko's thigh like a sloth.
A closer look revealed that these three children not only looked alike but also bore a striking resemblance to Natsuhiko!
Oh my!
No way?
Could it be that the beloved and respected Natsuhiko-sensei from the academy has some secrets behind his back...
"I've said it many times, don't call me father."
Natsuhiko had black lines on his head. He cautiously and solemnly put the three little demons back on the ground, saying:
"The joke was quite funny the first time, somewhat amusing the second time, but it gets boring after repeating it so many times."
"As my Shadow Clones, why can't you get tired of playing this prank?"
The little fellow in red clothes made a grimace, "Who said that? We still find it fun!"
The one in blue clothes nodded and analyzed, "Number one is right. You ignored the difference between being the main body and being a clone. Although our memories are the same, due to the difference in self-awareness between the main body and the clones, we may have completely different perspectives on the same issue. More importantly, if it's not interesting, we would not have repeated this behaviour."
The one in green clothes raised his hands, "Same here!"
Natsuhiko, referred to as the main body, sighed wearily, feeling somewhat exhausted.
As he had said earlier, these three little ones were actually clones created using the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
To be honest, if it weren't for the substantial chakra consumption to create these three clones, Natsuhiko wouldn't have been exhausted by Kushina during the day.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu, familiar to those who have read the original work, allowed one to create tangible clones using chakra.
These clones had independent consciousness, capable of performing various actions like the main body.
However, the truly terrifying aspect of this jutsu was that, after dispelling the clones, memories and experiences would return to the main body along with the chakra.
This meant that using this jutsu for training and learning could easily multiply efficiency several times over.
In the original work, Naruto's grades in the academy were not ideal.
Until he encountered the... No, until he encountered the advanced version of this jutsu, the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu, only then did he begin his journey of counterattack.
Rasengan, Wind Attribute's Nature Transformation, Rasenshuriken, Sage Mode...
All these various high-level techniques that required years of training were smartly learned by him in a short period, thanks to the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Those geniuses he once admired were quickly left behind, unable to catch up to his progress.
Even Sasuke couldn't withstand the blow. In order to become stronger, he ran away overnight and sought help from the snake pervert who coveted his body, saying, "Aunt, I don't want to work hard anymore..."
It's easy to imagine how powerful the Shadow Clone Jutsu is.
Of course, only the chosen child of fate, Uzumaki Naruto, could use this jutsu so unreasonably. Because when the jutsu is dispelled, the clone's memories return to the main body all at once, imposing a considerable mental burden on the caster.
So, although this jutsu is widely known in the Ninja World, most people only use it as a means of espionage.
Probably only those as thick-skinned as Naruto or transmigrators with powerful spiritual energy per person have the qualifications to use this multi-cloning cheat.
Unfortunately, after learning the jutsu, Natsuhiko found that the setting of having powerful spiritual energy as a legendary transmigrator did not seem to apply to him.
Dragging down the isekai organisation again...
After testing, he discovered that his tolerance for Shadow Clones was no different from an ordinary ninja. Simple tasks were okay, but if a Shadow Clone returned to the main body after hours of high-intensity learning, it would leave Natsuhiko mentally fatigued, making it not worth the effort.
God knows how Naruto could create hundreds or thousands of clones simultaneously for training and withstand the impact of massive memories without turning into an idiot.
Setting aside the fact that Naruto was originally an idiot, Natsuhiko could only sigh, "Indeed, individuals can't be generalised."
However, Natsuhiko did not give up on this jutsu.
Since conventional methods didn't work, it was time for him to use his creativity and modify ninjutsu.
And this modification resulted in the three creatures in front of him...
The ramen shop he mentioned was opened during the period of the Lost Tower movie, to be revealed in a few years.
(End of this chapter)
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