"Let's begin."
Takuya quickly formed hand seals.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Boom!!
A series of puffs of smoke erupted, and one after another, clones of Takuya appeared on the battlefield, their numbers continuously growing.
"..."
Watching Takuya decide to use a swarm tactic, Minato had to admit he felt a bit envious.
He had a decent amount of chakra, but it couldn't compare to Takuya's. He couldn't even match Nawaki.
When it came to chakra reserves, the only person in Konoha who could compete with Takuya was Nami.
"I really don't know if you've got Uchiha blood or Uzumaki blood."
Pulling out a new kunai, Minato couldn't help but mutter.
The Uchiha clan had a lot of chakra, but none of them were as excessive as Takuya.
It made people wonder if he was some kind of mix between Uchiha and Uzumaki.
I give up! You win!
Seeing the hundreds of clones, Nawaki figured it was best to stay humble; otherwise, he'd just end up embarrassed.
There was a time when his vast chakra reserves were a source of pride.
Even Tsunade didn't have as much chakra as he did.
But now, there was Nami to contend with, and on top of that, Takuya had shown up.
They both completely crushed him.
Nawaki used to think he was perfect for the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, but now it seemed like the jutsu was tailor-made for Takuya.
Hundreds of clones charged in all directions, and Nawaki quickly focused, blending in with the crowd of clones alongside Minato as they charged at the enemy.
Takuya's real body was among them.
"Everyone, stay alert!"
Seeing the distress signal from their comrades, several Sand ninjas rushed to provide support.
But they didn't expect that as soon as they arrived, they would be faced with hundreds of white-haired clones, each with a pair of blood-red, three-tomoe Sharingan eyes glaring at them, practically blinding them.
"Don't make eye contact! The enemy has Uchiha's Sharingan. Be careful—his real body is hidden among the clones."
"Yagami Takuya—he's Yagami Takuya."
The stark white hair combined with the three-tomoe Sharingan led the arriving Sand ninjas to guess Takuya's identity.
But there were no prizes for guessing right.
The clones quickly engaged the enemy, and like Naruto, Takuya didn't care about his clones getting dispelled.
If he couldn't handle the strain, Takuya wouldn't be using the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu in the first place.
In his past life, Takuya had watched the anime and seen how Naruto would summon hundreds of clones to surround his enemies.
The spectacle was awe-inspiring.
Takuya had always wanted to try it out, but the right opportunity never came.
Now that the chance had arrived, there was no way he was going to let it pass.
The clone jutsu taught at the ninja academy was easy to see through; any ninja with a bit of experience could figure out which were the fakes.
But with the B-rank Shadow Clone Jutsu, it wasn't so simple.
The same applied to the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Without specific signs, identifying the real body among the clones was extremely difficult.
After all, not everyone could be Uchiha Madara.
In the Fourth Great Ninja War, no one could tell where Naruto's real body was.
Uchiha Madara could, though, just by glancing at them—he knew they were all shadow clones. That's the difference in skill.
Could the Sand ninjas on this battlefield do the same?
Seeing hundreds of people with three-tomoe Sharingan charging at them, many of the Sand ninjas were on the verge of wetting themselves.
Even with experienced jōnin giving orders, it didn't make much difference.
Besides, Takuya wasn't going to give them the time to shout commands.
Once the battle began, the first priority was to eliminate the strongest jōnin on the enemy side, and then deal with the rest slowly.
"Damn it!!"
Which one do we defend against?
Which one is the real body?
In that brief moment of hesitation, death came calling.
"Aahhh!!!"
Screams filled the air as one Sand ninja after another fell to the ground.
"Damn it, Poison Needle Burst!!!"
Several puppet ninjas panicked, disregarding whether they were targeting clones or the real body. They controlled their puppets to launch indiscriminate attacks, with some sacrificing themselves to draw fire.
The result of drawing fire? They got riddled with holes.
Boom!!
One by one, the clones exploded. Takuya had created so many clones just to confuse the enemy; he certainly didn't invest much chakra into each one.
His fighting style was very different from Naruto's.
And let's not forget—Naruto could pull off crazy stunts like this because he had access to the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Without the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto would probably have died from exhaustion.
"Is it over?"
The remaining clones all vanished in puffs of smoke, and the puppet ninjas breathed a sigh of relief.
Instinctively, they looked up, only to see a blond-haired boy with a kunai growing larger in their vision.
Before they could react, Minato's kunai had already pierced through the ninja's heart, and he quickly withdrew.
Puppet masters often had unexpected tricks, always ready with some sneaky move. The best approach was to attack them directly and then get out fast.
Otherwise, you might run into one of those self-destructing puppets and end up in trouble.
Many Konoha ninjas had met their end fighting Sand Village's puppet corps.
The puppet corps had always been a major headache for Konoha.
"Puppet ninjas, use area-of-effect jutsu to destroy the clones!!"
The sweating Sand jōnin continued to shout orders.
Puppet ninjas hurriedly manipulated their puppets to launch area-of-effect jutsu, trying to clear out Takuya's clones. But still, Sand ninjas kept falling, their deaths as mysterious as ever.
Wherever the real Takuya went, bodies were left in his wake.
So what if the clones were wiped out?
They were just there to distract you. Even if every clone was destroyed, it wouldn't affect Takuya too much. Sure, there would be some feedback, but it would be manageable.
Before all the clones were cleared, the Sand ninjas would have taken a heavy toll.
After a lot of effort, the Sand ninjas finally cleared all of Takuya's clones, but by then, more than half of the reinforcements had been killed.
Minato and Nawaki, slightly out of breath, made their way to Takuya's side, both splattered with blood—a sign they had taken down quite a few enemies.
"So, do you still want to keep competing?"
Takuya tilted his head, looking at the remaining, terrified Sand ninjas, and asked Minato and Nawaki:
"Should I give you guys a few more chances to show off?"
"No, we're done."
Minato didn't have the monstrous chakra or physical endurance that Takuya did, and he was already pretty tired.
Nawaki was in slightly better shape—being a Senju, his constitution was naturally stronger, and being three years older, his physical strength far exceeded Minato's.
Even so, Nawaki was feeling worn out.
Before, they were busy trying to snag as many kills as possible. Now, with enemies everywhere, they couldn't afford to get reckless. One wrong move and they'd be in trouble.
Looks like you two have had your fun. Since that's over, it's time to get serious.
Takuya decided it was time to wrap things up.
So he would... summon Manda.
***********
Note: If you're interested, you can read up to chapter 204+ at patreon.com/Emik01. Don't forget to give a power stone for many bonus chapters