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"You and No. 1 go work on Fire Release, and they'll study Chidori," Yuichi Yuuki instructed as he patted the No. 4 shadow clone on the shoulder.
"We all have a bright future."
No. 4 shadow clone looked at Yuichi with a disdainful expression. "I'm you. You don't need to sugarcoat things for me!"
"You'll regret this one day!" No. 4 clone snorted and walked toward No. 1 to start training.
Watching the clone walk away, Yuichi scratched his head. After a moment, he mumbled to himself, "But I'm the original..."
The development of Chidori wasn't truly groundbreaking research, Yuichi knew. It just needed a plausible reason for its invention. And his lightning chakra nature was that reason. It seemed entirely reasonable to accidentally develop an A-rank Lightning Release ninjutsu, right?
Yuichi thought it made perfect sense.
When he went home the previous day and gave the Shadow Clone Technique to Yuhi Shinku, he also mentioned Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.
Yuhi Shinku, after hearing the story, had simply asked him, "Let me ask you something: if someone's entire clan had died, and then one day a child from that clan appeared, what do you think would happen?"
Without thinking, Yuichi replied, "They'd feel a connection, of course!"
But after saying it, Yuichi realized something. Yuhi Shinku smiled knowingly and said nothing more.
Kushina Uzumaki didn't have any ill feelings toward him. In fact, she was very kind. She had even asked him to call Minato 'brother-in-law' for this very reason, treating him like a younger brother.
"Having such a sister isn't so bad," Yuichi thought quietly.
Kushina was no ordinary person—she was the second jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, the wife of the Fourth Hokage, mother of the future Seventh Hokage, and a distant relative of the Fifth Hokage. In Konoha, she was like a walking nuclear weapon.
And as a jinchūriki with her own will, she possessed great deterrent power. Add Minato Namikaze and Yuhi Shinku to that, and Yuichi felt secure. With such backing, not only could he protect himself in Konoha, but he could also become formidable in his own right.
With this in mind, he no longer felt the need to hide his talent. After all, he was a genius. Or at least, that's what he shamelessly believed.
His shadow clones were hard at work, so naturally, Yuichi wouldn't slack off either. Minato had told him that Kushina would soon be guiding him in the art of sealing techniques, which meant he had to improve his chakra control in preparation.
With that thought, Yuichi formed more hand seals. This time, two more shadow clones—No. 5 and No. 6—appeared.
"You two will handle chakra control training."
"Do a good job, and I'll make sure you're rewarded," he said, patting their shoulders.
"You're so lazy!"
"What a useless original body!" the two clones glared at him, but Yuichi didn't care. A few glares were nothing.
Under his direction, the clones obediently began training to improve their chakra control. Two focused on Fire Release, two on Chidori development, and two worked on chakra control.
While the training ground was quiet, a sense of constant effort surrounded him. Yuichi knew that in the world of Naruto, you didn't rise to greatness just by enduring hardship. Sometimes, you had to take from others—even if that meant your own shadow clones.
[Achievement unlocked: "Eat People."]
[I'm so ruthless, I even squeeze myself! In this world, ruthlessness is the key to survival! Do you want to succeed? If you don't, plenty of shadow clones will do it for you!]
[Reward: Summoning Technique: Fire Crow]
"???" Yuichi blinked at the blue light screen in front of him, confused.
What was this Fire Crow?
He had expected to gain a summoning beast eventually, but he had hoped for something like a panda. Yuichi really wanted to know what it would be like to summon a Tyrant Panda.
But instead, he received a Fire Crow—a creature he had never heard of before. It certainly wasn't in any of the games he'd played.
Still, it sounded strong.
His mind shifted, and his personal panel appeared in front of him:
[Achievements: childhood sweethearts, lifelong rivals, the beginning of ninjas, check-in at Ichiraku Ramen, Obito's promise, I can do whatever I want, eat people.]
[Rewards: Uzumaki Naruto (Ninja Student), Ninjutsu Defense lv2, Haruno Sakura (Shippuden), Uchiha Sasuke (Sharingan), Ninjutsu Rage, Summoning Technique: Fire Crow.]
[Title: Ninja Student (equipped).]
[Special reward: Uzumaki bloodline.]
Looking over the panel, Yuichi felt a dark space open up in his mind, within which a summoning scroll floated. The contract was already signed, but he decided not to summon anything just yet. It would be hard to explain a sudden summoning scroll.
Just as he stopped looking at the panel, he received a mental message: the contract with the Fire Crow was successful. There was now a subtle pull in his heart, a call that told him he could use reverse summoning if he wished.
The temptation was strong, so he decided to follow the pull. He quietly walked into the depths of the forest, glancing back at his shadow clones.
The clones responsible for slacking off sat with their backs against a tree. "Hey, what's the original body doing?" one asked.
"No idea. He's really embarrassing us shadow clones."
"Right? We're over here developing Chidori, and what's he doing? Nothing."
The other clone stared at his companion in disbelief. How could he be so shameless?
But he kind of liked it.
Unaware of his clones' thoughts, Yuichi found a quiet spot in the forest. He looked around and decided, "This is good enough."
With that, he responded to the call of the summoning, and with a puff of smoke, he disappeared.
[The tribe lives in one of the three southern mountains, called Red Flame Mountain. The mountain is covered in black rock, and beneath it flows a river of fire. It spans two hundred miles and is home to a three-legged crow with a body surrounded by flames. Its black feathers gleam like gold. It speaks human language and is known as the Fire Crow. Eating it strengthens the Yang Fire.]
What is this?
Yuichi stared at the stone tablet in front of him, completely bewildered.
This…this feels like something straight out of the Classic of Mountains and Seas!
Before he could make sense of it all, a piercing cry suddenly echoed from the sky.
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