On his way home, Kaito reflected on what he had learned today. In reality, he hadn't learned much. The current lessons were primarily focused on the history of Konoha, and only later, once they piqued the students' interest in chakra, would they begin teaching how to extract it. However, they had distributed the textbooks today, and he could study them on his own.
As for the basic three jutsu, in this time of peace, they wouldn't even be taught during the first year. The first-year curriculum seemed to only include some theoretical knowledge and some basic physical exercises. This year was meant for students to accumulate enough chakra.
Kaito looked at the sky. It was still early. The schedule here really was quite relaxed. If he remembered correctly, his mother's work wouldn't be finished yet.
But recalling what his mother had said about coming home early, Kaito decided not to wander around. Carrying the books he'd received, he ran in the direction of home. It was only a few kilometers, but it could serve as a warm-up. He couldn't help but think about how the physical strength of people in the Naruto world was indeed above average.
"I'm back." Kaito opened the door with his key and, as his mother had taught him, called out upon entering.
Kaito froze for a moment. He had expected his mother to still be at work, but instead, she was there, smiling at him, with the table full of delicious-looking food.
"Welcome home!!"
"Mother, you..." Kaito was a little taken aback.
"Of course I got off work early today. After all, today was your first day of school, Kaito! I had to come back early," Sinai said with a smile.
"Mm." No matter what, Kaito's gaze softened. From infancy, he had seen how much she had sacrificed for this household. Despite having lived a previous life, he quickly accepted Sinai as his new mother.
"But, I'm sorry, little Kaito, today is the only day I could take off. From now on, you'll have to go to and from school alone. The other kids always have family to pick them up, and I..." Sinai's mood turned somber. It wasn't that she didn't want to accompany him.
"It's okay." Kaito stepped forward to hug his mother, seeing her inexplicably fall into self-blame.
"Oh... How embarrassing that my child has to comfort me," Sinai chuckled weakly, then forced herself to cheer up. "To make it up to little Kaito, you can ask for anything you want from me."
"There's nothing in particular I want right now," Kaito thought for a moment. He was quite content with his current life and said so.
"Hmm." Sinai looked troubled, as if she really wanted to do something for her son.
Noticing his mother's thoughts, Kaito decided to just ask for something.
"Oh, right. The teacher at the academy must have talked about ninja history today, right? So, Kaito, do you want to become a ninja?" Sinai suddenly realized and smiled as she asked.
"Yeah, I want to be the strongest ninja," Kaito said, without hiding his thoughts.
"Then little Kaito can also tell me about a jutsu you'd like to learn. Mommy has some connections, you know." Sinai's eyes lit up as she said this.
However, she soon realized the flaw in her statement—how would Kaito even know what ninjutsu to ask for? And she herself hadn't used ninjutsu in many years. Plus, she was only a Genin and didn't know many techniques. Should she ask an old comrade to demonstrate?
"A jutsu, huh? The one I want right now is the Shadow Clone Technique," Kaito answered with his truest thoughts.
"Huh? Shadow Clone? Why do you want that jutsu? It's quite difficult, and most importantly, it's not that useful for combat," Sinai said, surprised. She didn't know how Kaito even knew about it, but she didn't think it had much use.
"Uh, there's no particular reason. I just saw a Jonin use it once, and since it's a real physical clone, I liked it a lot. Whether it's useful or not doesn't matter—I decided back then that I'd learn the Shadow Clone Technique if I got the chance." Kaito lied, since the real reason was something he couldn't explain.
But as for Sinai's comment about it not being useful in combat, Kaito could only think that he never intended to use Shadow Clones for battle. That technique was essentially exclusive to Naruto or those from the Uzumaki clan.
What Kaito needed was the experience-transfer ability of the Shadow Clones. Plus, the difficulty of the technique seemed suitable. Although Shadow Clone was classified as a B-rank jutsu, Naruto had learned the advanced version, the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, in one night, so the difficulty might not align with its classification.
The B-rank classification did make some sense, though—the Shadow Clone Technique required a large amount of chakra, meaning only Jonin had enough chakra to use it effectively in battle.
Since Shadow Clones split chakra evenly, Kaito guessed that the split applied only to the chakra actively extracted—not to the unprocessed physical energy still stored in the body.
So if someone below the rank of Jonin used it, how much chakra could a Shadow Clone have? Probably not enough to use other jutsu. A clone that dispersed after one hit, and could only use taijutsu, wouldn't be of much help in battle.
But Kaito had never planned to use the Shadow Clone for combat. He was still in the accumulation phase, and having one or even two clones would be very convenient.
As for whether his body could handle it, Kaito had no intention of pushing it like Naruto did, creating hundreds or even thousands of clones to train. He only planned to use one clone to begin with, and he wasn't going to make it do exhausting tasks. He'd increase the number gradually if he felt his body could handle it.
"But, this is a rare opportunity. I don't think getting the Shadow Clone Technique is worth it. How about you think it over more carefully, or I can ask one of my old comrades to demonstrate another jutsu for you?" Sinai still didn't want to use an opportunity that Kaito's father had worked so hard to leave behind on a seemingly useless jutsu.
The opportunity remained, but with her husband gone, Sinai needed to ask an old teacher for help if she wanted to use it.
Going to all that trouble just to get the Shadow Clone Technique, which was not only seemingly useless but also a B-rank jutsu, seemed wasteful. Her late husband's effort could afford more than just a Shadow Clone. She could even exchange it for several C-rank jutsu! In her mind, that was a far better option.
"Hmm?" Kaito blinked, having assumed his mother was only talking about some jutsu his father had left behind. But from what she said, was there really a chance of acquiring the Shadow Clone Technique?
Suddenly, Kaito's eyes lit up, and he began pleading with Sinai, demonstrating his determination to obtain the Shadow Clone Technique. After a lot of back-and-forth, Sinai finally relented.
"Alright, fine. Shadow Clone it is. As long as you're happy. Just don't regret it later."
"I definitely won't regret it! You're the best, mom!" Kaito couldn't help but cheer.
"Alright, alright. Let's eat." Seeing Kaito's happiness, Sinai also smiled. In the end, it didn't really matter if Kaito became a powerful ninja or not—what mattered most was that he was happy.