"Shadow Clone Technique!"
A few days later, during a school holiday, Kaito adjusted himself to his best condition and began forming hand seals. The standard eight seals for the Shadow Clone Technique flowed smoothly from Kaito's hands. Then, a puff of white smoke appeared beside him.
"Hello there, original," said the suddenly appeared Kaito clone to the original Kaito.
"Hello," Kaito nodded, glancing at the clone. After sensing the amount of chakra remaining within himself, he finally sighed in relief. As he expected, the basic chakra consumption for a single Shadow Clone wasn't extraordinarily high. Judging from this, he could at most create three clones.
However, if he did create three clones, Kaito would only be left with about twenty percent of his chakra. That would barely allow him to use any basic techniques, let alone battle effectively. Additionally, even for the clones themselves, since creating and maintaining them required chakra, a minimal amount of chakra would make them nearly useless—any attempt to use a technique would lead to immediate dispersion due to insufficient chakra.
Even though Kaito had predicted this outcome, he still treated the Shadow Clone Technique with respect. Even though he had technically learned the jutsu, he waited until he was at his peak condition to try it, because the consequences of lacking enough chakra could be quite severe.
At best, failing would leave him in a daze for a while. At worst, it could result in losing consciousness. But after all his studies and calculations, Kaito was fairly confident that his chakra reserves were sufficient.
In the original story, Chūnin-level ninja were able to use Shadow Clones without adverse effects. Although Kaito's chakra reserves weren't quite at Chūnin level yet, Iruka had said that Kaito's maximum single chakra extraction was similar to that of a Chūnin. And typically, a Chūnin wouldn't have pre-extracted chakra stored up before using the technique—it was most likely used on the spot. Since they seemed to manage just fine, Kaito reasoned that using only one clone should be relatively safe for him as well.
But nothing was guaranteed to be completely risk-free, and Kaito valued his safety above all. So he waited until today, a holiday, and made sure to adjust his state before attempting the technique. Judging by the result, he was right to be cautious.
Then, Kaito nodded towards his clone. In the next instant, the clone dispersed into a puff of smoke, and Kaito frowned slightly.
The plan was for the Shadow Clone to disperse—he had decided that before creating it. However, when he nodded at the clone, what he had in mind was for it to finish the household chores before dispersing. He certainly wasn't trying to exploit his clone—it was merely an experiment. Now, Kaito had his answer.
The Shadow Clone, once separated, retained the mindset and intentions Kaito had at the time of its creation. Anything Kaito thought of after that, the clone did not know. Though theoretically, it might be able to guess since, ultimately, they shared the same consciousness.
Additionally, the chakra that had been allocated to the clone returned to him, though the amount was less than what was originally divided. According to the clone's own sense of its chakra reserves before dispersal, it had more chakra compared to what was returned to Kaito. In other words, beyond the chakra that the clone expended, there was also some inherent chakra loss upon dispersal.
This seemed normal to Kaito and was within acceptable limits. The loss was likely related to the distance the clone was from him, but since he didn't intend to send the clone far away, the overall chakra consumption was minimal.
This led him to another consideration: if a clone completely exhausted its chakra, would the memory be unable to return as well? After all, memories aren't generated out of nowhere—they need chakra as a carrier to return to the original.
Kaito had pondered this question before, but it only clicked for him now. Since Shadow Clones were physical clones, forming them inherently required chakra. Chakra, as widely known, is the combination of physical and spiritual energies. It made sense that the Shadow Clone formed a body using physical energy and had its own thoughts from spiritual energy.
The key takeaway, however, was that when a Shadow Clone was dispelled, the physical energy and spiritual energy would recombine to form chakra, which would return to the original body. So even if the clone exhausted its usable chakra, the memories could still be transferred back.
If that was the case, Kaito wondered if isolating a Shadow Clone in a place where chakra couldn't be transmitted would prevent memory transfer, thus effectively erasing a part of his memories. After some thought, Kaito shook his head. While it sounded logical, it didn't seem particularly useful. First, how would one create a place where chakra couldn't be transmitted? Second, even if such a place could be created, it would require time, and in that time, the Shadow Clone might already sense the danger and dispel itself.
Next came today's main focus. Kaito extracted the rest of his chakra, formed the eight seals again, and cast the Shadow Clone Technique a second time. This time, Kaito didn't bother trying to speed up the seals—it wasn't as though he was planning to use the Shadow Clone in battle. He just needed to be able to use it properly. After all, his energy was limited, and he wanted to invest it in areas that could effectively enhance his combat abilities.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Again, the technique succeeded without a hitch. As soon as it was formed, the clone sat down at Kaito's desk and began studying the school textbooks as well as the ninjutsu scrolls that Sinai had given him earlier.
As for Kaito, he didn't assign himself any tasks, nor did he do any training. He wanted to assess the clone's endurance and the amount of fatigue that would be transferred back after it dispelled, so he couldn't do any training himself, lest the combined fatigue become too much for his body to handle.
However, staying idle wasn't quite his style. Kaito decided to find some light housework to do—nothing that would consume too much energy.
An hour later, Kaito looked at his still-intact Shadow Clone in surprise. The clone's endurance had exceeded his expectations. Though it hadn't used any chakra during that time, just existing as a clone consumed chakra. However, it seemed that if the clone wasn't actively using chakra, the consumption rate wasn't too high, which was promising.
A while later, the clone looked over at Kaito and said, "Ready, original."
Kaito nodded and sat down on the bed. After a brief moment, the clone's chakra ran out and it automatically dispelled.
In an instant, all of the clone's memories and fatigue rushed into Kaito's mind, causing him to zone out momentarily. He recovered after a few seconds, then muttered under his breath.
"Uzumaki Naruto, you're really something else."
Kaito realized why only Naruto could use so many clones for training and study—no one else, not even normal Uzumaki clan members, could handle it. They might be able to manage one or two clones for training, but dozens or hundreds? Impossible.
When the Shadow Clone dispelled, all its accumulated physical fatigue transferred to the original. This meant the original had to handle all the fatigue from the clone's activity in an instant. Kaito scratched his head—it was essentially the same as...
Imagine lifting weights. You lift two weights for two hours—something you can handle. But using Shadow Clones was like lifting hundreds of weights at once. The effect might be the same, but can you actually lift that many weights in one go? Or more importantly, would your body be able to withstand that kind of strain?
Thinking about how Naruto had trained for the Rasenshuriken, Kaito could only sigh. Only Naruto could do that—anyone else would need something like the Six Paths body to handle the stress.
For now, Kaito felt alright. Since the Shadow Clone had only studied during that time, most of the fatigue was mental, which was manageable. As for the physical fatigue, Kaito could tolerate it. The mental strain, on the other hand...
That was Kaito's pride—his strongest point and his only advantage. The reason he wanted to learn the Shadow Clone Technique, which didn't seem all that practical at first glance, lay in that very advantage. He had to fully exploit his strengths. His mental endurance could handle it, and Kaito felt he could add one or two more clones for study. Unfortunately, his chakra reserves were the limiting factor.
That wasn't all. Kaito's eyes glimmered with anticipation. This attempt had gone almost perfectly—the decision to exchange for the Shadow Clone Technique was undoubtedly the right one!
However, Kaito had even bigger plans. Too bad his chakra wasn't fully restored yet—it would have to wait for a bit longer.
After all, soldier pills were something he couldn't afford right now!