Chapter 190: Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu
Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 190: Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu
Kakashi stood in silence for a long moment, staring at the empty space left behind by what he had initially thought was his former student.
'Was that really a shadow clone?' he wondered, though it was the most logical explanation. But if that was the case, then this little sparring session had been completely pointless for gauging Naruto's true progress.
After all, the strength of a shadow clone largely depends on how much chakra the user divides among them. The jutsu splits chakra evenly, so the more clones created, the weaker each individual clone becomes.
This was why Kakashi himself rarely created more than one or two in battle.
Just as he was considering the possibilities, he heard movement from deeper within the training grounds, and just a second later, another Naruto emerged, leaping through the air with ease before landing next to a bag of ramen.
"Tsk… that clone had one job and messed it up," Naruto grumbled, lifting the bag. "Now the ramen's probably all soggy."
"Sorry about that. It's kind of my fault," Kakashi admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Though to be fair, I thought I was talking to the real you."
"Eh, it's fine. He should've explained things better," Naruto replied. As he spoke, a puff of smoke appeared beside him, revealing an identical clone of him.
Naruto handed the bag to his clone. "You know what to do, right? Take this back and bring me two new ones. And don't forget the extra pork chops."
"Got it!" The clone gave a thumbs-up before vanishing.
"I hope he really does. Those clones are a bit hit-or-miss sometimes. It makes me wonder if dividing the chakra also affects their intelligence." Naruto muttered before turning back to Kakashi.
"When did you learn to make shadow clones?" Kakashi asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Just three days ago," Naruto said casually. "Though I wish I'd learned it sooner. It's made training a lot more… interesting."
"Your training? How so?" Kakashi frowned. Standard shadow clones weren't particularly useful for training. 'Unless…' Another possibility came to mind. What if the jutsu that Naruto learned wasn't the normal B-rank one that all Jonin knew, but the original version that had been tagged as a forbidden jutsu.
"Want to see?" Naruto gestured for Kakashi to follow him deeper into the training grounds.
Kakashi's curiosity grew as they approached a clearing. The closer they got, the louder the noises became...shouts, impacts, and something that sounded like scribbling. Nothing could have prepared Kakashi for what he saw as they stepped past the last trees.
"What in Kami's name…" Kakashi's voice trailed off in disbelief.
Countless Narutos were spread across the clearing, each engaged in a different activity. Some meditated, others practiced martial arts, while several were drawing intricate runes in the dirt. The sheer number of clones was staggering.
"Now you get it," Naruto said, noticing Kakashi's expression. "Training's a lot faster with these guys helping out."
Now Kakashi knew for sure that Naruto had learned the 'Multiple Shadow Clone' variant. The same forbidden jutsu he learned on the night he was tricked by that academy teacher.
Then he recalled something curious. ' Now that I think about it …that was the day when Naruto's personality changed completely. He lost his memory and forgot about this particular jutsu, but in exchange, he had gained so much more…and now he has the shadow clones back.' Kakashi felt a bit afraid just to even think what Naruto will be able to do with this jutsu. Unlike the normal variant, this one does make certain types of training easier by the effect of the 'memory feedback' from the clones when they disappear.
Kakashi turned to Naruto. "How many did you make?"
"About ten thousand this time. Not all of them are here in the clearing, though. Some are spread out across the training grounds." Naruto said it so casually that Kakashi almost missed the number.
"Ten… thousand?" Kakashi's jaw tightened. 'A single clone, with only one ten-thousandth of his chakra, fought that well?' He couldn't help but wonder, 'What can the real Naruto do?'
"Lunch will take a while," Naruto said. "Want to spar in the meantime?"
"Are you sure? You seem… busy," Kakashi said, glancing at the sea of clones.
Naruto waved him off. "I have to dispel them a few times a day anyway. Otherwise, processing all their memories gets tricky."
Naruto sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes.
"Wait, you're not going to dispel them all at once, are you? The feedback would be—"
Before Kakashi could finish, every clone disappeared in a massive cloud of smoke.
Naruto's body twitched as the memories flooded back, and Kakashi watched with concern.
After a minute, Naruto opened his eyes. "All done."
"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked.
"Of course. I already learned my lesson the first day when I made twenty thousand clones and had them practice fūinjutsu for twelve hours. That headache was killer," Naruto said with a laugh. "Now I stick to ten thousand and limit the memories to six to eight hours max."
"You made twenty thousand?!..."Kakashi stared at Naruto, dumbfounded. "Wait, you've been training like this for three days?. "
Naruto nodded. "Indeed I did. It's very efficient. Like I said before, I kinda wish I had learned it sooner. It would have saved me some time." He couldn't speed up his cultivation with this jutsu, but he had already found several areas where the clones became very handy.
"What are you trying to learn?" Kakashi asked, still trying to process everything.
Naruto glanced at him, a small grin forming on his face. "Well...everything."
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