Chapter 16: Shadow Clone Acquired
Naruto opened the door. When he saw Hiruzen Sarutobi, his expression didn't change at all.
He no longer felt like pretending in front of this old man.
The Third still wore his usual kind and gentle smile. He sniffed the air.
"Naruto, did you cook this yourself? It smells wonderful. Grandpa hasn't eaten yet either. May I join you for dinner?"
"I only made enough for myself," Naruto replied directly.
Hiruzen gave an awkward laugh and raised the bag in his hand. "That's fine. Grandpa brought some dishes too. Let's eat together."
The food was served. Hiruzen had brought tamagoyaki and a white soup stew with carrots.
Under the warm lighting, the Third Hokage looked like a kindly grandfather as he placed food into Naruto's bowl.
At first glance, they really looked like a normal grandfather and grandson eating together.
Hiruzen picked up a piece of the fish Naruto had fried and put it in his mouth. He was instantly impressed.
The skin was crispy, the flesh tender, with no fishy smell at all. Both the texture and flavor were the best fish he had eaten in decades.
"This fish is delicious. By the way, Naruto, do you have a habit of naming your dishes?" the Third suddenly asked, as if an idea had struck him.
Naruto thought for a moment, then had a flash of inspiration. He felt a rare spark of interest and casually came up with a name on the spot.
"Golden Dragon Spiral Super Sensory Dance — melts in your mouth, First Form."
...
Hearing this ridiculously long, chuuni name, Hiruzen stared at Naruto for several full seconds.
Then a look of relief appeared on his face as he thought: [Minato, he truly is your son…]
"Good, good name!"
The Third laughed.
After the meal, Hiruzen didn't leave immediately.
Sitting on the sofa, he carefully chose his words and asked, "Naruto, Grandpa heard that you injured many people with stones today. Is that true?"
Naruto inwardly thought as expected.
He neither answered nor denied it.
Which was answer enough.
Hiruzen continued, "Actually, those people are quite pitiful. I will warn them not to harass you anymore. Can you promise Grandpa that you won't hurt innocent people again?"
Hearing this, Naruto almost laughed in anger.
"They're pitiful? Innocent? Then what about me? What did I do wrong? They treat me like that, and you still want me to smile and be nice? Was I born just to endure all this?"
Naruto's string of sharp questions left Hiruzen momentarily speechless.
[That's right… Even though this child seems mature, he's only eight years old…]
For a brief moment, a trace of guilt flashed through the Third Hokage's heart.
"Grandpa understands. Don't worry, Grandpa promises you — this kind of thing won't happen again."
Sensing the atmosphere had grown awkward, the Third quickly changed the subject.
"This is the birthday present Grandpa prepared for you. See if you like it."
With that, he took out a scroll and placed it on the table.
Naruto didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up the scroll and opened it.
What was recorded inside was a B-rank ninjutsu.
[Shadow Clone Jutsu!]
Naruto was slightly surprised when he saw the technique.
This was one of the most useful jutsu throughout the entire Naruto series.
It could be used in combat, for training support, gathering intelligence without risk, and more.
Especially for a chakra monster like Naruto, it was practically a divine skill.
Moreover, he realized that combining Shadow Clone with Phantom Transformation Jutsu would allow him to escape the surveillance of Kakashi and the other two Anbu, letting him do whatever he wanted.
Seeing Naruto staring at the scroll in a daze, Hiruzen chuckled. "You like it? I thought this ninjutsu would suit you perfectly."
Naruto nodded. The Shadow Clone Jutsu was indeed very important to him.
Once the mood had lightened, the Third asked casually, as if it were nothing important:
"By the way, Naruto, those sword techniques you've been practicing lately — why can you release such powerful wind blades without forming seals? What's the principle behind it? Can you tell Grandpa?"
[As expected. I knew you weren't giving me Shadow Clone out of pure kindness, you old fox. You've been waiting for this.]
Naruto answered casually, "Oh, that? I just swing the sword and wind blades come out. Isn't that pretty normal?"
Hiruzen's mouth twitched a few times.
Looking at Naruto's innocent expression, he couldn't tell for a moment whether the boy was telling the truth or lying.
In the end, the Third Hokage failed to get the answer he wanted. After giving a few more reminders, he left somewhat dejectedly.
The next morning, after Naruto finished washing up, the system's voice sounded.
"New self-discipline task unlocked: Spend one full year training to awaken all seven chakra natures, and max out the proficiency of both Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation for every nature."
After hearing the task, Naruto clicked his tongue inwardly. This self-discipline mission seemed quite difficult.
Not only did he have to awaken seven chakra natures, he also needed to max out two different transformation proficiencies for each.
However, when he thought about the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he felt a little more at ease.
With Shadow Clones assisting in training, the speed could increase several times — even dozens of times.
Since there was still some time before school, Naruto decided to try learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu right away.
That way, he could send a clone to school like Uchiha Itachi (the one who beats seven), while his real body trained chakra natures.
Two and a half minutes later.
Naruto formed a single hand seal.
Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Poof!
A cloud of smoke exploded beside him.
An identical Naruto appeared.
Unlike the regular Clone Technique, Shadow Clones had physical bodies.
This clone possessed roughly half of Naruto's chakra — nearly 38 cards.
Aside from not having the Nine-Tails inside, it was almost no different from the original.
"Go to the academy," Naruto said, glancing at the clone.
The Shadow Clone nodded without a word and walked out the door.
It even looked rather cool.
Naruto secretly nodded in approval.
It seemed his Shadow Clone was quite sensible — unlike the original Naruto's clones that caused so much trouble.
"If I had Shadow Clone in my previous life, I could've sent them to work while I relaxed. The ultimate dream for any wage slave," Naruto couldn't help sighing.
On the rooftop of the neighboring house, Kakashi and the other two Anbu saw Naruto leaving and prepared to follow as usual.
However, the sensory-type Anbu Yamanaka I suddenly reached out and stopped them.
"Wait! Something's wrong! There are still chakra signatures from Uzumaki Naruto and the Nine-Tails inside the house! The one who just left doesn't have the Nine-Tails' chakra."
Kakashi fell into thought. With his high battle intelligence, he quickly made a guess.
"In that case, the one who just left should be Naruto's Shadow Clone."
"Let's split up. Shin, you follow the one who just left. I'll stay here with I."
The young Anbu named Shin nodded and flickered after the clone.
The two who remained clearly understood that the real Naruto — the one with the Nine-Tails inside — was the priority.
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