RiaN Chapter 13 (Patreon)

I knew I would pass; I could easily use all three of the basic jutsu taught, and my taijutsu record was almost immaculate, and I was well prepared for any written test we would need to take. I was so well prepared, I got to tutor Naruto on the clone technique. “No… It’s about visualization. You have to make a copy of yourself. The easiest way to do this is to imagine yourself being split into two, one is the original the other is the copy.”

Naruto scratched his head. Although what I said is the advanced method, I thought he’d have an easier time than building the mental image of himself or the person he was attempting to copy in his mind. The nine-tailed beast inside him was about 70/30 yang/yin energy now. It meant that it would still be extremely difficult to manipulate his chakra; it wasn’t as bad as it was for the Naruto in the anime. He was actually able to learn techniques that weren’t just dumping as much chakra as you could into something to get it to work.

The clone technique was a complete yin technique, which is why he was struggling. The tangible shadow clones were a yang technique, so as long as he supplied the jutsu with enough chakra, it would make the clone based on himself automatically without him needing to think about how it actually worked. I sighed again as he summoned yet another useless clone of himself that wouldn’t fool anybody before I asked.

“So you’re mom still doesn’t want you to learn the shadow clone technique?” It wasn’t just me; all of my classmates also weren’t taught the technique, even though it had been used previously in the method I mentioned. Many students used shadow clones to avoid going to school with their original bodies. Even now, all the weekly taijutsu fights and jutsu practice take place on the same day so people could show up for it with their real bodies.

We weren’t told why we couldn’t learn the technique either. My father had lied about the reason, I do not doubt that now. I just sighed before getting back to teaching him. It would be a hassle, but I thought I could get a decent clone out of him before we had to take the test. 

…

The testing took place, and besides a few of the less stand-out members of the elite class, and the Might clan who had the excuse of not working on ninja techniques, everyone passed. They would have the summer to make it up, or their clan would have to pay more for them to stay in the elite class. Naruto passed as well. It took hours of getting him to imagine the mental image of himself splitting and duplicating before he finally understood it.

It took me breaking a pack of instant ramen in half and then cooking them in two separate bowls for him to finally understand. (How!? That makes no sense to me! I did it on a fluke because he wanted ramen but only had one left, so we split it!) Now, he could make one decent clone that could pass. Most people could build and retain an image of themself or their target, but Naruto had to build it every single time he made the clone.

Now that I had passed, I begged my father for the shadow clone technique. He gave me a stern look before finally relenting. “Listen… I normally wouldn’t. There’s a reason we don’t teach kids this jutsu, even though it’s so useful. It is too useful and teaches the wrong things.” I didn’t know what he meant as he went on to explain.

“Imagine having the ability to never do anything annoying again because you can always send a clone. That sounds amazing. What happens if a child learns this too early is they have their clone do more and more things until they don’t want to get out of bed. It also teaches children not to realize how dangerous some things are. People grow so used to their shadow clones always taking the risks that they don’t take risks when they should and do take risks when they shouldn’t.”

He was very serious as he spoke. “A lot of children get hurt trying to do things they’ve done with their shadowclones before they can do them reliably every single time… I don’t think that will be a problem for you. The shadow clone jutsu is just too powerful for most to realize. It’s an unwritten rule to only teach it to shinobi who won't abuse it.”

It made sense. If you could only have one jutsu, it would be the most useful and versatile out of all of them. It not only worked as offense, defense, utility, increase in manpower, and scouting; it was good at so many things. Four hands are better than two fists in most situations. I understood where he was coming from but… “Classes are too boring. I either need to be moved up several grades or have some way to skip classes, otherwise, I’m going to fail out just from sheer boredom.”

He looked at me again before looking around as if he was about to do something bad. “Don’t tell your mother I gave this to you.” He handed over a scroll, and I couldn’t hold back my smile anymore. I quickly read the method and performed the hand signs to form a shadow clone. I couldn’t help but keep smiling, not only did I get summer break, but now I also had one of the strongest jutsu in the world.

…

I tossed my line back into the water. We were enjoying the summer break from school as we fished in Ryuchi lake. Most of my family, along with Naruto and some of the other clan heirs, were here on this sectioned-off beach separated from the rest of the lake. Thousands of other people were enjoying the beach, just not on the VIP part like us.

I looked back at the odd sight; the Ryuchi clan members numbered as many as the rest of the clans. It was a mixture of people I knew, then a mixture of what looked to be new OC characters mixed in. There was a green-haired girl who had an ice cream that her foot-long tongue would dart out every few seconds and lick. A man eight feet tall that looked like a greek god from the Ryuchi/Akimichi line. He was using a perfected fat burning technique that was always active and improving the person's physique.

About fifteen little Tsunade clones were running around, and that wasn’t even half her kids, only the ones that looked exactly like her. When I heard how many children Orochi and Tsunade had, it cemented in my mind that he was a transmigrator. The Ryuchi bloodline had a strange part tied to it, that was there were very few singular births. They tended to have twins or triplets, with the record being eleven children at once. Eleven children born at once are undecuplets, and it happened between Orochi and an Inuzuka concubine.

A little blonde-haired boy went running by screaming. “Believe it! Believe it! Believe it! Believe it!” His sister chased him down with a stick, trying to hit him. I laughed before getting back to fishing until Naruto spoke up. “Man, what an annoying kid. He should be playing with his younger sister, not teasing her.” Smiling back at him, I questioned. “Oh?” 

He tossed his fishing line out again before continuing. “Yeah, I’d give anything to be a big brother to a cute little sister or brother…” Well, he might have to wait a few more years, but if his mom is still willing when I’m of age, I might be able to make his dream happen.