Cultivation

Whether it was Yuan Wei or Xia, both had already met the requirements for casting ninjutsu.

Their half year of training had also brought considerable growth. Both their chakra reserves and physical condition had improved rapidly.

Ordinary chunin and genin mostly relied on the Three Body Technique and taijutsu, but it was necessary to master a few ninjutsu to use as decisive finishing moves.

That was why Lin Ke gave them a detailed explanation of his understanding and experience regarding "techniques."

Training in nature transformation was not difficult. It was more of a gradual, painstaking process—

In truth, it meant strengthening the attributes carried by one's chakra, repeatedly using those attributes to do something, using them again and again. Once one became familiar with the changes in those attributes, one would naturally grasp the feeling of nature transformation. Then one could try combining it with shape transformation and ultimately create a complete ninjutsu.

For example, when Naruto trained in Wind nature transformation, Hatake Kakashi had said that an ordinary person would need half a year just to cut a leaf. Completing all the subsequent training would probably take several years.

But for geniuses and people with cheats...

Naruto used Shadow Clones to cheat his way through leaf-cutting in two days, while Sasuke completed the entirety of Lightning nature transformation in just a few days, including the high-difficulty task of using Lightning Release Chakra Body Activation.

It was not as if one could not cast ninjutsu without understanding attribute and nature transformations at all. Even without training, someone born with a certain attribute would not find it too difficult to learn the corresponding Release Techniques, because attributes were innate. Naruto's chakra could naturally slice apart leaves once released, while Sasuke's chakra could naturally burn.

That was the advantage of attributes.

In the manga, Sasuke recalled learning the Great Fireball as a child: refine an appropriate amount of chakra, gather it in the mouth, form hand seals, and spit it out.

But if one wanted to learn more ninjutsu, master higher-level ninjutsu, make one's ninjutsu faster and stronger, or even create new ninjutsu, one had to undergo nature transformation training.

The long, repeated process of attribute training was itself a tempering of chakra control. It was simply far beyond the level of Ninja Academy students, whose chakra reserves and chakra control were both below the required standard.

It was beyond most genin as well. Usually, one began as a chunin, when one had money, free time, and access to a large number of Release Techniques, then spent a period of time training in nature transformation.

Lin Ke hoped his two companions could go farther, so he combined what he had learned in his previous life with what he had trained in during this life. After systematically summarizing it all, he taught it to them and had them undergo a period of special training.

Even if a month of training could not let them quickly master ninjutsu, as long as they persevered, they would eventually grow stronger.

By now, he could no longer tell whether he was treating his two companions so well as part of an act, or whether it truly came from his heart.

He simply did not resist it. That was enough.

"Good. Now that they're taken care of, it's time for my own training..."

After rambling on for so long, Lin Ke felt that his mouth was a little sore. "First, let's see the gift Yan Shui Teacher gave me."

He unrolled the scroll, and the writing on it entered his sight—

It was cipher text. The Ninja Academy taught related ciphers, and they were often used after graduation when carrying out C-Rank Missions. Konoha also had a dedicated Cipher Division and a library specifically for ciphers.

"Shadow Clone Technique?!"

After deciphering the code and learning the name of the corresponding ninjutsu, he rubbed his cheeks. "A B-rank, jōnin-level universal ninjutsu. This really is a huge gift."

An absolute huge gift. —Poof~

Another cloud of white smoke rose.

"Failed again..." Lin Ke sat down wearily. This was already his third failure at the Shadow Clone Technique.

The Shadow Clone Technique might seem commonplace in the manga, but its actual training difficulty was unquestionably at the jōnin level.

Even in the manga, when the Third Hokage faced Orochimaru during the Konoha Crush Plan, Orochimaru said the Third Hokage had charged in without using Shadow Clones. The real reason was not that he chose not to use them, but that he could not... He no longer had as much chakra as before... Shadow Clones required one to divide their current chakra evenly, and the slightest error would waste chakra for nothing... He was old.

The Shadow Clone Technique did not consume much chakra when cast, but evenly distributing chakra meant dividing half of one's entire current chakra in a single breath, which was quite a lot. (Certain people did not count.) Most importantly, even the Third Hokage worried about wasting chakra through an operational mistake while casting Shadow Clones. Its difficulty was clearly well deserved.

Lin Ke's chakra control was strong, but among jōnin it was merely average, much less comparable to a Kage or the Ninjutsu Professor, the Third Hokage. Having only just begun learning the Shadow Clone Technique, he had indeed been stumped a little.

The difficult part was how to divide one's constantly fluctuating chakra into exactly equal portions. A little more would not do, and a little less would not do either. This technique was instead rather troublesome for smart people. Especially when they saw that their chakra had been depleted a little more through movement, that subtle hesitation was the key factor causing the ninjutsu to fail.

If an idiot could rely on instinctive intuition to divide it evenly without hesitation, their success rate might actually be higher.

"Shadow Clones... perhaps this is a very special ninjutsu."

While Lin Ke rested and recovered his strength, a thought suddenly occurred to him. For other ninjutsu, as long as the general steps were correct, it did not matter how much chakra one used. It was all chakra anyway; one simply cast it.

Yet Shadow Clones not only forcibly consumed half of his chakra, but also demanded such high chakra control. Perhaps it was truly special.

What kind of ninjutsu would result from combining the literal meanings of those three words: shadow, divide, body?

If it really could separate one's shadow, uh... he could not think of what that would look like at the moment. Its usefulness was completely unknown as well.

But if it truly separated the shadow, it would be the absolute bane of the Nara Clan's secret techniques. He did not even know how the Nara Clan's secret techniques would use the Shadow Imitation Technique if he could separate his shadow from his body.

A Nara-specialized ninjutsu?

It was somewhat strange. Nara Yan Shui Teacher had given him a Nara-specialized ninjutsu...

"Good. Let's try again."

Lin Ke stood up, refined the little chakra he had left, divided it evenly, formed hand seals, and cast it—

The instant no smoke appeared and his chakra instead vanished into thin air, he knew that this attempt had succeeded.

Another him did not appear, nor did his shadow stand up and greet him. Yet his field of vision had undergone a wondrous change.

In his sight, strange ripples appeared at the point where every shadow connected to its corresponding body, as though with a single thought from him, the two could separate.