Civilization Progress and Shadow Clone Technique

"I refer to all of humanity's life activities—survival, livelihood, production, culture, creation, war, love, and everything else—as Human Civilization!"

Yūhi Shinku nodded. He'd never heard the term before, but it wasn't hard to grasp.

"And the advancement of humanity's production and way of life is the advancement of Human Civilization!"

Yūhi Shinku blinked. He noticed that at some point, Yūhi Kurenai had finished her dance, bathed, changed clothes, and also come to the backyard.

He waved her over, had her sit beside him, and together they listened to Hyuga Ningyuan extol the greatness of the Second Hokage.

Even though the Second Hokage still hadn't made an appearance yet.

"In ancient times, humans hunted with spears, never knowing where their next meal would come from. When winter came and they couldn't catch anything, entire tribes would freeze or starve to death in droves!"

"Then someone discovered rice and wheat. Humans began farming, securing stable harvests, no longer relying on the whims of nature. From then on, humanity moved from a nomadic era to an agricultural one. They stopped living in caves and started building houses. That's a form of civilizational progress!"

Yūhi Shinku nodded, beginning to grasp the weight of the word "civilization."

"Later, as the population grew and villages expanded, city-states emerged, and then nations appeared!"

"As nations grew, they began to border other nations. Over territory, water sources, food, and countless other reasons, war broke out!"

Yūhi Shinku rubbed his chin. He'd never really thought about it—was that really how war started?

So was everything Hyuga Ningyuan saying recorded history from the Hyuga Clan?

"Then the Rabbit Goddess ended the war, and the Sage of Six Paths passed down Chakra, hoping people could understand each other and bring lasting peace. But sadly, he failed!"

Yūhi Shinku nodded. That was widely known history in the ninja world; he knew it too.

"Though wars came frequently after that, Human Civilization undoubtedly progressed. In the past, one person could never dig a well alone, but with Chakra, a single person could do it all!"

"Felling a tree used to take forever, but with Chakra, one ninjutsu was enough!"

Yūhi Shinku blinked. Hearing it that way, the arrival of Chakra really did seem like progress.

"While ninjas were researching ninjutsu, the ordinary world was changing too. They discovered gravity, electromagnetism, physics, chemistry, and the periodic table."

The Chunin Exams had even included chemistry questions and parabolas.

The antennas lining the streets proved that the ninja world had electromagnetic mechanics.

Yūhi Shinku kept nodding. He went on missions often and knew the ordinary world was developing fast.

"I have no doubt that at this rate, soon the mortal world will have vehicles that travel a thousand miles a day, machines that fly, and devices that can land on the moon."

Yūhi Shinku couldn't imagine that. What kind of vehicle could go that fast?

But since it was about the future, and the mortal world was developing so quickly, maybe such things really would exist someday.

"Still, as good as this knowledge is, there's a problem," Hyuga Ningyuan said.

"What problem?" Yūhi Kurenai asked curiously.

She was young, quick to accept new things, and in class they studied not only ninjutsu but also the natural sciences from the ordinary world, so she was very receptive to what Hyuga Ningyuan was saying.

"It's too hard to learn!" Hyuga Ningyuan said. "We ninjas have Chakra to assist us, making our brains process faster, and even we struggle to learn ordinary people's knowledge. After five or six years, we only grasp the basics. For ordinary people, it might take eight or nine!"

"As civilization advances, the foundational knowledge keeps piling up. Ordinary people have more and more to learn, so their study time keeps getting longer!"

"A person's prime years should be between 18 and 28. But during that time, they're all studying. The brightest years of life are spent learning—when do they have time to invent or create?"

Yūhi Shinku scratched his head. "You mean the Shadow Clone Technique could help them?"

"Of course!" Hyuga Ningyuan nodded. "The Shadow Clone Technique records not only physical memory but also soul memory. With two shadow clones, you double your learning speed; with four, you quadruple it!"

"If someone originally had to study until age 30 to create something new, with the Shadow Clone Technique, they could shorten it to 20, or even 10. Wouldn't that give them a long time to invent?"

Actually, there was an even better technique than this—the Art of the Ninja Sect!

It transferred a person's entire memory to another through Chakra!

What was that?

Knowledge transfer technology!

If this technique became widespread, every child in the ninja world could have the lifelong research memories of an old scientist, and these research achievements could be passed down and accumulated generation after generation!

If such a technique spread, the ninja world would be filled with scientists and engineers everywhere!

Hyuga Ningyuan didn't even dare to imagine how fast the development would be!

Three years to space, five years to the moon, a hundred years for a droplet, a thousand years for a two-dimensional foil!

What was the Otsutsuki Clan? How many shots from a Star Destroyer could they withstand?

But the Art of the Ninja Sect was still too far off. Talking about it was pointless, so for now, he could only hype up the Shadow Clone Technique.

"The Shadow Clone Technique..." Yūhi Shinku thought it over. He really couldn't argue.

Because the Shadow Clone Technique truly had that potential.

But...

"The Shadow Clone Technique has severe drawbacks. It retains soul memory, but also the fatigue from the soul. If you create too many clones at once, when they return, the overwhelming fatigue could even turn a person into an idiot," Yūhi Shinku said.

"Then improve it!" Hyuga Ningyuan said. "Every technique has some flaws when first invented. But as later generations refine and perfect it, the flaws diminish and the strengths grow."

Just look at how Snake Uncle had modified Impure World Reincarnation.

"I believe that one day, these flaws in the Shadow Clone Technique will be optimized away!"

Yūhi Shinku found this a bit odd. He felt that Hyuga Ningyuan was a good kid in every way, except maybe he was a little too obsessed with science and technology.

It reminded him of someone he knew: Orochimaru.

Oh, and the Second Hokage was also that kind of person—and he was his idol too!

Well, that settled it!

Orochimaru hadn't defected yet, and the Second Hokage's reputation had always been solid. So while Hyuga Ningyuan's words struck Yūhi Shinku as a little off, he didn't connect them to the idea of a mad scientist.

Instead, he thought that if the kid really set the Second Hokage as his goal—even if he didn't reach the heights of the Sannin or the Second Hokage himself, just achieving a tenth of their accomplishments would be impressive!

"You really like the Shadow Clone Technique?" Yūhi Shinku asked.

"Yes!" Hyuga Ningyuan nodded.

"But it's a B-rank Ninjutsu. You can't learn it yet!" Yūhi Shinku laughed. He'd been listening to this little brat ramble on, and now he'd finally caught him off guard!

"Huh?" Hyuga Ningyuan froze, then immediately understood. This was the fallout from his earlier act of holding back.

To hide my strength, I said I couldn't learn a B-rank Genjutsu, and now the boomerang's hit me!

"Hahaha." Yūhi Shinku laughed and patted the board. "You lost at Shogi too!"

"Is that so?" Hyuga Ningyuan chuckled. "One more round!"

"One more round, and you'll still lose!"

"Oh, really?"

"Nani?"

A moment later, staring at his scattered pieces on the board, Yūhi Shinku looked bewildered. "Didn't you say you didn't know how to play?"

"Didn't you just teach me?"

Shogi LV1 (0/10)

It hadn't even leveled up, but he had Arcane Brush Palace at LV5.

With that kind of computational power backing him, he was a Shogi grandmaster!

There's no way I'd lose. Even Shikamaru might not beat me!

As I wrote this, I wondered if a five-year-old saying these things was a bit over the top.

But then I thought about myself—when I was in elementary school, didn't I talk about America and Japan, Mao and the Three Kingdoms all day? It's probably fine.