Clone Technique

Ye Lan chuckled, tacitly acknowledging it without saying anything else.

Before long, Iruka entered from outside. Ye Lan instinctively glanced at him, and an extremely familiar feeling welled up within him.

Iruka was Naruto's teacher. His hair was tied back, and a long scar ran across the bridge of his nose. Those were his most distinctive features. Iruka was also a Chunin, and his strength was quite respectable. He had a very good personality as well. That was Ye Lan's impression of Iruka.

When Iruka saw Kakashi and Ye Lan, he greeted them casually. "Kakashi, what brings you here?"

Kakashi looked at Iruka and smiled. "Didn't I bring you a new student?"

"A new student?" Iruka froze for a moment, then looked at Ye Lan. "Why haven't I seen you in the village before? You look familiar somehow. The Ninja Academy usually accepts very young students. At your age... don't tell me you don't even know the Clone Technique?"

Ye Lan smiled awkwardly.

Kakashi took over. "His name is Ye Lan. He came from another village."

"He plans to settle in Konoha for good and will be one of Konoha's people from now on. So he came here to take a test and get a forehead protector. That way, he'll count as a Genin."

Iruka suddenly understood. "So that's how it is. All right, Ye Lan. The Ninja Academy teaches fairly basic Ninjutsu. The so-called graduation test is just things like kunai and clones. Do you know the Clone Technique?"

Hearing that, Ye Lan scratched his head awkwardly. "I'm not very good at that yet."

Kakashi, standing beside him, looked utterly incredulous. Someone who even knew Great Fire Annihilation didn't know the Clone Technique?

Iruka smiled. "All right, then I'll teach you now. Judging from the Chakra in your body, learning the Clone Technique shouldn't be too difficult. I'll form the hand seals first, so watch carefully. Afterward, go back and practice a little. In a few days, you can come here and take the test."

As Iruka spoke, he formed hand seals. In an instant, a clone identical to Iruka appeared beside him. If Ye Lan had not known Iruka beforehand, even he would not have been able to tell which one was the real Iruka.

Iruka dismissed the clone and asked Ye Lan, "How was it? Did you see all of my hand seals clearly?"

Ye Lan grinned, then quickly formed a hand seal and shouted, "Clone Technique!"

Two clones appeared at the same time. Two identical copies of Ye Lan stood beside him, both with considerable Chakra density.

At that sight, both Kakashi and Iruka stood rooted to the spot.

Iruka had told Ye Lan to come back in a few days to take the test. Yet after seeing the hand seals for the Clone Technique just once, Ye Lan had successfully performed it. How was that even possible?

Ordinary people simply could not do something like that. Learning a Ninjutsu did not just mean learning the hand seals; it also required resonance with one's body. The more difficult the Ninjutsu, the more this applied. Under normal circumstances, even the most basic Ninjutsu could not be learned in less than three to five days. Yet Ye Lan had learned it so quickly. It practically overturned Iruka's understanding!

Kakashi merely narrowed his eyes as he watched Ye Lan.