Researching a New Technique

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof! Poof! Poof!

Katsuo formed hand seals with both hands and used his usual cheat.

Although his level (physique) could not be raised for the time being, he still had to accumulate experience points. Even if body cultivation could no longer progress, he would never stop training!

After several shadow clones appeared, the original immediately assigned them their tasks.

One practiced hand seal speed, one practiced Chakra control, one practiced Kunai (Shuriken) throwing, and two sparred with each other to improve their combat skills and expose each other's weaknesses.

One used a lush tree to practice taijutsu moves, while two watched falling leaves to train their eyesight. It was late autumn, and the leaves fell at the slightest touch. These two shadow clones drained the most of Katsuo's mental energy every day.

Another shadow clone held one hand up, and a ball of fire appeared in his palm. He planned to study the nature transformation of Fire Style and use it to imitate high-output close-range ninjutsu like the Rasengan and Lightning Cutter!

Of course, it would be best if it could also be cast without hand seals!

At first, he had wanted to copy the Rasengan, a non-elemental ninjutsu, from memory. But after Uchiha Izumi and the Ninja Academy had drilled ninja theory into him for so long, he realized that this technique was not actually suited to him.

The reason was that he did not have Wind Style Chakra!

The Rasengan seemed unrelated to elemental attributes and appeared to require only pure Chakra to master. In truth, however, every stage of its training simulated the path of wind: the first stage imitated wind's rotation, the second unleashed chaotic multidirectional rotational force, and the third consolidated and compressed it. Of the five elements, Wind Style was the most compatible with all three stages!

That was also why Kakashi, despite having learned the Rasengan, chose not to use it and instead developed Chidori and Lightning Cutter!

Every ninjutsu was invented by its creator to suit themselves. Even if someone else learned it, they might not be able to bring out much of its power.

In the Fourth Hokage's hands, the Rasengan was more than just an A-rank ninjutsu. Setting aside its silent, seal-less casting, almost everyone struck by it would be branded with the Flying Thunder God mark. Once marked, their life and death were practically in his hands.

In the Original Work, Uchiha Obito was marked by Minato with the Flying Thunder God seal. Even more than a decade later, the mark could still be used, and Minato caught Uchiha Obito completely off guard the moment he made his move!

Therefore, Katsuo did not intend to copy the Rasengan, nor did he have the ability to copy Lightning Cutter either—he had no Lightning Style Chakra. He wanted to develop a close-range, "handheld" Fire Style technique tailored specifically for himself!

Developing this ninjutsu had consumed a tremendous amount of energy. He had started two years ago, yet even now, he still had not succeeded...

At first, he tried to directly imitate the Rasengan's seal-less casting. Yet after spending a month on it, he still could not produce fire merely by raising his hand. At most, he could generate heat in his palm.

With no other choice, he could only imitate Kakashi's hand-seal casting for "Chidori"!

From initially forming three seals to raise his hand and create a fireball, to creating one with a single Tiger—Fire—seal a year ago, and finally to casting it without seals now, he gradually comprehended the path of Chakra circulation and reduced the number of hand seals step by step.

At last, the seal-less ninjutsu Katsuo had spent two years developing finally had a rough prototype!

Creating fire by raising his palm was what he defined as the first stage of the technique!

How to stop the flames from burning his own palm was the second major hurdle this technique needed to overcome!

"Chidori is the most valuable ninjutsu to use as a reference. The Rasengan avoids harming its user through rotation, which is of little value to my current training!"

"So the question is, how exactly does Kakashi hold a Lightning Orb in his hand without harming himself?"

The shadow clone playing with fire stroked his chin and thought seriously.

"Hmm!"

A moment later, he suddenly hummed. It was as though something had clicked!

"I remember that when Kakashi activated Chidori, his speed suddenly increased enormously. Without the Sharingan's dynamic vision, he would have been completely unable to control that sudden burst of speed!"

"I understand now!"

The fire-playing shadow clone suddenly shouted, drawing the original's attention.

"Kakashi continuously outputs Chakra at a high rate, creating a release state that only flows outward and never inward. This matches the highly penetrating nature of lightning, and it is not difficult to achieve. Even if electricity occasionally 'spills' from Chidori, it indirectly stimulates Kakashi's body and activates his cells. That is why his speed suddenly rises so dramatically!"

"So it was that simple. I was influenced by the Rasengan's form and assumed Chidori also needed to be gathered and compressed! But lightning is inherently an output form. You just let it erupt directly. It does not need to be gathered like wind before it can deal damage!"

The original nodded. He patted his own—his clone's—shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up!

"Then let's try increasing the Chakra output to avoid the damage!"

The shadow clone increased the Chakra flowing into the fireball. The flames in his palm surged higher and higher, and in an instant, a large mass of fire burst forth, burning above his palm!

Watching this, the original frowned.

"Stop. Fire is different from lightning; their forms are far too different. Fire's explosive damage is far weaker than lightning's explosive penetration. That is an indisputable fact. Chidori can only be used as a reference, not imitated!"

While holding flames in his hand and increasing Chakra output at the moment of striking someone could indeed inflict considerable damage, this technique was actually pretty useless to Katsuo...

He might as well use that effort to stab them directly with a Kunai... It would deal even more damage...

"Perhaps we can try skipping the explosive stage entirely and directly enhance the nature transformation of Fire Style!"

The original stared at the flames, his gaze narrowing.

"You mean..."

"That's right. Chidori can skip the Rasengan's gathering stage and erupt directly. Why can't our Fire Style skip Lightning Cutter's explosive stage and directly produce a nature transformation?"

"And fire's nature transformation is..."

"Temperature!"

The shadow clone answered with certainty.

"Mm-hm. Sometimes, the simpler something is, the more effective it becomes. Just like how the simple Clone Technique, when practiced to the highest level, becomes Madara's Limbo; and the Substitution Technique, when mastered to the end, becomes Sasuke's Amenotejikara—the space-swapping technique..."

Katsuo lectured himself—his shadow clone.

"Then what about the Transformation Technique?"

The shadow clone glanced sideways at the original in disdain. He knew the guy was showing off again. Limbo and Amenotejikara... Those were freaking Six Paths ocular techniques, all right? They had absolutely nothing to do with the Clone Technique or Substitution Technique...

The original smiled at him.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course it's Naruto's Sexy Technique! Even an immortal powerhouse at the peak of the Six Paths like Kaguya Otsutsuki fell for it. Isn't that powerful enough?"

"..."

The shadow clone walked off to the side. He did not want to stand too close to the original, that "idle bastard." He still had important work to do...

"I don't have time to listen to your bullshit!"

Katsuo suddenly realized that bullshitting with himself was actually pretty entertaining...

It was not that he had some strange hobby. He was just a little too idle right now. He had not gone training today, nor did he plan to attend school. He wanted to give himself a day off!

Of course, while the original could take a break, those shadow clones were not so lucky... They still had to do whatever they were supposed to do...