Shadow Secret Technique = Genjutsu? (Please Follow, Please Vote)

What are these people...?

Nara Kaikei sized up the newcomers.

The faces of these uninvited guests all carried an undisguised, overbearing arrogance.

Though they wore shinobi attire, none of them had forehead protectors.

Only the strip of cloth around their waists, embroidered with a symbol, revealed their true identities—

"You're shinobi from the Twelve Guardian Shinobi?"

Choza Akimichi had also noticed the dark cloth marked with the character for "Fire." His brow furrowed tightly, and his tone was unpleasant.

No one liked having their fun interrupted by a group of strangers with no sense of timing.

"Looks like Konoha shinobi aren't as ignorant as people say!"

The young shinobi at the head of the group gave a cold laugh.

"I thought you lowly mountain-dwelling paupers only knew how to beg the Daimyo for money!"

Nara Kaikei and the others were relatively unfazed by those words.

But Asuma Sarutobi, the proud "second-generation official," could not stand it.

"What the hell are you bastards talking about?!"

Asuma Sarutobi glared angrily at the newcomers, pulling a kunai from the ninja tool pouch at his waist and gripping it in his palm.

"Looking for a beating?"

"Genin Sarutobi!"

Nara Shikano barked coldly.

"If a monkey from your family bit you, would you bite it back?"

Asuma Sarutobi was stumped by the old clan head's strange metaphor.

"Wh-what does that mean?"

The little monkey of the Sarutobi Clan had not understood.

But the several Guardian Shinobi who had been called "monkeys" certainly had.

"You—what?"

The young shinobi leading them was about to step forward and teach these mountain folk from Konoha a lesson.

But when he tried to move his legs, he found that he could not move at all.

It was not just him. The other Guardian Shinobi were in the same position.

The shadow beneath Nara Shikano bloomed like a black spider lily. Nimble shadow tendrils radiated outward from him in every direction, precisely catching each Guardian Shinobi across from him.

Shadow Binding Technique!

Before these Guardian Shinobi could even react,

Nara Shikano had already pinned them in place with his shadows.

Compared with the battle-hardened old clan head, these young Guardian Shinobi were as innocent and naive as flowers raised in a greenhouse.

"There's no need to lower ourselves to the level of these Guardian Shinobi."

Nara Shikano calmly stepped forward, and the other Konoha shinobi hurried after him.

"We obtained so many war supplies from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.

"It's only natural for the Daimyo to express a little dissatisfaction."

From beginning to end, Nara Shikano never once spoke directly to those Guardian Shinobi.

The greatest contempt in the world was silence.

Especially when one could not even be bothered to turn one's eyes toward them.

Feeling his self-respect suffer a severe blow, the young shinobi's face flushed red as he tried to say something in fury.

"You—mmph!"

Shadow Strangulation Technique!

A pitch-black shadow hand lashed upward like a whip, striking the young shinobi cleanly across the face.

As it clamped tightly over his mouth, the shadow hand also delivered a slap that did little damage but inflicted immense humiliation.

Smack!

Feeling the faintly stinging pain on his face, the young leader went completely mad.

Yet after struggling for quite some time, he could not even shake the Shadow Binding Technique. All he could do was let out pitiful, muffled whimpers.

Seeing their leader reduced to such a state, the remaining Guardian Shinobi did not dare utter another harsh word.

Nara Shikano and the others calmly left the Daimyo's Mansion.

"We'll part ways here."

Standing beside Nara Kaikei, Nara Shikano gestured to the others.

"We still have an additional mission to carry out.

"Inoichi, Choza, keep an eye on these children. Don't let them cause any trouble."

"We're not children! We're already official genin!"

Asuma Sarutobi said unhappily.

"Know what you should do and what you should not do!"

You're the little brat I'm most worried about.

Nara Shikano did not pay attention to Asuma Sarutobi's words, merely nodding to Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi.

If the Third Hokage's own son causes trouble in Kyoto, that would be real trouble...

The meticulous Inoichi Yamanaka promised, "Understood, Uncle Shikano."

The broad and stout Choza Akimichi stretched lazily.

"Kids, let's go have a big meal!"

After separating from the main group,

Nara Kaikei followed behind the old clan head as they headed toward a certain place in Kyoto.

"Clan Head, were those shinobi just now the so-called Guardian Shinobi?"

To be honest,

those nameless, forgettable shinobi had made Nara Kaikei's already poor impression of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi even worse.

"Yes. The cloth tied around their waists is the identifying mark of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi."

Nara Shikano replied, "Though this organization was originally established jointly by Konoha, the Land of Fire, and the Temple of Fire,

"its purpose is to 'protect the Daimyo,' so the Twelve Guardian Shinobi now contain quite a few shinobi who 'know only the Daimyo, not the Hokage.'

"Still, not everyone in the Twelve Guardian Shinobi is like that."

Sounds... really boring.

Nara Kaikei complained silently to himself.

From the name "Twelve Guardian Shinobi," it was not hard to tell that the organization had only twelve official members in total.

Just twelve shinobi, yet they had specifically divided themselves into factions like "loyal to the Hokage" and "loyal to the Daimyo"...

Did there really need to be so much drama?

And as far as Nara Kaikei knew, the Twelve Guardian Shinobi would later split into two separate factions because of those differing ideologies.

The two factions slaughtered one another, and several surviving shinobi later attacked Konoha in an attempt to destroy it completely.

Destroy Konoha...

Nara Kaikei had no idea where they got the courage for that.

"What? Disappointed in this shinobi organization?"

Nara Shikano glanced at Nara Kaikei's expression and chuckled.

"There has never been an entirely harmonious organization in the shinobi world.

"Given enough time, every shinobi organization will develop more or less internal conflicts.

"Including Konoha... Cough. There's no need to explain such matters to you in detail just yet."

In Nara Shikano's view, Nara Kaikei's greatest task at present was to focus on improving his strength.

He did not yet need to confront or handle matters such as politics, organizations, and conflicts.

"Clan Head, I don't think the Twelve Guardian Shinobi have much of a future."

Nara Kaikei no longer concealed his thoughts and spoke openly.

"Too few people, too many troubles, and the members are constantly scheming against one another.

"I don't like this shinobi organization, and I don't want to join it."

"You've made up your mind?" Nara Shikano looked at Nara Kaikei.

"Mm."

Nara Kaikei nodded and said with feigned regret, "It looks like I can only miss out on the special reward you prepared, Clan Head."

"That's nothing."

Nara Shikano shook his head. Leading Nara Kaikei through a series of winding turns, he unexpectedly left the boundaries of Kyoto.

"Do you remember what I said before?

"The two special rewards prepared in addition to the clan mission depend on your own circumstances and needs.

"If you don't want to become a Guardian Shinobi, then don't!"

The old clan head's attitude was exceptionally gentle.

"How about you hear what the second special reward is now?"

Nara Kaikei pricked up his ears. All along the way, he had been intensely curious about the mystery the old clan head had been keeping.

Could there really be some valuable treasure in the shinobi world that he did not know about?

After leaving Kyoto, the two entered a lush, dense forest.

The Land of Fire might not have many other resources, but trees truly could be found everywhere.

"Before I tell you about the second special reward, I'd first like to test your understanding of the clan's secret techniques."

Nara Shikano slowed his pace and stroked his beard.

"Kaikei, do you know what the greatest advantage of our Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique is?"

"The greatest advantage?"

Nara Kaikei pondered for a moment.

"I think it lies in the strength of its ninjutsu mechanics.

"Others may believe the Shadow Secret Technique is powerful because it is endlessly versatile, easy to control, and extremely stealthy.

"But in my view, the root of its power lies in its potent control effects."

Conventional five-element ninjutsu—

whether S-rank ninjutsu or D-rank ninjutsu;

whether it was Lightning Style: Kirin descending from the heavens or Wind Style: Rasenshuriken penetrating deep into cells;

whether the attack was a wave of water, Flames, or chunks of earth...

at their core, they were all direct offensive techniques.

The only differences were the type and intensity of their Chakra Nature Transformation.

But the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique was different.

The Shadow Secret Technique was a control technique—one could even call it a battlefield control technique.

In a sense,

the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique could be regarded as a special offensive genjutsu visible to the naked eye and capable of producing physical effects!

What was the fundamental principle of genjutsu?

It was a Yin Release ninjutsu that used Chakra to interfere with the opponent's five senses, disrupt the normal flow of their Chakra, and trap them in illusions.

Aside from a small number of unusual genjutsu,

most genjutsu worked by bewildering an enemy's mind and causing them to lose normal control over their body!

And the Nara Clan's most basic D-rank secret technique, [Shadow Binding Technique], likewise restricted an enemy's ability to move.

It was not just the Nara Clan.

The Yamanaka Clan, whose techniques also belonged to Yin Release Secret Techniques, could be viewed the same way.

However, compared to the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique, the Yamanaka Clan's mind techniques had far greater restrictions. They were essentially all-or-nothing, self-destructive attacks...

Listening to Nara Kaikei's lengthy explanation, Nara Shikano's expression went blank.

The current situation

was like the old clan head merely wanting to ask Nara Kaikei what one plus one equaled.

Yet Nara Kaikei had answered by explaining why one plus one equaled two.

So our Nara Clan is actually a genjutsu clan...?