The Real Substitution Technique

After talking with Shuichi, Kakashi headed straight home. Hatake Sakumo happened to be home that day, and when he saw Kakashi return, he asked him a question.

"Kakashi, how have you been doing at the Ninja Academy this semester?"

Kakashi's expression seemed to darken slightly as he answered with some shame, "Sorry, Father. I still came in second this time."

"Oh? Was that child named Takeda Shuichi still in first place?"

"Yes. We both got perfect scores in every subject, but the teachers always thought he was a little better in the end. Was I not good enough?" Kakashi looked somewhat dejected.

"You've already done very well. There are always some geniuses in this world, and I believe he must have qualities worth learning from. You've always been too proud, so I think his appearance is a good thing for you."

Hatake Sakumo was somewhat surprised by Shuichi's talent. Although he believed Kakashi had some issues with his personality, there was no doubt that he was a genius.

He already knew that Shuichi was the orphaned son of Jonin Takeda Kenta. Without anyone to guide him, being able to surpass Kakashi was no easy feat. He could not help but marvel that Takeda Kenta had raised such a good son.

"Also... when school ended today, Takeda Shuichi invited me to play with them. He said they had a special training game, so I wanted to come back and ask you, Father." Kakashi stammered as he spoke to Hatake Sakumo.

This child's intelligence cannot be underestimated, Hatake Sakumo thought to himself. "I think that's a good thing. If you complete your training assignments, I'll allow you to arrange the rest of your time as you wish."

"Okay, Father." Kakashi could not help feeling somewhat expectant. He had always found children his age very childish, so he rarely played with them. This time, however, it was Shuichi, someone just as outstanding as himself, who had invited him. A long-forgotten impulse stirred within him.

Time passed into the first weekend of the break. That day, Shuichi and Ishikawa Tatsuki continued their ninja game as usual, though by now it was basically Shuichi beating them up one-sidedly.

Shuichi had already been one of those naturally gifted people, and his system had added another five points, so the game was no longer very interesting to him.

Since he was the one playing most casually, he even had time to look around now and then. As a result, he was the first to spot Kakashi standing beneath a tree not far away.

"Hey, Kakashi, come over! How long have you been standing there?"

"I... just got here." It seemed Kakashi had very little contact with other children. Seeing so many people together for the first time, he was still a little reserved.

Shuichi had long become the leader of the children in this area. He shouted directly at the group, "Everyone, come over here! We've got a newcomer joining us. Didn't you say I was only better than you because I knew the game better? Now Kakashi is here, so try playing again."

As he spoke, Shuichi led Kakashi over and explained their marble game to him. Kakashi felt that it really did seem to have some training value for a ninja's abilities, and before long, he gave it a try.

Sure enough, by the time everyone was preparing to go home before dusk, the group finally admitted that there was a gap between them and geniuses. Kakashi had only been playing the game for a short while, yet he soon beat them so thoroughly that they could not fight back at all.

This time, Kakashi and Shuichi stood on different teams. With Shuichi going a little easy on them, the two sides were evenly matched.

Life returned to its steady study routine. Konoha Year 41 seemed to be a year of recovery, as all of Konoha slowly began to recover from the war.

When the school term began in April of Konoha Year 42, many students seemed especially excited. Starting this semester, they would officially begin learning ninjutsu, and they would also have practical combat classes with other students.

In the Elite Class classroom, Sanada Shiku looked at the children, all a year older now, and felt the satisfaction of a parent rise within him. He silently made up his mind. I must teach them well and turn them into outstanding ninjas.

"I believe you've all been waiting impatiently, right? This semester, we'll begin learning ninjutsu right away. Considering that you little troublemakers aren't interested in theory classes, I've decided to teach ninjutsu in the very first lesson." Not long after he finished speaking, quite a few children below cheered.

"Alright, alright, quiet down. First, let's give a general introduction to ninjutsu."

"From most difficult to easiest, ninjutsu is divided into six ranks: S, A, B, C, D, and E. At the Ninja Academy, you only need to master E-rank ninjutsu such as the Three Basic Ninjutsu Techniques to meet the graduation standard."

"First, the basic Three Basic Ninjutsu Techniques are the Clone Technique, Transformation Technique, and Substitution Technique."

"The hand seals for the Clone Technique are Ram, Snake, and Tiger. After using this technique, you will create a clone with no physical substance. Although it can only serve as a visual distraction in battle, it can definitely have excellent results if used at the right moment."

"The hand seal for the Transformation Technique is Ram. When you form this seal, imagine the person or object you wish to become, and circulate Chakra throughout your body, you can transform into the desired appearance..."

"The hand seals for the Substitution Technique are Ram, Boar, Ox, Dog, and Tiger. This technique allows your Chakra to give a prepared object a temporary likeness, while in actual combat, your real body takes the opportunity to hide behind nearby cover..."

Shuichi listened very seriously. The Clone Technique and Transformation Technique were not much different from what he had imagined, so he focused on the Substitution Technique instead. In the early part of the original Naruto story, this had practically been a godlike technique.

After listening to the teacher's explanation, he understood that it was merely an entry-level E-rank ninjutsu. In summary, it was like creating a weaker version of a Shadow Clone in advance, generally usable in environments with cover nearby.

First, the user gave Chakra to a prepared object, granting it a temporary likeness. This could be viewed as applying the Clone Technique to an object, while the real body hid behind nearby cover.

Lower-level ninjas generally used inanimate objects such as wood. The more Chakra they infused, the more realistic it became, but ordinary objects would always appear somewhat stiff.

More advanced users gave Chakra to animals such as snow rabbits. This made the substitution more realistic and allowed it to perform movements such as running to confuse the enemy, though the price was losing the animal they had raised.

In battles between experienced Jonin, this sort of low-level trick was easily seen through, so they used more advanced Substitution Techniques. For example, Earth Substitution from the original story was actually the Earth Clone Technique. (This will be discussed later.)

In reality, low-level Substitution Techniques were only used by Genin or relatively weak Chunin. They were nothing like the high-speed movement or spatial movement Shuichi remembered occurring after being attacked.

Thinking about it, that made sense. If it really could achieve spatial movement, there was no way people in this world would not know its value. Every ninja would probably form the hand seals for the Substitution Technique first thing when a fight started, and then it would come down to seeing who could outlast whom.

The author believed that Kishimoto simply had not thought things through when drawing the early chapters. He wanted to pay homage to historical ninja substitution techniques, and the result was a huge bug.

So the author first referred to the Substitution Techniques that appeared after Shippuden. A ninjutsu where one predicted the enemy's attack, then left behind a clone in advance, was still barely explainable.

The two explanations often seen on forums had even bigger flaws:

High-speed taijutsu made no sense to begin with. With that kind of movement technique, would they still be Genin?

Spatial swapping was even more absurd. If it were explained as a substitution point in a game that could block all skills, then this manga should have been called Substitution Ninja from then on.

Otherwise, even Orochimaru's Snake Substitution Technique, which required bodily modifications and consumed a great deal of Chakra, would be far less effective than this ordinary Substitution Technique.

Danzo: "Could it be that the Izanagi I painstakingly saved up was actually inferior to an E-rank Substitution Technique? Am I an idiot?"

So please stop asking whether I've even read Naruto. To write Naruto fanfiction, I think you need to read the manga at least three times.

Later on, I'll also explain Flying Thunder God, Fuinjutsu, and the rest clearly.