Body Flicker Technique

Body Flicker Technique

After the final exams ended, the holiday followed right behind. For many students at the Ninja Academy—in fact, for the vast majority of them—this undoubtedly marked the beginning of a celebration.

For Kagami, however, it was exactly the opposite. The arrival of the holiday meant that he could finally devote the entire day to "meaningful study."

Yes, Kagami regarded all the time he had spent at the Ninja Academy as "meaningless study."

Once the holiday began, Kagami trained by himself from morning until afternoon, and then Shisui taught him afterward.

After all, the Ninja Academy was on break, but Anbu members did not get holidays. They only had time to rest when they had no missions. Unfortunately, as an Anbu member involved in matters concerning the Uchiha Clan and Konoha, Shisui would not have any time off for a long while. He could only teach Kagami after finishing his work for Anbu.

"You want to learn the forbidden technique, Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

Shisui looked at Kagami in confusion.

"Why?"

"I want to learn it so that I can send a shadow clone to class next semester while the real me continues training."

After a semester of "meaningless study," Kagami had learned his lesson and decided to adopt Itachi's method from the original story: send a shadow clone to class while he used the time to train.

Shisui could not help laughing.

"You're just like Itachi back then. You want to learn a forbidden technique just to skip class. In a sense, isn't that a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Still, Shadow Clone Jutsu is a forbidden technique. I don't know it either. If you want to learn it, I'll have Itachi teach you."

There was no need for Shisui to learn Shadow Clone Jutsu. His Body Flicker Technique could achieve the same effect as shadow clones in battle, or even surpass them by far, so he had never needed to learn it.

Kagami shrugged.

"Alright. As long as I learn it before school starts. Big Brother Shisui, let's begin today's training. How about running ten laps around Konoha first?"

Shisui raised one finger and wagged it, indicating no.

"No. Today, we're learning the Body Flicker Technique."

"The Body Flicker Technique? Don't I already know it?"

Kagami failed to understand at first and asked instinctively.

Shisui pointed at himself.

"I'm talking about my unique Body Flicker Technique."

Kagami's eyes widened, and he spoke uncertainly.

"Big Brother Shisui, are you sure? If you ask me, your unique Body Flicker Technique should be very difficult for me to learn, right?"

It was a perfectly reasonable concern. Although Kagami was an extraordinary genius among his peers, what was he when viewed across the entire shinobi world?

He was merely a child who knew one Great Fireball Jutsu comparable to a Genin's, along with a Body Flicker Technique that was considered outstanding even among Chunin. His overall strength was only slightly above a Genin's. There were simply too many people who could knock Kagami flat.

With that level of strength, it was only natural for him to worry that he might not be able to learn Shisui's unique Body Flicker Technique.

Shisui raised his brows and smiled.

"Then, aren't you going to learn it?"

Kagami was stumped. Shisui's unique Body Flicker Technique was undoubtedly a super technique he could use all the way until the Fourth Great Ninja War. It was like Naruto's Rasengan or Sasuke's Chidori—something that could be used for a lifetime. How could he possibly refuse to learn it?

"Big Brother Shisui, I'll learn it. I just feel like it might be too early for me to learn it now."

Shisui reached out and flicked Kagami on the forehead.

"It's not too early. I believe in you."

Kagami could only accept helplessly.

"Alright, then."

After that, Shisui began teaching Kagami his Body Flicker Technique.

As Shisui taught him, Kagami grew increasingly astonished. He discovered that calling Shisui a "genius" seemed almost insulting.

Just how outrageous was Shisui's unique Body Flicker Technique?

First, using Shisui's Body Flicker Technique could create numerous "clones" to attack together. At first glance, it did not seem all that special.

But here was the terrifying part: the "clones" created by Shisui's Body Flicker Technique had no physical form. That meant other people's attacks could not destroy them.

At the same time, the "clones" created by Shisui's Body Flicker Technique were not afterimages. This meant that others could not locate his real body through sensing.

To use Shisui's own words, his Body Flicker Technique had no physical form, yet it could also be said that everyone was physical.

Kagami's first reaction upon hearing that was: Isn't this basically cheating?

When I attack you, I'm physical, so I can hit you. When I'm not attacking you, I'm intangible, so you can't hurt me.

This was simply bullying.

It was an incredibly profound and mysterious ninjutsu.

Kagami asked in shock,

"Big Brother Shisui, if that's the case, wouldn't activating this ninjutsu make you invincible?"

Shisui shook his head and smiled.

"How could there be an invincible ninjutsu? To break this technique, you only need to cover all the clones with an attack. You also have to make sure that your attack on every clone is lethal. That way, you can break the technique."

Kagami stared at Shisui speechlessly.

"No, I don't think that counts as breaking it. Isn't that just overpowering it with sheer force?"

Put plainly, according to Shisui's explanation, if his area-of-effect attack missed even one of the clones he created, it was equivalent to missing all of them, meaning it could not inflict any damage at all. Even if not a single one was missed, as long as the attack against one of them was not strong enough, it would still emerge unharmed.

In short, breaking Shisui's Body Flicker Technique with ninjutsu was incredibly difficult. It was just as difficult with taijutsu. Only genjutsu might offer an easier solution—but the user of this Body Flicker Technique was Shisui!

He was known as the strongest genjutsu user in the Uchiha Clan. Trying to defeat Shisui with genjutsu? Kagami might as well think about how to break the Body Flicker Technique with ninjutsu instead.

So Kagami genuinely felt that once Shisui used this Body Flicker Technique, it was practically impossible to counter from any angle.

However, no ninjutsu could have only advantages. Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was nearly impossible to counter in battle, but it had drawbacks as well. This Body Flicker Technique placed extremely high demands on the user's speed! According to Shisui, Kagami's current speed had reached one-tenth of the required standard.

Heaven knew how everything worked that way. The beginning was easy, but the farther one progressed, the harder it became. Kagami had spent half a year reaching one-tenth of the standard, and that was partly because progress came quickly during the early stages. Who knew how long the remaining nine-tenths would take him?

Shisui continued teaching Kagami about it.

"You need to understand that the Body Flicker Technique is actually just a general term. When divided more precisely, there are three types of Body Flicker Technique. One is the space-time technique used by the Fourth Hokage during his lifetime. Another is your type, which gathers Chakra in the feet to achieve high-speed movement. Put simply, that's high-speed taijutsu, and it doesn't consume much Chakra. The third is my type, a ninjutsu. It can already be considered a ninjutsu, and the most obvious sign that you're using my type of Body Flicker Technique is that you need to form Hand Seals!

"Because it can be considered a ninjutsu, my type of Body Flicker Technique consumes a little more Chakra than the other two. Of course, this Body Flicker Technique of mine doesn't consume much Chakra by itself. However, the more clones you create with it, the more Chakra it consumes.

"And my Body Flicker Technique needs at least seven or eight clones to display its true power, so it does consume quite a lot of Chakra."

It was said to consume quite a lot of Chakra, but in truth, it was not that excessive. Shisui's ninjutsu had one thing in common with the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God: once it was activated, it was extremely difficult to fail!

The Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God allowed him to retreat at any time, and his opponent could not even catch him. Shisui's Body Flicker Technique, on the other hand, could only be overcome if the opponent's attack was so enormous that it completely overwhelmed the user. Otherwise, all they could do was wear each other down and see who ran out of Chakra first—or who was defeated by the user.

Kagami was thoroughly convinced by Shisui, who had developed such a ninjutsu. Calling him a "genius" truly did him an injustice.

This was already far beyond the level of a mere genius.