Body Flicker Technique

Chapter 19: Body Flicker Technique

After the final exams, the holiday period immediately followed. For many students at the Ninja Academy, or rather, the vast majority of them, this undoubtedly meant the start of a carnival.

But for Kagami, it was the exact opposite. The arrival of the holiday meant Kagami could finally dedicate his entire day to "meaningful study."

Yes, all the time spent at the Ninja Academy before had been deemed "meaningless study" by Kagami.

Once the holiday began, Kagami trained alone from morning until afternoon. After that, Shisui would teach him.

After all, the Ninja Academy was on holiday, but the Anbu was not. Their rest time only came when there were no missions. Unfortunately, for an Anbu like Shisui, involved in matters concerning the Uchiha and Konoha, there wouldn't be any rest for a long time. Thus, he could only teach Kagami after finishing his Anbu duties.

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

Shisui looked at Kagami with confusion.

"Why?"

"After I learn it, I plan to use Shadow Clones to attend classes next semester while my main body continues training."

Having endured a semester of "meaningless study," Kagami had a change of heart and decided to adopt the method used by Itachi in the original story: have Shadow Clones attend class while he himself took the time to train.

Shisui couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're just like Itachi was back then, learning a forbidden jutsu just to skip class. In a way, isn't that a bit of overkill? However, Shadow Clone Jutsu is a forbidden jutsu, and I don't know it. If you want to learn it, I'll have Itachi teach you."

Shisui had no need to learn Shadow Clone Jutsu. His Body Flicker Technique, during combat, could achieve the same, or even far greater, effects than Shadow Clones. Therefore, Shisui had no reason to learn it.

Kagami shrugged.

"Alright, as long as I learn it before school starts, Shisui-bro, let's begin today's training. Hmm, how about we run ten laps around Konoha first?"

Shisui extended a finger and shook it, indicating his refusal.

"No, today we're learning Body Flicker Technique."

"Body Flicker Technique? I already know that."

Kagami didn't react immediately and asked instinctively.

Shisui pointed to himself.

"The Body Flicker Technique I'm referring to is my unique Body Flicker Technique."

Kagami's eyes widened, and he asked with some uncertainty.

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

This was a natural doubt. Although Kagami was an extraordinary genius among his peers, what was he in the grand scheme of the ninja world?

He was just a child who knew a "Great Fireball" technique, similar to a Genin, and a "Body Flicker Technique" that was quite outstanding among Chunin. His overall strength was only slightly above that of a Genin. There were simply too many people who could defeat Kagami.

For someone with this level of strength to learn Shisui's unique Body Flicker Technique, it was inevitable to worry about not being able to learn it.

Shisui raised an eyebrow and smiled.

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

This question stumped Kagami. Shisui's unique Body Flicker Technique was definitely a super ninjutsu that Kagami could use all the way until the Fourth Great Ninja War. Such a thing, like Naruto's Rasengan or Sasuke's Chidori, was something one could use for a lifetime. How could he not learn it?

"Shisui-bro, I'll learn it. It's just... I feel like it's too early to learn it now?"

Shisui reached out and flicked Kagami's forehead.

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

Kagami had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

"Alright then."

Afterward, Shisui began to teach Kagami his Body Flicker Technique.

As Shisui instructed, Kagami became increasingly astonished. He realized that calling Shisui a "genius" seemed to be an insult to him.

How monstrous was Shisui's unique Body Flicker Technique?

Firstly, using Shisui's Body Flicker Technique allowed him to create numerous "clones" to attack simultaneously. Looking at it this way, it seemed ordinary.

But here came the terrifying part: the "clones" created by Shisui's Body Flicker Technique were intangible. This meant that others' attacks could not eliminate the "clones" generated by the Body Flicker Technique.

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

In Shisui's own words, his Body Flicker Technique had no substance, yet it could be said that everyone was substantial.

Upon hearing this, Kagami's first thought was, Isn't this cheating?

When I attack you, I am substantial, so I can hit you. When I am not attacking you, I am insubstantial, so you cannot inflict any damage on me.

This was simply bullying.

This was a profound and mysterious ninjutsu.

Kagami asked in shock.

"Shisui-bro, in that case, wouldn't it mean that as long as one activates this jutsu, they are invincible?"

Shisui shook his head and smiled.

"There's no such thing as an invincible jutsu. To counter this move, one only needs to cover all the clones with an attack, and ensure that each clone is hit with a damaging blow. Only then can this technique be countered."

Kagami stared speechlessly at Shisui.

"No, I don't think this is a counter, this is just brute force," he said.

The method Shisui described meant that if even one of his clones was caught by an area-of-effect attack, they would all be exposed, rendering the attack completely useless. Even if none were missed, if any single clone didn't take a significant amount of damage, they would all emerge unharmed.

Simply put, it was extremely difficult to counter Shisui's Body Flicker Technique with ninjutsu, and equally difficult with taijutsu. The only potentially easier method was genjutsu. But the problem was, the user of this Body Flicker Technique was Shisui himself! Known as the strongest genjutsu user in the Uchiha Clan, trying to defeat Shisui with genjutsu was like trying to figure out how to counter his Body Flicker Technique with ninjutsu.

Therefore, Kagami truly felt that once Shisui unleashed this Body Flicker Technique, it was completely and utterly unsolvable.

However, ninjutsu wasn't all benefits. While Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was almost impossible to counter in combat, it did have its drawbacks. This particular Body Flicker Technique demanded extremely high speed from the user. According to Shisui, Kagami's current speed had reached about one-tenth of the required standard.

Heaven knew that many things were the same; the beginning was easy, but it got harder and harder. It had taken Kagami half a year to reach one-tenth of the standard. And that was with the advantage of rapid progress at the start. Who knew how long it would take Kagami to achieve the remaining nine-tenths.

Shisui continued to impart knowledge to Kagami.

"You need to understand that Body Flicker Technique is actually just a general term. When broken down, there are three types of Body Flicker Technique. One is the space-time ninjutsu used by the Fourth Hokage in his lifetime. Another is yours, where chakra is gathered in the feet to achieve high-speed movement. This is essentially high-speed taijutsu and doesn't consume much chakra. The third type is mine, a ninjutsu. The most obvious characteristic of my type of Body Flicker Technique is that it requires hand seals!

Because it can be considered a ninjutsu, my type of Body Flicker Technique consumes more chakra than the other two. Of course, my Body Flicker Technique doesn't inherently consume a lot of chakra, but the more clones you create with it, the more chakra it consumes.

My Body Flicker Technique requires at least seven or eight clones to truly demonstrate its power, so it does consume quite a bit of chakra."

While he said it consumed "quite a bit" of chakra, it wasn't really that much. Shisui's ninjutsu had one point in common with the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique: once activated, failure was very difficult!

The Fourth's Flying Thunder God allowed for instant retreat, and you couldn't pursue him. Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was similar; unless your attack was so overwhelmingly powerful that it could crush the caster, you could only engage in a battle of attrition, seeing who ran out of chakra first or who defeated the other.

Kagami was truly convinced by Shisui, the developer of such a ninjutsu. Calling him a "genius" felt like an understatement.

This was far beyond mere genius.