Clone Exploits

"Shadow Clone No. 1, go train Water Release, and catch some more fish while you're at it."

"Why do I have to catch fish, Original?"

Shadow Clone No. 1 had quite the personality. He immediately protested Umino Sasuke's arrangement.

Umino Sasuke shot back, "Is your metabolism stronger than mine after you eat?"

Shadow Clone No. 1 was left speechless. Since he possessed the same memories, he naturally knew that, like Uzumaki Naruto's Shadow Clones, he could indeed eat and use the bathroom. However, the food he ate could only fill his stomach and, at most, restore a tiny bit of stamina. It was difficult for him to fully replace the original body's advantages in digesting flesh and blood.

Not to mention Shadow Clones—even Wood Clones could not replace the original body's advantages when it came to flesh and blood.

"Hmph!" Shadow Clone No. 1 snorted. He knew the original was right, so he could only go train Water Release and catch some fish along the way.

"I finally learned the Shadow Clone Technique. I can use it to boost my training now."

Umino Sasuke's heart surged with excitement. The Shadow Clone Technique was simply too useful. Not only could it be used to check for traps and gather intelligence, but it also provided extra helpers. Whether for combat coordination or handling all kinds of trivial matters, it was exceptionally useful.

More importantly, it could accumulate memories and training experience, boosting his cultivation.

If he had enough chakra and a strong enough tolerance, he could create a huge number of Shadow Clones and train through exploits like Uzumaki Naruto.

"Original, you're still eating? Hurry up and deal with these fish on shore. They won't taste as good once they die."

Shadow Clone No. 1 flung nearly a hundred jin of freshwater fish from the binding water prison onto the shore. Seeing the original leisurely munching on smoked dried fish, he grew furious. He felt less like a Shadow Clone and more like a workhorse.

Umino Sasuke had just eaten a large amount of smoked dried fish, and the chakra he had consumed quickly recovered.

"Shadow Clone Technique."

Umino Sasuke immediately formed hand seals and created another Shadow Clone.

"Shadow Clone No. 2, practice swordsmanship, and process this catch while you're at it."

Umino Sasuke removed the Fish-Cutting Sword from his waist and tossed it to Shadow Clone No. 2. At the same time, he took out a small bucket of salt from the Sealing Scrolls.

"Yes, Original."

Shadow Clone No. 2 had an extremely cold temperament. He said nothing further, accepted the Fish-Cutting Sword, and immediately began practicing swordsmanship.

Amid flashing blades, the freshwater fish were cleaned one after another. Their flesh was also salted and left to be made into salted smoked dried fish.

"Whoa, another workhorse."

Seeing that another new companion had arrived and been assigned the job of killing and smoking fish, Shadow Clone No. 1 immediately felt much more balanced.

"Keep going!"

After eating another dozen or so jin of salted smoked dried fish, Umino Sasuke, who had been feeling a little spent, felt capable again. He created another Shadow Clone.

Over the next few minutes, after consuming a huge amount of food, he successively created several more Shadow Clones, bringing the total to nine.

It was not that he could not create more Shadow Clones. He simply considered that, once the clones were released, the fatigue shock caused by their accumulated memories and experience would not be minor. Otherwise, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique would not be a forbidden technique.

He knew his limits. He was not a thick-nerved Uzumaki Naruto with a special physique, much less the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. Nine Shadow Clones were likely already close to the limit an ordinary person could bear.

Of course, as he used the Shadow Clone Technique more often and became more proficient with it, and as his chakra reserves increased in the future, he should be able to create more Shadow Clones. Creating thousands like Uzumaki Naruto was too much to imagine, but reaching hundreds should still be possible.

If he could make another breakthrough in core technology in the future, perhaps he could create a high-tech helmet that blocked the backlash of Shadow Clone aftereffects. By then, even the fatigue shock from releasing tens of thousands of Shadow Clones simultaneously could be endured.

Now that he had nine Shadow Clones, he could start grinding multiple forms of training again, such as the Three Basic Jutsu, Tool Manipulation, hand seal speed, and Chakra Control.

Naturally, the Shadow Clones' main training focus was currently the three Water Release Ninjutsu, along with Water Release's various shape transformations.

The original body, meanwhile, was mainly responsible for digesting food, replenishing chakra and stamina, and practicing taijutsu.

"As expected of dietary nourishment. This is far stronger than Nara Secret Medicine."

Although Umino Sasuke had not taken out his own cells to compare, study, and inspect in a laboratory, the subtle sensations throughout his body were already telling him that the cells in his entire body had reached saturation. Moreover, their activity was still slowly increasing.

In other words, the physical deficits caused by years of excessive training while consuming Soldier Pills had basically been nourished and restored. His cells had also reached a saturated state and showed signs of further development.

As the energy from large amounts of food nourished him, the activity of the cells in all his organs would inevitably continue to rise in the future, and his physical strength would continuously increase along with it.

"Good thing I'm in the Land of Rivers. The rivers here have an inexhaustible supply of aquatic catches. If I were in Konoha, my body might be able to take this training method, but my wallet probably couldn't."

You would never know until you did the math. Once he calculated it, the result was shocking.

In just this short hour of training, he had already consumed nearly fifty jin of fish. A bowl of ramen in Konoha cost nearly a hundred ryo. Fish was precious meat, so it would only cost more. At a hundred ryo per jin, fifty jin of fish would be 5,000 ryo.

He would have to train for at least ten hours a day, which meant 50,000 ryo per day and 1.5 million ryo per month.

"Hiss..."

Umino Sasuke sucked in a cold breath.

Wasn't this way too expensive?

A C-rank mission only paid 10,000 to 50,000 ryo. One ten-day rotation of patrolling the battlefield's forward sentry line was equivalent to one C-rank mission. As Captain, he took the largest share and could earn a little over 20,000 ryo.

Three C-rank missions per month only brought in 60,000 ryo. Over a year, that came to 720,000 ryo.

An annual income of 720,000 ryo was clearly considered high income. It was enough to buy a detached house in Konoha.

Yet compared to this, the money he risked life and limb to earn in a year was not even enough to cover half a month's food expenses. The thought was terrifying.

No wonder those fat Akimichi were all so powerful, so well-connected, and had so many allies, yet never acted too high-profile. They had quietly been making a fortune all along. It seemed that strength truly was piled up with money.

If he had not mastered the Infrasonic Radar Technique and could obtain massive amounts of fish at nearly zero cost, he definitely would not be able to sustain this training method. He would go bankrupt after training for half a month.

"Still, eating only fish for a long time won't work. I need plenty of carbohydrates and vegetables too. Otherwise, unbalanced nutrition will definitely cause problems."

Vegetables were easy enough. In this desolate wilderness, wild vegetables were everywhere. Sending out one Shadow Clone would solve that easily. Carbohydrates, however, were somewhat troublesome.

Paying money to buy grain was impossible. He would not buy it even if it killed him. Food prices on the front lines were outrageously high. If they were only twice as expensive as in Konoha, that would be an insult to the consciences of Traveling Merchants and a disregard for the hardships of escorting supplies to the front lines.

"Forget it. When the time comes, I'll use the Sealing Scrolls to bring some smoked dried fish and trade it for grain."

During a ninja war, food was hard currency. These smoked dried fish would surely sell for a good price on the front lines.

At that thought, Umino Sasuke's eyes lit up. He immediately realized this was a good way to make money, so he quickly ordered the six Shadow Clones training Water Release to catch every school of fish passing through the river whenever they had spare time.

He was determined to fish the river dry.