Tamed Ninja Beast

He quickly withdrew his hand.

Sasuke felt incredibly guilty.

He had accidentally copied his teacher's secret technique.

The artificial lake was surrounded by a Dense Forest. Even if the Konoha watchtower monitoring the Uchiha Clan could see this place, it was

simply too far away. They probably could not make out such tiny figures, right?

Still, it was best not to rely on luck. Next time he trained in something so shady, he had to be more discreet.

Shadow Control, restraint, and even directly shaping shadows to deal physical damage—there had to be techniques to it. Shikamaru had never used Shadow Technique at the academy, and Shikaku had said Shikamaru had not been training properly.

No rush. Shadow Technique was not the focus of his training anyway. Could it kill Itachi? Could it kill Madara? Or an Otsutsuki?

It was only a passing interest. Once Shikamaru slowly got better at it, he would have plenty of chances to figure out the Hand Seals.

No wonder the Uchiha Clan attracted so much hatred. With that copying ability, if someone copied your family's signature technique, you would not be able to stand it either.

Then again, the Mind Body Switch Technique... was pretty weak too. It did not seem as useful as Shadow Technique.

The Expansion Jutsu was a Yang Release ninjutsu. What a pity—it was most likely beyond his reach. Expansion, though... who would not like that?

After considering Naruto's request for a long time, Sasuke agreed to teach him the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

His main concern was that if Naruto learned it and somehow succeeded, he could pretend it was the Clone Technique and smoothly pass the ninja academy graduation exam. Then the Third Hokage would not stage that farce with the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu scroll meant to deepen the Will of Fire.

What benefit would Sasuke get from Naruto learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu early? He would lose a Forbidden Jutsu that was guaranteed to come up in the story.

At most, he would have lots of people helping him farm and spar...

Fine. The moment he thought about it, Sasuke began to hesitate. Some things really could not be thought about too deeply.

The Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu merely saved a little time and a few Hand Seals compared to the Shadow Clone Jutsu. If one had enough Chakra, the Shadow Clone Jutsu could achieve similar results.

He already found even the Shadow Clone Jutsu difficult to use, let alone the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu... Better to @ a huge crowd of Narutos and use them as living targets for ninjutsu training.

Having made up his mind, Sasuke began teaching as soon as he said he would. He poured out all his insights, difficulties, and precautions at once, holding nothing back.

It was a B-rank ninjutsu, no matter what. Naruto, you owed him one, got it?!

Naruto did not learn it.

Yes, Naruto had not learned it just by watching for a while, unlike how he had learned the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu in the anime.

Perhaps the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu really differed in casting technique.

Known: Naruto's Chakra was unstable, therefore: he could not use the Clone Technique. Of course, Kurama might have been deliberately causing trouble.

Maybe the Chakra amounts in each Multiple Shadow Clone were uneven, or perhaps there was something special about the Hand Seals...

If Naruto could not learn it after being taught, then it was not Sasuke's problem. Maybe the will of the greater world insisted on having Iruka and Naruto share a burst of teacher-student affection, giving Naruto an extra godfather whose parents had been accidentally trampled to death by the Nine-Tails, thus making up for Sasuke's childhood regret of having his whole family die.

Now Naruto wanted him to teach genjutsu...

With the Shadow Clone Jutsu as precedent, Sasuke might as well teach him. Naruto was a master of talk-no-jutsu; he refused to believe the guy could actually learn it.

If Sasuke refused, Naruto would pester him relentlessly and chant his name beside him every day, chattering even more than the girls in their class.

"Do you understand the Hand Seals and the principles? I won't resist. Try using it on me."

Naruto's fingers were still quite nimble. After all, Hand Seals were one of the ninja academy's courses. But his grades in technique casting were poor, and in the days before exams, Naruto had done plenty of last-minute training.

When it was something he wanted to learn, he could remember the formal material quickly once he got serious.

But if he could not learn it, he simply could not learn it.

After seeing it demonstrated just once, he could form the Hand Seals perfectly while facing Sasuke.

Sasuke offered no resistance, and just as expected, there was no effect at all.

"Sasuke, you really, really don't feel anything?"

It was a reasonable suspicion, though unpleasant to hear and somewhat offensive. Still, Naruto asked it.

"Are there any other tricks?"

Whenever the results were unsatisfactory after Sasuke taught something, Naruto would ask whether he had held anything back. Sasuke was nearly used to it.

"The Uchiha Clan is naturally skilled at genjutsu, while some people are naturally bad at it. I've practiced this for at least a week, while you've only just started. It's normal that there's no effect. If you keep practicing for one or two months and still get nowhere, then there's no need to overthink it—you probably just don't have any talent for genjutsu."

"Watch carefully. This is me using genjutsu on you without activating my Sharingan."

Sasuke demonstrated the Hand Seals again. He truly was not hiding anything. Naruto could not move, though he seemed able to struggle a little.

After waiting for a moment, he let Naruto dispel the Jutsu himself.

"This time, it's with my Sharingan activated. I used the Binding Genjutsu on you before. You should still remember it."

Unlike the previous time, when he had forcibly cast the Jutsu with his Sharingan activated, this time more Yin Release Chakra followed his gaze into Naruto's consciousness.

It was a strange feeling. He was clearly still in the living room, yet his consciousness connected to another scene. His left eye, right eye, and brain were like three screens displaying two sets of images.

Everything around them was black, but light inexplicably radiated from the ground. It was just bright enough to grant some visibility. After taking a few steps, ripples spread across the brick floor, though they did not wet his feet.

"Sasuke, where is this?! Let me go first!"

Naruto had suddenly arrived somewhere unfamiliar.

Where was this? Good question.

There were not many options.

A: Naruto's inner world

B: The entrance to the Tamed Nine-Tails' home

C: Naruto's inner world, which was also the entrance to the Tamed Nine-Tails' home

"This is your inner world. Genjutsu acts on your mind, and this is a space between reality and illusion constructed by your consciousness."

"Anyway, try dispelling the Jutsu yourself first. I'll take a casual look around your home."

Identical passageways and one crossroad after another—calling it a maze was giving such a halfhearted design too much credit.

Anyway, after walking a few steps—

Where is the Nine-Tails? Where is the Nine-Tails~

Naruto tried to break free, but compared to the previous genjutsu, he could not even struggle. He could not even feel the existence of his limbs.

"Sasuke, come back! It's so dark here by myself."

At the next intersection, Naruto suddenly appeared before Sasuke without warning, despite having been in the opposite direction.

"Sasuke, I was just thinking about you, and you came back. Hurry and help me undo the genjutsu. I don't think I can undo it myself this time."

As expected of someone else's territory. Could it pull him back just because it wanted to?

How was he supposed to enter his own Mental Space, and what could he do there? It vaguely felt like a game's housing system. But fake was fake—how could it compare to a Pocket Dimension?

Seeing Naruto's defeated expression, Sasuke did not force him to train genjutsu resistance. They had not even discussed tutoring fees, so Sasuke could not be bothered to act like such a helpful person. He raised his hand and released the genjutsu's control.

When he looked up again, a towering metal gate had appeared behind Naruto. In the darkness beyond it, he could only see a pair of enormous, doll-like fox eyes.

Though he had been mentally prepared, who did not have a fear of giant things? The eyes alone were as tall as a person. The Nine-Tails hidden in the shadows, not counting its upright tails, had to be at least dozens of stories tall.

The bars were in the way, but Sasuke could still see that enormous mass of red Chakra inside with his Sharingan.

What could Sasuke do? He could only pretend he knew nothing.

"Impressive. Naruto, is this your Tamed Ninja Beast? I was wondering why you're so poor. Feeding something this huge must cost you a lot of money, huh?"