Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

The lightning crackling in his hand let out a few soft zaps, then vanished completely into the air.

Kakashi returned to his usual lazy posture, yawned, and scratched his unruly hair.

"Aw, forget it... What a troublesome brat!"

Looking at Yo, Kakashi spoke in a tone that said he didn't know what to do with him.

"You're strong. You've earned my approval. You passed the test!"

Yo was strong. Kakashi felt he couldn't get the upper hand against him.

There was no point continuing to clash. It would only waste chakra.

As he spoke, he untied the two bells from his waist and tossed them to Yo.

"Here, the bells are yours!"

"You know the rules," Kakashi said. "There are only two bells."

"You can give one to whoever you think deserves it—Sasuke? Or Naruto?"

"As for the one left without a bell, he'll have failed the mission and will have to return to the Ninja Academy to continue his studies!"

Yo caught the two bells, glanced down at them, then looked back up at Kakashi.

"Sensei Kakashi, there's no need to keep playing these pointless little testing games. They're no fun."

As he spoke, Yo flicked his wrist. The two bells landed squarely in front of Sasuke and Naruto.

"Clang..."

The clear sound rang out, especially sharply in the quiet training ground.

Sasuke looked at the bell that had rolled to a stop by his feet, his gaze complicated.

Naruto picked up his bell, his face full of bewilderment. "Yo? Why'd you give us the bells? What about you?"

Kakashi's expression froze. He raised a hand and scratched the back of his head. "So you saw through me..."

The choice he'd presented was, at its heart, the ultimate test of teamwork and loyalty to one's comrades.

He'd wanted to see what Yo would choose: his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke, or the dead-last, Naruto?

Whichever one he chose, he'd be giving up the other. That would itself betray the spirit of teamwork.

But Yo wasn't falling for it. With a swift, decisive move, he'd thrown the choice right back at Kakashi.

What a troublesome brat!

Kakashi sighed inwardly, then turned to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Okay, you two! The bells are in your hands now, which means Yo has failed the mission."

"According to the rules, anyone without a bell has to return to the Ninja Academy."

Kakashi studied their reactions and asked unhurriedly, "So, what are you going to do?"

"Will you accept this 'victory' with a clear conscience, then watch me punish your teammate for failing?"

"How can that count as failing?"

Naruto leaped up at once and shouted,

"Yo got those bells from you through his own strength!"

"He succeeded!"

"If that counts as failing, then I was knocked out by you right from the start. Wouldn't that make me a failure among failures?"

The more Naruto spoke, the more upset he became. He felt insulted—not on his own behalf, but because Yo was being treated unfairly.

He snatched up the bell and hurled it to the ground.

"I don't want this stupid bell!" Naruto crossed his arms in a huff and turned away.

Sasuke reacted even more coolly, giving a snort. "Hmph! I'm not accepting this kind of charity!"

Watching them, Kakashi's eyes flickered with approval.

Naruto and Sasuke weren't especially strong, but they clearly valued their comrades. Those were the kind of kids he liked.

"Heh..."

Kakashi clapped his hands and looked at the three boys before him.

"Good!"

"In that case, congratulations. You've all passed the test!"

All of them passed? What a surprise!

They'd passed?

Naruto was stunned. After asking twice to make sure, he immediately cheered. "Yes! We all passed!"

Sasuke still wore his usual cool expression, but he had clearly relaxed.

"Sensei Kakashi, since we've all passed your test, we're your students now."

Yo smiled. "Since this is our first meeting, shouldn't you do something for us as our teacher? Maybe... treat us to a meal to celebrate?"

"Yeah, yeah!"

Naruto's eyes instantly lit up like light bulbs, and he darted in front of Kakashi. "Sensei's treating! Sensei's treating!"

Kakashi's mouth twitched. "Hey, hey... You brats are already trying to fleece your teacher on the first day?"

"This isn't fleecing you. It's a necessary investment in strengthening the bond between teacher and students!" Yo said with a straight face.

In the end, Kakashi gave in. He rubbed his forehead helplessly.

"Fine! There's no helping it... What do you want to eat? Your teacher's going all out today!"

"Barbecue!"

Naruto answered without a second thought, nearly drooling.

Yo smiled and chimed in. "Exactly. This is the perfect time to go to the Akimichi clan's barbecue restaurant!"

Kakashi had a feeling his wallet was about to suffer. He waved them along with a weary sigh.

"The Akimichi clan's barbecue restaurant, huh... All right, let's go..."

After officially becoming shinobi, Yo and the others began taking on missions around the village under Kakashi's guidance.

But at first, all their missions were the lowest-ranking D-rank jobs: finding cats, pulling weeds, and cleaning trash out of the river...

The first day.

Yo approached it as a chance to experience life as a shinobi and followed Sensei Kakashi to catch a cat and pull weeds.

But after just one day, he'd completely lost interest.

These missions did nothing but test your patience. They were a waste of time.

On the second day, Yo sent a Shadow Clone to take his place on the mission.

Yo himself used the Flying Thunder God Technique to travel outside Konoha, to a remote mountain forest where no one went.

The trees here towered overhead. Yo planned to try developing Wood Release.

With the Sage Body, he was bound to develop Wood Release eventually. It was only a matter of time.

Wood Release!

It wasn't simply a fusion of the two chakra natures, Water and Earth. That was only its most basic form.

The true core of Wood Release lay in infusing the combined foundation of Water and Earth with the power of Yang Release.

That gave it the properties of "growth" and "creation"!

For Yo, with his Sage Body, the one thing he had in abundance was life-filled Yang Release chakra!

In the blink of an eye.

Half a month passed.

Yo sighed.

Developing Wood Release was far more difficult than he'd imagined.

Even with the immense vitality and chakra provided by his Sage Body,

making that power into Wood Release required a precise fusion of three chakra natures, and he'd made little progress!

Just as Yo was considering whether to try a different approach, his mission-taking Shadow Clone told him the news:

The Land of Waves mission had begun!

"The Land of Waves, huh..."

Yo's eyes lit up.

On the surface, the Land of Waves mission was a simple C-rank escort job. In reality, they'd run into Momochi Zabuza.

He was an elite Jōnin with a mountain of blood on his hands, nothing like the D-rank jobs they usually got.

More importantly,

he'd get to leave the village!

"Let's go check out the Land of Waves. We can treat it like a trip!"

The next day, Team 7 gathered at Konoha's main gate, then set off with their client, Tazuna.

The excitement of leaving the village made Naruto like a bird let out of its cage. He looked all around, shouting excitedly as they went.

Watching Naruto's boundless energy, Yo had an idea. He hurried over and fell into step beside him.

"Naruto!"

"What is it, Yo?"

Naruto turned to look at him.

"I remember you know a really powerful jutsu called the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, right?"

Yo's voice was casual, as if he were just bringing it up in passing.

"Yeah, yeah!"

Naruto said proudly, "It's an awesome jutsu from the Scroll of Sealing! I learned it right away!"

"That's impressive!"

Yo praised him, then changed the subject. "I'm kind of interested in the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."

"Could you teach it to me? Of course, if you'd rather not, that's fine!"

Yo asked lightly, as if it had just occurred to him.

Ninjutsu—especially high-level jutsu—often belonged to a family's secret teachings, and sharing it with outsiders was forbidden.

But Naruto was different.

That was why Yo was willing to ask him.

He wouldn't have brought it up with Nara Shikamaru or Akimichi Choji.

It would have been far too presumptuous!

Naruto thumped his chest and said generously, "Of course! What's the problem? If you want to learn it, I'll teach you! It's easy!"

To him, Yo was a friend and teammate he genuinely respected. Sharing a jutsu was no big deal.

"Thanks!"

Yo smiled and nodded.

See?

His investment in befriending Naruto was already paying off.

After half a month of making little progress on Wood Release, Yo realized his efficiency was far too low, so he decided to cheat!

The best way to cheat was undoubtedly the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

The broken part of this jutsu wasn't how many clones it could create.

It was that everything each clone experienced—including what they learned from training and the experience they accumulated—returned to the original self the instant the clone was dispelled!

What did that mean?

Other people trained for one day.

If he could make a hundred Shadow Clones train at once, it would be like training for a hundred days. It was practically cheating!

Developing Wood Release required plenty of trial and error and accumulated experience. There was no better fit than the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

And the Sage Body could support the jutsu's massive chakra cost. It was a cheat tailor-made for Yo.