Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

The crackling lightning in his hand let out a few faint sizzles before completely dissipating into the air.

Kakashi slipped back into his lazy demeanor, yawned, and scratched his messy hair:

"Well, well... forget it... what a troublesome brat!"

Kakashi looked at Yo and said in a tone that suggested he had no other choice:

"You're strong—strong enough to earn my approval. This test... you pass!"

Yo's strength was formidable; Kakashi felt he couldn't gain the upper hand.

Continuing to clash would only waste Chakra with no real point.

With that, he unhooked the two bells from his waist and tossed them to Yo.

"Here, the bells are yours!"

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

"You can give one to whoever you think is worthy, Sasuke? Or Naruto?"

"As for the one without a bell, that's a mission failure—send them back to the Ninja Academy to keep studying!"

Yo caught the two bells flying toward him, glanced down at them, then looked up at Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, stop playing these boring little games of testing. It's pointless!"

Yo said, flicking his wrist lightly, and the two bells landed precisely in front of Sasuke and Naruto.

"Clink..."

The crisp sound rang out clearly across the quiet training ground.

Sasuke stared at the bell rolling at his feet, his expression complicated.

Naruto grabbed the bell, his face full of shock: "Yo? Why'd you give us the bells? What about you?"

Kakashi's expression froze, and he scratched the back of his head: "You saw through me..."

The choice he'd set up was, at its core, an ultimate test of teamwork and the concept of comrades.

He wanted to see how Yo would decide—choose his brother Uchiha Sasuke, or the dead-last Naruto?

No matter which he picked, it meant abandoning the other, which itself betrayed the spirit of the team.

But Yo didn't fall for it at all, kicking the choice back in the most straightforward way.

"What a troublesome brat!"

Kakashi sighed inwardly, then turned to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Alright, you two! Now that the bells are in your hands, that means Yo has failed the mission."

"According to the rules, the one without a bell goes back to the Ninja Academy."

Kakashi observed their reactions and asked slowly, "So, what are you going to do?"

"Will you accept this 'victory' with clear consciences and watch me punish the teammate who failed?"

"How is that a failure?"

Naruto got worked up instantly, jumping to his feet and shouting loudly:

"The bells were taken from you by Yo's own strength!"

"He clearly succeeded!"

"If that counts as failure, then I was knocked out by you from the start—that'd be the failure of all failures!"

Naruto grew more agitated as he spoke, feeling insulted—not for himself, but for Yo's unfair treatment.

He grabbed the bell and threw it hard onto the ground.

"I don't want this kind of bell!" Naruto huffed, crossing his arms and turning away.

Sasuke's reaction was even colder, a light snort through his nose: "Hmph! I don't accept handouts like this!"

Watching this, a glint of satisfaction flashed in Kakashi's eyes.

Naruto and Sasuke might be average in skill, but they clearly valued their comrades—kids like that were good kids.

"Heh..."

Kakashi clapped his hands, looking at the three youths before him:

"Good!"

"Since that's the case, congratulations—you've all passed the test!"

Everyone passed unexpectedly?

That's it? They passed?

Naruto was stunned, confirmed it twice, then burst into excitement: "Awesome! We all passed!"

Sasuke kept his cool expression, but he was clearly relieved.

"Kakashi-sensei, since we all passed your test, that makes us your students now."

Yo smiled faintly. "First time meeting—shouldn't you, as the teacher, show some goodwill? Like... treating us to a meal to celebrate?"

"Right, right!"

Naruto's eyes instantly lit up like lightbulbs as he bounded over to Kakashi. "Teacher's treat! Teacher's treat!"

Kakashi's mouth twitched violently. He grumbled, "Hey hey... you little brats, trying to fleece your teacher on the very first day?"

"This isn't fleecing—it's a necessary investment in building teacher-student bonds!" Yo said with a straight face.

Kakashi eventually caved, rubbing his forehead in resignation:

"Fine! I can't do a thing with you lot... What do you want to eat? Teacher's bleeding his wallet today!"

"Barbecue!"

Naruto answered without a second thought, practically drooling.

Yo chimed in with a smile. "Right, this time of day, the Akimichi clan's barbecue place is perfect!"

Kakashi felt his wallet was about to take a beating. He waved a hand in defeat, voice drained:

"Akimichi clan's barbecue, huh... Let's go, let's go..."

Officially becoming ninja, Yo and the other two began taking on missions in the village under Kakashi's lead.

But the starting missions were all the lowest-grade D-ranks: cat-finding, weeding, cleaning river trash...

Day one.

Yo went in with the mindset of experiencing ninja life, following Kakashi-sensei to catch a cat and pull weeds.

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

These missions were nothing but a waste of time, aside from testing patience.

On day two, Yo had a Shadow Clone take his place for missions.

Yo himself used the Flying Thunder God Technique to head outside Konoha, deep into a remote mountain forest.

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

For someone with a Sage Body like him, he was bound to unlock Wood Release—it was only a matter of time.

Wood Release!

It wasn't simply a fusion of "Water" and "Earth" chakra; that was just the most basic form.

The true core of Wood Release lay in injecting the power of Yang Release into the base formed by the fusion of Water and Earth.

Thus granting it the properties of "growth" and "creation"!

For Yo, who possessed a Sage Body, the thing he least lacked was life-filled Yang Release chakra!

In the blink of an eye.

Half a month passed.

Yo let out a sigh.

Developing Wood Release was far harder than he'd imagined.

Even with the vast life force and chakra provided by his Sage Body, converting that power into Wood Release involved a delicate combination of three types of chakra—and progress was minimal!

Just as Yo was considering whether to try a different approach, his Shadow Clone, which had been handling missions, relayed a piece of 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, but in reality, they'd run into Momochi Zabuza.

A blood-soaked elite Jōnin, nothing like the D-rank missions they'd been doing day in and day out.

More importantly—

He could leave the village!

"Let's take a trip to the Land of Waves. Think of it as a little getaway!"

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

The thrill of leaving the village made Naruto like a bird freed from its cage, gawking and shouting all along the way.

Yo watched the hyperactive Naruto, had a thought, and quickened his pace to walk beside him.

"Naruto!"

"What's up, Yo?"

Naruto turned his head.

"I remember you've mastered a pretty impressive jutsu—the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, right?"

Yo asked in a natural tone, as if just making casual conversation.

"Yeah, that's right!"

Naruto said proudly. "That's the super powerful jutsu from the Scroll of Sealing! I learned it in no time!"

"That's amazing!"

Yo offered timely praise, then shifted the topic. "I'm a bit interested in the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."

"Could you teach me? Of course, if it's not convenient, no worries!"

Yo asked lightly, as if it were a passing whim.

Jutsu like this, especially high-level ones, were often family secrets, forbidden to be passed on.

It was only because it was Naruto.

That Yo dared to ask.

If it were Nara Shikamaru or Akimichi Choji, he wouldn't have even opened his mouth.

Too presumptuous!

Naruto slapped his chest vigorously and said generously, "Of course I can! What's inconvenient about that? If Yo wants to learn, I'll teach you! It's super simple!"

To him, Yo was a friend and teammate he genuinely acknowledged—sharing a jutsu was no big deal.

"Thank you!"

Yo nodded with a smile.

See?

The investment of befriending Naruto was already paying off, wasn't it?

After half a month of slow progress developing Wood Release, Yo realized the efficiency was 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 you could make.

But that everything each clone experienced—including training insights and accumulated experience—would instantly return to the original body upon release!

What did that mean?

If someone else trained for one day.

And he could split into a hundred shadow clones training simultaneously, that was equivalent to training for a hundred days. It was practically cheating!

Developing Wood Release required massive trial and error and experience accumulation—nothing was more suitable than the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

And the Sage Body was just enough to support the enormous consumption of this technique. It was a cheat tailor-made for Yo.