Early in the morning, Bingsan slung on his schoolbag and got ready to leave for school. Asuma and the others had already been waiting at the gate for a while.
As soon as Bingsan stepped outside, he heard Namiashi Raidō grumbling, "Tell me, why would they suddenly close up shop? I saw plenty of people there just yesterday.
I should've bought it then!"
Bingsan closed the gate and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Asuma explained, "He had his eye on a special windmill shuriken, but he didn't have enough money. When we passed by just now, that weapon shop had already shut down for good."
Bingsan thought it over, then wondered to himself, Has it already come to this? Could the fighting have started at the front lines?
Along the way, Bingsan kept a close watch. Every now and then, he spotted a ninja running across the rooftops, something he rarely saw under normal circumstances.
After all, the Uchiha Police Force was full of experts. Anyone who dared to run across a roof would be caught on the spot and fined.
Bingsan noticed more and more unfamiliar faces around. Every so often, an ANBU agent wearing a mask would appear, too.
At the gate, Asuma shoved past two honest-looking civilians and squeezed inside. "It's just registration. Why are there so many parents blocking the entrance?"
Bingsan only shook his head slightly. He couldn't help feeling uneasy.
These parents knew a war was about to break out, yet they were still sending their children to the Ninja Academy, hoping to make them part of the war. He couldn't imagine what they were thinking.
When they reached the classroom, Bingsan set down his schoolbag and looked around. The Uchiha siblings who had sat in front of him were gone, replaced by two children he didn't recognize.
Gekko Hayate, who was always making a racket, was gone too. Maybe he'd been held back.
Rin's deskmate had been replaced by a timid little girl. Obito was slumped over his desk, looking completely listless.
Bingsan now sat between two civilian children dressed in rags, and Yūhi Kurenai was no longer sitting in front of Asuma.
Bingsan let out a quiet sigh. "The wheels of fate are starting to turn, huh?"
The round-faced teacher came through the door and said, "Welcome back to school, everyone.
"I'll be your homeroom teacher again this year. We'll start with roll call."
He picked up the register and read out a string of unfamiliar names. Most of the children were civilians with no surnames.
Once roll call was over, the round-faced teacher led the class out to the field, where they stood ready to listen to Lord Hokage's brainwashing speech.
Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived half an hour later. After offering a few words of encouragement in a kindly tone, he glanced at Asuma and Bingsan, then left.
So the so-called Will of Fire hadn't been developed yet.
The first day of classes was dull and boring.
Bingsan took out the rewards he'd drawn recently and examined them over and over. In the end, he couldn't stomach trying one and tossed it into the trash.
Bingsan shook his head. It looked like his recent streak of good luck had run out.
What kind of ridiculous junk was he drawing?
Getting a Gundam toy was one thing. Discount coupons from other worlds were at least tolerable.
But what was he supposed to make of a half-eaten apple? And a clump of used toilet paper?
Bingsan stared at the sticky, fishy-smelling toilet paper and nearly gagged in disgust.
That evening, Bingsan sat at the dining table, waiting to eat with Danzo, who hadn't shown his face in a long time.
He waited and waited. The mealtime Danzo had set was almost over, so Bingsan let out a quiet sigh, picked up his chopsticks, and started eating plain rice with pickles.
Life was hard when Danzo wasn't home. Their usual three dishes and a soup had been reduced to plain rice and pickles.
That night, Bingsan was still practicing the routine Yong Ren had taught him.
Shimura Yujin suddenly appeared, dressed in black and wearing a mask.
Yujin pressed a hand to Bingsan's head and said, "I'm heading to the front lines. I won't have time to teach you anymore. Study the scrolls carefully. Don't rush, and watch out for mistakes."
It was the first time Bingsan had seen Shimura Yujin look so serious. With his face covered, he seemed especially dashing and heroic.
With that, he tossed Bingsan two scrolls and left.
Bingsan carefully opened Tobirama Senju's notes, then unrolled the Wind Release scroll that Danzo had written himself. The characters were carved into the parchment like knife marks; every stroke looked as sharp as a blade.
Bingsan narrowed his eyes as he admired Danzo's excellent handwriting, and couldn't help reflecting.
"Tobirama Senju was such a legendary ninja, but his handwriting was unbelievably messy. It was downright ugly."
Bingsan opened the Summoning Scroll next. It was about 1.2 meters wide and nearly three meters long, made from the hide of some unknown summoning beast.
The Summoning Formulas packed along the inside edges of the scroll made Bingsan's scalp tingle.
Following the system's instructions, Bingsan took out a kunai, cut his finger, and used his blood to draw a special summoning symbol on the scroll.
After finishing the formula, Bingsan wrote his name on the scroll. Then he formed hand seals using the sequence he remembered.
"Hai-Xu-You-Shen-Wei." With a slap, Bingsan pressed his hand against the scroll. As five bloody fingerprints appeared, three identical copies of him popped into view on the scroll.
A new line had also appeared on the Summoning Scroll's cover: Summoning: Clone.
Bingsan could clearly feel his field of vision change, as though his main screen had opened three smaller windows.
He could not only control their movements but also communicate with "himself." It was like going from a single-core computer to a quad-core one in an instant.
Bingsan tried it out. The clones could exist independently, but after a while, they disappeared when their thoughts fell out of sync.
Bingsan narrowed his eyes and thought it over for a while. Then he pulled out his kunai and stabbed one of the clones.
The clone yelped in pain, then frowned at him. "I may be a clone, but that doesn't mean you can treat me like I'm not a person!"
Bingsan pondered for a moment. "You're bleeding, but you didn't pop? Are you physical? Do you have a body?"
He reached out to touch the clone. The clone shuddered, and all three vanished with a poof.
Bingsan thought it was interesting and summoned them again. As soon as they appeared, the clones crossed their arms and leaped far away from him.
Bingsan stared, mouth agape, at the three clones looking at him as though he were some kind of pervert.
The clones said, "We share the same vision and thoughts, but that doesn't mean we can't think for ourselves!
"It's disgusting when you touch us like some pervert!"
Bingsan scratched his head. "Then tell me yourselves. What abilities do you each have?"
One clone said, "My physical abilities are the same as yours. I inherited your strength."
Another clone said, "My physical abilities are only average, but I inherited your speed!"
The third clone scratched his head. "Intelligence!"
Bingsan's face darkened. "You mean stupidity?"
The third clone replied, "You're the stupid one. Your whole family's stupid.
"I mean I inherited your chakra reserves and recovery speed.
"That's intelligence, isn't it? What else would you call it, spirit?
"Moron!"
Bingsan glared at the clone insulting him. "Strength clone, go train your Taijutsu.
"Speed clone, go practice chakra control.
"As for you, study these two scrolls. You've got lots of chakra and can recover it, so you can try as many times as you like. It won't matter if you mess up!"
The intelligence clone's face darkened. "You mean it won't matter if you mess up!
"We all have something to do. What are you going to do?"
Bingsan rolled his eyes. "I'm going to try sleeping."
With that, he turned and walked into the bedroom, ignoring the three clones.
When Bingsan woke up the next morning, his head was splitting. His experiment the night before had failed. It turned out there was no such thing as a perfect technique.
The three clones had repeatedly connected to the sleeping Bingsan to keep their thoughts synchronized with the original. The result was that Bingsan felt absolutely awful.
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