Your Cheat Has Arrived

Dragging his exhausted body back to his room.

He looked at the books and scrolls neatly arranged on the table.

In two weeks, Toneri had memorized all their contents.

No joke—people who studied medicine had the strongest memories!

Besides the books, there was also a sheet of paper detailing the training he needed to complete that week, along with the likely results. Everything had been listed out.

So although Toneri seemed to train like a madman every day, he actually had a very detailed plan in mind.

It was just that after meeting Minato Namikaze, he had found a clearer direction for his goals, and those plans needed some adjustments.

But right now, Toneri's attention was not on any of that.

He took three scrolls from the inner pocket of his clothes—three scrolls he had obtained from Shimura Danzō.

That was right, not two, but three!

Besides the two taijutsu scrolls, there was another scroll containing what Toneri had always wanted: the Shadow Clone Technique!

The moment he had made that request, he had immediately regretted it.

Why would someone who had only just come into contact with ninjas know about the Shadow Clone Technique?

Although quite a few people knew this technique, it was still a B-rank ninjutsu. Most of those who could learn it were chunin or above.

It was difficult enough to explain how he even knew about this ninjutsu.

And Danzo surely knew about the Shadow Clone Technique's other use as well.

For ordinary people, the Shadow Clone Technique was highly restrictive. Even some powerful ninjas whose weakness was chakra hardly ever used it.

That was because using the Shadow Clone Technique caused the clones it created to take away a large amount of the original body's chakra. For ninjas lacking in chakra, that was fatal.

Of course, the most outrageous part was the Shadow Clone Technique's hidden mechanism: once a shadow clone was released, all of its experiences would be added to the original body.

The accumulation of both mental memories and muscle memory was not something ordinary people could withstand.

Thus, ever since the Second Hokage developed it, the Shadow Clone Technique had mainly been used by ninjas to confuse enemies while fleeing or to gather intelligence.

Many people had learned it, and there were many similar Clone Techniques as well, such as Water Clones, Wood Clones, Lightning Clones, and so on.

Anyone who had used them knew that they were not very friendly toward the ninja themself.

For some reason, Danzo had still handed him the scroll containing the Shadow Clone Technique.

But when Toneri recalled Danzo's meaningful look, cold sweat broke out across his body.

He opened the scroll. There was not much information recorded on it.

It mainly described the Hand Seal for the Shadow Clone Technique, the sequence and direction of chakra circulation, and the precautions that needed attention after using a shadow clone.

After carefully reading it from beginning to end twice and memorizing everything, the scroll automatically self-destructed.

Although the Shadow Clone Technique was "only" B-rank ninjutsu, its side effects were too dangerous for it to be casually passed around.

Fortunately, Toneri had an excellent memory.

After silently reviewing every key point of the Shadow Clone Technique, he could not resist trying it.

He found a relatively open spot in the room, took a horse stance, pressed his index and middle fingers together on both hands, and crossed them before his chest.

The Shadow Clone Technique's seal was actually very simple. There was only one: the Ram Seal, formed by pressing the index and middle fingers together and crossing both hands.

Once the Ram Seal appeared, the chakra within his body began circulating on its own. Toneri "gave it everything he had" to make the chakra flow according to the sequence described in the scroll.

Once again, Toneri felt that he truly needed to improve his chakra control.

Other people could produce several clones in less than a second, while he had maintained one pose for several minutes, his face flushed red, before he barely...

Poof—

Your cheat has arrived. Please accept it!

A figure appeared beside him.

Looking at the "person" who had appeared, Toneri let out a long breath.

Thank goodness, it had the right feel—

He had persisted for so long for no other reason than to ensure that his chakra followed the sequence written in the scroll exactly, without any mistakes.

That was why he had managed to create an identical shadow clone.

It had completely "inherited" his handsome features!

Toneri could tolerate anything else, but he absolutely would not allow a crooked, misshapen, or grotesque version of himself to appear.

No matter what, the result was still pretty good.

"Tsk, as expected, the real me is handsome from every angle, all three hundred and sixty-five degrees. If I weren't myself, I'd definitely be captivated too." Toneri circled the shadow clone and could not help praising himself.

Time to test out what the shadow clone could do.

"You should first memorize the information in those other two scrolls. Then combine it with the methods we already know and organize a taijutsu training method better suited to us," Toneri said to his shadow clone.

"Okay!"

Talking to himself felt rather strange.

Since it was his first time using it, Toneri and his shadow clone split the chakra equally.

Before their chakra ran out, the shadow clone would not disappear.

Thus, frightened and exhausted after an entire day, Toneri collapsed straight onto his bed.

With the Shadow Clone Technique, he was once again full of confidence in his future growth in strength!

"Big Beauty, here I come—"

Elsewhere, inside the Hokage Office.

Having finished reviewing the documents, Hiruzen Sarutobi had just wanted to take out his crystal ball to relax and improve his mood.

Several Anbu Ninja suddenly appeared before him.

A closer look would reveal that they were the Anbu Ninja responsible for monitoring Toneri.

After Toneri returned to the Nara Clan Compound, aside from the two people left outside to keep watch, the rest should have returned to the Anbu base, removed their disguises, and gone back to living normal lives.

Then the next morning, they would submit their report on Toneri to Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk.

But today, they had no choice but to appear here.

Noticing their arrival, Hiruzen Sarutobi calmly put the crystal ball away.

Very quickly, the Anbu captain briefly told Hiruzen Sarutobi what they had experienced that evening.

The mysterious ninja who had fought them had vanished after only a brief exchange.

But the other party was very strong, no weaker than they were, and seemed to understand their fighting methods very well.

Since their mission involved the Jinchūriki, they had not pursued him deeply. Fortunately, nothing had happened to Toneri.

Still, the matter was suspicious. Once they confirmed that Toneri had safely returned to the Nara Clan Compound, they immediately came to report to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The pipe that had already gone out began to flicker once more.

"I understand. Go back for now. Tomorrow, proceed as usual," Hiruzen Sarutobi said calmly.

Having received their orders, the Anbu Ninja vanished in an instant.

Only Hiruzen Sarutobi remained seated behind his desk.

He slowly rose to his feet, holding his pipe in one hand while keeping the other clenched behind his back.

Walking to the window, he could see almost all of Konoha at a glance.

"Danzo, there are things where, when you crossed the line, I knew you did it for Konoha and chose to turn a blind eye. But now, you're not merely crossing the line—you've crossed the boundary!!" Hiruzen Sarutobi muttered as he looked at Konoha beneath the glow of the setting sun.

His strength was like this setting sun. Though it had begun to decline, that did not mean it no longer had any warmth!

Danzo was a moon that could only shine by relying on the sun. He needed to understand that without the sun, where would his light come from?

"Investigate what Root has been doing lately! Give them an appropriate warning!" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice remained forceful.

An Anbu Ninja emerged from the shadows in the corner. After kneeling on one knee in salute, he vanished.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi stared blankly into the distance at Konoha.

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