My Clone Is a Bit Strange

"Tomorrow is the graduation exam. Please go home, prepare diligently, reflect on your past lessons, and strive to become a genin..."

Walking through the streets of Konoha after school, Nakamori Wu Yu recalled the words of his teacher at the Ninja Academy, feeling somewhat heavy-hearted.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn by a noisy commotion.

Looking up, he saw Umino Iruka, a teacher from the neighboring class, along with Naruto Uzumaki from his own class.

The latter, not very tall with striking blonde hair, was carrying a cleaning bucket and following Iruka toward the Hokage Rock Faces, a landmark of Konoha.

The residential area of Konoha was shaped like a semi-circular fan with a radius of forty to fifty kilometers. At the deepest center lay the core buildings, such as the Hokage Office and the Ninja Academy. Directly behind them stood a high cliff, carved with the massive faces of the four Hokage, silently watching over the entire village.

But at this moment, these revered stone Hokage faces had already been covered in messy red paint. There was no need to ask; it was undoubtedly the masterpiece of the village's notorious prankster, Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto Uzumaki carried the cleaning bucket, escorted by Umino Iruka toward the Hokage Rock Faces.

Villagers on both sides pointed at him from time to time, but Naruto acted as if he didn't care, making faces at them and even jumping up to shout back, only to be suppressed by a punch from Iruka. The journey was lively and full of vitality.

This meant that tomorrow was the day the "plot began."

Naruto Uzumaki would learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and successfully become a genin... The story of the savior of the ninja world, the Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki, was officially beginning.

As Wu Yu thought about this speechlessly, he noticed another Ninja Academy student nearby, also stopping to watch the backs of Umino Iruka and Naruto Uzumaki.

On the back of his high-collared, short-sleeved shirt was the striking fan crest of the Uchiha Clan; it was Sasuke Uchiha.

Realizing he was actually smiling, Sasuke Uchiha snapped out of it, lowered his gaze with a gloomy expression, and wiped the smile away... Just then, a voice rang out from behind him:

"You envy him, don't you? That Naruto Uzumaki."

What!?

Sasuke Uchiha turned around vigilantly, seeing a 14-year-old black-haired boy a head taller than him, and immediately snorted, "So it's the repeater from the next class, Nakamori Wu Yu, right?"

Wu Yu smiled: "I never expected a genius of the illustrious Uchiha Clan to remember the name of a mediocre person like me. I'm so honored I want to go home right now and tell my parents so we can be happy together—oh wait, I'm just like you, I don't have parents."

Sasuke's fists tightened as he glared coldly at Wu Yu.

And Wu Yu... Wu Yu walked away after saying that; he couldn't beat Sasuke, after all.

Wu Yu had his own troubles.

One of them concerned the Ninja Academy graduation. Tomorrow was the graduation exam, and after that, they would be assigned to squads, undergo another assessment by a jonin instructor, and if they passed, they would officially become genin of Konoha, taking on missions, gaining experience, and earning money on the side...

Wu Yu had already been sent back to the Ninja Academy twice by his jonin instructors.

He passed the graduation exam for the first time at 12, and now at 14, tomorrow would be his third attempt... Oh, Wu Yu, if you don't become an official genin and start earning money soon, you won't even be able to afford food!

Hmm?

Is someone following me?

Wu Yu felt a jolt of alarm. Controlling himself, he didn't look back, pretending everything was normal as he continued walking at a steady, unhurried pace.

Why would someone be following me?

Anbu?

That shouldn't be!

I'm just an orphan whose parents died in the Nine-Tails Attack twelve years ago; there are plenty of others like me in Konoha. What could possibly be worth noting?

Surely I wouldn't be tracked and investigated just for teasing Sasuke, would I? Oh my god...

Or could it be...

Has my secret been exposed?

Wu Yu's heart was in turmoil, but his face remained calm.

He walked through two streets, arrived at a three-story building, and entered the stairwell. Forcing himself to suppress the urge to sprint home, he climbed the stairs steadily, reached the second floor, and headed toward his apartment.

Aside from this apartment, his deceased parents had left him with a small amount of savings that were now nearly bottomed out. Damn it, why are they still following me??

Even if you have to investigate me, can't you do it without me noticing? I ask you!

Ding!

Wu Yu pretended to drop his keys, and as he bent down to pick them up, he took the opportunity to glance toward the stairwell.

Sure enough!

A strange, bald, muscular man was standing there, staring intently at him. Upon noticing Wu Yu's fleeting glance, he gave a sinister smile and walked straight toward him.

The key slid firmly into the lock, and Wu Yu twisted the door open, quickly scanning the room.

Where are they? Where did they go?

Bang!

The apartment door, just about to close behind him, was blocked by a hand reaching inside.

"Are you that afraid of me?" The bald man's voice outside carried a hint of an evil, charming smirk.

Wu Yu glanced at the thick, half-human-tall scroll on the small table in the living room, and his tense expression suddenly relaxed.

Click. The apartment door behind him closed.

At the same time, after a "poof" sound, the deep male voice transformed into a pleasant female one, teasingly saying: "--What's the rush? I haven't even come in yet."

Wu Yu rolled his dead-fish eyes and replied speechlessly, "Is it fun to use the Transformation Jutsu to scare your master like that?"

What came into view was a vast expanse of bosom, and he almost couldn't help but bury his face in it.

Looking up, the bald, muscular man who had just walked through the door had transformed into a woman wearing a green coat. Her long, pale yellow hair was tied into youthful twin tails, and she looked to be about twenty years old, full of heroic spirit.

Tsunade!

One of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, founder of the Konoha Medical Corps, student of the Third Hokage, granddaughter of the First Hokage—Tsunade, who looked like a young girl but was actually fifty years old!

Upon hearing this, Tsunade's delicate brows furrowed as she extended a finger and flicked Wu Yu on the forehead.

Pop!

Wu Yu stumbled back two steps and entered the living room.

Tsunade strode in after him, leaning against the sofa without a hint of reserve. She crossed her legs and said with dissatisfaction, "You may be my original self, but don't call yourself 'master.' Be careful... hmph!" She shook her fist at Wu Yu.

Wu Yu rubbed his forehead, plopped down on the opposite side, and said with dead-fish eyes, "Is this attitude toward your original self appropriate? It is not. And this—did you finish writing it?" He pointed to the half-person-high scroll on the table.

"Of course," Tsunade said coolly.

"Such a huge stack?"

Wu Yu said in surprise, dragging the scroll in front of him to unroll and check the contents. The first vertical line of text that caught his eye read, "Medical Ninjutsu: Yin Seal..."

"You filled it all up? Do you really know this many jutsus?"

Tsunade leaned back on the sofa in a relaxed posture, which only made her chest look even more eye-catching. She said leisurely, "At my level, just because I don't use many jutsus doesn't mean I don't understand or know them. Someone capable of being Hokage must master at least a thousand jutsus. Do you really think I couldn't be Hokage?"

"Uh, you want to be Hokage?"

Wu Yu said casually, not looking up as he continued to flip through the scroll: Superhuman Strength Jutsu, Heavenly Foot of Pain, Mystical Palm Technique, Chakra Scalpel... many Water Style Jutsus... many Fire Style Jutsus... many Lightning Style Jutsus... many Earth Style Jutsus... It was dizzying to look at.

After a long silence without an answer, Wu Yu looked up at Tsunade with lingering reluctance.

She was looking out the window, her face expressionless as she spat out a single sentence: "Hokages never die well; only a fool would want to be Hokage!"

"..."

It seems the Tsunade I summoned is indeed from this period! Wu Yu thought.

He waved his hand and said, "Hey, stop looking. You can't see the Hokage Rock Faces from this window in my house. I haven't even scolded you yet—why did you run out? I thought you'd been discovered! You scared the life out of me..."

Tsunade looked over: "...My hand was tired from writing, so I went out to get some air and had a drink."

"That explains it."

Wu Yu tapped his fingers on the table, slammed the half-person-high scroll shut, crossed his arms, leaned back against the sofa, and sighed, "There's too much! I don't have time to read it all, so I'll just ask you directly—are there any jutsus I can learn, preferably the kind... the kind that are cheat-level?"

Tsunade asked curiously, "What do you mean by 'cheat'?"

"For example, Sage Mode. Do you understand that?" Wu Yu gestured. "As long as you learn it, your strength can double, triple, or increase dozens of times over! That is what I call a cheat."

"..." Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "At your age, you're only a Genin, right? Thinking about such jutsus is far too early! Furthermore, the more powerful a jutsu is, the harder it is to master..."

She trailed off, because the gaze of the bratty original self opposite her was, unsurprisingly, glued to a spot it shouldn't have been.

"Mm-hmm, keep going, I'm listening..." Wu Yu shifted his gaze. It really wasn't that he was intentionally aiming; it was just that—her bosom was so vast, she was simply too eye-catching!

Tsunade didn't take it too seriously; after all, since it was the request of her original self, she still had to try to satisfy him.

She stood up, walked around the small living room table toward Wu Yu, and said, "To learn Sage Mode, the most basic requirement is to possess a sufficient amount of chakra. Otherwise, the moment you draw Nature Energy into your body, it will erode you in an instant, leading to immediate death. Stop staring; if you want to look, I'll strip naked and let you look all you want later! Now, stand up."

"That won't be necessary..." Wu Yu stood up.

Tsunade extended a finger, tapped his forehead, and asked, "Have you heard of the 'Eight Ninja Parameters'?"

Isn't this the data index from the Naruto databooks? It actually exists?

Wu Yu could feel a warm flow of chakra pouring from Tsunade's fingertip into his body, and he replied, "Tell me about it, and I'll see if I know it."

"It is a set of digitized standards for evaluating a ninja's various qualities, summarized by the Fourth Hokage during the Third Shinobi World War to help inexperienced Genin judge the strength gap between themselves and their enemies."

The chakra from Tsunade's fingertip traveled throughout Wu Yu's entire body. "The Eight Ninja Parameters are Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Intelligence, Strength, Speed, Stamina, and Hand Seals. The first four represent one's understanding of ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and tactical strategy, while the latter four are the ninja's own physical strength, speed, stamina, chakra reserves, and their ability to perform hand seals and control chakra."

"Each category has a total score of 10. Roughly speaking, 1-2 is the level of a Ninja Academy student, 3-4 is the level of an average Genin, 5-6 is a Chunin, 7-8 is a Jonin, and 9-10 belongs to the level of a Hokage."

She hooked her finger under Wu Yu's chin and tilted it upward. "If you want to learn Sage Mode, your 'Stamina' must be at least a 9, and you... you only have a 2."

Just like that, with a flick of her finger, she figured out my chakra reserves?

She truly is the grandmother of medical ninjas; her understanding of the human body is thorough!

Wu Yu licked his lips. Even though he knew his grades might not be ideal, he had still held out some hope... He asked, "What about the other seven?"

Tsunade flicked Wu Yu's forehead again, then beckoned him with her finger and smiled, "Come on, hit me with your full strength."

Wu Yu said, "Hit you? Where should I hit?"

Tsunade was amused and glanced down, "You can try."

"Alright!"

Before the words had even faded, Wu Yu swung a punch at Tsunade with all his might.

Tsunade extended a single finger and easily stopped his seemingly fierce fist.

She judged, "Strength... 2!"

"You're the one who's a 2!" Wu Yu moved in a blur, pushing the door open and sprinting back and forth along the second-floor hallway. Soon, he rushed back into the room, steaming, slammed the door shut, and shouted, "What about Speed?"

Tsunade, sitting on the living room sofa, didn't turn around; she simply held up two fingers.

"Damn it!"

Wu Yu punched the air.

Don't tell me I'm also a 2 in Tactical Intelligence!

Tsunade stood up and walked to the living room wall. While forming hand seals, she kicked off her high heels. "Gather your Chakra at the soles of your feet, then do it like this..." As she spoke, she stepped onto the wall with her bare feet.

As if she had suction cups on her feet, Tsunade walked slowly up the wall, her body parallel to the floor, leaving a faint mark every meter.

When she reached the ceiling, less than four meters up, she flipped down and landed silently.

"Although this test isn't necessarily precise, for this training, every extra meter you walk on your first attempt roughly equates to 1 point in Seal Proficiency."

Tsunade stood with one hand on her hip and smiled at Wu Yu. "Kid, want to give it a try?"

"Call me Lord Original Body!"

Wu Yu rolled his dead-fish eyes. Without even forming seals to help focus his Chakra, he lifted his foot and walked onto the wall. He walked as if on flat ground all the way to the ceiling, continued walking across it, hung upside down, and kept moving as if it were level ground...

He looked down, let out an "Oops," and fell.

Tsunade, who was looking up in surprise, caught him effortlessly.

I touched them! That was totally an accident!

After rubbing against her for a moment, Wu Yu broke free and scratched his hair. "It's a pity, I've already done this training before, so there's no 'first-time performance' for you to judge."

"If you've already trained and still fell so easily, I'm afraid your Seal Proficiency is only a 2."

"Are you spouting nonsense? You're just making that up, right?"

"..."

"..."

Strength 2, Speed 2, Stamina and Chakra Reserves 2... What kind of garbage stats are these?

Wu Yu was truly speechless. He sighed, "Everything a ninja does is built upon Chakra. If you don't have enough Chakra, everything else is off the table! Forget it, forget it, let me see if this thing is still useful..." As he spoke, he formed a cross seal with his hands.

Under Tsunade's astonished gaze, Wu Yu cheered, "Eh? It seems there's hope!"

Poof...

A cloud of white smoke, similar to the Shadow Clone Technique, suddenly appeared in front of him.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed the appearance of the "Shadow Clone" he had just summoned...

Tsunade noticed that the expression on her "Lord Original Body" was as if he had seen a ghost, so she took a closer look at this peculiar clone that Wu Yu had summoned, which shared the same nature as himself.

A white-haired, white-robed woman with a pair of horns? Does this kid only summon women?

Wait!

Tsunade quickly noticed the pure white eyes of the new clone: "Is that the Byakugan?"

Meanwhile, Wu Yu swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva, staring in shock at the "clone" he had just freshly baked—the progenitor of Chakra from the ancient era of the ninja world, the immortal Rabbit Goddess who merged with the God Tree, Kaguya Otsutsuki!

Good heavens, mother of the Sage of Six Paths...