Left and Right

After Left Mysterious Karin appeared—the clone made with a single finger on the left hand, which Wu Yu had decided to call "Left Mysterious Clone"—she stood there dazed for a moment, pushed up her glasses, and looked around. This place was so shabby!

"What about the original?" she asked curiously, looking at Wu Yu across from her.

Wu Yu feigned confusion. "I haven't seen her. What's your name? I'm Vortex Nine Grades."

"Vortex? What a strange surname. And Nine Grades sounds like a woman's name..."

Left Mysterious Karin said offhandedly, "I'm Karin. You haven't seen the original? That's strange. Who uses a clone without saying a word, then runs off and disappears first..." She muttered complaints about the original under her breath.

"She didn't recognize the chakra signature of her own original..."

Watching Left Mysterious Karin curiously look around, Wu Yu thought, So her sensory technique, Mind's Eye of the Kagura, really was something she learned only after joining Orochimaru?

That made sense. After the Third Hokage had dealt with him, Orochimaru had worked hard to collect the Uzumaki Clan's remaining records from all over the place. He'd even cracked the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, so it was only natural that he'd mastered a bunch of the Uzumaki Clan's secret techniques.

"Should we look around—"

Left Mysterious Karin was about to ask Wu Yu to go out with her and look for the original when she suddenly vanished in a puff of white smoke, leaving behind half a furious curse: "What on earth is the original doing—"

Wu Yu had dismissed Karin early.

If she'd been Karin with her many Uzumaki secret techniques, she might have been useful. But this clone had a blank skill set, so he wasn't interested...

He waited a while.

But none of Left Mysterious Karin's "surveillance-camera-view memories" came back to him.

That means I can be fairly sure that Right Mysterious Clone is the version that returns its memories to me. But I should still test it.

He tried forming the Cross Seal with one finger on his right hand and two on his left.

The intuition that let him use Mysterious Clone didn't appear.

As expected. It costs nothing, but it has a cooldown...

Tsunade's and Kaguya's Mysterious Clones had caught Wu Yu's attention so completely that he hadn't had the time to figure out how long the technique's cooldown was. He'd had his hands full studying those two!

So Wu Yu held the Right Mysterious Clone seal, with one finger on his right hand and two on his left, and waited quietly for the skill's cooldown to end... He waited for about an hour before that mysterious intuition returned.

An hour cooldown? That's pretty short.

As Wu Yu thought this, Right Mysterious Clone appeared in a puff of smoke. It was an unfamiliar, ordinary-looking shinobi wearing an Iwagakure Forehead Protector.

When Wu Yu dispelled the Right Mysterious Clone, he received the clone's "surveillance-camera-view memories," just as expected.

So there are three ways to use Mysterious Clone. The first one I tried was completely random. Left Mysterious Clone returns the clone's memories to the original, while Right Mysterious Clone returns the memories to me...

Wu Yu dispelled Transformation Jutsu with a puff of smoke. He glanced at the sky brightening behind the cobwebs under the eaves, then darted outside, thinking to himself, From now on, I'll mainly use Right Mysterious Clone, which returns the memories to me. But Left Mysterious Clone, which returns them to the original, isn't entirely useless either...

Unfortunately, no matter which way he used Mysterious Clone, the clone it summoned seemed to be completely random.

If only he could choose who the clone would be...

Wu Yu shook his head and went to the large pond in the Uchiha Courtyard. The greenery around it had withered, and the damp scent peculiar to the water's edge in the early morning hung faintly in the air. Wu Yu took a deep breath and stepped onto the water.

He'd practiced Tree Division beforehand, so naturally he'd also practiced Water Walking.

In fact, based on his experience, Tree Division was much harder than Water Walking. The reason was simple: by the time he practiced Water Walking, he'd already gained plenty of painful experience from Tree Division, and had built a decent foundation in controlling his chakra.

Tap, tap, tap...

Wu Yu left ripples on the water as he walked toward the center of the pond as if on solid ground.

"Splash..."

Wu Yu scooped up a handful of pond water, refined chakra and gathered it in his palm, imagining that he was creating flames to heat the water... The manga had only described Naruto's training in Wind Release Nature Transformation in detail. He'd imagined his chakra turning into sharp wind blades and the like, which showed how important "imagination" was in training this kind of nature transformation.

Right, half of chakra is mental energy... So this is what they mean by the power of imagination!

Wu Yu began training in Fire Release Nature Transformation.

After practicing intently for two hours, he was already seeing stars... Wu Yu stood on the water, hands on his knees, panting. If he squeezed out any more chakra for training, he wouldn't have enough left to stay standing on the water.

Stamina and Chakra Reserves: 2!

He really couldn't afford to push himself...

[Wu Yu, you can use my power, you know?] Jade Rabbit reminded him from within.

[If my own foundation is too weak, then even if I borrow your Sage Power, I won't be able to bring out its true strength.] Wu Yu shook his head.

Even if they both used Jade Rabbit's or Haotu's Sage Transformation, could he really be stronger than Tsunade?

Wu Yu didn't think so himself!

[Little Jade, is there any way to increase my total chakra reserves?]

[Sorry, Wu Yu, I don't know either...] Jade Rabbit's voice grew quieter. Then she suddenly brightened and said happily, [We could ask Mother for help! If Mother could get a huge amount of chakra again, maybe we could ask her to increase my power!]

Increase Jade Rabbit's chakra reserves?

That wasn't a bad idea... The problem was, who else could have a Yin Seal packed with more than a decade's worth of chakra like Tsunade? If it was just an ordinary person's chakra, Mysterious Kaguya probably wouldn't care for it...

"Never mind. I'll work hard on my own first! I can't tell Sasuke to be patient and grow at his own pace, then rush to get stronger myself..."

Wu Yu rested for a while. Once his chakra had recovered a little, he continued training in Fire Release Nature Transformation.

[Wu Yu, Tsunade's here.]

After he'd practiced quietly for a while, Jade Rabbit suddenly spoke from within him.

Hm?

Wu Yu looked up. Tsunade had somehow climbed in from somewhere and was already standing on the water across from him, silently watching him train.

"What are you doing?" Tsunade walked toward him, stepping across the rippling water.

"Nature transformation," Wu Yu said, holding out his palm, where a pool of water rested. After all that effort, he'd only managed to warm it up. "Fire Release."

Tsunade said, "You'd get better results with something flammable, like paper or dry leaves."

Wu Yu flicked his hand, splashing the water toward Tsunade as she approached, and grinned. "I chose water not because it's easier, but because it's harder."

Tsunade swept it aside with her sleeve. This "former" original... Perhaps it was because she'd gotten used to the previous Mysterious Clone Tsunade being so familiar with her that she was now just as playful with the real Tsunade.

Two sets of ripples crossed and intertwined. Standing on the water in front of Wu Yu, Tsunade ordered, "Take off your shirt."