Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Sage Mode

"The most effective ninja tactics are nothing more than ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Since Kakashi said he'll be your opponent in tomorrow's exercise, we'll plan a simulated battle strategy specifically against him."

At Sasuke Uchiha's house, Wu Yu faced Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura of Team Seven. With mischief brewing, he intended to make things difficult for Kakashi tomorrow and called on them one by one—

"Sasuke, your skills are the most well-rounded, with no obvious weaknesses. You'll focus on ninjutsu tomorrow."

Sasuke Uchiha silently nodded.

"Naruto, you have the best stamina, the most energy, the strongest fighting spirit, and the most flexible thinking... You'll be in charge of taijutsu."

As Naruto Uzumaki listened, he nodded along eagerly, grinning from ear to ear as he gave Wu Yu a thumbs-up. "Leave it to me!"

"Sakura, you have the best grades, which proves you understand ninjutsu theory the best. Genjutsu is perfect for you!"

Sakura Haruno hesitated and waved her hands. "I don't disagree with what you're saying, but genjutsu... I don't know how to use it!"

"Do I?" Wu Yu asked back. "If you don't know it, learn it! Sasuke, you should pick an easy Lightning Release technique to learn too—on the condition that you can complete the Lightning Nature Transformation before tomorrow morning. Can you do it?"

"Heh..." Sasuke Uchiha gave a cool smile.

"Coming through~" A voice suddenly called from overhead.

Sasuke and the others turned to look. Another Wu Yu came sprinting over, clutching a massive scroll nearly as tall as a person. He leaped down with a thud, propped the Tsunade Scroll beside them, handed it to Wu Yu's original body, then vanished in a puff of white smoke with a poof.

That was a Shadow Clone? Sasuke Uchiha was shaken. He'd been with us the whole time—when did he use a clone? I didn't notice at all...

"Ah! The Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto Uzumaki looked as if his worldview had been shattered. He pointed at the dispersing white smoke and stared at Wu Yu in disbelief. "You know it too?"

Sasuke Uchiha looked at Naruto Uzumaki. "That powerful new ninjutsu you said you learned was this Shadow Clone Technique?"

"Yeah! But I can make a thousand of them in one go!"

"This technique, Naruto—grab anyone on Konoha's streets wearing a ninja vest, and they'll know it." Wu Yu patted the Tsunade Scroll and spoke earnestly to Naruto Uzumaki. "But Naruto, Shadow Clones are one thing. Multiple Shadow Clones are another matter entirely... It's a Forbidden Jutsu that only someone with your incredible stamina, iron will, and unbelievable recovery ability can use."

Me? Unbelievable? Naruto nodded, squinting his eyes in both delight and confusion.

"Naruto, make one Shadow Clone first," Wu Yu said.

"Oh, okay!" Naruto Uzumaki unconsciously followed Wu Yu's instructions and formed the cross-shaped hand seal. Even though Wu Yu, Sasuke, and Sakura were not sensory-type ninja, they could vaguely sense the surging Chakra within Naruto as he formed the seal—so abundant it practically overflowed.

"Chakra by the ton, enough to waste however he wants... I'm totally not jealous at all..."

Wu Yu kept a straight face. With a poof, Naruto successfully created a Shadow Clone beside himself. Wu Yu pointed toward the far end of the Uchiha Training Ground and told Naruto's original body, "Naruto, go practice taijutsu over there."

"How should I practice? What part should I train?"

One question mark after another seemed to float over Naruto Uzumaki's head as he walked away. His Shadow Clone remained where it was, eyeing Wu Yu suspiciously. "Are we going to practice some super-awesome secret taijutsu?"

Wu Yu said to Naruto's Shadow Clone, "Listen carefully, Naruto. When a Shadow Clone is dispelled, its memories, training experience, and even mental sensations like pain and fatigue are all returned completely to the original body. So using Multiple Shadow Clones to speed up training is a special method that only someone like you, with astonishing recovery abilities, can use."

You could do that?!

Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno were both startled. They looked toward Naruto's original body in disbelief, only to see a huge question mark rising over his head in the distance.

Naruto's Shadow Clone was still confused. "I don't get it..."

Wu Yu smiled. "I think you do."

"I really don't get it!" Naruto's Shadow Clone protested.

"Dispel the clone, and you'll understand." Wu Yu raised a finger and flicked Naruto on the forehead with a snap. Naruto cried out in pain, then turned into white smoke with a poof and vanished.

"Ow..." Naruto Uzumaki's original body cried out from the other side of the training ground. Then he froze for a moment before excitedly shouting toward Wu Yu and the others, "I get it! Hahaha, so that's how it works! Great! Then let's all work hard together!!"

As he spoke, he formed hand seals. Poof poof poof poof poof poof poof poof... In one breath, he created two or three hundred Shadow Clones, nearly filling that end of the training ground as they enthusiastically began punching and kicking one another.

"...?" Sweat trickled down Sasuke Uchiha's forehead. Naruto might have looked clumsy, but Sasuke could hear the terrifying potential in Wu Yu's explanation of training with Shadow Clones. His eyes lit up as he looked at Wu Yu.

"I already told you, this is a method only Naruto can use," Wu Yu said. "His body's recovery ability is beyond anything a human can match. There's no need to imitate him. If you don't believe me, try it yourself. Listen—the key points are as follows..."

The Shadow Clone Technique really was not rare in Konoha. Wu Yu's parents, who had likely died on the Night of the Nine-Tails, probably knew it too.

Sasuke Uchiha ignored Wu Yu's warning. After memorizing the trick to the Shadow Clone Technique, he took off to use Shadow Clones to train his Lightning Nature Transformation.

"Start with one Shadow Clone! Don't train yourself to death!" Wu Yu shouted, though he had no idea whether Uchiha Sasuke heard him.

"Gulp..."

Sakura Haruno swallowed nervously as she looked at Wu Yu.

Though he was only two years older than her, Wu Yu had somehow begun to carry himself like a teacher. His calm command and orderly explanations put enormous pressure on her—just as expected of the disciple of the legendary female ninja Tsunade!

"..."

Wu Yu stared back at her helplessly. "I really don't know genjutsu! And it seems using genjutsu requires Yin Nature Chakra, so you first need to train Yin Nature Transformation. I don't know how to do that either... I was counting on you to master it and teach me afterward, Sakura."

"Oh..." Sakura Haruno nodded, somewhat disappointed.

"But before that, I can have you practice Chakra control. It'll definitely help with genjutsu training!" Wu Yu smiled. "For example, tree climbing and water walking..."

He gathered Chakra beneath his feet and demonstrated tree climbing and walking on water for Sakura Haruno. Then he flipped through the Tsunade Scroll until he found the small genjutsu section and let Sakura choose.

Sakura Haruno showed her top-student qualities. After looking over it a few more times, she had already memorized the hand seals for Tsunade's limited selection of genjutsu. But as for which one to train, how exactly to train it, or whether she could successfully learn it at all, she had no confidence.

Wu Yu helped her consider it. "According to Kakashi, Yin and Yang are the most fundamental attributes every ninja possesses. Then training Yin Nature should probably begin at the most basic level..."

He also briefly described his own experience with Fire Release and Water Release nature transformation.

Sakura Haruno gratefully gave him a deep bow. Honestly, even between teammates, helping this much was truly generous.

"I'll work hard!" Sakura Haruno's fighting spirit blazed as she found a tree and began practicing chakra control by climbing it.

Without even a little competitive spirit, how could she have held firmly onto the top student's throne in her grade?

Though the soul of an academic ace had been buried beneath the heart of a girl in love, once the dust was wiped away and its brilliance emerged again, she could even master Tsunade's Hundred Healings Jutsu, which not even Shizune had been able to learn.

"How should I put it? This feels oddly satisfying, like raising someone..."

Watching the three kids of Team Seven devote themselves to training in their own ways, Wu Yu could not help but smile with satisfaction. Then he sighed. What was he happy about? All three of them had better talent than he did!

[Little Jade, I need to work hard too!]

[Mhm! Do your best, Wu Yu!]

[In that case, let's add some points!]

Wu Yu's ears lengthened, and deep crimson Sage Face Markings with three eyes swiftly appeared on his face. Then he formed the Shadow Clone hand seal. With three Puffs, he created three Shadow Clones, who shot toward Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura.

"Sakura, your chakra control really is amazing."

Sage Clone Wu Yu watched Sakura Haruno climb the tree successfully on her first attempt and already wobble across the water's surface. Smiling faintly, he said, "I can come over once every ten minutes and maintain this state for about one minute. Let's discuss and study Yin Release Nature Transformation together!"

"Sure!"

With both feet submerged beneath the water, Sakura Haruno maintained her balance and gave Sage Clone Wu Yu a sweet smile. Her second personality muttered inwardly, Did he sneak off to put on makeup?

"Naruto, there won't be much effect if you keep training foolishly like this by yourself."

Another Sage Transformation Clone Wu Yu flashed into the sea of Naruto's Shadow Clones. With a single sweep, huge numbers of Naruto's Shadow Clones vanished in a string of Puffs.

Wu Yu smiled. "What you're training is brute force. That won't do—you need to train refined force..."

"Four gold? Flower gold?" Dozens of Narutos wore expressions of clear-eyed stupidity.

"Come on. Try to defeat me within one minute." Sage Transformation Wu Yu crooked a finger at the densely packed Naruto Uzumakis. "You get one chance to challenge the boss every ten minutes."

"Sasuke, once I enter this Sage Transformation state, my sensory abilities become much stronger."

The third Sage Transformation Clone Wu Yu flashed over near Sasuke Uchiha. With his hands in his pockets, he clung sideways to the tree trunk and looked down at Sasuke, who was so exhausted he was nearly collapsing. Earlier, Sasuke had merely used two Shadow Clones to help train his Lightning Nature Transformation, yet after attempting to dispel them, he had nearly passed out.

"Huff... huff..." Sasuke panted, snapping irritably, "Just say what you want... I don't have... time right now..." He forced himself upright on trembling legs.

Beneath his deep crimson eye shadow, Wu Yu stared at Sasuke's head and said, "What I mean is, in the region of your brain, I sensed a special chakra of a higher 'quality' than the chakra in your body... much higher quality, in fact..."

Sasuke Uchiha shuddered all over and looked up in disbelief. But Wu Yu's Sage Clone had already landed behind him, pressed a hand against Sasuke's head, and said softly, "You guessed it too, didn't you? That's right. I'm afraid your Sharingan awakened long ago—it's just that you never realized it yourself..."

"..."

Meanwhile, Wu Yu's main body was carrying out his own Sage Transformation training.

He fully expanded the enhanced sensory ability granted by Sage Chakra, and his brow slowly furrowed.