After placing a lock of Sasuke's hair in a scroll, Yun opened the hidden compartment under his bed and put it inside.
Looking at the two scrolls in the compartment, the three-quarter-length arm from Obito could serve as a medium for Hashirama and Obito, while he would have to wait until the time came to test whether Sasuke's hair would work.
At this stage, though, trading with Sasuke was out of the question. What did a toddler barely over a year old know? He couldn't even speak clearly; talking to him would be like talking to a cow.
Besides, there was no guarantee that Indra's chakra was in Sasuke at this point. The Sage of Six Paths hadn't said when he got it. Did it come with each reincarnation?
"Thud."
After gently closing the compartment, Yun sat on the bed and thought about the hand seals for Wood Release.
After mulling it over, it seemed Hashirama had hardly ever used hand seals at all. He'd clap his hands, form a seal, and summon whatever he wanted. Hashirama Senju and Madara seemed to do things that way.
Hand seals had been invented by Indra, who had accidentally discovered that they could guide chakra's power. But did Indra and Asura need to use them?
The Sage of Six Paths clearly didn't need hand seals, and Hashirama could use every Wood Release technique with just the Snake Seal. No, wait—he remembered that Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands required hand seals when it was used to suppress the Nine Tails.
Madara's Great Fire Annihilation was the same, but Summoning the Nine Tails required seals.
When the Second was reanimated in Part One, he used Water Formation Wall with a single seal, too.
So... there was no logic to it?
Yun scratched his head. Clone Sora had been practicing Water and Earth Chakra Nature Transformation, and if he managed to awaken Wood Release, then Wood Release techniques like Deep Forest Emergence would be essential.
The Scroll of Seals in the Hokage Building wouldn't be easy to get. He still had to maintain his current image, and throwing it all away for a few Wood Release techniques would be a terrible trade.
It looked like he'd have to develop them himself.
The next day, Izumi stared in surprise at her brother, who was walking to school with her.
"Not a Shadow Clone?"
Yun smiled wryly. "Yesterday was a bit of a mess. I didn't feel comfortable sending a Shadow Clone."
Whether or not yesterday had been a mess didn't really matter. The important thing was that Yun had realized his Shadow Clones were anything but cautious. A little provocation was all it took for one to challenge the entire upperclassmen class.
They'd just had a fight yesterday, and there would probably be more trouble today.
What if a Chunin or Jonin showed up today, and his Shadow Clone beat them too?
Wouldn't that mean graduating early with Itachi? How could he keep a low profile then?
Wasn't being a student at the Ninja Academy great? The Shadow Clone could study while he went out for barbecue. Wasn't it nice to sunbathe on Kage Rock every day and practice ninjutsu now and then?
Why become a Genin, spending every day catching cats or cleaning out sewers, and occasionally having to pick up trash downstream? What a pain.
After entering the classroom and taking a look around, Yun walked over to Itachi and glanced at him. "Another Shadow Clone?"
Itachi nodded. "The real me went to train. There's not much to learn here."
Yun smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Then I guess you'll get beaten up again today."
Leaving Itachi puzzled by his words, Yun headed over to Tokuma and Hana. He never sat next to Itachi at school. It attracted far too much attention.
As soon as he sat down, Hana Inuzuka turned to ask, "Is it the real you today, or a Shadow Clone? That trick of yours is really useful. I want to stay home and play with the dogs too, but Mom won't teach me how."
"It's the real me today." Yun paused, then asked, "Don't you have a little brother? Kiba Inuzuka?"
Hana froze, then blushed. "Why are you investigating my family, Yun? My little brother's only a year old... He won't get in the way..."
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not interested in you. Uh... I'm not interested in your little brother either."
That nearly made Hana fly into a rage. If Tokuma hadn't held her back, Yun probably would have had to run for it.
He'd only asked because the thought had occurred to him. After all, wouldn't it be interesting if his butterfly effect wiped out a few members of the Konoha 12?
Once she calmed down, Hana decided she wouldn't speak to Yun for three days.
Tokuma nudged Yun from the other side, rolling his naturally pale eyes as he said, "Hana's actually pretty cute. But anyway, why did you suddenly come to class in person today?"
Yun sighed. "Didn't I beat up all the upperclassmen yesterday? There's probably going to be trouble again today. If I don't come myself, I'm afraid my Shadow Clone will tear the school down."
Tokuma froze, then laughed. "If you can tear down the school, I'll give you my allowance for the whole month. We'd get at least two months off."
Yeah, right... You wish.
Because the Fourth was still alive, Kinoe had already joined Kakashi's Anbu squad at this point.
The Three-Room-One-Hall Technique—let me show you what construction speed looks like.
The quiet day passed slowly. Yun spent the whole day cutting leaves beneath his desk.
When school let out, four Genin were indeed waiting by the gate.
"Big brother, that's him!"
Oh, crap!
Yun hurriedly dodged to the side, only to see that the Shadow Clone Itachi who'd just been about to head home had been cornered.
After a flurry of punches and kicks, Itachi's Shadow Clone soon went poof and vanished in a cloud of smoke. One of the attackers looked familiar. Was he Tenma's older brother?
He remembered that the graduates from this class would graduate alongside Itachi. So Tenma and another student named Shinko would become Itachi's teammates after he graduated—and Tenma would be the reason Itachi awakened his Two Tomoe.
No wonder the guy named Tenma had a grudge against Itachi in his memories...
"Clone Technique?"
"There's another Uchiha! Don't let him get away!"
"New students these days are so arrogant. They dared to beat up my little brother. From now on, I'll come here every day after my missions and wait for them."
"Big brother, you're amazing..."
Looking at the seven or eight people closing in on him, Yun thought they really had no idea what they were getting into.
Civilian ninja cornering one of Konoha's powerful clans was like those idiots in his memories who'd beaten up Hinata, the future wife of the Hokage. Kids didn't think about consequences. They just hit people.
"Kid! Were you the one who beat up my little brother?"
Before he could finish speaking, a chill touched his neck. Yun, who'd been standing right in front of him, had vanished.
"Clink, clink..."
Yun casually tossed down four headbands, a kunai pressed against the leader's neck.
"That Itachi Uchiha just now used the Shadow Clone Technique. It has a physical body, so it's fundamentally different from the Clone Technique."
"And what I just used was pure speed. I moved so fast I snatched your headbands, and now I've taken you hostage. Do you think you can come here every day to wait for me?"
As he spoke, Yun lowered the kunai and tossed the headbands back. "Yesterday, I fought students who hadn't become ninja yet. But you're different. Once you become ninja, you need to be ready to die at any moment."
Watching Yun disappear from view, the four Genin who'd been too scared to speak finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Shadow Clone Technique? How is that possible?"
"And that speed! He's a brand-new student, but he's a complete monster."
"Phew..."
Some distance away, Yun let out a breath. He'd nearly ended up like his Shadow Clone. It would've been a real mess if he'd beaten them all up too.
After all, he wanted to keep coasting for a few more years!
Fire Release Ninjutsu, genjutsu, Nintaijutsu, Shadow Clone Technique... Shisui had vouched for all of those. Once he got the Mangekyou, he could put his plans into action.
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