Growth

"Right, Houka, this is the scroll for the Shadow Clone Technique. I'm handing it over to you!"

After finishing his crying, Might Duy finally remembered the important business, pulled a small scroll from his chest, and tossed it to Houka.

Houka was overjoyed. Enduring the soreness in his body, he caught it and thanked him, "Uncle Duy, thank you so much!"

"Haha, no need to thank me. I also received this technique from Lord Hatake," Might Duy said with a smile. "With your talent, I think you'll be able to master it very quickly."

Houka nodded, but his heart began to ripple.

Lord Hatake?

That must be the White Fang of Konoha, the man who made ninjas from all nations tremble with fear, to the point where they were ordered to unconditionally abandon missions if they encountered him!

Aside from the White Fang of Konoha, the only other person to receive such an honor was the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze!

It was just that at this moment, the Yellow Flash had not yet fully matured.

"Yosh, then, that's all for today. Houka, can you go home by yourself?" Might Duy helped Guy up and looked at Houka.

"No problem!" Houka revealed a smile. "I'll rest for a bit to recover some Chakra, and then I can perform Medical Ninjutsu on myself."

"Soka, I forgot you know Medical Ninjutsu." Might Duy very consciously helped Guy sit back down. "Then treat Guy as well in a moment."

Guy chuckled, not feeling embarrassed in the slightest.

In fact, as an Eternal Genin, most of the ninja missions Might Duy could take were D-rank. The pay was not high, and he had always been strapped for cash. Being able to save money on doctor visits for Guy was definitely a huge help.

Houka knew this as well and laughed, "No problem, leave it to me!"

Medical Ninjutsu also required constant practice, otherwise, it would become rusty. Houka had no reason to refuse a free test subject delivered to his doorstep.

Ten minutes later, Houka had recovered a small amount of Chakra in his body and immediately began to treat himself.

The Medical Ninjutsu he currently mastered were the Hemostasis Technique and the Healing Technique. They had a significant effect on dealing with injuries caused by these training sessions. The wounds quickly stopped bleeding and formed scabs. As for the muscle fatigue, that would require time to soothe.

Then, Houka treated Guy.

"Much better, thanks Houka!" Guy smiled and gave Houka a thumbs up, a row of pearly white teeth showing at the corner of his mouth. "Houka, you are truly reliable!"

"Ah, thanks for the compliment." Houka shrugged and said, "However, the Hemostasis Technique is only for emergency treatment. Remember to treat the wounds again after you get back."

"Houka, you too." Might Duy laughed. "Well then, see you later!"

After parting ways, Houka headed toward the Uchiha clan compound, his expression somewhat tense on the way.

The inexplicable genjutsu probe that night had made him extremely vigilant, but the road was very quiet, and nothing happened, which made Houka breathe a sigh of relief.

"Right, that Uchiha Ronai came to find trouble at noon today. Could it be that he asked his father to probe me that night?" Houka rubbed his chin, then shook his head and stopped worrying about it.

At home, he cleaned his wounds with medicinal water, wrapped them in bandages, and then cooked a meal to fill his stomach. Afterward, he closed the doors and windows of his bedroom tightly and took out the scroll for the Shadow Clone Technique.

The ninjutsu in this scroll was unremarkable, but it could save Houka countless hours. To him, it was no exaggeration to say it was worth its weight in gold!

The hand seals for the Shadow Clone Technique were not the conventional twelve hand seals, but a brand-new set of hand seals developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

Following the records on the scroll, Houka pressed the index and middle fingers of both hands together, then crossed them into a cross shape.

There was only one hand seal, but the difficulty was not small.

Because it was a new hand seal, the flow of Chakra was exceptionally stiff, just like someone who was used to walking forward; being forced to walk backward for a moment would definitely feel unnatural.

However, compared to the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, the Shadow Clone Technique was much simpler.

Half an hour later, Houka had completely mastered the hand seal, and the coordination of his Chakra had also caught up.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof!

A cloud of smoke flashed, and beside Houka, there was suddenly a... strange person. That person's head was tilted, his neck was crooked, his two eyes were crossed and uneven in size, and his mouth was growing on his nose. It was as strange as could be.

Houka was so startled he slapped it: "You scared the life out of me!"

Only then did he remember that the Shadow Clone Technique also required distributing half of one's own Chakra.

Houka tried again. This time the Chakra went through, but the guy actually exploded directly. Although all the Chakra flowed back into the main body, the sensation of that impact was very unpleasant.

He practiced until late at night, with the moon high in the sky. Accompanied by a burst of hysterical laughter, two identical people in Houka's bedroom were standing with their hands on their hips, laughing loudly.

"So this is the Shadow Clone Technique, it's too magical!" Houka reached out to touch the shadow clone's head; the feeling was exceptionally bizarre.

"Hey, don't treat me like a child!" The shadow clone slapped Houka's hand away with great dissatisfaction.

"Ah?" Houka was stunned for a moment, then revealed a smile. He liked this technique more and more.

However, Houka's brows furrowed slightly again. The shadow clone possessed the memories of the main body, so did it know that he was a transmigrator? If it revealed a flaw while talking to others, that would be bad.

"Do you know about Earth?" Houka said to the shadow clone.

"Earth? What is that?" The shadow clone shook its head and said, "Never heard of it, I don't know."

"It's nothing." Houka smiled and said, "Then starting tomorrow, you will be responsible for cooking, attending classes, and maintaining good relationships with several close classmates!"

"No problem, leave it to me!" The shadow clone patted its own chest, taking on the responsibility with righteous indignation, and then encouraged, "Main body, you just focus on training. In the future, you will definitely become an excellent ninja!"

"Heh." This feeling was truly bizarre. Being encouraged by his own shadow clone was much more interesting than shouting "go for it" in front of a mirror.

Then, Houka went to sleep, while the shadow clone very consciously practiced the hand seals on the side.

When the original body of Houka fell asleep, his Shadow Clone also dissipated into a puff of smoke with a pop, transferring his Chakra and the experience gained from practicing Hand Seals back to Houka.

The next morning, before the sky had even brightened, Houka got out of bed, then pressed his index and middle fingers together and crossed his hands.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Pop!

An identical Houka appeared beside him.

"I'm off, I'll leave things here to you!" Houka said to the Shadow Clone with a smile.

"No problem!" the Shadow Clone replied with a confident grin.

Although Houka currently only possessed Genin-level Chakra, and even less after splitting half of it away, the Shadow Clone didn't need to fight; it only had to cook and attend classes, which consumed very little Chakra. Furthermore, as long as it didn't suffer a fatal injury, the Shadow Clone wouldn't disappear, making it extremely durable!

Afterward, Houka began his life of cheating.

He used his Shadow Clone to replace him in cooking and attending classes, delegating all trivial matters to it, while his original body focused on only one thing: training.

In the mornings and evenings, he followed Might Duy for devilish training, being pushed to the brink of death every single time. After doing this repeatedly, his Medical Ninjutsu actually began to improve, and half a month later, he successfully mastered the Mystical Palm Technique, showing encouraging progress.

During the rest of his time, Houka didn't slack off either; he practiced Hand Seals in the morning and studied Ninjutsu and Genjutsu in the afternoon.

He quickly mastered all the Ninjutsu contained in the two scrolls left behind by his parents, including Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique, as well as the Genjutsu Hell Viewing Technique, Fox Mind Technique, Qiedu, and Mind Destruction Technique.

Excluding combat experience, Houka was already a qualified Genin!