Shadow Clone Technique

At night, a bright moon hung in the sky, its clear, silvery light illuminating the tranquil Konoha.

After finishing dinner, Lin Feng pulled Itachi into the spacious courtyard to sit and chat. As a fanboy of Itachi, Lin Feng had far too much to say.

Beyond asking a few gossipy questions, Lin Feng also gleaned some useful information during his conversation with Itachi.

Lin Feng realized that he was currently at the point where Sasuke was six years old, having just started at the Ninja Academy a few days ago, while Itachi was eleven and had already joined the Anbu.

Based on this information and comparing it to the plot of Naruto, Lin Feng roughly knew the major events about to unfold in Konoha.

Half a year later, the Uchiha clan would plot a rebellion. Shisui Uchiha planned to stop it using Kotoamatsukami, but he would be ambushed by Danzo, who would steal his right eye.

After being ambushed by Danzo, Shisui Uchiha would entrust his left eye—the strongest genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami—and his own ninja way to Itachi, then pretend to destroy his eyes and commit suicide. Witnessing Shisui's death, Itachi would successfully awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.

According to Lin Feng's past analysis of Naruto, one figure was critical to why the Uchiha clan was so easily wiped out: Shisui Uchiha, the man who possessed the strongest genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami, and was hailed as the "strongest genjutsu ninja" and the "strongest of the Uchiha."

Although, like his ancestor Kagami Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha inherited the Will of Fire and was a staunch loyalist to the village, one must not overlook that he also loved his own clan. If he had lived, as the Uchiha clan's greatest combat force, he certainly would not have allowed Danzo's extermination plan to be carried out so easily.

Furthermore, Shisui Uchiha had too much influence on Itachi. If Shisui had been a clan loyalist, Itachi surely would have become one as well. Without Itachi acting as a spy, it certainly wouldn't have been a simple matter for the Konoha high-ups to eradicate the Uchiha clan.

Therefore, to prevent the Uchiha clan from repeating the same tragedy, Lin Feng intended to use his "talk-no-jutsu" to pull this key figure, Shisui Uchiha, into the clan-loyalist camp. He had to make him clearly understand that he was Shisui Uchiha, not Konoha's Shisui.

Of course, no matter how he planned to persuade him, the first thing Lin Feng had to do was stop Danzo from stealing the eye in half a year, thereby saving Shisui Uchiha's life. Otherwise, no matter how good his analysis was, it would be useless, and the tragedy would still play out.

Danzo's strength and status in Konoha needed no introduction; to stop Danzo, relying on others was simply impossible. He had to rely on himself.

Power, I am in urgent need of power right now!

Having sorted through these thoughts, Lin Feng patted his forehead and couldn't help but sigh.

"Sasuke, what are you thinking about?"

Just as Lin Feng's voice trailed off, Itachi's voice drifted over.

"Brother, teach me ninjutsu!"

With a blink of his eyes, the gaze Sasuke directed at Itachi instantly brightened. With a genius ninja like Itachi by his side, was there any reason to fear not gaining power?

"Ninjutsu?"

Hearing this, Itachi was taken aback, then slowly said, "The Ninja Academy should be teaching some simple ninjutsu, right..."

"Brother, I only just entered the academy, and I'm only learning basic theoretical knowledge. It'll probably be a year before I can learn ninjutsu. I want to learn it now, please teach me!"

Pouting helplessly, Lin Feng added a touch of pleading to his childish voice.

"This..."

Itachi was somewhat stunned; he truly didn't know why Sasuke was so eager to learn ninjutsu.

"Brother, you learned ninjutsu at six and graduated from the academy at seven. I want to be like you and become an excellent ninja as soon as possible."

"Besides, once I learn ninjutsu, I won't be bullied by others anymore..."

Seeing that Itachi was still hesitating, Lin Feng hurriedly activated his "talk-no-jutsu," chattering away incessantly.

"Heh..."

Smiling as he glanced at his younger brother's anxious face, Itachi's lips curled, but he suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Sasuke, what kind of ninjutsu do you want to learn?"

Knowing that the doting Itachi would agree, Lin Feng jumped up in excitement and replied without hesitation, "Brother, I want to learn the Shadow Clone Technique!"

The Shadow Clone Technique was a type of ninjutsu that could create physical clones. Unlike the ordinary Clone Technique, these shadow clones were corporeal and capable of attacking. Moreover, this technique had a unique feature: the experiences of each clone would be transmitted to the original body before they vanished.

The reason Lin Feng wanted to learn this technique was that he wanted to be like Naruto, using shadow clones to train so that his gained experience would be multiplied by the number of clones. Only in this way could he rapidly improve his strength.

"The Shadow Clone Technique?"

"That's a B-rank ninjutsu; it has a certain level of difficulty to learn!"

Itachi hesitated for a moment, then rolled his dark eyes and said softly.

"Brother, don't worry, I will study hard."

Squinting his eyes, Lin Feng chuckled.

Seeing the determination his brother displayed, Itachi smiled with relief. He then raised both hands, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and crossed them into a cross sign.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Accompanied by a soft shout, a puff of white mist appeared beside Itachi. As the mist dissipated, a shadow clone identical to Itachi stepped out.

"Is this ninjutsu? So amazing!"

Staring at Itachi's shadow clone, Lin Feng took a deep breath, as if trying to exhale the shock in his heart. His voice, though he tried hard to maintain composure, still held a hint of unmistakable tremor.

In the past, he had only watched the ninjutsu of Naruto through an electronic screen. Seeing it performed live, Lin Feng was naturally incredibly excited and shocked.

"The hand seal for this technique is the Ram seal. By splitting half of your chakra, you can summon a clone."

Not minding Sasuke's shock, Itachi explained very seriously after demonstrating the technique in full.

"I understand!"

Reviewing Itachi's movements in detail, after a long moment, Lin Feng took a light breath and quickly formed the Ram seal as well.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

After finishing the seal, Lin Feng shouted loudly.

A puff of white mist rose beside Lin Feng, but his Shadow Clone Technique manifested like a flimsy sheet of paper, failing to even find its footing before collapsing onto the ground.

"Uh, how did this happen?"

Staring at his Shadow Clone, which was too weak to even stand, Lin Feng recoiled in shock.

"Heh, to be able to summon a shadow clone on your first try is already quite an achievement. As for why it isn't in a normal state, that has to do with how you distributed your chakra."

Itachi did not seem surprised by the state of Sasuke's shadow clone, and he chuckled softly.

"Phew, it looks like mastering this ninjutsu is going to take a lot of practice."

Exhaling, Lin Feng sighed with a touch of helplessness.

After that attempt, Lin Feng realized that while the concept of evenly distributing chakra sounded simple, actually executing it was incredibly difficult.

"Sasuke, if you want to gain something, you naturally have to give something in return," Itachi said with a faint smile. "But with your talent, you should be able to master it soon enough."

Hearing this, Lin Feng nodded slightly, then gritted his teeth, channeled the chakra within his body once more, and formed the hand seals to activate the Shadow Clone Technique.

Lin Feng cast the technique quickly, but the result was the same as before; the shadow clone he summoned was still too weak to stand.

Two failures in a row provoked the competitive Lin Feng to shout, "I refuse to believe I can't learn this!"

After his roar, Lin Feng began forming the seals again.

"Poof..."

"Why is it still not working?"

"Poof..."

"Dizzy, it still can't stand up."

"Poof..."

"Failed again. Damn it, I have to master this..."

Standing beside Lin Feng, watching his younger brother refuse to give up on practicing the ninjutsu despite his failures, Itachi smiled faintly, a glimmer of gratification flashing through his eyes.