The Nara Clan's Shadow Technique

Sasuke rested his chin on one hand, his gaze fixed on the shadow cast across his desk by the tree outside the window.

The classroom was deafeningly noisy.

Two boys in the front row were chasing each other around the podium; one of them slipped, his knee slamming into the wooden floor with a dull thud.

A group of girls in the back row huddled together, chattering away as they folded origami, their laughter erupting in waves.

Sasuke tapped his fingers against the desk, calculating how to tap into the parched energy within him to grow stronger.

The refining mechanism for chakra was entirely different from cursed energy, and he could barely manage to drive the Ten Shadows Technique as it was.

Forcing himself to drain his remaining cursed energy a few nights ago to subjugate Mahoraga had left him completely tapped out.

Moreover, condensing cursed energy in this world was incredibly difficult.

During his days recovering in the hospital, he had attempted to condense it, but whether it was the wrong method or simply the nature of this world, he couldn't tell.

In any case, the meager amount of cursed energy he possessed was barely better than nothing.

Rather than desperately trying to condense that tiny sliver of energy, it would be more efficient to find a way to use chakra as a substitute to manipulate shadows.

"Crackle."

The sound of a bag being torn open echoed in his ear.

Sasuke stopped tapping his fingers and turned his head.

Choji stood by the desk, clutching a bag of barbecue-flavored potato chips.

He reached directly into the bag, pulled out two chips, pushed them onto Sasuke's desk, and then began munching on the rest himself.

Shikamaru stood next to Choji with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

His eyelids drooped as he swept a glance over Sasuke's face.

Shikamaru let out a yawn, his tone sounding nonchalant.

"Don't you need a few more days of rest at home? Though, looking at you now, you don't seem like you're on the verge of death. You look pretty sharp."

Sasuke looked at the two of them.

Shikamaru's seemingly casual demeanor—which was actually a calculated observation—and Choji's blunt, simple act of shoving food at him reminded him of those equally noisy and self-absorbed people back at Jujutsu High.

They were the same; they always loved doing inexplicable things while he was trying to think.

School life, huh... How long had it been since he'd had a proper rest, ever since Shibuya?

Sasuke sighed.

He extended two fingers, pressed them against the edge of the chip bag, and pushed it back toward Choji.

"I'm not hungry. Thanks," Sasuke said, looking at Choji.

Choji blinked. "You're not eating? Then I will; can't let food go to waste."

With that, he popped the two chips from the desk into his mouth.

Sasuke turned his head to look at Shikamaru.

"I appreciate your concern, Nara," Sasuke said, his tone flat.

"I'm in a decent state right now, so there's no need to use words like that to test my mental stability."

Shikamaru's hand, tucked inside his pocket, shifted slightly.

He raised an eyebrow, looking at Sasuke with a hint of surprise.

"What a drag... I mean, about how you address me—wouldn't it be easier to just call me Shikamaru?" Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, though the corner of his mouth twitched downward.

"As long as you can understand plain speech, that's fine. I don't want to deal with a ticking time bomb of a headache every single day."

"Your observational skills have always been sharp," Sasuke said, looking at the shadow stretched long by the sunlight at Shikamaru's feet.

"I recall that your Nara clan uses shadows to fight, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, that's right." Shikamaru glanced down at his own shadow, following Sasuke's line of sight.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu. What, is the Uchiha genius interested in our secret techniques now?"

"I was just wondering how you manage to inject chakra into a shadow that lacks physical form." Sasuke leaned forward slightly.

Shikamaru was just about to open his mouth to explain.

"Bang!"

The door at the back of the classroom was kicked open.

Naruto, wearing that garish orange outfit, leaped onto a desk and bounded across the furniture until he reached Sasuke's desk.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's fingertip nearly poked Sasuke in the nose.

"I'm definitely going to beat you at shuriken throwing today!"

Sasuke lifted his eyelids, looking at the hyperactive Naruto.

"Uzumaki, your voice is too loud; it's severely interfering with my thoughts," Sasuke said, leaning back into his chair.

"Quiet down. If you want to make a scene, don't do it near me."

Naruto's eyes widened, his cheeks flushing red in an instant.

"What did you say, you bastard?!" Naruto swung his arms wildly, his fists slashing through the air.

"You think you're so great! I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!"

Shikamaru grimaced beside him, covering his ears with both hands. "You really are loud. Naruto, can you just pipe down? Do you want to blow the roof off this place first thing in the morning?"

"Stay out of this, Shikamaru! This is a duel between me and Sasuke!" Naruto turned and roared at Shikamaru.

Choji stuffed a large handful of potato chips into his mouth and mumbled vaguely, "But Naruto, you missed every single shuriken target yesterday."

"Choji! Whose side are you on, anyway?!"

The noise level in the classroom spiked by several decibels the moment Naruto joined in.

"Thwack!"

A thick attendance book slammed heavily onto the podium.

The classroom fell silent instantly.

Iruka stood behind the podium, a vein throbbing on his forehead. He pointed toward the direction of Sasuke's seat.

"Naruto! Shikamaru! Choji! And..." Iruka's gaze swept over the troublemakers, finally landing on Sasuke.

"And..." Iruka opened his mouth, hesitating.

Sasuke didn't wait for Iruka to finish.

He pushed his chair back, stood up, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked straight toward the classroom door.

As he passed the podium, Sasuke paused and glanced at Iruka.

"I'm fine, sensei." Sasuke left those words behind and walked straight out of the classroom.

Iruka stood frozen, his hand holding the attendance book suspended in mid-air.

"You three, what are you still standing there for! Get out there and stand in the hall with Sasuke!" Iruka snapped back to reality and yelled at Naruto and the others.

In the hallway.

The air outside was slightly cooler than in the classroom.

The four of them leaned against the corridor wall in a row.

Naruto held his hands behind his head, his right foot kicking the base of the wall irritably.

"That damn Iruka-sensei, it was Sasuke who provoked me first, why do I have to stand out here too..." Naruto muttered under his breath, grumbling incessantly.

Choji leaned against the wall, still clutching his bag of chips; the sound of him chewing was exceptionally clear in the quiet hallway.

Shikamaru tilted his head back, the back of his skull thumping against the wall, and let out a long sigh.

"What a drag. Wasting energy standing here first thing in the morning." Shikamaru complained, tugging at his hair.

Sasuke stood on the far right.

He ignored Naruto's muttering and turned his head to look at Shikamaru, who was separated from him by Choji.

"Nara." Sasuke spoke, his voice low but clear enough for those nearby to hear.

"What? And could you change how you address me?" Shikamaru turned his head lazily.

"Continuing the previous topic." Sasuke looked at the shadows on the ground.

"When you use the Shadow Possession Jutsu, does the chakra attach directly to the surface of the shadow, or does it alter the nature of the shadow itself?"

Shikamaru was taken aback.

He hadn't expected Sasuke to still be thinking about such things.

"You're really strange today." Shikamaru stood up straight, crossing his arms. "That's a secret technique of our clan; how could I just tell you that?"

"I don't need the specifics, I'm just asking. Your secret technique isn't something one can learn just by talking about it, is it?" Sasuke stared at Shikamaru.

"I just want to know the theory. In your eyes, is a shadow a conduit, or a physical entity?"

It was a sharp, probing question.

Shikamaru dropped his nonchalant expression.

He studied Sasuke seriously for a few seconds.

"It is both a conduit and a physical entity," Shikamaru said, lowering his voice to a volume only they could hear.

"A shadow itself has no weight, but when chakra is injected into it, it gains the power of physical interference."

"We don't create shadows; we simply extend the ones that already exist."

Extending existing shadows. Gaining the power of physical interference.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly.

This overlapped with the underlying logic of the Ten Shadows Technique.

The Ten Shadows Technique uses shadows as a medium to summon shikigami; the shadow itself is a bottomless conduit.

If chakra could be used to grant the shadow physical interference, perhaps it would be possible to force that passage open, bypassing the limitation of insufficient cursed energy.

"I see." Sasuke nodded. "Chakra shape transformation, then."

"Hey, hey, what are you two whispering about!" Naruto poked his head out from the far left, shouting in dissatisfaction.

"What's this about shadows? Isn't it enough to just go 'bang' and let the ninjutsu out!"

"Idiot... Itadori is much cuter." Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"Who are you calling an idiot! If you've got the guts, let's fight! And what is an Itadori! Is it a dog!" Naruto immediately bristled, making a move to rush over.

Shikamaru pressed down on Naruto's shoulder, shoving him back against the wall.

"Calm down, Naruto. Do you want Iruka to come out and beat you up again? Besides, Itadori is a type of grass."

Shikamaru rubbed his temples, a headache forming, then looked at Sasuke.

"I don't know why you're asking this, but shadows aren't that easy to control. Without our clan's secret techniques, an ordinary person could drain every drop of their chakra and the shadow wouldn't budge an inch."

"I know." Sasuke leaned back against the wall, his gaze falling on the shadow at his feet.

As long as he could integrate chakra nature transformation into the shadow and add a tiny bit of cursed energy, a new possibility for summoning Jade Dog would emerge.

The hallway returned to a relative quiet, save for the "crunch" of Choji eating potato chips and the sound of Naruto's heavy, indignant breathing.

Sasuke closed his eyes and began to simulate the path of chakra injection into his shadow within his mind.