Special Training

A clear stream flowed quietly across the ground. Along its sandy banks stretched a lush forest, where countless tiny patches of light swayed gently in the warm breeze.

It was a rare and peaceful scene. Unfortunately, the lack of birdsong left it wanting.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The fierce clash of weapons rang out beside the stream. Long blades tore through the air, and shuriken flashed like streaks of light. Only a few figures were fighting, but the violence of their battle was shocking.

Four figures leaped through the trees and over the stream, fighting in pairs. Their blades swept without mercy, their cold, sharp flashes and relentless attacks bringing out the speed, precision, and ruthlessness of swordsmanship in full.

One figure suddenly used a body flicker to retreat while trading blows with his opponent. He planted a foot on the stream, splashing water everywhere, and swung his blade forward as he leaped back. The dark blade cut through the curtain of water, and the current clinging to it seemed like sword energy as it slashed toward his opponent.

His opponent didn't give ground at all. As the other man leaped back and struck, he used his blade like a sword and thrust straight at him.

The gleaming point surged forward without hesitation, piercing the rising curtain of water in an instant. It met the black flash within. The next moment, the air burst apart. Blade met tip with a sharp ring, and a halo of mist appeared between them. The powerful shockwave spread, turning all the water around them into spray.

Before the mist had cleared, both men withdrew their blades and redirected the force in an instant. The figure who had been running across the water slid backward and, at the same time, pulled four shuriken from his robes. Without even looking, he hurled them into the mist.

On the riverbank, the other figure didn't retreat when the force surged through his blade. Instead, he pressed forward, gripping the hilt with one hand and drawing the blade back. As his body moved forward until it was level with the blade, he pressed his chest against its spine and spun, his feet tracing a circle across the ground. He guided the force of the blade with his body, then used that force and his momentum to continue forward. By then, his blade was back in the perfect position for a draw.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The figure on the bank pressed forward instead of retreating, carrying his blade at an even greater speed. As the shuriken cut through the mist, he drew his blade in an instant. A flash of silver seemed to pass along its dark length. In a slash like a scar between heaven and earth, he cut down all four shuriken, then reversed his grip on the hilt with both hands and, riding an even more surging momentum, shot through the figure behind the thin veil of mist at nearly teleporting speed.

"Poof!"

A burst of air erupted. The figure on the stream exploded as the other man pierced him. The attacker skidded a long way across the water before finally stopping. He looked toward the spot where his opponent had disappeared, still expressionless, as if he'd expected it.

"Rat!"

The remaining figure stood still and formed the Rat seal. Another cloud of smoke burst open, and he disappeared as well.

Just as the two figures settled their fight, the battle in the nearby forest was also nearing its end. Compared with the streamside battlefield, this place was even more of a mess. Broken trees and branches littered the ground, and the thick trunks were scarred with blade marks. Kunai and shuriken were embedded everywhere, in the ground and in the trees, across an area dozens of meters wide.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

"Thump!"

A shuriken struck three others in succession while flying through the air. The repeated collisions didn't knock it down, nor did they slow it. It ricocheted off the other shuriken, changing direction again and again as it flew, nimble as a swallow.

Just as it skimmed past a large tree, another shadow appeared in its path.

Clang!

A crisp metallic ring sounded. The shuriken knocked the other one away, but the impact sent it shooting in the opposite direction.

Thump!

With a muffled sound, the shuriken struck straight toward the figure hidden behind the tree.

The figure's eyes widened in disbelief as he watched the shuriken come straight at him. By then, he had no time to dodge.

The shuriken pierced the figure's head, and the figure burst into a cloud of smoke. At the same time, the shuriken that had struck him dropped limply to the ground.

Not long after that figure disappeared, another one nearby collapsed helplessly to the ground.

"Huff—huff—"

Yuehua Ai gasped for breath, sprawled on the ground with his arms and legs spread wide. His training clothes were filthy and disheveled, and the sweat and dirt covering him left him looking utterly miserable.

His once-smooth hair now clumped into strands, and his usually rosy face had gone deathly pale. Even his calm gaze was overtaken by unmistakable exhaustion.

Everything that had happened—the fight beside the stream and the battle in the forest—had been part of Yuehua Ai's training. It all stemmed from his unique training method.

The three figures besides him had actually all been his Shadow Clones. On the way to Konoha with Jiraiya, Yuehua Ai had enjoyed eating and drinking with him, but he hadn't forgotten to train. That was when he asked Jiraiya to teach him the Shadow Clone Technique.

The Shadow Clone Technique was a B-rank ninjutsu and wasn't particularly difficult to learn. In Konoha, any Chunin or higher who wanted to study it could find a way.

Although the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju had developed the Shadow Clone Technique, several wars had long since made it no longer exclusive to Konoha. The village had therefore set a low bar for learning the technique. Since his student wanted to learn it, Jiraiya had no reason to refuse a jutsu that no longer involved village secrets.

Unlike the illusion created by the ordinary Clone Technique, a Shadow Clone had a body identical to its caster, and the caster's chakra was divided equally among all the clones. If there were too many, splitting the chakra could easily drain the caster's energy and put his life in danger. To prevent ninja from endangering themselves by overusing Shadow Clones, the village generally forbade anyone below Genin from learning the technique. The A-rank Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, which was based on it, had even been listed among the forbidden jutsu. Anyone who used it without having far more chakra than ordinary people was practically asking to die.

Of course, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was recorded in the Sealing Scroll, so ordinary ninja had no chance of accessing it. Most ninja who could use Shadow Clones only knew the basic technique.

Although splitting chakra was a major limitation for most ninja, that issue alone couldn't conceal the Shadow Clone's unparalleled advantage: after a clone dispelled itself, it could send everything it had experienced back to its original.

A Shadow Clone disappeared when attacked, but for ordinary ninja, that also meant that as long as they had a clone, they could use it to multiply their rate of learning.

Yuehua Ai had long yearned to learn the Shadow Clone Technique. Now that he'd gotten it from Jiraiya, how could he not study it thoroughly?

Yuehua Ai had only slightly more chakra than an ordinary ninja. If he made clones using all his strength, he could create more than a dozen, but they couldn't move. They had solid bodies, unlike ordinary clones, but that was all.

If he wanted clones capable of freely using the ninjutsu he knew, Yuehua Ai could only make one. But if he didn't use ninjutsu and relied solely on Taijutsu, all three of his clones could move perfectly. With more than three, though, their movements grew sluggish, like machines.

At first, Yuehua Ai used his Shadow Clones only to think about chakra control and study. But by chance, he discovered that his Shadow Clones were different from other people's.

His clones were far more resilient. As long as they had enough chakra, they wouldn't disappear even if they were injured in battle. A clone that didn't easily disappear when attacked was unquestionably abnormal.

Afterward, Yuehua Ai studied his unusual condition and compared his clones with Jiraiya's. He discovered that when using the Clone Technique, he infused his clones with pure spiritual energy. Inside a Shadow Clone, that energy could not only regulate chakra but also help bind it together. As a result, his clones could withstand attacks in a way other people's couldn't. Of course, this ability relied on his exceptionally powerful spiritual energy. To make a clone fight like an ordinary person, he had to expend not only chakra but also an amount of spiritual energy equal to an ordinary person's entire reserves.

Naturally, spiritual energy did more than strengthen his clones' ability to withstand attacks. Yuehua Ai later discovered that the more spiritual energy he poured into his Shadow Clones, the more their autonomy increased.

After spending some time figuring out his situation, an idea came to Yuehua Ai.

What had he lacked most during his more than three years of training?

Yuehua Ai told himself it wasn't ninjutsu or weapons. It was combat experience!

Combat experience was just as fundamental to a ninja as ninjutsu training. He'd spent two years on missions with Yahiko and the others in Amegakure, but back then, they'd only killed petty thieves and ganged up on lone ninja. They were still far short of the true trials of life and death.

Ninja went through many trials, but whatever kind they were, they rarely encountered a true life-or-death situation. Those who did had either survived or died! Experience gained between life and death was incredibly important to a ninja. Only ninja who could unleash their full strength despite the fear of death had a better chance of surviving.

Having recognized his weakness, Yuehua Ai soon decided to use his Shadow Clones to put himself through life-or-death trials. Thanks to the way Shadow Clones sent back their experiences, his unusual clones could not only find his weaknesses in battle but also let him experience the feeling of being a hair's breadth from death!

This kind of deliberate trial was impossible for anyone else. Their clones were mentally connected to their originals, so even if they fought each other, it would feel like fighting with their own left and right hands. They simply couldn't make themselves feel as if they were fighting for their lives.

But what others couldn't do didn't mean Yuehua Ai couldn't. After infusing his clones with enough spiritual energy, he could give them the autonomy of an ordinary ninja. Then he cut off his control over them and ordered them to fight. With their abilities copied from his own, the clones would attack the other clones with everything they had.

He let go of control and relied entirely on the clones' own autonomy. That was the core of Yuehua Ai's unique training method.

The clones possessed all his abilities and combat instincts. Once he cut off his mental control, they were like computers programmed to carry out their original's orders without holding back. And so began the deadly battles between clone and clone, and between clone and original.

Any clone that survived the battle would dispel itself, sending everything it had experienced back to the original. That way, Yuehua Ai could also gain a portion of the experience from those life-or-death struggles.

And what if a clone killed him while they were fighting?

Well, then he'd be screwed. If he couldn't even beat his own clone, he might as well just die...