Chapter 4

"Yes!"

The three of them nodded, bowed once more to Tajima, and exited the room.

"Mingye, that training method of yours is still not very good. You'd best not think about slacking off; starting tomorrow, you will begin training with me!" After stepping out of the room, Madara looked at Mingye and spoke up.

Mingye shook his head, completely ignoring Madara's suggestion. "If I really have to participate in battle, I won't be with you, you old pit-trap!"

"What!" Upon hearing Mingye's words, Madara instantly went berserk and glared at him.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Mingye reacted faster, spitting a massive fireball at Madara while quickly retreating. Madara dodged the attack in a sorry state. Seeing that his goal was achieved, Mingye laughed loudly and turned to run in the direction of his mother.

"Hahahaha! I finally managed to trick you this time!"

"You bas.tard!"

Madara cursed in a rage, wanting to counterattack, but Izuna pressed down on his shoulder. "Brother, at least Mingye is putting in the effort. We don't need to worry too much about whether the path he chooses is correct. As long as he is willing to work hard, I believe Mingye will definitely achieve something!"

Mingye returned to his room. As he was taking off his clothes, a scroll suddenly fell out. He sat down and picked it up.

"Chakra Poison!? How could I have forgotten about this!"

Poison is an essential item in the ninja world, though it is not the mainstream method of combat. Of course, there are many famous ninjas who excel at it, such as Hanzo, known as the Demigod, Sasori of the Red Sand, and even Chiyo of the Sand Village; all can be considered masters of poison. However, by the later stages of the ninja world, they could all be considered trash. Heaven knows that those later battles involved shifting spaces or destroying them; in the final war, even Madara and Hashirama might not have been able to intervene.

"Restraint through circulation as poison! Using chakra attributes as a conversion to inflict an undefendable Chakra Poison upon the enemy. Water restrains fire; its essence is to integrate ice-based chakra into the enemy's body, forming poisonous ice within their blood vessels. The enemy will be unable to use Fire Style or Water Style, and their body will gradually weaken due to the ice chakra. The intensity of the chakra determines the speed of the decline. If one possesses only a single attribute or a single Kekkei Genkai, one cannot operate this quickly; one must gather the special chakra of all five elemental natures and fuse them into the body to obtain the true power of this poison method!"

After reading a passage from this secret manual, Mingye's brows twitched. It seemed that in the ninja anime, there was a monster in a theatrical version that wanted to do exactly this—gathering five Kekkei Genkai to allow the internal chakra to achieve a complete five-element cycle, thereby perfectly restraining all other chakra. This might be going against the natural order, but it was nonetheless a shortcut to becoming strong. Even in the Sage of Six Paths mode, Obito only had four form changes, and while Madara's ability was indeed stronger, it was at most a perfection of the five elements. This seemed like a training method where mastering one meant mastering all, but the descriptions in this book didn't read like a ninja's personal summary of ninjutsu; it read more like an experiment.

Yes, an experiment. Someone was using ninjas to conduct this kind of experiment in order to obtain greater power. Moreover, this person must have had an extreme understanding of how ninjas are formed and a very clear knowledge of the peak existence of ninjas—the level of the Sage of Six Paths. Who was it? Who exactly wrote this secret manual?

"Sealing Technique: Because there are very few ninjas born on the same day of the same month, and those born on the same day who also possess a five-element Kekkei Genkai are even rarer, this seal was specially designed to seal the acquired subjects within it so they would not turn to dust with the passage of time. Since human life is limited, this is the only way. If someone can truly become a five-element Kekkei Genkai user within their lifetime and form a cycle within their body, only then can they destroy the Demoness and save the world. Do not trust the Sage's disciples; the locusts are not to be relied upon!"

What does this mean? "Do not trust"? The Sage's disciples—isn't that referring to people like us? If we can't trust us, who can we trust? Mingye chuckled and put the scroll away. However, he suddenly felt that since he had already read a part of it, treating it as leisure wasn't a bad idea. He simply opened the scroll again and pulled it straight to the end. The complex sealing technique diagrams indicated that these seals were indeed usable. But thinking about it, even if he summoned these corpses preserved for years, he might not be able to use them—heaven knows if their birth dates matched his, and even if they did, there was no way to check. He simply wiped away the marks in the technique and recorded his own, then looked to the side.

"Yin-Yang Arts! Yin-Yang Arts! It's actually Yin-Yang Arts! Devouring spirits to obtain the Kekkei Genkai within the opponent's body, but one must simultaneously absorb the five elements and use Yin-Yang Arts as the main axis to form an infinite cycle so as not to be backlashed. Damn it, this stuff is not something I can handle right now, but it certainly looks intimidating. Learning Yin-Yang Arts is fine, but this is too profound to understand. I'll look for introductory materials from Father later; learning Yin-Yang Arts is not a bad idea. It seems this is a different concept from Yin-Yang Release!"

Mingye thought for a moment and decided that learning this would be a good choice. He opened a wooden box he had built by his bed, put the book inside, and then drifted into a dream with a smile.

"Clone Technique!"

In the study, Shimizu stood before Madara, Izuna, and Mingye, forming hand seals. A clone appeared beside him. The clone then opened the door and walked outside. After a while, Shimizu nodded and looked at Tajima, who was sitting in a chair. "It works, but the weaknesses of this ninjutsu are also very obvious. Once this thing is attacked, it will dissipate immediately. Having memories is also a troublesome matter; if you release too many, even you and I wouldn't be able to bear it! Big Brother, it's best not to teach this to children!"

"No way! Third Uncle, I've been staring at this thing, and you're actually saying not to teach it to children!" Upon hearing that Shimizu was advising Tajima not to let them learn this kind of ninjutsu, Mingye immediately protested and spoke loudly to Shimizu.

"How much damage can you even take? If I punch you once, you'll be in pain for hours. Once this kind of ninjutsu is attacked, it's equivalent to bearing twice the damage of the attack itself. As children, your bodies are still growing; how could you possibly withstand such damage? It will leave hidden injuries in your body! You'll regret it when you grow up!" Shimizu shook his head. This kind of shortcut training method was really not good. Taijutsu requires the body to be tempered through thousands of trials, which this Clone Technique cannot achieve. At most, it increases combat experience, but the experience gained from fighting oneself is not very effective when applied to the battlefield. While it can increase proficiency in ninjutsu, the chakra consumption is simply too great, and it brings immense fatigue to the body.

"But I really want to use it to train!"

Mingye could not understand this pain. The burden brought by over a hundred clones was definitely not something Mingye, who was still a child and did not have a Tailed Beast like Naruto, could bear.

"Training isn't impossible. I happen to be handling clan chores during this time, so I can keep an eye on him. However, Mingye, you must know that this ninjutsu only becomes effective if you release more than ten clones; the effect of one or two Shadow Clones is actually no better than training yourself. Of course, I know what you want to say—doing different training with each—but do you know what it means to be a jack-of-all-trades and master of none?"

"If your clones are doing different things, the memories that return to your body will become incredibly complex. Even if you don't become an idiot, you'll end up with neurasthenia. Mingye, you must be very careful and attentive in this regard. You must release this kind of clone technique by my side, you hear me!"

Tajima pondered for a while and felt that this training method was indeed unorthodox and leaned toward a crooked path, but it wasn't entirely a dead end. Moreover, wanting to train this way was far more difficult than solitary hard work. Since he could look after his son for a period of time, he finally agreed to Mingye's persistent pleading.

"Yes! Father!" Seeing that his father had finally relented, Mingye was overjoyed and made a face at Shimizu.

"Father, does this Clone Technique have a name? If possible, I want to learn it too!" Madara's thoughts were simple: if his younger brother could use this method to train, then he should be able to as well. The children of today didn't even know that this training mode was suitable for Genin and Chunin, and even some Jonin could use it, though it was limited to that.