Chapter 4

"Yes!"

The three nodded, then bowed to Tajima once more before leaving the room.

"Mingye, that training method of yours still isn't very good. You'd better not think about slacking off. Starting tomorrow, you'll train with me!" Madara said as he stepped out of the room and turned to Mingye.

Mingye shook his head, completely ignoring Madara's suggestion. "If I really have to fight, I'm not teaming up with you, you old fossil!"

"What!" Madara roared, glaring at Mingye.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Mingye reacted even faster, spewing a huge fireball at Madara as he quickly retreated. Madara dodged the attack in a sorry state. Seeing that he'd achieved his goal, Mingye laughed and turned to run toward his mother.

"Hahahaha! I finally got the drop on you!"

"You little bastard!"

Madara cursed furiously and was about to retaliate against Mingye, but Izuna grabbed him by the shoulder. "Brother, at least Mingye is making an effort. We don't need to worry too much about whether he's taking the right path. As long as he works hard, I'm sure he'll accomplish something!"

Mingye returned to his room. As he took 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 was an essential tool in the world of shinobi, but it wasn't a mainstream way to fight. Of course, there were plenty of famous shinobi who used it, such as Hanzo, known as the Demigod, Sasori, the Red Scorpion of the Akatsuki, and Chiyo of Sunagakure. They were all masters of poison. But by the end of Naruto, they were all basically cannon fodder. Heaven only knew whether the battlefield would be warped or destroyed. In the final battle, even Madara and Hashirama might not have been able to get involved.

"Counteracting poison through a cycle! Using chakra natures as transformations to inflict an undefendable Chakra Poison on the enemy. Water overcomes fire. The essence is to infuse the enemy's body with ice-based chakra, forming poisonous ice in their bloodstream. The enemy can no longer use Fire Release or Water Release, and their body will gradually weaken because of the ice chakra. The strength of the chakra determines how quickly they weaken. A single nature or Kekkei Genkai cannot be used this quickly. The special chakra of all five elemental natures must be gathered and fused into the body to obtain the true power of this poisonous method!"

Mingye's brow twitched as he read this passage from the manual. It seemed there had been a monster in one of the Naruto movies who'd wanted to do something similar, gathering five Kekkei Genkai to complete the five-nature cycle of chakra within its body and perfectly counter all chakra. Perhaps it was going against the natural order, but it was still a shortcut to becoming powerful. Even in Six Paths Sage Mode, Obito had only managed four nature transformations. Madara was even stronger, but at most, he'd reached mastery of all five natures. This seemed like a way to master everything by mastering one thing, but the descriptions in this book didn't sound like a shinobi's personal notes on a jutsu. They sounded more like the records of an experiment.

Yes, it was an experiment. Someone had been using shinobi as test subjects in an attempt to gain even greater power. And that person had to understand the way shinobi were created and know exactly what the pinnacle of a shinobi's power was: the level of the Sage of Six Paths. Who had written this manual? Who?

"Sealing Technique: Since shinobi born on the same day and in the same month are exceedingly rare, and those among them who possess Kekkei Genkai for all five elemental natures are rarer still, this sealing method was devised to seal the chosen person away so they would not turn to dust with the passage of time. Human life is limited, so this method may be feasible. If anyone can attain Kekkei Genkai for all five elemental natures within their lifetime and form a cycle within their body, they can destroy the witch and save all living beings. Do not trust the descendants of the Sage. The earth locusts cannot be relied upon!"

What did that mean? "Do not trust the descendants of the Sage"—didn't that mean people like us? If we weren't to be trusted, who should we trust, Spring Guy? Mingye chuckled and put the scroll away. But since he'd already read part of it, he might as well read the rest for a bit of entertainment. He opened the scroll again and skipped straight to the end. The complex explanations of the seals and the sealing techniques showed that they were real and usable. But even if he summoned a corpse that had been sealed away for all these years, he might not be able to use it. Who knew whether the person had been born on the same day and month as him? Even if they had, there was no way to check. So he simply erased the markings in the technique and recorded them anew, then looked at the section beside it.

"Yin-Yang Arts! Yin-Yang Arts! It really is Yin-Yang Arts! Absorb a spirit to obtain the Kekkei Genkai in the other person's body, but you have to absorb all five elements at the same time and use Yin-Yang Arts as the axis to form an endless cycle. Only then can you avoid being overwhelmed by the backlash. Damn, there's no way I can handle this right now. But it sure looks impressive. Learning Yin-Yang Arts can't hurt. This stuff is too advanced for me to understand. I'll see if Father has anything for beginners. Learning Yin-Yang Arts would be good, too. It seems to be a different concept from Yin-Yang Release!"

Mingye thought it would be a good idea to learn it. He opened a wooden box he'd made beside his bed, placed the book inside, then smiled and went to sleep.

"Clone Technique!"

In the study, Shimizu stood in front of Madara, Izuna, and Mingye, forming Hand Seals. Another Shimizu appeared beside him, opened the door, and went outside. A little while later, Shimizu nodded and looked at Tajima, who was sitting in a chair. "It works, but this jutsu has a clear weakness. The moment it takes a hit, it disappears. Sharing its memories is a problem, too. If you release too many, even you and I won't be able to handle it! Big brother, it's best not to teach this to children!"

"Come on! Uncle, I've been dying to learn this, and you're saying you shouldn't teach it to kids!" Mingye protested loudly when he heard Shimizu advise Tajima not to let them learn the jutsu.

"How much damage can you take? I punch you once, and you'll be in pain for hours. When this jutsu is attacked, you feel twice the damage of the actual blow. Your bodies are still growing. How could you withstand that kind of damage? You'll end up with hidden injuries! You'll regret it when you grow up!" Shimizu shook his head. This kind of shortcut to training really wasn't a good idea. Taijutsu required the body to be tempered through hard work, and this Clone Technique couldn't do that. At most, it would improve your combat experience, but the experience gained from fighting it wouldn't be very useful on a real battlefield. It could improve your skill with ninjutsu, but it consumed far too much chakra and left the body incredibly exhausted.

"But I really want to use it for training!"

Mingye had no idea how painful it was to bear the burden of over a hundred clones. He was just a child, and without a Tailed Beast as a Jinchūriki like Naruto, there was no way he could withstand it.

"It's not that you can't train with it. I happen to be handling clan affairs for a while, so I'll keep an eye on him. But Mingye, you need to understand that this jutsu only works if you release more than ten clones. One or two Shadow Clones won't be any more effective than training by yourself. And I know what you want to say: that they can each train in something different. But do you know what it means to be a jack of all trades and master of none?"

"If your clones do different things, the memories that return to your body will become an incomprehensible jumble. You might not turn into an idiot, but you'll still suffer a nervous breakdown. Mingye, you need to be especially careful about this. You must use this Clone Technique when I'm around. Got it?"

After giving it some thought, Tajima decided that this training method wasn't exactly proper and veered toward the unorthodox, but it wasn't completely misguided, either. Training this way would be much harder than training alone. Since he could keep an eye on his son for a while, he agreed to Mingye's repeated pleas.

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

"Father, does this Clone Technique have a name? If I can, I'd like to learn it, too!" Madara's reasoning was simple: if his younger brother could train this way, so could he. The children of today had no idea that this training method also worked for Genin and Chunin, and even some Jonin, though only to a limited extent.