Jade's Guilty Conscience

Hiruzen Sarutobi had someone bring over the ninjutsu scroll for [Multiple Shadow Clone Technique]. As he handed it to Indra, he warned, "Ninjutsu obtained through exchange may only be learned by yourself and must not be taught to others. If discovered, it will be treated as an act of betraying the village."

"That serious? Don't worry, Lord Hokage, I definitely won't teach it to anyone else."

Indra nodded obediently and eagerly accepted the ninjutsu scroll, flipping through it.

To others, the A-rank Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was no different from the B-rank Shadow Clone Technique.

But for Indra, another one of the greatest cheats had fallen into his hands!

The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique's greatest use was not combat, but accelerated learning.

With his current chakra reserves, creating ten clones to train simultaneously would be no problem at all!

Moreover, his inner cultivation had already reached the stage of the Yang Spirit leaving the body.

Even without the Sheep Talisman, briefly separating his soul from his body was no issue.

As long as the pain, experience, and memories were not too overwhelming, he could bear them completely without suffering any side effects.

Uchiha Mikoto chose the B-rank genjutsu [Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique].

Seeing that both had made their selections, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to Tsunade. "I'll leave the task of guiding them in ninjutsu to you for the time being."

"Alright." Tsunade, who had remained silent the entire time, accepted helplessly.

She really was destined to be a teacher. It seemed there was no escaping it.

However, when she recalled the scene of "guiding" Indra in her dream last night, Tsunade immediately felt motivated.

She would bring a rope next time. If Indra failed to learn properly, she would tie him up and give him a harsh lesson!

Tsunade was happily imagining it all, but after reading through the ninjutsu scroll once, Indra already felt confident.

After leaving the Hokage's office, Tsunade treated them again while Indra paid. The three of them ate to their fill before heading home separately at dusk.

Having only just returned from the front lines, Tsunade was not planning to begin teaching immediately.

After returning home, Indra took Nija's Shadow Masks from a hidden compartment.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof!

A puff of white smoke rose, and a solid shadow clone identical to him appeared.

"It perfectly replicates the human body's meridian system. Since it evenly divides the original body's chakra, there's no way to detect anything strange from chakra volume alone."

"Each shadow clone is like a super AI. I need to split off a portion of my attention and issue commands to control them."

Indra then controlled the solid shadow clone and had it cast the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique again.

Poof! Poof! Poof!

Shadow clones appeared one after another, but after fewer than two repetitions, it could no longer continue.

After observing for a while, Indra reached a conclusion. "At minimum, a chūnin-level amount of chakra is needed to sustain the existence of one solid shadow clone."

His original body then sat down cross-legged to refine chakra, while the ten shadow clones continuously practiced the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Poof!

Half an hour later, the instant the shadow clones dispersed, a massive amount of training experience and fatigue returned to the original body.

In just an instant, Indra had completely mastered this A-rank ninjutsu.

From forming hand seals to the appearance of the shadow clones, it took him no more than 0.1 seconds. At the same time, he could precisely control the amount of chakra assigned to each clone.

"If I only maintain the minimum standard, I can summon up to fifty shadow clones. In optimal condition, though, the best number is two. Besides that..."

"Multiple Paper Clone Technique!"

Poof! Poof!

Two solid paper clones, formed entirely from talismans and his chakra, appeared.

"It combines the strengths of paper clones and shadow clones, though it also inherits the weakness of being vulnerable to water and oil. Still, in terms of practicality, it's better."

Indra nodded in satisfaction, then entered the All-Heavens Space.

Having fully prepared himself, he immediately clicked the All-Heavens Pearl and chose to travel.

The Jackie Chan Adventures world.

Inside the treasure vault beneath Shendu's palace, Indra's figure appeared once again.

"It's exactly where I left, and this time the travel limit is two months."

Indra realized that the extended stay time he had gained through the chakra inheritance could also carry over into other worlds.

"Two months. I need to make good use of them." Indra took out the Rabbit Talisman and dashed out of the treasure vault. With the Rooster Talisman's support, he flew ten thousand meters into the sky, turning into a streak of light that flashed across the heavens.

Chinatown, San Francisco. Uncle's Antique Shop.

Jade, wearing a backpack and a pair of boots, stood hesitantly outside the shop's entrance.

Urged on by her classmates at school, she had wanted to get a tattoo to show off. But Uncle Jackie would not allow it, so she could only resort to a little trick.

She had stamped the demon design from the cover of the Book of Spells onto her foot, only to discover that it would not wash off.

If Uncle Jackie and the others found out about this, she would definitely be in deep trouble!

Jade glanced at the blazing sun overhead and nervously swallowed.

I wonder if I can fool them... Don't let them find out... Huh? Why is someone flying down from the sky?

Under Jade's gaze, Indra descended from the sky and landed in front of her.

"Yo~ Jade."

Indra greeted her instinctively.

Seeing that the newcomer knew her, Jade took a closer look and immediately cried out, "Uncle Qiao, why is it you?!"

Looking at Indra, who seemed about the same age as herself, Jade could not help stepping closer.

"You're still taller than me, but how did you turn into a kid?"

"Special circumstances," Indra answered vaguely, shifting his gaze to Jade's boots. "Why are you wearing boots in this scorching weather?"

"Uh... I heard it's going to snow tomorrow." Jade awkwardly lifted one foot, then immediately changed the subject. "By the way, Uncle Qiao, I heard you stole the Twelve Talismans and betrayed Section 13. Is that true?"

"What, you think I'm a traitor?"

Before Indra had even finished speaking, Jade excitedly shook her head. "Uncle Qiao, that's so cool! How about lending me two Talismans to play with?"

From beginning to end, Jade had never thought Indra was a bad person.

Indra had taken her to amusement parks before, and he would buy her delicious food and fun toys.

When she was bullied at school, Uncle Jackie had been too busy with archaeology, and Grandpa would never go deal with it either. It was Indra who had pretended to be her guardian and taught those guys a lesson.

The more Jade spoke, the more excited she became, even bringing up what had happened recently. "Uncle Qiao, Shendu recently possessed Valmont, and they used the Panku Box to release a whole bunch of demons, but we sent them all back to hell."

"I'm sure Jade played no small part in that."

At Indra's words, Jade proudly raised her little head. "Of course! You really get me, Uncle Qiao. Those guys at school never believe anything I say."

"They're just kids. How could they possibly know more than our Queen Jade?" Indra said with a smile, looking toward Jade's ankle.

Jade was embarrassed by the "praise." "Queen and all that... it's not that exaggerated."

As she spoke, Jade pushed open the door and took the initiative to lead Indra into Grandpa's antique shop.

Following behind her, Indra had also gained a rough understanding of the situation.

His timing was rather perfect—he had arrived right when Jade became the Shadow Queen.

Before this, Jackie Chan and the others had sealed away the three demons Po Kong, Xiao Fung, and Tso Lan.

Indra was not interested in how those demons had been sealed. What interested him was the demonic energy of the Eight Demons.

Unfortunately, the plot had not yet reached the point where the demonic energy appeared. The world's balance between good and evil had not taken effect yet, so he had no way of finding where the demonic energy was.