When It Really Came to That, Things Would Get Tricky

Meanwhile, a wave of painful "memories" flooded Hibari's mind, and he felt an almost imperceptible trace of fatigue.

"So this really is a Shadow Clone. Nothing special about it..." The special Shadow Clone stroked his chin, speaking thoughtfully.

"You bastard." Hibari glared at him, exasperated. "You're clearly getting back at me for stabbing you just now, aren't you?"

The two Hibaris had more or less figured out how this strange change worked. They simply sat beneath the shade of a tree and discussed it.

"From what we can tell, I'm a special case," the Shadow Clone began. "I'm basically an 'independent' second you."

"And as long as you've split off, there won't be a second special case." Hibari nodded and picked up the thread. "Once my chakra recovers, I'll be able to use the Shadow Clone Technique normally... Multiple Shadow Clone Technique should work too, though I haven't tried it yet."

"But it's still a problem." The Shadow Clone's voice turned serious. "When I'm not around, using this technique is dangerous. Your chakra will be completely drained in an instant..."

"And we don't know if things might change in the future," Hibari mused. "If I could choose whether the first one I split off is you or an ordinary clone, that'd be perfect."

"Yeah," the Shadow Clone agreed. "But until then, there are ways to deal with it... or, at least, to keep this flaw under wraps for now."

"Exactly." Hibari glanced at him, then suddenly grinned. "You can recover your own chakra, so I don't need to maintain you.

As long as you don't burn through all your chakra at once, you can exist indefinitely. That means I can use the Shadow Clone Technique or Multiple Shadow Clone Technique as much as I want."

"Right. But there's another way..." The Shadow Clone lowered his voice. "The Yin Seal."

Hibari had wanted to wheedle the Yin Seal out of his Grandma Mito for a long time.

But Grandma Mito thought the technique carried considerable risk since it affected the user's own body. She hadn't taught it to him outright and had instead asked Second Grandpa Tobirama to decide.

Once Second Grandpa decided Hibari was ready to learn it, she would teach him.

It was much like what had just happened with the Shadow Clone. A ninja's chakra slowly recovered over time, but that recovery had a limit. Everyone's constitution, age, and chakra reserves were different, but there was always a limit.

Once the body's energy was full, it wouldn't recover any further.

The Yin Seal itself had little offensive power. Its strength lay in creating a "storage space" inside the user's body. The technique formed a seal within the body specifically for storing chakra.

Of course, the size of the storage space depended entirely on the user's ability. The stronger the user, the more chakra they could store.

When the seal was released in battle, the chakra saved up over time would pour into the user, giving them practically endless stamina.

The one who would truly master the technique in the future was Hibari's precious little sister, Tsunade, who was still running around with Great-Grandpa Hashirama all day long.

Once little Tsunade grew up and came into her own, she'd be able to use the enormous reserves of chakra stored in the Yin Seal to perform Creation Rebirth. The effect was incredible: for a short time, she'd practically be immortal. It was an overwhelmingly powerful technique.

So if Hibari could get his hands on the Yin Seal, he could indeed work around his current Shadow Clone problem. For example, he could summon the special clone before a fight, then release the Yin Seal in an instant to replenish his chakra.

That way, he wouldn't have to worry about being completely drained and collapsing.

"The Yin Seal..." Hibari smacked his lips. "I can't learn it for now, but it really is a good idea."

After speaking, he turned to the Shadow Clone. "But we can think about all that later. For now, let's finish the last test."

The Shadow Clone nodded. "Right. Let's do it."

Hibari had somehow used the Shadow Clone Technique to "create himself." It seemed pretty useful, but there was one crucial thing left to test: could this mutated Shadow Clone, which they suspected had been affected by the Human-Human Fruit, be dispelled normally?

If it could, everything would be fine. But if it couldn't, they'd be in trouble. Hibari might have to take matters into his own hands and get rid of "himself."

After all, the Shadow Clone looked just like Hibari, but there had to be a clear distinction between the original and the copy. If the jutsu could be dispelled, then Hibari was obviously the original. But if it couldn't... Hibari didn't think it was likely, but he couldn't help wondering: What if this bastard tried to take over? If it really came to that, things would get tricky.

Hibari glanced at the Shadow Clone, his gaze steadying. He brought two fingers together and called out, "Release!"

Before the words had even left his mouth, there was a soft poof. The "himself" who had been sitting right in front of him vanished in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, an enormous amount of chakra surged back into Hibari, filling him to the brim. Hibari grinned, the corners of his mouth lifting.

"Looks like even if this mutation really was caused by the power of a 'Devil Fruit' from another world, it still can't escape the rules here." He laughed to himself. "At the end of the day, it's just a somewhat unusual Clone Technique."

As soon as he finished speaking, the memory of the pain from the wound on his shoulder blade surged back, along with a faint wave of fatigue.

"So the side effects are still there..." Hibari muttered helplessly.

Although this "Creation of Self Technique" had plenty of flaws, its advantages were obvious too. First, as long as he prepared in advance, Hibari could turn any fight into a two-on-one whenever he wanted, and no one could accuse him of cheating. After all, it was his own clone. If they had a problem with it, they could make one of their own.

Second, the special Shadow Clone could exist for a long time. As long as Hibari didn't dispel it himself, and the clone didn't use up all its chakra or get killed, it wouldn't disappear.

That meant Hibari could send him off to do all sorts of things. For example, they could study and train together. Wasn't that like using a double-experience pill?

"But it's probably best not to tell anyone about this mutation," Hibari mused. "It'd be hard to explain..."

He paused, then muttered to himself, "Of course, I really do need to find a way to make this uncontrollable ability controllable.

If I could decide for myself when to use an ordinary Shadow Clone and when to use the 'Creation of Self Technique,' that'd be perfect."

At the thought, Hibari's eyes lit up, and he suddenly grew excited. "If I gave this Clone Technique its own path and developed it into a true 'Creation of Self Technique,' could that solve the current problems?

But it needs a cooler name. Maybe something like 'Secret Technique: Self-Manifestation Style'..."

Hibari figured that although he couldn't communicate directly with the power of the Devil Fruit inside him, he could more or less guess what was going on. The Shadow Clone Technique was like an unofficial channel that let the Fruit's power force its way in and take effect.

It was unofficial because using the Shadow Clone Technique as a medium caused a lot of problems.

But what if Hibari created a proper channel for it? Wouldn't that let the Shadow Clone Technique function freely?

Once that dedicated path was in place, the Devil Fruit's power inside him probably wouldn't keep rudely forcing its way into the Shadow Clone Technique's channel. It wouldn't benefit either of them. After all, Hibari and the Fruit were symbiotic, and Hibari was the one in charge.

"I never realized before that, aside from giving me a little life force and chakra, the Human-Human Fruit might be useful for anything else." Hibari stroked his chin and muttered under his breath. "So I never really gave it much thought.

But looking at it now, my cheat... might have a lot of untapped potential! I don't mean some stupid drawback like 'Devil Fruit users can't swim.' I mean I need to properly study this ability! At the very least, I need to make it do what I tell it!"

If you didn't put in the effort to develop a Devil Fruit, it was little more than instinct.

Take Luffy from the world of the Pirate King, for example. It had taken him years of hard work to make the Gum-Gum Fruit obey him, stretching and changing shape whenever he wanted instead of drooping limply until his face nearly dragged on the ground.

Hibari had always thought that since he was already human, there wasn't much the Human-Human Fruit could do for him.

So he'd never taken it seriously, relying on instinct alone. But thinking it over now, there might be benefits lurking beneath the surface that he hadn't noticed.

By the time Hibari had finished tidying the house, pondering the Shadow Clone, and going through all the trouble that followed, the whole afternoon was nearly over. The sun had begun to sink.

"Time really flies." Hibari glanced at the sky and smiled. "I spent so long thinking about a jutsu that it's already this late... That's enough for today."

Before he'd even finished speaking, he caught sight of a little head peeking out from behind the pine tree by the courtyard gate, looking this way.

As soon as Hibari glanced over, the little head *whoosh*ed back behind the tree.

Though it had ducked away quickly, Hibari had recognized who it was at once.

"Princess Tsunade!" he shouted. "You've got some nerve coming back here, you little rascal!"

The moment he yelled, a dull thump came from behind the tree, as if someone had landed hard on their backside.

Hibari couldn't help bursting out laughing. When little Tsunade saw him laughing, she scrambled to her feet, brushed the dirt off her bottom, and ran over to him on her short little legs.

"Big Brother Hibari!" She hugged him around the waist and looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" Hibari put on a stern face. "I'm waiting to catch you, obviously. Tell me, what kind of mischief have you been up to today?"

Little Tsunade's gaze darted around, then she put on an innocent expression. "I haven't done anything bad... I've been with Great-Grandpa all day."

"It's because you were with Great-Grandpa Hashirama that you dared to act so recklessly!" Hibari glared at her. "You'd never have the nerve otherwise! Come clean!"

Little Tsunade was usually mischievous, but she'd never dared to sneak a million ryo from Hibari. Even when she'd taken three hundred ryo before, she'd simply strolled into the room and taken it openly. Hibari had been asleep inside, and though he'd noticed her come in, he hadn't paid much attention.

This time, though, she'd learned to be sneaky from Great-Grandpa Hashirama, slipping in while Hibari was away to take it in secret.

When Hibari scolded her, little Tsunade's lip quivered, and she said miserably, "I was just listening to Lord Hokage..."

Before Hibari could get angry again, she hurriedly pulled a few banknotes from her little cloth pouch and furtively held them out to him. "These... These are the ones I secretly hid while Great-Grandpa wasn't looking! I was planning to come back and give them to you..."

Hibari took them and glanced over the bills. They added up to less than a hundred thousand ryo. That wasn't even enough to buy Orochimaru one book.