Secret Technique: Shadow Binding Technique

Nara Saku had grown up in the Nara Clan, renowned for their intelligence and wit. He had developed the habit of imitating the others in the clan and thought himself quite clever too.

People like him had always had it too easy. He considered himself smart, earned the respect of the other children, and had always been the one plotting against others. He had never suffered setbacks, so how could he have experienced humiliation and scheming like this before?

The moment he suffered a blow, his defenses broke.

[Detected Nara Saku's defenses breaking. Extracting an ability related to Nara Saku. The host may choose one of three options.

Option One: Kunai Throwing Technique;

Option Two: Substitution Technique Skill;

Option Three: Secret Technique: Shadow Binding Technique.]

Option One was useless. Uchiha Ling knew a little about kunai throwing himself, and he could study it later.

Option Two surprised him somewhat. He had not expected Nara Saku to have already taught himself the upperclassmen's Substitution Technique.

Option Three made Uchiha Ling's eyes light up.

Secret Technique: Shadow Binding Technique?

Secret techniques were not bloodline limits, but special chakra usage techniques.

He suddenly thought of Jiraiya.

In the original story, Jiraiya had mastered a ninjutsu called the Toad Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique.

He hid himself in a Rain ninja's shadow and controlled his movements. It was said to be a control technique even stronger than the Shadow Imitation Technique.

Toad Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique—there was shadow, and there was control. Uchiha Ling even suspected that Jiraiya had secretly learned the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique, tinkered with it a little, gave it a new name, and turned it into one of the ninjutsu in his arsenal.

Uchiha Ling suddenly had a guess. Could it be that Jiraiya had deeply peeped on some female ninja from the Nara Clan?

After peeping and peeping, Jiraiya had pulled up his pants, completely transcended such base pleasures, decided that peeping was no fun at all, entered Sage Mode, and pursued the mysteries of ninjutsu, learning the Shadow Secret Technique.

If Jiraiya could secretly learn it, why couldn't Uchiha Ling?

He would learn it and use it quietly. As long as the Nara Clan did not find out, it would be fine.

Once he grew strong enough in the future, he would be like Jiraiya and not care about the Nara Clan's attitude at all. Then he could use it openly and honestly.

If anyone asked, he was simply gifted and had happened to think of the same thing as the Nara Clan's ancestors.

He decisively chose the third option: the Shadow Secret Technique.

A flood of knowledge poured into his mind.

The Shadow Secret Technique was a secret technique involving the nature transformation of Yin Release chakra.

By injecting Yin Release chakra into shadows and changing their properties, one could produce all sorts of wondrous effects.

Uchiha Ling walked down the aisle, ignored Nara Saku's furious glare, and returned to his seat in the last row.

Thanks to his terrible reputation, no one sat around him.

There was a pen on the desk. He pressed his finger against its tip, and his shadow merged with the pen's shadow.

Following the description of the Shadow Secret Technique, he sent his Yin Release chakra into the pen's shadow.

The pen's shadow abruptly sank.

He pushed the pen shaft with his other hand and found that a strange resistance came from it.

Many ambush methods could be devised around the Shadow Secret Technique.

He was an Uchiha. Who would imagine that an Uchiha had mastered a Nara secret technique?

He could not fight like the Nara Clan. Since he had acquired this secret technique, it would be best to devise a covert, underhanded ambush method.

He suddenly thought that, in battle, he could step on an opponent's shadow without warning. He would not need to control them; merely making the enemy pause for an instant could create a huge advantage.

Shadow Stomping Technique. He gave this covert technique a simple name.

The enemy would definitely be confused. They would be tugged for no reason at all and would not even know why.

That night.

Uchiha Ling formed hand seals and created a Shadow Clone Technique.

He stood in the backyard and looked up at the moon.

"The moon is beautiful tonight."

"Ugh!" the shadow clone said. "Can you say that to Kurenai? Are you expecting me to reply that the wind is gentle too?"

"I mean the moonlight is bright. It casts shadows!"

Uchiha Ling formed the Rat hand seal. Like the Nara Clan, the shadow beneath him darkened pitch-black, then shot forward.

The shadow clone dodged backward and easily avoided the original body's Shadow Secret Technique.

"Hey! Original body, put some force into it! Have you been thinking about Kurenai so much that your legs have gone weak?"

Uchiha Ling was so annoyed by the shadow clone that he laughed. Was it because he did not want to use more force? It was his first time using the Shadow Binding Technique. It was already good enough that he could make his shadow move roughly forward in one direction.

After trying more than ten times, Uchiha Ling was exhausted and sat on the ground.

It seemed that fighting like the Nara Clan would not only easily expose him, but it also was not something he was particularly good at.

The Nara Clan had used the Shadow Secret Technique for generations. Their genes had been strengthened generation after generation, making them naturally more suited to this secret technique.

After resting for a while, Uchiha Ling said, "All right, give up. Let's do tonight's core training."

The shadow clone had been out for quite a while, and he was looking up at the moon in the sky.

Uchiha Ling's heart tightened. What kind of expression was that on the shadow clone's face?

Thirty percent melancholy, thirty percent contemplation, thirty percent unwillingness.

No way. Did the shadow clone have thoughts of his own?

"If you want to look, you can look a little longer."

Hearing the original body say that, the shadow clone turned to look at him.

"You've spent too much time with Kurenai lately. Is your brain full of prostate fluid? Do you think I'm mourning spring and grieving autumn?"

"I was seriously wasting my sympathy on you!"

Uchiha Ling charged at the shadow clone, formed the Rat hand seal, and stepped on the shadow clone's shadow.

The shadow clone took a step back to dodge and said, "Original body, can't you form hand seals and step down at the same time? Even someone with an eighteen-year cerebral thrombosis would move more smoothly than you."

The next time, Uchiha Ling formed hand seals and stepped down at the same time.

He had to form hand seals and gather chakra, keeping him busy, while the shadow clone only needed to evade. The shadow clone dodged him again.

"You believe everything I say? Are you really that naive?"

A thought suddenly came to Uchiha Ling.

In battle, he should step on the enemy's shadow when they were not paying attention, then secretly form hand seals. Only then could the ambush succeed.

The next time, Uchiha Ling stepped on the shadow clone's shadow first, then formed hand seals.

This time, the shadow clone finally stopped moving.

"Fine. You're slowly changing from a shut-in mindset from your previous life into a ninja mindset. Get used to this world sooner, original body."

Poof.

After a puff of white smoke, the shadow clone disappeared.

The Shadow Stomping Technique could be added to his arsenal as an ambush method.

The Defense-Breaking System extracted other people's abilities. As his arsenal grew ever larger, he might one day become a jack-of-all-trades in ninjutsu like Jiraiya, Kakashi, or Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Transformation Technique intensive week had ended, and afternoon classes would return to sparring lessons every day. Uchiha Ling had finally returned to his home ground.

During sparring class, Uchiha Ling swept his gaze over his classmates. Who should he put some pressure on?

There were quite a few familiar faces among this year's students.

Obito Uchiha, Asuma Sarutobi, Rin Nohara, Kurenai Yuhi, Might Guy, Ebisu, Aoba Yamashiro, Raidō Namiashi, Iwashi Tatami, Hayate Gekkō, Shiranui Genma, Ibiki Morino, Anko Mitarashi, Shizune...

Just as Uchiha Ling was looking for a target, Nara Saku was especially afraid that Uchiha Ling and Asuma Sarutobi would clash again.

Recently, Asuma had been in a terrible mood whenever he saw Kurenai Yuhi and Uchiha Ling training together after school.

Akimichi Takashi raised his hand beside them. "Teacher! I want to challenge Uchiha Ling!"