My Shadow Clone Couldn't Possibly Be This Strong

Kaguya Qin saw the chakra sphere in Ashina's palm collapse and immediately realized something had gone wrong with his ninjutsu. A smile curled across her lips.

"Good chance!"

She had no intention of showing mercy to an enemy. Taking his life while he was down was the true principle. A finger bone shot toward Ashina's forehead, intent on piercing straight through it.

At the critical moment, an unexpected change occurred—

One of Ashina's Shadow Clones suddenly burst from the ground and viciously kicked Kaguya Qin in the chin.

"Crack."

The sound of bone breaking.

Kaguya Qin was sent flying into the sky.

"Lion Combo!"

Ashina's Shadow Clone roared and pressed the advantage, kicking Kaguya Qin in the stomach and sending her even higher.

"Damn it! He fooled me!"

Kaguya Qin was furious. She had thought she had found Ashina's real body, but it turned out to be a more convincing Shadow Clone hidden in plain sight. The real body had actually been waiting underground for an opportunity.

What she did not know was that Ashina himself was stunned at that very moment.

Watching the Shadow Clone before him, identical to himself and displaying such might, he could not help scratching the back of his head.

Is that really my Shadow Clone?

Why does something feel wrong...

"Poison Dragon Drill!"

Kaguya Qin roared. Having suffered two heavy blows in a row, she was completely enraged. The bones in her fingers fused again into the shape of a drill as she prepared to fight her opponent to the death.

She looked down, only to find that Ashina's real body had vanished. Only the Shadow Clone that had pretended to be the real body remained standing there stupidly.

"Above you."

A voice came from beside her ear.

Kaguya Qin abruptly turned her head and saw Ashina's real body flash into view above her. His left and right hands moved rapidly, and in moments, he formed a chakra sphere as large as a washbasin.

"Big Ball Rasengan!"

Ashina's real body gripped the massive sphere and hurled it at Kaguya Qin without hesitation.

"Holy shit!"

Ashina was dumbfounded, his eyes widening like saucers.

A ninjutsu even my real body can't use, and you, a Shadow Clone, can actually perform it??

For a moment, he even began to suspect that he was the Shadow Clone rather than the real body.

"Die!"

Kaguya Qin struck with all her strength, thrusting her bone drill viciously into the Big Ball Rasengan.

"Boom."

A deafening explosion rang out, and surging shockwaves swept through the surroundings.

The bone drill covering Kaguya Qin's arm shattered inch by inch. Like a ragged sack leaking blood, she fell straight down and smashed a huge crater into the ground, dust billowing everywhere.

The Shadow Clone landed safely and stared at Ashina. The two looked at each other wide-eyed.

"Uh, well..."

"Cough, cough!"

Ashina was about to speak when a fit of bloody coughing interrupted him.

Kaguya Qin staggered out of the dust. She looked utterly miserable. Not only was her entire right arm broken, but her internal organs had been shattered as well. Blood spilled uncontrollably from her throat, mixed with fragments of viscera.

"Ashina, you hid yourself well."

Kaguya Qin spoke to the blank-faced Ashina with grief and indignation. "After fighting you for so long, I never expected you to be a Shadow Clone!"

Ashina: "???"

He desperately wanted to retort, I'm the fucking real body! Not a Shadow Clone!

Then, Kaguya Qin looked at the calm-faced "real Ashina" and coughed up blood. "You're four years younger than me, yet your strength surpasses mine by so much. You played me in the palm of your hand with nothing but Shadow Clone Technique..."

Kaguya Qin was deeply unwilling to accept it. Ever since childhood, she had always considered herself a genius. She believed that the only reason she was weaker than her brother was because she was younger. Yet today, she had been defeated by an Uzumaki Clan genius four years younger than herself, and she began to doubt herself.

Suddenly, she thought of something and fixed her gaze on "real Ashina." "Ashina, tell me the truth. Those ninjutsu you supposedly found before... did you develop them yourself?"

Ashina was startled.

He could not let anyone know that his second brother could develop ninjutsu. Otherwise, his second brother would be in danger. He hurriedly said, "Don't talk nonsense. Those ninjutsu were just—"

"Shut up! I don't want to talk to a Shadow Clone like you!"

Kaguya Qin snapped at him viciously.

Ashina: "..."

For a moment, he was completely speechless.

It was not just Kaguya Qin who had misunderstood. Even he found it unbelievable that a Shadow Clone could use ninjutsu the real body could not. Who would believe it if he told them?

"Even now, are you still going to humiliate me with Shadow Clones? Won't your real body say a single word to me?" Kaguya Qin gritted her teeth.

"Real Ashina" finally moved. He gave Kaguya Qin a mysterious smile, and then—

Poof.

He exploded into a cloud of mist.

Kaguya Qin froze.

It was as if she had been struck by lightning. She stood there, utterly dumbfounded.

"This was a Shadow Clone too!!"

Kaguya Qin was completely bewildered, as though she were living in a dream.

She looked around at the scattered Shadow Clones nearby, her face filled with unsolvable confusion. Her vision swam. Every one of them seemed like a Shadow Clone, yet every one of them also seemed like Ashina's real body.

"Heh heh."

Suddenly, she gave a miserable laugh.

"I was defeated by a Shadow Clone. I'm not even as good as a Shadow Clone... Ashina, you didn't just kill me—you destroyed my spirit. How cruel... pfft!"

As she spoke, fury overwhelmed her heart. She spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of viscera, then fell stiffly to the ground and died.

Ashina was actually just as confused as she was. Logically, after a Shadow Clone disappeared, its memories and information should have returned to his real body. Yet he had received no memories at all.

What's going on?

He scratched the back of his head. No matter how he thought about it, he could not figure it out, so he could only blame it on a mistake in the ninjutsu.

"Whatever. As long as the Sage of Six Paths shows up, I'm the real body. Whoever says I'm a Shadow Clone gets beaten to death."

Ashina shook his head, stopped overthinking, and threw a kunai from afar to finish Kaguya Qin off.

"Though there were a few flaws, it wasn't perfect. Still, with Ashina's brain, he definitely won't suspect me."

Underground, Shusen saw Kaguya Qin die and let out a breath of relief.

When his younger brother's life had been hanging by a thread just now, he truly could not think of a better way. He could only use the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as Ashina's Shadow Clone.

Ashina had definitely sensed that something was wrong, but he was not someone good at thinking. With his personality, the best solution to a problem he could not solve was simply to ignore it.

Shusen was used to fooling his younger brother. No one understood him better.

"Kaguya Qin has already been killed by me! Members of the Kaguya Clan, surrender at once!"

Ashina returned to the battlefield carrying Kaguya Qin's head and shouted loudly.

He was not stupid. He understood that news of the clan leader's daughter being killed would surely devastate the Kaguya Clan's morale, which was why he did this.

"What? Lady Qin is dead!"

The Kaguya Clan's two elders were shocked. They quickly looked toward the voice and indeed saw Kaguya Qin's head being held in someone's hand.

"How is that possible?!"

The Kaguya elders could hardly believe it. They knew exactly how strong Kaguya Qin was. Even her brother, Kaguya Wuzhan, might not have been stronger than her at her age. Yet she had died at the hands of thirteen-year-old Ashina!

"Lady Qin!"

The Kaguya clansmen cried out in grief, unable to accept the scene before their eyes.