Mastery-level Shadow Clone

"Look, I think your little brother is in first place!"

Sister Yan tugged at Luo Qingyu, staring at the screen in disbelief.

"He really is. That little brat doesn't know how to keep a low profile at all. Just wait until I get my hands on him."

"Doesn't he know the tallest tree catches the most wind?"

Despite talking about teaching him a lesson, Luo Qingyu puffed out her chest with pride.

After listening to Sister Yan brag the entire way, it was finally her turn.

She had no idea what exactly had happened in the Trial Grounds.

But Luo Yu had already given her so many surprises today that she was starting to get used to it.

She suddenly realized she knew nothing about the little brother she had raised herself.

Luo Yu must have been hiding some huge secret from her. Otherwise, he couldn't possibly have become so outstanding.

Oh well. If he doesn't tell me, I won't ask. I'll just be his supportive helper.

Having such a capable little brother...

Feels amazing!

Seeing Luo Qingyu's smug expression, Sister Yan turned a disgusted look on Cheng Yu. "Look how outstanding someone else's kid is!"

Those words were music to Luo Qingyu's ears.

She had never imagined Luo Yu could become the kid other parents held up as an example.

Deeply discouraged, Cheng Yu turned to Luo Qingyu in shock. "Seriously? The guy in first place is your little brother?"

After all, he knew firsthand just how difficult this assessment was.

That boy he had just seen, who seemingly had nothing going for him except his looks, had topped the rankings in such a short time.

It was hard to swallow.

"Of course he's my little brother. None of the five hundred-plus candidates have the same name."

When she nodded in confirmation, Cheng Yu felt as though he had been struck by a bolt from the blue.

He had assumed that since the guy was pretty good-looking, his grades couldn't be that great.

Otherwise, it would be far too unfair to people who had neither looks nor good grades.

As it turned out, the heavens really were that unfair.

His perspective had been too narrow.

Remembering his earlier arrogance toward Luo Yu, Cheng Yu flushed slightly.

"I told you to go introduce yourself to him, but you wouldn't listen."

Sister Yan glared fiercely at Cheng Yu. "You even made excuses about how hard the assessment was!"

"Then how did he take first place so easily?"

After that scolding, Cheng Yu hung his head even lower.

Sister Yan also felt too embarrassed to stay.

Seeing how modest Luo Qingyu had been earlier, she had genuinely thought Luo Yu was unremarkable and couldn't compare to her own boy.

Instead, her own boy couldn't compare to him at all.

She found that reversal hard to accept.

It seemed the Luo girl really was about to rise in the world this time.

Back at the shop, she had often scolded Luo Qingyu, even nearly reducing her to tears a few times.

She would have to treat her better from now on, lest Luo Qingyu settle old scores later.

"Qingyu, we'll head back first."

"Your little brother has this in the bag. Take a few days off and celebrate with him."

"Call me whenever you feel like coming back."

Sister Yan spoke warmly, then her expression darkened as she dragged Cheng Yu away.

Sister Yan's gentle attitude left Luo Qingyu filled with emotion.

Normally, Sister Yan rarely showed her a friendly face at the shop.

Yet now that she knew Luo Qingyu's little brother was going places, she was being almost sickeningly sweet.

A mother really does rise through her son.

No, wait. A sister rises through her brother.

With that thought, Luo Qingyu came back to her senses and continued watching the changes on the points leaderboard.

In the Trial Grounds, Luo Yu was on his way to the danger zone.

Whenever his Sharingan spotted a nearby mutant beast, it immediately received a freshly fired Great Fireball at the major accomplishment level.

Even against a Novice Rank Three water-type mutant beast, he only needed to raise the Great Fireball's cost to 5 chakra.

The Great Fireball would still be powerful enough to evaporate its water-type skills and kill it instantly.

Since he had created a Shadow Clone, his current chakra reserves were only 11, but the regenerative ability of the Hashirama Cells still allowed him to keep using Great Fireball.

Thus, although Luo Yu's progress toward the danger zone slowed, both his attribute points and assessment points kept increasing.

Suddenly, a Novice Rank Three Water Lizard hiding on a tree branch unleashed a high-pressure spray.

Luo Yu instantly formed hand seals.

"Great Fireball Technique!"

Another massive fireball instantly evaporated the stream of water formed by the high-pressure spray, while also roasting the Water Lizard that had cast it to ashes.

"Novice Rank Three mutant beast slain. 50 points added. Current points: 170."

The Scientific Ninja Tool sounded a notification.

At the same time, the attribute points dropped by the Water Lizard returned to Luo Yu's side.

Attribute points +5!

Luo Yu nodded in satisfaction, then opened the system panel.

Unallocated attribute points: 10

He had killed quite a few mutant beasts just now, but only two Novice Rank Three beasts had dropped attribute points.

My luck's pretty lousy.

But there's no rush. From the assessment points that occasionally increased out of nowhere, he could tell his Shadow Clone was starting to pull its weight too.

It only needed to rest for a minute after each Great Fireball to recover its chakra.

Even if it encountered a Novice Rank Three mutant beast, the Shadow Clone could easily kill it instantly.

Besides, 10 attribute points were enough to advance him to Novice Rank Three and claim the system's level-up reward.

Reassured, Luo Yu nodded and allocated all his attribute points.

Stamina: 27 (+30%) → 30 (+30%)

Chakra: 26 (+50%) → 33 (+50%)

Congratulations, host, on advancing to Novice Rank Three! Level reward received: Book of Ninja ×2!

After receiving the Books of Ninja, Luo Yu immediately opened his ninjutsu panel.

Standard ninjutsu: Three-Body Technique Lv.2, Ninja Art: Senbon Rain Lv.0, Shadow Clone Lv.2

Fire Release Ninjutsu: Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique Lv.4, Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu Lv.1

Wood Release Ninjutsu: Wood Release: Cutting Technique Lv.1, Wood Release: Hell's Disorder Lv.1

Wood Release techniques couldn't be leveled up using Books of Ninja.

Fire Release: Great Fireball was already too high-level, so it could only be upgraded using two Ninja Scrolls or 100 fragments of a Nameless Inheritance proficient in Fire Release.

Of the remaining ninjutsu, Senbon Rain was an offensive technique he didn't currently need, and the same went for Phoenix Flower Fire.

That left only Shadow Clone.

Besides, raising Shadow Clone to level 3 required exactly two Books of Ninja.

After a moment's thought, Luo Yu used the Books of Ninja to enhance Shadow Clone.

[Shadow Clone level +1!]

The next moment, Luo Yu felt his understanding of Shadow Clone deepen considerably.

Not only was he confident he could create three clones at once, but the effectiveness of the Hashirama Cells replicated with chakra...

Had also increased from 30% to 40%.

Even the replicated Sharingan could now activate two tomoe.

So this is what a mastery-level Shadow Clone can do?

It looks like Madara Uchiha could have five Wood Clones activate Susanoo because he'd trained Wood Clone to the level of returning to the essence.

Imagining five of his own clones using Kamui in the future was almost too beautiful for words.

After allocating his points, Luo Yu had no intention of taking a break.

The mountain ahead was the danger zone. According to the map, the Yamato inheritance fragments had been placed at its summit.

Of course, if even the information about the Yamato inheritance fragments was wrong, Luo Yu would put President Bai on his little blacklist.

With that thought, Luo Yu started up the rugged mountain path.

Meanwhile, in the Supervision Group's work area.

Watching Luo Yu on the screen, President Bai began questioning everything he knew.

"Wait, is this kid really a ninja student? That Great Fireball's power is clearly at the major accomplishment level!"

"After all these years of training, my Great Fireball is only at mastery level!"

"Are all young people this incredible these days?"