Multiple Shadow Clone

The man was utterly dumbfounded by the sight.

What Body Flicker Technique could possibly be that fast?

But the Explosive Tags on his body left him no time to think. A thunderous boom sent clouds of dust billowing into the air.

As the dust cleared, the middle-aged man before them had been blasted beyond recognition.

Qianye Lan returned White Fang to Hatake Sakumo, thinking that he should forge a similar weapon when he had time.

But it needed to be longer. One that short was awkward to use.

Hatake Sakumo spoke up. "When you encounter an enemy, after dealing with them, you need to check their body for anything that can identify them."

Hearing this, Qianye Lan walked over, picked up a fallen branch, and prodded the corpse before him, trying to find something that could identify the man.

He soon hooked a Forehead Protector with the branch, but blood covered its emblem.

He took out a bottle of water and rinsed the Forehead Protector. As the blood washed away, its emblem was revealed.

Looking at the emblem, Qianye Lan said, "Uncle Sakumo, this looks like a ninja from Sunagakure."

Hatake Sakumo nodded. "That is indeed Sunagakure's emblem, but he appears to have been a missing-nin."

The other two also came over to take a look.

Uchiha Mikoto agreed. "Sakumo-sensei is right. There's a slash across this Forehead Protector, the mark specific to missing-nin."

After confirming that the corpse belonged to a missing-nin from Sunagakure, Qianye Lan turned to Hatake Sakumo and asked, "Uncle Sakumo, what should we do with the body? Is there any extra reward?"

Hatake Sakumo smiled. "The brain is still fairly intact, so this body has considerable value. It'll be sent to the Anbu later."

"As for a reward..." He deliberately drew out his words. "I can't say for sure, but at the very least, each of you three will have an extra B-rank mission credited to you."

Kushina eagerly asked the most important question. "Do we get paid for it?"

Amused by her money-loving ways, Qianye Lan reached out and patted her head. "Of course we do."

Kushina nimbly dodged away. "Don't mess with my hair. Show some respect for your elders."

Qianye Lan quickly reached out and pinched her cheek, pulling his hand back before Kushina could react.

Kushina let out a muffled sound, then retaliated.

At first, Qianye Lan tried to resist, but when he saw how serious Kushina looked, he knew he would have to let her pinch him back today.

He could only give up resisting and let her pinch him.

Uchiha Mikoto initially watched their interaction with a smile, but her smile gradually froze.

She felt as though she had already had her fill.

In the end, Hatake Sakumo cleared his throat. "All right, stop fooling around. We're still on a mission."

Only then did the two realize their behavior was inappropriate and stop playing around.

Hatake Sakumo took the Forehead Protector from Qianye Lan and roughly pieced the body back together.

He took out a piece of cloth and wrapped the man in it, and the group set off.

Back in the village, Hatake Sakumo said, "I need to report today's unexpected incident to Lord Hokage. Everyone else, dismissed."

Qianye Lan called out to stop him. "Uncle Sakumo, I've decided on my ninjutsu."

Hatake Sakumo paused, then smiled. "All right, come with me."

Qianye Lan turned to Kushina. "Go home first. I need to go somewhere with Uncle Sakumo."

Kushina nodded, then reminded him, "Come back soon."

Under Uchiha Mikoto's somewhat teasing gaze, she left with her face flushed.

The two walked toward the Hokage Office.

Hatake Sakumo looked at Qianye Lan and asked curiously, "Lan, which ninjutsu are you planning to choose?"

He had also been struggling over which ninjutsu to choose and wanted to use Qianye Lan's choice as a reference.

Qianye Lan made no secret of it. "The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."

Earlier, he had spent a long time torn between Multiple Shadow Clone and the Inner Eight Gates.

In the end, he chose the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, which could speed up his training at his current stage.

Hatake Sakumo was somewhat surprised by his choice. "Why choose that ninjutsu? As far as I know, it doesn't improve your combat strength much."

At Hatake Sakumo's question, a thought struck Qianye Lan.

It looks like they haven't discovered that Shadow Clones can speed up ninjutsu training yet.

With that in mind, he said, "Uncle Sakumo, techniques like Shadow Clone can speed up training."

"Training?" Qianye Lan's words caught Hatake Sakumo's interest.

He asked, "How exactly does that work?"

Qianye Lan did not try to be mysterious and explained, "When a Shadow Clone is dispelled, all its memories and experience return to the original."

"So as long as you make good use of it, your training can progress several times faster."

Hatake Sakumo grew a little excited at this, but soon calmed down. He lowered his head and asked, "Then this method must have quite a few limitations, right?"

Qianye Lan nodded and answered without concealing anything. "It does have a lot of limitations. It places a heavy burden on the user's mental energy."

Hatake Sakumo asked with some concern, "Then will you be all right?"

Qianye Lan scratched his head. "My chakra reserves and mental energy are both different from most people's, so those side effects are still within what I can handle."

Hatake Sakumo nodded in firm agreement. Qianye Lan's chakra reserves and mental energy were indeed formidable.

There was no need to mention something as obvious as his chakra reserves.

His mental energy alone was far stronger than the average person's.

His powerful sensory abilities in particular-it was embarrassing to admit.

Hatake Sakumo himself had not sensed the Sunagakure missing-nin's presence, yet Qianye Lan had detected him.

After some thought, Hatake Sakumo decided against using Qianye Lan's training method.

It was clearly a training method only a select few could choose, not one suited to everyone.

The two entered the Hokage Office.

The Third Hokage greeted them with a kindly smile. "Sakumo, Qianye Lan, what brings you here?"

Hatake Sakumo spoke first. "Lord Hokage, we've come mainly for two things."

"First, our squad happened upon a Sunagakure missing-nin during today's mission. We've dealt with him and would like to hand him over to the Anbu."

"Second, Qianye Lan has decided which ninjutsu he wants to learn."

The Third Hokage nodded, then summoned an Anbu member and had him take the body away.

Then he looked at Qianye Lan and asked, "Which ninjutsu do you want?"

Qianye Lan answered, "The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."

The Third Hokage's brows furrowed slightly at the name of the technique, and he remained silent for a long time, caught in an intense internal struggle.

This was beyond his expectations, but remembering that he had indeed placed no limits on the ninjutsu they could choose, he could only force a smile in the end. "No problem."

With that, he took out the Scroll of Seals.