Subduing Shikigami

After leaving Tsunade's house.

Yecheng sent a shadow clone straight to the Ninja Academy, while his real body went to the abandoned training ground near the river.

Though out of the way, it was not far from the Hokage Building, making it a relatively safe place.

Training here meant he would not have to worry about harassment from Danzo and Root. The only risk was being seen by the Third through his Crystal Ball.

But with the Six Eyes enhancing his extraordinarily keen perception, no observation of him could escape his notice, allowing him to take precautions in advance.

After what had happened last night, Yecheng desperately wanted to improve his combat strength. Aside from slowly honing his fundamentals through training and gaining explosive increases in strength through card draws, there was another path open to him right now.

[Ten Shadows Technique]!

This golden skill card was still nowhere near reaching its full potential.

The Ten Shadows Technique could summon ten Shikigami from shadows, each with unique abilities. Its ultimate Shikigami, Mahoraga, was even a top-tier combatant in the original work, fighting only in the big leagues.

The only restriction was that, aside from the two large dogs provided at the start, all the other Shikigami had to be subdued by the sorcerer before they could be summoned for use.

And today, Yecheng intended to subdue new Shikigami to increase his combat strength.

Following the information in his memory, Yecheng formed hand seals, shaping his hands into a rounded toad, and summoned an unsubdued Shikigami, automatically initiating the subjugation ritual.

"Toad."

After the Divine Dogs, the first Shikigami Yecheng chose to subdue was Toad, a massive toad-shaped Shikigami with considerable resilience and excellent defense. Its usual tactic was to attack or restrain enemies with its tough tongue.

A prized crowd-control unit.

If he had had Toad last night, Yecheng would not have ended up in such a sorry state.

The shadow beneath his feet writhed, and a toad as tall as an adult materialized.

"Croak!"

Toad let out a muffled croak, and a thick tongue shot straight toward Yecheng.

Yecheng could have easily dodged it, but he did not.

Instead, he summoned Jellyfish Moon. Several translucent jellyfish tentacles shot out together, tangling with Toad's tongue.

Then the two sides entered a tug-of-war.

Divine Dog: Black and Divine Dog: White took the opportunity to materialize, pouncing forward to tear and bite furiously.

Toad's resilience was completely countered by the Divine Dogs' sharp claws. Soon, Toad was torn to pieces, turning into an ink-black shadow and returning beneath Yecheng's feet.

Toad's subjugation was complete.

The battle had gone exactly as Yecheng expected, so he merely took a moment to recover before immediately beginning the next subjugation ritual.

"Great Serpent."

Yecheng formed the Great Serpent Seal and recited the incantation, summoning the third Shikigami.

The subjugation ritual began!

Great Serpent emerged from the shadows, over ten meters long. Its tail swung, whipping dust into the air.

It opened its enormous maw and lunged straight at Yecheng to swallow him.

Great Serpent's movements were sweeping, and its tail strikes were especially powerful. For a time, neither Divine Dog could get close enough to attack.

"Toad."

This time, however, Yecheng had another powerful fighter at his disposal.

The giant toad Shikigami materialized. Its tough, long tongue shot straight at Great Serpent and wrapped around its body, preventing it from moving freely.

Jellyfish Moon repeated its earlier tactic, clinging behind Great Serpent's head and wrapping all its tentacles around its body while continuously injecting venom through the barbs at their tips.

As a result, although Great Serpent was still twisting furiously, raising so much dust that the training ground looked as though a typhoon had swept through, it could not break free of the two Shikigami's restraints anytime soon!

Seeing this, Yecheng immediately enhanced himself with yang release chakra, seized the opening to close in, and swung his fists.

He already possessed the Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai, giving him a stronger constitution than ordinary people. Several enhancement cards had further strengthened his physique, making his blows powerful. With yang release chakra enhancing him on top of that, the force behind this punch was certainly not to be underestimated!

"Bam, bam, bam!"

Though his body was still young and small, the power in his fists was no joke!

The sound of punch after punch striking the head would have sent chills through anyone who heard it!

Great Serpent raised its head and hissed, but there was nothing it could do.

Its strongest methods were constriction and swallowing bites, but it could use neither now. It was completely countered.

The two Divine Dogs also seized the opportunity to pounce onto Great Serpent's body, ripping with their claws and biting with their teeth.

With master and servants working together, no matter how large Great Serpent's health bar was, it could not withstand such punishment. After struggling for a while, it was subdued, turning into thick ink and returning to Yecheng's shadow.

"Phew..."

Yecheng plopped down on the steps, panting heavily.

Subduing two powerful Shikigami in succession had consumed a considerable amount of chakra and severely tested his stamina.

He had originally wanted to strike while the iron was hot and subdue another Shikigami, but it seemed he would have to stop here.

Among the Ten Shadows Technique's Shikigami, setting aside the most difficult one to subdue-[Mahoraga]-the remaining Shikigami were:

[Nue], [Max Elephant], [Rabbit Escape], [Round Deer], [Piercing Ox], and [Tiger Funeral].

Each of these six Shikigami was quite unique and held significant strategic value.

For now, he had no chance of subduing the last three, [Round Deer], [Piercing Ox], and [Tiger Funeral], so he would set them aside as well.

Yecheng considered his chances of subduing the remaining three Shikigami.

[Nue] was a prized flying unit and could unleash lightning strikes. Once unleashed, it was practically a bomber!

Attacking from above made fools of those below. He currently lacked any sufficiently powerful ranged attacks and had no anti-air capability.

Unless he could use the terrain to restrict its flight, there was no chance of subduing it.

[Max Elephant] was a gigantic African elephant, known as the king of land warfare. It also possessed a water-controlling cursed technique, with astonishing attack power and range. It was an extremely powerful Shikigami.

But with his current means of attack, hitting it would very likely make it think he was a back scrubber with a somewhat firm hand.

He probably could not even manage to scratch it, so he would leave that one for later.

[Rabbit Escape] had a unique mechanic and possessed a cursed technique that allowed it to split itself. Each individual was weak, but with enough duplicates, they could even lift a building!

Whether obscuring an enemy's vision, trapping them, or attacking directly, it was formidable.

It was another extremely powerful Shikigami.

But subduing it would also be very difficult. He needed a means of attacking a wide area and destroying large numbers of its duplicates in a short time to have any chance.

It would be best to wait until after subduing Max Elephant, then use its countering ability to subdue Rabbit Escape.

Through this battle, Yecheng had gained an understanding of his strengths and weaknesses.

His strengths lay in his varied methods and high burst damage. With the element of surprise, he could even ambush and kill some of the weaker Special Jōnin.

His weakness was equally obvious: his chakra reserves were low, and he lacked staying power in combat.

Still, considering that his body was currently only six years old, it was not a particularly serious flaw.

After all, not everyone bore the name Senju or Uzumaki and had overflowing chakra reserves.

After carefully reflecting on himself, Yecheng let out a long breath.

Whatever the case, with the help of [Toad] and [Great Serpent], his strength had once again increased by leaps and bounds. That was truly something to be happy about!

He could feel that, if he encountered that Root Anbu from last night again, he might have a chance to kill him outright with a surprise attack!

After all, most ninja in the Shinobi World were glass cannons. Their offensive power was terrifying, but their own defenses were extremely weak.

Yecheng narrowed his eyes slightly and began making plans.

That man was already firmly at odds with him, and the enmity between them was considerable.

I won't be able to rest easy until I get rid of him...