Chapter 30: Shadow Clone
Before the month ended, Ryo still had an important event to attend, or rather, he had to wait for the event to come to him. Ryo was standing upside down on a large tree branch while using the wall-walking technique, and at the same time, he controlled two golden orbs while looking down. The orbs floated in a spiral just below his head.
He trained like this a few times since it increased the challenge of controlling the golden orbs while maintaining chakra in his feet to avoid falling. Initially, he had a few falls, but now he could maintain this position for several minutes.
Today was a day when he didn't have classes at the academy or training with Kentou-sensei. Instead, a legendary figure would soon arrive at the location. Knowing this, Ryo continued training diligently, mindful not to exhaust his chakra.
After a few minutes, a person appeared at the location without making a sound despite his age. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, appeared in front of Ryo, observing the young man training with the golden orbs.
"They really are as golden as gold. How are you, young Ryo?" he asked as he walked and sat on one of the chairs nearby. Seeing the old man arrive, Ryo quickly released himself from the tree, which was high enough for him to perform a slight somersault and land on his feet. "Hokage-sama! I'm doing well, practicing a lot," he replied, causing the golden orbs to return to their original size of small golden coins, which he then pocketed.
"Has the day arrived, then? You mentioned needing some time to find a free slot, but I'm glad it didn't take too long," Sarutobi chuckled. "Yes, it was quicker, but it's good; the sooner you learn, the more useful it'll be. However, I have to warn you about something small, Ryo." He then placed a scroll on the table. "This jutsu may have its problems and advantages. I can see that with your amount of chakra, you could maintain two clones simultaneously, but restrict yourself to only one for now, at least until you have more chakra."
With that said, Ryo agreed with the Hokage, and Sarutobi then unrolled the scroll, showing Ryo a sequence of hand seals and providing some lengthy explanations. "The scroll is for you to read. I'll show you how to do the jutsu now."
He then stood up calmly, diligently performing all the hand seals for the Shadow Clone jutsu, and as soon as he finished, a clone appeared by his side. The two looked at each other, and one of them spoke. "Ryo, I only have a few minutes today, so I'll leave you with my clone to teach you. Don't worry; he's exactly like me, so there won't be any issues."
As the Hokage spoke, he disappeared from the location, leaving Ryo and the Shadow Clone of Hiruzen. "Look at the seals on the scroll again and practice them for a few minutes. Don't attempt the jutsu yet; it's a B-Rank jutsu, so it'll be quite costly to perform."
Starting then, Ryo was a bit nervous. He didn't know what it felt like to create a clone or what it would be like when he dispelled it and received all its memories and experiences back. After completing the last seal, he exclaimed with excitement in his voice, "Shadow Clone jutsu!" A few seconds passed with nothing happening. Ryo crouched on the ground, covering his face in embarrassment, thinking, "Damn, how do they do this? Failing to perform it is just embarrassing!"
Hiruzen saw this but quickly spoke up. "You shouldn't feel bad for not getting it right the first time. You made some mistakes in the chakra pathway during the first and second seals, Ryo. Let's get up and try again; you'll get it; just keep at it." He said this but could see that Ryo had spent about 20% of his chakra in this failed attempt.
"Right." The young man quickly got up, looked at the scroll to see where he had gone wrong in the chakra pathway, and noticed that he had directed the chakra the wrong way by a few centimeters. He then performed the hand seals again. However, it took two more attempts for Ryo to execute the jutsu successfully, and even then, the clone had taken half of the chakra he had left, leaving Ryo with 20% and the clone with 20%.
Hiruzen observed the entire process, noting that Ryo was quite methodical in his training. Despite making mistakes in the chakra pathway, he always consulted the scroll and clarified any doubts he wasn't sure about.
Ryo looked at the clone in front of him; it was a perfect copy of himself, but he had learned the Shadow Clone, albeit the fact that a normal clone was just an illusion without substance, while the Shadow Clone could be touched and would be dispelled if it took any damage. The two Ryos stared at each other for a few seconds before looking at Hiruzen.
"Hokage-sama, is it possible to create more than one clone with a set of hand seals, or do I have to make them one by one?" The Hiruzen clone was caught off guard, and he quickly responded, "That's not something the Shadow Clone jutsu can do, Ryo-kun. With this jutsu, you have to perform a set of hand seals for each clone."
"I see. Thank you anyway! Being able to perform this jutsu will already help me a lot in completing the mission you gave me by the end of the year," Ryo replied gratefully. Hiruzen then said, "Yes, I hope you succeed. Do you have any more questions?" Ryo shook his head, then watched as Hiruzen picked up the jutsu scroll.
"Very well then, Ryo, I hope you achieve excellent results. I heard about the bout with the young Hyuga. Good luck in your future battles." With that said, the clone left the area, not dispersing but using shunshin. Ryo assumed it was because the clone was carrying the jutsu scroll.
Alone once again, Ryo looked at the clone in front of him and touched its face. The clone spoke as Ryo touched it, patting Ryo's hand, "Don't be strange; you'll receive the memories after I disappear." Ryo listened to what the clone said and smiled slightly. "Right, right, good point. Now, try controlling the coins."
With that said, the clone did as Ryo always did; with a motion, the two coins floated out of the pocket of the original Ryo and into the clone's hand. The clone spoke, "That's it. By controlling the coin, we can double the efficiency!" A malicious smile appeared in Ryo's mind of the real Ryo, and as it appeared, the clone trembled. "Activate the sensory ability of the sensor coin and try to understand it."
The clone's face went pale for a few seconds, and then he did as instructed. As soon as he activated the sensory ability of the second coin, he fell to one knee, placing his hands on his head, and after 10 seconds, he dispersed... Causing Ryo to fall to the ground with a scream of pain in his mind after receiving all the information from the clone, but it was all at a very, very fast speed.
He could also feel some of his chakra returning; approximately 9% of the 20% used to create the clone returned to Ryo. "Alright... It hurts a lot, but it also passes very quickly, and 10 seconds weren't enough to understand anything!. I'll train like this once every two days, for the sake of my mind. And the memories. That's just as I expected; they come to my mind as if I had been the clone the whole time."
Ryo pondered other uses for the Shadow Clone, but one thing was certain: he would be able to start mastering his training more quickly once he could effectively control the clone and its duration.
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