Chapter 7: Shadow Clone Training
Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto
"Damn, this is something that Iruka-sensei had nothing to say about" Naruto muttered while walking to the Hokage Tower.
He ignored the glares from the villagers and some fellow ninjas as he was deep in his thoughts.
From what Iruka said, the Shadow Clone Jutsu had a variant which he learnt instead called the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu which was designed to summon more clones than usual for less Chakra compared to the normal Shadow Clone per clone and if the number of clones was high enough.
Though Naruto felt no difference in using either kinds of Jutsu, he realised this was mostly due to him having the largest Chakra reserves in a long time.
The fact that the users are more than often killed due to Chakra exhaustion was a good enough reason for this variant of the Shadow Clone jutsu to be forbidden. From what he heard by eavesdropping once or twice pulling up the topic, most Jonin know how to use it but don't due to the Chakra requirement.
This made Naruto slightly happy that he was able to use a stronger version of a Jutsu that even Jonin try to avoid using and put him in a good mood.
Humming around the way, Naruto entered the Hokage Tower and immediately rushed in to see the Hokage-jiji again.
It had been a couple of weeks to him that he popped in thanks to training so he was a bit more excited than usual.
"Jiji! I have a question!" he shouted getting the attention of the aged Hokage.
Putting down his pen the Hokage muttered something like, "Might as well, the paperwork can wait a bit" to Naruto's ears and also something about the paperwork being demons.
Tilting his head with a questioning look, Naruto looked to see that Hokage waved his comment off and asked, "So what do you need this old man for?" with a kind smile.
Naruto couldn't help but to smile back since the old man was always kind to him.
"I want to know more about the Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he declared in his loud and confidence way.
Raising an eyebrow, the Hokage asked, "You mean the one you learnt the previous night? I would have thought you have learnt all the details from the Forbidden Scroll or its more uncommon name; the Scroll of Sealing."
Naruto sleepishly smiled and said, "I kinda skipped reading most of it."
The aged Hokage sighed thinking that Naruto was lucky something didn't go wrong which would've ended in his death or worse, the Kyuubi being unsealed.
On one hand, the Hokage didn't want Naruto to do something stupid with the Jutsu but on the other hand, it was necessary for all Ninjas to know what they can do and their Jutsus.
In the end, the Hokage decided to tell Naruto what he needed to know and some tips to help him get stronger faster.
"Okay Naruto since you didn't read the script properly…" he let the warning not to do this again hang, "The Shadow Clone jutsu was made by my processor the Nidaime Hokage as a scouting and reconnaissance jutsu. The fact that the jutsu creates solid clones even though they can really take only one hit before dispelling allows the user to send the clone and search for information more effectively. I won't bore you in the details of what makes the jutsu works."
Naruto listened in surprised the Shadow Clone jutsu was that kind of jutsu.
"The most special part of this jutsu is that it sends the user's experience back to the original and any other clones that still exist when dispelling. This allows the clone to go in, get the information and dispel for the person to gain that information without risk."
Naruto nodded, so that was the true use of this jutsu.
"However" the aged Hokage continued, "Due to the effect that you are splitting your Chakra to create this clone, it is an exact copy of you as well as capable of using Jutsu as well. Because of this, some Shinobi are capable of using Collaborative Jutsus with a Shadow Clone to aid them. If you have 10 Shadow Clones use a Fire Jutsu than the effects are naturally larger right?"
"Yeah! Like how my Sexy Jutsu became Harem Jutsu with Shadow Clones!" Naruto said nodding his head sagely while the aged Hokage tried to stop his nosebleed thinking of said Jutsus.
"Yes…while the Shadow Clone jutsu does have that kind of use, there is another use for the shared memory the Jutsu carries which I find to be highly benefited for you who can use Shadow Clones on mass without strain" the old Hokage said making Naruto listen in even more.
"What is it? What is it?" Naruto asked wanting to know. Mere months in the loop didn't change his personality much at all.
The Hokage laughed and said one thing, "Training."
"Training?" Naruto crossed his arms and pouted while thinking making the Hokage chuckle before he explained.
"Since the Shadow Clone Jutsu allows you to gain memories of your clones, if you use two Clones than you would train twice as fast. With ten you train ten times faster and a hundred…" the Hokage let what he did not say for Naruto to fill in.
"Yahoo! I'm awesome!" Naruto cheering thinking of all the time that he would now save thanks to Time Loop.
Now he wouldn't need to decide what kind of training he would do since he could do them all at the same time!
He was about to charge out of the room to train when the Hokage called to him to stop.
"Wait wait wait a second Naruto" the Hokage shouted, "There are some risks I must address to you as well. I do not want something bad happen to you because you didn't take the time to listen to everything I had to say."
Naruto simply grinned sleepishly to this comment and stayed to hear what the old man said at least.
"Now like I said, there are weaknesses to this. Because the Jutsu transfers memories…you will be bombarded with too much information if too many Clones dispel at once. Furthermore you won't learn anything if this happens and you'll waste your time" the Hokage explained.
While Naruto wanted to bolt from just hearing that, a raised hand from the Hokage stopped him from running out again.
"There is also another side effect from the Jutsu you need to know as well though it is not that well known. The fact that it sends you memories means while you can train your Taijutsu with this, your body will not get stronger without you actually training" the Hokage said to the boy in front of him in a lecture tone.
Naruto nodded following what the old Hokage was saying.
"Furthermore along with this, you will also gain the exhaustion the clones you made got while they existed" the Hokage added, "This means if you get a clone to run 10 laps, you WILL feel the strain of running 10 laps when that clone dispels. This also means exhaustion from practising Chakra Control will also come back to you as well" he warned with a stern voice.
While the tension in the air was hard, Naruto noticed something when he looked at the paperwork that somehow grew higher while they talked.
"Hey jiji, why don't you use Shadow Clones to do your paperwork?" he asked in an innocent tone while inside he was smirking wanting to see the expression and actions of the old Hokage in finding this out.
However, that same Hokage laughed at Naruto saying, "I would have if I could young Naruto. The Fire Lord had banned the use of Shadow Clones while doing paperwork due to that fact that it wasn't 'me' who did them. And considering the mental backlash of too many Shadow Clones caused the Nidiaime to forget which paperwork he did (with Shadow Clones) causing him to redo months of paperwork he did with Shadow Clones..."
Both Hokage and future Hokage grimaced at the paperwork at the same time while the former shivered as well..
"Plus I'm old and supposed to be retired" the Hokage sighed, "My Chakra levels and my body is unfortunately only a faction what it used to be compared to my youth. Furthermore it should have been the Yondaime working here right now instead of me. I had to take up the reigns of Hokage again since there were no good enough candidates I could trust with the village."
"…."
Naruto looked down to the ground while patting his stomach thinking of what could have been if not for the Kyuubi. The Yondaime would have been alive and a lot of Shinobi from the village and people from the village would have lived like his parents.
"Ah Naruto! None of it is your fault! No one expected the Kyuubi to attack that day" the Hokage said getting up and holding his hands on his shoulder with some force shaking him a bit. Looking at the time with a sigh, the Hokage did one thing he knew would get Naruto's spirits up.
"Why don't we get some Ramen" said the old Hokage smiling when Naruto's eyes lit up.
"Really?" Naruto asked stretching the question out while also asked, "All I can eat?"
Seeing the sparkles in his eyes, the old Hokage could only sigh and quietly cry as Naruto emptied his wallet with glee in his stomach.
After theatrically robbing the Hokage with his stomach and ramen; Naruto happily went to training. In his head he calculated that if he used only 7 clones then he could compress a week's worth of training into a day
However he could make a lot more clones…the only question was how much and what was the limit to this right now. Against Mizuki and using the Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu; Naruto managed to make over a thousand Shadow Clones or more (he wasn't really counting) at once and that was with his abysmal Chakra Control.
But with only the Shadow Clone Jutsu he was limited to around 20 the last time he checked when he sparred against Kakashi; not that he was his sensei yet.
Going to his own personal training field which was a small space in the deeper end of the forest where no one goes to, Naruto crossed his fingers and pulled out as much Chakra as possible; the same amount when he faced Kakashi while channelling it into his Jutsu shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Poof!
In an instant, a full force of 40 Shadow Clones appeared around him as he grinned seeing his Chakra Control training was paying off.
Some Loops ago it would have taken him twice the effort to do this. With this amount Naruto didn't need to bother with the Multi-Shadow Clone since he was capable of making over a thousand Shadow Clones at once.
That was overkill for Naruto and he still remembered that each Clone had barely enough Chakra to last for a few minutes let alone hours of training.
Looking at his 40 Shadow Clones he suddenly pumped his fist out and shouted, "Right! Half of you will train with Chakra Control! Get a leaf and start practising!"
"YOSH!" a full 20 Shadow Clones of Naruto shouted at once while charging at trees to pick off leaves to start the Leaf Exercise and the variants that Naruto knew.
The second 20 Shadow Clones waited as Naruto then shouted to them, "The rest of you are with me. Half of you guys will practise throwing and your accuracy while the other half will practise our Kata."
10 of the Shadow Clones went to a line of trees and started to throw Kunai and Shurikens while the rest groaned at the thought of using the Academy Style Katas which in his opinion was boring and wasn't flashy enough.
"Oh shut it. You're all me and I know I hate the Academy Style Katas but they help us learn a better Taijusu later" he said to his clones which was strange…since they were him.
It was that kind of encouragement that allowed those Shadow Clones to get started at least.
With that done, Naruto was alone with his Shadow Clones practising wondering what he; as he original should do now.
Practising Taijutsu was fine to a certain extent but his Shadow Clones was doing that already. Physical Conditioning was out of the window as long as he was bothered to keep up with his training.
He could research new ways of increasing his Chakra Control but his clearance wasn't high enough or something even as a Genin to be allowed access to the damn Genin section of the Library. Did those ninjas know that he still had to pass another test to really be a Ninja?
That was the most likely answer else it was because he forgot to register as one that time…
Genjutsu was out of the window since he had no one to practise with.
Ninjutsu…he had no idea how to train that.
Sure he could work on taking less Chakra on using them or more speed in executing them but what was the point?
Those two jutsus he had weren't that good at all compared to the flashy Jutsus he had seen ANBU used when he spied on some training that one time and barely didn't get caught.
Hmm…he would need to ask Iruka on the purpose of the Basic Three they taught during the Academy.
A/N:
I was on a split where Naruto did not know about how Shadow Clones worked until a lot later but I just placed it there since it fit with Naruto wanting to learn more about what he got.
Also while I found it funny that the Third NEVER seemed to know the true use of Shadow Clones (Paperwork) and the many reasons why, making it forbidden to use it with Shadow Clones is actually close to Canon as far as I'm concern.
I mean why would else would Hokage Naruto not use it for his paperwork so he could go to his daughter's birthday party? Seriously you have the guy who SPAMS Shadow Clones not using it for his paperwork?!
Yeah, there is a real reason why it banned as well. Since the Nidaime Hokage was the one who developed Shadow Clones and I remembered a fic where the Nidaime hinted at its 'true purpose', it would also be ironic that the mental backlash caused by the Jutsu would cause them to forget which paperwork they did (With Shadow Clones) and which one they didn't.