Chương 14: One Year Later

Early morning at a mid-sized training ground in Konoha. Two Dongye Zhens stood facing each other. Suddenly, the long-haired Zhen reached for the shinobi tool pouch at his waist and flicked his wrist. Several shuriken hissed through the air, streaking toward his counterpart. The projectiles flew with lethal velocity—straight, direct, and devoid of the fancy, arcing parlor tricks favored by the Uchiha. The defending Zhen held a kunai in a reverse grip.

With a rapid succession of metallic clangs, he parried the shuriken into the dirt. Simultaneously, he drew a short sword made of black ironwood from his back and lunged at the long-haired clone. The exchange was blistering. Blades blurred as they aimed for vitals, only to be met by desperate parries. The two danced a lethal choreography, shifting from the forest floor to the high branches and back down again. The air was thick with dust, flying steel, and the rhythmic symphony of clashing metal.

Abruptly, the long-haired Zhen kicked his opponent back. As the short-haired Zhen skidded across the dirt, he let fly four kunai from both flanks. The long-haired Zhen's hands blurred through seals.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" A violent gale erupted, neutralizing the kunai and sending them whistling back at their owner. The short-haired Zhen considered using Earth Style: Mud Wall to block the blast, as he usually did, but decided on a more aggressive route. He channeled a burst of chakra into his legs, flickering through the wind at high speed to appear directly behind his double. Shink. His blade sank into the long-haired Zhen's back. POOF! The clone dissolved into a cloud of white mist.

The original Zhen groaned, dropping to one knee. He instinctively clutched his stomach; there was no physical wound, but a surge of phantom pain—vivid and agonizing—ripped through his mind. There were two Zhens, but one was a Shadow Clone. To tell them apart, the clone had used a Transformation Jutsu to give itself long hair. The Shadow Clone Technique was a marvel, capable of creating physical entities that even Kaguya Otsutsuki struggled to distinguish. The downside?

They couldn't withstand significant blunt force or sharp trauma. Worse, they divided the user's chakra equally and, upon dispersal, transferred all accumulated pain, experience, and exhaustion back to the original. It was a perfect tool for scouting, but for a ninja with low chakra or a weak will, it was a death trap. There was a reason the Multi-Shadow Clone was a Forbidden Jutsu; an average ninja would literally work themselves to death in seconds. How does Naruto do it? Zhen wondered, teeth gritted.

Because he has at least two "dads"—Kurama and Asura—to help him tank the spiritual backlash. Since learning the technique, Zhen had used his superior chakra control to experiment, trying to create clones with the bare minimum of chakra to make them more efficient. He also used them as live sparring partners to sharpen his reflexes and push his pain threshold. He was ruthless during these sessions, always aiming for the kill. The downside was that since the clone was himself, they shared the same habits.

Beyond sharpening his nerves, the actual combat experience gained was marginal. But the pain? The pain was 100% real. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The Looming Shadow After collecting his scattered tools, Zhen sat at the crown of a towering tree, sipping nutrient water prepared by his mother, Hui. He looked out over the village, which seemed peaceful despite the tightening tension in the air. Over a year had passed. He was now five years old and notably taller.

The geopolitical situation was deteriorating; after Zhen's fifth birthday, Jirō had been rotated back to the border for another long-term guard mission. Hui remained busy at the hospital. For the past year, the "trio plus Shisui" had met occasionally to exchange tips and practice wilderness survival. But with the start of the new Academy term, Hayate had officially enrolled. Shisui, recognized for his genius, was being fast-tracked through clan-led training. Even Yūgao was being kept close to home.

The adults knew war was coming. Every clan was redoubling their efforts to train the next generation, hoping their children would be strong enough to survive the coming meat grinder. While the village preached "teamwork" and "trusting your comrades," every shinobi knew that when the chips were down, your own strength was your only true life insurance.

In fourteen months, Zhen had mastered the Three Basic Jutsu, the universal Body Flicker, Leaf-style Kenjutsu, and several elemental techniques including: Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu, Mud Wall Water Style: Water Encampment Wall Genjutsu: False Surroundings Technique These were mostly C-rank, with the highest being B-rank.

The Dongye family were commoners; even with three generations of service, they lacked high-level scrolls or a unique heritage like the Gekkō or Uzuki sword styles. With his precision control and the constant "optimization" from the white natural energy, learning these was easy. His chakra reserves were plentiful enough that he wouldn't "go offline" after a couple of jutsu. He had even managed to replicate the A-rank Rasengan by following the principles he remembered from the anime.

However, Zhen had realized a fundamental problem. The Path of Efficiency Whether it was the secret Rasengan or the standard elemental jutsu, none of them fit his ideal combat style. They were too inefficient. Of the three main shinobi arts, Ninjutsu was the flashiest—the dream of every Academy brat. Who didn't want to blow up an enemy with a spectacular technique, become Hokage, and marry a beautiful heiress? But reality was cruel. Ninjutsu was a chakra hog.

For a commoner ninja, playing the "Ninjutsu Battery" role was a quick way to get killed. Most commoners used one or two support jutsu and spent the rest of their lives throwing shuriken. Zhen's natural energy cultivation ensured he wouldn't lack chakra in the future, but he still found standard Ninjutsu lacking. Unless you were outputting massive amounts of chakra to "map-wipe" an area, most jutsu were easy for a high-level ninja to dodge. They were primarily used for ambushes or to force an opponent's movement.

The famous Fire Style: Great Fireball had essentially become the "Jutsu of Mercy"—it looked cool but almost never actually killed anyone. Is Ninjutsu weak? No. Shinobi are glass cannons. Even a Kage would die if a Great Fireball hit them point-blank without defense. The issue was mobility; ninjas were too fast, making the "hit rate" of projectile Ninjutsu abysmal. In the thousand-year history of the Shinobi world, what has killed the most ninjas? Blades, shuriken, and kunai.

A simple stab to the throat with a kunai is faster, cheaper, and more reliable than a twenty-seal fire dragon. Zhen's envisioned path was High-Speed Taijutsu fueled by natural energy, paired with Chakra Flow—instantaneous, lethal strikes through weapons or hidden tools. He wanted something akin to the "Sword Qi" from the wuxia novels of his past life. The world already had precedents for this: Wind Style: Vacuum Sword, or Danzo Shimura's trick of imbuing wind chakra into shuriken and kunai.

Danzo could even manifest a blade of pure wind. Say what you want about the "Shinobi of Darkness," but in terms of Wind Style efficiency, few in Konoha could touch him. Zhen had a natural affinity for Wind. That settled it. His future focus would be on Nature Transformation. He wouldn't just copy the past; he would use his modern knowledge of physics and theory to develop his own lethal combat system. Master the element, and the high-level jutsu would follow naturally.

Sharpen the axe before cutting the wood, he thought. He also planned to stick with Medical Ninjutsu. It was too practical to ignore, and the required precision would only further refine his chakra control. Having mapped out his future, Zhen felt his stamina return. He strapped on his weighted gear—now carrying twice the metal bars he had a year ago—and began his morning drills.