Early the next morning.
Under Shikaku’s utterly disbelieving gaze, Shikatoki Nara actually went out for a run first thing in the morning.
The sight frightened Shikaku so badly that he hurriedly pulled the blanket over his head.
“I must still be asleep.
I’m going back to sleep for a while.”
Now that Shikatoki had his cheat, his life suddenly felt full of hope.
After training with Minato for the entire morning, the two returned home separately to wash up before heading to the Ninja Academy together.
As expected, Minato and Shikatoki were placed in the same class.
At the same time, most of their classmates were children from major clans.
“Yo~!
Shikatoki, you’re here early.
Morning, Minato.”
Gin Yamanaka waved at them in greeting.
A chubby boy sitting nearby pulled out two bags of snacks.
“Shikatoki, Minato, want some?”
It was Daidai Akimichi.
Minato politely declined.
“Morning.
I already ate breakfast.”
Shikatoki, on the other hand, showed no restraint.
“I’ll take a bag.
Let me try them.”
These two were essentially the “Ino” and “Chō” who would cooperate with him.
The three clans had always enjoyed a close relationship, so they were fairly familiar with one another.
As for everyone else in the class, Shikatoki didn’t recognise a single person.
Among Minato’s generation, the only truly famous person at present was Minato Namikaze himself, along with Kushina Uzumaki, who would transfer here a few years later.
After enduring an entire day of boring classes, Shikatoki and Minato headed off to train together.
The days passed peacefully and quietly.
For an entire month, Shikatoki maintained the same routine.
Shikaku, meanwhile, kept getting lectured because of him.
Every time he saw Shikatoki now, there was a trace of resentment in his eyes.
And today—
Shikatoki had finally achieved the breakthrough from zero to one!
[Current Skills: Shadow Imitation Technique, Substitution Technique]
“NICE!”
That morning, he had officially grasped the basics of the Shadow Imitation Technique.
Its appearance on the skill list proved that all his hard work over the past month hadn’t been wasted.
“Start editing!”
There was nothing to hesitate over.
[Editing Skill: Shadow Imitation Technique]
[Original Version: By controlling the user’s shadow and connecting it to an enemy’s shadow, the target is forced to mimic the user’s movements.]
[Please edit the skill manually:]
Shikatoki stared at the original description and fell into thought.
Then inspiration struck.
“Change it so that I can pull out an enemy’s shadow and make it fight for me while also controlling the enemy.
Any damage the shadow receives will be transferred completely to the shadow’s original owner.”
[Warning: Proposed modification exceeds the foundation of the Shadow Imitation Technique.
Please add a suitable template to stabilise the modification.
Forcing the edit will cause the technique’s chakra consumption to increase drastically!]
“Yeah, that’s a bit excessive.”
Shikatoki thought for a moment.
“Then change it to this: the user’s shadow must first touch the enemy’s shadow.
After that, the enemy’s shadow can be pulled out and made to fight its original owner.
Any damage the shadow receives will be transferred to the shadow’s original owner.”
Shikatoki directly abandoned the original Shadow Imitation Technique’s control effect.
At the same time, he added the restriction that his shadow first had to touch the enemy’s shadow, while also reducing the damage.
[Edit Successful]
[Shadow Imitation Technique: Modified Version completed.
Please review it yourself.]
“Perfect.
Next is the Substitution Technique.
This one’s going to make an amazing combo!”
A wicked grin appeared on Shikatoki’s face.
[Editing Skill: Substitution Technique]
[Original Version: At the instant an attack lands, the user replaces their real body with a wooden log.]
“Change it so that when I’m attacked, I replace myself with a shadow instead.”
[Edit Successful]
[Substitution Technique: Modified Version completed.
Please review it yourself.]
“Hahaha!
It worked!”
Shikatoki was practically vibrating with excitement.
“Now I just need someone to test it on.”
His grin widened.
“You’ll do nicely, future Fourth Hokage.
Hehehehe~”
At the training ground.
Minato Namikaze and Shikatoki Nara stood facing one another.
Watching from the sidelines were Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Chōza Akimichi, Gin Yamanaka, and Daidai Akimichi.
“I heard your little cousin’s been unusually energetic lately?” Inoichi teased.
Shikaku rolled his eyes.
“That brat has made my life miserable lately.
Hopefully Minato beats the hell out of him.”
“Gin, do you think Shikatoki can win?”
Daidai asked while munching on crisps.
Gin Yamanaka shook his head without hesitation.
“Don’t make me laugh, Daidai.
You know how strong Minato is.”
“True.”
On the training ground, Shikatoki looked brimming with confidence.
“Minato, today you’ll finally taste the bitterness of defeat!”
Minato smiled gently.
“Then come at me.”
Shikatoki attacked first, hurling a kunai straight at him.
Minato tilted his body aside to dodge before rapidly closing the distance.
Instead of retreating, Shikatoki charged forward.
Kunai in hand, the two immediately exchanged rapid blows.
Shikatoki had to admit it.
Whether it was reaction speed or attack speed, Minato was far beyond him.
But today was different.
The instant they came into contact again, Shikatoki rapidly formed hand seals.
His shadow shot towards Minato’s.
Minato was caught slightly off guard, but he still reacted immediately and leapt backwards.
The instant their shadows touched, Minato pulled away and severed the connection.
“Shadow Imitation Technique?!”
Shikaku’s eyes sharpened.
“No wonder this brat challenged him himself.
But Minato reacted in time.
What are you going to do now?”
Shikatoki remained completely calm.
Because their shadows had already touched.
“Shikatoki, you almost got me.”
Minato smiled.
Shikatoki chuckled.
Suddenly remembering a Korean manhwa from his previous life, he stretched out his right hand and spoke with maximum dramatic flair.
“Arise!”
Everyone stared at him in confusion.
A mass of black shadow began gathering together.
Within moments, it condensed into a human shape.
Its appearance was identical to Minato Namikaze.
The only difference was that its entire body was pitch black.
“W-What is that?”
Minato stared at it dumbfounded.
The spectators were equally shocked.
“Shikaku, is this some newly developed version of your clan’s Shadow Imitation Technique?”
Chōza looked puzzled.
Shikaku shook his head.
“No.
Shikatoki probably developed this himself.”
“What does it do?
Minato doesn’t look like he’s been affected by anything.”
Inoichi stared closely at Minato.
Minato himself was confused as well.
Just as Inoichi had said, he didn’t feel any negative effects whatsoever.
“Shikatoki, what does this do?”
Minato asked curiously.
Shikatoki grinned maliciously.
“Why don’t you find out?”
Minato didn’t suspect anything and charged again.
The shadow rushed towards him.
Man and shadow immediately clashed at high speed.
After several exchanges, Minato landed a side kick that directly scattered the shadow.
He was just about to continue attacking when his entire body suddenly jolted.
“What the hell?!”
Suppressing the pain, Minato quickly retreated.
“Why am I hurt?
When did that happen?!
Unless…”
Minato stared at Shikatoki in disbelief.
“Shikatoki, that shadow… don’t tell me!”
“Arise!”
At Shikatoki’s command, Minato’s shadow appeared once again.
“That’s right.
If your shadow gets hurt, then naturally, you get hurt too.”
Shikatoki shrugged.
“The damage is still limited, though.
I’m currently thinking about how to solve that problem.”
“Are you serious?
That’s way too unfair!”
The corner of Minato’s mouth twitched.
His mind raced, and he quickly came up with a countermeasure.
Minato attacked again.
This time, he completely ignored the shadow and rapidly threw three kunai at Shikatoki.
His intention was obvious.
Capture the king, and the rest would fall.
Shikatoki gave Minato a meaningful look.
That immediately gave Minato a bad feeling.
Sure enough, in the next instant, Shikatoki formed the hand seal for the Substitution Technique.
Shikatoki vanished.
But what replaced him wasn’t a wooden log.
It was Minato Namikaze’s shadow.
The kunai pierced straight through it.
The shadow dispersed.
And Minato was injured.
A perfect closed loop.
“Stop!
I’m done!”
Minato clutched his chest.
“I surrender!”
Hearing that, Shikatoki happily walked over.
“Good match, good match.”
“Your techniques are way too underhanded!”
Minato couldn’t help complaining.
Shikatoki felt not the slightest bit ashamed.
If anything, he looked proud.
“Forget that.
Just tell me whether it works.
How much damage did you take?”
“It felt like getting hit hard once.
I can handle it, but this thing can’t be blocked or dodged.
Isn’t that way too unfair?”
After hearing Minato’s answer, Shikatoki nodded thoughtfully.
“Looks like I need to figure out how to increase the damage.”
Truthfully, the edits had already reached Shikatoki’s initial expectations.
After all, before transmigrating—
When playing League of Legends, he loved using Teemo and laughing at people.
When playing Sanguosha, he loved using Jie Xu Sheng to slaughter everyone.
And when playing Naruto games, he loved using Minato, Obito, or Madara to completely torment his opponents.
Whether it was strong or not wasn’t the point.
Just ask yourself—
Was it obnoxious enough?
If you thought it was obnoxious, that was only because you weren’t the one using it.
If someone asked Shikatoki why he enjoyed playing like this, he would only have one answer.
Because this is exactly what I like.
Shikaku walked over with a serious expression.
“Shikatoki, did you improve these techniques yourself?”
Shikatoki admitted it immediately.
It wasn’t like he could reveal the Skill Editor.
“Of course.
So?
Pretty amazing, right?”
“Come home with me.
This is important to the clan.”
Shikaku grabbed Shikatoki and dragged him away.
As he was leaving, Shikatoki shouted towards Minato,
“Minato!
Wait until I improve them some more, then we’ll spar again!”
The corner of Minato’s mouth twitched.
“Maybe next time.”
Back at the Nara Clan compound.
Shikaomi Nara sat where he was, listening to Shikaku’s report.
He looked at Shikatoki in astonishment.
“Nephew, try it on me.”
“Alright.”
Shikatoki happened to be lacking test subjects anyway.
His shadow touched Shikaomi Nara’s shadow.
The next moment, Shikaomi’s shadow appeared.
Shikaomi immediately struck it apart.
His brows furrowed slightly.
“It felt like a heavy blow to the chest.
The force wasn’t weak either.”
“At the very least, that shadow had Jōnin-level taijutsu.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Shikaku immediately noticed the problem.
“If it had Jōnin-level strength, why was Minato fine?”
Then he suddenly stared at Shikatoki in disbelief.
“You brat… don’t tell me this technique calculates the shadow’s strength based on the original owner’s strength?!”
Shikatoki smiled awkwardly.
“I don’t know either!”
“What about the chakra consumption?” Shikaomi asked.
“When I pulled out Minato’s shadow, I felt like I could do it four or five times.”
Shikatoki continued,
“But after pulling out Uncle’s shadow just once, my chakra is basically empty.”
Shikaomi nodded after hearing that.
That made sense.
Made sense, my ass!
“Nephew!”
Shikaomi’s eyes burned with excitement.
“Can you contribute this technique to the clan?!”
This could be the greatest revolution the Nara Clan had seen in a hundred years!
If they could fight independently, who the hell would still need to rely on Ino–Shika–Chō?
Shikatoki nodded.
“I can, but I can’t guarantee anyone else will be able to learn it.”
After editing the technique, Shikatoki had naturally mastered it.
But the modified Shadow Imitation Technique now demanded far greater control over Yin Release than before.
Not just a little greater.
Far greater.
“Good!”
Shikaomi’s expression was full of delight.
“You truly are the prodigy of our Nara Clan!
Your uncle won’t treat you unfairly.”
“From now on, focus entirely on your research.
Whatever you need, just tell me.”
“Even if you want the position of Clan Head, I’ll give it to you!”
The moment Shikaomi finished speaking, Shikaku’s eyes lit up.
He looked at Shikatoki expectantly.
Shikatoki hurriedly refused.
“No, no, no.
Big Bro Shikaku is the young Clan Head.
I’ll pass.”
The familiar dead-fish look immediately returned to Shikaku’s face.
“Actually… I wouldn’t mind not being one.”