On the evening of the third day after agreeing to Yuya’s arrangement, Koji returned home as usual.
ANBU patrols had personally seen him do so.
In theory, that gave him an alibi.
Of course, in a world where ninja could create all kinds of clones, an alibi like that wasn’t particularly convincing.
But then again— who would suspect that a harmless medical ninja was currently planning to break into Konoha’s Sealing Corps?
Konohagakure was the first shinobi village ever established.
With its long history and abundance of talented ninja, its institutions were naturally among the most developed in the shinobi world.
Konoha had pioneered the organized medical-ninja system.
It also maintained a specialized Sealing Corps dedicated to studying and using fūinjutsu.
The Sealing Corps wasn’t particularly famous.
That didn’t mean any shinobi village could afford to ignore it.
Fūinjutsu was terrifyingly effective.
If anyone needed proof…
they only had to look at the miserable lives of the tailed beasts.
Once upon a time, the Uzumaki clan had possessed the most powerful sealing techniques in the shinobi world.
But after Uzushiogakure and the Uzumaki clan fell, Konoha’s forces had arrived just a little too late.
Naturally, they could only tearfully accept a portion of the Uzumaki clan’s remaining legacy.
That inheritance had drastically improved Konoha’s knowledge of fūinjutsu.
It was also what gave the village enough expertise to establish a dedicated Sealing Corps.
Sealing techniques existed to deal with all kinds of troublesome things.
If ordinary methods couldn’t solve a problem— seal it.
Simple.
And the reason Koji had set his sights on the Sealing Corps was equally simple.
He wanted to improve his chances against Danzo.
Without using Lightning Release or the Chakra Scalpel, instantly disrupting Danzo’s chakra flow would be difficult.
Fūinjutsu, however, could accomplish exactly that.
More importantly, sealing techniques didn’t particularly care who their target was.
Once caught, even a powerful ninja would need time to break free.
Danzo himself knew fūinjutsu.
But if his chakra were already restricted, removing a seal without outside assistance would become considerably more difficult.
That was exactly what Koji needed.
Late that night, Koji slowly opened his eyes.
His hands began forming seals at high speed.
A burst of smoke filled the room.
When it cleared— there were now two Kojies.
A system panel appeared.
[Shadow Clone — Limit Break +4 (6.7%): Authenticity +4]
Shadow Clone was one of the easiest techniques for Koji to grind.
Every successful activation increased its proficiency.
Back when he’d secretly trained his Chakra Control, Koji had frequently used Shadow Clones to assist him.
As a result, Shadow Clone currently possessed the highest proficiency of almost any technique he knew.
Combined with the Grindlord System, increasing its proficiency had been absurdly efficient.
Unfortunately, Koji’s chakra reserves weren’t large enough to fully exploit that advantage.
Creating clones to train while his real body was already occupied?
That was still unrealistic.
Only after becoming a ninja himself had Koji truly understood something.
Kakashi’s chakra reserves weren’t necessarily that small. Find the original chapter at g.com.
The people Kakashi kept fighting were simply ridiculous.
If Koji wanted to fully exploit the Grindlord System, then sooner or later he needed to solve his chakra-reserve problem.
For now, the best he could do was wait until his real body was resting, then give a large portion of his chakra to a Shadow Clone and have it deal with tasks that were inconvenient for the original.
Things like…
sending three irritating teammates to meet the Sage of Six Paths.
After creating the clone, Koji calmly closed his eyes again and appeared to fall asleep.
His Shadow Clone immediately used the Transformation Technique to alter its appearance.
Then it slipped into the village using the Body Flicker Technique.
Transformation was one of the most basic ninjutsu.
After reaching its second Limit Break, the technique had already reached its current ceiling.
Its special trait was the same type his Shadow Clone possessed—
Authenticity.
His Body Flicker Technique had gained a different trait.
Silence.
Whenever Koji used Body Flicker, the movement produced virtually no sound.
In the middle of the night, dressed entirely in black, that trait allowed him to move through most parts of Konoha with surprising freedom.
Most.
There were still places he had no intention of approaching carelessly.
The Hyuga compound was the most obvious example.
ANBU patrols could usually be avoided as long as he hid properly.
The Hyuga clan was different.
They didn’t necessarily patrol their compound with the Byakugan constantly active— but Koji had no intention of gambling on probably.
One unlucky glance would be enough.
Fortunately, the Shadow Clone encountered no trouble along the way.
Before long, it reached a building that looked somewhat like a library.
This was where members of Konoha’s Sealing Corps studied.
Compared with Konoha Hospital, the building was considerably more modest.
That made sense.
Medical ninjutsu was used constantly.
Fūinjutsu was much more specialized.
The Shadow Clone approached the entrance.
“Who’s there?!”
A cold voice suddenly rang out.
Koji’s clone stopped.
It turned toward the source of the voice— and the corner of its mouth twitched.
An ANBU ninja.
Alive.
And staring directly at him.
The moment Koji turned, the ANBU operative charged.
ANBU naturally weren’t going to politely question someone sneaking around a restricted village facility in the middle of the night.
Still— there was an enormous difference in strength between individual ANBU.
As long as Koji didn’t encounter a squad leader or captain-level operative, he didn’t believe he had much chance of losing.
The ANBU was still rushing toward him when the Shadow Clone vanished.
Body Flicker.
Without a sound, Koji appeared behind him.
lightning gathered around his hand.
The Chakra Scalpel had never been merely a medical technique in Koji’s eyes.
If the same principle used to condense a Chakra Scalpel were applied to Lightning-nature chakra…
the result would be an extremely lethal weapon.
This ANBU operative had the honor of becoming the first person to see it.
He also became the first person to die from it.
A blade of condensed lightning swept through him.
Its terrifying cutting power split the ANBU ninja apart.
Koji immediately searched the corpse.
Nothing useful.
Unfortunate.
Leaving the body behind, the Shadow Clone turned and entered the Sealing Corps building.
Perhaps the people responsible for the place had thoughtfully prepared for unexpected visitors like him.
Because right there on the first floor— there was a map.
It clearly marked the locations of the classrooms and storage rooms.
Koji’s clone stared at it for a moment.
“How convenient.”
Even he couldn’t resist commenting.
An hour later, the Shadow Clone had obtained what Koji wanted.
Naturally, none of the truly advanced sealing techniques were stored somewhere this accessible.
Koji didn’t care.
He wasn’t planning to kill Danzo with fūinjutsu.
He only needed something capable of restricting the man for a short period of time.
That was enough.
The clone left carrying more than a dozen scrolls.
But it did not return to Koji’s house.
Instead, it headed directly toward the mountains behind Konoha.
The break-in at the Sealing Corps would inevitably be discovered.
The clone’s next task was simply to memorize everything it had stolen.
It was the perfect disposable workhorse.
Koji’s Shadow Clone remained busy until deep into the night.
Only after committing the contents of the scrolls to memory did it finally dispel itself.
Back at home—
Koji, who had appeared to be sleeping peacefully the entire time, suddenly opened his eyes.
A massive wave of exhaustion struck him as the clone’s memories and accumulated fatigue returned.
His head felt heavy.
His entire body wanted to shut down.
Still…
everything had been worth it.
A new entry appeared before his eyes.
[Fūinjutsu — 10%]
The scrolls he’d stolen were nothing more than teaching materials.
Of course the truly valuable techniques wouldn’t be left sitting somewhere so convenient.
But that didn’t matter.
Now that Koji possessed the foundation— the rest was simple.
He just had to grind.