Unaware that the weakness of his Blood Clones had already been discovered, Isamu continued diligently burning through his lifespan to restore his chakra, then creating Shadow Clones to harass the students.
“This time, I’ve probably shaved at least twenty days off my lifespan.
If I don’t get that A-rank jutsu, it’ll be a massive loss”
Isamu was genuinely pained by the thought.
The number of times a cell could divide was limited.
By constantly stimulating his cells to work like this, he was accelerating their division.
In other words, he was literally burning through his own life.
What Isamu didn’t know was that the next several waves of his Shadow Clones only managed to claim a handful of forehead protectors.
When night fell and the temperature dropped, Isamu began creating Blood Clones again.
Their strength increased once more, and they achieved fairly good results.
After sending out his final wave of Shadow Clones, Isamu closed his eyes and rested.
“By now, things inside the student camp should have descended into chaos”
The corners of Isamu’s mouth curled upward.
Slashing their forehead protectors wasn’t simply about eliminating them.
“That special type of clone is back.”
Hyūga Hizashi warned the others.
But Shikaku had already noticed it himself.
Looking at the single bright-red drop of blood left on the ground after the clone disappeared, he confirmed his theory.
Isamu’s Blood Clones could only remain active below a certain temperature.
In other words, if they chose to fight around noon, Isamu’s Blood Clones would become ineffective, effectively restricting one of his most powerful methods.
But
How were they supposed to survive tonight?
If Isamu continued sending Shadow Clones to harass them like this, they wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
Everyone needed rest.
And the students assigned to patrol the outer perimeter had already been exhausted after a full day of work.
If they weren’t allowed to rest at night, they simply wouldn’t be able to deal with Isamu’s surprise attacks.
Just then, an argument broke out inside the camp.
Everyone followed the sound and discovered two students fighting over a forehead protector.
One of them was Shimura Yū from the Shimura clan.
The other was a civilian-born student.
Shikaku’s mind went blank for a moment.
The current head of the Shimura clan was Shimura Danzō, one of the Third Hokage’s closest aides and, in secret, even known as the king beneath Konoha.
Members of the clan often went on to work for a very particular organization after becoming shinobi a place so sensitive that even his own father was unwilling to mention it.
There was no doubt that the Shimura clan wielded considerable influence in Konoha.
And the scene before him filled Shikaku with an overwhelming sense of unease.
The Shimura student had already had his forehead protector slashed while searching for Isamu earlier.
There was no doubt that if he graduated as a Genin while wearing that forehead protector, the Shimura clan’s reputation would be utterly disgraced.
He couldn’t accept such humiliation
So he had chosen another solution.
Take a normal forehead protector from another student.
“You gutter rat!
If it weren’t for me protecting you, that bastard would have slashed your forehead protector already!”
“I’ve been contributing to the team too!
I spent the entire day in the water”
“A few lousy fish?
I haven’t even eaten my fill!
You call that a contribution?”
“Give me the forehead protector!”
The domineering behavior of the descendants of a great clan was being displayed in full at this very moment.
“That idiot!”
Outside the examination area, Shimura Danzō slammed his palm down on the table, shattering it.
The oppression and bullying of civilians by the great clans naturally existed.
But
Such things absolutely could not be brought into the open.
Some things were like that.
You could do them quietly, but you absolutely could not put them on public display.
What was the Will of Fire supposed to mean?
During Konoha’s founding and development, countless people had spent years struggling together until they formed a common understanding.
There were to be no barriers between clans.
Everyone was supposed to work together for the village.
No one should sacrifice themselves solely for the interests of their own clan.
Instead, they should consider the greater good and contribute to building the Will of Fire.
Protect the comrades of the village, because every person was family.
There should be no hierarchy between people simply because one belonged to a powerful clan while another was an ordinary civilian.
Well
At least, that was what they said on the surface.
In reality, because shinobi from the great clans were stronger and naturally shouldered more responsibilities, they also received more resources.
But you couldn’t use your strength as an excuse to seize things belonging to your comrades.
And this idiot had actually tried to steal the forehead protector of another examinee.
Shimura Yū had no idea that his actions were being broadcast.
He simply thought that, since they were all forehead protectors anyway, the civilian-born “gutter rat” in front of him could graduate even if he wore a slashed forehead protector.
But he was different.
He was a member of the Shimura clan.
He was doing this to preserve the Shimura clan’s reputation.
This behavior had already crossed the village’s bottom line.
Shimura Danzō’s expression darkened.
Beside him, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who normally wore a kind and benevolent expression, wasn’t smiling in the slightest.
This younger member of the Shimura clan was literally watering the Will of Fire
“Stop!”
Before Shikaku could say anything, Minato Namikaze stepped forward and tried to stop him.
Behind Minato, a group of civilian-born shinobi glared furiously at Shimura Yū, their eyes seeming to burn him alive.
“How dare you”
Shimura Yū took two steps backward.
But when he turned and saw the other members of his clan behind him, his confidence returned.
“We should be entitled to ”
“Shut up!”
Shikaku shouted.
This idiot had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
Earlier, Yamanaka Inoichi had suffered backlash after using his Secret Technique, and his father had taken him away after he lost consciousness.
That had demonstrated one thing:
The people outside the Forest of Death weren’t completely unaware of what was happening inside.
For all they knew, the Third Hokage was monitoring their actions through some special method.
Shimura Yū’s words were like a thunderclap threatening to detonate a massive hidden danger deep within the village.
The conflict between the clans and civilians was a sharp issue capable of shaking the very foundations of Konoha.
“Hmph.”
Whether it was because he saw that there were more people standing behind Shikaku, or because he had genuinely realized that something was wrong, Shimura Yū snorted.
He then mocked the boy whose forehead protector he had tried to take.
“Look at you.
Aren’t you still relying on people from other clans to protect your forehead protector?”
“Apologize.”
Minato took a step forward.
“Apologize to everyone here.”
The normally good-natured Minato had finally reached his limit.
Ever since entering the Ninja Academy, Minato had worked hard to improve himself for the sake of the village to protect everyone in Konoha.
The greater one’s abilities, the greater one’s responsibilities.
That did not mean that, because Shimura Yū had supposedly contributed more, he could forcibly demand something precious from his comrades.
Shikaku watched the situation rapidly spiraling out of control, his mind racing as he searched for a solution.
The most important issue now was no longer whether they could graduate.
If this matter wasn’t handled properly, it could create an enormous hidden danger for the village.
The civilian-born shinobi might not be particularly strong individually, but there were many of them.
Behind them stood countless ordinary families throughout Konoha.
If, during the Genin examination, students from prominent clans could simply seize the forehead protectors of civilian-born students by force, then the Will of Fire everyone working for the village, and the village working for everyone would become a complete joke.
Damn it
Could this really have been Isamu’s true purpose in slashing their forehead protectors?