The next day.
The shuriken test.
Naruto took his turn before Kamiki.
Once he stepped onto the field, he passed every single drill.
In fact, his performance exceeded anything Iruka had hoped for!
This gave Iruka quite a shock!
Naruto had always been a total dead-last, through and through.
Following Kamiki’s sudden awakening as a genius over the past two days, was Naruto turning things around too?!
“Iruka-sensei, does this count as a pass?!” Naruto asked with excitement after throwing a set of kunai.
Iruka nodded, his eyes filled with relief and satisfaction.
“Looks like you’ve put in a lot of work lately, Naruto.
Your kunai accuracy is quite high.
Keep working hard.” “Hell yeah!” Hearing that, Naruto pumped his fist happily.
“It’s all thanks to Kamiki giving me special training last night!
Too bad I couldn’t learn the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Otherwise, you’d really look at me with new eyes, Iruka-sensei…” Iruka’s mouth twitched as if he had just misheard something impossible.
“Wh-what?” “I said Kamiki gave me special training last night…” Naruto replied with an innocent look.
“Not that part.
The next sentence.” “Kamiki teaching me the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu?” Naruto asked cautiously.
Iruka’s pupils shrank.
Looking at Naruto’s innocent expression, the boy did not look like he was lying!
If that was the case…
Did Kamiki master the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu?!
An A-rank ninjutsu created by the Third Hokage himself!
Iruka’s face stiffened, and he called out to Kamiki nearby.
“Uh…
Kamiki, is what Naruto said true?” Kamiki walked forward obediently and replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world: “Yeah.
After I went home last night, I kept practicing with shuriken.
Then I suddenly wondered if I could combine shadow clones with shuriken…
and the experiment worked…” As he spoke, Kamiki asked with a look of quiet hope, “Didn’t you say learning ninjutsu requires understanding and flexibility, Sensei?
I took a bold shot, so that counts, right?” He figured that by working out the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, Iruka would at least be a bit more pleased with him.
In truth, “pleased” was an understatement!
Hearing Kamiki describe figuring out an A-rank jutsu in such a calm, casual tone sent shockwaves through Iruka’s mind!
Even if, as the Third Hokage suggested, this was simply the payoff from five years of silent, accumulated effort—the kid was still completely breaking the rules!
To figure out an A-rank jutsu entirely on his own!
That was not something time alone could accomplish!
It required monstrous talent and a profound grasp of ninjutsu!
“Ahem…
Kamiki, why don’t you demonstrate it for me?” Iruka said.
Kamiki nodded, a flash of delight on his face.
It seemed he had actually gotten it right this time.
“Sure.” With that, Kamiki stepped onto the training grounds.
Several wooden dummy targets stood a few dozen meters away from him.
The students watched Kamiki on the field, whispering among themselves.
“Hey, did Kamiki really learn the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu?” Choji Akimichi asked Shikamaru beside him, munching on potato chips.
“Unlikely.
Even though Kamiki learned multi-elemental clones yesterday, the Shuriken Shadow Clone feels a lot harder,” Shikamaru analyzed.
“Just hearing about it sounds like a massive drag.” “Is that so?” After hearing Shikamaru’s take, Choji shoved another handful of chips into his mouth.
Not far from Shikamaru, Sasuke, cool and aloof as always, stared intently at Kamiki on the field.
After Kamiki’s remarkable displays over the past two days, Sasuke had no choice but to pay close attention to this newly risen genius!
Deep down, he was already comparing himself to him!
Even though Kamiki had shown off the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and elemental clones with absolute dominance yesterday, Sasuke refused to admit defeat so easily!
Kamiki, let me see what other surprises you have in store for me, Sasuke thought quietly.
“Sasuke-kun~” Seeing Sasuke’s dead-serious look, Sakura called out in a sweet voice, before adding, “That guy is definitely bragging.
Does he think the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu is like cabbage by the road, so easy to pick up?” “I don’t buy it for a second.” “Shh.” Halfway through Sakura’s sentence, Sasuke raised a hand to silence her.
Because Kamiki on the training ground had moved!
Kamiki had shuriken wedged between all his fingers.
With a sharp whoosh, he hurled every single one from both hands!
The shuriken tore through the air with blistering speed, flying toward the wooden dummies ahead.
Using the split second his hands were free, Kamiki snapped into a string of hand seals!
“Ox, Dog, Dragon, Rat, Dog, Boar, Snake, Tiger.” Kamiki muttered the signs under his breath, his hands blurring into pure afterimages!
The very next instant!
The seals completed!
“Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Swish, swish, swish, swish— The ten shuriken flying through the air instantly multiplied, splitting into thousands upon thousands!
A black rain of shuriken!
A metallic tidal wave!
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud— Tens of thousands of shuriken slammed into the wooden dummies, turning them into pincushions in the blink of an eye!
The surplus shuriken showered the boundary walls around the field!
Clatter!
The wall behind the targets was plastered thick with shuriken, coated in metallic black!
Many even cleared the top of the wall, flying straight out of the academy grounds…
Iruka stood frozen solid.
What kind of monstrous student have I produced?!
This terrifying number of shuriken clones!
Thank goodness they hit target dummies.
If these were thrown at enemy ninja, the other side would be blasted into a sieve!
Sasuke froze on the spot.
He actually did it!
The Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!
And he split out tens of thousands at once!
Is this really something a person can just figure out through hard work?!
Sasuke was thoroughly baffled, but also deeply unwilling to accept it.
Comparing himself to this felt sickening!
That old man the Third Hokage must have given Kamiki private lessons!
Yes, that has to be it!
Shikamaru was slightly stunned too.
“H-he actually pulled off such a troublesome thing.” Sakura looked at Kamiki’s back on the field with mixed feelings.
Was this really the dead-last idiot she used to mock?!
What kind of broken comprehension was this?!
“So cool,” young Ino Yamanaka whispered, cupping her cheeks as she stared at Kamiki’s back.
Why had she never noticed how cool Kamiki looked before?!
Just as everyone was lost in shock and thought, someone knocked loudly on the training ground gate.
Iruka was about to offer Kamiki some praise, but before he could open his mouth, he went to answer the door.
The gate opened.
Standing outside was a furious Leaf Chunin.
Several shuriken were stuck in his head, blood trickling down his face.
“What the hell is this Ninja Academy doing?!
I just finished breakfast and went for a stroll outside, when hundreds of shuriken suddenly fell from the sky!” “Can you understand what that feels like?!
Hundreds of shuriken!
I was almost turned into a damn sieve!!”