Konoha Anbu Underground Headquarters.
Sora was walking down a stone staircase. Only a few torches hanging on the walls on both sides provided illumination.
The purpose of his trip was the Anbu Ninjutsu Storage Vault.
The deeper he went, the more pronounced the feeling of being closely monitored became.
Sora could feel at least four or more hidden gazes falling on him from the shadows in different directions. They carried an air of scrutiny and assessment. Faint, cold chakra fluctuations were present, as if a lethal strike could be launched at any moment.
'The defenses are really tight... At least two Tokubetsu Jonin and two Chunin, and that's only the ones I can sense on the surface.'
Sora thought to himself, but his expression remained unchanged, maintaining a steady pace and breathing.
The purpose of these guardians was not only to defend against external enemies, but also to monitor all internal personnel entering this place, preventing anyone from stealing or destroying the village's precious ninjutsu materials.
Soon, Sora reached his destination, a heavy iron door engraved with complex sealing formulas.
An Anbu clerk wearing a Suzuka mask seemed to have been notified in advance and was waiting there quietly. After verifying Sora's identity token and written order, he silently formed a few hand seals.
Hum
The sealing formulas on the iron door glowed faintly, and then the heavy door opened inward, revealing a wide, well lit stone chamber behind it, filled with scroll racks.
The air was filled with the distinctive smell of old paper and ink, along with a faint herbal scent used for preservation and insect prevention.
Countless scrolls were arranged on the racks by category, from basic D rank ninjutsu to high level scrolls marked with the characters "Secret" or "Forbidden", a dazzling array.
This place was a microcosm of Konohagakure's vast ninjutsu system, a treasure trove of knowledge coveted by countless ninja.
"Green Snake sir, you have one hour to make your selection. You are permitted to browse the catalog and some summaries. In the end, you may only take out one scroll. After choosing, register it with me."
The voice from behind the Suzuka mask was flat and emotionless. After stating the rules, he stood back in his original position like a statue, not looking at Sora again.
"Understood, thank you."
Sora nodded and stepped inside.
His goal was clear. He walked directly towards the scroll area marked "A Rank", "Non Elemental", and "Support/Special".
Sarutobi Hiruzen was being generous this time, allowing him to choose one ninjutsu within the A rank range as a reward.
Officially, it was to commend his previous outstanding performance and potential, but Sora understood perfectly well. This was more like compensation and appeasement towards him after the incident in the Land of Grass valley.
'Strike with a stick, then give a sweet date, an old tactic.'
'But it's fine. A freebie not taken is a freebie wasted. It's a good chance to see if there's something suitable for my current situation.'
While flipping through the thick ninjutsu catalog, Sora inwardly curled his lip.
His gaze quickly scanned the names and summaries of each ninjutsu.
"Lightning Release, False Darkness", "Water Release, Water Severing Wave", "Earth Release, Earth Style Wall"… all were powerful offensive or defensive ninjutsu with great power and high chakra consumption.
Sora shook his head. None of these techniques were suitable for him at the moment.
What he wanted more was a technique that could greatly enhance close quarter destructive power and matched his robust physique.
'Speaking of which, the most ideal would still be Tsunade's Monstrous Strength.'
'The extreme refinement and control of chakra, concentrated at a single point for an instant burst, producing terrifying destructive power. If combined with my post dragon transformation strength, the power is almost unimaginable.'
Holding a try it out attitude, Sora searched carefully in the catalog, even specifically checking every entry under the "Taijutsu", "Secret Transmission", and "Non Elemental" categories.
However, from beginning to end, he found no record of anything about "Monstrous Strength".
'As expected, it's not here...' Sora sighed inwardly, not too surprised.
"Monstrous Strength" was essentially more of a refined method of chakra application, not a traditional "ninjutsu" recorded on a scroll.
It belonged to the Senju clan's inherited secret technique. It was fundamentally impossible to be stored in this kind of scroll vault open to some Anbu members.
Such prized treasures were either passed down orally from master to disciple, or hidden in a more core, more secret Book of Seals. It was absolutely not something Sora, a newly emerging Anbu rookie, could access now.
Suppressing his slight desire for "Monstrous Strength", Sora gathered his thoughts and continued searching within the existing catalog for a technique suitable for him.
Soon, the name of another technique caught his attention, Multiple Shadow Clone Technique".
'Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!' Sora's heart stirred.
He was too familiar with this technique. It was one of Naruto's signature trump cards in the original story. Relying on this technique and his massive chakra reserves, he achieved various comebacks.
But for ordinary people, the side effects of this technique were extremely dangerous.
Evenly distributing chakra meant the more clones there were, the weaker each clone and the main body became.
If a large number of clones were destroyed, the accumulated fatigue and damage would instantly return, enough to cause the user's mind to collapse or even result in direct death.
'Massive chakra consumption, plus the risk of backlash... On the surface, it seems very unsuitable for someone like me with low chakra.'
Sora rubbed his chin, sinking into thought.
His mind operated rapidly, analyzing based on his own advantages and needs.
'My current shortcoming is insufficient chakra, making it hard to sustain the consumption of high level ninjutsu. Taijutsu and my fruit ability are my strong points.'
'But taijutsu training, especially the Eight Inner Gates technique and the development of my fruit ability, require a lot of time and repeated trial and error. Training alone with my head down is inefficient, and many high risk attempts can't be made lightly.'
'What if I had Multiple Shadow Clones?'
Sora's eyes gradually brightened.
It must be known that every shadow clone was a physical entity with its own consciousness! This meant Sora could have clones perform tedious basic training.
Like hand seal practice, taijutsu move polishing!
Although the physical effects of exercise couldn't stack, the experience and proficiency could be brought back to the main body.
More importantly, the development of his fruit ability!
Many fine operations and dangerous attempts regarding dragon transformation form and elemental manipulation, Sora could completely have clones do them.
Even if they failed, at most the clone would disappear and the fatigue would return, which was much better than the main body getting injured or even crippled!
'This is equivalent to having countless fearless experimental subjects and safety personnel!'
Thinking of this, Sora couldn't help his heart beat faster.
Although his chakra reserves were far inferior to a freak like Naruto's, unable to create thousands of clones at once.
But at his current level, creating one or two clones for a short period should be achievable.
Each clone could exist for a period of time, helping him with auxiliary training and dangerous experiments, and the accumulated experience could return one hundred percent!
This wasn't a minor improvement in efficiency!
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