"Sit down and eat first. When you get home, look again. Maybe you just dropped it somewhere in the house." Kaede Kitahara smiled.
"Big brother, what's your name? I'm about to graduate. Once I become a ninja, I'll be able to make money and pay you back." Naruto said quickly.
"Kaede Kitahara," he replied. "Then I'll be waiting for the day you become a ninja and treat me to a meal."
"I will! I definitely will! As long as the exam doesn't test Clone Jutsu, I'll pass for sure."
Naruto's shoulders slumped a little.
Of the Three Basic Ninjutsu, Clone Jutsu was the one he was absolutely terrible at. Something went wrong every time.
Kaede Kitahara glanced at his stomach, already knowing the real problem came from the Nine-Tails' chakra interfering with him.
If not for that interference making Naruto's chakra flow unstable, even performing jutsu would never have been this difficult.
With his lineage, there was no world where he could've been a genuine dunce.
Uzumaki Kushina alone wasn't someone ordinary. She had the strength of a Kage-level fighter, which was the bare minimum to qualify as the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki.
And Namikaze Minato? He was one of the strongest among Kage-level shinobi. The Yellow Flash of Konoha. Ninja from other villages were allowed to abandon their missions on the spot if they encountered him, without punishment.
And on top of that, Naruto was the reincarnation of Otsutsuki Asura, son of the Sage of Six Paths. Any one of these identities made it impossible for him to be stupid. He just came off as loud and impulsive.
Everyone descended from Asura seemed to inherit that eccentric ancestor's personality.
But even knowing the root of the problem didn't mean Kaede Kitahara could fix it. He didn't know any sealing techniques. The only real solution would have to wait for someone truly versed in sealing arts to return.
"What's wrong? Your Clone Jutsu is that bad? If you can't use it properly as a ninja, that's going to cause big trouble." Kaede Kitahara said.
"Yeah… no matter how much I practice, it never goes well." Naruto sighed. "It always feels like my chakra gets stuck."
"Big brother, you're a ninja too, right? This might be rude, but… could you teach me?" He looked up with hopeful eyes.
Kaede Kitahara couldn't help feeling a little sour. This kid was basically Konoha's crown prince. The Nine-Tails' jinchuriki was supposed to have elite teachers guiding him. Meanwhile, Naruto didn't even have someone who could teach him proper Clone Jutsu.
Sure, Kaede Kitahara suspected part of this was Kishimoto Masashi's later retcons, but Sarutobi Hiruzen's responsibility definitely couldn't be ignored.
"Alright. I do have some experience with chakra training. Finish eating first, then I'll teach you something the academy doesn't." Kaede Kitahara said after thinking it over. Sure, helping Naruto might draw the attention of Konoha's upper ranks sooner, but he had a spotless background, a perfectly ordinary Konoha upbringing, and he wasn't doing anything dangerous. It wasn't worth worrying too much.
Besides, Iruka treated Naruto kindly and no one dragged him off for interrogation, right?
Clinging to Naruto a little wouldn't get him hauled off for dissection. That'd be way too conspiracy-theory.
"That's awesome!" Naruto's whole face lit up. There weren't many people willing to accept him. Aside from the Third Hokage and a few classmates, most villagers looked at him with open disgust.
And because he had the Nine-Tails inside him, his sensitivity to hostility was razor sharp. Everywhere he went, he felt the stares of people who saw him as something to hate. Very few treated him like a normal person.
Kaede Kitahara held no hostility toward him at all. Naruto could sense that clearly, which was why he dared ask him for help in the first place.
Soon, Naruto's bowl of Ichiraku Ramen was served. He immediately dug in at full speed.
Once both had finished eating, Kaede Kitahara led Naruto to a nearby riverbank.
He could faintly sense several figures tailing them from a distance.
"Kitahara, are you gonna teach me Clone Jutsu?" Naruto asked eagerly.
Kaede Kitahara shook his head. "You already learned the hand signs and theory at school. That's not the issue. Your problem is poor chakra control. That's what you need to fix first."
He walked up to a tall tree, calmly stepped onto the trunk, and walked upward until he reached a branch. Then he hung upside down, looking down at Naruto.
"Whoa! How're you doing that, Kitahara?" Naruto yelled.
"This is tree climbing. You focus chakra at the soles of your feet to create adhesion. Once you master this, your chakra control will improve a lot. After that, Clone Jutsu will be much easier." Kaede Kitahara explained.
Naruto's current struggles weren't something he could truly solve. What Naruto needed wasn't the basic Clone Jutsu that only produced illusions. What suited him was the advanced Shadow Clone Jutsu—specifically, Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu—because it took full advantage of his enormous chakra reserves.
But unfortunately, Kaede Kitahara didn't know those either.
He was still an ordinary chunin. Even though he had Uchiha blood, awakened the Sharingan, and had been improving quickly, high-level ninjutsu were beyond his reach.
By Konoha regulations, Shadow Clone Jutsu was a high-level technique only jonin could learn. A chunin from a civilian family would have to earn a massive amount of merit to exchange for it. And Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu was classified as a forbidden technique, taught only to jonin who had made exceptional contributions.
Sure, Naruto's clones got blown up immediately half the time, making the jutsu look kind of useless. But in the hands of a skilled jonin, Shadow Clone Jutsu had extremely high combat potential.
"I get it! Let me try!" Naruto charged at the tree with his usual hot-blooded energy. He made it a few steps up before sliding off and falling on his back.
"Don't rush it. Focus your chakra into your feet. Make it natural—like muscle memory. Once you get it, it won't just help with tree climbing. Your speed will also increase a lot. This is the foundation for Body Flicker." Kaede Kitahara reminded him.
"Got it!"
Naruto was glowing with excitement, savoring the rare feeling of being guided by someone who actually cared. Then Kaede Kitahara tossed him a kunai.
"Use this to mark how far you get. When you can hang upside down like me, you've completed the first stage of tree climbing training."