Early morning, at a medium-sized training ground in Konoha, two Higashino Shins stood facing each other.
Suddenly, the long-haired Higashino Shin reached into the Ninja tool pouch at his waist and flung his hands forward, sending several shuriken flying rapidly toward the other Higashino Shin.
The shuriken moved at extreme speed, flying in a straight line toward the target without any curves, unlike the flashy techniques of the Uchiha Clan.
The defending Higashino Shin held a Kunai in a reverse grip with his left hand, knocking away the shuriken amidst a series of clangs. With his right hand, he drew the Black Ironwood short sword from his back and engaged the long-haired Higashino Shin in combat.
Both sides attacked with extreme speed, every strike aimed at vital points, yet each was blocked. Their positions changed constantly, fighting from the ground up into the trees, and then back down to the ground.
For a time, their figures were like phantoms amidst the rising dust, with Kunai and shuriken flying everywhere and the constant sound of clashing metal.
Suddenly, the long-haired Higashino Shin kicked his opponent away. As the opponent flew back, he quickly threw four Kunai from both sides.
The long-haired Higashino Shin quickly formed hand signs.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
A blast of wild wind neutralized the attack and even blew the Kunai back toward the opponent.
The short-haired Higashino Shin originally thought of using the Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall to block the Ninjutsu as usual, but this time he chose not to. Instead, he burst forth with Chakra in his legs, using high speed to evade the Ninjutsu while using the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind his opponent, stabbing the long-haired Higashino Shin in the back.
"Poof!" The opponent exploded into a cloud of white mist.
The short-haired Higashino Shin groaned and knelt on one knee, instinctively clutching his stomach. There was no wound there, yet a sharp, realistic pain radiated from the spot.
Both were Higashino Shin, but one was a Shadow Clone. To distinguish them, the Shadow Clone had used the Transformation Jutsu to give himself long hair.
The Shadow Clone is a miraculous Ninjutsu that can use Chakra to create one or more physical Clones out of thin air. Almost no one in the Ninja World can tell them apart, not even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Its weakness is that it cannot withstand blunt impacts beyond a certain force, nor can it endure slashes or stabs from ordinary Sharp Weapons.
At the same time, it divides the user's Chakra equally among the number of Clones. Before disappearing, it transmits the pain of injuries along with experience and memories back to the original body.
It was originally a great Ninjutsu for gathering intelligence and deceiving enemies, but Ninjas with insufficient Chakra or lack of mental fortitude to endure severe pain should use it with caution; otherwise, they might just be handing over their lives.
This was only the Shadow Clone Technique, which creates a small number of physical bodies. If it were the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, an average Ninja might kill themselves using it.
It wasn't listed as a forbidden technique without reason; it truly isn't something an average Ninja can afford to use.
Why is Naruto the only one who dares to play like this? Because he has the Uzumaki Clan Bloodline, and more importantly, he has at least two dads to help him bear the backlash.
Kurama: "???"
Ashura: "???"
Since learning the Shadow Clone Technique, Higashino Shin had been using his superb Chakra control to gradually try creating Shadow Clones with less Chakra, so they no longer divided his Chakra equally, making them more practical.
On the other hand, he also frequently sparred with his Clones to train his combat skills and reaction speed, while also building his pain tolerance threshold. Thus, he was truly ruthless when attacking, specifically aiming for vital spots.
Unfortunately, the Clone was himself, and they were too familiar with each other's habits. Besides training neural reaction speed, the actual combat experience gained was minimal.
However, the pain returned was not diminished in the slightest.
---
After gathering the scattered Ninja tools, Higashino Shin sat at the top of a large tree, drinking the Nutritional water prepared by Higashino Megumi. He then looked at the seemingly unchanging Konoha Village in the distance, contemplating his future training direction.
Over a year had passed unknowingly; he was now over five years old and had grown much taller.
The situation in the Ninja World was becoming increasingly tense. After celebrating his fifth birthday, his father, Higashino Jiro, had once again rotated to the border for a guard mission.
His mother, Higashino Megumi, worked daily at the hospital.
Over the past year, the group of four including Higashino Shin occasionally went out to play together, exchanging cultivation experience and practicing wilderness survival skills.
However, since the start of the new school term, Gekkō Hayate had officially enrolled. Uchiha Shisui, due to his outstanding talent, had also begun receiving guidance from clan Ninjas alongside other promising youngsters of the clan, leaving him with few opportunities to go out.
Even Yūgao Uzuki was no exception.
The adults saw the situation in the Ninja World clearly; war could break out at any moment. Any Family with a bit of sense had begun to intensify the training of their younger generation, hoping they could survive the war in the future.
Although everyone spoke of relying on the team and trusting comrades, as Ninjas, they all understood that in the end, one's own strength was the best means of survival.
During this year, Higashino Shin had also learned the Three Basic Jutsu, the common Body Flicker Technique, basic Konoha Style Swordsmanship, as well as several Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and the Shadow Clone Technique.
These Ninjutsu included: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique, Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall, Water Release: Water Formation Wall, and Genjutsu: False Surroundings Technique.
These Ninjutsu were all common ones, with the highest Rank being only B-rank. The Higashino Clan were just civilian ninjas; even after three generations of accumulation, they had no Ninjutsu exceeding B-rank, nor did they have a unique Kenjutsu system Legacy like the Gekko or Uzuki clans.
With Higashino Shin's current precise control over Chakra, learning them wasn't difficult. His body had also grown stronger daily from absorbing White Natural Energy, and his Chakra capacity was quite abundant—at least he wouldn't go offline after using a few C-rank Ninjutsu.
Of course, the highest-Rank Ninjutsu he currently mastered was the A-rank Rasengan. After all, it was the only technique in the original work that detailed its principles and training methods. How could he live up to his identity as a Transmigration traveler if he didn't copy it?
However, as of now, Higashino Shin had discovered a problem.
Whether it was the Rasengan, which he couldn't use for the time being, or other Ninjutsu, he felt they didn't quite fit his envisioned combat style. The reason was simple: the efficiency was too low.
Among the three series of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu, Ninjutsu was the most flashy and what most children dreamed a Ninja should be like.
Who wouldn't want to use a flashy and powerful Ninjutsu to eliminate enemies, enjoy the praise of comrades, sit in the Hokage's seat, marry a beautiful and wealthy woman, and reach the Peak of life?
But the reality was that Ninjutsu consumed the most Chakra. With the pitiful Chakra capacity of an average civilian Ninja, they really weren't suited for a Ninjutsu-battery style. Using a Ninjutsu for support and then standing aside to throw shuriken and Kunai was their lifelong combat style.
Higashino Shin had a natural way to Cultivate Natural Energy. He was certain that as his training deepened, he would not lack Chakra in the future, yet he still looked down on Ninjutsu somewhat.
Unless one outputted a massive amount of Chakra to increase the attack range of a Ninjutsu to achieve a carpet-bombing effect, ordinary Ninjutsu were truly hard to hit anyone with; they were usually used by Ninjas for sneak attacks or to force an enemy's movement.
The dignified Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique had even been reduced to a mercy technique, as he hadn't seen it kill many people from beginning to end.
Was Ninjutsu not strong? No. Most Ninjas have high attack power but low defense. Even a Kage-level Ninja would die if hit by a Great Fireball while completely undefended. The main issue was that Ninjas' mobility was too fast, making it easy to dodge, which made Ninjutsu seem inefficient.
In the thousand years since Ninjas appeared, what has killed the most Ninjas? It is the inconspicuous metal Sharp Weapons like Ninja swords, shuriken, and Kunai.
Compared to forming hand signs to perform a Ninjutsu to kill an enemy, stabbing them with a Kunai was clearly faster and saved more Chakra.
The path Higashino Shin envisioned for himself was extremely fast and powerful Taijutsu. Because of the continuous modification of his body by Natural Energy, he believed his body would be stronger than anyone else's.
Then, in coordination with this Taijutsu, he would develop instantaneous attack methods using Ninja swords or hidden weapons to improve his killing efficiency.
In his vision, something like the Sword Qi from Wuxia novels of his previous life would be more suitable for him.
And as it happened, such attack methods did exist in the Ninja World.
Typical examples were the Wind Release: Vacuum Sword used later by the Jonin Shirakumo Hayama, and Danzo Shimura, who infused wind-natured Chakra into weapons like Wind Release Shuriken or Wind Release Kunai.
Danzo could even directly use wind-natured Chakra to form a sword. Although that old fellow was a bit dark, it had to be said that in all of Konoha, few could surpass him in the mastery of Wind Release.
Convenly, Higashino Shin possessed wind-natured Chakra, saving him the massive amount of time it would take to first Cultivate the nature of the wind attribute.
Thinking about it this way, his next training direction became clear.
He should spend his time on the nature transformation of Chakra, drawing from but not being confined to the footsteps of his predecessors, to develop his own combat techniques.
With his continuous study of the theoretical foundations of Chakra and the information from his previous life, he believed it was definitely feasible.
Of course, this didn't mean he wouldn't learn Ninjutsu. On the contrary, just as learning precise Chakra control makes learning ordinary Ninjutsu simple, mastering nature transformation to a profound level would make learning corresponding high-level Ninjutsu exceptionally easy.
Sharpening the axe doesn't delay the woodcutting, after all.
Besides, Medical Ninjutsu couldn't be neglected; it was a very practical series of Ninjutsu that would also deepen his Chakra control.
After finishing his contemplation, Higashino Shin recovered his strength and immediately put on his heavy Weighted equipment to begin his physical training.
Now, the metal bars inserted into the Weighted equipment were twice as many as they were a year ago.