The calm Konai River shimmered under the sunlight. On the wide river surface, three boys and one girl were either standing or lying on the water.
The newly formed Water Clone "Taiichi" stretched his arms and legs, then walked over to Yohei, who was lying flat on the water. He took the bamboo basket off Yohei's back and strapped it onto his own.
"How is it? Will you learn faster without this distraction?" the Water Clone Taiichi asked. After speaking, he walked further downstream to clean the river.
"Do your best, Yohei-kun!" Saori encouraged him from the side, then focused even more intently on picking up trash. The workload was heavy to begin with, and although Taiichi's clone was helping, Water Clones required conscious control from the main body. Splitting his focus meant Taiichi's efficiency was naturally lower than two separate people.
Watching the two silently shoulder his share of the burden, Yohei suppressed his turbulent emotions and focused entirely on practicing water walking.
On the riverbank, Masasuke Yamaguchi, reclining on a large blue rock, watched everything. He nodded in approval; he was pleased to see his team members helping and supporting each other.
The only surprise was Taiichi's proficiency in Water Style ninjutsu and his powerful spiritual energy. Water Clones were not Shadow Clones; they lacked autonomous action.
A Water Clone had to be controlled entirely by the user, and the range of control depended entirely on the strength of the user's spiritual energy.
The peaceful morning passed, punctuated occasionally by the sound of a "splash." After Taiichi and the others ate their prepared rice balls, they continued their unfinished "great undertaking."
In the noisy afternoon, after a whole morning of practice, Yohei could finally stand on the water's surface.
Although his stance was still precarious and he had to walk with extreme caution, he began to take tottering steps in the shallow water, picking up trash. Being able to help with the mission gave him great motivation; he was no longer just watching his teammates helplessly.
In the distance, Taiichi, busy with his work, looked over at the hardworking Yohei and smiled with relief. Having teammates who understood their hardships and doubled their efforts to help—this sentiment was the most important gain among partners.
As the sun set, the afterglow scattered over the Konai River, reflecting patches of red clouds.
On the riverbank, the three lay exhausted on the large blue rock. To speed up the mission progress, Taiichi had created another Water Clone in the afternoon. He hadn't expected that controlling two Water Clones simultaneously for so long would be this tiring.
Right now, Taiichi felt like his head was splitting open—a sign of massive spiritual energy consumption. But fortunately, the three of them had managed to complete the mission on time.
At this moment, Captain Yamaguchi, who had disappeared all afternoon, used the Body Flicker Jutsu to appear beside them. Seeing the clean riverbed, he was quite surprised. He had expected this mission to last until nightfall, but they had finished by evening.
He didn't ask much, simply saying to the three, "How are you holding up? If you're okay, let's head back. We can still make it in time to submit the mission."
Taiichi and the others struggled to their feet, expressing their willingness with action.
Seeing this, Masasuke Yamaguchi turned and headed toward the Mission Hall, controlling his speed so the exhausted trio could keep up.
Mission Hall.
Captain Yamaguchi demonstrated to the three how to submit a completed mission. After some procedures, they finally received today's mission reward: a total of 5,000 Ryo.
According to the rules, the captain took half, and the remaining half was split among the team members. But when it came time to give Yohei his share, he refused.
"I really didn't help much today. Taiichi did my share of the work. I'd be ashamed to take any money," Yohei explained.
Taiichi and Saori thought about it and agreed. If they couldn't even maintain basic fairness based on contribution, then there was no justice to speak of. If they were in his shoes, they would have made the same choice.
So, Taiichi and Saori split the remaining 2,500 Ryo. A whole day of hard labor for 1,250 Ryo each... thinking about it, it was barely enough to stay fed and clothed.
"That's it for today. Go back and rest well. We won't take a mission tomorrow. Train on your own at home and digest what you learned today. Our next gathering is set for the morning of the day after tomorrow at 9:00 AM, same place at the Mission Hall. That is all. Dismissed." With that, he disappeared with a Body Flicker.
The three exchanged glances. Taiichi broke the silence first. "Let's go too. I'm utterly exhausted today. Definitely need a good rest."
"Yeah." x2
...
Back home, Taiichi barely managed to eat something to fill his stomach before lying down on the bed for a nap.
Even now, Taiichi felt a splitting headache. It made him wonder if the side effects of the Shadow Clone Jutsu were similar. Maybe there were differences, but they probably weren't huge. No wonder the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu was classified as a Forbidden Jutsu; it was indeed dangerous.
However, today's suffering wasn't in vain. The mental effort of controlling the Water Clones had inadvertently unlocked two new skills on his panel: Chakra Control and Shape Transformation.
> [Congratulations. Maintaining Water Clones for an extended period has unlocked Chakra Control Lv5 (0/800)]
> [Congratulations. Maintaining stable Water Clone forms for an extended period has unlocked Shape Transformation Lv6 (0/1000)]
Unlocking at Lv5 and Lv6 right off the bat was surprising but made sense upon reflection. It wasn't like he hadn't practiced these before. Medical Ninjutsu prioritized Chakra control, and since Taiichi's medical skills weren't weak, his control naturally wouldn't be low.
The same applied to Shape Transformation. Elemental ninjutsu involved both Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation to varying degrees. Practicing ninjutsu meant practicing Shape Transformation as well.
> Name: Taiichi Matsushita
> Class: Genin Lv1 (64/100)
> Talents: Diligence, Academic Genius, Potency
> Age: 7
> Constitution: 19
> Strength: 20
> Agility: 18
> Spirit: 23
> Chakra: 13,100 (15,400)
> Attribute Points: 13
> Skill Points: 14
> Nature Transformation:
> Fire Nature Transformation Lv6 (835/1000)
> Wind Nature Transformation Lv6 (373/1000)
> Water Nature Transformation Lv5 (593/800)
> Yang Nature Transformation Lv6 (455/800)
> Skills:
> Shape Transformation Lv6 (0/1000)
> Chakra Control Lv5 (0/800)
> ...
> Evaluation: Tired as a dog on your first mission day? You still need to work harder.
The panel hadn't changed much, mainly just the two new skills. Taiichi recalled the memories that had flooded his mind earlier.
Chakra Control was easy to understand; it was the ability to finely manage the flow of all Chakra within the body. Since the skill formed, his control had clearly jumped a level.
The Chakra cost for the same ninjutsu was reduced by 5% compared to before, while power and control increased by 5%. This plus-and-minus wasn't as simple as 1+1=2. Moreover, the higher the rank of the ninjutsu, the greater the gap this effect would create.
Then there was Shape Transformation. Its main function was to shape and structure ninjutsu. With a high enough level, turning a single-target attack into an area-of-effect attack would be a piece of cake. The pinnacle of Shape Transformation ninjutsu was undoubtedly the various Rasengan series.
Thinking about the strength changes these two abilities would bring, Taiichi was eager to start training. Unfortunately, his body wouldn't allow it. Until his headache subsided, Taiichi couldn't do anything.
It seemed he really needed to be careful in the future, especially once he learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu. This was with Taiichi having exceptionally high Spirit attributes; an average Genin would have dropped dead long ago—though an average Genin wouldn't have this capability in the first place.