Not only did he apply it brilliantly, he even surpassed the original.
What else could one say? That was the emo duckling for you. As expected of an Uchiha—his comprehension really was top-tier.
People often underestimated the Clone Technique, assuming that merging clones with the original body was just as simple. In truth, controlling a phantom clone wasn't easy at all.
Not only did one have to maintain the clone without letting it disperse, but also keep it perfectly aligned with the real body—otherwise, it would fail to confuse the opponent.
Even merging a single clone was difficult.
But Sasuke? He merged two clones. That was on another level.
Truly gifted.
Just think back to right before the Chūnin Exams—Sasuke nearly got wrecked by Lee's Front Lotus. But after seeing it just once, he managed to learn a move that had taken Lee forever to master.
No wonder everyone called Sasuke a genius. The title was well-deserved.
That said, compared to Itachi, Sasuke was more of a standard genius. Itachi… well, he was off the charts.
"Kyaa! Sasuke-kun is amazing! He instantly learned that move!"
"Sasuke-kun is such a genius!"
"Now that Sasuke-kun has two clones and Natsuki only has one, he's sure to win!"
Calm down, will you?! The number of clones has nothing to do with winning or losing!
You love-crazed fangirls need to shut up already!
Naruto, on the other hand, immediately shouted, "Sasuke, you shameless bastard! You totally copied Natsuki's move and had the nerve to use it out in the open, dattebayo! Don't you feel embarrassed?!"
Sasuke flushed red and snapped, "Shut it, you dead last!"
"Nani?! You're the dead last…!"
Naruto was about to yell more, but Iruka picked him up by the collar and tossed him aside. Under Iruka's glare, Naruto finally quieted down.
Natsuki remained calm, smiling as he said, "As expected of the Uchiha. A move I had to work hard to come up with—you picked it up instantly. I can only manage one clone, and you went and controlled two. That's seriously impressive."
Sasuke smirked. "Then it's time to finish this fight!"
With that, he lunged forward.
Natsuki didn't back down and charged in as well. The two clashed once more.
This time it was even fiercer. To the onlookers, it looked like a storm of arms flailing between them. No one could tell which were phantom clones or which fist belonged to the real body.
They traded dozens of blows. Sasuke got hit more than a few times, and Natsuki took a few hits too.
Once he judged it was enough, Natsuki suddenly pulled back. Poof! The clone on his body vanished, and he staggered back, panting heavily and drenched in sweat.
"I-I give up. I'm out of chakra."
Natsuki admitted defeat without hesitation, making Sasuke—who was just about to charge again—stumble forward and nearly face-plant.
Iruka quickly declared, "Match over! Sasuke wins!"
But Sasuke didn't look the least bit happy. Not only had he failed to knock Natsuki out, he'd actually taken more hits than Natsuki did. If anything, he got the worse end of the deal.
Still, the opponent surrendered, and Iruka declared it over. What could he do?
"How could you just give up?! I didn't even beat you down yet!" Sasuke growled as he formed the seal of reconciliation.
"Can't be helped! I ran out of chakra," Natsuki replied, forming the seal too—grinning all the while.
After all, getting in a few good punches on the cocky duckling had been very satisfying. Sasuke always acted so smug—someone needed to bring him down a notch before his ego hit the stratosphere.
The fangirls all cheered Sasuke's "victory," completely ignoring the fact that his face was dark as thunder.
Iruka glanced down at his clipboard again. "Next match: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shino Aburame!"
Natsuki had just returned to the sidelines. Hearing that, he gave Shino a thumbs-up. "Good luck."
Shino gave a slight nod and walked calmly to the center.
Naruto bounced into place like a firecracker. "Heh heh! I didn't get to fight that smug Sasuke, but Shino, prepare yourself! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage! Let me show you how awesome I am, dattebayo!"
And he charged forward—
The next second, K.O.!
"I've seen your awesome," Shino said coolly as he turned and walked away, leaving Naruto face-down on the ground, drawing laughter from the entire class.
Not that they meant to be rude—Naruto had hyped himself up big time, and then that happened. He kind of brought it on himself.
"Nice one!" Natsuki gave a thumbs-up.
"You too," Shino replied, his sunglasses trained on Natsuki. "Your take on Clone Technique was impressive. Most people would have trouble beating you. Without my insects, I probably wouldn't win either. You didn't happen to stay up late last night developing that, did you?"
Natsuki grinned and shook his head. "Nah, just a simple Clone Technique—doesn't need an all-nighter. I'm working on something even better, but that's still a secret."
Shino didn't press. As long as he knew Natsuki was strong, that was enough for him.
The rest of the matches were nothing special—just weaklings flailing at each other. The girl fights were worse: face scratching and hair pulling galore. People watching couldn't stop rolling their eyes.
Oh, except Hinata. She stood out quite a bit. The Hyūga's Gentle Fist was no joke. Even though Hinata hadn't fully mastered it, it was more than enough to handle the other girls.
"I wonder what Naruto-kun thought of my match…"
Hinata mumbled to herself as she shyly looked around for her crush—only to see him fawning all over that pink-haired girl. Her heart shattered into pieces right then and there.
Natsuki saw everything… and sighed at the fact he didn't have popcorn on hand.
In the following days, after finishing the "Will of Fire" copy assignment, Natsuki finally got some breathing room. He could now go back to the plans he'd been working on in the secret lab.
First priority: draft the blueprints for a special type of shuriken. It would be best to design a few more unique ninja tools as well—and then go find Tenten.
Of course, he'd also look for Might Guy when he had free time. Maybe he could befriend him directly, though that path was uncertain. The Tenten route definitely had a higher success rate.
Still, best to pursue both. After all, he wasn't letting the Eight Gates Technique slip through his fingers.
Whether or not he could reach Kage-level—or even Six Paths-level—might all depend on the Eight Gates.
The gravity training room primarily enhanced physical strength, which raised the upper limit of Eight Gates usage. With a tough enough body, he might be able to open just six gates and still kick Madara's Six Paths form into oblivion.
Compared to that, even the Hatake swordsmanship and Hiraishin had their limits. The Eight Gates might actually be better overall.
"Enough thinking. Time to act!"
With some time to spare, Natsuki quickly jotted down designs for two special shuriken and brainstormed other types of ninja tools—like short guns and long guns.
The ninja world did seem to have guns already, but they were mostly matchlocks and flintlocks—slow, clunky, with laughable range and accuracy. Fine for civilians maybe, but definitely not for ninja.
It wasn't until Boruto that someone finally whipped out a gatling gun and nearly mowed the brat down.
Now that was satisfying.
(End of Chapter)
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