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With the end-of-term exams over, the holidays arrived, signaling the start of festivities for most Ninja Academy students.
But for Kagaya, it was the opposite. The holidays meant he could finally dedicate entire days to "meaningful training." In his eyes, all the time spent at the Ninja Academy was "meaningless learning."
During the break, Kagaya trained alone from morning to afternoon. After that, Shisui would guide him.
The academy might be on holiday, but the Anbu had no such breaks. Rest only came when there were no missions, and unfortunately for Shisui, being involved in the Uchiha-Konoha situation meant he'd have little free time. He could only train Kagaya after finishing his Anbu duties.
"You want to learn the forbidden Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Shisui asked, looking at Kagaya with surprise.
"Why?"
"I want to use Shadow Clones to attend classes next semester while my real body keeps training," Kagaya replied.
After a semester of "meaningless learning," Kagaya had reflected deeply and decided to adopt Itachi's approach from the original story: let a Shadow Clone attend school while he focused on training.
Shisui couldn't help but laugh. "You're just like Itachi back then, learning a forbidden jutsu just to skip class. Isn't that a bit of a waste? But the Shadow Clone Jutsu is forbidden, and I don't know it myself. If you want to learn, I'll have Itachi teach you."
Shisui had no need to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu. His Body Flicker Technique in combat could achieve effects equal to or even surpassing it, so it wasn't necessary for him.
Kagaya shrugged. "Fine, as long as I learn it before school starts. Senior, let's begin today's training. How about ten laps around Konoha first?"
Shisui raised a finger, shaking it in negation. "No, today we're working on the Body Flicker Technique."
"The Body Flicker? I already know it," Kagaya said, momentarily confused.
Shisui pointed to himself. "I mean my Body Flicker Technique."
Kagaya's eyes widened, uncertain. "Senior Shisui, are you sure? To be honest, your unique Body Flicker… I think it'd be really hard for me to learn."
This doubt was natural. Though Kagaya was an extraordinary genius among his peers, in the broader ninja world, what was he? Just a kid who could use a Fireball Jutsu comparable to a genin's and a Body Flicker Technique impressive among chunin. His overall strength was only slightly above a genin's—there were countless people who could defeat him.
For someone at his level to learn Shisui's unique Body Flicker Technique, it was reasonable to worry about failing.
Shisui raised an eyebrow with a smile. "So, you don't want to learn it?"
That question stumped Kagaya. Shisui's unique Body Flicker was a top-tier technique, something Kagaya could use all the way through the Fourth Great Ninja War, like Naruto's Rasengan or Sasuke's Chidori. How could he not want to learn it?
"Senior, I'll learn it. I just think… isn't it a bit early for me to try?"
Shisui flicked Kagaya's forehead. "Not early at all. I believe in you."
Kagaya could only nod helplessly. "Alright, then."
With that, Shisui began teaching Kagaya his unique Body Flicker Technique.
As Shisui explained, Kagaya grew increasingly shocked. Calling Shisui a "genius" almost felt like an insult.
How extraordinary was Shisui's Body Flicker Technique?
First, it allowed the user to create multiple "clones" to attack simultaneously. At first glance, that might not seem too impressive.
But here's where it got terrifying: the "clones" created by Shisui's Body Flicker had no physical form, meaning enemy attacks couldn't destroy them. At the same time, these "clones" weren't mere afterimages, so enemies couldn't locate the real body through sensory means.
In Shisui's own words, his Body Flicker Technique had no physical form, yet every clone could be considered real.
Kagaya's first thought was: Isn't this basically cheating?
When attacking, he was solid, able to hit the enemy. When not attacking, he was intangible, immune to damage.
It was outright unfair.
This was a profoundly mysterious technique.
Kagaya asked, stunned, "Senior Shisui, doesn't that mean this technique makes you invincible?"
Shisui shook his head, smiling. "No technique is invincible. To counter this, you just need an attack that covers all the clones and ensures each strike is lethal. That would break the technique."
Kagaya stared at Shisui, speechless. "That's not a counter. That's just overpowering it with brute force."
Shisui's explanation boiled down to this: if even one clone was missed by an area attack, it was as if all were missed, dealing no damage. Even if every clone was hit, if any single attack lacked sufficient power, the technique would remain unscathed.
In short, breaking Shisui's Body Flicker with ninjutsu was nearly impossible, and taijutsu was just as difficult. Genjutsu might be slightly easier, but the user was Shisui—the Uchiha Clan's greatest genjutsu master. Defeating Shisui with genjutsu? You'd have better luck trying to counter his Body Flicker with ninjutsu.
Kagaya genuinely felt that once Shisui used this technique, it was almost unbeatable in every way.
But no technique was perfect. Shisui's Body Flicker, while nearly unbreakable in combat, had its flaws. It demanded an extremely high level of speed from the user. According to Shisui, Kagaya's current speed was about one-tenth of the required standard.
To put it in perspective, many things start easy but get harder. Kagaya had reached one-tenth in just six months, partly because progress was faster early on. Who knew how long the remaining nine-tenths would take?
Shisui continued explaining. "You need to understand that 'Body Flicker Technique' is a broad term. It can be divided into three types. The first is the space-time technique used by the Fourth Hokage. The second is what you're using—gathering chakra in your legs for high-speed movement. That's essentially a high-speed taijutsu that doesn't consume much chakra. The third is mine—a true ninjutsu. A key sign is that it requires hand sign! Because it's a ninjutsu, my Body Flicker consumes more chakra than the other two. The chakra cost isn't high initially, but the more clones you create, the more chakra it consumes. To unleash its true power, you need at least seven or eight clones, which makes it quite chakra-intensive."
Though Shisui called it chakra-intensive, it wasn't excessive. His technique shared a similarity with the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God: once activated, it was nearly impossible to fail.
The Flying Thunder God allowed instant retreat, untouchable by enemies. Shisui's Body Flicker meant that unless an opponent's attack was overwhelmingly powerful, crushing the user outright, they could only drag out the fight, hoping to outlast the user's chakra or be defeated themselves.
Kagaya was utterly convinced by Shisui's creation. Calling him a "genius" was an understatement.
This was beyond genius.