On his way home, Haruto Kamiya thought about what he had gained from his first day at the academy. In truth—nothing much. The early curriculum was mostly introductions to Konoha's history. Only after gradually building interest would students be taught how to extract chakra. Still, they had been given their textbooks, and Haruto could study ahead on his own.
As for the Three Basic Techniques, in times of peace like these, they weren't taught in the first year. The first year focused solely on theory and basic physical conditioning. This entire period existed for students to build up enough chakra to actually begin ninjutsu training later.
Haruto looked up at the sky. It was still early. Classes here really were light. His mother likely hadn't finished work yet.
Still, remembering how she told him to come home early, Haruto didn't wander. With his books strapped to his back, he dashed toward home. A few kilometers wasn't much, but it worked as a decent warm-up. The physical baseline of people in this world really was impressive.
"I'm home!" Haruto called out as he unlocked the door—another habit his mother had drilled into him.
He froze.
His mother—whom he expected to still be at work—was standing there smiling warmly. The table was full of dishes.
"Welcome home!!"
"Mother… why are you—?" His voice carried genuine surprise.
"Of course I came home early! It's your first day of school! I had to be here." Nina laughed.
Haruto's gaze softened. From infancy, he had seen how hard she worked for their little family. Even with memories of a past life, he'd quickly accepted Nina as his true mother.
"But… I'm sorry, Haruto. I can only take today off. From now on, you'll have to go to school and come home by yourself. Other children have parents escorting them, but I…" Nina's voice sank with guilt.
"It's okay." Haruto stepped forward and hugged her. Seeing her blame herself like this felt wrong.
"Oh dear… needing my child to comfort me. How embarrassing." Nina gave a bitter laugh, then forced a bit of cheer into her voice. "To make it up to you, Haruto, you can ask for something you want. Anything."
"I don't really have anything I want right now." Haruto thought seriously. Life as it was felt satisfactory.
Nina looked even more troubled. She truly wanted to do something for her son.
Haruto quickly noticed her thoughts and decided he should request something.
"Oh! Today your teacher probably talked about ninja history, right? Haruto, do you want to become a ninja?" Nina asked gently.
"I do. I want to become the strongest ninja." Haruto didn't hide it.
"Then you can tell me if there's a ninjutsu you want to learn. Your mom has… a few connections." Nina's eyes lit with pride.
But then she paused—realizing the problem. Haruto probably didn't know many jutsu to begin with, and she herself hadn't used ninjutsu in years. As a former genin, she didn't know much anyway. Would she need to ask an old teammate to demonstrate something?
"I want the Shadow Clone Technique." Haruto answered immediately.
"Huh? Shadow Clone? Why that jutsu?" Nina blinked. "It's quite difficult. And more importantly… it's not very useful in combat." She didn't understand why he'd pick such a thing.
"It's not for any special reason. I once saw a jōnin use it—real physical clones. I loved it. Whether it's useful or not, I decided I'd learn it someday." Haruto lied smoothly; the true reason couldn't be explained.
As for Nina saying it had little combat value—Haruto could only think: Who said anything about using Shadow Clones in battle? That privilege belongs to Naruto or the Uzumaki clan, not me.
What Haruto needed was the technique's experience feedback ability. That was the real treasure. And although Shadow Clone was classified as a B-rank ninjutsu, he suspected its difficulty didn't truly match the rank. After all, Naruto had learned the advanced Multi-Shadow Clone Technique in one night.
Of course, the B-rank made sense—using Shadow Clones required a high amount of chakra, something only jōnin typically had. The technique split chakra evenly, but Haruto suspected it only divided the chakra currently molded, not the body's unrefined physical energy.
Meaning: if a genin used it, each clone would have almost no chakra… making them useless for ninjutsu and fragile in combat.
But Haruto didn't care about combat usage. This was his period of accumulation. One clone—maybe two—would massively improve his efficiency.
As for whether his body could withstand it, he wasn't planning on using hundreds or thousands of clones like Naruto. His plan started with one clone. And he wouldn't assign it heavy labor. He'd increase the number only when his body proved capable.
"But this is a rare opportunity," Nina protested. "Using it to trade for Shadow Clone seems like a waste. Your father left this opportunity behind… I really don't think we should spend it on such an impractical jutsu. Maybe I can have an old teammate demonstrate others?"
This "opportunity"… Haruto originally assumed it meant a jutsu scroll his father had left behind.
But from her words… it was a real, tangible chance to obtain Shadow Clone.
His eyes lit up instantly.
He spent a long time persuading, pleading, insisting—until Nina finally relented.
"Fine, fine. Shadow Clone it is. If it makes you happy… just don't regret it in the future."
"I'll never regret it! Mom, you're the best!" Haruto couldn't hide his excitement.
"Come, let's eat." Nina smiled at her son's joy. If Haruto is happy, that's enough. Whether he becomes a great ninja or not doesn't matter.