"Shuriken Shadow Clone!"
Rin threw a shuriken into the air, then immediately formed a hand seal. In the blink of an eye, the single shuriken transformed into dozens, which struck the wooden target with crisp thunks.
"I did it! Mitsuki, I pulled it off!"
They were in a small grove on the outskirts of Training Ground 8 in Konoha — a quiet spot Mitsuki had scouted using his Six Eyes after scanning the entire village multiple times.
It was a secluded place rarely visited by others, with a river nearby — perfect for, ahem, private training between boys and girls (definitely not a dating spot…).
Mitsuki walked up to the wooden target Rin had just hit, nodding with satisfaction at how deeply the shuriken had embedded.
"Good power, and solid control over the number of clones. Congratulations, Rin — you've fully mastered this jutsu."
Now then, what kind of training should he assign her next?
Since joining Mitsuki's training routine, Rin had already learned chakra control fundamentals like tree climbing and water walking. In terms of ninjutsu, Mitsuki had also taught her the Shadow Clone and Shuriken Shadow Clone.
At this point, Rin's skills rivaled, or even surpassed, most clan kids her age—borderline prodigy status.
Well… though in the world of Naruto, the word "prodigy" gets thrown around like candy.
As Mitsuki pondered, Rin blushed at the praise, clasping her hands behind her back and lightly tapping her toes against the ground.
"Ehehe~ It's all thanks to you, Mitsuki!"
To be fair, she wasn't wrong.
Although Rin's chakra control wasn't bad, reaching this level at her age wasn't something hard work alone could explain. Effort mattered, sure—but more importantly, Mitsuki had given her a tiny cheat.
His Six Eyes granted him extreme chakra precision and insight. When Mitsuki came into contact with someone who didn't resist, he could enter their chakra network and directly guide their chakra flow.
Rin never resisted Mitsuki's touch, so whenever they trained together, he could help fine-tune her chakra control in real time — drastically speeding up her progress.
Back to the matter at hand: Rin's chakra affinities were Fire and Water. Fire Release wasn't an issue— Kento had left behind a decent cache of fire-style jutsu, and Mitsuki himself was also fire-natured. Teaching her that would be easy.
But as for Water Release… Mitsuki racked his brain and couldn't think of any good sources of solid water-style techniques.
Oh well — start with Fire Release first.
"Rin, your next training assignment will be even tougher, so don't get too comfortable with your current progress."
"Got it, Mitsuki-sensei!"
"Good! Then your next goal will be…"
Mitsuki plucked a leaf from a nearby tree, pinched it between two fingers—and with a sudden whoosh, a burst of flame reduced it to ash.
"This."
"Ehh?!"
Rin blinked her large, round eyes in amazement, then eagerly stepped forward.
"Mitsuki, how'd you do that? You didn't even form a hand seal, but the leaf just burst into flame! I'm super curious!"
"Oh no. Too cute"
Despite having trained with her for so long, Mitsuki — an old soul in a young body — still found himself shaken whenever Rin unintentionally acted this adorable.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat and shifted into "Mitsuki-sensei mode".
"That technique is called Nature Transformation — a high-level chakra skill that even jōnin struggle to master."
"Whoa, amazing!" Rin never failed to cheer at the right moments. Always a positive morale boost.
"Once you get the hang of chakra nature transformation, you can integrate it into your jutsu—like this" Mitsuki believed in practical demonstrations over lectures.
He pulled a shuriken from the ninja tool pouch Rin had gifted him. To make things clearer, he slowed down his movements.
He first threw the shuriken, then immediately formed hand seals and blew a stream of fire from his mouth, which overtook the flying shuriken and wrapped it in flames.
But it didn't end there — he formed more seals and cast Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, duplicating the flaming shuriken into over a dozen copies.
Boom!
When they struck the target, the flaming shuriken triggered a chain of small explosions.
"This is the upgraded version of Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu"
"Normally, Phoenix Flower just wraps fire around shuriken to increase attack range and damage slightly. But it doesn't cause follow-up explosions on impact."
Mitsuki could've spawned even more shuriken, but this was just a demo—no need to go all out.
Rin tilted her head and asked curiously,
"Then why not just throw multiple shuriken from the start? Wouldn't that save chakra and reduce the enemy's reaction time?"
"Smart girl."
Mitsuki had predicted she'd ask this, so he was ready.
"You're absolutely right — but chakra nature transformation is extremely precise. Just coating one shuriken with chakra is already hard. Using Shuriken Shadow Clone afterward reduces the difficulty. It's a clever workaround — a composite ninjutsu."
"Besides, you can only physically throw so many shuriken at once. But once your chakra reserves grow, combining this with Shuriken Shadow Clone will massively boost your firepower and bring out the full potential of this composite jutsu."
That was the technical answer. The real reason?
Shuriken were expensive, especially during wartime. Flame-coated shuriken lost their edge after one use. For training, you could retrieve and reuse them — but in battle? One toss could burn through your whole inventory.
He wasn't a wealthy lady tossing gear like confetti—this kind of strategy wasn't cheap.
In the Naruto manga, Shuriken Shadow Clone was used by different characters with varying results. Depending on the weapon — some used windmill shuriken, others kunai — the effects changed.
But there were two clear categories: Regular ninja using Shuriken Shadow Clone...and Minato Namikaze's version.
Minato's variant, seen in the Lost Tower movie, had insane lethality. If others' versions were like pistols, Minato's was a floating artillery drone.
Mitsuki speculated that Minato had integrated Wind Release nature transformation into his technique, explaining the drastic difference.
So Mitsuki began researching the effect of different chakra natures on weapons. And it paid off.
Turns out, each chakra type bonded better with certain tools.
As mentioned, Mitsuki's innate chakra affinities were Fire, Wind, and Lightning. Fire chakra worked best with large-surface weapons like shuriken. Wind and Lightning, on the other hand, were better suited to kunai and senbon.
No doubt about it — Mitsuki had a real talent for this kind of experimental ninjutsu.