Shota sat alone in the deepest training room of the ANBU headquarters. The walls were thick stone. No one ever came here unless they wanted complete privacy.
It was perfect for secrets which he seemed to have a lot of, perfect for naps and perfect for his secret training.
For the past year, between missions and Spider and Earthworm's training, Shota had worked on his biggest personal project.
It was not a new Rasengan variant like the last time. It was not something like binding cloth tricks. It was something much bigger.
He has been working on the Shadow Clone Jutsu. A jutsu that he wanted so badly.
He remembered asking Spider once if knowing the hand signs was enough to copy a jutsu.
Spider had laughed so hard he almost fell off his chair. "If it was that easy, every village would steal everything. Yes, knowing the hand signs is an important part. But you also need to know how the chakra should flow inside the body as you use the hand signs. You need to understand how the jutsu works inside and out. You need to know about the intracies of the jutsu and how the jutsu functioned and also the rules on which it functions."
Shota had everything except knowing how to move the chakra inside his body for the jutsu and the official scroll.
He knew the hand signs from watching Naruto use them a thousand times in his old life. He knew the rules: chakra split perfectly even and real and solid clones were formed and the memories of clones returned when they popped.
He even bought an Earth Clone scroll from the ANBU rewards just to study how clones were shaped, even though he could never use earth jutsu himself. He studied how the chakra moved for those using the diagrams in the scroll.
The most difficult step for others would be the second step considering not many knew how shadow clone jutsu functioned. And that's why the shinobi villages had not managed to figure out the jutsu but Shota knew it all thanks to the anime. He knew that the chakra would have to move through the brain since memories were shared between clones.
Shota had the basic requirement of chakra to create at most 2 shadow clones. But even those two would help him increase his training speed by 200 percent.
With canon approaching, Shota knew that he needed to be ready. Besides, Shadow clone jutsu would help him in fighting too.
He did not have any clone jutsu yet and shadow clone jutsu would be the perfect clones to be used in battle.
Eight months of careful experiments. Eight months of almost blowing himself up. And he was getting ready to finally re-engineer the shadow clone jutsu.
One time a clone came out with three arms and no face. Another time the clone had legs for arms and ran away screaming. Shota chased it for twenty minutes before it tripped and exploded.
Today felt different.
He stood in the centre of the room and took a deep breath.
"Experiment number two thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine," he said out loud. "Let's not almost die this time from Chakra exhaustion like last time because of forming a clone with too much chakra."
He formed the cross seal.
Bang!
Smoke filled the room.
When it cleared, another Shota stood beside him. Same height. Same messy hair. Same tired eyes.
Shota stared.
The clone stared back.
"So… you gonna stand there or do something?" Shota asked.
The clone saluted. "Ready for orders, boss."
Shota pointed at the floor. "Dance."
The clone immediately started doing the most embarrassing dance possible. Arms flailing. Legs kicking. Hips shaking like it was Shakira.
Shota tried not to laugh. "Okay, stop. Walk around."
The clone walked in perfect circles, counting steps out loud.
"Now sleep."
The clone threw itself on the ground, curled up, and started fake snoring louder than a drunk man after festival.
Shota covered his ears. "I said sleep, not summon a tornado with your nose!"
The clone opened one eye and grinned.
Shota took a deep breath. "Fine. Last test. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."
The clone stood up, formed perfect seals, and breathed a beautiful fireball that hit the training dummy and burned it to ash.
Shota's heart raced.
It worked.
He punched the clone in the face.
The clone looked betrayed for one second before popping into smoke.
Memories rushed back.
Dancing. Walking. Pretending to sleep. Making the fireball. Getting punched.
Shota grabbed his head. The memories felt like two lives happening at once. A sharp headache stabbed behind his eyes.
"Okay," he muttered. "Too much at once. Gotta get used to this."
But it worked.
He had done it.
He had recreated the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
A massive grin spread across his face.
"Celebration nap time!"
He pulled out a storage scroll and unsealed his most precious items: a soft bed, a fluffy pillow, and his favourite blanket.
Right there in the middle of the ANBU training ground, he made the bed perfectly. He fluffed the pillow twice. He crawled under the blanket and sighed happily.
"Best day ever," he mumbled.
Then he remembered something.
He still had to hide this from Spider and the Kazekage.
If they found out he recreated a forbidden Konoha technique, they would ask questions. Lots of questions. Maybe lock him in a room and study him like a lab rat.
Shota pulled the blanket over his head.
"I'll think of a good lie tomorrow," he said to the darkness.
Then he fell asleep in the middle of the most secure, Anbu training ground in Suna, snoring softly under his blanket like he was at home.
Any ANBU who walked in would probably think they were dreaming.
The great Eraserhead, feared assassin, curled up like a sleepy cat in the middle of the Anbu training ground.
---------Author Notes--------
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