Tsunade left in a hurry.
Hyuga Kiyonari had originally wanted to ask her about the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but she was moving too fast. All she left him with was: "Leave the bowls—Shizune will wash them."
Fine. He'd have to figure it out himself for now.
On the bright side, at least he didn't have to do the dishes.
Kiyonari turned and headed for one of the village training grounds. When he trained his body, he liked going to a more remote public field—quiet, fewer people, easier to focus.
When students graduate from the Ninja Academy, they're required to be proficient in the three basic techniques: the Clone Jutsu, the Transformation Jutsu, and the Substitution Jutsu. The "clone" created by the basic Clone Jutsu has no physical body—it's only an illusion, like a shadow.
But the Shadow Clone Jutsu that the Third Hokage gave him was different. The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, created this solid-clone technique after drawing inspiration from Senju Hashirama's Wood Clone. A shadow clone has independent thought and can act on its own, use ninjutsu, and when it dispels, all of its memories return to the original.
Kiyonari entered the training ground, but it wasn't empty like usual. In the center, two people were practicing shuriken throwing.
Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi.
Sasuke noticed someone approaching and turned his head. A flicker of surprise crossed his black eyes.
"It's you," Sasuke said, sounding slightly unwilling. "Hyuga Kiyonari."
Kiyonari lifted a hand in greeting. "Sasuke—and Itachi too. What a coincidence. Didn't expect to run into you here."
Itachi replied politely, "Hello, Kiyonari-kun."
"I didn't even want to come to this training ground," Sasuke said, sounding like he was deliberately explaining himself. "The Uchiha have our own training ground, but my brother insisted on dragging me here."
Kiyonari's mouth twitched into a small smile. "Sasuke, do you know the idiom 'to cover it up and only make it more obvious'?"
"I'm not covering anything!"
Sasuke's face reddened slightly. If it weren't because Shisui always kept dragging his brother away, he wouldn't be here at all!
Then Sasuke suddenly remembered something and blurted out, "Hyuga Kiyonari—I want to compete with you in archery."
Kiyonari found it troublesome, so he waved him off. "I've already seen your archery, Sasuke. I'm no match for you. I concede. Besides, I came here today to practice the Shadow Clone Jutsu."
"Stop pretending!" Sasuke looked indignant. "My brother already told me—the arrow that hit the boar was yours. Mine missed!"
Kiyonari fell silent for a moment, then admitted it. "Yes, I shot it. But it was just luck."
"Luck?" Sasuke clenched his fists. Teenage stubbornness beat everything. "I don't believe that!"
"Hitting a boar's eye from that distance and angle is not something 'luck' can explain. Ever since that day, I've been training hard at home, waiting for this. I'm going to compete with you again."
"If you win this time, I'll have my brother teach you the Shadow Clone Jutsu."
But even with the stakes raised that high, Kiyonari still shook his head. "No."
"Why not?" Sasuke frowned in confusion. "Don't you want to learn Shadow Clone?"
"The one competing with me is you, but the one paying the price is your brother," Kiyonari said evenly. "So how are you going to make it up to Itachi?"
That made Sasuke freeze. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Itachi looked at Kiyonari, a glint of admiration flashing in his eyes.
He didn't cling to clan gains and losses, didn't cling to personal benefit—and he even considered what others would have to give. That kind of thinking was rare among peers… no, rare among almost anyone Itachi knew.
Kiyonari really did deserve the attention of the Hokage and Tsunade.
Sasuke lowered his head, embarrassed. "I… I didn't think that far."
But then Itachi spoke. "Kiyonari-kun is right. Still—I'm interested in you too."
"So I'll propose this myself: you and Sasuke compete once. Win or lose, I'll teach you Shadow Clone Jutsu. This isn't a wager—it's appreciation."
"In that case…" Kiyonari considered for a moment. "Sasuke, let's add a wager. If you lose, you have to agree to do one thing for me. Same goes for me if I lose."
"What thing?"
Kiyonari grinned, leaned in, and whispered two sentences into Sasuke's ear. In an instant, Sasuke's ears turned bright red.
"N-no way!" he yelped, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
But Kiyonari pinned him with one light sentence. "Or… do you think you'll lose?"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Sasuke took out a bow and arrows and pointed at the target they'd been using for shuriken practice. "We'll step back another fifty paces—one hundred paces total. Three arrows each. Bullseye is ten points, each ring down is one point less. We compare total score. How about it?"
Kiyonari nodded. "Fine."
Sasuke shot first. He drew the bowstring, aimed, and released.
Whoosh—
The arrow cut through the air and struck the eighth ring.
Sasuke frowned—clearly unsatisfied. He took a deep breath and fired his second arrow.
Whoosh—
This one hit the bullseye. Then the third arrow was even better—another bullseye.
Itachi nodded. "Total score: 28. Sasuke, well done."
Sasuke turned to Kiyonari, eyes full of challenge. "Your turn."
Kiyonari stepped up to the line, nocked an arrow, then closed his eyes, steadying his breath as he felt the wind and the flow of air around him.
Then he opened his eyes and drew.
Whoosh—
The first arrow hit dead center. Sasuke's eyes widened—but what shocked him was what came next.
Kiyonari didn't pause. He fired the next two arrows in rapid succession. The second split the shaft of the first arrow and still landed in the bullseye—and before the trembling fletching could even settle, the third arrow struck again, splitting it once more and burying itself in the center.
Itachi stared at the arrows in the target, surprise flashing in his eyes.
"What incredible archery," Itachi couldn't help praising. "That level of precision… even in Anbu, there are few who could match it."
Sasuke bit his lip. This wasn't just a loss—this was a total annihilation.
"Well played," Kiyonari said.
He handed the bow back. There was one thing he didn't say out loud:
Don't challenge my livelihood with your hobby.
Before the system awakened, Kiyonari had practiced archery every single day.
Not only to hunt and support himself, but more importantly—if he could master archery to an almost supernatural level, then once he was on a battlefield, he could "legitimately" hide and fire cold arrows from afar. Why use Gentle Fist and fight up close?
For that reason, the moment he refined his first thread of chakra, he went to buy chakra test paper to check his elemental affinity.
His chakra nature was—Wind.