Starts In Konoha: Unlocking Shadow Clone

Naruto's plan was simple yet effective… a classic case of 'substitute the real with the fake'.

"Kin, Gin, I'm putting you two in charge of handling everything related to Gato." Naruto said calmly.

"Yes, Naruto-sama, we will do our best!"

The Takagi brothers were thrilled beyond belief. For these finance experts, participating in such an ambitious operation was beyond their wildest dreams.

Naruto gave a slight nod. With the Takagi brothers overseeing the finances, there was no need for him to waste more words with Zabuza.

"All right, you two can go now. I have other arrangements to make."

Naruto said, waving them off. The Takagi brothers bowed and left the room.

"Naruto-sama, if you have any other arrangements, just let me know."

At this moment, Zabuza was already full of admiration for Naruto.

Living a life filled with only killing and death, Naruto had offered Zabuza a glimpse of a hope he'd longed for without realizing it.

"My arrangement is this..."

Naruto then began assigning tasks to Zabuza and Haku. It took him an entire hour to go over everything.

After hearing the plan, both Zabuza and Haku were extremely excited.

"I look forward to seeing you two days from now. I'll take my leave now."

"Farewell, Naruto-sama!"

After Zabuza and Haku bowed respectfully, Naruto dispersed his shadow clone and disappeared completely in a puff of white smoke.

Meanwhile, back at Tazuna's house…

Naruto had just finished dinner when he suddenly stiffened. At this moment, a large number of memories that were both familiar and unfamiliar flooded into his mind.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing."

Naruto shook his head, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise.

He was starting to see just how useful the Shadow Clone Technique could be. After all, every time he sent out a clone, it brought back unexpected benefits.

This time, he'd sent out a clone just to assign tasks to Zabuza and didn't even think about signing in.

But since the clone had stayed in Zabuza's underground base for a while, he unexpectedly received a sign-in reward.

[It is detected that the host has stayed in Zabuza's underground base for one hour. Sign-in successful. Reward: Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!]

Along with the system prompt sound, a surge of new knowledge surfaced in his mind, and the Water Attribute Chakra appeared within him, filling his limbs and body.

He felt an incredible sensation, like he was floating, with a faint sound of dragon roars in his mind. It felt as if he could summon an unstoppable water dragon with just a wave of his hand.

It took Naruto about five minutes to completely master this technique.

This is enough to show the complexity of this technique.

[Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique: Creates a water dragon that charges forward, knocking the enemy back.]

In Naruto's impression, this is just a B-Rank Ninjutsu, and its complexity came mainly from the sequence of hand seals.

Because he obtained it from Zabuza's territory, his Water Dragon Bullet Technique is not a simplified version, but rather the perfected Water Dragon Jutsu, requiring a whopping forty-four hand seals.

[Seal Sequence: Ox - Monkey - Hare - Rat - Boar - Bird - Ox - Horse - Bird - Rat - Tiger - Dog - Tiger - Snake - Ox - Ram - Snake - Boar - Ram - Rat - Yang Water - Monkey - Bird - Dragon - Bird - Ox - Horse - Ram - Tiger - Snake - Rat - Monkey - Hare - Boar - Dog - Ram - Rat - Ox - Monkey - Bird - Yang Water - Rat - Boar – Bird]

This Ninjutsu was legendary in the early days of Naruto, but Kishimoto was too lazy to draw it in the later part, so the characters could use the ultimate move with just a few hand seals or even without any hand seals.

This also made the Water Dragon Bullet Technique iconic, known for having the longest casting time in the Naruto series.

Regardless of its practical value, Naruto's first thought about this Ninjutsu was that it would be the perfect way to show off.

The process of forming hand seals rapidly is indeed flashy, especially with the appearance of the majestic water dragon at the end. This move was, without a doubt, perfect for showing off.

Naruto had already decided that, in future battles, whenever the situation allowed, he would definitely use this Ninjutsu to show off a bit.

Naruto felt that relying solely on Kyubi's power for physical attacks was far too simple, almost making him resemble One Punch Man… completely lacking the aura of a true expert.

However, just as Naruto was savoring this thought, an immature voice cut through the atmosphere at the dinner table.

"Why do you have to work so hard? Even if you train, you can't defeat Gato's men. No matter how many grand things you say or how hard you try, the weak will always lose to the strong. If you stay here, you'll only end up dead."

Naruto looked up and saw that the person who spoke was Inari, who had tears in his eyes.

Naruto still had a deep impression of this child.

Inari had been timid, but his stepfather, Kaiza, inspired courage in him… only for Gato to cruelly cut him down, destroying what little courage Inari had and turning him into a cowardly crybaby.

But no matter how miserable Inari is, what does it have to do with Naruto?

He is not the Naruto in the original work. He wasn't inclined to interfere in others' business, nor did he have boundless sympathy.

Especially now, since Inari had interrupted his moment of pride, which made Naruto feel quite annoyed.

"My hard work bothering you? Why do you love meddling so much?"

Inari clenched his fists, his tears falling harder as he yelled, "Shut up! You're the one meddling in other people's business. I get angry just looking at you… you don't understand anything about this country, yet you flaunt yourself as if you do! You don't know anything about pain. You're not like me at all, always smiling as if nothing's wrong!"

Hearing this, Naruto laughed.

"You're right. We're nothing alike. I'd never sit around crying, belittling others just because I'm weak. You sit here complaining instead of working on yourself, so it's no wonder you're a weakling. Let me give you words of advice: you deserve it!"

"People like you waste air while you're alive, waste land when you're dead, and while you're half-dead, you're wasting money."

"Oh, and by the way, your family's broke. Otherwise, your grandpa wouldn't have lied when he hired us."

"Well, let me give you a suggestion. Since you think you can't defeat Gato and have been living under Gato's shadow, why not just die? This way, your family can save some food. Maybe without you, your mother can remarry into a good family without any worries. Wouldn't that be a happy ending for everyone?"

Naruto's words hit Inari like a hammer, and his tears flowed even harder.

"Naruto, you went too far." Sakura frowned, disturbed by his harshness.

"Too far? I think I wasn't harsh enough!"

Naruto snorted.

Bang!

"That's enough!"

Tazuna slammed the table and glared at Naruto.

Naruto smiled playfully, "Why, the younger one can't handle it, so you, the older one, come out? In that case, I'll have a good talk with you too."

"Do you really think building a bridge will change things? Even if you build the bridge, Gato can still tear it down. The only reason he's stopping you is because you bring hope to the people of the Land of Waves. Gato only wants obedient, fearful workers. Getting rid of you is just another way to snuff out any hope the people have… like what he did with Kaiza."

"To be honest, the Land of Waves is just a poor and remote place. Gato came here only because you guys are easy to bully and have some value. If you people had the guts to fight back, he wouldn't waste his time on such a worthless bone to chew. It's just not worth it."

The more Naruto spoke, the more his frustration grew. If the Land of Waves had any courage, he wouldn't have had to earn a 'Courage Blessing' buff when signing in here.

But when he heard this, Tazuna's face changed drastically, and he felt as if something suddenly dawned on him.

'Yes, the Land of Waves had survived without a bridge before. The only thing missing now was the courage to resist.'

'Just like Inari who now lives under Gato's shadow.'

"I understand. I understand everything now! Naruto, thank you!"

Tazuna said, bowing deeply to him.

"Huh? You understand? Understand what?"

Naruto was caught off guard by Tazuna's bow, and his anger diminished a little, replaced with confusion.

Tazuna then said, "Naruto, I really understand now. Everything you said, to Inari, and to me, was to ignite our courage. You were willing to play the 'bad guy' just to push us. I can't believe I misunderstood you until now. I feel terrible!"

As he said that, he pulled Inari over and said sternly: "Stop crying! Don't you get Naruto's intentions? If you're a man, face your challenges without fear!"

Inari also gradually stopped crying. He also bowed deeply to Naruto and said, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you before. I understand. I'll work hard from now on!"

'Wait, what?'

Seeing the performance of this grandfather and grandson, Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

'Could it be? Are you two the true Masters of Understanding?'