On his way home, Kairi Shinatokawa reflected on his first day at the academy. Truthfully, he hadn't gained much. The classes so far were mainly about Konoha's history, and real chakra training would only begin once the students were sufficiently intrigued. For now, the school was just laying the groundwork.
Still, they had handed out textbooks, and Kairi could study on his own.
As for the Three Basic Jutsu, he knew they wouldn't be taught during the first year. In these peaceful times, the curriculum for first-years was limited to theoretical knowledge and physical conditioning. The goal for this year was simply to help students build up a basic reserve of chakra.
Kairi glanced up at the sky. It was still early. Compared to his past life, school here was incredibly easy.
At this hour, his mother was probably still working.
But then he remembered what she had said before he left that morning: to come home early. So he didn't wander around. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he broke into a light jog toward home. It wasn't far just a few kilometers but it served as a decent warm-up. He had to admit, people in the Naruto world were built differently.
"I'm home," Kairi called out automatically as he opened the door, just as his mother had trained him to.
Then he froze.
He had expected the house to be empty. Instead, his mother stood there smiling warmly, and the table behind her was full of food.
"Welcome back!"
"Mom? You're home already?" Kairi asked, a little surprised.
"Of course I am! Today was your first day of school, Kairi. I couldn't miss it," she said with a cheerful grin.
"…I see."
No matter how many times he lived, the look in Kairi's eyes softened. From the moment he was a baby, he had seen just how much this woman gave for their family. Even after reincarnation, he had quickly accepted that Shinai was his mother now.
"But I'm sorry, Kairi. Today was the only day I could take off. From tomorrow on, you'll have to go to and from school alone. I know some kids get picked up by their families, but…" Her voice faltered with guilt. Was she blaming herself?
"It's fine," Kairi said, stepping forward to wrap his arms around her.
"I'm so embarrassed… needing comfort from my own child," Shinai chuckled bitterly. Then, trying to cheer up, she added, "How about this? To make it up to you, you can ask for anything you want. I'll try to make it happen."
Kairi thought for a moment. Honestly, he was pretty content with life right now.
"I don't really need anything," he said truthfully.
Shinai looked disappointed, as if she truly wanted to do something special for him.
Kairi noticed. Maybe he should just ask for something anything.
"Oh right! Your teacher must've talked about ninja history today, huh? So, Kairi, do you want to become a ninja?" she asked with a warm smile.
"Yeah. I want to become the strongest ninja," Kairi said without hesitation.
Her eyes lit up. "In that case, you can tell me if there's any jutsu you want to learn. Your mom has… connections, you know."
But she quickly realized there was a problem. Kairi probably didn't know much about jutsu yet. And even if he did, she herself had hardly used ninjutsu in years. As a former genin, her repertoire was limited. Maybe she could ask one of her old comrades for a demonstration…
"Jutsu, huh? Then I'd like to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu," Kairi said, voicing his real desire.
"Huh? Shadow Clone? Why that one? It's actually pretty difficult. And honestly, it's not even that useful in battle," Shinai said, frowning. She wasn't sure how Kairi had even heard of it.
"Ah, there's no special reason," Kairi replied casually. "I saw a jonin use it once. The clones were solid, not illusions. I thought it was really cool, and I promised myself I'd learn it someday if I got the chance."
It was a lie, of course. He couldn't tell her the real reason.
As for her claim that the jutsu wasn't useful in combat well, Kairi had never planned to use it that way anyway. That kind of luxury was reserved for Naruto or people with Uzumaki-level chakra pools.
What Kairi wanted was the Shadow Clone Jutsu's unique ability to transfer experience. That alone made it invaluable.
Sure, it was classified as a B-rank technique, but Kairi doubted it truly deserved that rating. Naruto had learned an even more advanced version the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu in a single night. Clearly, the difficulty was overhyped.
That said, the B-rank label wasn't entirely baseless. The chakra requirement alone made it inaccessible to most. Only jonin-level ninja had enough chakra to use it in real combat.
After all, the jutsu split your chakra evenly among the clones. But Kairi suspected it only divided the chakra you had already drawn out not the total reserves stored within your body. No way the jutsu split your untapped physical and spiritual energy.
So for genin or even chunin, a single clone might use up all their chakra. If it got destroyed with one hit, and could only use taijutsu… how useful was that really?
But Kairi never intended to use clones in combat. He was still in his foundation-building phase. One or maybe two clones would help immensely with that.
And he didn't plan to use them the way Naruto did hundreds at a time. Just one was enough. And he'd assign it only light tasks. If his body handled it well, he could increase the number later.
"But this is a rare opportunity, Kairi. Using it for Shadow Clone seems like a waste. It's not that helpful. Why don't you think it over? I could even invite an old friend to demonstrate other jutsu for you," Shinai said, clearly reluctant.
The truth was, the opportunity she mentioned came from something her late husband had left behind.
Even though the chance still existed, getting access to jutsu now required calling in favors from her former instructors. That was no small matter.
Using that rare favor for a single Shadow Clone Jutsu… and a B-rank one at that… didn't sit well with her. She could trade it for several useful C-rank techniques instead.
"…Huh?" Kairi blinked.
He had assumed his mother was just referring to some jutsu his father had left behind. That was why he hadn't taken it seriously. But now it sounded like this was a real chance to acquire the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
His eyes lit up.
Kairi immediately began pleading his case, full of enthusiasm. He kept at it, patiently and persistently, until Shinai finally and reluctantly gave in.
"Alright, alright! Shadow Clone it is. If it makes you happy, then fine. Just don't come crying if you regret it later," she said with a sigh.
"I won't regret it, not ever! You're the best, Mom!" Kairi cheered.
"Come on, let's eat," Shinai said, smiling at her son's excitement.
Forget it. If Kairi was happy, that was all that mattered. Whether he became a great ninja or not didn't really matter.