My Techniques are a bit off

Both Iris and Ami had already met the basic requirements to perform ninjutsu.

Over the past six months of training, their chakra reserves and physical stamina had improved significantly.

Most genin and chunin relied heavily on the Three Basic Techniques and taijutsu, but mastering a few ninjutsu to serve as trump cards was crucial. This was why Link shared his understanding and experiences with them in detail.

Training in nature transformation wasn't particularly difficult but required painstaking effort. Essentially, it involved repeatedly honing the natural properties of one's chakra. By constantly using one's chakra with its innate nature—whether it be wind, fire, or another element—ninjas would eventually internalize the feeling of nature transformation.

Once they could grasp this, combining it with shape transformation would lead to the creation of fully formed ninjutsu.

For example, when Kakashi trained Naruto in wind nature transformation, he mentioned that ordinary people might take six months just to cut a leaf, with the entire process spanning several years.

However, for prodigies and those with cheats like Naruto, it was a different story.

Naruto, using his shadow clones, mastered leaf-cutting in two days. Sasuke, training under Orochimaru, learned the full range of lightning nature transformations—including advanced applications like body activation—in just a few days.

That said, even without in-depth knowledge of nature transformation, one could still use basic ninjutsu. Since elemental affinities were innate, Naruto's chakra naturally cut leaves, and Sasuke's chakra inherently produced flames. This gave them an advantage when learning elemental jutsu.

However, mastering more advanced ninjutsu, improving efficiency and power, or even creating new techniques, required systematic training in nature transformation. This kind of training also served as an excellent way to refine chakra control.

Unfortunately, such training was beyond the capabilities of most academy students—or even genin—due to their limited chakra reserves and control abilities. It was typically reserved for chunin, who had the time, resources, and access to a variety of elemental jutsu.

Link hoped his teammates could go further, so he combined his knowledge from his past life with his current ninja training. After systematically organizing his insights, he passed them on to Iris and Ami, laying the foundation for their progress.

While a month of training might not yield immediate results, he was confident that with persistence, they would grow much stronger.

By now, Link wasn't even sure whether he was helping them out of a sense of duty or genuine care. Either way, he didn't resist the sentiment.

And that was enough for him.

"Alright, they're taken care of. Now it's time for my training," Link muttered after lecturing his teammates for what felt like hours. His jaw was sore.

"Let's see what Ensui-sensei gave me."

He unrolled the scroll, his eyes scanning the text.

It was encoded in a cipher—a standard practice for ninja training materials. The academy had covered basic cryptography, and Link had seen it often during C-rank missions. The village even had a dedicated Cipher Division and a specialized library for codes.

After decoding the message, his eyes widened.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu?!"

Rubbing his face, Link exclaimed, "A B-rank technique… a standard jutsu for jonin? This is definitely a treasure."

It was a priceless gift.

"Boom!"

Another puff of white smoke dissipated.

"Failed again..." Link sighed, slumping to the ground in exhaustion. It was his third failed attempt at the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Despite its ubiquity in the manga, the Shadow Clone Jutsu was undeniably a B-rank technique for a reason. Its difficulty was on par with other jonin-level jutsu.

Even in the Konoha Crush Arc, Orochimaru taunted the Third Hokage for not using shadow clones. The real reason?

"It's not that he won't use them—he can't. His chakra isn't what it used to be… Shadow Clones require evenly dividing one's chakra, and even the slightest mistake leads to wasted energy… He's too old for this."

While the jutsu didn't consume much chakra to cast, the requirement to evenly split one's chakra made it extremely taxing. For most ninjas, this meant losing half their chakra in an instant, which was a significant drain (though some exceptions existed).

Even the Third Hokage worried about wasting chakra due to a slight miscalculation, underscoring the technique's complexity.

Link's chakra control was impressive, but by jonin standards, it was average at best. Compared to masters like the Hokage or Orochimaru, his control left much to be desired. Unsurprisingly, the Shadow Clone Jutsu proved to be a significant hurdle.

The crux of the difficulty lay in perfectly dividing fluctuating chakra levels. If the division was even slightly off, the jutsu would fail.

Ironically, less intelligent ninjas, relying on instinct and decisive action, often had a higher success rate. In contrast, those prone to overthinking—like Link—tended to struggle.

"The Shadow Clone Jutsu might be more unique than I thought..."

As Link rested and recovered his strength, a thought struck him.

Most jutsu allowed for flexibility in chakra usage. As long as the steps were correct, minor variations in chakra amounts didn't matter. But the Shadow Clone Jutsu demanded absolute precision, forcibly consuming half of the user's total chakra.

This specificity hinted at a potentially unique nature.

"Shadow… clone… body…" Link pondered the literal meaning of the jutsu's name. Could it actually separate one's shadow from their body?

Such a possibility felt absurd. He couldn't imagine how separating shadows would work or what practical use it might have. However, if true, it could completely counter techniques like the Nara Clan's Shadow Imitation Jutsu.

"A countermeasure for Nara techniques? That's… oddly fitting, considering who gave me this scroll."

The thought amused him briefly before he dismissed it. "Alright, let's try again."

Link stood up, gathered his remaining chakra, carefully divided it, formed the seals, and cast the jutsu.

This time, there was no puff of smoke. Instead, he felt a strange sensation.

He looked down and realized his shadow was rippling unnaturally, as though disconnected from him. At the edges where the shadow met his body, faint distortions danced like heatwaves.

"Did I… just separate my shadow?"