Chapter 42 : An Unexpected Encounter

As they had been doing daily recently, Akeno and his group set out in the morning to venture into the forest near Hope City to practice various ninjutsu.

A gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the trees, accompanied by the sweet song of birds.

To Akeno's eyes, it was a perfect time to continue cultivating.

Surprisingly, research on multi-cloning was progressing quite well with Akeno and Kaede spending several hours a day trying to achieve a breakthrough.

They had managed to create several intangible clones that could not perform ninjutsu but could still return their memories to the user after their disappearance.

This was already a great feat.

All that remained was to successfully distribute the user's chakra proportionally into each clone and give them the ability to perform ninjutsu just like the user.

Looking at a clone of himself standing before him, Akeno felt new horizons opening up to him. "Now let's see how long it can stay among us," he said, sending his clone in a random direction.

With his clone gone, Akeno stopped the research and continued training with the others.

...

Further in the forest, the clone moved as fast as possible in a straight line.

It had no Qi, nor the ability to use chakra in its body to make great leaps or empower its steps.

It had to sense the state of its body to allow Akeno to perfect the technique and address the issues.

Running for over an hour, the clone, having the same body as its user, could run for several hours without disappearing from exhaustion.

Avoiding detection by any passing beasts, the clone had already covered a considerable distance from its point of origin.

Surprisingly, even at this distance and after such efforts, it felt it could keep running.

Normally, after exhaustion, a clone should no longer be able to maintain its existence and should disappear. But Akeno's clone felt it hadn't exerted much effort, even without the aid of Qi or chakra.

"Impressive. I wonder how long I can stay alive..."

For a cultivator at the Organ Fortification stage, physical efforts like simply running as it was doing were no longer a significant strain.

It needed something more.

Crack!

But as the clone pondered on how to test its limits, several sounds of breaking branches and footsteps were heard in large numbers.

A group of about twenty cultivators in white robes were running together towards the depths of the forest.

Liu Mei at the front of the group stopped immediately when she saw Akeno's clone watching them. It was very unsettling.

She could tell that Akeno emitted no Qi and seemed to be a simple mortal who had never practiced in his life. But Akeno's attire, with the sect's name on his back, was proof that he was indeed a real cultivator.

"Let's move on!" ordering her group to continue their course, Liu Mei didn't want to waste time with a random cultivator.

Even if they were reported to the sect, it was too late to hope to catch up and take what they had come for.

Letting the group pass before him, the clone could still sense the strength of the cultivators in front of him. Stronger than his real body.

Although Liu Mei did not recognize Akeno's identity, he recognized her. The genius of the Liu clan, and the sister of Liu Jie who had caused him trouble in Glory City.

Akeno had seen her from a distance several times during tournaments organized by the sect.

She was talented and felt a great responsibility towards her clan.

But what was the Liu clan doing here, so far from Glory City?

Moreover, it wasn't a small team but a significant force from the Liu clan. Even though their clan was powerful, sending twenty members at the Muscle Purification level was always complicated.

Sending them on a potentially deadly mission was even more complicated and dangerous.

Although their strength relied mostly on those at the Qi and Body Harmony level, such a loss could destabilize the clan for a good while. Especially the loss of a direct descendant like Liu Mei.

"In that direction... That's the Empire of Chaos..." thinking about their destination, the clone preferred to cancel its invocation to transmit the memories to its main body. Anyway, without Qi and without chakra, it couldn't follow them, and continuing to think here would be pointless.

Further in the forest, Akeno felt a flood of memories appear in his mind.

New ideas to perfect the multi-cloning technique.

Details on the clone's abilities.

And above all, the memories of the appearance of the Liu clan team.

"Interesting. What is Liu Mei doing here..." Just like his clone, Akeno considered different possibilities.

The appearance of a treasure?

A surprise attack?

A flight?

There were many theories, many options.

"Well, there's no point in thinking too much about it. After all, it doesn't concern me. So it's better to focus on what's ahead."

In truth, even if Akeno knew the reason for their expedition and had the ability to follow them, he probably wouldn't.

After all, now that he had chakra, why put himself in danger?

Sure, he no longer had the pills given by the sect like when he was in Glory City, but with chakra, his strength would continue to grow and his body would perfect and become stronger, allowing for simpler Qi cultivation.

Moreover, the pills given by the sect could no longer help him much in his cultivation.

He needed better pills. But it was impossible for him to have access to such pills, even in Glory City.

He wasn't skilled in alchemy and didn't come from a powerful clan that could give him access to a mountain of resources. He could do missions to earn mission points to exchange for all sorts of materials.

But this way, he could spend a lifetime working for the sect without seeing the end.

Chakra was a much better solution.

Even techniques difficult to obtain in this world could be replaced by ninjutsu or all sorts of jutsu from the Naruto world.

So why bother risking his life...

Stopping thinking about the Liu clan group, Akeno continued to climb the trees, walking horizontally on the trunk. It was quite a fun experience to practice.

...

Thus, time passed little by little. Days, then weeks, then two months.

In a training room of the sect that Akeno had privatized for himself and sealed with various Fūinjutsu, more than ten clones of himself stood around him with small rubber balloons in their hands.

The balloons seemed unstable and moved a lot in their otherwise static hands.

After two months, the situation in Hope City had calmed down considerably.

The Liu clan group had not reappeared, and Akeno had been able to take advantage of this tranquility to create and master the multi-cloning technique to perfection as well as many other techniques, both of Qi and chakra.

With his chakra having significantly increased, Akeno could produce a hundred clones without any problem.

It was gigantic. After training with various jutsu, his chakra reserve had increased to reach the elite among ninjas.

It wasn't at the level of a tailed beast, but it approached the lowest Kage level.

With his clones, the learning of various jutsu or the mastery of the techniques he had learned had accelerated by leaps and bounds.

He was still at level five of cultivation but could certainly fight without any problem with someone at level six.

That was his cheat.

Over time, the balls in the hands of the various clones exploded one by one, and a strong amount of rotating chakra was released from their hands.

Akeno was learning one of the most famous techniques from the Naruto world before his death. The Rasengan.

"If even Hashirama and Madara are not yet born, then it means I will create a technique that will not see the light of day for at least a century. How exciting."

Suddenly, all the clones disappeared in a puff of smoke. Akeno, who was at the center of the room, stood up and approached the door with a calm mind.

If he continued like this, he could learn the Rasengan in very little time. Unlike Naruto, Akeno was, to his great delight, quite talented in chakra control.

Opening the door of the room, Akeno saw Xu Jie covered in blood with a frightened expression. "Akeno! It's the children, they've been kidnapped!"