Chp-59: Bug Version 2.0

It had been over two months since Hyuga Satoru left the village.

During this time, he not only completed the solo missions assigned by the Hokage but also created the persona of Silver Masked Shura in the black market of the Land of Grass.

This persona had brought him significant benefits.

Not to mention the substantial bounties, his good brother Rasa had generously provided unrefined gold sand and a 30 million Ryo bounty head and even personally stood up to block Kukuzu's threat for him.

Isn't that touching?

Having gained enough and achieved his goal of honing his skills, it was time to return to the village.

Hyuga Satoru had never been so eager to return home.

According to his plan, there were many things he needed to do upon returning to the village.

...

Konoha.

Hokage's Office.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up and smiled when he saw who it was.

"It's you, Satoru. You've been away for over two months. How are you? Did you complete your missions?"

It was Hyuga Satoru, who had just returned to the village, looking travel-worn.

"Lord Hokage, I have completed all three missions. The B-rank mission of clearing out bandits, the A-rank mission of eliminating the rogue ninja Uesugi Toru, and another A-rank intelligence mission."

As he spoke, Hyuga Satoru presented the proof of his mission completion.

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced over the items and nodded approvingly.

"Very good. I knew I could count on you. Did you encounter any difficulties?"

"Only Uesugi Toru was troublesome. It took a long time to track him down, which caused some delays. Otherwise, everything went smoothly."

"Good."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded again.

Uesugi Toru was a cunning rogue ninja who had evaded the ANBU multiple times. That Hyuga Satoru managed to complete the mission was a pleasant surprise for Hiruzen.

Seeing that Hiruzen had no further questions, Hyuga Satoru quietly sighed in relief.

His statement served two purposes: to justify the two months spent on the missions and to probe whether the Hokage would mention the secret technique of the Uesugi clan.

Since Hiruzen didn't mention it, Hyuga Satoru naturally wouldn't report the discovery of the secret technique, as it wasn't part of his mission objectives.

Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a moment and said, "For the rewards, take my mission completion proof to the mission management office to redeem them."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage."

Hyuga Satoru nodded. Previously, it was usually his teacher, Aburame Shibi, who handled the reward collection. Now that he was working independently, he had to manage these minor details himself.

...

After redeeming the rewards for the three missions, Hyuga Satoru's savings increased once more.

However, money no longer excited him.

The gif of "I've never touched money, I'm not interested in money" came to mind.

Only the enhancement of his strength could give him satisfaction.

Especially after his time training in the underground black market, Hyuga Satoru realized the utmost importance of strength.

The Third Ninja War could break out at any moment, like the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head.

After preparing the necessary tools, Hyuga Satoru didn't return to his family but instead headed to the familiar training area in the back mountains.

Taking a deep breath and gathering his chakra, Hyuga Satoru called out.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In an instant, with a series of pops, numerous shadow clones appeared before him.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Hyuga Satoru looked a bit pale. This was the first time he had created so many shadow clones.

The first shadow clone takes away half of the user's chakra, and the second takes half of the remaining half, the third takes half of that, and so on.

This results in an exponential decrease in the user's remaining chakra, approaching zero as more clones are created.

Hyuga Satoru quickly calculated in his mind, understanding why Tobirama Senju classified the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu as a forbidden technique. The exponential depletion of chakra could dangerously approach zero, risking death from chakra exhaustion.

In the original series, Kakashi Hatake dies after using up all his chakras while fighting pain.

Luckily, Naruto's persuasive talk no jutsu turned Nagato around, sacrificing himself to use the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu.

Hyuga Satoru suppressed the emptiness from the massive chakra consumption, leaning against a tree trunk as he addressed his clones.

"Brothers, I've summoned you for a special task."

"Boss, are we forging weapons again?"

"Boss, your task is our task. No need to be so polite."

...

Seeing the eager expressions on his numerous clones, Hyuga Satoru felt gratified.

It seemed he had trained his clones well.

Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu was different from regular Shadow Clone Jutsu, as the clones had independent consciousness. Through his interactions, Hyuga Satoru developed effective training methods for them.

Since obtaining the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu, he hadn't forgotten to exploit its potential. However, the significant chakra consumption and the fatigue upon dispelling the clones meant he had to rest for many days after each use, limiting its frequency.

Nevertheless, each use of the clones granted substantial experience points, ranging from 800 to 1000 per session, significantly faster than his normal training.

Thanks to this, his electromagnetic power's experience points had reached 12,000, just 8,000 shy of the 20,000 needed for the next level.

Based on his current training progress and occasional experience boosts, he estimated it would take about five months to reach level 4.

But in the chaotic state of the ninja world, Hyuga Satoru felt...

That was too slow!

So, he planned to go all out tonight!

Taking a deep breath, he addressed his clones.

"In front of you are various metal tools. Your task is to work in groups of three to melt and reshape them into new tools."

"Understood?"

"Understood!"

The clones responded in unison, full of enthusiasm.

Satisfied, Hyuga Satoru nodded.

And so, the grand forging operation began.

The clones grouped in threes, skillfully levitating the metal tools and heating them with their hands, causing the black metal to glow red and the surrounding air to heat up.

It looked just like Naruto's iconic scene of summoning his clones to create Rasengan.

Meanwhile, Hyuga Satoru's experience points started to rise rapidly.

Noticing the faster gain compared to his previous training, he felt relieved.

The clones were using the level 3 Electromagnetic Furnace ability and the density compression technique.

The former was a newly developed ability after reaching level 3, while the latter involved compressing metal atoms to increase density, another advanced electromagnetic technique.

As his electromagnetic power increased, simpler abilities contributed less to his experience. For instance, even manipulating dozens of shuriken simultaneously barely moved the needle now.

A single clone couldn't handle advanced electromagnetic techniques well, so Hyuga Satoru grouped them into three groups to combine their abilities, resulting in higher experience gains.

However, this also meant greater fatigue and memory feedback upon dispelling the clones.

Exceeding his limits could be fatal!

It was a gamble.

But with the looming threat of war, Hyuga Satoru had no choice.

He had to control everything meticulously, ensuring no mistakes.