Kenji didn't have a fishing rod, but he was a ninja now. That meant fishing the ninja way.
He pulled a kunai from his pouch and focused on the stream below. The water was clear enough to see the fish swimming in lazy circles near the bottom. He picked his target, the biggest one in the school.
His wrist snapped forward. The kunai plunged into the water. Tiny droplets sprayed upward as the blade went through scales and flesh. The fish thrashed once, violently, then the kunai's momentum carried it toward the riverbed. The chakra thread attached to the weapon went taut, and he yanked hard. The fish shot back up through the water.
He caught it by the gills as it broke the surface, still twitching weakly. The scales had a faint bluish shimmer to them. Pretty thing. He examined it for a moment but couldn't identify the species. The original Kenji's memories confirmed it was edible, but that was about it. Definitely nothing from his past life.
"Even a small river has fish this big," he muttered. "Chakra and natural energy must affect everything here. Makes sense that some summoning animals can talk."
Summoning animals. That thought stuck with him. He rifled through the original Kenji's memories and came up empty. The guy had never formed a summoning contract. He was too focused on sensory work to bother branching out.
"I should look into that."
Reconnaissance, combat support, emergency escapes. Summoning animals were versatile in this world. Worth pursuing if he found the right opportunity.
He used the same method to catch three more fish in quick succession. By the time he finished, dusk had settled properly over the training grounds. The forest buzzed with insects and evening wind rustled through the leaves. He cleaned the fish by the stream, gutting them and rinsing off the blood.
Then he gathered dry branches and built a small fire. Wilderness survival was basic ninja training, and grilling fish was hardly challenging. He skewered the cleaned fish on thin sticks and propped them over the flames. Soon the smell of cooking meat filled the air.
While waiting for dinner, he retrieved the rabbit cage from where he'd left it in the shade. He opened the door and lifted the rabbit out, setting it on the ground. Being raised in captivity had made it docile, so it didn't bolt. It just sat there and started nibbling grass.
He stepped back about three meters.
His fingers twitched. Chakra threads shot out and attached to the rabbit. The animal went completely still.
With a mental command, he made the rabbit stand on its hind legs. Then he forced it into an awkward backflip. The rabbit tumbled through the air and landed heavily. Its eyes, which had been vacant a moment ago, now filled with terror.
Kenji could feel faint resistance through the threads. The rabbit's instincts were screaming at it to run. But it was just an ordinary animal. Its strength meant nothing against chakra manipulation. It could only obey as Kenji made it spin in circles, and hop on one foot.
"Controlling living things feels almost identical to controlling wooden puppets. Is this how human puppets work?"
If you could puppet a rabbit this easily, what about a person? Strip away the flesh, replace it with mechanisms, keep just enough biology to maintain the chakra network...
He shook his head. Not the time for that rabbit hole.
"Enough playing around. Time to eat."
The smell of grilled fish had intensified while he'd been distracted. He directed the rabbit back into its cage with the threads and closed the door. The animal still had uses. Otherwise he might have just roasted it alongside the fish.
He grabbed one of the skewers and sprinkled some salt from his supplies. First bite was decent. No fancy seasonings, but the fish meat mixed with the smoky char from the fire tasted better than he'd expected. He demolished the first fish in minutes, then the second, then the third. By the time he finished, he was pleasantly full.
Following proper protocol, he buried the fire completely with dirt and checked twice for remaining embers. Leaving a fire smoldering in a training ground was a stupid way to burn down half the village. Once satisfied everything was cold and dead, he picked up the rabbit cage and headed home.
---
Back in his house, Kenji didn't immediately rest. He had something important to test. He took the snow rabbit out of its cage and placed it on the wooden floor. Then he backed up five meters and took a deep breath, reviewing the technique in his mind.
The Mind Body Switch was the Yamanaka clan's signature jutsu. He'd studied it through the original Kenji's memories, but reading about a technique and performing it were two very different things.
He brought his hands together, forming the circular hand seal with his palms facing the rabbit.
"Mind Body Switch Technique!"
The moment he activated it, his spiritual energy launched outward. It crossed the distance instantly and slammed into the rabbit. His consciousness followed that energy, flooding into the animal's body.
His perspective dropped violently.
The room that had been normal-sized a second ago suddenly loomed huge around him. Furniture became mountains. The ceiling stretched high. And his own human body collapsed to the floor.
This was the Mind Body Switch in action.
He tried to move and felt the rabbit's body respond. Four legs instead of two, a tail twitching behind him, and ears swiveling independently to track sounds. The sensory input was overwhelming. Everything smelled different. The world looked different through herbivore eyes, with wider peripheral vision but less depth perception.
He hopped forward. The motion felt alien. His human brain kept trying to walk on two legs, but the rabbit body had four. After a few awkward attempts, he got the hang of it and managed to move around the room.
But even as he tested the technique's capabilities, he was aware of its massive flaws.
First problem: his real body was lying unconscious on the floor, completely defenseless. Anyone could walk in right now and kill him. One kunai to the throat and he'd be dead before his consciousness could return. The technique required your entire mind to enter the target, which meant leaving your original body as an empty shell.
Second problem: the spiritual energy only traveled in a straight line. If he'd missed the rabbit, his consciousness would have been stuck outside his body with no way back in. He'd be helpless, and any enemy nearby could finish him off. The effective range was limited too, depending entirely on how much spiritual power you had.
Third problem: any damage the controlled body took would feedback to him through the spiritual connection. If someone killed the rabbit while his consciousness was inside it, the shock could kill him too, or at least leave him severely injured.
Three critical weaknesses that turned an otherwise powerful technique into a double-edged sword.
Still, he couldn't help comparing it to the Spirit Transformation Technique that Dan had used. That jutsu let you project your spirit without leaving your body defenseless, could travel any distance or direction, and even allowed you to attack enemies directly by possessing their souls. The Mind Body Switch had all the drawbacks with none of the benefits.
But there was a key difference. The Spirit Transformation Technique was S-rank and had died with Dan. Meanwhile, the Mind Body Switch was standard training for every Yamanaka clan member. You could learn it as a genin. It wasn't as powerful, but it was accessible. And more importantly, it was just the foundation. The Yamanaka had developed advanced versions over the years. Mind Clone Switch, which let you split your consciousness to control multiple targets. Mind Body Disturbance, which disrupted enemy chakra and thought processes. A whole progression tree of techniques built on this basic skill.
For a genin still relying on kunai and basic taijutsu, even the standard Mind Body Switch was incredibly strong. Against opponents who didn't know it was coming, it was practically a one-hit kill. You just needed to use the technique smartly. Wait for the right moment, hve teammates covering your body, and don't miss your shot.
Kenji wasn't done testing yet.
He stayed in the rabbit's body for another ten minutes, making it hop around the room, up onto a low cabinet, under the desk. He tested the limits of control, feeling how his spiritual energy connected to the animal's nervous system.
The Mind Body Switch was a battle of mental strength. Small animals like rabbits had almost no spiritual power, which made them easy to control completely. But against a ninja? The stronger the opponent, the shorter the control duration. If the gap in power was too large, they might break free instantly.
After understanding the technique's mechanics, he released it and snapped back to his own body.
The rabbit in the corner had curled into a trembling ball, its fur puffed up defensively. It watched him with wariness now, finally understanding that the human was dangerous.
Kenji ignored the animal.
Sadly, he couldn't improve the jutsu, not with his current skill level. And considering the technique had been passed down through generations of Yamanaka ninjas, all of them smarter and more experienced than him, the flaw probably couldn't be fixed through simple modification. If there was an easy solution, someone would have found it already.
"If I can't change the technique, I need to protect my body during use. Or..." A wild idea flickered through his mind. "Maybe there's another application I'm not seeing."
The thought was incomplete, but intriguing. It would require knowledge he didn't have yet. Medical ninjutsu basics, for starters. He filed the idea away for later investigation.
Using a chakra thread, he guided the still-trembling rabbit back into its cage and fed it a handful of pellets the shop owner had included with the purchase. The animal ate quietly, probably still in shock from being possessed.
Kenji headed for bed. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Possessing another living thing took a surprising amount of energy. He lay down, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.
Then immediately opened them again.
"The Shadow Clone Technique!"
The thought hit him like lightning. He'd been meaning to find it for days now, ever since he'd first considered the possibilities. And with the Mind Body Switch fresh in his mind, the potential combination suddenly seemed urgent.
"I'm not going to sleep anyway if I don't check."
He threw off the blanket and got up, heading for the study.
The room was exactly as he'd left it earlier. Scrolls stacked haphazardly on shelves, some organized, most not. His father had been meticulous about some things and careless about others. Jutsu storage apparently fell into the latter category.
Kenji started searching. He pulled out scroll after scroll, checking the labels when they had them, unrolling the unlabeled ones to read the first few lines.
Fire Release variations, Water Release basics, sensor technique notes, Yamanaka clan meditation exercises... Nothing he needed right now.
Then his hand closed on a different scroll. He unrolled it and saw neat handwriting filling the margins with detailed annotations and study notes.
Medical ninjutsu.
The handwriting was instantly recognizable. His mother's.
His hands stopped on the scroll as memories flooded in.
Shizue had been a jonin-level sensor ninja. When the Second Great Ninja War erupted and the casualty rates skyrocketed, Tsunade had witnessed the carnage firsthand and proposed sweeping reforms to medical ninjutsu training. The Third Hokage had rejected the proposal. It was too expensive and time-consuming for the current crisis.
But Tsunade hadn't given up. She'd distributed medical scrolls to any ninja willing to learn, building a grassroots medical corps despite the lack of official support. Shizue had been one of the first to volunteer. She'd studied these techniques obsessively, teaching herself field medicine between missions. She'd served as her team's medical specialist for years, saving countless lives.
Until someone failed to save hers.
The annotations in the margins told the story of her dedication. There were a lot of questions, insights, technique modifications, and reminders about chakra control precision.
"Don't worry. I'll make it count."
He wasn't sure if he was talking to Shizue's ghost or the original Kenji's lingering presence in his inherited memories. Maybe both. Either way, the promise felt real.
He set the medical scroll aside and continued searching. The Shadow Clone Technique had to be here somewhere. His parents wouldn't have thrown away a B-rank jutsu scroll.
After another twenty minutes of fruitless searching, he admitted defeat. The study didn't have it.
"One more place to check."
His parents' bedroom. If it wasn't there, he'd have to earn enough merit on missions to trade for a scroll from the village archives.
He walked to the closed door and paused with his hand on the handle. He'd avoided this room since the transmigration. The original Kenji had too, after their deaths. There were too many memories, and too much grief. It was easier to just leave it closed and pretend the emptiness wasn't there. But he needed that scroll.
He opened the door.
The room was simply furnished: a double bed, a small bookshelf, a desk, and a wardrobe by the wall.
On top of the bookshelf sat a framed photograph. It showed his parents standing side by side, both in their jonin uniforms. Between them stood a younger version of Kenji, maybe ten years old. All three were smiling at the camera.
He looked at it for a long moment. These people were strangers to him. He'd never met them. But their son's memories lived in his head now, and those memories carried weight.
He turned away and started searching the bookshelf. Fiction on the top shelves, practical references in the middle... And there, tucked in the bottom corner behind a stack of old reports... The Shadow Clone Technique scroll.
"Finally."
He pulled it out and checked the seal. His parents had kept it safe even if they'd never bothered filing it properly.
"This is what clan backing gets you. Civilian ninjas have to beg their jonin instructors for techniques or trade favors with the village. I just search my parents' bedroom."
The Yamanaka weren't a powerhouse clan like the Uchiha or Hyūga, but they were established and respected. That meant access to techniques that would take a civilian ninja years to acquire.
He left the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him, and returned to the study. The scroll unrolled on the desk, and he scanned the contents quickly.
Although the Shadow Clone Technique was a B-rank jutsu, it was practically a basic skill that nearly all jonin had mastered.
It creates physical clones using chakra, unlike regular clone techniques which were just illusions. The clones could act independently, and when dispelled, their memories returned to the original. Useful for training, reconnaissance, or overwhelming opponents with numbers.
The difficulty was moderate. With his current chakra control, he should be able to manage it.
While he formed the clone hand, he channeled chakra and released it.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Poof.
White smoke burst around him and cleared instantly. Standing next to Kenji was... Kenji. Same face, same clothes, same puppet limbs. The clone blinked and moved its arms.
"This is weird," they said in unison.
If the shadow clone could use jutsu independently, and the Mind Body Switch required the caster's consciousness to leave their body...
"Worth testing."
The poor rabbit was about to have a very bad evening.
Kenji pulled it out of the cage one more time. It didn't even struggle anymore, just hung limply in his grip like it had accepted its fate as a test subject.
He set it on the floor and backed away. The clone moved to a position five meters from the rabbit and formed the circular hand seal.
"Mind Body Switch Technique!"
The clone's body immediately went limp and collapsed. At the same time, the rabbit's eyes refocused. It stood upright.
It worked... for about three seconds.
The rabbit took two steps forward. Then it stumbled, not badly, just a small loss of balance, the kind of minor trip that wouldn't even register as an injury.
Poof.
The shadow clone dispersed instantly into white smoke. The rabbit shook its head, and returned to normal behavior. And Kenji received the clone's final memories in a rush.
"Damn it."
He'd known it was a long shot, but the failure was still disappointing.
The problem was clear now that he understood it. Shadow clones dispersed when damaged. That was a core feature of the technique. But when using the Mind Body Switch, the clone's consciousness left its chakra-formed body completely. That made it even more unstable than usual.
Any damage to the possessed target would feedback to the user's spirit. For a regular ninja, that was painful but survivable. For a shadow clone, which was already fragile, that spiritual shock was enough to trigger dispelling. And even without injury, the target's natural mental resistance could destabilize the clone enough to break it.
The only reason it had worked at all was because the rabbit's spiritual power was pathetically weak. Against an actual ninja, the clone would probably disperse the instant the Mind Body Switch activated, before the possession even completed.
"No shortcuts after all."
The excitement of performing the Shadow Clone Technique had been completely crushed by reality. He sighed and returned the rabbit to its cage one final time. The poor thing immediately burrowed into the corner and refused to move.
He couldn't blame it.
Kenji picked up the Shadow Clone Technique scroll and walked back to his parents' bedroom. He opened the door, returned the scroll to its spot on the bookshelf, and closed everything up again, leaving no trace that he'd been there.
He stumbled back to his bedroom.
---
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All my messages and comments keep getting deleted. Some other users seem to be experiencing the same thing. This has been happening to me since last week. All my comments from the past month have been deleted, while those older than a month are still there. Does anyone know why?