The moment the treasure chest opened, Naruto felt a boom in his head, as if something cool had entered his mind. A stream of cool and delicate energy surged out of thin air, rapidly blending with the massive Yang-attribute Chakra already within his body.
The world became different in his eyes. His previously fuzzy perception now became much clearer, and it even slowly showed a trend of extending outward. Naruto marveled at the changes within himself. But immediately after, his attention was drawn to "Effect Two."
Closing his eyes, he could clearly perceive a faint, shimmering thread in the void connecting to the other side of Konohagakure. At that other end, there was a soul filled with resentment and anger, frantically refining Chakra. With every effort that soul made, a trace of weak but pure power flowed along this thread and into Naruto's body. Though each trace was small, it was constant and unending.
Naruto opened his eyes, his expression becoming somewhat strange.
"In other words... as long as Sasuke-kun gets stronger, I can get stronger while doing nothing?"
"And the more I guide him and push him toward revenge, the higher my gains will be?"
Naruto rubbed his chin, picked up his black tea, and took another sip. He wasn't thinking about any far-reaching future; he simply thought that this was absolutely wonderful. For a split second, Naruto even felt a pang of guilt. After all, Sasuke-kun would never be able to catch up to him now. In fact, the harder Sasuke-kun worked, the wider the gap between them would grow.
Using the terminology of a certain forum user, should this be called "exploitation"?
"Since that's the case..."
Naruto looked at the black scroll on the table the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
With [Aizen's Glasses] to increase learning efficiency, with [Eidetic Memory] to memorize the technique's formulas, and with "Black Tea" to recover from mental fatigue, Naruto's learning efficiency improved by several levels in an instant. He then opened the scroll, quickly scanned the relatively simple contents, and immediately formed the hand seal with his hands.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Poof!
As the white smoke dissipated, a physical clone identical to Naruto appeared beside him. Succeeding on his first attempt at the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was largely thanks to his recent practice in Chakra control. The clone adjusted its glasses and looked at the original, who looked back at the clone.
"An interesting Ninjutsu."
Naruto couldn't help but want to touch the clone in front of him to feel its physical presence.
Slap.
Before his hand could touch the clone, it was slapped away with a look of disgust.
"Don't do that, it feels disgusting," the clone said coldly.
Even the personality is exactly the same? How amazing. Naruto thought to himself, then dispelled the clone.
The moment the clone was dispelled, some memories were transferred into his mind. For instance, the tactile sensation of the original trying to touch him and his hand being slapped away.
Wait... Naruto's eyes suddenly widened.
The memories of a Kage Bunshin transfer back to the original? Does that mean... a bold idea took shape in his mind. Naruto created three more Kage Bunshin.
"You, go practice the Breathing Technique."
"You, go read theoretical books."
"You, go practice Water Walking."
After assigning tasks to the three Kage Bunshin, Naruto went to heat up a glass of milk and began his unwavering daily routine for health maintenance. This had almost become Naruto's lifestyle habit.
...Early the next morning.
Poof, poof, poof.
With three soft sounds, the three Kage Bunshin turned into white smoke and disappeared simultaneously. The next second, a massive torrent of memories flooded into Naruto's mind like a bursting dam. The instinctive rhythm of breathing, the Chakra experience from Water Walking, and a vast amount of theoretical knowledge all surged into his brain in an instant.
"Ugh..."
Naruto instantly felt a wave of intense dizziness. His temples throbbed, his vision went dark, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. He rested for quite a while before picking up the cold black tea on the table and drinking it all in one gulp. Aided by the effect of the black tea, he finally began to feel much better.
After a night of testing, Naruto reached several key conclusions:
First, Kage Bunshin cannot benefit from the bonus of [Aizen's Glasses]; the speed at which a clone learns theory is far inferior to the original. Second, clones can benefit from the [Eidetic Memory] bonus. In other words, if Naruto wanted to, he could instantly create hundreds or thousands of Kage Bunshin with the [Eidetic Memory] ability to help him study.
But this led to another problem: Naruto's mental strength did not allow such a massive flow of information to flood his brain at once. It was fortunate that he had only let one clone study theory yesterday. If there were more, the impact of the memory feedback might have rendered him unconscious or even damaged his brain. Naruto might have actually ended up killing himself with his own Ninjutsu.
"Hiss... is one clone for theoretical knowledge the limit?" Naruto rubbed his aching brow, his face somewhat pale.
Then, Naruto checked the proficiency of Water Walking and the Breathing Technique.
[Breathing Technique Proficiency (375/1000) —> (380/1000)]
[Water Walking Proficiency: 83% —> 84%]
Seeing this, Naruto understood. If it were training related to physical instinct and muscle memory, Naruto's body could withstand the idle training of at least a hundred Kage Bunshin. But when it came to theoretical knowledge, at most only one Kage Bunshin could be allowed to study.
Even with only one clone studying theory, he would have to hold back a bit. It was best for him to personally study theoretical knowledge. After all, on one hand, Kage Bunshin couldn't get the glasses' bonus, and on the other, they placed a massive burden on the brain. If he did this process himself, spreading the instant knowledge over a day's progress, the pressure would be much smaller and the efficiency much higher.
Only now did Naruto realize how powerful [Aizen's Glasses] were. After all, they allowed a "dead last" to start almost from zero and become first in the class within a month. No matter how he thought about it, this effect was simply too heaven-defying.
"The current bottleneck lies mainly in mental strength." Naruto took another sip of black tea. As the warm current went down, the dizziness eased considerably.
He began to analyze calmly. If his mental strength were strong enough, he could withstand the memory feedback of more clones, and his cultivation speed could double again. For now, theoretical knowledge could only be learned by his original body in the short term. However, skills like Water Walking and the Breathing Technique could be entirely handled by clones. Even if the efficiency of a single clone was far inferior to the original, if a hundred clones were added together, it would still significantly improve efficiency.
"The key is how to improve mental strength; my own slow cultivation is just too slow..."
Suddenly, he thought of something. Sasuke-kun's mental talent seemed quite good... Closing his eyes, he again sensed that void thread connecting to Sasuke-kun. That end was still transmitting weak energy fluctuations.
"Hmm? Did that guy stay up all night?"
Naruto could sense a state of mind that was anxious, exhausted, but hyper-excited.
"Is this guy an idiot?" Naruto's brow furrowed, his tone carrying a hint of disdain. "Refining Chakra in a state of extreme fatigue is not only inefficient, but it will also affect the next day's training."
Naruto now felt as if one of his disobedient clones was slacking off.
"Sasuke-kun's mental talent is excellent; I'm counting on you to strengthen my mental power. If he continues this disorganized, blind training, when will he ever provide me with enough mental strength?"
"No, I can't let him continue wasting his talent like this."
Naruto stood up, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
"It's necessary to give Sasuke-kun some proper guidance."