Nara clan study.
Nara Shikaku rubbed the rim of his teacup, smirking.
"So the brat finally remembers the way home."
"How'd training go? You confident about making it into Anbu?"
He had faith in his son, but he also knew a fresh mid-chūnin graduate didn't just waltz into Anbu.
"Piece of cake."
Shikage answered casually, picked up a shogi piece, scanned the board, and smiled as he set it down.
Click.
The bishop sliced across the board—checkmate.
"Dad, you're not focused at all."
...
"What happened?"
Seeing himself checkmated so easily, Nara Shikaku blinked, then gave a bitter laugh.
"Can't hide anything from you, huh."
He let out a long sigh, expression complicated.
"Your Uncle Suzaku is dead."
Shikage didn't even blink.
"Oh."
"And?"
"You little…" Shikaku shook his head helplessly at his son's cold reaction.
"His position in the clan was pretty high. Sudden death like that is going to shake things up."
"Especially since Nara Kizashi died too. The inheritance and assets are still unclear—there's going to be a fight over them."
Shikaku kept it short and simple.
But Shikage already understood the real picture.
—The leader of the Danzō faction inside the Nara clan was dead.
—What he left behind wasn't just money; it was direct access to Danzō himself.
—Anyone willing to side with Danzō was probably never a good person to begin with.
—Now that there was a chance to "advance," those idiots would probably bash each other's brains out fighting over it.
—Dog-eat-dog. Wasn't that pure entertainment?
Shikage grinned, raising an eyebrow.
"Isn't that great?"
"Mom can finally take full control of the Deer Management Bureau."
After burning through so many small blue bottles during the fight with the Root squad, his pockets were basically empty.
Only three hundred-plus G left.
He desperately needed new income.
If the family locked down the Deer Management Bureau completely, he'd never have to worry about money again.
Seeing his son smiling like that, Shikaku kept his worries to himself.
—Nara Suzaku's death already points the biggest finger at our branch.
—If your mother moves in and seizes the bureau now, it'll only make us look more suspicious…
Thinking about the young hotheads in the Danzō faction gave him a headache.
Suzaku had disappointed him, but at least the man still had some bottom line.
The younger generation? They wouldn't hold back at all…
Of course Shikage understood the risks.
To him, though, his father's worries were just clouds in the sky.
It was like fighting tooth and nail for a spot as some powerful minister's right-hand man while pissing off the actual emperor.
And this emperor still held real power—even if he was a bit soft and indecisive, he wasn't a puppet.
The minister only had power because the emperor trusted him.
Doing something that brain-dead? Pure suicide…
Besides, if any idiot actually came at him, Shikage wouldn't mind adding a few more Nara shadow soldiers to his collection.
Shoving the small stuff aside, he told his father:
"Dad, I've completely mastered the three basic shadow techniques—Shadow Imitation, Shadow Binding, Shadow Neck Bind."
"I want to learn the clan's advanced shadow arts now."
Shikaku pushed his worries down and nodded.
"It's about time."
He stood, rummaged around the study for a while, then pulled a scroll from a hidden compartment.
"This contains every secret technique our Nara clan possesses."
Shikage took the scroll, unrolled it, and scanned the contents.
"Secret Technique: Shadow Sewing… Secret Technique: Shadow Gathering… Secret Technique: Shadow Slap…"
Three upgraded shadow techniques, each far more refined than the basic three.
It wasn't just raw power—they represented a qualitative leap.
They evolved from controlling intangible shadows to making shadows fully physical.
The only downside? The scroll didn't have the Shadow Imitation Shuriken that Shikamaru would invent later.
After all the fighting these past days, Shikage knew his strengths and weaknesses cold.
Thanks to the Power of Shadow talent, his shadow techniques needed no seals. As long as the target was inside his shadow range, no one could detect or counter them.
The three seal-less tricks gave him absolute dominance in close-quarters against anyone who still needed to form hand seals.
But what the shadow gave, the shadow could also take away.
Limited by surface area, once an enemy opened the distance he was helpless.
On top of that, if the opponent's taijutsu was too strong, even the seal-less tricks might not be enough.
He needed to fix his "range" and "taijutsu" weaknesses.
Because of Power of Shadow, his control over other chakra natures was garbage—he could basically only learn shadow secret techniques, or Yin Release ninjutsu.
Right now, Shadow Imitation Shuriken was the perfect mid-to-long-range solution.
Since it wasn't available, he'd settle for second best.
First, master Secret Technique: Shadow Sewing.
It let him launch mid-to-close-range shadow assassination strikes—like the one Nara Suzaku had used to instantly kill his shadow clone.
As for Shadow Gathering and Shadow Slap, they were harder, so he'd tackle them after he had Shadow Sewing down cold.
With Absolute Learning Ability, he was confident he could master Shadow Sewing in less than a day.
He headed straight for the training ground.
"I'll go practice the new techniques now."
"Call me if you need anything."
Used to his son's blunt style, Shikaku could only shake his head helplessly.
"You little…"
"Oh, right."
"Hook me up with more money?"
"Get lost!"
...
Time flew.
When Shikage finally snapped out of it, the sky was already dark.
Because of the upheaval inside the Uchiha clan, he didn't have to tutor Sasuke these days. It actually felt a little weird.
He glanced at the system panel—[Secret Technique: Shadow Sewing (Lv.0)]—and his lips curved into a satisfied smile.
"Ninjutsu."
"Easy as breathing."
Remembering his earlier theory, he pulled the Rune Stone from his inventory and rubbed it curiously.
"If you use a Rune Stone before learning the skill, you get the skill."
"So what happens if you already know it?"
He crushed the stone in his fingers.
The next instant, Shadow Sewing jumped from Lv.0 straight to Lv.1.
"Just as I thought."
Even though he'd expected it, he was still thrilled.
He immediately tested it on the training dummies with several rounds of "advanced rope arts."
Staring at the perfect tortoise-shell binding in front of him, Shikage offered sincere thanks to all the "teachers" from his previous life.
New shadow technique mastered, multiple level-ups, stats across the board improved.
His current strength was firmly above special jōnin.
He hadn't reached full jōnin yet, but in a real fight—factoring terrain, timing, and information advantage—even a jōnin might not be his opponent.
And that was without counting his seven shadow soldiers, at least two of whom were jōnin-level.
All of it…
"All thanks to the teachers…"