Immersed in the game interface, Hatani had no idea what Jiraiya was thinking. Even if he did, he wouldn't have cared. At this moment, he had only one thought:
"Jackpot! I'm actually making a profit!"
After seeing the latest updates to the game system the night before, Hatani had barely slept. The realization that the cost to unlock Phantom Lancer had dropped by 1,000 gold—likely because he had mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu—had him rushing outside at the crack of dawn to test his theory.
The results of his experiment left him ecstatic.
As he wove the signs and split off a Shadow Clone, the unlock cost for Phantom Lancer on the system interface dropped by another 10 gold, bringing the total down from 2,500.
Trembling with excitement and a touch of nervousness, he tried to manifest a second clone. Unfortunately, his chakra reserves were currently less than "one Kakashi"—not even close to enough to maintain two clones at once. After a moment of thought, he dispelled the first clone and wove the signs again.
Sure enough, as the new Shadow Clone appeared, the gold requirement for Phantom Lancer ticked down from 2,490 to 2,480.
And that was the ridiculous scene Jiraiya stumbled upon after being jolted awake by his bladder: a kid seemingly obsessed with a new toy, repeating the same basic move over and over.
"Hata—"
Watching Hatani show no signs of stopping, Jiraiya finally opened his mouth to intervene. But the urgent pressure in his gut cut him off. He shook his head slightly, deciding to handle his "internal business" first. In his mind, surely by the time he got back, the boy would have exhausted himself and grown bored.
Two minutes later, a much-relieved Jiraiya returned, only to find Hatani still acting like a tireless "Clone Robot." He was stuck in an infinite loop: weave signs, summon, dispel. Repeat.
Jiraiya couldn't take it anymore. "Enough! What—"
"Sensei, is there a way to summon multiple Shadow Clones at once?" Hatani interrupted before he could be scolded, looking up with eyes full of pure, unadulterated expectation.
"There is a jutsu for that..." Jiraiya blurted out instinctively, caught off guard. He immediately snapped back to reality and let out a barrage of criticism. "Don't be ridiculous! You can barely manage one clone with your current chakra. You want to summon a crowd? Are you tired of living?"
"Then, can I reduce the amount of chakra I put into each clone?"
"Hmph. If you had chakra control that precise, you'd be a hair's breadth away from being a Jonin," Jiraiya snorted, shooting him a look. He wasn't exaggerating.
Aside from outliers like Might Duy or Guy, a true Jonin possesses incredibly refined chakra control. Someone like Kakashi—who has to be stingy with his limited reserves because his Sharingan is a constant drain—values every single drop of chakra.
If someone could precisely dial down the chakra allocated to a Shadow Clone to the bare minimum, their combat prowess would naturally be near the Jonin level. In the shinobi world, once your strength reaches that peak, promotion follows easily.
Technically, becoming a Jonin requires leadership skills, judgment, and contributions to the village... yadda yadda. But in a world where might is right, if you truly have the power, everyone wants you to take the rank—unless you explicitly refuse.
Just look at Kosuke Chen.
After Sarutobi Hiruzen became Hokage, the first thing he did was ask Kosuke to accept a promotion to Jonin, even though Kosuke was technically still a Genin at the time. Kosuke refused because of his personal vow, but he still performed Jonin-level tasks while wearing a Genin's flak jacket.
If Kosuke had actually said yes, would anyone in the village have dared to object? The Jonin who knew his true strength would have voted for him with both hands and feet. As for any Chunin or Genin brave enough to complain? Hiruzen would have personally "educated" them by sticking them in Kosuke's squad and letting them see the gap in reality for themselves.
"Why do you even want to learn the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Jiraiya asked, his anger cooling as he watched Hatani lower his head like a student realizing his mistake.
"Well... to speed up my training, of course," Hatani replied. He was so busy staring at the system interface that he almost let the truth slip. "Shadow Clones pass their memories and experience back to the original. I was hoping to have one practice Vacuum Wave, one practice Vacuum Sphere, and another practice Wind Net, so I could master all forms and nature transformations as quickly as possible."
"Don't bite off more than you can chew," Jiraiya said, rolling his eyes when he realized the boy's logic matched his own guess.
"Hehe." Seeing that he'd successfully bluffed his way through, Hatani rubbed the back of his head and gave a sheepish, exaggerated grin. "I just don't want to embarrass my new sensei."
"You created an A-rank jutsu before the age of thirteen. If you're an embarrassment, the rest of the teachers in the village should just retire in shame," Jiraiya muttered, half-exasperated and half-proud.
"Fine. Since you already know the trick to using Shadow Clones for training, I won't waste my breath. Get to work." Jiraiya yawned, looking at the still-dark sky. He retreated into the house to catch a few more hours of sleep.
He didn't know that the moment he left, Hatani spent fifteen minutes actually studying Wind Style—and then immediately went back to his "obsessive-compulsive" grind.
"Ten gold, ten gold..."
Hatani muttered under his breath as he spammed the jutsu, a sleazy, merchant-like grin plastered on his face. He felt like he was finally winning.
However, the system—evidently designed with the "anti-exploit" soul of a greedy gaming corporation—wasn't about to let him cheese his way to victory.
The moment the unlock cost for Phantom Lancer dropped from 2,500 to 2,000, Hatani froze and cursed under his breath. He had just summoned another clone, but this time, the price only dropped by 5 gold.
The reward had been halved.
Judging by the "corporate logic" the system was showing, once the price hit 1,500, a clone would probably only be worth 2 gold.
Hatani stared at the screen, a sense of despair washing over him. "At this rate, I'm never going to be able to 'Free-to-Play' my way to a Phantom Lancer!"
_______
+75 chapters on: patreon.com/Shinobi_Scrolls