Chapter 4: Rapid Growth
This time, Naruto finally mastered the Shadow Clone Technique (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu), a forbidden jutsu he had first used to graduate from the Academy, and also began to study the training methods behind the Rasengan and the Flying Thunder God Technique developed by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. It must be said that Naruto gained a lot. The main reason why Naruto was so eager to perfect the Shadow Clone Technique was to accelerate his training process, as he had discovered from Jiraiya's scrolls that each clone's experience returned to the original after dispelling. By dividing his chakra into multiple clones, he could multiply his learning speed exponentially. However, without Yamato's Wood Release to stabilize the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto could only maintain about a hundred shadow clones for extended training without exhaustion.
Training and battle are different. Fighting requires instantaneous chakra bursts and reflexes, while training demands constant focus and stamina. Naruto managed this through his steadily improving chakra control and growing mental resilience, honed since his early exercises in climbing trees and walking on water. Although he could only maintain about a hundred clones at once, this was already a remarkable feat for a genin.
From then on, almost every night in a remote corner of the Hidden Leaf Village (Konohagakure), hundreds of identical Narutos could be seen running up tree trunks, standing on water surfaces, or practicing shuriken throws at wooden targets. Fortunately, he chose a secluded part of the forest behind Training Ground Three, so few villagers ever noticed.
Since there were no classes that day, Naruto went to the woods to train as usual. Suddenly, he heard commotion ahead and saw several Academy students surrounding a timid girl. When he came closer, he recognized her immediately — Hyūga Hinata, the shy heiress of the Hyūga Clan. Although she was soft-spoken and reserved, Naruto had always found something warm about her gentle eyes.
Naruto leapt from the bushes and shouted, "Hey! How can you gang up on one girl? Back off!" Seeing that their challenger was just a loud blond boy, the group of bullies laughed. "It's that loudmouth Naruto! Let's teach him a lesson!"
"Multi Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto cried, creating twenty clones that surrounded the bullies from all sides. Realizing the tables had turned, the kids panicked and ran away shouting. Naruto didn't bother chasing them. He turned to Hinata and grinned. "If anyone ever picks on you again, just come find me!" Hinata's cheeks turned red as she whispered, barely audible, "Th-thank you, Naruto-kun…"
Naruto puffed out his chest, convinced he'd just made a lasting impression. "Heh, no problem! Just come to me if you need help, okay?" he said, waving coolly before walking away. Though to him it was a small moment, to Hinata it became a precious memory, one that would stay with her for years. Naruto, meanwhile, thought proudly that maybe being heroic wasn't so hard after all.
Thinking about his image, Naruto decided to improve his appearance a bit. He tried combing his messy blond hair into something closer to Sasuke's "cool" style — though it never quite stayed that way. Still, with his impressive progress at the Academy, Naruto's reputation began to rival even Uchiha Sasuke, the acknowledged prodigy of their class. Yet, unlike Sasuke, who kept his distance from others, Naruto's bright personality and willingness to help made him increasingly popular among his classmates, especially the girls.
The days at the Academy continued as usual. Naruto spent every free moment training with shadow clones, quickly mastering tree climbing and water walking to a level close to jonin standards. His chakra control had reached new heights, and it felt like the right time to start his Rasengan training, followed later by experimenting with the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, though he understood both were techniques of immense difficulty. Even with a hundred shadow clones, progress on such complex ninjutsu was slow.
Moreover, the shadow clone method had a clear drawback — the accumulated fatigue from each clone's dispelling would return to the original. As a result, Naruto often fell asleep during Iruka's lectures, though Iruka, proud of his student's effort, chose not to scold him too harshly. Meanwhile, Naruto's enormous appetite grew even more, much to the Third Hokage's amusement. Thanks to Hiruzen Sarutobi's quiet support, Naruto never had to worry about meals, and with a full stomach and unshakable determination, he continued on his path toward becoming Hokage.
(End of chapter 4)