Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve

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To master the Shadow Clone Jutsu, Takuma had to increase his proficiency with Yin and Yang nature transformation to understand the jutsu better. The jutsu didn't require much in shape transformation, and thus, he only had to focus on nature transformation.

According to Mikoto's advice, genjutsu training was enough for Yin nature transformation.

Takuma sat on a park bench, his lunchbox full of homemade sandwiches beside him. The afternoon brought welcome warmth on cold winter days. People gathered in parks for their lunch breaks to eat under the sky, enjoying the warm rays on their bodies.

He looked up from the notebook in his hands towards the crowd that had come out to the park. The ten nearest to him were all under his genjutsu. He used the sense of touch as the delivery medium, taking advantage of the fact that everyone was indulging in the sun's warmth. It was the perfect situation to use tactile genjutsu, which usually required stronger stimulation than other genjutsu.

On his left, a group of salarymen had their hands in their pocket because their hands and fingers were strangely cold, and no amount of blowing warm air or rubbing their palms together made them any warmer.

A few steps away sat a mother with a small child, enjoying a lovely picnic. They felt just a tiny bit warmer than they should be. Not enough to shed a layer of clothing, but just enough to be more comfortable.

On his right, an older gentleman sat before a full-size canvas with a suitcase repurposed into a portable art kit. He painted the scenery before him, which looked different from usual. The blue of the sky was more saturated, the green grass looked lusher, and everything was more vibrant.

He was drawing four people—two couples—enjoying themselves. They were drinking and eating. They felt hungry, and the food just hit the right spot. Their patch of grass was so comfortable that one talked about taking a nap in the open.

It was an exercise in learning how to manipulate the senses. To cast complex genjutsu, he had to master the individual senses and learn to weave them together to create binding illusions. To make the two couples feel that the food was delicious, he manipulated their sense of taste and smell, which were also significantly crucial in how people tasted their food. He made them feel they were eating the delicious version of each dish they had eaten in the past.

He also resurfaced the feelings associated with memories of their best meals to elevate the experience further. Takuma couldn't see their memories, but he didn't need to—the target's brain would bring the feelings associated with memory on its own. The brain was a complex creation with unbelievable power, but its complexity also worked against it sometimes.

Takuma was eating a sandwich when he paused for a moment before making a note to manipulate the sense of touch as well because the food's temperature was also part of the experience. Hot food, fresh off the stove, tasted better than something cooked and packed a couple of hours ago.

He then glanced at the painter. Takuma had made it so the man would experience colours as more vibrant, expecting that it would be a novel experience, allowing him to paint better—but unexpectedly, the painter showed signs of rejection.

All of his targets were civilians with little to no protection against genjutsu. He could get in easily and maintain a firm hold over their senses, allowing him to experiment without the obstacle of resistance.

The painter would not leave the genjutsu, but that didn't change the fact that he felt something strange. His artist's eyes had been trained to examine things closely for shape, colour, and lighting, and it told him something wasn't right even though he couldn't pinpoint the discrepancy.

A genjutsu had to be believable, or the brain would reject it as out of the norm. Humans possessed terrific pattern recognition; even if they couldn't consciously figure it out, they could subconsciously tell something was wrong. There were ways to overcome that instinct, and Takuma was trained to lower the mind's ability and convince it to accept even the most bizarre things.

But that wasn't his goal; he was studying how the mind interprets sensory input, so he didn't want to lower his target's perception of 'normal'.

Working with civilians also allowed him to influence a larger group without risking weakening control, as would happen with shinobi. A larger sample size meant more information to work with. So he chose targets over a wide age range and both gender groups to understand how multitudes of factors influence how people perceive the world.

However, Yin nature transformation wasn't a concern. In Mikoto's opinion, he not only had more than enough skill to meet the B-rank Shadow Clone Jutsu requirements—but also good enough for the A-rank version Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.

This was just his regular genjutsu training.

Takuma flipped back a few pages and opened his notes on one of his newest additions to his ninjutsu arsenal.

Yang Release: Fire Dragon Scales. A D-rank jutsu that covered his skin in fire-resistant dragon scales, capable of mitigating damage from fire.

There were a few reasons behind why he had chosen the jutsu.

The first was for Yang nature transformation training. It was a D-ranked jutsu, making it relatively easy to learn, which was beneficial as he had no idea if he had an affinity for Yang. Shinobi hadn't yet invented a way to check affinities for cyclic natures like they had done for the five basic natures via chakra paper.

Practical viability was important for him. He didn't want to learn a jutsu that served no field utility. Fire Dragon Scales provided a defence against Fire Release ninjutsu. It had the downside of only being useful against fire, but it traded that weakness for a much more potent fire defence.

Compared to his C-rank Earth Release: Earthen Dome, its fire defence was still weaker, but it held the mobility advantage as Takuma could freely move as opposed to when he had to stay within a stationary dome.

The jutsu wasn't on Takuma's radar initially. It only caught his attention after discovering it was a "scalable jutsu, " meaning it could be pushed beyond its assigned rank and made stronger depending on the user's skill.

With enough skill and raw chakra, all jutsu could be pushed beyond their assigned rank.

If Takuma trained, he could push his C-rank Water Release: Wild Water Wave to a level where it could be considered a B-rank jutsu. While it couldn't do damage to a similar B-rank jutsu, it also couldn't be classified as a C-rank jutsu as there was a big qualitative gap between the two ranks.

Practically speaking, it could also be pushed to B-rank jutsu, and doing that would be around the same difficulty as learning an authentic B-rank jutsu. Many considered and pursued the option as B-rank jutsu were absurdly expensive for most shinobi—but it was often not worth it as jutsu weren't meant to be pushed beyond their rank.

Forcibly doing it came with a downside—the chakra cost for these 'overcharged' jutsu was measurably higher than their counterparts. That cost could be brought down by training, but that same time and effort could be utilised to make an authentic B-rank jutsu more efficient or powerful.

There was a real-life logic to go down the overcharging route. Learning a jutsu was only half the battle; the other half was practical implementation—knowing when and how to utilise a jutsu during a dynamic battle was arguably more important.

A shinobi who had been using a certain jutsu for a decade suddenly finding that their favourite jutsu was inadequate— but it remained a cornerstone of their combat style, and replacing it could mean a significant overhaul to how they fight—which would mean finding and learning a suitable jutsu, gaining real-life experience to identify strengths and iron out the shortcomings—which was an immense commitment that might not be satisfactory in the end.

In such cases, 'overcharging' a jutsu became a viable option, as abandoning an established jutsu meant significant implications to the shinobi. Pushing a D-rank jutsu to a C-rank was considered doable by anyone willing to put in the effort as the gap between the two ranks was surmountable. On the other hand, there was a significant qualitative gap between C-rank and B-rank, which was considered a 'wall' that most shinobi would never cross.

Most shinobi didn't have the chakra to use a B-rank jutsu, much less the affinities and dedication to learn them—and overcharging a C-rank jutsu came with additional cost.

A-rank jutsu was the realm of geniuses. Not even all jōnin had A-rank jutsu in their arsenals because of what it took to learn and use one, and those who did possess that power were considered walking disasters. The gap between B-rank and A-rank was akin to an ocean, and overcharging a B-rank to the next level was considered near impossible or a herculean task for generational prodigies.

However, some jutsu were deemed "scalable" as they were designed, intentionally or unintentionally, in a way that they could be pushed beyond their rank without incurring costs or penalties.

Takuma already knew one such jutsu. Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu was a scalable jutsu. Theoretically, the mist could not only be made dense enough until it became opaque enough to block all light but could also be spread to cover an entire city. Practically accomplishing it in real life was another matter, as pushing a scalable jutsu still meant putting just as much effort into learning a parallelly ranked jutsu.

Yang Release: Fire Dragon Scales was another scalable jutsu. Mastering it at D-rank gave a full-body cover that would resist a considerable of a D-rank Fire Release ninjutsu's brunt—but it could be overcharged to make the scales resilient enough to stand up to even B-rank or A-rank if the user had a high Yang affinity to attain the skin in a feasible amount of time.

He chose the jutsu because it had the potential to become a versatile protection against Fire Release ninjutsu, which would cover its limited usage. Of course, if he wanted to push Fire Dragon Scales, he would need to improve his skills with the jutsu.

The process for overcharging a jutsu—scalable or not—started out the same, which was undergoing advanced chakra training.

If today, Takuma wanted to overcharge his C-rank Water Release: Wild Water Wave to a pseudo or full B-rank level, he would have to go through the Water nature transformation training to increase the jutsu's power and then refine it through shape transformation to effectively control and direct the extra chakra into larger and more violent water waves.

"Thirteen..."

Takuma heard his nickname and turned around to see Yaya Utamatsu walking toward him while waving his hand. He stood up to greet his fellow ANBU-nin from the same batch.

"Sixteen, you're here. Good weather today, isn't it?" Takuma smiled. He had volunteered to show Utamatsu to a few places around the village as the man was new to the town and had been busy with ANBU training and looking for proper housing when his family moved to the Hidden Leaf to live with him.

"I'm not used to the cold, so any sunshine is divine," Utamatsu smiled.

"Perfect for a tour. Ready?"

"Sure, let's get started."

Takuma packed his stuff, and they got going. As he walked away from the bench he sat on, he snapped his fingers, and the eyes of the ten under his genjutsu glazed for a moment before they returned to normal, unaware of what had happened and returning to enjoying their time in the park.

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The link is in the synopsis!