Naruto: The Shadow Lord of the Nara Clan

Perhaps Shuimu also has some guesses in his mind.

But he simply couldn't believe it.

Because he didn't see Lu Ying make any hand seals at all.

Could it be that this guy can use shadow techniques without forming hand seals?

Of course, Shui Mu's doubts and fears will not be answered.

Because in the next moment of his stalemate, the kunai in Lu Ying's hand had already slashed his neck.

Turning around to look down at the fallen Mizuki, listening to the heavy breathing sounds made by the slit throat, Lu Ying felt nothing.

With a blank expression, he stepped on Mizuki's body to prevent him from escaping, while simultaneously plunging the kunai he held deep into Mizuki's still-beating heart.

[Slay Ninja Mizuki]

[Gained 72 experience points]

[Level Up: lv 0 - lv 1]

[Obtain Item: Great Shuriken]

[Obtain Item: Book of Sealing]

[Received Item: 10000 Taels of Cash]

Only after the system notification appeared did Lu Ying feel relieved and stop torturing the corpse.

He stared at Shui Mu's corpse, or rather, at the mark on the corpse's right arm.

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Ying decided to make Shui Mu her "virgin shadow".

On the one hand, familiarize yourself with the process of extracting and storing shadows to prevent accidents when planning to stop the flow of shadows.

On the other hand, it was for that cursed seal.

The Shadow Lord's shadow soldiers can grow stronger; this cursed seal might come in handy later.

Lu Ying was too lazy to make up keywords from the shadow extraction, so she directly copied the memories from her previous life.

"Stand up."

The words fell like water being poured into boiling oil.

The shadow, pressed down by the corpse, writhed and deformed violently under the catalysis of the power of the Shadow Lord, as if the soul of the dead was struggling desperately.

A few breaths later, darkness swallowed the shadows, imprinting the new being with the mark of a monarch.

A shadow of the same size as Mizuki material materialized, kneeling before the deer shadow and silently offering its loyalty to the shadow.

The skill was successfully extracted on the first try, which was not beyond Lu Ying's expectations.

After all, the success rate of [Shadow Extraction] is linked to the integrity of the corpse and the time of death.

Shui Mu had only been dead for a few seconds, and his body was not only intact but also remarkably fresh and warm.

The only thing that surprised him was that just one Shadow Extraction had consumed nearly a quarter of his MP!

Based on this experiment, Lu Ying also learned about another hidden influencing factor of [Shadow Extraction] - the monarch's strength.

The stronger he is, the less MP he consumes.

"Fortunately, this pattern was discovered before we extracted the water-stopping shadow."

Suppressing his inner joy, Lu Ying slightly closed his eyes, and the shadow soldiers merged into his figure.

"Come out, stop hiding."

The sound echoed through the woods, and a figure slowly emerged from the bushes not far away.

The cat-face mask, half exposed to moonlight and half hidden in darkness, sent chills down one's spine.

Glancing at the distinctive white hair, Lu Ying raised an eyebrow and asked:

"Should you go and appease them, or should I?"

He did not inquire about the identity of the person who came, because any ninja from Konoha would know the meaning of this kind of mask.

Even if you question them, you won't get the answer you want.

Moreover, Lu Ying was well aware of this person's identity and background.

As for why the ANBU ninjas were here, there's no need to ask further.

Beneath the mask, Kakashi's expression was indifferent as he glanced at Mizuki's corpse, the scene from just moments ago flashing through his mind.

—What is that shadow?

—A secret technique of the Nara family?

Although curious, Kakashi didn't press for details, simply replying:

"Go ahead."

OK.

Shikakage shrugged and turned to walk in the direction Naruto had fled.

As he passed by Shui Mu's body, he said without turning his head:

"Oh, right."

"Mizuki has a cursed mark on his arm, which is suspected to be related to Orochimaru."

"You can decide how to handle it yourselves."

Upon hearing this, Kakashi's eyes flickered slightly, all his thoughts were thrown to the back of his mind, and his attention was focused entirely on the corpse.

"I see."

……

Only after sensing that Kakashi's presence had completely disappeared did Shikakage finally lower his guard.

The Kakashi of today is not the Kakashi of the beginning of Naruto. Although his personality has improved somewhat, he is still mainly cold-blooded.

If he were to have any designs on him, the current Shikakage is no match for Kakashi.

"With information about Orochimaru, he shouldn't have the extra focus to pay attention to my 'secret technique'."

Even without Orochimaru, the Third Hokage would most likely not have paid attention to Shikakage's "secret technique".

But it's always best to be cautious in everything.

Regaining his composure, Deer Shadow darted to the treetop and, based on the surrounding environment, determined Naruto's location before quickly launching a surprise attack.

"We need to hurry, there are bears in this forest."

"That kid's luck shouldn't be that bad, right?"

Before the words were even finished, Lu Ying's figure was already dozens of meters away.

A few dozen seconds later, upon catching a glimpse of that tall, muscular beastly figure, he sighed helplessly:

"What you say comes true."

Fortunately, although Naruto was incredibly unlucky, he was still quite agile.

It was running away nimbly while screaming in pain, but it seemed to be in pretty good condition.

Lu Ying had no taste for watching children being hunted, and immediately took out the large shuriken he had seized from Mizuki.

With power generated from the waist and hips, the body twists and the large shuriken spins and flies out.

With a sizzling sound, the sharp blade precisely sliced ​​open the bear's back.

Killing the Black Bear

[Gained 10 experience points]

[Obtain Item: Complete Bear Hide]

As the system notification appeared, the deer shadow arrived on the bear corpse.

He casually pulled out the large shuriken embedded in his spine and stored it in the system's inventory before turning to look at Naruto, whose eyes were glazed over with fear.

"Naruto, are you alright?"

The backlit figure made Naruto instinctively hug his arms tighter.

Upon hearing the familiar voice, he slowly came to his senses, blinked, and stammered:

"Lu...Lu Ying-ge?"

The deer-like figure squatted down in front of him, ruffling Naruto's blond hair, and smiled:

Good evening, Naruto.

Seeing that Naruto was still in a state of fear, Shikakage slowed down his speech and briefly explained the current situation.

"So, don't be afraid anymore, I've already captured Shuimu."

"Mr. Mizuki..."

Naruto didn't seem to have realized what had happened yet.

Lu Ying was too lazy to explain any further. He focused his gaze on Naruto's arms, or rather, on the orange color in his arms.

"What is this?"

"A fox."

Speaking of this, Naruto got excited and immediately forgot all about the terrifying experience he had just had.

"It was bitten by that bear, but thankfully I was there and managed to save it!"

His carefree attitude made Lu Ying sigh, "No wonder he's such a sunny and cheerful young man like Naruto."

"That's awesome!"

Naruto was overjoyed by the praise and proudly raised his head.

However, he quickly revealed a tense and worried expression.

"Brother Luying, it looks like it's about to die. Can you cure it?"

After thinking it over, Lu Ying sold the bear pelt she had just acquired. The G-coins from the sale were more than enough to buy a bottle of red potion.

"Give this to it to drink."

Naruto stared at the potion that was emitting a pure red light. Although he didn't know what it was, he did as Shikakage said.

As the medicine was poured into the fox cub's mouth, the bite wounds on its body visibly began to heal.

Seeing this, the boy excitedly danced around.

"Okay, okay!"

After repeatedly confirming that the little fox had regained its mobility, Naruto carefully placed it on the ground.

"Are you going to release it back into the wild?"

Lu Ying was somewhat surprised.

"Um."

Although reluctant, Naruto nodded.

"I thought you were going to adopt this fox."

Naruto pouted, his expression darkening as he recalled Mizuki's words.

"Someone like me that everyone hates..."

Lu Ying interrupted him, calmly saying:

"Have confidence in yourself, Naruto."

"A mob has no opinions of its own; it simply parrots what others say."

"Although I'm one of them, I trust you more than they do."

Upon hearing this, Naruto raised his head, staring blankly at Shikakage, his eyes gradually turning red.

Seeing him like this, Lu Ying was filled with emotion.

No wonder Shuimu was able to fool you.

"Alright, let's go, it's time to go home."

"Oh, right, take that fox with you."

"oh oh……"

Naruto hurriedly picked up the little fox and tiptoed behind the deer.

Perhaps it was Shikakage's words that had an effect, because Naruto's gaze toward the little fox became even more enthusiastic.

"Brother Luying, what name do you think we should give it?"

"Hmm..." Lu Ying had a mischievous thought: "How about calling him Xiao Jiu?"

Looking at the tall (1.6 meters) figure of the deer, Naruto felt incredibly at ease.

"Then let's call him Xiao Jiu!"

……

[Target's favorability level meets the requirements!]

[Contract achieved! Shadow Contract (Naruto Uzumaki) obtained!]

Seeing the system notification that suddenly appeared in front of him, Lu Ying was stunned for a moment, then turned to stare at Naruto.

Feeling the naked, familiar passion in Shikakage's eyes, Naruto suddenly shivered.

"Brother Lu Ying..."

"I'm not going to be a pet..."