"Wow! What an imposing big dog!"

As soon as they stepped out of the pool, Naruto bent over and reached out to touch the black hound's head. "Kazama-sensei, is this a Ninja Hound you raised? How did it crawl out from under the shadow just now?"

The black hound let out a low growl, warning Naruto.

"Eh? Big dog, big dog is barking!"

The black hound couldn't take it anymore, opening its large mouth to bite Naruto.

Naruto hurriedly pulled his hand back into his arms. "Such a fierce big dog!"

Kazama patted the black hound's neck, and it immediately calmed down, lying flat on the grass.

"Don't go hands-on randomly; their tempers aren't very good."

Sasuke stood two steps away and analyzed, "This isn't a Summoning Beast, right? Just now, you didn't form any Hand Seals, nor was there any smoke from a summoning formation."

"You've observed very carefully."

Sakura, standing nearby, crouched beside the white hound and gently placed her right hand on its back.

Two puffs of thick air snorted from the white hound's nostrils, but constrained by Kazama standing nearby, it stubbornly didn't move.

A few seconds later, Sakura withdrew her hand and said with some surprise, "No heartbeat, and no pulse? Yet the texture of the skin is exactly the same as a real canine."

As she spoke, Sakura pulled out a scalpel, her smile growing increasingly perverted. "I say, Kazama-sensei, can you let me cut two pieces of meat off its thigh? Not too much, just fifty grams. I want to take it back to make a slice for testing!"

The white hound's ears twitched, and it shrank back behind Kazama's legs.

Kazama slapped Sakura on the forehead. "Cut what cut? This is a Shikigami; if you cut it off, it will turn into black water and evaporate right away."

"Alright then, what a pity." Sakura reluctantly put away the knife, though her gaze looking at the Divine Dogs remained fiery.

"Kazama-sensei, there will always be a day when you're not around, right?"

"When that time comes, hehehe..."

Soon after, a crisp sound of a branch snapping came from a bush not far away.

Kazama raised his chin slightly. "Go, invite the audience watching the show on the side to come out."

"Roar!"

The black and white Divine Dogs exerted force simultaneously, fiercely pouncing into the bushes thirty meters away.

"Wait a minute! Don't bite! It's me!"

Grass leaves flew everywhere as Shikamaru fell flat on his back into the bushes.

The black hound's front paw stepped on his chest, and the white hound's sharp teeth pressed against Shikamaru's neck.

Naruto ran over and asked, "Shikamaru? What are you sneaking around hiding here for? Did you skip Uncle Asuma's special training again?"

Shikamaru made a bitter face. "Naruto... never mind that for now, quickly have your teacher call these two big dogs away, I can't breathe anymore."

Actually, Shikamaru came over today entirely because he was shocked by Naruto's wrist strength at the yakiniku restaurant the day before yesterday.

Having hung out in the same classroom for six years, Shikamaru knew all too well what level Naruto was at.

For the past two days, Shikamaru had tossed and turned in bed without figuring it out, and today, taking advantage of Team 10's rest, he simply came over to take a look.

As a result of this look, it almost made Shikamaru think he had fallen under a Genjutsu.

First, Naruto and Sasuke cut off the waterfall behind the mountain with just a kick.

And then, Sakura Haruno poked an ironwood tree into thousands of pieces of crushed wood with just a single finger.

And then there was Kazama!

With both hands making a child's playful dog head hand shadow, the shadow on the ground actually stood straight up, turning into two giant hounds!

You aren't even from the Nara Clan!

How do you play shadow control even better than us.

What made Shikamaru feel the most unreal was—

Just now, when the two Divine Dogs lunged over, Shikamaru subconsciously formed Hand Seals and used the Shadow Imitation Technique.

Yet the moment his shadow touched the dark shadows beneath the two hounds, it instantly went out of control and shrank back.

Kazama snapped his fingers. "Divine Dogs, come back."

Shikamaru rubbed his chest, climbed up, walked in front of Kazama, and bowed ninety degrees all the way down.

"Jonin Kazama! Please definitely teach me that move just now!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait... I didn't hear wrong, did I?"

Naruto circled around Shikamaru twice, pointing at him and laughing loudly:

"No way, Shikamaru, did you take the wrong medicine when you went out today? A guy who usually finds even going to the toilet at school troublesome and hands in blank exam papers just to sleep ten minutes longer is actually proactively asking for special training today?"

"Shut up, Naruto..." Shikamaru's eye corners twitched wildly.

Kazama picked his ear. "Shikamaru, aren't your Nara Clan experts at playing with shadows? Leaving your own family's Secret Technique unpracticed, you come to beg an outsider like me?"

Shikamaru maintained his bowing posture. "It's completely different! Our Nara Clan has been researching shadows for hundreds of years. Whether it's the Shadow Imitation Technique or Shadow Neck Binding Technique, essentially they are both limited by light sources and terrain, and can only stretch the shadows and stick them to the ground to bind enemies."

"Once we encounter an environment without light, or if the enemy is in mid-air, our Secret Technique will be greatly discounted."

"But just now, you directly bestowed life upon the shadow, completely detaching it from the ground and transforming it into an independent entity for combat! In front of these two shadow hounds, our Nara Clan's shadow control technique doesn't even have the qualification to get close!"

Speaking of this, Shikamaru raised his head and stared straight at Kazama. "As long as I can learn the basics of this technique formula, I'll do anything!"

Kazama clicked his tongue and began to ponder in his heart.

Taking Shikamaru as a disciple wouldn't be bad either.

If he taught the Ten Shadows Technique to Shikamaru and triggered a system critical hit return, who knows what even more heaven-defying stuff could be produced.

Putting away the folding lounge chair on the grass, Kazama stretched lazily:

"Shikamaru, this move of mine involves advanced Yin Release Nature Transformation, and I also have to convert my own shadow into a spatial medium."

"Even if I only teach you a bit of introductory basics, the energy consumed will be massive."

"You also know that your teacher here is usually sickly, and teaching these three brats is already tiring enough; I really don't have much strength to teach another disciple."

"Therefore, you'll have to pay extra!"

Sasuke on the side couldn't hold it in and laughed out loud directly.

Shikamaru hurriedly pressed on, "Kazama-sensei, you... how much reward do you need? As long as I can cough it up, I won't say a word against it!"

Kazama extended a finger and shook it. "Considering that you and Naruto are classmates from the same period, I'll give you a discount."

"One million ryo for the apprenticeship fee, and go bring me the Nara Clan's century-old premium deer antler to nourish my body."

"Whenever the items are in place, come find me for class."

After speaking, Kazama casually waved his hand. "Let's go, wrap up and go home."

Watching the receding back of Kazama taking Team 7's three people away, Shikamaru stood in place and clenched his teeth.

"One million ryo!"

He didn't have that much money on hand!

As for that century-old deer antler in the clan, it was even more of his old man Shikaku's treasure; normally, just touching it would get him scolded.

"What a drag."

...

8:00 PM, Nara Residence.

Taking advantage of the opportunity before Shikaku came back from his night shift at the Hokage Building.

Shikamaru hunched over and sneaked into Shikaku's study.

On the shelf on the eastern side of the study, Shikamaru groped around for a few times and opened a hidden compartment.

Inside lay a red sandalwood box, and underneath the wooden box was pressed a thick envelope.

The red sandalwood box contained that century-old deer antler, while the envelope held Shikaku's secret stash of money he had hidden for a long time.

"Sorry, Dad. For the future of our Nara Clan, your son will use this money and the deer antler first!"

"You mustn't thank me, this extraordinarily filial son of yours."