Starts In Konoha: Unlocking Shadow Clone

Naruto snapped back to reality and suddenly felt like crying but had no tears.

After all, he had crossed over into the Naruto World, not the Pokemon World. How could there be Pokemon in the Naruto World?

This was clearly the system messing with him!

[Friendly reminder: If the host wishes to use the Master Ball, the system can transfer the host to the Pokemon World for a limited period of one hour. Would you like to transfer now?]

'Huh? Where did that setting come from?'

Naruto hadn't expected the system to be this spontaneous. But after a moment's thought, he began to understand.

'Previously, when I was affected by the Hell Viewing Technique and saw my saddened parents, I had asked the system if I could return to my original world. The system had replied that my current permissions were insufficient.'

'There was also that encounter with the Universal Medicine System, which had transferred to other hosts after disappearing. That system probably had the ability to traverse multiple worlds, too.'

'This meant that the system had always had the ability to transfer me, but had kept it locked until he had more sign-ins under my belt.'

Thinking of this, Naruto's vision suddenly broadened.

Initially, he had only aimed to strengthen himself to prepare for potential big bosses in the Naruto World. But now, new possibilities opened up before him.

Although he wasn't sure how to unlock higher permissions, consistent sign-ins seemed like a good start. Once he had the power to cross worlds, his options would expand dramatically.

'What am I even thinking about!'

Naruto quickly brushed off these far-fetched ideas. Sure, he had many abilities now, but if he were to face off against some truly ruthless boss with his current lack of combat experience, he'd probably get outsmarted and defeated quickly.

For now, his main priority was to keep signing in. Once he got to a point where a single breath could knock out anyone in his way, he could start dreaming bigger.

'Confirm transfer!'

Naruto instructed the system.

[Initiating transfer… Transfer in progress… Transfer successful!]

Countless white lights lit up around Naruto, making it impossible for him to open his eyes. When he closed his eyes, he felt like he was in free fall, his whole body was out of control, and it seemed like his soul was about to leave his body.

When he heard the system prompt again and opened his eyes, he found himself in a dense forest.

"So, this is the Pokemon World? It doesn't feel much different from the forests in the Naruto World."

Naruto muttered, stating the obvious.

Except for the Fantasy World, which has rare and exotic species, most forests in other worlds were just forests.

[Friendly reminder: Transfer duration is one hour. The host should search quickly for a Pokemon of interest.]

As the system prompt sounded, a translucent hourglass appeared in front of Naruto. The sand flowed out little by little, and he had exactly an hour before it would run out.

'This is no time to get distracted. Gotta act fast!'

Naruto thought to himself, then clenched his fists and decisively opened the Eight Gates.

The first three gates were easy for Naruto to handle, and with the self-healing ability from Kyubi's Chakra, he could manage to let them opened without any injury.

Whoosh!

With a powerful push off the ground, his body shot forward, his speed several times faster than usual.

Who would have thought that Naruto would use the pinnacle of Taijutsu, the Eight Gates, for speed running?

But even so, after searching for several minutes, Naruto had come up empty-handed. After all, he was alone in the huge forest, and trying to find a Pokemon he wanted in only an hour was close to impossible.

He could see wild Pokemon everywhere, but Naruto knew enough to realize that any Pokemon commonly seen in the wild was probably just trash.

The simplest and most effective way would be to test them by giving them a punch to see how strong they were.

In the past few minutes, he had already knocked out over a dozen wild Pokemon.

Whoosh!

Naruto deactivated the Eight Gates. He felt that charging around blindly is useless, as it was too reliant on luck.

A broad search approach seemed much more practical.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naruto quickly formed hand seals, and a thousand shadow clones appeared accompanied by puffs of white smoke.

"Everyone, spread out and search! If you encounter a powerful Pokemon, remember to leave the Flying Thunder God's mark and then dispel yourself immediately!"

Naruto commanded, waving his hand as the clones scattered in all directions, while he remained in place, waiting patiently.

The reason for leaving the Flying Thunder God's mark was simple: if a strong Pokemon was located by one of his shadow clones, and it couldn't be defeated right away, it would be quicker for Naruto to teleport there rather than rushing over and potentially running out of time.

By staying where he is and waiting for the shadow clone to return, he can also respond to the situation as soon as possible.

Although the one thousand shadow clones are not strong enough to use the Eight Gates, there are enough of them, which is more efficient than him going to look for the Pokemon alone.

However, with each clone only holding a fraction of Naruto's full power, they were considerably weaker.

Not long after, several clones were already defeated, and their memories flooded back to Naruto.

"Too weak... not good enough. I need to wait for something better!"

Naruto muttered, growing increasingly anxious as he watched the sand in the hourglass run down.

The fact that some Pokemon could defeat his shadow clones only proved that they were stronger than a thousandth of his power, but that wasn't enough.

From the memories being transmitted, Naruto could gauge the strength of each Pokémon. And with the Flying Thunder God's marks in place, he could always revisit the strongest ones if needed.

Now, no matter how anxious he is, he has to wait patiently. There is only one Master Ball and it couldn't be wasted on just anything.

Time slipped by, and when the sand in the hourglass was about to run out, Naruto jumped to his feet, "I can't wait any longer!"

However, at this moment, a surge of memory hit him like a jolt, bringing a smile to his face, "This guy will do!"

After dismissing all his shadow clones, Naruto teleported instantly to a spot marked by one of his clones in the bushes.

Naruto was a total stranger to the Pokemon and barely knew anything about them. The only powerful one he'd ever heard of was Mewtwo.

Besides its overwhelming combat strength, Mewtwo possessed an array of psychic abilities, such as moving objects from a distance, controlling the weather, creating illusions, time manipulation, memory alteration, and mind control.

It was the ultimate Pokemon Naruto had imagined capturing, but he knew his chances of finding Mewtwo were slim to none. Luck didn't usually work out that well.

At this moment, the Pokemon in front of him was not the strongest Pokemon his shadow clone had encountered, but it was one of the few Pokemon he knew.

Pulling out the Master Ball, Naruto said helplessly, " Well, it's a waste of a Master Ball, but I guess I'll choose you... Squirtle!"

That's right, in front of Naruto was a little turtle with a blue body and a round head.

Anyway, since he hasn't encountered any legendary Pokemon like Mewtwo, and none of the wild ones met his standards, Squirtle at least looked cute and could serve as a kind of good luck charm to lift his spirits.

He threw out the Master Ball, and without any surprise, Squirtle was absorbed in a burst of light and was sealed within the Master Ball.

[Congratulations to the host for successfully capturing Squirtle. What a joyous occasion!]

Naruto sighed speechlessly, "What's so joyous about this? You think I used a one-dollar coin to win a plushie out of a claw machine? This was a Master Ball… the Master Ball! And it's wasted just like that..."