Naruto-The secret sage

"I don't see how since only I and these two know how it works exactly. Don't bother asking them either as I already had them swear not to tell anyone else on penalty of death. The only reason I even let them know how to do it was because I know without a shadow of a doubt that they will not abuse the technique for some violent purpose but only to treat more people. As far as I am concerned shadow clones are more than sufficient as is." I said firmly.

"Think of how many shinobi lives this technique could save! Surely you are not so callus as to deny them a technique that could save their lives in the field?" The old man asked imploringly.

"You seem to misunderstand something very important about this technique, it doesn't have any place in true combat. The technique effectively splits your perception by as many clones as you have active at once. What this means is that you make more than three clones and not only are you going to suffer from three times the information coming to you at once but you then have to control three additional bodies which both of these two will tell you causes a serious lag in motor skills. In other words you don't get more skilled ninjas with the technique but simply more mediocre ones instead." I said honestly.

The old man looked at my sensei and fellow student and they both nodded seriously. "I see, that does indeed put a damper on that particular argument. But even you seem to agree that in the hands of an iryonin the technique shines brilliantly. Is that not reason enough to leave a record of it behind for such shinobi of the leaf to access?" the old man questioned.

"I am going to be frank with you but all that will achieve is to get them killed or worse instead. First off this technique takes a MASSIVE amount of chakra even for me and leaves the person using it highly vulnerable for a couple days after they do so as they adapt to having more than one body. Then of course you need an extremely good control of your chakra which admittedly any iryonin worth a damn likely has. Of course there is also the issue of Yin Yang chakra manipulation followed by literally causing your entire body to basically split in half to create a second fully physical you without giving yourself cancer or multiple of the same organs and keeling over without understanding why. Basically the only people who could use the technique at all are extremely skilled iryonin and even then there is a very good chance it would kill them instead with the smallest mistake." I said bluntly.

The old man had a grim expression when he heard this which told me he understood exactly what would likely happen if my technique was made accessible.

"Is there any way to refine this technique into a safer version?" he asked hopefully.

I shrugged "Probably but I am not even going to try since it would only serve someone else and not me at all. Like I said I am more than willing to leave a detailed record of what the technique is about as well as a clear comprehension of what the minimum requirements and dangers are to learn it and if someone feels confident on learning it I am more than willing to test them and if they pass teach it to them under a seal enforced oath." I said calmly.

The old man sighed "I suppose that's the best I can hope for but you do understand that I can only give you a reduced amount of mission points for this. Now do you have any other techniques you might be willing to share with the village, for a price of course?" he asked with a smile.

We haggled a bit after that about what I was and was not willing to share from my repertoire of abilities that I copied from my beasts. One such ability was my cats ability to blend perfectly into shadows that he really wanted. Not that I could blame him since it was perfect for stealth missions or moving at night.-

I hadn't managed to figure out how to copy my lizards ability to turn invisible but the old man promised a large reward if I made a copy of the technique after figuring it out. Apparently the second Tsuchikage Mu had figured out how to turn invisible as well but had taken that information with him to the grave and no one else had gotten even close to replicating it. I had idly wondered if he had also copied it from some form of chakra beast like I was planning to or not.-

According to the old man and many historical records that was actually roughly how many people long ago first created jutsu after the sage of six paths introduced chakra to all living beings. Frustratingly there was very little information on the man himself beyond his special eyes and only five of his treasure tools. Not to say he didn't use more than that only that there were only records of five currently known. Unfortunately only one of their current locations were known in the form of the amber purification jar that apparently sealed away a person or being through their very soul name.-

The other four alongside that jar were previously in possession of Kumogakure but had been lost with the death of the gold and silver brothers after they defected from Kumo taking the treasures with them as their "birthright" since they were descendants of the sage himself apparently. I wasn't all that interested in any of the five tools myself as they were all about sealing with the exception of the banana leaf fan that summoned wide scale hurricane winds when used.-

The fan was the only one I had any interest in and even then it was only because I felt that a sage like myself was obviously the best wielder of such a thing. If I was lucky and the property I wanted had a nature energy attuned metal vein instead of a plant like I thought I might even be able to make my own sage tool. Making shinobi tools with special properties was sort of an open secret as most Kenjutsu users had swords forged with special properties that set them apart from simple steel or iron weapons. Rarely those special properties were actually special but there were exceptions.

For example the seven swords of the mist or the blade of thunder spirit that the second Hokage himself made. All of which had properties that set them above most other tools in the world. Hell one of the swords was a living creature apparently that literally ate chakra. Sounded like my caterpillar that had gotten as big as me after eating my own chakra regularly for years. I honestly think that it was getting close to cocooning and turning into whatever type of insect it was which could be a butterfly or moth.