As Ren made his choice, the dialogue box floating before his eyes immediately began to shift.
A new line of text appeared.
"Sorry, Transformation Technique. I was too clumsy last time… but I promise I'll work harder this time."
The words appeared clearly in the system interface.
A moment later, the response came.
[Transformation Technique: Hmph! At least you know that much! But… since you're being sincere, I'll cooperate with you a little during this practice!]
The dialogue box slowly faded away.
Ren blinked.
Then he waited.
Five seconds passed.
Ten seconds.
Nothing happened.
Curious, Ren reached out and pressed the [Practice] option again.
Still nothing changed.
Ren frowned slightly.
"...What does that mean?"
"Do I have to practice by myself?"
He scratched the back of his head in confusion.
But since he had already rested for a while, his breathing had stabilized. So Ren decided to try it.
Walking to the quiet corner of the academy playground, he stood still and raised his hands.
Slowly, he began forming hand seals.
Inside his body, chakra began to flow.
The Three Basic Jutsu were the most fundamental techniques taught to ninja students.
But fundamental did not mean easy.
In fact, the results varied greatly depending on the user.
Some people could use the Transformation Technique so perfectly that even experienced ninja struggled to detect the disguise.
Others performed transformations that looked stiff and unnatural, making them easy to see through.
And then there were geniuses like Naruto Uzumaki, who later turned the simple Transformation Technique into an outrageous weapon—creating techniques capable of momentarily stunning even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya herself.
Compared to those monsters…
Ren was painfully average.
His chakra reserves were ordinary.
His chakra control was also average.
Naturally, his mastery of the Three Basic Jutsu had always been mediocre.
But this time—
As Ren focused his mind and guided the chakra through his body—
Poof!
A puff of white smoke appeared.
When the smoke cleared, Ren's appearance had completely changed.
Standing there was now a perfect copy of young Kakashi Hatake.
The silver hair.
The black mask.
Even the calm and slightly lazy aura felt strangely realistic.
Ren froze.
"...Huh?"
Something felt different.
This transformation…
It felt much smoother than usual.
Ren narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
He canceled the jutsu and quickly formed hand seals again.
This time—
Poof!
White smoke burst again.
Now he had transformed into Might Guy.
The thick eyebrows.
The bowl haircut.
Even the posture looked surprisingly convincing.
Ren blinked.
"That… worked better than usual."
Just then, the system interface appeared again.
[Your practice caught the attention of the Transformation Technique.]
[She noticed your improvement and praised you with bright eyes.]
Transformation Technique:
"Wow! That was much better than before!"
"You even managed to copy their aura! Not bad, Ren. You're actually improving!"
Three options appeared.
A: I could only do it because of your help! Thank you!
B: Of course! I'm a genius, after all!
C: Stay silent and stare at her.
Ren didn't hesitate.
"...A."
The system responded immediately.
[Transformation Technique Favorability +1]
Ren nodded slightly.
"So it works like that."
Encouraging the jutsu increased favorability.
Interesting.
He had originally planned to continue testing the system and see what happened when the favorability increased further.
But suddenly—
Another dialogue box appeared.
A new voice entered the conversation.
[Clone Technique: Sister, why are you wasting time talking to him?]
[Clone Technique: He's just a mediocre ninja who might die on the battlefield one day.]
Ren froze.
"...What?"
Before he could react, the voice continued.
[Clone Technique: Besides, humans are always like this. At first they treat us nicely… but eventually they abandon us for more powerful and flashy techniques. Their praise is nothing but empty words.]
Ren stared at the screen in disbelief.
"Excuse me?"
"Sister?"
"Who exactly are you calling trash?"
He wanted to see how the Transformation Technique would respond.
But the system provided no reply.
The dialogue box simply vanished.
Ren sighed.
"...Well, whatever."
Since he had already started practicing, there was no reason to stop halfway.
After taking a short break to stabilize his breathing, Ren gathered chakra again.
His fingers moved quickly through the hand seals.
Transformation Technique!
Poof!
White smoke appeared.
This time he transformed into one of the teachers at the academy.
He maintained the disguise.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Thirty seconds.
Finally, Ren released the technique.
Then he did it again.
Poof!
Transformation.
Cancel.
Transformation again.
Again.
And again.
As mentioned earlier, Ren's chakra reserves were not particularly large.
Compared to Kakashi, he probably possessed only a fraction of that amount.
Even compared to Kurenai Yuhi, his reserves were probably smaller.
Although Kurenai later became known as one of Konoha's elite jōnin instructors, her chakra capacity was actually considered relatively small among high-level ninja.
But even then—
She was still far stronger than ordinary civilians like Ren.
Meanwhile, Might Guy was a completely different monster.
Guy lacked talent in ninjutsu, but his chakra reserves and physical endurance were absolutely ridiculous.
"Phew…"
After performing the Transformation Technique seven or eight times, Ren felt the chakra in his body nearly run dry.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
His shirt was soaked.
His silver hair clung to his face in damp strands.
Even his breathing had become heavy.
"I'll rest for a moment… then keep practicing."
Ren sat down near the edge of the playground.
In the distance, he saw Might Guy still running around the field like an unstoppable green tornado.
Lap after lap.
Without slowing down.
Ren sighed helplessly.
"See?"
"That guy is cheating too."
Although Guy was also from a civilian family, his physical strength was simply absurd.
Even if children in the ninja world had stronger bodies than normal humans…
Training like Guy did would probably kill half of them before graduation.
But Guy?
Those 1,000 laps were just his daily warm-up.
After finishing them, he would go to the mountain behind the academy to continue training.
Push-ups.
Punch drills.
Kick drills.
Every single day.
Ren rested for another ten minutes.
Then he stood up again.
Once again—
Transformation Technique.
Practice.
Rest.
Practice again.
He repeated this cycle three times.
By the time his chakra ran dry for the third time, Ren felt like his body had been completely drained.
He leaned against the wall and gasped for air.
His entire body was drenched in sweat.
At that moment—
The system interface appeared again.
[After watching your relentless training, the Transformation Technique finally spoke.]
[She advised you not to push yourself too hard, reminding you that true growth requires balance between effort and rest.]
Transformation Technique:
"Alright, Ren. You've worked hard today."
"You should stop practicing now and get some proper rest. Otherwise your muscles will ache terribly tomorrow."
The system displayed a notification.
[Transformation Technique Favorability +4]
[Current Favorability: 15/100 — Stranger]
Ren exhaled slowly.
"Only four points?"
He scratched his head.
Still…
Considering that he had only just activated the system today, he couldn't expect miracles.
Ren closed his eyes briefly, recalling the strange feeling he experienced while practicing earlier.
Just then—
Another message appeared.
[Substitution Jutsu observed your entire training session from outside the playground.]
[She was pleased by your determination, but due to her quiet personality, she chose not to approach you and instead left silently.]
[Substitution Jutsu Favorability +2]
Ren blinked.
"...Oh?"
An unexpected gain.
But something puzzled him.
"Why did Substitution Technique gain favorability…"
"...and not that rude Clone Technique?"
Before he could think further—
A familiar voice appeared nearby.
"Ren! How are you feeling?"
Ren looked up.
Might Guy had returned.
He was breathing heavily, but his eyes were still filled with energy.
"Have you recovered?"
Guy raised a fist enthusiastically.
"Want to join me for 1,000 push-ups?"
"If you can't do that, we can do 2,000 straight punches instead!"
Ren immediately shook his head.
"First of all…"
"Just call me Ren. Don't add anything weird to it."
"Second…"
"I'm completely exhausted today."
"I'm going home to rest."
Guy nodded seriously.
"You're right."
"You do look exhausted."
Then his expression brightened.
"In that case, I'll finish those push-ups for both of us!"
"If I fail to complete the 2,000 push-ups, I'll punish myself with 4,000 straight punches!"
Ren gave him a thumbs-up.
"Impressive."
Guy instantly returned the thumbs-up with a shining smile.
"Thank you for the encouragement, Ren!"
"Your youth is shining brightly too!"