Chapter 63: Why Do You Look Like Kakashi Now?!
"You actually dyed your hair?!"
The next day, at the Konoha training grounds, Kakashi stared at Kitagawa Gen with stunned disbelief.
He had thought the kid was joking. But to his shock, Gen had really gone and dyed his hair white!
"Not bad, right?"
Gen reached up and ran his fingers through his newly colored hair, grinning.
"Gotta say, it actually looks pretty good, doesn’t it?"
"..."
Kakashi covered his forehead with a sigh, montarily at a loss for words. He honestly didn’t know how to respond to this guy’s antics.
To be fair, the white hair did look good. It gave Gen a slightly more mysterious vibe.
"But don’t you think it makes you even more conspicuous?"
"And you don’t, Kakashi-sensei?"
"...Fine. Whatever."
Kakashi shook his head, clearly not in the mood to argue over sothing so trivial.
In the end, it wasn’t a big deal. And like Gen had said, lately he’d been going on missions with Kakashi and Jiraiya often enough that his black hair actually made him stand out more.
"It’ll probably fade out in a few days anyway," Kakashi thought privately.
anwhile, Gen tilted his head curiously. "So, what are we doing today, Kakashi-sensei?"
"For now, you’re staying in the village to study. Did you already forget what the Hokage said?"
Kakashi casually pulled out a few scrolls and handed them to Gen.
"These contain a lot of foundational knowledge for Chūnin and Jōnin. Study them thoroughly when you get ho. It’s all basic, but essential."
"Also," Kakashi continued, "I’ve invited soone to help train you. I’ll be working with him to make sure you improve."
"I was originally planning to let missions temper your skills, but the enemies you’ll face from here on out are only going to get stronger."
"You’ve got talent, and brute force can take you far. But if you don’t learn how to use your strength properly and gain real experience, you’ll run into serious trouble eventually."
"I understand," Gen replied without protest.
Kakashi was right—this was exactly where he was lacking.
Still, one thing puzzled him. "But wouldn’t doing more missions help train faster? If I keep running into tough opponents, I’d improve more naturally, right?"
"That’s exactly the problem," Kakashi said, narrowing his eyes. "If you run into soone too strong, you’ll panic. For now, stay in Konoha. I’ll treat you to Ichiraku Ran at lunch."
His eyes curved into friendly crescent moons, like he was coaxing a child.
"..."
Gen pressed his lips together in silent resignation. He only tricked Naruto into going for ran because they were broke—it’s not like he loved ran that much.
Still, he didn’t mind. This was a good ti to settle down and consolidate everything he’d learned so far.
---
[Status Screen]
Na: Kitagawa Gen
Age: 13
Bloodline: Ōtsutsuki Clan (Developnt: 21%)
Chakra Reserves: SS (Kage-level average)
Chakra Natures: Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Yin, Yang
Special Ability: Ice Release
---
Looking over his skillset, Gen felt genuinely satisfied.
Especially Ice Release—its success brought him real joy.
It was the first technique he had developed on his own, outside of anything the system provided. A fusion he created through personal experintation. Honestly, he hadn’t been entirely confident in it.
Even though his chakra control was excellent, no one’s completely calm when trying sothing brand new for the first ti...
"But luckily, after fighting Haku, I realized it wasn’t as hard as I thought."
Haku, born with a natural kekkei genkai, wielded his bloodline abilities with graceful precision—every movent smooth, efficient, and perfectly refined.
If it were anyone else, they probably wouldn’t even be able to understand what they were looking at—let alone identify the core principle behind it.
But Kitagawa Gen was no ordinary person. The more precise and intricate an ability was, the more he liked it!
"Maybe... if I run into Onoki one day using Dust Release, I could learn that too?"
The thought popped into Gen’s mind unexpectedly, but he quickly shook his head. Best not to entertain that idea.
With his current body, if he got hit by Dust Release, he’d be turned to ash before he even realized it.
Besides, his bloodline developnt hadn’t reached the point of unlocking things like the Kāma seal—no way he was about to take reckless chances.
"Still... developing a Kekkei Genkai seems easier than I thought. But at the sa ti, kind of troubleso?"
Gen rembered when he replicated Haku’s thod of using Ice Release—blending wind and water chakra in a precise ratio.
In that mont, he felt like his chakra was being rapidly drained!
It was the sa sensation he had when awakening his eye and bone abilities.
"Is that why Kekkei Genkai are so rare?" he wondered.
It was an odd thought, but the more he considered it, the more it made sense.
Kekkei Genkai, in a way, represent the evolution of one’s bloodline. Without a strong genetic foundation and abundant chakra reserves, it would be nearly impossible to manifest them.
Whether or not that theory was true didn’t matter much to him, though.
In the past, he might’ve panicked about such limitations. But now? Chakra was the one thing he had in abundance.
This level of chakra consumption didn’t even faze him.
"That said... the bloodline developnt I got from Ice Release is kind of minimal. And Haku’s version is more defensive than offensive..."
Gen shook his head lightly. It was ridiculous, but it all made sense to him.
The Ōtsutsuki bloodline could give rise to sothing like Kekkei Mōra—a fusion of all chakra natures. How could a re dual-nature fusion compare to that?
"Maybe I’ll see better results if I can fuse more elents together."
As for the defensive nature of Haku’s Ice Release, that wasn’t much of a problem either.
If he could already create Purple Lightning, then tweaking the chakra ratio of Ice Release shouldn’t be beyond him. He was sure he could make it flashier—or deadlier.
"Still... getting rid of the white hair is gonna be a pain..."
Then again, Gen had already resigned himself to it. Instead of worrying about appearances, it’d be better to dive deeper into analyzing the stuff they took from Obito.
"Kakashi-sensei, who’s this person you ntioned? And what about Lord Jiraiya?"
He sat down beside Kakashi, curious while waiting.
"You’ll see soon enough. Don’t worry, he’s reliable."
Kakashi looked up, his eye narrowing slyly. After a pause, he added, "As for Jiraiya-sama, he’s in a eting. There’s been so news from Kirigakure, but it doesn’t concern us."
"I see."
Gen nodded, a suspicion creeping into his mind.
Could it be Yamato?
Was he going to try copying Wood Release?
But he didn’t dwell on it. He’d find out soon enough. Besides, whatever was going on in Kirigakure had nothing to do with them.
Still, speaking of the Mist, he suddenly recalled those two rather unfortunate "tools."
That night, neither Jiraiya nor Kakashi seed particularly interested in pursuing or punishing them.
Maybe they didn’t want to waste energy on it, or perhaps they figured that Zabuza, being a rogue ninja, no longer had a foothold in the Hidden Mist anyway.
So when they left to go after Uchiha Obito, they simply had Zabuza and Haku guide them for a while—then let them go.
When they later left the Mist Village outskirts, they actually saw the two of them again.
"They sure ran fast... probably hiding out in the Land of Waves by now," Gen muttered in his head.
Just then, soone suddenly ca running toward them.
"Sorry, sorry! I’m late!"
"Huh?"
Gen blinked. He knew that voice all too well.
"Guy-sensei?!"
"That’s right—Might Guy!"
Kakashi stood up, brushing off his clothes with a smile.
"I figured I wouldn’t be enough to train you on my own. So I brought soone to help out. And since you’re already familiar with him, it’ll make things easier."
"I see..."
Gen nodded as Might Guy arrived in front of them.
Just as he raised his thumb, ready to launch into one of his passionate speeches, he suddenly noticed Gen’s white hair.
He froze.
His eyes widened dramatically.
"Gen?! Why do you look like Kakashi now?!"
"...Seriously?"
Gen’s mouth twitched. And at that mont, a sudden notification from his system flashed.
[New Side Mission Unlocked]
Title: "I’ll Take You Both On!"
Accept Mission? [Yes / No]
"...You’ve got to be kidding ."
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