After finishing his afternoon training, Ren made his way to the library in the evening. As he entered, he gave a polite nod to the old lady at the reception before heading to the first floor, which was open to academy students.
The first floor was divided into various sections—history, general information, and ninjutsu. Among the jutsu categories, the Fire Style collection was the largest, as expected for Konoha. The Lightning Style jutsu collection was the smallest, while Wind and Earth were more common than Lightning but still fewer than Water.
Ren moved toward the Earth Jutsu section, already having an idea of what to pick. He had skimd through most of the E-rank techniques before, so he knew which ones were worth learning.
Like with Wind Jutsu, he chose to focus on them one at a ti instead of overwhelming himself.
For his first Earth Jutsu, he selected
Earth Release: Earth Military Movent Technique (E-Rank)
✔ Description: This jutsu allows the user to enter the ground and "swim" through it for a limited ti.
✔ Usefulness: A great mobility and escape technique, perfect for stealth or surprise attacks.
Ren carefully read through all the details, making sure he fully understood the chanics of the technique. Even though it was an E-rank jutsu, he wanted to be thorough before attempting it.
After morizing the hand seals, he left the library and returned ho to practice.
The basent was not an option since the floor was solid tiles, so he chose his backyard courtyard instead.
Standing in the open space, he took a deep breath and perford the required hand seals—
Bird → Tiger → Ram → Ox
As soon as he completed the final seal, he felt his chakra flow outward, spreading to every pathway closest to his skin.
Slowly, his body began to sink into the ground.
The sensation was strange—it wasn't like falling, but rather like lting into the earth.
Once fully subrged, he attempted to move around.
The mont he did, he noticed that his chakra flow increased significantly.
"So movent requires more chakra..."
He continued experinting with the technique, testing different movents and chakra adjustnts to see how efficiently he could control it.
By the ti it was late at night, he had a solid grasp on how the jutsu worked.
Satisfied with his progress, Ren headed inside and went straight to bed.
Another week passed, and Ren continued to train diligently, focusing on learning, refining, and mastering his Earth Jutsu.
By the end of the week, he had successfully learned the three required techniques.
Although he could have learned more, he firmly believed that it was better to master ten jutsu fully than to learn a thousand and only use one.
The final three Earth Jutsus were
✔ Earth Clone Jutsu – Unlike its Wind counterpart, this clone had actual substance, made of rock and compacted earth. It could take two solid hits before crumbling, making it useful as a defensive decoy.
✔ Earth Military Movent Jutsu – Already mastered, it allowed him to "swim" underground, using the earth as a ans of mobility and surprise attacks.
✔ Earth Armor Jutsu – A protective technique where Ren could slap a part of his body after performing the seals to coat that area in a layer of hardened earth. If he slapped his chest, his torso would be covered; if he slapped his forehead, his head would be shielded. This technique had imnse potential, but it still required two hand signs and a slap to activate.
With consistent practice, Ren was able to completely remove hand seals from all of his Wind Jutsu, allowing him to cast them faster than before. However, since Earth Armor was learned last, he still needed two hand signs and the slap to activate it.
But that would change.
"I have to make sure I can activate Earth Armor instantly without seals. If I can, it'll beco an excellent defense."
The Academy continued its sparring sessions, rotating pairs to match students with worthy opponents.
Despite the pair switching, Ren was still matched against Itachi.
He wasn't surprised as he was the only one who could contest with him in the 1st year class. Their match unfolded like all their previous fights—fast, intense, and unrelenting.
However, this ti too the fight had to be stopped.
Utakata intervened, declaring the match a tie once again.
It wasn't because Itachi was unable to win—Ren knew that if Itachi went for the kill, he would have lost.
But in a sparring setting, Itachi couldn't subdue him.
Ren's mobility and unpredictable reflexes made him an opponent that couldn't be easily pinned down.
As he walked away from the match, Ren contemplated his next steps.
Remaining in second place had always been his plan.
Itachi was too monstrous to be surpassed at this stage, and being second would keep him safe from too much attention.
However, that plan was becoming increasingly difficult.
One evening, his father asked him about his sparring matches with Itachi.
Curious, Ren questioned how he knew about them.
That's when he learned the truth.
Many influential figures were already keeping an eye on Itachi. It was only natural that anyone who could stand against him at this age would also attract interest.
Ren had to admit—he hadn't considered this.
Being Itachi's rival, even if unofficially, ant that people would take notice of him too.
His original plan of staying just below the radar was failing.
However, despite knowing this, Ren found himself unable to deliberately lose.
What was the point of training if he intentionally held himself back?
The only answer was to keep pushing forward.
"If I don't want to be controlled by others, I have to train even harder. I have to increase my strength."
Ren clenched his fists.
The path ahead was becoming clearer.
If he couldn't hide in the shadows, then he needed to beco strong enough that no one could control him.
In the evening, Ren sat in the basent, carefully reading the Body Flicker Jutsu scroll his father had given him. Now that he had mastered all nine E-rank jutsu, he had finally moved on to his first D-rank technique.
This jutsu had seed underwhelming in the original Naruto ani, where it was treated as basic movent for high-level shinobi. But in all the Naruto fanfics he had read in his past life, Body Flicker was hyped beyond belief—so even calling it a space-ti technique.
That was why he was a little excited to finally see what it truly was.
As Ren read through the scroll, he sighed.
"As expected, it's not a space-ti jutsu."
The jutsu was, in essence, a high-speed movent technique.
By using chakra to temporarily vitalize the body, a ninja could move at extre speeds over short to long distances. To an observer, it appeared like teleportation, but it was purely a matter of speed. The chakra cost depended on the distance and elevation between the user and the intended destination.
The scroll emphasized how important this jutsu was.
Most experienced shinobi had this technique ingrained into them like an instinct, and the scroll itself advised that the jutsu should be used without hand signs for maximum efficiency.
That last part surprised Ren.
"This is the only jutsu that outright tells you to learn it without hand seals."
Then he realized sothing.
This scroll was from his father.
"Did he modify this, or did he find a rare version with this information?"
Either way, he wasn't complaining.
The required hand seals were Ram → Ox → Tiger
Ren stood up, focusing on the instructions.
✔ First, visualize the exact location you want to move to.
✔ Second, steady your body and prepare for the movent.
✔ Finally, perform the hand seals and execute the technique.
Ren followed the steps and activated the jutsu.
Fwoosh!
His body blurred, and in the blink of an eye, he reappeared two tiles ahead.
He imdiately sat down to analyze what had just happened.
"It took three full seconds to perform the jutsu."
✔ One second to visualize the location.
✔ One second to steady his body.
✔ One second to perform the hand signs.
This was far too slow for a true combat situation.
"To shorten the ti, I need to eliminate the first two steps entirely and reduce the hand signs."
The first step, visualization, was the biggest obstacle. If he always had to consciously picture his destination, he would never be able to use this instinctively in battle.
"I need to be able to move instantly—without actively thinking about where I want to go."
He knew it wouldn't be difficult to remove the hand seals eventually, just like he did with his Wind Jutsu.
"Alright, let's practice."
Ren was determined.
Once he fully mastered Body Flicker, he would finally be able to claim the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
With that goal in mind, he stood up and prepared to push himself to the limit.
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