The training ground fell completely silent.
Even the birds chirping beyond the Academy walls could be heard clearly.
Several seconds passed before one of the girls finally let out a piercing scream.
That set off the others.
“AAAAAH!” “WHAT WAS THAT?!” The shrieks spread across the field as Yamano-sensei marched into the arena with a face like thunder.
“E!
BI!
SU!” he roared, emphasizing every syllable.
“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU BEFORE YOUR FATHER GETS THE CHANCE!” His fist came crashing down on Ebisu’s head.
BAM!
Stars exploded across Ebisu’s vision.
“I won!” Ebisu cried despite the lump already forming on his head.
“I BEAT SHIRANUI GENMA!” “You—!” Hearing him continue to celebrate only made Yamano angrier.
“You little degenerate!
When the hell did you turn into this kind of degenerate?!” He pulled a kunai attached to steel wire from his ninja pouch, wrapped Ebisu up from head to toe, and threw the kunai over a nearby branch.
A moment later, Ebisu was hanging upside down from the tree.
“REFLECT ON WHAT YOU’VE DONE!
AND YOU’D BETTER REFLECT PROPERLY!” Ebisu had certainly embarrassed himself, but Shiranui Genma had suffered far worse.
Genma slowly climbed to his feet and looked helplessly at Yamano-sensei.
‘What kind of sick bastard uses a jutsu like that in a school spar?!’ Then the image flashed through his mind again.
‘Although…
it was pretty convincing.’ He wiped away the blood beneath his nose.
The moment he remembered what he had seen, another trickle appeared.
Every time he thought he had finally stopped the bleeding, the memory returned and started it all over again.
When Genma rejoined the class, he could clearly feel several of the girls staring at him with disgust.
‘Damn it!
I’m the victim here!’ Ren watched Ebisu swinging upside down with genuine sympathy while quietly reviewing the Shunshin no Jutsu knowledge he had just obtained.
The Shunshin no Jutsu worked by concentrating chakra in the legs and feet, enhancing the body’s explosive strength to produce a sudden burst of speed.
The difficult part was gathering enough chakra in the lower body.
An ordinary shinobi could use the technique to accelerate, but the improvement was limited.
Eishirō-sensei had once passed a construction site and watched the workers compacting a foundation one layer at a time.
The sight had given him an idea.
Instead of gathering all the chakra at once, he compressed it into his legs in separate layers.
Every new layer pressed against the one beneath it, allowing him to store far more chakra in the same area.
Eishirō had already mastered a three-layer Shunshin, giving his technique remarkable explosive speed.
‘A multilayered Shunshin no Jutsu?’ Ren smiled to himself.
‘Very nice.’ …
After school, Yamano-sensei dragged the unfortunate Ebisu toward the Academy building by the same steel wire.
Ebisu looked strangely delighted.
Yamano, on the other hand, walked with his head hanging in despair.
‘Damn it…
How am I supposed to explain this to Department Head Eishirō?’ He genuinely had no idea where Ebisu had learned such an indecent version of the Henge no Jutsu.
Outside the Academy, the students gradually separated as they followed different streets home.
Nara Saku, Akimichi Takashi, and Yamanaka Ichigo walked together toward their clans’ district.
Ichigo spent the entire journey angrily complaining about Ebisu’s behavior.
In her opinion, he had gone far beyond what anyone should consider acceptable.
Saku suddenly looked up.
Uchiha Ren was standing beside a wall farther down the street.
Ren looked directly at Takashi.
“Takashi, don’t forget our agreement.
I’ll be waiting beneath Konoha’s outer wall tomorrow morning.” Without waiting for an answer, Ren activated the Shunshin no Jutsu he had prepared in advance.
The first layer of chakra was already gathered beneath his feet.
A second layer suddenly surged downward and compressed against it.
Both layers erupted at once.
Ren vanished.
Saku’s eyes widened.
‘Since when could Uchiha Ren use the Shunshin no Jutsu?’ Takashi spun around, looking left, right, forward, and behind him, but Ren was nowhere to be found.
Behind a distant courtyard wall, Ren landed and immediately ducked out of sight, carefully preserving the illusion that he had disappeared without a trace.
In the original story, shinobi usually used the Shunshin no Jutsu when entering or leaving a scene.
An ordinary physical Shunshin could not be performed continuously.
Once the chakra stored in the legs and feet was exhausted, the user needed time to mold and concentrate more.
Even so, the Shunshin no Jutsu was extremely valuable.
More importantly, it was perfect for running away.
Ren intended to practice it thoroughly.
He might even be able to combine the multilayered Shunshin with White Fang–Style Taijutsu, producing an even faster burst of movement.
Ren spent the entire night studying and practicing the technique.
Anything that could save his life was incredibly motivating.
…
The following morning, Ren arrived beneath Konoha’s outer wall on time and found Might Guy already there.
The moment Guy saw him, he accelerated as though trying to escape a contagious disease.
Ren said nothing and simply followed, beginning their usual laps around Konoha.
During the second lap, they passed a yawning Akimichi Takashi waiting beneath the wall.
Takashi’s eyes widened as the two came thundering toward him.
Might Guy was in front.
Guy was one of the stars of their sparring lessons, second only to Ren.
His punches and kicks were brutally powerful, and anyone who fought him usually spent the next several days aching all over.
He was also obsessed with training.
Whenever everyone else stood around the Academy field talking in small groups, Guy was always off by himself doing push-ups or squats.
His determination was impossible not to respect.
Running beside him was Uchiha Ren.
‘So that’s it.’ Takashi suddenly understood why Ren had improved so quickly.
Ren had been training alongside Might Guy this entire time.
For once, Takashi began thinking for himself.
Usually, he had no reason to bother.
Nara Saku did enough thinking for both of them.
Sarutobi Asuma had developed what could only be described as a severe case of Ren-related trauma.
Even hearing Uchiha Ren’s name made him anxious and irritable.
To help Asuma, Saku had ordered Takashi to challenge Ren repeatedly.
Takashi had suffered plenty because of it.
Uchiha Ren was not someone an ordinary student should casually challenge.
You did not merely lose to him—you lost in the most humiliating way possible.
Every sparring lesson had become torture.
But as Takashi watched Ren and Guy disappear into the distance, determination suddenly rose inside him.
He could not keep losing.
He was an Akimichi shinobi.
He could not allow himself to be humiliated every single day.
He needed to train too!
Takashi finished his breakfast in three enormous bites, stretched his legs, and ran after them.
He had completed only half a lap when he heard footsteps approaching from behind.
Guy and Ren passed him.
Takashi was already exhausted.
His body was heavy, and speed had never been his strength.
After another half lap, the two of them overtook him again.
He slowed to a breathless walk.
Ren’s voice drifted toward him.
“If you can’t keep up, then roll!” Takashi’s face flushed.
‘What the hell?!
Did he just tell me to get lost?!’ “Don’t misunderstand,” Ren added.
“I’m not telling you to leave.” He glanced back.
“I mean you should literally drop onto the ground and start rolling.
You’d probably move faster that way.” Ren gestured at Takashi’s round body.
“Look at your shape.
You were practically designed for it.” Takashi gritted his teeth, refused to look at him, and continued running.
After three laps, however, his legs finally gave out.
He stood in place, gasping as Guy and Ren charged past without slowing, continuing around the village.
Takashi watched their backs with a lonely expression.
He needed more training.
A lot more.
…
At nine o’clock, Ren arrived in the classroom and headed toward his usual seat in the back row.
He immediately noticed Ebisu standing beside the wall.
Ebisu’s entire face was swollen.
Red welts from a switch covered the parts of his arms not hidden by his sleeves.
“Uchiha Ren,” Ebisu whispered fiercely, “I didn’t betray you!” He clenched his fists.
“My father beat me for two whole hours last night, and I STILL didn’t tell him you taught me that jutsu!” Ren’s expression became solemn.
“My brother.” He placed a hand on Ebisu’s shoulder.
“You’ve earned my respect, Ebisu.” Ren leaned closer and lowered his voice.
“Don’t leave after school tonight.
I’ll teach you the advanced form of the Sexy Jutsu—the ultimate SS-rank secret art!” Ebisu’s eyes lit up.
“Really?!” Then a trace of fear appeared.
“I’m not going to get beaten even worse for learning it, am I?” “Relax.” Ren smiled reassuringly.
“Once you master this technique, even Sarutobi Asuma won’t stand a chance against you.”