Reflection, talking and new stuff

Ren sat cross-legged on the basement floor, deep in thought as he reflected on the fight with Itachi. He hadn't left a shadow clone today since he wanted to preserve his full chakra reserves for the battle. Though in hindsight, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. His jutsu arsenal wasn't particularly chakra-intensive—he had learned many wind jutsus, but most were utility-based rather than large-scale destructive techniques.

His Wind Style mastery had reached 56%, yet he still lacked C-rank offensive jutsu that could truly turn the tide in a fight.

'I need stronger wind jutsu. Something that can actually deal serious damage rather than just assisting me in combat' he thought.

During his fight with Itachi, the jutsu he instinctively used the most was Body Flicker, followed closely by Wind Clone and Shuriken Control. These had been the best choices for that specific scenario.

He had other jutsu that might have worked, but the fast pace of the fight left no room for anything unnecessary. His earth jutsu remained completely hidden, since Utakata had interfered before he could counter Itachi's final attack.

At this point, the image he had shown to others was clear, A fast fighter with exceptional speed, a high-level grasp of Body Flicker, good taijutsu, and a growing proficiency in Wind Style.

If someone tried to evaluate him, they would probably place him at a high-genin level which was not far from the truth, but still left gaps in their understanding of his full strength.

Ren let out a sigh.

"I decided not to hold back… yet somehow, I still have some hidden cards. If people start noticing that I always have something extra up my sleeve, they might become too interested in figuring out what else I'm hiding."

The thought lingered in his mind, but before he could dwell on it further, the basement door creaked open and a familiar figure flickered into the room.

Juichi appeared directly in front of Ren, his sharp eyes immediately scanning his injured arm.

Before Ren could say anything, Juichi had already grabbed it, checking for any lingering damage.

After a moment, he let out a relieved sigh and sat down beside Ren.

"You worry me, brat," Juichi muttered, rubbing his temples.

Ren blinked in mild surprise. His father rarely spoke in such a vulnerable tone.

"Even though this was just an academy exam, you still got injured." Juichi sighed again, shaking his head. "I know it was just a small wound today… but I keep thinking about what might happen in the future."

Ren remained silent, watching his father with a newfound sense of understanding.

For Juichi, Ren wasn't just a talented academy student he was his son.

Even if it was just a minor wound today, what about next time? What about when the real battles started?

Juichi let out another sigh, this one quieter than before.

"You don't feel uncomfortable, do you?" he finally asked, his voice gruff but laced with concern.

"No," Ren reassured him. "It was just a minor wound, and they healed it right there."

Juichi nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's good."

But even as he said it, Ren could tell his father still wasn't at ease.

Ren tried to assure Juichi that he was fine, but Juichi simply shook his head and let out a sigh.

"Don't try to console me, brat. I'm not so weak that I need a kid's assurance," he said, rubbing ren's head "I was ready for the day you might come home injured the moment you started training. But..." his voice softened slightly, "it's a parent's duty to worry about their kid. You wouldn't understand that now."

Ren didn't argue. He could see the concern in his father's eyes, and even though Juichi was trying to brush it off, Ren could tell that seeing him injured even if it was just a minor wound had affected him more than he let on.

Suddenly, Juichi's tone shifted abruptly, snapping Ren out of his thoughts.

"Anyway, you did good today. There will probably be a tie for first place. If this were before, Itachi would have taken first place alone."

Ren's brows furrowed slightly. "Why would it be different now?"

Juichi shook his head, "Don't worry about it. You just need to know that you'll get your weapon. I'll make sure the quality is good enough, so rest easy. Just let Utakata know to meet me when he asks you for your reward."

Ren nodded, feeling satisfied about his upcoming reward, but a lingering question remained in his mind.

"You know," he started, "during my fight with Itachi, Utakata-sensei and an Uchiha interfered before we could finish. Do you know why?"

Juichi didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned the question back on him.

"What do you think?"

Ren rubbed his chin, thinking deeply. After a while, he answered hesitantly, "Because we had already shown enough?"

Juichi nodded approvingly. "Precisely. What you two showed today was already far beyond the strength of an average genin. And you're only in your first year. If either of you had gone further, you would have been pushed for early graduation right now."

Juichi continued, "The Uchiha observing your fight was likely acting on the patriarch's orders. They would want to show off their clan heir's genius, but not to the extent where he would be forced to graduate early. The clan still wants him to grow in the academy. As for Utakata... he must have stepped in the moment he saw the Uchiha interfere and understood their reasoning."

Ren absorbed the information carefully. "So they both had the same goal, to stop the fight before it escalated too much."

"Exactly," Juichi confirmed.

It made sense. Itachi was valuable to the Uchiha, and Ren was attracting too much attention. If they had gone any further, the academy might have pushed for their early graduation, something neither side wanted right now.

Just as Ren was processing all of this, Juichi reached into his vest pocket and pulled out two scrolls, tossing them to Ren with a small smirk.

"Here. This is my reward for you since you did so well."

Ren caught the scrolls and quickly scanned them

Wind Style: Great Breakthrough

Earth Style: Earth Dragon Blast

His eyes lit up with excitement.

"C-rank jutsus! Finally, some real offensive power!" he exclaimed, looking at his father with gratitude.

"Thanks, Dad!"

Juichi nodded with a smile and flickered out, leaving Ren alone in the basement.

Ren looked at the two scrolls in his hands, his excitement barely contained. These were C-rank offensive ninjutsu, exactly what he needed to start expanding his combat potential. Up until now, most of his jutsus had been support-based useful for enhancing his fighting style, but lacking real firepower.

"With these, my arsenal won't just be about speed and tricks anymore. I'll finally have some solid offensive jutsu."

He carefully unrolled the scrolls, skimming through their contents.

The first was Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, a well-known wind technique that allowed the user to generate a massive gust of wind capable of blasting away obstacles, enemies, and even projectiles.

The second was Earth Style: Earth Dragon Blast, a technique that shaped mud into a dragon's head, which could spit out powerful mud projectiles at high speed.

Ren clenched his fist in determination.

Ren was very excited, so he immediately opened the scroll for the Great Breakthrough jutsu and carefully read through its details.

The technique itself was simple but powerful, the user breathes wind from their mouth, creating a strong gust capable of blowing away whatever is in front of them. The strength of the wind depended entirely on the user's skill and chakra control. The hand seals for the jutsu were:

Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake

Ren steadied himself and performed the hand seals one by one. As he reached the final seal, he took a deep breath and exhaled, channeling his chakra through his lungs.

A powerful gust of wind surged forward, rushing 50 meters ahead before gradually fading. The jutsu lasted for five seconds and had consumed more than a tenth of his chakra.

Unlike the gentler wind-based techniques he had practiced before, this jutsu had aggressive winds that carried real destructive force. It was his first truly offensive wind-style jutsu, and it exceeded his expectations.

Ren wanted to keep practicing, but he knew rest was important too, so he decided to call it a night. He went to his room, laid down on his bed, and started thinking.

That was when he remembered he hadn't yet claimed his system rewards from his past accomplishments.

Opening the system screen, he was surprised to find not two, but four pending rewards.

[SYSTEM REWARDS]

[CONGRATULATIONS FOR LEARNING YOUR FIRST D-RANK JUTSU (BODY FLICKER JUTSU).] REWARD: 2 CHUNIN LEVEL POINTS

[CONGRATULATIONS FOR LEARNING YOUR FIRST B-RANK JUTSU (SHADOW CLONE JUTSU).] REWARD: 2 MASTERY POINTS (1 POINT INCREASES MASTERY BY 10% BEFORE ADVANCED LEVEL)]

[CONGRATULATIONS FOR BECOMING THE RIVAL OF YOUNG ITACHI UCHIHA.] REWARD: MINOR GENJUTSU RESISTANCE (RESISTANT TO GENJUTSU BELOW A-RANK)

[CONGRATULATIONS FOR LEARNING YOUR FIRST C-RANK JUTSU (GREAT BREAKTHROUGH).] REWARD: 5 CHUNIN LEVEL POINTS

Ren was stunned by the rewards. The Chunin Level Points were expected, but the Mastery Points were something he had never received before. From the explanation, they could only be used before a mastery reached Advanced Level (75%).

His current mastery panel was as follows:

CHAKRA CONTROL - 60% (INTERMEDIATE)

FAST FIST TAIJUTSU - 58% (INTERNEDIATE)

SHURIKENJUTSU - 74% (INTERMEDIATE)

SHADOW CLONE MASTERY - 48% (BEGINNER)

WIND STYLE MASTERY - 56% (INTERNEDIATE)

EARTH STYLE MASTERY - 46% (BEGINNER)

Ren thought carefully about where to invest his Mastery Points.

His Chakra Control had been progressing the slowest, so he decided to save the points. Once it reached 64%, he could use a Mastery Point to push it straight to 74%, just before the Advanced Level cap.

For the other point, he decided to save it for Shadow Clone Mastery, which was progressing steadily on its own for now.

His reward for becoming Itachi's rival also surprised him. He had always known that interacting with canon characters would be beneficial, which was why he never backed down from fighting Itachi.

But only today did he receive a system reward for it, meaning Itachi had finally acknowledged him as a rival.

And the reward itself was incredibly valuable, Minor Genjutsu Resistance.

Ren wasn't interested in Genjutsu, but he knew its dangers. Having a natural resistance to any Genjutsu below A-Rank would be invaluable in the future.

Now, it was time to distribute his points.

Over the past six months, he hadn't been receiving any points, but now, he had seven available. His main focus had always been Vitality (VIT) and Chakra (CHA), since increasing Vitality also helped grow Chakra Reserves naturally.

"System, add 6 points to Vitality," Ren instructed.

A system notification rang out:

[VIT +6] → [VIT - 32]

[CHA +3] → [CHA - 28]

As expected, Vitality's increase had also boosted his Chakra.

With one remaining point, he decided to invest it directly into Chakra, raising it to [CHA - 29].

Satisfied with his gains, Ren finally closed his eyes and drifted off into peaceful sleep.

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[UPDATED STATS]

VIT- 32

CHA- 29 

{A/N:- Another father son moment, reason for intervention, new jutsus and some system presence after a few chapters. I think people don't like seeing system messages every chapter so I'm going like this and would make a chapter with system elements every few chapters. Comment what you think}