Chapter 55: From Black to White

"You little punk… you really dyed your hair?!"

The next day, at the Konohagakure training grounds, Kakashi stared at Kitagawa Gen with an utterly dumbfounded expression.

He'd thought the kid was just joking. But to his surprise, Gen actually went and dyed his hair white!

"It's not bad, right?"

Gen touched his hair and couldn't help but laugh.

"Come on, it looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

"…"

Kakashi covered his forehead, speechless for a moment. He didn't even know what to say about this kid's antics.

He couldn't deny it—Gen did look good like this. It gave him an added air of mystery.

"But don't you think it makes you stand out even more?"

"Then what about you, Kakashi-sensei?"

"…Forget it. Whatever."

Kakashi shook his head, seemingly unwilling to argue further with this kid.

In any case, it wasn't that big of a deal. Just like Gen said, for some inexplicable reason, he'd been going on missions more and more often with him and Jiraiya lately.

In fact, it was actually him—with his black hair—who stood out.

"Maybe it'll fade soon enough," Kakashi muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Gen asked curiously, "Kakashi-sensei, what are we doing today?"

"For now, you'll be staying in the village to study. Did you forget what the Hokage said?"

Kakashi casually pulled out a few scrolls and handed them to Gen.

"These contain sealed books on knowledge relevant to Chūnin and Jōnin. Study them thoroughly when you get home."

"These are foundational concepts—you must master them."

"Besides that, I've asked someone to help train you. He and I will both be working with you in the coming days."

"Originally, I planned to hone your skills through missions. But now, it's clear: the enemies you'll face in the future are only going to get stronger."

"You've got great power, and with brute force, you can defeat enemies."

"But if you don't learn how to use your strength wisely and build up more experience, it's going to cause serious problems down the line."

"Mm. I understand."

Gen didn't object at all—Kakashi made perfect sense. In fact, this was precisely what he lacked. Still, he had a small doubt.

"Then why not just keep doing missions? The more tough opponents I face, the better I'll grow, right?"

"It's because I'm worried you'll end up flustered when you run into someone too powerful. Anyway, just stay in the village for now. I'll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen at noon."

Kakashi's eyes curved into crescent moons, as if he were coaxing a child.

"…"

Gen pressed his lips together. He only tricked Naruto into eating ramen because they didn't have money—it wasn't like he loved ramen that much.

But whatever. Right now, he really did need to calm down and consolidate the progress he'd made.

[Name: Kitagawa Gen]

[Age: 13]

[Bloodline: Ōtsutsuki Clan (21% awakened)]

[Total Chakra Reserves: SS (Kage-level average)]

[Chakra Nature: Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Yin, Yang]

[Special Technique: Ice Release]

Looking at his list of abilities, Gen felt deeply satisfied.

Especially with Ice Release—it genuinely made him happy.

Ice Release was something he had developed outside the system—it was his first attempt at fusing techniques on his own. Even though he was confident in his control, he hadn't been entirely sure of the outcome.

No matter how strong his control was, nobody stays completely calm the first time.

'Still, thanks to that fight with Haku, it wasn't as hard as I feared.'

Haku, being a natural user of a kekkei genkai, wielded his bloodline abilities with flawless precision—every move seamless, without a single wasted motion.

For anyone else, just watching that would've been confusing, let alone trying to understand the principles behind it.

But Gen wasn't just anyone. The more precise and seamless the technique, the better it worked for him!

'Maybe… if I ever run into Ōnoki and his Dust Release, I might be able to learn that too?'

The thought suddenly popped into Gen's head—but he quickly shook it off, not daring to dream too far ahead.

Given his current small frame, if he got hit by Dust Release, wouldn't he be reduced to nothing but ash?

Besides, his bloodline development hadn't yet reached the level of manifesting a Kāma—he wasn't about to take any reckless risks.

'But… developing a kekkei genkai seems both easier and more troublesome than I expected.'

Kitagawa Gen still remembered clearly how, by following the same chakra ratio Haku used for Ice Release—interweaving Wind and Water chakra—he'd instantly felt his chakra being drained like crazy!

That sensation was very similar to what he felt back when his eyes and bones were developing.

'Is this the reason why kekkei genkai are so rare?'

Gen found it a little strange, but after thinking it through, it kind of made sense.

Kekkei genkai, to some extent, are an elevation of one's bloodline. Without a strong genetic foundation and a high enough chakra capacity, it might really be impossible to achieve it.

But whether that was true or not didn't really matter to him.

In the past, he probably would've panicked. But now? He lacked many things—but chakra wasn't one of them.

This kind of consumption? Barely worth mentioning.

'Still, Ice Release doesn't seem to contribute much to bloodline development… and Haku's Ice Release leans more toward defense than offense.'

Gen gently shook his head. As ridiculous as it sounded, it all made sense to him.

The Ōtsutsuki bloodline—we're talking about beings capable of wielding the Kekkei Mōra, fusing all chakra natures into one. A mere two-nature fusion like Ice Release could hardly compare.

'Maybe the more natures I fuse, the greater the effect will be.'

As for Haku's defensive style—that wasn't really a problem either.

He'd already managed to pull off Purple Lightning, hadn't he? If he just adjusted the chakra ratios in Ice Release, he was confident he could make something new out of it too!

'It's just that bleaching it out later will be annoying…'

Fortunately, Gen had already given up resisting that kind of thing. Rather than worrying about his appearance, it was better to spend that energy researching Obito's stuff more deeply.

"Kakashi-sensei, who's the person you said you invited? And what about Jiraiya-sama?"

As the thought crossed his mind, he sat down beside Kakashi, waiting while asking curiously.

"You'll see soon. Don't worry—he's reliable," Kakashi replied with a mischievous glint in his eye, blinking once before continuing.

"As for Jiraiya-sama—he's attending a meeting. There's news from Kirigakure, but it doesn't concern us."

"I see."

Gen nodded. He wondered if it was Yamato—could he be planning to have him learn Wood Release?

He didn't dwell on it. He'd find out soon enough. And truthfully, Kirigakure's affairs had nothing to do with them right now.

Still, when he thought of Kirigakure, a pair of rather unlucky tools came to mind.

That night, neither Jiraiya nor Kakashi had shown much interest in making things difficult for the two of them.

Maybe they didn't want to waste energy, or maybe it was because Zabuza was a missing-nin with no foothold left in the village.

So, when they went to capture Uchiha Obito, they had Zabuza and Haku act as guides one more time… and then let them go.

Later, as they were making their getaway, they even spotted the two just outside of Kirigakure.

'They ran fast… probably hiding out in the Land of Waves by now,' Gen thought to himself with a bit of sarcasm.

Just then, someone came running toward them.

"Sorry, sorry—I'm late!"

"…Huh?"

Gen blinked. He knew that voice all too well.

"Guy-sensei?"

"That's right! Guy!"

Kakashi stood up, patted off his clothes, and smiled.

"I figured I wouldn't be able to train you effectively alone, so I got someone to help me out. Since you two already know each other, it makes things a lot simpler."

"Got it."

Gen nodded. By now, Guy had already reached them.

But just as he raised his thumb, ready to say something, he suddenly caught sight of Gen's white hair and froze. A second later, his eyes bulged wide.

"Gen?! Why do you look like Kakashi now?!"

"…"

Gen's mouth twitched.

At that very moment, his system suddenly blinked.

[New Side Quest Unlocked]

[I'll Take On Both of You!]

[Accept Quest?]

"…"

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