Dylan soon realized a certain misunderstanding he had.
Indeed, he wouldn't be considered a Genin until he learned and mastered all the academy's teachings, even if his chakra reserves already surpassed what was necessary for graduation.
However, this didn't mean he couldn't use and benefit from the available Genin knowledge. It just meant it would be difficult, and if he kept skipping knowledge like this, no matter if he was an innate genius, he would still have a weak foundation.
So Dylan decided to learn honestly, following the curriculum, especially since it wouldn't take him more than three days to graduate!
Currently, he not only recovered stamina quickly but also required less sleep. This didn't mean he couldn't sleep much, but rather that if he wanted to, he could sleep only 3–4 hours a night or less and still maintain a high physical and mental level.
The intern changes in his body were becoming increasingly apparent. And the transformation naturally included his brain. His ability to process, analyze, and retain information was greatly enhanced.
Furthermore, his other senses were also significantly strengthened. Currently, he was normally capable of perceiving and capturing any information within a 3-meter radius around him. Beyond that, the information became more "static" and less clear. Also, it worked better when he actively concentrated.
But the most important thing for him was that he could start feeling parts of his body with slight itching, and he knew this was a sign of the development of a Kekkei Genkai that was gradually and progressively altering his biological composition and physical structure!
The main focus of the itching was his eyes and bones! Since it seemed his transformation would take a little longer to finish, Dylan continued his "lesson" to learn the three basic ninjutsu.
Returning to the living room after drying off and putting on more comfortable sweatpants and a black short-sleeved shirt, Dylan focused and began executing the Transformation Technique, or for those with a tick, *Henge no Jutsu*!
This ninjutsu required only one hand seal, the Dog (Inu) seal.
Dylan concentrated his chakra and began mentally visualizing the exact form he wished to assume. In this stage, a lot of clarity in the details was necessary, or the disguise would be imperfect, full of flaws in both appearance and proportion.
After achieving clear visualization, Dylan began molding his chakra to alter his form and appearance, covering himself with a layer of transforming chakra.
With everything ready, he then formed the Dog hand seal and released the molded chakra.
!!! With a slight ripple that covered him entirely, Dylan disappeared from the room, and in his place stood a short, chubby man. Although he was wearing the same pants and shirt Dylan had on earlier, his appearance was completely different!
That was one of Dylan's neighbors with whom he had little or no contact, but whom he remembered clearly enough. Soon, the air around him rippled again, and Dylan reappeared with a thoughtful expression.
'As expected, it's not too difficult, but...' Dylan realized that the basic transformation technique was quite complete, but it required him to take everything into consideration before releasing it. For example, Dylan had forgotten to alter his clothes as well.
Ninjutsu indeed seemed easier for him to master. If the rank and chakra requirement of the ninjutsu were lower than his chakra reserve, he seemed able to learn it effortlessly and master it with some effort.
But there were still certain disadvantages for his current self, such as how the transformation technique required constant use of chakra and concentration. He probably wouldn't be able to use it and enter combat at the same time, at least not for very long.
Dylan then made a few more attempts, transforming into some of his neighbors and members of the boxing academy, including old Rick. With this, he realized that besides altering appearance and voice, he could even alter his scent. It was indeed a supreme disguise technique if mastered to the fullest; unless one had special and unique means, most would never be able to discern the truth!
Dylan even transformed into a dog, but this level of transformation proved flawed and burdensome, mainly because he didn't possess much anatomical and biological knowledge of dogs. 'Looks like I have more to learn.'
After a brief rest to recover some of the chakra spent on the repeated transformation techniques—a moment during which he also confirmed that his chakra recovery was also of a superior level—he prepared to learn the next ninjutsu.
The Clone Technique, or *Bunshin no Jutsu*!
Dylan took a deep breath and concentrated a specific amount of his chakra. He then began molding this chakra into a form identical to himself in every sense and visual angle. Already having experience with the transformation jutsu, this part naturally came even easier.
Then he formed the hand seals in sequence: Ram (Hitsuji), Boar (I), Ox (Ushi), and Dog (Inu), and then released the chakra.
With a shimmer, Dylan split into two! After staring at each other for a bit, the Dylan on the left took a step and punched the other Dylan's head hard! As soon as his fist connected, he, the Dylan who had thrown the punch, disappeared softly like a breeze.
"Hmm, indeed." As expected, the clone lacked substance and couldn't affect the physical world beyond serving as a decoy and deception. As for the punch, that was Dylan testing his control over the clone.
Satisfied with the result, Dylan continued practicing and testing, intensifying with each new attempt. After several tries, he found that his current self was capable of creating six perfect clones and maintaining them for a relatively long time—a few minutes—as long as none suffered any kind of damage or impact.
The challenge was chakra distribution. If one clone had too much chakra, the other would have too little, resulting in blurry or malformed clones.
After another rest, Dylan moved on to what he thought would be the most laborious of the three basic ninjutsu.
The Body Replacement Technique, or *Kawarimi no Jutsu*!
The secret to this ninjutsu lay in timing and speed. He had to predict the attack's trajectory moments before it hit him and then make the substitution at the exact moment of impact.
The seals necessary for this ninjutsu were: Boar (I), Dog (Inu), Bird (Tori), Monkey (Saru), and Ram (Hitsuji).
For a better training experience, Dylan went to the kitchen and grabbed a very sharp knife. They say that only under pressure would one's true potential be genuinely stimulated. He was putting that to the test now.
After all, this was a technique that would primarily be used in real combat, so he didn't want to risk practicing without any danger only to fail when the moment of truth arrived.
Visualizing the technique in his mind first, he immediately entered full concentration mode. As soon as he felt ready, he tossed the knife up so that it spun non-stop but would fall directly above his head!
It must be said that Dylan's knife handling was not as precise before as it was now. And this was because of the weapons training knowledge integrated into his consciousness. He already possessed all the fundamentals, only needing to master them.
Soon, the knife was one rotation away from splitting his head open!
At that moment, Dylan quickly formed the necessary hand seals in the correct sequence and then channeled the chakra to one of the large pillows on his sofa!
*Voosh! Puff!*
Standing on the sofa, Dylan gasped as he saw the pillow pinned to the floor by the knife in front of him! That had been truly dangerous.
But it wasn't time to rest. He needed to master this, which was probably the most practical and useful of the basic ninjutsu. Another point he needed to improve was that after the substitution, he was slightly distracted and his sense of direction was altered.
In a combat situation, this was taboo!
Dylan then set about practicing, making substitutions with various objects around the house, including a clone he had formed to try, and it had worked! The Body Replacement Technique seemed to take into account the weight and volume relationship between Dylan and the target object, but fortunately, his chakra could compensate for the unequal distribution. Of course, the more unequal, the more chakra and effort it would consume, so it was best not to overdo it and try to swap places with, say, a small stone, if possible.
By this time, the sun had already set. Less than a day had passed, but Dylan was already a completely different person from the one who had woken up with headaches that morning.
Normally, everything he had shown so far would be enough for him to graduate from the academy, but this wasn't the ninja world. He still had to completely master basic taijutsu, the use of shinobi tools, and theory and strategy.
Of these, basic taijutsu was the simplest and quickest to master, mainly because he already had a very good foundation as an amateur boxer, and that morning he had already integrated some of the knowledge into his combat habits.
Training with ninja tools presented the difficulty of finding shuriken and kunai, but he thought it was fine to substitute them with kitchen knives for now, until he found a way to get something better.
The most complicated part, which would demand a little more time, was the theory and strategy section. This was the part that would truly give him the fundamentals and practical basis to be a shinobi. Without it, he would just be a powerful fighter with unique techniques and powers.
Of course, in later stages where his strength was very high, such fundamentals might no longer be necessary—after all, faced with absolute strength...
But in the initial and even intermediate stages of his development, such fundamentals would be indispensable.
This knowledge module involved, but was not limited to:
Teamwork: Dylan valued this knowledge in particular because the moment he decided on the Naruto scroll, he already had a small outline of the future in mind. This part was quite diverse, focusing on smaller elite teams of three members up to larger squads of eight men.
Infiltration and Stealth:
Sensory Control: It wasn't just about being silent with your feet, but about controlling your chakra signature so that common and even advanced methods or sensory techniques would have difficulty detecting you.
The Shadow Game: Learning to use natural and artificial lighting to your advantage. Moving across rooftops, ventilation ducts, and the shadows of trees. The shinobi becomes part of the environment.
Tracking and Reconnaissance: Learning to "read" the environment. Observing the area without intervening and collecting the maximum visual and auditory information about enemy strength, patrols, and weak points. A trained shinobi can tell the age of a footprint, the person's weight, if they are injured, the direction they took, and even their state of mind (if they were in a hurry, calm, or nervous) through the most varied and minute clues in the environment.
Counter-Tracking: Leaving false trails, walking backward, using hard surfaces that don't retain impressions, and, in extreme cases, techniques that disguise the trail with basic earth or water jutsus.
Sabotage: It's not about destroying everything; it's about identifying and destroying the essential to disable the enemy. Mastering the use of steel wire, basic explosive tags, and traps.
And so on. Of course, at the moment he would only be learning and mastering the fundamentals, but even if he didn't specialize in these areas in the future, he would certainly still need to learn and master as much as possible.
Since this was a more diverse knowledge module for which he had no foundation, Dylan judged it would be the slowest to master.
Instead of taking just one day like the others, this module would take two or three!
The next day, Dylan received a message from old Rick saying he had managed to get a spare key for him to Fogwell's Academy. Dylan was surprised because he didn't think he would get a spare key directly.
Rick explained that the academy owner only kept it for nostalgia and wouldn't mind someone else using it freely as long as they didn't use it to do illegal things or cause trouble. With the old man vouching for him, it wasn't very difficult to get a spare key.
As for the other person using the academy, that was Jack 'Battling' Murdock's son, Matt Murdock. It seemed the academy was where his father trained before his tragic death.
In any case, it seemed he didn't go there much, and when he did, he didn't spend much time since, as a lawyer who had recently opened an office, he must be quite busy. Besides, Rick spoke highly of him, so Dylan didn't mind much.
After breakfast, he decided to pick up the key from Rick and go take a look.