RIIING!
The bell rang, signaling the end of class.
Standing at the podium, Iruka-sensei gathered his lesson materials and dismissed the students.
"Ryosuke, Shikamaru—stop sleeping in class, understand?"
At the doorway, Iruka turned back to address the two students still standing as punishment, his tone earnest.
Though truthfully, those words were mostly directed at Yagami Ryosuke.
Shikamaru was a smart kid—born into the prestigious Nara clan, no less. In Konoha, clan shinobi rarely struggled to get by. As the only son of Nara Shikaku, head of the Nara clan, Shikamaru's future was practically guaranteed.
But Ryosuke? He was a commoner, just like Iruka himself.
And Iruka knew exactly how hard it was for a commoner to rise above the rest.
He'd been the worst student in his own class once. Only through relentless effort had he clawed his way up to Chunin rank.
Talent didn't matter as much as people thought.
What mattered was effort.
Without it, even the greatest talent would go to waste. For a commoner shinobi, there was no chance of advancement without hard work—none at all.
Iruka spoke from experience, genuinely concerned for Ryosuke's future. But the boy seemed naturally lazy, either daydreaming or flat-out sleeping through every lecture. His grades hovered just barely above Naruto's—dead last versus second-to-last. Not much difference there.
Worse still, in practical training sessions, Ryosuke's performance somehow fell below even Naruto's. At least Naruto had decent taijutsu.
Ryosuke? He was bad at everything.
"Iruka-sensei, I swear I'll never sleep in class again."
Ryosuke's voice was full of conviction.
"I hope you mean it this time."
Iruka shook his head with a sigh and turned to leave.
Clearly, he didn't believe a word of it—probably because this was the umpteenth time he'd heard that exact promise. And Ryosuke had never kept it. Not once.
If Iruka weren't so dedicated and responsible, any other teacher would've given up on this hopeless student long ago.
"Ryosuke… are you actually serious this time?"
Shikamaru's question came out of nowhere.
When have I ever not been serious?
"I'm always serious," Ryosuke said flatly.
Shikamaru stared at him with dead-fish eyes.
"Last time. The time before that. And the time before that."
Ryosuke fell silent.
Ouch. Don't say it on my face, bro.
"This time I mean it," Ryosuke insisted. "We're about to graduate. If I keep drifting along like this, I won't even pass."
"True enough."
Shikamaru nodded in agreement.
Graduation, huh? If he didn't graduate, his mom would definitely nag him into an early grave.
Not that it mattered for Shikamaru—graduating from the Academy was child's play for him.
"Shikamaru, let's eat lunch on the rooftop!"
Choji Akimichi walked over, clutching an enormous lunchbox, and extended the invitation.
"Sure."
Shikamaru waved at Ryosuke before following Choji out.
Ryosuke hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided not to chase after them and extract their biopheromones just yet.
Plenty of time ahead. I only get one conversion per day.
The first few uses should definitely be saved for the big targets.
And when it came to who in the Ninja Academy had the most suitable biopheromones for extracting talent attributes? Two names immediately came to mind: Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki.
The former—an orphan of the Uchiha clan, bearing the Blood of the Uchiha and the reincarnation of Indra's Will chakra.
The latter—descendant of the Uzumaki bloodline, born with massive chakra reserves, immense vitality, and the reincarnation of Asura's chakra.
These two were prime targets for conversion.
And conveniently enough, Ryosuke had just spotted Sasuke eating lunch alone in the classroom. Perfect opportunity to snag some biopheromones from him.
Biopheromones could be anything carrying the target's cells—hair being the easiest option. A normal person lost 70–100 strands daily, making it the ideal source.
"Emo-kun sure was cute when he was little," Ryosuke muttered under his breath before turning back toward the classroom.
His seat was directly behind Sasuke's row. Pretending to head back to his desk, Ryosuke stopped suddenly as he passed by.
"What do you want?"
Sasuke's voice was ice-cold.
Ever since his clan's massacre at his brother's hands, Sasuke had worn that same bitter, resentful expression. It didn't matter who he was talking to—everyone got the same frosty glare.
"You dropped your pen."
Ryosuke bent down, picking up a pen from the floor. In the same smooth motion, he plucked a single strand of hair from Sasuke's chair.
"Here."
He held out the pen.
"That's not mine."
Sasuke's reply was flat.
"Oh! Right."
"This is mine."
Ryosuke blinked like he'd just realized his mistake.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, studying him closely.
Something's off about this guy. And that last line… was he mocking me?
…Am I imagining things?
"Well, I won't disturb your meal."
Ryosuke turned on his heel and headed back to his seat.
Sasuke watched him go, frowning slightly before looking away.
Phew. Good thing, I didn't get caught.
Back at his desk, Ryosuke let out a quiet breath. Honestly, Sasuke's stare was pretty intimidating—that icy aura was classic Uchiha through and through.
He pulled out the strand of hair he'd snagged earlier.
"This should work, right?"
Without hesitation, he stored the hair in the system's biopheromone warehouse and selected conversion.
[Confirm conversion of target's talent attributes?]
"Confirm!"
Ryosuke whispered.
DING~!
[Conversion successful!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the following talent attributes: [Soul of Vengeance], [Eye of Curse], [Indra's Resentment]!]
Golden light exploded before his eyes—brighter than the first time.
Ryosuke squinted instinctively, his heart pounding with shock.
"Wait—System, I thought conversions only gave one talent attribute?"
[The system never said that.]
No way… there's actually a loophole like this?!
Ryosuke's excitement surged. Even though he could only convert once per day, each conversion could yield multiple attributes!
"Holy crap. No wonder it's Emo-kun—three gold-tier legendary attributes from a single hair!"
Ryosuke glanced up at Sasuke sitting a few rows ahead, his gaze shifting—as if he were looking at a walking treasure trove.