{Update schedule at the end}
Once Ren left the Hokage building, he went straight home to take a bath. Almost a month of fighting in the jungle hadn't left him much time for a proper soak. Once home, he quickly prepared the bath and finally laid down in the tub, relaxing as the warm water sank into his bones.
'Damn, this feels good,' he thought.
Originally, his plan was to spend a few more days in the jungle before the month's time was up and Utakata was free again. However, he had been interrupted by the Third Hokage.
He didn't mind much. After all, he got to be humiliated by the old man, which he considered a good reward for pausing his adventure.
He hadn't planned on fighting Hiruzen originally, but the moment he saw the old man's eyes back in the jungle, he knew he was being tested. So, he decided to show off his abilities a little.
'It's important to remind the Hokage that I'm a genius and deserve attention,' he thought with a smirk. 'The Rasenshuriken plan though, that was something I had to come up with, on the spot.'
Although he could have kept it hidden for now, he figured it wouldn't have benefited him much until he perfected it anyway. But now that Hiruzen knew about it, he was sure the Hokage would believe that he had been the one to complete the Fourth's legendary jutsu.
'I don't think he would go around telling everyone either, except maybe Jiraiya and Danzo. Jiraiya is fine since he's Dad and Sensei's sensei, but Danzo might try something, oh well,' he shrugged. 'It's not such a big deal. Even if Danzo sent someone after me, unless it's an elite jonin squad or Danzo comes himself, I'm pretty sure I could escape. Besides, it's worth the risk.'
He grinned slightly as he remembered the look on the Hokage's face and the promised rewards, and more importantly, he quickly pulled up his system panel and opened the blinking notification.
[CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR CHANGING THE CANON: CREATION OF RASENSHURIKEN BEFORE NARUTO UZUMAKI]
[REWARDS: WIND AFFINITY BOOST]
Ren frowned as he stared at the reward. 'That's it?'
He immediately opened his mastery panel, and his eyes widened.
[Wind Release Mastery: 53%]
"What the fuck?" he blurted out in the empty bathroom. 'Hey system, what the hell happened to my advanced-level wind mastery? What kind of boost? What kind of reward is this?' However, no reply came from the system.
Ren cursed under his breath. 'Damn it.'
Still fuming, he decided to test it. Right there in the bath, he started going through all of his wind jutsus one by one. As he used them, his frown deepened.
'What the hell? The jutsus are... stronger?'
Drying himself off quickly, he threw on his clothes and went down to the basement. There, he started blasting all of his wind jutsus around.
For the E-rank and D-rank techniques, he could still use them without hand signs. But for the C and B-rank ones, he needed two or three hand signs now, and for the A-rank ones, he needed the full five or six hand signs again.
After a while, he sat down and began observing the changes carefully.
'The wind jutsus take way less chakra than before. Even the A-rank ones that used to cost around 700 or 800 chakra points now only take about 400. And their power has increased too. However,'
His frown deepened further.
'My control is shit now. Even though the power has increased and the cost decreased, what's the point if I can't even control them properly anymore?'
He sighed heavily.
'Well, the reward is good for the long term, but not so much for the short term.'
To test it further, he tried forming a Rasenshuriken again. As expected, the attempt failed miserably.
He sighed again, louder this time.
'Great. I can't even make the jutsu for which I got the reward.'
Even though he grumbled about it in his mind, he knew very well how much the reward would help him later on. And he was fairly confident that by the time his Wind Release Mastery reached 60%, he would regain the earlier level of control he had. So, in the end, he wasn't too depressed about it.
'Should I?' he thought, then shook his head, 'no, I don't want to use mastery points on something that would be my main affinity for the time to come.'
Although he didn't feel that the system would disappear anytime soon, he still believed it was better not to rely too much on it for something as important as his main element. That was also why he wasn't too keen on using the advanced points to boost his chakra control either. He much preferred saving them for the more elusive Yin or Yang chakra natures.
Since he still had the entire day left and there was no team training, he decided to stay in the basement. Using shadow clones to split the burden, he continued exploring more of the changes brought by the wind affinity boost, steadily refining his new control.
~~~
Just like that, Ren spent his entire birthday training. The only highlight was when an eagle arrived at his home carrying a letter and a sealed scroll from Juichi, wishing him a happy birthday and leaving behind a gift.
Ren didn't open the scroll for now, but he sent a reply back with the eagle and let it fly off into the sky.
Soon, the next day arrived.
After completing his morning training, Ren freshened up and made his way to the Hokage's office at the exact time he was asked to arrive. Knocking on the door, he waited patiently until the voice from inside called him in. Entering the room, he gave a slight bow.
"Hokage-sama."
The Third Hokage chuckled lightly. "Hoho, young Ren, there's no need for formalities when it's just the two of us. You can just call me Grandpa, like many of the other kids in the village."
Ren tilted his head slightly and smiled. "Ok, Grandpa."
Ren inwardly wiped away an imaginary tear as he thought, 'Seniors, I have passed the hurdle of getting a grandpa in the Naruto world.' He could almost imagine many famous fanfic protagonists smiling and gently nodding at him from beyond the screen, one of them even reminding him, 'Be shameless. Ask for something in return.' But before he could run too far with the bit, Hiruzen interrupted his thoughts.
"I believe this will be enough as compensation for fulfilling this old man's unreasonable request of sharing the personal details of your jutsu."
Ren smiled and pocketed the scroll without checking its contents. "Thanks, Grandpa."
Hiruzen let out another soft hoho and then asked, "So, do you want to officially register the Rasenshuriken with the village? It would be classified as an S-rank forbidden technique, so you can rest assured about the reward."
For a moment, Ren was sure he saw a shadow twitch behind Hiruzen's chair, almost like a tail but he chose ignore it.
Ren thought for a second, then said, "No, I don't want to register it for now."
Hiruzen nodded without questioning the decision. He had his own guesses and didn't feel the need to press further. Then, fishing out another scroll from his sleeve, he casually tossed it toward Ren.
"Alright then, we'll discuss that matter later. Here's your birthday gift."
Once again, Ren pocketed the scroll with a smile. "Thanks, Grandpa."
"Alright, you may go. You have a week before your sensei returns from his mission. Make sure to inform your teammates too."
Ren gave a nod, turned, and left the room.
Once outside, he made his way straight back to the basement, eager to open all the scrolls he had collected.
~~~
Once Ren reached home, he went straight to the basement where all the clones were working on different tasks. He sat down in one of the corners and took out the first scroll. It was the one given by his dad as a birthday gift.
He looked at the scroll and noticed that there was a seal placed on it, though the seal looked like it had been set a few years ago and not recently. Quickly and easily, he undid the seal, something that had become second nature for him now.
Opening the scroll, he found the jutsu [Earth Release: Hardening State], an A-rank terrain-affecting technique. It infused the ground underfoot with chakra, turning it into near-solid rock, making it extremely difficult for attacks to break through the ground and reach the user.
With a glance, Ren deduced that it was best used in combination with the Hiding in the Mole Technique. He could also think of some other creative applications for the jutsu, but he didn't dwell too much on it for now.
Next, he picked up the compensation scroll offered by the Hokage. This one was also sealed, but the seal was much more complex, with an added risk that, if he got the sequence wrong even once, the scroll would explode.
Taking out a paper and pencil, he carefully started deciphering the seal. It took him around thirty minutes before he finally managed to open it safely.
Inside, he found that the scroll was divided into two parts. The first contained an A-rank offensive wind jutsu, [Wind Bullet Artillery], where the user fires dozens of compressed wind spheres at high speed, each sphere capable of piercing through even the Earth Wall Technique.
Without wasting time, he moved on to the second part, which contained another offensive wind jutsu, this one of S-rank level: [Wind Release: Sky Destruction Blast]. This technique condensed air pressure into massive shockwaves that flattened battlefields in large, sweeping arcs.
Ren read through both descriptions and thought, 'I can't decide whether the old man was being stingy or if these rewards were just bait to make me submit the Rasenshuriken officially to the village.'
After all, what Hiruzen gave him wasn't small—one jutsu was perfect for mid-range battles and the other was devastating for large-scale destruction, but it still somehow felt a little underwhelming.
Finally, he picked up the last scroll, the birthday gift scroll. This one didn't have any seal on it. When Ren read the name written inside, he involuntarily blurted out loud,
"Sweet mother of all that is good and pure."
~~~~~
{Shitty day, so we'll talk in the next chapter}
{Update schedule:- Sunday, Monday, Wednesday at 00:00 GMT (it's the time whenever webnovel refreshes the day for you)}
{You know what to do}
{STONES!!!!}