Chapter Five: Skill Advancement

After making their agreement, Yu Higashino and Naruto each returned to their own homes. Yu had originally planned to practice his swordsmanship, but after spending the day playing with Naruto, he felt exhausted, and it was already dark outside. So... he'll practice tomorrow.

However, he could at least test out his Transformation skill.

While waiting for his rice to cook, Yu went to the bathroom to experiment. With a single thought, his entire outline blurred, and when it sharpened again, he had taken on the appearance of Naruto. Blond hair, whisker-like markings—apart from the expression in his eyes and on his face, there was hardly a flaw in his outward appearance. It was just unclear whether sensory ninjutsu or similar techniques could see through it.

Perhaps not, since Yu was using stamina to activate these skills, not chakra.

Or perhaps they could, since at this stage, the Transformation skill was little more than an illusion.

Yu tried patting the top of his head. Since he was taller than Naruto, in the mirror it looked as though he was patting the air above his head. As his hand gently pressed down, a ripple of distortion appeared in the reflection.

"Forget it, the flaws are still too obvious. I'll wait until I've leveled it up before using it outside," Yu decided, then, still in Naruto's guise, went to the kitchen to finish cooking.

Transformation Skill Proficiency Increase Method: Actively using Transformation once increases proficiency by 1 point; maintaining the transformation for one hour increases proficiency by 1 point.

By the time Yu finished his meal, he finally earned a point of proficiency.

Though this method required little thought, it felt far too slow. So after eating, Yu focused entirely on training.

Release, transform, release, transform—repeating the cycle for about ten minutes, the Transformation skill upgraded.

Transformation lv2: 0/1000

At level 2, the Transformation skill enabled him to transform other objects as well.

Level 1 could also transform objects, but only those Yu was directly touching, and the effect vanished as soon as they left his grasp.

Now, with level 2, after expending stamina to transform an object, the transformation would persist even if the item was taken far away.

The duration depended on how much stamina was spent and the complexity of the transformation.

But the same old problem remained: the transformation was still an illusion, not physical change. Going out in disguise could still cause trouble.

So Yu decided to continue leveling up.

If ten minutes could net a hundred points of proficiency, then a thousand would take just a couple of hours.

Though Yu was usually quite laid-back, sometimes he could be extremely persistent—especially when he had a clear and attainable goal in sight.

At such moments, he could muster remarkable perseverance.

A few hours later.

Transformation lv3: 0/10000

Now, the next upgrade required ten thousand points, clearly not something to be achieved quickly, and Yu immediately lost the motivation to keep grinding.

At last, the level 3 Transformation skill granted real physical transformation. Building on level 2, it allowed for altering the shape, color, size, and more of objects to a certain extent.

Now, if Yu transformed into Naruto, it wouldn't just be an illusion. Height and weight would be perfectly replicated as well.

There were still limitations, of course. The degree of transformation couldn't be too great; for instance, Yu could turn a table into a bed, but not conjure a bed out of thin air.

And just like before, the effects were temporary, not permanent changes.

All in all, the level 3 Transformation skill wasn't especially powerful, but it was more than sufficient for disguises or bringing small conveniences to daily life.

For Yu, "good enough" was all he needed. He'd let the skill improve on its own from now on and couldn't be bothered to train it further.

Still, since maintaining an active transformation continued to increase proficiency over time, Yu figured he could automate the process.

He took out the family heirloom—the samurai sword—and used Transformation to turn it into a cross pendant, which he hung around his neck.

Now, every passing hour would add a point to his skill proficiency—growing stronger while doing nothing at all.

Having finished all this, it was already late, and Yu felt mentally drained. So he did nothing further and simply crawled into bed to sleep.

...

"Big Brother Yu! Big Brother Yu!"

The next morning, Yu was woken by this noisy voice.

Suppressing his morning grumpiness, he went downstairs and opened the door, where the ever-annoying Naruto Uzumaki was waiting.

"Big Brother Yu, I'm here to work!"

"I told you to come later, didn't I?"

"But it's not early anymore!"

Yu glanced out at the quiet street; few people were about and the sun had barely risen. And this was considered late?

"Fine, come in," Yu said, stepping aside to let Naruto enter.

"Just sit at the front counter. If anyone comes in, call me."

"What are you going to do, Big Brother Yu?"

"Sleep!" Yu answered bluntly, heading back upstairs.

He tried to go back to sleep, but as was often the case, once he was awake, he could seldom fall back asleep—the longer he lay there, the more alert he became.

This was why he so hated being woken up.

Resigned to his sleeplessness, Yu decided to get up.

After washing up, he returned downstairs.

Naruto was sitting obediently at the front counter, curiously looking around with eyes full of anticipation and joy.

So small and full of hope, he actually looked rather pitiful to Yu, and his irritation faded away.

"Hey, Naruto," Yu greeted him.

"Big Brother Yu? Weren't you going to sleep?"

"Not anymore," Yu replied coolly. "Have you had breakfast?"

"...No."

"I'll make an extra serving, then," Yu said, heading back upstairs.

He quickly cooked two bowls of noodles and called Naruto up.

"Eat," Yu said, pushing a bowl toward him.

"Thank you," Naruto replied, looking a little unsure of what to say.

Yu didn't pay him any mind and began eating himself, the sound of slurping noodles echoing through the quiet morning house.

"I’m digging in!" Naruto announced, and started on his meal. At first, he ate slowly, but soon he picked up speed—apparently, Yu’s cooking wasn’t half bad.

By the time Yu finished, Naruto was almost done as well.

"Is it good?" Yu asked offhandedly.

"Delicious! Really tasty!"

"How does it compare to Ichiraku Ramen?" Yu asked, curious.