I woke up at 4 am to get my morning training in. I was admittedly a bit…obsessed with my routine. I made sure to take some time off here and there on the weekends…sometimes…but the process was ingrained within me by now. I planned on putting daily training shifts between Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu with the remaining nighttime before bed to study what was left in my father's bookcases. By now, I've read most of the books and notes he had. Even the one's mom had in her bedroom. My mother's books mainly covered medical ninjutsu and I've spent years tossing and turning my mind to understand how medicine and the craft of healing work in this world. For the most part, human anatomy was the same, with the inclusion of chakra coils but knowledge of medicine and sciences was a bit more esoteric. When you had chakra, such advances in science were unnecessary. Chakra was like some sort of miracle energy, able to perform non-invasive surgery on a dime without even the need for proper medical equipment.

I needed to get my hands on learning it.

For one, it could save my life, literally, and two, it could probably improve my rate of recovery from injuries and torn muscles. That would increase my grinding efficiency by a mile!

…my mind liked the second point more than the first…yeah, I needed a break this weekend. Sayuri was an expert in the mystic palm jutsus, but always refuses to heal anything other than injuries. She said that I would forgo sleep just to train more…which wasn't true…

I sighed. Sometimes when you're in the thick of things, you can get tunnel-visioned as I do. That's why taking a day or two off in a while comes in handy to regather your bearings.

I finished my taijutsu forms and focused on channelling my chakra. I needed to increase my chakra capacity now that my coils were matured. Speaking of which, I wondered how Narumi handled handling all the Kyuubi's chakra as a baby. She shouldn't even have chakra coils at that age!

Maybe it was because she was an Uzumaki? In one of the history books on dad's shelf, it stated that the Uzumaki were long-lived even for ninja standards and had incredibly high chakra capacities. But that wouldn't make sense for other Jinchuriki either, with them not being Uzumaki's. Does the Bijuu sealing process force coil development? Developing coils were a fragile thing. Train too hard and you might end up like Rock Lee with crippled coils. That was why I was so careful not to push my own.

…things to speculate I guess.

[Ding!]

[Basic Chakra Channeling has levelled up!]

[Ding!]

[Basic Chakra Channeling has evolved to Intermediate Chakra Channeling (level 1)]

Nice. Now I can channel more chakra at a higher rate before running out.

[Ding]

[Chakra Capacity has increased]

Double nice! I needed to go faster though. I wondered how much chakra it would take for me to safely perform a single shadow clone. God, how useful would it be for me to learn that broken jutsu. I would increase training efficiency by however many folds that I can afford to make clones!

Though it was in the forbidden scroll for a reason despite it being such a simple Jutsu. I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry and get my chakra capacity up to at least a 50 before attempting the technique.

After two hours and an increase of 2 stat points in my chakra capacity, I went to make breakfast for Sayuri. Ninjas could wake up anytime they want during their off days if they didn't have prior plans but Sayuri liked to keep a steady schedule.

Speak of the devil, footsteps creaked the now-old staircase as a person elegantly yawned whilst coming downstairs.

"Good morning, Sayuri-chan!" I greeted.

"Ara~ Ara~ good morning, Jin-kun!"

I gave her a hug, much to her delight.

"Making breakfast already I see," She inquired.

"Hehe, since you're leaving tomorrow, I thought I'd make your favourite. Tamagoyaki!"

Her eyes widened and all signs of drowsiness left her body. "R-really?!"

There were many times around me that she broke her calm, Ara~ Ara~ state. But I've learnt over the years to not point them out. She claims to have raised me but by the time I was a year and a half old, I was already changing my own diapers and knew how to keep myself fed and clean. I raised myself dammit! Though reminiscing those times I spent with Sayuri in the bathtub together…I was so glad my hormones hadn't acted up yet before I insisted we stopped, much to her dismay.

"Yep!" I said, "Tamagoyaki with seared salmon, miso, and rice!"

I went back to cooking whilst Sayuri eagerly waited.

[Ding!]

[Cooking has levelled up!]

Ahh, it was so nice to have my level caps removed. It was so frustrating to see them stuck at 30 for the past few years. Now I can truly be a culinary expert. Hmm…I wonder….I wonder if I can…

Channelling chakra into my tongue, I took a sip of the warm miso that I prepared.

Oh.

Oh my.

The flavours that registered in my brain were so intricate! I gleaned so much more information compared to what I did before. My tongue was more sensitive and could tell even small differences between flavours.

[Ding!]

[Cooking has levelled up!]

Speaking of which, maybe a bit more salt…

The first class of the academy today was supposed to be Ninjutsu but was instead replaced with genjutsu. With only henge as the requirement to pass genjutsu class, I had no high expectations for it. Perhaps I could learn about how to break a genjutsu from our teacher.

We were all present today, all patiently waiting and chatting with each other as the teacher has yet to show up.

This would explain why I was currently sandwiched on both sides by Sakura and Ino. With the latter always taking the initiative to be forwards and the former trying to match her. The bench we were on was long enough to hold 4 people on each side so it wasn't like I ran out of space or anything.

But…

But…boobs.

I could feel the precious mounds on the side of my body. The killing intent sent my way from Hinata was almost a regular thing now and I've learnt to ignore it for the most part. Maybe it was because I was annoying the living shit out of Narumi as I was talking to the girls.

"So Jin-babe~" Ino drawled huskily on my right, "you left the academy so early yesterday that I couldn't even ask you to wait up and go home together!"

She was pressed up against me, allowing me to really feel her assets.

"Sorry Ino-san, I had to go back home to train." I responded.

"Yeah Ino-pig, He has more important things than walking you home," Sakura said from my left. She was close to me also but was a bit more reserved. Whether that was due to her being embarrassed from doing such a thing or from shame at having her breast sizes beaten by Ino, I could not tell. For all I know, she had nothing to be ashamed of. In the hot kunoichi scale of things she was a godly 7 out of 10.

The hot kunoichi scale was something I'd invented in my spare time seeing that there were so many drop-dead gorgeous women around me. It was objectifying but in my teenage hormones state, I couldn't really help it. A 3 out of 10 in the hot kunoichi scale would have been an earth woman 11 out of 10, maybe even a 12 out of 10. Maybe it was the chakra or their lifestyles but so fucking many of them just left me breathless that I'd made this impossibly high standard scale to categorise their beauty with 1 being moderately pretty and 10 being impossibly gorgeous. On the male side of things, I might've been a 7 as well. Although I've yet to add anymore points in charisma seeing that the stat cap for that might be lower than the other—one could only get so handsome and/or beautiful. I'm guessing the cap was around 50.

Ino was also a 7, Hinata was an 8, and Narumi…she was a 9. Yeah this is what regular civilians competed with. It was almost unfair. Scratch that, it was very much unfair. Though I've yet to name another person a 10 out of 10 other than Sayuri. Maybe if Tsunade showed up that would change. After all her beauty was legendary even amongst the high standards of Kunoichi. Maybe I should go on the prowl sooner rather than later.

Maybe then I would…

Maybe…then…I

…

My thoughts trailed off as another woman entered the room.

And holy mother in heaven.

She had hair like the night sky, impeccably wavy and luscious, pale white skin like the most delicious of creams, eyes red like iridescent ruby gems, and a red-lipped smirk on her face that almost made me faint as she caught my eyes from scanning the room. Before her scan moved on however she did a double take and had a quizzical expression on her face when she stated back at me, almost as if she was amused at my expression. Did I involuntarily let out a gasp when I saw her or something? That would've been embarrassing.

…wait she was looking right at me.

…looking…at me…

I blushed. I will admit, this may be the first time that I would shamelessly say that I blushed in front of a pretty woman because she was a solid 10 out of 10 in the scale. In fact, she set the standard so high that I'm going to have to deduct a point from everyone else other than Sayuri. If this was the level of beauty the aspiring kunoichi next to me would grow to be then god help us all.

I turned my attention to the side bashfully as I cleared my throat to get myself out of my mesmerisation. The girls beside me had caught on and followed my gaze to the object of my attention. They didn't look happy.

"Alright class, time to get back to your own seats," the woman said.

Ino reluctantly followed her instructions and I got off my seat so Sakura could slide out. Before she did, though, she passed a note to the uninterested Narumi on the far left. She'd been unbothered with my interaction with Ino and Sakura the entire time. In fact she'd been ignoring me since I showed up this morning. Maybe it was my fault from that flirting attempt yesterday.

I observed her reaction to the note. At first she was skeptical, not knowing what to do with it, then she hesitantly opened it, almost as if she was fearing what was written inside. Then her eyes widened and was followed by suspicion. Then she looked at me with the same expression.

I tried to put on the most innocent face I could because Sakura was already gone by this point.

"…Did you put her up for this?" Narumi asked.

"Up for what?" I asked.

"…she wanted me to hang out with her during lunch."

"…I may have…pulled a few strings…but wait!" I said as Narumi scowled at me. "I swear I'm not trying to influence who you choose to be friends with or anything! Nor did I tell any of them about our conversation yesterday, I swear it!"

Narumi blushed at looked away. "You'd better not, and I can handle myself," she said angrily.

"Narumi…" I muttered. Then I continued.

"I…I know it's not my place to decide such things but I just want others to see you the way I see you. You're awesome, like seriously awesome. Not to mention rather beautiful." I said as she got redder and redder from the compliments. It reminded me of where that landed me yesterday. My cheek was still a bit sore even after Sayuri's healing balm and mystic palm jutsu. "And I just want you to give people who try to befriend you a chance. Maybe you'll end up hurt and disappointed."

Narumi's shoulders slumped.

"But maybe…just maybe you would find yourself not being lonely any more." I continued. At that she looked at me. Her expression was still had the same scowl but her eyes showed me a bit of hope. "A chance Narumi. It might be a risk but a chance is all you need. Then you'll have another amazing friend like me!" I smiled as I pointed to myself with my thumb.

"Pfftt" She snorted, "As if, Jin-baka."

She turned away but I caught the smile on her face though. I mentally cheered. Any sense of happiness I could bring her made me incredibly happy myself for some odd reason.

"Attention now, please!" The teacher called to the class after everyone got to their seats, and I was once again back into my mesmerised daze, "I will be covering our Genjutsu lessons for their year. My name is Yuhi Kurenai but you can address me a Kurenai-sensei."

She looked to everyone in the room, then her eyes landed on mine once more. It might have been my imagination but I could have sworn I saw her lips quirk up a bit before she moved on.

From that moment I knew. Perhaps it was Bob's previous preferences or desires in my past life. Perhaps it was because my mental age might have been a teeny tiny bit older than 15—though I didn't really count Bob's memories as completely my own. Perhaps it was because from her face to her perfectly shaped bust to her thin waist and wide hips to her long and exposed delectable legs. Perhaps it was because of all of it combined. But I knew one thing was for sure.

Yuhi Kurenai was a goddess.

And I wanted her.

Badly.

The genjutsu class today covered basically covered what Genjutsu was. Simple. The art of illusions was complex and intricate but didn't require a lot of chakra to execute. It was also another reason why those with the Sharingan were so deadly. A look in their eyes and they could cast hypnosis on your mind.

Genjutsu was actually a whole lot more than just seeing things that weren't there. There was also genjutsu that were capable of manipulating smells, sounds, even smell and touch. It was a surprisingly useful art to know because even giving an enemy-nin a momentary distraction could prove to be the line between a won fight and death. I added it to the list of stuff to further explore. Kurenai also taught us about how to break an illusion, sending a wild burst of chakra that even I felt despite lacking any sensory abilities. That was another thing I needed to learn how to do.

…and so here I was, approaching her after the class had ended and everyone was headed to lunch. I told Ino and Sakura to go on ahead first and I would find them later.

She was checking the answers on a stack of paper where she handed out to us before just asking us about what we knew of Genjutsu. It was definitely the least respected art of the three but if taught properly, would allow even Sakura to win against Rock Lee—who, in this world also, could only use Taijutsu. Some things just never change despite what universe I guess.

"E-excuse me, Kurenai-sensei." I said, immediately hating my initial stutter. I wondered why I wasn't as smooth as I'd tried to be with Narumi yesterday.

"Hm? Oh Takezuchi-kun," Her red eyes went from the paper to my face and I already felt it heating up. "May I help you with something?"

"Yes. I was wondering if you could teach me how to perform the Genjutsu breaking jutsu." I said.

"Oh you'll learn it in time, maybe even during the course of this year. Just be patient." She said, her expression warm and professional. She enjoyed being a teacher, no doubt. Though she said that she'd only be here for a year. Honestly it made me want to stay in the academy just for that reason alone.

"I want to graduate as soon as possible, Sensei. Preferably in three months' time." I admitted.

She looked at me as if I'd grown another head. Then she let out a chuckle.

"My, my, so eager Takezuchi-kun," She said, "but that is impossible. You've only just had fully matured coils and you know that you aren't allowed to start learning any jutsu until you are enrolled in the Academy. You've been here for two days and expect to perform the entire academy jutsu in—" she looked at the calendar on her desk "the next 87 days?"

I nodded.

She laughed a bit more. "I'm sorry, I don't wish to sound demeaning. It's nice that you're so eager to prove yourself. But expecting you to graduate in three months is akin to expecting a newborn baby to hop out of the womb and start walking."

I smiled. "I'm confidant I could do it, Sensei."

Her laugher had died down and settled into a smirk. "Is that so? You do know that there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. You didn't seem like the type but now I think you're more of the latter."

I shook my head, taking no offence to it. If some fresh-nosed academy student walked up to me and said that they'd be genin and field ready in three month's time, I'd have laughed at them as well.

…but that didn't mean I liked it though.

Alright. Here goes, sensei.

Observe.

Observation target: Kurenai Yuhi (level 224)

Age: 31

Occupation: Jonin Kunoichi

Threat level: Low (relationship status)

Relationship: Teacher

Likes: Genjutsu, Flowers, Gardening, Sarutobi Asuma (51% Trusted)

Hates: Avocados

Affinities: None

Affection meter: 0% (Neutral)

Stats:

Toughness: 151

Agility: 230

Stamina: 162

Cunning: 275

Charisma: 300

Chakra Capacity: 192

Success! My level 30 observation skill had allowed me to gleam a lot more things than last time. It should've even learned of her skills and available jutsus but I'd found two limiting factors form the use of observation: the level difference between me and the target, and the relationship status between me and the target. The only reason I'd been able to use observe on my parents despite being a newborn was because their affection meters were probably already at least about the 100% range being (loved). And Kurenai was a teacher to me now so she had some form of transparency with her students.

With her though, the abilities will remain hidden until I raised her affection meter towards me. My observation did gleam her stats however. They were high…actually ridiculously high for her age. From Sayuri, the average age for one to achieve the Jonin status was at 50 years old. For Kurenai to achieve in her 30's…or even earlier for that matter, was astonishing. She was only a low-jonin, sure, but a jonin nonetheless.

Say what you will about Kurenai from canon but being a genjutsu specialist in a village once filled with sharingan users was hard, hard work. To set yourself apart from your peers like that was admiring. Even if her decision making that one time to use genjutsu on Itachi in the mangas wasn't the smartest idea, I'm positive that it would have worked on any other regular Uchiha. Itachi was just a freak of nature.

Plus…I'm sure the Kurenai of this world was smarter than that.

Her stats were all in all decently balanced across the board. Her highest one was charisma at 300.

…

300?!

Mine was only at 30! And I gave myself a 7 on the shinobi hotness scale. How?! I thought it capped at 50!

…maybe I have some self bias going on here. A 300 though…Having chakra to make you look pretty was so unfair. And maybe charisma didn't just affect the way you look but other things as well. Maybe it affected one's genjutsu talent? A thought for another time.

I wonder how much charisma my other friends have. Sayuri's was undoubtedly 300, despite me not really using observation that much on her anymore—It was, after all, an invasion of privacy.

But with Yuhi Kurenai…

I needed it. I needed it to monitor our affection meter.

Speaking of affection meters…she'd already met Sarutobi Asuma…and she liked him. More than liked him, she trusted him.

…that was a problem…

…

…

No…

That was a challenge.

She trusted him but didn't endear him or even love him. At least, not yet.

I plastered the biggest smile I had on my face.

"Well then Sensei, How about a wager?"

A/N: I have a pa-tr-0n now by the same name (ExaltedOwl) though there is nothing there yet-other than my hiatus royal road story. There will be some early chapters posted there soon. Let me know if you're interested! ~Owl