The whole class looked at each other as they heard the teacher's words. Those who were friends with each other made pairs instantly, and for those who didn't know anyone, or were left out, the teacher made them pair up with a random person.
Amane also had someone randomly chosen, and he looked at the boy who was chosen as his partner.
"Hey! I am Jun, what about you?" Jun said as he looked at his classmate, whom he had seen before but never interacted with. It was because pre-Amane was a loner and depressed. After all, he lost his parents at a young age and didn't interact much with anyone.
The only reason he attended the academy was because he didn't have anything he wanted to do, and he could become a ninja, a genin at best.
"Amane," Amane replied, not interested in knowing about Jun. He knew that the more he interacted with others, the more he could leave traces that could be used against him.
Besides, the him from before had a similar personality, and it made things easier for him.
"Hmph! Boring guy," Jun humphed in response and wanted to say more, but he stopped because the Teacher started to speak.
"Alright, now that pairs have been formed. Look at each other and try to memorise how your partner looks. When you are done, perform the required seals and mould chakra to use the Transformation Technique, keeping the appearance and shape in your mind."
The students in the class nodded at the teacher's words and started to memorise the appearance of their partners. Jun looked at Amane to memorise his appearance, while Amane, who wanted to leave the place, had no choice but to look at Jun and remember his appearance.
'We see based on what light falls in our eyes. Right now, with no chakra disturbance, I am seeing their original body, with light getting reflected in my eyes.'
'But when using the Transformation technique, I am sure it is not a complete transformation and based on how we see, the chakra around us is reflecting and bending light in such a way that we see the appearance of someone or something the person has transformed to.'
'Is it the same as Magic Bullshittery? We imagine, our imagination links with the world, Mana reaction between two takes place, some sort of trickery happens, and we get what we imagined?'
"That shouldn't be the case," Amane murmured and started to think more about the Transformation technique.
'Let's think from the start. We see based on what light hits our eyes. Right now, with no chakra interference, I'm seeing Jun's real body... reflected light... raw and unfiltered.'
'But Henge? Is it like moulding a chakra veil around your body that bends light, forces it to reflect a false image?'
'Not shapeshifting… not magic… more like a living, dynamic illusion.. Powered by intent, memory, and chakra precision?'
'The world isn't reacting to imagination like magic does. The chakra I use is bending the rules of light, sound, and sensation, and it acts as the interface, not conjuring… just re-skinning.'
'Is it like this?'
Amane thought and felt that his reasoning was better. Bullshittery might exist, but there should be a reason behind it. After all, it was the real world, not a comic, for him.
The teacher saw other students looking at their partners and trying to perform the technique, but in the crowd, his eyes fell on Amane, who stared at the table with a thoughtful gaze.
"Amane, what are you doing?"
Hearing his words, Amane came back to his senses, and he looked at the teacher, who stared at him with a questioning gaze.
"Aha! I was just trying to imagine Jun's appearance," Amane answered, but the teacher felt that he was lying. Still, he didn't pressure Amane more and said, "Now try to perform the technique."
Amane nodded in return and turned to Jun, who seemed to be practising the seals. Remembering everything and taking a deep breath, Amane performed the seals Dog → Boar → Ram to practice the seals order.
After performing the seal patterns a few times, Amane started to get a hang of the seals and finally decided to perform the technique.
'Should I perform first?' He thought and looked around to see if someone had performed the technique, and his eyes fell on a blond girl who, at the moment, performed the technique and transformed into her partner, who had black hair.
'Good,' Amane thought in his mind and while the teacher was paying attention to the blond girl who had performed the technique, he performed the transformation technique and moulded chakra in his body while imagining Jun's appearance.
A burst of smoke appeared around him, too, and Jun, who was beside him, was shocked by it. When the smoke faded, he saw someone who looked the same as him standing beside him and before he could say anything, Amane dispelled the technique.
"Oh, that wasn't a bad one."
The teacher who noticed Amane performing the technique commented and, from the blond girl, he walked towards Amane. Others in the class now looked at Amane, who was the second person to perform the technique and noticing the attention, Amane inwardly groaned.
"Try performing it again. This time, try to maintain the chakra for a long time, and I will tell you where you are lacking." The Teacher said as he appeared beside Amane, who nodded in return. This, Amane purposely distorted the face in his mind and performed the technique.
"Hahaha!"
Looking at the transformation with a distorted face, the other students in the class started to laugh.
"Hey! I don't look like that," Jun spoke loudly as he heard the students laughing, and Amane dispelled the transformation again.
"The body was correct, but it seems you have to pay attention to face design. Still, quite good for the second attempt. You have talent, unlike you all, can't even perform the seals correctly." The teacher said while looking around, and everyone who was laughing at Amane's attempt became silent.
"Continue your practice, I will look at others." Saying those words, the teacher moved away, and Amane nodded in return. He continued to practice the seal formation, and every time he performed the technique, the distortion to Jun's face decreased, while Akane focused on the other body parts.
One time, he imagined the fingers larger than others, and other times, he changed the size of toes to see how they affected the transformation and what his limitations were.
'For now, I can't notice anything. It seems that when I can look at myself in the mirror and freely perform the technique, only then will I be able to notice the limitation.'
Amane understood that since he was placing restrictions on himself, he didn't understand how far he could go with the technique.
After performing the technique two more times, he sat down and acted as if all of his chakra was exhausted.
'The technique, it can be used for various things. Especially if I can perform it freely and multitask with this technique. Especially in hiding the use of Senrigan.'
Akane started to think of applications of the Transformation technique. His hand was in a pocket that had a handful of leaves, and simultaneously, he was trying to perform leaf-sticking exercises to enhance his chakra control.
'My spiritual energy should be stronger than physical energy. After all, even though this body isn't trained, I have more memories and a developed mind than others of the same age.'
'Also, I can use the Mental Plane, or I should call it the Spiritual Plane because of my other ability. Should I go there?'
Thinking of the mental plane, as soon as Amane closed his eyes, he appeared in a different place.
"That was fast." He spoke, and with his thoughts, the surroundings changed from a desolate grassland to a vibrant green garden with a small house.
"I can control it at will," Amane murmured, and he raised his hand. A sparrow appeared in his hand, and it flew away as soon as it appeared.
"Woahh! Absolute control over something." Amane's eyes sparkled when he noticed this, and then his eyes fell on the spinrod floating in the air that looked like a gacha machine.
"It's that?" Amane murmured as he appeared beside the spinrod, and he wondered why it was like a gacha machine, instead of him summoning someone.
"Should I?" He spoke to himself and touched the spinrod. As soon as he did, he saw the rod moving down, and something appeared in front of him.
"Nooooo!!"
A shout of a man was heard in the surroundings, and Amane saw a yellow-haired man appearing in front of him.
"Oh?"