Disguise

"Selling dango, delicious mochi dango, anyone want some?"

On the commercial street of Konoha, a short vendor in a straw cape sat by the roadside, shouting his wares to passersby.

However, the way the vendor looked around made him seem very suspicious.

"Woof, woof!" As if sensing something, Saye, hiding in an alley, sniffed the air and ran up to the young man, barking three times.

That's right, this young man was Gu Qi, who had used the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as a passerby.

And the reason Gu Qi was here was, of course, to get revenge on Anko.

Gu Qi's previous use of *** wasn't just for escaping.

More importantly, Gu Qi needed to get that smoke on Anko.

That smoke was a special concoction Gu Qi had meticulously prepared. To ordinary people, it was colorless and odorless.

But to the noses of specially trained Ninja Dogs, the smell of this smoke was no worse than ***.

Furthermore, once this smoke clung to someone, it would take at least a month to dissipate.

Therefore, now, as long as Anko was within the detection range of a Ninja Dog, Gu Qi could know her location immediately.

"Three barks? It seems they're coming," Gu Qi let Saye leave as soon as he received the signal, then quickly collected his thoughts and prepared to deal with the upcoming situation.

"Oh, what pretty dango! Boss, give me ten skewers of the red ones."

Before long, a spirited female ninja in a fishnet outfit arrived in front of Gu Qi's small cart.

"Certainly, please wait a moment, customer," Gu Qi said, pitching his voice higher.

Although the Transformation Technique could change one's appearance, it couldn't change their voice.

While waiting for Gu Qi to get the dango, Anko crossed her arms and said, "I haven't seen you before, is this your first time doing business?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Gu Qi casually mumbled a few times, then quickly handed the dango to Anko. "Here are your dango, customer."

Anko took the dango and inhaled deeply. "These dango smell so good, I almost don't want to eat them. Boss, why don't you have them!"

Gu Qi's body trembled. He knew something bad was about to happen.

But before he could run, Anko grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

Bang!

A heavy punch landed on Gu Qi's stomach, instantly causing his Transformation Technique to fail.

"Cough, cough, how did you find me?" The heavy blow to his stomach made Gu Qi involuntarily gag, but he was more curious about how he'd been discovered.

A hint of cunning flashed in Anko's eyes. "Want to know? Then recognize me as your boss!"

"Never!" Gu Qi's expression was one of defiance, as if he'd rather die than surrender.

Anko sighed softly. "Fine, then don't blame me."

With that, Anko picked up a skewer of dango and shoved it into Gu Qi's mouth.

"Damn it! Hachi, Rasu, save me!" Gu Qi was shocked. He knew all too well that the dango had been laced with the super-duper *** sauce he'd made himself.

This chili sauce had no pungent smell, but once it entered the mouth, it was absolutely unforgettable.

"Woof!" Hearing Gu Qi's cry, three Ninja Dogs darted out from the alley.

"Trouble!" Seeing the three Ninja Dogs, Anko had no choice but to let Gu Qi go.

Although these three Ninja Dogs were still young, they had become increasingly eccentric after spending so much time with Gu Qi.

Even during battles, they were incredibly frustrating.

For example, the three Ninja Dogs insisted on using the dynamic scent markers meant for tracking as attack ninjutsu.

The thought of the overwhelming urine from the three Ninja Dogs made Anko's skin crawl.

"You're lucky today, but you won't get away so easily next time!" Anko said, then calmly left.

Gu Qi, ignoring everything else, rushed into the back kitchen of a shop and plunged his head into a water tank, gulping down clear water.

"Gu Qi-kun, are you alright!"

After the spiciness in his mouth subsided, Gu Qi looked up and realized he had run into a flower shop, and there was someone he knew inside.

"Ino! I'm so sorry, I must have scared you." Gu Qi apologized.

Ino waved her hand, looking puzzled. "What's wrong, Gu Qi-kun? Why are you all bruised?"

Gu Qi sighed and recounted his experience.

"Haha, Little Gu Qi, who else could you have provoked but that guy." Just then, a hearty laugh reached their ears.

They looked in the direction of the sound and saw that someone else had appeared at some point.

"Hello, Uncle Inoichi!"

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

Inoichi Yamanaka patted Gu Qi's shoulder and chuckled, "Gu Qi, do you want to know where your disguise went wrong?"

"Uncle Inoichi, please teach me." Gu Qi's eyes lit up. Being able to receive guidance from an experienced Jonin like Inoichi Yamanaka was something he couldn't ask for more.

"But," Gu Qi tilted his head in confusion, "how did Uncle Inoichi know?"

Inoichi chuckled, "I just happened to be passing by. I originally thought it was some clueless spy gathering intel in Konoha. I never expected it to be you, Gu Qi."

"Is my disguise that bad?" Gu Qi was deeply hurt.

Inoichi Yamanaka had Gu Qi sit down and asked Ino to pour tea before saying, "Your Transformation Technique is absolutely fine, but you made some very basic mistakes."

Gu Qi sat up straight and said with a serious expression, "Please guide me, Uncle Inoichi."

Inoichi gestured with his hand, "Relax, relax, no need to be so formal."

Then, Inoichi began to explain to Gu Qi, "First, your intentions were too obvious. The moment Anko appeared, you stared intently at her. Anyone with some experience would be able to tell who your target was."

"So that's how it is. Anything else?" Gu Qi realized it was true; the moment Anko appeared, he had been staring at her.

"And then, your disguise was too poor! Gu Qi, you were trying to pretend to be a vendor, right? But I couldn't tell you were a vendor at all," Inoichi said.

"Uh!" Gu Qi sheepishly touched his nose. "Is it that obvious?"

Inoichi smiled, "Think about it, which vendor isn't all smiles when they get a customer? Only you looked absent-minded, which immediately makes you look fake."

"As expected."

Gu Qi couldn't help but look at the vendors outside. Just as Inoichi said, every vendor had a smile on their face when they got a customer.

"Finally, it's your aura. As an ordinary person, you should appear harmless. But on you, Gu Qi, I saw a fearless warrior," Inoichi concluded.

"Aura? How do I fix that?"

Gu Qi scratched his head. The first two were easy to fix, but an aura was something intangible and invisible. Gu Qi couldn't handle that.

Inoichi said mysteriously, "Gu Qi can't, but someone by your side can!"

"Who? Kakashi?" Gu Qi immediately thought of Kakashi.

Inoichi smiled and nodded, "That's right. Go find Kakashi, he'll tell you what to do."

"Thank you, Uncle Inoichi."

"You're welcome. I'm really looking forward to your performance, Gu Qi," Inoichi said with a smile.

After bidding farewell to Inoichi and his daughter Ino, Gu Qi walked home with three Ninja Dogs.

On the way, Inoichi's words kept replaying in Gu Qi's mind.

"It seems I still have a lot to learn!"

Gu Qi sighed slightly. He felt his mindset had become a bit arrogant recently.

Perhaps it was because of the system, or perhaps everything had been going too smoothly for him lately.

Making money from Dried Meat, surviving a one-on-one fight with a Cloud Ninja Jonin, creating new ninjutsu with knowledge from the system.

All of this made Gu Qi feel like being a ninja was that simple.

But today, Gu Qi realized that being a ninja wasn't just about having enough strength and powerful ninjutsu.

More importantly, it required flexibly applying one's knowledge and carefully observing the surrounding environment.

Because you never know if a small detail might lead to mission failure or even annihilation on your next mission.

Gu Qi didn't think he could rely on Talk no Jutsu or powering up to solve problems when in danger, like Naruto.

After all, he hadn't maxed out his Talk no Jutsu skill, nor did he have a ultimate cheat like the Nine-Tails.

"Yo, you're back?"

In Gu Qi's Ninja Tool Shop, Kakashi's figure appeared once more.