The three portraits were replaced by a mirror.
The mirror was not large, framed in wood, with old scratches across its surface. When Iruka placed it on the lectern, Kiyo's face immediately fell.
"We're looking at ourselves today?"
Morita Yu said, "You finally ran into a difficult problem."
Kiyo said solemnly, "I'm afraid the mirror won't be able to take it."
"It's tougher than we are."
Naruto sat in the last row, staring at the mirror without chiming in like usual. Yesterday's matter with the Gray Booklet had not spread among the students, but after Iruka rejected Mizuki's "Imagination Enhancement Group," Naruto had clearly grown much quieter. It was not that he accepted it. He was just stuck.
Iruka put the three old portraits back into their box.
"Today, we won't look at others. We'll look at ourselves first. The Transformation Technique isn't about throwing yourself away. You need to know where you'll give yourself away before you know what to hide when you become someone else."
Kiyo muttered, "My mouth gives me away."
Morita Yu said, "You don't need to say that quietly."
For the first round, everyone went to the mirror and named the one thing that would most easily identify them. Rina said she walked slowly, Saori said her bells, and Kiyo said his mouth, which the whole class silently agreed with. Morita Yu said he looked at people too directly, and Kiyo immediately said, "You know that about yourself?"
When Sasuke stepped before the mirror, the classroom fell quiet.
He looked at himself in the mirror and paused for a moment.
"My stance."
Iruka asked, "Why?"
"I trained at home."
Those four words were brief, yet it felt as though someone had carried the torches from yesterday's clan lesson into the classroom. Che looked at Sasuke's