-11- 8 Months

"So, do you want to start sparring in taijutsu?" Nobu asked.

"Yeah, but don't take it easy on me," Renji said as he stood up, then reached down and gave Nobu a hand.

Nobu laughed, "Never, we won't get better without giving it our all."

The two spaced out 3 meters between them.

Nobu bent down and picked up a small branch that was lying by his foot.

"When it hits the ground we go, but let's keep this fight to just taijutsu, no chakra. Then after this fight, we can add chakra to our movements for the next fight," Nobu said as he threw up the branch.

When it hit the ground, both boys took off.

Nobu started on the attack.

'I know he's likely stronger, so I shouldn't be aggressive and stay on the defensive, looking for an opportunity to strike,' Renji thought as he began to block Nobu's punches and kicks.

Left jab.

Right straight.

Left kick.

Right hook.

The two boys went at it for a good 30 seconds, with neither one getting a solid attack on the other.

They continued to fight for 2 hours, switching from no chakra to using chakra. Then with Nobu strictly on offense and Renji on defense, then the other way around.

After the 2 hours were up, they lay on the ground gasping for breath.

"You're pretty good for somebody that's never trained before," Nobu said between breaths.

"Thanks, but I still have a long way to go. My defense was solid, but my offense needs some work, and when we use chakra, you easily beat me."

"True, but you just unlocked your chakra like 2 days ago. You will get there in no time. I'm surprised at how well you are able to control your chakra. You're a natural. Are you sure you've never practiced chakra control before?"

"Nope, never done it before," Renji confirmed.

"Well, I'll say you're a lot better than I was when I first unlocked my chakra."

"Thanks."

After taking a 10-minute break, Renji stood up. "Well, I should probably go back home before my parents get worried, but hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to stay longer."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow, and I hope you don't get caught," Nobu said with a laugh.

"I'll try not to. I need to come up with my new lie on the way back home," Renji said as he waved goodbye.

***

After walking and occasionally jogging back home, he finally made it and walked into the restaurant's kitchen.

"Hey baby," his mom said, her hands already fussing over him, checking for any signs of trouble.

"I'm not a baby, Mom," Renji said, trying to play an annoyed little kid.

"I know you're all grown up now, but you will always be my baby. So, how was your friend's house?" she asked as she went and grabbed some food for Renji.

"It was fun, and his house was huge with a big backyard to play around in. And his mom was really nice. She invited me back tomorrow as well. She said I was welcome anytime." Renji recited the words smoothly, a mix of truths and half-truths that sounded right. Nobu had told him that his house was huge, the training ground could be considered a big backyard, and Nobu's mom did say he could use the training ground whenever.

"That's great, kid. As long as everything went well, I see no reason you can't keep going back. I want you to be able to have fun with your friend," his dad chimed in from the stove where he was stirring a pot of soup.

"Thanks, Dad."

"Just make sure you don't stay out too late," his mom added, glancing meaningfully at her husband.

"I won't. I'll try to always make it back before you close the restaurant."

His parents exchanged a look, and his dad nodded slightly before saying, "That's kind of late. How about you come back before dark?"

"Come on, it's not like I'm going to get kidnapped. I've never even heard of something like that happening around here. And what's the point in coming home so early if I just go up to my room and you guys are down here working?" Renji argued, hoping to convince them.

His parents thought about it for a moment, and as his mom was opening her mouth, his dad nodded his head and said, "Fine, I trust you, and I really haven't heard of that sort of thing happening around here. I don't really like the Hand, but they seem to police this place really well."

Renji thanked his parents one more time before he went upstairs and took a nap.

The next day came and went quickly, and Renji and Nobu had already completed their daily training and sparred in taijutsu.

Today in class, the teacher took them outside and showed them how to throw a kunai and shuriken properly, so they practiced that as well.

Nobu wasn't too bad; he was able to hit a still target a couple of times out of 10 tries, but he said that was because he had been practicing it for a while. Renji struggled at first, and by the end of training, he could consistently hit the board 15% of the time.

'That's definitely going to need some work. While shurikenjutsu isn't that important for Kage level ninja, it is really useful for lower ranks like Genin and Chunin,' Renji thought.

After they were done with shurikenjutsu, it was time to begin their chakra control training.

The two boys each found a leaf, sat down in a meditative position, then placed it on their forehead and began.

'I can't believe I'm actually practicing this. How many kids have dreamed of doing this very thing,' Renji thought excitedly.

He put the leaf on his head and began to concentrate. Since this was his first time, he sucked at it. He was only able to keep it on his forehead for at most 45 seconds, but he was slowly getting better.

He even started to gain some confidence, that is, until he looked over at Nobu, who was already having the leaf float above his forehead by about a centimeter and keeping it there.

'Damn, I guess I still have a ways to go,' Renji said as he tried to lift the leaf using his chakra, which just caused it to move slightly and then fall down.

After 30 minutes of practice, Nobu finally said, "Alright, now we should do some elemental training. For me, I only have to practice fire, but you will have to practice wind, lightning, and water."

Nobu began. He opened his hand and started to create a small ball of fire that he would slowly heat up and then cool down.

'Alright, I guess I'll start with wind. All I have to do is focus my chakra on a leaf and try to cut it in two.'

He took the leaf that he had been using and started to try to cut it, but he made little progress.

'Damn, this is hard, but I don't think it's as hard as the teacher said it would be,' Renji thought as he noticed some small cuts on the bottom edge of the leaf.

After 20 minutes, he moved on to lightning, which was similar to fire, where he needed to focus on a small bolt of lightning in his hand and slowly ramp up the charge, then slowly bring it back down.

He once again made little progress, struggling to even make a bolt of lightning.

After another 20 minutes of little progress, he moved on to water, where you needed to try to create a sphere of water and hold it as long as you could. This would eventually turn into you turning the water into different shapes, but for now, the sphere was hard enough.

Like this, 8 months went by with him going to school every weekday, and then after school, he would go to the training ground with Nobu to train, spar, and practice. He was even able to go to the training ground on the weekends occasionally by himself, which he enjoyed. He never really got bored in training, but he figured it was because he was used to being a normal human with no powers, so now that he had them, he couldn't help but want to use them whenever he had the chance.

During these past 8 months, he and Nobu had become really good friends, and Renji had even stayed over at his house a couple of times for the night, but his parents still hadn't met Nobu's parents. Even with their insistence, Renji was starting to think his lie wouldn't last much longer and that they would soon find out about the ninja academy.

He just hoped they took it well because it was already too late to switch academies this late into the school year, but that didn't mean they couldn't force him to drop out and wait until next year, so the pressure was still on.

'I just have to find a way to convince them. Besides, from what I've heard from the academy and Nobu, the Hand doesn't seem nearly as bad as they made it out to be. That, or I got brainwashed without even realizing it.'