Chapter 18: Goodbye friends, Hello Anbu

Shikamaru spent most of the week trying to learn how to control his shadow and he had managed to somewhat control his own shadow but it was as if the shadows themselves were rejecting him so he couldn't train much with his Hiden techniques.

His father had given him the book containing all their ninjutsu, genjutsu, and special techniques his mother had given him a scroll bigger than his body containing various techniques and torturous training methods for said weapons as he would be having basic Anbu training for a whole year he couldn't stay at home and had to stay at the Anbu dormitories.

He also spent a whole day with the Akimichi family as he wouldn't be seeing them for an entire year, both Shikamaru and Choji were six years old and would be entering the academy in 1 year where they would meet the other clan children.

Choji had promised him to continue training just like Shikamaru would since the cover story Shikamaru had come up with was that he would be having special training outside the village, this made Choji worried that he would be left behind even more so he was determined to not be left behind by Shikamaru.

Currently, Shikamaru was with his family saying goodbye to them.

His father was smiling lightly as if he could see how troublesome Shikamaru would be for the who would be training him, he was also happy that his son was joining Anbu at the age of six, not even the famed Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi had joined that early on, so Shikaku was very proud of Shikamaru.

His mother was motivating Shikamaru to work hard "Listen to me Shikamaru, the Anbu is a place where only the best ninjas go, so beat them all for me ok?" Shikamaru could tell that his mother had some bad blood with the Anbu evident by the glare she was giving Shikamaru.

Shikamaru could only nod at his mother "Don't worry mom I plan on being the strongest ninja possible so I will make sure to beat everyone in the Anbu." Shikamaru said calmly

All that was left was for him to be picked up by a member of the Anbu but it seemed like they were already testing him since he has been waiting for around an hour since his parents left and it seemed like the person picking him up wouldn't be coming any time soon.

Another hour later he could see a man with typical Anbu clothing slowly walking up to him, the Anbu operative had gravity-defying white hair and an Inu mask adorned on his face, Shikamaru immediately recognized him as Hatake Kakashi, who wouldn't? This also explained why the anbu was two hours late, nevertheless, Shikamaru had to act like he didn't know him.

"Anbu-san, I hate to inform you but you are two hours late." Shikamaru said with fake anger.

The anbu didn't seem to care and simply replied with "Oh, I apologize, it seems like I got lost on the road of life again."

Shikamaru scoffed "Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you, I am Shikamaru Nara, the heir of the Nara clan, I hope we can get to the anbu headquarters without getting lost on the road of life."

Under his mask, Kakashi looked very surprised at the kid's reply and smiled slightly, he could already tell that he would have a great time messing with Shikamaru."

The anbu nodded "Well let's get going then, I hope you can keep up." and immediately jumped up a tree and started tree hopping.

Shikamaru promptly followed, although they were going at a pace that Shikamaru wasn't quite used to he managed to keep up, and after 15 minutes of tree hopping, they arrived at what Shikamaru assumed to be the Anbu headquarters.

They entered the headquarters which was located inside a cave and followed a straight path for 5 minutes and ended up in a hollowed-out cave that looked manmade, inside were a few other Anbu also in their masks either taking care of their gear or chatting with each other, they completely ignored the two newcomers.

The Anbu that Shikamaru was following went to a door on the left side of the cave and entered while Shikamaru kept following.

They ended up in a room that looked like an office but lacked any windows, inside was a man that was wearing a dragon mask, who looked at the Anbu in the dog mask and sighed as of this wasn't the first time this had happened.

"Inu, you are late again, I will have to increase your nightly laps around Konoha if you come late again and I'm sure you wouldn't mind the extra sleep." the Anbu in the Dragon mask said.

Inu once again said the same thing that he had said to Shikamaru "Ah commander, I apologize, it seems that I got lost on the road of life yet again."

The anbu in the dragon mask simply sighed and waved Inu out of the office, he then stood up and walked up to Shikamaru, "Right, from today onward you will call me Commander and for the next year you will be undergoing special anbu training, it will be sped up as your father stated that you were a genius so I won't hold back on training you, and from today onward whenever you are in the Anbu headquarters you will be wearing a mask until you pass the training you will be wearing a blank mask your name will also be blank and whenever you are talking with an Anbu operative you will call them by the name of their mask and so will they."

Shikamaru simply nodded and asked some questions, "I have a few questions, where will I be staying for the duration of next year?"

The commander replied saying that he will be staying in the Anbu dormitory.

"My next question isn't really a question but more of a request." The commander looked interested by the slight tilt of his head.

"I would like to request extra hard training on all the fields of Anbu including the training that hunter-nin go through."

The commander looked on in interest "Hoh? Do you think that you have the capabilities to learn everything that the Anbu has to offer? Child, it seems like your parents haven't told you the amount of things that the anbu specialize in, it would be simply impossible for anyone to learn everything in merely a year."

Shikamaru smiled "I guarantee you that I will learn everything that the Anbu has to offer in less than a year."

The commander hummed and merely asked one question "How can you guarantee me that you will indeed manage to learn everything that the Anbu has to offer?"

Shikamaru merely smiled confidently and said "I can't. The only thing you can take is my confidence in myself and my word."

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I've been reading too many martial arts novels lately...