-7- History

"So, how was the test yesterday?" Nobu asked, his voice casual.

"It was a lot easier than I was expecting. What about you?" Renji asked.

"Same. My parents made it out to be way harder than it was, but they probably just did it to make me push myself harder during practice."

"Do your parents make you practice a lot?" Renji asked, glancing at Nobu curiously.

"Yeah, every day. They even reserve me a training ground," Nobu said, a note of pride in his voice.

"What about you? Do your parents make you practice a lot?" Nobu asked.

"I wish. My parents don't even know I'm in the ninja academy. They want me to be a civilian," Renji said, a little embarrassed.

Nobu laughed, then said, "Really? That sucks, but it's pretty cool that you could pass the academy exam without ever training. What are you going to do now that you're in the academy? They expect us to do a lot of training outside of school."

"I don't know. I haven't been able to figure that out yet, but I have to come up with something," Renji said, his brow furrowed in thought.

"If you want, you can tell them you're hanging out with a friend and then you can come train with me. Then I won't have to train on my own and we can spar together too. I usually have to train by myself and it gets a little boring," Nobu said like he just came up with the greatest idea ever.

'Yes, yes, yes,' Renji said internally. This was exactly what he needed. He had been stressing for years about how he would train outside the academy, and this was the perfect opportunity he needed.

Renji's brow furrowed in a mix of hope and apprehension. "Are you sure? That's more than I can ask for, and we just met," he asked, his voice tinged with cautious optimism. While he wanted this more than anything, he didn't want to be somewhere he wasn't truly wanted.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Nobu replied with a nonchalant shrug, his tone confident. "I haven't known you long, but you seem nice enough. You're smart and most importantly, I can tell you're not stuck up like an Uchiha and you're not annoying like most of these brats around here," Nobu said a little too loud, giving them some odd stares and a couple of laughs at the Uchiha's expense.

Renji couldn't help but laugh softly. "Well, thanks, man. I don't know how to repay you, but I really appreciate it. I've been stressed about this."

Nobu gave him a small playful shove and said, "Don't worry about it. And you're doing me a favor. I'm telling you, training by yourself all day every day gets boring real quick."

"Your parents make you train all day, every day?" Renji asked, surprised. He knew ninja parents could be demanding, but this sounded intense.

Nobu sighed, a hint of weariness in his voice. "Well, I don't have to train the whole time, but most days for the last 6 months, my parents have been making me go to the training field, and I have to stay there until they get off of work. I imagine on the weekends they will do the same thing now that school has started. And on the weekdays, they expect me to go there straight after school."

Renji thought with a wry smile, 'Wow, that seems like the ideal dream for every Naruto fan who wants to be reincarnated into the Naruto world.'

"Alright, well thanks again. I can't today because I'll have to tell my parents some kind of excuse, but hopefully they will let me, and I can start going with you tomorrow," Renji said.

"OK, sounds like a plan." his new friend replied with an easy smile. "And my parents are paying for the training field whether I use it or not, so you can just use it whenever. I'll let my parents know. I know they'd get mad if I told that to everybody I met, but if it's just one or two people they won't care. I'll show you where it is tomorrow and then you can go whenever you want. Besides, the training ground is massive. We could both easily train there without even seeing each other."

"Thanks, man."

Before they could continue the conversation, the teacher finally walked in. He wore a black vest like the teachers did yesterday, and he had a red band on his arm that had 1-G on it. He was tall with silver hair and a scar on his face that started under his left eye, crossed over his nose, and went all the way to his right ear.

"Quiet down, quiet down," he said in a relaxed, neutral voice.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning," most of the kids echoed back.

The teacher then quickly scanned the room to make sure all 196 kids were there and upon seeing all 196 chairs were full, he started the class.

"First, my name is Takeshi Shimizu, and I will be your teacher for the foreseeable future," Takeshi said.

"I look forward to working with you all. Now, let's begin…"

Surprisingly to Renji, the teacher started out teaching them the basic classes that even a civilian would learn: math, english, history, etc.

The history of the world was something Renji took a particular interest in. He learned about the 8 empires and the 6 kingdoms spread across the continent.

There was the Empire of Eternal Flames that was led by one major clan which was the Uchiha clan.

Next was the Eternal Flame's rival, the Empire of Sacred Trees, who were led by two major clans, the Senju and Hatake clans.

Then there were the Sacred Trees' allies and his parents' motherland, the Empire of Whirling Tides led by the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans.

Next was a mostly neutral empire, the Empire of Rising Dawn, led by the Hyuga and Tensei clan, with the Tensei clan being the first major clan in this world that he had never heard of before.

Next was a righteous empire despite the dark name, the Empire of Shadowed Strategies led by the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans. This surprised Renji because even in this alternate world, these three clans teamed up.

Then, there was the most secretive and also the only unrighteous empire, the Empire of Hidden Mist, led by the Hozuki and Kaguya clans.

Next was another righteous empire, the Empire of Dawnlight, led by the Jinton and Hagoromo clans.

And last but not least was the Empire of Ironwind, led by the Sarutobi and Shimura clans.

'Of course the Sarutobi and Shimura clan would be together,' Renji thought, thinking back to Hiruzen and Danzo.

Renji's curiosity about these empires grew, as he began to envision the vast and complex world beyond his immediate surroundings.

'I wonder if any characters from Naruto are in this world?' Renji had found himself thinking this a lot because of course he would want to know if one day he'd run into Naruto or Sasuke or somebody, but so far he had never heard of anyone from the show. But then again, he didn't know much about the world. The only thing he really knew was the small stuff his parents told him, the things Nobu told him yesterday, and lastly, the things he learned today.

There were also 6 kingdoms all led by minor clans, some being from the show and some being new clans only found on this planet.

'I wonder if the Uchiha clan is the strongest clan in this world. They might be, especially since they are the only clan to lead an empire by themselves. Everyone else has at least 2 or 3 clans at the helm.' Renji often wondered if the Uchiha clan was as broken in this world as they were in the show, but he didn't know.

'Maybe one day I can get my hands on a Sharingan or better yet a MS or even better an EMS. With so many people on this planet and the Uchiha leading an entire empire of billions, they have to have millions if not billions of clansmen. So I would have to eventually get my hands on a dead Uchiha, right?' Renji wondered how this world perceived Sharingan snatchers, but if he had the chance to get one of the most broken abilities, he wanted one, even if he had to hide it from the world.