-6- New friend

"Now all you have to do is show that you can control your chakra," the lead teacher announced.

'Yes,' Renji thought, feeling a surge of determination.

"All of you have just unlocked your chakra, so you should all be aware of this new internal energy coursing through your body."

The teacher's voice was calm and reassuring as he continued, "To move your chakra, all you have to do is focus on the energy and will it to move."

The teacher gave an example and explained it further in detail, but the kids weren't sensors, so there wasn't much to see. Renji confirmed that he was able to move his chakra, so his nerves finally went away now that he knew he was going to be a ninja.

"Now form ten lines, and we will confirm if you can move your chakra. All you have to do is concentrate some chakra into your hands. If you fail to do so, go to the back of the line, and I'll let you try again."

The children scrambled to form lines, the excitement and nervous energy visible in the air. Renji found himself near the front, his heart pounding with anticipation. As the line moved, about half of the kids were sent back to try again, but this only strengthened Renji's resolve.

Once about 30 kids had gone through Renji's line, the lead teacher said, "Guys, don't worry if you can't get it on the first try. You will likely get it on the second. Most people can control their chakra. Very few people ever fail this part, so you guys need to relax. If you don't get it on the second try, you will still get a third and a fourth."

This calmed the kids down a lot, and before Renji knew it, he was already in front of one of the Byakugan users.

"Next."

Renji closed his eyes, focused inward, and willed the chakra to his hands. He felt the warmth and energy pooling in his palms. The teacher nodded in approval.

"Next."

Renji stepped aside, a wave of relief and joy washing over him. 'Wow, that's it. I passed. This was all there was to the test? I expected more,' he thought, feeling a swell of pride. He was happy that the test was officially over for him.

After waiting for 30 minutes, the test finally ended.

The lead teacher walked in front of the group of kids. "Congrats, everyone. All of you passed the final test, and you are officially granted access to the ninja academy. So go home, get a good night's sleep, and show up on time. Class starts at 8 AM tomorrow morning."

The kids all got up, a wave of excitement rippling through the crowd, formed a single file line, and then handed in their numbers to one of the teachers who marked down all the kids that had passed the final test.

'I can't believe it was that easy. Now I just can't let my parents find out,' Renji thought, a sly smile creeping across his face.

As he walked back home, he tried to calm himself the best he could. He couldn't seem too eager for tomorrow, and he couldn't look like he was too tired.

All he was supposed to do today was sign up for the civilian academy and pick some extra classes to take.

When he finally made it home, he slipped into the family restaurant where his parents were busy in the kitchen. The comforting aroma of his mother's cooking filled the air.

"Hey, honey, how did it go? Did you find some classes you liked?" his mom asked as she cooked some noodles.

"Yeah, I did," Renji replied calmly, masking his excitement.

"Where have you been? You've been gone for a while," his dad asked, not looking up from the grill.

"Oh, I ran into some kids from around the block, and we played for a while. I fell down on the ground, so my clothes are a little messy, and I want to take a bath, so I'm going to go on up," he said, hoping his casual tone would quell any further questions.

"Alright, sweetie, but here, take this. You need to eat," his mom said, handing him a steaming bowl of ramen.

"Thanks, Mom."

He hated to lie to his parents, but he had to. He just hoped they would forgive him once they found out because he knew that they would one day. They had to.

He went upstairs while thinking, 'Well, that went ok. I don't think they had anything to suspect, so I should be fine for a while.'

After going upstairs, taking a bath, and changing clothes, he went to bed, tired from the long, stressful day he had.

'I wonder what Kazuki is doing. Is he also joining the academy? We should be the same age, and I imagine all the schools start at about the same time.' These thoughts lingered until he drifted into a deep sleep.

Time went by quickly. It was now the next day, and his mom was knocking on his door, letting him know what time it was.

"Knock, knock."

"It's 7:30. It's time to wake up, or you're going to be late," she said as she opened the door.

Renji, who was already dressed and ready to go, met her at the door. "I know, Mom. Thanks for coming and letting me know, though."

"Alright, well come down and eat your breakfast, and then you need to go. Can't be late on your first day of school."

"Thanks, Mom." He went down and had a quick breakfast with his mom and dad, who were about to open the restaurant. Then he took off toward school, jogging there. In 20 minutes, he was once again on the academy grounds.

'First day of the academy. I would have never thought I'd be going back to school and that I'd be happy to do it,' Renji thought, thinking back to his time in college and high school.

Renji took a left, walked down the path, and eventually made it to the front door of the building where there was a large sign that had all the classes on it.

Renji waded through the crowd of kids, then quickly found his class and was happy to see that he somehow ended up in Nobu's class.

'Nice. At least I know somebody, and he seemed nice enough and was very knowledgeable and mature for his age. Plus, he seemed to have some insider information thanks to his parents,' he thought with a little relief.

Renji was in class 1-G, and there were 196 kids in his class. He found out that a little more than 4,900 kids passed the ninja academy exam and there were 25 total 1st year classes.

'I still can't believe how much bigger this world is than the Naruto world. Hell, it seems to be bigger and much more populated than Earth was, and I'm pretty sure our organization is much smaller than the empire and kingdoms. I wonder how many kids they have in their 1st year ninja academy,' he thought as he walked through the building until he found his classroom.

After walking into the classroom, he noticed it was about half full with around 90 kids in there at the moment, and he didn't see Nobu, so he walked toward the back of the class and found a seat on the third to last row.

After waiting 5 more minutes, the class had nearly filled up, and thankfully, Nobu saw him and came and sat beside him.

'Well, that's good. Looks like he also thinks of me as a friend. It would suck if he forgot about me.' It felt a little weird for him to try and befriend a kid, but what was he supposed to do? Not have any friends until he grew up? Because it wasn't like he could try and be friends with adults; that would just make him look weird.

"What's up, Renji?" Nobu greeted as he sat down.

"What's up? I'm glad we somehow ended up in the same class. You're the only person I think I know in the ninja academy," Renji replied, feeling a sense of camaraderie.

"Yeah, same. Well, almost same. I know a couple of kids because their parents know my parents, but I don't like most of them. Half of them are stuck up, and the other half are stupid or annoying," Nobu said with a laugh. "I only have one friend my age, but unfortunately, he goes to another academy on the east side of the city."

"Yeah, I know a couple of kids like that from around my neighborhood," Renji said, trying to sound familiar, but he knew he was kind of awkward. He didn't really know how to make friends with a little kid.

But thankfully, as he figured out before, the kids in this world matured much quicker, so even though they were only six, they acted much more like they were 13 or 14 if they were to go by Earth's standards.

'I know chakra affects the body, but I wonder if it also affects the mind,' Renji thought. 'That must be why the kids mature so much faster. And now that I think about it, chakra probably helps their brains process information quicker. How else would ninjas be able to handle the constant flow of information during fights, jutsus, and even body flickering? You'd need to process a lot quickly to avoid running into a tree or something.'

"So this isn't the only academy?" Renji asked, surprised.

"No, there are a couple spread throughout the city this is just the academy for the northeast side," Nobu explained.

'Damn, just how big is this place?' Renji wondered.