Training session

Naruto was sitting on the ground with his back against a large tree, looking at Ryo with a sleepy face as he listened to him talking about the Shunshin no Jutsu. Ryo explained it in a simple way so that Naruto could quickly understand how the jutsu was executed.

-- All right, Naruto, it's not complicated, is it? I've already shown you the hand seals, just like with the Henge. We have to mold chakra while making the hand seals, and since it's a simple jutsu, you can do it without seals quickly. --

After finishing speaking, Naruto began to rise while stretching his body upwards and sideways, as if warming up his muscles, which Ryo had told him was important to do. Naruto looked in a direction without obstacles and then started making the hand seals while moving his chakra.

Watching this, Ryo could perceive that Naruto's chakra was already very large even though he was lazy and relaxed when it came to training and everything else. "Ah, the life of a random character and his saga to increase the chakra reserves. Compared to Naruto, I don't even have 1/3 of his total chakra, and I can feel that even without any sensory ability, and it's not even the fox's chakra," he sighed in his mind as he watched Naruto dart forward at high speed.

Ryo blinked a few times as he looked at Naruto, who was a few meters away from him, lying on the ground amidst a pile of broken branches and fallen leaves.

-- Hey, Naruto. I think I remember warning you not to aim for the trees, right? --

Naruto gave a light laugh as he got up, speaking with an excited tone. - Hehehe! But it's more fun to land on the trees than on the ground! -

Hearing this, Ryo facepalmed, remembering that Naruto was always like this, and there wasn't much he could do to change the protagonist, nor was it something he wanted.

 -- All right, but you'll train the hard way, then. --

Seeing Naruto agree without further complaints, Ryo sat on the ground and began training the earth control he had learned. He was still crushing and destroying small rocks, but now they were no longer the size of 1 cm; with weeks of training, he could already crush larger rocks, almost the size of his palm, which was about 6 cm.

"My chakra is already larger than it was a month ago. I feel like I can use the Golden Coin jutsu four times before my chakra runs out."

Since his family's ninjutsu was not something he could train when accompanied, Ryo trained in his room whenever he could. He made the coin fly through his house and then return to his hand. It wasn't a training focused on power but on control, yet his chakra was slowly but steadily increasing, as he was always depleting his chakra every day.

"My morning training alone doesn't even use half of my chakra anymore, just half now. Together with the evening training, it would be all my chakra, but during the class, I can replenish the half spent in the morning."

Reflecting on these analyses, Ryo realized that he could recover his chakra much faster than some of his classmates, not counting Naruto or the two Uchihas. While lost in his thoughts, he heard a loud slam on the wood. Looking in that direction, he only saw Naruto's whole body stuck to a tree, slowly falling backward onto the ground.

Ryo got up and appeared near Naruto, promptly catching his friend before he hit the ground. Apparently, Naruto had passed out from hitting the tree, and Ryo looked at the tree and could see Naruto's silhouette. He chuckled lightly, then laid Naruto on the ground with his backpack below his head.

The training continued, with Ryo continuing to crush stones with his hands. Each stone destroyed by Ryo cost about 12% of his total chakra, and he could do it four times in the morning and four times at night. However, today, as he helped with Naruto's training, he had time to destroy only two stones. Naruto woke up after almost 40 minutes.

-- Good morning, Naruto-kun. How was your sleep? -- Ryo asked with a slight smirk. Naruto, who had just woken up, still had a line of drool on the side of his mouth, which he promptly wiped away before getting up.

- I trained so much that I had to sleep, but I'm getting the hang of it! I can feel it, dattebayo! -

This time, Ryo couldn't control his laughter and burst out laughing for a few seconds, almost tearing up.

-- Of course, haha, of course. We're almost out of time for the academy; let's go back to get ready for class. If we're late, Iruka will give us detention, just like you did last week. I'm not in the mood to clean the academy bathrooms,-- 

He said, Naruto freezing before starting to move along with Ryo, memories of having to clean the bathrooms flashed in his mind. "I don't want to do that ever again!" Naruto had cleaned the bathrooms alone last time and had developed a slight trauma.

The day passed quickly, with Iruka's class always being calm since he was naturally calm. The students occasionally caused a little ruckus in the middle of class, sometimes due to Naruto and Sasuke arguing, with Ryo caught between the two, asking for help from the sensei.

But on this day, something different happened at the end of class. Iruka held the students longer than usual; he had an announcement to make to them, and it seemed important.

- Students, next week will be the first tests of the academy for you! With that said, there will be three tests: the first will be theoretical, covering everything you've learned in these first two months, including seals and theories. The second part will be a shuriken throwing competition, and last but not least, the taijutsu test, which will be a team fight. The winners will advance to the next stage. Study and train. The Bunshin test will be held at the end of next month! Class dismissed! -

Ryo listened attentively; he knew all the tests would be easy, but Taijutsu would require him to train his combat skills more. He glanced in Sae's direction as he thought, "I haven't been able to train with Sae anymore. I need to talk to her to schedule another spar before next week's test. If I keep training with her, I'll improve much faster, despite the limitations of basic Konoha taijutsu."

All the students slowly left the room, some running and others jumping. Uchiha Sae walked calmly, soon seeing Ryo approaching with a calm expression. - Ryo? Do you want something? -

-- Actually, yes, can we talk?, -- Ryo asked as they walked to a more secluded area, closer to the library.

-- Okay, I wanted to know if we could schedule another training session together? It's been a few weeks, and I want to improve my taijutsu before next week's test. -- He said, looking her in the eyes.

She looked at him in, remembering the training she had to do at home with Kenji always keeping an eye on her so she wouldn't slack off. However, she had a better idea in mind, soon telling him, - I can't. The clan's training is becoming stricter every day. But if you come there, I think I can ask Kenji-san to let me train with you. I'll have an answer by tomorrow's class. - With that, she quickly left, disappearing. Ryo hadn't expected such a response.

"Training with her in the Uchiha clan? I didn't think of that, but getting permission must not be easy. Anyway, I'll have to wait until tomorrow."

In the Uchiha clan:

Sae trained her Katon, the fireball, launching it against a small lake, and Kenji nodded approvingly. - You're doing very well with the fireball, but your taijutsu is still your strongest point. In combat, try to take advantage of your ninjutsu to approach your opponents, launching the offensive when putting them under an ocular genjutsu. -

She listened to this, nodding her head before speaking. - I can't train with the other Uchihas my age because of my strength. But in my class, there's a normal boy, yet he can keep up with me in taijutsu training. -

Kenji raised an eyebrow. "Someone who isn't from a clan can keep up with Sae in combat? Even though it's training, her blows are heavy, and only genins can train with her. And with the current situation, she can't find a regular sparring partner." - And what do you intend by telling me this? -

She looked at him before responding. - I want permission to bring him here to train with me under your supervision!. - She spoke resolutely; she had already decided on this, but she needed to get approval from an older member, and who better than the one who trained her?

Kenji pondered for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh. - All right, but he can only come here during taijutsu training hours and under my supervision. As soon as the training is over, he has to leave immediately since you need to train the other clan arts, and we can't let an outsider see them. -