Chương 19: A birthday Party!
{Akimichi Clan Compound, Konohagakure}
{8:02 PM, 1st May 12 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
Ren fidgeted a little as he looked at the brightly decorated home, there were not many people present in the house it looked like a small affair which in the end made his presence all the more odd.
He felt another gaze sweep at him for a few moments before it went away, after a few seconds Ren used an {Observe} on the Nara Clan head. All he got in response was a block filled with a bunch of question marks.
"Come on let's say hi to Choji," Ino spoke as she dragged Ren away. Ren could feel Inoichi glare at his back, he sighed and removed his sandals before entering the expansive home.
Most people in the first few rooms were adults, members of either of the three clans. There were some other shinobi that were mingling in small groups. Ren and Ino went through the hallway and arrived in the backyard.
"Yo look who it is..." Kiba was the first one to notice his presence, "what do you say we have a spar later, I have been itching to get my hands on you." Kiba declared a challenge as soon as he saw Ren arriving with Ino. He had been a little heated lately, trying to win Ino's affections by challenging Ren every time they went out for taijutsu practice.
Ren was also interested in fighting against him, his taijutsu style seemed interesting as he mostly relied on instincts to dodge and attack.
'Unfortunately, Iruka sensei has been pairing me up against Sasuke every time. Maybe from his point of view that may be right as Kiba is a lot slower than the speed at which Sasuke and I spar, but the prospect of fighting against a new taijutsu style is intriguing.'
"Leave us alone dog breath," Ino shouted back, "this is a party, not a sparing zone."
"Hiding behind your lady's skirt now?" Kiba ignored Ino and quipped at Ren, Ren gave him the most bland look possible before he walked towards Choji.
'Whether I like it or not, I have to go through the formalities at least, then I could sneak away after a few minutes...'
"Choji-san," Ren spoke making the older boy look up from his chips, Choji's parents were around him as he greeted everyone who came to his party.
"Thanks for coming Ren-san" Choji smiled back.
Ren extended the gift he had been holding to Choji, "I don't know if you would like this, but I hope it serves you well."
Ren's words drew Choji's parents' attention, Chōza Akimichi stepped forward with curiosity written on his face, and he motioned Choji to open the present. Choji quickly unwrapped the present and revealed 2 things from the box, there was a packet of chips that he always was eating and along with that, there were a bunch of bandages that are normally used to support your wrists in a fight to prevent additional damage to joints.
"Thank you Ren-san" Ren could see the hesitation in Choji's voice as he addressed him, he still happily grabbed the packet of chips and opened them to happily munch on some. It was Chōza who noticed the anomaly as he picked up the bandages, along the inside of the whole bandage was inscribed fuinjutsu.
"What's the seal for?" Chōza asked.
"Resistance seal," Ren replied, Chōza's eyes lit up as he examined the seal once again.
"You can already make Resistance seals," it was a question and a statement as he happily put the seal back in the box, Ren felt like he should warn Chōza about the disadvantages of the seal considering if Choji overused it he didn't wanna be implicated with anything that might harm his reputation.
"Yeah I just learned about this seal last week, I have already tested this seal and after a whole day of continuous use the seal adversely affects your muscles causing muscle cramps and if used stubbornly could cause muscle strain." Ren cautioned.
Chōza looked at the kid in front of him, his thoughts were hidden behind a friendly smile as he nodded to Ren. Ino then gave her a gift before dragging Ren towards the rest of their class, he looked down at Choji and spoke, "That should be the last of your friends right, go on then you could join your friends."
After saying that he held the fuinjutsu-infused bandage and walked toward his wife and the rest of his old teammates in the other room.
"How are the brats doing?" Yoshino asked.
"They're fine, although if Kiba and Ino were not here I'm sure Shikamaru would have convinced them to just sleep it off," Chōza replied before he extended the bandage towards Yoshino.
Chōza sat down and grabbed a piece of steak from the barbeque, the attention of the group was now focused on the seal in Yoshino's hands. She hummed a couple of times as she went through the whole seal bit by bit.
"It's good," Yoshino spoke as she turned around to look at Ren who was currently sitting with Shikamaru. Her son had never mentioned the older student, while it may be a demerit that Ren failed the final genin exam one time. Yoshino was sure that he would make a name for himself, even if not in the standard force, the R&D department surely had already started recruiting him.
"So what do you think, is it the standard seal or?" Inoichi asked, no matter how much he disliked the boy at the moment, a competent fuinjutsu user was an asset that the tree clans could not ignore.
"It's the standard seal, but there is only one way for him to get access to this kind of formulae..." Yoshino spoke, she looked at the seal once again, "It is well made though, there should not be any negative effects if Choji did decide to use it." Yoshino paused and then added/complained, "If possible we have to recruit him, the security of our clans is lagging behind, and I can't handle repairing every seal in the three compounds."
Chōza looked at his small group of friends deep in thought, each one of them contemplated a plan for a bit before all of them turned to Shikaku.
"What a drag..." Shikaku mumbled, he looked at Inoichi and spoke, "I think Inoichi should talk to Ino about bringing him around, they do spend a lot of time together," Chōza looked as Shikaku gave Inoichi a small smirk before he was elbowed by Yoshina.
"Ino's birthday is on 23rd September, she would definitely not let him slip away then, maybe I could talk to him after the party..."
The discussion deepened as everyone started giving their ideas about how to proceed, Inoichi on the other hand was glaring at Ren, while his mask was perfectly placed he could see the slight tremor that the boy had in his right arm.
...
'Is it due to overwork or...'
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AN - Some small interludes, I'll be focusing on Fuinjutsu in the next couple of chapters before we end the academy arc. I think it would be a lot more fun to explore the team dynamics changing with Ren in the picture.
What do you say we kick out Sakura?
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