When Maruboshi asked him to bring in sparring partners, Masaaki was the first person Takuma called but he should have expected some kind of surprise from him because Masaaki brought someone along.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Akimichi Choza," said the clan leader of the Akimichi Clan.

Akimichi Choza was a tall, plump man with spiky hair dyed a bright red. He had purple markings on his cheeks—a common trait in the Akimichi Clan. He wore a chainmail under a yukata tied with a large, frayed rope.

The hulking man stared down at Takuma, who had to crane his neck to look at his face. "I have heard much about you. Masaaki praises you often, Takuma. It's a pleasure to finally meet," said Choza with a soft smile. Even though he was dressed casually, the man's large presence was threatening. Daiki was a big and muscular man, but even he felt smaller compared to this man. He had the presence of a strongman.

"He's biassed for his friends, sir," Takuma replied, still recovering from his surprise. "And we have met once before."

"Oh, we have?" Choza said, surprised, and his gaze deepened on Takuma as he tried to remember.

"It's not your fault if you don't remember. It was a couple of years ago; we had lunch together for half an hour," said Takuma. He was still working D-rank missions, and Masaaki, along with a few Akimichi, showed up at the restaurant where he was working as a delivery man.

"No wonder. I fear I don't pay attention to people when there's food in front of me," Choza laughed merrily. His hoop earrings bobbed up and down and slapped his stomach with his large mitt-like hands. "But I'll remember you this time. Masaaki tells me that you want to spar. I've some expectations because of him; I want to see you meet them."

"I'll try my best," said Takuma.

He vaguely remembered Choza from the source material, but not enough for him to leave a strong impression. However, he absolutely knew the man by living in the Hidden Leaf village. He was a jonin and the leader of one of the strongest Hidden Leaf clans. During the Third Shinobi World War, the village had trusted him to lead the peace treaty negotiations with the Hidden Stone, who were anticipated to turn hostile, and he was considered to be the person to either sign a treaty or push the Hidden Stone back in case they turned belligerent.

Takuma looked at Masaaki, who had brought yet another surprise with him, because he was playing tag with a young Akimichi Choji. The little rotund Akimichi was chasing Masaaki with a goofy smile on his face.

"You brought your son?" he asked.

"I thought it would be good for him to observe. Excuse me," Choza said and then moved past Takuma to greet Maruboshi, standing behind him. "Mister Maruboshi, what a surprise. What are you doing here?"

"The same as you, Mister Choza," Maruboshi bowed slightly in greeting.

"He's your student? You don't say," Choza said, and his gaze toward Takuma gained much more interest after finding that Maruboshi was training him.

It wasn't surprising that Maruboshi was known by someone as high-profile as Akimichi Choza. Maruboshi had worked with both the Second and Third Hokage and if he hadn't rejected promotions time after time, he undoubtedly would've been a proud jonin of the Hidden Leaf. Anyone who mattered knew Maruboshi's value and dedication to the village.

Takuma left the two men behind and walked to Masaaki, who was now spinning Choji around without a care in the world. He knew Masaaki was invited to be an affiliated shinobi to the Akimichi Clan by Choza, but he had no idea they were this close.

"Yo, Takuma. When are we starting? I'm excited!" Masaaki said as he put Choji down and smashed his fists together.

"Let them finish their chat," Takuma pointed behind him at Maruboshi and Choza. He looked at Choji, and the moment their eyes met, the kid hid behind Masaaki—a reasonable reaction. He waved at him, only for Choji to retreat further behind his large friend.

Takuma sighed.

"Don't mind him. He's just shy. Give it time; he'll warm up to you," Masaaki grinned. He turned to speak to Choji. "This is my friend, Takuma. He's a good shinobi. Not as good as me, of course, but really, really good."

Takuma shook his head and thought about what to say to the shy kid before landing on using something common between them to bridge the gap.

"My name is Takuma. What about you?"

"...I-I'm Choji."

"Hi, Choji. You're in the academy, right? Which year are you in?" asked Takuma, making sure no one would think it strange how much he knew about Choji.

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"Fourth year."

"Really? Do you know Sasuke? He's in the fourth year as well?" said Takuma.

"You know Sasuke?" asked Choji, showing a surprised interest.

"Uh-huh. His mom is my teacher. I see him when I go to his house. He's a total mama's boy, you know?"

"That Sasuke? No, you're lying," said Choji, giggling.

Takuma understood why he didn't believe him; Sasuke was an aloof kid with strangers who had barely warmed up to him after a couple of months of lessons, and that was only because his mother liked him.

He could see Sasuke coming off as standoffish to his classmates.

"He's just shy. If you don't believe me, try to talk to him. It may look like he'll bite, but he's actually quite nice," said Takuma. He didn't know why he was saying these things, but he had said them—it was just like the time he had met Naruto.

He turned to Masaaki and lightly punched him on the shoulder. "You better have improved since the last time we sparred."

"Of course!" Masaaki said, punching Takuma back in the shoulder with a force that actually hurt. "I've been doing some serious training since I flunked the Chunin Exams."

"Fu—" Takuma wanted to curse him out but held his tongue because they had a kid in their company.

Masaaki, with Nenro on his team, had participated in two Chunin Exams. In their first attempt, they were eliminated in the first round. They had changed their other teammate, and on the second attempt, they managed to go deep through the second round but failed to make it to the final round. They would've made it to the final round, but they ran into the Tsuchikage's granddaughter.

Maruboshi and Choza finished their conversation, and the two parted toward their separate corners.

"What do you want me to do?" Takuma asked as he did some light stretches before the fight. The remaining days until the ANBU test were for Maruboshi to adjust Takuma's combat style or, at the very least, convince him that it was possible.

"Nothing different than usual for now," said Maruboshi.

Takuma raised an eyebrow because there wasn't much time to change anything in the first place. He jogged out first while Masaaki similarly conversed with Choza on the other side.

Masaaki hadn't changed much since before Takuma left for the war. He was still a skinhead who liked to dress light and had rocked up to the spar in a tank top and shorts. And, of course, he walked into battle with his trusty knuckledusters.

"My goal today is perfect victory," said Masaaki as he smashed his knuckledusters together.

"You hadn't beaten me in a year before I left," said Takuma.

"I've changed in the last year."

"So have I."

Both made Seals of Confrontation before Takuma shoved Masaaki, starting the spar. Masaaki grinned and took a quick step forward as he swung a haymaker for his face. The knuckleduster glowed white as Masaaki started aggressively with his bukijutsu.

'Already?!' Takuma thought with surprise as he ducked underneath the glinting metal and countered with an augmented body blow as his opening, but Masaaki put his hand in the way to block it. The chakra rushed forth, and he expected Masaaki to be blasted back, but he dug his feet and stood his ground.

Takuma wasn't surprised. Masaaki had always been the durable sort. He shoved him away to make some distance before swinging his raised fist down. Takuma blocked it with his arm and felt the force reach his bones.

'I can't let that hit me in the face,' Takuma thought as he felt the burn in his arm.

Masaaki followed up with a one-two combo. Takuma shuffled out of the way and kicked him in the knee, but he saw it coming and pulled his leg back at the last moment.

"I know that one," Masaaki smirked and tried to grapple him, but he slapped his hands away and shoved him back with a shoulder to the chest. Masaaki wasn't fazed and feinted to the right but struck from the left.

Takuma took the blow to the ribs and bore the pain as he smashed an uppercut into Masaaki's chin. It wasn't augmented, but it sent him stumbling and dispelled the chakra flowing to the knuckledusters.

Masaaki wasn't able to evade the kick to the ribs that knocked him to the ground. Takuma tried to pin him down, but he threw a kunai at him at the last moment. Takuma snatched the kunai out of the air and immediately threw it back, but Masaaki had already rolled away and got up to a squat.

The two stood still before they jumped at each other.

Takuma smashed an augmented fist into the same spot he'd kicked earlier. Masaaki's face turned red, but he gritted his teeth and socked Takuma with a glowing knuckleduster. Takuma's vision doubled, but he kept his eyes on Masaaki and bobbed his head away when another haymaker from the same hand came for his head.

'I know this,' he thought.

Takuma pulled back his torso to let another punch slip him. His vision was still doubled, but he put his arm in front to block a body shot and then ducked while shuffling to the side to evade a cross. Just like he had some habits, Masaaki had them as well—and as his most frequent sparring partner before his deployment, he knew him as much the other way around.

"I know that one," said Takuma as his vision returned.

Masaaki smirked and swung at the same time as Takuma. Their chakra-drowned fists smashed against each other, and both were pushed back a few steps before getting right into it. They brawled it out and only put the least amount of effort into defending themselves.

"Alright, stop!" Maruboshi yelled from the sideline, stopping the two fighters from trying to break each other's bones.

Maruboshi and Choza stood together to watch the fight and separated into their own corners.

"That was not your usual," said Maruboshi.

Takuma winced as he touched his cheek, which was scraped from the knuckledusters. "It was a warmup. This happens sometimes with Masaaki," he said. "A straight-up brawl to either blow off tension or build a head of steam."

"...You two are similar," Maruboshi commented. "Just like you, he didn't even try to dodge most of the hits."

Takuma sighed as he sat down on the ground. "It's my fault. We sparred quite regularly before the war, and he picked it up from me. But he's not this bad; he was just trying to match me beat-by-beat there."

Masaaki used to have a counterattacking approach, where he would wait for an opportunity to land a heavy strike to create an advantage to exploit—but that had slowly changed to taking the initiative and pressing the opponent, forcing them to make a mistake that he could blow open.

"It's heavier than I thought," Takuma groaned as he lifted the weighted vest to relieve his torso of its weight for a couple of seconds. He was wearing the new weighted gear, and this was his first time fighting with the extra weight, which was messing with his breathing.

"Do you want to lighten up?" asked Maruboshi. "It's not useful to spar if you can't move properly."

"No, it's alright. I've gotten used to it," Takuma said as he stood up with a groan. "I'll win this one."