Several months had passed since then and Renji was improving greatly in his training to use chakra. Renji seemed to have Naruto's determination when it came to training. If he didn't get a technique right away, he would keep training until he did get it right. Although, Itachi had his suspicions that Renji did some secret training behind his back. There had been a couple incidents when Renji couldn't get a jutsu down one day, but by the next day he would have it seemingly mastered. He also chalked it up to the Shadow Clone Jutsu he had taught to Renji recently.
The redhead nearly ruptured Itachi's eardrums from the loud shriek of joy he made when he created his first corporeal clone. His large chakra reserves allowed him to easily access the technique since the jutsu required more chakra than control when executing it. The jutsu was incredibly useful due to the fact that whatever information and experience the clone learned was returned to the original after it dispersed. It was a handy learning tool and Renji exploited it to the best of his ability when Itachi told him this fact.
However, despite the practicality of using Shadow Clones, there were dangers to using it; the most prevalent being chakra depletion. The justu required a significant amount of chakra to perform and then the clones each had to have the original's chakra evenly distributed among them. In order to prevent this, Itachi told Renji to not make more than one Shadow Clone at a time.
The most the child was able to produce at one time was three, but that had nearly caused Renji to collapse from the exertion. Itachi was normally a level-headed individual, but he did have moments where his "overprotective brother" instincts got the better of him. The Shadow Clone incident was Renji's first encounter with those instincts and he did not take Itachi's reaction well at all.
"I'm fine, nii-san. I don't want to stop now!" Shouted Renji.
"No. We're done training for today. I don't want that happening to you again." Said Itachi.
"Shut it, weasel! I can still train!"
"No, Renji."
"Damn it, Itachi; I don't need you worrying about me! I can take care of myself! I managed just fine without you and I still can!"
Itachi literally dragged Renji from their training ground when the redhead refused to quit training after that incident. The angry seven-year-old was sulking all through dinner and through the night. The kid was pouting in the corner of the room, his arms crossed in frustration, and his back facing his elder brother when Itachi crawled into his futon.
"Renji, I just don't want you overexerting yourself and getting yourself hurt," Itachi said quietly as he drifted off to sleep. "You can't sulk like this forever…".
"Watch me!" he heard Renji snap in reply. It wasn't long after that when Itachi fell asleep.
Itachi woke up to a cloudy morning. The Uchiha slowly sat up in his futon, stretching his limbs while he did so. He turned his head to Renji's futon to find it empty. Itachi blinked in surprise. Renji was never up earlier than Itachi after that first day of chakra training. The redhead loved to sleep in, so for Renji to wake up early was odd. Itachi got out of his futon and took a quick look outside the house.
There were a few people in the streets walking about, but Itachi didn't see the familiar head of red hair among them. Itachi sighed. It appeared that Renji was still upset about the previous day. He was probably training on the mountaintop by himself without dealing with the Uchiha's watchful gaze as he did so.
It would be best to let Renji vent his frustration on his own. Perhaps putting some distance between them would be the best option with the emotional state Renji was in. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to secretly watch over Renji while the redhead trained. He was once a shinobi after all. Espionage was one of the recurring missions he took while in ANBU. As long as he kept his distance, Renji would never know. The child was definitely not a good sensor yet when it came to chakra or spiritual pressure.
