2005, Naoki met his future groupmate, the then famous underground dancer Naoto, for the first time. Career 2006–2010：From Rag Pound to Nidaime J Soul Brothers In May 2006, Naoki participated in the dance battle Dance Alive 2006, which was held in celebration of the Japanese release of RIZE, an American documentary film about Clowning and Krumping. During the tournament, he met Krump dance team Rag Pound. Their member Akira noticed Naoki and invited him to join Rag Pound after the battle. Naoki accepted the offer and joined the team in July of the same year while also starting to use the alias Jr.Twiggz as a member. Since Akira was invited to join Exile in June 2006, Rag Pound's member naturally grew closer to Exile's management company, LDH. Naoki was also very impressed and inspired by the Exile Vocal Battle Audition 2006 ~ Asian Dream~ and became even more interested in the entertainment produced by Exile. In October 2006, he took part in LDH's audition for the dance and vocal group Nidaime J Soul Brothers("The Second Generation of J Soul Brothers") but failed. Shortly afterwards in December 2006, he enrolled in EXPG Studio Tokyo, the talent school run by LDH, and became an instructor at EXPG in March 2007. In 2007, Naoki was invited to join Nidaime J Soul Brothers as a performer alongside Naoto, after the group's producer Hiro decided that they should be a seven-member group. Naoki started using NAOKI as his stage name and performed as a member of Nidaime J Soul Brothers for the first time at COLOR LIVE TOUR 2007 BLUE on 10 November 2007. Meanwhile, in September 2007, Naoki debut as an actor in Gekidan Exile's first play Burnt by the Sun while also choreographing for the play. On 7 May 2008, Nidaime J Soul Brothers released their first single "WE!", which was sold exclusively on Exile's mobile website. Meanwhile, Naoki performed in Gekidan Exile's 2nd show CROWN ~Nemuranai, Yoru no Hate ni…~ in May. From October to November, the group went on a nation-wide small-scale tour, the so-called Musha Shugyo ("Samurai Training"), during which the members traveled on a bus and put on 48 shows in 2 months around the country. From 29 November to December, Naoki also took part in Exile Live Tour Exile Perfect Live 2008 with his group. On 25 February 2009, Nidaime J Soul Brothers released their first album J