Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I want to, I just like playing with ideas.
Keep Your Head Down
Chapter 1
~Konoha Academy: 2pm~
It was just another day at Konoha Academy and as usual Nara Shikamaru had his head down on his desk asleep…well pretending to be asleep. In fact Shikamaru hadn't slept a single minute in his time at the Academy, while he was nearly dead last in the class ranking wise, in truth he probably knew more about the individuals in his class than their sensei did. Every minute, every second, he was always observing subtly the actions and reactions of his fellow shinobi hopefuls while simultaneously observing and listening to the lessons given by Umino Iruka-sensei and Hozuki Mizuki-sensei. One of the first things he had been taught by his father was that information was the key to overcoming ANY obstacle and it was just as important to know your allies, as it was to know your foes. It was this line of thought that had brought a multitude of realizations to Shikamaru.
First, it was obvious that less than half of his current classmates would actually ever become shinobi. The reasons fell into both simple and yet absurd categories. All of those in the class who were from clans were essentially guaranteed to pass the coming examination and it had nothing to do with skill. The sheer fact that seven of Konoha's most prominent clans had their heirs in the class meant that a minimum of two teams were guaranteed to pass and almost certainly a third team would pass to keep the remaining clan in good light. The political and militaristic power from such a display would do wonders for Konoha on many fronts. If he had to guess on the teams, it was a guarantee that he would be paired with Yamanaka Ino and his best friend Akimichi Chouji to create a second Ino-Shika-Cho trio. The next most likely team would be a combination of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba; the three of them combined would make a tracking team powerhouse. That left the last of one of Konoha's founding clans Uchiha Sasuke without a team of clan heirs, but as the almost certain Rookie of the Year he would be guaranteed a team and depending on that team's skills he would probably become apprenticed fairly quickly to restore the Uchiha clan's power.
It was in fact because of the Uchiha a large portion of the civilian children would likely not pass. The Uchiha's unfortunate childhood tragedy made him a prime target for many of the Kunoichi hopefuls who merely wanted to be his wife and had no interest in actually becoming shinobi. It wasn't that they were talentless, there was in fact a decent amount of potential in most of them, but their obsession with the Uchiha had lead to a severe drop in their actual skills and thus they would be unable to pass unless placed on his team. Since Sasuke would almost certainly become Rookie of the Year, which meant he would be placed with the Kunoichi of the Year and the Academy dead last as a balancing measure. The Kunoichi of the Year was actually a toss up between Ino and a civilian named Haruno Sakura, but due to the creation of a new Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the scores would certainly be manipulated to give the title to Sakura. That left the Academy dead last which was without a shadow of a doubt a boy by the name of Uzumaki Naruto.
Said boy was in fact a matter of constant confusion for Shikamaru. Naruto wasn't as stupid as he pretended to be, no true idiot could be so skilled at the pranks he was so infamous for unleashing upon Konoha. Normally people would just say that Naruto happened to be a savant in the pranking field, but savants rarely had skills in other fields that rivaled their specialty, and Naruto was renowned for his ability to hide from any pursuer that attempted to capture him after one of his pranks. The ability to hide from Chuunin was one thing, but being able to hide from squads of ANBU consistently with a 100% success rate was absurd. In fact the only one who could ever catch Naruto was their primary teacher Iruka-sensei, which meant either Iruka-sensei was the greatest tracker in Konoha, or Naruto let their sensei capture him. Furthermore, something that baffled Shikamaru was why Naruto was eternally stuck in the dead last position of the class, it wasn't that he didn't try, in fact only Sasuke could be argued to train harder than Naruto, and yet the blonde haired blue eyed boy just couldn't ever score higher than 50% on any exam he took, academic or not. This is where Shikamaru's next realization came into play.
The sensei in charge of their classroom acted normally in regards to all of the students, except for Naruto. Iruka-sensei had originally been rather harsh on the blonde, but after their second year he had become much kinder to the blonde though arguably even harsher in reprimanding Naruto. Considering their mutual orphan status, Iruka-sensei likely saw something of a younger brother in the blonde and whatever caused his initial dislike had eventually been overridden. Mizuki-sensei however was seemingly the exact opposite, while outwardly never showing any particular dislike for the blonde, Shikamaru could see tiny ticks in the constant smile Mizuki-sensei used when talking to the blonde, and when he thought no one was looking, the glares he would give the blonde all but proved he wanted Naruto six feet under. Why exactly Naruto received such odd reactions from their sensei as opposed to the other students was the one question Shikamaru couldn't answer and it irritated him to no end. Surely it had something to do with the blonde's past as the reactions had been there since day one, but such information was beyond Shikamaru's reach as an Academy student, until he had higher security access to learn more about the blonde's past he could do nothing but watch and look for clues.
They had just finished yet another test on Konoha's history and Mizuki-sensei had walked up the classroom collecting their papers. On the way down however, just as he was passing Naruto's seat, Shikamaru saw yet another glare from Mizuki-sensei and suddenly their sensei went tumbling down the stairs landing on his neck. The sound of their Mizuki-sensei tumbling brought Iruka-sensei rushing into the room. Mizuki-sensei laid on the floor of the room, unconscious.
"Mizuki! What happened here?" Iruka-sensei asked fervently.
In the dead silence of the room, Sakura had been the first to respond. "Mizuki-sensei slipped on the stairs after collecting the test papers Iruka-sensei."
"Class is dismissed for today, I expect all of you to read up on what was supposed to be taught today" Iruka said before using the Shunshin to take Mizuki-sensei to the hospital.
The class quickly filtered out after that, but Shikamaru remained in his seat, people preferred to let him sleep so no one had bothered him, but Shikamaru's mind was racing. That fall was not an accident. He would have thought it was at first, but as Mizuki-sensei had fallen Shikamaru noticed Naruto quickly wipe the step their sensei had slipped on with his foot, a cloth under his shoe. In the shock of the moment and being so far back in the classroom, no one else had seen it, but Shikamaru had seen it, it was only for a moment but Naruto had smirked when their sensei had tripped. It wasn't his normally infamous foxy grin however, no, this was the smirk of a plan coming to fruition flawlessly. Additionally, Mizuki-sensei had been at just high enough of a point in the class that the fall had directly made him land on the top of his head at the end of the fall. That wasn't a prank, Naruto was trying to break Mizuki-sensei's neck; he was trying to kill him! Shikamaru was in shock, he knew that Mizuki-sensei secretly disliked the blonde, but now he realized that the blonde equally disliked their sensei…apparently enough to kill.
The class was empty now, except for Shikamaru and said blonde. A minute passed in silence and then the blonde stood up and began to walk out of the classroom. This time, Shikamaru couldn't keep quiet, Naruto was a puzzle before, but now he was a problem. If he had been found out, Naruto would have certainly gotten the death sentence for attempted murder of a Konoha Shinobi. Mendokusai.
"Naruto," Shikamaru called. The blonde stopped his exit and turned around at the base of the steps, looking up to Shikamaru with an innocent expression.
"What's up Shika?" Naruto inquired.
"Why did you do that Naruto? Mizuki-sensei could have died."
"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about Shika, I didn't do anything to Mizuki-sensei, he just slipped!" Naruto replied with a shocked face.
His mask is perfect, if I didn't know better; I would think he was telling the truth. "Naruto, I saw your foot wipe the step after Mizuki-sensei tripped, you put some kind of lubricant on the step after he passed you and then dissolved it with whatever that cloth was soaked in."
Now Naruto's mask fell and Shikamaru saw a coldness in Naruto's eyes he didn't think possible for the happy-go-lucky blonde. "So, you saw that" he answered flatly.
Shikamaru's suspicion had been proven, he had to tread carefully or there was no telling what Naruto was capable of. "Naruto that was outright an attempt to assassinate Mizuki-sensei. I know that he didn't like you very much, but what could he possibly have done to deserve you trying to kill him in cold blood?"
For a moment, all was quiet and then while lightly chuckling, Naruto began to slowly clap. With that same smirk Shikamaru had seen before Naruto replied "Well done Shikamaru, you're the first person to ever catch me in the act, I guess it had to happen sooner or later and it would be you. The lazy ninja who sits in the back of class pretending to sleep while in reality he is scrutinizing everything in his vision. Really, I should say I'm pleased, I didn't think anyone in our class was quick enough to pick up on that swipe of mine."
Sweat was beginning to form on the back of Shikamaru's neck. This is bad, I had guessed that maybe our sensei had realized I wasn't actually asleep, but Naruto knew what I was doing, for how long though? Lines upon lines of reasoning were running through Shikamaru's head, but he could no longer paint a picture of Naruto like before, this was new information, but nothing like he had anticipated, he needed to know more. "Why?"
Naruto looked at him for a moment with the gaze of a predator who was considering whether or not to strike him down, the sweat was running down Shikamaru's neck now. "Here's your choices Shikamaru, you can either go to the Hokage and report what you saw, or, if you really want to know come to the top of the Hokage Monument at sunset. Just remember, the choice you make could make things very mendokusai for you if you choose wrong." And with that the blonde left the classroom to leave an irritated, perplexed, but above all confused Shikamaru to consider his "choices".
~Nara Clan Compound: 3 Hours Later~
Shikamaru sat in front of the Shogi board that he had played countless matches with his father, he had found that whenever there was a problem he couldn't answer, putting the people involved into place as Shogi pieces helped to clear his mind. This time however, the board gave no answers. He simply didn't have enough information to work with. He couldn't figure out what Naruto meant by choosing wrong. The natural answer was that going to the Hokage was the wrong choice and Naruto had something in place to make sure he would be found innocent if any charges were brought against him, but that was too simple. The counter answer was that going to meet the blonde at the Hokage Monument was the wrong answer meaning that possibly Naruto was just bluffing and was attempting to fool Shikamaru into doing as he wanted. But then again, there could be another if not multiple factors that Shikamaru was unaware of this time.
Maybe Naruto had been acting under orders from the Hokage for some unknown reason. Perhaps Mizuki-sensei had known something that Naruto couldn't let become public and wanted to eliminate the threat. There were so many possibilities and Shikamaru simply didn't have enough information to work with.
"Remember Shikamaru, when you don't have enough information to make a decision, work with what you know and take the action with less risk unless there is no other choice. Every piece on the board is valuable and should not be sacrificed without great care."
Recalling the words Shikamaru's father had said to him after a particularly brutal loss Shikamaru reconsidered the information he knew for a fact. First was that Naruto was not as dumb as he made himself out to be, extremely far from it to the extent that he hadn't even seemed concerned that his assassination attempt had been found out. That meant Naruto had an agenda of some kind that he had taken great care in forming the pillars for. If there was an agenda, then that meant there was something to be gained, but also something to be lost. Mizuki-sensei must have interfered with that plan in some form and had to be gotten rid of in a swift manner. That could be the reason their sensei seemed to act so unusually around Naruto. Iruka-sensei could have even been brought into the plan, which would explain why his attitude towards Naruto had changed so drastically.
Shikamaru then remembered his earlier musings that day about the certainty of team placements; maybe Naruto's failing had been on purpose so that he could get closer to the Uchiha for some reason. No, that was a long shot, but couldn't be entirely ruled out. But that could just as easily be the case that Naruto had planned exactly that and the unlikeliness of such a plan was what made it so viable. Shikamaru was at a loss, no matter what position he came from, the result was the same, and he simply didn't know enough about where Naruto was coming from to conclusively figure out the answer. "…Take the action with less risk unless absolutely necessary." It may be playing directly into Naruto's hands, but Shikamaru didn't have a choice, he would have to meet with Naruto…however…he could at the least make Naruto work within parameters where Shikamaru knew he would have the upper hand.
~Hokage Monument: Sunset~
As Shikamaru reached the top of the Hokage Monument he saw Naruto sitting directly above where the Fourth Hokage's head was carved into the cliff-side. It wasn't what he expected however, when he saw Naruto in clothes very different from what he normally wore. The blonde was famous for his obnoxiously orange jumpsuit and refused to wear anything else because of his love for the color. He was instead wearing a deep red Jinbei and Geta. Not overly drastic, but it gave a concrete form to the new image of the blond that Shikamaru was developing. The clothes that someone wore could tell you a lot about the person, the orange Naruto usually wore was a color that was very irritating and made you pay attention to the blonde exactly what he seemed to thrive on. Red however was a very masculine and offensive color representing strength and confidence. The deep red that Naruto wore was reminiscent of blood and gave a feeling of not only strength, but added an unknown element of mystery. This clothing was the expression of the real Naruto, someone who knew far more than he let on, but had zero hesitations about asserting his position. The blonde didn't even so much as glance Shikamaru's way, his eyes constantly locked on the village below.
Shikamaru made his way up to the blonde and started the conversation that would change his life forever. "All right Naruto, I'm here so let's talk."
Just like in the classroom Naruto spent a few moments looking at Shikamaru before responding, "Are you wanting to talk, or play Shogi?"
Shikamaru's mind stopped. "Why would you say that?"
Naruto just smirked, "I've made you rethink everything you know about me in a miniscule amount of time and you have almost no new information to work with to figure me out. Everyone knows you love Shogi, but few realize how much you rely on it to figure out the more difficult problems that you come into contact with. That's why you brought a board with you from home, you want to play me and learn more about me from how I play against you."
Shikamaru sighed and took his backpack off his shoulders, pulling out the board that Naruto mentioned. "You really are nothing like what you make people think you are." He began setting up the pieces, Naruto took the other side of the board and their game began.
Naruto had the first move, a standard bishop opening. Shikamaru replied in kind and Naruto moved his rook to the center file. Shikamaru pulled his king to the left. Naruto replied in kind. The game continued like this for thirty minutes with zero pieces being taken by either side, it wasn't that Naruto was playing defensively, he just wasn't playing offensively. Naruto was trying to make Shikamaru take the offense, but doing so would put Shikamaru at a disadvantage to the defense Naruto had set to cover every single one of his pieces. Ultimately all Shikamaru learned was that Naruto was not willing to take a risk and wouldn't take the offensive until Shikamaru did.
"All right, I get it, the game is a draw, you could've given me something to work with at least" Shikamaru muttered.
"Oh that's not it, you're just not looking deep enough, how about we try my game instead?" Naruto then pulled an Igo board out of his bag and handed the black stones to Shikamaru. "I think you'll learn a lot more from this than you would from a Shogi match with me."
If Shikamaru were honest with himself, his understanding of Igo was far weaker than his understanding of Shogi, true the few games he had played he had done fantastically, but unlike Shogi the pieces in Igo didn't have specific movements and the objective of the game was entirely different. This in and of itself was a clue for Shikamaru for how Naruto really thought, but he wouldn't know more until the game was over.
Shikamaru was black this time and placed his stone in the 3x3 left corner of the board closest to him. Naruto simply replied in kind on the opposite side. Equally like the Shogi game, nothing of importance really occurred within the first thirty turns, or forty turns which was unusual. At this point in the game either white or black would have started pushing their opponent in order to gain territory, but Naruto was giving more time into pushing Shikamaru back just far enough that attacking Naruto would've been too risky of an idea. This repetition of style was irritating Shikamaru to no end, he couldn't learn anything without conflict let alone win the game so he would have to be the one to attack first even if it was risky. He placed a stone in a one-point jump from Naruto's right hand corner group of stones.
The moment he did however, Naruto gave a smirk and countered with another one point jump. The next ten moves that followed were more or less Joseki but then Naruto broke the chain by advancing his stone merely one column closer to the edge of the board than before and Shikamaru saw it. His advance hadn't been risky; it had been futile from the start. Sure enough his group of stones would almost certainly live, but his gain in territory would be miniscule at best while simultaneously he was incapable of connecting his stones to his group on his lower left hand corner. Shikamaru then looked across the entire board feeling it best to drop the encounter until later. This time he took far longer to think about his moves and he saw exactly why Naruto had smirked. No matter how Shikamaru attacked, Naruto's base was too solid and any expansion he made would be guaranteed to connect to other groups of stones some how. The same was true for any counter he made to Shikamaru, while Shikamaru could reduce the overall territory Naruto possessed, the center of the board was as a result almost unanimously Naruto's…the game had been lost before he even began his first attack. Biting his pride, Shikamaru resigned.
"I give, you win completely," he muttered.
"Tell me Shikamaru, what did you learn from this match?" Naruto asked him.
"You were looking farther ahead than I was, instead of attacking me first, you simply pushed me just enough to keep me focused on defense. You used that to build an impenetrable base, by the time I tried to attack, your stones had more space and better shape to work with by an overwhelming amount." He replied.
"And what does that tell you about me?" Naruto pressed.
"Your moves seem slow, but they're designed to be efficient without sacrificing potential. You spend so much time building your base that by the time your opponent thinks to attack, it's already too late for them to get any significant damage on you. You're not playing to eliminate, you're playing to overwhelm."
A minute passed with only the sounds of Naruto's chuckling, with a sigh Naruto finally responded. "Ahh, Shikamaru you're so close and yet so far away. I suppose I can't blame you, this game isn't your specialty after all. Tell me at what point did you think we were playing the game on equal terms?"
That question left Shikamaru silent for several minutes. He was playing with an advantage the entire time? That's just pride, sure he is obviously more skilled than me if he can force my hand in both Shogi and Igo, but to play based on that idea is just foolish.
"You're thinking I was playing with an advantage aren't you? True enough I likely have more experience in Igo than you do, but look at the Shogi board, the pieces are in the same position as before, don't you notice something strange about my pieces' movements?" Naruto inquired.
Shikamaru studied the Shogi board again and he saw it, Naruto hadn't moved two of his pawns, neither of his lances, nor either of his golden generals. "You were the one with a handicap," he said and his eyes widened. Looking back at the Igo board if he imagined the game as if he had a several stone handicap, Naruto's movements made far more sense, they were necessary in fact to ensure he didn't die right off the bat, his movements in Shogi were the exact same, acting as if you didn't have six pieces, let alone two golden generals was a severe handicap that nearly guaranteed defeat, the strong defense he played was again nothing more than necessary before he could even consider attacking.
"Now you get it Shikamaru, every action I take isn't because I know more than you or am better than you, it's because I'm at a major disadvantage and am conscious of that fact," Naruto confirmed.
"But what does that have to do with Mizuki-sensei?" Shikamaru asked.
"You've got all the pieces you need Shikamaru, think. Before today and the newfound knowledge you have of me, how many friends would you say I had?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru thought back, Naruto certainly was the most extroverted of the entire class, but Shikamaru couldn't recall anyone in the class being his friend in particular. Come to think of it, Shikamaru couldn't recall Naruto having good relations with anyone in the village outside of Iruka-sensei, the Hokage, and the staff at Ichiraku Ramen. "Your opponent isn't Mizuki-sensei, it's the entire village. You have something against them and want to get back at them for it but you're operating alone and can't let anyone see your intentions or else you would be shut down in an instant." Just like if I had known from the start of your handicap I would have struck far sooner.
Naruto smirked again and stared straight at Shikamaru as if he was looking into Shikamaru's very soul. "Now that's the kind of reasoning I expected of you Shikamaru, which now brings us to our current predicament. You now know at least superficially of my real position and opinion of the village, you said it yourself, I'm acting alone and can't risk being found out, so what do I do with you?"
The sweat was rolling down Shikamaru's neck again; he was face to face with a predator that was backed into a corner, not a position anyone wants to be in. He wordlessly activated his clans Kageshibari and slowly stretched it towards Naruto. If I can just get him in my Kageshibari then I can turn the tables. Naruto made no movements, only continuing to stare straight at Shikamaru. Finally the two shadows connected and Shikamaru had complete control of Naruto's body. "That's the end of it Naruto, I've captured you in my Jutsu and there's no way you can escape. You're going to answer my questions, all of them and then we'll see what I do with you."
Naruto began chuckling again, then laughing, and then roaring with laughter. "Oh Shikamaru, you're one step behind again, did you forget to pay attention to what time it is?"
Shikamaru glanced at the Sun and saw it was almost gone, with it gone and moonrise not being for a couple more hours Shikamaru's best Jutsu would be worthless. He planned this far ahead in class? Or maybe he had this thought out for a long time. Either way he has me pinned, I've already revealed my thoughts and for him it's just a matter of time until he can turn the tables. More than ever Shikamaru wished he had trained harder in Taijutsu. Dead last he may be, but Naruto was almost as fast as Kiba and far better in a fight than Shikamaru on his best days. He hadn't had a chance from the start, just like the game of Igo, Naruto had played just enough to get Shikamaru to play the way he wanted while in fact being completely in the clear. He recalled his shadow, "okay, so how do we go from here then? I admit it, I've lost to you, what do you want with me?" Keep him talking; maybe I can work my way through this somehow.
"Tell me Shikamaru, at what point did I have you completely beaten in our matches? Therein lies your answer." Naruto answered.
"Being at a huge handicap, since I hadn't realized it once you had built your base up strong enough you could move without fear of being defeated…you want to build up your base, you want allies, specifically you want me to be your ally."
"Got it in one, so, will you accept Shikamaru? Or do we have a problem?" Naruto offered his hand to Shikamaru.
"You're going to have to give me more than that Naruto. I'm not signing up with a team whose goals I haven't even heard yet. What exactly do you intend to do?" he asked.
Naruto pulled his hand back with a smile, "I'm glad I picked you Shikamaru, most others would've accepted out of fear what I would do if they said no, however, you've already made your choice, haven't you? As I said Shikamaru, depending upon your answer things could become very mendokusai for you."
And then Shikamaru realized, his decision had been made when he came to the Hokage monument, just like the game matches, just like the timing, Naruto had been one step ahead from the beginning. Shikamaru would join Naruto with or without information; his choice had been made for him.
Naruto held his hand out once more, "I offer you my right hand Shikamaru, it is only offered once, refuse at your own risk. I'm not offering any information to those who are not my allies."
Shikamaru's hand was shaking as he reached for Naruto's, he wasn't sure if this is what he wanted, but Naruto wasn't leaving him a choice. Naruto had already proven he had better cards to play than Shikamaru and he was playing them better, for now, Shikamaru would have to agree to work with Naruto. Their hands connected and squeezed. Shikamaru felt something move from Naruto's body into his own, but what it was he couldn't be sure. Some kind of contract had just been signed, but what that meant for Konoha, let alone Shikamaru was something only Naruto was aware of. When Shikamaru made eye contact with Naruto again, his face had changed. Naruto was grinning viciously, his canines were longer than he remembered, the whisker lines on his face were thicker, and his eyes…they were slit and red like an animal. Shikamaru felt a presence that radiated power and bloodlust, this was the real Naruto and Shikamaru suddenly felt like he had made the right choice simply out of fear of what this version of Naruto was capable of doing to him. Sometimes fear is there for a reason.
~To Be Continued~
Author's Note
Ryokkai here everyone with the first chapter of Keep Your Head Down. I hope you enjoy what you've read so far and will continue to enjoy it. This fanfic is going to involve a lot of planning and thinking as you've seen in this chapter. Yes Shikamaru is going to be one of the main characters and I assure you his manner of thinking is very different from other characters in this story. I'm going to try and differentiate each characters thinking style and method of action enough so that you can get a strong image of their differences. As for romance or anything similar, that has yet to be decided, nothing is done without reason in this or any chapter. I'm aware that you currently know very little about Naruto's intentions and I intend to keep it that way for a while longer until you really understand where he is coming from, what his goals are, and what kind of person he actually is.
Reviews are highly appreciated and requested, they truly let me know what people think of the story and give me the motivation to write more often. I will do my best on updates but can't promise 100% regular postings, I will do my best to not let this story die though and I think that you will enjoy seeing where this story leads in the long run. Until next time Ja ne~