The next day, already cleared to get home, Naruto should be annoyed for having to spend the previous day in the ANBU headquarters. But… he wasn't. He was in fact pretty happy, since he now had a friend.

Oh well. For today, he had to take a picture for his ninja identification!

IIIII

Ino had no trouble finding Shikamaru and Chouji. They knew each other since they were kids thanks to their parents being friends. The two were in the same place as usual, the pineapple-head just lying on the ground as he watched the clouds and his big-bodied friend ate a snack nearby.

"There you two are!"

"Hello Ino." Chouji said cordially.

"What do you want today?" Shikamaru was… less cordial.

Ino decided to ignore this… for now.

"Shut up Shikamaru, this is important."

"Just say it and leave us alone."

Calm down Ino. You need to talk to them. You can't talk properly if you maim them first.

"What do you two think about Naruto?"

The two boys looked at the girl, eyes wide. Then at each other to check if they heard the same thing. Then back to the girl.

"Why are you asking?" Shikamaru asked in a false bored tone. "Decided to give up on Sasuke?"

"No, nothing like that." Ino answered. She knew they would think so at first, so she wasn't that embarrassed by the question.

"Then why do you ask?"

"Naruto did something stupid after graduating and ended up being my first patient," she replied.

Shikamaru was a bit surprised, but didn't show it. She said "graduating", not "graduation". Did that mean he passed, but he was sure he had failed…

"Is he alright?" Chouji asked, a bit worried and not noticing the things Shikamaru did.

"Yes, but the point was that thanks to this we became friends."

"I thought you gave up on making new friends after the whole Sakura thing."

"Nevermind that." Ino said quickly. "What worried me was how he acted when I asked if he waned to try being friends."

"Embarrassed? He is a bit immature, so he probably never thought of having a female friend." Shikamaru guessed.

"No, that would have been ok. He acted… like he never had a friend before."

An awkward silence followed that.

"I consider Naruto a friend…" Chouji tried to say, but he felt a bit hurt by the implication that Naruto didn't think so.

"He is a troublesome guy, but has a good heart."

That was as good an admission as she was going to get from him.

"Did either of you ever told him that?"

"You need to?" Chouji asked surprised.

"Chouji, you act friendly with everyone that doesn't insult you or Shikamaru, and Shikamaru is a lazy bum who just walks silently until somewhere he can watch the sky unless someone pulls him from it. Naruto for as loud as he is has a huge inferiority complex, shown on how he always says he is going to be Hokage. Not only that, besides when he skips classes with you guys no one in class interacts with him more than in passing. He needs some actual assurance. If you just escape from classes and then practically ditch him, he will think you just hang out with him to ditch classes and that's it."

"And the way Kiba likes teasing him, he won't see him as a friend either. He never had friendly banter before."

"Exactly."

As soon as she said that, Shikamaru stood up.

"Where are you going?" Ino asked, surprised.

"Look for Kiba. Doubt he would listen to you on this."

"But—"

"Look, you said he graduated, right? That means we have the team assignment day to fix this misunderstanding."

"This isn't an excuse, is it?"

"Don't worry, I know that you won't leave us alone until we get this settled. Even if you did, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the clouds as much with this in my head. Thoublesome blonds…"

IIIII

"You are not my boss anymore! From now one, you are my rival!"

Naruto couldn't help but smile at that. That little speech of his really got the kid fired up. But… rival…

"Konohamaru!" he screamed to the retreating child, "We are still friends, right?"

The little boy blinked in surprise, then replied with a smile. "Of course!"

Then he ran away.

Naruto breathed with relief. He didn't want to end like Ino and Sakura.

Speaking of the two… Now that he knew about them…

IIIII

The day of the team assignment. Naruto was still happy, even if he didn't see Ino until then she was sure to appear on that day, being top of the class and all.

Shikamaru was looking at him a bit weird when he arrived, though. As if he was holding himself from asking something.

Well, nevermind. He quickly chose a place to sit down, near the front.

And then, the sound of footsteps of people running.

"Goal!" yelled both Sakura and Ino as they arrived.

Naruto turned as they argued about who arrived first, and couldn't help but think about what Ino told him about they once being friends…

Then Sakura went to where he was!

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Hey Ino!"

Sakura just pushed Naruto aside… before noticing what he said.

"Wait… did you just say hi to Ino?"

"Uhm, yeah?" Naruto said from the ground. "Why?"

"Don't worry Sakura, we are just friends. No need to be jealous." Ino said in a joking tone.

"Me? Jealous of Naruto? As if!"

Naruto took this time to sit back in his place, but he was clearly hurt by his words.

"You could always be jealous of Ino, you know" said Shikamaru of all people.

"W-what?" spluttered Sakura.

Ino ran with it.

"Oh, I'm grateful Sakura, but I like boys, I'm sorry."

Naruto had to hold himself not to laugh. The rest of the class didn't even try holding back their laughter.

"N-no! I like Sasuke-kun!"

"Every girl here likes Sasuke-kun though. He is the perfect beard…"

"I'm not a lesbian!"

"Hey Sakura-chan, I believe you! Want to go on a date later?"

Her answer was to clonk his head… then notice where he was. Again.

"Hey Naruto, get out of there! I want to sit there!"

"Ok…" Naruto said a bit sadly, but gladly moved to the middle of the table so Sakura could take his old position.

"No, you idiot! I want to sit beside Sasuke-kun!"

Confused, Naruto looked to his other side… and faced Sasuke.

"Gah! When did you get there?"

"…I was here before you sat down."

"You seriously didn't notice?" asked Sakura, frustrated. "Anyway, get out of there so I can sit beside Sasuke-kun!"

"And why you should be the one to sit beside him, Forehead?"

"Because I arrived first!"

"No, I arrived first!" said another girl.

"No, I did!"

"No, me!"

"Girls, girls, girls…" said Naruto appeasingly."It doesn't matter who arrived first, only who sat beside him first. Which, gasp, was me."

"And why would you want to—" Sakura began angrily before Ino interrupted:

"Did you just say 'gasp'?"

"But I am a generous man… so I will relinquish my place for… I don't know, the one of you willing to trade more for it."

"WHAT?" screamed all girls angrily at once.

Sasuke waited a bit then asked, confused:

"Wait, are you really auctioning the… 'privilege' of sitting besides me?"

"Yup." Naruto replied with a smirk.

"…I want half the money." Sasuke said, after a while

"What?" Naruto exclaimed… which for Naruto is "shouted".

"I can always to somewhere else…"

"Fine, fine! You get half the money! Geez…"

Sasuke gave a satisfied smirk of his own. If he was going to suffer, at least he was going to get something from it.

"I don't get it, aren't you rich?"

"It's the principle of the thing."

IIIII

In the end, Sakura won, paying all the money she had taken for lunch. She judged it was a worthy price… until Naruto rested his butt on her other side.

And so Iruka arrived and the teams were divided.

"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto,"

'Hm, I wonder who will be on my team… I hope Sakura-chan and Ino.'

"Haruno Sakura,"

"No!" Sakura moaned in disbelief of her bad luck.

'Yes! One more!'

"and Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Yes!"

"WHAT?"

"What's wrong Naruto?" asked the teacher with a sigh.

"Look, I admit he is not so bad as I though, but why am I on the same team as him?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

"Sasuke's grades where the best amongst those who passed…"

"Wait, what? But Ino told me hers were the best!"

"Well, yes, hers were the best grade overall, but each grade has a different weight so in the end Sasuke ended up best.
Anyways, your grades… were the worst amongst the ones who passed, so we put you together to balance the teams."

Naruto fumed as the others laughed at him, but… he didn't really pass by grade, so it made sense he would be the worst.

"Don't get in my way, deadlast." Sasuke said cooly.

He would be angry, but…

"Did you just tell a joke? Iruka-sensei, call am ambulance! Sasuke told a joke!"

Everybody laughed. Even Sasuke let escape a small smirk.

"Team eight," Iruka continued…

IIIII

"Sasuke-kun is already gone? I thought that since we are of the same team we could have lunch together…" Sakura complained to herself.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Since we are of the same team, we could have lunch together!" Naruto arrived, coincidentally.

"And why would I have lunch with you?" Sakura replied, ignoring her plans with Sasuke had been exactly that.

"But, but we are of the same team…"

"You are irritating." Sakura replied, coldly. She then started leaving looking for Sasuke…

And right then Naruto felt a nudge under his hand and the feeling of soft fur.

He got it. He had no reason to just stand to this, even if the person was Sakura-chan.

"I don't know, I think your Sasuke-kun gets better along with me than with you."

"What you say?" Sakura said, turning around angrily.

"I don't know, that's just an impression I got today. I mean, he paid no attention to you but not just we did business but he even joked. Maybe, just maybe you'd have more chance spending time with him if you tried an excuse of doing it as a team than just following around and mentioning the team only as lip-service. But well, I better get going, don't want to annoy you anymore."

Sakura had no idea what to say as a smiling Naruto left her. But without her knowing, as he left Naruto's smile fell down into a frown.

Why did he say that? Was that really what his persona was pulling him to do? Well, he would have done the same to anyone else but Sakura-chan earlier anyway, but… she was Sakura-chan!

Maybe it as having someone that appreciated his company for comparison?

"There you are!"

And speak of the devil.

"We were looking for you three!" Ino said, followed by her team and… Kiba's? "…Where's Sasuke-kun?"

"Dunno, probably went home to get lunch." Naruto answered. He did not want to think of the guy right now.

"Oh, shame. We were thinking about having a group lunch with our three teams. What about you two?"

"Well, I'm game! What about you, Sakura-chan?"

"U-uh?" Sakura replied, surprised. "N-no, thanks. I… have to think about something…"

"Suit yourself Forehead. Come on Naruto!"

"Sure," he replied with a shrug before following the other six.

Sakura just watched them leave, more confused than anything.

IIIII

"What happened between you and Sakura?" Ino asked worried as soon as she was out of sight.

"She… kind of treated me badly again. Before I noticed, I was saying things like a joke to hurt her back. It's not the first time I did it, but not to Sakura-chan…"

Ino digested it for a bit.

"Well, the technique is supposed to make you more true to yourself. Maybe it just made you treat her like you would anyone else."

"Maybe…"

The two didn't notice Kiba and Akamaru looking at them suspiciously.

IIIII

Sakura was… confused. Was Naruto right? Was she just an annoyance to Sasuke-kun?

She couldn't deny he didn't treat her any better than any other girl in class, but… Well, he didn't interact with any other girl in class unless they interacted with him first…

But that wasn't much of a point for her either…

Well, no reason to be impatient. She had him all for her from now on… She could show him why she was the better choice for him…

And what did she have that the others didn't? As much as she wanted to deny it, she wasn't amongst the best looking of the class. The only feature she had that differentiated her was her forehead…

Even Naruto of all people interacted with Sasuke better than her.

She had these kinds of thoughts until lunchtime was over.

Nothing happened that would make her think anything better of herself

IIIII

"Hey Naruto, Ino, what was it about a technique that made the loser tell Sakura what she should have been told a long time ago?"

Ouch. That hurt a bit. But before he could say anything back…

"Kiba, you promised to behave!"

"About Sasuke being there. Besides, this is just friendly banter, Naruto knows I don't mean anything by it."

He… didn't?

"Insulting people is friendly?" Ino replied.

"It's just friendly banter. Don't you and Sakura do it all the time?"

"I've known Shikamaru and Chouji for years and they never did this" she said, trying to drive the conversation away from herself and Sakura, Naruto thought.

"I don't expect you to understand the complexities of male friendship."

"'Complexities'? I didn't expect you from all people to know that word."

"Ouch. You see? You're already good at it." Kiba answered with a laugh. "But seriously, what about this technique?"

"How did you hear about it? We were talking quietly!"

"Inuzuka hearing is good. So, what about this technique?"

"What is it to you?"

"Naruto is a friend of mine."

"I am?" Naruto interrupted.

"You are," said Shikamaru. Chouji nodded.

This was not part of the plan, but the best plans of mice and men and all that.

"But… you guys always left right after we left the school…"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm just like that. Just ask Chouji."

The big boy just smiled.

Hinata and Shino just looked at the scene awkwardly.

"Anyways, about the technique?"

"Naruto used a Yamanaka technique by accident. Can't tell any more, but he seems to be ok if a bit more expressive."

"A more expressive Naruto? We are so boned…" Kiba joked.

"Anything more is his to tell."

"Wait, really?" Naruto said, surprised.

"What?" Ino asked.

"Isn't it your family technique? Shouldn't I keep it a secret?"

"Nah. My father said that as long as you don't tell anyone how to get it it should be no problem. Since you now know how dangerous that can be…"

"R-right." Naruto gulped. He had no idea how dangerous the technique was when he used it, he was lucky he had succeeded.

"How did you learn a dangerous Yamanaka technique?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh, well, it all started when I failed the genin exam…"

…

"Wait, wait!" Kiba said after the story was over. "You! Took down a chuunin. By yourself."

"With a bunch of clones, but yes."

"But… but you were the deadlast! Even after that?"

"Dude, I passed but my grades sucked."

"But you defeated a chuunin!"

"Well it's too late for me to complain. I was happy enough having passed at the time."

"But…"

"This second technique," Shikamaru interrupted, "what does it do?"

"It can summon the power of my personality as a two-tailed fox kit."

Silence followed that statement.

"Wow, and you put yourself in danger for that?" Kiba broke the silence, "If it depends in your personality it must suck."

"You're just jealous my kitsune is cuter than Akamaru." Naruto said with a pout.

"What? Summon it right now! No one is cuter than Akamaru!"

Naruto did so, blue mist shaping itself in the form of a fox with two long tails.

Ino squealed as it yawned. Hinata's eyes were sparkling.

"…Ok, I admit it is cute. But it doesn't look powerful."

"It can bash with its tails stronger than I can punch and just yesterday it learned to send a blade of wind that cuts as well as a kunai. But yeah, from what I was told it is still weak."

"And how do you make it stronger?" asked Shikamaru.

"Well, I can train with it like I did to learn the wind blade, but from what I was told the best way to make it stronger is by interacting with people."

"So your 'Persona' gets stronger… the more you talk?" Kiba asked, surprised.

"Seems so." Naruto confirmed.

Kiba then turned to Ino.

"That means that if you learned it you'd be unstoppable!"

"What? You little…"

"It is a Yamanaka technique." Shikamaru confirmed.

Naruto couldn't help it. He started laughing while Ino tried her best to pummel the two.

IIIII

"That was fun! We should do it more times!" Naruto said happily as they walked back to class.

"Yes, that was very enjoyable." Shino agreed.

"Yeah, and next time it is yours and Hinata's turn to talk."

"Me?" replied the shy girl, eyes wide?

"Yeah, I talked a lot to Ino the other day while I was with the ANBU and I've know the other three since I was small, but you two barely said anything the whole time."

"And you spoke about your graduation and your Persona ability with us. I believe it is fair."

"Sure." Hinata answered, still a little surprised.

Naruto turned around, smiling. He was happy.