9.
A/N: Thanks for all your reviews for last chapter guys!
A Guest asked whether Shikamaru will get to know about Naruto's parents – Eventually.
monstar315 asked why Shikamaru distrusts her when Jiraiya, Tsunade and his father let her become a shinobi – Shikamaru hasn't even realized that sensei Jiraiya is the Jiraiya.. Also, who says that Tsunade and his father trust her? Yes, they're not breathing down her neck, but they're still alert of her behaviour. So is Shikamaru.
vkanimeluver632 asked whether Shikamaru will find out about the kyuubi on his own or whether Naruto will tell him – Let's just say it'll be a mixture of both.
jazzy asked how long it will take till they marry – I honestly can't say. I want to reach a certain point of the relationship till I go there, like, I already want them to be in love.. All in all (but that doesn't apply to you, I'm just stating how things are in general), I've been asked (demanded) to hurry things up with the romance part, but although I understand the impatience, I worry about the quality of the story if I go there too fast. So to give a reeeeaaaaly rough approximation: Probably still 10 or so chapters…
I see you see asked why Shikamaru didn't go to Shikaku about his concerns about Naruto – Firstly, he has no real evidence. Secondly, Shika knows that his father isn't just some oblivious guy, therefore Shikamaru knows that his father already is alarmed. On the side, (which Shika would never admit) Naruto is his personal puzzle that he doesn't want anyone else to solve:)
Enjoy chapter 9 (the longest so far)!
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"Naruto-san, is it possible for you to practice your sealing skills in Konoha? I know that we do not have any sealing masters who would be able to teach you."
"Oh, that's alright. More often than not, I'm practicing on my own anyway. It's not like there are many seal masters anywhere."
That's how it'd been all evening long and by now, Shikamaru was convinced that Hiashi Hyuuga invited Naruto only over to interrogate her properly. Sure, he did it carefully, without being too obvious, but Shikamaru saw it as what it was. Although the blonde girl managed to bring lightheartedness with her being into the conversation, everything involving the Hyuuga clan seemed to be covered in tense atmosphere that not even his fiancé could fully penetrate.
"I see your father is faring well, Shikamaru-san. He seemed to be elated about his future daughter-in-law." He was glad that he was at least halfheartedly paying attention, or else he would have missed the clan head's comment. Although he would really have loved to shut the man out, the older frequently spoke to him as well. Whether it was because Hiashi didn't want to appear rude or whether he truly wanted to talk with him, Shikamaru didn't know.
"Yes, my parents are very fond of Naruto." Said girl and even Hinata giggled at that, which caused him to shortly look at his fiancé who was sitting beside him. She was wearing a dress that was unusually subdued. It wasn't flowy or flowery like normal, but rather straight, simple but still a little elegant. For claiming not to know much about fashion, she had surely chosen the right clothes for a Hyuuga dinner.
The rest of the dinner proceeded in the same manner and Shikamaru asked himself how he would ever handle these stuck-up Hyuugas if his future wife wouldn't be there with him. However, somewhere along the way, Naruto excused herself to go to the bathroom. Surprisingly, Hiashi asked Hinata to show her friend the training grounds after that. Both were so happy about spending some time with each other, that they probably didn't harbor the same concerns that he did. Yet, Naruto laid a hand on his and looked at him meaningfully, as if to ask, 'will you be alright?'. She has noticed how tense he had been all evening. He nodded shortly. Shikamaru would rather have her with him, but he knew that he couldn't just keep her when the clan head had offered for Hinata to show her around. Besides, although, the Hyuuga obviously wasn't someone to casually hang out with, the Nara heir had handled far worse people on both missions and on his free time.
"I am glad that you have joined my invitation for this evening, Shikamaru-san", Hiashi said once the girls were gone.
"So am I", he lied skillfully. It wasn't like he harbored any kind of dislike against the man or the Hyuugas in general; he just knew better ways to spend his time.
"Really? I was almost convinced that you wouldn't come." So the man would finally slip the polite façade and tell what he really had in mind.
"Naruto convinced me."
"Your relationship seems harmonic." Yeah, that was maybe a way to describe it. "I must confess that I respect you for taking part in this agreement without causing further difficulties." Shikamaru knew that the agreement didn't refer to this dinner anymore, but rather to the marriage as a whole. He nodded, acknowledging what the man said. It's not like Naruto or he had a big choice in that matter. "I also recognize your father's decision in that matter. It certainly wasn't an easy way to go." Shikamaru started to suspect that the girls' departure wasn't because Hiashi wanted to give them alone time, but rather for him to speak with Shikamaru.
He raised a brow in order for the man to just spit out what he wanted to ask. Hiashi smiled. "You're just as perceptive as your father, Shikamaru-san." Having realized that all pretenses were dropped he dared to ask the question which had been bothering him all evening.
"So was this evening's purpose to interrogate Naruto, or me?" The man's smile turned into a sly expression.
"Both I suppose."
"And your assessment?"
"Concerning Naruto, good enough. She seems like an honest girl." Somehow, Shikamaru was glad that Hiashi thought that. It was one more experienced and smart ninja who thought that his fiancé could be trusted. It never hurt to have an additional opinion.
"But I never tried to interrogate you, Shikamaru-san." He didn't answer, silently prodding the man to continue.
"I know our clans have not been very close in the past, but I believe that not only our families but Konoha also, would benefit from working together." The Hyuuga head inhaled deeply. "I know that we currently live in times of peace, however, sometimes these years only mark the period between two wars. In case that war arrives, it is important for our shinobi to work together as much as they can to ensure our home's safety."
Shikamaru nodded. So this was all about a political matter.
"That is why I desire the future generations to be close." Shikamaru understood what lay behind the man's words. If the clan heads worked together, the rest of the families were bound to do the same. Yet, this hadn't mattered not long ago, as Hinata and he had close to no contact; but it had changed when Naruto stepped into the game. Although she wasn't in charge of the Naras, of course, in the future her authority could only be undermined through him once he was the clan head. Furthermore, Naruto already had so much of an influence on him that she found herself in a pretty powerful position. If she would work together with the Hyuugas, so would he.
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When they arrived home, Naruto departed to her room unusually quickly, to get all the sleep she could get for tomorrow's test. He, however, was too lazy to take a shower yet and lounged in the living room. When his father entered it, he sat in front of him, a grin plastered on his face. "So? How was your first diplomatic conversation?"
Shikamaru allowed himself to glare. "You knew he'd be doing that."
"Why else would he invite you over?" Shikamaru didn't know whether to be amazed about his father's analytical skills, or whether to be angry about not being informed about what awaited him. So he settled on both.
"You could've warned me."
"Oh, but you have to prepare yourself for things like that in the future. I never pressured you about your duties as the future clan head, but you'll eventually have to learn them."
The younger male rolled his eyes. "You only want me to do all the work."
In response to that, the grin turned into a smirk. "Of course. I'm looking forward for an early retirement."
He was about to hypocritically retort about what a lazy ass his father was being when his mother suddenly appeared on the door swell. She seemed to be drying dishes, a plate still in her hand and a frown in her face as she spoke up.
"You rather not say things like that, or you'll be an already worse example than you have been. Shikamaru has probably already taken that comment as an advice."
Wryly, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "I'm only the clan heir and will stay that for a while. At the moment I wasn't even thinking about ditching my duties to my kids, although it does sound tempting."
Yoshino laughed humourlessly. "Oh really? Don't pretend to be clueless, Shikamaru, because what I've found today looked like you were thinking of having children far sooner than any of us would have imagined!"
His father turned to look at him interestedly but Shikamaru was shocked speechless.
"What the hell are you implying?"
However, Yoshino only rolled her eyes. "Please, don't act as if you don't know exactly what I mean." Then, she turned solely to her husband, almost completely dismissing her son. "Shikaku, imagine what happened this morning: I, completely naïve, go into Naruto's room because she hasn't woken up as early as she normally would. But when I entered, she wasn't in her bed. So I thought that she may be already up; but although I searched almost the whole compound for her, I couldn't find her. Slowly, I was starting to panic, that she has ran away or something, and how – " She moved to Shikamaru pointing with the plate still in her hand in his direction "- How are we going to find someone like her for Shikamaru again?"
"Anyway", his father interrupted curiously.
"So, where was I? Scared like I haven't been for a long time, I stormed into his room, only to find Naruto and him, lying side by side, in the same bed!" Now she fully turned him, hands stemmed to her hips. "Now, I'm from the last generation, but I know exactly what that means."
Shikamaru only just recovered from his speechlessness to interrupt her hurriedly. "But that wasn't what it looked like!" He almost winced at how cliché and guilty it sounded. Quickly, he looked for a way to explain himself. "I just accidently fell asleep in her bed, so she went to sleep in mine, and I searched for her, and somehow doze off with her, and-" Abruptly, he interrupted himself when he noticed that it didn't sound quite as innocent as he thought it would. But it had been completely innocent, or hadn't it?
However, his thoughts were interrupted by his father's heavy exhale. Hesitantly, the man fixed his eyes on him. "Son, I know that Naruto is a pretty girl, and that at your age you must be curious to-" This must have been the most mortifying moment of his life and so entirely embarrassing that it made the blood shoot up in his face. Knowing about sex is one thing, but having your parents talk about it to you was probably the worst trauma he was about to experience.
"No, that was honestly, I really mean it, not what it looked like."
His mother rolled her eyes and groaned. "Fine. Let's pretend that" she motioned quotation marks "'it wasn't what it looked like' if that makes you feel better. "
"But that doesn't change the fact that you have to be informed", his father seamlessly closed the statement. Who knew that his parents could be such a good team when it came to ganging up on him. "I just said that-"
"Still" his father interrupted, raising his hand, as if to halt him. "Those actions have to be considered well, as you're both still young."
"Very young", his mother added and nodded.
"However, I do know that teenagers often don't consider their parents warnings but, if you have to do it," and that was the moment Shikamaru honest to God considered simply running out of the room "you have to be careful. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against grandchildren-"
"Absolutely nothing", his mother interrupted
"-but" And that's when Shikamaru stood up, ready to bolt. "Alright, no grandchildren, I get it." Clearly, his parents were adamant about not listening to him, so it was probably easier to give in. Quickly, he exited the room. He really needed no more of that.
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The next morning Naruto didn't wake him up again, and he vaguely remembered that today she was going to be tested in order to become a ninja.
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Kakashi Hatake had never known much about Naruto Uzumaki, not even that her last name was Uzumaki. Although he had figured that officially, she wouldn't be called by her father's surname, he hadn't bothered finding out what she was named.
Instead, he tried to ignore her presence since she was born, or rather, since Minato-sensei has died. That man had been so important to him, that he had not only become a teacher and a friend, but also some kind of father figure. That was why his death hurt so much which drove him to shut out everything concerning him.
So Kakashi acted as if he didn't take notice of his sensei's daughter. Somewhere along, he noted that she had been sent away, for he never saw her in Konoha again. At that time, the Sandaime had called him to tell about her whereabouts and her moving to Uzu. The third Hokage had asked him whether he would like to take over the job as one of her guards who should watch over her. He hadn't needed a second to decline. Over the years, he was called in regularly and asked whether he had changed his mind over that matter. He didn't.
Although Kakashi matured and dealt better with the pain as time passed, the scars never really healed. But he improved in other aspects of his life and got more social in general. That particularly started after he finally let team seven pass and found himself in regular contact with those kids. Often he considered his students to be the hardest to teach and maybe that was the reason he even let them pass. However, he quickly learned that many children, not only the Uchiha of his team, or he himself, when he had been little, were troubled and every one of them has their own pack to carry.
That particular fact stuck to him when he had been lounging with the other jonin senseis while waiting for their students to hopefully pass their chunin exams. Asuma had been lazily sitting in the sofa, cigarette in his mouth, and watching the woods through the window. "They're growing up so fast" was what he said. Kurenai had laughed at that. "You're almost acting like you're their father or something." But Kakashi had known how much of a father figure a sensei could be, so he chose not to comment on that. "One of my kids," Asuma sighed, smoke exhaling "has to grow up so fast. Will be married in less than five years." Kurenai had raised her eyebrows, but she didn't look surprised. "You mean the Nara heir." Kakashi had been vaguely confused about the Nara clan arranging marriages but hadn't spent much time pondering it. He had had enough problems on his own.
Little did he know, that the Nara heir's fiancé would become his problem soon enough. Precisely, four years after that conversation, when the Godaime had called him to her office. The look on her face had been serious.
"I don't know if you kept up with the gossip, but Shikakau's future daughter-in-law has arrived in Konoha. " Kakashi only shook his head. He really couldn't care less about the marriage arrangements of the Nara clan. "She has the potential to become a formidable ninja and not only me, but also the council, want to take her among our ranks." He slowly realized where this conversation was leading to. "I want you to test her skills and determine whether she is fit for that."
Under his mask, he had frowned, as he didn't understand why the Hokage had chosen him to do the job. He had only ever taught one team, which didn't result in, let's say, fantastic results. Furthermore, he had so many problems with himself, he barely could be the guiding teacher figure a student needed. Although he knew he wasn't horrible, there were certainly better people to take that job on.
"I don't do single students. They can't learn about teamwork if they work on their own."
"For the beginning, I only want you to test her and determine whether she should become a Konoha shinobi or not. You can take a couple of genins or chunins to take part, so you can see how well she works in a team. "
There still was something fishy about that offer, but he had accepted. Just as he was leaving her office, Tsunade's voice stopped him. "And keep your eyes open." He had raised his eyebrows, not that it could be seen with the mask and the headband on. "I don't say she can't be trusted, and she seems genuine enough, but-" She had sighed "Fact is, that we don't know her well enough. Her previous teacher assured me of her loyalties, but I know him, and even he can be wrong. The chances are really slim, but I'll just say that for you to stay alert." Her mouth had morphed into a smile. "Although I already know you will be."
"Why not have ANBUs tail her, if you aren't completely sure of her motives?"
"Meet her at Friday. Which training ground do you prefer?" She had asked instead, ignoring his question.
So Kakashi had figured that it was none of his buisness and kept in mind to be alert around the girl. However he still considered it to be an unimportant matter and only later remembered that he not even knew the girl's name.
Now he was beating himself up over it and swore to never be as easygoing like that again. Because when Friday had arrived and he had appeared on training ground seven two hours late, he knew that he had been lured into a trap.
The first thing he noticed was bright sunny-blonde hair of a shade that he had only seen on only one other person before. Suspicion immediately crept up on him, but he had briefly dared to hope. And then she had turned around, and all the hope went into the drain. Because those eyes on top of that hair made it clear as water who exactly she was.
She fixed him with the eyes of Minato-sensei, a slightly annoyed look on her face. "You're late." Although he had heard that line countless times in his life already, a handy excuse didn't come to his mind this time around. Instead, there was a moment of silence, which he broke through a "You must be Naruto" as if had been informed of who she was. The last ray of hope died doen when she nodded in affirmation.
"Uzumaki for now. Will most probably change soon." She shrugged. "And you are…?"
"Kakashi Hatake." She seemed excited, earlier anger forgotten. "Are you going to be my new sensei?"
"I'm testing you today. We'll see about what comes after that."
They were interrupted by the sound of children bickering. Out of the corner of his eye he could spot the Sandaime's grandson with the usual friends he was hanging out with. After that meeting with Tsunade, he had asked for her to send a genin team at the date he'd be testing Naruto, to properly judge her teamwork skills.
"Hey you! You're the new girl, aren't you? Shikamaru's woman!" It was the loud kid – what was his name? Something with 'Konoha' in it.
"Woman? I'm his fiancé you runt."
"Hey, it's not like you're so much taller!" The boy was right. Naruto - as much as he tried to ignore her – was short, and the kid who was doing the talking would probably grow to be taller than she was.
"I don't need height to kick your ass." So she had Kushina-san's fire, then. Somehow, Kakashi wished it had been the other way round, that Naruto had looked like her mother and had her father's personality, since the physical appearance stuck out than the character. At least on first glance. Maybe then, it wouldn't hurt so much to merely look at the Uzumaki.
"Hey, do you know who I am?" Konoha-something bristled.
"You could be the Hokage and I wouldn't care" she said dismissively, head held high. "Today, you are my teammate, right?" He could spot her turn to Kakashi, although he tried to avoid her eyes, her entire being.
"Yes" he replied. "Let's get this over with. You four are a team today. For-" he pointedly looked at the genins "you, it will be extra training." Then he turned away. "Naruto, you also know what this means to you." She nodded.
"Your mission will be something rather classic. It's called the bell test." He explained the rules, although he had brought three bells with him than only the usual two. This test would be mean towards Naruto, and he knew it. The genin team was told that they'd receive higher ranked missions if they passed Kakashi's test. Of course, they didn't know the actual criteria they were tested on, and therefore, would work as a team, but only among themselves. They would try to shut Naruto out, although in this scenario, she was supposed to be part of the team. Those were difficult circumstances for the girl to deal with, but since she was older, and had probably more experience than the average Academy graduate, he had higher expectations. After all, you couldn't always stand the people you were on a mission with, either. When he counted down to zero, all three vanished from his sight.
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After hiding behind the many trees that she still hadn't got quite used to, for only a short amount of time, it didn't take long for Naruto to spot the kid who had rudely dismissed her as Shikamaru's 'woman'. In between the Hatake guy who had been two damn hours too late, and that boy who'd really need to learn how to speak to girls if he ever wanted to get a girlfriend, Shikamaru really was the finest gentleman. She sighed silently. If her fiancé had been here, he probably already would have developed a water-proof plan how to handle this test. She, on the other hand, was rather one to act and not to analyze situations to their last detail. But since the kids who she had to work with didn't appear to be making plans either, she guessed she had to take on the job.
While watching the boy with the long scarf trying and failing to get the bells from Hatake, she pondered about this test. It could have easily been done without the children. The jonin could have brought only one bell and assigned her to try to get it in a certain time frame. But since the genins were invited over, it meant that they had to serve some kind of purpose. Since this test was supposed to show off her skills, she could only guess that she should demonstrate how well she could work with them, even if their leader seemed to be a little, rude dumbass.
But she recognized the stubborn ones, once she saw them. After all, she was one of them. Apart form being otherwise occupied with being beaten up, the scarf-boy probably wouldn't be easily convinced to work with her. Which meant she first had two meet up with the two others. Naruto grinned. Shikamaru would have been proud of her assessment.
It only took her an embarrassingly short amount of time to notice where the little girl was hiding. She looked at war with herself, probably fighting the urge to step into the fight between the boy and Hatake.
"Hey." The girl startled, and quickly turned around. "I'm Naruto." She looked confused, and Naruto could admit that it was probably not the best moment to make introductions, but they somehow had to get this whole thing rolling.
"Uhmm… I'm Moegi." Her voice was quiet and hesitant. The blonde decided to get straight to the point. "Listen Moegi-chan," she whispered affectionately, "why don't we search for the glasses-boy and then gather scarf-boy to work together on getting the bells?" Naruto actually believed that she could gather the bells without their help. It was not a matter of arrogance, but rather one of realistic assessment. Although Hatake would undoubtedly be strong, she had the element of surprise to work with. In the past, it used to bother her to be seen as a weak little girl, but she had come to realize that her appearance gave her a terrific advantage in battles.
"I-I don't know." The girl sighed and tried to avoid Naruto's penetrative glance. "There are only three bells, and without meaning any offense, if I had them, I would give them to my teammates."
"That's alright. We'll gather the bells together, I don't care who gets them at the end."
Moegi's eyes widened. "How do I know that you're telling the truth?"
The blonde could only grin brightly in response. Konoha's people sure were a distrustful bunch. "You don't. But you don't really have much of a choice, either." The genin seemed to be thinking hard and turned to the scarf-boy who was now lying on the ground before Hatake, who didn't even have a strand of hair out of place. "Alright," she answered, "Let's go look for Udon-kun."
It didn't take them long to find the glasses-boy, whose name was supposedly Udon. And they say her name was weird. With Moegi on her side, it didn't take her long to persuade him, either. Now came the hard one.
"Alright, first we have to get your friend out of that fight, since he doesn't seem to be planning to leave it on his own accord, soon." Although scarf-boy's antics were hopelessly futile, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for him when she noticed how hard he was trying.
"His name's Konohamaru," sniffled Udon. "But he won't stop even if we ask him to," Moegi added.
"Then we won't ask. We'll go and get him." She put her fingers together in an all too familiar sign and produced two doppelgangers with a quiet "Kagebunshin-no-jutsu". Confused, the kids watched the doppelgangers put a henge on, so that there were two Moegis, and two Udons standing in the woods.
"What are you doing?"
"We'll get Konohamaru-kun. It shouldn't be too hard since Hatake-san isn't paying much attention anyways. But to be sure, I'll send the kagebunshins over." Just as she finished her sentence, the doppelgangers started running to the bare field in a pace that wouldn't seem suspicious. It didn't take them long to grasp scarf-boys arms and pull him back in-between the trees. Hatake watched everything in disinterest, and turned to read the book in his hands again.
"What the hell-"
"Hey, I'm Naruto," she interrupted. The scarf boy looked momentarily confused and for the lack of a better thing to say he grunted, "Konohamaru".
"Want to work together?" In response, the boy rolled his eyes, as if he was standing before the dimmest person ever. "Unless you haven't noticed woman, there are only three bells. Which we will get."
"I'm okay with that."
Now he looked like he seriously feared for her intelligence. "Do you think we're stupid? Think twice who you're trying to trick!"
"I mean it. We'll get the bells together but you can keep them at the end."
"How can I know that I can believe you?"
She laughed silently. "You can't. But at the end of this, you'll know whether I'm trustable. That will be important in the future."
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Kakashi was seeing the words in his book, but wasn't really reading them. Although his body posture wouldn't betray it, his nerves were on edge, with the knowledge that behind one of these trees, his sensei's daughter was hiding and plotting. It was exciting.
However, he didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed when the Sandaime's grandson was the first one to attack him. Easily, he fended him off, till the other kids of his team collected him. Naruto still hadn't made an appearance.
Then, after approximately ten minutes, the genin team ran out of the trees in his direction. Kakashi was glad that some kind of team work came into this whole test, but unfortunately, the one who should be tested wasn't participating in the team work. The kids started hitting him from all directions and he had to admit that they knew pretty well how to work together. In fact, if Naruto would have worked with them, they could have had a decent chance at gaining the bells, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. To remain entertained, he occasionally let them brush the bells to let them think they were close to reaching their goal.
He was just about to kick the Konoha-boy, when he suddenly couldn't move his left foot anymore. Befuddled he stared at his foot which was seemingly held b the genins' team leader. But Kakashi knew that it was impossible for that kid to hold him in place. Not having much time to ponder it, as the girl and the other boy started attacking again, he started fighting on his place. He could easily stand hundred of them even if both of legs were bound. However, as soon as his hands made contact with their little ones, he couldn't move them either. Confused he stared at them.
Due to them holding him, the kids couldn't move either, but that was unimportant. The question was how the hell they managed to hold him in the first place. As he couldn't develop a solution, he tried pulling harder and harder to get rid of their hands. Damn kids had shit eating grins on their faces.
He was just about to retort that whatever they had done wasn't going to help them anytime soon, as they couldn't move themselves without letting him go, when Naruto stepped out of the woods. She was smiling and calmly walking into their direction.
"How far can you move?" Her question suggested that she had her hand in the present situation. So he didn't answer. "It'll be good to know, for, let's say… scientific research. I've never tested those seals life, so it'd be interesting to know. I'll bet you can move a little though, right?" She was right, he could move his limbs slightly and if he put very much chakra into it, he could probably free them, too, but his mind had stopped working properly when she mentioned the word seals. "They're still being tested and I didn't want to cause damage in case they wouldn't work, so I only seeped little amounts of chakra into them." By now, she had arrived in front of Kakashi and easily plucked the bells of his belt. Lightly, she touched each of the kids' hands and gave them each one bell, after not only them, but he, too, could finally move away again. Their palms were smeared with ink. Having forgotten the purpose of the test, he grabbed the wrist of the boy with the glasses; but although they were dirty like the kid just had a painting session, there were no distinctive signs drawn.
"You wouldn't see anything. I add that little extra to every one of my little babies." Naruto's hands were stemmed to her hips, the smile, which resembled sensei-Minato's so much, never left her face. "I can get very possessive of them, you know? Wouldn't want them to be copied." Kakashi let go of the boy's hand and focused his whole attention on the blonde girl standing before him. He didn't pretend that she didn't pass because her giving the bells away proved that she had already understood the test's purpose. Instead, he seized into his pouch and pulled out a hitai-ate.
"Congrats. You're officially one of Konoha's kunoichis now." Her eyes widened up like the ones of a little child having gotten a precious present. Gingerly, she received the headband and knotted it behind her head so it was covering her forehead.
"That's so cool! I always wanted to have one!" She looked upwards as if wanting to see the hitai-ate that was now protecting her forehead. "Thanks Hata-"
"Call me sensei-Kakashi."
She seemed confused. "Sensei?"
"Yes," was the only thing he replied. Tsunade already owed him one for deceiving him, so the least she could do was assign Naruto to him as a student. Besides, he was pretty sure that the Hokage was planning on doing that anyway. Once he had met the girl, he couldn't just let her go. "I can admit that I underestimated you this time. But you still can learn a lot of me."
"I'm sure of that." She laughed loudly.
"Hey!" It was Konoha-something's voice. He pointed with a finger on the older girl, a bright grin on his face. "Okay, you're not only Shikamaru's woman; you're badass, and can be trusted. Just wait! I'll beat you boss!"
Naruto only laughed more. "Boss?" But the children were already running away to God-knows-where with the boy (Konohamaru, Kakashi suddenly remembered) still yelling something towards her.
"Suits you." He turned around to spot the Nara heir lazily sitting on a tree branch, a soft grin on his face. Kakashi had already felt him approaching about the time Konohamaru started his little speech.
"Do you really think so?" Naruto seemed to brighten up when she saw his face, her smile and her eyes wider. They somehow looked every little bit like the engaged couple they were supposed to be, although they hadn't known each other for a long time.
The boy went over to her and ruffled her hair. "Didn't I just tell you that?"
"Hey my hair-"
"Is already a mess. What did you do in the woods? Is that a twig?"
Then, Shikamaru turned around to acknowledge him again, a slightly smug look on his face. "I'm sure you didn't know what hit you, right?" Instead of replying, Kakashi focused his eyes on Naruto.
"You'll be hearing of me." Although he was quick to disappear, he could still hear Naruto's "Till later Kakashi-sensei!"
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A/N: So that's it. I warned you that I can't write fight scenes, so you don't even have to mention they were bad. Buuuut… I'm still kind of satisfied with this chapter. Credit for the scene between Shikamaru and his parents goes to the anonymous jazzy; it was simply to perfect to pass up. What do you think? Please review!
