The Yin Yang Twins

by Sir-Shun

Naruto may have been alone in his early childhood, but He isn't alone when he enters the academy. What difference can one boy make? A whole lot! Featuring a powerful Naruto and a motivated Shikamaru, and that's only in the first chapters! Rated T for language and maybe violence. Ch 15 is up: In which Shikamaru starts trouble, for once.

10. A Walk in the Forest (of Death)

The Yin Yang Twins

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Disclaimer: Naruto and its universe \ canon are property of Kishimoto... And whoever owns Kishimoto I guess.

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10. Chunin exams: A Walk in the Forest (of Death)

In which Naruto's Aniki is revealed - again

Two hours later, Shikamaru was back with his teammates. They were up to date and ready to help. Haruno looked relieved that she didn't have to protect her teammates alone. Shikamaru turned to his team.

"You guys will stay and guard Team Seven until Naruto wakes up and works on Uchiha. It's late, but I want to set some traps around."

"I can help you with the traps."

Shikamaru cringed inwardly and turned towards Haruno. "You're not as tired as Naruto, but we'll need you rested if my traps aren't enough to stop the other teams."

She frowned, but nodded. Shikamaru left quickly in case the pink-haired kunoichi changed her mind. He decided to set a moderate perimeter filled with wire traps. He usually set two layers. One series of traps was carefully hidden and barely visible. The other set wasn't visible to the naked eye; it was the same wire Jutsu that had caught his sensei off guard. If it worked on a Jonin, it would work on almost anyone.

The area was large, dense, and unfamiliar, so it took a couple of hours for him to finish. He came back to find Naruto awake and working on his teammate in the spot Haruno hid him in. Otouto was currently busy tracing symbols on Uchiha's face right below his left eye, under the curious glances of the people supposed to guard him. He guessed it was meant to protect Uchiha's Sharingan, his mind, or both. At the rate Naruto was working, it would take a few more hours of constant diligence to finish. The drug Uchiha had taken would last about that long. The next phase would be getting rid of the seal entirely, but that could wait until the exams were over.

To be on the safe side, he would stay even after the sealing attempt was over. Currently, Naruto and Uchiha were vulnerable, and he didn't trust Haruno to protect them from a sunburn, let alone foreign shinobi, or worse, Orochimaru himself. If the seal Otouto was working on actually worked, Team Seven would be fine. If not, he didn't want his little brother to be stuck protecting two liabilities. Since he had done all he could, Shikamaru thought he deserved a nap. He hid Naruto and Uchiha under a simple genjutsu and found a good hiding spot to get some rest.

A rather loud sound woke him up. He made sure the location of the noise wasn't nearby. Seeing from the people around that no one else seemed to have registered the foreign sound, he rose to find the first friendly face he could find.

"Choji, we've got company. Warn the others.

Ten minutes later, Team Ten and Haruno were still waiting to face their opponent. Ino was about to complain, but the noise of rustling branches put them back on high alert. Shikamaru recognized the newcomers; it was the Oto team from the first task. Their annoyance and disheveled appearance left him with a sense of pride. Apparently, his traps had been as effective as he had hoped.

"... And if I find the bastard that put those fucking wire traps, I'm going to strangle him with them."

Shikamaru chuckled, drawing their attention. "I'm glad to know you enjoyed my wires. I put a lot of care and time..."

"Zankuha [Decapitating airwave]!"

Shikamaru moved long before the attack reached him. "So, Uchiha or Uzumaki?"

The boy with short temper blinked in confusion. It was the masked shinobi that answered. Shikamaru guessed he was the leader. "We're here to kill the last Uchiha." he had a condescending air about him. "If you give him up, you can get out of this alive; you can even keep the scroll you have."

"...Fine."

"Shikamaru!"

But he ignored Haruno. "Uchiha is sick and Uzumaki is treating him. They're inside this tree under a Genjutsu." He pointed at a tree to his left.

There was a long pause, and finally their leader spoke. "Zaku."

"Zankuha!"

The tree in question was hollow, but after being blown away by Zaku's attack, there was no trace of neither Otouto nor Uchiha. The leader sneered, "Do you really think we'd fall for a trap?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "It was worth a shot. You fell for my wire traps after all." This time he ran up the tree he was leaning on to escape Oto's anger. He sighed. Any more noise and destruction could distract Naruto. Looks like he would have to intervene. "Right. I guess we'll have to—"

"Take them out, yeah?" said a familiar voice from below, "Fucking yes, please! Perfect workout in the morning."

Shikamaru frowned. "Are you done? You should get some sleep."

But Otouto huffed in annoyance. "Yes I'm done and no way in hell I'm sleeping right now. I've been pissed since yesterday and I didn't get to vent." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Plus you know I can't help but share the pain; I'm generous like that. Anyway, which one of you wants the honor of getting their ass handed to them by yours truly?"

Naruto jumped out of the way of an airwave attack, rolled to evade senbon coming from the Sound kunoichi and stopped the leader's gauntlet arm from reaching him by kicking him in the gut. "Robot arm, I chose you! I'm going to kick your ass!"

Shikamaru shook his head and interrupted the kunoichi second volley with his own senbon to draw her attention. "Choji, Ino, take her out!"

That left him with the Sound shinobi with the tubes in his hands. The other boy smiled. "This is good; I wanted to kill you anyway for those annoying traps you set up." Then Zaku aimed his hands toward the young Nara but he was already in movement.

Shikamaru had completed the analysis of his opponent by the time he avoided the third airwave and was already preparing his senbon to end this battle, but had to change plans because someone had decided to be troublesome. From the way she moved, she didn't have the stamina or the reflexes to react to a sustained stream of attacks, not to mention she had even less tricks than 'tube-dude' over there.

If he didn't dislike the troublesome girl already he would have just then.

He rushed to her side and tackled her out of Zaku's attack and line of sight. Before she could ask, he trapped her against the tree with his wire. "Stay put, Haruno," he ordered the bewildered girl.

Now that he didn't have any more distractions, Shikamaru decided to finish this. He made multiple clones leave the safety of the tree from both sides while he quickly climbed and jumped from the top branch right over Zaku's head. His aim was true; the boy had barely the time to notice the Senbon before it pierced his forehead. Zaku fell as Shikamaru landed neatly on the next branch. Taking a quick look around, he found Ino and Choji putting the pressure on the Sound kunoichi. He decided to observe and soon enough, Choji managed to trap the girl with his enlarged arms.

"Wait! Enough, I give up!"

"Give up? You think care about you say? I just want to beat the shit out of you. Call me a weakling again, why don't you."

Shikamaru turned to the voices and saw Naruto advancing menacingly before a cowering shinobi. He could see one of Otouto's paper tags stuck on the Sound Genin and could infer what happened – using a muting seal against a sound user was a bit unfair, to say the least. And seeing they were all one-trick ponies... Naruto could have singlehandedly take the team down if Shikamaru had let him.

"Here is the scroll—" he didn't get to finish as Naruto punched him right in the solar plexus. Shikamaru heard a retching sound and as he got closer, he saw something leaking from the team leader's mask.

The young Nara felt a bit sick, but he closed the distance and stopped Naruto from handing more nasty ass kicking. "I need to ask him something," he explained. Naruto snorted, but relented. Shikamaru looked at the other teen. "Who sent you?" when the boy refused to answer, Shikamaru went on. "Any relation with the traitor Orochimaru?"

That got a reaction, which in turn made Naruto frown. "What, you think the two attacks are linked? But why would he send some assassins after he tried to turn him?"

"Turn him?" the boy asked, confused. He then must have figured something out because his eyes flashed threateningly. Shikamaru would have missed it if he hadn't been looking for it.

He cocked his head. "If you didn't know, that means you weren't meant to know. I can think of only one reason for that – you guys were guinea pigs."

The Sound shinobi remained quiet, but refused to meet their eyes. Shikamaru wouldn't bet on it, but thought his assumption was correct. That meant Orochimaru had some affiliation to Oto. The Hokage would want to learn about this. In the mean time, he turned to their captive. "Take your friends and go. And please leave your scroll on the way out."

The masked boy glared back, but when he saw that his stare had no effect on the young duo he capitulated. He took out his heaven scroll – Naruto swore in relief – and helped his female teammate carry Zaku away. As they limped away, the Oto team stopped, and their leader spoke.

"My name is Kinuta Dosu, and you'll regret letting me live."

Shikamaru heard Naruto snort. "You're fucking welcome, asshole. Some people are just fucking rude!" Shikamaru gave him an pointed look, but the blond had the audacity to be confused.

"... What?"

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In the end, Shikamaru decided to stick around until Uchiha woke up, which went to show that sometimes having a worrywart as brother wasn't a bad thing. Of course, while Naruto wanted Shikamaru to stick around, he could have done without the extras – these extras being pretty much everyone else. Choji was okay at least. Ino had changed from cool to flee on sight, and the rest of Team Seven... Anyway, add to that the fact he was stuck carrying his unconscious teammate, and you could see why Naruto was glad his brother was here. Still...

"This is fucking tedious." Shikamaru gave him a curious look. "Bastard keeps slipping off at this rate, might as well walk all the way to the tower.

"Maybe you should." He glared at Aniki, who raised his hands in mock surrender. "All I'm saying is Uchiha won't slip if you're not jumping around."

He already thought it was a bad idea from the way Ino was looking at him, but the asshole nearly killed himself twice by squirming out of his grip, and while he had worked in stopping Orochimaru's seal from turning him, Uchiha still suffered from a debilitating fever. They really shouldn't be moving him at all.

Fucking Uchiha and his protagonist syndrome.

The moment he landed, Ino fell into step with him, grinning evilly. Meanwhile Shikamaru and Choji remained in the back, enjoying the blissful silence under the pretense of guarding duty. Pinky hovered around, if only because of her future husband he carried.

"So, did you miss me?"

He eyed the blonde wearily, the way she was smiling at him was innocent enough, but he didn't have the patience to deal with her right now. "I'm carrying Uchiha if you haven't noticed."

"I know. Easily too. Maybe you can convince Choji that he doesn't need to look like he does to be strong."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "We both know that me and Choji don't train the same way."

Pinky looked a bit put out for some reason. "What's up with you two?" She almost whined

"I'm just teasing little Naru-kun here. He has the best faces." Naruto managed to support his load and give her the finger while she blew a raspberry at him.

Pinky twitched. "Since when are you two so close?"

"Since he proposed to me, obviously."

The only sound in the vicinity was that of Choji choking on his chips. Shikamaru had a look of absolute horror on his face, while Pinky had a tick under her eye. As for Naruto, his brain has frozen.

Ino faked a blush. "Of course, it was a little crude, but it was also romantic in its own way. He even wants to learn the Yamanaka family jutsu."

"Stop fucking around, Ino. Nobody's going to believe you. The only thing I proposed was a bet – which I totally won, because I'm fucking awesome, thank you very much. We're just friends; though I'm starting to rethink my decision."

Naruto noticed the beam on Ino's face and the frown on Pinky at the mention of his friendship. He couldn't believe Aniki was right about Ino. Too bad all his friends sucked.

"Can't I have just one friend that isn't a dick?"

"Hey!"

"Besides Choji, I mean."

"It's physiologically impossible for me to be a dick, Naruto. But it's nice to finally admit your feelings for me."

"Piss off Ino."

"But you're my future hubby."

"So help me Ino, I will smack—"

A groan of discomfort stopped the threat. Naruto laid his cargo on the ground and waited. With any luck, Uchiha would wake and be fit enough for travel. Naruto's luck being what it was a burst of malicious chakra came from Sasuke instead.

Shikamaru looked worried. "Does that mean your seals failed?"

Naruto cocked his head noticed where the chakra was coming from. "Actually, that doesn't mean anything." He wanted to explain his theory on what was happening, but from the corner of his eye, he saw Uchiha disappear. He barely had the time to brace himself that he felt a solid punch dislodge him with the strength of a horse. He landed a couple of meters back, looking at his left arm in consternation.

Naruto swore loudly. That punch would definitely bruise. The smug bastard actually looked pleased about it.

"Looks like I'm stronger than you now."

Naruto blinked before his eyes narrowed dangerously. If the bastard was looking for a beating he'd get what was coming to him. He made a step, clearly intent on finishing this fight, but as he shifted his weight on his leg to attack he stumbled when suddenly Shikamaru appeared in his line of sight, with senbon coming out of his hands. Naruto winced when Aniki stabbed the unsuspecting Sasuke in the heart with them.

Well Shit! This was bad.

Uchiha's eyes grew wide before he fell. Sakura's scream was the first reaction that followed, but it was Ino's movement towards Shikamaru that prompted Naruto to action. He grabbed Ino – and Haruno for good measure and hissed urgently, "Uchiha's not dead and he won't die. Don't make it worse."

They gave him a fearful glance, confused and terrified by what was happening. As for Naruto, he was looking at Aniki with a bit of trepidation. "Um Shikamaru, don't you think—"

"Be quiet Naruto," he said a bit distractedly, "I'm busy right now – I'll deal with you later."

Naruto wilted. Oh, this was worse than bad; Aniki was pissed. So far Shikamaru had only reached that level of anger twice; both times Naruto has nearly killed himself doing something stupidly reckless. Both times the young Nara had behaved perfectly normal... until Naruto had suddenly suffered his wrath. The worst part was to the naked eye Aniki looked perfectly normal, if only a bit tired and annoyed. No killing intent, no scowl, any hiss or sneer, yet a moment ago he had stabbed Uchiha as casually as someone would talk about the weather.

As if to confirm Naruto's fears, Shikamaru addressed the downed Uchiha. "Now Uchiha, what you're feeling... or rather, what you're not feeling is your heart."

Naruto's teammate was still struggling to move, with his hand painfully clutching his chest. Shikamaru eventually snapped his fingers. Sasuke's heart started beating again, and the boy coughed and convulsed, before letting out a shuddering breath. When the teen finally looked at Shikamaru it was with apprehension.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He let himself fall on his rear and let out one of usual sighs. "Relax Uchiha; if I wanted to kill you or hurt you I would've done so. Still, now that I have your attention and that your new chakra tattoos are gone let's talk."

"You see, I think trying to hurt people with chakra you never used before is a very bad, very dangerous and very stupid idea. And the first thing you did was to hurt Naruto, who was trying to save you – at his own risk too."

Naruto sighed. Aniki took the whole overprotective thing to the extreme.

"Consider this a warning if you like – Because there won't be a third offense."

Uchiha have Shikamaru a disbelieving stare. "You're Aniki."

Naruto and his brother exchanged a look. No use in hiding their secret now. "Congratulations," Shikamaru answered, "you're not an idiot. I'm surprised you guys didn't figure it out sooner – and by surprised I mean terribly amused."

"You're Aniki?" Ino nearly spluttered. Naruto understood her reaction quite well. She gave her teammate a second look and shuddered. "I guess I should have known. That makes a lot of sense actually. And here I thought you already were scary enough."

Shikamaru looked confused. "I'm not—"

"You're super scary!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him. He blinked when he noticed Ino had done the exact same thing.

Aniki frowned, before looking at his best friend. "Do I look scary Choji?"

The Akimichi cocked his head to the side. "I'm not seeing it," he finally concluded. Even Haruno looked at him in disbelief.

Shikamaru nodded as if that settled everything. "Well at least one of you has common sense." He then glanced at Naruto. "As for you Naruto..." the blond gulped. "He used an unknown form of chakra to attack you and you didn't dodge? We're you trying to get yourself killed? Maybe you're a bit too immature to become Chunin after all."

That stung. He hated when Aniki went for his feelings like that. "Don't fuck with me! Do you know how hard I busted my ass off for this!?"

"What I know," he said frostily, "is that dead people don't achieve their dreams."

"And I survived the fucking snake Sannin himself. Your point?"

Shikamaru frowned. "You should have run. obviously."

Naruto opened his mouth, but closed it to think about what Shikamaru was saying while the other shinobi were looking at Shikamaru like he had suddenly sprouted wings. From what Aniki heard from him he didn't want anything to do with his teammates. And going back to risk his life for them went against all his plans – if all went well he'd never have to see them again.

Forget risk, going after a Sannin in that situation and with his abilities was suicide, plain and simple.

"You're right," he admitted. "I guess I wasn't thinking."

Now everyone was looking at him like he had just announced he was the Kyubi.

Shikamaru shook his head. His face held annoyance, amusement with a large amount of fondness mixed in. "You were thinking, or you wouldn't have called me. You're just a fool."

Naruto frowned. Shikamaru kept calling him a fool and damn it he'd know why! Suddenly, Aniki's hand ruffled his hair. "Damn it Aniki! Not the hair! I'm almost taller than you, for fuck's sake!"

Shikamaru smiled. "I can't help it – I have the best otouto in the world."

He blushed furiously. "Fuck you Aniki! Embarrassing me in public like that." Naruto still found those parcels of affection too much for him. He wanted to lie about the fact that was happy about it, but before he could he tackled by an almost hysteric Ino.

"Oh my goodness Naruto, you're so cute! I always wanted a little brother! Don't worry I'll take good care of you! I'll cuddle you and tease you, and take you shopping for clothes and then..."

"Wait!"

And just like that the world was back to normal – besides the fact that Ino was still attached to his arm. Naruto looked at Haruno with same expression Aniki had on his face –annoyance.

"You wanted Naruto to abandon us?" the pink-haired kunoichi was understandably upset. What a fucking hypocrite.

"When Orochimaru first leaked her killer intent, what did you do?" Shikamaru looked disturbed for a moment, and for good reason – Naruto himself didn't know what to think of a female version of Orochimaru.

"Well, we tried to run. She was way out of our league."

"As you should have. Now, when you ran, which direction did you take – towards Naruto's position or away from him?" She answered with a confused frown, so Aniki increased the pace of his questions. "Did you even take Naruto in consideration when you ran? Do you know what happened to him when he went flying? Did you take into account the he was already sleep deprived?"

The way Haruno paled and kept throwing him guilty glances almost made him feel sorry for her. Shikamaru paused, if only to let the next words sink.

"Now consider this. You guys fled from a dangerous Genin, thinking she was too tough to handle. Naruto came back for you knowing you guys were fighting a Sannin, meaning he knew that going back meant he had no chance of winning, and no chance of escape."

All Naruto heard however, was how much Aniki cared, and how he had almost dragged his sworn brother to hell with him. Ino, who still had to let go of his arm, squeezed his hand in comfort. Maybe he should see the good thing about having a sister. Maybe she would stop trying to embarrass him to death...

Who was he kidding! He could only hope that would mean no more flirting at least.

Shikamaru sighed. "Anyway, we should all head out together. People will be more wary of our numbers, so if Uchiha is fit for travel, let's be on our way."

For once, nobody argued.

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The trip to the tower went about as well as Aniki predicted. And they arrived at the end of the third day since the beginning of the second exam. Besides fatigue, and Uchiha's new seal, they were fine. Once they arrived, both teams opened their scrolls at the same time. The Genin were pleasantly surprised to see their old Chunin instructor come out of the scrolls.

Naruto let the smarter members of the teams answer the riddle, and off they were to some peace and quiet.

Iruka-sensei looked pleased. "I must admit, seeing your two teams arriving like that shows that you understand the strength of numbers. Unfortunately you'll be on your own from now on."

Only Sasuke and he had perked up at the news, the rest frowned. Naruto would worry about that later. For now, there was a bed with his name on it somewhere and no one would get in his way. He felt a sudden familiar chakra and turned to face his Jonin instructor. He blinked, but took it in stride. He had a report of some sort to make anyway.

"So, how are you, my cute Genin?"

"We're alive. Considering Orochimaru attacked, that's fucking unbelievable." he answered bluntly. Kakashi's lack of surprise was reassuring. That meant the people in charge had an idea of what was going on. Frankly he had no fucking clue.

"I'll have you tell me the details of that later. What do I need to know?"

"Yakushi Kabuto needs to be watched. Orochimaru seems to have ties with the Hidden Sound Village. That's about it."

The Jonin nodded, and left. Team Seven and Ten found empty rooms next to each other and settled there. Naruto claimed the bed next to be the window for himself and stopped himself from simply dropping dead on the mattress. He rubbed his eyes tired and looked at his teammates.

"If you have something to say, make it fast – I'm tired."

"You didn't tell Kakashi," Sasuke noted.

He looked at Haruno and she shrugged. "I wanted to, but you told me not to."

"I didn't tell Kakashi yet," he agreed. "I'll tell him after I'm sure they won't take you out of the exams – if you don't do anything stupid like reactivate the Snake Bastard's seal."

Uchiha nodded. There wasn't more he could ask considering what happened.

After that, Naruto slept through the afternoon and the night of the third day.

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He woke in a good mood and left in search for food. Thankfully the tower was furnished with a canteen in the lower floors. There wasn't any ramen, meaning there wasn't any real food, but what passed for gruel was filling enough and the fruits were sweet. Sitting at the table he had chosen was the last person he wanted to see. Well, the last Genin he wanted to see – if he never saw Orochimaru for the rest of his life, it would still be too soon.

Having Gaara sitting across from you and staring holes into you was interesting in a way. Of course by interesting, he meant right down scary. The kid was freaky enough, the demonic chakra he could sense fluctuating inside the red-haired had him wanting to run away about a hundred times in a span of thirty seconds. The fact like the teen looked like a psychopath was just a bonus.

Naruto ignored him; the less they interacted, the better. The red-haired boy had other ideas. "You! What is your name?"

Naruto groaned mentally. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"You ran away from me, Uzumaki Naruto."

He muffled a curse. So the boy had noticed the true reason Naruto had fled with Konohamaru that day. "Yeah, I did."

"You are either wise or a coward, but it doesn't matter. Mother warns me about you. You and I will cross paths, and then, mother will have your blood."

And here he thought Uchiha becoming a vampire was bad. This kid sounded like he was the demon, not just its host. He really didn't need a jinchuriki after him. Orochimaru aiming for his teammate was plenty to worry about. Thankfully Gaara left, only to be replaced by another annoyance.

"What's up with him? Friend of yours?"

Speak of the Uchiha and he shall appear. "Better than that, Uchiha – he's like me," Naruto growled, "and I mean 'like me' in the worst possible way."

Sasuke stopped himself from looking at Gaara at the last moment. Instead he held Naruto's gaze with some trepidation. "He's like you? The black card?"

Naruto nodded. "He also might be insane."

This time the boy couldn't help but look. Eventually his gaze returned to Naruto. "Can you win?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, maybe?" Uchiha let out a hollow chuckle and Naruto grinned. "Welcome to the small leagues, Uchiha."

His teammate remained quiet for a while. "Nara really is Aniki, isn't he?"

He actually smiled at that. "Is it that hard to believe?"

"He's the one who made you this strong."

Naruto frowned. He didn't like where this was going. "Yes and no. He gave me the motivation to become strong, and he was a great sparring partner. The rest is all on me."

Uchiha's frustration rose. "Every time I think I'm getting stronger—"

Naruto cut him. "You realize you can become even stronger? You really should stop whining. Did you see me whine after getting my ass kicked by Orochimaru? Hell, even you accepted that it was beyond help. The man you're after, is he as strong as a Sannin?"

For once the proud Uchiha looked unsure. "Maybe."

"Bullshit! And you actually thought you'd reach that level at what... Thirteen!? You're doing great – hell, you're the fucking Rookie-of-the-year!"

"And that means nothing if the dead last is more powerful than me. But it won't stay that way for long. I will have power, and I will reach my goals."

Naruto scoffed. "Fine, but let's not pretend I actually was the dead-last. And if you think I'll just wait for you, you're fucking delusional."

Uchiha's mood improved, and when Haruno appeared a smile on her face, he left her speechless by smiling back. Naruto rolled his eyes and left while Pinky was still frozen. He had to talk to Aniki anyway.

On the last floor he found his target, walking towards the center of the building. Naruto entered a room after him and saw some sort of arena.

Shikamaru spoke before Naruto reached him. "I have a bad feeling about this room."

Naruto grunted. "I just hope I don't have to face you in that arena. Or that Gaara kid, according to Kiba the boy can control sand."

"Must be a Jinchuriki thing." Shikamaru paused before his expression became thoughtful. "I'm curious. It's been a while since we fought. Do you think you'd win?"

"Absolutely no clue. But I'm not losing this time." Naruto decided to change the subject before he dragged his brother down that arena. "Oh! Wanna see something awesome!?"

Shikamaru gave him a warning look. "Is it legal?"

Naruto snorted, insulted by the question. "It's project K if you must know."

"Here?"

"Actually this is the perfect place to do so" Naruto answered excitedly. "There's some kind a chakra jamming device here."

Before he could say more, the door to their part of the balcony opened. They turned and saw his pink-haired teammate. Shikamaru gave him a bland look and Naruto was starting to wonder if helping his teammate back in the Forest of Death had been a good idea. If people kept getting in the way of his family time, sooner or later he would react very... badly to it. In the mean time, he stared straight at her without a word.

She coughed. "Can we talk?"

And just like that, Naruto's mood returned to being shitty. He had only tried to escape that discussion since forever. "Only if Aniki is there."

If he sounded childish, that's because he was.

The girl paled. "So he really is Aniki."

Despite his humor, this amused him. It seemed their acting was worthy of praise. What tickled him was the image people had of Aniki. "Let me guess – you thought Aniki was much older right?"

She shrugged uncertainly, but the sworn brothers could tell Naruto had hit the mark. "I guess I don't mind having an audience for what I'm about to say," she finally said.

"I'm sorry Naruto."

If the blond didn't react for the next few seconds, it was because his mind was looking for a spark of emotion regarding this development. When he only found mild annoyance he cocked his head in wonder. "... Huh."

Haruno looked anxious. Shikamaru hadn't moved a muscle, but Naruto was pretty sure Aniki was angry. Hell, he should be pissed at her. But since Haruno was in his shit list, his feelings for her had changed as well. He just hoped things would end with this apology, and then she would go back to fawning over Sasuke again. "You know, I probably should be an asshole about this, but I don't feel like it. But just to be sure – why are you apologizing?"

Sakura looked uncomfortable. "For being awful to you all this time. I don't know why—"

"Because I was annoying at first," Naruto answered for her.

"And because that was the cool thing to do – everyone else was doing it," Shikamaru added.

Naruto scoffed. He was starting to lose patience. "Just answer the question Pinky." She looked a bit lost. "You were a real bitch since the Academy; so why do you want to apologize now?"

Haruno flushed. "W-well you never answered my question – why did you help me last week?"

Naruto's eye twitched. "Being on my shit list doesn't mean I want you to die. I just mentioned it... what, five times already?"

"That's it...?"

Naruto threw his hands up in frustration. "What else did you expect? I'm not some kind of fucking monster. Now stop dodging and answer the fucking question!"

Pinky went back to flushing again. "I... When you helped me last week, it made me wonder. Why would you help me? The more I thought about it and the more... I felt... I feel awful."

The worse was that Haruno really did look remorseful.

Naruto shrugged. "I forgive you." Pinky looked at him uncertainly, before a tentative smile graced her features. "If you're done, I'd like to talk to Aniki for a moment."

Haruno nodded and left.

Naruto turned to his brother and his demeanor changed. "OK, what aren't you telling me."

Shikamaru shrugged. "She apologized. Let's leave it at that."

Naruto growled. "Aniki."

Shikamaru started to twitch. "Why do you have to be so stubborn about this?"

"She made you angry. Hinata doesn't make you angry so I want to know why." Aniki remained quiet. "Don't make me use the fucking puppy dog eyes, 'cause you know I will."

Shikamaru sighed loudly. "Just remember you forgave her." Naruto stared at him. "Haruno tried to prevent our classmates from falling under your negative influence."

That bitch! Was this why Kiba had been acting distant at the end of their— his breath itched. He looked at Shikamaru, one of his classmates that would only know of Sakura's behavior because...

He disliked Hinata for her dislike of Aniki. For him that was a sin. Trying to turn Aniki against him... He had no words. And more than anger he felt betrayed. Aniki had let him crush on someone like her. He didn't even know where to direct his anger – Haruno, Aniki, or himself for not knowing about something like that happening behind his back.

"I guess—"

"Of course, I'm fucking pissed! I'm angry! I can't fucking believe you! You let me forgive her."

"Yes I did. I'd suggest you let it go, Otouto."

"Let it go!? She tried to turn you against me!"

"I know, but forgiveness is for your peace of mind, not hers. You have to let go of your negative emotions."

Naruto blinked. The bullshit Aniki was spewing made an awful lot of sense except for one thing.

"What about you, you fucking hypocrite?"

Shikamaru smiled. "Oh, I'm totally for it. It just sounds too troublesome to be honest. Why don't you do it first? We'll see if it's worth the hassle."

Naruto's temper deflated. A smile tugged at his lips. "Dick."

"Anytime. But seriously though, all that frowning will give you wrinkles. I heard it'll also turn you edgy."

Naruto lightly punched Shikamaru's shoulder while vainly smothering a laugh.

What would he do without his dear Aniki?

/-/ /-/ /-/

A/N: Hey y'all! Apparently the alert system didn't work last time I posted a chapter so some of you lucky people will have two new chapters to read. Anyway summer is here, so in theory I'll have more time to write. We'll see... Anyway here's another bonus chapter. Again, if you have suggestions for bonus chapters, please let me know. And don't forget to review!

.*.*.

It had been a few weeks since Shikamaru had met and befriended Choji. He was surprised by the plump boy's kindness and humor. Better yet, Choji also enjoyed lazing around some times. And Choji's dad was friends with his dad. It's like they were fated to at least become friends.

Shikamaru was in fact on the way to meet Choji at a restaurant when he walked by the park where they first met. He never liked parks that much – too much people and the good nap spots were in plain sight – but he heard kids arguing and he was a curious boy.

"Come on! Why can't I play ninja with you? I'm at least as fast and strong as anyone of you!"

"Who would ever want to play with you? My mom says you're mean and nobody likes you!"

That was odd Shikamaru did not remember his mother warning him about any kids. This sounded so similar to what happened to Choji that he decided to see what would happen for himself.

He walked and saw around ten kids surrounding a scrawny blond boy. His white t-shirt had sings of heavy wear, and his shorts looked like that they had spent too much time in the washing machine. What really stood out were the whisker-like marks on his face, like a cat. The boy looked angry at first, and then so sad. He was waiting for the blond to leave so he could cheer him up like he did for Choji but the kid surpassed his expectations.

The blond grit his teeth and took a fighting stance that would probably hurt him before he managed to harm the other. Still, the boy had guts.

"Then I'll just kick all of your asses!"

"You're stupid! There's no way you can win! It's twenty against one."

Shikamaru scoffed, drawing the attention of everyone. Of well, as much he didn't like getting involved with other children, he disliked those annoying children even more. These were the same kids that made fun of Choji.

He sighed, and approached the kids. "You guys really need to learn how to count. You guys are way less than twenty. And also," he took a proper stance near the blond boy, "it's ten against two."

They all looked at him like he was an alien – even the blond, that ungrateful idiot. Thankfully, the other boy replaced his irritating astonishment for a grin that spelled pain for his enemies.

"Alright let's do this shit!"

Five minutes later and Shikamaru regretted ever interfering with those boys. It took that long to have him battered and bruised on the playground. His mom would have his head. And to add insult to injury, the blond boy was there unharmed, and smiling at him.

"You know, when you took your pose, I thought you were some hot shit."

He had thought so as well. Apparently training didn't beat experience, and from the moves he had seen the blond do, Shikamaru was by far outclassed when it came to that.

"Still, you're not that bad. We won after all."

Shikamaru decided to ignore him in favor of watching clouds. He was hurting all over. Maybe he should have a small nap before he faced his mother's wrath.

"Oi, what are you doing?"

"Leave me alone."

The blond chuckled. "I'm Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"... Nara Shikamaru."

"Want to hang out?"

Shikamaru shrugged. It wouldn't be so bad having Naruto around. He wasn't boring at least. He and Choji would make good friends.

"I'm not moving from this spot though."

"Cool." After ten seconds Naruto fidgeted. "This is boring. I'm going to eat some ramen! Let's meet tomorrow at this park."

"Sure, why not."

Naruto did not come the next day, and it would take Shikamaru a week to figure out Naruto had been banned from the park.