A/N: The first chapter of The Cover of Darkness is now up! If you are interested in fluff, cuteness, angst, and hurt/comfort involving Kakashi, Shikamaru, Iruka, Shikaku and Yoshina, that story is gonna have it all! Honestly, going to type this out, I really wanted to just keep going on the other one, but I know me, and I'll get stuck on the other one and never touch this story again. And that won't do, because I have very specific scenes I just planned out that I need out of my head an on the paper.
So yeah…it's story time.
Chapter Six begins
It had taken a while, but Naruto had slowly started to improve. In, well, everything.
As much as he tended to dislike shopping with his mother, Shikamaru had been incredibly amused while watching the Nara matriarch march into the shop and sweetly introduce Naruto, and explain exactly why they were there. The moment the shopkeeper realized who she was buying clothes for, he had tried to make all manner of ridiculous excuses.
But then his mother released some killing intent.
Yeah. It wasn't something everyone tended to realize about his mother, but she had been a tokubetsu jounin before she had decided to retire to the quiet life of homemaker. Nara men tended to be attracted to pretty strong women.
So when people said that his mom was scary, it was one hundred percent founded.
When the shopkeeper was done peeing himself and apologizing profusely, they were able to get several new outfits for Naruto, and the man even threw in a discount.
"Your mom is scary," Naruto commented as he carried a few of the bags they had walked away from the store with. Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "You don't ever want to get on her bad side."
Naruto had three new outfits. All three consisted of typical brown pants that would hold up really well under the stress of training. After some wheedling, Naruto had convinced Yoshina that he wanted to have at least one orange shirt, and they compromised on a much more muted color orange for the blond. Naruto's other two shirts were gray, and they topped the outfit off with a black jacket that was a little longer than the one Shikamaru typically wore that had royal blue trim on it.
When Shikamaru's mother had insisted on spending her own money to buy Naruto's clothes, the boy had teared up and protested but then quickly stopped with a smile on his face and a thumbs up when Yoshino told him that he could help Shikamaru with his chores for the next week.
Today, Kakashi had let Shikamaru finish his training early, and the boy had made his way over to the Academy where he knew Naruto was going to be leaving soon. The graduation test was today, and where Shikamaru was fairly certain that he wouldn't pass, he would still show up and be moral support for the other boy. He had some extra money, courtesy of his mother, for some ramen afterwards, regardless of it being for something celebratory or for a pick me up after failing.
Shikamaru arrived at the Academy the moment the bell rang, and he sat down on the swing under the tree, waiting for his loud friend. He spied the boy right away, shoulders slumped in dejection. Shikamaru sighed, expecting this, but feeling bad either way.
"Hey," he said in greeting as Naruto flopped down on the ground in front of him.
"Hm." Was all the answer he got in return.
Shikamaru suddenly felt eyes on him, and he looked up in time to catch Susuke Uchiha's glare. He was looking at Naruto, but when he noticed the Nara was studying him, black met black as their gazes locked. Sasuke was taken aback for a moment, and Shikamaru inwardly smirked at the shock displayed on the boy's face as he took in Shikamaru's appearance, complete with the hitai-ate around his arm. They were close enough that he heard Sasuke's quiet, "Che," and then the louder, "Dobe," that was directed at Naruto.
"Shut up you teme!"
Shikamaru reached down and grabbed the collar of Naruto's shirt. "Don't you dare," he said as Naruto yanked against his hold.
Damn, Naruto was strong!
But Shikamaru had two things on his side. His ability to fuel chakra into his hands to keep ahold of the idiot, and his mother.
"If you make me tear this shirt after mother got it for you last week, she's going to kill you you know."
Naruto froze, eyes wide. Sasuke was watching them both with a strange look on his face. Then Naruto slumped back into the dirt, sighing. "Yeah," he grumped. Realizing the dangers of an all out brawl was avoided, Shikamaru relaxed and then smirked.
"Che," Sasuke said again, and turned on his heel to walk away-
-and landed flat on his face. Shikamaru quickly withdrew his shadow, panting from the effort of the new technique that his father had been working on with him. He had extended his shadow out and simply grabbed the Uchiha's foot and pulled it out from under him.
Naruto stared, mouth agape for a moment. Shikamaru wasn't sure if the older boy had seen the shadow, but thank kami for small favors, Sasuke didn't have the Sharingan yet and had no idea that he'd been tripped on purpose.
Naruto's silent disbelief only lasted for a moment before he fell over in the grass, arms around his middle as he laughed.
Sasuke quickly jumped back to his feet, red creeping up his cheeks as his fangirls ran to him demanding to know if he was alright.
Shikamaru felt vaguely sick as he watched the crowd of girls. "I really don't understand girls," he murmured, "They're too troublesome."
Naruto finally caught his breath and sat back up, but the smile was once again plastered to his face.
"How the heck did you do that?" he asked.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. Naruto had noticed. "Clan technique," he stated. "I can tell you about it over ramen?"
Naruto bounced to his feet. "Yeah!" he shouted with a fist pump.
"Cool, I'm buying," he stated as he slid off the swing. "Or rather, my mom is."
"She may be scary," Naruto stated as they fell into step with each other, "but you're mom is awesome Shika."
Shikamaru thought for a moment, and warmth bubbled in his chest. A small smile played along his lips, and he replied, "Yeah, she really is."
It only took a moment to get away from the din of Sasuke's fangirls and the other noise of children leaving the Academy, but Shikamaru was hit with a sudden thought.
"Naruto…" he started.
The blond looked at him inquisitively. "Yeah?"
Shikamaru hesitated. "Maybe we should ask Sasuke to join us."
Naruto skidded to a halt. "Whaaaaat?! But why!"
Shikamaru turned around and saw the Uchiha had finally given the girls the slip and was actually making his way to a nearby rooftop to head the opposite direction.
"You didn't like being alone, did you?" Shikamaru questioned. At the word alone, Naruto froze, and then his eyebrows knit together.
"No…but it's not the same!"
Shikamaru shrugged. "It's up to you. But I think that it is. Just because people are gushing over how cool you are, doesn't mean you aren't alone."
Naruto pondered this for a moment, and then it was as if a lightbulb had turned on inside his head.
"Ohhh. Sasuke is a jerk, but he's more of a jerk now than before, because…his family…and just like I yell and pull pranks and try to get everyone to acknowledge me because I'm going to be a great ninja someday! Sasuke is a jerk because it's how he deals with it."
Shikamaru blinked, surprised at the logic behind the speech that came from Naruto.
"Yeah. I guess so," Shikamaru replied, slouching and stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Urgh, fine," he said. "Let's hurry before those girls find him again," he stated, and they took off after the Uchiha.
"Would you be interested in taking the chunin exams?"
Shikamaru stumbled and nearly dropped his hot chocolate. He was back at Kakashi's apartment. His sensei was sitting at the couch, the coffee table in front of him, chess pieces across the board laid out in front of him. Shikamaru continued to his spot and sat down cross legged on the pillow opposite his sensei.
Pakkun trotted over from where he'd been laying down in the corner, and he sniffed at Shikamaru's arm.
"Marshmallow?" he prompted. Shikamaru frowned.
"It's in the cup already."
"So?" the pug questioned.
"So, aren't dogs deathly allergic to chocolate or something?"
"Surely it would be worth it," Pakkun replied. Shikamaru snorted, and Kakashi smiled.
"Maa, let's not try to get sick now on purpose. I'd rather not have to rush my ninkin to the hospital, thank you very much."
Pakkun sighed, and slumped down on the floor, chin a few inches from Shikamaru's knee.
"Here," the boy said, and he hopped back up and grabbed for the bag on the counter. "This one is chocolate free."
Pakkun perked up. "I knew there was a reason you were my favorite," he stated.
Kakashi put his hand on his chest. "You wound me," he wailed dramatically.
"Oh you're fine pup," the dog stated, and then proceeded to devour the marshmallow offered. "Delicious."
"Yes." Shikamaru stated.
"I agree, marshmallows are very delicious," Kakashi replied.
"No, I mean yes." Shikamaru corrected.
Kakashi blinked. "I'm confused. Run that by me again."
"Yes, I would be interested in taking the chunin exams. Where are they being hosted this year?" he asked.
"Actually, here in Konoha. We were going to try to do something with another village, but there have been some tensions with trade right now, and we weren't sure if everyone would be willing to play along. Normally, you would go into the exams with a team of two others with you. I have looked around, and found some stray genin that would be interested in advancing if you were interested in getting to know them and train for the next few months before they happened."
Shikamaru eyed his sensei as he took a sip from his hot chocolate. "Do you think that I could pass them?"
Kakashi thought for a moment, and then in all seriousness stated, "Yes. Yes I do think you could pass them. Horrific as it was, you've already proven yourself against a dangerous opponent when all hell broke loose. And then you've always had a good record in your D ranks, outside of the one time with the paint-"
"That was your fault!"
"-and that group we escorted to the Daimyo's palace was very pleased with how well behaved you were-"
"Okay I get the picture stop it while you're ahead."
"-that one lady thought that maybe you were my grandson, but then I had to tell her that I was twenty-three thank you very much but she agreed that you were so cute-"
"Kashi-sensei stoooop!"
"-and I think that even if you weren't able to beat your opponent in strength because of your size disadvantage, you could definitely woo the crowd with your powers of adorableness."
Shikamaru calmly put his coffee cup down, willing his eye not to twitch.
"I'm serious," he stated. Subconsciously, he reached his hand up to trace the scar on his face, a motion that was not missed by Kakashi.
"And I am too." Kakashi leaned forward, face bare and eyes imploring. "You've been a genin for over a year now, and I have been proud to train you and watch you grow. You're smart, and what you don't have in size you make up for in chakra control and mental discipline. Believe it or not, you can outthink an opponent. And trust me when I say, people underestimate the little ones. I was underestimated quite a bit and it made my own chunin exams a breeze to do."
Shikamaru thought on this for a moment.
"You have people in mind for me to take the exams with?" he asked.
"Well…I have one person I'm thinking of right now, but he doesn't know I'm thinking of him."
The Nara was curious. "Who?"
"Kabuto Yakushi."
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