Naruto Uzumaki furrowed his brow and concentrated carefully on the piles of cards before him. On the left there was an eight and on the right a three. He looked up and focused his gaze on his opponent, Neji Hyuuga, who was staring gravely at the cards in his hand. Naruto smirked and looked down at his own hand. A ten, jack, queen, king, and ace. If only there was a nine placed down, then he could win…and beat the so-called genius! He looked to his left, where Hinata was watching, with a worried expression, he flashed her a brilliant grin and her face turned the color of a strawberry.

Neji laid a four upon the three, and picked up another card. He sighed. In his hand were three kings and a queen. He drew a card from his pile. A nine. He looked up at Naruto, who was grinning profusely. He placed the nine on the eight.

"YES!"

Naruto slammed his entire hand onto the pile. "CHECK!"

Tsunade shook her head. "He'll never learn, will he?"

Neji smirked. And the fool could've actually won.

He delicately placed his entire hand upon the ace. "Speed."

"Too late, Neji-kun!" Naruto announced proudly. "I already won!"

"You said "check", not "speed." So, actually, this game goes to me."

"I DID NOT!" The boy frantically began to run around the room. "DIDN'T I SAY "SPEED"? DIDN'T I?"

"No." The entire room chorused.

"And you actually could've beat him!" giggled Sakura.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Well, we are talking about Naruto-san…"

Neji slowly stood up. "Well if you'll excuse me, I have a prior engagement. See you around, Naruto-san."

"THIS ISN'T OVER, NEJI-KUN! I'LL BEAT YOU! I SWEAR I WILL!"

As they walked away together, Choji whispered, "You know, I know it's good to have as much persistence as Naruto-kun, but…he tends to…"

"Oh yeah, I know." Shikamaru replied. "Definitely. But I suppose that without that he wouldn't be our Naruto, right…"