"Sayeth the Tree, 'Verily, I pierceth the veil between the adjacent of what may or may not be'"

- The Book of Log

C13: Genin Days (Pt.4)

Naruto knew he didn't want others to see him like this. He didn't know the Nara heir very well, but even if he did, right now wasn't a good time. He couldn't focus on his own thoughts, forget being able to communicate to a socially acceptable standard.

The blond tried opening his eyes, but the glare of the noon sun reflecting off Shikamaru's headband quickly dissuaded him.

"You look like a deer in torchlight," Shikamaru scratched his head contemplatively, "This may be a drag, but do you want to play chess with me?"

Naruto's thoughts vanished in an instant as he focused on the strange term, "What's chess?"

Shikamaru switched the bag he was carrying to his other hand and started walking, "My dad imported it from the land of Cats."

The blond started walking in step with the Nara as he continued, "It's like Chu Shogi but with a lot of differences. The most important one being that once a piece is captured, it stays out of play."

"Out of play?" he questioned the boy, his mind trying to distract itself by focusing on something else.

"Yes, it's a lot more realistic in that respect. People don't come back from the dead, although Shogi is probably-"

"When a piece is dead, it stays dead," muttered Naruto, feeling ill.

"Yes, exactly."

He should have died like chess pieces. Normal people can't drop back into the game. Into life. Coming back from the dead was creepy, like a zombie or…

Or a ghost…. Talking to dad was-

"Naruto, we're here."

The blond shook his head and tried focusing on his surroundings.

Shikamaru was dressed as usual in earthy colours; a short grey jacket lined with green stitching. His new Konoha hiate tied around his left arm. He looked like the dictionary definition of relaxed, his posture slouched and one hand in his pocket and the other. The other hand held a bag which considering the extent of deformation, seemed to contain a milk carton.

Naruto looked around and realised where he was.

He'd never been inside the Nara estates, forget the route to the clan head's home. The contour lines on the map didn't convey how hilly it was. The path they were walking on was at a much lower elevation than the ground around them. It was almost like a mini valley.

He felt… claustrophobic.

The tightness, the lack of sound.

He didn't like this.

"NARUTO!"

Shikamaru was shaking him.

"Yes?"

"I've been saying your name for the past two minutes," The Nara looked concerned, "We'll play on the veranda, I'll just tell mother that we'll have breakfast out here."

The blond just nodded as he sank to the tiled floor which wrapped around the Nara clan head's home. It wasn't as ornate as the Uchiha's, but it held… a certain presence.

The trilling of windchimes, the dripping of water into the pond and the faint breathing of deer. The most valuable property in the Nara clan were those closest to the forest, so it made sense that the clan head would be here.

He closed his eyes and breathed.

In

Out

He could feel his thoughts returning to him, his brain working faster than when he had to work out how to make baby Konohamaru quiet to avoid waking up everybody in the Hokage mansion. He needed to relax.

The trickle of water, the tittering of insects, the footsteps. The fresh air blowing into his face.

The thud next to him, the clack of ceramic, the soft bump of wood against wood.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Shikamaru sitting next to him. He had brought a ceramic plate with three half-cut sandwiches on a wooden tray, the blond noted.

"What happened?"

He didn't feel comfortable telling him about what had just transpired.

He didn't want Shikamaru to become angry as well and stop being friends with him, if he ever was one although considering that he brought him to his house…

"How troublesome. This is more Ino's thing but I guess I can play therapist today."

"I don't need a therapist." snapped the blond who quickly covered his mouth, looking shocked at his own actions.

"Your pallor, an increased tendency to space out and from your last sentence, actually feeling down; you're definitely not okay," Shikamaru shifted his posture a little bit to something a bit more comfortable, "You can talk to me though."

He paused, waiting for him to speak.

Naruto stayed silent.

"I may not be your first port of call, but you are my friend."

Naruto said nothing.

Shikamaru felt like he was having a very one-sided conversation, but continued anyway. It helped him when Ino did, so applying a similar tactic could work with the blond in front of him.

It's worth a shot

"Choji and Ino are great, but they aren't much good for intellectual conversation. I don't think I ever expected to get to debate law anywhere, forget the academy."

This time Naruto did speak, "Are you referring to the debate we had on case one-o-three?"

Bingo

"You make it sound like it was structured" Shikamaru dipped his toes into the pond underneath them, "It started out of nowhere. I still have no idea how or better yet, why, we discussed Yumiko v Konoha. I didn't even know that I could get that passionate about anything."

Naruto nodded, "That was a good case. Kongobara Yumiko's work was straight out of a movie and led to the establishment of paid maternity leave for shinobi in Konoha, the first in the world."

The Nara shook his head, "I still can't believe you managed to argue at all, being the respondent."

"Devil's advocate is a more fulfilling role." He knew how few people had opposing opinions on such a controversial case but it was fun to pretend to do so, "I'm impressed that you committed that case to memory. I thought I was the only one who was bored enough to rifle through old law files."

"I've committed all of them to memory."

All of them?

Shikamaru looked at the blond with widened eyes, but then schooled his features.

"You never do anything by half, do you?"

Shikamaru picked up a sandwich and Naruto followed. They ate quietly, watching the koi fish circle over the grey pebbles.

"Sasuke doesn't like me anymore."

That was easy

"I didn't tell him about my secret kekkai genkai which lets me learn things if they are written down, almost instantly. That made him unhappy."

Eidetic memory? I've heard that some people have it. Such an ability does seem… consistent with Naruto's behaviour.

"You've had it since you were born, right?" questioned the dark-haired boy.

"Yes," answered the Uzumaki.

Probably eidetic memory then and the source of his problems.

"Did he seem to take offense to the fact that he wasn't informed of your ability sooner?"

"Yes, but it makes no sense, so I get that you don't under-"

Shikamaru cut him off.

"I understand what the problem is."

Naruto made a hand gesture. It looked weird, he wasn't sure why, but it reminded him of the Anbu his father sometimes met with.

Shikamaru decided to ignore it and continue, "This is such a drag though. Why haven't you?"

The blond looked at him incredulously.

"Alright, alright. Sasuke probably feels betrayed right now which is quite troublesome for you."

"Why? Of the five definitions of betrayal, none of them apply to this situation," Naruto raised his hand from the warm wooden flooring and counted down with his fingers, "One, I haven't given information to his enemies; Two, I have not been disloyal to him or false; Three, I haven't divulged any secrets of his in a breach of confidence; Four, I haven't unintentionally said anything about him and finally, the fifth definition, I haven't led him astray or deceived him."

The Nara closed his eyes. He could feel a migraine coming on.

Why did I decide to help this idiot?

Naruto started listing out synonyms and related words.

This guy is hopeless.

Naruto started reciting passages from novels and textbooks which used the word betrayal.

Is he trying to figure out what my usage of betrayal means by analysing texts which have used it?

He picked up another sandwich as he watched the blond recite extracts from the Vinland Saga, one of the oldest texts in the language of the Elemental Continents. There was definitely a lot of betrayal in that text from what he could remember.

"There are six hundred and thirty-six instances of the word betrayal in this text. If I go to page three hundred and thirty-six, paragraph three, line six, 'So now you seek to betray me'" The blond slowed down, "Examining its context, this appears to be an example of disloyalty, the second definition of betrayal. This can't be it now if we-"

This guy definitely has eidetic memory.

Shikamaru had had enough.

"Stop."

Naruto stopped immediately and waited for him to finish his sandwich. It was slightly unnerving how still the blond was as he waited, but well, he skipped breakfast today and wasn't going to stop eating the sandwich now over something like that.

He finished his sandwich and continued, "Look Naruto, he feels betrayed because he assumed that you would have told him about this beforehand as being close friends, he would expect himself to be in the know before anyone else."

"Is this a matter of him being selfish? Does he think he is superior to others?" queried the blond with a thoughtful expression.

Shikamaru resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment about Uchihas and answered him, "In parts yes, but on the whole no. Does Sasuke confide in you?"

"Yes, but of course, I'm not telling you any of his secrets. I'm sure you understand." The blond looked at him seriously as he spoke.

He took a deep breath to relax himself. This was going to be a long journey. This was why human interaction was effort. Clouds didn't talk.

I need to up my linguistic game and be more concise. It feels like I'm talking to a clan elder, both stupid, verbose and have a tendency to misinterpret everything.

"I'm not asking you to tell me his secrets." Shikamaru clarified, "What I was doing was confirming my hypothesis. The concern Sasuke has is that you do not trust him enough with your secrets whereas he does. This makes him feel that there is a discrepancy in your friendships."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Are you trying to say that he feels that he has put more into the friendship than I have and because of that, he might be under the mistaken assumption that I do not value my friendship with him to the same level as he does?"

Shikamaru smirked.

Okay, perhaps I misjudged Naruto. A bit dense, but he seems to be figuring it out.

"I'm right aren't I? So he is currently re-evaluating his friendship with me and judging whether it is worth the effort he has put into it."

"Perhaps Naruto. I don't know Sasuke as well as you do, but if you are right, then he might be considering the sunk cost fallacy."

Naruto clearly looked excited as his face seemed to shine with understanding, "Yes! The sunk cost fallacy, he has invested so much time into our friendship which cannot be recovered. If he is considering it, then he might decide…" the blond deflated, "To break off his friendship with me to invest into others."

Shikamaru observed him. He seemed emotional and despondent, contemplating a life without Sasuke. Seeing a negative Naruto was strange. Emotional, sometimes when he was awake from time to time in the Academy and disagreed with Iruka-sensei on historical topics. Negativity, on the other hand, was something he'd never seen expressed in the Uzumaki. Seeing him do so in front of him made him feel happy for some reason.

I'm starting to understand why Ino enjoys shadowing uncle Inoichi.

He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You don't need to make it sound so technical. I'd say you should wait a bit before talking to him. Be honest with him and tell him how you really feel. I'm sure your emotions will get through him." He tried giving him a comforting smile, "At least, that's what mum always tells dad to do, but he never does."

The boy slowly nodded, "That does sound sensible."

Shikamaru looked at the shadows, it was almost time to meet up with his team. He looked at Naruto who had started slowly eating a sandwich looking sadly at Tomoe, the fattest koi fish they had.

I can't just leave him on his own.

"Hey Naruto, would you like to come with me? I'm going to meet up with my team. It's a bit late, but sensei was busy in the morning." He didn't need to force out a smile as the boy nodded.

Okay, maybe I give human interaction too little credit.

"Thank you."

Naruto looked at his Konoha, bathed in yellow, sweltering with heat and the sounds of people.

He wondered why he didn't spend more time with Shikamaru. He was like Itachi except with a better understanding of human emotions. He needed to develop his friendship with him. It was fun talking to him.

"Don't worry about it. I know this may sound like a drag, but don't overanalyse your friendships with people. It will just make you sad." Shikamaru sidestepped to avoid a kid, "People don't work like that. I learnt it from Choji. True friends don't require your constant attention, you hang out with them because you want to. Not out of a sense of having to divide your time equally between them."

Naruto took in his every word, trusting the boy on matters of human interaction. He knew a lot. Clearly.

"Yes, that makes sense. Just go with your gut feeling is the essence of what you're trying to convey to me, right?"

"Kinda. What I'm trying to say is that don't worry about feeling compelled to do things with me. I'll be your friend irrespective of how much time we spend."

Naruto was just about to respond, but was cut off by a cry.

"You're late!"

He looked at the heir to the Yamanaka clan, Ino. Light blue eyes, long platinum blonde hair, a purple blouse and an apron skirt. White arm warmers just like his own adorned her arms and a headband wrapped around her waist like a belt. From his classmates' assessment, she was supposed to be 'objectively' beautiful. He never interacted with her much, so avoided making such assumptions.

"We might actually end up being late now, even Choji's already here!"

Standing next to her was Akimichi Choji, also the heir to his clan. He was funny and liked food. Two perfectly good traits in Naruto's book. He was the person Naruto interacted with the most in Team Ten. Discussing cooking recipes and finer points of sushi making always made him hungry. Rotund with swirls on his cheek. Black shorts and a green haori over a white shirt with the kanji for food on it. Spiky brown hair covered by his headband which looked like… upside-down underpants.

Why did he do that? I need to tell him that it looks stupid and that he'll probably be bullied for it.

"I come early because waiting at home is a drag."

Why did I think that? That is extremely impolite.

The two genin seemed to have noticed Naruto.

"Hi Naruto!" said Ino brightly.

"How've ya been doing Naruto? Did you make that strawberry flambe I told you about?"

Choji shook the blond's hand strongly.

Naruto regretted not putting points into strength.

"Hey guys, I'm doing good. No, I haven't actually made the strawberry flambe we discussed. I'm surprised you still remember that! It's been weeks since we last spoke."

"I never forget anything to do with food Naruto, you should know that about me by now."

The blond grinned as Choji opened a crisps packet and started eating from it as they walked.

Some things never change

"You're on the same team as Sakura and Sasuke-kun, right?"

He looked at Ino who now was walking right next to him. He didn't know Sasuke knew her.

"…yes?" hesitantly answered the blond. He wasn't sure if she'd ask questions about his current relationship status with Sasuke and didn't want to encourage questions in that direction.

Ino looked at him seriously, "I know he has fan girls, but I'm not crazy like them. I know Sakura well enough to know that she isn't going to compete with me for his affections."

Naruto tried his best to not point out that her statement made her sound a little bit obsessive.

"I didn't know that you two were friends?"

Ino looked at him contemplatively, "I'm probably her only friend as far as I know."

"We're her friends too," the blond shot out.

She looked taken aback by how quickly he responded.

He didn't know why, but it felt important to state even if it was obvious. She was definitely his friend, even if she was a bit weird.

Actually, we're all a bit weird. Sensei probably takes the cake though for behaving consistently erratic.

"That's good to hear," Ino looked at the ground, "Kami knows she needs more friends and get out more. Staying holed up in her room playing with her screw driver all day is not normal."

She seemed lost in thought until she suddenly gave him a piercing stare, "I don't know you well enough, but if you were hanging out with Shikamaru just now and are friends with Choji, you can't be all bad." She paused and softened her look, "Take care of her, please? I know you're basically best friends with Sasuke, but Sakura exists too. She'll try to avoid interacting with you, but really she's just shy."

Naruto tried thinking about the Sakura he knew. She didn't seem shy and was very direct and always happy to yell at them if needs be. Juxtaposing his knowledge of Sakura brought to mind a whole genre of books. He remembered people having masks to interact with different types of people to maximise their success in social interaction or for their missions. He always felt that they exaggerated it heavily, especially after Nii-san told him that animals couldn't actually speak.

Maybe this is what Ino was trying to warn her about?

"Thank you for the warning, but don't worry. I'm pretty sure she's honest with us."

Ino stopped walking causing Choji to stumble into her.

"What?"

Naruto parroted back her question.

"What you just said literally makes no sense. I've not given you a warning or talked about being honest."

Naruto made to respond but was cut off by Choji putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Look guys, how about we just enjoy this walk? We're almost at the grounds."

Ino avoided Choji's arm and made to start, but Shikamaru cut her off.

"Hey Naruto, I just realised that we never actually played chess."

"Yeah, you're right, we should definitely do that one of these days."

Ino looked like she was about to explode, "Are you three ignoring me?"

A deep smoky voice from beyond the fence told everyone to relax and take it easy.

Naruto looked at the final member of the squad, their sensei.

Asuma

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the traitor.

Asuma stopped laughing at something Choji said when he noticed the blond.

"Naruto…" The Sarutobi muttered cautiously.

Naruto felt angrier the more he looked at Asuma's face, "Jiji should have disciplined you."

The man's eyes narrowed as he looked at the blond.

"I thought I said that I never wanted to see your smug bratty little face again." yelled Asuma at Naruto as he came in to apologise. The blond could see him packing his bags in a hurry.

"Abandoning us for the Daimyo and speaking to your father like that."

Asuma seemed to be losing his cool, "You have no right to speak to me like that."

"You have no idea how much it hurt Jiji for his son to say such hurtful things."

Asuma looked at his students who seemed to be morbidly fascinated, "Naruto, that was in the past. I've patched things up with dad."

Jiji had forgotten he was there when Asuma burst into the room and started venting. And venting. And venting. When he stopped, Naruto interrupted to correct him.

"I've spent more time with your nephew and your father than you have, while you were off gallivanting around with the Daimyo and call it a hunch, but I'm more of a family to them than you ever were."

Asuma slipped, "You'll never be a part of my family, no matter how much father cares about you."

All he could see was the toddler who talked back to him after he'd announced that he was going to join the Guardian shinobi. Asuma's eyes narrowed as he looked into the seething blond's eyes which flashed red for a split second.

The fence exploded.

Naruto blinked as he saw Asuma appear in front of him and realised that he shouldn't have riled up one of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi.

He braced himself.

Asuma looked somewhat hurt, "I don't hit children, even if they are annoying little brats like you." The smoke cleared, revealing three frightened genin, "Let's start our training, I'm sorry that you had to see me like this." He turned to Shikamaru whose eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets, "I made sure to incinerate the shrapnel so you wouldn't get hurt."

Asuma glared at the blond, if looks could kill, Naruto felt that he would probably be dead, "And you can get out of my sight. I have a job to do."

The blond put his hands into his orange jacket's pocket as he walked off, feeling his anger ebb.

What was that Jinchuriki mode which activated half-way through my argument?

Author's Note: Hi everybody, thanks for waiting so long for this chapter. You won't have to wait long for the next one, oh and it's way longer :) If it helps, I finished this entire arc last December... but me being the procrastinator that I am, somehow managed to find one excuse or another to delay it until now. A lot has happened since last year in my life and I'm sure everyone else's. Stay strong :) Hope you all enjoy what I have in-store for you, please let me know how you felt about this chapter and anything else really.