A/N: Finally back. Nothing much really happens in this one, but it's one of the last 'set up' chapters before the action starts. So… thank you to all of you who read this so far, and even more to those of you who reviewed: QuietInsomniac, NinjaTeddy, DarkRavie, jolteonforever, Willow-Bee the Cat, Maya, tiggerpal07, ForeversNobody, Linnorria, grey-shadow-horse, Seventh Seed, Rangerfan58, The Laughing Phoenix, Taryn Streambattle, and InsaneNoBaka.
Special thanks to: WhyMustIWrite and Tara La'Quinn who mailed me, worried b/c I hadn't updated. It gave me the kick in the bottom that I needed to get off of said body part.
Anyway, I still don't own Naruto, this is still AU, and there is still violence and language. And this one is set in the present.
Blue eyes shone with barely suppressed excitement as the blond pre-teen crept forward. Naruto knew he was going to get in trouble for this, knew that Iruka-Sensei would yell and that his classmates – not so friendly anymore as they grew older – would make him pay for it. But he also knew something else – it would so be worth it.
The blond faded into the lengthening shadows cast by the afternoon light as he moved silently towards the small knot of Academy students still gathered around the swing set. Everyone else had gone home – even Sasuke – but Naruto and this little group remained.
Mischievous smile twitching at his lips, his motions slowed, almost slinking as he edged ever closer. Putting every ounce of stealth he'd ever learned in all his years of pranking to use, the boy finally ducked behind the nearest tree. Keeping his breath slow and steady, Naruto was just about to spring his trap, the taut wires low on the ground ready and able to sling their paint-loaded projectiles at his targets, when… he paused.
Head tipping lightly to one side, he focused his senses as one of the students' voices caught his attention. "Sensei is counting on us, Denai; the tournament can't work without proctors. It's just Friday night – surely you can get your parents to let you out."
'Tournament?' Naruto thought, intrigued. "Iruka-sensei hasn't said anything about a tournament to us. But… they're a class ahead, so maybe it's a fifth-year thing.'
The student the others were clustered around rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Masaki, it's 11:30 Friday night. My parents are not going to let me stay out that late."
'11:30 huh? Heh, bet I could crash it… I know! I could get Sasuke, and we could show them all the stuff we've been working on on our own. We'd blow them all out of the water, maybe even graduate early! …how cool would that be?'
Tuning the others out now, Naruto ignored when the third student spoke up, hands held in a placating gesture between the blond girl and the brunet boy. "Denai, maybe you can spend the night with me? My dad is on a mission, and he shouldn't be back until Monday."
Slipping away from the group, their voices quickly faded into indistinct murmurs. A different kind of excitement bleeding into his grin, the blond gave a soft, precise flick of his wrist, jarring his wire off of its' temporary post, disarming the trap. Naruto barely managed to hold in his snickers until he was out of earshot as his prankster mind filled with the images of shock and dismay he was sure he'd see when he and Sasuke dropped into their gathering.
Literally, if Naruto had anything to say about it…
Deep, rumbling laughter sounded across the table, the five gathered around it in relatively good spirits. Yoshino rolled her eyes at her husband as he mock scowled at Chouza, but the redhead only laughed again. At the big man's side, Chouji chuckled around his bite of pork. Even Shikamaru smiled a little, and it warmed the volatile kunoichi's heart to see it. Shikamaru was always so serious…
As the men bantered lightly across their meal, Yoshino watched the two boys as they held their own, quieter discussion. They hadn't spent as much time together in recent years as they had when they were very young, and she could tell that they had both missed it. Chouji's smile was brighter than she had seen it in years, and Shika's softer expression held an oddly adult fondness. Perhaps she and Shikaku had made a mistake, sending their son to the Academy early. The boy seemed older, more mature than his friend, and it showed in unmistakable, if little ways.
As the adults caught up on recent events – meaning the last two weeks since the men had last been out drinking – she noticed that Shika's attention was split. Most of it was on his friend, but a fair portion was centered on the other conversation at the table. 'Typical' she thought with fond resignation. 'He always has to know, doesn't he?'
Chouji leaned over, tapping Shikamaru's arm to catch his attention before launching into an excited explanation of how an aunt, traveling abroad for some years, was due back tonight. The family was throwing a party, and he wanted his best friend in attendance. There was going to be music, and games, and – of course – lots of food. Yoshino hid her smile – she and Shikaku already knew, hence the early, light supper – and they had given permission for Shikamaru to attend. Though they were still going to make him ask for it, of course.
But Shikamaru's smile faded, and he shook his head. "Can't." he muttered. In the silence that followed, lightly calloused fingers drummed slowly on the table. "May I be excused?" Four pairs of eyes were locked on to the speaker. Shikamaru just met their collective gaze and calmly raised one brow. "Homework. Due tomorrow."
Yoshino sighed. "It's due tomorrow? When was it assigned?"
"Last week."
"And you haven't started it yet, have you?" The eleven year old didn't bother to respond. A nod from his father and the boy politely made his apologies to their guests and exited the table.
Yoshino sighed again and spoke under her breath. "How that boy expects to graduate this spring I don't know."
The comment was obviously not meant to be heard, but it was, because Chouza laughed. "Ha, our fathers used to say the same thing about Shikaku – then we all said that he'd be a Chunin forever, because he'd never bother to test for Jounin."
The man in question rolled dark brown eyes. "And why" he asked, his voice mock-bored "would I have wanted to be a Jounin? The pay isn't good enough for all the trouble you have to go through. And if you remember, I didn't test – I got a battlefield promotion."
As his wife and friend laughed, Shikaku looked down the hall after his son. Something in the boy's eyes had seemed… off.
(-)
Truth be told, Shikamaru's homework had been done the day it was assigned – not that anyone needed to know that. But he did have work to do. Work with much bigger consequences than a bad grade. Kiba had heard some unsettling rumors about a 'recruitment drive' for the younger classes, and he needed to figure out a way to have them watched without anyone getting caught. Needed to make sure that nothing happened to the kids.
Locking his door in what had become an automatic reflex, Shika pulled out his maps and syllabus. School was the most dangerous place in the Village for his 'family', he thought wearily. They were there, around the same people, five days a week – and sometimes during the weekend if there were special exercises. They couldn't afford the kind of minor slip-ups that could be overlooked by someone who didn't know them. The smallest mistake, in that viper's den, would be deadly.
Chouji sighed, absently kicking the rock at his feet as he practically trudged down the street, all of his excitement gone. His father was still back at the Nara's home, but Chouji just couldn't sit there and listen to the adults laugh like everything was okay. It wasn't! Shikamaru had been so weird lately! It had started back when the young genius had first gone off to Academy, but it had been growing steadily worse in the last few years.
Sometimes his friend – Chouji didn't think that they were close enough to qualify as best friends anymore – almost seemed to be indulging him, like a teenager agreeing to play baby games so his little brother would be happy.
It frustrated him, because he couldn't understand, and Shika wouldn't explain. Shikamaru always explained when they were kids – Chouji had lost count of how many times the then-little Nara had tried example after example and explanation after explanation until the rounder boy had understood – but now he wasn't even trying.
And if Chouji asked, Shika would either deny anything was wrong, or just brush it off as 'school stuff'. Yeah, right. If the next year's classes were so hard that Shikamaru had to so much as crack open one book, then Chouji'd give up snacks for a year! So the excuse tonight was exactly that, an excuse. Shikamaru was avoiding him, and he didn't understand why. Had he done something? Offended his friend somehow? What?
Chouji was so caught up in his doubts and depression that he didn't register the sound of the oncoming footsteps – or the grumbling voice that accompanied them – until the creator of said sounds literally walked into him. Both boys stumbled back a step, and Chouji looked up from the street to meet a pair of bright blue eyes. He gave a weak smile and a little wave as he recognized his classmate – most days he even counted Naruto as a friend.
The blond gave him a quick, distracted smile in return as he walked away, but then whipped around to face him again. "Hey, Chou, have you seen Sasuke tonight?"
The brunet thought for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, not since class ended. Having trouble?"
Naruto rocked on his feet for a moment, and then heaved out a huff of air as if he had come to some kind of big decision. "Yeah, his mom said he went out training, but he's not at any of his usual spots. And I really wanted him to crash the tournament with me."
Brown eyes blinked as his mind processed Naruto's rapid-firedelivery, and then blinked again as the words settled in. "Tournament?"
Naruto waved one hand erratically in the air. "Yeah, some fifth year thing, real hush-hush seems like."
Chouji thought about it for a minute, and then a slow smile lit up his face. "So that's why!" He grinned and elaborated when Naruto only blinked at him. "I have a friend in the fifth year class, and he just blew me off tonight with a bogus excuse. But this tournament thing… it's probably a pre-testing evaluation, and he probably isn't allowed to tell us lowerclassmen. He's not avoiding me; he's just following the rules!"
Naruto gave a grin of his own as he finally understood. "Ooh, okay. Hey… do you want to come with me tonight? You can cheer for your friend when we crash in!"
Chouji grinned, nodding eagerly. "Yeah, when is it?"
And so the two boys walked together for a ways, sharing thoughts and making plans.