The next day found young Naruto slumped over his desk in a pose more reminiscent of Shikamaru than himself. Previously, one might have assumed that he was planning some grand prank and was faking being asleep. Today however, the steady sound of snoring coming from him was enough to convince people that he was really asleep. That and he'd asked Shikamaru to wake him up for class.

Everyone had to sweat drop when not even five seconds after Naruto had passed out, the Nara joined him in dreamland. It might be a good idea to point out that Naruto had a valid reason for being nearly exhausted today, as he had spent till nearly five that morning in deep conversation with Kyukon about her powers. Apparently he now had telekinetic, telepathic, and pyrotechnic powers thanks to her, all three sets of which didn't require a single drop of chakra. She indicated that mixing the chakra with the pyrotechnic techniques it might create more powerful versions of the same, but she stated that testing that theory would have to wait until he was FAR away from any other person. He figured just the base sets would be enough for now.

Thankfully Kyukon had promised to help him control the telepathic powers, and until then she would keep them in check. In fact, right now, while he was sleeping, Kyukon was having him read the minds of random students as a practice of focusing and controlling what he heard. He had gotten about fifty percent control, allowing him to pick single minds out of the crowd, and read them with voices that belonged to them, however he still suffered bleed through from other minds.

Putting a hand up over his head, he snagged a piece of chalk that Iruka had checked at him, almost perfectly in synch with Shikamaru's own hand snatching the one that had been destined for his head. Everyone watched as both sleepy pre-genins sat up, looked blearily at Iruka and went back to using the desks as pillows. Synchonized napping looked impressive to say the least, but Iruka had had enough.

One use of Demon-head no jutsu later, Iruka had both boys standing in front of the class, while he read off some lecture or other. They were being made to balance a pencil by its tip on the end of their nose with only chakra. Both boys were struggling, as this was actually a jounin grade training drill, but one being a genius, and another getting help by a non-demonic fox being in his stomach helped them immensely in keeping their chakra under control. Iruka was annoyed that by the end of the lecture, neither of the two had the audacity to let the pencil drop, though the marks left by the tip on their noses was more than enough of an indicator of just how much they struggled.

Naruto's reasoning was simple, he did it to prove that he could do it. Shikamaru's was easier still, Iruka would be more troublesome if he failed. And yet, as they were excused early to recess so they could wash their faces, Naruto couldn't help but wonder if Shikamaru was supposed to get an orb. Kyukon suggested it was a possibility, but he had to test the boy without making it obvious. The orbs were to be a secret after all.

Now Shikamaru might have been a genius, but Naruto has been running circles around idiots and ANBU for years now. Naruto smirked as he scrubbed the pencil mark off his nose, he had an idea brewing already. First stage was to get Shikamaru to come over to his apartment for a planning meeting after school. "Hey Shika, you doing anything after school?"

"I was going to go cloud watching," the shadow user answered after letting the water run off his face. "What troublesome thing are you planning now?"

"Just a prank to celebrate the end of another year..." Naruto replied cryptically as a smile spread across his face. "Need a little help plotting out the details though... and since you helped me last time..."

Now the Nara was a lazy boy, however his mind always enjoyed a good challenge, and Naruto for his dead last status always proved to be unpredictable and challenging when setting up pranks, or traps during class. With a smirk that one chain smoking jounin would come to hate in a few years, he extended his hand in agreement. "Give me directions, and I'll meet you there an hour after school lets out."

"Great! Oh, and don't bring Chouji or anyone," Naruto exclaimed while shaking the taller boy's hand. "I want this to be a big surprise."

"Tch, troublesome, but fine."

Naruto gave Shikamaru the directions and then went out to recess. Finding his favorite swing unoccupied, he settled in and sighed as the wind played lightly with his hair. It felt good to be out in the fresh air again, better than he could ever remember. From Kyukon he got something of an embarrassed feeling, but decided not to press too much. After all, if he had to trade a fear of being trapped in doors for the power to protect his village and the people within its walls, he would have no objection making that choice again.

It was in this musing that he felt an attention on him, it was one he'd felt before, but this time he could pinpoint its location. Without so much as flicking his eyes in the direction of the attention, he released a tentative brush of his new telepathic powers, to see what the attention wanted. What he got was not what he was expecting.

'... ruto-kun looks less sad today... maybe something good happened...' he heard in a shy, unassuming voice he knew he'd heard before, but couldn't place. 'I wish I could go over and talk to him...'

His investigation into the voice was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing for them to go back inside. Sighing, the new Master Orb Knight pulled himself up off the swing and followed the rest of his class inside. The idea of a possible friend hiding in the bushes, waiting to talk to him held his mind even through the rest of the lessons. Thankfully, Kyukon was helping him out and paying attention.

That evening, Naruto cleaned up, and repaired his little apartment as best he could. Sure he'd be tight on ramen money for the week, but at least the apartment didn't look like it was halfway through a demolition. One hour after school let out, precisely, he heard a knock on the door. Going over, he opened it up and let Shika in. After the standard pleasantries, which to anyone else would have been severely abbreviated, Naruto pulled out a scroll of paper. "Here's my plan, tell me what you think..."

Unfurling the plan showed Naruto had devised a, surprisingly workable, way to infiltrate the Konoha Military Police Force HQ, and completely flip every room in the entire building. There was only one flaw in Naruto's plan that Shikamaru could perceive. "How do you intend to glue the heavier safes and such to the ceiling?"

Naruto smiled widely as he pulled out a box of slimy looking balls of various colors and presented them to Shikamaru. "With these! They don't do nothing now, but if you break the surface they're stronger than super glue!"

Reaching over, the genius poked one of the balls, a bright white one lightly. It didn't feel like it should work, however when he pulled his finger back, he noticed that the ball was coming along for the ride. In fact it seemed to be creeping up along his arm at an unnatural and alarming rate. He was about to let out a shout of panic, when Naruto spoke up. "It seems that it chose you..."

Something in Naruto's voice sounded off, and when he looked up, Shikamaru found himself staring into the face of a nearly pure white humanoid fox with nine tails. Staggering back, he reached over to try and claw the orb off his hand, only to get that one sucked into the mess as well, increasing the rate at which his body was being coated.

After a few minute he stilled, his mind processing the data the orb was passing onto him. "Shiroshika reporting for duty Kyukon, ma'am..." A deep bass rumble ripped out of his throat, even as he caught his own reflection in a mirror. What he saw was amazing, to say the least. Every inch of his body was covered in the same white fur like he saw on Naruto, but where Naruto was a nine-tailed fox, he had antlers of a deer, and a less pronounced muzzle to his face. "Shiroshika... white deer... The myth of the White Stag... I see..."

Looking at the smirking fox creature that had been Naruto, he pondered the name he'd spoken only seconds earlier. "Kyukon... a kitsune of Inari's line... hmm..."

"Sorry about that Shika, but ya see why I gotta keep this a secret right?" Naruto asked as his second skin receded into the bracelet around his left wrist. "Gotta admit, it's weirder seeing it done to someone else than to have it down to yourself, huh?"

"Yes..." Shika replied as his own skin retreated back into its bracelet form on his own left wrist. "I think perhaps we should inform the Hokage of these... Orb Knights?" Pausing to wonder where that name came from, he got a nod from the energetic blonde. "Troublesome as it is... he may have more information available than we do on them..."

"Good thinking Shika!" Naruto exclaimed while patting his friend on the shoulder. "Uhh... Kyukon says that there's likely more acceptable hosts... maybe we should tell Jii-san that part too..."

Shikamaru merely nodded, while he felt the white stag setting up shop in his mind. It was only mildly less troublesome than having Ino practice her Shintenshin no Jutsu on him. The feeling of calmness and alertness he felt rolling off the stag made it a lot easier to focus and think. Perhaps this wouldn't be so troublesome after all.