Chapter Text
When Shikamaru first opened his eyes, he was slightly surprised to find himself on the floor surrounded by his classmates. He racked his mind for a possible explanation before remembering the Team Choosing activity they did. He can’t remember what happened.
‘Must be because of the pills…’ He was about ready to close his eyes before he was nudged by a foot.
“Eh?” He said quietly, bringing his hand up to rub his eyes only to find that it was stuck under something.
Shikamaru looked up at his parents, who looked oddly smug. He looked down in his arms to see a head full of blonde hair. His eyes widened and he winced. Who’s this?!
He grunted as he yanked his arms away as gently as he could. The person under him turned and adjusted to face up to the ceiling. Shikamaru’s face turned red and he was frozen as he looked down at Naruto who looked oddly relaxed.
“Oh. That’s. That— I,” Shikamaru stuttered as Yoshino brought a hand up to her mouth to muffle her laughter. Shikaku chuckled as he watched his son.
Shikamaru scrambled off of Naruto and surprise surprise! The blonde tossed and turned for a few more moments before slowly blinking his eyes open.
“Nhh… where—“ He blinked drowsily as he looked around before seeing Shikamaru looking at him with badly masked horror.
Naruto pounced off his feet and pointed accusingly at Shikamaru.
“YOU!” He yelled, stomping toward Shikamaru as he waved his finger in front of him. The Nara’s face contorted into one of sheepishness as he backed away slowly.
“You don’t just go picking people up then falling asleep on top of them! What kind of ninja does that?!” He exclaimed, his eyes squeezing shut. Shikamaru scratched the back of his head as his father began to speak.
“A Nara does that, that’s who.” Shikaku replied to Naruto’s question-but-more-of-an-accusation. The blonde blinked for a few moments before cocking his head to the side.
“Nara… y’all are the lazy ones right? With the big shadows and the ‘ahh mendōkuse!!’ words?” Shikaku and Yoshino looked surprised at his words before they began laughing. Shikamaru lit up red.
“I don’t say mendōkuse… I say troublesome,” Shikamaru excuses lazily. Naruto raises an eyebrow.
“And what a drag?” The Nara clan was well known for that phrase. Shikamaru looked away from the hyper blonde.
“Maa, what did I do to deserve this…” He groaned, causing Naruto to snicker.
“You tried to kidnap me is what!” He exclaimed, Shikamaru was starting to wonder why his subconscious self raced toward Naruto if he would be having to deal with this. His eyes widened with a horrible realization.
“Oh.” His eyes widened. Naruto dropped his arm and looked at Shikamaru.
“What?” He asked. Shikamaru turned away from him to face his parents.
“They won’t put us in the same team, right?” Shikamaru looked at Yoshino who looked at Shikaku. The man looked left and right before shrugging. Shikamaru groaned and slid down the wall.
“Ugh… mendōkuse!” Naruto’s point has been proven, he did indeed say mendōkuse. Quite frequently, actually.
“Naruto.” The four of them looked back to find Sasuke standing there looking at Naruto with no emotion visible on his face. Shikaku hummed while Shikamaru leveled his gaze with Sasuke’s.
“Ne? What is is Teme?” Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked toward Shikaku and Yoshino before looking back at Naruto.
“We’re being put on the same team.” Naruto’s eyes widened comically and he fell to his knees.
“What? No… you’re kidding… right Sasuke?” The Uchiha looked away from Naruto and shook his head. Shikaku and Shikamaru narrowed their eyes. Sasuke looked oddly dejected.
“NOOO!!” Naruto’s voice cracked as he yelled. Shikamaru watched him with disinterest yet slight humor. He could bear it if Naruto was on his team, perhaps. Speaking of teams though…
“You sure you were both out in the same team?” Shikamaru asked Sasuke who wasted no time before glaring at the Nara. He grimaced. Geez man, he was just asking a question.
“Yes.” Sasuke merely answered. Shikamaru dropped his eyes and rolled them nonchalantly.
“I mean, who told you? Is there a paper up or did you just go to Iruka-Sensei? Isn’t it too early for them to immediately decide on teams?” Sasuke’s glare flamed up. Shikamaru raise md his eyebrow, waiting for an answer before Sasuke turned swiftly and walked away.
“What was that all about?” Yoshino said once Sasuke was out of the room. Shikamaru shrugged and Shikaku sighed.
“He was lying, by the way!” Ino said confidently, flipping her hair behind her. Sakura and Hinata were closely behind her. Shikaku raised an eyebrow at the group.
“Oh? And how do you know, Ino-chan?” The girl smiled, “Well, to put it simply, he continuously averted his eyes then reacted with anger when he was questioned. He stormed off because he didn’t want anyone to tell him he was wrong.” Ino says before looking over at Naruto who was still sitting on the floor blinking owlishly at Ino.
“Although… I don’t know why he’d want to be on Naruto’s team when he could join ours!” Ino exclaimed happily, throwing out jazz hands. Shikaku looked at Ino in confusion.
“Genin teams are only three people. Never more and usually never less.” Shikaku stated. Ino blinked before turning around to look at her team. She put a hand to her chin while looking between Hinata and Sakura. The former stiffened and looked down at the floor. Sakura glared at Ino as if she already knew what she would do. Ino sighed as if she was let down.
“Well… alright then Sakura, I guess you’ll just have to join another team!” Sakura lit up like a flame in anger.
“HEY! I actually like Sasuke! Hinata doesn’t even care about him!” Ino shrugged, her eyes closed as she smiled.
“I mean, that’s good! It’d be easier to get Sasuke to love me!” Sakura crossed her arms and looked judgementally at Ino.
“Get him to love you? Imagine! I’d just need to get Sasuke to confess his obvious love for me!” She clasped her hands together and sighed dreamily.
Naruto narrowed his eyes before sticking his tongue out in disgust.
“Eugh!” He shuddered as Sakura and Ino began to argue. Hinata looked between the two nervously, her hands up as if she was thinking about how to stop the two. Although she most likely couldn’t…
“Uzumaki,” Naruto looked back to see Shikamaru looking at him from where he was seated against the wall.
“Hm? Yeah Shikamaru?” Shikamaru looked away from Naruto for a bit, his face tinted a light pink before he looks back.
“Uh, I was wondering if you’d want to go out and get ramen with me sometime?” Naruto’s eyes lit up before they stopped. He looked at Shikamaru quizzically. Shikamaru paled, hoping his motives hadn’t been discovered.
“You’re paying, right?” Shikamaru blinked before nodding. Naruto grinned widely at him and scrambled toward Shikamaru.
“YES! WE SHOULD GO RIGHT NOW!!” He exclaimed before standing up and yanking Shikamaru’s arm until he stood up as well. Naruto ran in front of him happily and Shikamaru sighed before walking after him.
Shikaku and Yoshino looked at the two fondly, ignoring the loud sounds of arguing going on behind them.