Chapter 12

The adults all smiled sadly at him. Yoshino spoke again, "We are not mad at you Naruto-chan. If you wish to be friends with Shikamaru that is his decision. We will not hold him back from assisting you." she said smiling at him.

Chouza spoke up as well, "Choji is the same. We are not bigots Naruto-san. We may not have been able to help you well enough in your childhood but we have something to help you now."

Naruto's serious expression turned into one of confusion and the tension in the room disappeared as his attitude changed from a beaten and depressed aura to one of almost childlike wonder. "What did you do?" he asked eagerly.

Hamako spoke in a quiet tone, "When we saw how malnourished you were Naruto." Naruto's eyes snapped to Yoshino and Shikaku, "Yes they told us, but that is because the Akimichi are known as the masters of food. We are the ones ninjas come to to devise a diet for training or for targeting specific areas of their bodies." Naruto looked up at the Akimichi with a bit of respect, "While the Naras are the ones with the best medicinal herbs and medicines made from their deer's antlers." Naruto's look turned to confusion.

"But what has this got to do with what we ate?" he asked loudly. Hamako shushed him for speaking so loudly.

Shikaku spoke now, "The food we all ate tonight, is double the amount of nutrition it will give to us. In other words, since you ate this, you will be getting as if you ate it for the last three days without actually having eaten it. It is unhealthy for a ninja to be as... scrawny as you are. This concoction is used for ninjas who have been starved in interrogation or for ninjas who return to the village dehydrated and malnourished. It will help you gain some fat and be able to work your body better." Shikaku explained. Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered what Kurenai had said about eating healthier.

"But this is only temporary, you need to eat more than ramen. It is not healthy to eat this concoction for extended periods." Chouza said.

Naruto's head fell and he mumbled something under his breath. He only understood half of what had been said this food was good for him but he couldn't eat it all the time. He was happy they had helped but he couldn't afford anything but ramen.

Yoshino's oni mask reappeared, "Naruto-chan, what did you say?" she asked.

Naruto, feeling the KI from Yoshino, quickly popped to attention in his seat and said quietly, "I can't afford anything else."

A glance around the table had a nod from Chouza and a grateful smile from Yoshino. "Then you will come to eat in Akimichi restaurants from now on Naruto-san. I can not allow my son's friend to be so unfit for shinobi duty. It is against my clan's purpose within Konoha. For the next week, we will keep feeding you food with this concoction so that you may regain some weight, but that is the limit." Chouza said, earning a teary-eyed Naruto.

"H-Hontoni?" he asked trembling. Chouza smiled and nodded his head while saying, "For free, for the first week, Naruto-san but after that, you will have to pay."

The big man was suddenly set upon by a blur of grey and burnt orange crashing into him and hugging him tightly as Naruto fought tears. The man merely patted his back as the adults shared a sad smile at such a small courtesy meaning so much to the small one in front of them.

"Naruto the board is set," Shikamaru called from outside the house. Naruto smiled and wiped his face with a towel offered by Hamako and the group left to find Chouji and Shikamaru sitting on the porch leading to the backyard with a shogi board in front of Shikamaru. Naruto withheld a grimace as he despised board games, he preferred to be running around but he was feeling kinda sleepy since he had eaten his fill. So, he plopped down on the opposite side of the board and said, "So, how does this work?" Naruto asked.

With those words, Shikamaru set to teach Naruto how to play shogi and how each piece moved as well as the rules. Once he was done, "Want to try one game Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto's face was in a scrunched-up expression, indicating him trying to focus extremely hard on something, the two females were restraining him from grabbing him and hugging him to death screaming 'Kawaii.' After a few more moments, Naruto nodded and motioned for Shikamaru to begin the game. Shikamaru nodded and the game of minds began.

3 turns later, Shikamaru was in his thinking position causing everyone but Naruto to be gaping at the board as they tried to figure out what Naruto was doing. Shikamaru only used his thinking pose when he needed to plan almost thousands of moves. A few moments later, Shikamaru moved his piece with Naruto following suit almost immediately.

5 turns later, Shikamaru sat in his thinking pose again trying to figure out Naruto's ploy as Shikaku sat next to the board and kept giving heated glares to Naruto. What no one could understand, was why Shikaku was so frustrated.

"He's got no strategy but his luck is out of this world, if I wasn't sure he didn't know what he was doing I would assume he was a master!" Shikaku screamed in his head.

25 turns later, Shikamaru moved his final piece and said, "Game." Naruto's eyebrows furrowed and he stared at the board intently. Shikamaru's face was sweating lightly from all the calculations he put into the game, he knew Naruto was good, but this was ridiculous.

"Again," Naruto said and began rearranging the pieces. Shikamaru smiled slightly and said, "Sure."

This match lasted 60 turns before Shikamaru moved his piece into position and repeated, "Game." Naruto's eyebrows furrowed again and a frustrated look appeared on his face.

"Again," he said forcefully and began rearranging the pieces. Shikamaru sighed but complied and the group around them sat in stunned silence for the next match.

At turn 100, Naruto moved his piece and said, "Game." confidently. Shikaku and Shikamaru blinked and looked at the board before looking back at Naruto. Chouji, Chouza, Hamako, and Yoshino all had their jaws on the ground as Shikamaru held his hand out.

"I have never had anyone my age beat me before Naruto, good game," he said as Naruto shook his hand with a huge smile on his face.

"That was fun, can we do that again?" he asked. Shikamaru smiled and nodded his head, glad to have someone other than his father or Asuma to play against.

Naruto looked up at the sky and noticed it was starting to get dark. "I think I should head home," he said. "It's getting late and I need to go to sleep." the group agreed with him and Shikamaru packed up his board while everyone else got ready. Chouji and his family waved at Naruto and the Nara family as they walked away, Naruto with one last invite to come eat in the Akimichi clan restaurants.

As they were walking, Naruto recalled that he had often been thrown out of restaurants but he had never come into the clan district. It was too far away. He smiled as he walked down the street heading to the fork in the road that would lead to the central hub and indicate the separation between him and his new friend. It had been a great ending to a horrible realization. But he was determined to remain positive and kept his happy feelings as they neared the fork.

"Naruto," Shikamaru started gaining his attention, "where could I find you, say 3 tomorrow afternoon?" he asked.

Naruto scratched his head as he grinned, "Probably around training ground 7." he replied.

Shikamaru nodded and smiled as they reached the fork in the road. "Well, it was nice meeting you Naruto. I'll be by tomorrow with a few things you will probably like," he said cryptically

before he shook Naruto's hand.

"What is it?" Naruto shouted while holding onto Shikamaru's hand firmly. He wouldn't let go until Shikamaru told him.

Shikamaru chuckled, "I will only tell you tomorrow Naruto. I need to look at some stuff for you." he explained a bit. Naruto's eyes squinted but he finally nodded and let go of Shikamaru before turning and bowing to Yoshino and Shikaku. He thanked them for dinner before turning and beginning to walk home.

Once he was out of earshot, Shikamaru turned to his parents, "We need to talk." he said, his usually lazy voice displaying a level of seriousness they never knew he had. Shikaku and

Yoshino sighed, having a genius child creates a lot of problems.

(Scene Break)

Naruto looked up at the darkening sky as he walked into his apartment. "Today was nice. I wonder when I will see Kurenai-san again." he thought as he closed his door and proceeded to his bedroom.

(Scene Break)

Naruto walked down the street leading to his team's meeting bridge. A bright smile adorned his face as he walked through the village. He was remaining true to what he had discovered yesterday, he would be the same him as always, just trying to lessen his attempts with his teammates.

So, he walked through the village, his fake smile plastered on his face as he was allowing his thoughts to run wild, "I wonder what Kurenai-san is doing?" his mind came up with first. He shook his head as he smiled a bitter smile, "Probably teaching her team. Not that Kakashi-sensei trains us in anything. " He reached a distance where he could pick out his teammates standing on the bridge and a wave of disappointment and sadness washed through him, "If this could be called a team." he thought to himself.

He let his eyes wander to the clouds in the sky and his fake smile was replaced with a small smile of happiness, "What is Shikamaru gonna bring me?" he thought to himself. "I hope it's training books, Ooooh! I bet it's going to be some awesome jutsus!" Naruto's normal exuberance shone through as he thought of learning flashy jutsus and defeating his enemies while finally arriving at the bridge. He opened his mouth, his previous exuberance still in effect as he shouted, "Ohayo Sakura, Sasuke."

Though he was still his normally loud self, he did not add the affectionate '-chan' to the end of Sakura's name because of her actions leading up to this point. Naruto's exuberance was smashed as Sasuke and Sakura gave their usual greetings, "Hn." Sasuke grunted before ignoring him again.

Sakura, on the other hand, marched over to him and smacked him on the back of the head as he smiled at his team. He never saw it coming as he felt dirt enter his mouth and looked up to see Sakura with eyes almost burning with, what she believed to be righteous fury. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke looking back over at him with his usual Uchiha pride but the smirk on his face was unmistakable. Naruto's heart clenched as Sakura began to speak, "You Baka!" she shouted at him, "Because of you, our whole day yesterday was wasted and we couldn't take any

missions!" she berated him as Naruto's eyes turned to an almost icy blue.

Naruto dusted himself off and turned around, "I'm not done with you!" Sakura shouted and reached out to turn him back around. Only Kakashi's arrival, 2 and a half hours early, saved her from being struck with Naruto's clawed hands.

Unknown to Sasuke or Sakura, Kakashi had seen Naruto's eyes flash red as his two teammates continued to berate him for not being there the day before. He had not come up with an answer about what to do with his team when Naruto had appeared today and greeted them. He had smiled under his mask when he heard Naruto's loud shout even without the affectionate term for Sakura, his plan for their teamwork could still work without his infatuation of Sakura. He had been even happier to see that Naruto had given up on her as he didn't like his sensei's son being abused by the pinkette.

That didn't make him stop her though, if Naruto wanted to allow her to hit him, it was not his place to tell him otherwise, only if it would hurt their team dynamic, despite any personal feelings, would he interfere with their relationships. The love triangle that the team had, was not important enough for him to address just yet. He felt they would grow out of their crushes as they matured and it would only be worked through with time.

"Maa Maa, Sakura-chan. Naruto must have a good reason for leaving us early yesterday." Kakashi said from behind Sakura. Sakura whirled around with wide eyes, even Sasuke was staring at their early sensei while Naruto's hands were clenching and unclenching as his hands turned back to normal. After a few moments, Naruto turned back around and looked at Kakashi with icy

blue eyes.

Kakashi's single eye widened but Sakura and Sasuke did not see it as they tried to comprehend that Kakashi was there. Kakashi almost took a step back from the likeness of his sensei in Naruto's face, the only thing stopping him was the fact that this was Naruto. Instantly, Kakashi's mind went into overdrive as he took in this latest complication for his team. "Shit, I thought we could salvage this but it seems Naruto has had enough of it. This is bad, especially with what I saw earlier. I'm going to have to step in if it gets out of hand. If his eyes flash red again, I am bringing him to Hokage-sama for the seal to be checked." he thought to himself as all his plans for teamwork went flying out the proverbial window, "Plus it seems this team will never work together." Kakashi withheld his sigh as he eye-smiled at Naruto.

"What are we doing today Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked without his usual exuberance. Sasuke's eyes darted to Naruto's and only his pride kept him from shivering at the cold look within them. He instantly knew something was wrong. He had thought, just as Kakashi did, that, because he was his usual self, Naruto was fine, but this action only proved that it was far from the truth. The Naruto he knew, would never have such an uncaring look in his eyes, as if his teammates meant nothing to him. As if, they did not exist except as things you might pass over when walking around, such as a twig or a bush.

He hated that look. The look that said 'you are beneath me' and more. It was so alike Itachi's eyes on that night. Sasuke shivered and turned away from his comrade, his closest friend, the person who understood him best, despite him not acknowledging it.

Sakura was woefully oblivious to Naruto's gaze as she simply yelled at him before turning to face Kakashi, "So, what's the excuse?" she shouted.