Shadows and Flames

Naruto walked through the streets of Clover Town, unconsciously avoiding the citizens even though he was looking down at the ground.

"Oi, Naruto!" The blonde paused as he saw two young girls that were his age, running up to him. One was a pink haired girl with green eyes. She wore a red ribbon in her hair and had on a red tank top with a dark blue skirt. A pair of black sandals donned her feet.

The other female was a blonde girl with platinum blonde hair, which was tied up in a ponytail, and bright blue eyes. She wore a purple tank top underneath a fishnet shirt and a purple miniskirt. A pair of black sandals were also worn as her form of footwear.

"Sakura...Ino" the boy acknowledged them.

"Hey, we were just going to go visit Shikamaru. Chouji should be there already. His dad's having fried chicken and she invited us for dinner. Wanna come?" Naruto clenched his fist and his eyes suddenly gained a cold look at the mention of the word 'dad'. The blonde knew better than to unleash his rage and take it out on them so he merely sighed and gave a ghost of a smile.

"Ummm...sure I guess I can spare a few minutes" Naruto replied. Maybe a good game of Shogi with Shikamaru would help calm his nerves.

"Great, come on" Sakura grabbed his left hand, while Ino took his right and they pulled him along to Shikamaru's house.

...

Nara Household

Naruto was sitting at the dinner table with the others. He was silent for the entire meal as he watched Sakura and Ino discuss things like makeup and what cute boys they had spotted at the clothing shop Sakura's mother, Seiko, owned. Naruto looked down at his own clothes and mentally smiled as the outfit he was currently wearing. Every year for his birthday, he always received a new outfit to wear.

This year he had gotten a long sleeved, black t-shirt with blue flame patterns at the hem of the shirt and at the cuffs of the sleeves. He had a pair of long dark blue pants, black socks and a pair of dark blue boots. Around his neck was a pendant with a charm that looked like fire made of gold. It was also magically protected as the person who sold it to Seiko was a former mage.

"Because it represents your burning desire to protect your precious people like you had told me before" Seiko said told him as to the reason why she got it, "That and your burning passion for ramen"

Naruto chuckled at the memory causing everyone to watch him.

"What's so funny?" Chouji asked as he finished off his fifth piece of chicken. Naruto fingered the pendant and chuckled.

"Just remembering the reason why Haruno-san had given me this pendant" Naruto replied.

"I never gave you that" Sakura said.

"Your Okaa-chan" Shikamaru clarified, "He only calls your mother Haruno-san"

"Exactly, Sakura" The blonde then gave a small burp as he finished his chicken as sign that the tank was full. He got up and stretched his tense muscles before turning to Shikamaru.

"So Shikamaru, wanna play a game of Shogi?" he asked. Shikamaru smirked.

"Troublesome" he muttered, "Fine, but I'm gonna kick your ass again" He was suddenly slapped on his head by a rolled up newspaper. He looked up to see the angry face of his mother, Yoshino Nara.

"What was that for? Crazy woman!" he yelled.

"No cursing in this household while I'm around!" she retorted.

"But Kaa-chan, I hear you and Tou-san yelling out profanities every weekend!" he yelled back, "Especially on Sunday" Yoshino and Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, turned red at that before turning away from their son and coughing. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing in there".

"What are they doing in there?" Chouji asked innocently. The lazy genius saw all his friends watching him for the answer to the question causing him to cough and blush rather heavily.

"Ummm, they're playing...cards, yeah cards. And every time one of them gets beaten by the other...they yell...loudly" he made emphasis on the word 'loudly' as he glared at them causing the two to turn away from their son once again.

"Go and play your shogi, son" Shikaku said as he covered his face with the Sorcerer's Weekly magazine in his hand, while Yoshino went to wash the dishes as the children left to go play Shogi.

As they set out the board and the arranged the pieces, Naruto and Shikamaru began playing. Shikamaru always sent out battle strategies that were sure to take down an opponent, but the thing that made the matches exciting, even for girls like Sakura and Ino, was the fact that Naruto always caused the Nara to become stumped. His unorthodox moves and unpredictable counter-attacks and defensive manoeuvres caused Shikamaru to always re-think his strategy.

.....

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