Naruto studied him carefully. This boy, Shikamaru, was said in the anime to have an IQ over two hundred. From his seat atop the stone, Naruto looked down with a half-smile that was neither warm nor kind.
"Is that it?" His voice was cool. "Do you know who I am?"
Shikamaru nodded faintly. "The Hokage said… you are a little dangerous."
"You are wrong." Naruto's tone remained calm, but his eyes sharpened. "Here's a hint. I am not dangerous. I am danger itself."
Shikamaru did not answer immediately. He could feel Naruto's gaze pierce into him. Instinctively, he remembered the photographs he had studied, the same hollow eyes staring back. Slowly, he lifted his head. For the briefest moment, his dark pupils collided with those azure depths.
The chill was absolute. Like looking into a frozen abyss.
Shikamaru's expression stayed composed, but his thoughts raced. At last he spoke clearly, without hesitation. "No. There is more. The Hokage not only ordered me to be your friend. He told me to learn everything I can about you… and report it back to him. This mission began months ago."
Naruto's face did not change. "You are clever." His voice was flat, stripped of emotion. "And the Hokage, in his great kindness, has even assigned me a friend. How thoughtful of him."
He leaned forward, blue eyes narrowing. "But you have already failed. You told me everything. How will you be my friend now? How will you explain yourself to him?"
Shikamaru's lips curved in a bitter smile. "I don't know. Before I came, I remembered what someone once told me. That friends are supposed to be the people you trust most. If I complete this mission by lying, then I will never truly be anyone's friend. And I will never truly trust anyone either. So I didn't promise success. I never could."
The words came like stones lifted from his chest. For a fleeting moment, Shikamaru thought of the unfinished shogi game with his father, of countless possible moves spiraling through his mind.
Naruto fell silent. He studied the boy, not his words but his face, the tiny movements in his expression. He knew Shikamaru. But Shikamaru did not know him.
And behind it all, Naruto could feel it. The Third Hokage's chakra is still fixed in the Hokage's office. The crystal ball trained on them. Watching. Always watching.
Which meant Shikamaru's honesty was not without design.
If this mission had truly begun months ago, Shikamaru would already know of the crystal ball, of the Hokage's ability to watch. Yet he had said nothing. Not a word.
A test.
Shikamaru was testing whether Naruto knew of the Hokage's surveillance, testing how much he understood of the chains wrapped around him.
And Shikamaru had chosen an unexpected move: expose everything at once, betray the Hokage openly, and hide himself behind it. A clever gambit. Naruto remembered, yes, this was Shikamaru's style. He had seen it once before, in the original story, when trapped by Jirōbō's earth barrier. He had played the same game of false weakness and hidden angles.
This boy was sharp. But in the end, he was still trying to outplay him.
Naruto stepped off the stone and closed the distance between them in two strides. His presence pressed down, his blue eyes flashing with cold light.
"Impressive," Naruto said at last. "The Nara clan's intelligence is indeed as legendary as they say."
Shikamaru managed a modest smile, lowering his eyes.
"You are clever," Naruto repeated. Then, without warning, he thrust out his hand. "I like clever people. I trust clever people. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, you already know it."
Shikamaru's expression softened with genuine relief. He raised his own hand, clasping Naruto's firmly. "And I am Nara Shikamaru. From this moment, we are friends who can trust one another."
A voice echoed in Naruto's mind.
Data acquisition in progress…
Update complete. Current data integrity: 7%. Further collection required.
Naruto released the handshake, his face unreadable. Then, almost casually, he added, "By the way, Shikamaru, do you know a saying?"
Shikamaru tilted his head, listening. "What saying?"
Naruto's smile curved, sharp and mocking, and for a heartbeat his eyes glimmered like knives.
"Trust is a ridiculous fondness. I seek it… but it is never mine to hold."
Hokage's Office
The Third Hokage's lips curved as he watched the scene through the crystal ball, Shikaku standing beside him.
"See, Shikaku? I knew your son could do it. Look how simple it was. Naruto does not reject companionship after all."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shikaku agreed, though his eyes flickered uneasily. "Even if we did not hear their words, their smiles show they connected."
Satisfied, the Hokage dismissed the image. "Shikamaru is exceptional. Have him continue. That boy will be a great shinobi one day."
Shikaku bowed his head, but pride and unease warred in his chest.
That Night
When Shikaku returned home, he found Shikamaru already there, hunched over their unfinished shogi board, his brows furrowed.
"What troubles you, son?" Shikaku asked, settling across from him.
Shikamaru's eyes were shadowed with gravity. "Father… my mission failed."
Shikaku blinked. "Failed? But you shook hands. You smiled at each other. Was that not enough?"
Shikamaru's voice was low. "Before I met him, I had already made another decision. A true one. If I had followed that, perhaps we could have become real friends. But the photos I studied, the years of surveillance reports, they poisoned me. I became curious when I should not have been."
Shikaku frowned. "Yet we saw him smile at you before he left."
Shikamaru's eyes darkened. He rose from his seat, his gaze sweeping the board as if seeing a game he had already lost.
"Father, you must understand. Many times, when people smile at you, it is not kindness. It is not courtesy. It is a warning."
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