The Shadow's Fox

Chapter 12

The next couple weeks were a flurry of activity for Naruto and Shikamaru. Naruto spent time training with Jiraiya to learn both sage jutsu and the Rasengan, while Shikamaru started going on missions again along with training with his father on the Nara jutsu. However, Shikadai still refused to go outside or be with anyone but Shikamaru or Naruto, and not even his grandparents could keep the boy without him throwing a fit. This made it difficult for Naruto and Shikamaru to go back to training or missions, as they had to work with each other so that one would be with the boy at all times.

They tried everything they could think of and even tried some of the suggestions from their friends, but Shikadai just wasn't getting over his fear. They finally had to go to Inoichi and get the man to block Shikadai's memories of the incident so that the boy could start living a normal life again. It wasn't a permanent solution, as a trauma equal to what he went through could trigger those memories again, but things could start going back to normal.

Naruto panted as he watched yet another water balloon expand but not burst, and cried out in frustration, throwing the balloon. "I can't get it!" He looked around but didn't see Jiraiya anywhere. "Where is that Pervy Sage?" he yelled. He sat down hard on the ground, leaning back on his hands, and just stared at the sky, watching the clouds go by. He smiled as it reminded him of the times he and Shikamaru cloud watched when they had time together, and it relaxed him.

"Mama!"

Naruto sat up and looked over to see Shikadai running toward him with a wide grin, Yoshino following behind with her own smile. "Hey, baby," the blonde replied as the boy barroled into him.

"How's the training?" Yoshino asked.

"I'm completely stumped. I don't know how to make the balloon pop the way Pervy Sage can, and he's nowhere around to show me!"

Shikadai looked over and saw the basket of balloons, smiled, then picked one up. He squeezed it, then shook it, then threw it at the ground. Water splashed over both him and Naruto and the boy just blinked, lip quivering as he looked up at Naruto. "I broke."

Naruto smiled. "It's ok, Dai. It's supposed to do that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've been breaking them all morning."

'Naruto. Let me out,' Kurama said, a bit frustrated. He had been begging Naruto to let him out all morning.

Naruto rolled his eyes and made a hand sign before slamming it on the ground. A puff of smoke appeared, and when it dissipated, a small reddish-orange fox sat there, its nine tails flailing in the air.

"Kurama!" Shikadai cried out and lunged at the fox, wrapping his arms around the fox's neck.

Naruto laughed at Kurama's expression. He never thought Kurama would be such a softie, but when it came to Shikadai, Kurama acted more like a cat than a fox.

'Think that one more time, and I'll scratch your eyes out,' Kurama threatened inside Naruto's head as he glared at the blonde.

Naruto held up his hands, but still laughed. 'Sorry.'

Shikadai grabbed another balloon and showed it to Kurama. He sat down and pushed the balloon like it was a ball at the fox, who in turn, kicked it back to the boy.

Naruto watched the two play with the balloon, then focused on the balloon itself. The balloon suddenly popped, surprising Shikadai, but Naruto's eyes went wide. "I get it!"

"You get what?" Yoshino asked.

Naruto grabbed a balloon and stood up. He placed the balloon in his hand and focused his chakra, used his other hand to pump chakra into the balloon at different angles by moving it around the balloon, then held the balloon between his two hands. The next thing he knew, the balloon exploded. "Yeah!" he cried out as he jumped in the air. "I did it!"