A little training exercise- ShikaNaru

A little stroll

Naruto wandered around Konoha aimlessly in search of something even mildly interesting to do.

It had been a week since the Hokage had given team 7 a mission. It happened to be a D-rank mission that had been completed in little more than a day with barely any complications (Naruto being the only complication, maybe a tiny bit Sasuke) and now Naruto was bored out of his mind.

 He strutted down the familiar streets, eyes half closed from the glare of the sun until he decided he had enough of the humid, hot weather.

He took a left down a path that led to his favorite place in all of Konoha: Ichiraku Ramen! 

As he sped up his pace he started to pull out his froggy purse until he realized he hadn't gotten his allowance from the Hokage yet and didn't have enough money. 

Crestfallen, he made a pouty face and and slowed down to trudge pass the shop. He decided he might as well keep walking in hope to run into some one he knew (hopefully not Sasuke) so he wouldn't feel so bored.

A little while later Naruto found himself in the woods on the outskirts of Konoha near his favorite training area. 

As he made his way through some shrubs he thought he heard the faint sound of kunai hitting a tree. 

Curious to see who would be training on such a hot day, he hopped up into a nearby tree to get a better view. The tree overlooked the training area and Naruto squinted as two more kunai were thrown at one of the wooden targets. 

Surprise lit Naruto's face as he recognized Shikamaru's dark brown hair and silver earrings, glittering in the sunlight.

Shikamaru seemed to be in deep concentration as he aimed three kunai, a small bead of sweat falling from the tip of his nose. 

He made a hand sign and suddenly took off, sprinting towards the target, throwing the first kunai straight at the target and proceeding to jump over the target, throwing his second kunai at a strange angle. 

Naruto couldn't see any way the kunai could hit the target at that angle until Shikamaru threw the third kunai, glancing it off the second so that it changed its angle mid-flight and hit the target perfectly in the middle, the third hitting another target to the right of the first.

Naruto stared, shocked at how amazing Shikamaru's kunai skills were. "Hey, HEY! SHIKAMARU!!" Naruto yelled as he leaped off the tree, falling into a pile of leaves and jumping up to sprint towards Shikamaru.

"You're amazing, ya know!! Teach me that trick and I'll treat you to some ramen later!" Naruto yelled, forgetting his previous predicament. 

Shikamaru turned with a stunned expression, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. "Ah, Naruto! Sorry to be a drag but I can't teach you that technique. You see, I sort of cheated and used my shadow stitching jutsu to control the trajectory of the last two kunai." Shikamaru explained, expression apologetic. 

"Huh? Does that mean I can't learn it too?" Naruto asked, confused.

Shikamaru took a few lazy steps towards Naruto replying, "Unless you can use the Nara clan's jutsu, then nope." 

The dejected look on Naruto's face made Shikamaru feel a little guilty. "Um... If you want, I need a lot of help with my taijutsu so if you're willing to help me out that would be great?" Shikamaru asked, trying to cheer Naruto up. 

In less than a second Naruto became a walking ball of sunshine again as he grinned at Shikamaru. "You bet!!" 

He smiled happily as he took a few steps back to put space between the two, preparing to fight. Shikamaru sighed as he took up a ready position, knowing that fighting Naruto was going to be a drag, in more ways than one. 

He had no idea why he even offered to train with Naruto of all people when normally he would have just given up. There was just something weird about Naruto, that was all, right? 

Naruto's happy smile turned into a determined grin as he held up his right hand with the starting sign, Shikamaru doing the same with a smirk. 

A leaf fluttered slowly down between them, and as soon as it settled on the ground, the two genin were off, charging at each other, full speed.