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It was boring. It was mind numbingly boring. It was boring beyond doubt, that even Asuma's occasional rants/whines had nothing on it. It was EPIC-ly boring. Shikamaru kicked a rock sulkily, both hands tucked into his pockets and his back hunched. Four weeks – FOUR WEEKS of consistently chasing after a wayward son of a mother dog had a certain debilitating effect on Shikamaru Nara, scion of the Nara clan, and oh how he sulked. Even Asuma noticed, which was a miracle in itself as their teacher couldn't be described as astute by the most forgiving of persons. Which might explain why he was consistently failing to get Yuuhi Kurenai's hints to leave her alone. Strangely he had no issue spotting oddities in the natural surroundings – selective ignorance, perhaps?

Shikamaru sighed. The young lord should have just signed up as a shinobi – as a reconnaissance member he would have been invaluable AND most likely the counterpart to Uzumaki Naruto in sneaking. One was supremely capable of running away, the other supremely capable of infiltration. Indeed, come to think of it, it was quite the good match up in abilities. One could go anywhere and one which could escape from anywhere – it sure sounded like a winning formulae to his brain. But then, given how Naruto was prone to pranking 'seasons' of sorts, it would be a very bad idea if the young lord decided to help Naruto escape. He shivered at the thought.

Wait. Shikamaru paused in his strides, and caused Chouji to bump into him. Said Akimichi sighed, already far too used to the trance like state his friend was prone to at the most inopportune of times to even bother attempting to jolt him out of his trance. Easily picking the Nara heir up, he shoved him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and continued in the journey.

If Naruto was that good in infiltration and sneaking around without being caught – hell, even the crème de crème, the AnBu couldn't detect him! He could easily become the most dangerous and prodigious assassin to grace the Elemental Countries ever. If he was born in the age prior the discovery of Chakra, he would be the best shinobi in the Countries. Even the most heavily guarded castle in Hi no Kuni was infiltrated - in that epoch, who could possibly defend against someone who can't even be detected?! Shikamaru's eyes widened uncomfortably. And with that ability, he would have been fully capable of sneaking into the staff room and stealing the answers to the tests – how did he ever flunk them so badly?! Perhaps his honour and loyalty to Iruka-sensei stopped him, but…

He blinked, and his eyes appeared back in focus. "Chouji, you can put me down now."

The rotund boy gently set his friend on the ground, and they proceeded down the path. "I know this sounds weird, but I can't help it. A piece of advice for you: do not piss Uzumaki Naruto off. Ever."

Pausing in her strides, Ino snorted incredulously. "You just realised? He pranked effectively half of the graduating class back then just for doubting he'd pass! Heck, even Sandaime-sama didn't dare to irritate him too much – that should have spoken volumes as to how scary he can be. How did you even miss that – your IQ's one of the highest in the village, damn it! For kami's sake, he changed the Instructor in charge of teaching us infiltration and stealth's clothes into a tutu while the Instructor was still in them!"

"Really?" Shikamaru snorted. "Unfortunately, I don't remember that incident."

"Well, being that you slept through that lesson…" Ino mused. "It wouldn't surprise me. It also wouldn't surprise me if you slept through your own funeral, only to wake up after being buried."

Yamanaka Ino narrowly dodged a Kunai thrown at her. "Oh kami, can't you take a joke?!"

The Male Kunoichi, Chapter 11