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"You're different than I remember from the Academy," Shikamaru remarked casually, waking Naruto from his thoughts and reminding him that he wasn't alone.

"Yeah?"

"How'd you get so strong?"

Naruto was on guard now. He hadn't thought about it until that second, but he was basically alone in a room with one of the few people he really didn't want to talk to. Shikamaru was a good friend, but he was entirely too smart for comfort. Until his death, Shikamaru had been one of his most important advisors during his time as temporary Hokage. Naruto knew plenty about his many strengths and few weaknesses. Fooling his brain was like entering an eating contest against Gamatatsu: you could win, but your chances were slim at best. Shikamaru could be lied to and tricked like anyone else, but he was exceptionally good at connecting the dots when given observable information…

And he'd been watching Naruto mop the ground with two exceptionally powerful ninja.

"Kakashi-sensei is really good teacher," Naruto replied honestly, hoping a simple explanation would tide Shikamaru over.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah, Asuma-sensei's pretty good too. He's kind of a hard ass, which can be troublesome, but I guess we're getting better." He looked up at the clouds and sighed thoughtfully. "Kind of weird that Sakura and Sasuke haven't improved nearly as much as you, huh?"

It was said innocently enough, but Naruto knew what his friend meant. Shikamaru didn't buy the whole "I've been working hard" bit. Naruto had obviously improved too much in too short a time for something like that.

In the end, there were only two options. He could play his hand harder and hope that he didn't inadvertently give anything more away, or…

"Well, that's because I'm actually from the future, but I got turned back into a little kid when I was sent back in time. So I know all sorts of cool jutsu that I shouldn't have learned for years and years."

…he could just tell the truth. It was so insane no one would believe him anyway.

Shikamaru snorted and shook his head. "You always were weird, you know that?"

Naruto grinned, the rest of his plan solidifying in his mind. "You haven't seen anything. I met this guy, Jiraiya, during the month since the last part of the Exam and he taught me all sorts of cool things… when he wasn't peeking at women in the bathhouses."

"Jiraiya?"

"Yeah, he said he was one of the Sennin or Sannin or something… sounded pretty big, but he was probably just trying to sound cool."

"You met Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin?" Shikamaru asked, his eyes widening.

Naruto frowned. "Well, I don't know if he was legendary or not. Is he supposed to be famous?"

Shikamaru shook his head in disbelief. "You really are a dumbass; you know that? I barely stayed awake in the Academy and even I know who Jiraiya is." With another shake of his head he turned back to the match.

Naruto was careful not to smile or let any expression other than confusion show on his face, but in his mind he was dancing a little jig. His friend might still be a little suspicious, but most of his evidence had just been given the sort of logical explanation that Shikamaru always liked to find. It probably was only going to stall the inevitable, Shikamaru and Kakashi were pretty similar in that regard, but he could deal with that problem later.

Besides, he wouldn't be able to play the dumb, weak genin against Gaara.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4041754/36/