Unshackled: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 6: Genin

"Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled loudly in the Nara's ear, poking the side of the boy's head rather harshly. "Time to wake up!" He cheerfully said. Shikamaru merely opened one eye, glanced at Naruto, and closed it again. 

Naruto frowned and tapped the Nara on the top of his head twice. No response. . .

He leaned in towards Shikamaru's left ear with a sly grin on his face. "I'll tell your mom you ditched class last Friday with me if you don't get up. . ." Shikamaru sat straight up, a sour expression on his face, his sleep being interrupted by the black-to-blond-haired boy. 

"What a drag, I should've never invited you over for dinner. Now you know that my mom loves to nag at every little thing I do," Shikamaru commented bitterly but with no real malice behind the words. Naruto only kept grinning at his lazy friend. 

"Well maybe if you stayed up you'd know that it was your turn to go take the final test!" Iruka shouted, using his Big Head Jutsu in order to amplify his voice, the Genin-hopefuls in the room wincing at his volume. 

It had been six months since Naruto had joined the academy. In that time, he had met several people he could confidently call his friends. He had dyed his hair back to its original blond color about a month after arriving in Konoha in order to ward off any accusations of not being Minato Namikaze's son. With the blond hair, they'd have to be an idiot in order to accuse him of lying. 

The first friend he had made during his time here was none other than Sasuke Uchiha, who constantly told Naruto that they weren't friends, just rivals who tolerated each other's presence. Which Naruto translated as to, 'We're friends but I'll be damned if you'll get the satisfaction.'. 

The second friend he obtained was the lazy bastard who was walking towards Iruka, stepping down the stairs that led to Iruka's desk. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his posture was slouched over, not a care in the world. 

His third friend was Choji Akimichi, the heir to the Akimichi Clan. Naruto quickly noticed that the best way to get on Choji's good side was to bring the 'slightly big-boned' boy a bag of potato chips. The same chips that the light-brown-haired boy was currently snacking on like no tomorrow, a happy grin on his face as he showed off his new forehead protector, the Leaf insignia carved into the center of the medal. 

His fourth friend was an unlikely one. His name was Shino Aburame, the clan heir for the Aburame Clan. They had made friends when Naruto had mentioned how cool bugs were when it came to a fight, having seen Shino training with them earlier before he approached the stoic boy. 

And finally, his fifth true friend, was none other than Kiba Inuzuka, the clan heir for the Inuzuka Clan. They had started off rough. Kiba was rash and rough around the edges and had asked Naruto to spar with him within Naruto's first week at the academy.

He had approached the blond rather cockily. Naruto smirked at the memory. 

"Yo, new kid!" Kiba barked out as he saw Naruto sitting on the base of the tree outside of the academy, reading a book. Naruto looked up from the contents of the book's pages and saw Kiba walking up to him. He shut the book with a small snap, laying it on the ground next to him as he stood. He glanced at the swing set beside him but looked back at Kiba, who had his arms crossed over his chest. 

"Yes, Kiba?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side thoughtfully. "That's your name, right?" He knew it was, but seeing the boy's face twist from one of confidence to one of anger so quickly was amusing. 

"As if you didn't know," Kiba said bitterly. "What did that bastard Sasuke say to you on your first day here? I saw it through the window and it's been bugging me ever since." Naruto chuckled.