Naruto: Twist in Time

7. Graduation

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CHAPTER 7
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The two weekends that Naruto and Sasuke spent sparring together didn't bring them any closer and Naruto didn't particularly try either. They just enjoyed training themselves till they were drenched in sweat and their muscles ached all over but they had that sense of satisfaction that only came after accomplishing a particularly grueling task. 

Not that Naruto actually put much effort. He had to, in all honestly, expend more work into not revealing his true strength than actually fighting Sasuke. 

Sasuke would flip out if ever knew this little fact. 

But even if they didn't share any special bond all of a sudden, Naruto became that one person for Sasuke that he could tolerate being next to. 

So, that was the reason both of the boys entered the classroom together on the day of the genin exams. It wasn't unusual, however, as they'd been doing this for the past week. 

When it first happened, most of their classmates eyed them with bewilderment, unsure of how the two usually bickering boys could share each other's company without starting a fist-fight. But as the week went by, and it became clear that those two didn't exactly plan to murder one another, the novelty of their subtle comradarie wore off and everyone had a begrudging (and slightly disbelieving) acceptance for it.  

Once inside, Naruto made a straight beeline towards Shikamaru to take the seat next to the Nara, like he'd been doing since the shogi match. 

Shikamaru was already in his seat, sleeping. Nothing unusual there. 

Naruto slumped in his chair and mentally debated whether he should pass or fail the upcoming exam. A few minutes went by and Shikamaru lazily opened his eyes, broken out of his short nap by the constant buzz of conversation in their class. 

Now, Shikamaru had pondered over all the information he received last weekend in his head, over and over and over. 

And for some reason, he felt like he'd been played by Naruto. 

But since he didn't have any logical reasoning behind this thought process, and he didn't blindly follow his instincts, he kicked back the feeling of strangling Naruto whenever he saw him. 

Instead, he observed. Like always, Naruto broke out of his thoughts and said, 

"Ah, so you're up. Excited to leave this hellhole?" 

Shikamaru snorted because he found the outside world just as big of a hellhole as the academy. 

He really only wanted to nap. 

"Excitement is not an emotion I'm familiar with," he drawled, stretching his feet under the desk. "But I'm sure you are." 

"Your laziness knows no bound, Shika," Naruto shook his head in strange fondness, "and me? Yeah, I'm plenty excited." 

No, no he wasn't. He was actually dreading going on those boring D-rank missions again. 

He just wanted to murder Hidan or Kakuzu or Deidera. Anyone who was up for fight, really.