"What are you all huddled together doing?"
Shikamaru and Choji walked over from afar. Seeing everyone gathered together, they were a little curious.
"Nothing."
Everyone looked at them, and Naruto, standing in the middle, smiled lightly when he saw the two.
Naruto was not surprised by Shikamaru and Choji's arrival.
He had long made arrangements for those two in his plans.
After all, one was a military strategist and the other was the head of logistics!
Since they were going to work for him, their strength naturally needed to improve.
Choji was easy enough to handle. As long as there was food dangling in front of him, he would even jump off a cliff.
Shikamaru, on the other hand, was a little troublesome.
He was the sort who would never stand if he could sit, and never sit if he could lie down. His laziness was simply astonishing.
How could he make Shikamaru train willingly?
With a turn of thought, Naruto came up with a plan. He turned to Neji and Hinata and instructed, "You two keep practicing the techniques I just mentioned."
Then he headed straight toward Shikamaru.
His gaze swept over the two of them, but the third person was nowhere to be seen. Naruto found it a little strange. Ino was actually absent from something like this?
Had something delayed her?
But that was not the important part.
After approaching them, Naruto hid his thoughts away and put on a calm, composed, innocent expression.
As usual, he asked with concern, "Shikamaru~ How is your Shadow Imitation Technique coming along?"
"Not bad," Shikamaru responded.
He noticed Naruto's expression, especially the look in his eyes that he could not hide. That sense of incongruity gave him a bad feeling.
Naruto raised an eyebrow and crooked a finger. "Then how