Seeing Shikamaru approach with confidence written all over his face, Naruto made a point of looking him carefully up and down.
He had to admit, the bulging wallet at Shikamaru's waist looked seriously handsome.
"Whatever rules you want, I'm fine with them."
Naruto swallowed, then quickly arranged the Shogi pieces. When faced with his generous benefactor, he knew better than to shirk such a little chore.
But before the tall, rich, handsome Shikamaru could say anything, his close friend Ino Yamanaka jumped up and shouted, "Shikamaru, raise the stakes! I'm putting in two thousand silver taels!"
That shout from Ino was all it took.
It instantly gave more than a dozen handsome little Sasuke admirers, including Sakura Haruno, an idea.
Why call them handsome little devils?
Please. As far as Naruto was concerned, anyone who helped him in his hour of need was a handsome little devil.
Hearing a bunch of boys egging him on from behind, Shikamaru rolled his dead-fish eyes. "What a drag." Then he turned to Naruto and shrugged. "They want to raise the stakes. What do you think?"
Shikamaru had even made a point of asking his opinion. Naruto was so touched he could almost cry, and he felt too bad to spoil everyone's fun.
"No matter how harsh their conditions are for this round, I'll take them on."
As he spoke, Naruto slipped into his award-winning actor persona, sweeping a terrified gaze across the class. "But don't put up too many silver taels. I'm afraid I won't have enough money to match your bet."
Naruto might as well have told them outright, *I'm broke, and I'm afraid of losing. Hurry up and pool your money so Shikamaru can beat me. Ideally, make me lose so much I can't even afford pants... Then I won't dare