Inheritance

Naruto's Mask

Everyone else took that to be Naruto's true personality, and disregarded him because of it. Shikamaru himself, had been guilty of this too; in fact it was Ino that eventually indicated that something might be awry. It was around a year and a half into their time at the academy that he and Ino first spoke about the blonde. She had just begun training with her family on manipulation of the human mind that could be done without the use of jutsu, and she had been practicing using what she had learnt on their classmates, trying to pinpoint whether they were lying, and how they truly felt over what they were actually saying, or how they were acting. She almost didn't even bother trying this with Naruto, under the notion that as he was so open and honest, he probably wasn't hiding anything.

On hindsight, there was probably a lesson to be learnt for everyone learning to be a ninja. Never disregard anything based on outward appearances. Ino, did in fact try her technique on Naruto, more out of boredom than anything else; and doing so sparked one of the most interesting topics of conversation the three teammates had ever shared, and just about when of the only mysteries that Shikamaru hadn't been able to solve. Because, when Ino tried to read the rambunctious blonde's 'true thoughts', she found nothing. Not a single scrap of emotion, not even what one could witness on the outside. There was no trace of what the blonde really thought or felt, other than what came from his mouth. Ino described it as 'like being whitewashed'. Initially, Shikamaru believed that this was because Naruto was simply completely earnest in his thoughts; however Ino claimed that if that was true, his thoughts would echo his actions. However, instead it was some kind of 'invisible wall' that stopped Ino from reading him.

It took another three months before the trio got any further with the mystery. Ino tried to use her techniques on her own Father as practice, and was met with precisely the same reaction, she was 'whitewashed', so to speak. Naturally, Ino questioned this instantly. Apparently, it was something almost everybody who was a shinobi for more than a few years developed. An outwards personality, or a mask, that they always wore as a coping mechanism for the stresses the life of a ninja could bring. It was virtually impossible to look beyond, apart from by people who have this mechanism themselves. This was also another reason why anyone who wishes to become part of the Torture and Interrogation Department, has to have served in ANBU for more than a year. It would be impossible for anyone be part of ANBU for any length of time without using it to help them cope.

Unfortunately, this only brought more questions. What could possibly have affected Naruto, on a similar level to being a member of ANBU? They knew he was an orphan, but there had been other orphans in their graduating class, and Ino could read all of them. What was different about Naruto?

Today, though... Today was different. Ino had taught both himself and Chouji, the basics of reading people; and they had both become pretty good at it, for their age anyway. So, when Naruto joined them to perform their mission, Shikamaru decided to try to apply what he had learnt. Unfortunately, he was 'whitewashed', and made no further progress. However, about half an hour later something happened.

[Flashback]

Shikamaru groaned loudly, as he watched Naruto stumble down the ladder that he had been climbing, attempting to reach a higher portion of the wall he had been painting. They had been assigned to paint an old man's house, a very rude old man, going by the reaction the four of them got when they knocked to announce their arrival. He seemed to glare at them, for no reason whatsoever, and only stopped when Asuma announced his presence. When they had been shown what they were to paint Naruto immediately and enthusiastically set to work, like something possessed. Shikamaru noted, that while he couldn't tell what Naruto was really thinking, his over exuberance was particularly forced today, like he wasn't comfortable.

He also saw, whilst the blonde was desperately trying to wipe paint off of his now spoilt orange jumpsuit, that he had purposefully avoided conversation with any of Team 10; speaking only when it was absolutely necessary to do so, in order not to arouse suspicion. Naruto loudly cursed his both his luck and the paint, despite the fact that it was his own clumsiness that was at fault. That was when it happened. A man appeared in a loud puff of smoke, and picked Naruto up by the collar of his jumpsuit, and put him back down, standing up. He was an incredibly odd looking man, with incredibly long, spiky white hair; and a headband with kanji inscribed on it (whatever it said, Shikamaru couldn't read it from where he was standing), which replaced the symbol of Konoha. Which seemed incredibly strange to the Nara, considering exactly who the man was. Jiraiya of the Sannin; student of the Sandaime, the man who trained the Yondaime, and probably the most powerful ninja the village had to offer, the Hokage aside.