Heavy breathes and rushed footsteps were the only sounds for a mile. Shikamaru had never run so hard in his life, aside for that time when he had to run to Konoha, barely managing to save Asuma's life.


Hey, it's my first and last time writing a letter. Kinda ironic huh? Whatever. I just wanted to say bye to my precious people. Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-ojisan, Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan, Ero-sennin, Baa-chan, Shikamaru's lazy ass, Choji, Kakashi-sensei, Kiba's dog breath, Konohamaru, Gaara, Sai, everyone. If you someday catch Sasuke-teme or just bump into him, tell him too, okay? Thank you so so so SO much for everything you ever did to me! But I'm sick of living. I won't bore you with pathetic excuses of how sad my life had been to decide to kill myself. The truth is that I'm just not strong enough. Sorry for lying to yall about… well almost everything… yeah… that. Bye. LOVE U GUYS


It had been a normal day in Konoha. He was walking around without a care in the world when he saw Naruto eating ramen as always. He decided to sit beside him and chat. They talked for a while, until Naruto disappeared in a poof of smoke mid sentence. A clone. He looked at the counter, there was even money for his bowl of ramen. A considerate clone then. But the conversation had been very interesting, talk about tactics with Naruto was always interesting. He came up with the most unpredictable and ridiculous plans that somehow always seemed to work, it amazed Shikamaru because he would never be able to come up with something like that. He stood and went to Naruto's apartment at a lazy peace.

He arrived and found the door open, his instincts kicked in and he advanced with precaution. When he was sure there wasn't anyone inside he entered. Naruto certainly wasn't there. He was about to sigh and get out when something neon orange on the table caught his attention. He frowned, it was a letter that said: To the one who found this. Was Naruto playing games or something? He shrugged and opened the letter.


He kept running, no matter how much his body protested to the unusual strain. He could feel someone approaching but didn't care, he just kept running, trying to find something orange or yellow in a sea of brown and green. Soon Asuma was with him. So nothing to the west then, let's hope someone finds him. Shikamaru hoped against all logic to find Naruto, they had to.


Shikamaru finished reading the letter and stood there, shocked to the core. Then he slapped himself, now it wasn't the time to stay still! He needed to find Naruto and fast! He started to move, but the moment he moved his whole body crashed to the floor, unable to support his weight. He tried to stand up but he couldn't even move one finger. His whole body felt like it weighed- oh god that troublesome blonde! It was a trap for whoever read the letter so they wouldn't interfere! Shit he needed to move fast. But he. Couldn't. Move. He had been trying for at least ten minutes when he heard two familiar voices, they were chatting on the roof of the building! Shikamaru would have smiled in relief if that wouldn't have been so tiresome right now. Instead he gathered all the strength he had to scream Asuma's name.

In an instant both Jonin were there. He was sure that if it weren't for his expression they would have laughed at his predicament. Instead they got serious.

"What happened?"

"Letter… Naruto… help…"

Kakashi kneeled in front of him and hummed. "A fairly well done gravity seal trap, he's got you there."

Asuma was frowning, expression a bit alarmed. "Kakashi, take the seal off, we need to find him quickly!"

"Why? What did he do this tim-?" Kakashi's whole presence shifted the second he read the letter. He worked with efficiency and soon Shikamaru was free.

Thanks to Kakashi's summons they could pinpoint where Naruto was. The problem was that Naruto used shadow clones as decoys and they wouldn't know if they were following the lead of the original or a mere clone until it was too late. Shikamaru kicked a nearby tree, startling both Jonin. "Shit! We are done for! If Naruto doesn't want to be found he won't be! Not until it's too damn late! If it isn't already!"

"Why would it be too late?"

"I was talking with a clone when he dispelled himself in the middle of our conversation, went to his house walking at my pace and found the letter already there! Just who knows how much time passed since he left the note? Fucking blondes!"

"This is not going to lead us anywhere! You have to get it together, we don't know if it's too late already so we can't just give up!" Shikamaru nodded, a bit embarrassed. They split up and kept searching for what looked like an eternity. Finally, a small motte of yellow caught his attention.

"NARUTO!"