Chapter 1: Brewing Troubles

He woke up from his slumber and was dragging himself off his bed, when that annoying voice rang out. "Hey, SHIKAMARU! Grandma Tsunade is looking for you!" Shikamaru sighed, picturing Naruto with that annoying grin forever plastered onto his face… What a drag…He thought, I thought maybe I'd be able to relax a bit for once. "Tell her I'm coming!" He yelled back. Sighing, he put on his flak jacket. Must be some idiotic mission he thought.

"It's just some idiotic mission," Tsunade said, "But you're the only ones that I can spare at this moment."

"Wait, you said 'ones', plural, who else is—''

The door burst open and a kunoichi wearing a purple shoulder-less kimono strutted in. "Lady Tsunade," she greeted. She then turned to Shikamaru with an amused expression on her face. "Hey, crybaby."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. She was STILL holding that Sasuke retrieval mission over his head? He tried to push the uncomfortable memories of the tears rolling down his face as he looked back at her. "Temari." He nodded in greeting.

"As you probably guessed, this mission has to do with the Village Hidden in the Sand. Temari has business back in her village, but we have reason to believe that she is being targeted. Shikamaru Nara! Your job is to protect her from harm." Tsunade looked him in the eye.

"Just me? I'm not sure if I'll be able to protect her from more than 3 people." Shikamaru frowned.

Tsunade hesitated. "Well, you're not gonna like this, but 'ones' wasn't referring to you and Temari. There's also—''

"HOLD THE APPLAUSE! NARUTO UZUMAKI IS HERE IN TOWN! BELIEVE IT!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. The idiotic mission just got a lot, lot worse.

Author's Note: Hello My first Fanfic, phew. Wish me luck. Sorry this is a little short, I'll try to make the next one longer. (It should be, it's got more plot) Okay yay for ShikaTema!