Shikamaru was ushered along by one of Godaime's assistants, ironically the one whose name he could never remember.
"Erm. Thanks …"
"Ayase, Shikamaru-san."
"Thanks, Ayase-san."
Shikamaru nodded to Ayase as he entered the Godaime's office. The Godaime, Tsunade, was seated behind a large pile of paper. Before he approached her, Shikamaru looked about her office. Nothing changed much since the Sandaime's death in terms of decoration. A few more scrolls depicting battles of years past were hung, but nothing more than that as far as he knew. He supposed she was very busy with paperwork and running the country.
Shikamaru approached her desk. "Tsunade-sama," said Shikamaru. "May I have a moment of your time?" Shikamaru waited a few seconds. Her lack of response prompted him to peer over the top of the stack of papers.
"Or maybe she doesn't redecorate because she sleeps all day."
Shikamaru walked around the desk and leaned in closer to Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, there is some fresh sake for you."
Tsunade's head snapped up and approximated the movements of a meerkat. That is if meerkats searched for possible alcoholic beverages as opposed to danger.
"Huh? What?"
Tsunade saw Shikamaru to the left of her and knew she'd been had.
"Argh," groaned Tsunade as she rubbed her eyes vigorously. "I should have known. So do you have a drink for me or not?" Tsunade stood up and yawned.
Shikamaru buzzed in Ayase, who opened the door and stuck her head in. "Yes, Hokage sama?"
Tsunade groaned and put her hand on her forehead to stay the oncoming headache. "Two coffee, black. Milk and sugar on the side," said Shikamaru. "Oh, and a bottle of aspirin."
Ayase smiled and said "Yes, Shikamaru-san." She quietly closed the door behind her and set herself to her task.
"Ahem. So when did you get in, Shikamaru?" Tsunade returned to her seat and began to read and stamp documents.
"I just entered the gates two minutes ago and came here right away." Shikamaru took a seat across from Tsunade." The mission was a success. Every member of my team has returned unscathed, for the most part. The Akatsuki has retreated for the time being. My team's intel shows them pulling out of the Water Country. I –"
"How's your eye?" Tsunade asked as she stared down at her documents. She continued to pour over her documents all the while Shikamaru looked pensively out the window.
Shikamaru fingered his hitai ate which covered his left eye, much like The Copy Ninja Kakashi. Shikamaru had undergone surgery which replaced his eye with that of Hinata's late father, Hiashi. As the Hokage's pet genius he was constantly referred to as "The Eye of Konoha" or simply "The Eye."
"It's fine," he lied. "It was a bit itchy at first, but it's become more manageable." In truth the eye drained his chakra at an alarming rate when he activated it. So much so that he is, at times, unable to perform the most basic of jutsu. If that were all the eye did to him it would have been less troublesome. However, since the eye was a foreign entity to his body he was finding it difficult to turn the switch off. He has been less successful than Kakashi in that regard with the eye ending up activating sporadically. At one point he woke up in a sweat having the eye drain his chakra in his sleep.
"Okay. How about the truth now?"
"Hai, hai."
"One 'hai' is enough."
Shikamaru's eyes returned to Tsunade who was still furiously stamping documents. "It's troublesome that it drains so much of my chakra, but I'll manage. I already have a plan developed to counteract all this, but it might take some time before it bears fruit.
Shikamaru's eyes darkened slightly. "Has there been news about – her?"
Tsunade slowly lifted her head from her work. "There hasn't been any word of her. You know that." Her eyes softened. "But if I hear anything – anything, you'll be the first I notify." Shikamaru nodded and lowered his eyes to the floor.
As if to break Shikamaru's darkened mood Tsunade changed the topic of conversation to one even more troublesome.
"You know you might have an even greater sphere of intelligence if you took this promotion I'm offering to you."
Shikamaru sighed very audibly. This was a little game he and Tsunade played from time to time. She'd offer him the rank of Jounin sans the test and he'd reply with a negative.
"Tsunade-sama you and I both know that I'm best suited to small unit operation."
"Oh, really?" she said with a smile. Shikamaru steeled himself for an ace. "And the Hyuuga mansion incident was a small unit operation?"
Shikamaru returned the smile. "That incident not withstanding I still conduct operations with only three teammates." Tsunade's left eyebrow rose incredulously. "Well, most of the time." Shikamaru added belatedly.
This time Tsunade sighed audibly. "Anyway. Jounin or not I'm assigning you three graduates from the academy." Tsunade raised her hand to forestall any complaints from Shikamaru. "We're short of Jounin. And the number of graduates from this year's class exceeded our expectations."
"But why do I have to take care of them? There are other Chuunin with more experience than I have. Why don't you have them take care of this?"
"You've been running around on missions for the better part of the year. I'm giving this assignment to you as a kind of working vacation. You'll be sent their profiles tonight and you'll be meeting them tomorrow."
Shikamaru sighed and thrust his hands into his pockets. "Are you sure you aren't doing this just because I didn't take Jounin?"
"No. That's just an added bonus." Tsunade smiled at him before she returned her attention to her documents.
"I wonder what's keeping Ayase," Shikamaru wondered aloud as he walked to the door.
"Show Kiba in will you, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru opened the door, and sure enough there was Kiba, a member of Shikamaru's small circle of ninja he'd trust with a kunai to his throat, was flirting with Tsunade's secretary.
Shikamaru shook his head as he told Kiba to enter Tsunade's office.
I think she's giving me this assignment because I constantly have to deal with children.
Shikamaru woke with a start. He had forgotten that he set his alarm clock to wake him at six in the morning. He spent the whole of last night pouring over his soon to be apprentices' files. He was surprised by the sheer volume of information given to him. Birth certificates, medical history, psychological evaluations and their marks in school were all included. Seeing that these files were more extensive than those of team 10 when he was Asuma's disciple gave Shikamaru a foreboding feeling about handling these children.
Shikamaru arrived earlier than expected to Iruka sensei's class. Shikamaru fired up his Byakugan, still covered by his hitai-ate, and peered through the walls to see Iruka group the children into their new squads. Shikamaru groaned audibly. Even though the files on his students were large it did not have within its contents a single picture of any of them. Shikamaru held back the urge to step back as Iruka and the children turned to look in his direction. He told himself that Iruka couldn't have seen him.
"You can come in, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru shut his Byakugan off an entered the room as per Iruka.
"How'd you know I was there?"
"We could hear your breathing from this side of the wall."
Shikamaru nodded curtly. He chastised himself, not because his breathing was labored, but because he knew it would be labored due to the many times he has used the Byakugan and did not account for it.
"So which ones are mine?"
Iruka looked down at his role sheet and beckoned forth three students.
"Edogawa Kasumi, Nanahara Keiko, and Yamada Natsuhiko," said Iruka "you are now designated as team twelve. This will be your sensei, Nara Shikamaru who you may know as "The Eye of Konoha."
Shikamaru glared at his former sensei before turned it to his wide eyed students. "Before we begin I want you to know that the passing rate under my tutelage is zero percent."
The three visually paled at the comment. However before Kasumi could give her yelp of hopelessness Iruka stepped in to clarify things.
"What Shikamaru-sensei is trying to say is that," said Iruka as he glared at Shikamaru "you three are his very first students ever."
The trio visibly slumped in relief. Their collective breaths exhaled.
"You enjoy ruining my fun don't you sensei?" Shikamaru gave his sensei a wry grin, totally ignoring the sudden relief emanating from his students. "Alright. Follow me."
They entered another room down the hall. The students situated themselves in the only desks available and waited for Shikamaru to speak.
"As Iruka sensei has already told you, I am your new Chuunin sensei, Nara Shikamaru, and I'll be taking you under my wi –"
"Shikamaru-sensei! Why are you only a Chuunin?" asked Kasumi as she stood at her desk. "Aren't you supposed to be a Jounin before being assigned Ge –"
Shikamaru raised a hand to stall further questions. "Tsunade-sama's orders. If you have a problem with it you should take it up with her." Kasumi resumed sitting.
"Ok. I'll start us off by introducing myself and my likes and dislikes," said Shikamaru. "Ahem. My name is Nara Shikamaru and my likes are sleeping in, watching clouds, and playing strategy games. I dislike anything troublesome which includes: women, training, missions, and having to deal with my mother."
Natsuhiko stood. "My name is Yamada Natsuhiko. I like reading books, watching comedy movies, painting pictures, cooking, and basketball. I dislike cleaning my room, and rainy days. I also hope to bring about peace to all the hidden villages."
"Very admirable of you Natsuhiko," Shikmaru said.
Shikamaru eyed each of his students carefully. Natsuhiko was of middling height for girls of her age, twelve. Her attire consisted of denim overalls over a white undershirt, the standard ninja sandals, and her hitai-ate wrapped as a neckerchief. She held her hair in a single braid which swung back and forth in an almost happy-dog like manner. Her skin was tanned, smooth, and glowing. Bright russet colored eyes that hid behind sandy brown bangs seemed alive and yearning for adventure. From what he remembered in her dossier she was an extremely competent genjutsu user, but lacked the stamina for prolonged engagements. Also her attention span is fleeting which may or may not have anything to do with earlier trust issues she had with her other teachers.
Kasumi stood. "Hi! I'm Edogawa Kasumi. My likes are reading shoujo manga, watching anime, boys, and using my taijustu to kick the crap out of them. I also hope to create the perfect jutsu." Shikamaru restrained himself from raising an eyebrow. Her dossier said nothing of her apparent hatred of boys.
Kasumi was a full head above Natsuhiko. She walked with a skip in her step and shone forth a smile for the whole world to see. It made Shikamaru sort of nauseated. Her long flowing hair and cutesy pink sailor outfit made her seem as though she were more diva than ninja. However Shikamaru knew better thanks to the dossiers. He knew that her features belied the fact that she was a documented taijutsu specialist, seemingly following in the footsteps of Rock Lee. Her scores in chakra manipulation were just above failing levels. Shikamaru wondered if her lack of chakra control would become a hindrance in future missions.
Keiko stood. "I'm Nanahara Keiko. I like to read, eat ramen, and solve puzzles. I hate public speaking and boys. I hope to be the next 'Eye of Konoha.' Thank you."
Shikamaru raised his eyebrow. "If you ever want to get an experimental eye transplant, lead a group of ninja against your own village members, and have every assassin hunting you down every single minute of every single day then, yes you're welcome to become the next 'Eye of Konoha.'
Keiko stood as tall as Natsuhiko and has a recorded I.Q. of one hundred sixty-eight, which gave her genius status. However, her scores in practical were merely above failing levels whereas her test scores were top of her class. She wore clothes similar to that of chuunin and jounin, but instead of a vest she wrapped herself in a cloak with her clan's symbol on her left breast. She kept her hair short which along with her beautiful facial features and lithe body gave her the appearance of a pixie. Her demeanor though, was far from pixie like. She kept her head in her books and only spoke with others when spoken to first, and then only for as long as she deemed necessary. Also she incessantly harped at Iruka to train her in genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, all areas in which she was merely passable. Shikamaru found this fact to be extremely troublesome since she would more than likely harp at him to do the same.
Oh, well. I guess I'll sleep some other time.
Throughout their little speeches he kept his attention on his students' reactions. Natsuhiko and Kasumi politely and smilingly paid attention and gave appropriate scowls when he mentioned that women were troublesome. Keiko surprisingly stared at him very intensely throughout everyone's speeches. He could not place why she was so intent on staring at him, which to say was very disconcerting.
Shikamaru stood. "That'll be all for today. Tomorrow I'll be conducting a series of tests including a written test, a field test, and an eye exam."
Shikamaru saw his students quietly file out of the room and said to himself: 'This is going to be interesting.'