Authors note: This is a collaboration story by two different Naruto fanfic writers: UchihaLord15 and Zephyrclaws. Please enjoy and review!
Sarutobi Hiruzen was going through the paperwork on his desk. He had hoped he would never have to do this again, but after Minato's death he was forced to reclaim the title of Hokage. He shuffled through the pile of paperwork that Minato hadn't had the time to finish. On top of the pile was a letter, addressed to him. He opened it up and read through, wondering what the Yondaime would have wanted to tell him unofficially. He read it through and his eyes widened in shock.
Hiruzen,
I don't have much time to write this. As you know, I have to stop the Kyuubi from destroying the village. I want Naruto to be seen as a hero, but it is likely that not everyone will see it that way, so I would like to request that Nara Shikaku adopt him.
There was another letter inside the first one, addressed to Shikaku. Sarutobi sighed. He knew the Council wouldn't like take this well, but he knew how to make them agree.
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"This is ridiculous!" Uchiha Fugaku erupted. "Why on earth should the demon brat be allowed clan status? Especially one of the greatest clans in Konoha!"
"Excuse me, Fugaku-san." Nara Shikaku interrupted. "I am afraid that the council has no real authority in this matter. I alone have the right to accept or refuse Naruto as a clan member. Hokage-sama is merely informing you of this. And I believe that it would be in the best interests of both Naruto and the Nara clan to adopt the boy. Besides, Yondaime-sama gave his life to save us all, this is the least I can do to repay him."
"He's a demon! How does giving him power repay the Yondaime's noble sacrifice?"
"Do you really think so little of him, that he would make a seal which would allow the Kyuubi to possess or influence his only son? Be realistic here, Naruto is the jailer of the Kyuubi, not it's puppet."
"He is only three days old, you can't know that for sure!" Fugaku argued.
"I do not believe there is any danger from the Kyuubi. Besides, as I have already explained, this is a clan matter. Even if it was possible for the Kyuubi to possess him, that would involve him gaining Naruto's body and mind, and we would be able to raise him as the greatest leaf ninja ever. He would probably be most willing to destroy our enemies as long as we treat him well. But I still don't think that he is in any way the Kyuubi."
"Very well. As Shikaku has accepted the responsibility of raising Naruto, the child's name will become Nara Naruto. Also, the identity of his birth parents will remain a secret until he becomes eighteen." The other council members didn't look anywhere near happy, but they didn't have any grounds for argument. Sarutobi took Naruto out of his crib and handed him to Shikaku. Let's hope he likes the rest of the family, Shikaku thought to himself.
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"I'm home!" He skillfully dodged the frying pan aimed at his head as he walked into the kitchen.
"You're late!" Yoshino yelled at him.
"Well the Council meeting was really troublesome so I had to stay late. It turns out Minato wanted us to take care of his son since he can't." He held out Naruto to her. Her eyes widened in surprise, then she smiled gently and took their new son from him. A relieved sigh escaped him as she took him to meet their son Shikamaru. He had actually come home late and not been hit! As soon as the thought crossed his mind a broom hit him over the head.
"You still could have come home earlier!" She snapped at him.
Shikamaru looked up at his parents and new brother with a disinterested expression on his face and said his first word: "Troublesome." Yoshino hit Shikaku with the broom again and Naruto laughed.
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Three years later…..
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The kumo-nin shivered. He'd been sent on a mission to abduct two boys, children of the Nara clan. One was apparently a jinchuriki, and the other was a boy who, even at the age of three, could beat most adults at shogi. Both would be valuable assets to the Village Hidden in the Clouds, if this mission were successful. At least, that's what the Raikage told him when he was assigned the mission, but he knew better. Everyone knew that the Nara specialized in shadow techniques, and trying to break into their compound at midnight was nothing short of suicide. All it took was for one of them to spot him, and he was done for. Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he felt himself become paralyzed, his shadow stretched into an unnatural shape, ending at the feet of Nara Shikaku.
"Man, this is going to be really troublesome. I thought you cloud ninja wanted an alliance with us."
"I'm acting on my own."
"We'll see if you give Ibiki the same answer." The man paled noticeably; he'd heard horror stories about Morino Ibiki, Konoha's torture and interrogation specialist. I knew this was a bad idea. I should have taken my chances with the hunter ninja. As he watched Shikaku took out a shuriken. To his surprise he mimicked the man's motions against his will.
"What are you doing?!" Shikaku grinned.
"If I get the chance to visit your jail cell I'll explain it then." With that, they both threw their shuriken at each other.
Is he insane? The kumo-nin wondered. Shikaku bent over backwards as the shuriken came close to them. The cloud ninja did the same thing and smashed his head against the wall behind him, knocking himself out. Shikaku released the Kagemane No Jutsu, letting the man slump to the ground. He tied him up quickly and carried him to ANBU headquarters.
Several hours later….
Ibiki stood in front of the Hokage, giving his report and trying to ignore the echoing screams that were still bouncing around his head.
"Hokage-sama, I'm afraid all I know is that he was given the order to abduct Nara Naruto and Nara Shikamaru. The order came directly from the Raikage, which would imply a hands mission. We don't know why he would do something so foolish."
"Does anyone know other than me?"
"Nope." The two men turned at the sound of Shikaku's voice to see him standing in the doorway. "Yoshino and the boys are asleep." Thank god, otherwise I would have been in trouble for making so much noise.
"Very well. We shall keep this a secret for now, there's no point in worrying people. Shikaku-san, what do you think is going on?" The man sighed.
"Well, they must have known that there was no chance in hell of him getting away with my boys. The man they sent is their diplomatic representative, and it's a crime to arrest and interrogate someone with diplomatic rights. They're probably going to demand something from us as compensation. They were probably hoping I would kill him which would legally allow them to demand my corpse."
"Fortunately, they didn't research your techniques well enough. Still, they'll probably demand compensation, and at the least they'll want him back."
"He was trying to kidnap Naruto and Shikamaru, he's a criminal, and the Raikage isn't obeying our treaty."
"I agree, but I don't want to start a war. We would win, but it would come at a cost. We have a low number of ninja because of the Kyuubi's attack, and this would leave us with even less, which would tempt other villages to come and attack us, hoping to finish us off." Shikaku sighed.
"How troublesome."
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Three years later…..
"Are you ready for the academy?" Shikaku asked his boys. Shikamaru nodded sleepily before putting his head back on the table and trying to sleep.
"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed. Shikaku grinned, amused by Naruto's antics. If only Shikamaru had that much energy…
"Wake up!" Yoshino's broom hit Shikamaru on the back of the head.
"Ow!" He clutched his throbbing head. "What was that for? I was enjoying a great nap."
"They're not gonna let you sleep like that at the academy!" Shikamaru and Naruto shared a look.
"You sure about that?" He asked his mother. She hit him again. Naruto chuckled as he helped his brother up.
"Let's go, you don't want to be permanently brain dead." Shikamaru nodded.
"So troublesome," He muttered. The two boys grabbed their lunches and headed for school. Naruto kept racing ahead, then running back to Shikamaru and Shikaku, who were walking slowly. To Shikaku's shock, Shikamaru actually started running with his brother, and soon he was sprinting to keep up with them.
When they got to the academy they met their friends Akimichi Choji and Yamanaka Ino. Choji was eating chips as Ino talked nonstop. As soon as Shikaku left, wishing them a good day at the academy, Naruto turned to Shikamaru and asked,
"Hey, you brought the mini shogi set, right?" his pineapple-headed brother nodded and Naruto grinned broadly. "Sweet!"
"What are you talking about?" Ino asked him.
"Oh, Shikamaru and I have a backup plan in case the class is too troublesome to pay attention to." Ino hit them both upside the head. Naruto sighed. "Feels just like home…" Choji laughed, and Naruto narrowly dodged another swipe from Ino. She sighed as she looked at them. She wondered if they would even get through the first year. Her father had said it was very difficult, and the two boys didn't look very motivated. They each wore a t-shirt, Shikamaru's was black and Naruto's was dark orange. They also had on matching dark brown shorts. Shikamaru looked kind of bored, while Naruto appeared eager. They had all known each other for years; their fathers had been teammates and were still good friends, so the kids had grown up together.
They started walking into the school, looking around at all the little groups of kids, when Naruto noticed a little girl sitting on a swing that hung under a huge tree on the edge of the academy grounds.
"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you." Shikamaru looked in the same direction his brother was staring and shrugged.
"Sure." He, Choji, and Ino went to find their homeroom while Naruto walked over to the girl. She looked up at him as he approached, and he was startled to see that her eyes were pearl-colored, with no pupils. He could see she'd been crying. "Whatcha crying for?" She looked down. "No one wants to talk to me…" He smiled at her, catching her off-guard. "I'm talking to you, aren't I?" She smiled faintly. "I suppose you are… My name's Hyuuga Hinata. What's yours?" He grinned. "Nara Naruto. Come on, Hinata-chan, I'll introduce you to my other friends!" She blushed as he led her towards the others, but he didn't notice.
Chan? Did he just call me Hinata-chan? Does he actually want to be my friend? Naruto-kun…
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Naruto and Hinata took seats next to Shikamaru and behind Ino and Choji. Naruto made some quick introductions and they all greeted Hinata warmly. Ino turned around in her seat so she could talk to Hinata until the class started and Naruto took the opportunity to whisper in Shikamaru's ear,
"Hey, where's the shogi set?" Shikamaru slid it out of his bag, being careful not to let anyone see it. He and Naruto shifted in their seats a bit so that they could set the board on top of their legs. They quickly and quietly set up the board in preparation for class.
They started a game almost three minutes before the class. Their teacher, a man with a scar across his nose, had come in and introduced himself as Umino Iruka. He had taken attendance and then started the class with a basic lecture on the history of Konoha. Naruto and Shikamaru had been playing shogi since they were three years old. Naruto had started getting mischievous and pulling pranks, so Shikaku had introduced them to shogi, as a way to distract Naruto. As a result, they were both very good tacticians. Their longest game ever had lasted an hour and ten minutes. They even had the game board memorized so well that they just needed to glance at it to move their pieces for several moves.
The lecture lasted an hour, then they had to go outside for exercises. Naruto and Shikamaru pretended to be busy putting their things away so they could finish the game.
Their exercises were led by a silver-haired man named Mizuki. He started by teaching them how to wield kunai and shuriken. Naruto and Shikamaru, along with the other kids who came from clans, had already had some training with this. They both did pretty well, but the best in the class was easily a black-haired boy called Uchiha Sasuke. Mizuki praised him for his ability and he accepted it with an easygoing smile. When Mizuki saw Naruto, a telltale glint appeared in his eye, but none of the students noticed it.
After class, they all walked home together, until the only ones left were Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata. She smiled at Naruto. "Thank you Naruto-kun, for being my friend." She kissed him on the cheek, then ran off towards the Hyuuga compound, leaving Naruto red in the face, and Shikamaru practically rolling on the ground laughing. Unseen by them, Shikaku was also laughing quietly, on a nearby rooftop. When they reached home, Naruto shouted, "Hi, 'kaasan! Guess what?" She smiled at him. "What, Naruto-kun?" He edged, away from her, and said, "Me and Shikamaru broke our record by a whole five minutes!" Then, he swiftly ran to his room, avoiding her broom. Then, she rounded on Shikamaru, fire blazing from her eyes.
"How troublesome…"
About a minute later Shikaku walked into the room to find his wife ranting at Shikamaru, who was lying in a heap on the ground. As soon as she realized he was there she turned on him, looking almost murderous.
"Um, honey, what happened?"
"Your sons were playing shogi during class! And you taught it to them!" He ran away, narrowly avoiding her broom as he yelled over his shoulder,
"They're your sons too!"
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Naruto ventured outside his room ten minutes later to find Shikamaru looking through the fridge for food.
"You're eating this early?" Naruto asked him.
"I'm not eating, I'm getting some food in preparation for tonight."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean mom chased dad outside when he decided to antagonize her even further. I don't think she'll be in the best mood tonight, so I don't want to take my chances eating dinner at the table."
"Gotcha. Do we have any instant ramen?"
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After a trip to the hospital, Shikaku and Yoshino returned to the house.
"We're home!" Shikaku called as they walked in. There was no response.
"What do you think they're doing?" Yoshino asked him.
"They're probably hiding in their room, eating instant ramen and playing shogi."
"Why on earth did you teach them that game? It's all they ever think about these days."
"Would you rather have Naruto running around the house pulling every prank he can think of? Besides, it's good training for the future, assuming they ever become Chunin or Jonin."
"Naruto might, but I can't see Shikamaru being motivated enough to advance beyond Genin."
"You'd be surprised. I think Naruto's starting to rub off on him. Today, he actually started running on the way to the academy." Yoshino's face wore a look of surprise. "Huh."
Upstairs, the two boys were still playing shogi next to a trash can overflowing with empty instant ramen cups.
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Four years later…
Naruto and Shikamaru set up the shogi board in anticipation of Iruka's lecture. They had been keeping a record since the beginning of that semester, and Shikamaru was currently ahead by six games. Naruto was determined to change that.
Iruka came in and started a lecture about chakra. A few minutes later, Naruto realized that it actually sounded kind of interesting.
"Hey, Shika," He whispered to his brother. "The lecture actually sounds worth listening to today."
"You're just afraid of losing. Again."
"No, really." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but decided to give his brother a chance by listening to their teacher. To his surprise it was pretty interesting. Before they knew it, the lecture was done and their game was unfinished. Shika grumbled about it for a while, but as they went outside he and Naruto played out the game verbally.
"What are you guys talking about?" Ino asked them.
"Shh!" Naruto whispered. "I'm concentrating."
"On what?"
"The game."
"What game?"
"Gold general moves to F-6." Shikamaru declared. "Checkmate."
"Wrong!" Naruto exclaimed. "King to C-5!" Shikamaru furrowed his brow in concentration.
"Shoot, I missed that."
"What exactly are you doing?" Ino asked them suspiciously.
"I think they're playing shogi verbally." Hinata told her. In the last four years, she had almost completely lost her stutter, and she had become a much more confident and capable kunoichi. Naruto sent her an unabashed grin.
"Yep. We didn't get the chance to play the actual game during class, so we're doing it now." Hinata chuckled, amused.
"Are you insane?" Ino shrieked at them. "You idiots are never going to pass the academy if you keep obsessing over that stupid game!"
"We've been 'obsessing' over shogi for seven years, and we've managed to do pretty good in the academy at the same time." Shikamaru rubbed his ear as he spoke, hoping to ease the pain. "Iruka-sensei's lectures are so boring, it's much more fun to play shogi." Ino sighed in exasperation. They all headed their separate ways, and Naruto won his game with Shikamaru just as they reached their home.
As usual, their father asked them about their day, and he was surprised to see Shikamaru so interested in something. He decided that it was time they learned some jutsu. Taking them out to the back yard, he faced the boys with an unusually serious look on his face. "Boys, you know what Iruka taught you about chakra, and how it's used in jutsu?" They nodded. "Well, I've decided that it's time you learned some of the Nara clan techniques." Naruto and Shikamaru were practically leaping with excitement, although Shikamaru was doing a slightly better job of hiding it. "Today, I'm going to show you Shadow Possession.
He formed a modified ram seal, the fingers of his right hand curling over the fingers of his left. His shadow stretched until it connected with Naruto's, and Shikaku took a few steps, to demonstrate his control over the boy.
"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. He was slightly put off by the fact that he couldn't do anything but talk at the moment. Shikaku released the jutsu as Naruto began talking nonstop. "So how do we do that? What do we have to do? How long is it gonna take?" Shikaku and Shikamaru both laughed at his reaction. Once they got him calmed down, Shikaku started teaching the two of them.
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Two weeks later…
Naruto and Shikamaru dragged themselves into the house. Shikaku had not been at all lenient with them in learning the Shadow Possession – or Kagemane – Jutsu. However, they had both succeeded in learning it. Shikamaru could hold the technique for four minutes, while Naruto's limit was seven minutes. Once, in retribution, they had pulled a surprise attack on Shikaku with the technique, only for him to vanish from sight and reappear behind them a moment later, paralyzing them both. They collapsed on their beds, glad to have finally learned the jutsu.
The next day, after school, they were walking home as usual; everyone else had already gone home, and the two were walking alone. Out of the shadows, a man appeared in an alley ahead of them. He stepped out onto the street, blocking their path. He grinned maliciously. "Well, well, if it isn't the demon brat, and his brother, too! I'm gonna have fun carving you kiddies up." Naruto growled, while Shikamaru merely raised an eyebrow. Demon brat? What's he talking about? The man drew a katana from his back. "Die!" He rushed forwards, and dodged the shadow Shikamaru sent to capture him. He landed, raising his sword to strike… only to stop, paralyzed by Naruto. Shikamaru chuckled. "Your carelessness just cost you this fight." Naruto stood there, holding the man with his shadow, while Shikamaru rushed ahead to get their father.
Later, as the boys were about to lay down for the night, Naruto asked Shikaku a question that had been bothering him since the attack. "Dad, when we were fighting that guy earlier, he called me 'the demon brat'. What did he mean by that?" Shikaku sighed. "Son, I was hoping to tell you this only once you became a genin; however, considering today's events, it would probably be best if I told you now. You see, I'm not your real father." Naruto nodded. He'd guessed this. "Your real father died, when the Kyuubi attacked. When it was defeated, it wasn't destroyed; it's impossible. Instead, the fourth did the next best thing, and sealed it inside a newborn. That newborn was you." Naruto gasped. "He asked me to raise you as my own son, because he feared that the rest of the village would hate you, believing you to be the Kyuubi."
"Am I?" Naruto asked with wide, terrified eyes. Shikaku shook his head firmly.
"No, son, you are not the Kyuubi. You are effectively the Kyuubi's jailer. When you grow older you will be able to draw on some of the Kyuubi's chakra, but that is all. When your time comes, and you die, the Kyuubi will die with you. That is why you are a hero, because you will save everyone from the threat of the Kyuubi. But you don't ever have to worry about the Kyuubi taking control of you." Naruto sighed in relief.
"Thank you."
"One more thing," Shikaku added. "Even though you had other parents when you were born, Yoshino and I are your mother and father. You are as much our son as Shikamaru is." Naruto smiled happily.
"Thanks, tousan!" He reached up and gave his dad a big hug.