His slow measured steps were only a slight indication of the fact that he was trying to take his time in getting to the office. He had gotten home late last night and had left before dawn to see towards the reconstruction of the chunin exam arena that had been destroyed by Momoshiki and Kinshiki. It was definitely troublesome, but it had to be done seeing as how it served as a monument of blood, sweat, and tears for the promoted genin. Not only did he need to oversee the reconstruction but he had to make sure that all the rubble surrounding the area had been thoroughly cleaned up. Thankfully it was only this part of the village that needed to be repaired but Shikamaru couldn't deny the fact that it would have been a lot nicer if ninja, or pseudo-gods in this case, would stop interrupting the chunin exams.
As Shikamaru made his way to the hokage's office, he took one hand out of his pocket and scratched his head, unable to help the sullen look that had befallen upon his face. Concealing one of his yawns, the head of the Nara clan barely registered the people walking past him, purposely not making eye contact. Despite becoming what he had thought he would at the naive age of twelve, the man was happy about where his life had gone. He was an adviser to the Seventh Hokage and his friend, Naruto Uzumaki. On top of that he had married a certain sarcastic Suna "princess" and they had a son together, Shikadai. Not to mention that because of all his hard work there was finally peace among the five great ninja nations and he couldn't help but to feel proud of his accomplishments. He had done so much more than just laze about as he originally dreamed about. It was all worth it though; every bit of effort he put into any project assigned to him, he knew that he was ultimately doing it for Temari and Shikadai. Shikamaru had done his best to create a world for them that was close to perfect as it could be.
These thoughts were the reason why he had a wisp of a smile upon his face as he opened the door to Naruto's office, giving himself a small boost of moral as he would probably be tasked with yet another assignment of sorts. Yet as Shikamaru took inventory of the room, the smile he previously had instantly turned into a straight line as he noted that four genin were undoubtedly bruised up and Lord Seventh's face was as grim as the day he caught his son, Boruto, cheating during the chunin exams. Placing both hands back into his pockets after shutting the door, Shikamaru stepped toward the center of the room and placed weight on one foot, thanking the heavens that despite his son's lax attitude when it came to training, it did prevent him from getting into trouble most of the time.
"So," Shikamaru said, glancing over at Boruto standing beside Sarada, raising a brow at how neither of the kids could meet his eyes. "What happened with them, Lord Seventh?" He asked, jerking his head over to Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki and Inojin, who, Shikamaru noted, looked about ready to cry as he stood there with his pale fists trembling at his sides. Bringing his dark eyes over to Naruto, the dark haired male also noted how his friend couldn't meet his gaze either. Instead Naruto was staring down at his desk, his fingers looping through each other in the same fashion as Lady Tsunade and the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi, when both were deep in thought. When Naruto did finally raise his head, his blue eyes glittered with unmistakable empathy.
"I'm sorry," Naruto murmured, the thin line of his mouth further deepening into a frown as he looked down at his desk yet again, taking a deep breath. Shikamaru felt his heart momentarily stop before falling into the pit of his stomach. He hadn't felt such a anxious feeling like this in a long time. Even in the Fourth Shinobi War, he was somehow immune to such a devastating feeling as his main goal had been to protect and defend, causing him to ignore how he felt and instead focusing on the task at hand. In fact, now that he was thinking of it, Shikamaru swore this was similar to the feeling of guilt when he believed his poor leadership skills had possibly killed Choji Akimichi and Neji Hyuga almost two decades ago. Whatever the bad news was, Shikamaru couldn't help but turn his hands into fists as he heard the first shaky breath of Imojin trying to hide the fact that he had begun to cry. What the hell had happened?
"Shikamaru, it's Shikadai," Naruto continued, glancing at Shikamaru before looking away, and then almost immediately making eye contact once again. He respected his adviser immensely, owed him so much actually, and despite the look of shock and fear obviously etched upon his friend's face, he had to tell him face to face. While it grieved the hokage to do such a thing, he had to appear as professional and strong as possible, after all, the four genin in the room didn't deserve to see two men mourning. "It seems that Shikadai has..."