Shadow of a Hero
Chapter 1: Last Will
This fic originally started out as a collaboration between myself and Uchihalord15, but he decided that he had enough on his plate with the rest of his stories, so I'm taking over; this chapter was written by the both of this, but anything that (may) come after will be purely my own work.
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 an old friend of mine, Nara Shikaku, adopt him. I would trust this man with my life, and I know that he would not abuse Naruto's status as a jinchuriki, as so many others would.
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?"
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 over 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 entered the Academy, leaping (or, in Shikamaru's case, slouching) into the world of Shinobi headfirst.