Disclaimer: Neither Naruto nor anything else worth anything belongs to me.
AN: None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.
WARNING: Ninjas killing other ninjas? Insanity!
Shikamaru always thought it was stupid; the Nara family secret last resort move where you commit your chakra, life-force, and will to the shadows, in turn making them powerful enough to exist in the light and kill all your enemies.
Becoming Shadow
Shikamaru always thought it was the stupidest 'Ultimate Move' ever; the Nara family secret last resort move where the Nara commits the last of his chakra, life-force, and will to a jutsu that ends with the user becoming one with the shadows he/she usually controls. You give yourself over to the shadows, in turn making them powerful enough to exist in the light and kill your enemy before fading away. Sometimes your body is left behind; sometimes it's consumed by the shadows when they end the battle. When a body is left it is usually an empty shell most often dead but sometimes a living vegetable, once or twice the Shinobi was left mad and gibbering. And an insane Shinobi is a loose cannon that can't be allowed to exist. Whenever a Yamanaka has tried to posses a Nara after the fact, to help them or find out if any of their mind is left, they usually lose themselves, like the Nara's mind wasn't just lost but a black hole as well, and leave behind two empty shells, occasionally the Yamanaka makes it out insane but still there.
Shikamaru always pronounced it 'Troublesome' and claimed he'd never have to resort to the move. He used to grumble about how if you became one of the shadows and you controlled shadows you should still be able to control yourself, there were stories about the original founders of the Nara clan surviving the move intact after all. He always thought it was stupid, a bad decision all around that he'd never make. It was too 'Troublesome' until he had to make a choice; let his comrades die and allow the S-class missing nin to take the vital information that could put all of Konoha at risk if it fell into the wrong hands, or commit to the path of no return. Really, he was considered the genius prodigy of a family known for their intelligence and even he couldn't think of a way around it.
The first time he'd heard about the Nara Clan Ultimate Move was when he was four. His uncle, his dad's younger brother, didn't come back from his mission. Instead one of his teammates came to their door looking so sorry he knew Uncle was never coming back. When the man was explaining he only mentioned the words 'Ultimate Move' in a slightly confused tone before his mother was breaking down and his dad was sinking shakily down on the sofa next to her.
"How much of him is left?" Shikamaru could barely hear his dad whispering from behind the door where he was hiding. The uncle who'd taught him how to stay quiet and keep his energy low so no one would know where he was would be coming back in pieces.
"The medic-nin said they need to keep him sedated, he's gone mad," the teammate told them gently. At the time he didn't understand how that could make his dad proud, he wasn't stupid like all the other kids his age, he knew what that meant. Ninja who went mad had to be killed for their own good, so they didn't hurt everyone around them. Shikamaru had already read all the books in the Nara compound, before his now-mad-Uncle told him to stop being so boring and come watch the clouds with him.
He was leading a group of three Chunin on a simple retrieval mission. By three he meant himself and two other Leaf Shinobi. The two he was leading were both a few years older than him but by now everyone in the village respected his intelligence and strategic mind, which was troublesome since he never wanted to become one of those famous Jonin who had a place in other countries' bingo books but there were already rumours running around while he was Chunin. This mission could have been a solo mission, he just had to convince some village elders that the strange artefact they'd discovered really needed to be researched by nin with chakra and other resources that they didn't have, no one but the Hokage and him even knew that the artefact held an important secret that could tear the village down if it got into the wrong hands. But it was standard procedure to take along a medic-nin and extra battle support for every mission. Teams fewer than three were never used anymore, not with the chance of rogue Sound Shinobi still out there.
After the whole Orochimaru/Sasuke catastrophe the village, Sound, had fallen apart. Orochimaru had pretty much been a dictator and the whole village existed to serve him, when he was gone they fell apart because they'd never bothered to set up any commerce, infrastructure, civilians to support the Shinobi lifestyle, or laws. So all the surviving Sound Shinobi pretty much went rogue and made it their mission to kill any Leaf Shinobi they could find. Occasionally an entire team never made it back from a mission, seemingly random, some of them could have failed their missions and some of them must have been interfered with, but he still wasn't expecting the sudden attack.
Three against five wasn't very good odds, especially since he could sense that all five of the enemy were at least Jonin power level, if not training. Luckily he'd been at the front of their formation and managed to sense the trap before any of them got caught in it. Still this was a battle they clearly couldn't win; three Leaf Chunin against five Sound Jonin wasn't much competition, and all three of them had been injured now. Shikamaru could see over one hundred outcomes for this battle, only a few ended with any members of his team surviving, and it wasn't going to be him.
The second time he heard about the Ultimate Move was when a cousin of his graduated the Academy. Shikamaru was, as he often did, hiding his presence and watching clouds in one of the farthest training fields on Nara property. By now he was nine and he'd managed to sneak into a few of the Clan vaults and read up a bit on some of their more advanced shadow manipulation techniques. He liked knowing things but actually doing them was something else altogether. Still he'd never found out what exactly the Ultimate Move that had driven his Uncle insane was.
Now his father was right there telling his cousin exactly what the Nara Clan Ultimate Move was, and neither of them even noticed he wasn't the bush he was henged as. It still sounded just as stupid to him as it had the first time around. What kind of move was one that destroyed you when you did it? No way to take it back, no way to stop it, and no way to survive it. If you were a ninja you were supposed to be a tool of Konoha; what kind of tool was one that broke itself. He'd scoffed at the fact that for a Clan known for intelligence the Naras had a really stupid idea of a finishing move. Troublesome. Then he rolled over and took a nap.
But now he had two other people's lives in his hands and he knew he could save them. These five had to be the reason there were so many unpredicted deaths and failed missions lately. Sound nin were well known for their loner style, they all were too dominating and argumentative to work well with others, so for five of them to team-up was something even he hadn't predicted. Well, it had crossed his mind but it was one of the least likely scenarios.
If they continued like this, all three of them fighting, none of them would survive. Aside from having the advantage of numbers the Sound Shinobi were also stronger than they were. He might have eventually been able to reach the same power level but right now he and his comrades were out numbered and out powered. Their only hope was for at least one of them to survive and tell the Village what was out here. Just over a half-day of travel outside of their village were five enemies waiting to prey on any weaker ninja who came by. Thankfully a Genin team hadn't been the ones to stumble in this direction. Even as he dodged, countered, and took a blow for the medic-nin he was with his mind raced as he thought of who was currently in the Village and who was out on missions.
Kiba, Ino, Choji, and Sakura were the only ones of his generation still in the village. His, Ino's, and Choji's dads were due back from their mission earlier today. There were a few Jonin still in the village but most of them were out on missions. The Village needed as much money as they could earn to help the cost of rebuilding after the most recent battle against Sasuke. He was going to have to do one thing he'd promised himself he'd never be dumb enough to do.
Jumping back he signalled for his team to regroup. As soon as the enemy surrounded them he shot out his shadows and pinned all five of them. It was only a short-term thing, he could feel his grip weakening already. At least it was dusk; there were a lot of shadows around to help him.
"You two head to the Village as fast as possible. I've never seen this done so I don't know the range or effects on teammates so I want you out of here. Head back, tell them I'm committing the Ultimate Move, don't let Ino try to posses my body if it's left, and send a search party to come back and see if there's anything left," he rushed out before starting the sequence of hand signals. Realizing how serious he was, the two ninja grabbed the pack with the artefact and leap off into the trees. Just before he finished the last symbol his shadow bind dissolved but before any of the five Sound ninja could leap away the clearing was enveloped in darkness.
On the day he graduated from the Academy his dad took him to the farthest, most private, training field on Nara property and finally told him about the Ultimate Move. He explained it, how they passed it down only through the Head of the Clan and if he lived long enough he'd have to teach all the new Nara Genin about it when they graduated. This jutsu was similar to the blood pact between a summons and a ninja but it went further than that. You became a part of the shadows, they consumed all your energy, and they would complete your last, dying, wish in return. Sure the shadows were already a part of you, every Nara could sense shadows from a very early age, but with this you became a part of them. And you couldn't go back.
"Shikamaru I need you to remember that only as a very last resort do you ever attempt this. Once you give yourself up and become a part of the shadows there's no coming back. When a Yamanaka tries to enter your mind they either remain an empty puppet or are driven mad too. No one survives so make sure it's your last resort."
He nodded and slouched off to watch clouds with Choji. After committing the jutsu to memory he filed it away under useless knowledge he would never come back to. At least, not before he was old and grey and bored enough to research whether or not the rumours of powerful Nara ancestors surviving the move were realistic or not.
Becoming a shadow is hard. It's easy to see how so many have lost themselves doing it. All of a sudden you are everything, everywhere, at once, and yet, you are nothing. You are an echo, a shadow, of everything that is, everything that casts a shadow. Everything is a part of you suddenly. You are a part of everything. Where there is light there is shadow and when there is no light that is when everything is in the shadows. It's terrifying, excruciating, exhilarating; you are a tree, a dog, a bird, anything, you are the shadows. But a shadow is still just an echo of the thing; you are all shape and no substance. And now it is so hard to remember to be anything but a shadow. It is so easy to forget that you also have substance, that you were something, someone, before you were shadow.
There is no going back. Shadows are a part of you, like a hand or a leg, that you won't be able to separate from, but there is going forward. If you can remember how to be something, someone, from before you can keep going, as someone new. Remember what, who, you were and realize what, who, you could become.
As soon as the two members of Shikamaru's team arrived injured and without him everyone knew he was most likely dead. Ever since the failed Sasuke retrieval mission Shikamaru had always put himself between his teammates and danger. After Asuma's death he hadn't let anyone partnered with him come back with even a scratch. Since he'd made it his personal mission to never let anything hurt anyone he was charged to lead everyone knew that something terrible had to have happened for both of his teammates to be injured. They handed over the artefact, something most thought was not worth the town's best strategist's life, and relayed the surprise attack, where it had happened, and what their leader had told them before sending them home.
Tsunade wanted to send the elder InoShikaCho team along with Kiba, in case they needed his nose to track anyone down, but didn't refuse when Ino and Choji insisted on going after their teammate and friend. She sent the six ninja, and one nin-dog, out knowing that when they reached the clearing described the best thing they could hope to find was five dead bodies and if he hadn't been completely consumed they could only hope that Shikamaru's body had also died. Unfortunately the strongest members of the Clan tended to be the ones who left behind a physical body. The sight of Shikamaru as an empty shell or a raving mad man would be painful. No matter how fast they ran they wouldn't be able to reach the site of the battle before sunrise, and it would be even more devastating in the light of day to see a child, friend, teammate, like that.
They barely made it into the woods, miles, hours, away from where Shikamaru had been last seen when Kiba and Akamaru stumbled. Spinning around in confusion and sniffing the air they both whimpered in uncertainty.
"It's, he's, his scent is everywhere. We all, this whole forest smells like Shikamaru. It's fresh, like every tree is giving off his scent," Kiba explained in a dazed tone.
"Or every shadow," the elder Nara said through gritted teeth.
Starting back off the group hurried through the forest as he explained the basic idea behind the jutsu Shikamaru had most likely already used. Of course all the shadows in the area would smell like him for a while; they were what was left of him now. They continued on, pushing as hard as they could, and an hour after sunrise they finally reached the clearing the two Chunin had described.
It was supposed to be getting light out now. But they didn't like light, shadows were the absence of it after all, so he kept the clearing dark. Well, only the middle, where he was standing. Sure he knew he had to let them go when the Leaf clean-up team arrived but standing there surrounded by shadows felt warm and safer than he could recall feeling since very early childhood. They were coming; he could feel the shadows moving closer before he even sensed their chakra signatures. Sighing he let most of the shadows fall to the ground, leaving only a faint hint of darkness playing over his skin. Now that they were a part of him, he was one of them, he didn't think he'd ever be able to be comfortable in direct light again. He'd need to invest in some sort of hooded jacket or mask.
They stopped at the edge of the woods, standing on tree branches, and surveyed the clearing. Five dead enemy nin, slashed apart by their own weapons, and one slouching figure standing in the centre of the carnage. Tilting his head he looked directly at them and opened his mouth. "Troublesome." That one word, ringing through the air loud enough for all of them to hear it, seemed to release them from their shock.
The six of them jumped into the clearing, surrounding him, and he could tell Ino wanted to run to him. She probably was holding herself back from smacking him on the head for worrying her. Choji was watching him, a hint of desperate hope in his eyes. Kiba's nose was twitching, he couldn't help with that since they were him, he was them, of course they would smell like him. He couldn't see either Ino or Choji's fathers as they were behind him but his own dad stood directly in front of him.
"You feel like shadow." As a Nara his dad could sense shadows, thus he could sense Shikamaru as a shadow. That was probably an uncomfortable feeling.
"Yes. I am one of them." Still, the man should have realized what happened, he obviously wasn't the Nara family's genius for nothing. There was no way he would have let anything take his mind if he could help it.
"What happened?" His father's eyes narrowed, as his shadow reached towards his son's to feel him out he realized that none of the shadows around Shikamaru, or what had been Shikamaru, would bend to his will.
"I made it through to the other side." Throwing his arms out as if to encompass the scene around them his lips twisted in self-reproach. "It was wonderful and horrible, I was everything and nothing, we took away their sight, their sound, their smell, and let them kill each other, smothering them when they did not, but then I remembered who I was and that I could also be in control."
"So you survived, intact?" Still suspicious none of them dared come closer. By the looks on their faces they had all noticed that he was casting a shadow in all directions, regardless of where the sun was.
"No." He frowned at the thought of trying to explain it, "so troublesome. There is no going back. No one survives, intact. That is the point. You can't try to stay the same, keep separate, without losing. Our ancestors survived because they realized this, they understood how to embrace what they needed to become to continue on. Did I survive with everything that made me Shikamaru? Yes. Everything that made me a Nara? Maybe not. Am I more than I was? Definitely."
They mostly looked confused. They were still only human so he didn't expect them to understand completely what he now understood. You couldn't possibly become something as all encompassing as the shadows without changing, to expect that was to doom your mind to break. Sighing he thought of how to describe it to them.
"I can no longer use the Nara Clan shadow manipulation techniques." Suddenly all the shadows in the clearing started dancing, flickering, even his father's. They detached themselves from trees and plants, swirled across the ground, and when they were close enough some even jumped from the dirt into the air to circle around the young Chunin. As this was happening all the Leaf nin tried to jump back, expecting him to have lost his mind and thus possibly attack them, but found they were all in what felt like a shadow bind.
"They and I are one now, like a leg; you don't need to use a jutsu to move your legs." Releasing the shadows back to their original forms but still standing in a puddle of darkness he let his friends and family move again. "I didn't lose my mind because I accepted the change. I'm more and less than I was, but I'm still the same. We can go back, let the Hokage run tests on me, and even send a Yamanaka into my mind if you feel the need to. Although I don't know how well another human will react to being one of the shadows so I won't allow that Yamanaka to be Ino, in case it might harm her."
His dad's face split into a grin, "good enough for me. Nobody else has been coherent before so I'm willing to believe that you're still you."
At his acceptance Choji and Ino surged forward and engulfed him in a group hug. Their fathers slapped him on the back and when his old teammates released him his own pulled him into an embrace muttering about never scaring him like that again. Kiba just sneezed, Akamaru whined in sympathy.
"Sorry Kiba, I can't stop them from smelling like me, since they are me." Shrugging uncomfortably he tried to look as apologetic as possible, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't even know the full range."
"The whole damn forest," Kiba grumbled, but shrugged, "guess I'll just have to learn how to work around your scent. It'll be good training, if all of Konoha starts smelling like you."
"Just the shadows. I guess we'll both have to do some training." Shikamaru frowned at the thought. "Now that most of my jutsu are useless to me, ugh, so troublesome."
Thankfully they head home soon and when they get back the Hokage does indeed pronounce him perfectly sane, if changed on an elemental level. Kiba is also correct in that all the shadows in Konoha are a part of Shikamaru and the entire Inuzuka Clan now has to learn how to hone their senses around that. Although it does make it easier for him to form city defence plans since he knows where everything, down to the last shadow casting pebble, in the whole hidden village is.
Shikamaru always thought it was the stupidest 'Ultimate Move' ever; the Nara family secret last resort move where the Nara commits the last of his chakra, life-force, and will to a jutsu that ends with the user becoming one with the shadows he/she usually controls.
Shikamaru always pronounced it 'Troublesome' and claimed he'd never have to resort to the move. He always thought it was stupid, a bad decision all around that he'd never make. It was too 'Troublesome' until he had to make a choice; let his comrades die and allow the S-class missing nin to take the vital information that could put all of Konoha at risk if it fell into the wrong hands, or commit to the path of no return. Really, he was considered the genius prodigy of a family known for their intelligence and even he couldn't think of a way around it. So he changed the ending.
AN: So I've got a document for each show, book, or whatever I like that lists story ideas and prompts that I think of. But I end up writing them because I don't know anyone who will write them for me. So this was based off of a prompt I wrote, I've got tons just based on Shikamaru since he was/is my favourite character (probably because he reminded me of myself and how I was smart but just did enough work to get by: he did the same thing and still turned out an awesome ninja (there's hope for my future yet)). I'm going to put the prompt below and ask that anyone who wants to attempt their own version please do and tell me so I can read it. You'll note that the prompt doesn't necessarily have to have such a happy ending; he doesn't have to be an exception to the rule.
Prompt: Shikamaru always thought it was the stupidest 'ultimate move' ever; the Nara family secret last resort move where the Nara commits the last of his chakra, life-force, and will to a jutsu that ends with the user becoming one with the shadows he/she usually controls. You give yourself over to the shadows, in turn making them powerful enough to exist in the light and kill your enemy before fading away. Sometimes your body is left behind, sometimes it's consumed by the shadows when they end the battle, when a body is left it is usually an empty shell most often dead but sometimes a living vegetable, once or twice the Shinobi was left mad and gibbering. Whenever a Yamanaka has tried to posses a Nara after the fact and help them or find out if any of their mind is left they usually lose themselves, like the Nara's mind was a black hole, and it leaves behind two empty shells, occasionally the Yamanaka makes it out insane but still there. Shikamaru always pronounced it 'Troublesome' and claimed he'd never have to resort to the move. He used to groan about how if you became one of the shadows and you controlled shadows you should still be able to control yourself, there were stories about the original founders of the Nara Clan surviving the move intact after all. He always thought it was stupid, until he had to make a choice; let his comrades die and allow the S-class missing nin to take the vital information that could put all of Konoha at risk in the wrong hands, or commit to the path of no return.
Read and Review because I've got all my stories already, I don't need to post them, but if someone likes one or asks for more then I'll post more for them.