Ok, I'm really really surprised by this, and to be honest, really happy as well! I never expected to get such a huge response out of the first chapter you know?! It's awesome, and even if I only managed to get 6 reviews, this is officially the best story I've ever written, though that's not saying much considering I've only written 2 so far... Well either way, a majority of this A/N is not going to be answering reviews, oh no, I like being personal for that type of thing, but instead, a thank you to people who followed, and favorited. The review people, you know who you are ;)

Thank you: 15ls, Apocalypsebutterfly, Bloody illusion, CappuccinoLover001, DarkDust27, DesertxFox, DolciFool, Itsmehamaza, LoveroftheKiller, Mirimi-chan, SlythernLibra, ThemistakenKing, basketball4444, Minouuu974, silly60, tarynfire, and xXAzureFangeXx For favoriting this story!

Also, Thank you: Apocalypsebutterfly, Blood illusion, BlueFire2520, CappuccinoLover001, DarkDust27, DeserxFox, Itsmehamza, Loverofthekiller, Mirimi-chan, Ransor, Razorblade364, RedSoleil, SlytherinLibra, TheMistakenKing, WordsAreFun, beanche, jiemae, kayums, minouu974, spagtag, tarynfire, thechangeoftheseasons, and xXAzureFangXx for following this story as well!

Well, that's it for the special thanks! I think it's time for the chapter aye?

I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters!

Everyday life of a cloud Arc: Plan's set into motion.

Shikamaru was looking at her journal, the first entry complete now, with the last sentence being that she just needed to get things out of her head, right after her little thought of staying. away from a young Kiba. The boy was really annoying than, and he wasn't much better now. The fact that he hit on her here and there now just made things worse as far as she was concerned. She really didn't want to hurt the idiot dog, but if she had to she would without a problem. She wasn't going to be anyone's 'Pretty little wife' as the dog had said. It wasn't really necessary, but she took a low blow on him for that one, getting her disqualified in the little sparring match that the teacher had set up for the students.

Ignoring that for the time being, Shikamaru looked towards her father, who was sitting across from her with a cup of tea, a couple of papers in his hands that he was going over. She paused for a few seconds to brace herself for this, before she spoke "The Kyuubi, it's not dead is it?"

"I was wondering when you were going to ask." Shikaku spoke after a few seconds of silence, the two ignoring what they were doing now to look towards each other "You've always been too smart for your own good, I swear you were looking at my scars more than my actual face when you were a baby."

Giving a lazy look that matched her father, Shikamaru just shrugged "I could have been for all you know, but you still didn't answer my question."

"Hm... Well, I can't exactly talk about it, considering it's a village secret, but how about you tell me what you think is going on." Shikaku spoke with a slight smirk, the type that showed that he was basically saying that he was going to say what was right and what was wrong of what she said.

Giving a slow blink towards her father, before setting her Journal down, the 9 year old spoke "I think that Naruto has the Kyuubi inside of him, somehow, i think with whatever Fuinjutsu is, and because of that, most of the village hates him for something that's inside of him."

"Hm... Well Fuinjutsu is the art of using seals to do various things, such as sealing an object into a scroll." The Nara responded after taking a small sip of his tea, speaking in a way that made it seem like he had spoken to answer her question of what Fuinjutsu was, and not confirming what she had said.

Giving a nod towards her father, Shikamaru wrote something else onto the journal, before looking back towards her dad "So... I had another thing I wanted to ask. I managed to get into the Genin section of the library, legally of course, and I noticed that the Nara, Akamichi, Yamanaka clan heirs usually get stuck on a team. I think that should change."

Shikamaru ignored the narrow eyed look that she got from her dad about sneaking into the Genin section of the library. You needed to at the very least be a genin to get into there as the name suggested, and she had, deliberately, snuck into there. No nara would try and learn something that was above their station, unless they were-

Shikaku's eyes narrowed as he realized what was going on. His daughter was motivated about something, something that had made her break a few rules to learn what she needed to know. Thinking over it, his eyes widened slightly in realization as he finally understood what was going on. She was really pushing it wasn't she? But than again, she was just as much Yoshino's daughter as she was his. When she got motivated to do something, than she was going to try everything she could to try and get what she hoped she could out of the situation. In this situation it seemed that he really didn't have much of a choice.

Giving a sigh, the older man looked towards his daughter one more time, before he said "I'll bring it up to the Hokage. But the question is, how motivated are you to do this? You do realize what makes up the other teams as well right?"

"What a drag." Was the simple response from Shikamaru as she looked towards her father with the same lazy tone, motivation burning in her eyes at the same time though "Why would I bring this up if I wasn't motivated enough to try and do what I'm aiming for? You know just as well as I do what the motto of our clan is."

Giving a nod towards his daughter, Shikaku pulled the Shogi board they had under the coffee table out, as he said "'Motivation is only needed when there is something on the line'. Obviously there's something on the line for you to try and do this. Why don't you and me play a game of Shogi to get our minds off of it?"

Shikamaru, in turn, gave a bitter look towards her father as she understood what was going on now. He wanted her to prove that she was motivated enough for this. She wasn't going to be able to win no matter what she did, her intelligence, while well above average for her age, wasn't nearly as great as her father's was, at least not yet. That didn't mean she couldn't be bitter about playing a strategy game with him.

Letting out a yawn, Shikaku walked up towards the Hokage tower for the meeting that between the shinobi council. The Uchiha massacre was the last time that he had needed to do this with feeling a sense of pressure, but now he had the same problem. Shikamaru was motivated enough to try and change something that had been set into stone since before Konoha had been made. It was going to be tough, but it was something that needed to happen. He could see it now that his daughter had pointed it out, and how sad was that, needing a child's help to see something that needed to change so that Konoha could be more effective with some of the teams that they had.

Moving his stiff neck to try and get the crick out of it, Shikaku's bleary eyes scanned over Tsume Inuzuka talking with Hiashi Hyuga about something, probably something to do with how their children would end up on the same team in the future. He wasn't sure how Tsume would react to his proposition, but he knew that Hiashi would probably turn it down right away. Him being Jounin commander or not, the clan head had about as much power as he himself had when it came to propositions. This was definitely going to be a big headache for him he just knew it, but the fact was that he was going to do this no matter what.

Repressing yet another yawn, Shikaku let a lazy smirk make its way onto his face as he saw his two teammates walking towards him. Raising a hand, Shikaku said "Morning Inoichi, Choza."

"Morning to you as well Shikaku, you look like you got hit by a Doton jutsu." Choza spoke with a hearty laugh on his plump face.

Rubbing at the back of his head, and repressing yet another yawn, the jounin commander shrugged "To be honest you could blame my little troublemaker for that one. She talked my ear off despite the fact that she had to go to the academy this morning."

And wasn't that the truth? Not to long after the Shogi game ended, Shika had given him a huge lecture on what she thought was the reason that they needed to mix things up, and to be honest, he couldn't deny it, even if the teams usually consisted of clan members that tended to, more often than not, end up on a team together. The Uchiha, for example, tended to be put onto teams of three of their own because of the fact that no one else knew about the Sharingan but them, and fighting was the only way to unlock the thing.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts as Inoichi spoke. Shikaku rolled his eyes "You're little troublemaker couldn't be nearly as bad as Ino."

"I doubt that, considering the fact that Shikamaru is actually motivated about something for once." Shikaku spoke, his voice obviously being louder than what he normally spoke at considering the fact that most of the conversation in the room had silenced, causing him to sigh "What a drag..."

Tsume gave a barking laugh at that from her seat next to the Hiashi, and Shibi Aburame "So the little brat is finally motivated about something huh? This outta be good than once whatever happens, happens!"

"You say that now, but I doubt that it is something that we will all like." Shibi spoke in his normal analytical tone even as he pushed his glasses up "Am I correct to assume this Shikaku-san?"

Giving a shake of his head, the Nara leaned back in his chair that he, and his two teammates took "Well you're not wrong. Still though, this is something better discussed when the Hokage gets ere."

Shibi simply gave a nod as everyone else went back to their own conversations. Really, with how things were going, just from the Aburame head talking, he knew this was going to be really really troublesome, but he knew that if he didn't do it, than his daughter would bring it up to the Hokage herself, and he knew that she wouldn't be taken seriously. There was also the fact that she could get into trouble with the fact that she had snuck into the Genin section of the library. Seriously, she just dug herself into a hole, one she herself had admitted to digging, but she didn't regret it as far as he was able to see. Really, he just wanted to relax at this point, but he knew that wasn't going to happen, especially when the Hokage walked into the room.

Staying silent for the time being as the Hokage discussed the problems that the clan's had, and things they needed, Shikaku bidded his time, and also prepared himself for most of the room to lash out at him in some way. He really didn't know about a few of them, but the more strict clan's such as the Aburame, and the Hyuga, would definitely not like this. Stifling the urge to let out his daughter's signature catchphrase at the fact that he was going to have to deal with this soon.

"Shikaku." The voice of Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke causing the Jounin commander to look over towards the older man "Tsume informed me that you had something else you wished to discuss?"

Giving a sigh, Shikaku sat up in his chair, gaining a serious look that would often be associated with him being in the middle of explaining a strategy "What a drag... Well Hokage-sama, I was thinking over a few things, and even my daughter brought some things to my attention about the way that teams are set up."

"Everyone here knows that the teams are set up by their overall ranking in class." The only Hyuga in the room spoke with his normal stuck up tone of voice, something that caused Shikaku to let out a sigh.

Giving the man a flat look, Shikaku spoke "You and I both know that's bullshit. Every year we always end up with a team that consists of an Inuzuka, a main branch Hyuga, and Aburame, if they are in the same year. Most of the other teams are decided that way, but that usually only happens if there aren't clan heirs or Heiresses."

Hisashi didn't seem happy about that being shoved into his face, even as Tsume and Shibi stared at Shikaku with questioning looks "What are you going on about Shikaku?"

"I would have to agree with Inuzuka-san with this Nara-san. I do not understand what this has to do with anything that we have discussed here today." Shibi responded right after Tsume, the rest of the council, minus Hiashi, looking just as confused.

Putting a hand onto his face while mumbling about this being 'way too troublesome' before he looked back up looking the three clan heads in the eye "Look, I trust the system that we made for our graduating genin just as much as anyone else in this room, but times are changing, what are we going to do when people finally understand what's going on with our teams and they send out people to counter our teams?"

"What are you-" Inoichi started to ask, before a hand touched his shoulder, causing him to stop as he looked towards the Hokage.

Hiruzen looked towards Shikaku with an unreadable look, as he asked "Are you saying that the current system is unacceptable?"

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, yes it really is." Shikaku spoke in a blunt tone as he looked towards the man that he was pretty much directly under "The deadlast in the academy being put with the top Kunoichi and rookie of the year, as far as i'm concerned, is fine considering it does just like you said before, balances the team. What I have a problem with however, is the fact that we are becoming a bit predictable with our team assignments for the rest of the students of the years. With the current assessment, more and more Civilian's are being turned away because of the way the assignments put them together in a way that they wouldn't last long outside of Konoha. To put it glibly, the way it is now is costing us more than we can afford if we keep up with this way."

The rest of the council stared at Shikaku with wide eyes, even Hiashi for that matter, as he started to talk about the faults of the current system. The way that Shikaku was making it seem was that the current system was making the teams unbalanced and even killing some of their young Shinobi. To be honest though, that was exactly what he was talking about as well. After the talk that his daughter and he had, he went into the mission records to see if the statistics were correct, and for anyone under the rank of Joinin, that was true. The Chunin that went onto some missions were promoted because of their strategy, and that was it, and when they were put onto teams like that, they ended up killed by woefully superior enemies.

The biggest thing though, was that not only was that happening now, but it had been happening since before Hiruzen had become Hokage. The fact that it had been happening for that long without anything or anyone fixing it, was aggravating to say the least. The hurt to his pride at the fact that his nine year old daughter had lead him to this, was overshadowed by the anger of the fact that men and women died for absolutely no reason. A slightly different team assignment, or a bit more training, would have saved hundreds of lives in the past 60-70 years, and would have made Konoha stronger. This was really troublesome, but he didn't regret the fact that his daughter had helped him figure this out, of course that's also ignoring the fact that didn't get any sleep because of it..

Ignoring that for the time being, Shikaku looked towards Hiruzen after he gave his findings with the mission records. The whole council was deathly silent, as they all took in what the Jounin commander had found out though just a little bit of research. Tsume was angry, needless to say, about the fact that many of her clan could have still been alive and happy, if they had received more training from Joinin that could actually help them better than the one they had got received. She wasn't the only one, with an angry buzzing coming from Shibi indicating his mood, even as Hiashi glared at the table realizing that this also worked with his clan as well. Of course, Choza and Inoichi also agreed with this as well, knowing their friend well enough to know that he wouldn't present anything that he didn't believe in.

Hiruzen let out a tired sigh as he put a hand to his face "I understand Shikaku. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. The fact that the teams that had the dead last and the rookie of the year in them had the lowest casualty count, however, says a lot. With what you've told me, I think it's about time that we make teams based solely on the ranking, and not due to alliances between clans. I am sorry to say that you're team will be the last Ino-shika-cho, Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza."

"That's fine to be honest Hokage-sama." Choza spoke with a soft frown on his face "I just wish that we would have been able to find this sooner. Maybe than we could have saved more of each of our clan's, and more Civilian born Shinobi as well."

Inoichi gave a hum of acknowledgement at that as well, as he looked towards Shikaku "I have to agree with Choza on that manner, but how did you even think to look for this anyway?"

"Lets just say that a certain troublemaker pushed me in the right direction." Shikaku spoke, as he looked out towards the Window in the meeting room towards the Academy.

Shikamaru gave a glare towards the girl that was in front of her at the moment. The Nara had made it to school later than she normally did, which was why Naruto had already been in class waiting for her instead of waiting for her outside of the school, and of course, that had caused him a bit of trouble with a certain Uchiha due to the fact that they disliked each other a lot. Naruto was still the dead last of the school's ranking, and that wasn't due to a lack of trying, but the fact of the matter was that when Shika arrived, she was greeted to the sight of Sakura Haruno punching Naruto in the head while she screamed at the top of her lungs to 'leave Sasuke-kun' alone.

Naruto, being the type of person who was horrible with lying, and told Shikamaru when she asked what he did, that he was just glaring at the 'Teme' as he called Sasuke. Sakura took another swing at Naruto for calling Sasuke that, before Shikamaru caught the fist with a tired sigh, but a glare in her black eyes. Everyone looked on after that with wide eyed looks at the fact that the laziest person in school, had stopped Sakura like it was nothing, especially considering she was well known for being stronger than she looked.

"Alright, you're gonna need to stop trying to destroy what little brains Naruto has left." The Nara spoke in a lazy drawl even as she ignored the yell of indignation from said blonde "He's not the smartest of people, even he admits that, but I don't think you really had any reason to punch him."

Sakura let out a growl as she swung her other fist, having it connect with the Nara's head, sending her backwards right as Iruka walked in "Shut the hell up you tomboy! What do you know about the idiot?!"

"Quite a lot actually, since, you know, he's my best friend?" The black haired girl spoke as she rubbed her jaw a bit due to the pain of being punched in the face though her eyes quickly landed on the stock still form of Iruka "Ah! Iruka sensei, guess this is getting kinda troublesome... Well, since you're here, do you think I could spar Sakura here? I mean, she did just hit me in the face and all."

Snapping out of his trance, the teacher stared at the lazy girl for a second, before he nodded "If that's how you want to sort things out Shikamaru-san, than by all means."

"Oh, and let everyone in class watch would ya?" Shikamaru spoke as she stood up, ignoring the jeers that she was getting from the rest of the female population that liked the Uchiha "I'm probably going to be a bit more active here soon all things considered, and I want to show that."

The teacher blinked a bit in surprise, but he nodded anyway showing that he understood what she was asking, no matter how much it surprised him that she was actually going to do this. Telling the rest of the class where they were going, Shikamaru ignored Sakura, who had a confident look on her face as she passed by. The black haired girl simply put her hands into her pockets, as she walked through the door first, Naruto not to far behind her.

Catching up to the Nara, the blonde gave a wide eyed look towards his best friend "What are you doing Shika-chan?! I thought you wanted to stay unimportant?"

"I found out something that gave me some motivation." The girl spoke while looking towards Naruto out of the corner of her eye "I don't know if you know how teams are made up, but if it's the way that i'm thinking then so long as you're dead last I won't be on your team, something that I actually want. I can't prove it, but I think someone is sabotaging you as well so you'll probably be dead last even if you're the best kid in the class."

Naruto looked at the Nara with wide eyes, before he asked "Does that mean that the top two in the year are on the same team as the bottom?"

"See? I told you you're not as stupid as you think you are." Shikamaru spoke with a smirk on her face as she ruffled the shorter boy's hair a bit, getting a squeak from him out of embarrassment "You really need to use your head more often, seriously."

Crossing his arms while turning away from the girl, a giggle caught both of their attention as Hinata caught up to them, poking her fingers together as a nervous habit "You two are almost like siblings you know that...?"

"Hey, you didn't stutter." Shika spoke with a happy expression as she did the same thing to Hinata as well, since she was taller than both of them at the moment "But Nah, I don't think I could be this idiot's brother. I like him, but I don't think It'll ever be in that sense."

The Nara had no delusions that things could go in a completely different direction than what she could think up. She knew for a fact that humans were the one thing you could never plan around unless you were in a battlefield, and even than, you can't predict everything that's going to happen. In this case, it was more along the lines of Shikamaru not knowing where things would end up, like if she would end up in love with Naruto, or if Hinata would all things considered. God forbid if the shy Hyuga ended up finding that she was not only in love with the blonde, but her as well.

Shikamaru ignored that with as much force as she possibly could, as she heard Hinata, let out a small giggle "I've been t-trying to get better with t-talking without stuttering..."

Giving the blue haired girl a smile and a nod, Shikamaru's expression turned more serious as she looked towards the circle where the Sakura was waiting for her. Rolling her eyes at the fact that the pink haired girl was cracking her knuckles, Shika just walked into the ring with her hands in her pockets. She looked to the side towards Iruka seeing that he was ready, and then looked back towards the pink haired girl who had punched the Nara's friend.

"I don't even know why you agreed to this considering you just give up every time you enter the ring." Sakura let out with a taunt, trying to look intimidating, well as intimidating as a 9 year old with pink hair could.

Letting out an unrestrained yawn, the Nara simply mumbled "What a drag... Why did I agree to this again...?"

"Kick her ass Shika-chan!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, which was followed by a quieter "You can do it!" From Hinata.

"Oh yeah, it was because of that idiot." She reminded herself as she stared Sakura down.

Well, this was either going to end in disaster, or it was going to turn out the way she wanted. Either way, things definitely were going to get troublesome for the Nara. She just hoped that her dad managed to convince the Hokage about her idea.

So I need to know what you guys thought! Good? Bad? Averagely awesome, but not quite as good as the last chapter? Whatever it is that you guys think, let me know ok? I'm more than eager to hear your thoughts, and I won't care so long as it isn't flaming me considering, to be honest, I'm an ameture writer, so I'll probably make mistakes, or put something in here that will end up pissing someone off.

Ok, moving on from there, however, the next chapter will be a bit longer, both lengthwise, and time needed before I am comfortable posting it on here, so be a bit patient with me. I mean, this chapter comes out to about 4000 words, give or take considering the A/N, but with that in mind, I'm happy with how things have been turning out so far, and I hope you bear with me, considering the fact that the first, lets say, five or six chapters will be a bit on the boring side, and before cannon, I kinda hope that it doesn't turn some people off of the story.

Well whatever, please let me know what you think as Reviews can make or break an author's drive to continue. Ja ne!