Original Chapter Title: Founder

To those of you who keep telling me that the Sannin were genin at the age of 6 and probably got chunin shortly thereafter, I KNOW! This is fanfiction, and can be considered alternate universe. Don't worry; I explain it next chapter.

Don't own Naruto or Skittles.

Anyway, here comes the funk.

-- (Hokage Tower) --

2,245…2,246…2,247.

So far, Naruto had counted over twenty-two hundred steps, and they just kept going. He had asked Shinsui how far underground they were (for it had to be underground to be this dark and cool) when the gray haired man had released him, and Shinsui had said only two hundred yards.

Naruto was beginning to think that Shinsui was messing with him again.

Since his release from the inescapable cell, Naruto had to endure two new forms of torture: the never ending spiral staircase he was on now, and the unlimited questions Shinsui kept asking him.

"Why did you choose orange to wear? It's not very easy to hide with that bright a color. You're a bit short for someone your age; are you drinking your milk and eating greens? Why isn't 11 pronounced 'onety-one'? What was that bad ass red chakra you were using earlier? My brother seemed concerned when he mentioned you had it. Can you teach me that spinning ball jutsu you were using against Ookami? It seems pretty powerful. Why did God invent the platypus? Are you related to Kobune-kun? He's a friend of mine and he has blonde hair and blue eyes like you. And speaking of eyes…" he said stopping and turning around to face Naruto.

"…why are yours so squinty? You tryin' to hide something?" Shinsui then grabbed Naruto by the head and opened his eyes with his thumbs before the blonde could even protest.

After studying Naruto's eyes for a few seconds, the blue clad man seemed satisfied and let him go. Naruto stared in bewilderment as Shinsui resumed his track up the stairs, whistling a care free tune. Naruto followed, thinking that this day couldn't get any weirder.

Oh, how wrong he was.

-- (Training Ground) --

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu! (Fire style: Dragon Fire Skill)" yelled a voice as a blast of red hot fire flew towards the ninja's target. The one about to be hit by the fire dodged easily and retaliated.

"Doton: Gekiha Heiban! (Earth release: Crushing slabs (original))" Two earth walls rose up and slammed together with surprising speed, just barely missing the first ninja who used a substitution jutsu with a log.

A third ninja made herself known by getting up close to the target and engaging in Taijutsu. Punches and kicks were thrown with only the intent to harm. Anything less against this opponent would result in failure.

But again, the opposition proved why he was so well renowned and grabbed the kunoichi by the wrists and threw her several yards away, letting his guard down for only an instant. This opening was taken advantage of by the final member of the attacking team. This one made the hand seal for serpent and called his attack.

"Sen'eijashu! (Hidden snake hand)" Multiple snakes flew out of Orochimaru's sleeve toward his sensei. He knew they would hit and trap him. Sarutobi had no time to escape or dodge.

But he did not know that the young Sarutobi had turned around to face his serpentine student. With him now facing the other way, one snake saw a new opportunity to win and went for the throat. The reptile opened its maw and bit deep and hard into Sarutobi's jugular.

"No!" Orochimaru cried as his sensei panicked and tore the snake from his throat, unleashing a small bit of crimson fluid down his front. "Sarutobi-sensei!"

Orochimaru ran to his teacher as Sarutobi collapsed onto the grass. He didn't mean for this to happen. His job was just to keep sensei occupied while Jiraiya quickly snatched the target scroll from him.

But this was horrible! His sensei now lay dying and it was his fault. There was no chance for help; too much blood had been--

That's it! Orochimaru realized what was wrong with this picture and held his hands in the ram seal. "Kai!" he said, unleashing the Genjutsu around him. The dying Sarutobi disappeared, leaving Orochimaru to curse at his foolishness for being caught.

"Oro-teme!" Jiraiya yelled at him. "Stop daydreaming and give us a hand here!"

Quelling the anger that was rising in his chest, Orochimaru sprinted to where his teammates were tossing kunai and shuriken at Sarutobi in the hope that a lucky blade would slow him down.

But the monkey summoner wasn't feared just for his vast knowledge of jutsu. He was also skilled in bojutsu, and could perform deadly combinations and still keep a safe distance.

The staff he was using now was made from bamboo and was 6 feet long. It was weaker than the other ones he had and mainly used just for training and light sparing like he and his students were in now.

Well, light for them. Most chunins would have trouble keeping up with those three.

Sarutobi smiled when he saw Tsunade trying to enhance her punches and kicks with chakra. After successfully using this technique against the blonde boy, Tsunade had really gotten into learning the jutsu. There was hardly a training dummy around that didn't look like a battering ram was taken to it.

But just because she could do it, didn't mean she could do it right. Half the time, she would over use chakra, injure her hand, and have to have it treated at the hospital.

But she kept going, no matter how badly she injured her hand. She would have it healed and go right back to training. That never give up attitude was the very core of the Will of Fire, and it was a philosophy that Sarutobi constantly reminded his students about.

Tsunade always came back for more punishment, despite the injuries that may occur. Jiraiya was more hardheaded and a bit of an idiot, but he too was a perfect example of the Will of Fire.

Orochimaru was another story altogether. The death of his parents had hit him pretty hard. He now seemed more interested in the easy way of acquiring power instead of through hard work. Orochimaru was particularly interested in the Uchiha clan and their Sharingan.

The Uchihas were definitely hailed as powerful shinobi. Their ability to instantly copy any jutsu was envied by every other village, and Konoha was proud and lucky to have them. Madara Uchiha, the current leader of the clan, and his brother, Izuna, were the first to achieve the now infamous Mangekyou Sharingan. Shortly after Madara was named clan head, his brother had "given" Madara his eyes to save him from blindness.

This completely went against Izuna's personality and now the Uchihas and their police squad were under constant watch by both the village and the ANBU. Sufficient to say, the Uchihas were not happy about this.

Sarutobi was brought out of his musings on his students and the Uchihas when Tsunade brought down her hand in a chopping motion. Sarutobi used his staff to intercept the blow, but realized the mistake too late.

Tsunade's chakra enhanced hand broke the staff in half. Instead of one long bo, Sarutobi now had two shorter sticks. But every pupil of bojutsu knew what to do in these situations. Sarutobi twirled the sticks around in his fingers and gave a cocky grin. "Come get some," he said to his three students.

Jiraiya took the initiative and launched half a dozen shuriken at his sensei. Sarutobi scowled at his pupil's lack of thinking. It would be too easy to use his sticks to knock away three apiece. But Jiraiya then did something that threw Sarutobi for a loop.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Throwing star Shadow clone)

Where the hell did he learn that? Sarutobi thought as the six shuriken multiplied into thirty, forcing him to jump high into the air where he noticed that a shadow had fallen over him. Looking up, he saw Orochimaru making hand seals.

"Futon: Karui Bure-ka! (Wind release: Minor breaker (original))" A small gust of wind erupted from the black haired gennin's hand and slammed into Sarutobi, throwing him back to the ground. The jounin righted himself and landed on his feet. His instincts kicked in a second later and he crisscrossed his sticks to block a large tree branch wielded by Tsunade.

Student and teacher locked eyes as they struggled for dominance. Well, Tsunade was anyway. Sarutobi was just entertaining her. A training match was no fun if you just beat your students in less than four moves.

While he focused on the blonde, the white haired member of this merry band of ninjas used another jutsu that Sarutobi didn't know he knew.

"Doton: Yomi Numa no jutsu! (Earth release: Swamp of the Underworld)" The ground beneath Sarutobi's feet turned to a dark liquid. He sank to his knees, showing that Jiraiya didn't have a full grasp on the technique. If he did, the murky swamp would be several dozen yards wide and much deeper.

As Sarutobi was about to escape, his hands were suddenly bound together by two vipers that hissed angrily at him. Helpless, Sarutobi could only watch as Jiraiya smugly strolled up to him and removed the scroll from his pocket.

"How'd we do, Sarutobi-sensei? Totally kick ass, right"? Jiraiya asked, panting harder than he should have been, as Sarutobi freed himself from the mini swamp.

The dark haired jounin stroked his goatee and contemplated what to say. "Your teamwork is becoming top notch. Against a few mid chunin to one low jounin opponent, you three would more than likely win. But your individual skills still need work." He turned to Tsunade. "Your chakra enhancement is coming along quite nicely, Tsunade. We'll work on increasing your speed so that your punches connect and do all the more damage."

"Hai, sensei. Ojiisan has been experimenting on gravity seals for training. I'll talk to him later to see if I can use them," Tsunade said.

"Jiraiya," Sarutobi said to his perverted student, who was taking large gulps of water from a canteen. "The shuriken Kage Bunshin and Yomi Numa are powerful techniques. Where did you learn them?"

Jiraiya absentmindedly scratched the back of his head while answering. "I went to go see Shinsui-sama to ask if he had any cool jutsu I could use to show up Oro-teme. He showed me the shuriken shadow clone jutsu and turned a training dummy into splinters with it. He didn't know the Yomi Numa himself, but found a scroll that explained the theory on it. He and I both spent two days getting it right. But I guess I didn't use enough chakra to make the swamp deep or large enough," he said, eyeing the pitiful swamp behind them.

The jounin made a small 'hnn' noise before telling Jiraiya the dangers of using jutsu outside his current skill and chakra level. He would have to talk with Shinsui-sensei about showing some restraint to these young genin.

Sarutobi then turned his attention to Orochimaru. "Excellent work on the Sen'eijashu. Your strikes are becoming much quicker. But you might wanna try exerting a bit more control on the snakes once they're attacking. If that hadn't been a Genjutsu, I might actually have been injured."

"Gomen nasai," Orochimaru said with a small scowl. Any form of weakness to him was a failure. He had to be strong.

"And how did you figure out that was a Genjutsu anyway? I thought I did an adequate job," Sarutobi inquired to his pale student.

Orochimaru didn't answer for a few seconds. Then he looked at the ground and muttered in a low voice, "The snake bit into the jugular. When 'you' ripped it off, there should have been more blood. A lot more."

His teammates and sensei didn't say anything for a while before Jiraiya spoke up. "Oro-teme, if you ever do get a date with an actual girl and not some guy transformed to look like one," Jiraiya chuckled at that memory. It cost him 750 ryu, but was well worth the look on Orochimaru's face. "…don't say weird shit like that. It's creepy."

If looks could kill, Jiraiya would be ash from Orochimaru's hated glare. He then gave him the single finger salute. Sarutobi and Tsunade rolled their eyes in perfect symmetry at this. The two would be best friends one minute, and at each other's throats the next. Maybe it was because Jiraiya was jealous that Orochimaru was considered a true prodigy, while he was barely an above average genius.

Noticing that the two were about to go at it again, Tsunade stepped in. "All right you two. Break it up before I break your arms," she said glairing at the pair.

Jiraiya snorted and turned his head away. Orochimaru stared for a few more seconds before holding his fist out to his spiky haired teammate. Jiraiya saw this and grinned. He too put his fist out and the two friends gave a quick tap, silently agreeing to a truce.

For the time being at least.

-- (Hokage Tower) --

This is impossible! No staircase goes on this long! Naruto was nearing the end of his rope. It felt as though they had gone on for miles and miles, the hours ticking away. The blonde was doing his damned best not to faint right there on the spot, while that gray haired bastard didn't look tired at all. And he was still whistling that fuckin annoying tune!

"How can you (weez) not even be (pant) tired!?" Naruto gasped, his mouth and throat dry. He knew this man was a Kage level ninja, but even Kages needed rest and hydration.

Shinsui stopped, looked back at the panting kid behind him, looked at a watch on his wrist, and gave an impressed whistle. "5 hours, 34 minutes, and 27 seconds. You have amazing stamina kid, but you really suck at detecting Genjutsu." He then snapped his fingers, releasing Naruto from the mind trick he had been under.

Naruto stared at the man who was quickly topping his 'most hated' list. He had been under a Genjutsu for the past 5 and a half HOURS? How far had they actually gone? And what the fuck was the point of all that!?

Naruto couldn't take any more. He felt rage and the Kyuubi's chakra coursing through him. He launched himself at the water master, his eyes blood red. But before he could blink, Naruto was on the floor instead of throttling Shinsui, with the blue clad man on his back, holding his arms in a submission move with one had. With the other hand, Shinsui shoved a small pill into the blonde's mouth. The blue clad man then placed his hand over Naruto's mouth so he couldn't spit it back out.

"That's a hydro pill, kid. It will replenish your body fluids and calm you down a bit. Now swallow and taste the rainbow ®."

Naruto decided to swallow the hydro-pill, just to put Shinsui off guard. As soon as the pill touched his throat, he felt soothing relief. He felt as though he hadn't just been dying of thirst. His mouth was full of spit and it had a slight taste of…strawberries? Then Naruto felt his anger ebb away. All was right with the world. Nothing could go wrong.

Shinsui sniggered at the goofy smile on Naruto's face. The other test subjects who tried his little invention either had that same no-worries grin, or they went completely mad for a week. Looks like this kid got lucky.

"Feelin' better, kid?" Shinsui asked Naruto. The blonde gave a slow laugh and said, "Yeah. Looaads. Heh heh." Shinsui gave a small frown. Hmm. Kid looks like he either got some really good weed, or some really bad crack. Maybe he's in the small percentage that becomes super lazy.

The gray haired enigma then turned back around and stepped onto the top landing of the Hokage tower with Naruto right behind him. In front of him stood a solid oak door with the kanji for leaf 葉, fire 火, and shadow 影 etched onto it. He knocked twice.

"Enter," a deep voice responded. Shinsui grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and led him in.

-- (Hokage's Office) --

Senju Hashirama was not having a good week.

The council that had been created to govern the civilians of Konoha was becoming increasingly demanding and bothersome. They were actually requesting to become part of the governing body of the ninja populace too.

Then there was talk of unrest and unprovoked attacks happening between Konoha and Ame (though proof was hard to come by).

But the problem that weighed heaviest on his heart was that his good friend Madara was becoming colder every time a decision was made that he disagreed with. He sometimes refused point blank to attend meetings at all anymore.

And now the boy his granddaughter and her teammates had found in the woods had not only attacked a ninja of Konoha, but it seemed that he was a demon container too.

Hashirama sighed as he got up from his desk and went over to the bookcase. Every story surrounding the jinchuuriki was one of woe and misery. They were either hated by the village for the pain the demon itself had caused, or they were used as a weapon of war and death.

His fingers skimmed along spines as his mind contemplated the effects of having a jinchuuriki in Konoha. If the village found out that someone containing a demon was in their midst, they might just demand the boy be killed. Hashirama didn't know if he had it in him to do that.

His finger stopped as he found the book he was looking for. He pulled it out and sat back down at his desk. The book was old; its pages yellow and brittle and stains all over the cover. The book was titled Secrets of the Ancient Gods and below the title was a drawing of the planet, its outline connected by nine kanji: typhoon 台風, reaper 収穫者, tsunami 津波, blizzard ブリザード, fusion 融合, lightning 電光, earth 地球, devil 悪魔, and inferno インフェルノ.

Hashirama opened the book to the middle, and winced at the crackling protest the old pages made. He was a wood jutsu master, and paper was a byproduct of wood, so he immensely enjoyed reading books and hated when they were in such poor condition like this. He slowly turned to the final chapter of the book. A beautiful painted picture of a nine tailed fox dominated the left page. Its fur was a glorious red, and its eyes were full of fire and hatred. Hashirama couldn't imagine a living creature harboring such hatred.

He looked at the text on the opposite page and began reading.

'Of all the tailed demons, the kyuubi no yoko reigns supreme. Considered to be unstoppable, the kyuubi can drain oceans, reshape continents, and cause mass destruction with a single swipe of a tail. Man can no more stop this living natural disaster than he can stop death.

The kyuubi and its eight brethren appeared after the band of warriors known as the Kutentei Kyoushu disappeared. Many believe that the biju lied in wait for the only ones to have the power to oppose them to vanish. With the Kyoushu out of their way, the biju have had the freedom to do as they please. At the time of this writing, no one has been able to halt the suffering the demons bring.'

But the kyuubi had been stopped. It had actually been sealed into a human, he was sure of this. Hashirama had felt that same chakra many years ago, back when his clan had been small and nomadic and had lived wherever the hunt was. They had come to a village seeking shelter and food. But instead of a bustling village of people, it was a mass graveyard. Every villager dead, every building destroyed. Not even the scavenger birds came near, the stench of death overpowering their hunger.

Only one villager had survived; a monk who was praying at the mountain temple had seen the fox destroy his village and then leave. The monk had torn his robes and sobbed to heaven at the most horrible sight he had seen. He died two hours after telling the Senju what had happened.

Even more powerful than the rotting corpses was the chakra that still lingered. All of the clan could feel pure malice practically oozing from the air around them; Hashirama more so because of the green gem around his neck. He thought he would go mad or die, just so he wouldn't feel it anymore.

But the gem had responded to him by emitting a warm glow and Hashirama suddenly knew how to end the madness. He had combined his chakra with the warmth flowing from the crystal and the fox's chakra had dissipated, freeing the Senju clan from its choking hold. They had left quickly and told no one else what they had seen.

Now it seemed that someone had been able to do the impossible and seal the kyuubi. But the question was what would he do with the boy now? Hashirama had sent Shinsui to retrieve the boy and evaluate his skills anyway he chose to on the way up. That had been nearly 6 hours ago, and the Hokage tower was still standing, so that had to be a good thing.

Shinsui was the third strongest ninja in the village. He was also a genius inventor and incredible to watch in battle. But his immature attitude made other ninja (his brother included) not take him as seriously as they could. Hashirama and Madara were both prime candidates for first, but since they had always tied when they fought, first place was a competition between them.

He stood up and popped a kink in his back. He placed the book back in its spot and went over to the window to gaze at the village he both created and governed. Even though it was a perfect sunshiny day, Hashirama couldn't help but feel that there was the shadow of a cloud out there, somewhere, that threatened the peace and tranquility of not only Konoha, but the whole world.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a knocking on the door. "Enter," he responded.

A tuft a gray, spiky hair poked through the cracked doorway. It was followed slowly (almost painfully so) by the rest of Shinsui's face. "I brought the boy up, just like you asked, Hokage-sama," he said scathingly, obviously trying to get a rise out of the village leader.

Hashirama gave an annoyed sigh. "Bring him in. I want to find out what this kid is about."

Shinsui's head disappeared as he exited. He reappeared a few moments later leading the blonde by the shoulder. Hashirama almost started banging his head against the wall when he saw the totally at ease expression on the boy's face. The hydro pill was priceless when a ninja was forced to go several days without drink, but Hashirama wondered if the side effects were worth it.

Hashirama reached into a pocket and pulled out the antidote he carried around with him incase he ever met some unfortunate soul to fall prey to Shinsui's happy pill. The hospital had created it when too many of their shinobi were either lazing around and staring at clouds all day, or were raving in the streets that purple squirrels were allying themselves with the sunburned penguins to steal all the sweet and spicy chicken wings.

He handed the vial of purple liquid to Naruto. "Drink this, kid. It'll make you feel better." Ignoring the age old warning of never drinking anything given to you by a stranger, Naruto chugged it down.

The effect was nearly instantaneous. The blonde grasped his head in pain as the antidote righted his brain's chemicals and began purging his body of the hydrating/lazy drug. He might pee purple next time he used the toilet, but it was better than being a lazy ass for a week.

The pain subsiding, Naruto looked up and felt his brain threaten to shorten out again. Before him in red battle armor stood the founder of Konoha himself: the Shodai Hokage. His eyes were a deeper shade of brown than his brother's and his hair was jet black and went to the middle of his back.

Determined to not make a fool out of himself anymore today, Naruto asked the question that had been bothering him all day. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOIN' ON HERE!? One second I'm battling that snake bastard's apprentice. The next thing I know, everyone's a chibi version of themselves, I get locked in a cell that slams me to the floor, and I was trapped in a Genjutsu with this crazy bastard," he pointed at Shinsui, "for more than FIVE HOURS! I demand answers!"

Hashirama's eyebrows had gone up in surprise at how loud this kid was, while Shinsui was biting down on his thumb to keep from busting out laughing. He finally regained his composure and spoke to his brother, "I told ya he was crazy. He says his name is Uzumaki Naruto and that he's from this village. And the kid was actually stripping when I went to go get him. He's obviously insane in the membrane."

"I WAS NOT STRIPPING!" Naruto screamed, stamping his foot on the floor. "I was looking for my necklace I won off the old bat!" It was then he noticed the Shodai wearing his crystal. "How did you get it!? I was with the bastard the whole time!"

Hashirama gazed at the boy questioningly. Why was he claiming the jewel to be his? It had been in the Senju clan for generations. And why was the name Uzumaki vaguely familiar to him? It was time Hashirama asked the questions.

"I don't know where you're getting this information, child, but I've had this crystal since my father gave it to me years ago. And I know for a fact that no ninja named Uzumaki has ever been born in, or become a part of, this village. Just what are you up to?"

"That's what I've been tryin' to figure out," Naruto said pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "You two aren't supposed to be alive, and the Sannin aren't supposed to be that young! Everything's all messed up!"

This shouting match was getting them nowhere. "All right, son," Hashirama said in a calming voice. "Just tell us what happened. Start at the beginning."

Could Naruto really trust these two? He barely knew them at all (one of which he wished he didn't know at all). So could he really trust them?

Deciding to get the truth by telling the truth, Naruto began his tale.

"It all started 13 years ago on October 10th, when the kyuubi attacked Konoha…" Naruto told them everything. From the Yondaime sacrificing his life to save his village, from his horrible childhood growing up, to finding friends and loved ones in his classmates and Iruka, to learning the Kage Bunshin and that the fox was sealed in him.

He told them about his teammates and lazy sensei, and how he learned what it really meant to be a shinobi from Zabuza and Haku. Naruto told them about the chunin exam and its insane proctors, and about Orochimaru's attack on his team, and then the combined invasion of Suna and Oto.

He ended by telling them of going to find Tsunade to become the Godaime, his mastery of the Rasengan, and using it on Kabuto.

By the time he was through, Naruto felt exhausted. He had spoken for two hours straight and needed and glass of water (he would never take a hydro pill again, even if his life depended on it). Hashirama was sitting at his desk again, staring at a blank piece of paper. Shinsui, on the other hand, was bawling his eyes out with anime tears streaming down his face.

"You poor kid!" he sobbed. "Hated because you saved them all!" He then threw open the window and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"YOU HEARTLESS BASTARDS!! HOW COULD YOU TREAT THE KID THAT WAY AFTER HE SAVED YOUR MISERABLE HIDES?!" The villagers promptly ignored him; they being far too accustomed to Shinsui's weekly shouting rants. A few lucky gamblers had won some money by betting this week he would yell from his brother's office instead of the Hokage monument (with only one face of course).

A vein appeared above Shinsui's head as he closed the window muttering about stupid villagers. Naruto was actually kind of touched that someone like Shinsui could care so much about someone he met just that day.

Hashirama gathered his thoughts and spoke to Naruto. "When I stopped you from killing Orochimaru, I thought I recognized that chakra. So it was from the demon fox."

He got up from his chair and knelt next to Naruto.

"With your permission, I'd like to meet the kyuubi and ask him some questions that I think we both would like to know."

Naruto stared at the Shodai in numb disbelief. Talk to the kyuubi? Was that actually possible without throwing him off a cliff? He nodded his head in confirmation.

Hashirama held out his hand to his brother. Shinsui understood and handed the green gem to him. Hashirama put it over Naruto's head. Both crystals glowed from being so close to each other. "Now just grab my right hand with yours, and the crystal in your left. When I say so, let your chakra combine with it."

Naruto grasped the Shodai's hand with his right and the crystal with his left.

"Ready? Now." Naruto let his chakra flow into the necklace. Both gems began glowing brighter and brighter, while the seal on his belly shined red.

The next thing he knew, Naruto was standing in a dark stone hallway, Hashirama right next to him.

The red clad man smiled at him. "Well…let's go meet a fox."

Ookami—wolf (Sakumo's code name)

Gomen nasai—I'm sorry

Kutentei Kyoushu—Nine God Assassins

--

Next time on Back to the Way it Once Was: Naruto and Hashirama enter the seal and confront Kyuubi who tells how he turned back time and the origins of the biju. But wait a second! Why are there two of him!?

--

Review spotlight: what I'm most interested in hearing your opinions about is my first official fight scene for this story (the chapter 1 fight was from the anime). But feel free to comment on anything else too. And the training match was mainly for me to try my hand at fight scenes, and briefly show the friendship the three share (and maybe a little insight to Orochimaru's insanity?).

Nobody ask why Naruto told the brothers everything and how (or if) they'll change anything. Don't worry; I'll get to that in a later chap. Hasirama and Shinsui will use the info somehow.

And I based Hashirama's attitude toward Shinsui the same that the canon characters have towards Shikamaru. They know he's incredibly smart, but his lazy attitude lessens the effect he could otherwise make.

--

Omake: Shinsui's loss, Shikamaru's gain (thanks to simply Eric for the idea!)

"Ohhh! I can't believe brother is making me throw these away! It's not my fault if those stupid ninja can't handle it!" Shinsui whined as he made his way down the street, a large bag full of hydro pills in his hand. Hashirama had ordered the destruction of the lazy pills until Shinsui figured out how to not make a ninja lazy when they ate one.

But these were perfect super hydrating, strawberry tasting, euphoric inducing pills! He just couldn't throw them away. No, he had to find a safe place to stash them till it was safe.

Shinsui couldn't think of a place right off hand. So he did what he did in order to think: he spun around on the spot seven and a half times, until he felt like throwing up.

"Got it!" he exclaimed, and ran to the ninja academy.

When he helped build the academy, he had installed a secret compartment on the outside incase he ever needed to hide something from his brother.

Shinsui found the secret door and put his bag inside, confident the pills would be safe till he came back for them.

He never did.

(Years later)

".'llbeagoodboy!" said an extremely hyper-active 5 year old Shikamaru. His father had taken him to the academy swing set to play with Ino and Chouji. Now his dad was wishing he brought some sedatives or a muzzle.

The future Ino-Shika-Cho trio was playing hide and seek. Shikamaru dashed into the bushes to hide from his big boned friend.

Panting like a chiwawa in the summer, Shikamaru was really wishing for some water right now. He placed his hand on a section of the academy wall, and low-and-behold, it was a secret compartment!

Intrigued, the ADHD child reached in and pulled out a bag labeled 'hydro pills' in large letters.

"Yay!Watercandy!" he said popping a pill in his mouth.

From that day forward, Shikamaru was never the same.

Read and review please. Your opinions matter everywhere but in Soviet Russia. (In Soviet Russia, story reviews you!)