Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'Blah' – Thoughts

'Blah' – Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

Chapter 9

////////////////////////////// Shikamaru's PoV //////////////////////////////

I allowed myself to yawn expansively from where I sat at the family dinner table… even though it was breakfast. My father sitting across from me and a bit to the left, my own breakfast in front of me; which my mother kindly reminded me of as she walked up.

"Hurry up and eat, Shikamaru!" kindly reminding me by saying such in a loud and obnoxious voice, "Your father has a mission today and there isn't much time for us to be together.

The exasperated sigh that escaped my lips was accompanied by a hanging of my head and the automatic "Hai hai" to many of my mother's requests.

This automatic response was noted and responded to in a predictable fashion by my mother's pseudo-wail of a voice, "Only one yes!"

'She sure is being grumpy and troublesome this morning…'

I resumed pondering the creation of a sound nullification jutsu, something to quiet troublesome women when they began wailing, it would need to avoid hand seals-

Said pondering was marginally interrupted by a small knock on the door, my mother inquiring out loud, "It's so early… I wonder who it could be?" before leaving the room to answer the door.

It was at this point that I decided to ask my dad something that had been bothering me for a while, cupping my hand to the side of my mouth to ensure that my mother would not be able to hear us I whispered to him, "Hey, dad?"

He replied with a tired "Yeah" that sounded like I usually felt, barely looking over at me.

"Why did you marry such an overbearing woman?"

My father's eyes were closed as he swirled his herbal tea around in his mouth for a moment before answering, "Well… even a woman like her has her good moments… I guess that's why."

As he sipped his tea again I didn't bother to hide my incredulous stare, my mind working as quickly as it could to try and understand why even with that answer; I couldn't come up with anything, "That's all?"

My father's delayed answer was interrupted when my mother shouted my name with a little less shriek in it than usual. I looked up to see her peek around the edge of the doorway, "The Fifth Hokage's guards have come to see you." I decided that she looked far to happy about this for the situation, the fifth's guards meant an important mission, and an important mission meant troublesome work… she was definitely far to happy.

////////////////////////////// Not much later in the Hokage's office //////////////////////////////

I stood in front of the Hokage's desk in my full ninja garb, chunnin vest and all. The air in the room was extraordinarily somber, the Hokage was actually sitting calmly at her desk with a stern look on her face, this had to be serious.

"Late last night, Uchiha Sasuke left the village."

A small sound escaped my throat, 'Kami-sama, it was serious…'

"And, if I'm not mistaken, he is probably headed towards the Sound Village."

"Left!? Why?" I couldn't help the outburst that escaped my throat.

But I probably should have; the Hokage's stern expression, her hands held in front of her face, her words a deadly calm that suggested restrained anger, "Because he was invited by Orochimaru."

I was startled once more by this new information, stammering some as I interrupted her, "O-on-one second…" I could feel my hands start moving in gestures as I spoke, "Why would Sasuke be involved with such a dangerous guy?"

"The reasons don't matter. In any case, I need some time. So I would like to make this your first mission as a chunnin."

This time I wasn't thrown for a loop, "Just bring back Sasuke?" the main gears in my head working, 'If there aren't any enemies, it won't be that troublesome…'

"Yeah," she paused for a moment, her face unchanging, "However, as easy as it sounds, it may become problematic."

The shock probably showed on my face, but she continued on, "There is a high probability that Orochimaru's men are guiding Sasuke."

I began to process the information in my head, 'This has become a troublesome mission. But he…' an image of Sasuke flashed in my head, 'When I looked at him, I saw someone that was good at everything.' I closed my eyes for a moment before addressing the Hokage once more.

"In that case please only assign jounin and chunnin to this mission."

She looked down and softly said, "I can't do that."

"Wha- Why?"

"You should know. Right now, almost all the jounin, except the ones needed here, are out of the village on missions." She turned her swiveling chair to the side, "Now, you have thirty minutes to collect as many talented genin as you can think of, and leave the village!"

I felt the tension in my body, this wasn't something good to hear, but it was a necessity; I turned and began to leave the Hokage's office, pausing at the door to speak, "This is going to be troublesome, but I can't just forget about someone I know," I looked over my shoulder at the buxom blonde, "Well, something has to be done."

For a moment her face remained unchanged, then she smiled and looked over at me sideways, "There is someone I'd like to recommend… two someone's actually."

////////////////////////////// Minutes later //////////////////////////////

"WHAT!? THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!"

I had to plug an ear as Naruto shouted in that loud voice of his, still in his obnoxious sleeping cap and pajama's, "Geez… you sure are loud in the morning…" 'But why this guy?'

His face hardened for just a moment before he shouted, a little quieter this time, "Hold on! I'll get changed" and dashed back into his apartment; his cap falling off in his haste, leaving me standing there with a hand in the air.

Several moments later, as the light of dawn began to cover Konohagakure, Naruto and I were running along the streets to our next destination. I had fully briefed Naruto on the mission after he had gotten changed and now he was asking me a question, "Other than me, do you know any other brilliant genin?"

I looked over at him confidently, "Yeah."

I didn't even bother to explain as we arrived at the sliding door of a particular brilliant genin's house.

I began knocking repeatedly on the door and, knowing it would take more than that to wake up Chouji at this hour I called out, "Wake up!"

Naruto seemed to ask dejectedly, "Are you sure he's talented?"

I turned, seemed he wasn't getting up anytime soon normally, "There isn't much of a choice…" I reached into my back pocket as I sat down and pulled out a bag of potato chips, opening them.

"Potato chips?" Naruto really had a talent for stating the obvious didn't he?

"Barbeque flavor. Help me eat them." I wasn't going to bother explaining why we were doing this to him; it would be far too troublesome.

We munched on the chips for a few moments and with the blonde boys insatiable appetite soon had the bag nearly emptied; I turned the bag over and dumped the last chip into my hand, turning and stating what I knew was happening, "He's coming."

Naruto turned just in time to see the sliding door open and see a civilian clothed Chouji lunge to snatch both the chip and bag from my hands, skidding to a halt on the other side of us, "I'm not going to let you two have the last potato chip!"

We had stood and I had placed my hands in my pockets, Naruto however seemed exasperated from where he stood beside me, now I turned and addressed the point of having Chouji with us, "I have been on his team for some time. My relationship with him makes him easy to deal with."

Chouji smiled as he straightened and I cleared out an ear with a finger as Naruto promptly had one of his famous spastic, hyperactive moments, "I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT, BUT IN THIS CASE YOU SHOULD ASK SHINO OR SOMEONE LIKE THAT!!

"Shino's still on a special mission with his father, so he's not around."

We turned to see a boy who looked to be a bit older than us with dark green shades, Tsunade-sama had told me about this guy, "Barakuchizuke Jimi I presume?"

"Hai."

////////////////////////////// Moments later //////////////////////////////

The four of us were running along one of the streets of Konohagakure, I had just finished briefing the two newcomers to our situation, "I think this is going to be interesting. I guess it's a good thing I woke up early to take a walk."

Naruto spoke up, "Hey, Shikamaru, what about the others?"

I looked over at him, "I would like to find them but we don't have that much time. We'll head out of the village and if we don't find anyone else, this will be it."

As we began to pass by a large staircase in one of the numerous parks in Konoha, on the landing stood Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji; looks like we had found someone else.

It took a few moments for Neji to assist Lee down the stairs and another moment for me to explain the situation. But, true to form, Neji caught on quickly.

"Now I understand."

"It's going to be troublesome, but it would be better to have one more person on the team," Lee looked down at this statement; I didn't need to be a genius to understand what the problem was.

Neji turned to his teammate, "Lee, you should do what you need to do."

Lee startled all of us that knew him by turning around and taking a few steps with his crutch towards the stairs, pausing for a moment, "Starting tomorrow, I'll climb these stairs myself."

"Lee!"

He turned and gave us a smile, "I'll be fine, please go."

////////////////////////////// A couple more moments later ////////////////////////////// (Damn this is getting annoying)

The five of us stood as the massive gates of Konohagakure opened before us. The mental clock that had been ticking inside of my head dinged, thirty minutes had passed, "Times up."

I made a mental checklist of everyone on the team: Chouji, Neji, Naruto, Jimi, and myself. It's not what I would've wanted under better circumstances but it would have to do, "So, there are five of us."

Naruto's loud voice rang out as he pumped a fist into the air, "Alright then! Yeah! Everyone follow me!"

A bird chirped in the distance.

Everyone seemed to share the same or at least similar thoughts, I simply voiced them, "Hey, you know Naruto. I'm still in charge, no matter how troublesome it may be."

Naruto turned with an extremely grumpy look on his face, "Are you sure everything will… be…"

As he trailed off I looked to where his eyes had landed, which was upon the stern face of Jimi, "He'd have to be pretty damn bad to be worse than you Naruto. You're not a leader."

Chouji spoke up, "Shikamaru is a chunnin now. We have to follow his orders. It's a sign that the village leaders have accepted him as one of them," Chouji's vote of confidence was definitely appreciated.

Neji's comment, however, was not, "In that case, please act like a leader and make a plan. From what we've heard there is a high probability that they are waiting for us."

There was one thing I needed to take care of before I did just that, I looked over at Jimi, "I know everyone's capabilities except yours-"

"Defensive, reactionary style; high damage and pain tolerance; mid to long range ninjutsu specialist; primary deficiency is speed; high level tracking capability in forests and symbiosis link with tree's, if they're still in this forest, I can find them."

I processed this information; it sounded like a full shinobi capability analysis, perfect. I felt confident in the plans that were finishing in my head; it showed on my face, "For the time being we are on the offense. That means it would be easy for the enemy to make the first move. That's why, in order to protect against the enemy's random attacks, I will be deciding the formation. If you ignore me and act on your own everyone will die."

"The formation will be a line. The forerunner, who has the most important and crucial task… Jimi, that's you." He nodded curtly, "Your link with the plants around you should give you a knowledge of the terrain that we might otherwise lack," he nodded in confirmation, "This link should allow you to follow Sasuke and detect the enemy's booby traps easily," he nodded once again, "Suppose there is an attack from the front-"

"Aside from several exploding tags going off at once in my face I should be able to survive until help arrives. My safety is not an issue."

'Good, that was exactly what I wanted to hear,' "Second will be the leader, me. Since I'll be able to see the situation, I can give out orders in front to Jimi. I can give orders to the rear members using hand signals."

"Then in the middle is Naruto," said hyperactive boy smirked as I continued, "Being your explosive self, you are perfect for giving help in all directions. So, you are best in the center. The center of help; also you know Kage Bunshin."

The fourth will be Chouji. You don't have speed but you have the greatest physical power because of your size. Although it may be awkward, Jimi, Naruto, and I are going to use you as a base, as in home base."

"Finally Neji. I will ask you to do the most difficult and complicated task. By using your Byuukagen you'll be able to scan the and check your area."

I knelt on the ground, pulling a scroll and pencil from my chunnin vest, sketching out my concept on the paper as everyone stood around me; I point to each chibi on the paper and its' respective points of view as I speak, "Jimi as forward; myself as backup forward; Naruto as left; Chouji as right; and Neji, I ask you to you your Byuukagen to scan the back area."

As I rolled up the scroll I continued, "And I would like to check the armaments that you guys have. Please let me see what each of you have; I will remember it. Do you guys have any questions?"

At the lack of inquiries I stood, placing my hands in my pockets before I continued speaking, "And finally, this is the most important thing I have to say. I don't have a deep attachment to Sasuke, nor is he someone that I like," I could feel the shock generated by the words; ignored it as I continued, "But, he is one of Konohagakure's shinobi, a comrade. That is why we risk our lives to save him. This is the Konoha view. Even though I don't like troublesome things, I am responsible for your lives."

Jimi looked over at Naruto and Neji beside him, "You didn't trust this guy?"

I saw Chouji smile expansively; Neji spoke up, "Once I check your equipment, we will go. Everyone, take out your armaments," everyone moved. Most of us pulled out our rear pouches and opened them; I counted all of the items that we had and memorized the tools; I looked at Jimi last, he hadn't pulled out a pouch, he looked at me, "Theoretical infinite kunai and rope, six exploding tags," I nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

"Wait!"

We turned to see Sakura standing in the opened gates.

Naruto spoke up first, "Sakura-chan."

I followed up, "I heard the story from Hokage-sama. I'm sorry, but I can't bring you on this mission. Even you weren't able to convince Sasuke were you? All that's left is for us to force him to understand. Sakura, your chance is over."

"That means… you and Sasuke…" I held in a mental sigh as Naruto spoke up again, it was stifled as tears began to flow from Sakura's eyes.

Lee started to say something, "Sakura-san…" but it quickly died off as she stood there, trembling before us, tears falling from her cheeks.

"Naruto. I beg of you, please bring him… Please bring back Sasuke-kun!" her voice was in near sobs as she continued, "I couldn't do it… I couldn't stop him. The only thing left that could stop Sasuke-kun is… you, Naruto… only you…"

Naruto's eyes wavered some, a small smile spreading across his face before he looked off to the side and spoke, "Sakura-chan likes Sasuke very much. Right now, you're in pain. A pain that I know well."

Sakura half sobbed once more, wrapping her arms around herself even as Naruto gave her a sad, yet toothy grin, "Naruto… thank you!"

Naruto held out a thumbs-up towards her and grinned expansively while proudly stating, "I will definitely bring back Sasuke! That's the promise of a lifetime!"

Jimi glanced over at him, even with his eyes hidden the question was obvious, and even Naruto saw it, replying properly, "I won't go back on my word! That's my way of the Ninja!" With another vigorous pumping of his hand into the air he shouted, "YOSH! Let's go!"

I looked over at him, my analytical side still working apart from my emotional one, "We've lost a bit of time. Let's hurry."

The five of us began to walk away from Konohagakure side by side for the moment, leaving the still crying Sakura with Lee at the gates.

////////////////////////////// End Chapter 9 //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Okay, I'm officially apologizing for any spoilers for people just watching the cartoon network version of the show. But too damn bad. Anyways, for those of you who recognize it, yes, this is a lot of quotation straight from the episodes BUT there's a good reason! Shikamaru just met Jimi, and there was no reason to alter what has happened. The only difference between this fanfiction and the Naruto world itself should be the Barakuchizuke siblings.

Ah well, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off

P.S.!!! For those interested I'm taking submissions on OC's for the eventual Chunnin matches that will be held! The character's importance can change dependant on how good the character is; good defined not as strong but fleshed out. Any interested can contact me on as Andoriol and on as Jacobthecat.