Second Chance

Summary: Shikamaru is back, war flashbacks and everything. But no matter how much foreknowledge he has, changing the future is not as easy as he thought. He couldn't very well explain why a 6-year-old would try and hunt down S-ranked criminals from an organization that isn't even known yet. His Hokage being set back to a snot nosed brat that reacts bewildered to any form of affection does not help. At all.

Meanwhile, the former Kazekage of Suna, loved by the public and constantly supported by his siblings is thrown back to being treated like a weapon, while said loving siblings look at him fearfully and avoid him as much as they can. And that doesn't even include the voice in his head, urging him to kill every step that he takes. He really needs someone to fix the seal this time around...

Chapter 11

"Are you sure you're alright?"

Shikamaru didn't look at Chōji when he answered. "I said so, didn't I?"

"Well, you don't look so good."

Shikamaru sighed, burying his hands deeper in his pockets. "You worry too much. I told you; everything's fine." Everything was not fine.

For ten minutes now Shikamaru had tried to convince Chōji of his well-being, but the other boy wouldn't have it. They strolled through the village at a moderate pace, no special destination in mind, and so far Chōji had stubbornly refused to let Shikamaru change the topic. The topic, unsurprisingly, being his break-down the day before.

"Shikamaru." Chōji came to a halt at a street corner, and Shikamaru had no other choice but to follow suit.

"Your arms are shaking. You're trying to hide it, but I saw it when I picked you up at your place. And," he said, pausing to look down for a second. "Your legs too."

Well, shoot.

Chōji was right, of course. He'd been able to hide it while they were walking, but now, standing still, the muscle tremors in his limbs weren't hard to notice – although they weren't nearly as bad as they'd been in the morning. Shikamaru had barely managed to leave his bed, his limbs feeling like lead and with fire coursing through his muscles.

Needless to say, his body hadn't appreciated his little adventure the night before.

"Look, Chōji. I know what you're thinking, but I swear this doesn't have anything to do with what happened at the academy." At least that much was true. "We practiced our clan technique later that day. I just overdid it a bit."

Chōji just looked at him. "You hate training."

"My father insisted." Chōji still didn't look convinced, so he added: "Do you want me to show you?"

At once, Chōji's eyes lightened up. "Yeah, sure!"

Shikamaru looked around them, making sure no one was paying them any attention, and formed the needed hand-seal in front of him. His overexerted chakra coils protested, but he ignored them, forcing his shadow to stretch out. It felt like swimming against a river current.

"Shadow Imitation Technique. Success." His shadow connected, and Chōji, mirroring Shikamaru's movements, grabbed the bag of chips in his pocket and held it out in front of him.

"Hey!" Shikamaru helped himself to the snack as a laughing Chōji broke free and snatched it out of his hands. Shikamaru's control hadn't been strong in the first place, and he didn't fight it.

"Alright, that's pretty cool. I didn't know you could do advanced techniques like that."

"I'm still practicing." He started to walk again, and this time, Chōji followed without protest. "Do me a favor and don't tell anyone, alright? Don't want my father to get the idea I'm ready for even more training."

They kept following the street, and apart from a few more worried glances, Chōji finally allowed to let the matter rest. It was a lazy morning, the sun shining as people around them went about their daily business.

Then they heard the yelling.

"-get outta here!" A dull thud followed, something big hitting the ground.

Shikamaru winced in discomfort at the noise and shared a look with Chōji. They followed the sound into a street with multiple little shops, the source of the commotion not hard to find.

Shikamaru saw red.

In the middle of the street was Naruto, lying on the ground with a civilian – a shopkeeper? – towering over him. Around them stood a small crowd of people, watching. Glaring.

It wasn't the shopkeeper they were looking at.

"Hey, what's the big deal?!" Naruto hadn't seen them yet, staring up at the man with furrowed brows. He didn't seem to be hurt.

He better not be.

"What are you doing here, you little pest?!"

"What am I doing here?" He looked down, slightly pouting and voice growing quieter. "Just looking at that mask..."

The people around them were whispering.

The shopkeeper grabbed for a mask, one of the dozens hanging in a row behind him – the replica of an ANBU mask, from the looks of it. "This one, huh?"

Shikamaru's eyes widened, the spark of a memory flaring up. He wasn't about to-?

He leaped forward, catching the mask just before it could strike Naruto in the forehead. It was wood, unlikely to have left a bruise had it hit, but that was hardly the point. Shikamaru's head jerked around to stare at the shopkeeper, took in his contorted expression, his hand, still raised to throw. "What's wrong with you?"

The man's eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed back into a scowl. "You got no idea what you're talking about. Just stay out of it."

"You mean while you keep on bullying a seven-year-old? Not very likely." He tossed the mask at its owner's feet. His hands felt icy. "Keep it."

The whispers buzzed like an angry hornet's nest.

Shikamaru turned, ignoring the bystanders to face Naruto – and his heart jumped when he saw Chōji helping the other boy to his feet.

He tried to ignore Naruto's wide-eyed stare as he grabbed his wrist to drag him along with him, doing the same with Chōji on his right. His uncharacteristic silence didn't make him feel better, either.

"If you know what's good for you, stay away from that brat." Shikamaru didn't slow down. "Listen to the adult here, kid. Or you'll come to regret it."

Shikamaru's hand tightened around Naruto's wrist, shaking as he led them past the watching crowd. He let go only after three blocks, making sure to get out of earshot. And to calm the pounding in his ears.

It didn't help that he remembered watching that scene before, remembered standing by, not interfering. Not helping.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath. Why were adults like this? Naruto had never done anything save harmless pranks. He had been forced into his mischievous behavior by Konoha's indifference at best, and its blatant rejection towards him at worst.

Shikamaru had been an adult once before, but he simply couldn't understand them.

Although the comparison probably wasn't fair, with him being close to not one, but two jinchūriki. Knowing Naruto and Gaara for even a short time would be enough to see that they were more than the monsters sealed inside them, and they'd been friends for much longer than that. The villagers? Not so much.

Not that it was an acceptable excuse. Nothing was stopping them from getting to know Naruto, nothing but their irrational hatred and fear.

He needed to distract himself, or he would lose all faith in his village. So he turned to Naruto. "Are you ok? That was..." He struggled to find the right words.

Chōji took the burden from him. "Yeah, that was weird. What was that guy's problem?"

"Um." Naruto glanced at his wrist for a moment, frowning, then looked at Shikamaru and Chōji with the same expression. "I dunno?"

"He was stupid," Chōji said with a shrug, thus concluding their conversation about the shopkeeper. He sounded genuinely curious when he went on. "What did you want that mask for, anyway? It looked like an ANBU mask."

"I know, right? They look so cool, don't they, it would have been the best!" And just like that, his frown melted, giving way to a grin that rivaled the sun with its intensity.

"The best for what?"

"For pranking! I'd have scared those bastards so badly, them with their stupid Test of Courage and they'd see that no one beats Uzumaki Naruto at pranking, no one! Serves them right, not letting me come." Naruto scowled at that, picking at the hem of his shirt.

Shikamaru understood maybe half of what Naruto'd just said, but it was enough to form a painful lump in his throat. He was lucky Chōji had carried the conversation so far, with him trying to ignore the pulsing in his ears with every new bit of information.

"Oh." Chōji didn't seem to be bothered by Naruto's patchy explanation of what had happened and nodded, offering a weak smile. "Yeah, I know that feeling. They don't let me join their games either, sometimes."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Really? Why?"

"I guess I'm not very good at them." He shrugged. "They said a team with me always loses, so they don't want me to play."

"That's a stupid reason," Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah," Shikamaru jumped in. "Which is why we aren't hanging out with them anymore. Right? We don't need them."

"Hey, hey! Does that mean we can play? Let's play Ninja! If they can do it, we can too!"

Chōji hesitated. "I dunno. Can you even play with three people?"

"Well I mean, it doesn't have to be Ninja... We can play other stuff. Uh, let's go to one of the training grounds, there's lots of space! Come on, it's gonna be fun!" Naruto's voice had grown in volume while he talked, and he was bouncing where he stood, his eyes gleaming.

Shikamaru didn't quite manage to suppress a wince, but he wanted Naruto to always look like this. Excited. Happy.

"Sure, why not. Shikamaru?" Chōji looked at him, smiling.

Was that even a question? "Yeah, I'm in. Let's go."

And that was another problem solved. Shikamaru smiled as they headed towards one of Konoha's many training grounds, Naruto running ahead impatiently, him trailing behind and Chōji somewhere in-between, trying not to lose either of them.

He recalled the events of the original timeline vaguely, but at the time, it simply hadn't seemed very important. He didn't remember if Naruto ever got around to pranking the other kids, but he knew that they had tricked Naruto only shortly thereafter, making him enter the forest by promising him to be his friends.

"Come on, hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah, we're here." Shikamaru sighed, his mouth threatening to break out into a grin.

Naruto, energetic as he was, didn't waste time and dragged them into a game he only seemed to know half the rules of – if even. It made it all the more fun, even though Shikamaru paid only half attention.

The details escaped him, but for some reason, there had been enemy shinobi in the forest who ended up chasing after Naruto. He had been saved – by Iruka? Probably, though he wasn't sure – but certainly not without injuries.

Right now, he was not only preventing Naruto from getting in danger in the first place, he was also able to spare him the other children's cruelty, exploiting his desperate need for friendship. And for what? Nothing but a childish prank.

"Hey, wait up! I'm pretty sure that's not how the game goes!" Chōji yelled as he ran after Naruto, laughing and clearly not serious.

And what better way to do it than introducing him to one of the best friends anyone could ever wish for? Shikamaru followed at a slower pace, watching with glee at how well Naruto and Chōji got along.

"Shikamaru, come on!"

"Coming!" He took another moment and then jogged over to join Chōji and Naruto in their game.

The morning melted away as the three of them spent more and more time on the training grounds, playing what felt like dozens of common outdoor games known in Konoha. Surprisingly it was Naruto who suggested most of them: While he often hadn't been able to join in on the games himself, he had spent a great amount of time watching the others.

His eagerness to try them out himself was both heartwarming and painful to watch.

And yet, his favorite game – and Chōji's, for that matter – was still Ninja, so somehow they kept coming back to it. With only three people and no toys like the cardboard kunai the civilian children used, they had to tweak the rules a bit, but Chōji and Naruto didn't seem to mind.

It was still a challenge for Shikamaru to even remotely relax, but eventually he managed to enjoy the day without overthinking everything.

Until Naruto cried out in pain and fell.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru's blood ran cold as he rushed to his friend's side, Chōji not far behind.

"Are you alright? Did you trip?" Chōji asked.

Automatically, Shikamaru scanned their surrounding for danger, sensed for chakra signatures. Coming up with nothing, he dropped down next to Naruto. One of his legs was stretched out in front of him, his clothes dirty from the fall. He seemed fine otherwise.

"Yeah, what happened?"

Naruto frowned, looking at his leg perplexed. Then he frowned. "I didn't trip! I mean. I think?"

"What do you mean, you think?"

"I didn't! My ankle just started hurting, that made me fall." Naruto sounded too vocal for him to be seriously hurting, so Shikamaru allowed himself to relax.

"Hold still." He touched Naruto's ankle carefully, slowly easing his foot out of his sandal. Naruto winced at the contact, grumbling a bit, but didn't protest. His ankle had already started swelling, dark bruises forming in an ugly halfmoon. He'd seen enough of them to recognize a serious injury, and this wasn't one.

"You'll be fine. I think it's just a bit of swelling, you'll need to rest for a bit and cool it."

Naruto groaned, and to his left, Chōji perked up. "We can help you home, if you want. Do you think you can stand?"

"Yeah, I guess," Naruto muttered, clearly not happy about their playtime being cut short. He hesitated before accepting Chōji's help, frowning as he was pulled up. They were halfway to their feet when Naruto hissed and let himself sink back to the ground.

"What's wrong-?" Chōji started, but broke off when his eyes fell on Naruto's arm – the one not currently slung over Chōji's shoulder.

Shikamaru followed his glance and stared. There, just below his right shoulder, a clean line had sliced through his t-shirt, leaving something dripping down his arm. Something red.

He whirled around, scanning the area around them again and okay, now the metallic stench caught up to him, he was bleeding, Naruto was bleeding how could this happen, were they attacked-?

No. They were at the training grounds. There was no one around them. He didn't sense any danger, they were fine. He could deal with this. It was fine.

When he opened his eyes, Chōji was frowning at him and Naruto was talking. Huh.

"-serious, are you ok? Is it because you can't see blood, because there was this boy who fainted after he fell from a tree, but I'm fine, really, it barely even hurts you don't have to worry-"

"Naruto. I'm fine." He went on when the other boy opened his mouth to protest, cutting him off. "Let me see."

He pulled Naruto's shirt out of the way – and did a double take. The cut was a few inches long but shallow, just deep enough to draw blood. But it was too narrow. Too clean. There were no bruises around the wound indicating an impact, nor jagged edges.

It looked like a kunai cut.

But that was impossible, there was no weaponry anywhere near them. And yet, he couldn't think of anything but a very sharp shinobi weapon that could have resulted in an injury like that.

Shikamaru wasn't the only one confused.

"How'd you cut open your shoulder like that?" Chōji asked. "That wasn't there before, was it?"

"I don't know!" Naruto's voice wavered slightly, his hands twitching. "It's the same as before, it just appeared."

Shikamaru's mouth went dry. No, that wasn't right, it couldn't be.

Could it?

"Look, Naruto, it's fine. We'll patch you up, bring you home. It's not a serious injury, it'll heal quickly." But it wasn't. Nothing was fine and Shikamaru had to force himself to keep it together, for his friends' sake.

At any other time it would have been just that: a minor injury no one would think about in a few days' time. But here? When in another reality, without Shikamaru to jump in, Naruto had been running for his life in the forest at the same time that they were playing?

Shikamaru didn't believe in coincidence.

But he could think about that later. Naruto was more important. "Does it hurt?"

"A bit," Naruto mumbled.

"Okay, well." No hospital. He hated it, but Shikamaru couldn't say for certain that the medics would treat Naruto like a regular patient, and the injury wasn't serious enough to make Naruto deal with that possibility. "We have supplies at home. How about we patch you up there?"

Naruto furrowed his brows and shrugged. "I dunno."

Ah. Right. "Or I could grab everything we need real quick and do it at your place." It was probably a bit early for Naruto to meet his parents.

True enough, Naruto immediately relaxed. "Yeah, ok!"

They hadn't gotten far when the sight of Iruka made them halt in their tracks, walking towards them from the edge of the training grounds. He wasn't alone. "Naruto? What happened, are you alright?"

Shikamaru's eyes were drawn to his companion, a woman who looked slightly older than Iruka himself. She was not pretty; burn scars covered one side of her face, twisting her mouth into a painful looking frown. One of her sleeves was tied in a knot just below her shoulder.

Shikamaru didn't think he'd seen her before. He didn't like it. Not at all.

"Iruka-sensei! Me and Shikamaru and Chōji were playing because that stupid shopkeeper was being mean and Shikamaru glared at him and told him off, it was great!"

"That's... nice, Naruto," Iruka said, blinking a few times as he knelt to be eye to eye with his student. "But I was talking about you leg. And your arm," he added, his eyes narrowing as he noticed the blood on Naruto's sleeve.

"Oh. Yeah, tripped."

Shikamaru jumped in when Naruto didn't elaborate. "We were just about to help him home."

"Without letting someone treat his injuries? Really, you three." Iruka scowled and scooped up Naruto before he had any chance to protest. "We'll go to the academy, it's not far."

Naruto whined but didn't try to struggle. Iruka's eyes rested on Chōji and Shikamaru for a moment, not long enough for Shikamaru to decipher his expression. Then he turned to the woman. "You don't have to come with us. Anything else can wait until tomorrow, don't you think?"

She hesitated, her eyes wandering from Naruto to Shikamaru and Chōji, then nodded. "Tomorrow."

Shikamaru watched her, trying to take in as much as he could without being caught staring. Her calm posture that just about bordered on rigidness. Her guarded expression common for shinobi. The glance that hung just a second too long on Naruto, typical for any adult in Konoha.

Unfortunately, Naruto's curiosity was just as strong as Shikamaru's need to collect intelligence – but with none of his subtlety.

"Hey you, who're you? Why are you with Iruka-sensei and why do you only have one arm?"

Shikamaru winced, taken aback by his childish bluntness. At the same time, Chōji's eyes dropped to the ground, and Iruka snapped: "Naruto!"

The woman straightened her shoulders – she looked nearly defensive – and frowned at Naruto. She interrupted Iruka as he started to speak, stopping him in his tracks. "I lost it. On the same mission I got these." She gestured towards her face. Her voice sounded brusque, her words curt and sharp.

"It's not something you start a conversation with, Naruto. It's rude." Iruka sighed, shooting her an apologetic look. To his students he said: "This is Aiko-sensei. Yes," he added in response to their startled expressions. "Sensei. She's learning to become a teacher at the academy and you will address her as such."

It was moments like these that Shikamaru hated being right. While Chōji and Naruto – the latter stretching to get a better glimpse over Iruka's shoulder – regarded "Aiko-sensei" with fresh curiosity, his mind was racing.

There had never been a teacher named Aiko during his time at the academy, he was sure of it. She shouldn't be here, she hadn't been here, so what had changed?

Nothing had. Nothing except him. Every possible change to this timeline was directly related to him – or Gaara, who was hopefully well and about a country away – it had to be, so what did that mean for a shinobi who was conveniently stationed at the academy not long after Shikamaru had started to act suspiciously?

"Nice to meet you," Chōji piped in, smiling politely at Aiko. "Does that mean you'll teach us sometime?"

She took a moment before she answered. "Maybe. After observing Iruka-sensei." She turned, nodding to Iruka. "Tomorrow."

Shikamaru's eyes lingered on her retreating figure.

The rest of the trip was a blur. He barely paid attention as Naruto got patched up by Iruka, too busy contemplating what this meant for him, for his plans. Were there any memories he could rely on anymore? Or had he compromised the timeline too much?

His mind was buzzing with the implications, shifting through possibilities and scenarios fast enough to make him feel dizzy.

Vaguely he heard Naruto and Chōji talking, chatting as if Naruto's injuries had never even happened. Meanwhile, he sat unmoving, staring at Naruto's bandaged shoulder as if it held all the answers.

Fire burns in her lungs, her breath coming fast and hot. A branch catches on her sleeve, ripping it. She can't stop. Faster, still faster. She risks a glimpse behind her, sees a blurred shadow flashing through the trees. She slips. Cursing under her breath, she scurries for halt, keeps running, her teammates not far behind.

They've been seen.

Her body slows down against her will, and Yugito forces it to press on, keeps going, keeps running. They're still too close, too close to the village and potential backup.

The mission was successful, their target dead, and all that's left is to shake off their pursuers – or get far enough to force them to stop. It would be suicide to follow them close to Kumo.

A shriek to her left makes her freeze, clinging to the rough bark. Kasumi has fallen. Yugito leaps down, crouching next to her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Kurumi whispers. She gasps for breath, her chest heaving with the effort. Yugito has trouble understanding her. "Leave me. I'm sorry. I can't-" She takes another shaky breath. "I can't go on."

Yugito turns to her left. Shozo doesn't look much better, leaning on a nearby tree for support and panting. She tends to forget her own stamina massively overtops that of most other shinobi.

"Alright then," she murmurs, mostly to herself. She turns, facing back towards their pursuers. They'll be here any second.

In fact-

Yugito frowns. They should be here already. They were right behind them; what's keeping them?

It's then that one of them falls out of a tree.

Yugito blinks and shares a look with Shozo. In front of them, the enemy shinobi lies in the dirt, face-down and with three senbon lodged in his neck.

"Yugito Nii."

Her eyes snap upwards, a sunbeam blinding her as it gleams through a patch in the tree canopy.

"Jinchūriki of the Two-Tails."

"Who are you? What do you want?" She frowns, tensing and building up chakra. Whoever it is, somehow she doubts they are connected to their mission.

"You aren't easy to find outside your village, you know?"

Her eyes narrow. She steps back, closer to her teammates.

Above them, the stranger jumps.

A/N: Guys, I'm not gonna lie. I've been feeling kinda stuck on this for a while now - in some ways I have from the beginning - and I could use a little inspiration. Your thoughts on this would help a lot - where you think this might be going, what you liked and didn't like, anthing, really - and nothing is more motivating than reviews! :)

In other news, I'm actually posting this from an entirely different continent. Guess who's going to spend a year in Australia! :D It's super busy and super fun so far, Perth is amazing!

The bit about the Test of Courage and Naruto being chased by enemy shinobi was from the anime. He was indeed saved by Iruka, but what Shikamaru doesn't know is that he, in turn, had to be saved by Kakashi. :P It's a filler, so you can guess about the quality, but if anyone wants to check it out anyway: It's episode 177, 'Iruka's Ordeal' and episode 178, 'Iruka's Decision'.

Big thanks to my wonderful beta readers: Igornerd, To Mockingbird, Monster Cat Music Girl, and PyrothTenka. Basically they're awesome and you should check them out. Right now! If you haven't already! :D

Anyone want to make guesses about Aiko? Or the stranger who confronted Yugito? Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!

~Gwen