I Do Not Own Naruto

Chapter 11

Shikamaru focused on his diplomatic outreach proposal because he wanted to help the civilian villages decimated by the war. He knew there was a lot of rebuilding to do, and he had hopes that if; by helping; the civilian population affected by the Fourth Great Shinobi War then they could perhaps mend a lot of the bridges between civilian and shinobi people.

Even though shinobi were on good terms with civilians, for the most part; he knew that they weren't always on amical terms. Shinobi were something to fear and revere sadly, and it created a lot of mistrust between the two groups. Shikamaru had hopes that with this program of his that he could possibly eliminate most of that tension. It wasn't all going to be eliminated, shinobi were shinobi and civilians were civilians but he had hopes to rebuild the world better than when the war had started. He wanted the world Mirai to grow up in a better world, a world her father would have been proud of.

Looking over his proposal he sighed as he crumpled this one up too and pitched it as he continued working on his outreach idea.

"Shikamaru?" he heard a voice as he looked up from what he was working on and saw Temari poke her head in then.

"Huh?" he grunted as he rubbed his tired eyes and she walked in as she leaned over to pick up a crumpled paper.

"Diplomatic outreach?" she asked as she read and sat across from him then.

"Yeah," he sighed.

"It's a good idea, but you do know the civilians will need medical aid, food, rebuilding help, and order because of the bandits. I see you're bringing up that they need rebuilding help, but they need more than just that," she said as she read over the paper.

"I know, I know they need more, but how far do the shinobi get involved with civilians until we're intruding? The civilians are not a part of the shinobi population, and they take care of themselves, but it was our war that broke their lives, so how far do we get involved before we're intruding or they think we're taking over them?" he asked.

This was a concern for him, he didn't want to further damage relations with civilians by making the civilians feel threatened and like they were being invaded by shinobi forces who wanted to take over their villages. It was something he had been thinking about a lot lately, he wanted to help, but he didn't want the shinobi to come off as another set of invaders.

"Use the genin," Temari suggested.

"Huh?"

"Use the children, the genin, use the children learning to be shinobi to go with outreach groups, genin are more willing to learn and are easier to influence and by having them in these groups the outreach program looks like they're to help, the genin learn to respect civilians and civilians learn to respect shinobi children for the work they do," Temari explained.

"They're kids Temari," he argued. "Most of the genin today are barely out of the Academy," he pointed out flatly.

"Yes, and do you realize how many of the orphans in civilian villages are of the same age, by putting the genin in these groups you're now reaching out to more than just the older groups of civilians but you're also reaching out to the children, and genin are shinobi too. They are old enough to be out of the Academy so they should be old enough to have real missions and to start learning about the real world, also, genin aren't as threatening in appearance as a jonin or chūnin, they are relatively innocent and will be able to bond with the civilian children and perhaps even the elders," she argued.

Shikamaru leaned back as he pondered this.

On one hand almost all the genin fresh out of the Academy or a few years out, they had been relatively untouched by war because the genin had not been brought to the battle field but left in the villages to defend the villages. But on the other hand, they were still children, they were vulnerable and young and impressionable. Seeing the horrors of what the war had done to people might be too scaring for them. He didn't want the young minds of the shinobi forces to be poisoned by the horrors they were exposed to in a post war world.

"They are still children Temari, exposing them to what it is to be a shinobi when they have just begun to learn the basics. And it's our job as shinobi to protect the children," Shikamaru pointed out. "After all they are the next shinobi, the next guardians of our ways of life, and to expose them to the worst of what shinobi do right now…" he shook his head. "I don't see how that's a good idea for them as growing shinobi."

"They are not children anymore though, Shikamaru," Temari stated flatly. "They became shinobi the moment they exited the Academy and became genin, and they will be exposed to all of this either way. Perhaps by exposing them to the world as it is now will help them see how they can rebuild it and make it better in their own way. This is their world now too, they will be learning all about the War either way, at least this way we might be able to positively influence the civilians as seeing us as something other than harden warriors, and the genin will see how they impact the world."

"That is true," he agreed with a nod. "But there's also the psychological side to think of by using genin in the diplomatic outreach program. While on one hand they do not appear as threatening or as dangerous as a jonin or a chūnin, they are shinobi in training and they will one day be chūnin and jonin, and having civilians see them as genin will later damage relations with them when later these genin are no longer genin but harden shinobi. While I think it's a good idea to have genin involved, I think it's damaging also. But on the other hand are your arguments, and I think those, while valid need to be considered in the long term as well, Temari.

"I'm not looking ten years down the road or twenty; though those are to be considered too, I'm trying to change how civilians see shinobi for a hundred years down the road. I want the world to see us as people too, just as I want shinobi to see civilians as people too; we've been separated for too long really and its time to mend those bridges," he said evenly.

Temari leaned back as she thought about what he said.

He was right, civilians and shinobi were two separate worlds really and if the world wanted to change they would have to change the civilians' perspective on shinobi and the shinobi's perspective on civilians. It wasn't going to be easy, but she was certain that if genin were involved that would help. It was hard to make a jonin look like a friend when jonin were usually in the elite class of shinobi and very threatening to look at. Even if they looked like her or Shikamaru most of the time.

But she while she did not always look threatening she knew there was something about her which had civilians shying away from her and hurrying into a relatively safe spot instead of chatting with her. But she had a feeling that was more of human nature; the animal instincts in people telling them if they were prey or predator and most shinobi fell into the 'predator' category for humans. That wasn't bad, but for the most part civilians were in the 'prey' category and that made the tension between civilians and shinobi high. Shinobi because they weren't welcomed, and civilians because they were terrified of shinobi.

"Yes, you want to change how civilians view shinobi and how shinobi view civilians, I understand that desire.

"But Shikamaru, sending only jonin and chūnin will definitely look like you're invading to take over the civilian world. Even if you send them medics and builders with the jonin and chūnin. Also, it won't change how the civilians view us, and face it; it won't change how we feel about civilians. Jonin and chūnin are already set in mindset and views for the most part and it takes a lot to change their views.

"But sending genin will change how the civilians see us and how we will see civilians," she said. "Also, genin aren't threatening, not in appearance or abilities really, they are still learning, and civilians will see that. It might help with our relations with the civilian population. They will be more influenced with genin than jonin or chūnin; because even our medics look lethal, just look at Haruno Sakura, does she look like she's going to help you or crush you?"

"That's not a fair comparison," he argued.

"No? alright, what about Ino, does she look like she's going to heal you or possess you? Or Naruto, or Hinata, or me, or you, or Gaara, or Kankurō? We're all threatening; and not just in appearance, Shikamaru, we are shinobi, and we are trained killers, lethal weapons, and even civilians will see that," she pointed out flatly. "We are not people civilians will relate to, we are not people to civilians, we are threats. Even if we send diplomatic outreach we're a threat, genin are children between the ages of eleven to fifteen, they do not look threatening, they do not look like they will anhiliate a civilian, and they actually are kind because they haven't hardened completely in living the life of a shinobi just yet.

"Diplomatic outreach is a good idea, I just don't think it will work unless you look at this from the civilian's point of view and think about what they see with us," she pointed out.

He sighed.

She nearly grinned in triumph, knowing she nearly had him seeing it her way. But that was the thing with Shikamaru, he was great at seeing ten, twenty or thirty moves ahead of everyone else but seeing in the now and how to make moves sometimes wasn't his best ability. Which was why she was trying to point out that civilians weren't going to see an outreach envoy comprised of jonin and chūnin as help, they were going to see an invasion after a war. However, in incorporating genin she was certain that it would work better.

"So, you think genin will be of use in diplomatic outreach," he finally said as he seemed to be thinking this over.

"I know it will help," she countered.

"Alright, alright, lets' say I incorporate it, how do you propose the genin work, they are still shinobi in training so they are not a real threat, yet, how will the civilians remain on good terms with these genin when they grow up into chūnin and jonin?" he challenged.

"Hopefully relations will already be established, and will be able to continue in friendly way, and those grown genin will take their own genin with them into villages to continue showing how the world is changing. We're starting a cycle here, Shikamaru, you want civilians to see shinobi as people and shinobi to see civilians as something other than useless, this is how we start. We change the cycle, and by the time we're grandparents the world will be seeing both shinobi and civilians as people," Temari explained.

"Or they will continue to see each other as mortal enemies," Shikamaru replied grimly.

"Not if we change the cycle slowly, not immediately," Temari said. "The world is not going to change immediately, right now it's picking itself up and we're rebuilding. Let's change it while its working on rebuilding so we can rebuild it better."

Shikamaru looked at her with startled eyes and she looked at the paper. He looked like she had said something that had struck a note in him and she hoped he was seeing how this cycle would have to be broken slowly if they wanted to change the world.

Alright, I'm going to be honest with you and say the letter before was not a lie, but rather I'm not always in a happy mood to write the other stories; because face it, most of them are pretty fluffy and light. Which means that I will occasionally grace one of five UtDI... Stories with a chapter. But don't get your hopes up that this will be regular until September.

That's all for now folks!

Enjoy Until the Day I Act! =)