Naruto ~ Silent Guardians
The end of the 4th war had Naruto and Shikamaru as the only survivors, Kurama feeling the two fading acted fast, sent them back to their Genin days to make sure the war never came to pass. AU! Pairings aren't a main focus.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything related to it.
Chapter Twenty-Six - Epilogue
~Three Years Later~
Shikamaru Nara was sitting on his favorite hill overlooking the village, the clouds above slowly inching their way across the vast blue sky. He let a soft smile cross his lips as he breathed in deeply; things had been peaceful and perfect since the Danzo incident and the fallout of everything they revealed, but it only served to strengthen the bonds of the village and the other villages in the Five Nations.
"Sorry I'm late Shika!" Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze (officially recognized as a Namikaze now) called out, waving his right arm in the air as he hurried over to his best friend's side, dropping ungracefully on the green grass beside the Nara letting out an exhausted sigh.
"At least you made it in one piece, what happened this time?" Shikamaru asked amused at the look Naruto had on his face.
"Once we finished training, Sakura had dragged Sasuke off for their date. Sai disappeared with Yamato-Taicho to attend his rehab with the others, Sai attempted a smile today and it didn't freak us out so I think he's making progress." Naruto explained and Shikamaru smiled a bit at those words.
"Then Kakashi decided he wanted to test his Raiton: Rasengan against my RasenShuriken, butthankfully before we could Obito showed up with Iruka-Sensei in tow. Apparently they were late to a meeting so they dragged Kakashi off after saying Itachi wouldn't be there as he was currently stalking Sasuke and Sakura's date with Tsunade as his partner in crime. I then had to run across the rooftops to avoid my fangirls and Neji as he was still pissed off by my latest prank and the fact I'm dating Hinata, overprotective cousin. I'm exhausted, even fighting a war didn't leave me this tired." Naruto finished the summary of his day.
"Sounds like an average day around the village." Shikamaru laughed as he leaned back on the grass next to the blonde. "Where's Kurama?"
"Oh he's playing with some of the kid's at the park, not of his own will mind you, but when he's that small he can't exactly get away from the kids." Naruto laughed loudly remembered the horror on Kurama's furry face when he was dragged away by a group of pre-academy students.
"Things sure have changed haven't they?" Shikamaru smiled fondly.
"Yeah, they sure have." Naruto smiled softly, closing his cerulean eyes.
The two Chunin's lay in comfortable silence, they could easily be Kage level (or higher in Naruto's case) by now, but they decided they wanted to be Chunin's for a while and not have to deal with the extra work that came with being higher ranks. Unofficially when they were sent on missions they were the unspoken leaders of the groups and those missions always were successes, in one way or another and they were also used as advisor's (mainly Shikamaru as Naruto still managed to escape when people came after him with questions about plans) when major problems were encountered.
The Konoha 12 were all being trained differently than any previous teams, they were being trained by the best of the best. Tsunade had also created a new academy program (getting rid of the horrible sensei's as well, basically a total re-haul that only Iruka-Sensei had came out unscathed from), training them better and harder than before, giving everyone a chance even people who had no access to their Charka like Lee.
Tsunade had stayed on as Godaime Hokage while the past Hokage's all decided they would teach ninja's they deemed worthy, there were quite a few of them and every single one of them were getting stronger and stronger as days passed. The past Hokage's and their wives also decided to live normal lives and only went on missions when it was 100% necessary for them to be apart of them.
Minato and Jiraiya had cheerfully removed the caged bird mark from all members of the branch family of the Hyuga clan against the Elder's wishes. Said Elders were taken out of power by the combination of Hiashi Hyuga and Tsunade so then the two branches had merged together no longer defined by main and branch families.
After it had happened Hinata found her blonde boyfriend and gave him a kiss on his lips in the middle of the street, she had tears in her eyes and thanked him repeatedly. She no longer was the blushing and stammering mess that she used to be, her training with Kushina and Mito really paid off and Shikamaru had often found Naruto crying dramatically to his Tou-San about how the uzumaki woman were turning his sweet stammering Hinata into a force of nature, Minato just patted his son's shoulder in sympathy, understanding his pain all too well. On the other hand Neji had simply clasped Naruto and Shikamaru's forearms and nodded his head with a genuine smile as his thanks and if his eyes were a bit misty no one commented on it even if his girlfriend TenTen did tease him about it when they were training to rile him up.
Gaara had become Godaime Kazekage once more and of course with the Konoha 12 and Jinchūriki's all involved in his coronation it was an event to remember. Then there was Temari who simply planted a kiss on the Nara's cheek and told him to pick her up at 8 that night after she had grabbed Shikamaru during the events in Suna. Naruto had doubled over with laughter at the stunned look on Shikamaru's face. Shikamaru waved it off by muttering something about 'troublesome blondes' before he went to get ready for his date with the Suna Ninja doing his best to ignore the death glares Gaara and Kankuro were sending his way.
Itachi surprisingly had merged back into the village almost seamlessly once the truth of what really happened that night had been released and for the first year Sasuke always made sure to keep his older brother in sight, silently worried that if he took his eyes off Itachi he would disappear again, his 'mother hen mode' as Naruto called it (this like usual ended up in a fist fight between the two, both having smiles on their faces by the end of it) only went up in degree while Itachi was in recovery from the surgery Tsunade successfully performed on him to heal his eyes. Kisame kept his promise and came by every so often to spar with the Uchiha brother's and help Sasuke tease/annoy Itachi. Itachi took his place as ANBU Taicho once more while Obito took up a position in the academy after Iruka saw how he inspired a academy girl who thought she would never live up to her family's exception's the Chunin had dragged the Uchiha to Tsunade who agreed with the Chunin's strong words to give him a sensei position in the academy.
Nagato, Konan and Yahiko were in the village every so often as they had decided to not become ninja's again as they had decided to go travel the Five Nations to experience life to the fullest. When they did come back to Konoha they stayed in the flat Akira and Akito had stayed in (when they were in the village before they were revealed as Naruto and Shikamaru). The trio would help out around the village, using their skills to make tasks easier for ninja's and civilians both.
Minato and Kushina had reopened the Namikaze estate and had Naruto, Obito (who didn't want to intrude on Itachi and Sasuke's 'brother-ness'-Obito's words) and Kakashi move in with them, re-forming their family while Jiraiya stayed with his (finally!) wife Tsunade and the other Senju's in the Senju estate (this included Yamato who Hashirama had tracked down as the man did have his DNA therefore he was family as far as the Shodai was confirmed, plus he wanted to spar with another Muton user). Shikamaru still lived in the Nara compound where Naruto and Asuma could be seen in regularly as Yoshino demanded to have the blonde around for meals at least twice a week and Chiyo wanted her 'Naru-Nii-San' to play with her when he could while Asuma was there for his usual Shogi games or cloud watching with Shikamaru.
Shikamaru was snapped out of his musing by the huffing of Kurama as the now looking just exhausted as Naruto Nine Tailed fox came into the clearing and dropped down by Naruto's side, burying his face in his paws.
"I hate children, how can they have so much energy?" Kurama huffed yawning widely, showing his sharp canine teeth.
"Ah to be young." Naruto said dramatically.
"Ah poor Naruto-Jiji." Shikamaru teased, laughing as he blocked the whack from Naruto with his forearm.
"How is planning for the Chunin exam's coming along?" Naruto asked, pillowing his head on his arms that he had crossed behind his blonde hair.
"Much easier since I've done it a few times in the past before the war." Shikamaru admitted, not stressing out about every detail like he did in the past.
"Is Lady Tsunade still dropping hints about you becoming her successor?"
"Yeah, she's dragging me to the annual Kage meeting, we've kind of turned it into a Jinchūriki meeting as well. Even through we see each other at least once a month, the Kage's wanted us to come as I think most of them are grooming some of the Jinchūriki's to take their places when the time comes." Naruto explained, a smile on his face as he thought about the meeting Tsunade told him about and how he had no choice but to come with her to it.
"So the Allied Shinobi Forces is coming along nicely?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as a shadow passed over them, waving down at the duo before disappearing.
"Very well also Fu and Chomei are fitting in Konoha nicely. Kaa-Chan, Baa-Chan and Mito-Baa-Chan have taken a liking to her. She practically lives at my house when she isn't out with Shino." Naruto smiled, having seen the shadow above them. Fu would much rather fly around with Chomei's wings than walk anywhere if she had a choice.
"I'm glad she found a place she can call home." Shikamaru said thinking about the bubbly mint haired girl who now sported a Leaf Hitai-ate instead of a Taki one.
"Even though we got grounded up until we are grandparents I think, no I know what we did was worth it." Naruto spoke up suddenly; Shikamaru tilted his head to the side slightly.
Once things had settled down the two under a silent agreement had decided to live in the now and forget their future and work towards making a better and brighter one. So far they had very successful and life was good.
"…Yeah me too Naru. Hokage-Sama, it's been an honour." Shikamaru turned his head to look at the blonde with a smile on his lips.
"Back at you Shika, no matter how troublesome it was." Naruto turned and smiled back at the Nara before the two lay on the grass hill where it all began again in companionable silence with Kurama dozing by Naruto's side.
"Ah, there you two are! Come on, we're meeting everyone for BBQ remember?" Ino called out as she found the duo resting on the hill about half an hour later. She glared at them from her one visible blue eye as the other eye was hidden under a long blonde bang; she crossed her arms tapping her foot as she waited for the two to move their butts.
"Why do I surround myself with such troublesome blondes?" Shikamaru muttered to Naruto as the two stood up, the Jinchūriki grabbing Kurama before placing the Nine Tails on his head as per usual.
"Ino, Temari, me… Yeah you really are surrounded by blonde's, clearly you attract them." Naruto laughed loudly after he ticked the three names off on his fingers.
"What are you two idiots talking about now? Actually I don't want to know, just hurry up!" Ino threw her arms in the air and started to drag the duo down the road.
Finally the group entered the restaurant where they were directed to the back room that was usually used for massive private parties and the time travellers blinked in shock. Every single person they had known or fought beside were all located inside the room.
"Surprise!" They all shouted at once leaving the two gapping like goldfish at the sight before them.
"We never properly thanked either of you for doing so much for us, so this party is for both of you." Tsunade explained seeing the confused looks the large group was getting.
"Ohhh." Naruto said in understanding.
"You didn't have too…" Shikamaru trailed off awkwardly as his girlfriend Temari waltzed over, hooking her arm through his.
"We wanted too so stop standing there looking stupid and come eat!" Temari dragged the Nara over to the table, forcing him into a chair between Shikaku and Asuma, but across from her.
"You guys are the best!" Naruto cheered, Kurama grumbled annoyed at the loud blonde. He dug his claws into the blonde's scalp before he leapt over to the blonde's girlfriend. Hinata giggled at the sight, but held her arms over for Kurama nonetheless laughing at the betrayed look Naruto was giving her for choosing Kurama over him. B laughed loudly at the sight, whacking Naruto on the back cheerfully. Naruto plastered a genuine grin on his face and dove head first into the party, sitting between his parents and across from his godparents.
The party went till late that night as the two time travellers reminisced with those there from both timelines, told stories from their old timeline (the happy ones only), bantered/had verbal fights. All in all Shikamaru and Naruto knew they had made the right choices when they came back to stop the war and they planned on doing everything they could to stop any Fourth Shinobi War from breaking out.
The future was bright and they knew it.
FallenQueen2: Thank you all for your kind reviews, also as I'm sure everyone can guess, but this was pre-written as I didn't want to put it up without it being finished. I know how annoying waiting for a story to be updated when it hasn't been updated in years. I wrote this for me and I'm just glad others enjoyed it. I have some idea's based off of this chapter for side stories I may or may not write and post at some point, just as a heads up if you are interested.