A Troublesome Chance

Disclaimer- I only own my imagination

Prologue- Troublesome Restart

Shikamaru was on his knees, panting along with a good amount of the allied shinobi force. He didn't have any clue on why Orochimaru was there with the Edo-Tensei'd Hokages, but he was thankful for more unbeatable powerhouses to destroy the insanely powerful Obito. After getting up again, Naruto faced Obito.

"Why don't you submit? It's futile, as in three minutes the world will be under my genjutsu." The young Nara's eyes widened. He began thinking up strategies to help prevent the end of the world that his father had recently sacrificed his life for, though found nothing feasible. There's nothing we can do, is there? Is this what it feels like to lose hope? He slumped forward, leaning his face towards the ground as sweat dripped off his forehead.

Naruto struggled at the front of the battlefield and forced his shaking legs under himself. Standing up with the only other people on their feet, the Hokages and former Otokage, the jinchuuriki stepped forward so that he was in front. "I'll never give up! I'll bring the world true peace, no matter what!"

"Oh?" He chuckled. "Peace... That is what I too desire, a perfect world with no hatred. Shikamaru looked up to see Obito with a wild smirk on his face like a madman.

"Peace is created from resolving differences, not eliminating them, you bastard!"

"Drop the act, your peace will never last. The world is too far gone."

"You say that, yet the shinobi alliance stands strong, united against a common enemy. I say that is the first step to resolving our hatred, and I will do everything in my power to keep you from ruining it," replied Naruto forcefully, determination in his eyes. With a quick nod to his father, he activated his Kyuubi chakra mode. Minato threw a three-pronged kunai, and the two Namikazes ran to both sides of Obito, though below him. Quickly, Naruto launched at the Juubi jinchuuriki though he didn't notice the blond make a cross hand sign. Shikamaru couldn't see any way their attack would work. It would end up in Minato being completely destroyed and Naruto barely alive! I can't see any more of them die! If I had just trained instead of declaring things troublesome, maybe I'd have somewhat altered the course of events.

Minato, through use of the hiraishin, and Naruto both appeared on opposite sides of Obito, each with a rasengan in hand. The man held out his arms and caught the two jutsu's absorbing them. Naruto ducked, alowing a clone with two rasengan to appear above him and slam it into Obito, resulting somehow in a huge explosion of light.

Shikamaru watched in horror as his friend was encased in a bright white light that extended for twenty feet. "Naruto!" The form of the blond fell to the ground, showing minor signs of life while his father was no where to be seen. From the air, the entire shinobi alliance heard laughter.

Obito was unharmed. "You are growing desperate, Naruto."

The bright yellow cloak dissipated from him in a wisp of smoke, but the injured boy placed his hands on the ground. "I can't stop trying until we win!" he put his knees, then feet on the ground and tried to stand up only to fall back on his face. Sasuke was at his side, and caught him before he had face planted.

"Any last words before I activate Infinite Tsukuyomi?" He slowly began going through a few seals, seeming to take great pleasure at the horror of the shinobi before him.

The blond jinchuuriki had something to say. "There are things in this world that people may not like, wars, hatred, pain. But it is how we persevere that makes us who we are. If others could have shouldered your hate, supported you while you were down, you wouldn't have turned out like this, Obito. I've had friends to help me through tough times... Sandaime-jiji, Sakura-chan, Tsunade, Ero-sennin, Kiba, Chouji, Neji, Lee, Ayame-niichan Hinata-chan, Shikamaru..." the Nara raised his head at the blond. "and everyone else. I will make any sacrifice to protect them!" Naruto screamed the last part as he activated his full bijuu mode once again.

Shit! Thought Shikamaru. He didn't use any time to gather chakra, so this is the end of the line. He is the climbing silver in this impossible game of shogi, a final sacrifice If we weren't about to die, I would honor that sacrifice and win, but no one else is in shape to even move. It was a troublesome journey, Naruto, and I'm glad that I was able to know a man even more purehearted than Asuma-sensei and more determined than Lee.

Naruto leaped at the floating Obito in a blur of yellow just as Obito screamed "INFINITE TSUKUYOMI!"

All Shikamaru saw was a blur of white. All he felt was the pain of being crushed by a thousand boulders.

He didn't know how, but Shikamaru was able to open his eyes. Am I dead? Or was I caught in the genjutsu and all our efforts were worthless? In either case, he needed to move. As his blurred vision came into focus, he was able to recognize just where he was, his room. There was the same oak dresser, the same alarm clock, even his calender and various notes from when he was an academy student. He figured out that he was laying in his bed, so he knew where but what about when? His room hadn't been like this for years, and if he had to throw out a guess it would be sometime around the last year at the academy.

"Troublesome," he murmured as he swung his legs to the side of the bed and stood up. Though sturdier than they were after weeks of fighting, his legs felt like they weren't as strong or as stable as he was used to. Not only that, but they made him seem a full 6 or seven inches shorter. With unfamiliar strides, he struggled to the bathroom mirror to help figure out his age. Why don't I have a troublesome calender anyways? He wondered.

When he looked in the bathroom mirror, he saw his 11, maybe 12, year old self staring back. He noted that his pinapple-like black hair was still the same, in the same ponytail, and the bored look in his eyes was the same. He was 4 foot 10 or so, wearing a mesh shirt that he normally put his dull green clan jacket over. He had simple black warm up pants on. Wait, why wasn't he dressed for sleep if he was in bed?

"SHIKAMARU!" A voice screamed. Troublesome... I'll wager that I'm later for the academy. Its not like I learned anything useful there anyways. Without warning, he mother burst through the door to his room. "You're going to be late," Yoshino Nara whispered loudly in a sickly sweet voice. "That wouldn't be too fun, now would it?" With a freakish face, the now young Nara quickly ran out of his room.

His mother had looked the same. Normal pink gowns, black hair with a small bang over her right side of her forehead. She even had that same 'why are you so lazy' look that she used to give him on a constant basis.

Now, the young Nara was confused. Wouldn't the genjutsu take away my conciousness to make sure I only made the decisions that Obito wanted? Otherwise it wouldnt work... So how am I over 4 years in the past... I don't think its my imagination, as I don't feel too dead, but then again who really was familliar with how life was after death? Or is this something different, a second chance? He pondered all of this as he was ushered into the kitchen by his mother to eat his breakfast. If this was a second chance, Shikamaru decided, he would become strong enough to protect the 'king' this time. It was not often that you got to play a person in shogi with previous knowledge of all their moves, and he needed to use certain moves to force his opponent into a corner. Moves they didn't use last time.

Naturally, the knowledge of Obito, the Akatsuki, and Sasuke's deserting would be useful in the future, so he could slowly convince people to prevent certain incidents. Getting rid of Sasuke's hate would be a chore, if even possible right then, but would him staying in the village solve or hurt the cause? He mentally punched himself for being so inconsiderate about his genin friend and companion, his logical side, however, reminding him that it could be him or the future.

Troublesome butterfly effect... He couldn't change too much, but he couldn;t change too little. Too much and he wouldn't know what would happen next, and the future may result similarly. Too little, and he wouldn't have changed anything. It was like tree walking, he decided.

Would anyone else have their memory? He wondered as an afterthought. He doubted it because lots of people running around in the past with future memories could end up ridiculous. Was he a special case, or did everyone hang on to their memories? And why would it just be him, as his mother didn't seem to remember. He poked his food, still lost in thought. I guess I just have to wait until I get to the academy to find out. It is an academy day today, right. I'm not late for something completely different? Question after question flew through the pinapple-head's thoughts. What if the world was alternate already, and the Yondaime was the evil one and he had to put his trust in Obito. He shivered at the thought, but couldn't totally shove away the possibility that something major had changed.

That all said, he still didn't know if this was the genjutsu or the past. But did it matter? After hearing Naruto's resolve, something had snapped, and he couldn't stand by idly as the world changed around him. He'd be the same calculative, predictive genius, but he'd be strong as well.

Waving goodbye to his mother, his father was probably on a mission, he headed off to the academy to meet his classmates that will help shape the future.

A/N- And that was the Prologue for my first official story. I'd like some feedback on the idea and how its written. Also, I'll take any suggestions of Shikax(some girl) pairings. Thanks for reading. Remember to review so you can help me make this more interesting to you. All genius or interesting ideas/plotlines will be considered as long as they relate to cannon in some way. There won't be any major OC's in this story.

~Waffles