Chapter 16

It had been a troublesome morning, Shikamaru decided as she shuffled towards the academy. After the weird family hug…thing… they had sat and had a family breakfast. For the first time in years, the table was alive with general chitchat, and her mother hadn't nagged once! To add to that, her mother had even deferred to her father about something, and then sat there blushing as he flirted with her. Whilst most of Shika was scandalized and a little grossed out at her parents flirting in front of her; a part of her relaxed more. They weren't on the edge of divorcing, they still loved and respected each other. Their family was more solid now than it ever had been, and she rejoiced over that. Her father had offered her some exercises for stronger students that she could use too. It made her a little more confident in the future of her relationship with them.

With a sigh, Shikamaru looked down from her clouds to the academy in front of her. First, she had to survive a classroom of mini-nin, and then she could fix things in her life. Oh, and she needed to go to the chunnin library today, she needed to do some research on seals for Kakashi's task. Urgh, what a drag! No cloud watching for her today. Maybe she could star gaze tonight, though? Groaning, Shikamaru dragged herself up the stairs towards Iruka's classroom. Yet another two 60-minute sessions on the basics of chakra. What a drag, but at least she had a practical activity. That should keep the little demons under control for a while. Pushing open the door, a wall of sound hit her from class 1A. Apparently Iruka-sensei had been bribing them to behave with sweets and some free time at the end of the lesson. Wonderful…

"Ah, Shikamaru-chan, come in come in. You're on time. Let me get out of your way, and you can start." With a grin, Iruka collected his papers and headed to the back of the room again. He was pretty interested in the next two lessons, since the method Shikamaru had used was a clan one, not an academy one to release their chakra. He was hoping he would be able to build it into the academy programme if it proved to even the playing field slightly, between civilian kids and clan kids. Currently, the civilian kids were falling behind, it didn't matter how smart or streetwise they were, they just couldn't understand things that the clan kids knew instinctually. It was one of the reasons, shinobi clans were so big, they formed the backbone of the villages might. They literally bred their children to be ninjas. A part of that was being able to connect with their chakra on a deeper level. With a thoughtful hum, Iruka focused back on Shikamaru, who was lounging against the teachers' desk, waiting for the mini-nin to notice. What brought a smile to his face was watching said mini-nin swarm their new favourite teacher, when they noticed her. The joyful grins and excited chatter were plenty, as they all tried to ask Shikamaru what they were up to today.

"Sensei, sensei. More chakra practice today?" little Chia-chan asked as she hugged Shika's knees. Her purple eyes gazing at Shikamaru adoringly. This sensei made her feel special and capable, rather than just another civilian kid.

"Yes, Chia-chan, we are, but not right now. Now we need to do some of the theory before the practical." Shikamaru quirked her mouth up into a slight smile as she patted some of the kids hugging her on the head. Ok, they were kinda cute when they were giving her their attention and looking at her like she had hung the moon. Maybe this teaching lark wouldn't be such a drag after all.

"Okay, every back to your seats please. Make sure your books are away." If it was one thing she had hated at the academy, it was the amount of writing they made you do! "Can everyone find a partner they normally work with, and two people they don't please." With a quick nudge to the ones still hugging her, Shika sent them on their way to do as she asked. Ignoring the occasional whine about the groupings, she wandered the room, putting some notebooks away, breaking up the odd argument over who was with who, and repeating her instructions when needed. Finishing a full circle of the room, and back at the front, Shikamaru waited for their attention. Silently waiting for them to settle. According to Iruka, after the first week or so, they'll be quicker, and have more understanding of what she expects from them. To be fair to this class, they were less rowdy than hers, and settled down in a fraction of the time.

"Good afternoon fawns. I have a question for you. What makes chakra?" Shikamaru asked, her head tilted as she looked at the class, her shadows dimming the lights a little. Bright light was only good with cloud-watching, after that they hurt her eyes. Silence met her question. Some of it from the little ones being fascinated by her shadows, the other part was from the kids thinking. Slowly some tiny hands started to rise. What was surprising was that the majority of the hands were civilian kids. Good, she thought, they could do standing out from the ninja born for a good reason. With a small smirk tugging at her lips, Shikamaru nodded her head at a terrified looking boy. His dark hair flopped over into his green eyes as he shrunk down under her steady gaze. As she softened her smirk into a smile, he visibly relaxed, straightening and giving her a shy smile back.

"Chakra is energy. So, we make it when we move?" His high voice trailed off as he got towards the end of his sentence. Sounding more like a question then a statement. Shikamaru hummed thoughtfully, before hopping up to sit on the teacher's desk, summoning her chakra to show.

"That is a good start, Takato-kun. We do make energy when we move." Shikamaru paused to consider her words, and the level of the kids in front of her. She would need to dial her vocabulary back for them. "When we practice our taijutsu, we strengthen our bodies. We become strong." Here she fished a rock out of her pouch and used her chakra to crush the rock. "We become faster" She appeared, slouched on the desk at the back, and ruffled the little Hyuga's hair before reappearing on the teachers' desk. "We create a good home for our chakra. The better the home, the more chakra it can hold. The bigger the bottle, the more water it holds." Shikamaru added when she saw some of the kids looking confused. Smiling when understanding dawned. Drawing out a scroll, Shikamaru rolled it open and placed her hand gently on the seal, feeding a trickle of her chakra into it. A puff of smoke cleared to show a several large cylinder shapes, and several large cones. Filling the cones with water, Shikamaru carried a cylinder and a cone to each group with a wink as she set them down.

"But having the perfect home, doesn't mean you make more balanced chakra. That's only half of the battle. Tell me… If you pour the water from the cone, to the bucket, will the water fill the bucket completely? They are both the same height, and as wide as each other." Moving her hands to show what she meant by height and width, Shikamaru watched as all the groups nodded.

"Sensei, they are the same size. The water will fit." A little Inuzuka stated confidently. His teeny puppy yipped in agreement. However, Chia, who was in his group, didn't look so convinced. Humming again, Shikamaru made eye contact with (her secret favourite student) Chia, and raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"Teacher, I don't think they will… The bucket goes up. The cone goes in.." Clearly not sure of herself, Chia stuttered her way through her words, flinching as the Inuzuka glared at her for disagreeing. His tiny fangs glinting in the light. With a slight frown, Shikamaru stepped forward and gently rapped her knuckles on the desk in front of the pup, shaking her head at him in disapproval.

"Well, then. Let's try kids. In your groups, you can now pour the water into the bucket." Shikamaru grinned as the kids practically threw themselves at the buckets, their attention span finished as they could now play with the water. She remembered doing this same experiment with her dad as a little one. She had been pretty sure the water in the cone wouldn't be right in the bucket, still being able to play with the water had been great fun!

Gasps came from the groups as they finished pouring. The full cone wasn't equal to a full bucket. The room filled with chatter as the groups forgot that they weren't friends with everyone in their group. Shikamaru leant against a desk and just listened. The chaos around her was entertaining and work related so she let them get on with their discussions. Smiling proudly as some from each group darted off to find different items of similar sizes to fill with water. She glanced over at Iruka to see him smiling proudly at her. With a faint blush, Shikamaru returned to the front and watched the kids pour water into different things. Some in each group were making notes of which items were smaller and which took more water. Mission "Get them thinking" was a success. Now she needed their attention back.

"Okay kids, put the water and shapes away for now." Shikamaru clapped her hands sharply for attention and watched the mini-nins jump and scurry around to put everything away. There was only 10 mins left for this lesson and she wanted to make her point, before they did practical meditation in the next period.

"Thinking, brain power, understanding, calmness, these make the other half of chakra. We must give it a good home and feed the chakra with our mental abilities. This is what makes Chakra. The two together." Shikamaru paused and watched the little faces in front of her. Their serious faces were adorable and made her heart clench at the world they would lose their innocence to. In that moment she swore to help peace reign. If that meant sacrificing her life, so this generation could keep that innocence as long as possible so be it. The bell rang pulling her from her thoughts as the kids stampeded out for their break. Laughter and chat about the lesson filled the air as they left the classroom. Well, Shikamaru thought, if they liked playing with water, they were going to love connecting with their chakra again.

Shikamaru flinched as Iruka's chakra rapped against her own. Looking over at him, she noticed the amusement in his eyes as he watched her closely, before nodding his head towards the door. This was yet another thing she appreciated; Iruka knew he didn't have to make conversation with her. With a slight smirk pulling at her mouth, Shikamaru slunk after her old sensei on the way to the breakroom. The kids had a 20 min play break before their last lesson of the day. The teachers had a 20 min coffee break, at least that's the way Shikamaru looked at it. The admin staff did break watches to keep an eye out and let the teachers prep for the next lesson. Sighing in approval, Shikamaru took the mug of black coffee with restrained delight. It was her favourite hot drink, despite her love of tea, nothing compared to the strongest black coffee she could get her hands on. A nudge got her attention, she opened her eyes… when had she closed them?... to see Iruka signing some feed back about the lesson to her. Overall a good lesson, even if it went off plan, when the kids went for more shapes to use, but it was a good addition to the class. She needed to have some more differentiation in there for the kids who need stretching, and those who need support, but apart from that he was happy with her. Shikamaru gave Iruka one of her rarer smiles. A true smile that stretched across her face and lit her up with light. Iruka could count on one hand how many times he had seen that particular smile. Most of the time it was aimed at her father, so he counted himself lucky to have seen it, let alone be on the receiving end of it.

Unfortunately, the 20 mins was up before Shikamaru would have liked. With a sigh, she rinsed her mug out, before indicating to Iruka she was going to go outside with the kids again. She wanted to finish the unlocking lessons before the kids had to do it academy style, which could cause trauma to the chakra system. It was an awful system, Shikamaru mused to herself as she headed back to face the mini-nins. Over the years of the 3rds reign, the academy course had changed. She had heard her dad and uncles bitching about it, and that it was way easier than it should have been. That the more power the civilian council had the easier the academy was. So, instead of giving extra training to incoming civilian kids, the council had stripped back the academy's curriculum to make it more encouraging for the new kids. However, the downside is the clans had their own training, which meant they stepped up training their kids and increased the gap, yet again, between civilian and ninja. To try and ease the gap the academy invested in a shock introduction to the chakra system so everyone could be on equal footing. This was all well and good, if it worked…which it didn't. Instead it caused scarring to the chakra passages, and actually restricted the growth of the coils. Whilst the clan kids learnt at home earlier than the academy, how to be in tune with your own chakra. All in all, it was a broken system, and one that should be fixed. One she would fix, no matter how troublesome it was.

With a smirking jerk of her head, Shikamaru spun on her heel and stalked out of her classroom towards the wooded area before. Her sensitive ears picking up the thundering footsteps of her charges, as they ran to keep up with her longer steps. Their excited chattering filled the corridor, and she vaguely heard Iruka stop to talk to one of the higher-grade teachers, as she left the building. Tilting her head up to the sun, Shikamaru's eyes fluttered closed in delight at the wind and sun on her face. Truly, the leaf ninjas were blessed with their beautiful village. Whistling a jaunty tune that had the kids laughing and dancing around her, Shika continued her leisurely pace to their meditation spot before flopping on the ground with a groan.

"Okay, settle down. Get comfy, get quiet and listen." Shikamarus voice took on a lyrical quality to it. Threading through the sounds of stream, the rustling of the leaves, and background chatter from the schools open windows. "I want everyone to breathe in deeply, let the air fill your body with light. Hold it for a little longer, and now release. Repeat and keep repeating, little ones. Let yourselves fall into your mind, quietening the thoughts, as far as you can." Vaguely Shikamaru recognised Iruka, and the older Ino-Shika-Cho joining in with the exercises on the periphery, briefly she wondered about the addition of her family, before dismissing the thought, and focusing her chakra to wrap around her charges.

"Look deep within yourself for a glow, a reflection. Don't try to grab it, let it pull you in close. Let its warmth wrap around you and carry you in." There was a brief murmur as some of the other students found their chakra sources, but let it slip from their grasping minds. Opening her eyes, Shikamaru pulled herself to her feet and silently wove her way through the children to Chia-chan. With a gentle nudge she directed Chia to start pulling her chakra to parts of her body, before letting go and starting from the beginning again. Stroking Chia-chans hair, Shika moved on to the next few who were releasing their chakra, smiling at them proudly, before starting them on the same exercises as Chia. Once they were all at the same point, she'd begin them on basic activities to get them used to handling and weaving their own chakra.

Moving to a few that hadn't made any progress, Shikamaru kneeled in front of them and pulled her chakra to encase them, feeling out for the spark of chakra that means someone could use the energy. One of them, little Takato from earlier, had no spark, and no movement to his chakra. He would never be able to draw on it. However, he might still be able to join the ninja ranks as a civilian liaison. There were plenty of civilians working in cryptography and the other paperwork-based areas of village admin. Of course, he could specialize early on in taijutsu. As with his two companions next to him. Maybe she could get Lee-san in to talk to the kids about being a ninja without chakra.

The problem with chakra based lessons? The time passed quickly. Shikamaru could feel the parents gathering on the edge of the area, waiting patiently (well the nin-parents were) for the exercises to finish. Iruka was running interference with the civilian parents, so it was time to wrap it up. With a sharp pulse of chakra, Shikamaru drew the attention to herself from everyone.

"Right, little ones. You are done for the day. Well done, and good work. Don't feel disheartened if you haven't found your chakra yet. We'll talk about it next lesson. Have a wonderful weekend." As she finished her sentence, Shikamaru found herself swarmed with the kids. Every one of them trying to hug her and thank her for the fun lessons, before they ran to their parents, chatting a mile a minute about what they were doing.

With a sigh, Shikamaru slunk over to Iruka and her family. Ignoring the raised eyebrows from her uncles, and the contemplative look in her father's eyes.

"Well, it was troublesome Iruka-sensei, but we are done for the day!"

"We are indeed. I'm interested in your use of mediation for chakra release. We'll have to discuss it more another time, as I'm sure Nara-sama is waiting for you." With a grin and a polite bow Iruka slipped away from the group, allowing her dad to throw his arm around her shoulders and lead her towards the Ino-Shika-Cho's favourite BBQ.