Hey folks!
Been a bit busy lately, but for now here's the newest chapter as promised.
I'll try and update sooner, but thank you for being so patient with me. Life can really get in the way sometimes.
Please read and don't forget to review.
Now onwards my dears!
If Shikamaru had to pick a word that best described how he felt at the moment, the best word would be irritation.
Normally it would troublesome, but nothing had been easy since he left Suna three days ago. It had been total hell trying to get out of the village for him. Temari had threatened to castrate him if he didn't keep her posted. Gaara had insisted that he take a few shinobi with him, but he refused to do so. Shikamaru didn't want to be weighed down with the responsibility of looking after a team. He'd much father prefer to travel alone for this particular mission.
He had informed Naruto ahead of time of his arrival, and in a typical Naruto-like fashion he had responded saying that it was about time he brought his lazy ass back for a visit and not a moment too soon; Hiashi was stirring up trouble again.
The village gates were in sight and an old feeling of coming home flooded him. Life in Suna had been good to him, but Konoha was always going to be the place where he felt most at ease. Resisting the urge to smile Shikamaru simply shook his head as he walked past.
"SHIKA-KUN!"
That was the only warning he got before a blond-haired woman ran into him squeezing him like there was no tomorrow.
"Ino..so nice you see you". He wheezed as he patted her back awkwardly. Well he should've expected that his old team would be there to greet him.
"It's been ages! Chougi and I thought you'd never come back to us! We've got so much catching up to do, and where's that little boy of yours? Doesn't he deserve the right to meet his aunt Ino?"
"Ino I think that's enough Shikamaru is looking rather unwell".
It was a good thing that Ino had released her grip when she did, the poor man looked like he'd pass out at any moment. Chougi couldn't help but laugh a bit as he offered an arm to stop his friend from tumbling over. "It's good to see you again Shikamaru, it's been so lonely here without you".
Soon as his lungs were filled with air once again, the Nara cracked a smile. "Yes, it's good to be back".
"Where's Temari? And everyone else?"
"There back in Suna, had to leave them behind for this mission".
"Mission? You never mentioned anything about a mission in your last letter. Are you sure you're not trying to get out of family life?"
Shikamaru shook his head "Nah, its fine. Just something I needed to do is all. His eyes drifted towards the Hokage stone faces. He was here for reasons only he knew. He would prefer to keep it that way too. He'd better get started now; he didn't want to linger in Konoha for too long.
"Ino, Chougi I kinda have to report to Naruto right now. I need to talk to him about something. But I promise I'll dedicate some time to you both later on. I haven't forgotten about my best pals".
That was more than a good answer for his friends and they left him alone to do what he needed.
Shikamaru reached into his pocket and squeezed what was inside. He was hoping that this would persuade Naruto into doing him a favor when the time was right.
'Not entirely sure if I'm even doing the right thing, but there's no point in turning back now. I foolishly took the task upon myself to look further into this so I don't have anyone to blame but myself'.
Briefly he started up to admire the clouds, how peaceful they looked. Resisting the urge to sigh he made his way for Naruto's office.
"Shikamaru what took you so long?! About time you dragged that lazy ass of yours back here. I haven't heard from you in ages!".
"Naruto must you be so rude, I've had things to do in Suna".
"Seriously? What could be keeping you busy; you never do anything that involves hard work unless it's important".
Shikamaru let out a loud groan "Baka! This is important and it's part of the reason why I've come".
"Really?" the blonde Hokage rested his chin on his folded hands "Speak then, what's the word?"
The Nara reached into his pocket again and pulled out a crumbled piece of worn paper. "Read this, should help to sum up why I'm here before I go into details".
Taking the paper Naruto scanned through its contents his eyes widening in surprise before reading the paper again. Shikamaru noticed Naruto's hands trembling, if you knew him well enough that was one of the signs that showed his was angry. After reading for a third time to make sure he didn't miss anything, blue eyes burning with anger looked up to him.
"The son of bitch meant it didn't he, to really kill Hinata-chan".
Shikamaru gave a nervous smirk, "I was shocked too when I first heard it. But I've got more than enough proof to back it up. Only reason I'm here and not Gaara is because Hinata's a wreck right now and he needs to take care of her".
He didn't even flinch as Naruto slammed his fist down onto his desk scattering papers everywhere.
"Fuck! I knew that Hiashi has been up to something, why didn't I see it ahead of time. Now I finally have an excuse to throw him in the big house".
Shikamaru let Naruto rant for a few minutes; he could speak to him some more after he'd gotten a chance to say a few nasty words. Couldn't really blame him, Naruto was the sort of person that felt pain if any of his friends did. That was just who he was.
"I hate to bring even more bad news, but Hinata's not exactly in the right condition to be dealing with another situation?"
The Hokage raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?"
"She's just become pregnant with Gaara's second child. She wanted me to tell you that before I left. Said that you had the right to know about her condition and why it's so dangerous for her to do anything right now".
Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried not to punch a hole in the wall just for the heck of it. Oh, he was furious now. His dear friend, wanting a normal life had to constantly watch her back since her bastard father seemed to enjoy doing everything he could to make Hinata's life a living hell. Naruto wouldn't stand for it. Hinata was his friend, and he never went back on his word of caring for his loved ones.
"So what'cha gonna do?"
"I'll talk to Neji first; he'll be my best guess for getting more info since Hiashi clearly favors him".
Naruto mumbled something under his breath before standing up from his desk "I'm coming with you; you kinda dragged me into this since this is going beyond average for an ordinary person to handle".
Shikamaru shrugged "Suit yourself, let's move out".
Naruto didn't even bother to make small talk as he walked him to Neji's home. This was somewhat surprising to Shikamaru as usually the blonde had at least a million things to say, he must've had to be pretty angry not to start up a conversation.
A few minutes later, and the Nara found himself standing outside Neji and Tenten's house. He kinda forgotten that the two had married a while ago; then again it had been some time since he had seen the Hyuga male to begin with. A knock on the door and a moment later Tenten answered it with a chubby little boy balanced on her hip.
"Naruto-sama? Can I help you with-Shikamaru-kun! It's been ages it's good to see you again".
"Tenten you're looking well".
Shikamaru looked over to the baby in her arm; this had to be their son. He looked very much like Neji but even he could detect a few traces of Tenten in him.
"Ah, I forgot to mention that I'm a mom now. This is Hizashi, Neji and I named him after his father".
Naruto then suddenly spoke up "Tenten I hate to bother you, but we must speak with Neji this is really urgent concerning Hinata's life. Where is he?"
Normally Tenten would've thrown a fit seeing her husband be once again dragged into another problem, but this time it was different. If Naruto and Shikamaru were asking for his help then it must be something of great importance. She would allow it to slip this time, but next time probably wouldn't be a lucky shot.
"I'm afraid he's not here right now. He's off training with Lee. I'd check around the main ground, that's usually the best place to find him".
Shikamaru didn't complain as Naruto practically dragged him to find Neji. Well it's not like that they weren't in a hurry or anything, no this was kinda very important since it was Hinata's life on the line and everything. Well shit, they'd better find him soon. Shikamaru would like to solve this mystery as soon as possible.
"Oi Neji! We need to talk!".
Naruto was quick to jump into action as soon as they found him. The Hyuga male didn't look to pleased that his daily training with Lee had been interrupted. Before he could get a word in, the blonde Hokage had grabbed his arm and half dragged him away. It's only when they made it back to his office that he finally let go of him.
"Naruto what is the meaning of this?!"
"Oh shut it, Shikamaru has come to pay a visit".
Neji raised an eyebrow "And what does this have to do with me?"
"Because your cousin is once again in danger by your damn uncle".
Instantly Neji annoyed demeanor switched into full over-protective brother mode. He couldn't really help it if he loved Hinata like she was his little sister. Now that she had been mentioned, Naruto and Shikamaru had his full attention.
"Please tell me what's happened with her".
Shikamaru took a deep breath; he could already feel a headache coming on for later. How troublesome. Reaching into his pocket he handed the same piece of paper Naruto had read and waited for a reaction as the Hyuga male looked over it. Shikamaru wasn't at all surprised when Neji's reaction had been similar to Naruto's he looked ready to kill. Pale eyes were filled with hatred and concern as he thinned his lips in disapproval. Oh, he was livid reading this. This gave him all the more reason to overthrow his crazy uncle and take over the clan. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Neji forced himself to calm down before speaking.
"I should've figured something like this would've happened".
"Do you have any info at all about this?"
Neji thought for a moment "As a branch member there's not much of the Hyuga's history that I'm aware of. My clan tends to keep our private lives a secret. Only members of the main family are given all the details. But I know bits and pieces here and there about our history as it's customary that all Hyuga must be able to trace at least some of our ancestry".
Naruto spoke up "Do you have any knowledge of the era that the Hyuga were killing Suna ninja?"
"Sadly I can only tell you this. If I'm not mistaking around the time when the Third Great Ninja War happened, there was a very brief instance when Kumogakure had forced a truce with Sunagakure".
Naruto looked a bit confused "Huh? What does that mean?"
Shikamaru was doing some thinking of his own. He did know that the two villages hadn't interacted that much in the past. It wasn't until recent years that the two had even considered trying to get closer for economic growth. Something just didn't settle right, none of the five great nations were at peace with each other around the third great war. It was every man for himself at the time. So why would the two villages want to form a truce?
"Tell me Neji did this have anything to do with the Hyuga?"
There was a pause before Neji gave the two males a very serious look "You must promise me you will not breathe a word of this to anyone. The Hyuga have never let anyone outside the clan hear this and if either of you slip this to unwanted ears there will be severe consequences am I understood".
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but decided not to question anything. "You have my word, but you do realize that I'll have to tell Gaara since this kinda effect's him also".
Neji nodded "That is fine". He turned his attention to Naruto "You better not open your mouth with this, Hokage or not if you so much as whisper one word to anyone I'll make sure you're nothing but an orange smear on the sidewalk".
"What?! You think I can't keep a secret?! I may be many things, but a tattle-tale is not one of them. Besides I'm the Hokage! You can trust me one hundred percent cross my heart and hope to die!". To prove his promise the blond actually did the motion and Shikamaru rolled his eyes, sometimes Naruto could be such a child.
"Proceed please".
Neji took a moment to think about the best way to say what was about to be said before speaking. He really hoped that this would help Shikamaru with whatever it was that he was planning. He made a mental note to at some point have a serious talk with his uncle later on.
"Alright this is as much as I know, but at the time when the third great war was happening. Kumo was determined to steal the secrets of the Hyuga's byakugan. They wanted to exploit it, for their own practical use".
Shikamaru mentally nodded to himself that much he understood. He already knew the past struggles of Kumo and the Hyuga clan.
"At one point Kumo got so desperate to obtain the byakugan that they secretly asked for assistance with Suna to try and steal it. If they had succeeded they would've split the spoils evenly".
A slight pause before Neji continued "They wanted to keep this hidden from the other nations, but they didn't keep the secret hidden as well as they'd hoped, somehow Konoha found out about what they were planning and the Hyuga were informed. Naturally the clan was outraged at such an act and they wanted to get even".
"So what did they do?"
"Kumo somehow suspected that the Hyuga found out about their plan, and were quick to fall back on it. But what they didn't do was inform Suna that they're plans had failed. So they Hyuga began to target as many Suna ninja as possible. I suppose you could say that this was an act of vengeance as well as a display of power to show Kumo that we would give up our byakugan so easily".
Shikamaru then decided to finish the rest "That would explain why Suna would've wanted to get revenge on the Hyuga as the time this note was written, it also explains why Kumogakure never tried to pull another stunt like that until…" Shikamaru stopped himself before saying any more.
"It's alright I've come to terms with it". Neji's voice contained a small hint of sadness.
Naruto chewed his lower lip; there were so many emotions running through his eyes it was hard to just pick one.
The three males stayed quiet for some time before it was Naruto that finally broke the silence. "Well now that we've cleared up some of this mess, we still need to figure out what were going to do with Hiashi. One thing's for sure; he's not going to go down without a fight".
"Naruto let me deal with Hiashi. I have the most experience with him; I've been trying to push him to give the title of Hyuga leader to me anyway. If I play my cards right I just might be able to do it".
Shikamaru gave a troubled groan. He was really hoping that this wouldn't turn out to be a pain in the ass but it was becoming just that. He definitely had his work cut out for him.
"Guess I'm not going back longer then I thought. Man, I'm so dead. Temari will surly murder me". He grumbled. He turned his attention to the Hyuga male "I hope you don't mind if I tag along, I kinda want to do a bit of digging if that's alright. The more I know the better".
"I'll do my part also". Naruto had a look of determination on his face.
"Since the bastard is dragging Suna affairs into this I have no choice but to step in. This is starting to get out of control and I need to put a restrain on him".
Shikamaru couldn't help himself as he looked outside the window. Damn, what had he gotten himself into. Too late to walk away now he'd gotten himself into this task and now he needed to do what was expected of him if he was ever going to help his friends.
Okay, finally done.
This took me much longer then I wanted to finish because I've had so much work to do. I will try and get the next chapter up sooner, but you'll have to be patient with me. There's so much that life just throws at you sometimes.
Don't forget to review!
Thank you for reading this!
