He woke up staring at his bedroom ceiling. There were still clouds painted on it, so he was probably around 2-3. For his fourth birthday, he'd gotten his ceiling repainted into the night sky.

… He may be able to prevent the Hyuuga incident. Depending on the time, he may be able to stop Hizashi's death.

First things first, it wasn't morning yet, but would be soon, so he had to figure out what to do with his clothes. And the scroll. At this size, the scroll was longer than his entire arm. He couldn't just carry it around.

His bed wasn't a crib, most ninja clan children went from a crib to a bed around one and a half to two years old, but he still couldn't shove them under the bed, as cliche as that would be. A storage seal may work, but he was pretty sure that he needed to be able to see the scroll at most times of the day, not just tuck it into a storage seal and hide it in his blankets. Or in that stuffed animal he remembered hiding most things in at this age.

He would have to deal with it later. First things first, informing them he had made it safely and with the scroll.

Shikamaru sat up, rolling out of his bed to pad softly across the room to his desk, before grabbing a pencil and going back to his bed. He opened the scroll to find a message already there.

"Naruto had to leave, and Karin's sleeping." -Sakura

Shikamaru glanced suspiciously towards the door, checking his parents were still sleeping, not that no lights on really meant anything.

"I have arrived safely." -Shikamaru

"Oh thank Kami!" -Sakura

"On the plus side, I got to stab your corpse." -Sakura

Shikamaru blinked at the scroll. That was a plus side? He quickly wrote that down.

"It's stabbing, always a plus side. So, I got an instruction manual scroll for the two scrolls, kami knows when Naruto managed to write this up, so any questions can be asked of me. For now." -Sakura

"There is a limited amount of space on the scrolls, how will it work once it's filled up?" -Shikamaru

"One moment." -Sakura

Shikamaru waited, checking the door one more time. Still no lights.

"Alright, so I guess when we reach the bottom, it'll wipe itself clean. Then we can start over. I would suggest writing important stuff down somewhere else." -Sakura

"Alright. Thank you." -Shikamaru

"Anything else?" -Sakura

"No, so I think I'll find a hiding place for this and go to sleep." -Shikamaru

"Haha, sounds like you. Alright, have fun sleeping Shika." -Sakura

Shikamaru rolled up the scroll, ending up tucking it into the stuffed animal he'd always hidden things in as a kid. He knew his parents hadn't ever actually checked in it, but he fished a seal out of his kunai pouch and stuck it on there anyway. Simple alarm seal, Naruto had drawn it, of course, so it really wasn't that simple, but still.

He did end up going to sleep, but was awake a few hours later, at dawn. He tried to go to sleep, but it was futile. He didn't sleep quite as much, couldn't really afford to. Darn, well, he was awake now, he could see if any one on his old world's side was awake, try and pass the hours before he would normally get up at this age, or rather, when his mom forced him up, or he could pretend he had a nightmare and just get up now.

His stomach rumbled impatiently at him, and Shikamaru yawned in mild annoyance. Fine, nightmare it was. He should probably fabricate a normal nightmare for a two year old.

He knew Choji at this age, didn't he, he could settle for seeing Choji die. That should be a perfectly fine excuse for a two year old Nara to actually get out of bed.

Mind made up, Shikamaru got out of his bed, neatly arranging the blankets to hide his old uniform, getting dressed quickly, and padded out of the room, cursing the cold floors.

"Shikamaru?" His mother asked, looking up as he entered the kitchen.

Shikamaru yawned, rubbing his eye. "Had a nightmare."

"Aww, c'mere," his mother cooed, crouching down to offer to pick him up.

Shikamaru, even if he was 16 mentally, decided to keep up pretending to be a toddler, and accepted his mother's picking him up and placing him on her hip. Besides, this way, he didn't have to walk.

"Now, I know you don't like boiled eggs," his mother said, pulling out a plate from the cupboard. "But I'm sure you'll survive."

Shikamaru didn't deign to answer, instead yawning again and settling his head on her shoulder.

He doubted he could hide from his father for very long, his father was more intelligent than he was, no matter how many people disagreed with him. Also, he was a toddler, he could only do so much. If he told his father, it would go one of two ways, he would get tossed into T&I and brutally tortured, or his father would believe him and he'd be fine. Hopefully the second one, if he provided enough explanation, probably the least he'd get was Inoichi in his head for a bit to confirm his story. If he played his cards right, he would be able to keep it just between him, his father, and Inoichi.

Absently he started eating the food his mother had placed in front of him after she set him down. His father wouldn't be up yet, but Inoichi might be. Although he couldn't just go straight to Inoichi. His father is more intelligent, more likely to believe him if he shows no signs of lying, if he has all his facts correct. Although Inoichi is softer, probably less likely to toss him to T&I, but he wouldn't trust Shikamaru in the way his father would. His father would listen, would trust, Inoichi, although he knows the intelligence of Nara, would be blindsided by the fact that Shikamaru is, only a toddler. Physically, at least.

Briefly, he wondered if his mental avatar was of his old body, or of this one. Perhaps having it be the older him, how old he is mentally, would make it easier for Inoichi to believe him. Although that is assuming that Inoichi bothers to do his mind walking jutsu at all.

He realized his mother was looking at him with some amusement, and remembered that his thinking position and expression mostly looked like he was falling asleep. He had forcefully shifted it with a touch of Inoichi's help so he had a less telling, well, tell for when he went into deep thought around Danzo, who got suspicious anytime anyone even looked at him funny.

"Why don't we get you back to bed," his mother suggested softly.

Shikamaru briefly and quickly considered letting his mother put him back to bed. And decided against it. His father would probably be up soon, his work as a jounin commander not letting him sleep quite as much as he liked. "No thank you, don't want the nightmares to reoccur."

"Alright dear," his mother said doubtfully. "If you say so."

Shikamaru moved his long empty plate aside, putting his head down on the table. He just had to wait for his father to wake up and finish eating breakfast.

His father came down a few minutes later, interrupting Shikamaru's listing of the questions he would need to ask next time he could access the scroll.

"Shikamaru, why are you up?" His father asked, clear confusion in his tired voice.

Shikamaru raised his head to look at him. "Nightmare. Can I talk to you later?" Checking to see his mother wasn't looking, he quickly swapped to ANBU hand signs. 'It's important.'

His father's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but before he could do anything, his mother set a plate in front of him, and it was interrupted. Shikaku quickly ate, then collected both his and Shikamaru's plates, practically glaring at his son the entire time. Shikamaru looked back calmly, making sure not to give the game away.

"You can," his father said finally, gesturing to Shikamaru to follow him.

Shikamaru was glad he'd thought to get dressed, but left off his socks. "I'll just get on my socks."

His father nodded, and Shikamaru walked back to his room, only hurrying slightly. He pulled on a pair of socks, then found a storage scroll in his old uniform, sealed his old uniform away, along with the stuffed deer he'd placed the communication seal inside. He tucked the scroll into one of his back pockets, securing it with chakra before hurrying downstairs. "Ready," he said, stopping behind his father.

Yoshino sighed. "Be back before dinner, and make sure to eat a healthy lunch!"

Shikaku nodded quickly, ushering Shikamaru out of the door.

They walked for a while, ending up at the Yamanaka's house. Inoichi answered the door, looking rather confused.

His father began signing, Shikamaru easily keeping up. 'I'm going to need you for something. Classified, and right now.'

Inoichi nodded, flashing the affirmative sign at him, before calling back into the house that he had to leave now. Petulant whines from what sounded like Ino, had Shikamaru suppressing a snicker. He'd forgotten just how much of a daddy's girl she'd been at this age.

They ended up in T&I, in Inoichi's office.

"I have to ask you to trust me," Shikamaru started. "And not to interrupt me very much, or we'll be here all day."

His father and Inoichi narrowed their eyes in sync, but nodded.

Shikamaru took a deep breath, then began. "I come from approximately 13 years in the future. Not this world's future, but another world's future."

"What was so bad you had to come back?" Inoichi asked, glancing at Shikaku.

"Danzo," Shikamaru said darkly.

"Danzo Shimura? The council member?" Shikaku asked this time, eyes narrowing at the venom Shikamaru's voice held.

"Do you know any other?" Shikamaru asked bitterly. "He took advantage of the aftermath of an invasion to kill our Hokage, then kill the other kage at the following kage summit."

Shikamaru smiled a grim smile at the dark expressions of his father and Inoichi. He had allies, if he could prove it. "The kage's family members and students were swiftly executed when possible. We got as many as we could out, but multiple didn't make it in time."

"There is an organized resistance?" Inoichi asked.

Shikamaru nodded. "Naruto led it, I was the chief tactician. Everyone helped where they could, gathering information and using people going outside of the village to get that information to everyone in hiding. We're using a bunch of underground caves a couple of the hiding Iwa Shinobi helped us find and modify to our needs. They're extremely difficult to find, so everyone's about as safe as they can be."

"And no one stopped him after he killed the Hokage?" Inoichi asked, frowning deeply.

"They couldn't really. He blamed it on a forign assassin, and I was just a chuunin then. I had no sway in anything. So I kept it to myself, and made everyone I told do the same. They couldn't do anything or they would be killed. Sakura and Kakashi, along with Konohamaru and the Hokage's guards, the ones trained by Minato, fled the next night."

"Konohamaru?" Inoichi asked.

"The Hokage's grandson, I guess he isn't born yet, is he. Either way, they fled just in time. Danzo called for their deaths the next day."

"And we were unable to do anything?" Shikaku asked, eyes narrowed.

Shikamaru sighed. "The Hyuuga clan were on his side. Any other clan couldn't oppose Danzo without extreme risk from the Hyuuga clan."

"And the other clans? The Aburame, the Uchiha?" Inoichi asked.

"The Nara weren't happy, but Danzo mostly dismissed us as too lazy to do anything. The Yamamaka protested quietly, but were ultimately sent off with a severe warning. The Akimichi kept quiet, supporting the people who fled with food scrolls. The Aburame and Inuzuka remained quiet, but are subtly rebelling where they can."

"And the Uchiha?" Inoichi prodded.

"Dead. In about 5 years, they will be executed by one of their own, Itachi Uchiha, under orders of Danzo and the Hokage. They had been planning a coup, and apparently, there was no other way out of it."

"I don't believe that," Shikaku disagreed. "There are almost always better options than manslaughter."

(A/N) Almost always indeed. Except in that case, apparently.