(A/N) One thing you must understand about this, is that 95% of the plot, is in the universe Shikamaru is originally from. This is mostly because currently we are 9 years from canon.
"Father," Shikamaru said, hanging over the side of a chair. "I'm bored." Forgive him if he was a bit restless, once active like he'd been forced to be under Danzo's reign, it was hard to slow back down. Even if it had been a week. "Is there any word from Kumo?"
Shikaku glanced at him with half lidded eyes. "Are you sure you're my son?"
Shikamaru just stared at him for a while. "Kumo?" He asked again.
Shikaku huffed quietly. "Fine. Kumo's annoyed, but can't refute our claims. They're demanding their messenger back. We'll send him over tomorrow."
Shikamaru nodded once, satisfied with that outcome. It really was one of the better ones.
"I'm suggesting Shisui try for jounin," Shikaku added, and Shikamaru blinked at him.
"He's eleven," Shikamaru pointed out.
"Twelve in two months," Shikaku allowed. "He has the skill for it, clearly. And if you're so bored, go talk to your scroll friends. I'm interested to know if your friend finished Hiraishin."
"Probably has," Shikamaru muttered, but moved off anyway, heading for his room where the scroll was currently.
He opened it to find a record of who was awake when, and that Karin was currently awake, although Sakura hadn't gone to sleep yet.
"Hey." -Shikamaru
He had to wait a moment before Sakura responded.
"Oh! Hey Shika!" -Sakura.
"Sorry, I was a bit distracted." -Sakura.
"It's fine." -Shikamaru.
"Is Tenten done with hiraishin?" -Shikamaru
"Last we heard from her, yes." -Sakura
"Unfortunately it's been two days since then." -Karin
Shikamaru frowned. That certainly was concerning. Two days without contact from someone who could teleport? Either she was very busy, or dead. Somehow he feared the latter was correct, rather than the former.
"Can you tell me if she does reappear?" -Shikamaru
"Yeah, of course." -Sakura
"You don't usually voluntarily talk, are you bored or something?" -Karin
"...Maybe." -Shikamaru
There was a long pause, and Shikamaru suspected they were laughing at him. How rude.
"Right, maybe you can find something to do?" -Sakura
"Maybe the Akimichi'll let you help them or something. Aren't they always up for help cooking?" -Sakura
"And then you'll get to see Choji." -Karin
They did have a point.
"Fine. I'll go see Choji. Since you guys are so insistent upon me leaving and not talking to you…" -Shikamaru
"Noooo, we're sorry, don't leave!" -Sakura
"Are you bored?" -Shikamaru
Shikamaru smirked at the parallel to their asking him the same question earlier. The following answer was the same.
"...Maybe." -Sakura
"In our defense, there is very little to do in here, and we're basically done with our Strength of a Hundred seals." -Karin
"Make new medical seals or something. You're both medic-nin, go nuts." -Shikamaru
"It's like you want us to stop talking to you." -Sakura
"I do have something else to do." -Shikamaru
"Rude." -Karin
"I'll just leave then. See you around. Tell me if Tenten drops by." -Shikamaru
"Deal." -Sakura
Shikamaru closed the scroll, settling it back into its hiding place. He would drop by to see Choji. It was a good idea. And he wanted to see his friend. Even if said friend was three years old for real, not the fake three year old Shikamaru was. It'd still be good to see him.
"I'm going to go over to Choji's," Shikamaru said, lazily waving a hand in the vague direction of his father.
"Don't die on the way," Shikaku replied, yawning.
Excuse him, Shikamaru was a highly capable jounin. He wouldn't die going three blocks to reach the Akimichi compound. Oh well, troublesome fathers were always bound to be troublesome and worry. It was how fathers worked.
"Shikamaru!" Choji said cheerfully, hugging him.
"What are you doing all the way out here?" Chouza asked, ushering him inside. "Oh well, no matter, as long as Shikaku knows you're here, You're good. Come, come, help us cook, we're preparing to send the delegation we're sending to Kumo with their messenger. They'll need food for the journey."
Those picked to escort the messenger were probably jounin, and thus capable of cooking their own meals, but Shikamaru ignored that. It was sweet the Akimichi would do this anyway.
They were the ones to prepare all of the food for those stuck underground. Until Naruto finished the seal with the summoning realm, everyone was stuck relying on the Akimichi to feed everyone. Luckily, the congenial clan didn't mind, even loving the challenge of making enough food.
"Momma's letting me help with the pies!" Choji told him enthusiastically.
Shikamaru yawned. "Is that so? Can I help too?" Perhaps a bit out of character for him, but oh well. When you live with constant missions, one after another, you get used to a certain pace of life, and it's hard to slow down.
Four hours later, and Shikamaru barely remembered to check the scroll before getting ready to crash for the night. He was tired.
"Good news! Tenten's alive! She was just visiting all of the other hideouts and placing Hiraishin seals in all of them." -Karin
The message had probably been from a while ago, since Karin had since fallen asleep.
"That's good to hear, is she all good?" -Shikamaru
"Shikamaru!" -Sakura
"Yes, she's doing well, and I guess she'll be doing a lot of the food delivery from now on. With a hiraishin seal in every hideout, she'll travel between them and stuff." -Sakura
"That's good." -Shikamaru
It really was. The method they had been using previously, everyone carrying food scrolls on them and dropping them near hideouts, wasn't the greatest. With Tenten there, it would be stabilized, and the Akimichi would probably be able to make a few different foods, with her there to deliver them hot. Assuming they had a seal that allowed them to draw Tenten back.
"Seriously, it's been amazing. She brought us the first hot meal we've had in months. It was amazing." -Sakura
"That's really good. I'm glad you guys could work that out." -Shikamaru
"Us too, honestly. Hadn't realized just how much I missed hot meals. Seriously Shikamaru, that meal was heaven in food form." -Sakura
"On a completely unrelated note, we've started in on adding more links to the connection, so other people can talk, without this being the only place people can say hi. Oh, Ino says hi. Tenten said to tell you." -Sakura
"As amazing as that is, I really need to sleep, I'm exhausted." -Shikamaru
"Oh! Alright! Sleep then! Have a good night!" -Sakura
Shikamaru closed the scroll, hiding it away, and crashing on his bed face down. Now, it was time for some sleep.
(A/N) Shikamaru is such a mood. But yeah, sleep good. If you have any requests for things to happen, feel free to leave a review about it!