Naruto Primer: Future Chouji
Nostalgia
Chouji had it all. At age thirty, he was a jounin and had a beautiful wife and the best of friends. Speaking of his wonderful friends, he missed them ever so much. It was time for him to visit them.
Of course, he visited Shikamaru first. He could visit Shikamaru any time he wanted now that he was no longer the Hokage. Chouji knew that Shikamaru would go through early retirement, but he had always expected Shikamaru to do so earlier. The fact that Shikamaru had held onto that job for ten whole years was a huge commitment for the lazy Shikamaru he knew so well.
He knocked on the door and Shikamaru opened it. "And how did I know it was you?" Shikamaru said.
"How have you been?" said Chouji as he entered the house.
"You mean since you visited me yesterday?" said Shikamaru, shutting the door behind him. "Fine. Just fine."
"That's great!" said Chouji. "How's Shikataro?"
"Sleeping." Shikamaru replied.
"As usual." Chouji said. "I swear, your kid is almost as lazy as you are! I've never even heard him cry."
"He's only seven months old." Said Shikamaru. "Give him a break."
"Where's the wife?" asked Chouji.
Shikamaru shrugged. "I don't know." He said.
"Oh." Said Chouji. "Well, you want to hang out?"
"Actually, I was just about to put myself down for a nap." Shikamaru said. "I'm old. I need that sort of stuff."
"Shikamaru…you're only thirty." Chouji pointed out.
"All right but…" Shikamaru started. "If you had a seven month old, you'd feel old too."
"Well okay!" said Chouji. "I'll talk to you later, Shikamaru!"
"Bye Chouji." Said Shikamaru as Chouji left the house.
Chouji walked around. Now that he was finished visiting Shikamaru, he could visit ANYONE! What about Ino? What was she up to? It had been a while since he had spoken to her.
He approached the bustling little house that was just EXPLODING with joy with a little Uchiha fan painted on the door. He knocked a few times and the door was opened by what looked like a mini blond Sasuke. "Hi Sasuke Jr." said Chouji. "Are your parents home?"
"Yes." Said Sasuke Jr.
"Who's at the door, Sasuke?" asked Ino as she walked by. "Oh, it's Chouji! Hi Chouji! What brings you around here?"
"I just wanted to see how you were doing!" said Chouji. "How are your kids?"
"Good, good." Said Ino. "Little Senjou is taking his first steps… sort of. Inoshi's lost his first tooth the other day. And Sasuke is at the top of his class at the ninja academy. There's a fourth one on the way…and just between you and me, I've got a feeling that it's going to be a girl."
"That's great!" said Chouji. "You're doing a good job helping restore Sasuke's clan."
"That's not what I'm doing intentionally." Ino admitted. "I just want a girl."
Just then, Sasuke came walking over carrying a tiny black haired child. "Senjou's sleeping." He told Ino.
"Then put him to bed." Ino said as if it was obvious.
"I was going to." Said Sasuke as if he was offended. He probably was. Then he disappeared up the stairs without even acknowledging Chouji.
"I'm really happy for you Ino." Said Chouji. "Have you seen Shikamaru's baby yet? He's adorable."
"No, I haven't seen him yet." Ino said, looking disappointed in herself. "Well, I guess I'll have to go and say hi to him and his baby too. Oh! Speaking of babies, guess who else is going to have one!"
"Um…I don't know." Said Chouji.
"It's Tenten!" Ino said happily.
"Oh!" said Chouji. "Maybe I should go over and congratulate her and Lee on their new child!"
"I hope to see you again real soon, Chouji." Said Ino. Just before Chouji left, Sasuke came tromping down the stairs.
"Did you just get here?" Sasuke asked.
"No." said Chouji. "I was here before."
"Oh, I guess I didn't notice." Said Sasuke.
"That's funny, I'm not one people usually fail to notice." Chouji said. "But I'd love to stand around here chatting but I have some other people to say hi to! Bye you two! See you later Sasuke Jr. Say hi to Inoshi for me! Good luck with your little girl, Ino!"
"Bye Chouji!" said Ino as Chouji left.
"It's going to be a boy." Sasuke said to Ino. "I bet it'll be two boys."
"Yeah right." Said Ino.
Chouji was going over to Tenten and Lee's house only to pass by what he recognized as Hinata and Kiba's house. He figured he'd just poke his head in real quick to say hi and see how their little Tashoku was doing. He knocked on the front door and waited.
The door slowly opened a crack. "Oh, hi Chouji." Said Hinata.
"Is something wrong?" Chouji asked.
"Right now's not really the best time for visits." Hinata confessed. "Kiba found Little Akamaru yesterday in the street… he was hit by a car. We're mourning right now."
"That's awful!" said Chouji. "How's Kiba taking it?"
"Well…" said Hinata uneasily. "I'll just say that Kiba's quite the mourner."
"I see." Said Chouji. "Well, in that case, I'd better be on my way. I'm sorry for you and your loss."
"Thanks for stopping by." Said Hinata pleasantly as she shut the door.
Chouji was feeling kind of sad as he arrived at the Rock Residence. He rang the doorbell a few times but when he got no answer, he figured that no one was home. After a few laps around the house checking for a light that was on, he finally decided to give up and stop wasting his time.
"Well!" Chouji said as he made his way back to his own house. "At least I got to see Ino and Shikamaru and how THEIR families were doing and that's all that REALLY matters!"