Hello again everyone. New Chapter and sorry it took so long to update. College is kicking my ass. Anyway I know most of you had a problem with Shikamaru "God moding" trust me all will be explained, He is not as strong as he may have seemed. In addition he has been training for a long time with assistance from the Third. And as far as the multi element thingy, shinobi's can use elemental jutsus outside of their own "Family Element." If that was true then Sarutobi, regardless of being Hokage would not be able to use Katon and Doton (battle with Orochimaru). He never really had friends so while everyone else was off playing he was training day in and day out. It is only natural that he would be exceptionally strong for a genin. Shikamaru got the upper hand with the summoning technique because Kakashi didn't expect him to know it. He was not watching for it and thus did not think to counter the hand seals till it was too late to stop. Also any other shinobi would not have used that technique in his situation. He simply wanted to end the fight as fast as possible because it was too troublesome. Not to worry he will have challenges. And for those of you that are upset about the breakup of the Ino, Shika, Chou group, I'm sorry but I was never really a fan of Chouji, and would have a hard time writing about him. I put Hinata on the team because, while I am making her stronger then she was in the real series, she is still pretty weak. This gives me chance for some side training and stories as well as a little inter team romance (Naruto/Hinata). Anyway, now with a few thank yous and the start of the story.
Thank you,
No-But-It-Would-Have-Been-A-Beautiful-Life.
MoonlitWolf1017
Yarochisai
Deafturtle
Crystal-Chan2
xWolfbanex
JikoDemon
Hopefully all of your concerns were answered in the above paragraph, if not please repost your concern and happy reading.
Disclaimer: As I have not yet taken over the world I still do not own Naruto.
Troublesome Missions and the Devil of the Mist
'Damn it, he is stronger than me. I only won because he underestimated me, and that won't happen again. He isn't a genius for nothing.' Shikamaru thought as he walked back to his home. 'I wasted most of my chakra and a large chunk of Kyubi's on that summoning and that was the lower level grand summoning. I can only imagine how much stronger I will have to become to summon the boss Bahumat.' He kept on thinking a he walked down the street. He didn't notice the stares that he was getting. He was used to them after 13 years of enduring them. Life was hard. His mind drifted to Ino. 'What does she see in me? Everyone else sees me as the demon. She is different though. She sees the real me, the one who feels the pain of constant rejection of everyone else.' He got to his house and walked in to find Ino waiting for him with a smile on her face. He smiled right back seeing the only person that he ever truly cared about. He would do anything for her. He would die for her if necessary. He would not lose her now, he would not be left all alone again.
"Hey, how did the fight go?" she asked
"I won, but on luck alone. It won't happen again until I get stronger. He underestimated me and I capitalized on it, however my chakra is really low now. I'm surprised that I was able to make it back here without collapsing." Shikamaru said as he fell onto the futon.
"Wow, even still you beat a Jounin. For a Genin to do that…you must be really strong," she said admiring him. "I'm glad that you are on my team." She walked over to the futon and sat down next to him. A smirk crossed his face as he saw an opening.
"Is that the only reason that you are happy that you are on my team?" he asked. She looked down and seeing his smirk she blushed and turned her face away so that he wouldn't see her. He sat up and put his arms around her waist from behind. He leaned forward and placed his chin on her shoulder and said, "You don't have to be embarrassed or nervous around me." "I won't bite…unless you want me to." He said that last part with a hint of seduction in his voice. He felt her body stiffen in his arms and she turned to hit him playfully on the chest.
"Shikamaru, I didn't know you could show perversion through your lazy exterior," she said playing around.
"I can from time to time. More often if you like it" he smiled at the last part and leaned in to kiss her. 'My god, she is changing me. She is opening me up. A few weeks ago I never would have even thought to say anything like that to anyone at all. I'm changing…and I like it.' These thoughts ran through his head as his lips connected with hers and their bodies entangled themselves in each other. All rational thought was lost. Even the exhaustion that Shikamaru felt before had somehow vanished. The only thing that his body felt was hers pressed against him. Her hands ran through his hair which he had been growing out. One of his hands was on the back of her head while the other was on her lower back holding her tightly to him. Their tongues danced in each others mouths. Ino moaned into the kiss as her body heated up. She could feel his chest pressing into her breasts. It was sending feelings that she never felt before through her entire body. She didn't want it to stop. They broke the kiss to get a breath of air. Shikamaru kissed her up her jaw line till he got to her ear. He whispered into her ear, "I love you, we have only been together maybe a little more than a week, but it feels like I have known and loved you for years."
"I love you too, and I know exactly what you mean," she whispered back. "Please don't leave me. I don't know what I would do without you there anymore. You have become the light in my life, and I know I have been your light as well. We were meant for each other." He took his hand and gently ran it down the side of her face. She reached up and took it in hers and kissed the tip of his index finger. She wanted him so badly, but she wasn't ready for too much more than kissing yet. She pulled him back to her mouth and kissed him again. This continued until they were both asleep in each others arms.
They awoke the next morning still holding one another. They didn't want to move, but they had to get to the predetermined meeting place where they would meet Kakashi in order to get their missions. After some breakfast and idle chatter they made their way to the meeting place. Hinata was already their, but their Jounin instructor was unsurprisingly absent. They waited for two hrs before Kakashi showed his face. Ino and Hinata were talking and Shikamaru was just sleeping.
"Yo," Kakashi said to get the attention of his new students.
"You're late," Shikamaru said opening one eye.
"Yeah well you see I was I saw an injured dog and decided to bring him to Inuzuka Hana and…" Kakashi answered.
"Don't lie Kakashi, its unbecoming of someone of your rank," The young Nara said in response.
"Anyway, we have a mission today," he said and led them to the mission assignment room. They received their first D rank mission. Shikamaru knew that it was going to be bad, but he never figured it to be this bad. They had to walk a bunch of dogs for local aristocrats. The Hokage, knowing and helping the Nara over his years as a child knew that he was pissed when Shikamaru gave him an evil look, but said nothing.
The next few weeks were dedicated to countless numbers of these pointless missions. Shikamaru instead used this time to help him train his various abilities. His Shadow Sight improved a little and was easier to wield. He took Ino under his wing, so too speak, as she refused to let him out of her sight. He taught her many of the techniques that the third taught him, and he knew that he could teach. His family techniques, such as Shadow Bind, were unteachable outside of his family. The Hokage taught him more then just his family techniques in the time that he trained with him. He taught him many ninjutsu and he decided to teach her three low level, but effective, Katon, Suiton, and Doton techniques (for those of you that are Naruto Illiterate I will offer a translation here: Katon Fire, Suiton Water, and Doton Earth). They included the Uchiha's Goukakyuu no jutsu, Mizu Bunshin, and the Doryuuheki no jutsu. He taught these techniques to Ino, but she still couldn't control them too well as she had relatively low Chakra levels. Taking this into account he decided to hold off on teaching her new techniques and decided to train up her strength, endurance, and chakra reserves. He trained right along side her. They ran laps of the village, often joining up with Maito Gai and Rock Lee as they often did that as well, they did Chakra building meditation, as well as various exercises and sparring.
After completing their 7th D rank mission, Shikamaru snapped. "Listen Hokage-Sensei (remember the Hokage trained him, so I had him use the Sensei suffix instead of the usual sama suffix), I have played along with these pointless missions for long enough. We need a challenge, something a little more interesting, or I'm going to go insane."
"Hokage-sama, I apologize for my student's outburst," Kakashi stated thinking that such blatant actions would anger the Hokage, but he just smiled.
"It's okay Kakashi, I was actually beginning to wonder when this was going to happen," the Hokage chuckled. "Very well, how would you guys like to take a C rank mission?"
"That would be a little more to my liking Hokage-sensei" said Shikamaru with a smirk. "So, what kind of mission is it?"
"It is an escort mission. You will be escorting the bridge builder Tazuna back to Wave country so the he can continue his work. Their may be some robbers or bandits on the road as well as those that do not wish to see the bridges completion. You are to protect him as long as is necessary," the Hokage finished the briefing, and called for Tazuna to come in.
"This is it…are you sure these brats can protect me?" Tazuna said with a slight drunken slur while holding a bottle of sake.
"hmf," was all that Shikamaru answered. They left the village heading towards wave country.
They had only been on the road for a day when things started to go wrong. Shikamaru sensed it, but didn't want to jump to conclusions. If it was an enemy, then to hide this well they had to be shinobi, and he did not want to rush into a fight until he knew more details than he did. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi looking around casually, but intently.
'So he's noticed it too,' thought Shikamaru. 'He isn't a jounin for nothing. I just wish I knew more, I could try to see what's going on with my shadow sight, but that would reveal one of my trump cards away to early.' That was when he saw it. The puddle in the middle of the path, when there was no rain in the past week or so. He knew that their was going to be a trap, but knowing that there is a trap is the first step in evading it (if you can tell me what that last line was from I'll give you 5 imaginary points). As they approached the puddle Ino hit a trip wire that sent a dozen kunai her way. With all the speed he could muster Shikamaru rushed at her and pushed her out of the way. He managed to dodge most of the kunai himself, but a few hit non-critical pts. He had two in his left arm, and one in the right leg. At that moment two bladed and spiked chains wrapped around Kakashi and ripped him apart. Hinata and Ino's eyes went wide and they froze with fear. Shikamaru had already analyzed the situation when he noticed the Demon brothers of the Mist village heading for their next target, which happened to be Hinata. She cringed in fear as Shikamaru rushed in front of her holding his wakazashi in his hand on his good arm. He had a determined look about him that neither of the girls had ever seen. He parried their strikes and delivered two simple yet effective kicks to their faces sending them back. He used this opportunity to immobilize their chain technique as they were bound to try and use it again. He threw a shuriken at their chain and followed up with a kunai. The shuriken pinned the chain to a tree and the kunai locked it in place. They tried to pull it free, but broke the chain in the process. They jumped back to regroup, when both were knocked out from behind. Kakashi stood behind their unconscious bodies.
"It's about time you came back," Shikamaru spat
"Oh, I just wanted to see what you guys were capable of. You Shikamaru are fine. You are at a high Chunnin, if not jounin level. The girls however need some work. When we get to Wave country we shall start training." The jounin announced as Shikamaru tended to his almost healed wounds. Kakashi went over to speak with Tazuna and Ino, who had just broken out of her terrified trance rushed over to Shikamaru to help. He turned to her as she approached.
"Are you alright?" he asked first, which surprised her.
"I am fine, but what about you? You were hit pretty badly back their," she asked generally concerned.
"Don't worry about me, the powers of you-know-what allows me to heal quickly," Shikamaru answered. "How's Hinata, is she alright?"
"She is fine, just still a little shaken by the whole thing." Ino said. Shikamaru got up and went over to Hinata. Ino felt a little tinge of jealousy. She knew that he was just concerned about his other teammate, but the feeling was their none the less.
"Hinata? How are you doing?" he asked her.
"I….I am a little better now, b..but before….I f..froze up, I'm sorry," she stuttered hanging her head in shame.
"It's okay, I will help you train to make you stronger and more confident. Just relax now," he comforted her. He then proceeded over to Kakashi to have a talk with him and Tazuna about the ranking and continuation of this mission, but he had a feeling that Kakashi was talking with Tazuna about this very thing as he was walking over their.
"Tazuna, this mission is out of this team's league, except for Shikamaru this team is generally only ready for low C class missions. This is turning into a B-rank mission. And if our intelligence on these Mist-nin is accurate, we can expect the missing-nin Zabuza to be the next one to attack. If that happens this mission ceases as a B-rank and becomes an A-rank. I will discuss the options with my team, but the main one is going back to Konoha and declaring the mission null and void. The other is continuing anyway despite the danger, which I'm afraid is what they will pick," Kakashi lectured
"I understand. I lied about the mission when they were assigning a rank, but I had to, as this is all that I could afford. The B and A missions are too expensive. Wave is an impoverished country and the bridge that I am building is their only hope. I had to try and get some protection," he said looking at the ground in shame and sorrow.
"Kakashi, we can't leave him now. If the Devil of the Mist is definitely going to be the next to attack he won't stand a chance. If we leave him now he won't last 2 seconds after Zabuza catches him. It will basically be an execution. As much as I dislike most people, I can't do that to someone that has shown no hostility to my condition, regardless if he knows what it is or not. I for one won't abandon him, besides this will be a good opportunity to train on team work as that is the only way the girls will survive such a confrontation," Shikamaru finished. "Even though I will protect them with my own life, especially Ino, I won't be able to be by their sides for the whole fight and they may have to defend themselves. Besides, I want to fight Zabuza, and if we work together, that is you and me Kakashi, we should be able to easily combat him," Shikamaru smirked and Kakashi gave him a smile that was hidden behind his mask.
"Very well, we shall continue the mission," was all that Kakashi said and they continued on their way.
Two days later they came to shore in Wave in a thick fog. They were all on edge since getting on the boat. They all could tell that something wasn't right. As the started walking away from the shore and deeper into Wave the feeling grew until it reached a breaking point.
"GET DOWN!" Shouted Shikamaru and Kakashi in unison as they pulled everyone else down with them as they hit the deck. A great sword flew over them and lodged itself in a tree. When they all got up they looked at the sword and saw someone standing on it.
"Oh no wonder the Demon brothers were beaten, Copy ninja Kakashi was with this team," Zabuza exclaimed.
"Protect Tazuna," Kakashi said as he revealed his Sharingan. They all gathered around Tazuna drawing kunais and a wakazashi.
"That won't work," Zabuza said without emotion as a Mizu Bunshin landed in the middle of the group. Shikamaru activated his Shadow sight and stopped the large blade from spinning and killing everyone with a backward slash. The bunshin dissolved into a puddle. Kakashi got distracted by this attack on his team and turned around Tazuna took this opportunity to cut Kakashi in half. As the two halves separated, they turned into water.
"A Mizu Bunshin!" Zabuza exclaimed as he felt a kunai rest on his throat.
"It's over," Kakashi exclaimed nonchalantly, but his eyes went wide when this Zabuza also vanished into a puddle of water. He sensed Zabuza approaching for another attack, so he jumped back into the water to avoid getting hit. After he was in the water he noticed that it felt heavier than it should. Before he could act Zabuza was at his side performing a set of hand seals. Kakashi was caught in the Water Prison technique. After Zabuza secured his hold on Kakashi he summoned up a series of Mizu Bunshins and had them get into formation to attack the younger shinobis.
"Run, you can't beat him, just take Tazuna and run," Kakashi shouted.
"Not a chance Kakashi, you know full well that while I'm strong I can't take this guy without your help. We'd be hunted down by him and killed. Our only option is to stand our ground here, where he can only use Mizu Bunshins while he traps you," Shikamaru stated in a calm voice. "Besides if it's only Mizu Bunshins I can easily take care of it."
"You sure about that kid," Zabuza challenged as three of the water clones attacked. Shikamaru easily dealt with them with a few evasive maneuvers and slashes.
"Is that all Zabuza? If these are ten percent of your power then I might be able to beat you myself." Shikamaru taunted as he dispatched two more Mizu Bunshins. After all the Mizu Bunshins were gone Shikamaru attacked Zabuza directly. Three more water clones formed and took a defensive stance around Zabuza to protect him from the onslaught. They seemed a little stronger than the average, and Shikamaru noticed as he was actually having trouble with the three, when he was easily able to dispatch five before. After he defeated them, he jumped back to re-evaluate the situation.
'If I re-approach him, he'll just use the Mizu Bunshin again to keep me busy and try to where me out. That said, taijutsu is out. That leaves me with ninjutsu and genjutsu………I got it. I'll use my doujutsu to get into position, and then I'll free Kakashi,' he planned. He used his Shadow sight to create an average strength, yet effective genjutsu that made it look like he was still in the same spot as before, when he really was moving off into the trees on the side. Those in Zabuza's general vicinity were affected, namely Kakashi and Zabuza. However, Kakashi was able to see through it thanks to his sharingan and new exactly what Shikamaru was doing. Ino and Hinata on the other hand had no idea what he was doing. They decided that it was best to just wait it out. Shikamaru got into position in the forest and prepared the Shadow Copy Jutsu. He formed the one necessary seal and launched his shadow at Zabuza. Zabuza suddenly felt the control of his body leave him. He also saw the genjutsu in front of him disappear and saw that the kid was not there. He cursed himself for his stupidity. He tried to fight Shikamaru's control, but was forced to remove his hand from the water prison releasing Kakashi who immediately put a kunai to Zabuza's throat. As he was about to deliver the killing stroke, Zabuza was struck by two needles in his neck. He fell to the ground as Shikamaru let go of the Shadow copy no jutsu. Kakashi took his pulse.
"He's dead," Kakashi stated, his voice void of all emotion. They all looked up to the tree that the needles came from. On one of the branches stood a shinobi with a mask that held the symbol of the Mist Village. The five shinobi's stared at each other for all of 30 seconds.
"Who is that Kakashi-sensei?" asked Ino breaking the silence.
"He is a Hunter-nin. Hunter-nins are dispatched from their home village to hunt down and eliminate missing-nins that are a potential threat, or posses the secrets of the village, which unfortunately every shinobi in a village has," Kakashi answered the curious blond.
"I thank you in your assistance in capturing this dangerous individual. I will take care of the rest," he responded taking the body away and leaving two confused and one indifferent genin, and one suspicious jounin. They took their leave of the water side area and proceeded to Tazuna's house.
They spent a couple of days training hard. Shikamaru spent all of his time with Hinata to get her stronger. Ino felt a tad bit jealous that her boyfriend was spending all of his time with another girl, but her mind rationalized that it was because he wanted the team stronger and a team was only as strong as the weakest member. Hinata really needed the help anyway, and she was doing fine herself learning control and a few low-level genjutsu from her perverted sensei. She couldn't understand how he could be so open about his like of those perverted books. Regardless of his perversion, he as doing a remarkable job teaching her new techniques and ways to train herself to become stronger.
Shikamaru was sparring with Hinata, trying to get her stronger, and getting her to build up her confidence by not fighting as well as he should. He was letting her get hits in that he could block, but then again, he was on par with a low jounin so he should hold back a little when sparring with her or it would only discourage her. The training was going well and he could feel her confidence building with each hit she landed. Along with her confidence improving he could feel strength in her hits. This was probably because she had been holding back, afraid of defeat or shame. It sapped her strength, but no longer. Now she was becoming what was expected of a genin.
After training, the four shinobi were sitting and eating peacefully in Tazuna's house. Everyone noticed that Hinata was holding herself a little higher than usual. It appeared that her training with Shikamaru was extremely helpful to her confidence problem.
"I'll train with Hinata tomorrow Shikamaru. You and Ino train together instead," Kakashi announced.
"Sure, you better watch out though Kakashi. She can be very strong when she believes in herself," Shikamaru said, half jokingly. Kakashi just smiled, seeing that for what it really was, another attempt at a miniature confidence booster. Hinata blushed at hearing a guy compliment her on her skill. And Ino, seeing the blush, felt a tinge of jealousy. She knew that it was pointless to be jealous because Hinata still had a crush on Naruto, but it was still there.
Shikamaru got up and went out onto the small porch and sat down with his feet hanging over the edge. Ino decieded to follow him outside, so that she could have some alone time with the man that held her heart. When she got there she saw him staring off into the darkness of the night. She went over and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. She smiled just from being near him like this. He broke out of his trance and put his arm around her and rested his head on the top of hers. They just sat there in each others arms, and just enjoying being together like this.
Kakashi just watched the two in silence. He was happy that Shikamaru found a person that cared for him. He saw the kind of torment that he had to go through, having to save him a couple of times when he was an ANBU. His life was shit, because he had no one that truly cared about him, except for the Third. A lone old man, no matter how great a shinobi he was, can only be so much company to a young child. Kakashi went back inside, smiling behind his mask. Shikamaru and Ino stayed like that for almost an hour, just gazing at the stars before going to their beds.
The next day Shikamaru was drilling Ino in the jutsus that he taught her awhile ago. He believed that she now had enough chakra and chakra control to be able to perform them properly. She had wanted to learn something new, but Shikamaru insisted that she master these first. When she did, he promised to teach her the stronger jutsu variants like the Katon: Ryuka no jutsu (Fire element: Dragon Technique), and the Suiton: suiryudan no jutsu (Water element: water dragon blast technique). They drilled for about 3 hrs. which was when Ino ran out of chakra and couldn't continue. She was sitting against a tree completely exhausted.
"How did I do?" she asked.
"You did really well. You have the Mizu Bunshin and the Doryuuheki no jutsu down pretty well. For the Earth wall its only a matter of how much chakra you use. It will get stronger as you do, but you are still having trouble with the Goukakyuu no jutsu. You are close though. All you need is practice, but not tonight," he finally finished.
"Yeah, I'm too tired to continue and we have to guard Tazuna tomorrow," she said. "lets go back and get some rest."
They went back to Tazuna's house to recover for the potential fight the next day.
"Shikamaru? Do you think we will face more S-rank criminals at the bridge tomorrow?" Ino asked sitting next to him on the porch.
"It's a distinct possibility that we may, but I wouldn't worry about it. You and Hinata have improved allot in the past few days. We can hold our own in any fight now if we work together," Shikamaru smiled. That earned him a quick kiss on the cheek before Ino went up to go to sleep. Shikamaru stayed up late into the night to look out at the stars and just empty his mind. He had a bad feeling about tomorrow.
The next day they followed Tazuna to the bridge. The fog was unbelievably thick, and unbelievably familiar. As they made their way onto the bridge the fog got thicker. They continued to walk until they were stopped by no less than six Zabuzas.
"Ino, Hinata why don't you take care of this," Kakashi said as the two girls took out three of the six clones each. Shikamaru and Kakashi both smiled at the accomplishments of their friends and/or students.
"Oh, they seem to have improved Kakashi. I remember them being too scared to move the last time I saw them," Zabuza said as he and the hunter-nin appeared out of the fog. With that said The hunter-nin charged at the group with tremendous speed. Shikamaru met him half way out needle meeting wakazashi in a high pitch clang.
"Oh. It appears you have a rival for speed Haku," Zabuza commented. Their were a few more blows exchanged before either of the two shinobi spoke.
"You are pretty good, but I have you at two distinct disadvantages," Haku stated.
"And what might those be?" Shikamaru asked.
"The first is the water on the ground, and the second is that I have occupied one of you hands," he said starting to form one handed seals.
"What! One handed?" Shikamaru expressed out loud. He jumped back just as Haku finished the technique.
"HiJutsu, Sensatsu Suishou," Haku declared as he stomped in one of the puddles sending droplets into the air. They quickly changed to ice needles and hurled themselves at Shikamaru. (A/N as much as I like using the actual names for the jutsus I find it annoying to look and/or listen to the actual names every time I need a new one, or translating original moves to its Japanese equivalent. So I will use English translations from here on out.)
"Shit," Shikamaru said out loud as he dodged all but one that pierced his shoulder. "Ouch…two can play that game." He said as he formed a few seals, ending the usual shadow seal (A/N not really sure if that's what its called, but you should know what I mean. If you don't, I am using the seal that he uses for the shadow copy jutsu as the base seal for all shadow jutsu.)
"Shadow needles no jutsu," he called out as he formed his shadow into solid black needles that flew at Haku. Haku, using his speed to his advantage, dodged all of the shadow needles, and started to seal.
"Secret jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors," he said as mirrors of ice formed around him and Shikamaru. "I'm sorry that you had to see this jutsu. None have yet to survive it has been cast," he said as he backed into one of the mirrors and merged with it. His image suddenly appeared on all of the mirrors. Shikamaru took one look around and knew that he was in trouble. He activated his shadow sight and tried to make a dash for the outside. As he neared the edge, needles shot at him from the mirrors closest to him. He dodged all that would hit critical areas, but even with the shadow sight he didn't have the speed to dodge them all. He had also seen Haku move, but again without the necessary speed, it would be impossible to catch him. Genjutsu was also out, as for the ones that would be effective in this fight needed eye contact with his shadow sight.
"Shikamaru!" Ino shouted. She had seen him get hit by the needles, and was worried about him.
"Ino, go help Shikamaru. Hinata stay here and protect Tazuna using your Byukagen to see through this mist that Zabuza just summoned," Kakashi ordered.
"Hai!" they both said as Ino charged off towards the ice mirrors. She jumped inside the mirrors in time to se Shikamaru try to use a grand fireball jutsu, miss, and get hit by another wave of needles.
"Shikamaru!" she shouted running over to him. He was pulling out some of the needles to free up some movement.
"Ino! Why did you come inside the mirros?" he asked with concern.
"To help you of course. You're getting pretty beat up and look like you need a hand," she said.
"You should have stayed away. This person is beyond us," as he said that Haku went on the offensive again. He threw needles at Ino's back. Shikamaru saw these at the last second and threw Ino to the side, taking the needles himself. He fell down in pain, unable to feel most of his body. He looked up to see Ino stand up to try and come back to him, to only get hit by needles herself. He watched her fall down, her eyes closing, and he feared the worst. He felt an anger build inside him, and a burst of power start to flow through him. (A/N sorry that there are so many of these, but I want to clarify the next part before I continue. In my story I'm changing the color of kyubi's chakra from red to black just to fit Shikamaru's shadowy persona better. He also won't go on all four's like Naruto. Instead think more like an Inuyasha like demon. Fangs, claws, completely red eyes with black oblong iris, but standing upright. Kay?)
"Is this the first time that you've had to watch someone precious to you die? It is hard, but that is the life of a shinobi. You must simply learn to accept it and move on," Haku stated matter of factly.
"Shut up," Shikamaru all but whispered. "You killed her. The only person that I have ever cared about. The only one who truly cared back. The only person I loved. I have nothing now. You took everything away from me, and you will not live to regret it!" Shikamaru said looking up his eyes changed (see above note) fangs bared. Their was an eruption of black chakra that was pushing all the air in a whirlwind. Haku threw a few more needles at him to test this new power. Shikamaru merely held up one hand open palm towards the needles and blasted them away with a quick burst of air pressure caused by increasing his chakra in that region. The whirlwind of chakra receded leaving behind the changed boy. He charged the mirror that he thought Haku was in. The mirror shattered with the impact of his fist. Haku tried counter attacking his back from a mirror across from Shikamaru, but was intercepted before he could strike. Shikamaru grabbed Haku's wrist, stopping him in his tracks. Shikamaru wound back like he was going to punch Haku, but instead slashed across Haku's throat with his claws. As the mirrors started to deteriorate Shikamaru threw the limp body of Haku to the side and the black chakra receded. Shikamaru was at his limit. Fatigue was setting in quickly, as he no longer had the Kyubi's chakra to give him strength. The only thing that drove him now was his want, no, his need to be near Ino, even if she was gone. He made it to her side and collapsed to his knees. Tears started to form in his eyes as he lightly raised Ino's head. Then something that surprised him and wiped away his sadness happened. Ino made a low groaning noise as her head was moved. No longer blinded by sadness, Shikamaru could see Ino's chest rising and falling ever so slightly. She was alive. Her eye's opened slightly again making Shikamaru even happier.
"Shika? What happened? Where is that boy and his mirrors?" Ino asked weakly.
"Shh, It's alright now. You got hit by a bunch of needles and they hurt you pretty bad. I thought you had died and I kinda flipped out on that Haku boy and umm kinda killed him in a fit of rage," Shikamaru said guiltily. It was his first kill. All shinobi had to go through it, but it was never easy. Kakashi and Hinata came over, Zabuza having been defeated by a chidori to the heart, to check on Ino and Shikamaru's condition. They patched up Ino with some weak medical jutsu from Kakashi, and some healing balm from Hinata. Shikamaru was already healed completely from the Kyubi. Just as they finished treating Ino on sight a voice came over the bridge.
"Well looks like Zabuza and that bastard kid who broke my arm are dead. It sucks that in the end they failed, but at least I don't have to pay them now, and they weakened you shinobi up for these guys," Gatoh said as he motioned to the mob of thugs behind him. Kakashi and his team, well those that could move, got into fighting stance. They were interrupted when an arrow from the crossbow of Tazuna's grandson landed in front of the henchmen. They all looked back at the mob of villagers that was easily double the size of Gatoh's group of petty thugs. Upon seeing this the thugs wavered and ran leaving a defenseless Gatoh behind to deal with two shinobi and a mob of villagers. In the end the villagers took him into custody and he was sentenced to be executed for crimes against the Wave. The shinobi left to return to the Leaf their mission being completed.
After returning to Konoha without further incident the trio were left to their own devises, as Kakashi had to deliver the mission report. They started walking through the streets making idle chitchat as they went. They passed the Ichikaru Ramen bar and saw none other than Uzumaki Naruto come out.
"Hey Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata," he said. "Iheard you guys just got back from a mission, how was it?"
"It was too troublesome," Shikamaru answered.
"Yeah, what started out as a Crank mission became at least a B rank one," Ino confirmed Shikamaru idly looked back at Hinata and saw that all of the confidence that she gained from their mission was all of a sudden absent. She was looking at the ground twiddling her fingers in what could only be explained as a nervous defense mechanism. Shikamaru smirked seeing what was happening realized that it was Naruto's presence that was doing this to her. He suspected that she might like the dense blond, and this just confirmed it.
"A B rank mission! That's amazing. You guys must be strong in order to pull that off. I don't know if our team could do that yet," the last part more of a question to himself as opposed to a statement to the other three shinobi.
"I… I'm s-sure that you c-could N-Naruto-kun," Hinata managed to get out with much effort.
"I'm not so sure Hinata. I mean sure we're strong, but our teamwork is sorely lacking. Sasuke always wants to do things his way and by himself, and is always an arrogant bastard. And while I sort of work well with Sakura in a pinch, she always wants to work with Sasuke who as I said before doesn't want to work with anyone. Plus, while she is smart, she is pretty weak. She would be better learning genjutsu because of her excellent control, but Asuma-Sensei isn't that great at teaching genjutsu," Naruto explained. "Anyway I got to go. I'll see you guys later." He finished as he ran off. As he left Hinata stopped twiddling her fingers and looked up.
"Ino, why don't you go on ahead. Ineed to talk to Hinata about something," Shikamaru requested.
"Umm… Okay, I'll see you in a few," she said with some confusion present in her voice as she left.
"Hinata," Shikamaru started, not knowing how to say what he wanted. He decieded to just be blunt. "You like Naruto don't you." Hinata's eyes went huge and again she lost all confidence.
"H-How did you know?" Hinata stammered.
"It's pretty obvious. You lose all of the confidence that you gained on the mission when you see him, or I even mention him to you," Shikamaru said. "I am your teammate and friend. You can tell me and I won't spread it around. I may even be able to help."
"How w-would you be able to h-help m-me?" she asked confused.
"Well Ino is, or was friends with Sakura, Naruto's teammate. We may be able to set up something or other to get him to notice you more. First though, it looks like we'll have to build up your confidence again." Shikamaru offered.
"Y-you would d-do that for m-me?" she asked.
"Of course, what are friends for," Shikamaru finished with a smile. "well we'll talk more about this later okay?" He started walking in the direction of his apartment.
"Sh-shikamaru," she called.
"Yes?" he asked lookin g over his shoulder.
"Thank you," she responded with no stutter.
"You're welcome Hinata, see ya," he said
"Good bye," she responded.
While Shikamaru was talking to Hinata, Ino went quickly back to his apartment. When she got their though she saw something that she didn't expect. Her father was their waiting for her. She turned and was about to run when he spoke.
"Ino, wait, please," he asked. She stopped hearing the concern in his voice. "I mean no hostility. I only want to understand. I want to why you chose that mons… child over the family that has cared for you for so long." Ino was at a loss for words. She had never heard her father talk like this, with this much concern. She just nodded and opened the door to the apartment. They went inside and she motioned for him to sit in one of the chairs while she sat in the other. An uncomfortable silence followed, which Inoichi felt he should break.
"What can you tell me about him? Is he different then we've been led to believe?" he asked.
"Yes, everyone seems to think that he is the demon that is sealed inside of him. He isn't. he is actually a kind hearted person. He will do anyting for those few people that he cares about. As far as I know, however, that's limited to about three people," she said kind of sadly.
"Who are those three people?" Inoichi asked.
"The Sandaime, our teammate Hinata, and me. Me probably more so than the others, because… well he's my…" she said trying to say what she wanted before someone said it for her.
"Because she is my girlfriend," Shikamaru said from the door. "She is the most important person in my life and I would do anything for her, and I mean anything."
"What about the Fox?" Inoichi asked.
"The fox and I have a mutual relationship. He can talk to me to give me advice, he can enhance my body, for example he gave me the shadow sight bloodline limit, and I can use his chakra so I have a near limitless amount. Unfortunatly, I can't tap into it at will yet. I have to be in a very dire situation, or be extremely emotional. When I use allot of his chakra his instincts also become stronger and tend to alter me psyche a little making me more aggressive than I normally am."
"Isn't having the foxes instincts influence you like that dangerous?" Inoichi asked concerned.
"Only to those who threaten or hurt me or the ones I care about. The first and only time that this transformation has happened was on our previous mission. I thought that that bastard Haku killed Ino and I flipped out. I went from being on the defensive the entire fight to dominating the fight completely. I ended the fight by killing my opponent without hesitation. Had the Kyubi's instincts not been guiding my behavior, I would have hesitated as it was my first kill, and that could have resulted in either the enemy escaping, or even my death," Shikamaru explained. There was a short silence before Inoichi spoke again.
"I need to think all of this over. I admit that I have done you a grave injustice these past 12 years. I am not going to force Ino to come back yet as her mother still doesn't understand as I now do. She wants me to drag you back by your hair if necessary. She still sees you as the Kyubi no Kitsune. It will take time to convince her otherwise if she ever changes. So even though it is against my parental instincts, I will let you stay here at your "boyfriend's" place. I believe it is the best solution for all parties involved." He finished rising from his seat.
"Thank you for understanding daddy," Ino said. He smiled at her and left.
"So… now that is over, how would you like to play matchmaker?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk on his face. Ino just stared at him with a very confused look.
A/N: okay again I am very sorry this is so late, but I've had allot on my plate lately. I have already started the next chapter so it should be out with a considerably shorter interim. As always please review to let me know how I did. Upcoming events in the next chapter: Chunnin exam, Orochimaru, and Ino playing matchmaker.