Okay, I admit that I've been stalling on writing this chapter. You'll see why when you read this.

Wisewolf101- You're not wrong about the song Yellow by Coldplay fitting the story.

To whoever said they would like a drawing of Naruto in the sports bra scene- I drew it. It's not my best since I wasn't trying too hard. But you can check it out at my deviant art page o0Black-Sand0o You can also see some of my original drawing and fanart stuff on there.

Apparently a sprained ankle and insomnia is great for writing. If anyone wants to see my shukaku face it's my deviant art. It scared my brother-in-law when I walked out of the bathroom like that.

Asuma's POV

He looked at his watch before picking up his step. He had spent longer with Kurenai than he had meant to and now had to hope Shikamaru would be ready without warning. He couldn't leave the village without saying goodbye to Kurenai and their baby, since he knew missions were becoming more and more deadly. They had to meet Izumo and Kotetsu but Asuma wanted to find Shikamaru first and give him time to prepare for the mission if need be.

Looking around he spotted Ino and Choji. Not the student he was hoping for but hopefully they would be able to lead him to the one he wanted. Walking up to them he realised that they were in some type of a playful argument.

"Come on, you must know what's going on. Tell me!" Ino demanded with a big grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, please. It's obvious." Ino scoffed, rolling her eyes. When she spotted her teacher her eyes lit up. "You must know! Am I right?"

"About what?" Asuma asked, frowning at the blonde.

"About Shikamaru and Naruto."

"Are they finally dating?" Asuma yelped, miffed that Shikamaru hadn't said anything. He watched as Ino's jaw dropped and she looked gleeful whilst Choji groaned.

"Asuma-Sensei!" Choji dropped his head before grabbing Ino's shoulders, stopping her from jumping with excitement. "They aren't dating, and Ino, you better keep this to yourself."

"But they do like each other?" the blonde giggled, her face covered with a wide smile.

"I don't know how Naruto feels," Choji admitted, "though signs seem to point towards him liking Shikamaru."

"And Shikamaru?" Ino prodded, pouting when Choji didn't answer. "Come on, I'm your team mate and the only one who doesn't know.

Choji sighed, folding to Ino's guilt. "Fine. Shikamaru is in love with him."

"WHAT?!" yelped Ino and Asuma, hushing their voices when people looked at them.

"Are you sure?" Asuma asked as Ino breathed her own question.

"Seriously, love?"

"Yeah. A drunk Shikamaru confirmed it. He can be chatty. Which is bad when he disappears on me and I find out he was with Naruto.

Ino's eyes widened. "When you say with Naruto do you mean with Naruto?"

"What? No! He went and talked to him and crashed on his couch. Which isn't good cause who knows what he said. And that's all the dirt you are getting off me about them."

"So there is more dirt?" Asuma asked, wondering what he had missed.

"I'm not telling you." Choji clamped a hand over Ino's mouth, stopping her whining. "What can we do for you, Asuma-Sensei?"

"I'm looking for Shikamaru. We have a mission to go on. Do you know where he is?" He watched Ino point down the street, her mouth still covered.

"He left only a couple of minutes ago. He's walking Naruto back to his training grounds."

Asuma nodded, saying goodbye before rushing off. It was lucky that he had walked with Captain Yamato to the training grounds a few days before, discussing their favourite topic of their two teammates. Captain Yamato had enjoyed telling him how Sai had started to question Naruto about his relationship with Shikamaru. Apparently the blond had blushed red before changing the topic in a not so subtle manner.

He found Izumo and Kotetsu along the way. Apparently they had been looking for him and Shikamaru. Together they headed towards Naruto's training ground. They didn't even reach the trees separating the training area from the rest of the village when they found Shikamaru, paused in the path, speaking with Naruto.

"Maybe it's cause I'm so inept at the Rasengun compared to others that can do it, but I can't seem to get this stupid technique. Kakashi-Sensei says I can do it when no one else can because I have more chakra than the Fourth but that guy was a genius. Maybe you should try to complete it. I could give you my chakra." Naruto sighed, rubbing his forehead.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, his hands in his pockets. "You need to stop doubting yourself. You aren't inept with the Rasengun-"

"I have to use two hands," cut in Naruto.

"Yeah, and you can hold the Rasengun longer than anyone else and cause more damage with it. My father and his team fought beside the Fourth, so my father knows what his Rasengun was like. Did you ever think that the reason you need two hands is because you have too much chakra to condense into a palm sized ball? I can imagine it would be difficult to manipulate the Rasengun whilst trying to keep your chakra under control."

"Yeah." Naruto's shoulders slumped. "You would think adding wind style would be easier given that the Rasengun is similar to wind in style."

"You're adding your element to it?" Shikamaru yelped. "That's impressive."

"Trying too. At the moment I'm thinking it's impossible. I swear it feels like I go cross eyed every time I try."

"Are you thinking to hard?" Shikamaru joked.

"Funny." Naruto gave him a mock glare. "I meant metaphorically."

"You know what that means?" Shikamaru dramatically gasped.

"I will punch you." Naruto shook his fist at the dark haired boy, trying to look intimidating but looking amused.

Asuma, trying not to laugh, chose to walk closer, letting the two know they are being observed by three ninjas.

"Oh, hey, Asuma-Sensei," Naruto yelled when he spotted the Jonin.

Asuma smiled at the blond before turning to his student. "Sorry to pull you away but we have a mission. You have to go get your stuff cause we have to leave in twenty minutes."

"I'm always packed and ready to go. Saves time." Shikamaru pulled a scroll from his back pocket. It was an enclosing scroll.

The Jonin realised he should have guessed that his lazy student would have something prepared to save him effort. In his musing he hadn't noticed that Izumo and Kotetsu were talking to Naruto about his training. When they noticed Asuma was paying attention again they looked at him expectantly.

"Ready to go?" Izumo asked.

"Umm." Asuma looked from Naruto to Shikamaru. There had been dread pooling in his stomach since he was handed his mission. Realising that this mission could end badly for one of them he forced a smile and turned to Shikamaru. "Yeah. You ready, Shikamaru?"

The boy nodded, turning back to the blond. "See you. Good luck with your training."

Before Naruto could reply Asuma scoffed. "Honestly, give a proper goodbye. Give Naruto a kiss." He pushed his student in the back, watching him stumble into the blond as Izumo and Kotetsu chuckled.

Naruto crashed to the ground, Shikamaru catching himself with his hands and knees either side of the blonde's body.

"Asuma-Sensei," Shikamaru snapped, giving the man a sharp look. He rolled his eyes when he noticed how his teacher lifted his hands up in surrender, trying to look innocent. Shikamaru let himself fall gently to the side, manoeuvring himself to stand up.

When the three men had a clear view of Naruto they gasped. At first Asuma thought he was seeing things, but after blinking his eyes in rapid succession and not seeing anything different besides some dots he knew it wasn't a trick of the light. He looked at Izumo and Kotetsu, before looking at Shikamaru, expecting to see the same level of surprise as was mirrored on the two other men's faces. Instead, the genius was holding a hand out to the blonde.

Naruto laid sprawled on the ground, pushed up on his elbows. Or should Asuma say her elbows, because for some reason her body had transformed into that of a females. In her orange t-shirt and pants sitting on her hips, it was fairly obvious that her chest, waist, and hips were all features of the fairer gender. She took Shikamaru's hand, letting him pull her to her feet before she dusted off her pants.

"Really didn't want a bruised butt today, Asuma-Sensei," Naruto laughed. When she noticed that the man was stuck in stunned silence she looked confused before she looked down. "Oh, crap. This is what I get for training so much."

"A sex change?" yelped Izumo, his visible eye wide. He scanned Naruto's body again before seeming to realise what he was doing and looking away with a blush.

"No, my transformation jutsu breaks." Naruto rolled her eyes before shaking her head at an amused Shikamaru.

"So… you were born this way?" Kotetsu asked, pointing at Naruto's body with a shaky finger. "How did we not know this? Did you know this, Asuma?"

"I'm going to go by his expression and say no, he didn't." Shikamaru looked far too smug seeing his sensei speechless.

"It's not common knowledge," assured Naruto. "Basically just my teachers, my doctors, Grandma Tsunade, Sai, Sasuke, and Shikamaru… pretty sure that's everyone."

"Why does Shikamaru know?" Asuma asked slowly, watching as Shikamaru blushed darkly. "On second thought I don't want to know. Just give… her a kiss cause we have a mission to go on."

"I'm not kissing Naruto whilst you watch, you old pervert," snapped Shikamaru.

"What is it with senseis and being perverts?" mused the blonde.

"Wait, so you would kiss Naruto if we weren't here?" Kotetsu asked, a large smile making the bandage over his nose crinkle.

"We're done here." Shikamaru glared, but its intensity was diminished by his deep blush.

"Stay safe, you guys," Naruto added with a wave, walking towards the tree line, her tan cheeks taking on a pink hue. "Hopefully by the time you get back I'll have made some progress with this technique."

"Good luck," called Izumo, still appearing stunned and refusing to look at Naruto. "A boy should not be that… curvy!"

"Naruto isn't a boy," reminded Shikamaru, stirring the dazed man towards the gates.

"But he was until you knocked him over. You broke Naruto," Izumo yelped, walking beside Kotetsu, though not appearing to notice that he was moving. "You can't break Naruto!"

"I didn't break Naruto," huffed the youngest member of the team.

"No, but you do want to do other things to Naruto." When Shikamaru looked furious at Kotetsu's words the man laughed. "I meant kissing. What were you thinking?"

"Don't start that game with me." Shikamaru glared at the man before sighing and running his hand over his face. "Don't tell people about Naruto, okay?"

"You mean that you like him? Her?" Izumo asked, still staring off into the distance.

"No! Yes! Look, I don't care about that, though I would prefer it if the whole village didn't find out before Naruto did. But about the whole, being female thing. Naruto doesn't want people to know yet, so can you let her tell them in her own time. She obviously trusts you guys or she would have lied about why she transformed."

"She trusts us?"

Shikamaru frowned at Kotetsu. "Of course she does. You two have never mistreated her and Lady Tsunade trusts you two. It's not hard to tell who Naruto trusts at times. She likes to make it clear."

"It's good to know we've earned her trust as much as she's earned our respect." Izumo snapped out of his daze. "Hey, when did we get to the gate?"

The three other men rolled their eyes at him as they signed out of the village.

/ / / / / / / / /

"Soooo…"

Shikamaru groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes and trying to fall asleep as fast as he could. "No!" he moaned. "Two of you should be sleeping, and the last one should be shutting up and looking for enemies."

"But we have so many questions," whined Kotetsu, who was meant to be the one on guard.

Asuma looked between Kotetsu and Izumo, trying not to laugh. It was obvious the two men would harass Shikamaru until they got the answers they wanted.

"Well, keep them to yourself." Shikamaru rolled onto his side, away from the men.

"Now, now, Shikamaru, it's only fair that we would have questions. We have found out a great deal about two ninjas today and we want to explore those findings."

"I can hear your grin," muttered the young genius. With a loud sigh that morphed into a groan he threw himself onto his back. "Fine. Ask your questions. No promises I'll answer them though."

"How long have you known Naruto was a girl?" Izumo fired the moment Shikamaru finished speaking.

"I've thought she was since we were eight. Just little things made me think she was. I had it confirmed a couple of months ago."

"So she's always been transformed around us?" Kotetsu asked.

"No, she uses chest binds but now when just wearing a t-shirt she transforms. In this case she wasn't wearing them at all."

"How long have you liked her?" Izumo asked, grinning.

"I don't know."

"Is Naruto the one girl you've kissed?" Asuma spoke up, grinning widely.

Shikamaru glared at the man. "Pass."

"So yes than." Asuma laughed at his student. He watched Shikamaru roll his eyes before covering his face with his arm again. "When are you going to ask her out?"

"Never," came the muffled reply.

"Why not?" Izumo asked, moving closer as though afraid he would miss Shikamaru's response.

"I don't know."

"You're a genius, how can you not know why you're not going to ask out the girl you like?" Kotetsu scratched his bandage.

"Love," Asuma corrected, watching Shikamaru bolt up into a seated position.

"What makes you think I love her?"

"Drunk Shikamaru told Choji." Asuma laughed as Shikamaru threw himself back onto his bed roll.

"That guy is an asshole."

"Choji?"

"Drunk Shikamaru!" Shikamaru ran a hand down his face. "I'm still paying for what they guy did."

"Should I worry about what he did? Am I going to be a grand-sensei?"

"NO!" yelped the boy. "Never mind. And to go back to the original question which is much less mortifying than this one, I don't know why I can't ask Naruto out. Something is holding me back. Also, you lot are worse than Ino!"

"Okay, why can't you ask out Naruto?" Asuma asked, staring at his student. "And I'm genuinely asking. Are you afraid of rejection?"

"No." Shikamaru sighed. "I don't really know what's stopping me. I've tried but every time I go to something makes me mute. And it's not a fear of rejection. For some reason it feels like I'm afraid she'll accept my feelings. And that just sounds ridiculous, since I should want her to return them."

"But you didn't say return them," Asuma pointed out. "You said accept them. Accepting sounds like she will tolerate you wanting her but not return the feelings. How do you feel at the idea of her returning your feelings?"

"Like that's never going to happen," muttered the boy before he smiled. "Though it would be good if it did."

"Hmm." Asuma shot a look at Kotetsu and Izumo, seeing their confused expressions. They were in the dark about Shikamaru's issue as much as the boy himself was. It didn't take much for the Jonin to come up with some working theories. However, he was not going to voice any. He knew Shikamaru was much smarter than him so if the genius hadn't worked out the cause it was for a reason. "We should rest. We have a mission to complete."

"Let's hope the Akatsuki aren't as bad as they sound." Kotetsu sighed, getting comfortable for his watch.

The feeling of dread was growing stronger with each passing minute, sitting uncomfortably in his abdomen. His only hope was that the dread was not over the impending death of Shikamaru. He would never be able to live with himself if Shikamaru died on a mission he led, especially if the boy had not managed to confess to Naruto yet. He had money riding on it with Captain Yamato and Lady Tsunade. Captain Yamato had money riding on Naruto making the first official move, and Lady Tsunade believed that Shikamaru wasn't Naruto's type. Apparently she saw the blonde with someone like Kiba. He almost felt sorry for agreeing to take her money when she lost. Part of him wondered if she made the bet to tempt fate to prove her wrong.

/ / / / / / / /

It was one of his first missions when he had learnt the most vital lesson of being a ninja. He had hoped that he had taught his team that lesson early on but now he realised it was something one had to learn the hard way. Shikamaru had worked harder than he had ever done before. His level of thought pattern was above anything Asuma could ever reach. Asuma would have died the moment Hidan had his blood if it wasn't for the genius. Unfortunately, that first lesson range true in Asuma's last moments.

Sometimes it's just luck that wins the battle.

He was proud to die in battle like his father, but was granted a luxury that his father was not given. He was able to die with his students watching over him. When his father had told him he had to teach the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho he had been apprehensive. He had felt certain that he would fail them, and, under his tutelage, they would never be able to surpass their fathers. Now, as he looked up at their tear strained faces he was certain that they would succeed. Not because of him. They were talented long before he met them, he had just been smart enough to point them in the right direction and let them go. He might not have the privilege of raising his unborn child but he knew what if felt like to have fatherly pride. And he wasn't going to waste his opportunity by not saying a proper goodbye.

It wasn't a surprise to him that Shikamaru was the first to accept that Asuma was going to die. He was always the more rational one.

"Ino," he took a wheezy breath, turning his eyes on the blonde. "You're bossy but you can also be a compassionate care giver. Choji and Shikamaru, they're both so awkward and clumsy. Watch over them."

"Yes, sir," Ino cried.

"And make sure that you don't ever lose to Sakura," Asuma went on; knowing Ino needed a rival to keep her motivated. "Not in ninjutsu, or in romance." After the girl agreed Asuma turned his eyes onto Choji. "Choji, you're a thoughtful, loyal friend, and a kind soul. In time you'll become a stronger shinobi than anyone else, so be more confident in yourself." As the boy wiped away his tears Asuma remembers all his worries he had about Choji's health. "And another thing, you might consider losing a few pounds."

"I don't know if it's possible but I'll try too," promised Choji.

Finally he turned his eyes onto his last student. Whilst he never played favourites he had became closest to Shikamaru over the years, and valued the boy's mind over anyone else's in the village.

"And finally, Shikamaru. With your razor sharp intellect you have the instincts of a great shinobi. You are truly worthy of becoming Hokage, though you'll probably try avoiding it since you'd find the job such a drag." He knew Shikamaru would never take Naruto's dream away from her, but he did hope, that no matter what happened between the two, he would help the girl if, no, when she became Hokage. He could see how much she had grown. The thought of the blonde made him think of something he needed to add, a hint to help the couple he had been eager to see become reality. "Remember, sometimes you have to remind people that their happiness is more important to you than your own. You think too much at times. All those games of shogi, and not once could I beat you. Which reminds me, remember when we talked about the king? Now I'm going to tell you who the king is. Lean closer."

He waited until Shikamaru's ear was next to his mouth before giving him the one hint that would tell Shikamaru the answer. The one secret he had wanted to say since he had found out the news. "I need you to do me one last thing. I need you to look after Kurenai, and our baby. It will be the next generation of kings."

Shikamaru sat back in shock. It was intriguing to watch the pieces fall into place for the genius but Asuma found he couldn't chuckle. He was feeling cold and he knew it had nothing to do with the storm rolling in.

"I'm counting on you, Shikamaru." His hand twitched. "I know I said I quit but I guess it doesn't matter anymore now. Could you get me one last cigarette? They're in my pouch."

He watched the flame flicker as Shikamaru held it to the cigarette. I couldn't be prouder to train three fantastic ninjas. Ino, Sasuke was never good enough for you. Choji, with your personality, you'll easily get a sweet girl. Shikamaru, protecting Naruto is noble, but I think she returns your feelings, you just need to take the chance.

The cold disappeared, warmth spreading through his body as the fire light flickered from his vision. At least he taught his students one last thing.

R and R.