I had a link sent to me the other day showing a review someone had done on this story and an alternate summary that they had written. I'm actually highly tempted to change the summary to it.

-Shikamura wasnotgay. Really. Sure, he foundthe idiot attractive, but he was positive that he was actually a she. Probably. Maybe? ….At least 99 percent sure… "Asuma-sensei, why are you laughing?"-

I don't think anyone picked up on my Fullmetal Alchemist reference… then again many of my references go missed. Sooo many Team Four Star ones, and SAO Abridged.

He cracked an eye open as Naruto dropped into the bed. The sigh she gave was deep and weary. It made Shikamaru's heart give a painful thump. He had seen the blonde exhausted from battles, from loss, and from chakra depletion. However, this was different. There wasn't that relief that came after a hard won fight, the broken atmosphere of loss, or that frustration and twitching that Naruto always had from lack of chakra. This time, it was as though Naruto's exhaustion ran straight to her bones.

Draping an arm over Naruto's stomach, he pulled her to him, kissing her cheek. Slowly, as though her body was made of lead, the blonde turned to face him. She curled into him.

"Everything alright?" he whispered into the night.

"Your dad and Uncle Inoichi were in charge of taking statements," Naruto stated. "Uncle Inoichi was also in charge of going into the mind of Huruma as well. Since she had defences in her mind Uncle Inoichi used emotional triggers to shake them. He used me to shake them. He told her how I used the Clan Village Alliance Code since she abused my Clan's jutsu. It pissed her off and Uncle Inoichi used her emotional distraction to get into her head. Unfortunately, that means the memories he got into were the ones of me. He has spent the last week seeing what she did to me."

Shikamaru let his breath out in a silent rush. "Shit. How bad?"

Naruto dropped her eyes from his face. "I'm not going to tell you how bad it got at the orphanage."

"That's not what I meant. Did he see it all or what?"

She shrugged. "I didn't ask. Shikaku told me what he did. Uncle Inoichi can't look at me without looking guilty. I don't blame him for putting me in the orphanage, I blame Huruma for being a bitch!"

"Why did he look? He should have asked someone else to do it."

"I think he wanted to know. I should have told him not to but I was more preoccupied with stopping you and Iruka-Sensei from hearing things you don't need to. I feel bad that I forgot about the fact that he would find things out… Am I a bad person for saying that I'm glad it wasn't Iruka-Sensei?"

"No, you're not a bad person, though it is surprising." Shikamaru rubbed Naruto's back, feeling her move closer to his warmth.

"Well, I don't actually remember being raised by Uncle Inoichi. He was always just this guy who popped up, made sure I was okay, stocked my cupboards if he found out I had not money, that sort of thing. I was about five when I asked the Old Man who he actually was to me and why he asked me to call him Uncle. That's when the Old Man explained that he had ordered Uncle Inoichi to raise me but when Aunt Momiji got sick, I was put in the orphanage. Something about knowing that I was originally a mission for him made me not able to connect him as family until I was older. But with Iruka-Sensei I could tell when I first saw him that he held that same fear that the rest of the village had for me, but instead of letting it blind him he looked at me and saw a child and wanted to help me. He was the first person who actual had that hatred of the Nine-Tails but could still see me. When I found out the Nine-Tails had killed his parents I gained more respect for him. He had every reason to hate me and yet he went the opposite way. I guess I could just understand and appreciate that more than the delicate situation Uncle Inoichi was in at the time. When I got older Uncle Inoichi and Aunt Momiji tried to reconnect with me but I think it made them feel bad that I didn't really know them like they had hoped I would. Apparently before Danzo's attack they had planned to adopt me."

"That would have made you Ino's sister," Shikamaru whispered in a horrified voice, shuttering.

Naruto covered her mouth to muffle her laughter. "It could have been worse. There was a woman in the Nara Clan who wanted to adopt me after I was born. She told me the other day. She was friends with my mum. If that had happened I would have been raised a Nara."

Shikamaru pulled a disgusted face. "I would have grown up thinking you were related to me."

"That would have made this relationship very awkward," Naruto joked, stifling her laughed at Shikamaru's expression.

In retaliation he wrapped an arm tightly around her waist before rolling onto his back, dragging Naruto with him. She gave a surprised shriek that she cut short by burying her face in his shoulder. He chuckled silently at her pout.

"Why are you still dressed?" he asked, noticing that Naruto was still in her day clothing.

"Was too tired to change," Naruto shrugged, continuing to lie on him.

Pushing up the back of her shirt, he smirked, "I could help you."

"Pervert!"

"That's not a no," he pointed out before kissing her, making her swallow her reply.

He frowned comically when Naruto jumped up. He watched as Naruto pulled one of her nightshirts out of his dresser. With her back to him she stripped down, throwing the shirt over her head. She blushed when she turned and noticed Shikamaru had been unashamedly taking in every inch of skin she had shown.

"You do know, with you keeping clothing in here people will start to realise you sleep here," Shikamaru commented as Naruto slid into bed.

"I think Ino already does."

"Not surprising. You're meant to be sharing a room with her."

"Do you want me to move back into that room?"

Shikamaru snorted before moving to pin her under his body. "No." He kissed her, smothering her laughter. "And, just so you know, if you are ever too tired to get changed, I'm okay with you coming to bed naked."

"Oh, I'm so glad that you would put yourself in such a horrible situation just for my comfort."

"As long as you're happy." He wanted to focus on kissing Naruto, his hand sliding up and down her leg, enjoying the feel of her skin. Unfortunately, something from earlier that day kept cropping up in his mind. He had wanted the answer earlier but Naruto had been busy helping to compile evidence against Huruma. With a groan, he pulled back. "I hate my brain."

"What did it do now?"

"Instead of just enjoying being with you it wants to ask you a question."

Naruto looked up at him, her eyes shining with amusement. "Shikamaru's brain, ask your question so Shikamaru and I can get back to what we were doing, or we can go to sleep."

"The other day someone mentioned that you were the last Child of Iron… is it true? Why'd Huruma stop at you?"

"Well, the thing people don't notice is that the orphanage would increase and decrease in waves. After a war, or something like the Nine-Tail's attack the orphanage would get in a bunch of new kids, but otherwise, it would only be maybe five within the year and they would often be adopted by family friends shortly after. Varric lost his father in the Ninja war when he was a new born, and his mother died shortly after that… never actually asked how. He was the youngest of the war orphans, then there wasn't really any new orphans until I was born, in which case I was the youngest… cause I was only like a minute old. There was a conflict with the Cloud village when I was five that orphaned Yasu and the others in her group… and yeah, you can see the pattern of conflict with the orphanage. Too many children and not enough friends of the deceased parents left to adopt them. Yasu's group would have been Children of Iron if Huruma hadn't retired before they were old enough actually torment..."

Shikamaru looked at the way Naruto wouldn't meet his eye as she trailed off. He couldn't help but smirk at her. "Did you have anything to do with her retirement?"

"Uhm, sort of, maybe, absolutely. There was two things that made the end of the Iron of Children, and yes, I was a part of both of them… one of them was the reason I was kicked out of the orphanage at age six. After I was kicked out I was talking to Dai, his at the time girlfriend Fumiko who's now his wife, and his sister Erika, who were all Children of Iron, and we got this idea into our heads at about 1am to get rid of the iron box. Next minute Dai had found three others and I showed them how to sneak into the orphanage, which I had been doing to see Yasu, and we stole the box and destroyed it. It was fun." Naruto gave a short laugh. "We threw it off a cliff at the end and the thing practically popped when it hit the bottom."

"And Huruma didn't catch you?"

A guilty expression covered her face. "She…um… wasn't there at the time. Which leads me to why I was kicked out and why Huruma retired. I sort of… broke her." At the confused look Shikamaru gave her she sat up, picking her nails. "You might not have seen but Huruma needs a cane to get around, and she's on pain meds. See, on my birthday, the village always got worse with their treatment of me. I didn't know why when I was a kid but Huruma knew about it and every year she would make sure I was outside all day. She made me work in the garden, sent me on errands into the market district, even went so far as to give me money to get lunch from a shop for myself… not that I ever managed to get that far but still. So my sixth birthday was the same. I was beaten, stuff thrown at me, all that. And I wasn't allowed inside. But then Yasu started crying and I realised that no one had thought to look after her, cause normally I would. So I went inside to feed her, change her, whatever she needed but Huruma found me in the nursery and tried to drag me outside. I pleaded with her to just let me look after Yasu first…"

"What did she do?" Shikamaru whispered.

"She told me how no one would be surprised if a child died because of me, that she didn't like the way I spoke back to her, and that I was stopping her from doing her job. I'm guessing she meant her job of getting me in the hands of Danzo. She covered Yasu's mouth and nose. She said that she wouldn't let go unless I attacked the Old Man. I had to make an attempt on his life or Yasu would die. I snapped and attacked her. She ended up in the hospital but someone covered up what I had done. I found out a few months back that it was Ibiki and some other Children of Iron. They realised that Huruma had finally pushed someone too far and they covered it up. Made a lie about a rogue ninja breaking in and trying to take the next generation or something. They were protecting me from retaliation for her humiliation. Huruma couldn't contradict the story when she woke up cause it risked exposing what she had really been doing. Instead she decided that she was too injured to look after children anymore and retired with a pension and the money that Children of Iron were still paying her."

"If she was retired, how could she threaten Yasu to keep you silent?"

"I didn't know if the new carer was like Huruma, and I knew not to underestimate Huruma. Even injured she was deadly. She used to take the allowance I got off the Old Man after all. When I hurt her that was the first time I saw the monster that everyone kept talking about and yet, I didn't care in that moment. Yasu had been in danger, I refuse to be ashamed of what I did to protect her."

Sitting up, Shikamaru gave her a small smile. "You shouldn't be ashamed. She deserved what you did and at least you ensured that others didn't have to suffer too."

Naruto groaned, throwing herself down. "But I know what I did is gonna come out and I am not looking forward to that. I'm sure my haters will use it to harass me."

Shikamaru snorted, lying down next to the woman. "I wish them luck. My Clan will make them regret it and so will most of the village. Don't let it bother you."

She gave him a small smile before sighing. "I'm just looking forward to this all being over."

"It will be soon," he promised, hugging the blonde too him. "In the mean time Ino and Hinata were organising a time to go and see Kurenai-Sensei so we can give her the presents. I told them I would talk to you and see if tomorrow would be good."

Putting her head on his chest, Naruto wrapped an arm around Shikamaru's waist. "It'll be good to spend time with everyone. I haven't seen them all week."

Smiling, Shikamaru started running his fingers through Naruto's hair. He felt the woman relax in his arms finally letting her exhaustion turn into peaceful slumber. It was clear she had truly been depleted of energy by the fact that Shikamaru was the first to wake up out of them. Most mornings she was the first one awake. She continued lying in bed though until there was something to force her out into the waking world without Shikamaru. Knowing that they would have to get ready to see Kurenai-Sensei soon Shikamaru thought it was best to wake Naruto up.

He went to kiss her only to have her turn her face into the pillow at the slightest brush of his lips. With a chuckle, he pulled Naruto closer.

"I think I should feel insulted."

"Sleepy," Naruto muttered.

"So you don't want to spend time with our friends today?" Shikamaru teased, knowing to move away from Naruto.

"Oh yeah!" Her eyes snapped open and she threw the covers off of herself before she jumped out of bed. Turning to look at Shikamaru, Naruto put her hands on her hips. "Come on, get up."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Where do you get this energy? I need three cups of coffee in the morning to be anywhere near your level."

"I'm solar powered," Naruto joked as she gathered her clothing from the day before.

"That would not surprise me." He sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes before moving over to Naruto. He kissed her, having the desire to never leave the room and instead spend the day simply with her in his arms. Reluctantly he pulled back. A large part of him regretted it when he noticed Naruto following him, clearly not wanting to break the kiss. He moved into her again, making her drop her clothing as he pressed her against the dresser. When they finally broke the kiss he sucked in air, trying to dispel the fogginess to his mind. "Do we have to go out today?"

"Not really," Naruto panted, giving him an amused smile.

Shikamaru groaned. "But it's for Kurenai-Sensei, so we should go."

The blonde nodded in agreement before picking up her clothing. She gave Shikamaru a small kiss before walking out of his room. With a groan, Shikamaru pushed his hair out of his face, moving to make the bed and get ready for the day. A few hours after breakfast Team Eight and the last member of Team Ten arrived at the Nara Estate.

"Kurenai-Sensei is taking a nap at the moment, so we will go over in an hour," Hinata explained, putting the gift bag on the table.

"I'm just glad the present was at your house," Shino commented, sitting down in an armchair. "It would have been a shame if all that hard work had been lost."

Naruto laughed. "If I wasn't so bad at wrapping things it would have still been at my apartment. The place was one of the first buildings hit. According to one of the other tenants the place was smashed up before the push happens. She saw it when getting civilians to the tunnels."

"Um, Naruto," Choji started, eyeing the woman closely as she perched on Shikamaru's knee, "You are aware we're going out soon, aren't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just that you're dressed like a girl."

Shikamaru looked at her, having not realised that she was wearing a halter-neck and a skirt. He was so used to her not hiding who she was that he barely noticed anymore. Aunt Momiji looked up from her reading to smile at Naruto. The mother had gone to leave when the others had arrived but they had insisted that she wasn't intruding. They could all tell from the hollowness to her cheeks and the sheen of sweat on her forehead that she was having one of her sickly days.

"I think you look beautiful dear," Aunt Momiji commented.

Ino started fussing with the blanket draped over her mother's legs, making sure she was well covered. Aunt Momiji slapped lightly at her hands, clearly not enjoying her daughter's over protectiveness. "Choji wasn't saying that, mum. We just don't want Naruto to be uncomfortable when we walk through the village."

Naruto sighed. She caught her reflection in the mirror on the wall and started to tug on a lock of hair. "Do you know why people thought I was a boy in the first place?"

"Because of Huruma, right?" asked Kiba, a growl entering his voice.

The blonde nodded. "She made me feel ashamed for being a girl, simply because she could. That was how she first…" Naruto shot Aunt Momiji a guilt ridden look, "broke me."

"It's hard to believe anything could break you," Shino stated into the silence that followed Naruto's words.

"When you are told that you are wrong simply for existing it can get to you." Naruto continued to finger her hair before her eyes found the eldest Yamanaka again. "Aunt Momiji, are you able to give me a hair cut?"

"I'm up for that, but I thought you were thinking about letting it grow out."

"I want Huruma to see me how I wish to be seen," Naruto stated plainly before her hair started growing.

Shikamaru blinked, wondering how she was doing it before realising that Naruto was channelling her chakra into her hair. She had mentioned once that she grew her hair out five months into her journey with Jiraiya but it was only now that Shikamaru realised she meant literally grew it out one day instead of simply stopped cutting it. It stopped growing once it was past her shoulder blades, bright blonde strands cascading down her back. Running her fingers through her hair, Naruto looked over her shoulder as Shikamaru, fear in her eyes as though she regretted her actions. He simply gave her a smile, twisting a lock around his finger. His silent support comforted her enough to follow Aunt Momiji into the bathroom so the woman could style Naruto's hair.

"It's going to take some getting used to, seeing Naruto as a female. I've always seen her as one of the guys so whenever I see her looking girly I don't even notice it's her at first." Kiba flopped to the ground, making himself comfortable.

"It did take some adjusting," Ino admitted, staring at where her mother disappeared. "I'm going to give them a hand."

When Naruto reappeared forty minutes later Shikamaru had to pick up his jaw. It wasn't so much that he found her that beautiful, since he had always seen her as so, it was more the fact that there was no mistaking her for female. He tried to see the traits that had left him guessing all those years but that seemed to be lost. Her fringe framed her eyes, highlighting her tan skin and vivid blue eyes and her hair was less unruly with the extra weight the length gave but still had a messy look to it that worked in Naruto's favour.

"How do I look?" Naruto asked almost shyly, blushing as she looked at him.

"Uh, um… I'll tell you when my brain starts working again."

His response caused her to laugh. None of their friends spoke until Naruto was situated on his lap again, him playing with the strands of her hair.

"You look beautiful, Naruto," Hinata gushed.

"I'm just glad that you're comfortable enough to be your real self." Choji smiled at her.

"Oh, no, I'm shit scared that the moment I step out of the estate looking like this that I'll be attacked," Naruto admitted plainly. "But I realise I need to move passed that, something I can't do unless I test the waters."

"And you have us to protect you if something does happen," Shikamaru reminded, putting a comforting hand on Naruto's leg. He was rewarded with a smile and her moving into him side.

"So you two are together, right?" Kiba asked blatantly.

"What gave it away?" His words dripped with sarcasm as he pulled Naruto closer.

"Am I the only one who didn't know how much you liked me?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." He kissed her when she pouted.

"Ar, now we're going to have to see this!" Kiba grunted when Naruto threw a pillow at his face.

Ino re-entered the lounge room. "My mum is kicking us out of the house."

"She sick of you fussing over her?" Naruto laughed.

"She's my mother, I'm allowed to worry." Ino picked up the present, leading the way to Kurenai-Sensei's new apartment. "I'm working on a possible cure, or at least a treatment, but I was hoping to look at the Nara medicine book, if that's okay, Shikamaru."

"Of course, anything for Aunt Momiji." Shikamaru took Naruto's hand when he noticed her steps slowing the closer they got to the gate. "Everything will be fine," he whispered to her.

He was right, though Naruto may not have agreed. Her look did cause a bit of a stir among the people who spotted them but it wasn't aggressive. Many were surprised to see the rumours proven correct and some even waved at Naruto, commenting that she looked nice. With every person who spoke, however, Naruto jumped, moving closer to Shikamaru's side. By the time they made it to Kurenai-Sensei's apartment Naruto had calmed some, though she still looked over her shoulder at every noise.

"See, no one wants to hurt you." Shikamaru kissed her cheek as Hinata knocked on the door.

When Kurenai-Sensei answered the door Shikamaru was taken aback by the size of her stomach. He had seen her only two weeks before when he had helped more her now meagre belongings into her new apartment. Many from the Akamichi Clan had given Kurenai-Sensei second-hand furniture and baby items to replace what she had lost. After having to put furniture together for the woman he was thankful when Captain Yamato came over and literally grew her a crib. However, it was still hard to believe that the woman he had known for so many years was about to become a mother. The thought always gave him a jab of pain for his mind turned to Asuma-Sensei.

"It's good to see you all," Kurenai-Sensei commented as Hinata took over the task of making tea for them all. Shikamaru decided to not grumble that there was no coffee. "I was surprised when Hinata told me this morning that you wanted to come over. You've all been so busy." Her eyes flickered over to Naruto. "You look lovely, Naruto. How have you all been?"

"Akamaru and I have been helping to move people into their new homes," Kiba said. "Most people are being really understanding with any changes to the design of the houses since it was hard to track down the right blueprints for everything. Is your apartment alright? It's not too cold is it? The floor is level, right?"

"Everything is great, Kiba," chuckled the woman. "When the baby grows up a bit I will have to find a new place, what with Konohamaru coming to live with me. But that won't be an issue for at least a year. Once I have a toddler and a teenager in the house though, I'll need more space."

"I'm glad you're taking him in," Naruto commented. "I would have but my apartment was only one bedroom. I let him stay there while I was away though. He had been sleeping on my couch for almost a month so it made sense."

"I had wondered where he had been staying after Asuma…" Kurenai-Sensei trailed off, making them all thankful when Hinata walked into the room with a tray full of tea cups and a pot. "Naruto, how are you doing? The other Senseis and I are worried. We don't like what we've been hearing about what happen to… the Children of Iron as you call yourselves. I have a few friends who have suffered from that woman and hearing what little they say now that the seal has been removed turns my stomach."

"I'm… alright," Naruto started slowly, "it's uncomfortable having to tell people about what happened and watching their faces. I keep expecting someone to accuse me of lying, and since I don't have physical proof of what she did to me that I won't be able to stop people from disbelieving me. And before you start on the fact that that will not happen I know there is enough proof that I'm telling the truth but I can't shake that feeling. I'm not the only one either. We've all spent so long keeping our secret that it just feels wrong to be speaking about it now."

"That woman is sick." Kurenai-Sensei shook her head. "My dad and I used to take supplies to the orphanage. It was a mission he always volunteered for. I'm glad that he never found out what was going on during those years. How was she even able to hide it so well?"

"An Uzumaki jutsu that was ironically made for people suffering mental issues… like what Huruma caused. It was designed to help people who had suffered abuse and had either mental triggers or who had issues opening up about what they suffered. It was meant to create the perfect environment for them whilst going through therapy. From what Old Granny was able to work out Huruma was in charge of taking a number of seals that were all medically related. Apparently the Uzumaki Clan had better medical jutsus than the village, since they have medical chakra. She made a copy of the jutsu and altered it for the uses she wanted. I could still recognise it though, which just pisses me off, even if it was the reason she was arrested."

"We actually still use some of the Uzumaki jutsus at the hospital, and apparently the sealing corp," Ino commented. "I'm surprised that you were able to recognise it so easily though."

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly, making Shikamaru wonder what was going through her mind. He knew she had been reading up on her Clan since Eiji had given her information on them. However, there was something in her behaviour that made Shikamaru wonder if there was more to it all.

"But all this should be wrapped up soon so let's talk about something nicer." Naruto gestured awkwardly to the pregnant woman's stomach. "How are you doing… with the belly?"

This caused Ino to snort. "Why are you looking like she's about to explode?"

"Cause I honestly think she might."

Shikamaru laughed. "Turns out no one actually told Naruto what a pregnant woman looks like. It was pretty funny when she first spotted Kurenai-Sensei."

"Seriously?" Kiba looked at Naruto in surprise, only to laugh.

"Well," Naruto started, looking embarrassed. "I've never seen a pregnant woman before and Old Granny and Iruka-Sensei explained how children were made and where the, you know, exit was, but not that a woman looks like she ate a watermelon whole!"

This caused the group, minus Shino, to laugh. Shino, however, nodded. "I can understand your surprise then."

"Thank you, Shino." Naruto elbowed Shikamaru, who was sniggering at her. "You're all mean."

Shikamaru hugged her to him, making sure to pin her arms so that she couldn't hit him again. When she gave him a scowl he kissed her, making her roll her eyes.

"I'm doing well, though I have trouble putting shoes on and if I drop something it's staying there until Konohamaru gets home. I'm also starting to panic because I feel unprepared for when the baby gets here."

"That I know about," Naruto said. "Varric is better with all that stuff but I still remember most of it from my time of looking after Yasu."

"I may have to take you up on that," Kurenai-Sensei warned.

"Speaking of the baby, we have a present for you. Naruto taught us how to knit so we made you something." Hinata handed the older woman the gift bag.

Gleefully, Kurenai-Sensei pulled out the knitted toy that looked like Asuma-Sensei.

"That was made by Naruto," Choji explained. "She made it smell like him too." This comment made Kurenai-Sensei sniff it only to smile sadly at it.

"I know it's not the same but I thought at least your child will have something of him. It won't lose the smell."

"How did you do it?" Kurenai-Sensei put the toy on her lap.

"A jutsu," Naruto shrugged, again with that nonchalant look on her face.

Kurenai-Sensei didn't question it, instead pulling out the blanket they made. The centre had been done by Naruto and therefore had the Sarutobi Clan symbol in a nice green on a soft white background. The woman ran her fingers over the squares around the edge that had their initials embroidered into them.

"Thank you." Kurenai-Sensei sniffled. "I know the baby will love it."

Shikamaru was glad that they had decided to take the day to see Kurenai-Sensei. Naruto wasn't the only one feeling the horror of Huruma's actions coming to light. The entire village shuttered in mortification upon realising what they had been oblivious too. It was made worse by seeing how little the Children of Iron reacted to the sympathy they started to receive. It wasn't so much that they didn't care that they were finally getting justice. On the contrary, they were eager to see Huruma on trial and were making sure the village was too traumatised by what happened for it to ever be repeated. However, when someone tried to reach out to show their heartache at the news they often blanked, choosing to stay silent. Shikamaru had noticed that Naruto had taken to simply walking off when people tried to talk to her about what she had actually suffered.

Many of the Naras had found this fascinating and had taken to studying now known Children of Iron to try and discover why this was their behaviour. The Naras who had taken to this study were given more material when Shikamaru, Naruto, and Ino returned to the estate. They found a group of Naras sitting stiffly around a large table that been put in the court yard. Over the surface were a number of scrolls. Shikamaru noticed that the typical Nara pale complexion was paler for those at the table. Uncle Inoichi was also sitting at the table, his head in his hands and his hair falling limply over his shoulders. Ino went to her father's side as Shikamaru asked his father what was going on.

"All these scrolls are Children of Iron… who will not be at the trial," he admitted gravely, his eyes sweeping over the documents. "Fifty years," he added in a horrified whisper. "For a week we've been told names that we've had to track down the reports on."

"Do you have Slice's name?" Naruto asked, dropping down onto one of the seats, grabbing a water that was sitting in the centre of the table before putting her feet up on the wooden surface. "I think his real name was Jakku. He was good with knives." She gave a laugh. "No prize for guessing how he offed himself."

One of the Naras looked at a list of names before sighing as the others openly stared at Naruto in surprise. "No, we don't. Great, another one to add to the list."

"Wait…" Ino looked from her father, to Naruto who was casually drinking her drink, to Shikaku who looked as though he had aged a decade with that one more name. "Are all these people dead?"

Naruto leaned over to look at the list before shrugging. "Looks like it. Aaaand you don't have Waku on there either. If it helps he was the one who hung himself in the orphanage when I was five. Huruma was not happy with that one."

"Naruto!" Ino snapped. "How can you be so cold?"

If Naruto hadn't turned her head away from Ino like she had with so many others Shikamaru wouldn't have seen her roll her eyes. It seemed almost uncharacteristic of her. This caused an uncomfortable realisation to form in the man's mind.

"Naruto, did you see some of these people die?"

"No!" the blonde mockingly gasped. "Never! I also never heard people cry themselves to sleep, or seen people attempt to kill themselves. And I certainly wasn't the one to find Waku, the boy who was the one to look after me in the orphanage when I first got there and took multiple beatings for me because Huruma targeted me so heavily." Scoffing, Naruto swung her feet off the table, standing. "Are you all surprised that there are so many people who killed themselves? Huruma made it a point of destroying the weaker ones. The ones she broke easier she kept targeting. So many couldn't handle the idea of leaving the orphanage and still being under Huruma's control. Of course many chose death over having to suffer that for who knows how many years. What a fucking shock!"

She stormed off, leaving a deafening silence behind. Shikamaru tried to think about what it must have been like to grow up with such a blood stained background. Unfortunately for his insight, and fortunately for his sanity, he was unable to imagine it at all. He did however realise that perhaps everyone's curiosity and their desire to help the Children of Iron heal through talking about it was not being appreciated by Huruma's victims. Looking at the scrolls littering the table pointed to the clear fact that no one would ever truly be able to understand what fifty years worth of orphans had suffered. Picking up one of the scrolls and skimming through he noticed that the cause of death was marked 'accident' making him sigh, knowing that Huruma, and probably Danzo in extension, had covered up the signs of the abuse. The only real step the village could take to helping the group was Huruma's trial, something Naruto was waiting for.

/ / / / /

The Naras had backed off from observing the Children of Iron, having received the answer they had been looking for. At least as close to the answer as they could reach without having been through the same experience. For Naruto, she had shaken off her outburst rather easily, something that caused Shikamaru pause. He had asked her if she was alright when he had found her talking to Anko shortly after she had walked from the table.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Naruto rolled her eyes again, looking at Anko, "the Naras are looking at the different suicides that Huruma caused."

"Aaand they're expecting us to what? Cry at the mention of their names?"

When Shikamaru gave Anko a horrified look Naruto explained. "Suicides were common for us, Shikamaru. I told you that Huruma made sure to break the weak… what did you think I meant?"

"I… I don't know what I thought. I guess I just thought that they were…" he trailed off, realising he had simply taken broken to mean… well broken. He hadn't thought to question it. Naruto had referred to herself as broken before so he had assumed it was similar for the most brutalised of the orphans.

"There have been so many people to leave the orphanage and to die, or to kill themselves in the orphanage. We eventually learnt to harden our hearts to it, distance ourselves. This is our way of coping so that we don't add more scrolls to the pile." Naruto sighed. "It's just one of those things you need to let drop, Shikamaru. I mourned Slice and Waku when they died and then I moved on before I joined them."

Shikamaru studied Naruto's face as he moved closer to the woman was sitting on a large slab of remaining rubble. Reaching out to play with a lock of the long blonde hair, he kissed her. "If you're sure that you're alright, then I'll let it drop." He kissed her again, only to groan and pull back to glare at Anko when she started laughing at them.

"You two are adorable," she mockingly gushed.

"And you're drunk!" Naruto retorted with a friendly scowl.

"Gotta ask, Shikamaru," Anko started, taking a swig from the alcohol bottle sitting beside her, "Have you gotten further with Naruto than I have?"

"Anko!" Naruto yelped, her face going as red as Shikamaru's.

"I really didn't appreciate that you took my likeness and used it against Naruto."

"You're just mad that I felt Naruto's chest before you," Anko wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Or have I? Seriously, you didn't answer me."

"We'll be leaving now," Shikamaru stated as Naruto jumped off her perch. She took his hand as they ignored Anko's laughing.

"I'll take that to a yes," the woman called out to their retreating backs, making the two blush darker.

"Why is she drinking anyway?"

"She found out the trial is set for tomorrow. A lot of Children of Iron haven't actually seen Huruma since they finished paying her back so a lot of them are a little scared. Obviously I've had to deal with her my whole life and when I became a ninja I stopped letting her scare me. Hell, I started to annoy her instead. Finding out about the Nine-Tails kinda freed me. I told her I knew about it and that if I died the Nine-Tails would be freed and kill her. That wasn't technically true but she didn't know that." Naruto gave a laugh, hugging into Shikamaru's side.

Shikamaru laughed. "You should tell the others how she would go red in the face in her crappy dressing gown as she had to watch you walk passed her with your friends surrounding you. She might have been powerful once, but she's nothing now."

"I'll have to do that tomorrow before the trial…" Naruto stopped their steps. "But you're not going to be there."

"What?"

"I told you at the start of all this that I didn't want you finding out what happened. Iruka-Sensei isn't going to be there, and neither is Konohamaru."

With a sigh, he nodded. "Alright. I won't go if you don't want me too."

"Thank you." Naruto smiled at him before leading them back to the estate.

There was still Naras sitting around the table in the courtyard, staring gloomily at the scrolls. Swallowing the bile building in his throat, Shikamaru went with Naruto into the house.

/ / / / / /

He regretted agreeing to not going to the trial when he was left waiting for Naruto to return. Anko, Dai, two women that Shikamaru assumed were Dai's wife and sister, and Varric had came to the estate to get Naruto, finding her sitting on the porch steps, Shikamaru sitting in front of her as she pulled his hair into its half up do. Dai had made a comment about Naruto's long, beautiful hair that she had put into a plat coming over her shoulder. She had said goodbye to Shikamaru with a small kiss before leaving for the trial.

He had known that his father and Uncle Inoichi would have to stay after the trial to fill out the paperwork of the verdict. After all, everyone was still spread thin with duties. After five hours Shikamaru wasn't the only one started to fidget waiting to hear what had happened. Ino and Choji both kept shooting the door looks whilst Iruka-Sensei who had come over three hours before to see Naruto only paced back and forth in the living room as he waited.

"Iruka-Sensei," Shikamaru started. "You have sensory chakra, right?"

The man stopped pacing, looking at his ex-student. "Well, yes, why?"

"Can you locate Naruto? The trial should be over by now and I'm starting to worry."

Iruka-Sensei led them to the Uchiha Estate where they heard raised voices. The two men hurried through the gate only to realise that the voices were not negative. On the contrary, there was laughter puncturing through the air. They found a large group of people sitting around a fire pit that had, until recently, been disused. They all varied in age, with the only one younger than Naruto being a ten-year-old girl who was sitting on the blonde's knee. There was a faint smell of alcohol in the air. When Naruto spotted them she raised the bottle in her hand as a gesture of greeting, her other hand sitting on the girl's stomach to secure her on Naruto's knee.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked. She hooked a finger in the collar of Shikamaru's shirt, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Ew," the girl squirmed only to squeal when Naruto bounced her gently.

"We were worried about what happened," Iruka-Sensei admitted, smiling at the little girl. "You didn't come back after the trial."

The word trial made a cheer break out through the crowd, even though most had clearly not been listening before that one word.

"Lady Tsunade is amazing!" one of the drunker people in the crowd announced. The group cheered, including Naruto and the girl on her lap.

"I'm guessing that means it went well," Shikamaru said, pulling a chair up to sit beside Naruto.

"The evil woman can't hurt me now," the girl commented, her mousy brown curls bounced.

"No she can't," Naruto agreed. "Yasu, this is Shikamaru, and Iruka-Sensei."

"I know Iruka-Sensei," she reminded, rolling her eyes. "Hi, sir."

"Hello, Yasu, it's nice to see you again." Iruka-Sensei smiled at the girl as he sat down, avoiding Anko's hand when she tried to pinch his behind. He gave her a mocking scold before accepting a drink off Ibiki. "What happened today?"

"Well, Huruma tried to argue that she had only been doing the job that Danzo gave her and that she hadn't really wanted to hurt children. However, Old Granny pointed out that Huruma had been given orders from the Second Hokage to raise and nurture the younger generation. Uncle Inoichi also testified that the stuff he got from her mind showed that she was hardly just following orders. Sorry I didn't come home. Anko dragged me here to celebrate with the others."

"So is she… dead or something?" Shikamaru asked slowly, having no idea what punishment would even be suitable for someone who horrid.

"No, she's alive." Naruto took a swig of her drink. "Trust me, we all wanted her dead but what Old Granny did was muuuch better. She decided that Huruma was to be sentenced to a cell where the only people she'll see will be the people who give her meals three times a day." Naruto laughed. "She's been sentenced to living her life alone with everyone knowing what she's done. She will never be seen as a hero of the village. The thing she held over us, reminded us constantly as a reason for why no one would believe us has been stripped from her. She's stuck forever in an iron box."

"Honestly couldn't think of anything better," Anko cackled.

"So now we're celebrating." Naruto grinned. She accepted a new drink of a woman not much older than herself, thanking her by name.

Shikamaru looked around, realising that there were a number of people around the same age as Naruto. These were the people that she would have been in the orphanage with and suffered with. The uncomfortable question of how many hadn't made it to this moment crossed his mind. He shook it off, knowing that such a thought wasn't what these people needed. Instead he let the relief and joy of the people around him fill him. He smiled at Naruto who was laughing at an inappropriate joke that one of the others had cracked.

Anyone who glanced at the Children of Iron would think that they were a carefree, if slightly intoxicated, group. However, when Shikamaru looked closely he could see the same things he had noticed with Naruto throughout the years. Their smiles didn't always reach their eyes, their shoulders were tense as though expecting an attack, and some of the things they said weren't quite right, having grown up socially different. One could only hope that their joyous attitude would one day become naturally. Until then Shikamaru and Iruka-Sensei were able to see what Naruto was like when around those who had an insight into her past that they would never have.

This chapter was a bit hard. Obviously everything I write doesn't actually make it to your eyes so there was a lot of dark scenes that I had to write and then either shorten or cut. This is why it took so long cause it was a bit heavy to write in one big sitting. Buut, the next chapter will be more light-hearted and should be a fan fav when I post it up. Ha, teasing.