Shikamaru wasn't even a month old when the feeling descended upon him. It was a feeling of pure hatred, fear and despair. Of course he didn't know that. He just knew that he did not like like it, and so, like any baby would, he started wailing for his mother, his father, for anyone. The next thing he knew, some random person was picking him up and running and Shikamaru hated it. Despite this, Shikamaru a not-even-one month baby, couldn't help but giggle at the underlying energy. Behind the despair and hatred was a sharp, but natural feeling energy covering him. It felt right and he liked it. It didn't last however, and Shikamaru started wailing at the feelings once again.
Since that day, Shikamaru continued feeling the energy all around him, and he enjoyed it. It was such a nice energy and without the feeling of fear that came with it first time, Shikamaru grew to love feeling it quickly.
Now, Shikamaru's parents were not stupid by any means. In fact, Shikamaru's father, Shikaku, was a genius. So, because they were so smart, his parents knew that babies were just as intelligent as adults, they just need a way to express themselves. Their solution: teaching Shikamaru standard Konoha hand signs when he was five months old.
Shikamaru took to the hand signs like a fish to water, and soaked it all up. So much, in fact, that by six months old, Shikamaru was speaking fluently. That was the first sign of his genius.
By eight months old, Shikamaru began walking. He showed no incline to want to walk, until he felt the 'energy' around him and tried to catch it. His mother was proud that he was one of the first non-lazy Nara's.
By nine months old, Shikamaru learned to speak as fluently as he could sign, often signing the words while he spoke to others. His parents also taught him to read and write in kanji which came as easily to him as signing and speaking did. That was another sign of their son's genius.
Ten months was another milestone. Shikamaru memorized his first book. The Konoha hand signs/Japanese dictionary his mother had used to teach him hand signs. He would go around trying out new words as he spoke to his parents and the clan elders. Needless to say, many were impressed.
When Shikamaru turned one, he actually saw someone using chakra while practicing in a field. It was a nameless genin using the transformation technique. That didn't matter though, It was still the same energy as that day a little under a year ago. When Shikamaru asked his father, Shikaku gave him a lesson about chakra and about shinobi. Shikamaru was enthralled. Immediately, Shikamaru decided that his goal was to learn everything about this "chakra" that he possibly could.
Shikamaru was fifteen months old when he finally unlocked his chakra. To him, the five months of straining and meditation felt like decades. At last though, Shikamaru felt the energy flood his system, not knowing the repercussions of what he had done.
Two months later, when Shikamaru was seventeen months old, he found a book. A book about chakra. Shikamaru had been searching for such a book for months and had finally come across one after rooting through a Nara genin's backpack. He set about memorizing it, but soon, one passage caught his attention, even though it was simply about chakra manipulation. It read:
(Most Ninja's chakra only leaves the body during jutsu and surface sticking (see page 13). Some ninja, however, have mastered a specific type of chakra use called chakra manipulation. Chakra manipulation consists of releasing chakra outside of the body without it dissipating. That chakra is then controlled or manipulated into a new form or shape. The chakra can be a solid, a liquid, a gas, or an energy. This chakra can take any shape: from weapons to walls.)
He was excited. Shikamaru knew exactly what he wanted to do, but he skimmed over the other interesting passages in the book. There was so much theory and information, yet he drank it all in and memorized the text.
A year later, Shikamaru was two years and five months old. Over the past year, he had scavenged for more books and over time, learned to distinguish chakras subconsciously. He had learned that each chakra was different. No person, not even identical twins had the same chakra signature. On top of that, the only way Shikamaru could describe chakra was a feeling, not an energy. His father's for example, felt like smoke and clouds floating across the sky. His felt calm and slow. His mother however, was quite the opposite. His mother's felt like a tiger, stalking through a jungle and felt like burning wood. Her chakra was fast and impatient. Unfortunately, Shikamaru had picked up a bad habit of calling people by their most prominent chakra trait. His mother was tiger, and his father was cloud.
Throughout that year, Shikamaru had also hit a road block. He had begun chakra control and read every book he could in the library, but most advanced materials were blocked for ninja only. That is why Shikamaru was currently standing in front of his father, while said man assessed him with a cold stare.
"You want to enter the academy," Shikaku said sternly. It was not a question.
"Yes, father. I would like to learn more about chakra, and I feel, the only way to do that would be becoming a genin," Shikamaru said, signing the words behind his back, betraying his nervousness. He met eyes with Shikaku, but Immediately looked away. Eye contact felt wrong. Shikaku sighed lazily and slumped back into his usual reclined posture.
"I'll admit that I don't like the idea per say. It would be wonderful for the village to have a new prodigy amongst their ranks, but I'm not sure it would be so great for you, my son. However, I'm very sure that your mother would castrate me ten times over if I denied you the opportunity to 'overcome the Nara plague of laziness' so I'll allow it. You will go to the academy when you turn three years old," Shikaku said in his usual lazy drawl, sweating slightly at the aura Yoshino Nara, his wife, was exuding.
Shikamaru was gleeful. He did not celebrate however, but merely said, "Thank you father," before leaving to practice his chakra control.
Seven months later, Shikamaru was hit with a hard truth. He was quite different from other kids. It was the first day of the academy and Shikamaru was excited despite himself. "Mata ne, kaa-san," he called as he swiftly walked out of the door. Shikamaru had his bag on his shoulder and it was filled with books and notebooks. He also had an intermediate chakra book out. It was the highest level he could find without being a genin.
The academy looked intimidating from farther away, but as he got closer, Shikamaru could feel the atmosphere of Peace inside of it. Along with that, he could feel the almost overwhelming amount of chakra and chakra signatures inside. The sheer magnitude made him stop for a moment, but soon he kept going, even more excited now.
That excitement was shattered when Shikamaru's sensei started talking. His voice was such a drone, but fortunately, the gods were on his side, and all before-lunch classes were purely physical. The physical classes would be tough of course, him being a three year old against eight year olds, but that was the point of starting early. To push himself.
And push himself he did. It was extremely difficult for Shikamaru to keep up with the eight year olds during the laps alone. He found himself lagging behind immediately. During the push-up section, Shikamaru was even worse than the fan girls of the class. In summary, Shikamaru was disappointed in himself. He was frustrated that he was so weak. 'At least' he thought, 'lunch is next.'
During lunchtime, Shikamaru brought out his small bento box that his mother had made him. It was simple and nutritious, but there was also a note attached. It merely said 'I love you. Good luck'. Shikamaru smiled slightly and was about to eat when one of his male classmates walked over with a group of friends.
"Hmm," the first one hummed. "How old are you exactly? Were you just born small?" he asked. Shikamaru frowned, expecting the question. He tried to bring his eyes to meet the other boy's once again, but it was uncomfortable and felt wrong. He honestly had no clue what to do in social situations.
"I'm three years old," Shikamaru said cautiously. The boy's faces darkened with emotion. Shikamaru was subconsciously signing the words he spoke. "Apparently I'm a genius like my whole clan. We are above normal people," he said. Shikamaru was completely unaware of the feelings of the boys. He was not trying to brag, just stating what he had heard from others. The boys were furious. The first boy scowled.
"Look brat, we have worked hard to get here, so you better not get in our ways," he said, trying to be threatening. Clearly, it flew straight over Shikamaru's head, as he simply said, still signing in sync,
"Who's brat? My name is Shikamaru. Say, do you think that that chakra signature of the tree feels weird? I think it does." Without noticing the growing ire of the older boys, Shikamaru continued, now able to talk easily since the topic was one that he was passionate about. "Oh! When did you guys unlock your chakra? I love feeling chakra. So far, I can only climb up walls. I mean, I wish I could water walk, but I don't have enough chakra. Ooh, I've started learning chakra strings too," he rambled, jumping back and forth between topics.
The boys just scowled and walked away. After a second, Shikamaru looked up, feeling the chakra signatures fade. "Huh. I guess they left," Shikamaru muttered.
After lunch was when Shikamaru truly excelled: mental classes. Most of it was listening to lectures, but when it came to theory, debating or discussion, Shikamaru thrived. The teachers were extremely impressed. It seemed that this Nara was somehow smarter than all the previous ones.
After school, Shikamaru worked on his physical strength some. He used some weights and did workouts and katas. He mostly worked on chakra manipulation though. He used strings and tried forming it into different shapes. He also worked on chakra control a lot.
Throughout the whole year of school, this was his routine. The only difference was that sometime in the middle of the year, Shikamaru learned about sealing and added it to his routine. He worked and worked to get better, and get better he did.
By the end of the year, Shikamaru graduated at age 4. By then, he was on par, if not a little ahead, of the others physically. In his mental classes, he was leaps and bounds ahead of them. He had aced every test, and memorized many books.
When it came to chakra and sealing, Shikamaru had grown like bamboo, that is to say rapidly. Shikamaru had learned the academy jutsu and all of his clan jutsu. He loved manipulating the shadows and soaked it up like a sponge. He could already trap people an make them move with moving himself. He could strangle them and stab them with shadows.
He also worked a lot on just manipulating his pure shadow. He could move it around, make it thinner or thicker, and could even make it longer. Shikamaru also could condense the shadows into solid shapes like walls or chains.
He improved most drastically in chakra manipulation. Shikamaru had mastered chakra strings already. He also had almost mastered chakra scalpels and could make other weapons like kunai and katanas. Shikamaru had also made his own technique
[A.N.: It's been a while since I've read these stories, and I've had a ball. Feel free to hate or w/e, as I literally cannot read these without cringing. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, however, so, if you really like the premise of a story here, you can use the idea, continue the story, or even ask for a continuation/rewrite. I will be glad to oblige, and then subsequently link the new story. Anyways, thanks for putting up with/reading my prepubescent ramblings masquerading as stories.]