II: The New Job
It was late morning and Shikamaru was laying in his bed. The alarm had gone off a few hours ago yet he couldn't find the desire to get up and do anything. He had laid there, not doing or thinking anything and not planning for anything. He was distracted from his lack of doing anything by a knock on his bedroom door.
"Shikamaru, its me, there's a messenger from the Hokage here to see you."
Shikamaru sat up in his bed. "Alright Mom, I'll be down there in a moment."
Shikamaru dragged himself out of bed and put on his clothes. He slowly made his way down to the living room, where he found Shizune sitting at the table, waiting for him. The Nara Clan Head took a seat across the table from her. "I would have expected you to accompany Lady Tsunade on her journeys, I'm surprised you decided to keep working in the Hokage's office."
"I thought about it," Shizune replied. "But I decided that I should stay on to help Kakashi. Lady Tsunade doesn't need me to look after her all the time."
Shikamaru nodded. "So what's this message from Kakashi-sensei?"
"Well," Shizune said, "its not so much a message as it is a summon. The Sixth Hokage has a new assignment for you."
"An assignment, huh?" Shikamaru repeated. "He's giving me a mission?"
Shizune stood up. "Come on, he'll tell you himself."
"Mom, I'm going," Shikamaaru called out as he got up from his seat. "I'll be back soon."
Yoshino stepped out from the kitchen. "Alright. You take care of yourself now, son."
Shikamaru paused for a second before smiling at his mother. "Don't worry, I will."
With that said Shizune and Shikamaru left the house and started to make their way to the Hokage Residence.
"So," Shikamaru began, "what's the news from the Kage Summit? They've been keeping a pretty tight lid on everything that's been happening there."
"Yes," Shizune replied, "I still don't know all the details, though I know most of the major things that happened. Orochimaru, Kabuto Yakushi, and Sasuke Uchiha have all been given pardons for their past crimes, in light of their actions during the war."
Shikamaru looked back at her with mild surprise. "Sasuke I understand, though I still think that's stretching things, but Orochimaru and Kabuto? Kabuto outright fought against us, hell, his resurrecting Madara Uchiha was one of the reasons that things got so bad."
Shizune nodded. "In Orochimaru's case, his arrival on the battlefield and resurrection of the four previous Hokage helped turn the tide of the battle against Madara. Kabuto was a harder pill to swallow, but he saved Sasuke from death at one point during the battle, and without Sasuke we could not have won the war. Their pardons came with the stipulation that both would forswear their forbidden techniques, including the Reanimation Summoning, on pain of death."
Shikamaru thought about that for a moment then decided that he might as well accept it. "Anything else?"
"Lots of things were decided," Shizune said, "though a lot of it comes down to little details and lots of new policies designed to prevent future wars."
"I understand," Shikamaru replied.
The rest of the walk was spent in relative silence. After a short while they arrived at the Hokage Residence and Shizune took Shikamaru up to Kakashi's office.
Entering the office they found Kakashi, wearing the robes of his office, sitting at his desk reading a book which was surprisingly not one of the entries in the Make-Out series. Noticing people entering the room he looked up from his book.
"Ah, good, you're here Shikamaru," he said as he put his reading material to the side.
"What do you want, Kakashi-sensei?" Shikamaru asked.
Kakashi folded his fingers together under his chin. "As you know, I have just returned from the Kage Summit and there were a lot of important decisions made there."
"Yes, I know," Shikamaru said, "and?"
"One of the things we decided," Kakashi countinued, "is a format change to the Chunin exams."
"What kind of format change?" Shikamaru questioned.
Kakashi leaned back in his seat. "Firstly, from now on all of the Five Great Shinobi Nations will take part in the same exams, along with several more minor villages."
"That many villages?" Shizune exclaimed. "But an event like that would involve large amounts of time and planning, not to mention money, could we continue to hold two exams a year?"
"Indeed," Kakashi replied, "an event such as that is very large. It was decided that the exams for be held every three years, hosted by a different village on each occasion, allowing ample time for planning."
"Hm," Shikamaru added, "once every three years seems like too few chances for genin to advance."
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, which is why each village will hold their own smaller exams in each year that the larger event does not feature."
"Alright, I guess that makes sense," Shikamaru said, "but what does that have to do with me?"
"Well," Kakashi said, "the first exam is be held six months from now here in the Hidden Leaf, and I've selected you to organize it."
Shikamaru was taken aback by that. "You want me to organize an event of that scale in six months?!"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, I know that it's a tall order, but I think you're capable." Kakashi picked his book up and turned to the page he had been on. "Representatives from the other Great Shinobi Nations will arrive and take part in the organizing."
"Who are they sending?" Shikamaru asked.
Kakashi turned a page in his book. "The Hidden Cloud is sending Darui, the Stone Kitsuchi, the Mist a women named Akira, and the Sand is sending Temari."
"Oh," Shikamaru said, "Temari's coming? When will they all arrive?"
"They should be here by the end of next week," Kakashi replied. "If that's all?"
"That's all, Kakashi sensei," Shikamaru said as he left the room.
Shikamaru was going to have to organize a chunin exams. Not so bad, he'd done it before, though he'd never had to do it on the scale that this would require and that was a drag. As for the people he'd be working with, he knew Darui and Kitsuchi, he'd served with both of them during the war, shouldn't be any trouble. Akira was an unknown, but if she was anything like some other women he knew she could prove to be troublesome.
Temari was the biggest concern to Shikamaru's mind. On one hand they worked well together and had a history dating back nearly four years, including previous work on organizing exams. A part of him even looked forward to having her around. But in the back of his mind he couldn't help but feel that she could somehow be the most troublesome part of it all.
"Such a drag," Shikamaru said to no one in particular as he walked towards no place in particular.
"There was something you wanted to talk with me about, Gaara?"
Temari had greeted her brothers upon their return home from the Land of Iron, when Gaara had asked to see him in his office as soon as they were settled back in. After Temari finished helping her brothers unpack and catching up on some news, she had gone up to Gaara's office.
"I have a new assignment for you," Gaara said when Temari entered his office.
"Alright," Temari replied.
"New chunin exams are being organized, to start six months from now in the Hidden Leaf," the Kazekage explained. "You are going to be our representative there while these events are being organized. I have all the details here." Gaara grabbed a set of documents from his desk and held them up to Temari.
The Sand kunoichi took the papers and began reading through them. "Hm…, this is a lot to ask."
"Do you think that you are not capable?" Gaara asked.
"Of course I'm capable, merely commenting," Temari replied, continuing to read. "I see Shikamaru Nara has been selected as the representative from the Leaf."
Gaara nodded. "Yes, that is the case. Is that a problem for you?"
Temari shook her head. "No, shouldn't be."
"Very well then," Gaara replied. "You're to arrive in the Leaf by the end of next week. You're dismissed."
Temari bowed to her brother before leaving the office. As she walked down the hall she found herself staring at Shikamaru's name on the sheet of paper in her hands. She wondered how he was doing, and if they might get to spend some time together.
