Chapter 70

Shikamaru meets the elders

It was early in the morning when Shikamaru's mom woke him up.

"Shikamaru, there's a messenger from the Hokage here for you," she said as she yawned.

He rubbed his eyes as he got up and walked to the door. The messenger held out a scroll and nodded at Shikamaru as he took it. It was only yesterday that Lady Tsunade said she would pass the strategy on to Kakashi. He wondered if Kakashi would agree? 'It's not like Kakashi had a better plan or he wouldn't have asked me in the first place,' he thought.

He unraveled the scroll and read the message inside:

Shikamaru-I heard from Tsunade yesterday and you're off to a good start. I summoned the elders to meet us this morning, be here in a half hour.

Shikamaru rushed into the bedroom and quickly changed out of his pajamas. He didn't even have a chance to grab breakfast on his way out the door.

He arrived at Kakashi's office with five minutes to spare. When he arrived he saw the messenger that had come to his house.

"Is he inside?" Shikamaru pointed to the doors to the office as he walked towards it.

"No, he left but said he would be back soon."

"Thanks," Shikamaru said as he leaned against the wall, waiting for him to show up. After the first 10 minutes passed Shikamaru began to feel a bit irritated, but was more angry when Kakashi showed up 25 minutes late.

"Oh, Shikamaru, hi," Kakashi greeted him. "Glad you could come so quickly, come on in." He said as he ushered him to his office door.

"Are you always late?" Shikamaru asked sarcastically.

"Well, we're meeting so early that I wanted to make sure I had breakfast," Kakashi winced his eyes at him.

Shikamaru's eye started twitching and his stomach began growling at the word 'breakfast.'

There was a knock at the door and the messenger announced the arrival of the elders.

"Please, tell them to come in," Kakashi said as he stood up to greet them as they came in. They hadn't had a formal meeting with Kakashi since he had become Hokage and neither of them was sure what this meeting was about.

Shikamaru bowed his head as they entered the room and waited for Kakashi to introduce him properly.

"I'd like you to meet Shikamaru Nara. I've appointed him as my advisor and he's the reason for our appointment today."

The elders nodded their heads at Shikamaru while eyeing him, trying to determine if he was impertinent.

Kakashi motioned for them to sit and took a seat himself. Shikamaru followed suit and sat next to Kakashi.

"Are you Shikaku's son?" The elder man asked him.

"Yes I am," was all he replied.

"Ah, and Yoshino's your mother." It was a statement and not a question this time. At the mention of her name the female elder looked over at Shikamaru and studied the features of his face.

"But you look nothing like her! I could see from the moment we came in here that you were from the Nara clan, you look exactly like your father."

Shikamaru wasn't sure if this was meant as a compliment or not so he offered no reply.

"You are the one who asked us here, are you not?" The female elder asked.

"That's correct," he sat forward in his chair to begin his request. "I was just appointed as the advisor to the Hokage as you're already aware. I had a condition with Kakashi for accepting the position that he agreed to. I hope you won't mind."

"Making a request of the Hokage, you're lucky he asked you at all. How old is this boy Kakashi?" The male elder asked with a gruff voice.

"If you remember Shikaku's mind for strategy then you'll appreciate Shikamaru. Although he is young, his capabilities for strategy stretch far beyond his father and mother's. In battles he's been known to plan around 100 steps ahead of the enemy."

The female elder marveled at Shikamaru while the male uttered "impossible."

Shikamaru seized the moment to get back to his business with the elders. "If you would consent, my condition was that I receive my training from the both of you and not Kakashi. I ask this because you have had a steady hand leading the village and have seen 4 Kages to power. Your perspectives will be useful to me when trying to advise Kakashi in the future."

Both of the elders were taken by surprise. They hadn't been treated as equals by any Hokage or asked about their perspectives, but always treated as a bother.

"And what do you think about this Kakashi," the female elder asked.

Shikamaru knew this was a moment of truth, a chance for them to 'test' Kakashi to see if what they were saying was true.

Kakashi felt indifferent about admitting it. He never expected to have a good relationship with the elders because of the way they behaved and knew that even if he 'played nice' with them, they would never see eye to eye with him.

"To be honest, I don't like the idea very much at all. We don't seem to agree on much and I don't see the value in wasting our time," He replied.

Shikamaru tried to look embarrassed for the speech Kakashi had just given but on the inside he couldn't have been happier. Kakashi was playing this well.

The elders looked at each other with surprise and astonishment over Kakashi's rudeness and then both returned to Shikamaru. They appreciated the embarrassed look he gave and took it as a sign of his respect for them.

The female elder then looked back at the male elder. "Well?" She asked impatiently, waiting for his reply. He gave her a simple nod.

"Shikamaru Nara, we accept your offer. We will send the details to this office later today." The female elder said as she turned to glare at Kakashi and then rose.

"Seems like it's going to be like Tsunade all over again," the male elder said as he stood up. "I really hoped you would have been smart and learned from the mistakes of the other Hokages, but it doesn't make a difference to me either way."

They offered no goodbye to Kakashi as they left his office.

After they were clear of them Shikamaru spoke to Kakahsi.

"Thanks Kakashi. I'm sorry that you just threw away your chance to work with them for me." Shikamaru started to feel a little guilty thinking about what that interaction might have cost Kakashi long term.

"It's fine Shikamaru, you had to have known that there never would have been a chance for a real relationship with them, so this way we actually stand to have something with them rather than nothing." Kakashi gave him the same wincing smile he had given him earlier.

"That reminds me," he said as he put his hand to his stomach, "are we done here? I'd like to get something to eat."