"If an injury has to be done to a man, it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared."
"Shikamaru! Wake up; it's just a bad dream!"
He jerked up as if a thousand volts of electricity had just passed through his body. The world was bright, white. 'Where am I?' he thought as he shook his head. The last thing he remembered was watching his mother being left behind, smile on her face while tears were running down his. He remembered...death.
Daen had been standing over him shaking his shoulders, whispering "It's just a nightmare Shikamaru, it's all in the past, remember?"
Didn't he know that 'just a nightmare' was exactly what he wished had happened all those years ago?
The dreams had been plaguing him all this time, slowly they had been diminishing, but they still came back and when they did the images were so real that he felt like a scared little kid all over again.
"I'm fine-" his voice cracked, making him pause before trying again, "I'm fine, just another dream." Shikamaru started to get up, looking around the room so that he could ready himself for the duties of the day.
"It's obvious it was another dream, and it's obvious which one it is, things might be getting better, but you should really let the medics take a look at you."
Shikamaru started to get his clothes ready and headed toward the bathroom, "I know you're concerned, but I'm not injured, and they wouldn't be able to help me anyway, let's just get on with it."
"You know, it wouldn't hurt to try and see if they find anything."
"No, thank you but my mind is made up, there are more important things to worry about than a bad dream a little kid had."
With a sigh Daen started to leave the room, "Fine, but if I can hear you from where I was, those dreams aren't normal, they're affecting you Shikamaru. The council is getting prepared; they'll be waiting for you."
Daen closed the door leaving Shikamaru alone in the room looking at himself in the mirror. As far as human minds went, Shikamaru considered his own perhaps a little messed up, but if all he really ended up with after that massacre was restless nights, he was fine with a couple of nightmares, others had suffered terrible wounds that would never heal. Soon his mind kicked off his old morning routine action and he leveled himself off of the sink, bare feet walking across the cool floor and standing on his own legs with some effort. For some reason the dream seemed to tire him a bit in the morning, or maybe it was just his usual personality at work.
For the next half hour he didn't think, he just acted. The clothing wasn't perfect, it was too stuffing for his tastes, but it was better than being naked in front of the council, the most his father ever wore was his jonin uniform at these meetings, no reason to change his old man's habit. Soon he started to leave his home, each room was currently empty, some would be occasionally occupied by a guard or two, but it was generally a peaceful place for which he was thankful for.
As he left the building he took the opportunity to look around and took in the sights. What they had could basically be called a small town in the Land of Rivers. There wasn't anything especially remarkable about the place other than the fact there was a clan of ninja living among civilians. When they had come the villagers that had already been living here naturally became concerned, but soon negotiations began and ended, ninja were a great deterrent for bandits and the fact that wherever a ninja group settled money flowed in also helped things go smoothly. Some villagers had decided to leave but many more had come in the hopes that, economically their lives would be improved.
After settling down in what was now their new found home the council encouraged clan members to become involved with the local civilians and pass their innate ability with shadow jutsu to their children, hopefully increasing the number and skill of those who would one day become the future of the Nara.
Still, that plan would take years to come to fruition and thus the clan had been recruiting ever since they arrived to the town those of the local population that showed promise. At first it had been a difficult proposition as most of the central training for Nara members revolved around shadow jutsu, but eventually they had managed to establish a general curriculum that was reminiscent of the academy from Konoha that focused on those without natural abilities or affinities.
Eventually Shikamaru had managed to convince the clan council to allow those who had proven their loyalty and skill to be trained and accepted as a Nara. Unlike kekkei genkai, shadow manipulations were hiden techniques that could technically be taught to anyone. Although without the natural affinity that came with genetic clan lineage, it was noticeable harder for outsiders to learn and control it.
Still, before there had been a noticeable separation between clan members and non-clan members but now with a process that led to becoming a Nara he hoped that soon they would be able to fully integrate the new recruits, and after the years it appeared to be successful.
As for their neighbors the Village Hidden in Valleys, Tanigakure, had nowhere near the power of any of the five great ninja villages and they reportedly have had many problems within their own power structure. The country had no real power, being between Wind and Fire countries and instead being more of a barrier between the two. Any buildup of forces in the region would only escalate hostilities between the two great countries and so the country was greatly demilitarized.
Tanigakure suffered from the fact that their numbers were few and experience was low compared with more militarized villages, and as a consequence usually only received missions from their own country if at all. Even then, the missions were usually that of escorting caravans and dealing with bandits. More important missions were usually given to more famous villages, primarily Konoha or if funds were not enough then Sunagakure as they were the closest. The Nara were able to settle in an already existing settlement without much interference, and had managed to start getting income in the form of missions of its own when their skill started to be known by the surrounding villages and towns.
That fact had led to a couple of unpleasant run ins with leaf ninja on missions in the Land of Rivers, they had managed to escape the massacre, but many of their own had been left behind that night and that didn't lead to pleasant relations. Shikaku had originally been the one to choose the Land of Rivers as their place of escape because of its unique position, with both Suna and Konoha unofficially considering it a barrier country, so if Konoha sent a force that eliminated a force in the Land of Rivers, Suna would become highly suspicious to the point of preparing for war.
So far it seemed Konoha was content to just leave the Nara remnants alone, believing them to be too few and weak to present a real threat, while also the risk of agitating Suna being too great. There were murmurings that the Third Hokage had a hand with that decision, actually being the main proponent with leaving the Nara alone. The council would have probably sent a force regardless of any political or military backlash were it not for the Sarutobi.
Even though the Hokage, supported by those that had sided with the Nara so long ago had shown mercy, Shikamaru truly doubted that even the Hokage and his supporters would have been able to stand in the way of the council even if they wanted, were they to know that the heir was alive. As far as the Land of Fire was concerned, Shikamaru Nara had died alongside his parents in what they called the Nara Incident, with the clan in question doing everything they could to reinforce that belief.
As he neared the building of the council Shikamaru sighed. The daily doings that went inside were important, but he just wished that they could do it without him. Technically he was the clan head, but in reality he was as much their leader as they were his. He had learned how to deal with the little politics a close knit clan would need, he had learned tactics and strategy from his late father and more recent teachers, and he knew the basics of economy enough so that everyone didn't starve to death. Honestly the money they had saved that night along with the profits from their medical research supplemented with the deer they had managed to bring helped them stay afloat more than once. The settlement that they now inhabited was akin to more of a small city than a village, with taxes and ninja missions beginning to steadily increase income for the clan.
All of this was easy to him, being taught the foundation from his father so long ago and the council refining his knowledge to perfection.
The part where he became nervous, where he didn't know where to go and dared not speak of anything to anyone, was the main objective each surviving Nara now had in their hearts from the most elderly who lost their children and grandchildren to the youngest who lost their parents.
Shikamaru knew nothing of how to get the revenge each of his clansmen so desperately wanted.
As far as he could see any revenge was impossible, Konoha was simply too powerful for them to do any serious harm too, and any other harm by any other means would be so petty as to not even compare to the tragedy of the clan massacre. Sometimes he wished he could just give this problem to the council and let them think over it, while he went to a hill and just stared at the clouds. Shikamaru hadn't been able to do those kinds of things in a long time.
Every time he thought about just giving up on his duties the form of his father would appear in his mind and he knew he couldn't just run away from what had to be done by him. The clan was already starting to get restless, it had been four years since that day and while they have been training and preparing, no solid plan has been proposed other than to keep training and preparing. If Shikamaru didn't think of a plan soon, a plan would be forced upon him, a plan that most likely would mean more Nara casualties.
Shaking his head Shikamaru entered the building, and upon being greeted took his seat on the council. If he was completely honest with himself the whole ordeal wasn't that bad. Any situation that came up which required their deliberation was usually nothing extraordinary. They mostly dealt with trade agreements along with the relations between the civilians of the village and the clan.
The most difficult issue that had come up was the fact that Tanigakure had not been pleased with what in their eyes was a clan of rogue ninja stealing much of its ninja related income. The topic was still a sore spot between those involved, yet his belief along with most of the council was that Tanigakure was simply too weak and inexperienced to do anything about it and thus the Nara had taken a stance of passive ignorance while always maintaining a close eye on Tanigakure.
The council usually gave a sound suggestion with which he gave gave the final word and order, and although Shikamaru was officially the head of the clan he would never deceive himself with the fact that everyone would follow him without question, at least yet anyway. Shikamaru had barely entered his teen years and it was no surprise he would need the support of the council to completely convince everyone when he made his decisions. He seriously doubted anyone from the clan would go against his decisions with any wrong intentions, but the idea that he was a child that had to be looked over in case he made a mistake still resided in many.
So far their little home away from home had thrived reasonably, which sometimes made Shikamaru think that perhaps staying like this would be best, the Nara were doing good, growing steadily and were making a good amount of money. Still, every time he thought that the image of the clan compound being turned into a battlefield entered his mind, and he had no doubt the same image would enter the minds of those who had been there too were he to mention it to anyone.
Soon his thoughts were interrupted by the reason he needed to be with the clan council today.
"As far as we can tell from the report, surveillance of our land has been made, likely by ninja other than Konoha or Tanigakure, late last night. So far it seems they have restricted themselves to visual information, by the time our sentries noticed their presence it seemed they had gotten what they needed and left immediately, managing to elude all pursuit."
He bowed his head, a deep sigh echoing in his chest; it seemed that today wouldn't be one of the easy days.
Shikamaru had always been hesitant about how public they were, the fact that Konoha knew the clan had based themselves in a small village made him fear every time even a single foreign ninja was spotted close to the village. As much as he believed Konoha wouldn't come and try to slaughter them again, there were no certainties in this world as evidenced by the so called 'Nara Incident', at the very least he was sure Konoha had the clan under surveillance.
One of the more elderly men sitting near the middle of the hall frowned, fingers crossed in front of him. "According to the report they were a group of four, this make it suspicious as a scouting action when only one or two would have sufficed, perhaps they were looking for something they did not find and intended to take it by force."
Sighing Shikamaru looked up, joining the conversation. "They would have to be very skilled if only four of them expected to carry out their mission by force."
"We have experts reviewing the data provided to us by the sentries. If there is an imminent threat it will be dealt with accordingly," a second council member added. A woman, probably a few years younger than his mother had been with fading black hair. The massacre had elevated many of their people to higher positions in order to fill up spots that had been left empty and the council had been no exception. The words tumbled so easily from her lips, speaking of years of politics and prepared statements, she had been most likely serving under a councilman for some time. "This doesn't change the fact that four unidentified ninja entered our lands undetected, a direct risk of our safety."
A third member of the council nodded. "Another, equally disturbing thing in these reports is the fact we do not know where they come from. Their headbands may as well have been blank for all the information we've received from their musical note symbol. All that we currently know is that they probably come from a new hidden village to the north of Konoha."
All of a sudden, as if waiting for them to finish a tortured scream of rending metal overloaded his senses, the world around him lurching with such force that he had to apply chakra to his feet lest he fall down. He was dazed for a moment and he could hear someone shouting.
"Guards! Report! What the hell is going on?"
"Oh, they're a bit indisposed right about now, don't worry though, they'll wake up in a couple of hours."
His body moved immediately, turning to face the center of the hall where five people now stood. Four of them stood in a square surrounding the fifth in a defensive posture and when he looked at the man standing in the middle of them he could feel a knot tighten in his chest.
An extremely pale-skinned human with waist-length black hair stood looking straight into his eyes. His own eyes were amber with slits in his pupils and purple markings around his eyes making him look snake-like nature. Similar to the others he was with he wore plain gray garbs with black pants and a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot behind his back.
Orochimaru, recognized as one of the most powerful ninja Konoha had ever produced and one of the Three Sannin, stood before him. A man who had defected from the village in pursuit of his own ambitions.
A ridiculously powerful person whom many would call twisted from a desire of immortality was standing in front of him look at him in the eyes.
A cold sweat came over Shikamaru even as countless Nara ninja began arriving and surrounded Orochimaru and his guards. Orochimaru was known throughout Konoha and many other places for his renown as a ninja, if he wanted to kill Shikamaru he probably wouldn't need to waste much effort even with so many of his men here.
"Well, already shocked beyond words are we child?"
Voices, full of uncertainty and fear, echoed throughout the room. Everyone was asking questions that no one had answers to. No one except Orochimaru.
Sitting on that same seat with which he had approached earlier in the day with boredom, Shikamaru collected himself and spoke. The carefree attitude he had been known for disappeared, replaced with what he hoped was a calm face to hide the intense nervousness he felt.
"Orochimaru. We lost contact with some ninja that had intruded late last night... attempts to capture them failed, I presume they were yours."
"A little bird told me that the Nara clan was hiding a little secret, and it seems that bird was correct. I must admit, I was slightly suspicious that what he told me was true, who would have thought that Shikamaru Nara was still in this world?" Orochimaru asked.
"You don't know me, who can say that I am that person?"
"You know exactly that what I speak is the truth," Orochimaru said. "You look just like your father."
Panic and confusion, if Orochimaru knew his secret things were bad, if Konoha were to find out also, there was no question that they would send a force immediately.
Four years to prepare and it almost seemed as if he had never done anything. A dozen voices, ranking officers to council members all speaking at once immediately put the room into a dull roar. Finally Shikamaru slammed a kunai hilt first down on the desk, snapping everyone's attention to him. His face was ashen but he did everything he could to maintain his composure.
"It seems the child is finally ready to start the discussion."
The surrounding Nara ninja looked at him for a moment before backing off slightly and taking up positions were anything to go wrong. Shikamaru recognized Koin and Daen as they moved to his sides. With the small sense of security that came with them no matter how useless in reality it was, he felt calmer than before. He could see Ensui, who had become one of the leading commanders of the Nara, speaking with the others, planning from the look of it, but he couldn't make out what was being said. Everywhere around them people watched on nervously. There was a palpable aura of fear in the room.
Monsters were real, and now everyone was looking at one.
"Come now, is this any way to treat a visitor? I always thought the Nara were more hospitable than this."
Shikamaru was starting to get sick of all this. "What do you want Orochimaru? I doubt you came all this way just to check out a rumor."
"Ah, but in a way, that really was the reason I came to visit you from so far way." Orochimaru said, the man's voice dripping with a sickening sort of excitement.
Before the massacre occurred he might have been hesitant to be rude in a conversation with one of the most powerful ninja in the world. But death had a way of changing your perspective.
"Let's just skip all the formalities, What are you here for Orochimaru?" Shikamaru said loudly before the conversation could continue. "Wherever you go bad things usually follow."
The man continued behaving as he was, but his amber eyes had gotten serious when he began to speak. "Shikamaru, my dear boy. Your survival was unexpected, and because of that I am afraid that each of us faces a similar situation. Even now the... illustrious Anbu of Konoha still observe you and your clan. They will eventually find out about you and then this pretty little place will fall into flames, just like before."
Orochimaru continued before he could offer anything to the contrary.
"Friends, we have a common enemy, together we can defeat Konoha. Alone we are targets waiting to be picked over at their leisure."
"And so we should just act as if you were a friend to us?" an elderly man asked incredulously.
"Enough!"
To Shikamaru's surprise it was himself that had spoken up. The allure of a way to get back at Konoha was great, even if he had to listen to one of the most traitorous people in existence.
"Assuming we even did what you asked and united our forces... do you really believe we can defeat Konoha? We've all seen their numbers with our own eyes. Even were they to send a fraction of their forces we would stand no chance."
"Do not insult my intelligence boy, I did not come here without a plan." Orochimaru snarled, for once seemingly irritated.
Stepping forward the man slowly activated a sealing scroll, creating a map that hung in the open space letting everyone observe what was happening.
"This is beginning of that plan. You will see that here," At his words a purple light flickered at a section north of Konoha. "Is Otogakure, I have established this village for one purpose, to raise the troops necessary for an invasion of Konoha."
Shikamaru studied the image carefully. "Even if you've made your own personal village, do you expect us to believe your newly created village has enough men to take over an established Konoha?"
Orochimaru sighed "So it would seem that someone doesn't like letting other people finish." A yellow light then hovered over Suna. "We will also be joined by Suna in the invasion, with our combined numbers; Konoha will be burned to the ground."
"Do you expect us to believe that Suna will join you?!" exclaimed the lady from before.
"Sunagakure has for years suffered a series of budget cuts by the daimyo of the Land of Wind, weakening the village and thus re-routing ninja missions to Konoha, with Konoha eliminated Suna will get new missions to reinvigorate their economy. Their reasons for joining is disgustingly straightforward, I find no interest in petty money." Orochimaru said, gesturing to the image. "But that is not my business; you'll see soon enough Suna forces moving through these lands to head for Konoha."
Shikamaru shook his head. "Even if you join forces Konoha won't be so easily defeated. The scale... it is considerable, but it means nothing if your strategy is simple."
"Nothing in this world is simple my dear child, and I would be happy to give you all the details. But only if we work together," Orochimaru finished with a feral smile.
Orochimaru leaned forward, still fixed on him. "An impressive idea so far no? But the question remains, will you join us young one?"
"This plan will work, I'll be there personally. Everything is set in place, but it never hurts to have more soldiers, and I always thought the Nara wouldn't be ones to forget what happened to them in that massacre." he said, returning the stare that so many were giving him before turning his eyes back to Shikamaru. "Either we stop them now or they will finish the job they started all those years ago once they discover your secret and wipe out every single Nara, just like they did to your dear parents."
There was a moment of silence as the councilors looked at each other before they slowly nodded one by one. It was Suzaku that finally spoke, always the voice of the group ever since the Nara incident.
"The cruel and unfortunate truth, Shikamaru, is that this is the best chance we have at taking Konoha down, this is the moment we have all waited for and so it is our advice that we prepare for war."
"You have heard our council Shikamaru," Suzaku added. "The final decision is yours."
He looked at them incredulously for a few long moments before giving a bitter laugh. It seemed this was how downtrodden the Nara had become, having to accept help from a traitor like Orochimaru, although he supposed almost everyone in Konoha believed the Nara themselves to be traitors.
Orochimaru was indeed a genius in his own right, he had basically given Shikamaru a wrapped up present in front of all the Nara with a way to destroy Konoha. Forgetting for a moment the large likelihood of Orochimaru using the Nara as nothing more but disposable shock troops, even if Shikamaru wanted to reject the idea it would mean the destruction of order in the clan. Many would join Orochimaru no matter what he did and so in the end he would have to either lead a united clan against Konoha with cutthroat allies or rule over what remained of a weakened and divided clan.
He supposed that it didn't matter what he did, his parents were not coming back, and with that thought he supposed it would be a beautiful sight to watch Konoha burn, no matter the consequences.
"Then the Nara clan prepares for war."
With that he turned and walked away, not even waiting for a response. He just saw red. For the first time since the clan massacre itself did he feel lost. No matter how he looked at it now Orochimaru had taken advantage of his clan, because Shikamaru had never been able to come up with a concrete plan it had left the snake sanin an opening with which to manipulate his father's legacy. His mother had told him to be a good person, but how could he when he had failed to successfully lead his own clan, and was now colluding with one of the most heartless bastards in the destruction of an entire country?
As he walked away four men of his clan walked towards him with one of the guards that Orochimaru had arrived with in their midst. The guard was the female of the group, with long, untamed red hair and a black hat, her clothing the same as the others in her group.
"Sir, she says she has a message from Orochimaru."
"Yeah, Orochimaru wants to talk to you about the plans for the invasion before he leaves so hurry up, don't keep him waiting, kid. Had you been a nobody he would have skewered you by now for walking away from him."
This girl was barely a couple of years older than him and yet she called him a kid? "Kid? How exactly were you the one chosen to be diplomat?"
"Look, I'm a ninja, not some trash politician, and this is me being polite so hurry your ass up, it's not good to keep Orochimaru waiting."
With that she began walking, and ordering the four Nara to accompany him, Shikamaru followed her.
They soon returned to the meeting hall and entered one of the larger untouched rooms. Orochimaru was by himself, having seemingly sent off everyone but the red headed girl. It was a peculiar sight, seeing such a pale man surrounded by so many Nara who were still more than a little nervous.
With a smile the man started moving towards him. "Ah, nice to see you again Shikamaru-kun, it hurt me so very much when you just left, I thought we were having such a wonderful discussion."
Shikamaru really hated the way Orochimaru acted. "Just tell me what you need to tell me so we can end this as soon as possible."
"Take things slowly Shikamaru, every adventure requires a first step. Trite, but true, even here."
"Get on with it please."
"Fine, the attack will occur during the chunin exams, be prepared by then. The battle will be fought on two fronts. During the final rounds of the chunin exams themselves Suna's jinchuriki will release the one tailed Shukaku from the center of the village."
With that Shikamaru's eyes opened wider than usual. "A jinchuriki?"
"Yes, I'd imagine the Nara have taught them to you, they cage in enormous amounts of power."
Shikamaru nodded but then thought of one of his friends from so long ago, Naruto. "Konoha has their own tailed beast, the Nine-Tails, if they release it then..."
Orochimaru laughed "They destroy their own village, two beings of such power would destroy everything in their midst, and isn't that exactly what all of us want my dear child?"
"Along with all the other forces we manage to smuggle in Shukaku will occupy Konoha's forces while the rest of our own forces break through the walls of the village. From there Konoha will be destroyed and I will be taking care of the Hokage personally."
"Fine, we'll be ready in time to join the invasion."
Orochimaru's eyes started to shine. "Of course, the chunin exams will occur in a couple of months, once Suna passes through these lands on their way to Konoha you will join them, by then they should be informed of you."
"Understood, is that all?"
"All that has needed to be said has been, once Suna joins us all we will discuss our plan of attack in greater detail. Tayuya here will stay behind and keep in contact with me about the situation."
"How will she do that?"
"Oh we have a very special connection, all my chosen ones do. Until later, little Shikamaru."
Orochimaru stood and walked out of the room, with clansmen escorting him out. Those that remained relaxed slightly, but soon turned their attention to Tayuya. They now had someone who was basically a spy in their village and they could do nothing about it. Having become tired Shikamaru simply ordered the closest Nara to get her some accommodations and walked home with a couple of guards. Now that their defenses had been thoroughly penetrated there was little room for surprises, and he knew he would have to appoint a full detail on the girl, any follower of Orochimaru would be dangerous if left unwatched.
As he lay in his bed about to sleep images of Ino and Chouji ran through his head, he hadn't seen them in what left like a lifetime and soon he would probably cause them horrors he himself still hadn't been able to get past. Shikamaru doubted that he would evade the nightmares tonight.
A/N
Hopefully this wasn't too obvious of a way for Shikamaru to get his revenge, hope you guys like the plot.
Reviews
justforfun123- I think this got the story moving, and hopefully you enjoyed the direction this is taking.
Guest- It was always my opinion that the only reason so many uchiha were killed so fast and without any of them putting up much of a fight was because (spoilers) madara/tobi? (spoilers) was the main guy who did most of the killing, and the nara don't have a guy like that who can or wants to kill all of them. Also shikaku already suspected something was going on so they were semi prepared for what happened. I did for some reason completely forget the fact that the Uchiha had sharingans, really feel dumb because of that.