Chapter 1 New rank, New Responsibilities

The Nara residence usually was a quiet place as long as Nara Yoshino, Shikamaru's mother, was not 'disturbed' as Shikamaru refers to it from time to time. Today however was different as Shikamaru had an unexpected and generally 'unwelcomed' guest in Shikamaru's book over.

"Why do you insist on torturing me?" Shikamaru groaned as he moved his piece on the shogi board.

The opposition gave a snicker, "Since when was playing a game of shogi considered 'torture'? Oh, it's because you know you're going to lose isn't it?" Said the amused voice from Temari from the other side of the board. Laughably against her words though, she scratched her scowl baring head while trying to determine her next move.

Shikamaru would have snorted if he wasn't so lazy, "Playing a game of shogi WITH YOU, is the torture part."

Temari gave a sadistic smirk unfazed by the insult, "Hehe, I see how it is then. Don't sweat it, I will put you out of your misery soon then, if you don't give up like you always do." She hissed teasingly, as she moved her piece, only to blink when Shikamaru moved his piece a split second after her move.

'So he saw my plan there too...'

While the pair played the game, Shikamaru couldn't help but ask in interest, "So what is it like?"

Temari raised an eyebrow then understood his question and grinned, "Oh I don't know, maybe you should become a Jounin too and see what it is like?" She replied almost like bait.

Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, "It would be tr-"

"Troublesome...yeah I know."

Temari said dismissively, almost with a slight trace of disappointment in her voice, while shaking her head, "Sounds like the dim-wit I know as Shikamaru." She mumbled.

'You could be so much better...but your too lazy for your own good.' She mused as she made her next move.

"Check." She announced, causing the silent Nara Shikaku to turn his head and give a brief glance of interest, before shaking his head in disapproval then returning his attention to the dishes his wife 'appointed' him to.

Shikamaru sighed, "I was about to say 'it would be troublesome, but I will consider it'."

Temari widened her eyes but Shikamaru then added with a smirk, "But since you think it's too troublesome, I guess I won't bother."

Temari's left eye began to violently twitch in annoyance, 'Why you little!' Temari released her anger with an almost growl like grunt which Shikamaru snickered at then moved his piece. Temari gleamed at his knight shifting for the opening she was waiting for.

'Now I got you!'

She bolted to her piece and announced loudly and proudly while almost slamming the piece down on the board, "Check mate Shikamaru!" Shikaku didn't show any interest but internally he snickered, while whistling innocently.

'You will regret that Shikamaru.'

Shikamaru shrugged, uncaring of his defeat, "Oh well, good game?" He offered his hand but held it in empty air, when he suddenly felt like a type of specimen under a microscope from Temari's highly suspicious gaze.

Shikamaru had no idea how long he was under that 'microscope' for, but he almost jumped out of his skin when Temari gave an evil smirk, "Best out of two?"

Shikamaru's sweat dropped, "But you wo-"

"I know...maybe we should see if it wasn't a fluke." She interrupted in a chirp, causing Shikamaru to groan in annoyance.

'What a troublesome woman!'

He internally growled, while Shikaku had to control his wide smile and chuckles from being audible, 'I warned you son a long time ago, women are not to be treated like fools.' He internally chuckled, as Temari, and unwillingly, Shikamaru prepared the board for a second game.

"Care for a drink of tea, Temari?" Shikaku asked, almost too cheerfully for Shikamaru's liking.

Temari turned and nodded, "Yes please, that would be great, Shikaku-san." Shikamaru's eye twitched at her almost bipolar attitude to how she treats everybody else but him.

'Only polite when you are being given something heh...how typical.'

Since Shikamaru was stuck in yet another game, he decided to continue their conversation, "So how is Gaara?" he asked in interest.

Temari chuckled, "Well...you might not be able to call him that so freely anymore Shikamaru."

Shikamaru's eyes widened, "So he was..."

He trailed off as Temari gave a happy nod as she smiled proudly for her little brother, "Ah, he is now the new Kazekage, or the Godaime Kazekage to be precise." She said with her voice full of pride.

Shikamaru gave a genuine grin, which was rare for him, "You seem to sound quite glad."

Temari nodded again, "After all the chaos we have been through to get there, yes I am more than glad and proud of my little brother." She responded in very unnatural softness.

Shikaku gave Temari her tea, "Please allow me to say congratulations to not only your promotion, but to the new Kazekage-sama too." Shikaku said respectfully.

Temari accepted the tea and gave a wide smile, "Thank you Shikaku-san, I will pass the message on when I return to Suna." Shikaku then resumed his task.

Shikamaru then said plainly, "So that was the reason why you are here in Konoha then, to announce to Hokage-sama the new Kazekage-sama...which means you are the new chosen liaison between our countries?"

Temari gave a feigned gasp of surprise, "Oh no, really?"

She teased but took a sip of her drink then responded in a less joking manner, "More or less yes...that is the reason why I am here in Konoha."

Shikamaru then raised an eye brow while he moved his new piece, "So what has coming HERE, have to do with your mission?" he said in suspicion.

Temari glared, "Oh? So I can't come by and see an annoying and lazy person I call a 'friend' now?" She huffed in annoyance. Shikamaru groaned, but he knew what she was doing very easily.

'Trying to make me apologize won't work.'

"Well I mean that shouldn't you report to hoka-"

Temari loud sigh interrupted Shikamaru's scold, as she stood up, "I best get going then, I must say good bye to Yoshino-san first." She said way too innocently to reveal the true evil intentions behind it.

Shikamaru scoffed at her poker face, 'It's a bluff.'

Temari's eye brow perked when Shikamaru just stared dumbly at her as if not threatened, that was until she called out innocently, "Yoshino-san!" Shikamaru widened his eyes in alarm, if there was one force on earth he never wanted to face it was the scolding shouts of 'that' woman.

'Uh oh!'

"Wait!..." He half shouted with satisfying panic to Temari, as he gritted his teeth in annoyance.

'Curse you woman!'

"...I am sorry, that is not what I meant. It is nice for you to visit every time you come to Konoha." He slurred, trying to suppress his sarcasm as much as possible.

Temari sat back down with a satisfied smirk across her features at her victory, "Oh well maybe I might stay a while then." She announced as if nothing happened.

Temari then added more seriously, "I gave the report and announcement to hokage-sama before I came by, since I got here ahead of schedule, I have time to kill...I do put my duties first."

Shikamaru nodded in acceptance, "I wasn't accusing anybody."

Temari scoffed, "Sure you weren't...if I am bothering you though-"

"As troublesome as you are, I meant what I said, stay as long as you like." Temari blinked in partial surprise but smiled while drinking her tea.

Shikamaru sighed, "How you are eighteen is a mystery to me, you act like a child."

He muttered, only to hear choked laughter, "How you are only fifteen is a mystery to me...you act like an old grouch."

Shikamaru was about to rebut, until he heard a knock at the door which his mother answered and announced, "There is an ANBU here to see you, Shikamaru." Shikamaru excused himself then came back moments later and sighed.

"Mission?" Temari asked, dropping her playful tone.

Shikamaru nodded, "I am to report to Hokage-sama right away." He said while he yawned.

Temari nodded while standing and placing her fan on her back, "Then I best be off then. Thank you again for your hospitality Shikaku-san."

Shikaku gave a nod in her direction, "You're always welcome Temari." He said as he continued washing the dishes.

Temari and Shikamaru soon left and met the cross path in their journey, "I suppose I will see you the next time you decide to drop in." Shikamaru said sarcastically.

Temari grinned, "Probably, but who knows, you might actually stop by and see me in Suna...you know that we are hosting the next chuunin exams?"

Shikamaru blinked in surprise, "But we JUST finished this rounds one...the village leaders sure don't waste time do they?"

Temari nodded, "It was part of our agreement with Konoha for this rounds exams, Konoha hosted this one we are hosting the next one."

Temari continued after a brief pause, "I will be moving back and forth between Suna and Konoha for the next months in preparation...Hokage-sama tells me I will need a guide since I am Suna's ambassador."

Shikamaru emitted a groan, "I see where this is going."

Temari sighed in a huff at his familiar lazy antics, "I will ask somebo-"

"It is a pain, but sure why not."

Temari blinked in surprise and then smiled, "Heh, you're not as lazy as I thought...thanks Shikamaru."

Shikamaru lazily threw his hand dismissively from his side, "Just try not to be too troublesome."

Temari laughed and shook her head at his antics, "Best of luck on your mission Shikamaru."

Shikamaru nodded but couldn't respond as Temari said more seriously, "Consider what I said earlier Shikamaru. You could easily become a Jounin if you at least try and stop complaining."

Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, "What a pain...I will think about it."

Lee unconsciously fiddled with his new vest that he just put on when this morning. Lee smirked wide in the mirror at his new addition to his attire, a forest green chuunin vest. The vest was zipped up, making it the only real difference from somebody mistaking him of being his sensei other than the decreasing height difference. Lee then exited his apartment and ran to the training field, where Gai and the others were waiting for a new mission they were planning to take. This time though Lee had a big surprise in stock for them.

Within minutes, Lee had made it to the training grounds and spotted his older clone Gai. Nearby was Neji who was waiting impatiently but held a smug grin, as well as Tenten who was twisting a kunai in her hand.

Lee was about to make his presence known, but Neji beat him too it, "Congratulations on your promotion Lee, now your only one rank behind me now, instead of two." He announced smugly with a wider smirk as he didn't open his eyes.

Tenten dropped her kunai in surprise and gave a wide smile, "Congratulations Lee, all that training we did was worth it in the end!"

Lee gave a wide nice guy pose as his eyes became slightly teary, but he didn't sniffle, "It is all thanks to you helping me in my training!" Lee beamed proudly.

Gai still hadn't noticed, instead he was mumbling something about 'Eternal rivalry' and 'rematch'. Tenten tapped Gai on the shoulder to get his attention. "Gai-sensei..." Gai turned in question and froze in shock at his miniatures appearance. Within moments Gai's agape mouth formed to a wide sparkling toothy smile.

"Congratulations on making chuunin, Lee! That is what I expect from my youthful student!" Gai beamed at his younger clone giving off his nice guy pose, only to notice his student was suddenly too excited and in his own world, completely ignoring him in the process. Gai couldn't completely work out what Lee was crying out loud, but the constant spinning around in a circle on the spot was beginning to make his stomach follow the same motion.

"Lee…" Gai muttered in a futile attempt to calm his student down. Gai tried several times until he knew what he had to do.

Result to the traditional way he silenced his student all the time, "SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!" Gai roared while delivering a swift and bone cracking punch to the ecstatic Lee's face, knocking the newly appointed Chuunin right into the tree.

Lee quickly recomposed himself and gave Gai his complete attention, "I'm sorry Gai-sensei!"

Gai gave another tooth wide smile, "Congratulations again Lee!"

Lee rubbed his runny eyes, "Thank you, Gai-sensei!" Lee said through his tears of joy. Gai then narrowed his eyes in thought.

'I guess I have to highlight his new responsibilities like I told Neji and Tenten when they got promoted.' He concluded then started talking only to be interrupted before he could form one word by Lee, "So do we get to go on a new mission now Gai-sensei?!"

"No I wa-"

"Or shall we celebrate at a restaurant?"

"No I-"

"Or Shall we-"

Lee received another bone crushing punch by Gai, then quickly recovered, "Sorry Gai-sensei!"

Gai sighed, "As I was saying, as I am sure your youthful intellect recalls what I said to Neji when he got promoted, as a Chuunin, there's a high chance of you now being assigned missions with other shinobi other than me, Tenten, or Neji. Becoming a Chuunin also requires great responsibility, which is why I am lifting my restrictions on your use of removing your weights, and performing the lotus."

Lee averted his eyes to the ground looking deep in thought for a moment, then returning his gaze up at his Sensei with a look of confusion, "But Gai-sensei…when will I know when to use the lotus or even release the gates?"

Gai thought he needed a more direct approach. He resting a supportive hand on his puzzled students shoulder and answered again, "Lee, what I am saying is it will be your responsibility to decide when to perform your Jutsu's. Only when the moment is right will you know what to do."

A feminine sigh was heard from the side of the two spandex wearing clones, "Neh, Gai-sensei, that doesn't really answer Le-" Tenten was cut off by a hand placed on her shoulder making her cut off her statement mid way.

"Let it go Tenten." She heard Neji mutter through his long and bored sigh.

Tenten looked back at the pair in front of her and Neji, and her eyes widened first in shock but then quickly narrowed, "Why did I bother?" She whispered more to herself than anyone in particular. The cause to this was when she noticed the furiously nodding, and concentrated face of Lee, as he was scribbling down in what was now being referred to as 'that' note pad.

Gai waited until his student finished his note taking, and was given the signal by Lee's fixed gaze to continue, "…There is also the matter Lee that I am no longer officially your Sensei."

The sound of a pencil landing on the soft grass was heard, as Gai painfully wiled himself to not break his hard stare at his now former student. Lee's entire body was stiff, and his muscles were tense.

The slowly moulding sad expression on the noble blue beast's face was enough to push Gai to continue before he burst into tears,"… However, that does not mean we cannot continue to take missions together as our old team, nor does it mean I will refuse to continue your training."

Gai's cheer up response seemed to work, as Lee pulled an unimaginably quick one eighty, "HAWWWW! Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-Sensei!"

"Lee!"

The two embraced themselves as they continued their disturbing shouting match. The other members of team Gai's sweat dropped, "You know….you would think after three years of seeing this I would eventually get used to it…" Tenten muttered dryly.

"…Unfortunately Tenten...this is one thing that no matter how hard you try, you cannot change fate...that this will continue to disturb us for the rest of our lives."

Tenten's sweat dropped even further at Neji's 'fate' speech, "I tend to agree..."

After what seemed like an eternity for Neji and Tenten, they were relieved of their Sensei's and teammate's disturbing antics by the pair finally coming apart. Lee still had a few traces of tears along his face however.

"Now!"

Gai shouted after recomposing himself and continuing, "Let's go report to Hokage-sama for our first high ranked mission now that we are all above Genin rank!"

"HAI GAI-SENSEI! Come Neji and Tenten, if we do not make it to the Hokage's tower in less than ten minutes we will have to run 30 laps around Kono-"

"I REFUSE!" Neji barked, derailing Lee from finishing his statement.

The Konoha hospital was always a place where there was work to be done and never enough staff at hand. The waiting rooms rarely had a vacant seat at the clinic, its seats full of both civilian and shinobi alike, although most shinobi that entered never stayed long in its walls. It appeared to be a trend for most of the shinobi situated at the hospital to leave, cursing the generally cream coloured building and praying to not return. The double doors opened to reveal the three young genin's Moegi, Udon and a smirking Konohamaru. The trio each had replaced their signature goggles with their unscratched forehead protectors.

Konohamaru walked through the main waiting room with the other two trailing behind him, as they walked down a path they were used to travelling down often. Turning to a door, Konohamaru knocked, resulting in hearing a females 'Coming' call from the other side. Within moments the door was opened to reveal a kunoichi with bubble gum pink hair wearing a red vest and a black skirt.

She grinned at her guests, "Konohamaru, Moegi-chan, and Udon, I told you to stop coming in my working hours."

"Sakura-neechan did say that to us Konohamaru." Udon stated in his blocked nose like voice that still hadn't changed.

The young Sarutobi ignored his teammate, "Of course I remember, but you said we could come if it was important Sakura-neechan?"

"Oh?"

"We wanted to tell you about our mission!"

Sakura shook her head with a smile, and closed the door behind her, "How much of an idiot did he make himself Moegi-chan?"

The orange haired girl chuckled in result, ignoring Konohamaru's pleading eyes to not say anything, "He got mauled by a Daimyou's cat Sakura-neechan." His shoulders slumped as everybody laughed at his gritted teeth cringe.

"Stupid cat..."

Sakura shook her head in recollection, "Following Naruto's footsteps I see."

"You had the same mission Sakura-neechan?" Sakura nodded her head at Moegi while walking to a door that lead them to a small yard in the middle of the hospital.

Sakura was getting used to her small 'fan club' as she called them that basically made her their 'boss' since Naruto was still not expected to return to Konoha until six months later. The thought of her teammate made her sigh.

'Naruto...'

The memory of what she read that day in Tsunade's office was still fresh as ever in her mind, since she thought about him on a regular basis. Arguably as much as her other teammate who was not here but for a very different reason.

While she wanted to talk about what she read to somebody, a part of her resisted the urge. If Naruto never told Sasuke and herself during their time as team 7, it was obvious that Naruto wanted to keep it a secret. She had two conflicting beliefs though, one understood why he wanted to not say anything and could respect his choice. The other, however, like an opposing contrast, was enraged that he didn't trust them. Time brewing over these thoughts had made her arguments back and forth develop as one being the winner, but the following day, the victor would be countered, resulting in an indecisive loop.

One thing did make sense to her though, she desperately wanted to see his wide smile again to the point where she was counting down the months remaining like a new years eve.

"Something wrong Sakura-neechan?" Konohamaru asked, while the other two looked as well in slight concern at her deep thought appearance.

She shook her thoughts off and smiled, "I just remembered, we had that mission several times in a row."

"...Oh good god, I think I am going to kill that cat if that happens to us." Sakura laughed at the familiar saying, but it was missing the 'dattebayo'.

"Naruto said the same thing too."

'Six months left...I wonder how you have been going, Naruto?'