Second Time's The Charm

by Reader06

Tobirama knew bringing back the dead was possible. He knew that anything was possible in the ninja world. That didn't mean, however, that he ever believed in reincarnation. But here he was, with a new family and a ragtag group of friends, in a village he barely recognized, facing the same demons as before. Would he ever find some peace and quiet?

34. Chapter 32

.

.

"Clever boys."

.

Shikamaru focused ahead while Sasuke turned around. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, not sure who this blonde woman was, but knowing that she was trouble.

Asami stepped over to where Naruto laid on his back, floating lightly in the water.

Sasuke cursed at himself. He should have grabbed Naruto, instead of just turning him over and then attacking.

Asami smirked at Shikamaru, "You're quick and clever – I'll give you that, but unfortunately…" Asami placed a hand over Naruto's stomach – sending chakra directing into his system, "Unfortunately for you… my need for revenge is stronger than your will to survive."

Sasuke and Shikamaru watched as Naruto's bright blue eyes turned cold and demonic. Orange chakra spun around Naruto, with a single chakra tail forming from his body.

Shikamaru gulped at the sight.

"Kanoko… Where are you? We need you…"

.

.

Asami looked down at the Jinchuuriki, "It's too bad I can't just take over the boy and use the demon fox's power… I'll just have to settle on a rather powerful genjutsu."

.

.

0000000000000000000000000000000

.

"Hahaha! I got you good!" Naruto laughed at a drenched Kanoko.

Kanoko's eyes were slightly wide in shock as the ice cold water dumped over her head traveling down her back. Several adults passing by stopped to stare while some continued walking – a giggle escaping from their mouths.

Kanoko felt like a drenched cat as water from her clothes dripped into the grocery bags she was carrying. A small giggle was heard behind her. Shikamaru quickly cut off his chuckling with a cough when Kanoko's blazing eyes locked onto his form.

Kanoko wiped the water off her face and glared harshly down at Naruto's laughing form. Dark chakra poured from her body, scaring the people nearby, before Kanoko forced her body to relax.

She stared coldly at Naruto, causing his laughter to die down.

"…How juvenile."

And with that, Kanoko walked around Naruto – continuing down her path as if nothing happened.

.

Naruto gritted his teeth – his fist tightening angrily.

.

.

.

"Ok class, find yourself a partner! We are going to be working on offensive and defensive taijutsu techniques today!" Iruka`sensei told them. He rested his hands on his hips with a smile on his face as he watched his class drag their feet over to their best friend or someone they knew.

Kanoko looked around the room and locked eyes with Uchiha Sasuke. She didn't like working with the Uchiha for many reasons, but he was the only one in the class that came close to matching her level.

Sasuke nodded to her and rose. Just as he was about to walk over to her when something yellow and orange appeared in front of her face.

Squatting on the desk before her, glaring at her, was one Uzumaki Naruto.

Her favorite person.

"I'm going to introduce you to the Uzumaki special!" Naruto shouted in her face while pointing at her.

Shikamaru, being the helpful little shit he is, replied to Naruto for her, "What're you going to do? Throw ramen at her? That'll really teach her…"

Kanoko's eye twitched before she turned to glare at her brother. He just shrugged and walked away with Choji, but not before she caught a tiny smirk growing on his face.

Naruto was boiling at this point. With steaming coming out his ears, he grabbed Kanoko by her collar and roared, "YOU! ME! OUTSIDE! NOW!"

"NARUTO!" Iruka-sensei cut in, pulling Naruto back by the tip of his ear.

"ACK! Iruka-sensei! Ow! Ow! OW!" Naruto cried, his ear throbbing in pain as Iruka pulled him to the front of the class.

Kanoko looked back at Sasuke and growled in annoyance when she saw him standing next to Shino. Grumbling internally, Kanoko got up and followed the class outside.

Once outside, Kanoko stared blankly at Naruto – who was the only person left in the class that didn't have a partner.

Lucky her…

"Ok class! I want one of you to use offensive taijutsu techniques, only, while your partner uses defensive techniques. If I see anyone using a weapon, kekkei genkai, ninjutsu, or anything that is not taijutsu, you will be placed in a corner until the class is done. Am I being clear?" Iruka-sensei told the class, his eyes focused on Naruto in particular.

"Yes sensei…" The class chorused aloud.

Iruka-sensei clapped his hands with a smile, "Then pick who is doing what and begin!"

Kanoko stared at Naruto, unimpressed, "…I'll take the defensive role. You can be offensive."

Naruto smirked, "You're going to regret letting me go first!" Naruto held out his fist as a show.

Kanoko felt the urge to sigh before muttering low, "I doubt it."

The young Uzumaki roared in anger as he swung his fist at Kanoko's face. The young Nara just grabbed it and pushed Naruto back, making him stumble at the force. Naruto dug his feet into the ground as he went in, this time with a barrage of fists.

One after another, Kanoko deflected Naruto's attacks with ease – barely moving as she did. Naruto stumbled back again, panting as he glared at Kanoko's bored face.

"You think…" Naruto continued to pant as he spoke, "You think you're… Better than the rest of us…" Naruto's hands tightened into fists, "I'm going to wipe that stupid look off your face!"

Naruto raced forward before diving low. Kanoko jumped, a little surprised Naruto was smart enough to go for her legs. Naruto's face hit the ground hard as he skidded, but quickly jumped to his feet to swing a fist at Kanoko's back.

Kanoko ducked to avoid the blow, while twisting her body to face Naruto.

Naruto, still in mid punch, lift his leg to knee Kanoko under her chin.

Kanoko quickly back flipped out of the way, causing the others, who had stopped sparing to watch, to clap in awe.

Naruto punched the ground, "Damn it! Why can't I hit you?!"

Kanoko crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, but did not bother to answer his question.

"Come on Naruto! Get her!"

Naruto turned his head to see Kiba and Akamaru cheering him on, "You show that spoiled hime who's the king around here!"

"Y-You c-c-can do i-it, Naruto-k-kun!" Came the squeak of one Hyuuga Hinata.

"Yeah Naruto! You show her!" Ino shouted with a fist pump and a grin on her face – a timid Sakura standing just behind her, watching intently.

Even Shino and Sasuke stopped to watch, silently hoping Naruto would get a hit in.

"What a drag…" Shikamaru drawled, dropping on his butt with a grunt – already tired.

Naruto grinned at his friends and classmates. With renewed energy, Naruto grinned wickedly at the emotionless Kanoko, "I'm going to beat you. I'm going to wipe that high and mighty look off your face. And I'm going to do it with my new secret move – an Uzumaki special!"

Kanoko stood there, neither afraid nor concerned.

Naruto's grin grew, calling upon the chakra in his palm, he roared, "RASENGAN!"

.

"RASENGAN!"

"CHIDORI!"

The two blast of energy hit – causing the water beneath them to splash up and drenching Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes snapped down, his quick eyes catching Naruto's orange chakra covered claw rapidly heading towards him.

Unfortunately, his body wasn't as fast as his eyes yet.

The heavy blow knocked Sasuke through the air and into Shikamaru – sending the both of them crashing into the water. The two gulped in water as their limbs rapidly moved to pull themselves out of the water.

Sasuke found his way to the surface of the water first, on his hands and knees, coughing out water. Sasuke looked over to Shikamaru, who was starting to pull himself up. Shikamaru didn't get very far before he was violently pulled from the water – a black tendril wrapped around his leg.

Shikamaru was flung through the air by his father's shadow before it released him with a snap. Dust and debris went flying as his body crashed into the ground – face first.

"That… really hurt." Shikamaru thought while spitting out water. Turning his body over to lay on his back, he lazily glared at the moon above, "Fighting against Tou-san is such a drag…" Shikamaru was given no time to recover as the black tendrils shot down from above.

Shikamaru's dark brown eyes went wide before he rolled to the side. The thick shadows ripped through the ground as they rose again and rapidly altered its course to follow the fleeing Nara.

.

00000000000000000000000

.

Sasuke grunted as he blocked each of Naruto's kicks and punches. While Naruto's style was still sloppy, the intense chakra behind his blow was taking its toll on the Uchiha. Whipping through some hand signs, Sasuke used his phoenix flower fire—sending a barrage of fireballs at Naruto and pushing him back.

Naruto snarled at the attack and ripped through them with his chakra claws before speeding around Sasuke, running on his hands and feet – like the fox he held within. Sasuke's eyes were quick to follow, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A huge fireball shot right at Naruto, causing the area to thicken in steam. Sasuke's eyes widened when Naruto appeared from the steam, his chakra infused fist striking Sasuke in the face. Sasuke was propelled back again, skidded against the water until he hit the rock side of the waterfall.

Blood escaped Sasuke's mouth at the impact, but he quickly pushed off the rock to avoid another punch from Naruto.

Naruto's fist struck the rock side, missing Sasuke just barely, and creating a fissure up the side of the cliff. Naruto pulled his imbedded fist out from the rock and growled demonically at Sasuke.

Sasuke stared wide eyed at Naruto, "Where is this power coming from?! What is he?!" Sasuke took a breath, "Calm down Sasuke. Naruto's a close range fighter. If you can keep your distance…"

Sasuke's train of thought was interrupted when Naruto ran in circles around him at an incredible rate, placing Sasuke in the center of a manmade monsoon. Sasuke swiftly leaped out of the monsoon, but curse as a chakra formed claw chased after him – missing his front just barely.

Only to have another appear from beneath him.

"GYAAAAH!" Sasuke cried out as the demonic chakra claw wrapped around him and flung him into the side of the waterfall again – this time leaving a hole in its wake.

.

00000000000000000000000

.

Shikamaru squatted on top of the water, yards away from his father, as the wheels in his head started to turn, "According to Inoichi, Tou-san always relied heavily on his shadow jutsus…" Shikamaru thought back to the time the Ino-Shika-Cho, new and old, got together. Ino had been complaining about Shikamaru doing nothing but hanging back and using his shadow possession jutsu when he felt like it. Inoichi laughed humorlessly and mentioned that Shikaku was the same.

The younger Nara frowned, "But that only puts me into a corner. I never bothered with any strength training nor am I all that skilled in taijutsu. As for ninjutsu…" Shikamaru's eyes moved around the area, "Water is Kanoko's specialty… Not mine…"

Shikamaru sighed heavy, burying his hand into his kunai pouch, "My troublesome sister better show up soon…" Pulling out a few kunai and a flashbang, Shikamaru rose to his feet.

Black lines raced against the water's surface, traveling rapidly towards Shikamaru – branching out and covering more area.

Shikamaru didn't move. He simply stood there, with his normal bored expression covering his face.

The tendrils were just feet away from Shikamaru when he tossed the flashbang behind him. The bright light from the explosive washed the shadows away from Shikamaru while also blinding Shikaku.

Shikamaru tossed kunai with explosive tags at his father's feet while running in a half circle around his target, throwing more kunai as he moved.

The water around Shikaku shifted violently from the constant explosions, forcing him to retreat – his eyes still trying to dilate after being exposed to a harsh light in the middle of a dark night.

Shikamaru moved to follow his father, but stopped when he heard Sasuke's scream of pain.

Turning his head around, he watched Sasuke fall lifelessly from the side of the cliff – rock and dirt following him down.

"SASUKE!" Shikamaru called out, racing out onto the water to help him.

Shikamaru skidded to a halt when he saw the water in front of him turn a thick black color. Before he could move to escape, the shadows shot out and pulled him underneath the water. Gulping for air, he started to swim to the surface – only to find the surface as hard as rock.

Shikamaru banged on the solid black barrier separating him from air. Finding the tactic to be fruitless, Shikamaru started to swim away and surface elsewhere. The thick black barrier followed him as he moved, causing panic to settle in Shikamaru's stomach as he continued to bang and pound his way to oxygen.

A bubble of air escaped from Shikamaru when his lungs finally demanded air. Water flooding in through his mouth and nose, completely clogging him and making him choke in more water.

Shikamaru's fists loosened as his eyes started to shut – a blurry version of the full moon above was the last thing his eyes witnessed before closing. Tiny air bubbles rising up from him as he sunk farther and farther into the black depths of the water.

.

.

.

.

.

.

*SLAM*

Shikamaru's tiny eyebrow twitched in annoyance as the door slammed shut in his face. He was on the second floor of the Nara residence, standing in the wall paper covered hallway with his face pointed towards the recently closed door.

Sluggishly passing behind him was his father, hands in his pockets and a bored expression on his face. Without missing a beat or even looking at his son, he spoke with an indifferent tone, "Spare blankets are in the laundry room. I suggest the blue couch over the green one – your back will thank you in the morning." And with that wisdom, Shikaku walked down the stairs to tend to the deer before his wife figured out he was slacking.

Shikamaru just tilted his head back to give his father a frustrated look before turning back to the door in front of him. His tiny dark eyes narrowed at the door, "Troublesome…"

It seemed that was the magic word because the door swung open and Shikamaru shrunk a little at the chilling look his sister was giving him.

Kanoko was growing faster than her brother, as most girls do, and was currently a full two inches taller than him, giving her an even more imposing look as she glared down at her brother, "What. Did. I. Say. About. That. Word."

Shikamaru started sweating, as he suddenly felt like a cornered deer. His eyes were locked with Kanoko's light brown, almost orange eyes, completely unable to turn away. Taking a large gulp, and in the steadiest voice Shikamaru had, he spoke, "Uhhh…"

Shikamaru gulped again when warning bells started to ring in his head.

Kanoko sucked in a breath, attempting to calm herself.

And she almost succeeded.

.

Until Shikamaru's shoulders sagged in exhaustion before mumbling, "Troublesome woman… You're such a drag…"

.

.

.

Kanoko leaped forward, arms extended and ready to strangle her brother. Shikamaru was quick to hit the floor, ducking away from his murderous sister. Kanoko stumbled over her brother, hitting the opposite wall with a large thud, shaking the hallway slightly.

*CRASH*

Their mother's favorite hallway lamp shattered as it hit the floor.

Both of them dismissed the shattered lamp as Shikamaru scrambled off the floor, limbs flailing around as he clumsily stood. Kanoko was quick to move, diving for her brother's legs in order to trap him for punishment.

Shikamaru was nearly on his feet again when his legs were pulled out from beneath him. His small fingernails cut into the hallway carpet , gripping it in pure fear – trying to pull himself away from the possessed monster behind him.

As he continued to pull at the rug for support, another end table fell, including the plant that it was on. Shikamaru continued to grip the rug for dear life before he started kicking his feet in the air, whacking Kanoko under the chin.

Falling backwards, Kanoko hissed as she held her chin while cussing. Growly lowly, Kanoko pushed off the floor – landing on her brother's back. Shikamaru wheezed out all the air from his lungs on impact. Even while disoriented, Shikamaru caught a glimpse of something dark brown drop over his shoulder and determined it to be his sister's long hair.

"She went dirty first!" Shikamaru thought as he tangled his small hands into her long locks and proceeded to pull roughly on it.

"Gyah! You little…!" Kanoko yelled.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"

.

Both children stilled immediately. Neither had the courage to look up at the booming voice above, knowing full well who it was.

Yoshino was a deep shade of red as steam poured out from her ears. Knowing her—no Shikaku's—children wouldn't be moving, not when she was close enough to strangle the two of them, while she assessed the crime scene.

The rug was scrunched up, half of it flipped over, two end tables on the ground – one missing a leg, a plant and it's entrails all over her recently cleaned hallway floor, and…

Her. Favorite. Lamp.

Completely shattered.

Sucking in a breath slowly, Yoshino closed her eyes before speaking quietly to herself, "Calm Yoshino, calm. Think happy thoughts, like the time you knocked Uchiha Fugaku into a pile of mud after he told Mikoto a woman could never become Hokage. That's a good memory, focus on that."

Kanoko leaned down slightly to whisper into his ear, "I say we run for it while she's trying to find her inner peace."

Shikamaru shook his head with a scowl, "No way! Last time I agreed to that, you sold me out!"

Kanoko shrugged, "Small details… I promise not to sell you out this time."

Shikamaru grunted, "Right. What was it you told me last time… That there is no such thing as honor among enemy ninja?"

Kanoko raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so now you listen to me."

"ENOUGH!" Yoshino roared, picking up both her kids up by the collar of their pajamas. While stomping as she moved, she dragged her children down the stairs tossing them into the couch near her unconcerned husband.

Stopping to stare at him for a moment, Yoshino placed her hands on her hips and yelled at him, "And where were you, mister, when this was all going down?!"

Shikaku tilted his head up from the paper he never got to finish that morning. Squirming slightly, he mumbled, "Tending to the deer…"

Just as he said it, one of the clan's deer tapped it's antlers on the window to the living room and stared at them.

Shikaku started sweating as his wife turned to him and scoffed while crossing her arms, "Clearly… They're tended to."

The Nara clan leader raised the paper to hide behind as he mumbled, "So I missed one…"

Yoshino shook slightly in anger while biting her tongue. Exhaling, she decided to dismiss her lazy husband (for the moment), "You know what, never mind. I have bigger fish to fry..." And with that, Yoshino's hot gaze was back on Shikamaru and Kanoko.

Shikaku sighed in relief as he thought, "Benefits of having children…"

Narrowing in on her children, she spoke, "Now explained to me, what caused the two of you to act like longtime enemies at war, with my recently cleaned hallway as the battleground?"

Knowing that if Kanoko got the first word out, that his mother would believe her over him, Shikamaru spoke over his sister, "She's crazy! She attacked me for no reason!"

Kanoko crossed her arms and looked away in irritation.

Yoshino raised an eyebrow and asked if it was true. Shikamaru scowled while thinking, "They always take her side! It's not fair!"

Kanoko shrugged before nodding in the affirmative, her face going pink in embarrassment.

Yoshino sighed as she spoke calmly, "Sweetie, why are you attacking your brother?"

Shikamaru's head shot up.

He always got yelled at.

.

How come Kanoko never gets yelled at?!

Jumping off the couched, he yelled in anger, "Why are you always treating Kanoko like she's some fragile doll while you just yell and nag at me all day?! It's not fair! Just admit it! You like her better than me!"

Both his parents stared at him with open mouths, completely shocked. After a moment of silence, Shikamaru scoffed before running out the door and into the Nara forest.

"Shikamaru!" Their voices were faint as he ran faster and faster through the trees. His father had taught him the basics of escaping an enemy by using the trees and randomizing your escape route, so he did just that – not interested in facing any of his family.

The trees passed by him in a blur, the ground kicking up a storm of leaves and dirt in his wake. He ran for what felt like forever – going deeper and deeper into the forest. The full moon above illuminated only a small amount of the space in front of him due to the tree cover, making his feet stumbled over rocks, branches and dirt as he ran.

"Ahh!" Shikamaru called out, as he tripped over a branch, sending him roughly to the ground. He rolled forward from the momentum and proceeded to tumble down a small decline. Hitting the bottom, Shikamaru groaned as he flipped over onto his back.

Small tears were forming in his eyes from the impact and the emotional incident with his family. He stared up at the sparkling sky that started to blend together from the moisture in his eyes.

Completely flopped out on his back, arms and legs extended out over the ground, Shikamaru continued to lie there, catching his breath. After a while, his breath started to steady and the wetness in his eyes was starting to crust over from the cold night air.

Shikamaru just frowned as he stared at the stars above, "I wish I was an only child! Or at least given a little brother instead! Girls are such a drag! Always nagging, and demanding, and… Ugg! They're so violent too!" Shikamaru sat up to look at the cuts he sustained from the fall.

His head jerked up when the ground shook slightly. Standing before him, having jumped from the small cliff above, was his least favorite person:

His sister.

Pulling out a few thorns, Shikamaru hissed in pain before shouting, "Go away! I HATE YOU!"

Kanoko raised an eyebrow, taken aback by both her brother's intense emotions and his harsh words. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she found she didn't know what to say.

Shikamaru, mad that she wouldn't leave him alone, jumped to his feet and ran farther away from his sister. A faint calling of his name was the only thing he heard as he plowed through trees and bushes – earning him more cuts as he did.

When he felt he had put enough distance between him and his sister, he plopped down on his butt – hiccupping quietly at the pain and rush of emotions he was feeling.

He sniffed, rubbing the snot away from his nose, as he blinked the tears away. Rubbing his eyes, his vision cleared. Shikamaru blinked when he realized he had no idea where he was. Standing up slowly, he started to walk around the area a little, to see if he could find anything he recognized.

Frowning when he realized he was lost, he kicked at the ground, sending dirt flying, "Troublesome…" Shikamaru plopped down on his butt again, his time resting his chin on his hand, "Now I'm lost. Seriously, my life would be ten times better without Kanoko around to ruin it at every turn."

Shikamaru crossed his arms, closed his eyes and began ranting, "What good is a sister anyways? Especially a younger one?! You can't play with them because you can't hit a girl. You can't talk to them because they speak a completely different language. And you can't even cuddle with them for warmth because APPARENTLY you were given the one girl that hates all physical contact! UGG!"

Shikamaru flopped on his back and stared at the full moon above, "She's such a drag…"

.

*growl*

Shikamaru bolted upright when he heard a snarl come from behind him. Twisting his body around, his small dark brown eyes widened at the growling wolf before him. He was completely petrified at the drooling beast before him.

The wolf bent its front legs and readied itself for an attack as Shikamaru started crawling backwards, his feet slipping in the damp grass while his whole body shook in terror.

The wolf leaped – its fanged mouth wide open. Shikamaru's arms shot up to defend his body while shutting his eyes tight in anticipation of the intense pain coming.

Shikamaru heard a thud and cracked an eye open when he didn't feel any pain.

His eyes widened when they fell upon the sight of his sister in a heated battle with the wolf attempting to make him his dinner.

Shikamaru watched in shock as Kanoko held down the wolf, its fanged jaw clamped around Kanoko's left arm – trying to tear it off, before she used the leverage to snap its neck. Kanoko panted as she removed her arm from the dead animal's mouth, ignoring the pain associated with a bleeding arm.

Turning to Shikamaru, she asked in a slightly shaky voice, "Are you ok?"

Shikamaru, overwhelmed by his earlier emotions plus the fear and adrenaline from the wolf, just leaped towards his sister – pulling her into a bone crushing hug while muttering, "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" over and over again.

Kanoko felt all the air escape her lungs at the impact. Patting him on the back, in the hope that his grip would loosen, she told him, "It was my fault too. I shouldn't have attacked you earlier. I let my frustrations over something else get the best of me and then I took it out on you."

Shikamaru just tightened his hold and cried harder.

After a few moments, Shikamaru's hiccupping started to pitter out and his hold loosened. Sniffling quietly, he started to mutter, "Why'd you follow me? Even after I told you I hated you…"

Kanoko raised an eyebrow, "…You are my brother." She replied, as if that explained everything and it was as simple as two plus two.

Shikamaru grumbled and refused to look at his sister. Instead, he rubbed his face further into her shoulder.

Kanoko felt her brother rub his snot all over her shirt and had to count to ten to control her instinct to shove him away.

Finally, Shikamaru lifted his face from her shirt and looked to the sky.

It was a full moon, it's soft glow stretching over the area around them, making the moist plant life sparkle and glitter. The faint sounds of the night and the soft rustling of the leaves were the only noises heard.

Shikamaru's eyes felt heavy as they slowly closed – the intensity of his emotions wearing him down to exhaustion. He felt light as he drifted off – feeling soft and warm in his sister's arms.

The next day, when he awoke in his bed, he would dismiss the last thing he heard as a part of his dream.

.

"I'll always be there for you."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

*SPLASH*

Shikamaru felt a hand wrap tightly around his before being pulled into the comforting embrace of another. He felt the water move passed him as his captor pulled him up.

The muted sounds of above turned loud as they broke through the surface of the water.

The moment the air hit his face, Shikamaru opened his mouth, choking on the sudden oxygen rushing down his throat in an attempt to reach his lungs. Water and snot propelled from him as he viciously coughed out the trapped water deep in his lungs.

Shikamaru didn't get the opportunity to catch his breath as he felt the person holding him throw his arm around their neck and jump high into the air. His waterlogged eyes blinked several times to clear his vision – the act proving difficult as rain started to pour down from above.

Long dark brown strands of hair floated lightly in front of his face.

"Kanoko…"

His eyes quickly shifted to the materialized shadows chasing the pair through the air. His stomach lurched when Kanoko twisted them through the air and propelled them back down to the surface of the water.

The shadows twisted and arched around them, slicing their clothes and nicking their skin.

Kanoko cursed before hitting the water and throwing her brother behind her. Her eyes blazing, she ripped through hand signs at a vicious rate, "Water Style: Severing Wave!"

A compressed jet of water erupted from Kanoko's mouth, splitting the water as it raced towards its intended target. The shadows evaporated just before hitting Kanoko and Shikamaru.

Kanoko's eyes snapped to her feet when she felt the rush of yin chakra traveling towards her. Calling upon the water, she created a geyser to ride into the air. The long shadows traveled after her, matching the speed of the rushing water.

Kanoko gritted her teeth, "Water Style: Water Shockwave!" The water at Kanoko's feet spun rapidly around her before exploding in all directions – sending the shadow tendrils back. From the center of the explosion, Kanoko leaped out and shot her body towards the location her father stood.

Sword pointed out, Kanoko sliced at her father – her feet hitting the water's surface with a pop as she did so.

Smoke exploded around him and substituted in his place was a log—a typical Leaf Substitution Jutsu. Kanoko's eyes narrowed before quickly spinning around and slicing her sword through the shadows spikes previously aimed at her back.

"Kanoko!"

Kanoko turned around to see her brother run up to her. Stopping just in front of her, he opened his mouth. Nothing came out as his expression changed from relief to worry to confusion before finally settling on what he knows best: Lazy indifference.

Giving her a half lidded, slightly annoyed look, Shikamaru drawled out, "You are the most troublesome woman to have ever been born."

Kanoko returned her brother's annoyed look with one of her own. Deciding to let his comment slide – for now – Kanoko looked around and asked, "What happened here?"

Shikamaru sighed heavily, "A woman by the name of Yamanaka Asami used a mind jutsu on Tou-san and Naruto. She's looking to get back at our parents by killing us—for what, she didn't say."

Kanoko's head whipped around to look at Shikamaru with slightly wide eyes, "She used a mind jutsu on Naruto? Are you sure?!"

Shikamaru was slightly taken aback by his sister's tone. It was rare to see her so surprised. Shrugging, Shikamaru answered, "Well, no. She just placed her hand on Naruto before his chakra started to go wild."

Kanoko was silent for a moment, her mind processing, before nodding, "Then it's likely that she has him in a genjutsu. I don't think even a highly advance Yamanaka could control Naruto directly in this state."

"What do you mean—"

Shikamaru was cut off when Kanoko whipped around and shoved her brother behind her, "Water Style: Water Prison!" Water quickly circled around the two of them and encased them in a thick sphere of water.

Shikamaru's dark eyes went wide.

"RASENGAAAAN!" The beast-like Naruto roared out, his thick reddish orange chakra swirling around the compressed chakra in his palm. The one-tail Naruto pushed his hand forward, crashing the massive ball of chakra into the water barrier between him and the Nara siblings.

Kanoko gritted her teeth as she poured chakra into her shield, her shoulders and hands shaking at the pure force of the attack.

"RWWWWWWWAWR!" Naruto thundered out, putting more chakra and pressure into his attack.

Kanoko felt the sweat pour down her head and back before shifting her eyes to her brother. With a grunt, she swung her leg around and kicked Shikamaru hard and out of the water bubble.

"Gyah!" Shikamaru cried out as he flew through the air, tumbling across the surface of the water. As he caught his balance, he watched Naruto's attack pierce his sister's jutsu.

Kanoko hissed loudly as the chakra from Naruto's Rasengan burned her forearms before the force of the attack shot her through the air. Spinning rapidly through the air, Kanoko's body finally hit the surface of the water with a loud boom—the shockwave of the impact sending huge waves of water out in all directions.

The young Nara choked out blood mixed with water as she pulled herself to the surface.

"GYAH!"

Kanoko's angry eyes jerked over to the loud cry she recognized as her brother's. Shikamaru was being held high in the air, several shadows tendrils holding her brother in the air while also attempting to strangle him to death.

Water circled around Kanoko, helping her shoot across the water like a bullet.

Shikaku whipped his head around when he felt the intense dark aura speed up behind him. His emotionless eyes showing nothing as Kanoko's blade ripped through the front of his jounin vest—small droplets of blood flying off the tip of her sword.

Twirling the sword around in mid motion, Kanoko took another slice at her father. A loud clang echoed off the water as metal hit metal. Shaking against Kanoko's blade was Shikaku's kunai.

Kanoko ripped her sword back and met Shikaku's kunai blow for blow – sweat mixing with water as the two traveled across the water trading blows. Kanoko continued her quick and violent slashes and jabs – if only to prevent Shikaku from using his hands to form any hand seals.

.

0000000000000000000000000000

.

Shikamaru turned his eyes from his father's and sister's knife fight, both moving at lightning speeds, over to where he last saw Sasuke and Naruto having remembered Sasuke's fall.

Over by the mouth of the waterfall, Sasuke was hanging loosely from Naruto's tight grip on the front of his shirt. Shikamaru cursed out loud, his feet moving all on their own and racing toward Sasuke and Naruto.

As Shikamaru got closer, his eyes widen at Naruto. Fangs sticking out and blood red eyes as narrow as slivers, the animalistic Naruto roared in victory as he smashed his chakra covered fists into Sasuke's face.

"Genjutsu or not, whatever that it, it's not Naruto!" Shikamaru thought, eyeing the lava-like chakra flowing off the young Uzumaki. Finding a good spot, as far away as possible, Shikamaru ran through a series of hand signs. The dark shadow at beneath Shikamaru came to life before snapping out and raced towards Naruto.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru called out when his shadow connect with Naruto's.

Naruto's fist stopped in mid motion and roared loudly when he tried to move. Shikamaru's body shook as Naruto's massive chakra pushed back hard against his shadow hold, "There's no way I'm going to get a second shot at this. I need to knock Naruto out, now!"

Moving his hands to form a different seal, Shikamaru spoke, "Ninja Art: Shadow Strangle Jutsu!"

The black shadows rose up from the ground and traveled up Naruto's body – the shadows coming together to form a large hand around Naruto's neck.

Naruto growled, his chakra spiking, as he watched the shadows wrap around his body, "Kanoko…" He spoke with an animalistic rumble. His head snapped up and then in the direction of Shikamaru. His crimson eyes blazed as the focused on the young Nara, "…Kano… KANOKO!"

Sweat poured down Shikamaru's neck as he struggled to hold the thrashing Naruto – the blonde's chakra going wild.

"KANOKO!" Naruto howled again, his reddish orange chakra exploding out and snapping Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu.

Shikamaru hissed at the heat of Naruto's chakra, but didn't get a chance to flee before Naruto was in front of him with his fist aimed for Shikamaru's face.

"GGGYAH!" Shikamaru cried out when Naruto's chakra infused fist bashed his face in – sending his whole body flying across the water.

.

000000000000000000000000000000

.

Kanoko leaped into the air as black tendrils whipping around her, slashing her sides as she twisted around in the air. Twisting her sword around, she sliced through the several shadows looking to impale her.

Her feet hit the surface with a slapping noise before taking off quickly towards Shikaku.

.

"GGGYAH!"

Kanoko whipped her head around at the sound of her brother's scream. She widened when she saw Naruto racing towards her brother with a growing ball of chakra swirling around in his hand.

"RASENGAN!"

Calling upon her chakra, she focused it into the palm of her hand. Light blue energy spun around in her palm, pulling in bits of water as it condensed.

"Flying Thunder god Jutsu!" Kanoko teleported to the seal she placed on the First Hokage's Necklace.

Sharp eyes met red demonic ones.

"Rasengan!"

Pulling her arm forward, Kanoko smashed her Rasengan into Naruto's, canceling the attacks out and sending the both of them flying backwards.

Kanoko twirled in the air and stomped her chakra infused feet into the side of the cliff. Rock shattered under her feet as she shot back towards Naruto, who was still skidding across the water, trying to catch his balance.

Kanoko broke out into a run towards the possessed blonde, water rising as it followed her.

"Water Style: Rising Water Slicer!" The growing waves shot out from behind Kanoko and traveled at an incredible rate towards Naruto.

"GRWAHHH!" The animalistic cry erupted from Naruto as the first wave ripped through him – knocking him further back. The second wave was quick to follow, but Naruto quickly used his demon chakra to jump high and avoid the attack.

Kanoko's eyes narrowed when the reddish orange chakra extended off of Naruto. A giant chakra claw formed above her before racing down to crush her. Kanoko leaped back and watched Naruto hit the surface of the water on his hands and feet, his chakra tail whipping back and forth aggressively.

"We need to break this genjutsu he's in." Kanoko thought, her chakra traveling to her palms, "Getting in contact with him is easy enough, with my time space jutsu, but keeping a hold on him long enough to channel that appropriate amount of chakra into his system to disrupt the flow… That's going to prove difficult."

The glow of the bright moon above highlighted the thick black whips heading her way, each tendril moving at an incredible rate.

"And then there's Shikaku…" Kanoko hissed in annoyance.

"Water Style: Water Shield!" Kanoko called upon the water to block the incoming strike. Thin, compressed shadows ripped through the sides of her water shield, cutting into her clothes and shredding her skin – drops of blood flying off Kanoko with a hiss.

"Ohhh, if I could only describe how much pain your father is in right now. The pure anguish of causing his own child to bleed and nearly drowning the other… It's absolutely thrilling!"

Kanoko's jaw tightened as she held in a growl, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD, WITCH!"

Kanoko dove under the water, narrowly missing the shadow spikes aimed at her back. Moving with the speed of an underwater missile, Kanoko swam through the water and surfaced at the base of Shikaku's feet—the water ripping violently around her and crashing harshly into Shikaku.

Kanoko cursed when Shikaku exploded into a puff of smoke—a log situated in his place.

Pushing her chakra out, Kanoko jerked her head around to Shikamaru, who was over by Sasuke—trying to wake the Uchiha up.

"So many seals… I can only graze the surface of your mind. How disappointing. Oh well. I can see enough to know how much these people mean to you...especially your brother."

Kanoko caught Shikamaru's panicked eyes as Shikaku rose up from the shadows behind him.

"I wonder...if I made you choose between your family and your friends…which would you choose? Or would you let them both die?"

At the same time as Shikaku's attack on his son, Naruto grabbed Sasuke with his extended chakra claw and was pulling the young Uchiha towards him—Naruto's other hand swirling with darkening chakra.

Kanoko quickly formed the tiger seal, "Ninja Art: Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Two clones appeared beside Kanoko before the two shouted, "Ninja Art: Substitution Jutsu!" In the instant, Kanoko's clones swapped places with Shikamaru and Sasuke.

Shikaku's dead eyes caught the large red tag placed on the chest of Kanoko's clone and so he quickly protected his front by bending his arms over his face and upper body.

*BOOOM*

Shikaku and Naruto went flying—Naruto into the side of the waterfall and Shikaku into the water below – as Kanoko's clones exploded in front of their faces.

Kanoko fell to her knee and panted, sweat pouring down her face, "I'm running out of chakra…" Kanoko cursed at herself. Turning her eyes over to the two boys, she heard Sasuke grunt as he pushed himself to his feet. Turning her head to them, Kanoko spoke, "Sasu—"

Kanoko cut herself off when she watched the boys' eyes go wide—staring at something passed her.

Turning back around, Kanoko's eyes widened.

A massive, lava-like, chakra claw spread out above them before crashing down on them. Kanoko leaped to grab her brother and Sasuke, but fell short as the water and chakra crashed over and under them. Steam rose from the fiery chakra hitting water as Kanoko floated to the surface of the water.

Kanoko used her arms to pull herself up, but was suddenly dragged back into the water—something dark and cold wrapped tightly around her ankles. Air escaped her lungs, making her inhale water just before her body was yanked out of the water.

Her stomach flipped and her teeth chattered at the cold air as she was whipped violently around in the air before the shadow tendrils smashed her into the rocky side of the waterfall. Blood sputtered out from her mouth as her half lidded eyes caught the form of the statue before her.

"Hashi…rama… Nii-san…"

.

On the water's surface, Shikamaru sat shaking, staring up as his sister was smashed over and over again into the side of the waterfall's rocky surface by their father.

"Breathe…"

Wide eyes stared ahead. Shikamaru knew he needed to move. He needed to stop his father. He needed to help his sister. He needed to think of something! What good was his intelligence if he couldn't even the help those closest to him!?

"Breathe… Come on…"

Shikamaru's eyes caught movement off to the corner. Lightning cracked behind Naruto and Sasuke as the two roared attacks at one and another. Smoke covered the area from Sasuke's fire jutsu and Naruto's popping clones. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes wide in utter panic – every move from Naruto feeling like ten. Water and blood mixed together as it traveled down from his forehead – droplets falling from his nose.

"Just breathe…"

His chest heaved. His lungs shuttering each time he took a breath. Pushing his body up, his legs quaked underneath him

"Breathe… You need to get in there! You need to help your sister!"

His hands couldn't grip a kunai, they were shaking that badly.

"Come on! Breathe!"

The rain continued to beat down on his beaten form.

"Breathe!"

Tears streamed down his face—never having felt so weak, so useless, so helpless as he did in this moment.

Flashback

Kanoko gave her brother an angry look as he flopped on the ground—deciding he was done training for the day. Shikamaru was tired, sweating, and all around uncomfortable.

Kanoko scoffed, "We've barely been at it an hour and you're already giving up?"

Shikamaru glared at the clouds above—knowing better than to glare directly at his sister when she was like this.

Kanoko turned her back to her brother with a sneer, "One day, you're going to be stuck in a battle with your friends' lives on the line. In that moment, you're going to regret not taking advantage of the time you had now to get stronger."

Shikamaru just rolled over and started pulling at the grass with his eyes closed, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever…"

End Flashback

Shikamaru's head pounded as he screamed internally at himself, "Why didn't I listen then?!"

.

000000000000000000000000000

.

Kanoko's eyes stung from the blood seeping in. She had a good sized split at the crown of her head and it was running down the side of her face, over her neck, and staining the collar of her shirt.

"It's all over now. You have almost nothing left and your brother is completely paralyzed in fear. …Although, I must admit to having played a small part in that. These Nara boys of yours have such weak minds."

Kanoko gritted her teeth at the sound of Asami's voice, "You're WRONG!"

Twisting her body around to plant her feet into side of the cliff, Kanoko pushed her chakra through her feet and sunk it deep into the rocky surface – locking the surface with an iron tight grip. The black tendril pulled and yanked at Kanoko's ankles, but wasn't able to break her from the hold she had on the side of the cliff.

"Shikamaru is just a boy! A boy who is watching his father, who he respects more than anyone, brutally attack his sister, who he cares about! You think you're clever by using his fear against him. You're not. You're WEAK!" Kanoko shouted back at Asami.

The young Nara ripped through hand signs, "Earth Style: Rock Collapse!"

Dirt and rock from beneath her feet exploded – sending an avalanche of boulders crashing down.

Shikaku quickly leaped out of the way, releasing his hold on his daughter. Kanoko wasted no time twisting her body around and racing down the side of the cliff.

Kanoko danced around the shadows whipping and arching on the surface of the water – trying to catch her once more. Leaping into the air, Kanoko brought her sword down with a crash against Shikaku's own kunai.

Both blades shook as they tried to overpower the other.

Kanoko growled, her teeth showing, "FIGHT BACK! Don't let this woman use you!"

Shikaku's grip on his kunai faltered, allowing Kanoko to shove him back. Kanoko panted as she eyed her father, "I'm exhausted and out of chakra… he should have been able to overpower me…"

Shikaku just stood there, his grip around his kunai shaking slightly, causing Kanoko's eyes to widen, "He's fighting… I can see it."

The shaking stopped suddenly.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WEAK!"

Shikaku's body tensed before rushing forward and knocking Kanoko into the air with a knee to her gut.

Water and mud flew up as Kanoko skidded across the land around the waterfall before pushing off the ground with a low growl. Whipping her sword through the rain, lightning crackled around her.

The shadows raced towards her again as Shikaku followed them—looking to land another hit on Kanoko. Kanoko whipped her body around, every muscle screaming in pain and her lungs burning from over exertion, and cut through the black tendrils before smashing her foot into her father's chest.

Shikaku was sent flying through the air and crashed into the water below with a large cracking sound.

"ROOOOOOOOAAAARRR!"

Kanoko's head jerked over to where the sound originated. Off in the distance and back on land, violent red and orange chakra ripped through the field, burning debris and pushing down trees.

"NAARRRRRUTOOOOO!" Kanoko called out when she realized the person underneath his body, about to be split in half, was Sasuke.

"Flying Thunder god Jutsu!"

Crimson flew through the air, staining the ground and water a deep red.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Kanoko cried out, taking the hit for Sasuke and allowing Naruto's demonic claws to sink into her stomach.

.

"NO! KANOKO!" Shikamaru thought, watching Sasuke fight Naruto while Kanoko lay on the ground.

His eyes, wide and full of terror, could not be pulled from the scene before him.

.

Sasuke shoved Naruto off of Kanoko before gripping Naruto's jacket and tossing him back out onto the water with an angry roar.

The air thinned as the white lights started to flash around Sasuke.

"CHIDORI!"

Naruto spun around in the water and used his massive demonic chakra to build a wall in front of him.

The chirping of a thousand birds traveled through the air, before ending with a loud boom. Orange chakra met white chakra with a loud boom. The shock wave pushed the two users away from each other. The demon possessed Naruto quickly recovered and shot through the air towards Sasuke.

"RASENGAN!"

Energy swirled, distorting the air and water as it gained power and density.

.

"RASENGAN!"

.

The air in Shikamaru's lungs escaped as he watched a stranger floated in the air in front of Sasuke. Long, snow white hair trailing behind – the light from the moon reflecting off the silky strands. In her palm, circling around at a rapid rate was a blindly light of energy, matching Naruto's red stained Rasengan in both mass and density.

Shikamaru slowly rose to his feet, in complete awe at the girl before him.

From every article of clothing, stained in crimson, to the way she moved, his mind screamed at him that this girl was no stranger.

That she was, in fact, his sister.

.

But Shikamaru couldn't see passed the bright red eyes and the glowing white hair.

.

The two swirling balls of chakra crashed into one and another with a loud, booming sound, muting the thunderous noises of the storm in the background. Water and air whipped violently over the area, sending Sasuke threw the air and ripping passed Shikamaru before sending him airborne as well.

The water moved back and forth violently, crashing viciously against the side of the cliff and flooding over onto the land surrounding the body of water.

Shikamaru coughed out violently as he pushed his hands into the ground, forcing his upper body up to get a view of the scene. Both he and Sasuke had been flung back onto to land, the water beneath them slowly seeping into the ground, making the surface muddy.

Lying a few feet in front of him, panting heavily while laying on her side, arms lying loosely beside her, was his sister. Her hair was back to its normal dark brown, making Shikamaru wondered if the white hair was a trick of the night light.

A few yards from her, also lying on the ground, panting just as heavy, was Naruto. His blonde hair was still jagged and his whiskers looked more pronounced, but the reddish orange chakra around him earlier had vanished.

.

Kanoko's reddish brown eyes felt heavy as she slowly blinked away the water clogging her vision, "I…need…to get…to Naruto…" Kanoko thought before her fingers curled into the muddy ground. Digging her fingernails in, Kanoko started to drag her body over to Naruto, her arms slapping against the muddy water as she threw them forward to pull herself closer.

"Almost…there…" Kanoko told herself, her arms going numb after one last pull.

Her body slapped against the ground, just inches from Naruto's glaring form. Kanoko stretched and wiggled her fingers, the very tip of her fingers grazing his skin.

Kanoko, with no extra chakra to use, pushed what little her body had into Naruto, small fuinjutsu markings pouring out of her fingers and traveling over Naruto's body.

.

.

.

Naruto panted, but grinned tiredly as he stood over Kanoko. He had finally landed a hit, right in the center of her face too!

The Uzumaki spun around, looking for a round of congratulations from his friends, but his grin quickly morphed into a confused, open mouth frown. The space where his friends once stood was empty. His head jerked around the area and started shouting when the area was completely void of life.

.

The bright light of the day and the tall walls of Konoha's academy faded out of sight – the picture, instead, morphing into a dark stormy night in a place Naruto didn't recognize. Heavy rainfall crashed around him, splashing the muddy water beneath him into his eyes.

Groaning, Naruto pushed his upper body up and rubbed the dirt and water from his eyes. Blinking, the scene before Naruto started to clear.

.

Naruto's body went completely still. His heart stopped as his breath got caught in his throat.

.

Lying on her stomach before him, crumpled and bleeding, was his friend and teammate.

"Kanoko!" Naruto shouted, turning her over.

Kanoko blinked lazily up at him, "…Ugg… When we… get back… I'm not…letting you eat…a single bowl of ramen…until you master breaking…genjutsus…"

Naruto blinked, confused, at Kanoko, "Genjutsu?"

"KANOKO!" Shikamaru screamed, running over and falling to his knees at his sister's side. Shoving his hands down on Kanoko's stomach wound, he yelled at Naruto, "Give me one of Kanoko's patching seals! Quick!"

Naruto nodded, quickly twisting his body around and ripping supplies out of this ninja pouch – looking for one of the seals. Pulling it out, he quickly moved Shikamaru's hands out of the way and slapped it down on Kanoko's wound.

Pushing chakra into the seal, he watched it glow and expand.

"You know…it's quite rude. The way you brats refuse to die."

Shikamaru's and Naruto's heads jerked up to see the blonde mind manipulator strut out from behind the shadows. Asami smirked at the growling boys and moved to lean against Shikaku's stiff body.

"Get away from my father, you bitch!" Shikamaru shouted at Asami, standing suddenly, his fists tight and shaking.

Asami snaked her arms around Shikaku's limp one and gave Shikamaru a wink, "Oh…I think not. I quite like having him by my side." Asami reached a hand up and caressed the side of Shikaku's jaw, "I think I'll keep him."

Shikamaru teeth gritted, but held his position. He wasn't about to leave his sister's side, not while she was like this, and he knew better than to act recklessly.

"I'M GOING TO PUNCH YOUR LIGHTS OUT!"

That didn't mean Naruto wouldn't act recklessly, though.

Naruto's chakra swirled around him and he slammed a foot down in order to propel himself forward. Naruto didn't get very far when he felt a hand wrap tightly around his arm. Turning his head back around, Naruto was met with the bloody and bruised face of one, Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto blinked, "Wow…what the hell happened to you?"

Sasuke growled low and dangerous, "You. You are the reason I and Kanoko look like this."

Naruto's mouth opened to speak, but his words got caught in his throat when his eyes moved down to take another look at Kanoko. Her clothes had more rips and burns than he could count and the side of her face was stained red. Her chest was rising and falling, but just even the fact that Kanoko was lying there, in the middle of a battle, with her eyes closed, meant that she had taken a serious beating.

"…I…did that?" Naruto's voice cracked, his hands shaking.

Asami smirked, "Not alone. You had the help of your little friend inside you."

Naruto's blue eyes went wide, "No… No!" Naruto's head jerked over to Asami, "NO! I would NEVER use the demon fox's chakra against my friends!"

Asami's smirk grew, "Oh, but you did. And you used it well. You didn't even hesitate." Asami laughed, "I don't know why you're so upset! You got what you wanted."

Naruto recoiled at her words before shouted, "What the hell does that mean?!"

The Yamanaka woman raised an eyebrow, "You finally beat Kanoko. What else did you think I meant?"

Sasuke frowned, crossing his arms, "What are you saying?"

Shikamaru clicked his teeth and cursed until his breath before shouting to his friends, "Stop listening to her! She's trying to turn the situation back into her favor! She knows she can't fight all of us!"

Asami flicked her hand out and pointed to Naruto, "I placed your friend in a genjutsu that encouraged him to fight until either he had nothing left or his opponent was on the ground bleeding. Imagine my surprise when I learned the person he wanted to beat the most what the young Nara girl herself."

Naruto's head dipped – his eyes casted down, "You're…" His fists tightened, "I…" His eyes shifted over to Kanoko, "I didn't want to hurt her! You're twisted everything around!"

Asami raised an eyebrow and looked over to Shikamaru and Sasuke, "Is that so? I'm not sure your friends would agree."

Naruto shut his eyes, ready to take whatever harsh words and looks his friend would give him.

Shikamaru shrugged and drawled out, "Eh. Everyone has wanted to bash my sister's head in at one time or another." His eyes half lidded as his tone thickened with sarcasm, "She's special like that."

Sasuke smirked and nodded, "I've even seen Hinata itching to use her gentle fist on Kanoko."

Shikamaru sighed dramatically, "Even Hinata? Ugg… My sister is so troublesome…"

A groan was heard in the background, "…I swear on your unborn child's life, if you say that word one more time…"

Shikamaru turned his head back to his sister, trying to hide a small smile, he gave her an annoyed look, "Why would you swear on my unborn child's life?"

"Why not?" Kanoko snorted while getting to her feet, "I'll probably be stuck raising the poor kid anyways while you hide from your raging wife."

Shikamaru glared lazily at his sister and grumbled low, "…Troublesome."

*SMACK*

"OW!" Shikamaru yelled, twisted around to glare at Sasuke, "What the hell was that for?!"

Sasuke shrugged and smirked, "She warned you."

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, mumbling quietly about his sister turning everyone against him and how unfair it was.

Kanoko's face turned serious as she slowly walked passed her comrades – stopping just a few feet in front of Asami and Shikaku. Kanoko shifted her sharp eyes from her father, to Asami, back to her father.

"…That day, years ago, when I asked you if you would teach me shogi, do you remember it?"

Wind whipped through Kanoko's long dark locks. The dark clouds above were started to dissipate and clear, letting the full moon shine down on the water below, making it glow.

Shikaku stared blankly back at Kanoko, neither speaking nor indicating that he even heard her.

Kanoko's voice was steady as she continued, "Do you remember my and Shikamaru's 6th birthday? When I accidently knocked him into the cake when he moved to blow out the candles?"

Asami narrowed her eyes at Kanoko, "Do you really think you can break a Yamanaka's jutsu? With words alone?!"

"What about time you invited your old teammates and their families over for the first time, and you got into an two hour long argument with Inoichi about whose daughter was more adorable." Kanoko spoke, ignoring Asami's words, "Shikamaru mocked me for days – leading me to pushing him down the stairs in order to shut him up."

Shikaku's mouth twitched slightly.

Kanoko's eyes locked onto her father's dead looking ones, "When Shikamaru asked why everyone treated Naruto like he was some kind of monster, do you remember what you told him?"

Naruto's head snapped up and looked to Shikamaru.

"You told him to do what he wanted. If he wanted to hang out and play with Naruto, you would never stop him."

Shikamaru caught Naruto's shocked look and just gave him a lazy smile. Naruto blinked before his face morphed into a large grin.

"Enough! Shikaku, ATTACK HER!" Asami shouted, removed her arms from Shikaku and pointing at Kanoko.

Shikaku didn't move.

Kanoko pressed on, "You've never pressured me, even though I know everyone else is pressuring you about me. Any other shinobi father would have thrusted Shikamaru and I into the harsh world of a ninja at the first sign of our abilities and intelligence. Instead, you gave us something…something I had no idea was so important until having experienced it myself: A childhood. Not having to worry about what was hiding in the shadows while you slept. Not having to worry about putting the village at risk by failing your mission. Not having to worry about which of your friends would die next."

Kanoko exhaled deeply and looked up at the moon, "I'm sure, as both clan head and a high ranking shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, it wasn't easy or popular. To some, it must have looked like you were betraying your village by not providing it the tools to keep everyone safe. To others, it probably made you look weak – inviting others to challenge your position among both the clan and the village."

Shikamaru stepped up next to his sister, his hands in his pockets, but his eyes as equally sharp as his sister's, "So we're going to fight for you, like you fought for us. It's a real drag, but we aren't going to stop until we have you back."

Naruto leaped in between Kanoko and Shikamaru, wrapping his arms around their shoulders and pulling them in close – his wicked grin plastered over his face, "That goes triple for me! Believe it!"

Sasuke crossed his arms in the background and smirked while shrugging slightly, "Hn."

Asami's beautiful face distorted into an ugly scowl, baring her teeth at the children before her, "You vulgar little children… You think you're will can overcome my revenge?! My hate?! My suffering?! You have no idea… NO IDEA what I've gone through!" Asami started to make hand signs, "I WON'T LET YOU DESTROY EVERYTHING AFTER I'VE MADE IT THIS FAR!"

"Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Asami's body dropped to the ground, her soul ripping into Shikaku's body with an explosion of chakra.

"Get her body!" Kanoko shouted before slamming her hands on the ground, "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" Kanoko winced as the little bit of chakra that replenished in her body was drained.

Dark spikes smashed into Kanoko's earth wall, creating fissures and cracks. It gave enough time for the Leaf nin to leap away, narrowly missing another shadow strike.

Sasuke dove around the shadow tendrils, being the fastest of the group at this point, and grasped the body Asami discarded. He looked down at the limp body in his arms and quickly activated his Sharingan when the sight didn't make sense to him.

Kanoko back flipped to avoid another slice from the shadow stitching jutsu. Her body was moving slower than she liked due to her stomach wound and absent chakra. Her eyes narrowed when several tendrils coiled together and raced towards Kanoko.

"Gotcha!" Naruto shouted, grabbing Kanoko and pulling her out of the way. Kanoko gave Naruto an annoyed look when he grinned cockily at her, but silently thanked him regardless.

Dropping down next to Shikamaru, Naruto spoke, "What's the plan, oh wise Nara siblings?"

Shikamaru groaned and looked towards Kanoko, "I just want to point out that if you weren't my sister, no one would ever expect anything from me."

Kanoko growled at her brother before all three of them leaped in opposite directions to avoid another series of shadow spikes. "When we get back, you and I are going to have a long talk about appropriate times to argue with your sister!" Kanoko yelled while traveling through the air.

Shikamaru slammed his hands on the ground, like his sister earlier and called up an earth wall to protect himself. Several black shadows crashed into the wall while several more arched around it and flew at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru hissed in annoyance before throwing a flashbang behind him, pushing the shadows away from him. Kneeling quickly, Shikamaru ran through his hand signs and used his elongated shadow from the blast and shot it towards his possessed father.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru shouted before smirking, "Complete."

Asami cursed in Shikaku's body, "You DAMN BRAT!"

"RASENGAN!"

Asami's eyes went wide as Naruto and his clone shot towards her with a spinning ball of intense chakra.

"Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Asami shouted from Shikaku's body.

Naruto smashed his Rasengan into Shikaku's limp body – sending him tumbling into the ground. Kanoko jumped over and carefully approached her father's body.

Shikaku groaned as he slowly moved his body, "Ugg…Jiraiya just had to teach Naruto that move…didn't he…"

Kanoko pushed out her chakra to analyze her father's. After determining that Asami was no longer in Shikaku's body, Kanoko stuck a hand out, "Don't act like you didn't deserve it."

Shikaku sighed as he grabbed his daughter's hand, using his other to push up from the ground, "Yeah… I did."

Kanoko smirked at her father before turning to Shikamaru. Narrowing her eyes she spoke, "While I'm impressed with your ability to move from body to body so fluidly, don't think you can hide yourself from me."

'Shikamaru' growled at Kanoko, "Your sensing abilities are getting on my last nerve!"

Naruto ran next to Kanoko, "Now she has Shikamaru? How did she do that? How do we fight against someone who can move from body to body?!"

Sasuke dropped down next to the three of them, a body in his hands.

Naruto gave Sasuke a strange look, "Who the hell is that?!"

Sasuke grunted, "The woman's body."

Kanoko's eyes looked over the body Sasuke dropped at her feet. It was a man with deathly white skin and moss like green hair. Kanoko frowned at the sight, "That…is not human."

Spinning her sword around, Kanoko sliced the head clean off of its body.

Naruto's eyes went wide, "WOAH! What did we talk about before?! No more killing!"

Kanoko scoffed, "I made no such promise."

Shikaku sighed at the children, "At least now Asami can't go back to that body. Not that this puts us in any better position…" Shikaku gave his daughter a look.

Kanoko shrugged again, not regretting her actions.

Shikaku continued, "If we knock whoever she has under her control, we can bring her back to the village for the Yamanaka clan to deal with."

Naruto cracked his knuckles with a wicked grin on his face, "You know…I still have yet to get Shikamaru back for that hot chili pepper in my ramen trick he pulled on me a while back."

Kanoko joined in with a smirk of her own, "Ladies first."

Naruto, the ever gentleman he is, bowed slightly and waved his arm forward, "Lead the way."

Asami gritted her teeth as she turned and fled into the forest. "At least this kid is fast on his feet." Asami thought as she raced through the trees, pushing out her chakra to flood the area and cover her tracks. Asami turned her head back to see if anyone had caught up to her, but suddenly choked when something grabbed her by the throat.

Kanoko held her brother's body by the throat, not so hard as to strangle him, but enough to keep the Yamanaka controlling him in place.

"Give up. It doesn't matter whose body you take over, you're not getting away and you're all out of tricks." Kanoko told her, her tone deadly.

Asami clawed at Kanoko's hand around Shikamaru's neck. Growling out loud, Asami snarled at Kanoko before Shikamaru's mouth shifting suddenly into a smirk "You're right. I am out of tricks, but you're wrong about one thing."

Kanoko's eyes narrowed.

Asami's smirk grew into a dark grin, "There's one person that can get me out of here in an instant."

.

.

"You."

.

"Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

.

Both Shikamaru's and Kanoko's bodies fell limp on the ground.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Asami panted as she slowly moved to her feet. Looking around, she frowned to herself, "What the hell is this…"

She was standing in the middle of a battle field. Discarded weapons, broken shields, holes in the ground, and the thick stench of death covered the area. Man and woman, adults and children lay at her feet. Some missing limbs, others missing eyeballs, and some split in two.

Asami felt the acid rise from her stomach and nearly bent over to puke her guts out, "What the fuck is this?!"

The smell of smoke traveled to her nose, causing her to look up. The sun was just beginning to set, but the sky was red for another reason.

Forest fires raged in the background, burning and blackening everything in its path.

"You made a mistake by forcing yourself into my mind." A deep, manly voice boomed behind her.

"Who are you?!" Asami shouted, spinning around, only to find the space empty. Cursing loudly, Asami started to run across the field, searching for anything that could tell her what was going on.

"Shit!" Asami cursed aloud as she tripped over a body, failing face first into the ground. Turning around to sit on her butt, she rubbed her face. Her eyes traveled to the body she tripped over.

"What the…?!" Asami spoke in awe when her eyes focused on the headband on the dead boy's head.

"That's…"

"The Senju Crest." The deep voice spoke again.

Asami turned around, her blue eyes widening. Her pupils shrunk to pinpoints as her heart sped up – beating as fast and as harsh as a hummingbird's wings.

"Y-y-y-yo-you-you'r-re…" Asami stuttered out, her teeth chattering and her mind going blank.

"Senju Tobirama." Tobirama, decked out in his old blue armored uniform, spoke with a frown.

Asami pushed her feet out, crawling backwards in pure terror, "H-how…?! You're DEAD!" With adrenaline and fear coursing through her, Asami shot up from the ground and fled rapidly across the field.

Asami barely felt anything as the broken weapons nicked her shins. Stumbling over another body, Asami caught herself by swing her arms out and grabbing onto thick spear sticking out of the ground.

"Hn. How appropriate that you would stop here." Tobirama told her, appearing in front of her.

Asami screamed as she fell back again in shock. Staring up at the Second Hokage, she was paralyzed by his blazing red eyes.

"Look around you." Tobirama told her, commanding her to look.

Asami shook as her eyes slowly looked down at the body underneath her hand. Her breath escaped her throat when she noticed the familiar shade of blonde hair. Lifting her hand slowly from the dead shinobi's forehead, she took a look at the insignia on his headband.

Asami's body shook violently as her brain told her exactly which clan the marking belonged to.

The Yamanaka clan.

.

"You should have never come after my family." Tobirama told her, bending down and gripping the front of her shirt – raising his tightened fist in the air.

Asami's fearful eyes locked onto Tobirama's cold ones, "P-please. Please! PLEASE! NO! I'M SORRY! PLEASE NOOOO!"

.

Blood splattered as the sounds of knuckles meeting flesh repeated over and over again until red was the only color Tobirama could see.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"—ko…"

.

"—noko…"

.

.

"KANOKO!"

"Uggg… Why are you always so loud, Naruto…" Kanoko groaned, holding her head.

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but Shikaku placed an arm out in front of him, "Kanoko's our only sensor. Without her, we can't be certain Asami is not the one in control."

Kanoko frowned, annoyed that she was being held under such suspicion, but understood and respected her father for his careful nature. It wasn't anything she wouldn't do to him, or anyone else, if the roles were reversed.

"It's her." Shikamaru drawled out, plopping down next to his sister, "No one can pull off that sour look, but Kanoko."

Kanoko glared at her brother, who was currently using her as a pillow.

Naruto grinned and nodded, "YAHOOO! WE WON!"

Sasuke stepped up from behind Shikaku, "…What happened to the witch?"

Kanoko raised an eyebrow, "She hit me with some kind of mind blast, knocking me out. It's likely that she escaped back to her real body." Kanoko paused before muttering, "A smart move on her part."

Shikaku stared expressionless at his daughter, trying to figure out why this didn't feel right to him, "I find it hard to believe Asami would just leave, even if things weren't going her way…"

Shikamaru yawned loudly, "Why was she so angry at you and Kaa-san anyways? Maybe she decided it wasn't worth her dying over."

Shikaku sighed at his son, "Look—"

"Shikaku-sama!"

All five of them looked up at the approaching voices.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cheered out, "Man, you missed everything!"

Kakashi dropped down and rubbed the back of his head with a relieved look on his face. His lazy eyes traveled around the area, from uncomfortable looking Shikaku, to the bored Sasuke, down to the relaxing Nara twins, to his hyper active student, "Well…everyone's alive. That's a good sign."

"You know how it is…" Kakashi didn't get to finish as Kanoko and Naruto cut him off with a irritated chorus.

"Got lost on the road of life again. We know."

Kakashi looked sheepish as he chuckled lightly, "I was going to say that the two of you are a hard pair to track down…"

"Like you did any work." Pakkun drawled out, giving Kakashi an annoyed look.

Kakashi just sweat-dropped at his pug's comment.

Shikaku sighed, looking at his tired, bruised kids and their friends, "Did Neji get back in time, or are you on your own?"

Shikamaru's head shot up. Spinning around to look at Kakashi, he asked in a tense voice, "What about the others?! Choji, Sakura, Kiba, Lee…"

Kakashi interrupted Shikamaru by indicating that Shikamaru calm down, "Neji did make it back to Konoha. He told the Hokage what happened before passing out. He was transported to the hospital immediately while Tsunade sent out the medic corps."

Shikamaru gritted his teeth after hearing about Neji being transported.

"My ninja dogs helped guide the medics to the others, but we won't know their conditions until we get back." Kakashi finished.

"Tsunade sent out Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro of the Sand. I ran into them before meeting up with you. I had them back up the others. The only ones I'm concerned about right now are the four of you." Shikaku told his son before his eyes rested on Kanoko.

Kakashi followed his jounin commander's eyes and studied Kanoko. If there was one thing Kakashi was familiar with, it was chakra exhaustion. Not only did Kanoko appear to be suffering from it, it looked like she earned herself another good sized scar on her stomach, "At least she made that patching seal. Kami knows she's going to need a plethora of those, if she keeps picking up my traits…"

"Pssfff! We're fine!" Naruto scoffed, "There's nothing that can beat the future Hokage and his posse!"

Sasuke growled at Naruto, "Who are you calling your posse…"

Naruto smirked and turned his nose up to look down on Sasuke, "Who do you think?!"

"Why you…!" Sasuke started, his hands stretching out to snap Naruto's neck.

"Hatake-san! Nara-sama!" Two medics appeared from behind the bushes. One dropped down by Kanoko and Shikamaru, his hands start to glow, while the other went over to Sasuke. Looking over at Shikaku, the one by Kanoko asked, "What is everyone's condition?"

"Sasuke and my two children are going to need some patching and a chakra transfer." Shikaku spoke cleanly. He looked at Naruto, "Naruto and myself are fine."

The medic nodded and continued to work on the Nara twins.

Kakashi walked over to Shikaku and spoke quietly, "I don't know what happened out here, but to say the brass is unhappy with Kanoko right now would be an understatement." Looking around a bit, he followed up, "What happened out here?"

Shikaku sighed heavily, "It's a long story I'd rather not have to share more than once."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to push, but after looking back at his students, he decided to wait, "Understood."

.

.

.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

.

.

.

.

.

"AAH!" A woman gasped, her breath heavy as her lungs sucked in air rapidly.

Kabuto pulled his glowing hand off of the blonde's back, "I must say…that was quite the close call. I didn't think you were coming back…Asami."

Asami placed a hand on her heart before glaring at Kabuto, still panting heavily. Grinding her teeth, she hissed at him, "You knew…you knew, and you DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ME?!"

Kabuto jumped back with a smirk on his face when Asami lashed a kunai at him. Adjusting his glasses he chuckled, "Well…I had my suspicions…" Kabuto's smirk grew, "Thank you for confirming it, though."

Asami stumbled to her feet, "I ALMOST DIED! He nearly beat me to death with nothing but his fists! With my ancestors' bodies pooled around me!"

Kabuto's eyebrows shot up, "Wow. Well, he wasn't the Second Hokage for nothing I suppose."

The Yamanaka growled, her fists tightening around her kunai, "And what do you plan to do now? I'm never going to get my revenge now! Not with a dead Hokage in my way!"

Kabuto shrugged, "You could always convince your boyfriend to wage war on the Hidden Leaf."

Asami paused, letting that idea roll around in her head, "It wouldn't be easy and it could take some time, but—"

"Well, at least, you could have." Kabuto said suddenly, a hand on his chin in thought.

Asami's eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about?"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses, "Well, after nearly killing Darui and his team, they scampered back to the Cloud. There's no way you can make it back now and without you there to convince the Raikage of your loyalty…"

"ARRRRGGG!" Asami shouted, slamming her fists into the tree beside her, using her kunai to slash through the bark. After a few moments, Asami's panting started to lessen, "You know what? It doesn't matter anyways. I can always go to the Akatsuki. They'll obliterate the Second Hokage's new family to make sure he doesn't interfere in their plans."

Kabuto gave Asami a pained look, "About that…"

Asami growled, "What. Now."

.

*SLIIIIIICE*

Blood painted the grass below as Asami's body was sliced in two.

Standing behind the now deceased Yamanaka was a bandaged man, holding out a sword with his tongue. Chuckling darkly, the man spoke, "Unfortunately for you, I can't let that happened. For, the reincarnated Senju Tobirama is worth more to me alive, than he is dead."

Kabuto smirked at his master before his eyes travelled down to the wide eyed, dead form of one Yamanaka Asami, "At least now she can join her husband and unborn son in the pit of the Shinigami's stomach."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

.

.

.

Kanoko glared at Naruto as he paced back and forth. They were standing at in front of The Council's chambers, waiting for someone to let them know they could come in. Shikamaru and Sasuke had been dragged to the hospital against their wills once they had reached Konoha's gates.

Kanoko wasn't surprised when the ANBU showed up for her and her father, guiding the two of them to the Hokage's tower. They said there were to bring Shikaku and Kanoko only, but there was no telling Naruto "No-anything". These particular ANBU looked like they had suffered Naruto's pranking wrath in the past and decided the pay wasn't enough and let Naruto tag along.

Kakashi also tagged along, but again, there were certain people in this village that heard the word "No" and translated that as "Do as you wish" in their brains.

"What is going on in there?! I can't take it!" Naruto shouted, pulling at his hair.

Kakashi sighed at his student, "If anyone has a right to be nervous and complain, it's Kanoko, not you Naruto."

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, "How could anyone think Kanoko would betray the village?! And isn't it clear what happen?! The Cloud framed Kanoko, kidnapped her, were betrayed themselves, and now she's back! Easy!"

"It's not that simple Naruto…" Kakashi tried to explain just before the doors opened.

Shikaku stood at the door, "They want to see you now." He told his daughter.

Kanoko nodded, walking passed her father.

Naruto was hot on Kanoko's tail, but was grabbed by the back of the collar by Shikaku.

"Not you." Shikaku told him.

Naruto thrashed, "HEY! WHY NOT! I gotta be there for support! It's a Team 7 thing! Right Kakashi-sensei?!"

Kakashi sighed and looked at Shikaku who closed the door behind Kanoko, "They're not letting you in either?"

Shikaku didn't respond. He simply stared at the door, his fists tight.

.

000000000000000000000000000

.

Kanoko walked into the room. In the center was a table. Seated around the table were people she recognized and people she didn't. One had an ANBU mask, telling her he was likely the head of the department or a close second. She also noted three of her former students: Danzo, Koharu and Homura.

At the head of the table was Tsunade.

Folding her hands on the table, Tsunade spoke, "I'm going to be blunt, Kanoko. You're father has explained the situation. We know of the Cloud's involvement and of the traitor's, Yamanaka Asami. However, your teammates assigned to you for patrol duty spoke of the events differently."

Kanoko stared ahead, her hands at her sides.

After a moment of silence, Danzo spoke with a smirk on his face, "You have a proper shinobi standing in front of Lady Tsunade. If you wish for her to speak, you must tell her so."

Tsunade stopped herself from snapping at the elder. Turning to Kanoko, Tsunade spoke, "What are your memories of the events before your capture?"

"Hokage-sama, near the end of our assigned patrol duty five Cloud shinobi came into my sensing radius. After learning that our team's skills were not a match against these foreign shinobi, our mission leader ordered Takeshi and Kyoko to report back to the village. Our team leader was too injured to continue fighting. In a last attempt to remove the threat, I activated a large seal explosion. Another Cloud shinobi joined the fight just as I activated the seal, helping all but one escape the blast. At that point, this new shinobi used an ancient Uzumaki seal to seal my chakra and movements." Kanoko explained quick and to the point, her voice never wavering.

Homura was the first to speak, "You activated a bomb in the same location as your injured team leader?!"

Kanoko nodded, "Yes."

Homura slammed his hands on the table and turned to Tsunade, "Her actions resulted in the death of her mission leader! There must be consequences for such actions!"

"I disagree. To be taken prisoner when it was clear that that was the Cloud's intent is unacceptable. This chunin made the right call." Danzo spoke firmly.

Koharu and the ANBU official nodded, agreeing with Danzo.

Turning to Kanoko, Koharu spoke, "You stated that they used an ancient Uzumaki seal on you. How did you know? Did they tell you?"

Kanoko shook her head, "No. I recognized the patterns."

"Recognized the patterns?" Tsunade asked, leaning back, "Have you been studying with Jiraiya?"

Kanoko shook her head, "No."

"Then how did you know?" Danzo asked, his eye narrowing.

"Uzumaki Naruto is on my team and I have been helping him learn more about his clan. His clan specialized in sealing, leading most of our research in that direction." Kanoko explained.

If anyone at the table seemed suspicious of that answer, they didn't show it or say it.

There was another moment of silence before Tsunade looked around the table, "Anymore discussion?"

At the silence, Tsunade looked back up at Kanoko, "We will be taking the day to deliberate your status in the village. You will be escorted to the hospital, so your wounds may be tended to. You will stay there overnight with an ANBU guard. You are not to leave the hospital until I speak with you again. Do you understand your orders?"

Kanoko nodded, "Yes."

"Good. Now leave." Tsunade told her bluntly, waving her out.

Kanoko opened the door and closed it behind her quickly, so the council didn't have to hear Naruto as he loudly questioned her, "So? SO? SOOOO?!"

Kanoko didn't show anything on her face as she spoke, "I am to report to the hospital and remain there until the Hokage contacts me."

"WHHHAAAAAT?!" Naruto cried out. Fuming, Naruto grabbed the handle to the council's chambers, "I'm going to give that old hag a piece of my mind!"

"Naruto! Wait!" Kakashi called out, worried that he was going to get in trouble again.

Kanoko placed a hand over Naruto's, "Naruto."

Naruto looked up at Kanoko with an annoyed look on his face.

"It's ok. Let's go visit everyone at the hospital. I want to make sure everyone is ok." Kanoko told him with a blank look.

Naruto grumbled, not completely sold on the idea.

Kanoko caught his eyes again, "Have you heard anything about Sakura?"

Naruto looked down at that, "…No."

Kanoko nodded, "Then we need to go see her. If you don't see her before Sasuke does, she going to think he cares about her more than her teammates does, and then fall in love with him more." Kanoko finished, in an attempt to trick Naruto into leaving.

Naruto's blue eyes went wide, "What?! We need to go!" And in that instant, Naruto was out the door and running at full speed to the hospital.

Kanoko watched Naruto's back as he ran down the stairs and smiled, "Thank you for believing in me, Naruto."

.

.

.

.

.

000000000000000000000000000000000

.

.

"Off woman! OOOOOFFFFF!" Shikamaru called out, batting his teammate's hands away.

"No! How dare you leave me behind on such an important mission!" Ino yelled at her teammate, "AND BRING BILLBOARD BROW INSTEAD!"

Shikamaru glared at Ino and mumbled, "I didn't want to bring her with me either… girls are nothing but troublesome."

Ino crossed her arms, not liking Shikamaru's answered.

"Come on Ino! Leave the poor guy alone!" Choji told her, laughing that the pair.

Ino point her finger at him, "And YOU! Taking ALL THREE PILLS! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF?!"

Choji laughed sheepishly, sweat-dropping as spoke, "It all worked out in the end?"

Ino opened her mouth, but found she couldn't speak, so was so angry.

"Come on guys. We all were worried about you. Cut your teammate some slack." Asuma told the boys, a small smirk on his face.

"Only when she gives us some…" Shikamaru muttered, turning to look out the window, watching the clouds go by, "Choji is right, but so is Ino. Everyone did almost die and it was sheer luck that everyone came out ok." His fists tightened around the sheets, "The only reason everything worked out is because Tou-san showed up and Kanoko freed herself. I didn't plan well enough and when it came down to the actual fighting, I'm a one trick pony!"

Shikamaru frowned at himself. Grabbing the sheets, he threw them back and jumped off the bed.

"Where are you going?" Asuma asked his student.

"To see if they've checked in my sister yet." Was all the Shikamaru said before closing the door behind him.

Walking down the hall, he made it to the front desk, "Has Nara Kanoko been checked in?"

The nurse looked through the book, "Yes…looks like she's in room 312."

Shikamaru nodded in thanks.

Making his way up the stairs, he found the room he was looking for. He placed his hand on the door handle and listened. Hearing nothing, concluded Naruto wasn't visiting his sister, he walked into the room.

The first thing Shikamaru noticed, besides his sister, was the guard in the corner. Giving the guard a suspicious look he turned to his sister, who was reading her chart, "You're so weird. Who reads their own chart?"

Kanoko shrugged, putting in on the stand next to her bed, "How are you doing?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Fine. How's Sakura?"

"Well, I'll be no longer giving her any explosive tags, seals, or bombs until she learns how not to blow herself up, but she doing well. She's mostly talking nonstop about how Sasuke showed up last minute like a knight in shining armor." Kanoko sighed tiredly, "Just when I thought I kicked that bad habit out of her..."

Shikamaru snorted, "I don't know if you can call obsession and stalking a bad habit."

Kanoko smirked, shaking her head. Looking up at her brother again she asked, "What are you really here for Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru turned slightly pink and mumbled, "What? A brother can't visit his sister in the hospital? Troublesome woman…"

Giving her brother a look, warning him about that word around her, she pushed, "When my room is located two flights of steps and three halls down from yours, and you haven't even had your midday nap yet, I know it's serious."

Shikamaru walked over to his sister's bed and shoved her over. Lying down next to her with his head resting on her shoulder, he spoke in an annoyed tone, "Just let me sleep, troublesome woman."

Kanoko took her pillow and slapped it in his face, making Shikamaru grumble loudly. Kanoko just smirked at him, picking the pillow back up and pacing it behind her head.

The sun shined through the window going into the room, giving the room a warm feeling.

Kanoko hummed lightly, giving into the calming atmosphere and relaxing her body. Laying her head back on the pillow with her jaw resting lightly on top of her brother's head, Kanoko stared out the window and thought.

"I still don't understand…if the whole point was to cause Shikaku and Yoshino pain, why use the Cloud to kidnap me? It would have been easier and simpler to wait until Shikamaru's team was sent on another mission then take over his sensei's mind. Clearly, she had the skill…why go through all the time and effort of manipulating the Cloud… Why even kidnap me and not gut me when they had the chance? It was a gamble to assume that Shikaku was willing and able to leave his village, against protocol, to help Shikamaru and I."

Kanoko's eyebrows creased, "If the sum is less than the combined components of the equation, then you are either missing pieces of the formula…"

The former Hokage shifted her eyes to the sleeping form of her brother.

"…Or the sum is just a part of the equation, and not the total."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

00000000000000000000000000000

.

The room was dark.

The only source of light were the few small torches located in the corners of the room – and only enough light to allow the shadowed figures to move about.

Shadows danced around the room as the figures moved to sit around a large table.

"Are we missing anyone?"

Silence followed.

"Then we'll start…"

"I hear all members of the Shikamaru's team returned, with their assigned mission completed."

"You are correct. The Hyuuga and the Akimichi were transported immediately, but are stable and recovering without issue."

A chorus of murmuring and nodding followed.

"Were there any complications?"

"No. Everything went as designed. Yamanaka Asami informed the boy of his parent's dark past. He will be curious to know more and his parents will refuse to tell him."

"And the council?"

"They have made their decision and will be informing the clan soon."

"Good."

"What about the Jinchuriki?"

"What about the boy?"

"A blind man could see how he sways the Hokage with his boyish charm."

"That will not be a problem. Jiraiya will take him from the village soon, in order to keep him from the Akatsuki."

Nodding followed again.

All but one.

"…What makes you so certain this will work? The Hokage, at the very least Danzo, will take notice of these events and how one woman's spite could not be the root cause."

Silence took over again until a deep voice spoke low.

"The Hokage will be too busy cleaning up the mess at the Waterfall border, as well as preventing a war with the Cloud. The Cloud does not like to admit fault and will lash out—blaming the Leaf for their own foolishness."

"As for Danzo…that has already been handled."

The room turned quiet for the third time.

"If there is nothing else…we are adjourned."

The sounds of chairs scratching against the stone floor and feet shuffling echoed in the small room. One by one, the shadows flickered out of the room until only two were left.

One of the figures slowly rose from their chair and turned towards the head of the table, "Everything comes down to the boy. What makes you so sure he will be strong enough to follow through?"

The elder at the head of the table folded his hands, the flames behind outlining his spiky ponytail and sharp face.

"Because he will have a lot more to lose than you or I."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

000000000000000000000000000

Author's Note:

So, what do you guys think?! :D

Quite honestly, I rewrote this chapter five or more times! At first it was pure, bloody action. Then it was drama filled angst. There was even a point where a main character died! But that was mostly me typing angrily… Let's just say a RPG dropped at Naruto's feet, from thin air, and he decided, "Why the hell not?"

But… None of it was actually a part of the story and I'm not sure why I kept typing!

There are only one to three more chapters until Shippuden! YAY!

.

Thank you all for your support, your kind words, your thoughts, comments, feelings… Thank you for everything!

I hope you enjoy this chapter and those to come!

.

Also, THANK YOU TO FREELANCEBUM! I horribly abuse him by telling him that I'm almost finished and then leave him hanging for 17 hours! He puts up with me so you all can read a grammar and error free story!