Hey! Sorry for the long wait—I had a minor case of writer's block, plus exams... Yeah, it wasn't pretty.

Anyway here is chapter 8! I hope you like it! :D

8

Inoichi laughed merrily at Shikaku's pained 'troublesome'. The Jounin commander gave him a scathing glare but quickly let it go, expression contorting into a mix of pensive, irritated and impassive—which was really strange and almost impossible for anybody else, but for the Nara it wasn't that uncommon.

"Oh, come on, Shika," the blond man said, still unable to disguise his chuckles completely. "It's not that bad."

The man opened one eye to give his friend a deadpan look. Inoichi snorted once more but then visibly tried to get himself together.

"Even though the boy is so—particular," he continued, hesitating slightly on the last word, "I've seen what he is capable of. I don't doubt for a moment that he can play his part as we've planned. Even if the Kyu—Kurama says that he is shit at lying." Shikaku tightened his jaw and didn't look any more reassured at that. He had been told, of course, when he was called. About Naruto, about the Kyuubi, about the impossibility of his misplacement through dimensions and time and circumstances that made his logical mind hurt. "He doesn't really have to, though. Saying he's Minato's brother is different from saying he's his son, but they're still related by blood and they are family either way."

And hadn't that been a shock?

Shikaku had been prepared for about anything when the two messenger ANBU appeared at his compound demanding his presence at the Hokage Tower. He had been slightly upset, as he had just barely managed to convince his genius little boy to play Shogi with him, but the urgency was clear. He assured the ANBU of his immediate departure, changed his everyday robes for his Jounin uniform and kissed Yoshino and Shikamaru goodbye. He muttered a half-hearted complaint followed by a heavy, resigned sigh before he leaped to the nearest tree and travelled as fast as he could towards the centre of the village.

Why was he being called this time? Threats of a new war? Problems in the ranks? He couldn't say he knew of any, really, except maybe for the fact that nobody really wanted to team up with Gai, but that hardly required his Hokage's concern—

He stopped before the Tower's entry and made his way to the Third's office, politely bowing to the man's Chuunin secretary who smiled tightly at him and let him through without question. She must have been informed of his prompt arrival and given instructions to act accordingly.

"Nara Shikaku reporting for service, Lord Third," he announced as he opened the door, head down in a show respect, "what can I do for you, Hokage-sama?" He asked, lifting his gaze without waiting for permission, already knowing what the man's next words would be. This same pattern has been repeated since the moment he was promoted to his current position, and for that same reason he didn't hesitate to break formalities. (The Third did not care for them when they were alone or with trusted people, after all.)

"Ah, Shikaku-san. Thank you for coming. Please, enter, and lift your head. Close the door behind you."

Shikaku did as he was commanded, and only then did he survey the rest of the room—and most importantly, his occupants.

The Hokage and the three ANBU in the shadows were a given; Morino-san and Inoichi were not really surprising, if a bit unexpected. However, the fourth visible person in the room was not somebody he expected to see, and it was him who suddenly gained all of Shikaku's attention. Blond hair, cerulean blue eyes, and a mischievous—though slightly sheepish—smile.

"Lord Fourth…?" He asked, surprised, but immediately dismissed it. Looking carefully past the distinctive colouring, there were slight differences in the line of his jaw and the shape of his eyes. He looked… softer, perhaps. With a stocky complexion, shorter than Minato, he definitely was younger than the man had been before his early demise.

The grimace and the quick shake of the blond's head only reinforced his observation.

"No! Ah—I'm Naruto," he denied, and then gulped. Shikaku raised his eyebrow incredulously because… well, that name rung a bell, though he was sure Minato's child was a little girl who was about the same age as Shikamaru. The young man looked at his companions searchingly and the Jounin commander took note of the easy camaraderie and confidence there was with Inoichi—and with the Hokage, to certain extent. Morino-san looked sour, but Shikaku knew that was the man's default expression, so he didn't give it much thought. The Hokage nodded encouragingly and the teenager bit the inside of his lip momentarily before squaring his shoulders and turning towards Shikaku once again. He stated, boldly, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Minato's son from—eh, from another time?" He finished uncertainly, glancing awkwardly in Inoichi's direction.

As Shikaku covertly tried to hide his gawking, Inoichi rhythmically tapped his jaw with his index finger in a gesture that the Jounin commander recognized as the one he did when deeply concentrated. He hummed beneath his breath while thinking over the blond boy's statement.

Shikaku didn't know what he was expecting his friend to respond, but it surely wasn't "Well, I've been thinking that it probably is both a different time and a different dimension, because that's the only logical conclusion if we take into account the differences in sexes between you and your little counterpart."

The boy—Naruto, apparently—nodded his acceptance easily and grinned at Shikaku.

"What he said!" He chirped, and his easy disposition and obviously cheerful nature were so startlingly reminiscent of Kushina that any lingering doubt Shikaku had disappeared into nothingness.

He suddenly felt a lump in his throat, feelings trying to overwhelm his impassive expression, because if this young man could be so much like his parents… what about the little female version of him? Did she look more like Kushina because she's a girl? Did she act more like her father, or her mother? Was she as lively as this young man here? Why didn't he know?

Yoshino had been a very dear friend of Kushina, even though the redheaded Uzumaki considered Mikoto her closest friend. Shikaku himself had been in very good terms with Minato, even when the blond man was some years younger. And after their deaths… Why hadn't they tried to be in contact with Naruko? The council prohibited her adoption, sure. But that was no excuse for leaving her like they had. Where did she go? Has she been taken care of properly? Was she going to attend the Academy?

So many questions—not a single answer.

(Could any other clan claim something different? He sincerely hoped so, but at the same time he didn't hold his breath.)

"Tell me everything," he pleaded. "From the beginning."

The other people in the room interchanged glances but decided not to comment on his choked up words. Instead, they took turns in recounting what had happened during the previous hours and what they had decided to do from then on.

Naruto was amusingly frustrating with his storytelling, jumping from fact to fact and then going back and never giving much clarity in his descriptions—which apparently frustrated the Kyuubi to no end, and for that very reason he made an appearance when they were talking about the night he "attacked."

"I won't stand for you to explain this with vague 'Sharingan-thingy' analogies, brat," he had growled when he took over, scaring Shikaku half to death. The others had already seen the drastic change take place, so were visibly less unnerved by it, but still wary. "So I, as one of the most injured parties in this—", he made a face and fought not to roll his eyes, Shikaku supposed the reaction was towards something that his host said in their shared mind. "As I was saying, as one of the most vilified parties in this mess, I have the right to explain everything here. But first—Baby Uchiha!" He snapped, head turning towards one of the concealed ANBU.

Shikaku followed his line of sight, wondering why he was impressed by that, considering that he knew he was in front of a trained Jinchuuriki cooperating with the most powerful of the bijuu, who had been about to be named Hokage in his own Konoha.

The ANBU guard—Uchiha Itachi, Shikaku surmised from the height and what he knew of the ranks—tensed slightly but didn't show any other form of acknowledgement. Shikaku was impressed. Even if he was ANBU, the kid was just around thirteen. Shikaku himself would have probably flinched from such an unexpected and aggressive calling, but the boy did nothing.

Kurama groaned and rubbed his eyes tiredly, turning towards the Lord Hokage with an expression that wasn't quite pleading, but that clearly conveyed his need.

"Please, Karasu. Remove your mask and join us," Sarutobi said kindly but with a note of steel in his tone. The ANBU hesitated minutely, but then resolutely stepped out of the shadows and took off his porcelain mask. It revealed the pale face of Uchiha Itachi, young and already marked with the stress of the job. Impassive, too serious to belong to a kid. Shikaku ached somewhere deep inside. He had never liked the idea of kids in the ranks, much less so high up being still so young, but it was not his place to complain.

"Lord Hokage," the boy saluted. "Nara-dono, Yamanaka-dono, Morino-san, Nine Tails-san."

Kurama snorted. "Just call me Kurama, brat," he retorted. "I don't really care much for Uchihas, but you are maybe not so bad." The grimace on his face didn't make his statement really believable, and his next words confirmed his dislike. "Argh, who am I kidding? I hate you all, and your stupid dojutsu, but Naruto for whatever unfathomable reason respects you and has a soft spot for the pain-in-the—Sasuke, your little hellion of a brother, so…" He shrugged, unconcerned with the death glare that his careless words about the smallest Uchiha had provoked in the eldest brother. "Yeah, whatever. Have you been approached yet by a man who calls himself Madara?" He asked, suddenly serious. It was a non-sequitur that took everybody by surprise, but the Uchiha quickly regained his composure and examined the man shrewdly.

"What, may I ask, do you know about that?" The boy asked politely, but with apprehension in his voice.

"Ah, damn," Kurama growled, messing up blond hair angrily. "We're late for that, then. Well, doesn't matter. We'll—" he interrupted himself and then looked around the intrigued faces observing him attentively. He harrumphed and pointedly turned back towards the Uchiha. "That man," Kurama said, "is your cousin, Uchiha Obito." Before he could be interrupted by what Shikaku knew was going to be an avalanche of protests and questions—though not by Itachi, but Inoichi and Ibiki, most probably—he lifted a hand in a wordless request for silence. "No—he didn't die under that boulder in his mission to Iwa. He was saved by the real Madara, and quite thoroughly brainwashed and manipulated to the point he has forsaken his own name and beliefs for the sake of an impossible dream."

They were silent for a moment, trying to absorb that information. Then, Kurama proceeded.

"The real Madara died—after making sure that Obito would continue his work by arranging—not directly but almost—Nohara Rin's death."

It was too much in too little words. Shikaku was glad that Kakashi was not present to hear this—he feared for the boy's sanity, if they were to drop this bomb over him after all he's suffered.

"In fact, he's the one responsible for my breaking free the night Naruto was born. He literally tore me away from Kushina's seal when it was weak from giving birth, not before taking baby Naruto in a wild goose chase as a distraction for the Fourth," he then looked at the Hokage, whose face looked carefully blank but his pale knuckles betrayed his inner turmoil. "He was the one that killed the Midwife and her assistants," the demon confided, sounding almost apologetic. Almost. "He's the one behind Akatsuki, too. They are—or will start to—hunt the Jinchuuriki to extract the bijuu and awaken the juubi, who will summon Kaguya, who will try to destroy the world. So. It's a major problem, but Naruto insists that the brat cannot be killed, as he is still redeemable or some other shit," Kurama grumbled. Shikaku had the distinct impression that demon and host had very different values and opinions regarding how to 'deal with their problems'. He was glad that Naruto had not been influenced too much by Kurama's obvious thirst for blood.

"Anyway, I was talking about Naruto's birth. I was taken from Kushina and then the damn Uchiha snared me with his damn Mangekyou Sharingan," he spat the name with so much disgust that Itachi actually flinched this time. "He controlled me. I wasn't completely aware of what I was doing—believe me, I'd have run far, far away if I had the choice," he sniffed disdainfully. "But then appeared that damned frog and the Yondaime and his stupid Eight Triagrams Seal, and I was suddenly in so much pain because being forcibly separated of half of your being hurts like hell I tell you, and the next thing I know I woke up because my new host was calling on my power without even knowing because Sasuke had been killed."

Itachi very obviously froze at that, the demands for explanations clear in his tight expression and sharp obsidian eyes, but Kurama continued without taking notice of it.

"I was happy to help—well, that's not true. I was very pissed off, actually, because apparently I had been sealed into a new host, who was still just twelve years old and an idiot." His eyes flickered blue and his expression changed to one highly offended during the necessary seconds Naruto needed to yell his disagreement with a loud "Hey!" It was really strange for the onlookers to see the man pinching his own cheek just before the eyes turned red once again. "Brat. It's true. You were insufferable when you were a kid. Admit it. Er… where was I?"

"Sasuke had been killed?" Inoichi reminded him when none of the others seemed ready to offer a response.

"Ah, yes. Well, I gave the brat a little bit more power than he could safely control and he went feral. Almost killed the other kid, the one who had supposedly killed the Uchiha. But he stopped," he grimaced, "I didn't understand how, then. I wasn't really thinking straight, for that matter. I was only trying to get free."

"Had—supposedly—killed?" Itachi asked tightly, something akin hope and relief in his tone.

"Yeah. He was not dead, just looked like it," Naruto responded this time. It seemed that the Kyuubi had decided that he was done with his part. "Sakura-chan and I had been so very relieved. It had been our first C-rank mission, you know, and it turned out it was actually an A-rank. If it weren't for Kakashi-sensei and even Kurama's intervention—the three of us would have probably died."

It was a sombre silence, what followed.

"So… you know of the Coup?" asked the Sandaime, and every eye turned towards him askance. Shikaku was undeniably shocked, as he hadn't heard anything about that beforehand. Looking at his friend and the interrogator, he could safely affirm based on their incredulous expressions that they didn't know what the man was talking about, either.

Naruto grimaced, looking in that moment very similar to Kurama minutes earlier.

"I know. It's a bloody nightmare, and it can totally be avoided without bloodshed if we take certain steps. I don't want Itachi-san to be responsible for killing his entire family once again."

The statement darkened the already bleak atmosphere even more.

"We're all ears," the Sandaime had said, and for the next couple of hours the small group discussed many different things—from how to deal with the Uchiha's Coup d'etat to Naruto's story to join the village.

He had been adamant about taking care of his counterpart in any way he could, because 'I won't let her grow up alone as I did, if I can change that'—which made Shikaku's guilt increase as it seemed that the boy had been neglected all his life and it would probably have happened to Naruko if he hadn't appeared now—so they worked it out in a way that the Council could not refute his claim to her. It was flimsy at best and sketchy at worst, but they hoped it would stand. They only needed Naruto to play his part correctly.

At dinnertime, Sarutobi-sama declared they had done enough for the time being and invited Naruto to accompany him for a cup of ramen.

"Naruko will surely be there," he added, though further bribe was unnecessary, as at the mention of the meal the boy's eyes had already lost focus and he was almost drooling at the prospect of eating it. Shikaku was amused, seeing that the love for noodles Kushina had had certainly passed down to her kid.

(He felt a twinge of pain when he wondered if Naruko was the same, and he decided then and there that he would talk with Yoshino about inviting the blondes to their home for dinner after they'd settled down.)

The rest of the group had been dismissed, and Inoichi promptly disappeared in the direction of the shinobi bars, mumbling about needing to drown himself in cheap sake to make this shit bearable. Shikaku sympathised.

The remaining two ninjas walked leisurely and in silence towards Inoichi's Flower Shop—which had closed some hours before, so it'd hopefully be empty; perfect to talk about what happened in relative peace.

He hadn't expected for his best friend to explode in wild, uncontrollable giggles the moment they closed the door.

Apparently, he had found Shikaku's incredulous and shocked expressions when he laid eyes on Naruto—and then Kurama—for the first time entirely too funny.

Shikaku groaned.

"So troublesome."

So, sorry if there are mistakes (I'm really tired right now but I wanted to post this already), just point them out and I'll edit it! :)

I don't think I'll resume the daily-update thing I had going before exams started, because the lenght... On a good note, I've pretty much planned out the entire damn thing and it's long. Way too long but oh, hell. What does it matter? At least now I have some kind of plot to drive me xD

Suggestions and (constructive) criticism are always welcome! :D