Chapter 3: Gossip
Shikamaru frowned hearing the murmuring spreading throughout the village.
Delegates from Suna were arriving with the Kazekage and his family. The Suna Kage was offering his only daughter to broker a true peace agreement. The girl was being brought along with the Kazekage as he was one of Shikaku's long-time friends and the one to entertain the alliance.
Shikamaru had not liked hearing that.
He had been ninety percent certain that Naruto was to be his Bride. He had at least thought as much due to all the small bits of information he had gathered so far. That and she had been the only factor in the village to connect to a change in the village thus far.
Despite other clans setting up arranged marriages for clans and villages outside of the leaf there's always a possibility that Naruto was his unnamed bride-to-be. Especially since there had been no other factors so far to dispute his free tidbits of information.
Then this new factor came into play and gave the boy doubt.
His mouth twitched in irritation. He needed more information as obviously his parents weren't offering up any and the boy realized there were a lot of political factors and aspects that he was not privy to. Concrete proof was needed but hard to obtain.
Obviously, his father had made many friends throughout the elemental nation. He was the village's tactician and main diplomat so it wasn't like he only had ties to those in the village.
Hell, it could even be a different woman from a different village Shikamaru just wasn't aware of all the political intricacies going on.
Most clans used their children for political marriages in the first place. All political aspects tied into the village could be life-altering for everyone involved. There was too much to rule out. He would be a fool were he to not consider other unknown variables.
He was right though, it wasn't like he could sneak into his father's study, especially since that man had seals littering the room protecting it and the contents within.
He needed to find out more and the only way to do that would be to brave some questionable sources.
The village market or the most known gossip-filled space. He had been so sure things would be simple until he had other factors thrown in his face and made him irritable with the many other possibilities.
This was all becoming so Troublesome.
Shikamaru was up early on the nearest Sunday morning and ready and waiting for his mother. Yoshino was delighted her son was so eager to go shopping with her, usually, she had to drag him kicking and screaming.
It was a nice change of pace but it also brought all sorts of suspicious questions to the forefront of Yoshino's mind.
She wished Shikaku would allow her to talk of her son's fiancee.
She knew he was trying to gather information as they were awaiting the go-ahead from the Hokage mostly.
Hiruzenand the Uzumaki elders it seemed were the main blockade against the children meeting until they were to become of age. The Hokage wished for all to remain blissfully ignorant. Though from the looks of things that would be rapidly changing if her son figured it out. The Nara's were unsure knew it the girl knew.
They had been careful only feeding him little information. Shikaku had too many political ties to keep Shikamaru occupied and Yoshino knew her son would like his father to overthink it a bit.
Suna, Uzumaki, and a delegate's daughter from the fire daiyamo all had connections to the leaf through politics. Each was offering a daughter for marriage and each would have a hand in playing to the village and the Shinobi in general.
They were all important to the leaf that they all occurred and these women were bound by marriage to the village.
Shikamaru had no concrete proof and Yoshino knew they weren't meant to say a thing on the matter... not yet at least.
They all had ties to Shikaku as they all went through him and each father to the girls living or otherwise had all been good friends with him. There was no discerning one relation from the other but still. It would be quite frustrating to the point her son would find ways to snoop.
Maybe Yoshino would convince Shikaku to let out some hints instead of giving the boy nothing. That is if Shikamaru hasn't already figured it out for himself yet. She was sure he was picking through the boys and pieces of information he had to connect them all somehow. He could know but he wasn't to speak of it. They hadn't known he was this invested nor what had caused him to take sudden interest when before he seemed content to just accept it all.
She pondered this as they strode around the market. Shikamaru was quite casual to the untrained eye but his mother knew normally he'd be half asleep by now.
So far they'd heard the delegate's daughter was reluctant to enter into the Shinobi villages as a bridal candidate. The Suna girl was a little older than her future husband. The Uzumaki girl was here to integrate with the village and merge her clan. All three shared high value and political intricacies connecting to the leaf village. The Nara's weren't the only ones to have arranged their children's future partners. The Uchiha and Aburame clans followed suit and their sons had future brides set up for them.
Shikamaru needed more details but hearing the women's chatter was grating on his ears. All he's heard had been insignificant to figuring out anything and it got Shikamaru no closer to figuring out if Naruto was his future bride or not.
A flash of gold caught Shikamaru's gaze and his head snapped seeing an angered Naruto who glowered behind her in the crowded shopping area. Someone had thrown her? Her ever-present shadow rushed to the now yelling girl."Stay out of my shop you demon!" This coming from a shop owner that must have been the cause of the ruckus.
Silence flowed suddenly and a looming red-haired man blazed past a startled Naruto towards the suddenly fearful-looking shop owner.
The ladies around Shikamaru began quietly twittering amongst themselves and the young Nara glanced to his mother's face.
He froze as her expression was cold fury. She was shaking and her gaze seemed to be aimed at Naruto herself who now seemed to be attuned to all the whispering. Dread filled his stomach a bit. His mother looked like she was weighing consequences and Shikamaru knew it would not be something good if she looked to be ready to take on the kami themselves.
Shikamaru knew Naruto was treated differently. In all his time crossing her path, he had seen instances and while he always wanted to jump in but there were always those of her clan clamoring to defend her. Hell, Naruto herself would snap at people who dared cross her. She'd prank them to oblivion until they ensured to stay out of her path.
It was the first time Shikamaru had seen it so blatantly expressed though. The first time he had born witness to someone daring to insult the girl.
In public no less.
Naruto, despite her youth, was still a clan heiress. The Uzumaki were a powerful bunch and to mess with them meant the entire clan snubbed you. That not even factoring in the mysterious connections the clan had to the Hyuga, you offend the Uzumaki and the Hyuga clan would take that slight personally.
Shikamaru needed to understand just why that was though. Once again this was part of a puzzle he had little to no information on and that needed to change.
His mother suddenly moved like a blazing fireball towards the commotion. The redhead who was gripping the pale vendor by his collar was pleading and whimpering.
Shikamaru stood dumbfounded as his mother pulled the angered Uzumaki redhead off the man who Shikamaru recognized shock on Nagato's face and plucked him and suddenly scared Naruto up and away from the now gossiping crowd.
His mother charged past Shikamaru only telling him to follow and he did not hesitate to trail after his mother and her... acquaintances?
He had never moved so fast following his mother towards the Nara compound. Once they crossed into their land his mother set the blonde down and eyed Shikamaru for a moment.
"Shika play with your friend while I chat with her uncle okay." his mother's gaze left no room for argument or questions so the boy nodded and tugged away a confused blonde.
Shikamaru led Naruto towards the forest and one of his older cousins immediately followed behind the young pair most likely to see to their safety.
"Your mom's kinda scary." Naruto spoke still eyeing the direction Nagato was dragged towards. "Though she's pretty cool at the same time." The blonde seemed to smile and follow Shikamaru whose brain decided to take a vacation.
"Right, what was that even about though? I don't get it." Shikamaru frowned but Naruto's expression fell and looked strained.
"Honestly I'm not sure. ever since coming to this village, I've gotten that a lot. Maybe to them, I'm a demon." Naruto tried to smile but Shikamaru could tell she looked hurt by the treatment. She fidgeted almost unconsciously shamed at the public embarrassment she had faced. Shikamaru was already thinking of ways to get back at that vendor himself.
"Well, I can guarantee I don't think of you that way." The pair shared a comfortable difference and Naruto sent a soft smile his way.
"Well, considering the Uchiha-"
"Naruto!" The blonde sighed and turned to a concerned-looking Nagato. He had a hard expression on his face and Shikamaru's mother looked almost defeated behind that firey red head.
"Thank you for your hospitality and for your... advice Nara San." Nagato's voice was cold not at all the dazed or confused young man that had been dragged into their property only minutes ago.
This was all becoming more muddled, he only had more questions and no answers.
"What are you talking-" Yoshino rushed forward slapping her hand over Shikamaru's mouth and shaking her head. Shikamaru saw his cousin twitch but one glance from Yoshino sent him scampering off.
"Shika whatever discovery you have made or burning questions you are holding back. Keep it in your head. Do not speak a word. Please." The desperation in Yoshino's voice made the boy flinch but not in agreement.
Nagato seemed almost desperately relieved and Naruto looked as if she had the air knocked out of her lungs.
"Sorry, Shikamaru." Naruto looked cowed and waved the boy off as Nagato inclined his head.
"Until the time comes. Please keep away from Naruto. Please." Shikamaru looked at Nagato who really looked distressed but could not promise to keep away. Whatever was going on was something that they really weren't supposed to speak on. Nagato seemed to understand that Shikamaru would not promise anything. The kids would be uncooperative and now that would make his job harder.
He really wanted to know what Naruto was going to say about the Uchiha. He still thought she was a possible future bride as the blonde was a promised bride and he was one of the few she interacted with. Naruto seemed as if she wanted to talk to him, to confide in Shikamaru but they were constantly interrupted or other factors stopped them from passing information.
Though she seemed to have some knowledge that he lacked. The way Naruto interacted with Shikamaru was peculiar, to say the least. The girl barely knew him, and was apprehensive of him but seemed to trust him as a confidant. Or her actions of trying to deliver information to him would be even more questionable. Naruto was either his future arranged bride and already was seeking companionship and friendship with him or...The blonde was the fabled Uchiha bride that had been arranged from outside the clan. She might be against being the Uchiha bride and sought out other companions to find a way out of the arrangement, Shikamaru was an obvious choice as the young man knew a lot about the village and its culture. Naruto was new to this all but she established that she knew Shikamaru was smart as she would seek him out for conversation when they would sometimes sneak out of class together.
Shikamaru wondered why his questioning was stopped, why the adults around him refused to offer up any information. Why Naruto seemed more informed about this confusing mess than he was?
With that answers came even more questions.
Nagato bowed and left with a forlorn-looking Naruto. Yoshino took her hand back and began fretting over her son.
Shikamaru was tugged into his home and his mother rushed him into his room almost frantic. She slid to the floor and looked at her son with guilt.
"Please, just hold back your questions." Shikamaru had never seen his mother so pale. What exactly had happened when she and Nagato stepped away to talk?
His mother had been on a path of righteous fury and returned to him subdued.
This was a more difficult puzzle than he first realized. He would have to work with some discrepancy and so Shikamaru just hugged his mother who quietly sobbed and mumbled 'I'm sorry Shika.'
He held back on asking any more questions. He would find out in due time. He still has no evidence but now he felt he didn't need to torment his mother with questions she would be unable to answer. He hadn't even realized he had been so restless lately and that it had clouded his judgment and thoughts a bit. He would submit this emotion really distracted him where it comes and he'd need to time counter it a bit.
He would... refrain from interacting with Naruto. Until the time comes out until Shikamaru could find a loophole. Naruto was his possible fiancee after all and none would intimidate him into staying away from her forever
Shikamaru needed to do some research on the Uzumaki clan. He could no longer flounder around blind. He trotted out of his room dragging his mother along. She was wiping her tears away.
"Let's play a game of shoji." Yoshino looked surprised but followed along with her son.
T.S.B
Naruto was settled into the ground within her home. A tense silence stretched between the blonde Uzumaki and her physical jailer to the clan.
The Uzumaki heiress wasn't as stupid as the clan elders thought her to be.
Nagato was her guard since she had been a newborn brought to the clan. He watched over her, cared for her, and did everything he could to keep her there.
He guarded her not for her safety but to keep the clan's trump card from escaping. Nagato was always there following the elder's words and doing as they asked. Even if it upset Naruto.
"Naruto I-"The blonde turned her head so swiftly it stopped Nagato's words in his throat. She was glaring, he had never seen her so...hateful.
"I will retire to my bedroom Nagato San. Let everyone know to not disturb me." It took everything in the blonde to not tremble in rage. The look of hurt that crossed Nagato's expression at Naruto's formal tone with him stung the blonde.
She pushed down that feeling and strode to her room. They wouldn't keep her away from Shikamaru, they had just started to become friends. They didn't want Naruto to interact with anyone in this dammed village. They just wanted the blonde to do her duty and be their cloak of power and reputation. Her clan's stiff traditions were screwing her over. She would find a way around this bullshit though. She was Naruto Uzumaki and she would not be cowed into following the rules if she could help it.
Naruto had a seal to finish.
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