Mom blinked. "Oh, hello Shika. Did you take Naruko to get..." She trailed off, her face paling slightly as Menma's red eyes gazed at her and dad nervously.
"Hello, Mrs. and Mr. Nara. I'm not Naruko. Well, I sort of am?" Her voice trailed off as I spoke up, my lazy drawl absent as I sounded confident, proud.
"I finally mastered the Space-Time Jutsu I've been working on. Meet Menma, Naruko's alternate self from another reality. I brought her here for the time being as her Konoha no longer exists. She needed a place to stay." I said nonchalantly at the end.
My parents' eyes widened and my dad's face paled so fast he looked as white as the walls.
I frowned. "She means no harm to us." I said flatly. Naruko hadn't brought this reaction, so why... were... they...
Oh.
I snorted. "She's not the Kyuubi. She's fully mastered the bijuu to a degree that her eyes stayed that way."
Mom sighed in relief, and dad eventually regained some color in his face as he nodded to Menma. "Any friend of Shikamaru is a friend of ours." He said lazily at the end, turning to me, his face relaxed, but his eyes sharp and serious.
"How powerful is that Space-Time Jutsu of yours?" He asked me seriously.
I thought back on Elizabeth. Her power was limited to the local multiverse, but it was still to a degree multiversal, and while she had truly not shown much in the games, odds are this power had to lead to ways to bring back countless copies of other people into her dimension if she'd wanted to do so.
"I'd label it closer to A-rank in combat as supplemental, but S-rank overall in utility. Where it truly shines, is the possibilities it grants." I nodded to myself. That makes sense.
"No way. You are at least SS-rank, so I'd take that with a huge grain of salt." Menma said flatly as she turned to me. "I was able to fight several Kage and the Jinchuriki simultaneously and win, and you took me down in less than a second." She sounded grudgingly admiring of that fact.
My parents stared at us. I frowned at Menma. "Yes, but you weren't thinking straight at the time. As it was, I had the lucky counter."
Dad spoke up tersely. "Explain what you mean by SS-rank, Menma. My son has a habit of being both lazy and keeping his cards to his chest."
I shrugged. "Shinobi lifestyle. Keep a few things up your sleeves."
Mom and Menma nodded simultaneously as dad looked exasperated at me.
Menma spoke up, her voice clinical. "Space-Time Jutsu that allowed him to evade my ability to sense negative emotions, able to shrug off the scythe of one of my Nine Beasts that had tried to cut off his chakra when I did notice him, and allowed him to forcefully drag me away from the battle into what I'd assume is a pocket dimension.
Overall, Shikamaru Nara indicates a mastery over Space-Time Jutsu equal to what the Second Hokage had over Water. I labeled him SS-rank because where the Fourth Hokage can be fled on sight as long as you haven't been tagged by the Flying Thunder God, Shikamaru can simply appear where and when he wishes, does as he pleases, and no one can stop him or even make him flinch."
Menma's clinical voice turned admiring and her face turned pink as she got flustered. "He's easily heads and shoulders above anyone and everyone I know." She mumbled.
Mom's eyes gained a glint as she grinned. "Sounds like you have an admirer, Shikamaru." She teased us.
Menma's face turned red as she turned to glare at me. "I still think my udon beats your food. Blasphemy to assume anything is better than Ayame's udon in Ichiraku Udon." She pouted.
I chuckled. "Then I shall be the gravest of sinners, for not only will you proclaim my food superior, you'll need to have a proper food taste testing between you and Naruko. Ramen or Udon. At Ichiraku Ramen. And if my food outbeats both of yours, I want an even greater prize of my choosing at my discretion." I cackled darkly, my eyes glinting with an unholy glee.
Menma's face paled, her red eyes widening in horror. Yet, her mouth, and likely her Tsun personality, doomed her from the beginning.
"Deal." Menma whispered, her red eyes staring at me as her face flushed crimson. Challenging me.
Mom spoke up, amused. "So all I had to do to get my son to do chores was do bets?" She looked at me, her eyes glinting.
I shrugged. "Depends on the bet, Mom. I play to win." My grin widened as I continued to stare down at Menma, whose face stayed red as she fidgeted, unwilling to look away.
"Oh? Very shinobi of you, Shikamaru. I approve." Mom nodded. "Luckily for me, your father has gotten more responsible, feeding the deer to take up your slack."
Dad nodded warily, his eyes looking away as he muttered. "Someone has to." He drawled quietly.
What did dad do to piss off Wendy? I wondered for a moment until another person entered the dining room.
"Shika, why is there a dark haired red eyed me in the house, and why do I immediately think it's your fault?" Naruko said dryly as she stared at Menma, who stared back.
"Menma, this is Naruko, this universe's Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Naruko, I finally figured out how to enter other parallel universes. Menma is another version of you I found and took in since her version of Konoha is gone. Think of her as a 'sister' if you will." I explained.
Naruko nodded, looking more interested and excited. "Oh! Awesome! You'll love it here, especially with Ichiraku Ramen still standing!"
"Udon is superior." Menma said flatly, her nose raised in superiority.
Naruko stared at Menma, and then looked at me, her face horrified. "Shika, my sister has suffered severe brain damage! Enemy genjutsu! Maybe both!"
Menma snorted. "I'm perfectly fine. I just think udon is superior to ramen. We're not identical twins you know?"
Naruko looked at her helplessly, and then looked at me for help.
I shrugged. "I already have two bets with her. I told her that I could make my food better than her udon, and that if you and her went and tasted each other's favorites, and still honestly admit that my food is better than either, I get a prize of my choosing from both of you, at my discretion." I smirked darkly.
Naruko snorted. "Udon against your food, Shika? Easy win for you." Menma's eye twitched as she glared at Naruko.
"That sounds like fighting words, bitch." She growled.
Naruko blinked, and then laughed. "Please, I heard worse from the villagers. Monster, beast, vermin, freak, 'bitch' is an upgrade. If it's a fight you want, bring it on, you red eye'd cocksucking, dirt-eating, no-soul possessing, failure of a copy of a clearly superior original."
Menma's eyes narrowed as the blast of dark red chakra explo-, cut off instantly as the void sucked out all will to live, the endless abyss between the stars seeming to engulf her and Naruko until both of them couldn't even remember their own names. Had it been a moment in this place, or an eternity? Did they exist? Was anything real? Were they real?
They blinked back into existence, with Naruko and Menma's face equally pale, shaking slightly.
"No. Fighting. Am I clear?" I said bluntly, having used the Social Club to assert my will briefly over them both to remove them from their escalation.
They both nodded, their faces flushed as they looked down. "Yes. I'm sorry Shika." They repeated quietly.
I nodded. "Good. Now, get cleaned up and wash your hands while I get dinner ready." They nodded silently and left, with Naruko quietly apologizing to Menma as she nodded back, an even quieter apology returned.
Mom and dad stared at me for a moment. Dad suddenly stood up. "I need to go feed the deer." He said abruptly, and left like a bat out of hell. Mom nodded, waited until he left, and then turned to me with a wide grin on her face.
"Oh, my baby is growing up and even managing his own harem into behaving!" She squealed, as I sighed. "Next thing you know, I'll be getting more grandchildren than I can hold in my two regular arms!"
She's going to be like this for a while. I went to go make dinner, amused as Mom continued to be, well, mom.