Chapter One: Setting Up The Board

Somewhat nervously, Umino Iruka sat in the chair opposing the desk of the Hokage. He had been in this exact position many times before, doing this same exact thing. But this time, it was different…

Taking his time, the Sixth Hokage Hatake Kakashi looked through the files on the desk before him. One of the major changes his predecessor, Tsunade, had wanted to institute was expanding the size of a standard ninja squad to four genin. Furthermore, the fourth member was to be a dedicated medic, something that Kakashi himself proudly supported. But there were many old traditionalists both within Konoha and in other nations, so a proof of concept needed to be put together. In many ways, this turned out to be the optimum solution. Not only would it serve to see the viability of this idea, but it would be the prime opportunity to break in a new jonin-sensei…

After all, if he couldn't make this crazy idea work, who could?

"I must say you've outdone yourself Iruka-san." Kakashi finally stated after a few moments of silence, stacking the files on top of each other.

A smile spread across Iruka's face, prompting him to let out a nervous chuckle. "Well that's a relief, I was worried for a moment you were going to chastise me for making this too difficult."

"Mah, mah." The Hokage replied with a smile, waving one of his hands at the academy teacher non-chalantly. "We both know he needs a challenge to succeed. I was more concerned about making sure no one got lost in the dust. I've seen that happen more than enough times with three but….maybe Tsunade was onto more than she thought…"

TTTTTTTTT

Nara Shikamaru was laying in the grass behind his home, deep in contemplation as he stared at the clouds. His mother had offered at least a dozen times to get him a hammock, but hammocks had to be strung between trees, and finding a pair of trees that were strong enough but still allowed easy views of the sky was just... troublesome.

"There you are, Shika." A woman's voice cut through his thoughts like a well-honed kunai. Turning his head, the shinobi saw his lovely and very pregnant wife Temari moving in his direction. "I knew you would be somewhere lazing around." With a soft sigh, Shikamaru slid up onto a fallen log, using it as a makeshift bench. Temari took the unspoken invitation and lowered herself onto the log next to him, waiting for some type of pithy comeback.

Instead, Shikamaru just kept staring off into the distance, his hands habitually forming into a familiar position in his lap. His recent stance of taking his life more seriously and ceasing to avoid responsibilities came with a few particular drawbacks, and right now he was staring down the barrel of one. The genius shinobi was so enraptured in his thoughts that he nearly jumped out of his skin at the feeling of another hand on top of his own.

"You're worrying about money still, aren't you…" Temari's comment was much more a statement then a question. Shikamaru made no effort to deny it; as smart as he was, he would never be able to pull one over on this troublesome woman.

The cold fact of the matter was that finances were tighter than he was comfortable with. True, they would never go homeless; he was the current head of the Nara clan, and their compound was expansive. But living off the funds and resources of his family and ancestors didn't sit right in his head. He wanted to be able to provide for his family in some way; and while the work the pair did with the Shinobi Union was important, it also didn't pay well. And to pour salt in the wound, more peace in the world ment less higher-rank missions were being needed. Were it just the two of them still, they would be able to make it fine, but with a new baby on the way they needed something more, no matter how insane that was…

"The Hokage made me an offer earlier today…" Shikamaru finally spoke up. "He wants me to be a jonin-sensai." He chuckled dryly as he shook his head. "I honestly can't think of anything more troublesome...but it would help out without putting myself at serious risk."

"Yeah, but that would mean you have something to actually teach them…" Temari smirked. "I mean besides how to find pictures in the clouds while smoking a pack a day."

"You can't teach that anyway, it's an art form." Shikamaru replied without missing a beat.

TTTTTTTTT

The classroom was filled with an eerie silence as the last four members sat alone. Even Iruka-sensei had left them with only the cryptic response that their new sensei would be in soon. But after a few minutes with no one entering, the tension started to grow.

"Arrrrghg, this is bullshit!" Noh Ayumi was the first to snap, leaning back in her chair and angrily shoving her hands into her hoodie pocket. Dressed in all black with long dark hair covering half her face and her hitte around her neck, Ayumi was the physical epitome of the dark and edgy shinobi with an attitude to match.

"Hate to say I have to agree with the Dark Lord, but she's right." Shoto Izumi added, ignoring the death glares the comment drew. Her piercing blue eyes glared out over the round light-blue sunglasses that sat low on the bridge of her nose, trying to figure out what the thread that connected them. Skillwise, the group were in the middle of the class, their skill-sets varied and well balanced.

"Maybe we all actually failed, and Iruka-sensei didn't have the heart to tell us." Hadma Mitsufune idly stated, pulling a well-worn deck of hanafuda cards out her kimono and skillfully shuffling them. "Man I really hope that's not the case, I so do not want to have to become a courtesan after all this work."

"What if…what if this is some kind of extra test?" Hiragumi Fu finally spoke up meekly. Dressed in a formal kimono, the highly religious young man nervously gripped the staff he always was seen with, causing the metal rings adorning its intricate head to rattle.

"Well at least one of you managed to figure it out." A voice toned out from the back of the room, causing the four newly minted genin to turn in surprise. At first, it looked like the sound had come from nowhere. But then, the green painted wall started to ripple, and before their eyes a hand appeared as if out of nowhere. Raising up, the hand grabbed and pulled back the hood of a cloak, revealing the head and face of one of the legends of the Fourth Shinobi War.

"No fucking way." Ayumi half-whispered, her breath taken away in pure shook as her one exposed eye was the size of a dinner plate.

"Nara Shikamaru…" Izumi managed to stutter out, the toothpick she had been chewing on falling to the floor.

"How..how long has he been there?" Fu asked in total shock, only eliciting a shrug from Mitsufune as she kept shuffling and cutting her deck.

"The whole time." Shikamaru replied plainly as he slipped off the dark green cloak, dyed the same exact color as the wall he had been standing against. "Honestly, I'm a bit worried, I know they taught the Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique) here back when I was a student, and I slept through most of my classes." A sarcastic smirk grew across the Nara clan head's face as the haunting cloud of shame grew over his student's heads. "Come on, lets get out of here."

TTTTTTTTT

Yakiniku Q. A culinary institution in Konoha, and a Team Asuma tradition. Naturally,it was the first place that Shikamaru thought of to bring his team. The group was settled in one of the larger seating areas, with cushions on the floor in a more traditional fashion and the charcoal pit embedded in the center. A thousand feelings flooded over Shikamaru as he settled into a spot at the head position, memories of the past all coming bubbling to the surface. A part of him wished Asuma was here to see this moment, but all he could do now was to uphold those memories to the best of his ability.

"Alright." The new sensei started as he lit up a cigarette with that same old lighter beatup lighter, taking a deep drag as he watched his first class of students settle into their seats. Making sure to blow the smoke up towards the vents, he continued. "I know you four know each other, but I don't know any of you and you don't know me. So, we're going to go around and introduce ourselves. Nice and simple stuff, nothing too deep." What he didn't tell them though, was that they were already telling him a lot. The team were sitting in pairs, two on either side of the fire pit. As such, Izumi and Ayumi were sitting across from each other, a smoldering tension between the two of them as they glared at each other over their menus. Meanwhile, Fu and Mitsufune were giving the Nara their full attention, with Fu sitting as stiff as a board while MItsufune was lounging like she was at a bar with old friends.

"I'll do you all a favor and start." Shikamaru continued after taking another drag of his cigarette. "As you already figured out, my name is Nara Shikamaru. I'm the current head of the Nara clan, and I enjoy cloudwatching, shogi, go, and on most days my wife Temari." He knew there was going to be hell to pay at home if that last bit got back to her, but he was hoping being open and friendly would entice his students to join in.

"That was totally not problematic at all, Sensei." Mitsufune responded with a smirk as the waitress gave out their drinks and took their order. "Might as well go next then. I'm Hadma Mitsufune. My parents both were ninja and died in the war, and my shitty aunt kicked me out after like two weeks, so I ended up growing up on Flower Street." Even for as skilled and experienced as he was, Shikamaru couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. Flower Street was the name for Konoha's 'red-light district', certainly not the best place for a young girl to grow up. "Got taken in by a madam, and the girls in the house saved up some cash to pay for my tuition at the academy. Guess they wanted me to be something better than I was raised or some shit. Oh, and I'm a sucker for card games."

"Guess that explains all those rumors the guys would pass around about you." Ayumi snarked over her drink, prompting a middle finger from the orphan. "Anyway, I'm Noh Ayumi. My dad lost his arm in the war and turned into an alcoholic piece of shit and my mom just deals with it." Shikamaru was starting to notice a trend of his team, and he also noticed the wrappings around Ayumi's forearms poking out from the hoodie she was wearing. Most would just think that was cloth wrappings typical to most ninja, but those experienced in first aid and combat could tell it was actually medicinal gauze wraps made for protecting wounds. "I'm here because being a ninja seems like the best way to get away from them and get on my own two feet the fastest. I stayed to beat this bitch." Ayumi ended sharply, pointing across the fire at Izumi.

Smirking, Izumi pushed up her glasses and adjusted her short ponytail, seeming to take the comment as a challenge. Any suspicions Shikamaru had of a rivalry between these two was instantly confirmed. "'This bitch' is Shoto Izumi. Grandparents came from the Water nation during their whole "Bloody Mist" period. And that's all I've ever been able to get out of anyone in my family no matter how much I ask. Dad's a merchant, mom's a nurse, neither of them wanted me to be a ninja and the only way I got in was my aunt going around them and paying. So telling them I graduated and got on a team is going to be fun. Anyway, I never turn down a challenge and love mochi."

Shikamaru sighed internally as he put his cigarette out. So far this squad was a collection of various family issues. This was going to be a fun one to work out. An uneasy silence grew over the pit, the only sound being the meat cooking over the crackling charcoal as all eyes came to Fu. As the silence dragged on, Shikamaru cleared his throat rather obviously, but still nothing. Sighing softly, the jonin broke down and spoke directly. "How troublesome…you are going to have to learn to speak up, especially being the only guy on this team." Mitsufune and Izumi's reactions were the expected scoffs and eyerolls, but Ayumi almost caught him off guard. It was subtle, most people wouldn't even notice the slight freeze and shake in her hand. But most people weren't geniuses who were best friends with a master of social cues.

"Oh, um, sorry, um…" The stuttering Fu quickly drew everyone's attention. Taking a few nervous breaths, the youth gave a formal bow before starting. "I'm Hiragumi Fu, son of Hiragumi Mau. Um, my parents were both priest from different temples in the Land of Stone, they um, moved here to help rebuild the Fire Temple. Um, they both love each other and don't really have any issues…" Despite his attempt at being proper, the young ninja couldn't help fiddle with his hands. "I want to help people, maybe learn to be a healer, but…I don't want to be stuck in a temple all day either…"

It was then that the orders arrived, plates covered in various meats, tofu, and veggies. The conversation grew more friendly and loose, but even in this his team was giving Shikamaru little hints. Mitsufune started by trying to drag the others into a bet on who could eat the most, Fu avoided all the meats and even most of the sauces, and Izumi and Ayumi nearly came to blows over the last piece of beef tongue. As the meal wound down, Shikamaru compiled all these thoughts and came to one resounding conclusion.

This was going to be the most troublesome thing he had ever taken on.