Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The word 'Traitor' ❯ Further Meetings ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

 

Author notes: I got a lot of comments about how Konoha, especially the Rookie Nine, would not turn their backs to Shika-kun. There is a reason for the `betrayal, and I'll try to explain it here. But in case you don't catch it, they're being manipulated. Under normal circumstances the bond within the Nine wouldn't be broken so easily, but my fic does not include normal circumstances.

 

There were also a few comments that Itachi seems OOC, that will be fully explained later in the fic as well, but I think I can explain here. Right before the massacre, Itachi was under a tremendous amount of stress. He was an ANBU captain, the heir to Uchiha clan head, his father's first born son (and his father didn't seem like a nice person to me at least, but that's my opinion), That genius Itachi, and a whole thirteen years old. If you think about it, that is a lot of pressure and stress for a young person to labor under. It's hard enough being a thirteen-year-old with the normal amount of expectations weighing down on you, but under that load, it's no wonder he snapped.

 

That's what I believe, in my opinion, was the primary cause of the massacre; Itachi couldn't handle it anymore and went nuts. Once he got away from the stress of all of that and got to simply be Itachi, not that genius Itachi, or ANBU captain Itachi, or anything, he was able to recover and regain his sanity. In my fic he comes to regret his actions, but that's for later. So if he seems OOC, think of my reasons and base his behavior off of that.

~*~*~

A sigh echoed through the forest as a slight figure appeared around a curve on the small track that meandered through it. It was Shikamaru, and if anything, he looked even worse than he had just before that fight with Itachi three weeks back. And, gee, I wonder why that is? He leaned against a tree trunk and then slide down to sit at its base, he was so damned tired…

 

He'd woken up in the hospital, a full four days after he'd been admitted; with no understanding as to why he was there. After trying to sit up, only to find that he couldn't even lift his head, he got a slightly better understanding, but he still had no idea as to why he was so weak. Tsunade had come in an hour later, face creased with worry and explained a little; that he'd been in a fight with the infamous S-class criminal Uchiha Itachi and survived.

 

If he'd had the strength, Shikamaru would have given into about an hour's worth of laughter, since Tsunade was clearly playing a prank on him. She wasn't, she insisted, Kakashi's dogs had discovered Itachi's scent, and even blood, in the same area that they had found Shikamaru's own blood-trail. The area had obviously played host to a long battle, but the details as to what had happened, and more importantly why, were unknown. And the only person who knew, who was available that is, was Shikamaru.

 

Only… Shikamaru didn't know the what's, the why's or the wherefore's. He clearly remembered heading up to his hill, dragging with exhaustion, and then flopping down to rest. Then, a stranger had appeared- and brunette's phenomenal memory started to get fuzzy at that point- the stranger had asked some questions concerning Naruto, then-

 

-Nothing. The next thing he remembered was waking up here. A brief examination later showed that Shikamaru's memory had been sealed, not too surprising for Tsunade after she had thought about it for a bit. The young Nara was intelligent, observant and very loyal; things that someone like Itachi would pick up on immediately. So in the interest of protecting himself, he would decide to seal the shadow-user's memory if he had also decided to spare the boy.

 

In a way, the seal could be viewed as a compliment due to its complexity. Not only did it block Shikamaru's memory, but it could not be removed; it was too dangerous. No one had seen anything like it, and tampering with a memory seal was a recipe for disaster. Total memory loss or feeble-mindedness were just two of the lesser consequences of failure. There were thus only two ways to eliminate the seal, have the creator disperse it, or have the one sealed break it from inside.

 

That's were the other problem came in. To break a seal, you had to have a feel for it. Shikamaru couldn't feel the memory seal. Normally something like this could be felt as a kind of wall or barrier when the person sealed probed his memories. But Shikamaru felt nothing like that; he went up to the hill, there was a blank, and then life proceeded when he woke up. No matter how he probed the blank, nothing came up. He felt nothing, he only couldn't remember. Not the battle, not the reason for the battle, not even the point when he when he was sealed, a period that was usually branded into the memories of everyone who labored under a seal. He couldn't even get a hint as to why he had been spared.

 

But that's the thing that I can't bloody figure out. Why the heck did he spare me? Me! I'm nobody! I'm nothing! And he didn't do anything else to me, Tsunade, Kakashi and Asuma-sensei checked. Try convincing the general population Konoha of that though.

 

After receiving permission, Kakashi had let it be known that Nara Shikamaru had battled Itachi, injured him, and lived. He had done so thinking that the population would be as impressed as he himself was. What the population heard was that Nara Shikamaru had fought Itachi, and had been spared.

 

Well, Shikamaru thought, pulling out a soldier pill and examining it, that is true, but I don't think I had much choice in the matter at the time. The Nara was well aware of his nearly-dead condition when he'd woken up and could only assume that he'd been in even worse state before the four days of sleep. The general population didn't know how weak he had been and those few who did know probably didn't really care. Someone who fought against a Nuke-nin should either kill or be killed or in some other honorable way end the battle. A Konoha Chuunin should not be spared by the likes of Itachi.

 

Nor have his memory sealed so that he couldn't even report on the matter. That little bit of news changed Shikamaru's reputation from pathetic failure, to traitor. Clearly the battle with Itachi was just a ruse. Clearly Shikamaru must have made some kind of deal with the Nuke-nin, that's why he'd been spared. Clearly the memory seal wasn't for Itachi's protection, but for Shikamaru's. After all, what he couldn't remember couldn't be slipped, or tortured out of him.

 

Then those people who decided that Shikamaru was a traitor thought back onto that botched retrieval mission… had it really been inexperience and ineptitude that had failed the mission, or something else? Remember, nearly everyone who had gone out had returned near death. Except for that Nara kid.

 

And to make matters worse, I've had a small string of failures recently, Shikamaru thought as he leaned back against the tree, lowering the pouch of soldier pills to his lap. The recent failures weren't really his fault either, they just happened. Some missions were failures even before they'd been assigned out. An example would be a mission to save this stretch of farmland from this forest fire. Only, by the time Shikamaru had gotten the mission scroll, half of the farms had been torched, and by the time he got there only one half of one farm was salvageable. Failure.

 

A child had gone missing, and there was a known molester in the area. The mission was to bring the child back alive. But by the time Shikamaru and his team had found the child… the remains stated that the little one had been killed the night it had gone missing. The parents understood, and had been solemnly grateful to have closure and something to take home, but the mission was deemed a failure.

 

That mission was still the suckiest I've ever been sent on. Glad we got the bastard though. The youth's lips pulled back in a feral grin; beating the shit out of the molester had been the best stress-relief he'd had in a long time, and his team had been sympathetic, one courteously holding the slime bag while the Nara had unleashed. The scum was currently languishing in jail pending his trial with the knowledge that Konoha executed individuals like him.

 

But still, five other missions had been of that type, technical failures before Shikamaru even received them. All he could do was salvage what he could, return and report. Such missions decorated every shinobi's record; the shadow-user wasn't the only one to get them. Yet to listen to the gossip mill, each failure was a betrayal of Konoha and his leader.

 

Which was why Tsunade had started to assign him the kind of mission he was on now; information retrieval. The information had already been gathered by established agents, it just needed to be taken home in the form of a coded, Sealed scroll. Easy solo missions; especially for someone like Shikamaru who couldn't stand out unless he stripped naked and paraded down a crowded street, and so wouldn't be remembered or remarked upon. The only problem was that these agents tended to be far-flung, so it took several days to get to them. To compound the problem, a lot of the information was time-sensitive, so the brunette had to get the scroll and get back as soon as possible.

 

And I believe it was the second such mission that got me started on popping soldier pills like candy, he thought, lifting the pill again. He'd only been sitting for five minutes, but he needed to get moving again. He didn't have the time to prepare a meal and eat it; he barley had the scheduled time to sleep. The only thing that kept him going were the pills, which held their own small danger. Soldier pills were mildly addictive, and also were no substitute for a real meal or rest; they just convinced your body otherwise.

 

But have I got a choice? Well, on a technicality, yes he did. All Konoha shinobi had the right to tell their Hokage where she could shove that mission scroll. Of course, the Hokage had the alternate right to tell his or her shinobi to shut the fuck up and shove out. This kind of exchange rarely happened though, most shinobi were genuinely loyal to their leader, Shikamaru not excluded. He had the right to tell Tsunade that he was tired and needed a break to recuperate, but he never did. I don't want to.

 

The Nara youth potently did not want to stay in his home town to listen to the gossip, endure the hateful and hurting glares or encounter one more of his friends who thought him a traitor. Maybe most of them didn't think that he was a deliberate traitor, but… who knew what an S-class Nuke-nin like Itachi was capable of? Maybe he really had planted some kind of subconscious compulsion into Shikamaru's brain?

 

Enough thinking painful thoughts, he ordered himself, popping the pill in his mouth and crunching down, waiting for the rush energy that would allow him to continue. I'll ask for a two-day leave when I get back, and I'll just stay in my room the whole damned time. Gods know that I may be forced to do that anyway, what with my lack of endurance.

 

The energy came, only in a tiny trickle instead of the rush. Still, it was enough to allow Shikamaru to haul himself to his feet and continue a few paces. That is, until he felt something in his head give making him reel against another tree trunk to steady himself. Memories flooded forward with an almost physical impact, and he remembered.

 

“Itachi?” he asked, looking around. The Nuke-nin who had further ruined his already crappy life stepped out from behind a tree just ahead of him and narrowed his red eyes.

 

Shikamaru glared back, “I am not sparring with you this time.” He snapped.

 

“I did not intend to this time,” Itachi replied, gliding forward. On Shikamaru's first solo mission after the battle, Itachi had appeared before him after eight hours of travel out of Konoha. Naturally, the brunette had prepared to fight the older man, until the Uchiha had lifted his hands in a seal- and all of the memories of the battle came flooding forward, including Itachi's final statements.

 

`I don't want to kill you' `I want to fight you again'

 

Itachi was now back, and he wanted to conclude their fight. The only problem was… Shikamaru was damned near back in the same lousy condition that he had been in before their previous battle. Frustrated, the eccentric fugitive had decided to do the next best thing, he decided to train his `opponent'.

 

Shikamaru being Shikamaru, he had protested, loudly, this sudden decision to force him to do even more work. Not that it had done him any good, what Itachi wanted, Itachi got, hell or high water. Somehow, the Uchiha had adjusted the memory seal on Shikamaru so that the youth could remember vaguely the things he'd learned under the Uchiha, but still not really remember how he learned them or encountering Itachi. The things Shikamaru had remembered had saved his life a couple of times.

 

But the spars themselves didn't do anything for Shikamaru's stamina or energy level; he only became more exhausted each time. Which was why he was declaring that he was not going to spar this time. He simply couldn't.

 

He hadn't expected Itachi to listen though; the Uchiha seemed to be selectively deaf when it came to listening to anything he didn't want to hear. Reminds me of Sasuke that way.

 

“Huh?” Shikamaru said intelligently, blinking hard at the man before him.

 

“I said, I do not intend to spar with you this time.” Itachi replied, “You are clearly too exhausted to do anything but rest, which you will do now.”

 

Shikamaru shook his head, “I don't have time, I have to get a scroll-“

 

“The scroll can wait, your body will not.” The Uchiha insisted, “Sit.”

 

The Nara youth pushed away from the tree and continued down the path that Itachi was blocking. “I told you, I can't. The information is always time sensitive. Tsunade-sama needs me to bring it to her.”

 

Itachi proceeded with his mule imitation, a thing that all Uchiha's were rather good at. “And I told you; the scroll can wait, as can Tsunade.” He stepped in front of the youth, who was doing his own mule imitation, “What would you rather have? Force your leader do without some data that will keep for a few days, or force her do without you for several days. You are perilously close to a collapse.”

 

“I'll live,” Shikamaru insisted, stubbornly trying to get past Itachi. The other man sighed silently and swept the youth's legs out from underneath him. Not that Shikamaru really noticed the move; he suddenly found himself on the floor with Itachi's foot on his chest keeping him down and decided that the Uchiha knocking his legs out was the most probable move.

~*~*~

“I said, sit.” Itachi restated, glaring down at the youth. Why must the child be so vexing? More to the point, why the hell do I care? Itachi was rather confused by his own behavior, never before had he monitored another's behavior as he was outside of a mission. He had never before cared. But Itachi found himself being inexplicably pulled back to the youth's side again and again. In fact, on more than one occasion, Itachi had been startled to realize that he was fretting over the Nara's health when he wasn't by the child's side.

 

This was utterly unlike him, and he wasn't sure he liked this current behavior trend. But… he couldn't help himself, nor stop himself. Nor could he eliminate the cause of his aberrant behavior. Even this time, he came planning to just kill Shikamaru, and found instead that he was preparing to play nursemaid if need be. Not that the Nara was likely to permit him to play nursemaid. The boy was glaring boldly and fearlessly into Itachi's eyes, something very few had the courage to do.

 

The Uchiha noted that courage, and also noted that the boy seemed rather thin. Unhealthily so.

 

“When was the last time you ate?” he heard himself ask. Shikamaru blinked in stunned surprise.

 

“I… uh-“ A low gurgle answered the question instead, as if the Nara's stomach had heard the question and had decided to answer itself. It took a great effort of will on Itachi's part to keep his lips from twitching in amusement. Shikamaru's imaginative swearing wasn't helping his resolve.

 

“Not recently enough I take it.” The Uchiha stated, stepping back. “Wait here for a moment.”

 

“How many times do I have to say I can't wait?” Shikamaru growled, staggering to his feet. “I can't wait on you, I don't have time.”

 

Itachi watched the boy start to stalk out of small clearing before he allowed himself to sigh silently. He pulled out a kunai, made a series of seals over it while he infused it with some chakra, and then flung it into the boy's shadow. Shikamaru's feet ceased moving.

 

“What the-? What did you-?” the Nara pivoted at the hips to glare back at Itachi then stared down at his feet and the kunai. “You- You bastard! That's my trick! You stole my Shadow Snap!”

 

“It was ideal for my purposes and I was the one who helped you develop it in the first place.” Itachi said, stifling the smug smirk that wanted to surface. Shikamaru was still fuming.

 

“I don't care! Undo it, now! I have work to do!” Ignoring the ranting, the Uchiha walked over to the boy and poked him in the chest, making him unbalance and thump to the ground.

 

“Sit,” Itachi restated needlessly. Thanks to the Shadow Snap, Shikamaru's rump and hands, which he had used to brace himself, were now as glued to the ground as his feet.

 

The Shadow Snap, or Kage Wana no jutsu (1), was a very useful technique, pinning a person's shadow to the ground with a chakra infused weapon. Whatever appendage was in contact with the ground would be immovable until the weapon was pulled out and the jutsu released. On a battlefield, strewn with spent kunai and shurinken, the cause of immobility was unlikely to be discovered until it was too late. The downside was that anyone could remove the pinning tool; but they had to know what was causing the problem in the first place.

 

This was all theoretical however, since the Shadow Snap jutsu had been created not two weeks ago during one of their spars.

 

“This is just great,” Shikamaru grumbled, “What's going to happen to me if a bandit gang comes here while you're out doing whatever?”

 

“That cannot happen due to the fact that I have already slain all the bandits in the area.” Itachi responded while he started to set up a very complex hunting jutsu. It wasn't a difficult jutsu, just a time consuming one. It would summon whatever he specified with a very low-level call. If he didn't specify what he wanted clearly enough, he'd either get every creature in the woods, or nothing, instead of the one or two bunnies he was hoping to coax near.

 

“You know, for some strange reason, that doesn't reassure me.” Came the next whining complaint, “If you killed them all then that mean's there's bodies nearby and what happens if that attracts something nasty? Kyuubi wasn't the only demon in the Fire Lands, for your information, only the most powerful.”

 

“There aren't any bodies, I burned them.” Itachi answered in a distracted tone. He was at the trickiest part, specifying what kind of prey he wanted. It would be bad if he lost his concentration now.

 

“Oh, yay, so that's what stinks,” the boy grumbled, then continued to mutter about how his life sucked in every imaginable way. Itachi tuned him out, a thing he was growing practiced in. For someone who thought that everything, including talking, was troublesome, Shikamaru certainly vocalized a lot.

~*~*~

He's ignoring me again, Shikamaru realized when Itachi failed to respond to a indirect insult. The youth had said something rude about Uchiha's, but the rouge had just continued with his arcane jutsu. Deciding that complaining was too troublesome if he didn't have a listening audience, Shikamaru shut up and tried to figure out what Itachi was doing instead. He'd never seen this jutsu before, it could be useful.

 

The youth took careful note of the seals being used and tried to deduce the effects from the various combinations. After one full minute of seal making, he was lost; this jutsu was just too complex, especially since he missed the crucial first part of it. The result of it was clear enough however, as two rabbits hopped out of the surrounding undergrowth to blink at Itachi. Their deaths were swift and nearly painless as the Uchiha severed their spines with a swift jab of his kunai.

 

“How did you do that?” Shikamaru asked.

 

“It was a jutsu I was taught in ANBU, something you use when you have no time to hunt but must eat.” Itachi responded as he started to dress the carcasses.

 

“Oh, so you're listening to me now, huh?”

 

“Only if you have something sensible to say.” Came the deadpan response. Shikamaru snorted.

 

“I always have something sensible to say, it's too troublesome to rant without a reason.”

 

“I had not noticed a difference.”

 

“Hey!” Shikamaru bristled, struggling against the Shadow Snap binding him for a moment before giving it up as a hopeless cause. The Shadow Snap, like the kagemane, could be defeated if you infused your chakra into it and dispersed the binding web. Shikamaru's problem was that his current chakra level was too weak to defeat it, and the web was too strong since it was fueled by Itachi.

 

Itachi spitted the bunnies over a small fire and then moved off to find some form of nutritious vegetable. Shikamaru watched him quietly now, noting with amusement the Uchiha's distaste at the dirt on one of the root vegetables he found. It was funny how one of the most fearsome Nuke-nins was so careful to not get dirt on his cloak.

 

The Nara hastily turned his laugh into a cough and widened his eyes innocently as he remembered Naruto often doing when Itachi glared at him.

 

“Hush.” The Uchiha ordered.

 

“I didn't say anything!” The Nara protested. Itachi snorted, and was that a glint of amusement in his eyes? Surely not, Shikamaru had a theory that Itachi was devoid of normal human emotions. So far his theory was proving correct, there was absolutely nothing normal about the Uchiha.

 

It didn't take long for the food to be cooked, as with everything else, Itachi was extremely efficient. When it was done, the he came over to where Shikamaru was pinned, yanked out the kunai and grabbed the back of the youth's neck to steer him over to the small fire. Shikamaru, naturally, protested. Loudly. Again.

 

“Oi! Oi! Oi! I can walk you know!” he yelled, “Just because I'm tired doesn't mean I've lost all strength in my legs!”

 

“Hn.”

 

“You are just like your brother, you know that, Mr. Anti-Social?”

 

“Hn.”

 

“…… You're hopeless.”

 

“Hn.”

 

“…. And troublesome.”

 

“Hn.”

 

“………………arg.”

 

~*~*~

Itachi had only been mildly concerned with Shikamaru's depleted condition when he had first noted it. But when the youth had finished eating and had almost immediately fallen asleep, the rouge became truly concerned. It was highly unusual for someone with as high a loyalty and as strong a willpower as Shikamaru to fall asleep in the middle of a mission just because he finally had a full belly.

 

But, if that person were truly exhausted, the body's demand would overwhelm the mental drive to fulfill his duty. Which is what happened when Shikamaru had finished the last bit of rabbit, he had leaned back a moment to relax and had simple passed out.

 

Itachi was not pleased as he noted further signs of stress in the youth's frame. There were lines at the corners of the youth's mouth and between his eyes that indicated much strain and unhappiness. His eyes looked bruised from lack of sleep, and he truly was much too thin for someone from a village that was as prosperous and peaceful as Konoha.

 

There was something terribly wrong here, and since Itachi realized he simply wasn't going to shake loose his current fascination with the Nara, he might as well find out what that `something wrong' was. He had nothing else to do after all; Naruto was firmly under the protection of Jiraiya, unreachable, and all of Itachi's agents were busy gathering information. When they had something to report, they'd send it directly to Itachi's quarters. So the rouge might as well discover why a child from one of Konoha's more respected clan's, the heir to that clan in fact, would be in such a state.

 

I have a suspicion that there may be more going on here than can be seen on the surface. Mind made up, Itachi banked the fire, wrapped up the few leftovers and placed them near Shikamaru, and then re-activated the memory seal. Then he left, after a cursory examination to make sure that all was well here. He didn't want the supremely clever boy to figure out what precisely had happened, and perhaps deduce the identity of his benefactor after all. That would spoil the game.

~*~*~

(Four days later)

Almost home, Shikamaru thought with relief as he finally spotted the towering walls of Konoha. He couldn't wait to have a reunion with his pillow, and have a chance to puzzle over those mysterious blank periods he was having. He'd had another one during this mission. But he had to drop off his hard-won scrolls first. A grimace decorated his face briefly at the thought of how he'd had to play diplomat to get the second of his two scrolls. The first was a simple retrieval, all he'd had to do was meet with the agent, exchange pass-codes and stash the offered scroll. The second though…

 

The second scroll was a treasured item that supposedly held sensitive material that would be dangerous in the hands of someone like Orochimaru, so Shikamaru had been instructed to bring it to the safety of the city. But the elder of the village that had the scroll hadn't been willing to just hand it over. It had taken all of Shikamaru's persuasion and patience to convince the old man that it would indeed be safer in Konoha than in a tiny, backwater, pocket hamlet that was its current home.

 

At least I was able to get a little rest while I was doing that though. It had taken two and a half days of diplomacy to finally win the scroll, and the old man would only see him two or three hours at a time, then have a long four or five hour break to think things over. Since the retrieval was all that Shikamaru had been ordered to do, he'd taken advantage of those breaks to catch up on a little sleep.

 

He'd needed it, he had to make up time on the road, the first scroll was indeed time-sensitive. But now he was home, and he could request a long-delayed break from missions and recoup from the thirty-six hour sprint he'd just put his body through. I just have to get past the next hurdle, getting past the gate-keepers.

 

Kiba and Neji were standing guard duty at the entryway, and neither seemed pleased with their position. Both had finally made Chuunin, and both resented Shikamaru's position. And Shikamaru knew why. It was the missions the three of them were assigned.

 

Kiba was in a bad position, he was the heir to a very, very large clan, roughly three times the size of the Nara clan. But the clan finance of both clans was roughly the same. To clarify, the Inuzuka clan was very poor. This was because one quarter of the clan couldn't work because of crippling injuries and another third of the clan couldn't work because they were children. Less than one quarter of the Inuzuka clan was actually bringing in money, and Kiba, as clan heir and aware of the problem, needed to bring in as much money as possible. He had needed that promotion to Chuunin, and now that he had it, he needed high rank, high pay, missions.

 

He needed the kinds of missions that Shikamaru was getting on a regular basis, but he wasn't getting them. And Shikamaru knew the reason for that as well. Kiba, like most Inuzuka's was, well, a hothead. He had a short temper and lost it regularly. If he'd had to put up with the mission that Shikamaru had just been placed on, he'd have blown up and blown the mission. That's why he wasn't given a leadership position, ever, and why he wasn't given a position where he had to be diplomatic, ever.

 

Both kinds of missions were high rank and high pay, and he didn't understand why Shikamaru was given those kinds of missions when he wasn't. After all, the Nara's, while poor, weren't nearly bankrupt the way the Inuzuka's were. The only way he's ever going to get the missions I'm given is when he realizes his own faults. But that's going to take a maturity that he doesn't have right now, to recognize that he isn't perfect and that he has personality problems like everyone else in the world.

 

But right now Kiba's temper issues ran unchecked and he was immature enough to take out his frustration and worry on a target that didn't deserve it. Shikamaru.

 

Neji's problem was slightly different but mostly the same. He wanted the high rank, high prestige missions that Shikamaru was getting, but he wasn't because of his own personality flaws. Neji was also in a bad position, that of being the Hyuuga clan leader's nephew, the son of the clan leader's twin brother. But Neji was also in the Branch clan of the Hyuuga clan, making him neither fish nor fowl, but something in between.

 

Right now that was making him shunned. But if Neji gained prestige by successfully completing difficult missions he wouldn't be shunned but respected and would be able to make a place for himself. The reason he wasn't getting those missions was again a matter of attitude.

 

Neji still had that `superior than thou' attitude, which you simply couldn't have in a leader of a small team. It would create strife, weaken relations and inevitably lead to failure sooner or later. It would also alienate clients, or others that one would have to work with.

 

Neji would never have been able to peacefully complete the mission that Shikamaru had just been on. He would have lost all patience with the town elder, insulted him and probably would have stolen the scroll. That would have led to a political mess that possibly could have blown up into nasty border war as other annoyed parties joined the hamlet in rebellion. Possibly, not likely though. Konoha was a respected and strong village. But all small villages liked their independence and would take any excuse to try and break away. Having a precious scroll stolen by one of Konoha's representatives would act as a perfect excuse.

 

Shikamaru's patience and calm attitude had allowed him to win over the reluctant elder and permitted him to gain the scroll peaceably and actually with the elder's blessing. Because of a more mature attitude, Shikamaru had avoided all possible chaotic scenarios, which in turn spared Konoha a possible border war.

 

Neji wasn't aware of his more irritating personality traits though, which caused him to resent Shikamaru as the recipient of the missions he wanted. It looked like favoritism. It wasn't really, it was practicality; giving the missions best suited to certain personalities. If both Neji and Kiba would just grow up and reign in their tempers and attitudes, they would get the high rank, high pay and prestige missions they wanted. But doing so would require a maturity neither had right now, despite appearances.

 

And until they do grow up, I have to put up with their attitudes. With a heavy sigh, he approached and was almost immediately pounced.

 

“Well, well.” Kiba sneered, “Look who finally decided to show up.”

 

“Over a day late.” Neji added coldly.

 

“Complications in the mission,” Shikamaru explained, knowing it wouldn't help, “It couldn't be helped or avoided.” He moved to get past the two only to find his path blocked by Kiba.

 

“Oh, is that a fact?” The Inuzuka growled.

 

“Actually, it is, it's in my report.” The Nara replied, avoiding eye contact. Dogs took a direct stare as a challenge. Shikamaru didn't want to find out if Inuzuka's were the same. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late enough as it is.”

 

“And you have cared about promptness since- when?” Neji commented oh so calmly. Shikamaru stifled another sigh; he really didn't want to fence words right now.

 

“When the matter is important, I care. Now please, I have to deliver these scrolls and I really would rather not have to add more to my report as to why I'm even later.”

 

Kiba exaggeratedly moved out of the way with a mocking bow. Shikamaru passed him, feeling a deep ache deepen further. Not too long ago, they had been classmates and distant friends. Kiba and Shikamaru had never really hung out together, but they had liked each other well enough. And on that mission, there had been mutual respect…

 

Gone now. All gone, same as with the respect Shikamaru had gained from Neji as well. Shikamaru had returned that respect, but now, it was hard. Perhaps that's what hurts the most. It's not just their attitude toward me, it's the way my attitude has been warped toward them. I can't help but resent them in turn because of the way they treat me. I don't want to dislike them, but I can't stop it. I hate this.

 

He entered a busy street, and paused for a moment to marshal what little strength he'd regained from the rest he'd gotten at the small border town. He lifted his head, and straightened his back and tried to look as professional as possible. He'd noticed that the common villagers left him alone more when he did this, feelingly slightly intimidated. His fellow shinobi were not so intimidated, but if he looked like he had business, then they tended to let him go about it.

 

That didn't stop the sneers, the contemptuous glances, the loud meant-to-be-overheard conversations about his supposed treachery. Shikamaru kept his eyes forward and tried to close his ears to the insults. But it still hurt. Dammit, I'm not a traitor! I would never betray my birthplace! Why should I, this is my home!

 

He finally reached the missions office, feeling as if he'd just been pummeled by all the people he passed by. Iruka looked up at his entrance, and smiled. There was one person at least who didn't listen to rumors. Shikamaru smiled back then looked over to his Hokage, who was currently busy arguing with another Chuunin who wasn't happy about his assignment.

 

“Dammit all! Why should I have to baby-sit that brat? That's a Genin job!” The Chuunin yelled.

 

“'That brat' has been under hostile threat and therefore needs a more substantial guard than a mere Genin and therefore you will baby-sit `that brat'!” Tsunade yelled back. “Now shut up and move out! I expect to see a positive report when you get back.”

 

The Chuunin humphed and muttered as he took the scroll before turning and meeting Shikamaru's gaze. A superior smirk crossed his features and the younger Chuunin knew he was about to be the target for yet another person's frustration.

 

“Oh, so the traitor finally decides to return, eh?” the man purred aggressively. A ledger suddenly impacted the man's head at high speed.

 

“How dare you say such a thing in my presence?” Tsunade stated in her most dangerous voice. “I expected better from a Chuunin of Konoha. I would have thought that you would use your own eyes, ears and brain than to let someone else make up your mind for you with vicious, unsubstantiated rumors.”

 

The other Chuunin whimpered, glancing back at the Hokage while rubbing his head, recognizing the danger of his position at least. Tsunade glared daggers while Shikamaru kept perfectly still, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

 

“If you come back with a glowing report, I might decide to not punish this display of stupidity and insubordination. Now, get out, before you make me angrier.” The man got out, moving as quickly as humanly possible. Tsunade sat back and performed a quick breathing exercise to calm herself while the rest of the office just held their collective breath. Finally, she looked over at Shikamaru and smiled warmly.

 

“Shikamaru, I'm so glad you're safely back. I was worried when you sent a note saying you were delayed.” She said calmly and with genuine fondness.

 

The youth smiled back and walked up to the desk. “The mission was more troublesome than I thought it'd be, the old geezer at the village didn't want to give up the scroll. That's why I was delayed, I had to convince him otherwise, but a sparrow can't carry too big a note. I'm sorry that it worried you.” He explained while he placed the two scrolls and his mission report on the desk.

 

Tsunade took them and then asked detailed questions about how Shikamaru had convinced the village elder to relinquish the scroll. The youth complied, realizing that he wasn't going to get that reunion with his pillow for a while. How troublesome.

~*~*~

Meanwhile, outside the office, a red-eyed shadow watched carefully, as he had for the last of the recently finished mission. Now that his target was safely home, there was some snooping to do, and Itachi had plenty of experience in collecting information. And from the little he had heard thus far, there was plenty of information to gather. Sifting out the cause of the hostilities would be the more difficult task.

 

With no one there to see him, Itachi allowed a small smirk to grace his features while he thought: how troublesome.

~*~*~

Kage Wana no Jutsu: Art of the Shadow Trap.

 

A.N: There, second chapter up and I hope that things are progressing in a logical manner. I had a discussion with some of my friends about improbable pairings, my friend was into this on Hues/Winry pairing that I protested to, saying there was no evidence. Then she pointed out that my pairing of ItaShika had no evidence, so I protested that I was making the evidence, which I hope I'm doing. There is nothing I hate more than a `I like you' `I like you too,' `Let's go fuck' fic. You had damn well make me believe that this can happen, so I hope I'm making you believe that Itachi and Shikamaru could come to like each other. How'm I doin' so far?