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A Darker World	By : bob665 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2254 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer I do not own Naruto, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
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Shikamaru sat on a stone bench and watched as a string of ants slowly took apart a dead moth. Ever since he had become teammates with Shino, he had slowly begun to appreciate the insect world. Besides, it was a lot easier to look down than up. When a shadow fell over him, he looked over to see his father staring at him. He waited a moment for him to say something, but when nothing was forthcoming, he prompted, "Dad?"

Shikaku didn't speak at first, but then moved to sit next to his son without a word. "Our deer are losing their antlers a bit early this year. I figured with the exams coming up it would be a nice relaxing trip for us to take. That is before your mother gets on you about your training and gets on me to train you even harder."

"That sounds all right," Shikamaru said, wondering why his father seemed so uneasy.

His father stood and brushed off nonexistent dirt from his pants. "Good, we'll leave early in the morning so go to bed early."

"Sure," Shikamaru watched his father walk away and wondered what seemed off about the conversation before deciding it was too troublesome.

The next day, Shikamaru awoke before dawn and was still half asleep. Father and son left the village quietly with little said between the two of them. Their silence continued as the sun rose to mid-afternoon, and after a while, it started to worry Shikamaru. He started to remember the last time the two of them were alone for an extended time. That day, he had received the birds and bees talk which was embarrassing for both of them. He wasn't sure if there was more uncomfortable father-son talk to be had in the future. Well, when in doubt strike first. "Is this about the Chunin Exam?"

Shikaku chuckled, "No lecture, just relax." He paused for a second and then added, "Do you really want to be promoted?"

That question caught Shikamaru by surprise. "The Hokage wants my team to take the exam."

"Danzo wants a good showing from some youngsters. The average age for an examinee is sixteen, so if you don't think you're ready then it would be a mistake to take it."

Shikamaru stopped walking and actually gave the question some thought. He had always just assumed that you advanced to the next rank when you were ready. Personal feelings were not supposed to factor into your decision. If they did, he wouldn't have left the old man on the road like he had. He still wondered what happened to the bridge builder. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for a promotion."

"What's worrying you?" Shikaku paused, but didn't turn around.

"The aborted mission," Shikamaru answered quietly. He waited for his father's response, but nothing came. "I don't think I could make that decision. Technically, it was the right decision to make, but I don't think I would've made it. Chunin have to make that decision all the time though."

The silence stretched between the two of them until it was uncomfortable. Then, Shikaku turned to face Shikamaru slowly. "There was a time when we tried to strike a balance between practicality and morality. Using your logic, though, perhaps you should withdraw from the exam."

"I can't. I'll be holding back my team." Shikamaru stared at the ground. He was caught between two strong personalities. His father encouraged him to go at his own pace while his mother was more demanding when it came to everything. There was the Hokage who wanted a young team to make a showing. Then there was the obligation to his village hung in the background looming over his parents.

Shikaku smirked and turned back down the road. "Responsibility, that's good. Listen, Shikamaru, after every round you will be given the option to quit. No matter who or how they host the tournament, individuals are allowed to drop out before the final round. Take it if you make it that far."

"Yeah? What will mom think?"

Shikaku started walking. "There are a lot of things worse than your mother's wrath."

Shikamaru didn't disagree, but he had his doubts.

They reached their destination just as the sun passed its midway point in the early afternoon. Father and son had a leisurely lunch under a tree before setting out on their search. Shikamaru knew that the Nara clan had a peculiar relationship with the deer. They could be summoned, but they had little fighting abilities. They could be used to run messages, but even there they were large targets, and not just for other ninja. What they were best at was keeping people off of their land which was full of various medical herbs, many quite rare and others very difficult to grow. The fact that their antlers had medicinal properties had only been discovered much later. Of course, trying to have the deer drop their antlers in the same place had proved impossible.

Father and son spent the rest of the day searching the woods, finding only a few. At one point, Shikamaru did see several bucks that had not dropped their antlers. He wondered if his father had just overreacted. After a second thought, he scratch that and decided his father had want to give him that little speech about the exam. This exam thing was becoming really troublesome.

They set camp up in the forest. When Shikamaru asked his father whether they would be staying tomorrow or not he got uncharacteristically vague answer of, "We will see." Shikamaru decided not to care, assuming it would just be a nonstop training regime when he got back. With that, he stretched and headed for his sleeping bag.

Shikamaru's usual deep sleep was fitful. He kept having recurring dreams about the old man and the different fates he might've met. Only in his dream, he was the one making the decision to return to the village. Again, his mind took liberties with the event, having the old man shout curses at them or plead for their help as they walked away.

At one point, he woke up and thought he heard something, but drifted back to sleep. When he woke again, the fire was out. That was not noteworthy, but when he rolled over and saw that his father's sleeping bag was empty he became alert. Part of him just assumed his father had to use the bushes, but part of his mind wasn't satisfied with that.

Sitting up, he listened for a second before standing up. Closing his eyes, he listened and heard something coming from behind and to his right. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he headed in that direction quietly. There was a little hill, and as he approached, he put his hands on the ground and edged up towards the top.

In the moonlight, he could see his father talking to another man. The man was partially facing his father, but it looked like a mask covered his face. He was just about to retreat when he felt the kunai pressed against his throat as a quiet feminine voice said, "Please don't move."

Shikamaru's heart skipped several beats as sweat broke out all along his back and palms. He had just enough time to curse when a second, younger voice called out. "We got someone."

His father and the man both looked in his direction. Oddly, he noticed that the man was only wearing half a mask with a Konoha hitai-ate draped over an eye. His father's face was slack. "Shikamaru?" He called out.

"Yeah," he answered his father.

"Hinata, Hanabi, I told you to alert us if someone was coming."

The man's voice sounded more tired than annoyed to Shikamaru's ears. That, combined with the Konoha hitai-ate, made him hope he was not in danger.

"Well, you told us to tell you if someone new was coming. We saw him already and we weren't sure if he had to pee until he got too close."

It was the younger of the two voices who answered, which the analytical part of Shikamaru's mind counted as another thing in his favor. That really did sound like a young kid.

The man let out a long sigh. "I should've been clearer. How do you want to handle this, Shikaku?"

"I'll give him a choice."

Somehow, the man managed to convey a shrug by merely moving his eyebrow. "Hinata, would you let him up?"

The kunai was removed from his neck, and after a second, when he thought his legs wouldn't fail, he climbed to his feet. He spared a glance over at the girl who had ambushed him. He really couldn't see what Hinata looked like. The moon was behind her and her hair draped over her face. Staring down the little rise, he glanced at his father who was wearing an expression Shikamaru had never seen before. Hearing the other girl come down with them, he glanced over at her and stopped.

She barely looked old enough to be at the Academy and she was holding a kunai like it was familiar to her. What drew his attention, though, was her eyes. At first, he thought it was a illusion by the moonlight, but they were white. He thought she might be blind, but there was no doubt she was staring at him as she smirked. "You're a Hyuga!"

"We are, but we don't like being called that," Hinata said. "It is nice to see you again, Shikamaru."

His head snapped back around to look at the older girl. "I've never seen you before."

She smiled, and even with his mind trying to figure it out, part of him thought she was pretty. "There is no reason you should remember me. I don't think I said a single word for the brief time I was at the Academy. I probably wouldn't have recognized you if I didn't know Kakashi was meeting your father."

Frowning, he could barely recall a vague memory of a quiet girl standing in front of the class introducing herself. She had been so quiet, he had barely heard her. He remembered much more clearly being told she had been killed and the class had a moment of silence. "What's going on?" He directed the question at his father.

His father stared at him for a moment before letting out a long sigh. "Shikamaru, I am participating in a plot to overthrow Danzo. The safest course of action for you right now is to leave for the village immediately and report my actions. No one will stop you. I promise you that." His father casually moved his hands, but Shikamaru could tell he was getting ready to use his Shadow Imitation Technique.

Shikamaru's head almost felt like it was spinning. Clandestine meetings, people returning from the dead and now treason, it was just too much. "Why?"

His father stared at him and said, "Because it's necessary and right."

Shikamaru respected his father and knew he didn't do anything unless he had a good reason. It was a decision made more on emotion than any fact. "I am not going to tell anyone, but why is it necessary and right?"

Shikaku ran a hand through his hair. "That's not a simple question to answer. There's no one reason, but a series of them. The fact that Danzo seized power never sat well with me, but once it was done, I didn't think it was best for the village for there to be a counter coup. Then, he started doing some other things that made me want to act against him, but I couldn't," he hesitated and then went on. "Sasuke Uchiha was one of the reasons he decided to overthrow our previous leader."

"Sasuke?" Shikamaru shook his head, not seeing the connection. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"The Uchiha clan had been plotting to take over the village themselves. The person who wiped them out was actually a double agent secretly working for the village. He did it on the condition that his brother, Sasuke, would be left alone. Danzo worried that if he ever found out the truth he could become a danger to the village. He had no desire to keep that end of the bargain and eliminated him."

Shikamaru was about to say that Sasuke died in an accident along with Choji when the realization hit him. "Choji was murdered."

"I think Dazon would consider it more along the lines of collateral damage. I wouldn't have thought there was anything suspicious except that I was put on the interception team. Apparently, Sasuke's brother had promised he would kill him if anything happened to his brother. If I could do it again, I would've let him have his vengeance."

There was something cold in the center of Shikamaru's chest. He had never gotten over Choji's death. The boy had been his first real friend and his sudden death had been a shock. He realized he was angry, but instead of throwing a fit of rage, his emotion seemed to drain away, leaving only thought behind. "You're alone with him. In your position, you could've taken him out easily. If you knew all this why haven't you?" Vaguely, he realized his voice even sounded weird to himself.

"Don't judge your father too harshly," Kakashi spoke up. "Another try, just that and the price his family paid was high. That's how Danzo works. A ninja will throw his life away for the village because he knows he's protecting his family. However, knowing your family will be attacked, well, let's just say everyone who is openly defying him like myself doesn't have family."

Shikamaru looked at the other man. "What would he do?"

The answer came from Hinata. "Do you remember Sakura? I think you had a few classes with her. She had pink hair. Do you remember?"

Shikamaru tried to think back. Now that he thought about it, quite a few kids disappeared. He hadn't really known any of them well and no one really talked about it. Now it seems strange he hadn't noticed more. "I think, I might."

"Well, her father tried to kill Danzo and she was sent to be with us. Did I get it all right, Kakashi?"

"Yes, you did," the man answered.

"I don't get it."Shikamaru said turning to face the girl. "Where were you?"

"We were being forced to pro-stit-ute ourselves." Hanabi answered.

He twisted his head around to look at the younger girl. She calmly met his gaze, there was something almost eerie about it. For some reason he got the feeling that she wanted him to believe what she had said. She was just so small.

"There are things worse than death. Danzo is using more profitable ones." His father said. "That is why I want to take him down, more so than any other reason."

His father started again after a moment, "His support isn't as wide spread as I'm sure you're thinking it is. Most people are too afraid to move against him because the price of failure is to high. In the end, though, he only has a small personally loyal to him. We take them out and he'll have nothing."

Shikamaru didn't look away from Hanabi as his father talked. When his father finished, he said, "What can I do to help?"
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A Darker World