Chapter 1

"Shikadai!" It started off as a small yell. Loud yet sweet and patient.

It got harsher when no response came.

"SHIKDADAI!!" It even sounded angry.

Yet again, no response.

There was now stomping and one could only assume it was going towards the one named Shikadai.

The door slammed open. It put a dent in the wall. Or more like made the already existing dent deeper.

"Get up! It's already 12!" The voice yelled again. This time towards a mound of blankets.

"Ehhm..." It appears theres a person underneath the mound of blankets.

"Don't 'ehhm' me mister! Get up! Your father's already ready!"

"Uughh..." The blankets talked again.

The woman's eyebrow twitched this time.

"Shi...ka..." She sounded out his name as she pulled out a fan. Where had she gotten the fan?

"DIIIIIIEE!!"

*CRASH*

Downstairs a man sitting at the table had a bead of sweat drop down the side of his tanned face.

"I'm lucky I decided to get up..." *sigh* "How troublesome." The man sipped at his tea as he silently prayed for his son.

- - -

*Yawn*

"Still tired?" A soft spoken voice asked.

"Yeah. Morning mom." The boy replied as he got kissed on the head from his mother.

"Where's dad and Himawari?" He asked.

"Their out trying to find a... 'Kurama' as Hima described to me." She said.

"Oooh I see. Then that leaves me to do..." The boy did a thinking pose.

"You could help with the garden." His mother suggested.

"OH! Yeeeaahh... I just remembered that I uuuhh... I told Shikadai I'd hang out with him today! Yeah!" The boy blurted out as he ran towards the front door with toast hanging from his mouth.

"Hehehe." The boys mother giggled.

"Be careful Boruto!" She yelled out to him as he nearly ran into a couple of civilians.

*sigh* "Just like his father." She smiled softly while closing the door.

Truth be told, Boruto wasn't going towards Shikadai. He already knew Shikadai would be busy today, so instead he opted to try and find his teammates.

- - -

"Why are we cleaning out the shed again?" Shikadai looked towards his father with tired eyes.

"Because your grandmother asked us to." Shikamaru replied back with a yawn.

The boy groaned.

"How long will it take?" He asked with barely concealed disdain.

'At least he's trying to conceal it.' The man thought.

"As long as it takes." Temari got up from the table to put her dishes away. "Your doing this for your grandmother-" she looked to Shikadai "-and for your mother-" she looked to Shikamaru "-so no complaining, understood? Especially in front of her." She finished with her hands on her hips.

"Why aren't you helping though? It would make things go faster." Shikadai still complained.

"Because I'm taking her shopping!" She said with a big smile on her face as if she's been waiting her whole life for this.

'What a drag.' both male Nara's thought as they watched her daydream. She's gonna come back with a ton a clothes later. They just know it. Possibly even clothes for them that she would then make then try on.

What a drag indeed.

- - -

*yaaawwn*

"Its too early for this." Shikadai whined, looking tired.

"Hn." Shikamaru agreed looking equally tired if not dead.

Both boys reached the shed. Shikamaru put in the key and unlocked it.

". . ."

". . ."

**sigh** ""What a drag."" They coursed.

A little over 3 hours passed of the two Nara's going back and forth, in and out of the shed, taking out items and separating them into the 'keep' and 'throw away' piles.

"Wow dad. You looked ugly as a baby." Shikadai snickered. By now he was all sweaty and his shirt was sticking uncomfortably to his skin. He took a much needed break and started going through a random photo album from the keep pile.

"Wow..." Shikadai had come across a photo with his grandfather in it.

"Hey wha-ow!" Shikadai yelped as his father smacked him on the back of his head. He snatched the photo album out of his hands.

"People say you look almost exactly as I did when I was your age. If I looked like that as baby how do you think you looked?" Shikamaru smirked.

"Hey! Are you calling me ugly?!" Shikadai played along.

"I never said anything like that." Shikamaru's smirk turned into a grin.

"That aside, what do you think your doing?" His grin was now gone, replaced with a frown and narrowed eyes.

"Uuuuhh, I was reading that photo album..." Shikadai said while sweat rolled down his forehead in nervousness.

"I saw that. I mean what were you doing while reading it?" Shikamaru crossed his arms.

"Taking... a break?" Shikadai averted his eyes.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"I was tired okay!?" Shikadai yelled desperately.

"That's the 10th break you've taken since 30 minutes ago!" Shikamaru said with exasperation.

". . ."

"Were gonna take longer the more you sit here and do nothing." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "Actually, I havn't had a break since we started-" He stretched and his back made a popping sound "-why don't you go back in there and I'll take your job over for you."

"Do I have too???" Shikadai groaned.

"Off you go." Shikamaru shooed him toward the shed.

"Ugghh."

Shikadai walking into the shed. They had gotten alot of stuff out, but most of it was from the middle so there was stuff still covering every inch of the walls.

He looked around trying to find the lightest thing. He eventually found a chest. It wasnt small and didnt look light but Shikadai had changed his plans. He would just empty the stuff out of the chest and then come back to the shed with it to put more small things into it. This way he didn't have to carry the small items individually.

Shikadai walked over to the chest and removed all the boxes on top of it. He bent down to lift it up but something shiny caught his eye. It came from the chest.

Bending down, he saw the thing that caught his eye.

It was a metal plate.

The size of the ones on ninja headbands. Perhaps a little smaller and less durable. He saw three letters on the plate, the rest hidden by layers of dust.

"Shi..."

Shikadai lifted his hand onto the metal plate. He slowly started wiping the dust off.

"...kaku..."

He had to take his hand away to wipe off the dust but continued.

"...Na..ra."

Shikadai sat there with his eyes wide open.

"Shikaku Nara?" He asked seemingly no one.

Shikadai's curiosity got the best of him and he opened the chest. In there lay a couple stacks of papers and clothes. Some of the paper looked ancinet. There was even kunai and shuriken. A stack of seals lied in the top left corner. The top right corner help a box.

Shikadai picked it up and examined the outside of it.

It looked like an ordinary box.

"Dad!" He yelled. He didn't want to open it if it was something important. He was already pushing it by opening the chest.

There was no answer.

"DAD!!" He yelled again.

He heard a murmur that sounded strongly like 'troublesome' before his father walked in.

"What? Got tired again?" Shikamaru sounded annoyed as he walked in.

Shikadai ignored that comment in favor of looking at the box.

A second or two passed.

"Son?" Shikamaru asked in concern.

"What's this?" Shikadai asked while looking up at his father. Shikamaru looked down at the box and frowned.

He crouched down next to Shikadai and took the box. Shikamaru examined it with great care before opening it slowly. Whatever he saw inside made his eyes widen and his body tense.

"...dad?" Shikadai tried getting a look inside the box.

Shikamaru closed the lid shit before he could see what was inside.

"Keep cleaning the shed. I'll be back!" Shikamaru yelled out behind him while he ran back into the house.

"Uh... did he just leave me to clean all this by myself???"

*sigh*

'Wonder what was in that box.' Shikadai turned his attention back to the chest and saw something that he missed. He didn't see it before as it was hidden underneath the box.

Reaching his hand in, he grabbed it. It was a piece of cloth that had a faded purple color and had fancy faded golden twirl designs covering the edges. It looked like something royalty would carry around. It was wrapped around something.

Shikadai carefully and slowly unraveled it. It appeared to be an hourglass. The sand inside of the hourglass had a tint of green. Shikadai turned it upside-down down but the sand didn't move. He moved his attention to the rest of the necklace instead.

The whole thing was about as big as the palm of his hand while the hourglass was about the size of his thumb. A golden plated circle with designs on the inside was encased around it. Around the circle was two rings. Another circle surrounded the two rings. The rings and the golden plated circle with the hourglass in it seemed to spin in every direction. It had ancient looking letters Shikadai has never seen before engraved into it. It was all connected to a golden chain.

It was all gold, Shikadai noted. Except the glass and sand in the hourglass, the rest looked and felt like full 100 percent gold.

Shikadai started at it as if in a trance. He couldn't peel his eyes away. He could feel the power radiate off of it yet... he felt nothing there at all at the same time. As if it was hibernating, waiting to be used...

*creak*

Shikadai jumped and swung his head around at the noise.

"Oh... its just you..." He said in relief. The deer in question tilted its head to the side. Shikadai looked at the clock in the shed. How does that thing still even work?

"Yeah yeah, I'll feed you. Give me a sec." Shikadai put the necklace around his neck and hid it in his shirt.

'I'll show dad later.' He thought. It looked important enough to warrant his attention and given that it was right underneath the box his dad went crazy about, it would surprise him if it WASNT important.

*sigh* "What a drag."

- - -

Shikadai HAD been about to feed the deer but...

"Sorry Aunt Temari, Uncle Shikamaru! I need to borrow him though!!!"

Boruto had kidnapped him.

And now here he was with all the other people Boruto had kidnapped.

"Yosh! Now that we've got the whole gang gathered-" Boruto started.

"Arn 'e mishing some?" ChoCho asked with a mouthful of chips.

"Weeell yeeeah, Metal was busy running laps around the village and Denki was teaching Iwabe something bout technology... But that's besides the point! Me and these two-" He pointed to Sarada and Mitsuki "-have found something!" He whispered yelled the last part.

"Boruto was really the only one that found it." Sarada mumbled annoyed, wanting to be anywhere but here.

"Mhm, he dragged us to go with him cause he said he was bored and was going to explore." Mitsuki said with a shake of his head.

"Sarada and I just watched as he ran around." He finished with a smile.

"I did not DRAG you!" Boruto yelled pointing at them.

""Did too"" They coursed.

"Why are we here exactly?" Inojin smiled toward them.

Shikadai and ChoCho looked at them, wanting to know this as well.

"We found something-" "We know that already-" "-and it's reeeaallly coooll!" Boruto finished with stars shinning in his eyes. He ignored Shikadai's interruption.

"How cool exactly?" ChoCho looked toward Sarada and Mitsuki. The two of them looked to each other and then back at the rest of them and shrugged.

- - -

"Are we there yet??" ChoCho complained.

"Be patient! We only started running 30 minutes ago!" Boruto exclaimed.

"Were getting a little far out from the village Boruto." Shikadai said lamely. He was so done already. He just wanted to go home and never leave his bed.

"I know." Boruto simply said with a grin.

After another 5 minutes they reached their destination.

An opening in the forest with no trees or bushes... with nothing in it.

"...so... there's nothing here? Great, time to go home." Shikadai turned around but was turned back around by Boruto.

"What! No! That's impossible! It was just here!" Boruto exclaimed, throwing his hands in his hair.

"What was here exactly?" Inojin asked looking around.

"Some blue crystal ball." Sarada said already looking bored.

"Noooo! Do you now how long it took me to find that!?" Boruto started tearing up.

"Just give it up Boruto." Sarada sweatdropped as Boruto began digging in the bushes.

"Maybe someone took it?" Mitsuki suggested.

"Do you know how long it'll take me to get home now? It's already almost dark and I'm probably late for dinner too." ChoCho face was all dejected.

"I'm gonna get in trouble if I don't head back. I'm gonna miss grandmas birthday cake at this rate." *sigh* "What a drag." Shikadai started walking back.

"Mom must be worried sick about me so I have to head back too." Inojin smiled as he too turned around to leave.

They were all starting to walk back except Sarada who just stared at Borutos back as he ran around.

Boruto was about to give up before he felt a shift in the air.

He turned to look for everyone else but was kicked in the back.

After landing he looked up to see an someone dressed in all black running towards him with a kunai in hand. He took out his kunai as well and ran towards the stranger. Boruto kept an eye out for his friends but didn't see a single one of them. Maybe they had left him? No, he was sure Sarada was still there.

The figure clad in black aimed a kick towards his head that he barely dodged.

'This person's fast' He thought.

They exchanged a few more blows for awhile longer and he nearly got them with his kunai before something forcefully pulled him back, making him lose his balance.

He jumped foward and looked behind him to see another figure clad in black.

'Tch, they made clones.'

Boruto looked around and saw 2 more by the trees and another behind the first figure he saw. It looked like this clone was trying to... stop the figure?

Wait... that's not right.

He didn't have much time to dwell on it as the first figure came running towards him with the Chidori. That triggered warning signs in his head but he couldn't think about it and not a second later he activated his Rasengan.

It was about half way to his target that he realised something was really wrong.

That wasn't an enemy nin.

That was Sarada!?

She seemed shocked to see him too.

But it was too late. They couldn't stop their attacks at the speed they were going.

- - -

About a minute after they started the trek back home Shikadai, Inojin, Mitsuki, and ChoCho heard the sound of kunai against kunai.

They all paused.

*Clang*

"Do you think it's Sarada and Boruto?" ChoCho asked.

"They could be sparring." Inojin said.

"Boruto could've pissed off Sarada." Mitsuki added.

Shikadai kept quiet though. It didn't feel right for some reason. There was...

Killing intent?

Shikadai started running back.

"Shika?!" ChoCho yelled.

Mitsuki sensed something wrong as well and started running back.

Inojin knowing those two left because of a reason followed not to far behind them.

*sigh* "This better be worth it!" She yelled as she ran after them, dropping her bag of chips in the process.

When she got there Shikadai was pulling Bourto away from Sarada and Mitsuki was doing the same with Sarada.

"Sarada?" ChoCho asked. This didn't seem like a very friendly spar to her. If anything it looked like Boruto had tried to kill her with that kunai.

Mitsuki seemed like he was trying to talk to her and Shikadai was yelling Boruto's name but neither of then seemed to process it.

Maybe they were really pissed off?

Sarada suddenly activated her Chidori and ran towards Boruto.

They all gasped, too shocked to move. Shikadai however recovered fast and started running foward. He crouched down, about to use his shadow jutsu but paused when Boruto ran past him with his rasengan.

Shikadai mentally cursed and pushed his legs to run faster. He reached the middle of Sarada and Boruto and was about to use his shadow jutsu again but paused, again.

He didn't know if using it on Boruto while rasengan was still in play would cause it to explode seeing as nothing was no longer keeping the chakra inside of it flowing. He didn't want Borutos arm to get blown off but Shikadai didn't necessarily want to die either.

He looked toward Sarada and his eyes widened in hope. Her sharingan was activated and she looked surprised. A quick glance towards Boruto told Shikadai that he was also surprised.

'Tch.'

Of course he had to be right in the fact that it was a genjutsu. The blue crystal ball should've set off warning signs in his head. His Aunt Ino and father warned him about how they were setting up traps half a mile away from the border of Konoha in the trees to catch burglers or enemy nin.

He just hadn't known it would be a genjutsu trap.

And of course it had to slip his mind.

To be fair, it had slipped ChoCho and Inojins as well. They were also informed.

Welp... nothing he could do about it now.

They were closing in and it seemed neither could stop so Shikadai had to figure this out himself.

Like he does everything else.

Shikadai was about to do a wind jutsu to push them away from each other, assuming his wind would cancel out Boruto's rasengan. But before he could do anything he froze.

He couldn't move.

Sarada and Boruto arms were inches from his own, which were still held out toward them.

He could faintly here Inojin and ChoCho yelling for him to move in terrified voices as they ran foward.

He could see Mitsuki out of the corner of his eye running toward them, his hands moving to perform a jutsu.

He could feel the lighting from the Chidori dance across his finger tips.

He could feel the harsh winds from the rasengan hit his other hand.

*Boom*

Before either jutsu could hit him, a burst of energy pushed out from where he was standing and surrounded them in a circle. It had canceled out both the Chidori and the Rasengan. The energy was climbing through the air and now surrounded them from all sides. The energy was tinted green in color but Shikadai wasn't paying attention to that.

"What's going on?!" ChoCho yelled.

Harsh winds started to circle around the greenish sphere they were in, almost as if they were rings.

"I don't like this gu-AAHH!" Boruto yelled as they all started to levitate off the ground. The rings lf wind whipping around the sphere even faster, seemingly glowing.

Boruto looked to Shikadai for answers.

"Hey Shika...dai?" Boruto gapped.

Shikadai wasnt paying attention to what was going on around him. He was focused at what was in his hands.

Staring at it as if in a trance.

Floating a bit above Shikadai's hands was the hourglass he had found in his grandmother's shed.

The golden plate holding the hourglass and the rings surrounding it was spinning rapidly in every direction possible. It looked more like a ball was floating above his hands because of how fast it was going.

Shikadai just stared at it.

It was glowing a beautiful green.

"What's happening?!" Sarada yelled as she too looks at Shikadai.

"I don't know!" Boruto yelled back over the harsh winds.

Shikadai paid attention to none of it.

["Your grandfather gave his life for this village." Yoshino said with a sad smile."]

["He was a great shogi player. Could never beat him." His Aunt Ino said."]

["Hahaha! The only person that could rival Shikamaru!" Uncle Choji laughed."]

["If he had the chance to meet you, I belive he would've loved you just as much as I do." His father said with a smile. Shikadai smiled back."]

'I wonder what he was like...' Shikadai thought.

The winds around them increased.

["Bending down into a crouched position, he saw the thing that caught his eye.

It was a metal plate.

The size of the ones on ninja headbands. Perhaps a little smaller and less durable. He saw three letters on the plate, the rest hidden by layers of dust.

"Shi..."

Shikadai lifted his hand onto the metal plate. He slowly started wiping the dust off.

"...kaku..."]

'Can I meet him?'

Sarada noticed the shift in the air right as soon as it happened. She looked toward Shikadai who opened his mouth.

[He had to take his hand away to wipe off the dust but continued.

"...Na..ra."]

'No, I want to meet him.'

"COVER HIS MOUTH!!" Sarada yelled as she tried to reach over to Shikadai.

But it too late.

[Shikadai sat there with his eyes wide open.]

Shikadai started to move his mouth to form words.

["Shikaku Nara?"]

"Shikaku Nara."

The hourglass stopped spinning with a tick. The hourglass was now verticle.

The last bit of green sand fell from the top and softly landed with the rest of the sand.

Two rings formed around all of them.

The sphere of green energy and wind suddenly exploded.

- - -

"Hmmhm~" Hinata was gardening her plants while humming.

"Hmm-ah!" She yelped as a strong gust of wind came by.

She bent down to pick up the watering can that had fallen.

Hinata looked up toward the sky and felt uneased.

"I told him to be careful... right?"