"Shikamaru, I have no choice. Hokage-sama believes only you can complete this mission. You have studied Naruto's file. Yes, he is a jinchūriki, but in all these years he has never harmed anyone. It should not be dangerous, so…"
"Father, danger is not what troubles me. I am telling you, this is a mission destined to fail."
Night had fallen. After hours spent in the Hokage's office debating how best to approach Naruto, Shikaku returned home with his son. Both sat cross-legged on the tatami, their faces heavy with worry. Shikaku's expression was even more grim than his son's.
"Why are you so certain?" he pressed.
Shikamaru stretched out his arms lazily, then placed his hands together in a peculiar seal. His eyes remained closed, his voice calm.
"One hundred percent certainty. It will fail."
"You have never spoken to Naruto. How can you be so sure?"
Shikaku's eyes narrowed. He knew his son's words came from careful calculation, not carelessness. But the Hokage demanded answers. The Nara clan had risen under the Third Hokage's favor; they could not afford to falter.
Shikamaru opened his eyes. From his robes he withdrew two photographs. "Look. These are both his true faces. One from when he was three years old, standing alone while villagers hurled insults at him. The other from recently, when he escorted Hinata Hyūga home. Father… compare his eyes."
Shikaku studied them. "They look the same. No difference."
"Exactly." Shikamaru's voice was firm. "And that is the problem. When he was three, every child would have trembled, cried, or shown anger. He stood alone against the crowd, yet there was no fear, no hatred, no desire to run. Only emptiness. Only indifference.
Even in the second photo, smiling beside Hinata, his eyes remain the same. Dead. Hollow. Devoid of feeling. Father, have you ever seen a child with eyes like that?"
Shikaku could not reply. He gazed long at the photos, at that boy's azure eyes that should have held warmth but instead reflected nothing. At last he sighed heavily.
"This will be troublesome indeed."
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
That morning, Naruto walked along a riverside path until a dense forest loomed before him, silent and green as a living wall. Since his brief encounter with Uchiha Shisui, he had avoided Uchiha territory. The clan and the Hokage's council were like fire and oil. He needed a quieter place.
"This is the Nara clan's crest?" Naruto asked, pausing before a stone marker carved with the deer sigil.
"Yes," Minato's voice answered within the seal. "This forest is safe. No beasts, only deer raised for medicine. No one comes here this season."
"They say the Nara are geniuses, wise beyond measure?"
"There is such a reputation. I was Hokage too briefly to deal with them often."
Naruto pressed deeper into the forest, found a clearing, and sat cross-legged. His awareness sank into the seal. Father and son touched fists. Through Kurama's chakra, Minato began imparting the foundations of the Flying Thunder God Technique. At last, he had agreed to teach it.
Hokage's Office
"How fortunate," Hiruzen said with a chuckle as he peered into his crystal ball. "Naruto has wandered right into Nara territory."
Shikamaru, standing nearby, blinked in shock. For weeks he had despaired at finding an opening. Naruto's routines were erratic, his appearances unpredictable. All his carefully planned encounters had failed.
"Do you mean… you want me to go now?" Shikamaru asked.
Hiruzen's smile faded into the stern mask of the Hokage. "This is a rare chance. Tomorrow, he may not return there. Go."
Shikamaru's spine stiffened. The command carried steel. "Yes. I will go at once."
Within the seal, Minato explained, "The basics of Flying Thunder God are not difficult for you. Even my three guards managed the entry stage with only a few notes. They could not master it alone, but together they created the Flying Raijin Formation."
Naruto frowned. "So they never truly mastered it?"
Minato shook his head. "No. Their individual perception was insufficient. Only by combining could they mimic the effect. After the war, I was buried in the duties of Hokage. Then your mother became pregnant. And then… five years ago…"
Kurama's eyes snapped open, glowing scarlet with remembered fury. That night. The masked man. The chains of tragedy.
Naruto raised a hand, silencing his father gently. "It is enough. I only needed confirmation."
Still, his mind whirred with calculations. So long as the Hokage's crystal orb existed, he could never train in peace.
"Father, are you sure there is only one such crystal ball?"
"Yes," Minato answered without thinking, then stiffened. "Naruto… are you planning to destroy it?"
"I am considering the possibility," Naruto said evenly. "Unless you wish for them to peer into my life forever?"
Minato shook his head violently, speechless.
Naruto's senses suddenly sharpened. A chakra signature was approaching the forest. From the direction of the Hokage's office.
"Someone is coming," he murmured.
Shikamaru trudged the path through the trees, each step heavier than the last. The Hokage's words echoed in his mind.
This was not an order to spy. Not, he claimed, an infiltration. It was an order to befriend. To gain Naruto's trust. To report his thoughts.
Was that not the very definition of a spy?
Shikamaru clenched his jaw. Could the Hokage truly not understand what friendship meant? Could trust be so cheap, so manipulated?
He thought of Chōji, of laughter shared over food, of bonds that asked nothing in return. That was friendship. Not this.
Yet he had decided.
If Hokage-sama commands me to be his friend, then I will be his true friend. No deception. No lies.
His steps grew lighter. Soon he entered the clearing.
Naruto sat upon a stone, waiting. His blue eyes fixed on Shikamaru the instant he appeared. It was clear. Shikamaru had come for him.
The boy walked forward, casting aside his lazy mask. For once, his expression was deadly serious.
"Hello. My name is Nara Shikamaru. The Hokage ordered me to come here… and be your friend."
___________________________________________________________________________________________
If you're enjoying this story and want to read more advanced chapters, you can support me on Patreon: patreon.com/PurgatorialPoet. Your support helps keep the translations coming faster.