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Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: Meeting the Clan Head

Shikaku was sitting at my family's dining room table with his arms crossed over his chest. "Eventful day at school?" he asked dryly. Why did he care? He was the clan head. I was practically a clan nobody.

"Yes, Shikaku-sama. Forgive my poor manners. Can I get you anything?"

"I don't need any food. My wife is cooking dinner. I just came by at the request of the jonin in charge of the library. Apparently, a student from the Academy used a henge to check out books as a genin. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Shikaku said, looking pointedly at the two books in my hand.

I swallowed heavily. I knew getting the books had been too easy. I could either deny when Shikaku was literally looking at me with the evidence in my hands, or I could come clean.

I bowed and held the books forward. "I apologize for my actions. It was not my intention to make the Nara clan be held responsible for my actions."

He knew that it was me. Denying it would just piss him off. Maybe this way, he wouldn't forbid me from going back to the Academy. If he banned me from learning for a stupid attempt to decieve professional ninja, I was royally screwed.

Shikaku snorted, leaning back in his chair. "You're one troublesome kid. If you weren't the spitting image of your parents, I'd wonder whether you were really a Nara."

Shikaku sighed, slowly standing up and stretching. His hand flicked down, and I caught a glimmer as something shiny was flung towards me.

I nearly dropped my books trying to catch the small key Shikaku had thrown me. "Shikaku-sama, what is this?" I asked hesitantly.

Shikaku's shoulders slumped as he put his hands in his pockets. "Key to the Nara library. Don't worry about the guards. I already told them to let you in. Don't touch what they tell you not to touch, but everything else is fair. Feel free to stop in whenever. You can't take anything out of it, and don't try anything new without supervision, but feel free to drop in whenever. Bye now." He started walking towards the door.

"I'm not in trouble?" I barked out in surprise.

Shikaku stopped at the door, raising an eyebrow over his shoulder at me. "Are we going to punish you for trying to infiltrate a fortified location to extract information? No. Just don't get caught next time. They'll toss you out if they catch you again. And if you don't get caught, it isn't my problem. Return those books after school tomorrow or they'll take them back. Troublesome kid." Shikaku left, closing the door behind him as he continued mumbling about my 'troublesomeness'.

I blinked in shock as I stared at the door. It made sense a chunin could see through my very flawed henge, but they let me go and talked to Shikaku about it with enough time for him to be waiting in my house when I got back? Ninja were fast. I seriously needed to step up my training.

I clasped the bronze key in my hand tight as a wide smile spread across my lips. The Nara library would have jutsu scrolls, chakra exercises, taijutsu styles, everything I needed to get stronger fast.

I debated going to the library now, but I only had one night with the books from the library. I needed to make the most of it. I scampered up the stairs to my room and pulled out a notebook. I flipped through both books and took as many notes as I possibly could. I didn't get much sleep that night.

XXXXXXXX

Today had been stressful for Shikaku Nara. A team of chunin they'd dispatched to the Land of Stone two months ago had finally returned. The reason they were so late was because two of them had been caught in an explosion that took off both of their legs. Their teammates had to carry them to Konoha on their backs.

Shikaku spent the entire day combing over reports of the success of the mission and the details about the nin his team encountered. Five experienced chunin were defeated by three fleeing men. They hadn't even been trying to fight his chunin. The unknown nin just wanted to get away. What he was trying to get away from, none of the chunin under him knew, but it was enough to scare a trio of nin who took out five experienced chunin at once.

Shikaku had to reorganize teams, arrange for medical discharges, talk to the Hokage…

Shikaku sighed as he sat down. And silently began eating the food his wife had left out for him. Yoshino was probably putting Shikamaru to bed. He was home too late to see his son again.

Shikaku's mind drifted to another young boy. Kagen Nara had been a point of gossip among the clan for a couple years now. The boy dragged his parents out to train almost everyday. He was the only Nara Shikaku had ever seen to be so enthusiastic about anything. It was producing scary results.

Kagen had apparently learned the henge while no one was looking, mastering it to the point where a chunin wasn't able to see through it. Granted, the chunin in question didn't pay much attention and was more interested in his book – Gojo had been irate about that and made sure to make it all Shikaku's problem – but Kagen still slipped by a chunin.

There was little Shikaku could do about Kagen. He could either punish him and stunt his growth, or encourage some antics and keep an eye on him. Even though it would be troublesome, Shikaku chose the latter.

Kagen was motivated, and motivation was sorely lacking among the Nara clan. Maybe Kagen's attitude was what they needed to get them going again? Kagen was already showing potential. Who knew what he'd be like in ten years if he continued like he was.

Shikaku sighed, laying his head down on the table. He was going to have to do so much work.

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