Chapter Text
A child of darkness. One made of shadows, a ghost amongst those who walk in the light.
There's a lot of rumors surrounding the only boy of a rundown orphanage, located five villages away from Konoha. Originally the orphanage only housed girls from the ages of five up to sixteen, but the boy arrived on their doorsteps claiming to be five years old despite how frail they looked. No one had the nerve to dare turn the boy away. Most of the rumors are too vague, too outlandish to even be considered the truth. Those who stay at the orphanage, the workers and the children, all band together to raise the boy. They bring him books, random scrolls, they tell him stories, they play games with him, they watch over him, and they protect him. They don't push for answers when the boy screams himself awake most nights, they don't ask questions when he stares off into space not coming back to himself until hours later. They don't stare at the usually hidden scars on the boy's body, they don't listen when the shadows around him move as he whispers to them.
The rest of the village isn't as kind.
They see the boy, the oddities that follow him and they grow fearful. Rumors pop up, new and cruel with every appearance the boy makes outside.
It's not until two years later, a new worker at the orphanage sees the boy herself that she realizes just what the boy is. She sends a message to Konoha that very same night.
When the Hokage receives an official message from an orphanage about a little boy in a village a bit out of the way, he's confused, but then he keeps reading.
A boy who can manipulate the shadows. A boy, who is marked down as being roughly seven years old, with black hair and brown eyes. Nothing that would make him stand out from other kids besides the fact that the boy could use a Nara clan technique and was around the right age range… Now, the Hokage is more than aware of how much false hope can hurt, however, he swore that if he ever found any evidence, any possibility of Shikaku's son still living then he would contact the man himself. There's no proof of who the boy is and the message didn't contain any photographic evidence— but this is the closest they've come to a lead since little Shikamaru was taken years ago.
Boar is sent to retrieve Shikaku, told to tell the Nara clan head that the Hokage requests an emergency meeting with him, as soon as possible.
That very night, the boy disappears from the orphanage. No signs of a struggle or of someone breaking in.
.
.
.
Shikamaru Nara is found unconscious, early the next morning, just outside the gate to Kohana.
After seeing a healer, reuniting with his parents, and having a private conversation with both the Hokage and Inoichi Yamanaka, it's revealed that Shikamaru has no memory of his time outside of the village. Of course, the adults are skeptical of the situation but glad to see that the Young Nara heir was safe. As years pass, the incident fades from people's minds, except for those of the Nara clan.
Shikamaru is fifteen years old when he goes missing once more. Vanishing as the shadows beneath his feet turned to liquid, Shikamaru sank down, while out on a mission with his team.
.
.
.
His head hurts, only the pain doesn't stop there. There's a full-body ache that's titering on the edge of becoming too much to handle. Last he remembered, he was laying on the roof of his home, waiting for Choji. Did he fall asleep and roll off or something? That might explain the pain, but not why his skin felt so clammy and he could practically smell the sweat covering him.
Wait. No, no that's not what happened. He was out on the mission with his team, a B rank mission. What happened?
Wanting to open his eyes and actually doing it are two entirely different matters. It's almost as though his eyes are glued shut, this doesn't even feel like when there's a bit of crust on his eyes after sleeping for a long time. He doesn't feel well-rested, to be honest he's exhausted. However, it's not like he can just keep lying there, now that he's actually focusing on more than just his body, whatever he's laying on is moist and seeping through his clothes. Oh, Naruto better not have tried pranking him— no. Damnit, why does he keep forgetting he was on a mission?
Shikamaru blinked, eyes darting around. This… this was definitely not Konoha. Not just because of the lack of destruction but the landscape in general was entirely different from what he remembered. He was laying down in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by trees taller than any he's seen before. Everything here seems to be so much more vibrant than he was used to. He lies still, the only movement coming from him being his eyes as he takes in the entirety of his surroundings. Any good Shinobi knows not to alert any possible threats when they regain consciousness, however, he seems to be alone—
Eyes growing wide in alarm, Shikamaru flings himself to the side just as something crashes right where he was laying. Looking over it seemed to be… a lizard? No. It's similar to the size of a fully grown crocodile but it has the body shape of a lizard? Whatever the hell it is, its head snaps around to stare at him and Shikamaru is far too tired to deal with this shit. Gritting his teeth, Shikamaru pushes himself up onto his feet. He can feel himself trembling, his body is exhausted, and for some reason, his chakra reserves were nearly nonexistent. Regardless he still forces himself to move, because like hell he's just going to lay there and let himself become lizard food. So it seems he truly doesn't have much say in the matter, before he can get too far his legs give out on him and he is sent sprawling into the dirt. Rather than finding himself on the receiving end of a lizard bite, an ax, far larger than he's ever seen before, comes crashing down on the creature. Separating its head from the rest of its body, and causing blood to splatter everywhere, even on himself.
He grimaces but refrained from complaining out loud. Instead, he looks around to try and find whoever threw that ax... What the fuck.
Is that a giant?!