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Every Clan had special abilities unique to them. This was thanks to a special entity that gave them those powers.
It wouldn’t be entirely correct to call them Gods. But they’re still more powerful than the average human, so they’re not to be trifled with.
In order to appease them and still be in their favor, whoever is the Clan leader has to give up offerings to the special entity for their power and protection.
As such, they are called Guardian Sprits by the humans who are given their aid.
The offerings range from Clan to Clan.
The Yamanaka offer flowers.
The Inuzuka offer animal bones.
And the Nara, the Clan you’re a Guardian Sprit for, give deer antlers covered in black paint.
Deer is your sacred animal, and the black paint is supposed to symbolic of the power to control shadows that you allow them to have.
It’s an exchange that’s been occurring for centuries.
Tonight is slightly different however.
Shikaku, who is the current leader of the Nara Clan has an extra surprise for you.
It’s an extra antler that’s much smaller than the others.
This means one thing…
“My wife has given birth to our son.” said Shikaku, kneeling in front of you.
It was a sign of respect to kneel before the Clan’s Guardian Sprit.
“Congratulations.” You say with an air of indifference.
You were so used to the so called “miracle of life” it didn’t hold much weight to you.
You were there when Shikaku’s father announced his birth, and when his father announced his birth and so on and so forth.
Yes… it was just trivial to you now.
“I will bring him the next time I come here.” said Shikaku.
“What’s his name?” You asked, practically begging for information that’s actually useful since you are also used to meeting babies.
It’s important to meet the future of your Clan, sure, but it’s just so boring having to do in over and over again.
“Shikamaru.” said Shikaku.
“How cute.” You said.
“Yoshino thought so too.” said Shikaku.
You walked over and picked up the basket of offerings.
“You may leave.” You said.
Shikaku got up, bowed, and then walked away.
It was a simple life, but it was a nice life nonetheless.
***
True to his word, Shikaku brought Shikamaru to show off to you the next time you saw each other.
Shikamaru looked like every other baby you’ve met.
But you got a strange feeling that you don’t usually get.
A feeling that this baby was going to do something significant when he was older.
This intrigued you, since as far as you know, for all of their brilliance, Nara men are incredibly lazy.
Oh well, time will tell. And you have more than enough of that.
***
“Dad, my knees hurt.” the now 12 year old Shikamaru complained, kneeling next to his father.
Shikaku gave his son a disappointing look.
“You need to get used to it. You’re going to be the one giving the offerings when I’m gone.”
He gestured to the basket of black deer antlers in front of him.
“I must admit I wasn’t expecting to see Shikamaru again so soon. You must have important news.” You said.
12 years is more akin to 12 days for you.
Shikamaru raised his eyebrow.
“What do you mean again? I have never seen you before in my life.”
Shikaku gave an exasperated sigh.
He was hoping that Shikamaru could behave himself for 5 minutes.
“I apologize for my son’s rudeness. I do bring important news.”
Shikaku then smiled.
“Shikamaru just graduated from the Ninja Academy. And he’s going to be on a team with Inoichi’s daughter and Choza’s son.”
Ah yes, you know Inoichi and Choza.
The Naras, Yamanakas, and Akimichis have a deeply intertwined history.
It’s just too bad that you mostly only know them because of all of the times you, and the two other Clan Guardian Sprits, were summoned personally to help either defeat an enemy or to bail them out of a deadly situation.
You nodded to show that you understood.
“Interesting. This should be interesting to watch.”
“Glad my life seems to be so entertaining…” Shikamaru mumbled.
You weren’t insulted, quite the opposite, you kinda found it funny how snippy this kid is.
“You may leave.” You said.
Father and son got up, the father made the son bow along with him, and they walked away.
You couldn’t help but smile as you picked up the basket of offerings.
You hoped to see Shikamaru again sooner rather than later.
***
4 years later you would get your wish.
“Why do I have to do it? You’re the head of the Clan aren’t you?” Shikamaru questioned while crossing his arms.
He could be doing more important things right now, like napping.
“I have important business with the Hokage that I can’t ignore.” said Shikaku, painting the last deer antler black before putting it in the basket.
“Why can’t you just go the next time you’re free and then explain why you couldn’t make it the last time?” Shikamaru argued.
Shikaku became very serious.
“Because the last time people died.”
This shocked Shikamaru.
“What?”
“When my grandfather skipped doing the annual offering because he was too busy, disease and famine ravaged the Clan. It wasn’t until my grandfather personally apologized by killing his favorite deer that it stopped.”
“Why couldn’t they ask the other Clans for help?” asked Shikamaru.
“They did, but any food turned rotten when any of our members touched it. And no amount of medicine worked for the sick.”
This made Shikamaru’s blood ran cold.
Shikaku put both of his paint stained hands on Shikamaru’s shoulders.
“Listen to me Shikamaru. Our Guardian Sprit only chooses to help us. She could kill us at any point she wanted too. You must do this as the future leader of our Clan.”
With no good reason to argue, Shikamaru admitted defeat.
“Alright fine. What a drag.”
He always knew women were troublesome, but this is pushing it.
Shikamaru made his way to your temple in the forest in their backyard.
The stone path that was made to make it easier to walk felt isolating.
Shikamaru tried to calm his frayed nerves.
So what if you got angry once? All he had to do was to not make you get angry again.
It was no different than dealing with his mother.
All he had to do was to give you the basket and leave.
You were surprised to see Shikamaru all by himself.
Shikamaru went off of what he remembered back from when he was 12 and kneeled before addressing you.
“My dad had do something for the Hokage so I was sent in his stead.”
“I hope Hiruzen isn’t working him too hard.” you said.
Shikamaru paused, then said “Hiruzen Sarutobi has been dead for years. The current Hokage is the granddaughter of the First Hokage.”
“Oh right. Sorry, Hiruzen was Hokage for so long it slipped my mind.” you said.
You smiled. “You know, Tsunade does remind me of Hashirama at times. Not that I really got to meet him that much, but she does.”
Shikamaru fought the urge to grimace.
You were such an old lady.
It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end that his future was going to be stupid conversations like this one.
“I gave you the basket. Can I go now?” Shikamaru said.
His knees were already starting to hurt. Why did he have to kneel on marble? Why not the grass outside?
“Not yet. Though you may stand. Or at least sit down in a more comfortable position.” You said.
“May I ask why?” Shikamaru stood up.
“Because I want to get to know you better.” You said.
Shikamaru wasn’t sure how it happened, but one hour later he ended up promising to play a game of Shogi with you the next time he visits.
There wasn’t even supposed to be a next time!
At least not until his dad retired or something!
The first thing he did when he came home was tell his dad what happened.
Shikaku rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“We’re going to need a good Shogi board for this.”
“You can’t be serious!” Shikamaru cried.
“But I am. You’re going to have to suck it up, this is the Guardian Sprit that’s giving you the power you’ve used in all of your missions. You have to do it at least once.”
Shikamaru sighed. “What a drag. Fine. But I’m bringing cushions too. Or I’ll won’t be able to walk normally again.”
***
True to his word, Shikamaru brought both the Shogi board and the cushions.
You felt weird sitting on your knees for once, but you were willing to put up with it. You were doing this to understand Shikamaru better.
Shikamaru tried to explain the rules of the game to the best of his ability.
It only took a matter of minutes for him to beat you.
“Wow, you’re good.” You said.
“Yeah, I am.”
Shikamaru decided to keep the fact that his dad always beats him to himself. There was no need to escalate things.
Shikamaru was ready to leave but you wanted one more game.
“Okay, but only one more game alright?” said Shikamaru.
“Okay.” You said.
The same thing happened again. But this time you were still able to make slightly better moves.
Shikamaru was going to take the board and cushions back, but you stopped him.
“I want to keep playing until I beat you.” You said.
Shikamaru looked like he suddenly smelled something bad.
But he knew he couldn’t refuse.
So he agreed.
In truth you didn’t actually care about beating him, it was just an excuse to see him more.
***
Time went by, as it always does.
You greatly enjoyed your afternoons with Shikamaru.
By this point, you were good at the game enough to beat him, but you were purposefully allowing him to win so you could still see him.
He thankfully hasn’t caught on yet.
You still demanded offerings of course, but at this point you valued Shikamaru more than anything.
So when he was devastated after the death of Asuma, you were ready to cause mayhem.
You cursed Hijiri, the Guardian Spirit for the Sarutobis. Can’t he do his job for once?!
It wasn’t too terrible though, as Shikamaru called upon you for the first time during his rematch against Hidan.
It felt great helping Shikamaru put the man who hurt him into the ground. Literally. Appeared cutting him up and then burying him alive is the only way to bypass his immortality.
Hmm. How fragile. It would take killing off all of the Nara to kill you. It’s why you make sure to never kill them off completely when you’re punishing them.
Still, you think you know why you got that one feeling all those years ago.
Shikamaru learned that the next generation is the “King” and is upholding the Will of Fire by helping Kurenai taking care of her baby that she apparently had with Asuma…
WHAT?! HE WAS SPENDING ALL OF HIS TIME WITH ANOTHER WOMAN?!
Pregnant or not he should not be hanging around some slut!
You made Shikaku and Shikamaru appear before you to make your ultimatematum. Either Shikamaru is handed over to you permanently or not only are you going to cause another famine and plague, you really will let everyone die this time. Because you refuse to live if it’s not without Shikamaru.
Shikaku was overcome with despair.
“No! You can’t! I’ll give you anything! Just please don’t take my son away!”
This the most emotional you’ve ever seen him. He was openly crying.
But You remained cold and unmoved.
“What I want is Shikamaru.” You said.
“I-I can’t…” Shikaku choked.
“Then let it be known that you were the one who let your Clan get killed.” You said, with no emotion, just resolve.
“Wait!” Shikamaru exclaimed. “I’ll stay with you.”
Shikaku stared at Shikamaru in horror.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am. You were the one telling me I have to act for the good of the Clan. This is no different.”
If Shikaku could go back in time and punch himself right now he would. He wished he never sent out Shikamaru that day and just cancelled on Tsunade instead. Because he knew that was the domino that caused this mess.
“Dad, let me do this. I want to do this. I don’t want the future next generation to die before their time because of me. “
Shikaku looked, really looked, at his son. He was no longer a boy, but a man.
Shikaku looked back at you.
“I’ll agree to your request. But I have one request of my own. Let me and Yoshino see him. It doesn’t have to be every time we visit. But we must be allowed to see him.”
He was still falling apart, but was putting on more of a tough front, since Shikamaru was being so brave.
You mulled it over. You figured you were willing to make an exception for Shikamaru’s mother.
“I’ll allow that.”
A great relief washed over Shikaku, but it failed to dull the pain.
Shikaku was then forced to do the worst thing he ever had to do. He was forced to abandon his son, and he didn’t know when he will see him again.
He gave Shikamaru one last hug that felt too short. Then he walked away without turning back, because he knew he would break completely and he couldn’t do that to Shikamaru.
He knew he was afraid, but was still willing to give himself up to protect the Clan.
Shikaku couldn’t be more proud of his son, so why did he feel so empty?
Shikaku, the Clan Head of the Nara walked as stoically as possible until he finally reached his house.
Shikaku, the father, after closing the door behind him, remembering the advice he gave to his son about “letting it out” after his teacher died.
Shikaku the man, let out a haunting wail, letting all of his grief come spilling out.