HOKAGE SHIKAMARU

Chapter One

Shikamaru wanted to go to bed early. It had been a particularly tiring day--well, actually, he'd just done a few D-rank missions, but things like that were troublesome, and thus so draining--and all he had in mind was his nice, soft pillow.

He would gladly have gone to sleep now, had it not been for his mother. The troublesome woman seemed to think that a day could not end before he'd made some ground-breaking, world-saving contributions to society. She didn't seem to understand, however hard he tried to convince her, that Chuunins weren't supposed to do things like S-rank missions or save the world.

They had Jounins for those kinds of things.

But since, regardless of that, his mother thought he should go out there and plunge himself into mortal peril, come within an inch of his already weakened--through all those tiring D-rank missions--life and risk his neck in general for a few more times before dinner… Shikamaru had allowed himself to be shooed out of the house, and had promptly headed for a quiet spot of grass just outside Konoha. Now that there was no chance of his mother coming across him while doing her evening shopping, he could watch the clouds in peace and while away the time until he could finally go home and sleep.

Most likely, he would have to wait a whole half hour for the sun to set before he could do that.

Which was troublesome.

Shikamaru prepared to sigh in resignation, but decided he couldn't be bothered. He really didn't have the energy to sigh. Instead, he closed his eyes, sinking into the soft, comforting grass.

He was so tired. All those troublesome missions. Why did he have to do such troublesome things? There were people like Naruto, who--being out of their minds, obviously--actually liked missions, to the point of craving the troublesome tasks…

Honestly, he just wanted to go to bed early.

When he finally opened his eyes--there was this troublesome noise which had startled him--the sun had long set, and the stars had come out. At least, that was the way his surroundings should have been like, if it weren't for the lamps around him, which made the sky seem as bright as day.

"…what the…" Mumbling bemusedly, Shikamaru sat up gingerly, blinking in the harsh light.

"Shikamaru-sama, are you all right?" A frantic voice by his ear made him jump.

Shikamaru-sama? He didn't remember ever being called that in his life. He turned to face the speaker and gave an even more violent start of surprise--

The face he saw wasn't that of a human. Instead, he was staring into a white and red mask designed like a bird. The ANBU member spoke again. "Shikamaru-sama? Where are you injured?"

"…injured…?" What had given him--or her, the voice sounded quite feminine--that idea? "I'm…not injured…" Shikamaru muttered before finally taking a good look around.

At least a dozen ANBU members were crowded around him, all either with their kunais out, ready to do battle, or else peering anxiously at him--he supposed they were; he couldn't really tell from the masks--and speaking in the same panicked voices.

"We found you here, lying on the grass, Shikamaru-sama," the first Bird ANBU said apologetically. "Are you sure--?"

For all his IQ, Shikamaru couldn't figure out for the life of him which part of 'lying on the grass' would pose a problem for anyone. And besides, he'd never done anything serious enough to attract the attention of one member of the ANBU. He doubted that he would ever have the ability, or be of enough importance, to draw twelve. Even if he died.

"Were you attacked, Hokage Nara?" a deeper male voice enquired.

"…No," Shikamaru replied, his mind still reeling and fighting to grasp all the aspects of what was going on. "No, I just…fell asleep, I guess…"

The hustle and bustle ceased abruptly as, one by one, every face turned to his. Then, they slowly looked at each other. "You…fell asleep, Hokage Nara…?"

"Yes," Shikamaru confirmed. Really, why were all these people being so troublesome about such a minor--

Wait.

Hokage Nara?

Shikamaru looked down, and instead of his usual clothes, he saw only white. His hand shot up to grope at his hair, but instead of his spiky ponytail, he felt only the triangular shape of the familiar Hokage hat.

Hokage Nara?

Hokage Nara?

Hokage Nara?

Somehow, Shikamaru got this slight hunch that something wasn't the way it should be.

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The ANBU member made her solitary way down the silent halls of darkness. She understood that, as hers was a secretive profession, the ANBU headquarters being hidden underground was a perfectly sensible security measure. But personally, it still scared her a little, walking all by herself within its maze of corridors.

With much relief did she open the door to her final destination. It was simply a small room, its walls as bleak and grey as those outside it. The ANBU member wasn't interested in the room itself, though. Much more engaging was the person seated in the middle of it, her arms folded across her chest.

On closing the door, the ANBU member finally took off her mask.

The young woman seated opened her mouth to exclaim, her long brown overcoat rustling as she jerked forwards and her dark purple ponytail bobbing.

"Remember, no names," the ANBU member cut in.

"Hmph." Mitarashi Anko crossed her arms and legs, settling back in her chair once more. "I still can't see why I had to come here just so you could see me. Why couldn't you have just dropped by at my house once you're off duty?"

"Because the ANBU has to make an official request," the ANBU member explained patiently. "And if it makes you feel any better, I don't like it here either."

Anko grumbled irritably. "Then you should have just taken me aside on the street and asked, like any other sane person. Why does it have to be inside a virtual tomb? And no, just so that you know, it doesn't make me fee any better in particular."

"It's even worse for me," the ANBU member argued. "I'm younger than you. It's scarier for me."

"Just tell me your 'request'."

"Fine." The ANBU member sighed. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "It's about you…travels with…Orochimaru." She hesitated, watching Anko's face for any negative--and potentially life threatening, knowing her--reactions, but ended up with no reactions at all. "The thing is," the ANBU member decided it was safe to go on, "We have reason to believe that Orochimaru has reactivated one of his old facilities, and is conducting…experiments…there that could pose a potential threat to us."

She paused again. Anko just blinked.

"Well, professional talk aside, we'd just like you to come and be our guard when we go and try to get rid of this place. It's somewhere you've been before, but probably didn't stay long; it wasn't too important back then…"

"And why," Anko finally interrupted warily, "Are the ANBU so intent on exterminating some random little fortress of Orochimaru's?"

"Someone from Konoha has been taken there," the ANBU member said simply.

There was a short silence. Anko sighed. "Well, it's not like I have any choice, do I?" She got up and stretched. "By the way, why don't you just send an ANBU squad over to get whoever got taken there out and flatten the place?"

The ANBU member smiled wryly, replacing her mask and opening the door. "Tsunade-sama did."

"And?"

"They took the ANBU squad too."