Reunions in Suna!
Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata, Gaara, and Haku entered through the gates of the sand village closely followed by their adoptive parents, E and Kurama. The small group of seven walked until they were met by a local ninja of the village, a jonin going by the name of Baki, the very same man that got half-cooked by Naruto himself not only a few months before. It was a little awkward when the two saw each other, not that Baki could tell who he was underneath his slyly chosen fox mask, however, the curly blond hair did remind the sand jonin of Naruto very much since he's never met anyone else with such hair before. But since he was given ordered from the forth Kazakage NOT to seek revenge on the curly-haired blond, and to lead the group the tower as soon as they arrive, he had no time to press the issue of who looked like who. Baki grumbled as he remembered the warning he was given and tried to be as kind as he possibly could as he showed the group to the kage tower. When all seven, plus Baki, entered the kage's office, Raza thanked the sand jonin before dismissing him. He then turned his attention to the five masked children and the two adults behind them, one child, most likely female, had blond curly hair and was wearing the mask of a fox, complete with slighted eyes and a mischievous smirk. The one next to the blond girl had long raven hair on a high, spiky ponytail and was wearing the mask of a smirking sloth, there were a set of goggles resting on his head just over the mask making it look like the mask was wearing it and not the person underneath. Next was a girl with hair that seemed to shimmer a silvery-white, she wore the mask of a panda that had a small purple heart in the center of its forehead. Next, he was a boy who's hair seemed to shine an angelic white even when the sun wasn't directly on it, this person wore the mask of a rabbit with the same mischief written on its face as the fox mask. Lastly was a redhead, he was easily a tanuki with rings around its eyes, the boy's red hair and posture reminded Raza a lot of the young son that had run away about three years ago now.
"Ahem, rikage-sama, how are you doing?" Raza asked as he stood to his feet from behind his desk, "I'm sure you're all tired from your trip. Please, have a seat."
"Thank you, Kazakage-sama," E said as he sat in one of the chairs provided for them in the office beforehand. He waited until Kurama and the kids sat down in their seats before speaking again, "so, Raza, how is this going to work out?" He asked seriously, not wanting to wait any time in getting to the point.
"Yes, the exams will be starting the day after tomorrow so you all will have a day or so to rest before the events start," Raza nodded. "I will be showing you where you will be staying as the exams take place," he said as he got up from his chair and made his way to the door, E got up from his seat with a light chuckle. "Hm? Is something funny?" He asked as the other kids started giggling as well as they followed the adults out of the room.
"No, no, I just found it amusing that you would rather take the time to show us the way to our hotel rooms rather than stay in your office to take on your enemy," E stated with another chuckle.
Raza looked at E confused for a second before turning back to look at his desk, he frowned and sighed, "I guess there's nothing else that can be done now, that enemy will still be here when I get back. That's if it didn't multiple in the time I've been gone," he grumbled the last part to himself as he started walking down the hall followed by the group, the kids heard his last comment on the evil paperwork on the sand kage's desk and giggled some more. The Kazakage led the group out of the office into the village and down to the more tourist centered section of the village, he showed them all the sights that his village was known for. He showed them where the best restaurants were in the village before leading them to the hotel that he picked out for them to stay at, "and here we are, this hotel has gotten great reviews from other travelers in the past, so I thought you all would like it as well." Raza said with a smile as they entered the building, they checked in and he led them up to there rooms, trying to buy more time before he had to go back to the dreaded paperwork. When they got there, the kids picked their rooms while the adults talked about the exams, they were placed in the grandest suite that the hotel had with the options of either sharing a room or not. The kids chose to share three and two to a room, the adults would share a room.
"So, E, in this year's chunin exams, are you letting them take part with the other teams? Or are you waiting until next year when they're a little more experienced as a genin?" Raza asked as they sat around the table in Kurama's and E's room.
E thought for a moment, "well, no, I was hoping to wait until they were at least twelve before putting them through the exams," he said in a calm tone as he leaned back in his seat.
"Twelve?" Raza asked with a puzzled face, "I was under the impression that they were already at that age and that most of them were just a little short for their age."
Kurama chuckled, "no way, they just turned eleven last month so they'll be in the chunin exams next year."
Raza blinked, "how old were they when they became genin?"
"Ten," E and Kurama said together, this shocked Raza.
"I had no idea that you tested you ninja so young, rikage-sama," he said to the muscular male in front of him.
E let out a heartfelt laugh, "I didn't know either."
Raza was confused again by this comment, so Kurama enlightened the Kazakage on what his husband meant by that, "they faced off against some ninja that tried to attack us a few months ago. They had a bet to see who could take out the most ninja's before the other or something like that," he sighed, "they ended up taking out all the ninjas were attacking, all but two."
"Two?" Raza thought in awe as he remembered what the redhead said before, "when you say they 'took them out', what did you mean, did they..."
Kurama nodded, "yes, they took them all out before E and I could even lift a finger to help them out. We were both forced to sit on the sidelines and watch with one of our other ninja's that had come with us that day."
E nodded his agreement, "to tell the truth, I think that they were showing off how well their training has gone up to that point," he said as he looked to his wife. "Especially our little seal master, don't you think?" Kurama nodded, "what level was he on back then anyway?"
Kurama thought for a minute, "hmmm...I believe that his sensei said that he was on level Alpha, while the others were just finishing Mastery level, I think."
E nodded, he was still in awe that there were still levels higher than Master level in sealing, at least another two or three if he remembered correctly. The sealing levels started from Entry level and went all the way up to Mastery level, or so people had thought. About a month after Naruto's and the others collective tenth birthdays, they all took a family trip back to Uzu to pay their respects to all the Uzumaki's that died there the day that Iwa and Kiri attacked it. When they got there, Naruto was taking another look around the place, looking at all of his family histories in ruins, it was very heartbreaking and nostalgic at the same time. They spent two days there before returning to Kumo, on the night that they were going to leave, Gaara had stumbled onto a secret chamber that they didn't see when they were there the first time around. The chamber went deep under Uzu in an array of twist and turns with a collection of tunnels that popped up everywhere around Uzu, they had almost gotten lost a few times while trying to get out of the tunnels, they ended up staying an extra day there trying to get out. From what Kurama and E had gathered about the chambers and tunnels under Uzu, it seemed that you would have to know some fuuinjutsu that was a level higher than entry-level to find your way around the tunnels down here. It was in these tunnels that Naruto and Shikamaru found a room in one of the tunnels that spoke of the extra levels of fuuinjutsu, the third day was spent trying to figure out the complex array of seals and how they could be used, since these seals had many ways that it could be used, not just in battle but also in healing and revival. It was sort of like alchemy in a way, seeing as how some of the seals required something in exchange to make something different using the thing that was used.
The new levels spoke of all the things that they could do with them, however, some of the seals that required something had some important rules that came with them. The biggest rule that they had was that they could not bring back a human life, or any life for that matter since it went against the laws of nature. If they were to attempt this act, they would have to pay the ultimate price that could result in them having to give up their own lives to complete the seal. The laws of equivalent exchange worried E, Kurama, and especially Shukaku, the two tail beast had been around for a long time and knew of this rule they spoke to E about their past experiences with people that had gone against these rules and what had happened to them in the end, it was a pretty thought. Although there were so many things that went wrong, there were still people that went against these rules to get what they wanted, whatever that might have been in the beginning, they still got what they were looking for, but not at all in the way they were hoping for. These bone-chilling tales were later told and explained to Naruto and the others when they all able to get back to Kumo safe and sound, with these events being told to the kids, it was explained that they could still use the new seals. E gave his consent for the kids to study these seals, however, they were forbidden from using them in any way that went against the rules of equivalent exchange, he didn't have to threaten them with anything if they went against these rules for any reason. From what he learned from Kurama and Shukaku, nature was cruel and would take what was due to it if its rules were ever disobeyed. no matter the cost to the person, it was a steep price to pace to go over the line. One example of this new seal would be the Shadow King summoning of Felt Doc, that seal is very dangerous, releasing that seal onto the world would cause a lot of problems if not used correctly by a proper seal master.
In short, the Shadow King, Felt Doc, is a very real being that ruled over the shadow realm. Summoning him would force the cost the caster to sacrifice many lives, depending on what the caster wanted from the Shadow King, he would have to draw and place exactly eight seals for Felt to review the situation at hand. If Felt feels that the lives being offered up for his serves are good enough for him to help out, he will. If not, he will just send one of his lower kings to deal with the problem at hand, removing one of the seals himself from the battlefield that the caster had placed before the summoning and review, this, in turn, would cause WAY MORE damage than before. The eight seal were meant to lessen the range and amount of damage that is caused as a whole when the power the caster is given the green light to complete the jutsu, which would only take about the same amount of time it takes to say all that needs to be said by the caster before everything went BOOM. Not that E thought back to the situation during the battle, he remembered the moment that he felt Naruto placing the eight seals, if they had that kind of power in the second, or third for that matter, ninja war, then there would have been a major power shift in the Elemental Nations back then. The most power going to the village that held the caster that was powerful enough to summon the Shadow King's second phase, E mentally shivered at the thought. "That kind of power would make all nine tailed beasts seem like dollies next to that person, I wouldn't want that kind of raw power to be aimed at me in a battle, and I was said to be unbeatable in the war." He sighed, "at least I know those five won't use their powers for evil."
"Rikage-sama?" Raza asked as he drew the man's attention to him, "are you alright, you seemed to have spaced out on us for a moment."
E shook his head with a small chuck, "sorry, sorry, I was just thinking about how far my kids have come after so much time had passed. It seems like just yesterday that they were fighting over who got the last piece of French Toast for breakfast," he laughed at the memory.
Kurama sweatdropped, "E, hon, I believe that this morning before we started off to the gates this morning."
"Really?" E thought back to earlier that morning, he recalled that just that morning, Naruto and Hinata had teamed up against Shikamaru and Haku to fight each other for the last piece of French Toast that they had brought with them before leaving Kumo. He also remembered that while the four were fighting, it was Gaara who ate the last piece they were fighting for, as well as finishing off the scrambled eggs and bacon that was left in the frying pan over the fire that morning. They don't eat ration bars and the like anymore because they taste nasty compared to all the yummy food that Naruto, Shikamaru, and now Gaara, was able to make while at home. E sighed at the memory, "I see, then it seems that they're children at heart still," he smiled brightly, "oh well, that just means that things at the diner tonight should be just as lively, huh?"
Kurama hung his head as his husband laughed at the thought of what was to happen at dinner tonight, he turned to the Kazakage. He stood up and bowed deeply, "on behalf of my husband and children, I apologies," he said to a confused Raza.
"A-am I-am I missing something here?" He asked the red-headed male in front of him.
Kurama lifted his head, "as my husband had said, dinner will be lively tonight," he lowed his head again, "so before then, I just wanted to apologies for them."
"Oh? Is it something that bad?" Raza said, he then thought about his other two children that he didn't turn into weapons for the sake of the village, they seemed to have started to miss their little brother after they found out that he was gone. He didn't like the fact that he allowed the weapon to escape too easily, it seems that the people that took him had come into the village without being noticed and took the boy without raising any alarms. It wasn't until Yashimaru had burst into the council room yelling about how the little redhead was gone that they noticed, it was more than a little odd to him. Suna may not have been as big as Konoha, so that meant that there wasn't a lot of places for a child to hide from a trained ninja. But when Raza got home, he found Tamari and Konkuro searching the kitchen food to cook, when he went to go ask Gaara if he had any idea where all the food went, he found no one there so he realized that Gaara wasn't in the village since he and their food had suddenly just gone missing. "Hmm, would you mind if I join you, I think that my kids could benefit from being around so skilled young ninjas, plus they have been a little down since my youngest son ran away."
Kurama looked over at E, they shrugged, "sure, why not, it's been a while since we've gone out to eat anyways," stated E as he got up. "We usually end up having a lot of home-cooked meals whenever we're all at home anyway, so it would be nice to go out to eat with some new friends once in a while."
"Then it's settled," Raza nodded with a smile.
With the kids
Meanwhile, the adults were talking, the kids gathered in one of the rooms that were being shared between them. "Alright, let's take these off, they're gone on papa's and mama's room to talk," Haku said as he removed his rabbit mask revealing the bright amber eyes underneath. He smiled brightly, making him look even more like an effeminate angel, he turned to Gaara as everyone took off their mask, "so Gaara, how does it feel to be back in your village again?"
Gaara took off his tanuki mask and frowned at the amber-eyed boy, "I would rather watch paint dry to be back here," he deadpanned.
Naruto put his fox mask in his sealing bag, "has anything changed about the village since you left?"
Gaara shook his head and went to sit on one of the large beds out of the three beds in the room, Shikamaru took off his mask and put it into his sealing bag. He then pulled his headphones that were hanging around his neck and put it in his bag as well before taking out a stack of letters then walking over to the table placed at the center of the room. Hinata sat down at the table next to him after putting her own mask in her bag, along with her oversized jacket, letting the world see her 'high school civilian girl on vacation'-like look (why she needed to know it that, they would never know), "is those from your dad?" She asked as she set down her bag at her feet.
The others knew that Shikamaru had found a way to get letters to his dad to keep in touch with him, they were happy that he still had someone in Konoha that he could trust. Gaara and Hinata helped him find the way to get the letters to the other village without it being caught by security or read by others beforehand, they placed a blood seal on the envelope before putting the letter inside it so that the only person that can read what's inside was the person it's meant for. Using this method, Shikamaru was able to send tons of pictures and letters about ho he was doing with his new family and how his training was going, in all of Shikaku's letters, it was clear that he was very proud to call Shikamaru his son. Though he was a bit sad to know that his son wasn't just his son anymore, however, he got over that when Shikamaru explained to him that he was still a Nara, but he was also related to the rikage, Kurama, and was also an Uzumaki like Gaara. Naruto was the only full-blooded Uzumaki among them, but since the blood ritual they went through when they were seven, they were just as much of an Uzumaki as he was, but with an added boost.
The others in the room came over to stand around the table, sitting in whatever seat was available, "what do they say?" Naruto asked on Shikamaru's other side.
"Well," Shikamaru said with a big grin, "it seems that the Hokage has sent him over to suna so that he could try to meet us. Not that he knew that dad would be meeting us, but more like the members of the Big Five."
"Whoa, seriously? He's coming here, to see us?" Haku said in surprise.
"Does he know that it's us that he's meeting?" Gaara asked looking over Shika's should to see the letter.
"Dad does, cuz I told him, but the Hokage doesn't since all our faces in the bingo book doesn't show our whole faces," Shika explained.
"When will he get here?" Hinata asked.
"Donno," Shika shrugged as he handed Gaara the letter to look over.
"Actually, from the date and time of this letter, he should already be here," said the red-headed tanuki holder.
"Wow, we should go out and meet him then, maybe even have dinner with him while we're at it," Naruto pipped up.
"That does sound like a good idea, Naru-chan, it's getting pretty late out though, do you think he's still away?" Hinata chimed in.
The others looked at the sky outside their window, it was already a little past sundown since they meet with the Kazakage and got their rooms. Haku shrugged, "it's not that late unless he came in from Konoha not too long ago, he should still be up, right, Shika?"
Shika nodded, "yeah, he's mostly up late anyways, since we left the leaf, the Hokage's been on him to spare as many jonin as he could. He said in one letter that the search was starting to get close to the lightening country and that we should watch out on our way back home just in case someone spots us without our masks on."
"So you told him who has what mask on and everything?" Asked Naruto.
"I've been sending him enough pictures of is without them that he should be able to tell who's who just from our hair and our clothing style. Trust me, putting on our mask would only fool whatever teammate he's come with," Shika stated as he stretched his muscles.
"Oh darn, I was just thinking that we could switch mask to see if he could remember who's who under it or something," Naruto shrugged.
"Maybe we can still fool him," Haku thought out loud, the others looked at him.
"What'cha mean?" They asked together.
"Well, last time I checked, Shika mostly sent his dad pics of us when we were out and about, getting ready for school and other missions. But has he ever sent any of us in our casual clothes?"
They thought about it for a few seconds, Shika shook his head with a smile, "Oh, okay, I see where you're going with this," he said.
"Well, if that settles everything, let's get ready for dinner!" Naruto said as he punched the air with his fist.
With Shikaku
Shikaku woke up from his nap in his hotel room, when he came to suna, he had already done an S-rank mission before returning to the village that left him without much sleep beforehand. When he got back to the village and turned in his report, he went straight home for a nap, he was woken up an hour later by an ANBU who had snuck into his house at some point and almost got his head chopped off by the tired jonin commander when he went to wake said man up. Shikaku had apologized for the misunderstandings and was told to get to the tower to see the Hokage for another assignment. He humored Minato and went to the tower to see what the older blond wanted to tell him when he was given the news that he would have to forego another night without sleep, he named Minato a reserved cures word that he only gave out to people were especially troublesome to him. Needless to say, all the other members in the room, team nine had been in the room reporting on their first C-rank mission at the time, were shocked to hear that word come out of his mouth. And direct it to the Hokage of all people, but Shikaku gave zero fucks at the time since he was just so tired. But he obeyed either way and took the mission, knowing that it would be more troublesome if he didn't, besides, it would give him a much-needed break from Yoshino, the woman he wished could be his ex-wife. After Shikamaru ran away/escaped from the village, Yoshino kept bugging him for another child, what a woman, huh? When she didn't get what she wanted right away, she threatened him with divorce, which he was all too ready to go through, so her plan didn't work. Next, she tried getting him drunk without him knowing it, that didn't work because then she found out the secret that he was never in love with her, to begin with, that their marriage was nothing but show.
When that little secret came out, the relationship between Shikaku and Yoshino became strained, but the woman would not ask for a divorce, no matter how much he wanted her to. Eventually, they just started sleeping in separate rooms, acting as if they were just college roommate that couldn't have the roommate they wanted to live with, so they have to live with a stranger that they don't know, nor like. Some people, like all nosy people, found out about their relationship, those that found out, the female side, sided with Yoshino on how unfair the relationship was to her, while the main sided with Shikaku on how it was unfair to him. Shikaku didn't pay much attention to what other people had thought, he just focused his attention on his missions and the letters that he would get from his son. It seemed that it only took about a week for the letters that he writes to reach his son, he wasn't sure on how the letters were getting in and out of his house when he was done writing them, but he was glad that they were getting to him. The first time it happened, Shikamaru had written him a letter and told him to just leave it on the desk when he was done and he would get it, Shikaku was puzzled by this, be humored the boy and did as told. As soon as he turned around after writing his reply, he heard the sound of paper blowing in the wind and turned to see a white dove-like bird flying away from his window, a week later, he got another letter from his son saying that he had received his letter and to keep sending more as often as he could. Not wanting to question it, he wrote his son almost every day, that's if he wasn't stuck in the office, or on a mission the day that Shikamaru letter arrived.
There was once when Yoshino had almost found out about the letter, he had to transform the paper into the first thing that he could think of, which so happened to be an Ichi Ichi book. It was a little embarrassing to be seen with one period, they got into an argument over it, but Shikaku was able to retreat to his room without letting her get the transformed letter out of his hands and find out about the line of communication he had with his son. Anyways, after the left the tower, he went to his pris-home to pack the things that he would need for the trip to suna before heading out to the gate. This mission was labeled as a B rank mission so he didn't need any real help with it, but Minato had made the choice to send along Kakashi Hatake on this mission with him. Shikaku grumbled about it being troublesome, the mission and Kakashi, but his grumbling came to a halt when he found out what they were going to suna for. It was no secret on how there was a new group of ninjas that took up about seven pages in the bingo book to describe some of their abilities alone, the group was made up of five members so far, but some people suspected that there were more. The group of ninjas were described to be around the ages of around ten to twelve, very strong, and had a SS rank flee on sight warning given by some unlucky Kiri ninjas, and a combined bounty of 7,000,000 Ryo from both kir and iwa. When he asked Shikamaru if he knew about the Big Five, as they were called in the book, he was shocked to find out that he was apart of the group. Finding out that Naruto, Gaara, Haku, and Hinata were apart of the group as well, in fact, Menma, Koharu, and Neko were catching up to them and would join the group when they also became genin was another shock. But not as much as hearing that his son had made genin when he was only ten years old alongside the other four filled Shikaku's heat with pride.
It took Shikaku and Kakashi around two and a half days to arrive, they had stopped once so that Shikaku could rest seeing as how he was already running on fumes. They were told that the people that they were there to see hadn't arrived yet, so Shikaku went to his hotel room to sleep off his exhaustion before he really collapsed, the rest did him well and now he was ready to get up to see if he could meet up with his son, that's if they had arrived yet. He looked around the room to see that Kakashi wasn't there, this was good because he was thinking about writing a letter to Shikamaru to tell him where he was and also to see where Shikamaru and his group was so they could meet up. He doubted that he would have to wait a whole week for the reply like all the others, maybe an hour or two, so that's what he did. Getting out of bed and heading over to the desk on the other side of the room, across from the bed he slept in, he took out some of the special paper that his son told him to use when writing their letter, he got to work writing a short letter before leaving it on the desk to take a shower. When he was halfway over to the door, he heard the familiar flapping sound of paper in the wind and turned to see a white dove-like bird flying away from the hotel window. He was about to turn back around to head to the bathroom when he saw the bird take a sudden turn and fly upwards to the higher floors of the hotel he was in before going out of view. "Hm, maybe I don't have to wait an hour after all," he thought out loud with a small smile as he headed to the bathroom, he remembered that he had written his son a letter the day before they got to wind country, he was sure that this new letter would be a surprise to Shikamaru and his friends.
Back with the kids
Back in the room with Shikamaru and the others, they were all in the middle of putting the finishing touches of their casual clothes, looking more like civilians than ninja, when they heard the sound of flapping. They turned to face the window and saw a paper dove faze itself into the room through the closed window with ease, Shikamaru stopped what he was doing when he noticed that the bird was made of paper. He held out his hand for the paper bird to land, when it was just above his palm, the bird turned into an envelope with a bright red seal with the Nara clan symbol covering the sealed flap that locked the letter inside of it. "That's a letter from your dad, isn't it?" Haku stated as the rest of the group came over to stand around him, Shikamaru was just looking at the letter in awe for a few moments. He had never gotten a letter back so soon before, he's tested this method out many times and found that the seal that he put on the paper to make sure that even if it was raining or windy on the way, the letter would always take no more than a week to get to his dad. He's never been able to test the letter at a closer range to see how long it would take to get back, so he didn't think that his dad could have been so close now. They've never been so close before, not since he left.
"Shika!" Naruto said snapping the young Nara out of his shock, he turned green eyes onto mismatching blue and green ones. They wore worry in those mismatching pools, "it's okay, he's close, so it's good, alright?" Shika nodded his head dumbly as he slowly turned back to the letter in his hands, Naruto placed a caring hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed it gently so the other would know that he was there, "why don't you read it to find out what it says?"
Shika opened the letter by biting his thumb and wiping the blood on the seal, he read the short letter to himself:
Hay Shika-chan
I know I sent you a letter yesterday to let you know that I was coming to Suna to meat the members of the Big Five on orders of the Hokage and all. I also noticed that I forgot to mention how far away or how long it would take to get there, that's my bad. I was thinking that once you get here that we could go out and get something to eat like old times when it was just me and you when your mother wasn't in the village because of a mission. You can bring your friends with you too, I've seen so many pictures of them, and heard so much of them from you that I feel that I know them already, so I think it's about time I meet them too. I know that Hinata and Naruto have changed since you left the village, Hinata more than Naruto because the first time I saw her from the first picture you sent me, I couldn't recognize her at all. Naruto, on the other hand, seems to have gone over to more feminine styles, which seems to suit him more than his old clothes ever did. As for you, your eyes, they remind me of my other before she died in the second war, you've changed so much since I've last saw you, but yet at the same time....you seemed to have not changed much at all somehow. I still find it amazing how much you all have learned, whatever they're teaching at Kumo, it seems to be working wonders, way better than what they're teaching in Konoha, that's for sure. Anyways, I can't wait to meet all of you again, and for the first time in some cases, I'm not sure when you'll get this letter, but when you get it, I want you to know that I'll be staying in The Sandy Tea Hotel. It shouldn't be too far from Kkazakage's tower, so I'll see you soon.
Yours truly
Shikaku Nara.
Shikamaru had tears in his eyes by the time he got to the end, he had read many letters like this one before. He had three and a half years worth of letters to prove it! But there was just something about this one letter that spoke volumes of the distance that they had shared for all these years, three years felt like an eternity when you look at it close up. It's not always about the big picture, or how the picture looks even, it's about the feelings and right now, Shikamaru felt distances the most. He turned on his heels and rushed out of the room, not waiting for the others, not turning around to see if anyone was following him, he just ran out of the room. He still had the letter in his hands as he ran, the words that he just read playing over and over in his mind as he ran down the stairs of the building, he wasn't sure on which floor that his dad's room was on, but he didn't care. From the distance and angel that the letter appeared from, he could seatmate that his dad was no more than two floors below him, so he ran from his room down to the fourth floor, where he suspected his dad was. When he entered the fourth-floor hallway, he looked around, seeing the same hallway that he saw from upstairs, he looked up at each room door, thinking that if he found the door that was theoretically two floors below the room he was just in, then he might find his dad's room. He looked around until he found the door that was supposedly his dad's room door, he stopped in front of it and lifted his hand to knock, his heart pounding in his chest as he watched his hand get closer and closer to the door. His hand was just inches from knocking on the door when someone grasped his wrist, stopping his movements, he turned wide eyes to see who it was.
"That's not his room," Said the curly-haired blond that caught his wrist.
Shikamaru, still high on adrenaline and desperation to see his dad, didn't quite process what was said to him, "wha?"
Naruto was panting from running so far so suddenly, he wasn't ready for that, plus his muscles had relaxed since they got they rooms sorted out. He took a deep breath in as he looked at Shika, prompting the young genius to follow his lead, they both let out a breath together. Shika calmed down from his panicked state before turning to the blond completely, behind Naruto, he saw the others standing there looking at him, he took another deep breath and let it out slowly for good measure before nodded to them. "I'm good now, sorry about running out so sudden you guys," he said with a small smile on his face.
Gaara walked forward with a small smile on his face, "no worries, your like uh...hm, oh yeah, you were like a lost two years old looking for his daddy," he said after striking a thinking pose.
Shika blushed, "I-I was not!" Haku and Hinata started giggling at Shikamaru's blushing face, "I-I said I w-wasn't!"
Gaara nodded his head slowly, "Sure you weren't," he smirked a little as Shika's blush grew.
"Anywaaays," Naruto said as he walked across the hall to the room across from the door that Shika was about to knock on, he points at it. "This is the room that we're looking for," he then proceeds to knock on it firmly and waited for the person beyond it to answer it, the others joined him in front of the door to wait.
They heard someone moving around behind the door before a muffed, "coming" was heard. The door opened to reveal a tall man with a tan standing at the door drying his hair, "yes, who-" he looked down at the person that knocked on the door, his eyes widened, "Shika-chan?" He said in a whisper.