Chapter 31 - Incident(5)

Naruto turned around to see a person who had red hair but looked a bit like Choji. To the shorter Naruto, he looked big but that's all he was to him. Big. Choza Akimichi started walking to the group and Inoichi came out to greet him. What he didn't expect that Choza would ignore him and go straight to Naruto.

When Naruto saw him approach, he kept his face blank and stared right into Choza's eyes. He then felt rage build in his body with Negative Emotion Sensing and then checked the source of this anger with Aura Reading. It was really funny for Naruto to see that humans tend to always blame another even though it wasn't their fault. 1st Hokage is a perfect example. He's the one who captured all the tailed beasts and spread them. Even the Nine-Tailed beast being the in the Leaf was his fault so Naruto thought that Choza's anger was quite comical. With clenched fists, he looked at Naruto.

Choza: "Begone! Never come here and never go near my son!" He raged. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were shocked, to say the least. Choji especially. To him, his father just yelled at his new friend for no reason whatsoever.

Naruto: "Is that it?" He glanced at the group that he was in. Using Aura Reading, he tried to see how they were feeling but he was surprised when he felt his friends worrying for him except for the curious Ino. This made him smile a little in his mind.

Choza: "Yes!" he said with gritted teeth. This conversation caught everyone's attention due to how loud Choza was.

Naruto: "Okay." He shrugged. "Bye Shikamaru. Bye Choji." Turning around and walking away from Choza, Inoichi couldn't help but feel bad at staring at the lonely back of Naruto as he left through the entrance. Shikamaru chased after him a minute while Choji tried to until his father got in his way. Choji saw that Shikamaru gave him a nod and then he accepted this difficult situation. Ino didn't know what to do. She didn't even know what was going on. Inoichi knew and he grabbed Choza's shoulder before walking away with him to a room.

Inoichi: "What is the matter with you?!? He's just a boy!"

Choza: "No!! That's a demon in human form!"

Inoichi: "Damn it Choza!! Are you letting grief blind your judgment? He's the prison for the prisoner!! Not the other way around. We should be thanking him for his sacrifice."

Choza: "Thank him!?! He's nothing but another ticking time bomb!! What if it gets unleashed again?? Will I have to lose my son next time??? Answer me Inoichi!!" Inoichi slammed his hand on the floor.

Inoichi: "Why are acting like that!? Why are you acting like you are the only person who lost people!! Open your eyes!! Everyone is suffering and you're not making it any better!"

Choza: "..."

Inoichi: "Look. I know you lost your sister. I know you lost your clan members but that doesn't give you an excuse to use an innocent child to vent your frustrations."

Choza: "..."

Inoichi: "Stay here and calm down. I'll hold the festival." Choza looked at him. "What? You act as if I've never been to one of these with you." He lightly smiled as he walked away. Choza looked down and then turned around. He saw his little sister smiling happily in a picture but his sadness washed over him again.

{Back to Naruto}

[Are you okay?]

Naruto: "Yeah. More or less."

[It seems so. I didn't feel a single ripple in your emotions. It's almost like you expected it to happen.]

Naruto: "Well yeah. They are all unreasonable. None of them knew the truth and yet they blame me because they have nothing else. "

[Anger makes people do stupid decisions.]

Naruto: "I get that. I understand that some have lost people precious to them and by no means am I saying that they should not grief but I just think it's stupid. Think about it. Shinobi. HARDENED ADULTS that KILL for either a living or for their purposes are blaming me for something I never did. You would think that Shinobi would some base level of intelligence right? Wrong. That's exactly what that big dude proved."

Naruto: "Of course he does. Who doesn't? He's not that much different than the others. He's just mentally hardened. Because of that, I feel neutral towards him."

[Why not favorable?]

Naruto: "Did he ever help me when I was a child? Knowing my identity, did he ever go out of his way to ask me if I was doing fine? Did he even bother with the fact a child is suffering for their village's prosperity?"

[True.]

Naruto: "That's what I mean. I'm not going to even bother with the civilians. They are just sheep anyway."

[Someone's coming. Behind.] Naruto turned around. He saw a black pineapple moving towards him Knowing who it was, he stood there and waited for him to catch up.

Shikamaru: "You...walk...fast...trouble...some." He took breaths in after each word.

Naruto: "Sorry about that. I was trying to go back home quickly so I get some training done."

Shikamaru: "O-okay...I...just ne...ed...a break..." He fell back. Naruto caught him and put him over his shoulders.

Naruto: 'Cain. Find his parents. That should lead me to their house.'

[Okay.] The location for the house came in his mind and he went there. On the way, he got some strange looks to which Naruto ignored. At one point, there was a white-eyed girl with dark navy hair who looked up to this happening. She was quite attracted to Naruto's new appearance and clothing and didn't even see the pole that she walked into. When she bumped into it, she got a bruise on her forehead to which she took out some ointment and put it on her wound.

She then cleaned herself quickly before disappearing, hoping that no one saw her mistake. There was a person who did see her and it was coincidently a Naruto clone. He chuckled to himself as he watched the girl's shenanigans. Only when he looked at her face did he remember that he saw her a few years ago when she was being picked on. He wanted to approach her but he realized that one he was transformed and two, she left the moment after she put on something.

Main Naruto had no idea that this was happening on the ground and he jumped from building to building to his destination. Once he arrived, he was quite amazed at how grand it was. It was extremely large and he thought that Shikamaru had a lot of clan members. A small feeling of envy went through his mind before quickly going away.

When he approached the entrance, he saw someone walking out. A person that looked almost exactly like Shikamaru but with a lot of scars.

Naruto: 'Is that his father?'

[Yes.]

Naruto: "Okay."

Shikaku Nara was having a break today. It was one of the very few times that he can relax at home and enjoy time with his wife. He also obtained an invitation from Choza to attend the Eat-Out but he decided to go late today. The greatest part was that when he did, he saw his son on someone's back and was approaching quite quickly. Confused about what was happening, he just waited for them to come to him.

Naruto: "Hi."

Shikaku: "Hi."

Naruto: "This is your son right?"

Shikaku: "Yeah. What's wrong with him?" He approached Naruto in order to check Shikamaru.

Naruto: "He's a bit tired so I brought him home."

Shikaku: "Oh. Thanks. Come on in. I'll get you a drink."

Naruto: "Okay. I won't be modest then." Naruto followed after Shikaku to their house. Once he got there, he was approached by Shikamaru's mother who he thought was very nice. Once he set down Shikamaru on his bed, he went down to sit at the table with the Shikaku and his wife.

Shikaku: "So. Who are you?"

Naruto: "..." Hearing no response from Naruto, Yoshino questioned instead.

Yoshino: "You okay?"

Naruto: "I am ma'am. It's just that I'm surprised that a shinobi doesn't know who I am. That's all."

Yoshino: "Oh." She looked at Shikaku, only for him to shake his head.

Shikaku: "Oh well. I thought you would play along."

Naruto: "I'm not fond of games."

Shikaku: "I see. Then let's get you fond of them." He brought a shogi board to the table. "You know how to play?"

Naruto: "No."

Shikaku: "Alright. Let me teach you then." Naruto learned all the rules in one explanation and Shikakru was quite impressed with his memory. Once they started playing, Shikaku won heavily the first few games but then at the twenty-first game, he didn't have a pleasant time playing. He had to take pauses sometimes just to think of his next move. Yoshino by his side was greatly surprised. She knew how intelligent her husband really is and yet he was slowly being outplayed by a child no less.

After the fiftieth game, Naruto finally scraped a win. It was extremely close and Shikaku swore that he never had this much fun playing against another person besides his son. Seeing that it was getting late, Naruto decided to get up.

Naruto: "I think it's time I leave. It's getting pretty late."

Yoshino: "No no. Stay here for lunch. I made steak today."

Naruto: "It's okay. I had my lunch prepared today so I'll eat at home."

Yoshino: "Okay." 'He doesn't seem that comfortable. Maybe he has trouble getting along with ȧduŀts or maybe us.'

Shikaku: "Well if you're not going to be here for lunch, at least come back another day. I want to play you again."

Naruto: "Alright." He smiled. "Have a good day."

Yoshino: "You too."