From Present to Future

Chapter 29

"Wow, Shikamaru. You were so cool." Naruto exclaimed loudly before he could stop himself. But soon realised his mistake.

"Shika, I am sorry. I--"

"No, Naruto. You were right. He was pretty cool." Asuma interrupted. He know the reason for this somber atmosphere. The silhouette was his. He died. At the hands of the Jashinist and Shikamaru avenged him. Not to mention his Will of Fire. If he is right, he might mean his future kids. But can he be sure. No. So no use living in sorrow.

"Shikamaru, I am truly proud of you. You became a skilled shinobi in future. In fact, all of you. You, Ino and I am sure Choji too. As a sensei, I want nothing more than that." Asuma finished and smiled at his lazy genin.

Shikamaru opted to not say anything but only nod. Ino sniffled and Choji openly cried.

Laughing at his student's behavior, Asuma patted the Akimichi on head and eye smiled at Ino. Shikamaru looked towards his father and mother. They smiled back.

"Shika-chan. Life is to move forward. A ninja life is like that. You never know when is your last day with your loved ones. Last fight. Last mission. Last meal. All we can do is train harder and harder to push that 'last' for as long as we can. So train hard Shika-chan. Today you rely on your sensei, someday someone else will rely on you. For them, become stronger." Yoshino encouraged her son and it seems it worked.

Shikamaru nodded. A resolve formed in his mind. Fisting his hands, the lazy Nara vowed to train harder. He will not let his sensei go away like that. Future is never fixed. It changes with your choices. And he choose to face this hardship and work hard to protect his people.

Having collected his thoughts, Shikamaru turned back to his projection.

Another future has come into view.

In the middle of the Konoha, a large crater formed. The crater extended as far as one can see. Not a part of Konoha was left unscathed. The building, shops, civilians, ninjas, all lay in heap of earth and rocks. The scene was no less than a disaster. Nothing in sight had even trace of living. But slugs were there. White and blue colored.They are legendary Sennin Tsunade Senju's summon. These are the reason the other is known as slug queen around the elemental nation.

"Is it after that asteroid attack?" Ino asked to no one in particular.

"It seems so" Somebody answered. Not sure who, because they all had their attention focused on the screen.

In the middle of all, Shikamaru sat, leaning against one of the slug summon. The slug was healing his injuries. Beside him, another woman in white lab coat sat. She was crying hysterically.

"If you're going to cry, then get away from here. Make yourself useful and go help others." Getting irritated with the sound, the shadow user snapped at the poor blonde. Atleast the crying stopped. But only for few seconds.

"Shikamaru, don't get irritated with her. It is not her fault." Shikaku Nara landed beside his son and looked around the destruction.

"He is right, Shikaku, if we ignore his tone. We can't be weak now. We have to find a way to fight through this situation." Another entity entered the picture. That person was Inoichi Yamanaka.

Just then a rumble happened. They all looked towards the source of quake. But they couldn't see anything from where they were.

"Katsuyu-san, what is happening? Can you communicate with your other slugs and tell us about the situation."

"Hai Yamanaka-san. Tsunade-sama, in the last moment of asteriod attack, took the attack on herself while shielding the rest of Konoha population with slugs. The other ninjas are healing inside the slug body. She was about to face Pain but her body collapsed."