no need for thanks

chap 2

Time skip 4 years: sarutobi pov

I've been sitting here at my desk for so long and it felt like I've been sitting for days. The paper work just kept coming and at the moment I felt like it would never stop. I decided to step out for some air and take a walk. It was a nice day out, not a cloud in the sky. I couldn't help but wonder how Naruto was doing today, he had accepted my offer to come back through the years. Today would be his first day at the academy and it's been a few days since he's visited, the last time he came a little roughed up.

The villagers were still blind and kept up their heartless behavior but that would be expected, you can't change a tainted heart like theirs. After a while I decided to go back begrudgingly, I slowly walked back already wanting to go home even though it was barely after 3:00. While I was walking back I ran into Shikaku with his son Shikamaru, I had been informed earlier that day that Shikaku was given orders from his wife to pick up Shikamaru from school and keep him with him at work till dinner when he went home. I don't know why but I didn't want to question it seeing as Shikaku didn't ask either, he just mumbled how much of a drag that would be.

But back to the present they were both now following me back to the office. Once entering I went back to my seat to only feel myself accidentally kick something. I jumped out of my chair and looked under the desk to a sad sight. Naruto was under the desk curled in a ball. "What is it Hokage-sama?"  I heard Shikaku say as he walked around the desk and bent down next to me. "Naruto my boy what happened?" I asked, seeing his tear streaked face. I pulled him out from under the desk with quiet protest from the 8 year old. "I-I'm sorry for annoy-bothering you jiji" he stuttered out through his tears. "You're not interrupting anything important, now why are you crying, what happened today?" I asked the child sitting him on the desk. Both the naras had a neutral face but from being around them for so long. I knew they were curious about the small crying child, especially the younger Nara.

Naruto kept his head down, "well...nothing happened i-i just feel sad is all" he said not looking me in the eye. "That's a lie I saw mizuki-sensei talking to you when you were on the swing at lunch, you acted different all through class after that" Shikamaru spoke up. Naruto glared at the young Nara with watery eyes, Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders. "What did he tell you?" I questioned the boy but anytime I asked he would just say "nothing". After a few failed attempts of even Shikaku trying to ask we gave up. When Naruto didn't want to tell you anything there isn't anything you could do but wait. He got off the desk and went and sat on the couch that was in the office where Shikamaru sat leaning back with his eyes closed. Shikaku had said that Shikamaru after seeing the young blonde running around the village a few times had started asking questions. Shikaku said that Shikamaru had started noticing how Naruto was being treated. After a few minutes of silence I saw one of Shikamaru's eyes open and looked at Naruto while Naruto rubbed his eyes, tired from crying. They started talking to each other and Naruto objected a few times to whatever the young Nara had said but when I looked at Shikaku he just shook his head with a small smile on his face.

I was doing paperwork when I saw out of the corner of my eye that Naruto had got up after groaning and was walking over. I turned to face him when he came around the desk and was now standing there rocking on his heels. "Just tell him already," Shikamaru groaned out from the coach who then laid down while mumbling a "troublesome blonde". I looked back over to Naruto and he sighed, "mizuki-sensei did say something to me at lunch" he mumbled. I titled my head wanting to know what the teacher had said to the little blonde. "He had said that I would be lucky to make it to my 12th birthday and that if I did it wouldn't amount to anything but a weapon to the village" he mumbled out fresh tears forming in his eyes and falling. I had to take a deep breath to calm my quickly rising anger from what that bastard had said.