Road to Hokage: Save the Hyuga Clan

Confrontation

Shikamaru's office was in chaos. Sai's ninja beast scroll birds were flying into his workspace one after the other. They circled above his desk, creating gusts of wind that sent his papers flying from his desk. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes trying to determine where they might land. As Sai processed his intel from the Hyuga compound, he encrypted the information in his jutsu for Shikamaru to review. The Nara genius rushed to open two blank scrolls.

Suddenly, a real hawk flew into his office with a shriek. The other birds must have startled it because the hawk darted in front of Shikamaru's face, blowing out the cigarette in his mouth. Next, the hawk landed on the edge of his desk knocking over his cold coffee. The sound of his coffee cup breaking on the floor sent the hawk back into the air before it landed in front of Shikamaru again.

"Sasuke," Shikamaru murmured as he removed a letter from the bird's letter holder. The hawk shrieked at him once then flew from the desk to a nearby bird stand in the corner of the room. Sai's birds, one by one, nose-dived into the blank scrolls. They dissolved into ink on contact. The ink shifted into a message.

BOOM! BOOM! Two hard knocks came from Shikamaru's office door.

"Come in," He yelled irritated. His eyes never left the scroll as the message became readable. He only turned away when he heard the door open. A wolf-masked anbu peered at him from around the edge of the door.

"Forgive me," he said, apologetically over the commotion outside of the office. "But Uzumaki—".

"Tell Naruto I'm busy," Shikamaru sighed, exasperated. Sai's report grew more troublesome as he continued to read. He frowned in thought at the images Sai drew from the Hyuga Clan library.

"But sir..." Wolf anbu interrupted again. "It's Uzumaki—"

Before the anbu could finish his thought, the door pushed opened completely from the outside, hitting the wall with a sharp bang. Sasuke's hawk fluttered its wings and let out a shrill shriek in protest.

Shikamaru drew in his breath ready to yell at Naruto to get out. But his shout lodged in his throat.

"Hinata," Shikamaru said in surprise. Without a word, the Hyuga heiress sidestepped around the wolf anbu and crossed the threshold into Shikamaru's office. Her face was calm with determination and she walked with a stride that demanded respect. Shikamaru set his jaw when she made direct eye contact with him. He rarely saw this side of Hinata. Maybe once or twice during diplomatic missions or when she represented the Hyuga Clan during meetings with the Hokage.

"Shikamaru," She greeted, cooly. Hinata maintained eye contact with him as she spoke to the anbu. "Thank you for escorting me here." Her tone was dismissive, indicating the anbu should go. Wolf bowed once before closing the office door.

Shikamaru calmly walked back to stand behind his desk and began to roll up the scrolls from Sai. When he looked back up at Hinata, she had not moved but her eyes followed him.

"Hinata, what's going?" Shikamaru asked, carefully. He gestured for her to have a seat. As if his words were her signal, she moved closer to his desk but remained standing.

"Why did you send Sai to the Hyuga compound with Lord Hokage?" She questioned. The shadow of a frown appeared on her face. "Why did he take those books from my family library?"

"What?" Shikamaru answered, confused. He patted his pocket searching for his lighter. Sai and he were sure that the books were removed by Hyugas. Somehow, they were warned about Sai's arrival, but they hadn't figured that part out yet...

But if that were true, why is Hinata here accusing Sai? Shikamaru thought to himself.

"Hinata, there must be some misunderstanding. Sai was there to escort the Hokage— that's it." Shikamaru answered, turning his head to blow the smoke towards the window behind him. He watched for Hinata's reaction out of the corner of his eye. He mentally braced himself for her to respond with anger. In his mind, he was already creating two or three different responses to what she might say next.