i'd still choose you. naruto uzumaki x reader

✤ Justice

Chapter 26

gonna go ahead and let y'all know that i won't be writing the really long fight where hidan dies. i'll absolutely write the important bit, like death and capture, but fo sure not the whole thing 😋😋

=====

Kurenai placed a bouquet of red roses in front of the headstone with Asuma's name carved upon it. She stayed crouched down, saying silent words to her passed lover.

The majority of the shinobi in the village stood a ways behind her, each of them silent and dressed in black. Konohamaru was the only one crying. Asuma was his family. It stung enough when his grandfather died and now, Asuma was gone too.

Naruto kept a hand on Konohamaru's shoulder as he vigorously wiped his tears. (Y/N) kept her hand on his back as she still had to be in a wheelchair. Kakashi wanted to breakdown himself. Him and Asuma were good friends for a long time–it didn't help that he saw how hurt everybody else was.

(Y/N) watched Kurenai's back, the same feeling of guilt before filling her chest.

Ino looked at Chouji, putting a hand to the side of her mouth to try and be more quiet as she whispered, "Where's Shikamaru?"

"When I swung by his house, Obachan told me he'd already left.." Chouji said, filled with unease. Ino sighed in response, turning her attention back to Kurenai.

=

The clouds moved fairly quickly today. The sky was blue and there weren't any signs of rainy weather.

Asuma always did like this type of weather.

Shikamaru's eyes jumped from cloud to cloud, watching as they blew by. Puffs of smoke rose into the air each time he took a breath. He laid flat on the ground, hands behind his head and one of his legs crossed over the other. His eyes looked strained and tired as he sat up, pulling the cigarette from his mouth.

He sat there for a moment before standing up and making his way back to his and his family's house. Asuma's chakra blades were at his house, sitting in one of the rooms dedicated to shogi.

Shikamaru stayed at home for hours. Nobody saw him at any given point of the day. He'd either be roaming around the house, sitting in the grass watching the clouds, or sitting where he was now, in the shogi room next to Asuma's blades.

The only things lighting the room was a candle on a pedestal next to the shogi board, and the light the moon gave off. It seemed like the day had gone by so slowly, Shikamaru barely realized the moon was even out.

He sat at the shogi board alone, now. This had to be one the first times he ever had sat there with somebody on the other side. That 'somebody' being Asuma who had to think ten times harder than Shikamaru to make only one move.

Rather than messing with each piece, Shikamaru only stayed on one. He didn't make any moves, his fingers just kept holding it in place. The piece he stayed on was the 'knight'. The same piece Asuma told Shikamaru he'd be.

Shikaku walked alongside his home, hands stuffed in his pockets as he looked out at the dark lit nature around him. He noticed the shogi room was open and the faint light falling out of it as he approached it. He only looked inside from his peripheral vision to see his son stuck in a daze as he walked by.

The next day, Shikamaru found himself at the library. Afterward, he stood outside the shogi room, trying to use one of Asuma's chakra blades. He never realized how difficult it was to use them–they always looked so simple. Then, he moved to be inside the shogi room, now moving pieces with hard thought behind it.