Boruto: Raiden

Ch~ 5: Vortex

The Hokage Tower, Terrace

Shikamaru breathed in a long drag. It soothed him, the mundane predictable puff of his blatantly normal cigar. This was his 8th one for day and the it was only evening. In normal days, he would control himself because he didn't want to face Temari's wrath but today was by no means normal. She would understand that, she always did understand. Even when he finished  pack and a half in a day, after... after his best friend died.

Taking in another drag, he turned to look at the great stone faces. It didn't hurt any less, he knew that, he was no stranger to grief after all, but he wish it did. 

He sighed when he felt Sai's chakra shunshin  into the tower. Begrudgingly, he put out the cigar, it was time for work. 

The world never let him mourn his friend properly, not long enough, not the way he liked. He couldn't mourn Naruto properly, it was always about Naruto the Hokage. The greatest piece on the board. The piece he couldn't protect. 

Shikamaru closed his eyes in a silent prayer, 'Naruto... help us protect the king!'

Then he shunshined into the Hokage office.

The Hokage Tower, Hokage Office

Sai and Shikamaru had long crossed the terrains of official greetings and formalities. They knew each other's moves pretty well. So, neither Sai nor Shikamaru startled as they appeared in the office. They looked at each other and that was greeting enough. They didn't have time for anything else. 

Then, they faced their Hokage, Hatake Kakashi.

One had to give the man his due credit. These were tiring times and he had stood up to mantle, again.

"Konohamaru's intel was correct" Sai announced.

Although it was extremely subtle, Shikamaru could notice the tension slipping into Kakashi's eyes, he was sure he didn't look much different. 

"Kawaki is headed to Konoha" Sai continued, "and as of now, we have no information on his company."

Kakashi sighed. Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair. They couldn't deal with Kawaki right now. 

"So, as of now we have no information on his company or allegiance or intentions" Kakashi said, it was more of a statement than a question. 

They knew next to nothing. About Kawaki, about Code, about Sarada and about Boruto. They knew nothing. 

"How far have we dealt with claw marks?" Kakashi questioned.

"Without Kawaki, it's extremely hard, but the warding Sasuke helped us with after the attack," Shikamaru gulped as his throat caught, "has proven to be efficient."

"The only drawback is that the bigger the radius the lesser the efficiency" Sai added. "As of now we are barely covering the entire village." 

Kakashi nodded in affirmation, then a beat passed as he picked up a scroll. 

"As a precaution, let's evacuate the villagers."