How Troublesome

Chapter 1:A Troublesome Surprise

Shikamaru sighed and looked up at the clouds floating overhead in the forget-me-not blue sky. He would have infinitely preferred to be lying down on the grassy hill behind the training grounds than what he was assigned to do. He sighed again, spit out his cigarette, and ground it under foot.

"Troublesome…" he muttered.

He had been sent to collect Konoha's number one most surprising knuckle-headed ninja, the one and, thankfully, only Naruto Uzumaki. Lady Tsunade had ordered him to…fetch Naruto because she needed him immediately. She hadn't told him why she needed Naruto, just to get him, and when he had complained, she had threatened to beat him until he couldn't stand and then force him to volunteer at the ninja academy. He shuddered. Now that sounded troublesome.

He started off again in the direction of Naruto's house. When I get there, he thought, I am going to make him sorry. He was supposed to come in two hours ago. He would have taken out his annoyance on Lady Tsunade, but, well, she was the hokage, and the big breasted woman was extremely scary when she wanted to be.

Shikamaru slouched onwards.

The houses slowly stopped appearing and neatly manicured lawns and neat buildings faded into shabby apartments and untamed plants. Then the buildings disappeared all together and the plants grew wilder and bigger. And then, he was at the edge of the forest, but not just any forest, the Forest of Death. Why had Naruto decided to build a house in the forest of death again? So that no one would interrupt his training. He jerked out of his thoughts when his foot struck a rock and looked upwards.

There it was. Naruto's… tower? That was the closest thing to call it he could think of. Constructed out of wooden planks in a tall cylindrical structure with a glass roof and a multitude of windows, a front garden, and a sheltered pathway leading off the main structure to another, smaller one. The wooden slats of the tower were stained bright, eye-smarting, neon orange.

Squinting his eyes at the painfully bright color, Shikamaru ambled up the path, only to hit something hard two feet from the door. Holding his now sore nose, he felt with his hands out in front of him, and then performed a series of hand seals. When he was done, he whistled. The house was encased in a protective shield of chakra; he couldn't get in.

"Really, Naruto?" he asked, exasperated.

He was seriously tempted to just blow off this entire errand and go smoke and watch clouds, but, once again, the looming threat of Tsunade existed. So, with the renewed vigor of someone who is incredibly lazy and is trying to save himself from future pain and work, he quickly did more hand seals, forcing out a pulse of chakra into the surroundings, a trick Naruto had taught him himself. Then, his eyes flashed open. There was an opening in the tower, and it was right in front of him. A small door had been removed from the chakra shield and the actual front door. It looked like a dog door, but bigger, and, suddenly, Shikamaru was grateful for all of the flexibility training that Ino had forced him to do. It had been troublesome, but he had figured that it was better than having her nag him. At this point, he might be the most flexible guy in Konoha.

Groaning, he got down on his hands and knees and inched forward, tucking his shoulders in and wriggling forward. One minute and seventeen seconds later, he was inside. There were hammers and nails, like a flap was going to be added over the gaping hole, but he hadn't gotten around to it.

"Naruto, you idiot." What was the point of putting up a chakra shield if you left an opening for people to come in? He looked around the room. White walls, orange accents, and black and orange furniture. No one but Naruto could have designed it.