Yuna has been stalk…*cough* following Shikamaru for a while now and couldn’t help but chuckle at his antics. He was slowly walking through the streets, while occasionally stopping, just to blankly stare at the clouds for a few minutes.

‘Hehe, I see. While looking forward and seeing other humans, his head immediately starts to analyze them subconsciously, but when he looks at the sky he doesn’t have to do so. This probably makes him enjoy watching clouds since it frees up his thoughts.’

[Are you sure about that? Isn’t he just a lazy bum?]

‘No, I am pretty sure he is significantly smarter than he lets other people know about.’

“Ahh, I want to be a cloud.”

[…]

‘*cough* A-anyway let’s follow him for now. I investigated Shikaku Nara a little and he could be a useful ally, someday. Even if it turns out that the boy is simply lazy instead of smart, at least meeting Shikaku Nara should be worth the trouble.’

[Won’t he just report you to the Hokage?]

‘It’s probably fine. From what I have experienced so far, the Hokage just seems to be a figurehead or maybe someone else’s puppet. In Kushina’s memories, I could see that the Hokage actually had a good relationship with Minato. He would have at least shown up in front of us incognito a few times if he wasn’t controlled by someone. Even if I get called to him, it’s probably fine. I’m not doing anything illegal and the shinobi side of the village isn’t stupid enough to believe in baseless rumors and hate me for it. For now, let’s follow the boy home and see if I can cause some mischief.’

[As expected, it all boils down to that, doesn’t it?]

Hiruzen Sarutobi was currently cursing Yuna inside his mind. The more he thought about what she had done to him in the last few years, the more vicious the curses became. Why is he cursing her? Because every time a shinobi fails a mission there is a massive amount of paperwork he has to fill out. He naturally wanted to simply remove the mission of guarding Yuna permanently, but the other 3 elders immediately kicked his door down and told him that it is unacceptable to not have someone guarding their jinchuuriki. Hiruzen immediately stopped cursing Yuna and instead directed his hatred at the three elders. Curse, after curse was mentally thrown at those three and Hiruzen, was just about to calm down a little, when the ANBU that was assigned to watch Yuna today appeared in his office. Hiruzen’s hatred was ignited yet again, as he started cursing Yuna, the elders, and most importantly: the paperwork.

It has been another troublesome day for Shikamaru Nara. The day at the academy was, like every day so far, pretty boring. The only thing that keeps him interested in the cake prank. Well, rather than the prank itself, he is interested in how it is done. He was completely mystified how something like this could be set up. He figured out rather quickly that someone has to remote control it somehow, but he has no idea how. No wires, no hidden mechanisms, nothing. He would never admit it in public, but he actually enjoyed solving riddles like this. A riddle he couldn’t solve, even after he had been thinking about it for multiple weeks, is certainly rare and he would get to the bottom of this one day.

Today, it was actually extra troublesome at the academy, since they had to run laps instead of just sitting around a classroom. Shikamaru really wanted to stop after 10 laps, but he knew his mother would probably nag him for days if she heard about that. High risk, small reward. Not worth it.

Now that he thought about it, something else happened today as well. He met eyes with the girl that has been sitting behind him since the start of the academy, Yuna Uzumaki. She somehow gave off a different feeling than the other children. More mature and composed with deep, calm eyes.

‘There is definitely something unusual about her. I have also heard rumors about her and her twin brother. For some reason, a lot of civilians call them “Demon Twins”. Now that I’m actually thinking about it, why is a Hyuga girl with them as well? Another riddle, huh? Might as well give it some thought.’

After a few more minutes of walking, Shikamaru reached his home. He quickly greeted his parents and was just about to leave for his room, when his mother told him to help with dinner. Shikamaru had no other choice but to nod his head but told her that he wants to change into something more comfortable first. He quickly walked to his room and started changing clothes.

“*Sigh* So troublesome. Rather than help mother cook, I would rather watch some clouds.”

“Now, now, you should spend some time with your mother. It will make her happy, you know?”

“*Sigh* I know, but it’s just so troub…”

Shikamaru froze up completely.

‘Whose voice was that? Where did it come from?’

Shikamaru quickly spun around to face the origin of the voice. There on his bed, a young girl was lazing around while smirking at him.

‘Is that Yuna Uzumaki? Why is she here? How did she even get in here? Why didn’t I notice her at all? What does she want?’

Shikamaru’s brain got completely overflooded with questions. Before he could properly answer a question, two new ones would already have popped up. Shikamaru’s body, meanwhile, was, yet again, completely unmoving. This was something that can happen to people that are exceptional at analyzing situations. If the situation is too absurd, they simply freeze up. This is something that would never happen to, for example, Naruto. If he doesn’t get the situation he would just push forward.

Shikamaru was just about to gather his thoughts when his father opened the door.

“Shikamaru, your mother wan…”

When he entered Shikamaru’s room, he saw a young girl sprawled on his son’s bed, while his son had already taken his shirt off and was just about to remove his trousers, as well. Just like Shikamaru before him, he froze up for a moment, but since he was an experienced shinobi unlike Shikamaru he quickly started to realize what was actually going on. Well, that was, at least, what would have happened, if Yuna didn’t pour any oil into the flames.

She nervously got up from the bed, she looked incredibly uncertain about the situation and was clearly uncomfortable. As soon as she stood up, she gave a bow towards Shikaku’s direction.

“Hello, lord Nara. I am in the same class as your son and today, after class, he ordered me to follow him home, because he wants to have some fun.”

This time, Shikaku truly froze up, as his mind came to a complete standstill. Shikamaru’s condition wasn’t much better either, especially if you consider that the color of his face was turning paler by the second. He was, however, already making plans on how to defend his case, while simultaneously making plans on how to survive on the streets of Konoha, in case his father actually believes Yuna and kicks him out of the house. Shikamaru knew that his father wouldn’t be frozen like that for long, so he had to quickly structure his arguments.

Before one of the two Nara’s could react, however, the sound of two knees hitting the ground was heard, followed by two hands and then…

“PFFHAHAHAH!”

Loud laughter echoed through the room. The one who was laughing was naturally Yuna. Shikamaru and his father, meanwhile, were completely gobsmacked. They could only stare blankly at the young girl that was currently rolling around on the floor while laughing boisterously.