"Come on, Naruto, just pick one," Ino said, a bit annoyed.
Naruto looked up at Ino, then back at the three floral arrangements in front of him. "You know I'm not good at this, Ino. Why can't you just do it?"
Ino rolled her eyes. "Because, Naruto. You're the bride, not me."
Naruto looked up at her with a slight blush. He and Shikamaru had finally picked a date for their wedding now that Shikadai was almost two, but even though he had gotten used to the role of being a mother, he was still not used to being called a bride yet. "But I have no idea what I'm doing. You'll just decide for me anyway, so you do it."
Ino sighed. "Look, I made these arrangements because I thought they would look good. I would choose any of them, so that's why I'm letting you have the final say. I won't overrule your decision."
Naruto looked at her a bit skeptically, then back at the flowers. "Fine." He furrowed his brow. "Uh... That one," he said, pointing at the flowers on the right. It had a lot of orange flowers combined with little white ones and a few yellow ones."
Ino smiled. "I kind of figured you'd choose that one." She picked up his choice. "Alright, leave the rest to me."
Naruto sighed. "Then why didn't you just do that one in the first place," he said under his breath.
"Mommy, mommy!" Shikadai cried out as he ran up to Naruto. He was holding a really big sunflower in his hands. "Look."
Naruto smiled and knelt down. "That's really cool, Dai, but did you ask Ino if you could take that one?"
Shikadai looked up at the blonde girl. "Please?"
Ino smiled as she picked up the other two flower arrangements. "Of course."
"Yay!" Shikadai said as he hugged the flower.
"Careful," Naruto warned. "You don't want to hurt the flower."
Shikadai quickly pulled the flower away from him, fear in his eyes.
"Don't worry, Shikadai. Sunflowers are really resilient. You can't break them that easily," Ino said.
Shikadai looked up at her. "Re-sil-i-ent?"
"Yeah, it means that they're really strong," Ino replied with a smile. "Just like your mommy and daddy."
Shikadai smiled at the flower. "Like mommy and daddy."
Naruto smiled. "Where'd your grandma go?" Naruto asked, looking around, but not seeing the Nara woman.
"I think she's still looking at the flowers over there," Ino said, pointing to the right side of the store. "That is where the sunflowers are."
"Thanks," Naruto said as he stood up and took Shikadai's hand. They walked to the area Ino pointed to and saw Yoshino digging through a few purple flowers. "You still looking?" he asked.
Yoshino turned to him. "I think I'm about done. Did you pick out the arrangement?"
"Yeah."
"Mima, look," Shikadai said as he held out the sunflower. "Resilient," he said slowly, but smiled when he got it out correctly.
Yoshino looked at Naruto with an eyebrow raised.
Naruto chuckled. "Ino told him that sunflowers were resilient after I warned him hugging the flower might hurt it."
Yoshino smiled and shook her head. "That boy will be talking like his father before he's even four at this rate."
"Well, he still hasn't completely figured out sentence structure yet, so I think it'll still be a little bit before that happens."
"Come on. We have a few more things to pick up," Yoshino said. She walked over and paid for her flowers, trying to pay for Shikadai's flower too, but Ino refused to ring it up.
The rest of the afternoon was a little boring for Naruto, but knew that these things had to be taken care of for the wedding. Shikadai didn't seem to mind walking around the different stores, which Naruto was glad for. The boy just smiled and showed his flower to anyone who would pay attention to him.
Naruto was currently listening to Yoshino discuss something with a shopkeeper of one of the outside stalls, when Shikadai suddenly let go of his hand and ran off. "Shikadai. Come back!" he called out as he chased his son. He pushed his way through the crowd, his heart racing. He was quickly losing sight of the boy. "Shikadai!"
When he broke through the sea of people, he looked around, but didn't see the boy anywhere. "Shikadai!" He put both hands on his head, clenching his hair tightly.
"You lose something, Naruto?"
Naruto turned and saw Kiba walking up to him with Shikadai in his arms.
Naruto sighed in relief and walked up to the man. "Thanks, Kiba." He took Shikadai from the Inuzuka and gave the boy a stern look. "What have we told you about running off like that?"
Shikadai looked down at Naruto's scolding. "Sorry."
Naruto hugged the boy. "Why did you run off?"
"Doggie," he said and pointed at Akamaru, who was standing next to Kiba.
"Guess he saw Akamaru and wanted to pet him," Kiba said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Shikadai, you know you're not supposed to run off like that. You could get lost. What would have happened if someone snatched you up. They would've taken you from me and daddy and then we'd never see you again," Naruto said.
Shikadai looked up at him, tears in his eyes. "No," the boy said and wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck.
Naruto felt a little bad for scaring the boy like that, but he needed him to understand how dangerous it was.
"Aw, go easy on the kid, Naruto. That didn't happen, so it's..."
"No," Naruto interrupted him. "Even if we're in the village, there could still be people that would hurt him. He needs to know it's not ok to just run off."
Kiba stared at him a bit shocked. "Heh. Listen to you being all mature," he said as he smiled and crossed his arms.
Shikadai shifted to lay his head on Naruto's shoulder and twisted the flower in his hand.
"I just don't want anything to happen to him," Naruto said after he kissed the boy's head.
"Naruto!"
Naruto turned and saw Yoshino pushing her way through the crowd.
"Oh, thank goodness," she said as she placed a hand on her chest when she saw Shikadai in Naruto's arms. "What happened?"
"He saw Akamaru and chased after him," Naruto explained.
Yoshino looked sternly at the boy. "Don't you ever do that again, young man. You scared me half to death." She reached up, face relaxing, and cupped Shikadai's cheek. "I thought something bad happened to you."
Shikadai's lip quivered. "S-sorry, mima."
"I already explained to him why that was dangerous," Naruto said, then looked down at the boy. "I just hope he understood me."
Yoshino gave him a small smile. "I'm sure he did. He looks a bit shaken up after all."
Naruto and Yoshino both thanked Kiba and headed back to the shop they were at. Shikadai wouldn't let Naruto put him down after that, so by the time they got back to Yoshino's, Naruto's arm was a little sore.
Shikadai only let Naruto put him down after they made it into the house, and then he ran off to the living room while Naruto and Yoshino sorted the stuff they got in the kitchen.
A few hours later, Shikaku and Shikamaru came walking through the door, talking about whatever it was they had been working on.
"Daddy!" Shikadai yelled as he ran to his father.
Naruto smiled and walked up to him too, and after Shikamaru picked the boy up, gave Shikamaru a quick kiss. "Welcome back," the blonde said.
Shikamaru smiled then kissed the side of Shikadai's head before passing the boy to his father. "Can you watch him for a few hours?"
"Sure," Shikaku said as he took the boy.
Naruto looked at Shikamaru a little confused, but Shikamaru just grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door. After letting Naruto put his shoes on, Shikamaru dragged him out and towards the part of the village with the different restaurants. It had been a while since they went on a date, so Naruto was really happy when Shikamaru told him that's what they were doing.
It was late by the time they headed back to the Nara Compound, hand in hand. Naruto couldn't get the smile off his face as he leaned into his fiancee, squeezing the man's hand slightly. They knew that Shikadai would already be asleep, so they didn't rush.
"You know," Shikamaru said, "We could just leave Shikadai with mom and dad and head home. It's been a while since we've had the apartment to ourselves."
Naruto blushed at what he was implying. "But you told your dad we'd only be gone a few hours."
Shikamaru gave him a mischievous smirk. "Yeah, but he knows what can happen on dates."
Naruto's blush deepened at the thought of Shikaku knowing what they would be doing if they didn't come to pick Shikadai up. "Shika."
Shikamaru stopped him and kissed him. "I've been so busy lately that I haven't gotten to spend any time with you."
Naruto stared into his eyes, a small smile on his face. "You're troublesome, ya know?"
Shikamaru laughed and pulled Naruto in the direction of their apartment.
NNNNNNNNNN
It was a little after noon before Naruto walked into the Nara compound, and he was a bit surprised when he saw his young son running up to him with tears falling down his face.
"Mommy!" Shikadai yelled and bashed into Naruto's legs.
Naruto blinked, but put his hand on the back of Shikadai's head, then quickly knelt down. "What's wrong, baby?" He looked up and saw Yoshino walking toward them. "What happened? Is he ok?"
"He's fine. He just got a bit scared this morning," Yoshino said.
Shikadai had wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck, and Naruto picked the boy up. "What scared him?"
"I had said something about you and Shikamaru running off last night, and he was afraid that you two got snatched when you guys didn't come to pick him up last night."
"Snatched?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow, then remembered what he had said to Shikadai the previous day. "Oh."
"Yeah. Shikaku and I told him that you two were fine, but he's been antsy all morning."
"Daddy snatched?" Shikadai asked as he pulled away from Naruto a bit and looked around, but still kept his arms around the man's neck.
"No, your daddy wasn't snatched. He had a mission this morning." Naruto explained, kissing the boy's temple. "I'm sorry we scared you."
"I told you he understood," Yoshino said with a smile as she reached up and rubbed Shikadai's back.
"Come on, why don't we go to the park for a while," Naruto suggested.
Shikadai sniffed and nodded.
"Have fun, you two," Yoshino said, then turned and walked away.
Naruto helped Shikadai get his sandals on, then they walked to the park. By the time they got there, Shikadai was in a better mood and ran to the large playground equipment. They stayed there a couple hours, then made their way through the village to find something for dinner.
It was a lot busier than Naruto expected it to be, and the streets were filled with people. Shikadai had a strong grip on Naruto's hand as they walked, and Naruto had to smile at it. He was really taking what happened yesterday to heart. He looked around and found the stall he was looking for, a yakisoba stand, and started his way there, but someone suddenly bashed into him and made him fall on his butt.
"Ow," he said as he rubbed his lower back, then realized that he no longer had Shikadai's hand in his.
"Mommy!"
Naruto whipped his head around at Shikadai's cry. The boy was gone. "No." He stood up and scanned the area, breaking out in a run as he pushed past people. "Shikadai!" He ran a few blocks, then stopped and scanned the new area, but he couldn't see his son anywhere. "Shikadai! Shikadai, where are you?"
"Naruto?"
Naruto spun around and saw Kakashi standing behind him. "Kakashi Sensei. Someone took Shikadai!"
"Calm down, Naruto," the white haired man said as he stuffed his little book into his weapon's pouch. "Are you sure he didn't just get lost in this crowd?"
Naruto shook his head. "No. He had a tight grip on my hand because he ran off yesterday and I warned him not to do that or he could get taken. There's no way he would do it again, at least not this quickly. Someone ran into me and ripped Shikadai from my hand. We have to find him."
"Alright, but first you need to calm down. Getting yourself worked up like this isn't going to help. Let's go to the rooftop and get a bird's eye view of things and you can use your shadow clones to help look for him."
Naruto nodded and they both jumped to the roof of the nearest building. Naruto made the hand sign to produce ten clones and they immediately ran off in search of the boy. The original and Kakashi looked over the area, but didn't see anything, so they jumped across rooftops to search themselves.
It was ten minutes before Kakashi stopped Naruto. "Naruto, they're obviously gone. We need to inform Lady Tsunade of what has happened."
"But..." Naruto tried, but Kakashi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"We need more help. Lady Tsunade can gather more shinobi to help us look."
Naruto looked around once more, but since he didn't see anything, he just turned back to Kakashi and nodded. They ran to the hokage building and Naruto burst into the office, but froze when he saw Shikamaru standing there.
"What in the... Naruto, what the heck do you think you're doing?" Tsunade asked as she stood up from her desk.
"Sh-Shikamaru, what are you doing back?" Naruto said, panic filling him.
Shikamaru frowned. "I got done with the mission quicker than I thought. What happened? You're as pale as a ghost."
Kakashi pushed past Naruto, giving a sad look to Shikamaru behind his mask before turning his attention to Tsunade. "Ma'am, we believe that Shikadai Nara has been taken."
"What?" Shikamaru and Tsunade said at the same time, Shikamaru turning to face the older shinobi.
Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes. "I'm sorry, Shika. I..."
Shikamaru quickly stepped up to the blonde and wrapped his arms around him. "We'll find him."
"What happened?" Tsunade said as she walked around her desk.
The tears escaped Naruto's eyes as he saw the fear in his boyfriend's eyes, then turned to look at the other blonde. "I... We were going to one of the stalls to get something quick for dinner. I wasn't expecting Shikamaru back so early. The street was really packed, and someone ran into me hard enough to knock me down, and the next thing I knew, I heard Dai cry out and then he was gone. I tried searching for him, but I couldn't find him."
"I even had him send several shadow clones to help look, but whoever took the boy must have already escaped from the village," Kakashi added.
"You didn't see anything?" Shikamaru asked.
Naruto leaned more into Shikamaru, grateful that the man didn't seem mad at him.
Kakashi shook his head. "No. I'm sorry. I didn't know what was happening until I came upon Naruto panicking in the street."
Tsunade nodded and a shinobi in an anbu outfit showed up. "I want a search of the surrounding area in all directions. Shikadai Nara has been kidnapped. Go until the border. Go!"
"Yes, ma'am," the man said, then flickered away.
Tsunade turned back to the two distraught parents. "How long has it been since he was taken?"
"I don't think it was that long before I found Naruto, and it was about ten minutes of searching on our own before we came here."
Tsunade looked down in thought, her hand resting on her chin. "They shouldn't have gotten too far then." She looked back at Naruto and Shikamaru. "Go home... Better yet, go to your parents' house, Shikamaru. Let them know what's going on. I'm sure Shikaku will want to help coordinate the search."
"I'd like to help too," Shikamaru said as he stepped away from Naruto a bit.
Naruto wrapped his arms around himself. He wanted to help too, but he felt way too shaken up to be of any help. Maybe he should've started going on missions a lot sooner. He seriously felt so useless right now.
"No. Stay with Naruto. You two are too involved in this. I know you can handle yourself under pressure, but as the father, you may make decisions that could only hinder this."
Shikamaru didn't look like he agreed with her, but he nodded anyway, then turned to Naruto and wrapped his arm around the blonde's shoulder before heading out. They were both quiet on the way to the Nara compound, and when Yoshino and Shikaku heard what happened, Shikaku immediately left to join Tsunade, and Yoshino stayed close to Naruto.
Several hours passed, and they heard nothing.
'Kurama, isn't there anything you can do?'
'No. I can't sense chakra like someone in sage mode can.'
'Sage mode? What's that? How do I learn it?' he asked with desperation.
'It's not something you can learn so easily. There are many different types of sage modes too, depending on who you learn it from. Your father's master knew sage mode that he learned from frogs.'
'Frogs? Ok. Do I know my father's master?'
'His name was Jiraiya, and you haven't run into him.'
Naruto looked up at Shikamaru, who was staring out the window into the night. "Shikamaru, do you know a man named Jiraiya?"
Shikamaru turned to him. "Jiraiya? You mean the Legendary Sannin?"
"Do you know where he is?"
"No."
"He hasn't been in the village for a few years."
Naruto looked over and saw Shikaku standing in the doorway of the room and quickly stood up. "Did they find him?"
Shikaku shook his head, a sad look on his face. "They still haven't found him, however, they have found tracks. They're heading for the border towards the Land of Wind."
"Temari," Shikamaru said angrily.
Naruto looked over at him. "Temari? You think she kidnapped him?"
"I also thought of that when I heard where the kidnapper was heading. I don't think it was her specifically, but maybe someone from her village," Shikaku said.
"You think someone from the sand is trying to steal Shikadai back?" Yoshino asked as she stood up and walked over to the others.
"From what I learned from her while we held her prisoner here, she didn't rape Shikamaru by choice. Her village pushed her and her brothers to do it. They wanted Nara blood to be in Suna, so I really wouldn't put it past them to kidnap him to get him back," Shikaku said.
"Have the anbu not caught up to the kidnapper yet?" Naruto asked.
Shikaku shook his head. "No, and I'm afraid they may not be able to."
"Why not? They shouldn't be that far behind," Shikamaru said.
"Naruto and Kakashi took ten minutes before they informed Lady Tsunade, and it took another five to ten minutes for the anbu to coordinate and move out, plus, we had no idea which way this kidnapper went. While they were ordered to go in all directions, there's still a lot of distance that can't be covered in that short amount of time. It took them almost an hour to finally find out which way the kidnapper was heading, which means they have an hour lead on our men. Plus it's dark, and it'll be harder to track them."
'We can catch them.'
"What?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Calm down, Naruto. We're going to find him," Yoshino said as she placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"No. Kurama just said we could catch him, and I think he meant we as in me and him," Naruto said.
'I did.'
"Naruto, it's been hours. There's no way you'd be able to catch up with them," Shikaku said.
'With my chakra, we can move faster than anyone. I'd say we could even be able to rival the Yellow Flash.'
'Yellow Flash?'
'Your father.'
Naruto shook his head. He'd have to ask about that later. "That doesn't matter right now. Tell me what you meant by that."
'Go into my mode. You can use my chakra to go faster than any other shinobi in this village.'
"Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.
Naruto closed his eyes and focused on Kurama's chakra, letting it fill him, and when he opened his eyes again, he was in that yellow and black clothing that he found himself in during the akatsuki attack. "Kurama said that if I use this mode, I can move as fast as my dad."
Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something, but Shikaku held his hand up. "Go, Naruto. The longer we wait, the more they get closer to the border. If that happens, it'll be more difficult to get him back. You can explain later," Shikaku said.
Naruto nodded and ran out of the house. He knew which way the sand village was supposed to be, so headed in that direction. He was indeed moving way faster than he ever thought possible. He only hoped he reached the kidnapper in time.
Even with as fast as he was moving now, it still took him half an hour to finally catch up to the man that had his son, and when he did, he had to really focus and not let his anger and fear get the better of him.
The kidnapper was indeed a Suna shinobi, with the standard sand village outfit, tan vest with brown and tan clothes, a long, dark brown cloak, and headband with the sand village symbol on it. The man was fast. Naruto could easily get to him, but he had to figure out how to stop the guy without hurting Shikadai.
'Focus the chakra into a giant hand. If you reach out in front of him, he should stop without hurting the boy.'
Naruto focused and suddenly a huge, yellow chakra hand shot out and landed in front of the man. The guy halted and turned to face Naruto. "Let him go!"
"Mama!" Shikadai cried out, his hands outstretched and tears falling down his face.
The guy pulled a kunai out of his weapon's pouch. "I have my orders. This kid's coming back with me."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "No. He's not." He moved the chakra hand toward the guy at the same time as he dashed forward, and before the guy could even react, he had grabbed Shikadai from the man, and the chakra hand slammed into the man, sending the guy flying through the trees.
"Mama! Mama!" Shikadai cried out again as he clung to Naruto's jacket.
"It's ok, Dai. I've got you," Naruto said as he held the boy tightly and kissed the top of his head.
'We still need to practice more in this mode, Naruto. We're almost at our limit already.'
Naruto was about to start back to the village, but the man came limping through the trees. "I won't... give up that easily."
"And I won't let you get your hands back on him." He made two chakra hands and sent them toward the man.
The man managed to dodge the hands and threw the kunai, which grazed Naruto's arm. Naruto glared at the man when Shikadai cried out, because the spot he got hit was also close to Shikadai's head. Naruto used the two chakra hands to form a hand sign and made two regular shadow clones, which he was actually surprised worked. He handed Shikadai to one of the clones. "Take him as far as you can."
The clone nodded, and Shikadai fused a little bit, but since he knew about Naruto's shadow clones, he allowed the clone to take him. Once both clones were gone, Naruto turned his full attention to the man. "You're going to regret ever taking him."
He didn't hold back and sent both chakra hands flying at the man, slamming the man in between the two palms. The guy cried out, and when Naruto opened the hands, the guy crumpled to the ground. He walked up to the man, panting a bit at the feel of chakra exhaustion starting to hit him, and stared down.
'Kill him for taking our kit.'
"No. Right now, I need to get to Shikadai. I don't want my clones to disappear and leave him alone in the forest." He faltered as he took a step and felt the Kurama mode disappear along with one of his clones.
'You're right. You're almost out of chakra. Go to your boy. I'll keep your chakra levels high enough for the clone to remain until we get there.'
"Thanks. Sorry," he said as he jumped into the trees.
Thankfully it didn't take long for him to reach his clone, and as soon as Shikadai was back in his arms, the clone disappeared, and Naruto fell to the ground. He buried his face in Shikadai's hair as the boy cried into Naruto's chest. "It's ok, Dai. I'm here. You're safe now."
'I suggest we remain here for a while to rest. That took more chakra than I thought just to get here and take that man out.'
Naruto could feel how exhausted Kurama was. 'Thank you, Kurama. You saved Shikadai.'
Kurama grunted, but didn't say anything.
Naruto scooted over to a tree to lean on and closed his eyes. He was so tired, but knew he had to stay awake until someone found them. He glanced down and saw that Shikadai was still awake, but he was only sniffling now. He smiled and tried to turn the boy around, but the boy just gripped Naruto's jacket tighter.
"No," the boy said.
"Alright. I won't move you," Naruto replied and leaned his head back against the tree. "Have to stay... awake." His eyes closed and darkness consumed him.
NNNNNNNNNN
Naruto stirred at the feeling of someone shaking him awake. "Huh? What?" he asked as he looked around. His eyes landed on someone in a cat mask.
"Are you alright?" a male voice asked.
"Uh, yeah. I think so," Naruto replied and looked down. He sighed when he saw that Shikadai was sleeping. "How long was I out?"
"We don't know. How did you even get here?"
Naruto leaned his head back against the tree, still exhausted from earlier. "I used my Kurama mode. I can move faster than normal. I was able to catch up to..." He lifted his head, eyes wide. "The kidnapper! I left him unconscious several miles away."
Cat turned to a few other people in an owl, monkey, and frog masks. "Go on ahead and see if you can find the kidnapper. Me and Frog can take them back to the village."
The people in the owl mask and monkey masks nodded and disappeared, and the one in the frog mask stepped closer.
Cat helped Naruto to his feet, keeping a firm grip on the blonde's arm. "Let Frog take the boy and I can carry you on my back."
Naruto hesitated and looked down at Shikadai, but the boy was sound asleep. "Ok, but if he wakes up, he's not gonna like being with someone else."
Frog walked up to him and carefully took the boy. "If he wakes up, we can stop."
Cat nodded. "Agreed. For now, let's get you two back." He squatted down to let Naruto climb on his back, then the two anbu jumped into the trees.
Thankfully, Shikadai remained asleep the entire way. Naruto was relieved when he was placed on the ground in front of the Nara compound, Shikamaru, Shikaku, and Yoshino all running out to meet them.
Shikamaru immediately went up to Naruto. "Are you two alright?"
Naruto leaned into Shikamaru's embrace. "Yeah. I was able to get Shikadai back without a problem, but used up way more chakra than I should've." He looked over and saw that Yoshino had grabbed Shikadai from Frog and was walking up to them. He reached out his hand and cupped the boy's cheek, which made the boy shift a bit.
"Shikamaru, take him into the house. You three can stay here tonight," Shikaku said.
Shikamaru nodded and led Naruto into the house.
Naruto glanced over his shoulder and saw Shikaku talking to Cat, hearing the name Tenzo, but was too tired to try and overhear what they were saying. Once Shikamaru got him to the bed in Shikamaru's old room he crawled in and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out.