Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/13547427.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Naruto
  Relationship:
      Hyuuga_Neji/Nara_Shikamaru
  Character:
      Hyuuga_Neji, Nara_Shikamaru, Nara_Shikaku, Other_Character_Tags_to_Be
      Added
  Additional Tags:
      Time_Travel
  Stats:
      Published: 2018-02-02 Updated: 2018-03-30 Chapters: 2/? Words: 2052
****** Naruto Time Travel Fic #14 ******
by SereneSorrow
Summary
     Neji died. Then he woke up, and had to do it ALL over again. At least
     with the Jonin Commander and the Nara Clan behind him he can escape
     his uncle's home sooner.
Notes
     This is indeed literally the 14th Time Travel idea I had for Naruto
     characters... I was going to wait longer before starting on this one
     but idea #3 (Neji of the Sound) isn't going as well as I wanted, I
     think I left out a whole scene and a hint at a future plot point from
     the last chapter of that one so I'm going to have to go back and fix
     all that... and I don't have that kind of time today so I wrote this
     instead... :)
     So if you aren't reading anything else I'm writing: I challenged
     myself to post something every day which means short updates on
     whatever I happen to feel like writing that day. :)
***** Chapter 1 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
     It was Saturday. It was Saturday and Shikaku was going over paperwork. It
was a drag, but working was better than being roped into whatever his wife
might nag him about. All morning she'd been trying to teach their son one thing
or another to little success. She'd given up eventually, when Shikamaru had
continued to pay her no attention, at which point she'd gone to the kitchen to
make lunch.
     Which was why when there was a knock at the door Shikaku stepped away from
his papers and went to answer it, knowing his wife if he didn't get the door he
wouldn't get any lunch either.
     Shikaku finally opened the door in surprised response to the insistent
knocking. No one in his clan was that energetic. He blinked at the empty air in
front of him and finally cast his gaze downward to take in the small figure on
his doorstep. He blinked again in surprise at the black and white apparition.
The long haired boy at the door stared back at him with blank white eyes and
said nothing.
     “Uh, can I help you Hyuuga-kun?” Shikaku asked the boy.
     “Neji.”
     It took Shikaku a second to figure out that the boy was introducing
himself.
     “Neji-kun, Shikaku corrected himself. “How can I help you?”
     “Hmm. Is Shikamaru here?”
     Shikaku's eyebrows rose and he glanced around but there weren't any adults
nearby who might have accompanied the stoic boy. “Yes.” He stepped aside and
the Hyuuga stepped into the house and followed him down the hall.
     “Do you mind if I ask, I'm sorry but I don't recall you and Shikamaru ever
meeting before.” Shikaku asked suspiciously and Yoshino took in their visitor.
     Yoshino had stepped out of the kitchen to see who was at the door and she
looked just as surprised at the Hyuuga's presence as he felt. So she didn't
know of a reason for the boy to be visiting their son either. It was a rather
long walk from the Hyuuga's compound to the Nara's, had the boy come this whole
way alone? Shikaku wondered what might prompt such a trip. Yoshino shrugged
helplessly and they watched from opposite sides of the room as Neji approached
their son.
     Shikamaru was sitting on the carpet near one of the windows where Yoshino
had been attempting to draw his attention to a picture book but all morning the
boy had been more interested in staring out the window at the sky. Neji sat
down in front of him and stared at him for a moment. “I don't suppose you're
here too?” Neji asked him, leaning forward until their faces were only inches
apart, and peering closely at the younger boy who stared back with a bored
expression.
     Neji sighed as he leaned back and Shikaku was shocked as suddenly Neji
activated his byakugan. This boy couldn't be five years old yet, he was
probably younger, how could he have already learned to use the byakugan? Neji's
eyes roved over Shikamaru as though he was inspecting him for something. The
boy's jaw clenched as he deactivated his byakuban and he sighed heavily. “No,
of course not.”
     Shikaku stepped closer. “Well I'm impressed, I didn't know someone your
age could use their byakugan yet. What exactly are you looking for?”
     “I don't expect you to understand-” He was interrupted when Shikamaru
leaned forward and crawled over to Neji, and Shikaku watched in surprise as his
son patted Neji's cheek and proclaimed “Cloud” quite seriously as a description
of the Hyuuga boy. With a nod of certainty Shikamaru climbed into his lap. The
three year old hummed as he stared into Neji's eyes and then snuggled into the
older boy's shoulder. Neji's eye twitched but he suffered through it all
gracefully, Shikaku might even say indulgently.
     “Would you believe,” Neji pulled some of his hair away from the younger
boy, “I'm form the future? I seem to have time traveled somehow.”
     Shikaku frowned. Was the kid playing some kind of game with some friends?
He wasn't really supposed to take that as a serious answer, was he? “You don't
seem sure about that.” Shikaku spoke with narrowed eyes.
     “I don't know how it happened, the last thing I remember was dying when I
took a hit for Hanabi, then I woke up earlier today and I was...” Neji glared
down at his palms, searching for a description. “little.”
     Shikamaru reached out and grabbed one of Neji's hands and Shikaku
exchanged a glance with his wife. They were both shocked at how active
Shikamaru was being, especially around someone he-probably-didn't know.
     “I've looked but it seems that no one else is here. The Konoha twelve,
Guy-sensei, they're all who they already were now.”
     “Well that sounds like quite the imaginative game you've thought of. You
should take a break for some lunch though, why don't you join us?” Yoshino
asked, cutting in as she stepped farther into the room.
     Neji blinked slowly at her, honestly, Shikaku thought he looked a bit like
a Nara himself for a moment there. “It's not a game. It's a report. I don't
know what else to do if no one else is here or has a reason for this to happen,
and you are the Jonin Commander.” Neji turned from Yoshino to stare at him.
     “I am,” Shikaku conceded slowly, “but it does seem like an impossible
story. Time travel, and you look like the child you're supposed to be, if you'd
come from the future wouldn't you still be an adult?”
     Neji scowled and started speaking again in a clear and concise manner. The
report was delivered perfectly, he knew grown jonin who had less attention for
detail, who embellished more obviously.
     When he was done the two adults stared at the boy who was clearly not
joking. Shikaku pondered the report carefully. The implications were a serious
matter, what happened next could literally change the course of history, future
history. The sound of a stomach growling interrupted his contemplation and
Yoshino swooped in and scooped Shikamaru out of Neji's lap just as their son
started to cry.
     “Lunch time. You boys can talk later.” Yoshino insisted, stepping into the
kitchen.
Chapter End Notes
     So the whole chapter ended up being from Shikaku's perspective, but
     the story was supposed to be mostly Neji's, so I don't know how often
     it will be Shikaku again, but the first try I did of this chapter
     from Neji's perspective was impossible. Although if I had managed to
     write it from Neji's point of view then one scene was going to be
     different enough that I feel like sharing it here so:
     Neji walked over to the small Nara sitting on the rug by the window.
     He was staring out at the sky, typical. “I don't suppose you [came
     back too?]” Neji knelt down next to Shikamaru and activated his
     byakugan, scanning Shikamaru's chakra network for the same
     differences that he had observed in his own chakra. Frustratingly, it
     became quickly apparent that the Nara was unaffected [by the …]. Just
     like everyone else he had observed so far [curses]. “Of course not.”
     Neji sat back on his heels and sighed heavily.
***** Chapter 2 *****
Chapter Notes
     Hey! Finally an update! Anyway, If there's a super huge gap between
     updates again check the 'bio' section on my profile for explanations/
     excuses. :)
     The meal was quiet, except for the noises of Yoshino attempting to feed
Shikamaru and the boy's halfhearted attempts to avoid the foods he didn't seem
to enjoy. Neji's expression was distracted by his supposed troubles. The boy
didn't eat like a child, he was more careful with the food than many adults.
Shikaku's mind was still racing over the possibilities, was it true? Why, how?
He supposed proof would be easy enough to obtain, any Yamanaka could see the
truth in his mind, if that was even necessary. Details that the boy couldn't
know, possibly even ahead of time would be proof as well. He could feel the
strength of Yoshino's glare just daring him to bring the matter up while they
were eating and see what would happen. He supposed that he could wait, Neji
didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave, he seemed to be entirely at loose ends
now that he had determined to the best of his ability that he was the only one
who had made the journey back in time.
***
     Shikaku closed the door behind him and took his seat behind the desk. “Do
you have any substantial way of proving what you say?”
     “Why? Do I need any? Are you going to help me or lock me up?” Neji
demanded as he seated himself in a chair across from Shikaku's desk. The height
difference might have seemed comical if Neji wasn't taking everything so
seriously.
     “You were the one trying so hard to convince us that you weren't playing a
game. What exactly would you need help with, you said that you didn't know why
you were sent here.” Shikaku propped his elbow on the desktop and supported his
chin on his hand as he gazed through half open eyes at the Hyuuga.
     “Well obviously there was a reason even if I don't know it?” He said it
more like a question. “There are at least things that I can change anyway, and
why shouldn't I, if it will make things better?” He scowled and Shikaku got the
feeling that Neji wasn't sure of himself.
     Odd. He supposed that if he himself had suddenly found himself in the past
he might feel compelled to warn people he cared about of their impending
misfortunes, though it sounded like it would be a huge bother. Shikaku supposed
that as a Leaf ninja he should probably see it as his duty to use his knowledge
of the future to serve the good of the village. If he could prevent a useful
alliance from being dissolved or something similar than the benefit to the
village in such a case would be more important than just sitting back and
remarking on how everything progressed the same as he knew it would.
     Neji had clearly been a ninja or he wouldn't have reported to him as the
jonin commander, he wouldn't have known how to deliver such a well structured
report at all. It was reasonable to believe that Neji had seen acting on his
future knowledge as his duty, as Shikaku supposed he might have in a similar
situation. Perhaps Neji's own outlook was akin to a Nara's, and the prospect of
so much work laid out before him was off-putting.
     “What are you thinking?” The boy asked him after the pause stretched for
longer than he could tolerate.
     Shikaku was impressed, even knowing he was an adult he was still trapped
in the body of a child and therefore subject to a young child's fidgeting and
impatience. Shikaku was aware that he was taking Neji's claims as truth rather
easily, that he should step back and confirm it all before acting as though
this was one of his subordinates that he could trust in their role, but somehow
he got the feeling that bringing anyone else in on this would be too great a
risk to the possibilities Neji was providing.
     “I think that the sooner we act on any information you have the sooner
your intelligence becomes obsolete.” He drawled, holding all but this simplest,
most obvious thought back.
     Neji nodded, not having to take the time to think this through at all. He
was already ready with an answer. “Preventing one action may only force someone
to take a different path, to the same destination, a path we won't be able to
predict, one that I will have no foreknowledge of.” He summarized succinctly,
proving it was indeed an intelligent ninja he was talking to.
     “Exactly. Only the gravest of tragedies should we even consider acting to
avert. You're going to have to refrain from interfering in or mentioning
anything that isn't disastrous or you won't be able to change much at all.
You'll even need to think carefully before you decide on what to reveal to me.”
Shikaku said firmly. He knew that he was both giving tacit permission for Neji
to make critical decisions possibly opposite to the calls of others of superior
rank and allowing Neji the authority to keep dangerous secrets from those same
superiors. He was putting a lot of trust in Neji's ability to determine what
would truly be better off changed and what tragedies were of little importance
in the greater scheme of things. Luckily his first impression of the Hyuuga was
not of someone prone to emotional outbursts.
     Neji's eyes seemed to harden defiantly as he stared back at the Nara. “Not
at all. I know exactly what most needs to be diverted. The Fourth Great Ninja
War and the subsequent death of every human at the hands of the Rabbit
Goddess.” He shared in a blunt, flat tone. Managing to shock the jonin
commander speechless. As far as he knew Hyuuga's weren't much for jokes,
despite how impossible that last bit about a Rabbit Goddess seemed to him. Neji
was being serious. A fourth war wasn't nearly so difficult to imagine as the
death of every human in the five nations.
     Shikaku sighed. “I get the feeling this is going to be a lot of work.”
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