The next morning, Naruto woke up groggy. He looked around for a minute, not recognizing the room he was in, but then saw Shikamaru sleeping a little ways from him. He was confused why the man was lying so far away, but when he tried to move closer, he figured it out. He looked down and saw Shikadai lying against him, hand lightly fisted in Naruto's shirt. His thoughts went back to the previous night.

He wrapped his arm around the boy and pulled him even closer, making the boy shift a bit but not wake up.

"You're awake already?"

Naruto looked up and saw Shikamaru staring at him. He blinked before a small smile crossed his face. "I'm surprised you are."

Shikamaru chuckled and reached over to gently stroke Shikadai's hair. Both Naras had their hair out of their famous styles. "He wouldn't sleep at all last night. Kept waking up from nightmares. Finally decided to bring him in here. As soon as I laid him next to you, he finally calmed down enough to sleep, even if it was still a fitful sleep." Naruto could tell that Shikamaru didn't get much sleep if the bags under his eyes were any indication.

Naruto looked down and tightened his grip on the boy just a little more. It filled his heart with so much joy that this little child would feel so safe around him, but he was also a bit conflicted. He looked back at his boyfriend. "Sorry."

Shikamaru frowned. "I told you, it wasn't your fault, Naruto. Stop saying sorry for it."

Naruto shook his head. "No, not about that." He looked back down at Shikadai. "He's not even my son by blood, but he chooses me over you."

Shikamaru moved closer and planted a gentle kiss on Naruto's forehead. "That doesn't matter to me. You're his mother, Naruto, and children generally choose their mother over their father when they're hurt or distressed."

Naruto looked up at him and smiled.

"Plus, you have been the one that's been taking care of him the most," Shikamaru said with a smile.

Naruto's smile got bigger.

They laid there a little longer, both men just taking comfort in each other, until Shikadai started fussing and moving around. The boy's hand tightened on Naruto's shirt. "Mama," he said, breath quickening.

"Shh. It's ok, Dai. You're safe," Naruto said as he ran his hand through the boy's hair.

Shikadai's breath slowed, and his fist relaxed a bit.

Naruto looked up at Shikamaru with a frown.

"I think maybe we should talk to Inoichi," Shikamaru said.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

Shikadai shifted and suddenly the boy pushed at Naruto. "No!" His eyes opened and tears streamed down his face. He flung his arm back, smacking Shikamaru in the face. "No!"

Naruto sat up a bit. "Dai, it's ok. You're ok." He grabbed the boy's hand and leaned in so the boy would focus on him. "You're ok."

Shikadai sniffed, blinking a couple times before flinging himself into Naruto. "Mama."

Shikamaru rubbed at his nose. "Trauma affects people differently, and I've heard that it's harder on younger kids because they can't understand what they've been through. They don't understand the feelings they're going through. As a clan that deals with the mind, the Yamanakas have become like therapists. Ino said that some of her clansmen even bypassed becoming shinobi to be therapists."

"What do you think he'll do?" Naruto asked, a little worried at the thought of Inoichi messing with Shikadai's mind.

"Well, he'll probably just give us some advice to help him, but if things get worse, he may need to block the memories."

"Will that hurt him?"

"No. He'll just forget the whole thing happened."

Naruto nodded and looked down at Shikadai. The boy was just laying there, tears shimmering in his wide eyes. When it was clear Shikadai wouldn't be going back to sleep, the three got up and headed to the kitchen, where Shikaku and Yoshino were sitting at the table eating a light breakfast.

"I'm surprised you're up this early," Shikaku said as he sat his coffee on the table.

Naruto was rubbing Shikadai's back as the boy laid on his shoulder, arms around the man's neck. "Shikadai woke up from a nightmare, and it didn't look like he was going to go back to sleep, so we decided to just get up." Naruto's stomach suddenly growled and the blonde blushed a bit. "And I'm a little hungry too."

"Well, neither one of you ate anything last night, so it's understandable," Yoshino said as she got out of her seat and went over to fix them something.

The three sat down, Shikadai allowing Naruto to turn him around, but the boy still laid back against the blonde.

Shikaku frowned at his grandson, then looked up at Shikamaru. "You'll need to keep an eye on him."

"Yeah, we know. I've already told Naruto we may want to talk to Inoichi," Shikamaru replied.

Shikaku nodded and took another bite of his food.

It wasn't long before Yoshino put plates of food in front of Naruto and Shikamaru, and tried to run her hand over Shikadai's arm, but the boy whined and moved away from the woman's touch.

Naruto frowned and looked at Yoshino, who looked a bit hurt, but quickly brushed it off and went back to her seat.

The meal went by quietly. Naruto tried to get Shikadai to eat something from his plate, but the boy just shook his head and turned his face into Naruto's shirt.

"So, was it a sand shinobi that took him?" Shikamaru finally asked, looking at Shikaku.

Naruto tensed and in turn felt Shikadai grip his shirt a bit tighter.

"Yeah. The anbu confirmed it was a sand shinobi. His mission was to kidnap Shikadai and bring him back to Suna. Lady Tsunade is going to be talking with the Kazekage sometime in the next couple days about how this will affect our alliance."

"You'll be going with her, won't you?" Shikamaru asked, a scowl on his face.

"Of course. I will not let them think that kidnapping a member of my clan will be tolerated," Shikaku said, a scowl on his own face.

Naruto placed his hand on Shikadai's back. 'This will not be happening again,' he vowed.

'Agreed. No one touches our family.'

Naruto unconsciously reached over and took Shikamaru's hand and squeezed it, which Shikamaru returned.

The rest of the morning was just as quiet, with Shikadai finally getting more sleep, Naruto and Shikamaru just staying close to each other, Yoshino doing something in the kitchen, and Shikaku sitting in the chair reading the newspaper. Shikaku had informed them that Inoichi was dealing with the sand shinobi, so it would be later in the day before they would be able to speak to him. Whenever Shikadai did wake up, crying from nightmares, he would just sit on Naruto's lap, fist clenched in man's shirt, not saying a word.

Naruto rubbed Shikadai's back. "Shikaku, do you know how to do sage jutsu?"

Shikaku lowered the newspaper to look at the blonde. "Sage jutsu? Is that why you were asking about Jiraiya last night?"

"Yeah. Kurama said that he couldn't detect chakra like someone with sage jutsu. I want to learn how to do it, so that nothing like this happens again," Naruto replied.

Shikaku folded up the paper and sat it on the side table. "I'm afraid I don't, but I can ask Lady Tsunade if she knows where Jiraiya is, or when he'll be back in the village."

Naruto nodded and looked down at Shikadai, who seemed to have fallen asleep again. "Did my dad know sage jutsu?"

"Yes, but I don't think he used it very much. He was known as the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, so he normally finished his fights before needing to use sage mode," Shikaku said.

Naruto smiled and looked down again. "I want to learn every jutsu I can to keep my family safe."

Shikamaru put his arm around Naruto. "I do too. Dad, I want to go through the family archive and see if there are any scrolls on lost Nara jutsu."

Shikaku nodded. "I have an idea about which scrolls to look for. I'll go with you."

Shikamaru kissed the side of Naruto's head, then got up and left with his father.

NNNNNNNNNN

It was late afternoon before Shikamaru and Shikaku came back. Naruto could tell Shikamaru was more exhausted than when he left. "I take it you found a new jutsu?"

Shikamaru sat down hard on the couch and leaned his head back. "Yeah, a couple actually. I can definitely understand why we don't usually teach them. They take a lot of chakra, and the concentration required is insane."

"So no more lazy Nara?" Naruto asked with a grin.

Shikamaru turned his head, but didn't lift it off the back of the couch. "Ha ha."

Naruto laughed. He felt Shikadai shift and saw the boy reaching over to Shikamaru and smiled.

Shikamaru finally lifted his head off the couch, smiling, and reached over to pull his son into his arms. "Hey, little fawn."

Shikadai laid his head on his father's shoulder, but didn't say a word.

Shikamaru's smile faltered a bit, but he just rubbed the boy's back.

"He was asking for you earlier," Naruto said.

"Really?"

"Don't act so surprised, Shika."

"It just surprises me because he's been so clingy to you this morning."

Naruto leaned over and kissed the man, then stood up.

"Mommy?" Shikadai called out as he lifted his head up.

"Don't worry, I'm not going far. I'm just going to go get a quick shower. You've got your daddy."

Shikadai just stared at Naruto, but then laid his head back on Shikamaru's shoulder.

"I would've thought you'd do that earlier," Shikamaru said.

"I was going to, but he wouldn't go to Yoshino," the blonde replied sadly. "And you saw how he was this morning."

Shikamaru just nodded.

Naruto went up to their room, pulled some clothes out that Yoshino kept in that room for just these occasions, and headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower. When he walked back into the living room, he saw Shikamaru spread out on the couch, with Shikadai laying on top of his chest, and smiled. He turned and walked into the kitchen to find Yoshino and Shikaku talking.

"Shikamaru and I stopped by Lady Tsunade's office before we came back. She said Jiraiya is supposed to be bringing her some information he's gathered on the Akatsuki, so he should be in the village in a few days," Shikaku said.

"Great. Thanks," Naruto said as he sat down across from Yoshino.

"I'm surprised you're not in there with Shikamaru and Shikadai," Yoshino said.

Naruto's smile got wider. "They fell asleep, and I didn't want to disturb them. I don't think Shikamaru got much sleep last night, and he mentioned that he found a few jutsu, so I'm guessing he tried a couple of them out?" he answered, looking to Shikaku for confirmation.

"Yes. We found a few shadow based jutsu that he wants to learn, as well as a summoning that we haven't used in years."

"The Naras have a summoning jutsu?" Naruto asked, surprised.

Shikaku smiled. "Yes, but our summonings are a bit tricky to get along with."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him.

"Deer are majestic creatures, and as such, have an attitude to reflect that. They are very picky about who they let make a contract with them. It took Shikamaru almost two hours to finally get them to agree to the contract."

Naruto looked towards the living room. "No wonder he's so tired." When he turned back, Shikaku was holding out a scroll. "What's this?"

"Shikamaru told me how you have become closer with the nine-tails, and I came across this. It's a way to summon a tailed beast. It won't let the nine-tails out, but you can make a small version of him to help you fight."

'I've heard about this. I never thought anyone would have kept the jutsu.'

Naruto took the scroll and opened it. "So I could have my own summoning?"

"Essentially, yes. I understand that you trust the nine-tails, but I do want you to be careful, Naruto."

Naruto looked up at him and closed the scroll. "I will. I promise."

Shikaku nodded, then stood up. "I'm going to see how Inoichi is doing with our guest."

Naruto frowned at the mention of the man. He watched Shikaku walk out then looked back at the scroll in his hand.

'Why don't we go practice that while Shikamaru is asleep?'

Naruto smiled. 'Eager to get back into the world?'

'You try being cooped up inside someone for years and see how you feel.'

Naruto chuckled and stood up. "I'm gonna go out and see if I can figure out this summoning jutsu. Can you let Shikamaru know when he wakes up?"

Yoshino nodded. "Of course."

Naruto went out to the back yard and opened the scroll. He studied the scroll for a minute, then sat it down and got to work.

NNNNNNNNNN

Three days had passed and Naruto was walking home from a training session with Kakashi. They had talked with Inoichi about Shikadai after Shikamaru woke from his nap, and Inoichi advised messing with Shikadai's mind be the last resort. He told them a few ways they could try to get him back to normal, and suggested that Shikamaru be there to help with that, so Shikamaru asked for a few days off from missions to help Naruto with the boy.

With Shikamaru in the village, Naruto wanted to try and take advantage of it and get some training in. He didn't stay out long since Shikadai got upset when he left, but was grateful for the time he was getting. He was now able to hold and use his Kurama mode a little longer, and he could now summon Kurama at the size of an actual fox.

Naruto yawned as he reached up and scratched behind Kurama's ear. The fox had come to like riding on Naruto's shoulder whenever they weren't fighting. "I think our training's going really well, don't you?"

'Tch. I'm still this small.'

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can," Naruto replied a little upset.

Kurama humphed and turned his head.

"I could just not summon you."

Kurama turned back and glared at the man.

Naruto laughed, but then noticed he was passing by the hot springs. "I wonder if it would help to bring Shikadai to the hot springs?"

'The boy screams every time you bring him near the door. I really doubt bringing him to a place that has dozens of people would be a good idea.'

"We could always see if we could get the place to ourselves for an hour or so."

'I suppose that could work, as long as he stays calm enough.'

"That's why I want to try. If we can show him that it's not dangerous to go outside again, maybe it'll help."

Naruto stopped and stared at someone that was peeking into one of the fences of the hot springs. A tick appeared over one of his eyes. "Hey, old man, what do you think you're doing?" Naruto yelled, hoping he was loud enough for anyone on the other side to hear.

The man turned around and glared at Naruto. "Will you shut up, kid. You'll scare the beautiful women." He turned back around, but then suddenly hollered, jumped back, holding one of his eyes, and fell on his butt.

Naruto walked up to the man, arms crossed, and looked down. He was an older man with really long, spiky, white hair, a weird leaf headband that had two small horns on it, a forest green outfit with a red jacket, and geta sandals. "Serves you right, ya pervert."

"Hey, I'll have you know, I was doing research," the man yelled.

"Research? You were spying on people!"

The man stood up, brushing off his clothes. "You wouldn't understand." He gave the blonde a once over. "You look familiar. Who are you?"

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki, and just who are you, you perverted old man?"

The man's eyes went wide. "Naruto?" He then stared at the fox on Naruto's shoulder. "Is that the nine-tails on your shoulder? Did the seal weaken that much?" He quickly stepped up and pulled the blonde's shirt up.

Naruto blushed. "Hey!" he exclaimed and pushed the man's hand away and his shirt back down. "Don't just do that in public!"

'You haven't changed at all.'

Naruto blinked and looked at Kurama. "You know him?"

'This is Jiraiya.'

Jiraiya looked at the two with a shocked look. "Wait, if the seal hasn't weakened, how is he here?"

"I summoned him... Well, a small part of him anyway," Naruto replied. "Wait. So my dad's sensei was really this perverted old man?"

Jiraiya took a step back, looking offended. "What? Don't you know who I am, boy? I am the Hermit of Mount Myoboku. The wise and immortal spirit. One of the Legendary Sannin. That's right! It is I, the Toad Mountain Sage! Jiraiya!" He ended his little speech with one hand out in front of him and the other behind him, bending down a bit in a weird kind of pose, and a huge grin on his face.

Naruto looked at him with a blank face, then turned and continued heading home.

Kurama snickered as his nine tails flailed around behind Naruto's head.

"Hey! Don't just walk away!" Jiraiya called out and ran after the blonde.

Naruto ignored the man.

"Hey!" Jiraiya caught up and placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder, which made the blonde stop.

"Look. I know your kind, and I do not want to be associated with you, and I really don't believe that you're this great sensei of my dad. My dad would never want to be associated with a pervert like you."

Jiraiya crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air. "I'll have you know, kid, that I am one of the greatest shinobi of my time."

"Really?" he asked, not believing the man at all.

"You bet," Jiraiya answered with a smile.

Naruto stared at the man a moment more then sighed. "Fine. Whatever," he said and continued walking, Jiraiya quickly fell into step with him. "But don't you go doing any of that pervy stuff while I'm around. I'm finally at a place where people don't look down on me anymore."

"Was your life really that bad? I thought for sure Sarutobi Sensei would've taken care of you."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man. "Yeah, well, he didn't." He turned his head back to look forward. "I've always been alone. I bet he had to bribe and pay someone a whole lot to even take care of me as a baby."

"Surely you're joking. A kid like you? I'm sure you had dozens of friends."

Naruto stopped and glared at the man. "No. Everyone hated me! Because the adults hated me, the kids didn't want anything to do with me either! No one wanted anything to do with me, not even the shop owners! I was lucky I even had food in my apartment. If anything, I had one friend, but I hardly got to see him. Once we became shinobi, we got split up, we hardly ever got any team up missions, and even when we did have downtime, I never felt welcome because of one of his teammates." Tears had welled up in Naruto's eyes at the memory of what he went through.

Jiraiya blinked. "So what happened to him?"

"He's my boyfriend now. Actually, he's more than that. He's my fiance. We have a son, we live together, and he's the only one that has never treated me like a freaking disease."

"Wait, did you say fiance? You're getting married? To a guy?" Jiraiya asked, eyes going wide.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him and clenched his fists. "You have a problem with that?"

"No," Jiraiya said as he raised his hands and took a couple steps back. "Of course not. I'm happy for you."

Naruto glared at him for another few seconds then turned and continued walking. He didn't hear Jiraiya following him right away, but then heard the man running to catch up. "Will you just stop following me, old man?"

"Look, I'm sorry all that happened to you. I guess I should've stopped in and checked on you from time to time."

"Why would you care?"

"Well, I guess as your godfather, it was kind of my job."

Naruto froze and looked back at the man. "Godfather?"

Jiraiya looked away and rubbed his neck. "Yeah. Minato and Kushina asked me to be your godfather before you were even born. Heck, Minato wanted to name you after a character from one of my books."

Naruto clenched his fists again, shaking from the anger that was building up in him. "A godfather is someone who's supposed to take care of a kid if anything happens to their parents, right?"

Jiraiya looked back at the blonde, eyebrow raised. "Yeah?" he asked uncertainly.

"And you are supposedly my godfather?"

"Uh-huh."

Naruto stood there, trying his hardest not to burst into tears, looking at the ground and clenching his fists so tight he actually thought he would start feeling blood soon. "So, for the past eighteen years, I had someone out there that was supposed to be here, taking care of me, raising me, protecting me, and you just decided you wanted nothing to do with me?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly put it like that."

Naruto looked up at the man, tears falling down his face. He stepped forward and smashed his fist into the man's face as hard as he could, sending the man stumbling back. "You jerk! How could you just abandon me like that?" he screamed. "My life was a living hell because no one wanted me around! I wanted to kill myself at one point! And now you just come back here, peeping on women and being a freaking pervert instead of checking on the boy you were supposed to care about?"

Jiraiya held his bleeding nose, but said nothing, eyes wide.

"Shikaku said you might be able to teach me sage jutsu, but now, I don't want anything to do with you. Stay out of my life like you have all this time." With that, he turned and ran away, wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.

'Don't you think you went a little too far?'

"No. Why would I want someone in my life who clearly doesn't care about me?"

Kurama didn't say anything more.

When they got back home, Naruto slammed the door shut, kicked off his shoes, and stomped his way to his bedroom. Kurama jumped off his shoulder as soon as they walked in the door, and Naruto saw from the corner of his eye that the fox went to the living room. He slammed the bedroom door, then walked over to the far wall and slid down it, pulling his knees in close and burying his face in them, letting the tears and frustration come out.

He heard a knock on the door before it opened. "Naruto?"

Naruto refused to look up and just tightened his arms around his legs. He heard his boyfriend walk over and sit down next to him, but he still didn't move.

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

He felt Shikamaru put his arm around him and pull him in. "It's not good to keep things bottled up. Talk to me."

Naruto clenched his hands in his pants tightly, but still he said nothing. He felt himself start to shake, and the tears fell just a little faster now.

"Naruto, come on. Tell me what happened."

Naruto took a deep breath and finally looked up. He opened his mouth to say something, but a hard sob suddenly escaped him and he bashed his head into Shikamaru's chest, clutching at the man's shirt as tight as he could.

Shikamaru wrapped his arms around the blonde and just sat there, rubbing his hand up and down the blonde's back to try and calm him.

After a few minutes, Naruto finally got his sobs under control and he sat up.

"Now, tell me what happened," Shikamaru said. He kept one hand on Naruto's arm, and put the other on Naruto's cheek, rubbing away a tear with his thumb.

"I... I met Jiraiya."

"Ok?" Shikamaru asked, a confused look on his face.

"He... He said he was my godfather."

Shikamaru's face suddenly turned to one of surprise, but also recognition.

"He freaking left me alone, Shika. He was supposed to be the one I could depend on if anything happened to my parents, but he freaking abandoned me."

Shikamaru closed his eyes and pulled Naruto back into an embrace. "I'm so sorry."

"If he had taken care of me back then, then maybe I wouldn't have been treated the way I was. No one would look down on the godson of a Legendary Sannin."

"Well, if you're going with that logic, no one would've looked down on the son of the Fourth Hokage either."

"Why can't anything ever go my way?" the blonde asked as he tightened his grip on Shikamaru's shirt and buried his face more in the man's shoulder.

Shikamaru gently pushed Naruto back so that he could look at him. "Naruto, nothing is perfect all the time. We all have bad days. I can't count how many times things haven't gone my way."

Naruto sniffed. "Yeah, but..."

"But nothing. What's done is done. I'm sorry for how your life was, but there's nothing you can do to change that now. You have to focus on the present, on the future. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. My parents love you, Shikadai loves you, people are starting to respect you now."

Naruto took in a shaky breath.

"We've had a long couple of months, full of stressful events, but that doesn't mean it won't turn back around. Shikadai's second birthday is coming up. You and mom had some plans for that, right?"

Naruto smiled. "Yeah. We wanted to have a party for him in the park."

"And our wedding is also coming up. We'll be married, husbands. We'll start a new chapter of our lives together."

"We'll have our own kid," Naruto added with a small smile.

Shikamaru smiled back. "Exactly. The past is the past. You need to focus on your future."

Naruto nodded and leaned in to hug him again. He took another deep breath and felt more relaxed. When he pulled away again, Shikamaru didn't let him get too far as he pulled him in for a kiss.

"I love you, Naruto. Now and forever," Shikamaru said as he placed his forehead on Naruto's.

Naruto smiled. "I love you too."

"Mommy?"

Naruto and Shikamaru looked over at the door and saw Shikadai peeking in, with Kurama sitting right next to the boy. Naruto wiped at his eyes again, smiled, and held out his hand. The boy ran over and plowed into Naruto, and the blonde just wrapped his arm around his son, kissing the top of his head.

'Feeling better, brat,' Kurama said as he walked up to the three and sat down in front of them.

Naruto rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Yeah."

"Naruto, doesn't having him here take up your chakra?" Shikamaru asked as he stared at the small fox.

"Actually, it doesn't. It takes chakra to summon him, but then he uses his own chakra to stay here. Kakashi actually helped me realize that today. He said that the amount of chakra I use will determine how big he'll appear, but that's all the chakra I'll ever use on this jutsu."

"So it's not an actual summoning," Shikamaru reasoned.

"Uh, I guess?"

'It's a summoning in the fact that he summons me, but it's not like all the other summonings where the summoning has to have a contract and depend on his summoner's chakra. I am free to stay as long as my chakra holds out.'

"And you can still use his chakra to fight?" Shikamaru asked, turning to Naruto."

"Yep. Kurama's technically still sealed inside me, I just... uh... How did Kakashi put it?"

'You transferred my chakra that flows through you into a form that lets me control it myself.'

"Yeah, that," Naruto said with a smile.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but then shook his head. "I don't really get it, but whatever. I guess you'll be hanging around more often now?" he asked the fox.

"You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Naruto asked, a bit worried.

"No. It'll be a little weird, but at least this way I can get to know Kurama the way you do."

"Everyone can," Naruto said excitedly.

Shikamaru stood up and helped Naruto up, who kept Shikadai in his arms as he stood, then the four headed to the living room. Naruto tried to put Shikadai on the ground once they got to the living room, but the boy refused to release Naruto's neck, so he ended up sitting next to Shikamaru on the couch.

Shikadai was still quiet, even after a few days of keeping him in the apartment. They tried to get him to play with some of his toys or even color, but the boy just shook his head and laid his head on whoever had him at the time.

"Hey, Shika, do you think taking Shikadai to the hot springs would help him?"

"Uh, not sure. He freaks out everytime we try to take him out, and when we do step outside, he shakes and won't let either of us go, crying whenever anyone gets close to him. Hot springs generally have lots of people in them, so it might not be the best idea."

"But we could ask the owner if we could have the place to ourselves for a few hours."

"I really don't think they'd go for that."

Kurama jumped up on the couch and laid down next to Naruto. 'I told him the same thing.'

"Yeah, but you thought asking the owner was a good idea," Naruto countered.

"We can try, I guess," Shikamaru said. "I don't really know what else to try."

The tv was on from before Naruto got home, and they sat there watching it for a while.

A knock on the door suddenly rang out, and Shikadai tensed up and clutched Naruto's shirt. "No."

Naruto looked down sadly at the boy and wrapped his arms tighter around him. "It's ok, Dai. No one's going to take you again."

Another knock rang out, and Shikadai buried his face in Naruto's shirt. "No. No. No."

Naruto looked up at Shikamaru, who just sighed sadly and got up to answer the door. Naruto rubbed Shikadai's back, trying to calm the boy down, but looked up when Shikamaru came back in. His eyes went wide when he saw Jiraiya coming in with him, then narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked, a bit of anger in his voice.

Shikadai responded to that by clenching his fists even tighter to Naruto's shirt.

Jiraiya rubbed his neck. "Look, I'm sorry 'bout earlier."

"Just for earlier?"

"Ok. I'm sorry for the past eighteen years, but I really did think you would be better taken care of. I mean, you were the son of the Fourth Hokage. I didn't think people would hate you for that."

"It wasn't for being the Fourth's son," Naruto said and stood up, keeping a firm grip on Shikadai. "They hated me because all they saw was the monster that destroyed their village. They saw me as the nine-tailed fox, not as Naruto Uzumaki."

'Watch it, brat,' Kurama said in his head. Even if Kurama was summoned, he could still hear Naruto's thoughts and speak in Naruto's mind, which made it a lot easier for them to coordinate their attacks.

Shikadai whined as Naruto got closer to the man, his breath quickening. "No, mommy."

Jiraiya blinked. "Mommy?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, his eyes narrowed. "I'm his mother. That's the role I've chosen. Trust me, I've had others look at me with disgust because of it, but I don't care. I like being a mother, and some day, I'll have a kid of my own."

Shikamaru chuckled at the confused look on Jiraiya's face and walked over and put his arm around Naruto's waist, reaching over to place his hand on the back of his son's head. "Yeah, that one got me at first too, but apparently Kurama can make it happen."

Jiraiya blinked, then looked at the fox that was still laying on the couch. "He can?"

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, getting Jiraiya's attention again.

"I just came to apologize. I talked to Tsunade and she explained things to me, while she fixed my nose." Naruto saw Shikamaru raise an eyebrow out of the corner of his eye. "I really didn't know all that was happening to you. If I did, I would've come back sooner."

"Doesn't matter now," Naruto said. "I don't need you, so get out."

"Naruto," Shikamaru said. "At least hear him out. He had to have come for another reason besides apologizing."

"Yeah. I did. You mentioned you wanted to learn sage jutsu. I can help you with that, as well as teach you another jutsu."

"What other jutsu?" Naruto asked, still skeptical of the man.

Jiraiya smiled and held out his hand. A ball of blue chakra appeared. "It's called The Rasengan. It was your father's jutsu."

Naruto relaxed and stared at the blue orb. "My father's jutsu?"

"Yeah. He came up with this jutsu, then taught it to me. Since you're Minato's son, I figured it would only be right to teach it to you." The orb disappeared and he lowered his hand. "What do you say? Will you give me a chance to make up for my mistake?"

Naruto stared at the man for a few seconds then looked over at Shikamaru, who just nodded, then back at Jiraiya and sighed. "Ok."

"Really?" Jiraiya asked happily.

"Yeah. Shika said I need to look to the future, and I want to learn as many jutsu as I can to keep him and Shikadai safe."

Shikamaru tightened his grip on the blonde and smiled.

"Great. Then should we get started?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah, but I'd like to start tomorrow. I just got done training with Kakashi Sensei not that long ago, so I'm still a bit tired from that."

"Sounds good. I kind of wanted to do some more research any..."

Naruto glared. "You better actually help me and not brush me off for your stupid research, Pervy Sage."

Shikamaru and Jiraiya looked at him with wide eyes. "Pervy Sage?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, this guy's 'research' is spying on naked women," Naruto replied, disgust in his voice.

Shikamaru looked at Jiraiya, eyebrow raised.

"What? I'm an author and need inspiration. Haven't you two ever heard of the Make Out Paradise series?" Jiraiya asked and crossed his arms.

"You're the author of Kakashi Sensei's pervy books?" Naruto asked. "Should've guessed."

Jiraiya smiled. "He has great taste in literature."

Shikamaru sighed and shook his head.

Jiraiya got a smug look on his face. "Say, you two could probably learn a thing or two from my books." He slapped his fist in his palm. "Hey, that gives me an idea for a new series. Would you two mind being the inspiration for my next series?"

"No!" Naruto and Shikamaru both yelled at once, blushes prominent on their faces.

"Get out, ya pervy old man!" Naruto yelled as he pushed Jiraiya toward the door with one hand.

"I wouldn't name the characters after you. Just let me watch so I can see how it's done."

"Not happening!" Naruto yelled.

Shikadai was shaking as they got closer to the door, his fists tight on Naruto's shirt and face pushing greatly on Naruto's chest.

Naruto stopped just before he got to the door, looked down at Shikadai, the anger now gone, and placed his hand on the boy's back, before he looked back at Jiraiya. "Just leave. I'll meet up with you tomorrow to start my training."

Jiraiya watched Naruto interacting with Shikadai. "Good luck with whatever is going on with him," he said sincerely. "I don't know what happened, but I know trauma when I see it."

Naruto looked back down at Shikadai. "He was kidnapped by a sand shinobi the other day. He's been like this since we got him back."

"Why would a sand shinobi want a Nara kid?"

"Because the woman who gave birth to him was a sand shinobi." He looked back up at the man. "She forced herself on Shikamaru, and they were going to keep Shikadai from him, but I found her when she was in labor. I ruined their plans, and they were trying to get him back."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that." The man looked sadly at the boy. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Naruto nodded, then closed the door after he left. He sighed and walked back to the living room to spend the night with his family.