Shikadai sat in front of Naruto, playing with the Suna toy Temari got him for his birthday, as Naruto brushed the boy's hair up into the famous Nara hairstyle. The boy was now one and a half, and he was looking more and more like his father every day.

Naruto kissed the side of his head and stood up. He needed to clean the apartment a bit today. He grabbed the few scattered books that Shikadai left laying on the ground and sat them back on the bookshelf, and was about to head to the kitchen to do this morning's dishes when the apartment shook violently, a loud rumble accompanying it. Naruto fell off his feet, hitting the back of his head on the shelf.

"Mama!" Shikadai cried out and ran over to Naruto, then crashed into his mother's chest.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, thankful that there wasn't anything wet, and wrapped his arm around Shikadai. "What the heck was that?" He stood up, making sure Shikadai was securely in his arms in case the apartment shook again, and walked over to the window. His eyes went wide when he saw smoke billowing into the air from several different spots in the village.

"Mama," Shikadai said as he pointed out the window.

"Yeah. I see it," Naruto said. He ran to Shikadai's room, sat Shikadai down, grabbed the backpack that they packed for emergencies and stuffed a few more things in there, then turned to pick Shikadai back up. He saw the boy holding his stuffed deer tightly and knelt down in front of him. "Shikadai, let me put him in the bag so we don't accidentally lose him on the way to the mountain, ok?"

Shikadai squeezed the deer tighter, but then nodded, handed over the doll, and watched him stuff it in the backpack.

Naruto stood up, put the backpack on his shoulders, then picked up his son and ran out the door, heading for the evacuation point at the Hokage mountain. As he ran, he scanned the area to try and figure out what exactly was going on, and saw several leaf shinobi on the ground, but no enemy. 'Who the heck's attacking?'

He got about half way there, but had to suddenly duck to the side, covering Shikadai, as an explosion went off. He was really grateful that he had been keeping up on his training even though he hasn't been going on missions since Shikadai came into their lives.

Shikadai whimpered and clutched Naruto's shirt tightly. "Mama, scared."

"I know, baby," Naruto said as he looked around. He didn't see any enemies around, so he carefully got up and kept going.

"Naruto, look out!"

Naruto turned just in time to see a massive centipede with a giant spike through its head coming straight for him. "Crap!" he shouted and jumped back, barely dodging the thing.

"Naruto, are you ok?" Iruka said as he dropped down in front of the blonde.

"Mama," Shikadai cried as he tried to bury his face deeper into Naruto's shirt.

"Yeah," he said as he narrowed his eyes at the giant centipede, who was slowly raising its head again. "What's going on, Iruka Sensei? Who's attacking?"

"A group of rogue shinobi called the Akatsuki," Iruka said, also turning his attention to the giant arthropod. "But I can fill you in later. Right now we need to get you two to the mountain."

Naruto reached around and formed a hand sign. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" This was a jutsu that Shikaku had been helping him learn. Several Naruto's popped up and they immediately attacked the giant centipede, who was already charging for them, and the original and Iruka dashed away.

"What do they want?" Naruto asked Iruka as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"I'm not sure. I heard from someone that the enemy was the Akatsuki, but they didn't know what they were after, and I haven't come across anyone that knows either."

They stopped on a roof as another explosion hit near them, shaking the building. Naruto looked down to make sure Shikadai was still ok, and saw him looking around, fear clearly in his eyes. "Dada!"

Naruto whipped his head around, but didn't see the shadow user, then noticed that Shikadai was looking down. He didn't see anything in the empty space below, but when he and Iruka stepped closer to the edge, he saw a man with orange hair pulled back in a low ponytail, with two studs in his nose, a small spike in each cheek, and weird purple eyes holding Shikamaru by the throat against the side of the building.

"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" the man asked.

'They're after me?'

"As if I'd tell you that," Shikamaru said as he tried to pull the hand off his throat.

The man just stared at him with a blank face, as if he didn't have any emotions at all. "Then die," he said, and squeezed his hand tighter.

Shikamaru cringed, his eyes shut tight, and clawed at the hand that was cutting off his air supply. Naruto frowned as it also looked like Shikamaru was losing strength.

'His chakra is disappearing. If you don't step in, he's going to die.'

Naruto's eyes went wide and he pushed Shikadai into Iruka's arms, making the kid cry out, and jumped down, kicking the man in the head, sending the man flying into the wall across the small area. "Don't touch him!" he screamed at the man, then turned to help Shikamaru.

Shikamaru had fallen to the ground, propping himself up on his elbow as he laid on his side, rubbing his throat and coughing a bit. He looked up with fear in his eyes. "You have to get out of here," he rasped out.

"Are you Naruto Uzumaki?" the Akatsuki man asked.

Naruto turned his head and saw that the man looked unaffected by being thrown into the wall, and stood up to stand protectively in front of Shikamaru, dropping the backpack to the ground.

"Naruto, please, just get out of here," Shikamaru said.

"What do you want with me?" Naruto asked, fists clenched as his sides.

The man stopped a little way from the two. "Target has been spotted." He then dashed forward and threw a punch at the blonde.

Naruto easily blocked the punch, pushing the man's arm aside and throwing his own punch. He moved away from the man, but the guy just followed, continually throwing punches and kicks at him.

Naruto could keep up with the man, but he could tell that this guy was way more powerful than he first thought.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru cried out, and the blonde saw four more figures, three males and one female.

One guy had long orange hair, one had short spiky orange hair, one was bald but kind of looked mechanical, and the girl had short orange hair that fell to her shoulders, all with different piercings in their faces. They all charged at Naruto at once, and quickly overpowered him, sending him crashing into one of the walls around him.

He groaned as he sat up and saw Shikamaru on his knee, using his shadows to attack, but the man they were originally fighting stepped in front of the others and seemed to absorb the shadows. "Dang it," the shadow user hissed.

Naruto got out of the rubble and was about to charge forward to help his boyfriend, but froze when a sixth person, a man with orange hair styled almost like his own, with his own set of piercings in his face, landed in front of the others with Shikadai clutched in his outstretched hand.

He turned his head to Naruto. "You will surrender yourself, or this child will be killed."

Naruto clenched both of his fists and walked toward the man, catching a glimpse of a blue haired woman floating above them with what looked like angel wings, but focused his attention back on the man who had his crying son. "Let him go."

"Naruto," Shikamaru said, fear in his eyes. He knew what he was about to do would hurt the Nara, but he would do anything to save his son.

"I surrender to you, so let him go," the blonde said and stopped just before reaching the man.

This man had the same blank look on his face as the other man did. He raised his free hand and suddenly Naruto was pulled into the man's grasp. Naruto clutched the man's wrist with both hands as he struggled to breathe, but saw him drop Shikadai, who immediately ran to his father.

"Target acquired. The nine tails has been captured," the man said.

Naruto was about to respond to that, but then cried out as something stabbed him in the gut. The guy released him and he fell to one knee, but he couldn't move. He stared at the long, metal rod that was protruding from his stomach.

"Mommy!" Shikadai cried out.

Naruto panted as he looked over to see both Shikamaru and Shikadai staring at him. He tried to give them a small smile. "I'm ok, baby. Don't worry." He tried to sound confident, but the pain that raced through his body made his voice waver a bit.

He felt something smash into the side of his head and he fell to the ground on his side. The man pushed the blonde to his back with his foot, and stabbed several more rods in his shoulders, arms, and legs, making Naruto cry out again.

"Naruto!"

Naruto cracked open his eyes, his breathing heavy, and turned to see Shikamaru attacking the man that just hurt him, Shikadai curled up in a ball against the wall just crying. "Shika," he barely got out.

'Use my power, Naruto. Let me take over to protect our family.'

Naruto tried to raise one of his hands, but he had no strength. He wanted to get up and help Shikamaru, but his body wouldn't respond. 'I can't move.'

Shikamaru was slammed into the ground, and he cried out when the man stabbed one of those rods right through his chest. Shikamaru froze, his hand on the rod, but then his body went lax and his hand fell to the ground, his head turned away from Naruto.

Naruto's eyes went wide. Shikamaru didn't move.

"You really thought you could save him?" The man asked as he stared down at the unmoving man and removed the rod.

Blood pooled out from underneath Shikamaru's body.

"Daddy!" Shikadai wailed.

The man looked up and raised his hand toward Shikadai, a rod sliding out of his robe sleeve.

Everything went red.

NNNNNNNNNN

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that he was in a large, dimly lit room. "What? Where am I?" he said in a bit of a daze.

'Naruto.'

Naruto looked up and saw a massive cage that went from the ceiling to the floor. When he looked between the bars, he saw a large reddish-orange fox laying on the ground, its head laying on its crossed arms. "Nine Tails?"

Nine Tails raised his head, red eyes boring into blue. 'This is our mindscape.'

"Mindscape?" He raised his hand to his head. He couldn't think straight. "Wh-what happened? Where... Where's Shikamaru and Shikadai?"

'Listen, Naruto. Right now, my chakra has taken over your body.'

"Huh?" Naruto said as he looked back at the fox. "Why?"

'I offered you my power, but when Shikamaru was struck down, and you saw that the man was about to kill your son, you let me take control.'

The memories of what happened flashed through his mind and he fell to his knees, splashing into water he didn't realize was there before. "No," he said as tears fell down his face. "He... That man... He stole him away from me." He clutched at his chest, right where his heart was. "He..."

'He's not dead.'

Naruto's head shot up. "What?"

'Your boy's alive too.'

Naruto closed his eyes, relief flooding him, the tears still falling down his face. "Thank you."

'I managed to take out three of those Akatsuki, and get them away from Shikamaru and your boy, but the other three are tougher than they look.'

Naruto stood back up, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "I want to take that jerk out with my own hands. Give me back control. I'll use your power to protect..." He paused. "Wait. Before. You said 'let me take over to protect our family.'"

Nine Tails turned his head and laid it back on his arms. 'Don't get the wrong idea. It was a slip of the tongue.'

Naruto laughed. "No it wasn't. You love them as much as I do. You consider them your family too."

Nine Tails raised his head and glared at the boy. 'Shut up, brat!'

Naruto just stood there smiling. "I think of you as part of my family too, ya know. I remembered he said 'the nine tails has been captured.' They're not after me specifically. They're after you." He raised his fist toward the fox and a determined look crossed his face. "I won't let them hurt you either, Nine Tails."

Nine Tails huffed, but smiled. 'Then release me. You will have access to all my power.'

Naruto looked at the crack that ran down the cage, now realizing that it was actually the seam of the door, and saw a tag in the middle of it. He walked up to the door, and suddenly the water around him swirled around his legs and lifted him up. It stopped him when he was right in front of the tag, and he was about to rip it off, when a hand stopped him.

He looked over and saw a man, who looked familiar, staring at him. "Who..."

The man wrapped his arm around Naruto's waist and dropped them back to the ground, Naruto falling on his butt.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Naruto asked as he looked up at the man, an angry look on his face.

"Stopping you from releasing the nine tails," the man said.

Naruto stood up and glared at him. "He was helping me!"

"He was using you," the man countered and pointed to Naruto's stomach.

Naruto looked down and just now realized that his shirt was ripped down the middle, acting like a jacket now, and that there was a huge black circle in the middle of what looked like a seal on his stomach, with something black oozing out of it. "What is that?"

'Minato, don't interfere,' Nine Tails bellowed.

Naruto looked over at Nine Tails, who was now scowling, then back at the man. "Minato? But isn't that..."

"He's kind of loud, isn't he," Minato said as he looked over his shoulder, then back at Naruto. "It's good to see you again."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "You know who I am?"

"Of course. How could I not know my own son," Minato said with a smile.

"Son?" Naruto took a step back. "Y-your my... dad?"

"Yes."

Naruto clenched his fist and punched him. "How could you?" he yelled as Minato looked at him shocked. "How could you seal Nine Tails inside me and then leave me like that?" He had tears falling down his cheeks again. "Do you know what I went through? How much pain I went through because of it?"

Minato placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't know that things would be so bad for you. I'm sorry that you were treated that way, and that you felt like you needed to try and kill yourself to escape, but I'm also really happy with how you turned yourself around."

Naruto rubbed at his eyes with his arm, then looked at him. "Y-you saw all that?"

"Yes," Minato replied.

"Then you should know that Nine Tails and I aren't enemies. He was really trying to help me."

Minato shook his head. "You shouldn't trust him, Naruto. He has nothing but bad intentions. If you release that seal, he'll take over your body completely, and then you will cease to exist."

Naruto looked over at Nine Tails. "No. That's not true... Is it?"

Nine Tails was silent.

"Tell me that's not true, Nine Tails!" Naruto yelled as he took a couple steps forward.

'You don't know me, Minato. You may not trust me, but I have come to care for this brat. You sealed me in him. Did you not think I would grow attached to him?'

Naruto smiled and turned back to his dad, who was looking at the nine tails with suspicion in his eyes. "Naruto, you really trust him?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, without any hesitation. "He's helped me a lot over the last couple years. He's the one that stopped me from killing myself that day." He looked back at Nine Tails. "Sure, back then it might have just been so that he wouldn't die." He looked back at Minato. "But the more we talked, the more we became friends."

'Tsk. Friends is not what I would call us.'

Naruto turned and smiled. "Aw, come on. You know we're friends."

Nine Tails huffed and turned his head, but he didn't deny it again.

Minato placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, and the boy looked over and saw him smiling. "I'm proud of you, Naruto. I sealed my chakra in the seal to prevent Nine Tails from trying to force you into releasing him, but I see now that there really is no malice behind it."

'Hmf. You should have more faith in your son, Minato.'

Naruto walked back up to the gate and the water swirled around his legs again to lift him up to the tag. He stuck his fingers under a corner of the tag and took a deep breath before ripping it away.

A large gust of wind burst from the gate as it flung open, knocking Naruto back, but the blonde managed to land on his feet. The nine tails stepped out of the cage and looked down on Naruto.

He saw Minato step forward, tense and ready to aid Naruto if needed, but he just placed his hand on his father's shoulder. "It's ok, dad."

'I'll watch over him since you and Kushina can't.'

Naruto gave him his wide grin. "Thanks, Nine Tails."

'My name is Kurama.'

"You have a name?" Naruto asked, completely shocked.

Kurama growled and hit Naruto on the head. 'Of course I do, you brat!'

Naruto rubbed his head and glared at up at the fox. "Well how was I supposed to know that, you stupid fox? You never told me!"

'You never asked!' the fox countered.

The two just glared at each other, then Naruto burst into laugher. "It's nice to officially meet you, Kurama," he said with a wide grin.

Kurama gave the blonde a small smile in return and held out his fist.

Naruto looked at it a bit confused, then smiled and placed his own fist on the fox's. He felt a surge of power course through his body and knew that Kurama was sharing his chakra with him.

"I must leave you now, Naruto," Minato said, making the blonde lower his hand and look at his father. "My chakra is almost gone."

Naruto frowned. "No," he said as he walked up to the man. "I just got to meet you. I have so many questions."

Minato smiled and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. He was fading, becoming translucent. "I'm sorry. I wish I could spend more time with you, but my time is up, but don't worry. I also sealed your mother's chakra in the seal. I'm sure you'll meet her soon. I originally made it so that she would appear when you tried to control the nine tails' chakra, but it doesn't look like that will be necessary."

"Dad," Naruto said as tears fell down his face, then hugged the man, his eyes closed. "I'm glad I got to meet you." He felt Minato hug him back, then nothing. When he opened his eyes, Minato was gone.

Naruto wiped his eyes again, then turned to Kurama. "Let's save our family," he said determinedly.

Kurama smiled.

NNNNNNNNNN

Naruto opened his eyes again and saw that he was back in the village. He looked down and saw that his clothes had turned a bright yellow with a few black lines. "Whoa."

'Focus, Naruto. Since this is our first time using this mode, it won't last very long. We need to take out that last Akatsuki quickly.'

"Right," the blonde replied and hit one fist in the palm of his other hand. He looked around and saw that the area they were in was pretty smashed up, but also saw the man who hurt Shikamaru and tried to hurt his baby standing in front of him.

The man was slightly bent over, standing there with only half of his upper half covered. "You changed your form," he said as he stood up straighter.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did to Shikamaru," Naruto said with a glare.

"So, do you understand pain a little bit then?"

"What?"

'He was going on about pain a lot while you were out.'

"Ok. Look, I've been through my share of pain. I almost killed myself once because of it, but it's the strength to keep living that you need to focus on. You hurt someone very dear to me, and I will not allow you to hurt anyone else."

"Then come at me then," the man said.

Naruto cried out as he dashed forward and tried to place a punch on the man's face, but the guy blocked it and kicked at Naruto's stomach. Naruto jumped back, but didn't wait to attack again. They did this for quite a while, exchanging blows, knocking each other back a few times, but finally, Naruto managed to throw a powerful enough punch to take him out.

Naruto panted as he stood over the guy, the yellow chakra form, he has dubbed Kurama mode, gone. "I've beaten you. Stay away from my village and my family."

The man looked up at him with a blank stare. Naruto knelt down and checked for a pulse. His skin was like ice. 'No way his body got that cold that quick.'

"Naruto!"

Naruto stood up and turned to see Hinata running towards him. Exhaustion suddenly washed over him and he fell to the ground on his butt, and he looked up towards the sky, but then tensed when he saw the blue haired woman coming toward him. He pushed himself back to his feet as Hinata made it to his side, a kunai in her hand.

"Worry not," the woman said. "I only wish to retrieve his body," she said as she landed next to the orange haired man's body. She raised her hand and several papers flew around and wrapped around the man's body, covering him from head to toe, then turned to look at the two. "You have won this day, but be warned, the Akatsuki will not give up. We will collect all of the tailed beast."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her. "Just try it."

The woman said nothing more, just flew into the air, making the covered body fly off with her.

Naruto swayed on his feet, and Hinata put her arm around him. He felt like he was about to pass out. "Where's Shikamaru and Shikadai?" he asked.

"I'll take you to them," Hinata said with a small smile.

It took them a good ten minutes to slowly walk to the area where the medical shinobi made a makeshift triage spot and over to a group of several people.

"Mommy!" Shikadai yelled as he ran to Naruto. He plowed into Naruto's unsteady legs, and it was only Hinata that kept him on his feet.

"Hey, baby," he said as he knelt down on one knee to pull the boy into his arms. He held the crying boy, hugging him tight as a few tears also escaped from his eyes.

"Shikamaru, you need to stay laying down!" he heard Sakura yell.

He looked up and saw Shikamaru holding his chest and limping over, then fell to his knees and wrapped the blond in his arms, burying his face in Naruto's neck. "You idiot. Don't scare me like that again."

Naruto kept one arm around Shikadai as he wrapped his other around Shikamaru tightly and smiled. "I should be saying that to you. I thought you were dead." He looked up and saw Shikaku and Yoshino walking toward them with a smile on their faces, but stopped just in front of them.

"I'm glad you're ok, Naruto. You had us all worried," Yoshino said as she wrapped her arm around Shikaku's waist and leaned into him.

"Sorry 'bout that," Naruto said, a little guilty that he worried everyone, but he had to admit that he was happy they were.

Shikamaru finally pulled away enough to look up at his parents, but then hissed in a breath.

"You shouldn't have done that, son," Shikaku said. "I know you were worried, but he could've come to you."

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, worried. "Is it that bad?"

"It was close," Shikamaru admitted. "Sakura said it was lucky they found me when they did."

Naruto stood up, keeping his arm around Shikadai so the boy didn't fall. The boy wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck as soon as he felt Naruto shift, and refused to let go. Shikaku and Hinata helped Shikamaru to stand, and they all walked back over to the makeshift bed Shikamaru was using.

NNNNNNNNNN

A few days later, Naruto walked into their apartment and let out a long sigh. "I'm home," he called out, exhaustion in his voice. He had been helping the village rebuild after the battle, but was really happy when they found out that their apartment took very minimal damage.

"Welcome back," Shikamaru said as he walked up to the blonde.

Naruto smiled. Shikamaru was still recovering from his injury, so he had been staying with Shikadai and helping only in small ways. "Shikadai already asleep?"

"Nah. He's just watching tv. I don't think he heard you," Shikamaru said. He pecked Naruto's lips, before heading back to the living room, Naruto in tow.

"You feeling better?"

"Still a little sore, but other than that, yeah. I should be able to go back on missions in a couple days."

"Mommy!" Shikadai cried out when he saw Naruto walk in the room. He jumped off the couch and ran over to the blonde.

"Hey, baby," Naruto said as he knelt down to hug the boy. He kissed the boy's head, then picked him up as he stood up. "Were you good for daddy?"

Shikadai nodded with a big smile on his face. "Like playing."

"I'm sure you do," Naruto said and looked over at Shikamaru. "You really should try to take off a bit more."

"Yeah," Shikamaru said and walked over to sit on the couch.

Naruto followed him and sat down next to the man he loved, Shikadai turning to sit on Naruto's lap and resumed watching the cartoon he was watching. "You know, I was thinking about asking Granny Tsunade if I could start going on missions again."

Shikamaru looked over at him, a bit surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. Now that Shikadai's older, I figured he'd be ok to stay with your mom or dad if we both have missions. It would also give you the chance to have more time off so you can spend it with Dai. He really misses you."

Shikamaru draped his arm around Naruto's shoulder. "If that's what you want to do, I'm sure mom wouldn't mind."

"You'd be ok with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Naruto leaned back and placed his head on Shikamaru's shoulder. "I don't know."

"Were you wanting me to talk you out of it?" Shikamaru asked with a slight smile.

Naruto smiled up at him. "Maybe a little. I like being here with Shikadai, but I also want to get back out there."

'Until you have your own kit.'

'Well, yeah, but Shika doesn't even know that's possible yet.'

'Why haven't you told him?'

'I was gonna wait until our wedding night.'

Naruto could feel the fox's smirk. 'Want to give him more incentive?'

Naruto's face went hot. 'Shut up! It's not like that!'

"Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at Shikamaru, who was looking down at him with an eyebrow raised. "Uh... I was talking to Kurama."

"Kurama? You mean the nine-tails?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto said as he sat up. "I never told you about that yet. Me and the nine-tails are friends now."

"Friends?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto could see the skeptical look on his face. "Yeah. After that akatsuki guy hurt you, I unconsciously let the nine-tails take over my body. I met him in my mindscape and we talked. I released him from the seal prison he was in and now we work together. I have this awesome new, uh, mode I guess you could say, that lets me channel Kurama's chakra more efficiently now. Oh, and I also got to meet my dad."

"Wait, you released the nine-tails? Are you sure that was such a good idea?" Shikamaru asked, a bit worried.

"I trust Kurama. He's been with me my whole life, Shika. He won't hurt me."

"Mommy, who Kurama?" Shikadai asked.

Naruto looked down to see his son staring up at him and smiled. "Kurama's a friend that lives inside me."

"Inside?" Shikadai asked and looked down at Naruto's stomach. "Baby?"

Naruto's face went red again and Shikamaru laughed. "What? No. Where did you..."

"Asuma and Kurenai came over today," Shikamaru explained. "They said Kurenai was pregnant, and Kurenai explained to him that there was a baby growing inside her."

"Oh," Naruto replied. "So Kurenai's pregnant? That's great."

"Yeah. Even though Choji, Ino, and I already knew they were together, they only now decided to confirm it."

"Daddy, baby?" Shikadai asked, looking up at his father.

"No, little fawn. Kurama is not a baby. Naruto's a male, so he can't have babies," Shikamaru explained.

Shikadai just looked at his father confused.

"Uh, well, that isn't actually correct," Naruto said.

"Naruto, you can't have kids. Remember, that's why you were so worried about my clan's elders."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, but Kurama said that there might be a way to let us have a kid if we wanted to."

'I thought you said you were going to wait?'

'Yeah, well, the situation changed.'

"You're telling me that the nine-tails can make it so that you can get pregnant?" Shikamaru asked skeptically.

"Yeah. I was gonna wait a little longer to tell you, but since the topic came up..."

"How is that even possible? You're a male."

"He didn't really go into detail about it. He said that it would take a lot of chakra on his part, but that it was possible. I was gonna bring it up on our wedding night," he said, a blush creeping on his face.

They sat there silently, neither one knowing what to say. Shikadai looked back and forth between his parents, then turned back to the TV to watch his show, laying his head on Naruto's chest.

Naruto stared at Shikamaru. The man had that blank look on his face, so he couldn't tell what he was thinking. He thought Shikamaru would be happy about it. Was he wrong? He laid his head back on Shikamaru's shoulder.

Shikamaru responded by laying his head on top of Naruto's, but still didn't say anything.

After a few more minutes, Naruto couldn't stand it any more. "So, you don't want to?"

Shikamaru lifted his head up and looked at the blonde, making Naruto raise his own head. "No, it's not that. Sorry, I just... it's a lot to process."

Naruto furrowed his brow and looked down at Shikadai, who had fallen asleep. He shifted the boy and carefully stood up. "I'm gonna put Shikadai in his bed."

"Naruto," Shikamaru called out, but the blonde ignored him.

Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes as he walked to Shikadai's room.

'I'll admit, that's not the reaction I thought he'd have.'

'I thought he would've been happy about it. Does that mean he doesn't want to have a kid with me?'

'You're overthinking it. He said that's not what he meant.'

'Yeah, but why does he have to think about it so much? It means he wasn't considering it and that he's not sure he wants to.'

'Well, you can't really blame him for not considering it. You are male. And you shouldn't just assume he doesn't want to. Don't go putting words in his mouth.'

Naruto laid Shikadai in his bed, covered the boy with his blanket, and kissed his forehead. As he stood up and stared at his sleeping son, he felt arms wrap around his waist.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Shikamaru said as he placed his chin on the blonde's shoulder.

"Do you not want to have a kid with me?"

"Of course I do. Like I said, it's just a lot to process."

Naruto turned around in his lover's arms and placed his hands on Shikamaru's chest. He felt Shikamaru's arms tighten slightly and had to smile. "I get that, but I didn't think you'd react like that."

"You threw me for a loop. I never thought something like this would ever be possible."

Naruto turned his head when he heard Shikadai shift in his bed. "Maybe we should talk about this out there."

Shikamaru nodded and pulled away from Naruto, but grabbed the blonde's hand to pull him out of the room. Once they got back to the living room, Shikamaru sat down on the couch and pulled Naruto down with him. Naruto opened his mouth to continue their conversation, but Shikamaru just pulled Naruto's head in and kissed him. "I love you, Naruto. I'm sorry I made you feel like that. I do want a kid with you, if it really is possible."

'I wouldn't lie, you brat!'

Naruto chuckled. "Kurama said it's possible."

Shikamaru smiled and pulled Naruto closer. Naruto wrapped his arm around Shikamaru's waist and laid his head just under Shikamaru's chin. "So, why did you wait to tell me?"

Naruto took in a deep breath. "Well, I wasn't sure if either one of us was ready for another kid at the time."

"You still could've told me. We could've discussed it so that we could plan for it. It can't just... happen, right?"

Naruto looked up at him with a smile. "Kurama said that he would only do it once, so I just figured he decided when it could happen. It's one of the other reasons why I never said anything."

Shikamaru nodded and tightened his hold a little more. "So, you got to meet your dad?"

Naruto sat up with a big grin on his face. "Yeah. He sealed his chakra into the seal that he used so that if Kurama ever tried to get me to unseal him, he'd stop me."

"Did he?"

"Yeah. He showed up and pulled me away from the seal that I was about to rip off. I managed to convince him that I was doing it willingly and that Kurama wasn't manipulating me, but he still seemed a little worried."

"Hey, I'd be worried too. The nine-tails attacked our village. He's not exactly a friend to the village."

"Back then," Naruto said quickly. "He is now."

"I still have my doubts," Shikamaru said. "Just be careful."

"I will, Shika. Don't worry." Naruto laid his head back on Shikamaru's chest. "He said he also sealed mom's chakra in the seal, but that it was only supposed to come out when I tried to control Kurama's chakra."

"If you can do that now, will it still happen?"

"I hope so," Naruto said, a frown on his face. "I didn't get to talk that long with dad. I have so many questions. Dad said that I would still get to, but now I have no idea when."

Shikamaru tightened his arms around the blonde. "I'm sure it will if he said it would."

Naruto smiled. "I'm the son of the fourth Hokage."

"I should've guessed."

Naruto looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

Shikamaru smiled. "You look a lot like him."

Naruto smiled again and lowered his head once more. "Maybe I'll strive to be hokage too someday."

"I have no doubt that you could do it. Though I'll be your advisor just to be safe."

Naruto laughed and closed his eyes.

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How did you like it? I'm still not confident in my fighting writing, so I apologize if the fight scene wasn't good or long enough... I'll hopefully get better at writing those kinds of scenes...

Let me know what you thought in a review and I'll see you in the next chapter.