Truth Well Hidden

Shikamaru, the Black Sheep of the Nara Clan

"Tou-san, why are you always sleeping?" Shikamaru asked his father, Shikaku, curiously as he flopped down on the grass beside him.

This made the Nara open one eye and look at his strange son curiously. After all, which Nara was not lazy?

"Don't you find it troublesome to do anything at all?"

"Why would I? Kaa-san doesn't like it," Shikamaru could only scrunch his eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't know, kid. I don't know," Shikaku sighed, looking up at the sky.

This was when Shikamaru was three.

Shikamaru did not laze around like the other children of his clan. He studied every book he managed to get his hands on. He observed as the older ones trained, recreating the clan techniques and mastering them without help from his elders. However, despite all of his success, he could not help but feel as though he was messing up. He always felt like he was not good enough.

As such, Shikamaru started acting just as lazy as the other members of his clan. This made Shikaku stop giving him weird looks, it made Yoshino stop looking confused whenever he was already up whenever she went up to wake him. This was because he never did do anything for him to garner them. He always acted lazy, pretending to watch the clouds when in actuality, he was going over information in his head. He acted like he was sleeping during the lessons his mother had signed him up for when he was really reading advanced material under the table. He learnt the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu so that a solid clone could act lazy in his stead while he was hiding himself away in the clan library or the hidden training grounds in the compound that only his father knew of. With his father so lazy, there was no possibility of him ever being walked in on.

That began when he turned five.

"Shikamaru. Let's play shogi," Shikamaru opened one eye when his father walked up to where he was laying on the porch half-asleep from staying up the previous night to work on a jutsu.

"Shogi?" Shikamaru asked with a yawn, rubbing his eye with a finger.

He knew it as the game that older members of the Nara clan enjoyed while lazing about.

"Yes, shogi. The rules are like so..." Shikaku began to explain, telling Shikamaru of the rules and the roles of the different pieces.

"A strategy game?" Shikamaru asked with a raised brow when his father finally ended his explanation.

Shikaku merely nodded, looking mildly bored. Despite his calm appearance, he was wondering how his son had guessed. His explanation did not hint that there was strategy involved. If he had asked that after they started, it would have not been strange as the Nara clan was well known for their skills of analysis and deduction. However, the boy had guessed by the explanation alone.

Shikaku set up the shogi board, showing Shikamaru his pieces before they started. He let Shikamaru begin as he was only a beginner. Shikamaru shifted a piece, seemingly at random. Then it was Shikaku's turn. He moved a piece.

This continued for a few turns until Shikamaru had his turn again. He moved a piece.

"I win," Shikamaru told his father in a dull tone that did not fall behind his father's in blandness.

Shikaku was surprised. He did not notice what his son was doing at all. His strategy was brilliant. Using a piece as a distraction, yet moving it as though it was his plan all along, another seemingly supporting that one. The other had appeared so insignificant, a mere supporting role that he had supposedly cornered along with the piece he thought was the main role. It happened before he knew it. The "cornered" supporting piece suddenly conquered his, winning easily. There was a possibility that it was due to sheer beginner's luck, although the strategy was certainly not mere coincidence.