That Nara... | Naruto Fanficiton

||epilogue||

Eleven years later_

A dark-haired woman stared up into the blue sky, clouds drifting along above her, being slightly blocked by branches covered in blossoming pink flowers.

It was peaceful.

"She's over here, dad," a voice spoke up, breaking the peace the woman had found, she didn't bother to try move knowing that the source of the voice would appear in no time.

"Hey, Ma," the face of her daughter hovered over her.

"Hello, Himari," I smiled, "you look beautiful today, change your hair style?"

"What? No!" Himari shot her mother a confused look as she placed her hands on her hips and sighed, "Jeez- what's gotten into you, huh? I'm 16 now, you can't just keep embarrassing me like it's nothing."

The woman laughed and rolled her eyes.

"It's my job. Remember me, I'm Shikarei, the mother of Himari, the woman who is supposed to embarrass her daughter until she can no longer be embarrassed," she said, Himari frowned down at Shikarei and shook her head before deciding to change the course of the conversation.

"Ita and Dad are waiting at the bottom of the hill, come on," she stretched her hand out to Shikarei.

Shikarei took her hand and got dragged to her feet. Her gaze travelled down the hillside to see Ryuzo stood at the base, a toddler in his arms.

"Morning, love," Shikarei called, Ryuzo looked up to his wife and smiled.

"Morning, love," he replied. Shikarei looked to him and grinned.

"Wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Ita," she stuck her tongue out childishly as she plucked the six-year-old toddler from the green eyed man.

Ryuzo had allowed his already slightly long brown hair to grow out a lot longer so now he walked around the village with hair to his waist just flowing down his back. He wouldn't confess it, but he only had his hair like this because Ita, their son, loved his hair.

"Ouch," Ryuzo dramatically placed his hand over his heart and fake gasped, "I'm wounded, Shikarei, I truly am."

Shikarei rolled her eyes and pulled him into a kiss which earned a groan from the teenage girl stood just slightly behind them.

"Morning to you too, handsome," Shikarei chuckled before looking to her daughter, "now come on. Or we're going to be late for your chunin exam."

"You're one to talk, you're the one who we were waiting for," she huffed as the family began to walk to the arena, "Guess being lazy all day really takes its toll, huh, Ma? You gotta be careful, you're getting old."

Ryuzo quickly placed his arm around Shikarei, stopping her from jumping at Himari.

"I am only 33 years old," Shikarei glared at her before doing a quick hand sign, "shadow strangle jutsu."

Her shadow jump to life and grab Himari by the ankles and tipped her upside down. They continued to travel to the arena like nothing unusual was happening.

"Anyway," Ryuzo glanced back to Himari "are you ready? Do you know who you're up against?"

"Some cloud nin brat," she shrugged as she effortlessly freed herself from her mother's jutsu and landed beside him, "I met him briefly before and man was he annoying. What was your chunin exam like, Ma? You rarely ever talk about anything from before the ending for the fourth shinobi war."

Shikarei glanced over to her and sighed.

"Well... I passed first try," Shikarei replied, "beat some arrogant assholes up... You know, the usual. But it was the jounin exam that I didn't do too great at. I failed my first attempt after going up against an Uchiha. I was no match for his sharingan at the time."

"You must've been very weak back then," she stated, "my sharingan hasn't ever had an effect on you before even with your chakra as useless as it is."

"Your sharingan just isn't mastered yet. Sasuke has been teaching you but with all his moving around, it's not a fast education. Just be patient," Shikarei replied before smiling, "anyway, it was more like I was out classed against the sharingan at that time. I think it was a bit too early for me to try the jounin exam, but it was fine because I passed it the next year."

"You make it sound like a trivial task," Ryuzo stared at his wife before grinning, "my wife is so badass."

"And you just suck," Himari leaned forward and suck her tongue out at Ryuzo.

"Now, now, Himari, it's not Ryuzo's fault he wasn't born a genius like we were," Shikarei teased him as she messed up Himari's hair.

"I'm genius!" Ita exclaimed, they all laughed as Shikarei lifted him up and placed him on her shoulders.

"Yes you are," she said, "because you're a Nara too."

Ryuzo pouted.

"I'm not dumb," he grumbled.

"No one said you were, love," Shikarei said as she pecked his cheek, "now good luck, Himari and remember, don't rush. Take your time and be careful."

"Got it," Himari nodded, "see you guys later."

The pair waved and went into the stands, searching for three men in specific. Once Shikarei's gaze landed on a mess of pink, red and blonde, she rushed over, almost forgetting Ita was on her shoulders as she moved.

"Ren, Choro, Inoiché," she greeted them, plopping down between Inoiché and Ren, "you guys look exhausted."

"I don't know how you're so chipper," Ren rubbed his face with a frown, "Renji is... I'm exhausted."

"Same here," Choro sighed, "I don't know how many times Itsuki has woken me up these past few days but I'm sick and tired of it. I'm ready to kick myself out of my own house."

"I'm just tired because I've been planning lessons lately," Inoiché shrugged, "Inoichi (jr) is well behaved."

"Oh, shut up before I hit you," both Choro and Ren glared at the blonde as Shikarei chuckled, placing Ita on her lap before looking to see Ryuzo had joined her three former teammates and best friends wives two rows behind them. Each of them had a child on their lap, except for Fuuka who had a blonde eight-year-old sat beside her, looking around bored.

"Inoichi looks bored, Inoiché," Shikarei pointed out.

"He wanted to train," Inoiché replied, "but I refused and said he can observe this and learn some new techniques from the chunin examinees."

"I'd be bored too if I were him," Choro grumbled, "it's only fun when you're in there."

"Miss sparring with people and kicking ass?" Ren asked.

"Yeah," the red-head nodded before smiling as he felt a small tug on the back of his shirt. He turned and picked up the red haired six-year-old and placed her on his knee.

"But I don't mind," he said as he played with his daughters hair, "it may drive me crazy sometimes, but I love my family and the life I'm living, and I wouldn't give that up even if it meant I could be a ninja again."

The other three nodded in agreement as Itsuki and Ita began to play with each other, though it looked more like they were trying to knock each other off their parents' laps.

"And first up is Himari Nara of the hidden leaf up against Iken Hayato from the hidden cloud!" the sound of Shikamaru's voice echoed across the arena somewhat lazily.

"Ah. Time for my daughter to show the world what she can do," Shikarei smiled as she leaned forward slightly, eager to see what her daughters training had come to.

"Begin!"