The Fallout Of Shikamaru's Actions

Konohamaru looked at the whole group with growing shock as he heard about the encounter of the Akatsuki with them. To think of what could have happened if he had not arrived made him both terrified and angry at Shikamaru for failing his team as he did. The fact that he was the first amongst his generation to advance from the role of genin only to fail so specularly now was truly shocking to the young Sarutobi. It only cemented further in his mind that he did the right thing when he took the powers from his fanboy and little brother like he did. If Shikamaru could screw up this badly, who knows what would have happened had Naruto and Sasuke not been taken under his wing?

His disgust at the "Shinobi's" actions shifted more towards pity at the realization that he, much like Naruto and Sasuke, was just not cut out towards being a Ninja yet. Lacking an older brother and mentor figure that showed him his place. His uncle being a good teacher did not fill that role sufficiently and his father was clearly also being too lazy to properly handle the task. A look of determination in his eyes filled him with the desire to rectify their shortcomings. If the older Sarutobi was no longer around, the least Konohamaru could do was take care of the young Nara in his stead. Because after this display, there was no way Shikamaru would be accepted by his peers.

Speaking of his peers, they were the only reason why Konohamaru had not already exploded into a lecture about his shortcomings. Because from the looks Ino, Temari, and even Choji were shooting him Shikamaru did not require him for this lesson. He would sit back for now and clean up after they were done. Giving a small nod with a confident smile towards the girls and a look of sympathy towards Choji the younger Ninja departed, appreciating the small blush on both Temari and Ino's faces as he did so. It seemed the two beautiful girls appreciated his heroic actions which was always a plus. Having two more fangirls like Karin was not something he would find all that awful.

As Konohamaru dashed away from the scene for now he left a shadow clone at the scene while he made sure no other Akatsuki was around to disturb the Tema while they hashed out their differences. They usually only travel in groups of two but better safe than sorry as far as he was concerned. He was also wanting to meet up with his own team and escort them to the other group to ensure their safety.

“Shikamaru, how could you disgrace our Senseis and your own father's memory begging for mercy like you did?” The hurt in Choji's voice was evident as he looked at his oldest friend in the world like he had never before. All respect he may have once held for the genius Ninja was now utterly gone from his eyes. "Plus pretty much leaving me to die? That's... dammit I do not even know what to say to you right now!" The voice changed from sadness to blatant anger, matching that of Ino and Temari who both were clearly gearing up for their own questions for the Nara boy.

As Choji walked a bit away from them to try to get ahold of his anger, Ino and Temari were both eying up Shikamaru as well as Konohamaru’s clone continued to look as Ino and Temari soon went into ripping right into Shikamaru for what he did as well…

“You are a goddamn disgrace to the whole village you hear me Shikamaru?” Ino screamed at him with tears of rage and disappointment flowing down her cheeks.

"You should have never been made Chunin. You are not even worthy of your damn headband you hear me?! There are academy students with ten times the backbone that you have. You let our Sensei, your own FATHER die and then you begged the bastards that did it for mercy? You are worse than scum!" she walked over to him on unsteady legs and slapped him clean across the face before walking over to Choji, all the while her attention focused on Konohamaru who cast her a sympathetic look that made her heart beat faster than it had ever done, even for Sasuke.

The nephew of her recently deceased teacher had saved not all of their lives but also done so with a level of speed and skill that was truly awe-inspiring. She might have lost whatever respect she ever held for Shiakamaru that day but her respect for the 3rd Hokages grandson had skyrocketed too. Bending down to heal Chojis wounds to the best of her abilities Ino cast a last resentful look towards Shikamaru who had never even been able to look her in the eyes during her rant, sitll quivering on the ground like a scared child

He could not face his teammate, the shame in his heart far too great over his own actions, but he sadly could not avoid meeting the gaze of his girlfriend Temari. Although judging by the repulsed look in her eyes, it seemed likely that their relationship was not going to survive this mission either

"I do not know what I ever saw in you Shikamaru. Whatever intelligence or bravery I thought was hidden deep beneath that lazy exterior was clearly overshadowed by your true personality. A coward who would rather snivel in the dirt before his enemies than act like a true Shinobi. I concur with what your teammate said earlier Shikamaru. You are unworthy of being a Shinobi. I have taught children who could barely spell their own names who were more mature and brave than the sorry display you have shown me today! You and I? Are finished" Temari had no sympathy at the crushed look on Shikamaru's face upon her declaration

Her deserved this and more, and the sputtering mess he showed him only reinforced her low opinion of him "b-b-uh but T-T-emari w-wait p-p-please!" snot dripped down his nose, and tears of shame soon joined them as Temari averted her eyes in disgust

A blush spread across her face as her eyes met that of the young Sarutobi that had saved her life. Stammering like a love-struck schoolgirl Sunas strongest female Shinobi walked towards her savior and spoke with clear admiration in her voice "t-thank you however Konohamaru-kun. If it was not for you I- no WE would all have died at the hands of those Akatsuki monsters. I promise you I will pay you back for this debt I owe you no matter what it takes!" the determination in her words was clear to Konohamaru who returned the thankful speech with a soft smile of his own before his face focused on the young Nara who made for a far uglier sight than the attractive blonde in front of him

He was initially planning to also give Shikamaru a stern talking to for his actions but decided spontaneously that it would be best delivered at a later point. The cowardly disgrace of a Chunin was clearly not able to take much more on this day and as angry as he was with him for how he acted towards his Uncles killers and shamed his village by proxy, he would postpone it to a later time when he was back in the village and did not have to multitask. Plus it would be best to inform his mother and the rest of the Nara clan about the boy's actions himself

He certainly was not a good fit for taking over the duties of his now-deceased father that much was plain as day to him. Yoshino would likely have to rule in her son's stead for the forseeable future, likely till she remarried and had another potential heir better suited for the task.

After Shikaku she had the strongest claim in terms of the Clans hierarchy after all so the difficult task of keeping her clan in check fell on her. Konohamaru sympathized with her greatly as she was also going to be dealing with the loss of her husband and the disgrace of her son

The clone had watched on as Ino and Temari angrily got into Shikamaru’s face verbally ripping into him for his cowardly actions, and the clone could definitely tell that a lot of respect was lost for him, as the real Konohamaru at this point was still leading his group over to the gates of Konoha

The clone soon waited before they were done ripping Shikamaru a new one verbally before soon dispelling once it was sure that the group was safely on their way back to the gates of Konoha, to which the real Konohamaru was waiting with the others once they were all getting checked back in by the gate guards with thoughts on exactly how to get through to Shikamaru running through Konohamaru’s head

Remembering exactly that Shikamaru’s mother would be a widow at this point thanks to the actions of the Akatsuki, Konohamaru quickly made a mental note in his head to go straight to the Nara Clan Compound immediately after his report to the Hokage finished before making sure his teammates Udon and Moegi, their new pickups in Karin and Sasuke and Naruto his little underling and number one fan were all ready to go to head on over to the Hokage

For them, Konohamaru was leading the way confidently there with Udon and Moegi right behind them as Karin was making sure Sasuke and Naruto both didn’t get too far away from the group with Sasuke in particular being nervous walking with Karin as he didn’t want to set her off again as he wasn’t sure what she was feeling at the moment as Naruto was a bit more comfortable than Sasuke walking with Karin but the fact that Konohamaru was able to effortlessly do what he’d been hoping to accomplish in bringing Sasuke back was still ringing in Naruto’s head quite a bit as they made their way up to the Hokage Tower

With them soon getting brought into the Hokage’s office as Tsunade was surprised to see that Konohamaru had successfully captured Sasuke and brought him back to the village but also at his recruitment of Karin during the mission along with the confirmed deaths of Itachi Uchiha, Kakuzu and Hidan as well as giving her the first information regarding the situation regarding Shikamaru’s team as they got there first

With all this being done, Tsunade was quick to grant Konohamaru access to collecting the bounties for the three Akatsuki members that he took down as well as informing him of the situation that went down with Shikamaru, and with Tsunade letting them leave after that, Konohamaru soon went to one place in particular