(Shikaku's POV)

'Maaaaan, what a headache! It's been 7 months since then, and Inoichi is still bragging!'

"I will be honest, taking care of kids is a headache! It was Yoshino who threw Shikamaru on me and said 'You better let him make acquaintances! or you should forget about sleeping in this house!'... Women surely are scary!" I talked with Choza who was carrying Choji on his back.

"I agree, women surely are scary! One day, when my wife was pregnant, she ate all the food in the house, leaving nothing for me... Her reason was 'The child on my stomach needs the food more than you! Go work or else!'. At least I am pretty sure that Inoichi has prepared a lot of food for the birthday party!" Choza said with sympathy.

The Yamanaka compound is near our's the Nara compound, so it wouldn't take much for us to arrive. While I was yawning, Choza asked me a question out of curiosity "Hey Shikaku! Aren't you excited you are going to meet your nephew again? I mean, 2 months ago you almost lost to him in shogi, who knows, maybe you are going to lose if you challenged him now!"

I sighed and replied "Of course I am excited! In fact, I am so excited that I am getting headache from now! Also, the match 2 months ago wasn't even close! Voidne is too straight forward, he might be good at tactics, but he is bad at tricking his opponents in the mind game, there is a lot for him to learn! Actually, now I regret my decision to not take him in 1 year ago... If I could turn back time, I wish I didn't give him up to Inoichi! What a headache!"

-7 months ago flashback start-

"Gaaaah! Drinking sake in holidays never gets old!! What do you say Choza?" Enjoying a free day, after 5 months of intense work... It is the best thing ever!

"I finally can eat as much food as I want! I can't imagine our wives catching us slacking off right now, I am pretty sure we will be tortured!" Choza said while eating everything in his sight.

"What a headache! You shouldn't have reminded me of those scary creatures..." I started getting depressed over the fact that if we got caught, our wives would probably kill us!

After finishing his food, Choza asked me "Speaking of which, where is Inoichi? Is he spending his holiday with his wife? I think he became more responsible ever since he adopted your nephew!".

I drank my 6th cup of sake and said "Of co-*Hicc* course he is *Hicc* bragging about *Hicc* his adopted son al-*Hicc* all the time!" I was so drunk at the moment, all what I wanted at the moment was to slack off and take a long nap!

I laid on my back and just as I was about to close my eyes, the door was smashed, and with the sound of the door being smashed, my worst nightmares started to play...

I could anticipate Yoshino rushing in while holding Shikamaru, just to shout on my ears and force me to work...

My face darkened. 'What a headache!' I said on my mind, but hearing what came next made me more depressed.

"Shikaku! Choza! My son is a genius! He is able to speak at 5 months old! Come check him out! You too will be amazed!" shouted Inoichi with a loud proud voice.

All my drunkenness disappeared at the moment and I shouted at Inoichi "No way! There is a limit to lies Inoichi! My son is a month younger, but he can't even crawl yet, let alone walk! You are saying a 5 months old kid, can walk, and can also make sounds!?"

To which Inoichi replied with a big grin appearing on his face "No, I didn't say that. I said, my son can walk, and is able to speak understandable words, just like adults! Such a genius! With just 3 months of me teaching him how to speak, he learned how to read, and write, and have a meaningful conversation!"

Upon hearing Inoichi speaking like this, me and Choza replied at the same time "Inoichi, are you sure that you are alright? Did your wife beat you too hard that you lost all your common sense?"

Inoichi started laughing and invited us to check for ourselves. We stopped slacking and nodded to him as to single him to lead the way.

It didn't take us much to arrive at Inoichi's house, since both of me and Choza were rushing to see Inoichi's embarrassed face.

Inoichi led us to the guest room, then went to grab my nephew... I wonder if he was a genius like Inoichi said, or if Inoichi is too lonely!

Waiting for around three minutes, Inoichi entered the room, and walking behind him a small kid with gray hair and black eyes, there was no denying it! The kid could actually walk at the age of 5 months!

Just seeing the kid, mines and Choza's faces stiffened! Inoichi then said "Voidne, go say hi to uncle Shikaku and uncle Choza" encouraging the little kid to come pay us respect.

The kid glanced at us, and the glanced at my legs, and then hid behind Inoichi grabbing his legs. I looked at my own legs and found out that I actually forgot to remove my kunai bag! 'Smart kid! He doesn't trust strangers! Man, I wish all kids were like him!'

Inoichi started consoling Voidne, who in less than a minute nodded and started approaching us. Getting close to us, he looked suspicious and attentive to any change on our posture. He kept a distance between us and said with a respectful tone "Hello Shikaku-sama, Choza-sama! My name is Voidne Yamanaka, I am honored to meet you!" while bowing slightly, but never losing an eye contact.

I was shocked! There is no way those are the acts of a child that has no experience in society! He must have had a catalyst that helped him improve this much... I replied to him "Hello Voidne! I am Shikaku Nara, and this is Choza Akimichi, we are close friends to your father Inoichi... Actually, we are childhood friends". Voidne nodded to me.

I was studying his posture and his eyes movements, from time to time he will look at the Kunai bag on my leg, or at my hand movements or Choza's hand movements. He isn't even trying to hide his suspicion toward us.

I put my hand inside my Kunai bag, and the small Voidne immediately dashed behind a chair to protect himself. Inoichi was shocked, so was Choza... What thing has Voidne went through to make his so scared of Kunai bags?

I grabbed a shogi board from my Kunai bag and said "No need to worry little Voidne, I was just trying to get this shogi board outside of my pocket. It is a tactic game! do you want to try it?"

I smiled as he peaked from the corner of chair, then came out and started walking toward me.

I put 2 pillows on the ground and sat on one. I put the Shogi board between me and the other board and signaled for Voidne to come.

Inoichi and Choza didn't interrupt us, they also wanted to know the reason why Voidne was scared of the kunai bag too much.

Voidne nodded and sat down copying my Seiza posture (google Seiza if you are curious). I asked him "Do you know the rules of Shogi?" he nodded at me, replying "Yes Shikaku-sama, I read them in one of the books in the library, but I never played shogi before".

(((((Shogi explanation starts, skip if you don't want to learn how to play shogi)))))

I nodded at him, then he continued with a brief explanation as to make sure if his knowledge is correct or flawed "Shogi is a board game, with 9x9 board. The units every player start with are 9 Foot soldiers, 2 Incense chariots, 2 Cassia horses, 2 Silver generals, 2 Gold generals, a Jewel General or a King, a Flying chariot, and finally, an Angle goer"

"The Foot soldiers can move only forward one square, and can capture what is in front of them, while the Incense chariots, can move forward in one line. Cassia horse can move to steps in front and one to either side, and Silver generals can move in any x direction on step, and to the front one step. Gold generals can move in any plus direction one step, and to any direction in the front one step. The Jewel General or the king can move in any direction one step. Flying chariot can move to the front, or back, or right, or left, any amount of steps it likes. Finally angle goer can move in any cross direction, any amount of steps it likes. None of the units can jump over other units but the Cassia horse". (Link will be shared in the comments)

"Captured unit can be played in the field, so if I capture your Flying chariot, I can play it on the field as my second Flying chariot, and so on. Units can be promoted if they either, enter the enemy camp, move inside the enemy camp, or leave the enemy camp. The enemy camp is the furthest 3 rows away from you."

"Foot solider, Incense chariot, Cassia horse, and Silver general are promoted to their respective promoted units. All of those promoted units move the same way a Gold general moves. The Gold general and the Jewel general or the King are not promotable. Flying chariot may be promoted to Dragon general. Dragon general will keep the same movement as the Flying chariot, but with the addition of being able to move to all directions one step. Angle goer will be promoted into Dragon horse. Dragon horse will keep the same movement as the Angle goer, but will be able to move to all directions one step."

"Am I explaining correctly until now?" Voidne asked while looking innocent.

I was too shocked that he actually explained most of the rules, he is really a genius! I scratched my hair and said "Yeah, you are right until now"

He continued explaining "If any of my units are threatening to capture your King in the next turn, then it is called a check, and you should eliminate the threat of a King capture by any mean possible. If there was no mean to you to eliminate the threat of a King capture, then it is called checkmate, which is the way to end the game usually"

(((((Shogi explanation ends)))))

'End the game usually? is there another way to end the game?' I asked myself. I then asked him, "what is the other way to end the game?"

He smiled at me and said confidently "It is to make your enemy lose the will to fight and surrender"

'I understand from what he said right now, that Voidne has a daring personality, which doesn't make sense, since he was very afraid of the kunai bag earlier. Something must have happened to him, maybe a case of abuse? But abuse doesn't make sense either. The way Inoichi treats Voidne is like a father and a son... Unless...'

I nodded and we started playing shogi. The game ended fast, Voidne played like a coward, scared to take any opportunity, it was a one sided match, after which, the tears started accumulating on Voidne's eyes, but he soon cleaned them with his hand and bowed and said "Thank you for this match! Next time I won't lose!"

I nodded at him and extended my hands to ruffle his hair. At first he was afraid, but soon he gathered his courage and let me ruffle his gray hair.

I told Inoichi about my suspicions, but he disregarded them so I couldn't do anything but sigh and think 'Maybe I should take him home with me instead of leaving him here... What a headache!'

-7 months flashback finish-

'What a headache! This also reminds me about my shogi match with him... despite me saying that it wasn't even close, I am pretty sure that if he didn't fail to notice the issue in his defense line, he would have won. I played defensive most of the game!'

-2 months ago flashback start-

It turned out the same as I suspected, Inoichi's wife was torturing my nephew, I was livid hearing the news, and how could I not be livid!? Voidne is the son of my now deceased older sister! I wanted to take Voidne away as fast as possible, but Choza stopped me from acting recklessly. If I were to pick him up, I may scare the relationship between the Nara and the Yamanaka, and as the leader of the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance, I shouldn't act on my own emotions.

Choza and I went to pay a visit to the Yamanaka compound to see how my nephew was doing. Arriving at the compound we were welcomed as if it was out home. The Yamanaka clansmen were showing an atmosphere of hospitality, but I knew very well that under those happy masks, most of them are ashamed to have let their clan's genius suffer for very long without noticing.

We entered Inoichi's house to see Inoichi trying to calm down Ino who was currently crying. We waited for him until he managed to put her to sleep. After laying her on the bed, Inoichi came to us and said "You are here to check on Voidne?". We nodded and he sighed.

"Voidne is locking himself in the clan's library again to improve on the Mind Body technique of the clan" Inoichi said.

I replied to him "Let's go check on him! I even brought my shogi to challenge him!" Showing my shogi board to Inoichi, with a huge grin on my face!

We started walking toward the library of the Yamanaka clan, which a lot of Yamanaka clansmen were gathered around; Every one of them wore the looks of sadness and pity on their face. We didn't mind them, and entered the library to see a huge mess! Books were everywhere, and Voidne was in the middle of them scrolling through a book. Once he lifted his eyes from the book, he saw us, and tried to stand up and bow, but failed miserably, and ended up falling on his face.

It was too weird seeing a 10 months old kid showing so much interest in books. He managed to stand up, and immediately bowed respectfully toward us.

Inoichi went ahead and patted Voidne then said "No need to bow, I am your father, and Shikaku and Choza are your uncles. While it is good to be respectful, but it is not good to be strict, we are your family after all"

Voidne raised his head and nodded, then looked at us with curiosity as if he was asking about the reason we are here. I didn't want to keep the awkward staring continue for long, so I said "How are you doing now Voidne? is everything alright?"

Voidne showed a face full of sadness and the tears started falling out of his eyes "I know I am an orphan, I know that I am an outsider *sob* *sob* I just didn't want to ruin my new family, I didn't know what to do. I kept quiet, but against all my efforts I couldn't cover up to what mom has done... I am ashamed *sob* to face my mom ever again!"

Inoichi hugged Voidne and said "Everything is alright now. You are no stranger, you are my son! Voidne Yamanaka, and if anyone say otherwise, then I will beat them up! Don't underestimate your father!"

Choza also tried to comfort Voidne saying "If you ever got hungry, come eat in Akimichi Chow! It is on the house! Make sure to eat a lot and be healthy! You can also hang out with my son!"

Being the closest one to him in term of blood relation, I took out my shogi board and said "I will give you a chance for revenge, but don't think that I will go easy on you!"

Voidne quickly cleaned his face and accepted my challenge "I will make you surrender this time old man!". Being able to recover fast, it shows his mental strength! 'Such a waste! I wish I was the one who adopted him instead'.

Laying out the two pillows and the shogi board, we both sat on the pillow with Seiza posture. Voidne's posture was more refined than before. The air he is giving is that of a ninja going to war!

I smiled at him and without any word, started with Foot soldier F7, which opens the bath for my Angle goer to move.

Voidne quickly replied with Foot soldier D8, I followed with Foot Soldier F2, in which he replied with Foot soldier E8. I then advanced my F2 Foot soldier to E2, making the board look almost similar.

Voidne played Gold general B3, and I replied with Angle goer G3. Voidne forwarded his Foot soldier to D3, and I moved Silver General to H8. With those moves, I could clearly see Voidne improving. This opening is one of the Angle goer exchange openings. Only after tens of years did shogi develop to this level.

'Angle goer exchange is considered as giving your opponent respect and showing sincerity, but I wonder how Voidne knew about it!' I scratched my hair, and we proceeded with exchanging our Angle goers.

I started developing my pieces to play 'Climbing silver' strategy, but to my shock, Voidne was far more aggressive than before, and he was playing 'Rapid advancing silver' strategy! Rapid advancing silver is a strategy in which, opens a big escape route for the Jewel general to escape while having a strong attacking capabilities.

The game continued with Voidne chasing my Flying chariot around the map. But I knew very well that the best way to defense is to attack first! So I dropped my Foot soldier D2, sacrificing my own Flying chariot.

I made my Foot soldier capture Voidne's Silver general and then promoted my pawn. After 3 moves, Voidne was threatening my King with an undiscovered check by dropping the Flying chariot he captured from me. I scratched my head 'This match is interesting, but it is already over!', I didn't hesitate to drop my Silver general on 5B, cutting the escaping route for Voidne's Jewel general.

Voidne sighed when he saw my move, so he resigned from the game and shook my hand and said "Good game! I have a long way to improve!"

I shook his hands and praised him "sometimes I wonder if you are more of a Nara than a Yamanaka!", hearing that Inoichi quickly said "Shikaku, aren't you busy with your son? I am pretty sure Yoshino is already angry, you better get going fast!"

Without noticing, the Yamanaka clansmen were already inside the library watching my match with Voidne, they also heard me trying to pouch Voidne away, I started sweating as I figured out that I said what I said in public!

Choza and Voidne laughed, and so we bed farewell to the Yamanaka clansmen, and Inoichi and Voidne.

When I arrived home... What Inoichi said came true... I was forced to sleep without eating, what a headache!

-2 months flashback finish-

'And here we are, arriving at my nephew's birthday party! I hope he would like Shadow Imitation Technique as his birthday gift! He better like it! I went through trouble getting the clansmen to acknowledge my decision, what a headache!'