94 The appearance of the stormy duo.

"THAT BILLBOARD, HOW DARE SHE SEND MY TEAMMATE DOWN LIKE THAT!" Ino stood up.

"Calm Down, Ino" Choji and the others tried to make her sit down again…

…

"Come on!"

"Hurry up with the match!" The people shouted as they started throwing random garbage onto Shikamaru…

"BOOOOO!!!!!"

"We want Uchiha and Hyūga!!!" Some people shouted.

"Evidently people don't want to see the minor players matches since they are looking forward to Naruto's and Sasuke's matches…"

"If people aren't expecting anything exciting from this battle, makes no sense for me to have it…" Shikamaru murmured.

"What?"

"Are you giving up?" Temari asked.

"huh?" Shikamaru looked up while he was on the floor towards Temari who appeared to be upside down from his point of view.

("There she is, another girl as an opponent.") Shikamaru thought.

"Come on."

"Get started!" The people shouted.

"I'm surprised he even moved his lazy as to fight, turns out Sakura gave him quite the push." Asuma looked towards Sakura who smiled at Shikamaru who was on the ground.

"If you don't come then, I'll Go!" Temari shouted as she started running towards Shikamaru with her fan.

"Man, that girl is so hung ho." Shikamaru murmured.

(Whoosh!) Temari jumped into the air simultaneously raising her closed fan against Shikamaru.

("Oh well…") Shikamaru took out two kunais

(Boom!)

Temari landed her fan, only to strike the ground where Shikamaru was.

"Huh?" Temari raised her head to search for Shikamaru only to find that he was standing on two kunais that was pierced into the wall…

Shikamaru lowered his gaze to meet Temari's own following which, he spoke…

"It doesn't matter if I become a Chuunin or not."

"But there's no reason why a man should lose to a woman!" Shikamaru said.

Temari did not hold back anymore.

"HAH!" Temari grunted as she swung her fan in full force.

(Bang!) The place where Shikamaru was standing at got destroyed, but there was no trace of Shikamaru there other than the two kunais he was standing on…

("He's running away just like the previous matches!") Temari analyzed as she turned towards one of the trees where Shikamaru was hiding.

("Damn it!")

("I want to get this over with, but she's just too strong…") Shikamaru thought as he looked towards the clouds.

("He's trying to lure me to the areas with shadows") Temari thought.

Whoosh!

A ball flew right at her.

("Smoke ball?") Temari jumped away…

(Poof!) a massive cloud of smoke flooded the air.

("The smoke has a shadow!") Temari panicked as she kept backing away.

…

Meanwhile, Shikamaru took a breather from the commotion to stare at the sky…

("The reason I chose to be a ninja was because I thought life would be fun…")

("But with the war coming up, I guess I'd better take this seriously…") Shikamaru regained his resolute look.

(COUGH!)

(COUGH!)

Temari coughed from inhaling a bit of smoke.

("What's going on with that stupid face? Is he underestimating me?") Temari thought following which she swung her fan to clear all the smoke away…

*Shadow shriek*

Shikamaru sent his shadow towards Temari…

"Hmph!" Temari detected the incoming shadow and jumped away.

*Shadow stops…*

("That's the range of his shadow.") Temari calculated following which she drew a line using her fan…

"Sadow Possession Jutsu!"

"Evidently there's a limit to stretching, shortening, and changing the shape of the shadow…"

"No matter how much you change the shape of the shadow,"

"even when you stretch it, it can only span up to the size of your shadow," Temari said.

"You've got it!" Shikamaru praised Temari.

("Damn it!")

("I don't think I have enough chakra for another battle…")

Shikamaru closed his eyes and brought his hands together to form a box.

("What is he doing?") Temari and the others in the stadium thought.

….

A few moments passed after which Shikamaru opened his eyes.

("Okay!")

("I've got dozens of plans to choose from")

("However, I'd better save some chakra for the real battle and finish it with the next move!") Shikamaru thought following which he threw another smoke ball.

("Again?") Temari waved her fan to clear away the smoke.

*Shadow shrieks*

"There it is!" Temari saw the shadow approach the line she drew.

"Hehe" she snickered upon seeing the shadow reach the limit, but the next moment she immediately regretted

("WHAT?")

Temari jumped away from her position.

*Shadow stops…*

Temari once again calculated.

("Damn it!")

("He almost got me!")

("Seems like this is the maximum it can extend!") Temari thought as she continued to observe the shadow on the ground.

"You've got some nerves to depend upon clouds to cast a shadow," Temari said thinking back to how Shikamaru stared at the clouds.

"TEMARI, ABOVE YOU!" Kankurō shouted.

"What's that?" Temari looked up to see a small parachute made out of jacket and kunai which was tied by a headband together descending over her…

*Shh!!!* the parachute made a shadow near Temari's shadow…

"DAMN IT!" Temari ran away.

*Shadow shrieks*

"I won't let you escape!" Shikamaru shouted.

("Hmph!")

("I didn't expect he would be able to create extra shadows to reach me, by making a parachute with his jacket")

("He's impressive!")

("Once I notice the parachute from above, I'll take my attention from my feet.")

("That's a sneaky trick to catch me off my guard!")

("However, now it's clear…")

("Shadow possession jutsu is one in which other shadows are used to get your opponent, a skillful technique!") Temari thought as she kept dodging the shadow that was chasing her like a snake.

(SSSSSHHHH!!!!!!!!) Temari slid a few meters till she finally came to a stop followed by the shadow also.

("She dodged this trick also…") Shikamaru stared at Temari who planted her open fan on the ground.

("If time is dragged, the shadows get longer…")

("I must finish this in the next move!") Temari thought as she stepped behind her fan.

("Then how about this!") Shikamaru threw a ball at Temari and started to run towards her.

("Hmph!")

("Just another smoke bomb!") Temari thought.

*SH!!* The bomb activated.

("THAT'S") Everyone in the stadium covered their eyes at the same time.

("What the hell is this?") Temari thought as she closed her eyes from the blinding light.

*Shadow Shrieks*

*tk!*

("N-No Way!") Temari's eyes widened.

("My….My…Body…Is….?") Temari stared at her shadow only to see it stretch across her fan to the other side.

"Yes!"

"You've been caught by my shadow!" Shikamaru announced.

"At last, my shadow possession is successful!" Shikamaru released his hand seals as he walked towards Temari.

"THAT WAS A FLASH BOMB!" Some of the ninjas amongst the crowd reacted, meanwhile, Shikamaru's teammates were surprised.

Num

Num num num

Choji started to eat his chips faster with a more interested expression across his face.

"What's going on…" Kankurō continued to stare at the battlefield…

("That ball must not have been a smoke bomb!") Temari figured.

("It's all thanks to you dad.") Shikamaru thought back to how Shikaku managed to get one of their clan's special tools, the flash bomb.

"I see, he made Temari intentionally overlook the Flash bomb for a smoke ball…"

"As expected of his genius brain!" Asuma stared at Shikamaru who walked towards Temari; meanwhile, Temari was also forced to walk due to the shadow jutsu.

("My body is moving on its own!")

("I cannot resist it!") Temari cursed her luck as she walked towards Shikamaru who also did the same.

"Checkmate with next one!" Asuma murmured, meanwhile, everyone around the stadium stared in awe…

"Before anyone knew it, they fell under the spell of this match…" Izumo said (a Hidden Leaf Chūnin)

"The guy with no mark is quite the dark horse." Kotetsu supported the statement.

"Go Shikamaru!" Ino shouted.

Num num num

Num num num Choji continued to eat faster.

meanwhile, Kiba, Lee, Hinata, and Karin continued to see the match as usual.

("Shikamaru…") Sakura felt a bit complicated while also feeling like cheering for him at the same time.

Shikamaru raised his hand, which Temari was also forced to do…

("I so wanna kill myself!") Temari thought as she closed her eyes tightly.

Num num num

Num num num

Num num num Choji continued to eat.

"Good Riddance… I GIVE UP!" Shikamaru announced.

"HUH?" Temari looked at Shikamaru.

"HAAAAHHH?" INO got up from her seat in shock.

"EHHHHHH?????????" Everyone in the stadium reacted.

"See, I knew he would give up!"

"Though, I was astonished for sure in the previous round…" Choji said.

"What did you say?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru sighed.

"I've used too much chakra to perform my jutsu multiple times."

"I can only stall you for another ten seconds, and that's about it!" Shikamaru said as he released his jutsu.

"I thought of another two hundred moves…"

"But, I am out of time and chakra…" Shikamaru said as he lowered his hand.

Temari continued to stare at Shikamaru like a person who had just been fooled.

"This has become such a pain."

"Fighting one match was good enough for me as it is, and I had to fight you after that…" Shikamaru pitied himself.

("This guy is a strange one…") Genma thought as he looked at Shikamaru, but his expression suddenly froze.

Shikamaru raised his head to look at Temari only to see that she backed away a bit.

"Hmm?" Shikamaru looked towards Genma to see that he also had an uneasy expression.

"SHIIIII-KAAAAA-MARUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Shikamaru heard a demonic voice.

("Crap!") Shikamaru turned back to see Sakura breathing down on his face like a huge beast.

"You give up when you fight against her, but you'll overpower me???" Sakura asked.

"W-Wait!"

"There's a good reason for this!" Shikamaru tried to calm her down.

(Whoosh!) Iwashi landed next to Genma and whispered a few words in his ear before disappearing…

"Haruno Sakura!" Genma approached Sakura.

"Mm?" Sakura glared at Genma.

"Naruto and Sasuke, are you aware of their whereabouts?" Genma asked.

"huh?" Sakura stared at Genma.

"If they are not here in another ten minutes…"

"They will be disqualified," Genma said.

"WHAAATTTT???" Sakura felt like losing her mind.

Meanwhile, Genma also announced the same fact to the stadium.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"WE CAME HERE FOR THOSE TWO MATCHES ONLY!"

"COME ON!" A man from the crowd shouted.

Genma shook his head.

…

Nine and Half minutes later…

Shikamaru and Sakura continued to stand on the field…

"Guess I have no choice…" Shikamaru murmured as he reached into his pocket to pull out a kunai.

"That kunai…" Sakura stared at the marking on the kunai.

The people around the stadium started to countdown.

"Ten"

"Nine"

"Eight"

"Seven"

"Six"

"FIVE"

"FOUR"

"THREE"

"TWO"

(Whoosh!)

Shikamaru threw the kunai towards the center of the field.

"ONE"

The kunai landed!

"ZERO!"

(POOF!) a huge smoke appeared in place of the kunai in the middle of the field.

(Wheeeww!!!) a leaf storm evolved pushing out all the smoke away, following the appearance of two figures.