Target Practice

I got this idea when I was at my Archery Practice and I was missing too many shots. I started to think "what would Shikamaru do/tell me? " (?) Maybe Shikadai is OOC, or maybe Shikamaru is. Well, it's just for fun, so hope you enjoy it!

* This story is seeking a beta-reader. * (I don't know anyone, so if you can help, please tell me. It may help in my upcoming fanfics.)

Shikamaru was watching his son while he was practicing throwing kunai on a target. The training grounds they were now was on the Nara compound, the same one Shikamaru used when he was younger. Having their own training grounds was a good thing to keep your skills covered, so people wouldn't know how your jutsu works or how good you are – or how good you are not.

After seeing some of his son's kunai hit the mark – and many more avoiding it by far – he was theorizing what could be happening to him.

"I give up! I can't make it!" His son sat down on a nearby rock, scowling.

Frustrated. Like his mother. Shikamaru grinned at this thought.

Anyone who thought about his son as a carbon copy of him, definitely didn't know him or Shikadai. Or Temari. Shikadai could have some lookings like his own, but he shared far more traits with his mother than with Shikamaru. Like this one.

Just like his mother, Shikadai would get very upset if he could not do everything perfectly. If he could not make it in the best possible way, he didn't want to do it. Well, probably Temari wouldn't give up, she would keep on trying until she could do it. Giving up was his trait, after all.

But what was puzzling Shikamaru was not that his son was missing the target – it was how he was missing it. It would be okay if some of his son's kunai hit the mark and some missed by one or two inches. But that was not what was happening. Some of his son's kunai would hit right at the mark, while other would fail by almost one foot – or even more.

Something was definitely amiss.

"This makes no sense, you know!? I am aiming at the exact same place! They are the exact same weight too. And they have the exact same shape and size. I checked them all!" He shouted these words, and then he added in a quieter, disheartened way "More than once…"

Shikamaru stared at his son, trying to avoid the pitiful and sad feeling.

"Let's call it a day." He said, heading towards their house.

"Hey Temari, look at me."

She lifted her eyes from the paper she was reading to look at him, not so happily. 'Hope it is important.'

"Now, close one eye" She closed her left.

"Did I move?"

"What?!" She said, frowning.

"Okay… Let me be more specific. Look at ... that picture over there" Temari was fully aware now, wondering what Shikamaru was up to. "Now, use your arm to point to it."

"What is that for?" She did it, nonetheless.

"Now close one eye." Again, she closed her left eye. "Did it move? Is your arm still pointed to it?"

"No. It's about 6 inches to the right. Why?"

"Now open both your eyes, point to the picture again, and close your right eye. Does it moves now?"

"Yes, 5 inches to the left."

He frowned. Temari had a very unusual ocular co-dominance. Shikadai could be experiencing something related to it. But that alone didn't explain his son's performance. Temari is pretty accurate when it comes to hit any targets, be they moving or still. He still had to catchon what was actually deteriorating his son's accuracy.

Temari was still staring at him intently when he spoke again.

"Can you point to the picture again?" She didn't ask now, only waiting for her husband's explanation. "Close one eye, and show me where you see the picture." She did it.

"Now, the same thing with the other one." ... "Point to it with both your eyes open. Now close them. Open them again."

"Still pointing to it."

"Again." She made it. "Same place?"

"Same place."

"Again…?"

"Same." She looked at her husband, who seemed to be in deep thought. "Can you tell me now what this is for?"

"Shikadai is having a hard time hitting his targets." Temari lifted her eyebrows, surprised and confused. "I thought it might be his ocular dominance, because he hits some of his marks just fine, but then he misses some by almost a foot, sometimes even more. You have a rather unusual ocular co-dominance, but-"

"Am I a weirdo and it is my fault that your son is bad at shooting?"

"BUT you don't seem to have any problem. So, it may be something else. But it is related to his vision"

"Do you think he should wear glasses?"

"No, no. It is not poor eyesight. He can calculate distances pretty well. It is much more related to directions. He complained he was aiming them all in the same place, but I was watching and he was, only slightly, throwing them in different directions." She frowned, not sure she was getting what Shikamaru was saying.

"You know, about 92% of humans are right-handed, but only two thrids are right-eyed. This means a lot of right-handed people are left-eyed. There are also, of course, people that are left-handed and right-eyed. Ideally, ocular dominance and laterality should be the same."

"The reason why dominant eye and dominant hand do not always match is because both hemispheres control both eyes, but each one takes charge of a different half of the field of vision. Matter of fact, though we tend to think of dominance as a mandatory use of only one side, it is actually more of a spectrum, and the dominance can change upon direction of gaze. Thus, a small portion of the population has neither eye dominant. Weirds, like you."

She rolled her eyes, as he grined. "I am not weird."

"So, today, before you start it, I would like to make some tests. Did you check on your kunai?"

"Yeah."

"And then…?"

"They are all the same. No differences I can see."

"Good. You won't use them now." His son lifted his eyebrows. 'So much Temari's son…'

"I want you to look at that mark and point to it." He looked and barely lifted his indez finger. "Stretch your arm, Shikadai."

"This is bothersome…" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. 'So much my son, too…'

"Do it... Now, close one eye. What do you see?"

"I'm not pointing to it anymore."

"Good, now open it and close the other one. Now?"

"It moved again."

"Keep both eyes open. Are you still pointing to it?"

"Yeah."

"Now close them, but keep your arm still. Open."

He furrowed once his eyes were open. "It is not in the same place either."

Shikamaru sighed. His son's condition was as scarce as hen's teeth. He saw Shikadai open and close his eyes a few more times, before he spoke.

"Great!" He didn't sound like it was actually great. "I can't aim because my eyes will keep on changing my sight, even if I stay unmoving!"

"Then, never aim. At least, not with your eyes. Look, this is a... an uncommon condition. It seems your brain can't decide which visual input it prefers, let's say this way. You can correct it using only one eye to aim, but I wouldn't recommend you to. Closing one eye in battle is unpractical, not to mention risky. It means you have a smaller field of vision, and more prone to be attacked or not see something coming to you. It can also develop into strabismus or amblyopia."

"So I should just throw and hope it will hit the target?" Shikadai's voice was incredulous, it almost made him laugh.

"I never said that. All I am saying is that you can't rely on your eyes to define locations." He quickly, precisely took one of his kunai and threw it towards the target, without looking away from his son. The kunai hit just at the mark. "Sight is not the only sense you have, kid. If your eyes don't work the way they should, then you cope with it the way you can. Shinobi are those who endure, remember?"

Shikadai nodded, listening intently.

"Just because your ocular dominance isn't well defined, it doesn't mean your sight is useless now. From where I'm standing, I say you can see pretty clearly, you can calculate distances very well, and you catch on every detail. That, combined with your other senses, will be more than enough for you to hit your targets. You know, eyesight is overrated. People tend to rely too much on their sight, and that is why they are easily fooled by it. Especially for us, Nara, who work with shadows, we must learn to be suspicious of our sight, and use our other senses. Look, suspicion, not distrust. Get it?"

"I… I think I do." Shikadai answered. Shikamaru let a proud grin spread on his face.

"Ready to try it now?"

His son gave that confident smile that resembled his mother's, and Shikamaru can't help but grin again.

This time, his son looked at the training grounds, closed his eyes, listened the wind, felt it with his shadow. He then opened his eyes, looked at the target, and threw his kunai. His smile was satisfied.

"Those losers will never catch me."

Next step would be teaching him to control that sharp tongue of his. And his mother's.

If you didn't catch on that, yeah, I made Shikadai have the same 'problem' that I do. Eye dominance is not a problem, like handedness isn't, but my sight keeps changing between arrow shots. This is likely due to my (very light) strabismus. Closing one eye to aiming is rather unpractical, all your faces muscles get tense, and so do your neck, and if your shooting isn't affected, you can get a pretty bad stiff neck, headache and even backache. Monocular vision may cause stereoblindness (not being able to perceive 3D), or some loss of depth perception.

For anyone who doesn't know it, strabismus should be treated as early as possible. Symptoms include eye strain and/or double vision. The brain may adapt to avoid double vision by ignoring one eye, a monocular vision. A constant suppression of one eye may cause amblyopia too.

As I said, just came up with the idea while practicing in my Archery training. I enjoy shooting, so it was pretty sad that even though I have practiced for so long, I still would miss so many arrows, and this was the first time my strabismus was detected, since my 'aesthetic appearance' isn't altered. I have always had 'blurry vision' and unexplained headaches, and sometimes I have something like two images stirring, trying to match in my vision, but usually only for a short time. So no one ever thought this could be a problem.

Ah, never mind me talking about my experience. It was fun to think what Shikamaru would do, and I hope you also enjoy it.

Reviews, please? Support and save authors!

Edit: Thanks to fanofthisfiction review, I would like to include some information:

The problems Shikadai is experiencing here may have more to do with slight strabismus or eso or exophoria than eye dominance. Like I mentioned, eye dominance is NOT a problem, and usually cannot be changed. Vision Therapy usually is an effective way to help improve on these minor problems, so an Optometrist would be helpful in diagnosis and treatment.

Strabismus means an eye turn, and it may or may not be visible to others, but can be determined upon eye testing. "Other vision problems can exist like oculomotor deficiencies, (trouble coordinating eyes together), focusing difficulties (accommodative problems), visual motor problems (problems coordinating vision and gross or fine motor skills), etc."

Vision Therapy actually can be helpful for you, even if don't know you may have some vision problem. I was looking for an Optometrist and Vision Therapy, and I read that in my country, most people have a good sight (no refractive problems), but don't have a good vision. It may end up in more complicated problems if don't treat it early. Early symptoms may include headaches, occasional double vision, difficult reading, watching or writing, difficult to concentrate, etc. So, if you got anything you think might be related to eye problems, go look for an Optometrist.