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Routine Patrol

"You shouldn't ask Asuma-sensei to treat you to barbecue every time we get back from a mission," Ino said, ducking under a branch.

Choji frowned. "Why not?"

"Well it's just not polite. Sensei has his own problems to worry about without having to pay for your dinners all the time."

The two ninja were on far patrol, out beyond where the ANBU posted sentries. It was a boring and tiring task, since they had a lot of ground to cover, but as the Hokage-sama said it was only an unnecessary precaution until it wasn't.

"He hasn't complained yet," Choji protested, leaping over a dead log.

"Maybe not, but that's just because he's too nice. His wallet isn't as bottomless as your gullet, you know."

Choji scowled at her. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me fat?"

Ino sniffed and tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. "I'm saying your gullet is bottomless, and it's the truth. I've eaten with you at the Barbecue Restaurant way too often to not have noticed."

"Well still, if Asuma really minds he can tell me. It's not like-" Choji trailed off as they entered into a clearing and saw a dozen nuke-nin lounging around a campfire, the scratches through their hitai-ate proclaiming their lack of allegiance to any village. "Oh, crap," he muttered to Ino from the side of his mouth.

One of the rogue ninjas leapt to his feet. "Konoha sentries!" he cried. "Quick, capture them before they reveal our presence to their village!"

An uncomfortable silence settled over the clearing as his companions exchanged embarrassed looks. "Thanks for the tip, Taicho Obvious," one of the other nuke-nin said sarcastically.

Ino glanced at Choji. "We should run."

"Right," the young Akimichi said. They turned and fled back the way they'd come, and a moment later a dozen enemy shinobi were hot on their heels.

. . . . .

"Come on, slowpoke!" Ino shouted, glancing over her shoulder to see that Choji was almost out of sight behind her. The nuke-nin in pursuit were closing in around her slower teammate, and some had even gotten ahead of him to either side and were looking for an opening to cut him off.

With a growl of annoyance she halted on a good sturdy branch, turning with a kunai in either hand. After a moment to assess the greatest threats to her teammate, the blond-haired kunoichi hurled the two kunai at the rogue ninjas. The attack barely slowed their enemies, who easily dodged the thrown weapons, but it provided enough of a distraction that Choji was able to put on a burst of speed and pull ahead of his pursuers. Ino turned and leapt to the next branch, continuing her retreat.

She didn't see the nuke-nin, obviously one of the enemy's scouts, who had rushed ahead and was now shadowing her on the right, trying to find his own opening to hit her from the side. As she fled, occasionally glancing back at Choji and yelling her own insulting brand of encouragement, the nuke-nin gradually worked his way closer, until he was in position to spring.

She caught sight of him at the last second and dodged his well-aimed punch, altering her jump to take her to a lower branch. The nuke-nin recovered quickly from his miss and followed right at her heels. One of his hands was outstretched, within inches of grabbing her blond ponytail, and Ino put on a burst of speed and dodged again, leaping to a nearby tree trunk and running up it expertly to a higher branch. Her efforts failed to shake her pursuer, and again he was only a short lunge from grabbing her. He made that lunge, shouting in triumph, and then went completely still, so suddenly that it couldn't have been of his own accord.

Ino paused to glance over her shoulder, then landed in a crouch on a nearby branch. All twelve of the nuke-nin were frozen in place, most scattered along branches, some near the tops of the trees and some farther down, and two on the ground. They had formed a professional pursuit pattern, spread far enough apart that they should have been able to identify and avoid any ambushes and aid their companions who might be caught by such sneak attacks. But now they were cursing to themselves as they realized none of them could move.

"At last," Shikamaru said with satisfaction from his hiding place in the trees. His voice was slightly strained from the effort of maintaining his jutsu: a dozen shadows stretched from his feet to the feet of the nuke-nin scattered in front of him. "Multi-Shadow Capture is a success."

(Ten Minutes Earlier)

Shikamaru paused in his swift passage through the forest, leaping from tree limb to tree limb, and took in the area before him. The way the forest grew in this area created a good natural choke point, and it was on the line of retreat he'd set for Ino and Choji.

"Perfect," he said, dropping to the ground and sweeping his eyes over the area in a thorough inspection. He quickly identified all possible routes of passage through the area. Some he dismissed as being too difficult or slow, and some he dismissed since they left anyone who traveled along them vulnerable to ambush.

Then he paused in his inspection. "Mendokusai," he said, realizing what he'd almost done. Those were routes he himself would have avoided, since he could identify them as an ambush risk. That didn't mean others would do the same: assuming your enemy was as smart as you could be as dangerous as assuming they were fools.

Adding most of the likely ambush routes back into his list, he was left with nearly two dozen paths by which enemies could travel through this section of forest. Having identified them, he formed his hands into the proper seal and concentrated deeply on the chakra within him.

"Ninpo: Shadow Grid," he said, and his shadow thinned into dozens of tiny threads and spread out in every direction, the shadows of the trees around him allowing them to spread even farther. They moved to every path he'd selected, merging with the shadows there to make his entire jutsu invisible to any eyes but the Byakugan. Since his hiding place was deep in a shadowed area the paths of his shadows leading back to him would be invisible as well. When his grid was set he smiled, pleased; even the most cautious ninja would be unable to detect it, or him.

Satisfied his preparations were complete, he fell into a crouch against a tree to wait for his teammates to do their part.

. . . . .

It had been an excruciatingly boring five minutes he'd had to wait, but Shikamaru didn't mind at all. A good strategy should involve long periods of boredom followed by success, because that meant there were no surprises.

He motioned for his teammates to get to work, his satisfied smile widening as a dozen hands mirrored the movement. Choji and Ino moved among the rogue ninja, confiscating their weapons and binding their hands behind their backs, then tethering them all together for transport back to the village.

"Nuke-nin," he called to his captured foes as his teammates did their work, "You are engaged in unauthorized operations inside the territory of Konohagakure. You are accused of espionage and malign intent, and will be taken back to Konoha and interrogated. If you attempt to resist we reserve the right to use lethal force in subduing you."

He waited until his teammates had finished disarming and binding the prisoners, then with a sigh of relief released his jutsu and sank to his knees. Ino came over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder, looking worried. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Shikamaru said. "I just need to work on increasing my chakra reserves."

"You need to work on your speech, too," his blond teammate said with a sniff. "What did you do, memorize the handbook while the rest of us were content to just read it?"

Shikamaru smiled slightly. "Come on, Ino. You know for me reading is memorizing."

She sniffed again. "Well you don't have to use every opportunity to show off how smart you are." She strode to the back of the line of prisoners.

"Come on, genius!" Choji barked from his place at the head of the line, tugging on the rope that bound the prisoners together. "If we get back before nightfall Asuma-sensei will certainly treat us to barbecue for this success!"

Shikamaru glanced between his two teammates, feeling equal parts amused and irritated. They hadn't been complaining about his intelligence back when they'd first discovered the presence of the rogue ninja and as usual it had fallen on him to come up with the strategy. "What a pain," the chuunin muttered, falling into place to one side of the line, close enough to intercept any attempts at escape but far enough away that he'd be able to see and counter any attacks.

Oh well, knowing Asuma-sensei at least there'd be barbecue in it for them when they got back. And maybe afterwards a nice, quiet game of shogi.

Now that was a challenge that interested him.