If you asked anyone on the training grounds, or anyone else who met Naruto before the Chunin exam about their opinion of Naruto's tactical skills, you would be given the same response: He's an idiot. However, Naruto realized this was a problem and made sure to work on his thinking skills while training for the final rounds of the chunin exam. Between playing games of chess and shogi, reading, and his meditating, Naruto had grown to become more patient and think before he spoke.

It had already shown its results. He hasn't gotten into nearly as much trouble on missions. A perfect record in his mission stat line since team 7 disbanded showed that.

He knew he was at a complete disadvantage. However, this kind of training can give significant results. Such unfavorable conditions meant that he had to carry his own weight.

Now what was he facing? An Inuzuka, a Hyuga, an Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and a weapons specialist. An ambush would be impossible with Neji's Byakugan and Kiba's nose. Beating them with pure strength was impossible with Choji there. Pure taijutsu would be near impossible with Neji's gentle fist and Shikamaru's shadow possession. And with Tenten, he was at a disadvantage with fighting from a distance. He knew what he needed to do. Take out each individual opponent one at a time.

…

Shikamaru was never someone who wanted to participate in physical activities. Nah. Sitting around, watching the clouds, and playing shogi. Those were his go-to hobbies. And whenever he felt stressed, a nice nap was what he took.

Nevertheless, this was different. He was fighting for a chance to help Naruto. If you asked him if he would do this just two months ago, he would have laughed at the idea and go watch clouds while mumbling the word troublesome every couple of minutes.

However, he had grown closer to the blond and felt responsible for his recent situation. He was team leader of the mission to rescue Sasuke afterall. Losing your best friend, and possibly best friend in Naruto's case, has to be one of the worst events that can happen in your life. He would be devastated if Choji abandoned the village.

Naruto had become an enigma since that mission. Everything about him felt different. The way he talked, behaved, thought. Everything was different. He even lost that orange jumpsuit for a more normal looking ninja attire. Shikamaru hadn't been able to converse with the boy because Naruto wouldn't let him. Shikamaru could tell. Naruto was avoiding them and he had an idea as to why. But that didn't matter at the moment.

From what he knew, Naruto had the shadow clone jutsu, which was not going to be used in this fight, the summoning jutsu, the jutsu they learned in the academy, and, from what he heard, the rasengan, giving him an exceptional lineup of jutsu for someone so young. He may have learned something since that mission too, which they might find out soon. He was solid at taijutsu and pathetic at genjutsu. What made Naruto different from any other ninja was his chakra reserves and his will to never give up. The only way to defeat him would be to either trap him in shadow possession, mind control from Ino, or render his body ineffective with Neji's gentle fist. This meant there was only one way they could win.

"Hey guys, I think I got an idea."

…

"Duck!" alerted Neji, who saw a weapon fly in his team's direction. However, instead of an explosion, smoke was released into the air, blocking the sight of those around.

"Shit. Neji, do you see him?" asked Shikamaru, holding a kunai in hand in case he was attacked.

"No. My byakugan seems to be blocked by this smoke." replied Neji. "Kiba, can you smell him?"

"I think there's something in this smoke. I can't smell anymore." spoke the Inuzuka after sneezing.

"Tenten! Behind you!" yelled Ino, who was a sensory-type ninja. However, it was too late. Tenten was already out cold. Not much later and Choji was gone. Before Naruto could take anyone else out, the smoke cleared, revealing Tenten's and Choji's sleeping bodies.

"Damn. He already lowered our number to four." noted Shikamaru. He glanced at who he had left to fight. "Neji, Kiba. How are your byakugan and nose?"

"My eyes are fine." said Neji, using his Byakugan to check his surroundings.

"I'm fine. But Akamaru still can't smell anything right now." answered Kiba, with Akamaru whining after to show his frustration.

"Watch out everyone!" warned Neji. "He planted several traps around us." This got everyone to look at the ground and see the paper bombs and ninja wire setup. While they were checking their surroundings, a sizzling noise could be heard. Kiba, having the best ears because he was an Inuzuka, heard it and saw what it was.

"Ino!" However, it was too late to warn the Yamanaka because she was thrown back by the explosion. The others didn't have much time to react as another kunai was thrown with a paper bomb connected to it. The three remaining shinobi prepared for another explosion. However, instead of an explosion occurring, Naruto came out with a rasengan in hand and shoved it into Neji, knocking him out after he was forced into a tree.

"You know, a fight is supposed to have more than one side attack. I just eliminated four of your teammates in a matter of 2 minutes." reminded the blond shinobi, who was now facing the last two remaining opponents.

"We still have the numbers advantage and now have your location. You would've been better off staying hidden in the trees." noted Kiba, eyeing Naruto suspiciously.

"I wanted to make sure you guys knew what was going on. You guys are putting up much of a fight." Naruto then paused for a moment. "After all, if I had continued with my plan, this wouldn't be much of a spar. Would it?" said Naruto, pulling out a kunai. He backed up to give himself more space between him and his opponents. "I also wanna give you a chance. This hasn't been as challenging as I thought it would be." added Naruto, instantly ticking off Kiba who, in response, charged in with Akamaru in toe. Unfortunately for Naruto, Kiba was stopped in his track with Shikamaru using shadow possession to stop him.

"You idiot. Running in like that is what he wants you to do!" yelled the Nara. "We need a plan while we have the numbers advantage and getting yourself hurt will only help him."

'I'm going to need to take a minor retreat.' Naruto then disappeared.

"The idiot ran away. Serves him right." noted Kiba, smirking in the direction of where Naruto had retreated.

"And look what said idiot has done. At a disadvantage of six to one, he's taken out four of our guys, including Neji. Make sure you know who you're calling an idiot." informed Shikamaru, which in result made Kiba growl in disgust.

"We underestimated him, that's all." Kiba now yelling in frustration. Shikamaru, knowing that arguing with any Inuzuka, nonetheless Kiba, was pointless, changed the subject.

"Listen, I think I have an idea…"

…

One hour later and no conflicts had arisen between the two sides. Kiba and Shikamaru were ready to act, but couldn't find Naruto to finish the fight. They attempted to track him by his scent, but his trail ended by river.

'Figures. The idiot knows we have a tracker and dog.'

The two were starting to get annoyed. Someone like Naruto used to be upfront and frank. He never was the type of person to be cautious and patient. There was a reason why he sucked at strategy games such as shogi and chess.

Shikamaru looked at Kiba. The Inuzuka looked distracted and maybe lost in thought. That's something to be expected for someone who was very close friends with Naruto. Between all of the pranks they did, hanging out during their free time, and training they did together, one would think that they were best friends. For all Kiba knew, the Naruto that he knew was long gone and replaced with this phony.

He looked back up into the sky. It's times like now that he'd rather be watching clouds and distracting his mind. He hated thinking about irritating issues. It was always so troublesome. It reminded him of the times when he played shogi with his old man. His father would consistently force him into difficult situations that required a piece to be sacrificed for the game to continue. Then after his move was done, his father would always point out a way that would have allowed him to escape without losing any of his subordinates. After that, his father would always rant about how it was his job to strategize for missions and that he held the lives of his comrades in his hands.

It's not like he didn't know it, it was just that he didn't want to think about until it happens. That way, he wouldn't have to feel stressed out. Stress was… troublesome.

It was almost as troublesome as the flashbacks that always appeared out of nowhere. He could be trying to take a nap and suddenly, out of instinct, he pulled out a kunai and pointed it at whatever was behind him. It got him in trouble once with his mother. Shikamaru didn't hear his mother coming from behind until she was within reaching distance. One second later and she was almost stabbed by a shinobi's reflex.

'Man, the nagging that got me.'

It also frustrated him when he started noticing the pattern. He tried so hard, at least as hard as a Nara would try, to fix this problem. He started ignoring the instinct. He thought that it might hurt him in the future. However, he was only training right now, so the feeling he had in his gut to avoid an incoming weapon was no problem.

'Wait. What if…' thought the Nara as he turned to spot any danger. No. Nothing was there.

'That's a relief. For second there I thought…'

An explosion was heard from a distance from where Naruto was sitting.

"That should mean that I won." noted Naruto to himself, walking to where the eruption had occurred.

…

The scene was a disaster. Multiple trees were on the verge of falling or had already collapsed. Kiba was found on his stomach with his head facing a tree that still was standing.

'Idiot must have been sent flying from the explosion and hit his head on the tree.'

On the other side of where the eruption had taken place was Shikamaru. He too was in a prostate position with his face in the ground. He couldn't just leave the two shinobi in the state they they were. He'd have to carry their bodies to safety to make sure they weren't crushed by the trees that appeared to be close to falling.

Bending down to pick up the Inuzuka and his dog, Naruto heard a "puff" sound and couldn't control his body. He was forced to turn around to face his captor: Shikamaru Nara.

"Shadow possession jutsu, complete." announced Shikamaru, sounding relieved that the difficult part of the fight was over. He walked towards Naruto, which forced Naruto to walk towards you. With kunai in hand, Shikamaru put the kunai up to the neck of Naruto, signaling that he had officially won. Releasing the jutsu, Shikamaru put the kunai away.

"So you used substitution? I can't believe I fell for a cheap trick like that." mumbled the blond, annoyed with himself for losing a fight he was close to winning.

"I'll admit, the traps you placed were perfectly timed. Your idea of eliminating the Neji to get rid of the Byakugan was smart. However, it's unfortunate that your opponent was better at quick tactical skills." admitted the Nara turning his back to the Uzumaki. "Come on, wake Kiba up. We should go back to the others and make wake them up as well."

"Fine." was all he got in return.