Pairing: Naruto/Hinata, and more as the story progresses.
Rating: M
Author's Notes: HELLO EVERYBODY! It's Mr. Alaska, with a new installment of your favorite FanFic! I want to apologize for the LOOOOOONG ass wait. I have been busy with other stories. And, more often than wanted, have been suffering from lack of motivation and severe Writer's Block. But I believe I have what I need for a somewhat decent chapter. It's pretty straight forward. A whole chapter dedicated to Shikamaru and Temari's match. Warning… this chapter might be a little shorter than normal chapters. Hope you all don't mind. I have a BUNCH of other stories that I want to update… even though this seems to be my best story. And if interested, please check out the poll I have opened and vote three times. Also, I've been doing a lot of Deadliest Warriors match-ups. Check them out when you get the chance. And again, sorry for the long wait. Now….. ENJOY!
Chapter 25: Shadows of Sand
The entire stadium was left in utter silence. Seeing what just took place in front of them resembled a tragic love story. They watched as Naruto cradled Hinata's limp body in his arms, crying openly, and kissing her. Their fox tails wrapped around the other's as Naruto slowly began walking towards the stairs. And as he made his way there… he heard a single clap from the audience.
It started off as one clap, being from their own sensei Kurenai. Shamelessly, she continued to clap for her students alone for five long seconds. Then… more claps were heard coming from random places in the stands. And as the seconds passed, more and more people started to stand up to clap. And in the course of 25 seconds, the ENTIRE stadium (Minus a select few) was applauding and cheering for the two half-demons.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, and looked around in confusion. 'What the hell…? One minute they were hating my very existence. Now they're cheering for us?' He slowed his pace to the stairs leading to the balcony, and listened to the villagers' cheers and chants. 'I bet they're just happy to see one of the "demons" get thrashed…. Worthless, huh…'
'HAHAHAHA! Looks like you're wrong AGAIN, Kit!' Naruto's angry thoughts were interrupted by the Kyuubi's laughing. 'You still don't understand how a regular human thinks, do you? Those villagers and ninjas aren't cheering because of the fight… that's only half the story to them. The other half is cheering for YOU, and your mate. You've seem to have struck a lot of nerves with that little display a few seconds ago.' Naruto frowned as he carried the sleeping Hyuuga up the stairs.
'What are you talking about now, Kyuubi?' The blond asked, tiredly.
'You proved you're more human than they thought your were, Kit. You showed them that you're not the monster they thought you were.' Naruto, again, raised an eyebrow in confusion. And seeing his host still didn't get the point, the fox sighed. 'God… you're dim, aren't you? Fine, I'll explain… again.' When Naruto got up into the balcony with the others, he sat down against the wall, with Hinata still asleep in his arms. 'Demons don't cry openly in front of hundreds of people who hate them…. demons don't kiss their mates shamelessly in front of people… let alone the WHOLE village. Now, regular people would do something like that… which is what all those villagers might have thought when you and Hinata were getting it on.' Slowly, Naruto was starting to understand what his prisoner was talking about. 'Those humans also saw what you were crying over. You were forced to fight and hurt the one you loved, which caused you to feel sad, which caused you to CRY. And once they connected the dots, they saw a kid, sad about hurting his girlfriend… How sweet.' The demon finished, using a baby voice.
Naruto was about to continue, when the instructor appeared in the middle of the arena and cleared his throat. "OK! The next bout will be between Shikamaru Nara and Temari! May those two combatants please enter the area?"
A split second later, wind began swirling and twirling around the balcony. The sand Kunoichi whipped out her giant fan, opened it up, and RODE the intense wind down to the center of the stadium. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino watched as Temari leapt off the giant fan, with the wind subsiding around them. The instructor smirked at the blond girl. "Well… it seems like you're just aching for your fight, huh?" He turned his attention back to balcony, where Shikamaru was still standing. "Mr. Nara! Aren't you going to join us?"
The lazy ninja groaned. 'Aw crap… I still can't believe I have to fight another girl. And what makes this one worse is that she's related to that Gaara kid, who crippled Ino.' He took a quick glance at the sand Shinobi. 'Not to mention how easily she was able to take down Tenten… Maybe I should j…"
"Come on, man! You can beat her!" Chouji blurted out, and he slapped his lazy friend in the back. But the chubby boy slapped a little too hard, causing Shikamaru to get pushed off the edge of the railing, and falling down to the ground. Temari and the instructor winced when they heard the loud thud of Shikamaru's body slamming against the ground.
'Chouji….. You jerk…' The Nara thought, as he pulled himself up off the ground. Snickers and giggles were coming from the audience at the sight of the boy's long fall. 'Damn it… now I HAVE to fight this crazy chick.' Shikamaru sighed, and made his way to the center of the arena. He looked up at the instructor, and groaned. "OK… OK…. I'll fight." The instructor nodded, and looked to Temari. And when she smiled and nodded her head too, the man took a step back.
"BEGIN!"
Temari didn't bother waiting. She charged Shikamaru and swung her humongous fan. Shikamaru did back flips backwards to dodge her heavy fan. Then when he jumped out of the way, he started making hand signs. 'So troublesome…' He thought, as he completed the hand signs. "Fire Jutsu: Dragon's Breath!" Fire shot from the Nara's mouth and headed straight towards Temari. But the sand Kunoichi was prepared. Chakra pumped into her fan, before she swung it at the incoming fireball.
"Wind Jutsu: Wind Scythe!" She swung her fan again and a cyclone-like wind intercepted the fire attack and continued towards Shikamaru. Dust and dirt erupted from the ground Shikamaru was standing near, and no one could see if he was alright. The wind blast struck against the wall of the stadium, causing an even bigger cloud of dust and smoke.
And for a few seconds, everyone waited impatiently to see any sign of the Nara. But then, Shikamaru's shadow flashed out of the smoke and headed for the sand Kunoichi. 'Aw, shit!' She thought, as she leapt backwards to stay away from the shadow. But the shadow stopped after following Temari 12 feet. That's when Temari found out the secret of the Shadow Possession Jutsu. She smiled evilly, and looked up into the settling dust. "It seems there are some limits to how much you can manipulate the size and shape of your shadow, hmm? Even though you can stretch your shadow at will… you can't increase its overall size past its surface area… right?" she asked with a cocky grin.
As the smoke settled, Shikamaru was revealed. His clothes were all dirty from the dust and dirt, and were cut up from the intense wind blast. The Nara looked up with a smug smile, and chuckled. "Ha… that's right." 'Damn… she's a smart one. She knows how my Shadow Possession Jutsu works, and knows how to avoid it… This is just too troublesome.'
At the same time, Temari was thinking about how the jutsu works. 'That means… considering his choice of position at the point on the arena's wall where the shadows are deepest, I've got to assume that he's able to use the shadows from the wall to increase the size of his Shadow Jutsu….. But even so… this is the farthest his shadow can go…' she thought to herself as she used her fan to make a line in the dirt to show her where his shadow can go. 'So… when using the shadow of the arena wall, this line marks the maximum rang his shadow can stretch to! Whether Shikamaru hugs the wall or stands at the edge of the wall's shadow, the distance his shadow can stretch to will stay the same…' She then measured the distance between herself and Shikamaru. '15m, 32cm..' Then Temari looked at Shikamaru… and saw him forming a hand sign. But he didn't perform a Jutsu, which Temari found weird.
Up in the stands, Kurenai also found what Shikamaru was doing strange. "What in the world is that boy doing?" she asked aloud, with Asuma sitting next to her. "Is he performing a Jutsu? Because I've never seen that stance or form before, let alone the hand-sign he's using..."
Asuma chuckled, pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "That's not a hand-sign… it's just a habit of his," he answered, letting out a puff of gray smoke. Kurenai turned to him with a confused expression. "He really knows how to relax… as I'm sure you already know. He enjoys letting time pass by, just like a old person… He's always begging me to play Go or Shogi with him when we're not on a mission. And whenever he gets stuck during a game, he always assumes that pose. He's plotting his strategy… And when he comes up with one strategy, he always has many steps ahead of it to toy with his opponent, making them think they're on top." He grinned proudly, and turned to Kurenai. "I've never beaten Shikamaru in a single game… Not even once."
Kurenai frowned. "But this is an actual battle. This isn't a board game." Again, Asuma let out a puff of smoke and chuckled.
"People say before those things became playthings, those game pieces were used by military advisers to plan their strategies. So I guess Shikamaru would make one good first rate military advisor…" But Kurenai wasn't convinced.
"But his marks were among the worst in his graduating class…" Understandingly, Asuma nodded.
"True… Back at the academy, he was too lazy to lift up a pencil to take notes. He told me he always dozed off during exams. But one day… I was surprised at how good he was at Go and Shogi, so I gave him an I.Q. test. I convinced him it was just a simple puzzle. I kind of did it just to mess with him, but…" Kurenai listened, now fully interested. "He's a freaking smart kid… His I.Q. is over 200."
Back with Shikamaru, he was stationed behind the tree. With a kunai in hand, he peeked out from behind the tree. Temari saw this. "HA! Looks like you've finally decided to fight back, huh? Wind Jutsu: Wind Scythe!" Temari shouted, sending more cyclones at Shikamaru. The wind blades merely bounced off the tree or nicked the sides. "Oh come on Shikamaru! Come out and play!" But Shikamaru stayed hidden behind the tree. Then, through the dust came a kunai. Temari blocked it with her fan. Them Shikamaru's shadow came speeding at Temari again. "It's useless, Shikamaru! You can't stretch your shadow any longer!"
But she was wrong. The second the shadow passed that line, Temari leapt backwards. "What the hell?" It stopped only two feet past the line. Then that's when Temari realized Shikamaru's plan. 'Nicely planned…' Temari thought, as Shikamaru's shadow stopped advancing. 'You were buying time, waiting for the sun to drop, so that the area of the wall's shadow and your own would increase. Because as the day lengthens, so do shadows!' Shikamaru smirked. Temari then noticed Shikamaru wasn't wearing his vest anymore.
He only had his fishnet shirt on. She suddenly saw something hover above her head. She looked up and was shocked to see his vest, head protector and a kunai fixed up to turn into a little parachute. The shadow of the parachute made a shadow right over Shikamaru's shadow, allowing his shadow to shoot forward. 'Aw, shit!' she thought, dashing away from his Shadow Possession Jutsu as fast as she could. But when the parachute's shadow moved off Shikamaru's shadow, it shrunk back into where it was before. Temari then opened her fan and slammed it into the ground, so Shikamaru couldn't see what she was doing. Now she was serious. 'O.K… he's pretty good… But I won't lose to him! I'll just leave a clone in my place, so that when it attacks him, it'll distract him and I'll use the opportunity to get him.' She started making hand signs, when all of a sudden, she saw a barrage of kunai falling from the sky.
Surprised, Temari grabbed her fan and deflected the falling projectiles. They ricocheted off her humungous fan, causing them to get stuck into the ground. And once all the kunai had stopped falling, Temari looked at Shikamaru with a cocky, superior smirk. "You getting desperate, Shikamaru?" She called out, before sending another wind cyclone at the pinned Nara. "Because that wasn't the best move to make against me. Now you're out of kunai. And you're STILL trapped!"
"Fire Jutsu: Dragon's Breath!" Then, without warning, another fireball came flying out of the dust and smoke.
'What's he doing?' Temari thought in confusion, leaping out of the path of the fireball. 'he was using strategic attacks a second ago. But now, he's going all out and wildly attacking me… What's he up to?' Once the fireball struck the ground, chunks of dirt and rock were sent flying into the air. The sand Kunoichi sighed, and pulled out a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it. 'Fine… I'll just blast him out THIS way.' She flung the explosive kunai, which got embedded into the tree Shikamaru was hiding behind.
The tag exploded, sending shards of wood everywhere. Smoke filled the air, both blinding Temari from seeing Shikamaru, and causing nearly all of the villagers in the nearby stands to cough violently. 'HA! I got him now!' Temari thought, winding her fan up for another attack. 'He has nowhere to hide now! Now he's expos…' But, suddenly, her body was frozen in place. She couldn't move her arms, legs, anything. "Wh-what the hell? What's happening?"
All of a sudden, Shikamaru's chuckle was heard from the settling smoke. "Take a good look on the ground, Temari." Looking down, Temari was shocked at what she saw. Shikamaru's shadow had found its way to merge with her own. But she didn't know how, until she looked a little forward. All of the thrown kunai were grouped around her, with Shikamaru's shadow connecting to the one closest to his position. The Nara's shadow connected with the shadow of the kunai. Then that shadow connected with the next nearest kunai, and so on, creating a giant, web-like shadow, with Temari trapped in the middle.
"I knew you'd overplay the whole distance advantage…" Shikamaru began, as he walked out of the dust with his hands in his pockets. And since he had Temari in his Shadow Possession Jutsu, she was forcibly made to walk too. "That's why I knew you'd think that that would all be what I was concerned about. That's why I chucked all those kunai at you… to cast more shadows for me to use in my favor. But you were to distracted to pay attention to those, weren't you? You just wanted to make sure you weren't near the shadow created by the stadium wall, right?" He asked, using a cocky tone.
Temari blushed, and glared at Shikamaru. "But don't worry… anyone would've made that same mistake," he sighed, as he raised his left hand into the air. Temari looked at him, as her arm was also raised into the air. Shikamaru looked at the instructor, and groaned, "That's it… I'm spent. I withdraw from the match."
To Be Continued…
Hello again, everybody! Again, I'm really sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I was having some difficult time trying to come up with a new fight scene between Shikamaru and Temari. I wanted to make some changes to how the match would've gone between those two. Since Naruto didn't use the underground uppercut on Hinata, I needed a new way for Shikamaru to trap Temari. And I can explain why I made this chapter so damn short. That's because I have a special surprise in store for you all for the next chapter. And don't ask, because this surprise will be… unique…. And I hope you all enjoyed the fight. I know… seems pretty straight forward, I know. But that's why I have something planned for next time that will make up for this chapter. Please review. But before I leave again, I need your help. I have a new poll opened up on my profile, and I need some votes. Please check it out, along with my new NaruHina story, To Save a Life. Hope to hear from you all soon! PEACE!