A/N: This wasn't scheduled to come out until later this week but last night I couldn't sleep so I thought, 'why not?'
Last time:
Shikamaru's Perspective:
"The next match is Shikamaru Nara vs Kin Tsuchi!"
'It's me now? What a drag. And I'm against a girl, too.'
"Yeah, Shikamaru! You better kick her ass!" Ino declared, "All you have to do is tell yourself 'I cannot lose' and you'll win! Come on! You can win this no problem! Yeah! Here we go, Shikamaru! Make that little girl cry!"
'When did she get so darn enthusiastic?'
"I think he gets it, Ino..." Hana sighed, "But really 'Maru, listen to her. You better actually get up and do something!"
"Just do your best," Choji said through a mouth of chips.
"What a drag..." the lazy male sighed, "Guess I better go down there then..."
Now:
(Still Shikamaru's Perspective)
"Oh man, this is such a drag. I mean, give me a break. I've got to fight a girl?" Shikamaru groaned as he stopped in front of Kin.
"You just keep thinking that, little boy," she snarled.
'I know what these guys are capable of because of the second exam. Problem is, I didn't get a look at her jutsu. And to make things worse, she saw mine.'
"Ready?" the proctor asked.
'Oh well, nothing I can do.'
Shikamaru and Kin nodded.
"Begin!"
"It's all I've got," Shikamaru said, putting his hands in the Shadow-Possession Jutsu's trademark hand sign.
"You're not trying that stupid shadow thing again, are you?" Kin asked, mocking him.
"Agh! Shut your mouth!" Shikamaru said, defensive.
'Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu.'
"Is that all you know?" Kin smirked, dodging the shadow that was coming at her, "If that's the only trick you've got, this is going to be easier than I thought!"
As she ran away from the shadow, Kin took out senbon with bells on them and threw them at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru dodged them and turned away from his opponent, inspecting her weapons.
"Bells?" he asked skeptically, "Heh. Oh please, not that old trick. Lemme guess, next you'll throw senbon with bells and senbon without bells at the same time. I'll react to the bells, and while I'm focused on dodging them, I won't notice the silent needles coming at me. Am I right? Heh. Good luck."
"You sure talk a lot, don't you?" Kin asked, not acting at all worried that Shikamaru figured out her trick as she threw more senbon at him.
'So either that's not it or she's overconfident. With girls like her, it's hard to tell.'
"Now I know to dodge all the senbon, not just the ones with bells," said Shikamaru, dodging everything that was thrown at him.
Ring!
'What?' Shikamaru thought, his eyes widening in surprise, 'It came from behind me. Threads? So that's her trick. Oh man.'
"Too late!" Kin yelled, throwing some senbon that hit Shikamaru's shoulder.
Hanara's Perspective:
"Shikamaru!" Ino exclaimed worriedly.
"Well that didn't take long," Naruto commented.
'No, you're wrong. Shikamaru's crazy smart. Now that he knows her trick, he'll for sure find a way to counter.'
"Hold on! Don't be so sure. He's not beaten yet!" Sakura said.
"Yeah! That's right. He wouldn't have put in actual effort to get this far and then just lose now. I can tell something good is going to happen." Hanara smiled.
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
Hanara sighed, "Just watch."
Shikamaru's Perspective:
"One inch higher and that would've been a fatal hit," Shikamaru commented.
'So she doesn't have an amazing aim. Still, that was scarily close.'
He let out a small tch as he pulled out the senbon in his arm.
"Okay, now I get a turn."
"Sorry, that was your turn," Kin smirked.
'Damn she really is getting on my nerves. You don't underestimate your opponent no matter how bad they may seem. I mean, Naruto's match was proof of that. Does she not learn anything?'
Riiiiiiinnnng!
'Oh man, now the sounds echoing...' Shikamaru thought just before he started feeling disorientated. 'What the- what's going on?'
Shikamaru fell to his knees. His legs were no longer able to hold him up.
"You see, you don't ever ask 'for whom the bell tolls' because it tolls for thee. This bell sends off a peculiar sound vibration that travels to the outer and inner ear and then directly to the brain." she said, ringing the bell, " First comes paralysis, and soon you'll start hallucinating," she smirked sadistically.
Shikamaru's eyes widened and he clamped his hands over his ears, trying to stop the sound.
"It won't work," Kin informed, "You can't stop the sound once it's inside your head."
'No! Now I'm seeing a whole army of her. How can I tell which one she is?'
"You can't move your arms or legs, and even if you could, you wouldn't know which one of us to throw your shadow at." her voice echoed, "Face it, you're caught, little man."
All of the Kins lifted a hand with three senbon in it, "I'm going to cook you nice and slow over a hot fire."
"Ugh. You think it's that easy, huh?" Shikamaru said as he glared at Kin with a ferocity usually not seen from the Nara.
She threw the senbon.
"Argh!" he groaned as the senbon hit the arm he used to try and block them.
"That was three. Next time, I'll throw five. Each time a couple more until you end up looking like a hedgehog," the kunoichi smirked.
"Stop playing games, why don't ya," Shikamaru's glare intensified.
"Hm? Don't like my slow and painful method?" Kin asked, mocking him.
"If you're so tough, then get it over with. Stop wasting my time."
"Fine, suit yourself. We'll do it the quick way then. Quick and painful, that is," Kin said, holding up a handful of senbon.
But, when Kin tried to throw the senbon, she found that her hand couldn't move.
Hanara's Perspective:
'Yes! Way to go, Shika! I knew you had something up your sleeve!'
"Wow, I haven't seen Shikamaru this mad in ages," Ino commented.
"H-How did he find a way?" Sakura asked.
"He might not seem like much but Shikamaru's crazy smart. Once you get him motivated, there's practically nothing that can stop him. And this girl's made the mistake of getting him mad. There's no way Shikamaru's going to lose after that." Choji informed.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Choji," Asuma-Sensei smiled.
Shikamaru's Perspective:
'I've got her now.'
"Heh. Looks like my lame shadow jutsu was a success after all," Shikamaru said, getting up.
"But you haven't thrown any shadows! I made sure of it!" Kin panicked, looking all around her.
"No way. You don't see it?"
"What do you mean?!"
'She doesn't take in her surroundings, does she.'
Shikamaru sighed, "Look at that thread you're holding. Isn't it strange that something of that height is casting a shadow?"
He stretched the shadow until it was completely covering the area between him and Kin, making it even more obvious that he got her.
"'Course you didn't notice it," Shikamaru smirked, "You were more focused on other things, like killing me."
"The shadow! Spreading out around me!" Kin's eyes widened, "And I didn't see it coming!"
"Right. I stretched my shadow along that thread and followed it back. Now I'm attached to you."
Shikamaru raised his arm, forcing Kin to do the same, although she was resisting it.
"Now we mirror each other's movements. So what? A cute trick, but what do you gain by it?"
'Like I'll tell you. I don't want you to try and make this more troublesome than it should be.'
"Man, you're annoying. Shut up and watch," Shikamaru drawled.
He opened up his weapons pouch and took out one of his shurikens. Kin mirrored his movements.
"You must be insane!" she exclaimed, "If you throw that shuriken at me, you'll just be attacking yourself!"
"Makes things kind of interesting, doesn't it?" he smiled, putting his arm in position.
"You wouldn't! You couldn't!"
"Yeah. Like a game of chicken. Let's see who ducks first!"
He released the shuriken at the end of his sentence. Kin did the same.
"You're crazy!"
When one of the shurikens reached Shikamaru, he bent backwards, dodging it. However, when Kin mirrored his movements, her head hit the wall and she was knocked out.
"And that's what I call using your head," Shikamaru said, flipping back onto his feet, "The wise shinobi carefully scouts out the layout of the battlefield and never loses sight of his position on it. That was her problem. I made sure she was so focused on beating me, she didn't notice the wall inches behind her head. So when she dodged backwards, kaboom! Now, who's hearing bells?"
"I declare Shikamaru Nara as the winner of the 8th match!" the proctor announced.