Shikamaru Nara woke to loud pounding against his bedroom door. He curled up in his blanket, avoiding the morning sunlight that streamed through the window and the insistent knocking on the door.
"Wake up, Shikamaru," said Shikaku Nara, his father. "I'm not letting you sleep the day away." Shikaku let himself into Shikamaru's untidy bedroom—books, clothing and shogi pieces were scattered around.
"What's up?" said Shikamaru. He sat up in bed, rubbing the remnant sleep from his eyes. "I was in the middle of a nice dream."
"Are you planning to train at all for the exam finals?" said Shikaku. "It's been almost two weeks since the preliminary round, but you've just been spending your time sleeping, fishing and playing shogi."
"I'm still recovering from the Forest of Death," said Shikamaru. "I want to be in top form before I start training."
"And how long will that take?" said Shikaku.
Shikamaru shrugged. "My ankle is a bit sore—I rolled it pretty bad on the last day in the forest."
"Yesterday you were complaining about your wrist," said Shikaku. "Aren't you going to take this exam seriously at all? You're the last one representing Team 10 now, if not for yourself then train for them."
Shikamaru yawned as he stretched. "Ok ok! I'll get out of the house."
"Don't let me catch you wasting the day playing shogi in the park," said Shikaku.
Shikamaru put together a bag of ninja tools before leaving, but that was just for show. He circled back and ordered a bowl of yakisoba near the edge of the village, and then walked off to his favorite fishing spot. It was a slow, sunny day, just like Shikamaru liked it. He relaxed by the water for a couple hours before someone came rustling through the trees behind him.
"Ah ha! You were right, Choji, he's over here," said Kiba. "Hey Shikamaru, how you been? Congrats on getting to the finals." Akamaru ran around Kiba's legs.
"Thanks, Kiba," said Shikamaru. "What are you guys doing out here?"
Choji appeared through the trees. "Looking for you! I knew you'd be around here somewhere, we used to use this as our old fishing spot."
"You're scaring away the fish with all that noise," said Shikamaru. "What do you want?"
"Did you hear about the travelers that went missing near here?" said Kiba. "And a body was found yesterday, that sound-nin, Dosu Kinuta, absolutely mangled by a giant lionbear. Weren't you supposed to face him first in the finals?"
"He's dead?" said Shikamaru. Shikamaru thought back to his encounter with Dosu in the Forest of Death. He was no slouch. How does a wild animal sneak up on a sound specialist like that?
"There's a 120,000 ryo bounty for the lionbear," said Kiba. "Choji and I are putting a team together—we'll all split the cash."
"Eh, count me out," said Shikamaru.
"Come on!" said Choji. "Kiba can track it, you use shadow possession to trap it, and I'll give it the smack down."
"I'm occupied, can't you see?" said Shikamaru. "Why don't you get Ino?"
"She's busy," said Choji.
More like uninterested. "What about your teammates, Kiba?" said Shikamaru.
"Shino is training," said Kiba. "And Hinata is still recovering from her match with Neji."
"Naruto?" said Shikamaru.
"You didn't hear?" said Choji. "Apparently he's in the hospital. Been there for a couple days."
"Hospital? How come?" said Shikamaru.
Choji shrugged. "With Naruto, it could be anything. So, what's the deal? You want to make 40,000 ryo or not?"
Akamaru had begun playing in the river, splashing around and yipping. Now the fish are definitely gone, damn dog. Shikamaru considered the new fishing rod that he could buy with dough like that, with plenty left over for yakisoba.
"Oh what the hell, you're not going to leave me alone until I say 'yes,' that right?" said Shikamaru.
"You know me too well," said Choji.
"Well, what's the plan?" said Shikamaru. "I'm not going to go running around in the forest all day for nothing."
"Dosu's body was found a few miles west of the village near a set of lionbear tracks, and apparently the other travelers were all in that general area before they disappeared, so we'll start there," said Kiba. "With some luck, Akamaru and I will find the beast's tracks and pick up the scent."
Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru ventured deep into the forests west of Konoha. They trekked through the trees, stopping every fifteen minutes for Kiba to make lionbear calls and listen for distant responses with his enhanced hearing. After a few hours of searching the area in an expanding radius, Kiba found a fresh set of giant lionbear tracks.
"It came through here recently, within the past hour," said Kiba.
"Those are huge!" said Choji.
"What do you think of the depth?" said Shikamaru. He crouched over the paw prints, feeling the density of the soil. "Did this thing weigh five hundred kilos?"
"Yeah, probably at least four-fifty," said Kiba, studying the prints. "That's big even for a lionbear. Akamaru and I should be able to catch the scent soon."
"Tell me about lionbears," said Shikamaru.
"They're an invasive species in this region, and they can grow insanely big and strong," said Kiba. "And the bigger they get, the more aggressive and territorial they get. They're pretty tough, except for the underside of the throat, that's the weak point."
"This must be a really bad one if it got Dosu," said Shikamaru.
The three young shinobi traveled quickly and quietly through the brush with Kiba in the lead. They tracked the beast for another hour before Kiba paused and perked up his ears. "It's moving faster, I can hear it," he said. "I think it's hunting something. We're getting really close." Akamaru yipped loudly, and Kiba's eyes grew wide. "There's a person up ahead, I can smell him."
They picked up the pace, striding between trees and over the mossy hillside, and all heard the scream from the top of the towering cliff above them. There was a guttural growl that echoed from the cliff. The lionbear had cornered its prey.
"That sounded like a kid!" said Kiba. He sprinted toward the cliffside as he activated Shikyaku no Jutsu: Beast Mimicry, boosting his speed and climbing ability. The rocky surface was near vertical, mossy and crumbling in places.
"Choji, give me a boost!" said Shikamaru. There's no way Kiba will get up there fast enough. Shikamaru concentrated chakra into his feet as he leapt toward Choji.
"You got it!" said Choji. "Baika no Jutsu: Art of Expansion!" His arm morphed in size, and spiked in throwing strength. Shikamaru landed on Choji's expanded palm, and Choji launched him up to the edge of the cliff as Shikamaru powered his jump with a burst of chakra.
Shikamaru soared past Kiba and landed with a roll at the edge of the cliff. He looked up and saw a young boy cowering on the ground as the lionbear approached, gnarling and drooling in hot drops. The lionbear was hulking with red and orange striped fur, and thick tusks jutting from its mouth. It lunged at the boy, maw gaping with rows of serrated teeth.
"Kagemane no Jutsu: Shadow Possession!" Shikamaru's slithering shadow locked onto the lionbear's, momentarily paralyzing it mid-pounce. "Move, kid! Get out of here!" The boy was frozen in fear, shaking as the giant predator loomed over him in stasis. Damn, it's breaking free already. This thing is way too strong. Shikamaru released the jutsu, then cast it again in the same heartbeat, latching onto the boy and pulling him away from the lionbear in tandem with his own dash. He was painfully aware that he would feel any damage inflicted onto the boy while shadow possession was active, giving him all the more incentive to evade the animal's assault.
The shadow possession jutsu was limited in that the user had to perform the same movements that he forced upon his target. Shikamaru was at the edge of the cliff, he had no room to run and jump, which meant he was limited in the ways that he could make the boy evade. The lionbear charged again, fangs out. Time seemed to grind to a halt in the mind of Shikamaru as he analyzed the situation. Mission: Save this dumb kid. He's twenty meters away from me, and about two seconds from being bitten in half by this lionbear. I have him under shadow possession, so I can pull him away for a moment, but I'll have to jump off the cliff to do so, and then he'll just get eaten anyway. I can hear Kiba, he's really close to the edge of the cliff. If I help the kid dodge this one last attack, will Kiba have time to react and save the kid?
Shikamaru had the same gut feeling that he sometimes got at the shogi table when he was up against strong opponents. He knew there was a sequence of moves that could win the game, but it was difficult to find, and he was down on time.
No, there's no way that Kiba will make it fast enough. If I could slow the lionbear down, just by a couple seconds… Kiba said that the underside of the throat is vulnerable, but I don't have the right angle to hit it with a shuriken from here. The kid would have a better shot. I'll have to time this perfectly.
Time resumed as Shikamaru tossed a kunai knife forward. He leapt back, over the cliff edge, pulling the boy away from the chomping jaws of the lionbear. Shikamaru reached down into the air, and grabbed Kiba's outstretched arm as Kiba clambered up behind him. In the same instant, the boy reached down in tandem with Shikamaru, grabbing the kunai that Shikmaru had thrown. Shikamaru gave Kiba a boost, pulling him the last few feet over the cliff's edge—the boy threw the kunai up into the lionbear's throat in synchrony. It howled in pain as the blade sliced into its neck, stunning it momentarily.
"Get the kid!" said Shikamaru as he fell past Kiba off the edge and released the shadow possession.
Kiba wasted no motion, propelled by Shikamaru's falling arm he shot forward and grabbed the boy, ducking under a swinging claw. Choji caught Shikamaru with the help of the art of expansion, cushioning his fall. Kiba circled around the lionbear while holding the boy in his arm. Hell yeah, this is a mankiller. Found you... Kiba's nose twitched at the hot scent of lionbear blood dripping from its neck where Shikamaru got the boy to land the kunai. In his beast mimicry state Kiba couldn't help but salivate at the aroma, his carnivorous predator instincts kicking into gear. The lionbear outweighed him, but Kiba didn't mind—he still had a sour taste in his mouth after the loss to Naruto, and he had some anger to let loose.
Kiba set the shaking boy down and he scrambled away from the faceoff between beasts. The lionbear started to move at Kiba, but Kiba struck faster. In one feral moment, guided by his nose and primal intuition, Kiba bolted forward and slashed open the lionbear's throat. It stumbled toward the trees, collapsing in it's final steps and death throes. The boy staggered back in shock as Kiba released his beast mimicry jutsu and took a slow breath.
"What the hell is wrong with you, kid?" said Kiba. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"
The boy stammered as he brushed away his mop of dark hair. His dirty face was stained from a stream of tears, and a torn bag was draped over his shoulder. Shikamaru and Choji came running over, having scaled the cliff to join the fray. Choji stood in awe over the downed lionbear.
"That was fast," said Shikamaru. He gestured to the boy. "So, what's your deal? My name's Shikamaru."
"Ogi," said the boy. "My name's Ogi. I got lost looking for the river."
"I thought I smelled fish bait in your bag," said Kiba. His nose twitched. "Well, you're way off. Don't you have any idea how dangerous it is out here?"
"Come back to the village with us," said Shikamaru.
Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba and Ogi carried the lionbear carcass back to the village—Akamaru playfully ran circles around them as they marched.
"You know, Shikamaru, the Chunin Exam is big for gambling," said Choji. "If I happened to make a bet against you, and if you happened to lose your match, then we could make some serious dough. Just think about it."
"You're up against that sand chick, yeah?" said Kiba. "Those three sand-nin are crazy. You got a plan?"
"I still have over two weeks off before the match," said Shikamaru. "I'm taking it easy for now."
"I heard their team set a new speed record in the Forest of Death," said Choji. "And you saw what she did to Tenten in the preliminaries."
"What a bunch of try-hards," said Shikamaru.
"How did such a slacker make it to the finals?" said Kiba. "That's what I want to know."
"Thank you!" blurted Ogi. "I never thanked you yet. You all saved me. I'm going to be shinobi when I'm older too."
"Don't worry about it," said Shikamaru. "Just don't go wandering around again like that, you'll get yourself killed out here. Try fishing on the Momoko River, that's a nicer area."
The four of them made it back to the village by early evening. The sky was a blend of red and orange hues as Ogi broke off from the group and went running home. They turned in the lionbear carcass and split the reward money before stopping to celebrate with yakitori and boba tea.
"Aren't you glad you came out with us?" said Choji as he shoveled another charcoal-grilled chicken skewer into his mouth. "We're heroes, and we're rich!"
Kiba stepped away from their table by the yakitori vendor and pointed to the hospital across the street. Shikamaru and Choji looked and saw that Naruto had just been released from his inpatient stay—he was dressed in an old shirt and shorts, and there were still a few bandages on his hands and left ear.
"Hey, Naruto!" yelled Kiba. "I want a rematch!"
"C'mon, Kiba," said Shikamaru. "He just got out of the hospital."
Naruto looked across the street at the yakitori stand. He stretched his right shoulder and laughed. "Sure, let's go right now!"