Chapter 35: Get it over with
Geez, talk about making an impression.
The stadium was in an uproar. Then again, this whole thing had clearly been prepared with the idea of creating a show. Carefully keeping the fight close enough for as long as possible and choosing the most dramatic moments possible to up her game. Using that flashy release of butterflies at the end had only made things so much more visual than necessary. As if her match hadn't been highly anticipated anyway.
Idly, Shikamaru wondered if she'd actually shown all of her hand in this fight or if there was still something more she was hiding behind her polite facade.
Not like it made much difference right now; the choreographed fight had done its job. Showcasing almost every skill the Higurashi was talented at while also highlighting her ability to keep up and plan around an enemy she should have a disadvantage against. How much information had she gotten on Neji, the boy wondered idly; the Hyuuga prodigy didn't use that 64 hand thing in the prelims. Neither had he shown his perfect defense (though not really that perfect now, was it? With the girl's unique bloodline, chakra didn't really seem to work all that well as a defense), so the real question was how much of this dance had been prepared in advance, and how much had she adapted to her partner?
Well, not like it mattered.
"That was great!" Unsurprisingly, Naruto's loud voice rose through the noise as he jumped to hug his returning teammate.
"Are you hurt?"
"Got hit a couple of times." The Higurashi heiress smiled from the blond's hold, likely trying to soothe the Uchiha. "But I've got back full mobility."
An understatement if he'd ever heard one. He'd actually watched the fight closely, and it was more than just a couple of times. She'd just been fast enough with the healing to make it look like most of the attacks had been dodged. Which meant either she had a monstrous reserve of energy, or healing blocked chakra points needed a relatively small amount of it...Shikamaru would just throw the match if he ended up against her for whatever reason...or the Uchiha...or the Suna freak...
Better yet, he'd just throw this next match and be done with it.
Back during the prelims, he'd agreed to fight to make sure the full of the Oto nins were entirely out of the tournament. And that was only because of the connection they had with Orochimaru. After getting back home, the Nara heir had managed to ignore his laziness long enough to do a bit of research. Judging from how little information about the man was available, the rogue Sannin was more than simple bad news. In the long run, leaving them run free would definitely cause more trouble than it was worth. Now, though, there really was no reason for him to keep up with this competition.
"And now, the next match!" The proctor tried to shout above the spectator's loudness. "Temari and Nara Shikamaru! Come down!"
Before he could open his mouth to save himself the hassle, a gust of wind blew through the balcony; the blonde girl from Suna had jumped into the giant war fan on her back. Softly floating down the field instead of plummeting down like gravity would dictate.
Geez, how exactly was this girl about fighting? Argh, why did it have to be him against such an annoying opponent, a girl no less...
"I..."
"Go for it, Shikamaru!" Naruto's cheerful yell sounded behind him.
It was just a push...a light one at that, but he'd been leaning over the railing, and now he was looking straight at the ground as gravity refused to do him any favors. Damn it, he moved his neck; it was going to be sore after this. Naruto could shove all his good intentions where the sun didn't shine.
"Get up, kid!" Loud and bossy, great. His opponent was just a pain in his ass, wasn't she? "How long are you going to lie there?!"
Not bothering to hide a thing, the boy sighed heavily. Nobody cared for this match. Not one single person. Hell, he could already hear the crowd start booing at them, yelling to hurry up and pass to the next fight. And it was clear it was going to be like that from the start. With people like the Taishos and Sasuke left, no one cared for the pair of nobodies they were. Even other shinobis would happily skip this match, not caring for any available info on them. Shikamaru may be a clan heir, technically, but nobody cared for the Naras. Their kekkei genkai was useful, sure; however, everyone already knew that to counter it, one only needed to pay attention to the shadows. There was nothing flashy or unexpected about them. Honestly, what was the point of going through all this in the first place?
"What, are you going to give up the fight?"
Tch, forfeiting to a girl wasn't something he would be all that happy about either...this was such a drag...he shouldn't have entered, to begin with.
"Shikamaru!" The current bane of his existence and reason his refusal was cut short yelled from above. "Good luck!"
"If you won't come, then I will!"
"Hey, don't start the match yet!" The proctor's outrage was deftly ignored by the Suna chick who was already racing towards him, weapon ready to attack.
"Oh man, she's really excited about this."
A pair of kunais were on his hands already, the motions fast as he pushed himself to jump from the floor. Lucky for him, the blonde wasn't taking him seriously at all, her speed not that hard to dodge.
"You know, I don't really want to fight..." he drawled from on top of the kunais he'd managed to hastily stick to the wall. "And I don't care whether I become a chuunin or not...but I'm not going to lose to a girl."
Well, so he said, though this was not anywhere near the best position for him to be. With a lazy hand motion, the Nara allowed a smoke bomb to fall into the ground, taking advantage of the cloud to hide him as he sprinted towards the scattered trees in the center of the field. Dark eyes flittered through the arena, looking and cataloging as much as he could of the state of the field. The medics had taken the Hyuuga prodigy out of here but while Kagome had picked up her butterflies (and what were those in the first place? Clearly, not summons, but he was sure he saw them inside the Forest of Death), the damage her explosions did to the ground and her senbons were still there.
They could become useful if he played his cards right.
Even so...a guy just couldn't go around hitting women...
Oh man, why did it have to be a woman? With a man, he could have just forfeited without trouble. Taking advantage of the slight lull, the Nara hir allowed his gaze to move to the sky, his eyes flickering through the clouds lazily drifting through the sky. They were so lucky...so free...More to the point, he didn't even feel like doing this at all, to begin with. The only reason he became a ninja was because he thought this kind of life would be less of a bore, but well...Shikamaru supposed if he wanted things to be somewhat interesting, then his life wouldn't be that simple.
Picking up the giant fan as if it didn't weigh a single gram, the girl swung. Wind flew all around them; it was the same kind of attack that blew away all of Tenten's weapons.
Make use of what he got; that was all there was.
Using the cloud of dirt surrounding most of the field, the boy moved his hands to form his family's unique hand seals. Chakra pooled at his feet as fast as he could make it, his shadow stretching and twisting to hunt the girl's own. Damn, she'd jumped back in a flash; the Suna kunoichi saw it coming then. Even now, her eyes were fixed to his shadow as she slowed down.
"Oh, I see." That tone could not bode well for him. "I've seen through you Kagemane no jutsu.
"Looks like there's a limit to how much you can change the shape of your shadow, isn't there?" Satisfaction dripped from every syllable. "No matter how much you twist and stretch the shape, you're still limited to the surface area of your normal shadow, right?"
Of course he had to get a girl that actually thought things through. Bluffing here would do him no good, and she was already marking the range of his attack with her fan.
Shikamaru held back a sigh, his gaze traveling to the sky once more...with the sun in this position, this was as far as he could get. And with someone with such a troublesome ninjutsu, any kind of normal attacks were doomed to fail. His lackluster taijutsu wouldn't make the cut either; he'd be sliced to ribbons before the boy could make it anywhere close to the woman. Projectiles wouldn't be useful either, since a strong enough blast of wind would simply send them all back to him. In short, Shikamaru was not in a good position right now, and the situation was most certainly not in his favor.
On the other hand, the girl wouldn't get anywhere close to him for fear of being caught. If he stayed still long enough, she'd eventually crack and throw an attack strong enough to force him to move, but for the moment...he could close his eyes and take a minute without fear. Idly, he gave the place one last long look. Winning here would all depend not on his jutsus, but his strategy.
Resting his back to the wall, Shikamaru closed his eyes.
"Huh? Is that a seal?"
"Not one I've seen before." Kagome's voice held the same confusion her childhood friend's sported.
And as far as the Uchihas knew, the only unique technique the Naras had available were variations of the standard kagemane. And this did not look like the reported seal. Chances of this being something new Shikamaru created were basically zero. The Higurashi heiress had never met someone who was quite as unmotivated as the Nara boy; in fact, she was absolutely sure he'd been one second away from giving up the match before Naruto-kun sent him over the railing... And she should probably talk with the blond about that, had that been a civilian, the girl sincerely doubted they'd survived the fall.
Once they were not in public, of course.
"Is he planning on boring her to death?
The rough voice of Taisho Inuyasha rang loudly through the balcony as the silver-haired boy leaned down. Unsurprisingly, she could feel Sasuke take a step closer to her. These last few weeks, the Uchiha had begun to get physically closer to her whenever they were in the presence of certain members of the foreign team. How the idea of her preferring someone else got into his head, Kagome wasn't sure; still, she leaned back into him, stopping her lips from smiling as his arm wound up around her. From as far back as she could remember, the young heiress had always enjoyed being physically affectionate. For her, it was entirely normal to just hug and tug Narut-kun whenever she felt the need to, no matter the place, no matter the reason. Itachi had never complained either. Not once had she tried to get that far when in public with Sasuke, who liked to present a cold and aloof image to the world. If jealousy would make him used to her touch in public...well, she wasn't about to complain.
"He's probably making a plan of some sort." Hopefully, her voice was still friendly enough to make up for the other boy's glare. "Against an opponent like that, he's gonna need one."
"Well said, going blindly and headfirst is usually not a sound strategy for most people." The fake monk's words were accompanied by a glance that would be telling if they hadn't known the noble Taisho for almost a month now.
"The hell is that supposed to mean, Miroku?"
"But he is taking his time," Naruto mumbled to her right.
The blond was...well, right. The crowd was already starting to become impatient. Not surprising, considering no one was really interested in this fight, and none of the techniques used were all that eye-catching. It would be the next one, the one that forced her childhood friend against a member of the Taisho main family that most people wanted to watch. That said, the prankster's name was likely the last thing on their mind; people just wished to see Inuyasha wipe the floor with someone before moving to Sasuke's match.
This thing really was just a circus.
Leaning back a little more into the Uchiha, the girl willed herself to ignore those thoughts and focus on his warmth when finally, Shikamaru moved. And with that, another barrage of kamaitachi was sent his way.
"There's no use hiding!" Azure eyes couldn't help but narrow her eyes. The Suna genin did not give her the impression of being particularly battle-loving. How long are you going to keep running away for? Give up already!"
"So that's the plan..." Sasuke whispered, a tone of reluctant respect in his voice.
From their position on the balcony they could all see the improvised parachute the genin created with his shirt being launched high into the air. Underneath, the Nara managed to make his shadow move another meter or so.
"I see, you were whiling away the time, waiting for the sun to drop lower." So the gust of wind of her own attack had stopped the blonde from realizing something else was going on. And Shikamaru was playing along. "So the shadows of the wall and yourself would grow larger. The closer the sunset, the longer the shadows grow."
"He's not that useless after all, huh?"
He...really was not.
And that could become a problem in the future, as far as the young heiress knew, the Naras were still highly valued advisors to the Hokage. Depending o how high on the priority list they ended up in, a Nara could end up in charge of making a plan to hunt them down. In a couple of years, maybe even Shikamaru himself.
"Temari!" The puppeteer's shouts came from within the audience. "Above!"
In a blink, the girl was jumping back again, her eyes fixed on the growing shadow on the floor created by the Nara heir's ingenious trap. A shadow that almost seemed to want to corral her to a determined place. Azure eyes widened for a split of a second after letting her gaze comb the field once more, an amused grin formed on her lips.
"You won't escape!"
Constant backward movement, with her gaze focused only on the shadow reaching for her. All the while, Kagome wouldn't be surprised if the older genin had already made a mental analysis of what she'd gathered about the jutsu...pity it would be for nothing.
"Tch, to be able to dodge even that attack..." Irritation laced every one of his words, though knowing the lazy boy, he might as well be by the idea of having to keep going with the attack.
"It's over."
"Huh?"
"Do you see that?" The Higurashi heiress pointed towards one of her many discarded senbons, guiding Inuyasha's gaze. "There's no way a senbon's shadow can be seen at this distance."
"Wait, you mean..." Sango trailed off.
Like clockwork, they all leaned closer to the railing, their eyes finally finding the slim tendril of a shadow that had remained on the outside of the circling perimeter of the arena's shadow. Using the holes on the ground from her explosions and the small shadows of the multitude of needles and kunais she'd thrown, a single slim tendril of darkness connecting them. A tendril that was slowly inching closer to the Suna kunoichi, who placed her open fan in front of her to hide her movements and betray her plan. It was also hiding the lazy genin's quick motion as he once more formed the necessary seals.
"Oh, dear..." There was clear appreciation in the fake monk's words as he understood the meaning behind it all. "This...this was the plan from the beginning, wasn't it?"
"How many steps ahead was he even thinking?" It was disbelief in the Taisho's weapon specialist voice.
"Hehe, I told you. Shikamaru is the smartest person I know!"
Making sure to keep a calm facade, the Higurashi heiress went through what she knew were the requirements for making chuunin. After starting their training, the girl asked their teacher about the scoring system the judges would use. It was based on that, that she'd arranged her plan. Carefully constructing a strategy that would all but ensure she could show off both her combat skills, as well as her analytical ones. Her words during the fight (the ones spoken loud enough for everyone to hear at least) were also specifically chosen to make it look like her plan was something she came up with on the fly. Of course, there was nothing wrong with methodically studying an enemy and preparing an action plan. Besides, other than her teammates, the amount of information she could get on her potential opponents, so she would have to rely on her quick thinking. The more improvised it looked like, however, the better. She'd still been forced to adapt; that perfect defense and the 64 hands jutsu were completely unexpected, but there had been space for her to move in her strategy. Ironically, Shikamaru seemed to have just managed to almost reproduce her strategy to appeal to the judges, all unplanned though.
And while it was clear he'd had no motivation to win, to begin with, things had evidently changed. As the boy explained how he orchestrated the whole thing, there was no doubt the public was suddenly overly invested in this match.
"Yeah!" Naruto was jumping beside her. "Do it!"
"That's it..." The Nara's voice cut through the chatter. "I give up.
"I give up. The continuous use of the kagemane no jutsu has used up all of my chakra. I can barely bind you for 10 more seconds." There was a surprising lack of...anything in those words. Heck, the boy looked just as bored as always. "I had thought up about 200 more moves, but...it looks like I'm out of time. I'm getting tired of this. One match is enough for me."
"Winner Temari!"
Silence blanketed the stadium almost as abruptly as the noise that followed as the words finally settled in the audience's mind.
"Why did he give up?! Is he an idiot?!" Unsurprisingly, Naruto didn't hesitate to join in the ruckus. "This pisses me off. I'm gonna go give him a lecture!"
Slipping from Sasuke's hold, years of experience made catching the blond's sleeve and pulling him back from the railings a relatively easy task. They were in front of everyone who mattered, and the boy needed to look in control. Which would be considerably harder if the prankster went down to yell at their former classmate.
"Naruto-kun, he's going to have to come upstairs himself." Her smile was soft despite her strong grip on the fabric. "Maybe you can use the time to get your ideas straight while he does?"
If he came up at all.
Knowing the Nara, it wouldn't surprise the heiress if he decided to remain down. After all, he had to know the blond would make a scandal as soon as he stepped on the balcony. It would probably be too much of a drag for him to listen to the prankster's upset questioning.
"You match is the next one, too," Sasuke's annoyed grumble was the perfect follow-up. "Moron."
In an instant, determination seemed to light up the boy's cerulean eyes as he looked to the side. Gaze locked at where the Taisho group were softly talking between themselves.
"Yeah..."
"Think you can win?"
"Hell yeah!"
Pulling on his brought orange jacket, the girl wrapped her arms around her childhood friend. For three weeks, they'd been giving him as much information as they could get about the silver-haired Taisho's preferred styles. All with constant reminders that the older teen had been stopping himself from showing his actual strength, so their read was not complete.
"Remember," she whispered, keeping him still in her hold. "He loses his cool fairly easily, but he'll still try to taunt you."
The prankster nodded against her shoulder, returning her tight grip for a second before stepping back with a bright grin.
"I'll win, believe it!"
With that, the boy jumped over the rail, landing on his feet without a second thought.
That unsettling feeling on the back of her head was still lingering. And it seemed to make things worse now that she had to send one of the few people she cared about down. It wasn't getting worse, though; hopefully, the match would end without any more unpleasant surprises.
"Overconfident much?" Inuyasha scoffed, looking at the reminder of their team.
"Wouldn't that fit you better?"
"Naruto-kun can be quite unpredictable, even for us." The girl smiled; the subtle (and not so subtle in Sasuke's case) threat went ignored.
"Keh," Unwavering, the silver-haired genin grinned at them. "Sorry, but your friend has no hope."
"If you're so sure, then why don't you go down?" This was technically not helping out Naruto, her tone was all but confrontational, and if it just so happened to help to get Inuyasha flustered, well, it would be a nice coincidence. "Or do you want to wait until he wins by default?"
Ok, so maybe not so subtle; that feeling was really making her anxious, and this was one way to safely keep it under control. Which did not amused the older teen, he huffed and jumped before the proctor could finish calling on him.
"Do you really think he can win?" Unlike his teammate, Miroku's voice was genuinely curious.
Azure eyes shifted once more to the field underneath them. It was true that the Taishos had a reputation, and from what she and Sasuke had seen, it was likely well deserved. But they were still technically allies; their agreement with the other nations was probably far more fragile than the one Konoha had with the other countries. She was almost certain that meant that, even now, they had instructions to hold back. Plus, Inuyasha was not the kind of person to try and lie traps. Had the blond's opponent been the fake monk, her friend likely wouldn't have much of a chance...with a straight-forward enemy, though...
Okay...time to take this seriously.
His mind whirled, trying to remember as many details his friends had passed on to him. Honestly, Naruto doubted they would make much difference if he had to bet, then things would end up with him showing his hand first and adapt it later. The kind of careful planning Kagome-chan preferred was never his strong point. All of his greatest plans always came midway through a battle or a spar.
Hopefully, this time he would be able to come up with something just as useful as back during their entrance exam.
If possible, without needing to use the Kyuubi's chakra. That one time, the blond managed to retain full control. Having the power of the fox so close to the surface, however, brought with it the kind of memories he'd been doing his best to forget. No, he'd start with basic things and come up with something more on the fly.
"I swear, why am I even doing this?" The landing was easy, and the older genin didn't hesitate to move towards them. "Oh, well. Whatever, I'll just have to beat you now."
It wasn't even directed at him. The other boy was mumbling and barely audible, but Naruto heard it all the same. And all the same, he could feel the old itch that accompanied anger begin to rise. Because, yet again, he was being underestimated. Like winning against him was simply an afterthought, something anyone could do without having to put in any effort. The same kind of dismissive expressions everyone used around him.
Wait.
No.
Bo, he had to keep it in check.
This was what Kagome-chan warned him against it over and over again. Losing his temper would only land him in a terrible position. This was not someone on the same level most of their teammates were close to.
Still, Naruto figured as his hands rushed through his favored seals. The only way to come up with something is to start the fight. The two puffs of smoke on his side hadn't even dispersed by the time his clones began sprinting, racing, kunais in hand towards the Taisho guy. His opponent's expression remained entirely unimpressed.
It didn't take much; an easy dodge and two fast punches had the clones vanishing with two identical puffs of smoke.
"Don't tell me that's the best you can do?" Smug, cocky, unbearably similar to Sasuke back when they first met.
"Hah," the blond managed to scoff. "You wish."
This time, the number of clones upped to over a dozen that were all quick to launch themselves against the Taisho. The second batch was better than the first; they were not going to last, though. Ok, so overwhelming him with numbers like he'd done the Oto kunoichi was not going to fly...he could always resort to that...although...if he did, Kagome-chan was sure to lecture him later, and the last time he'd used the technique during a spar with Sasuke had beaten him black and blue after he'd recovered...nope, that was going to be his last resort.
Somehow, the blond was able to hide his flinch as the memory of the first of the new clones came back to him. The older teen wasn't so much punching as he was slicing them, the nails on his hands suddenly sharper than a person's should be. Wasn't this similar to the way Kiba had looked like during the prelims?
Did he also have the heightened instinct the Inuzuka liked to boast about anytime he was within Kagome-chan's hearing distance?
Replenishing the number of clones on the field, Naruto dived into the battle, a single bunshin left behind to take his role. Flashes of memories being sent to him just a fraction of a second as the silver-haired genin went through the clones gave him a good idea of the guy's position. The prankster's pose was sloppy; he knew that before he went in. The punch was hard, but it was still a far cry from the serious punches Kakashi-sensei gave whenever he got somewhat serious on their spars. He was being underestimated, for sure.
Nothing new, really.
The bright red form of the older teen rushing past him over to his clone almost felt like time had slowed down. His hands didn't take a moment without getting up from his place on the floor; three more clones spawned around him. He could feel a grin tugging at his lips as the teen's fist connected with the bunshin.
"If you stay behind, there's no way I won't know who is the real one, dumbass!"
"Who said anything about staying behind, idiot!"
He wasn't as fast as Lee, his uptake was also slower than Sasuke's, and his sneaky machinations could not compete with Kagome's. Despite it all, Naruto was, very much, still in their league. His clones managed to place themselves around the older boy, their kicks connecting, and sent the red-clad shinobi into the air. Not as high as the blond would've wished, but he could still work with it. He jumped, his feet hitting his opponent' whose face was still frozen on a surprised look before he plummeted down to the ground.
It wasn't much.
No one could say he was surprised to see Taisho Inuyasha standing up again, looking no worse for the ground. It was still a win in his mind, though. After all, Uzumaki Naruto, nobody, class-clown, last of his year Naruto had just managed to punch and bring to the ground one of the members of the so-famous Taisho main family members. He was not going to just go back; he was going to win. Naruto was simply good enough.
"Keh," For all of the annoyance in his voice, there was also amusement in Inuyasha's voice. "Ok, so maybe not that stupid."
Silence fell upon the stadium as Naruto just widened his grin; he didn't need to be good at reading others to know absolutely no one expected him to be able to land a single hit in. A warm feeling welled up inside him; it was the same kind of satisfaction he'd felt back in the prelims. Except, this time, the looming shadow that hovered over him when he looked up to find an empty spot next to his injured best friend was thankfully missing. They were both here this time, both cheering him on (though the bastard would never really admit it), and really that almost rendered anything else pointless. Shaking his head, the blond forced himself to focus on his match once again. This was just the first hit.
The Taishos love to fight; Inuyasha specifically will try and match his skills to yours if he thinks it's more fun.
That was the one and only warning his friends had managed to give him. It was what had happened during the prelims; the older teen decided there was no fun to be had in the fight, so he went in for the kill with his very first hit. And that was what Naruto needed to avoid. Winning against him likely meant he'd need to try and trick him as he did back when he went against Kakashi-sensei. His chances here might be better though, since their lazy jounin instructor seemed to have stopped underestimating them for some time now.
Things might get close if he didn't use the Kyuubi's chakra...wait...there was the one thing...apart from the summoning jutsu...there was still one more thing he could potentially use. Stopping himself from flinching as he imagined just what sort of response his friends would have to him resorting to that was impossible. Cerulean eyes wandered around the battlefield; both previous winners had taken advantage of it. With a grin, Naruto allowed his gaze to leave the holes left behind by his friend's explosions; yes, he could use this with his rapidly forming plan. Kagome would look at him in disapproval and spend hours telling him why this was not a good idea. The bastard would just snicker in the background and agree with her...but this...this one technique would absolutely, one hundred percent work.
No doubt about it.
"People who assume things about others are the real stupid ones," Naruto smiled. "You're not winning against me."
A/N:So sorry for the delay guys, but springbreak came along with family and just did not have the time to edit for more than 15 minutes at a time. It was a slow process but I finally managed this chapter. As always thank you guys so much for reading and any review/criticism/comment is greatly appreciated.