"You can't lose to those guys, Naruto." Sakura looked at Naruto and hugged her arms close. "We can't let them get away with this."

"Sakura!" Naruto's jaw unclenched and he finally noticed her beside him. "Are you okay already? You were hit pretty hard, ya know..."

"Never mind me." Sakura shook her head. "You should be worrying about yourself."

"What? Me?" Naruto looked down at himself. "But I don't have any injuries or anything."

"That's not what I mean." Sakura sighed. "If you lose in a preliminary fight, it's a point of dishonor and you'll be disqualified from continuing on to the final round."

"Y-Yeah..." Naruto scrunched his face and crossed his arms.

"And..." Sakura glanced down briefly and then smiled. "Thank you for earlier. Your cheering really helped me keep going when I was put into a tough spot."

"Sakura..." Naruto blinked and watched her smiling at herself as she looked off in front of her.

"I might have lost to Ino in the end, but after thinking it over a bit... I'm not upset by it or ashamed." She shook her head slightly and looked back at Naruto. "I never thought that I'd feel good about losing, but I feel proud of how far I've come from our Academy days, and we were able to work some things out, after all." She glanced at Ino over her shoulder- who was talking to her own teammates- and turned to Naruto. "So, I just wanted to say thanks for cheering me on. You didn't have to do that, but I'm grateful you did."

"Well of course I did." Naruto grinned and crossed his arms behind his head. "You're a member of Team Seven and you were totally awesome! Just what I'd expect from my Sakura-chan!"

"Y-Your-?!" She blushed slightly, crossed her arms, and then turned so that her face couldn't be seen. "D-Don't say such weird things!"

"I certainly hope that girl is alright." Hasu murmured quietly.

"I'm sure they'll do everything they can for her." Natsumi smiled slightly at him, and he met her eyes.

Sakura caught sight of Lee from the corner of her eye at his serious expression and his downcast eyes. "Lee? She'll be okay, right?"

Lee looked up at her with his mouth pressed into a hard line and his jaw clenched, relaxing only slightly as he met her eyes. "Of course."

Sakura opened her mouth to press him but shut it once again as his gaze fixed on the weapons that littered the floor below. His fingers curled and he formed tight fists that cracked quietly though the sound was concealed by the sound of the screen illuminating and beeping as it went through the rest of the names.

"Hurry, hurry, I say!" Naruto clenched his fists, waving them, and frowned as he watched the screen. "Me next!"

"Naruto, don't rush to get to your match." Sakura put her hand on her hip. "You haven't even tried to prepare properly for it like Natsumi told you to."

"That's asking way too much, ya know!" Naruto's frown deepened and he crossed his arms.

"Honestly, Naruto. A Shinobi's got to think critically just as much as he needs to be able to fight." Sakura shook her head. "You might end up rushing things and seriously underestimating an opponent one of these days."

"You nag too much, ya know" Naruto grumbled.

"You listen too little." Sakura sighed softly and looked at Lee from the corner of her eye. Her expression fell slightly at his tension, and she followed the burning gaze to the opposite side of the room where the Sand Genin stood. She clutched her hands together and watched the unwavering burning in his eyes. "Lee really is so worried about his teammate, isn't he? Of course, he's upset with how she was treated by that Sand girl, and usually, he'd smile and give a thumbs-up. But now... the air around him, when he's this angry, makes him seem almost completely different."

Two names displayed on the screen and all eyes turned to read them:

Nara Shikamaru

Vs

Tsuchi Kin

"How unfortunate." Lee clenched his fists tighter and hung his head slightly.

"Hmph." Naruto crossed his arms and leaned back against the railing. "How long do I have to wait, ya know?"

"It looks like it's my turn. How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed and stepped forward with his hands in his pockets.

"Shikamaru, you'd better not lose!" Ino shouted down with her arms raised as she cheered, and then she cupped her hands around her mouth to project her voice. "I'll never forgive you if you lose to such a plain-looking girl with a bad attitude! Show us that you're a real man!"

"Alright, alright." Shikamaru sighed. "You're so noisy."

"Hit her with the sixteen combo, yeah!" Ino shouted. "You'd better win!"

"Ino's become super energetic out of nowhere." Choji looked at her and squinted his eyes. "I thought that having to fight Sakura might bum her out, but she's in good spirits. I wonder what they talked about."

"That guy manipulates shadows." Dosu turned to Kin as she started for the stairs. "Be wary of the shadows."

"Heh." Kin put a hand on her hip, closed her eyes, and smirked. "I won't be beaten by a stupid technique like that. After all, I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve, too."

"Shikamaru, you can do it!" Ino raised her fist into the air. "Don't hold back!"

"Man, what a drag." Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder at Team Ten, then at his opponent, and then sighed. "Furthermore, my opponent just had to be a woman. It'll be hard to really go all-out."

Kin narrowed her eyes at him and scoffed. "Oh? Well, if that's what you think, then I'll just end this quickly."

"You could say that I'm already acquainted with the Sound Guy's raw power from that incident in the forest. But I don't know a thing about this girl's Jutsu. On top of that, she's already seen my Jutsu. That being said, for me..." He frowned slightly. "I'm already at a disadvantage."

"What's wrong, Ponytail?" Kin's mouth twitched in a smirk. "You can't seriously expect to beat me with that stupid technique, can you?" She laughed under her breath. "You'll never make it as a Shinobi being so lazy."

"Well since you don't seem to know, laziness might be the mother of bad habits, but ultimately, she is a mother, and we should respect her." Shikamaru tilted his head slightly, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

"Hah. A 'mother'? Worth respecting?" Kin scoffed. "You sure think you're clever, huh, Ponytail? Do you do anything besides complain or make stupid jokes?"

"It's a drag but I have no choice but to beat you even though you're a woman."

"I'll show you for looking down on women!" Kin gritted her teeth

Hayate coughed into his hand loudly and then looked between the opponents. "As of now, the sixth battle- Shikamaru versus Kin... let it begin!"

"I can only do this." Shikamaru brought his hands together into a sign and shifted his stance.

"Aw, you're just a one-trick pony, aren't you?" Kin laughed. "What a pity. I thought you'd at least make for an interesting opponent."

"Shut up!"

"Hm." Kin narrowed her eyes and her smirk grew. "If you're a pony, you're the saddest one I've seen. So skinny." She shook her head slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "Don't worry; at least this will be over quickly."

"We'll see about that." Shikamaru muttered and channeled his chakra and winced suddenly. He gritted his teeth and stepped back. "What the? All of a sudden, my head is pounding."

"Is something the matter?" Kin's mouth twitched in a smirk and she took a step toward him. "Tsk tsk. If you weren't feeling well, you should have just conceded."

"Is this part of her attack?" Shikamaru took a step back and winced again. With a grunt, he dropped to one knee and clutched his head. "It can't be... she hasn't even woven a single sign. But that smug look of hers means it can't be anything else."

"Normally I prefer to finish a match quickly, but for you..." Kin stepped toward Shikamaru and drew a Kunai. Several clones appeared around her, all holding up their own Kunai. "I'm going to enjoy beating you for how your pathetic band of runts interfered with our business in the Forest."

"Ganging up on people when they're unconscious isn't a fair fight." Shikamaru brought himself to his feet unsteadily. He frowned as more copies of her appeared and the room began to sway and turn. He formed a hand sign and stepped back. "I can't tell which of them is the real one. Normally if I stretch my shadow as thin as I can, I could at least manage three, but I won't be able to get all of the clones without having had time to recover fully from the five days spent in the forest. Right now I can only reliably use my Shadow Possession on one target at a time and I won't be able to hold it for long. If I use it on any besides the original, I'll blow my chance and leave myself vulnerable."

Shikamaru looked at the group of identical figures and narrowed his eyes, clenching his jaw. "Darn it. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be so difficult to tell them apart, but my head..."

"What's the matter, Ponytail?" Kin and her doubles laughed. "You really don't look well. In fact, I'd say you look a bit... green."

Several of Kin rushed at Shikamaru swinging their Kunai. Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly and he narrowly dodged the Kunai one after the other.

"Boo."

"Behind me, now?!" Shikamaru retrieved his own Kunai and turned just in time to block a Kunai strike to his neck. He pushed back against her blade and his Kunai scraped against the wall. His eyes grew wider and he stared at the space she had been. "She disappeared?! But how? And when did I get so close to the wall? I was sure I was still in the center of the room."

"Like a little lost rat..." Kin and her clones mocked.

"Come on, think! There must be some trick to this-" Shikamaru dropped to his knees clutching his head. He grunted and then covered his mouth before being unable to stop himself from vomiting onto the floor.

"S-Shikamaru...?" Choji's eyes widened.

"W-What's happening?" Sakura covered her mouth and murmured. "She's barely done anything at all and Shikamaru is..."

"I don't understand what's going on..." Naruto frowned. "What's wrong with Shikamaru?"

"Something does not seem right about this match." Lee's brows furrowed and his gaze turned from Shikamaru to Kin. "She has yet to weave any sign, but he seems to be in terrible pain."

"Shikamaru..." Asuma frowned slightly and narrowed his eyes at Kin. "Just what has she done?"

"Shikamaru! Stop messing around and get up!" Ino yelled down at him. "Do you not see her right there?! This isn't the time to be staying in one place!"

Shikamaru retched again, wiped his mouth with a shaky hand, and then clenched it into a fist. "Don't you think I know that?" He grumbled and looked toward his opponents. "Even if I understand the situation I'm in, it's difficult to think like this."

"Poor little Shadow Brat." Kin laughed and several of her copies lunged at him with their Kunai as he narrowly dodged their strikes with a roll. "Wouldn't it be better to just concede? It's hopeless for you."

He grabbed his head again and groaned. "This pain...! I need to figure out what's causing this."

"Poor, poor, little boy. I almost feel sorry for you."

"Shut up." Shikamaru glared as he winced again. "She didn't weave a single sign but managed to summon so many clones. Not only that, but they've got substance, which means that they're Shadow Clones? But that technique isn't possible without the hand seal. So how...?" He dodged once again and his eyes wide edge slightly. "Unless this is all... a Genjutsu? It's the only thing that makes sense, given everything. In that case..." He formed a hand sign and channeled his Chakra. "Release!"

There was a pause and Kin laughed loudly.

"Oh? What was that, Ponytail? Was that supposed to do something?"

"It didn't work?" Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "There's no way these could be real Shadow Clones; it has to be a Genjutsu, but it's clear that this one is especially strong." Channeling his Chakra, he formed a sign again. "Release!"

"Try that as many times as you need." Kin sneered and spun her Kunai around her finger. "It's quite entertaining."

"It's still not working?!" Shikamaru's frown deepened. "So this...?"

"He's reacting the same way as all of Kin's past opponents." Dosu chuckled and watched Shikamaru dodge, then freeze and clutch his head. "He's stubborn, but stubbornness can't spare him from the effects of her technique. The pain and pressure by this point will be reaching its peak until he'll believe that his head will burst and he'll be forced to concede, or he might lose consciousness from the pain. Either way, this will be another easy win for Kin." He furrowed his brows. "As long as she stops playing with him, that is."

"Still haven't figured it out?" Kin clicked her tongue. "I guess the Leaf's Shinobi aren't as sharp as we've heard."

"Relying on clones like this, the real one is going to be safely hanging back. The trick is to find the real one, however, they aren't all attacking at once, either. She's been holding enough back to keep me from figuring it out." Shikamaru examined the copies and narrowed his eyes, forming a hand sign. "But still... everyone slips up sometimes. Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

His shadow shifted and shot out towards the clones and Kin smirked as several of the copies jumped back from the shadow.

"Do you really think that you can stop me with your shadow?" Kin laughed. "How funny."

Shikamaru winced, pressing his shadow forward across the floor. His eyes widened as his shadow pulsed and swelled, growing around the room and taking on the form of dark flames. "She can even make me lose control of my Shadow Possession?! Not only that, but it's spreading out much longer than should be possible!" He gritted his teeth. "How...? This has to be a Genjutsu, after all. For some reason, I couldn't release it earlier, so that means I need to take a more drastic approach."

Shikamaru glanced down at the sheath on his thigh. "The second method of breaking a Genjutsu... the most troublesome way, but effective..." He took out a Kunai, furrowed his brows, and then held the tip over his thigh.

"Oh, a desperate attempt. How cute." Kin clicked her tongue and one copy of her gripped his wrist tightly with a widening smirk. "But you've just secured my victory."

"When did one of them get behind me?" Shikamaru's eyes widened and clenched his jaw; Searing, fiery pain replaced the pounding of his head and he grunted, struggling to keep his eyes open.

His stomach twisted into knots, acid burned in his throat, and Kin chuckled as she forced his hand to aim the Kunai at his stomach despite his resistance.

"I wonder how much your little friends will cry or scream if they see you slice open your belly with your own hand." Kin lowered her voice to a whisper, leaning closer to his ear as she brought the blade nearer. "Maybe that obnoxious blonde will faint. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"You've got a seriously twisted idea of fun." Shikamaru grabbed his arm to reinforce it, continuing to resist her attempts to pull the blade into his abdomen. "I didn't expect her to be this strong at all. She certainly doesn't look it... my head feels like it's on fire and the room won't stop spinning- and it's only getting worse. At this rate, I won't be able to resist her much longer when she's created such an unfavorable situation for me."

"And here I was hoping you'd be more of a challenge." Kin hissed in his ear with a breathy laugh.

"I'd say I hate to disappoint, but..." Shikamaru furrowed his brows and reached back into his pouch and took hold of a small item. "But I really don't care about entertaining you!"

Kin's eyes widened as he held up the Explosive Tag. The seal flickered and glowed in response to his Chakra, then exploded. Shikamaru was thrown back by the force of the blast, his back slamming against the wall as Kin was thrown to the opposite side of the room.

"Shikamaru!" Ino's eyes widened and she gripped the railing, looking down through the smoke that obscured the onlooker's vision. "I can't see him! Why would he do something so reckless?!"

"I'm sure Shikamaru has a plan." Choji looked at Ino, then down again, and frowned slightly.

"I never anticipated he'd resort to using a Paper Bomb." Asuma crossed his arms and furrowed his brows. "Though the situation he was in was dire, there's no telling how much damage he took from that himself."

"Shikamaru!" Naruto's eyes widened.

"I can't see a thing because of all this smoke." Sakura frowned. "What was he thinking?"

Shikamaru groaned, peeling himself away from the wall as he rubbed his head. The ringing in his ears faded and he blinked as he straightened. "I only wanted to knock back the clone and use the cover of smoke, but all of the symptoms from before are gone, too." He looked out through the smoke and narrowed his eyes, listening to Kin's coughing. "So that's what her technique was all along."

"Idiot." Dosu exhaled and frowned as the smoke filled the room. "If she had just finished it quickly as she usually does, she would have been declared the winner already."

"Should we step in?" Anko frowned deeply and glanced toward the Hokage.

"That won't be necessary." Hiruzen chewed on the end of his pipe with one arm behind his back. "I never would have imaged a girl her age might have such a dangerous technique in her arsenal, however, have faith in Shikamaru."

"W-Why you-!" Kin coughed and staggered forward as the ringing in her ears faded away. She glared through the smoke and rubbed her throat. "I can't believe he was able to disrupt my attack like that! Did he figure it out?! How? And when?"

"What's the matter?" Shikamaru stretched and massaged his shoulder with a faint smirk playing on his lips as he spoke through the smoke. "Not used to having anyone resist?"

Kin turned quickly toward his voice, clenching her jaw and she drew another Kunai. "Don't get cocky, you Shadow Brat! This is far from over!" Kin shifted her weight as she raised the Kunai to throw it. "I can't aim properly with all this smoke still around. Did he plan this?" She touched her throat and channeled her Chakra, only to cough again. "It isn't just making it hard to see, but it's hard to breathe, too."

"It's hard to talk when you're coughing, isn't it?" Shikamaru looked around and locked his eyes on a spot in the slowly dissipating cloud, then closed his eyes briefly as he smirked. "I've got to admit that your technique was cruder than I thought it was originally. It's not a Jutsu that's very refined or ladylike, that's for sure."

"You stupid, sexist...!" Kin gripped her Kunai tightly and scowled.

"Well, I'll hand it to you that you've managed to push me this far, even though you're a woman."

"I told you to not look down on women!" Kin rushed forward with her Kunai toward his voice.

"That idiot's done it now. She's thrown the match." Dosu shook his head.

"Hmph." Shikamaru opened his eyes, still smirking as Kin came into view through the cloud. "Got you."

Kin's eyes widened as his shadow jumped forward and attached to her own. She gritted her teeth at him and growled. "H-How?!"

"Shadow Possession Jutsu complete." Shikamaru raised his brow and opened his hand, forcing her to open her own and drop the Kunai. "It was simple, really. Once I realized that you weren't actually using a Genjutsu at all, it wasn't difficult to figure out how to stop you from there."

"The smoke... you shouldn't have been able to see me."

"I have you to thank for that. After all, you rushing through it like that created the change in the air that caused it to shift and thin enough for me to see you." He put his hand on his hip, and she was forced to copy the movement. "Creating such vivid hallucinations, though... I didn't anticipate that. I got thrashed around quite a bit, but I suppose it's my fault for underestimating you."

"Y-You stupid ponytailed brat..." Kin growled again and tried to struggle against his paralysis, only able to twitch her fingers. "Let me out of this. I demand a fair fight."

"For a Shinobi, it's fair to utilize any weapon or Jutsu in our arsenal, isn't that right?" Shikamaru met her eyes, then formed another hand sign. "It's troublesome to continue holding you like this and I'll lose if I run out of Chakra, so it looks like there's only one thing left to do."

"What are you-?!" Her eyes widened again as a portion of their joined shadow shifted into the shape of a hand then wrapped around her leg, moving up her body. Her cheeks grew hot as the dark hand continued to rise, passing over her stomach and chest before gripping her throat. "W-What...?!"

"Ninja Art: Shadow Strange Jutsu."

The Shadowy hand gripped her throat more tightly and Kin wriggled, trying to grab at the hand with her words strained.

"C-Curse you...!" Kin muttered and gasped for air, though none came.

Shikamaru clenched his jaw and beads of sweat accumulated on his brow. "I'm almost out of Chakra... if I can just hold on a little longer..."

Kin forced her hand toward him, reaching out as if to grab him as the hand flickered, though clenched tighter, and finally Kin fell limp.

Shikamaru dropped to his knees, his breathing ragged, and his shadow pulled back to him. Kin's unconscious body dropped to the ground and he wiped his brow with the back of his hand.

"She was a tougher opponent than I anticipated. Had I run out of Chakra just a moment sooner, she could have broken free and knocked me out."

The last of the smoke cleared and Hayate cough and stepped forward to press his fingers to Kin's neck, then he stood and coughed again.

"The winner is Shikamaru Nara."

"Yes! Good job, Shikamaru!" Ino cheered.

"It was a pretty stressful match but it's finally over." Choji sighed, and then cupped his hands around his mouth. "Great job, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru rubbed his neck and watched as a pair of Medics lifted Kin onto a stretcher and carried her away. He groaned and turned to walk up to his teammates. "What a troublesome match-up..."

"Shikamaru!" Ino grinned and waved as he drew closer. "That was an exciting fight! How do you feel about that win?"

"I'm exhausted now." Shikamaru scratched his head. "Not to mention, I'm sore everywhere."

"You've earned a rest." Asuma smiled and patted his shoulder. "Well done, Shikamaru."

"Shikamaru, what the heck was that?!" Naruto pointed at him and frowned. "She hardly did anything but stand there until the end, but you were swinging your Kunai around and throwing up and stuff for no reason. You looked so lame!"

"Naruto, that's enough!" Sakura pinched Naruto's cheek. "It should be obvious that she was using a Genjutsu on him."

"Hm?" Shikamaru lowered his arm and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I was never in a Genjutsu to begin with."

"What?" Ino and Sakura blinked simultaneously.

"So... you were just acting stupid on purpose?" Naruto squinted at Shikamaru and crossed his arms.

"It's true; I didn't detect a Genjutsu at all." Kiri interjected and put her hand on her hip. "I am a Genjutsu specialist, after all." She looked at Natsumi beside her. "I have my ways of recognizing Genjutsu, right?"

"Hmph." Natsumi crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks, averting her eyes slightly. "It's true that I didn't lose consciousness again, but it's equally true that his behavior made no sense."

Shikamaru looked at Asuma. "Did you realize the trick behind it, too?"

"Not at first, though I believe now I understand some of it." Asuma crossed his arms and touched his chin.

"It's a drag, but it looks like I'll have to explain her technique." Shikamaru sighed. "I should have realized it sooner, but that Zaku guy wasn't the only one with modifications done to his body. She was able to use Chakra to alter her speech in order to create sound at tones that I couldn't hear, manipulating the sound waves to elicit different symptoms from the powerful hallucinations, to the vomiting and the pain in my head."

"Hallucinations?" Sakura repeated. "That explains why you weren't able to release it like a Genjutsu."

"But you got out your Kunai and tried to stab yourself!" Naruto pointed at Shikamaru again. "She wasn't even near you, and you were fighting with yourself. And then you almost blew yourself up with that paper bomb."

"That was part of the hallucination too, you idiot." Shikamaru shook his head. "The hallucination was so powerful that it actually felt like a tangible clone was behind me, controlling my hand to try to get me to wound myself."

"If you knew that, then why was the paper bomb for?" Ino asked.

"Eh? No, I didn't realize it until after I'd used the Explosive Tag. I only meant to be able to use the smoke as a distraction and to make it harder for her to see me, but it was only then that I realized just how she was pulling it off." Shikamaru paused and tapped his neck. "She couldn't produce the sounds when she was too busy coughing. As soon as her concentration broke and the tones stopped, so did my symptoms. After that, it was easy to goad her into shouting and revealing her position, and then running right into range of my Shadow Possession."

"That's our Shikamaru for you." Choji nodded as he listened. "Always a few steps ahead."

"Thanks, Choji." Shikamaru met his friend's eyes. "I couldn't let myself lose to a bratty girl like that and disappoint Team Ten, after all."

"You did well, that's for sure." Asuma smiled with a nod. "You and Ino both made us proud, and I'm sure Choji will do just as well when it's his turn."

Choji frowned slightly and looked downward.

"It looks like Kin's confidence got her into trouble this time." Dosu watched Kin carried out of the room and he turned his gaze toward Shikamaru. "He was a more difficult opponent for her than he looked. Not many people have ever figured out Kin's Jutsu, and fewer have broken free of it. It seems he's one that I have to keep my eye on as well."

"Hmph. Not a bad match, I suppose." Temari muttered and crossed her arms, then looked at Shikamaru across the room. "I guess that dopey-looking guy actually has a brain, after all."

Hayate coughed and looked around the room, and then turned his gaze on the screen. "We will now proceed to the next match."

"Let it be my turn next." Lee clenched his fist and furrowed his gaze at the screen, glancing at the Suna Ninja in his peripherals.

"I'm the only one left now." Dosu kept his eye on the names as they flashed on the screen. "Zaku and Kin have both lost. It seems it's up to me to preserve our dignity."

"The only people left are that one Sound Ninja, me, Hinata, Choji, Lee, and..." Kiba held up a finger with each name, then stopped himself abruptly to look at Hinata from the corner of his eye. "...And also that one Sand guy with the gourd." Akamaru whimpered and Kiba gulped, daring to glance across the room at the red-haired boy. "Just please spare me from that guy. I'll forfeit immediately if his name's paired up with mine."

"This year's rookies look quite challenging, surprisingly." Neji paused and then turned his head to look down the line of Leaf candidates until his eyes rested on the girl with short, dark hair. His eyes narrowed at her, and she turned her head, feeling the intensity of his gaze. Her eyes widened as their gazes met, and she pressed her lips in a tight line as she averted her eyes.

"And the next match is..." Hayate coughed as a pair of names were displayed.

Inuzuka Kiba

Vs

Uzumaki Naruto

"My turn! It's here, finally! Yes!" Naruto pumped his fists and grinned broadly. "This is what I've been waiting for! It's go time!"