The scene starts with the Sand girl jumping down onto a stadium battlefield. She's younger than in the previous scene. She lands on her feet and waits for her opponent.

'Let me guess. Chunin exams?' Kiba laughs. It's a good guess.

'It's not the same arena Gaara and Lee fought in.' Sakura points out, but she doesn't necessarily disagree with Kiba.

Lee blinks a couple times. 'But it does have that Sand girl.'

In the end Sasuke just shrugs. 'Maybe we'll finally get to know her name.' because they still didn't know it.

The referee turns to her. 'Well, at least you seem willing to fight.' Then he turns back to look at the people up in the stands. 'Hey! Final candidate, get down here!'

'What does he mean by that.' Naruto narrows his eyes. He doesn't get why people always tend to talk so confusingly. It always makes his head spin in a thousand directions.

'Maybe the previous ones gave up.' Itachi suggest. It does happen pretty frequently. Even at the exams he participated in.

'Why would they do that?' Why would someone give up when they're nearly there?

'Maybe they were up against Gaara?' Neji suggests. He doubts even his future self would be able to stand against that guy. The sand is extremely dangerous. Not to mention it would dirty his clothes.

'Good point.'

The shot changes to look at Shikamaru who's grip on the railing seems to have tightened. Hey! Hey! What's the rush? Hold your horses. Why am I always getting shafted in the match schedule, huh? Darn it. I should just withdraw too. Sweat drips down his face. Then a hand reaches behind him and pushes him of the stands.

Ino sighs. 'Shikamaru. Really.'

'Can you blame me.' The says. The group turns to look at him with narrowed eyes.

'Yes.' Is the resounding reply.

'Go get them, Shikamaru!' It's Naruto that shoved him of the stands. He falls forwards with a scream and doesn't even bother saving his landing. He lands on his back right on the stadium floor.

Naruto you jerk. Now he has to fight.

'Great job Naruto. Now he gets to actually do something.' Ino yells at the boy. Naruto rubs the back of his neck. The rest of the group smiles. Shikaku as well. Shikamaru does need some motivation to get things done. And sometimes just pushing him into the situation works best. He would know, he used to be the same.

'So, this is Shikamaru when not angry.' Tenten observes. He's way different from when he fought against Hidan and Kakuzu.

'Don't make him angry. Great lesson.' Shisui nods and adds it to his notes.

'How long are you gonna lie there? Get up kid!' the sand girl speaks to him.

Shikamaru slowly moves himself a little bit. Everybody was looking forward to Sasuke's match. And now they're being offered a poor substitute for the main attraction. Everyone's annoyed. There are boos coming from the public all around the stadium. He still doesn't get up. No one cares about the outcome of my match. Is there any point in fighting?

'Yes, there is.' A couple of people in the room reply. Shikamaru does his best to make himself disappear. He feels kind of naked when people are hearing his thoughts.

'I wonder what happened to Sasuke?' Itachi says out loud. He can't help but be worried about his precious little brother.

'Maybe he got scared?' Naruto teases while giving the boy in question a little shove.

'Sasuke? No way.' Ino replies. Sasuke would never get scared. He's way too cool for that.

'What, you're going to give up too?' the girl taunts him.

Meanwhile Shikamaru is still contemplating his life choices. I'm up against a girl again.

'Is that a problem.' Tsume narrows her eyes at the boy. Shikamaru doesn't even flinch.

'Girls are weak.' He replies.

Sakura isn't taking that. 'Future me can create craters in the ground. Don't you dare say that again.' Kiba has to agree with her. He lives with two girls he knows they are anything but weak, they're actually really scary. No wonder his father couldn't handle it.

Asuma looks at his student, slightly disappointed. He doesn't have a competitive bone in his body…

'Hey Shikamaru! Get up and fight!' Naruto yells from the stands.

The girl doesn't seem to be taking it anymore either and rushes at him. 'If you won't come to me, I'm gonna go to you!'

'Not the smartest decision but I get where she's coming from.' Shisui points out.

The referee stands there, slightly annoyed. 'I haven't told you to start yet…'

'Poor Genma.' Iruka laughs.

Kakashi as well is smiling. 'It's nothing he isn't used to.'

Shikamaru takes out a kunai. 'Sheesh. This chick really wants to fight.' The girl still rushes at him with her fan and plonks it down into the are Shikamaru was laying down. It creates a large blast of dust and smoke.

Once the smoke created by the blast clears, Shikamaru is up in the air. 'I don't really care whether I become chunin or not, but… I can't stand the idea of losing to a girl, so I guess I'm in.'

'That's a little sexist.' Hinata says a little softly.

'I have to agree. Trust me. Don't underestimate women, especially mothers. They're absolutely terrifying.' Jiraiya explains. Shikamaru stares at the guy for a couple seconds.

'Like I don't know.' His own mother is scary enough herself.

The girl doesn't hesitate to rush at him once again. Swinging her fan at him. Once again, the area is covered in smoke and dust. The smoke eventually clears and Shikamaru is nowhere to be seen. 'He's pretty quick.' The girl says.

Shikamaru is hidden behind one of the trees. But… it's not like a boy can just clobber a girl either.

'Who knows, maybe you'll marry a girl like her.' Naruto teases the boy.

'Wouldn't that be such a drag.' He can't even imagine getting married yet. He's still too young, like way too young to get married.

'Knock her block off! Shikamaru just hit her with a 16-punch combo!' Ino cheers from the sidelines. She's rather loud and probably not much of a help.

'Is this seat taken?' A voice asks her. Ino turns to look at who's talking and it's her other teammate Chouji. He's munching on some snacks in his hands.

'Oh, it's you. Is your stomach better already?' She asks her friend and by the fact that he's eating one can make their own conclusions.

'Did something happen?' Sakura asks. She can't help but be worried about the boy. Chouji is really sweet after all.

'How are we supposed to know. We haven't seen anything yet.' Sasuke points out. He doesn't get why people keep asking these questions. It's not like they know either.

'Sorry.'

'At least we know he got better.' Shino replies. The rest of the group couldn't help but agree with him.

The girl with the fan repositions herself for the next attack. This guy uses shadows in his techniques, right? He's probably trying to lure me into the wooded area where it's shady, but there's no way I'm falling for that.

Shikamaru isn't too happy either. Man… why do I always end up fighting girls? He looks up at the sky where there are clouds passing by. Oh, how I envy the clouds. They're so free. I have absolutely no desire to fight. The whole reason I became a ninja in the first place was so I could live my life the way I wanted. Naruto cheers him on from the stands. But it looks like it won't be that easy. He smiles his best smile he comes out of hiding.

'This is such a mood.' Naruto laughs. He loves being a human but sometimes he does wish to be something else. If only to escape the glances of the villagers.

'Glad you agree.'

'Being a cloud doesn't sound fun either. I mean you're just water particles.' Sakura points out. It would technically mean that you are cut up into tiny little pieces. That doesn't sound too fun.

'Let's not think of it like that.'

What's with the stupid expression on his face? Is he mocking me? The girl doesn't know what to think. She takes her fan and swings it as hard as she can. 'Wind scythe!' She yells, and the stadium is taken over by wind. The harsh winds cut the trees Shikamaru is hiding behind. But it also causes a lot of dust to spring up, making it difficult for the girl to see what Shikamaru is doing.

'That's pretty powerful.' Hiashi is impressed. A genin with that amount of force. It's surprising that she hasn't been promoted before this. She does have the skill.

'Looks scary.' Naruto shivers. 'But not in the Madara kind of way.' Madara was scary on another level.

'I get it.' Sasuke replies.

The dust isn't even clear when a shadow reaches out from it. The girl notices this and hops backwards trying to avoid it. As she does so she notices something. It's shrinking. Eventually she lands far enough that the shadow isn't able to reach her.

'Oh no.' Sakura looks at the screen. How's Shikamaru going to be able to beat her now.

'It's Shika. He has a plan.' Ino explains. She has been working with him since forever, so she does know.

'He'll probably give up half way though.' Chouji explains. He knows his friend long enough to know how he works.

'He didn't do it at the start.' Naruto replies.

'That's right. But only because you pushed him in.' Naruto did look a little sheepish after that.

'It seems there are some limits to how much you can manipulate the size and shape of your shadow, hm?' She smirks. 'Even though you can stretch your shadow at will you can't increase its overall size past its normal surface area, right?'

'Pretty much.' Shikamaru mutters. It's what everyone knows essentially.

'There's more. Isn't there?' Tenten asks the boy. Shikamaru shrugs.

'Why should I tell you?'

Shikamaru smirks. He must have some sort of plan. But the girl isn't aware of that.

The girl puts her fan on the ground and starts measuring the distance between her and Shikamaru.

'That looks really difficult.' Naruto doesn't get anything to do with measurements. They make his head spin.

Lee nods. 'It's math. Of course, it's difficult.' There are a couple of people that disagree.

Shikamaru meanwhile looks up at the clouds once again and puts his hands in a strange formation.

'What's that hand sign?' Kurenai asks Asuma who's sitting next to her like the couple they are.

'That's not a sign. It's just a habit of his.' Asuma explains.

'It does look really stupid.' Sasuke points out. Shikamaru sighs. He should have expected that.

'It makes him a little vulnerable.' Shisui agrees.

Iruka can see their points but they're also missing something important. 'The girl doesn't dare to get close though.'

'Smart move on her part.'

'Habit?'

'He really knows how to relax. He enjoys letting time slip by, just like an old geezer. He's always bugging me to play go or shogi with him but whenever he gets stuck, he always assumes that pose.' Asuma continues to explain.

Kurenai looks a little shocked.

'He's plotting his strategy! And… I've never beating him, not even once.' Asuma smiles as he's proud of his student.

'Of course. He looks kind of dumb.' At Kiba declaration the adults in the room sigh. Asuma is not dumb even if he doesn't look the smartest.

'That's not very nice to say…' Hinata points out. Kiba shrugs. He's right.

'Strategy? This is a real battle not a game.'

'People say that before they became plaything, those same game pieces were used by military advisors to plan their strategies. So, I guess Shikamaru would make a first-rate military advisor.' Asuma speaks with his cigarette stuck between his teeth.

'Wait a minute! I remember reviewing his grades back when we were dividing up the genin into teams, Shikamaru's grades were as bad as Naruto's.' Kurenai argues back.

'Oi! What's that supposed to mean?' Naruto yells out loud.

'Just as it sounds. Your grades suck.' Sasuke teases the boy. He has the brightest smile he can make on his face.

Naruto shakes in anger. 'I can't help it that everything is so confusing, and Sensei uses all these confusing kanji.'

'Then read the dictionary.'

'Back at the academy he was too lazy to even move his pencil to take notes and he told me he always dozed off during exams.' Asuma smirks. 'One time I was so baffled by his proficiency at strategy games that I gave him an IQ test. I convinced him it was just another puzzle. I kind of did it just to mess with him but…'

'What was his score?' Kurenai asks. Now she's curious.

'He's a sharp one alright! He's got an IQ of over 200. He's a freaking genius!'

'Aw. Not over 9000.' Tenten thinks that's a missed opportunity.

Neji sighs. 'The test doesn't go that high.' He got tested as well so he knows.

By this point the fight in the arena continues. The girl takes out her fan. 'Looks like you've finally mustered up some fighting spirit!' She yells as she moves her fan in an attack once more. It's the same wind scythe attack she used previously. The winds rage over the battlefield once again and Shikamaru has to hurry to hide himself behind one of the trees, kunai in hand. 'You can't hide from me!' The girl yells.

With one eye on the battlefield Shikamaru takes off his jacket, still trying to be as well-hidden as possible.

'Stripping in front of a girl.' Naruto has a little devilish smirk on his face as he pokes Shikamaru's back with a stick he found hidden in one of the desks.

Shikamaru leans into the poking, it feels like a massage. 'It's called a plan.'

'Oh. So, you're using Naruto's seduction techniques now.' Sasuke joins into the teases. Naruto gets a little red in the face.

'Never.' Is the blunt reply of Shikamaru.

The girl swings her fan again. 'How long are you going to keep running around? Will you quit it already!' She yells at him once again. She swings her fan again but this time a well-aimed kunai flies toward her. Without much effort she's able to block it with her fan. It's useless! As long as I stay behind this line you can't catch me. She smirks. Then she realizes something. Shoot! The shadow which previous wasn't able to reach past the line now suddenly is able to.

'Oh my.' Mikoto holds her hand to her face. A match like this is a little bit like a breath of fresh air from all the tense moments. This is just a normal match and nothing more.

'She's in trouble.' Chouza had to agree with her. He knows how the Nara work after working with them for so many years.

'Looks like it's going to be a loss for her.' Kakashi agrees.

It's not by much however and she's able to dodge it once again. 'Nicely done.' Shikamaru complements her.

'I get it. You were buying time, waiting for the sun to drop so that the area of the wall's shadow and your own shadow would increase. Because as the day lengthens, so do shadows.' The girl is impressed but still cocky enough to think she can win. Taking into account the sun's current position and his last maximum attack distance. I'm definitively safe here for sure.

'Knowing Shika, I don't think so.' Chouji mutters while shoving a slice of cake into his mouth. Even though he's been eating the entire time, the table in front doesn't get emptier at all. It's like is magically replenishes itself.

'Yeah. He can steal all your snacks and you would be none the wiser.' Sasuke agrees. Every time one of his snacks goes missing he always sees the boy eating it later. It's not fair.

'I don't do that!' Shikamaru yells at Sasuke.

'Sorry.' Naruto smiles. Sasuke glares at the boy. He's the one that stole his snacks? Shikamaru is right. Naruto is a jerk.

Shikamaru smirks. And if that's not a sign for what's to come.

'Temari look up!' The sand boy that's not Gaara yells at her. And she listens to him.

'The kangaroo guy!' Naruto yells as he points his finger at the screen. The group turns to look at him.

'What?'

'He looks like a kangaroo.' Naruto argues. The rest of group considers it but concludes that's not the case.

'He really doesn't.'

'At least we know her name now.' Sasuke points out. They've been waiting for that for a while now.

'Temari. It's an okay name I guess.' Shisui writes it down for future reference.

'Says the guy that's named after drowning.'

Brilliant. Is the lone comment from Shino, the local sass master.

Temari looks into the sky. Something is flying at her and it creates a shadow in the ground. The shadow gets progressively larger until it nearly snatches her. Luckily, she noticed just in time and was able to jump away once again. The shadow is still growing in size.

'Diversion.' Fugaku mutters. Itachi would've come up with something better for sure. 'That's basic.'

'I still think it's impressive.' Tsume disagrees with the man.

Shikamaru takes notice, of course. 'I won't let you get away!' he shouts as he lets the shadow curve away from where it was to the area she's in.

We finally get to look above and the things that's creating the shadow is Shikamaru's vest, which is parachuting a kunai.

'Oh. That's why you stripped.' Sasuke sounds a little disappointed. He hoped it would be something a little more exciting.

'Too bad we didn't get to see more.' Ino says out loud. The group turns to look at her.

'No.'

Temari is pissed. I never guessed he'd use his vest as a parachute to give himself more shadows to work with. The shadow continues to follow her. This guy is really something. With his shadow attacks, he forced me to keep my attention on the ground and kept me from noticing the parachute. And now if I focus on the parachute I'll be distracted from his ground attacks. Then she starts smirking. But now it is crystal clear what the shadow possession technique is all about!

'Feel free to tell us.' Kiba has sparkles in his eyes. He could use that if he ever has to fight against Shikamaru.

'It'll be good blackmail material.' Naruto agrees with him.

Temari lands herself on the ground once more and positions her fan for the attack. She smirks but she's not prepared for the expression on Shikamaru's face.

'You managed to dodge me again?' He blankly states but it's obvious he's got some sort of plan.

'What's he gonna do?' Sakura asks. She has no idea what's going to happen.

'Probably something that's really smart and really stupid at the same time.' Ino explains to her. That's how Shikamaru does things. He does something smart that's really stupid at the same time because you should've thought of it before.

'I thought those things were mutually exclusive.'

If I don't get this over with, his advantage is going to keep growing along with the shadow of the arena's wall. Temari is debating her options. My next move will end this.

Shikamaru's shadow reaches out once again. She's got her eyes on it, to make sure she can dodge it if it gets too close. She puts her hands in a sign for her next attack, but she finds herself unable to move.

'How did he do that?' From what Naruto knows about the technique he doesn't understand how he got her.

'He got her.' Sasuke explains. Naruto looks at him. He knows that but he wants to know how.

You've got to be kidding? But that's not the case as she's caught in the shadow possession jutsu.

On the other side of the arena Shikamaru is smirking. 'Shadow possession jutsu is a success.' The audience is shocked. How did he managed to get her?

'Why do I suddenly want to smirk?' Kiba asks the crowd.

'It the mood.' Shino says but no one replies as always.

'Shika nailed her.' Naruto cheers. That was pretty badass of him. But he's still not as cool as Kakashi, or Madara. He'll have to practice a little more for that.

Temari turns to look behind and her and there is a hole from which the shadow that caught her extends. 'The hole?'

'You saw it, didn't you? In the last battle, Naruto burst out of that hole to attack Neji.' A quick flashback of said incident appears on screen. 'He tunneled under the ground from that bigger hole between us, so they're connected.'

'So, Naruto's match came first. And it was against Neji. Like that one with Hinata suggested.' Itachi takes note. It might not tell them a lot but it does help a little.

'We'll get there with the time line.' Shisui encourages his friend with a pat on the back.

'Did you see how awesome I was!' Naruto points to the screen as he looks at the group watching. Everyone ignores him though.

'Don't tell me you used the shadow inside the tunnel between the two holes?'

'Bingo!' Shikamaru nods.

'Classic.' Shikaku is proud of his son for having noticed that. His only problem is that the hole hadn't appeared on the screen before. Then he would be able to have predicted the turn of events.

'Go! Shika!' Kiba yells at his friend. Lee joins in as well.

Temari is struggling. She can't get out of it. She's surely trapped. Don't tell me… That parachute was just another diversion. You jerk!

'Trust me. Sasuke is a bigger jerk.' Naruto explains.

'Am not!' Sasuke pouts. He doesn't think he's a jerk. Even if he does push Naruto into the mud all the time.

Shikamaru uses the connection between them to get closer to her. Step by step. Then slowly Shikamaru raises his hand, and so does Temari. Tensions in the stadium rise. Chouji is munching his snacks with outmost passion. The rest of the kids cheer him on.

In the end it's Shikamaru that speaks. 'That's it. I'm done.'

'Eh.' Was the resounding reaction of the people in the room.

'He had that.' Neji complains. He fails to understand that guy's logic. It doesn't make any sense to him at all.

'Talk about being anticlimactic.' Inoichi laughs. He should've expected a thing like that.

'That's Shikamaru for you.' Ino sighs. She totally agrees with her father there.

The audience is shocked. He had it in the bag. Why would he give up?'

'I told you he was gonna quit.' Chouji says to Ino.

'Said so.' Chouji replies here.

'I used up too much chakra doing all those shadow possessions in succession I won't be able to hold you for more than about 10 seconds. So even though I've planned out around 200 more moves, I think I'm out of time.' Shikamaru explains his reasoning. 'And this fighting stuff is getting to be a drag one match is enough for me.'

'I suppose that makes sense. He could've finished it as well.' Shisui mutters. He doesn't get these kinds of people sometimes. Even if the decision is pretty smart.

'Get her to admit defeat first and then do it himself.' Itachi nods along. 'That makes more sense.'

'He probably wants to torture her with a lousy win.' Iruka knows the boy. And he knows what he does out of pure spite. He's been the victim twice already and it reminds him every time to not get on his bad side.

'I can see that.' Shikaku laughs.

The referee takes it all in. What a weird kid. 'The winner is Temari!' And that's where it ends.

'Weird is one way to describe him.' Neji grumbles. It probably has to do with his smarts. The excess smartness needs to come out somehow.

'At least he's not as strange as Naruto.' Sasuke laughs. Naruto shoves him of his chair.

'Hey!'

Added notes:

Temari is the sand girl

Something happened to Sasuke during chunin exams

'Now I want to see what's next.' Naruto grumbles. The time is really flying while watching all these things. It's probably not much longer and they have to eat dinner already.

'I hope it's about me this time.' Kiba bounces in his seat. They haven't seen much of him after all.

'It's probably not. You're just a side character.' Sasuke teases the guy. Kiba doesn't know how to reply to that, only that Sasuke isn't appearing much either.

The screen lights up and it reads: 'Behind the mask part 2'

'Does this mean we'll get to see Kakashi's face this time?' This caught everyone's attention. Kakashi's face. Wouldn't that be a dream to see?

'I sure hope so.' Jiraiya mutters. Minato did tell him once that it's a pretty face. He has no doubts that if Kakashi were to show his face he would attract the ladies in no time.

'I've heard many great things about it.' Neji replies.

Thank you all for the wait. I'll be changing my update schedule to Saturdays, because it's easier for me. This chapter was pretty fun to write. It's a little bit more laid back than some of the others are.

I hope you're excited for the next one. Every time I have to choose which scene to put in I am like these are all so good but I have to make a choice. I hope you're all patient with me and don't mind it if it takes some time before getting to your suggestions.

Special thanks to Reakor and Guestnyname for the suggestion of this scene.