A/N: Did NOT expect so much positive reception on my version of Naruto vs Neji, but I'm glad you all enjoyed it. I tried to make it interesting, and it was fun to give Naruto some new tools that actually fit his affinity aside from the Rasengan.

This chapter will be less violent than the last one, but once again, the following fight will be different than its canon iteration.

Time for Chapter 46

Enjoy!


Hiruzen briskly made his way through the twisting halls of the arena's interior. A nervous sweat dripped down his brow with each hasty step. A leader was not meant to play favorites. It was a conflict of interest. And yet, he had abandoned his post of honored observer for his own personal feelings. He had seldom been as reliable as he should have been in recent years, and he was determined to break that trend. Naruto and Neji had waged perhaps the most brutal war of attrition Konoha had ever hosted during the exams, and while the blonde had emerged the victor, all immediate impressions suggested that he was the worse for wear of the two.

Containing his bias in favor of the young Jinchuuriki had been difficult during the battle itself, but utterly impossible immediately following the aftermath. Rounding the final corner, Hiruzen's ears picked up on the hustle and bustle of the primary infirmary. With his eyes darting back and forth to each door he passed by, he quickly found what he was looking for. Through a slight crack in the doorway, he spotted Naruto within the fourth door on the left side of the hall.

Pushing the door open and stepping inside, the Hokage ignored the customary bows of respect the medical staff within took. Instead, he immediately focused his attention on the bed in the middle of the room, where Naruto's battered form lay.

"How is he doing? Be detailed." he ordered the lead medical Ninja, a man of middle-age with salt and pepper hair. The medic's expression took on a grim character.

"He just arrived, but from what we've been able to discern, he's in far worse shape than we initially thought. His liver is badly damaged, his stomach is ruptured in two places, and his heart is working overtime to keep him alive. That's not even mentioning the internal hemorrhaging." he said. Hiruzen shuddered. The Gentle Fist was a grave misnomer for the style of taijutsu the Hyuga clan practiced. It was far more brutal than any traditional form.

"Can you heal him?" the elderly leader asked urgently. The lead medic made his way around to the opposite side of the bed, signaling several others to join him.

"His body is already starting to mend the more minor wounds on its own, so that makes things a bit easier, but the rest is going to be tricky. He's lucky to still be alive. We can heal him, but we'll need at least an hour." he explained. Hiruzen relaxed somewhat. A total of three matches remained until Naruto's task in the semifinal round. The final two quarterfinal matches, as well as the first semifinal. There was ample time. The old man's relief was then interrupted by a commotion just outside of the room.

"We can't let you through. I've told you twice already."

"He's my teammate. I've got the right to see him."

Hiruzen recognized the voice of the second speaker. Turning away from the bed and stepping out of the room, he was greeted by the sight of Satsuki Uchiha staring daggers at one of the two chunin stationed as security, who was blocking her path into the infirmary.

"Let her through. There's no harm in it." he ordered the sentry. After a moment of hesitation, the chunin stepped aside and allowed the visibly-perturbed girl through. Hiruzen waved her into the room, to which she quickly followed.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama" she said in a rushed tone. As she laid eyes on the unconscious Naruto, who's shirt had been removed to more directly tend to the litany of chakra burns present all over his body, Satsuki's face contorted into a sickened worry. She hardly made an effort to hide it. Hiruzen put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

'She looks at him so much more…gently than she used to..' he thought to himself as the Uchiha girl silently stared at the procedure being performed on the Jinchuuriki. The Hokage's decision to grant Kakashi's wish of training Naruto had been met with vehement pushback from within, but results had been excellent, and based upon Satsuki's obvious distress, the cell had bonded.

"They didn't even cheer." the Uchiha girl said hollowly. Hiruzen eyed her carefully. Her hands had balled up into fists, and her eyes were narrowed. Satsuki Uchiha had become a good deal more openly emotional since her graduation, for better or worse.

"He gave them a bloodbath, and they gave him the silent treatment. He deserved better. He suffered for this." she hissed. She looked and sounded genuinely angry. It was then that Hiruzen spotted something unsettling. The sealed tattoo on her neck was giving off a slight, barely-noticeable purple glow. She did not appear to be in any pain, but the Hokage quickly attempted to lift the mood regardless.

"Personally, I think they were simply stunned. I've been in attendance for plenty of exam brackets, and of all the matches I've seen, that may have been the most back and forth. What matters is that he won in the end. Don't you agree?" he proposed. Satsuki gave a reluctant nod. Her eyes had not left Naruto.

"I just wish he knew how to win without putting a foot in the grave." she said quietly. The Hokage let his hand drop from her shoulder.

"He'll learn. Someday, at least. For now, I'd appreciate it if you kept him in one piece." he replied. Satsuki glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"That's Sensei's job, isn't it?" she countered. The Hokage met her gaze unflinchingly, and nodded off toward the Jinchuuriki.

"Even if it is, you and I both know that you'd rather handle it personally. Be honest with yourself." he shot back. Satsuki opened her mouth to respond, but slowly closed it.

"Yeah, I would. I just…don't know if I can." she admitted softly. Her voice held a sea of conflict. Its roots were plain to see, if only on the surface.

"He's more complex than you expected him to be, isn't he?" Hiruzen inquired. Satsuki took a step toward Naruto, but was halted by the elderly leader grasping her wrist and shaking his head.

"He keeps breaking a promise he made to me. He told me he'd look out for himself. I'm starting to think that he just can't." the girl said. They both were made to flinch by the Jinchuuriki spasming suddenly on the bed as he was healed. His eyes had opened, and they were bloodshot.

"Stay still for me, kid." the lead medic coached Naruto, who slowly calmed down again. Through his hold on her arm, Hiruzen could feel the tension in Satsuki.

"The truth is, he doesn't know how. He's probably trying to keep his word. He's just never been taught what that means." he said, drawing her back into their conversation. The response he received was cold, direct, and entirely true.

"You were supposed to teach him, and you didn't." Satsuki said, not bothering to turn and face him. How much she knew of the old man's relationship with the Jinchuuriki was not entirely clear, but the lack of clarity did not change how painfully accurate her words were. Finally conceding, Hiruzen released her and allowed her to slot herself into a gap between two of the medics. She did not cry. She did not berate Naruto for his recklessness. She simply took hold of his hand, and stood in silence.

She had truly softened during her time with Team Seven, if just a little.

'I wish I could say that you're wrong.' the Hokage silently lamented as he watched the scene unfold. He was not blind to his own failings. He had allowed Naruto to slip between the cracks far more than he could ever justify, even to himself. Whether Naruto had heard any of what Satsuki had said was a mystery. His eyes were still open, but he hardly looked conscious. His body was still in shock. It was an incredible feat that he had managed to win at all given his condition.

The sound of muffled cheers then erupted up above, likely signifying the beginning of the next match.

"He'll be alright, Satsuki. Go support your team. Let the medics do their work." the Hokage, having made his way closer to the bed. Though she hesitated a moment, the Uchiha girl eventually released Naruto's hand and stepped back. Slowly, she turned and walked toward the door. Taking one last look back at her injured comrade, Satsuki left the infirmary. Hiruzen spent several more moments observing the medics as they tended to Naruto before finally stepping out of the room himself.

'Godspeed. He'll need his strength soon.'


Shikamaru let out a long sigh as he strode toward the center of the arena, where Temari and Genma already awaited him. He was well over two minutes late, and the crowd was letting him know exactly how they felt about it. Boos and jeers were raining down, and they didn't seem poised to stop. Shoving his hands into his pockets, the Nara picked up speed and briskly shuffled to his designated position across from his foreign foe.

"Took you long enough. We can start off slow if you're feeling nervous." Temari joked with a smirk across her lips. Shikamaru gave her no outward reaction.

"I got lost on the way." he replied, drawing a raised eyebrow from the proctor. Unfortunately, he was being entirely honest. He had been half-asleep during the briefing early that same morning, and had forgotten the route to the arena's interior.

"Kind of a habit of yours, seems like." Temari said. Genma then cleared his throat to silence the conversation, snapping both genin to attention.

"We're already behind schedule, so let's make this quick. You both know the rules, you both know what you can and can't do. The match is over when one of you is dead or incapacitated. Any questions?" he reeled off, clearly eager to correct the delay as best he could. Both genin shook their heads, stepping back several feet. With one last look to either one of them, Genma raised his arm up above his head.

"If you're both ready…" he began, pausing momentarily for effect. Even in a rush, it appeared that theatrics were still a staple of the Chunin exams.

"...you may begin!" the proctor announced, chopping the arm down toward the ground. Temari immediately leapt backwards, a motion Shikamaru mimicked. Once both had settled at their preferred range, immediate conflict ensued. Wasting no time at all, the Suna genin unfurled her fan and whipped it at a sharp angle in front of herself.

"Ninja Art: Wind Scythe!" she yelled, sending forth a violent torrent of serrated wind in Shikamaru's direction. The Nara's eyes flicked over to a nearby tree, his form flickering a moment later. Narrowly avoiding bisection, the leaf genin made a hard dash for the shelter he had spotted. Though he managed to evade the worst of the hurricane sent his way, he was still jerked off balance by the outer winds, forcing him to awkwardly catch a branch and dangle from it.

'She starts hot. Same as with chess.' he thought to himself, dropping back down to the ground with his eyes keenly fixed on Temari. The fan wielder was still wearing a smile. She looked quite pleased with herself.

"Never took you for a runner!" she called out from across the battlefield. Shikamaru ignored her and swept his vision across the vast space. The environment they were competing in did not favor him in the slightest. It was early afternoon, which meant the sun was still high, and the overwhelming majority of the arena was devoid of structures. Shadows were scarce, and his foe could easily chip away at him from a distance.

There were ways to work around each individual problem rather easily, but in tandem, his situation was unenviable. Planning would be needed, and with immediacy. Setting aside a portion of his headspace for the formation of a strategy, and several backups, Shikamaru reached into his pouch and produced a set of shuriken. Dashing out from the shadow of the tree, the leaf genin launched the projectiles at Temari. They were not intended to connect. Their purpose was to probe for a reaction.

When the spinning blades reached her, the Suna girl simply deflected them with the butt of her steel fan. Though it was a minor defensive response, it had the potential to signal toward something quite important. One occurrence was not enough to suggest a pattern. As such, Shikamaru tested the waters for a second time, this time with a pair of kunai. Once again, Temari deflected the traffic coming her way with her fan. With two identical reactions logged, Shikamaru came to a fairly confident conclusion.

'She won't waste her jutsu on anything she doesn't need it for. Either that, or she's purely using it offensively.' he thought to himself, noting the information he had gathered. It was small, but it was exploitable. All that was needed was the proper tactic to take advantage of it. Seeming to detect that he was done launching projectiles, Temari went on the attack again, whipping up another cyclone to send his way, or so he thought.

Taking a preemptive dive to his right in order to prevent a direct hit, Shikamaru felt his stomach drop when no such assault came. She had made the motion, but pulled the technique itself back. Mentally kicking himself, the Nara was unable to recover in time for the brutal gust that came when Temari truly committed to her jutsu. The sheer force of the gale picked him up off the ground and sent him hurtling toward the wall, which he slammed back-first into with a nasty impact that sent a shockwave through his body.

'Sensors have it easy. They can feel crap like this coming.' Shikamaru thought with a pained groan as he dragged himself up to his feet from against the wall. A key difference between the talents and temperaments of the pair had been laid out in the open right away. Both were tacticians at heart, but they went about their business in entirely opposite manners. Shikamaru preferred to build an approach organically, to form a grand scheme with which he could entrap and neutralize his foe. Temari, in contrast, preferred to attack her openings right away.

The girl's approach to tactics was certainly far more subject to be taken apart as time went on, but she was significantly more potent from the word 'go', and the leaf genin was extremely vulnerable before his strategies took shape. In short, Temari held an overwhelming early advantage. Dusting himself off, Shikamaru ignored the searing pain from the cuts in his forearms and made a hand sign. His shadow quickly extended out from that of the vast wall, snaking out toward Temari at the highest speed he could muster.

Predictably, the Suna girl simply jumped backwards, forcing out the absolute extent of his range. Settling once more mere inches from his control, Temari shot a look of triumph his way. She said nothing, but the message was clear. She had him cornered. Distance was far less of an issue for her than it was for him, and she knew it. Shikamaru cracked a smile of his own. He then altered the flow of his chakra.

With a suddenness that shocked Temari from her gloating calm, tendrils of solid black shot out from the shadow she had evaded only moments ago. The new threat caught her by surprise, and froze her with shock just long enough for one of the shadowing limbs to spear out and stab into her left shoulder. Crying out in pain, Temari deflected a second tendril with her fan, causing a shower of sparks to rain down as she retracted once again. Once she was beyond his effective range again, she bared her teeth and gripped her injured shoulder.

"That's a new one I've been playing around with. Shadow Sewing." Shikamaru said, offering up a vague explanation. Temari ignored him and whipped a gale straight at his position. Retracting his shadow and weaving a sequence of hand seals, the Nara held his ground. Slamming his palms down into the dirt, he unveiled another newly acquired jutsu.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" he yelled out as an earthen slab rose up from the ground just in time to insulate him from the cutting wind. The result of the impact provided a second key insight, as the shield held up under the battering Temari's fan dished out. Heartening as the revelation was for the sake of what he now had in mind, he knew all too well that sitting still would cost him. Sprinting out from behind his barrier, Shikamaru threw another volley of shuriken Temari's way.

As she had before, the fan wielder deflected them with ease. Once the shelling was over, she unleashed another blast from her fan, to which Shikamaru offered up the same earthen defense as before. This sequence repeated itself numerous times until the Nara had run a full circle around the arena.

"Sit still!" Temari yelled after her seventh failed attempt to crush him with her fan. Shikamaru's heart was pounding out of his chest, both from the exhaustion of sprinting full throttle for nearly two minutes straight, and from the awareness that Temari would almost certainly catch onto his scheme fairly soon. He hadn't been as subtle as he could have been. With no preparation left to be done, Shikamaru dropped to a knee and made the seal for his shadow possession.

In line with her prior reaction to his shadow, Temari retreated, but this time, rather than unleashing his physically damaging variant of the jutsu, Shikamaru retracted his shadow the moment she had backed up a serviceable amount beyond his reach. He then set his plan into motion. Though Temari had evaded his frontal assault with ease, she barely managed to avoid the shadow that crept up on her from behind. Soon enough, she was dodging alternating tendrils from all directions, though always one at a time.

Due to the northward leaning of the shadows as a result of the sun's southern position, the mud walls that Shikamaru had erected on his current side of the arena poked out from the wall of the shadow, extending his range significantly on one side. Additionally, the wall's shadow was one single entity, allowing the Nara to dictate the exit point of his shadow from the arena's entire circumference.

With the extension of his range from the front, he was able to push Temari in numerous directions before cutting her off with his shadow when she attempted to move. He was not capable of wielding multiple shadows at once, which limited his ability to trap her, but she could only evade for so long before making a mistake. At present, she was doing an admirable job of keeping herself out of his reach, but it was only a matter of time.

For nearly thirty seconds, Temari weaved her way around the danger at her feet. Little changed in this time, but once another half-minute had passed, she altered her tactics. Waving her unfurled weapon in a circle around herself, she whipped up a cloud of dust around herself. Eagerly attacking her momentary status as a stationary target, Shikamaru stabbed his shadow into the obstruction, connecting it to hers immediately.

'That was easier than I thought it'd be.' he thought to himself triumphantly. His elation was short-lived. It became clear quickly that things were not as they seemed, as a figure emerged from the cloud of dust. Temari herself. It took Shikamaru no time at all to recognize his mistake.

"I caught a clone. Shit." he hissed under his breath. Though he disconnected his shadow from the doppelganger as quickly as he could, it was too late. Jumping straight up, Temari slammed her open fan down onto the ground with a grunt of effort. An omnidirectional wave of wind flew out from the point of impact. Apparently, she had put a significantly larger amount of force into the jutsu, as the wave completely shattered each and every mud wall.

In an instant, she had rendered his painstaking work for naught. For a brief moment after the skirmish, they both simply stood still, breathing heavily. Both had expended a significant amount of physical stamina and chakra.

"You're a real piece of work, Shikamaru." the fan wielder said between deep breaths. Her clone had been destroyed alongside the walls. Shikamaru forced a smile to cover his frustration.

"And you're a pain in the neck." he retorted, standing up from his knees as he spoke. Temari tilted her head to one side coyly.

"C'mon, I didn't bite you that hard." she laughed suggestively. Though he was usually opposed to her constant need to make an innuendo of every word he said, Shikamaru found that he was too tired to care.

And so, he said nothing, and resumed thinking.


Gaara impatiently drummed his fingers on his bicep as his sister participated in a slow, tactical dance with Shikamaru. Beyond his personal distaste of the Nara in general, he found the spectacle down below to be intensely uninteresting. Shikamaru was limited in what he could and could not do, and while Temari's skillset was no less narrow, she likely could have overwhelmed him minutes ago by simply enforcing a faster pace.

'Giving him time and space is a death sentence. He's smarter than you are. You can think on your feet, but you can't outfox him. Not even I could.' Gaara silently projected to his sister. Acknowledging his own psychological defeat to the leaf genin was some distance from pleasant, but the fact remained that Shikamaru Nara was a daunting opponent within a specific context. A context Temari was willingly giving him. It was frustrating to watch.

'He's managed to freeze her up with the mere suggestion of offense..' Gaara pondered. Shikamaru certainly had the capability to be much more imposing than he seemed. While his arsenal was lacking in variety, any success at all on his part likely spelled disaster. He had also proven himself capable of damaging Temari.

'He did manage to injure one of her shoulders. She's usually more difficult to dissuade than this, but that last scare tied her hands, it seems.' the redhead thought to himself. While he did indeed find the match to be tedious, in truth, he was also well and truly sick of waiting for his own to begin. Satsuki Uchiha was not his primary target, but she was undeniably fascinating, and thanks in large part to Shikamaru's meddling, Gaara had been deprived of an outlet for weeks. He was starving, and he was eager to feed.

'I'll pay him back for it if I have the time.' the Jinchuuriki thought to himself with relish, knowing full well what was to come. Shelving the thought for the moment, Gaara turned his attention back to the festivities in the arena. His timing was well-chosen, as it appeared that the match was reaching a turning point. Temari had launched Shikamaru a significant distance into the air with one of her cyclones, and the Nara was falling.

"Quite a fall. That might be the end of this." Gaara said aloud, glancing at Kankuro, who stood silently at his right side. The puppeteer nodded in agreement.

"Could be. I hope it is. This has been tense." he said. The redhead held back a laugh at just how seriously his brother was taking the ordeal. The matches were a mere front. A buffer for the true objective.

Although Gaara was hardly invested, what came next surprised even him.


Shikamaru pulled himself up from the dirt as his ears rang. His impact with the ground had been harsh. All of him hurt, and he was fairly sure he was concussed, but he was still conscious, and he could still think. That much was worth celebrating. Seeing double, the Nara narrowed his eyes and held his ground as Temari prepared to attack him with her wind once again. He was out of options. He had no time to build up an elaborate plan. He needed to act, and quickly.

Forcing his mental cogs to spin into overdrive, Shikamaru threw together a barebones plan of attack. It had a reasonable chance of featuring his grave injury, but given the timeframe he was working with, it was far better than nothing. Forming hand signs, he pressed his hands into the dirt again. Just as a mud wall rose up from the ground, Temari launched her umpteenth gale. The wind slammed into the wall before it fully formed, shattering it into a cloud of dust and debris.

Using the failed jutsu as cover, the Nara produced a paper bomb, slapped it on the ground, and let it burst. The explosion expanded the dust cloud even further, enveloping both himself and Temari. Amidst the lack of clear sight, Shikamaru weaved the same signs again, erecting a second wall, but this time, not directly in front of himself.

Squeezing out the last of his chakra reserves, the Nara sent out his shadow straight ahead. It was a gamble, but he had no other choice. Thankfully, the risky play paid off in spades, as he felt his shadow connect to another. Slowly but surely, the dust cleared away, and when it did, the winner of the scramble was revealed.

With her back pressed up against an earthen wall, an expression of frazzled shock on her face, Temari stood paralyzed. He had finally caught her. Suppressing the relief pouring into him, Shikamaru remained stagnant. Moving her out of her current position would rob his maneuver of its effectiveness.

"Before you ask, no, I didn't have this in mind all along. I had a few other ideas, but you stopped them all short before I could get anything going." he said. Temari, who was visibly frustrated, struggled against his grip to no avail.

"You've never been an 'on the fly' type. This is a new look." she pointed out. Shikamaru chuckled and scratched the back of his head, prompting her to do the same.

"Honestly, I had to take a page out of your book. You did a great job. You made me fight. I never fight." he said. Temari rolled her eyes.

"Checkmate me already. I don't want your pity." she grumbled. Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and leaned forward, to which Temari mimicked.

"It isn't pity. You're good. I mean that. But…" he began, whipping his head back sharply. The Suna girl, much to the detriment of her skull, did the same. The back of her cranium smacked against the hard earthen wall at her back, knocking her out cold.

"...I never lose the same game twice." he concluded, releasing his jutsu as Temari slumped to the ground. A thought then occurred to him.

"Well, unless you're my dad." he added. Genma was present within seconds, briefly checking on Temari before waving his hands over her unconscious body. He then jogged over to Shikamaru and raised his wrist up.

"Temari is unable to continue! Shikamaru Nara advances to the semifinals!" he announced, eliciting a roar of approval from the hometown crowd. The Nara was largely not a competitive person, but he still found that he was quite proud of himself. He had overcome significant adversity. Once Temari came to, Shikamaru allowed an inward smile. He then turned away from his adversary and began a slow walk toward the door he had entered the arena through.

'I guess I'm not too bad at this.'


Satsuki stared at the floor in contemplative silence as she tied her hair into a loose braid. Shikamaru's surprisingly dramatic match against Temari had concluded just over five minutes prior, and as per the rules, she was set to compete in her own match immediately after. Half of her intermission had already expired. Warming up was not necessary. She had already worked up a sweat simply thinking about who and what she was setting out to face in mere minutes.

Gaara of the Sand was a force on several levels. He was enigmatic, brutal, dark, and wholly cruel. Even putting his unsettling personality and habits aside, every sign pointed toward his strength being incredibly intimidating. Naruto had wilted badly after only a single encounter with the redhead, and his showing against Lee had been a superhuman display of durability that hardly seemed possible. Satsuki was powerful in her own right. She knew it to be true. Now more than ever, she had a claim toward being the single strongest genin Konoha had produced in recent years.

And yet, she could not fully escape the feeling that she was not ready. It was not a lack of confidence or drive. She had both in spades. It was simply a gut feeling that dictated that Gaara was far beyond what she was expecting. That she was unprepared to deal with the Jinchuuriki's full wrath.

'He's in my head, and I've never even had a conversation with him.' she mused, kicking herself mentally for allowing doubts to creep with her task to close at hand. The match had taken on an entirely different character in her mind compared to how she had felt during the preliminary round. Back then, she had viewed the competition as exactly that. A contest. Something that could be won or lost with little long-term consequence. Now, she was defending something. Blue eyes and blonde hair flashed across her mind.

'I'm not letting it happen. No way in hell.' she thought firmly. Perhaps it was because she knew of Gaara's fascination with Naruto. Perhaps it was simply a byproduct of the layered emotional attachment to her teammate that she had finally acknowledged. Perhaps there was no good reason at all. No matter the motivation, the sight of Naruto's horrid injuries in the infirmary had only strengthened her resolve to ensure that Gaara would not lay a finger on him.

'Since when am I so sentimental?' she pondered. It was a fair question to ask, but one she lacked the time to answer for herself at present. She had a battle to win. And it would require every ounce of her focus. Rising up to her feet and taking a deep breath, she walked toward the door.

'Let's get this over with.'


A/N: Alright, so I'll ask this question upfront:

Do you guys prefer morning updates, or night updates? I can do either, but I've been testing night this week. It's no extra stress either way, so I'd really appreciate an honest answer.

Also, have I fast-tracked Satsuki's attachment to Naruto? I kinda feel like I have, but I'm the author, so how I feel doesn't always reflect how the readers feel.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed Shikamaru vs Temari, even if it wasn't as great as the canon version was (which we can all agree, was fucking awesome in the original)

Leave me a review if you're able. I read every single one :)

I love you all

Read and Review!