Ch. 18

After Sanji had been dragged back to their side, with Chopper to attend him, Nami made a decision. "Usopp, you go next."

"What?! M-me? But… uh… I'm suffering from a bout of my 'must-not-fight-a-ninja' disease. Yeah."

"Liar." said the members of the crew who remained conscious.

"But…"

"Just get out there!" Nami kicked Usopp in the butt, knocking him into the area between the two groups, which had been set aside for the fights.

"Y-yosh! Usopp, the brave warrior of the sea, does not fear!" said the long-nosed sniper, in a futile attempt to bluff his way out of it.

"Aww, isn't that cute! He's actually trying to be foolishly brave!" It seemed that Tenten had picked up some mannerisms from Yuuko. "And I'd heard that you were the sensible one."

"What?" Usopp was confused. He'd been called sensible? Not a coward?

"Uh-huh. Isn't it sensible to avoid fights when you can? Only an idiot charges straight into danger when he's got no idea what's in store."

"Hey, I do that all the time!" objected Naruto.

Luffy nodded in agreement. "Of course! Charging right in always works!"

"Naruto…" said Neji in resignation,

"Luffy…" said Nami in resignation,

"You are an idiot." They finished together.

Luffy and Naruto ignored them.

"So anyway, I wasn't actually expecting to fight you." Tenten continued, unperturbed.

"Okay, in that case…" Usopp began. Maybe he wouldn't have to fight her.

"I was actually expecting you to give up. But I came prepared anyway! Isn't that a good thing?" Tenten smiled perkily at him.

"Uh, sure… right." Darn. I can't get out of it like that. Usopp slumped mentally, but then stood up straight. Who cares about running away! I, Usopp, brave warrior of the sea, do not retreat!

"Yosha!!" he cried aloud, holding forth his slingshot. "I, the great Usopp-sama, am ready!"

"Me too! Let's get started, okay?" Tenten pulled a scroll from her ninja pack.

A scroll? thought Usopp, slingshot at the ready. What is she going to do with it? "I should warn you, I never miss." He said, also reaching into his bag, and pulling out a handful of pachinko balls.

"Really?" Smirking, Tenten quickly stretched out the scroll until it was spread longer than she was tall. "Neither do I." Then she bit her left thumb so that blood leaked from the small wound. Dropping into a crouch, she sprang straight up into the air.

"What a jump!" exclaimed Nami.

"Woohoohoo!" Luffy shaded his eyes as he looked up at her.

Tenten raised the scroll above her head, the trailing end reaching to well past her feet, and then began to spin. Faster and faster she spun, until the scroll became a blur to those outside, and the image's edges seemed to merge into a shell around her.

As fast as she's going, I'm more likely to hit the scroll than her. And my pachinko balls will just be deflected. But if she's spinning, she'll get dizzy. Her accuracy will go down. It would take a sharpshooter of my skill or better to pull off a shot at that rate.Usopp thought as he loaded his handful into his slingshot.

While inside the shell made by the scroll, Tenten quickly made the appropriate seals. Placing her hand against one of the symbols written on the scroll, she summoned a kunai, which she threw through a gap in the scroll-shell. Moving swiftly, she began summoning and throwing all kinds of weapons, from kunai and shuriken to maces-and-chains and sickles. And she was a good shot with each. As some exited the defensive spinning paper, they were aimed directly at Usopp. Others were aimed to his sides, preventing him from dodging very well.

"WAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAGH!!" Usopp yelled as he fired off pachinko ball after pachinko ball. Each of the weapons aimed at him was struck aside by one of the well-aimed missiles, and a veritable shower of weaponry rained down upon the ground about him. So that's what the scroll was for! "Waaaaaagh!" …This is completely unrealistic! There's no way all of that came out of a scroll! Eeee! No time for that! Must avoid flying objects! Flying pointyobjects! Eep! "Waaaaaa-AAAAAA-aaaagh!"

Usopp grabbed more pachinko balls from his bag, this time catching hold of several Kayakuboshi or 'gunpowder stars.' "Eat this!" he cried, as he sent them Tenten's way. "Hitsatsu Kayakuboshi!!" (Sure-killing Gunpowder Stars!)

The missiles slammed into the scroll that was Tenten's protective shell and source of weaponry. Exploding on impact, they destroyed the paper shield. Luckily, Tenten had noticed the attack and dodged in time, falling back down to earth, the remaining tatters of the scroll fluttering down around her.

Panting, she and Usopp stared at each other across a battlefield strewn with discarded weapons. I doubt I could do that again. Usopp thought. Well, maybe I could, but there's no way I could do it if she were any tougher. Just then, as if the heavens had been reading his thoughts and thought it would be funny, Tenten pulled out two scrolls from her bag, grinning. Why? Why must you torment me so? Do you enjoy torturing me with irony? Why, oh heavens, why?

"Wait!" he cried, holding out one hand in the universal 'stop' gesture.

"What?" Tenten had already dropped into a crouch, balancing the two scrolls on their ends in the dirt.

"I give up!"

"WHAT?!" cried the Mugiwara no Kaizoku.

Usopp tried to act all nonchalant about it. "Well, I don't see a point in continuing. There are still three fighters left on our side; we don't have to win this one. Besides…"

"Besides…?" Nami asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, uh…" Usopp was sweating, trying to think of a good excuse. "She's… uh… a pretty girl and I don't want to hurt her?"

"I could believe that if it came from Sanji-kun, but not you, Usopp." Nami replied.

"Yeah. You're not very convincing." added Chopper.

"Uh, well…"

"Oh forget it. You're right; we do have three left. And you'd probably have lost anyway." Nami turned and shrugged her shoulders in an, 'oh, who cares' gesture.

"What? I would not!" Usopp protested as he ran back to their side of the canyon. "I was going to win! Really!"

"Right, right, of course you were."

"I was!"

"Okay."

"Really!"

"Sure."

"Awww." said Tenten, after she and the rest of her team had recovered from their sweatdropping. "I wanted to show off my 'Rising Twin Dragons' technique…"

"It doesn't matter, Tenten. You won, and that's what counts." Shikamaru said, slouching against the canyon wall. Turning his head in the direction of the pirates. "Now we just have to wait for the next one. Only three victories left."

"I'll go next." Nami said, stepping forward. Chopper should go last, because he's the doctor. If any of us are injured, he needs to be conscious to take care of us. And Luffy's definitely our power-house. I'd like to save him for later. So that leaves me to go now.

"Ehh… How troublesome. That means it's my turn." Shikamaru stopped slouching against the wall and walked into the arena. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to go. I'd rather watch the clouds. This place has some nice clouds." He sighed. "Why do I have to fight girls? Every time. Every time. It's always me that has to fight them. It's so troublesome."

"Oi, Shikamaru, you're the one who picked out the fights." Naruto pointed out.

"Baka. This is the best match-up I could come up with. I had no choice, I have to fight her." Shikamaru replied scornfully. And with great boredom.

"Whatever, you still picked 'em out."

Nami watched this exchange with interest, pulling out and assembling her Perfect Clima Tact. I have no idea what his skills are. He stopped that Naruto kid from going psycho and killing Sanji-kun. And he did it without really trying! That, and the fact that he's the leader, means he's the strongest in the group…

"Actually, I'm not." Shikamaru said, seemingly in reply to her thought.

"What?" Nami was startled. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Most people think that. It's a natural assumption. And usually, the strongest fighter in a group is the leader." Shikamaru explained with a shrug. "But the reason I'm the leader isn't my strength. In fact, of all of us here, I'm quite possibly the weakest fighter. The reason I'm the leader… is this." Shikamaru tapped his forehead. "Like you, I fight with my brain, not my muscles. I'm a strategist." He looked at her seriously. "And you are an interesting shogi piece. I'd like to see what that weapon of yours can do."

Nami smiled, hiding her trepidation. A strategist. That means that I probably can't outsmart him like I usually would. I'll have to take him down with real power. And I'll have to do it fast. The longer I take to make a move, the more time he has to think, and to figure out how to beat me. Luckily the atmosphere is nice and moist. I won't have to try too hard to make a storm…

"Unfortunately, I care about my safety too much to let you have the chance to use it. Checkmate."

"What?" Nami was snapped out of her thought process.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu, success." Shikamaru's hands had formed the necessary seal, and Nami hadn't moved while she was thinking, so she'd been an easy target. Now she couldn't move.

"What?" She asked again. "Wh-what's going on?"

Shikamaru held his hands out in front of him, as though griping a staff horizontally. Nami's hands slowly followed into the same position. When she held the staff horizontally as well, Shikamaru opened his hands. Nami's hands opened too, and the Perfect Clima Tact dropped from her grip, clattering to the ground.

"What have you done to me?" Nami asked, more than a little freaked out.

"What's going on?" Luffy asked Zoro. "Why's she doing what he's doing?

"How should I know?" Zoro replied grumpily, still irritated by what Ed had done to his sword.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu." Shikamaru said in reply to Nami's question. "Shadow Imitation technique. Here, I'll let you see." He lowered his head so that Nami could see the ground. Their shadows were touching. More than touching, they were combined. They were one solid strip of shadow, connecting them together. Nami was so shocked that she would have jerked if she'd been able.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu allows me to control the movements of anyone whose shadow I intersect with my own. Once they're connected, the victim can only do what I do. And your shadow was caught." Shikamaru explained, letting his and Nami's hands drop to their sides. He didn't brag, only stated the facts. He wasn't the bragging type. He didn't enjoy taunting people with their mistakes, unless it was someone he already disliked or found annoying. And he didn't dislike Nami.

But he did need to defeat her. That meant either getting her to surrender, or rendering her unconscious. And she didn't seem to be surrendering, since she was glaring at him as best she could without moving her head. How troublesome. It looks like I'll have to knock her out. I don't like to beat up on girls; it's not my way. But if she beats up on herself…

Shikamaru stopped himself from smirking. He'd used a tactic like this before. Turning, he walked until Nami was about half an arm's length from the canyon wall. That meant that he was about two meters away from the wall on the opposite side, since what she did was a mirror-image of what he did. Placing his hands against the air, as though against an invisible wall, he paused and turned his head.

Nami was facing the other side of the canyon; her hands against the wall, her head turned his way. She looked confused, and a little fearful. Shikamaru turned back. Rearing his head back, he moved to slam it between his hands. If he'd been against an actual wall, he'd have been knocking his forehead into solid stone. Nami was against an actual wall. She realized what he was doing and closed her eyes, as her head jerked forward against her will.

At the last second, Shikamaru stopped, leaving Nami with her forehead a bare centimeter from the canyon's wall.

"Do you surrender?" He asked, not moving.

"Y-yes." Nami managed to stammer out, once she opened her eyes and realized that her head didn't hurt. "I'd like to keep my brains inside my head, please."

"As long as you surrendered, that won't be a problem." Shikamaru released the Kage Mane no Jutsu.

"Whew. For a second there I thought you were gonna bash her head in!" Naruto said as Shikamaru and Nami walked back to their teammates.

"Baka. I'd only have knocked her unconscious, not dead. We're not supposed to kill them, remember?"

"Oh, right! Ahahahah… haha… ha…"

Nami sat down on a rock on her team's side. She had been shaken by her fight with Shikamaru, but wasn't willing to let it show. What was worst was not that a kid had defeated her, but that it had taken so little effort on his part. She hadn't even had a chance to fight back.

And he'd held back. All of them had. They'd made a specific effort to not kill her and her nakama. Even the short-tempered one, and the psychotic whisker-marked one, when they'd had significant provocation. That meant that they were experienced, disciplined, and strongly motivated. That worried Nami. Even the most powerful person could be defeated if he weren't experienced. A weaker but more experienced person could take him down, and waste less energy doing it. And these kids were by no means weak.

However, the fact that they had been specifically ordered to not kill or severely injure the Mugiwara no Kaizoku was a good thing. They were to be dissuaded, not slain; deterred, not destroyed. Nami could rest assured that her nakama would come through with minimal damage.

Ha! Nami thinks Naruto is disciplined! Hahahaha! And again, HA!

"Yosha! Me next! Me next!" Luffy was virtually jumping up and down with enthusiasm.

"I, too, am eager to fight." Neji walked forward into the central area. This would be an interesting battle.