I love watching people review Naruto and bitch that Naruto had everything laid out for him. That who he was born from and what he was given at birth showed that he had a destiny of greatness and blaa, blaa, blaa. They completely ignore the facts that Naruto sucked at the beginning of the series and he worked hard up to this point.
I laugh at people saying that Naruto no longer has to work hard to do anything…. Its called the end of the Story. Of Course he doesn't have to work hard anymore. Its suppose to showcase how his hard work paid off. Also, the Savior of the World bullshit is getting annoying. It literally doesn't mean anything anymore since EVERYONE is doing something and a title is given once its actually accomplished.
I just find people being weird about the story now cause its ending. Granted its not the best writing but come on. -_-' People are so strange…. Whatever, on to the story.
PS. Sorry for the wait.
Flash God Naruto
Chapter 8
"You sure Shikamaru is going to be alright? I don't think I have ever seen him do anything but sleep." Sayuri stated as all of the candidates went to the waiting box and looked over the ledge. She didn't even think for a second that Shikamaru could actually win this battle. She always thought of him as a lazy loser that wouldn't really amount to anything really.
Naruto looked over to her as he leaned against rail. He could already tell what Sayuri was thinking towards Shikamaru. It wasn't that surprising considering she was gone for his fight and the way he acted in the academy didn't sway her opinion of him.
"Out of every competitor, he is the one I wouldn't want to fight the most." Naruto stated with a serious tone as his facial features were shaped into a face that was eerily similar to a foxes. Sayuri blinked at this as she would think he wouldn't want to fight Gaara or her.
"Why the hell would you think that? The guy is so lazy I'm surprised he made it this far." Sayuri said while pointing at the guy who was yawning while talking to Neji, who seemed to be getting riled up.
"Shikamaru is the smartest person I know, probably smarter than Hatake-sensei. He has seen Neji and everyone's fight which means he probably already has a plan to beat all of us. The only weakness Shikamaru has that I can think of is a lack of stamina." Naruto stated with complete confidence in him.
Sayuri on the other hand just blinked before scuffing at the thought. Shikamaru being smarter than Kakashi? Naruto was definitely exaggerating. Even if he did have plans to beat them, they had been training a month and there skills definitely increased to which he couldn't account for.
Naruto just stared at her with an amused look. She would figure out how good Shikamaru could by during the fight. It wouldn't be an easy one at that but he was sure Shikamaru could pull it off. The man was smart and he trusted him on some level. That showed much in Naruto's opinion though she didn't know that.
Arena Floor
"Hajime." Genma stated before disappearing so he wouldn't get in their way even if he wouldn't with his skill level. The two didn't even move though and they just continued to stare each other down. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something to happen while they seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move.
Shikamaru started to flip through hand seals before taking out a bunch of Kunai and throwing them at Neji. When they got close to them, Neji either batted them away or dodged him. Neji noticed Shikamaru's shadow flying forward towards him.
He didn't even need to wait for a reason or to wonder, he had seen what Shikamaru's shadow did during the preliminaries and even if he doubted there was anything Shikamaru could do to him even if he was captured. Neji started moving only for his eyes to widen as the thick shadow split into eight different threads that flew at him from different angles.
Neji stopped his sideways running before dodging the threads with a high amount of speed. He had to take in where his shadow was so he didn't get caught before he seemed to move out of range. Neji blinked at this before a Kunai barely missed him.
Neji stared as Shikamaru's shadow retracted back to him. He was trying to keep Neji away from him, smart decision if he did say so himself. Fighting Neji in close range was completely idiotic and he was pelting him with Kunai. He was trying to keep him on his toes so that the stress would build up know he could be attacked at any second.
"Interesting, keeping me at long distance. You have already given up the close range battle. You do know I'm not using my Byakugan yet?" Neji said with an arrogant smile. He didn't admit that he was concentrating on his shadow more than on him which almost allowed him to get hit by a kunai. "Did you think you were the only one that had a long distance attack?"
Neji brought his hand back in seemed to have his hand in a palm strike like form. "Kusho." Neji stated before the air seemed to travel around something after he threw out his palm strike. Shikamaru's eyes widen as he rolled out of the way from the blast of chakra.
When Shikamaru rolled back to his feet, his eyes widened as he looked up to see Neji come barreling down at him. Neji hit him but Shikamaru was already in mid roll which allowed him to get a miss from his Tenketsu. Neji smirked as he charged forward again, a Kunai came at him again.
Neji dodged but as he was off balance, Shikamaru's shadow came towards him again. Neji dodged and rolled before jumping away again as another shadow came at him from another angle till he got out of range again. Shika smirked while standing up.
"Man this is a drag but the increase in your skills is to be expected. You never used a long range skill but I've heard of a Hyuga skill that does have a long range. I doubt that was all you worked on though. You also need a defensive skill and the only one I know of enough is the Kaiten. I've taken into account both of these skills but it is definitely harder to deal with them than I have planned out." Shikamaru stated with a yawn as he looked really bored again.
He planned this out and took into account both skills. He wasn't even sure Neji had them and he planned out just incase. Did he think this was actually going his way? All he has done is waste his chakra while he hasn't even hit him at all.
"How arrogant of a loser like you? Even if I had the Kaiten, you think you can beat it. Beating me mind you is way out of your league, that its pathetic you even think that." Neji said in response to this before his Byakugan activated. "Its about time I put you in your place."
Shikamaru responded by taking out a Kunai, his last Kunai it seemed if his quick grab pouch was anything to go by. Shikamaru threw it with pinpoint accuracy before making hand seals. "Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Shikamaru said as his Kunai turned into twenty.
Neji had to roll his eyes at this. Did he think he couldn't deal with this many Kunai? Most of them weren't even going to hit him. Wait, something about this was off. Kunai and the Kagemane were the only things he was using. It meant that they were the only skills that would help them. If he was using something that was failing and seemed to use them either to attack or as distractions, this mean there was more.
Chakra raced along the floor, infused in his shadow again. The Shadow bounced off all the shadow's of the Kunai's before spreading out again. It was a trap and to also extend his shadow. He had to act fast as he couldn't dodge in time. Chakra exploded from around him before he started spinning.
The Kunai bounced off the shield and the shadow seemed to have stop advancing before retracting. Neji stopped spinning after the threat was going before jumping back some more. He wasn't going to get caught off guard by his shadow again with the time lag he had after his Kaiten.
Neji stared though as he didn't seem to be making a move. He didn't seem to have any Kunai anymore and his shadow didn't reach. Both techniques were just wasting his chakra while Neji was still good to go. His shadow wasn't fast enough to catch him but it could spread out and trap him.
Shikamaru had kept him at a good distance meaning his wasn't confident in his Taijutsu. All Neji had to do was go in fast and hard. Shikamaru would lose the close range battle if his Kagemane wasn't fast enough to catch him and while he wasted chakra activated the attack over and over again.
Neji threw three Kusho blasts at Shikamaru knocking him off balance while he dodged and distracted him. Neji used his superior speed to get within distance of him. Neji saw a flicker as his hand speared into Shikamaru. A poof of smoke appeared as a log went flying out of it.
"Kawarimi… Pathetic, do you think I don't know where you are?" Neji stated before turning in the way Shikamaru was now standing as a Shadow came at him again in multiple directions. Neji scoffed at this before doing another Kaiten.
The Shadow's stopped before retracting. Neji stopped spinning and looked at this. 'So I was right. Even if it's shadows, it can't pierce the Kaiten. It still uses chakra to capture a target.' Neji thought to himself before blinking as something came into his view.
Neji felt pain in his back as something dug into it. His eyes widened as a Kunai drilled into his back. 'Impossible… it must be a fluke.' Neji thought as he couldn't believe a loser like Shikamaru landed a hit on him and from his blind spot no doubt.
Shikamaru smirked as he had a feeling there was an angle at which he couldn't see. He had seen Neji react differently to one of his shadows while dodging that seemed like he didn't know it was there until he shifted his line of sight. He always wondered why they always boosted about near 360 degrees of sight instead of a full 360. There was indeed a blind spot.
Neji growled as he concentrated on in front of him before smirking as Shikamaru came running at him. Was he an idiot? It seemed like it was a fluke after all. He didn't know how Shikamaru threw that Kunai at him and he didn't care. He got into a stance as he would send Shikamaru into his fate.
Up in the stands
"AH has Shikamaru lost his mind? He sucks at Taijutsu and yet he's running straight into a Hyuga who is a prodigy in the art." Ino yelled out in shock to which she heard a chuckle from next to her and she turned to her pink haired friend who found something amusing. "Do you think this is funny Billboard brow? Shikamaru is going to get demolished."
"I've played Shogi against him once. I doubt he is going to get into close range without a plan and I have an idea of what it might be. He did it against me and it annoys me how far he thinks ahead. I'm more surprised that he's actually trying to beat Neji in a fight." Sakura stated to Ino to which Ino blinked at this before looking back down to the field.
"While Shikamaru might be a relaxed guy, he doesn't take well to having his friends get made fun of. He also dislikes the fact that Neji hurt a comrade of his and someone from the Hidden Leaf no matter the reasons. He's always been like this." Choji stated with a chuckle as he finished a bag of chips and opened up another one.
"I hope your both right cause Neji will demolish him in close range." Ino said with worry as she looked like she was praying for his safety. While she might rag on him a lot, he was her comrade and teammate. It was only natural despite how they acted.
Back to the fight
'This is going to hurt.' Shikamaru said as he got within Neji's attack distance. Neji fired off some strikes which nailed Shikamaru as he pulled out some tags and let them go. Neji saw the tags, cutting off his attack and switched to defense as Shikamaru was sent rolling back from the strikes.
Three explosions went off sending up dirt and smoke but it was instantly cleared by the dome of spinning chakra. Shikamaru sat up on his hands rather shaky as Neji had closed some Tenketsu's. Shikamaru however was staring at the dome as his head moved with it.
'One…. Two… three…. Now.' Shikamaru counted to himself before his shadow went flying towards the dome. A few seconds went by but the shadow didn't move. A smirk appeared on Shikamaru's sweating and pained face. He had taken a risk with the last part but it bared fruit.
The dome of chakra came to a stop and Neji was not moving with shocked eyes. "I can't move?" Neji questioned as he was rather shocked. He couldn't believe what was going on. 'I thought his shadow couldn't penetrate the Kaiten?'
"Your wondering what happened. I made it seem like my shadow couldn't go through. I used the earlier attacks to find your blind spot, keeping your attention away from noticing it in the process." Shikamaru said as he started to explain what he was doing as he had some burn marks on him from the explosion.
"During that, I was pulling out your tricks, making sure that you had both skills. Kusho's were my only concern but once you realized I wasn't good in close range, you kept trying to get in your range. I then made you think I couldn't use Kagemane to enter it. Shadow's are quite different from Physical and Elemental attacks after all. You let your guard down thinking me attacking your blind spot was a fluke." Shikamaru stated as they were different.
Shadow's could move through any crack no matter how small. It wasn't impossible to break through Kaiten, it was just extremely hard. Kagemane was a hard technique to block as it had no real form in the third dimension. It was a two dimensional phenomenon that could travel under anything with their chakra. The Nara's could make it three dimensional for higher tiered attacks but the Kagemane wasn't. Unless Neji had a two dimensional defensive attack, it wouldn't block it.
"So you got me. Unless you have something else, no matter what you do I have better reflexes than that sound whelp." Neji stated arrogantly as it was wide known that Hyuga reflexes were strong. Shikamaru just smirked back at him as he made a hand sign. He might be hurt and almost unable to move but that didn't mean he couldn't still use his chakra with some of his Tenketsu's closed.
"Kage-Kubishibari no Jutsu." Shikamaru said with some pain in his voice as he made a promise to never get hit by Juken again. Of course Neji would be able to disable him for the most part with just a few strikes. He didn't think it would be this badly.
"Its true that you do but I will choke you till you pass out. Give up or I will make you." Shikamaru stated as the Shadow's started to creep up his body. Neji tried flaring his chakra but it didn't do nothing. He couldn't understand why as they used Chakra to control shadows but it still had no effect. Could he not purge the chakra at once from the shadows?
"Why are you going to this extent, risking your health by such a reckless way to catch me?" Neji asked as he didn't understand. Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow at this as his shadow's clamped over his neck.
"You hurt my comrade and made fun of my friend when you have never seen how hard he works. You called him a loser, a weakling when you don't even know him. That's all there is to it. You would of lost to Naruto as well if you fought him as you are right now." Shikamaru stated making Neji wonder what he meant by that.
"I… I give." Neji stated begrudgingly as the Shadow's receded. Shikamaru let out a sigh as he fell back down and just stared at the sky. He worked to hard apparently and didn't seem like he was going to move. Neji just blinked at him before looking up at Naruto.
'Shikamaru hid his skills, his strength but that loser is a real loser. I've seen what that idiot can truly do. He thinks I would lose to him? Yeah right. I'll prove him wrong after the Chunin exams.' Neji stated before walking away and up to the stands as the people in the arena cheered for Shikamaru.
Up in the stands, Sayuri actually stood there with her mouth open. Naruto noticed this and chuckled as her expression was priceless. She couldn't believe someone as strong as Neji lost to one of the lowest ninja to graduate from the academy even if he was a Nara.
"I told you so. Shikamaru is the person I would want to fight the least in this competition and that's why. He plans way to far ahead and its to hard to put a wrench in his plans." Naruto whined out at the last part while Sayuri recomposed herself and glared at him.
"Just because you got new clothes that make you look competent, don't try to sound smarter than you actually are." Sayuri said with a growl as he did the I told you so thing with her. Naruto pouted at this and glared at her. So what if he got new clothes, she didn't need to be a bitch just because she was wrong.
*Bashes head against table.* I cant win. I just cant win. To all you Neji fan's, if it came off as me trolling Neji, please dont think so. Shikamaru barely won this if you look at the state there in at the end of there fight. I just like Shikamaru better so i tried to make it somewhat even.