The scroll was filled with all kinds of jutsu of all kinds. It was much to valuable for the merchant to give away for free. The scroll covered many elemental jutsu from genin level to jonin. It also had various taijutsu and even some genjutsu.
Shikamaru decided to not worry about that now and began to examine his other gift. The blade was about 30 cm (11.8 inches) long and solid black with a silver edge. It was doubled bladed and seemed heavier than a normal tanto. The handle was wrapped with a green string that matched the scabbard which was all black with the same string at the top.
It felt perfect in his hands and he wondered how he could put his chakra into it. Each element affected a blade differently he had seen asuma use wind chakra to extend the blades reach and increase its cutting capabilities. But shikamaru could not use wind chakra so he had to think of something else.
He remembered toru and how he had used fire chakra to light the blade on fire. But he was pulled out of his thoughts when his dad got home.
"hey shikamaru how was your mission"
"good"
he noticed the open scroll and knife "where'd you get those"
"they were a gift from our client"
"ok well I'm going to take a nap"
Once his dad left he went back to the scroll he decided to try some of the jutsu so he went outside and found the genin section and tried an earth jutsu.
"doton tsuka no tsuchi souzou" the ground around him lifted a few feet. The scroll said it was supposed to raise 10 feet. So he would have to try again. He kept practicing for hours until he got it right by that time it was already midnight.
He decided that was enough for today because he had training tomorrow.
The next morning he went to their normal meeting spot. And Ino was the only one there.
"hey ino"
"hey shikamaru"
... this was probably the first time they were alone together and it was pretty awkward. Usually choji or asuma were around.
"hey I wanted to ask you did you ever get scared on our last mission" she asked out of the blue
"yeah, I guess I did, but I never really thought about"
"but how could you charge in like that when you were scared"
"I guess I just didn't think about what would happen"
Before they could talk more asuma and choji walked up "I have some great news" asuma said "I've entered you all in the chunin exams"
"what already" shikamaru said stunned "most people wait a year at least before trying and still some fail"
"well I think you all are ready"
"when do they start" shikamaru asked
"one month, and until then you'll be training like crazy"
the next month went by fast everyday he trained with his squad then he would play a game of shogi with asuma. And once he got home he would learn new jutsu from the scroll and practice with his tanto.
A week before the exams started he ran into naruto and Sakura talking to some kids.
"hey naruto what's up" he greeted
Naruto looked back and smiled once he recognized him "hey shikamaru it's been a while"
"yeah, so who are the kids"
"I'm konohamuru the next hokage and this is moegei and udon"
"your asumas nephew aren't you"
"huh how do you know uncle asuma"
"he's my instructor"
"so you must be strong do you want to play ninja with us"
He looked at naruto "your playing ninja with them"
"no I never agreed to"
Shikamaru laughed "anyway I wanted to ask, are you going to be in the chunin exams next week."
"of corse I am believe it why would a great ninja like me not be in them. What about you"
"yeah we've had to train like crazy for it"
while they were talking konohamuru said something that pissed Sakura off. As she was now chasing after the three kids. "Should we go after them" he asked naruto
"yeah probably"
they started to chase the kids only for konohamuru to crash into someone. The man turned around and looked about a year older than shikamaru he had on all black clothes with face paint on. He also had some kind of mummy on his back. There was a girl beside him carrying a fan on her back and wearing a short pink dress she was staring at shikamaru and it was starting to freak him out.
The boy picked up konohamuru by his scarf "that hurt you little punk"
The girl looked annoyed at the situation "stop that or you'll get yelled at later"
Sakura tried to apologize before naruto interrupted "hey stop that right now!"
"let's play with them before the strict one comes around"
Konohamuru tried to get out of his grasp
"your a lively one, little punk."
"you jerk" naruto yelled before he charged but before he could reach the boy his leg flew out from under him.
"leaf ninja are weaker than I thought" he said and for the first time shikamaru noticed the headbands they were wearing they had the symbol of the sand village on them. They must be here for the chunin exams.
"I really don't like you and your stating to piss me off" he said as he began raising his fist "it makes me want to break you." But before he could do anything he realized he couldn't move. Shikamaru had caught him in his shadow possession jutsu.
"you know you really shouldn't come to a foreign village and threaten the hokage's son" shikamaru said as he made the sand ninja put konohamuru down.
"there's no way this kid is the hokage's grandson" the boy responded trying to break free.
"Well you could ask the hokage himself, but that would mean admitting to everything."
Before the boy could reply a voice spoke from above him "kankuro enough"
"your an embarrassment to our village"
He looked up and saw a redhead boy with a tattoo on his head and a giant gourd on his back. He also noticed sasuke sitting in the same tree looking annoyed and surprised at the same time.
After shikamaru noticed the boy he released his jutsu and the boy apparently named kankuro fell to one knee. "G-gaara" he said almost frightfully
The boy identified as gaara looked at shikamaru out of the corner of his eyes.
The boy started to lecture kankuro. "Why do you think we came to the leaf village"
"p-please listen to me gaara" he tried to explain "they lashed out first"
"shut up" gaara interrupted "or I'll kill you"
"I-understood" kankuro replied trying to get the attention off of him. As he kept trying to apologize. Gaara turned to shikamaru "sorry about that"
All of the sudden the boy burst into sand and reappeared next to the two other sand ninja. "Let's go we're not here to play" he said as they began to walk off.
While they were walking away sasuke jumped down "wait what is your name"
The boy turned around "I'm gaara of the desert..." he then turned to shikamaru "I'm interested in your name as well"
"I'm sasuke uchiha" sasuke said "not you the one with the ponytail" he said pointing at shikamaru
"I'm shikamaru Nara"
sasuke looked like he was about to kill someone when naruto said "say, say, what about me"
"not interested" he said as they all turned around and jumped away. Sasuke was still looking down clenching his fist in anger when naruto squatted down "konohamuru do I look weak"
"compared to sasuke... yes"
"what the hell did he see in you"sasuke muttered
"what" shikamaru asked looking back at him
"nothing" sasuke mumbled as he stormed off
"I see he's just as emo as always" shikamaru said and naruto and konohamuru burst out laughing at that while Sakura started screaming " take that back sasuke snot emo"
"Alright alright he's not emo"
The next week went by fast and before he realized it it was time for the exams to start as he met up with ino and choji in their normal spot asuma was no were to be found after waiting for a few minutes they decided to just go without him on their way there three Kunai flew at their heads they all blocked them and formed a defensive circle.
"who's there" choji yelled
suddenly a skinny man with long hair jumps out of the trees. He's holding a chain with a weight on the end. He slowly walks towards the group swinging the chain.
Shikamaru pulls out his tanto and prepares to fight "formation b" he calls out as choji charges at the man from the left while shikamaru goes right. Ino covers them from long range. Choji activated his jutsu and became a ball and rolled at the man. The man jumped over choji and attacked with the chain but it was blocked by shikamaru who quickly closed the distance.
The man tried to creat distance but shikamaru was prepared. "Kajuu no doro" several blobs of mud shot twords the attacker who dodged or blocked most but one managed to hit his leg. As he was recovering ino bombarded him with shuriken.
With the extra weight he was barely able to dodge. As he jumped away he collided with a spinning choji. The man was knocked back several meters and before he could recover shikamaru caught him in his shadow.
"who are you" shikamaru asked as Ino stepped up ready to interrogate him. The man laughed and then exploded into a puff of smoke to reveal asuma standing there.
"what the hell" ino yelled
"sorry, sorry, I just had to test you before the exams start to make sure I wasn't making a mistake."
"and how did we do" ino asked
"You did even better than I thought you would but that doesn't matter because you need to hurry if you want to make it."
"yeah your right" they had to run as fast as they could to make it and when they got there they walked to the second floor and saw a big crowd. In the middle was sasuke uchiha and some kid with a bowl cut and bushy eyebrows.
"SASUKE!" Ino yelled excitedly as she ran over to him. Shikamaru and Choji slowly followed. They met naruto and sasuke challenging another team of leaf genin.
"who are they" shikamaru asked as he reached them.
"oh hey shikamaru, choji there the best team for the year above us but this is also their first time."
"so why is everyone on the second floor isn't it supposed to be on the third."
"Yeah but we stopped to see what the commotion was."
"well we should probably get going." Shikamaru said and they all agreed. So after they dragged a fighting Sakura and ino away from each other they decided it would be best to walk separately.
It didn't take long for them to find the exam room which was filled with various genin teams from different regions. He instantly recognized the team from the sand village. There were a few others that caught his eye like the sound team and one of the grass teams and one of the rain teams the leaf team that naruto was talking to was there minus bushy brows.
He also noticed team 8 near the entrance and decided to talk to them.
"hey guys it's been a while" choji greeted in between bites of food.
"hey you guys are here too I wonder if Naruto's squad will be here too"
"they will be we just saw them earlier" "h-hey shikamaru-kun" hinata said while blushing and looking away
"hey hinata how you been" he greeted he always liked hinata more than the other girls she was quite and not obsessed with sasuke. Actually he was pretty sure she had a crush on him.
"g-good" she replied almost as red as a tomato now. If he didn't know before he would now. Just then team 7 came in naruto and sasuke looked confident while Sakura looked scared but determined. When they walked over Sakura and ino started fighting almost immediately. When a tall guy with glasses and white hair walked up to them.
"You should really draw less attention to yourselves." He said adjusting his glasses.
"who are you" naruto demanded.
"my names kabuto I'm what you would call a veteran at this." He replied with a slight chuckle.
"what do you mean veteran" shikamaru asked confused.
"well it's kinda embarrassing but this is my seventh time taking the test" he said rubbing the back of his head looking down.
"your seventh how do you even take it that many times" ino asked shocked.
"well they have it twice a year so it's only my fourth year."
"wow you must suck" kiba said bluntly.
"I guess that's one way to put it, but it's not like I haven't been doing anything." He said as he pulled out a stack of cards they looked to be blank on the front with an orange back.
"what are those" naruto asked
"there my ninja info cards" he said pulling one out. "They hold information that can't be seen by anyone that I don't want to."
"what do they do" Sakura asked
"well they hold information about all the competitors." He began shuffling the deck is there anyone you want info on"
"yeah" sasuke said "how about gaara of the desert and rock lee while your at it."
"let's see rock lee he has average missions but his taijutsu is incredible while his other stats are pretty bad" he pulled out another card and began spinning it. "Alright gaara wow he completed one b rank as a genin all his stats are all unknown but get this he completed all these missions without a scratch on him."
"no way no genin could complete a b rank without so much as a scratch" kiba said and most agreed with him however shikamaru wasn't sure he zoned out thinking about him. He knew his powers had something to do with sand that must be what's in that gourd he Cary's. He was broke out of his thoughts by Naruto's declaration. He had somehow managed to get everyone in the room to hate him in five seconds that had to be a record.
While kabuto was putting away the cards a ninja shikamaru recognized as a sound ninja attacked kabuto he punched but kabuto dodged as he was about to say something his glasses cracked and he began to wobble.
"what but I'm certain he dodged it" sasuke said in shock
was it an invisible attack or he was able to hide his true attack whatever it was shikamaru decided to keep an eye on him in the future.
"Enough" a voice sounded from the front of the room.
A man with scars across his face and a headband covering his head was standing in the front of the room.
"there will be no more fighting unless I say you can, anyway it's time for the first exam come up and hand in your papers and you will receive a number this is were you'll sit for the written portion"
"WHAT" naruto and Sakura both yelled.
They began to walk into the next room which looked like a normal classroom except there were chunin or higher level ninja sitting on the perimeter with clipboards.
When shikamaru took his seat he realized he was no were near choji or ino even though he came in right after them. He looked around to find them. Choji was in the same row as him but on the opposite side. Ino was a few rows in front of them and towards the middle.
After they had all taken their seats the instructor walked to the front and began explaining the rules. "You will be taking a 10 question test but unlike normal you start with all 10 points and lose a point for every question you get wrong."
Shikamaru looked around and most of the genin looked nervous. But from what he could tell naruto looked the worst. Which wasn't too surprising considering he was at the bottom of the class.
"second every time you are caught cheating you will get two points removed from your score"
Two points wasn't much shikamaru thought. If they really didn't want cheating they would automatically fail you. Unless this isn't just an ordinary test but actually how well you can cheat and not get caught.
"the final rule is that you will be scored as a team"
"WHAT" Sakura yelled while Naruto's head fell to his desk in defeat.
"Please do not interrupt me." He said before continuing "the tenth question will be given out in the last fifteen minutes and you have an hour in total, you may now begin when you get your paper."
When he finished the other ninja began distributing the papers. When he got his paper he began reading the question. He realized these were difficult even for him there must not be many people who could actually solve these questions.
He knew that neither choji or ino could solve these on their own. He had to get them the answers somehow. He decided to figure that out later right now he just had to focus on solving the problems.
It took him around 25 minutes to solve all of them now he had to figure out how to give them the answers without getting caught. The answer was simple he realized he had a jutsu that was almost perfect for this.
He looked over at ino and choji and measured the distance. Once he was ready he put his hands together and his shadow stretched out twords choji. He used the tables as cover and made sure not to hit anyone else's shadow. Once he completed the jutsu he traced his answers so they would be written on choji's paper.
Once he had completed this his shadow returned to him and he looked towards ino this would be harder he would have to move the shadow forward then left. Once he was ready he slowly extended his shadow forward and once he reached the right he turned the shadow left. He slowly moved the shadow across the aisle hoping no one would see it.
When the shadow connected with ino it scared her enough to make a little sound. She quickly realized what was happening and blushed in embarrassment.
After he was done tracing his answers again he decided to see what everyone else was doing. With only 10 minutes to the last question most people were already done but those who weren't were scrambling to finish.
He looked down at naruto who looked close to having a panic attack. He felt bad for the guy and considered helping him. But he decided against it his main priority was him and his squad passing. Naruto had his own squad to help him.
As he waited the minutes began to feel like hours until it was finally time. The instructor stood back up "it's now time for the final question. But I have some rules for this question you can decide not to sender it but you will fail the exam. But if you decide to answer the question and get it wrong you will never be allowed to take the exam again and will remain a genin forever. If you don't want to want to the question raise your hand and you and your squad will be escorted out."
After a few minutes of silence people started dropping out. After it was down to only a few squads left naruto raised his hand. Shikamaru was shocked naruto would never quit like this.
"Don't underestimate me, I won't run away" he yelled as he slammed his fist on the table. "I'll take it, even if I'm stuck as a genin forever I'll still become the hokage no matter what it takes. I'm not scared!"
After his speech no one else looked like they were dropping out. "I'll ask again, this is a life choice that will alter your life."
"if you want to quit, do it now."
Everyone looked to have regained their confidence from naruto and no one else decided to leave.
"I like your determination"
"Then.. for those who decided to stay the first exam... you have passed it."
"huh what about the tenth question" Sakura asked him.
"there never was one."
"then what about the other nine questions" the sand girl asked
"Those were to test your information gathering skills. These questions were to hard for an average genin to solve so we placed chunin around the room who already had the answers."
"this exam was created so that you had to cheat to pass." Well that would have gone for a normal ninja but shikamaru was much smarter than anyone else his age.
"However those who cheated foolishly were disqualified. Because." He removed his headband revealing an extremely scared bald head." Information depending on the time and place is more important than life itself."
"And on the battlefield you will always risk your life for it"
Before he could continue the window shattered and a woman flew in and pinned a sign to the ceiling with Kunai.
"This isn't the time to be celebrating because I'm the Procter for the second exam anko mitarashi."
"Let's move on to the next stage." She raised her fist"follow me"
No one said anything until ibikie walked from behind the curtain "read the room" she was kinda similar to naruto. She started complaining about how easy the first exam was because there were to many people left.
"well it doesn't matter I'll drop more than half of them"
She was making everyone uneasy with her smile "I'll tell you all the details Tomorrow get the location from your jonin that's it your dismissed."
The next day they were all gathering in front of a fenced off forest.
"this is the location for the second exam training field 44 also known as... the forest of death."
"this place looks scary" Sakura said shivering
"they call it the forest of death you'll soon find out why" anko said
"they call it the forest of death you'll soon find out why" naruto said in a mocking voice "bring it on your not going to scare me I can handle anything."
"so looks like we have ourselves a tough guy." She said and suddenly she threw a Kunai at naruto that grazed his cheek. "Tough enough for this your not afraid are you" she said as she appeared behind him "tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest."
Suddenly she pulled out another Kunai. "I was just returning your Kunai." A grass ninja said leaning over her shoulder with the Kunai in her elongated tongue.
"you know I only recommend you stand this close behind me if you wish to reek of death." She said as she took the Kunai. After the ninja walked away naruto started trying to extend his tongue like she did. "Wow everyone's quick tempered today must be something in the air."
The proctor walked back to the front "now before we begin I need you all to sign this." She pulled a stack of papers out of her shirt. "It's just a standard consent form everyone has to read over it and sign it."
"What for" naruto asked
"some of you may not come back from this test and I have to get your consent otherwise it would be my responsibility hahaha."
she handed the papers to naruto to pass out "now the first thing you need to know is this will test your survival skills." Shikamaru got his waiver and read it over and signed it. "Alright first I'll go over the terrain training field 44 has 44 locked gates there are rivers and a forest and in the center is a locked tower. It's in there you'll undergo the survival test. The test is a anything goes battle to get these." She held out two scrolls one white with heaven written on it and one black with earth on it.
"There are 26 teams in total half will have a heaven scroll while half will have an earth scroll. Each team will receive one scroll."
"Ok so how do we pass" sasuke asked
"Your team must bring both a heaven and a earth scroll to the tower." So at least half the teams will fail most likely more. Some teams might go for more scrolls just to narrow the competition.
"oh the test also has a time limit you must finish within five days"
"Five days out there" ino asked "what are we supposed to do for food" choji freaked out.
"There's plenty of food out there if you look for it." Anko said
"That's not all that's out there" kabuto said. "There are man eating bugs and poisonous weeds."
"oh man" choji slumped in disappointment.
"Quit down it is called survival for a reason." Ino told him
"You can also be disqualified if all three members of your team don't make it with both scrolls. Two if your team losses a member or they become incapacitated. But most importantly you cannot for any reason open your scroll before reaching the tower."
"what if it just happens to fall open and we read it." Naruto asked
"Trust me you don't want to know but that's all each team take your forms and exchange them over there then get your scroll."
After they gave there consent forms they were directed to a booth with a curtain blocking it. They were handed a earth scroll
"who wants to carry it" choji asked
"I will" shikamaru said "I have a jutsu that can protect it easily."
once that was over they began walking to a gate "we have to be careful choosing an opponent because we won't know what scroll they have or who is carrying it." Shikamaru told them
"but won't it be easier to just attack the first person we find." Ino asked
"no we have to choose our opponents wisely. We should target people clearly weaker than us or people that we know have the other scroll." After they were done talking they ran into Sakura "hey billboard brow." Ino said and shikamaru and Choji just sighed knowing what was going to happen.
After a few insults they turned and walked away from each other "why do they even hate each other" choji asked him "hell if I know" he replied.
We were led to gate 27 "so what team should we go for first" choji asked
"I saw team walk out with a heaven scroll earlier they either weren't trying to hide it or were to stupid not two."
"what team was it." Ino asked
"One of the ones from the waterfall village."
After the gate opened they raced out trying to find the other team.
after about an hour choji sat down and opened a bag of chips "what are you doing" ino asked "I'm tired and hungry time for a break" he said as he started eating. As the two started arguing he heard someone coming "ino hide" he said as he pulled choji into a bush.
Another team dropped down where they had been standing. They we're from the waterfall but not the right team. Just then he noticed the chips on the ground and prepared to fight.
They motioned to leave not noticing it but as they started leaving one of them stepped on it. Before they could move shikamaru reacted first. "Doton tamaishi danmaku" pebbles lifted of the ground and flew at the other team he grabbed choji and ino and jumped back.
They ran for a little he then told them to stop and follow him. He jumped down and started preparing a trap.
"Torrapping no jutsu" he created a 15 foot hole in the ground and covered it with a thin layer of rock set to collapse when pressure is applied. "Hide he said" he then waited a second for the team to catch up. He pretended he had tripped and his team left him.
The other team bought it perfectly two members kept running straight while one stayed back. He jumped down behind shikamaru and landed perfectly on the trap. "So your all-" he was cut off as the ground collapsed beneath him. When he hit the ground shikamaru quickly recovered the hole and hid underground.
The other two ninja came back a few moments later having no luck. They started looking for there teammate. One noticed the trap and was about to uncover it when shikamaru grabbed his ankles and pulled him under ground up to his neck. The other guy came running up only to be hit in the face by choji. And before he could get up ino hit him with mind transfer jutsu.
the guy he had pulled underground was trying to escape so choji knocked him out. A moment later the man woke up only to be knocked out again. Ino walked out and pointed to the trap shikamaru made "he has their scroll but it's an earth scroll."
"we should take it anyway" he told them. He walked over to the trap and prepared to remove the top "you two hide" he said once they were out of sight he removed the top.
As he expected the ninja jumped out of the hole and threw two Kunai at him he blocked them and caught him in his shadow possession jutsu. He began walking backwards which the other ninja copied once he got to a certain point he fell straight back.
The waterfall ninja looked confused until he didn't hit the ground and fell back down the trap. Shikamaru timed it perfectly so he had no time to react and shikamaru wouldn't get hurt.
The ninja was still alive but injured badly shikamaru knocked him out and and looked for the scroll which he didn't hide very well.
When he jumped back out choji and ino were waiting for him.
"When did you get that strong" ino asked him.
"I've just been training more" he said "we should keep going but first search them for supplies."
It was getting dark and they hadn't run into any other teams. "We should set up camp for the night." He told them
"yeah I'll find somewhere" choji said
"no need" shikamaru said as he walked up to the side of a small cliff.
"Doton tamiro" he said as the rock expanded inwards. It also made a little bit of furniture out of rock.
"Wow when did you learn that." Ino asked amazed.
"It was in that scroll I got on our mission."
They decided to build a fire and seal the cave for the night leaving only small holes to let air in."
When they woke up it was barely sunrise. They ate breakfast and set out looking for another team.
They began walking when they sensed someone coming "hide fast" shikamaru said. They were hiding in the bushes but not very well. "Come out now" someone said shit I recognize that voice neji huyga had found them.
"Alright I have an idea" ino said she jumped out of the bushes
"Wow it's such an honor to meat last years number one student neji hyuga can I have your autograph" she said and started posing
"so it's just you guys" he said
"I've wanted to meet you for some time" she said letting out her hair.
"Get lost" he said walking away
"what how come my sexiness didn't work." She yelled.
Neji stopped "did you raise your fist at me does that mean you want to fight."
That calmed ino down "no we're fine" she said with her hands at her sides.
"Then get lost"
"alright" she jumped back into the bush.
"let's go find a wimpy team to beat" she said
After walking for a while and finding no one to fight they stopped for a break. "Man there's no one wimpy to beat" ino said
"well we are a new team so most are stronger than us."
"maybe Naruto's team is weaker."
"you take that back naruto and Sakura are lame but sasuke is the strongest one here."
"Maybe but that was just graduation scores we don't know how he is in an actual battle." Ino continued staring at him what a drag I saw one bad thing about sasuke and I get the evil eye.
"Hey guys sasuke collapsed over there" choji said from a tree.
They jumped up to join choji and saw the three sound ninja fighting Sakura and lee.
"we should help them." Shikamaru said
"what why" choji asked
"even if this is the chunin exams most ninja aren't scared to kill some do it on purpose if the sound ninja win chances are there all going to die."
"no I cant let my precious sasuke die" ino yelled
they slowly moved towards the area where the battle was taking place. When they got close lee was barely moving and sakura was on her knees. The girl from the sound was holding her hair forcing her to stay still.
Without thinking shikamaru acted he sent out his shadow and trapped the girl. "What are you doing shikamaru " choji asked panicked. "We can't fight them."
"we at least have to try we are ninja aren't we. We cant just let our comrades die." He said as he stood up. He began walking forward and the girl copied his actions and releasing sakura.
"shikamaru" Sakura said close to crying but putting on a brave face. "Don't worry we'll handle the rest."
"Huh more trash to deal with" the bandaged guy said. Choji followed being pulled by shikamaru.
"you can leave if you want fatso" the other one said.
"what. did. you. call. me" choji turned around slowly. Oh no not this again shikamaru had only heard one person call choji fat and it didn't go over very well.
"I called you fatso or are you deaf too" he said laughing.
"That's it expansion jutsu. Human boulder." He yelled as he turned into a ball and began rolling at the sound ninja. The ninja blocked choji's attack with some kind of air cannon in his hand but there was no time for that because the bandaged guy attacked.
"Ino handle the girl" shikamaru said as he released his jutsu and jumped back. He had to keep his distance in order to avoid that attack he saw earlier.
"mizu peretto" he said as he spit a bullet of water at his enemy. He dodged the attack and came running forward as shikamaru retreated again.
Shikamaru then pulled out his tanto in case it came to close quarters. But he still had some long ranged attacks left. "Doton shuriken no jutsu" several shuriken formed out of rock and flew at the sound ninja.
He blocked or dogged all of them and continued running forward only to switch directions and aim for sakura. She hadn't recovered so shikamaru had to protect her. As the sound ninja punched at her shikamaru blocked it.
"Katon hi shinten no jutsu" his knife caught on fire giving him more powerful attacks. But before he could do anything his vision started to blur and he became extremely dizzy.
"Hahaha there's no way to block sound. No matter what you do you can't defend against it." That device on his wrist must shoot sound waves at someone. There was only one option he could think of destroy the device.
The only problem is he could barely move. He looked around to see the rest of the battle. Sakura had gotten up and was now defending lee, naruto, and sasuke. Choji and ino were both struggling against their opponents. This wasn't good they were going to lose at this rate he had to think of something.
For now he backed away trying not to fall. He couldn't get hit with that attack again. He had to use his strongest jutsu's but that would use almost all of his chakra left.
"Hell zone rock shard" he yelled as he put his hands to the ground many rock shards rose around the area the sound ninja was in after he was satisfied with the number he clapped his hands together. All the rock shards launched at the ninja. He was able to dodge the first few but after one hit him it was all over he continued to be hit by shards until there were none left.
He wasn't dead but he certainly wouldn't be moving anytime soon. The other two sound ninja looked at shikamaru in shock. Shikamaru himself wasn't in the best shape that jutsu used most of the chakra he had left he couldn't do anything else for the rest of the battle.
"Well it looks like I must have underestimated you" a voice said from above them. Neji and his teammate were standing in a tree above them. With the new reinforcements and their leader down the sound ninja looked like they were about to retreat. When suddenly a strong aura erupted from sasuke. He slowly stood up. He looked like he was covered in a strange tattoo.
"Sakura who did this too you."
"Don't worry I feel stronger than ever right now."
"I'm an avenger I must gain power through any means necessary."
"Sakura tell me, who hurt you."
"it was me" the air cannon guy said.
As sasuke turned to face ino and choji ran to shikamaru's side. "Are you okay" she asked.
"Yeah just chakra exhaustion." Shikamaru replied.
The marks started to expand over sasuke as his chakra's presence continued to grow. "Hah what's a half dead bastard like you going to do." The sound ninja said. "I'll take care of you all right now. Super sonic slicing waves." He said as a giant sound wave launched at then. Shikamaru had no chakra left to create a wall so he just had to brace for the attack.
Once the attack was over there was a crater in front of the ninja. "Must of blown them to pieces" he said
"who" sasuke said from behind him as he punched the ninja and sent him flying. He had moved naruto and sakura in the blink of an eye. As the sound ninja stood up sasuke attacked again. "Katon housenka no jutsu" multiple fire balls flew at the ninja who used a sound blast to repel them. However sasuke had hidden shuriken in the fire. As the shuriken hit the sound ninja sasuke reached him.
Sasuke slid between his legs and grabbed his arms so that the ninja couldn't move. "It seems like your proud of your arms" he said as he put his foot on the ninjas back.
"stop it" the ninja begged.
Sasuke pushed his foot forward and a snapping sound could be heard as the sound ninja fell to the ground in pain.
"your the only one left" sasuke said as he turned to the girl.
"stop it" Sakura yelled as she ran up and hugged sasuke. "Stop please."
The marks slowly faded from sasuke body. As his chakra dropped to normal.
"please" the girl said "you can have our scroll just please let us leave."
She went and picked up her teammates and placed the scroll on the ground and slowly walked away dragging her injured comrades away.
"wait who is orochimaru and what did he do to sasuke."
"I don't know. We were just told to kill sasuke."
After the sound ninja shikamaru's team went to help team 7. When they got to naruto he was talking about protecting Sakura in his sleep. "Should we kick him awake."
"I'll do it" choji volunteered.
He went to find a stick and walked back over to choji and handed it to him. "Here use this."
Choji grabbed the stick and slammed it on Naruto's head. "Ahh" naruto woke up screaming.
"everybody hide quick" naruto yelled dropping to the ground.
"are you an idiot." Choji asked as he poked naruto in the head with the stick.
Suddenly he saw sakura and sasuke and ran over to them. Shikamaru and Choji followed him
"why are you guys here anyway."
"it's a pain to explain it." Shikamaru said.
As shikamaru and Choji we're talking sakura walked up to them. "Shikamaru I wanted to thank you."
"No it's fine really" he said.
"Sakura come over here I'll fix your hair" ino called.
suddenly shikamaru felt very tired all the chakra he used must be catching up to him. He walked over to a nearby tree and laid down. He looked up and watched the clouds slowly moving across the sky. Man it's been a while since I watched the clouds. He felt someone looking at him. He sat up and met sasuke's eyes.
"thank you for helping sakura." Sasuke said.
"it's no problem really." He replied
"were you the one who beat that bandaged guy."
"yeah, why"
"nothing never mind" he said before walking back to naruto and sakura
"what was that about" choji asked him
"who knows with him."
"Hey guys are you ready to go" ino asked as she walked up.
"Yeah" they said goodbye and left the clearing. "We're should we go now" ino asked
"we should rest for today" shikamaru told them "we should try to find more teams tomorrow."
They returned to the small camp they had built the night before after shikamaru had resealed the cave he laid on a stone bed and passed out.
When he woke up it was around noon the next day. "How long did I sleep" he asked
"around 20 hours" choji said
"Were is ino" he asked
"she went out to hunt she should be back soon."
just then someone lifted the makeshift door. And ino walked in with some food she had gathered.
"shikamaru your awake" she yelled as she tackled him in a hug.
"sorry" she said as she got off of him. Choji was already going through the food she had brought not even noticing ino.
"You need to eat something" ino told shikamaru.
"here" she ran over and grabbed some food from the pile and handed it to him. After they ate they decided to start searching for other teams.
After a few hours of no success they decided to look around the tower. As they reached it they hid and waited to ambush someone.
They waited for an hour until they heard something. The waterfall team with the heaven scroll came walking up. Shikamaru gave the signal and they attacked. Choji jumped down in front of them and shikamaru behind.
"expansion jutsu human boulder." He yelled as he turned into a ball. The other ninja laughed and tried to jump out of the way but realized they couldn't. "Shadow possession complete" shikamaru said with a smile.
The moment before choji's attack hit shikamaru had to release the jutsu to avoid being injured. But all but one of the ninja managed to avoid the attack the one who got hit was sent flying back. He managed to get up but looked to be in bad shape.
Before shikamaru could think of another strategy one of his opponents had drawn a hatchet and attacked him. He drew his tanto and blocked the attack. "Aren't those used for cutting wood" he asked the ninja.
"Yeah but it'll cut you just as good."
He began to bombard shikamaru with attacks. The attacks were powerful and fast but shikamaru definitely had the skill advantage even with only practicing for a month.
They continued to exchange blows neither being able to land a attack yet. When shikamaru felt something slam into his back. The ninja that was injured from choji's attack had recovered enough to use a water jutsu.
Shikamaru was pushed forward right in the path of the swinging axe. Shikamaru did everything he could to avoid the attack but it still grazed him on his cheek. The injury wasn't bad but it would leave a scar.
Now it was time to take things to the next level. "Katon hi shinten no jutsu" he said as fire spread to his blade. This would increase the damage and make his attacks harder to block.
He charged at the ninja who looked a little panicked at the sight of the fire. Shikamaru attacked he was slowly gaining an advantage but he also had to watch for the injured ninja.
Choji and ino were still busy with the other one so he was on his own for the time being. As he was gaining a clear advantage the other ninja jumped back.
"Kamaitachie no jutsu" he yelled as wind flew at shikamaru. "Ohitsuji kashira" he yelled as a small rock wall curved around shikamaru the wind caused a lot of damage but didn't break the wall.
Shikamaru didn't get a chance to retaliate because he found shuriken flying at him. "Gegeki no doro" he sent mud flying to block them.
"doton doryu taiga" he turned the ground into a river of mud. This caught both the ninja he was fighting and the injured ninja behind him. Shikamaru quickly jumped out of the mud but both the other ninja had trouble staying on their feet.
The injured one fell and was swept away by the current and soon slammed into a tree quickly losing consciousness.
The other ninja continued struggling against the current.
"mizu peretto" he launched a water pellet at the ninja who never saw it coming it hit him in the face knocking him down and sending him into the currents.
He met the same fate as his ally as shikamaru ended his jutsu. Choji and ino had already beat the guy they were fighting with ino holding a heaven scroll.
"now we just need to get to the tower"
It was the end of the 3rd day and becoming dark fast but they were close enough to go today. They had no trouble reaching the tower and they entered the tower and found a sign.
If earth does not exist run the fields in search of an advantage open the ways of heaven and earth and the prevailed way shall be redressed.
"does that mean we open the scrolls" ino asked
""wait they said not to open the scrolls for any reason."
"well that was during the test and this sign says to open them so we should." Shikamaru said.
"ok" choji said.
They laid the scrolls on the floor and slowly opened them. Smoke began coming out of the scrolls.
"get back it's a summoning jutsu." Shikamaru said.
they all moved back and saw a figure in the smoke. They prepared their weapons as the man began walking forward. The smoke cleared revealing a chunin with a bandage across his face. "Congratulations you pass the second exam."
"what who are you" ino asked
"my name is kotetsu us chunin are tasked with giving the test takers the news. There are two days left in this exam you may rest in the tower there are a few teams already here."
They were led up the stairs to a place with many different rooms to stay in. "You aren't allowed to start fights in here so stay away from people you don't like."
"anyway I need to go have fun." Kotetsu said before disappearing.
"I wonder who else is here" ino asked
"hey you guys made it." Kiba called from the end of the hallway.
"hey how long have you been here, and are there snacks." Choji asked with drool falling out of his mouth.
"we got here on the first day and yeah there's food in there." He pointed to a room that choji was in before you could blink.
"so what took you guys so long." He asked
"shikamaru was asleep for twelve hours." Ino said
"how"
"I was tired, so who else is here."
"there's that team from the sand and neji hyuga's team got here yesterday."
"well I'm hungry so see you later." He said as he and ino walked into the room after choji. It was a dinning hall with tables spread out and food in the front.
The sand team was sitting in the corner and shikamaru decided to avoid them.
he walked over to choji who was standing in front of a buffet putting food on his plate.
He grabbed a plate and followed suit when they all had gotten food they found a table far away from the sand ninja.
a few moments later lee's squad walked in lee waved when he saw them and walked over. " I'm glad to see that you have passed." He said
"you too" shikamaru replied.
"and I also wanted to thank you for saving sakura when I could not."
"No problem"
With that he walked over to his squad. He decided to leave early leaving ino and choji alone he started walking around the halls. When he turned the corner he bumped into something. He looked down and saw hinata on the floor.
"sorry hinata" he said reaching out a hand to help her.
"oh it's f-fine" she stuttered as she stood back up blushing. "Oh your face is bleeding" she said concerned.
"oh that's nothing" he said just remembering the cut.
"h-here use this" she said handing him a small jar. He carefully took the jar and opened it. It was full of a white ointment. He carefully put some on his fingers and rubbed it on his cut.
"thanks hinata" he said handing her back the jar.
"y-your welcome." She stuttered as she ran down the hall.
The next few days nothing much happened another team made it they were a random team from the rain village.
On the fifth day they were all told to go to the center of the tower. The room was large there was a empty area that they were standing in and two balconies above them in the front of the room there was a large statue of hands making a seal.
Under the statue was the hokage, the proctor's and the team leaders as well as several other jonin.
The genin teams were lined up facing the hokage among them were Naruto's team kiba's team neji's team kabuto's team the sand team and a team from the rain village.
It was surprising that this many people had passed.
the hokage stepped forward and cleared his throat "before we begin the final exam I would like to tell you the true purpose of the chunin exams."
" creating friendship between nations. Don't get the wrong idea these exams are so to speak, a substitute of war."
"the neighboring countries chose the chunin exams as a venue to battle instead of crushing each other's military strength."
"it also helps to keep the military strength balanced so that one nation doesn't receive more jobs than the others. Now let me explain the third exam."
A ninja wearing normal jonin clothes jumped in front of the hokage. "Master hokage, as the proctor of the third exam please let me explain it."
"I'll leave it to you."
"before the third exam I'd like you all to participate in a preliminary match."
"what do you mean preliminary." Shikamaru yelled
"well this time there are to many people left to take the final exam. So a preliminary must be held to reduce the number of participants."
"we have limited time due to the large number of guests attending so we can't have long pointless matches. Therefore anyone not in top shape can drop out now. The preliminary will begin immediately. Oh and it will be individual battles from now on."
after a moment when no one raised their hands one went up. "Excuse me ... I'll quit." Kabuto said.
there was something off about this he had made it to the final selection after his seventh trie only to drop out.
"kabuto yakushi of the leaf village correct. You may step back."
he began walking away when naruto began yelling at him. Why would anyone fight so hard to get here only to drop out at the last second it didn't make sense.
after kabuto left no one else raised there hands. "Very well if no one else quits we will begin the preliminary now."
A piece of stone began moving reviling a large screen "this will decide the matches."
"as for the matches they will go on until someone gives up dies or can't continue fighting. I can also decide if a match is over. If there are no questions let's begin" the screen lit up and began flashing through names until it landed on two.
Sasuke uchiha vs Yoroi akado everyone moved to the balconies except for those two all the leaf ninja were on one side while the rest were on the other.
Once everyone was away the match began. They threw shuriken at each other but sasuke immediately fell. Something was off about him. Yoroi ran at sasuke and punched. Sasuke managed to roll away in time and tripped the other ninja.
Once he fell down sasuke grabbed his arm and prevented him from moving.
Yoroi then grabbed sasukes shirt and his hand began glowing. He was draining sasukes chakra shikamaru realized.
Yoroi then raised his hand and hit sasuke in the chest. Yoroi then grabbed sasuke's head. This wasn't looking good for sasuke.
Sasuke looked to be losing consciousness. After a moment sasuke kicked yoroi off of him and managed to stand.
Yoroi then began charging at sasuke who managed to dodge all of his attacks but he looked slow and he almost passed out.
Yoroi charged again and sasuke continued dodging. But suddenly sasuke vanished beneath a punch and kicked Yoroi in the chin. Shikamaru had seen rock lee use this move before on the sound ninja.
Sasuke jumped behind the ninja in the air and feinted a kick and followed by a backhand. While Yoroi was falling sasuke punched him in the gut and kicked him as he hit the ground.
Both ninja were laying on the ground seemingly unconscious. When the proctor went to check on Yoroi sasuke stood up with difficulty.
"the winner of the first match is sasuke uchiha." Hayate said. Sasuke looked ready to fall down when kakashi appeared behind him reading his book like normal. He then carried sasuke away as the medics took yoroi away on a stretcher.
"now then we will begin the second match immediately." Hayate announced.
The board lit up again and flipped through the names before landing on two Shikamaru Nara vs Tomomi ryousuke.
"great me already" shikamaru muttered sarcastically "go kick his ass shikamaru" ino yelled.
Shikamaru walked down into the arena and faced a boy about 13-14 years old. He wore dark baggy clothes and a straw hat with the rain village symbol on it.
They both prepared for the battle without any words spoken to each other. When the proctor said begin both jumped back and waited for the other to move.
They began slowly walking in a circle. After a few moments shikamaru decided to make the first move. He threw shuriken and activated a jutsu "kajuu no doro" the mud and shuriken flew at tomomi who created a wall af water to block them.
The water blocked his opponents field of view which shikamaru used to his advantage. "Shadow possession jutsu" he said moving his shadow at his opponent. Once tomomi saw the shadow he threw some kind of ball into the air.
Shikamaru caught tomomi in his jutsu but before he could do anything the ball exploded into light blinding shikamaru.
When he regained his vision he saw tomomi charging at him with a Kunai in hand. He jumped back to make distance.
Tomomi stopped his attack and went back on defense. "Suikusari no jutsu" tomomi muttered as chains made of water shot out at shikamaru. The chains grabbed his arms and legs he could still move but barely.
Tomomi jumped at him with a sword made of water. "Iwa toge chakushu no jutsu." Shikamaru shot sharp rocks out at tomomi who had to block the rocks giving shikamaru a chance to escape.
He got the chains off of himself and looked up to see tomomi facing him with his sword in hand. There was blood running down his left shoulder but looked otherwise uninjured.
Shikamaru took a moment to think he couldn't use shadow possession because of the light bombs his opponent had both close and long range jutsu and unknown taijutsu capabilities. It would be best to keep his distance and use his jutsu to create an advantage.
As he finished his thoughts tomomi had still not moved at all. He was standing perfectly still. As shikamaru prepared to charge there was a splash behind him not knowing what it was he ducked.
A sword cut through the air were he was just standing. He jumped away and saw tomomi standing were he just was. There was a puddle of water behind him. The one he had been looking at collapsed into a puddle of water.
He must have made a water clone then traveled through the puddles to get behind him. He would have to be more observant of the battle field.
Tomomi slowly approached shikamaru he was being cautious but not enough when he entered shikamaru's range he quickly performed the hand signs "katon ryuuka no jutsu" a giant flame in the shape of a dragon shot out at tomomi who barely had time to react the flames hit his left side as he tried to retreat. He managed to get away but his entire left side was unusable for the rest of the match.
Shikamaru knew he had to finish this match quick his chakra was almost gone. He pulled out his tanto. His opponent only had one hand so there wasn't much he could do to defend himself now.
Shikamaru charged he swung at tomomi's right arm but he dogged as shikamaru continued attacking with an upwards swing tomomi created a water sword to block the swing.
Shikamaru feinted to the right and swung left hitting tomomi on the arm. Tomomi fell back he could barely stand at this point the pain to much for him. Shikamaru pointed his blade at tomomi "give up I won" after a second tomomi laid his head on the ground "I yield"
"The winner of the second match, shikamaru Nara."
Shikamaru walked back to the stands and rejoined his team. "Good job shikamaru your certainly getting stronger." Asuma said.
"Thank you" shikamaru said as he laid down.
The rest of the matches went by fast. All three of the sand ninja passed with kankuro betting the other guy on kabutos team temari beat tenten and garra beat rock lee.
Among the leaf ninja naruto neji and shino advanced. Ino and sakuras match ended in a draw and one rain ninja advanced after beating choji.
After all the matches were over the proctor announced that the finals were in one month and revealed the matches. In the first round shikamaru faced kankuro. The other matches were sasuke vs the rain ninja neji vs naruto shino vs temari and garra would face the winner of shikamaru's match.
As they all left the building shikamaru was getting more excited by the second he needed to train as much as he could he wouldn't lose to anyone.