~Scroll 36~
"The winner of the fifth round match…" Hayate called, "is Temari!"
The blonde from Sand cruelly smiled.
"{Lee! Go!}" Naruto ordered as he sensed the Kunoichi's intent.
Hayate blinked in surprise at the Suna-Nin's sudden killing intent.
Temari viciously tossed her unconscious opponent toward the far wall.
Tenten's body would have crashed against the unrelenting wall, leaving the young Genin crippled, if it had not been for Lee.
Rock Lee caught his teammate before her body could collide with the arena wall.
"Nice catch!" Temari sneered.
"What's wrong with you?!" Lee yelled as he gently cradled Tenten's body against his chest, "That's not how you treat a worthy opponent… especially not one you've defeated!"
Temari looked at the Konoha Shinobi and felt hatred grip her heart at the teen's sense of honor.
"Oh, shut up!" Temari snarled, "Get yourself and that loser out of my way."
Lee laid Tenten down on the ground.
"No, Lee-!"
"{Lee! Stop!}"
"That's enough, Lee!"
The voices filled the arena as one, but only one voice kept the Konoha Genin in place.
Lee did not understand why his body refused to obey him. He wanted to attack the Suna-Nin for being so callous toward her opponent, his teammate and friend. A part of him was grateful that he could not move to carry out his heart's desire, which he now realized was not an honorable course of action on his part. Another part of him was curious as to why he was not panicking to find himself unable to move. It was not a cold, crippling paralysis that held him in place. It was more like a warm and comforting hand pressed against his chest, cooling his hot blood and clearing his rage filled mind.
Soon he felt the firm hand of his sensei on his shoulder, and his body was once again his own.
"Lee…" Gai-sensei called in concern.
The older Shinobi knew of his student's weakness of being too noble for their world of death. He had been certain that Rock Lee would have followed through with his attack on the Sand Kunoichi, but the teen had paused… may be even had been frozen in place. Gai did not believe his student would simply freeze. Something else must have stopped him.
When Lee looked at his sensei, the Jounin knew that his student was aware of it as well. Something or perhaps someone had stopped the Konoha Genin from possibly making a fatal error against the blonde girl.
"Temari…" The redhead from Suna's voice was low, dark and cold.
He was not one to be underestimated. Gai thought as he heard the younger teen ordering the Kunoichi back onto the balcony. The older Konoha Nin noticed the dark glower his student was sending to the entire Suna Genin team, which the redhead returned in kind. Gai kept himself from sighing at Lee's sense of honor. He knew that a fight between his student and the Suna redhead would be inevitable, but perhaps he could put food for thought into the red-haired Genin's mind.
"My dear friends from Suna…" Gai began as he looked directly at the redhead, "if you don't mind, I'd like to offer a word of advice…"
Gaara titled his head to the side. He was curious as to what advice the strange-looking Shinobi could give him… even Mother was curious.
"Be prepared. You have no idea how strong this boy really is." Gai confidently declared.
Gaara's pale eyes widen for a brief moment before narrowing. He felt he should scoff at the strange man's proclamation, but Mother was laughing… Mother rarely laughed… at least, laughed like this… it was as if Mother was pleased… but what pleased Mother about the strange man's words? Mother did not answer, leaving Gaara to figure it out on his own… Mother can be a difficult teacher. Gaara thought, causing Mother to laugh again.
On the Konoha side of the balcony, Sakura had finally joined her teammate and sensei. Naruto gave her a smile, which she returned. It was nice to have formed a truce of sorts with her friend, Ino. Granted, a rivalry still existed between them for Sasuke's affections, but the pinkette suspected that it will be all bark and no bite from now on. While she could not honestly speak for Ino, Sakura, however, knew that her crush on the Uchiha heir was slowly dying as she spent time getting to know the other youth. And the events in the Forest of Death truly opened her eyes to Sasuke's true character… and it frightened her… she had no idea the true depth the Uchiha would go to for revenge nor did she want to know, but she could not deny the fact that there was some sort of darkness coursing through Sasuke's heart. She could only hope that her and Naruto's friendship to the raven-haired teen would be enough to keep that darkness at bay.
"Feeling better?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah…" She answered, "And thanks… for helping me out before!
"Ino almost had me…" The pinkette confessed, "Until I heard your voice, reminding me of who I am…"
"Everyone need a reminder every now and again." Naruto replied.
"Who's next?" Rock Lee suddenly bellowed, startling the pair with his sudden appearance, "I have a feelin' it's me!"
Naruto glanced at the message board then grinned as he looked at the exuberant youth.
"Not this time."
"Hunh?" Lee looked up, "Aww, man!"
NARA SHIKAMARU vs. KIN TSUCHI
Shikamaru saw his name and let out a deep sigh as he nonchalantly walked down the arena. From the corner of hi eye, the lanky teen immediately spotted his opponent and recognized her as the female Oto-Nin, who attacked Team 7 in the Forest of Death.
"This is such a nuisance." He muttered as he looked at the Kunoichi.
He had the basic understanding of the Oto Shinobi capabilities, but he knew next to nothing about her abilities. The disadvantage was on him since the Sound ninja had ample opportunity to observe his techniques. As he quickly replayed the Kunoichi's fight with Haruno during the Second Exam, Shikamaru lightly smirked as he remembered the other Shinobi's Achilles' heel. With a quick prayer that he would not get pummeled by his blonde teammate when the match ended.
"And how embarrassing…" The Nara heir drawled, "Being expected to fight a girl…"
"WHAT WAS THAT, SHIKAMARU!" Ino screamed at her teammate; her tone promised a world of pain for the lazy teen.
"If that's the way you feel," Kin sneered in anger, "I'll put you out of your misery quickly!"
"Begin!" Hayate coughed.
Instantly the Shadow Master activated his Ninja Art: Kagemane no Jutsu.
"Just a one-trick pony…" The Kunoichi jeered, "How lame!"
Immediately she dodged his shadow while throwing a pair of senbon.
Taken aback by her attack, Shikamaru dodged her attack but was surprised to hear the sweet jingling sound of bells. Turning around, he was surprised again to see a pair of bells attached to the senbon. His eyes narrowed at the Kunoichi's ploy.
It was a tried and true old trick of flinging senbon with and without bells to mislead the victim into thinking they were safe as they dodged the senbon with bells, only to get perforated by the senbon without the bells.
Shikamaru turned back at his opponent, not believing that she would depend on such a simple trick when he suddenly heard the bells behind him chime!
Instinctively he looked behind him.
Aw, crud…! The Nara heir thought as he realized the Kunoichi had attached thread to the bells, enabling her to cause the bells to ring by pulling on the threads and confusing him.
Shikamaru barely had time to pull his arms up to protect his vulnerable torso from the Sound-Nin's attack.
"Once I mastered how to avoid your shadow," She gloated, "you never stood a chance! Now for the coup de grace!"
With three senbon in hand, the Oto Shinobi prepared to attack only… she could not move.
"Okay…" Shika grunted as he slowly got to his feet, "time to deploy the art of me-and-my-shadow…"
"How?!" She shrieked, "Your shadow is nowhere in sight!"
"Tsch, you're an idiot…" The Konoha Genin remarked, "Such delicate little threads, so high up… there's no way they could cast shadows!" The Nara teen mocked the Kunoichi's obvious disbelief before making her point, "Those delicate filaments of darkness are all I need to make my own shadow as big… or as small I wish… and attach to you!"
Shikamaru then reached for his shuriken pouch, making her copy his moves.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" Panic laced her voice, "Don't be an idiot! While we're locked into this mimicry, any injury done to me… will hurt you, too!"
"I know." The Nara's voice drawled in boredom as he threw his shuriken as did the Oto Shinobi.
The shuriken flew straight and true.
Shikamaru suddenly bent backwards, creating a bridge with his body while a satisfied grin graced his face when he heard the tell-tale sound of skull meeting concrete.
The teen flipped to his feet, seeing his opponent on the ground unconscious.
"The winner is Nara Shikamaru!" Hayate called.