Shikamaru kept Sakiya within the margins of his peripheral vision. He knew she was able to fight as well, but was uncertain of her own abilities. Only that, from what Iwabee had said at the academy, she had trained him outside of the academy. The young woman had taught him how to use his nature affinity transformation, shurikenjutsu, bukijutsu and kenjutsu.
He felt she'd have a pretty good handle on the situation but he was more than prepared to jump in if need be. Right now, he was grateful that Temari had agreed to step in back home and help keep things in order while they assisted Sakiya. The nature of the opponents being the reason he'd come along with the group along with Sasuke and Naruto. However, since Temari is Gaara's sister, and their father had been a previous Kazekage, she was quite familiar with how to keep a village running.
He also knew she'd keep Shikadai safe if anything were to happen, and that Kankuro would defend the Sunagakure if something happened to Gaara. Even still, he'd defend both of the Kage in his presence until his last breath if the situation called for it and that also meant defending this girl so she and her kind could remove the scrolls of Jashin from their world.
The clanging of steel against steel drew his attention over to another direction and blinked at the sight, she had crossed blades with a man who appeared to be in his mid 20's or there about. The man for a moment seemed to have a size advantage over her, until a blast of blue energy dispersed from the palm of her hand, he noticed she had her middle and index finger extended while her ring and baby finger were bent down towards her palm. Her thumb had also been extended, and although the blast had missed the man by him moving away before the attack could strike him, it had done enough damage to the rock boulder below him to crumble apart into pebbles.
Listening to the exchange between them, he learned something else, he was calling her 'Princess' intending it as an insult of some sort. The father within him became aggravated when the man had the audacity to call her a 'burden'. Children could be trying, there's no denying it and they certainly test the patience of their parents, but they were never a burden. A challenge, perhaps, but even then he had to admit parenthood was the one thing he couldn't think of as being a drag.
A moment later a blade came in contact with him, only to reveal that he'd used substitution ninjutsu, causing the blade to slice through a piece of wood. Shikamaru then greeted the blond man with turquoise eyes, "I have to hand it to you, you're not a ninja but if it weren't for the slight change in the shadows I wouldn't have known you were behind me."
"A compliment from a human is as good as an insult," the man snarled.
Shikamaru tilted his head back, glancing at the sun as he heaved a heavy sigh and replied, "man- what a drag."
At this, Sakiya glanced back to Seinosuke and scoffed, "can't handle an unranked girl and a few measly humans on your own, Seinosuke?"
She smirked as she taunted, "geez- hard to believe you were once the Lieutenant of the first Kenpachi."
At this his eyes widened as he began to sweat, but Sakiya pressed on, "when I think of the stories I've heard of the first Kenpachi, how they laid the foundation for the 11th squad to be the formidable combat powerhouse it was known to be when my mother departed soul society—I can't help but wonder if your beloved former Captain would be so disgusted by you that they'd personally seek you out solely to claim your head for their collection if the Captain-Commander permitted them to."
At this Seinosuke flew at her, swinging his Zanpakuto wildly, it was too easy for her to see through the attacks: parry, evade, counter, slash.
After a relentless barrage of attacks and only managing to cut the back of her forearm with an injury slightly worse than a scratch, while she'd successfully slashed across his abdomen he conceded and voiced his realization, "I see—that fool took that hit for you because you're the stronger combatant of the two of you."
Sakiya remained silent while she observed him. Then in a blink he was behind her, she ducked in time to evade her on coming attack, then with a hand on the ground displaced her weight onto her hand, and elevated her legs, kicking him under his chin and flipping her body so she landed back on her feet and facing him from the side. She slashed her blade at his mid section but he flash stepped out of her attack, another sound of steel clanging against steel ringing out into the sandy wasteland of the desert.
He scowled at her as she became aware of Shikamaru's chakra gaining a sensation of pain to it. Her eyes widened at the sensation and Seinosuke smirked at her, "So who are you hoping will come and save these precious humans? Are you hoping to finally meet Daddy—or could you be hoping to see-"
Sakiya scowled deeply as the man's Cheshire cat like grin grew, "-your big brother."
At this, the blond man laughed and commented, "I would love meet my son. It was cruel of your mother to hide your half-brother from me."
Sakiya scoffed, as she made a motion of flicking her finger at Seinosuke, a blast of white energy hitting him which sent him sailing back into one of the desert dunes. She glared menacingly at the man with the turquoise eyes and remarked, "he's no son of yours. As far as I'm concerned, he and I share our mother and father. Father vowed to stay home and ensure that my brother remained safe from the likes of you and all who associate with you. My mother and her cousins made a joined effort to protect me from you while still pursuing their mission. He isn't my half-brother, he is my brother. As simple as it can be."
The man smirked as he pressed her for information, "I hear he has my eyes. Tell me, what is my boy's name, since you believe you know so much about him?"
Sakiya smirked and eyed the man as she countered, "Why don't you tell me? After all if he is your son as you claim, you'd not only know his name, but whom he's named after. Shouldn't every parent know at least that much about their own children?"
She gave a slight smirk as she added, "unless—you're not actually his father but an opportunitistic predator who assaulted a young girl—and then murdered the man who came to her aid. Tell me, are you such a loser you can't get a girlfriend at your age? Now that really is pathetic."
The man scowled and poised to swing at Sakiya again when he suddenly stopped mid motion and Sakiya noted that the shadow had stretched, and was holding him in place. There was only one possible cause: the secret Jutsu of the Nara clan.
"Shadow paralysis jutsu, complete," Shikamaru announced. He had a sight wound to his head, and his left hand was a bit bloodied, but other than that he was still fine. This brought a wave of relief over Sakiya, silently thanking whatever luck had allowed this to occur. If something worse had befallen any of these humans, she'd never be able to face her reflection again.
