Chapter 21: Shadow Stretching

Taking time off from his already busy schedule, Shikamaru took his son Shikadai to the training ground to practice a new jutsu. It was a jutsu Shikamaru himself had a hard time mastering and imagined it would be the same for his son. After teaching him the necessary hand-signs, Shikamaru stepped back and allowed Shikadai to practice. So far, it wasn't going well.

Shikadai fell to his knees in exhaustion, panting as if he had just run ten miles at full speed.

"It's a tough one," Shikamaru told him in understanding. Of course, the way he said it, it came out very nonchalant.

"Any trick to it?" Shikadai asked, catching his breath.

"Not really." Shikamaru smiled in amusement. "I actually picked this up while Ino was using her jutsu. Think of it as a mash between the two."

It really was. The jutsu Shikamaru was trying to teach him combined the Shadow Possession Jutsu with something else. Basically, instead of controlling the person's actions, once the two shadows were connected, the user's influence would overtake the victim's. In simple terms, they adopted the user's personality.

"I don't really see a point to this," said Shikadai. "Practicing on you. Everyone says we're really similar. How can we tell the jutsu worked?"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "Got a point there."

"So, should we just forget it and move on?"

Shikamaru knew his son would say that. "No, it's best to at least get the basics down. Try it again before we call it a day."

"Ok, whatever." Shikadai faced his father and tried using the jutsu again. Beads of sweat formed on his brow in concentration. His father was right about this being a hard one to master.

Slowly, his shadow stretched ahead and latched itself to Shikamaru. He tried the next step of the jutsu, but he had no idea if it was working. His father didn't seem any different. Shikadai shut his eyes tight and pleaded for the jutsu to work.

The shadow on the ground warbled and shook and finally broke.

"Gah!" Shikadai exhaled sharply and fell forward, bracing himself with his arms.

"I think that's enough for today," said Shikamaru. "You did well. I'm impressed."

"I don't know if I did it or not. I told you, it's too hard to tell with someone so similar in personality. I should be practicing on Boruto or Metal or something."

"No arguments there," said Shikamaru as he helped his son to his feet. "I gotta get back to work. Take it easy. Don't need you wearing yourself out."

Shikamaru knew how that sounded and wondered what he was thinking. His son would never wear himself out on purpose, not even to learn a new jutsu.

"Just hang out with your friends or something," he advised and left the training grounds.

As he walked, his shadow twitched, momentarily not keeping up with his movements.

"That justu sounds awesome," said Boruto when he heard the story later that day. "Hey, can you show it to us?"

"Why bother?" Shikadai asked. "I don't even know if I got it down. Besides, it's really hard to do. I don't want to overdo it."

"Aw, come on. Doesn't it make more sense to practice on someone with a different personality?"

"That's what I told my dad."

"Well?"

Shikadai sighed. "If it'll get you off my back. But I'm warning you, I got no idea if it'll work."

They got into position but before Shikadai could attempt the jutsu, Iwabe showed up with his usual attitude, asking about something none of the boys cared about. At Boruto's urging, Shikadai attempted to use the jutsu on him instead. With such a drastic difference in personality, it would be easy to see a change.

The shadow stretched, attached itself to Iwabe and almost as quickly, the shadow detached and returned to Shikadai.

"I told you it wouldn't work," he complained. "It's too hard."

Iwabe glared at the boys and said, "Experimenting on me, huh? You wouldn't like it if I did that to you, would ya?"

"Sorry," said Boruto. "We were just trying to see if his new jutsu would work."

"Whatever," said Iwabe. "Being someone's guineapig is such a drag."

Boruto and Shikadai couldn't tell if Iwabe was teasing them or not. Neither of them were looking at Iwabe's shadow either. Otherwise, they would have noticed that it looked a lot like Shikadai's.

Shikamaru moaned, holding his head in his hands.

"Something wrong?" Naruto asked from his desk.

"I just don't feel well," Shikamaru admitted. He rubbed his forehead with a grimace.

"Have too much to drink last night or something?"

"No, I didn't go drinking. I was helping Shikadai with a new jutsu."

"Ah," said Naruto with a smile. "That much of a headache, huh?"

"It is a hard one to master." Shikamaru moaned again. "Doesn't explain why I should be feeling this way, though…"

"If you need time off, go ahead. I can handle this."

"You do too much as it is," reasoned Shikamaru. "I'll stay. Just give me a minute."

Shikamaru didn't know why he felt like this. His body was aching and his head felt strange.

At Boruto's prompting, Shikadai tried the jutsu again later in the day. Boruto volunteered to be the test subject, trusting his friend completely, despite him saying again and again that he wasn't sure he knew what he was doing. Shikadai attempted the jutsu and just as before, once it connected, it broke and Shikadai was left to wonder if it worked or not.

"Feel any different?" Shikadai asked Boruto.

"I don't know." Boruto looked at himself. "Kinda the same."

Shikadai sighed in frustration. "I knew this was a waste of time. I'm not going to get it in a day."

"Yeah, it is troublesome," said Boruto, sitting down. "Let's not bother with it anymore."

Shikadai looked at him in surprise and wondered if the jutsu had worked after all. "Boruto?"

"Yeah?"

Shikadai needed a way to confirm this. "You want to go see if there are any intense missions available?"

"Not really."

"Then what do you want to do?"

Boruto shrugged. "I'm fine just hanging out. We can play videogames if you want."

That didn't confirm much, considering Boruto already liked to hang out and play videogames.

Shikadai looked down and noticed that Boruto's shadow had changed. It was eerily similar to Shikadai's. In fact, it was Shikadai's shadow. He could see the outline of his own head and hair. It looked exactly the same as the one attached to his feet.

"I think the jutsu worked."

Boruto looked at him. "How do you figure that?"

"Look," Shikadai said pointing at their shadows. "Your shadow looks the same as mine."

"So? Shadows are just blobs."

"But the outline is different. See? Your hair looks like mine in the shadow. The build looks the same, too. That's not your shadow. It's mine."

Boruto shrugged his shoulders. "Looks the same to me."

"Same as in how it always looks or same as in the same as mine?"

"Who cares?" Boruto asked. "Can we talk about something other than shadows? I'm kinda tired of this."

Shikadai didn't want to drop the subject but Boruto threatened to leave if they didn't, fed up and bored. Shikadai hoped the jutsu would wear off and the shadow would return to normal. If they didn't, he would have to ask his father what to do about it. He was the one teaching him the jutsu, after all.

Still, if Shikadai did something wrong, would his father be able to fix it?

Shikadai picked at his dinner, still concerned about his friends and the jutsu. His mother recommended speaking with his father as soon as he got home if he was that worried about it. When that would be was uncertain because of Shikamaru's hectic schedule. Some nights he was home for dinner and others he came in late after the food was put away. Temari said she understood his work was important but Shikadai could tell she was annoyed at times. Having to eat across from her got awkward when it was just the two of them and she was in one of her moods.

The door opened and Shikamaru came in looking lethargic. Temari asked if he was alright and Shikamaru braced himself against the table as he sat down to eat. "My body is so sore and I don't know why. Everything hurts. It's almost like I'm being crushed."

Temari looked concerned as she poured him some tea. She watched him eat, noticing that it looked painful for him to do so.

"Uh, Dad?"

"Yeah, Shikadai?"

"Um, about the jutsu you taught me…"

"What about it?"

Shikadai hesitated to respond. "Well… Um… Just, uh… Just how long is it supposed to last?"

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru chewed slowly without looking at his son.

"It's just that… I used the jutsu on Iwabe and Boruto and when I looked… their shadows looked a lot like mine. And they were acting like me a little."

"That's the point of the jutsu."

"I know, but…" Shikadai's eyes darted from the table to his father. "I thought I ended the jutsu. Doesn't breaking the connection also break the jutsu?"

"It does."

"Then why are they still acting like this? I don't think I did the jutsu right. They have my shadow and they're sort of acting like me. I just wanted to know."

Shikamaru stopped eating. "We can worry about it in the morning. I'll take a look and see what I can do. I'm sure it's nothing."

"You ok, Dad?" Shikamaru seemed to be in a lot of pain and everyone noticed. From the way Shikamaru gave curt answers to how he ate a little then stopped like it was too painful for him. Shikadai was concerned for his father.

"I just need to lie down." Shikamaru stood up from the table and dragged himself to the bedroom, pulling himself with great effort as if he carried an elephant on his back.

Shikadai looked at his mother. "What's going on with him? Is he ok?"

Temari seemed concerned though she tried to hide it. "Just a long day, I'm sure. Get to bed."

It was a cloudy day and Shikadai was eager to see how his friends were doing. Perhaps the jutsu wore off by now. His father seemed to be in less pain and agreed to accompany him to make sure the jutsu hadn't gotten muddled.

Shikamaru looked up at the sky and commented that it might rain later or the next day, making small talk. Shikadai brought his father to Boruto and Iwabe who were both lazily hanging out in an area Shikadai liked to frequent when the stress of life got to be too much and just wanted to relax.

Their shadows were just like Shikadai's.

"See?" Shikadai said, pointing. "Look at their shadows. Is that a problem?"

Shikamaru saw what he meant and nodded. "I haven't seen the jutsu last this long before. Usually when the shadow disconnects, the jutsu ends. Looks like it's still lingering."

"How do we fix it?"

"Let me try something." Shikamaru got into position and prepared his jutsu. As soon as he tried, he yelled out in pain and abruptly stopped.

"Dad, what is it?" Shikadai asked, rushing over to him.

Shikamaru looked scared. "My jutsu… it…"

"What?" Shikadai was desperate for answers.

"Shikadai, when you used the jutsu on me, I think something happened. Instead of it working like it was supposed to, it might have…"

The clouds parted and sunlight shone through, highlighting their shadows. Shikamaru's stretched behind him and he started yelling. When Shikadai stepped back, he saw why. His father's body was stretching like the shadow. He was getting taller. Unnaturally so.

"Dad, what's happening?"

"Whatever happens to my shadow, happens to me," Shikamaru explained as his body stretched unnaturally to match his shadow. "If I'm pulled anymore, I'll…"

There was a loud popping and snapping sound as Shikamaru's spine was stretched beyond what a human could handle and he fell to the ground, his torso elongated to nearly twice what it should have been.

Shikadai cried out in horror when he saw what happened to his father.

Boruto and Iwabe turned in his direction, looking bored. "That seems troublesome."

"Dad!" Shikadai cried. "Oh, no! Who's going to help with the jutsu now? He was the only one who knew how to fix this."

Boruto and Iwabe shrugged and leaned against the same tree. "Guess we're stuck like this. Oh, well."

With nothing else to do, Shikadai sat down with his friends and joined them. "How troublesome."