Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

From Rain To Rust

Chapter Four

'Know Your Enemy'

Shikamaru was known for many things: the most prominent one being the fact that by any existing measure the guy was a genius. There was of course the other thing he was well-known for: being a lazy ass pineapple haired (former) mess of a man; and as the single-leading figure in being a lazy ass pineapple haired (former) mess of a man, a good amount (but certainly not enough if you ever asked him) of his teen, pre-teen, and post-teen years were spent in bed.

One thing he had learned throughout those aforementioned experiences of him, was that quite honestly—when it came to lying around—the less people the better; if by some misfortune Ino or Chōji happened to appear inside his room while he was in bed then that'd mean that his much appreciated time of rest and peace was coming to a close. Whether that'd be because Ino had decided to drag them through another one of her shopping sprees (and by default decided that she had to get them something as well); or because Yakiniku-Q had a 2x1 on it's salted beef tongue and Chōji had to go with his teammates because, after all, Yakiniku is still Team Asuma's (un-)official restaurant, so that meant he couldn't go by himself and all that…

Thing is; yes Shikamaru is by all existing measures a genius… and yes, his days of being an apathetic good-for-nothing were long behind him by now, which meant he was maturing, growing into himself and learning that even absolute geniuses like himself often got shit absolutely wrong all along…

Point case being how he'd just single handedly spent the best night of his life while being on the same bed with the most troublesome and complicated human being alive, getting tangled on her blonde mess of hair, getting tickled on the neck by her two gravity defying pig-tails, getting bruised, and grabbed, and tugged by her rough, calloused hands, and pinned down, and… other things, other very not troublesome things.

Though to be fair—and considering they had years of teenage hormones boiling over in desire for each other—it had been a miracle they didn't strip down on their way to his place and 'released' all of their hormones then and there on the street. It was even more of a miracle that they didn't do so once they were inside his cozy apartment, by Kami they were close to it, deliciously close, but they also agreed that once they opened that door there would be no army on the land that would be able to make them close it again; and they still had a job to do that would require them to get out of Shikamaru's bed sooner or later.

"No," Shikamaru stated as he grabbed Temari's wrist. "We still have hours before we're needed over there."

Temari inwardly smiled at her-... at Shikamaru's actions, had he not moved over to grip her wrist she wouldn't have ever known he was awake, even while he spoke his eyes remained closed!

"I know… but I still need to go get 'presentable' for the opening ceremony of the exams…" Temari replied softly, which actually made perfect sense since her whole attire screamed 'walk of shame', and she didn't have the benefit of being at literal hand's reach of a change of clothes like he did.

Shikamaru cracked open an eye, not even being able to hide the smirk that crept up his lips as his sight was welcomed by the figure of an underwear-laced Temari; her muscular, thick thighs jumped out like a sore thumb even amidst her toned navel and strong shoulders. Her body wasn't 'femenine' like Ino's, or even Hinata's (yes, of course he had looked once or twice, he's a young man after all, and it was only natural), every inch of her body screamed of hard-work, exhausting drilling, and guns-blazing-power… And Shikamaru wouldn't have it any other way, he knew perfectly well she could split him in half with her own hands if she ever desired so, he knew that better than anyone else; but other thing he knew better than anyone else in the entire world was how soft her first and last smiles of the day were whenever they had to go through a long day of paperwork; how she stole a glance of him when he (pretended) to close his eyes and sigh tiredly from his duties as coordinator, how she'd actually put her own paperwork aside in order to help him finish his before he could screw up a meeting of the kages… and as of last night: no one else knew how she blushed when he whispered loving to her ear; how she leaned her weight back on his whenever he held her softly from behind, as if letting him know his presence alone could lift her off the ground by itself; how she had a sweet spot on her left pulse where if he kissed her she'd bite back the softest, most tender moan one could possibly hear…- there was so much more than it met the eye when it came to Temari.

"You look well enough for me." Shikamaru gracefully stated out loud while smiling.

'WHAM!'

Temari's fist cracked down over Shikamaru's head so fast that not even the Uchiha's famous eyes could have possibly see it coming.

"I am a LADY, you legendary pervert laze!" Temari yelled over to Shikamaru. "Just because I decided you were lucky enough to see me like this once doesn't mean I'll suddenly go out in public parading myself like this!" Temari cocked his fist back once again, preparing herself to beat some respect into Shikamaru's thick skull once again. "I'm a Lady of Suna-!"

"OI! Oi, oi, oi, oi!" Shikamaru scrambled awkwardly around his bed trying to both explain himself and stop his…- stop Temari. From killing him before noon. He finally managed to stop her flailing fist with his hand as he knelt on the bed.

"That's not what I meant- I was trying to say you look beautiful and things! And that I like you!" So much for Shikamaru's eloquence.

Temari's eyebrow twitched, though more of bashfulness than any other thing, since he was as bare as she was and he was—albeit quite lamely—complimenting her even after she'd hit him over the head. Her eyes couldn't help but run up and down his quite thin, but perfectly distributed, fibrous muscle tone; which made her blush grow more intensely then and there.

"I don't have time to beat some manners into you right now, I have to go get changed and ready to escort Gaara to the ceremony." Temari barked as she freed herself from his hand and turned around, gathering her clothes and slipping them on as best as she could. "I'll have to wait till tonight to do that."

Shikamaru was ready to beg if it got to that, he really didn't want to mess this up for a simple misunderstanding, and Kami knew he lacked experience, for once in his life he wasn't trying to be crude or dry when talking and- 'WAIT, had she actually said 'tonight'?'

"U-Um… Tonight?" Shikamaru asked softly, as if he was talking to a feral tigress. "As in here tonight?"

"IS there a probl-" Temari was ready to blow a fuse again. Here she was, giving him an out, compromising and of course he'd find a problem with that.

"NO!" Shikamaru replied immediately, perhaps too immediately. "I MEAN- everything's fine, everything's perfect! Yes. Here and tonight, tonight and here!" Shikamaru scrambled out of the bed and towards her so awkwardly, the highly skilled Jōnin almost fell over his own feet and onto his face.

Temari tried really hard to keep pretending to be mad at him, but she just couldn't anymore, the poor guy was miserable right now, and she cared all too much about him to keep his suffering going even longer. It was quite tempting though.

Temari rolled her eyes amidst a soft smile. "Alright, alright… No need to break your neck for me… Yet." She teased him as she slipped on her gloves. "Let's go get some breakfast beforehand and then we'll see each other later in the day."

Part of Shikamaru knew she was just toying with him right now… But the other part also knew fully well that this wasn't the 'bad' kind of toying, this was their kind of toying, theirs and only theirs. So as any good genius would do, he saw an opportunity too good to pass up and took it.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru deadpanned with a shrug, back at using his usual aloof tone, only letting a slight smirk be shown at the end.

Temari rolled her eyes again as she turned around to keep looking for her different articles of clothing, articles which were mixed around the room along with his, articles which were proving to be quite troublesome to find.

Temari caught a glimpse of her blouse tangled on over Shikamaru's nightstand, she reached for it and tugged it to her, causing the book it was tangled with to fall over with a heavy thud.

Shikamaru looked her way as he finished adjusting his bottoms, merely curious of what the noise had been about. "Don't worry-" He quickly waved the matter off. "It's just one of Ino's prank gifts…"

Temarie pursed her lips. "You know? It's not exactly polite to be so dismissive of your friend's gifts…" She chastised him as she picked up her last missing piece of clothing in one hand and the infamous book in the other.

" 'A Novice's Journey to the Fascinating World of Fungi' ?" Temari frowned as she read the title of the book out loud… She almost felt bad for chastising Shikamaru now. "Why did Ino gave this to you in the first place?"

Shikamaru couldn't help but chuckle as he walked over to Temari. "Being the village's leading expert on botanics and also one of its most proficient medical practitioners she gets tasked with reading and investigating about matters like this." He replied as he took the book from her hands and tossed it over his own head. "She gives them to me after she's finished with them, sometimes she tries to get me to accept them in exchange for free food."

Temari laughed a bit at Shikamaru's answer, she slipped her blouse on and plopped down on the bed with him as they adjusted their sandals and last pieces of clothing.

"So, just what did you learn about the 'Fascinating World of Fungi'?" Temari asked sarcastically, not really expecting him to even open the book in the first place.

Shikamaru actually laughed at her antics, happy to see her so loose and casual with him. "It's actually not too bad."

"You did read it!"

"Contrary to popular belief I'm not in the least a big reading fan… I only read what people give me."

"Kami... You're duller and duller the more I know you…!" She teased him and nudged his arm. "So, share your knowledge with the class Shika-Kun."

Once again Shikamaru smiled at her antics and rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know that fungi are actually much more interesting than I expected."

"Oh, please tell me more! You do know how to keep a woman interested!" Temari chuckled at him.

"For example, Troublesome Woman—" Shikamaru spoke over her "—fungi are one of the few organisms that use spores for reproduction and dispersal, and these tiny little things called spores are capable of travelling thousands of miles away from their ejection site, they're also capable of resisting a number of poisonous chemical agents, direct flame, boiling, freezing, thawing, acid, and high pressure. Not to mention a single spore can go through all of that and still 'live' for years on end floating around." Shikamaru finished his lesson just as he stood from the bed, dusting himself.

"Poor you… you now have all of that engraved onto that big brain of yours forever, don't you?" Temari replied without missing a bit.

"Yes. I sadly do."

"Poor you." Temari pinched his cheek before walking past him. "Let me buy you some breakfast and you can finish wooing me with as much Fungi facts as you want."

Shikamaru could see himself making a habit of this.

"Come on, Kaori!" Runa called ahead of her friend. "Why did you stop? We're late already!"

"She's right." Yoa blurted as he landed beside Kaori. "We better hurry."

"S' nuthin'..." Kaori furiously rubbed her left eye. "Something got in my eye!" She complained angrily, trying to blink the intruder away but getting welcomed with a white splotch on her vision instead.

"Are you serious?!" It was Runa who complained now, she wasn't in the mood for antics right now.

"Shut up, okay?!" Kaori yelled back at her teammate. "It burns like hell!" She tried rubbing her eye again for a couple of seconds, opening it once again and blinking. She watched the white splotch fade away little by little with every blink right before it went away completely, the pain going away with it as well.

"Are we good?" Yoa asked, getting in front of Kaori's sight.

Kaori smiled at the relief coming from her eye and then at her friend's concern. "All good!"

Yoa smiled back and nodded, not waiting any longer to jump ahead once again.

"And I'm gonna pray for you to get laid, Runa! Seriously! " Kaori shouted right after she fell into step with her team.

The Opening Ceremony was, to put it mildly, a drag… Yeah, of course, it made sense to showcase the Chūnin teams to the Konoha people, it made sense for the people who had cross the continent to at least see the faces of the ninja who would be competing for their nation's symbols.

But it was still annoying to stand there in front of hundreds of people, while each Kage made their speech, all five of them pretty much said the same thing: they offered their condolences to all those who had lost someone in the war, shared a couple of proud lines to pump up the people from their villages, made it clear that this was to be a peaceful celebration and that all competition would be shared in 'good health', and reiterated how even amidst all the festivities this was in fact a serious event that'd serve as a way to measure different Shinobi's skills and that if it came to that; no Jōnin promotion would be awarded if none of the participants were deemed fit.

'Pfft… As if… For at least some of us this will merely be a formality…' Iwagakure's own Kurotsuchi thought.

Kurotsuchi did come up with a silver lining through all of that though, if anything the ceremony served her enough to see who else was among the participants. It was announced that the Exam would have a couple of surprises along the way, something for the 'regular' people to enjoy; but something not at all surprising was the announcement that the exam would require three-man-units for anyone to compete in. Which meant Kurotsuchi's worst nightmare came true then and there… She'd have to be put in a team with two other no-names and carry their dead weight on her back for however long the Exams lasted!

And as if faith had no pity for her in the least, all of the participant Chūnin were dragged off of the stage and into Konoha's Academy Training Hall right away.

She had to agree that it wasn't an ugly sight, it was a pretty basic training ground for Genins, perhaps even low-level Chūnins, it had some bleachers with a scoreboard type thing, the actual training ground, and a big statue of a hand-seal embedded on the wall… It wasn't exactly up to Iwa's standards but it'd probably do.

"Oi, Kurotsuchi-San!"

Kurotsuchi was brought back from her self-pity long enough to recognize someone coming over to her. "Chōjūrō ! If it isn't you!" She greeted him with a grin.

"Hai! It's been a while, Kurotsuchi." The swordsman nodded. "I saw you back at the ceremony, figured I should come say hi."

"Yeah, I saw you there too. Quite a bore wasn't it?"

Chōjūrō shrugged a shoulder. "It was needed, got to give the people something to root for."

"Oh, come on! Not you too…" Kurotsuchi groaned as she threw her head back. "If they want to clap they should go to a dancing show…"

Chōjūrō offered a soft laugh and a shake of his head. He didn't agree with her ideas, but did in fact find some humor in them anyway.

"WAIT!" Kurotsuchi yelled suddenly realizing something. "You're here, Chōjūrō !" The woman grabbed him by the shoulders and started to shake him vigorously, which meant the Mist Nin could barely whimper out a 'yes'.

"Are you here alone?! Did they put you up to this on your own as well?! WE HAVE TO GET THEM TO TEAM US UP, WE HAVE TO SHOW THEM THEY CAN'T TEAM US UP WITH JUST ANY RANDOM Chūnin-" Kurotsuchi's rage was unfortunately discharged on the poor Chōjūrō 's person until she got interrupted.

"Ch-Chōjūrō Kun…? Are you alright?" Ruka asked hesitantly from beside Kiri.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Kurotsuchi questioned the pair as she manhandled Chōjūrō hiding him behind her back as if he was a flat piece of wood.

"We're his teammates." Kiri deadpanned, getting just a bit of second-hand embarrassment from all of this.

"WHAT?!" Kurotsuchi yelled in defeat even louder, finally releasing Chōjūrō from her grasp.

It would take Chōjūrō a couple of seconds to get his dizzy eyes and now-even paler skin-tone back to normal, after the Kunoichi's abuse. Kiri had to go over to him and begrudgingly tend to him for something he brought to himself.

"What's with the noise over here?" Karui asked with a frown as she and Omoi walked into the scene shortly after. "And why is Chōjūrō -San dying?"

"Maybe some rogue ninja managed to escape certain death years ago while battling against Chōjūrō and nursed himself back into health with the sole remaining purpose of getting his payback years later by killing him with a poisoned senbon right under the noses of the best Chūnin the continent has to offer." Omoi… did his thing right before replacing his totally consumed pop for a new one.

"Ugh… I swear that when you get like this I pray they split us up into different teams already…" Karui growled to her teammate.

"SO YOU DO COME HERE BY YOURSELVES!" Kurotsuchi instantly changed objectives as she went to grab Omoi's shoulders.

"Ah, I see what happened to Chōjūrō …" Kaori muttered without showing much actual preoccupation for her teammate. "And yes, since Samui is a Jōnin already we came here on our own."

"THEN WE HAVE TO TEAM UP!" Kurotsuchi switched to grabbing Karui's shoulders.

Karui actually found it quite amusing, but simply chuckled it out and struggled against the Iwa's Kunoicihi's grip but removed it nonetheless. "I don't think it works that way…-" Karui was about to reason with her fellow Kunoichi before she noticed Omoi's poise shift in a second.

"WHY NOT?" Kurotsuchi cried out, quite close to throwing a temper tantrum then and there.

"Yo, Omoi. What's wrong?" Karui cut to the chase with her teammate, knowing he wasn't the type to break his own ice for nothing.

"Huh, what?" Kurotsuchi cut her antics for a moment to turn to look at the addressee of Karui.

Omoi of course expected them to come, he'd been on the wrong place at the wrong time with them he knew they were to be participants in this exam, though for a second—when he missed them at the ceremony—he thought they'd been punished for their actions and got banned from participation. He seemed to be wrong, though…

"It's them." Omoi stated with a nod in their direction. The bleachers they were on weren't huge to begin with, and with all the room all the Nin were taking the distance between the so called 'them' and Omoi wasn't too far off.

Karui's eyes immediately followed Omoi's; she knew Omoi wasn't supposed to say what had transpired the night before, he'd been trusted a vote of confidence by the Hokage, and Omoi took it seriously, but with Karui being her life-long teammate and friend, Omoi felt the need to warn her about foes that could present a threat to her chances of passing the exam and perhaps even to her life…

"Who?" Kurotsuchi asked with an arched eyebrow, inspecting the crowd over with her eyes, finally falling on the newly arrived trio. She wasn't impressed. "Those three from Rain...?" She openly scoffed, the emphasis on her words not exactly a respectful one.

"Ame's a small village for a reason, it's filled with nobodies. They won't even make it past whatever our first test will be." Kurotsuchi deadpanned.

Karui exchanged a glance with Omoi, his eyes weren't relenting, he was for real about them.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Kurotsuchi." Karui decided to amuse Kurotsuchi so as to not draw more attention to the situation. But she still looked pointedly at Omoi. "We're just being careful."

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes, 'Really? Making a fuss for three lowly Chūnin from god-knows-where? Pfft… I guess Kumo isn't as tough as they like everyone else to think they are.' The Iwa Nin thought proudly.

"I told you we were running late." Runa verbally prodded her teammate.

"I never said we weren't late, I said I didn't care much for being paraded like cattle for those asshole Daimyos." Yoa replied as he looked around the room to the different teams present.

Runa wasn't impressed with Yoa's answer, and she was about to make it a point known to him right before Kaori got their attention with a call.

"Oi, Hot-Tan looking our way." Kaori pointed to Omoi, who was still looking their way with a group around him.

"That he is…" Runa smirked as if she was the cat that ate the canary. She winked his way once more while tapping the hilt of her katana. She knew as well as anyone that when it came to battle and competition having an edge of any kind—especially a mental edge—came in hand. Plus, a bit of hostile flirting never hurt anyone.

"Would you look at that, you made the guy flush…" Yoa noted with a mocking grin, his eyes fixated on the group. It seemed like there were at least two teams with that Omoi guy, it wasn't like Yoa to underestimate opponents, ever; and this time was no exception. Even he had to admit they didn't look weak, and there probably was more than met the eye if their previous encounter was worth a dime.

"You're such children sometimes…" Kaori rolled her eyes at her teammates but still directed her eyes to the other group, she wasn't too impressed, nor underwhelmed either; she just didn't seem to want to fight before it was needed… Not again anyway.

"Is that damn minion grinning at us?" Kurotsuchi asked those around her, fuming already.

Chōjūrō and his group had re-joined their group after Kiri and Ruka—respectively—glared and fidgeted the dizziness induced by Kurotsuchi out of him.

"What 'minion'?" Chōjūrō asked, narrowing his eyes as he searched for the accused.

"The boy from Ame's trio." Karui replied, somewhat impressed by the subtle grit those three were showing.

"Ah" Chōjūrō nodded. "I didn't know Ame was participating, didn't see them at the ceremony."

"They weren't there." Kiri stated.

"No, they weren't." Omoi confirmed, the lightest tint of color lacing his cheekbones.

"Let's hope they don't have a 'Hanzo' amongst them…" Chōjūrō joked lightheartedly, he had trust in himself and his team, he had already seen the teams that worried him the most, some Nins from Konoha, Suna—and obviously—Iwa and Kumo; he hadn't seen any from any smaller village until now, but he did know the fame Ame had for getting one or two great ninjas every generation. It didn't hurt to be cautious.

"Oh please…" Kurotsuchi took the joke as anything but lighthearted, Hanzo was the clear exception, not the rule. "Lesser Villages are lesser for a reason, their people don't belong…!" She parroted her words from earlier, only this time she made sure the Ame Nin heard them, made them know her thoughts.

A pin drop could be heard on the Training Hall, where there once was chatter and an actual amicable vibe in a room that would otherwise be tense and hostile, complete silence took over. The rest of the teams there stopped to look over at the emitter of such harsh words, words that most thought would be long erased from vocabulary after what the war had taught them.

Words that ticked the wrong switch inside the Ame Nin.

Yoa's reaction was immediate, explosive, careless. He stomped the few steps between the two groups and went face to face with Kurotsuchi.

"Big words for some worthless lonely Nin." Yoa barked down at the shorter Iwa Kunoichi, he had noted she was the only one wearing Iwa's symbol amongst the group, the closest Iwa team on the complete opposite side of the room. "It looks like it's someone else who doesn't belong."

Kurotsuchi certainly wouldn't back down, she had a mission, she had the weight of a great nation resting on her shoulders; and she wasn't about to let a random nobody get in her way.

"Some of us don't need a team to back us up." She barked back, not backing an inch from the man facing her. "Much less a team of pretenders like yourselves."

Yoa's jaw clenched, it was one thing to insult him, perhaps even his homeplace, it was another to insult his friends.

"How about you backup your words, runt." Yoa challenged her. "There's a pit right here and now. By the end of it I'll have you begging to wear Ame's symbols to cover those lowly rocks of yours."

Kurotsuchi's blood boiled, she wasn't about to let just anyone talk to her like that, to talk about Iwa like that, much less in front of everybody. She'd fight this clown and end his path right here and now.

"I don't need a pit to end you, ." Kurotsuchi muttered angrily, everything from the small pebbles to the stones on the pit rumbling on their place, getting called upon to strike.

"Kurotsuchi-San, stop!" Chōjūrō yelled.

"Yoa, that's enough!" Runa gripped Yoa's shoulder, but neither seemed to cease, his arm was extended below waist, a swirl of black debris forming around his side.

Kurotsuchi made the first move, striking forward with her rock-covered arm. In a flash Yoa pushed Runa away and a shiny black spear materialized at his hand, spear slamming forward to meet Kurotsuchi's fist...

From nowhere a huge gust of wind flattened everyone to the ground, bystanders and attackers alike were dropped on their backs until the wild winds ceased.

"CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE." A loud roar signaled the end of the gusts. "I'm Temari of Sunagakure, and I'll be your proctor for the first Jōnin Exams test. Get your asses up!"

To be continued...

Note: That's Chapter 4 for you! I'm thinking of uploading a summary of what the ANBU found on our dear Trio's files. What do ya think? I think we need more info of our troublesome trio.
I'm also dying for some action and the Jōnin Exams are about to (finally) begin...! We'll see what happens in 5 and so on... Thanks for reading!