Chapter 79: Naruto : Chapter 79
"Likewise, Naruto. It seems I'll have to do a lot more work to catch up to you." Shino stated.
Naruto nodded. It wasn't necessary to point out how much training Naruto had done over the years.
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"Damn, he was definitely the dominating one. I've never seen him show off that much in a fight." Sakura commented.
"True, I wonder how we would do against him." Sasuke mentioned.
"I fear it would be a really hard fight." Sakura said. "While I know that we have grown a lot stronger since the academy, he has done the same and he was leagues ahead of us then."
Sasuke hated admitting that, but it was true. He knew that he by now had the strength and skill of a solid chunin, perhaps some of his skills were scratching low jonin level, but with Naruto he was mostly solid jonin and in some areas high jonin level. And don't get him started on fuinjutsu, Naruto was a demon with them.
"So only one fight left in this round." Sakura said. "Do you think Shikamaru will fight properly?"
"Yes, since that simulated mission against Naruto he has seen what can happen if he doesn't. I wouldn't have thought that slacker had it in him." Sasuke replied.
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Down in the arena Shikamaru was now facing Temari for the last fight of this round. He could deduct that she was probably using wind jutsus from the war fan on her back.
He had asked his Dad about known specialisations from Suna and had found out that those that had wind element often used suitable weapons to enhance their abilities.
War fans required a powerful affinity and one of the most famous war fan users had been Temari's mother Karura when she had still been an active kunoichi. So Shikamaru had to be on guard.
"The last fight of the first round of the chunin exam finals: Shikamaru Nara of Konoha versus Temari Sabaku of Suna. Begin." Hayate declared and cleared the arena.
Temari didn't waste any time and opened her fan fully and swung it with power, creating a massive gust of wind. Shikamaru quickly took cover behind a tree.
"Is that all you can do? Hiding? Man you Konoha ninjas don't seem all that great." Temari taunted.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled.
He really didn't want a long fight. He wanted to get this over with and preferably without getting hit too much. He had a plan, but it would take some time to implement it.
Well, time to start. He made the standard seal used for the shadow possession jutsu and hoped that Temari hadn't done as much research as he had. Sadly it seemed she had and she was running away from his shadow, trying to get enough distance between her and the shadow.
Shikamaru decided to use that and pretended that his shadow couldn't reach farther than ten metres. She even drew a line onto the ground, measuring the distance. Perfect.
"So that is the limit of your shadow. As long as I stay out of it I don't have to worry too much." Temari said.
Shikamaru kept his poker face. He started throwing a flurry of weapons, which were all reflected by Temari with weaker wind boosts. They now lay around her with perhaps a metre distance for the closest ones.
"Throwing weapons at a wind user is useless. You don't seem too bright not realising that." Temari taunted again.
But Shikamaru knew that he had as good as won. His kunai were special and he had got them specifically for fighting long-range fighters. His shadow jutsus were mostly middle-ranged right now and he first needed to increase his chakra reserves before he could use them more efficiently.
He calculated the distance of the closest kunai and was satisfied. His plan could start. He sent his shadow off again and unnoticed by Temari he had it connect with each of the special kunais.
When his shadow reached the line she had drawn it barely crossed it at first, making up the distance he had stepped forward and she retreated by that much, then he struck, letting his shadow race forward quickly and connect with hers.
"Finally, the shadow possession jutsu is complete." Shikamaru commented.
"But how? Even with the lesser distance I should have been far enough away." She asked shocked.
"A true ninja never reveals his secrets and while our villages may be allied, it's better to not reveal secret techniques, especially not at the beginning of a competition where I have to face the toughest opponent out of the whole group next." Shikamaru stated.
"You think you've already won?" Temari asked angrily.
"I don't think so, I know." Shikamaru said and lifted his hands, which made Temari lift hers in the same fashion, still holding her fan in one of them.
"Now, you see I can make you mimic my movements thanks to my jutsu. If I have you hit yourself over the head with your war fan, you'll get a bad headache and pass out. So if you want to avoid that, give up."
Temari was clearly trying to break out of his jutsu, but it was impossible for her.
"Urgh, shit." She cursed. "Fine, I can think of better things to do than nursing a headache. Proctor, I forfeit."
"Winner by forfeit: Shikamaru Nara." Hayate declared.
The audience clapped. This had been a short fight, but it had been a good one with the winner outsmarting his opponent. The ninjas in the audience, especially Asuma, were very impressed with the display of Shikamaru.
He had quickly and efficiently taken out his opponent and if he had been tasked to capture his opponent for interrogation he would have done perfectly.
...
The kages were really pleased with the last fight. While the Kazekage was disappointed by how quickly Shikamaru had caught Temari, at least she wasn't really injured and could still play her part in the planned invasion.
The two Hokages would have wished that Shikamaru had gone through with the finishing move, but he hadn't been informed about the upcoming invasion, so he didn't know that they needed to take their opponents from Suna out.
"A good fight. The boy has a good head on his shoulders and knows how to use his jutsus. Too bad that Temari was too sure of herself." The Kazekage therefore commented.
"Yes, but I don't think she'll make that mistake again in the future. Sometimes a defeat that you survive can teach you much more than a victory." The Sandaime said wisely.
Kakashi only nodded.
"Alright, what do you think, should we make things a bit more interesting or let them all continue with the fights like they were planned?" Kakashi asked, giving the Sandaime the previously agreed signal.
"Oh and what kind of change to you have in mind?" The Kazekage asked suspiciously.
"Well, the chunin exam finals are all about fighting an opponent you don't have much information about first. But now they have seen what their opponents can do.
I'm sure the six that got into the semi-finals are already planning how to fight the next one based on this. We could enter a random choice. Like we would do in preliminaries if they were necessary." Kakashi explained.
"I like the idea. A ninja has to be ready to face unknown obstacles all the time on missions. This would tell us much better which of the remaining finalists are ready to be chunin as they would have to find counter strategies on missions they get to lead as well." The Sandaime said.
In truth they wanted to mess around with any previously arranged plans of the invaders. They were sure that Gaara was their trump card as Suna's jinchuriki. So if they had planned something involving him, it would be best if they arranged for him to fight Naruto.
"Why not. I agree that it would be a good way to test the finalists and I'm absolutely sure that Gaara can take on any of your genin, no matter if he knows who it is beforehand or not. So, you want to draw each pairing directly before the fight?" He asked.
"Yes, otherwise those in the later fights would have an unfair advantage." The Sandaime said.
Kakashi stood to announce the terms of the next round.
"We have seen some very good fight in the first round of the finals. Now I want to announce the stipulations of the next round, the semi-finals. We will choose the pairings randomly.
That means that none of the finalists will know beforehand whom he has to face, which shortens the preparation time immensely.
As our six semi-finalists have had a fight already, we will wait with the second round until in thirty minutes so our competitors have a chance to get injuries treated or rest from a strenuous fight." Kakashi told the audience.
Most were excited to get this mode of choosing the competitors. What nobody knew was that Naruto and Gaara wouldn't be in the pool for the first two fights, they would get the last one as the Hokages were sure that Orochimaru wouldn't hold his invasion off for much longer.
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