Shikamaru laid flat on his back, glaring up at me on the platform. "Come on Shikamaru!" I cheered, Shikamaru let out a loud groan. "I thought you needed a push of encouragement!"
Shikamaru looked up at my smiling face, Shikamaru turned his head away from me, hiding his blush. Damn it, (Y/N). Shikamaru thought with a scoff. 
The crowd erupted once again, loud shouts and "boo"'s echoed around the stadium. Shikamaru let out another groan as people above started to throw things down at him, a paper ball smacked against his forehead. 
They don't care about this match. Shikamaru thought with a sigh, I'm just the warm-up for the main event. All they care about now is watching Sasuke. Listen to them, the jerks. Shikamaru clicked his tongue as they continued to shout down at him, well, if that's the way they're going to be, maybe I won't give them a match after all. Why knock my self out for them? Shikamaru thought, keeping still on the ground.
Temari slammed the end of her fan on the ground, anxiously tapping her foot. "What is it?" She called out, looking down at Shikamaru. "You planning on giving up, too?" Temari huffed, Shikamaru slowly moved his head to see her.
And to top it all off, Shikamaru thought with a frown, my opponents a girl, again. 

Asuma scratched the top of his head as he lit another cigarette, he looked down at Shikamaru with a sigh. Well, he never was very driven, but this? Asuma thought, crossing his arms. 
"Come on! Come on!" I chanted, Naruto throwing his fists up beside me. We chanted Shikamaru's name over and over. "Get up and fight!" Naruto shouted out, his high pitched voice boomed over the crowd. I cupped my hands around my face as I bent my chest over the railing, "Get it together, Shikamaru!" I shouted, my voice echoing around the arena.
"Ugh......." Shikamaru let out a long sigh, the most he's moved since he got down to the arena. "You gonna get going sometime this year?" I asked, continuing to shout down to him. 
Temari gritted her teeth, "Well!" She shouted, gripping onto her fan. "If you won't move, I will!" She shouted, dashing towards Shikamaru. "Hey!" Genma shouted after her, "I didn't start the match yet!" He called, but she was already on him.
Temari was a couple feet away, "I forgot." Shikamaru sighed, "This girl's a spunky one." Shikamaru groaned as he dug into his side pocket, pulling out a kunai. "I hate spunky." He groaned, letting out a long sigh. Spunky like (Y/N), well, I guess it's different. Shikamaru thought, rubbing his left eye.
Temari jumped up, shouting as she threw her fan down. As the fan hit, an explosion of dirt rose up from the ground. I sneezed as the wind pushed some of it onto the platform. "Wow!" Naruto exclaimed to my side.
Temari's eyes widened as she looked down, her fan dug into the ground, but Shikamaru wasn't there. Shikamaru let out an exasperated groan as he stood on his kunai that he dug into the wall, his hands in his pockets as he looked down at Temari. "Huh?" Temari breathed out, surprised.
"It really doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me whether I ever become a chunin or not," Shikamaru began, leaning back on the wall. "But I guess, maybe I shouldn't let myself get beaten by a girl," Shikamaru said, clicking his tongue. Temari let out a loud growl, her hands tightly clenched around her fan. "So," Shikamaru looked down at her, "Let's do it."
Temari quickly pulled her fan out of the ground, the metal clicking as it opened up, a large gust of wind battered the wall where Shikamaru stood. It shook the platform above, I held onto the railing tightly.
"Huh?!" Temari exclaimed as Shikamaru disappeared again, she snapped her head around, he was perched behind a tree, a thick shadow covering half of the arena. Temari squinted her eyes down at him, a small grin came to her face. 
He's quick enough when it comes to running away, she thought with a scoff. Shikamaru let out a small yawn as he leaned against the tree, looking at her through the leaves. I know it's not very classy for a guy to clobber a girl, Shikamaru thought, scratching the back of his neck, but whoever said I was classy? Shikamaru watched Temari unfold her fan again, besides, I don't like the way she's been looking at (Y/N). Gives me the creeps. Shikamaru thought with a sigh, I guess she's just another one on the list. Shikamaru looked down at his hand, another one to get rid of.
Temari held her fan up, pointing the fan downwards, half of it covering her face. Nice try, she thought with a scoff, but I know what game this is. He's trying to lure me to the shadow of that tree so I'll get trapped in his jutsu. I'm not falling for that. Temari squinted her eyes at Shikamaru.
So why do I always have to fight girls? It , man. Shikamaru sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Go for it, Shikamaru!" Ino shouted through the crowd, holding a fist up in the air. "Use your super, awesome technique on her!" Ino kicked the air, "Take that witch down!" Ino giggled, 
"Yo. Is this seat taken?" Ino heard a voice call out next to her, along with a crinkle of a chip bag. Ino turned her head around to see Choji, her eyes widened. "Hm?" Ino raised her brow, Choji popped another chip in his mouth. "I thought you were in the hospital," Ino said, looking at him suspiciously. "Your stomachs okay now?" Ino asked worriedly, "Mhm," Choji mouthed between bites, plopping down on the seat next to her, a duffle bag full of snakes to his side.
"So, what's up?" Choji asked, "When's (Y/N)'s fight?" He looked over at Ino, looked over at him, "You missed it, idiot." Ino sighed, "And what about that Sasuke guy-----" "SHHH!" Ino hissed as she snapped her head around to Sakura, giving her a nervous lap. Sakura kept her head down,
"O-Oh! I'm sure Sasuke's fine, hehe, yeah!" Ino gulped, trying to cheer Sakura up. "Ha, h-he'll be here any minute now! Ha......ha...." Ino gulped, scratching the back of her neck. Man, you'd think her puppy died, or something. Ino sighed, putting her hands on her hips as she looked to Sakura. 
"Hm. Never expected to see Shikamaru in the finals." Choji said through bites, "Weird." Choji said with his mouth full, Ino looked back to him. "What do you mean? Come on! Shikamaru may not have as much fighting spirit as some other people. And, okay, his technique is pretty lousy, but he's strong at strategy!" Ino said, pointing a finger up at the sky. Choji crinkled the empty bag of chips into a ball as he opened the duffle bag back up, digging in for another snack. Ino looked back down at the arena, "So strong, in fact, that without him, we might not have gotten through the preliminary rounds." Ino said with a nod, Choji started to gulp down the crumbs at the bottom of his second back, "Mmm, maybe." Choji nodded, "What's more, you should've seen how he threw himself into the arena!" Ino said, her eyes wide, 
"I'm telling you Choji, he seems unusually aggressive! I think he's going to show us his passionate side today! Yeah! Go Shikamaru!" Ino cheered for him again.

"Ugh......." Shikamaru grumbled as he sat on the ground, looking up at the sky through the trees. Sometimes I wish I could be a cloud......Shikamaru sighed, leaning back. Just floating along. Going wherever the breeze takes me.......that's my style. Shikamaru thought, spacing out as he cloud gazed. I'm just not into putting effort into this stuff. The only reason I became a ninja was because of (Y/N) and so I could do whatever. Geez, who knew it would be so much work? Shikamaru let another sigh, maybe I could just run away, take (Y/N) along with me, and not bother to do anything else......wait......Shikamaru's gaze floated around the arena until his eyes landed on a hole in the ground. 
"Get your in gear!" Naruto shouted, "Let's go, Shikamaru, let's go!" I chanted, clapping my hands. Shikamaru let out a small chuckle, (Y/N), you might have just saved my skin again. Shikamaru got up to his feet, looking over at Temari.
Oh, well. A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. Shikamaru flashed a grin as he looked up at me from the platform, Temari furrowed her brow.
What's he thinking behind that stupid grin? She wondered, watching him cautiously. Is he mocking me?! She gritted her teeth, her anger getting the better of her. "Ninja art!" She shouted, throwing her fan up,
"Wind scythe jutsu!" Temari shouted, her fan cutting through the air, sending large at Shikamaru. Shikamaru jumped at the sudden attack, the trees around him shaking wildly. He held his arms over his face to block the wind, it sliced through some of the tree branches.

Tenten's eyes widened. I remember, Tenten thought, furrowing her brow. This is how she beat me in our fight. Nothing I threw at her could get past this wind! Tenten clenched her fists.

Temari's fan rested by her side as she stared at the large cloud of dirt that was blown into the air. It covered the entire half of the arena. "Huh?!" Temari gasped, her eyes widening as he saw a shadow dart towards her from the dust cloud. 
She gulped, running backwards, away from the shadow chasing her down.
It got thinner and thinner, stretching as far as it could, rolling across the ground like paint. Temari nearly lost her balance, almost falling back, she caught herself. The shadow jolted, stretching as far as it could, it stopped right at Temari's feet. 
Quickly she jumped back, digging the side of her fan into the ground to mark a line. The shadow jolted back to the trees where Shikamaru was crouched, leaning on the arena's back wall.
Temari stood behind the line with a hand on her hip, "Now I get it." She called out, Shikamaru gave a long sigh as he tried to catch his breath. The dirt around him dispensed, Temari glared at him angrily.
"Almost got me." She said, looking him in the eye. "Aren't you clever?" Temari said sarcastically, ing her hip out to the side. "With that shadow possession jutsu of yours, you can manipulate any shadow you're in." Temari clicked her tongue, Shikamaru rested his legs. "The wall's shadow, for instance. But there's a limit, isn't there?" Temari raised her brow, a grin crossing her lips as she figured his moves out.
"No matter how thin you stretch it, it will only reach so far. Isn't that right?" Temari asked, "Heh." Shikamaru chuckled, putting a hand in his pocket. "You got me." He said jokingly, raising the other hand up. Temari crossed her arms, and now I know just where that limit is. She thought with a smile as she looked down at the line, even using the walls shadow, his jutsu can only reach here. Temari slammed her fan down into the ground, right in the middle of the line.
Fifteen meters, thirty-two centimetres. That's the range of his attack. Temari thought, glaring at Shikamaru. If I can just stay outside this line, he can't touch me. Temari furrowed her brow.

Kankuro rested his chin on his hand as he watched Temari, leaning his chest on the railing. She's measured his range. Kankuro thought with a nod, this plays right to her strength. She's better at long range attacks anyway. Heh. This match is good as over. Kankuro thought with a grin.

Shikamaru leaned his head back on the wall, taking another look at the sky before he turned back to Temari. Shikamaru turned his palms up, twisting his wrists slightly as he put his fingers together, each touching the tip of their opposite. He gave the same familiar gesture as he closed his eyes, letting his head drop down slightly as he thought. Temari's eyes widened as she watched him.
"Hm." Asuma's eyes widened, "What's that?" Kurenai wondered as she squinted her eyes down at Shikamaru. "A hand sign?" She thought aloud, Asuma shook his head with a grin. "No," He said, Kurenai looked over at him. "He's not making a hand sign. It's something more of a habit." Asuma said, playing with the cigarette between his lips, "A habit?" Kurenai repeated. "That kid, he's like an old man. He likes to take things slowly. Heh," Asuma chuckled, "Really slowly. That's why he's so good at games like Shogi. He's always challenging me to a match. Whenever he gets stuck on a move, he does that thing with his hands." Asuma explained, Kurenai raised her brow. "What does it mean?" She asked curiously, 
"He's working on a strategy. Of all the times we've played, I've never beaten him." Asuma said, leaning back in his seat. "Well, that's fine, but this is a real fight. Not some game of shogi." Kurenai said, shaking her head,
"Strategy on the game board is no different from strategy on the field of battle, and all great generals know that." Asuma said with a nod, "Shikamaru has got the mind of a great general, just you watch." Asuma said with a grin, "You could've fooled me." Kurenai scoffed, "Don't forget, I saw the test scores when we grouped the genin. His were no better than Naruto's, maybe worse." Kurenai said, crossing her arms. "He says the act of putting pencil to paper is a drag." Asuma chuckled, "It's too much work for him. He'd rather take a nap than a written exam." Asuma nodded, "He would, huh." Kurenai chuckled back.
"I didn't say that he was lazy. But he was so good at strategy games, I had him take an IQ test. Of course, I had to deceive him into thinking it was just another game." Asuma said, lighting another cig. "Well? What happened?" Kurenai asked, Asuma blew out the smoke through his nose. "Hm. As I suspected, his score was almost off the charts, beyond genius. The kid has an IQ over two hundred." "T-Tow hundred?" Kurenai's eyes widened, 

Shikamaru opened his eyes, Asuma shifted in his seat. He's done thinking. Now it begins. 
"So you have some fighting spirit after all," Temari called out, a grin on her face as she unfolded her fan as she watched Shikamaru pull out a kunai. She lifted her fan up, throwing about a gust of wind towards him with a yell. Shikamaru put his arm up to block his face. He quickly moved deeper into the brush. 
Temari lost her grin. "No use in hiding!" She shouted over the howling wind, Shikamaru hid behind the tree, quickly taking his jacket off. 
Kurenai tilted her head, "Are you sure he's even got a strategy?" Kurenai asked, putting her hands on her hips, Asuma gulped. "I hope so."
Choji had gone through five chip bags already, they piled up on the ground below him as he sunk into his sixth, he hummed happily with the taste. "Look at that!" Ino exclaimed, "He can't get anywhere near her!" Ino clenched her fists, "Go Shikamaru! Do something!" She shouted out to him again, "Don't waste your breath." Choji said between mouth fulls, "He'll give up soon." Choji said with a shrug, "This is way too much work for him." "What are you talking about?!" Ino spat, "No way he's going to give up......at least.....I don't think he's going to give up....." Ino sighed, Choji the crumbs off of his lips. 

Shikamaru was out of breath as he leaned against the tree, he held his jacket and kunai in the same hand. Leaves still fell from the tree, landing on the grass around him. 
Choji was now on his seventh bag of chips, this time barbecue flavoured. The stands were silent, except for the small echo of Choji's munching.
"You can't hide forever!" Temari shouted to the trees, out of breath like him. "Come out, coward!" She shouted, heaving her fan up into the air once more. Another gust of wind slamming into the trees. 
A kunai came flying out towards her, aiming straight for her forehead. Temari quickly pulled her fan up, the metal clinked as she quickly moved to the side. Another kunai came flying down, she bent down to dodge. Her eyes widening as she saw another shadow come closer. "Heh." She smirked, forget it. As long as I stay on this side of the line, he can't touch me. Temari thought with a grin, closing her fan as she saw the shadow coming closer.
"Wait....." She whispered. It's still coming! She quickly leapt back as the shadow crossed her line, the shadow centimetres from her toe. Temari was out of breath as she watched it retract, sweat beading down her forehead. 
Temari gritted her teeth as she looked back at him, he stood in front of the tree, his hands in his pockets. "You're pretty quick on your toes," Shikamaru said with a small nod, "Now I see what you've been up too." She said, placing her hands back on her hips. "You weren't just hiding, you were killing time!" She shouted, pointing an accusing finger towards him.
"Waiting for the sun to get lower, and the shadow of that wall to get longer." Temari scoffed, Shikamaru grinned as he stood there in his undershirt.
"The longer the shadows, the farther your range is, right?"
"Damn! He almost got her!" Ino shouted, slamming her fists down on her thighs. Now Choji was on his ninth bag. "How is Shikamaru gonna use his shadow anyway?" Choji wondered, crumbs rolling down his shirt. "I mean, what's he gonna do? He's in the shadow of the arena already." Choji shrugged, Ino shot daggers at him.
"Unbelievable! You really don't know anything about Shikamaru's capabilities, do you? He can use anything! He can even make shadows within shadows!" Ino said, desperately trying to defend him. Choji paused, a chip in front of his mouth. "Shadows within shadows?" Choji repeated, 

The shadow he stretched lingered in front of Temari, she stared down at it in thought. If I just calculate the height of the sun and measuring the distance he's gained from his previous attack, I can still keep out of range. She thought, slowly blinking. No problem. She nodded to herself. 
"Hmph." She grinned up at him once again, 
"Temari! Over your head!" Kankuro shouted, Temari snapped her head up.
Shikamaru's jacket slowly came floating down, it's arms tied with a kunai, Temari's eyes widened as she saw it's shadow rise in front of her, Shikamaru's shadow used the jackets to grow again.
Temari quickly jumped away, the shadow chasing her to the left. Shikamaru held his sign,
"I've got you now!" He called out, pushing the shadow further, Temari gritted her teeth. He made a parachute out of his jacket to create an extra shadow! She thought angrily as she dodged the shadow, Shikamaru's eyes followed her around the arena. Clever move. Now I not only have to worry about the shadows on the ground, but I also have to keep an eye on this thing above my head, and it extends his range indefinitely! Huh, guess I've been underestimating this slacker clown. His shadow possession jutsu is a lot more dangerous than I thought. 
She quickly moved between the two craters, standing in the middle of them. The jacket and kunai fell to the ground with a small clank, the shadow began to retract again. 
Temari unfolded her fan as she rose, the three purple circles shinned in the sun. "Heh." She flashed the same grin, Shikamaru clicked his tongue. "She learns fast, I'll give her that." Shikamaru said to himself.

"Good but not good enough." Kurenai said with a sigh. Asuma let out a groan, "She thinks in the same way he does. She's a strategist too."

Temari looked back up to the sky, the sun slowly going down behind the arena's wall. She looked back to Shikamaru. The longer this match takes, the lower the sun gets. The longer the shadows, the farther his range. Temari thought, closing her eyes as she put her fan in front of her. 
It's time to finish this. She thought with her fists clenched. 
If I create a diversion with the clone jutsu, and make him think that I jumped out into his reach, he'll catch the clone and I can jump on him from above. Temari nodded to herself, yeah, that'll work. She grinned behind the fan as she watched Shikamaru's shadow retreat.
Now! She commanded herself, clasping her hands together in a quick few signs. Clone jutsu-------
"What?!" Temari screamed out as she stood, her hands clasped together in a seal, her body frozen solid. My body! I-It's frozen! 
"It took a while," Shikamaru began, a grin flashed on his face. "But my shadow possession finally worked." "No!" Temari shouted, 
Ino gasped, Choji was now on his twentieth bag, eating like there was no tomorrow. "How the hell did he do that?!" Kankuro seethed, "Ha. Isn't it obvious?" I said, crossing my arms. "Look at the field, idiot. Don't you see something wrong with it?" I huffed as I turned to Kankuro, he gritted his teeth. "Oh, well, if it's that obvious, Ms Know-it-all, why don't you tell us?" Kankuro spat back at me, I stared him down. "Sorry that I can see a HUGE hole in the MIDDLE of the field, dirtbag!" I shouted back to him, my fists clenched. "You little-----!" "Quiet," Gaara said sharply, his gaze turned to Kankuro. Kankuro froze solid, as if he'd been stopped by the shadow possession jutsu himself. 
"Amazing." Kurenai gasped, "He was thinking three moves ahead all along!" Her eyes were wide open, Asuma grinned. "As I said, that's Shikamaru's strength."

I-Impossible! Temari thought as she ground her teeth, how could he have caught me in his shadow?! It couldn't reach this far! Temari couldn't wrap her head around it, Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Look behind you," He said with a sigh, "I'll let you." He said, turning his head, she mirrored him. 
O-Out of the hole?! How?! Temari's eyes were wide, 
"Don't you recognize that hole? It's where (Y/N) popped out of the ground and knocked Neji for a loop. The hole in front of you is where they went into the ground, the two are connected." Shikamaru explained simply,
"Now I see." Temari said through gritted teeth. "I never thought of the shadows underground," She said, cursing herself. "That was your mistake," Shikamaru said with a shrug, 
"Heh." Asuma chuckled, leaning forward in his seat. "As I said, he's always thinking ahead." Asuma grinned, first he got her to retreat behind the line she thinks is the limit of his shadow attack. Then just when she's starting to feel safe, he surprised her by extending his range, forcing her to fall back again. All the time making her think it's her idea, when actually he's manoeuvring her closer and closer to that hole behind her. And then, she's caught. He had that idea the first time he saw that hole, didn't he? He just wasn't sure how to execute it at first.
But he got his answer quickly, heh. Now, that's how you play the game. 

I-I don't believe it! Temari was in shock, the whole time I thought I was keeping out of range of his jutsu, when I really was walking right into it. Amazing. This slacker outsmarted me, god, does it make me angry. 
"The next move his checkmate," Asuma said with a grin.
Shikamaru walked out from the shadows, his hands back in his pockets. Temari followed, her hands awkwardly put by the sides of her dress as she walked towards the middle. The two of them facing each other. 
He's got control of my body. Temari angrily thought, she started daggers into Shikamaru as they got closer. I'm helpless. She thought as they both stopped, about five feet apart. 
"Yeah! He did it!" I shouted, ing my fist into the air, Kankuro was shaking with anger.
"You got her! Way to go!" Ino shouted along with me, a row across. Choji finished number thirty with a proud chomp, Asuma grinned down at Shikamaru. "Checkmate." He mouthed.

Shikamaru rose his hand, Temari followed, her body shaking as she struggled to get control back over her body. 

"The hell with it. I give up." Shikamaru called out, "Huh?!" Temari gasped out, "Huh?!" Naruto repeated, my mouth was gaping open.
The crowd went wild, people shouting things down at Shikamaru, the silence breaking.
"Hmm. See. Told you he'd give up." Choji said with a nod and a small burp, "Looks like I know Shikamaru a little better than you do, huh?" Choji said with a grin, opening up his thirty first bag.
"W-What?" Temari was in disbelief. "What did you say?" Temari spat out, Genma scratched the back of his head.

"I used all my chakra on that shadow possession jutsu. I'm good for about another ten seconds, and that's it. Bummer, and here I'd already planned out the next moves in my head." Shikamaru said with a small sigh, "But my chakra's running low." Shikamaru put his hand back down, Temari did as well. Shikamaru shrugged, "Anyway, if I was doing this thing, it would just mean more work. Take that as a warning." Shikamaru's voice turned sharp,
"If this battle were to happen again, you wouldn't be left standing. So, I'd suggest," Shikamaru paused, looking Temari in the eye. "I'd suggest stop talking to (Y/N) unless you want something you can't handle. Got it?" Shikamaru hissed his last word before he turned around, 
Genma flashed him a grin. This kid is something else. Genma thought, clearing his throat.

"The winner is.....Temari." Genma's voice echoed around the arena, Temari shaking with anger, and Shikamaru stand with a grin.

To be continued...............