The Life of Ki (Naruto Fanfic)

Kiba Inuzaka

Kiba sniffs aggressively next to me as he turns his keen nose up towards the free air.

I give him some space—I hardly want my scent to interfere with Kiba's tracking.

Whenever my smell does get in the way, he always has a snarky comment for me.

"They're close!" Kiba warns to us as the four of us continue on our way through the branches.

Neji is at least a mile away by now.

Shikamaru narrows his eyes as he thinks.

"There are three more enemies, and four more of us. It's 4v3. If we play the right hand, we may finish this in the next encounter." He assures me, Kiba, and Naruto as he leaps onto the next branch.

Kiba growls deep in the back of his throat as he corrects Shikamaru.

"It's 5v3." Kiba explains as Akamaru barks angrily from inside his coat.

Shikamaru smiles tensely as he gives Akamaru an apologetic nod. "My mistake. You're right: 5v3."

Akamaru and Kiba smile as their confidence peaks.

"Next time, we'll finish it with our new techniques!" Kiba cheers as Akamaru barks in approval.

Naruto nods in agreement as well.

"Hey, hey! I'll use my Rasengan, too!" He assures the rest of you.

"I'll use my Body Flicker!" I cheer alongside the others, eager to fight again.

"Glad to hear how eager you guys are." Shikamaru smiles at the enthusiastic bunch he's been left with.

"Strategy first, though, got it?" He says softly as he subtly moves his hand to his mouth, probably to swallow another one of the Military Ration Pills that Choji left behind.

Everyone nods to Shikamaru's statement in grudging respect.

I may have been the only person who noticed Shikamaru's discreet action, but now I know he must be getting low on chakra again.

"Now, on this next encounter, I have a new strategy set up." Shikamaru's eyes close as he prepares himself to give orders.

"I'll need a distraction, an angry duo, and someone...fast." Shikamaru muses.

I break into a smile at Shikamaru's humorous manner.

"I suppose I would make a good distraction," I say jokingly.

Naruto and Kiba mumble responses, signaling their agreement to being included in the plan as well.

"Perfect—looks like we have all three of those things," Shikamaru notes without faltering.

"Let's keep moving, then I'll tell you all the plan." He says, waving Kiba ahead of him to scout the area.

Before long, we arrive at a new clearing.

In the center of the clearing, the three final enemies stand waiting in a circle around Sasuke's coffin.

They seem relaxed, yet irritated as they wait casually out in the open.

Without much more direction, Shikamaru pushes Naruto off the branch he stands on, sending him stumbling to the ground in the clearing.

Shikamaru gives a 'Ready?' sign to Kiba, before giving me a signal to swing around the clearing to the northern position.

I shrug to myself as I head towards the position Shikamaru instructed me to take up.

Shikamaru did warn Naruto that he would be a distraction.