Konoha's Maelstrom

19

She pushed him. She pushed him and now he was getting food thrown at him for Kami's sake!

Damn you, Meiko, troublesome redhead, he cursed as he stood in front of the Suna girl. She was glaring at him and Shikamaru was really, really bored, already. You could've at least used your teleportation jutsu if you wanted to get me down, but no, you had to shove me.

Food, drink and other crap was being thrown at him.

Of course, the crowds don't care about us little guys. They want to see the children of Kages fight, he thought tiredly. He looked back a little. My opponent's a girl? Again?

"If you don't come, I'll go!" the girl said (Temari, he remembered).

"Hey! Haven't started yet..." Genma was ignored.

"Man, that girl is so gung ho," Shikamaru sighed and pulled out two kunai.

The girl jumped up and swung her fan, aiming to smash Shikamaru's head into the ground. Shikamaru shunshinned to the two kunai in the wall. Now, he stood on the two kunai with a smirk as he looked down at Temari. The girl looked up with shock covering her features.

"It doesn't really matter if I become Chunin or not. But there's no reason why a man should lose to a woman," he said with a smirk. The hair on the back of his neck bristled and he had a feeling Meiko heard him. He turned back to see Meiko with a single eyebrow raised, and her purple eyes dark with the slightest hints of fury. The smirk on her face was sharper, colder, and she was definitely showing her sharper than normal teeth. Well, she's going to kill me.

Temari also took offence and aimed a powerful gust of wind at him from her fan. He shunshinned away to the shadows. He looked around the bark of the tree and watched Temari. Nor any reason why a man should rough up a woman. But I don't want to be roughed up either. Always have to fight women, tch.

Shikamaru crouched. Temari had positioned her fan in front of her defensively.

Sometimes I just wish I was a cloud. Floating a long, going with the breeze, he thought as he stared up at the sky. Naturally, he would never be a cloud.

鳴戸

I see, she figured out the distance of Shikamaru's shadow possession. That makes it harder for you, Shika. What are you going to do? Meiko thought, leaning forward. She knew what she would do.

Temari was a wind style specialist and relied on long range attacks. Close range, she would definitely be a bit weaker. Thankfully, Meiko was great at close range.

For Shikamaru, it was a bit different. While his shadow possession had a certain amount it could go, he didn't have the Taijutsu Meiko did to be able to face Temari in close combat.

And then Shikamaru made his sign. His fingertips met in an "O" shape, but the back of the hands were facing downwards. His sign that helped him think. While Meiko liked to make plans on the fly, quick to change them and easy to alter, Shikamaru usually passed his time while making hundreds of plans and alternating between them.

His Nara mind was far more powerful than Meiko's so his mind worked better that way. Meiko was flexible, Shikamaru was playing 3D Shogi and, in his mind, he'd already calculated twenty different ways to win.

And then he was done strategizing.

Meiko walked over to her bag, not really seeing what happened after Shikamaru was done, and she grabbed her water and a few chocolate bars. She walked back to see Temari staring at the shadow possession jutsu that Shikamaru had activated, and it was further than before.