What A Drag... || Shikamaru x reader

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Edited: 30/05/24

Reuploaded: 06/06/24

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Second Chuunin Exam_
Forest of Death_
A couple hours in_

"You got the track?" I asked as we were running through the trees of the forest of death.

"I lost them," Yuuto sighed.

"Let's take a break, we've been running for a while," Riku suggested, we all nodded and stopped on a branch and sat down.

This is the chuunin second test.

We have the heaven scroll. Looking for the earth scroll.

We did have a track on someone with an earth scroll but it would seem that we lost them.

"Someone's coming, quick, scatter," I announced quietly as I heard heavy footsteps approaching us.

When I looked back I recognised them to be the ninja we were tracking.

I pulled bandages out my bag and wrapped them around my hands tightly before running out of the leaves and tackling one of the guys to another tree where the boys were waiting.

"Hi there," Yuuto greeted the panicking ninja. He's definitely the one with the scroll. I went through his bag and pulled out the earth scroll before returning him to where I took him from.

"That was too easy. His teammates didn't even come after me," I sighed, putting the scroll in my bag and then running through the trees.

"Well, they either recognise our strength or are planning to strike back. Regardless, they won't come straight back. They'll probably shadow us for a while so stay on guard," Riku told us. We nodded and moved forward a bit faster.

The night hit us quickly, but we decided to keep going but at a slower pace to conserve energy but to keep making ground.

(a/n: sorry guys—I know in the series Gaara's team broke the record of the fastest completed but we're going to shatter that, so Gaara's team comes second, and you guys come first)

Dawn came and the tower got closer and closer until we reached it to see doors with names written on. We walked around and found the door with 'Team Riku, Yuuto, Y/n' written on. We walked in and looked around. It was a pretty empty. Just a large sign on the wall with a riddle of some kind.

Yuuto and I just sat against a pillar as Riku started to figure out what it meant.

"I guess we open each scroll at the same time?" he finally suggested his conclusion, I shared a look with Yuuto before passing him the heaven scroll. We both opened the scrolls and placed them on the floor just as a poof of smoke appeared and Yuuto's Dad appeared in front of us.

"Well done, you three. You've completed the second test, let's go get you cleaned up," he spoke recited lines before finally looking at us, "or not... how aren't you dirty at all?"

"We didn't have to work too hard," I sighed, he nodded and then lead us to another room. It was large and empty and had a spectators area and a board on the far wall.

"Wait here and relax while we wait for the rest of the groups to return," Yuuto's Dad told us. We nodded and sat against a wall before passing out all too easily.

Guess running like we had while staying on guard the entire time really tired us out.

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I woke up again when another group of people entered the room, it was Gaara's team. I got up when we noticed each other and approached them.

"You guys finished first?" Kankuro asked, I nodded.

"We've been here for about half a day now," I told them as we all sat in a circle while Riku and Yuuto used each other as a pillow.

The door opened again and in came Kiba's team.

"Hey Kiba, Hinata, Shino and... Whoa—what happened to Akamaru?" I greeted them as my eyes landed on the shaking dog in Kiba's coat. He just covered Akamaru and smiled before walking to the other side of the room.

"Poor guy got spooked," he just said before sitting down and ignoring my presence completely.

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The last group to come in was Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. They looked a mess, Sasuke looked the worst though. He seemed to be holding his neck in pain.

"Wonder what happened to him," Yuuto mumbled as we all lined up in our team lines.

"Yeah, I mean, Team Guy and 10 all look wrecked as well," I pointed out, looking over the kids we'd met on our way into the previous exam, Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and Rock Lee.

"Everyone does, except of course our team, Gaara's and I guess Kiba's?" Riku sighed. I nodded before having my attention brought to the front.

The Hokage and our team captains plus a few other chuunin had gathered at the front.

"I'm your third proctor. Now please, if don't feel fit to continue through this test, then please leave now," a guy with a pretty mean cough introduced himself between coughs.

Some guy excused himself after making up the excuse that he was very tired and injured and then left the area.

I rolled my eyes at his excuse before looking forward.

"That's it? Alright when you see your name on the screen then come down here and the winner will continue on, but if you're not fighting you'll wait up in the stands," he says, we all nod and watch as the first names appear.

'Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado'

We all moved up to the spectator ledges and watched the fight.

During the fight I could've swore that I'd seen weird glowing marks on Sasuke, but they were gone as quick as they were noticed.

He won his match and then disappeared with Kakashi.

'f/n l/n and Yuuto Reo'

We looked at each other before hopping down from the ledge. Who uses stairs these days, amirite?

"I won't go easy on you just because you have no trigger yet," Yuuto tells me. I smiled.

"Likewise."

I haven't told them about me finding a trigger and I won't until the next round... That is if I beat Yuuto. Although, I may have a bit of difficulty with Yuuto so I might have to show it.

He pulled his shirt off to reveal his arms and torso, they were covered in tattoos that stopped halfway up his neck.

"When you're ready," the proctor told us. We both smiled and bowed at each other before moving back and crouching near a wall each.