Till The Wind Changes ✔

VI. Torn

"I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain. It is important to share how I know survival is survival and not just a walk through the rain."

-Audre Lorde

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"Ha... I managed to make good on my escape, somehow." Shikamaru gasped, still shocked by his match against Temari. Seconds ago he thought of himself as a dead man. However, although he couldn't understand why she did it he left him alive. But still, he didn't have time to worry about an already finished encounter at that time. The Sound Shinobi should have just arrived. The least he could do was to focus and carry on with his plan. After all, he had left a trace of his footsteps till that spot. They either had to be stupid or genius to not follow them and he seriously doubted any of those shinobis would be one of these both.

And he was right. They had arrived. Just in time.

"His footprints are irregular," one of them said as he inspected the trace of marks left on the ground. "Anxiety is probably increasing his fatigue."

Suddenly, without any prior notice, the sound's shinobi found themselves immobilized. They gasped at the figure of a young shinobi that rose from the shadows.

"Oh sorry, I was supposed to be the guy who didn't want to get involved," Shikamaru said before the astonished looks of the eight sound ninjas. "But I guess I am not quite what you expected...Am I?"

Everyone stared perplexed.

"You're right about one thing, I am tired. On everything else, you are wrong," he continued as he showed them some wooden rods. "Like our footprints, this is what I used to make paw prints."

The shadow is like a tree, Shikamaru's shadow bifurcated in several branches attached to each individual's shadow, keeping them paralyzed.

"Would ya look at that," one of them finally said. "He's just a kid..."

"To think we'd be caught by the likes of him!" Others added. "This must be the famous Kasheshibari no Jutsu, huh?"

Shikamaru stood still without answering. His breathing turned each time heavier. Just like he thought, that match was definitely a mistake. He had used up too much chakra. Now he wouldn't last that long.

"Ahh! That's a really old-fashioned way to say it." He said between some silent laughs. "Times are changing... Now it's called Kagename Ossan!"

Eight. There were eight of them while in Shikamaru there should be one more. Clearly, the ninth one's role should be to protect against an ambush. He stays at distance behind the others, as a reserve in case of an enemy attack. Well, these people weren't as mediocre as he once may have thought. Still, he couldn't help wondering where he could be hiding. And knew what to do for the night to show his position.

"Well," he thought as he searched and took eight kunai interspersing each one between two fingers "It'll come clear with this!"

As he threw the kunai against the enemy, this was repealed by some shurikens causing both of them to fall to the ground. The sound shinobis imperiously grinned thinking the Konoha genin had fallen into their trap. Shikamaru turned to look into a tree by his right side. So there he was, they came from there.

A new branch detached from his shadow jutsu and proceeded to extend itself to the right. Still, it couldn't stretch far enough to get to the tree. His shadow won't reach it. He didn't have enough stamina to use his chakra to make it go that far.