"Pineapple head, go die!"
"Wind Release: Great Sickle Weasel!"
A huge wind blade cut across the sky and rushed straight at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru pulled a long face, dodging back and forth between the wind blades. He somehow avoided all those attacks that looked impossible to escape.
"Wow, Shikamaru is so strong now. No wonder he's a jonin." Below, Kiba stood next to Akamaru, full of admiration.
Shikamaru twitched at the corner of his eye. "Kiba, instead of standing there feeling amazed, why don't you come save me!"
Kiba paused for a second, then shook his head without thinking. "No way. You two are busy flirting. Why should I get involved? Akamaru and I haven't eaten yet, right Akamaru?"
"Woof!" Akamaru happily stuck out his tongue.
Shikamaru clenched his fist and yelled in anger, "This woman is really trying to kill me. Can't you see that!"
Kiba tilted his head. "Is she?"
Akamaru tilted his head in confusion too.
The Five Great Nations had signed a full peace treaty, so ties between them grew even closer. If missions didn't conflict, they would team up to finish them. On top of that, the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire got along especially well because of the Kazekage. Temari and Kankuro were special envoys from the Sand Village to Konoha.
Otherwise, why would you think Akamaru is helping Temari find Shikamaru?
Shikamaru's whole face turned dark. He wanted to run, but Temari's strength was way beyond the Chunin Exams days. He was just a support-type ninja, so the stronger she got, the bigger the gap between them.
It wasn't that easy to get away.
Temari smirked at Shikamaru. "You can't run. Just die here like a good boy!"
Wind Release: Wind Blade!
Her iron fan flashed again. Countless small wind blades appeared out of nowhere, like an iron net spreading across the sky.
Shikamaru felt his scalp tingle. Attacks this dense left no gaps to dodge.
No choice. Either take down this crazy woman or die by her hand!
Shikamaru took a deep breath, his face finally serious.
He formed hand signs. Black shadows surged and connected to a nearby tree. With a pull from the shadows, the tree ripped out by the roots and blocked in front of Shikamaru, stopping all the net-like wind blades.
"Hmph!" Temari snorted, gripping her iron fan tighter and about to unleash another jutsu. But then she saw smoke burst from the distance.
Smoke.
Smoke bombs again?
Temari frowned and said with disdain, "That trick worked in the Chunin Exams, but you think it'll work on me now?"
Wind Release: Sickle Weasel!
A fierce wind blew, scattering the huge cloud of smoke completely.
Kiba watched this and rubbed his stomach. "Akamaru, I'm hungry. Let's go back and eat."
Akamaru wagged his tail and stuck out his tongue happily. "Woof!"
The smoke cleared, and Shikamaru's figure appeared again. He stood on one side of the park, watching Kiba and Akamaru leave. The corner of his mouth twitched.
I'll remember this, Kiba!
Looking at Kiba and Akamaru running off happily, Shikamaru ground his teeth so hard they might break.
Temari landed not far in front of Shikamaru, holding her iron fan with a cold smile on her face. "Give up, pineapple head. There's no way a support ninja like you can escape from a mid-to-long-range jutsu user like me!"
"Heh, this isn't the Chunin Exams anymore. No limits on the area." Shikamaru said stubbornly.
As he spoke, his eyes darted around, looking for anyone who could help him slip away.
Temari noticed Shikamaru's little move. "Don't waste your effort. It's almost evening. Your shadow imitation jutsu will fail soon. Without sunlight, your secret technique is nothing to fear!"
"There's streetlights." Shikamaru argued back, refusing to give in.
"Stalling for time?" Temari said with scorn. "Will that help? You think someone's coming to save you? Give up. No one's coming!"
Temari smirked and opened her iron fan. Chakra started to surge.
But Shikamaru looked defiant. "My mom might come looking for me soon to go home for dinner."
Temari: "..."
Are you proud of that?
"Go die!" Temari swung her iron fan hard. "Wind Release: Great Sickle Weasel!"
"Crazy woman!" Shikamaru cursed under his breath. Chakra burst out, and his body vanished from the spot.
Temari was right about one thing. At night, his shadow imitation jutsu lost a lot of power. Without sunlight, relying on the moon's faint light couldn't bring out the full strength of the technique.
Streetlights only lit up a small area. If the fight dragged into night, his chances of getting beaten would go way up.
Unless he could trick this woman into getting close.
"Wind Release:
Sickle Weasel!"
But Temari had no intention of getting close. From the start, she'd stayed at the edge of Shikamaru's shadow imitation range, firing jutsu nonstop. At that distance, even Shikamaru couldn't take her down quickly.
Unless he went all out.
That meant ignoring Temari's safety, dragging her to a spot better for him to fight, setting traps while running, and finishing her off as fast as possible.
It wouldn't be hard.
But taking her down without hurting her? That was tough.
Temari wasn't an ordinary ninja. Normal traps wouldn't work on her, especially since she was so careful she wouldn't even enter his jutsu range.
"What a pain." Shikamaru felt a headache coming on. Regular moves didn't work, but aggressive ones might hurt Temari. "She's the one chasing me to kill, so why am I the one holding back?"
This was the downside of having too much sense of the big picture.
Shikamaru just didn't want to ruin the peace in the ninja world that had come after so many years.
"Only one way left..." Shikamaru let out a long sigh and decided on the most tiring but effective method.
Run!
He formed signs, and his shadow split into three copies of himself. Four different Shikamarus bolted in four directions. Shadow clones and shadow division were similar in name but totally different techniques.
Never mind explaining. Anyway, Shikamaru had decided to escape.
Temari saw the four running off in different directions and snorted. She formed signs. "Wind Release: Wind Clone!"
Four Temaris chased after them with cold smiles.
Suddenly, all over Konoha, shouts of "Wind Release: Sickle Weasel!", "Wind Release: Great Sickle Weasel!", "Wind Release: Wind Blade!" echoed from jutsu.
Smoke and dust rose in various spots around Konoha, but no explosions. It showed Temari really wanted to kill Shikamaru but held back to avoid hurting civilians. Shikamaru also stuck to crowded areas on purpose.
At first, people in Konoha were scared and even alerted the patrol ninjas. But once they saw neither was hurting anyone, the patrols figured they were just flirting and left them alone.
Most importantly... Lady Tsunade said not to interfere.
So, all good. Carry on.
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