"No problem. As an heir to the Akimichi clan, I've trained my stomach to be as strong as steel. A little grilled meat is nothing."
"Alright, fine!" Asuma gave up trying to persuade him. Getting Choji to give up meat that was practically in his mouth was an impossible task.
Downing a cup of sake to soothe the melancholy of impending bankruptcy, Asuma turned to his other two gloomy students.
"Still dwelling on it? I haven't said anything, so there's no need for you two to be so unhappy. Cheer up. Rookies always have a tough time in their first Chunin Exam..."
Being suspected of having less skill, they were bound to be targeted. It was inevitable.
"But Sasuke passed. Even Naruto and Shino made it through..." Yamanaka Ino sighed.
They were all Genin rookies from the same year. Three of their classmates had broken through the fierce competition to reach the third round, so why had Team 10 been completely wiped out?
"Honestly, I'm very satisfied with your performance," Asuma said seriously, putting down his sake cup. "Faced with a hopeless situation, you persevered until the preliminary matches. That's already very good. As for the one-on-one elimination matches, there are too many random factors, and the rules were very disadvantageous for you. Especially you, Shikamaru. you were so close to advancing..."
"But in the end, I fell short," Nara Shikamaru said listlessly, pushing open the wooden window by the table, letting in a bit of the lively noise from outside. "Asuma-sensei, are all Sand Ninja like that? Willing to suffer mutual destruction just to win?"
The bearded teacher replied, "It's hard to say! I actually find it a bit strange myself. This year's Genin candidates from Sunagakure are unexpectedly strong. Of course, you guys aren't bad either, you just lack a bit of their conviction to win..."
"Conviction?" Shikamaru thought for a moment. "Like Rock Lee, who was willing to risk his life to prove his ninja way, but still failed in the end..."
"Losing a battle doesn't mean your ninja way is shattered," Asuma said, shaking his head. "Of the three of you, I have the highest hopes for your future, Shikamaru! But right now, you're also the one I'm most worried about..."
***
"Worried about me?" Nara Shikamaru forced a smile. "Sorry to trouble you, Asuma-sensei. I'm fine..."
"You... you're too smart. The kind of guy who's brimming with potential." Having already blown a good chunk of his savings, the bearded teacher threw caution to the wind and ordered a few more plates of meat and another small bottle of sake, pouring himself a drink. "Children who are too rational seem mature, but their rationality is different from an adult's. The smarter a child is, the better they are at finding shortcuts. When they discover they can keep up without trying, it becomes hard for them to appreciate the importance of effort, and even harder to develop the resilience needed for success..."
"Effort, resilience." Shikamaru sighed. Those words felt very distant from him. Although he had used his intelligence to adapt his family's Shadow Paralysis Jutsu into the more suitable Shadow Imitation Technique and was diligent in his regular ninjutsu training, that was just him doing what he was supposed to do. Forget about the arduous training of someone like Rock Lee; even a dead-last like Uzumaki Naruto worked far harder than him.
With his intelligence, didn't Shikamaru know this wasn't a good state to be in? Of course he did. But his inherent laziness and aversion to trouble weren't things he could change overnight.
"Having a good brain doesn't mean you can do everything. The smarter you are, the more clearly you see your own limits. A dull person's efforts are often seen as overreaching, while a wise person's success is taken for granted..." Shikamaru said softly, as if summarizing his own situation. "Everyone just gets used to me excelling at everything, no matter the circumstances..."
His occasional moments of weakness and anxiety had no outlet. Worried that his performance wouldn't live up to expectations, he would spend too much time and energy analyzing his predicament, unable to extricate himself. Even if he talked to others about it, they wouldn't understand; they'd just dismiss it as him overthinking things. What was the point of confiding in people who were acknowledged as less intelligent than him? Was he trying to show off his superiority?
Shikamaru understood all the logic, but what was the use? Rationality and emotion were two different things. Rather than getting entangled in such troublesome situations, it was better to hide his talents, live passively, and enjoy a peaceful day-to-day existence.
"What a drag. I don't understand any of that, Shikamaru!" Akimichi Choji mumbled while chewing on his meat. Yamanaka Ino had completely given up trying to discuss such things with Shikamaru; she could never win an argument with him anyway.
"You..." Sarutobi Asuma listened patiently to Shikamaru's complaints, carefully mulling them over. "You're a smart and sensitive guy, with a bit of innocence and kindness too! However..."
This world wasn't just Konoha, and it wasn't always peaceful. Even within the village, there were unsettling undercurrents. "I don't know if you're overestimating yourself or underestimating yourself. I was originally going to try and persuade you, but it seems you already know what the problem is..."
In Team 10, the simple-minded Akimichi Choji was a model of great wisdom disguised as foolishness. He knew his strengths and weaknesses, entrusted the task of thinking to the most suitable person, Nara Shikamaru, and had complete faith in his squad leader's judgment. He understood his role. Yamanaka Ino was also a kunoichi with great potential. Aside from her infatuation with Uchiha Sasuke, which sometimes caused her to lose her way, she had no obvious flaws.
The core of the new generation of Konoha's famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Nara Shikamaru, had always lived up to his brilliant mind. He was reliable, serious, and brave in critical moments. There was just one thing...
"Responsibility and duty... I've never really thought about those things before. I'm a ninja now, not a kid anymore..."
The qualities of a leader required more than just intelligence.
"Recognizing your own shortcomings and being willing to admit your mistakes—that is growth!" Asuma nodded in satisfaction.
To put it grandly, the old Nara Shikamaru hadn't found his ninja way. In truth, he simply hadn't adapted from being a student at the Ninja Academy to being a ninja.
"By comparison, those Sand Ninja aren't necessarily that much stronger, but they're more mature than us. Even that guy Naruto is stronger than we are..." Shikamaru said with some regret. By the time he realized he needed to change, it was too late. The preliminary matches of the Chunin Exam hadn't given him enough time to adjust.
"In any case, my recommendation for you to participate in the Chunin Exam wasn't in vain. It's best that you gained something from it. Actually, if you had made it to the third round, Shikamaru, you would have had a high chance of becoming a Chunin..."
"What about... that Sand Ninja, Daigan? He seems very strong, and he's not stupid either..."
"That Puppet Master..." Asuma pondered for a moment, lit a cigarette, and took a satisfying drag. "Based on his performance alone, he's worthy of the rank of Chunin. But... there's something strange about him..."
"So you noticed it too, Asuma-sensei!" Shikamaru said with a meaningful smile. "Although his little tricks didn't break any rules, they don't align with the ninja code. A ninja's primary goal is to complete the mission. As a squad leader, a Chunin should understand this even better. A ninja is, by definition, a tool for completing missions. In principle, preventing an enemy from obtaining information is not part of the objective, unless preventing the enemy from obtaining information *is* the mission itself..."
In both the written test of the first round and the survival competition in the Forest of Death, interfering with the enemy's progress was a means, not an end. No matter how impressive his performance, it wouldn't add many points to his evaluation for promotion in this Chunin Exam. Therefore, the Sand Ninja Daigan's behavior in this joint exam was rather irrational.
"According to the intel, that Sand Ninja is a fourth-year Genin. It's impossible for him not to know something so basic. Yet he did it without hesitation, which means..." Asuma blew a smoke ring. "His purpose for participating in this joint Chunin Exam isn't to be promoted to Chunin, or rather, it's not *just* for promotion. There must be another objective for his actions to make sense! The two times he made a move, he must have felt there was something more important at stake than becoming a Chunin..."
"I can't figure it out." Shikamaru rested his chin on his hand, frowning. "There's too little information."
"Of course, it's also possible we're overthinking it, and he just wanted to show off!"
Although Konoha and Sunagakure had been allies for over a decade, the two villages did not interact frequently, and their relationship was ordinary, merely a convergence of interests. So-called allies were just competitors whose relationship had not yet broken down.
***
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