Mask Boy

catch

Shikamaru glared at the red head boy. He was already irritated from the start but being in the same vision space as this Akatsuki member is only increasing his annoyance.

They've been fighting for who knows how long but long enough for Shikamaru's worries towards Naruto to intensify. Every time any of the team members run past the puppet, they would only be brought back in an blink of an eye and continue this endless cycle till the sun had slowly began going down.

Is Naruto doing alright? Can he really handle fighting against an S-ranked rogue on his own? What is he even saying, even with 12 shinobis here, they can barley land a scratch on the puppet user.

"I need to get out of here fast and-"

His thoughts were cut off when he felt a hand squeezing his shoulder.

"Shikamaru, you need to calm down. We need that brain of yours to start working now" Choji said, moving in front of Shikamaru to shield him.

"Yeah! We get that you're worried about your boyfriend but we can't get to him if we don't have a strategy genius" Ino added on, also moving from her spot to shield Shikamaru.

Shikamaru stared at their backs for a few seconds before letting out a snort and moving to squat down.

"You're so funny Ino, he's not my boyfriend" he said while making a circle with his hands.

"... at least not yet"

Shikamaru smiled to himself but it was soon replaced with a frown as he concentrated his energy on a plan to go against Sasori.

Most of his attacks are from the puppets he's using while he stands at a far distance from the battle area. Inside his puppets, there are mostly kunai, shurikens, and one of them has poison set inside. While in the outside, the fingers have sharp metals that can easily leave a cut through a wall if sliced.

If they can manage to make him use up all of his puppets weapons from the inside, then it would be easier to approach without worrying to avoid too much and as for the other...

He opened his eyes to see how his team was handling this so far.

Neji, Lee, Tenten, and Kiba were fighting against one puppet while the rest were avoiding the wave of kunais aiming right at them.

He slowly stood back up, cracking his back a bit to help loosen his tension, "Alright, I got something. Everyone gather around me"

Everyone did as they were told and quickly gathered around Shikamaru.

Sasori stared at them with the same bored look while moving his puppets around playfully, swaying them back and forth as if to mock the group of teens that they are struggling.

"Ino, Sakura, Kiba, and Shino,, you three are gonna be together. Shino, gather your insect and insert them inside the puppet, get a hold of the strings, and then try to stall the poison from fuming out. Ino and Sakura, you guys should get the idea for what's next"

The trio nodded and gathered together.

"Hinata, Tenten, Lee, and Choji,, you guys will take on the other one. That puppet only contains weapons inside of it and it's unpredictable for when it will start shooting out things; But if you guys manage to break the chest area and damage the actual puppet, it'll be easy to grab a hold of the string and break the connection"