A Little Kindness

Neji versus Shikamaru: The Third Stage is finally here.

   The sounds of excited murmuring, friendly debating, and loud yelling as people tried to sell various items to the customers that were entering the arena for the much anticipated Third Exam. The atmosphere was electric, as everyone in the arena was excited for the foghts that were to come. As several people were placing bets, discussing who the favorites were, or even gossiping about who they thought would show out the most. All in all the noise and excitement coming from the arena could be heard from miles away as it seemed like everyone in the whole village was in attendance.

   As things had finally gotten settled down, and most everyone was seated, other than the select few that wanted to wait to the last minute to get food, drinks, and other purchasable items. The Hokage appeared in the middle of the arena, to give a speech and congragulate all of the participating Genin on making it this far. He also gave his thanks to those in attendance for taking time out of their busy lives to come here and watch and cheer on the future of the ninja world. Before officially starting the Third Stage and moving back to his respectful spot in the Hokage balcony, he looked at each of the participating Genin and wished each of them luck, and told them to give it their all.

   With that the proctor called forth the first two participants. Those two being Neji Hyuga and Shikamaru Nara. While the proctor was explaining the rules Shikamaru looked as bored as usual even yawning halfway through the rules. Whereas Neji was as stoic, and calm as ever. Not even worried in the slightest, or if he was he definately didn't show it.

   Once the proctor gave the okay to start, it was surprisingly Shikamaru who acted first, as he hurled several kunai at Neji who easily dodged or deflected all of them. As he did with the next couple of waves of kunai that were thrown toward him. As they all lay scattered in front of the Hyuga, Shikamaru smiled as he formed a hand sign, and then several of the Kunai transformed into smoke bombs and then promptly went off. This completely blocked Neji view and he had to resort to using his Byagukan to see and deflect all of the kunai that Shikamaru was throwing toward him.  Which seemed to be a part of the Nara's plan as he had a smirk on his face as he ran around the smoke encased Hyuga, throwing kunai after kunai at Neji.

   Eventually Neji got tired of this, and threw the kunai that he had been using to defend himself, at Shikamaru who had to leap out of the way to avoid. As well as the other two that Neji had thrown at him from inside of the smoke cloud. When Shikamaru had gotten out of the way of the last kunai, the smoke around Neji had started to disappear. Showing to everyone that not a single one of Shikamaru's kunai had even landed a scratch on the Hyuga.

   'So it seems like all of the hype around the Byakugan was deserved after all.' Shikamaru thought to himself as he tried to form a plan. 'It really seems as though he has 360 degree vision. Man this is so troublesome.' "Never thought that I would see the day that a Nara put in more work than the bare minimum amount of work and effort. It's an honor to think that you would go to all of this trouble just for me." Neji spoke in his typical condescending tone as the last of the smoke cleared the area. "Normally I would have gave up when the match started. But I was promised that if I made it to Chunnin not only would I get to train whenever I want which would be never, but I would only have to do missions that the Hokage needed me to do. So yeah I'm a little eager at the moment. The way I see it, a little extra work now, would lead to a lot more free time later, and a lot more cloud watching in the long run." Skikamaru replied back as he gave a little shrug and placed his hands in his pockets. All while giving his signature smirk.

   "Pretty immature reason to become a Chunnin, but what else should I expect from a Nara. Your clan should really be related to sloths instead of deer. What a disappointment." Neji said as he closed his eyes and shook his head. Only to quickly open them again as he heard the tell tale sign of paper burning. 'A paper Bomb!' Neji exclaimed to himself as he looked around himself and saw several of the kunai laying around him were burning, as well as a lot of others on the ground away from him. He had nowhere to run or jump to. Anywhere he went would only lead to another paper bomb. He had only one option left and to think a Nara had forced him to use it. "Eight Trigrams Rotation." Neji yelled out as he started spinning right as the paper bombs went off.