Chapter Four
The test
The grounds were set.
Everything was placed where he'd plan them. The clearing he sat cross‐legged in the middle was sprawling with the same, endless grains of sand. There were low
running hills every now and then, but otherwise, nothing could be said about
how bland the landscape looked. An odd thing about it, though, were the hundreds of thin poles sticking up all around casting shadows everywhere. Three newly appointed genin stood meters before Shikamaru.
Fukui Maki, the quiet blonde girl stood to his far right, Himura Shiari the pumped up red‐head was at his front, and the sole male of the team‐‐ Suzuki Kyto‐‐ was on the left side as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Shikamaru now remember why Kyto's name had sounded so familiar, he came with Gaara and them to the Chūnin exams. How interesting that he would be on his team.
Shikamaru plucked the cigarette from his lips and regarded the group with a
bored stare.
"Are you three ready?"
Shiari took a step forward.
"The test, right?" she questioned, fire burning in her pail green eyes, "Hell yeah! Stand up, sensei! I'll get to kickin' your butt into the ground!"
The outburst earned her a disgruntled look from Maki. Shikamaru held two
blank white tags for the three of them to see. After making sure that they knew
what was in his hand, he stuck one on his left shoulder and one on his right.
"Get the tag by twelve, you pass. Don't get the tag by twelve, you fail. The one
who doesn't get the tag gets sent back. Understand? Start."
He put the cigarette back into his mouth. There was a sort of prolonged silence
as they waited for him to stand up and get into a defensive stance, or something close to that. But half a minute passed with Shikamaru on the ground, chin in his palm, and his eyes drooping like he'd fall asleep at any second. Shiari growled and charged forward.
"You gonna just sit? Fine! That tag is mine!"
Kyto's golden eyes widened. "No! Himura‐san, wait!!" He remembered who this was, and he wasn't someone to be messed with or to be underestimat.
She stuck her arm out to reach for the tag on his left shoulder. Just centimeters from touching it, something far too fast for her to see slammed in her side and sent her into a sand dune. It took her a few moments until her head poked out, brown grains dotting in the red of her hair.
A menacing, tentacle looking thing waved in the air above their heads. The thing was pitch black, Maki noted with a shiver, and was attached to one of the
wooden poles that surrounded them.
A shadow?
...
Of course! Her blonde bangs swayed as she got a better look at her sensei. Shikamaru, Shikamaru‐‐ Nara Shikamaru! The son of the head of the Nara Clan! They specialized in tactical thinking and shadow manipulation... She paled. There were about a hundred poles around them that casted shadows.
This wasn't going to end well for them, she thought with a pout, unless of course she worked with the other two...Hah! Yeah right, sure Kyto might be helpful but Shiari? No way! Maki wasn't going to work with that loud mouth, no way in hell!
Shikamaru, unconcerned of the cursing from Shiari's general direction, locked
eyes with the one who figured out their unfortunate circumstances so quickly.
He blew a cloud of smoke from the corner of his mouth.
"I said start."
::
Four hours later proved to just as unfruitful as when they first started.
Projectiles were strewn all over the sand and some poles were splintered in poor attempt to reduce the amount of shadow arms that attacked them.
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Nagging Feelings
Random(ON HOLD) Shikamaru being lazy like he is, is trying to ignore his feelings for a certain Sensei. Unfortunately as he got older the more it nags at him and he can't seem to keep the annoyance out of his ever day life. It's so bad that even a certa...
