What A Drag... || Shikamaru x reader

||19||

"You got the track?" I asked as we were running through the trees of the forest of death.

"I lost them," Yuuto sighed.

"Let's take a break, we've been running for a while," Riku suggested, we all nodded and stopped on a branch and sat down.

This is the chunin second test.

We have the heaven scroll. Looking for the earth scroll.

We did have a track on someone with an earth scroll but it would seem that we lost them.

"Someone's coming, quick, scatter," I announce quietly as I heard heavy footsteps approaching us.

When I looked back I recognise them to be the ninja we were tracking.

I pull bandages out my bag and wrap them around my hands tightly before running out of the leaves and tackling one of the guys to another tree where the boys were waiting.

"Hi there," Yuuto greets the panicking ninja. He's definitely the one with the scroll. I went through his bag and pulled out the earth scroll before returning him to where I took him from.

"That was too easy. His teammates didn't even come after me," I sighed, putting the scroll in my bag and then running through the trees.

"When they recognise strength or are planning to strike back, they wont come straight back. They'll shadow us for a while so stay on guard," Riku tells us. We nod and go a bit faster.

The night hit us quickly but we decided to keep going but at a slower pace.

(sorry guys -- I know in the series Gaara's team broke the record of the fastest completed but we're gonna shatter that so Gaara's team comes second and you guys break the record)

Dawn came and the tower got closer and closer until we reached it to see doors with names written on. We walked around and found the door with 'Team Riku, Yuuto, Y/n' written on. We walked in and looked around. It was a pretty empty. Just a large sign on the wall with a riddle of some kind.

Myself and Yuuto just sat against a pillar as Riku started to figure out what it meant.

"I guess we open each scroll at the same time?" he finally suggested, I shared a look with Yuuto before passing him the heaven scroll. We both opened the scroll and placed them on the floor just as a poof of smoke appeared and Yuuto's father appeared in front of us.

"Well done, you three. You've completed the second test, lets go get you cleaned up," he spoke recited lines before finally looking at us, "or not... how aren't you dirty at all?"

"We didn't have to work too hard," I sighed, he nodded and then lead us to another room. It was large and empty and had a spectators area and a board on the far wall.

"Wait here and relax while we wait for the rest of the groups to return," Yuuto's father tells us. We nod and sit against a wall before passing out all too easily.

°❄️°

I woke up again when another group of people entered the room, it was Gaara's team. I got up when we noticed each other and approached them.

"You guys finished first?" he asked, I nodded.

"We've been here for about half a day now," I told them as we all sat in a circle while Riku and Yuuto used each other as a pillow.

The door opened again and in came Kiba's team.

"Hey Kiba, Hinata, Shino and... Whoa- what happened to Akamaru?" I greeted them as my eyes landed on the shaking dog in Kiba's coat. He just covered Akamaru and smiled before walking to the other side of the room.

"Poor guy got spooked," he just said before sitting down and ignoring my presence completely.

°❄️°

The last group to come in was Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. They looked a mess, Sasuke looked the worst though. He seemed to be holding his neck in pain.

"Wonder what happened to him," Yuuto mumbled as we all lined up in team lines.

"Yeah, I mean, Team Guy and 10 all look wrecked as well," I pointed out.

"Everyone does, except of course our team, Gaara's and I guess Kiba's?" Riku sighed. I nodded before having my attention brought to the front.

The Hokage and our team captains plus a few other chunin had gathered at the front.

"I'm your third proctor. Now please, if don't feel fit to continue through this test, then please leave now," a guy with a pretty mean cough introduced himself between coughs.

Some guy excused himself after making up the excuse that he was very tired and injured and then left the area.

I rolled my eyes as his excuse before looking forward.

"That's it? Alright when you see your name on the screen then come down here and the winner will continue on, but if you're not fighting you'll wait up in the stands," he says, we all nod and watch as the first names appear.

'Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado'

We all moved up to the spectator ledge and watched the fight.

During the fight I could've swore that I'd seen weird glowing marks on Sasuke, but they were gone as quick as they were there.

He won his match and then disappeared with Kakashi.

'f/n l/n and Yuuto Reo'

We looked at each other before hopping down from the ledge. Who uses stairs these days, amirite?

"I won't go easy on you just because you have no trigger yet," Yuuto tells me. I smiled.

"Likewise."

I haven't told them about me finding a trigger and I won't until the next round... That is if I beat Yuuto. Although, I may have a bit of difficulty with Yuuto so I might have to show it.

He pulled his shirt off to reveal his arms and torso, they were covered in tattoos that stopped half way up his neck.

"When you're ready," the proctor tells us. We both smiled and bowed at each other before moving back and crouching near a wall each.