The audience was going wild, loudly cheering and clapping in congratulation for Haku’s victory. The fight they witnessed seldom happened even among the top ninjas and that’s why not only civilians, who had mostly no clue how rare the spectacle they just witnessed was, but also ninjas praised the two boys.

Even if it was a bit unfair, Naruto was expected to be powerful since he was a jinchuuriki. But Haku’s victory after Naruto used the power of his inner demon… Now that has impressed many veteran ninjas.

“Looks like your village was hiding some extraordinary talents, Mizukage.” Tsuchikage grumpily said.

Inwardly he was comparing his own jinchuuriki and the kid in the horrendous orange jumpsuit. More precisely, he was comparing the odds of his jinchuuriki winning or at least performing as well as Minato’s brat… because it was ever so obvious whose the kid was… against the Kirigakure’s prodigy.

Reaching Sennin Mode when he is just fifteen years old at best? The ice kid was a monster in his own league.

Obviously, that meant both Tsuchikage and Raikage were already thinking about what kind of bounty they should write on the kid’s head and if it was worth it to send their own hunter ninjas after him.

Ringo was completely aware of their thoughts. Haku showed to have the potential to be dangerous and as leaders, it was their duty to assess his threat level and act accordingly. That much was fine as it was natural.

She didn’t care about the new target on Haku’s back. Such was the life of a ninja.

…

The break was relatively peaceful this time and the next match was announced, Hayate calling Shikamaru Nara and Chojuro to the arena.

Shikamaru was his usual slouched self while Chojuro had a look of sheer determination… The contrast between them couldn’t have been more obvious.

The match started and both combatants were just standing in their spots, looking at each other. Shikamaru decided to gauge his enemy’s prowess by fighting defensively while Chojuro did not attack because he remembered Shikamaru’s shadow jutsu from his preliminary match.

For a swordsman who needed to get into melee range, Shikamaru was a nightmare to fight.

Still, for the ninja audience, the situation was obvious and they inwardly praised the swordsman boy. The Naras were famous for being lazy bums so Shikamaru being unmotivated and passive was normal. But they were also known to be the natural counter to melee fighters because getting close to them almost certainly meant being caught by their shadow.

Chojuro not being reckless and just charging forward as a genin usually would, was already commendable. Nobody would fault him even if he gave up at this point because his opponent was his exact counter. The normal approach to this situation in a field would be a retreat, after all.

The civilian audience didn’t understand this, however. They got bored of the two boys standing and staring at each other really fast and then the booing and jeering started as they tried to urge them to finally fight. Not that it moved either boy.

But Chojuro was not a candidate for a spot among the Kiri Swordsmen for nothing. He might not have been able to use Kirigakure no Jutsu yet but Lady Ringo trusted in him enough to order Raiga to train him for the month! Chojuro could not just give up!

Taking a deep breath, Chojuro’s fidgety behavior shifted into a complete focus as he unsheathed his katana and took a stance.

Despite looking utterly bored, Shikamaru’s half-lidded eyes did not leave Chojuro even for a second. He knew this fight would be fast as their respective skill sets would drive his opponent to go for a single decisive blow so… either Shikamaru would prevent it and win or he wouldn’t.

Fortunately, the previous fights messed up the arena quite a lot and now it was uneven, filled with small obstacles, and muddy in some places… There was even the hole Naruto dug to try ambushing Haku but Chojuro clearly took note of it and stayed away from it.

Shikamaru didn’t idle. He tried to subtly redistribute his shadow and hide it behind these small obstacles around him like cracks in the ground or uneven surface where Chojuro could not Shikamaru’s shadow from his position.

Chojuro finally finished his preparations. The atmosphere in the arena briefly tensed for a moment before he dashed straight at Shikamaru.

He was almost at the place where Shikamaru hid a part of his shadow, just a step away from a good place to ambush him when he abruptly stopped and put his sword into a slashing position.

Shikamaru wondered what he was doing while inwardly cursing that he didn’t take one more step forward and step directly into the range of his shadow. He quickly focused and got his shadow moving towards Chojuro’s feet but then he noticed as Chojuro’s sword gleamed with chakra…

Chojuro slashed forward, gathering chakra in his blade and as his slash was about to end, he released it towards Shikamaru in an arc of energy… before he found himself paralyzed as Shikamaru’s Shadow Possession Technique caught him not a split second after he managed to release his slash.

Shikamaru’s eyes widened and he quickly threw himself to the side, only barely evading the chakra slash that was gouging a small ravine in the ground as it flew.

It was enough to break his focus and Chojuro found himself free. He used the fact Shikamaru was still distracted to try getting into melee range since the energy slash took a lot of his chakra and unfortunately, it was his only mid-range move for now.

Shikamaru stood up, only to notice with the corner of his eye that Chojuro was almost upon him. He inwardly cursed, knowing he was not fast enough to evade the approaching sword…

Chojuro chanted, ‘faster, faster, faster’ in his mind, mentally beckoning his sword to go forward faster as every millisecond counted in this fight. He had to strike his opponent before he could properly focus on his shadow!

His sword was nearing Shikamaru’s chest… fifteen inches, ten inches, five inches!

And as hope was rising in Chojuro’s mind, it was instantly dashed when a shadow tendril ‘tripped’ his opponent by sweeping his legs under him and causing Chojuro’s sword to miss by a slight margin.

Shikamaru knew just this was not enough to give himself the necessary time to catch Chojuro so he manipulated his shadow again and this time the tendril wrapped around is wrist and yanked his body to the side, forcefully dragging it away from Chojuro who was already in the middle of switching stances in preparation for a downward slash aiming straight at the place where Shikamaru laid just a moment ago.

As his opponent’s body was suddenly yanked out of his sword’s reach, Chojuro was hit by a desperate realization that he couldn’t let Shikamaru get enough time to center himself. He quickly rushed after him.

Shikamaru flipped his body up, ending in a standing position while his feet slid on the ground for three more meters due to the kinetic force of the shadow tendril. He stopped in his tracks and without even looking at what his opponent was doing or where he was, he quickly spread his shadow in a thick circle with a radius of two meters around him…

Chojuro’s sword suddenly halted an inch from Shikamaru’s neck as his body stopped moving. Chojuro desperately tried to force it… it was just an inch!… but he was completely unable to push his blade forward no matter how much strength he tried to exert.

Shikamaru finally focused on his enemy, and his thoughts froze as he noticed how close the sword was to his neck. He involuntarily shivered, thanking whatever deity above that he did the smart thing and acted before thinking for once.

His unnerved eyes met Chojuro’s frustrated gaze and for a moment, the two boys just stood there like that. Shikamaru focused on his shadow to restrain the swordsman who tried to push his blade the remaining inch towards Shikamaru’s neck. It was a battle of wills in which Shikamaru had a massive advantage.

Still, this victory came far too close to a fatal defeat in Shikamaru’s opinion. He had to acknowledge it.

“You are strong.” He, for the first time, spoke to Chojuro but got only a determined look in response. Obviously, his opponent didn’t want to be distracted by chatter as he didn’t give up and still tried to win the match.

A sheepish smile appeared on Shikamaru’s face. Since his opponent was like that, he decided to respond in kind and strained his focus.

Instantly, sharp shadow tendrils started to form before skewering muscles in Chojuro’s body, causing him to groan from the pain.

Shikamaru might not be able to physically move when restraining someone with his Shadow Possession but that’s exactly why his clan came up with Shadow Stitching.

This match was won by him.. Now he just had to force his stubborn opponent to acknowledge it.