Hey guys! Sorry for not releasing new chapters for the past few weeks. A trifecta of factors caused this delay: employment, Starcraft II (using money from said employment), and the Stanley Cup Finals! Anyhoo, things may ease up for me come August when my contract ends, but until then, expect more delays like this.

Here's the sixteenth chapter: Enjoy! And Go, Canucks, Go!

A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha

XVI: Chunin-Candidates

Orochimaru slammed his fist against the tree trunk, causing the one-hundred year-old cedar to crash down on the forest floor. Things were not going well for him lately. A few months ago, his spies in Konoha suddenly disappeared without warning. The disappearance of one spy could simply be dismissed as an isolated incident, but something must have tipped the village off for all of them to vanish at the same time. Moreover, for the past four days, he had been scouring the forest searching for Uchiha Sasuke, whom he had been planning on making his next host. Though he swore he saw the boy and his team pass the first test, he could not find any signs of the Uchiha during this test!

That Namikaze shall pay for usurping the destiny Sarutobi-sensei had been grooming him for ever since he was young. The position of Yondaime Hokage was supposed to be his, but that Minato snatched that away from him. And now, that Yellow Flash had been dismantling his plan to destroy Konoha piece by piece, thinking he could do better.

However, as consolation, he did manage to get his hands on that Kusa girl with that special chakra after the first exams. He was sure that he could get his research going into full gear with her in his grasp. And that fool Minato threw away the reason he became Hokage when he signed that peace treaty with Kumo after the Kyubi attack more than twelve years ago. Orochimaru smiled as he thought of how that decision of Namikaze Minato would come back to haunt him once his plans were set into motion.

"Congratulations on passing the Second Test of the Chunin Exams!"

Inside a classroom in Konoha Academy, six chunin were reciting these words over and over again as the final twenty-four hours of the Second Test of the Chunin Exams were underway. A couple of those chunin, though, were quite irritated by the fact that they were stuck in the Academy for the past three days.

"Sheesh, Iruka, are you really planning on keeping all of us prisoner here for the next twenty-four hours?" Izumo complained.

"The majority of the successful examinees should be finishing the test any time now, especially during this final day," Iruka responded.

"But was it necessary to wake us up in the middle of the night and spend the next four days here in the Academy?"

"Look, we've been informed of what happened to Mizuki," Iruka said. "And Kotetsu almost suffered the same fate a few moments later. Good thing he kept his wits to inform the two teams already there of the situation and summon help for Mizuki."

"That's really insane, though," Izumo commented. "Fifty-three minutes, then ninety-seven minutes…those pretty much smashed the previous record of four hours. Being a Kage's child must be really something."

"That's why we can't be caught unprepared this time." Iruka stated. "Now let's continue."

And so, with the Mizuki Incident still hanging in their heads, the six chunin in the room continued to recite that same phrase over and over again.

Naruto, seated in a table with Sasuke and Sakura in the Tower Kitchen, was eating his shogayaki lunch as they awaited the end of the Second Test. Other than the arrival of the Kazekage's children, their stay in the tower was pretty much uneventful no thanks to Kotetsu-san. Things got a bit more exciting over the past day with three more teams checking out of the test, but those did not even compare to the asskicking Team Kakashi have inflicted on that (poor) chunin.

The Hokage's son looked around, the place buzzing with activity contrasting the desolate state the place was in when Team Kakashi first arrived. Various chunin (presumably the examiners) and Konoha jounin were talking to each other, while the non-Konoha jounin were just sitting alone in their tables eating and waiting news from their respective students. The other chunin-candidates were probably in their assigned rooms, not allowed to interact with people from other teams until this test was over. The experience these past few days was sort of a weird combination of the luxury of being a renowned daimyo and being subject to the strict regimen of a high-security prison: They were technically allowed to move about as they wished, but they had to eat, go to the bathroom, and take their walks in shifts while escorted by the examiners to avoid running into each other.

Oh well, as long as the place had air-conditioning and great food, being stuck in the tower beats trying to deal with the stifling heat outside any time.

Eventually, the kitchen door swung open as a chunin who didn't seem to be one of the examiners stepped in – Umino-san if Naruto could recall correctly.

"Asuma-san," Iruka called, "your team has just arrived and passed the test…and just in the nick of time might I add."

"Thanks, Iruka." The aforementioned Asuma said as he stood and started to make his way out to greet his students.

Before Asuma could make it to the kitchen entrance, the door suddenly burst open to reveal the boisterous Chief Examiner of the Second Test of the Chunin Exams.

"Alright everyone!" Anko yelled. "The second test is now officially over! To those who are helping me, it's time to round all the failures up and escort them out of the training area. To the jounin instructors of those who failed, you may assist my team on this task…with proper escorts, of course. Now get going!"

As those called out began leaving the kitchen, Anko turned to the table where Team Kakashi was seating and addressed them.

"And you three, Sandaime-sama wants to meet with all those who passed at the foyer."

Sasuke frowned as he heard that old man's title, still unhappy with the man despite the beating he lashed out on him during that library mission. Sakura could only look on with worry on her face, knowing well the reason why Sasuke's mind was in turmoil at this moment.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan," Kakashi called them, "you better go and finish your lunch quickly. Sandaime-sama will be starting in a few minutes."

And so, the three hurriedly shoved the rest of their lunch in their mouths, somewhat glad that their five-day wait was finally over.

"My name is Yamashiro Aoba, and I will be the official on the floor for the final test."

"Wait a freaking minute," Ino yelled. "Aren't you that same Aoba who broke into my house and stole my clan's scrolls a few years back?"

The gazes of the candidates and jounin present shifted towards the man wearing sunglasses as the special jounin squirmed trying to think of a way of explaining away the Yamanaka's accusation. Alright, it was not so much an accusation, since the man already admitted to the deed a long time ago, but that didn't mean he enjoyed having that incident come back to haunt him.

"Hey look," a flustered Aoba responded, "it was just a silly dare during my younger days. I apologize if my actions back then still scare you to this day, Yamanaka-san."

"I am scared of nothing, you jerk!"

"Ahem!"

The bickering stopped as everyone turned to the source of the cough, the Sandaime Hokage, who wasn't amused by what was happening on the floor.

"Aoba, shall we continue?"

"Ah, right," Aoba said, somewhat glad for the Sandaime's intervention, before continuing. "As I said, I will be the official on the floor while Sandaime-sama will be the Chief Supervisor for the Final Test.

"Unfortunately, there are only spaces for a maximum of sixteen candidates for the final test. As there are six teams who passed the Second Test, a preliminary round will be held right now."

"So, you mean to tell us that this show the village will be putting on only has space for fifteen matches for the final test?" An indignant Naruto asked. "And we are having this preliminary round because Team Asuma managed to make it out at the very last minute?"

Sarutobi sighed, knowing well of Naruto's opinions (through Minato) on the Chunin Exams. "Naruto-kun, in addition to advancement of ninjas, this event is also meant to showcase the talents of the best of the best to potential clients. We have to keep things…interesting for them."

"Yeah, in other words, entertain them," Naruto muttered.

"Anyways," Aoba cut in, "for those of you who don't know, the final test will be a series of one-on-one matches following a tournament format. A winner will be declared if the opponent gets incapacitated, surrenders, receives outside help, or when Sandaime-sama or I stop the match. The combatants may use any methods they wish in order to win, though you should follow orders from me or Sandaime-sama should we say so. Any questions?"

"I think-"

"Except you, Naruto!"

Naruto pouted as the rest of the candidates looked at their teammates, trying to figure out who would be matched with whom. After a moment of silence, Aoba continued.

"Well then, let's proceed with the matches. Your opponents will be decided in random by a computer. Please head to the balcony while the persons whose names will appear on the screen stay here on the floor."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura leaned on the railing as they watched a spandex-clad boy named Rock Lee give a ninja from Oto named Zaku the beating of his lifetime. They might as well use this time to scout out their potential opponents should they get past this preliminary round. So far, they could tell that Lee was a taijutsu specialist who happened to be very fast. The one-sided match finally ended as the Lee gave Zaku a kick in the head, causing the Oto-nin to pass out.

"Winner: Rock Lee."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the balcony, Sarutobi, in addition to watching the proceedings on the floor, was keeping a close eye on Sasuke. It seemed that the young Uchiha was giving him the dirty look every now and then. At first, the elder thought it was all in his imagination, with his savage beating being explained away by his successor as a quality-assurance mission. But he couldn't help but have that feeling that the boy…hated him.

Looking for a respite from his apparent paranoia, Sarutobi gave the giant screen a glance as it flashed the names of the next two combatants:

"Akimichi Choji v. Uchiha Sasuke"

The Third Hokage watched as the two clan heirs made their way to the floor. Sarutobi frowned as he observed that Sasuke had a very determined look on his face, as if he were on a personal mission.

"Sasuke, good luck and may the best person win."

"Akimichi, today, I will restore the honour that your clan took away from mine five years ago!"

Choji gave Sasuke a confused look, wondering in what way he had ever offended the Uchiha. As far as he knew, Sasuke had always beaten him in all aspects of the Academy curriculum: taijutsu, ninjutsu, academics, and so on. Was his former classmate mad because he threw the match away during a spar a long time ago?

"Sasuke, what do you mean restore the honour?" Choji asked.

"Aoba-san, can we begin the match?" Sasuke grumbled, unable to wait for his match against Akimichi to finally get started.

"Umm, sure, you may begin."

Sasuke took off as he drew a kunai from its holster in one fluid motion. Choji, surprised by the quick start, bent sideways at the very last second, causing the kunai Sasuke was holding to rip through his clothes and barely nicking his right arm. Choji couldn't believe what was going on: Sasuke was aiming for the kill! Was the Uchiha holding a grudge against him?

"S-Sasuke, can you take it easy on me? Our team just got here…and we're both Konoha-nin."

"Well, it's your team's fault for showing up at the last minute tired instead of resting here for a few days." Sasuke shot back.

Choji's eyes widened, realizing the mismatch that he was in. His team had to spend almost every minute of the past five days trying to locate the two scrolls, after the one they were given mysteriously disappeared, then ending up with two Scrolls of Heaven, and finally wrestling away a Scroll of Earth from an older team at the last hour. He, along with Shikamaru and Ino, were tired and fatigued, while Sasuke claimed that he and his team were well-rested after waiting in the tower for a few days.

Choji suddenly felt a punch on his face, causing him to stumble on the side as he tried to recover from the attack. Good thing that the Akimichis had that natural 'padding' around their bodies to protect them from the shock of the blows. He then readied himself as he prepared to receive a kick to the gut from Sasuke, causing him to stumble back as the blow finally connected.

The Akimichi then heard a crunching, ruffling noise of plastic foil from Sasuke. It seemed that his opponent managed to get a hold of a bag of potato chips he had been hiding in his pack as his 'emergency' ration.

"Hey Sasuke, that's mine! Give it back!"

"Come and get it," Sasuke goaded, "…fatso!"

Now, the Akimichis didn't mind people calling them weak and docile, for that belied their true strength to their enemies. They never minded people calling them gluttons either, for they were proud to proclaim their love of food to the world. But no one should ever, ever call them fat, especially in front of so many people!

"You…will…pay for calling me fat, Uchiha!" Choji raged.

"That's my line, you tub of lard." Sasuke answered back, seeing that his plan was working as expected.

"THAT'S IT! BAIKA NO JUTSU!" (Multi-Size Technique)

Choji then quickly grew to three to four times bigger his normal size, his enormous body now towering over Uchiha. Enraged and losing control over his emotions, Choji yelled as he called out his next move.

"NIKUDAN SENSHA!" (Human Bullet Tank)

Sasuke calmly watched as Choji turned himself into a giant ball, and started rolling towards him. Opening the bag of chips he had taken from his opponent, Sasuke grabbed a handful of chips and crushed them in his hand. As the gigantic ball of meat neared, Sasuke threw the bag of chips aside, leapt over Choji, and forming a few hand seals (causing crumbs to slowly fall onto the ball), executed his jutsu.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

A big fireball left Sasuke's mouth as it made its way towards Choji. However, once the fireball hit the aerosolized crumbs still floating on top of the meat ball, the flames intensified as the crumbs were consumed by the jutsu and gave off more heat. With burning crumbs all over him, Choji stopped in panic as he desperately tried to put out the flames around him.

But Sasuke was not done yet. Uchiha reached in his shirt and took out…a cheap, small fan (stolen from a certain someone to prove him wrong). He channeled some chakra into the fan, and hoping that this long shot would work, quickly waved the fan at Choji's direction.

The little flames that were burning through Choji's clothing quickly engulfed the entire floor of the foyer, causing the observers to instinctively shield their eyes to the sudden change in brightness. However, with only a couple of days to study this before the exams, the effect of this long-unused Uchiha technique was more flair than substance at this stage. It didn't really inflict any more physical damage on Choji and it actually put the fires out sooner than if they were left to burn alone.

The psychological impact of the technique, however, was quite devastating.

"I-I give up!" Choji cried out, as he collapsed on the floor.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke"

Sasuke, with fan still in his hand, slowly walked towards the singed form of Choji, looking down on him with a small glint of satisfaction in his eyes. Choji, on the other hand, still couldn't understand why Sasuke would be angry at his clan.

"Why, Sasuke?" Choji asked. "You said you wanted honour restored. What did my clan ever do to you?"

"S-ranked secret."

Sasuke then turned to Sarutobi at the balcony and gave the elder a piercing glare.

Sarutobi's heart raced as he saw Sasuke stare at him. The boy knew! That beating he received in the library…that feeling of hatred directed at him, it wasn't his imagination after all. Itachi would go berserk on him should he learn that Sasuke now knew about what really happened that bloody night. But why would Minato tell the boy about it? Surely he wouldn't want to give Sasuke a reason to hate the village and have him actually rebel against Konoha.

As Sasuke made his way back to his team on the balcony, Sarutobi's eyes shifted towards his teammates, more specifically, Naruto. That damned intelligence report from Kumo he received from Minato was first given to Naruto. He knew that Minato had to tread carefully when dealing with a jinchuriki with full control of his bijuu, but couldn't his successor just invoke his authority over the boy as father and tell Naruto that sharing sensitive information just like that was not acceptable in Konoha?

The Third Hokage breathed deeply, trying to think of ways he could remedy the situation and control the damage already done by Naruto. He no longer held the power he once wielded, leaving him with little choice but to swallow a very bitter pill. He just hoped that his collaborators would at the very least see how critical the situation had become.

"Oi, Uchiha, I want my fan back!"

Sasuke's eyes twitched in annoyance upon hearing this ridiculous demand from Naruto. Alright, technically he did steal the said item from his teammate, but it was not as if the fan were some rare, irreplaceable object that people would pay A-ranked missions to retrieve. It was a common, everyday object: Anyone could probably make three uchiwa for a single ryo, for crying out loud!

"You won this freaking fan spinning a wheel of fortune in the takoyaki stand, Naruto," said Sasuke. "Go get yourself another one!"

"Naruto-kun," Sakura chimed in, "you should be congratulating Sasuke-kun for winning his match. You shouldn't be complaining about borrowed items at this time. Besides, don't you always emphasize teamwork during practice?"

"Fine, fine, Haruno." Naruto said. "I'm just annoyed that he took the fan away from me during a hot day."

"Get over it, Naruto." Sasuke sighed. "Believe us; it's not hot at this time of year."

Kakashi decided now was the time to step in before everyone else in the room (besides Team Asuma) could laugh at them for their bickering.

Kakashi spoke, "Sasuke-kun, I must say I'm impressed that you've developed an interesting jutsu in a short amount of time."

"It's an ancient Uchiha technique that fell into disuse by the time the clan settled in Konoha," Sasuke answered. "Judging from the effects of the jutsu, I still have a long ways to go from mastering the technique. And I'll prove to everyone that people who use fans aren't whimps!"

"Hey, you're the one who said so yourself, Uchiha." Naruto complained.

"Naruto, shut up."

The Hokage's son pouted as the leaned on the railing as the screen flashed a bunch of random names to see who would go next. Finally, the shuffling stopped as the screen settled on two names:

"Haruno Sakura v. Nara Shikamaru"

So, it was another Team Kakashi v. Team Asuma match. Naruto turned to look at his female teammate shuffling around and somewhat nervous about her upcoming bout. It seemed that she was still not confident with her abilities, which left Naruto wondering how Haruno would fare in this match.

"Sakura," Sasuke said in an (awkward) attempt to reassure his teammate, "I don't think you have to worry too much about dealing with the Dead Last of the Class."

"But your opponent is a Nara, though," Naruto rebutted. "I think that you should be careful around him."

Sakura looked on with worry on her face as she received these two contradictory pieces of advice from her teammates. It was nice that Sasuke-kun thought that this fight should be easy for her, but she was worried about the word of caution she heard from Naruto-kun. The Hokage's son may not have attended Academy with them, but somehow, he always seemed to be ahead intelligence-wise than the rest of her former classmates. She could only hope that this match would go well for her.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, sizing up Sakura and trying to figure out what sort of tactics she would be up to. In a way, being paired against Sakura was a disadvantage to him. Had he gone against Ino, Sasuke, Shino, and the rest of the children of the Clans of Konoha, he would have had at least some knowledge and history of their reputations behind them, with which he could use to formulate a reasonable counter against them. He managed to hear about Team Suna from his brief chat with Kiba, his team managed to spy on Team Oto during the Second Exams, while he had the (dis)pleasure of working with Team Gai during one of their missions. But Sakura was anonymous, an average person who didn't stand out during Academy (aside from her big crush for Sasuke). He never really paid any particular attention to her during their days in the Academy, and with those crazy rumours going around concerning Team Kakashi, he didn't really know what to expect of her.

Shikamaru looked around to see what sorts of quirks he could use to turn to his advantage. Both of them were about the same distance from the walls, the floor official was to his left (and Sakura's right), the lights were evenly-spaced throughout the ceiling, and the floor was pretty much level. His eyes then shifted to Sakura, wearing that same red dress she had been wearing in Academy and her long, pink hair held back by her forehead protector. He also noted that she wore her kunai holster on her thigh while he wore his on his hip.

Sakura, meanwhile, had more in mind than the match that she was currently in. She failed the final test that would have made her genin, and it was only through the graces of the Hokage (and his son) that she was allowed to become a ninja to begin with. She fared horribly during her first real mission as a ninja, and she had that nagging feeling that the only reason why they passed the Second Test so easily was because of Naruto. She saw that most of the people who checked out of the test were a little worse for wear, and she knew that she was spared this hardship by riding on the coattails of Naruto and Sasuke-kun. She knew that this match, against the dead last of the class, would be the defining moment of her career. This would decide whether she deserved to be here or not.

The two looked at each other for another thirty seconds, neither budging nor giving any clues to their opening move. Sakura was fresh and well-rested, yet unsure of herself and her abilities. Shikamaru, while frayed and tired, had adrenaline and his clan training behind him despite being ranked last in his class.

Sakura made the first move, drawing a shuriken from her holster and throwing it towards Shikamaru, aiming for the torso. Shikamaru, alarmed yet not surprised at the move, quickly dodged the attack by bending back and planting both hands on the floor.

The girl promptly followed through by hurling another shuriken at the Nara, this time, unfortunately aimed at his groin due to the way they were positioned. Shikamaru, just catching a glimpse of this attack, immediately dropped and rolled in a last-ditch attempt to preserve his manhood. The shuriken whizzed over him and though it nicked a few strands of hair off his head, he largely escaped unscratched by this attempt.

Shikamaru then quickly got up on one knee, grabbed a shuriken from his own holster, and threw it at Sakura. However, Sakura was already moving laterally relative to him, causing the projectile to miss its target by a wide margin.

The boy was at a temporary disadvantage; it seemed that Sakura had opted to go long-range at the moment. The Nara was still tired from having just come in from the second test, and Sakura was hoping to win this by fighting her opponent to exhaustion. However, Shikamaru knew that Sakura (or any ninja for that matter) could only carry a limited number of weapons in her container. All he had to do now was weather this initial storm before he could make his move.

With the pink-haired girl moving to his left, Shikamaru waltzed around the middle of the floor as he dodged a third and fourth shuriken. As Sakura worked her way counter-clockwise, she threw her last two shuriken at Shikamaru at the same time, one aimed at his head, the other aimed half a metre from his chest. Shikamaru, seeing where the projectiles were heading, bent back yet again as he watched the two shuriken pass by him and hit the wall on the other side.

Certain that Sakura had ran out of shuriken and would not want to waste her kunai by throwing it, Shikamaru got back up and prepared to counter by grabbing one of his shuriken. His eyes widened, however, as he saw a seventh shuriken fly at him and hit him on the left arm.

"ARGH!"

Wincing in pain, Shikamaru berated himself for forgetting this little detail as he watched where Sakura was getting her 'extra' shuriken from: She managed to make her way on the other side of the floor and re-used the shuriken she threw at the beginning of the match. And it seemed that she was content on continuing this fast pace.

Shikamaru thought of the different options that he could pursue in his situation. He knew that there was no way that Sakura was coming anywhere near him. He could try and retrieve the weapons, but Sakura already had momentum behind her. Considering she was fresh and he was tired, the last thing he wanted to do now was play a cat-and-mouse game of trying to get to the weapons while dodging them at the same time. And there was no way he would throw any of his weapons at her right now: That would only give her more ammunition. And simply dodging wasn't a viable option either.

This left him with one option. Seeing the second incoming shuriken, Shikamaru quickly turned and took the hit on the same left arm, growling as he tried to stifle a scream from the incredible pain. Staying put in his spot, Shikamaru watched as Sakura grabbed the third and fourth shuriken on the floor and flung at him. Trying to minimize the damage he has already taken, Shikamaru turned back as he tried to get those sharp projectiles to hit him at the meaty part of his posterior. Shikamaru then closed his eyes as he braced himself from impact.

Thud. Thud.

To his surprise, the expected pain did not arrive. Was it the adrenaline rushing through his veins? Looking back to see what happened, Shikamaru again berated himself at forgetting yet another detail as he saw the two thrown shuriken sticking out of his pack he was wearing at his hips.

The Nara quickly unbelted his pack, intent on using it a miniature shield to literally absorb Sakura's attacks. Once Sakura threw her fifth and sixth shuriken, Shikamaru moved accordingly to let them harmlessly hit his pack. Once Sakura got to the shuriken Shikamaru originally threw, she finally realized what Shikamaru was up to.

"You finally ran out of ammunition, Sakura." Shikamaru said, trying to buy time to recover and think of his next move. "So, what are you up to now?"

Huffing and puffing from running around, Sakura looked at her opponent as she tried to figure out what to do next. She could no longer continue her long-range tactics with her arsenal down to a shuriken and a kunai. Whether she liked it or not, she would have to go close-range to win the match. She wanted to avoid hand-to-hand combat against a potentially stronger boy, but now that the said boy was tired and injured, she hoped that he was weak enough for her to overpower him.

After finally deciding on a plan, she slowly put her last shuriken back in her holster. She then produced a series of three hand seals—ram, snake, tiger.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A puff of smoke immediately appeared, briefly obstructing Sakura from everyone's view. As the smoke cleared, the audience and Shikamaru were presented with three spitting images of Sakura.

Shikamaru frowned upon seeing the clones; he didn't know which one was the real Sakura. Sure, he could throw the shuriken he had to determine the real person, but he didn't want to give her any more ammunition. There was one other way to definitely find out, but this would not be pleasant on Shikamaru's part.

With a determined look on her face, Sakura grabbed her remaining shuriken and hurled it at Shikamaru at full strength, with her clones following suit. Shikamaru saw that the shuriken and its cloned images were aimed at different parts of his body, leaving dodging out of the equation and forcing him to take a one-in-three chance of blocking the correct shuriken with his pack. One was heading for his head, one for his right shoulder, and one to his left thigh. Deciding to play it safe, he used the pack to shield his head, opting for injury than certain death.

A pang of pain radiated from Shikamaru's thigh, the shuriken deeply embedding itself in the muscles. Shikamaru put his pack aside and saw three Sakuras charging at him, though strangely enough, her kunai wasn't drawn. Perhaps Sakura was not as determined as he initially thought.

Sakura threw a punch at Shikamaru's head, her tightly clenched fist connecting with the recipient's upper cheek. Shikamaru turned and stumbled back, grimacing in pain and a bit dizzy having felt the full force of the blow.

Taking a page out of Naruto's tactics, Sakura then proceeded to try and kick a slightly disoriented Shikamaru—well, tried to. For some odd reason, she couldn't move at all! No matter how much she tried to will herself to move, her body simply won't obey!

"Kagemane no Jutsu – success!"

Trying to ignore the intense pain and slight vertigo he was currently in, Shikamaru gingerly got back up to see Sakura face-to-face. He took a single step towards the girl, causing Sakura to mimic his movements.

"W-What is going on?" Sakura asked, confused as to what was going on with her body.

The two combatants continued to walk towards each other, eventually ending up within half a metre of each other – too close for comfort for Sakura.

"Kagemane no Jutsu – Shadow Imitation Technique." Shikamaru explained. "I basically use my shadow connected to yours to control each and every movement of your body. And our shadows connected the moment that you delivered that wicked punch on my face."

Seeing that Sakura's kunai was in its holster on her thigh, Shikamaru then motioned himself grabbing a non-existent kunai on his body, causing Sakura to grab her own weapon.

"W-What are you planning on doing?"

"Sakura, you probably would have fared better had you used the bunshin at the beginning of the match instead of when you ran out of shuriken. Unfortunately for you, I plan on winning this match."

The kunai was then turned to point at Sakura's neck, and Shikamaru slowly moved it to just touch and put a small pressure on Sakura's skin. Sakura panicked at the turn of events. She thought that she had the advantage all along, but Shikamaru managed to seize the small window of opportunity he was given. She should have taken Naruto's advice and been more weary of him.

"Sakura, I suggest that you surrender now."

Sakura's eyes welled up with tears as she despaired on how badly things had turned out. This was supposed to be her chance to prove herself that she was a capable ninja, not just a fangirl coming along for the ride with Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun. Yet despite all the advantages that she had in the beginning, she couldn't even beat the dead last of the class. She wanted to win this match…she needed to win this match!

Unfortunately for Sakura, her very own hand had put slightly more pressure on her neck, causing the kunai to nick her skin and bleed out a few drops of blood. What kind of a ninja was she, who didn't even have control over her own body! It was one thing for her to lose control when fighting against the Chief Elder of Kiri when they were in Nami, but now she was losing control against the dead last of the class. With the bead of warm blood running down her neck and onto her chest, Sakura's last ounce of will was sapped as she finally gave in to Shikamaru's demand.

"I-I surrender…"

Shikamaru immediately dispelled the jutsu, somewhat glad that he did not have to resort to more drastic measures. As he collapsed on the ground writhing in pain with three shuriken embedded in him, Aoba looked up to the Sandaime Hokage to seek his opinion. Sarutobi merely looked down and nodded, ratifying the decision that Sakura made.

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru"

As a couple of medics walked in to attend to Shikamaru, Sakura could only fall on the ground on her knees with tears running down her face, silently lamenting her lack of ability and woefully convinced that she did not have what it took to be a ninja.