Standing on the battlefield repaired using Earth Release techniques, Hayate Gekko coughed violently, his whole body shaking. Despite appearing as if he were about to collapse at any moment, Hayate still hadn't forgotten his duty.
"Already? It's me so soon?" Temari glided down from her giant fan and touched the ground lightly. Seeing her opponent's name displayed on the screen, a flicker of killing intent flashed in her eyes. "Well now, what a coincidence. Shikamaru Nara."
Thinking about how Sakura had tricked her into signing that contract, Temari felt like smashing Shikamaru's pineapple-shaped hair beyond recognition. Then again, if he dies during the fight, the deal's probably null and void anyway.
"Shikamaru Nara?!" Hayate waited for quite some time but noticed only Temari had arrived on the battlefield—Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen. He immediately called out again, "Where is Shikamaru Nara? Please enter the arena now!"
"Where's Shikamaru?" Sakura looked around anxiously after realizing he was missing. She quickly turned to Hinata and Neji, saying, "Use your Byakugan to search. I suspect this lazybones has hidden somewhere and doesn't want to come out for the match."
"There he is." Hinata activated her Byakugan upon hearing this and pointed toward a corner blocked by chairs. "He's hiding behind those chairs, sleeping!"
The group hurried over and saw Shikamaru sitting cross-legged on the floor, dozing off peacefully.
"Where is contestant Shikamaru Nara? If you don't show up immediately, we'll have to disqualify you!" Hayate took a deep breath and shouted once more.
"Shikamaru's coming."
Sakura shouted out, grabbing everyone's attention. All heads turned upward to see a fat little boy lifting someone up and tossing him toward the arena. The tossed figure wore a distinctive pineapple hairstyle and looked completely shocked mid-air.
"Hey, Choji, what are you doing?" At the last moment before hitting the ground, Shikamaru twisted his body just in time to land upright on both feet. He looked up, bewildered, yelling at Choji. "What the heck was that?!"
"Well," Choji scratched the colorful rainbow gourd hairstyle Sakura gave him, "you know how Sakura and Hinata said since you're supposed to participate in the match anyway, and you weren't coming down voluntarily, we might as well just throw you down. It won't kill ya, right?"
Despairing Shikamaru face: "…"
"Can I just surrender right now?" Shikamaru weakly asked several people watching from the audience. "I really don't want to fight. Fighting's such a drag. Honestly, I'd rather just chill and catch a nap."
"If you dare surrender now, prepare yourself—I'll chain you to a chair staring at a rotten herring can forever!" Hinata's voice came from the crowd. Her tone remained emotionless, yet Shikamaru shivered involuntarily.
Ahem… Well… I think occasionally having a fight and getting some exercise isn't all that bad," Shikamaru immediately swallowed his words about surrendering without hesitation. He had no desire to be stuck smelling pickled herring forever.
"Please both contestants, get ready—the match is about to begin."
Hayate Gekko quickly waved his hand downward and swiftly moved to a safe spot. These little rascals always fought recklessly without holding back, and he had no intention of staying too close and getting accidentally injured.
"Hey, how about we make a deal?" Shikamaru said in his usual indifferent tone, trying to negotiate with Temari. "We could just sit here and chat for a while, then I'll surrender voluntarily. What do you think?"
"No way." Temari rejected him without hesitation. She was hoping to use this match as an opportunity to create an 'accidental' demise for Shikamaru. Why would she agree to sit down and chat with this pineapple head? Besides, she didn't think there was anything at all to talk about with him.
"If you don't like chatting, we can play shogi instead. If you don't like shogi, I also have a board game similar to Flight Chess here. And if that doesn't work either, we can sit together and read some novels, discuss the plot."
Shikamaru took out a set of shogi pieces and a board game similar to Flight Chess from his Ninja Tool Pouch, then pulled out several novels—almost all of them were rare collector's editions not available in stores.
"These books... are they seriously collector's editions?"
Temari's eyes lit up. She'd wanted a complete set of these collector's edition novels for a long time, but for one thing, they simply weren't sold anywhere, and secondly, even if they were available, her meager income wouldn't allow her to afford them. Seeing the full collection right there in Shikamaru's hands, she couldn't take her eyes off them.
"Oh, these? They're just free copies handed out internally by my company. I'm not really into reading them much, so I barely touched 'em." Shikamaru glanced down and realized what he'd pulled out—it was the entire "Forbidden Love" series Sakura had given them. He'd skimmed through 'em once and never looked at 'em again after that.
"Free!" Temari couldn't hide her envy. She couldn't even afford a single page, and here he had the whole set for free? That kind of contrast hurt.
"The books are published by my own company. As one of its shareholders, of course they wouldn't charge me," Shikamaru stated matter-of-factly before adding, "So how about it? We can sit down together and discuss the plot, and later on I'll just surrender willingly. Does that sound okay to you?"
"Uh… Well…" Temari hesitated. She loved reading those novels, but because of her limited finances, she'd only managed to buy a few volumes that now sat in her bedroom, brought out only occasionally during spare moments. Now, with the chance to access the full series before her, should she seize it or not?
Chapter 209: Shikamaru's Exclusive Skill [Mid]
"Just wait till after the match—I'll just hand them over to you then," noticing Temari's wavering resolve, Shikamaru quickly poured more fuel onto the fire.
"You mean it?" Temari's eyes sparkled. These were the collector's editions she'd been longing for! And the price was nothing more than not fighting against this pineapple head. Most importantly, when this pineapple head surrendered voluntarily later, she would not only obtain the coveted collection but also gain an easy victory. It really looked like a win-win with zero downsides.
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