Konohagakure no sato :
Forest OF Death :
Central Tower :
Soon the Sound Kunoichi was also putted in stretcher as she was hurled back to the infirmary , looking closely since the start of the prelimineries all defeated opponents have been gone to visit Infirmary , and not a single one was left conscious either .
( Well , I think everyone should have realised this already )
Naruto thought while looking briefly over everyone's face , and noticed that now all the Joking or any friendly atmosphere has already disappeared .And everyone's expression is tightened as they watched the big screen for the next match Or their own turn .
Nara Shikamaru VS Tsurugi Misumi
Soon the next match was announced and Naruto watched as Shikamaru and another Genin from Konoha came downwards .
( Hmm , Kabuto's Teammate )
Naruto remembered the Genin , Just like Sasuke's opponent , this one was also Kabuto's Teammate , and most probably Orochimaru's Goon .
The air in the Great Hall was once again felt pressured in anticipation as the Genins took stage .
On one side stood Shikamaru Nara, his shoulders slumped in his usual "this is a drag" posture. Opposite him was Misumi Tsurugi, a man whose presence felt oily and unsettled.
"Begin!" Hayate Gekko's voice rasped out, followed immediately by his signature, hacking cough.
Shikamaru didn't wait. He wasn't a brawler, but he wasn't an idiot either. For shadow Imitation jutsu to work he needed to close the distance enough that opponent comes in range .
Shikamaru reached into his pouch, flicking two kunai toward Misumi's shoulders, intending to pin him down or at least force a predictable reaction.
( Now let's force hi---------HUh ??? )
Misumi didn't block. He didn't even move his feet. As the blades whistled through the air, his torso simply bent. It wasn't just a dodge as his whole body moved like a serpant or rubber .
His spine curved at an impossible angle, the kunai sailing through the empty space where his chest had been a millisecond prior. Before the steel could even clatter against the stone floor, Misumi was now already moving
He didn't run; he slid. It was a skittering, serpentine movement that ate up the distance between them.
Yes, in the shock of audience , the Genin was narrowing distance towards Nara.
( I have not been in Konoha all these years for nothing..... I know the strengths and weaknesses of Nara quite familiarly )
Seeing this , Shikamaru tried to use Shadow Imitation jutsu to bind opponent's shadow .only to fail because of two main reason
First The movement of the Genin was too erratic , slippary and fast , before his shadow reached him , The Genin already moved somewhere else jumped .
Second , Even if Shikamaru was somehow able to force Misumi to make shadow imitation successs , The genin used his stretchable arm to throw Kunai or senbons towards his location , no matter what situation or problems in balance , almost weirdly creepily .
( Nara ....I Know for shadow Imitation jutsu , you need to be stationary , as long as i move myself and make you move too , your speciality disappears )
Misumi thought as he remembered the reason for Ino-shika-Cho formation , it's not just tactic but also a formation to cover each one's weakness .
Trying again & again , and failing again , Shikamaru felt the Troublesome Situation .
"Great," Shikamaru muttered, dropping into a defensive stance while moving "He's a human noodle. Just my luck."
( Is it because he is from Konoha , he must have seen Nara in action during mission ......what a drag )
Shikamaru tried to maintain the gap, backpedaling while throwing a volley of shuriken. He needed to gauge the rhythm. But Misumi was too erratic.
Kunai , Senbons , shuriken
( are weapons useless ?? ...should I close in )
Misumi'd lean left, then his hips would swivel 180 degrees while his feet remained planted, allowing him to whip around obstacles & weapons like a lash. Every time Shikamaru tried to close in for a strike, Misumi's arms would snap out—not like punches, but like whips—parrying the blows with a rubbery resilience that absorbed the kinetic energy and then retaliated with that rubbary counter force.
(.....ugh , He's not just flexible.....damn it hurts )
Shikamaru realized, his sharp mind already beginning to map out the 'board.' Kunai or sharp weapon were parried with that flexibility , seeing this shikamaru , moved and while in the middle of taijutsu , dropped one kUnai in his right hand and threw a fast punch to the opponent's chest.
( How about concussion then ?? I don't believe even your internal organs are also soft )
But seeing this punch , Misumi moved sideways as he took the puch on his chest but let it slide or bounce , Seeing this shikamaru was surprised and then
*smack* Ugh
feeling the impact on his chest , shikamaru moved back as his one hand desperately parried the Kunai following up after that punch .
( He's also dampening the impact.... If I hit him, it's like punching a bag of wet sand )
Shikamaru stabilised his breath with breathingtechnique and Decided to change tactics, He shifted gears. He accelerated, his sandles scuffing against the stone as he forced a burst of speed.
He didn't go for Misumi directly; he herded him. Like a Shogi master forcing a King into a corner, Shikamaru used angled kunai throws and Explosion tags to dictate Misumi's path, driving him toward the far wall of the hall.
"Got you," Shikamaru whispered, his fingers beginning to form the seal for the Shadow Imitation Jutsu. The shadow beneath his feet elongated, a dark needle racing across the floor toward Misumi's feet much longer than previous distances covered .
( I can also strecth and thin my shadow too , It ove---)
But Misumi grinned—a wide, unsettling expression. Just as the shadow reached the base of the wall, Misumi didn't stop. He didn't even slow down. His feet connected with the vertical stone surface, and with a surge of chakra, he performed the Tree Walking technique. He sprinted up the wall, defying gravity and leaving Shikamaru's shadow to hiss impotently against the masonry.
"Think again, kid!" Misumi shouted.
From his vantage point six feet up the wall, Misumi's shoulders suddenly dislocated with a sickening pop. His arms elongated, stretching like heated taffy, reaching down toward Shikamaru. The sight was horrific—limbs extending far beyond human limits . Like some creep.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. He scrambled backward, but the reach was there . Misumi's hands flicked, releasing shurikens & Kunai at near point-blank range while his arms were still mid-air. The projectiles didn't have the arc of a normal throw; they were launched with the snap-back force of a tensed rubber band.
"Crap!"
*splatter*
Shikamaru twisted, trying to evade the metal rain. A shuriken bit deep into his shoulder, and a kunai grazed his chest, blooming a crimson stain across his jacket. another cutted near his waist .
He hit the ground hard, rolling to gain distance, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The pain was sharp, hot, and distracting.
Misumi dropped back to the floor, his limbs retracting into their sockets with rhythmic clicks. He looked composed, and confident .
"You Nara types rely on the shadows too much , don't you?" Misumi said, his voice echoing in the Great Hall. "But just as shadows can extend , my hands can too , they can even throw weapons too , Much superior to shadow arts "
( let's finish this carefully , after all he is a Nara ..)
THinking this MIsumi looked at the roof of the great hall towards the lights.
(..... He needs Light to work his jutsu but not too much light either )
Done planning , Misumi began to circle, carefully staying within the brightest patches of light. He launched a relentless barrage of weaponry from the perimeter. Shuriken hissed and dodged through the air, and kunai thudded into the floor around Shikamaru's feet.
( Slowly , Just as a snake coils it's prey and finishes it off in death grip )
Misumi was playing it safe now, using his stretchable limbs to throw from angles that shouldn't have been possible, keeping Shikamaru pinned in the center of the arena.
Shikamaru was in peril. He realized the fatal flaw in his current position: the Shadow Imitation Jutsu was a stationary art. To guide the shadow with precision, he had to remain relatively still.
But against a mobile, long-range , flexible freak like Misumi, standing still was a death sentence. Misumi's arms could extend close enough to deliver a lethal strike while his body remained safely outside the shadow's reach.
( Troublesome .....I need to close the gap, but I can't walk into a blender ) Shikamaru thought, wiping sweat from his brow.
( Time for the basics , I guess )
He formed a seal. "Substitution!"
In a puff of smoke, Shikamaru vanished. Misumi's next volley of kunai thudded into a heavy wooden log. Before Misumi could react, a second Shikamaru appeared to his left, and a third to his right. The basic Three-Body Jutsu—Clones and Transformations—used in a desperate, frantic sequence to muddy the waters.
[ Chakra Burst Flicker ]
Shikamaru lunged out of the smoke, his fist cocked back. He connected with Misumi's ribs. It should have been a solid, bone-breaking hit. Instead, it felt like hitting a giant marshmallow.
Misumi's torso simply indented, his "soft body" technique absorbing the entire force of the punch. Misumi didn't even grunt; he just looked at Shikamaru with pity.
"Is that all?" Misumi asked.
"Not quite," Shikamaru grunted
As he pulled his hand back, he revealed a paper tag tucked between his fingers. He slapped it onto Misumi's chest and jumped away .
Misumi's eyes widened. With a desperate snarl, Misumi pulled the tag off while using his other hand , he used a kunai to deflect Shikamaru's follow-up strike, which was another kunai rigged with a second tag.
The two weapons collided mid-air, right between their faces.
BOOM.
The explosion was blinding. The kinetic force erupted outward, a wall of heat and pressure that sent both genin flying in opposite directions. Shikamaru skipped across the stone like a flat stone on a pond, finally coming to a halt under the spectator stands.
He groaned, pushing himself up. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor, his lips bruised and bleeding. He had taken the brunt of the shockwave, but he'd anticipated it, bracing his chakra at the moment of impact. He looked up, expecting to see Misumi shredded.
Instead, Misumi was already standing. He looked singed, his clothes tattered, but he was remarkably intact.
' gasp '
" what ?? "
" How ?? "
"How is that possible?" Shikamaru gasped, his tactical brain momentarily stalling. "That was a near point-blank blast."
Misumi cracked his neck, a sound like dry branches snapping. "Soft Physique Modification, boy. My master didn't just teach me to be flexible. My organs, my muscles, my skin—they can coil and stretch like a high-tension spring. When the blast hit, I didn't resist it. I let my body ripple. I turned myself into a giant shock absorber. It hurt, sure, but the kinetic energy just passed through me and into the air."
Misumi's expression hardened. The playfulness was gone. "I was careless. I won't let you get that close again."
( ....He is lying )
Naruto looked at Misumi , who was acting perfectly fine , The genin may have dodged explosion , but the kinetic force definetly did a number on him , Naruto's thoughts were confirmed as Misumi was now going on offense , trying to end the fight early .
The fight resumed with a new intensity. Misumi became a blur of constant motion. He realized that if he stayed still for even a second, Shikamaru's Mind would find a way to trap him again , So He began to sprint in wide arcs, his body low to the ground.
( Need to end this fast )
Simultaneously, He used his elasticity to whip shuriken with frightening velocity. These weren't standard throws; he was using his arms like trebuchets or Slingshot snapping them forward to double the projectile speed.
Shikamaru was forced onto the backfoot. He parried what he could, but the sheer volume of fire was overwhelming. A shuriken sliced his forearm. Another grazed his cheek. He was being forced to reposition constantly, unable to set his feet long enough to knit a plan together.
" Huh ? "
*splat*
Then came the "Shadow Shuriken." Misumi threw two large shuriken in a stacked trajectory. Shikamaru tracked the first one, ducking under it, only to realize too late that a second blade was hidden in the shadow of the first. It bit deep into his thigh.
( sh*T )
Shikamaru stumbled, a hiss of pain escaping his teeth. He looked down at the wound. It was deep. If he didn't end this soon, blood loss or muscle failure would end it for him.
( Risk it all ) Shikamaru told himself and his expression hardenend . No more playing it safe.
( I don't have the capital left for a long and safe game now )
Shikamaru began to move forward while biting his lip , It looked suicidal. everyone saw him troubling with his leg ,Then suddenly Shikamaru moved
using the Three-Body technique again—flickering between images of himself to confuse Misumi's aim.
"The same trick won't work twice!" Misumi screamed, his arms extending like twin snakes to intercept the "real" Shikamaru. He lashed out, his hands aiming to crush Shikamaru's throat.
But Shikamaru was ready. He didn't dodge the arms. He threw a handful of kunai and shuriken directly at Misumi's reaching limbs.
( Finally , I figured his rhythme and was able to target these troublesome fast moving flexible arms )
Misumi laughed. "You think you can catch me? haa—"
He stopped. He felt a sharp, stinging tug.
Shikamaru hadn't just thrown weapons. He had thrown weapons trailing thin, nearly invisible ninja wires .The blades embedded themselves in the soft, expanded flesh of Misumi's elongated arms.
"Gotcha," Shikamaru said, his voice flat and cold.
Misumi panicked. He tried to retract his arms, to pull the wires out, but the barbs on the Ninja wire held fast with Kunai and shuriken . He felt a sudden, rhythmic thump-thump vibrating through the wire.
"Wait—"
The paper bomb attached to the wire detonated. Because Misumi's arm was stretched to its limit, the tissue was under extreme tension—like a balloon. and When the explosion hit,
Well it blew
*BOOM*
" haha "
" GO shika "
" finally "
( ....shika doesn't have Dynamic vision like sharingan or others skills , not that he ain't talented , but not enough to target those moving flexible arms , so he used this way to target those Troublesome arms .......a shame Misumi still reacted fast )
Naruto watched with his friends as the explosion took place and also Misumi's condition.
( Hmm , he used one arm to throw the tags from one arm...as for other arm)
Misumi's left arm blew open in a spray of red. The force of the blast, combined with his own momentum as he tried to pull back, sent him hurtling backward. He flew towords the wall .
" ARGHHHHH "
" Urgh "
Shikamaru didn't wait. He ignored the screaming pain in his thigh and sprinted forward to finish it. He had a kunai held in a reverse grip, his eyes locked on the flying form of the opponent as Misumi soon slammed into the wall .
( .....I Will not disppoint Orochimaru-Sama )
But Misumi wasn't done. As Shikamaru closed the last five feet, Misumi's body reacted with the instinct of a wounded Madman. Using the wall as a springboard, his rubbery legs compressed and then exploded outward. he bounced and jumped .
" whoa "
" That's one tough Bastard "
"Hmm , very determined "
Misumi flew directly over Shikamaru's head, a morbid, blood-slicked projectile. The crowd gasped. It was a feat of pure resilience—losing a limb's functionality and still finding the presence of mind to use the impact to reposition while in Pain.
Misumi landed behind Shikamaru, rolling and coming up in a crouch, his ruined stump hanging like a dead weight.
Shikamaru didn't turn around immediately. He didn't look surprised. He just closed his eyes for a fraction of a second observing all this .
( ....Plan B, then )
Without looking, Shikamaru slammed three smoke bombs into the floor towards Misumi and around him .
*PHOOOOFFF**PHOOOOFFF**PHOOOOFFF*
A thick, grey-black shroud erupted, swallowing the side of the arena. The visibility dropped to zero.
Inside the cloud, Misumi was panting, his vision swimming. The pain was finally starting to override his adrenaline. He could smell his own burnt flesh. He focused his remaining senses on the ground, listening for the scuff of a sandle, watching for the shimmer of a hidden shuriken.
( Need to watch out for the shadows on ground mainly ....But this first )
Misumi didn't want to leave the smoke yet. He was too vulnerable. He needed a moment to stabilize. With trembling fingers, he tore a long strip of cloth from his remaining sleeve. Using his teeth and his one good hand, he wrapped the strip around the upper part of his severed arm/stump , pulling it tight—a makeshift tourniquet to stop the fountain of blood.
He felt the pressure take hold. The throbbing slowed.
"Now," Misumi hissed into the dark, his eyes darting. "Where are you, Nara?"
Silence greeted him. The smoke swirled, thick and oppressive. Somewhere in that grey void, The Nara and shadows were waiting
The smoke was a living thing, churning in thick, acrid billows that tasted of sulfur and burnt rubber. Inside that gray veil, Misumi worked with frantic, jerky attention.
He was breathing hard, his lungs protesting the soot-heavy air. He needed to find Shikamaru. He needed to end this before his body went into shock.
*Clink*
The sound of metal hitting stone was faint, but in the muffled silence of the smoke, it sounded like a bell. Misumi froze. Then came another.
*Clink* *Clink*
He didn't wait to see where they were. He threw himself backward, his elastic legs coiling and snapping him away from the source of the sound. He was right to move. A split second later, the distinctive, high-pitched hiss of an ignition fuse filled the space.
*hiss* X3
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Three explosive tags detonated in rapid succession. The concussive force rattled the walls; it acted like a giant bellows, blowing the smoke apart in a violent outward surge. The air cleared instantly, revealing the scarred arena floor and the debris-strewn stone.
Misumi landed in a crouch, his eyes darting, searching the open space for the spikey-haired ninja. He saw him. Shikamaru was standing nearly 20 feet away, his hands already locked in the Rat seal.
Misumi sneered, preparing to launch himself in a surprise attack .
( He's too far. The shadow won't reach—)
Then His body refused to move.
" Shadow Imitation Justu Success "
A cold lazy voice was heard ,as a paralyzing weight seized his limbs. Misumi's heart hammered against his ribs, but his legs remained rooted to the spot. He looked down, his eyes widening in sheer disbelief. A thin, jagged line of ink-black shadow was connected to his own.
( impossible. The distance is twice what it should have been )
"How.....?" Misumi choked out, his voice a dry rasp.
Shikamaru stood on the far left of the arena, his face pale and slick with cold sweat. He looked exhausted, his wounded leg trembling slightly, but his eyes were sharp. Between them, trails of discarded kunais and ninja wires lay on the floor.
Some Kunai's were stabbed near Shikamaru and others around Misumi , covering whole smoke area , and all these Kunai's handles were connected with Ninja wires .
Reaching and covering all the smoke area from before . and now connecting Shikamaru , shadows Of wires and Misumi.
The shadows even used the shadows of debris from the explosions as a way to extend together with Wire shadows to connect with MIsumi .
"You were so focused on the smoke and Injuries " Shikamaru said, his voice straining with the effort of the jutsu. "You forgot that shadows don't just travel on flat ground..... I used the wires I threw earlier & now ..... and the shadows of the falling debris from the explosion... I just had to bridge the gaps."
( ...He says easily , but the window for that opening should be extremely slim , especially since explosion also produces light and affects shadow )
Naruto watched downwards , his mind moving and analysing shikamaru's stratergy .
Injuring and forcing misumi on passive , then using kunai and wires to plant everything in the smoke for shadows , throwing explosion tags around , not just to clear smoke but also to not give Misumi any extra second to move or think .
A Two layer trap , with explosions , the traps also blew , but Misumi was also revealed , and in those explosions either MIsumi would be blasted or will fell in the trap before he can move or think any further .
( It's over )
Misumi tried to struggle, but the Shadow Imitation was absolute. He watched in horror as his own right arm began to rise, mimicking Shikamaru's movement with robotic precision.
Then he looked at his left side.
The stump of his arm, bound in tattered cloth, twitched and shifted. Because Shikamaru was moving his own left arm to reach for a kunai, Misumi's body attempted to follow suit. The sight of the empty air where his hand should have been, moving in a phantom gesture, was more terrifying than the pain.
( a shame that he lost his arm .......but this is my advantage that I will use it fully )
Shikamaru slowly drew a kunai from his pouch by his left hand .In the center of the hall, Misumi's left hand or stump mimicked the motion, though it held nothing but air.
"It's over," Shikamaru stated. He walked forward slowly, maintaining the seal with his right hand , until they were closer, though he kept a safe distance. He brought the kunai up, holding it against his own throat. Across from him, Misumi's stump also moved but alas , everything below elbow was gone .
"Surrender," Shikamaru commanded. "The medics can still save what's left of you. Don't make me finish this."
Misumi's eyes were bloodshot, darting wildly. His jaw worked, but no words came out. His pride, Loyalty or perhaps the sheer shock of the defeat, kept his lips sealed. He stared at Shikamaru with a mixture of hatred and fading consciousness.
Shikamaru waited. The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, a flicker of genuine regret crossing his features. "Urgh ,.....I really hate doing this."
He lowered the kunai from his throat and, with a flick of his wrist, hurled it toward Misumi.
Because of the loss of his left arm, Misumi didn't throw any Kunai , and He watched, helpless and frozen, as the steel surged through the air. The kunai buried itself deep in his chest. A sharp gasp escaped Misumi's lips, his body jerking under the impact.
(.....I WILL NOT DISAPPONT OROCHIMARU-SAMA )
Despite everything , Misumi still didn't utter a word .
Seeing this , Shikamaru also didn't stop. He followed up with a volley of shurikens, the stars of cold iron biting into Misumi's shoulders and torso. The physical trauma, combined with the massive blood loss from his severed arm, was finally too much for the Genin's modified body to absorb.
(........ Please Forgive Me ....Oroch---)
The darkness began to close in on the edges of Misumi's vision. His knees buckled, and as Shikamaru finally released the jutsu, Misumi collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. He hit the stone floor with a dull thud as unconsciousness claimed him.
Hayate Gekko stepped forward, coughing into his hand before looking down at the fallen ninja. He raised a hand toward the spectator stands.
"Winner...... Shikamaru Nara Of the Hidden Leaf "
" Good Job Man "
" Yeah , Nice work "
" *crunch* I hope shika is alright "
Shikamaru didn't cheer. He didn't even smile. his mind still seeing his opponenent , as he refused to admit defeat , and then there were his own actions , his hands that threw weapons at the downed and helpless shinobi .
( *haaaaaaaaaaa* ........i should have held back , he was a fellow shinobi from leaf , and now .....He lost his arm like this )
Thinking this , Shikamaru just let out a long, shaky breath and limped while moving forward, clutching his wounded thigh. " What a Drag.... I really need a nap."
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Author's NOtes :
In case you forgot , Misumi is the guy who fought Kankuro and was decived by Puppet , got riddled by senbons and poison and was defeated easily .
I think this fight stretched a little .
Personally , I still think that this fight lacks a lot
and shikamaru didn't do well
but i already dropped a hint that shika was trying to finish the fight in safe and lazy way , and then paid a little price .
At first I wanted shika to lose but then I think you will all rebel .
So well , here it is , A lesson for shikamaru to focus and not to treat everyone lazy and also to be ready for any unexpected situations , LIke Misumi's arms .
All this plus some bloodshed .
( I wanted to kill misumi in explosions though )
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