"Stop! Stop it, Ino!"
After being ambushed and punched away, Shikamaru, clutching the book he was protecting, pleaded with Ino.
"Shikamaru, I can't believe that beneath your usual serious demeanor, you're actually this kind of person!
Not only did you forget to save me, but you're also here reading such a lewd book.
Once today's exams are over, I'm going straight to tell your dad!"
Ino gritted her teeth, punched her palm, and suppressed her anger.
She knew the Chūnin Exams were coming up, and she couldn't beat Shikamaru to the point where he lost his fighting ability.
"Oh, Ino, you've misunderstood. Actually, just now..."
Shikamaru, covering his swollen face, got up from the ground and briefly explained some of the things Bai Mo had discussed with him earlier.
"What? Preventing beautiful women from falling in love with you? Shikamaru, why didn't I realize you had narcissistic tendencies?
If Sasuke or that Rain ninja from just now said something like that, fine, but are you even qualified?"
Ino was speechless halfway through his explanation.
"It's not a matter of qualification. It's like if the opponent from Sunagakure suddenly stabbed me with a kunai during the exam. It's a low-probability event, but not impossible. What I want to eliminate is the occurrence of such low-probability events."
"I don't understand."
"..."
Shikamaru was helpless. Sometimes, having an IQ far beyond one's peers wasn't necessarily a good thing.
"According to what you just said, Shikamaru, that person was talking to you the whole time, without showing any abnormality?"
Ino asked with a serious expression.
"That's right, what's wrong? Oh, by the way, Ino, your Mind Transfer Technique failed just now. You weren't hurt, were you?"
"..."
Ino was speechless again.
He only thought to ask if she was hurt now. This kind of person was actually worried about girls suddenly falling in love with him? What nonsense?
However, Shikamaru's affirmative answer made Ino's expression turn serious: "He was talking to you normally outside, which means he broke my Mind Transfer Technique and imprisoned me in my consciousness merely by relying on subconscious mental power and control."
"Are you worried he has a secret technique specifically designed to counter the Yamanaka clan? I think you're overthinking it. He might just be purely powerful. Do you remember his warning to you?"
Shikamaru's words reminded Ino. The other party had already warned her not to make a move, but she had insisted on getting involved.
"How is that possible? So young and already..."
"I heard Kakashi-sensei was already a Jōnin at twelve."
"..."
Ino rolled her eyes.
Alright, all her excuses for her failure had been refuted. She was just weak, wasn't she?
How could she improve her strength?
Ino sighed, preparing to turn and leave.
"Oh, right, a reminder: you'd best cover the cover of this book. It's a bit disgusting."
Ino reminded Shikamaru before she left.
"The cover?"
Shikamaru picked up the book and glanced at it.
There were two muscular men on the cover. What was the problem?
Uh.
The more Shikamaru looked, the stranger it seemed.
It did seem to have a problem.
After staring at the cover for a while, Shikamaru quickly flipped through the book and soon found the answer.
"Thank you so much, Ino!"
Shikamaru slapped his thigh, a smile playing on his lips.
Ino's earlier comment of "disgusting" made Shikamaru realize a crucial problem he had overlooked—his teammate, Ino, was also a girl!
Her feelings were very valuable for reference.
Why did she find the cover disgusting? What made it disgusting?
If he could extract the key elements from that, then he would have the key to a normal life!
Now, he had found it!
This was it!
—
Half an hour passed, and the audience gradually returned to their seats.
The second match began.
Temari, holding a large iron fan, was already waiting in the arena.
"There's still a stench here. You Konoha are really disgusting."
Temari waved her hand in disgust, then looked at Shikamaru, who had jumped down opposite her. "Konoha ninja, I advise you to forfeit. Don't let me beat the shit out of you later, and then your Hokage will have to clean up the arena again."
The Sunagakure's objective was the Konoha Crush Plan. Kankurō had decided to forfeit later to avoid revealing his puppet's information.
For the sake of Sunagakure's reputation, Temari felt it was necessary to make Konoha lose face at their hands first.
As soon as Shikamaru entered the arena and heard Temari's words, he took a sharp intake of breath.
Why was it another 'fierce woman'?
And this 'fierce woman' seemed even more aggressive than the ones in his class, just like his mother.
Fortunately, he had prepared in advance.
"You want me to forfeit? Alright, but I hope you can do me a favor."
Shikamaru took out a letter from his ninja tool pouch behind him and walked over, speaking as he did.
"What is it?"
Temari frowned deeply and took the letter from Shikamaru.
She wondered if it was some kind of love letter.
Perfect.
Seeing the other party take the letter and start reading, Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief.
His method's biggest fear was if the opponent was a stubborn person like Naruto, who would just charge at him and fight, not giving him any chance.
Now, it seemed there was no problem.
Moreover, based on the opponent's performance just now, she clearly cared a lot about her reputation, so there was no need to worry about the letter's content being made public.
Perfect!
"..."
Temari's hands gradually began to tremble as she read the contents of the letter.
She was deaf to the audience's shouts urging them to start fighting.
The letter's content was addressed to Gaara.
The sender giving it to her clearly wanted her to help deliver it.
Only the specific content... it started by praising Gaara as the Gourd Prince of Sunagakure, cold, powerful, and handsome.
That was somewhat normal.
Then, things like, "His melancholic eyes hide a heart-wrenching past."
And, "There's a wall in your heart, but my love will climb the windowsill and blossom."
"I want to be filled by Gaara's sand in every cavity of my body, to feel Gaara's sorrow."
This made Temari feel that something was wrong.
But at the end of the letter, it said, "I want to be friends with you and establish Konoha friendship."
Was this Konoha friendship?
It was a bit perverted.
Temari felt a little scared. If their Konoha Crush Plan failed, would Gaara be used to reward the three armies?
This letter absolutely could not be given to Gaara. If he saw it, Shukaku might erupt prematurely.
Temari took out a pen from her pocket, wrote a few lines on the back of the letter, stuffed it back into the envelope, snorted coldly, and threw it back to Shikamaru.
"Huh?"
Shikamaru grabbed the letter and was stunned for a moment.
What was going on?
It wasn't what he expected.
Why was there a reply?
Had he used the wrong excerpts from "The Manly Man's Guide"?
With a worried look, Shikamaru slowly pulled the letter out of the envelope.
He saw the first line read, "It seems you really need to be loved by me," and Shikamaru's heart instantly stopped.
No way?
Had it failed?
Gathering his courage, Shikamaru continued to pull out the entire letter.
After seeing the content of the letter, Shikamaru let out a long breath, a look of relief after surviving a disaster on his face.
It turned out to be—"It seems you really need to be killed by Gaara's Sand Burial, and your horse too."
"Die, Konoha pervert! Wind Release: Sickle Weasel!"
Temari, the irritable sister from Sunagakure, opened her fan and fanned a gust of wind towards Shikamaru.
Shikamaru, with a comfortable and happy expression, was blown into the air, then fell to the ground.
....
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