Temari stopped her ninjutsu, slightly out of breath, impatience flashing in her eyes as she shouted towards the small forest where Shikamaru was, "Hey, is running away all you can do?"
His ninjutsu involves controlling shadows, using them to connect and control his opponent, a support-type ninja. As long as I don't step into that shadowy forest, he can't beat me quickly.
But thinking about it, Temari's expression turned serious again.
I don't know where he's hiding for now. I could keep using ninjutsu to force him out, but these large-scale ninjutsu consume too much chakra. I might not last long enough to destroy the entire forest.
I must find a way to force him to show himself.
Temari gripped her iron fan and said softly, "The fight of your village's ninja earlier was quite impressive. I thought all of Konohagakure were talented like that. You're not the weakest link, are you?"
Provoking him with words, almost insulting, no kid could stand that.
"You're right," came Shikamaru's voice, full of agreement.
Temari: "..."
Annoyed, but despite her irritation, Shikamaru's voice had given away his position.
Temari, now even more irritated and not one to talk about fair play, swung her fan in a big spin on the spot: "Wind Release: Great Kamaitachi!"
Stronger, bigger, sharper, but also consuming more chakra.
No matter, his position was fully exposed, and there was no way he could block this move!
"Bang!"
The entire tree was uprooted, and the sharp blade of wind sliced through it, the force hitting the wall behind without holding back.
Seeing this, Temari couldn't help but laugh out loud: "The outcome is decided!"
Just then, as the uprooted tree fell to the ground, a dark shadow streaked across the dust-covered area, like a venomous snake baring its fangs at Temari.
Temari was taken aback, not having time to think about how Shikamaru dodged her attack. She let go of her iron fan and flipped backward to avoid it.
But the shadow didn't stop. It sped up, chasing after Temari, who turned pale, thinking, 'This is bad.'
The shadow halted, as if a snake had lost its fangs, and retreated weakly.
Temari's eyes brightened, and she pulled out a kunai, drawing a line on the ground, her smile returning unabashedly.
As the dust cleared, a somewhat disheveled Shikamaru appeared in another direction:
"You were so close, that must be the limit of your shadow's reach, right?"
Shikamaru, a bit helpless, dropped his hands from the seal and scratched his head: "True, my technique isn't perfect, which limits my shadow to about half the length of this field. If I were in the center, you'd have nowhere to hide."
Temari was startled but didn't show it: "Then you've lost."
Shikamaru had left the forest, and Temari wouldn't give him another chance to enter.
"That's not necessarily true," Shikamaru stood up, looking at the iron fan Temari had discarded, "Your wind technique relies on that Ninja Tool for its range. Without it, your technique's power is reduced, which is good for me."
Temari clenched her fist. Indeed, that fan, made of chakra metal, amplified the wind's chakra properties. With that Ninja Tool, she could turn small wind techniques into powerful ones, boosting her strength by more than thirty percent.
Now, without the fan, not only would her strength diminish, but her chakra consumption for Ninjutsu would increase.
Wait, did he do this on purpose?
Temari looked at Shikamaru suspiciously. He noticed her gaze and said with resignation: "Well, I figured you wouldn't get hit by the shadow imitation technique if you didn't drop the fan. But as an experienced ninja, your first instinct is to ensure your safety, so you'd subconsciously drop any burden, including that Ninja Tool. It was just a gamble."
Temari wasn't a sheltered flower like those in Konohagakure. At this stage, she had faced more life-or-death moments than all the Genin of Konohagakure combined.
When dodging a threat, Temari's brain would instinctively weigh the pros and cons: if she didn't drop the fan, she'd die. This way of thinking led her to drop the burden immediately, rather than keeping the fan and looking for an opportunity.
But this was a match, not a fight to the death, so her choice seemed quite odd here.
Temari frowned, "You seem different from before."
Shikamaru shrugged, "Maybe, but Naruto and Shino both won. I don't want to lose badly, and besides, a guy can't lose to a girl."
Temari's face darkened as she clenched her fists and quickly formed hand signs, "Wind Style: Kamaitachi!"
She hated it when people said men shouldn't lose to women. She wasn't just a woman; she was a ninja!
"Women are such a hassle," Shikamaru muttered as he dodged the attack with a couple of flips.
He didn't mean any disrespect to women; he knew she was a ninja too. He said it just to rile her up, and it worked—her techniques became much more powerful.
Though they still couldn't match the power unleashed with her fan.
Seeing Shikamaru dodge, Temari quickly calculated the distance and dashed towards her iron fan. If she could get her fan, she could use her ninjutsu to blast Shikamaru away and make him apologize for his words.
But she knew Shikamaru would try to stop her. Even though his shadow imitation technique would take some time at this distance, she was confident she could dodge it.
Unexpectedly, as she rushed for her fan, Shikamaru dashed in the opposite direction. Temari paused, then her expression changed.
His target was the center!
If Shikamaru took the center, his shadow imitation technique could attack her from anywhere in the arena, and due to the terrain, Temari had nowhere to hide. They almost reached the spot at the same time, and if she didn't have a way to block his ninjutsu, the outcome would still be...
Just then, Temari saw Shikamaru pull something strange from his ninja tools bag.
Smoke bombs!
"No way, I can't let him reach the center!" Temari analyzed the pros and cons in an instant. If Shikamaru reached the center and used a smoke bomb, even if her ninjutsu had a wide range, she'd have to envelop the entire smoke cloud, which would surely dilute its power.
But Shikamaru was different. His shadow imitation technique only needed a moment to catch her, and then she'd undoubtedly lose.
Gritting her teeth, Temari abandoned her rush for the fan and stood her ground, quickly forming hand signs, "Wind Blade: Wind Bullet!"
The wind bullet wasn't very powerful or wide-ranging, but it was fast. Almost as soon as she completed the technique, a head-sized wind bullet was already near Shikamaru.
Shikamaru's expression changed as he clumsily rolled on the ground to dodge the wind bullet, and his run came to a halt.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Temari's face, "Your strategy was quite successful, but your current position doesn't allow you to dodge my attack."
Wind Style: Wind Flower Blade!
A flurry of tiny wind blades rushed towards Shikamaru. They weren't very powerful, but their range was incredibly wide.
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