"Heh, heh, heh... You Konoha brats picked a pretty good hiding spot."
Shikamaru's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
Three figures emerged from the depths of the forest.
The one in front was tall and thin. Bandages covered his face, leaving only one cloudy, yellowed eye exposed.
He wore Amegakure armor, with two scrolls hanging at his waist, one red and one blue.
The two behind him wore Amegakure gear as well.
The bald one on the left stood over two meters tall, his muscles bulging. A massive Executioner's Blade rested on his shoulder.
The one on the right was short and hunched, his hands dangling below his knees. His fingernails were black, as though coated in deadly poison.
"Hand over your scrolls, brats." The bald giant lowered the Executioner's Blade from his shoulder. Its tip struck the ground, spraying dirt. "I might give you a quick death."
Ino's lips went pale, but she held her ground.
She drew a kunai from behind her waist, the fingers of her right hand already forming hand seals.
Choji stepped in front of Shikamaru, crouched slightly, and clenched his fists, readying the opening stance of the Human Bullet Tank.
"Shikamaru, Ino, when I make my move, fall back." Choji spoke softly but firmly. "These three are strong. I'll hold them off. Find a chance to run."
"Shut up," Shikamaru snapped. "You think I'll let you get yourself killed? Dream on."
His mind raced.
"Choji!"
A shrill howl of wind tore through Shikamaru's shout.
The tall man had barely lifted a hand when the red scroll at his shoulder unfurled silently. Dark jutsu markings crawled like living things across the arm beneath his bandages.
Almost at the same instant, a visible blast of chakra erupted from the scroll, becoming three curved wind blades that skimmed the ground straight toward them.
With a roar, Choji charged into the attack. His body swelled rapidly, his limbs withdrawing into his clothes until he became a huge ball of flesh.
"Human Bullet Tank!"
Boom!!!
The ball of flesh slammed into the first wind blade. The chakra shield around him split open in an instant, and blood sprayed from the cut beneath.
Choji grunted and flew back like a spinning top, crashing into a massive tree. The trunk burst apart, showering the ground with splinters.
He spat a mouthful of blood and slid down from the broken tree. The clothes over his right shoulder and waist had been slashed open, exposing torn flesh.
The second wind blade was already upon Shikamaru.
His pupils contracted. He threw himself forward on instinct, and the blade grazed the back of his head, severing three strands of hair before slicing through the tree behind him—a trunk so wide it would have taken two people to encircle it.
How are we supposed to fight this? They're way too strong... Shikamaru gritted his teeth and dragged his fingers across the ground. His shadow stretched wildly among the trees. "Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
His black shadow slithered along the ground like a snake, shooting toward the bald giant's feet.
The giant gave a savage grin, planted the Executioner's Blade in the ground, and vaulted upward. Despite his bulk, he moved with a leopard's agility, evading the shadow's first attempt to coil around him.
But Shikamaru had already calculated where he would land.
The shadow split into three and closed in from three directions at once.
The giant's expression changed. Suspended in midair with nothing to push off from, he was about to have his ankles caught.
Just then, the short, hunched figure appeared behind Shikamaru.
A chill brushed the back of Shikamaru's neck, followed by piercing pain.
He barely managed to twist aside before the black nails raked open the skin on his back.
A burning numbness spread from the wound, as though countless red-hot needles were driving through his veins toward his heart.
"Argh!"
Shikamaru dropped to one knee. His vision warped, the forest before him twisting into a tangled blur.
He lost control of the Shadow Possession Jutsu, and his shadow snapped back beneath his feet.
"Shikamaru!" Ino cried from the right. Her voice trembled with tears, but she sounded ready to risk everything.
She swiftly formed hand seals, her blond ponytail whipping in the wind, her green eyes fixed on the short Rain Ninja.
"Mind Body Switch Technique!"
Her mental chakra shot out of her body like an invisible arrow, piercing toward the short ninja's consciousness.
For an instant, the short ninja froze, as though something had struck him from within.
Now!
Ino clenched her teeth and tried to force her way into his body.
But just as her mind was about to break in, a colder, murkier mental force surged up from the depths of the short ninja's consciousness, seething with murderous intent and madness.
Something seemed to slam into Ino's chest. She flew backward and struck the back of her head hard against the ground.
Blood poured from her nose and ears, staining her vision red.
"You're out of your depth, brat." The short ninja licked his black fingernails, his voice thin and snakelike. "I'll take your body."
He blurred and appeared in front of Ino, five black nails hooking toward her face like iron claws.
Choji staggered out of the hollow left by the shattered tree, his face covered in blood and his left arm hanging limp. But the fury in his eyes burned brighter than ever.
He hurled himself toward Ino with everything he had, putting his back between her and the claws.
Slash!!!
Five black gashes ran from Choji's left shoulder to his right hip, deep enough to expose bone.
The pain nearly knocked him unconscious, but he refused to fall. With the last of his strength, he drove a fist into the short ninja's shoulder and knocked him several steps back.
"Don't... don't touch Ino..." Choji's voice shook. Blood kept spilling from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the dirt beneath his feet.
The short ninja flicked his hand and gave a chilling smile. "What a fine shield. I'll tear this pile of fat apart first."
Before he finished speaking, he vanished again.
Shikamaru knelt on one knee, his vision blurred as the poison in the wound on his back rapidly ate away at his consciousness.
He fought to stand, but he couldn't even lift a leg.
All he could do was watch as the short ninja grabbed and tore at Choji, kicking him away and slamming him down like a punching bag.
Choji's blood and flesh splattered through the forest. Dark red stains covered the ground beneath the broken tree.
Ino's voice had grown too hoarse to form a complete sentence. Only blood-choked sobs came from her mouth.
She struggled desperately to get up, but each time she got halfway, she collapsed again.
Despair closed around Team 10's throats like an invisible hand.
Shikamaru's vision blurred further, and his consciousness sank bit by bit into darkness.
With the last of his strength, he raised a trembling hand, still trying to use Shadow Possession one more time.
But the tall man had already reached him. He looked down with mockery in his cloudy eye.
"Heirs of Konoha's Ino-Shika-Cho, is that all you've got?" He slowly drew out the blue scroll, and its jutsu markings lit up. "It's over."
Shikamaru clenched his teeth. For the first time, true frustration and despair filled his eyes.
I can't... let it end like this...
Just as the blue scroll was about to unleash a killing blow, the tall man's hand suddenly stopped moving.
He whipped his head around and stared into the depths of the forest behind him.
Leaves stirred there without a breath of wind, drifting silently to the ground.
A figure stood on the highest branch. No one had seen when he arrived.
Choppy black hair veiled half his face. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan was terrifyingly calm.