(6,000 words today. Drained~)
In the arena, both figures moved at once, at the speed of ordinary Chunin.
Kunai whistled through the air. Several kunai reflecting cold glints flew from Shikamaru's hands toward Sakura.
Sakura had intended to chase Shikamaru down and fight him up close. Her body shifted, and she slowed a little, dodging the kunai he had thrown.
Snap.
A faint sound of snapping wire rang out. Sakura mercilessly swept her kunai through the wires attached to his kunai, giving Shikamaru no chance to pull the same trick again.
Shikamaru looked helplessly at Sakura, who had cut through his little scheme, and shook his head inwardly. Then he took several more shuriken from his waist and flung them at her.
Sakura swung her kunai. Amid the clangs of her kunai deflecting the shuriken, the distance between them kept shrinking.
Just as Sakura closed to within five meters of Shikamaru, a faint sound came from beneath her feet. She instinctively looked down and found an Explosive Tag right underfoot.
One second before the Explosive Tag detonated, she looked at Shikamaru, her eyes filled with utter... disbelief.
When did he put down an Explosive Tag? No, wait, are Explosive Tags even allowed in this duel?!
Even Hayate froze at the sight. But out of trust in Shikamaru-or rather, trust in his father, Shikaku-Hayate did not intervene.
A soft explosion sounded. Sakura closed her eyes, and then thick white smoke engulfed her.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Shikamaru did not hesitate for a moment. Using the wires he had left while retreating, his shadow surged toward the white smoke like a mass of flowing black liquid.
Sakura now realized she had been tricked. What Shikamaru had placed was not an Explosive Tag at all, but a simple Smoke Bomb.
*Seriously, who was bored